'Do you think I'll lose? That guy sounded confident I would die, humph.'

'Unless you do something stupid, you won't die. Not until the burger's buffs are on. We have four hours.'

Ainen was flying towards the center of the island at the speed of Mach 5 and didn't take long to find those people.

Elber, who was sitting atop a boulder while talking with the guy who escaped, looked up. "Looks like he is here."

Ainen descended ten meters away from Elber and the guy before him.

Three more people in black robes were guarding the prison in which Dylan, Sofia, and Viena were imprisoned.

'Can't they see me?' Ainen frowned. 'Looks like a magical prison that allows outsiders to see through the bars, but they must be seeing something else.'

'Yeah, it looks like an illusion enchant.'

[ You have been challenged to a life and death duel. ]

"I'll get him, boss Elber."

Elber glanced back to see one of the guys walking forward.

Shortly, both he and Ainen vanished.

[ Duel — Ainen vs Tumalik ]

"You guys have a variety of names, eh?" Ainen spoke as both of them appeared in the battle-ring atop a mountain peak.

"That pussy who returned said you killed Brila and stored her body in Inventory. Is that true?" Tumalik asked as he cracked his knuckles. "Looks like you also got some interesting hobbies."

His body, which already had a light-metal armor set of Tier-3 Epic, was covered by glowing, patterned Earth armor, covering him from head to toe.

His gauntlets were also Tier-3 Epic.

"My hobby is beating people up with my hands."

'This guy got more physical stats than magic stats, but not much difference from Brilla in overall stats.'

'Are you going to command him to save the trio after defeating him?' Lord Black asked.

'That's the plan.'

'Well then, don't accidentally kill him or yourself.'

Ainen laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" Tumalik snorted and launched himself off the ground with a blast, appearing twenty meters in the air before punching his fists consecutively.

Projectiles of glowing brown fists shot at Ainen.

'Since he has the Earth element…'

A barrier flickered around Ainen, a faint orange glow.

The moment those projectiles struck the barrier, intense heat permeated them.

Due to the big difference in power, the fists' Earth energy melted into lava, with Ainen's fire overwhelming it.

Ainen started absorbing heat from it and cooling it after giving it a certain shape.

Three seconds later, Tumalik stopped attacking, and the force from the attacks that kept him afloat also stopped, so he started descending while watching the result of his attacks.

As the smoke cleared, he saw that Ainen was unscathed, while a statue of a hand was in front of Ainen, displaying a middle finger towards him.

"Huh? What is that statue?" Tumalik frowned. Somehow, he felt offended. But then he shrugged it off and grinned. "As expected of your S-rank Fire Manipulation. But that's not enough. Looks like I'll have to do this the hard way."

"Why don't we have a chat first?" Ainen suggested. "Tell me about that guy who was sitting on the boulder like a boss."

"He is the boss of this task group," Tumalik spoke, but he didn't intend to chat further.

Tumalik's body started getting bigger. Glowing vein patterns appeared on his earth armor.

'His class power.' Ainen's eyes flickered. He also saw Tumalik's Strength increasing by 50 stats.

"Make sure you don't die, okay? We need you alive." Tumalik suddenly spoke and shot at Ainen, his speed breaking the sound barrier.

Ainen stood his ground without moving. 'I'll adjust the barrier a bit. This will be fun.'

Tumalik's fist arrived, a grin on his face.

It hit the barrier, and his grin broke.

His own force was strong, but instead of Ainen moving back, Tumalik's fist that had pushed forward literally vanished. His hand was pushing forward while his fist was vanishing, melting, decomposing before his very own eyes as hellish pain shot through him.

"Arghhh!!"

Tumalik jumped back while screaming in pain.

He looked at his right arm and saw that everything past his wrist was gone.

"Pretty cool defense, right? I am circulating extremely hot wind carrying hot sand particles through the barrier's structure." Ainen grinned. "It doesn't just defend, but destroys things that touch it."

"Y-You…" Tumalik fell on the ground as his legs turned jelly. The difference in power between them suddenly became extremely clear to them, like a sunny day after a stormy night.

"Looks like you are ready to chat now." Ainen grinned. "See, I didn't accidentally kill him."

'That was a good way to make him learn the difference in power.'

Ainen walked forward and created a chair of glass before sitting on it.

Tumalik wanted to surrender as soon as possible, but that could also result in a fate worse than death.

'He wants to chat, and if I can get opening…'

"Now then," Ainen said, and a fiery prison with bars on all four sides appeared.

Tumalik started feeling the heat permeating his armor as he started sweating.

Fear of death instantly gripped his heart.

"How strong is that guy on the boulder?" Ainen asked. "Tell me about his powers."

"Wait, here are my stats for reference. Check it." Ainen shared his status by creating a status window using flames.

—> Vitality: Ⅲ 700 Ⅲ

—> Strength: Ⅲ 700 Ⅲ

—> Stamina: Ⅲ 700 Ⅲ

—> Agility: Ⅲ 700 Ⅲ

—> Cognition: Ⅲ 700 Ⅲ

—> Arcane: Ⅲ 700 Ⅲ

—> Mana: Ⅲ 700 Ⅲ

Seeing those numbers, Tumalik's eyes widened in disbelief.

Ainen had reached the peak of Adept rank, meaning he had 200 in all stats.

100% stat boost from his Magic Core increased that by 200, making it reach 400.

The burger he ate gave him multiple buffs, one of which was increasing all stats by 50% and 10% more if his vitality drops below zero. Naturally, this 50% was 150% for Ainen because of his class perk—All kinds of buffs on you have their effects increased by 200%.

So instead of a 50% boost in all stats, Ainen acquired a 150% boost in all stats.

"Y-You are lying! There's no way you have such stats! You don't even have gears!"

However, the image of his hand instantly melting and disintegrating the moment it pushed into Ainen's barrier flashed in his mind.

He was also buffed! He was at full power!

But his hand just disappeared!

"Impossible…there's no way you have these stats."

Ainen tilted his head. "I have no reason to lie to you. Anyway, tell me what kind of stats that guy who was on the boulder has and what powers he has. I have to fight him later."

'Fight him later?' Tumalik's eye twitched. 'There's no way Elber can defeat this guy.'

'And S-rank Fire boosted by this much stats…it's over. Elber and Prisha will die unless they outskill and outspeed him. If Prisha can somehow manage to poison him....'

Suddenly, Tumalik felt the heat increasing.

"Speak or you're dead."

"I'll tell you!" Tumalik hurriedly spoke as he looked around the prison closing in. "Can you please remove this? It's getting too hot."

Ainen waved his hand and dispersed the prison.

"So…" Tumalik took a deep breath and started speaking. "That guy on the boulder is called Elber. His stats are around 500 in all with his Tier-3 Legendary armor set and weapon. He has S-rank Lightning Manipulation and multiple S-rank skills."

"His class is S-rank Warlord's Blade, and he has Legendary quality Magic Core…but you are stronger."

"I am stronger? Good. That other guy was boasting that I would die and all that, so I wanted to confirm the power of my opponents." Ainen grinned.

"Now then, would you like to die or surrender?

"…Surrender."

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