The raid [10]

At this rate, a superior human would never emerge from this group of people, Lucian thought. He needed to do something about it or everything he did up to this point would be just a waste of time.

He would obtain the results he wanted even if he had to use a more aggressive approach.

As such, he needed to destroy their illusion and show them how things worked in this new reality.

And if all of them were worthless, he might as well challenge the Abyss alone and abandon all of them to their death.

"I will give you only one chance to prove that you aren't completely worthless," Lucian said, his voice carrying an invisible pressure. "If you can't satisfy me, I will kill all of you right here!"

Under the pressure that Lucian had exhibited, the adventurers had gone quiet.

Even Caesar had a concerned look on his face. He didn't expect Lucian to have this kind of power. Just by being there, his presence was overwhelming.

Most of the adventurers took a fighting stance instinctively, feeling the intense killing intent. Lucian wasn't kidding.

"If you only used your brain, you would have understood a lot of things, and realized your foolishness. For one, humans shouldn't even possess relics," Lucian continued. "And to rectify this error, the Abyss appeared as a phenomenon that would reset this world. All of you should have never existed after that Cataclysm. However, all of you are still alive, why?"

Lucian's words surprised, not only Caesar but also Solomon and everyone present there.

"I don't see any merit in letting inferior creatures like you live if you can't even understand that. Killing all of you and collecting all your relics would be more beneficial. That's why I will only spare those who can prove themselves to be a little bit useful," Lucian added, not mincing his words.

"Who do you think you are?!" Welsch shouted in anger. Some adventurers could still stand and tried to fight back.

"I should be the one asking that question. I didn't permit you to speak. I only asked you to prove your worth. I am the strongest. I do what I want because I can do it, and I know why I do it. It's as simple as that," Lucian answered, shutting down Welsch. "However, if you think you are better than an ant in terms of usefulness, then prove it. Attack me with everything you have, and I will show you how inferior you are. After that, I will judge if you are useful or not."

Among all of the people present there, Rita was the most shocked by Lucian's words. She believed that she was the most useless of all of them, and she always took everything Lucian said to heart.

Swoosh! And at that moment, however, someone dashed at Lucian in a quick motion and landed an attack on him. Boom!

The impact created a violent shockwave that sent multiple adventurers flying.

"Protect the Emperor!" George shouted. He always had a bad impression of Lucian, but it was clear that Lucian was dangerous.

Even Rezalea was shocked by Lucian's words. No matter how she looked at it, Lucian was serious, and from what she could see so far, he was really capable of doing what he said. She needed to stop him somehow, she thought.

"What's your name?" Lucian asked, looking at the individual who attacked him. The man used to hit him but Lucian blocked him with one hand. He didn't look the least concerned.

From an outsider's point of view, it was clear that Lucian didn't even feel anything. However, Lucian used his hand, and that showed how much power this man's punch packed.

"Hahaha! I knew you also like violence," the muscular man said. "My name is Yvanski, and I will kill you."

After saying these words, Yvanski landed on the ground because he couldn't stay afloat in the air like Lucian.

"It seems like not all of you are worthless. But I am really wondering, do you all like being looked down at?" Lucian said. "These beings are looking down on humans, saying that they would grant your wishes. Do you really think that humans are that weak and need to be saved? Aren't you humans who limit what you can do because you don't even know what you are capable of? That's why you are worthless."

"Bastard!! I will kill you!!!" Welsch held a black orb in his hand. He was consumed by anger after listening to Lucian.

However, the orb that he held in his hand began to change form and swallowed his hand, almost as if it was a living darkness.

"Aaaaaa! What is this!?" Welsch screamed in pain, confused by what was happening to him. In the first place, he never asked what happened when the orb get activated.

"Welsch! What the hell are you doing?!!" Caesar understood immediately that the orb was something extremely dangerous, but he was late at reacting.

Swoosh! Welsch's whole body was swallowed inside the darkness that was expanding.

Boom! After that, a violent shockwave was released from within the darkness, sending everything around it flying.

"Kuh!" Caesar, Zoe, and Boris were hit by the shockwave and were propelled backward since they were close by.

"KEEEEEEEEEE!" Then, an ominous and deafening scream echoed inside the entire building.

"What…is…that?" Zoe who couldn't believe what she was seeing. Caesar and Boris also had the same expression as her.

Something came from within the darkness, almost as if it served as a portal. The thing couldn't even be called a beast. Its huge body looked like it was made up of black and viscous liquid. There were mouths all other its body, and it had several long arms that were bent unnaturally in all directions.

"HELP ME!" The mouths opened and talked. "IT HURTS! AHH! IT HURTS!"

What came out of these mouths were certainly human voices, and even though the adventurers saw the abomination in front of them, these voices still had a psychological effect on them.

