I Admit Defeat

'Master, we have found traces of the target.' Forest Sprite's minion voice sounded within Sora's mind, making Sora look up toward where Forest Sprite was located. His movement caught Irene's attention and she too looked toward the place Sora was looking.

"Can you enchant your eyes to see the past?" Sora asked Irene's eyebrow raised but she nodded, with Sora helping her strengthen her enchantment skills, she has become extremely overpowered. with just enchantment, she pretty much had every ability she could think of.

So, she went on to enchant her eyes and went on to see the spot Sora pointed towards, of course, there was a limit to how far she could see. an hour at most, but this was enough for her to see those traces.

15 minutes ago, there was a shadow who was closely looking at the tribe's changes, clearly stunned at the fact that the giants were free. after looking for some time, and seeing Sora sending out fairies, he quickly left

"... follow me," Irene said as she jumped up and enchanted herself with the ability of flight, before following that shadow. Sora jumped and flew after her, and so the two slowly followed those traces until they stumbled upon a small doorway built into the ground. it was hidden by grasses, which made it almost impossible to see.

"it seems like a human," Sora said softly, Irene nodded in agreement, only humans would build this. after looking around for a moment, she saw many traps, it took some time for Irene to enchant the traps and allow them to enter.

once they entered, they headed downstairs, it was dark, but Irene enchanted herself with the power to see in the dark, and Sora could already see in the dark. going down this dark passageway, Irene followed the person who passed here minutes ago, until they both froze when they arrived at an open hall, filled with people who all turned to look towards them.

"... it's them!" a young man suddenly yelled as he pointed towards Sora, he was standing before a man wearing silver armor. the man looked like a knight, he frowned heavily upon hearing that these two were the ones who got in the way of their plans.

"[Mega Soothe]" Sora cast a spell, and suddenly the rage within everyone which was aimed towards them was suppressed to a low level, before being destroyed, although the stronger ones still held rage, it was not as before, they became oddly calm.

"what were your plans within that tribe? we didn't mean to get in your way, we didn't know." Sora asked with a smile, stunning Irene. what did Sora mean by that? but seeing the strange reaction of everyone, that last spell Sora cast affected their mind,

"sigh, our kingdom wanted to take the ore mines the giants held. we happened to have that painting sealed away, so we put it to good use." the man in silver mark said helplessly, Irene's eyes turned cold hearing this, they were willing to kill hundreds of giants just for their ores?

"why now? couldn't your kingdom have done it much sooner?" Sora asked calmly, but deep down he was frowning. the giants were a peaceful race. they held power capable of rivaling weaker dragons when a small group of them worked together, making them stronger than humans. but humans didn't play fair, which is why many tribes of the giant race cut their connections with the humans after seeing what humans were like.

the tribe Sora was in was, of course, not one of such tribes which cut the connection with the humans, they took the ores they mine and sold them to the humans,

"that's because they found a dragon ore mine." the man in silver armor said seriously, stunning both Sora and Irene. a Dragon ore mine was a legendary grade ore, it was the only Ore known to bypass the dragon's resistances, and brought upon high resistance to magic. those with this ore on would become extremely powerful, so no wonder the kingdom would do this.

"... sigh, now we have to poison their food. it would be expensive to get such a huge amount of poison... it would be a painful way for all of them to die." The man in silver armor said with a shake of his head, just the thought of the poison made his heart ace. he would have to buy all of them, he was hoping he could save some money, he was of course given money to buy the poison, but he wanted to keep it for himself.

"you made connections with the giants, if you could help things would go smoothly," he said with a smile while looking at the two, but he suddenly saw an earth spike shooting towards him, by the time he saw it, it was already at his forehead, it was too late for him to dodge. the sound of people dropping sounded, and everyone who was there fell to the ground, killed by earth spikes.

"someone is ruthless today," Sora said with a smile as he looked at Irene who had killing intent filling her eyes, Irene snorted at Sora's words.

"death is too good for them. such low lives, talking about killing innocents as if it's nothing too troublesome... humans like this disappoint me the most." She said softly as she went on to gather more information from the dead bodies,

'...' Sora looked at Irene, he too was disappointed with the humans. there is no other race crueler than the humans, the gods came in second, followed by others. but it made sense, only the creations of the gods could so curl.

"yet there are humans like you..." Sora said with a soft smile, he had a few humans around him who kept his faith in humanity going strong. Irene, Anna, Iris, Sakura, and the females he had saved that day. they were the purest and most hard-working people he have ever seen,

Irene stood out among them, she threw away her own feelings, life, and so on for her people, she could just give up the throne and follow Sora, but her kingdom came before her own life. she was the type who would forsake her own life for the greater good, no matter the pain or suffering, she was willing to stand strong through it all.

