Episode 9

As the stranger said 'Death', all of the soldiers burst in laughter. "Captain, death… Ha Ha Ha, a death he says…" One of them tried to humor the caption while controlling his laughter. Theodore, who was on the ground felt his threat a bit weird, no one in the right mind would willingly go against the soldiers who were trained to kill. "Let me relieve you of your misery poor bastard." The one soldier who put the blade on his neck said with a sinister look. Others were also not at guard as the person seemed just like any stranger. Without giving much thought, he rose his sword in the air again to chop the insolent person's neck. Just as he raised his blade, the man in the cape made a move. He gently moved a flap of his cape, due to which Theodore was able to take a glance at the sword he was hiding on his hip. In a split second the soldier froze. Suddenly Theodore felt a sharp chill through his veins. The aura he felt was not just any weak person's, it was far greater and he never felt such pressure. He already figured out that the soldier was done for but, to his surprise, the soldier wasn't just done for, he was chopped off in pieces! In tens of bloody pieces. In a second!

A bloody mess was left where once an arrogant soldier stood. One of the onlookers couldn't handle the scene and vomited. "Impossible…!" The captain was shocked to see one of his comrades getting chopped off in a split second. "You want to continue?" He definitely was provoking the soldiers. The chill Theodore felt wasn't just any, he knew that this guy was certainly powerful. "Get him at once, let's make him regret his actions." Commanding such, the captain along with his remaining 8 soldiers pounced at him at once. "Insolent fools." Were probably the last thing they heard as it took him just a single swing of his sword to slice through all of them, 'Heaven's Slash' a fierce skill chopped all of them! 9 people! Theo was looking at the bloody scene with a shocked expression. He wiped his sword and gave a smirk to the corps lying around, then he turned and looked at Theodore who was lying on the ground, scared. He bent down and gave him a hand, "You lost, kid? Well, looks like you are not. Those people are no good news. Why were you in such a deep region?" Theodore's heart was beating fast, so fast he could literally hear it beating. "I… I… I was just… just looking for some ru… ruins" Theodore was still shaking with fear. "Hmm, well I don't know much about them. Here, have some berries. Recover your health kid." Saying this he handed him some of the berries he collected earlier. Those shining red-colored berries were more than screaming of danger, yet he couldn't resist his shining eyes. Theodore closed his eyes and ate one of those. "What is this? It is way too yummy, it's way more delicious than it looks. It's damn spooky in terms of looks, but tastes damn better than lots." Theodore was certainly enjoying the taste. "Right? I knew you'd like it. They do look poisonous by looks but are damn delicious. You must be a god to understand me or wait, are you someone sent by the gods? But you look like a human, anyways, please tell me. I tried selling this stuff in a nearby village a few times, but they would just throw me out accusing me of selling potential poison, do I look like such a bad guy to you? Those people won't understand that we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, though it's not a book and I'm not selling covers either but still. And no one talks to me too, they say I'm too talkative to talk to, I'm certainly not. I speak only what is important. Speaking of which, you are?" Theodore had an irritated look on his expression, he never expected that he'd run into a guy who talked crazy, not to talk about his strength. After a whole load of talking, he asked him his name? Surely enough he was irritated. "Well, my name is Clarke and I'm just an adventurer seeking something out of the ruins that are here." Theodore felt it unnecessary to tell the guy his name and asked him his name instead.

"It's Aeneas, I live in this forest, love to eat berries and oh, I also do love to sneak in the town for sightseeing. Although there isn't much to look around you know, the girls are real beauty here, I also like to roam around the forest and do like singing, in low voice cause you never know if someone fell for such a lovely voice of mine" He answered while circling around Theodore with a curious look. That answer also revealed a few things to Theodore, the main being, he was done for a regular human, was leaving alone, and had some crazy habits as well. Aeneas surely wasn't just all talk, he had seen him fight a while ago, but somehow his current appearance was soothing. He hadn't taken his cape off though but his face was revealed, and he looked quite handsome. Aeneas was smiling wide which made Theodore relax even further, 'Maybe he isn't just a ruthless killer at all.' He thought to himself. After talking to him a lot in a short time, Theodore felt comfortable enough to ask him to tag along as he explored the Dungeon. To his surprise, he actually agreed to tag along as well. As they walked Theodore could hear only one thing, Aeneas's talk. He was talking non-stop to him which made him feel a bit irritated. After walking a while they came across the entrance to the Dungeon. "Here we go, and I should really thank you for accepting my request" Saying this Theodore walked inside the entrance along with Aeneas.

At the entrance of the dense forest, there were two silhouettes talking to each other, "He has gone this way but something is wrong." The other shadow asked, "What is it?" To which the first shadow replied with a shivering voice, "Something big was chasing him, something out of this place. Maybe an 'Astral Beast." After hearing this those two people hurriedly entered the forest following the path their target took. On the way, one of them worriedly murmured with a smirk, "Tch… If he's in trouble, I might take that bloody beast down today."