BXBX NOVEL Chapter 89 Hero's Team
"Oh... sorry, I didn\'t expect you\'d react like that," Adam apologized, waiting for her to recover.
Once Mary regained her ability to speak, she took a deep breath and shifted her stance. Faking a cough, she put on a serious expression and began her report.
"Today, there weren\'t as many tasks as usual. I focused on recruiting city guards, those who had passed the physical and written tests beforehand. We\'ve welcomed twenty recruits into service, currently being trained by guards from Avalonia." Mary smiled and moved closer to Adam. "In short, the training of the guards is progressing smoothly, without any incidents so far. Most people, upon seeing the guards from Avalonia, decided not to mess with us and left the city."
Mary\'s monologue concluded with her summarizing the decrease in crime in the city. While the Amaranthine guards managed their duties, their numbers were limited, and Adam didn\'t want to invest too much resources and time into regular citizens. Hence, some crimes were ignored until a direct complaint reached the city guard.
Though harsh, Adam couldn\'t care for everyone all at once, leading to this situation. However, with the help of Avalonian guards, he paid more attention to protecting ordinary citizens, strengthening security.
"Good job, dear. Thank you for your hard work, and everyone\'s hard work," Adam affectionately smiled, speaking those words with tenderness and care. "Many things wouldn\'t have been possible without your help. So, I\'ll continue to rely on all of you."
His heartfelt speech was met with warm and loving smiles from most of the women, who hugged and drew close to him. Out of the corner of his eye, Adam noticed Ekaterina hesitating, whom he also pulled into an embrace.
Closing his eyes and feeling the warmth of his women, their love and care, Adam thought, "Perhaps this is a reward for my suffering in my past life? I think I need to try my best to protect those I love."
At that moment, Adam felt a sense of relief. Unbeknownst to him, most of the spheres containing sad memories burst, disappearing into the darkness of his consciousness, leaving only practical knowledge. There was no longer "Adam Harris, the human." Now he was simply "Adam," or more precisely, the "demon Adam."
***
Deep within the searing volcano, where the earth rumbled under the pressure of molten flows and the air was imbued with the spirit of fiery fury, stood a massive, ominous castle. Its black towers and battlements pierced the backdrop of blazing red skies, like doomed sentinels of hell.
The castle\'s contours seemed distorted as if it were born from nightmares, forged in burning iron, and coated in the dust of ages. The walls, shrouded in the mist of hot gases, exuded menace, and the dark windows stared into the night like the eyes of a stern monster.
Along narrow, gloomy corridors, the mournful moans of ghosts reverberated, like whispers of victims who left their mark in this accursed place. Shadows danced in the light of sinister torches, as if lifeless souls sought a path to rest, an eternal reprieve they would never find.
The acrid scents of sulfur and searing hot rock permeated the air, creating a sensation of painful weight in the lungs. The scorching wind, carrying the scents of destruction and molten metal, swept through the castle\'s darkness, like an unpleasant exhalation of the earth itself.
Sounds of volcanic flows and grinding stones created a somber melodic backdrop, enhancing an atmosphere of threat and peril. This castle, situated within the mouth of the volcano, seemed like a stone embodiment of a nocturnal nightmare, consuming everything around in its greed and darkness.
Yet, despite this, the castle effortlessly withstood the lava flows and resisted the heat. And though one might assume the castle had long been abandoned, astonishment would arise from within, as life thrived within its walls. The constant thuds against the stone floors of its corridors, the clash of metal as several groups of unknown beings fought amongst themselves.
Upon closer inspection, one could see that it was a group of four people— one man and three women— facing off against five monsters whose appearance indicated they weren\'t inclined towards intellectual discourse, ready to kill human opponents.
"Damn it!" Suddenly, a loud shout rang out, captivating attention and inducing a moment of relaxation, as if possessed of strange magic.
The voice belonged to a beautiful woman dressed in the garb of a nun. Her delicate fingers moved gracefully in the air, and with simple gestures, she controlled streams of water and light, which transformed into sharp spears in flight, piercing into the bodies of the monsters.
"Angela! Step back!" Suddenly, a man dressed in gleaming white armor with golden patterns spoke up. The armor contrasted brightly against the dark and ominous castle, which was somewhat peculiar. If Adam had seen this guy, he would have undoubtedly commented sarcastically on the impractical decision and design of the armor.
Either way, wielding a sparkling two-handed sword with a bright golden blade, the man with short black hair and deep blue eyes frowned and waved one hand, stepping forward. In a split second, he swiftly decapitated a monster that was about to harm Angela, the group\'s healer.