"... it's the Star Light Kingdom doing," Irene said calmly, the Star Light kingdom was ranked 4th, out of the other kingdoms, it lived closest to the other races, such as giants, trolls, goblins, and so on, so it had the strongest defense out of all the kingdoms.

"the king didn't order them to do it, it seems like a noble went out of his way to secretly have all of this go down." She said to which Sora nodded slightly, it seems like they were going to pass by that kingdom. anyways, with this none sense out of the way, Sora and Irene returned to the tribe which was knocked out drunk.

"There you two are... you two were not doing..." Anna who was holding the painting asked with a slight blush, these two just disappeared, and now look at them. Irene blushed at Anna's words, before secretly throwing a look toward Sora, who had no reactions. but it was clear that was an act as that necklace was glowing.

"What happened to her?" Sora asked calmly while looking at the painting, it could move on its own, so why was Anna holding it?

"she got drunk, and after crying for some time she fainted... she has been suffering for thousands of years, and her family is all gone. we are all she has." Anna said in pity, while her hands tightened harder around the painting, she was angry at the gods for doing something like this,

Drunk Julia went on about how her little brother was the one who got her into painting, how he loved her painting so much, so she started painting just to put a smile on his face. her painting made her sick mother smile as well, so she kept going, and that is how she got into painting, but it turned into her deepest regret.

"where is Iris," Sora asked with a soft sigh, Anna simply told him that she went to find him, and it didn't take long to find Iris and the ground set up camp and went to bed. the next day, they woke up with the group shaking from the giant's footsteps.

waking up, Irene went on to tell the tribe leader why they were attacked and made sure that that the tribe leader was extremely careful of Humans, with that out of the way, they headed off towards the center tribe, the Sun Giant tribe, the leader of the giant empire. the strongest power a giant had to offer.

Irene wanted to challenge the giant which has been making a name for itself in the past few years, and if things went well, she wanted that giant to join them. She wanted at least one person from every race to join, so they headed off.

a day later, they arrived at the tribe, which was far bigger than the small tribe. they seemed to have arrived during an event, an annual event by the looks of it, so when they entered the tribe they quickly asked a giant to see what was going on.

it turned out it was the annual tribe leader competition, giants were going to fight for the chance to take the position of the tribe leader. only humans were the race where the strongest person isn't king, meanwhile, other races only had those who were the strong rule.

Since those from the outside world could join, of course, although they could join, they would not become a tribe leader, they instead could join to show their strength. Irene went on to join, while Sora and the others went on to watch the competition from the crowd.

'to have the strongest person rule isn't a good idea, just because you are strong doesn't mean you are a capable leader. this is where most races fail compared to humans, princes are grown and raised scheming against each other. they are already trying to out-think the game. while they train their minds, others are training to become strong.' Sora thought while watching the competitions, it was a basic one v all.

one person stood on stage and challenge anyone who thought they had a better chance than them at becoming the leader. the current tribe leader although not still at his peak was doing the challenge, and the person who accepted that was a dark skin giant.

this giant had 4 arms with 4 eyes, he had the aura of a warrior. the current tribe leader smiled slightly seeing this giant, he of course knew this giant would accept the challenge.

"kid, you a thousand years too early to be coming up here," He said with a smile, 4 arm giants smiled lightly, with two of his arms crossed, and the other two on his hips, he snorted slightly.

"old man, cut the crap and come at me. I have been wanting a real battle with you." the 4 arm giant said with a smile, the current tribe leader snorted before he stumps forward with his leg. with that movement, the ground came to life an earth spear shot towards the giant,

"Haha, old man is this everything?" the 4 arm giant laughed as he pointed to finger forward, the earth spearheading his way suddenly lost its hardness and turned into a liquid earth

"Good, it wouldn't be boring." the tribe leader laughed as he made unique movements, each movement causing the earth to come to life. it was as if he was one with the earth, the 4 arm giant although arrogant, was not foolish enough to just stand there, and so a battle began.

the 4 arms giant magic was unique, his control over the earth was far more skilled than the tribe leader, if he wants, he could turn the earth into a liquid, or he can make the ground turn into metal. he was a perfect counter to most of the giant's attacks,

a spear shot towards him would turn into a liquid, although he couldn't easily do this as the tribe leader was stronger than him. but he could also make a metal earth wall that protected him from incoming attacks. although it took some time, the 4 arm giants pulled off a win. the tribe leader went on to announce him as the next tribe leader, but before he could a cry from the challenger sounded. Looking over, everyone saw a small human stepping forward,

"I want to challenge you before you become the tribe leader, are you willing to accept?" Irene asked, her voice sounding loud and clear. the 4 arms giant snorted slightly, a weak human was challenging him? how could he put a human in his eyes?

"oh? so you are scared?" Irene asked with a mocking smile, the 4 arms giant eyes instantly narrowed, what was he, Drole, afraid of?

