Level Up Family

The night was now at its peak, hours after the fierce battle between husband and wife. Grevlin and Little Rose and the two small tiger cubs laid silently asleep, showing an adorable innocence as both Marius and Ria, who nestled in each other's embrace, remained silent with smiles on their faces.

"They are so cute when they sleep, unlike someone I know," Ria said while nudging Marius's side with her shoulder.

"Tsk, not like you're any better than me," replied Marius. He rolled his eyes before taking a good look at her as she rested in his embrace, the soft glistening skin of her naked upper body seeming to affect him no different from aphrodisiac, as he felt a bit thirsty inside.

Ria licked her lips as she sensed Marius's thoughts; she gave a suggestive look and was about to say something, but right as her lips made to move, the duo's facial expression changed to one of solemnity.

They both stared at the room door and even the slightly cracked window that showered the interior with the night-lit town lights and high-hanging moon. Vaguely, one could see a few shadows in the shape of different persons.

Marius had a brutal gleam in his dark eyes as he spoke in whispers to his wife, "It seems that even before I went to act, those bastards had grown impatient; since that's the case, they can't blame me if I send them on their way."

Ria giggled at this, her eyes soon after shining in an icy ray as she spoke, "Honey, leave those two at the door to me; I also want to... give vent..."

"As my lovely wife wishes," Marius said in a tone similar to a butler to his owner, he even went ahead and made a light bow acting in kind.

Ria snickered at this elbowing him again, the duo looking as if the impending danger was nothing more than a game as they frolicked and whispered. Naturally, this scene didn't go unnoticed by the hidden group at the window; they ruthlessly stared at the peaceful family with cruel eyes as if jealous to some degree.

A silhouette at the window stood by two others in silence, glaring at Marius before turning his attention to his lackeys and raising his hand. In a second, each of these individuals pulled up their weapons, mostly being daggers that shimmered with the cold moonlight.

The silhouette nodded at this and prepared to lower his hand, sending the command to attack, but once he turned his sights back into the room, his eyes couldn't help but shrink as one of the targets was missing. In fact, the beautiful green-haired woman had sat up, revealing more of her gorgeous body, fixing her long hair at the side before she suddenly winked at him.

''Not good!'' The assassin thought as though he didn't understand the circumstances. Yet, he knew that something terrible was about to happen. Quickly, he turned his attention back to his men and spoke in a coded language.

"Everyone fallback, we've been compromised," The man said in a hurry, but sadly, it would appear that his reaction was a bit too late.

In an unusual manner, his men kept staring at him dully, causing him to frown with anger and a bit of uneasiness. Soon though, his face turned to one of alarm as he saw the men falling over one by one in silence, pools of blood-forming around their bodies which fell to the lower floor of the tavern.

'How can this happen…' The man thought in alarm, but even before he could understand what happened, he heard a deep voice.

"You're a bit too late there, bud," Marius said as he unknowingly appeared directly at the side of the intruder.

Shocked by Marius's sudden appearance, the assassin faltered only for a moment but was experienced in many ways. He hurriedly pulled out his weapons and attacked while simultaneously assessing his chances for escape.

"Die!" The assassin said as he executed his finisher attack, his knife cutting towards Marius's neck with great speed and precision, a ruthless glow shimmering at the edge of the knife causing to leave a trailing line of energies.

"Tsk, you guys sure are amateurs, such a pity," Marius said as he didn't seem to care about the impending attack. He then waved his hand, which to the surprise of the assassin, nullified the energies behind his attack while shattering the knife into bits of fragments.

"You... you monster!" The assassin said in horror, taking a step back subconsciously. 

Marius wasn't in the mood to play around anymore; he slowly reached his arm forward, conjuring a powerful mystic power around it while speaking.

"Enough wasting time, you're going to tell me everything you know about your contractors and every single detail with regards to your mission. But, don't worry; the pain won't last forever, only for as long as you can hold out."

As the assassin heard Marius's words, his face turned pale with fright, even more so when he saw the look in his eyes, a look no different from a demonic killer that had slaughtered even more innocents than himself.

"No, stay away from—"

The assassin wanted to say as he tried to flee. Still, as if he was moving in slow motion, Marius's arm soon grabbed onto his mouth, firmly gripping him in place. Still, his muffled groans barely sounded throughout this sector of the inn before it faded as Marius had brought him off into the unknown.

Back within the room, those behind the door had yet to notice anything that had transpired; Ria calmly watched as the door opened without even a sound, her figure now well dressed as she sat with her legs crossed and fingers playing with a soft doll.

Seconds after, her body faded as if it became one with the room's darkness as two silhouettes entered the room. After stealthily closing the door, they carefully looked around, fixing their eyes on the two sleeping children.

"Leader, I only see two kids; the information said that it was a family of four. Are we in the right place?" A person that seemed like a lackey said.

The leader remained silent for a while, eyeing the children as he replied, "No, the information is correct; I can tell that their description matches the details. It appears that both parents are quite idle, haha; this is good as there are no obstacles. Since we only needed to kill the man, we can sell off the rest by first starting with them."

The lackey's eyes shone with greed as he replied, "That's a clever idea, sir."

"Ḧmph, enough buttering, and get work, let's remove them before they come ba— " The leader wanted to say something, but soon his words halted in his mouth as he looked at his lackey in horror.

"Ahhh! Leader, help meeee! Ahhhhh!"

The lackey suddenly cried out in violent pain, one that, oddly enough, didn't alarm the children nor anyone on the outside. Instead, his body lit up with flames which soon after turned his body into nothingness.

"This… what the hell is going on?" The leader said as he looked around with caution on his face, his mystic power flowing around him as he set for a grueling battle.

Suddenly, the shadows of the room rippled behind the leader as Ria walked out of nothingness, standing behind the unaware leader in silence as she spoke in a calm tone.

"Hehe, it's been a while since I slaughtered, mmm…. how exciting. Remember... you were the ones who came here, so don't blame me for what happens next," Ria said, bringing a startle to the man; he wanted to react by turning around to strangle her. But sadly, he was too late.

Ria's slender finger pointed towards the man's neck as a plume of fire came forth, instantly setting ablaze the leader who didn't even have time to scream in pain before his body vanished, leaving behind not even traces of ashes.

Ria blew her index finger and rubbed it together with her thumb as she murmured with a disappointed look, "So it's true as the clan says, most Artimans aren't so durable after all."

When Ria said such words, she was about to clean up any mess, but soon, her eyes turned to the door once more as she remained silent. 

Vaguely, one could hear a weak set of footsteps along with a stick's rhythmic sounds, almost as if an elder figure was using a walking stick.

The sounds faded after a little as if the person was just passing by; Ria soon showed a deep contemplative expression, she thought to herself.

'We've gotten quite the eye us; whether this is good or bad has to be decided, however. Hmm, it's a good thing I didn't use my Hellian Skills; that would have gotten us into quite the trouble.'

Ria then walked around the room with such thoughts in mind, checking that everything was in order before setting herself back into the bed, her eyes staring outside of the window as she thought to herself.

'Hurry home, my husband, I… need more of your warmth.'