"SOMEONE! SOMEONE SAVE ME!"

The voice begged to be saved, and they sounded like the voice of kids crying. But sometimes they also sounded like a woman, and sometimes like an old man on the verge of dying from pain.

"Don't be distracted by the voices!" Caesar noticed that some of the adventurers were too shocked. The voices were random but for some reason, they caused a feeling of nostalgia.

Swoosh! The monster didn't miss that moment of distraction.

"It's fast!" Caesar couldn't react to the monster's speed.

Although the monster had a massive body, it could freely change its shape and length, and even increase the number of its tentacle-like arms, reaching several points at once in one move. That made its movements very unpredictable.

It happened so fast, and in the blink of an eye, the area was covered with thick blood, human organs, and gores.

"GAH!" Several adventurers ended up being slaughtered before they could even react.

And after that, the monster began to devour the adventurers' fleshes in front of their peers while continuing to scream in agony, as if it was the one who was in pain.

"KEEEE! SAVE ME! PLEASE! SAVE ME!" As the monster was gnawing on the bones of the fallen adventurers, the voice asking for help still continued to echo.

"What kind of horror is this?" Some of the adventurers were left frightened, mostly the low-ranked ones. The sight of blood and flesh as well as the organs being devoured in front of their eyes was not a sight that many people were used to.

Even Caesar squinted his eyes and had a serious expression on his face.

"Kill it! Kill this damned monster!"

Unable to stand this sight, some adventurers were enraged and rushed at the monster with their swords in their hands.

"What?! This thing is so hard!"

The adventurers didn't expect that the monster's body would be tougher than steel, no, it was even sturdier than it.

Swoosh! The monster's arms pierced several adventurers' chests all at once before they could even comprehend what was happening. They died with their eyes open, blood gushing out of their chest.

"What is this? I am out of here!"

Some of the adventurers began to panic and tried to flee, but their nightmare was just beginning.

"This is a dream…right?"

The dark portal expanded further. "KEEEE! HELP! I AM SUFFERING!"

As if one wasn't enough, this time, twenty of those abominations came out of the dark portal.

Swoosh! And this time, all of them moved quickly, rushing in all directions with very unsettling movements.

"KEEEEE!" Their screams caused uneasiness, almost as they stirred up the very soul of those who heard them.

Lucian looked at this scene without doing anything. He was still floating above the ground, observing the adventurers' reactions.

As he expected, the mastermind used a puppet, hiding their involvement. He knew that this would happen, but the black monsters were something he never saw before.

However, although he already knew that they were testing him, he also understood that this was some kind of selection.

They could have annihilated humans whenever they wanted, so the fact that they used such a roundabout way, like issuing a challenge or using a puppet to open a portal here, suggested that they had other motives and plans for these humans.

In any case, while observing the adventurers being slaughtered, Lucian realized that most humans were too weak. At this rate, they would be of no use.

But, fortunately, some of them also had the potential to take a step toward the next level.

But he didn't have the intention to give them all of the answers, and it depended on them if they manage to overcome this first obstacle or not. Because if they failed, it would just mean that he needed to change give up on them and change his plans.

*****

Two men who had their heads hidden under the hood of their black clock stood at the top of a building. They were facing the adventurer's guild.

"It has finally begun," one the said.

"The boss must be having a lot of fun seeing what's happening up close," the other one commented, sounding a little bit dejected. "I wanted to go there too."

"You should know that the boss isn't there to have fun," the first individual rebuked.

"Yeah, yeah. I know that. But just observing these inferior creatures is boring. Why was the boss assigned to this kind of pointless task? All of them would die anyway. Or is it because of that guy? Do you really think he can do something?"

"Stop with that. All of this goes beyond our imaginations."

"For sure. But the servant of our Lords is not brainless fools. It's expected of us to be able to use our heads. Don't you want to understand the Lord's purposes even if it's a little?"

"I do. But my point is that you should keep your thought to yourself. If you are wrong, you should just blame yourself for misjudging the Lord's intentions, I want to have nothing to do with you. And, the man that you are referring to is an anomaly. That's why we are here in the first place."

"An anomaly huh? In the end, he is just another who is too full of himself because they acquired a power that he didn't even understand."

"It's not that simple. I thought that you used your 'brain' to understand the Lord. Do you really think that the Lord assigned this task to the boss without already knowing all of the outcomes in advance?"

"I know that. That's why I am trying to predict the outcome, to see if I can understand the Lord. The Lord is a being that uses these useless creatures for greater purposes."

"Indeed. I agree with you about one thing, humans should be grateful."

*****

[If you liked the story so far, please also check: The Last Man: Saga of the Nightmare Invoker.]