First Retreat

Pavor just clicked his tongue from their arrival.

He does not feel threatened by them at all, since they were all common folk and a few regular Retaliators. Not even comparable to Lynx and Tudo.

Dark shadows spread around him, and his crimson eyes gleamed. This group dinner would soon turn into a one-man feast as he devours all of them.

"Come close if you dare, mortals." He smirked as they came for him.

The guests sprinted towards him, but their legs weakened as soon as they got close. Their faces got paler and they breathed heavily.

After all, his Dread Powers were Pavor's strongest asset.

One of the guests tried to slash his sword at his neck, a half-naked man with a large build, a bald head, and a scraggly beard.

He must be a warrior or a knight in Vissus, the kingdom that was under the patronage of Violentia.

But his hands get clammy and Pavor easily sends that sword flying straight into a wall.

It impaled itself there, and the large man that was twice his size landed on his butt on the cold cave floor.

At the same time, a woman with thick, curly brown hair that reached to her legs set down a wooden toy dog on the floor.

The toy suddenly turned larger and became animated, becoming a wooden wolf.

The wolf went to try and bite Pavor's arm off just after he had struck the Vissian warrior, but he easily dodged it with his refined reflexes.

With a quick turn, he beheaded the wooden wolf, which was actually connected to the woman.

She collapsed on the floor like a limp doll right next to her toy.

Four people tried tackling him at the same time, commoners who don't have any special skill or powers. And they actually managed to get much closer to Pavor than the warrior or the toy wolf, with one of them grabbing Pavor's shoulders and the other grabbing the blade of his sword.

The blade did not slice through him, since much pressure is needed before any blade wounds someone.

But it was not designed to harm innocent commoners anyway as a weapon gifted by the Goddess of Love.

The one who grabbed the blade grinned triumphantly. "We got you now, hero!"

But Pavor just smirked and looked into the eyes of the one in front of him.

"What is your greatest fear?"

Since he was a commoner, and possibly a poor one that was not educated on how to resist phobia, he immediately succumbed to the dread powers.

His eyes rolled back, and a memory of his childhood came to him.

His father had sold him to a weaver at the age of 8 since they could not afford to raise him in a large family consisting of 12 children.

The weaver made him spin threads from wool fibers in a spinning wheel all day, in exchange for some food and a roof above his head. Locking him in a room with nothing but threads and wool.

One day, he pricked his finger on the spindle and it went all the way through his flesh.

The spindle was not really that sharp, it was rather blunt but he accidentally jammed his finger on it.

It bled and bled until he cried, but the weaver did not help him.

Instead he told the boy to keep weaving or he would just kill him and skin him like a sheep.

This left an impression on him. And with the image of his flesh peeled off by the spindle, the little boy grew into a man very much afraid with the idea of skinning.

Even the sight of insects peeling off from their cocoon or flowers blooming out of their buds made him shiver.

He kept imagining a sharp, thin object moving through, piercing the insides to break the outer layer.

He has belonephobia, the fear of thin sharp objects like spindles and needles.

Soon he looked down at his hands grasping the blade which had suddenly appeared to him as a long, thin spindle.

The spindle burst through him and he could see it move inside the skin of his hand. Swelling, moving deeper until the skin cracked from the inside.

His muscles were soon exposed as more of his outer flesh unraveled. Screaming in fear and agony, the man soon turned into nothing but a bloody mass of muscle, bones and sinew.

The man with no skin went toward his companions who were shocked by the gruesome sight, yelling. "Give me back my skin!"

He reached out to them to peel their flesh with the thousands of tiny needles sticking out from his body.

The fear that Pavor had awoken in him was so strong that it did not turn into a separate Phobodemon but instead turned him into the monster itself immediately, unlike with Duke Vanus.

The skinless man used his own needle-filled body to try and peel the skin off all the other guests.

He spun and needles flew, taking chunks of flesh of almost everyone with it.

Everyone except Pavor and....

"Enough."

A burst of golden light came from the sword in Xarian's hand. The light filled the whole dining area of the cavern, blinding them…..

And as soon as it dissipated, everything was somehow back to normal.

Pavor looked around and everyone was suddenly healed. Not just healed, but it seemed like they sustained no damage at all. The lady with the wooden wolf was already standing upright, along with the warrior from Vissus who was slung to the wall.

And the skinless man became normal again, causing him to cry in relief to see his flesh returned.

"I did not know you could heal others, Xarian." Pavor said in astonishment. "I thought that was Davien's job."

He was more impressed rather than upset. After all, to see this mortal hero turn into a god that could instantly revert former losses and damages was quite a sight to behold.

"I did not heal. I simply took away the presence and power of fear. All its effects shall be undone as well." Xarian explained. "As the Lord of Dread, I have the power to do so."

This was news even to Pavor.

He could take away fear?

He never had a reason to do it before, since he was the God of Fear after all. He enjoyed tormenting mortals.

But because this power and title was given to someone 'good' now, of course they could possibly use it to reverse the dread powers.

He started to wonder if the same could be said with the other gods.

Does that mean that Memtem can take away someone's logic and make them irrational? Or that Violentia can take away violence and anger?

And what about Amore?

Can she also take away the love that a mortal feels?

So many more questions have been raised the longer he lived as the 'hero' now, recontextualizing his whole existence as a god back then. It's like seeing yourself in a mirror for the first time, realizing that is what you look like.

"Let us not attack anyone, my friends." Xarian said to his guests.

He added: "You need not worry about my well-being. The…. The hero does not mean any harm towards me, nor can he be able to in this current state."

Pavor raised his eyebrow at Xarian's remark. But he does know that he was right about him not being able to cause him harm at that state.

He instantly took away the effects of his dread powers in the snap of a finger, and though he knew Xarian was more likely to take the pacifist route…..

That doesn't change the fact that this man had killed him before, and could kill him again.

And so he must retreat.

The idea of retreating was a new concept to him. It felt like tasting a new flavor that you couldn't quite tell if you liked or not.

Of course, all flavors were new to Pavor since he never had to eat back then, but you get the point.

Anyway, he was not particularly keen on retreating but there was a certain thrill to it.

Escaping into the dead of the night.

He smirked at the people. "Yes, I do not mean to interrupt your lovely dinner or cause any harm. I shall be on my way."

And then he jumped from the cave's window again...

"My Lord!"

Knowing very well that Xarian would make sure he doesn't fall to his death.

The new Lord of Dread granted him the temporary ability of flight, and he used it to zoom past that stone ladder above the deep chasm.

The guests watched him, half-perplexed and half-wary of this dangerous hero. Xarian wanted to speak more to him but he ultimately decided to let him go. Now was not the right time.

The system appeared before him and said: [Mission accomplished. You have gained 250 points.

You have reached Level 5. Your EXP is currently 62,500. You need 100,000 EXP to reach Level 6.]

[Next Mission: Get Princess Minerva safely off the Outlands for 300 points.]

Pavor surveyed the ground below him like a hawk. Eventually, he managed to find two figures amidst the fog. Just from their clothing he could tell it was Princess Minerva and Tudo.....

But they were not alone.

They were surrounded by a legion of 300 Phobodemons!