The next morning, Clyde left his living quarters intending to meet Samuel and the rest of the team again. He had barely stepped outside the building when someone he did not expect appeared directly in front of him.
It was Ray.
The young boy stood there with a grin on his face, his arms crossed over his chest as if the entire situation amused him.
Clyde stopped and looked at him. There was something in Ray’s eyes that immediately irritated him. A darkness lingered behind them, the kind that belonged to someone consumed by a blind and uncontrolled desire to kill.
Clyde already knew what that darkness meant.
During the Selection Stage, Ray had tried to kill him because he wanted to become the strongest.
He had eventually been forced to work alongside Clyde against the Boss Monster after realizing that he could not survive alone. Even then, Clyde had never believed Ray’s ambitions had changed.
"What do you want?" Clyde asked.
Ray snorted and said, "You look very strong. Give me your power."
Clyde stared at him for a moment before letting out a quiet, disdainful snort. The request was so absurd that he almost thought Ray was joking.
"Are you crazy?"
"No. I’m sure." Ray’s grin widened. "I want to become the strongest person in the entire world. For that, I need your power. If necessary, I’ll kill you first."
Clyde sighed and looked at him with an expressionless face. "Stop wasting my time. You can’t defeat me."
He was trying to remain patient. Clyde had no desire to cause a commotion inside the fortress, but if this boy insisted on provoking him, then he would have to teach him a lesson.
Ray suddenly lunged forward.
His expression twisted into pure killing intent, mixed with an almost obsessive hunger for power. A sword materialized in his hand as he charged.
He barely managed to take another step.
Clyde moved.
Ray was slammed into the ground with tremendous force. Cracks spread across the stone beneath his body as Clyde’s hand closed around his neck.
"Khakh!" Ray struggled and tried to retaliate, but Clyde tightened his grip. Lightning immediately surged through his hand.
The next instant, high-voltage electricity flooded Ray’s body.
"AGH!"
Ray screamed as pain tore through every part of him. His muscles spasmed violently while lightning burned across his skin. For several seconds, the only thing he could see was Clyde’s face above him.
There was no anger in Clyde’s expression. Only coldness. And the unmistakable readiness to kill.
The lightning finally stopped.
Ray collapsed against the ground, desperately dragging air into his lungs. The pain remained throughout his body, making even breathing difficult.
"Listen," Clyde said coldly. "I can kill you right now and remove an annoyance like you from my life. It would probably make everyone happier. But I’ll give you one chance. If you keep acting this annoying, I’ll really kill you."
A chill ran through Ray despite the pain. Those words were not a threat. They were a guarantee. Ray knew that if he crossed Clyde again, Clyde would kill him without hesitation.
Clyde released his grip and stood up. Without looking back, he walked away.
Ray remained on the ground, staring blankly at the sky.
Until now, he had believed he was already strong. He had the power he had gained during the Selection Stage, along with the Demon Sword he possessed. He had survived battles that would have killed ordinary people.
Yet Clyde was on an entirely different level.
Ray could not even imagine defeating him. Clyde could probably kill him with a flick of his finger.
"You should probably listen to his words," the Demon Sword said inside his mind. "That man’s power is much deeper than what you can see."
Ray slowly turned his head. "Huh? You think so too?"
"Yes. I’m only telling you the truth."
Despite the pain, Ray’s lips slowly curled into a smile. "That makes me want his power even more."
"You will die."
Ray’s grin widened. "Let’s see."
—
As Clyde walked through the fortress, he could feel several people watching him with apprehensive expressions after they saw what had happened to Ray.
After all, it was difficult to keep something like that quiet when he had slammed someone into the ground and nearly killed him in front of the living quarters.
Clyde could already imagine what they were thinking.
They would probably start seeing him as some kind of psycho who attacked people without hesitation.
He could not really blame them.
But it could not be helped. Clyde had no interest in controlling what other people thought of him, and he certainly could not control their minds. As long as they did not interfere with him, their opinions meant nothing.
He continued walking until he reached the hotel building where Samuel and the other members of the team were staying. The building was one of the many residential facilities inside Sivagadh Fortress, reserved for fighters and groups who regularly went on missions into the Ruins.
Clyde entered the lobby and found Leyan and Maira already waiting there.
The two of them were sitting together, discussing the mission they were scheduled to take that day. Clyde approached them quietly and stopped nearby, listening to their conversation.
"We’re going into the Ruin to retrieve a Demon artifact," Maira was saying to Clyde.
Leyan nodded. "According to the information we received, the artifact is somewhere inside an abandoned settlement. The scouts detected a powerful energy signature there, but they couldn’t confirm what was protecting it."
"So we don’t know what we’ll encounter," Maira said.
"Exactly."
Clyde finally walked over and took a seat with them. "A Demon artifact, huh?" he asked.
Both of them turned toward him.
Leyan gave him a small nod. "Yes. That’s today’s mission."
Clyde leaned back in his chair, his expression becoming slightly more serious.
A Demon artifact inside a Ruin was rarely something that could be treated casually. Such artifacts could possess tremendous power, but they could also be dangerous enough to kill anyone who handled them carelessly. Fortunately, they will not have any effect on Clyde.
Maira looked at him. "You came at the right time. Samuel should be here soon."
Clyde nodded. He had expected another routine mission.
But the moment he heard that a Demon artifact was involved, he had a feeling that this mission might not be as simple as the others. Maybe he could contact his Demon friend again.
—
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