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Chapter 30: Last Ascent
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2024-10-29 19:42:56“Blur, watch my back!”
“Roger that!” The kitten on Dio’s head leaped and transformed into a large panther. With an intense killing intent, it immediately ran towards the minotaur, a monster with a body of a man and the head of a bull, behind Dio and clawed it.
Dio felt secured when he saw how competent his bond was. He turned to face the manticore in front of him and smirked. It opened its wings and its lion-like body moved to a fighting stance.
“How dare you go here alone? No adventurer came out of here alive!” The manticore roared and used its venomous scorpion tail to attack him but he jumped and landed behind the monster.
“There’s always a first for everything.” Dio tried to provoke the manticore more and in response, the manticore turned to attack him with its claws. “Slow!”
Dio lifted his hands and vines sprouted out of the ground. It immediately attacked the manticore bu
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Dio didn’t notice that it was already morning when he woke up. If it wasn’t for his rumbling stomach and the nudges he received from his bond, he wouldn’t even think of standing up.“Are you awake now?”Dio immediately stood up when he heard Mr. Hearth’s voice. “What are you doing here?”“Is this the feeling of watching your son grow up?” Mr. Hearth said with a fake sad and teary voice. “It had been a year and a half but you didn’t contact me even once.”“You never called for me. Besides, I’m too busy clearing the dungeon to visit you for chitchat,” he said in an annoyed tone.“I told you I want to see how your potential will blossom.” Mr. Hearth smirked before he leaned closer to him. “How was it? Did you find another reason to live?” he whispered.Dio gently pushed him back and smirked. “Yes. Thanks to you, I found
Clandestine Empire: Return of the Lost Chapter 32: Notorious Arkin
What should he do next? Those were Dio’s thoughts as he watched people went back and forth through his window.He watched how everyone seemed to be sure of what they were doing and move towards the destination that they intended to reach. How about him? He was done with his training and he reached the lowest floor of the dungeon. He wanted to be the strongest-- to be the best. Deep inside, he knew that he could do it. He could be the best in the empire but he still needed to be covert. He couldn’t catch any more attention than he already caught. “Arkin! Won’t you come with us to the market?” Calyx waved his hand with a grin on his faceas he looked up at Dio’s window. Dio closed his eyes for a second before he nodded his head. “Wait for me.” He wasn’t planning to go outside for that day but he believed that he should also take a breather. His mind wouldn’t clear up if he kept on going in circles. “The door is there
Clandestine Empire: Return of the Lost Chapter 33: Struggle For Life
“Blood!” Crystal exclaimed as he watched Dio wipe the blood on his mouth. “We need to take you to theinfirmary!”“I’m fine. Don’t be such a worrywart, Crystal,” Dio said with an annoyed tone. He took a few steps and looked down on the young man, probably around his age, who barely made it safe. “Give me a valid reason for such disturbance.”The man smirked as he stood up. “I am Mikael Armani, the second son of the Armani Merchant Guild’s master and one of the marquis’s retainers.”“Ah! Mr. Kael, what brings you here?” Calyx said with a respectful smile.“Calyx! I told you not to treat me that way! You’re my friend, right?” Kael grinned as he hugged Calyx.Dio stood there as he watched the man with olive-green hair. Did he just say that he was Mikael Armani?Kael turned to him and smiled. “Don’t tell me that you
Clandestine Empire: Return of the Lost Chapter 34: Being a Noble
Since the market was turned upside down, Dio and the others went back with Kael in tow. On their way back to the inn, Calyx kept Kael entertained but the young mister was distracted as he stole glances at Dio.“Are you sure that you know Arkin?” Calyx asked when he caught him looking in Dio’s direction again.“So he started using his first name again, huh? Arkin Dio von Roman--“Calyx immediately covered his mouth. “Arkin hates it if you connect his name to the House Romanov.”Kael’s brows furrowed as he pushed away Calyx’s hand. “He really is a ball of pride. He should be getting along well with young master Art if he didn’t reject the Romanovs.”Calyx chuckled as he watched Dio listen to Crystal’s blabbering. “He finds it bothersome.”Kael smiled as he walked towards Dio. “I finally found you, young master Dio.”Dio glared at Kael.
