The Will to Live Is My Strongest Skill

Several giant tornadoes ripped through the crags with a dull roar, while the air pressure plummeted with every passing second.

Transparent air swords and crescent blades began materializing around Noah straight out of the hurricane-force stream. They swirled in the air and shot directly at him at breakneck speed.

SW-O-O-OSH!

Noah reacted instantly, dodging the incoming blades. To keep the hurricane wind from tearing him off the mountain, he dug the fingers of his free hand and his sword blade into the granite ledges at every step. Ice grit blasted his face, but Noah kept forcing his way forward.

But in a fraction of a second, the stone ledge beneath his fingers gave way and crumbled into fine dust. A powerful gust of wind ripped Noah off the cliffside and sucked him straight into a giant tornado.

Noah spun uncontrollably through the air amidst the flying rock debris. Even while losing all spatial orientation, he kept an iron grip on his hilt, parrying the stray air blades with quick, short swings.

Suddenly, through the chaos of dust and stones, Noah saw a massive boulder hurtling straight toward him. The stone mass was practically touching his forehead.

At the absolute last moment, Noah contorted his entire body, flipped in mid-air, and planted his feet hard onto the surface of the airborne rock. Without wasting a split second, he pushed off with both legs.

The boulder plummeted downward, while Noah, breaking free from the pulling vortex, hurtled straight toward the Air Serpent at terrifying speed.

Spotting Noah's approach, the serpent opened its maw wide, gathering a concentrated stream.

Noah grimaced slightly. Tensing his muscles, he instantly pumped blood into his right arm and cleaved the air before him.

His slash and the serpent's wind stream collided in mid-air, neutralizing each other.

Noah kept flying on momentum directly toward the monster, already pulling back his sword for another strike. But another tornado materialized out of the hurricane haze right in front of him. Noah tried to veer sharply aside, but the dense vortex was faster—it violently sucked him inside once again.

Once again, he was spinning inside a roaring cyclone, trying to regain control over his body. The air current spun him, completely disorienting him.

Think, think! flashed through his head as he tried to find purchase or at least steady his balance.

Just then, through the veil of snow and stone dust, the massive maw of the Air Serpent lunged at him. The beast intended to devour him right out of the air. Noah quickly spotted the danger, extended his blade, and attempted a thrust, but it failed. The serpent nimbly dodged the attack and ended up behind Noah.

Noah tried to pivot to face it, but the insane power of the hurricane worked against him—the updraft swept under him and flipped him onto his back. Capitalizing on this, the Serpent instantly unleashed another concentrated wind blast. The brutal hit slammed Noah squarely into the hard rock.

Even while in free fall with his back to the monster, Noah managed to deflect several razor-sharp air swords flying after him. A few still grazed his body, leaving gashes, but the wounds instantly sealed up thanks to his regeneration.

Noah sprang to his feet immediately. Iron's words echoed in his memory:

"Become unpredictable."

The memory irritated him, yet a grin crept onto his face. He looked around—dozens of new transparent swords materialized directly around him, forming a tight ring.

Without wasting time, Noah channeled all his blood into his right arm once more and delivered a single, powerful sweeping slash. The strike cut through most of the air weapons, shattering them into faint currents. However, one of the swords slipped past his defense and impaled his right arm clean through—right between the elbow and shoulder.

Noah winced from the searing pain. The tornado was beginning to drag him back in, and the Air Serpent was already coiling for another strike.

Noah took a deep breath. Grabbing the transparent sword protruding from his shoulder with his left hand, he yanked it from his own flesh in one sharp motion. Blood spurted from the wound, but it took only a few moments for the tissue to seal and begin its slow recovery.

Shifting his grip on the extracted blade, Noah put all his strength into the throw and hurled it straight at the monster. The Serpent attempted to absorb its own magic, but the momentum of the throw was far too great. The transparent blade punched clean through the wind barrier and embedded itself right into the Serpent's neck.

In a fraction of a second, Noah was standing directly on the hilt of that embedded sword, planting his foot to use it as a foothold above the abyss. Pumping blood into his right arm once again, he drew back his blade and struck at the creature's throat.

The blade sliced through the dense scales and bit deep into the flesh, but got stuck, having severed only half the neck.

The Serpent shrieked wildly in pain and spewed chaotic currents of air in all directions. Noah instantly hooked his sword into the scales on its back and slid rapidly down toward the tail. The monster thrashed and twitched frantically, desperate to shake Noah off. At one point, Noah was torn away from the beast's back, and his own sword snapped in half with a loud crack under the strain.

The broken half of the blade remained in the Serpent's wound, while Noah, gripping the hilt with the remaining shard, landed heavily onto a stone plateau under the force of the hurricane gusts.

He slowly rose to his feet and looked up at the mangled, thrashing monster, whose wind barrier was now pulsing chaotically.

"So even you can't control yourself," Noah said quietly.

At that exact moment, Noah's right arm finished fully regenerating. They froze, staring each other down.

Suddenly, the roaring storm around them died down. All the tornadoes that had been ripping through the mountains instantly subsided and vanished completely, leaving only silence in their wake.

In the next instant, a dark gray sphere formed around the serpent and began expanding rapidly. Noah instantly sensed the lethal danger of this phenomenon and darted behind the nearest massive rock outcrop.

The sphere detonated in all directions with a thunderous roar, sweeping across the entire ridge like a cubic shockwave. The ice cave completely collapsed, and neighboring mountains fractured with deep cracks. A powerful blast of wind blew Noah out from behind his shelter and slammed him face-first into the ground.

