Aldred smiled happily, satisfied with his new skills. It was such a waste not learning a martial art. If he learned them early, he could defeat any magicians by shocking them with his martial art.
They would never expect him to get close and struck.
Aldred laughed. He looked at his panel and wondered where he should put his 72 points to. He wanted to be a versatile fighter which mean he should mastered close range and long range skills. But each skill had their own ups and down.
Fire bullets for example were useful for close-range attacks. They were hard to dodge and quite powerful as well.
But his flame spells were already at a high level, so he should increase his other ability.
First, Aldred leveled up his fire combustion to level 4 since that skill was very useful. That already consumed a lot of his skill points. Next, he leveled up 'Steam of Life' to level 3. That would be useful should he got wounded and Mira wasn't there to help.
That left him with 58 points. Aldred clicked his tongue. The cost of increasing spell was very inconsistent. Some spell cost more, while others cost less. He didn't know what affect the cost.
He sighed and accepted his fate. All he should think about now what which skill to level up. He tried to level up his racial ability, but he couldn't.
It seemed like the only way to increase its level was to evolve through drinking blood.
Next, he increased 'water razor' from level 2 to level 4. He had an idea to combine his sword art with this skill. He would try that later. That left him with 34 points.
Aldred wanted to increase the level of his sword art, but before he used his points, he decided to read the books more. Surprisingly, the skill did not increase in level, though reading the book further improved his comprehension.
'Seems like I have to use my points.'
Aldred checked the cost, and luckily his points were enough.
He upgraded both of them to level 4.
Aldred raised his sword and activated water razor to spin around the blade. It spun like a chainsaw at the edge of the sharp side.
He looked for a target to try on, but did not find a suitable one. Because of that, he decided to pull out a low rare shield and use that as a target.
Any adventurer in the world would kill to obtain that shield, yet the boy used it as a practice target.
Mary and the others didn't mind. The shield was obtained by Aldred anyway.
The boy took a deep breath, stared at the shield, and swung his sword. "Execution Strike!"
A powerful arc came slashing at the shield along with his water razor. The shining arc came first, and it already cut the shield in half. After that, a second arc made out of thin line of water came and entered the small cut.
Bartrem widened his eyes. That was a rare grade shield! It was designed to hold against powerful attack, yet Aldred destroy it in one strike.
The boy scratched his chin. This combination could be useful. If the first skill failed to penetrate the shield or armor of the enemy, his water razor would follow it from behind.
The soldiers were amazed. Their eyes sparkled and stared at Aldred.
Then they ran at him, begging him to teach them the sword art.
Aldred smiled. "Alright, I will teach you guys."
The soldiers grabbed their swords and carefully listened to Aldred's instructions. At first, they were slow in understanding his words, but Aldred saw a skill appear in their status panel.
[Execution Strike]
In Progress: 43%
Aldred thought that it was interesting, so he continued in teaching them the techniques. After a few hours, all of them learned the skill. Mary and Mareona learned it as well.
All of them were shocked. How could they learn the skill so fast? It wasn't as quick as Aldred, but this was a rare-grade skill. It should take at least 6 months for them to learn, but they did it in a matter of hours.
They all tried the skills by using the boulders nearby as targets, creating slash marks all over them.
Though they were disappointed the skill wasn't as flashy and powerful as Aldred, they were still proud of themselves and grateful that the boy taught them.
After attacking the boulders, the soldiers decided to do a little sparring with each other. They wore their rare grade armor, and threw Execution Strike at each other.
When they got hit, they realized how powerful this skill was.
Maverick and his subordinates could only stare at them. He wasn't very close with Aldred, and he used dagger as a weapon, so learning the skill was useless for him.
Though, he wondered if the boy could teach him some dagger skills.
Suddenly, the dice tied on their waist made a click sound. It glowed and the side of the dice slid open, revealing another riddle.
Aldred read it. "It is the warmest place as long as there is embrace."
He looked at them. "What do you guys think?"
They were staring at the riddle as well. Yet, even after a few hours, they still couldn't find the answer.
"Warmest place? Embrace?" Mareona frowned. "I can't think of anything."
