Anahita frowned slightly, confusion in her eyes.
"Why? You just used it perfectly…"
Lioran lifted the orc's sword and held it up in front of his eyes.
But the blade… was gone.
It had completely shattered.
Fragments of metal crumbled like dust, falling to the ground—leaving only the hilt in his hand.
He let it drop and stared at it for a moment.
"I can't use that technique with ordinary swords."
Now understanding, Anahita nodded slowly.
"You're right… you'll need a sword that can withstand that kind of insane force."
Lioran already knew that finding such a weapon here would be nearly impossible.
He let out a quiet sigh.
"I don't think something like that exists in this little village…"
Then he looked up at the sky.
The sun had reached the edge of the horizon. Sunset was close.
It was getting late.
"Let's go. We shouldn't keep my mom waiting."
He said it and prepared to leave.
Anahita floated toward him, excitement shining in her eyes.
"Yay! Finally, it's time for my celebration! Tonight, I'm having a huge feast—cake… meat… wine… yeah, lots of wine… I'm eating and drinking until morning!"
Still sounding cheerful, she slipped back into Lioran's body.
"Hurry up and start flying already… it's late!"
Lioran's feet lifted from the ground as he slowly rose into the sky. As he took off, he said:
"Alright… alright… but it's my body, so don't eat too much, or my stomach's going to burst."
Anahita's voice immediately exploded with anger:
"Shut up, you idiot! You said I could eat whatever I wanted! You got that technique and aura because of me—did you forget already?! Ungrateful brat!"
Lioran knew perfectly well that Anahita had done something significant and deserved a proper celebration. He let out a quiet sigh and gave up arguing.
"Fine… just this once, you can eat whatever you want."
Anahita snapped back sharply:
"You bastard. The way you say 'eat whatever you want' makes it sound like you're giving me charity."
"Then shut up, or you won't even get that," Lioran replied, irritation creeping into his voice.
And just like always, their argument continued as they flew through the sky toward their village.
....
Lioran had been flying toward his village for about half an hour. The sun had completely set, and the orange glow of the last moments of day was slowly giving way to the calm darkness of night. The air had grown slightly cooler, and the wind made Lioran's long red hair dance in the sky.
His gaze remained fixed ahead, while his mind was still occupied with the new technique he had obtained.
Suddenly, Anahita's voice echoed in his mind.
"Are you really going home like that?"
Lioran, not understanding what she meant at first, replied with slight confusion,
"Yeah. Why?"
Anahita let out a short laugh.
"If you go home looking like that, I guarantee your mom's going to mistake you for a thief and smack you with a broom."
Lioran paused for a moment. Then, as if finally realizing what she meant, he gave a slight nod.
"You're right… She wouldn't recognize me like this."
Still flying through the sky, his body began to change.
His long red hair gradually darkened until it turned completely black. The color of his cold eyes shifted as well—his right eye turning deep red, while his left became a clear sky blue.
His height shortened slightly, and his build softened, making him appear younger.
In a calm voice—clearly different from before—he said:
"I was so focused on that new technique… I forgot to deactivate my Shapeshifting skill."
Lioran had changed from a red-haired man in his thirties into a young man of around seventeen.
To keep his mother from discovering that he secretly hunted monsters, Lioran always used his Shapeshifting skill—a skill that changed not only his appearance, but also his voice, his clothes, and even the very presence he gave off.
Anahita, who had witnessed the Mad Demon's sword technique and the demonic aura, understood well why his mind was so occupied with them.
"I know… I was thinking about it myself just a few minutes ago. You don't see power like that every day."
No sooner had Anahita finished speaking than Lioran's short, cold voice cut through the air again.
"Smoke…"
"Smoke? What do you mean?"
Anahita asked, confused.
Lioran slowed down. He raised his hand and pointed straight ahead with his index finger. His gaze was sharp and fixed.
"There… right in front of us. A huge column of smoke…"
Anahita, still within her dark inner world, followed the direction of Lioran's finger with confusion.
On the darkened horizon of the night, a massive pillar of black smoke rose into the sky, spreading with the wind. The color of the smoke was unnatural—thick, heavy, and unsettling.
Anahita's eyes widened suddenly. Alarm flashing across her face, she slipped out of Lioran's body and hovered in the air.
"There… that's our village…"
Hearing those words, Lioran froze midair, as if something invisible had struck him. His heart began to pound.
He looked at Anahita, his voice cold:
"Our village?"
