Chapter 37: Greed
As Zayn had already expected, the Adventurers who had been sent to the Undead Caves were merely sacrificed. These sacrifices had been created by the people from the Adventurer Hall of the small town.
It was a mission that had been given by their God, whoever that may be.
Zayn couldn't really understand why a God, an existence that was supposed to guide mankind to return to their former glory, would ask his Blessed to sacrifice others to the Undead, but it showed quite clearly that the Gods were not always on the side of the humans.
Not all Gods were good or generous and they only cared about the end result. That was what Zayn had figured from the experience he gained throughout the last few years.
'I should continue to listen…right?' Zayn wondered while he was hiding behind a small building as he continued to eavesdrop on the conversation between the crying Blessed of Phillip's group and the other Blessed, whom Zayn presumed to be the best friend of the crying man.
It was hard to understand the gibberish being uttered by the crying, and dead-drunk Blessed but the pieces of the puzzle were slowly fitting in, allowing Zayn to figure out the big picture.
'The Undead will leave the caves soon now that Phillip's mission has been completed…the team mission rewards will be given later and their value will be in accordance to the destruction caused by the Undead…? They're going to bulldoze the towns…'
Even if Zayn had already expected the situation to be bad, he was still astonished because he didn't think it would be THAT bad.
He didn't know the exact number of Undead living in the Caves and neither was Zayn aware of how strong the strongest Undead in the Caves was, but it was already enough to know that Phillip, his father, and the other Blessed from the same God had viciously hunted the monsters living in the surrounding areas, injuring them severely before sacrificing them inside the Undead Caves.
They had been given various missions to sacrifice humans as well, which was what Phillip did without guilt or unease as he wanted his Stigma to enlarge by hook or crook. He was the one who brought the C-rank Adventurer team to the Undead Caves and he was rewarded according to the effort he put in to convince the C-rank Adventurer team to solve the Undead Caves' mystery.
Zayn's eyes turned sharper and ice-cold the longer he listened to the miserable Blessed who didn't even have a single credible reason to follow Phillip and his father. He and the others had been blinded by their own greed and he was only afraid now that things were getting out of hand.
The Blessed was drunk and thus more emotional. If not for him drinking way beyond his limit, he might not even have told his best friend to flee.
"That bastard…" Zayn cursed under his breath as his fist clenched.
He didn't feel any pity for the miserable figure of the crying, drunk Blessed who was brought back to his place by his best friend.
The best friend was also a Blessed but he would have never accepted the same mission as his drunk friend had done under the influence of greed.
"Paul…just what did you do…'' Paul's friend mumbled while supporting him. He entered the small house and put Paul, the crying Blessed, down on the bed.
He didn't know what else to say or what to do after the confession of his best friend. Paul had always been a good guy, but lately, he seemed to have deviated from the right track. The more time he spent with Phillip and his people, the bigger and more noticeable the changes became. Paul got arrogant just because he was close to finishing the creation of his first Soulring.
His advancement had been rapid and everything made sense now.
"You really sacrificed other Adventurers just to become stronger…you would have never done that….why…?" The best friend asked but his friend was too drunk to formulate a coherent response. This caused him to quietly curse, "...fucking idiot…"
After he cursed Paul, he left the simple wooden house. He had to rush to his wife and little kid to pack up and leave as quickly as possible.
Paul didn't know when the Undead would attack, which meant that they had to leave as quickly as possible. As for what happened to Paul. his best friend couldn't really think about that right now.
Paul should face responsibility for his actions. Whether he would overcome the hurdles that would be thrown his way or not was up to his fate and courage. It was not something his best friend could decide for him.
As his best friend, he wished the best for Paul, but he couldn't forgive his actions. That was a very grave matter which tore apart the heart of the man who had fully sobered up.
Only when Paul's best friend had left did the sleepy Blessed mutter in his sleep.
"Power…rules…everything."
Zayn had followed the two Blessed inside the house and hid behind the door while listening to everything in silence. He heard everything even the three words the Blessed, Paul, spoke in his sleep.
Paul had stopped crying and he was sleeping soundly as Zayn stepped out of the darkness.
'Looks like you can sleep soundly after what you've done,' He thought to himself as he walked through the small house. Zayn made his way straight to the Blessed whom he stared at in silence.
Paul didn't seem to realize that someone was still in his room as he continued to sleep soundly.
'You were just acting, weren't you? Your friend might be important to you but there is not an ounce of regret in your actions. Blinded by greed, you did whatever it took to become stronger…' Zayn thought in his mind as he slowly unsheathed his silver iron shortsword.
A soft hiss rang through the room as the shortsword was pulled out of the leather sheath, which should have been loud enough to wake up the Blessed.
However, he remained sound asleep which caused Zayn to frown deeply as he stabbed the shortsword mercilessly in the neck of the Blessed.
"...in that case, you shouldn't even be able to say something if I do exactly the same!" He announced just before the eyes of the Blessed flew wide open.
"Nooo…I don't—..."
Chapter 38: Satisfaction
Zayn didn't show any mercy to the crying, drunkard Blessed. He drove the shortsword deeper inside the man's neck before he twisted the blade, ending the man's life.
