Eliam stared at his status screen like a soulless husk.

  Stat points available: 1

  Eliam Edward

  Level: 52

  HP: 370/370

  MP: 70/70

  Life: 27 (37)

  Mind: 14 (17)

  Endurance: 12 (15)

  Strength: 3

  Dexterity: 30 (37)

  Intelligence: 3

  Equipment:

  Ring of the True Hero→A ring of a forgotten time. +25% dexterity, +25% intelligence.

  Amulet of the Hero→Forged by the blood, sweat, and tears of a fallen hero. +25% mind, +25% endurance.

  Frostlight Katana Level 1→ Instantly freezes all who dare to touch it, besides a chosen few. Absorbs the essence of evil to upgrade. 50 dexterity damage, 50 intelligence damage are added with both dexterity and intelligence.

  Blink→ Teleports across the battlefield to reach your enemies.

  MP Cost→50

  Unsheathe→Instantaneously unsheathe the blade for a devastating blow that does 100% more damage.

  MP Cost→ 100

  Frostbite→Send out waves of frost that deal purely intelligence damage.

  MP Cost→ 50

  Cold Berserk→+100% intelligence, +100% endurance, +100% dexterity, +100% life

  MP cost→25 MP/s

  Unholy Cloak→ +10 life, -10 damage intake.

  Unseen→Temporarily makes the user invisible while out of combat.

  MP cost→25

  Aura:

  Razor Sharp→Air itself is sharpened, damaging foes and projectiles around you. Bypasses defense.

  It felt wrong to get stronger off that encounter. Not after Eric gave up his life like that. Not after the horror Eliam had just witnessed.

  The third and final elf Eric had come with had been crouched up against a wall in one of the cell rooms the harpies used. At first, Eliam believed the elf to still be alive, so he ran up to him immediately. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

  Upon closer inspection, Eliam could tell that Samuel was pale and still. When he grabbed his shoulder to shake him awake, he noticed a large gash along his neck. There was a large patch of stained blood all over him, clearly having leaked from that wound.

  After ensuring there were no signs of life, Eliam sighed and backed away. He had once again been incredibly lucky. Somehow, out of all the people who had been condemned to this place, he had been the only one to make it out alive.

  After that, he ended up wandering around the harpy's den. Many of them had scattered after the Harpy Mother had died. The few that hadn’t didn’t bother to attack Eliam as they likely knew the result would not be in their favor.

  Eventually, Eliam was able to find an exit and wound up back in the forest. It was there that he had slumped up against some tree and checked out his status. It was looking better than ever, which was odd since Eliam felt the worse he had in his entire life.

  He tried to convince himself that it wouldn’t matter. That when he died, he would come back, and it would be like none of it ever happened. Yet, he couldn’t get the screams out of his head or the look Nemina gave him when she was begging for death. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to look her in the eyes again.

  He closed his status, leaving his stat point unassigned. He had half a mind to reset here and never entertain this world, but he couldn’t. Not after Eric had sacrificed himself so that Eliam could live.

  Eliam stared up at the sky, mostly blocked by the trees. It was daytime, but Eliam had no way to tell how long that would last. This forest may have been inhabited by the harpies, but that didn’t mean they were the only ones living in it.

  He picked himself up from the base of the tree, Frostlight in hand, and wandered off in some random direction. He had no idea where he was and no way to navigate the forest.

  As he walked, he heard various noises. Some were just brushing while others were less subtle. In the end, nothing decided to attack him, so he simply ignored them and continued.

  Hours passed as he walked aimlessly. He didn’t intend on dying, but he also didn’t intend on wandering the forest for days on end.

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  He noticed that the sun was about to start going down, and he sighed. A few more shuffles sounded around him as he narrowed his eyes. His hand instinctively gripped Frostlight’s sheathe.

  Chittering sounded out from all around him as he glanced around, trying to find the source of the noise. It was pointless since it seemed whatever the creatures were that was causing it were hidden.

  Eliam had a bad feeling that once the sun went down, the creatures would attack without hesitation.

  He began to sprint through the forest in an instant, attempting to lose whatever was chasing him but catching them off guard. The chittering noise immediately silenced, yet he felt as if he were still being watched.

  The sun's light was moments away from waning out, and Eliam was still in a particularly bad situation. He quickly found a small clearing and pulled out Frost Light with a flash.

  As the light began to dim, the first creature stepped out. It was a small green humanoid. It looked sickly, as if it hadn’t eaten in days. There were strips of cloth wrapped around some of its body, although it didn’t look like it did much to cover it up. It was a goblin.

  In its hands was a small club. By itself, Eliam knew he could easily take it. However, he damn well knew that wasn’t the only one. Eliam wouldn’t have been surprised if there were dozens of these bastards surrounding him.

  The goblin smiled at him, its teeth sharp and vicious. The hand that held its club was twitching as if waiting for the right moment.

  Eliam didn’t lose focus. It may not have looked it, but he was fully ready for anything at this point.