Without taking her eyes off the distant smoke, Anahita answered quickly, worry filling her voice:
"Yes—I'm sure. That's our village. We have to hurry… maybe it's a fire… maybe we're under attack. We have to go—we have to help your mother and Mari—"
Out of everything she said, only one word truly reached him.
"Your mother."
He didn't hesitate for even a moment.
He kicked the air hard and shot forward toward the village with fierce, relentless speed, as if something had hurled him from behind.
Anahita hurried after him.
Within the darkness, Lioran spoke silently in his mind.
'Mom… I'm coming…Wait for me…
please be safe… I'm almost there…'
Lioran was far too worried—not in a way that could be heard, but in a way that could be seen.
The coldness of his voice hadn't changed, and his eyes were still just as cold and emotionless. Yet his body had already decided before his mind—to reach his mother as fast as possible.
The closer Lioran got to the pillar of smoke, the more immense it appeared.
The smoke clawed into the sky like a boundless black column, growing wider with every passing moment.
He muttered in surprise,
"What kind of massive smoke is this…? Did the entire forest burn down…?"
He hadn't even finished the sentence when he reached the source of the smoke.
Lioran suddenly stopped in the sky.
His cold eyes widened in disbelief, and his heart pounded wildly in his chest—heavy, uneven beats, as if it were trying to tear its way out.
What had burned was not the entire forest.
It was the village.
The place where houses, voices, and life had once existed had turned into a sea of fire.
Not a single house was still standing.
Not a single sound of a living creature could be heard.
Only enormous flames roaring around what had once been Lioran's village,
and thick smoke rising into the sky with the crackling and thunderous roar of the fire.
For the first time, a faint tremor entered Lioran's voice as he whispered,
"What… what happened here…?"
Anahita stared at the fire.
Her eyes were wide with shock and disbelief, and for a few moments it seemed as if she had even forgotten how to breathe.
At last, with a voice filled with worry, she whispered,
"Lioran… here… here was our village…"
Lioran snapped back to himself.
The usual coldness returned to his eyes, and without even a moment's hesitation, he kicked the air and rushed toward the flames.
His loud, cold voice echoed through the roaring fire.
"Mom… where are you, Mom…? Can you hear me…? It's me, Lioran… where are you, Mom…? Answer me…!"
Hearing his voice, Anahita's heart sank, and she immediately hurried after him in alarm.
Lioran had not even reached a hundred meters from the wall of fire when a suffocating wave of heat slammed into his body.
The air burned. Breathing became difficult.
But he didn't pause for even a second.
He pushed forward again and shouted,
"Mom… Mom, where are you…? Can you hear me…? Please answer me, Mom… it's me, Lioran…"
Eighty meters…
Seventy meters…
Sixty meters…
The closer he got, the more savage the heat became.
When he reached fifty meters, even with the Iron Body skill, his body could no longer endure it.
The skin on his hands and face began to burn, and his clothes slowly started turning black.
But Lioran didn't stop.
"Mom… please answer me… where are you…?"
He paid no attention to the burns.
Not to the pain.
Not to the smell of burning flesh.
Not to the clothes slowly catching fire.
The heat had become so intense that an ordinary human wouldn't be able to stand there for even a moment.
Lioran's shirt burst into flames. The burns on his hands and face deepened.
But it was as if he couldn't feel the pain at all.
His entire mind was focused on only one thing:
Finding his mother.
Anahita caught up to him from behind.
When she saw Lioran's burned face and his half-charred clothes, her heart sank. She shouted anxiously,
"Have you lost your mind, Lioran?! Stay right there! If you go any further, you'll burn too!"
Lioran suddenly stopped.
His voice was still cold, but a hidden tremor ran through it.
"But… my mom… where is she? I'm afraid she might not have left the house… maybe she's still waiting for me… I have to go to her…"
Anahita kept her gaze on Lioran's burned face.
The wounds were healing under the effect of his Rapid Regeneration skill, but the flames burned them again almost immediately—
a cruel, endless cycle.
She looked into Lioran's cold, exhausted eyes.
If anyone else had been there, seeing that expression and hearing his emotionless voice, they might have thought he didn't care about his mother at all.
But Anahita knew that wasn't true.
She had lived with Lioran for a long time and understood him better than anyone.
With a calmer but serious tone, she said,
"You go back. I'll go ahead and check what's going on… alright?"
For a moment, Lioran said nothing.
Then he slowly nodded.
"Alright… please hurry…"
He stepped back a few paces—far enough that the flames no longer burned him directly.