After a few days had passed with Tikka being our guide through the marsh forest, I found out that my condition of not being able to get hard had a time limit. I could not help but sigh in relief while catching up to Nel, who continued to walk behind Tikka with ease, while I would sadly be a bit tired out now and again.

  "There is one thing I have never figured out," I started while panting softly. "How does magic work in this world? I heard it, but it is nothing I have heard of before... compared to stories I know of."

  Nel glanced at me while Tikka snorted from the front.

  "Why should we answer such a stupid question from someone who has the rating of F in their magic slot? Do you even have any magic?" Tikka asked, glancing over her shoulder at me.

  "I don't know. I have no clue how to check," I countered, narrowing my eyes at Tikka, who chuckled and brought her focus forward.

  "Magic has three points to follow to activate it. Its purpose is the first word in the chant. With its purpose given, you must empower the spell with feelings... the stronger the feeling, the more potent the spell will be... and the final point is guiding the chant from your heart towards an exit point... it does not have to be a wand or staff, but they do increase accuracy."

  I listened to Nel explain while nodding in understanding.

  "So, how do you do the first point? Like, do you have a list of spells on your status or something?" I asked, a hint of hope in my tone.

  "You have a list of spell types within your mind. Just close your eyes, and words will appear. The more words that appear, the noisier your mind will be," Nel said, looking to me for a moment, then forward. "I have over a million spells within my mind space."

  "As it should be, as the right hand of the former demon king," Tikka commented with a sigh. "I have about... a bit over a thousand words for me."

  "What's the minimum?" I asked, looking between the two.

  "At least a hundred words. Hell, a kid would have half that by now," Tikka stated with a sway of her hand as if it were common knowledge.

  "And what about authors?" I asked, focusing on Tikka, who stopped.

  "A billion words for those who are aligned with magic, and at least half that if they align to physical classes," Tikka answered, looking at me now with eyes filled with curiosity. "How many do you have, punk?"

  I paused and looked to Nel, seeing she was also curious, before looking at Lilith.

  "How many do you have, Lilith?" I asked with a nervous smile.

  She closed her eyes and faced the sky before focusing on me with open eyes and a soft smile.

  "A thousand."

  "What do you expect? She's the daughter of the demon king," Nel said, glaring at me before flinching back.

  "Alright, sorry. Damn. I was just curious," I said before sighing.

  Just as Nel said, I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath to find but a single one—no, a letter. Z was all I saw within my mind, and I scratched the back of my head in confusion.

  "Is it supposed to be a full word or..." I paused and opened my eyes to see Nel and Tikka with raised brows.

  "A word... why? What did you get?" Tikka started.

  "A letter... nothing more," I said, letting my arms hang by my sides. "It's the letter..."

  I moved my lips, but no sound came out, which made Tikka glare while Nel just stared.

  "Tell us what it is! Stop being pathetic," Tikka shouted.

  "Uhhhh it's..." Again, no sound escaped my lips as Tikka was about to scream until Nel placed her hand in front of her.

  "Is it an alphabet?" Nel started as I nodded.

  "Yeah. Is your world's alphabet the same as mine?" I asked, raising my own brow.

  "No. From what I got from authors we captured a long time ago, each species has a different number of letters in its alphabet, which are formed into words. Sadly, mana uses human language to form... by the law of the one higher than all," Nel explained while looking up at the sky in disgust before turning her focus back to me.

  "What are you getting at, Nel? He should be able to tell us the letter anyway," Tikka said, looking at Nel.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "You would not understand since you have always had spells made by you..." Nel stated.

  "What is that supposed to mean? I don't own that one spell in my head?" I asked with a chuckle, to which Nel nodded slowly, causing my amusement to fade instantly. "That's a thing?!"

  "Such words are almost like a myth to casters... and just storytelling to authors since they are so powerful already," Nel paused while looking to the side. "There are instances where there are individuals who had such a spell in their mind space... our lord was one of them. That is why he was able to last so long against the authors. Single-word spells are not for casters to cast but rather... a deity that has chosen them to descend and take matters into their own hand. Such spells also have a great cost."

  I stared at Nel in amazement at the strength of the old demon king.

  "How many authors attacked the kingdom for him to be defeated? Before he summoned me?"

  "Eighty percent of their total army. And most of them were authors... which forced my lord to use his word of descent. The army that attacked was being wiped out until a single weapon broke past the deity and impaled my lord's body. He used the remaining mana from himself and the deity to summon you here," Nel finished explaining before her eyes snapped to the side while getting her weapon out.

  Even Tikka swayed her hand to cause the skulls around her neck to snap off and form a staff.

  "Quick question... those men whom my summons killed... were they authors?" I asked, looking around as I saw figures beginning to surround us.

