The air carried the salty stench of copper as a mountain of corpses and pools of blood stained the swamp floor. Countless bodies reeked of death as a man covered in a blood stained Gi sat beside the body of a mutilated wolf corpse. Wiping off the blood that had splattered onto his face, he sat in silence breathing in the deathly aroma .

In the background the all-female mercenary group watched in both horror and admiration at the carnage he had wrought. Just minutes ago they had prepared themselves for death, and now here they stood, watching their saviour revel in the act of killing.

Feeling the numerous gazes on him, Daelos turned to face the party. When their eyes met, the girls couldn’t but tremble. The pressure he emitted almost made their knees buckle under its weight. Even Cassie the most physically fit amongst them felt beads of sweat starting to form.

Seeing their faces go pale, a sly smile appeared on his face. “You guys really are trash.” Looking at them a faint trace of disgust flashed across his eyes. “But I can’t say I’m surprised, even your mage knight over there is trash compared to the ones at the academy.”

Academy? He’s been to the academy!

The green haired elven mage knight had shock written on her face. She dropped out of the academy when she was in her 3rd year, but to be called trash by a someone who wasn’t even a mage knight made her shiver in rage. “What the hell do you know about mage knights! Your just a knight with greater physical strength than us! Don’t act high and mighty in front of me!”

To this, he simply looked at her like she was a ranting dog. Shaking his head he drew the power of laws above his palm and summoned a miniature fireball. Looking at her direction, he curled his index finger on his thumb and flicked it at her.

*Ping!*

Shit

Jumping in front of Amara, Cassie raised her large shield and bore the brunt of the attack. Unfortunately, that small fireball exploded on impact, causing her and Amara to be sent flying backwards.

BOOM!

Seeing their teammates being attacked, Helga and Shea gripped their weapons and pounced towards Daelos.

Easily dodging their various stabbing attempts, Daelos used his incredible strength to kick Helga away and dodge Shea’s upcoming attacking. Snorting in distain he grabbed her by the wrist and used his superior strength to tighten his grip. In the same breath, he spun around, placed his opposite shoulder under his arm and pulled her over.

Her entire body flipped over his in a graceful arc and landed on the ground with a crash!

Still holding onto her arm, he didn’t give her any time to regain her senses, her secured it between his legs and held it in a simple armbar joint lock.

Seeing her shocked expression, a devious smile surfaced on his face as he said “This is gonna hurt”

*CRACK!!*

“ARRGGGHHHHHHHHH!”

The sound of a resounding crack was accompanied by the audible sound of ligaments being torn. Blood and bone burst out from the inside of her arm as she let out a ghastly scream. As he broke her arm, Daelos noticed that her shriek sounded oddly similar to that of the scaled wolves that he’d previously slaughtered.

Dropping her limp arm, he stared at the two remaining party members. Both Helga and Eliza watched in horror as he slowly approached them. The scene of him breaking Shea’s arm still fresh in their minds.

Walking past trembling Helga, he crouched down so that he was at eye level with Eliza. “Are you going to attack me to?” Looking at the young mage, a questioning look appeared in his eyes.

“I-I…” to scared to speak, the most she could do was mutter.

“You what? I can’t understand you unless you use sentences.” Seeing that she was trembling a sudden idea came to mind. Placing his hands on the side of the girls head. He sent in a small wisp of mental energy to calm her nerves.

Seeing her face regain some colour, he checked if she was still trembling. To his surprise her trembling had stopped, and she was now able to look at him in the eye.

“So…are you going to attack me?” Repeating the question once more, he waited patiently for her to answer.

“No” Now that her nerves were calmed she was able to speak in comprehensible sentences.

Not wasting anymore time with her, he switched his attention towards Helga and asked the same question. To his surprise, she was able to answer his question without the need of any mental energy help.

“No”

“Oh…That’s a shame.” A mournful expression sat on his face as he walked towards her. “So why’d you attack me?” A questioning look replaced his mournful expression as he was truly perplexed at why they attacked him.

“How can you ask that! You attack my party members! OF COURSE I’M GONNA ATTACK YOU!” Feeling that he had just asked a stupid question, she couldn’t contain her rage.

