The Innkeeper

Although the sense of danger had vanished, Lex avoided the fort and instead took a long way around towards the Jotun stronghold. The trip would have taken him many hours had he not decided to pull out the 'ship' he had bought to traverse the Crystal realm.

But even then his return was nowhere near quick, and yet he found Polebitvy to be uncharacteristically silent. Even if he was out in the wilderness, far away from any habitation by rebel or local forces, one could usually at least hear the sounds of birds and insects, not to mention the various wild beasts. Yet now, the sound to keep Lex company was that of the wind, and literally only just the wind.

Even the usual rustling of the leaves was absent, for all the leaves of any trees Lex crossed had vanished and turned to ash. The wood and bark of the trees, for some reason, remained unharmed, but it was all too easy to determine that there was no longer any life within them.

The once colorful and pleasant scenery had suddenly become barren and desolate. Where once the craters caused by the war had been filled with bushes and wild grass, they were now once again empty of all but ash. It was as if the battle that had caused these craters had just ended moments ago.

The eerie thing was, Lex did not even encounter any corpses. If all the wildlife had suddenly died, infected by whatever that green poison really was, there should at least be corpses lying around. Perhaps, in some way, that would have been less creepy than the sudden absence of all living creatures.

Such a commute continued for a short while but Lex, who was paying close attention for any kind of disturbance at all, suddenly detected tremors coming from his left. Due to how sensitive the situation was, Lex did not hesitate to activate his Fancy Contact lenses before turning his ship in the same direction.

It was not easy to see far, due to the hilly terrain, but Lex soon heard the very familiar sounds of combat. From the distance he could hear the thundering of countless feet, as if from a marching army, accompanied by the frequent sound of thrashing and banging. Soon, he could hear the sound of a few explosions.

He changed into his suit with ridiculously high defense and readied himself for anything as he approached the sounds of combat. His spirit senses 'saw' the scene long before he peaked the summit of the nearest hill, revealing to him a small horde of strange gray insects.

The insects were around three feet (0.9 meters) long and had two large claws extending forward, which they used for locomotion, as they seemed to lack any other limbs dedicated for movement.

The claws were also incredibly sharp and hard, which allowed them to use it for combat as well. The few thousand insects that Lex saw had surrounded a small battered group of humans who were fighting for dear life.

Just as Lex readied himself to help, he finally reached the peak which allowed him to see the battle happening below, and his face immediately distorted. Since he was not completely used to his spirit sense, he had failed to make one important distinction. 

The group of humans were, in fact, a group of kids, surrounded and protected by other civilians. Despite their somewhat decent cultivation realm, none beside them looked like they knew how to fight save one woman who was cutting through the insects like a storm.

Lex had no hesitation as he immediately used Imperial Shield and surrounded the struggling group with a number of, well, shields. The insects were not too strong, with most at the Foundation realm and only a few in the Golden core, so he was not worried at all about if they could break his barriers, and instead focused on eradicating them.

Taking advantage of his height, Lex leaped forward while he used an array to summon fire around him, and fell into the horde like a meteor! The ground trembled as he fell, and the fire swept over the insects, burning them to a crisp.

Yet compared to the massive horde, Lex had only removed but a single drop in the ocean. Undeterred, he cut through the horde, using his brute strength to absolutely crush anything that came in his way. The first punch he threw was slightly stiff, and had the form one could expect of someone who practiced in front of a mirror.

Yet Lex seemed to gain a deeper understanding of his body, as well as the structure of the insect he punched, and immediately adapted. The second punch he threw, this time with his left hand as it was following up the one from his right, had the form and fluidity of am amaetur boxer. Moreover, although his strength did not require such precision, his punch landed at the insects most vulnerable point, immediately crushing its spine.

Lex suddenly seemed to learn something new once again, this time about how his weight distribution affected his form. Weighing at 712 pounds (325 kgs), it was no wonder his weight affected him.

He took a step forward, as he naturally had to progress, yet somehow his posture became perfect for his third punch. This time around, it looked like the blow had been delivered by a professional fighter, and killed the insect without crushing its body. No extra strength had been used at all.

As he took another step forward, he did not punch, but swept his foot around and hit countless insects that had closed up on him. When he finally threw his fourth punch, he no longer looked like a professional, but like a champion who had dominated the ring his entire career.

With each step he was taking, Lex was undergoing an evolution in his understanding of combat, and his aura was undergoing a subtle change.

Yet all of this was happening subconsciously, as his actual entire focus was on reaching the kids as quickly as possible. Even though they were safe, there was no need for them to remain in such an anxiety inducing environment.

As soon as he reached the barrier, he threw in a bundle of golden keys, and merely screamed "crush them!"

Whether it was because of the impression he made with his arrival, descending from the heavens in a literal ball of fire, or his dominating aura, or the ruthless efficiency with which he was killing insects, no one asked any questions nor did they ponder over his motives. Without a single thought, they crushed the keys as if listening to Lex was a habit they had long since cultivated.

Soon, the entire crowd disappeared, yet Lex did not fail to notice the corpses which were left behind on the ground, even within Lex's erected barriers. Many of the civilians who had been fighting the insects had bled out and died, even after Lex had separated them from the fight.

Yet now was not the time to feel sentimental. He recalled there was still one real fighter, doing her best against thousands of insects, fighting for a hope of salvation that seemed too much of a fairytale to actually believe in.

He swept his spirit sense and found her shortly after. He moved towards her with urgency, not because the insects were a threat to him - no, even if he stood absolutely still it would be a wonder if they could harm him - no, he did not want another person to fall while he was still there to help, especially a woman so valiant.

With ever increasing ferocity, Lex fought against the invading cretins and finally reached her, yet the moment he saw her a sense of familiarity hit him and he recognized who it was. Previously, when he had arrived at the fort, he had crossed paths with an unusual woman who seemed familiar to him, but he could not recognize. This solo warrior was the very same woman. But although he remembered where he saw her last, that is not why he felt like he recognized her. Instead, it was the way she fought that gave him a flashback, and momentarily halted his movements.

He recalled a stage and people watching, mesmerized. He recalled gorgeous phoenix eyes, filled with energy and zeal. He recalled thin pink lips which curved into an excited and innocent smile. He recalled a sleek jaw and smooth cheeks that looked like they were carved out of the purest marble, rather than belonging to a real human. He recalled flowing brown hair, even though a ballerina should never have openly flowing hair.

Her graceful yet unique movements gave her away. She was the soldier who had once performed a ballet during the Midnight Games cultural show.

Yet the reason why she seemed familiar, but Lex could not recognize her, was simply because she must have used Clark Kent glasses to hide her identity inside the Inn! Yet as the owner of the Inn, he had still been exposed to her real aura, which is why she felt so familiar, yet he could not recognize her.

More importantly, while her alternate appearance had looked so breathtakingly beautiful… her actual appearance was, as expected, not the same at all!

Now that he had uncovered why he felt like the woman was so familiar, but could not recognize her, he felt a little annoyed that the reason behind the mystery was so simple yet so stupid.

"I've already teleported the group away, there's no need to continue fighting," Lex told the woman through his spirit sense. "You should hurry up and retreat as well, there's no point in continuing to fight."

He also handed her a golden key, in case she didn't have one. Although there was no white horse nearby, Lex did feel like a knight in shining armor. If Fenrir were nearby, he supposed a wolf could have replaced the roll of the horse.

"I can't," was all she responded.