Meanwhile, in another location—In front of the first square spread before ss-24’s base.


    With ragged breath and sweating profusely, Starkeus, their leader, somehow made it to his ss''s base.


    "*Huff* *Huff* Haa *Huff* shit..."


    Feeling the strained breathing, while constantly pondering about ss-24''s future, Starkeus''s mind waspletely drained down.


    At this moment, he had long forgotten to take revenge against ss-1. Now, his mind was only concerned with how to sail through the troubled time and fit themselves into the 2nd slot.


    "*Huff* Shit...*Huff*... it wouldn''t have *huff*e to this if only they hadn''t escaped! Now I have even lost Gou!"


    Instead, the direction of his fury now turned toward ss-45.


    From what he had concluded, ss-1 shouldn''t have gone scot free as long ss-45 would have worked together with them, but their audacity, they escaped at the first sight of ss-1, tail tucked between their legs, leading to copse of ss-24. He believed the situation wouldn''t have evene to this if ss-45 hadn''t rushed to pursue the ss-2''s members.


    At this moment, Starkeus hadpletely glossed over the shorings of his own decision, and censured ss-45 in his mind.


    "So you''re back huh. And looking at your state, they sure had you gone through hell."


    "—You bastards!!"


    Hearing the sudden voice, Starkeus turned around to find Gin, leader of ss-45, standing in front of him.


    All the negative thoughts boiling in Starkeus''s mind burst forth at the moment when he saw him.


    "You''re too slow!! Now what brings you here after pulling that cowardly move, huh?! Your ss never even listened to me, and neither you tried to make themply, instead they just went around chasing after ss-2. But when we encountered ss-1 all of a sudden, y''all run away! It was us who had to pay the heavy price!! First of all—!!?"


    Once the lid was removed, Starkeus''s anger flooded his mind, andunched a barrage ofints… before abruptly stopping. He looked again at the opponent ss and realised ss-45 wasn''t there alone.


    He saw the whole crowd of ss-99 and ss-116 standing behind him.


    "H-Hey, Gin. What''s the meaning of all this?"


    Starkeus unwittingly found himself asking the question, forgetting even his anger.


    "They''re from ss-99 and ss-116. You see, I have got them to help us out.


    Gin remarked instantly.


    As Starkeus graduallyprehended the meaning of his words, his eyes widened, and looked at Gin in a new light, a dubious smile spreading on his face.


    "Haha, hahaha, ahahahahaha!! Oh gosh, you should have informed it beforehand, but well done, Gin!! Hahaha! I didn''t think about adding ss-99 and ss-116 in the n, but anyway, with these many numbers, we can keep going still! Yeah, it''s not yet over for us. ss-1 shouldn''t be a problem now!! We''re definitely going to win against them next time!! Hehehehehe!!"


    Starkeus was ovee with joy.


    Their ss only had a bit above 10 members left, meanwhile he was seeing at least 70 of ss-45, ss-99 and ss-116 members. It was a huge troop of 80 members over all. He was no longer thinking about surviving, because he was now sure they could make a strongeback definitely.


    Winning over ss-1. It wasn''t so impossible anymore, again. Mentally, he had alreadye up with a strategy to win over this one.


    The chance was nothing short of finding a straw to cling in the tumultuous sea.


    Just as he was rejoicing over it, Gin however shattered his thought process.


    "I think you didn''t get what we''re ying here."


    "—Hahaha, hahahaha...e again?"


    Starkeus wildughter transformed into a doubt. His joy abated when he saw Gin''s, and so was of the people standing behind him, gaze carrying a sharp glint, detached from a friendly look.


    "Haha, what do you mean, Gin? Are you saying you have something else to n?"


    Despite his shorings, Starkeus had a good head on his shoulder, so it didn''t take him much to guess Gin''s intention.


    Gin spinned his words, his voice left no room for ambiguity.


    "We, ss-45, are annulling our alliance with your ss-24. I am sure you already know why, don''t you? You no longer have the strength to be of any use."


    —Annulment of alliance.


    As there were no official rules pertaining to that, the formation or destruction of alliance always happened by the opinion of respective sides. Nevertheless, they did have an unspoken rule between them; the alliance shouldn''t be broken without a valid reason.


