My name is Lucian, an S-Rank adventurer, the highest Rank in this country and, of course, the highest Rank in the world. It's a Rank that all people envy and also try to have.
The country I am in now is Souhf, one of the four countries on Montreal's continent.
The Adventurer job is highly valued in this country and around the world. Of course, it is also very well rewarded. The money you earn as a Rank-S Adventurer enables you to have everything you want.
Women, huge houses, everything an average person dreams of having. And I have it all.
But it wouldn't last forever.
"Listen, we started the mission now; let's go fast." My companion Cristian called me from behind. We were already ready to start our new mission, which would probably be as easy as any other.
Well, our current mission? Searching for a lost person in the demonic realm, or just what's left of her. That person is undoubtedly already dead, but they hired us for that, so we accepted without problems.
And as I said, we are going to the demonic realm because there are demons in this world. Demons, Elves, Dwarves, Beastmen, and Humans, in total, there are five different races.
It's a very diverse world.
"Let's go, you idiot." A punch in my back by one of my companions woke me up.
Even though I am an S-RANK adventurer, I still can't do everything alone. The level of power in this world is very high, so even though I am an adventurer of this Rank, I still need companions.
There is another S-Rank adventurer in my group, his name is Amadeus, and everyone else in my group is a Rank A adventurer.
Our group is famous and influential, the group that never loses a battle.
"Sorry, I'm thinking about a lot of things right now. Let's get going."
And now, our mission in the demonic realm begins. It will be fun to fight some demons. Even though I am strong enough to kill a group of demons, I can still feel the adrenaline of the battle, so I love it.
####
"We arrived at Desmon."
The atmosphere was tense at this moment, with many strange sounds on all sides. I am used to the sounds of demons and people shouting.
It was a disturbing environment for ordinary people.
"Where was this person last seen? Can anyone tell me? I didn't try to know much about the mission." I asked the rest of the group expecting an answer, but they all looked at me indifferently.
'Damn, are they just ignoring my question?'
Since none of them answered me, I started walking through while looking for some clue about the girl we were looking for.
She is about 17 years old, so she is probably short.
'Shit, I'm not good at that kind of work.' I was never good at working as a detective... Well, they could help me, couldn't they?
"Hey, you guys, you're not going to ... Ah."
As soon as I turned around, I saw Amadeus holding some syringe on my front. With a quick movement, he stuck the needle into my arm.
The needle was so big that I could feel it piercing me to the deepest part of my body.
A light blue liquid was injected into me.
"What the fuck are you are doing, you-" As I was close to drawing my sword, Amadeus jumped away from me, and then my vision started to get completely blurry; everything around was also spinning.
The only thing I could hear afterward was Amadeus' voice shouting, "Attack with everything you can, don't leave a piece of his body left."
I removed my sword by instinct and started attacking with everything I could at that moment. Still, my vision was impaired, and I couldn't do anything with those multiple attacks coming toward me.
But what the fuck are they doing? Several years of friendship ended like that in an instant. Why would they do that?
'Shit, I'm going to die.' I could feel the hot blood running from my head down my face and my bones breaking with the impact of their attacks.
As much as I tried to defend myself, those cuts appeared through my body.
I could no longer stand upright.
The only thing I could do was drop my sword and fall to the ground. Right after that, I felt the blade of Amadeus piercing my chest.
I felt my chest burning as his sword entered me. It was an intense, almost unbearable pain.
What a stupid way to die.
####
"Aaahh, shit." Suddenly I woke up screaming with all the strength I had in my throat. Wait, didn't I die?
I started touching all over my body. The broken bones, the blood, the cuts, everything was gone instantly.
'Was that all a dream?' Of course! Would have no reason for them to kill me."
"What the fuck is this place?" But there was something strange. Everywhere I looked, I could only see 'white' and couldn't hear anything else.
Everything was gone instantly: The red appearance of the demonic realm, the harrowing voices.
I got up and started walking around that white place while shouting for someone. But no one came for a while.
Until that woman appeared in front of me.