Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 299 Not Peaceful At All

"He… is a very dangerous man."

There was a sense of sudden weight inside the warehouse as Rhys stepped inside; enough to reach the high ceilings as everyone just stopped what they were doing and stared at him. Most of them were just judging Rhys and looking at him from head to toe, but those in the top 15 knew.

It wasn't only Sorokin, everyone who was present from the World Rankers could feel it — Rhys Wilder is strong.

Only half of the World Rankers actually responded to Nihon's call for help, the rest were not interested at all or were stopped by their countries from flying to Nihon and providing aid for some reason — but all those who were present were also staring at Rhys.

Esme Jordan was just smirking, but not at Rhys, but at the rest of the World Rankers who were staring at him like he was some sort of prey. After all, out of everyone here, she was one of the few who knew just how capable Rhys was… or at least she thought so. Their friendly duel was not that long ago… and yet she could already feel something different from Rhys.

Sorokin Valeryevich just knew instinctively that Rhys deserved his spot in the World Rankers the very first time he saw him with Olga.

Lance Aquino was also there — his country actually refused to give Nihon any aid, but since his girlfriend would be here, he did not care at all and just went. His girlfriend, Larissa Jokic, ranked 12th in the World Rankers.

Larissa towered over Lance, but the two did not seem to mind the dynamic at all as they couldn't actually get their hands off of each other; leaving those near them quite awkward with how affectionate they were. In Lance's defense, however, Larissa actually towered over most of the people in the warehouse.

Hanamichi Rukawa, the 9th Ranker, was of course already a given since this was his country.

Adam Armstrong, the current guild master of the Cerberus guild was also present being the 10th Ranker.

And finally…

…Ranked 8th as the Strongest Explorer in the world despite already being inactive for years, Dr. Dhani Raj — the only reason why Rhys was actually even present here. But of course…

…Rhys wasn't actually alone.

"Who does he fucking think he is for being so late?"

"Late? What do you mean? No one set up a time, we were just told to gather here."

"...What? But I was told to get here early! You mean we—Wait, are those monsters!?"

"...Why is Rhys so good-looking? It's not even a joke. Like what…"

This time, no one was subtle with their gasps as they saw two monsters following behind Rhys — Malenia and Edissa.

"Did… did this guy really just bring monsters here… when we're supposed to be getting rid of them?"

"Are you fucking stupid? Those aren't monsters, they're people."

"What do you mean people? One of those will eat us the first chance they get! That's a cenleon!"

The opinions were halved. But one thing was for sure — none of them really expected for something like this to happen.

"Why… the fuck are they so beautiful?"

"Who does this Rhys guy think he is bringing in—"

And before anyone could complain further, Ayesha and Olga both stepped inside the warehouse and walked beside Rhys.

"Wh—Now, he's just showing off."

Everyone was just silent after that. The only thing they could really do was stare at Rhys as he continued to walk across the warehouse with an entourage of beautiful women all different from each other.

Just what sort of luck did he actually have? — All of them thought.

"Where… is he going?"

And right when they thought that Rhys was going to join them, he and his entourage continued to walk deeper into the warehouse until they reached the raised platform and stepped up on it.

"Wait… don't tell me… Rhys Wilder is leading this shit?"

No one really needed to answer that, however, as Olga stepped forward and stood behind the podium.

[Everyone,] Olga tapped the mic a few times as she spoke, [My name is Olga Ivanovna, Commander of the Underworld Corps of Russea and I will be the one briefing all of you about the situation.]

"What the… why her and not the Nihons…?"

"Sshh! Why do you have so many comments? Shut the fuck up."

[I am sure a lot of you have questions,] Olga continued to speak as she glanced at Rhys, [The truth is, Rhys Wilder and I were there when the Golden Tree spawned from the ground and the Holes started to appear.]

"W…what!?"

Olga then started explaining the situation to everyone — revealing everything they needed to know. About the nymphs, about the secret mission, about Orpheus, and the Nihons involvement with all of it. Of course, Olga skipped the part where they escaped thanks to Rhys summoning Arachnea out of nowhere.

Everyone was in disbelief, and some found it hard to believe what Olga was saying — but since she was showing images of what happened in the large backdrop behind her, the only thing they could really do was believe her.

And as soon as she was done, everyone was now staring at the Nihons, or more specifically, at Hanamichi Rukawa.

"If it's true, then aren't they just getting what's coming to them?"

"This country is done for. Fuck this, I'm out. Just let them all die or something."

"What did you say?" And as a matter of course, Rukawa could not really help himself anymore from all the nasty comments his country was receiving and approached the one who was making the most noise, "What are you yapping on about?"

Rukawa was holding a pen, but he was holding it in a way that felt like he was going to stab someone at any given moment.

"Hey, I'm just saying…" The person he approached only raised both his hands in surrender while giving out an awkward chuckle, "...With all the secret experiments. Whether or not your government was involved, you guys still fucked around and found out."

"Why don't you attack me and fuck around and find out?" Rukawa stepped closer to the man and looked him right in the eyes, "Let's go outside, how about that?"

"Pft!" And while the air in the warehouse became even heavier, Ayesha just suddenly started bursting out in a fit of laughter as she watched everything unfold, "The entire country's in a state of crisis and here you are comparing the sizes of your small balls…

…and I can't even see any of it."

"...Want to find out, then?" Rukawa's lips twitched as he pushed the other man away and proceeded to stomp his way toward Ayesha while glaring her in the eyes.

"Ooh, scary," Ayesha just smirked, not moving at all and just standing there while Rukawa was approaching her hastily, "Well, come on then, Big Boy. What are you gonna do?"

"Enough." Before anything could actually happen between the two, Sorokin blocked Rukawa's path and stood between them, "This is not the time to be fighting against each other."

"Tch… Yes," Rukawa quickly backed away and bowed at Sorokin.

"Scared?" Ayesha, however, still did not move at all.

"No," Rukawa scoffed, "I just value the opinions and orders of those stronger than me."

"You should be kissing my feet, then."

"You're not stronger than me," Rukawa looked Ayesha in the eyes, "I am not interested in people like you."

"Of course, you're not," Ayesha crossed her arms, "I heard you like them small…

…and young. A friend of mine told me, Princess Victoria, was it?"

"You…"

"Sadly, you're not her type — Rhys, on the other hand… the only thing she hasn't done is kiss his feet. Or maybe she already has… I can't tell since they're usually alone in a room together."

"You dare—"

And before Rukawa could finish his words, everyone became quiet as Rhys stepped down the platform and started approaching them.

"What?" Rukawa let out a tiny scoff as he glared at Rhys, "Come here to save your woman? Don't think that I will be impressed with what you—"

Contrary to Rukawa, however, Rhys just passed them by — not even giving him a glance at all as he wasn't the one Rhys was approaching, no. The one he wanted to talk to was Dr. Dhani Raj, who was just quietly sitting by himself next to the table of food.

"Hm?" Dhani just slowly turned his head up to look at Rhys, "Did you need something from me, young man?"

"Yes," Rhys nodded before just stepping to the side and gesturing to Malenia to approach, and Malenia did so, and she was carrying a cloth with her which Rhys very carefully unfolded.

"!!!"

And as soon as he did so, everyone there just quickly put up their guard. How could they not, when even though it was petrified and turned into stone, it was easily recognizable as a nymph?

"Oh…?" Dhani quickly stood up and looked at the petrified Aengela, quickly noticing the two holes in her torso, "She's… wounded?"

"Yes," Rhys nodded,

"...Can you heal her?"