[Author: Important information. As you have seen, this chapter came out late and the reason is because the exam session is approaching. I will still try to bring a weekly update, but in case I can't, try to understand the reason. Thanks for listening and enjoy your reading].
"Haaa, a night wasted unnecessarily."
Inside the ruins of what used to be the residence of the Ishtar Familia, Mark emerged from the last room listed by Haruhime dejectedly.
He had checked every single room, looking anywhere the goddess might have hidden the key, but the results he obtained were zero. He had searched for that key until sunrise; yet, he had not found the slightest trace of the object so he had two guesses:
"Either Evilus already possesses the key or the Freya Familia possesses it, in any case, both are problematic."
[How does the host intend to proceed?]
"Staying here any longer is pointless, so I will return and report on my research. Haaa, sometimes I still have a hard time understanding how from a normal person, I became someone looking for traces of an organization that wants to bring chaos to the world."
Although he laughed ironically at the situation, Mark could not help but curse his bad luck. He wondered why that stupid organization had started to become active shortly after his arrival, robbing him of what little time he had to find the fragments.
More tired than ever from the various problems surrounding him, he arrived at the entrance of the ruins and began walking through the rubble-covered streets.
'tuc.'
He had not even gone too far from where he was standing when he felt something fall on his head. Looking up at the sky covered in grey clouds, which blocked any sign of dawn light, he felt a drop of water fall on his cheek and then another and after a few seconds, it began to rain.
"Perfect..."
Although it was not raining too hard, Mark began to feel the clothes wet, which in contact with the armor gave him a strong sense of discomfort, which was why he quickened the pace at which he was moving forward.
This time he was not too worried about not being seen, as he was still a long way from the undamaged red quarter areas. Moreover, given the hour, he doubted he would find anyone around.
As he ran, all that could be heard was the sound of his footsteps stepping over the various puddles and the rain, but even in that quiet situation, Mark's expression went from being carefree to becoming more serious. He couldn't quite explain it, but when he moved he felt something strange.
Concentrating his aura in his ears, he heard the surrounding sound increase dramatically, making his mouth twitch, but he still tried to ignore it and focus his hearing slightly further away. As he ran, he momentarily slowed his leg forward and it was there that he heard it.
'splash.'
The sound was so faint that it was unrecognizable from all outside noises, but with his hearing improved, Mark was sure that it was someone who stepped on an area covered with water. He did this test several times and the thing that made him more serious was the fact that he heard it from five different areas around him.
'At least five people and the fact that I can't even feel their presence, they must not be someone simple. Now, what should I do...'
There was still a long way to go before it reached the outer area of the red light district and the fact that these people had done nothing yet meant only two things. Either they were still analyzing him or he was heading in the direction they were most comfortable with.
'Let's see if this is how they detect themselves.'
As he ran, he abruptly changed direction and, concentrating his aura on his legs, began to run even faster on a different road.
"!"
The assassins, who realized they had been discovered, no longer bothered to hide their presence and started to chase him as fast as they could, except for one, who was the one Mark was heading towards.
The assassin realized that he had become his target, so he stepped out of
the shadow of a destroyed building and drew his dagger.
When Mark saw him, he could confirm his opponent's strength was on the edge of level two, but he did not underestimate him. He activated 'limit break' and began the attack.
"Electric dart."
A magic circle formed in front of Mark, from which an electric dart emerged, traveling quickly towards the assassin, who barely dodged by rolling to the side. The assassin quickly got up from the ground, seeing Mark approaching with the sword in hand, but it was then that he noticed out of the corner of his eye something near his leg. He tried to move away, but it was too late and a snake made of lightning bit his leg and then exploded.
"GHHA!"
Various splashes of blood and flesh flew around as the murderer groaned in pain from the completely pulverized leg.
With the sudden loss of his leg, he fell to the ground and it was then that he felt the pressure of Mark's foot almost crushing his windpipe. He
wanted to try to free himself, but found only his other leg being pierced.
"MMH!"
"Well, looks like we can talk now don't you think?" -Mark asked coldly, looking at the four figures who had just arrived.
All five figures, including the one as a hostage, had black robes that showed only their eyes, but the gruesome thing was that none of them had eyelids. Their eyes were forced to remain exposed at all times so as not to miss even a fraction of a second due to spontaneous blinking.
The four assassins looked at him suspiciously and started to approach, but stopped at the sound of his icy voice.
"Take one more step and your friend will go to the afterlife."
'crack.'
The weight of Mark's foot increased and from the killer's neck, the gruesome sound of bones about to break began to be heard.
'Three level 3 and a level 2 similar to the one I just subjugated, it is not simple.' -Analysed Mark.
"What is your goal?"
What Mark could understand was that these individuals were part of the Evilus and the fact that they were in the area meant that they had not yet found the key. That would explain why they had started following him, perhaps they believed he had the key, but there were still some things Mark did not understand, so he wanted to use the hostage to get the information he wanted.
But there was one thing Mark did not foresee. Usually, people tried to find a way not to suffer too many losses, but those he was facing were assassins. Emotionless human weapons whose life goal was to complete their assigned mission whatever the cost.
As Mark waited for an answer, he noticed the abrupt change in the color of the aura of the person he was holding as a hostage, and having a bad feeling, he did not hesitate to jump back.
'crunch.'
'Booom!'
He barely made it in time to dodge before the killer's body exploded.
"Sick pieces of shit."
