Return of the Woodcutter

Kai was waiting in the Square sat on his chair by the table at the center of it all.

The brunt of his troops surrounded the black corner. There were simply no escape paths left. Only surrender. 

Something Kai expected to happen. At that time, he would finally be able to talk things out with the black challenger.

By now he had figured out who was the man dressed in a grey armor set. Who wouldn\'t after seeing him open the sole room in the black corner? 

During the chaos, amidst cries for help, screams of pain, and sounds of broken bones, it had been hard to communicate like a proper, civilized human being. 

But Kai acknowledged that brute force was sometimes necessary. It was a means to an end. A tool he could use to reach his goals. Nothing more, nothing less. 

His gaze traveled from left to right. Making sure everything was ready and set as per his orders. 

Elementalists to the front, the few strings wielders he had—a battle surgeon class—standing aside to prepare to save the injured. Borat, his level 2 stringman and sole worker who had developed a binding skill, would be blended with the elementalists. 

Warriors… warriors were here just in case... well, to be cannon fodders.

From what he had seen before, he was certain that pure melee would be useless against Aito Walker. It was a saddening truth, but no matter their numbers, it seemed that as long as he had enough stamina the black challenger would just overpower his workers. 

\'What a monster,\' Kai thought, \'Makes me want to get my hands on him even more now. With the black challenger by my side, I\'m fairly certain my chances of getting the Tower\'s reward would double.\'

Even if he hadn\'t studied warfare, he considered himself a decent tactician and was certain his plan would work—not that it was complicated to surround one\'s enemy with the overwhelming advantage he had right now. 

Using Borat\'s ability, he would bind one of the two siblings to use as a bargaining chip. Binding Aito was, apparently, as useless as sending warriors against him.

Very peculiar. Kai was fairly convinced no challengers should be able to dispel a skill the way he had—maybe outside, but not here.

Was it his equipment? 

According to what Kai had seen, it was probable or even certain. That shield Aito had wouldn\'t have been able to resist fireballs for so long if it hadn\'t that ability. 

That gave him one more reason to capture them. Well, if they ended up resisting, he\'d had no choice but to kill. It would be such a waste, though.

He\'d have "invested" his own resources in an unprofitable endeavor. He hated losing his investment. It had very rarely happened before. And when it did, he would often, if not always, clean up the mess. 

"May I speak honestly sect master?" Sam asked, standing beside Kai.

"Please do. You know I like to hear your honest thoughts," Kai replied, in a calm demeanor. Although Kai said that, it was simply to butter him up. In reality, he never truly listened to the boldy\'s opinion, nor did he dismiss or disliked it. It just brought nothing new to him. 

"It\'s already been more than an hour, sect master." Sam said, "We might be losing our time here. They could cower in the black challenger\'s room for the remaining month." 

"Are you suggesting we let them go?" 

"No, of course not. I\'m only saying that… maybe asking for reinforcement was overdoing it." Sam said, using a clumsy polite tone. "It\'d cut our incomes more than necessary." 

"Hum, thank you for your honest thoughts, Sam. It is much appreciated, as always." Kai said, lying through his teeth.

"My pleasure, sect master." 

Kai continued to focus on the black corner, more precisely the black candle.

Cut their incomes? Idiot, those were his incomes, and no one else\'s. Furthermore, he saw it as an opportunity to cut down the unnecessary number of workers.

Over the past month, Kai came to realize that he didn\'t need that many people under his command. Mostly because a great majority of them would end up leaving him once they\'d enter Iris. 

They weren\'t THAT loyal after all. And with a bomb in their soul, they\'d prefer to obey those who held the trigger rather than he who had fed them during the trials. 

No, what Kai truly needed at the moment were a few loyal workers. Maybe a hundred or a bit less. As long as he had around that number, he thought that he\'d be fine in Iris.

Like he had in the previous world, Kai intended to build a gigantic business. Not necessarily a fishing industry this time. With too little data about the outside world and its intricacies, he had no idea where to start. 

Kai was confident that after some time spent researching, he\'d eventually find a good business opportunity. 

