Chapter 149: Too Late

“Ah…”

Dante looked at the items in his hand with a complex expression.

A small potion and ten medium-sized mana crystals.

’I tried…’

Dante tried to reject everything, but Ruby was just really stubborn!

Rejecting the spear was the easiest. He used the fact that he was more comfortable with a sword to force her to keep the spear to herself. It was hers to use now.

The Cores of Existence were as easy to refuse. After all, Dante had thousands of them. No amount of Rank 1 cores would help him in any way.

But it became complicated when it came to the mana crystals.

“My lord, the people who tried to kill you before might return and use traps! You should keep some mana crystals with you, it’s important!”

That was what she said, and Dante could only reduce the number of mana crystals to 10, leaving the remaining crystals with her for emergencies.

As for the potion, Ruby didn’t even give him the choice. He had no way to refuse a potion that could permanently increase his Mind stat.

’I hate this, but what could I say? “Sorry, I don’t like its taste?”’

Dante sighed before storing all the mana crystals into his ring and drank the potion in one go.

Gulp!

Dante’s expression hardened upon feeling the flavour, resisting the urge to vomit.

’Maybe I could have used that excuse. It tastes like someone peed into a bottle and called it a potion!’

Dante didn’t even exaggerate. He had tasted pee before and it was almost identical.

Why would he taste it? Well, there were some strange and disgusting kinks that most people often avoided, and Dante’s teacher wasn’t one of them. She enjoyed doing the things that any sane person would hate.

After all, Dante was so desperate that he killed her with no hesitation when he was young. He wouldn’t have done that if he weren’t pushed to the extreme.

Regardless, after a few seconds, Dante felt his mind becoming sharper and clearer. The potion worked like magic.

And if he had to guess, his mind stat was likely:

• Mind: 68 → 70

It was a good increase in his Mind stat, especially when it was his lowest stat and the most important when it came to using demonic energy.

Dante looked at Ruby, who was now preparing her items to leave, holding a sad expression on her face.

“My lord… just wait…” Ruby murmured to herself, but Dante heard her clearly with his sharp hearing.

After a minute, they opened the door again as Ruby was done.

At first, Ruby tried to pull the carriage and the wagon, which were so exhausting for her, so Dante pushed her aside and did it himself.

She refused for some time but gave up when Dante told her that he was only saving their time.

First, they went to buy a mount, and Ruby didn’t hesitate on spending a lot of mana crystals to buy a reliable one.

Then, they moved to a nearby branch of the Mercenary Guild to make a request to some Rank 1 mercenaries.

“I think I’ll leave now.” In the Mercenary Guild, Dante said while eating a spoon of sugar, trying to change the flavour in his mouth.

Ruby lowered her head in depression: “Can’t you stay with me for a few days? I… Never mind, I understand!”

Hearing her, Dante felt an urge to stay with her until she left, but he dismissed it instantly.

’I can’t let myself get used to having a slave. That’s for both of us.’

After talking for some time, Dante bid farewell to Ruby and went on his own path.

“…!”

But after leaving the town, he sensed strange movements with Shadow Detection.

There were some shadows surrounding him, and he noticed that they had been following him since he left the town.

’Oh, thugs?’

Dante sighed and went into the forest, noticing that they were following him even there. That confirmed his suspicions.

’Is it because I don’t have companions? How stupid. This world doesn’t care about numbers.’

Dante sighed for the second time and stopped walking, letting the shadows get close to him.

After a minute, he was surrounded by 8 thugs, though they all held knives and pitchforks, suggesting that they were just normal people who were desperate.

The man who had the biggest Spirit stat took a step forward and threatened: “I-if you understand your situation, leave all your belongings and we’ll let you live!”

Dante casually glanced at the man, causing him to step backward in fear.

’Huh? Do I look that scary? I thought I was rather handsome.’

Dante looked at the other people, noticing that none of them gave a similar reaction.

“Do you have an ability related to instincts?” Dante asked before scratching his head.

“H-how did you know?” The man asked with terror in his eyes.

That just confirmed it for Dante.

Honestly, Dante didn’t want to fight them, a bunch of desperate people who couldn’t even buy real weapons, so he suggested:

“I’m Rank 2 and I can kill all of you now if I want. Are you sure you want to do this? I can give you a few coins if you promise never to steal from anyone.”

The people lowered their weapons slightly, considering his suggestion thoughtfully.

But just then, two of them, a man and a woman, charged toward Dante with pitchforks and knives.

“RAAAH!!”

Dante frowned at their decision. They didn’t even hesitate!

’I’ll use them to warn others.’

Without even looking at them, Dante manipulated his mana, spiritual energy, and demonic energy to cast two spells.

Demonic Mana Spell — Demonic Mana Cannonball!

Shadow Spell — Consuming Shade!

BAM!

Instantly, a disguised demonic cannonball shot from Dante’s back, exploding in the chest of one thug and sending him flying into a tree, leaving a trail of blood and broken bones.

Before the other thug could react, a thin spike appeared from her shadow and pierced her leg.

’Ahhh!’

She fell to her knees and looked at the spike, only for her eyes to widen in terror at the sight of the spike growing in size.

She swung her knife and cut the spike, then she grabbed the piece that was still in her leg and tried to pull it out.

“Too late, you’re dying now.” Dante appeared behind her and spoke with a cold voice.

The woman ignored him and pulled the spike with all the strength she could gather.

“What…”

But to her surprise, she indeed pulled it out, but not completely. A part of the spike was still inside her leg!

’It… it didn’t feel that big inside my leg!’ The woman felt that something was wrong and pulled again, only to see that part of the spike remained inside her leg.

She pulled.

And pulled.

And pulled.

The spike was now as big as her entire leg!

And yet, she was still pulling more!!

But what she didn’t notice was that her already skinny body was becoming skinnier and skinnier with every passing second.

“As I said…” Dante patted the woman’s head, looking at the other people who were looking at that sight in fear: “Too late.”

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