Evaporated air flew across the dungeon and drifted toward Leon, raising the strand of hair plastered to his forehead.

The fiery glow in the war disc began to dim, but the heat evaporating from it didn’t stop.

Leon remained in the kneeling posture, staring at the surface of the liquid fire. "Why do I always have to watch them die?"

He shifted his gaze to his palms, then back at the Starfire Opal ceiling of the dungeon. "WHY! AM I NOT WORTHY ENOUGH TO SAVE THEM? TELL ME!"

When his scream died, Leon’s head lowered as if the bones in his neck had been chopped off. Sharp air gushed out of his nose and mouth while staring at the heated war disc, which had now turned dark, then closed his eyes.

An Lang’s smiling face flashed into his mind before he could think of him. The smile and the jokes An Lang had been making stayed a little longer before fading off when Leon cracked his eyes open.

He shifted his gaze to the liquid fire and its flames, then placed his right arm on the war disc. He felt the skin in his palms burning, but he didn’t loosen his grip on them.

Leon stood up, stared at his reflection in the part that hadn’t darkened, then exhaled once. "I will make sure your death will be honored, An Lang."

As soon as he turned and walked toward the tunnel Aurelian and the Syrs had taken, Leon stopped, then gave the liquid fire one last glance.

He smiled, then nodded once. "Though I didn’t get to know more of you and the family you used to say you had lost. But I will make the world remember your name."

When Leon turned, he placed the war disc on his back and locked it above Wu Ze’s sword.

Loud footsteps echoed when Leon placed his first step into the tunnel. Snake-like glow moved alongside the wall while Leon moved without stopping to check or even pause a step.

At every direction he took, the glow followed him like his own shadow, some seeping into his back, causing the blackened armor to have its golden glow back.

After a few minutes in the tunnel, a loud roaring sound echoed and shook the walls, but it didn’t make Leon’s soul cry; it ignited it.

He dashed forward with a clenched fist and followed the direction the sound echoed from, while the sword and the war discs bounced at his back.

Fast-moving air scraped across Leon’s shoulder before he could see what it was, and shoved him against the wall.

At the section he touched, all the Opal glow died in an instant when it entered Leon’s palms and glowed in his veins.

When Leon lifted his head, he saw one of the Syrs materializing and walking toward him, as if it knew the future course of the fight.

Leon pushed himself off the wall when the Syr rolled its neck, then drew Wu Ze’s sword, and held it like his own heart.

When the Syr doubled its steps, Leon simply breathed slowly, then closed his eyes. As soon as he felt a wave of air approaching him, he swung the sword, which struck the air and forcefully made the Syr appear of its own accord.

It charged forward again, but this time, Leon delayed a second. The Syr grabbed Leon by the wrist and pushed him back against a pointed stone.

Immediately Leon reached an inch from the stone, he sidestepped and kicked the Syr’s back, causing it to pierce itself on the three-foot pointed stone.

Black blood gushed out of the Syr as it stretched its arms to pull Leon onto the stone as well, but Leon sliced them clean and pierced the sword’s blade into the creature’s mouth, killing it instantly.

Just as Leon pulled the sword and tried to move forward, another Syr dashed forward.

It caught the sword mid-swing and bent his hand so fast that a bone-snapping sound echoed, while fiery pain lanced through Leon’s body.

"Ahhhh!" He screamed while switching the sword to his left hand, then drove his knee three times into the Syr’s stomach until it stumbled back and collapsed on one knee.

Leon grabbed the Syr’s horn with his broken right arm, then swung it hard against the stone ground continuously.

On the fourth crush, which sent some of the Syr’s teeth flying, the creature stopped moving and went numb, dead.

"FUCK! Why didn’t you grab my left arm?" Leon screamed and kicked the already dead Syr in the head before doubling forward.

When he moved to the left and placed his arm against the wall, the fingers began to heal on themselves while the Opal glow entered him and began recreating the torn tissues.

Two more Syrs came and ended up getting smashed against the wall, after Leon had chopped off their heads.

As soon as Leon neared the tunnel’s exit, a fifth Syr appeared. It was bigger and looked stronger than the four Leon had already killed. Nine feet with large shoulders and metallic bovine legs. It broke part of Leon’s ribs with ease and hurled Leon against a two-foot stone pointing out of the wall.

The stone broke and turned into smaller pieces on Leon as he smacked it on the ground. Blood oozed out of his mouth when he pushed himself up.

The Syr stood there with a wide smile, then opened its hands wide. Before it could move a step forward, Leon grinned, drew the war disc, and hurled it at an unstoppable speed.

The blackened disc had its silver color back as it sliced through the air and struck the waist of the Syr.

When the Syr moved a step forward after the war disc had flown to a far distance behind it, the disc flew back and swung at the side of its top-right shoulder.

Leon caught the disc, then dashed forward without hesitation. Wu Ze’s sword was now broken and remained tucked at his back.

The Syr swung its big arms, but Leon ducked and used the Syr’s own momentum to make it smack its own face with the blow.

It swung again, and Leon sidestepped, drove the broken sword’s handle into the Syr’s eye socket, shattering it. The Syr screamed, stumbling two steps back, but when Leon tried to counterattack, it grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground.

Just as Leon’s face began to pale as the Syr’s grip increased, he pulled out one of the war discs and slammed it against the side of the Syr’s head. Once. Twice.

Then on the third, the Syr released its grip. Leon dropped and landed badly on his right ankle, which caused part of his bones to break, but he stood up.

He jumped and grabbed the Syr’s horn before it could recover, then drove it into the ground.

Leon didn’t stop until the Syr stopped moving entirely. Blood ran down the back of his neck when he moved from the tunnel and took his first step into the new dungeon.

Chills ran down his spine and sent him frozen for a second, when a hand brushed his shoulder from behind.

"You’ve really done well fighting them." Aurelian’s voice flashed against his ear. "But..."

Leon turned fast, grabbed Aurelian by the waist, then grinned. In a second, Aurelian wasn’t there anymore; instead, Leon had held onto air and thought it was him.

When Leon turned, he saw Aurelian standing a few steps ahead with his arms loosened at his side, dancing. "Whoooooyeah!"

Aurelian stopped and gestured at Leon. "Are you sure you can stand these before you reach me?"

Leon’s mouth opened wide when he saw another set of the Syrs closing in on him.