"Where do you think you're going?" Leo's voice resounded from behind the assassin when he tried to run away.
The assassin suddenly stopped moving when he felt his movements being restricted by an invisible force.
'W-What is happening to me?! Why can't I move my body?!' Unbeknownst to the assassin, its body had just been consumed by the Devourer of Gods.
The assassin suddenly experienced intense pain, feeling as though his body was melting.
His skin, muscles, even his bones felt like they were disappearing.
"Aaaaaaah! What is happening?! Help me! Please! I will tell you everything!" The assassin screamed out loud, but alas, once the Devourer of Gods starts devouring something, it would not stop until it completely consumed its prey.
And within seconds, the assassin's cries came to a complete halt.
When the Dark Mist disappeared, the two assassins that chased after Leo were nowhere to be seen, almost as if they had disappeared into thin air.
Leo turned to look at the Devourer of Gods. After consuming two A-Rank Adventurers, its size had nearly tripled, greatly surprising Leo.
'It's almost as if this thing was created to consume humans… Actually, since this is Lilith's magic and she's a vampire, it would make sense…' Leo thought to himself.
Meanwhile, back at the campsite, Lia questioned the female assassin.
"Who sent you here? Why do you want to capture Leon?"
The female assassin looked at Lia with a surprised look on her face.
"You don't know? It was your Scarlet Family that hired me to capture Leon."
"What?" Lia's eyebrows furrowed into a slight frown when she heard this information.
She then retrieved a red dagger and placed its blade right in front of the assassin's neck, pressing it into her skin slightly.
"Say that again." Lia spoke in a cold voice.
"I-I am not lying! I was really hired by the Scarlet Family! We were told to capture an Adventurer named Leon without killing him! That's all I know!"
Lia was prepared to slice the assassin's throat if she sensed any lies, but she didn't, so she removed the blade from the assassin's neck.
"How long have you been down here waiting for us?" Lia then asked.
"N-Not long. We came here a day before you guys were supposed to arrive— that was the plan."
"What was your plan?"
"We wait for you guys to show up, and during your break, we will poison you guys. Then, we kill everyone but Leon before taking him back to the Scarlet Family." The assassin explained all of her plans in detail for Lia.
"Do you know who within the Scarlet Family hired you?"
"Y-Yes! It was Edwin, the butler!"
Lia's eyebrow twitched slightly after hearing this.
'Edwin… Even though I told you to keep your hands off Leon…'
A cold glint appeared within Lia's eyes, and her mana went out of control for a moment, nearly crushing the assassin to death.
"H-Have mercy!" The assassin cried out loud with blood pouring out of her mouth, nose, eyes, and ears.
Lia snapped out of it and regained control over her mana again, but the assassin was already half-dead by then.
Despite the assassin's horrible condition, Lia's expression remained tranquil as she stared at the assassin's bloodied face, looking as if it wasn't any of her concern.
Meanwhile, Leo almost reached the campsite.
"Oh, I should've left at least one of them alive for questioning. Now I won't know who sent them." Leo realized this a little too late, and he didn't think Lia would leave the female assassin alive, especially considering how much she liked to kill.
However, to his absolute surprise, when he returned to the campsite, the female assassin was still alive, and she was on her knees before Lia, looking like someone who was repenting before god.
"Great job keeping her alive! I have some questions for her!" Leo rushed over to her with an excited face.
"I have already extracted all of her information, but if you want to ask her yourself, go ahead." Lia calmly said.
"Really? Then do you know why she wants to capture me alive, or who hired them?" Leo asked.
Lia nodded, "Apparently this was Edwin's idea."
"What?! Your butler?!" He couldn't help but cry out loud after learning of this information.
Then he realized something, "D-Does this mean he knows about my true identity?! Why else would he suddenly send assassins to capture me?!"
"No, I don't think he knows about your true identity. I believe this is about that time you provoked him during my rampage."
"Seriously? That was months ago! And I only poked him a little! Is he really that petty?"
"Now you know why nobody dares to offend the Scarlet Family." Lia calmly said.
"Anyways, what should we do with her?" Lia then asked.
"What do you suggest?"
