Chapter 98: Chapter 98 - Humiliation of a Fallen Man

"Innocents? Families? You motherf*cking bastards shouldn't even have those words in your dictionaries," Delmar spat with venom in his tone.

Niles, hearing him, grew even angrier and screamed back. "What the fck do you know, you fcking monster? You just killed so many people, and now you're lecturing me, ME, like you're my judge or something. Your nobody NOBODYYY"

Delmar, amused by Niles' outburst, replied, "Oh, didn't you get the memo?"

Niles, slightly confused, heard Delmar continue, "I am your damn judge, you sad and pathetic bastard."

"Seeing you only barking back and not actually doing anything confuses me. Why did your team members make you their leader? Forget about that, they shouldn't have even let you stay on the team. They should have kicked you out the moment they had the chance." Delmar said to him with a mocking tone trying to get a rise out of the falling man.

Niles, hearing Delmar's words, knew the man was trying to provoke him. It might have worked if not for his years of field experience. He gave a self-deprecating laugh and said, "Ran out of catchphrases or something? Can't think of anything else, so you're trying to rile me up to do something stupid, huh!"

Delmar, though amused at his words, still acknowledged him as the man had figured out what he was trying to do and even in his dire state he had the galls to talk back to him, knowing that doing that might be the very end of him.

Hearing him, Delmar laughed as if he had heard the funniest thing. "Hahaha, hahah. Get you riled up to do something stupid? Are you kidding me? Have you seen yourself? In the state you're in right now, you couldn't do anything even if you had all your teammates supporting you."

Even though Delmar's words were humiliating and made Niles extremely angry, he couldn't refute them because he knew they were true. But Delmar wasn't finished.

"Ohhh! I get it, it's not that you were weak in your company. It was your so-called members of the 'Night Raiders' who were weak, right? Otherwise, how could they have died so easily?" Delmar knew where to strike so he struck at the man's most weak spot that he could currently exploit and that happened to be his fallen comrades.

Niles screamed at Delmar at the top of his lungs, "SHUT UP!!!!!" But it fell on deaf ears as Delmar continued seeing that this method was working wonders for him.

Delmar suddenly had a thought as he looked at the man he was about to kill. He searched through his storage ring and brought out a yellow potion with a luster to it. He looked at Niles, who was trying to get up and failing repeatedly, and said, "If you actually want to do something, then take this." He threw the yellow potion, and it landed right in front of Niles.

Niles looked at the potion, confused, until Delmar spoke again, "Don't worry, it's not poison or anything similar. It's a mix of a healing and enhancement potion. It will heal you just enough so you can fight, and the enhancement will temporarily increase your strength so the injuries don't completely lower your power level."

"...Why?" Niles asked, looking up at the man standing over his best friend's body.

"Why? You need a reason to fight? Alright, it's because... I'm bored. You got your reason?"

Annoyed by Delmar's behavior, Niles said, "Yeah!" and picked up the potion.

"Then drink the damn potion and FIGHT ME!" Delmar shouted.

Niles looked at the potion one last time before finally opening the cork and drinking it. What else could he do anyway? Delmar had a hidden smile on his face as he quietly said, "Gotcha."

A few moments after Niles drank the potion, his body started to change significantly. The blood that was dripping from various places stopped, the burn marks over his body ceased burning momentarily, and his internal injuries healed. New organs even started to grow on their own. His mana reserves began to fill up completely, with even more stored.

After a few moments, Niles realized the potion had worked. He checked his body to ensure there were no hidden dangers or side effects. Finding none, he slowly walked towards Delmar. His initial steps were unsteady, but he gradually regained his rhythm and approached one of his fallen team members.

He saw it was Alicia, whose head was now gone, but her pendant remained around her neck. He took the pendant and saw a photo of a smiling baby inside. He said to her, "Don't worry, Alicia. From now on, I will take care of your daughter... I will take care of all your families."

Delmar, with a cruel smile, said, "Now, now, don't make promises you can't keep."