《Reincarnated Hero System》


 Chapter 1 Prologue - It Was Supposed To Be Just A Game

    Gozon


    Year 1062 of the 51st General Calendar.


    **BOOM BOOOMMM!! BOOOOMMMM!!!!


    Multiple explosions with ear-splitting sounds rang out consecutively as a giant mushroom cloud rose up into the sky.


    Looking around, one could see the end result of these explosions.


    Scorched earth, devoid of life all around. Dried upkes and rivers, and broken mountains.


    **SWISH!!!  **CLANGGG!!!!


    In the middle of this deste wastnd below the moonlit sky, two des tore through the air and shed together as their wielders swung them with great ferocity.


    Tendrils of lightning snaked across the ck de as the speed at with which it was swung by its wielder increased exponentially.


    The opposing white de released dark miasma as the wielder upped his game, not wanting to lose out to his opponent.


    **BOOOMMMM!!


    The two des shed again once more, resulting in an explosion that shook the earth, sending out shockwaves that spread for miles on end.


    Taking distance from each other, the two sword wielders locked eyes with each other as they analysed their opponent''s current state.


    On one side was a tall and slender man. He had greyish skin, ck and red hair with blood red eyes that fit perfectly on his well-proportioned face.


    He wore a pinstriped suit with a matching long overcoat loosely hanging on his shoulders as it swayed in the wind.


    In his hands, was a pure white double-edged de emitting ck miasma, that sucked out whatever semnce of life was left in the earth he stabbed the de into.


    His opponent was a fair skinned young man. He had attractive facial features with vindictive gray eyes and a well sculpted nose above his thin lips.


    He possessed dark hair with silver highlights that matched with the dark coloured ceremonial uniform he had on. It had a silver sash that ran from his left shoulder to the right side of his waist, and a ck coat with a red interior atop it.


    In his hands was a jet-ck one-handed sword that had red lines running through it like veins. Tendrils of golden lightning asionally crackled around the sword, scorching the earth it was stabbed into.


    The two men gazed at each other in silence until the grey skinned man finally spoke up.


    "You...are one amusing child.


    Do you really care not for the millions of lives that have been lost and would be lost when you fall here?"


    "I don''t give even a single fuck.


    I never cared for their survival, as far as Ipleted my task and their numbers didn''t drop too low, then there was no problem."


    The reply of the gray eyed young man caused an expression of surprise to appear on the face of his opponent.


    "Ha! I should have expected this, you really aren''t like the other ''Heroes'' I''ve met over the years."


    As soon as the grey skinned man spoke back, he let out a heartyugh before suddenly pulling his sword from the ground and kicking off the ground, instantly closing the distance between the two.


    **SWISH!!!


    His sword sh was quick and precise, his de''s target being the neck of the young man opposing him. It seemed like his attack would connect, however-<sub> </sub>


    *CLANG!!


    A jet-ck de suddenly appeared at thest moment and blocked his sword form going forward. The grey skinned man only grinned as if he didn''t expect to take his foe out so easily, pulling back his sword and going in for another attack.


    The two resumed their battle, swinging their swords with the intent to inflict fatal strikes on the other, yet they knew that it would not be so easy for them to do so.


    ***BOOOMMM!!!!


    Gut-wrenching explosions rang out, kicking up clouds of dust and dirt as the two shed repeatedly, their weapons moving at barely perceptible speeds.


    "Pdin."


    The young man called out as his ck de was enveloped in a thin white aura, an aura that went on to spread to the rest of his body as he dashed towards his opponent with his sword raised high.


    "Warlock."


    His opponent responded in kind as the white sword in his hands was coated in a dark red light. He blitzed towards the young man, leaving behind dark red trails of light as he swung his sword to block his foe''s strike.


    ***SWIISHHHH!!  BAMMM!!!


    The two des shed, releasing shockwaves that ravaged the earth as they spread out in the blink of an eye.


    "You Nuisance!"


    The grey skinned man screamed with rage as he released a burst of magic power, sending the young man flying.


    Without waiting for him to reach the ground, the man tightened his grip on his sword with both hands, a haze of dark red magic power rising up from his body.


    **BOOOM!!!


    There was a small explosion of magic as a pir of dark red light surged from his sword, shooting into the sky and piercing through the clouds.


    "Hmm...Your Ultimate?


    Very well then, I shall respond in kind."


    He looked up to see he young man who was sent flying, walking towards him with a glint in his gray eyes.


    **BOOOMM!!!


    Another explosion of magic power rang out, with a pir of golden light shooting up from the ck sword in the young man''s hands.


    "You shall perish like the pest that you are.


    Come at me, Demon King!"


    "Fall, Hero!"


    In response to the young hero''s spirited shout, the grey-skinned demon king cried out a response as the both of them blitzed towards each other at barely perceptible speeds, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.


    Right before the hero swung his de, he had one single thought.


    ''It was supposed to be just a game...''

 Chapter 2 Meeting A Goddess

    10,000 Years after a ''Certain Event.'' ??


    AD 3100


    Earth V.


    Aidos Online was the leading Full Dive VRMMORPG in the world, with hundreds of millions of yers worldwide.


    Its poprity resulted in many bing addicted to the game.


    As the number addicts increased, aw was passed to regte the distribution of online games. Then, in ordance with the regtion, Aidos Online limited the daily ying time to ten hours.


    This resulted in many of the top rankers who relied on their abnormally long ytime to lose their status as rankers and new ones to rise.


    However, Evan, the number 1 ranker in the game, retained his position.


    This was testament to his skill as a ranker. Ever since he became the number 1, he had not dropped from that position even when he didn''t y for months due to his parents seizing his games.


    Even when he reset his ount multiple times, he always came back to the top quickly.


    His achievements were just that good, he had won various e-sports tournaments for the game too, gaining the moniker of "Genius Gamer".


    Even outside the game, he could still hold his own against real geniuses in some aspects.


    At the very least, if he actually decided to put any effort into his studies, he would definitely be among the top 25 in his school grade''s ss of 100.


    Besides that, he was the same as any random teenage kid you could find out there, just with a slight addiction to strawberries.


    Evan''s parents were also above-average citizens, with his mother being a criminalwyer who seemed to like her job a bit too much, and his father being a businessman who had a strange addiction to ''sword sports''.


    He often dragged Evan along to various dojos and fencing piste arenas, forcing the poor teenager to learn weapon arts with him under the guise of ''Father-son bonding''.


    He even went as far as to send him to a high school that hadpulsory Kendo lessons.


    Despite this, all the sixteen-year-old wanted to do was y games as much as his dad yed with swords.


    His favourite was currently Aidos Online.


    It was a VRMMORPG that had record-breaking sales in just a few months after its release.


    The game''s main storyline was set in a world called Aidos that was gued with a demon invasion, it was up to the protagonist and the remaining six of the seven heroes to go on to save the world.


    Each of the seven heroes had unique abilities and the yer was allowed to choose any of them.


    One of the most appealing aspects of the game was the expansive character customization. There were hundreds of different character customizations in total.


    The ability to freelybine those options allowed for an infinite variety of avatars. This further enabled your ability to foster your love for your own character.


    The level limit for the characters was level 1000, and currently, there were rumours that the developers were considering implementing a new level above that.


    Today, after nearly 6 months of ytime without resetting his ount like he always did, Evan had finallypleted all the possible side quests and all quests in the main storyline, earning the title of the first yer toplete the game worldwide.


    Right before he logged out, he received a message from the developers stating that he was wee to test out their new updates as a beta tester.


    Seeing as he had enjoyed the game over the past 6 months he did not reset his ount, he decided to ept the invitation.


    The moment he did, he lost consciousness.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Evan woke up in an entirely white room,pletely confused about how he got there.


    "Hmm? Ahh, you''re finally awake. Thankfully I didn''t have to forcefully wake you up."


    He heard an unknown voice and turned around to see a ck-haired woman wearing a white suit sitting on a chair gesturing for him to sit down. It was then he realized there was also a chair in front of him, sitting down he asked warily,


    "Who are you and where is this?


    If you abducted me, I can assure you that you definitely abducted the wrong person."


    "Is that a threat?"


    "No, it''s just me telling you I''m not worth abducting."


    The womanughed lightly at Evan''s quick reply. She then picked a ss of water from the table beside him that had appeared at some point Evan was not looking.


    "When did that get there?"<sub> </sub>


    "Just now."


    The woman replied and offered Evan a ss, continuing.


    "Drink, I guarantee it''s not poisoned.


    At the very least, I won''t go through all the stress of getting you here just to poison you."


    "Good point."


    Evan epted the ss of water and stared at it skeptically before downing it in one go. After this, he dropped the ss before asking.


    "Once again, who are you and where is this?"


    "Ah, I haven''t told you that now, have I?"


    The woman cleared her throat lightly before answering.


    "I''m what you''d consider a god."


    As she said that, Evan looked at the ss in his hands and back at the woman before asking once again.


    "Is this thing spiked to make me hear weird things, I could''ve sworn I just heard you call yourself a god."


    "No, it is not, and yes I just did. I''m also not high on some sort of drug."


    She swiftly discarded Evan''s means of escape and even addressed the thought Evan had in his mind.


    ''Huh? How did she know I was going to ask that?''


    "By reading your thoughts."


    Seeing as the woman easily replied to the thoughts Evan had in his mind, he realized the woman actually possessed the ability to read his mind.


    ''So, she might actually be a god?''


    "Not ''might''. I am an actual member of the god race. One that is far too busy to deal with your doubts right now so can I get back to exining why you''re here?"


    The woman''s voice was tinged with a bit of annoyance. At this point, Evan realized it was best to let her say what she wanted without interruption.


    "Good. Now as I was saying, I am a god, one who''s in charge of manys and star systems. I also do not want the number of worlds under my rule, to change.


    No increment or decrement.


    However, one of these worlds is currently at war with another, which exists outside my control.


    Unfortunately, the world I rule would most likely lose and eventually be destroyed. This would in turn reduce the number of worlds under my control by one, that I don''t want.


    So, I called you here to help me with defeating the invaders of this world."


    "You don''t really expect me to put my life on the line for random people I don''t know nor care about, right?"


    "Oh no, as far as the minimum required to repopte it survives, I couldn''t care less. Like I said, it''s just one of many worlds under my rule."


    As she said that, Evan looked at the woman and thought she really didn''t care about that world at all. Naturally, his thoughts were read.


    "It''s not that I do not care, it''s just that I have too many worlds to care about every single one.


    We gods are not much different than you mortals, only more powerful, with more responsibilities, and more deserving of worship.


    We have emotions, likes, and dislikes too. It''s only natural that some of the worlds in my territory receive preferential treatment."


    "Makes sense, so you said I was to help you defeat the invaders, how so?"


    "Simple, with your consent I would incarnate you into this world in a suitable body, along with various benefits to aid you in your task.


    As for a reward, we can talk about that when I''m done but I give you my word that I would fulfill your demands as far as it is within my ability."


    As she spoke, golden chains burst out from the ground andtched onto her body, before dissipating a few seconds after.


    This scene shocked Evan, as he very obviously never could have expected such a thing to happen. With a slightly shaking voice, he asked.


    "W-What was that?"

 Chapter 3 The Truth Of Aidos Online

    "W-What was that?"


    "I gave you my word that I would fulfill your demands. It was equivalent to an oath, one thews of the universe would make sure I keep otherwise I would receive repercussions."


    "Universe? That actually exists?"


    "Obviously, however, that is not the scope of our discussion."


    "Oh��yeah.


    So..um, you said thews would make sure you fulfill your oath?"


    "Yes, but please don''t be unreasonable."


    Seeing the pleading look in her eyes made Evanugh lightly, he then continued asking his questions.


    "So, this world, what''s its name? Where is it? What is its story? Why are there invaders? Why choose me?"


    "One at a time.


    First of all, information on the reason for the invaders is currently in the body you shall inhibit shortly if you consent.


    Its location is on a star system a few million light years from yours.


    As for its name, you are quite familiar with it. It is called ''Aidos''."


    Upon hearing that name, Evan was shocked, it was the name of the game he just finished ying minutes ago.


    He then remembered thest message he received before he lost consciousness and arrived at a frightening conclusion.


    "It couldn''t be-"


    Before he could even ask, he was cut off.


    "Yes, it is exactly as you think. The game ''Aidos Online'' was an idea of mine implemented by my servants in your world.


    It was a simtion of what would happen in Aidos with the aim to select the best candidate, (namely the Highest ranked yer in the game), to be tasked with helping its sorry state."


    "Wow"


    He was lost for words, his favourite game was actually created by the god seated in front of him, and it was actually a real world''s situation.


    "You said it was a simtion of ''what would happen'', which means the demons haven''t invaded yet?"


    "Affirmative.


    They would do so within the next twenty years, however, some of the lesser ranked ones would be able to cross over the rift into the world before then. The actions of some certain eyesores would also reduce that time, but that''s besides the point.


    As you are familiar with the game, you should have an idea of the strength level of the lesser-ranked ones."


    "Levels 100-200 Huh? That''s low-level yer range."


    "Unfortunately, despite being a higher dimension world, it is pretty low levelled in strength.


    The stronger ones are around levels 300 - 500. 600s-700s are no more than a hundred, and 800s are even lesser than that. As for 900''s, they can be counted on one hand.


    Naturally, none of them are over 950."


    "What the? That''s weak, there''re thousands of level 700 demons and Hundreds of level 900s in the game!"


    "That was just in the game, the real number is lesser but it still doesn''t change that the mankind of Aidos is weak, at leastpared to its invaders."


    "Sure, they a-"


    Evan was about to ask a question but stopped after he realized something.


    "Hold on a sec, there''s a leveling system in that world?"


    "Yes, the ''concept of knowledge''s devour ss system'' is active in that world."


    "Devour ss?"


    "Defeating an opponent and absorbing their power to ''level up'', that''s devouring is it not?"


    Evan pondered on it for a moment before nodding in agreement to this. He then asked again.


    "Can I see my status board now?"


    "No, you can only do that when you have inhabited the body prepared.


    However, I assure you that your statuses won''t be weak, I''d be granting you a tiny piece of my power, enough to boost you up to level 20, which would be high given the age of the body you are to possess."


    "Age? How old?"


    "Nine."


    Her answer left him stunned. That was natural, he was a 16-year-old and was asked to inhabit a 9-year-old''s body.<sub> </sub>


    "Can''t you make it older?"


    "If I waited for the body to be older, then it would get possessed by someone else, which would ruin the ns.


    Worry not, the social status of that body would be one of the best you could find. You shall not have many inconveniences if you are the type to care about such a thing."


    Evan sighed upon hearing this,


    ''This is tough, I assume the reason she went through all this stress is because she cannot interfere in that world now is it?''


    "Yes, you are half right.


    Normally I''d be able to take action against these invaders but there''s another god involved. One of simr rank and strength of mine, so I cannot take action too hastily or I would risk starting an interster war, which would cause more worlds to be destroyed.


    However, I would make sure that they are unable to interfere with your task."


    "Another god huh? Just how strong are you among the gods?"


    Although he asked that, he never expected an answer, but surprisingly she answered him.


    "I should be around the middle stages of the highest ranked gods."


    "Huh? You''re just telling me."


    "Yes, I see no reason to lie to you."


    Evan then crossed his legs and thought about the offer, to him it was a good way to get out of his normal life, and also going into the world of the game he liked sounded quite enjoyable.


    However, he had one more concern.


    "What about my parents? What is going to happen to them, would they think I am dead? I really don''t want them to be sad."


    Even though he had constantly argued with his parents regarding his game addiction, it did not mean he hated them or anything.


    If anything, he understood that they only wanted what was best for him and were ready to indulge him at any given point. That was why even though they did not like it, they let him attend the e-sports events that led to him gaining his ''genius gamer'' title.


    As such, if him going over to Aidos would make them think he was dead or something of the sort, he was going to reject without hesitation.


    "Worry not, they would not be gued with such tragedy.''''


    They would simply not remember you in the first ce. All traces of you shall be thoroughly hidden from that world."


    "Hidden? So, they could be unhidden when I''m done huh?"


    "Yes, if you are done quickly enough."


    The boy pondered on it for a few more minutes before finally making a decision.


    "I see, very well then. I ept."


    As he epted, the stoic look on her face finally broke and she smiled brightly while saying.


    "Thank you and Good-luck.


    Evan was so mesmerized by her smile that he did not notice his body had begun disappearing. Slowly, bit by bit, his bodypletely turned into white light and descended to the ground.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    After Evan had left, the goddess heaved a sigh before suddenly coughing heavily and spitting out a bit of golden blood on the floor.


    Her face showed an expression of agony in contrast to her earlier smile. While cleaning the blood off her suit she sighed once more and spoke.


    "Wasted too much time, didn''t expect its effect to still be that strong despite him not remembering it."


    She waved her hands and a status board appeared in front of her, it was Evan''s.


    She obscured a few parts of his status and added a few things in, after she was satisfied with the edits, she dismissed it and sent it down to Evan.


    She then coughed up blood, once again, a higher quantity this time around.


    "I see, so it was you huh? Why do you gods seem to like messing around with things that you shouldn''t."


    Turning around she saw a man who looked no more than 18 years of age. He had hair that looked like a mix between silver and tinum blonde hair, along with heterochromatic eyes. One red and one blue.


    His eyes gazed at the spot Evan sat in earlier and said to the goddess.


    "Hope he doesn''t get mad when he wakes up, Artemisia. Even I won''t help you then"


    He then disappeared as silently as he came.


    Looking at her body, the goddess, Artemisia discovered the blood had disappeared, alongside the internal wounds that caused her to cough it out in the first ce.


    Realizing that the man healed her, she muttered a small ''Thank you'' before looking down to the world of Aidos, to the home of a certain boy, one that possessed the power to save all of Aidos

 Chapter 4 Evan Del Eris

    Eris Main Residence, Gerfast


    Great Western Empire


    August 5th


    Year 1050


    Waking up in an unfamiliar room for the second time today, Evan sighed in exasperation. He looked around to see a luxurious room adorned with furniture that looked more expensive than the ones he usually saw on TV.


    He was seated on a chair with a desk ced in front of him, he also saw a woman, dressed in a maid outfit standing beside the door.


    ''Maids? The world of Aidos in the game was still in the Middle Ages. Seems to be the same here, huh? And this is probably my bedroom.''


    He remembered that the goddess told him that the social status of his new body would be one of the best he could find, so he guessed he was probably some sort of noble.


    ''Speaking of which, I never asked her name, huh? The goddess in the game was called Artemisia, but I''m not sure if that''s the same for the real person. And how am I supposed to use the system of this world?''


    As he thought that, a floating board appeared in front of him, startling him slightly.


    |Reincarnated Hero System Updates Installing...|


    |Instation Complete. |


    |Wee to Aidos, Evan Del Eris. |


    ''Evan Del Eris? Is that this body''s name?''


    He asked, however, he received no reply from the system. Instead, it just kept on disying more information.


    |Information about the Seven Heroes and Iing Demon Invasion can be essed with the Archive. |


    |Memories of the host''s current body can be essed with the Archive. |


    |Disying Status...|


    |Name- Evan Del Eris


    Race - ###e# ###s###e#


    Gender - Male


    Age - 9


    Level- 20


    Existence Level - Bronze


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved by Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman


    Health �C E


    Energy �C E


    Strength �C E


    Agility �C E


    Durability �CE


    Intelligence- E


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers- All Attributes Tier 0


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry, Adaptive Evolution. |


    Looking at his status, he was surprised, a Level 20 with E-rank stats all across was not something that would have been possible in the game.


    He''d have to be at least level 30 for that. Most level 20''s still had a stat or two in the F rank.


    ''I see, she said I''d get a boost huh?''


    It was then he finally realized an important fact he had overlooked earlier, his race was censored.


    ''That''s clearly not human! The visible letters are e, s, and e.


    Last time I checked, the word ''human'' didn''t have those letters in them.''


    The reality he was not human anymore was a little bit too much to ept even for someone as open-minded as Evan.


    All his inner excitement at entering into the world of the game he had enjoyed ying for over six months vanished from his body the moment he saw that.


    He ended up spending a few minutes trying to wrap his head around that fact to no avail.


    He looked at the maid standing behind the door and thought inwardly.


