Reincarnated as a step-dad in a fantasy world - Chapter 389

Chapter 389: Rhino

‘I couldn’t rescue them,’ Alex thought grimly as he observed the corpses of the three nobles.

The three corpses were laid on the ground, and it seemed like their deaths hadn’t happened recently — the blood around them had already dried, leaving dark stains on the floor.

It didn’t mean that they were dead because he had taken his time. All in all, from the moment he stepped onto the second floor up to now, barely ten minutes had passed. If he hadn’t wasted time on the goblin, it would have been even less, since his whole interaction with Talia hadn’t lasted more than a couple of minutes.

Besides, judging by their pale skin and the lack of any visible struggle, the murdered nobles seemed to have died of blood loss. It was apparent at first glance that they had been drained of their blood, and it seemed that it had happened a while ago — perhaps even before the Night attack began.

If that was the case, then it begged one question: who had done it?

If the nobles had indeed been killed before the Night attack began, then it could have been anyone. There was still the chance that the one behind the attack was Night, but Alex failed to see why they would do such a thing.

Night was an organization that abducted nobles to make their families pay a ransom for their release. Of course, Alex knew that they also experimented on humans and engaged in human trafficking.

‘Now that I think about it, how come the Empire doesn’t seem to know about the fact that they’re involved in human trafficking? The released nobles have been in contact with the other abductees and must have seen or at least heard about the experiments,’ Alex wondered.

‘Forget it, it’s not the time to think about this,’ he muttered to himself as he walked closer to the three corpses.

The closer he got, the more a strange smell reached his nose — one that hadn’t been there before. It wasn’t foul, but unsettlingly unnatural. If he had to describe it, he would call it ghost-like. It was an odd way to describe a scent, yet somehow, it felt like the most accurate.

Alex couldn’t pinpoint the source or the essence of the smell, and that was precisely what made it so strange. It was as if the moment he stopped focusing on it — the very instant he breathed normally — the scent would fade completely, slipping away like mist between his fingers.

“Hey, can you smell this… weird scent?” he asked Talia, wanting to make sure it wasn’t just his imagination.

Talia tilted her head, sniffing the air with a puzzled frown before shaking her head. “What smell?” she asked. She tried once more, inhaling deeply, but ultimately shook her head again. “I don’t sense anything in particular besides the smell of blood.”

“Never mind, forget it,” Alex said, crouching beside the three corpses to investigate further.

However, he never had the chance to do so, because at that very moment, the entire auction house — and probably several nearby buildings — violently shook.

ROOOOAAAARRRRRR

A thunderous roar — the kind of sound Alex had never heard before — suddenly erupted from right below him, sending a cold shiver racing down his spine. It wasn’t just loud; it was primal, the kind of sound that made the very air tremble and your instincts scream run.

In truth, it was more of a yell than a roar, but the sheer intensity and the raw, unrestrained fury behind it made it more fitting to call it a roar than anything else.

Dropping all thoughts about investigating the murder of the three nobles, Alex rushed toward the massive glass window that gave a clear view of the auction hall below, Talia following close behind.

When he reached the glass, it didn’t take even a fraction of a second for him to locate the source of the roar. How could it? The hulking figure of the creature — or man, depending on one’s definition — stood out like a blazing torch in the dark.

Alex couldn’t even be sure of what he was seeing.

Before him, and for everyone else present in the hall, stood a creature so imposing that it seemed to swallow the entire space around it.

The being stood upright on two legs, its body humanoid but grotesquely exaggerated. Its skin was a dark gray, almost black, with a rough, stone-like texture that looked as though even blades would break upon it. The monster’s colossal frame stood easily three meters tall, muscles bulging everywhere as if each one had been sculpted by an overly enthusiastic god of war. Its arms were so thick they looked capable of hugging a tree — and crushing it in the process.

On its forehead, Alex spotted a long, curved, and razor-sharp horn that looked like a short sword. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much time to admire it, since it was currently skewering someone’s body like a kebab.

The unlucky fellow, a fresh member of the doughnut club, dangled limply. From his armor, Alex could immediately tell that he was one of the Drazen family’s level-five guards — or rather, had been.

The hulking monster — which looked disturbingly like a humanoid rhinoceros — gave a sharp shake of its head, freeing its horn from the corpse, which crashed violently into a nearby wall.

“Now that’s better,” the creature rumbled, its voice loud enough for Alex to hear clearly even from above. It sounded as if several voices were layered on top of one another, forming a deep, guttural resonance that felt like gravel grinding inside one’s skull. Each word seemed to carry both weight and malice, vibrating through the air like thunder.

It opened its mouth to continue but abruptly stopped, its monstrous head tilting upward, eyes locking onto one of the booths above.

Alex felt a chill travel down his spine, danger alarms blaring in his mind and his instincts screaming at him to get the hell out of there.

Without thinking, he shoved Talia — who was standing right beside him — and the unconscious nobles toward the farthest corner he could see.

A split second later, it hit. It felt as though a train had slammed into him at full speed.

BOOM!

A deafening explosion rocked the entire auction house, the floor trembling as half of the booth was blown to pieces, while the other half clung precariously to what little structure remained before collapsing in a shower of debris.

As for Alex?

He was no longer anywhere near the building — he was soaring through the night sky, so high above the auction house that he could see the entire city sprawled beneath him.

“Damn it!”

A curse escaped his lips as he tried to steady himself midair, wind roaring past his ears.

Thanks to the link he now shared with Marnak, he had managed to summon it at the last second, using it to shield himself before impact. But even with that, the sheer force and momentum of the blow had left his arms numb and throbbing with pain.

‘That thing tore through the reinforced glass that took my full-powered punch to crack — like it was made of paper,’ Alex thought, recalling the instant before he was launched out of the auction house. His expression darkened.

He clearly remembered that horn — sharp, deadly, and absurdly fast — piercing through the thick glass as if it didn’t exist at all.

“What are you thinking about?”

Despite the harsh winds blowing in his ears, Alex still heard the deep voice of his attacker clearly as if it was right next to him.

He concentrated his senses around him and that’s when he understood. It wasn’t as if his opponent was next to him, it was next to him, just above his head!

Alex barely had time to twist his body before the impact came again — even harder than before.

His body was sent hurtling downward like a meteor, tearing through the air before smashing into the stone-paved streets below. The impact shattered the road in an instant, sending a blinding cloud of dust, snow, and debris exploding outward, the ground trembling under the force of his crash.