Well, he couldn\'t know that one was within hand\'s reach at the moment, the ainium. Sure, dispelling skills were impressive, but he didn\'t know it was a one-of-a-kind ability that probably no one in Iris had. 

Anyway, he was also certain the Ryu siblings and the black challenger wouldn\'t stay put for long. They weren\'t that stupid. At least he knew Sheyla wasn\'t. 

Too many variables played against this. Food was first. A challenger\'s room didn\'t come with food. Also, it cost TPs to stay in one and a black challenger\'s room must be pretty expensive.

Well, they could certainly bet on the fact that he would withdraw his troops after a few days, but that he wouldn\'t do. 

At best, Kai thought those cockroaches would stay put for a week. More than that, and they\'d probably die of hunger. It depended on the fact they had food stored somewhere or not. Kai was fairly convinced they ha—

"Sect master, the portal just opened." Sam interrupted. 

\'No shit Captain Obvious?\' Kai thought, watching the human size, oval-shaped black matter. \'Here goes nothing.\' 

Having previously received orders on what to do when the portal opened, every sect member prepared for battle by first activating Durability. 

Warrior classes readied their shields and elementalists their fireballs. Bow wielders nocked their arrow. Blended into the masses, Borat, a common-size man with fuzzy black hair and a weird walrus mustache, prepared his binding skill. 

The army stayed focus on the portal as a heavy silence set in. Thanks to the black challenger\'s previous display, they\'ve learned to fear the man and his deadly ax. No one was willing to bet, fearing a moment of carelessness would cost them their life. 

Suddenly, something passed the portal, creating ripples in a small area that subsided as quickly as they appeared. 

From afar, Kai identified it as a shining yellow item. To the front, they simply saw a glowing ball the size of an egg flying towards them. 

The ball flew a few more meters and, just when it arrived on top of their heads, exploded. Men and women instantly used whatever means they had to cover themselves, thinking they were about to die, but only saw tiny sparkling particles of unknown origins falling like snow. 

At this sight, henchmen sighed from relief one after the other, chuckling weirdly amongst them. 

As soon as the shining dust-like particles touched them, screams of pain were heard one after the other, accompanied by shattering noises of exploding armors, weapons, or clothes. 

All previously coated with Durability. 

Like frag grenades, shattered metal pieces flew in every direction, shredding human flesh. A terrible mess ensued. Panic-stricken, every sect member located in the area covered in white dust ran away, avoiding, fleeing the foreign matter like a plague, creating a sizeable gap in their defenses. 

Unknown to everyone, covered by his shield, Aito carefully, slowly, and partially stepped out of the portal to see the effect of the minerian\'s item, only to be greatly surprised.

Then, before anybody saw him, he went back inside. 

While Sam looked at the scenery with a horrified expression, Kai made a complicated gaze. He\'s never seen that kind of weapon sold in the Tower before. 

"Just what… is this?" Sam asked. 

Kai gaze changed to an interested one full of greed, "This is an item I absolutely must get my hands on." 

Now he knew what kind of business he\'d like to launch. Iris was a world at war, right? What could be more or as profitable as selling weapons in such a world? The answer was… maybe a few things but certainly not many. 

\'I absolutely must talk to him,\' Kai thought, more certain now that capturing the black challenger would be much more profitable to him in the long run than killing him. \'He is more valuable alive than dead.\' 

"Sam, reform the ranks. Also, tell them to not step into the still opened portal, it\'s a trap. They are trying to draw us in." Kai ordered with a firm and commanding tone. "And bring me the black challenger alive, you hear me?" 

"Sect master, but—" 

"It wasn\'t a question but an order." 

"Yes, sect master," Sam said, giving Kai a sect salute before leaving and shouting for the men to reform their ranks. 

However, another glowing ball—that seemed somewhat brighter—flew out of the portal over to their right flank and exploded above their heads, spreading particles in an even wider ranger than the previous one. 

Particles fell.

Weapons shattered.

Challengers died.

The floor was repainted red. The iron smell of blood permeated the air. 

"This is magnificent," Kai said, watching, from a safe distance, his troops screaming for help.. "Truly beautiful."