A siren blasted through the city as the flames rose high.
Blue fire was rare, but a pale light blue flame had never been seen before.
It did not spread to buildings or trees, but crept only along the vines and roots left behind by the dungeon break.
Every poison flower, every hostile vine, was destroyed.
Whatever monsters remained were burned to ash in the sea of fire.
Even the Dryad herself, since she was connected to all of it, had it all come back to her.
Rowan stood idly on top of a building, watching the wooden figure slowly drown in the howling sea of fire as the screams of the dead burned her.
The Dryad itself was not particularly strong. It had been dangerous because of its poison and its army of Treants, but without both it was just a sitting tree wrapped in vines. And he had taken care of those too.
'The effect of [Soul Devourer] is far better than I anticipated...'
[Soul Devourer] did not just imbue his weapon with soul properties. The status effect it applied also targeted the enemy's soul directly, and by consuming more SP the effect multiplied to even greater heights.
[You leveled up!]
[You have gained skill: Plant Control (D): Allows you to control any type of plant within the area.]
Rowan quietly read the system notification as the Dryad withered and turned to ash in the wind, taking everything connected to it along with it, leaving entire city blocks broken but no longer infested.
He dropped down and collected the D-rank mana cores.
They were double the size of the E-rank ones already stored in his backpack.
He looked behind him and saw many groups of hunters closing in, many with looks of disgust on their faces.
Since he wanted the victims to be identifiable, he had left their bodies mostly intact.
In other words, rot.
Their blood and remains were still scattered across the sea of death. It was not a sight even the most experienced hunters could easily stomach, and many showed visible signs of repulsion.
Some even doubled over and retched. And they should. No normal human should be able to walk through a road filled with blood and viscera with their sanity unwavered.
'That guy came too. And Cordelia.' Rowan spotted the group leader who had berated him earlier crawling on the ground, puking from the horrific smell and the nightmare landscape spread out before him.
"Should I show myself?" Rowan wondered.
If he revealed himself as the one who had cleared the dungeon break, it would greatly boost his reputation, which in turn would bring greater fame.
And fame could lead to many fortunes.
The problem was, if Orelia found out he had done this already, it was not going to end well for him.
'At least I saved the people and stopped the break.' Rowan decided against it.
There may have been only one risk in revealing himself, but it was large enough that no amount of reward could justify it.
So, he left.
Rowan activated [Dash] and leaped away from the scene, running toward the hunter district.
"Did you hear about the dungeon break? I heard it was a poison type. That is why the guild that bought the rights kept delaying it and forgot about it!"
"Yeah! Silver Claw really messed up this time. They are going to pay for this!"
"But look! Someone already cleared it!"
The dungeon break was of course the topic on every hunter's lips as they watched footage on their phones and had heated debates about what had happened and who was responsible.
But some wore troubled expressions. Rowan caught sight of them watching a streamer broadcasting the sea of corpses he had left behind.
At a time like this, no one spared a second glance at the blood-soaked Rowan.
Everyone was distracted and glued to their phones, which gave him the opportunity to slip into a rental bathroom and clean himself up.
Rowan's reflection stared back at him from the mirror. His once scrawny body had quickly filled out into a muscular frame. With every muscle broken down and damaged, it instantly healed back through [Reaper's Body].
Healing was not reverting. It was the same process as normal rest, just instantaneous. The class was built to never stop, always on the kill. That was what it was designed for.
But truth be told, he hated it.
As the remnants of the innocent washed away down the drain, no one could tell anymore which drops were water and which were blood.
And which were something else entirely.
--
Back at the dungeon break, the first responders began to arrive. Police, soldiers, and firefighters flooded in as the rescue mission got underway now that the fighting had ended.
Soldiers cooperated with hunter parties in search and destroy operations to clear any remaining monsters still roaming the area, while police handled the press and managed the crowds gathering around the perimeter.
"Hello! I heard you saved the children, can you tell us how you did it?"
"What rank are you? What is your name? How did you manage to break out?!"
"Monsters have rights! They are living beings too, they should not just be killed!"
The children were already in safe hands.
All of it was thanks to Rowan.
But the news reporters kept flashing their cameras at Lee relentlessly, which left him both embarrassed and too exhausted to push back.
'Was that blue flame Rowan's doing?' Lee sat in a chair a firefighter had brought over for him to rest on.
Kale had already been taken to the hospital, though Lee had been reluctant to leave without waiting for Rowan first.
"Everyone look, the leading party is back!" Not long after, a group from the Silver Claw guild emerged with Cordelia, their faces pale and visibly shaken.
The news reporters abandoned Lee immediately and swarmed toward them like vultures.
--
The moment Cordelia's party stepped past the police line, the press surged forward like a single living organism, microphones and cameras thrust into their faces.
"Silver Claw held the rights to this gate for weeks!" The first reporter pushed to the front. "Can you explain why it was left uncleared long enough to break? Who is responsible for this?!"
The question hit like a slap.
Several members of the party flinched visibly, their eyes still hollow from what they had seen inside the perimeter.
But Matthew, the party leader, stepped forward before anyone else could speak.
He straightened his collar and faced the cameras with the practiced ease.
"We offer our absolute condolences for the losses suffered today." His voice was measured, carrying just enough weight to sound sincere.
"However, I want to clarify for the public that this gate had already been formally transferred to the Red Pellet guild prior to the incident, due to Silver Claw's lack of fire element specialists required for this dungeon type. Unfortunately, due to the transfer still being processed through official channels, the handover was not yet complete when the break occurred."
A ripple went through the crowd of reporters.
"So, you are saying this is Red Pellet's responsibility?" Another reporter called out.
Matthew raised his hand. "What I can tell you is that Silver Claw responded immediately upon confirmation of the break."
"Blue flames were seen across three city blocks! Who cleared it, and what happens next for the victims and their families?!"
Matthew paused for just a fraction of a second before letting a smile cross his face.
"The initial engagement was carried out by a hunter associated with our guild, operating ahead of our advance," Matthew said smoothly.
But across the crowd, Lee shot up from his chair.
"That's bullshit!!" He tried to shout, but his voice was swallowed whole by the wave of reporters surging forward with follow-up questions.
"And it was our party, under my leadership, that pushed into the heart of the break and delivered the killing blow on the boss."
Matthew continued; his voice never wavered.
He then added a solemn nod, "We will be working closely with the relevant authorities to ensure full compensation and support for every family affected."
Lee stood frozen, his hands balled into fists at his sides, his exhausted face cycling through disbelief and then something closer to fury.
'This isn't right, but... where is Rowan?'