Although Aldric forbade Nero from being directly involved in executing the prey, the small dragon possessed another functional utility that was no less crucial. Nero possessed an extraordinarily sharp sensory ability. After being satisfied with launching his protest with his small squeaks, the small dragon began to fly low, sniffing the foggy night air while circling the area of the pile of monster corpses around them.Nero's flying steps suddenly halted precisely on top of a large tree root that twisted around the ground. His small head tilted up, staring straight toward the west wind direction with a body that instantly stiffened in alert."Kyu," he squeaked with a different tone, lower and weighted.The casual expression on Aldric's face instantly changed. Before he had time to step closer, a wave of subtle magical energy ripple suddenly slipped in and echoed directly inside his head's consciousness. It was a pure telepathic communication path from Nero.'Aldric, there is a strange

The middle-aged adventurer appeared to furrow his brow tightly, displaying a look on his face that was confused as well as awkward after hearing the highly cold and indifferent response from his savior."I didn't go through the trouble of stepping down into this muddy place and clearing that pack of beasts because of a moral goodness motive or pity for you all," Aldric continued with a flat tone of voice without emotion. "If your adventurer group did not possess a comparable information value or business profit in my eyes, I certainly would have stepped away leaving this place since the very beginning."Darius, who stood a few steps behind, did not show a surprised look at all. A characteristic that was highly pragmatic, transactional, and rejected false heroism like that was indeed a pure reflection of the personality of an Aldric.However, a peculiar thing instead happened to the adventurer leader. Instead of feeling offended or angry because his self-esteem was stepped on, his pair

After the silhouette of the black cloak of the watcher from the demon faction completely disappeared, swallowed by the density of the night, a quiet silence crept back, taking over the hillside of the border. The massive tension that had briefly gripped the area now slowly faded, leaving ripples of ragged breaths of relief from the adventurers who had successfully defended their lives. Darius let out a long breath, slowly lowering his new sword while wiping the cold sweat that wet his forehead. His palm felt numb due to a grip that was too strong during the battle earlier.Even though the direct threat from the demon watcher had been removed, the physical condition of that adventurer group was still highly pitiful. One of the team members who was severely injured in the stomach part appeared to lean weakly against a fallen tree trunk. His pair of eyelids trembled violently at the threshold of consciousness due to losing too much blood. His breath was short and broken, displaying signs

Without wasting words further after that short conversation, the silhouette of Aldric's body dashed fast, jumping piercing through the density of the border forest trees and disappearing in the blink of an eye toward the north direction, leaving a thin puff of wind moving the leaves around the camp.From on top of the hillside, the injured middle-aged adventurers could only watch Aldric's movement route from a distance with a gaze laden with a sense of wonder. Only a few minutes after his departure, from the direction of the lower valley, a massive-sized B-Rank Iron-Tusk Bear species monster suddenly appeared from behind the bushes. That monster was the same type of predator that previously had made their group be at the threshold of mass death.However, the sight of the execution occurring next successfully made the entirety of those adventurers freeze completely in their standing places.In only two extremely precise, clean, and powerful horizontal slash movements without a pause, t

The dense red aura radiating from the body of the creature in front of Aldric felt like an invisible solid wall pressing the entire air atmosphere around it. That creature—a Calamity Dread-Wolf sized as a small hill with thick black fur the color of charcoal and a pair of sharp curved horns on its head—stared at Aldric with a gaze as ferocious as burning embers in the midst of the darkness. Every time that A-Rank Alpha monster let out a heavy breath from its snout, hot steam mixed with dense sulfur came out rolling, instantly scorching the grass and vegetation around it to dry ash.Aldric remained standing unfazed in the midst of the collapse of the ground where he treaded. His body did not shift a single millimeter facing that intimidation, while his right hand gripped the handle of his black greatsword with a highly casual gesture. From inside the center of his mind, a system projection window suddenly flickered quickly, emitting a red warning color he had not seen again since stepp