  "No. Those were merely captains. Nothing more," Nel pointed out as three men walked out.

  One was lightly armored, the second was heavily armored, while the last wore a white robe.

  "Three captains? They must be getting desperate," Tikka sneered as she aimed her staff at the robed man.

  "Tikka, Shamaness of the swamp forest, and Nel, right hand of the former demon king," the robed man started before his eyes fell upon the girl hugging Nel tightly in fear.

  "And the daughter of the demon king, too? We hit the jackpot," the heavily armored man said, pulling out a flail.

  "It will not be easy. It would take an author to take down Nel. As for the Shamaness, it's the same for her. We are in a losing fight," the lightly armored man pointed out before grinning. "Good thing we have such an individual with us."

  Behind the three walked a single man wearing barbarian fur attire with a large axe resting on his shoulder. Bulky build and bushy beard, followed by messy black hair and brown eyes staring down at us. He towered over the three captains while looking down at Nel and licking his lips.

  "Capture Lilith and the... other author. Kill the goblin. We have enough whores at the base for our men," he said while rolling his shoulders back, grinning. "That dark elf, on the other hand... is mine. I just have to cut your limbs off first... and just to be safe, your tongue as well."

  "Sir, we have orders to bring her to the Grand Emperor," the robed man said, bowing his head to the author, who rolled his eyes.

  The author said nothing and just brought his axe down on the robed man, cutting his head off cleanly before picking up his weapon with one hand with ease.

  "Anyone else?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at his personal army, who stammered but did not speak up. Soon, the author looked at the remaining captains, who lowered their heads while facing away.

  "That's what I thought. Know your place. When his oh-so-great highness ain't around, I am in command, and whatever I say goes! You got that?" he screamed as his army nodded, causing him to smirk and focus back on us. "I am Batu Buyantu. Author of Genghis Khan’s Last Warborn."

  My disgust for this man was ever growing, and I held that feeling before aiming at the dead robed man.

  "Summon!" I shouted, aiming my hand at the corpse.

  Beside Batu, the skull of a vulture appeared and snaked its way onto the corpse before shaping it into a tall skeletal man garbed in a black flowing cloak. Batu scoffed and swung at the being before it dodged and launched itself at the crowd of foot soldiers.

  "I am Carrion! Know my disgust! Blight Surge!" he called, opening his mouth and releasing a fog of black mist, which spread throughout the foot soldiers.

  At first, nothing happened before screaming took form with soldiers tearing their armor off, followed by their flesh. Carrion laughed as he raised his arms in amusement and started to eat those who were still breathing. Batu only watched with a raised brow, almost captivated.

  "Now that is disgusting," he said, looking at his two captains. "The fuck are you two waiting for? Kill it."

  The captains snapped out of their daze and charged at the creature calling itself Carrion. Their weapons were already whipping at him to see if nothing happened. That was until the lightly armored one struck Carrion's skull, causing him to scream in pain and snap towards the lightly armored captain.

  "Hit its skull!" was his last sentence as Carrion lunged at him to bite down on his face and tear it off.

  The heavily armored man had swung the flail at Carrion's skull but missed as he moved out of the way, causing him to slam his weapon into his ally's head, crushing it. By the time he turned to face Carrion, he had grabbed the man's head and chuckled.

  "Blight Surge," Carrion whispered before spraying the black mist right into his face, causing him to scream and shout while the creature shoved him back to watch as his flesh began to decay and melt.

  Carrion turned to face Batu to find him already bringing his axe down, splitting the skull in half.

  "Disgusting thing," Batu commented before facing us without a shred of mercy for his still dying troops.

  We watched as Carrion released a scream of rage as his split skull was sucked into the void along with the corpses of those he killed. Batu sighed heavily and slowly turned his attention to us with a wide grin while patting his belly.

  "I guess I get all three of you ladies to myself until I get bored," Batu stated, tilting his head and glaring at me. "If you don't want to get hurt... scram... I will not hunt you nor any other soldiers. From what I was told, your stats are nothing to be worried about... sure, your summons are dangerous, but only to those who are stupid and not very... battle-oriented towards the strange and weird."

  "Why are you not afraid of them?" I asked, confused and a bit scared.

  "Because the main character of my story killed many of those weird things," Batu said before laughing loudly. "Now... beat it... before I change my mind."

  "He will go nowhere. The brat has someone I want to meet later, and that is the only reason why I am acting as his guide and bodyguard," Tikka stated, aiming her staff at Batu.

  "Plus. If it is a low-ranked author... I am sure we can take you down," Nel said, walking in front of Tikka with her rapier aimed at Batu as well.

  "This is going to be fun," Batu said, grinning widely.

  //to be continued...