Chapter 165: Old Scores, New Blood

Adam stood calmly, a faint smirk playing at the edges of his lips. "Monster?" He tilted his head, crimson eyes glittering with dark amusement. "That’s a rude way to greet someone you haven’t seen in months."

Ellen’s hand moved instinctively to the scar on her neck—a scar that still ached on cold mornings, a constant reminder of venom and fangs in the dark. Her voice dripped with venom of its own. "Don’t pretend, monster. You think dressing up as a human makes you one of us?" She spat on the ground. "You’re dungeon spawn."

Seraphina leaned close to Adam, her voice barely a whisper. "These are the ones who hunted you? In the dungeon?"

Adam’s smirk widened. "Correct. And now we’re going to flatten them all. Get ready."

But Elise’s voice cut through, sharp with urgency. "Adam, wait!"

He glanced back, one eyebrow raised. "What? You want me to hold back again? After they ambushed us, shot our horses, and surrounded us with thirty soldiers?"

Ignis’s flames crackled with barely contained fury. "They hunted us! In the dungeon! They tried to kill us! Now we get to return the favor!"

Elise’s hands gripped the edge of the overturned cart, her face pale but determined. "I understand. I do. But look at them—those aren’t bandits. They’re royal soldiers. Solarian military."

She pointed at the crests, the matched armor, the disciplined formation. "If you kill royal soldiers, the kingdom will know. They’ll investigate. They’ll send more—better equipped, better trained, and with official sanction to hunt you across every border. These aren’t like the bandits you slaughtered. These belong to someone."

Lilith’s voice drifted from the shadows of the cart, calm and cold. "Her argument has merit. But it doesn’t change the fundamental equation." She emerged, pale and graceful, her crimson eyes fixed on the soldiers with an expression that held no warmth whatsoever. "If we let them live, they will hunt us. They will bring more. The outcome is the same—pursuit, violence, death—merely delayed."

Her threads extended slightly, barely visible in the morning light. "I have no intention of being hunted indefinitely. And I owe these particular humans a personal debt." Her gaze lingered on Derek, on Ellen, on the mage.

Adam looked at Elise, then at the soldiers, then back at his companions. The smirk faded, replaced by something colder.

"You’re right about one thing, Elise. Killing royal soldiers brings heat." His eyes narrowed. "But Lilith’s right too. Letting them go means running forever." He cracked his neck, the sound sharp in the tense silence. "So we need to find a different solution."

Derek’s voice rang out across the canyon, flat and final. "You’re surrounded. Come quietly, and maybe we’ll let your human companions walk away."

Ellen smiled—a thin, cruel expression. "The princess and the knight have nothing to do with this. Surrender yourselves, dungeon spawn, and they go free."

Seraphina’s hand tightened on her sword. "I will not abandon my comrades."

Adam glanced at her, a flicker of surprise crossing his features. "Hee... saying it so boldly like that... you’re making me blush."

Seraphina’s cheeks reddened instantly. "S-Shut up and focus!"

Westin, the mage, stepped forward, his staff glowing with gathered power. "Don’t waste time talking to them, Derek. They’re monsters. They don’t negotiate."

Ellen’s bow creaked as she drew, arrow trained on Adam’s heart. "One shot. That’s all it would take."

Adam met the archer’s gaze, and for just a moment, the pressure of Abyssal Majesty leaked through—not enough to affect trained soldiers, but enough to make her fingers twitch.

"Try it," Adam said softly. "I dare you."

Derek’s eyes narrowed. Something in Adam’s confidence bothered him—the ease, the lack of fear. Prey didn’t look at hunters like that.

"You’ve changed," Derek observed. "In the dungeon, you ran. Now you stand." His sword shifted slightly. "What happened to make a monster bold?"

Adam’s lips curved. "I evolved."

The tension shattered.

Adam moved.

Mirage Cascade blurred him into three afterimages, each one streaking toward the Solarian line from a different angle. The soldiers’ eyes widened—they couldn’t track him, couldn’t tell which was real.

