—


    The others approached Kieran while he hemmed the Desertborn Leader against the wall by the throat. When the others appeared, incredulity shed in the Desertborn Leader’s eyes.


    ‘How did so many people infiltrate this ce without our knowing? Ten people… They’re underestimating our Desertborn Brigands! Do they truly think they’re enough to raze our hideout to the ground?’


    Amusement shed in the Desertborn Leader’s eyes as he nced toward the pathway. ‘If only I can find a way to alert the captains or others, I can increase my standing in the brigand hierarchy once they’re tortured and killed!’


    The Desertborn Leader felt their n was foolproof. Lead Kieran and the others under the guise of showing them the way while truthfully diverting their path to where the Desertborn Brigand’sckeys were condensed.


    Altair scanned the Desertborn Leader before looking at Kieran. “Are you sure you can trust them? This person will likely lead us into a trap.”


    “Oh, that’s more than likely. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were devising a n in their silly little mind as we speak,” Kieran replied. He gave a lighthearted smile while panning his gaze to the entrapped Desertborn Leader.


    “No!” The Desertborn Leader desperately shook their head. “No n! No scheme at all! I want to help you guys and live! That’s right!” The Desertborn Leader hurriedly tried to seem genuine and eager, but their actions were counterproductive.


    ‘They’re new to this.’


    ‘They’re new to this.’


    Kieran and Altair arrived at the same judgment when they saw how quickly and desperately the Desertborn Leader tried to convince them otherwise.


    “So, tell the others what you told me,” Kieran said coldly._.


    “I-If you want to make it past the area, you need to draw a unique sigil. There are several, and each one is designed based on the rank of the Desertborn Brigand. What I have is called a Sand Leader Sigil. It will get you where you need to go,” the Desertborn Leader revealed.


    Afterward, they weakly pointed to the path before them. “This entire maze is a decoy designed to ce an intruder’s attention elsewhere. I will show you the way if you can promise I’ll live.”


    Kieran frowned with a darkening expression. “You talk too much. Lux, how long do you think before another round of brigands return? They should be rallying their forces to prepare for an attack.”


    “Mmm, I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened in less than an hour,” Lux acted as if he honestly considered the oue, but he understood Kieran’s intentions from the look in his eyes.


    “An hour isn’t too far off schedule. It’s still well within our timeline. If that’s so, this captive is useless, right? I vote we waste them on the spot,” Kieran said indifferently.


    Murmurs of agreement surfaced instantly.


    “Wait! W-wait… please don’t kill me. I’ll show you… I truly will!” The Desertborn Leader pleaded. A momentter, a strange swirl of sand coated their hand as they made a hand sign.


    A water-like ripple urred in the pathway, which revealed a change on the other side. “This is the entrance, but that’s all it is. I have to use the sigil to ess additional checkpoints.”


    However, rather than answer immediately, Kieran turned to Altair. “Can you replicate this?”


    “No,” Altair answered with a bitter smile. The sigil was made using Sand Maniption, but the level surpassed Altair’s capability. The threads were too delicate for Altair’s ineptitude.


    Moreover, the sigil possessed special countermeasures Altair couldn’t replicate.


    Kieran pursed his lips but sighed afterward. “It seems like it is your lucky day. But, try anything slick, and you’ll greet your friends over there, understood?”


    “Understood!” The Desertborn Leader nodded like a broken bobblehead after being whacked.


    Of course, Kieran didn’t trust the Desertborn Leader whatsoever, so he gestured for Altair to follow beside with his eyes.


    The party soon walked into the rippling space and understood why the Desertborn Leader imed it to be impossible to find the entrance without the help of a member. After passing through this ripple, over half of the pathways seemed to disappearpletely.


    But, as the Desertborn Leader said, it wasn’t the end.


    Even though half of the path vanished, it was only the simple ones! The remaining ways were highlyplex and designed to disorient in case an intruder ever got ahold of a brigand’s activation sigil.


    The Desertborn Leader walked forward a few steps and ced their hand on the ground. The sand morphed into arger copy of their sigil before the floor depressed and folded back.


    A staircase, numbering no more than 10 to 12 steps, stretched to a path beneath.


    “So that’s why I lost sight of them. This obstruction ripple obscured my vision, and they entered the ground during that time! It seems this leader of theirs has a penchant for conducting underground business,” Altairmented.


    “Continue,” Kieranmanded. He also turned his head to the side, “Ezra.”


    “Yes?”


    “Prepare yourself. You as well, Luna. There’s no telling where this path leads, so get ready to act on mymand.”


