Realizing that he had fallen into his trap, Max knew that he couldn't retreat now. If he tried, given the close proximity, he would definitely be hit with his water bullets and die.
Therefore, he took a deep breath and sped off towards him at his top speed even though his subconscious mind was telling him to avoid the danger.
When he was twenty meters away from him, Bartan had cast his water bullets and was about to fire them at him.
"This is your end. DIE!!"
He shouted with excitement and all three water bullets shot out from front, right and left, aiming at Max's head, chest and abdomen respectively.
Max eyed the water bullets and just when all three bullets were one-meter away, he took a step to his right side, dodging the ones, that were aimed at his head and abdomen.
The third water bullets came piercing towards his chest and because he had moved towards it, he was sure to get hit. Bartan looked at this scene and his eyes shone with excitement.
Just at that moment, Max raised his fist, that was blazing with crimson fire till his wrist unlike before when only his fist would be covered, and struck at the water ball at lightening-speed.
The water bullet was destroyed when it collided with his fist. After destroying it, Max didn't give Bartan any chance to react and appeared in front of him in the next moment and struck at his barrier with full force.
The moment his fist crashed into the barrier, it shattered like glass and Bartan was hit squarely on his chest and his torso exploded like water ball, black blood and flesh flying around.
Max retreated avoiding the blood and flesh from staining him and looked at him coldly.
Bartan had a look of horror on his face as his body was destroyed before he fell on ground.
His consciousness started to fade away. Just before he died, his bloody eyes had tears and his lips moved to produce faint voice "…Father, mother… I'm so..rry…"
Although his voice was very faint, Max heard it clearly and was surprised. He didn't curse him for killing him neither did he curse Dalton or anyone other. He was thinking about his family.
Suddenly, Max felt a bit empathetic seeing this. He knew that Bartan didn't have any enmity with him and was ordered to kill him by his master and was just doing what he was told to. However, Max didn't feel guilty killing him. After all he had tried to kill him.
He let out a breath and sat down to catch his breath. After fighting with the Masked woman and then Bartan, he was out of stamina.
He then went and took Bartan's spatial bag and opened it and was surprised to see many resources in it. "It's to be expected I guess. If he didn't have anything, how could he have hired others."
He quickly put everything that was inside it into his inventory and threw the spatial bag since it was covered in blood.
Just as he was going towards Belen and others, he stopped and burnt Bartan's corpse.
In a tree more than 200 meters away, sat a graceful figure with black mask covering her face. She was the masked woman who had escaped before.
"This man isn't simple. He is strong and has such a terrifying spell which shouldn't be from the academy since he is just a newbie and that pill he consumed which replenished his exhausted mana…" She murmured to herself while watching him leave with an interested expression. She then vanished in the forest.
When Max arrived where Belen and others were, he saw Rima finish off a two-star beast that was restricted by vines.
"Ahh… You're back." Leticia exclaimed and turned into a blur and threw herself in his embrace.
Max hugged her and gently patted her back "What happened?" He asked softly.
Leticia came out of his embrace, her eyes a bit teary. "We heard the fighting sounds and I wanted to go and help you but Haory said that I will just be a burden to you if I go. So…"
"You were worried about me." Max completed her sentence with a smile, his heart felt warm.
"Mhm." Leticia nodded and suddenly noticed the wound on his ribs "Ah… You're injured."
She then turned towards Belen and shouted in panic "Belen, give me your life potion. Max is injured."
Seeing this, Max, Belen, and Rima had wry smile on their faces.
Max held her face in his palms and said "It's only a light injury and I've already taken a healing pill. Don't worry."
Leticia's face flushed realizing that she had overreacted. Max smiled seeing her embarrassed expression and hugged her. He knew that like Belen and others, she wasn't matured enough to keep her calm and he also liked the feeling of having someone show their care for him.
After that he asked everyone if they were alright.
Apart from Rima, who had received a lot of injuries all over her body, others were safe.
After letting Rima recover for a while, they changed the location since more beasts had started to converge there.
They found a comparatively secluded place where Belen and Haory made a few thick walls for protection and rested.
Belen was tasked to guard first while others recovered their mana and slept.
After everyone had fallen asleep, Rima went to Belen.
"Why are you still up?" Belen asked.
"Um… Belen, can you give me some of your life potion?" Rima asked hesitantly.
Belen looked at her up and down and noticed that she had some wound marks on her face, hands etc. She nodded and gave it to her as she smiled teasingly at her.
Rima's face reddened slightly seeing. She nodded and said "Thank you Belen. I'll repay you in future."
"It's okay." Belen waved her hand. After that Rima drank it and started meditating to digest it.
After one hour, her wound marks disappeared and some hidden injuries also healed.
She took out a mirror and saw that her face looked same as before and she let out a breath. Like every woman, she also treasured her beauty and wanted to look best in front of her man.