Chapter 54 54: Remorse
Lucas pulled the trigger and the bullet passing through the muzzle, dug right into the skull popping the eyeball and splashing watery liquid mixed with blood.
BANG!
Lucas without wavering emptied the cartridge.
The monster's body slumping on the ground twitched and blood spurted out.
Seeing no death notification flashing before his eyes, Lucas immediately pulled out the sword and ran. It doesn't matter whether this bastard dies or stays alive. He did not know whether this was enough to kill the monster so it was better to run away.
He walked deeper into the hallway and found an iron ceiling with a light green door glowing with a strange glint.
"This is it."Lucas's heartbeat became faster and his eyes glowed in anticipation.
"I can finally get out."
CLICK!
He opened the rusty door inside which the area was filled with pitch darkness.
Trusting the diary and prediction of the fortune teller, just as he stepped into the space filled with darkness, a notification appeared before his sight.
[You have killed an early 2-Star. You have gained 4650 experience points.]
...
Dust and debris spread all around as if a great calamity had struck the place.
16 deaths and many more missing.
What was more shocking than the explosion was people vanishing out of thin air and the appearance of a greenish monster.
Fortunately, there was an awakened person present at the scene who took care of this.
While Hunters and PSB officers blocked the area, Frederick stared at the scene of mass destruction with a solemn gaze.
With the rise of the sun, the search speed had been hastened but it did not yield any results.
He clenched his fist and gritted his teeth to suppress the boiling anger and guilt.
"It's my fault. My greed and indecisiveness had caused all of this."
'I shouldn't have relied on half-baked future visions and acted without thinking about proper consequences.'
Frederick, whose shoulder dropped down with remorse, heard Parth's voice.
"It's not your fault. You warned them but they did not believe you."Parth spoke indifferently.
Parth's calm expression shocked Frederick. Parth's eyes looked as if he had seen ample scenes like this.
"Still..."
"You are not understanding the situation, Frederick. These leeches conduct illegal experiments. There were at least 40 corpses in the basement and where do these people come from? Most of them are the very people who walk on the street."
"Although our negligence had played a part in this, still we saved the lives of many innocent people who might have to go through this in the future," Parth said leaning against the wall of a broken house.
"Hmm!"
At the time Frederick's shoulder was patted by someone.
"What the boy said is correct?"
Frederick and Parth raised their chin and saw the main black wearing a black speck.
"I...No, we have been through this lot."The man spoke melancholy.
"There are many times when we were unable to safeguard life and would blame ourselves. So, in times like this, we can only appease our hearts by saying ourselves that it's not our fault."
"Take Omen and other criminals as an example. In one way or another, they will find a way to cause trouble while we have to prevent all the shit. It's not our fault for shit like this to happen nor do we play any part in it. Most of the time we are not even aware of the happenings. We are not omniscient but people will blame us for being late and find fault with us most of the time"
"So on the other hand, we can only try our best to help as much as possible."
Frederick's heart eased a bit.
"Yeah, they roll in shit, then eat the same shit and then throw shit. A bunch of shitters."Parth nodded his head with a serious expression as if he had said something quite great which caused Frederick and the man to give him a weird gaze.
'It's my fault for expecting something from him.'Frederick shook his head and stared at the man.
"You are..."
"I am Tim. I work in the Hunter Department. I came to thank you for your good deed."
"Kid, what is your name?"
"I am Frederick Frost."He replied trying to put on a sincere smile, however, Tim's expression stiffened.
'I thought he was a commoner or someone from the upper middle class but he turned out to be a noble and of the highest class on top of that.'
"I apologize for my previous misconduct," Tim muttered, bowing his head while beads of sweat formed over his forehead.
"It's okay," Frederick replied and asked about the situation.
At that time, a buzzing sound rang.
Tim asked for Frederick's pardon and received a call.
"Huh...What!"
"Someone came out. The Dungeon gate had opened. I will be heading there.''Tim spoke hurriedly and cut the call.
"I.."
"Let's go, I will accompany you."Frederick cut Tim's speech. Since it was a mess created by him, he needs to take care of this.
.....