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“You said you want to go to the academy, why are you taking it back now?” Albert asked him with a serious face.“The year I spent here made me think about it. Can the academy make me stronger? Do I need to receive that kind of education?” Dio explained in a bored tone. “I doubt that the brats that will study in the academy would be good rivals.”“And here I thought you know the benefits of going to the academy.”“I thought so too. But I’ve grown a lot with just being an adventurer. I don’t need to go to school.” Dio looked away when he heard Albert sigh.“I wouldn’t force you to do things that you don’t want to do, but you better think about it.”Dio sighed when he remembered his conversation with Albert a few months ago. He r
Clandestine Empire: Return of the Lost Chapter 36: Uncle Royce
“Gramps!” The nine-year-old Dio ran towards the store where his grandfather was waiting for him.“Did you have fun, young one?” Archie smiled as he messed Dio’s hair.“Yes. Uncle Royce brought me to a weapon shop and he bought me these wooden daggers!” he happily exclaimed as he showed him the daggers.“Are you into daggers now? Uncle Royce would teach you how to wield those,” Archie said with a smile.“I don’t think I’m the right person to teach him, my lord. The young master would enjoy his lessons if you were to teach him,” Royce butted in.“Uncle, I told you not to call me young master.” Dio pouted before he tugged his pants. “Teach me how to use these!”“I’ll
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After he cried his heart out, Royce once again sat across him. Dio somehow felt released after he was comforted yet he felt embarrassed. He looked around to check if there were people watching him and he was relieved that no one paid attention to him.“Are you feeling better now?” Royce asked him.“Yes. Thank you, Uncle.” Dio smiled.Royce smiled when he saw Dio smile sincerely. He was thirteen when he saw Dio and just after a year and a few months, Dio had grown to be a strong man. Not just physically but also emotionally.“So, will you come with me now?”Dio fell silent for a moment. Royce wasn’t sure if he was being too pushy with Dio but he wanted a clear answer. He wouldn’t leave the place without making sure that Dio would come with him.“I’ll come with you, uncle.” Dio hesitantly smiled. “But before that, I want to do something first.”Royce felt like
Clandestine Empire: Return of the Lost Chapter 38: Strong Impression
“Good timing, Dio! Since you are going to the south, travel with us until we reach the west,” Mr. Hearth said with a wide grin when he saw him near the gate of the northwest territory. “You’re planning to use me as a guard, don’t you?” Dio smirked as he put his hand in his pockets. “I’ll cover for your food throughout the journey.” Mr. Hearth grinned. “I would feel safer if I knew that you were around.” “Stop the nonsense flattery. It would be a win-win situation so I wouldn’t refuse.” Dio jumped in the wagon and the Hearth Merchant Guild started on their journey to the west. Dio just sat there at the corner as he tried to ignore the stolen glances and the constant buzzing of the other adventurers. He closed his eyes as he petted Blur that was comfortably asleep on his lap. “Was he the monster rookie that the others were talking about?” “I thought he never left the dungeons unless he was out of supplies?” “What is he doing here
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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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Cassiel merged with her phoenix guardian while Andriel merged with his thunderbird. With fire and lightning, they merged their powers and created attacks that were supposed to be hard to dodge. However, Captain Joe and Captain Vince were veteran fighters so fighting them was hard for the two.Cassiel cast a fireball and Andriel merged it with his lightning bolt. The ball made of fire and high-voltage electricity crackled as it went on a straight path towards Joe. The speed of the attack was too fast that Joe didn’t fully dodge it and left a small cut on his shoulder.“Not bad, you two. However, I’m not your only opponent,” Joe smirked when the two realized that Vincent was nowhere to be seen.Suddenly, a black whip covered with high-voltage electricity came to attack the two and they barely dodged it. They looked around and saw Vince a few meters away from them, holding the base of the whip. He laughed evilly when he saw the anxious expre
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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
Clandestine Empire: Return of the Lost Chapter 98: Excursion
After their introduction and a few exchanges, the groups went inside the dungeon led by Caspian and Arthur. The other group was silent for it was their first time to enter a dungeon so the elite class tried to reassure them by having conversations as if nothing wrong could happen. Yet, deep within them, they were also afraid because they had a bad experience from a dungeon before. “Don’t you dare act on your own again, Dio.” Keila reminded him. Cassandra walked beside Dio to make sure that he wouldn’t let himself get behind. If they wanted him to behave, they needed to monitor him closely. Dio wouldn’t hesitate to jump ahead if it meant to protect them so someone had to be beside him to stop him if ever. “Are you also worried about me?” Dio chuckled when he realized that almost all the elites were watching over him. He turned to Cassandra with an assuring smile. “I told you not to worry. I won’t do something dangerous again.” Though Dio seemed believa
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“Dio and Kael, though I know that you already know him, let me introduce Carter von Claude.” Professor Croix gestured his hand towards Carter. “He was promoted to the elite class last week and he will join you in today’s excursion.” Dio bowed his head to Carter. Though he was sad that Mika had been replaced, he knew it was no one’s fault and that the world would continue moving, even after her death. That thought hurt him a bit, but he had to accept it. Those who were left needed to continue leaving. Just like how he did it after his grandfather’s death, he would live his life to honor those whose lives were lost because of him. He had decided. He would talk with Andriel if they meet again. The group went into the carriage large enough to fit fifteen people and settled down. The atmosphere wasn’t as comfortable because of the new member but they lifted the mood. Dio was seated beside Keila and just like their midterms exams, he snuggled close to her and close
Clandestine Empire: Return of the Lost Chapter 96: Comfort
Dio and Kael went back to school after a few days of being on leave. It was so sudden and everyone was surprised to hear the news of the Armani Massacre and Mika’s death. Dio couldn’t even smile out of guilt. He couldn’t forget how he promised to go home early just to end up being late and not being able to save her.It was the afternoon lunch break and Dio chose to hide at the back of the building under the shade of the tree. He still couldn’t get over his sister’s death.How could he? All he did ever since he met her was to make her worried about him! Mika gave him a warm welcome, she made him feel that he belonged in the family and treated him as a precious little brother.He hadn’t done anything for her yet. He still had a lot more things to do with her. There were more memories to be shared, but it was too late. He couldn’t make her happy after all the love he received from her.Dio buried his face on his kne
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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
Clandestine Empire: Return of the Lost Chapter 94: An Unexpected Visit
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
