In the end, Leon still could escape upward by using Transfer, but he decided to accept some risks. He didn't move at all and just used Mana-Eater on the mithril around his body in a crazy succession, much faster than his mana was being consumed to keep the Mana Barrier active in the middle of those hellish chain explosions.

Congratulations! The skill Mana Barrier has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Mana-Eater has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Mana-Eater has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Mana Barrier has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

...

"... What the hell are you doing? Why are you smiling?" Celsius said, and Leon imagined her frowning.

"Eh? I am smiling?" Leon said. "Don't know why... probably because I'm insane."

It has been a long while since Leon felt his life in danger. Maybe it was because of that. Perhaps he was a hardcore adrenaline junkie... that would explain why he didn't escape those explosions. Even though for a fraction of a second, he realized that would be the perfect chance to level up one of his defensive skills.

Putting such matters aside, Leon was feeling great despite the fact that he was in the middle of massive explosions caused by a sudden expansion of mana, and he could feel and hear his heart beating lime drums. Regardless, instead of saying that was an explosion, it was more precise to say that the mana reached the most dangerous stage, it could reach still keeping its non-elemental attribute. It didn't just force everything to move to its current position like sudden explosions would. It only destroyed everything it touched, the air, the ground, plants... the only thing that escaped from being wholly destroyed was Leon's Mana Barrier... as if the ultimate stage which mana could reach would have the same power as the dark matter.

The light around Leon only dissipated after precisely thirty seconds, and Leon saw himself in the middle of a massive crater. Leon didn't know why, but he thought that the meteor that killed the dinosaurs changed the landmark like that.

"I guess all my titanium shields evaporated after that..." Leon sighed.

"Is that the first thing you say after deciding to use the explosion that caused this to level up your skills?" Celsius asked, and Leon imagined her frowning again.

"Don't be a drama queen," Leon said. "We survived, didn't we? Besides, my mana didn't decrease all that much when we were in the middle of the explosion."

"You are right, Leon," Volt said. "But that doesn't change the fact that you risked yourself too much to obtain a few status points. Next time try to be more careful. You got lucky because the mithril people don't know a way to cause an efficient explosion."

It was hard to refute Volt. In fact, he was the only one who Leon had a hard time talking with because he was much more logical than Leon. Regardless, when Leon heard the term efficient explosions, he frowned, but soon understand what Volt was trying to say. Leon didn't know if they had added the explosion feature like that, but it looked like it had been designed to take as many enemies as they can with a single explosion. Instead of focusing on bringing anyone too powerful nearby. Still, it made sense because someone powerful and smart would have the chance and would choose to escape from the unnecessary damage, unlike Leon.

"What is the plan now?" Efreet asked.

"Let's just wait and see what the mithril people will do for now," Leon said. "Their plasma rain didn't do anything, and I survived the damage caused by the explosion of hundreds of their soldiers... if they try to use anything more powerful than that, they will probably destroy the planet. If they are smart as I think they are, they will try to attack me again and again from a safe position until I ran out of mithril."

"That is a boring plan, can't we do something more interesting?" Efreet asked again.

Without destroying the spaceship and causing problems for the civilians in there, the answer was no. Leon just killed more than one hundred of their people, but he still didn't want to kill those who didn't point their weapons at him. Even though their leader just tried to nuke Leon.

"Still... I wonder how the vehicles and the soldiers just suddenly disappeared," Leon rubbed his chin. "I don't think every single of the warriors could use Transfer or Checkpoint. I also didn't notice their mana changing... forced teleportation? If that is the case, they are pretty impressive since they recovered thousands of their soldiers and hundreds of their vehicles."

Leon looked at the sky and saw the shadow of the space ship in the sky, he couldn't see it with precision thanks to the sunlight, but it was more than enough.

There was no point in hiding anymore, so Leon decided to use his magic helmet on the search mode to find some blue angel leaves. He wanted to get the hell out of that place as soon as possible, but he had to prepare in case that doesn't happen. Besides, if the mithril people still decide to fight like the way Leon predicted, he would need those.

"I guess I should look for the plants inside forests. That way, they won't notice my plans and preparation... it will be especially dreadful if they destroy the plants. If it happens, it couldn't be helped since the leaves need sunlight."

Although Leon couldn't hide anymore, he still could move without being noticed. He just needed to be careful while collecting and planting the blue angel leaves... Transfer would be essential for that.