    ''Appraisal''


    A simr status board appeared in front of him. However, unlike his, it was a partial status, this was because he did not activate the ''full'' appraisal.


    |Name- Rei (Rosa)


    Race- Human


    Level- 100<sub> </sub>


    Titles- Bodyguard of Duke Del Eris


    ss �C Combat Maid


    Health �C D+


    Energy - D-


    Strength �C D+


    Agility �C C-


    Durability �C D+


    Intelligence- D-


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers - All Attributes Tier 0.


    Skills- Presence Concealment, Dagger (Extreme)


    Unique Skills- None. |


    ''Wtf? She''s a bodyguard, and she''s human too! Then am I the only one who''s not human?''


    He sighed once again and rested his back on the chair, deciding topletely ignore the matter of his race.


    ''I don''t think I can do anything about it even if I wanted to. Let''s just consider it one of the goddess'' perks.''


    He wondered how his body looked so he stood up and walked over to the mirror ced beside the bed.


    His appearance was that of an average heighted nine-year-old boy with short ck hair and dark gray eyes. He was wearing a grey noble coat with golden outlines, grey pants, and a ck pair of gloves with golden braces at his elbows.


    ''The default noble''s kid huh?''


    He sighed once again, loudly at that. At this point, the maid at the door could no longer ignore his continuous sighing,


    "Young master, is there a problem?"


    "Huh? No nothing really, Rosa was it? Can you get me a ss of water, juice, or anything cold and drinkable?


    Preferably strawberry voured, I need to cool my head."


    As he spoke, the maid showed a surprised expression, he thought it might be due to him being overly polite so he spoke up more arrogantly, like how he felt a noble''s son would.


    "Well? What are you waiting for, go get it already!"


    She then recovered herself and left the room immediately, not after giving him a few weird looks.


    ''Didn''t I sound arrogant enough?''


    He thought to himself as he walked up to one of the room''s windows and gazed at the mid-day sun. Aplicated glint shed in his eyes as he silently stood there for close to a minute.


    ''I''m actually in Aidos, huh?


    There were quite a few things in the game that I fantasized about getting and a few ces I wanted to go to.


    Since I''m here, I might as well fulfill my fantasies.''


    Turning around and walking towards the chair he stood up from, he continued his thoughts.


    ''Before all of that, I guess I need to get a grip on this ''Reincarnated Hero'' thingy and the identity of the body I''m in.


    As for where my real body is, let''s just the goddess would help me keep it safe.''


    He sat back down and decided to ess the memories of the body he was possessing. After navigating to the archive, he chose to download the memories of the original owner of this body into his mind.


    The original owner of the body was an example of the typical authoritative noble, being the son of a duke, he was educated to take the position of the duke from a young age instead of his older brother who the Duke judged to be ''unsuited.


    He excelled in almost every area of study, and even in his magic and swordsmanship lessons. He was very quick to grasp whatever he had been thought after just a single exnation or demonstration, especially when it came tobat.


    Various instructors had quit teaching him due to having their pride broken by him.


    He was a typical genius.


    There were even rumours that he was a deviant; one who awakened their skills before the age of ten when skills were supposed to be normally awakened.


    ''I''m guessing his so-called ''genius'' was because of ''that'' thing''s passive effect. No doubt about it!''


    The Eris Dukedom was one of the Four Dukedoms of the Great Western Empire, located on the Alpha Continent, and was subservient to the Hayes Imperial Family that ruled the Empire.


    There were talks between the Duke and the Emperor about an engagement between the Second Princess and Evan. She like Evan, was also rumoured to be another deviant, one that possessed a skill that let her tell lies from truth.


    ''Sounds like the passive of a very familiar support character skill. I think it was the fourth one...''


    He was informed about this potential engagement earlier in the morning by the duke, after going back to his room, he pondered on the skill the princess was said to have.


    The young noble felt like he knew the name of the skill and the moment he recalled it, something happened.


    His eyes felt like they were on fire and memories that weren''t his poured into his mind, he lost consciousness in the process and his body was almost possessed by someone else.


    Fortunately, Evan''s appearance and the intervention of the goddess prevented this. Unfortunately, the soul of the original Evan was lost forever.


    That was where the memories cut off.


    Before Evan could begin thinking about it, another piece of information was extracted from the Archive, the identity of the one who almost possessed him earlier.


    ''The ''Second'' of the Previous seven heroes from a thousand years ago huh?''

 Chapter 5 Royal Family Visit

    ''The ''Second'' of the Previous seven heroes from a thousand years ago huh?''


    It seemed the seven heroes of a thousand years ago were attempting to possess the bodies of the new generation heroes.


    From the piece of information about the previous second of the seven, there was a spell casted into the mystic eyes that the heroes possessed and the moment they awakened their skill, the souls of the previous would take over their bodies.


    ''So, he just awakened his skills right before the possession huh? As for the previous seven, there is more to them than I expected.


    The game''s storyline mentioned them as the ones who repelled the original demon invasion a thousand years ago and blocked the entrance the demons used toe over.


    It didn''t say how though. Still, it seems that they knew it was going to happen again seeing as they prepared such a spell.''


    He began to think he was being too hasty in epting toe to this world.


    As he thought that, the door opened and the maid returned with a jug and a ss filled with what looked like orange juice. Upon seeing her, he recalled an important piece of the original Evan''s memory.


    ''The original Evan didn''t know her name was Rosa, he always called her Rei, that''s why she was surprised huh?''


    As a hiddenbat bodyguard of the Duke, Rosa theoretically did not exist. Naturally, she had a different identity, one with which she was introduced to Evan.


    ''She''s probably suspicious huh? But it seems she was close to this body so let''s hope she doesn''t report to the duke.


    Until I can activate my concealment skill, I really would not want anyone to know I''m actually a deviant, it''d be troublesome.


    Being the son of a duke already draws a lot of attention...''


    After taking a drink of the cold orange juice, almost finishing the jug, there was a knock on the door.


    He gave permission to enter and another maid entered the room and informed him that the royal family had arrived and requested to see him.


    ''That means the princess is here, huh?


    She''s probably not reincarnated too, so a genuine nine-year-old. Getting engaged to her feels like a crime even though I''m also supposed to be nine.


    Let''s think of a way to deal with the engagement matter.''


    Poor Evan didn''t even get a chance to be happy about the fact that he was in the world that the game he had been ying for the past six months was based on.


    Since he was in ''Evan''s'' body, he had to act the part. It was the most he could do for the now ''deceased'' nine-year-old.


    "Rei, cancel everything I have scheduled for the rest of the day and prepare a bath for me. After talking to the princess, I wish to take a bath and sleep."


    He ignored the look of shock on Rei''s face and walked out of the room, following the memories he received to go over to the reception room where the princess was waiting.


    Entering the room, he was greeted with the presence of six people.<sub> </sub>


    The Duke, Roger, Duchess Patricia, and his older brother, Arnold Del Eris. Unexpectedly, the Emperor and the Empress brought the princess over alongside themselves.


    "Evan Del Eris greets the Sun, Moon, and Second Star of the Empire."


    He gave a slight bow and greeted them just like the real ''Evan'' would, before going to sit beside his father.


    ? The Duke was a middle-aged man with dark hair and gray eyes like Evan, he always seemed to carry a stern expression on his face that made him look older than he actually was.


    The Duchess was also dark-haired, but with green eyes, and as for his older brother, he looked like a younger version of the duke, except that he inherited his mother''s green eyes.


    He had a calm expression on his face and his green eyes narrowed for a moment upon inadvertently ncing at Evan, but he turned his gaze away in the next.


    The Emperor was a well-built young man with short blond hair and blue eyes in contrast to the empress'' deep ck hair and gray eyes.


    As for the princess, she was a short girl with straight, chestnut-colored, medium-length hair. She had a baby face and looked like the kind whose facial expressions change constantly.


    This was evidenced by the fact that the stoic look on her face that she had when he entered the room, changed into one of surprise, and then confusion within the few seconds of him greeting the emperor and taking a seat.


    "Stiff as always huh? Just like you, Roger."


    The Emperor spoke to the Duke upon seeing Evan''s stiff and slightly awkward attitude. Evan on the other hand was currently in a dilemma.


    ''I wish to act like my real self but for now, I''d act like the original body''s owner so as not to arouse suspicions.''


    While he was thinking that, the duke and the emperor seemed to finish their light chat, and then turned to Evan and the princess.


    "It seems she has already taken a liking to Evan, her eyes haven''t left him since he entered."


    At the emperor''s words, the princess finally realized that she was staring and blushed slightly. The empress then suggested leaving the two alone to talk, which was epted by the duchess.


    In a matter of seconds, the duke and the emperor had gone over to the Duke''s office and the empress had followed the duchess to the garden, as for his older brother, he was escorted out by a golden-eyed maid whose gaze lingered on Evan for a bit too long.


    Only the princess and Evan were left behind in the room.


    ''She feels strangely familiar for some reason? Oh well doesn''t change what I nned to do.''


    Before the princess could speak up, Evan spoke up first, deciding to address the most important issue at the moment.


    "Princess, I want you to dissolve the engagement."


    "Huh???!!!"

 Chapter 6 Laurene Hayes

    "Princess, I want you to dissolve the engagement."


    "Huh???!!!"


    The princess'' surprised voice rang out in the room, as her expression changed once again. She stared at Evan in silence for a few moments before heaving a sigh and picking up the bell on the table.


    **RING!


    Upon ringing it once, there was a knock on the door, after which a maid entered the room. Laurene had the maid get some drinks for her and Evan, with the young hero adding an extra order of snacks.


    It didn''t take long for everything to be brought in, making Evan wonder if the cooks in the kitchen had made it on standby so they could be served on demand.


    "Hmm? These are better than I expected."


    "I know right, I thought they''d be slightly subpar as they seem to have been made on short notice but it seems I underestimated the chef''s skills."


    Evan replied to the princess as he took a sip of his juice, his hands moving over to another tray as he picked up a cookie and took a bite out of it.


    "Chocte chips? To think they had these."


    "They seem to be quite popr these days. A tea party I went tost week had quite a lot of them."


    "Really? The ingredients seem to be quite scarce, how did they get so many?"


    "That family is involved in confections business, so they have more than a few contacts. They were able to get everything they needed and at lower prices."


    "Convenient..."


    The two engaged in small talk as they savoured the snacks, with Evan gradually forgetting his original goal.


    NOT!


    "It''s quite frightening how you were able to easily distract me from the original topic but I''m not dropping the issue.


    I really think you should oppose whatever engagement that our parents are trying to create between us."


    Evan cleaned his fingers with a tissue before picking up his ss and sipping it slowly.


    On the other hand, the princess stared at him in silence for a moment before asking a simple question.


    "Why should I?


    I have no reason to go along with what you say, do I?"


    The young hero dropped his ss silently before looking up to meet the princess'' gaze. Her blue eyes were calm and clear like still waters.


    "I agree, you actually have no reason to go along with what I said."


    "Huh?"


    "What?"


    "No, I just didn''t expect you to easily agree with me."


    Evan chuckled a bit upon hearing the princess'' reply. He then called for the maid to take away the empty tes and sses before initiating a memory download from the system Archive.


    "Where was I? Oh yes. You indeed have no reason to go along with what I said. But what if I have reasons that you could ept?"


    "Hmm...that''s a different case scenario."


    Laurene replied to Evan''s question while nodding. She then tapped her hand on the table and silently activated a skill, with Evan none the wiser.


    "Well, to put it bluntly;


    An engagement with you is something that would serve as a massive obstruction to a few future ns of mine.


    These ns are ones that involve me leaving this continent for extended periods of time, something I would be unable to do if I were considered the future husband of the princess of one of this continent''s most powerful countries.


    However, if I suggest dissolving the engagement, things would be a lot moreplicated as between us, I am the one with the lower status.


    But if you, the princess does so, it would be easier.


    It also won''t damage the rtionships between our families, after all, the only reason our parents are pulling this is simply that they''re close friends, well, at least as far as I know."


    Evan scanned through the memories of the original owner of his current body beforeing up with a suggestion.


    "If asked for a reason, try saying something like, there''s someone else you''ve taken a fancy to. Knowing the Emperor, he would definitely agree."


    Hearing his suggestion, Laurene''s eyebrow twitched in annoyance.


    "It''s quite annoying that I can''t refute your words, if I told my dad that, he''d agree. After skinning this imaginary ''person I''ve taken a fancy to'' alive, that is."


    The Emperor was known to dote on the princess even more than the crown prince Richard, her elder brother. There was no way he would refuse a request from his daughter.


    As for the engagement being an obstruction to Evan, it was kinda true.


    ''In the game, some of the seven heroes were in another continent, meaning, I''d have to go over to another continent to get to them.


    An engagement with a princess in this one would be nothing but shackles binding me down.''


    The princess stared at Evan in silence for a few minutes, while he was using this time to download the information about the previous seven heroes into his head.


    He also gained basic information about his mission and what exactly the goddess wanted him to do. During that time, the princess finally sorted out her thoughts and decided to speak.


    "Sir Evan, I-"


    [Download Complete.]


    "Hold on a moment please."


    Evan interrupted her before he could continue as a blue notification prompt appeared in his field of vision.


    ''Downloadplete! Good, I''d fully review itter.


    The Archive is really convenient, giving me information on how to activate skills, sense magic power, and use magic. If not for that, it would be quite difficult toe up with a reason why someone who has been learning magic theories since he was five can''t use magic.


    It''s also quite good that besides the location of the seven heroes, almost everything else is the same as the game''


    "Sorry bout that, I had a few...issues?"


    It was only after he began speaking that he realised that he actually didn''t have a legit excuse for interrupting her words at all.


    However, the princess only smiled wryly as if she understood his situation and continued speaking.


    "First of all, while I could make a guess, your reasons were exactly what I thought they''d be."


    "Huh? Honestly, all I said were vague stuff, you know?


    I was thinking you''d ask me to say more or something..."


    "I would not. I just have onest question before I make a decision."


    "And that is?"


    The princess leaned forward, her eyes gazing straight into Evan''s eyes as she asked.


    "What''s your name?"


    "Huh? It''s Evan, don''t you already know that?"


    Evan replied to her with a look of confusion, her asking for his name was something he had not expected at all.


    Laurene on the other hand, only heaved a sigh of relief as she leaned back on the couch and spoke.


    "I''ve confirmed your words to be true, but, Sir Evan, I would not cancel the engagement."


    "Huh? Why? There''s got to be some reasonable reason, right?"


    "No there is not, I simply do not wish to cancel it."


    Laurene leaned over to the armrest of the couch and ced rested her head on it while gazing at Evan who stared at her like one would look at a crazy person.


    ''Is she okay? At least I tried to convince her but she didn''t even give me a reason for her disagreement.


    Perhaps she''s under some sort of status effect or something that makes her act like this?''


    He finally decided to appraise her partially, however, the information he saw shocked him out of his mind.<sub> </sub>


    |Name- Laurene Hayes


    Race- Human


    Level- 10


    Titles- Princess of the Great Western Empire, Fourth of the Seven Heroes, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved by Mana.


    ss - Mage


    Health �C F


    Energy �C F+


    Strength �C F


    Agility �C F


    Durability �CF


    Intelligence- E-


    Condition- Normal, Slightly Amused


    Magic Tiers- Lightning Tier 1, Fire Tier 0, Wind Tier 0.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Lie Detection, Magic Control, Lightning Magic (High), Chant Revocation, Mental Block, Language Comprehension.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Truth. |


    Seeing this, Evan was nonplussed.


    It was arguably his third greatest shock of the day, with the being tossed into another world and finding out he wasn''t human, being the first, and second respectively.


    He never expected her to be one of the seven heroes he was somehow supposed to find.


    As expected, the location and identities of the seven heroes were different than it was in the game. The young hero didn''t think he''d see one of them mere minutes after he reincarnated!


    However, when looking through her skills, he noticed something. She also possessed Full Appraisal, and his status was currently not concealed.


    ''That means!''


    "You finally used your skill, I was waiting for you to use it since the beginning."


    Laurene spoke up when she noticed Evan''s rapidly changing expressions. The young hero heaved an exasperated sigh, as he now realized the reason for her earlier look of surprise.


    She had appraised him the moment he entered the room and had discovered he was also a member of the seven heroes like her.


    "Perhaps, the reason you wanted to keep the engagement was this?"


    "Yes, seeing as you have been arbitrarily decided as the leader, it is better for me to be closer to you."


    "Are you really a nine-year-old?"


    "Yes, I am.


    Of course, this is not taking into ount the memories of the ancient Archmage that rudely entered my head a few months ago.


    Are you not the same?"


    At that question, Evan realized something. She was treating him like a nine-year-old, however, his title of reincarnated hero was one that showed he was obviously not one.


    Holding doubt in his heart, he asked.


    "What are my titles that you can see?"


    "Um... The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved by Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom."


    "What''s my race?"


    "Obviously Human. What else could it be?"


    "My level?"


    "20"


    After that, he arrived at a conclusion, she could not see hisplete titles, and neither could she see his actual race was not human.


    Relief washed over him at this discovery.


    ''It was going to be a hassle to exin why my race was a different one, good thing they can''t see it.''


    It was at this point that it urred to Evan that he had just made a massive blunder.


    ''Didn''t I say I was gonna act like the original to avoid drawing suspicion?


    Then I just went on to do something the original Evan definitely would not.


    Well yed Evan, well yed.''


    The young hero facepalmed himself as he just realized how contradictory he had been acting.


    He then remembered that the original owner of his body did not possess the titles rted to the seven heroes until he awakened his skills and recovered the memories of the previous hero.


    Then the fact that the princess had awakened her skills, means that there was a possibility of her being possessed by the previous hero.


    However, he suddenly remembered her earlier words and scrapped that idea.


    ''Of course, this is not taking into ount the memories of the ancient Archmage that rudely entered my head a few months ago.''


    ''The previous ''Fourth'' of the seven heroes, was an Arch Mage, if she only has the memories, then she''s most likely the original ''Laurene Hayes''.''


    As if the princess could somehow see his thoughts, she spoke up to clear his doubts.


    "Ah, just like you, I have not been possessed by the soul of the previous hero, I only received their memories, ones I''d rather not receive.


    My mental block skill protected me from the original mental attack that was required to disorient me before my body would be taken over.


    Since the attack failed, the previous hero was unable to possess my body, and her soul was lost.


    The memories I received stated that they only had one chance of possession, if they missed it, they were gone for good."


    Evan nodded in affirmation upon hearing her words, he also received those memories too.


    The spell the previous heroes used was one that messed with thew of reincarnation, so it had the drawback of having only one chance to possess a new body.


    A mental attack was also required to disorient the body''s original owner and destabilize their soul before possession, this was the reason the original Evan felt like his eyes were on fire and had a migraine before the memories poured in.


    In the princess'' case, she possessed the Mental Block skill that grantedplete immunity to almost all forms of mental attacks, this was the reason the possession failed.


    "Wait, how are you sure I''m not possessed by the previous ''second''?"


    Evan asked her with a narrowed gaze, however, she calmly replied, as if she had expected it.


    "When I asked your name, I used my lie detection to confirm your answer.


    The previous ''Second'' was not named ''Evan'' as we both know, so the fact that my mystic eyes told me your words were true, was all the confirmation I needed."


    As soon as she finished speaking, Evan felt cold sweat over his body. He thanked his stars that he had only answered with his first name, otherwise, it would have been a whole new issue altogether.


    ''Myst name is different from that of this body''s original owner''sst name.


    Even our first names too, his is Evansen while I''m Evankhell. However, both are shortened to just ''Evan''.


    That was my saving grace.''


    Evan''s fear was quite visible on his face, making the princess give him a questioning look. To divert her attention from the matter of names, he randomly spoke about something else.


    "So, you know all about the bullshit the previous seven pulled and the restrictions they received because of it huh?"


    "Hmm...?


    Unfortunately, yes, I do. It would seem our history books have been praising the wrong people."

 Chapter 7 First Duel I

    "So, you know all about the bullshit the previous seven pulled and the restrictions they received because of it huh?"


    "Hmm...?


    Unfortunately, yes, I do. It would seem our history books have been praising the wrong people."


    Both Evan and the princess sighed in exasperation. The actions of the previous seven heroes were just that bad.


    "Oh yes, call me Laurene from now on, being called ''princess'' by another one of the heroes irritates me for some reason. Probably the influence of the memories I received; the previous hero disliked royalty."


    Even though she had lived for nine years as ''Laurene Hayes'', the sudden influx of memories from a being who had lived at least three times her age was enough to cause some changes to her personality.


    "Whatever you say, Laurene."


    Being someone who lived in a democratic society, the aristocratic system was too much of a hassle for Evan. He was happy he was a duke''s son; this limited the number of people he had to be respectful towards.


