Chapter 211 Fighting an S-Rank Adventurer
After spending a few minutes descending the staircase, Leo and his team arrived at the boss room.
Just like a corridor, there was only one path they could walk, and at the end of this path was a massive black metallic door with detailed engravings all over it.
However, there was something else before the boss room— someone— to be more specific.
This person appeared to be a young man in his late twenties. He had short red hair that resembled the color of flames, sharp eyes that give the impression of a gangster, and multiple earrings on his right ear.
He was currently sitting on a foldable chair before the door to the boss room, and he gave off this menacing aura.
When Leo saw this person, he instinctively became alerted even though he didn't recognize this red-haired young man.
However, the others recognized him.
"Isn't that Matthew Hicks? The S-Rank Adventurer." Oscar asked out loud.
"He looks like him, but what is an S-Rank Adventurer doing down here?" Jasper said.
"Matthew Hicks, also known as the Crazy Flame Magician. He's quite notorious for his recklessness in the battlefield." Sarah mumbled.
"He seems to be waiting for someone." Oliver said, and he turned to look at Sarah and asked, "What should we do now?"
"We should probably see what he has planned. If he's here for the boss, there's nothing we can do but go back." Sarah said, as it would be akin to courting death if they dared to fight an S-Rank Adventurer for the boss.
"I'll go ask him! I've always wanted to speak with him!" Oliver said with an eager-looking expression on his face.
"Wai—"
Leo tried to stop him, but Oliver had already started running towards Matthew.
Matthew remained seated when he saw Oliver running towards him.
"A-Are you, by any chance, Mister Matthew— Matthew Hicks?!" Oliver asked him with an excited look on his face.
"What are you doing here?" He continued to ask when Matthew didn't respond.
"And are you Leon?" Matthew suddenly asked.
"Leon? No, I am Oliver. Oliver—"
"If you're not Leon, don't care." Matthew interrupted in a nonchalant voice, and he continued, "And if you're not him, I have no reason to keep you alive."
"What…?" Oliver's eyes widened with shock, his gaze filled with confusion as he watched Matthew send a massive fireball flying at him.
BOOM!
The fireball exploded upon impact, sending Oliver flying away.
"OLIVER?!!!" A look of horror appeared on Jasper's face, and he subconsciously went to catch Oliver's body.
After catching Oliver's body, Jasper could feel his hands and arms burning from the heat that was emanating from Oliver's burnt body, but he ignored all of it and continued to embrace Oliver's body.
In fact, Oliver's body was so badly burned that even his brother could no longer recognize him.
"O-Oliver?! Oliver! Answer me! Oliver!!!" Jasper cried out loud with tears flowing from his eyes.
Oscar and the others were in shock.
"Why did you attack him?!" Oscar snapped out of his daze and shouted at Matthew, who remained seated in his chair with a nonchalant look on his face.
"Q-Quickly! Feed this to him!" Sarah handed a high-grade healing potion to Jasper, who quickly poured it into Oliver's mouth.
However, it was too late, as Oliver's heart had already stopped beating, and no matter how strong the healing potion was, it couldn't possibly revive the dead.
"YOU BASTARD! I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Jasper laid Oliver's body on the ground and immediately began casting his magic spell.
"You idiot! You won't be able to harm him, much less defeat him! You'll only get yourself killed!" Sarah shouted at him.
"I don't care if I die! He's already killed my brother— my only family left in this world!" Jasper said with bloodshot eyes, his gaze filled with intense killing intent.
Sarah tried to stop him, but Jasper was already committed to avenging his brother even at the cost of his life.
Seeing this, Sarah turned to look at the others and shouted, "Let's get out of here!"
Oscar immediately nodded, "There's no way we can defeat an S-Rank Adventurer! Let's get out of here!"
Sarah and Oscar began running away.
However, Leo and Lia remained still.
Leo had a dazed look on his face while Lia was waiting for Leo to act.
"What are you two doing?! Do you want to die?!" Sarah shouted at them as she reached the staircase.
"Leo… What are you going to do?" Lia asked him in a calm voice while tugging his shirt.
Leo snapped out of his daze that was caused by Oliver's sudden death after hearing her voice. Even now, he was still having trouble comprehending the situation.
"He's an assassin sent by Edwin, right?" Leo asked in a low voice.
"Yes, he's one of the Scarlet Family's top assassins who specializes in fire magic. Are you thinking about fighting him?" Lia asked him.
