<h4>Chapter 212 The burden of the strongest...</h4>


    Capital city ''Astra'', core area.


    On the rooftop of some random skyscraper.


    A middle-aged man could be seen sitting on the guard rails of the rooftop, a solemn look hung over his face and he seemed to be lost in his thoughts.


    ''Just like a younger brother, I said… sigh…'' (Ashtel)


    Some old memories resurfaced in his mind as he remembered the past in great detail.


    …


    (Past memories…)


    After the end of the Orc War, Ashtel and Neo rose in power as the new SS-rankers of the human race.


    It was a time of great instability in the human empire.


    There was an urgent need for a ''shocking event'' that would have attracted all humans'' attention and helped in the return of peace.


    And after a long discussion between Ashtel and Neo, they decided on one mission.


    The mission was to assassinate demon general Azazel and raise the morale of the distressed popce.


    Demon general Azazel was an extremely well-known demon at that time.


    He was the one who ughtered the whole Reinhart royal family which was made up of the descendants of King Allen von Reinhart.


    For a thousand years, Azazel has been constantly trying to create chaos for the human race, and the orc war was also an indirect doing of him.


    In these past thousand years, there were many SS-rankers born in the human race, but none was strong enough to kill him and put an end to his schemes.


    But the appearance of Ashtel Rex changed everything.


    The orc war certainly imed the lives of thousands of innocents, but an extremely strong being, ''Ashtel Rex'' was born due to those hard times.


    Azazel''s n of messing with humans backfired as he indirectly became the reason for Ashtel''s ascension to power.


    After the death of Nics Arsene, the fifty-year-long Orc war ended and now was the perfect time to deal with this centuries-old enemy.


    But there was still a need for investigation.


    Azazel was an extremely cunning demon, it was extremely difficult to find his hiding ce.


    There was only one way to find out his exact location, and that was to sneak into the royal treasury of the demon king''s castle.


    All records rted to the demon army''s military affairs were ced there, along with various stolen treasures of the human race.


    But it wasmon knowledge that the demon king lived in that castle and there was no way a human could infiltrate it so easily.


    Thus a perfect n was made.


    Many S-rankers Like James (Lia''s father) etc. were recruited for this mission and they all signed a death contract.


    They all knew that this mission was the one where death coulde at any moment.


    But one S-ranker stood out among them all the most.


    His name was Kevin sh, he was a famous assassin and he even had a proper underground assassin organization of his own.


    His resume was simply too perfect. He had a 100 percent sess rate in every mission.


    Even Ashtel and Neo were surprised by his stealth skills.


    Thus he was made the spearhead of the n.


    It took several years to get everything ready for the n, they had even prepared the whole army in case the demon race suddenly retaliated.


    No one knew if the n would seed or not, but they all knew that it was important to kill Azazel otherwise he would be a great problem for the peace of the human race.


    The mission was conducted after a full nine years of nning and preparations.


    (Kevin was the core of this mission thus he was not allowed to appear outside for a long time… that''s why he never visited his wife and son… in fact, none of the group members knew that Kevin was married and had a son…)


    During the mission, other S-rankers helped in infiltration and keeping other demons busy in stealthy ways, this way they provided Kevin with the perfect infiltration opportunity.


    Neo was sent to distract the demon king, and he was sessful in luring the demon king away from the itself.


    Neo ran away into space with the demon king chasing behind him for thousands of kilometers. (This event gave Neo one of his infamous titles ''the cowardly demi-god''…)


    In the absence of the demon king, the castle was left undefended and it was extremely easy for Kevin to infiltrate and extract the information easily.


    (The demon king is arrogant, he didn''t let any of his S-rank subordinates stay in his castle to guard it, and only a few low-rank subus were wandering in the castle when Kevin infiltrated…)


    Kevin extracted the information and stole the sword that was giving the most dangerous aura among all the weapons in the treasury as he didn''t have the time to take too many things. (It was King Allen''s sword ''Vinash'' that ended up in Rio''s handter…)


    With the help of the records, Ashtel figured out the exact location where Azazel was hiding.


    The location was an S-rank dungeon, which was located in a hidden ce on ''Mercury''.


    (Yes, dungeons can open in any location in the universe, they can even open directly inside the core of the sun itself… you would need SS-rankers to solve such dungeons…)


    The reason why SS-rankers stay put in one ce is not because they don''t want to leave this sr system and explore outer space.


    It''s just that the space in this world is a messed up ce where an uncountable number of space monsters wander with no one to stop them.


    SS-rank dungeons open in every ce of the universe and there are an uncountable number of monsters wandering in the space outside this sr system.


    The reason why this sr system is so well preserved and safe is that the alliance dispatches SS-rankers to quickly close any new dungeon that appears in the space of this sr system.


    Wandering alone outside of this sr system is a dangerous thing, even for an SS-ranker.


    …


    After finding the exact hiding spot of Azazel, Ashtel didn''t hesitate at all, he directly rushed into that dungeon and fought that old enemy of humanity.


    And as the whole world knows, When ites to fighting in closed spaces like dungeons, Ashtel Rex is extremely difficult to deal with.


