“[So, what are you going to do now? You’re still not level 20, and all your shouting earlier just alerted the enemies to your location. I’d get out of here quick if I were you…]”

Kayden exaggeratedly clasped his hands over his mouth, though of course, he knew that it was far too late.

“Whoops.”

Already he could hear heavy footsteps grow louder and louder as they drew closer. He didn’t have any time to waste, but he didn’t know where to go either.

He briefly entertained the thought of using the girl as a hostage, but that was a risk he wasn’t willing to take. Both he and the girl could die if he made even one wrong move. So instead, he picked the only other viable option for him… running.

“[Wait, hold up.]”

“Hmm?”

“[Search the girl’s body. There’s something you can use on her.]”

“Oh! Good idea!”

The girl didn’t have a bag or any visible belongings on her, so Kayden got to searching the unconscious body, carefully so as to not wake her up. In no time, he found a few glowing balls inside her pockets.

‘Spell orbs!’

A small hope sparked within the depths of Kayden’s heart.

With this, his chance of winning just got much higher.

“[Hmm… unfortunately, those spell orbs only contain support spells. Take a look.]”

 

 

“[Those are the only two types she has.]”

And just like that, Kayden’s hopes were dashed.

‘These aren’t very useful at all…’

“[Well, it’s better than nothing! Keep moving while you talk, they’re coming over soon.]”

He glanced at the mini-map and was not surprised to discover that his enemies were already so close. Shoving the spell orbs into his pocket, he picked a random path in the opposite direction and ran.

As he sprinted deeper into the forest, evading the trees and branches to the best of his ability, Hel came up with a plan. It was an alternative route they had to take since Kayden decided that he didn’t want to kill the girl.

“[There is actually another way for you to reach level 20. It’s just another target for you to kill. This time, no bullshit, just kill him and be done with it.]”

Kayden hesitated for a while, before responding,

“…It depends on whether or not they are innocent.”

“[Well, lucky for you, considering that he isn’t. Here, go to this location on the map.]”

A bright green dot that was on the bottom right side of the map this whole time suddenly turned yellow, and Kayden found out that it was not too far from where he was. Strangely, the yellow dot was surrounded by many other dots, consisting of both green and red.

“…What is up with this location?”

“[…You’ll see when we get there.]”

***

Standing in the midst of starry-eyed adventurers was a man recounting his legendary tales out at sea. That man was Louis, and the story he told was one full of high stakes and tension. From the time he slayed a Leviathan, to the time he survived a close encounter with a Kraken, his stories were always a treat to listen to, though they might not be as truthful as he makes them out to be.

“—But then you see… as I stood upon the small boat, trying to lure the sea monster onto the surface, I wasn’t afraid. Not at all. For you see, I had my crewmates behind me, whom I could fully trust, even with my life!”

He was boasting of his bond with his crew to the group of D-ranked adventurers that sat around him. Beyond the adventurers he was regaling his stories to lay his former party members, unconscious and tied up to the trees at a short distance away. He didn’t spare them even a single glance.

“Brother Louis, you are one of us now! After all this is over, let’s go get a drink. The first round’s on me!” One man clapped him on the back, laughing.

“Oooh! Treat me too! Treat me too!” Erene, the only C-rank among them, begged.

“Ah, okay, okay! I’ll treat everyone he—”

The temperature dropped, and a cacophony of chattering teeth could be heard as soon as the cold began to set in. Those that wore lesser clothing began rubbing their exposed arms for warmth, and some even began hugging each other. They all thought that tonight was just a particularly cold night, but as seconds ticked by, the cold only got worse…

Louis had a bad feeling.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I think that there may be a—”

He didn’t even get to finish his sentence when one by one, the weakest began to collapse.

“W-what!? What’s going on?”

Louis couldn’t contain his shock and was desperately trying to get to the bottom of the issue. However, it was all for naught.

Erene screamed.

“AHH!!! B-b-behind you!”

His heart skipped a beat, and he didn’t dare to turn back. Just vaguely, he could sense a person’s glare bore straight into his back

An ice-cold hand gripped the back of his neck, causing him to cringe and grow goosebumps all across his body at the same time.

‘Screw it!’

Yelling at the top of his lungs, he drew his sword and swung it wildly around him, hoping to land a blow on the mysterious entity. But flailing about did nothing, and he heard Erene call out once more.

“It’s that thief fellow! H-he’s back for revenge— AHHH!”

An audible thump could be heard, and Erene was swiftly knocked out.

‘Thief fellow…? Kayden! But since when could he use ice magic?’

He was confused, and rightfully so. Firstly, his being here meant that Kayden somehow managed to escape the grasp of multiple B-ranked adventurers and was somehow still strong enough to take out all the weaker adventurers around him around. Secondly, ice magic just happened to be the bane to his own magic, how did Kayden have that?

Another horrifying thought bubbled up from the back of his mind.

If Kayden happened to know of his betrayal, and then went out of his way to come all the way here… It could only have meant one thing…

“Freeze.”

A cold, emotionless voice whispered into his ear from behind him as he felt a frigid hand latch onto his face.

His vision froze over, and his gaze was completely covered in ice.

But he wasn’t dead yet. Blasting water from the soles of his feet, he tried fleeing into the direction where he thought Zhang and the rest of the group were, but before he could even move a step, the water froze, and his legs were now stuck to the ground.

“Don’t try to run, Louis. You have some explaining to do.”

Before he could even respond, the second wave of icy wind washed over him. With no place to run, he did the only thing he could think of: He began chanting his most powerful spell.

“To be a sailor is to be a warrior of the seas! Grant me the power to overcome even the greatest of storms!

“Oceanic Juggernaut!”

