Two months ago, Adrian knelt in hidden ancient ruins underground.

His arm was severed, and he was covered in blood. His body was a mess of different wounds and injuries.

But he didn't care.

He cried, but the tears were shed for the corpse in front of him, not for the overwhelming pain that tortured him.

It was the half-rotten corpse of a woman with green eyes and red hair. Her head, arm, and legs were severed, and her core was harvested.

That rotten corpse was the corpse of his mother, the last remaining member of his family.

He had just graduated from one of the best academies in the world and he was only a few steps away from advancing to Rank 3 and becoming a master.

But while he was considered a genius, all Adrian wanted was to see his mother and tell her about what he did in the past few years.

He brought some gifts.

He wanted to tell her about all the horrors he fought.

He wanted to tell her about his favourite teachers.

He wanted to help her become stronger.

He wanted to show her his wife, Clara, who was the woman he proposed to after listening to his mother's advice.

But instead of all that, he found her dead!

"What… WHAT MONSTER DID THIS?!" Adrian screamed in agony, his voice harsh and full of pain.

Around him, the trap corridor of the ancient ruins was illuminated by flames and lava, and a huge dark mark was visible on one of the walls despite the light, alongside many small shadow marks.

He had just killed the darkness monster and the shadows, but they weren't what had killed his mother.

Her injuries were caused by swords and spears, and the killer or the killers even harvested her core.

Those bastards!

This was unacceptable!

Adrian's temperature increased rapidly to the point that his blood was boiling beneath his skin.

Clara, who was a bit less injured than him, hugged him from behind and whispered calmly: "I will find whoever did this… I promise."

As she said that, her spirit moved carefully to the corpse.

The ancient hadn't been visited by a single human being for years. Thus, the spirit was easily able to see only two heat signatures.

One of them belonged to Beatrice herself.

The other definitely belonged to the killer.

In other words, she was killed by only one person. The spirit only had to follow that heat signature. After that, it'd just return to Adrian and Clara to take them to the killer.

It was as simple as that, and that was exactly what happened.

The spirit followed the heat signature for a long time, alone and separated from Adrian and Clara. That allowed it to move freely and as fast as possible without a second of rest.

After finding the potential killer, it used its bond with Clara to return and bring them to the treehouse.

Back in the present, Adrian stood in front of a giant tree with his body burning.

That was a drawback of one of his traits.

He had the Fire Aspect, and one of his traits made all his fire attacks stronger the more he grew angry.

And seeing the killer of his mother, his anger couldn't be more intense.

The drawback was that his entire body was burning in that process, but another trait that gave fire resistance prevented any instant death. He would be in danger only if he stayed angry for too long.

Adrian gritted his teeth and cut the cigarette in half: "You GODDAMN SICK BASTARD!!"

He heard Dante's poor excuse and didn't believe a single word.

Split his head? Severed his limbs?

If that was true, then how could he be standing right now?!

And most importantly, how did he dare to say that his mother did all that?!

The mother who had always shown generosity and love to him and even the strangers!

'Not only did you kill my mother, but you're also slandering her. UNACCEPTABLE!'

As his body burned with intense heat, Adrian snapped his fingers.

BOOM!

A wave of flames exploded into the treehouse, cutting the tree off its roots and sending it flying away.

The attack revealed a small cubic barrier that hid Dante inside. It was the real structure of the shadow formation's barrier.

"You don't believe me, huh?" Dante sighed in frustration before retrieving an enchanted Rank 2 sword from his ring.

"You think a stupid barrier can stop me?" Adrian laughed crazily, then he snapped his fingers.

Snap—BOOM!

Another wave of flames brutally struck the barrier, causing cracks to spiderweb all across the barrier.

Adrian didn't need to chant or draw runes. That was because of his class.

His class name was Blaze Sorcerer. The first ability he gained allowed him to cast without chanting by snapping his fingers, similar to sorcerers like Dante and Elizabeth, but it applied only to the fire-based spells.

If he were to lose his fingers, he wouldn't be able to use that ability. And if he wanted to use a mana-based spell, he would have to chant. They were big drawbacks.

But who cares?!

All he needed was to blow up everything, why would Adrian care about the mana spells!

BOOM!

More cracks spread, the barrier seemed to be on the verge of collapsing.

But just then, Adrian saw a sword cutting the distance between its edge and Adrian's neck.

Dante had left the barrier by himself and attacked!

With the help of his new boots, his speed took Adrian by surprise.

Clank!

To Dante's disappointment, a spear suddenly appeared, blocking Dante's attack like an immovable stone wall.

As Clara blocked Dante's attack, Adrian dashed behind her, shamelessly admitting that she was stronger physically and using her as a shield.

"Hiding behind your wife?" Dante mocked before leaving his sword and delivering a punch to Clara's chest with incredible speed.

"Argh!" Clara was pushed a few steps backward, taken aback by Dante's sudden speed.

Snap—RUMBLE!

Simultaneously, Adrian seized the opportunity to cast a surprise attack, causing a pillar of flames to rise from beneath Dante.

Shadow Technique — Shadowstep!

But Dante had already sensed it, allowing him to use Shadowstep in time.

It was the nighttime, every piece of land around Dante was in shadow!

They should have waited for the morning if they wanted an advantage, but currently, they'd have to burn the entire area to prevent Dante from using a shadow.

"Can't we really go to someone who can detect lies and see that I'm telling the truth?" Dante asked as a last attempt to fix everything peacefully.

But they didn't respond. Their eyes showed that they were determined to sever his limbs before talking peacefully.

The next moment, Adrian snapped his fingers, launching a barrage of fireballs.

"You chose this." Dante's eyes sharpened, then his tattoo moved alongside his arm like a living being.

And the next moment, a small arm shield appeared, attached to Dante's arm like a piece of his skin before the flames covered the entire area.

The fireballs landed, evaporated the snow, and shook the land with a force that was stronger than any fire-based attack that Dante could ever make.

The light of the fireballs removed all the shadows.

Logically…Dante should be dead.

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