FACING THE REALITY

The next few days for Augustus went like a breeze. After the initial feeling of taking someone's life went away, he quickly started his little massacre in the ant colony where he was summoned.

In a large dome-like room, you could see a man riddled with small scars all over his upper body standing still breathing lightly. Around the man was a small sea of Ant corpses spread all around the ground and even a slightly bigger and with a white antenna was lying down with hundreds of holes in its body.

Augustus spent 9 days in the dungeon all for sake of practice. He believed it to be a waste to go back just to rest for a few hours and come here again. All he's been doing this time is trying to clear this floor which was astonishingly hard as the ant in front of him was the queen of this floor. After fighting hundreds of ants, he finally won the battle. Although he had a few scars, It was nothing serious.

His supplies were almost 50 per cent finished and he felt he was not quite ready to go to the lower floors yet so he decided to go back and take proper rest in the inn as resting in the dungeon where you could be attacked every time was although good training for his instincts he wanted to properly rest a little. Also, he only found one F-rank party yet and hasn't even met anyone else in his time at the dungeon.

That party was of 4 people with the leader being an E-rank adventurer and the second circle mage with three first circle mages. He didn't converse with them as he just went different ways to avoid any possible conflicts.

After all, even if he found the people of the adventurers guild to his liking, he knew not everyone was like that.

Waving his hand, Augustus collected all the little mana stones inside the ant's body and even stored some parts of the ant queen's carcass. He didn't have enough space to hold the entire corpse in his little ring. He also sat down and started first aid on his wounds.

'Nine days for a floor huh' Augustus thought.

'It's not a bad speed for a novice but I need to do better. I'm still far away from being a second circle mage but before going to form the second circle I should pour out all the potential of the first.

After resting for a while, Augustus stood up to leave the dome and went back when he heard some footsteps coming from the direction of where he came.

'Ah, it's these guys'. They were the adventuring team that Augustus came through.

''How the fuck did someone beat us to kill these damn ants'' The bald guy shouted.

Although the dungeon can spawn the monsters again, It is not sure if it'll spawn the same monster or someone with its power level. Also, It takes at least 24 hours to summon them again and all the corpses that are still within the dungeon just get absorbed in it.

''Look there's a guy there'' Said a blondie pointing at me.

''Oi kid, give us half your share for ruining our raid'' Ordered the leader while the sidekicks were eyeing the pile of mana stones.

''I was a little shocked by the cliché scenario that Arie warned me off before I said I was going to a dungeon'

'So anything goes in a dungeon huh'. I thought. 'I don't know if I could fight them right now. They have the numbers and I'm quite tired due to the battle along with the injuries.

Seeing I was not giving any response, the haughty bald guy summons lightning on his fingers before smiling wickedly.

''It is your last warning kid, Now give us everything and I might let you go'' He said

'Is this the price of human life'. For a few mana stones, he was ready to commit murder and even looked happy doing it.

The people behind him were also showing mocking expressions as they were clearly enjoying this and had probably been doing that for a long time.

'No wonder they're so low ranked despite being old' I thought.

''Are you sure you want to fight me?'' I asked hoping they just went away as I didn't want to commit murder right now. I knew I had to have some time but I was not hoping for it to be this soon.

He just smiles and launches and lighting bolt at me while the other also prepared their spells. From the looks of it, they had two fire mages, one lightning mage and a wind mage in their time.

'Looks like I have to do this' I sighed with mixed feelings. I don't think I ever thought about killing someone when I dreamt of being a mage. It was an unrealistic fantasy for me but even after living in the city for a while or exploring the dungeon, I knew I'm way too naive right now.

'I should've attacked them the moment I sensed hostility' I thought while erecting a barrier and firing a homing beam towards the blondie wind mage first.

''SARA!'' The redhead fire guy shouted as the beam was too fast for her to react and put a hole in her stomach.

''YOU MURDERER!'' He shouted while trying to fire many fire arrows towards me without managing his mana.

'What fucking hypocrites' I thought. I was also low on mana and I knew I had to put this fight to an end early.

The leader though was still carefree after confirming that I was a first circle mage and looked completely unbothered from the death of their teammate.

I let out my mana to create two spears and send them to the redhead brother I presume who erected a firewall but the spears just went aside from the wall before impaling the guys in the guts killing them instantly.

My mind was a little out of place and my stomach was feeling sick but I had to endure as I knew It was not over yet. I looked towards the Bald guy who just looks like he was enjoying himself even now.

''Do you not care that they're dead'' I asked him in an eerily calm voice.

''Hehe, you just made my job a little easier, I was already going to kill them before going out of the dungeon'' He said with a wicked smirk.

I was feeling angry. Not at him, not for the people that died but at myself.

'I have to change, I'd die soon If I don't keep being soft' I thought.

Coming to the city and meeting Arie, Ava, and Noel, I thought most people were like that.

I looked him in the eyes, my mana was low on a dangerous level and I knew I had to finish this In a move. My strongest move was the telekinetic beam but I don't think that'd be enough to finish him

I concentrated all my mana on my hand trying to form an orb while he became warier at the sight of that.

He launched him towards me while making a little ball of lighting at his hands aiming for my heart while I launched all my mana. Our attacks struck each other and threw me far away. I already made a field of the telekinetic field over my heart but it still burned.

I survived though. I looked towards the man whose eyes was open and a big hole was in his stomach. His heart, lungs, and even liver, everything was turned into nothing.

I stood up shaking. My hands were still in pain and my mana was almost depleted. I just collected their rings and went to a different tunnel to avoid being in a fight as I would most likely die If I encounter another team like that.

After arriving at another place, I took a deep breath before vomiting some blood due to the extent of my injuries which would at least take a week to heal even with a low potion.

I sat there and thought about the lives I took. Maybe I could've escaped or incapacitated them without fighting. But why?

Why should I leave someone alive who tried to kill me?

I meditated and left all matters aside.

'I'll have to change'.