Danmachi: The Multiverse Portal

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No one stepped forward.

The Adventurers around them were furious, their anger so strong it even scared them. None of them wanted to be sold by smugglers.

Even the toughest veterans, especially those loyal to their Patron Gods, would rather die fighting monsters than be captured, tortured, and turned into a noble's toy.

August ignored the crowd's boiling rage.

He didn't smile or act cold. Instead, he leaned down and spoke quietly into the bleeding squad leader's ear.

"You celebrated way too early."

The squad leader's eyes bulged.

In that moment, the awful truth hit him. August had let them reach the surface on purpose. The leader thought getting out of the Dungeon meant he was safe. He believed he had outsmarted the rookie.

He was completely wrong... Every step they took and every panicked breath was part of August's plan. They had always been in his sights.

'The second squad... are they exposed too?'

The leader suddenly remembered the rest of his crew.

Five men had deployed to capture the Silverback Ape. When the gunfire started, two of them had split down a different tunnel. Had August gunned them down before they even turned the corner?

Was everything playing out exactly according to this monster's script?

He didn't get to finish the thought.

Suddenly, sharp pain tore through his stomach. A steel spear went straight through him, pinning him to the stone floor.

"You've outlived your usefulness." August's voice was barely audible. "Go to sleep."

He executed the smuggler right in front of the crowd.

The Ganesha Familia guards at the Babel entrance froze. August had just killed a man in broad daylight, not caring at all about the consequences or the victim's Familia.

Rapid, heavy footsteps broke the silence.

Shakti Varma, Captain of the Ganesha Familia, pushed through the crowd. As soon as she heard about an Adventurer killing another Adventurer, she rushed to the scene.

"..." She stared at August, who stood over the corpse. This rookie again? He had just arrived in the city, and already the streets were stained with blood.

Shakti pulled her guards aside for a rapid debrief. When she heard the dead men were smugglers targeting August inside the Dungeon, her expression darkened.

This was a massive headache.

August's justification was solid: lethal self-defense against smugglers. With holographic evidence showing the squad using hidden Evilus smuggling routes, his case was impossible to dispute.

Capturing Adventurers to sell to nobles was an unheard-of, terrible crime in Orario. Usually, the city's worst only targeted commoners from the slums. But going after Falna-blessed Adventurers crossed every possible line.

Shakti moved forward, her armor rattling.

"You shouldn't have killed him."

She kept her voice low.

August should have knocked out the target and handed him over to the Ganesha Familia for questioning. That was the only way to trace the operation back to its Patron God and destroy the faction completely.

By killing him, August gave the shadow Familia an excuse. They could just say the squad acted on their own.

"By the book? Sure. I shouldn't have," August replied, pulling his spear from the corpse.

"But he lost his value."

August looked down at the blood pooling on the stone.

"When the time comes, just wipe out his entire Familia. Slaughter them from top to bottom. Men, women, elders—even the newborns. If they share the crest, exterminate them all."

His answer was direct: total, ruthless destruction.

"That is way too extreme..." Shakti's eyes grew wide in total disbelief.

Was this guy even human? The Adventurers nearby shifted uneasily. Wiping out an entire Familia, even the infants, sounded like something only a dark god would suggest.

"Go say that to the friends and families of the Adventurers they kidnapped and tortured."

The blunt response hit Shakti like a physical blow.

She went quiet. She knew that telling the victims' families about 'due process' would only lead to drawn weapons and chaos. Even the kindest Gods held grudges when their children were killed.

"I understand," Shakti conceded. She knew she couldn't win this ideological debate.

The Adventurers in the crowd imagined their own friends and families. If they found out their loved ones had been captured and tortured by nobles, they would want the same kind of revenge August was talking about.

August turned to leave.

The crowd quickly stepped aside, making a wide path for him. They watched him go, feeling both amazement and a bit of fear.

"Oh, and pass on a message for me."

August stopped. He glanced over his left shoulder and raised his hand, not bothering to turn fully around.

"When the Gale clears, the Ace's methods only grow more ruthless."

After saying his piece, August walked away.

He couldn't have delivered the line any cooler.

Shakti blinked, trying to make sense of his words. "When the Gale clears... The Ace's methods..."

Wait, is he talking about her?

Shakti instantly recognized the reference to Gale Wind, Ryu Lion, the infamous elf who wiped out the dark factions years ago.

Hearing August mention her legacy felt like a strange tribute, or maybe a warning.

The Adventurers couldn't look away. The way August left impressed the men, and the women, especially the fierce Amazonian warriors, were almost swooning.

