Chapter 29: The City Lord’s Fury

Aria held the strands between her fingers, but they slipped through them and lifted again.

She frowned and turned her head. More of her silver hair was rising now, all of it slowly pulling in the same direction.

She followed where they were pointing to.

"The corpse..."

She suddenly rushed over.

Ethan was also curious about her behavior, so he followed. Aria was already kneeling beside the Wolf Boss, looking over its body with a wide smile.

"What’s with your hair?"

Aria barely heard him.

"This is great!"

She reached out and ran her hand over the thick gray fur, her eyes moving across the corpse as if she had just found something priceless.

Ethan already knew the Wolf Boss’s corpse wouldn’t disappear like the other monsters. He had cleared this dungeon before. The body was part of the dungeon’s rewards.

Aria’s silver hair continued pulling toward the Wolf Boss’s corpse.

Ethan watched it for a moment.

"Is that your talent?"

Aria hesitated before nodding.

"Yes. It’s called Silver Treasure Sense."

She lightly touched her hair, looking a little embarrassed.

"It’s an Uncommon-rank talent. It just reacts when I’m near something valuable."

Ethan nodded. He had seen talents like hers before. Most people with professions related to treasures awakened sensory-type talents through their eyes, but Silver Treasure Sense was different. In her case, it was her hair that reacted to valuable things.

His gaze returned to the Wolf Boss’s corpse.

"You’re a Treasure Hunter, aren’t you?"

Aria’s eyes widened.

"How do you know?"

"I’ve seen talents like yours before."

Aria glanced at her silver hair and sighed. "I guess it’s not that hard to figure out."

She crouched beside the corpse again, and the embarrassment on her face quickly disappeared.

Her eyes lit up as she looked over the Wolf Boss.

"But this is the first time my talent has reacted this strongly."

Before she could take a closer look, the corpse disappeared into Ethan’s inventory.

"Hey!"

Aria looked up at him.

"You just took it!"

"You can inspect it outside."

Aria frowned. "But I haven’t even..."

"We’re done here."

She clicked her tongue.

"Fine."

Ethan turned toward the exit portal that had appeared in the clearing.

"Let’s go."

Aria followed, still looking back at the Wolf Boss’s former spot.

"You’d better let me inspect it properly when we get out."

The two stepped through the portal, and the forest vanished around them.

"Lady Aria!"

Several warriors were already waiting outside. The moment they saw her, they rushed forward and pulled her away from Ethan.

"Wait, what are you..."

Aria barely finished speaking when the air around them suddenly changed.

A heavy pressure crashed down.

Ethan’s breathing stopped as his body bent under the weight. It felt like an entire mountain had been dropped onto his shoulders. His feet sank slightly into the ground.

Then a huge shadow covered him as a massive warhammer was descending from above, its size almost covering his entire field of vision.

"So you are the bastard!"

The voice came from behind the hammer.

"You pushed my daughter into a Hell difficulty dungeon."

The hammer came down.

Ethan raised both arms and poured his strength into his body.

BOOM!

The ground beneath his feet cracked as the hammer smashed into him.

"Lord!"

One of the warriors shouted, but the City Lord didn’t even look at him.

"Stay out of this."

He pulled the hammer back and stared into the dust.

"I’ll deal with the bastard myself."

The dust slowly settled.

The City Lord expected to see a corpse.

Instead, Ethan was still standing.

His clothes were torn, his hair was covered in dust, and blood was running from the corner of his mouth. Both of his arms hung strangely at his sides.

"What?"

Even Ethan looked at the scene around him in disbelief.

Hundreds of Shadow Wraiths surrounded him.

But none of them were standing.

Their bodies had been crushed beneath the hammer, fading into black particles across the ground.

At the last moment before the hammer reached him, Ethan had summoned every Shadow Wraith he could.

They had formed a shield over him and taken most of the force of the attack.

Hundreds of them had died in an instant.

Even so, they had managed to keep the hammer from crushing him directly.

Ethan coughed again, blood spilling from his lips as he slowly raised his head to see who attacked him.

A middle-aged man stood a short distance away, holding a massive warhammer in one hand.

Ethan recognized him immediately.

It was the City Lord.

He had seen this man many times in his previous life. He was a Level 40 Warhammer Warrior who ruled this city with an iron fist.

But there was one thing Ethan had never known.

His daughter was Aria.

In his previous life, Ethan had never met her. He had only heard later that she had been killed by the Laughing Fiends.

His gaze shifted toward Aria, who was being held back by the warriors.

So that’s why. His involvement had changed things.

The City Lord’s voice brought him back.

"Honestly, I don’t care how you survived."

He raised the warhammer again.

"If one hammer isn’t enough, then I’ll use another."

"Wait!"

Aria struggled against the warriors holding her back. "Father, listen! He didn’t..."

"Lady Aria, please stay back!"

The warriors tightened their grip and pulled her away.

"Let me go! Father!"

The warhammer was already above Ethan’s head.

He wasn’t going to stand there and wait for death.

Against a Level 40 opponent, he needed every Shadow Wraith he had.

"Come out!"

The space around Ethan suddenly filled with black shadows as Ethan summoned all the shadow wraiths from his legion space.

"Shadow Bind!"

Hundreds of Shadow Wraiths attacked at the same time.

The shadows beneath them suddenly stretched toward the descending warhammer, climbing over its handle and head before wrapping around it tightly.

More shadows spread across the ground and pulled against the hammer from every direction.

The warhammer’s descent slowed.

But it was still coming down.