"There's no need to say it. I just hope that you don't regret it later" Muku raised his hand to stop Smith from speaking. Then spoke in a disappointing tone.

"Don't be so sure of yourself creature. Don't think that just because you're creepy-looking you'll win this battle. A victor isn't decided until the very end!. Everyone! Attack all at once. Now!" Jim took charge before Smith could respond.

He had already ordered everyone to attack before Smith got the chance to say anything. Hell, even Muku was caught off guard by the man's rush behaviour.

And he seemed quite stable before doing it too. It seemed that the saying that a cornered rat will fight with everything it has was true after all.

"No wait!" Smith called out but it was too late. The others had already attacked with their strongest attacks they could prepare on short notice.

Muku didn't even react. He let the attacks charge at him unhindered until they were a few metres away from him then they all froze mid-air.

"Sigh..." He didn't let out a sound and only let out a sigh then...

Whoosh!

Boom! Boom!...

"Ahh!"

"Ahhhh!"

"My leg!"

"Mine too!"

"My other leg!"

"Bullshit I only hit one leg!"

Multiple explosions rang out followed by cries of pain. Muku even shouted too when he a drama queen tried to pin an injury he didn't cause on him.

Anyway, all the soldiers had been hit by their own attacks which Muku had thrown back at them. At the very least, all of them would have been hit if Smith hadn't been able to protect the majority of them.

Unfortunately, some were too far for his rashly made defensive spell. And so, they were gravely injured by their own attacks. They were too slow and unprepared to block the spells.

The physical fighters couldn't help but make relieved sounds since they couldn't use ranged attacks like the others. Well, they had minor ranged attacks, but those were useless in the situation so they didn't bother using them when the others attacked. So they were spared from the rebound.

"Is it my turn now?" Muku asked without moving in an unbothered tone.

It was like he didn't care that they had practically sneak-attacked him. Well, he really didn't mind actually. Like who would care that ants sneak attacked them?

"Haaaaah!" Smith screamed as countless thorny vines even stronger, quicker and bigger than the ones he used before surged forward.

It was clear that he was finally getting serious about the fight.

At the same time, some thornless vines grabbed all the soldiers and threw them into the distance.

"Sir nooo!"

"Let us fight!"

The soldiers screamed as they got tossed away. None of them was expecting such a move after they had agreed to fight together.

Since they hadn't completely experienced the overwhelming power of a Rank 5 being, they thought that if they fought together, they had a chance.

After all, it was common sense that quantity trumps quality after a certain point. Unfortunately for them, they'd need thousands upon thousands to be able to scratch one R5 with their R3 and R4 strength.

Actually, Jim knew that they wouldn't be able to do anything, but was still willing to fight to the end. He also didn't expect that his usually selfish friend Smith would do such a thing when it counted the most.

Tears formed in his eyes as he got thrown away. He felt that he had betrayed his best friend.

The reason for this was that it wasn't his duty which made him treat Smith like a stranger during work times. It was his own inferiority complex.

The two of them had started out the same. They had made the same sacrifices. They even grew up together. And yet Smith ended up being stronger than him.

He felt envy, powerlessness and even hatred towards Smith.

That's why he stopped treating him like a friend during work hours. Even when he knew that it hurt his friend's feelings, he didn't stop.

That way he could make himself feel better by telling himself that it didn't matter that Smith was better than him since everything he had was through his own hard work.

So even if Smith was stronger and had a higher, position it didn't matter.

He even went a step further and thought that Smith no longer saw him as a true friend and was only keeping him around for clout.

That way Smith would stand out more amongst his peers when compared to Jim who started at the same time as him but couldn't keep up despite having the same opportunities...

Yeah, Jim knew that his thoughts were messed up. But it was the only way he could keep his sanity. The only way he could face his "friend" with a straight face.

And now, with just one move from Smith if choosing to sacrifice himself for him, all of Jim's delusions were shuttered and all that was left was the clear image in his head of how much of an ahole he was.

While Smith had always been a true friend to him, he had stopped being a true friend a long time ago. It was only when Smith asked him for his opinion that he began seeing things a little clearly. Then the sacrifice blew away all the smoke and everything became crystal clear.

"Haaa... Hah!" Jim who was at the very peak of Pseudo-R5 screamed out loud and released as much mana as he could and then...

BOOOOOOOM!

He made the mana explode in the form of a new fire spell he created on the spot. The explosion managed to cancel out the momentum from Smith's throw.

Boom! Boom! Boom!...

And so, in short bursts of intense orange flames, Jim made his way back to Smith's side.

He knew that he couldn't be of much help. But at the very least, he could accompany Smith until the very end as a form of attornment. He had done Smith wrong for too long. So much so he couldn't bear to leave the man alone at such a time.

"What the fuck, Jimmy?! You just wasted all my efforts! You're literally the only one I hoped would make it and yet here you are! Do you think we're going to get another chance now?! God! I'm so angry!" Smith cursed out loudly at Jim, his eyes red with anger.

His emotions were understandable though. After all, who wouldn't be angry if they went all out in saving the person they cared about only for the person to return a few seconds later instead of running away?

"Did you really think that I'd leave you behind and go alone? Ha! How little you think of me. Especially after we already agreed that we're fighting together..." Jim replied calmly.

Slash!... Slash! Slash! Slash!...

Before Smith could speak, the duo heard slashing sounds. The sounds kept increasing until they suddenly stopped. Then...

Bang! Bang!...

All the large plants Smith had created fell to the ground in small pieces. Muku who had been completely surrounded by the vines was again exposed to the duo.

And frustratingly enough, he was floating in the same spot despite all the carnage Smith's vines were seemingly causing.

"No you don't!" Smith shouted out as his body was quickly getting encased by plant matter. It looked like he was turning into a tree.

This went on until he turned into a forty-meter-tall red-eyed treant looking down at Muku.

At this point, Jim was tightly bound by vines behind the treant so that he wouldn't cause any more trouble.

"...What an interesting form... I wonder why it would have looked as if it were natural. Anyway, your bond really touched me. For that reason, let me show you a little bit of the true power a real Rank Five human has before sending you on your way..." Muku addressed the treant then...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

For the first time ever since he returned to the Blue Planet, he stopped holding back his mana.

The mana intensity alone was stronger than any of Smith's spells.... Then again, plant-type mages seldom had very destructive spells as they were more of crowd control-type mages, so it was understandable.

What made no sense at all was how the mana pressure alone was enough to make cracks appear all over the treant's body as well as freeze it in place. Then...

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The treant's body was quickly overpowered and exploded.

Smith and Jim immediately fell to the ground powerlessly. They couldn't master any mana to resist the pressure.

It seemed that even their mana cores were suppressed completely. This left them no different from normal people apart from their much better physical bodies.

"Cough cough! Imp... impossible! You can't be human! You're lying!" Smith coughed out blood from the backclash of having his transformation undone against his will then exclaimed in disbelief.

"On the contrary my friend... I am very much as human as you... Well, as you were before the corruption..." Muku replied calmly.

The first part was spoken in the nightmare voice while the latter was in his normal voice as his armour peeled off his face.

Both Jim's and Smith's eyes widened as they looked at Muku's human face when he landed in front of them.

They really thought that he was se creature from hell all this time. After all, he was so inhuman in everything he did.

Oh, and he had been using that weird beast language everyone could understand so yeah, their shock was understandable.

"But His Excellency said that humans couldn't step into the R5 realm on their own..." Jim spoke in a shaky and regretful voice as he thought of everything he did in the past for strength...