    The fight ended within a single day.


    Azazel stood no chance against Ashtel, his heart was ripped out of his body and waster refined by Neo into an artifact, that eventually ended up in Liam''s possession.


    Somehow, Alverto escaped unharmed. Alverto was also in that dungeon along with Azazel, but he escaped from Ashtel''s pursuit unnoticed.


    The result of this mission was announced publically and the whole human race celebrated Azazel''s defeat with great joy and pride, but for the safety of Kevin, his name was not mentioned to the public.


    In the public''s eyes, all the credit was given to Ashtel and Neo, the S-rankers who took part in this mission were not mentioned to the public to keep them safe.


    The Demon King was furious but he had no other choice besides retreating, he didn''t want to fight Ashtel.


    Ashtel didn''t target the demon king either, otherwise it would have caused another war out of nowhere.


    Azazel was killed at the end of the ninth year of the mission.


    But the mission ended in ten years because after the end of the mission they all stood on standby for a whole year to observe the demon race and keep an eye in case of any retaliation.


    Ashtel praised Kevin for his great merits and achievements in this mission.


    They had worked together for a whole ten years on this mission and they became good friends in that time.


    …


    (Back to present…)


    Remembering those years when he worked along with Kevin to create that perfect n, Ashtel felt quite nostalgic.


    ''You should have told me that you were married… but I guess that''s the type of person you were… never telling anyone your own secrets and always keeping yourself in the dark…'' (Ashtel)


    Ashtel nced at the evening sky and smiled lightly.


    ''But still, at least you left your legacy behind… I am quite sure you will be proud if you saw your son''s progress… or I guess you will not perhaps…'' (Ashtel)


    Ashtel knew that Kevin was not the type of guy who was good at understanding family rtions, he might not have been proud of Rio at all…


    Looking at the setting sun and remembering those memories, Ashtel felt old for the first time in his life. (He isn''t old, peak SS-rankers like him can live for more than a thousand years…)


    ''I am tired now…. So manyrades died and left… I just want to retire now and live the rest of my life in peace…'' (Ashtel)


    But then Ashtel remembered thest words of his wife.


    ''protect Link…'' (Those were thest words of his wife to him…)


    "Sigh… I guess I will stay around until Link bes an SS-


    ranker, then I will retire for good…" (Ashtel)


    Just when Ashtel was contemting about his future ns a shrewd voice came from his left side.


    "Hehe, so even the ''strongest'' feels down sometimes?" (Neo)


    Ashtel nced at Neo and said in a surprised voice.


    "Hmm, this is… your real body? It''s quite rare to see the real ''you'' appear out of nowhere…st time I saw your real body was seven years ago I guess…" (Ashtel)


    ''Tch! He saw through me so easily just like always…'' (Neo)


    Neo simply shook his head and replied with a grin on his face.


    "You are leaving with the students tomorrow, right? In your absence, I will have to stay here to protect the capital city… if not for this reason, I wouldn''t have returned at all…" (Neo)


    Ashtel narrowed his eyes at Neo''s words.


    "You didn''t want to return, because you don''t want to get beaten by that little girl Raji again?" (Ashtel)


    "Cough! Ahem!… something like that… cough!" (Neo)


    Ashtel shook his head at Neo''s words and said in a calm tone.


    "You should apologize to her properly… she isn''t a bad person I think…" (Ashtel)


    "You don''t know at all, she might not be a bad person, but she is very short-tempered, she doesn''t even listen to my pleas and starts fighting like a madwoman whenever she sees me… ugh…" (Neo)


    At Neo''s words, Ashtel simply shrugged his shoulders.


    "You brought it on yourself… who asked you to y with the innocent heart of a young maiden like that…" (Ashtel)


    "Moreover, you are a married man, you are several decades older than her and you still went for her… do you still have some shame left in you?..." (Ashtel)


    No one aside from Asthel dares to say such words to Neo right on his face, without facing any consequences.


    Neo didn''t even dare refute Ashtel''s criticisms. He knew he would get punched if he dared say anything bad.


    "Ugh… sorry…" (Neo)


    "Say that to her not to me…" (Ashtel)


    "Saying it to me will not really change anything, also… you should talk things out with your son… how long you are going to keep creating problems for him?…" (Ashtel)


    Ashtel knew that Neo was purposely creating difficult situations for his own son and Ashtel didn''t like that at all.


    "I see…" (Neo)


    After saying that Neo disappeared into thin air just like he had appeared out of nowhere.


    Ashtel shook his head in annoyance.


    "Why do I have to babysit these SS-rankers too, tch!" (Ashtel)


    …


    …


    Author''s Notes.


    Yo! It''s your beloved author here! It seems that Asthel is the one who is keeping all the other SS-rankers in check.


    His existence is the reason why strong people like the demon king don''t dare to attack the human race today.


    Question of the day.


    What do you think of Ashtel?


    1. He''s caring


    2. Strongest for a reason.


    3. He''s the only mature one among the other three immature SS-rankers.


    4. Others (Tell me in thements.)


    By the way, don''t forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.