Despite having prepared himself, Hornasek was still furious when he heard Link's words. His eyes seemed to blaze with fire.
But in the next instant, an overwhelming pressure descended. Link seemed to transform into an Ancient Beast. His smile vanished, his expression turned stern, and Hornasek felt like a pitiful mouse cornered by a powerful, cunning old cat, with nowhere to retreat and no way to escape.
"Damn it, what do you want?" Hornasek's defiance crumbled, and he lowered his head again.
He was old now, no longer the brave City-State hero he had once been. He had loved ones, fears, and desires. He did not want to die and leave his twenty-one-year-old lover to please other men.
And the terrifying pressure Link had unleashed filled him with despair.
It far surpassed the limits of Legendary Rank. He had never imagined that this quiet young man, who had always stayed in the Grand Elder's shadow, was such a formidable powerhouse.
Hornasek himself had been a Legendary Rank powerhouse in his youth. But a severe injury had greatly diminished his strength. Otherwise, even weakened by age, he would not have been captured so easily.
"Where is it? The thing left over from the Previous Era." The question shot from Link's mouth as he fixed his burning gaze on the old man before him.
Hornasek's heart jolted. He stared at Link in disbelief. When he had first seen Link appear, he had assumed there was another reason for his abduction.
In fact, Hornasek had thought the Grand Elder had discovered that he had secretly sent people to contact the Undead Empire in the south and had dispatched Link to abduct him.
Never in his dreams had he expected Link to bring up that "thing" right away!
"W-what are you talking about?" Hornasek's