Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

"It is impressive I could say. But as I told you, you can't defeat me using water."

As soon as the man said that, soil rose to that air and covered the two of them. 

"Ugh!"

Kain stopped moving, closing his eyes and lowering his head. The soli has entered his eyes and nose, making his eyes sore and his nose itchy.

"A-Acho!"

'What the hell!'

He thought he was going to choke for a moment. He moved his feet to get away, but his feet were stuck in something and he couldn't do so.

He opened one eye with difficulty and looked down. His feet were covered with solid mud.

Kain stared at his enemy who was standing still amidst the swirling soil. 

He could see his water wall that was now a mud wall, and his spear that was now as solid as a rock.

He couldn't attack the man, nor could he move. His surroundings were completely covered by the swirling soil so he couldn't even see the others.

But the man was still standing there without moving.

'What is he waiting for? Why isn't he trying to kill me?'

He could kill him if he wanted now that Kain was not able or do anything, but he was just looking at him. 

"Hey."

The man called out at that moment.

"Do you know anything about The Gates?"

"What?"

Kain was confused by the sudden question and asked out of reflex.

"What the hell are you talking about all of a sudden?"

The man peeked around before lowering his voice.

"You work at SFB, right?"

"...."

Kain blinked while staring at the man. 

SFB? 

Where was that?

Is the man making fun of him?

Kain opened his mouth and asked with a controlled voice.

"You mean SMF?"

"...."

The man paused for a moment. He stared at Kain for a while before touching his chin.

"SMF?"

"...."

"S..."

And then, he went on saying S S to himself.

"...."

"Ahem! Anyway, you work for that organization, right? So you must know something about The Gate."

Kain frowned, clenching his fists toughly.

"I don't get what are you talking about."

"...."

The man sighed after hearing those words.

"So you don't know..."

"What makes you think that I would answer you even if I knew?"

The man moved his hand and pointed at him.

"Right. You wouldn't tell me even if you knew! Sigh!"

"What the-"

The man sighed again and took one step towards Kain. With his feet stuck to the mud, Kain could just stand there and watch the man get closer. 

The man lowered his voice even more, almost whispering.

"Look, let's end this here."

"Huh?"

"I'll punch you and you pretend to pass out."

"...."

Kain tilted his head.

"Pardon?"

The man peeked around and resumed talking.

"No one is seeing us right now. They must think that we are in the middle of fighting each other or something. Then, I punch you and you pass out. That makes that dude over there happy and so I can leave this place. You guys then do whatever you want."

"...."

"Don't you get it? I mean let's end this useless fight here!"

Kain stared at the man without answering. 

'What is this freak talking about.'

He wants to play a trick so that he could get out of this place? 

Why? Why would you go so far as to persuade your enemy to help you cheat when you could simply kill them?

Perhaps understanding the meaning of his silence, the man moved a little bit back and opened his mouth again.

"I told you. This is not something personal. Is there a need for us to kill each other when I don't even know who you are?"

"...."

"Plus, why are you hesitating. It's not like you could defeat me with that power of yours."

Kain could sense his blood pressure rise. His hands were shaking due to anger and his face was hot. He gritted his teeth and glared at the man, although he wouldn't be able to see his angry face through the mask.

This man was humiliating him now? 

Did he want to do a favor and spare his life? What next?

Did he have to accept it?

Could he do that?

Would he have any pride left if he lived like that?

'Pride...'

He could hear Kairen's voice in his head shouting 'Pride my ass! You have to keep living even if you don't have a single drop of pride left.' 

He was probably right. One's life was more important than something called pride.

Yet, Kain couldn't just accept this man's offer.

Why?

He had never yielded to an enemy throughout his life.

And there was no guarantee that he would really spare him even if he accepted to do what he said.

"Um..."

The man looked at him and tilted his head.

"Dude, your hands are shaking, you okay?"

"Shut up!"

Drip Drip Drip 

A giant water droplet was created in the air.

Splash Splash

The water droplet, or maybe bubble, floated in between them, getting bigger and bigger as it moved up.

"Do you think I would listen to what a shitty Pilomns member says?"

