(General POV)
"Wow. I didn't think that this would turn out any different, but to think it would happen so fast. Admittedly I'm a little underwhelmed." Said Garth as he stared at the dust cloud that had gathered at the bottom of the East Wall.
A few more moments passed by before Tione came rushing out of it, the air pressure generated by her dash parting the smoke screen as she came running towards him with her eyes blazing.
"Don't look down on us! We're not done yet!" She roared as she descended upon him with a flurry of punches and kicks.
Each impact created shockwaves that disrupted the air itself, but to her frustration it was doing nothing. He looked as if he wasn't even feeling it as he blocked with his arms, a large smile on is face as he enjoyed watching her rampage.
As she threw one last punch, he ducked under it and delivered a sharp jab to her face which sent her rocketing back into the East Wall. She buried into the rock face as the rest of her Familia members groaned and picked themselves up.
"What she said." Finn huffed as he stood up, a little bit of blood drooling out of his mouth as he breathed heavily with his spear poised. "We are one of the top Familia in Orario. Don't underestimate us!"
Garth smiled at the Pallum's spirit before he charged again.
---
An hour later, Garth was applying the last of his healing magic to Lefiya who had suffered the most out of everybody. When he finished, she sniffed imperiously and looked away.
'Bitch.' He thought as he stood up and marched away from her. Finn and Gareth were inspecting their weapons, trying to find any fault with Garth's magical fixing of them but they could find nothing.
"Again I find myself despairing that you didn't join us Garth. These spells of yours would have been so useful to us."
Like I said, you can just blame this idiot right here." Garth said as he ruffled Bete's hair.
The werewolf had suffered the most after Lefiya as spared no chance to cause him pain. At this point he was so fed up of being swatted around like a fly by Garth that he didn't even protest.
"Good boy." Garth said quietly. "Well that was fun. I'm surprised you lasted against me that long. Your endurance must be something else."
"You were a scumbag for breaking our weapons over and over again." Tione growled as she twirled her daggers around before sheathing them. "But seeing as you've restored them to perfect condition, I suppose you can be forgiven."
"I appreciate it." Garth said. "Well Finn. What are you planning to do now? On to the Great Tree Labyrinth?"
"Not today I think Garth. I believe we've all had enough of fighting today." Finn said exhaustedly, scuff marks still visible on his clothes. "I guess we'll go tomorrow instead."
"Roger that." Garth nodded. "Well, I've got other things to do, so I'll catch up with you all later."
"Yeah. See you." Finn replied as he began leading his Familia away. Ais stayed behind a little bit to wave to him with a smile on her face. Garth returned the wave and waited until they were all out of earshot.
The smile dropped from his face as his expression hardened.
"You gonna come out now or what?"
Silence followed for a moment before the air shimmered behind him and a cloaked, tall figure appeared.
"Have you been aware the whole time that I was here?" Fels asked.
"Yes. I told you before that the cloak doesn't hide you from me, so there's no point in keeping up the disguise."
"Very well. Anyway, do you have any leads?"
Garth nodded and faced the East Wall.
"Yep. It's behind there." He gestured to the cliff.
Fels stared up its great expanse before he looked around at the devastation beneath it.
"Was it necessary to cause so much collateral in a simple spar?"
"I made sure to thoroughly enjoy myself. It also served its dramatic purposes."
"Lord Ouranos did warn you about the Juggernaut mister Garth. The damage you did here could have encouraged the dungeon to release one."
"Then I would have killed it before it could do anything. Back on topic, there appears to be a hidden passage way behind the East Wall."
Fels stepped closer to the cliff face and inspected it.
"I do detect a sort of concealing magic here. But of the kind where you'd need a certain key."
"Luckily for us, we don't need one." Garth said as he stepped forward and punched the rock face. It fell away to reveal a large hidden indent that had a large metal door blocking the way into the secret passage.
Fels stepped closer and put his hands on the wall.