    "I''d also just call you Evan. So, what are we gonna do now we''ve confirmed ourselves to be heroes?"


    "Nothing much we can do for now, so we''d go back to our daily lives, and although I''d hate to do this, we hide our mystic eye skills till we''re ten.


    We also have to find a way to conceal our statuses as heroes, at least till we''re strong enough to protect ourselves, we can''t save the world if we can''t even save ourselves after all."


    "Save ourselves? From what exactly?"


    "A certain group of people ready to sacrifice anyone or anything on Aidos in order to bring the demons'' date of entry forward even by just a few minutes.


    If they discovered the existence of us new gen heroes, I don''t doubt they''d try to...end us."


    Laurene was initially confused upon hearing Evan''s reply to her question, however, one quick look through the memories in her head and she instantly understood what he meant.


    "We should really wipe those guys out when we are strong enough. Our hero titles allow us to be stronger against ''Invaders'' and ''Enemies of Aidos'', so that''d make things easier. More so for you who''s the leader, your damage bonus is twice mine.


    Or rather, we could see if the empire and a few other allied nations coulde together to take them out.


    The only problems are finding out their exact location and exining to my dad why I know of their existence."


    "Going after them with numbers is futile, they have a high-ranking necromancer who''d just turn any of our fallen soldiers into their own."


    "Huh? How''d you know that?"


    Hearing Laurene''s question, it was then Evan realised that he had identally said something from the game without realising it.


    "Just call it one of the perks of being the ''Leader''.


    Anyway, that necromancer would be taken care of, provided that I can get strong enough to brave Cheverton''s dungeons by the time he starts taking action."


    "What''s gonna happen in Cheverton?"


    "To put it bluntly, a vyi~#@:3e32vrti---!"


    ""Huhhh???""


    The two young heroes simultaneously let out surprised voices. Evan who could hear some kind of garbled static sounding noise along with his words, and Laurene who only heard the weird noise.


    However, this was not something both of them were unfamiliar with. To be specific, it was something the heroes whose memories they possessed were familiar with.


    "It seems that there''s some kind of restriction on the information I was about to pass across."


    "Indeed, there is."


    ''Why? Is it because it''s one of the major events of the game?


    If the game was a simtion of the future, then knowing the events of the game is the same as knowing the future, or at least part of it.


    It would make sense that I might not be able to talk about it.


    But I was able to talk about ''that guy'' earlier so it is not like I can''t say anything about the game, just that what I can say is limited.


    Oh well, I have a lot of time to experiment.''


    "Evan?"


    Hearing Laurene''s voice, Evan was pulled out of his sea of thoughts, shaking his head and dismissing the previous matter.


    "Anyway, on to things we CAN do. We should try searching for the other seven heroes to the best of our ability, provided their powers have awakened.


    Let''s hope they don''t get possessed by the previous bastar,- I mean, heroes."


    "Yes. Hopefully, they don''t get possessed by the previous basta-, I mean, heroes."


    The search for the heroes would only be possible when the heroes have reached a sufficient level of strength, at that point the crest of the heroes would appear in their eyes.


    This would happen when their unique skills reach Stage 1.


    Currently, both Evan and Laurene''s mystic eyes were still Stage 0''s, as such, they would need to level up to level 35 before they can awaken stage 1. As Evan recalled this information, Laurene spoke up.


    "We''d have to use the academy''s expeditions to level up a lot."


    "Huh? Why wait that long?


    That''s gonna be in 5 years, we can go level up before then. We have a boost of 200% efficiency in levelling up, best to make use of it."


    The seven heroes possessed a 200% levelling-up efficiency that allowed them to level up two times as fast as the average person.<sub> </sub>


    "Evan, we''re both high nobility and royalty, there''s no way they''d let us go deep into dungeons to level up, while we are not even ten years old.


    My dad''s gonna be the first to refute that."


    "True, I also haven''t been allowed to do any sort of levelling up ever since the Duke had a couple of weakened monsters for me to train with.


    We need to convince them to let us go somehow... Ha! I have an idea."


    He then whispered his idea of how he would convince their parents to let them level up in dungeons; prisons created to trap excess monsters to prevent them from overpopting and taking over thend meant for mankind.


    After hearing his n, Laurene looked at him weirdly and asked with a heart full of doubt.


    "Is that really gonna work?"


    "About 50/50"


    At his unsure reply, she sighed before calling over a servant and asking them to go to the castle to get the required attire for his n.


    Evan also went over to his room to get changed. He put on his training outfit which consisted of a pair of brown trousers, with a simr coloured shirt and leather boots.


    He then walked over to the knight''s training ground and asked the knights to clear up space for him. Although they had questions, they stopped their training and cleared out the area.


    The duke and the emperor could see this from the Duke''s office on the third floor of the mansion and they wondered why Evan should have been with Laurene was in the training ground.


    Not long after, the servant sent out by Laurene arrived with her training attire and her magic staff, to which she quickly changed into and moved over to the training centre.


    Upon seeing this, the duke and the emperor finally realized what was about to happen and began making their way over to stop it, however, they arrived toote.


    With a knight unwillingly acting as the referee, the first part of Evan''s n; the sparring match, began.


    �� �� ��


    "Begin"


    The moment the knight''s voice rang out, Evan dashed towards Laurene who had alreadypleted casting her magic. Although Evan did not have the same level of skill with the sword as the original owner of this body, his weapon control skill correction was there to help him.


    Evan had also taken kendo and fencing lessons in his previous world for a period of almost 5 years, courtesy of his entric father.


    Coupled with the movements ingrained into the body by its original owner, it was possible for him to fight suitably with the sword.


    ''I have to continue the training that this body''s owner started. Otherwise, my status effectiveness would drop.''


    He thought this as he dodged the lightning bolts that came towards his head, while still closing the distance between him and Laurene.


    Then, it happened.


    "Hah?!"


    It was a yellow sh. Evan''s eyebrows raised as he saw the sh of light heading toward his forehead. His senses instinctively recognized that Laurene''s sh was extremely dangerous.


    The sh wasn''t just fast. If it hit Evan''s body while it was in a defenceless state, the sh would have the power to wreak havoc on his body!


    **KAKINNG!


    Of course, Evan was a level 20, and deflecting the magic bullet of a mage less than half his level was easy, and that he did.


    He used his sword to cleave the magic bullet into two pieces. The shine of his de was beautiful as it split the sh of light apart.


    However, the person who produced the scene was stiff. It was because the repulsive force transmitted through his palm was quite strong, despite the good amount of strength he used.


    "Oi, this isn''t the strength of someone with an Energy stat of F!"


    "The staff''s an artifact, triples the strength of magic fired with it."


    That said, that was not the only problem.


    ''Tsk...I was caught!''


    Despite the unpredictable nature of this attack, Laurene fired off another Magic Bullet straight away. The yellow sh of light emerged continuously like aet, giving Evan no room to breathe. He worried about what the result of the attacks would be.


    "-It is up to here!"


    However, Evan would not be qualified as a member of the seven heroes if he was caught by an attack like this.


    His sword moved at a fast speed, creating a storm, which aimed at the Magic Bullets approaching him.


    This surprised the knights watching as they knew that although the young master was good at swordsmanship, he wasn''t obviously up to this level.


    That was true, even with Evan''s Weapon control skill, it was impossible for him to be that good at using a sword.


    His knowledge of weapon arts from his original world was also not enough for him to use such a high-level technique.,


    This was only possible due to the memories of the previous hero he had gained as the previous hero was an expert swordsman and Evan had inherited all the knowledge of this expert swordsman.


    Even if he couldn''t disy all the abilities due tock of training and difference in strength, what he could use was already more than what a nine-year-old was supposed to be capable of.


    Laurene realized what he was doing and decided to do the same, she essed the memory of the previous hero who was a mage like her, looking for magic that she could cast, and she found.


    "Lightning spear."

 Chapter 8 First Duel II

    "Lightning spear."


    Lightning emerged from her right arm and flowed down to her staff, it then increased in intensity before being fired at Evan.


    **CCRACKLLEEE!


    **BOOOOMMM!!


    It exploded without a loud roar, hitting Evan who was concentrating on defending against the Magic Bullets.


    The lightning bolt could turn a huge tree into charcoal instantly, and it was twice as strong as what a level 10 mage was supposed to be able to cast.


    Some of the sand on the ground melted from the blow, and the people watching couldn''t help but gulp in fear.


    ''These kids are less than level twenty, right?''


    It was then that a voice rang out in surprise.


    "That''s a tier two spell! Something only level 35 and above should be able to use!!"


    Evan walked out from the epicentre of the attack. His shirt was a mess, but he didn''t have any wounds.


    Laurene had expected this, even if he was weak, he was the still leader of the new generation seven heroes, there had to be a reason he was the leader after all.


    Looking closely, a small white light could be seen surrounding Evan''s body. He dashed towards Laurene in the short moment she was unable to cast spells due to using a spell above her tier.


    **SWISH!! CLANGG!! SSWISHHH!! CLANGGGG!!!


    She disyed amazing staff skills in blocking his blows, however, she was a mage, one who was half Evan''s level.


    Defending against his attacks for long was not possible for her, she ducked out of the path of his sword and rolled backward.


    Standing up, she shook her hair to remove the sand that got on it. Since her ''cooldown'' was over, she fired a few magic bullets to distract him, which he blocked with ease.


    He then took a deep breath and the light on his body seemed to glow brighter. The duke who had just arrived with the emperor seemed to notice it.


    ''He''s awakened to pdin?''


    That was the bloodline skill of the Del Eris Family, Pdin.


    It gave basic strength and defensive boosts, alongside the effect of amplifying the power of each attack done by a sword. The amplification increased exponentially on each consecutive attack.


    The sword in Evan''s hand began glowing a slight white light too, it moved like a whip several times, with the sword''s eleration creating afterimages.


    **PITT!


    Blood sttered out.


    Even with the help of her high perception granted by the artifact on her wrist, Laurene got injured. Evan had swung from a distance which the sword could not reach Laurene, but a line of blood was still drawn on Laurene''s cheek.


    The emperor who saw this was enraged but he could not interfere, he feared making things worse for his daughter.


    Controlling his strength to the degree where he could break them up without harming them was not exactly something he was confident in.


    He already sent word for the captain of the imperial guard to be summoned to break up the fight.


    The duke''s knights were also afraid of interfering and causing any of the two to be injured. They could not bear the responsibility of such an action.


    Evan realized this but he ignored this and continued swinging his sword, he was using a sword movement called ''Soft sword''.


    It was based on moving one''s de in a curved fashion like a whip. Once a whip struck, it would be as hard as a mace. Simrly, the power of the curved sword wasunched at Laurene''s face!


    ''Indeed, this technique��!''<sub> </sub>


    Laurene stopped breathing while inwardly admiring it. She recognized it too, it was one of the previous second''s favourite techniques.


    ? At a close distance, it was faster and more powerful than Magic Bullet. The snake-like orbit was difficult to read, and it was not a technique she could cope with, even for expert swordsmen much less a level 10 mage like her.


    Above all, it wasn''t a technique that ended with one or two hits. Instead, the attacks poured out like rain.


    No, it was like a snake with tens of heads.


    **PINGGG!!!


    The protective lightning magic she used as a shield was pierced like it was a piece of cloth. She was not good at using defence magic, like the one which shielded her whole body. It was also not good against a single-point attack.


    However, if she reduced the defence area, a mistake of a few millimetres would lead to a fatal injury.


    ''I can''t block it. I should avoid it.''


    She cast body-strengthening magic and attempted to escape from his range, however, Evan would not let her go so easily.


    He grinned and increased the intensity of her attacks causing Laurene to click her tongue in annoyance.


    "Damn it. Fire storm!"


    She casted another tier two magic, one that created a small storm of mes, this caused Evan to back away instinctively for fear of being burnt.


    As for Laurene, her magic was exhausted, casting two tier two spells at her level was already a feat on its own.


    When the firestorm died down, Evan realized her magic was low, he then charged at a faster speed than before.


    While he was sure that she had a trump card she hadn''t used, but he was not going to back away because of that.


    The moment he got close to her, she smiled and unleashed her trump card.


    "Holy Spear!"


    A divine spell, one that made use of a different energy source, divinity, not magic.


    The National Religion of the Great Western Empire was one that served the goddess Artemisia.


    They had imed the princess was a candidate for the position of the saint and was to be sent to the church for training once.


    Although the emperor denied their ims, they still stood their ground.


    This was the reason why.


    The princess possessed the ability to use a limited amount of Divinity, an energy type higher than the holy magic the church always used, one that only very few bishops and cardinals were able to use.


    Her attack was supposed to be strong enough to break through the defences offered by Evan''s pdin skill and damage him greatly, however, for some reason Evan felt he could block it without problems.


    And that he did.


    The spear hit him right in the chest, however, to her surprise, he took no damage whatsoever. Laurene also suddenly lost strength in her legs and dropped to the ground.


    Looking up, she saw Evan''s sword ced right under her chin.


    "I win."


    He smiled brightly as he did that and used his hand to help her up. He then used the pdin skill''s limited healing ability to heal the cut on her face.


    This was because the emperor was already storming over angrily with the duke and imperial guard captain in tow.

 Chapter 9 Evan’s Plan

    "So, you''re saying this was all a ruse to get our attention, and let you two go into the dungeons?"


    "Yep."


    Evan and Laurene replied while kneeling on the floor in front of the Duke and the Emperor. They had both changed into more suitable clothes and were immediately called over to the Duke''s office where they were currently being punished.


    After nearly ten minutes of scolding, they finally got the chance to exin themselves, and that they did.


    Evan spoke about his n to get their attention so they''d notice the talent possessed by the both of them and let them go to the dungeons to level up and gain experience so as not to put it to waste.


    "That doesn''t mean I''d let you go to the dungeon Evan."


    The Duke spoke up with slight annoyance in his voice, he was angry with Evan for pulling such a stunt in the presence of the emperor and even dragging the princess along.


    ''He never acted so recklessly before, what happened to him? He''s been different since this morning.''


    The Duke noticed something wrong with his son, however, he could have never imagined that his real son was dead and his body had been possessed by someone else.


    Even if Evan told him this, he was more likely to suspect Evan of being intoxicated by Alcohol rather than believe him.


    Hearing the Duke''s statement, Evan heaved a sigh before replying.


    "Let''s be real Father, until I go to the academy at 12, there''s nothing left for me to learn.


    You know how much of a natural-born genius I am and how many teachers I''ve made quit due to my genius."


    "Wow, Boast much."


    "I am indeed a genius though?"


    ''At least the original ''Evan Del Eris'' was...''


    In reply to that, Laurene just clicked her tongue and shook her head. Evan on the other hand, continued speaking.


    "Anyway, as I said earlier, we both know you wouldn''t let us into the dungeons until we''ve awakened our skills at age ten so I came up with this idea to make you notice our talents.


    Look at Laurene, she''s not even level ten and she casted tier two magic, something those over level 30 are capable of.


    When she awakens her skills, she''d be a force to be reckoned with.


    As for me, look at my swordsmanship, it is better than most kids my age out there, I dare say I can even beat some of the lower levelled knights too.


    Letting us go to the dungeon now would be good, when we awaken our skills, we''d be even stronger, isn''t that a good thing for the empire?"


    Evan had done two things with his speech, firstly he had almost convinced the Duke who believed he had awakened his pdin skill, that he had not.


    In other words, by saying ''when we awaken our skills at age ten'', he was hinting at the fact that they had not awakened their skills.


    Secondly, by saying it was good for the empire, he was appealing to the emperor not as the fianc��e of his daughter, but as the heir of a dukedom.


    Even still, the emperor was still not going to agree, it was too dangerous for them without skills. He was about to refuse, until the door was opened and a loud voice rang out.


    "What''s the stress, Your majesty? Let them go!"


    Two men walked into the room, both wearing light armour.


    One was a man with ck hair and eyes, he looked kind and easygoing, the other was a younger man with blonde hair and brown eyes, he was wearing a cold expression, one that could be seen as more mature than his physical age.


    Seeing the two of them, Evan''s eyes widened in surprise as he instinctively activated his full appraisal.


    Laurene noticed this and tried to warn him not to, but she wasn''t fast enough.


    |Name- Finley Thompson


    Race-Human


    Gender - Male


    Age - 39


    Level- 450


    Existence Level - Grandmaster


    Titles- First Sword of the Empire, Imperial Guard Captain, One of the Ten Great Swordsmen.


    ss- Sword Grandmaster


    Health �C A+


    Energy - S


    Strength �C A+


    Agility �C A


    Durability �CA


    Intelligence - B-<sub> </sub>


    Condition- Excited.


    Magic Tiers- Earth Tier 3.


    Skills- Presence Detection, Iron Wall, Body Enhancement.


    Unique Skills- Heaven Sword. |


    --


    |Name- Ralphie Thompson


    Race-Human


    Gender - Male


    Age - 35


    Level- 390


    Existence Level - Grandmaster


    Titles- Fourth Sword of the Empire, Eris Dukedom''s Knight Captain, One of the Ten Great Swordsmen.


    ss- Sword Grandmaster


    Health �C A


    Energy - B+


    Strength �C S


    Agility �C B+


    Durability �CA


    Intelligence - B+


    Condition- Skeptical.


    Magic Tiers- Ice Tier 4.


    Skills- Iron Wall, Ice Magic (High), Strong Arm.


    Unique Skills- Aura Storm. |


    Evan was shocked.


    ''They''re the real deal!''


    In the game, six of the seven heroes were customizable support characters. The yer picked one of them and the other six were support characters that could be customized.


    The yer started off with just one character. During their adventure, they would end up meeting the other members of the seven heroes and recruit them as support characters.


    The meeting points were randomized. However, the countries on the map where the yer would meet them were the same, just different cities every time.


    This was why although Evan was aware that there was a member of the seven Heroes in the Great Western Empire by the system, he did not know their exact location.


    Finding the princess could only be called a stroke of luck.


    However, besides that, there was not much that was different from the game. In other words, the surrounding countries and the important figures in those countries were exactly the same.


    Seeing the two men in front of him, Evan was shocked. He didn''t expect to meet two major figures here.


    The Great Western Empire was at peace with the Great Eastern Empire, however, one could not be sure when war would break out.


    In fact, there was a main quest scenario in the game where war broke out between the two empires, at that time the both empires revealed their strongest cards.


    The Great Western Empire had the Ten Great Swordsmen.


    The Great Eastern Empire had the Seven Star Generals.


    The two men in front of Evan were the First and Fourth Sword of the Ten Great Swordsmen. The Thompson Brothers.


    They were the younger brothers of the Marquis of Thompson, famed as two of the greatest sword geniuses of their generation. They also possessed Unique skills too.


    In the Main quest War Scenario, the yer had to gain the trust of the two of them in order to stop the war and minimize the casualties. They were also helpful when faced with the demon king''s Army Generals in the Final Quest.


    Both of them were existences over level 380. Adventurer-wise, they''d be considered Peak A rank, Finley was already S Rank.


    When Evan saw them, he recognized them and instinctively appraised them to be sure they were the real deal.


    However, that made Evan''s n of fooling the emperor and the Duke into thinking they had no skills, fly out the window.


    "As I thought, you really did awaken your skills already. You''re deviants."

 Chapter 10 Plan B!

    "As I thought, you really did awaken your skills already. You''re deviants."


    The reason Laurene tried to stop Evan from appraising them was simple. Both of them were powerful grandmaster-level existences who were able to sense the activation of skills.


    Full Appraisal, was a skill.


    Evan used it on them and they sensed it, so it was impossible for Evan to fool them into thinking both he and Laurene did not have skills.


    In fact, Finley had already known of Laurene''s skills for quite a while, he just chose to be quiet seeing as she made an effort to hide it. However, Ralphie did not know this, and he exposed it in front of the Duke and the Emperor.


    "What? They''ve awakened their skills already?"


    "Yes, your majesty."


    Ralphie and Finley were on the other side of the mansion during the fight, guarding the duchess and the empress who were having a tea party with some other nobledies. When the emperor sent for them, they arrived in less than a minute.


    However, when they saw the fight between Evan and Laurene, they stopped to watch and noticed that both of them activated their skills multiple times during the fight.


    They wanted to see how good they were at using their skills, and that was why they hid themselves to watch the fight.


    The end result; they were satisfied. Finley even wanted to take Evan as his student and teach him his sword techniques.


