Chapter 185: You Won’t Hear That From Me

"Senior Troy, did you see the shock on your face?" Luke said. "It’s just because we mentioned a summon’s name?"

"Ahem..." Troy clenched his teeth, composed himself, and agreed that he was more scared than someone facing an oncoming train.

"Sorry, Kingsley, if it seems foolish not to mention a genocidal maniac. However, I must avoid letting this conversation take root."

"But why? He won’t suddenly appear here to kill you. I’ve met Count Lucius before, and I know he’s not omnipresent," Luke challenged. "By the way, what do you mean by saying he’s a genocidal maniac?"

Troy replied, "As I said, Kingsley, this conversation won’t lead anywhere. Now, let’s continue this dungeon."

"No," Luke said, grabbing Troy’s cloak, finding his action somewhat similar to Silas’s. "Consider it a thank you for saving your leg earlier. If you don’t at least tell me something, I’ll activate my reverse healing technique."

Troy shrugged and asked, "What’s the point of your reverse healing technique? To make my leg bleed again?"

Meanwhile, Luke, who had not yet learned this "reverse healing technique" of his, was surprised to see Troy’s lack of reaction, so he decided to make things severe.

"Not only will you bleed again, but you’ll also be infected by the elements. Plants and flowers will grow from your leg, and you’ll slowly die because of the poison."

"You notorious bastard," Troy walked up to Luke’s face, hissing.

When Luke remained unfazed and firmly threatening, Troy had no choice but to say what he could.

"Count Lucius is a vampire summon to Babylon. There, are you happy?"

Luke replied, "Well, I’m more curious now: what or who is Babylon?"

Troy answered, "Huh? You don’t know?" Then he laughed, ha ha. "So you’re as green as a mother duck?"

Luke scratched his head and replied, "Well, I’ve had a good education, know a lot of things, but I don’t remember that name."

Troy patted Luke on the shoulder, turned around, and said, "Maybe because you’re not street-smart enough. Everyone with street smarts knows Babylon. But no one is sure if it is a person. Many believe it is just an enigma created by the high-ranking elders of the Obsidian Order to keep people alert and instill fear in them despite the Order’s declining power."

"But obviously, Babylon must be a person, because a summon belongs to the summoner, so Count Lucius must be someone’s summon," Luke said, then he noticed that Troy had already walked ahead, so he quickly followed. "Wait, you still haven’t told me about the vampire’s genocide act?"

Troy shouted, "You won’t hear that from me!"

Luke caught up with him and replied, "Well, at least you helped a bit."

"And why are you interested in a vampire who can kill you in the blink of an eye?" Troy asked.

Although Luke knew Count Lucius cannot kill him in the blink of an eye, he judged Count Lucius by Troy’s power scale nevertheless.

According to Troy, Count Lucius is invincible.

Luke said, "Isn’t that the point? Should I be interested in a goblin I could easily squash?"

Troy snorted and walked away because Luke was right, but he felt disappointed. Had he really taken such a big risk just to satisfy this boy’s curiosity about a vampire power?

But that wasn’t the case.

Luke hadn’t forgotten Count Lucius after he tried to steal the concentrated master core of a pentegate from him.

Moreover, after realizing the complex situation related to the return of the apocalypse, Count Lucius chose to remain silent about it, only reporting to his guild.

Luke hadn’t forgotten him either.

However, he decided not to get distracted; after all, the vampire had been hiding and hadn’t shown up since then.

"It seems this Count Lucius made his appearances in the arc I was absent from," Amigo chirped in.

Luke looked at his slug, which had been quiet since this time, and then replied, "Yes. On the first Trials day, he came to steal the pentegate’s concentrated core that belonged to my team and me. Why do you think he needed a concentrated core of that fashion?"

"Master... I don’t know... " Amigo replied dejectedly. "Don’t you think it’s maybe time for me to try the Arcane Path? With the Arcane Path and the Primordial Path, I would be able to solve 99.9% of your questions. I don’t think the Scholar’s Path is of much use to you."

"You say that now, but when the time comes, and you need it, you’ll want to give it a try too."

Meanwhile, after killing five chimpanzees, Troy continued to make his way through the dungeon.

Since his jaguar, Ryder, had regained its strength, he summoned it once more.

The beast walked confidently by his side, its gaze sweeping the surroundings.

However, as Troy rounded the next corner, he suddenly bumped into something, and Ryder—who had been sniffing around elsewhere—immediately rushed back to rescue his master.

Only then did it realize that what Troy had bumped into wasn’t an object, but a person.

It was none other than Fiona, Troy’s fiancée.

This slender, medium-height young woman stood before him, looking down at Troy—who had just stumbled and fallen to the ground and was now trying to get back to his feet.

Her face looked more like that of an older woman than a young girl.

"Fiona?" Troy asked, still looking a bit dazed.

He hadn’t expected to run into her here, since they agreed to converge later in the dungeon—so how had she gotten here already?

When he noticed she was alone—with neither Drew nor Rey in sight—his suspicions deepened, and he couldn’t help but wonder if she’d overheard his conversation with Luke.

"I came to check on you," Fiona said impassively. "I wanted to make sure that Kingsley kid hadn’t tied you up and gone off to kill all those monsters by himself."

Troy’s expression froze for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure and flashed a slight smile.

"Luke Kingsley? Yeah, I’ve got that kid under control. He’s right behind me..."

"Heh heh."

Troy gave an awkward chuckle, then walked over to Fiona.

"Let’s keep going, babe."