Rodther walked through the forest, away from Nero. Or whoever that guy was. He had a good eye for measuring people. Nero was not a level zero person. The sense of danger, the precision of his movements told him that Nero had a higher level than himself. Even if he had top-notch gear, and by the more than twenty purple cards he got from the blabbering quartermaster yesterday he had top-notch gear, his Attributes wouldn't still be that high. A smuggler didn't go too far if he couldn't measure people by those tiny hints of body language. And for a race as paranoid about survival as the ietermahue it was a skill they trained since birth.

He crept through the moon-lit forest, watching the ground for dry twigs. The trees seemed to echo the sound of dry twigs breaking as if one was killing their children. He reached the edge of the clearing and watched. Arden was still alive, but barely holding his own against the two assassins sent by Valanaegornif. Cesar was keeping him locked in Melee range while Husk struck when an opening was given. They were saving their resources, probably to finish the job.

Worse yet, they were dragging the combat. Cesar could've killed Arden already, but he was playing with the bear-kin. Husk came with a sabre from behind and slashed the back of Arden's knee. With a grunt, he fell down and held himself from splaying on his belly by driving his flamberge into the ground. Arden panted.

"Ah. The fun is over, thanks a lot, Husk," Cesar groaned, but he was grinning maniacally. "Now we need to kill this one and hunt the other one. Then it is sweet vengeance time."

"Yeah, do it. Kill this fucker, we might get an Accolade for a job well done," Husk said and, as cliche as it sounds, licked Arden's blood off the sabre.

Cesar screamed and slashed Arden's neck. The bear-kin still tried to dodge but failed. His neck cut, he fell down grunting and trying in vain to cover his neck. Rodther smelled the blood spray in the night.

"Now, where did he--"

**BLAM**

Husk would never finish that sentence. A clap of thunder echoed in the Dungeon and his torso blew up, his bowels now replaced by a huge hole. Only the spine held the two halves of his body together. Lightning coursed through Husk's body and steam or mist spread from the body. And his entrails seemed to be... frozen?

"WHAT THE HELL!" Cesar cursed. "What in tarnation was that! Rodther, you bastard! Was it you?"

No, not me. Rodther told himself. A wave of dread coursed through his whole being. The image of the rifle pointing at his head flashed in his mind. Truth to be told, he relieved himself that very moment.

"Fuck that! Show yourself, motherfucker!" Cesar wailed and screamed.

Rodther didn't move. He let his body do its thing and felt the warmth running down the scales of his leg. Cesar ran around the clearing but was obviously scared of getting into the woods. The wolves didn't respawn yet, but there were other monsters in the forest tonight. He went a few laps around the bodies of their former companions and stopped to catch his breath. He rose his sword high and screamed.

**BLAM**

Cesar's forearm was severed by another explosion. This time, Rodther could see the frozen skin flaking off before the lightning shocked the minnid, causing him to fall down. Cesar's body seized and he twitched in waves, screaming and flailing around.

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Nero felt sorry for Husk. Not only he was just a minion, too stupid to think for himself but Nero also didn't want to kill him with the first shot. [Piercing Shot] and five stages of [Empower Attack] were too much. He also didn't hit where he wanted, the knee. So he bade his time and waited for the perfect opportunity to shoot Cesar. He charged [Piercing Shot] and added just one stage of [Empower Attack]. Once he held his arm up, Nero took his shot. Without his right hand, Cesar was not a danger to Nero. It was time to get sweet, sweet satisfaction. Nero didn't think he was sadistic or anything, but he needed information. If Cesar died, he'd get nothing. He needed to know Valanaegornif's plans.

He also forgot to apply [Shadow Coating]. Too late now. Nero walked ahead, keeping his rifle aimed at his fellow villager as he moved into the clearing.

"Nero you bastard! Coward!" Cesar hissed as Nero came into the moonlight. "Can't fight like a man?"

He stopped a dozen yards from Cesar. The wounded murderer spat, cursed, screamed. Nero just waited for him to get tired. The arm stump wasn't bleeding too much, the ice and lightning cauterized the wounds. The rifle, however, was still pointed at the other man's head.

After fumbling for a while, Cesar drank a healing potion one-handed. The black-purple skin healed but the stump closed. That arm would never regenerate without some stupidly high-tier Skill.

