Chapter 88: A Beautiful Tragedy (1/2)

”It is time to end this!”

Grabbing Gavin's face with his wide fist, Joshua threw him high in the air and jumped at him.

Mid-air, the youth performed multiple combos of an unresponsive Gavin, before holding his arm and throwing him back to the floor.

*Boom!*

The impact between Gavin and the stage floor created a crater due to Joshua's throwing strength.

By the time the dust settled, Joshua was seen stepping on the chest of Gavin.

Glaring straight at Gavin, he spat out, ”You know, I should have picked a deathmatch. I know you would have accepted it, but I kept believing that you would surprise. You know, just like old days!.”

His words weren't audible to the audience despite most of them super-hearing. Only some that could read lips, like Jake, could decipher the words from his mouth.

”This is annoying. This is extremely annoying. Where is the strength? After your family's betrayal, this is what they have to show!” uttered Joshua with veins pulsing from his neck.

This was personal for him.

It all started a decade ago when the two noble families were still allies and very close.

The Elliot House and the Vargas House had been together for many generations, dating back to the start of the kingdom.

They always did things together and their younger generation was always best friends. This was how tight their relationship was.

However, as stated previously, ten years ago, the two noble houses began a campaign in the Dark Forest. Their goal was to create a trade route that would link most Aztec cities together.

One might wonder how this was possible, but it was only made possible due to the structure of the Dark Forest.

The forest was shaped like a spider, with each of its legs branching out to other kingdoms. The main body of the ”spider”, which was the heart of the forest, was not in any kingdom, but in its own territory.

So, whenever one mentions the Dark Forest, it was either they were referring to the branches or the heart of the forest.

Jake, himself, had never been to the heart, but only the branch which brushed the border of Pinesun City.

It was said that the heart of the forest divided the entire continent, and very few people could cross it, due to the powerful demon beasts that resided in it.

....

The two noble houses decided to bet their entire fortune on the creation of the trade route. They ventured into the branch of the Dark Forest to clear a path to the other side of Aztec.

Everything went all right until they encountered a Graded Demonbeast. It was a [Grade-3] beast, a creature equivalent to the legendary [Realm-3].

Despite the joint force of the two noble houses, they lost to the beast and felt their very first defeat, losing a lot of men until the Royal Duke came to save them, as he was chasing the beast prior to their encounter.

Days later, due to their failure, the two houses nearly went bankrupt, their income was less than their expenditure.