"Thirty-two people, huh… If I chase them one by one, some might escape my perception range once they get far enough."
Charlie's eyes scanned the darkness of the surrounding desert. His Six Eyes tracked every energy signature of the fleeing figures.
"Letting scum like them live would only bring tragedy to innocent people. They're a cancer that needs to be burned out to its roots."
His fight against Maxim had lasted only about a minute. But for the Evilus, fueled by adrenaline and fear, one minute was enough to flee hundreds of meters into the vast desert darkness.
Though they were only Level 1, adventurers' speed and stamina surpassed the limits of normal humans from Charlie's previous life; they were clearly faster than Usain Bolt.
"Honestly, I wanted to give them a death filled with terror, to make them feel the despair they inflicted on their victims."
Charlie was slightly disappointed but quickly revised his thoughts.
"Whatever. A sudden death right after they thought they saw hope… that's not so bad either. A fleeting illusion of safety before total oblivion."
*SWISH!*
His body slowly rose from the ground, levitating weightlessly to a height of about ten meters. From here, the slaughterfield below was clear, but his focus was on the distant points moving away.
*BUZZ!*
The air around him began to tremble. One by one, orbs of light the size of watermelons formed.
They floated around Charlie like planets orbiting a sun, exactly thirty-two in number, matching the remaining Evilus.
Their bright, pure light illuminated the surrounding area with a dazzling glow, a stark contrast to the desert night's darkness, like a beautiful man-made constellation.
"Arcs Ray."
*SWOOSH!* *SWOOSH!* *SWOOSH!*
Instantly, the thirty-two orbs reacted. Each orb fired a thin, bright, deadly laser beam in a different direction.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
In the distance, a man with a wounded thigh—a remnant of the brief battle—ran gasping, pushing himself to the limit.
He had heard the screams of death behind him, spurring his adrenaline.
(I need to get farther! Farther!) he thought wildly.
He climbed a small sand dune and glanced back.
No one was chasing him.
A spark of hope began to grow in his frozen heart.
"I… I made it? I'm safe?"
A thin, wild smile started to spread across his dirty face.
*SWOOSH!*
At that moment, a white laser beam pierced the darkness from the distant city.
*PU-CHI!*
It struck so fast his mind couldn't even react. The beam pierced straight through the center of his chest.
A brief, intense heat.
His smile froze, and his vision blurred.
His body, still standing at the dune's peak, swayed and tumbled down, dead without knowing what hit him.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Elsewhere, a woman hiding behind a large rock held her breath, listening in fear.
(Is that monster not chasing me?)
Her heart pounded. Slowly, she peeked from behind the rock.
(Maybe… maybe I—)
*PU-CHI!*
A laser beam pierced her skull from above, entering through the crown and exiting through her chin.
She never realized what happened. Her body collapsed beside the rock she'd used as cover.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
And so, one by one, across various parts of the desert, at varying distances from the city, the thirty-two who thought they'd escaped hell met their sudden, unheralded ends.
A flash of light in the night, a brief searing heat, and then… nothingness.
None escaped.
None survived.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Charlie still hovered in the air, his Six Eyes confirming that every energy signature of the fleeing figures had been extinguished.
The remaining orbs of light faded slowly, and darkness reclaimed the desert, as if hiding the evidence of the judgment that had just taken place.
*CLAP!* *CLAP!* *CLAP!* *CLAP!*
As Charlie descended and landed on the ground, he was greeted by the sound of applause.
"Excellent!"
The voice carried genuine yet chilling admiration.
"You killed them all in just fifteen minutes. And you did it without blinking, without hesitation, and with absolute efficiency. You're the perfect cold-blooded killer."
The speaker was the sole surviving member of the Whiro Familia: their patron god, Whiro himself.
Whiro sat casually on his throne of bones, as if the pile of corpses around him was beautiful decor.
His handsome face showed no anger or sorrow over the massacre of his entire Familia. Instead, his dark eyes gleamed with deep interest.
"Young man, what's your name?" he asked, brimming with curiosity.
"Charlie Avalon." Charlie replied curtly.
There was no fear or reverence in his voice when facing a god.
Whiro furrowed his smooth brow, as if trying to recall something.
"Hmm… This is the first time I've heard that name. Strange. I know the names of all Level 5 and above adventurers in Orario."
He narrowed his eyes, studying Charlie from head to toe.
"Based on the strength you just showed, you're at least Level 6, maybe even Level 7."
Whiro made a mistaken judgment. In his mind, a Level 5 adventurer could cause trouble for his Familia, but only to a certain extent. Wiping out 200 members—including four Level 3s and a Level 4—single-handedly?
Only a Level 6 or Level 7 could do that.
"…"
Charlie stayed silent. He saw no need to correct the misinformation. Let the other party speculate.
"By the way, that magic you used to hunt down the runners… That was Arcs Ray, Lefiya Viridis's spell, wasn't it? A magic that fires energy bursts that can change trajectory to hit their target."
"Kid, are you from the Loki Familia?"
Whiro drew another conclusion based on the only clue he had.
"No. I'm not with the Loki Familia. I'm from the Hera Familia." Charlie denied without hesitation.
"IMPOSSIBLE!"
Hearing that name, Whiro leapt from his throne. His previously relaxed and impressed demeanor shifted dramatically to exaggerated shock.
There was no helping it. The names Hera Familia and Zeus Familia carried immense weight, even for the boldest Evilus. For nearly a millennium, the Evilus had been forced to operate in the shadows like sewer rats, suppressed by the hegemony of Orario's two most powerful Familias in history.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that the names Zeus Familia and Hera Familia caused collective PTSD among the Evilus.
"If you said you were from the Zeus Familia, I might believe you. But Hera Familia? Impossible! Hera only accepts women into her Familia! That's a rule she's never broken in a thousand years!"
Whiro stared sharply at Charlie, as if trying to spot a lie on his cold face.
"You know I'm telling the truth."
Charlie's simple words silenced Whiro instantly.
Lower World beings couldn't lie to gods. The moment they tried, a god would know immediately. It was basic common sense. In detecting lies, gods were far more reliable than the most advanced lie detectors.
And Whiro sensed no deception in Charlie's words.
(That means… This white-haired young man before me… is truly a member of the Hera Familia?)