“No, no, no, I understand why you attacked me. I just want to understand what you hoped to accomplish by doing so?”

“Huh”

“I mean you do realise that the 5 of you were almost killed by 50 wolves, but you still chose to attack the guy who single handily slaughtered them all. Does that make any sense to you?”

“We-

“And to make matters even worse, you overestimated yourselves even though you recently got your asses handed to you.” Looking at her hesitant expression, Daelos felt like he was talking to a child. He sighed as he continued. “This is why I said you guys are trash. You don’t take note of your position and rush in recklessly.” Sighing to himself he looked Helga up and down.

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Feeling his gaze roam over body, she covered herself with her arms, trying to hide from his gaze.

Seeing her reaction, he chuckled to himself as he used mental energy to freeze her in place.

Feeling that she’d lost control of her body, she stood there, and watched Daelos approach her with a gentle smile on his face. Remembering the requests her clients had given her team over the years, she couldn’t help but start to panic as he got closer.

Various thoughts raced through her mind as she came up with numerous ways the situation could end. sadly for her, the most common ending was the one she feared the most.

Feeling her panic ridden emotions through the mental link he created, Daelos smile got deeper. Seeing him reach his hand out towards her Helga tightly closed her eyes and grit her teeth.

….Waiting for him to start, she felt he was taking his time. Slowly opening one eye, she realised that he was juggling a small brown pouch in his hand. Looking down at her waist she realised that her money pouch was missing.

“…” WHAT THE FUCK! Did he just overlook me in favour of money!

As if to answer her question, he looked over at her with a serious expression. “Why are you so poor?”

Regaining control of her body the only thing she could do was stare at him with wide eyes and say “Huh”

“Don’t huh me you BITCH! Did you think I saved your life for free. Where’s my damn compensation?”

“Huh” Still feeling confused, that was the only noise she could make.”

“Huh me one more time! I dare you, I FUCKING DOUBLE DARE YOU!!”

-Silence

…”Huh”

*BOOM!!!*

A wrath filled aura exploded out his body as his eyes flashed with murderous intent.

“We have more money.” In the distance a meek Eliza managed to force out those words.

Hearing the mention of more money, Daelos reined in his bloodlust and turned his attention towards her. “Where?”

“It’s back in our base.”

“Oh” Finding the situation slightly annoying, he resisted the urge to just kill everyone and take what they had on them. “Where’s your base?”

Hesitating slightly, Eliza eventually managed to squeeze out her words. “In Breamore.”

“…”

Closing his eyes various thoughts came to mind. Breamore, human capital , swamp, wolves, mercenaries, all female.

Slowly opening his eyes, his demeanour became eerily calm as his tone turned icy. “How long will it take to get there.”

Seeing the cold indifference radiating off of him, she didn’t dare to lie. “3 weeks.” Lowering her head, she closed her eyes and prayed for her own survival.

Sighing to himself he knew what he was doing was a waste of time.

Maybe I should just kill them.

“Why are you guys out here anyway.” Turning to Helga, he decided to ask her. Depending on her answer, he would either kill them now or kill them later.

Facing his stare, Helga felt like she was being watched by a wild animal. Images of the scaled wolf’s slaughter replayed in her mind as she remember the glee covering his face as he tore out their insides.

Now seeing 3 of her comrades laying silent with their conditions unknown, for the first time in her life she’d never felt so powerless. The monster in front of her was a blood thirsty beast who treated life like as if it was worthless.

For the sake of her own survival and that of her friends, she would do everything possible to keep this monster happy.

Showing him a smile that she’d use to seduce many men, she spoke to him in her gentlest voice. “We were commissioned to kill a beast roaming the deepest layer of the swamp.” Trying to incite his battle intent, she tried to switch his attention to the beast they were tracking.

“Beast? What kind of beast?” Hearing that they were hunting a beast, Daelos’s curiosity was piqued.

“A Hydra!”

“A hydra? The fucks a hydra?”

Knowing that she caught his attention, Helga thought of a way to hype up the monster while ensuring the lives of her teammates. “A gigantic, nine-headed water-serpent that sprays acid. It’s said that for every head you cut off 2 more grow back! Because of this no one below A rank is able to accept this quest.”

