Hero of Darkness
Hero of Darkness - Chapter 19: Settling the Grudge

As the attackers stood rooted on the spot, comprehending the meaning of Kahn's response, a loud voice rang behind their back.

"Gyaahhh!!!" suddenly the men heard an agonizing yell that came exactly from the direction where their comrade had run off to.

Just as they turned their heads back towards Kahn, the man in front of them had already disappeared from their sight.

"Above you!" a loud voice came and the remaining men saw a man leaping in their direction above their heads.

But before the two men standing beside Illya could even react, their bodies were slashed vertically by two giant claws, ripping apart their bodies and their leather armor in two.

A gory scene of two mutilated bodies, having their torn entrails, bones, and mangled flesh lying on the ground in a puddle of red blood took place in just an instant.

Illya, who was the only man remaining from the group of attackers was trembling in fear as a stream of hot liquid leaked out from his crotch..

Kahn looked at Illya, totally disappointed at the sight in front of him.

At least the other men died with dignity..

"Le.. let.. me go." said Illya with an aghast expression on his face. Even uttering a single word was hard for him in front of the monster standing next to him.

"And invite all the trouble of you leaking everything about this incident to everyone in the city? You think I'm stupid?" Kahn mocked the man who thought he still had a chance to stay alive after everything that has happened.

"If you kill me.. My brother will find you. And your death will be very painful. He's one of the strongest people in the city. Nobody dares to fight him one on one." said Illya, trying to weasel his way out using his mighty brother's reputation, who was the leader of the Groundhog Adventurer team.

At this, rather than thinking about the consequences; Kahn quickly grabbed Illya's throat with his right hand and squeezed his sharp claw. He took away the sword Illya was holding and threw it away with his left claw.

"Don't worry.. If he finds trouble with me, I'll send your brother to meet you in the afterlife." Kahn whispered close to Illya's ear and tightened his clutch.

Illya tried to wriggle his body and struggled to break free from Kahn's claws but in front of this ferocious monster, his attempts proved futile. The light in his eyes dimmed and his body finally lost all its ability to stand.. Dead as a rock.

Kahn threw away the lifeless body and wandered around his surroundings again. To see if he left any witnesses alive.

Just then, Omega returned with his mouth and snout stained with fresh blood and he threw the head of the adventurer who ran towards Kahn's feet.

"Who's a good boy?.. You are!" Kahn smiled as he petted Omega's head.

"Now.. Time for a small meal. You're hungry, right?" Kahn asked as he started walking towards the dead bodies and put his hands on them.

"Absorb!"

Kahn went through them one by one and started absorbing all the useful skills of these ambushers.

"Truly pathetic!" Kahn snorted as he finally finished absorbing the skills and abilities of the dead people.

"Apart from the Assassins and the Mage, none of these idiots had any useful skills." Kahn said furiously as if all his efforts in killing these people went in vain.

"System, show me all the skills & abilities I gained just now." Kahn commanded.

[Host has learned the following abilities :

Stealth (D Rank)

Fireball (C Rank)

Fort Wall (D Rank)

Shooting Accuracy (D Rank)

Mastery in Close Combat Techniques raised.

The host has unlocked the following Combat Skills :

Vital strike

Dash

High leap

All the abilities 20% mastery at Master Rank]

"Useless.. The way these guys were acting, I thought they'd at least have some decent skills." Kahn sighed as he started ripping apart the bodies of these men and took out their cores situated inside their hearts.

"Garbage!" Kahn almost threw away the core he held in his hand. Because unlike the bright red cores he got from hunting even the most normal monsters in the forest, the cores of these adventurers were very dim and didn't even give any shine at all. Kahn could easily tell that their cores were very weak. Not even worth taking a glance at.

"Omega, eat them up. Make sure to tear their limbs with your fangs and claws. And the cores are all yours as well." Kahn said as he didn't want to leave any traces that'd lead suspicions at him.

Because sooner or later, these dead people would be declared missing and someone would investigate the matter. And eventually, they'd come looking for him as he had a small quarrel with the blonde guy in front of so many witnesses in Adventurers Association.

That's why he only attacked these people with his claws alone without using any weapon and told Omega to rip apart their bodies while he ate them. So that it would look like these people were killed by some strong monster inside the desolate trees. No one would suspect a thing.

