Golden Artificer c7 (Patreon)

“That kid…” Zald looked with a frown as he saw the kid standing next to Alfia.

“All of you, Evilus, have a choice. Leave, or I will make you leave in body bags.” Marcus said while taking his stance. He was ready to test the limits of his Yamato.

“Everyone. Forget about those adventurers and focus on that kid. We need to kill him now!” Zald said as he got in position to fight Marcus.

But everyone looked confused.

“But—”

Before the guy can say they are here to fight the adventurers, Marcus cuts him vertically in half, appearing before Zald and the guy.

“You are in the way. Once I deal with you blacky, Evilus will shatter like a little watermelon dropped on the ground.”

Tsk!

The armoured guy tried to attack Marcus, but his blade was intercepted by a katana with glowing letters.

“I do wonder how long can your blade last?” The alchemist-turned-kid asked level 7 as his Yamato’s edge started to glow and get sharper and sharper by the second.

Slowly, the armoured guy’s weapon started to get cut.

To save it, he pulled back and tried to kick the much smaller kid, but all it did was Marcus use his leg to kick himself up as he delivered a powerful enzuigiri kick to the neck, sending the level 7 flying into a building.

Meanwhile

The adventurers looked at this with confusion.

“Wasn’t that girl part of this?” One asked with confusion. They remembered that she had attacked Ganesha Familia in a church.

“Yes, but now she is with this kid who is beating up the level 7!” 

People were confused, but at that moment, a Dwarf from Loki Familia raised his voice.

“It doesn’t matter! Defeat those Evilus people!”

“Right!”

The adventurers snapped out as they charged at Evilus' forces again.

The confused Evilus troops snapped out. They found it strange as hell that one of them betrayed them, and on top of that, some peculiar kid was going crazy and slicing through their ranks like they were made from paper!

“What the hell!? Who is this kid!? Why is he killing all of them!?” A girl from a group of girls looked in disbelief at how casually the kid was slicing through Evilus’ members and simultaneously fighting Zald!

It was nuts!

“We must stop both of them!” A blonde elf girl said with wide eyes. It was a blood bath!

“About that… I don’t think we are at their level,” the green-haired elf lady said with twitchy lips. She does want to help, but seeing how quickly both of them move is crazy.

Instead, she looks at the back, where a black-dressed girl is taking down all of Evilus' troops with minimal effort.

‘That’s ‘Silence’ of Hera’s Familia. Why is she fighting them? She switched sides?’ The leading mage of Loki Familia was confused by this switch. 

**BOOM**

A building caved in as the boy sent the armoured man into another building.

For a moment, the fighting has stopped.

“I am tired of you bugs…” The kid said with a tired voices as she sheathed his sword before the sheathed started to glow.

‘That’s a lot of mana! He is pouring his mana into the sheath?’

“Everyone get away from him!”

The adventurers followed the command of the tall and muscular man from Freya’s Familia.

Sure enough, Marcus pulled out his blade before slamming the sharp end into the ground.

A wave of energy washed over the entire area as Evilus troops started to root and simply waste away. Not even bones were left behind; all that remained were clothes and weapons.

“...”

“...”

“...”

Everyone paled after seeing the scene of people simply ceasing to exist…

“Good. With all the garbage gone, I can continue practising my sword. Are you still up for another round? Zald of Zeus Familia?” Marcus pulled out his sword from the ground and took his sword stance.

After removing several boulders from his path, the swordsman looked banged up, but he could continue to fight.

“What is your name, kid? No one your age should have such power or experience.”

“I am Marcus Goldman. I hold the Rank of Grand Sorcerer and Master Alchemist.” The Alchemist introduced himself as he was ready to continue.

“I see. So you only look like a child, but you are much more than that.” After saying his part, he lunged at Marcus, who did the same. He proceeded to rain stabs with his Yamato while dodging those sword swings.

Before long, Zald collapsed on the ground.

“Hmm, you are poisoned.” Marcus stopped midway as he was about to finish him off.

After coughing hard, Zald spoke.

“What of it? You don’t want to kill me?” The swordsman said with a frown. After being beaten around like a ragdoll, this kid doesn’t want to kill him!?

“Hmm. I would want to beat you up when you were at peak.” Marcus looked around. He realised that most of Evilus had scrambled to run away after his stunt.

“Why don’t you allow him to fight the adventurers of Orario?” Alfia walked over and said to her new ‘Master’.

“Hmm… Fine. It was your original goal anyway.” Marcus pulled out a blue glowing pill of some sort.

He threw it at Zald.

“Consume it. It will patch you up. I am done here. Is it fine with you, Alfia?” Marcus turned away from the swordsman and asked his maid, as it was her idea to make him join the fight.

“It should be fine. You did your part in saving the city,” she said to him as she looked at Zald taking the pill.

The swordsman swiftly recovered as he was ready for round two.

“Good. Now you can play your part as a villain.” Marcus looked back at Zaid.

“Fine then.” The swordsman nodded before looking at Alfia.

“Are you joining him?”

“Joining? I was made to join him.” The silver-haired girl sighed but then smiled a bit.

“But yes. I have my duties to him now.” She ended up clarifying to him.

