In the Serpent caverns.

‘I am here.’

Even though Leo muttered those words in a barely audible voice, Julia could hear them.

The current moment made her remember something from the past as tears rolled down her cheeks as she laid her head on Leo’s chest.

For some reason, she didn’t feel uncomfortable; she felt warm in her heart as he thought about her Brother Toby.

“Burn to ashes…combustion.”

A cloak appeared out of nowhere as Leo wrapped it around him before using one of his talents.

‘Swoosh’

‘Sizzle’

A vast fire wave came out of Leo’s body as it burned all the sapphire snakes rushing towards him, leaving behind only sapphire beads on the ground._-.

‘I am glad nothing happened to you.’

After clearing the sapphire snakes, Leo unwrapped his cloak and looked at the young woman in his embrace with an affectionate look on his face.

Leo heaved a sigh of relief that he was able to come at the right time to save Julia.

If those who knew him saw that look in his eyes, they would be surprised for sure because he rarely had that look on his eyes.

‘Ahem’

Seeing that Julia didn’t intend to come out of his embrace, Leo cleared his throat, making her hurriedly come out of his embrace.

“Sorry…sorry, sir. And, thank you for saving me.”

Julia hurriedly apologized to Leo, and at the same time, she thanked him.

“In return for saving you, just collect all these sapphire beads and sell them at a good price.”

The affectionate look in Leo’s eyes from earlier disappeared as he asked Julia to collect the sapphire beads lying on the ground.

“Yes, sir.”

Julia was taken back for a moment; however, when she thought about the line ‘Nothing is free in this world’, Julia hurriedly nodded her head.

‘He is not Brother Toby.’

Even though Julia felt some connection with Leo after recalling a similar event from the past, she was sure that he was not her ‘Brother Toby’ because her Brother Toby had failed his awakening.

Hiss~

As Julia felt that she was finally saved, the familiar hissing sound from the giant serpent resounded from the depths of the Serpent caverns.

“Sir, let’s run away from here. There is a rank 6 mutated snake in these caverns.”

Just remembering the rank 6 mutated snake made Julia shiver as she urged Leo to escape from the cavern.

“A rank 6 mutated snake?”

Leo raised his brows for a moment as he thought, ‘There is a rank 6 mutated beast this close to the city?’

According to the rules and regulations of any city in this new world, there should not be any rank 6 mutated beasts within a 10-kilometer radius of the city.

However, these so-called Serpent caverns were only five kilometers away from the outer city.

‘The outer wall of the city has not been repaired or upgraded in the last 10 years.’

‘A rank 6 mutated beast within a five-kilometer radius of the city.’

‘Unavailability of the rescue teams.’

Leo muttered the faults of the Phirie city, which he noticed even before entering the city in a single go, and continued thinking, ‘I wonder how messed up the city is from inside.’

“Sir?”

Julia took a couple of steps towards the exit; however, she anxiously called him, seeing that Leo was not moving from his place.

She could tell that the young man was a powerful hero; however, Leo was just a young man in his early twenties, no matter how powerful he was.

“Just stand aside. I will take care of it.”

Coming out of his thoughts, Leo asked Julia to stand aside and waited for the rank 6 mutated serpent to show itself.

‘To defeat a rank 6 mutated beast, a human needs at least rank 6 attack type talent. Even with it, it is very hard to tell the outcome of the fight. However, this young man is too young to have a rank 6 talent.’

When she heard Leo’s words, she was shocked; however, judging from Leo’s age, she was not entirely convinced that Leo had the power to subdue a rank 6 mutated beast.

Hiss~

Soon, the rank 6 mutated serpent came out of the depths of the caverns and blocked the exit.

Hiss~

Seeing the sapphire beads on the ground, it became furious and hissed at Leo before lunging at him without wasting any time.

“To start a new beginning in the Phirie city, I need some credits. Looks like you are the heaven-sent opportunity for me.”

Leo didn’t show any emotions on his face as he calmly said to the Sapphire snake that was lunging at him.

‘Swoosh’

Of course, he didn’t forget to dodge its attack at the same time.

“Arcane silver.”

As soon as he said those words, a silver-coloured sword with mysterious runes engraved on it appeared in Leo’s hand.

‘Slash’

Leo chopped off the rank 6 mutated snake’s head with a casual slash as though he was slicing through a jelly.

‘What?’

Looking at the scene in front of her, Julia looked at Leo with her eyes wide open.

‘Only an advanced hero can kill a rank 6 mutated beast in a single strike. But, he is too young to be an advanced hero.’

Julia rubbed her eyes as she looked at Leo in a new light.