Chapter 188 - The Harsh Truth

At the last moment, Ryan hesitated. That would be his most powerful attack, and yet… something inside him was telling that it wasn't enough. Not against an opponent of that level. Lilith's face, full of confidence, only made Ryan more certain of it. Then Ryan realized it… Lilith almost killed him with a single magic attack. A combination of elemental manipulations and Telekinesis. However, she didn't look like a mage… her forte was probably her physical strength, and yet… she defeated him with something she wasn't good at. She never even tried to draw her sword…

"What is wrong?" Lilith asked. "Losing confidence? You certainly took your time for that? I honestly can't believe that you never felt like this before. You have been pretty lucky, haven't you? Always fighting enemies that could be defeated."

That was true… Ryan always knew that he had been lucky. A dungeon of the weakest species of monsters appeared close to him, and he was one of the first humans to obtain a class. Still… he always thought that he had worked hard, but… perhaps that had been only his ego comforting him.

"SHUT UP!" Ryan shouted and then fired his arrow in his rage.

In the end, thanks to all that power, the string of his bow broke, and Ryan was also sent flying backward due to the mass release of energy. However, when he stopped and got up, he saw that Lilith was holding the bone arrow with two fingers. She managed to disperse all that energy with two fingers… after a few moments, the bone arrow turned into dust.

"I guess this isn't half bad," Lilith said while looking at her fingers slightly bleeding. "You probably have potential, but you won't live to reach it."

With his eyes wide open, Ryan heard all of that without showing a single reaction… he had been utterly defeated. His most powerful attack, the best conditions, and yet… he didn't manage to do anything against the demon. What had he been doing for the last two months? He did nothing but fight. Ryan had become a power-seeking idiot who treated others harshly because they were stupid for trying to increase their strength with numbers, and yet… that was all he could accomplish. Was he just an arrogant man who didn't have the skills to back-up his attitude? Those questions began to torment him…

Even Alissa had learned something that made her admit that she alone wouldn't be able to defeat her enemies. Although she didn't share that information, maybe it was related to the current situation. Ryan refused to admit that he couldn't survive alone, but if there are many more enemies like Lilith out there, then…

"I guess I can understand how come Baal didn't defeat you," Lilith said while looking at the massive sphere that was enveloping Alissa. "Although he lost some of his powers, a high-class dragon still is quite the troublesome foe."

Suddenly, the sphere began to be burned by black flames. Alissa finally was managing to free herself, but when she appeared, Alissa already looked exhausted… that prison took quite the toll on her.

"This is annoying, Orgar… but it looks like only can fight her," Alissa said while she was trying to catch her breath.

"Under normal circumstances, I would gladly accept this task, but it is impossible. I can't defeat her on her own territory. With my full mana, maybe, but not with this amount and while she has those damn plants under her control."

Alissa also clicked her tongue in annoyance… to think that she would be forced to retreat without obtaining a single piece of information. She understood when she saw those three dragons that things were much more complicated than she thought, but still…

"I can't read your mind, and I have no interest in other women," Lilith declared. "So, I will end this quickly."

Lilith grabbed her sword, and at the same time, Alissa's body began to shine. The light expanded until Lilith could barely keep her eyes open. As expected, against light magic, the demons were weak, but only that was everything that Alissa could do. She charged toward Lilith in order to fool her, but in the last moment, when Lilith prepared her attack, Alissa changed her direction.

"We are leaving." Alissa declared via Telepathy.

Ryan, who still was in trying to understand where he failed and how he reached that situation, managed to react to Alissa's words. That was pathetic, but the only thing he could do was to run away. Ryan couldn't fly fast enough while he stands above an earth platform, so he sent himself flying by creating an earth hand and throwing him like a spear. In the blink of an eye, they reached the teleportation point. However, before they could escape, they saw a massive green energy beam following them behind. Lilith finally had swung her sword… The attack was splitting earth like grass, so it was clear that things will get pretty messy if they hit by it.

"Hang in there, Alissa," Orgar said.

Orgar took control over Alissa's body and then become a dragon for a single moment, and then it happened… for whatever reason, the magic projectile stopped moving. No… the entire world stopped. Ryan's consciousness still was working, but he couldn't move a single finger. Before he could try to understand what happened, Orgar punched him, and then he touched the teleportation point. Soon after, Orgar and Alissa followed him. 

When Ryan returned to Earth, the pain of Orgar's punch started to torment him. Still, despite that, Ryan couldn't bring himself to complain or even worry about that. The fight against Lilith still was bothering him… the result, the things he heard… he couldn't accept any of them. Still, coming up with excuses will only make him feel like a fool, so the only thing Ryan could do was to deal with his frustration in silence. However, that only made things more complicated than Ryan could have imagined.