Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 109 What The People Wanted To See

"Rhys, watch out!"

Rhys did watch, but he absolutely did not watch out as he just stood there staring at the monster lunging toward him.

The Raknaeel. Although they look like a giant eel with legs, their physiology is more similar to that of a seal —- they are mammals. Their sharp teeth which practically filled their entire mouth and more were capable of shredding steel in just seconds; they were also incredibly fast in land, water, and even muddy water and could reach a speed of 150 kilometers per hour in just 3 seconds.

The only reason why their Threat Level was not higher than 3… is because they could really only go in one direction once they start moving due to the way their joints are formed. They need to stop in order to turn; that means once you see them, they are extremely easy to dodge.

But Rhys just stood there staring at it.

Rowan, Ben, and Hans could really only smile as they made sure their cameras were up and pointed to what was about to come next.

"Dodge it!" Eimi screamed as she saw Rhys just stretch his hand on the incoming projectile monster, "That thing will cut you into pieces, Rhys!"

"It's fine," Rhys quickly said as he even removed his eyes from the raknaeel and turned to look at the cameras attached to the group's shoulders. Eimi and Audrey could really only cover their eyes as the raknaeel made contact with Rhys's body, swallowing his only remaining arm whole and probably shredding it into thousands of pieces.

But with the size of the raknaeel and its mouth, it wasn't only his arm that was swallowed; everyone watched as raknaeel began twisting and turning its huge body violently, completely wrapping Rhys into its blender of a mouth.

"I knew it!" Rowan pointed at the drone flying above their heads, "Did you all see that!? I knew that fucking Lowborn was faking it!"

"Pft," Ben also laughed as a steel rod materialized from his hand, "I was already expecting that, everyone. Now, do you want to see how real Explorers dispatch a Region's Alpha? Hans!"

Ben then threw the steel rod in his hand, with hands just pointing his palm at it as it flew by him. And as he did so, the tip of the steel rod sharpened and it began spinning as it accelerated straight toward the tossing raknaeel.

"Why would you do that!?" Audrey screamed, "Rhys might still be alive inside there!"

"...You think someone would be alive after being—!!!"

And before Ben could finish his words, the spear he threw at the monster stopped before it could pierce through its slimy and smooth skin. And it wasn't only the spear that froze, even the raknaeel itself completely stopped moving.

"What is…" Eimi squinted her already small eyes as she focused her attention on the spear, only to see a hand poking out from the raknaeel's flesh, grabbing the spear from the inside. And there, everyone watched as the hand began moving — tearing the raknaeel's stomach from the inside.

No, at this point, the raknaeel was being shredded as they watched as Rhys emerged from its stomach; his clothes, completely tattered and ripped. There were guts hanging and sticking on every part of his body, but he did not mind as he just stepped out of the raknaeel; just letting the blood trail across his chest and arms which were now fully visible for everyone to see.

He then pushed his hair back, showing his face as he looked Eimi and Audrey in the eyes.

"!!!" And with his silver eyes staring at them, the two women felt a certain pulse travel across their body before collecting between their thighs — the 5 Hearts floating above their head, now suddenly almost filled up with only one heart remaining gray.

Rhys's gaze at them did not last long, however, as he suddenly turned to look at Ben, who quickly flinched as he saw Rhys looking at him. Rhys then suddenly placed his hand on the muddy water, grabbing the steel spear that he caught earlier…

…and threw it at Ben without any hesitation.

"Oh my god!" Audrey could really only scream as she saw Ben flying away; only stopping as the spear pierced the only tree within the area.

"Grah!" Ben was still alive, however, as the spear really only hit him through the shoulder. Rowan and Hans were about to rush and help him, but they heard Rhys starting to approach them.

"Why would you do that!?" Rowan let out a roar as the murky water beneath his knee started to climb up across his body; creating a sort of armor around him, "You—Guh!"

