Chapter 710 Do You Know Who I Fucking Am?

She was gone.

Voss rushed after her and reached the doorway just in time to see her figure disappearing into the distance.

His eyes widened.

"Oh no."

He looked toward Mira.

"This is bad."

Then he turned back toward the street.

"Very bad."

Whoosh!

Irina crossed the distance with terrifying speed.

The village blurred around her as she sprinted forward, her long dark hair streaming behind her. She did not slow down for obstacles, did not look toward the villagers who turned in shock at the sudden movement, and did not care who saw her.

Her entire world had narrowed down to one thought.

Liam.

Three seconds.

That was all it took.

Two hundred metres disappeared beneath her feet.

Irina finally stopped.

Her boots dug into the ground as she came to a sudden halt directly in front of Eldric’s house.

For a moment, everything was silent.

The house stood exactly as it always had.

Dark.

Quiet.

Unwelcoming.

Irina’s hands clenched.

Her eyes became cold.

She stepped toward the door.

Bam!

The entire house shook.

Her fist remained against the wooden surface for a moment before she pulled it back.

Bam!

The second strike was even stronger.

Dust fell from the roof.

The door rattled violently inside its frame.

Irina stood there, her expression completely devoid of hesitation.

"Eldrick!"

Her voice was quiet.

But the killing intent surrounding her was anything but.

Eldric opened the door with a smile on his face.

The moment Irina saw that smile, she moved.

Whoosh!

She strode forward with such terrifying speed that Eldric barely had time to register her presence before her hand shot toward his throat. Her fingers closed around his neck, and in the next instant his back slammed against the wall with enough force to make the wooden structure tremble.

For Eldric, the transition happened in the blink of an eye.

One moment he had been standing in the doorway.

The next, he was across the room with Irina’s hand wrapped tightly around his neck, her body pressed close enough that he could feel the fury radiating from her. Yet somehow, despite the crushing grip around his throat, the smile never left his face.

Not even for a second.

"Where is Liam?"

Irina’s voice was frighteningly cold.

There was no shouting.

No trembling.

No hesitation.

Her face was dead cold as she stared directly into Eldric’s eyes, her fingers tightening around his neck until the skin beneath them began to redden.

Eldric simply smiled.

He did not answer.

Irina’s eyes narrowed.

"I asked you where Liam is."

Still nothing.

Only that infuriating smile.

Her patience snapped.

"I swear I will rip your head clean off if you don’t tell me where Liam is!"

For the first time, Eldric’s smile widened.

Then he laughed.

"Ahahahaha..."

The sound echoed through the room.

Irina’s grip tightened.

Eldric’s laughter suddenly became louder.

"Do it..."

His eyes gleamed.

"Do it..."

His hands remained completely relaxed at his sides as he leaned his neck further into her grasp.

"DO IT!"

His shout exploded directly into her face.

Irina’s expression hardened.

Eldric pushed his throat even further against her hand, almost deliberately making it easier for her to kill him.

"Do it," he repeated, his voice filled with twisted excitement. "And you will never see Liam again."

Irina froze.

Her fingers remained around his neck, but for the first time since she had entered the house, she stopped moving.

Eldric noticed immediately.

His grin returned to its previous calm shape.

"Oh yes," he murmured. "You think I wouldn’t know about Liam following me?"

Irina’s eyes sharpened.

"You think I wouldn’t know about the rumors he spread?"

Eldric chuckled.

"The little game was almost amusing. He wanted to push me over the edge. He wanted me to return to the place where it all began. He thought if he dangled the possibility of treasure and the truth about the dome in front of me, I would become desperate enough to lead him straight to it."

His grin widened.

"But I took the bait."

Irina stared at him in disbelief.

"I went exactly where he wanted me to go."

Eldric’s eyes narrowed with satisfaction.

"But unlike him, I didn’t go unprepared."

His voice became softer.

"I had a few surprises waiting for him."

Irina’s teeth were gritted so tightly that her jaw hurt.

Her anger had reached a level she had rarely experienced in her life.

She wanted to tear him apart.

She wanted to squeeze until the smug expression disappeared from his face.

She wanted to make him experience even a fraction of the suffering he had inflicted upon Mira and everyone else in Elaris.

Yet she couldn’t.

Not now.

Because Liam’s life was hanging over every decision she made.

That was what made Eldric so infuriating.

He knew exactly where to strike.

He knew exactly what she cared about.

And he was using Liam as a shield.

Eldric slowly raised one hand.

His fingers wrapped around Irina’s wrist.

Then, with surprising calmness, he gently pulled her hand away from his neck.

There was no struggle.

No dramatic display of strength.

Just an almost insulting level of confidence.

Irina allowed him to remove her hand, but her eyes never left his.

Eldric straightened his clothes as though nothing had happened.

Then he leaned slightly toward her.

"Touch a single hair on my body one more time," he said softly, "and I promise you, the next time you hear from Liam will be his body lying at the front of your door."

Irina’s pupils contracted.

Eldric smiled.

He stepped past her.

Slowly.

Deliberately.

As though he wanted her to understand that he no longer considered her a threat.

He walked toward his chair, pulled it back, and sat down comfortably.

The same chair.

The same room.

The same man who had once stood before them pretending to be nothing more than a concerned village elder.

Eldric rested one arm against the chair and looked at Irina with an almost casual expression.

"So..."

His grin returned.

"Where is my wife?"

Irina’s eyes immediately became colder.

"Don’t you dare call her that."

Eldric raised an eyebrow.

Irina stepped closer.

"She is not your wife anymore."

Her voice carried barely restrained fury.

"She is someplace safe. Somewhere away from you."

For a moment, Eldric simply stared at her.

Then he laughed.

Loudly.

His laughter filled the room, bouncing off the walls as though Irina had just told him the funniest joke he had heard in years.

"Someplace away from me?"

He leaned forward.

"Really?"

Irina said nothing.

Eldric’s grin became almost mocking.

"There is no place away from me in this town."

The words were delivered with absolute certainty.

He leaned back into his chair.

"You still don’t understand, do you?"

His gaze traveled over Irina before returning to her eyes.

"You people came here thinking you could solve everything in a few days. You arrived, asked questions, followed shadows, found my secrets, figured out the dome, and suddenly you believed you understood what was happening."

He shook his head slowly.

"How adorable."

Irina’s hands curled into fists.

Eldric noticed.

He laughed again.

"Do you people seriously think you can stop me?"

His voice rose.

"I have been planning this for fifteen years!"

He slammed his palm against the arm of the chair.

The impact echoed through the room.

"Fifteen years!"

His eyes burned with madness.

"Fifteen years of waiting. Fifteen years of watching this village rot around me. Fifteen years of studying every weakness, every person, every possible path forward."

He pointed toward Irina.

"And then you arrive."

His expression twisted into a mocking smile.

"You think you can figure everything out in what?"

He laughed bitterly.

"Two days?"

He spread his hands.

"Three days?"

His voice became louder with every word.

"You underestimated my intelligence."

Eldric rose from the chair.

"And you will pay for it!"

The smile remained, but there was something far darker beneath it now.

"You think because you managed to discover a few things, because you rescued my wife, because Liam followed me underground, that you’ve somehow cornered me?"

He shook his head.

"No."

He stepped forward.

"You have no idea what you have stepped into."

Irina remained perfectly still.

Eldric’s voice dropped into a dangerous whisper.

"Do you know who I fucking am?"

Silence filled the room.

Eldric stared at her with a look that bordered on madness.

Then his voice erupted once more.

"Do you even have the slightest fucking idea who you’ve been challenging?"