The first thing Lucas saw after walking out was a pile of debris accompanied by flying soot and dust.
Workers seemed to be running around crazily clearing things.
A portal appeared before them which drew everyone's attention and a boy walked out from it.
Lucas saw men dressed in black hurrying there. Discerning their identity, Lucas finally heaved in relief as he was finally safe.
They frowned seeing Lucas's condition and started to call for medics while asking about the situation.
"Is there anyone alive and what did you encounter inside?"Patrick, the man in charge there, asked.
"None as per as I know but you should search in case. As per What did I encounter inside..."
Lucas started to explain about the monsters he had encountered.
"There may be more inside, hiding out there. So, be careful. Moreover, who knows how long this dungeon would remain open."
"You are right about that. Let's first observe the place. I don't want my men to get trapped there forever."Patrick replied gravely.
"And yeah...I also....."Lucas closed his lips for a moment as he came to a sudden realization.
'I can't hand over those papers. I don't know about the range of the organization nor do I know what they are capable of. What if it had penetrated the Hunter Department and PSB.'
'No Lucas. You can't take risks by exposing things here. I need to hand it over to someone whom I know and trust.'
"What were you saying?"
"Ohhh!Nothing, it's just an unpleasant encounter since I am already out there, there is no need to speak about it."
"Lucasssssss!"
Lucas heard a scream calling for his name which startled him.
Turning his gaze, his lips opened wide.
'What the hell are you two doing here?'
"Frederick...Parth..."Lucas stuttered seeing the duo.
"Lucas, were you the one that came out of the dungeon," Frederick spoke with a pale expression.
Lucas frowned and as he stared at the duo, both of them seemed to have a guilty look on their faces.
Seeing them averting his curious gaze, Lucas's eyes widened remembering the uncle's words.
"A blue-haired boy jumped out and screamed warning about the danger.."
"Holyshit.."Lucas shrieked in shock.
"It can't be. Are you two the ones who jumped out of the jewellery shop?"
Parth and Frederick flinched back, seeing Lucas's furious gaze.
Observing Lucas, they found cuts and bruises all over their body coupled with charred dark spots and blisters.
On looking closer, they could even see the burnt skin leading to the bone over his chest and his hands.
"How did this happen?"Lucas asked with a cold expression.
"I came looking for a ring," Frederick muttered and started to explain.
Frederick accumulated many rings throughout the novel which were of great use. And about this ring, even Lucas thought of getting the Dungeon ring, however...
Gulping his saliva, Lucas sweated profusely trying to stop the expression of shock and bewilderment appearing over his face.
'Impossible...It can't be. Frederick by this time should have already bought the ring from the auction a year ago so how did it derail so much from the novel.'
'Things already started changing even before I reincarnated'
'Now what kind of shit is this?'
Lucas covered his mouth, falling into deep thought giving others an impression of being greatly shocked.
Frederick and Parth felt more guilty seeing him like this.
Thinking about the pain and suffering Lucas might have gone through inside, their heart wrenched with guilt and remorse.
'"Frederick, I think he is in too much shock. We should apologize and soothe him," Parth whispered.
"Do you think of me as a girl who can be coaxed?"Lucas spat angrily as he managed to pick up Parth words.
"Lucas, please forgive me. It's my fault," Frederick pleaded.
"Come on mate, we did not do this knowingly," Parth added.
Frederick and Parth went on. The people around them also supported them and tried to solve the matter.
"Stop...I am having a headache."Lucas muttered, and getting up patted Frederick's shoulder, moving closer.
"I am not at all angry," Lucas said with a sweet innocent smile.
"I am not at all angry, rather I am happy."
Parth and Frederick who saw the innocent smile suddenly felt a chill down his spine.
Lucas stood beside Frederick and whispered, "Instead of apologizing, you two should prepare yourselves to compensate me for the mental damage."
Frederick and Parth's expressions stiffened.
"So, please compensate the poor and pathetic me."Lucas then walked away after saying what he wanted, leaving Frederick and Parth frozen like statues with a single thought in mind.
'Devil.....He looked like a Devil using the situation to bid his work.'