?Time seemed toe to a standstill as the boulder smashed down onto the ground. Ludwig was squashed beneath the boulder, unable to escape the terrific trap he hadn''t detected.


    Liam stared at the warm blood that gushed out from below the boulder. His eyes moved to Ludwig''s hand and the ck Steel Halbert which was the only remnant of Ludwig''s body and possessions that was left intact.


    "He was too arrogant, yep," Liam mumbled, shaking his head. It was actually an advantage for him that Ludwig died like this but it was certainly not good that the powerful Native had met his death before they fought the Boss Monster of the underground tower.


    Jennie was too weak and scared to fight and Felicia had gotten injured in the process. That made things a little bit more difficult. It was not impossible to defeat the Boss Monster because Liam had initially nned to fight it by himself, but he would be forced to work a little harder without Felicia and Ludwig by his side.


    Liam walked over to the basalt boulder and looked for a trigger to release the boulder. He had to make sure that Ludwig was most certainly dead. If he was not dead, Liam would end his life.


    With his ice-cold eyes, he looked through his surrounding area where he found the trigger not too muchter. The basalt boulder was lifted back to its initial position and he saw bits of flesh and parts of Ludwig''s mashed body glued to the boulder''s bottom.


    "Yep, he is dead."


    Liam looked at the mashed remains of Ludwig''s body, nodding his head. He hadn''t often seen a body that had been mashed to such an extent but it was not as if he had never seen the disgusting remains of a body.


    He picked up the ck Steel Halbert, grasped Ludwig''s hand, and flung it over his shoulders. While circting bits of Arcane Power through the ck Steel Halbert, he nodded his head.


    ''You will be useful against the Boss Monster,'' Liam thought while attaching the halbert to one of the attachment slots at the back of hisbat suit. It was possible to attach various weapons at a wide variety of small hinges fastened on thebat suit without the need to be in possession of a scabbard or other means to keep a weapon safely.


    Liam''s attention moved over to the other natives. While Olivia paled at the sight of Ludwig''s body, or what was left of it, she was mostly focused on tending to Felicia, who had only heard what happened. Felicia was not on the verge of death but she couldn''t move much without worsening her injuries. She was only told what had transpired but hadn''t seen the body.


    However, that was already more than enough for her expression to distort into one of anger, frustration, and a trace of sadness, "I wanted to beat the shit out of him for causing my injuries…"


    Everyone heard her grumbling, but nobody said anything.


    Jennie had vomited on the ground next to Rex, who stared nkly at the remains of Ludwig''s body alongwith Kian. While they might not have actually liked Ludwig, that was not a problem right now. A member of their group had just died, squashed beneath a basalt boulder that smashed down onto him. Ludwig was a frail smartass, but he had improved the fastest since they had entered the underground tower. Everyone was certain that Ludwig would keep advancing at the same speed and that he would soon be an actual powerhouse.


    However, fate had something else in store for him. He died, just like that, unable to do anything against the force and weight of the basalt boulder.


    Life was unpredictable. A single mistake could take it away from anybody in an instant.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Staying alive in the Arcane Apocalypse and everything that would happen afterward meant that one would walk on a tightrope high in the mountains, every day, bncing on the edge of fate.


    One misstep, and one would fall down into the abyss, leaving behind an iplete life and unfulfilled wishes.


    Liam learned early on that it was important to be mindful of every step he took, after all, life was fragile, and time was fleeting.


    There was no room to make a single mistake and make every second count.


    And the arrogance Ludwig had felt surging through his entire being was what killed him in the end. His overconfidence had been his doom, not the boulder.


    Liam had to change his ns now that Ludwig was dead. But before anything else, he began to collect the corpses of the Lesser Demons. The Lesser Demons killed by Ludwig would end up in his pockets, which was a pretty wee advantage.


    It was enough to motivate Liam to collect and sell the corpses in his Small Shop. His actions, starting from collecting the ck Steel Halbert to collecting the corpses of the Lesser Demons as if nothing serious had happened, were quietly observed by Rex and Kian.


    While Rex swallowed his saliva, unable to say something even after more than half an hour had passed, Kain''s cheeks turned red. He was furious and felt uncontroble anger just from watching Liam nonchntly collecting the corpses that were littered across the entire underground arena.


    "How can you feel nothing?!" Kian shouted out loudly. His voice boomed through the entire underground arena, his anger clearly evident for everyone to hear and see. The others looked over to Kian, who was fuming in anger.


    "How can you be so emotionless and inhuman? Don''t you feel anything about Ludwig''s death?" Kian continued to shout.


    Liam straightened his back and he looked over in Kian''s direction.


    "Do I have to feel something about his death?" Liam asked in response, his voice sounding especially cold and emotionless at this point. He felt that Kian was a hypocrite for demanding from him to feel sad about Ludwig''s death. It was quite obvious that nobody in the group actually liked Ludwig, which only worsened his mood as his arrogance grew alongside his strength.


    Was it actually necessary for Liam to feel sad about the death of someone he would have to kill sooner orter, either way?


    Liam didn''t think so, and he made his point clear!


    …