    At this point, Evan realized he had made a mistake and he quickly improvised his n.


    "I didn''t want too much attention to be on me because I''m a deviant, same with Laurene, that''s why I wanted us to hide our skills until we were ten.


    Unfortunately, Sir Ralphie just foiled that n.


    In return, why don''t you let sir Ralphie apany us to the dungeon so we can train our skills and gain experience.


    With Sir Raplhie with us, there are very few monsters that could possibly endanger us."


    The Emperor was a doting father, he feared for Laurene''s safety, and this was why he refused to let her go to the dungeons even if she was being apanied by a toon of Knights.


    However, hearing she already awakened her skills, Evan''s request sounded reasonable. The emperor wanted Laurene to Develop her skills and if possible, acquire more skills.


    He was caught between a rock and a hard ce, his desire to protect his daughter was shing with his desire for her to improve and be stronger.


    "Let them go, it would be a good experience and my younger brother would be there to protect them if anything happens."


    Finley, spoke up to clear the Emperor''s doubts and fears. After a few moments, he looked at the Duke and asked.


    "Are you willing to let Evan go?"


    "It would be good for his development, so as much as I don''t want to, I have no choice but to. I have to think of a way to pacify my wife when she finds out about this though."


    The Emperor chuckled lightly at the Duke''s words and nodded in affirmation.<sub> </sub>


    "Fine, you can go."


    "Thanks, Dad!"


    Laurene jumped up and hugged him the moment he gave his consent, she was happy to train her skills and improve her magic.


    The previous Fourth Hero was a magic fanatic, one who liked to improve her magic strength to new heights whenever she could.


    Inheriting her memories had changed Laurene''s personality slightly. She had also be a magic fanatic, only on a slightly lesser scale.


    Evan on the other hand grinned evilly and spoke up.


    "The first dungeon we shall go to is the one in Merdin''s Dungeon City; ''Graveyard of The Arrogant!''"


    The dungeons in the world of Aidos were said to be traps created by the goddess Artemisia, ones created to prevent monsters from overpopting thend mankind was meant to inhabit.


    When a dungeon appeared, it released a scent that deceived even the most intelligent of monsters into thinking that the thing they needed most at that point in time was there, causing them to rush into the dungeon.


    Unfortunately for them, once they entered, they could note out. However, these traps were not perfect. As the monsters reproduced in the dungeons, they increased in number exponentially.


    If the number of monsters in a dungeon exceeded the limit of the dungeon, an outbreak urred. This was a devastating situation where monsters came pouring out of the dungeon inrge numbers.


    This urred if the monsters were not culled regrly and could cause the destruction of entire cities.


    A country was said to have fallen to the monsters of the dungeon before during an outbreak. Multiple high-rank monsters of over level 300-350 came out of the dungeon overnight, causing the destruction of that country.


    Because of this, all Dungeons were regrly attacked by adventurers and knights in an effort to keep the monster numbers low. Even so, there were still an enormous number of monsters deep inside the dungeons.


    To keep this number from increasing even further, Dungeon Cities were formed.


    They were homes to various adventurers who entered these dungeons daily either to level up, hunt, orplete quests given to them by the association that managed them; The Adventurer''s Guild.


    The monsters in the dungeons also gave twice as much experience as those outside the dungeon, so this enticed many to enter the dungeons despite the risks.


    Merchants who purchased monster materials daily also resided in these dungeon cities. The cities were also the only cities allowed to have their personal army besides the army of the Nation they were in.


    Dungeon City Merdin was one of the closest dungeon cities to the capital of the Great Western Empire, Gerfast.


    It was a city built around the dungeon known as the ''Graveyard of the Arrogant'', a dungeon whose name was derived from the status effect applied to everyone who stepped foot into the dungeon.


    It did not matter how strong one was, resisting this status effect for extended periods of time was next to impossible.


    It was a status effect that could be called an offshoot of one of the seven mortal sins.


    ''Arrogance''

 Chapter 11 Dungeon City Merdin

    Dungeon City Merdin was one of the closest dungeon cities to the capital of the Great Western Empire, Gerfast.


    It was a city built around the dungeon known as the ''Graveyard of the Arrogant'', a dungeon whose name was derived from the status effect applied to everyone who stepped foot into the dungeon.


    ? It did not matter how strong one was, resisting this status effect for extended periods of time was next to impossible.


    It was a status effect that could be called an offshoot of one of the seven mortal sins.


    ''Arrogance''


    It messed with the minds of all who entered and made them ''arrogant''. Essentially making them either overestimate their strength or underestimate that of the monsters.


    It did not matter how strong one was, it was impossible to resist this status effect for long.


    In the game, when the yer spent too long in the dungeon, their stats began to disy fake values, higher than what their actual stats were or the game showed them dealing either the same orrger amounts of damage than they normally did, when in reality they were dealing far less than that.


    The worst part was when the monsters'' health bars began to show a different level of healthpared to what the monster actually had.


    ''It was quite irritating, I thought I had more than half my HP left sometimes yet it was barely one-tenth, same with my energy levels too.


    One time I thought I had killed a boss, it turned out the fucker still had more than a quarter of its health left!''


    Evan clicked his tongue as he remembered that this was the dungeon that ended his ''perfect dungeon clear on first try'' streak.


    "Why that dungeon? Go to an easier one first."


    Naturally, the Emperor did not agree for them to go there, he felt that was too dangerous.


    ''Graveyard of the Arrogant'' was one of the few dungeons that had never been cleared before, no one knew how deep it was or what awaited them at the end.


    Some said an arrogant devil was sealed at the bottom of the dungeon, which is why the dungeon had that status effect.


    However, Evan knew the real reason for the dungeon''s status effect.


    "It''s the best dungeon for beginners like us.


    Unlike other dungeons, the monsters are arranged ording to their levels, it''s not like the capital''s dungeon where you can see a level 60 monster on the seventh floor where level 30 monsters were supposed to appear."


    That was one thing about dungeons, most were unpredictable.


    The monsters were usually arranged ording to their levels with higher levelled monsters being on lower floors, however, asionally a higher levelled monster maye to the higher floors.


    However, in the ''Graveyard of the Arrogant'' they did not. All the monsters were prevented from escaping their floors by some sort of barrier.


    In the history of the dungeon, ever since it was discovered almost 900 years ago, it had never been observed that a monster had escaped its floor to another.


    "Hmm, well Ralphie is going with you so it should be fine as long as you don''t exceed what''s meant for you.


    What levels are you at?"


    "I''m 20 and Laurene is 10."


    Evan replied to Finley''s question instantly.


    "Well then, don''t exceed the fifth floor on your first try.


    If you continuously go to the dungeon weekly, it should be enough for you to reach level 100 in two to three years'' time."


    That would have been the case if both of them were normal, however, they were members of the seven heroes, and that title let them level up two times faster than normal.


    Three for Evan, due to his Reincarnated Hero System Updates.


    When it came to entering dungeons, there was a limit on how many times one could enter in a week.


    It was impossible to enter more than once a week no matter how hard one tried, they would be repelled at the entrance of the dungeon.


    Although many had theorized why this was, the real reason for this was still unknown.


    Because of this, leveling up through going to a dungeon would be rather slow despite the benefits of two times the experience.


    "We''d take a lesser time to reach that level though, fighting dungeon monsters isn''t the only thing we''d do.


    I read in a book in the castle library that it''s good to fight more monsters besides those in the dungeons."


    Laurene spoke up while still hugging her father. The Duke also nodded in agreement saying that was what he did in his younger years.


    ''Come to think of it, how strong is the Duke? He also participated in the war in the game but he was only shown in the cut scenes I skipped.''


    Evan thought this and decided to appraise the Duke.


    |Name- Roger Del Eris


    Race- Human


    Gender-Male<sub> </sub>


    Level- 200


    Existence Level- Master


    Titles- Duke of Eris, Prime Minister of the Great Western Empire, Blood Duke.


    ss - Blood Pdin


    Health �C C+


    Energy - B


    Strength �C C+


    Agility �C C


    Durability �C B-


    Intelligence - C


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers- Blood Tier 3, Earth Tier 2.


    Skills- Pdin, Arm Strength, Defense Rise.


    Unique Skills- Blood de. |


    ''He''s not as strong as the other major characters but his skill makes him dangerous.


    The ability to construct des from his blood and the blood of his opponent. Even a small cut can be used to draw arge amount of blood from the body.''


    "That was appraisal, right? Come to think of it, what skills do you two have?"


    Finley asked after sensing him appraise the Duke. Evan saw no point in hiding it so he told him.


    "I have Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, and Pdin. As for Laurene..."


    "��Full Appraisal, Lie Detection, Magic Control, Lightning Magic and Chant Revocation, the Lie detection is my unique skill."


    Both of them did not speak of their real unique skills, or rather they were unable to. It was a result of the actions of the previous seven heroes.


    They were unable to tell people about their mystic eyes unless the other party had basic information about its existence.


    In other words, if the other party didn''t know of the existence of mystic eyes, Evan and Laurene could not tell them about it.


    They could not tell the Emperor and the Duke about it as they were unsure if they knew of the existence of mystic eyes, as they may suffer repercussions for doing so.


    This was because of the fact that the seven heroes erased almost all records of the existence of mystic eyes, only stone tablets with the crest of the heroes and the mystic eye symbols found in ancient ruins (which were actually the bases the previous heroes used) existed now.


    "No unique skills Evan?"


    "They''re called unique because they''re notmon, you know?"


    Evan replied to the Duke''s question with a sigh.


    ''Even if I could tell you about it, I wouldn''t, as for the second one, it''s too dangerous if it bes known.''


    Gazing at the Duke, Evan could tell that he seemed a bit happier despite the t look on his face.


    ''Perhaps, is it because of the Pdin skill?''


    The reason that Arnold, Evan''s elder brother lost his position as heir to the dukedom was simply because he did not possess the bloodline skill that represented the ''Eris'' family.


    ''Why though? ording to the memories of ''Evan'', the reason hasn''t been discovered, which is weird considering that all members of the ''Eris'' family by blood have this skill.


    Oh well, It actually does not matter to me, what matters is that I have to think of a way to get ''that''.''


    The ''Graveyard of the Arrogant'' had the status effect of ''Arrogance'' due to a certain reason.


    As a pro gamer whopleted all main and side quests of ''Aidos online'', Evan knew the reason.


    As a member of the new generation seven heroes who possessed the memories of her predecessor, Laurene also knew the reason.


    It was due to the entity sealed at the bottom. The rumours of an arrogant devil being sealed there were not far off from the truth.


    The one sealed there was one of the invaders of a thousand years ago, a demon.


    A Peak Ranked Demon with a level over 700.


    The Leader of the Seven Deadly Sins.


    Pride.

 Chapter 12 Skill Review

    The world of Aidos had three continents;


    The Alpha Continent, The Beta continent, and the Dark Continent.


    The Alpha and Beta continents were parallel to each other, separated by a small ocean called the Divider Ocean.


    Perpendicr to them, was the Dark Continent.


    The Dark Continent was currently uninhabitable. This was because it was the zone of the battle between the seven heroes of a thousand years ago along with their armies, against the invaders from another world.


    A dimensional rift was opened there and the demons came pouring out into the world of Aidos.


    The world''s defence mechanism prevented stronger demons froming out immediately, however, over time the rift becamerger and the repulsive force of the world weakened.


    High-ranked demons began trooping out and close to the end of the invasion, Peak ranked demons arrived.


    Among these peak-ranked demons, some of the strongest were the seven deadly sins.


    Seven Demons with the names and powers of the Seven Mortal sins, and they were considered strong even among the peak rank demons.


    Although most records of the invasion were erased, the lore of the seven strongest invaders still stands today.


    ''They were demons at level 777, there''s no way to erase all records of their appearance. The havoc they caused was just too much.''


    The seven deadly sins were strong enough to sink some of the numerous inds that existed between the Dark continent and the other two continents.


    However, they were defeated and sealed away in the end. Though the records say the seven Heroes were the ones responsible, exactly how they were sealed was not mentioned.


    ''I thought it was because the seven heroes were that strong, but to think ''that'' was what happened...''


    In the game, when the seven deadly sins appeared, they harboured hatred for both mankind and demon kind. But after receiving the memories of the previous Second of the seven Heroes, Evan finally knew the reason why.


    ''They were betrayed by the demons and sealed by the humans, it''s only natural they''d hate both sides.''


    The Seven deadly sins were sealed away in various weapons, the weapons that originally belonged to the demons themselves, however, the world knew that they were sealed with the weapons of the seven heroes.


    As for the location of these weapons, they were unknown.


    Pride was sealed in a One-handed Sword,


    Greed in a Great sword,


    Gluttony in a Magic Staff,


    Lust in a War Fan,


    Wrath in a two-handed sword,


    Sloth in a shield, and


    Envy in a spear.


    Thest floor of the ''Graveyard of the Arrogant'' was where the sword of Pride was kept.


    It was the reason for the ''Arrogance'' status effect all those who entered the dungeon received.


    ''Normally it''d take years to get to that floor, but I have a way I can get there quickly.''


    It was a trap door on the Fourth floor.


    In the game, Evan was the first to discover the existence of a trap door on the fourth floor that led to thest floor of the dungeon and pitted one against a level 350 monster.


    By defeating the monster, one could gain ess to the room where pride was sealed.


    This trap also allowed one to evade the real dungeon boss, the Level 500 Troll Emperor.


    ''No way Ralphie can defeat that, but a level 350 Troll King should be enough for him to handle.''


    Evan''s n was to lead them through this trap door and make Ralphie fight the Troll King.


    ''The troll king had ast stand attack where he renders the one who deals thest blow unconscious. If their health was below a certain level, they''d die from the attack.''


    If he got Ralphie to deal thest blow, he would be rendered unconscious and would not see Evan take the sword of pride.


    ''It''s good that Pride still maintained their reasoning to the very end and was not consumed by rage like the others, that means it is possible to negotiate with Pride and form a contract.''


    In the game, the yer could not take the sword because they were supposed to be a ''hero''. And Heroes most definitely did not wield demon swords.


    ''However, I''m not restricted by the game''s bullshit now.''


    Evan had decided not to be a hero like the ones in the fantasy novels he read in his previous world, he was going to be different.


    He was going to use any means to achieve his goals even if it meant the deaths of many. After all, even the god in charge of this world didn''t care much about the survival of all of mankind, just the minimum required to repopte the world.


    ''ording to the system''s information, it''s fine even if 60% of the poption dies out.''


    To Evan, the denizens of this world were strangers, even the parents of his current body were people he never knew existed until a few hours ago. He had no reason to care about the survival of anyone besides the seven heroes.


    Some may call him cruel but Evan was just prioritizing his goals.


    Although he may change his mind in the future, for now, besides the seven heroes and the other major figures who would be important to repel the demon armies, he would not give a shit about others.


    �� �� ��


    After sessfully convincing the emperor to let them go to the ''Graveyard of the Arrogant'' in a few months'' time, Evan and his father saw the Imperial family off before he returned to his room.


    He took a bath and slept immediately, he was tired from the day''s activities, after all.


    Listing out the things that Evan did, the one that drained him of his energy, both mental and physical was none other than his feat of replicating one of the previous hero''s techniques.


    It was a technique used by an expert swordsman who had practiced the sword for decades, one who was motivated by his love for swordsmanship, not someone like Evan who only took Kendo lessons because his dad sent him to a high school that forced him to.


    Using said technique was bound to have repercussions, the kind that left him bedridden for the next two days.<sub> </sub>


    On the third morning, he finally recovered and was able to leave his bed, the sses that the original ''Evan'' usually had been cancelled by the duke who told him to rest before his training with Finley would begin. within the next week.


    He sat on his bed after sending out Rei along with the other maids and checked out the features of the system he had not checked out yet.


    ''Status''


    |Name- Evan Del Eris


    Race - ###e# ###s###e#


    Gender - Male


    Age - 9


    Level- 20


    Existence Level - Bronze


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved by Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman


    Health �C E


    Energy - E


    Strength �C E


    Agility �C E


    Durability �CE


    Intelligence- E


    Condition- Lightly Fatigued.


    Magic Tiers- All Attributes Tier 0.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry, Adaptive Evolution. |


    He looked at his stat and skill descriptions one by one and understood what each one meant.


    ''So, existence level is different from level huh?''


    Existence Level represented one''s realm of existence and it was different from the normal level. It was possible to defeat someone with a higher level if one''s Existence Level was higher.


    He also discovered that he could see the current figures of one''s stats like Health and Energy if he wished to do so.


    ''It''s practically an HP and MP bar. Full Appraisal is quite useful.''


    His weapon control skill allowed him to use any and every weapon to its full potential, as for magic control, that enabled him to cast stronger magic with lesser energy used.


    ''That''s why Laurene''s magic was strong yesterday.''


    His concealment allowed him to conceal parts of his status from others who wished to appraise him and Language Comprehension allowed him to understand how to read and write anynguage.


    He was going to be interacting with people from other countries and continents so it was quite useful to him in case he met someone who could not speak themonnguage.


    The system updates that were installed when he first woke up in his new body let gave him various benefits that others did not possess.


    |Extra 100% Leveling Efficiency


    Boosted Life Force.


    10% Stat Boost.


    120% Stat Effectiveness. |


    It simply made him level up three times faster than normal, made it harder for him to die, and made his stats to be 10% stronger.


    Adding this to the base 5% damage bonus that his Hero title gave him against ''Invaders'' and ''Enemies of Aidos'', he was sure to have an easier time against the invading demons.


    The greatest benefits were those of his unique skill. It was a skill that was part of the ''Mystic Series'' skills.


    |Mystic Eye of Mimicry;


    Type: Unique Skill (Mystic Series)


    Effect;


    Allows one to mimic the skills and magic of another being within their field of vision.


    Conditions;


    Maintain eye contact for 10 seconds


    Knowledge of the name and Effect of the skill the user wishes to Mimic.


    Knowledge of the name and Effect of the Magic the user wishes to Mimic.


    Restriction;


    The user only gains one skill slot for mimicking skills every twenty levels, hence, only one skill can be Mimicked every twenty Levels.


    However, due to the System of the Reincarnated Hero Updates, this is upgraded to one skill slot every ten levels.


    The user also has three free skill slots avable instead of one to start with.


    Mimicked Skills remain until the User removes them personally. |

 Chapter 13 A Third Unique Skill Appears

    |Mystic Eye of Mimicry;


    Type: Unique Skill (Mystic Series)


    Effect;


    Allows one to mimic the skills and magic of another being within their field of vision.


    Conditions;


    Maintain eye contact for 10 seconds


    Knowledge of the name and Effect of the skill the user wishes to Mimic.


    Knowledge of the name and Effect of the Magic the user wishes to Mimic.


    Restriction;


    The user only gains one skill slot for mimicking skills every twenty levels, hence, only one skill can be Mimicked every twenty Levels.


    However, due to the System of the Reincarnated Hero Updates, this is upgraded to one skill slot every ten levels.


    The user also has three free skill slots avable instead of one to start with.


    Mimicked Skills remain until the User removes them personally. |


    ''In the game, the mimicked skills usually disappeared after 1 year in-game time, good to know they remain here indefinitely.''


    The seven hero characters, although customizable, still retained their ''Mystic Eye'' unique skills.


    ''There were 4 on this continent and 3 on the other.


    Laurene and I make 2 of 4, the remaining two are somewhere in the Beast Kingdom to the southeast and the Desert Country in the Central continent.''


    As he recalled the locations of the other heroes, he saw another one of his titles he recognized.


    ''Loved by Nature, the characters with this title all possessed a high affinity for magic and most importantly, they were loved by spirits.''


    The spirits were an incorporeal race closely rted to nature, they were also called elementals sometimes.


    ''There are probably spirits around me but I need to get my mystic eyes to stage 1 in other to see them and interact with them, maybe form a few contracts.


    Though they may dislike me using a sword with a demon sealed within.''


    He then looked at his other unique skill, Adaptive Evolution.


    ''This one is probably the skill the goddess gave me.''


    |Adaptive Evolution;


    Type: Passive Unique Skill


    Effect;


    Triggers evolutionary changes in the user to make them adapt to their surroundings or situations. Can adapt towards certain types of attacks.


    Conditions;


    Hold out against a certain situation or survive a certain environment long enough to adapt and evolve in a suitable way.


    Hold out against a certain attack long enough and it would be ineffective.


    Restriction;


    Contradicting Evolutions are risky and the user may instead devolve on failure. |


    ''This is just broken!''


