CHAPTER 85(The Darker Side)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

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CHAPTER START---

---Orario, Twilight Manor...

After Hephaestus and her adventurers left Twilight Manor, Loki and her executives aside from Lefiya and Riveria were having another discussion regarding how to proceed with the expedition.

"Well, that went better than I thought, kinda sucks that we couldn't borrow more combat power huh Finn," The goddess says as she pours herself a drink.

"Hmm, I admit that I'm curious to see how powerful he is exactly, his magic should be beyond Riveria's if he follows my assumptions..." Finn mutters while staring at the floor, deep in thought.

"Huh, level 5 with stronger magic than Riveria, that's a bit much doncha think?" Loki doubts.

"Dungeon Mom herself said that his magic could likely rival hers, and that was back when he was just level 3, definitely a contender at least now that he's level 5. And that 'instacast' as he calls it plus all the things he should be able to do make him way more dangerous," Tione says, causing Loki to give the matter a bit more thought.

"Well we may not have him but Tsubaki should be enough, you aren't actually considering sending Riveria with his vanguard team are you?" Gareth questions.

"It's tempting to see how his team operates. He and Welf, the Crozzo High Smith. One member less than they normally have but they're still confident in getting to floor 39 AND completing some kind of quest," Loki says.

"We can't escort our supports down properly without Riveria being there for insurance at least so that's off the table..." Finn says.

"I'll go..." Ais volunteers.

"He already refused you, hmm, he said he wants Riveria for her healing right?" Finn questions.

"Uh, yeah, something about saving money on potions I think," Tiona confirms.

"Well Ais and Riveria are strong but only one can heal, so he really didn't care about combat power at all. That means he's likely able to solo all the way to the safe zone, I doubt the level 3 that refuses to make magic swords is much in a fight down there, maybe we should take him up on his offer, how do you feel about it Bete?"

Hearing this, the werewolf's ears immediately stood up, a wide grin on his face.

"Cocky brat challenged me, just say when and I'll go see what he's made of," Bete says, confident in his strength.

"Don't forget what Tsubaki said, his magic is difficult to reign in right now. If you fight him now he might overdo it Bete," Tione adds.

"Hmm, either way. We got a good deal from Hephaestus and Tsubaki will be joining us as our combat smith, Yang is of no consequence once he can accomplish whatever he's aiming for and make it to the safe zone,"

"Udeaus?" Riveria asks, now entering the room quietly as Finn was speaking.

"Yeah that thing should be up by the time we pass there huh," Tiona says.

"No, I believe his goal is Udeaus, why else would he wait till almost the expedition before going on his Quest, and he has a habit of hunting the monster-rexes as he descends the dungeon," Riveria says as she takes her seat.

"Two people versus Udeaus, that's insane!" Tione says.

"No, just Yang, he didn't want help with the other boss fights, and he fought a golden dragon in a grudge match that melted the 37th-floor arena if the guild report is to be believed. Udeaus seems like a logical next step for him..." Finn concludes as he considers if convincing Yang to join them on later expeditions is viable.

"I hate to say it, but Ais and Bete may have the right idea if we want concrete answers," Gareth says, causing everyone to look at him in surprise.

"Yes, to get answers first hand about how strong he is..." Finn mutters as he looks at the papers on the table, still curious about how effective they would be with Yang on their expedition team.

---3 Days Later, 11 PM...

A large castle, a fortress used by mankind to ward off the legions of monsters that roamed the world before the gods descended sits on the shore, less than 50 miles from the Wishe Elven forest, the forest that gave the world Lefiya Veridis.

With high aged walls, moss growing sparsely across the grounds, and obvious signs of neglect, on this night it houses twenty-five adventurers, all here from a familia in the empire using this as a staging point to smuggle goods into Orario.

Atop a corner of the castle walls, two men can be seen sitting out in the open, a deck of cards on the table between them. Their features are hidden by hoods and scarves to protect them from the biting cold of the coastal winds, especially on such high castle walls.

"Go fish, haha!" One of the men cheers as his friend groans.

"Awee, how does it always go like this."

*CLING*

The sound of metal hitting stone echoes softly behind them, not enough to cause concern, but certainly raising their guard.

Their level 2 senses easily hearing the noise.

"Swords out, stay on alert," One man orders, his friend drawing his sword as the first man picks up his spear and torch.

Walking along the path of the castle wall, the man with the sword takes the lead, as the torch flame dances on the ocean breeze, a glint catches their eyes.

"What's it?" The man holding the torch asks.

As his friend with the sword walks forward, he looks around, the top of the wall is empty. Something doesn't add up here.

Taking a knee he quickly picks the piece of metal up, feeling it between his fingers, he flips it over.

"Huh, someone left a 1000 Valis coin up here, we---"

*CLANG*

The torch clatters to the ground. The light moves from over his shoulder to showing from below him.

