Rise of the Eromancer

"I am going to ask you the same question I asked your friend…

…your answers better be the same."

Jamal's body was not done scattering everywhere as Rhys said those words.

Rhys's wasn't clean at all, as all of Jamal's guts and blood sprayed everywhere from the sheer force of the kick. And the mist that veiled this violence was also instantly blown away, making the brutality in front of them even clearer.

They could not even focus on Jamal, as they did not know where to focus as his body was all over the place—no. The only thing they could really focus on was Rhys Wilder, whose silver eyes could be seen almost glowing even with his hair completely blocking them.

And as Jamal's blood dripped from Rhys's face, the only other thing they could really see was his teeth, which were baring at them as if a hungry animal disturbed from its cave.

"What… the fuck?" The only woman in the group could really only take a step back as he did not even recognize Rhys anymore, "They… they set us up! That's not a Lowborn!"

"Everyone, on your guard!" The leader of the group raised his fists, an armor of stone, covering his entire body as he did so, "Don't panic, this is just—"

And as the fog once again very slowly veiled Rhys's silhouette, they all saw him just quickly disappear — running. Not away, however, but to the side… almost like a panther suddenly hiding and lying in wait; waiting for them to just make a mistake.

Sadly for them, Rhys wasn't a panther at all.

"Kh!"

"Tilda!?" One of the men leaped up, trying to catch the only woman in their group as something just suddenly yanked her up into the air; but alas, the only thing he could really grab was the sole of Tilda's shoe as it was ripped off.

"F… Fuck!" The man threw the sole away as he looked up, "Just what is—"

"Gah!" None of them could even form a sentence before they heard a high-pitched scream reverberating from above, "I… I don't know anything, I swear!"

"...Tilda!? Just… Just tell him what he wants!" And almost immediately, the leader of the group made a quick decision — to run and just save his men, "Don't—"

Sadly for him, before he could utter his next words, he saw the silhouette of something round falling from above. He quickly stepped back to avoid it, but instinctively caught it as soon as he caught a glimpse of what it was.

"Tilda…" It was Tilda's head; missing an ear and several of her teeth, "You… you monster! We haven't even—"

"Who is it that paid you to kill me?" And before the leader of the group could finish his words, all of them watched as Rhys's silhouette very slowly descended from above; his hand raised in the air as if he was holding onto something. And as his feet landed on the damped ground, he once again stared at the remaining 3 one by one,

"Was it Sylas—"

"No!" The leader of the group let out a roar as he also bared his teeth at Rhys, "I don't know who it was, but it was someone from the Cerberus guild!"

"From the Cerberus guild, but not Sylas West?" Rhys calmly approached the two; his fingers moving as he did so for some reason, "How do you know they are from the Cerberus guild?"Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Because… because we always do a background check on our clients!" The leader of the group no longer hesitated and just told Rhys everything, "But once we found out he was from the Cerberus guild, we… we backed off, okay!? I swear, that's all we know. Please…

…at least let the two go."

"Boss!?" The group's remaining two members could not help but look at their leader, "We… won't leave you! We'll kill this bitch together and—"

"I'm sorry."

"Gk!"

And before any of them could say anything more, they suddenly found their voices unable to escape their throat as something sharp was wrapping around their necks. It wasn't just their necks; their limbs were also wrapped by something invisible — and they could do nothing but just freeze as they felt their bodies very slowly being lifted up in the air.

"But I can't let any of you go even if I wanted to." And almost as if to reflect their floating bodies, Rhys also raised his hand in the air, "You see…

…all of you are already dead."

And with those words, Rhys gripped his hand into a fist… and along with it, the threads he had laid upon everywhere tightened, completely slicing the bodies of those in front of him without even as much as a slight resistance.

"...I need to clean this up," and as their bodies scattered everywhere, the only thing Rhys could really do was sigh as he made his way to the mangled and dismembered corpses. Before he could take a single step, however, he heard the sound of footsteps from behind him. He quickly turned around to see who it was—or in this case, what it was.

The Fog Kamelos and its palette, 1 slightly smaller, and 2 not even half its size.

"I thought you guys went after the others?" Rhys blinked a couple of times as he looked at the palette. The lizards, however, were not looking at him at all and were focused on the body parts he left behind, "Oh, did you want an easier meal for your children? Well…

…feel free to have them."

***

"There's another one here!"

"Fuck, this is a disaster! How many survivors do we have!?"

"Hm… my bad."

"You—Just help us, please!"

It seems it was a common occurrence that while the Explorer Association was running around in panic, Hannah just stood there chewing gum; not even caring or flinching as the rescue team brought out people who were barely even breathing. And as a matter of course, she wasn't going to help them.

"No. 120." And instead, she just approached Rhys, who was sitting by himself with his head covered by a towel… on the edge of the Hole to the Surface.

"...Ma'am," Rhys only glanced at Hannah, before turning his focus back on the Hole in front of him.

"I told you to stop calling me that, Rhys Wilder," Hannah scoffed as she sat beside Rhys, not even caring that the ground was a bit damp, "And also, this is yours."

"...?" Rhys could really only blink as Hannah placed her hand in front of his face. And resting in between her fingers, was a card.

"Your Explorer's License, tch." Hannah shook her head as she flipped the card, showing Rhys's covered face, as well as a label that indeed says [Official Explorer's License]. There was also all sorts of information about Rhys there, as well as a section indicating his current rank, Level 1,

"Don't act so surprised now, I already had this the last time we spoke. I told you, you were always meant to pass because Dad likes you. I don't even know why you're here in the first place. You know what, I think it's actually your fault that all of this happened. If you weren't here, I wouldn't have thrown—"

"Excuse me, Mr. Rhys Wilder."

And before Hannah could have a conversation with Rhys, Kenneth suddenly appeared behind them with a wide smile on his face.

"I know this may be rushing things as we are in the midst of a terrible tragedy, but I would like to assist you in getting your license moving forward. You may not know this, but I have actually been acting as a sponsor to ensure that—What are you holding?"

"You blind?" Hannah stood up; a smirk, very slowly forming on her face as she stared at Kenneth, "It's an Explorer's License."

"I see that, but why does he have it?" The courteous smile on Kenneth's face started to flinch as he looked back and forth between Hannah and the license Rhys was holding, "That shouldn't be issued until next week."

"Well, he has one now, deal with it."

"Wait, wait!" Kenneth quickly rushed to Rhys's side and crouched beside him, "Rhys, you don't understand. That is only possible because of me; I paid–I mean, I asked the judges to let you pass. It's me. I guess… I guess they already printed your license beforehand, such diligence. He… hehe. Please, I spent almost a million dollars for—"

"Uh…" Rhys blinked a couple of times as he looked at Kenneth,

"...Who are you?"