The transition from the necromancer's playful mood to a serious one nearly gave everyone goosebumps.

Their bodies were soaked in sweat from head to toe, it was almost like they have just taken a swim in a pool somewhere, however, their gazes never faltered since they knew they will die no matter what unless the necromancer himself spares them for whatever reason.

As they were the survivors who survived the previous onslaught, their abilities were a cut above the rest.

"So you were not lying?" 

Riaz said as he looked at Kent with a puzzled gaze.

He just checked the latter's heartbeat and soul, he could tell that Kent was genuinely telling the truth.

Kent did not know why the necromancer was asking him these questions, but he shelved those thoughts out of his mind as he swung his sword at the opponent's neck.

With Kent's attack as a trigger, the surviving adventurers launched their attacks on the master rank summons as well.

A fight ensued, and magic attacks were thrown everywhere.

The minotaur crossed its arms to defend against an incoming magic attack and its figure was immediately covered in explosions.

While the rock golems tanked the attacks without even bothering to defend themselves, unlike the minotaur, these rock monsters had their high defense.

However, that doesn't mean that they could just stay still and let these adventurers attack them forever, since they haven't received the command to attack, they turned their heads to look at their master.

When Riaz saw this, he grinned and nodded in affirmation.

"Rooooooar"

The minotaur's deafening battle cry resounded which made some of the adventurers cover their ears.

The 3 master-ranked summons began charging toward them.

All the adventurers felt a premonition of death like the grim reaper's scythe was aimed at their necks.

They could see a minotaur with a frenzied look on its face was running at them.

"Defensive Formation"

One of them yelled in command, he was the vice-leader of Ironclaw's adventurer group, it was natural that he had taken the role of the leader and no one disagreed with this.

Those with shields and high defensive abilities lined themselves up, while the mages were busy chanting long-ranged magic attacks.

The minotaur easily penetrated their shields with its horns and sent some adventurers flying with its charge.

"Whirlwind"

"Mana Arrows"

"Explosion"

Magical attacks were quickly launched toward the minotaur's figure and were bombarded with it a second later.

*Roar

The minotaur roared in pain.

"Yes, it hit"

One of the adventurers cheered in sheer joy.

"Die you bastard!!"

One swordsman ran towards the minotaur and did a downward slash with all his might.

The leader suddenly had a bad feeling, he raised his hands and yelled at the swordsman to stop him.

"Wait!"

That was all he could say but it was too late.

The swordsman managed to land his attack, he was elated but that only lasted for a second when he saw that the minotaur used its horn to block his attack.

The horn was sliced off but the minotaur did not hesitate for a second and grabbed the swordsman by the neck.

"Stop him!"

The leader commanded but the minotaur already had his other hand grab the swordsman's legs and tore him in half with its strength alone.

The sheer brutality was spine-chilling, a rain of blood and guts covered the minotaur's body.

The adventurers who witnessed this had either fearful or angry expressions on their faces.

But they had no time to lament that adventurer's death when the rock monsters had already approached them.

"Shit"

Ironclaw cursed at this sight, still kneeling on the ground, the ninja by his side made sure that he stayed put.

He glanced at the ninja who held a spear in his hands, Iron Edge, his magic weapon.

Despite having a hole through his chest, as a master rank champion, even though an injury like this was serious, it was not life-threatening.

His head was thinking of ways to get out of his predicament.

He was looking around while his right hand slowly approached the bag on his waist.

His actions were so subtle that it looked like the ninja hadn't noticed.

Carefully, he pulled out two red marbles.

The ninja had already noticed his actions but was already too late as Ironclaw threw the marbles on the ground, shattering them to pieces.

Red smoke covered their figures, it was obvious what that item was, a magic marble with a smoke bomb spell engraved on it.

He ran towards the exit while wincing in pain and clutching his chest.

He didn't care about his magic weapon that got stolen nor did he care about the adventurers fighting for their lives, he prioritized his survival above all else.

He looked back to see that the ninja wasn't following him but he didn't let his guard down and continued to run with all his might.

He planned to team up with the vice guildmaster who was guarding the dungeon entrance and warn the others of the threat of the necromancer.

He felt a bit guilty towards the guys he left behind but shook his head and continued to run forward.

Suddenly, his instincts flared up and he jumped to the side.

An explosion appeared where he once stood and he turned his head to look back.

His body jolted to see that the ninja was chasing him, in his hands were glowing shurikens and his magic weapon.

Ironclaw forced himself to run faster but his injuries had gotten worse and worse.

Eventually, the ninja had already caught up to him and he had no choice but to fight once again.

Ironclaw gritted his teeth, he put his hand in his bag and pulled out more red marbles, he was thinking of using the same tactic.

However, the moment that he was about to throw it to the ground, three shurikens were already thrown right at his face and body.

*Boom

Explosions covered his body all over and he got blown away like a ragdoll.

His face was burnt while his right arm and left leg were blown away from the explosion.

Surprisingly, he was still alive, he gazed at the ninja that was slowly approaching him, killing intent oozed out his body and was directed at him.

"It can't be, it can't end like this"

He let out a weak voice and complained to the heavens of his fate.

Without any hesitation, the ninja impaled Ironclaw's face with the latter's spear.

The strongest adventurer in Turron Town died just like that.

Kent had no time to concern himself with the others as he sent multiple sword attacks toward the necromancer which the latter defected and dodged with ease.

Feeling frustrated that his attacks were unable to connect, he took a few steps backward, and mana coursed through his body.

"Beast Transformation"

Kent yelled.