"So," Nero said. "How do you want this thing to unfold? I kill you now, and all your sins are forgotten, or do you have any better idea?"

"What do you want, son of a bitch?" Cesar spat. Nero dodged.

**BLAM**

Six stages of [Empower Attack]. Cesar's right knee was broken. The leg dangled by the skin and tendons.

"Don't talk shit about my mother," he warned. Nero turned on the clockwork bayonet and approached.

"Agh! Stay away from me!" Cesar begged while his body was assaulted by the lightning.

Nero finished his work, cutting off the lower leg. He swung the rifle to remove the blood from the teeth and turned off the bayonet. Then he calmly walked backward.

Cesar calmed down, drank another potion, and glared at Nero with hatred.

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"So, how do you want this thing to unfold? Do you have any love for your other leg?" Nero asked.

"What do you want?" Cesar whimpered.

"Valanaegornif. What is the elf's plan?"

"He has an agreement with my mom. She gave him information about you and your family and we will get amnesty if we kill you. Valanaegornif promised us."

It was as Nero both feared and hoped. Katia's behavior when the prince barged into their feast was too suspicious. She almost clung to Valanaegornif.

"Well, Cesar. I have two good news and two bad news for you," Nero's voice was cold. "First good news. You stop being a prisoner today."

Cesar smiled for a while, then withdrew. "Don't joke with me!"

"Didn't you know? I talked to captain Mayleefa, he will grant amnesty to the prisoners that delve with me If I so ask."

"Big chance you'd ask for my freedom. I'm going to kill you, bastard."

**BLAM**

Against Cesar's one hundred points of Vigor, only eight stages of [Empower Attack] did the trick. Left knee pulverized. The lightning and frostbite only spared Cesar because the shot was on a limb and half of it dispersed downward. Cesar writhed and screamed in pain. Nero scanned around and easily found Rodther's hiding place. He gave the scaled man a nod and turned his back to him. Hidden from both of the prisoners' sight, Nero swapped his Class to one he'd never let Altia know he had. "[Potion Toss]" He whispered. Red light washed over Cesar's form, closing his wounds and easing his burns. Then he swapped back to [Archer].

Nero waited for a long time until Cesar recovered his senses. The minnid tried to stand and move but felt his crippled state and despaired. He cried and wailed, ignoring Nero. The [Jester] also ignored the whimpering curses Cesar feebly threw his way. After his enemy calmed down, Nero continued.

"The second good news is that I'll take you to meet your mother. The bad news is that you'll be dead and I'll kill her too. Mrs. Katia is a poison in our community. A traitor. So, are you willing to bargain for your mother's life, Cesar?"

"DON'T DARE TOUCH MY MOM YOU BASTARD!" Cesar screamed. He drew a knife and threw it. From his awkward position, off-hand throw, and current health condition, it was easy for Nero to dodge. "I WILL KILL YOU, MURDER YOUR FATHER AND RAPE YOUR MOM AND THAT BITCH YOU MARRIED!"

Nero kicked Cesar's head, stunning the maimed minnid. He walked over Cesar, stomped his Arbitrium, and turned on the bayonet. The miracle bracer only protected the left arm from being separated from the body. Not the hand. Revving the bayonet's teeth, Nero cut off Cesar's left hand.

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Rodther saw many things in his seventy years of life. The most terrible memories he had was when blood enemies settled their score. And that had just happened once again. This time they were children, not even twenty winters old. And yet their hatred ran that deep. There might be a story between Nero and Valanaegornif, and he felt the tug of curiosity demanding him to find out and the warning of caution imploring for him to keep his peace. He knew Cesar deserved what he got. He and Husk murdered Arden in cold blood. What he couldn't believe was that Nero had in himself the potential for such cruelty.

Things calmed down in the clearing, at least. Now that Cesar had no functioning limb and fainted, Nero withdrew a chair from his dimensional pouch and sat away from the gore and bodies. The young man seemed absorbed in his thoughts so Rodther sank into a moment of reflection after checking there was no wolf around him.

Cesar and Nero were from the same generation, the same village. It means they activated their Arbitrii on the same day. There was a woman involved, of course, there would always be a woman involved but the woman favored Nero over Cesar. Or never even gave Cesar even a second glance. He could tell that Nero valued his family very much. Cesar was an idiot for pushing the buttons of his enemy when he was clearly disadvantaged.

