Chapter 1109: Walking Into The Tiger's Mouth

A space door opened near Proxima and Varian stepped out in a neighborhood with no spaceships. This time, those bastards in the research institute didn't mess up and corrected the errors.

"Eleven celestials are just left there on Hortus. Aren't you worried if they'll act against your intentions, Master?" Oob flapped its little wings and sat on his head.

"Nope. They wouldn't have that intention. I checked their souls. But even if they rebelled due to circumstances, Sia can put them all down." Varian said with confidence.

"Not everyone is a monster, no, even monsters aren't like you, Master." Oob beat his forehead softly with its wings and complained.

"I don't know about that, but." Varian's gaze shifted in the direction of a glowing dot in the far distance.

Proxima Spaceport.

Varian retrieved a communicator and sent a message to a certain person with his coordinates.

Then, he planned for his next move.

He got the Water of Life from Hex, though he couldn't understand why a Drug Lord would have that item.

The remaining two were Space Gem in the Havoc tribe and Crown of Elements in the Duke's treasury. Both were tough nuts to track but he had to start somewhere.

Then what next? Infiltrate the tribe and steal it from their treasury? It worked on Ubiq because Hex was just a rank 2.

But Havoc?

Sure, they're running a drug business and remain as one of the big dogs of the Duchy in the dark. But how could they maintain their drug trade without hard power backing them?

The Duchy had tens of thousands of celestials, though most of them were rank 1s, and a few hundred rank 2s, there were still a couple of dozen rank 3s.

And officially, two rank 4s. Unofficially, maybe two more?

In this situation, it's just weird that Havocs could still maintain their independence. They should've been devoured long ago and enslaved to work for the Duchy.

It didn't happen. That meant there was someone strong enough for the powerhouses of the Duchy to consider.

From the rumors and information he gathered from the drug dealers, the Patriarch was only a rank 3.

But if the highest power of Havoc was just a rank 3, there were more than three families in Ubiq alone to devour them.

That's why, to deal with the Havoc tribe, he—

BOOM!

The space nearby shook as a man in a golden coat and black pants with a red overcoat arrived. Baldur, the Director of Starsafe, Proxima Branch.

"You." Baldur looked at the familiar face and chuckled in disbelief. "To appear in front of me again, should I call you brave or reckless?"

As he spoke, his aura exploded like a nova and enveloped Varian. A heavy pressure fell on his chest as if an entire planet was just dropped on him out of nowhere.

It was a pressure that would've previously caused Varian to struggle. But now, he just grinned. "There's a thin line in between which is called calculated risk. I walk that line. No, I actually live on it."

Baldur's eyes carefully noticed his reaction to the pressure and he slowly retrieved his killing intent. This man didn't even flinch at the pressure. So, he's sure of surviving. Why?

What's his background? Did he learn about his real identity and come to threaten him? Then that's a mistake. Because no matter how big a mysterious man from Duchy may be, he's far above.

Still, Baldur wanted to know what he was getting into when things went sour. "Speak."

"I have a good deal for you," Varian said with a sincere expression.

"I don't want any deal with you. Just piss off from my sight and don't come near Proxima ever again." Baldur said with a dismissive wave of a hand.

Varian ignored the rejection and continued. "I need to loot the Havoc's treasury and you will help me in handling their powerhouses when the time comes."

"So, you also did drugs." Baldur seemed to genuinely believe that guess.

"In return," Varian snapped his fingers. "I will give you this guy to fully subdue your two deputies."

An unconscious, bloodied and heavily injured thin man appeared between them. His skin was saggy and his scent reeked of drugs.

Baldur took a moment to recognize him. "Drug Lord of Ubiq, Hex, right?"

"And the brother to your twin Deputies Helga and Hagen. They must be in a frenzy since a few days with the news of his death, yes?" Varian said with a sly smile.

Baldur nodded reluctantly, his eyes still on the unconscious Hex.

A mysterious powerhouse killed Hex. The murder in itself wasn't a big deal. But he did so under the nose of Ubiq powerhouses. As if that wasn't enough, he was able to make every single drug celestial dealer in Ubiq vanish in the next three days despite heavy patrol by the rank 3s.

Even a rank 4 like him wouldn't be able to pull it off so smoothly. Baldur was sure as hell that the guy who can't even defeat his Deputies was anywhere close to rank 4. So, there must be someone else behind him.

'That someone is his confidence for facing me.' Baldur scanned the surrounding space for clues but found nothing.

"The triplets are still closely bonded. Threaten them with Hex's life and they'll obey you unconditionally." Varian revealed his findings from the 'question and answer session with Hex'. A very informative session indeed.

"Do you think I'd need their support?" Baldur scoffed.

"Yes. There are things you have to do here but can't do it openly." Varian's gaze pierced him like a hot dagger. "It might be illegal or harmful to the Duchy, I don't care. But you need ultra-loyalists for that. That's why you're playing 'Director' now."

The space suddenly lit up with a furious red light, drowning Varian in it.

When the light faded, Baldur was grabbing Varian by his neck tightly and growled like a wild beast. "What do you know about me?"

Death seemed just a snap away.