I No Clown

Are You Worthy?

Once he moved his right hand back, the bluish light hit the warrior instantly, sending him far back.

People gulped as they watched how the warrior whose back had hit the wall hard was slowly burning. It started with his chest turning red, then peeled off like burnt paper, and spread to the rest of his body.

He screamed in extreme pain. An instant later, his body disappeared along with the debris that flew in the wind.

People looked back at Mathias with eyes filled with great question marks and shock. But even greater than that was the fear of him.

"Surround him!" shouted a soldier commander.

More than a dozen warriors instantly moved and locked Mathias in the center with the girl, the Knight, and three other shirtless warriors.

"You have killed a warrior, Stranger!" the commander shouted. "And that was a big mistake!"

The three shirtless men looked at each other with pale faces and feared for their own lives now.

Two of them were mages, but neither possessed the magic they had just seen, the magic that had killed their friend in the blink of an eye, and it was horrifying.

"Master!" the commander exclaimed. "This foreign man must be captured!"

"Oh, I'll kill all of you!" Mathias growled.

The hooded man's words instantly put everyone on alert for him.

Even more so, for the three shirtless warriors because at that very moment, the hooded man removed his hood, and the three warriors recognized him with certainty.

"Y-You...!" the one named Azkhar gulped with a face that suddenly turned deathly pale.

"Hey!" his companion exclaimed, pointing at Mathias. "Aren't you the stupid clown, huh?!"

The knight, as well as, the commander, and the others were even more confused by the matter before them.

"So, you know each other?" asked the knight.

The three shirtless warriors could only gulp at the Knight's loud question, again.

"Answer me!" he commanded more loudly.

Meanwhile, Alicia smiled faintly at her brother. She moved her hands weakly and tremblingly, cupping his cheek. And she could not hold back her tears.

Her tears were more than enough to break Mathias' heart.

"Master," said the warrior beside Azkhar, again pointing at Mathias. "We do know this clown. He deserves to be punished!"

"That's true, Master!" said the shirtless warrior behind Mathias.

After all, both of them were mages who had reached level three. Influenced by the situation that was unlikely to go in their favor, as well as the fear of Mathias' new power, that was why they cast aspersions on him.

Meanwhile, Azkhar who was only an Archer could only stay silent with his mind raging to get out of the situation. Although he had reached level three, unfortunately, he did not have a bow or crossbow in his hands at this moment.

"Just be at ease," Mathias said softly to his sister who he knew was dying. Tears were also rolling down his cheeks. "I'll kill whoever's involved!"

"He, he chose to run away when the Demon Army's attack came to destroy our town, Master!" exclaimed the same man beside Azkhar. "As a matter of fact, he's also a rookie, just like us!"

He grew more and more nervous as Mathias gave him a furious look.

And in his confusion, he cast his magic and charged straight at Mathias without warning.

But the man before them now was not the man of ten days ago. That magic attack in the form of lightning could easily be destroyed by him with great ease.

He was choked up.

In the next instant, a much more powerful bluish lightning bolt struck him hard in the chest, throwing him far back, crashing into the wall of the building, and falling to the ground.

Azkhar was gasping in horror. His friend's condition was the same as his previous one.

He screamed at the top of his lungs as his skin cracked as if on fire, then turned to dust in an instant.

The shirtless man at the back also attacked Mathias.

A fireball roared from his palm, hitting Mathias' back. Unfortunately, it didn't hurt him at all, nor did it burn his clothes.

The man gulped with an increasingly pale face.

And then...

Zap!

Thump!

The same fate befell the third warrior. He was slammed hard to the ground by the blue lightning that Mathias flicked backward, then convulsed while screaming in pain, and died without a trace.

It happened so quickly in front of everyone's eyes that they could only stand still and gasp.

"Y-You!" the commander pointed at Mathias. "What have you done, huh? You killed our warriors!"

Meanwhile, a very frightened Azkhar chose to run away from there to the north. He ran like he was being chased by a ghost.

"Not me!" he shouted. "Not me!"

Mathias smirked as if letting the shirtless warrior escape from his presence.

He turned his gaze on the commander and it was enough to strike fear into the commander.

"I will gladly increase the death count if you dare to get in my way!"

The man's cold and stern words made the commander gulp. He couldn't even move an inch.

Mathias picked up his sister who was losing consciousness.

"Hey," said the knight. "I didn't know she was your sister."

He only replied with a grunt and after that, Mathias strode northward with his sister in his arms.

The commander, the soldiers, and the people looked on, giving way to him. Or maybe they had to because they were aware of the man's magic power.

"If you have magic that powerful," said the knight, "why didn't you save the others?"

Mathias paused, glancing at the Knight over his shoulder.

"Ask yourselves," he retorted. "Do people like you deserve to be saved? Are you worthy?"

And of course, the Knight was unable to answer that, nor were the others. Even more so, knowing that the girl who was thought to be a prostitute was his sister, this alone was more than enough to bring down severe punishment on everyone there who turned a blind eye to what Alicia was going through.

"What will happen to us?" the commander muttered to himself.

The Knight glanced at him. "Something much worse!"

And then, the Knight walked away.