Midway through Floor Fifty-Nine, Damien woke up.
Ais felt him stir against her shoulder. She stopped, carefully lowering him to the ground, her arms trembling from exhaustion.
"Damien... Damien! You are awake?" she asked, her golden eyes searching his face.
Damien blinked, his vision clearing. He pushed himself up slowly, leaning against a nearby rock. His body ached, his muscles screamed, but he was alive. He looked at Ais—really looked at her. Her face had a scratch across her cheek. Her armor was tattered, her hair disheveled, her body beaten from the ordeal.
"Thanks, Ais," he said quietly. "For saving me."
Ais nodded. "You would have done the same."
Damien smiled. "Yeah. I suppose so."
He tried to stand. His legs held, barely. Ais moved to help him, letting him lean on her shoulder. She stumbled slightly under his weight.
"Hey," Damien said, gently releasing her. "Do not worry about me. I recover faster anyway. I can walk."
Ais hesitated, then nodded.
The two of them moved slowly through the corridors of Floor Fifty-Nine. The tunnels were silent—unnaturally so. Not a single monster spawned here. No Venom Scorpions. No Silver Worms. No Ill Wyverns. The reason was likely what had happened to Floor Sixty. Damien destroying the entire floor had probably placed the dungeon on red alert. It was too busy trying to fix itself to send monsters after them.
They walked in silence for nearly an hour.
By the time they reached the entrance of Floor Fifty-Eight, Damien had recovered some of his mana. His body was returning to normal. He ended up being the one to support Ais up the final stairs, his arm around her waist, hers around his shoulder.
The camp was in chaos.
Damien heard the screams of anger before he even saw the tents.
"HOW DARE YOU! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS! ALL OF YOU! YOU DISOBEYED ORDERS! The Guild will never forgive any of you!"
"You are a fool, Hedin!" Finn's voice boomed across the camp. "Risking everyone's life like that! Who the fuck do you think you are!"
Hedin's voice rose in response. "I was following orders! The Guild appointed me—"
"And you, Fels!" Finn shouted, cutting him off. "Fuck you! You say I am the one emotionally unstable? Huh? When this fool was leading everyone to their deaths!"
Fels's voice was calm, measured. "It was not my decision. The Guild decided he was to lead."
"WELL, FUCK THE GUILD!"
A soldier at the edge of the camp spotted movement in the distance. His eyes went wide.
"HEY, LOOK! HE IS BACK! HE IS BACK!"
Finn spun around.
Damien walked into the camp, Ais leaning on his arm.
"Damien!"
Two bullets rushed from Finn's side. Tiona and Tione crossed the distance in an instant, leaping onto Damien before he could react.
"DAMIEN!"
Damien received the two hugs with a tired smile. "Take it easy, girls. I am still tired!"
Tiona buried her face in his chest. Tione wrapped her arms around him from the other side. Neither of them let go.
Riveria was next, her jade eyes wet with tears she refused to shed. Ryuu followed, her usual composure cracked with relief. Samira pushed through the crowd, grabbing Damien's arm and holding it like she would never let go. Lefiya hovered behind Riveria, crying openly.
More people gathered. Adventurers who had fought beside him. Soldiers who had survived because of him. They pressed close, cheering, shouting his name.
Finn and Gareth walked toward him, parting the crowd.
"Welcome back, hero." Finn's voice was warm, despite the exhaustion etched into his face. "Please tell me we will not hear about that creature again."
Damien shook his head. "Oh, we will not. In fact..." He paused. "You will not be hearing of Floor Sixty ever again."
Finn's brow furrowed. "Hmm? What do you mean?"
Damien shrugged. "Well... defeating her was a hassle. So I just went and destroyed the entire damn floor."
Silence.
Finn's eyes widened. Riveria's mouth fell open. Fels took a step back. Leon's laugh died in his throat. Ottar's massive frame went still.
Even Hedin, nursing his head where Finn had struck him, stared in disbelief.
"WHAT?!"
Damien looked around at the shocked faces and shrugged again. "Do not look at me like that. I had no choice. I had to."
"That is impossible! You are lying! We have to verify this!" Hedin's voice cut through the camp, sharp and demanding.
Damien narrowed his eyes. He turned to Ryuu.
"You did not tell Finn... did you?" he asked quietly.
Finn's head snapped toward them. "Tell me what?"
"No," Ryuu said, her voice steady. "I was waiting for you. Just like you ordered."
Damien nodded. "Good. Good."
He gently pushed the girls aside—Tiona, Tione, Riveria, all of them. His voice was calm, but there was something beneath it that made everyone step back.
"You girls give me a moment." His eyes found Finn. "You too, Finn. I have someone I need to kill."
Finn's brow furrowed. "What?!"
Damien walked toward Hedin.
The elf's eyes widened. "Hey... what do you mean! Have you gone mad, rookie?"
Leon stepped forward, his hand raised. "Kid, I know he made bad decisions. But that does not warrant his death."
Damien did not stop walking. "Oh, bad decisions? Yeah. He needs to die for that too."
Ottar moved.
