My chest heaved up and down from the exhaustion. I had only 5% of my MP left and my body was too heavy for me to even move an inch. I fell to my knees and suffered from dizziness and blurry vision. 

“Zeref!” Jace and Allefin finally made it to my side helping me up.

“That was crazy! You’re a f*cking monster man. We couldn’t even believe that was you.” Jace gulped looking at my sorry condition. Both Allefin and JAce had witnessed the mass genocide of the unknown organisation that had attacked the camp. Bodies lay all around the destroyed camp and only the smell of dead bodies and blood could be smelt all around. 

It was like a war had just ended but the people had fought against themselves as only their bodies stained the battlefield. The deaths were in the thousands, it was truly a one sided slaughter. 

“We still need to save Ma…lia.” My eyes became drowsy from extreme tiredness, “Get my dimension rings from the warehouse where all our belongings are. Hurry.” 

“B-But Zeref. You need to rest first. You are in no condition to f-“

I glared at Jace, making him stop mid sentence. I was in no mood for sentimental talk and he knew it. Malia’s mana signature was faint but it seemed they had already reached 10 miles away from the camp and had finally stopped moving. This was the perfect moment to attack them and save them.

“O-Okay. I’ll bring them right away.” Jace looked at me one more time before sprinting off.

‘Status Menu open.’

[Status Menu]

[Name: Zeref Amara]

[Species: Tribrid (Human, Demon, True Dragon)]

[Level: 176]

[Exp: 74,000/ 147,000]

[Mana Pool: Stage 7]

[HP: 60,000]

[MP: 30,000]

[Strength: 325]

[Stamina: 325]

[Agility: 360]

[Defence/ Durability: 310]

[Intelligence: 320]

[Influence: 0] 

[Total Available Stat Points: 350]

[Weakness: Increased damage taken from Earth Magic, Nature Magic and when consuming Eggs]

[Affinity/ Perks: Lightning Magic, Fire Magic, Ice magic, Gravity magic. Dragonic Flame Magic

                          Immune to Lightning magic attacks and Mental attacks

                          Resistance against fire and ice magic by 100%

                          Profound healing

                          Heightened Senses

                          Profound strength and Profound speed

                          Flight

                          Demon Eye (Increased Perception and Visual Prowess)

                          Sixth Sense [Echo Location using mana instead of sound waves] ]

I gained several levels by massacring all those soldiers. It was good as my stats were already great but I now had a staggering 350 Stat Points left over. The best option would be to increase my body’s fortitude by increasing my stamina, Defence stat and strength. ‘Godspeed’ was my ultimate Spell and it tore my body apart every time I used it, even with the boosts of the several metamorphosis processes my body went through.

[‘Defence/ Durability’ has increased: 310 >>> 450]

[‘Stamina’ has increased: 325 >>> 400]

[‘Strength’ has increased: 325 >>> 375]

[‘Intelligence’ has increased: 320 >>> 405]

Good. A surge of power spread throughout my body and I could physically feel myself becoming sturdier. I hadn’t realised this feature before but my stats would increase with physical efforts too. When my complimentary quests were removed at level 100, My stats would naturally increase with the more I exercised my body. Running would increase the Stamina Stat whilst exercising mana would increase the Intelligence stat.

‘Status menu close.’

I had been neglecting the system for a long time as I had even forgotten it existed. 

Instead of waiting for Jace in silence and wasting time, I closed my eyes trying to rejuvenate as much energy as I could and absorbed mana at the same time.

After a couple minutes Jace finally made it back and gave me my dimension rings. The first thing I did was take out several potions. 2 to replenish my energy, 2 to rejuvenate my mana and 1 to heal any injuries I sustained. 

When I was done, I changed into better clothing. My pyjamas were ragged, filled with holes and drenched in the blood of my foes. I put on a navy blue T shirt and dark trousers, both protected by strong Earth spells to up their durabilities. 

“I need you both to go back to the city and inform Xanxus of the matter. He’ll handle it with the authorities for sure. I’m gonna chase after them and try and rescue them. They must have used a strong sedative to knock out people as strong as Malia and Miss Elena.” I said, looking up at the dark sky of the night.. 

“Okay.” Jace nodded, gulping. After the bloodbath I caused, he wasn’t going to talk back. Allefin also nodded in silence. 

I pulled out a portal from my dimension ring and threw it on the ground. Both boys jumped through the portal without hesitation. When they were gone I breathed a sigh of relief. I sat down on the cold ground and got into a lotus meditation position. Mana syphoned towards me violently, like I was a black hole. 

I sat there for several minutes until I could finally sense something coming this way from the sky. Opening my eyes, I slowly got up from my seated position and cracked my neck. 

A reddish Orange Glow pierced through the holes in the clouds, illuminating the dark night. Powerful gusts of wind pushed downwards blowing several bodies away, as Voadhailis descended down from the sky. 

A 20 metre tall, young dragon stood in front of me with a dominating presence. An Apex Predator of the Magical beast hierarchy stood in front of me and I couldn’t help but feel at awe at his breath-taking appearance. His scales were red and orange in colour whilst the tips of his spine and wings also had traces of blue and purple. 

“You grew this much in a couple of months? What have you been eating?!” I smirked, looking up at the dragon.

“Oh shut up. I had to hunt day and night to grow at this slow rate. The food here is horrible and so low in benefits. If I was in the upper realm I would have been much larger by now.” He scoffed, blowing flames out of his nostrils.

“True. The mana here is much more impure. Nevertheless, that’s not why I need you right now; I need your help in saving the others. You can change back to your chibi form right?” I smiled.

“Yeah.” 

“Oh wait. Do you have a humanoid form yet?”

“No. I still need to reach Mana Pool stage 5. That’s still 1 more stage away before I can do that and it will take a long time before I can reach that far.”

I nodded at his response.

“You can feel Malia’s mana signature right? Let’s go hunt.” My voice reverberated along with killing intent.

**

Both of us hid within the mass of trees, peering at the large fortress armed with thousands of soldiers. What the h*ll was this place?

Voadhailis had switched back to his Chibi form and rested on my shoulder, around my neck. Counting up the number of Soldiers, it was a dumb move to go in head first. There was no guarantee that whoever abducted them wouldn’t kill them or use them as hostage if they found out we were here.

So the best plan was to infiltrate the large fortress and save them before it was too late.

‘I’ll wait outside. Just give me the signal and I’ll burn this whole place down.’ Voadhailis said through our mental connection.

I nodded, activating the invisibility effect of a dark cloak that I had over my body. Immediately, my body disappeared from sight and to mask my mana pressure I used mana dampening bracelets until sensing me wasn’t possible anymore.

Voadhailis came off from my neck and flew to a branch to watch the fortress as I had already punched out from our hiding spot. I sprinted past the bridge to the fortress and silently, chopped the back of the first guard. 

It seemed luck was on my side as the guards were drowsy and unexpected to my sneak attack.