Chapter 1653: 987: Fireproof Woman

"So, uh, is the boss still coming home for dinner?"In the luxury villa jointly bought by the Strategy Group, Maru, who was sitting at the table, couldn’t help asking.

"..."

Hearing that, Drew and Tal also didn’t know what to say. They could only stare blankly at the dining table in front of them.

The round table was piled high with food that had already gone cold; in fact, it was giving off a rather off-putting smell, because all this stuff had been sitting there for over two days.

Seeing that her teammates weren’t saying anything, Maru instantly grabbed at her hair in frustration and snapped:

"The boss isn’t actually gone because of Fire Transmission, right? Like, literally burned away!?"

"We don’t know either..."

Tal and Drew exchanged a glance, and in both their eyes, three words were written crystal clear:

Out of options.

Today was the third day of Leon living wild outside without coming home.

In three days even Jesus is supposed to resurrect on the Cross, but Leon still hadn’t come back.

Over these past few days Maru and the others had been waiting, and also constantly searching for any trace of Leon, but it was completely useless—they just couldn’t find him at all!

He’d vanished without a shadow, like he’d gone into some Painting World and dropped off the map. Given the nature of the Dungeon, their odds of going back in and actually finding someone were basically the same as zero.

Leon was probably really missing this time.

Going missing inside Sain Dungeon was the kind of thing that, for an adventurer, was basically everyday life. Who hasn’t been screwed over by some underworld trap and ended up stuck in Sain for several days? By common sense, they really shouldn’t have been this worried.

But the timing of Leon’s disappearance was just too special, making people inevitably let their imaginations run wild.

Every time they thought of that, Maru and the others’ expressions got even uglier.

Three days ago, when they saw Leon being taken away alone by Flament, they’d been really panicked. But once the panic passed, it turned into a bit of schadenfreude. They planned to ask Leon how strong Gwyn was after he speed-ran his own resurrection and came back.

They figured they’d get something like, "Super strong, I’ll never forget him for the rest of my life," or words to that effect.

But unexpectedly, several hours passed and Leon still hadn’t come back. Just when Maru and the others were getting a bit impatient from waiting, they suddenly heard the news that their captain had successfully completed Fire Transmission.

To be honest, when they first heard that news they were ultra-ultra-ultra shocked.

You’re telling us Leon went and soloed that famously notorious Sunlight King Gwyn all by himself!?

How did we not know our captain was that strong!

Their shock lasted for a very, very long time. However, when the memorial stone engraved with Leon’s name rose up in the Fire Transmission Ceremony, their mood all shifted into pure pride. Drew even immediately went out to prepare good wine and good dishes, planning to welcome Leon home in style when he returned.

But when they got back to Bed City, they found huge crowds of adventurers waiting at the Sain Dungeon Teleportation Gate, all just to catch a glimpse of Leon’s face.

It was said that on that day, every Underground City Teleportation Gate for Sain Dungeon had so many adventurers gathered out front that it was enough to count as a safety hazard.

The members of the Strategy Group had barely stepped out before they were greeted with a hero’s welcome on both sides of the path. According to the records, the scene was so chaotic that people who didn’t know what was going on thought Sain Dungeon had gone berserk again.

We’re talking Fire Transmission here; every adventurer knew how great a deed that was. And Fire Transmission meant you had to defeat Gwyn, so...

So everyone had gathered, wanting to see this Divine Man Leon, who’d risen above the rest of the adventurer world!

Maru and the others couldn’t even clearly remember what all happened that day anymore. They only remembered constantly dealing with the noisy crowd and feeling completely dazed by the time they got home.

That day, people jammed the Teleportation Gate and waited for Leon for a very, very long time. Even now, there were still people harboring all sorts of motives waiting there.

The news that "an adventurer named Leon carried out Fire Transmission" spread across the land overnight, and unsurprisingly, it stirred up a "huge sensation."

Adventurers who swore they would become the second Firekeeper were popping up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain; scholars researching how Sain Dungeon changed after Fire Transmission appeared one after another; merchants trying to ride the hype were going crazy launching new products; the King of the Yanor Kingdom set off a massive Fireworks display with Leon’s image; the newborn Holy Light Church was even considering putting up a statue of Leon...

For people following this matter, every day brought a bombardment of massive amounts of information. Now, three days later, more and more things related to Fire Transmission were happening, to the point subtle signs of losing control were already appearing.

But no matter who they were, they were all waiting for Leon’s return. Across the entire continent, from top to bottom, everyone was eagerly looking forward to his comeback like an empire yearning for the return of its primarch.

Mainly, everyone really wanted to know what it felt like to perform Fire Transmission; they wanted to know if Leon had any video; wanted to know how strong Gwyn actually was; wanted to know so, so many things...

But as time went by, some less-than-pleasant rumors started popping up.

"Isn’t Fire Transmission basically setting yourself on fire? I remember that’s what the Ember Kings all did."

"So that Leon guy might’ve already burned to ash, right?"

"Very likely. Look, Sain even put up a memorial stone for him, didn’t they?"

For Maru and the others, those words were really messing with their heads.

At first they didn’t take those rumors seriously at all, but as Leon’s disappearance dragged on longer and longer, their hearts inevitably started to feel more and more uneasy.