Book 2: Chapter 195

In the frozen atmosphere, it was Aram who regained his composure first.

“…I didn’t expect…”

He slowly fixed his hardened expression and spoke in a calm tone.

“…you to come here with your own two feet. And what’s this?”

He looked down at Hubi’s head which was still rocking slightly on the ground.

A hint of fear was visible in his wide eyes. He couldn’t help but be shocked. After all, this was the head of Hubi, a man who was given the moniker Midnight Reaper.

Hubi.

He had a relatively good relationship with Aram.

In fact, this was the case for all of Kangki’s henchmen.

This was because they were clearly aware of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. They acknowledged each other, and they would willingly lend a hand whenever difficult situations arose.

There was never any conflict between them because their areas of activity differed from each other.

Nevertheless, Aram wasn’t that affected by Hubi’s death.

And if their positions had been reversed, he was sure Hubi would be the same.

He put his foot on Hubi’s head.

Crunch!

The stench was more disgusting than the sliminess he felt beneath his feet.

Aram pretended to pinch his nose in disgust.

“How disgusting. From the smell, you must have killed him and left his corpse unattended for a while. Were you carrying his head around this entire time? Haha. I didn’t know you had a fetish like that.”

“…”

“Is there more to your performance? Or did you think we’d be scared after seeing Hubi’s head?”

“It was just a warning. But I’ll admit that it was different from my original plan”

“Hoh. What was your original plan?”

“I was going to hang it on top of Kangki’s castle.”

“…”

Those words were effective.

Not only Aram’s but also the other Fighters’ expressions became cold.

These were people who had already lost their pride as Fighters. For them, there was nothing more appropriate to hurt them than to insult the master they happily wagged their tails for.

“At the very least, you’re a champion of running your mouth.”

It wasn’t Aram.

It was Jaihum who opened his mouth with an angry expression on his face.

“I’m so annoyed I can’t take it anymore. Hey, coward, how dare you show up in front of us with a brave expression like that?”

“…”

“I really can’t understand why Lord Kangki cares so much about a piece of trash like you… No.”

A sneer spread across Jaihum’s lips.

“Actually, this might be a good thing. If I were to rip you apart here, I’d be able to prove my worth to Lord Kangki and help him relieve his worries a bit.”

“Don’t go, Jaihum. You’re not his match.”

“Ha. It’s the other way around. I have experience fighting him.”

Despite Aram’s warning, Jaihum’s expression didn’t change.

When Lukas first appeared in the arena, it was Jaihum who faced him first.

Jaihum recalled the match at that time.

No. There was nothing to recall because it couldn’t even be called a match.

Pop. Pop.

After cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders, Jaihum started walking towards Lukas, and Aram stopped trying to hold him back.

There were two reasons for this.

The first was that it would be good to observe Lukas’ overall skill level.

And the second was to buy some time.

‘He’s a Sorcerer.’

And Aram was well aware of the weakness of Sorcerers.

In fact, it was nothing special since even a snot-nosed brat knew that Sorcerers were exceptionally vulnerable in close combat situations.

A Sorcerer’s true value could only be revealed after they were given enough time to prepare.

‘The same goes for Lukas. He must have appeared here because he thinks he can take care of himself.’

He probably thought that he was sufficiently prepared.

Nevertheless, Aram wasn’t worried.

It was true that, with adequate preparation time and materials, a Sorcerer would be capable of dealing with dozens of Dragonmen Fighters at the same time with large, devastating attacks. But that wouldn’t be the case for Lukas.

There were a few reasons for this.

One of them was the presence of Bargan.

And the other was a fatal flaw of Sorcerers.

It was difficult for them to adjust the range of their attacks.

If they were to mess up even a single calculation, the Sorcerer could not only destroy themself, but they could also destroy much more than the expected range. Top-class Sorcerers were no exception to this rule.

It went without saying that the sharper the blade, the more difficult it was to wield.

And the sorcery that Sorcerers wielded were at least dozens of times as risky.

In other words, unlike when hunting an Ancient Dragon, large-scale techniques would not be possible, and they didn’t fear small and medium-sized techniques.

‘It’s obvious that Lukas was hiding his power.’

So the most important thing now was to figure out just how much power Lukas was actually hiding.

Aram stopped thinking about it and gestured to the Fighters around him.

Crunch.

The Fighters nodded and started spreading out. They moved so quietly and secretly that it was hard to imagine there were ten people moving at the same time.

In that same moment, Lukas also began making his move.

“Ha.”

Jaihum smirked widely.

This was because Lukas was walking towards him. His steps fell at the time as Jaihum’s as if they were in sync.

Jaihum never would have expected a Sorcerer to voluntarily narrow the distance between them.

“I really don’t know what’s wrong with your hea-”

He wasn’t able to finish his sentence.

“…k-, kuk!”

Instead, he felt an unimaginable pain in his stomach. It felt like his bones, muscles, and internal organs had all been destroyed.

His bulging eyes slowly looked down.

And he found Lukas’ arm buried into his stomach.

‘When?’

How did he move so fast? What was this power? Didn’t they say that he was a Sorcerer?

These questions appeared in his head one after the other before they eventually disappeared. To be more precise, they had no choice but to disappear.

Puk!

This was because Lukas raised his palm and struck Jaihum’s chin.

He was fortunate that his tongue wasn’t bitten off as his upper and lower jaws clashed violently together.

In his head, it felt like lightning flashed and thunder rolled.

Then, as he felt the pain of dozens of teeth being smashed at the same time, Jaihum’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out.

“…”

Silence fell in the arena.

The scattered Fighters were all shocked by Lukas’ sudden approach and his even faster dispatch of Jaihum.

Pok!

Lukas kicked Jaihum’s body as it collapsed to the ground. His unconscious body flew in the sky on a parabolic path.

And Aram stood at the end of that path.

Kaytai appeared in front of him.

Paak!

Kaytai also kicked him to the side as if he were a piece of garbage.

Jaihum’s unconscious body rolled across the ground of the arena.

“You’re pretty strong.”

Aram muttered these words in a low voice.

He had kicked Jaihum’s body away like a used soda can.

(TL: Poor Jaihum)