"Haaa..Ha…Hush…"
The man took a mouthful of air and looked at the building in front of him.
"I...I will live.''
A glimmer of hope flashed in his eyes.
The man's face was pale as if he had lost half of his blood. Even though he was unawakened, he ran with a speed comparable to an early awakened without a break that his heart was on the verge of bursting out.
The man managed to reach the destination safely under the Devil's order.
"I lived...They asked me to lead the way. I have done my work so please let me live."
The man burst into tears holding his missing arm.
"Thank you."
A low voice came from behind.
Kwakk!
A single dark line was drawn over his neck.
"Gagaagga!'
The man's head fell with his eyes full of astonishment and the last picture he saw was that of a man smiling as he looked at it.
"What a pitiful guy. Come follow me guys."Parth swept his hair giving an awesome pose.
"Huh...Stop staring at me like that."Parth muttered seeing Frederick and Lucas twitching lips.
"Was it necessary to kill him now?"Lucas glared.
"Do you want to keep him alive?"Parth asked, thinking that Lucas is still green.
"He was a useful pawn. We could have used him as evidence."Lucas sighed.
"There will be more pawns inside," Frederick said, stepping forward.
Pulling out his spear, he stared at the building menacingly.
"Is this here? I will take the lead. If we find a situation we can't counter we will run away," Frederick asked.
Lucas stared at the huge building. He was not uncomfortable about killing but thinking about the pitiful children inside, and meeting those gazes filled with expectation made him uneasy.
The hardest thing to bear is a person's expectations.
With a cold gaze, Frederick approached the front of the building. He kicked at the huge front door, which was about twice his size softly.
CRUNG!
From the part where Frederick's toes touched, cracks akin to spider webs spread across the entire door and then it collapsed into pieces.
Soon after, a silence lingered as the few people inside stared at Frederick in bewilderment.
Lucas also blinked his eyes surprised.
"What was that? He touched the door and it collapsed?"Lucas's heart flashed with horror.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThen, he remembered Harris's words. You could channel your aura into an object and break it from the inside.
"Who are you?"
A man ran towards Frederick hurriedly.
CLANG!
The man did not even know what hit him. His body rotated in the air and crashed onto the ground.
Loud cries burst out from inside.
"Intruder.."
"Attack."
Soon after, Frederick moved through the smashed door.
Swish!Swish!Swish!Swish!
Dozens of arrows poured down toward Frederick from all directions.
The appearance of Frederick disappearing through the rain of arrows horrified them.
"Stop him? Shoot him properly?"
At the corner, an archer extended his bow with trembling hands. Hiding his presence, he tried to aim at Frederick's rear.
"I can do it."
"There is no need to do it."
"....."
When the archer turned his head towards the source of the voice, he saw a figure shooting out from the shadows.
SCREECH!
The archer's head was immediately separated from the body. Finishing it, the shadow jumped towards the other.
Soon bodies fell to the ground with a loud thud. Only then did people realise the disappearance of the ones in the back.
While Frederick attacked from the front, Parth sneaking in through the darkness arrived at the back and decreased their number.
Lucas leaning against the wall just stared at the scene with a bored expression.
Frederick was more than enough but Parth wanted to play around.
'Since these two are more than willing to fool around, I should conserve my strength.'
"Hey, Parth, Frederick is enough. You should look for kids. Meanwhile, I will search around for anything useful. This place must have lots of secrets."
"Okay!"Parth shouted.
"I will move to the upper floor," Frederick spoke.
A sonic boom exploded one step later.
Together with the sound, the bodies of the enemies caught in the middle of the explosion were torn into shreds.
"Wawwwwww!"
"Arghhhh!"
Before those people could react, Frederick appeared right before them, stretched out his right hand, and muttered.
[Aracana Lancea]
A lance made of lightning shot forth from Frederick's fingertips and stretched out in a straight path shattering everything in the path that fried the enemies.
"Ohhh...Arghhhh!"
"Kayak!"
"Khummm!"
The rest of the fighters who recognized Frederick's prowess gawked at the horrifying sight before them.
It was no longer a fight.
It was just a one-sided massacre.
There were only three awakened ones in the building who might be on the top floor but they were nothing in front of Frederick.
