Chimaera's Conquest: The Legend Of The Devourer-Chapter 252: A Ranker Worth Fighting (1)

The next day, the news was inundated with bizarre accounts of Adrian’s dungeon run. With Felicia still unconscious and unable to provide a comprehensive account of the events, the public quickly blamed Adrian for the mess.

Even social media was flooded with negative comments about Adrian and how he might have been behind Lucas’ death and Felicia’s concern.

Obviously, John tried his best to control the rumours by publicising the report Adrian had submitted about the incident. However, it only backfired on them.

Logically speaking, if someone like Lucas was reduced to a state where even his corpse wasn’t recoverable, then it didn’t make sense how no one from Adrian’s team had died or even suffered injuries like Felicia.

Some people even pointed out the tension between Adrian and Lucas during the ceremony. As if that was enough proof to accuse Adrian of not liking the guy and killing him just because of their brief interaction.

The news channels eventually stopped fanning these crazy theories, but not out of goodwill. They did so because George sent them all strongly worded letters, demanding them to stop televising falsehood or be prepared to face the consequences.

No one wanted to mess with a lawyer like George, so they gave up. However, this only worsened things for them, as people thought it was a way to suppress their voices.

Adrian knew about it all the while, but he didn’t say a thing. After all, he knew someone else was pulling the strings from behind the scenes—someone who happened to be blindingly wealthy and have a cult-like following.

It was someone who could even thwart John’s attempt to buy the media that once was in his pocket. Adrian didn’t have to think for even a second to know who the mastermind was behind trying to ruin his reputation.

’Even though I challenged her, she still chose the path of a coward,’ Adrian sighed. ’Well, it could be Hera’s idea, so blaming Maria is useless.’

Adrian wasn’t worried about the smearing campaign against him. After all, if there were people ready to destroy his image, there were also those who were there to defend him.

People want to know if Adrian wanted to kill Lucas, then wouldn’t it be better to end Felicia with him? After all, why would a murderer bring back a witness who could potentially testify against him and ruin his life?

None of Maria’s cult members had an answer for that simple question. Either way, everything would clear up once Felicia woke up from her slumber. However, it would have been different if something had happened to her before that.

Based on what Adrian knew about Maria, he realised there was a possibility that she or someone from her guild might try to kill Felicia and frame him for the crime.

He had already informed John, who had promptly tightened security around the hospital where Felicia was recuperating.

However, to be extra cautious, Adrian had dispatched Seraphina and Amelia to keep a close watch and report to him if anything unusual occurred. Even George joined in and got the police involved just to go the extra step.

Everything was under control, yet Adrian couldn’t help but shrug off the feeling of uneasiness. It almost felt like he already knew Maria was about to pull something off and was waiting to receive the news of Felicia’s passing.

’I need to get my mind off this mess.’

Adrian sighed and retrieved the whetstone that Shinon gave him as a gift for officially becoming a hunter. With nothing better to do, he held Hydra’s Fang in his hand, methodically sharpening its blade against a whetstone.

The rhythmic scrape of metal on stone provided a soothing backdrop to his troubled thoughts. Suddenly, a small, warm weight landed on his lap, jolting him out of his thoughts.

He looked down to see Fenris in her baby wolf form, her big, innocent eyes looking up at him. She yawned widely, revealing tiny sharp teeth, before curling up into a ball, ready for a nap.

"You’re a goofball, you know that?" Adrian smiled, setting the dagger aside and gently petted her, his fingers sinking into her soft fur.

Fenris responded with a soft whine, nuzzling closer to him. Happy with the attention, she let out a contented sigh and made herself comfortable before sleeping without a worry.

Sophia entered the room with their dinner, only to see the two enjoying their little moment. A tender smile spread across her face as she quietly walked over and wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind, hugging him gently.

"Hey," Sophia whispered after kissing his cheek, then sat beside him, her head resting on his shoulder. "Wanna talk about whatever’s going on in your head?"

"There ain’t much," Adrian replied, lying through his teeth.

"Of course, that’s why you’re here, sharpening the blade," Sophia rolled her eyes.

Over the years, she had learned a lot about Adrian’s habits and knew most of the time when he was lying. And this was one of those times. However, just when Adrian was about to speak, George came rushing inside, ruining their moment.

"OI! I need your help!" he exclaimed so loudly that it made Fenris jump and turn to her original form, ready to pounce on the intruder.

"What is it?" Adrian sighed.

Knowing George, the things he’d need help with could range from ordering some food to solving a murder mystery.

"This! Can’t you see this hovering screen thing next to me?" George yelled back, waving at the empty air. "Apparently, no one else can see this, and whenever I ask someone about it, they think I’ve gone crazy!?"

Adrian and Sophia looked at each other and then back at George. The screen thing he was talking about was his status screen, which obviously only he could see.

However, they were even more surprised because no one on Earth had reported about it. Adrian suspected that only those with sponsorships from the entities could obtain those features.

"Also, there’s this weird thing written on it," George continued.

"What does it say?" Sophia asked, wanting to tease the newly awakened hunter.

"Something about an entity wanting to know more about Adrian-"

[The higher entity, Sin of Sloth, shakes her head at her secret being revealed.]