Turning around with his sword is raised, his friend is gone. As if stolen by the wind itself.

With sword in hand, shaking as it might be, he tries to call out.

"HAR--- Ach..." His friends' name dies in his throat as blood rushes past it.

The man looks down to see a blade piercing through his neck, a foot of metal rushing past his chest through his back.

Without a word, his attacker withdraws the blade, deftly catching his sword so it doesn't clatter to the ground and make noise.

"Ach!" the man gurgles his own blood, desperately reaching for a potion on his belt as he uses a hand to cover the hole in his throat.

As he fishes the potion out of his belt, a hand grips his own, strength beyond his level prevents him from moving the potion.

Another hand reaches around, easily bypassing his own hand that was desperately trying to keep his wound covered and reaching inside the wound itself.

His eyes widen as pain shoots through his being, the attacker's fingers reach into the wound and grip tightly, in one swift motion his throat is torn out and moves past his own eyes, his head dips weakly as he can't even take his last breaths.

His view shifts to the moon as he's lifted off the ground, the last thing he sees is the beautiful full moon in the sky as the castle walls reach up as if to grab it. The walls appear to extend higher and higher, until everything goes black, until the pain stops, until he hits the ground outside the wall he was guarding atop with his dear friend, until he lands beside him.

As the night went on, captain Din couldn't quite relax. All the other nights he'd slept fine, but this one was different. He's protecting a special package for the world's number 1 blacksmith familia, for lady Hephaestus herself no less. It was quite a surprise when he received word to alter his course, that someone was after one of his packages and it was necessary to shake them.

Now he was in the main throne room of the castle with the mobile vault, a 5x5x5ft box with a four-digit combination lock on the front sitting in the middle of the room, protected by ten men and himself while a few men are on outer walls.

As he sits on the throne, he notices the stars are becoming much brighter in the sky through the windows.

"Hmm, the stars are shining brighter, or is it just me?" Din asks the room of guards, could his level 3 eyes be deceiving him?

"No captain, they are getting brighter, it's likely because the torches outside are being put out..." one of the men says absentmindedly.

"Huh, yeah that makes sen---WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE BEING PUT OUT!" He bellows as everyone takes a battle formation around the vault.

As they take their positions, they could almost hear bodies dropping just beyond the door.

Din strained his level 3 ears, he can hear heavy footfalls, the person sounds big, too big for one of his men.

*BOOM*

The throne room doors are kicked open, the eleven adventurers within are horrified at what they see.

The attacker, not as big or heavy as he thought, because there were three of his men held on his shoulder, a spear impaling all of the men, the added weight making him sound heavier.

Wearing effectively an all-black armor, covering all but the eyes that were hidden under a visor with armor plating everywhere, a man of regular build attacked the castle.

'That's the west wall guards, they were level 2s, this person has to be at least level 3 then...' Captain Din thinks to himself as he pulls his hood a bit tighter.

Without a word, the attacker rushes forward, in a flurry of blows three of his men are reduced to a pile of broken bones, their hands, arms and legs shatter.

His mage raises her staff, the moment she begins chanting the attacker lunges with such speed that Din couldn't keep up.

No weapons were used, a right hand reaches for the mage, another guard jumps in front of the mage to stall for the chant, only for the attacker to reel back and pierce his chest with an armored hand, grabbing the mages jaw through her lover's chest.

*CRACK*

The mage's jaw chatters in the grip. Chanting becomes impossible.

With a body still hanging around his biceps, the impaled man struggling to do anything, the attacker delivers a swift kick to the mages left knee, destroying the leg completely.

As a magic sword is used across the room, a small red dagger is swung. As the swing is in motion, flames flicker to life around the blade.

The instant the guard has his vision blocked by the flame, a body with a fist-sized hole in it slams into him while bringing his magic attack right back onto him.

As both men scream in agony, being burnt alive inside their armor with no way of stopping it, their allies aren't even able to spare them a glance. In a moment 6 of the 11 fighters they had in the room were destroyed.

There were no words, only violence, and they had to be ready.

The captain draws both his handaxes as he falls in line with his men, all surrounding the attacker.

In a flurry of swords, spears, and axes, none of them could land a hit.

One of their braver members raised his circle shield to his shoulder and rushed the attacker. Maybe if they got him knocked down they'd end the fight.

"RAAAAHHHH!" he yells out, his cry echoing off the empty castle wall.

The man sees the guard rushing toward him with the shield, instead of dodging, he simply takes the hit to the chest.

As shield meets armor, the attacker raises his hands above the shield reaching for the man's face, two thumbs easily find their way into his eyes, gouging them out completely.

"AHHHHH!" The man cries out in pain, still instinctively pushing the attacker back, feet skidding against stone but not falling over.