“Very well, in that case, I am off.” Zald didn’t complain since Alfia had her purpose, and now he had his.

The swordsman dashed to fight other adventurers.

People soon noticed that level 7 was dashing at them and that the kid who was beating this guy around was doing nothing. The same was true for the black-clad girl from Hera’s Familia.

Zald easily threw them around. One by one, they dropped like leaves.

“As you can see. I am maybe weak to you. But they are even weaker than me.” Alfia said to him as they watched the fight.

“Nothing new. I have seen this before. People want someone to save them as they can’t do it themselves.”

“Yes. People want heroes.”

He scoffed upon hearing that.

“Not Heroes. You sound like a baby girl. What people want is for someone to do things for them. I have been at the receiving end of this for over 150 years.” He said with a snort, recalling all of the shit he had to go through.

“I was the one who conquered life and grasped the fundamental forces of the Universe. People wanted my power. So instead of giving to them, I destroyed their civilisation.”

Gulp

Alfia’s eyes trembled as she heard that.

“Let’s go. If by tomorrow Evilus is not gone. I will begin my purge.”

Marcus sheathed his Yamato as he proceeded to jump away. Alfia followed after him. Not realisng that some people were looking at them the whole time. Particularly a blonde girl with blonde eyes.

~~~

“What is going on!? I thought he was beaten!?” The adventurers got routed as they were running away after Zald kicked their butt.

Major fighters, like Ottar from Fraya Familia and Gareth and Riveria of Loki Familia, were badly wounded as they were taken away to recuperate. 

“I don’t know. He just left!” The guys were confused as they didn’t know what to do.

In the meantime, at one of Evilus’ bases Zald went to speak with Ebirus.

“So Alfia was beaten… you were beaten by some sort of ‘Grand Sorcerer’?” The Evil God spoke with a slightly confused tone. His followers were in a similar state. They never heard of this ‘Grand Sorcerer’.

“Yes. However, he doesn’t want to kill me as I am poisoned. He let me fight Adventurers.”

“Oh? Well, that is fine. However, will he interfere?” The Boss of Evilus asked out loud.

“No idea.”

“Well, in that case, we should fasten our plan.”

“It won’t be long. Nightmare is rushing through floors as we speak.”

~~~

“You are not going to ask what Erebus’ plans are?” Alfia asked Marcus as they returned to his house.

“I don’t care for details. My guess is that since we are in Dungeon City, he might as well be ready to release some sort of creature.” The alchemist said to her as he went to cook some food. He is starving after using quite a bit of Mana.

**Sigh**

“You are right. Anyway, let me help you with preparations.”

Alfia joined him to assist in making food. She is starting to feel that she should help as he is doing everything by himself, and it makes her feel useless.

As the pair were doing their thing. A girl with golden hair and golden eyes followed them.

After seeing him completely and utterly destroy that level 7, Marcus got her attention. She was considering that he looked no older than her. Yet, stronger than any of the adventurers she had seen to this date, she wanted to know more about him.

Thankfully, her following helped, as the moment she returned to her home, the Twilight Manor, the Captain of her Familia, asked her.

“You followed him. Do you know where he lives?” Finn, the Captain of Loki Familia, asked her.

“From what I saw, he made the slums his home. I think there is a powerful barrier in that place.” The girl explained what she saw. While she couldn’t see what was inside, she felt an urge to turn around and leave.

This fact would have slipped past her if it hadn’t been for her original intentions.

“I see. Well, I will be going to see him. Now that the gates are secured. The monsters from outside can’t enter. We can focus more on the threat from the dungeon.” Finn explained to the girl, as he had a pondering look.

What he saw from the boy was absurd, but they needed his power to stop the creature from rushing from deep floors to the surface.

“I wish to see him as well!” The blonde girl said in a hopeful tone.

“...Ais… he is dangerous. You saw what he did to Evilus men, didn’t you?” 

The girl nodded, but what she saw was quite amazing. The sword he used was special. She had never seen anything like that before!

“...Ais…”

“I won’t interrupt!”

**Sigh**

‘If only Riveria was not out…’

Finn tried to make her understand, but hell, the girl was not listening. After seeing that kid rampage and reveal what he can do she was mesmerised by his abilities.

“Fine.”

All he could do was agree, as he knew she would charge head-first to the kid’s place anyway. It would only embarrass him and his Familia.

“Thank you!”

~~~

“Hmm?” Marcus' eyes perked up as he saw two kids touching his barrier.

“What is it?”

“Some two kids are touching my barrier,” he said to Alfia as they finished eating and were washing the dishes.

“Kids? I doubt kids could do that. They could be Pallums. They are a race of short people, similar to Dwarves.” Alfia explained to him about races.

“I see, Well, let’s see what they want. At least this time around, they are not barging in like certain someone.” Marcus teased her as he cleaned his hand before grabbing Yamato.

The silver-haired girl sighed as she cleaned her hands and followed after him. She doubts Marcus will forget her blunder any time soon.

As the pair walked out of the house, they approached the edge of the barrier before exiting it completely and facing the pair of blondes.

“Sorry to impose on you at such an hour, but I would like to talk to you about something important.” The blonde-looking kid spoke with a well-mannered tone.