"Kill her." She answered immediately and without any hesitation.
"Of course you would say that…" Leo sighed, but he didn't find anything wrong with it, as it would only be natural to kill this assassin who tried to kidnap him— at least according to this world's logic.
"..."
The assassin didn't utter a single word despite hearing Lia's words. She knew that she was doomed no matter what the outcome was. Even if she survived this ordeal, the Scarlet Family will hunt her down for failing her mission, and Lia had no reason to protect her.
Sometime later, Leo said, "If you want to kill her, do it. I've already killed 2 people today. I don't want to increase the body count anymore, and if you kill him, we'll be even."
"Okay." Lia immediately decapitated the assassin without even the slightest hesitation.
Once Lia killed the assassin, Leo had the Devourer of God clean up the two corpses left outside their campsite.
'Oh? It grows even if the prey it consumes is already dead? Or maybe these corpses are fresh, hence why it works…' Leo wondered inwardly after seeing the black slime grow another size or two after consuming the last 2 assassins.
"Now then, what should we do about your butler, Edwin? As your butler, he's your responsibility, so I will let you handle it. However, if he tries to come at me again, I will personally take care of him myself."
Lia nodded, "Don't worry, there won't be a second time."
'She's not going to kill him— her own butler, is she?' Leo wondered to himself after noticing killing intent from her tone.
Knowing Lia's personality, Leo didn't cross off that possibility.
"Alright, now that the assassins are dealt with, what should we do about the others?" He asked a moment later.
"Although they're also a victim of this ambush, we cannot say for certain that they're innocent and won't try to attack us later." Lia said.
"I know, but we cannot attack them without any reason. I say we should continue watching them."
"Okay."
Sometime later, Leo and Lia fed their teammates antidotes for the paralyzing poison.
"I cannot believe that I was poisoned and did not notice it until it was too late… How embarrassing…" Sarah sighed out loud after regaining her ability to move.
"To think there were people who entered this Labyrinth before us…"
"Why did they attack us, anyways?"
"They were probably trying to loot us."
"If that's the case, they should've done so in the lower floors when we've collected more loot."
"In any case, thank you, Leon and Lena. You really saved us today." Sarah said to them.
"By the way, how come you two weren't affected by the poison?" Jasper asked them out of curiosity.
"I wasn't asleep, and I consumed a potion the instant I noticed my body stiffening. As for Lena, she has a pretty high tolerance to poison, so it doesn't affect her as much."
"You weren't asleep?" Oscar raised an eyebrow after hearing this, and almost as if he realized something, he started chuckling, "I get that you're partners, but you shouldn't be doing that kind of stuff inside a Labyrinth."
Leo frowned and said, "Whatever you're thinking in your head— we weren't doing anything like that. I was just a little too excited and anxious about the Labyrinth and couldn't sleep well. This is my first time doing a Labyrinth raid, after all."
"Oh? So you're a Labyrinth virgin, huh?" Sarah smiled.
Sometime later, Sarah said, "I won't be able to go back to sleep after what just happened, but Leon, if you need some extra time to rest, don't hesitate to say so. You deserve it."
"I'm fine."
"Then let's continue moving forward. Everyone agrees?"
"Agreed."
"Me too."
After putting away their tents, Leo and the others continued their raid.
"Umm… If you don't mind, can I take care of the monsters from this point forth?" Leo suddenly asked Sarah.
"Huh? Are you asking me to let you fight all of the monsters that we encounter starting now?" Sarah asked for confirmation.
"Indeed, that is exactly what I am asking." Leo nodded.
"But why would you want to do that?" Sarah had a puzzled look on her face.
"I just feel like it." He smiled.
Naturally, he had several reasons for wanting to hunt the monsters.
Not only would he be able to acquire more Magic Points, but he also wanted to compensate Sarah and the others for misunderstanding them and treating them as though they were trying to harm him.
"If you want to kill all of the monsters, I won't stop you. Let me know when you're tired." Sarah said a moment later, as she wasn't expecting for him to last too long.
"Thank you." Leo said.
This bonus chapter is sponsored by Drew_Abel. Thank you for your support.
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