Chapter 80: Confrontation In The Alley

In a certain room in the Empire of Siafran's imperial capital, a magic circle suddenly manifests on the floor. A few seconds later, two people appear on the magic circle—they are Azrael and Alina.

Since the podium to Fast Travel to this room is still being built by Claire, she just teleported them to this spot. Azrael is still learning teleportation magic, so he is not able to transport him and Alina on his own.

Even though they depart from the floating island early in the morning, they arrive in the heart of the Siafran Empire when the sun is about to reach its zenith. That is the reason why they stopped adventuring early the other day.

"We have been gone here the whole day yesterday." As they are preparing their gears, Alina says something. "Wouldn't people be wondering where we went?"

"I am sure some of them are, Alina. But we just got here the other day, so I don't think many of them can just remember us."

The inn they are staying at is one of the mid-tier inns in the city. The rooms and service here are premium, but it is still not as grand as mid-tier hotels in the affluent section. Carlene really takes his words seriously on not choosing a luxurious residence.

The tenants here are usually adventurers of high ranks and wealthy merchants who seek temporary abodes while doing business in the city. To sum it up, Azrael thinks that the people here are influential enough not to mind others' personal business.

"I guess you are right."

Once Azrael reassures Alina, he then closes the gap between their faces before he holds her chin to give her a passionate kiss. After spending their time passionately, they check themselves one final time, and they exit the room.

Click. Click. Click.

As they are using the stairs to descend to the first floor, Azrael immediately senses that something is off in this inn's lobby, which is also the diner area.

At first glance, the lobby seems pretty normal. Tenants coming in and out of the building, loud sounds of the utensils from people eating their lunch, and the conversations between customers and inn staff.

But what Azrael finds odd is that there are a few men, who are probably not residents of this establishment, scattered around the lobby and sternly watching each of their steps. As if they have fulfilled their task, the men promptly exit the building.

"It seems like we are being watched, Alina."

"I noticed that too. They do not seem to be the ones we met in the dungeon. Couldn't it be that they are in the same group?"

"That's a possibility. We won't know unless we ask." After saying that, Azrael turns to Alina. "It might be dangerous, so I want you to stay here for a while. I will confront them myself."

"But it's too dangerous. I will go with you too."

"No." Azrael immediately dismisses her as he is grabbing her shoulders. "Listen to me. There is a possibility that they are here because of you. Please stay here for your safety."

"But—"

"No buts. Aside from your safety, I also don't want to see what I would do to them."

"..."

Azrael stares at her to show how serious he is. Alina thinks about it for some time until she finally gives her response.

"I understand. I will stay here."

"I'm glad you made up your mind."

"Please come back, Azrael."

"Hm." He flashes a reassured smile. "Don't worry, I will.

◆◇◆◇◆◇

Once Azrael gets out of the inn, he nonchalantly looks around to avoid being noticed and finds that there are more eyes watching them from different directions. They are everywhere: on the roof, in the alleys, through the windows, on the side of the road, and even dining in a restaurant nearby.

From his radar, they do not seem strong to him. However, since a few of these men are marked blue or as powerful as a greater dragon in terms of mana capacity, Azrael might find it a little troublesome.

But like the greater dragon, these men are nothing to him. He just fears what kind of destruction they would do to the city.

From the intent those gazes are giving, Azrael immediately recognizes that they have malicious intent on him. He does not know what they actually want, but he is definitely going to find out through words or violence, if necessary, which would be the case.

Despite the fact that he notices them, he chooses not to give them any attention, and he just starts walking along with the crowd. When they start following him, he confirms that they are indeed chasing after him.

Azrael thinks that they probably would not show themselves in the eyes of the public since some of them might have reputations to uphold as adventurers and mercenaries. He intends to confront them somewhere less crowded and not so far from him that he can get to Alina whenever she is in trouble.

After passing a few buildings from the inn, Azrael takes a sharp turn to the shaded alley nearby, which is as wide as a single-lane road. Before he gets in the middle, three men jump off the roof to block his way. As he turns around, several men have been standing behind him, trapping him in the alley.

Checking on his radar, he spots quite a number of people from all directions. They have completely surrounded him and blocked his ways of escaping.

"I don't know what you want from me, but I am just a rookie adventurer. Why are you ganging me up?"

"Don't play dumb, kid."

Suddenly, a rough voice replies to his question. Azrael looks up to find that it belongs to the leader of the party he crossed paths with before. The man, whose name is Mors, then jumps off the roof of the two-story building and lands in front of him.

Crash.

He is tall and full of muscles. The roughness on his face loudly speaks of his long experience of combat with both monsters and people.

"What do you mean by that, mister?"

"Do you know who you are talking to?" One man nearby speaks. "He is Mors, one of the most powerful adventurers in the entirety of Siafran! The man who is dubbed the Iron Fist!"

"Like I care," Azrael retorts.

"What did you just s—?!"

Before the man can finish his sentence, Mors stretches out his right arm to the side to silence his subordinate.

"Hmph." As he is folding his arms, Mors scoffs. "There is no way you are what you claimed. A rookie, my ass. You are hiding your true strength, aren't you?"

"Well, all of us have a fair share of secrets to hide," Azrael says. "I am not the only one hiding his strength here."

"Very well, you see me through. You will see it if you refuse to cooperate with us."

As soon as Mors says that, the men around begin to chuckle. But Azrael is not going to be intimidated by it.

"Why would I want to cooperate with a man who needs dozens of men to confront me? All of you are such a bunch of cowards whose only thing they know is to gang up a single person. Aren't you just pussies?"

"This kid is pissing me off!"

Suddenly, one of the men from behind takes his ragebait seriously and quickly launches himself to attack Azrael. Just as the man is about to swing his sword, a glint of steel suddenly passes through him, which makes him stop his feet. At the same time, Azrael instantly disappears from his sight.

In a blink of an eye, Azrael suddenly appears behind the man, now with a mithrill sword in his hand. It happened so fast that their eyes cannot register what they just saw.

"I didn't see him move!"

"What just happened?"

So fast! Even Mors barely saw him take a step.

Clink.

In the middle of chaos, a sound of something metal hitting the floor immediately shuts their mouths, and the alley is filled with silent gapes as they shift their gazes at the man who attacked Azrael. Immediately, the man realizes why everyone is looking at him.

"My... My arms!!!"

The man cries as he sees blood splurting out of his cleanly severed wrists. He then runs to Mors, begging for help, but Mors just swings his arm and quickly discards the man to the side.

"What...what did you just do?" Mors cautiously inquires.

"Can't you see? I just cut off his hands," Azrael answers in a nonchalant tone.

"Stop with your nonsense! You can't keep fighting us all! Catch him!"

At his order, more than a dozen men, who are still shaking from what they just witnessed, charge altogether at Azrael, aiming their blades at him. Seeing how slow they are from his perspective, Azrael just smiles before he proceeds to counterattack.

Clink. Clink. Clink. Clink.

With several fast and fluid swings of his sword, Azrael easily deflects and parries every one of their attacks. For the ones who get close to him, Azrael showcases his close-quarter combat skills and sends them flying in the air, with a few of them crashing to the walls.

He has a fair share of kills in this world, so he intentionally misses their vitals in order to at least incapacitate them by knocking them down or stripping their will to fight. As they fight, Azrael senses several gatherings of mana around him.

Azrael takes less than a minute to take them all. However, those men are just to distract Azrael and buy them time. Scattered in all directions, the magic users of the gang have finished preparing their spells.

"Get him, boys!"

At his mark, the mages fire their most powerful spells at Azrael.