Galaxy's First Ruler

What is the best way to kill a scholar?

The scholars of ancient times could outsmart almost any conspiracy against them. None could beat them in debates and the play of words. One couldn't catch them at a place where they weren't supposed to be. And their worst time was still better than the best of many.

So it wasn't a question of 'What' but of how. How to find the best way to kill a scholar?

*

21 June 2021

New York, USA

Aldrich had left 24 hours before his Random-Allocation.

But even if the newly formed Thousand Faces Guild didn't have any rookies to train, Director Edwin had booked a Dungeon for an entire day. Whoever heard of it was quite shocked and felt disgusted by the flaunting of money. What could have been a reason for booking a Dungeon and then not even using it?

But two freshly surfaced facts, released by ADA, buried both the question and the doubts deep into the earth.

Other Guilds soon got to know that it wouldn't be the first time for the Masked Menace to go into a Dungeon and raid it solo. He had already done it in Arizona, as revealed by the authorities. The other fact was even more terrifying than its predecessor.

The Dungeon that the TFG's Director had booked had a history of remaining unbooked for the past 8 months. It wasn't because it had a sky-high price on it. No, it was because none had dared to even look in its direction from afar. The Dungeon was notoriously famous for its difficulty, as proved by the unavailability of data even on its Elite Crawler.

And the coincidence was that this Dungeon was located in the most densely populated part of New York.

Manhattan, the City.

A car stopped at the entrance of the Ivy University Campus, and two people walked out of it. One of them was famous for being the highest Wall one could face in their Dreamer career. And the other was infamous for his recent actions against the entire Dreamer Community.

These two were Aldrich and Boomie.

Boomie had already taken care of the fresh batches of Dreamers within the Blazing Royals Guild. With no more work left, Aldrich had asked him to come with him. Aldrich had his reasons for such a request, but Boomie was already on cloud nine. Even while approaching their destination, one could have seen him smiling frequently. Quite unusual of a Dreamer who was one of the closest to get Ranked up.

Boomie had a red jacket and the usual shorts under it as his Dungeon getup. The red-bush-like hair over his head matched perfectly with his attire. And Aldrich had a completely black outfit over him. Only the mask on his face gave goosebumps to whoever saw it, trying to distinguish it from his face.

Those who knew Boomie would have noticed many changes about him. Changes that had only recently popped out of nowhere in the last two days. And the most prominent of these changes was the tattoo on the backside of his right palm. It looked almost the same as the symbols in the eyes of a rookie Dreamer. And none could have differentiated it from the tattoo at the same place on Aldrich's arm.

But Boomie knew it was different. And Aldrich knew even better, being the one who had made it. Aldrich had spent the last two days researching even deeper with the symbols. The Rumok on Boomie's arm was the product of this extremely focused research. A concept still miles away from the reach of the other Dreamers.

Aldrich and Boomie took a turn, following the ADA agent on duty. The ever-present muddy yellow pillar of light was glowing with its sadistic beauty. But both of them, for a second, couldn't take their eyes off the masterpiece in front of their eyes. The complex structure was an epitome of beauty and might.

"The hero of Greek mythology," Boomie mumbled, looking at the 30 ft tall sculpture in awe.

"Before the days of Heracles, he was the greatest hero and slayer of the monsters," Aldrich added, as they kept taking step after step towards it.

One could only feel the immensity of the statue by standing close to it. With a total height of 60 ft, including the pedestal, it was one of the largest sculptors in New York. Aldrich and Boomie could vividly see a human figure tying a rope around the neck of a winged creature.

It was the statue that represented the true state of a man taming Nature. It was the statue of the being that had ridden the Pegasus and marched towards the Gods. And it was the statue of a defeated soul.

The son of Poseidon, Bellerophon.

"Among all the Dungeons, why this?" Boomie asked, with his eyes still planted on the massive being.

Aldrich kept looking at the man with a strange conviction in his eyes. There were many reasons for which he had selected to bang his head with this Boss. But one among them had outweighed everything else that had happened so far after his awakening.

"You will know eventually," Aldrich said, turning around to look at Boomie.

Both stared into each other's eyes and a smile surfaced on their faces. After almost an entire year, the friends of the past had again come together for a joint activity. And this would be more fun than a normal hike. Aldrich smiled, thinking of the answers he would be getting. And Boomie, well, he smiled for the future to come.

[…

Party request has been accepted

Party Members: Aldrich, Boomie

Party Leader: Aldrich

…]

"Shall we?" Aldrich commented, taking a step towards the statue.

A bluish-green portal opened up and both the party members entered through it. And the muddy and dreadful-looking pillar of light around the statue gradually changed to green.

*

600 million km away from the earth, in deep space, a disturbance happened just as the pair of friends entered the Dungeon.

This was part of the region famously known as the Asteroid Belt. It housed countless asteroids also called Minor Planets. And one of these minor planets was "31 Aroma", with a diameter reaching up to 200 km. It was orbiting in the solitude of space when a portal opened up on it with a brief flash of light. A black cube with red spots came flying out of the portal and just as it touched the Asteroid it melted into it.

The entire asteroid shuddered with quaking vibrations from its core to its surface. The portal had already vanished, leaving no sign of its presence. With an unimaginable ferocity, the asteroid made a turn in a vast arc and got sped up towards a predetermined direction.

Target - Earth.

*

There were many ways that one could find to kill a scholar. But the most efficient way had its roots within nature.

No matter how knowledgeable a scholar was, all were helpless, facing the wrath of nature. A scholar, unlike others, would welcome death willingly, seeing a hopeless situation. All one had to do was to drown the scholar in a flood, to burn the scholar in a forest fire, or do as the old Emperor Swordless had written.

Just blast away the entire planet.