    After checking his skills, he was about to get up from his bed before his blood ran cold and he felt a chill down his spine.


    He didn''t really understand the reason why at first, but the memories of the previous hero that he had told him that he was being gazed at by something far more powerful than he was.


    He turned and looked around for the source of the stare but he could not see nor sense it, until a notification appeared in front of him.


    |Connection Initiated! |


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' smiles upon you]


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' grants you his blessing]


    |Unique Skill Acquired|


    |Warning! Skill''s Power Weakened due to host being unable to withstand it. |


    The moment he saw that notification, his whole body felt hot.


    It was as if he jumped into a pool of boiling hot water, he screamed in pain and fell on the floor.<sub> </sub>


    He had sent out all the maids that were to guard him, his room was also soundproof so they were barely able to hear his screams even though they were just outside the door.


    After a few minutes, the pain lessened and he was finally able to move once again. He checked his body and saw no injuries on him, he then turned his gaze to the notification that was floating in front of him.


    |Blessing of Destruction;


    Type: Unique Skill


    Increases all skill effectiveness by 10%


    Extra 10% Stat Boost


    Increases all Destructive skill strength by 30%


    Increases all Destructive magic strength by 30% |


    ''Status!''


    |Name- Evan Del Eris


    Race - ###e# ###s###e#


    Gender - Male


    Age - 9


    Level- 20


    Existence Level - Bronze


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved by Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman


    Health �C E


    Energy - E


    Strength �C E+


    Agility �C E


    Durability �CE+


    Intelligence - E


    Condition- Agitated


    Magic Tiers- All Attributes Tier 0.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry, Adaptive Evolution, Blessing Of Destruction. |


    Looking at the new skill on his status board he was confused, throughout the game he never heard of or saw any being called ''The Eternal of Time and Destruction''.


    ''Is he some sort of god?''


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says you do not need to know who he is]


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says you should only know he is a friend of the ''goddess of evolu-'', Artemisia who sent you here]


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' urges you to get stronger so you can ept his full blessing]


    ''Artemisia, that''s the name of the goddess from the game, it seems it''s also the name of the actual goddess in charge of this world, and this guy says he''s her friend?''


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says you are correct]


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' once again urges you to be stronger or he shall take his blessing away]


    Looking at the wonderful effects of the blessing, Evan did not want him to take it away, although his head had been aching him ever since this being started talking, he gritted his teeth and asked onest question.


    "Couldn''t the process have been a lot less painful?"


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says it is because you are too weak]


    |Warning! Unable to Receive messages from Higher entity due to host''s mind being on the verge of Copse.


    Connection Terminated! |


    The moment he saw that message, his mind became clear instantly. His headache stopped immediately, however, he felt chills from looking at that notification.


    ''If I had continued talking with him, my mind would have copsed!''


    He made a mental note to himself; to never engage in conversations with any god-like beings he came across.

 Chapter 14 Interlude 1 – The Eternal’s Thoughts

    It was, an infinite darkness.


    No matter how far one went, there was no end


    <o>,m No matter how long one waited, there was no dawn.</o>


    There was one spot, where there was light.


    A throne that floated within the darkness--Only there.


    A being sat on this throne looking at a screen in front of him, disyed on the screen was the image of a nine-year-old boy rolling on his bed.


    "Even though I said that, I was not actually going to take away the blessing."


    He waved his hand and the screen disappeared.<sub> </sub>


    "He''s still weak for now, Artemisia really outdid herself sending him over there."


    He sighed as he thought of the goddess who imed she did not care about the world, yet took great pain to send someone to save it.


    "Hopefully, ''he'' doesn''t get pissed when ''he'' wakes up from his sleep."


    His heterochromatic red and blue eyes shed, lighting up his face temporarily.


    "Oh well, I have things to do myself. It''s been far too long since an enjoyable event happened, why don''t I start it up myself this time?"


    He grinned as he disappeared from there, leaving the throne behind in the infinite darkness.

 Chapter 15 Six-Month Training

    On the first day of the next week, as early as 7 am in the morning, Finley came knocking on Evan''s door to wake him up for training.


    Evan, who wanted to sleep ended up cursing at him, this resulted in Finley increasing the training intensity for that day.


    He also forbade Evan from using any of his skills, Evan couldn''t even use his skills secretly as Finley would sense it immediately.


    He made Evan begin training from the basic sword swings and gradually thought him from there.


    Evan spent the first few weeks of the training period just swinging his sword and runningps around the mansion.


    The Duke''s mansion wasrge as befitting of his status as a Duke and Finley made Evan run around the mansion 8 - 10 times daily.


    Evan usually just went to sleep without even having dinner sometimes due to his level of fatigue, he also gave up acting like the original Evan after a few days.


    He even sometimes called thebat maids by their real names instead of the fake ones the original Evan called them by.


    They were initially surprised at first but after they heard that he had awakened to an appraisal skill, they understood how he knew of their real identities.


    Evan''s daily schedule became very simplified.


    Wake up at 6 am, run tenps around the mansion, swing his sword a thousand times, and then the real training begins.


    He was to go through this for 6 months, that was the condition the Emperor gave both him and Laurene.


    He also did not learn only swordsmanship, but spearmanship too. Finley was not only a sword grandmaster, he was also a spear master too.


    Although his spear skills were not up to par with his sword skills, he was still a master in that regard. He trained Evan in the spear too, this was so he would not be able to only use one weapon proficiently. This was also to maximize the effect of his weapon control skill.


    ? As for Laurene, she understood what it meant for someone to be a genuine magic fanatic after meeting the Chief Court Mage. He was a level 350 mage who specialized in lightning magic just like Laurene.


    He was more than happy to take her as his student and he spent every day drilling magic theories into her head daily. She could not even run away from training as he was also a master of teleportation magic.


    He had tagged her with his magic power, this allowed him to teleport to her at any time and this was how he sessfully foiled her various attempts to sneak out of the castle.


    All invitations for tea parties or balls that came to both Evan and Laurene were declined, this caused rumours about them to fly around among the nobles but the people concerned couldn''t care less.


    Laurene was always in magic Lessons and Evan was always in sword lessons. Sometimes the teachers switched ces, and the Chief court mage taught Evan Magic and Finley taught Laurene basic swordsmanship and closebat techniques.


    When Evan appraised the Chief Court mage, he sighed in exasperation.


    ''How on earth did this guy get to such a level at such a young age?''


    |Name- Jenson Burke


    Race- Human


    Gender - Male


    Age - 25


    Level- 350


    Existence Level - Grandmaster


    Titles- Chief Court Mage of the Great Western Empire, Lightning Disaster, Magic Genius.


    ss - Lightning Mage


    Health �C A-


    Energy - A+


    Strength �C C


    Agility �C B


    Durability �C B+


    Intelligence - S+


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers - Lightning Tier 5, Earth Tier 4, Fire Tier 4, Water Tier 3, Wind Tier 4, Space Tier 4.<sub> </sub>


    Skills- Lightning Magic (Extreme), Space Magic (Teleportation), Magic Amplification


    Unique Skills- Child of Lightning. |


    He was truly a magic genius, he had achieved the peak of tier 5 lightning magic and tier 4 in almost all other attributes at just 19 years of age.


    He was one of the powerhouses of the Great Western Empire.


    In the game, during the Main quest war scenario, he was one of the ones responsible for the death of a seven-star general of the Great Eastern Empire.


    During the Final Quest, he single-handedly took down one of the Lesser Demon Generals on his own despite the level disparity.


    In the game, he was one of the NPCs that possessed a ''Child Series Skill''. They were known as the ''Children of the Elements'' by the yer base of Aidos Online.


    The ''Series Skills'' were the most powerful skills that characters could possess in the game.


    Examples of said series skills, included, the ''Mystic Series Skills'', ''Child Series Skills'', Incarnation Series Skills'', ''Breath Series Skills'', etc.


    Even among unique skills, the ''Series Skills'' were on another level entirely. They were so powerful that some yers petitioned the developers to make a separate tier of skills just for the series skills.


    Another thing of note, was that it was impossible for two beings to possess the same ''Series Skill''. In other words, besides Jenson, it was impossible for another being with a ''Child of Lightning'' to exist in all of Aidos.


    It was the same with the ''Mystic Series Skills'' that Evan and the rest of the seven heroes possessed, they were one of a kind and there could not be more than one of them.


    The passive effects of these skills were also nothing to scoff at!


    For Laurene who possessed the Mystic Eye of Truth, she had already begun disying some of its abilities even though she had not fully awakened the skill.


    This effect was her ''Lie Detection'' skill. Her ''Lie Detection'' was not actually a ''skill'', it was just a passive of her ''Mystic Eye Series Skill'' that she manifested before awakening the skill.


    The same thing also applied to the original ''Evan''. The reason why he was called a ''genius'' who learned everything he was taught at a scary rate and disyed skill levels above what his peers had was because of his ''Mystic Eye Series Skill'' passive.


    It wasn''t to say that the original Evan was not smart, but most of the prowess he disyed, especially in the fighting department, was a result of the skill''s passive effect.


    Rumours that Evan heard said that the ''Series Skills'' were ''seeds'' for something more powerful but those rumours were never confirmed.


    Nevertheless, it did not change the fact that ''Series Skills'' were broken!


    An example would be Jenson. His ''Child of Lightning'' skill allowed him to bypass even the greatest of lightning resistances. He was capable of dealing lightning damage to a Crawling Lightning monster.


    A monster whose body was made up of pure lightning and was supposed to be immune to it.


    ''Simply put, he''s a bug!''


    He was also very perceptive just like Finely, he realized when Evan tried to Mimic his Space magic skill and broke eye contact with him.


    Since then, he never maintained eye contact with Evan for more than 5 seconds at a time. When Evan asked him why he always looked away, he replied.


    "I don''t know why, my senses tell me that I should definitely not look at your eyes for too long, you might have some sort of hidden skill that requires eye contact."


    Hearing this, Evan was surprised, his surprise soon turned to rage. That day, he vowed to himself;


    ''I must definitely get that skill''


    Evan tried and failed various times to mimic his space magic but failed, but he never gave up. Teleportation was going to be useful in an event that he encountered a monster out of his league.


    It would help him run away quicker!


    This continued for months as nned, by the time Evan realized it, he had already turned ten. A not-so-small birthday celebration was held at the duke''s mansion with nobles of various ranks in attendance.


    It was on this day that it was officially announced that Evan had awakened to the Pdin skill, the Eris bloodline skill, much to the joy of the vassals of the Eris Dukedom.


    Evan found socializing with other young nobles his age to be tiring, this was because to him, they were just like a bunch of children boasting about whose father was richer.


    He did not even attempt to be polite with them despite the duchess'' several warnings. As someone who lived in a democracy for 16 years, the aristocratic society was something he disliked fundamentally.


    He also made use of his engagement with Laurene to shoo away the girls who tried to get into his good graces through ''various'' means.


    ''Just what are the nobles of this world teaching ten-year-old children? If demons ever attack this country, I will definitely let them die.''

 Chapter 16 Spar With Finley

    Evan''s birthday ended without a hitch and he continued with his training, however, the end of the year and new year celebrations made him take a break in his training as he was required to attend various parties and balls as a member of the Eris Dukedom.


    The current Evan was but a ten-year-old child in the eyes of the more powerful adults, as such, all his attempts to avoid dealing with these formalities were seen as him just throwing a tantrum.


    He had hoped that Finley would help him in avoiding these balls, sadly, Finley was also a noble who did not understand the reason why Evan was against them.


    ''Obviously, because I''m from a democratic society where I didn''t have to go to balls and deal with snot-nosed kids!


    Too bad I can''t say that!!!''


    The worst part of it was the means of transport from the duke''s mansion in the capital to the royal pce where most of these parties took ce in.


    As expected of a world still in its middle ages, carriages were the main means of transport. This was torture for Evan who was used to the convenience of the vehicles called cars.


    He wondered how the denizens of this world found the ufortable carriages as ''luxurious''.


    ''I''d rather just walk!!''


    Once again, that was something he could not say out loud as the son of a duke walking to the royal castle to attend a ball was something that the denizens of Aidos couldn''t even imagine.


    Upon returning from thest ball of the ''New Year Season'', Evan began wishing he understood how the inventors of cars in his original world managed to seed in creating such convenient vehicles.


    Nevertheless, that was not his main focus as he remembered the deal he made with Finley at the start of his training.


    When the six-month period came to an end, he was going to spar with Finley and if his performance was subpar, then he was going to remain in training for another six months.


    That was something Evan did not want so he put off thinking about the ufortable carriages and prepared for his iing spar.


    |Name- Evan Del Eris


    Race-###e# ###s###e#


    Gender - Male


    Age - 10


    Level- 21


    Existence Level - Bronze


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved by Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman


    Health �C D-


    Energy �C E+


    Strength �C E+


    Agility �C E+


    Durability �CE+


    Intelligence- E+


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 1, Other Attributes Tier 0.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry, Adaptive Evolution, Blessing Of Destruction. |


    Evan stared at his status page and heaved a sigh of exasperation as he stared at Finley who was holding a sword opposite him.


    He looked to the side of the training area where the spectators of his training spar with Finley were seated and heaved another sigh as he scanned through Laurene''s status.


    |Name- Laurene Hayes


    Race- Human


    Level- 12


    Titles- Princess of the Great Western Empire, Fourth of the Seven Heroes, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved by Mana.


    ss - Mage


    Health �C F+


    Energy �C E-


    Strength �C F+


    Agility �C F+


    Durability �CF+


    Intelligence- F+


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers- Lightning Tier 1, Fire Tier 1, Wind Tier 1.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Lie Detection, Magic Control, Lightning Magic (High), Chant Revocation, Mental Block, Language Comprehension.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Truth. |


    The two had grown exponentially over the past seven months and now he was currently undergoing a test that would decide if he would be allowed to go to the dungeon or if he would spend more time training.


    For their spar, Finley decided that they both used real swords, much to the duke and emperor''s disagreement.<sub> </sub>


    Evan also secretly agreed with them but didn''t dare voice his opinion for fear of identally earning himself an extra month of training.


    After all, the reason he spent seven months instead of the original six was because of a simr situation like this.


    Sadly, Finley ended up convincing the emperor and the duke to let the duel proceed with real weapons. They trusted in the Great Swordsman''s ability to control his strength.


    And that''s how the current scene of Evan standing in the royal pce''s training grounds, while staring at his sword with nk eyes, opposite Finley, in the presence of the royal and ducal families came to be.


    �� �� ��


    Royal Pce Training Grounds, Gerfast


    Great Western Empire


    March 19th


    Year 1051


    Standing in the middle of the young hero and the sword grand master, was the moderator of the duel, Finley''s younger brother, Ralphie.


    He rose his hand in the air and called out with a loud voice.


    "Begin."


    The moment he spoke, Evan''s eyes shed as he vanished from his position and reappeared behind Finley, swinging his sword with all his strength.


    To be more urate, it looked like he had vanished to Laurene but to everyone else present, it was as if he was moving in slow motion.


    That meant one thing;


    His opponent, Finley, could see his every movement.


    **CLANGGG!!!


    Finley didn''t even need to turn around as he just swung his sword backwards and blocked Evan''s full-powered sh with rtive ease.


    "Burn."


    Evan''s low voice called out, causing Finley''s eyes to widen in surprise as he hastily turned around and backstepped to avoid being caught by the mes that engulfed the spot where he just stood mere moments ago.


    "Tsk��"


    Evan clicked his tongue and twirled his sword around his fingers as Finley heaved an exasperated sigh before speaking.


    "I know you kind of resent me for what I put you through but that doesn''t mean you can burn my clothes, they''re normal clothes!!!"


    Indeed, the reason Finley dodged was simple. Because he did not want to be stripped of his clothing in public, he did not have any exhibitionist tendencies after all.


    "Oh please, as if it would hurt you!!"


    "It won''t hurt me but I can''t say the same for my clothes!!"


    **CLANG!!!!


    Evan kicked off the ground and dashed towards Finley with his sword held up high, making the sword grandmaster raise his own weapon to block the ten-year-old''s sh.


    The sound of metal shing against metal reverberated across the quiet training grounds as Evan''s fingers twitched a bit.


    A red magic circle manifested near Finley''s feet, before glowing a bit brighter and then exploding.


    *BOOM!!


    A small dust cloud rose up, obscuring the vision of the spectators as Evan and Finley continued their duel regardless of this.


    One of the things that Finley thought Evan was how to fight in a situation where his vision was limited greatly.


    Ralphie knew this, as such he did not make an attempt to clear the dust cloud, and neither did any of the spectators.


    Meanwhile, the creator of this dust cloud was screaming internally as he just barely ducked to avoid the sword sh that threatened to lop off his head.


    While he knew Finley would stop at thest moment, he did not wish to take his chances. Besides, such a situation would result in his loss in this duel.


    Still on the ground, he stretched out his left leg and delivered a spin kick towards Finley''s legs, however, the sword master jumped up to avoid it before grinning evilly as the ground around Evan cracked open.


    ''That''s right! He has tier three earth magic!!''


    "Boost!"


    Without even bothering to know what the spell had in store for him, Evan activated basic wind magic to propel himself into the air.


    His actions left him vulnerable as Finley''s timed swing reached his torso in the next moment.


    *BAMM!!


    The force of Finley''s swing sent Evan''s small body flying nearly five meters as he crashed with a loud noise, kicking up another cloud of dust.


    "Evan!!"


    The duchess who saw this, was scared shitless and attempted to interfere in the duel but she was held back by her husband who told her to have faith in her son like he did.


    His trust was not unfounded as the dust cloud cleared up to reveal an unharmed Evan who had a smallyer of glowing silver light on his body.


    "Pdin!"


    The duke called out the name of the skill Evan was using as the ten-year-old kicked off the ground in Finley''s direction.


    Finley responded in kind as the two dashed towards each other with swords held high.


    **SWISH! CLANG!! SWISH!!! CLANGGG!!!!

 Chapter 17 Moving Forward

    The two began an exchange of swords as cuts began piling up on Evan''s fair skin.


    As expected, the sword master Finley waspletely unscathed, nevertheless, he had a frown on his face as he increased the intensity of his sword strikes.


    His frown deepened in the next moment as he poured earth-attributed mana into his sword and swung it downwards.


    Evan let out a small battle cry as he filled his own de with me-attributed mana, swinging it upwards to meet Finley''s de.


    **BOOOMM!!!


    There was an explosion of dust and smoke as the duo simultaneously took distance from each other. Finley looked at the de of the weapon in his hands that could barely withstand his mana before turning his gaze to Evan and speaking.


    "Right then, you used another skill. I barely noticed the activation, what was it?"


    His words evoked reactions of surprise from all the spectators as none of them noticed anything of the sort.


    Even Raplhie who was officiating the duel was no exception as he alternated his gaze between Evan and Finley before asking out loud.


    "Are you sure brother? I barely noticed a thing."


    Finley nodded and sheathed his sword without removing his gaze from Evan''s body while Chief court mage Jenson, who just walked in, looked at the air above Evan and Finley before frowning.


    Evan on the other hand, took a deep breath and snapped his fingers. The next moment, spears of mes manifested in the air behind Finley before firing down towards his ''defenceless'' back.


    **SCHRING!! **BOOOMM


    Unsheathing his sword instantly, Finley turned around and shed through the five me spears simultaneously, causing them to explode mid-air.


    ''He cut through the cores of the spells instantly, as expected of the number one of the ten great swordsmen.


    However, the spears were but a distraction, how would you fare against the real attack?''


    Jenson thought to himself as he turned his gaze towards Evan who had dashed towards Finley the moment he made the spears manifest.


    His swing toward Finley was matched by the swordsman who used the sheath of his sword to block the strike that came from behind.


    Finley was in the process of turning around to face Evan once more when he suddenly felt magic power building up at his feet.


    "Explode."


    Evan called out calmly as a single-ringed three-meter-wide magic circle manifested underneath their feet. The magic circle glowed brightly and was about to erupt into a pir of mes, however-


    "I guess that''s enough."


    Finley spoke as he stamped his foot on the ground, shattering the earth of the pce''s training grounds, save for the spot where Ralphie and Evan were standing.


    As for the spell circle, it was shattered as there was no way a tier one magic circle could withstand the amount of magic power Finley poured in from his feet at the moment of contact with the ground.


    The sword master then walked up to Evan and knocked him on the head before scolding him lightly.


    "Don''t be suicidal, you idiot. There was no way that your pdin skill''s defences were going to be able to withstand that spell''s power."