"snort, come up, and let's make your defeat quickly." He said with a snort, Irene flashed appearing on the next, Drole eyes narrowed seeing this, it seems like this ant was not so weak after all.

"There is a reason why I came to this village. Drole, if I defeat you, I want you to join my party and travel the world with me." Irene said with a smile, everyone's eyebrows raised at Irene's words, they were about to get a tribe leader and suddenly somebody appears to take this away from them.

"of course, it's only if I win, if you are scared or something, I will turn and leave. scary cats are not welcome." Irene said with a shrug, a vine popped on Drole's forehead at Irene's words, and while gritting his teeth hard he looked deeply at Irene,

"the deal is accepted, but if I win I want you to kneel and apology over 100 times," Drole said angrily, since when was he, the mightily Drole disrespected like this? Irene nodded slightly, seeing this the tribe leader stepped off the arena while looking around, making sure no one was cheating.

"so, how does a weak human plan on hurting me?" Drole asked with a smile, Irene smiled as she enchanted herself, and suddenly began to grow taller, once she was 10 times taller, although she was not as big as the giant, it was good enough.

"you are quite skilled in enchantment magic," Drole said with a raised of his eyebrow, Irene smiled slightly but she didn't say anything. with the size of her fist, she feared that she would piece through the giant body if she punched too hard.

She was now at level 68, indeed she was catching up to Sora who was at level 76, meanwhile, Drole was at level 70, but levels shouldn't be the only way for one to look at a person's strength. Irene was someone who even Sora looked up to, Sora can only level up by killing others, meanwhile, she simply needs to train

her strength has gotten a huge boost lately, most likely because she hit puberty, allowing her talent to shine fully. meanwhile, Sora's level would remain still if he had nothing to kill. which was just depressing,

Drole fist shot forward towards Irene, he guessed Irene was not used to such a huge size and wouldn't be all that skilled and flexible, so this was going to be a smooth fight, but he was looking down upon Irene too much.

Irene's enchantments were not so basic, and even Sora didn't dare to face her in hand-to-hand combat. Irene aims to be the best mage and knight, although she sticks to being a mage more than a knight.

Irene raised her hands slightly at the incoming attack, before they moved at high speed, with a tap she easily parried the fist and landed 2 punches to Drole, sending them stumbling backward. Drole eyes widened while looking at Irene, if Irene had followed up with more attacks he would have lost,

"my enchantment skills are not so basic... I want to see all you have," Irene said with a smile, Drole was stunned for a moment before he smiled. this human was not so bad. so with that in mind, Drole stepped forward, and with that action, the ground under Irene turned into a liquid, swallowing her.

Drole punched forward, Irene didn't even bother to try and enchant the ground, giants were the best earth mages, and even most earth dragons were not as skilled as them. This was even more so when dealing with a prodigy like Drole.

Irene enchanted her fists, making them far harder, stronger, yet lighter. with a flash, she punched forward to meet the 4 incoming punches. the blows sent her flying backward, and she took this chance to enchant the air, which she held on to to get out of the liquid ground

meanwhile, Drole fists were in great pain, it was as if he just punched a metal wall. he was stunned at Irene's enchantment skills, but he realized he was looking down upon this woman. so, with him taking Irene seriously, he controlled the ground, turning it into a liquid sea that tried to swallow Irene.

but Irene flew into the sky, dodging the liquid earth which was trying to grab onto her, Irene frowned for a moment while looking at the liquid earth,

'how could I allow someone other than Sora to be more skilled than me at something?' Irene thought. she was an enchanter, she simply needed time and this magic would no longer be troublesome to her,

while moving around, she noticed that Drole was moving, and each movement caused the liquid earth following her to change, at first she didn't notice, but when she enchanted her eyes, she began to comprehend this giant magic.

She shot to the ground, something which stunned Drole, this human dared to come to the ground? but when Irene touched the ground, Drole found that his connection to the earth was blocked by Irene's enchantment, which of course left him stunned. such a connection usually only is cut when their feet leave the ground.

"well... I take it that I win?" Irene asked with a smile, Drole looked at Irene for a moment before snorting. putting his hands forward, he suddenly held his breath, and slowly his body began to turn into silver as if covered in some type of melt,

"..." Irene and everyone were stunned seeing this, they didn't expect Drole to have such a trump card hidden up his sleeves, and this time Irene had to lose... right? but with Drole wanting to move, he fell to his knees, the earth was pulling him towards it with such great force he found it hard to move.

"I turned the ground under you into a magnet, a huge chunk of it, enough so that it wouldn't be pulled towards you," Irene said leaving Drole stunned and speechless for a moment, this was his trump card, but he was not Irene's match without it. without his connection to the earth, his magic was gone leaving him with this, but Irene countered it.

"... You are skilled and quick on your legs, I admit defeat"