Lucas rubbed his hands, thinking about the bounty these people might have.
"I am sure they have accumulated a great fortune here. So let's start with the treasure hunt. The money will help these poor kids in the future."
...
While Frederick and Parth cleared the places, Lucas searched around on the cleared floors.
"Except for spider webs and dust, there is nothing useful here."
BOOOOM!
The tiles over the roof due to strong vibration were stifled. Rubbles and dust fall over him.
"The real battle started now."
Turning his attention to the drawer, Lucas searched.
"It seems, important things were kept on the upper floor."With a dejected smile, Lucas pulled out more drawers.
Swoosh!
A layer of dust emerged from the drawers.
Lucas took the paper which was infested by termites.
"It seems like some kind of list."Lucas rubbed his chin.
There were records and several children, who were transported somewhere. However, since half of the pages had been destroyed, Lucas found it hard to discern things.
As he searched around, his eyes passed over a small hole in the first-floor hallway.
Squatting down, Lucas extended his hands inside the hall. There was a small narrow passage that seemed to be leading down.
Lucas remembered Jay speaking about a small hole that led to the backyard. This might be it.
"Should I go down?"Rubbing his chin Lucas contemplated deeply whether he should go down or finish his search.
"Let's go down? Who knows if people are hiding in the backyard? We can't let anyone escape. After searching in the background and observing it, I can search on the second floor again."
The hole wasn't big, but Lucas, who was on the thinner side, could easily pass through it. Lucas scratched the outer surface of the wall and then squeezed himself through the hole.
As he moved through the wall, a small creaking sound echoed, and as half of his body came out, unable to find any footing he fell.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmLucas crashed onto a bush falling from the first floor.
"Ouch!"
As he caressed his head, his eyes narrowed.
"Kids..."
He jumped up noticing two kids trembling in fear.
"Ahhh...We are wrong..please don't hit us."The two kids quivered covering their faces.
"I am a good guy. I can come here to save you."Lucas spoke with a smile.
The two kids' moistened eyes immediately brighten up.
"Will you save us?"
Lucas sighed seeing their naivety. The two boys seemed around 10. These bastards don't even have a shred of mercy.
"Yes..by the way, why are you hiding here?"
The kid teared up and said, "We followed our friend Jay and jumped out but we sprained our ankles on falling and we are also afraid of darkness so we hid here and waited for sunrise."
"I see."
"You are hurt," Lucas then exclaimed in shock and examined their ankles.
There were cuffs tied around their ankles and the area was sullen.
"Those disgusting..."Lucas closed his lips suppressing his urge to curse in front of the children.
Taking out a potion, he said"Hear, take a sip."
"It will ease your pain."
"Really."The two shouted happily.
"Really."Lucas nodded.
The two kids, feeling better, got up and walked out of the bush since Lucas assured them that there was no danger as all the bad boys had been beaten.
Lucas then walked out and dusted the leaves that struck over his clothes. As he turned his head towards the wall just as a coincidence.
His eyes suddenly stopped in the dark area under the wall.
Time suddenly stopped, and the sound of his breathing ceased. Not even the sound of a heartbeat echoed in his ears.
Instinctively, Lucas's eyes segregated a dark shadow much different from the shadows of other objects.
A shadow of about 2m standing in front of the wall. It was a dark shadowy figure with arms reaching the knees.
The proper appearance was unknown but it was clear that its eyes were watching someone.
From his posture, its dark eyes gleamed and it extended its hand.
Lucas's pupils moved slowly following the monster's gaze. In the end, Lucas saw the two kids smiling and consoling each other.
Lucas had no idea how to react but when he saw the monster preying on the kids without sparing him a glance, his heart raced with panic. The thought that these two kids might die if they were left alone came flooding into his mind.
He beats faster. Blood stretched out and mana carried by blood engulfed the vessels in his legs.
The muscles in his legs burst, and a cooling sensation spread over his body.
Hitting the ground, Lucas's body moved like lightning as he shouted.
"Ruuunnnnn!'
"Uhh..."The two kids stared in disbelief, then their eyes widened as they saw a huge shadow looming over them.
Without making a sound, the long gnarly claws glistened under the moonlight catching the two kids in a stupor. Before they could open their lips to scream, the beast's fingers-like blades were already close to them.