CHAPTER 74: CHAPTER 74: FREE THE SLAVES [6]

With that thought in mind, Kael stood up.

’I can’t die!’

Despite the dull pain that still lingered throughout his body, despite the fact that he could faint at any moment, Kael picked up his sword.

Master Kaede had once said this to him:

— There’s nothing more humiliating than someone who, despite still having the strength to fight, decides to give up.

Like a beast that had lost control, he charged towards the manager.

But inside, he was still very conscious.

Extremely.

Kael’s eyes were working at full capacity, not missing a single movement from the muscular man.

Even the slightest.

"Argh!!!!"

The muscular man shouted, then used his frying pan-sized hand to smash down on Kael.

"Too simple!"

He curled his lips.

The moment that hand fell, Kael also swung his sword upwards.

Swoosh!

The result was obvious.

The manager’s hand was severed.

***

"Hmm..."

Alaric did not miss any of Kael’s movements.

And honestly, it would be a lie if The King said he was not surprised or overwhelmed.

Alaric still remembered very clearly that the last time they met in that cafe, Kael was still a man with only intelligence, but not much power.

But now, what was happening before his eyes was like a slap in his face.

The King turned towards the guildmaster of the Shadow Viper guild, then opened his mouth:

"He is your disciple?"

She smiled lightly.

"Of course. Otherwise, how could he still be standing until now?"

"Oh."

Alaric exclaimed.

"You’re lucky."

"Lucky?"

Kaede sneered.

"It’s the opposite. Even I, Kaede, can’t read him 100%. Kael is too mysterious, and to be honest, I don’t like someone like that as my disciple at all."

"Mysterious..."

The King’s gaze lingered on Kael for a long while.

"...Maybe I should really cooperate with him. Not after he becomes MVP all the way to the 30th floor, but right now."

The Shadow Viper guildmaster’s jet-black eyes widened.

"What? Are these words coming from the mouth of the Supreme Alaric?"

At that moment, Hans suddenly interjected:

"Um, sorry to interrupt, but should we save Kael? I see that his situation doesn’t look too good."

As expected of the protagonist, as well as Kael’s companion.

Always concerned about him.

"..."

The conversation between the two of them stopped.

Then, Alaric glanced at Kael.

A smile involuntarily appeared on the corner of his lips.

"No need."

The owner of that sentence just now was not The King.

It wasn’t Kaede either.

It was Erza Dicathen, the prince, and the heir to the throne of the Dicathen Kingdom.

Everyone’s attention quickly turned towards the prince.

"From what I can see, the battle is about to end. And the victory will belong to Kael Draven."

Despite all that, Erza was still able to act very leisurely.

As if nothing could bother him.

"...How did you realize that? Haven’t you been hiding behind us all this time? You haven’t even swung your sword once."

Kaede asked, not looking down on him or anything.

The prince looked at her, then smiled slightly.

"Sometimes, what you see isn’t necessarily the truth."

***

Faster...

Faster.

Kael had to be faster!

With that determination, his sword strikes became more chaotic, and much more rapid.

His two arms were also very cooperative, even though it felt like they could explode at any moment.

"Argh!!!!!!!!!!"

The pain was slowly engulfing his brain.

Kael had pushed his body to its limits for a long time.

So, the torture he was going through was understandable.

But how much longer Kael could hold on was still unknown.

But it wouldn’t be long.

His body tensed up.

But, he had to slash faster!

There was no stopping.

"Die, you son of a bitch!"

Kael cursed.

"Die, now!"

It felt like he was lost in a maze.

No matter how long he walked, he still couldn’t find a way out.

Just like now.

No matter how fast Kael slashed, this bastard wouldn’t die.

Why?

Why?

"Bullshit! I’ll never die! Especially when fighting a piece of trash like you!"

The manager roared.

At the same time, in response to his attacks, his punches also increased in speed.

Whoosh!

Then, unexpectedly, a punch flew straight towards his face.

With a speed like a supersonic plane.

Kael, although his eyes were blurred by his enemy’s blood, still tried to open them as wide as possible.

"I saw that punch, you bastard!"

With that, he dodged to the side.

Successfully narrowly escaping.

Not stopping there, Kael immediately regained his balance, then without hesitation jumped straight towards the muscular guy.

Closing the distance between the two of them at a terrifying speed.

Just like that...

Swoosh!

His sharp, icy-cold blade sliced through the bastard’s neck.

Thud!

The next moment, the manager’s head fell to the stone floor, rolling a few times before ending up at Kael’s feet.

With a smile, he used the sword that was still stained with the bastard’s blood to stab through his head.

He looked towards Alaric and the others, then used his index and middle fingers to form a V shape.

"Victory."

***

Floor 50.

Their journey only stopped when they all set foot on the 50th floor.

It was also when the darkness had swallowed everything.

Kael’s group had decided to spend the night in the guard room on this floor.

And of course, they had killed the guards of this place beforehand, and hidden their corpses in a secret place.

"Don’t move, or I won’t be able to bandage your wounds!"

While the others were preparing a place to sleep and dinner, Kael was having his wounds bandaged by Erza himself.

Yes!

He was having his wounds bandaged by a prince of a kingdom!

It felt so new and special.

"...I-I’ll try."

"Good."

Erza began to gently apply antiseptic to each of his wounds.

To be honest, it stung, but compared to the wounds Kael used to have, this was nothing.

"Hey Erza, can I ask you a question?"

While they were both free, and no one was around, he decided to speak up.

"Feel free."

The prince replied, still focused on his work.

"...I heard from Hans that you predicted that I would win, right?"

"Yeah."

"To be honest, at that moment, even I didn’t think I had a chance. But for some reason, you were able to see that victory would be mine."

"..."

"It proves that you’re not an ordinary person, am I right?"

Even Hans Varun, a regressor, couldn’t see that he would win that battle.

However, Erza Dicathen was able to do so.

The prince paused in bandaging his wound, then slowly raised his eyes to look at Kael.

"..."

Sure enough, his expression became much more solemn.