The Loki Familia was on an expedition, and the Freya Familia was basically uninvolved. Orario had become restless again, with various incidents occurring frequently—an extremely abnormal situation.
"Mr. Ren, this is the current situation. Can we ask you to handle it?" Eina's eyes were full of hope.
"Yes." Ren felt it was no problem and accepted the task.
The information came from adventurers, word of mouth. Ren sat quietly in a corner, silently extracting useful details from all the conversations.
Because there had been many victims recently, Ren didn't sit long before hearing some valuable information. The victims came from various Familias, which meant the perpetrator's motive was not tied to any specific Familia.
However, there was one common point: none of the deceased belonged to Evilus. Knowing the original story, Ren understood—there was a shadowy group of Familias where both gods and humans were nothing but beasts.
He now knew who the target was. The next step was finding them. He was definitely the target. Thinking of this, Ren sighed, realizing he would have to work overtime.
In the following days, Ren went out alone at night, often keeping an eye on Bell's movements. After a week of this, he finally drew out the enemy.
In a deserted alley, Ren turned around. "No other Familia members are here. Come out."
"You actually lured us in yourself. Ren, are you too confident?" Over a dozen people appeared, nearly filling the alley.
"Not going to introduce yourselves?" Ren stayed relaxed. These past few days had finally paid off.
"Valletta, we'll kill your kind." Valletta spoke, then unleashed immense power. The other shadows didn't move—they knew getting involved would only slow them down.
Ren dodged the attack with a side step and immediately swung his sword down.
"Can't dodge…" Valletta used a self-amputation tactic to survive, then ran without looking back.
Ren didn't pursue. He had already locked onto her location. Letting her escape was just a way to find the enemy's base.
"Lady Valletta ran?" The remaining enemies realized what was happening and also tried to flee. They hadn't expected that Ren could strike so fast—one move, and their leader ran with her tail between her legs.
Ren had no intention of letting the rest go. Most were killed in a single strike, then incinerated—a full "one-stop service." These Evilus members had dirty hands; there was no reason to leave any alive.
"Next, it's time to wait for the bait." Ren followed slowly.
"What's with that guy? Why is he so strong, so fast? He can not only beat Lv4s but even Lv5s?" A woman held her severed arm, regretting coming to kill Ren. He was clearly enforcing the law with bait.
But surviving already meant she had been lucky. From now on, she would never touch anything related to Ren.
They arrived at the base and hurriedly planned to report to the god. With Ren sniping at them, it was better to stay cautious for now.
"You foolish dog, look at who you brought back." Thanatos spoke gloomily, staring at the figure behind her.
"Honestly, I'm surprised too. She didn't even question why I let her live. Did she think she could escape my grasp?" Ren stepped forward, waving his hand.
"That's impossible. If you had been following me, I would have noticed." Valletta's face turned even paler.
"Useless human." Thanatos stood up.
"A god on Earth has almost lost their power. It's like a chess player not entering the board. Do you really think someone like you can defeat me?" Ren said confidently.
"You brat, I am the god of death. My existence is to create death. You want to shake the gods with your short life?" Thanatos took step by step closer, radiating a crushing pressure.
Ren had felt similar pressure through his other selves before, but compared to those, this was less than a tenth. That had been Ren in the game world, facing God of War Artosh.
From start to finish, Ren showed no panic. Facing the god's oppression, he remained calm.
"Oh? So you are a special human. I'm starting to take an interest in you." Thanatos grinned wildly. As a God of Death, he had seen countless deaths. Even a slight show of power was enough to trap most adventurers.
"I'm not interested." Ren drew his sword.
"You intend to slay a god?" Thanatos's expression turned cold.
"That's the plan." Ren knew he had a chance. Orario was bound by the gods' rules, and Thanatos wasn't strong enough to break them.
"Are you sure? If the outcome is inevitable, don't you think you'll die?" Thanatos's face became dangerous.
Ren understood. If the god acted, even breaking the rules, Thanatos would unleash his power to kill him.
"I trade my life for your eternal boredom. That's a bargain no matter how you look at it." Ren shrugged, drew his sword, and his aura changed.
"You…" Thanatos stopped speaking. He realized Ren's gaze had shifted. He probably couldn't intimidate him anymore.
"Your power is still limited. I've seen gods without limits. You're pathetic." Ren unleashed all his enhancement magic and slashed toward Thanatos.
"Are you kidding me? I will never leave Orario!" Thanatos didn't hesitate. He ran instead, unwilling to use his full strength against Ren.
Although Ren was an exceptional human, in the end, he was still just a human. Spending the rest of his life in the divine realm to take a monkey's life was never a worthwhile trade.
Ren's nervousness began to settle. At first, he had thought that killing a god would be like in the game world—being dead and getting resurrected—but now it seemed that wouldn't happen.
"The Mighty God is afraid…" Valletta ignored the pain in her severed arm. She swore that if she had another chance, she would rather provoke the Loki Familia than cross Ren.
"Damn it, you're forcing my hand." Thanatos was still unwilling to reveal his full power to be sent back to the divine realm.
The power of the God of Death began to manifest. At that moment, Ren felt the suffocating pressure he had experienced before. But humans in this world were different from those in the other world, and their situations were different too. Ren quickly dodged and started to evade.
Thanatos did not press the attack. He had been in Orario for many years and knew very well that no matter how much power he unleashed to be unleashed to not trigger return.
"What…" Thanatos stared at his chest in disbelief. He had been stabbed? How could that be possible? He had clearly seen the other retreat.
"Surprised? Didn't I say I've faced gods at their full strength?" Ren said, then took Thanatos away. He had used Thanatos's desire to stay in Orario against him, evading the attack and striking when Thanatos let his guard down.
"You…" Thanatos hadn't finished speaking before his figure dissolved into light and vanished.
"Did he… really kill a god?" Valletta froze. She could clearly feel the disappearance of the godly blessing.
"Next, it's your turn." Ren moved beside Valletta.
"Wait, I am—"
Her voice cut off abruptly. Ren had no interest in hearing excuses. With the god and the top fighter eliminated, the remaining task became easy. With the leaders gone, Ren quickly dealt with this Evilus.
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