"I've never been called a weakling."
Silence filled the seventeenth floor tunnel as the members of the Loki familia stared at Kaelis weirdly.
It's one thing to ignore Bete's harsh words but to be intrigued by them was an entirely different type of weird behavior.
But… Kaelis didn't know that.
"What?" He glanced away from the floor and at the various looks he was getting.
Not a second later, his face lit up as if he just got an epiphany.
"Cough. Let me correct my statement." He quickly said before he began explaining.
"I'm sure I've been called weakling before as I'm sure everyone is called so at least once in their life. But what I might've meant was I never "heard" someone call me that as they might've done so behind my back or maybe it's been so long ago that I probably forgot already."
He finished as he closed his eyes, pleased with what he said.
The reason for the rambling, was that he didn't want any misunderstandings between them as they might label him a prevaricator.
Bete let out another sharp laugh, the sound of it was light scraping metal on a grater.
"Wait—hold up," he said, as if remembering earlier words. "You said you've only been in Orario a week, right?"
Kaelis nodded easily. "Mhm. Seven days."
Bete's grin widened, but there was no humor in it. "Then what the hell are you doin' down here?" he growled.
"A week in the city means you just got your Falna. Barely had time to scratch it."
Kaelis tilted his head. "Didn't get one."
That made a few people blink.
"…Huh?" someone muttered from the back.
Bete frowned. "Didn't—?" He scoffed. "Yeah, right."
"No," Kaelis said calmly, lifting a finger like he was clarifying a small detail. "I mean it. I didn't receive a Falna."
He paused, then added casually, "Only my disciple did."
That finally got a reaction.
Tiona's eyes widened. "Disciple? You mean Bell?"
"You remember him?"
Tione shot him a sharp look. "The heck are you doing in the dungeon then!?"
Even Riveria's brows knit together slightly at that.
Bete, however, just laughed again—harder this time. "Hah! You hear that?"
He glanced back at the others. "Guy's been here a week and no Falna."
Bete didn't look convinced in the slightest.
After getting hit fill of the joke, all smiles left his face.
He clicked his tongue and rolled his shoulders, eyes narrowing as he looked Kaelis up and down again—like he was stripping away whatever image Kaelis was trying to project.
"Tch. Save it," Bete said, his face scrunched up in disgust. "You really should hear yourself talk."
Kaelis opened one eye, glancing at him.
Bete snorted. "All that fancy explainin'? That's just you tryin' to keep up appearances. Actin' calm, actin' clever." His lips curled into a sneer.
"I've seen plenty like you."
He took a step forward, boots scraping lightly against the dungeon floor.
"Guys who wander too deep thinkin' they're special," Bete continued. "Thinkin' confidence can make up for bein' weak."
He jabbed a thumb back in the direction him and his familia was coming from.
"Seventeenth floor ain't some sightseeing route. You don't just 'wander' down here unless you're either strong—or stupid. And I reckon that you're stupid."
Tiona frowned. "Hey, Bete, that's—"
"And don't gimme that 'no Falna' crap," Bete cut in sharply, eyes never leaving Kaelis.
"If that's true, then you're even worse than I thought." He scoffed. "A regular human playin' adventurer this deep? You think you're brave? Hmph! Don't kid yourself.."
A few of the Loki Familia members shifted uneasily.
As part of the same familia, they knew Bete's personality more than anyone—though they don't know what he experienced back then.
Some of them were already starting to realize something didn't add up—but Bete wasn't one of them. Or maybe he just didn't care.
"To me," he went on, voice low and biting, "you look like a weakling pretendin' not to be one. Smilin' so people won't notice."
Kaelis stared at him for a moment.
Then—
He laughed.
Not loud. Not mocking. Just a short, breathy laugh, like he'd heard something genuinely amusing.
And he did. Along with getting an idea of what's happening.
"Huh," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "So that's how it looks." Still laughing.
That reaction only seemed to irritate Bete more.
"Tch—there it is," he growled. "That fake calm."
Kaelis' smile didn't fade, but there was something thoughtful behind it now as he met Bete's glare head-on.
"Well," he said casually, "if keepin' up appearances is all it takes to survive down here…"
His eyes flickered briefly to the wall-lined tunnel around them.
"…then Orario's got a lot more talented actors than I would've thought."
The temperature could be felt declining at an alarming rate.
Many of them didn't know what he meant by that but the vice captain of the Loki familia sure did.
Bete's ears twitched.
That smile on the bastard's face!
That damn relaxed posture he's having right now!
The way Kaelis looked at him like this was all just… background noise.
"…Tch."
Bete clicked his tongue and immediately closed the distance.
Before anyone could fully react, his hand shot out and grabbed Kaelis by the collar, hauling him forward.
"You think this is a joke," Bete growled, teeth bared.
A few voices snapped out at once.
"Bete—!"
"Hey, stop it!"
"Cut it out!"
Kaelis didn't flinch nor did he even bother to raise his hands.
He just looked down at Bete's fist like it was mildly inconvenient.
"…Huh," Kaelis said. "Guess you took that personally."
That did it.
Bete's grip tightened. "That's it," he snarled. "You think this is funny?"
Kaelis tilted his head as his eyebrow raised, genuinely confused. "I mean…not really."
That answer made Bete's eyes nearly glaze over.
"No Falna. No stance. No fear," Bete snapped. "You stroll into the seventeenth floor smilin' like this is a walk through the market—"
He jerked Kaelis closer.
"—and I bet you think you're better than us, right?"
Kaelis met his eyes at last.
There was no turbulence in his mind as his face showed he was unimpressed by the display of unusual aggression.
"Oh," he said. "That's what this is about?"
His lips curled up in understanding.
Even if he can't get a read on Aiz's doll-like face, with his experience—hell, you might not need any, you can easily pick up on where Bete gets his aggression from.
Yep. Definitely a past experience.
Bete bared his fangs. "You're not takin' me seriously."
Kaelis paused.
Then he sighed.
"Yeah," he admitted honestly. "I'm not."
The floor went deathly quiet.
Riveria's eyes widened.
Tiona sucked in a breath.
Even Aiz stiffened.
Bete shook with fury. "Say that again."
Kaelis shrugged, completely at ease despite the fist still gripping him.
"I'm not sayin' you're weak," he said. "I'm sayin' you're loud. And loud people usually want a reaction."
He glanced at Bete's hand. "You grabbed me because you didn't get one."
For a split second—
Bete saw it.
Not arrogance.
Not mockery.
Indifference.
And that pissed him off more than anything else.
"YOU—!"
Couldn't take it anymore, he swung.
Though it never got around to landing.
Kaelis moved—faster than the eye could see.
To the weaker members of the familia, it looked like Bete simply vanished.
To the stronger ones, it was worse—they felt the pressure, saw the distortion, and still couldn't track the motion.
There was a dull impact—
BOOM.
Bete was suddenly embedded in the dungeon wall several meters away, stone cracking outward as his body went limp and slid down.
"…W-wha…"
Unconscious.
The silence crashed down harder than the impact.
"…Bete?" Tiona slowly glanced over and whispered softly.
No response.
Weapons half-raised, the Loki Familia turned back toward Kaelis.
"What did you do!?"
"Did you just—"
Kaelis rolled his shoulder once, like he'd brushed against something annoying.
He had put quite a lot into that.
"Hm?" He looked genuinely puzzled by the reaction.
"Ah…I just pushed him," he said with a small smile.
The tunnel felt colder.
Because everyone there understood one thing now—
In one encounter, Bete didn't just get ignored, he'd also been dismissed.
And that was far more terrifying.
Chapter 77 end.