Hero or Villain, Both

"I already told you, this is the territory of the Iron Fist Gang. If you stay here any longer, it'll be considered trespassing on our territory." Iron Head said in a stern voice as he looked at the group in front of him.

Though he was trying to pressure them, it didn't seem like they felt any pressure at all with the way that they acted.

In fact, it even seemed like they were looking down on Iron Head with the way that they waved their hand at him and said that they understood.

But in the end, there was nothing that Iron Head could actually do to these people.

That was because it wasn't just them that were loitering around this town.

There were many different groups from many different powers that were gathering around here since the mana explosion happened.

The prestige of the Iron Fist Gang had been enough to keep them out for now, but it was clear that they wouldn't be waiting for long.

Everyone only had greed on their minds since the mana explosion and there was nothing else that they could do about this situation.

Perhaps they would have been able to chase away these people if it was just one or two groups, but it was different when there were these many groups. The powers that were behind them were more than enough to even pressure the Iron Fist Gang.

As such, he had no choice but to leave them be even though they were gathering like vultures.

"Damn, just where did all of this come from? Why did it have to happen while I was in charge of this place?" Iron Head couldn't help complaining to himself.

But as if he had jinxed it, there was a sound that came from the distance. It didn't come from where the people that were waiting outside the town were, it came from the inside of the town.

Not to mention that this wasn't a soft sound.

"Crack, crunch, snap."

"Is that the sound of something collapsing?"

As if in answer to his words, there were buildings in the center of the town that suddenly collapsed.

The sounds that rang out before were nothing more than preludes to the disaster that followed. There were many different buildings that suddenly collapsed.

However, when one looked at it closely they would see that there was something strange about the way that these buildings collapsed.

It was that it seemed like they were sinking into the ground as if there was something that was swallowing them.

"Sh*t."

That was the first reaction that Iron Head had.

His second reaction was to shout to his men, "Go and see if we can recover anything!"

After all, the buildings that had collapsed were the ones that held the treasures that they had collected. He would be in deep trouble if he were to lose those things.

But then as if he was cursing them once more with his words, there was something else that appeared.

"Ha, ha, ha, it's impossible to hide these things from us! The truth will eventually come out and we will get what we're owed!"

That was what the people who had camped outside the town shouted.

This was all because they felt the large burst of mana that came from the center of the town. Or it was better to say that they felt the large burst of mana coming from the sand vortex that had formed in the town.

This was a sign that whatever the Iron Fist Gang had been hiding was under the town the entire time. It was just that they could no longer hold it back, which caused this burst of mana.

Or that would have been the case if there was something that the Iron Fist Gang was hiding.

"God damn it!" Iron Head cursed once more when he saw this.

But he didn't have time to waste since the others that had surrounded the town were on the move.

If there really was a treasure that was hidden in this place…

Through gritted teeth, Iron Head said, "Ignore the treasures that were in the buildings, go and see what that sand vortex is about."

As soon as they received this order, his men immediately ran forward. This wasn't loyalty, this was simply greed.

They had already been curious about the things that were in the sand vortex, but now they no longer needed to hold back. Now they could go under Iron Head's orders and get their share of the treasures.

Though whether they would turn it over to the Iron Fist Gang in the end or not…well, that was the question, wasn't it?

But it wasn't just the Iron Fist Gang that headed over, all of the other groups ran toward the sand vortex as well without care that they were trespassing in the territory of the Iron Fist Gang.

At this point, it had turned into a free for all on who can get to the treasure first.

What no one noticed was that there was a group of two that was watching all of this happen.

The two of them didn't make a move when they saw everyone charging into the sand vortex. Rather with the way that they stood there, it was as if they had already expected all of this to happen.

In fact, they were the ones that had caused this sand vortex to appear.

"How long do you think we have?"

"It'll only be around an hour before the orb is exposed. Once that happens, they will understand that this is a trick and will start bringing in backup. You won't be able to escape that easily once that time comes."

"Alright, that's not a problem."

With that, the two of them split up.

The one that ran into the town was Conan.

The one that was watching over everything was Faust.

This was Faust's plan to mess with the Iron Fist Gang and so far it had been going well.