Looking at the gruesome spectacle in front of him, Mark realized that they would not reveal anything, but this was not the time to be distracted.
As soon as the explosion occurred, the assassins took the opportunity to get as close as possible. One of the levels 3 tried to hit him in the leg with the dagger, but Mark managed to parry him, making him more open to attack by the other two level 3 who each aimed for his arms.
"Electric explosion!"
Three magic circles formed in front of him, from each of which electric spheres exploded near the assassins, throwing them away.
"Waltz of blood."
"!"
From the curtain of smoke created by his magic, he saw something coming and ducked quickly, dodging a blood-red beam. Mark had no idea what kind of magic it was, but he certainly wasn't about to find out by getting hit.
As soon as the curtain of smoke cleared, the assassins, who were on guard, saw Mark with four magic circles in front of him, the most he could achieve at the moment.
"Electric explosion!"
The assassins expecting the magic from before jumped back, but what awaited them was a blinding light that illuminated the entire area obscured by dark clouds and rain.
The effects of throwing four 'flashbangs' at maximum power were such that Mark was forced to fuse the aura in both his eyes and ears to defend himself. Unfortunately for the assassins, they received all the effects and could now neither see nor hear well.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Mark concentrated as much aura as he could on his legs as he leaped forward at an absurd speed, arriving in the blink of an eye in front of one of the blinded level 3 assassins. His sword executed a perfect arc splitting the various drops of water falling from the sky and connecting with precision to the killer's neck, decapitating him.
With three more assassins remaining and the 'flashbang' effects beginning to diminish he wasted no time. He threw an 'electric javelin' at the level two assassin, creating a hole in his chest as he headed for the penultimate level three.
The murderer in question, although still blinded and deafened, seemed to sense the arrival of Mark and raised his arms to defend himself, only to be cut off. He groaned momentarily in pain, but even so, he jumped at Mark.
'crunch!'
"Shit!"
Hearing the familiar sound of something being bitten, he made sure to cover himself as much as possible with his aura, as escaping after he had just attacked was impossible.
'Booom!'
"GHHHH!"
The explosion did not cause him too much damage, but the shock wave caused his organs to shake, making him groan with pain, especially because of the 'limit break' effects, but he didn't have time to waste.
He quickly charged toward the last remaining assassin, who had partially recovered from the effects.
'whistle!'
Seeing Mark coming, the assassin generated an extremely high-pitched and loud whistle as a signal from a hole in a tooth and prepared to face Mark.
He managed to parry Mark's slash with his sword when he suddenly felt the weight of the opponent's weapon weighing down, blocking him in place.
Before the killer could decide to commit suicide in an explosion, Mark created an electric javelin that pierced his heart.
'Phew.'
Releasing his breath, Mark looked at the destroyed road, which was now covered in blood and pieces of flesh. The fight may have seemed long, but it was over in less than a minute, but even so, Mark did not look relieved.
The fact that 'limit break' was still active meant that he was still in a state of battle, so he hurriedly climbed over a half-destroyed tower gaining a wider view and was able to catch a glimpse of more than a dozen figures heading in his direction, including many levels 3.
"Not good."
This was one of the few times Mark was grateful that corruption had erased his sense of fear.
(Bete Perspective)
"Great, all we needed was this shitty rain."
"Don't say that, don't you know about the fact that behind every storm there is a rainbow?"
"Yeah, and there are also little fairies and magical beings."
"Really?!"
"Of course not, idiot., Now shut your mouth if you want to keep following me."
"Boo, you shouldn't say such a thing to a young lady who even took the trouble to put a blanket over you last night."
"And you tried to rape me!"
"Hehehe, you were too hot."
'Haaaa, be positive Bete, after today this obsession of hers will surely disappear.' -Bete thought positively, watching Lena smile without any worries.
That morning Lena kept her pact and gave him the information on where he could find the key. At that moment Bete was over the moon believing she would leave, but unfortunately for him, Lena used the excuse of wanting to help him to spend even more time with him.
To be honest, Bete did not hate Lena, he considered her more someone with a few screws loose, but even so, he wanted to keep her as far away from him as possible. The more time he spent with her, the more wounds from the past began to arise from his memories.
'I also have to think about when to return to the base, Finn had told me to spend some time alone though-!'
With his man-beast senses, he thought he heard the sound of an explosion in the distance, but even so, he did not move. Someone was watching him and he did not seem to be able to completely restrain his bloodlust.
"Hurry up and take out your weapon." -Bete said seriously.
"W-What?"
"Pull out your weapon if you don't want to die, idiot!"
Pulling her arm, he placed her close to him, causing the dagger directed at her head to hit the ground.
Like shadows emerging from the darkness, more than twenty killers settled on the buildings in ruins, surrounding them.
'They resemble the killers described by Tione, but why are they attacking? Their priority should be to find the key.' -Trying to reason, he made sure not to take his eyes off any of them.
"Well, well, well but what a shitty surprise we have here!"
"This voice!"
Turning towards a building, he saw Valletta walking over one of the roofs with a smile on her lips.
"You know, between the two goals I had in mind, finding a high-level adventurer like you wasn't really in the plans, but considering the quiet area we're in, it shouldn't be a big deal." -Valletta said with a thoughtful air.
"Oi amazon listen to me, whatever happens, do not separate yourself from me, are we clear?!" - Said Bete, getting into position.
"O-Ok." -Lena said with concern when she saw Bete being so serious.
"Get them guys!" -Ordered Valletta laughing like a psychopath.