"Captain Shakti. The bodies..." a guard interrupted, breaking the spell.

Shakti snapped back to reality. She saw the lingering stares from the other Familias and knew she had to restore order right away.

"Drag the corpse to an interrogation room. Use a Status Thief. Strip his status concealment and expose his crest." Shakti commanded, her eyes narrowing. "Let's see exactly whose banner this scum was flying."

"Captain??" The guards gasped.

Using a Status Thief on a corpse was considered blatant desecration. No one would dare do that in broad daylight.

"You heard August's point," Shakti snapped. "If you want to go explain protocol to the victims' Familias, you can take my captain's badge right now."

The guard gulped nervously, shaking his head rapidly. "Understood."

He sprinted off to secure the specialized potion.

"Alright, everyone! Clear out!" Shakti ordered the crowd. "Head back to your Familias. I want every Guild and Patron God to conduct a total headcount of their missing Adventurers. Report the numbers immediately."

The crowd quickly left. No one wanted to stay at a fresh crime scene. The truth was grim: Adventurers thought to be 'killed by monsters' might still be alive, trapped in a noble's torture dungeon.

Watching the plaza empty out, Shakti rubbed her temples.

"Another massive headache."

She still wasn't sure which Familia was responsible. Whoever it was, they had stirred up real trouble. She planned to get the information, give it to Lord Ganesha, and pass it along to the Hestia Familia.

Whatever bloodbath followed was August's problem.

—•——•——•——•——•——•—

August didn't bother wandering the city. He went straight back to the base.

"Lord August."

Lili, covered in medical bandages, sat in front of a glowing monitor inside their secure compound.

As soon as August left Babel Plaza, he sent a signal. Lili quickly started the tracking software and synced it with the hardware he had given her.

"How is it?" August asked, stepping up behind her.

"Loud and clear," Lili confirmed, adjusting the tracking frequency.

She was using advanced military surveillance equipment. August hadn't just gone into the Dungeon to hunt. He was also planting micro-cameras and high-frequency signal relays all over the Upper Floors.

The military designed this gear specifically for exploring the Dungeon. By using materials from monsters, they managed to bypass the Dungeon's strong magical interference, so remote monitoring worked perfectly.

The micro-cameras were cheap to make, easy to hide, and ran on Magic Stones. One stone could power a camera for two weeks. August had managed to bug the entire Upper level.

"Lord August, the microchip you planted is transmitting. We have a solid ping originating from Daedalus Street."

Lili tapped the keyboard and brought up a digital map of Orario. A red dot blinked brightly in the slum area.

"That was quick," August said with a smirk as he watched the tracker.

Everything had gone according to plan.

The squad chasing him wasn't just three men—it was five. August took down the first two, then aimed carefully and shot the other in the stomach, making sure not to hit anything vital.

When the man passed out from the pain, August administered a strong anesthetic and implanted a military-grade microchip just above his ribcage.

The smuggler had no clue he was being tracked.

August let the men who believed their squadmates were dead run to the surface, unknowingly walking into his trap.

That's why August had said, 'You've outlived your usefulness.'

He didn't need the squad leader to say anything. He already had a living homing beacon heading right back to the enemy's base.

Because high-level Adventurers had such extreme endurance, a small microchip went unnoticed. Their mana flow also helped hide the chip's weak electronic signal. Even a God's intuition wouldn't guess a mortal was carrying a cybernetic tracker.

"He's moving fast. He's probably out looking for information about his dead squadmates," August said as he watched the red dot move through the slum alleys.

Unfortunately for the smuggler, all he would find were three fresh bodies in the Ganesha Familia's morgue.

"I can't believe the Ikelos Familia went after you so soon... Their arrogance is astonishing." Lili held onto the edge of the console.

After learning all the details about what was really happening, Lili knew exactly who ran things on Daedalus Street and handled the illegal trade. It was the Ikelos Familia.

She was furious. August had built his reputation on total destruction, but these dark-faction fools still attempted to capture him.

Was that brave, or just plain stupid?

Lili wanted them destroyed. She wanted them exposed and punished without mercy.

"I have to admit, their timing caught me off guard," August said as he took off his combat jacket. "I didn't think these Evilus leftovers would target me just because of a small anomaly."

He was honestly surprised by how little they cared about their own safety.

"Let's not worry about it right now. Just keep an eye on the signal," August said, turning his attention elsewhere. "Daedalus Street isn't our main concern. After we finish our main mission, we'll come back and deal with them."

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