214 – Efficiency of mafias

Eric stared at the man who was still focused on scribing and calmly inquired, "So, you are Rudin?"

The middle-aged man in front of Eric was an early-stage Rank 3 Mage. A warrior with high enough mana control could indeed inscribe scrolls, but they couldn’t inscribe spells. So, no warriors ever did scroll scribing; it was a waste of time and effort for them to learn, as they could at most inscribe contract scrolls.

Rudin’s hand shook, and the scroll, which was halfway complete, was ruined. He jerked his head to look up in shock and horror.

Upon seeing a completely cloaked figure with barely visible, bright blue eyes, his eyes narrowed. He asked harshly, "Who are you?" His voice was loud.

Eric's ‘eyes’ smiled as he answered, "Your death."

Rudin’s hand shook again, but he quickly composed himself. He checked Eric's rank and then started laughing mockingly, "A mere mid-stage Rank 1! I don't know how you got inside, but I will give you the chance to tell me: who sent you?!"

Hearing Rudin's loud voice, both lady guards came rushing inside, and as soon as they spotted Eric, they tried to detain him.

However, before they could even arrive one meter behind Eric, their bodies suddenly exploded into blood mists.

Strangely, the blood and insides didn’t spread out and just fell beneath where their feet were, as if there were an invisible wall surrounding them.

It was a strange and horrifying sight for anyone.

Eric stared at the horrified Rudin evenly and interrogated him with a calm voice, "Tell me." He threw both the scrolls in his hand right in front of Rudin on the table and continued, "Do you remember these scrolls you made in the past?"

Rudin was panic-stricken. Both guards were late-stage Rank 3 Warriors! Just how could they explode so horrifyingly out of nowhere?

He looked back at Eric, whose face was mostly covered up with his eyes barely visible—piercing, crystal-like blue eyes which seemed to be penetrating right through his soul. He couldn't help but tremble, his back turning cold.

Rudin swallowed his dry saliva and thought that perhaps the man—or the boy, judging by his voice—had planted some sort of powerful trap, and that was why both guards fell without noticing.

Although he didn't know if there was such a horrifying trap in the world, that was the only explanation that sounded plausible; otherwise, there was no way a Rank 1 mana wielder could kill two Rank 3s instantly. It was simply impossible! Only a Master Rank could do that, but even then, they had to physically take action, yet the boy hadn't even moved his hands or turned his head. Thus, this had to be some sort of pre-planned trap!

After reaching this understanding, Rudin smirked, "You must have done something before showing yourself, right? I will give you another opportunity—walk away and I shall forget this incident, or else I will call an army!" He threatened in a deep voice. "Don't you dare underestimate Devils Spice's background and my own value to them!"

Eric stared at Rudin speechlessly. This guy’s demands changed as quickly as his expressions. It seemed this middle-aged man thought he was bluffing, so he now had to force some devilish spice into his throat.

His Telepathic Slap arm grasped Rudin's left arm and squeezed.

Crack! Bam!

Instantly, the bone crushed and the entire arm exploded into blood and bits.

"Ah... my arm!" Rudin squealed like a stuck pig. He clutched his left shoulder and tried to move backward, but his chair didn’t move fast enough and rolled him over; he fell onto the cold floor.

With a bloodless face, he pushed himself further away from Eric while dragging himself with his remaining arm, but soon after, he was halted by the tall shelves behind him.

Rudin finally understood that the boy in front of him was a demon who made no sense whatsoever! Just how could his arm explode out of nowhere? All he felt was his arm being squeezed with tremendous power, and then his entire arm blew up.

Eric stood up, grabbed his two scrolls from the table, and once again threw them in front of Rudin. "Again. Do you remember these scrolls you made?"

Rudin was, after all, a Rank 3 Mage; although he was in excruciating pain from his arm getting destroyed, his constitution was still high enough to not die from blood loss or lose his mind to the agony.

Rudin's right arm trembled. He quickly picked up a scroll and yanked it open. After seeing the contents, he was speechless; he then checked the other scroll, which was the same with just a name difference.

Of course, he couldn’t remember; he had made countless scrolls over decades, and these were just binding scrolls—and used only to bind mortal women!

He was even more dumbfounded.

Did he just invite a demon over binding scrolls for mortals?

He gasped and spoke quiveringly, "Y-you, y-you, these are just mortal binding scrolls. D-did you come f-for this?!" His tone was one of complete disbelief.

Eric nodded, "That's right, these two are my friends. Your scrolls brought them great trouble, though they were strong enough to take care of it by themselves." His eyes then turned sharp. "But you invited me for this."

"W-wait, w-wait a second. Please wait!" Rudin raised his right hand and tried to move backward with his legs, but the tall shelves behind him stopped him. "P-please forgive me. I-I didn't know t-they were your g-great self's friends. Please forgive me; let me go with my left arm as p-punishment. A-and they are fine, aren't they?" While saying this, he swiftly pulled out a tiny orb from his pocket and crushed it with his right hand.