The massive warrior placed himself between Damien and Hedin, his broken arm hanging at his side, his body still a wall of muscle and power.
"You need to stop," Ottar said.
Damien stopped. He looked up at the giant.
"Oh yeah. That reminds me." His voice was soft. Dangerous. "You are the captain of the Freya Familia... are you not?"
Ottar's jaw tightened. "I am."
In an instant, Damien's foot moved so fast that Ottar could not react. His leg snapped beneath him. Before the giant could fall, Damien's hand closed around his throat, lifting him off the ground. Ottar...the strongest warrior in Orario, the Level Seven who had never been defeated....was held by the neck like a child.
"I know you probably did not know about this," Damien said, his voice cold. "But as their fucking captain, are you telling me you are so incompetent that this bastard was able to move behind your back?"
Ottar struggled, his hands clawing at Damien's arm. He could not break free.
"What... are you... talking about?"
Damien did not answer. He looked over his shoulder.
"Ryuu. Why do you not tell everyone what happened while I was fighting my deadly curse?"
Ryuu stepped forward. Her voice carried across the silent camp.
"Hogni attempted to assassinate Damien while everyone was attacking the Corrupted Spirit. He injured Samira and defeated me. But Damien woke up in time to defeat him." She paused. "Hogni admitted that Hedin was the one who ordered him."
Silence.
Then chaos.
"HEDIN! Is this true?!" Fels's voice boomed.
"What?! No! They are lying, damn it!" Hedin's face was pale, his eyes darting around the camp.
"HEDIN, YOU BASTARD!" Fels's robes shook with rage.
"You are rotten to the core," Leon said, his voice low.
"I SAID I DID NOT FUCKING DO IT!"
Damien threw Ottar aside. The giant crashed into a tent, his broken leg buckling beneath him.
"Samira," Damien called.
Samira walked into the center of the camp, dragging a body behind her. Hogni. Bloodied, broken, but alive. Just as Damien had predicted, he had survived. Damien had not wanted to kill the coward.
She threw him at Damien's feet.
Damien looked down at the black elf. "Well then. Hogni, right?"
Hogni tried to raise himself to his knees.
"Did you or did you not attempt to assassinate me?"
Hogni raised his head. His eyes found Hedin.
Hedin's face twisted with desperation. "Hogni, you fool! Tell them it was not me!"
Damien's voice dropped. "Do not look at him. He will not save you." His eyes bored into Hogni's. "In this moment, I am your god. So speak the truth. If you lie, you take the blame. And I kill you."
Hogni shivered.
"I... I..."
Damien added, "Oh, and before you say anything too reckless... if I find out Hedin was not the one who sent you, then it could only mean Freya did." His smile was cold. "So Freya will be on my kill list."
Ottar groaned from where he lay. "You...!"
Around the camp, blades moved. The Gulliver Brothers tried to step forward....Finn's spear was at one's throat. Gareth's axe at another's. Leon's sword aimed at a third. Chloe, Anya, and Lunoire surrounded the last.
The entire Freya Familia was pinned. None could move.
Hogni broke.
"It... it was not Freya." His voice was barely a whisper. "It was Hedin. He... he said you are a threat to Freya. That you are too powerful. So... he ordered me to kill you."
"HOGNI! YOU TRAITOR!" Hedin screamed.
Damien turned to Hedin. "Well, then. That is that."
He walked toward the elf.
Fels moved in front of him, his dark robes billowing. "Wait! You cannot just kill him! Do not be barbaric! This has to go through a trial! Back in Orario, judged by Lord Ouranos himself! We can just arrest him for now!"
Damien considered this. "Is that so? That sounds reasonable."
Fels exhaled. "Good. Then why do not..."
*Splash*
Blood sprayed across Fels's face.
Hedin's head fell to the ground, rolling to a stop at Damien's feet.
"I do not do reasonable when my people are in danger" Damien said.
He turned to Ottar.
"Heal up and join the expedition on its way back." His voice was calm, conversational. "Oh, and... if any of you think about vengeance, I will think about it too. This time, I am satisfied with his head." His eyes hardened. "The next time, it shall be Freya's."
Fels's voice shook with rage. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"
Damien turned to him. "I did the right thing. I killed a traitor." He tilted his head. "What about you? What have you done? Other than support this maniac's actions? Eh?"
He raised his hand.
"Arise!"
Hedin's body and head melted into the shadows. They twisted, reformed, and rose again...a new shadow soldier, kneeling before its master.
"If you and your Guild do not seem to understand that, then I do not mind making my army bigger."
He looked at the shadow. Then at Ottar. He sighed.
"But... out of respect for the good members of Freya Familia who have helped us all in this battle..." The shadow dissipated. Hedin's body reformed, whole but lifeless. "I shall not desecrate the body of one of their own."
He turned and walked away.
The camp was silent. Everyone stared....at the body, at the blood, at Damien's back as he disappeared into his tent.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
In that moment, Damien cemented his position as Orario's strongest.
A statement so powerful that not even the Guild or any of the major Familias could contend against it.
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