Chapter 208: The White-Haired Man

"Who the hell are you?" All three of them turned around when they heard a voice—familiar yet unfamiliar—and looked at the figure that had appeared.

"Wait... you? The white-haired guy?" Rowan immediately recognized the face. It was that bastard who had ruined all his plans.

"Didn’t expect to see each other again so soon, did you?" Daniel smiled and waved at them.

They exchanged looks and, without hesitation, prepared for battle. It was clear they weren’t planning to let Daniel leave alive.

"Relax. No need to be so eager to die. I’m not here to kill you... I think?"

"You made a huge mistake coming here! You bastard ruined all our plans, and now you’re going to pay for it!" Zarek growled in anger.

He was still pissed off at the white-haired boy for humiliating him back at the Golden Luck. Now, he had the chance to vent all his rage on him.

"What’s with all the anger? I just want to talk," Daniel shrugged.

"There’s no need to talk!" Zarek roared and charged at Daniel.

"Wait!" Rowan shouted to stop the hothead, but it was already too late. He had a very bad feeling about this, but the idiot attacked without thinking.

As Zarek’s fist closed in on Daniel’s face, Daniel just smiled.

The punch landed—

Crack!

The sound of something breaking echoed. Velina and Rowan looked at Daniel’s face to see if anything had happened—and to their shock, he was completely fine.

"No way...?"

They turned to look at Zarek’s hand—and it was broken.

Just from hitting Daniel’s face, Zarek’s hand had completely shattered.

"Aghhh, you bastard! It hurts!"

It took the redhead a second to realize what had happened.

Seeing the result of his attack, he tried to retreat immediately, but Daniel had no intention of letting him go so easily.

He landed a simple kick to Zarek’s leg—breaking it as well.

"Aghhh—help me, aghh!" Zarek screamed louder, but Daniel didn’t give him a chance. He followed up with another strike and slammed Zarek into the ground, knocking him out cold.

Still, blood splattered everywhere. Even though Daniel’s blows were simple, they carried immense hidden power.

From Daniel’s point of view, it was entirely their fault for being so weak. Even though he was currently just a C-rank, his physical and spiritual strength wasn’t far off from high or even peak B-rank.

The difference between B and C rank wasn’t even close—two entirely different worlds. Like heaven and earth. They had no chance against him.

"What do you want?" Rowan tried to calm himself down, but the fear in his eyes was obvious.

Thinking about the Hell difficulty of this floor and how they were just one step from death made him even more terrified. Velina wasn’t doing any better—in fact, she looked worse.

"Tell me about your mission." Daniel gave them a simple but cold look.

"You’re a player too?" Velina asked in disbelief.

Daniel didn’t reply, just nodded. There was no need to hide anything. They’d be dead sooner or later anyway. He wanted that mind control skill.

"Our mission—and that of the other players—was to follow the request of a Paragon. The Paragon found us directly and told us what to do... And that request is exactly what you stopped," Rowan answered, still a bit shocked.

If he was a player too, then why had he stopped them? Why was he attacking them?

Rowan had thought the mission of this floor was a joint objective for all players... but it seemed that didn’t apply to the one standing in front of him.

’Could he be a returnee? If that’s the case, then everything makes sense—his insane power, the Hell difficulty, and why his missions are different.’ he thought to himself.

"Interesting. Which one of the Paragons was it?" Daniel asked with curiosity.

"Well... we don’t know his name. He wasn’t either of the two that gave sermons today," Velina replied.

"Describe his appearance," he said, and Rowan immediately described the face of the Paragon who had asked them to turn the second sermon into chaos.

Daniel listened and fell into thought. There were two possibilities: either it was Evern or Velmiran, with a disguised face—

Or it was the third Paragon, the one he hadn’t seen yet.

’What was his name again? If I’m not wrong... Abraham. Evangelin spoke highly of him. Either he’s a great actor, or my first theory is right,’ Daniel thought with a frown.

Right now, though, he had no proof to support either theory. He decided to wait until tomorrow.

After all, all three Paragons would be present at the Prophet’s sermon tomorrow.

Then, he turned his attention back to the three players. All three were C-rank. While they didn’t meet Daniel’s current standards, he was sure they had potential.

"Thanks for your answers. Now it’s time for the real part."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Suddenly, a terrible feeling overwhelmed both of them. For reasons they couldn’t explain, their spines shivered.

Daniel didn’t reply. Instead, he summoned The Heavens Honor from his inventory. It had been a long time since he had "fed" his beloved sword.

"Wait! You promised you wouldn’t kill us!" Rowan screamed in panic and drew his own sword.

"I never made any promises." Daniel replied and immediately stabbed his sword into Zarek’s chest, who was lying at his feet.

"Besides, I’m not going to kill you two...

You’re going to serve me—forever."

Daniel smiled and cleared up their misunderstanding.

"F*ck you! Even if I have to die, I’ll make sure you come down with me!" Rowan growled in fury and nodded at Velina.

Without hesitation, Velina activated her skill: [Will Banish].

Daniel suddenly felt a foreign force attack his consciousness, trying to shut it down.

At the same time, Rowan charged in and unleashed his strongest skill: [Thousands Soul Destroyer].

Thousands of spirits burst out from his sword’s blade and rushed into Daniel’s body, targeting his soul.

But using that skill came with a heavy price. His mana was completely drained, and blood leaked from his eyes and ears.

"You okay?" Velina immediately moved to check on him.

"I’m fine... That skill puts a lot of pressure on my soul, but I’ll be alive." Rowan nodded, and the two of them turned to look at Daniel.

His eyes had gone blank—like he had lost consciousness. But there were no wounds on his body... which made sense. After all, it was a spiritual attack, not a physical one.