The night fade,the rain stopped and the sun slowly rose, and the air became bright. Lioran was still lying unconscious on the ground. A few hours later, Lioran slowly opened his eyes. He placed his hand on his head, squeezed his eyes shut and said:
"Ah, my head hurts so much! I feel like it's about to explode."
He held his head like that for a few moments until he recovered a little.
When he looked at the fire in front of him, he remembered where he was and why he had fainted here. He told himself:
"This fire really hasn't lost any of its flames. I think it will keep burning like this for months."
Then he asked Anahita:
"Has the transfer of magical knowledge been completed?"
Anahita replied:
"Yes, the transfer was successful."
Lioran closed his eyes and began analyzing the magical knowledge, and he was surprised by what Anahita had given him. He said:
"I don't think many people on this earth have such knowledge."
Anahita answered:
"No. Some of the information about magic and spells that I transferred to you, no one else in this world possesses."
Lioran replied:
"With the spells I analyzed, I know you're not bluffing. But I ask myself, where did you get such knowledge? I don't think even a ninth-ring mage would have this much knowledge."
As always, Anahita replied:
"Answer unavailable."
And Liuran, with irritation, said:
"I know, I know. I didn't expect anything else from you anyway."
Lioran then, for the last time, looked coldly at the dragon's fire and prepared to move. The closest city to him was Rostal City, which was about a day's distance away. So, he started walking in that direction.
Before moving, Lioran once again used the Transformation technique and changed his body as before: red hair, a height of 186 cm, black eyes, and the cold voice of a thirty-year-old man. After activating Transformation, he noticed his bloody clothes and said:
"With this appearance I can't enter the city. I'll have to wash these on the way."
Lioran entered the forest that led toward Rostal City. On his path, he heard the cries of small children. He turned toward the sound and saw, in the middle of the forest, three small boys and one small girl with black skin being whipped by a white-skinned man wearing expensive clothes. The children were crying and screaming loudly:
"Please let us go! Please, sir, let us go!"
One of the boys, named Mira, who seemed older than the others, lowered his head and shouted:
"Please let my friends and my sister go. I'll come with you anywhere, you can do anything you want with me, you can beat me, kill me, sell me, but let my sister and my friends go!"
The merchant kicked Mira in the chest, and Mira's back slammed into a tree, blood spilling slightly from his mouth. His younger sister, Rona, when she saw her brother fall and bleed, rushed toward him, grabbed his hand tightly, and cried. Her tears fell endlessly on Mira's body, and while wiping her tears with her hand, she said:
"Brother, are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere? I'm sorry, if I hadn't wanted to go out to get some fresh sweet water for my birthday, this wouldn't have happened. You wouldn't be hurt. It's all my fault. I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
The merchant, with a dirty smile, said:
"I don't want to kill you. I'm taking you somewhere you can have enough food and water. I'm giving you a chance to live well. That's the good reward you'll give me back."
And he started laughing loudly.
Rona turned toward the merchant, her eyes full of doubt, anger, and fear, and said:
"My mom said you are liars, you threw us out of our home, you took our houses by force. You are the bad people. You are thieves!"
The merchant, angered by Rona's words, raised his whip and began to lash her. Rona screamed and cried.
Mira, upon hearing the screams and cries of her little sister, quickly held Rona tightly in her arms and took on the role of a protective shield for her.
whispered softly in her ear: "Everything will be fine. I'm with you. I will always protect you. Don't worry, none of this is your fault. I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise to give you sweet water."
He said these words while tears streamed down his own face and his body trembled with fear, but still, but he didn't want his sister to suffer.
The merchant, after seeing how Mira protected his sister, burst out laughing and said:
"You've been punished by God. That's why you took the skin color of the devil. You must either serve us or die, you filthy creatures."
His men also laughed and mocked, and the merchant continued whipping Mira.
After repeated harsh lashes, Mira, still protecting his sister, finally lost consciousness from the pain and collapsed. His sister clutched him tightly and cried over him.
The merchant told the other children:
"Anyone who disobeys me will end up like this. Understood?"
Then he ordered his men to throw the children into the cart.
Along with the merchant were four swordsmen. Using his Identification skill, Lioran saw their information as follows:
Jack – 17 years old, Three-star swordsman, mastered Jaal Swordsmanship
Piko – 21 years old, Four-star swordsman, mastered Jaal Swordsmanship
Ragn – 26 years old, Four-star swordsman, mastered Jaal Swordsmanship
Zubi – 32 years old, Five-star swordsman, mastered Jaal Swordsmanship
And finally, he saw the merchant's information: his name was Goba, age 47.
Lioran slowly walked toward them and said:
"Look at this! Child abuse in broad daylight? I think someone needs to teach you manners."
Zubi, who appeared to be the captain, ordered:"Everyone, be ready."
They all drew their swords. Zubi said with a grin:
"Looks like we've got an uninvited guest."
The merchant, upon seeing Liuran, shouted:
"Who the hell are you? Get lost before I kill you!"
Lioran gave him a cold look and replied:
"I'll show you what it means to be a slave. I'll show you what despair, fear, and pain truly mean."
The merchant, furious, screamed:
"Kill this filthy rat!"
Zubi ordered his men:
"Attack him!" while he stayed to protect the merchant.
The swordsmen activated Swordsmanship of Jal and charged at Liouran. Liuran wondered which magic to use. Among all the spells in his mind, he decided to use a lost ice magic.
He moved toward the three swordsmen who were chasing him. As they got close, they shouted:
"Fool! We'll show you why you shouldn't interfere with everything!"
And one of them laughed and said:
"You'll taste my blade soon enough."
When the swordsmen got within a meter of Lioran—one from the left, one from the right, and one from the front—they all attacked him with everything they had, shouting:
"You're finished!"
Lioran gave them a cold look, moved his right foot slowly forward, pressed it against the ground, and said:
"Icy Hell."
Within a second, everything within fifty meters around him froze solid. The swords of the attackers—one near his head, one near his right shoulder, and one near his left shoulder—froze in place.
Not only the swords, but the swordsmen themselves were frozen like ice statues, unable to move. Their mouths, which had been open yelling "You're finished!" when the freeze hit, remained open in frozen silence.
Without a moment's pause, after activating Icy Hell, Lioran dashed forward. As his shoulders hit the frozen swords near him, the blades cracked and shattered. He moved straight through, colliding with the three swordsmen—left, right, and front—and they all broke apart without resistance.
Without screams, without blood, they crumbled into icy powder.