Chapter 267: The Overgrown Ruins(1)

After registering the group’s previously stupid name under its new one, Lucian obviously kept himself as the leader.

The leader of the newly renewed party... Anonymous.

None of the men even thought about objecting—not that they would survive if they had.

Lily almost felt stupid for even asking who would be the leader in the first place.

Just looking at the way they stood was enough to make the hierarchy between them obvious, and the Lone Wolves—the same people who were previously haughty and lecherous whenever they walked through the Association...

Now they had suddenly turned into scared, obedient dogs, who didn’t even let out a sound and kept their heads lowered the entire time.

But still... there was something she needed to explain.

"You can try searching for some available dungeon," Lily said, returning her attention to Lucian.

"But you won’t be able to enter one by today. It might take some time... depending on what the higher-ups decide."

Lucian frowned as he heard that, but then the Boss—whose name was Shawn—quietly interrupted.

"B-Boss... we already have one dungeon registered previously."

He tried to keep his voice lowered and did his best not to sound even a little arrogant.

Lucian glanced at him, then towards Lily, who immediately checked through the dungeon records.

"Oh, yes. They do have an F-Rank dungeon that they were supposed to complete four days ago. The deadline is three days from now."

There were deadlines for completing dungeons as well, and because of that, failing to complete, or even reduce the numbers inside a registered dungeon, could lead to penalties.

Normally, they had to enter a dungeon with multiple parties... especially when they considered the dungeon dangerous—though that applied to almost all of them.

The groups weren’t simply divided based on the number of people they had, but on their experience, achievements, and all that.

The parties were divided into four tiers.

Tier 4 — Rookie Party.

This was where mostly the newcomers were placed, as well as those who had recently started taking on tasks—which didn’t just apply to going into a dungeon.

Most of the people entering dungeons for the first time were Tier 4 parties.

They were usually weak, inexperienced, and still learning how to properly work together.

Tier 3 — Rising Party.

To reach this level, a party needed at least one person above F-Rank. They also needed to have completed one dungeon or participated in three or more dungeons.

Completing dungeons was much more difficult, so not many of them tried to do it, but even if they did try to... not many people could reach the Dungeon Boss.

The ones who reached it... most of them were never seen again, lost inside the dungeon with only their dead bodies to be found by the Association Squad later on—who completed it in the end.

And since most were still F-Rank, not many people dreamed of finishing even an F-Rank dungeon.

The Lone Wolves, however, had managed to complete an F-Rank dungeon once, and that single achievement had caused their popularity to grow considerably... which was why they had been recognised as a Rising Party.

Then came...

Tier 2 — Elite Party.

Only the official members of the Association and the people who had joined a Guild had yet reached this rank, though it wasn’t surprising, with only around two months having passed since the incident that had changed the world.

Even the Guilds themselves rarely had enough capable members to form multiple Elite Parties.

And above Tier 2... there was only one final level.

Tier 1 — Legends.

Only parties belonging to the highest-ranking Guilds had ever reached Tier 1.

And there was a very simple reason for that.

The requirements were absurd.

Members of a Tier 1 party needed to already be around B-Rank or above, but even that wasn’t enough, because they needed to complete an A-Rank dungeon.

That meant... they had to fight an S-Rank Dungeon Boss... a being capable of killing hundreds of A-Rankers with just a single attack.

Practically a mass suicide for most of the Awakened.

Anyways...

Leaving that aside, after knowing that they had one dungeon registered, Lucian immediately decided to go to that location right now.

He was itching to fight monsters just by hearing about it.

And now, there wasn’t any Association Group holding him back, though he had to make sure his mother got to fight too.

Lily could only shake her head slightly when she saw the enthusiasm in his eyes.

’Not many people get this excited... not after going into their first dungeon.’

Many people even quit after just seeing monsters, and perhaps... even she would.

...

Reaching the place and entering the vicinity of the dungeon portal, Lucian looked at the swirling, distorted spatial portal before him.

After staring at it for a few seconds, he glanced towards Selene, and both of them eventually walked into the swirling space.

Their figures disappeared into the portal.

The Boss stared at the sight, then slowly looked back at his group, who, from their expressions, almost looked like they wanted to run away right now.

They couldn’t help but feel that Lucian was going to throw them to the monsters to torture them even further.

"Don’t even think about running..." Shawn muttered.

"We don’t know what that monster will do to us if even one of us escapes."

Their bodies trembled before they slowly, hesitantly nodded.

"You’re right, B-Boss. He’s using our group, so he’ll need us, and the others from the Association might suspect something if we suddenly disappear."

One of the men spoke, feeling a little more hopeful as he thought about it.

Two others also let out sighs of relief.

