Lord Evolution: Starting With SS-rank Skills

"They are coming! What should we do?" Liara whispered, her eyes wide with panic.

Ren's expression darkened. He tugged at the reins, urging his horse to move faster. "Don't look back. Keep moving."

Liara had only learned to ride horses in less than two days, after theoretical teaching from Ren, so she found it difficult to move.

Ren didn't move ahead; instead, he helped her by dragging the reins and forcing her horse to ride after his.

The sound of horses galloping towards them grew louder and louder by the second. Even though Ren tried his hardest not to panic, his heartbeat raced.

Luckily, he had secured his wife and daughter beforehand, sending them away to a nearby village where his wife came from.

Now, he just had to save Liara and her people. Even if he died after that, without seeing his family again, he would be able to rest in peace.

"Over there!"

As they rode, they heard a loud shout and looked back. A group of soldiers was heading towards them. Though they were still far away, with the speed of their horses, they would most likely catch up in no time.

Liara's panic grew. There was no way out!

"Ren, stop right now!" the soldiers barked, but Ren ignored them and continued moving.

If he stopped, he might not die, but he couldn't say the same for Liara—those guards would kill her!

Gritting his teeth, he urged his horse to move faster, dragging hers along.

Liara was already deep in panic, seeing no way out of their current situation.

She believed that if caught, Lord Fagin wouldn't spare her by merely sending her to prison; he might execute her immediately.

The soldiers raced towards them on warhorses—horses trained for battle and nearly twice as fast as regular horses.

"Ren has failed to listen to our calls. We have no choice but to kill him—and do not let the Winterseed girl live," the soldier leading the rest said coldly.

The others nodded.

They drew their swords and spurred their horses on even faster. The warhorses let out ready battle cries, accelerating rapidly.

They were only a few meters away, ready to slaughter the pair, when suddenly the atmosphere shifted.

The warhorses halted abruptly, causing some of the soldiers to lose control and crash to the ground.

"What is happening?" the leader shouted, tugging at his horse to move faster, but the horse refused. Instead, it let out a protesting neigh and threw him off.

The other soldiers faced the same fate, their horses refusing to obey and tossing them aside.

But Liara's and Ren's horses continued galloping forward without the strange pause.

Ren noticed the commotion and slowed down to observe, wondering why the soldiers' horses were behaving so strangely.

"What is happening to the horses? They were fed enough to last two days without food, so why are they reacting this way?" the soldiers asked, frowning as they stood, dusting themselves off, and grabbing their swords.

The warhorses remained immobile, their eyes fixed ahead.

The soldiers were confused—they had never seen such strange behavior from their horses before.

"This shouldn't stop our pursuit. Go after them. I'll try to settle the issue with the horses," the leader ordered, noticing that Ren's horse had slowed down. He mistakenly thought Ren's horse had grown tired and could be easily caught now.

The soldiers nodded and immediately started their pursuit on foot.

"Let's go, Ren!" Liara urged with fear in her voice, but Ren had already started moving the horse again.

"Stop right now, Ren, or else we'll kill you!" the soldiers barked, their feet stomping the ground as they ran towards him, swords gleaming in hand, ready to strike.

Suddenly, the atmosphere shifted again. The air became chilly, and the wind howled fiercely, growing chaotic.

The soldiers hesitated, confused by the sudden change, but before they could react, they found themselves being lifted into the air, spinning uncontrollably in circles.

"W-What... What is happening?"

"I'm flying!"

"My eyes..."

They yelled in confusion.

Even Ren and Liara stopped, looking back to see what was happening.

They were stunned to see nineteen men being tossed around by a violent, chaotic whirlwind. Their mouths dropped, and their eyes widened in shock at the sight.

The leader was equally shocked.

"What is going on? First, the horses, and now this strange whirlwind! Are the gods punishing us for our actions?" he muttered in fear, stepping back cautiously, scared the wind would come for him next.

Before he could move away from the area out of fear, a voice sounded behind him, freezing him in place.

He instinctively swung his sword, but it was caught mid-air by something strong and unyielding. When he turned around, he was greeted by a charming smile from a tall, white-haired man. His eyes widened instantly as he asked, "Who are you?"

D'andre looked at him with an amused grin and replied sarcastically, "I'm Batman."

"Huh?" the leader stammered, unable to fully process what was happening before suddenly feeling his body levitating off the ground.

Before he knew it, he was hurled toward the chaotic whirlwind, joining his men in the storm. Some had already lost consciousness from the violent tossing.

D'andre watched the storm for a few seconds with an amused expression before sighing as he heard the system's notification.

[ 30,000,000 Evolution Points has been deducted from your account for breaking rule 007 and helping FF-rank territory (Winterseed). ]

[ Your skills: (Wind magic, Mana absorption) have been deranked to C-Rank. ]

'This fine is too much,' he complained inwardly.

This was the first time he had broken this restriction, and the fine was simply outrageous. He wondered how much would have been deducted if he had helped an A-rank territory.

But he didn't think too much about it as he would most likely earn them back in the Merchant tournament.

D'andre looked ahead of the hurricane, where a beautiful lady and a middle-aged man were looking at him with awe.

'That is the sister Elara talked about. She's just as beautiful as Elara, but younger. Sadly, I prefer milfs,' D'andre sighed as he began strolling toward them.

Ren grabbed the reins of Liara's horse, fearing the figure casually strolling toward them, while Liara shivered uncontrollably—today had been a really bad day for her.

"Who are you? Don't come any closer," Ren said.

"Who are you, old man?" D'andre shot a glare at Ren.

"O-Old man?" Ren wanted to refute, but he kept silent.

D'andre closed the distance between them. Behind him, the hurricane was still tossing the soldiers around, and most of them had already lost their lives by now.

"You must be Liara?" he said after reaching them.

Liara looked at him, confused.

"You don't have to worry, I'm not here to hurt you but to save you," D'andre flashed her a charming smile.

"W-Why?" Liara couldn't help but ask.

It was already confusing—why would a strange, angelic person come to save her?

"I saw a beautiful lady in distress and decided to help. Is that bad?" D'andre asked, trying to sound mysterious and cool.

But Liara only looked at him without replying.

Seeing that she wasn't falling for his 'sophisticated' charm, he sighed and said, "You should return to Winterseed as soon as you can. Elara and the rest of your friends are worried sick about you."

"Elara??.." Liara's eyes widened.

But D'andre had already disappeared before she could finish her sentence.

Ren looked at the spot where D'andre had just vanished, and his expression brightened. "Your sisters are alive. We should leave now?"

He grabbed her reins, and both of them began their journey.

Meanwhile, the hurricane ended, and the corpses of the soldiers fell to the ground. None of them survived.

.....

AUTHOR NOTE: Thanks for reading