    The two girls expressed their understanding while cautiously walking with their hands on their weapons.


    Although the path above seemed unusually long, after walking for 5 minutes, Kieran noticed a light source at the end of the narrow tunnel.


    “That’s it up ahead. The true entrance of ourpound. However, it is still veryplex, so you’ll likely get lost without me.”


    “Keep walking. You’ll know when I want to learn more,” Kieran said. He could tell when someone was stalling. The Desertborn Leader frequently turned back to gaze at Kieran only to see that those cold ck eyes were on them.


    ‘T-this guy is like a hawk! I won’t find the time to signal for help if he doesn’t avert his gaze.’


    The Desertborn Leader grew more nervous the more they approached the door. It was like they could feel death creeping beside them, waiting to im their meaningless existence.


    Once they came across the entrance, they arrived at thest security measure—a bright-colored sand door with different sigil impressions engraved on its surface. This door would only open once at least one sigil filled the grooves.


    Furthermore, depending on the sigil used, the path could either be shallow, leading to the henchmen area, or deep, leading to the hideout’s important areas.


    “This is it….”


    The Desertborn Leader’s tone was frightened and weak as they manipted sand into the groove respective to their level. The door opened after theypleted the sigil, but Kieran pulled them back with hisrge hand.


    His eyesnded on Altair while softly tapping his finger against his lip and pointing ahead with two. Altair epted the task and inched forward, peeking his head around both corners.


    “It looks like we’re in,” Altair whispered once he confirmed Desertborn Brigand members in thepound. In fact, he noticed a few sentinels posted in different positions.


    “I told you! I would lead you there with no tricks!” The Desertborn Leader began sweating as they spoke in a hushed tone. They felt Kieran would immediately kill them if they screamed out loud, alerting everyone.


    Sadly, this considerate action paved the way for Kieran and his team covertly enter thepound.


    “Thank you for cooperating,” Kieran said.


    Shnk!


    The sound of sharp metal quickly being drawn sounded as he covered the Desertborn Leader’s mouth and slit their throat.


    [Execution!]


    The Desertborn Brigand fell to the ground with a soft thud, and Kieran indifferently walked up to Altair.


    “Damn…” Bastion whispered. He had never seen such a cold-blooded execution before.


    “Didn’t I tell you? Being Aatrox’s enemy is something you don’t want to be. He might be warm with us, but after watching him face off against those yers, I noticed something—he’s heartless to hispetition,” Nemean muttered.


    “Mm,” Ezra fell silent while gazing at Kieran’s back. ‘He’s not a simple man. Even if we treat it as a game, being able to decisively kill someone is not something a normal young man can do.’


    Meanwhile, Alice’s expression filled with concern. ‘Is he changing?’


    Although she witnessed Kieran’s dark impulses once before, she assumed it was rted to an aftereffect of using his power against Rautori that had yet to be resolved.


    But, not now, Alice sensed Kieran was inplete control of his emotions. In other words, Kieran’s actions resulted from his rational thoughts.


    Naturally, she wasn’t aware of the w produced by his Vengeful Soul. So, Alice didn’t understand that because Kieran felt everyone in this hideout was an enemy, he felt no remorse for them.


    On the contrary, it fueled Kieran’s desire to erase these brigands from the world.


    “Altair, take out the sentinel watching the right. Luna, you’ll take the left path, and I’ll take the center,” Kieranmanded.


    After delivering these three orders, Kieran moved swiftly, traveling down the center path. Although there was no light inside this hideout, the sand that filled the walls possessed an abnormal effect that illuminated the area in a pale yellow glow.


    Kieran stealthily moved past a wall but hid behind a corner when he noticed countless Desertborn Brigand members moving towards a set destination. ‘Could they be moving out already?’


    ‘If that’s true, then the quest’s time limit probably indicates how long until retaliation befalls the Aeredale Kingdom. Their numbers should be pretty high if they’re confident enough to retaliate.’


    Whoosh! Bang!


    Kieran pulled thest brigand member he sensed and coated the dagger in his hand in a Vampiric Blood Encrustation.


    The weapon effortlessly entered the brigand’s throat because Defense was not their forte. Their attire was made out of a cloth-like substance that protected well against the environment outside but offered no protection against sharp weapons.


    The sentinel in Kieran’s area was swiftly removed as his Experience Bar experienced a marginal increase. After reaching Lv.38, his Experience requirement had surpassed 1 million!


    Luna and Altair made use of their Agility and apprehended the sentinels, keeping them still until Kieran appeared and finished them off.