This armor, however, quickly broke apart as Rhys suddenly appeared right in front of him; Rhys's fist, now planted on his stomach. Most of the impact seemed to have been absorbed by his armor, however, as Rowan just found himself dropping to the floor while clutching his stomach.

Sadly for him, Rhys pushed his head down toward the muddy water before he continued to make his way to Ben. Hans did not really do anything, and just quickly helped Rowan up before he could drown.

Ben started struggling to set himself free as he saw Rhys slowly approaching him, but the pain from his fractured collar shredding his flesh prevented him from fully pulling the spear out.

"S… stop! Why are you doing this!?" Ben stretched his hand toward Rhys, summoning another steel rod and throwing it at him as strong as he could. But alas, it only bounced off of Rhys's muscular chest. Sadly for Ben, Rhys caught the steel rod and stabbed his thigh with it as soon as he got near.

And with the rod not really having a sharp tip, it just practically crushed his flesh and bones.

"Graah!" Ben cried out, but not for long as Rhys covered his mouth.

"You ask me why I am doing this?" Rhys whispered, making sure that the camera attached to Ben's shoulder could hear him, "Because you've been looking at me the entire time like you wanted to kill me, and you did try. I already told the party that my skin is harder than steel, you knew full well that I could survive being swallowed by the fish."

"!?" Ben could really only look at Rhys, wondering when he ever told that to them.

"And yet…" Rhys then let go of Ben's mouth and twisted the rod pierced through his thigh, causing Ben's head to tremble violently; his loud screams, clearly being heard by all the viewers watching his personal stream, "...You threw this thing at me."

Rhys then flicked the spear on Ben's shoulder, causing the fracture on his collarbone to worsen as the steel spear began to vibrate.

"All of you seem to be misunderstanding something about me…" Rhys once again covered Ben's mouth, "...You and I, we've lived completely different lives. All my life, people have been aiming at me — and the luckiest thing that happened to me was my mother being murdered in cold blood in front of the entire world.

At least when that happened, the government made sure I remained silent… they gave me everything."

"..." Ben's tears started to trail down his face as Rhys continued to stare at him in the eyes.

"Even then, I was beaten up every day. They burned me, forced me to swallow their filth, and broke my bones. They tortured me every single day… You think I won't know when someone wants to hurt me?" Rhys slightly leaned back so the camera could see him and the subtle pain he was trying to show in his face,

"All I know is pain, Sir…

…like this."

"!!!"

And without even any hesitation, Rhys began punching Ben in the face. Of course, he held himself back — but even then, the bark of the tree behind Ben's head began cracking as his nose malformed.

"You, stop that!" Hans finally got the courage to rush toward Rhys, but Rhys quickly pulled out the rod stuck on Ben's thigh and threw it at him, breaking his right shin in half, "Gah!"

"Y…you…" A whisper was able to escape Ben's popped lips as he looked at Rhys, "You… can't get away with this. You think... the police are just going to let you go? The evidence is-"

"I know," Rhys whispered, "That's the only reason you're still alive."

That, and the fact that this was all a show for him. Rhys thought that if the only reason why people still chose not to believe everything they were seeing about him was that because everything coming out about him was good, then perhaps it was time to show the people what they wanted to see.

A Lowborn being violent, being wrong - being what they should be.

"Rhys, s…stop it!"

And as Audrey and Eimi began to rush toward him. Rhys finally took a step back; wiping all the blood on his fist on the muddy water below as he did so.

"I'm sorry…" Rhys turned to look at Eimi and Audrey as he lowered his head,

"...I lost my cool."

"Are you alright!?" Audrey quickly started touching Rhys to check if he had any wounds, completely ignoring Ben who was just beaten up by the inch of his life. Even Eimi just glanced at Ben, before staring at Rhys's face.

"Let's… let's have you checked ASAP!" And with those words, Eimi and Audrey started dragging Rhys away.

"What…" Ben struggled to speak as he watched his fellow guild members disappear with the man that just beat him up,

"...What about me?"