His body suddenly grew to be bulkier, fur grew out his arms and legs, and his teeth visibly sharpened.

"Beast Transformation, a transformation magic that unleashes the full extent and potential of a beastman's power"

Riaz assessed, his fingers tapping his chin with an amused look.

"DIE!!"

After transforming, Kent launched himself toward the necromancer, his speed visibly increased several-fold and the aura around him had gotten stronger.

The floor beneath him cracked where he stepped on and left behind afterimages in his trail.

Riaz whistled in amazement.

"As expected of the royal blood of the great wolf tribe"

Kent pretended that he never heard what he said as he swung his sword and aimed it right at the necromancer's neck to decapitate him clean.

Riaz caught the sword with his right hand, he was startled when he felt a sting, he looked at his hand that caught the sword by the blade and he could see a trail of blood dripping out.

Riaz grinned.

"All that for a drop of blood"

Dark energy suddenly covered his right arm and crushed the sword into bits and pieces.

Kent's eyes widened at this as he stared at his shattered weapon, he seemed to be in a daze.

'How? Aren't necromancers physically weak?'

He never fought a necromancer before but he knew about them from others and had even seen some in action.

Although they were powerful when they summoned their undead creatures, the same could not be said about their physical abilities, necromancers were even weaker than elves in that aspect.

Kent suddenly had a realization.

'Oh right, this guy used to be saint rank and a vampire lord right?'

Riaz's magic core was damaged but it did not lower his physical abilities, Kent guessed that the necromancer's physical strength should at least be an International Master rank

Kent swallowed his saliva in nervousness at this revelation.

'The town is doomed'

Kent didn't think that there was anyone in the town that could stop the necromancer's rampage.

The only way he could think of anything that could stop the necromancer was for the Doni Kingdom's hidden powerhouses to take action themselves but the town would already be devastated by the time they would notice.

Thinking of this, Kent's mood turned gloomy.

He didn't lament the fact that he would die since he was already prepared for that scenario ever since he foolishly challenged Riaz to a death match.

He was feeling dreadful because there was no one at the moment that could stop this monster from doing what he wants.

"I am impressed that you have managed to make me bleed despite your pitiful strength, I got to say that you have exceeded my expectations once more"

Riaz could see through Kent's sullen mood and showed an evil grin.

"Well, I guess you know how pitifully powerless you are against me, this farce had gone long enough"

He snapped his fingers, and with that snap his summons seemingly got strengthened and moved faster and had gotten stronger, killing the adventurers one by one.

"Ahhh"

"Save me"

"Nooo"

Cries of despair and helplessness entered Kent's ears as his body trembled.

He gritted his teeth, realizing how powerless he was in this situation, no matter how much bravery he put up, the situation never changed like their fates were set in stone.

After a massacre, the leader of the adventurers was the only one left, surrounded by all sides.

He was exhausted and panted heavily, he was soaked in his comrade's and his blood, he never let go of the ax in his hands as he eyed the monsters without faltering in his gaze, no fear was visible in his eyes as he charged at them with his last breath.

Kent closed his eyes and refused to look at this event.

"Ahhhh..."

A man's scream entered his ears followed by a loud thump.

Energy drained from his body as the adrenaline in his veins gave out.

He looked around only to see that he was the only one left, even though he met some of the adventurers in the expedition for the first time, after going through many battles, he has grown close to them.

He turned his head to look at Riaz with pure hatred.

"Mark my words, someone will stop you and give you the death that you deserve"

Kent growled in anger, although he knew the dangers of becoming an adventurer and that it wouldn't be that weird for them to die during a mission, experiencing a situation like this where your death was pretty much guaranteed was never pleasant to go through.

Despite feeling helpless, he still raised his broken weapon, still in his beast transformation mode, and he charged at the necromancer with an impressive speed.

Riaz looked unconcerned, he pointed his index finger at Kent.

"Shadow Ball"

A black and purple ball of energy formed on his fingertip and started expanding until it had the size of a human head, it fired at Kent like a bullet.

Undaunted by the sudden attack, Kent gathered a dense amount of mana unto his broken weapon and swung his arm, and attacked the magic ball, intending to split it in half.

Riaz's eyes widened when Kent's power suddenly skyrocketed and continued to run at him in full force.

"He has gotten stronger?"

Riaz uttered.

He scanned Kent's magic core only to see that he ranked up from first-class expert rank to a super first-class expert rank.

"But even then... such a minor power-up shouldn't have given him the ability to fend off my attack..."

Riaz's words trailed off when Kent's weapon had already approached his face.

"Interesting"

Riaz smirked.

The moment Kent's attack was about to hit, his figure suddenly turned blurry, and dodged the attack.

Realizing that he only hit an afterimage, Kent cursed and turned his head to the side to see a smirking Riaz beside him.

Just as he was about to launch another attack, Riaz sent a chop to the back of his head, rendering Kent unconscious.

Kent fell and his body laid flat on the ground.

Riaz scanned Kent's soul only to spot something unusual, his eyes lit up in an ethereal light, and saw a clump of strong magical energy hidden within.

"A soul tracker?"

His brows quivered and wore a thoughtful expression.

"He was using this hidden magic power to raise his strength unconsciously"

"Thank goodness that I managed to spot him on time, if I killed him, those old monsters of the wolf tribe would have come after me"

Riaz cackled at the thought that the demon slayers, demon nobles, and a royalty of the great wolf tribe of the western continent were in this small town at the same time.

He even wondered if forces of fate were at play here.