Chapter 405 One Blow Challenge

'Seems like I still have about five hours before I want to sleep.' He thought to himself as he became invisible and began traveling toward Rock's Tavern.

'The Five Hairs of the Black Petal Sect.' Lyrian thought to himself with a serious tone, 'It's confirmed, this is the Black Petal Sect's doing.'

After pondering this for a short while, his train of thought switched. 'It's odd how I heard about the Five Heads, and now I'm hearing about the Five Hairs. I want to bring this up with Hyst and the others, but it will be better if I reveal it in tomorrow's meeting. After all, the so-called Third Head will be there as well...'

With this, Lyrian returned to his room in the tavern and sat down on the bed.

'Enough with quests for today. I haven't gotten a chance to cultivate in a long while, so I might as well do that.' Lyrian mused, sitting down on his bed in a lotus position with his legs crossed.

At that moment, however, his door suddenly swung open.

'Huh?' His eyes opened as he peered at the door, 'I forgot to lock it? I guess I'm feeling a bit too safe.'

"Lord Lyrian! You went on a quest without me!" Ranthor, the kid that decided to follow Lyrian from the black market, exclaimed as he barged into the room.

Lyrian's face turned slightly sour, "I already told you... I'm not making you a part of my team. In fact, I don't even have a team. I'm doing this mission solo."

"But... you go to hunt with other adventurers, don't you?"

Lyrian paused for a moment, as Ranthor continued.

"Don't bull shit me! You just don't think I'm strong, isn't that right!? I performed okay against you in our duel though! You can't deny that I am at least as strong as those adventurers!" Ranthor got emotional and angry.

He was a kid after all, and with a lot of thoughts behind him, he couldn't help but act up.

"I take them with me because they decide to come with me in the moment."

"Then I can do that too--"

"But today proved that taking them along with me is like taking them to their own graves," Lyrian said with a completely straight face.

"W-what?" Ranthor was slightly taken aback.

"They all nearly died today. If it had not been for me, each one of them would be nothing but chunks of flesh and blood." Lyrian wanted to scare Ranthor so he wouldn't insist any longer but was also telling the truth.

Ranthor took a step back, as if in a daze. Then, with determination glinting in his eyes, he stepped forward again.

"Then... I'll do it!"

"What?"

"I'll do it. I'll become stronger than the opponents you faced, and next time, I'll help you kill them and save your adventurer friends." Although his words were silly and absurd, Lyrian slightly respected the fact that even at such a young age, Ranthor had dreamed past death itself.

His fear of it was gone. This attribute was only given to two types of people in life, according to what Lyrian learned from Ephiras Varant.

One was the fool, whose fear of life is stripped away from him due to ignorance and stupidity.

And then, there was the sage, whose fear of life he purposefully would remove from his life due to wisdom and knowledge.

'Of course, he isn't a sage. But... he isn't completely ignorant either.'

"Fine. Get strong enough to land a single blow on me."

"Yes! That's easy!" Ranthor's eyes lit up, "And then what? What's after I do that?"

"I... haven't thought about that part yet."

"Huh!?" L1terary-N0v3l hosted the first appearance of this chapter at N0vel.B1n.

"I'll decide whether or not you can go with me the moment you manage to land your hit. No point in thinking now."

"F-fine! Sleep with your eyes open..." Ranthor stepped out of the door with a smug smile on his.

Afterward, however, he exclaimed, "Thank you! Lord Lyrian! I won't ever forget this favor!" Before closing the door.

Lyrian couldn't help but scoff slightly out of amusement.

At that moment, Ranthor was pushed back into the room by someone else, who also barged into Lyrian's room.

Ranthor fell to the floor, as a familiar face entered.

"Take me with you too! I swear, I will get revenge on my fallen family and friends. Even if it means the world will have to fall to its knees!" Hyren from the Hyroon family spoke up.

"Uh... what are you doing in here?" Lyrian questioned, slightly confused.

"I've been listening in on the entire conversation!" Hyren exclaimed with a serious military-like voice, completely straight-faced.

"That isn't really a thing to say with a normal expression you know..." Ranthor scratched his head as he stood up.

"I don't care," Hyren said, his gaze fixed on Lyrian.

"Fine, do what you want! You have the same rules as Ranthor. Just hit me once while I'm conscious. Now get out, both of you!"

With this, Hyren left without a single change to his facial expression. Ranthor exited as well, still scratching his head.

After they shut the door, Lyrian made his Shadow Puppet lock it. Then, he took in a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Smithing Mode activated instantly, and so did his cultivation technique; Cerberus Cultivation Technique.

At once, mana began to float around him in his 3D vision. Then, the aura around him began to change color.

It turned into a vibrant red, signifying that Astartoh, the First Daemon that he unlocked, was turned on.

At that moment, a young demon with wings and the body of a man burst out of his body. His lower body was still connected to Lyrian's back.

This demon, Astaroth, quickly morphed into the spirit of Cerberus, who had also come out by now.

Cerberus was a blotch of shadowy energy that slightly resembled a dog's face but constantly changed shape.

With Astaroth's energy, Cerberus was now outlined in a dark red hue.