66 A Traitor Among Us

This prompt her into imploring Damon to at least allow her the privilege of raising and training Dante herself. This meant Damon was to make an oath to never stop Dante from achieving his dreams.

After several weeks later, Damon finally yielded to his wife demands. Dante eventually applied to join the academy at the age of ten.

And at the age of fifteen, he had graduated from the academy before joining the Adventurer guild. On the day of his return after defeating the demon Lord a year after, his mom was the first to run towards him to give him a hug with tears streaming down her cheeks.

Everyone else followed after to give him a hug. Dante was truly grateful to his mother for supporting his dream of becoming an Adventurer.

Although it was more like completing an unfinished business or a dream which he had since his previous life just so that he could finally have a peace of mind.

Dante's relationship with his brother and sister aren't really as intimate as with what he had with his mother. Dante could see how Darik and Deborah tried their best to convince him that they truly loved him.

Unbeknownst to them was that Dante could feel the disdain both had towards him for being the only one who didn't join their vision on improving their family business and name just like how their father wanted them to.

****

'Whats wrong with him?' Dante thought, shifting his gaze upwards to see Landon standing outside the Emperor's quarters.

Landon noticed Dante coming towards his way and so turned towards him, sensing the puzzled look on Dante's face Landon mouthed.

"He's dead,"

Understanding what Landon was saying, Dante paused for a brief moment with his eyes dilated in shock before shifting his gaze towards his right and left.

Dante understood that something wasn't right due to the way Landon mouthed those words and so he mouthed back in return while asking.

"How many?"

"Just one," Landon mouthed once again, shifting his gaze towards his right and left to confirm no one was truly watching them.

Both Landon and Dante were currently outside the late Emperor's quarters with several palace guards present outside as well in a fifty meter distance away from where both currently stood.

Among these guards, there was an intruder in their midst. Dante spreads his awareness allowing him to identify who wasn't supposed to be there by watching closely to notice anything abnormal.

Of all the guards present there at the time, only one kept stealing glances towards their direction and thus their target had made himself known.

*Tap* *Tap*

"Here we go," Dante said, while tapping his feet on the floor before jumping once and vanishing completely from Landon's sight.

*Poof*

*Pow!* *Crack*

Dante suddenly appeared behind the back of the enemy posing as a guard before firing a piercing blow into the spinal cord of the impostor with the cracking sound of his broken bone clearly heard by Dante.

Even Dante was a little bit confused by the sheer force he applied to his fist. He knew he was a little bit annoyed to be here in the first place but he didn't knew he had been mustering such a huge amount of anger ever since he had accepted the quest to save the Royal family.

"Ahh!!"

The impostor yelled in agonizing pain before skidding a few meters on the concrete floor away from where Dante stood.

Dante appeared on top of the impostor on the floor once more before grabbing his head to get some answers.

"Who sent you?" Dante asked.

With his spinal cord damaged, the guard could never walk again for the rest of his life but just like what occurred in the dungeon, the same thing was about to happen again.

"Shit!!" Dante cursed before leaping away from the impostor.

The guard's tongue glowed and his head swelled before exploding into indescribable pieces. All the remaining guards who stood nearby had their hearts clenched by such an horrific scene but they could neither run or scream.

Very few were on the brink of losing their sanity and wetting themselves on the spot after seeing how Dante bent a fellow guard head backwards with his back turning in an abnormal way as well.

Every guards also had their eyes dilated after seeing a person's head swollen and exploding before their very eyes. They really struggled to compose their thoughts but there was nothing they could do but to remain in their post.

Who knows? Maybe the guards would have abandoned their posts if the exploded impostor had his limbs returned back to its original place as though time went backwards before facing towards them and yelling the word "BRAINS!" .

"After witnessing it now for myself, I think there is a way we can prevent this from happening again," Landon said while walking towards Dante. Dante turned towards him to listen.

"But I doubt it will produce an immediate effect. For now, I'll try to see what I can do about it. We can't keep having every suspect explode before our very eyes." Landon relayed before shifting his gaze towards the moon.

"Agreed. It's really aggravating. Did you notice anyone else?" Dante asked, thinking there might actually be one more around them.

This was because when compared to him, Landon had a better sense of smell and sound due to him being a wolf kin. This also aided Landon in noticing any fluctuations in their heart beats.

"No. He was the only one whose heartbeat was faster than the rest due to his agitation." Landon replied as they both aimed towards the Emperor's bed chambers.

"So how did the Emperor died?" Once inside the bed chambers, Dante asked Landon after seeing the head eunuch kneeling down on the floor and weeping before the late Emperor's corpse.

Axel stood behind the eunuch before noticing Dante and Landon's presence as he walked towards them.

"Aside from the ageing spell casted upon him, there was also traces of a drill worm within him. The worm had eaten his vital organs before settling for his heart." Landon explained.

"In other words, he was dead before we got here," Dante said as he sauntered towards a nearby chair to take a seat.

"Precisely. This could only mean that the ones who did this are most likely going to act faster now and if possible, maybe more openly now. What do you think we should do?"

Seeing Dante placing his hands on his face as he tries to understand the current predicament they found themselves in, Landon asked while hoping that Dante could come up with a solution.