However, the Boss and the other men didn’t feel nearly as reassured. They couldn’t help but think that monster might not even care about all that.

If he wanted, he could’ve just handed them to the Association, who would punish them for their crimes, but strangely... they were free—at least for now.

’Hopefully... he lets us live if we listen to his words.’

Fearing how Lucian might react to their disappearance, the Boss—Shawn—and the others walked into the portal as well.

One of the members couldn’t help but have a sudden thought cross his mind.

’If we get a hand over that woman he cares about... perhaps we’ll be safe...’

He wasn’t exactly sure, knowing the powers the man had.

But he also knew how much that blood-eyed man seemed to care about the masked woman, to the point that he brutally killed their partner just for grabbing her hand.

Which meant she was his greatest weakness.

His eyes glinted faintly as his vision became clear, and the first thing he saw was the masked woman, standing not too far away from that monster.

"You’re late," Lucian’s voice suddenly reached him.

Seeing his narrowed eyes, the man’s entire body froze, and every thought he had just now suddenly vanished, every foolish idea immediately getting replaced by fear.

Not even listening to their excuses, Lucian turned away from them... looking at the new scene before him.

After being in two dungeons that were completely covered in rocks and claustrophobia, this time it was different, and even Lucian was surprised by what he was seeing.

It was what looked like an abandoned settlement, perhaps.

Old structures scattered throughout the area, most of them barely recognisable anymore.

Nature had slowly reclaimed everything, green grass covering the ground, thick vines crawling over broken walls, while vegetation had been layered over almost everything within view.

Lucian couldn’t help but marvel at how beautiful the scenery looked.

"Why does it look so creepy?" one of the men muttered under his breath, but immediately shut his mouth as he realised he had spoken unconsciously.

Yes... he wasn’t exactly wrong.

Despite being filled with vegetation, the place looked like something that had been straight out of a thriller movie—something similar to a movie where a few kids entered a game world.

"It looks like a temple..." Selene silently muttered uncertainly, seeing the pillars and large set of stone stairs ahead of them, partially covered in vegetation, leading towards whatever lay ahead.

Lucian nodded, but before going forward...

He suddenly turned towards the six men, no longer wearing his sunglasses.

He didn’t really need them right now, at least not when the only people around him were these worms.

His crimson eyes briefly swept across them, and they stiffened under his terrifying gaze.

"Kanna, did you get what I asked for?"

Kanna appeared out of his shadow without making the slightest sound, causing the men to almost flinch, but she didn’t even spare them a glance.

Her attention remained entirely on Lucian.

She silently nodded, taking out a piece of paper.

"Is that a Magical Contract...?"

Selene tilted her head slightly.

Seeing the confusion on his mother’s face, Lucian finally told her about all the ’amazing’ things these men had done, telling her what kind of people they were... so she wouldn’t feel sympathy or anything towards them later.

"..."

Selene silently listened, and despite being shocked... disgusted too... she was more curious about one thing.

"What happened to the others? Also, that man...?"

She knew he would understand who she was talking about, and Lucian did.

"I killed them all."

Lucian said, carrying no remorse and no guilt in his voice... though internally, he hesitated slightly, as he didn’t know how his mother would react.

Would she be disgusted at what kind of person he had become...?

He didn’t know... but keeping secrets felt even more wrong.

Noticing her son staring at her intently, trying to see through her expression, Selene—Seraphina—couldn’t help but smile slightly.

She reached towards her face, removing the mask as her icy-blue eyes stared directly into his beautiful blood-red ones.

"Dear... I won’t start hating you just for such a silly reason."

She reached forward and lifted her head, looking up at him.

"Are you feeling guilty about killing them...?" she asked gently.

Lucian shook his head.

"Then don’t worry."

Without any warning, she reached forward and pulled his face into her chest, surprising him with her actions.

But then his eyes narrowed slightly as he saw the men looking at them.

With a wave of his hand, all the men suddenly fell to their knees, their gazes instinctively lowering, their bodies trembling violently as the killing intent flooded their minds.

They couldn’t do much of anything aside from remaining frozen, as if their bodies had started betraying them.

Seraphina was surprised by the sudden occurrence, but she didn’t say anything, though a faint smile appeared on her face, as if she understood who had done that... and why he had done it.

"I won’t hate you, my dear... no matter what happens," she softly said while gently ruffling his hair, which felt surprisingly smooth to the touch.

Lucian closed his arms around her back, while his face remained in her breasts, and he felt slightly happy at her reassuring words...

Though...

’There is something wrong with my Mom.’

He couldn’t help but wonder inwardly while feeling her cool fingers running over his head.

Just what kind of person reacted this way after hearing that her son had killed so many men?

A vampire wouldn’t even care... but his mother was a human!

And a sane one at that!

...Hopefully.