    At the end, the point of alliance was to cooperate against another formidable enemy, but there was no meaning in keeping that coboration if one side loses its fighting power, or if a power imbnce rises between them. They''re not here for charity after all.


    Now, ss-24 was very much in that predicament. The only thing that sustained the alliance was their shared interest, yet if it breaks, there was no point in keeping them.


    Anyway, putting aside the rest of so and so details, the situation was one now where the alliance held no meaning for one side.


    If ss-24 had a problem, they could take up their arms... but theycked the force to go against them. It would simply be a one-sided trampling.


    But—Gin was announcing the annulment of their alliance in front of their base.


    Starkeus realised what Gin was attempting here, evident from the throbbing blue vein on his forehead.


    "Don''t give me that shit!! Who do you think lead you to win against ss-2!!? Also, the danger of ss-1 still looms ahead! And have you forgotten there are also other sses like ss-15 and etc?! You''re overestimating yourself too much if you believe you can win against them! You wouldn''t have even won earlier if not for my job———?!"


    An indignant Starkeus snarked back, however his words were cut short—no, he was made to cut short, physically.


    Gin had prompted his spear skill ?Beheading Spear? andunched a nted sh starting from the tip of Starkeus''s shoulder.


    Starkeus''s eyes were widened in shock. He hadn''t expected Gin would promptlyunch an attack after announcing annulment of their alliance, an act that was frowned upon in typical scenarios.


    Except, he didn’t realise it, but he was the maker of his own doom. He had dragged around ss-45, instead of treating them as equivalent.


    ss-45 had followed ss-24''s order to catch ss-2 in a pincer attack, but they''re made to hold back when it was time to reap benefits. This was no longer an alliance of cooperation, but Starkeus being an authoritarian.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ss-45 were all forced to join in the strategy of his own making.


    The alliance had long lost its meaning. If they''re not taken as someone equivalent, then they also don''t need to stick to the do-or-don''t of an alliance. This was the phrasing of Gin.


    They just had never tied the alliance, and he demonstrated by his actions.


    "You know, Starkeus. It wouldn''t havee to this if you had looked at ss-45 more."


    "Bull—shi—t—"


    "Grit your teeth, Starkeus. —?Crag Impaler?!"


    *Thud!*


    A rock with a high prative trait—a third order skill—mmed against Starkeus. Given theck of his endurance and all for having a support job, the skill instantly reaped away all his HP and deported him out of the arena.


    "Don''t take it personally, Starkeus. It’s just, the situation is no longer the same. ss-2 has been eliminated. ss-15 and ss-58 seemed to have suffered irreversible damage. In the present scenario, the contest is between ss-1, your ss-24 and us, ss-45. It just doesn''t make any sense to pit against ss-1 when we could do without that."


    Gin remarked after delivering the fatal blow to Starkeus and hoisted his spear.


    "Time to bring down ss-24!!"


    " " " "Let''s goooooo!!" " " "


    Acting promptly on Gin''s announcement, the members of tri-force flooded toward the base of ss-24.


    The mere tens of members left behind in the ss-24 base were no match against the huge crowd, and in mere moments they''repletely ughtered.


    At the end, ss-45 made the decisive attack on ss-24''s base, taking it down, cementing ss-24''s ranking as the secondst of their block.


    T/N - Heya, everyone. Hope your end of year is going great. So, well, It''s been quite a while since my schedule went haywire, messing up my chapter update frequency for good couple of months now. I know a shifty update frequency is more annoying than anything, also reducing the interest, and this week intend to be myst. It will be my effort to release chapters at a consistent timing again. I really appreciate all of your supports this far.


    And to the Goal Status (Rating on Novelupdate</a>)Current Rating - 178Milestone - 200ETA - 30TH DEC.Also, here''s the poll link  for side stories selection.


    T/N -  I forgot to put this inst chapter but little bit of status of Ongoing Challenge (Rating on Novelupdate)Current Rating - 175Milestone - 200ETA - 30TH DEC.Also, here''s the poll link </a> for side stories selection. From earlierment upvote, Smol Hannah taking the big lead huh. You can choose any four side stories, except when choosing Hannah''s. In case her story tops, the four side story will be from her story. Or maybe I will split them if there is around equal upvote for another story. Also, site was kinda broken—having adjusting lots of parts manually—so maps might have disappeared, I will update them tomorrow or today (or whenever its sunday for you).</a>