Chapter 179: Family
The sound of several people talking could be heard even from afar; they were talking excitedly, discussing their future plans, and some were even talking about their normal life and families.
Even though this was a criminal organization, the environment there seemed like a normal company.
They all were quite friendly, which was mostly because of the leader and the old man who had built this organization in such a manner.
Treating all the members as if they were family members, the bond between them all was quite good.
That was also the reason why the members laughed at their leader so openly, and he still didn't punish any of them.
Lucian had faintly started to recognize the aura of the people, though it was still not very accurate, but he could tell which among those people were awakeners and which were not, or which ones were at the 2nd Phase.
As Lucian entered the large hall, he saw over fifty people sitting there, and they were all so busy talking that no one noticed him at first, giving him the chance to attack first.
SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH
Several fluidic hands with pointed tips shot out at lightning speed, four of them heading straight toward the four people who were at the 2nd Phase of evolution.
BANG BANG BANG BANG
Instantly, sounds of surprise cries filled the hall. Lucian hadn't aimed for the normal humans but only the awakened.
More than ten awakened people died in an instant as the tentacles pierced through their chests and turned their bodies into a pile of bones and skin.
Lucian felt quite a large amount of Fog rushing into his body.
He had killed a dozen people at the 1st Phase
Chasm
, and not only that, but he even managed to kill two of the people at the 2nd Phase who were not able to dodge in time.
Two people were able to sense the attack just in time and dodged it, but still received some injury.
While the 1st Phase men weren't able to sense the approaching attacks, after feeling something hitting their bodies, they just fell down, dead.
"W- Who was that? Everyone move back." All of them frantically looked around while running to different sides; the attack was just too sudden.
Without missing the chance, Lucian rushed into the crowd, sensing the tentacles flying towards all the awakeners around him.
The tentacles tore through the bodies of several people and absorbed the Fog and blood out of their bodies.
The only ones who could be problematic to Lucian were the people in the 2nd Phase, so he decided to take care of the others first.
Dead bodies were falling down one after another. In just a matter of a few seconds, only the two men in the 2nd Phase remained.
One of them had an ability, while the other had quite fast reflexes.
They finally saw a person shrouded by black flames in the distance.
The man without any ability had short brown hair and was in his thirties.
He seemed afraid as he looked at the dead bodies of all his friends.
He couldn't sense Lucian's strength and felt that he might be of a higher Phase.
On the other hand, the second person seemed calmer, maybe because he had an ability, though his gaze was filled with endless rage since these people were like brothers to him.
He looked at Lucian with killing intent.
"Who are you? And what's your reason for doing all this? Tell me before I rip your body to pieces," the first man said fearlessly as he took out two knives from the pockets on his pants.
"W-We need to run, I don't think we can defeat him," the brown haired man spoke as he took a few steps back.
Lucian wasn't sure what ability that man had, but he wasn't too worried.
Just as he was about to ask this to Zero, the first man spoke again:
"If you answer me truthfully, I can spare your life, so just show me your face and surrender—"
While speaking, he suddenly began to run and then pounced towards Lucian, throwing one knife toward his face while holding the other tightly.
In the next instant, a blinding light shot out of his eyes; it was enough to stun anyone for half a minute, but the darkness surrounding Lucian stopped the light in its tracks.
Raising one hand, Lucian stopped the knife, which had greatly slowed down after getting close to him.
Then a sword made of the red fluid appeared in his hand, and then it turned solid. The blade was extremely sharp.
The evolution in the early phases is quite fast and easy to attain, but that also means there isn't a very large difference in their strength.
Lucian was already at the peak of the 1st Phase, and with all this
Fog
rushing into his body, even if some was taken by Velm, he would still be able to reach the 2nd Phase very soon.
He raised his right hand and then brought it down with all his strength, cutting through the body of the man in front of him as he got sliced in half.
Then the blade hit the floor, producing a loud noise.
"W- What? He is dead?! T- This can't be… Why are you doing this?" The brown-haired man looked in horror, seeing his friend lying in a puddle of blood, his internal organs all over the place.
"You— What are you doing?" the second man asked in a trembling voice as he saw the blade disappear.
Then two tentacles were released, and soon his friend had turned into a pile of bones and skin.
Lucian finally moved his gaze towards the last person there, who seemed to have frozen in place, his legs trembling.
They didn't have much experience in fighting, so such a situation was enough to make him forget everything.
"…" Lucian didn't say anything. He heard the sound of footsteps approaching and knew more people were coming, so he decided to finish this man.
He had absorbed quite a large amount of Fog, and even though a little part of it was eaten by Velm, there was still a lot left.
Lucian was forcefully stopping it from being completely absorbed into his body, or his evolution would start right there and then, leaving him unable to fight for some time.
He raised his right hand horizontally, pointing it to his side as Velm surged out. After eating such a delicious meal, it seemed very excited.
Within a couple of seconds, his right hand had turned into a large wing; even the feathers could be seen.
It was red in color with black patterns all over it, but with his current strength, Lucian was not able to cover the wing in the Flame of Corruption.
Seeing this scene, the frozen man finally realized his situation.
As he turned around trying to escape from there, if he had actually decided to fight back while retreating, he might have had a chance, but with his back completely exposed, he was just a walking target.
WHOOSH
Lucian flapped the large wing as dozens of feathers flew out in the direction of the brown-haired man.
They were solid and looked almost like knives, creating a whooshing sound as they tore through the air.
"Ahhhhhhhh S- Stop sob please let me live. W-What have we ughhhh d- done to you?"
The brown-haired man's body was riddled with several holes as the knives plunged into his body, tearing his flesh and breaking his bones as blood uncontrollably flowed out.
He fell down as he took his last breath crying. There was an intense desire to live in his eyes.
He mourned the death of all his friends, and finally, he stopped breathing.
The feathers that were stuck on his body soon disappeared; Lucian absorbed all the Fog into his body too.
Now none of them were left; he had even killed the ones who were still normal humans without any Fog in their bodies.
BANG
Finally, he turned to the other side from where more people were coming.
He struck the ground with the large and heavy wing, creating a crater on the floor just beside him.
Three people finally came into his view. One was the old man who was panting heavily since he ran all the way.
The second was the principal, who had to run so far with his short legs, and the last was the leader, who was also panting since he had some breathing problems.
The three of them looked at the scene around them, and the bodies of the three people shuddered as they saw over fifty corpses lying all over the place, but they were all dried up.
The old man just fell to his knees as if he had lost the will to live.
These men were just like his own children, and they all treated him respectfully. His heart was crushed by this scene.
The principal was filled with extreme fear at the scene in front of him.
He instantly wet his pants as the sound of liquid falling to the floor rang out in the silent hall.
He too fell down, but over his ass, his gaze filled with dread.
The leader of the group was attached to all these people. He had chosen every single one of them himself and had always treated them like family.
His head was filled with countless emotions as he looked at the lifeless bodies of all the men.
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