On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

Crackle!

Mike's body burns faster than the trees. Even after his body turns to ash, the fire still hasn't managed to completely burn the trees down.

Since the fire is no longer needed, I decided to put it out. The moment the dome is lifted, anyway, the fire will spread to the rest of the forest, which will attract too much attention; we are in the territory of Antares Kingdom, so that means death.

Asking Luxia to gather some soil, I mix it with water, turning it into mud. I then throw it at the burning trees; although it is not instantaneous, the fire is quickly put out.

"It is okay now," I mutter.

In the next moment, a thick and black gas-like substance coalesces before me. It solidifies in a matter of seconds and then assumes the form of a 10 feet tall hawk.

Teanosvera has revealed himself.

Spreading his wings, he allows the three girls who were covered by them earlier to interact with the outside world again. One of them, Millonia, immediately comes up to me as soon as Teanosvera spreads his wings.

"What was that?" she asks, lightly frowning.

"What?" I ask her back.

"We couldn't hear anything. It was so annoying paying attention to your mouth and wondering what the heck you were talking about."

I shrug nonchalantly, waving off her statement. "Not much."

Millonia hums to herself and then squints her eyes. "Were you talking about the disgusting things both of you have done together?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I look at Millonia weirdly and then knock her forehead lightly.

"Well, you know… I already know where you came from and your feud with the Heroes, so… I mean, there is no need to hide it, isn't there?"

I hum lightly as I look at her, causing her to be slightly uncomfortable. Maybe, she is still bothered by what happened two days ago; she is faintly blushing as she dodges my gaze.

"I ranted and said a bunch of stupid shits during the fight. I am fine being seen as hideous, but I don't want to be seen as a whiny loser," I explain. "What I did earlier wasn't cool. I was complaining about my self-inflicted suffering and blaming it on someone else."

Millonia looks slightly taken aback by what I said and I smile at it faintly. "I am self-aware, you know. I just don't want to let you know how pathetic I was in the past and how much of that pathetic side of me remains."

Scratching the back of her head uncomfortably, Millonia looks at me in regret. "Idiot… you could have just said that you didn't want the other two to know of your past."

"Was that the answer that the Millonia wanted?" I smirk.

"No…" she sighs. Looking at me with a soft smile in the next moment, she punches my chest lightly. "Well, just know that you are not doing the wrong thing. Don't ever question yourself."

The other two girls just watch our interaction silently. They don't get what happens, so they look at Millonia in curiosity, probably hoping she will tell them what is the matter.

I turn to Teanosvera and ask, "Are we surrounded?"

With a surprised look, he asks, "May I know how you know, Master?"

"It has been slightly more than an hour, after all—the Knights must be wondering where their Hero is. They are competent enough from what I can tell, so finding your rather straightforward dome won't be a hard job for them."

Teanosvera looks at me silently, probably wondering why I know the way the Knights think. "That is impressive, Master. I never thought you would consider such a possibility," he remarks afterwards.

Given the confirmation, I turn to the girls who are talking to each other. I expected them to talk about mundane things, but they are talking about fighting techniques, much to my pleasant surprise.

"Rather than talk about it, why don't you just practice it?" I say, making the girl turn their heads at me. "There are people waiting for us outside."

"The Knights, huh?" Millonia remarks. "They are quite intrusive, aren't they? They seemed to know that their Hero was about to 'have fun' but still decided to look for him."

"U-Uh… The Knights? I don't think it is wise to let amateurs fight Knights," Lunea says nervously.

"It is fine. There are only ten of them." I turn to Teanosvera for confirmation and he gives me a nod. "I believe the backup is on their way, though, so I suggest you end the fight quickly."

"A-Are we really going to do it?" Winerva, this time, chimes in.

"Why are you chickening out?" Millonia grins. "Lady Valeria has given me a lot of supreme quality healing potions. They will be able to reattach your cut limbs easily!"

As expected of Millonia, she is the craziest among the girls but also the readiest.

"Very well," I nod my head, "the battle will start as soon as the dome is lifted. Keep calm and pay attention to your enemy's movements."