Aldred was scratching his chin when he saw a shadow zipped in the distance. He raised an eyebrow.
'Was it my imagination?'
Suddenly, the ground around the hot bath raised up, creating a wall that blocked their path from all directions.
Aldred looked up and saw a snow ape on top of the wall. It looked similar to a silver back ape, but much larger.
Slowly, more of them came until they numbered in the dozens.
"ARMS!" Bartrem shouted, brandishing his rare grade sword. He also grabbed a powerful shield.
He ordered the soldiers to group up and create a circle formation. They put Aldred in the middle.
He summoned his undead. All 183 of them. 127 Silver Ranks, 50 Gold Ranks snow wolves, and 6 Elite Gold Rank who Aldred decided to be so powerful they could defeat multiple Gold Rank at once.
That included Milet, Nicky, Will, Crook, Brook, and Bella.
Aldred understood why Nicky and Will could defeat multiple Gold Ranks at the same time, but how could the rest do the same?
'They probably get stronger over time and level up in the dungeon every time I send them.'
Aldred had been sending his undead to the dungeon whenever he could to train them, though it wasn't that effective in increasing his EXP, it did make his undead more coordinated and powerful.
The ape stared at them and leaped down, raising their large fists.
"HOLD!" Bartrem roared as he raised his shield. The soldiers followed, and they all held against the rain of fists.
The place quickly became a battlefield, causing the atmosphere to change in the hot bath.
The apes weren't their only problem. The hot bath now became a really hot bath.
Temperatures raised in every second. Steam started to fog their sight, and it hinder their breathing.
Apes and humans charged at each other. One slamming fists, while the other swinging swords. The apes did not seem to have a problem with all these heat and steam.
The soldiers were having a hard time fighting them.
Aldred exited the formation and summoned his sword. Since there were monsters, he could use this to practice his sword art.
"Execution Strike!"
Aldred swiftly beheaded twelve apes at once. He then tried to attack them without skills to increase his mastery over sword.
To everyone's astonishment, Aldred did not move like a magician, instead he was like a true sword master, weaving through the apes, dodging their attack, and cutting their head.
Even with all the steam that fogged his sight, Aldred's attack was precise, and his dodging skill was impeccable.
This was possible because of his godly eyes. It told him the blind spot of the apes, and the trajectory of their attacks before they could even raise their hands.
None of the apes had the time to scream in pain. His cut was perfect. It was so perfect that even Gordon Jarsey would compliment it.
Maverick and his subordinates widened his eyes with admiration and awe. Bartrem and his soldiers were amazed, but they locked their sight on the apes.
They were soldiers. They understood that being distracted meant death.
As Aldred killed more and more apes, he looked up and realized that dozens more came from above. He also noticed that these apes only gave a tiny amount of EXP even though each ape was Gold Rank.
The boy frowned. He spun, sending out a powerful arc that cut everything in its path.
His body suddenly exploded with powerful aura and mana. It all went to the sword like a river, making the sword glow in a blinding light so bright and thick that everyone had to close their eyes.
Aldred stabbed towards the sky.
A powerful bright beam of light blasted upward. Mira was shocked. It was like seeing a god demonstrating his power.
"Sky Splitting Strike!"
His control over the skill let him avoid friendly-fire, and cleansed the apes out of existence. They all turned into dust when the beam of light washed over their bodies.
Meanwhile, the adventurers seeing this felt a tingle in their spine. They looked at the beam of light rushing towards the sky, and wondered what it was.
"Such power. Who could it be?"
"Isn't it obvious? It has to be the boy."
"Yeah, he's the most powerful one here. It has to be him."
When all the ape was cleared out, Aldred and everyone there was shocked to see that more apes came pouring.
"They never end do they?" Aldred frowned. Not only the apes were coming endlessly, the heat was also becoming much worse with the steam becoming thicker.
"I think we should solve the puzzle to make them stop coming." Bartrem beheaded an ape.
Aldred ordered his undead to attack as he grabbed his dice and read the riddle again.
"Warmest place. What can be that warmest place if there is embrace." Aldred bit his lips. But then a realization came to him.
"I know the answer."