Eric ignored what Rudin did and said indifferently, "Yes, they are fine by their own capabilities, and now it’s your turn to prove that you can survive me with yours."

He grasped Rudin's remaining right arm with Telepathic Slap, and similar to the left, it blew into nothingness.

“Ahhh…” Rudin shrieked in pain. This time there was no arm to clutch his excruciating shoulder, so he could only cry and shake uncontrollably.

"Y-you, y-you will definitely regret this! Every mana wielder of Devils Spice is currently rushing toward this place! You have nowhere to run!"

"Do you think I am only here to kill you?" Eric sighed and shook his head, "No. Since the beginning, I wanted to kill whoever or whatever was sheltering you as well. So, good job bringing everyone here and reducing my trouble in seeking them out personally."

As he said this, he heard a loud bang from the door being kicked open from outside, and guards from the arena dashed in.

Eric grabbed Rudin's head with his Telepathic Slap and moved it back to greet the two guards.

"Now die," Eric coldly uttered.

The two guards, who had just entered the room, saw the horrified face of Rudin; he didn't have any arms but was strangely hanging in midair right in front of them. Before they could grasp the situation, Rudin's head exploded into blood and brain matter, and then he fell to the ground.

Both guards' expressions turned pale with horror.

After Rudin's corpse fell, they noticed a cloaked individual staring straight at them.

They had no idea what kind of spell it was. Even though Rudin was mostly a scroll maker, he was still an early-stage Rank 3 Mage, and a capable one at that! If a person could amputate Rudin's arms while he was completely helpless and then, following that, even kill him in such a brutal and mysterious way, that meant the cloaked man was a complete monster; he was not something they could handle!

"W-wait, w-we are innocent. Please let me go. I-I have children and...!"

Before the guard could finish expressing his worries about how his children and wives would suffer if he died, he died.

Both guards blew up like fireworks. Blood, organs, bones, and flesh sprayed out in a nasty mess.

"In my eyes, no one is innocent or guilty. You were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time," Eric answered the dead guard in an apathetic tone.

Eric then pulled out his pocket watch and grinned, “Time to accept offerings.”

He spread his mana across the table and pulled it inside; following that, he pulled in the shelves and anything of interest in the room. At the same time, he used his Telepathic Slap to drag the hidden safe out from the wall and put it as a whole inside his watch. He would consider breaking or opening it later.

He then calmly walked outside while storing the space pouches of Rudin and the guards.

Space objects were not easy to destroy; though Eric easily could, he had no reason to destroy his payment for his hard work.

Eric could hear loud, clamoring noises from outside the broken doors and wondered if it was due to panic, or if the previous excitement in the arena had reached a new peak.

‘Don’t tell me both mortal girls got pregnant and delivered in nine seconds!’ Eric wiped imaginary sweat from his forehead and, at the same time, pulled his hood further down to hide his eyes. Unless people got a good close-up view, they wouldn’t even know his eye color.

Eric sighed and thought, 'This is just not working. I need to make an artifact to change eye color and also hide some of our features, age, and voice. Otherwise, it’s really becoming troublesome to commit crimes—ahem. Without hiding or at least deceiving others, it is hard to show our full extent of power and still live a cherry-cherry life.'

It was not easy to live the life of an Ultimate Evil Boss when there were simply too many good people in the world!

He came out of the small passage and noticed three mages standing some distance away, close to each other. They had already deployed their advanced spell diagrams and were ready to fire them right on the spot where he stood.

Behind the mages, there were a little over ten warriors ready with weapons in hand to pounce on him in case he somehow survived the advanced spells' bombardment.

Eric felt his mouth, which was hidden inside his mask, spasm.

This scenario reminded him of how private companies worked so seamlessly while government workers were always a big mess—slower to arrive at the crime scene, not too enthusiastic, and already prepared to get injured and receive compensation.

This organization—or mafia, criminal syndicate, or just 'honest and hardworking' civilians—was far better organized and efficient at its job than the thirty guards at the city gate. Not only efficient, but all of them were also at Rank 3, with not a single Rank 1 or 2 in sight!

While Eric was admiring the setup and unity of the underground world, the three mages recognized that the hooded, cloaked man coming out of the passage was not a Devils Spice person. So, without any hesitation, they all fired their Tier 2 advanced spells at him.

There was no reason to converse; the orders were straightforward: kill whoever dared to question Devils Spice's authority and power!

A gigantic fireball manifested over one mage and was thrown straight at Eric.

Dozens of dark-element spears manifested around another mage, and they shot toward Eric.

A thick rock pillar emerged from the ground right beneath another mage at an angle pointing toward Eric and launched straight at him.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The entire underground arena shook, yet the walls and ceiling didn't crumble; there were many safety mechanisms and arrays placed to hold the structure in case of such an extreme situation.