And she continued before he could respond, "I don't support such a decision. You may be powerful, but an S-Rank Adventurer is on a whole different level. He's not someone you can deal with right now. I will reveal my identity and tell him to stop."
Leo turned to look at Lia with an oddly calm gaze, and he spoke in a clear voice, "Normally, I would agree with you. However, he's using fire magic, and I am essentially immune to fire magic. Moreover, I don't like him. The arrogance on his face— I am going to wipe it off."
"Leo…"
BOOM!
"Ah!"
Jasper was sent flying after eating Matthew's fire magic, and just like his brother, he perished in a single hit.
"Go somewhere safe. I will handle this." Leo said to Lia before turning to look at Matthew, who was still sitting on his chair with an arrogant look on his face.
"I will back you up," she said.
"Thanks but no thanks. I won't be able to go all out with you by my side." Leo politely rejected her offer.
"Then I will do so from a place where I won't obstruct you." Lia didn't accept his rejection, and she walked to the end of the room.
Leo shook his head inwardly before approaching Matthew.
"Good luck, Leo. Although he's an S-Rank Adventurer, he's far from Camille or Eve's level, so you might actually have a chance to defeat him." Lilith said to him.
"I can tell. Unlike the Headmistress, he doesn't give me an uneasy feeling even though I am about to fight him," he responded in a calm voice.
"I'm sorry… You got caught up in this because of me…" Leo stopped in front of Jasper and Oliver's corpse and apologized to them.
The attack was so sudden that he couldn't react to it, and even if he could, he wouldn't have been able to protect Jasper or Oliver.
Once Leo was standing about 20 meters away from Matthew, he stopped walking and stared at the red-haired young man with a deep frown on his face.
"You're Leon?" Matthew asked him in a calm voice.
"Did Edwin send you?" Leo asked for confirmation.
"Yes, he did." Matthew did not deny it.
And he asked, "Did you kill the four idiots that came before me?"
"Yes, I did." Leo answered.
Then he asked, "Why did you kill those two? You're an S-Rank Adventurer, right? Killing Adventurers that are far weaker than you— don't you have any morals or shame?"
Matthew smirked at his question, "I killed them because I felt like it. So what if I am an S-Rank Adventurer? I kill whoever I want to kill— that is a privilege given to S-Rank Adventurers like me. The privilege to do whatever the fuck I want, that is."
The frown on Leo's face burrowed deeper when he heard such words.
"..." He was utterly speechless, and he couldn't understand how someone could have such a mindset.
"After I capture you, I will kill the other three. If you don't like it, why don't you do something about it? Why don't you try and stop me, little boy."
Whoosh!
A black projectile suddenly flew at Matthew, but the projectile disintegrated before it could reach him.
"Not bad, but you'll need far more than that to stop me." Matthew said, the smile on his face growing wider and wider with arrogance.
"Can you stop talking? You sound exactly like most generic villains do in books and movies. It's super cringe." Leo spoke in a cold voice.
Matthew's eyebrows twitched a little after hearing Leo's insult.
He suddenly raised his arm and pointed his finger at Leo's direction.
"Flamethrower." He mumbled in a low voice.
A long and wide line of flames that covered the whole corridor spew out of Matthew's finger and flew towards Leo, engulfing his body almost instantly with flames.
"Although Edwin told me to bring you back alive, that might be impossible. I hope he doesn't mind receiving your corpse instead." Matthew said afterward, thinking that he'd killed Leo with his Flamethrower.
Suddenly, Leo's voice resounded from within the sea of flames within the corridor.
"What Tier magic spell is this? It's really warm and comfortable. You'll need something stronger if you want to kill me."
'What? He's still alive?' Matthew thought to himself.
Once the flames died down, Leo's figure was revealed again. Although it was subtle, his body was emitting a fiery aura.
Matthew didn't think too much of it because he thought it was caused by his Flamethrower.
'He must have used a magic artifact to defend against my spell just now. Let's see how much it can endure.' He wondered inwardly as he released another Flamethrower, this time with a little more heat.
However, Leo came out unscathed once again.
"It's so warm and comfortable that I nearly fell asleep just now." Leo spoke in a provocative voice, even yawning afterward.
'This little bastard…' The corner of Matthew's mouth twitched, and he was starting to feel irritated by Leo's presence.
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