Chapter 22- Shock

[Ding]

[New martial arts technique has been created]

[Serpents razor has been added to Host's list of skills]

[Serpents razor: Use rapid moving elemental aura to coat your blade and deal a single deadly strike. 50 Aura per use]

As Lucious swung his sword, his sword cut through his opponent's thin blade and armour.

It continued travelling through his hip and exited his upper torso, slicing him in two.

When his upper half fell to the ground, the other humans began to panic. He was not just their leader but also the strongest in their group.

And yet, he was defeated with a single slash.

It's a little more powerful than before. This must be because of my additional elements. Lucious pondered as he killed the archer who was still on the floor.

[2 Humans killed]

[Rewards: +200 Exp, +7 strength]

"R-run!"

"D-don't come any closer!"

"Monsters!"

"Save me!"

Without their leader, archer and mage, the lupines easily killed the rest of their opponents as they tried to flee.

Liara had tried to use another frozen arrow spell at the other mage, but he cast a barrier to block it before being cut down.

"Thank you for your help, mister. You too miss" Tristan said while approaching them.

He sported a large toothy grin and held out his hand to shake which Lucious took.

"We're lucky that you came along when you did. A few minutes more and we might all be dead right now."

Ellie, the other warrior of the group, thanked the mysterious duo who saved them as she approached.

"My name is Ellie, the two back there are Vic and Meryl. And this is my husband, Tristan. We are the roaming lupines adventurer group"

"Nice to meet you."

"You too, thanks for saving us."

Meryl was the only lupine who didn't say anything and simply nodded her head in appreciation as she eyed Lucious.

Lucious noticed Liara hadn't said anything and when he turned her way, he saw her glaring at the corpses of the humans.

She's holding onto too much anger and hatred towards humans. It will help in the upcoming war, but it won't be good in the long term.

He got lost in thought while staring at her before shaking his head and introducing himself.

"I'm Lucious, over there is Liara." With the greetings done, he turned to ask them what they were doing here.

"We are trying to reach Oura city. Meryl said it was this way, about an hour away. But these humans attacked us." Tristan cut in.

Is it me, or does he seem possessive over her? Is he worried I'm going make a move on her? Lucious chuckled at his own thoughts, causing everyone to stare at him with confused expressions.

Ahem

"Well, we were heading that way. You guys can join us of you want."

After agreeing to his offer, the six of them made their way back to Oura city.

Through talking to them, Lucious learnt that they were an E rank party.

They usually work from the capital but decided to travel the empire to broaden their horizons.

Meryl had been especially quiet and glared at Lucious every now and then when she thought he wasn't looking.

What's her problem? Lucious wondered if he had some something to upset her but couldn't think of anything.

Eventually they returned to the city and split up. Lucious sought out Adrianna at the guild as the roaming lupines went to find a tavern to stay at.

"You finished all three? I'll process them for you now." She took their adventurer cards and disappeared for a second.

When she reappeared, she gave them back their cards.

"You each have one silver stored in your account." She said before dismissing them.

"Wait, before we go, we met a party called the roaming lupines. They were being attacked by humans." Lucious said in a quiet voice.

He had momentarily forgotten that everyone in the room had much more sensitive hearing compared to humans and the guild went quiet.

Sigh

"Please follow me, Liara too." Adrianna led the behind the counter and through a corridor.

"Hey, did you hear that?"

"Humans? Surely they were mistaken."

"Yeah right, how can anyone make that mistake."

"They must be up to something."

While unintentional, Lucious caused rumours to spread.

However, these rumours were true and would later lead to the empire increasing their defences.

Adrianna led Lucious and Liara to a door on the second floor at the far end of the corridor.

Knock, knock

"Come in." A deep voice resounded from the other side of the door.

The three entered the room with Adrianna holding the door.

Inside was a well-decorated room with a red carpet. The walls had various paintings and expensive looking ceramics and vases dotted the shelves.

A crystal chandelier hung down from the ceiling and in the centre of the room was a large rectangular desk with a gold inlay and three padded chairs.

On the desk we're a stack of papers and a single flower vase with blue flowers sat inside.

Oddly enough, the whole room smelled like honey, though that likely had something to do with the man sat at the desk.

Behind the desk, sat a 218cm tall bearkin. Two circular brown ears rested on his greyed hair and his large bulging muscles strained against his suit.

Most notable, was the large scar across his face and he stared at Lucious with his piercing brown eyes.

"Take a seat." He gestured to Adrianna first, then to Lucious and Liara.

The three sat in the chairs opposite him with Adrianna in the middle.

An overwhelming amount of pressure bore down on Lucious and Liara just by being in his presence.

It feels like a whole damn mountain is pushing down on me... Lucious looked towards Liara and saw she was in a worse state than him.

To counter the effects of his aura, Lucious tried circulating his elemental aura to shield himself and counteract the effects.

Though it didn't stop it entirely, it did help to some degree. Seeing this, the bearkin grinned menacingly at Lucious before withdrawing his aura.

"My name is Abraham Derricott, and I am the guildmaster here."