"AGH!" a hand reaches into his screaming mouth, four fingers on his tongue and a thumb under his chin.

A wet tearing sound is heard across the room, the guards watched as their ally falls to the ground, his body bleeding out and twitching, the attacker standing in place, the man's lower jaw in his left hand.

They were fighting a monster, that man was level 2 and had his jaw torn off, they only had one level 3. Instinctively all the men looked toward captain Din.

The captain looked just as scared as his men, maybe even more so because he knew it was up to him to kill this monster. There weren't even any words, therefore reasoning wasn't on the table, it was survival of the strongest tonight.

The attacker rushed forward once more, this time holding the shield.

In a blur of movement all but the captain found themselves crippled, alive, and worst of all, awake for what's to come.

As the captain backed up fearfully, he swung his axe once more, his attacker catches it between his palms disarming him with a twist, slicing him in the shoulder with his own weapon.

"What do you want..." The captain asks, sitting flat on his ass as he holds a hand over his shoulder.

His attacker wordlessly points at the safe in the middle of the room.

"I-I can't AHHH!"

His refusal turns into a howl of pain as the man slams down onto one of his kneecaps, destroying it completely.

The man wordlessly points at the safe once more.

"I-I--AHHH!"

His hesitation cost him the other kneecap.

"Captain... please..." One of the guards groans out.

For a moment, the captain's eyes soften, a moment not missed by the vigilant attacker.

Taking one of the men's swords, he stakes it through Din's leg and into the stone floor, Din's weak body far too broken to even free himself.

Walking over to the guard that spoke up, the attacker points at the broken man, then points at the safe.

"P-please..." The captain still hesitates.

The unknown man takes out a vial of green liquid, acid maybe, and holds it over the broken man. Before anyone can plead for mercy, the vial breaks on the man's chest, but nothing happens.

"I-it, what..." the man mutters out, expecting horrible pain, as he looks to his side, the attacker is walking over with a torch from the wall toward him, his eyes widen in horror, his shattered limbs trying desperately to move. "Please, PLEASE NO! PLEASE! DON'T!" are his last words before everything devolves into the sound of screams over the scent of burning flesh.

Silently the attacker gathers up the remaining guards and lines them up as well, alive and awake as the captain is, and points at the safe once more.

"You're a monster..." the captain growls, Din loves his men like family, this was cruel torture to him.

Two more vials of the green oil are revealed and held above the men.

"WAIT! I'LL TALK, 2814!" The captain finally cracks.

As the attacker walks over, to his pleasant surprise the safe opens easily with the code. Taking a look around, he steps inside and easily opens a special small chest. Barely a foot long, it only holds one thing, a Sacred Tree Teardrop from the Alv's Royal Forest, the home of the Elf royal family, the home of Riveria the Nine Hell herself.

The blue crystal in the shape of a water droplet shines even in the dim safe. Holding the box intended for the Wishe Forest, Lefiya's home, under his arm, the mysterious figure takes out a dagger.

The captain squints just enough, barely seeing the insignia of a soldier, helmet, shield and spear equipped on the pommel, the Ares familia symbol.

"STOP!" The captain yells out as the man begins to execute his men.

Without a word the attacker slits all their throats, cracking two vials of oil across them he torches the bodies, leaving the horrified captain to mourn the men he lost, as the last survivor.

As the captain struggles to process what the hell just happened, how many men they lost, why it happened, his second team is only a few hours away at sea. He would survive easily, but how would he live with himself after this.

---3 Hours later...

In the forest away from the castle, a fresh hole is dug, a man in all black armor stands over it as he begins to strip everything away.

As his helmet and visor are removed, long purple hair falls to his back as Thalie takes a breath of fresh uninterrupted air.

As she strips away the bulky and poorly fitted armor into the hole, she buries the box she stole as well while easily placing the sacred item into a smaller container in her satchel.

Raising a hand to her mouth to use her message ring while walking away after discarding the evidence, she begins her walk to Orario.

"I got it Hephaestus." She abruptly says.

"Good work, and who'd you pin?"

"Ares, Elves already hate him so what's one more crime against their people right," She says with a shrug.

"Smart move, will you be here in time for Ganesha's ball tomorrow?" Hephaestus asks.

"Nah, I'll be getting in maybe the next morning, kinda lost my horse in a skirmish earlier..." she mutters sadly.

"Need me to send you another?"

"My mission needs subtlety, so no, I'll message you if anything comes up, have fun at your party..." Thalie says as she drops her hand, beginning her long trek back to Orario.

END CHAPTER---

Yeah her missions are horror stories and she's the monster :/

Not sure if I made it clear enough before this but she isn't the 'Seduce them then kill them in bed' type of female character. She just always defaults to violence with ruthless efficiency :)