Isekai: The Eight Soul Fragments

"By the way, what rank are you both?" Draxus first asked that question to the twins while checking on the requests placed on the board. "We're orange rank, and the difficulty of the requests here are actually a lot harder. So if you're thinking of accepting an orange rank quest with us then it's possible." Lily gave that answer while hesitating a little. Julie asked Draxus whether if it's really alright. "Are you sure about this Draxus? The monsters themselves are pretty strong at orange rank you know?" Draxus reassured them that everything will be pretty much fine. It didn't really convince them completely but the two reluctantly accepted his determination to catch up quickly. They caught a request of the orange rank that requires them to hunt elementals. Draxus who was curious about what kind of existence they are, asked about what kind of monsters. "Elementals are monsters that usually only have a core. They are monsters that varied through various elements and manipulate it like a magician. It's something that could pose a lot of threats since they attack humans on sight." Draxus simply let out an interested voice while concluding his plans. "Great, then that's the perfect enemy to test my skills." They then left the guild after taking that quest. After a long travel, Draxus, Lily, and Julie had exited the town for a while and arrived to a nearby spring. Even though it was nearby, it was about a two hour walk from the town. Lily who was exhausted finally stretched her arms upwards while letting out a relieved noise. "Nnah~! Finally, we get to rest a bit." Draxus used his magic to scan on his surroundings. Julie who noticed that gave Draxus a comment. "Draxus, are you a magician?" Draxus turned his gaze towards Julie and gave an answer. "Yeah, but please keep things like this a secret." Julie started taking out food from her backpack and urged both Lily and Draxus to eat. "Crystel's really committed to her work huh?" The food that was given to them was made by Crystel who knew that they'll miss lunch. It was a thoughtful idea which got Draxus quite impressed. Before he started eating though, he let out a lot of magic particles to scan the area one last time. "What magic did you use? Rather, did you even chant?! I didn't see any magic circle either!" Lily was piling up questions from the amount of surprises Draxus had shown. It let to Draxus cancelling his magic while laughing a little bit. "Relax, relax, it's why I told you both to keep it a secret. My group, or rather, me along with three other friends should learn how to perform chantless magic. It was necessary for our training." Draxus then created a crystal orb float above his finger that's pointing to the sky. "I've been practicing daily ever since I met them." The three of them had lunch while talking about Draxus's magic capabilities. Lily and Julie promised to keep his abilities a secret since it could become the cause of various commotions.

