Ethan stepped outside, following them. Leon remained inside the tavern, keeping an eye on Risa for Ethan's sake.

"Will Ethan be alright?" Risa asked nervously.

"Don't worry about him. He's fought level 100 monsters and came back alive. Beating those guys will be easy for him," Leon explained.

Risa listened carefully to what Ethan had said earlier and nodded in understanding. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

The woman believed Ethan would be fine. His strength might far exceed what she could imagine.

Not long after, the tavern owner returned with a tray carrying three medium-sized cheeseburgers and three glasses of water.

"Will he be okay? He might be fighting all four of them at once," the man asked.

"You don't need to worry about Ethan. Honestly, I'm more worried about those four," Leon replied.

"How long until the meat gets cold?" Leon asked.

The tavern owner focused his eyes on the cheeseburgers. He said about three to four minutes if they were left out in open air with good circulation.

"In that case, I'd say Ethan will finish the fight in less than five minutes," Leon replied.

Leon sounded completely confident when he said that, though the tavern owner wasn't convinced. Most players who joined tower raids were around level 30 or higher.

From his time running this tavern in the village, he knew that the average player on the second floor of the Tower was around level 35.

To him, the idea of someone finishing a battle against four level-35 opponents in under five minutes was absurd.

"Crazy," the tavern owner muttered, stepping back behind the bar to serve another customer.

Leon hadn't touched his food, while Risa had already started because she was hungry. Leon sat with his arms crossed over his chest, looking as if he were waiting for something.

He kept his eyes on the digital clock displayed on his player dashboard. Two minutes passed since their breakfast was served; the sound of fighting still echoed outside, though there was no sign whether Ethan was about to finish or not.

Both Risa and Leon could hear the commotion outside the tavern. Risa initially wanted to check on Ethan, but Leon refused. He told her to just focus on her food, and Risa obeyed.

Four minutes passed. Leon smiled when the sounds of battle faded away, leaving only faint silence outside.

"Looks like I was right, old man," Leon said.

The tavern owner was still in shock. The tavern door opened, and Ethan walked in without a single scratch. Even his clothes were completely untouched.

"What the…? How did you…?"

"Two of them are dead. The others ran. Could you help me take care of their bodies?" Ethan asked the tavern owner.

"I'm not touching that. No way. Let someone from Narrow Fate handle it," the man replied.

Ethan nodded, not insisting. He walked over to Leon's table, meeting Risa's gaze and giving her a warm smile.

"How's the burger?" he asked.

"Tastes good, same as last night."

"Glad to hear it."

He took his portion and started eating slowly. Ethan did it — he'd ended the fight just before the burger meat got cold.

An impressive feat for him, but terrifying for everyone else.

As Ethan ate, Leon finally started eating too. Half an hour passed before Risa finished her breakfast first, Leon second, and Ethan last.

There was no wine or alcohol — it was too early to drink today. Ethan didn't want Leon's focus clouded by alcohol's side effects.

After finishing breakfast, Ethan asked Leon and Risa to follow him out of the tavern.

Once they stepped onto the village road in front of the building, Leon and Risa froze in shock. The dirt road was soaked in blood and littered with severed human limbs.

Several members of the Narrow Fate guild were cleaning up the remains. It wouldn't be surprising if an investigation soon began over the killings.

Ethan didn't care. For an MMORPG player, quests were everything. Without quests, there were no levels. Without levels, progression was impossible.

Leon glanced at Ethan's back from behind. He knew the man well, yet he never expected Ethan to be this ruthless — or this powerful.

Where did that strength of his come from?

"Leon. Risa. Let's move," Ethan called.

Risa smiled and nodded, unconcerned with the horror before her. Whatever had happened only proved to her that Ethan was a man capable of protecting her.

She hadn't been wrong to put her trust in him.

Before the team left, Ethan opened his digital map panel and synced it with Leon's. Leon agreed and did the same.

Now, two blue dots appeared on both of their maps — marking Ethan's and Leon's locations. It was a simple way to avoid getting separated later.

"We're heading to find the Blood-Cursed Tribe's village. I think I know where it is," Ethan said.

"Really?" Risa asked.

"Just a guess for now."

If the Telmarian villagers had moved because their temporary settlement was too close to the Blood-Cursed Tribe, then it meant the Blood-Cursed village wasn't far from the Telmarian one.

Ethan led the group, walking ahead of Leon and Risa. He told everyone to stay alert, including Leon and Hissy.

After all, they were on a forest path prone to lizard monster ambushes — something Ethan kept his guard up for.

Their pace slowed every time they encountered a group of lizards blocking their western path.

Leon attacked from a distance, while Ethan relied on one of his soul servants, excluding Sera.

[Congratulations! You have received loot!]

[+1000 EXP || +400 Gold || +400 Contribution Points]

No Moon Fragment. That's fine — I killed them during the daytime.

After finishing off the level-36 lizard group, Ethan and the others continued their journey.

Two hours passed without rest before Ethan found a fork in the path. The left led to the Telmarian village, while the right led elsewhere.

Ethan took the right path and moved cautiously. To his surprise, they hadn't even walked halfway before stopping again.

This time, it wasn't monsters that blocked them — but three men with red tattoos covering their bodies.

Risa smiled, stepping in front of Ethan and waving her hand.

"Hello," she greeted cheerfully.

"Members of the Blood-Cursed Tribe?" the three men asked, shocked.

Risa grinned and told them she was the tribe leader of the Blood-Cursed from the first floor. That only shocked them more.

According to tribal law, a chieftain wasn't allowed to leave the village without a clear reason.

Risa's bold claim that she was the Blood-Cursed tribe leader from the first floor was therefore hard to believe.

"Just tattooing your body with red ink and wearing those clothes doesn't make you one of us," one of the men said firmly.

"How cruel. I am a member of the tribe," Risa replied.

"Then show us something to prove it."

Risa sighed, reached into her pocket, and pulled out a red ruby ring. The sight of it shocked the three men again — clearly, it wasn't an ordinary ring.

"That's... the Tribe Leader's Recognition Ring!"

"No mistake. The smooth crimson ruby and the engravings — that's definitely the Leader's Ring."

"What do we do?"

The three men began whispering to each other. Risa slipped the ring back into her pocket. Ethan smiled, grateful that Risa had helped him progress the side quest.

"Wait here. We'll return with the elders."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.