Chapter 66: The Bulwark Despair!

Inside the Rezvani Suv, Aiden quietly shut down the encrypted channel.

He had just watched the entire annihilation of the Third Elite Squad through the secret surveillance magic array Phantom Eyes had established.

There was no expression on his face. No satisfaction from revenge. No excitement from the slaughter. Nothing.

Only a bottomless calm, as though he had merely brushed a speck of dust from his sleeve.

Borrowing a knife to kill without spilling a single drop of his own blood.

That was exactly what he had accomplished.

Using a carefully screened piece of intelligence, half true and half false, Aiden had exploited Damien’s suspicious yet greedy nature and guided the Dragon Sovereign Guild straight into a natural death trap: an abandoned chemical plant housing a high-level monster nest.

He hadn’t needed to dispatch a single soldier. He hadn’t needed to draw his weapon. He hadn’t even needed to show his face.

Yet with nothing more than a few carefully chosen words, he had effortlessly buried one of the Dragon Sovereign Guild’s valuable core combat forces.

And the consequences went far beyond the loss of fourteen players.

The guild’s strength had been weakened. Its expansion plans had suffered a setback. More importantly, its prestige and the confidence of its members had taken a heavy blow.

After all, when an elite squad could be wiped out so thoroughly during what was supposed to be a routine exploration mission, how many people would still feel safe following the guild’s orders?

Aiden could already imagine the expression on Damien’s face.

Fury. Frustration. Suspicion. And perhaps, for the first time... A trace of fear.

Luna sat quietly beside him. She didn’t know exactly what had happened, but she could sense that something had changed.

The faint area announcements she had caught earlier, combined with the cold aura radiating from Aiden, were enough to tell her that something significant had just occurred.

She turned her head and studied his calm profile.

For the briefest moment, a trace of fear surfaced within her heart.

But strangely, it was accompanied by an even stronger sense of security.

She knew that Sir Aiden was doing something important.

He was dealing with bad people. And as long as she was beside him... She had nothing to fear.

Aiden gazed through the windshield. Several kilometers away, hidden among the surrounding buildings, stood the office building temporarily serving as the Dragon Sovereign Guild’s headquarters.

His eyes narrowed slightly. "This is just the first installment of interest, Damien."

His voice was calm. Almost indifferent. Yet beneath that calmness lay an icy intent.

"Get a taste of what it feels like to have your throat gripped by an invisible hand."

Aiden’s fingers rested lightly against the steering wheel.

"Your ’Destiny’ might be able to protect you for a moment..." His gaze gradually darkened. "But it can’t protect you for a lifetime. And I have enough patience..."

A faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

"...and enough means to strip away everything you possess, piece by piece."

The engine roared to life.

Aiden shifted gears and drove away from the roadside, leaving the scene behind without a backward glance.

The hunter lurking in the shadows had already fired his first poisoned arrow.

And the prey’s nightmare... Had only just begun.

In the northern suburbs of Ashford City, a barren valley formed by geological subsidence was known as Rift Claw Canyon.

With jagged rocks jutting from the earth and the constant wailing of the wind, it served as the spawning ground for a Level 6 monster known as the Rock-Back Lizard.

These lizards possessed exceptionally high physical defense but moved relatively slowly, making the canyon an ideal hunting ground for early-game tank classes. Their sturdy hides were also valuable materials for crafting leather armor.

Aiden drove the Rezvani to the edge of the canyon, but leveling up was not the reason he had come.

According to scattered intelligence passed through black-market channels by [Phantom Eyes], combined with fragments of memories from his previous life, a burly man codenamed Silas the Bulwark had recently been active in this area.

His real name was Silas Kane.

At this point in his life, Silas was still struggling to survive, relying on hunting Rock-Back Lizards and gathering low-level herbs to make ends meet.

Aiden needed to find him.

A future top-tier tank, and a partner worthy of entrusting his back to, would be indispensable to the team he was about to form.

Luna remained inside the vehicle to wait, while Aden stepped out alone.

Without another word, he slipped into the depths of Rift Claw Canyon, moving through the jagged terrain like a ghost.

Soon, he found his target on a relatively open gravel beach.

Silas’s figure remained as hulking as a mountain, while the rare [Resolute Tower Shield] Aiden had gifted him emitted a reassuring metallic luster beneath the dim, overcast sky.

In his hands, he no longer wielded the crude door bolt from Aiden’s memories. Instead, he carried a seemingly heavy two-handed warhammer, using it to engage two massive Rock-Back Lizards in a fierce battle.

His fighting style remained as brutal as ever, relying almost entirely on overwhelming strength and relentless aggression.

Every time the warhammer crashed against the lizards’ thick back armor, it produced a dull, thunderous boom that echoed throughout the canyon, forcing the monsters to shriek in pain.

The [Resolute Tower Shield] was also being used with increasing proficiency. Silas repeatedly brought it up at precisely the right moment, narrowly blocking the lizards’ sweeping tails and vicious claws.

Every so often, the shield’s special effect, "Steady Block," activated, completely negating what would otherwise have been a fatal attack.

However, Aiden’s brow gradually furrowed.

Something was wrong. Silas wasn’t in the state Aiden remembered.

His movements were wilder, more reckless, and far more desperate than they had been in his memories. There was an almost feral madness behind every swing of his warhammer.

His eyes no longer carried the stubborn tenacity and instinctive protectiveness Aiden remembered.

Instead, they were bloodshot, filled with the ferocity of a beast that had been pushed to the absolute brink.

And beneath that ferocity... There was a faint trace of a death wish.

Silas had already sustained numerous injuries. None were immediately fatal, but they had clearly gone untreated. Blood had soaked through his worn-out work clothes, staining them dark red.

’Was he venting his frustration? Or was he seeking something deeper? Some kind of release?’