Struggling back up, Noah felt utterly exhausted. The monster was at its limit, too. Spotting a giant boulder nearby, Noah sheared off its awkward edges with a precise hit, got a better grip on the stone with both hands, and hurled it at the serpent with everything he had.

The stone flew at blinding speed, but ground to a halt right before the beast, stopping against a dense protective layer of air.

And right behind that boulder appeared Noah himself. Pushing off the cliff face behind him, he charged in right behind the launched rock at top speed, clutching the broken remnant of his sword.

The Serpent was trying to regenerate its wounds and unleashed hundreds of air slashes to meet him. Noah flooded blood into his right arm and made one fluid swing.

Upon colliding with the opposing forces, the boulder instantly shattered into thousands of tiny fragments. Noah's slash completely overwhelmed the serpent's wind attack, shattered the protective barrier with a web of cracks, and ripped straight through the monster's trunk.

The gray serpent was sliced cleanly into seven pieces. The residual momentum of the strike traveled onward, carving a deep gash into a distant cliff.

The monster's remains collapsed onto the ground with a dull thud. Noah landed nearby, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and smiled with weary satisfaction.

Forty minutes later, the castle's massive doors swung open once again. King Andres personally escorted Iron all the way to the doors leading to the courtyard, chatting with him animatedly.

"Thank you, I really learned quite a lot," Iron said, stopping at the threshold and adjusting his clothes with a polite smile.

"Not at all, Mister Everfall," Andres replied, coming out of his thoughts. "It is I who learned far more. And I sincerely hope your first shipment of technology arrives very soon."

"Yes, of course," Iron nodded in an even tone. "Everything will arrive any day now."

Bidding farewell to the ruler, he walked unhurriedly across the courtyard toward the castle's central gates. Right at the exit, Iron turned back for a second and spotted the guard. Pausing briefly, the engineer waved at him with a broad grin:

"See ya."

The guard merely clenched his jaw harder and measured him with a heavy stare, remaining where he stood without answering.

Iron turned around and stepped onto the bustling, crowded streets of the kingdom. He walked past rows of shops, admiring the local architecture, and let out a quiet, barely audible sigh:

"Well, that's all the business I have with this place. Just about three more to visit..." He paused, shook his head, and added, "Or maybe even more."

A short while later, Iron was passing by the massive Hunters' Guild building. At that exact moment, the heavy oak doors swung open, and Noah stepped out onto the porch. In his hands was a leather pouch that clinked with every step.

"Noah!" Iron called out, coming to a stop.

Noah turned his head at the sound. Iron approached and sized him up with curiosity:

"What are you doing here?"

"Came to find strong opponents," Noah answered calmly.

"So this is the place you wanted to visit?" Iron chuckled. "If you'd told me beforehand, I could've just teleported you."

"I'd rather get some physical exercise anyway," Noah said plainly.

Iron shifted his gaze to the pouch:

"And what's that?"

"Coins, I guess." Noah handed it over to the engineer. "You probably need them more than I do."

Iron took the pouch, loosened the drawstring slightly, and peeked inside: coins made of bluish metal gleamed with a soft luster.

"So what are you planning to do next?" Iron asked, pocketing the pouch.

Instead of answering, Noah pulled another quest flyer from his pocket and unfolded it. Depicted on the parchment was a three-legged monster with a long, whip-like tail and dense spikes covering its entire back. Printed above was the creature's name—Greed—with an S+ rank tag glowing beside it.

Iron skimmed the text briefly and handed the sheet back:

"Seems like the first one was probably the weakest..."

"Who knows, most likely," Noah agreed, tucking the flyer away. "What about you? What were you doing in the castle?"

They strolled slowly together past the market stalls. Iron spoke thoughtfully:

"Yeah, I needed to talk to King Andres. I wanted to learn more about Edriac, Olgerd, and Valdes."

"Oh? What did you end up finding out?" Noah looked at him with interest.

"Andres said that he, Olgerd, and Valdes used to be really close friends. But then those two got involved with some weird guy, changed drastically, turned violent, and cut all ties. Later, a major conflict broke out—Olgerd betrayed Andres and screwed him out of massive resources. It nearly led to war, but Yan stopped it just in time. As for that strange man, Andres doesn't really know much himself—just vague rumors from his subordinates. But all this information cost me pretty dearly..."

"In what sense?" Noah asked.

"Well, now the Kingdom of Nellis considers us official allies. I promised to supply them with our new technology, and they plan to resell it to other lands."

Noah stopped, giving Iron a deadpan look:

"Idiot."

"Why an idiot right away? We just won't supply them with anything, and that's it."

"I don't get where all your genius vanished to," Noah shook his head.

"Don't stress over it," the engineer gestured dismissively. "I didn't even give them the name of our kingdom. Though our place can barely be called a city right now. The bug prototype I gave the king will break down in a couple of days anyway. The only issue is that he remembers my face. But I'm pretty sure this is the first and last time he'll ever see me. Besides, if they decide to wage war, they have zero resources. And if push comes to shove, I'll just send you over alone to handle it."

"Fine," Noah agreed easily.

Iron looked at Noah once more and, after brief consideration, said:

"You should get some clothes... and a sword."

"I know. That's why I wanted to head to a shop on the way," Noah said calmly.

"Then let me give you..."

"Nah, I have a few coins. Should be enough," Noah cut him off.

"Alright then, time for me to head to the next kingdom."

"Yeah, see ya."

Iron snapped his fingers cleanly. The space around him instantly compressed, and in the next second, the engineer vanished.

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