The sword\'s blade embedded deeply into the stone floor, and the man experienced a surge of pain from the strain on his muscles as he unconsciously swung the heavy sword, which weighed over a hundred kilograms.
"Grr..."
Of course, the other monsters didn\'t wait for an invitation. Seeing the man frozen due to intense pain and his sword stuck on the floor, they seized the opportunity.
"Leonid!" one of the women cried out and charged forward, wielding a massive hammer. She raised the weapon into the air and swung it with all her might at a monster.
Due to the sheer force of the blow, the monster instantly turned into a mess, its flesh and blood splattering in all directions, adding gruesome patterns of blood to the dark walls of the castle.
The girl\'s bright green hair swayed in the air as her red eyes looked worriedly at Leonid, who writhed in pain. After a while, he managed to extricate the sword from the stone floor and started feeling better.
"Angela, heal him!" the girl with the hammer shouted, and Angela sighed, rushing over to Leonid. She placed her hand on his deltoid muscle, closed her eyes, and channeled her magic for his healing.
A soft white glow appeared as Leonid winced and turned his gaze away from the two enormous balls of light in front of his face. Internally, he thanked whatever higher power that he was clad in heavy armor.
Another woman joined the battle, dressed in a loose white robe with a hood. Her cherry lips, barely visible in the darkness, parted as she raised her hand forward, palm out.
"Embrace Mother Nature!" she murmured, and in the center of her palm, a brown sphere materialized, emitting a bright light and revealing a girl with chestnut hair and dark brown eyes.
Suddenly, tendrils shot out from the brown sphere, swiftly entwining the three remaining monsters, immobilizing them securely.
"Well done, Vanessa!" the hammer-wielding girl called out, receiving no response. Vanessa merely huffed and approached Leonid.
She gave him a cold look, squatting down, and scrutinized him with her magic. She scoffed contemptuously, meeting his eyes as she criticized him, "Are you an imbecile? Why waste so much strength to kill a simple monster?! You could have used basic light magic or blocked its attack."
When Leonid heard the open criticism, he pursed his lips and lowered his head, not responding. Even though Vanessa wanted to continue scolding him, seeing Angela\'s pleading gaze, she grimaced and stood up, heading toward the hammer-wielding girl.
"Lily, let me take their magic stone!" Vanessa swiftly retrieved her device and approached the monsters\' bodies, but she halted, seeing only fragments and bloody puddles. Fuming with anger, she clenched her teeth, glaring at Lily, who averted her gaze and whistled. "Lily! How many times do I have to tell you to control yourself?! We\'ve lost another batch of magic stones because of you! Remember, Avalonia won\'t fund us forever!"
Lily trembled at Vanessa\'s scolding and hung her head, resembling a child being scolded by her mother. Angela, witnessing this, left Leonid, who was already feeling better, and with an affectionate smile, she embraced Lily, who was on the verge of tears.
She gently patted the green-haired girl\'s head and puffed her cheeks, then looked at Vanessa. "Vanessa, for heaven\'s sake, stop berating her. She\'s older than you!"
"And that\'s the problem, Angela!" Vanessa frowned, poking a finger at Lily\'s face. "She\'s thirty years old. Thirty, for God\'s sake! Yet she behaves like a child playing with her first toy!"
Ironically, Vanessa looked more mature, while Lily was quite the opposite. She had the appearance of a high school senior.
"Let\'s all calm down. After all, we\'re a friendly team."
Leonid joined the conversation, his bright white teeth gleaming as he smiled. He patted Vanessa\'s shoulder, trying to encourage a peaceful resolution. But the only response he received...
"Shut up, idiot!"
...was rather sharp and derailing. The word "idiot" seemed to echo in his ears, and he stood there in shock, shivering all over.
Despite this somewhat comedic scene, this was the group of the fifth hero, Leonid. When we talk about "heroes," we often imagine fantasy heroes summoned from another world to defeat the Lord of Darkness. However, the distinction here was that heroes were chosen from the populace by the command of the Goddess of Light, in whom 97% of Avalonia\'s citizens believed. Officially, the "Goddess of Light" religion was the kingdom\'s official faith.
"In the future, be more careful, understood?!" Vanessa exclaimed, ready to continue scolding, but her words were cut short by echoing footsteps that reverberated through the dark corridors.
Instantly, Leonid\'s hero group transitioned from a "childish" mode to a "combat" mode. Their united gazes were fixed on the corridor leading to the main hall of the entire castle.
To be continued...