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Chapter 16: Romanov Territory
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2021-08-06 06:00:13The traveling Hearth Merchant Guild Crew reached the northwestern lands safely. They entered the Romanov territory, the biggest territory in the northwestern lands, which was ruled by Marquis Romanov. While inside the carriage, Dio felt uneasy when he realized whose territory he was in.
The vast lands that he saw a while ago were all part of the territory. With just one look, he could already say that the lord was a good leader who governed the land towards prosperity. Was he a good man? Did his people respected his ways or did he rule by using fear? There were so many questions in his head that he wanted to seek answers for but something inside him was holding him back.
You don’t have to involve yourself with them. They are nothing but strangers to you now.
He clenched his fists. Going to the northwest territory brought about many unwanted thoughts. He was starting to regret joining Mr. Hearth in his travel.
“This is our last stop, D
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The carriage stopped in front of the adventurer’s guild. Dio and his bond hopped out of it and went to the carriage where Mr. Hearth was in.It had been three days since he arrived in the northwest, the day had come for Mr. Hearth to uphold his part of the deal.“Have you decided? I have a lot of connections to the Northwest Adventurer’s Guild,” Mr. Hearth said confidently.“Are you sure this will help me find a reason to live?” Dio said in a bored tone.He leaned closer and whispered, “You’ll never know how important life is unless you are on the verge of dying.”“What nonsense. You know how strong I am.” Dio shook his head in disappointment.“That’s right. I know that you are strong but did you know the limit of your potential?” Mr. Hearth smiled. “I am introducing you to a world where you can challenge yourself and surpass your limit. There are too man
Last Updated : 2021-08-06Clandestine Empire: Return of the Lost Chapter 18: Dungeon City
After receiving some advice from Joe who seemed to be fond of him, Dio went to the Whiro Dungeon. It is said to be the biggest dungeon in the empire which was known to be a dungeon city. Most elite adventurers are found there since it also was the most dangerous dungeon. Lucky for him because it was also in the territory of Marquis Romanov.They stopped in a forest near the entrance of the dungeon where a huge open space could be found. Blur, after it shrank to hiskitten form, leapedto Dio’s head.The place didn’t give off a dangerous vibe despite all the adventurers moving back and forth from the entrance. Dio, with his hands on his pockets, moved to the entrance and he was welcomed by an elegant atmosphere.“Welcome to the dungeon city! Are you a new adventurer?” a kind-looking middle-aged man said with a smile.Dio nodded his head as a response to the warm greeting he received. He watched the old man smiled and then
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“Are you guys rookies?” A man who entered the safe zone with his party asked Calyx. “Yes. This is our first ascent,” Calyx helped with the treatment of those who entered with injuries. On the other hand, Dio just sat at the corner with his eyes closed. “If you guys are still rookies, I think it would be better for you to descend with us,” the leader who introduced himself as James suggested. “Sur--” “If you are coming with them, I’ll be leaving you behind,” Dio cut Calyx off. “Stop being so cold, Arkin. They were extending their help to guide us as we go lower, we should be grateful,” Calyx explained. “I don’t need their help.” He looked at the party members one by one. There was something about them that made Dio feel uneasy. “Rookies who insist that they don’t need help from their seniors always end up dying within the upper floors. You shouldn’t underestimate the dungeons, kid.” James gave him a proud grin. “Just accept our
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The following floors weren’t too challenging for Dio and Calyx. They spent a few hours dealing with the monsters they encounter on their journey deeper to the dungeon. Blur, on the other hand, kept his silence as he was comfortably curled on Dio’s head. “Finally, we’re moving on to the sixth floor.” Calyx threw himself on the foldable bed made of feathers when they entered the fifth floor’s safe zone. “We’ll set off after a few hours of rest.” Dio put the sleeping kitten on his lap after lighting a fire to keep them warm. “Arkin, are you not lonely?” Calyx asked out of the blue. “I don’t know. How does it feel to be lonely?” “You don’t even know what loneliness is?” The young man said in disbelief. “I forgot.” “You’re weird.” “Not as much as you.” Calyx shook his head and closed his eyes. A few minutes later, he was already in deep sleep while Dio was on guard. Dio looked around the cold room with two do
