Chapter 127: [BONUS] - The Assassin Syndicate

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"Well, we finally meet. Assassins."

August looked around the dimly lit tavern with a predatory stare.

Even just standing in the doorway, his presence made the hardened killers inside break into a cold sweat.

They gripped their hidden weapons a little tighter, hoping for some sense of safety.

"Ah! Captain August, you've arrived. Forgive our lack of a proper welcome!" The bartender plastered a sickeningly sweet smile across his face.

Inside, he was panicking.

No target had ever been found this fast. The assassins and the bartender noticed his guide, the Hestia Familia's new Supporter, who had once been with the Soma Familia.

They often visited the Soma compound for drinks, but never thought she would expose them so quickly. Despite relocating to three different safe houses, she still managed to track them down. The little Pallum was clearly talented.

With August's fearsome combat record, even these elite killers knew that drawing a weapon meant certain death. They forced themselves to greet him with fake smiles.

If they couldn't calm him down, they might not survive...

The bartender stepped forward, nervously rubbing his hands, hoping this monster wouldn't take out his anger on them. After all, they hadn't accepted the hit themselves.

"..." August watched the bartender approach. He didn't nod or even look at him with any friendliness.

Instead, he stared down at the man with disdain, treating him more like trash than a person.

This attitude worked well in the underworld. If you acted nervous, they sensed weakness. But if you showed total confidence, the assassins began to doubt their own chances of survival.

"How can we help you today, Captain August?" the bartender asked, forcing a strained smile. "We're just a regular tavern, nothing illegal here."

Beneath his polite demeanor, he was angrily blaming the Soma Familia for revealing their location.

"Tch." August clicked his tongue in disgust, not even bothering to reply.

Next to him, Lili dropped a heavy, clinking sack onto the counter. It held at least fifty million Valis.

"We know exactly what this place is," Lili said, shaking the bag of coins with a happy smile. "You guys are assassins, which means we can hire you. The client who put the bounty on us isn't going to be showing up anymore. So even if you pulled off the hit—you wouldn't get paid anyway."

The assassins cursed her silently. What did she mean, they wouldn't get paid?

But as they thought about it, they realized she was right. August had destroyed the Ikelos Familia. Even their Patron God was gone. There was no one left to pay them.

"Then... what exactly are you looking to commission?" the bartender asked, his eyes darting to the massive bag of Valis.

"A bounty," August said, drumming his fingers against the wooden bar. "I want the entire Daedalus bloodline wiped out!"

The tavern filled with fearful whispers. They never thought he was serious. When he said he would wipe out an entire bloodline, they assumed he was just trying to scare them. But now he was actually offering money to hunt them down.

The bartender gulped nervously. "Daedalus was one of Orario's most legendary architects. He built the original foundations of this city, and his descendants have deep roots. If you want us to put a hit out on them... I'm sorry, but the Assassin's Guild can't accept that."

It wasn't that he didn't want the fifty million Valis. He just didn't dare. Taking a job against August was one thing, but the Daedalus family was connected to Evilus and the city's darkest groups. No one wanted to cross them.

"Is that so?" August raised an eyebrow, mildly surprised that an underground syndicate would turn down cold hard cash. "Alright then."

He pushed off the barstool. "Let's go, Lili."

"Right behind you, Lord August." Lili quickly scooped up the money and followed him out the door.

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The assassins stared at the swinging tavern doors in disbelief. They fully expected August to throw a violent tantrum after being rejected. Instead, he just walked away.

"Some monster rookie. He's just a coward!"

"Hahaha! We denied his request and he tucked his tail between his legs and ran! What an idiot!"

"Who doesn't know the Daedalus family is backed by Evilus? Only a fool would take that job!"

The tavern broke out in loud laughter. They realized they had overestimated him. The mood shifted from fear to open mockery.

But the bartender still felt uneasy. As he listened to the laughter, he tried to calm his pounding heart.

'Was I just imagining things?'

"Tch. Guess he wasn't such a big deal after all," he muttered.

"BEEP!"

A faint, high-pitched mechanical chirp cut through the noise.

"What was that?" The bartender frowned. He stepped around the counter and crouched down near the stools where August and Lili had been sitting.

Under the oak bar, four large, brick-shaped explosives were attached. No one had noticed when they were placed there...

"WHAT THE—"

His eyes widened in horror.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The shockwave instantly turned the bartender into a bloody mist. The huge blast ripped through the tavern, killing the laughing assassins in a storm of pressure and shrapnel. The entire first floor was destroyed in seconds.

But the destruction didn't end there...

Outside, a volley of rockets rained down, lighting up the alley with flaming trails. The heavy weapons struck the syndicate's buildings—destroying the whole block in a series of loud explosions.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

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A safe distance away, August and Lili watched the fire with cold, mocking smiles. Smoke rose from the rocket launchers on August's shoulders.

"You don't want to take my commission?"

August said, his eyes as cold as ice. "THEN DIE."

If they weren't useful, they were just another enemy. Did they really think he was a good guy? Did they believe they could refuse a job and escape their past crimes?

They were completely wrong.

Residents and merchants stared in shock as the tavern burned. Just moments before, they had seen August go in, then come out and attack the buildings with force.

The sudden violence left everyone frozen, their mouths hanging open in disbelief.