"This is...Orichalcum. A metal if processed right is many times harder than even adamantite. It will be tough to-"
The skeleton was interrupted as Garth punched through the door before grabbing onto it from the other side and then ripping a huge piece of the door out. Nonchalantly throwing it behind hip, he strode into the secret passage. Fels stared at him as he walked off.
"Why am I not surprised by you at this point?" Fels muttered.
---
The two continued on until they eventually came into a large cavern that was quite clearly man-made. If the huge stairs on either side was not a clear indication of that.
Much less the group o people standing beneath the middle landing while a guy in googles stood above them on the landing itself, All of those people were gaping at the two.
"Who the hell are you?!" The guy with the googles shouted.
"You recognize them Fels?" Garth said to his hooded friend.
"Indeed. They are the Ikelos Familia along with a bunch of ruffians as well. It would seem they are the ones kidnapping the Xenos and selling them off into the black market."
"Don't ignore me! Who are you morons?" Dix Perdix, the captain of the Ikelos Familia screamed.
"Oh, I'm Garth Ragnar. The level 999,999 of the Freya Familia." Garth said nonchalantly. Some of them looked taken aback as they recognized his name.
"What business do you have here in Knossos?" One of Ikelos adventurers asked. He was ignored however as Garth had other ideas.
"Hey Fels. You and Ouranos want to keep the whole Xenos thing under wraps for now right?"
"Correct."
"And these guys are criminals so they won't be sorely missed. And since they are the only ones other than us who know about this place and the Xenos, it would be alright if we just got rid of them didn't we?"
"I would suppose so."
"Good. That simplifies things." Garth said as he cracked his knuckles.
"You think you can take us all asshole?" Dix said as he brandished his spear. "I've got a cursed weapon with me you know."
"Just shut up and roll over you barking no bite" Garth yawned. "The sooner I deal with you the sooner I can get back to my stuff."
---
Dix coughed up blood as Garth's hand was buried in his gut. With a light yank, Garth ripped out his innards, intestines dripping off of his hands as he dropped the man's lifeless forms. Flicking his hand, he threw off all the blood. Some hit Fels' robe and the skeleton would have grimaced if he still had lips.
"I'd almost believe you enjoyed doing things like this mister Garth." Fels said.
"Only to scumbags. So you didn't find any monsters back there?"
"No. I didn't" Fels muttered as he gazed upon the pile of disfigured bodies lying around. One poor man was crawling with only half his body, trying desperately to get away.
"P-please, s-s-stay aw-away!" He gasped out as he tried to crawl away back to where Garth and Fels had come from.
"Are you not going to put him out of his misery?" Fels asked.
"Not just yet. Let him suffer what he did to those monsters, Then I'll give him permission to die."
Fels was severely unnerved by he'd long lost the sense of kinship with mortal flesh.
"Very well. I shall continue along this way to find out where this opens up on the other end mister Garth. I thank you for your assistance."
"No problem Fels. Don't hesitate to call on me if I have to enact another large massacre."
"Hopefully that will not be needed." Fels commented. "Goodbye Garth."
"Goodbye." He replied as he watched the skeleton walk off in the direction he knew would be Daedalus street. He turned his head to the half man that was still trying to get away. Looking around, he still found some others that were still alive.
"{SUMMON: VAMPIRE}"
A red magic circle appeared before a pale skinned woman with hollow eyes and peaking fangs rose out of it. Garth didn't bother to address her properly, turning around to walk away before she even rose out fully.
"Make them suffer as slowly and as painfully as possible." He said as he botted the crawling man back to his friends. "Only when they have died, are you permitted to eat them."
"Yes master." The Vampire replied as she picked up the man by his neck. He quivered in terror as her tongue suddenly grew longer and kicked the nervous sweat off of him.
"Hmm." She moaned. "A bit on the salty side...but I'll eat anything my master offered me." She gave him a demented smile as her eyes dilated and glowed red.
The walls of Knossos bounced the screams of men and women being torn apart alive as Garth stuck his hands in his pockets and whistled a happy tune.
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