Hero of Darkness

The morning sunlight lit the entire room and Kahn woke up in a different room than his usual bedroom.

Yesterday's incident of him breaking through the Grandmaster rank left the entire room in shambles. Kahn had to contact the house rental company and also pay 500 gold dramus (currency of Rakos empire) to them for repairs that'll be finished by tomorrow.

Thankfully, the news of him breaking through the new rank wasn't known to anyone. And Kahn preferred to keep it a secret for now as well. Because just a day before, an entire clan lost all of their capable people in a massacre and suddenly there's a new grandmaster rank person.. That'd just cause unnecessary trouble for him and he no longer wished to get entangled in those things.

Kahn took a bath as per his habits, had breakfast and left for Adventurer Association. It had been a few days since he visited this place. The last time he was here when he put on the show of him dropping bodies after bodies of those giant minotaurs. He used that incident to raise his popularity in the entire city and it paid well to invest all that money to have the snakekin spread the news in the entire city.

And because of that, his name was heard by all the masses and many influential people.

As soon as Kahn entered the main hall.. People started noticing him and some gasped in surprise. He was no different than a celebrity in their circle already because hundreds of adventurers had witnessed his act with their own eyes.

He stood against one of the counters and asked the female elven receptionist..

"Excuse me, do you know where Malcolm is?" he asked the beautiful lady on the other side of the counter.

The next second however, the Elven girl stopped speaking and stared at Kahn in surprise.. Completely baffled on the spot.

"Mis. Mister K.. Kahn! It's really you!" shouted the girl while stuttering in between her words.

Her loud voice filled the hall and many of the people who were going about their ways started to look in his direction. As if they didn't expect to see the man here.

"What's with that reaction? And why is everyone staring at me?" asked Kahn as he noticed the covetous gazes on him.

"We were informed that if you came here, you were to be taken directly to meet the President & the Vice-president." spoke the elven receptionist.

Just then, a few of the other adventurers surrounded Kahn and started introducing themselves to him one by one.. But it didn't take long for dozens of people coming his way and completely surrounding him. Many started expressing their admiration towards Kahn and praised his might.

Some were outright shameless and tried to team up with him. Kahn understood that majority of these people only wanted to ride on his coattails when he visited dungeons again.

The gathering crowd created a small horde, blocking the counters and doors in the main hall.

"What the hell is happening here?!" shouted an old man.

It was none other than Malcolm, his most familiar receptionist in the association building.

But as soon as he saw Kahn in the center of the crowd, his countenance turned to that of utmost respect and he walked towards the man in the center.

"Pleased to see you again, Mr. Kahn. If you have time, please come with me." said Malcolm.

"Eh.. What's with all the polite words and respectful behavior.. Old man?" asked Kahn because generally, the old receptionist would always call him a kid or a punk.

Malcolm's face twitched after being called an old man again. It was the one thing that irked the receptionist the most.

"Follow me, please." said Malcolm and Kahn had no choice but to follow him.

After waiting for few minutes, he entered the office and saw both the old man Arkham & the Elven mage Solomon sitting inside the room. Malcolm then left the room and closed it from the outside.

"Long time no see, kid. Looks like you've gained quite the popularity." spoke Arkham as he welcomed Kahn to sit down on the sofa on the opposite side.

"And even beat some nobles if I remember correctly." said Solomon who was sitting on his throne-like chair.

"Well.. Things happened and I reacted on my best behavior." joked Kahn as he sat down. But then he quickly got to the main topic.

"I guess our agreement is no longer in effect? I mean, your biggest competition was killed by someone. So there shouldn't be any more need of carrying it on." said Kahn and clarified his thoughts.

"Yes. We wanted to end it since there is no longer a need. But don't worry, you'll still receive half of the promised pay." said Solomon and again summoned a bag full of coins a small one full of monster cores.

"Well.. It's not like I'm dependent on the money too much now. I still haven't spent all the money I received from selling the minotaurs to you guys." said Kahn but still accepted the money.

"What do you wish to do now, kid? Keep exploring dungeons?" asked Arkham.

"Maybe.. I want to improve my fighting skills even more. Killing monsters in life and death battles is the most perfect way for me." replied Kahn.

"Seriously, how are you even getting stronger this fast?" asked Solomon out of curiosity.

"Who do you think is eating all those cores I'm getting from you guys?" spoke Kahn nonchalantly and laughed. Obviously, hinting at Omega & Rudra.

"I see. That explains how you managed to kill so many minotaurs." said Solomon as he intertwined his fingers together.

What followed was a small chat between them and Arkham giving Kahn some swordsmanship tips.

After Kahn left for his next visit to the dungeons, the old men finally spoke to each other..

"He's much more powerful than before." said Arkham.

"You may not have noticed it.. But the aura of the familiars I sensed on him previously is now twice stronger than before. He's becoming more dangerous as we speak." declared Solomon.

"Good thing that he's on our side." said Arkham.

Unbeknownst to all the talk about him, Kahn for the first time visited the Bromnir dungeon without hiding his face or appearance. He walked for nearly an hour and finally entered the gates of the 12th floor.

He had a target to accomplish.. And that was to fight and hunt even more stronger monsters and absorb their abilities and bloodlines.

"Well then.. Let the Hunger games begin."