"...."

The man stared at the droplet and took one step back.

"You're mistaken, I'm not-"

"I said shut up."

SHHHH

The water droplet exploded at that moment and water splashed everywhere. 

SHHH

The huge amount of water stored inside the bubble was sprayed everywhere. 

'He wants to wash away the soil using too much water...'

The man looked around. The water was getting mixed with his soil, but the amount of water was too much that he wasn't able to control the mud anymore.

"Sigh."

The man watched his soil get washed away with a sigh. He moved back and created another spear.

"Anyway, you won't be able to do much after using so much power."

The soil surrounding them was now completely gone and they could both see the outside again, however, there was something that had changed compared to moments ago.

There were a few more people around. 

There were three people with different uniforms standing right beside them.

"There! The barrier is gone!"

As soon as the man heard those words, he saw something flying his side.

SLASHH

It was an attack aimed at him.

A big, powerful aura slash.

BANG

The man dodged Serria's attack with a hair's breadth and hurriedly moved away from Kain who was about to shoot him with condensed water bullets.

"Who is that?"

Serria frowned and grabbed her sword even tougher. She could sense that he was powerful even in a glance.

"A Phimomns member? He is strong!"

The man glared at the three of them.

"You are mistaken, guys. Let's calm down, I'm not-"

But before he could finish his words, a water arrow passed his cheek.

"...."

He stopped talking, clenched his fist, and glared at the attacker, Kain.

The deputy team leader also held her greatsword and stepper forward.

"A-Acho! Sniff!"

Kairen could see Kain who was moving away from that man sniffing and rubbing his eyes. The man that had his whole face covered was staring at the four of them while holding a spear.

There were other enemies around, but the man definitely gave off another kind of vibe. 

Even Kairen, who lacked in battle experience, could know for sure that he was pretty strong.

"Hah! This is not fair!"

The man looked at Kain and continued.

"So you were waiting for your friends to save you, huh? How..."

The man took one step forward, his causal tone suddenly changed.

"...Pathetic!"

"You-"

The man cut off Kain's words and took another step forward.

"It's not like me to talk so much in the middle of a battle... It's too annoying... but... I'm quite pissed you see. I'm getting treated really badly here."

Serria attacked him with a spell, but the man blocked him with a soil barrier without much difficulty and kept on talking.

"Are all of you guys like this? I'm disappointed!"

Without even looking at the others, he took another step towards Kain who was creating water bullets.

"You wanna hit me again with water? I thought you knew that was not the greatest idea... Or do you think that it would miraculously work now that your friends are here? PFFT! Maybe you wanna beat me with the power of friendship??"

Kain took a deep breath.

"The power of water is its ability to t- Ugh!"

But Kain couldn't finish his words. 

BOMMM

He was punched in the stomach before he could do so. 

"GASP!"

Kain, who couldn't even defend himself, flew to the air after getting punched in the stomach.

"!!!"

BOMM

PLOP

He moved in the air, hit the ground, and rolled a few times, before curling up with pain and gasping.

'What?'

The three people flinched upon seeing what just happened.

'How did he-'

'I couldn't even see him move.'

The man had moved too fast that none of them even noticed. It was almost as if he teleported himself. 

And how could he be so strong? 

Kain wasn't a weak agent who could be beaten that easily.

The man didn't even care about the three bewildered people. 

He walked towards Kain and looked at him who was sitting on the ground, curled up with pain. 

"Gasp! Argh!"

He watched him gasp for a moment as if he was enjoying it. 

"Get away from him!"

Kairen moved his mana, casting the quickest spell that he knew. 

The energy beams flew towards the man at a high speed, yet the man stood there unmoving.

BOOMMM

The energy beams hit a wall of soil and vanished, leaving no traces behind.

'What?'

His precious energy beams did absolutely nothing.

Once again, the man didn't even glance at Kairen or the others. 

After watching Kain for a moment, he opened his mouth, his voice cold and coarse, completely different from the voice that was inviting everyone to chill just seconds ago.

"Just one punch."

He leaned a little bit close to Kain.

"I'm a man of my words!"