Armipotent

"You almost fool me," Tang Shaoyang shook his head, "It seems you don't intend to negotiate with me from the start. Then good luck finding her corpse in the wild, if the beast does not eat her body."

Tang Shaoyang pulled Darlene by the hair, pushing her down to the ground. The girl screamed, struggling to break free. He ignored the cries, "Try to follow me, and I will kill her."

Tang Shaoyang pretended to retreat, pulling the girl by her hair. If not for the interrogation earlier, he would not know the Legend Rank tried to buy time. He guessed The Legend Rank Knight wanted to buy time for reinforcement after finding out his identity.

"Wait!" The Legend Rank Knight almost rushed forward to save Darlene, but he stopped his notion at the sight of Darlene's head on Tang Shaoyang's palm. He then lifted Darlene by holding her head up.

"I am sorry, Princess. If you have any resentment, you should direct that hate to this Legend Rank Knight. Remember his face clearly because he deems the boss floor's location is more important than your life," Tang Shaoyang whispered to Darlene. Tears flowed from her eyes, and her gaze met with the Legend Rank Knight's gaze. Hate, there was hate in her gaze at the knight.

There was some truth in Tang Shaoyang's words, after all. The knight could give the location to free her, but the knight had a different idea. She understood if the knight wanted to catch her kidnappers, they could catch the kidnapper after she was free. Why would the knight risk her life just to catch the kidnappers?

"Wondering why? Because of greed. He wants to catch me for my dragon. Haven't you heard my name from that adventure?"

Darlene had heard about the rumor of an adventurer that had a dragon. The Mistovel Family tried to get the dragon, but the adventurer crushed The Mistovel Family's young master who tried to detain the adventurer. That was a big story a few months ago, and she had heard it for sure. Her eyes widened in shock, looking at the knight in disbelief.

"Don't trust him, Lady Darlene! He is manipulating you!" The Legend Rank Knight shouted.

"Maybe I do, but why does that knight not want to exchange your life for information that will become public once everyone completes a hundred quests? That sounds fishy, no?"

The more Darlene thought about it, the more what Tang Shaoyang said made sense. The location would become public, and maybe most factions already knew the boss floor's location since it had been over three months since everyone entered the eleventh floor.

"I will give you the location!" The Legend Rank Knight realized that if the rumor spread out to Darlene's parents, his life as the knight would be over even if he was a Legend Rank. Especially when he noticed that Darlene started to believe what Ying said.

"This is the map," The Legend Rank Knight held a green orb in his hand. He tossed the orb at Tang Shaoyang.

Tang Shaoyang caught the orb while his head wondered how this orb could be a map. However, the doubt was answered as soon as he held the orb. A holographic map appeared before him, and there was a green arrow pointing in a direction. The green arrow pointed toward a big red dot on the map which he assumed was where the boss floor was.

He let out a chuckle, putting the orb into his inventory, "He even has the map in his inventory yet..." He did not finish his words, letting the lady finish the words in her imagination, "You really have a loyal knight, Lady Darlene."

Tang Shaoyang motioned toward Lu An with his head, and Lu An knocked Julian while Tang Shaoyang released his grasp on Darlene. Then the shadow rose up, enveloping them. At the last moment, Darlene stood up from the ground and jumped into the shadow. It was a questionable and reckless decision. The Legend Rank Knight raised his voice, calling Darlene. The desperation could be heard in his tone.

Then the shadow dispersed, and Tang Shaoyang was no longer there. They disappeared under the watch of four hundred people. The Legend Rank Knight who tried to jump into the shadow failed to reach the shadow. He now stood where the shadow disappeared, standing in distress as he failed to rescue Darlene.

Then he snapped out of his thoughts, returning to his group, "We return to the city and track where Lady Darlene's location,"

There was a skill that could be used to track Darlene, and they needed to return to a person who could use the skill. The Knight of the Xevia Kingdom returned empty-handed while the Karigan Family's force rushed toward their young master, giving Julian the healing potion and also the regeneration potion before leaving.

The Karian Adventurer Guild followed the other two. They came because Darlene hired the adventurer to hunt outside the city. This was part of their responsibility that their client was kidnapped, leaving Roman alone. Roman's eyes focused on where Tang Shaoyang disappeared, gritting his teeth and clenching his fist tightly.

Roman had been trying so hard to catch up to Ying. He reached Ancient Rank two weeks ago, and he thought the gap between them was shortened, but Ying had also reached Myth Rank. He felt like the gap between them had become wider instead.

*** ***

Tang Shaoyang lifted his right foot which Darlene clung onto. He did not expect the girl to be this reckless and followed them into the shadows.

"What are you doing? Don't you want to return to your family?" He could not understand the train of thought of this girl.

"It's your fault," Rosalie rolled her eyes, "You are doing unnecessary things which make her think something stupid as well."

Tang Shaoyang had a confused look and did not understand what Rosalie tried to say.

"You really know so little about how complicated being a member of the royal family is despite being an Emperor yourself," Rosalie squatted in front of Darlene who was still clinging to Tang Shaoyang's right foot, "She may be thinking that someone from her family wants her to die because of your attempt to scare that knight."

Darlene nodded her head, agreeing with Rosalie, then she looked up, looking at Tang Shaoyang, "You are an Emperor?" She was surprised to hear the new information, "I thought you were an adventurer?"