"AGARES!" several people inside the tavern shouted—mainly adventurers who were after his head for money.
Agares flinched at the ambush. He raised his sword and activated the shield summoned by Shadepiercer.
A massive hamr strike slamd into his body, launching him backwards and crashing him into a civilian’s ho.
"What are you doing?! Aren’t you afraid of Milenia’s threat?!" Leon shouted.
"Tch!"
"None of us fear that whore," said a man from another adventurer party.
"We’ll kill Agares right here, even if it ans sacrificing an entire city!" he declared.
He wasn’t alone—four other mbers of his party stood with him.
Silva turned and looked at Leon. He turned and t her gaze.
"Agares is my friend. Please... help talk to him."
Leon looked into Silva’s face—flushed, eyes brimming with tears, her body trembling. All she wanted was to speak with Agares.
There was sothing strange about this woman nad Silva. Maybe she really was telling the truth... maybe they really were friends.
"Goro."
"Postpone my lunch. I’m heading out."
"Everyone’s already outside—even l. Who’s gonna cook in the kitchen?"
Leon smiled. He and his party stepped outside the tavern, finding a growing crowd of adventurers and demonkin had already gathered.
He and Silva squeezed their way through the crowd, and when they finally made it to the front—they froze.
There, a bald man wielding an enormous warhamr was brutally assaulting Agares’s body, ripping him apart, peeling skin from bone, and finally—beheading him.
"HAHAHA!"
"Too easy! Way too easy!"
The bald man grabbed the severed, crushed head of Agares and held it high for all to see. He laughed wildly, shouting that he would soon be rich.
"I’m rich! I’m gonna be filthy rich!"
Silva stood frozen, her legs trembling at the horrific sight of her friend’s death. She collapsed, pale and shaking, tears streaming down her face.
She had finally found Agares—but only to see him dead.
Her party mbers reached her side, knowing full well how crushed she must feel.
After searching for so long through the depths of the S-level dungeon, Agares had t such a tragic end.
"Please calm down, Lady Silva."
"I have to kill him!" Silva snapped, her voice and body engulfed by an aura of pure hatred.
Indeed, a dark aura with no elent surged violently from Silva’s body, threatening to overtake her completely.
"A-A dark aura?" one of her teammates muttered.
Silva began chanting a spell, eyes blazing with fury. Her target was clear: the bald man who had so cruelly killed Agares.
"Wait, Lady Silva."
"Don’t do this. Milenia might—"
"Alright, that’s enough," Milenia cut in, stunning the entire crowd gathered on the main street.
A flash of blue and violet light appeared at the center of the crowd. Milenia had arrived—and she wasn’t alone.
Standing beside her was Agares.
Alive.
Unhard.
Agares walked toward Silva, but her friends stepped forward to block him.
Milenia ordered them to step aside. Only Agares could dispel the hatred that erged from Silva’s heart.
At last, the four stepped back and allowed Agares to approach. Still wary, they watched him closely.
Agares raised his hand and gently touched Silva’s shoulder. Slowly, his power absorbed the dark aura rising from her body.
Bit by bit, her anger faded. Her heart cald. Her breathing and pulse returned to normal.
But for soone with dominant light affinity, such hatred left a heavy toll.
Silva collapsed, unconscious, after being "purified" by Agares’s power.
Her friends, shocked, imdiately asked about her condition.
"She’s fine. She just needs to rest."
"Take her back with you."
They nodded and quickly left the crowd, carrying Silva to their inn room—fortunately located nearby.
Milenia smiled, then turned to face the bald man who had broken the city’s rules.
He had attacked Agares and damaged public property.
That could not be forgiven.
"But if that was Agares, then..."
The severed head he held turned into shadow and vanished—absorbed back into Agares’s body. A system panel appeared before Agares:
[-300 HP]
[HP: 11800 / 12100] [-300]
"What was that?" Milenia asked, turning to him.
"Shadow clone skill. Every ti a clone dies, I take fixed damage."
"I see..."
"N-No way. I already—"
Milenia glared, eyes cold and rciless. She raised her hand and snapped her fingers.
From the ground, ice flowers erupted and trapped the bald man instantly.
He had no chance to dodge.
"Where are your party mbers?" Milenia asked.
"T-They..."
"W-We’ve disbanded from his party!"
" too!"
"I don’t want anything to do with a brute like him!"
Milenia smiled, turning her attention back to the now solo adventurer.
He had no allies, no power to oppose her. He was alone—and guilty.
"You are no longer allowed in this city," Milenia declared.
"Please, let stay! I swear, I’ll follow the city’s rules!"
But Milenia showed no leniency. She pulled out a teleportation token and forcefully expelled him from the city.
She also instructed the Dungeon rchant to blacklist him from purchasing another token.
rchant Lo understood and relayed the ssage to all other rchants in the dungeon.
The crowd dispersed. The bald man, released from the ice trap, was taken away by the crystal stone guards.
Leon walked over to Agares, his party at his side.
"Agares."
"You? Aren’t you Leon?"
"That’s right. I’m Erika Thorn’s brother."
"Ah, yeah—I rember. What’s going on?" Agares asked.
"Can we talk? Just the two of us," Leon requested.
Agares hesitated, then nodded. He and Leon left the main street and returned to Goro’s Tavern.
They ordered the sa drink: beer.
Looking at him now, Leon could sense it clearly—Agares’s power had far surpassed his own.
He was likely nearing a noble stage. An extraordinary man indeed.
"What is it?" Agares asked.
"Faircallen—that’s the village where Cassandra’s parents lived."
"What? Why bring that up now?" Agares asked, startled.
"Before you returned, my team and I headed back to the surface. But while we were gone... sothing happened."
"You saved my sister from kidnappers—and from the dungeon."
"But I can’t ignore the suspicion that you destroyed Faircallen."
Agares sighed.
He’d heard this question thousands of tis. Answered it thousands of tis.
And yet... people never stopped asking.
It was exhausting.
"I didn’t destroy Faircallen."
"I figured you’d say that."
"But without proof, I can’t dismiss my doubts about you."
"I don’t care," Agares said bluntly.
"Whether you believe or not isn’t my problem. I don’t care less about your baseless suspicion."
"The truth is—I didn’t destroy that village!"
Reviews
All reviews (0)