CHAPTER 105: A WAY TO LEVEL UP!

But then he made a fatal mistake.

He looked at Rae.

And Rae... wasn’t smiling.

No smug grin. No playful smirk.

Just two gleaming eyes filled with quiet, uncut madness, like twin orbs of ’I-know-you-know-and-I-will-eat-your-cat-while-you-sleep.’

Adrian swallowed a mouthful of panic and immediately looked away.

’Shit shit shit! Abort eye contact! Don’t engage the demon!’

He tried to act normal, normal for a man sweating like a roast pig in church and twitching every time Rae scratched his scalp.

Meanwhile, Rae was... not helping.

His gaze had wandered to Melissa’s motherly bosom, two proud, bouncing entities that seemed to defy gravity and logic, and his fingers were twitching like they were tuning a ghostly harp only he could see.

They were beckoning him.

Like sirens.

Plump, maternal sirens with cleavage and honey-sweet hugs.

Celeste, thankfully, interrupted the descent into depravity by clearing her throat and blushing hard.

"No! No—I mean, no. I didn’t see him, but..."

She exhaled, shaky, and looked down.

"I felt something. A second dark energy yesterday. It wasn’t Gear. It was... it was familiar."

A hush fell.

Even Rae paused mid-finger twitch.

Adrian almost passed out.

’Familiar? Oh, it’s more than familiar.’

’It’s standing right there and drooling on itself! He’s not just back, he’s thriving!’

"You mean..."

Alex started, but his voice trailed off into the tension-heavy air.

There was no need to finish that sentence. Everyone knew exactly who he meant.

"Yes. It’s him," Celeste confirmed grimly.

The temperature dropped.

Not literally, but it felt like the warmth got sucked out of the clearing.

Even the birds in the trees shut the hell up for once.

’So that’s why she’s been brooding like a storm cloud since yesterday...’

Laila realized, a cold stab of guilt hitting her right in the chest.

She had asked Celeste what was wrong. Multiple times, in fact.

But Celeste had just brushed it off and kept her distance.

’She didn’t tell me. She... she doesn’t trust me, does she?’

Laila’s jaw clenched. The familiar ache in her chest, the one she kept shoving down for months, began pulsing again.

’Well, of course she doesn’t.’

’I’m a traitor to my own people.’

’A defector. A damn turncoat wearing hero colors like they fit me.’

’What the hell was I expecting? Hugs?’

She hated how emotional she’d become lately.

She used to be cool, calm, poised like a dagger in the dark. But now?

Now she was spiraling. Again.

Especially after Gear’s attack—after seeing what he had become.

’Fucking Gear...’

She bit her lip hard enough to taste blood.

That idiot had turned into a walking apocalypse.

He defeated the strongest heroes of this kingdom single handedly.

All her sacrifices... the secrets she sold, the betrayals she made, all to avoid the complete extinction of her kind under the last goblin king’s reign, they were unraveling like wet string.

’He used darkness. That’s the only explanation. He bathed in that filth.’

’That’s how he leveled up like a goddamn raid boss overnight.’

Her fingers clenched the hem of her cloak.

’And now... if the real king is back too...’

Laila felt like she was standing on the edge of a cliff again.

And this time, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to jump, or if she was already falling.

"Then, what are we doing here?"

It was Alice who asked the million-gold-coin question, her voice calm and clear like she wasn’t casually poking everyone in the ego.

Adrian twitched. Just hearing her voice made bile rise up his throat.

Not because she was rude, oh no, he could’ve lived with that.

It was the fact that she, a supposed hero, had spent a night warming the bed of not a local goblin, not even another hero, but the actual Goblin King himself.

The Goblin King, goddammit!

He couldn’t even glare at her properly anymore.

Not with Rae casually scratching his butt nearby.

If he so much as thought badly about Alice in Rae’s general vicinity, lightning might strike him again.

Wait—

His mind hiccupped.

’That day... That damned day...’

The memory came flooding back.

Their silhouettes, the little guy’s hips pumping, and stupid Alex not seeing anything, and the...

...and then boom. Lightning.

His eyes widened like saucers.

’No... NO WAY. Don’t tell me he made me watch the whole thing... then struck me down with a fucking lightening.’

He was having a crisis. A full-blown, panic-sprinkled, brain-melting revelation.

’Just how overpowered is this guy?! Is he reading my thoughts right now? Shitshitshit—’

Meanwhile, on Planet Sanity:

"What do you mean, honey?"