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They immediately arrived at the location where Trixie’s party was fighting with a lot of chirops. Judging by the way they were catching their breath, it seemed that they were too tired to fight the monsters and it wouldn’t be long before their stamina would be depleted. “Aaaaah!” A girl screamed in fear as she ducked to avoid the chirop’s attack. “Argh!” A man groaned as his ax tried to slash the chirops in front of him but he was clawed by the chirops behind him instead. Another man was struggling to fight a few meters away from the two. By the looks of it, the man who wore a brave mask was their leader. Dio made sure that he was all healed when he raised his hand and envisioned sturdy vines spurting from the ground and piercing the flying monsters. “Vine fountain!” Spear-like vines started growing from the ground and pierced the chirops that were flying around. Since most of the monsters were skewered by the vines, those that were left alive
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“You finally decided to show yourself,” Absalom chuckled when Amir, Joe, and Vince went towards him. The stars and their masters’ were confused about what was happening between the captain and him. The crackling sound from Dio’s lightning dagger was heard by the others. Though some couldn’t accept the truth that Dio was a multi-element mage, there were people who genuinely wished to see him not holding back. Dio’s vines grew around the area to attack Absalom but the other three captains moved to protect him. “You need to go through us if you want to hurt him.” Dio couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “So there are also people you wanted to protect?” It was a sarcastic laugh filled with bitterness. There were people whom he failed to protect: his mother and grandfather. Those were his family who loved and cherished him, but he lost them because of the midnight serpents. He continued to live on for the sake of revenge and because of that, he fou
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Dio pulled Lewis’ shirt when he tried to step back. He also used his dagger when Lewis tried to slash his hand and smirked. “Let’s finish this.” Lewis, with all his strength, pushed Dio away from him. He kept his distance from him since he was informed that Dio’s strength was his melee fighting, though he also needed to be wary of his casting. However, he didn’t know that the information he received was taken when Dio was still an adventurer. As a student of the academy, Dio honed his casting skills and practiced them by helping the other casters in the elite class. Dio used his vines to capture Lewis who always dodged his attacks and his attempts of getting closer. Since Lewis was naturally fast, it took him a lot of time just to catch him. He set a trap and drove him to the way he planned for him to go and there he created a pit deep enough so he wouldn’t escape. Dio held the mouth of the hole and ice spread from his hand down to where Lewis stood.
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Almost hundreds of monsters inside that dungeon surrounded Dio. Though he knew they outnumbered him, he let everyone leave him alone so that he could use his power to his heart’s content. “Bree, can I trust you to watch my back?” Dio looked around and created a plan in his head. “Sure, master!” Bree twinkled brighter in excitement. “I wish Blur was here too.” “It’s okay, Bree. Blur would assist the others at school.” Dio put his dagger back into its sheath as Bree took care of the monsters that attacked them. After he put the daggers in his space ring, Dio created an electric dagger with his right hand and an ice dagger with the left one. “Now, let’s do this.” Dio helped Bree with cleaning up the monsters. With a single slash of his dagger, the small monsters were cut in half. And since Dio embedded poisons in his daggers, those who were cut and wounded weren’t able to regenerate or heal their wounds, so they end up dying. “I like your eyes an
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“Our master’s prediction was right. He really came.” A girl wearing black revealing clothes giggled as soon as he reached the second floor. “Hey, boy, do you want to play with me?” She even licked her lips after looking at him from head to toe.He smiled seductively and let the girl touch his chest before she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Was it okay to play with a boy like me?”He scoffed internally. How could she act so shameless right after they planned to kill his sister?The girl licked her lips and looked him in the eye. His eyes never left hers and soon enough, her lips touched his and he had no choice but to open his mouth so that her tongue could have her way.They were both panting when they finished the kiss. Dio smiled and whispered, “That’s one down for me.”The girl’s eyes widen as she held her neck. She was gasping and chasing her breath but the more she struggled
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Blur entered the slums so Dio just followed him. The people living there eyed him suspiciously because of his bloodied academy uniform, but he chose to ignore them. Nothing was more important to him than the annihilation of the people who massacred his family. As long as those people wouldn’t stop him, he wouldn’t have anything to do with them.Blur entered a dark alley and Dio moved to follow him. However, a voice of an old man was heard before he could enter the alley.“What’s the business of a young man in there?”Dio stopped in his tracks and looked at the old man who was hiding in the shadows. He smiled innocently but there was a hint of danger in his eyes. “Someone indebted to me is in there so I came to collect the payment.”“Take care. That place is dangerous.”Dio nodded and continued to walk inside. He found Blur waiting for him a few meters away and as soon as their eyes met, Blur con