Feeling slightly puzzled after hearing that, he looked Helga in the eyes and asked. “Then why did your party accept? You guys are weak as fuck. You couldn’t handle a couple of mutts, yet you talk about slaying some near immortal monster with your lacklustre skills. Are you guys retarded or something?” Genuine confusion covered his face.

Hearing him comment on their skills was quite a blow to her self-confidence. While it was true that they were at a disadvantage against the scale wolves, she believed that it was only because they were outnumbered. But since the hydra was only a single target, then they shouldn’t have any trouble escaping if needs be.

Of course she didn’t voice any of this. Getting into an argument with this madman was the last thing she wanted.

“If we kill the hydra, not only will we get a massive pay-out, we’ll also increase our rank.”

Seeing the stars in her eyes, Daelos started to feel somewhat annoyed. “What does your rank have to do with me?”

Seeing that she was starting to lose him, Helga’s mind raced as she thought of new ways to try to entice him. “If you join our party you’ll receive numerous benefits!”

“Oh…What type of benefits?”

“You’ll earn more money than we currently have, you’ll also become famous and well respected!”

“That’s tempting and all but isn’t your party all-female?”

Shit I forgot about that!

Feeling her smile cramp a little, Helga decided to bite the bullet and press forward. “I’m sure we can come to some sort of arrangement.”

Seeing her strained smile, Daelos couldn’t help but chuckle. “Very well, show me to the hydra.”

Great! After he kills the hydra and takes us back to the capital, I’ll have him arrested!

Seeing him start to walk away, Helga yelled out to him. “Ah! Before we go we have to heal my companions.”

Looking over at her, a confused expression settled on his face. “Why?”

“Amara! The green haired archer you flicked away is our best tracker! Without her we won’t be able to find the hydra.”

“Urgh so bothersome. Fine go get her and that burly chick.” Shooing her away with his hand, he went and sat next to the shocked mage.

“So what’s your name?” Feeling that the atmosphere was somewhat awkward, Daelos tried to lighten the mood.

“Eliza”

“No surname?”

“I’m only a commoner.” Bowing her head, Eliza looked as if she was talking to the ground.

“I see…Did you graduate from Breamore academy?”

Shaking her head, she replied by saying. “When I was young my parents realized I had a high affinity with the law of light. They sent me to train in the temple where I learned how to heal the sick and injured.”

“So you don’t know any offensive techniques?”

Shaking her head once more, Daelos sighed and decided to change the topic. Pointing to the unconscious Shea in the distance, he asked her if she thinks she could heal her.

Walking to the unconscious beast man, she knelt down and assessed the damage dealt to her to arm. After a few minutes of holding Shea’s broken arm, a horrified expression filled her face when she turned to look at Daelos.

“Sh-she can’t be healed by me.” Her voice trembled as she spoke of her friend’s condition.

“Oh? Why’s that.” As if it had nothing to do with him, Daelos spoke in an indifferent manner. This is taking too long.

“Someone of my skill level isn’t enough to heal an injury as severe as this.”

“Severe? Isn’t it only a broken arm?”

Shaking her head, Eliza pointed to several areas on Shea’s arm and pointed out how much damage was really inflicted.

Most of what she said was ignored as Daelos was wondering about how he’d kill a immortal snake monster.

*snap* Off in the distance three figures could be seen walking towards them. 2 of the figures were limping and the last one was trying her best to support the both of them but struggled trying to complete that task. Obviously the three were Helga and the two girls who’d recently annoyed Daelos.

Seeing the monster who’d sent them flying with a flick standing in front of them, the two limping girls couldn’t help but avoid eye contact with him. Even Cassie the most aggressive of them all had no choice but to bow her head in his presence.

“Ready to go now?” Ignoring the presence of the two new additions, Daelos questioned Helga with a less than enthusiastic expression.

“Yeah, we just need Eliza to heal these to then we can leave.”

Looking towards the healer, Eliza understood his intentions and went to check up on the two injured party members. Removing her glowing hands from their bodies she faced Daelos then said in a grim voice. “I need 3 hours.”

“You have 1.”

Leaving the group to deal with the injured, he walked off into the distance and disappeared behind the sea of trees.