[You have killed an F-Rank Demon—Imp.
You have gained 15 EXP.
You leveled up.
You have gained one Free Stat Point.]
Max was deeply satisfied. He thought. It's always satisfying to kill those mischievous demons.
Back in his past life, despite becoming a C-Rank Elementalist when the apocalypse descended, an Imp would always gain his ire.
He could still vividly remember when an imp would always give him a mocking tongue-out smile, causing his blood to boil every time.
They were the reason why he tried to improve his aim.
"Wow, you aim better than me," said the archer beside him.
Max smiled and thanked him. He then asked him to leave him alone for now since he could investigate by himself anyway.
The archer allowed him, as the former was motivated to increase his aim to surpass Max.
After all, archers were known to have higher accuracy than mage. It would really be embarrassing for a mage to surpass an archer when it came to aiming.
Max, on the other hand, wasn't aware of his thoughts.
He continued to investigate until he finally discovered the source of the unstable mana.
He frowned. This is dangerous, it's actually radiating from one of the important mechanisms that solidify this post.
Max suddenly recalled his attack earlier towards an imp and the archer's words earlier.
He thought. It makes sense now. The imp must also be aware of this unstable mana. No wonder he kept provoking the archer while the archer himself can't seem to aim properly.
In fact, if it was not for his spell stability and fast casting earlier, the unstable mana would have been able to disturb him at the last second of his attack, possibly causing him to miss.
Max leaned on the wall of the Watchtower post, where it was overlooking the village.
He saw the Village Bell tower at the center, the Chapel of Sustenance where people usually gathered around, and the patterns of the corrupt mana slowly engulfing the village began to enlighten him.
For some reason, his body shivered.
Why do I feel like this village is really corrupted by the demon, in the end?
Despite knowing that Jaden had saved the village in the past and it would be his turn now, Max couldn't shake the feeling that the village was really conquered by the demon.
He pinched his chin as he anxiously tried to recall the past.
Only Jaden revealed that he solved his village quest before, while some seemed to hide it. However, there were some villages who were conquered by the demons in the end.
Before the next season arrived, all the villages that seemed to have failed to produce a player to complete its quest were conquered by the demons.
As Max began to recall the past, he inevitably started to question himself.
What if this game is actually based on the real world? And it is simply just a recorded history?
Before the apocalypse descended, the last season was also similar to a ragnarok, where every race went all out to fight against each other.
Let's exclude the players out of the equation for that event.
If that's the case…
Max's eyes widened. His heart skipped a beat.
The Empire was really swallowed by the demons and the elves and dwarves followed suit?
As he reached a terrifying conclusion, Max shivered in terror.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled with an agitated heart.
He opened his eyes and his face turned solemn.
He clenched the wooden staff tightly and thought to himself.
If even this Empire is swallowed by the demons in the end, what could be more on the Earth?
In fact, Max didn't care about the majority of humanity. But his precious little brother and Auntie Sarah…
He couldn't bear to lose them again.
He sighed. Perhaps, there's a reason why I regressed. There might be anyone better than me, but I got chosen in the end.
He narrowed his eyes. If the First Emperor failed, that doesn't mean I will be, too.
I have to grow stronger, stronger than him.
I must protect my little brother and Auntie Sarah and their precious loved ones at all cost.
Although Max wanted to grow stronger because of them, he was ignoring the fact that his greatest motivation was…
To not die again.
Betrayed by his own kind, feeling helpless because of how weak he was in his past life, he wanted to see the end of his life where he died by not the same reason again.
He died only after he reached the peak.
At the moment, Max had not realized his real goal. He did not understand the significance of growing stronger for him.
For now, his heroic perception stood on the desire to protect his loved ones.
"Are you okay?" The archer startled him awake. "You seem to be in a lot of distress."
Max was quite surprised. He finally noticed how heavy he was frowning.
When he relaxed his eyebrows, his body and mind followed suit.
He took a deep breath, paused for three seconds, and exhaled with a shout.
The archer beside him laughed out loud.
Max guffawed, as well.
They laughed after some time until the archer said, "You know, worries, overthinking, depression, you name every negative thing, they would always exist.
Without them, we wouldn't appreciate life.
They are a significant part of ourselves.
Looking at this village, how peaceful it appeared, shouldn't you feel more relaxed?"
Max smiled and did not reply.
The archer gazed at him and chuckled. He turned towards the view of the village and said, "You couldn't relax because you were seeing things far different than what your eyes could see.
You couldn't breathe the air that is full of life because you were suffocated in the place you shouldn't be.
You were startled by my voice because you were hearing a voice that didn't belong here."
He paused for a while and smiled with a serene face.
"Maybe, you were thinking about the past, or the bleak future of this village, but hey!"
The archer turned towards him and spread his arms. "You're in the present, you're standing in the Watchtower not everyone could even if they wanted to."
He raised his index finger and said, "It's a gift. You must enjoy it to the fullest."