The cave was dark and damp. Upon closing the entrance to the cave, Bowen found himself lost in the darkness, devoid of even a single ray of light. Bowen cast his mana ball that emitted a dim blue light barely enough to assess his surroundings. The mana ball did not sustain for long, causing frustration for Bowen, who had to create new mana balls repeatedly as each one dispersed.He treaded carefully on the wet, uneven ground for almost 15 minutes. The only relief Bowen felt was the absence of any hidden traps. He was happy that he would soon be able to see his first target, but the problem was he was terribly weak to confront the target at present. He could only rely on his reaper license, or else he would just escape after secretly seeing the face of the real culprit of the kidnappings. He would return when he had acquired the necessary skills to kill the enemy. After a few more minutes, he could see the straight curved path taking a sudden curve at the end of the cave. Bowen could see bright red light reflected on the walls of the curved path, meaning that someone, likely Bale and the mastermind, was conducting their business there. He slowly inched towards the curved pathway, walking closer to the side walls. As he got closer, he could hear some blurred noises of people talking. His heart pounded in his ears, but it was still better than the time when he killed his close partners and allies for revenge in his previous life. Perhaps it was because the person he needed to kill had no relation to him that he was awfully calm. Bowen felt strange about the calmness he had, even though he was going to confront an enemy who was probably many times stronger than him.
He slowly peeked hiding himself against the curved wall.
Bowen could see Bale and the three rogues of the Raven Gang who had escaped to the Elu Mountains. In front of them stood a man covered in a purple cape with long hair, facing what appeared to be a rectangular altar - more like a rock that had been cut into a rectangular shape to serve as an altar. Bowen couldn't see the man's face as he was facing away, but he found the figure oddly familiar. He felt like he had met the man before, but he couldn't remember where. The man had a book with him from which he narrated unknown words of a strange language. Through a small gap, Bowen could partially see a small figure on top of the altar, which he could make out to be Renault. [damn, Is that a human sacrifice?] For an earthly person like Bowen, these things seemed more shocking than the existence of magic. He knew he had to act soon, or Renault's life would be in danger.Yes, Bowen disliked Renault to the core and he had no obligation to save the kid since it was not part of his mission. But he believed that he still had some humanity left in him. At the end of the day, he would confront the purple caped man sooner or later, he might as well do it now. At least he wouldn't have to feel guilty for Renault's death later. He decided to reveal his presence with a bang. Bowen slowly emerged from his hiding spot. The rogues and Bale seemed to be concentrating on the ritual with their backs to him. Maybe they were careless because they thought it was a perfect hiding spot, or they had so much confidence in their leader, the purple-caped man who was probably much stronger than them. Bowen conjured a light blue mana ball of almost perfect shape and threw it with all his strength towards one of the rogues. "Aaaaaah!" The mana ball landed squarely on the back of the rogue's head. He wasn't seriously injured, but the attack was painful enough to make him bleed a little. Only then did Bale and the other rogues turn to see what had caused the disturbance, finding a small boy. The purple-caped man also stopped his chanting, but he still faced the altar. Bowen was unable to see his face but being near the man gave Bowen an idea of who he might be. Similarly, Bale immediately recognized Bowen. His balls ached every time he thought about what had happened in the Elu Mountains. He had already made plans to capture Bowen, but their master had prohibited them, advising against drawing too much attention to themselves. They were satisfied with kidnapping Renault, his nephew. At least he would be happy seeing the pathetic face of his brother crying and wailing for his beloved son's loss. Now that Bowen had presented himself in the lion's lair, Bale was not going to let him live.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
"Great, we have another prey to serve our god now. Capture him,” ordered Bale with an evil smile. The rouges quickly surrounded Bowen, closing all possible escape routes.
"There, there. You guys don’t have to be so alert. I will not try to escape. Just relax," Bowen stood there coolly, without a trace of fear in his eyes, which left Bale and the rouges confused. [How is this boy so relaxed even in this kind of situation? Does he have help coming for him? That’s right, he must be stalling for time. I should not allow it] thought Bale.
"Stalling, huh? Who have you brought with you this time? Let me tell you, even if you bring ten E-rankers, they will all die in the hands of our master. This will be your last night, kid."
"You don’t have the right to decide that. It will be my dad who decides my future. Am I right, dad?" said Bowen, looking at the purple-caped man with a smirk.
"Hahaha...ha...ahhaahaahaaa…aa..haaaa," laughed and turned the purple-caped man, who now faced Bowen face to face. "As Bowen had suspected, the individual standing before him was none other than his own father, Theodore, who pampered Bowen every day and night.
"You found out?" asked Theodore, raising his eyebrows with amusement on his face.
"Of course, Dad. How can a kid not recognize his own father? Your long hair cannot stop me from identifying you from miles away," said Bowen with a smile.
"Oh honey, you think I will spare you because you're my kid?
Nah, you would likely have killed me years ago if you knew that I am awakened and that I will be the cause of your death."
"Pfft...my dear, you will be the cause of my death...pfft...oh honey, I never knew my kid could joke."
"Yeah right, you don’t know many things about me."
"Hmm, yes yes. I could have replaced you instead of young Master Renault. I didn’t have to go through so much risk to kidnap a ranker’s son. Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. I can always kill whoever goes against me. Wait for your turn now. After I serve Young Master to the God of Wishes, I will send you next," said the purple-caped Theodore with a lofty smile.