"Engaged? To whom?" She asked with slight confusion.
This was the first time her father ever mentioned this topic to her. He was always a caring father even though he was most of the time cold and tough, but, in front of his daughter, he just breaks that hard front he put for himself and shows her his true self. So, for her father to decide something like this out of his own accord without telling her is weird.
"Those bastards from the SletherMoon family have found the gates for the deeper parts of Ecrasia. We've been stuck on the shores for a long time so this is some big news. But, they still didn't want to release it. They wanted my cooperation in passing those gates and that came out as a marriage proposal to make it more solid."
Scarlett was greatly shocked by this news. It has been hundreds of years since humans discovered the mysterious planet. The only way there is from portals fueled by soul force. These portals will only send them to the shores of the planet. Even when many tried to pass a certain point and enter deeper into the planet's lands, there was a strong barrier that stopped them.
So, discovering a way to get into the deeper parts is nothing less of a massive discovery worthy of admiration.
'But, how did they find it? The shores are almost as big as the lower world?' She fell into deep thought and totally forgot about the engagement thing.
So, Damien had no other choice but to make a small cough to wake her up from her dazed state.
"You know me, Scarlett. I would never make a choice that concerns your future without telling you. But, this time is an exception. Getting into the deeper parts before everyone is going to boost our strength by a huge margin. It's a priceless treasure."
He tried to reason with her and make her accept so that it could ease up the guilt he felt for stealing his daughter's love life.
"Hmm? Who's the one I'm getting engaged to?"
"The youngest son of the patriarch." He answered as he anticipated her reply.
Scarlett took a small sigh under her breath and then looked at her dad.
"Could you arrange for a meeting between us? Then, I will decide based on that." She said with a small smile.
Her father's eyes gained more light as he felt a huge weight fall off his shoulders. He heard that the youngest son was the most outstanding and talented, so he assumed he would be up to Scarlett's standards.
"Good, very good. I will inform you when the meeting is scheduled." He said as he sat down again and returned to work.
Scarlett excused herself and left the room. The moment she closed the door and walked away from the room, her calm look totally disappeared.
Instead, a murderous intent that could shake anyone to the core escaped her body. Her calm face turned into that of extreme anger that could make the devil look like an innocent child.
'I will kill him with my own hands.' She thought to herself without any hesitation.
She didn't care about her family nor the consequences of her actions. The only thing that mattered was the person she cared about the most. She would rather die a thousand times rather than be remotely connected to another man other than the one she chose for herself.
"You better not accept this invitation." She muttered quietly so no one could hear her.
Then, with the calm yet ominous sounds of her heels hitting the ground, she disappeared beyond the veil of darkness like a nocturnal predator ready for his hunt.
****************************
"....what is this?" Leon said with his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.
It had been exactly two hours since they entered the dungeon and so they met dozens of monsters inside. This dungeon seemed to be a Naga's dungeon.
They are creatures that resemble snakes but with upper bodies similar to that of humans. They have two arms similar to that of a human and even weapons to fight with.
At first glance, Leon thought it was going to be a hard journey down the dungeon. But, he could never be more wrong.
What ensued in that place was nothing short of a massacre. Acht and Tania easily obliterated the Nagas as if they were nothing worth mentioning.
Leon took a look around him for a brief moment before he averted his eyes as he felt the urge to throw up reach his throat.
Dozens of corpses and snakeheads were everywhere. They were all either decapitated cleanly or chopped to pieces. Some of them even had some crystal-like objects plunged into every part of their bodies like a cursed art piece. The place was so bloody that it was extremely hard to find a clean place to stand on.
"Did you collect their soul stones?" Acht asked Tania.
She showed him her hands that were filled with soul stones and then threw them in her storage ring.
"We will split them later," he said as he looked at the deeper parts of the dungeon.
Acht felt the difficulty of the opponents become harder as they went inside more. They were still pretty easy to kill since they were brainless monsters with immature fighting skills but that made him wary of what kind of boss he would find at the end.
The trio then continued walking with Leon keeping a distance from the two as he walked timidly. Every small sound would make him jolt in his place with fear.
"You are a very weird person, I might say." Acht suddenly spoke to Leon.
"H-How is that?"
"The way you've been acting since the moment we met is proof that you have never faced any dangerous situation in your life. How did you pass the first phase of the hunter exam?"
Leon felt his cheeks become as red as an apple. He felt shameful that he was seen as a coward because of his stupid fear.
It was indeed true, he had never faced any danger in his life. In fact, except for some light training from time to time, he had never been that fond of getting stronger. He was the 6th child of the king so the chances of him becoming the heir to the throne are next to none. So, what's the point of training when all he could do is sit down and watch his other siblings bask in the glory.
That was why he found a shelter in reading books and experimenting with objects and animals. He even had a small laboratory in his room that he was in almost 24/7.
But, his father didn't want him to stay like that and tarnish his name so he decided that he will at least get a hunter's license so he could at least reduce the judging looks people had for him.
"....I just got pulled into it...." He answers without explaining anything.
'Father said that I should only stay here for a few days then leave since it would appear suspicious if I passed all the tests without even participating.'
As they were conversing like this. They heard a sound coming from the darkness ahead of them.
It was similar to the hissing of Nagas except it was a notch louder.
Acht extended his head as a signal for them to stop. Tania had already created a crystal and was floating in her hand waiting for the monster to appear.
Then, out of the darkness, a huge Naga came out. It was way bigger than the others. But, what made it even more surprising is one single thing that Acht noticed.
"Tania, use your crystal immediately. This isn't the dungeon boss." He shouted some commands as he dashed toward it.
The creature held a great sword on its shoulder. Then, it clenched its fists on the blade and swung it down with a strong force.
*Boom*
The land beneath Acht crumbled to dust as the sword hit it, barely missing Acht by a few inches.
He then looked above and saw a small object fly toward the Naga's eye, piercing it cleanly.
"SSSSSSSSS!" The monster cried in pain as it lost its balance.
Acht used that chance and jumped on top of the creature. Then, he pierced its other eye. Blood splattered everywhere and the Naga was already rendered into a motionless monster.
The sword had pierced its brain so it died immediately.
Acht then jumped down and wiped a stain of blood on his face.
'There is something suspicious about this place. A monster of that size should've been the boss. Yet, it seems to be nothing but a mob. We need to be careful.'
(A//N: We finally got the contract. Thanks for your support <3 )
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