  The goblin’s eye twitched, and that was all Eliam needed to know. He stabbed the goblin behind him as a horde of them began to swarm. He knew they were semi-intelligent creatures, so it was unlikely they would all attack at once since that would end up with them injured as well.

  He dodged a strike from one of the clubs and sliced another goblin’s head off. Frostlight cut through the goblins like butter. They clearly weren’t very high leveled.

  As soon as Eliam eviscerated nearly ten of them, they began to hiss at him and back off. Eliam would not let them.

  They screamed in rage as he ran them down and sliced their bodies into bits. They stood no chance against him. They had decided to attack him without understanding the danger they were putting themselves against.

  The final goblin was struggling to stay standing. It was afraid of him. Eliam closed the distance between it in a flash and held Frostlight up as if he were about to swing.

  The goblin whimpered in fear, slowly backing away, tears gushing out of its eyes. A few moments passed, and Eliam sighed, slowly lowering his weapon.

  The goblin immediately snickered and jumped on top of Eliam. It began to scratch at his face, claw at his eyes, doing anything to permanently disable him.

  Eliam growled as he threw it off and plunged Frostlight into its neck. He watched as it cried and squirmed against the blade, its life fading from its eyes. Once it died, he pulled the katana out of its body and walked away from the massacre. None of the kills had given him much essence.

  Unfortunately, it was still night and Eliam couldn’t see very well. He decided that his best course of action would be to climb up onto one of the trees and sleep. He was weary from how long he had been awake. He probably should have been completely exhausted, but his life probably affected his need for sleep in some way. Regardless, he laid himself on a thick branch and shut his eyes.

  He wasn’t sure how long he was out, just that he heard someone speaking to him.

  “Excuse me, sir? I have a question for you,” a high-pitched voice asked.

  Eliam’s eyes shot open as he gripped Frostlight’s sheath. Right in front of him was an incredibly small woman. What made it even odder was the pair of wings flapping behind her back.

  “What the hell?” he muttered. He was wondering if he was dreaming.

  “Hello? I’m speaking to you!” the voice huffed.

  By then, Eliam was widely awake. Despite this, he was still having trouble believing what he was seeing. This was strange, considering he’s come to believe a lot recently.

  “Uh, hello?” Eliam said.

  The little woman nodded. “Good. I was wondering if it was you who had killed the Harpy Mother?”

  He gave her a questioning look. Was she friends with them? He wasn’t in a good position to fight.

  “Well?” the little woman said.

  “Yes, what of it? That bitch deserved it,” Eliam growled.

  The woman smiled.” Oh, how wonderful. I do agree, She had been terrorizing Fantamaia for so long now… Our queen wanted to thank whoever was responsible.’

  “Huh?” Eliam gaped. “What?”

  The woman nodded. “And you seemed like the only individual remotely strong enough to perform such a task.”

  “Strong enough… how can you tell?” Eliam asked.

  The woman winked at him. “That’s a fairy secret.”

  Eliam rolled his eyes and hopped to his feet. Apparently, he would be venturing off to this Fantamaia place. Anyone who hated those harpy bastards as much as he did was good in his book.

  The fairy woman beamed at him and flew back to the ground.

  “I’m Lemmy, by the way!” she said.

  “Eliam,” he muttered.

  He hopped down and followed her as she traversed the forest. It wasn’t long until she stopped at a seemingly normal-looking tree.

  “We’re here!” she said.

  “Huh?” Eliam muttered. “It’s a tree.”

  Lemmy scoffed. “As if.” She waved her hand, and the tree’s shape twisted into a portal. A bluish, purple light emanated from it.

  She waved toward it and smirked, “Well, c’mon, let's go.”

  Eliam, slightly stunned from the sudden portal, shook his head and jumped inside.

  As he traversed through the portal, he felt a little nauseous. A pressure bubbled all over his body as he felt himself moving but staying still all at the same time. Moments later, he was dropped onto the ground.

  “Welcome to Fantamaia!” Lemmy said.

  Eliam stared at his surroundings. It no longer resembled anything remotely similar to Earth. The trees ' colors were completely different. The trunks were purple, while the leaves hanging off it were pink. The ground was no longer a mixture of green and brown. Instead, it was blue, almost like the seafloor.

  “Yeah, it's pretty different, huh. Welp, let’s get a move on! Can’t keep the queen waiting.” Lemmy winked.

  Eliam got to his feet and followed Lemmy as she flew through the trees. Only a few moments later did the forest open up. Before him was a large city, something comparable to one of those massive ones he had only seen in movies.

  “Hm, pretty cool, huh? This is where us fairies live… and a few other races, too. We are pretty much hidden away from everywhere else. The only other way to get here besides is fairies is a secret route along the Nircozonian Domain. Nobody wants to go through there,” Lemmy explained.

  Eliam nodded in response, still shocked at the sheer scale of what he was seeing. Apparently, Denovere was the last haven that was known. Underneath them was another.

  They walked up to the large gates that led into the city, and two guards blocked them. They were shorter men with stout faces and thick beards. They were something akin to dwarves from the stories Eliam had seen.

  “Sorry, no humans allowed,” they said.