Hero of Darkness

Chapter 1245: What Happens in Tower...

After getting rid of his entire team... Morpheus set his eyes on the main objective as per his and the chairman’s plan.

The teammates he just killed could’ve been used for a while, but neither Morpheus nor the chairman wanted to take any risks since these people had committed crimes that even they could not tolerate.

The listed crimes in public records were actually a cover-up, and in reality, the previous management of the NHA wanted to use these people for their personal gains. Han Du-Sik wanted to get rid of these scums, but he could not even use his authority to outright kill them.

A chairman was not the owner in the end. Only using this way, they could get rid of these scums of society and blame it on the tower itself.

”Let’s see... who should I target first?” spoke Morpheus to himself and took out a map of the tower floors.

In actuality, the floor maps received by the targeted teams were fakes, and the real one was given to Morpheus and the innocent awakener teams only. It was done deliberately to keep the traitors wandering and trapped until Morpheus could reach them.

”I have 10 Hours at most before everyone assembles at the promised location. If I could get rid of at least 70% of them before that... facing the last boss and clearing the tower shouldn’t be a problem.” said Morpheus with a snarky smirk.

******************

Out of all the groups that had ventured into the tower along with Morpheus, 13 of them had a shady life, and some also had a history of heinous crimes.

But not everyone among them was guilty of something that deserved death. Some were just forced to work along with these powerhouses by their companies and guilds with which they had signed a contract.

And Morpheus had taken great care to remember their names and faces so that he wouldn’t mistakenly kill them along with the others.

But some of them even had hands in human trafficking, while one female S-Rank leader had direct ties with prostitution agencies.

She helped newly awakened hunters by referring them to guilds and buying them low-level starting equipment for free. It also helped her maintain a kind and caring image among her fellow female awakeners.

But what no one knew was that among all those girls and women she helped, some were her marks.

After a few weeks, this S-Rank hunter would contact them in secrecy and then lure them to specific spots, saying that she wanted to offer them a spot in their guild due to their potential and help them grow strong.

With hope offered by the golden hands, everyone fell for it, and in the end, they were held captive and then trafficked as sex slaves to the wealthy.

There was also a fetish among the elites of the country to have intercourse with awakened hunter women and men while holding them in chains.

It made them feel like they were truly powerful, as even the ones chosen by the goddess Vasudhara were just mere objects of their pleasure.

The rich men and women who had nothing to worry about in their lives found this act both exciting and empowering, as it inflated their egos.

Meanwhile, the image among the public for these people was no different than humanity’s greatest gems that must be respected and cherished by everyone.

When Han Du-Sik provided this information to Morpheus... he found this act no different than what he experienced as a child.

Thus, he recounted all the targets and who he had to eliminate first as he used his skills to traverse and took the shape of a bat-like monster while hiding his face.

What awaited these trash... was their final judgment.

******************

8 Hours Later....

Morpheus stood in a white, pristine hall, but the floor was drenched in blood, and his clothes were a bit tattered.

And just a meter across from him was the very old man who tried to boss him around before they entered the tower.

Morpheus had spared 3 of his team members, who were now unconscious, while he brutally butchered everyone else.

Out of the 13 teams he was targeting... this was the 11th Group.

He had killed the S-Rank hunters leading those teams and wiped out all the predetermined targets while sparing the innocent awakeners among them.

And out of the 11, he had accepted the skills of 9 of them because they suited him the best.

The old man before him was theoretically the hardest of them all to kill because of his unique Umbra Paladin class, which rejuvenated his injuries by siphoning the health of his teammates.

Because of this, he had many healers in the team compared to others. Morpheus spared two of them while killing others, and using the S-Rank skills he gathered before, overpowering the old paladin was much easier to the point that his healing skills could not keep up with Morpheus’ relentless attacks.

And the moment the old man took his final breath, the Status Window appeared in front of him again.

[Breakthrough to SS-Rank is ready.]

******************

2 Hours Later...

Morpheus soon met with other teams that were not on his hit-list.

These survivors were the ones who received original maps, and Morpheus planned to genuinely seek their help in case his primary objective failed.

Because clearing the tower itself was also the primary priority, along with killing the traitors.

But now, Morpheus didn’t even need their strengths on paper.

”You’re here! Wait... where’s the rest of your team?” asked the leader of a surviving team who himself was an archer class awakener.

”We got thrown into an unknown region where the entire terrain had changed. Our map didn’t prove to be useful, and most of those bastards tried to abandon the mission midway before we were ambushed by monsters.

And among the survivors of our team... those psychos tried to kill me to loot my gear.

I had to end their lives with my own hands.” spoke Morpheus, panting slightly as if he faced a great hurdle to reach the designated meetup point.

”As expected... criminals will act like criminals even while fighting for their own freedom.” he said and soon introduced his team to Morpheus.

After another hour, the remaining teams also arrived, their state as haggard as everyone else.

They claimed their maps were fakes, but Morpheus clarified that it was the tower changing its terrain and that his situation was the same as theirs.

After some bickering among the remaining teams due to their fewer numbers, they set out the strategy and ventured to the last floor where they had to fight with their everything, including their lives on the line.

In the following hour, they fought against the final boss that seemed like an imitation of a certain giant radioactive dragon with 3 heads, lightning element, and two tails.

[Dammit! If only we had that giant lizard on our team, it would be an easy victory.] thought Morpheus.

What took place soon was a fierce battle between the tower’s final boss and the country’s best hunters.

Although it was only 300 meters long, in their world, it was considered a nationwide disaster-class monster.

And among the remaining teams that had remained, 2 of his targets had also successfully managed to survive and partook in the final battle.

Morpheus then deliberately got hurt and even led the boss towards those teams while pretending to attack the main enemy.

Soon, not only did those teams get wiped out, but also the S-Rank Hunters died.

Thankfully, Morpheus was no longer in need of killing them by himself; his cover would have been blown.

But as soon as the raiding team had very few members remaining and even the S-Rank hunters were barely holding onto their lives...

”All of you! Use your tokens and run away. I will take the aggro and give you all a chance to run.

The tower can be cleared later. But we have lost too many people already. Humanity will not survive if all of you die as well.

So leave. I will perform my duty, and you guys prepare for future raids.” clamored Morpheus, his voice filled with honor and virtue.

To the others, he was simply sacrificing his life for their sake. And even though they hated the idea... what he said also made sense.

Their exit tokens took time to activate and, hence, could not be used if they were fighting the boss.

And after hearing the pleas of the remaining team members, even the leaders of those teams had no choice but to accept the terms.

Clang!

Bang!

Many watched as Morpheus clashed with the boss all by himself, and only a few flashes of his shadow could be seen.

”We will not forget your sacrifice. I will tell everyone how you gave up your life so we could escape.” spoke the archer S-Rank Hunter as he dejectedly activated his token along with the rest of his team.

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

And finally, after everyone left and Morpheus was left alone facing the boss...

The Status Window appeared once again.

[Would the hunter like to breakthrough?]

Without wasting another moment, Morpheus clicked...

[Yes.]