CHAPTER 279: HE IS THE REASON FOR THIS BATTLE! PUNISH HIM

"What is that?" Lana murmured to herself as she stared at the crown that had appeared in Kaelos’s hand.

The crown gave her a feeling of fear and dread beyond anything she had ever felt before. It wasn’t because of the power it carried.

No... it was because of the origin of this item. She could feel it — the crown’s origin was something far beyond comprehension... but what kind of origin?

Her eyes drifted to Daniel. It seemed like he recognized the item, which made Lana frown. How could Daniel possibly know this crown?

"You know this item?" she asked him.

"No," Daniel denied immediately, without hesitation. The more he learned about the Fallen God and things connected to it, the more certain he became that he couldn’t reveal his bloodline.

Still, he couldn’t take his eyes off the crown. He felt as if it was calling to him, as though it rightfully belonged to him.

But he didn’t have the strength to take the crown, and besides, it was obvious that leaving this place with it would only bring him trouble.

"How safe is this place? Could he force his way in here?" he asked Lana, turning to her.

"This is a private dimension. Unless he’s a demigod, he can’t force his way inside."

"I see." Daniel nodded, turning his attention back to the battlefield.

They saw the crown cause Kaelos’s power to spike explosively again, but even then, it wasn’t enough, and he was defeated once more in the end.

This time, however, Kaelos activated the Apocalypse Ring.

Just seeing what merely activating that ring did to the entire continent — and the world — sent chills down their spines, especially when the phantom of Devouring Darkness manifested above that insane bastard.

How were they supposed to fight something like that? Daniel had no doubt only a demigod could stand against Devouring Darkness.

"At this rate, we’re all dead sooner or later!"

"Why the hell is he even doing this? Why does he want to destroy our guild?"

Meanwhile, Simon stood aside, staring at the viewing orb. He had already contacted his family and secretly informed them about everything.

If anything happened, they would come to rescue him. That wasn’t his concern right now, though. He wasn’t worried about his safety.

He, like the others, was more curious about what could possibly make someone like Kaelos this furious.

’From what I heard, he lost his youngest son two or three months ago. Rumor was that the kid died while clearing the first floor, but Kaelos refused to accept it and wanted to use the Mirror of Destiny to find out how his son died.’

’Could it have been because of us? Did someone from our guild kill him?’ Simon frowned.

Killing the son of one of the most powerful men in the country wouldn’t be as easy as people thought. Even Simon himself wouldn’t be able to do it.

After all, the kid surely had all kinds of defensive items and equipment.

So how could anyone from their guild possibly kill him? No one here should have that ability.

’Wait... he could.’ His gaze landed on Daniel.

As much as he hated to admit it, Simon had to acknowledge that this kid was absurdly powerful, on par with the greatest prodigies from where he came from.

And that alone was ridiculous — because where Simon came from, they looked down on this country with absolute contempt. In their eyes, the Republic of Medes was nothing more than a backwater, worthless nation.

Yet here, there were monsters who could match the best from there.

"You’re the reason Kaelos is here, aren’t you?" Simon said loudly, making sure everyone could hear.

"What do you mean by that?" Before Daniel could respond, Lana frowned and spoke.

Everyone’s curious eyes turned toward them, eager to see what this argument was about.

"What do I mean? I think I made myself very clear. The reason Kaelos attacked this place and went insane is this kid... ah, what was his name again? Right, Daniel!" Simon sneered.

"What? You’re saying it’s because of our new prodigy?"

"But how? And why? How could he possibly make Mr. Kaelos this enraged?"

Murmurs began spreading among the group. Lana felt a headache coming on as the voices grew louder. If things continued like this, it could get dangerous.

"This isn’t important right now. That lunatic is attacking us and destroying the city. Either way, we have to stop him," she tried to redirect everyone’s focus.

But Simon, sensing her intention, smirked inwardly. Like hell he was going to waste such a perfect opportunity to get rid of this kid.

"Lady Lana, don’t you think you’re being a little biased? Do you even realize how many people are dying out there right now? You do know not everyone in those zones got evacuated, right?"

"We can’t just brush this aside. Look at the orb — even seven national-rank Awakened can’t stop that lunatic! If this continues, the whole country will be destroyed!"

"We need to find a way to stop this, and the only way is to hand over the reason for that man’s rage." Simon’s tone was full of self-righteous conviction before he added with a mocking grin:

"What’s wrong? Don’t have the guts to speak for yourself? Too much of a coward to stop hiding behind a woman?"

Lana’s frown deepened. Everything Simon said was technically true. But who cared? Who gave a damn how many had died?

Her grandfather had likely already foreseen what would happen, and even so, his decision was clear — protect this boy no matter what.

Why? Because of his talent. He probably believed this boy was the key to finding a path forward.

Still, Lana glanced at her guild members. She had to give them a convincing answer, no matter what.

She opened her mouth to respond, but Daniel spoke first.

"I am the reason for his rage, yes. Because I killed his son," he said, turning to Simon and the others.

Simon’s smirk vanished, and Lana froze in disbelief — the former because everything had gone in the opposite direction he’d expected, the latter because she thought Daniel was an idiot for saying that.

"So all this destruction is because of you? Why the hell did you kill his son?" Simon asked coldly.

Daniel didn’t answer right away. Instead, he looked at the Everlight Moon Guild members.

"I’m sorry, but I had no other choice. That bastard wanted to kill me and was planning to violate a royal elf girl to steal her blood essence to make himself stronger," he sighed, before continuing with a voice full of righteousness and sorrow.

"If I hadn’t stopped him, I’d have been killed, and it would have sparked a war between the two races with far more casualties." Of course, he didn’t forget to activate [Enchanter of Hearts].

"I apologize to all of you! But I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. If I had, a massive war would have broken out, and I couldn’t let innocent people suffer for that bastard’s actions!"

"Is that true?"

"If that bastard really planned to do that, then he deserved to die!"

"Yeah! That bastard deserved death!"

"Hmph, both father and son were maniacs."

In an instant, everyone’s perception of Daniel shifted. Now they were looking at him like he was their idol.

Lana’s expression froze, while Simon’s darkened. Lana, because Daniel’s story didn’t quite match the version he’d told her before. Simon, because not only had Daniel ruined Kaelos’s reputation, he’d turned himself into a hero.

A smile crept onto Daniel’s lips. His standing in their hearts had just grown even higher. After all, he had "sacrificed himself" to prevent a massive war between two races.

Sure, he’d had to tarnish Aron’s reputation a bit, but it wasn’t a problem, right? Emotional manipulation often needed a little distortion of the truth.

"Look over there!" someone suddenly shouted.

Everyone turned to the orb, which was displaying a live feed from outside.

What they saw left them stunned — the Chairman of the National Awakened Federation was dead.

One of the top five strongest men in the country had been killed just like that.

But when they heard Kaelos demanding Daniel to come out, their shock turned into a storm of anger, fear, and dread.

All eyes fell on Daniel, curious to see what decision he would make.

To their surprise, Daniel chose to leave the private dimension... and face Kaelos.