Motioning at Teanosvera to lift the dome, I say, "This is your debut as sidekicks, so make sure to do your best. You will be known worldwide after this, so don't do anything stupid, unless, you want an embarrassing moniker."

The moment the dome is lifted, I wear my mask back. The Knights are slightly flustered at how quick the dome disappeared, but then immediately became alerted by our presence.

"W-Who are you?! Princess, where is Lord Mike?!"

As the drama unfolds, Teanosvera reassumes his small crow form and then perches on my shoulder. Ignoring the gaze that the Knights put on me, I walk to a nearby tree and lean on it.

For some reason, the place became silent. Instead of minding the three girls who are going to kill them, the Knights are focused on me.

Sighing lightly, I take the rapier that Mike wielded out of my Spatial Storage. I twirl it in my hand and then show it off to them as I hold it in a vice grip.

"Are you looking for the owner of this Relic? He is taking a break from this world. He looked burned out in my opinion," I say nonchalantly as I motion at Mike's ash.

"T-That is… that is Lord Mike's! Y-You, what have you done—Demon!"

"What is such a vile creature doing here?!"

I can't help blinking my eyes at the reaction of the Knights. They react the same way the humans who had seen me did, but they realized the fact that I am a Demon so late that it makes me wonder if they are really Knights.

Turning my head to the girls, I motion for them to begin the fight. Of course, the excitedly grinning Millonia is the first one to dive in; the rest of them are still looking at me as if they are asking if I am serious.

"They may lose their lives, Master. Those Knights are not their match," Teanosvera warns.

"What matters most in everything is experience. A businessman who goes bankrupt will still be able to get rich again with the experience he has, meanwhile, a nobody who turns rich will lose his money due to his lack of experience in managing it."

Clank!

I smirk as Millonia blasts a Knight away.

"Power can be obtained instantaneously, but not with the experience. That is the kind of world we are living in, Teanosvera: there are many ways to increase your power but not your experience. That is why Heroes are fearsome, no?"

"They gather 'Experience,' huh? I never thought of that term that way," Teanosvera mutters. "Well, that is unfair."

"Not really," I retort. "As broken as it may sound, the System will only give them a boost in the beginning only to put a limitation on them in the end. Because of that, Heroes are not invincible; in fact, they are quite fragile in my opinion."

Boom!

Lunea has just blasted a Knight away with an oversized fireball and I can't help blinking my eyes in surprise. I know that she can learn everything quickly, but I never expected her to be able to master a Middle-Grade Spell that quick.

"Her Mana Pool is the only thing holding her back it seems," Teanosvera remarks as we see Lunea panting heavily. "With her comprehension ability, I believe she will already master all of the High-Grade Spells when she is twenty."

"Wait, she is not twenty yet?" I ask in surprise.

"Judging from her bone density, she is still 18 years old, but I think there is a better thing you should be surprised at, Master," Teanosvera replies in amusement.

"Yeah, being able to learn High-Grade Spells in two years is quick—I know." I wave my hand nonchalantly. "Is that awesome though? I have learned every Spell this World's Mages cast in a month anyway."

I am not playing with Teanosvera. Valeria told me the Spells that every Mage in this world casts are basic Spells, so she had let me learn all of them in a month.

Although I couldn't cast almost half of them after learning them due to my lacking Mana, I didn't think much of it until I figured out the truth.

By the time I know that Valeria's common Spell is the Spell everyone uses meanwhile her advanced Spell is the Ancient Demonic Spell, though, I was not surprised. I had learned some of the Ancient Demonic Spells by that point and I agreed with her.

"…"

As Teanosvera looks at me with widened eyes, Luxia chortles, quite loudly if I may add. "Ku-Ha-Ha! Despite knowing that he is abnormal, you didn't expect that? It seems you are not as knowledgeable as you think, Teanosvera!"

After those words are uttered, Luxia and Teanosvera talk among themselves, arguing and bantering like siblings. I let them have their time and watch the fight to anticipate if things go south.