Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 218 Hypocrite

"Do it quietly. Do you want that old timer to know what we're doing here?"

"...But you told us to do it faster, Boss."

"So, this is my fault?"

"N… no."

It was hard to stay quiet, and from how deep they had already dug from the Surface, even the sound of their heart beating could be heard by the person beside them. And since there were probably more than 20 of them there, even a silent single whisper could be heard by everyone…

…and since they were digging forward into the Underworld, their gentle movements almost sounded like the cogging of a machine.

There were four Earth controllers pushing the dirt aside, creating a sort of hard wall in the process as they could not really push the dirt to the Surface.

"How… long did it take us today to run all the way from the Surface?"

"Long."

Some of the members of Mike's gang were looking behind them from where they came from; their faces, slightly excited as they knew they were nearing the Underworld — just a little more push, and they could finally be free of the prison.

"Are… are we sure the thing in our necks wouldn't explode?"

"If it would, then it would have a long time ago — something in the underground's probably making it glitch."

"...Doesn't that mean that we have no choice but to live in the Underworld? If we climb back up to the Surface, our heads would just… explode."

"Better down there than be trapped in that prison one day longer, and with that old—"

"Old…? Continue what you're going to—What the fuck!?"

"How hard is it to stay fucking quiet, brothers!?" And as his men suddenly started shouting and raising their voices, Mike could no longer help himself as he erupted in anger; his screams, completely filling the cavern,

"Do you want people to know we're digging a huge fucking Hole in the middle of the prison!?"

And yet, even with his outburst, none of his men even reacted at all — and before Mike could even realize this, he knew the reason why… blood.

One of his men was currently drenched in blood, but it obviously wasn't the man's as his eyes were filled with shock. And so, Mike just instinctively turned his eyes toward where the blood should have splattered from, only to see a face.

A face… a face completely mangled with bits of bones slicing and shattering skin and flesh. It would have already been shocking if it was just that, but no. The mangled face… was currently protruding from the back of one of his men; his stomach, ruptured and burst open as the head seemed to have entered through it but failed to completely pierce through his spine and stomach.

"W… what the?" Mike's eyes also soon started to widen as he recognized the face despite it being mangled, "...Keanu? Am I tripping or is that Keanu?"

And before Mike could even get an answer from one of his men, he suddenly stretched his arm up; materializing some sort of gigantic shield and then stabbing it through the ground.

And as soon as he did so, a loud hum erupted throughout the entire cavern as blood, bones, and flesh exploded right in front of his shield — none of them even needed to see what hit Mike's shield for them to know what it was.

It was another head.

And soon, they heard another whistle fly across the darkness, and this time, all of Mike's men quickly rushed to the side of the Dig to avoid it. And true enough, it was another head, splatting into pieces as it hit the end of the Dig.

"Shit… we've been discovered," Mike clicked his tongue as his shield disappeared and faded away into thin air, "Everyone, just act cool — let me talk to the old hag."

"Are… we sure this is Talia, Boss?" One of Mike's men looked at the corpse of their friend as well as the head embedded onto his stomach, "This… doesn't look like her usual MO. It—"

"Everyone, just put up your guards, something's coming!"

And as Mike ordered, his men quickly stood together and put up their guard as soon as they heard another whistle coming from the Surface.

"I… just noticed," Mike's men once again started whispering to each other, "Our gravity hasn't fully inverted yet, and the head flew here so fast… I don't think it's—"

"!!!"

And before their whispers could continue, Mike's men suddenly found themselves being separated from each other—no. Their group wasn't the only thing that separated physically… their bodies also erupted as something suddenly blitzed its way through them, literally.

"What the fuck!?" Mike stretched his arms to the side, summoning an entire set of armor to cover him as he saw his men just suddenly blowing up into pieces.

The only thing Mike could really do was watch as the blitz very slowly revealed itself to be a person, a person who he had really only met once or twice, but will never forget.

"Rhys… Wilder!? You—" Sadly for Mike, his group did not have his reflexes as Rhys just suddenly started grabbing them by the neck and slamming their heads on the ground; stomping on them and squashing them like nothing,

"Why… why are you doing this!?"

"You are criminals," Rhys then just whispered out as he pierced his arm through the chest of the only remaining man left standing in Mike's gang — and just like that, Mike was alone with Rhys,

"I can't let you escape."

"You…" Mike looked Rhys in his silver eyes for a few seconds… before just suddenly turning around and leaping away — and then, all of a sudden, a large motorcycle suddenly emerged beneath him to catch him.

"That's…" Rhys could really only blink a couple of times as Mike just suddenly rode away through the Dig; making his way back to the Surface, "...That was possible?"

Rhys stood there on his own as he watched Mike's silhouette disappear into the darkness. He knew that those who had the blood of Hephaestus were capable of summoning weapons — but they could also summon full vehicles?

But of course, this was probably also the first time Rhys was seeing a Noble with Hephaestus' blood in action.

"I… want that," Rhys then whispered before just suddenly running back to the Surface to follow Mike.

As for Mike, he just glanced back from time to time; trying to see if Rhys was in his tail at all — but as he was not seeing him, he let out a sigh of relief and just increased his speed. And minutes later, he finally saw the light as well as the ceiling of the cell they dug the Hole from; Mike did not stop at all, however, only braking meters away from the exit.

And as soon as he was out of the Dig, his motorcycle erupted; turning into bits and pieces of armor that added to his already existing armor — all of this, happening in the split second the gravity shifted back to normal.

"Don't even try it!" Mike bellowed as soon as he landed back on the Surface, pointing his arms that lit up forward to whoever was waiting for him. To his surprise, however…

…no one was waiting to ambush him at all. The cell was completely empty, and the hall was completely quiet.

"What the fuck…" But of course, Mike did not let his guard down at all, even creating a drone and throwing it out of the cell to inspect the situation in the hall,

"What… the fuck!?"

And what he saw from the feed of the drone quickly made him step out of the cell to see if what he was seeing was right…

…and there, right in the center of the hall, were corpses scattered everywhere.

"What the fuck…?" Mike repeated his words again and again. He was already expecting to see bodies, but he was only expecting to see the bodies of his three men… but there were probably 2 dozen corpses scattered around the hall at the very least.

And as Mike was trying to rack his brain from all of this, he heard footsteps coming from behind him.

He quickly turned around, only to see Rhys just casually stepping out of the cell he came from — and now that Mike's hair was not the only source of light they had, Mike finally noticed that Rhys was completely soaked in blood, and he was sure the blood didn't only belong to the men he killed in the Dig.

"What… what did you do!?" Mike stretched both his arms toward Rhys as some sort of cannon materialized between his arms.

"Well…" Rhys let out a sigh as he too, started looking at the corpses scattered around the hall, "...I'm not Talia, you see. I… am not really comfortable with so many criminals working under me, so…"

"Talia's the biggest fucking criminal out of all of us, brother!" Mike screamed, "And you're with her. You a hypocrite, man. You a fucking hypocrite!"

"Yes," Rhys once again sighed as a small smile crawled on his face,

"...That's why I am compensating for my sin by killing all of you."