CH. 269: Daedalus street

"It's dead… how is it dead?"

Jura questioned himself as the dying roar of bugbear echoed in his mind. Nothing on the 15th floor should've killed a bugbear. The bear was more ferocious than a hellhound, packing more punch than the newbie killer minotaurs.

"Either they… survived or someone else is here?"

He disregarded the possibility of the new monster attacking him tamed bugbear. Monsters had no reason to go against each other.

His heart just wouldn't rest, thumping harder and harder in his chest. The dark cave felt suffocating.

"I need to go."

He trusted his instincts and prepared to flee the dungeon. An earth-shaking rumble forced him back on the chair. This one was far closer than the last explosion.

"Adamantite gate is down… again..." His eyes opened wide as he realized his mistake. "Who broke the last one?"

A shiver wrapped him. He hadn't seen the one who broke the first adamantite gate strengthened with orichalcum. It couldn't be anyone under level 6. Possibly a level 7.

'They sent the fucking Boaz?'

He shook his head. Ottar had more concerning matters than dealing with a small evil cult.

Another rumble echoed. Then another, then another. Jura called out to all of his tamed monsters. Two hellhounds, a giant boar with sharp tusks, and a troll.

The Tamer skill allowed Jura to tame monsters after beating them into submission. Even the gentle people of the Ganesha Familia employed the same method.

Numerous footsteps drew near.

Jura grabbed the lamp and rushed through the corridors. He knew his chances in a straight fight were zero. A door blocked his path. He flashed the heated magic item at the door.

"Open bastard."

The adamantite door remained quiet. Jura slammed the magic item into the door.

He heard the pained cry of his monsters. He kept slamming the door with his sweaty hands.

"Come on. Please."

"Only one person here?"

Jura gulped and looked back.

Asahi only found a man lurking in these caves, baffling him a little. "The others escaped?"

Alise's heart sank. "I told you we should hurry."

Asahi patted her back, smiling at the man desperately knocking on the door. "And I told you not to worry. We can get some info out of this guy."

"Fine… It's your responsibility now."

"Yes, my Gullible Captain."

Jura turned around, giving a glimpse at his twisted face. "Whores of Astraea Familia."

Asahi deadpanned. "Oi, you don't get to call them whores. Alise here is virgin."

"W-Who is a virgin!"

"Are you not?"

"..."

She silently looked toward Jura and her eyes opened a little wide. "Jura Halmer… Captain of the Rudra Familia. A level 4 monster tamer."

Even she remembered this infamous man. There were rumors of him torturing monsters for his pleasure.

"Yeah, bitch."

Jura snorted, eyes darting between the people surrounding him. He saw the golden-haired Siren standing with a purple-haired girl. His mouth hung open. "Y-You. You are the Siren who spoke to me."

Ray flinched, moving closer to Shiori. She had seen this man after she first left the village. Without knowing he was a member of an evil organization, she greeted her naively. The lizardman Lyd saved her from disaster.

"Don't sweat over this scum."

Shiori couldn't help but pat Ray's dull golden hair thicker than human's hair. All in all, Shiori had done a splendid job in making the Siren comfortable around humans.

Asahi nodded in approval of her actions before staring at the cat-eared adventurer. "Where is your gang?"

"What gang?"

"Acting tough, huh."

"Asahi-sama, let me."

Aimi stood before Asahi, her red eyes pleading for permission. She hadn't contributed too much in the expedition, which gave her all the more reason to step in before Asahi tainted his hands with Jura's dirty blood.

Torturing Asahi's enemies was her area of expertise.

"Alright. Don't go easy."

Jura had slaughtered dozens of innocents in the Great War for his satisfaction. Right now, he felt what it was like to be in their shoes. These people treated him like a deadman as though no one gave a shit about his status as a level 4 adventurer.

His shivering eyes stopped on the young man. He had gotten info about this young man. He was the sole male adventurer in the Astraea Familia, a notorious playboy known for hoarding numerous beauties of Orario, and the fastest adventurer to reach level 2. None of the information said anything about him leading Astraea Familia.

Though hard to believe, Jura had a hunch this man broke the gate. "...You bastard broke the gate?"

"Yeah," Asahi nodded and walked up to the adamantite door.

Jura thought of grabbing Asahi as a hostage. As he walked a step, every woman in the place glared his way. His heart froze, so did his legs.

Asahi simply punched the door, breaking it like the other doors he encountered before. Alise and others didn't even blink their eyes, already accustomed to his freakish strength.

Asahi proceeded into the corridor, soon coming face to face with another branch of tunnels. He trusted his instincts and walked deeper and deeper.

['Instinct' ranked up to D.]

'Sweet.'

In another short minute, Asahi came across several doors all made of adamantite.

'How fucking rich are they to have this much adamantite? I don't believe a fallen evil organization has this abundance of resources. Either they found some treasure or they have a powerful backing.'

Asahi grinned. Wasn't this like the plot of some xianxia where the protagonist deals with a young master, only to get rolled over by the sect master?

Thinking of an absurd possibility, he broke open another door. A horrendous stench wafted into his nose. He had arrived in sewers under Orario.

"Damn it."

He pulled out a mask from his ring and put it on. He had saved a lot of masks when he used to slaughter thousands of undead.

'Those were good times.'

He smiled and flew through the sewers. Coming outside, he faced the maze-like streets. The mix of short and colossal structures made everything confusing as if someone randomly put these structures.

He recalled Natsumi's words about the slum area of Orario.

"Daedalus street."