When Leone met Gundar for the first time, the two quickly hit it off. Because of that, the shaman taught Leone many things.

One of them was a self-preservation skill, which was none other than self-hypnosis.

However, Leone was built differently. After learning this skill, he had unlocked the Unique Skill called Limit Break [EX].

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< Limit Break [EX] >

"Limits exist only until you give yourself permission to break them."

————

It was a double-edged skill because the moment you used it, you would lose complete control of your body.

Gundar even warned Leone that if he used it repeatedly, he would see a gate in his Sea of Consciousness.

But Leone didn’t listen. Whenever he had free time, he would put himself under self-hypnosis to become familiar with that state.

Now that he had Hassan by his side, he was confident that someone could stop him even if he went berserk.

And after repeated practice, Leone finally saw it.

A towering black metallic gate stood deep within his Sea of Consciousness. Its surface was covered in intricate golden engravings that seemed to pulse like living veins.

An ominous aura seeped out from the gaps of the massive doors, as if something monstrous was waiting on the other side, patiently waiting for the moment it would finally be unleashed. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Remembering his Great Uncle’s warnings, he thought that someone or something would speak to him from the other side.

However, the only thing that spoke out to him was silence.

An eerie silence that made him wonder if whatever was on the other side wasn’t sentient or couldn’t talk in any language.

"Hello?" Leone asked out of curiosity. "Is anybody there?"

Since his Great Uncle said that the gate could only be opened on his side, there was nothing to worry about as long as he didn’t open the gate.

Yet, no matter how loud Leone called out to the other side of the gate, no one answered.

In the end, he stopped calling out to whatever was on the other side of the gate.

He just hoped there wouldn’t come a time when he needed to use the self-hypnosis skill to protect his life.

When Arion crashed to the ground, Leone was forcefully dismounted from its back.

The young man fell head first on the ground and rolled for a few meters before falling unconscious.

This was the reason that forced Boris to stake his life in order to save Leone, hoping that Hassan or the others would take their Great Chieftain away to safety.

’Sorry, Leone,’ Brann thought as time seemed to slow down. ’I won’t be able to see you rise up to become the King you’re meant to be.’

He had already resolved himself to die so that the young man could live.

And yet, at his last few moments, the person whom he wanted to protect suddenly appeared under Boris’ snout.

"Leone" forcefully shut the jaws of the Scorched-Fang Raptor as his crimson blade clashed against Logan’s axe.

Though, to the Orc Champion’s surprise, the young man repelled his attack. In fact, he even forced him back.

Leone then propelled himself forward in order to clash with the Orc Champion once more.

Thinking that what the young man did was only a fluke, Logan roared and raised its weapons to strike.

"Too slow," Leone muttered before he kicked the Orc’s shin, forcefully breaking Logan’s attack stance.

The Orc couldn’t stop his body from falling forward after losing its balance. That was when Leone’s fist greeted Logan’s chin, sending the Orc Champion flying from an uppercut.

The Orc Mages and Shamans that were targeting Leone’s allies earlier stopped in their tracks.

Even Astravor, Otto, and Blitz were taken aback because the young man they were protecting earlier was giving the Orc Champion a one-sided beating!

"Y-You..." Logan said as blood seeped out from the corner of his lips. "Who are you?"

Although the young man looked exactly the same as before, save for the color of his eyes, the red aura oozing from Leone’s body made him look intimidating.

A thick aura of blood that could only belong to someone who had killed hundreds, perhaps even thousands, during their lifetime.

"Earlier, you said this kid is your prey," Leone said calmly. "But you’re wrong. He’s not your prey. He... is... MY PREY."

The young man wielded a sword that was made of the same crimson aura that was oozing from his body.

He then calmly walked toward Logan. Each step formed a pressure that made the Orc Champion remember the monster that forced him to escape from the northwest part of the Borderlands.

A monster of absolute strength that even Logan couldn’t beat with everything he had.

The Orc Champion thought that he had already escaped that abomination. However, he was wrong.

After all, in front of him was a being that even surpassed the terror that he faced in the past.

"Grukh nar mogra!" The Orc Warlord, who was Logan’s second-in-command, roared as it led its warriors forward.

(Translation: Protect our Champion!)

Seeing that a horde of Orcs was running toward him, Leone reappeared right beside the Orc Champion with his sword pressed against the monster’s neck.

"Don’t move or he dies," Leone declared.

Since he was using Tongue of Beasts, the Orcs understood his words instantly.

"Drokh!" The Warlord raised his hand, ordering the warriors to stop.

The Orcs listened to the command and came to an abrupt stop. They glared hatefully at Leone. However, there were other emotions in their gaze as well.

Fear, anxiety, and confusion.

None of them understood how their invincible Champion had suddenly been overpowered by a human youth.

Logan gritted his teeth as the crimson blade pressed deeper against his neck, drawing blood.

"Kill him!" Logan shouted. "Don’t mind me! Just kill him!"

"Shut up!" The Warlord barked back. "All of you hold your ground!"

The Orc Champion trembled in fury and humiliation.

Never in his life had he been restrained by someone weaker than him.

And yet, his instincts were screaming at him not to move.

If he moved even a little... he would die.

"You Orcs have a policy of fight first, talk later," Leone said. "And now, we fought and I won. The next time we meet, we will sit down and talk. You better be in your best manners by then."

Leone dispersed the crimson blade in his hand and walked away.

Logan and the Orcs stared at his retreating back, fighting the strong urge to attack him.

Yet, none of them dared to take a risk. They saw how the young man had neutralized their Champion in just a few moves.

That meant that he had the power to kill them all if he wished!

After that was done, Leone used a healing spell to help Arion recover from its injuries. But unlike the healing spell he used on Ulric and Jason, the light that escaped from his hands was crimson in color.

Arion soon rose up from the ground, its eyes glowing red as if it had been possessed.

The young man mounted its back and lightly patted its neck.

Arion neighed in understanding before it took off towards the sky.

Daedalus hurriedly followed behind Leone while still carrying Jason and Ulric.

Although it understood that the young man wasn’t currently the Master it served, it also understood that, for the time being, it wasn’t hostile to them.

Boris, the Scorched-Fang Raptor, scoffed at Logan as if telling the Orc Champion that it got lucky because Leone stopped the Orc from getting killed by it!

Of course, the reality was the other way around, but Boris wouldn’t admit this fact!

Brann could only smile faintly at the antics of its partner before urging it to follow Leone back towards Grimjaw Mountain.

Hassan merged with Brann’s shadow in order to hitch a ride because he didn’t dare to enter Leone’s shadow right now.

It was very clear that whoever fought against the Orc Champion earlier was not the Young Master whom he served.

When Leone and his vassals could no longer be seen, Logan finally roared toward the heavens as if venting out his anger and frustrations.

He thought that he was the hunter, and everyone else in the vicinity of Grimjaw Mountain was its prey.

Unfortunately, it had received a very rude awakening.

In the eyes of the young man that it faced earlier, it, too, was prey.

A prey that couldn’t do anything in the face of absolute strength!