The real Adam materialized directly in front of the front rank, his fist already cocked back. It slammed into a soldier’s shield with the force of a battering ram. The shield buckled. The soldier flew backward into his comrades, sending three men tumbling to the ground.

Ellen’s voice cut through the chaos, sharp and commanding. "Platoon! Form up! Squad bow, fire on my mark! Don’t let them break our lines!"

Ignis erupted from the cart like a volcano given form. "Solar Wind!"

A wave of superheated air blasted from her position, rolling toward the soldiers like a desert sirocco. Shields glowed red. Armor became furnaces. Men screamed, dropping weapons as their hands blistered.

"This is my payback!" Ignis roared, flames wreathing her entire body. "For hunting us! For thinking you could trap us! BURN!"

Behind her, Elise slumped against the overturned cart, one hand pressed to her forehead. "This is chaos... they know I’m a princess. If these soldiers die, I’ll be blamed." She looked at Lilith, who was calmly extending her threads toward the chaos. "This is a disaster."

Lilith glanced back, her expression utterly serene. "That’s also your fault for revealing your identity. Accept the consequences." She turned back to the battle, her threads already seeking targets. "Now support us. That’s the only way forward."

Elise’s jaw tightened. Then, slowly, she straightened. Her hands began to glow with crimson light.

Seraphina moved to stand before the princess, her sword drawn, her body positioned as a shield. "Your Highness, are you certain—"

"I’m fine, Sera." Elise’s voice was steadier than it had been moments before. "Lilith is right. I made my choices. Now I have to live with them." Crimson energy coiled around her fingers. "Support them. We’ll deal with the political fallout later."

Seraphina studied her princess for a heartbeat, then nodded. Her aura erupted—silver-gold light blazing from her form as she turned to face the soldiers.

Another soldier lunged at her, spear leveled. Seraphina’s blade swept up, deflecting the thrust, and her Oath-light flared. The soldier’s eyes widened as her counter-strike slammed into his chest plate, sending him staggering back with a dent in his armor.

"An aura user!" someone shouted from the Solarian ranks. "She’s got an awakened Oath!"

"Counter her! Don’t let her build momentum!"

Lilith’s threads found their first target—a soldier who had broken formation to flank Ignis. They wrapped around his ankles, and he crashed face-first into the ground before he could even scream. Another thread found a bowstring, snapping it mid-draw and sending the archer stumbling back with a ruined weapon.

Derek watched the chaos unfold, his expression shifting from confidence to grim assessment. These weren’t the same prey he’d hunted in the dungeon. They’d grown. Evolved. Become something far more dangerous.

"Westin!" he barked. "Suppression magic! Now!"

The mage’s staff blazed, and ice exploded across the battlefield ground beneath their feet. A slick sheet of frost spread rapidly, threatening to steal their footing.

Adam’s boots found purchase regardless, his Gecko’s Grip adhering to the frozen surface. He slid through the ice field like a skater, closing on Westin with terrifying speed.

"You first, mage."

Westin’s eyes went wide. He threw up a barrier—too slow. Adam’s fist drove through the half-formed shield and connected with the mage’s staff. The enchanted wood shattered. Westin flew backward, crashing into a cluster of soldiers and taking three of them down with him.

Adam straightened, rolling his shoulder. "One down."

Ellen’s arrow finally released at Ignis, who was too focused on the soldiers before her to notice.

The arrow never reached her.

Seraphina’s blade intercepted it mid-flight, the steel slicing the shaft in two. She didn’t even look at Ellen, her attention fixed on the soldiers pressing her position.

"Your Highness, now!"

Elise’s spell completed. Crimson sigils blazed across the ground beneath the Solarian formation—Binding Sigils, refined and strengthened. Soldiers cried out as glowing red chains erupted from the earth, wrapping around ankles and weapons, rooting them in place.

Derek’s eyes met Adam’s across the carnage. Something passed between them—recognition, perhaps. The understanding that this fight would not end until one of them lay dead.

"So be it," Derek growled, raising his axe. "Monster. Let’s finish this."