Melissa asked with her signature soft smile, unfazed as always.

The woman could get stabbed and still sound like she was offering cookies.

Alice crossed her arms and answered with a casual shrug, like she wasn’t lobbing grenades into everyone’s confidence.

"Well, clearly, you guys can’t even handle that young goblin, let alone the actual Goblin King."

Boom.

The air went still. Somewhere, a squirrel gasped.

"Alice!"

Lyra snapped. Her face turned a shade redder than a fireball spell.

"That’s not fair!"

Sure, they’d gotten their heroic asses handed to them like discount flyers.

But that didn’t mean the war was over. Heroes don’t quit just because they got stomped once.

...or twice.

...Or sent flying through three trees and woke up with goblins drawing mustaches on their faces.

Still. Not the point.

"What? What do you suggest then? Go out and fight them again?"

"Last time, it was sheer dumb luck you guys survived, and I seriously doubt you’d get that lucky twice."

Alice folded her arms like she was closing the case.

Mic dropped.

Lyra gritted her teeth so hard her gums filed for harassment.

The worst part? Alice was right.

Again.

Lyra hated when the smug ones were right.

"But what are we even going to do then? We can’t just... run away?"

Bryce snapped, his fingers twitching like he was about to punch the air in frustration.

His usual bravado had been replaced with the cold reality.

Celeste glanced at Alice.

"What are you suggesting?"

All eyes turned to the divine healer.

Alice took a deep breath and let it out slowly, her gaze sweeping over the gathered heroes like a general inspecting a ragtag group of glorified interns.

Her eyes paused at Adrian, who immediately flinched and looked away like a guilty ex.

She raised a brow but didn’t bother with him.

Not worth the energy.

"I suggest we go back to the king. Gather an army. Then return, and crush them."

Silence.

Heavy.

Dense.

Uncomfortable.

"You mean...announce to the entire world that the Goblin King we ’heroically’ killed somehow came back stronger, has backup now, and is about to wage war on the kingdom?"

Alex said and he didn’t need to finish the thought. Everyone got the picture.

It wasn’t just admitting failure.

It was political suicide.

The nobles would shit themselves.

The priests would start fasting.

And the kingdom’s citizens?

They’d riot the moment they heard their tax-funded heroes failed to kill a green-skinned bastard with tusks.

Adrian wanted to shout, "Shut up! Don’t give ideas to the same goddamn goblin overlord you were just talking about!"

But alas, self-preservation won over common sense.

He swallowed the words like they were hot coals and gave a pained little cough instead.

Poor guy. Just trying to live.

"What else is there to do for us, huh?"

"Can you guys even level up to the point where you can kill not one, but two ridiculously strong bastards!"

Alice snapped, flinging her arms in the air like she was about to flip the tent over.

She was fuming.

She didn’t know why the hell they were stalling.

Just go back. Talk to the king.

Sure, he’d throw a royal tantrum.

He might strip them of their titles, exile them out of the kingdom, maybe even curse their names in public—but so what?

At least they’d still be alive to hear it.

"I’m with Alice on this."

Melissa voiced "Ultimately, it comes down to whether we want to save our pride... or save our people."

Boom. Instant silence.

Then a minute later, a hand was raised in the air.

"I can."

It was Lyra.

"I can level up. Just give me a few days. I’ll do it."

Everyone turned to look at her.

"Honey, those guys are ridiculously strong."

Bryce said, rubbing his temples.

"Even if you level up one or two levels, we can’t change the outcome. We’ll just die with better stats."

Lyra took his hands gently into hers, like a loving wife about to absolutely crush his hope.

"Not just one, honey. I can level up to the point I can defeat them."

"It’s like you said, I should be the strongest one here."

"Yet I’m weak. But I now know a way to unlock my true potential, and I think... I know this is the only way forward."

The way she said it was so heavy, so serious, so oddly ominous...

It sounded like she was about to cheat on him with a traveling goblin bard just to get her magic back.

Like, she was confessing to a crime she hadn’t committed yet, but emotionally already had.

Of course, that was just the way she sounded.

Right?

...Right?

Behind Alice, Rae was physically vibrating.

His shoulders trembled, his teeth clenched, and his eyes sparkled like a pervert in heat at a bathhouse.

He knew. Oh, he knew what she meant.

’Time to level up again... hehehe... Muscle mommy’s gonna writhe under me~’