“Haa, Haa, Haa.”

Sweat dripped from my body, and I pulled my sword out of the owlbear as it fell to the ground.

With a big smile, I began laughing heartily, enjoying myself.

“Heh heh heh, ahhh ahhhh.”

That was fun, very fun. I don’t know why but the strengthening potion made it easier and I enjoyed it even more for some reason.

As the owlbear started to disappear, the doors opened to the third stratum. I collected the drops and stepped out.

In the hot desert sun, I was mildly annoyed by the glaring sun coming down on me.

I really didn’t like how hot it was. On second thought, maybe I should go back to the boss room again because that was fun, and I could feel the strengthening potion was still in effect.

That sounds like a good idea; it sure beats dealing with the desert heat.

Still having a smile, I walk back to the boss room delighted to fight the Owlbear again.

Fighting the Owlbear over and over again, I lost track of time and how many times I’d fought it.

As I was about to leave the boss room and enter back for the umpteenth time, the strengthening potion I drank seemed to wear off because my smile was gone, and I fell to the ground, feeling the backlash Maria told me about.

I was surprised that it felt this bad because everything hurt. It felt like I was having muscle cramps all over my body.

I thought the regeneration potion was supposed to stop the side effects like Maria said.

Enduring the pain, I took out a regeneration potion and gulped it down, tasting the very bitter liquid.

A moment or two later, I was no longer in constant agony, but things still hurt, and after a while, I was able to move.

Getting up, I think I should get up to the surface because I don’t know how long I’d stay in the dungeon, and Clare must be worried. Maybe I shouldn’t use the strengthening potion ever again because I’m not dealing with the drawback again.

After collecting the drops, which were 16 bypass rings and 2 Owlbear claws I luckily got, I made my way up the floors and saw that it was late into the afternoon. Have I really stayed down there for that long?

Should I really go to the adventurer guild? Definitely not; I should go home as soon as possible because Clare is definitely worried.

Walking back home as fast as my tired legs would take me, I opened the door to see Clare was waiting by the door for me.

She was very concerned and anxious with bags under her eyes, looking like she had been waiting for me all night.

Seeing me come in, I felt really guilty for making her this worried.

“Sorry, I lost track of time—”

Clare hugged me and sighed in relief.

“I am glad my lady is safe. But I must advise you not to do that again.”

“Okay, I’ll try.”

Slightly relieved by my answer, Clare said.

“I’ve prepared some soup; please eat, my lady, while I prepare you a bath. You must be tired.”

I said yeah, thanked her, and deeply apologized again for making her worry.

Once I was done eating and took a bath, I headed to bed after my hair dried, completely exhausted.

The headquarters of the City Guards

Yulis, stuck in a jail cell for the last few weeks, shouted at the guards to let him out.

“How dare you confine me in a place like this? I demand you let me out.”

Hearing the shouting directed toward the guards guarding him, they both sigh at the noise.

“To think he would act like this after what he did.”

“Yes, I don’t get why he is complaining. He is in one of the cells specifically made for nobles; that cell looks even better than my room.”

They mutter to each other to not let Yulis hear what they say as they ignore his ranting.

This made Yulis's anger soar and his face even redder from being ignored.

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“Are you listening to me? I’ll have your head once I get out.”

The two guards just look at him, still baffled by the threat he made hundreds of times over. They wonder if he actually knows what position he is in.

At first, the guards were afraid of Yulis because he was a noble, and it was the first time they actually had to confine one, so they tried their best not to anger him. But after a while, all the rotating guards that were assigned to guard Yulis did not care anymore.

The guards assigned to Yulis already know about the circumstances of why Yulis was being confined, meaning any threats to them don’t have any weight because the evidence was damning on its own, even if Alice’s older brother Claudis was the mastermind, and he is just digging his own grave continuing to threaten them.

“I can’t believe he is still spouting nonsense like that. What does he get to complain about?”

“I know, I just want this shift over with because I’m starting to have a headache from it.”

“At least we have about a week left for this to end. I wish the knights from the third knight order would come faster.”

“Yeah, it’s a shame. If one of his lackeys had spilled everything, then we would have enough evidence to send him straight to the royal capital for judgment without the help of the third knight order coming to get him.”

