Chapter 76: The A ranked
The same thing was happening all over the labyrinth, but Silva decided to shift his focus from the small fries. He decided it was time to pull in the big dogs.
All the A-ranks, three in total, to the last floor where he was. These were the ones that had the information he needed.
There were two swordsmen and a beautiful lady mage; the three of them were the A-ranks that were sent.
Silva teleported them into the main hall, while the other adventurers were out there in the labyrinth going through hell.
Orion looked up when he appeared, and his eyes could not believe what he saw. Lined up from left to right were terrifyingly powerful beings standing.
Their aura at full blast, crushing his soul inside his body.
And on the throne sat a man and a little girl. The man wore a cloak, covering his face, so he couldn't tell who he was.
But then his eyes went to Dawn, who also stood there. As soon as he saw her, he got up and pointed at her.
"You traitor!" he yelled, but immediately, the hand that he used to point at her was severed. It flew into the air and fell on the ground with a loud thud.
Orion looked at his hand in shock, and so did the other A-ranked adventurers. Orion may not be very strong, but his hand was cut off without anyone moving—they couldn't even tell who had done it.
Silva removed his cloak and spoke, "You shouldn't be noisy when you are in someone's place. That is annoying."
The three of them looked at Silva. They knew him; he was the leader of the Ribest adventurers. What was he doing here?
"I have to say thank you, Orion, because of you, I was able to ignite the first phase of the image to cause chaos.
I have the special ability to induce fear, but it becomes easier when there is already tension. So I threw you a bait, hoping that you would take it, and you did.
With that set in motion, I was able to take who I wanted, kill who I needed to kill, and punish," Silva said.
"You bastard, why would you do all that? How can you be so cruel?" Orion yelled.
"Hmm, such a great question. And now to the answer.
We all live as puppets, under the rule of the strong. Your sense of ethics and justice is all skewed to fit your selfish beliefs.
You fight other races, you enslave beastmen, you hate all those that are not similar to you, yet you raise a flag of justice.
Is justice only for when it fits your needs? The hundreds of beastmen you walk past daily in slave markets—don't they deserve the justice you wave around?" Silva asked.
Orion frowned and balled his fist in anger, but he couldn't argue back. The mage lady stepped forward and spoke.
"Why should they have any justice? They are all filled with the blood of demons. It is the task of humans to stop the demons," she said, showing her conviction.
Silva frowned when he heard that. He looked at her and spoke.
"You stand here, and right before you are several races that aren't human, yet you opened your hole of a mouth to say they don't deserve justice?" he asked, his eyes glowing red.
The lady shivered uncontrollably under his gaze; she could hardly keep standing.
Silva transformed into his dragon-newt form, he looked at them and asked:
"So tell me now, do you think I have no right to justice now that you know who I am? Do you believe that I shouldn't walk the same road as you?
Well, don't answer, because even if you do, I won't believe what you say."
He transformed back to normal and then walked towards them.
"The reason I can be this cruel, the reason I can act this way and take lives without batting an eye, is because I was wired this way.
Yup, I was wired not to care. I was wired to be a menace to all humanity, to become a being that would go straight for my goals regardless.
But even with that, I work with a simple system. You have to either do something to me for me to kill you, or you have something I need and want to take from you.
Even with all the evil that I bring, I still protect what I hold dear and care for those that I love. So I'm not all bad, but I am still pretty nasty.
And I'll show you that nasty side if you don't stop trying to activate that crystal in your palm," Silva said to Orion.
Orion froze when he was caught. The crystal was the size of a fingernail—how did Silva still find out about it?
Silva saw the look on Orion's face; he couldn't hold back his laugh.
"Hahahaha, did you really think I wouldn't see it? Or the spell that the mage lady has been secretly casting, or the ring that man behind you has been trying to activate?
Seriously, you all look down on me far too much, so I'll have to take you down a notch. So for that, I offer you a way out.
The three of you must defeat Gallan, my summon over there," Silva said and pointed to Gallan.
"If you manage to win against him, you will be teleported out, no questions asked. But if you fail, you're gonna see hell.
Now, no time to waste. Gallan, take over," Silva said and walked away.
Gallan bowed his head. He took his dual daggers and walked into battle. He weakened his aura to deceive them, so that they would believe they had a chance.
Silva just wanted to give them hope, allow them to dream, and then crush it, over and over again.
He would ensure that he radically damaged their spirits. Gallan was only the first stage; many stages came after, and he would engrave into them how weak and useless they were.