As soon as he finished his chant, a huge surge of mana flowed through his body and manifested itself as a massive pillar of water that rose from the ground, utterly obliterating the ice covering his body.

As the pillar fell away, it revealed a body covered with bulky armor made purely out of water that revolved around him at extreme speeds.

“Freeze.”

…Not anymore.

Louis was now fully encased in ice as his new armor completely froze over. Only his head remained unfrozen, allowing him to spit a slew of curses at Kayden.

“Son of a tentacle f#cker! Stop! How are you even here?!”

Kayden dropped his invisibility and appeared in front of the immobile Louis. His voice was cold and distant.

“You don’t have anything to say for yourself?”

Louis spat venomous words at him.

“I betrayed you! I turned on my own comrades! I sold them out for my own safety! I abandoned the very reason why I became an adventurer! Is that what you want to hear?!”

Kayden pointed a knife at his head.

“Don’t screw with me. I want to know what happened exactly, and don’t bother trying to lie. I can see through them now.”

Louis gave a weak chuckle.

“You used one of little Erene’s spell orbs, huh? Well, I wasn’t planning on lying. I’ve betrayed you because I didn’t think we had a chance, not after they busted out their spell orbs. If you’re going to kill me, just do it already.”

Kayden frowned and placed his knife onto Louis’ neck.

“That doesn’t answer my question. I want to know exactly what you did.”

“For heaven’s sake, just kill me already! Is it that important for you to know?”

“Just answer me! I want to know if what you did was justified!”

Louis fell silent upon hearing those words. After a short, tense moment, he sighed.

“I was designated to guard the barbarian against breaking loose. He told me of their plans to use powerful spell orbs, and that they wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone. He could have broken out at any moment with those spell orbs, but he still cut me a deal.”

Brandon hesitated a bit, before continuing,

“If I were to defect to their side and knock out Cathy, they would spare all of our lives. Not only that, I would obtain monetary compensation as well…”

All of the words that Louis had said so far were the truth. Kayden’s temporary, new eyes allowed him to see an aura around people. It glowed green when they told the truth, and red when they lied. He was surprised that Louis was being so upfront with him.

However…

“You idiot! Cathy would have been the ticket to us winning! I took out two B-ranked adventurers by myself! Imagine what all of us could have done!” Kayden trembled with rage as he scolded the frozen man.

“I know! I was scared! I wasn’t thinking straight! If you’re done with your interrogation, just kill me already!”

Kayden pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

“I thought that you were someone who cared about your party members! What happened to all those stories about your loyalty to your crewmates? Were they all made up?”

Louis winced as a helpless smile showed on his face.

“My old crewmates are dead. All of them were murdered when I tried to escape my life as a pirate… Don’t look at me like that. I already know that you know my true identity. All those weird looks you gave me when we first met didn’t go unnoticed, you know?”

“Oh…” Kayden pulled the knife just slightly from his neck. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I have no right to live after betraying my comrades, not just once, but twice... I should have stayed at the sea, even if I didn’t want anything to do with pirates anymore. None of this would have happened if I did…”

Kayden grew curious. Apart from the exaggerated tales that he clearly knew were bullshit, he never heard anything of Louis’ actual life.

“If you don’t mind me asking… What happened?”

Louis chuckled again.

“What’s this? You’re taking interest in a dying man’s tale? Well, guess I’ll entertain you.”

He took a deep breath and began sharing his story. There really was nothing else he could do with his arms and legs frozen stuck like this.

“I was born to a family of pirates. My parents, grandparents, and probably even my ancestors were pirates, so the way of the pirate is the only thing I’ve known. One day—I’ll spare you the details—, I just got sick of it all and wanted to retire…”

He gulped another mouthful of air before continuing,

“But you don’t simply retire as a pirate. I had some infamy on the high seas, and there are several bounties on my head. Even worse than that, my freak parents would never let me go. So I snuck onto a ship and smuggled myself to the Central continent.”

His eyes grew sad as he recounted his memories, but he still pushed through. This story had been deeply engraved into his soul, and his years of storytelling did not allow him to leave his tales unfinished, no matter how much it hurt to remember.

“By the way, my old headquarters were on the shores of the Southern Continent. It was on that very same ship I snuck myself onto that I met Ezekiel.”

That was news to Kayden.

“Huh, you must have known each other for a really long time then.”

He shook his head.

“Not really no. That was merely a month ago. The first thing we did upon arriving was to sign up as adventurers. We needed money, after all, though I was shocked when they gave me a B-rank. It was kind of a fluke since I had access to a large body of water back then. Anyway, both of us came here to Dragonsteel city when we heard of the new dungeon being discovered. And that’s where we met Alice and Cathy, and after that, you.”

“Then, your old crew…?”

“Yes, my parents had them slain upon discovering that I had deserted. Looking back at it now, I probably shouldn’t have left. I came all this way to turn over a new leaf, to obtain a fresh new start for my life, but nothing’s changed at all… I’m sorry… not just to you, but the rest of them too.”

Louis hung his head in shame, and Kayden couldn’t help but pity him.

But pity was pity, it did not absolve him of his crimes, nor did he think that Louis should go unpunished. Kayden still had a job left to do.

“Lucky for you, I don’t need to kill you to obtain enough EXP. Knocking out those D-ranked adventurers already gave me a good amount.”

“H-huh?”

“Ah, but I’ll still have to knock you out.”

“Eh…? What for—”

Thump!

[B-ranked adventurer has been defeated! You gain 6,800 EXP!]

[You level up! (Gain one stat point)]

[You reached level 20! You have unlocked Legend Manifestation!]

[You have unlocked a new Legend: Ruler of the Underworld]

[Appraisal complete!]