“Either way, make sure you rest up properly in the coming days! You can leave handling anything else to us!” added Nori. Upon hearing that, Gerald understood that he didn’t really have any other choice but to obey. With that, he lay back down to recuperate… Early in the morning a few days later, Juno—Meilani’s elder sister—could be seen knocking on Gerald’s door before asking, “Gerald? Are you awake…?” After waiting for quite a while and getting no response, Juno couldn’t help but raise a slight brow as she opened the door… only to find that he wasn’t even inside! ‘Where could he have gone? He couldn’t have just left, could he?’ Juno thought to herself in bewilderment. Frowning slightly, she had an idea of where else Gerald could possibly be… With that in mind, she quickly headed to the back garden to see if he was there. Just as she had thought, Juno was instantly greeted by the sight of Gerald and Leit Query meditating on stone benches upon arriving at the back garden. Wi

Naturally, Gerald wasn’t commenting on the attack itself. While her attack style was definitely powerful, what he meant was that before attacking, she often left herself wide open to be countered. Adding that to the fact that she never changed her attack style, any opponent stronger than her could most definitely be able to see through her attack patterns in time. It explained why Gerald was able to defeat her so easily. The only reason why she had been able to win all the previous times was because the enemies she bumped into were far weaker than her. With that in mind, they probably didn’t have the chance or experience to analyze Juno’s attack patterns. Gerald, however, was much stronger than her. What more, he had been personally trained by Leit, and he even had unique opinions and analysis on martial arts skills and attack tactics. Regardless, after hearing Juno’s question, Gerald replied in a serious tone, “Think about it. From what I’ve seen, you tend to only focus on attac

“While it’s great that we know all that, how on earth are we going to get past the Hulkeroic Union’s tight security? Even from here, we can already see how heavily guarded they now are! Hell, they’ve even set up patrol teams! With that in mind, we’ll definitely get caught if we head in rashly!” muttered Ray in response. Hearing that, Gerald and the others knew that Ray was right. With how strict the Hulkeroic Union’s security currently was, it was evident that those from that union were expecting Gerald to come save the duo. It was certainly a death trap like no other… “…Anyone have any ideas on how we should tackle this? What about you, Young Lady Zorn?” asked Gerald as he looked at Juno. Upon hearing his question, Juno began pondering as well. While they already knew where the hostages were, saving them was going to prove extremely difficult… “…The only thing I can think of is to lure them away from the base… Aside from that, I have no other idea how we’ll even make it into t

“There he is! Capture that brat and finish him off for good!” ordered the furious Tiger as he gritted his teeth. Since Tiger and his dozen men were rather fast, they quickly managed to gain on him. To make matters worse, Gerald soon found himself sandwiched between the Hulkeroic Union and a cliff that had a bottom that couldn’t even be seen… “Give it up, kid! There’s nowhere else to run!” scoffed Tiger before snorting. Gerald honestly hadn’t expected Tiger to be able to catch up to him so quickly. Frowning slightly, Gerald then glared at Tiger before revealing a sly smile as he taunted, “Give up? What, you think you can actually kill me?” Upon hearing that, Tiger was slightly surprised. After all, there was no way Gerald was going to be able to escape his current situation. “Big talk coming from someone who’s trapped between being beaten to death and falling to your doom! You’re free to try making a leap of faith, but only death in the abyss awaits you!” snarled Tiger. “O

“Also… where are we…?” asked Gerald when he realized that they were inside some kind of cave. Though the old man appeared ragged and sloppy, he knew for a fact that he wasn’t an ordinary person. After a brief silence, the old man replied in a raspy voice, “…I’m just someone who lives in seclusion on this mountain.” Upon hearing that, Gerald was slightly surprised. To think that someone would actually live in such a place! “…May I know your name…?” “You can just call me Old Hughes…” replied the man. Shortly after, Old Hughes led Gerlad out of the cave they were in… Looking at the sky, Gerald was greeted by the soothing sight of a crescent moon… Despite how calm the night was making him feel, upon realizing that they were about to enter a dense forest, Gerald was prompted to ask, “…Mind telling me where we’re going, Old Hughes…?” After all, with how dense the foliage was, they would surely be engulfed by darkness in there, and being in an unlit forest at night was a ver