n

n

n552 Stifled silence

nBang! Bang! Bang!

n“Fuck! What kind of human is he?” As the fight continued, the horned demons couldn’t help but curse.

nInitially, when they started fighting, and the human stopped his companions from helping him, they mocked and sneered at the human and felt he was overestimating himself. After all, he was just a peak three-star mage while they were mid-stage four-star demons.

nThey thought they could quickly kill him before killing his companions. However, even after fighting for more than half an hour, although they seriously injured him, they couldn’t seem to kill him. Also, despite being so gravely injured that he could barely stand on his feet, he was still smiling, and this gave them chills.

n“Lunatic! If only I could use my skills, I would immediately reduce him to dust. Fuck! This is getting annoying!”

nOne of them cursed while the other nodded in agreement before they continued their assault on him with their fists and legs, wanting to pummel him to death. Of course, they wanted to use their spells to kill him quickly, but the damned human always interrupted their casting. So, they had no choice but to fight in close combat.

nBang! Bang! Bang!

n“Haha… you ugly bastards, put more strength in your punches. I don’t feel a thing.” The bloodied human laughed as he blocked the attacks directed at his vital points while letting others smack into his body.

n“Argh! Die you bastard!” The demons become more enraged when they heard this.

n…

nIn the distance, a group of elves and humans watched the ongoing fight with incomprehensible expressions on their faces.

n“I can’t see how this… is beneficial for him.” One elf muttered. The others nodded in agreement when they heard this.

nJust then, the four-star elf standing at the front touched his beard and said, “If I’m not wrong, he is cultivating some kind of body strengthening art.”

nThe female four-star elf beside him nodded, a surprised look on her face. “This guy… he is very… surprising.”

nThe other elves revealed a look of surprise when they heard the man, “A body strengthening art?! Where did he find one? I’m sure the Green leaf kingdom doesn’t have one.”

n“…Maybe he got it from the central plains?”

n…

n‘Did he go to the central plains after joining the cloud academy?’ Emily raised her brows when she heard the elves’ discussion. However, she quickly shook her head. She had talked to Anna and knew everything that had happened after Max joined the academy. Although he vanished for a month without a trace, she knew he hadn’t gone to the central plains because the journey alone would’ve taken him more than a month.

n‘Just what happened to him?’ She thought, but quickly stopped this line of thought. Everyone had secrets, and it wouldn’t do her any good to think about his.

nJust then, Ella spoke up, “Um, miss Emily… maybe you should help sir Max now? He is much too injured.”

nEllie frowned when she heard this. She didn’t like her mother getting concerned about him. It was too… weird.

n‘Would I be the same if I…’ Her cheeks blushed red, and she quickly shook her head, not thinking about it.

nIn the past few days, her mother had tried to convince her to… do ‘it’ with him. Although she knew if she agreed and did ‘it’ with him, her curse would be lifted and she could become a mage which she always wanted, she found the thought of it just too… uncomfortable and morally wrong. After all, her mother was already sexually involved with him.

n‘Perhaps the morals of the mage world and the ordinary world are really different and I shouldn’t be bothered by them anymore…’ As she thought this, her breathing grew heavy and cheeks, ears and neck reddened, making her look like a ripe tomato. Fortunately for her, no one noticed her or she would’ve felt embarrassed.

nEmily gave Ella a cursory and somewhat annoyed glance before saying in an icy cold voice, “Don’t worry about him. He is strong enough to take care of himself.”

nElla became flustered at the cold reception. “I-I was just…”

n“I know. So stop it now.” Emily frowned in displeasure.

n“O-Okay.” Ella meekly bowed her head and retreated to Ellie’s side before revealing a bitter smile. She could tell Emily didn’t like her at all because of her relationship with Max.

n‘But isn’t she the one who forced me to do it in the first place?’ She thought, feeling angry. Ellie had calmed down by now and noticed her mother’s perturbed look. “What is it, mother? Did she say something?” She frowned. She had also noticed Emily’s treatment toward her mother had become uncharacteristically colder ever since her mother and Max started spending time alone.

nSeeing her daughter give Emily a cold look, Ella hurriedly shook her head. “N-No. She didn’t say anything. I… just remembered something. So, don’t worry about it.”

nEllie looked at her mother in silence for a moment before nodding, “Okay.”

nJust then, a pained scream resounded throughout the area, followed by another.

n“Ahhhhhh!”

n“Ahhhhhh!”

nWhen she looked at the source of the screams, she was the horned demons flying back while spitting out blood, their chests badly mangled.

nThe bloodied figure, Max, chased after them and before they could crash onto the ground, the thunder sword appeared in his hand, and with two quick slashes, the demons’ head went flying.

nBang! Bang!

nBefore the bodies fell down, he punched at the heads, exploding them into blood mist and stored the unharmed demon cores in the inventory.

nThud! Thud!

nPhew~!

nAlong with the demon corpses, Max landed on the ground and exhaled a turbid breath of air. Thud!

nCough! Cough!

nIn the next moment, he fell onto his knees and broke out in a coughing fit, and then spat out a few mouthfuls of clotted black blood.

nWhoosh! Whoosh!

nEmily and others arrived, looking at his battered body with concern and astonishment.

n“Are you alright?”

n“Are you alright, sir Max?”

nEmily and Ella asked at the same time. Seeing this, Emily frowned while Ella fidgeted nervously. The elves didn’t say anything, afraid to break this stifled silence.

nWelcome back guys! Sorry for the long delay.

nBlizzard54k

n