He stared at Paul for a few seconds before he pulled the blade out of the body.
"I thought that I would feel worse, but this is much easier than drawing my first blood," Zayn mumbled as he compared his first monster kill with the murder of a fellow human.
The Frenzy Antelopes didn't kill dozens of Adventurers with tricky schemes and no mercy. In fact, it was not unlikely that the Frenzy Antelopes had never killed a human. Paul was the exact opposite. He led Adventurers to their death without feeling the slightest bit of remorse.
Only when things got out of his hand and he was dead drunk did he approach his friend, telling him to run away. Paul's words had been coated with nothing but sugary lies.
If having killed fellow Adventurers was not bad already, not feeling the slightest remorse was worse. It was quite obvious that he would have continued to kill other humans as long as they were given the System Missions with adequate rewards.
Paul was just a marionette to the Gods, who willingly offered himself at that!
Zayn couldn't stand people like Paul. They did whatever it took to fulfill their goals, no matter who suffered or died due to the aftermath of their actions. All of that, just because they were blinded by greed.
These people were just like him!
He may not be exactly like those people but he could tell that his entire being was overwhelmed by greed and the desire to grow stronger. His desire was built upon the foundation of his arrogance, the fact that he possessed fragmented memories of the past, and because he was a weak Normie, someone who was not accepted by society's standards!
However, Zayn didn't kill Paul due to the dislike he harbored for him. Zayn ended Paul's life because even he had certain principles and a line he didn't want to cross…a line nobody should ever cross in their life, no matter what happened!
Whether that meant not blindly following someone and doing what they say, or not nourishing an Army of the Undead in the central region of the human territory didn't matter. It was just a fact that Paul had crossed the line…and he was not the only one who crossed it!
Zayn had grasped the Soul Wisp of Paul and he devoured the soul particles attached to it in an instant.
His bones made loud creaking noises as hundreds of soul particles flooded inside him. The amount of soul particles he had received exceeded the soul particles stored in the two small and tiny Soul Shards he procured until today.
"So that is what I can get from an existence who was about to finish creating their first Soulring?" Zayn mumbled while forcing his body to accept the soul particles as quickly as possible.
If he had the necessary time, he would just use the soul particles to strengthen the soulframe of his first Soulring. But because he didn't have any time to waste right now, Zayn didn't remain idle.
He walked through the house and took a few things for himself. There weren't many things he could carry right now but that was not necessary, to begin with. Paul didn't have many valuable things, either way.
Of course, that excluded his small treasure trove of a pouch where several gold thalers had been hidden.
Zayn couldn't be sure if someone without a single Soulring had gotten his hand on such a fortune before but the answer was quite simple.
The Blessed didn't buy any expensive equipment, let alone an expensive house or furniture. A house and furniture was wasted money if the town was going to get bulldozed, either way.
As for the equipment, it wouldn't make sense for someone at Paul's rank to suddenly get his hands on Artifacts. It would arouse suspicion which was why he hoarded the money he procured from the Adventurers he had killed and stashed it inside his home.
Their equipment was sold at the Adventurer Hall where nobody would ask questions, especially since the Cerk family was the head of this town's Adventurer Hall.
"That money doesn't even belong to you…and you don't need it anymore, either way…thanks for your patronage!" Zayn said while fastening the pouch with gold thalers to his belt. He looked at the lifeless body of the Blessed who had been dead-drunk not too long ago and shook his head.
'You guys chose the wrong time to celebrate…you should only celebrate when it's already over!'
Zayn left the house after making sure that he got his hands on the most valuable things, which was basically the pouch with enough gold thalers to build a house in a different town, and create a big family that could survive for two or three generations, he made his way back to the darkness of the town.
As for his next designation, it was the same old Adventurer Inn he left not too long ago.
Killing the miserably drunk Paul didn't bring him joy, but it gave him a weird sensation of satisfaction.
His strength increased significantly after absorbing the soul particles of the Blessed's Soul Wisp and Zayn clearly got to understand that Paul would never be able to harm anyone anymore.
That didn't mean Zayn was better in any way as he had killed a fellow human as well.
The reason why they killed their own kind was different but did that really matter?
Zayn didn't feel guilty…and it was not as if he was done, either!
When he stepped through the familiar door of the Adventurer Inn, he was immediately greeted by a familiar scenery.
Everyone was drunk beyond reason, except the Innkeeper, his wife, and the server. They were still working hard but it looked like the situation was slowly changing.
The server looked a little bit uncomfortable, especially the women. Zayn calmly walked over to the counter where he returned to the same seat he had been sitting on before Paul's fiasco. The Innkeeper tried to force a smile on his face as he saw him removing his mask, just to sigh deeply.
"Don't take it the wrong way, but you should leave for today. Let me give you some good food tomorrow, but just retire to your room for the rest of the night…" He said even before Zayn could order something to drink.
Zayn looked at the Innkeeper whose eyes scanned through different tables, and his body reacted subconsciously by turning around to take a look at the situation that was slowly unfolding around him.
'I think I can work with that,' He thought, his eyes glowing faintly as they focused on the female server who was being eyed by many men.
Chaos was about to ensue and Zayn knew that he would enjoy it thoroughly.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
0 Power
stone 
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