After eating lunch, they started looking for elementals within the area. There was information that those kinds of monsters only reveal themselves from noon all the way to sunset or from midnight all the way to sunrise. Various elementals show up depending on the day-night cycle. After a while of walking around, they had found three elementals wandering in the forest. "Water elementals huh...? We're most likely gonna get soaked just aiming for the core there." Lily showed a face of displeasure from the possibility of her dress becoming wet. "Then, you can leave those three to me, but before that..." Draxus stood from the crouching position and focused his magic on the three elementals. "[Magic Resonance]" He used a magic which allows him to feel the density of magic power towards the targets and find which part is the most concentrated. After finding the core which is located at the middle of each elemental, he stopped focusing his magic and dashed forward. The elementals who noticed him shot out multiple water sprays which Draxus dodged efficiently without taking a hit. The three elementals continued spraying water that was able to cut diamonds from a close range. Draxus who was nearing that range heard the shout of Lily's warning. "Oii!! You'll be sliced to half if you're close!" Draxus gave an answer while skillfully dodging the attacks. "Thanks, but this much is nothing!" Julie simply watched in astonishment to Draxus's dodging skills despite being a magician in her mind. Draxus who reached melee range of the three elementals instantly froze all three of them. "Perfect..." He then generated a crystal claymore which is designed similarly to a weapon from a certain game. "[Song of Shattered Crystals]" He then followed the burst animation of a certain character in that game. "[Glacial Illumination]" He moved the crystal claymore to his right and made a full circle rotation while slashing the claymore at the three elementals at once. He aimed at the three cores which he had located with [Magic Resonance] and cut them all down in six half cores. The ice had shattered and disappeared into the air. The crystal claymore which he's holding up to his right side, dispersed along with the elementals and left only three cores which were cleanly sliced in half. He then turned his gaze to the twins who were astonished on his skills. "How was it?" Lily was completely speechless while Julie calmed down after some time. "Y-You're quite amazing Draxus... Where did you learn those skills of handling a huge sword like that...?" Draxus turned his head away while giving an inaccurate answer. "I learned it myself." He was scratching his head on the process while his mind was thinking of an entirely different thing. "I learned it from playing [Genshin Impact] and imitating it..." But those words never left his mouth. Another thought came into his mind but it was regarding Serkyrio, Remuel, and Arlesk making retorts if he showed this skill to them. "I, was never expecting it to be like that..." Lily showed even more surprise and let out small words. However, as they didn't really have much time, they moved on and walked around the area once more. This time, they saw two wind elementals after walking around for about ten minutes. "Since you already did well earlier, it's time for us to show our skills as well." Lily and Julie went ahead while Draxus watched both of them from behind. According to the information that Lily gave him earlier, it was said that the hardest elementals to get rid off are wind elementals that are found during nighttime. They aren't as strong on daytime but they are still known to be considerable threats. Both girls dodged the invisible attacks of the wind elementals skillfully while moving with perfect coordination. Draxus himself was impressed by the coordination brought by the two who are using fire magic. "Engulf in fury! [Scorching Strike]!" Lily who had reached melee range with a wind elemental immediately chanted and used an ability that imbues fire element to the sword. The sword was able to strike the core which was visible inside the wind elemental. The core doesn't need to be completely sliced in half to eliminate elementals. If a part of their core is broken, which is what Lily did, the elemental performs a harmless explosion depending on which element they area. A gust of wind hits Lily as the core with small pieces removed from a large spherical object fell down. Julie continued dodging the other elemental's attacks while waiting for a perfect opportunity. In the mind of Draxus, a comment floated on it. "Is she an opportunist attacker?" More thoughts crossed his mind while observing Julie who is dodging to make the elemental's resistance weaker. From the information he gained, the more attacks the elementals use in succession, the weaker their resistance becomes. After a few more seconds of dodging, the wind elemental had stopped moving. Taking the opportunity, Julie raised her sword and imbued it with fire. "Burn in Frenzy! [Blazing Strike]!" She made a cut on the core and caused it to melt a little, effectively killing the wind elemental. Draxus stepped forward from behind them while congratulating. "Great work you two! I'm really impressed with the early dodging coordination. Both of you are quite amazing." Lily sheathed her sword which replying to Draxus. "I don't think so, Draxus can use magic without even chanting. That alone is way more amazing than us." They collected the five cores which got the two a little troubled. "What's wrong?" Draxus who was carrying all five cores asked the two. "Having you carry all those cores is a bit..." Draxus then opened his interdimensional storage while explaining. "I can pretty much store all my stuff in here scott-free. I'll have to go to the back of the guild to bring them out though." He chucked all the cores into the interdimensional storage and closed it. "As I said, there is no need to worry about it." The two simply smiled at each other and gave a weird remark. ""You're pretty weird after all."" Draxus instantly retorted but the two simply laughed it off. They returned to the guild while having luck on their side as a carriage let them ride to the town of Beryll.

They went to the reception to finish the request, The receptionist was surprised on the very clean cuts on three cores. Draxus averted his gaze as the twins turn their gazes to him. After that, they were presented with an award of ten silver coins each and Draxus had a promotion to yellow rank. He questioned the receptionist with the instant rank-ups but it was heard that things like that happen from time to time, so Draxus accepted it with a smile. The three of them thought about returning for the day but were stopped by three muscular and armed guys. "Well well, isn't it Lily and Julie? We were wondering where you two went, but seems like the twins went and played with some kid." Draxus who was called as a kid narrowed his eyes and looked at the three muscular men. "Twenty-four? No, probably twenty-five years old?" He let out mutters of analysis while releasing a bit of pressure. One of the three muscular guys grabbed Julie's shoulder which had snapped something inside of Draxus. He grabbed the hand that gripped Julie's shoulder. "Ho? Is this kid charmed by the twins? Then how about we teach you a lesson?" One muscular guy raised a fist and tried to strike Draxus in the face. His pupils shrunk a bit in anger as he blocked the attack with his palm without feeling anything. "So this is your strongest...? I wonder if adults like you only have superiority complex and muscles as your strong point...?" Draxus pulled the arm of one muscular man without much effort and formed a crystal gauntlet in his left hand. "[Gauntlet Augmentation]" He then struck the elbow and broke the arm of one guy, causing him to writhe in agony as he knelt down and looked at his right arm that was bent on an impossible angle. "My arm!!!!" A loud shout resounded while the other two brought out their weapons. One was a battle axe while the other was a large saber. Draxus caught the two weapons that were swung down with his crystal gauntlets and crushed both of it. The three muscular men despaired at the sight of a monster in front of them and decided to run off. Lily and Julie looked at Draxus with slight fear. Draxus who noticed that apologized to them and returned to the inn. The two forgave him but followed him silently.