Level Up Family

"From the darkness, I awake..." A resonant and grim voice said.

Following the sound, the scene had a dark and ominous air as unknowingly to everyone within the pouring rain; a shadow had appeared directly before the seemingly helpless boy that stood within the coarse pathway. A ruthless looking being roughly one head taller than himself, it had pale gray skin and wore a dark combat robe with a knife in one arm.

The moment this creature appeared; it swung the knife in a spiral forming a black line around Grevlin's body. As this happened, the knife clashed with the various weapons of the bandits sending sparks across the rainy but dark surroundings followed by a sharp humming noise. The bandits that rushed towards Grevlin were then repelled by a few meters with some crashing into the muddy earth.

"Eeeek! This, what the hell is that thing?"

"Such terrible energy, how can any man possess such cruel energy?"

"This boy... how could we not see it? If the father is a demon, then his son will be the child of a devil!"

In a state of horror, the bandits cried out as they stood in silence, not daring to move a step further, most of them even wet themselves, but the heavily pouring rain drowned this out.

'What kind of energy is this? A summon, and such a high grade one, who are these people?' Denver thought with fearful eyes as he noticed the dark entity that protected Grevlin. He bit his lips, thinking that they had made a terrible mistake this time; he wanted to run away.

However, his face turned cold as he saw that Marius was no longer in his previous position, a startling amount of danger rose within him, but before he could even react, it was already too late.

With a sound similar to meat being pierced, a gruesome noise echoed before Denver looked down at his chest in horror, there he saw a large, muscular arm that tore through his chest from behind, treating his decent grade under armor as if it was nothing more than paper.

What was even more disturbing was the beating heart that was vaguely visible from the surrounding lights cast by the carriage from a distance. It pulsated as if it was striving to give life to an already fated corpse.

"No... no... I—" Denver tried to say something, but sadly, his voice only grew lower with each passing breath until he slumped forward on the large arm that soon crushed the heart.

With another gruesome sound of meat shifting apart, the arm pulled back and easily slipped out of the chest of Denver, ending his legend forever in this gloomy wilderness.

The other bandits that had surrounded Marius looked at this in shock. They were each unable to say a word as some of them even fell onto their buttocks while trembling.

Vawn had his mouth wide open in shock as he couldn't believe his eyes, if it were any normal man, they would even faint in terror, but one could quickly tell from his manner that he was also a man with a depth of experiences.

Marius paid no heed to the fallen Denver, nor the other bandits, his eyes stayed fixed onto Grevlin as he raised his blood-soaked arm to the side as the rain washed away its filth.

"I always hated that technique; the Heart Snatcher is too dirty; I dare not hold my wife with this hand for the rest of the night."

Marius casually muttered as if speaking to himself, causing others' faces to turn even more stern, looking at him as if they saw a devil.

At this time, the darkness entity made a bow towards Grevlin before speaking in a polite tone.

"I serve the master."

When the bandits who were repelled by Grevlin heard this, the looks on their faces grew even more solemn. Nevertheless, Grevlin being only ten years old, still had a tinge of hesitancy. He gave a slightly naive look towards the four men on the ground before he glanced at his father with teary eyes.

Vawn looked at this with a knowing look. He thought to himself, 'So that's how it is... a child is but a child, even if monstrous.'

A few bandits noticed this made a strange look as their eyes flashed, but no one made any odd movements.

Marius sighed as he saw this, he thought to himself, 'Maybe I expected too much, though his strength along with the powers of that summon of his has risen, he is still but a child in the end. He may need time to adjust to this kind of mentality, and killing beasts isn't as similar as killing humans.'

After wrapping up his thoughts, Marius's tone changed a bit as he spoke, "Grevlin, this is an issue that you will have to learn to accept overtime. If you don't overcome this phase, it will only serve to become your greatest weakness. For now, I shall take your first kills, but the next time, it will be up to you to face it on your own."

Grevlin bit his lips as he lowered his head and replied, "O-Okay, father."

Vawn's eyes flashed as he heard this, he nodded his head agreeing with this kind of parenting, he lowered his head and looked at his own son, with odd thoughts unknown to anyone but himself.

As if the Darkness Soldier could hear Grevlin's will, it made a polite bow and faded into the darkness merging once more with his shadows.

Jae, who was previously hiding away, didn't miss out on the previous scenes. He stared at Grevlin with a starry look as he thought to himself, 'H-H-He's so strong, I... I must be like him!"

Having made up his mind, Jae balled up his small arms into a fist as a determined look appeared on his face, his eyes emanating competitiveness. Vawn, who was looking at him, nodded his head as he made a slight smile while thinking, 'Good, that's my son, you are a Willborn, even if inferior at the beginning, you must always strive to outdo the other, your talents will take you to the summits of all things.'

Unlike Vawn and his son, the bandits heaved a sigh of relief as they saw the current change; a few of them cast each other looks before one of them who was closest to Grevlin sneered with a rich amount of killing intent in his eyes.

"Stinking brat, since you dare to look down us, accept your death!"

The bandit yelled as he used all of his power to dash towards Grevlin.

Jae, who had been watching Grevlin like an idol, had a look of panic as he shouted, "Look out!"

"Darn, these bastards are taking advantage of his childishness!"

Vawn said in alarm as though he knew that this might happen; he didn't think they would have such guts, especially after seeing Marius's brutality.

Speaking of Marius, Vawn hurriedly cast a look towards his position; he expected to see him with a look of panic. Yet, he was once again disappointed as Marius merely looked on with indifference.

'This guy... does he not care about his son?' Vawn thought with a frown on his face, but he no longer pondered it, because the exchange between Grevlin and the bandit had already begun.

Because the distance was close, Grevlin, who was in a low mood, failed to react adequately.

"No!" Grevlin yelled as he struck back with one of his fists by instinct, with a loud bone-breaking sound, Grevlin's fist smashed onto the bandit's arm, causing it to twist as he cried out in pain, but despite this, the blade that was about to slash Grevlin's neck, only veered off course as it cut a deep wound on his chest.

"Ahhh! Father, it hurts!" Grevlin cried out as he fell back and held his chest; the blood spewing down gave him an awful feeling.

Jae and Vawn looked at this with pale looks, but Marius seemed unphased. The bandits who saw that one of the comrade's attacks were successful had a joyous expression. They ignored their comrade who had fallen on the ground with blank eyes as they charged towards Grevlin. They knew that their only hope for survival rested on his shoulders.

Vawn was about to curse in anger as he wondered what the hell kind of father would do nothing after seeing such a scene, but soon, he noticed that he was gravely mistaken.

Marius, who was previously standing by Denver's corpse, had suddenly appeared by Grevlin's side; he stared down at him with an icy expression as he spoke.

"Son, this will be your first lesson, let that mark remain with you to teach you of your mistake. Now listen closely, when dealing with enemies—"

As Marius spoke to here, he slowly turned around and faced the bandits that halted in fear; his body then began to erupt with a startling amount of murderous intent as someone had touched his reverse scale.

Grevlin held himself together and bit his lips, staring at his father's back in silence; he didn't want to appear weak, not after what just happened.

"Never limit yourself."

Following those words, a bright light flashed as an explosion formed before everyone, but as it faded, the bodies that belonged to the lively bandits had vanished from this world.