Fear

"Yes, Mrs Bear. It's me. I just got out of the hospital."

"Oh~ I almost couldn't recognize you! By the way, go and call the police! We must report these people!"

Mrs Bear secretly thought Dante seemed to have matured a little.

"Do you think we're going to let you go?!" The other immediately took action, surrounding Dante.

Indifferent to their actions, Dante smiled faintly. Did his appearance change so much that even the landlady couldn't recognize him immediately? He thought.

At that moment, "Bastard! Release my arm or you'll regret it!" The man with a knife threatened him fiercely.

However, hearing his words only made Dante smirk.

"Oh? Unfortunately, I'm a person who becomes stubborn when threatened. Hehe."

Dante chuckled. Then he put more strength in his grip. A sound like bone breaking was heard by everyone around.

"Gyaahh!"

The man cried in pain and the knife fell from his hand.

"You psycho! We're going to kill you as well!" One of his companions shouted angrily.

They launched a simultaneous attack, but Dante easily countered them with light punches, knocking them away. 

With a bleeding nose, one of them looked at Dante in disbelief, and the landlady looked dumbfounded as well at how easily Dante took down the trio.

"I didn't know you're good at fighting, are you secretly a martial artist?"

Pfft.

Dante almost burst out laughing at the landlady's words. However, her words weren't entirely wrong. After his torturous training inside the Dream World, his combat skills and awareness rose to an unimaginable degree.

From the landlady's question, Dante slightly shook his head.

"No, they are just weaker than me, Mrs Bear," he said calmly without a trace of worry.

"Uh, I see."

Turns out Mrs Bear had no choice but to agree with him.

Noticing they had no chance against him, the trio stood up in haste. They did not expect someone good at fighting to be living in this old apartment.

However, even if he was good at fighting, what would a mere person do against their organization? 

They retreat while shouting, "Bastard! You'll pay for this! We'll come back to get our revenge."

A glint suddenly appeared in Dante's eyes. He opened his mouth and said, "And who told you to leave?" He said in a voice that could even freeze fire.

What?!!

The three were shocked when their bodies suddenly stopped moving. Suddenly, they felt a strange coldness and fear crawling through their bodies.

Mrs Bear wondered why the trio stopped moving all of a sudden. Aren't they supposed to escape?

[Fear Induction]

This is one of the peculiar abilities that Dante learned within the Dream World.

If the person is hit by it, his body will be temporarily paralyzed.

This ability can be learned by anyone through the countless battles they gone through.

Others called it [Killing Intent].

People with low experience in fighting to the death, often have a low fighting spirit compared to people with enough experience.

[Fear Induction] is the type of attack that targets not the physical form nor the mental aspect of the opponent but their spirit.

With a cold voice and deadly gaze, you can convey your deadly intent to your target. And this is the reason that their body stiffens with fear.

Looking at the three who were frozen in fear, Dante sent a jab at the back of their heads, causing them to faint immediately.

"What happened to them? Why did they suddenly stop moving?"

"I don't know. Maybe they were confused about whether to escape or fight me."

"I see, but you're incredible. You defeated them all alone. Are you sure you're not a martial artist? Or maybe you're a martial expert?"

"Pfft. Really, I'm nothing like that, Mrs Bear. But I do have some tricks to defeat such street-thug levels of opponents."

"Is that so? Anyway, sorry about that, Dante. Instead of resting because you just got out of the hospital, I got you involved in this mess."

"Don't mind it. I can't just watch while they try to stab you. In any case, shall we call the police?"

"Right. Let me handle the rest. You go and rest for now. Let's talk about it later."

"Alright."

Mrs Bear immediately called the police station. After giving her account of what happened, the authorities immediately picked up the three unconscious people.

When Dante entered his room, the room looked the same as when he left. However, his nose immediately twitched at the strong smell of dust in the air. He couldn't rest until he cleaned it.

He took a rag and immediately cleaned the entire room. From the floor, the wall, and even the ceiling. He also did not forget to wipe his other things such as the table, chair, cabinet, and even the cover of his bed, he replaced them with a new one.

After a while, he breathed a sigh of relief. He smiled satisfactorily as the smell of dust disappeared.

But, something seems to be missing. He immediately thought that he would feel better if he used an air freshener.

When he looked inside his cabinet, he saw that the air freshener that he bought before was empty.

"I'll go shopping later. It's perfect because I also need to buy groceries."

He decided that he would buy them together.

Usually, he goes out to buy groceries at 5 or 6 in the evening. But, because he fell asleep after cleaning, he woke up at 7 PM.

He immediately washed his body and changed his clothes after. Before he could leave the house, he heard a knock on the door.

Dante felt a familiar presence outside the door.

He immediately opened it and let her in. As she said, Mrs Bear came to talk about the three men who caused trouble earlier.

Sitting in front of the table, Mrs. Bear immediately recounted what happened in the past in relation to the incident this morning.

According to her, a week ago, those three approached her and said they would buy the land and the apartment. Mrs Bear immediately rejected them and told them that she was not selling the apartment and especially the land.

The three left quietly after she rejected them.

However, the next day, they came back and said the same thing they said the day before. Again she rejected them.

After that, the three continued coming back every day, and they even tried to offer a higher price. Mrs Bear immediately refused because she really had no intention of selling the land and apartment. These are the only remaining mementos from his late husband.

Every day, the three returned again and again. And every time she rejected them, they became more and more hostile. And sometimes they even tried to threaten her.

The trio asked her which was more important to her, whether the land and apartment or her life. Until it happened that she almost got stabbed earlier.

"I see. So that's what happened. Good thing that they are finally in prison."

"Yeah, and it's all thanks to you. By the way, Dante. Are you planning to go out?"

Maybe noticing his get up, Mrs Bear suddenly asked him that.

"Yes, I ran out of groceries, so I was planning to resupply."

"I see. Uhm, be careful when you go out. This place is not as safe as before. There is a lot of news of people disappearing in the middle of the night and I heard there is an atrocious gang causing a lot of trouble in this area."

"A gang?" Dante looked surprised.

"Yes. I heard they called it the 'Aguztoz Gang'. This gang is known for its nefarious activities."

"Aguztoz Gang? Okay, noted."

Dante frowned.