    He then turned to the duke and continued.


    "He''s good to go."


    After this, he murmured something to himself about body odour and needing to take a bath as he jumped out of the pce''s training grounds.<sub> </sub>


    Jenson sighed and tapped his foot on the ground, pouring magic power into it to undo the effects of Finley''s actions before following behind the sword master.


    Left behind, the royal and ducal family members took a moment to recollect themselves before agreeing to reconvene at another location.


    �� �� ��


    "So, now that I''ve gotten a go-ahead from Finley, I can go over to Merdin, right?"


    Evan broke the silence in the dining hall at the pce with his question as he soundlessly dropped his cutlery and took his third ss of strawberry juice within the span of five minutes.


    "Yes, you can. However, you would not do so immediately."


    "Huh? Why?"


    "You are to participate in the uing founding festival ball before leaving for Merdin."


    Hearing the emperor''s reply to his question, Evan scanned through the memories of the original ''Evan'' and nodded his head in affirmation.


    The calendar system of this world was not much different from his original world.


    Twenty-four hours a day,


    Seven days a week,


    Thirty or Thirty-one days a month, and


    Twelve months a year.


    The names of the days and months were also the same. This made things a lot easier for Evan who really didn''t want to have to adapt to a new date system.


    The only thing that was different was the method of counting the years. Nevertheless, Evan was already familiar with this from the game.


    The current year was ''Year 1050'', making it exactly 1050 years since the previous seven heroes repelled the demon threat.


    Counting how long he had spent in this world, Evan realized that the founding ball would mark his ninth month here.


    He arrived in the first week of August and began training in the second, carrying on with this training until the week of his birthday in October.


    After that, he continued his training with Finley and Jenson until the second week of December when the ''End of year season'' began.


    He had to take a break from there until the second week of January when the ''New Year Season'' ended.


    Upon resuming the next day after the party season ended, he had the little spat with Finley that led to his training being extended by one more month.


    Sadly, his protests were shot down by the duke who was more than happy to have Finley train Evan some more.


    ''And that brings us to now, where I''m sharing dinner with the royal family.


    If you think I skipped a lot of things, then that''s your problem.''


    Evan spent a few minutes rolling on the floorughing when he found out that the Great Western Empire was founded on the first of April.


    ''An empire founded on April fool''s day, how hrious.''


    Much to his surprise, the concept of ''April Fools'', did not exist in Aidos, as such no one would ever understand how or why he found that hrious.

 Chapter 18 Movements In The Shadows

    During the period of free time that Evan had before the week of the founding ball, he decided to explore the capital of the Great Western Empire: Gerfast.


    The city was as one would expect, busy.


    It was separated into three districts, the Castle town, the Nobles district and the Commoners district.


    The streets of themoners'' district were steep and had irregr widths. They were crowded and full of obstacles preventing freefortable movement.


    However, primitive urban development regtions were put in ce, and one of them required that there should be at least one clear street in every section of the district, such that a horseman with ance across his saddle could ride without being obstructed by anything in his path.


    Any buildings or structures that interfered with thisnce had to be demolished. The houses also reflected the ranks of those living within.


    Some nobles'' and rich merchants'' mansions could look like small fortresses while most of the houses in themoners'' district were a lot smaller.


    The guilds also had their own streets. They were organizations that managed people of the same profession, like merchants were managed by the merchant''s guild and tailors by the tailor''s guilds.


    For organizations that had guilds managing them, it waspulsory to be registered before one could take jobs.


    Evan decided to make it his goal to secure a steady supply of strawberries from whatever guild was responsible for fruits and rted products.


    Even during his free time, Evan did not neglect his daily training even though Finely was not coaching him anymore.


    He understood that he would lose his touch if he cked off even a bit so he didn''t need anyone to tell him to keep himself in shape.


    Daily morning training, going out into the city and mingling withmoners while in disguise, making preparations for his endeavours after his visit to dungeon city Merdin.


    That was how Evan spent his days until the day of the Founding ball arrived.


    �� �� ��


    Underground Facility


    Unknown Ind


    March 30th


    Year 1051


    While the citizens of the great Western Empire were preparing for their country''s founding festival, a certain group of beings were also making secret preparations for their own goals.


    Inside an underground facility, somewhere on one of the small inds thatid in between the Alpha and Beta continents, ten beings sat at a long rectangr table as they listened to the reports of their operations over the past few months.


    "So, you''re saying that all attempts to make contact with the six of them have been unsessful?"


    "Yes, my lord.


    The six of them all refused to listen to anything we said, even going as far as to utilize their unique skills on the teams sent to them."


    The being seated at the head of the table, a dark-haired man that the other nine referred to as their lord, ced a hand on his chin and heaved a sigh of exasperation.


    "Even after losing most of their power over the course of the past thousand years, it doesn''t change the fact that they are still immensely powerful beings that we have to get on our side."


    As he spoke, one of the others seated at the table, a woman, spoke up in reply to his words.


    "There is a way we can get them on our side."


    "How?"


    To the dark-haired man''s question, she answered.


    "They made mention of the seventh, the eldest among them. They all said they would only listen to us if we are able to convince the seventh."


    "And where is the seventh?"


    "It took us a while but we finally found it, the answer was in our faces the whole time.


    At the bottom of dungeon city Merdin of the Alpha continent''s Great Western Empire.


    That is where the seventh is."<sub> </sub>


    Hearing her words, the others on the table all nodded in affirmation as they realized that the answer they were seeking was right in their faces the whole time.


    The dark-haired man sighed once more before giving his orders.


    "Their founding festival is close and security would be at its highest, we shall wait till they are done, only then, shall we attempt to make contact.


    Number 6, you should be able to clear that dungeon single-handedly, you shall go."


    "Yes, my lord."


    "Until then, all executives shally low. Our goal is close, we can''t mess up now."


    The other nine bowed as the dark-haired man stood up and walked out the door behind him.


    �� �� ��


    In an entirely white space, a woman wearing a white suit sat on a golden throne with multiple floating screens around her.


    Each of these screens was either showing the events happening in an unknown world or the graphs showing the growth progress of unknownponents.


    Some even had different coloured lines of code running through them as the woman''s golden eyes alternated between the screens while tapping on some with her hands.


    "So, you gave him ''Adaptive Evolution''?"


    Upon hearing that voice, the woman turned her gaze to the being who had suddenly appeared beside her. He looked no more than eighteen years of age and had silver hair with heterochromatic eyes.


    She nodded before returning her gaze to one of the screens showing lines of code.


    "A fitting power as expected of the ''goddess of Evolution''."


    He continued speaking as he tapped one of the screens and adjusted a few of the figures it was disying before walking forward with his hands behind his back.


    He looked around the white space before turning his gaze back to the woman seated on the throne behind him.


    It was at that point that she stood up after waving her hands and causing the screens around her to disappear. All except one.


    She was tall and slim with long ck hair and beautiful skin. She had a body like that of a model and a rxed attitude with no expression on her face.


    "What brings you here?"


    "Nothing much. Just wanted to see how you were faring after that stunt you pulled��but you seem better than ever."


    The woman heaved a sigh at his words and tapped on thest screen in front of her before it disappeared.


    **HUMMM!!!


    Waves of energy spread out with her at the centre as she nodded before turning her gaze back to the man and speaking.


    "As you can see, I am fine.


    Now you can get the hell out."


    "Harsh as ever, Artemisia."


    The man let out herugh as he called out the name of this woman.


    She was none other than the goddess Artemisia who was responsible for sending Evan into the world of Aidos.


    "I''m not being harsh, I just have things to do and your presence here would mess them up."


    "Things like chatting with ''Evan''? I already made a connection to that piece of power you gave to him. You called it a ''system update''?"


    Hearing his words, Artemisia frowned and replied.


    "So, you were the one who made a connection first? Patching that up was a lot of work. Don''t do that again."


    After saying that she snapped her fingers and the light of teleportation wrapped around his body, sending him out of the white space, leaving behind Artemisia who heaved a sigh once again.

 Chapter 19 Evan’s Thoughts

    Eris Main Residence, Gerfast


    Great Western Empire


    April 1st


    Year 1051


    The Great Western Empire!


    That was the name of the empire that I started with whenever I picked the ''Second'' of the ''Seven Heroes'' as my yable character.


    The ability to mimic the skills of other characters and enemies was the one reason I picked the ''Second'', 90% of the time I reset my ount.


    But to think that the game I enjoyed ying so much, ''Aidos Online'', was actually the simtion of what would have happened in another world somewhere in the universe.


    I never would have expected such a thing to happen even in a million years��provided I could live that long.


    Frankly, when I woke up and met the goddess, I was scared shitless.


    I mean, who would not be if they were suddenly whisked out of their home and tossed into some random space with a god?


    An actual deity that rules over who knows how many worlds!


    Although I feigned being calm, given the fact that she could read my thoughts, she probably figured that out.


    As for learning that ''Aidos'' actually existed and what the goddess wanted from me, I had mixed feelings about it.


    Part of me was happy that my favourite game was bing reality, while part of me was scared of the worst-case scenarios.


    What if I got killed by some random monster?


    What If the goddess went back on her word?


    What if the other god who''s on the demon''s side just decides to nuke this one?


    Such questions instantly gued my mind but I still agreed toe here.


    The reason was quite simple, I feared the possibility that even if I had refused, the goddess could just toss me in here regardless.


    In that case, my task may have been the same, but I might have not gotten any special powers or abilities.


    Hopefully, whatever goals she has would not be detrimental to me when she moves to achieve them.


    �� �� ��


    Ever since I was but a little boy, I''ve always felt that there was something significant about my name. I don''t know when it started but at one point in time, I began feeling that way.


    Aftering to this world, Aidos, and possessing the body of someone with the same name, that feeling became stronger than ever.


    There was no way in hell that it was a coincidence. That a kid named ''Evan'' just happened to have a body open for possession at the time when I was to be sent into this world.


    Such coincidences don''t happen that easily.


    Then there was my race, a race that obviously wasn''t what I originally was, a human.


    At first, I thought it was ''Evan Del Eris'', the original owner of this body who was not human, but the information I essed from the system''s archive proved me wrong.


    Up to the point of his death, ''Evan Del Eris'', was indeed a human.


    That meant that right from the very beginning, ''I'' was never a human in the first ce.


    This brought me to think about my parents back in my home world, if they were not human just like me but they were.


    I didn''t have any basis for this, but I was sure of it.


    I opened my status board and darted my gaze to the censored title on it. Whatever I really was, whatever my soul really was, it had to do with that hidden title.


    As for asking Artemisia what race I was, that was futile.


    After all, if she wanted me to know, she would not have censored it in the first ce!


    �� �� ��


    Looking at myself in the mirror with the maid ''Rei'' behind me, I heaved a sigh once more as I thought about the fact that I had to attend another one of the parties that I detested.


    Well, saying I detested them was a bit much but it didn''t change the fact that I didn''t really like going to those parties.


    Especially due to the fact that the body I was now in, was that of one of the highest ranking nobles in the Great Western Empire, a global superpower that could bepared to a certain United Group of states in some northern continent of my old world.


    ''Or maybe we are the guys right next to them who had a country spanning two continents? Or the ones who started a world war about a century ago?''


    I kept on thinking about random stuff while I was waiting for the butler toe to call me up when the carriage was ready.<sub> </sub>


    Taking a seat, I reviewed the ns I had for when Laurene, Ralphie and I returned from the Graveyard of the Arrogant.


    With the way the Duke and the Emperor were acting, it was quite hard to say that they would let Laurene and I go on weekly dungeon expeditions.


    Allowing us to go out and hunt wild monsters is even more unlikely, there are too many risks that the Duke wouldn''t want to put his sessor through, at least for now.


    Perhaps when this body grows older, but while it''s still just ten, there''s no way he''d let me go hunt monsters as much as I would like to.


    ''I guess I''m going with the n to run away and go dungeon diving myself. But this is a Ducal estate I''m tryna run from, it won''t be easy. I''d have to pick the timing right, maybe even borrow help from others.


    The problem is who to get help from...''


    |Connection Initiated|


    |Connection Confirmed|


    "Huh?"


    A blue notice box suddenly appeared in front of me, causing me to let out a surprised voice.


    "Is there a problem, young duke?"


    "��No, leave me be for now."


    I told ''Rei'' to leave and she bowed before exiting the room, allowing me to take my time to understand what was happening now.


    ''It says ''Connection Confirmed''


    Connection to who?''


    [The ''goddess Artemisia'' says it is a connection to herself.]


    ''Artemisia?''


    [The ''goddess Artemisia'' says that is indeed her name.]


    ''��''


    [The ''goddess Artemisia'' says that you should not forget you have a party to attend in less than ten minutes.]


    I stared at the floating letters in shock for a few moments before another message popped up, reminding me of the nuisance I had to deal with soon.


    ''Why?''


    [The goddess Artemisia says that if by ''Why?'', you mean ''Why she decided to contact you?'', then the answer is simple.


    She says she wishes to provide you with assistance as whatever n you are cooking up in your head would fail without her assistance.


    She also feels like you would need her help in a few other situations so she decided to create a connection between you two so she can provide assistance, when and only when she considers it ''Necessary''.]


    ''��That was one lengthy exnation, but then again I can see why you''d do that.''


    **KNOCK KNOCK!!


    I wished to chat with Artemisia more, but the knock on the door reminded me once more of the party I was to attend.


    I looked at the appearance of the 4 feet 9 inches tall ten-year-old with dark hair and dark grey eyes in the mirror before heaving a sigh and walking out of the room.


    ''Let''s do this!''


    �� �� ��


    ''Let''s NOT do this!!''


    Although I really didn''t like these parties, I could somehow bear with them. The influence of the memories of the original ''Evan'' who grew up seeing these as normal also helped.


    However, this situation is entirely different!


    Here I was, an hour after thinking I could deal with this party and be done with it in quickly, with my left hand on Laurene''s waist and my right hand entwined with hers as the two of us danced a slow waltz on the ballroom floor.


    Around us were dozens of other noblemen and women, dancing along with the music, and even though I really didn''t understand ssical music, I had to admit that the song was beautiful.


    It would all have been perfect, if I didn''t have to deal with the death re that wasing from the blonde-haired, green-eyed teenager who was dancing with his fianc��e no more than five metres away from Laurene and me.


    "Pfft."


    The fact that both Laurene and his fianc��e noticed his actions and found it funny didn''t make the situation any better.


    Somehow, he was able to prevent everyone else on the dance floor, save the two girls, from noticing his actions while giving me a re that could kill me ten times over if res could kill.


    Staring at the bright lights hanging from the ceiling of the ballroom, I thought about how the party began and how things got to this stage.

 Chapter 20 An Hour Earlier…

    The carriage ride from the Duke''s mansion in the capital to the royal pce was a short one that took barely 15 minutes, nevertheless, it was still as ufortable as ever for Evan.


    While internally cursing the coachman that made the foolish decision of speeding down a hilly road, Evan was led to the waiting room of the pce by the chambein.


    While he had expected to enter the hall along with the Ducal couple and their elder son, he was told to wait behind as he was to apany the princess into the banquet hall.


    ''Oh yeah, there was the engagement thing between us.''


    Evan shrugged as he knew any attempt at refusing was futile and would only end up causing more problems for him so he calmly took a seat in the waiting room while savouring the snacks the maids prepared for him.


    "Hmm? This is quite different from the normal taste. It''s a bit more on the sweeter side.


    Whose idea was this?"


    Evan posed a question to the maid as he cleaned his hands with the tissues that were provided, however, the maid seemed to be hesitating to answer for some reason.


    "It was my idea. Why''d you ask?"


    The door opened and the person Evan had been waiting for walked in while saying those words. She dismissed the maid who worriedly looked at her before bowing and leaving the room.


    "You? I thought it was the chef, I wanted to poach them."


    Both Laurene and the chambein who walked in behind her were stunned as they heard the Duke''s son casually talk about poaching the royal family''s chef, in the Castle of all ces!


    However, as if he didn''t understand what was wrong, the young duke only stared at the two of them with a questioning look on his face.


    "You really amaze me with your words sometimes."


    Laurene only shook her head before going on to take a seat beside the boy as the two proceeded to wait for the rest of the royal family to be ready.


    The ten-year-old Laurene was dressed in a purple ball gown dress that had pearl powder sprinkled over the hem of the dress, making it shimmer like a star whenever it caught the light.


    Her chestnut-coloured hair that had grown long enough to reach her lower back was tied up in a ponytail with a tiara ced over her head.


    Looking at her appearance that made her look more mature than her age would suggest, Evan shrugged his shoulders and spoke offhandedly.


    "You look cuter than usual today."


    "What?"


    The princess who was suddenlyplimented couldn''t help but verbally express her shock, with her disbelief showing all over her face.


    "Say that again."


    "Huh? Why?"


    "Just say it!"


    Evan gave the princess who was suddenly holding his face a weird gaze as he repeated his earlier words.


    "...Oh, my goddess, you actually mean it."


    "Of course, I actually me-! Wait up! Did you just use your lie detection on me?!"


    In response to his question, Laurene only gave him a look saying ''Why are you asking the obvious?'', resulting in the young hero''s brow twitching in annoyance.


    "Are pigs flying outside or something? To think Evan actuallyplimented me."


    Ignoring his obvious displeasure, Laurene continued muttering to herself with a look of disbelief on her face.


    "Why is it so surprising for you that I threw out apliment?"


    "How many balls have we been to together, about half a dozen and you have never spoken a word ofpliment to either mine or anyone else''s appearance before.


    Of course, I''d be surprised when you suddenly do it!"


    Her words struck a chord within Evan. The young hero wanted to refute them but a quick browse through his memories showed that she was right and he ended up keeping quiet.


    "Evan has finally learned how to be polite. Oh, how they grow up so fast..."


    Laurene, however, went on to put on a performance, acting like a mother who was happy yet sad at seeing her son grow up quickly.


    "Just what do you think of me?"


    Hearing Evan''s question, Laurene''s act abruptly ended as she stared at Evan with a serene gaze and asked.


    "Do you really want to know?"


    Her sudden shift made Evan slightly scared to know the answer to his question.


    "Why on Earth did you phrase the question like that?"


    Earth?"


    "Sorry, I meant Aidos."


    While the two were ''bantering'' with each other, the chambein was staring at them with cked jaws, wondering if this was really how the princess should be interacting with her potential fianc��.


    He only snapped out of it when the rest of the royal family arrived and proceeded to do his job of announcing their entrances.


    [Entering, The Second Star of the Empire, Her Royal Highness the Princess, and the Young Duke of the Eris Dukedom.]


    Therge double doors opened wide to reveal the massive banquet hall, alongside the hundreds of eyes that turned to Evan and Laurene instantly.


    Nevertheless, the two paid them no mind as they gracefully walked into the hall at their own pace. The chambein''s voice rang out once more, announcing the entrance of Laurene''s Elder brother who was in a separate waiting room.


    [Entering, The First Star of the Empire, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Apanied by Young Lady of the Antebellum Marquisate.]


    Hearing the name of thedy apanying Laurene''s brother made Evan remember a certain part of the game where a certain group of demon-worshipping nuisances caused a war between the two great empires.


    Her family was involved and they got him involved too, causing the poor chap to die in the earlier stages of the war.


    Even before that, they were already involved in one of the disasters that gued the northern part of the Empire.


    Deciding to give the young prince a warningter, Evan stopped and turned to face the two thrones ced on a small tform at the edge of the hall.


    [Entering, the Sun and Moon of the Empire, His Royal Majesty the Emperor, Apanied by Her Royal Majesty the Empress.]


    After the chambein''s words, Evan turned his gaze to the entrance of the hall where the emperor and the empress slowly walked into the hall with rxed smiles on their faces.


    The emperor, Rudeus Hayes was a man in histe thirties, only a year older than the Empress, udia Hayes, who was the mother of Laurene and her brother, the crown prince, Richard.


    The emperor then proceeded to give a small speech that Evan honestly could not remember a word of.


    Afterwards, the ball officially kicked off, starting with a dance by the Royal Couple. As soon as they finished the first song, it was Evan and Laurene, alongside Richard and his finance, Lady Myra Antebellum.


    Since he could not avoid the dance, he decided to enjoy it, thanking the memories of the original Evan for making him not embarrass himself on the dance floor.


    "You seem to have gotten better thanst time."


    Laurene remarked as she and Evan moved along with the beat of the music, her dress shimmering in the light every time she moved, catching the attention of more than just a few people.