Why the military insisted on an escort for that powerhouse was beyond Rodther's belief. If he could kill a person twenty levels above him in a single shot, he could probably wipe this Dungeon clean. Cesar bragged his Vigor was over one hundred and he severed the leg with a single shot!

It could only be that gun. He said it was a custom job. Rodther knew the parts, a [Clockwork Rifle] and a [Clockwork Sword]. If a master [Gadgeteer] worked on combining two high-grade weapons, it could become a weapon worth of someone a tier above.

Rodther would laugh if someone told him Nero's level was zero after what he saw tonight. He feared the young minnid. He feared he'd not survive to see the real world again. He sat against a tree and breathed. He had to calm down his mind, stop his limbs from shaking.

Two hours later, Cesar recovered his senses and tried to stand up, screaming. He just flailed the stumps of his limbs and tumbled from his back to his stomach.

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Nero felt the crippled minnid beside him stir awake.

"Back already, Cesar?" Nero stood up from the chair he stole from Tyre's tent city and asked. "So, can we talk about Cloude, Tifa, Clark, Bruce, and Timmy? Or all the others you murdered?"

"Stay away from me!" Cesar crawled, trying in vain to put some distance between him and his tormentor.

"Now, do you want me to spare your mom? Talk. If you tell me all the truth, I'll be merciful with her. I want to know what Valanaegornif is planning. Everything."

Cesar spilled the beans during the next hour.

Valanaegornif wanted revenge, pure and simple. He felt humiliated by Nero and wanted the minnid dead. In the elf's view, Nero didn't deserve to be in the employ of the prince and he suspected Nero had something to do with his transfer to the prisoner management which was basically a demotion. Things weren't good between Valanaegornif and His Highness, Cesar said. The elf struck a deal with Katia to ease the two minnid's punishment in exchange for information. When word reached Valanaegornif's knife-ears that the missing princess was in Nero's house, he rushed to use the information to gain favor with the prince but it backfired. For some reason, Tyre didn't want Serena to be found and came to Hom himself to settle things. The information the prince wanted to keep suppressed was already out. Valanaegornif bragged on how he found out the princess everyone was searching for.

Nero could piece together the rest of the story from what he knew. The books Serena wrote with state secrets to use as leverage. Xalazuniox negotiated with the King for her safety. Going after her would violate that treaty and expose Bast to international ridicule. That's why the King issued that amnesty edict. Going after Nero or his family was now a crime. If he could prove that Valanaegornif plotted to murder him, he could bring the captain down. There was almost no chance of that happening. Nobody would believe the words of a crippled prisoner over a knight captain and Cesar wasn't getting out of this Dungeon alive anyway.

Nero changed Classes. "I heard all I wanted, Cesar. Now, goodbye. Don't worry, I'll bring you to your mother. [Sleep]."

Cesar fell asleep, his Willpower a joke against Nero's hundred Reason. Nero summoned a white-grade [Dagger]. He charged [Piercing Shot] for one minute, spent twenty points of mana and stamina in [Empower Attack], and threw the dagger at Cesar's forehead. The minnid bully, a murderer of his own tribe, traitor, prisoner, and violator of rule three perished.

Nero didn't feel vindicated. He felt... empty. He closed his eyes and remembered that day when everything started. The joy in his fellow villagers' faces. The innocence. The wonder when they first found themselves inside the Dungeon.

He found his tears when he remembered the night they spent in Mrs. Simmons' house. Agatha was never the same after Timmy died.

Was Timmy happy his tormentors were now dead?

Was it justice? Vengeance?

Nero had no idea. With the raiders sent after Serena, it was war. They had no face. Cesar and Husk, on the other hand, were people Nero grew up with. The two bullies didn't mess with him as much as the others because Nero was strong and could handle himself in a fight. He never suspected Cesar was after Altia. She never... Yeah, she wouldn't even waste a blink on him. He missed her. He could tell she was healthy through their [Heart Bond] but that was all. Inside the Dungeon or the shelter, he couldn't tell the direction to her.

Nero was tired and wanted to sleep. There was one loose end he needed to tie before he could, though.