Dante wasn't a hero and could easily be hunted down by anyone even remotely sane who knew of his deeds.

But this moment was simply perfect; these seemed to be just ordinary people, perhaps with some weak abilities, but most likely just common thieves who, due to some political event, had started killing indiscriminately.

And so, seeing this opportunity as the first step in his climb to at least have enough money to live somewhere, he said to Amelia,

'Can you detect anything from these men? To me, they seem entirely incapable of casting spells. If you don't detect anything, maybe we can interfere in this event and gain some achievements from it.'

'Dante, these men are simple thieves. I don't think we need any countermeasures prepared. Maybe their leader is some ex-military, but nothing you couldn't handle even without magic.'

Despite believing in Amelia, Dante wasn't so sure about these assertions, and to be absolutely certain that this would be an easy victory and not collective suicide, he used his best tool for assessing this type of situation.

Research.

He said as he looked at what could be the leader of that group, a tall and strong man, mounted on a horse, who seemed uninterested in getting involved in the killing happening right in front of him

____________

name: Owain facini von dresden

specie: Human

type: humanoid

age: 47

class: knight/thief

vit: 10

str: 150

dex: 70

Alright, I definitely wouldn't be able to deal with this man, but Amelia shouldn't have any problem with that. If only I had a spell ready... But that's something I'll have to work on to be even minimally prepared for the next event.

After researching a few others and seeing that the average strength and dexterity of the others didn't exceed twenty, a much more manageable average for Dante, who could easily deal with many of these people who were rarely seen without any armor.

Already decided on what he wanted and planned to do, he said to Amelia,

"It's time for us to act. What you're going to do is take care of the man on the horse, probably a knight who deserted his duty, but it shouldn't be a problem for you. Leave the rest to me. Honestly, I've never tried pushing my body to the limit, and I see now is the perfect time to fully understand my strength, or at least try."

After hearing the orders, Amelia, though finding it somewhat unnecessary, didn't refute these statements because she knew that the world Dante had come from was much more reserved about his powers, and there hadn't been a war in many decades. After listening, she began to act as quickly as possible, wanting to keep her master protected in the best way she could at that moment.

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Dante didn't want to fall behind in any way, with no magic or truly capable abilities to annihilate entire enemy armies, and only with his physical body and mediocre boxing skills he had learned over the years but in a very casual way, he finally began to run desperately toward the entrance of the village, which was flooded with thieves and invaders.

To anyone looking at this situation, they might think Dante was just some kind of barbarian fighting in a primitive and irrational way, but at every moment, Dante only thought about how to deliver as many blows as possible in the shortest amount of time. He wasn't a warrior, just an entrepreneur, so even though he probably wouldn't be able to meet his self-imposed demands, he still hoped to kill as many as possible before having to receive help from Amelia.

At this point, Amelia was already totally invisible from Dante's field of vision, and he had no doubt that she was probably one step away from finishing what he had asked for, or maybe even had his head as a trophy in her hands already. Nevertheless, these were not thoughts that a person should have when entering a battlefield, and before he knew it, he had returned to his mental calculations.

Finally, just as the carnage was getting close, long before any of the invaders had noticed his presence, he, in the most organized way possible for a simple entrepreneur, delivered a punch to the first invader he saw, sending him several meters back and leaving him in absolute pain, likely from internal bleeding caused by all those broken bones or perhaps something that would kill him before.

After his first kill, he was finally noticed by the others who now surrounded him. These people's teamwork skills seemed impeccable, and looking at their weapons and leather armor, it wasn't hard to imagine that they all probably belonged to a battalion that had mass-deserted and was now on a wild quest for money as they marched toward the nearest border.

Even so, now that Dante's right hand was completely scarlet from the blood of the one he had just killed, he slowly began to lose control of the situation in a simply crude way.

In a simply primitive manner, Dante seemed to abandon all his plans and began leaping recklessly at any enemy he calculated to be close enough to kill with a single blow, while he tried to evade the pursuit of all the invaders whose sole mission had now become Dante's extermination.

However, Dante didn't seem interested in killing them instantly, preferring to appear to enjoy delivering attacks that weren't so strong, aiming to make their deaths, in their entirely disfigured and immobile bodies, much more painful and terrifying.

But after his death count probably finally reached double digits, he finally realized that, unlike the others, he had finally encountered an enemy much more challenging than those he had killed or were about to die.

This man, with green eyes and black hair that seemed to be turning gray with age, appeared to be equipped with an incomplete but good set of plate armor, which seemed to cover all the most vital parts of his body, with an excellent-quality leather outfit and a fully protected helmet very similar to those used by medieval Catholic orders from the early 12th century.

What caught Dante's attention, however, wasn't his good protection, but rather how he behaved in that situation. Even though he saw many of his comrades being brutally killed, he didn't seem to enter a hysterical, irrational attack, or even lose his composure.

He was there, observing Dante, trying to decipher his movements, and most likely planning some way to truly end that beast who hid his face not behind a powerful steel helmet but behind a strange silver and leather mask.

For some reason, this seemed to be strangely irritating Dante. He really didn't know why, but he couldn't see that man there in his presence without feeling completely infuriated.

After that, Dante simply decided to deal with that person as quickly as possible, mainly to prevent him from making any moves while Dante tried to deal with some other invaders who were still around.

However, without even realizing it, he fell into an obvious and simple trap, where just before delivering the attack that would cut that man in two, he was easily flanked by four more enemies who, with their spears, were able to expertly trap Dante in a position that seemed to be impossible for him to escape due to the quality of those weapons.

One spear pierced his calf, while the others seemed to try to hold Dante's arms and his other leg for as long as possible. Dante was a zombie; the pain he felt at that moment was minimal, but enough to enrage him even more.

But before he could do anything else, the inevitable happened, and without him realizing it, the old man's grand sword flew toward his neck, cutting it instantly.

Before his head fell, the only thing he could hear from the man was a simple whisper,

'What the hell was that, some kind of vampire?'

For a few moments after that, Dante's consciousness finally seemed to return, and unlike what he expected, Amelia wasn't there to help him. Was that man tougher than he had anticipated? Or were they simply hiding some triumph? But it didn't matter, because Dante truly believed he was dead, and slowly, his consciousness seemed to darken more and more.