    "Thanks to Finley, he told me something about footwork techniques also helping in the ballroom so he forced me to learn his."


    The princess chuckled lightly upon hearing his answer. She was about to speak again when she noticed Evan momentarily stiffen before moving again like normal.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "...Your brother."


    Laurene peeked over Evan''s shoulder and met eyes with her elder brother who gave her a sweet smile.


    However, when he turned and she met eyes with Lady Antebellum who could barely conceal herughter, she instantly understood the situation.


    "Pfft."


    "Is this really funny to you?"


    Evan asked as he and Laurene moved in sync, his gaze asionally wandering to the tform at the edge of the hall where the emperor and the empress sat.


    ''Did they notice...?''


    Not long after, their dance ended, with Evan thanking his stars that he was finally going to be free from Richard''s gaze, only to find the Crown Prince making his way over to where he and Laurene were standing.


    ''Oy, shouldn''t you be strengthening your ties with nobles and stuff like that?! Why are youing over here?''


    Sadly, Evan was not exactly in a ce where he could voice out those thoughts, so he could only ept his unfortunate fate.


    "Evening to you, your highness. And Lady Antebellum."


    "Greetings, Lord Eris.


    You can just call me Myra, like Princess Laurene does."


    Myra Antebellum was a beautiful youngdy with pale skin, big dark blue eyes and long light blonde hair that reaches her hips, with long bangs falling on the front and a fringe directed to the left.


    She was wearing a long dark blue dress that matched her eye colour, and also the colour of the Crown Prince''s pocket handkerchief.


    After greeting Evan, she went on to chat with Laurene, with the two of them leaving the two boys to themselves.


    "Lord Evan..."


    "Yes, your highness."


    "Drop the formalities already, you sound awkward."


    Evan''s eyes widened upon hearing the Prince''s words, however, he recovered from his initial shock and nodded in affirmation.


    He took a nce at the Crown Prince who was watching his sister and fianc��e chat with some other nobledies while swirling the contents of the ss in his hand around.


    |Name- Richard Hayes


    Race- Human


    Age- 15


    Level- 95


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- Crown Prince of the Great Western Empire, [], [].


    ss - Swordsman


    Health �C D


    Energy �C C-


    Strength �C D+


    Agility �C D+<sub> </sub>


    Durability �C D+


    Intelligence �C D+


    Condition- Skeptical.


    Magic Tiers- Light Tier 2, Shadow Tier 0.


    Skills- Swordsmanship (High), Light Magic (High), Shadow Magic (Low).


    Unique Skills- Light deworks, []. |


    ''95? That''s quite high.''


    He was staring at Richard''s status board in surprise when the Prince suddenly turned his gaze to Evan.


    "You seem to have something to say?"


    "Hmm? Come to think of it, I do. Why on Ea-Aidos, were you ring at me for like half the dance?"


    Evan reverted back to his casual way of speaking as Richard had told him to drop the formalities, slightly surprising the prince at how easily he discarded his etiquette.


    Nevertheless, Richardposed himself and replied to Evan''s question with a question of his own.


    "Do you really not know?"


    "Would I be asking if I did?"


    Evan shot back in a deadpan voice, his hands moving to pick up a ss from the tray in the hands of a passing waiter.


    After taking a sip, he suddenly had a sh of realization as he turned to Richard and asked.


    "You wouldn''t happen to be under the misconception that I am gunning for your little sister, now would you?"


    "Are you not?"


    Upon hearing Richard''s words, Evan realised why the Crown Prince had been giving him the death res and chuckled lightly.


    "Prince Richard, you are thoroughly mistaken.


    Why would you even make such an assumption? Are you perhaps one of those with the Legendary ''Sister Complex''?


    I''d never met one before but to think the first one I''d meet would be your highness."


    Evan nodded to himself with a convinced look on his face, as if he had just made one of the greatest discoveries.


    "Of course, I''m not!"


    Richard couldn''t help but retort loudly, his voice attracting the attention of a few people around them who were stunned to suddenly hear the crown prince raising his voice.


    Seeing as he had lost hisposure, Richard facepalmed, taking a deep breath to calm himself before asking Evan.


    "Has anyone told you that you excel at pissing people off?"


    "You certainly would not be the first."


    Evan shrugged his shoulders as he replied, his gaze turning in the direction of his brother Arnold, who was being surrounded by more than just a fewdies.


    ''So, he''s popr, huh?''


    "...really hope you don''t mess this up."


    It was then that he realised he had zoned out on Richard,pletely missing majority of what he was saying.


    He was about to point this out, but Richard''s next statement made him swallow his words.


    "Don''t lead my sister down the wrong path, I really don''t want to be forced do something I don''t want to do.


    Something, that would not end well for a lot of people."


    rm bells rang in his head upon hearing those words, but for some reason he just stood there and watched the Prince give his ss to a waiter and walk over to Myra who wasing over with Laurene.


    It was only until Laurene had arrived before of him and waved her hand in front of his face, did he snap out of his daze.


    "Are you okay?"


    "Yeah."


    His gaze turned to one of the balcony doors, just in time to see the Crown prince walk out in hand with Myra.


    "Just that your brother said some strange things before leaving."


    Evan wanted to ponder on Richard''s words, but he caught sight of one of the people he wanted to meet and decided to put the Prince''s matter behind him.


    "I want to go meet with Duke Cheverton.


    He''s someone who would be affected by ''those bastards'' schemes and also one of the few people who could mess up all the ns they have in the great western empire."


    "By ''those bastards'', do you mean the ''Demonic Hand''?"


    "Yep."


    Evan began to fill Laurene in on the little details he was barely able to as the both of them made their way towards the man known as the ''Duke of the North'' and the ''Third of the Ten Great Swordsmen''.


    �� �� ��


    "You seem more worried about her than usual, what happened?"


    Myra Antebellum posed this question to her fianc��, Crown Prince Richard of the Great Western Empire.


    "No, it''s not her."


    "Then who? Perhaps lord Evan? Your gaze on him during the first dance was quite intense."


    She chuckled lightly as she took a seat on the bench on the balcony, before stretching her hands to pull Richard and make him sit beside her.


    "Laurene seemed fine, in fact, she was even more cheerful than usual, just like how she was before. It made the otherdies quite surprised."


    "Is that so?"


    Richard asked with a hint of surprise, before shaking his head and taking a seat beside her. The next moment he ced one hand at Myra''s back and the other at the back of her knees.


    "Huh?"


    Before she could even make heads or tails of the situation, he abruptly lifted her up and ced her on hisp, his hand moving from behind her knees to the side of her face.


    "That''s a matter forter. For now, let''s focus on ourselves..."


    As he trailed off, he slowly brought his face closer to hers and nted a light kiss on her lips. Upon pulling back and seeing her looking at him in a daze, a small smile blossomed on Richard''s face.


    Myra''s cheeks slowly turned crimson red, being especially visible on her pale skin, eliciting a smallugh from Richard as he closed in for another kiss.


    However, ...


    "Richard, ar-Whoa!"


    Arnold chose this of all times toe to look for Richard, walking in on the scene of the couple making out with each other


    "Oh, didn''t know you guys were...''socializing''.


    You can just pretend I was never here and carry on."


    After saying those words, he was about to backstep out the door, however, Myra suddenly jumped down from Richard''sp and ran out the open door, back into the hall.


    "Haaa..."


    Richard heaved a sigh of exasperation while Arnold shrugged his shoulders and walked into the balcony after closing the door.


    "Sorry bout that, didn''t think you guys were in the middle of ''that''..."


    "No worries. It''s just gonna take a while before she can let me try anything outside again."


    "Is that bad?"


    "Not really."


    Arnold passed one of the sses in his hands to Richard who picked it up before taking a sip.


    The two teenagers stared at the sky in silence, until Richard suddenly spoke up.


    "Hey, are ''we'' really necessary?"


    "To be frank with you, I can''t answer that question for you."


    Hearing his friend''s reply, Richard clenched his fist as he spoke with gritted teeth.


    "They''re just kids, carrying a burden that kids their age should not.


    I admit I kinda overreacted when I was talking to him earlier but still, if we leave them as they are, they''d turn out well.


    Especially when we''ve confirmed that they are still ''themselves''.


    What could possibly go wrong?"


    "A lot of things. In fact, things might have already begun to go wrong."


    Arnold took a sip of his drink before replying to Richard''s question. He frowned involuntarily as he remembered the discovery he made a few months ago, one he wished he never made.


    ''Even though I distanced myself because of my situation, his absence still hit me harder than I had expected.''


    He was brought out of his sea of thoughts when Richard posed another question to him.


    "Is this fate''s idea of a joke on me or something? Of all people, why did it have to be my sister?"


    Arnold gazed at his friend with a hint of envy as he thought inwardly.


    ''At least, your sister is still ''there''.''


    He shook his head, as if that would get depressing the thoughts out, before walking towards Richard and holding up his ss.


    "We''re in this together."


    Richardughed depreciatingly as he knocked his ss against Arnold''s while echoing thetter''s words.


    "We''re in this together."


    The two friends downed their sses as they stared up at the night sky. Wishing upon the stars that they never have to fulfil their dreaded fates.

 Chapter 21 Onwards To Merdin

    Capital City Gerfast


    Great Western Empire


    April 6th


    Year 1051


    It was a fine Friday morning, five days after the Founding ball where Evan spent the rest of the night meeting with vassals of Duke Cheverton and a few other nobles from the southern parts of the Empire.


    Sadly, he could not exin his full ns to Laurene as majority of his ns relied on his knowledge of the possible future, something that he found that he was unable to disclose at will.


    ''Maybe it''s like the restriction on the mystic eyes. Laurene probably has to have an idea of what I''m talking about before I can tell her without restrictions.''


    Various kinds of gossip had spread across high society by the next day, about what ''Noble A'' implied to ''Noble B'' by staring at him for ''n'' period of time during ''x'' section of the ball.


    The young hero was baffled as to how the nobledies could spend hours talking about things like this.


    ''Oh well, it''s not my cup of tea.


    My main priority is the dungeon. I''ve managed to arrange it such that we end up going to the dungeon on the first day, that way we can use ''that'' method to get to where Pride is sealed.''


    After several warnings to be careful by the Emperor and the Duke, Evan and Laurene, alongside Ralphie and a small toon of knights, set out to the dungeon city of Merdin, a 2-day Carriage ride from the Capital, Gerfast.


    As for Evan, there was only one thought in his mind;


    ''Fuck, Carriage ride again.''


    The trip was uneventful to say the least, they arrived at Merdin on Sunday morning with no particr problems besides Evan''sints about the carriage being ufortable.


    Other than that, nothing happened. They spent the nights in the towns that existed between the capital and the City of Merdin.


    Upon their arrival, the Noble ruling the city, Count Merdin, personally came out to receive the both of them.


    Besides Raplhie, they were apanied by a toon of knights, courtesy of the overprotective Emperor. Evan on the other hand found it as nothing more than an inconvenience as this attracted attention to them.


    In a few hours, word had spread around the city that the Princess hade over to the Dungeon City.


    Evan snuck out while Laurene and Raplhie were speaking to Count Merdin, leaving only a note saying that he woulde back at dinner.


    The dungeon city Merdin was one of the major cities in the game, it was also the ce the Seven Deadly Sins began their attack after they were woken up from their seals.


    ''Those demon worshippers are gonna be a hassle in the future huh?''


    Evan sighed as he remembered the ones responsible for awakening them, a group of demon worshippers who had full records of the events of a thousand years ago.


    They were one of the enemies of the previous even heroes too, as they were the traitors who betrayed mankind during the fight and erged the dimensional rift, allowing for peak-ranked demons toe through.


    They were fanatics who believed the demons were the ones to grant salvation to Aidos rather than the goddess Artemisia who had forsaken them.


    ''How did they know the goddess didn''t care about them in the first ce?''


    The real goals of their leaders were never made known, even to the previous seven heroes. However, it didn''t change the fact that they were a thorn in the side.


    The information given to him by the system and his knowledge from the game told him that it was possible for the actions of these individuals to elerate the speed at which the dimensional rift reopened.


    ''Or rather, increasing the speed at which the rift reopened was their goal from the start. The chaos and destruction they caused were just a means to an end.''


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says it''s a pity he would not get to witness the scene of destruction from when the poor soul ''corrupted'' by McEnda would rise again.]


    ''Dude! Those are Spoilers!''


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says that it does not really matter. He also adds that he is of the faction that cares not for spoilers before a movie.]


    ''This guy!''


    Evan engaged in a mental conversation with the Higher Entity as he walked around the streets of the dungeon city.


    Eventually, his head began aching him once more and the system forcefully terminated the connection.


    Without the constant notifications popping up in front of his face, Evan could finally concentrate on his small sightseeing trip.


    The streets were busy with the voices of the town criers, the church bells and the traders calling out their wares. There were many fast-food sellers selling food made with both animal and monster meat.<sub> </sub>


    Due to the magic power contained in monster meat, it was a delicacy when cooked and eaten, some monster meats were even better eaten raw.


    With adventurers going into the dungeon daily, the town nevercked a supply of monster meat or materials.


    Evan went to the adventurer''s guild; the organization responsible for managing adventurers to get himself registered. He picked a random one out of the many adventurer''s guild buildings in the city.


    It was easy to find the buildings as there was a giant model sword on the roof of the buildings, they were also one of the tallest in the city.


    As most people could not read properly, shops usually had a huge model showing the trade and services offered. People of the same trade usually worked in the same street, so all Evan had to do was enter the street that had the most people carrying weapons.


    The adventurer''s guild buildings had an inbuilt restaurant and bar inside, this was for adventurers who hadpleted the quests they epted to kick back and enjoy.


    As it was noon, there were not many adventurers in the guild as most of them usually returned in the evening, some at midnight.


    Entering the guild, Evan instantly attracted the attention of the few people drinking and chatting around within. Some ignored him and continued what they were doing, some watched him intently and some even made bets on whether he was going to register as an adventurer or not.


    He ignored all of these and walked up to a free counter, appraising the receptionist there the moment he sat down.


    |Name- Martha


    Race- Human


    Level- 150


    Titles- Adventurer''s guild Receptionist, Ex-C Rank Adventurer.


    ss - Brawler


    Health �C C-


    Energy - C-


    Strength �C B-


    Agility �C C+


    Durability �C C+


    Intelligence - C-


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers- Earth Tier 2.


    Skills- Close Combat Martial Arts, Body Enhancement, Instinct.


    Unique Skills- None. |


    ''Fairly strong for an Ex C- Rank.''


    "It''s quite rude to appraise someone without permission, you know?"


    She spoke up immediately Evan appraised her. Possessing the rare Instinct skill that let one respond to certain stimuli innately, she was able to sense Evan''s appraisal.


    "Sorry, just a habit."


    "Well don''t do it to another adventurer, they might pick a fight with you."


    "I can beat them up if they do, provided they are low ranked."


    His words evoked an amused reaction from Martha, as for the low-ranked adventurers who heard it, they were far from amused.


    "Huh? Whaddya mean by that kid?"


    "You looking down on us or something?"


    In response to the two who attempted to confront Evan, he just stared at them with aplicated look on his face.


    ''I read this in fantasy novels but to think a temte event would ur here. What the hell is with your world Artemisia?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' wishes for you to step back so she can take out the trash.]

 Chapter 22 Graveyard Of The Arrogant, First Floor

    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' wishes for you to step back so she can take out the trash.]


    Seeing the message that appeared in front of him, Evan broke into a fit ofughter. However, to the adventurers in front of him, it seemed he wasughing at them.


    "Gimme a second, Ha, didn''t see thating, worry not I''d take out the trash myself."


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' thanks you for ridding her world of two pieces of trash in advance.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' promises to reward you if you seed in your quest tomorrow]


    "Hmm, that''s good."


    He wasn''t surprised she knew of his ns, she could read his thoughts after all. It was only natural she was aware he nned to form a contract with the demon, Pride.


    Evan hadpletely ignored the two adventurers in front of him, which infuriated them further, with one of them punching him in a fit of rage.


    Easily dodging and sending a punch of his own, the poor F-Ranked adventurer was sent flying by a few meters. This shocked both hispanion and the rest of the people in the guild building who were watching.


    He took advantage of the second one''s shock to send him flying with a punch too, he then left a statement that shocked the onlookers even more.


    "I''d have killed you if it wasn''t a crime. Or wait, isn''t it a crime to attack a noble?"


    It was then that most of the onlookers took a look at Evan''s clothes, they were obviously high-quality clothes and had to be expensive.


    He was about to say another word when the door opened and two people walked in, both familiar faces to Evan.


    "Hey, Laurene! You came to register too?"


    "Obviously, you can''t enter the dungeon without registering."


    "Oh yeah, that was true. Anyway, is it a crime to attack a noble? And what''s the punishment?"


    "Huh? Yeah, it is why are you aski-!"


    It was then Laurene finally noticed the two men lying on the floor, she sighed in exasperation as she stepped over them and walked up to Evan only to give him a knock on the head.


    "What was that for?!"


    "Knowing you, I bet you said or did something insulting to them that made them react that way. Seriously Evan, when would you start acting like the duke''s son you are."


    Her casual words revealed his identity to the onlookers, they had already guessed he was a noble, but to think he was the son of a duke.


    The next thought that came to everyone''s minds was the identity of Laurene, who just knocked the duke''s son on the head.


    Martha looked at the two skeptically, she then remembered what Evan called her.


    ''He definitely said ''Laurene'', I heard that princess Laurene arrived at the city this morning and there''s only one duke''s son named Evan.


    He''s the one who''s rumoured to be engaged with princess Laurene. If that''s the case then these two are definitely the princess and the heir to the dukedom.''


    Her thoughts were then confirmed when the guild master came running down the stairs.


    "Your Highness, Young Duke, Sir Raplhie, forgive my tardiness."


    ''Sir Ralphie! That''s one of the ten great swordsmen of the empire.''


    There was a small Uproar as he said that, many began to feel pity for the two adventurers who were lying on the ground.


    Evan just walked over their bodies and greeted the guild master, he then followed Laurene and Ralphie to his office, not before waving Martha goodbye.


    "See youter Miss Martha!"


    The guild master took note of this and decided to make Martha the exclusive receptionist for Evan whenever he came to their guild.


    The registrations werepleted without a hitch and the trio returned to the residence of Count Merdin, to rest and prepare for the dungeon exploration scheduled for the next day.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    On the Last floor of the ''Graveyard of the Arrogant'', a troll seated on a throne of bones opened up its eyes.


    It foresaw dangering towards it and decided to ready itself to face the threat.


    Standing up from its throne, it looked at the door to thest room of the dungeon behind it, where a lone sword resided.


    �󡡡󡡡�<sub> </sub>


    Dungeon City Merdin


    Great Western Empire


    April 9th


    Year 1051


    Evan woke up as early as 6am in the morning. He had been doing this for the past seven months so his body was already used to it. He readied himself for his first dungeon expedition, putting on armour and arming himself.


    The armour he put on was a bit special as it had a feature that allowed him to eject des of various lengths from various parts of his body.


    As he put on this custom-made armour, he thought about the fact that he was about to take the lives of other living beings, besides the insects he hated with his entire being.


    However, he discovered he did not feel anything towards this due to the memories of the being who had murdered countless humans and demons alike, the previous ''Second''.


    ''I should be more nervous or freaked out but I''m calm��so calm it''s creeping me out.''


    Those were his thoughts as he made his way out of the count''s mansion to wait for Ralphie and Laurene.


    About 30 minutester, the duo emerged from the residence and they all made their way to the dungeon, they carried supplies with them for the possibility of them spending more than one day in the dungeon.


    However, Evan had no thoughts of sleeping in the dungeon. He nned to achieve all his goals in one day, getting his mystic eyes to stage one and gaining the sword of pride.


    By 8 am, They had arrived at the dungeon entrance.


    The dungeon entrance was like a naturally formed cave in a rock. There was a gate with a guard in front of it who checked that they had the permit to enter the dungeon and let them through afterwards.


    The trio entered the dungeon and were sent to a random spot on the first floor.


    The dungeon floors were veryrge and sometimes the floors could be asrge as small towns. Upon entering the dungeon, each party was sent to a random point on the first floor.


    There was a floor master every five floors and if one had previously cleared the floor, they could take the stairs down to the next without having to fight the floor master again.


    It was also impossible for one to descend to a floor they had not cleared without clearing the floor above it.


