“Why does this place look so pathetic?”

“I, I don’t know…”

Lakis furrowed his brows when he saw how the building looked in the distance.

The assistant, who was dragged here by Lakis to lead the way, stuttered with his eyes wide open while he was held by the back of his neck. He looked like he also had no idea the building would be in such an odd state.

—Wow, look at this sh*t. It looks like it was bombarded.

The bug in his head also clicked his tongue loudly.

Even to Lakis, the building in front of him looking like ant-hole swept up by a flood so he could understand what the bug meant. But at its next words, Lakis laughed instead of agreeing.

—It’s so quiet though, are you sure they really didn’t know you were coming and run away?

‘Do you think that’s possible?’

—Hm? Hey…what’s with your tone? Don’t treat me like an idiot!

Lakis moved on, ignoring the noisy voice.

He tossed the assistant whose neck he was holding to the side and there was a twisted smile on his face as he headed towards the building.

Milliam was someone who was dying to find Lakis and kill him in any way possible. So if he heard Lakis was coming his way, there was no way he would have left like this.

‘Then that means there’s another reason. Is it connect to how the building ended up like this?’

However, as he got closer to the building, Lakis felt a strange sense of déjà vu. When he got right in front of the building, that feeling became even stronger.

—Huh? Lakis, this is…!

The bug cried out in his head, seeming to have sensed the same thing.

Lakis reached out to touch the white material which had solidified as if it was poured throughout the entire building.

It shone chillingly under the glaring rays of the sunlight so it looked like it would feel cold but the sensation at the tip of his finger was neither cold nor hot, just lukewarm.

At a glance, it looked like streams of water bursting from a dam but frozen in time. But in fact, it was just hundred or thousands of thin skewers made of a sharp and hard material that looked like a stream.

This scene was very similar to something Lakis had seen before. No, this was more than just similar…

Step

Lakis stepped into the building. There was already a gap in the white material that was blocking the entrance, as if someone broke it down so Lakis didn’t have to raise a hand.

The inside of the building was empty. However, that only meant he hadn’t caught anyone so far. The material blocking the entrance was spread to every corner of the hallway, painting it white completely.

—Wow, that’s a lot. This looks very similar to the landlady’s ability, doesn’t it?

The bug in head mumbled like it was confused.

Lakis’ face hardened as he looked around. There was traces of breakage all over the building. It looked like they were caused by the white material that was spread all over the place but some places were different.

Lakis’ cold gaze fell on the bloodstains on the floor.

Slash!

“…!”—Lakis!

That very moment, Lakis felt murderous intent coming from behind and moved away.

Boom!

As soon as Lakis shifted his position, a powerful force struck where he was standing before. The loud bang reverberated through his eardrums and a cloud of dust rose before his eyes. The white pieces that were shattered fell aside, glinting through the murky air.

‘I didn’t sense anyone.’

Lakis’ gaze sharpened.

The moment he landed on the white material in the space behind him, someone appeared in the dust across him.

“I thought you already ran away but thankfully, you’re still here.”

When he heard the low male voice flowing into his ear, Lakis frowned.

The man who appeared before him looked like quite a mess. His clothes were torn in several places and they looked dirty because he was covered in dust. Furthermore, there were bloodstains all over his body.

Judging by the fact that blood was still flowing from his forehead, it was obvious the man was also injured. However, the eyes peeking through his disheveled hair were shining prominently.

—Goodness gracious, why did he just pop up out of nowhere? He didn’t even make a sound. Oh? why do I feel like I’ve seen this guy before?

A voice full of doubt rang out in his head. Lakis’ mouth twisted.

“Kalian Crawford.”

Once it heard the name Lakis whispered, the bug sucked in a breath. No wonder it thought the guy looked familiar. The man who appeared in front of Lakis right now was certainly the hero of the east, Kalian Crawford.

‘It’s this punk again.’

He could also sense other people approaching from outside the building. Lakis didn’t think the person he was looking for had come back so the people outside had to be working with Kalian Crawford who was before him right now.

Well then…

‘Should I just kill them all?’

A red energy wriggled from Lakis’ fingertips. Kalian ran towards Lakis again.

Slash!

Lakis swung his hand and red blood flew out, drawing an arc in the air, like a sharp whip. Even without this, he had already been annoying with Kalian Crawford because he kept lingering in his sight for a while now.

“I was already annoyed because the rat I was looking for ran away. Are you here to play around in his place or what?”

Lakis jeered provokingly while attacking Kalian. Despite that, he was thinking differently inside.

There was no way the East’s Hero came here deliberately because he knew Lakis would be here, so the fact that their destinations unfortunately happened to overlap meant…

‘Milliam, that bastard. They must have caught whatever bullsh*t that fool was doing.’

The words Kalian said when he saw him earlier ran through Lakis’ mind.

.

‘I thought you already ran away but thankfully, you’re still here.’

.

He wasn’t sure why but it seemed the two of them had fought in here and that was way the fake bastard ran away; to escape Kalian.A ridiculing smile arose on Lakis’ face.

Kalian misunderstood that as being directed to himself and his drive grew even sharper.

“Don’t get arrogant. The only reason I couldn’t deal with you earlier is because you had a hostage!”

Clang-Clang-Clang!

Kalian blocked the incoming wave of blood that seemed to want to slice off his skin with his sword. Then he attacked Lakis again.

Then he realized that the man he was facing didn’t have any wounds or scars.

Kalian’s eyes widened.

He had definitely injured the man’s face and side earlier. Did he already recover in that time? Then again, his opponent was a heretic so it might not be surprising for him to have such an ability.

“Well, that might have been true before but not now.”

Lakis ridiculed Kalian for real this time.

“Lord Crawford!”

“Stay away!”

Some of the people who entered the building ran to where Lakis and Kalian were fighting.

Kalian yelled to stop them.

Lakis decided the leave the small fries alone for now since he could get them anytime he wanted. Turning the hero of the east into a pathetic sight before onlookers actually sounded pretty nice.

“L-Lord Crawford…!”

As time passed, anyone could see there was a clear difference between the two. Kalian was the one who got more injured the longer they fought. Meanwhile, there wasn’t a single scratch on Lakis.

Lakis didn’t give Kalian any fatal blows as if he was just playing with him. Those who ran over to help Kalian were quickly slammed into the wall by Lakis.

“Are you tired already? I thought you could last a little longer; how disappointing. It seems the Hero of the East doesn’t live up to his fame.”

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Drops of blood fell to the floor where Kalian stood.

They were soon absorbed by the ominous red energy violently circling around Lakis. After absorbing Kalian’s blood, the wave of blood wriggled even more viciously than before.

Lakis was feeling very annoyed.

‘Milliam, that son of a btch. It wasn’t enough to run around doing disgusting bullsht with someone else’s face, now the idiot gets caught doing it.’

He was deeply enraged at the fake bastard who couldn’t even win against this weakling and ran away.

Actually, Kalian was already injured before he met Lakis and he couldn’t move around as easily, so calling Kalian a weakling was excessive but of course, Lakis easily ignored that.

Right then, Kalian’s gaze moved to the side.

His gaze fell on where his other subordinates were just coming from in the distance. However, the person Kalian asked them to find was nowhere beside them.

The subordinate who met Kalian’s eyes shook his head with a pale face. Kalian’s expression hardened.

“…What did you do with Ms. Yuri?”

“What?”

At last, when he heard the name coming from Kalian’s bleeding mouth, Lakis’ hand which was about to lift up, paused.

“Why is that name coming from your mouth?”

The eyes locked onto Kalian shone with a frightening light.