The moment Ren's gaze fell on Zane and Tristan, memories of how his predecessor died flashed through his mind.
'I see. So they were the ones who killed my predecessor, huh?'
His eyes turned cold, and rage flowed through him like lava.
Elara was startled by their words and immediately looked at Ren.
'I never expected this.'
She previously thought he was just someone unrelated to them because it was normal to encounter strangers in the forest.
Never did she think that they were enemies.
And based on Ren's expression, she could tell that the grudge between them was extremely deep.
"Haha." Zane burst into waves of laughter. "Girl, are you really going to ask him for help? Let me tell you something. He is weak. So weak that I can even defeat him without using my hands. Haha."
"That's right," Tristan added. "Do you know how pathetic he was? When we fought him, he could not even land a single attack on our bodies. In the end, he just lay on the ground like an insect under my foot while we beat him up."
The anger within him grew bigger as Ren listened to the story of how they killed his predecessor.
Even though he had no relationship with his predecessor, he was using his body, so their insults made his blood boil.
"If you are hoping for him to save you, then you are only waiting for a miracle that will never come." Zane kept making fun of Ren because Ren was nothing but a weakling in his eyes.
"Haha! Good words, brother Zane! Good words!" Tristan agreed with him.
Ren took out his dagger and approached them slowly.
Blood for blood!
Since they had killed his predecessor, he would end their lives.
He would show no mercy because it was his duty as someone who took over his predecessor's body.
"I…I will help you." Despite knowing their grudge, Elara still wanted to help him because they had tried to rape her.
"No!" Ren refused. "This is my revenge. Just stay there and wait."
"But…" she disagreed with him because the consequences of underestimating their enemies could be fatal.
"My heart won't be at ease if I don't kill them myself." Ren was not lying when he said this as it was an important matter to him. "Don't worry. I can handle this."
"…alright." She could not say no when she saw his expression.
'I will just help him if he is in danger.'
She would not just watch the fight.
She would take action the moment his life was in danger.
"Haha! You want to fight us alone?" Zane could not help but laugh loudly because it was so funny in his eyes. "Hey, do you want to look cool in front of a beautiful girl? Or do you think you have become invincible after returning from the underworld?"
"Brother Zane, it seems like he has already forgotten what happened a few hours ago," Tristan said with a mocking smile. "Why don't we help him remember it?"
"Alright. Let's help him remember how pathetic he was." Zane unsheathed his sword as he was ready to face Ren.
Ren tightened his grip on his dagger and dashed toward them.
*Slash… Slash…
Blood flew into the air as Ren's dagger cut into their bodies mercilessly.
Every time he swung his weapon, his strikes landed on their bodies without fail. Even though his heart was filled with fury, Ren didn't kill them immediately.
He avoided striking their fatal areas on purpose because he wanted them to suffer first.
He wanted them to know what hell was before ending their lives because that was the consequence of their actions.
"Aaaggghhh…" Screams of agony filled the air.
Zane and Tristan found it hard to believe what was going on. Ren previously could not do anything to them, but it was different this time.
Not only could they not fight back, but they could not even defend themselves.
His attacks were fast, precise, and dangerous.
He could even change the direction of his strike midway, making it extremely hard for them to predict where the dagger would land next.
The way he fought was completely different from before, as if the young man in front of them was not the same person they had fought earlier.
As Ren was mercilessly beating Zane and Tristan, Elara watched the fight with a shocked expression.
Both Zane and Tristan said he was a weakling, but what she saw was completely different from their statement.
They were even at a disadvantage from the moment the fight started, as if Ren were not fighting two grown men, but two kids.
'Just which part of him is a weakling?'
She believed even if she joined hands with these two old men, they would still lose to him.
Unless his opponent was an awakener, it would be challenging to defeat him because he was just that strong.
His movements, his strikes, and the way he read his opponents: everything was perfect as if he was born to rule the world.
'Amazing!'
She finally knew where his confidence came from because it was normal for someone as skilled as him to dare to face two people at once.
Boom!
Both Zane and Tristan were thrown onto a small hill.
Their bodies were full of injuries, and their clothes were red from their blood.
Their previous arrogance was replaced by fear because, at that moment, Ren no longer looked like a human being in their eyes.
He looked like a devil king who was playing with his prey!
'How? How could he become so strong? Wasn't he incredibly weak before? Could returning from the underworld really make someone invincible?'
Their bodies trembled uncontrollably as Ren slowly approached them.
The closer he was to them, the bigger their fear became.
However, they didn't beg for forgiveness because their pride was too high to do that.
And they also believed Ren would not forgive them because it was written on his expression and in the way he beat them.
"Hey, stand up! Didn't you say you would beat me to death? Why are you lying on the ground now?" Ren was still not satisfied.
They laughed happily when his predecessor screamed in pain, so he would not stop until they felt pain at least ten times worse than what they had done to his predecessor.
"You! Kill us if you are a man!" Zane wanted everything to end quickly because he could not endure the pain anymore.
"Just kill us already! Otherwise, you're just a pussy! A coward!" Tristan added.
*Pierce…
Ren stabbed his dagger into Tristan's thigh.
"Aaaggghhh…" A soul-piercing howl of pain reverberated in the entire area.
Zane's body trembled even more when he saw what Ren was doing to Tristan. Since he didn't want to get tortured any longer, Zane decided to end his life.
But before he could slice his neck, Ren grabbed his hand and snatched his sword. "Not so fast, old man! I'm still not satisfied playing with you."
"You… you're not human. You're a devil in disguise! Aaaggghhh!" Zane cried out in pain when Ren stabbed his hand.
At that moment, they finally realized that the one they had provoked was not a human, but a devil.