As they were muttering to each other, ignoring Yulis's shouting, the door opened silently, and what seemed like shadows snuck inside. They covered the guards' mouths and slit their throats with a knife without a sound except for the blood coming out of their necks. Before the guards knew it, they fell to the ground, lying motionless as blood pooled around them.

Yulis turned white by the blood pooling from the dead guards, then grew a smile and spat.

“T—that's right, you deserve that for ignoring me.”

Looking at the shadowy figure in black robes and carrying daggers, he said, figuring they were here to get him out.

“What took you so long? Do you not know how much I suffer staying in this hellhole?”

Yulis spoke indignantly at them, to which the presumed leader of the group of 3 shadowy figures kneeled and spoke in a reverent tone that showed deep shame.

“I apologize, young master. We rushed here as fast as we could once we heard the news of your unjust detainment.”

Snorting, Yulis said.

“Just get me out of here; I really want to get back at that brat who put me in here.”

“I apologize for my incompetence, but who is the young master referring to?”

“That Black-haired boy who claims to be from a powerful family. I want to get back at him; I knew his threat was a lie.”

“Lie?”

“Yes, he said he was going to ruin me, but this clearly never happened while I was held here against my will. I’m going to kill that brat; maybe I’ll even have that whore Alice watch.”

Yulis had an evil, disgusting, vile look on his face telling them what he was going to do against that boy.

“I see, an excellent plan, young master.”

“Yes, now let me out.”

“As you wish.”

The leader looks at his subordinates, who take out a key and open the cell for Yulis to come out.

As Yulis walked out of the cell and continued to rant about what he was going to do with Nyx and Alice, he suddenly stopped talking.

Yulis realized he couldn’t speak, then clutched his throat as he tried to breathe but couldn’t.

He tried to tell the people in black for help, but they just watched him struggle and fall to his knees, choosing not to catch his fall.

Deep anger filled his mind as he saw them not do anything but look down at him as he was on his knee clutching his throat.

Without warning, the leader kicked Yulis in the stomach, sending him flying away and hitting a stone wall to the side.

The leader began laughing and took off his black hood to reveal a handsome man with dark blue eyes and brightly glowing dark green hair.

It was Captain Boras, revealing himself as the person who had cast the spell.

Yulis had a look of anger and betrayal as his face turned purple since he couldn’t breathe, wondering what was going on for someone lower than himself to hurt him.

Boras smiled in delight seeing the expression Yulis had made. His hair, which is glowing a dark green, fades back into a grey color because he decided to release his spell since Yulis would pass out, which would ruin his enjoyment.

“Ha… ha… ha… ha…”

Gasping for air and gritting his teeth he screamed indignantly still not knowing his situation as his hair started glowing to cast a spell in retaliation.

“How dare you hurt me, you lowly—”

Before Yulis could finish, Boras’s hair glowed a dark green again, using the same spell again to take away his breath before Yulis could cast his spell.

“Uh-uh, please be quiet; you talk too much.”

Back to not being able to breathe, he stopped his concentration, and when he tried to resist Boras’s spell with his own mana, he found he couldn’t do anything because there was a massive gap in ability between them, causing him to be unable to comprehend a commoner being this strong.

“Oh my, how was my acting? Did you believe I came here to save you?”

Snickering.

“What a lovely face you have there, but…”

Now with a bored face like he was done with a toy, he said.

“You nobles who think you are better than everyone are all too common; they break too easily, and I got bored playing with your type a long time ago.”

Boras turns to his subordinates, who have an earpiece on his right ear, which is a rare but widely known communication artifact that comes in a pair called a bud.

“Have you gotten any word on his lackeys? Did you get anything out of them?”

The subordinate pressed the artifact on his ear and spoke to the other person using the other bud artifact.

After a moment of them going back and forth, he said.

“We made contact, but they figured out immediately that we weren't here to get them out, so we had to kill them.”

“Well, that is a shame; I really wanted to play with them, but he’ll have to do.”

Disappointed looks like a kid not getting a toy they wanted and he asked.

“So, how long till the guards notice their colleague's dead?”

“About 10 minutes, Captain.”

Boras turned to look at Yulis, whose face was purple and a shade of white after seeing a dark, sinister smile Boras had on his face.

“Well, good news for you; I guess we’re breaking you out after all because we still have use for you.”

Yulis tried to get away, but Boras cast another spell to bind his limbs with the wind. Slowly Yulis's vision turned dark as he suffocated from a lack of air, and terror filled his mind.