Chapter 207: I’m Sorry

The moment Liz saw Red appear, she found it difficult to describe the emotions swirling in her heart.

Was it resentment?

Or was it joy?

She wasn’t sure… but for some reason, looking at Red’s familiar yet strangely distant face made her heart ache with unbearable torment.

It felt as though an invisible hand was squeezing her heart so tightly that even a single beat was a struggle.

‘If only there were a hint of smugness in his eyes right now, or even a sliver of mockery…’

‘At least that would prove he still cared. It would prove that, in some way… a shadow of their past still existed between them.’

But… there was none.

His gaze held nothing but indifference.

Liz bit her lip, wanting to snap at him with the stubborn words she used to use, but as she opened her mouth, not a single sound came out.

She could vaguely feel it.

Red standing in front of her now was nothing more than an act of kindness toward a stranger.

There was nothing else behind it.

Red, however, had no interest in Liz’s internal monologue.

All of his attention was fixed on the Magic Armor before him.

Looking at the scarred and battered state of the Magic Armor, Red did not deny Liz’s strength.

This genius Knight from the Capital was indeed powerful.

Despite facing a Lord that was almost entirely immune to physical damage, she had managed to solo it down to two-thirds of its HP.

A Knight capable of such a feat was truly one in a million.

But what did that have to do with him?

Red shrugged, mana gathering in his palm.

“Sentry Hive.”

At this stage, the Magic Armor’s health had already bottomed out.

Under Red’s relentless attacks and harassment, it was already at the end of its rope, swaying precariously.

It was only held up by the fierce, base instincts of a Monster.

Facing a small, flying Mechanical Construct like the Sentry while trapped in its massive, heavily damaged body was no different from trying to sleep at night while being swarmed by a cloud of mosquitoes.

It was utterly helpless.

Even when it tried to go for a desperate, final strike, Red refused to give it the chance.

He repeatedly opened the distance and dodged every incoming blow.

At the same time, mechanical Sentry bees appeared one after another, entering the cracks in the Magic Armor’s plating to reach its interior.

One explosion followed another.

After 5 minutes of this “torture,” the massive body that once stood as imposing as a mountain let out a final, low, resentful roar.

It collapsed with a thunderous crash, slamming into the ground and kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

The core crystal structure inside flickered a few times before finally going dark for good.

Everything fell into silence.

Since Red was no longer an Adventurer, he couldn’t absorb the experience points even though he had killed the Lord.

The XP simply transformed into specks of starlight and dissipated into the darkness.

Once the Magic Armor was dead, Liz seemed to regain a bit of her strength.

Her body trembled as she took a step forward.

She bit her lip until finally, she forced out two words.

“Thank you…”

“Don’t mention it,” Red said calmly.

“But you don’t look like you’re in a very good state.”

Liz’s expression stiffened.

She couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eye, seemingly unwilling to show her pathetic state to Red.

“I’m fine… just a bit exhausted.”

“Then go back and get some rest.”

Red recalled his Mechanical Constructs and turned toward Liz.

“Failure is the main theme of the Dungeon. Rest up, and you’ll surely get through it next time.”

Red’s words of concern lacked the sincerity of the past.

They were merely the polite pleasantries exchanged between strangers.

Liz found a stone and sat down, and Red did the same.

However, the distance between them was a full 5 meters.

Red wasn’t staying there to spend time with Liz, though.

He was waiting for someone.

On his way here, he had discovered a camp and found Monica staying there.

The dazed girl looked as though she had just been through a battle, and he had learned an important piece of information from her.

A blonde man had driven the Lord out of the Room.

She had wanted to chase him, but the man was incredibly fast and had triggered a Monster Tide, forcing her to retreat to Liz’s camp first.

But when she returned, the camp was empty.

Upon receiving this information, Red immediately guessed that Liz’s team had likely run into the Magic Armor Lord.

While heading further in, his group had spotted Jessica’s duo surrounded by a Monster Tide.

Red had instantly decided to split the team.

The stronger Mason and the Cerberus, which had the ability to control Monsters, went to save Jessica while Red came to find Liz.

This wasn’t a decision Red made on a whim.

First, the Magic Armor was a Lord with extremely high physical resistance.

Even a powerhouse like Mason would have had to expend significant time and effort to take it down.

And while he controlled Mechanical Constructs, who was to say a Great Magician of Creation wasn’t a Magus?

In this magical place known as the Dungeon, the mechanical self-destruction of a Creation counted as magic damage.

Although Red still couldn’t understand the logic behind that principle, this arrangement was the most efficient.

His side was finished.

Since Mason had a Lord-rank Monster like the Cerberus with him, he would surely be faster.

He was likely already on his way.

“Red…”

After a long silence, Liz finally spoke.

Her initiative to start a conversation surprised Red a little.

In his memory, Liz had almost never initiated a conversation, especially when it was just the two of them.

“What is it?”

Red spoke somewhat nonchalantly.

Because of the distance between them, Liz couldn’t see the expression on Red’s face.

“I…”

She seemed to have made an incredibly difficult resolution.

After taking a deep breath, she finally finished the sentence.

“I’m sorry.”

Facing her apology, Red only let out a silent, hollow laugh.

“You haven’t done anything to be sorry for, Liz.”

To Red, the past was already the past.

He didn’t care about what had happened between them anymore.

Compared to that, whether his current and future days were happy was far more important.

“I’m talking about before…”

Liz seemed to think Red didn’t understand what she meant.

Just as she was about to emphasize that she was talking about the past, the sound of footsteps from behind interrupted her.

Turning around, she saw Bethany supporting Jessica.

Both were covered in wounds.

Standing beside them were Mason and Monica.

Monica still wore her usual dazed expression.

But looking at Liz’s miserable state, Mason’s eyes were filled with nothing but disappointment.