"WHAT HAPPENED??" A Ganesha Familia patrol squad sprinted onto the scene, weapons drawn to maintain order.

When the squad captain saw August standing in the smoke, he stopped in his tracks.

'Crap. It's August.'

The squad captain wanted to turn and run.

Facing this reckless fighter felt like signing his own death warrant. He would rather take harsh punishment from his own Familia than deal with this dangerous newcomer.

Still, he had a job to do as a guardian of Orario.

"Captain August of the Hestia Familia," the squad leader approached cautiously. "Mind telling us what's going on here?"

Ganesha had made it clear: August was ruthless.

It was safer to fight Ottar than to get on this kid's bad side. And since Hestia had beaten the Goddess of Beauty in public—everyone knew their whole Familia was unpredictable.

"I'm clearing out an assassin syndicate," August said calmly, lowering his weapons. "I tried to hire them and give them a chance to live. They refused, so I took them out."

He pointed at the damage. "Check if any nearby shops were hit. Send the repair bills to the Hestia Familia. I'll cover everything, even the Guild's fine for causing trouble."

August and Lili didn't wait for an answer. They turned and walked away.

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As they left, the squad captain wiped sweat from his forehead. "Heavens... Lord Ganesha never told us he was this insane."

"No kidding," one of his subordinates gasped, leaning against a wall. "Just standing near him felt like I was suffocating."

"Same here. It felt like he was pointing a weapon at me the whole time." The guards shivered. August's cold, empty stare was really frightening.

"What should we do, Captain?" a guard asked nervously.

No one wanted to try arresting him...

"We do exactly what he told us. He said he'd pay the fines," the captain said, giving up on trying to enforce the law.

He thought it over. August was fighting with the Apollo Familia and the assassins. This wasn't Apollo territory, so August was after killers.

"If some assassins got blown up, why should we care? It's not our problem."

As long as August paid for the damage, the Ganesha Familia would stay out of it. This kind of Familia war was far above their level.

"Good point. But what did he mean by giving them a chance to live?" a patrolman asked, curious. If someone as ruthless as August offered mercy, it had to be something wild.

"The Daedalus bloodline," the captain muttered, realizing the truth. "He wants to wipe them out."

A chill ran down his spine. Calling for the destruction of one of Orario's founding families showed August wasn't just ruthless—he was a psychopath.

"Still, those assassins were stupid," the captain said. "Someone who fights through monster hordes and defeats top Adventurers won't be scared of a few thugs in a bar. They should have just taken the job. Is surviving really that hard?"

He shook his head in amazement. If someone that dangerous offers you a job, you take it. Saying no is just asking to get killed.

"CHECK THE AREA! MAKE SURE NO CIVILIANS IN THE NEARBY SHOPS ARE HURT!" the captain ordered, waving his arm to get the squad moving.

"Write up the damage estimates and send the bill to the Hestia Familia!"

When the local merchants found out the ruined tavern was an assassin hideout targeted by the Hestia Familia, their panic faded. If those people were assassins, they got what was coming to them.

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After leaving the ruins, August and Lili found themselves at a dead end.

Lili had found the main syndicate headquarters in the Sixth District's business area, but it wasn't their only base. Orario's underworld was a tangled web of hideouts. Destroying one wouldn't stop them—others would just take over.

August wanted to wipe out the whole network.

"Lili, those guys definitely have other hidden strongholds," August noted. "How do we root out the rest of them?"

"Oh, I've got it!" Lili's eyes lit up. She didn't know every assassin's hideout, but she knew who did. "If we can't find them, we can just buy the info."

The Hestia Familia had plenty of money, so they could easily afford the best black market information.

"Lead the way," August agreed.

They made their way deeper into the Sixth District and reached Lili's favorite information broker. They didn't bother with disguises. They just walked straight into the underground tavern for everyone to see.

"..." As soon as they walked in, all the quiet conversations stopped. The whole pub fell silent.

Everyone in the underground knew August's face. He was the top predator in Orario's rumor mill—the one who bombed monsters, defeated Evilus captains, and tortured enemies in public.

No one met his eyes. Informants and mercenaries stared into their drinks.

August and Lili took a seat right at the bar. Lili pulled out a stack of Valis and slid it across the wooden counter.

The information broker stared at the money, sweating. Having someone this dangerous at his bar was terrifying. He wanted no part of it, but Lili had paid double the usual fee. In the end, greed won over fear.

"Two glasses of water," Lili ordered casually.

The bartender quickly made the drinks, slid the cold glasses to them, and quietly pocketed the money.

"We want the exact coordinates of every single assassin hideout in Orario," Lili stated, her voice calm and authoritative. "And the current whereabouts of every living member of the Daedalus bloodline."

The tavern, already silent, somehow became even quieter...

Everyone knew the assassins had gone after the Hestia Familia. But hearing them buy the Daedalus family's locations meant only one thing: the monster rookie was planning a full purge.

He wasn't just sending a warning—he was going to wipe them out.

The broker sighed.

He had never seen a Familia this wild. He glanced nervously at August, who quietly sipped his water. The broker knew if he refused, August might destroy his tavern.

"Ten times the usual rate," the broker rasped, giving in.

He gave up every location without a second thought, trading the city's deadliest assassins for cash.

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