CHAPTER 33: AM I A BAD THING?

"Did you feel the energy that son of a bitch exhaled after he died? I told you he was no good, thank the gods you listened to me and decided to kill him instead of just seriously injuring him."

Durgan spoke, they were already leaving the mine and he had a pleasant smile on his face as he remembered the death of the one he hated so much.

"Fuck him! He was just another one of Eve’s toys, and that energy wasn’t even that horrible hahaha, I’ve seen worse when I worked in the underworld of the royal capital.

I’m glad we’re going to be filthy rich and never have to deal with those bastards again!"

Clark laughed at Durgan’s words, more excited by the idea of being filthy rich than by Ethan’s supposed death.

"You’d better shut the fuck up! We haven’t finished the mission yet."

Jhon silenced his two partners before focusing solely on Clark.

"Give me the crystal, I’ll hurry up and lead the way, Robert should be waiting for us at that location."

"Right, I’ll get it here." Clark stopped his steps and reached into his pocket, pulling out a single golden hexagonal crystal.

They had already left the mine by this point and Jhon reached out to take the crystal, but all he got was a crimson glow followed by shocked looks from Clark and Durgan.

A terrible sound of flesh being sliced and bones being crushed rang out, blood gushing like a fountain as Jhon’s hand was separated from his arm.

"What the... MY HAND! FUCK!"

A shrill scream came from Jhon’s mouth as the pain and despair finally reached his mind, his eyes widened and he collapsed onto his knees.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR? HELP ME!!!"

Jhon shouted to his companions as he clutched his bloodied arm, but when he looked up, the only thing he could see was the backs of his companions disappearing into the darkness of the forest without even looking back.

At that moment, sunk in despair, he heard footsteps at his back and turned his head, only to see Ethan slowly approaching.

"Ethan... please help me! We never meant to hurt you, the runes made a mistake! A mistake! Not me!"

Jhon begged, but all he got was a contemptuous smile from Ethan, who soon disappeared into the darkness in the same direction his companions had gone.

"N-no..." Jhon’s despair deepened even more and his eyes watered as he heard the heavy footsteps of the guards rapidly approaching the position.

He knew full well that when those men found out about his dead comrades, his fate would be far worse than death.

***

"Was that Ethan? Wasn’t that son of a bitch dead?" Clark asked, his eyes trembling and his breathing panting as he ran faster than he had ever run in his life.

"He looked pretty alive to me, and he’s on our tail!" Durgan replied as he looked back, his eyes becoming sharp as he gripped his axe tightly.

"I’ll hold him off for a while, find Robert and ask him to send someone to help me!" Durgan stopped his steps, his feet sinking into the ground and opening a small crack in the forest earth as he fought against the inertia of his body.

In the next second, he raised his axe and a metallic noise followed by an explosion of sparks took over the atmosphere, the dwarf’s body was thrown for another five meters and only stopped when he hit a tree.

"Ethan, you fucking bastard... I knew you were bad, that corrupt and disgusting energy you exuded wasn’t deceiving!" Durgan barked as he slammed his axe against the ground and regained his balance.

The forest was completely dark and only the light emanating from Ethan’s crimson aura illuminated the area around the man and the dwarf.

"Am I a bad thing? It’s comical to hear that from a man who used his ’companion’ as a sacrifice for a rune." Ethan laughed scornfully as he slowly approached the man.

"We all do bad things, the difference is that I do it out of necessity, you do it because it’s in your blood cursed by the gods!"

Durgan retorted as he gripped his axe tightly, he could feel Ethan’s aura and knew well that he had already reached the grounding stage, but he still faced him with courage.

"And what mischief have I done to you? Ah... never mind, they’re cheap excuses to justify the cruelty of your greed, I’d rather not hear them!" Ethan roared before raising his sword over his head and dropping it on the man.

"Bastard-" Durgan cursed as another metallic clang rang out, his feet sank into the ground and his little legs almost bent backwards.

But despite this, he still had a confident smile on his face.

’Interesting...’ Ethan thought to himself as he felt the mana flowing through Durgan’s body.

For some reason, he wasn’t imbuing his mana into his arms, hands and legs to hold off his attack; on the contrary, all his mana seemed to be leaking out of his feet and spreading across the ground where they stood.

At that moment, he remembered something he had read about dwarves in his childhood: They had many innate earth skills and their affinity with this element was greater than any other.

Suddenly, the mana under Ethan’s feet became violent and, already aware of the little man’s plans, he launched himself into the air.

In the next second, the mana on the ground exploded and as if coming to life, the earth rose up towards Ethan, dozens of stone thorns appearing and jabbing towards the spot where he had previously been standing.

"That was a close one... Do you want me to congratulate you on that?" Ethan landed on the thorns, balancing easily on their sharp points, his words filled with a mixture of arrogance and contempt that struck Durgan’s already frustrated heart.

"Fuck you, you little shit! You haven’t seen anything yet!" Durgan roared and swung his axe, the ground beneath his feet seemed to hear his command and flow like a sea of thorns towards Ethan.

"Good! Show me more of the strength of the legendary dwarf race! I want to test my new powers too hahaha"

Ethan’s laughter echoed like a thud in Durgan’s mind who watched in horror as Ethan easily dodged his thorns, even casually breaking them with his bare hands.

A reaction that didn’t escape Ethan’s discerning eyes, he decided to stop running and go for it.

With a single swing of his sword, he broke through all the thorns that flew towards his body, clearing the way for Durgan.

"I think I’ve seen enough!" Ethan roared and threw his body forward while swinging his sword.

Durgan raised his axe and was about to defend successfully, but at the last second, Ethan retracted his blade and swung his hand as if cutting the air, generating a sharp cut of mana.

In the next second, Durgan’s head was detached from his body and he collapsed to the ground.