Kahn couldn't even loot their weapons or any money these people had on their person as that too would arouse suspicion and eventually create unnecessary trouble for Kahn. He was no noob like those reincarnated MCs who made these rookie mistakes and left a trail behind.

Kahn waited for 20 minutes as Omega was having a hearty meal of blood, flesh and cores.

After he was done, Kahn ran through the woods and went towards the direction of the opposite gate instead of the one he exited the city. Even with his Sprinter ability, it still took him an hour to reach the other end of the city. He was back to the exact gate where he entered the city the first time.

Kahn got in the queue of the people going in. And as his turn came, the city guards stopped him.

"Identification." said the same city guard from the morning.

"Brother.. I don't have one. I lost all my belongings a few days ago." said Kahn sheepishly.

"No identification, no entry!" said the guard in an upright manner.

"Why don't I tell you my terrible experience 2 days ago if you have the time. We can talk there in the corner." Kahn said in a hushed voice.

The guard gave him an understanding gaze, he signaled another guard to take his place as he walked towards a corner away from the gazes of people.

Kahn pulled out the money he got from selling the monster cores this noon in Adventurers Association. The pouch was even twice the size of what Nikola had gives the guards this morning when they entered the city.

"Brother, I hope you can ignore my sorry situation. Here's a small gesture of goodwill for your kind and understanding nature." said Kahn as he tucked the coin pouch in the guard's pockets.

"I see. You're a very generous person. It will be too heartless of me to leave a man like you outside of city walls which aren't safe at night." the guard said with a grin on his face as he felt up the big pouch of coins.

Kahn nodded and entered the city again.

He had to find the Black Griffin merchant enterprise now as it was the only reliable place he could stay at.

Kahn bought another set of clothes and boots from a store and threw away the old ones in a sewer, so no one could recognize him from the clothes either if there came a time of some unknown witness linking him to the murder.

This time, Kahn bought a white shirt and gray pants with reddish boots. He strode around the city as it was already getting dark.

Since he was still new to the city, he had to ask many people for directions. After another hour of painstaking search, he finally stood in front of the Merchant Enterprise building.

Only now did he understood the extent of Nikola & Elanev's prestige. Because the building in front of him was damn huge. 3 stories building which was no smaller than a castle. Plenty of Merchants and common people including many mixed-race humanoid demihumans were barging in & leaving out.

As soon as he entered the building, he heard a voice.

"There you are! I thought you won't be able to find our location." said Elanev who had a bright smile on his face.

"Yeah, I got lost a few times. This city is too big for my taste." laughed Kahn as he shook Elanev's hand.

"I heard you had some trouble at the Association. People told us when we asked about where you went." said Elanev with a worrying gaze.

"Nothing big. Just some rich guy picking up on me for no reason. All matters have been settled already." replied Kahn with a nonchalant face.

After that, Kahn and Elanev had a delicious meal in the private quarters of the Merchant Enterprise. Kahn finally tasted some decent food and not just roasted meat of monsters who always made him wary of having food poisoning.

To Kahn's surprise, the food was extremely delicious and full of various spices he never tasted during his previous life. He ate voraciously like a barbarian who was starving for weeks.

This put Elanev in a complicated mood.

[Poor guy, he didn't even eat anything since the morning. He must not have any money on him either.] Thought Elanev as he looked at his savior who was straight up gulping down the solid food without even chewing it properly.

After they finished their dinner. Kahn was led to a nice room with decent furniture and finally...

A BED!

Metaphorical tears dropped from Kahn's eyes as he was finally going to sleep on a bed and not some tree trunk or leaves like he had in the forest.

Elanev's chest constricted after looking at Kahn.

[Poor guy.. He probably never slept on a bed before.] he thought as he imagined Kahn sleeping on the ground and rocks.

"Take rest and find me if you need something. My room is in the next wing. I'll see you tomorrow." said Elanev and left with a heavy heart.

Kahn closed the door of the room and jumped in the fluffy bed!

[This is life!]

He thought and relieved all the tension he had in his body.

Suddenly, a plan emerged in his mind. He let out a devious smirk as he fell asleep hugging the soft cushions and looked like a baby sleeping soundly

"Sorry, Nikola and Elanev.. But I'm going to use you guys to earn a lot of money and reputation in the city."

Because the next day, he was going to become an Adventurer.