    The monsters faced on the first floor of the dungeon varied depending on the area one was sent to. For Evan and his group, they were sent to the territory of insect-type monsters.


    Looking at the human-sized mantis in front of him, Evan dered his hatred for bugs internally before speeding towards it with two swords in hand and a short spear strapped to his waist.


    "Paha!"


    With a strange shout, Evan''s body flew across the air. The moment his razor-sharp kicknded on the mantis''s head, its head burst with an unpleasant ''PUK'' sound. It was a refreshingughable insta-kill.


    The area full of insect monsters fell into silence again. They didn''t seem to think that theirrade will die so easily.


    However, that was brief. The monster''s gazes focused on the human that killed the Big Mantis.


    **KIK!


    **KIIK KIK!


    **KUIIIIIK!


    Perhaps because theirradery was strong, even the monsters that attacked Laurene became conscious of Evan and turned their bodies towards him and showed off their hostility. Their numbers were no less than 40.


    While looking at that, Evan spoke with a calm voice.


    "Now that I think about it. I didn''t learn how to fight groups."


    "You''re saying that now?!"


    Using Laurene''s words as signal, Evan dashed out. The insect monsters also moved as if they were waiting for that moment.


    The first one toe at him was a pill bug which rolled itself up to roll towards him! Above it, there was a fly-looking thing that flew towards him while pping its wings unpleasantly.


    He burst the fly''s head first by throwing his first sword at it, then he took out the short spear from his waist and smashed it towards the pill bug.


    With a refreshing sound that sounded like splitting watermelons, the pill bug''s carapace burst away.


    "Above!"

 Chapter 23 Graveyard Of The Arrogant, First Floor II

    As Laurene shouted out, Evan looked up.


    They were giant mosquitoes seeming like the fly''srades.


    And it was 3 at once!


    Evan jumped using the pill bug''s corpse as foothold while clicking his tongue. After snapping the mosquito''s dangerously developed mouth, he swung his sword to break its head.


    At that moment, one of them swiftly went behind him and tried to bite him. Its mouth touched his back the moment he realized it, but unfortunately, it failed to see his back.


    For a low-level mosquito to pierce it, the tough armour he wore had broken its mouth.


    "How dare you!"


    While letting go of the mosquito''s corpse, he jumped backwards and threw his short spear.


    When the short spear, which hit cleanly on the mosquito''s mouth and smashed its head just like that and was shot down, the remaining one came at him with hostile pping sounds, but even its tube was grabbed by Evan and could only be swung around.


    "I''m not even doing anything here."


    When he turned his gaze while ignoring Laurene''s mutterings, coincidentally there was a mantis that looked exactly the same as the mantis he killed first, but just 1.5 times bigger, in front of him.


    Immediately after he recognized that mantis, its scythes which shined dangerously, swooshed at him with no breaks.


    "Tch!"


    Evan, who limboed the scythe threw the second sword backwards in that position to sever the breath of the fly that flew at him from another direction. And when his 2 hands became free like that, he went and did a back tumbling just like that to distance himself from the big mantis.


    **KUOOOOOOOOOON!


    Just where did they hide beforeing out?


    Flies, mosquitoes, mantises, pill bugs, centipedes and even cockroaches! He moved his body while clicking his tongue.


    "Heh!"


    He grabbed his two remaining swords from the ground and swung them without restraint to break open the insects'' heads. The insects that came like a swarm of bees fell powerlessly like mosquitoes in front of mosquito repellent incense.


    [Level Up]


    The body fluids of the insects soaked him but he didn''t mind. What if they were insects? The important thing now was the fact that those monsters were opponents that he could bring out his techniques from the seven months of training!


    Evan, who rampaged like a crazy storm inside the monsters, was already in a state of half selflessness.


    And when some time passed.


    Something yellow shed in front of his eyes.


    "Mm?"


    The honeybee which was about to sting him could not even scream before falling onto the ground. When Evan raised his head, he met his eyes with Laurene who held his out towards him, no, to be exact, to the honeybee which copsed over the countless insect corpses.


    "You finally decided to join the fun!"


    "Stop speaking nonsense and kill those monsters!"


    As Laurene''s point was truly reasonable, Evan cleaned out the monsters with effort even while pouting. Laurene also emitted lightning bolts from her hands and attacked the monsters steadily. It was a truly strong destructive power.


    When Laurene joined the fray, the situation settled down soon. There were not many monsters in the first ce, and her attacks also had the power to kill monsters in one strike.


    "Whoa, the efficiency is awesome, I''m already level 25."


    "Lucky you, I just got to 13."


    Hearing the two talk about their levels made Ralphie who was hidden raise an eyebrow.


    ''Even if their levels are low, I don''t remember it being that easy to advance 4 levels.''


    However, Evan and Laurene had already ran off before he could address his thoughts, causing him to heave a sigh as he ran after them.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Evan continuously jumped into groups of monsters to kill them all as he had only one thing on his mind.<sub> </sub>


    ''Level Up!''


    After killing a few dog-like monsters, he took a rest and opened up his knapsack, taking out a magic potion that had the effect of recovering the stamina of the drinker.


    The moment he downed the potion, 5 dog monsters, which were distancing themselves from him and only watched while on guard, attacked him simultaneously.


    Left leg, right leg, right arm, left shoulder, head.


    Their figures of attacking different parts of his body when assaulting him reminded him of a certain bullying martial art.


    When he saw that, the move Evan chose was attacking.


    If he fell back, then his posture would be unstable and be in a state where he would receive continuous attack easily; and if he defended, then he will get bitten somewhere.


    Stepping out with his right foot, he leaned forward and shot his first sword to smash the head of the one aiming for his right leg, with its corpse still stuck on the sword, he swung it and stuck the one aiming for his left leg.


    However, by that time, the third dog was already within 10cm of his left shoulder. A trajectory that wouldn''t hit even if he swung the sword.


    He let go of his left hand holding the first sword and swung his arm, intending to punch it. At that moment, a lightning bolt struck the dog monster and killed it instantly.


    He retracted his left arm to hold the second sword with both of his hands, and he smashed hard on the ground with the sword while stepping out with his left foot.


    After getting rid of the dog''s corpse with that shock, He struck upwards with both the 4th and 5th dog in the trajectory which were about to bite his head and right arm respectively.


    The moment after the sharp sword de shined, the two''s bodies snapped in half and was trashed onto the ground.


    [Level Up]


    "Finally, level 27, this is good for the first floor."


    Evan said as he sat down and rested while checking his status board.


    |Name- Evan Del Eris


    Race - ###e# ###s###e#


    Gender - Male


    Age - 10


    Level- 27


    Existence Level - Bronze


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman


    Health �C D-


    Energy �C D-


    Strength �C E+


    Agility �C E+


    Durability �CE+


    Intelligence- E+


    Condition- Lightly Fatigued


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 1, Other Attributes Tier 0


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry, Adaptive Evolution, Blessing Of Destruction.|


    ''I still haven''t mimicked a skill, I guess I''d do that on the lower floors.''

 Chapter 24 Bear Hunting!

    The bear monster with a body that was obviouslyrger than normal roared loudly due to the pain it felt.


    That was natural, after all, Laurene was attacking it with a tier two Lightning Magic Spell.


    Over the course of her six-and-a-half month training, she learnt how to cast tier two spellsfortably and could dish out about 5 before running out of magic.


    She decided to use one of those 5 due to the monster she was faced with, a bear monster that erged its size and ignored all her tier-one lightning magic.


    Suddenly, there was a sword stabbed into the bear''s open mouth and it roared even more loudly in pain.


    Evan had used his concealment skill.


    He discovered that his concealment skill could also let him conceal his presence so he used it the moment Laurene got the attention of the monster.


    Unless Evan attacked ''first'', the bear wouldn''t recognize him so while the bear tilted its head in confusion due to having noticed something, Evan stabbed the sword in its wide-open mouth.


    "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!"


    The brown bear screamed the loudest it had since its birth.


    Was it only that?


    A huge hole appeared on its tongue and at least several tens of litres of blood was plopping onto the ground.


    Evan kicked off the ground again. Immediately after, the bear''s thick front paw smashed into the exact same ce, and the concrete copsed with a booming sound.


    The bear then erged its front paw and attempted to hit Evan in the air. When it was about to strike Evan again, he somersaulted backwards and flew down head first, sticking the sword into its front paw.


    In addition to Evan''s strength, on top of the direction of the paw itself, the sword momentarily pierced deep into the front paw.


    A violent shock passed through his body due to rebound, but he instead used that to pull the sword out of its front paw and jump into the air just like that.


    The enormous amount of blood from its front paw scattered in the air to make a rainbow, and Evan was even higher up in the air, his figure was like a dolphin swimming in the skies.


    His grand and fantastic movements, which made one wonder if it was really the movements of a human, made Laurene and Ralphie dumbfoundedly look in his direction.


    "Woohoo! It''s really fun as expected!"


    "Don''t enjoy it!"


    The bear, which had a refreshing hole pierced into both its tongue and front paw, couldn''t win against the pain and was intimidated. However, Evan, who jumped high due to the rebound, didn''t have any thoughts to let it eat some aspirin.


    He activated his concealment skill the moment he was out of the bear''s line of sight.


    ''Time to end this.''


    While muttering with a bit of confidence, he held the sword tight with both of his hands and aimed at the head of the bear which was thrashing around violently.


    There was no way a human without wings could fly �C his body started dropping.


    At that moment, Evan focused all his body weight on the sword. His body figure was simr to that of a fairly tall ten-year-old, but his muscles, which were condensed andpressed due to the workout they had been put through for months, carried considerable weight.


    The bear howled in pain and was thrashing around. However, despite the fact that the bear may go out of his range if he was a bitte, Evan was calm.


    It was because he could just attack when he was on the ground as his concealment would remain active since he did not hit the bear.


    Due to the amount of blood it had spilt, it was also unable to smell him because of the thick smell of blood around.


    ''I can do it! Let''s remember the first time I seeded in striking Finely sessfully! �C he thought,


    ''With all my strength...Nooooooow!!"


    He extended his sword outwards.


    The sword which contained all of Evan''s strength and weight struck deep into the brown bear''s head.


    "KAA!!"


    The bear screamed a single syble. And didn''t move anymore.


    "Don''t tell me he actually killed it like that?"


    Therge body of the brown bear, which had lost the strength to move, started leaning towards the ground. Evan became urgent and desperately pulled out the sword embedded in its head and jumped beforending on the ground.


    Immediately after, with a boom that was simr to the sound of a bomb, the body of the brown bear copsed.


    Laurene looked at this and asked him the one question he did not want to hear.


    "Did it die?"<sub> </sub>


    Evan instantly rushed towards her and covered her mouth.


    "Don''t ever say that again!"


    Fortunately, the monster was already dead, Evan could see the level-up notification informing him that he had levelled up to level 29.


    |Name- Evan Del Eris


    Race - ###e# ###s###e#


    Gender - Male


    Age - 10


    Level- 29


    Existence Level - Bronze


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman


    Health �C D-


    Energy �C D-


    Strength �C D-


    Agility �C E+


    Durability �CE+


    Intelligence- E+


    Condition- Lightly Fatigued


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 1, Other Attributes Tier 0


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry, Adaptive Evolution Blessing Of Destruction.|


    ''One more level and another skill slot for mimicking skills would be gained.'' �Che thought as he looked at his status board. Laurene was also levelling up appropriately, she was already at level 12. Her stats had also increased considerably.


    |Name- Laurene Hayes


    Race- Human


    Level- 16


    Existence Level - Bronze


    Titles- Princess of the Great Western Empire, Fourth of the Seven Heroes, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Mana.


    ss - Mage


    Health �C E-


    Energy �C E


    Strength �C F


    Agility �C F+


    Durability �CF+


    Intelligence-E-


    Condition- Mana Deficient


    Magic Tiers- Lightning Tier 1, Fire Tier 1, Wind Tier 1.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Lie Detection, Magic Control, Lightning Magic(High), Chant Revocation, Mental Block, Language Comprehension.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Truth.|

 Chapter 25 Shadow Leopard

    After a light rest for Laurene to recover her magic power, the trio continued exploring the fourth floor of the dungeon.


    The second and third floors were almost walks in the park for the trio as they barely encountered any monsters. Evan suggested they just go down to the lower floors and find stronger monsters rather than searching for weaker monsters on the higher floors.


    As they continued exploring, they discovered a group of adventurers struggling against a leopard monster, one clearlyrger than the brown bear they had just defeated.


    The moment the group arrived at the scene, it was swinging its front paw to strike a mage floating in the air down. Evan thought it looked like it was as if he was watching a monster movie, but this was reality.


    And even at this time, the adventurers, who were confronting this crisis were desperately fighting.


    Looking at the scene, Evan thought to himself, they obviously could not beat it, yet they refused to run.


    If they died, then wouldn''t it all be meaningless?


    They knew that, yet they put their lives on the line.


    Despite the fact that they normally would not have the confidence to defeat that monster. Despite the fact that they could die in a single attack of its paw.


    ''Human foolishness. Oh, there''s a beastkin there so, beastkin foolishness?


    Then again, I can''t me them. They''ve all been inflicted by the ''Arrogance'' Status effect.''


    He activated his concealment skill again and began running towards the monster after telling Laurene to support him with magic.


    The leather armour covering his body didn''t hinder him. Instead, it was as if it was pushing him forward by helping the wind.


    The surrounding objects, the adventurers who were urgently calling somewhere, the ones who were flicked away by the leopard, they were all passed by.


    Nobody noticed him.


    He had no intention to have anyone notice him.


    The leopard started dashing. After swiping two tankers and swatting a bomb thrown at it onto the ground to make it explode, it smashed against the ground again.


    Some adventurers also attacked it and were in turn also attacked.


    It was fortunate that the adventurers attacking with long-range magic were alright. However, the people who were trying to wound it in closebat were all tattered.


    There might even be those who had died, No-there were definitely those who had died.


    ''Before absolute power, numbers are meaningless, that''s why I''d get stronger, strong enough that any number of demons would be useless against me.''


    He appraised the monster as he thought this.


    |Name- None


    Race- Shadow Leopard


    Level- 55


    Existence Level - Bronze


    Titles- None


    ss - None


    Health �C E+


    Energy �C E+


    Strength �C E+


    Agility �C E+


    Durability �C E+


    Intelligence- E


    Condition- Angered


    Magic Tiers- All Attributes Tier 0


    Skills- Body Enhancement, Physical strength enhancement.<sub> </sub>


    Unique Skills- None.|


    ''Level 55, It''s too high level to be on this floor.


    I guess it had probably been biding its time and killing tons of adventurers to level up and reach that level.


    As for killing it, that''s doable.''


    He thought as he kept running while squeezing out all the strength of his muscles to produce a speed that surpassed the limits of his stats.


    The moment he neared the leopard, he kicked off the ground and jumped high while confirming its position.


    He kicked off the magic foothold he created by condensing ice magic to jump high, and kicked off more footholds to jump even higher.


    Even if his ice magic was only tier 0, it did not mean that he could not use it for simple things like creating footholds to propel himself into the air.


    After repeating that several times, he was several tens of meters in the air. Even so, nobody noticed him.


    The leopard had realized something was wrong, but it was too upied with the adventurers in front of it to care.


    Evan then let gravity do the rest of the work.


    While falling towards his target in mid-air, he pulled back the sword with all his strength.


    The leopard''s huge face was getting nearer and nearer, opening its mouth to swallow the floating mage whole. At that moment, the figure of Evan was reflected in its two yellow eyes.


    Evan struck the sword into its left eye with all his strength.


    ***KraAHHaRRAAAaa!!!!


    It was a scream that made the air tremble. Its eye burst with a rupturing sound, the fluids covering Evan''s entire body.


    With that, his presence appeared in the dungeon. This was a moment when the atmosphere of the battlefield changed.


    "It''s a kid...?"


    The adventurers were surprised when Evan appeared on the head of the monster, holding a sword in its eye.


    The leopard which was clinging onto a small rock couldn''t withstand the pain and slid down. The fact that it didn''t let go of the person it was holding even while it was sliding was truly frightening.


    Evan was holding onto the sword that had been embedded into its eye, only swiftly pulling it out and jumping down when it had let go of the person in its paw.


    As a result, the half-pulled-out sword slid down its face, following Evan and inflicting arge wound which covered its face from the eye to the chin.


    It moved its feet while twisting its body, but Evan was already out of its range. Moreover, while it couldn''te to its senses due to losing one eye, magic hit its body from all directions. Although small, there must have been some damage.


    Evan picked up the person who was released and tossed them towards the other adventurers without even looking.


    The leopard that had fallen onto the ground had its eyes glued on Evan.


    One eye was pouring out blood, while the other eye was looking at him with the desire to kill.


    Well, it had taken the most damage from him, so it was obvious that he would be its target.


    That monster was not as stupid as the bear to forget the situation due to pain, so it seemed like it wouldn''t let Evan go back into concealment.


    However, that didn''t matter. It was an opponent that he could defeat head-on.


    He increased his running speed while smirking a little.


    "Everyone! Use magic! Aim for that sted eye!"


    The majority of the adventurers here had probably met each other for the first time today, teaming up temporarily to explore the dungeon.


    Despite that, they were matching their breathing with only the desire to kill the leopard in their heads. The desires stacked on top of each other to transform into a sharp de.


    Of course, this was only possible as Evan appeared to allow them time to breathe, but the effect wasrger than Evan had thought, although he did not care.


    **KkrrrrrRRRrrr!

 Chapter 26 New Skill

    **KkrrrrrRRRrrr!


    The leopard''s growling sounds towards the adventurers became more frequent as attacks continued to hit it. It flinched and was unable to move its body as it wanted.


    It was because all the people were aiming their attacks at its sted eye, following someone''s words.


    And at that moment, the final strike came. When blueish-white-colouredpressed lightning struck its eyes, a devastating amount of blood burst out from its wound again!


    Laurene had finallyunched her attack.


    It was an original spell she created,bining the knowledge of the previous hero she possessed and the new knowledge she gained learning under Chief court mage, Jenson.


    "Bang!"


    At her words, thepressed lightning exploded and damaged the leopard even further.


    **KuAaaaAaaa!


    Evan took this time to grab a nearby adventurer he saw holding a certain gadget and take said gadget from him before returning his gaze to the Leopard.


    Even while it was growling in weird pronunciations after getting struck by lightning, it still didn''t turn its gaze away from Evan and kicked off the ground.


    Was it nning to crash head on at full speed?


    This was what he wanted. Evan also pulled the sword he was holding, backed a little in a nted position and increased his speed.


    "Uooooooooooooh!"


    While he was running, there was something that automatically began to boil in his heart. He didn''t hold that in and spat it out as he pulled the sword back even more.


    There was just 100 meters between him and the leopard. That became 50 meters in a blink of an eye, and under breath''s time, it turned to zero.


    The leopard swung its paw as it threw its body. At the attack, from which he could feel that its desire to trample him t no matter the cost, Evan also reacted in a simr manner.


    Before its front paw attacked him, he had held up a spear he had picked up from the ground, probably belonging to one of the adventurers and smashed it onto the ground, flying up from the rebound!


    However, immediately after that, he smashed into the leopard''s face along with a puff of green smoke.


    "Evan!"


    The shock wasrge. He felt as if his inner organs were all disced for a moment. His entire body ached and went numb.


    However, the expected death by being crushed by the leopard didn''t happen.


    Right before he hit the leopard, he had muttered one word.


    "Pdin."


    His sword had struck the leopard''s face again, inflicting more damage than before. He also used a small poison bomb that he had strapped to his belt on his waist.


    The pdin skill granted him increased resistance to poison, so he wasn''t affected much.


    The leopard, which was put in a situation where it was no different from having washed its face with a bucket of poison, ran around wildly while howling in pain.


    This time, Evan pulled out the des from his gloves and boots and fixed himself on the leopard''s face as if striking a nail into a cliff in order to not fall off from its body, when it was swaying its head so much.


    Then, he nimbly avoided its front paw which was flung at him, and moved around. In that process, it was continuously damaged by the de as he dragged it around the leopard''s body.


    He used one of his swords as a pin to hold himself onto the leopard''s body and used the other to strike at it consecutively.


    Whether it was the armour or his clothes underneath, it was soaked in leopard blood, but Evan didn''t stop.


    No matter how the leopard trashed around, he didn''t sway and he struck the same ce with an uracy greater than that of a machines'', frighteningly repetitively.


    His arm muscles, which were trained to the limit, and the untrembling sword, even with a shocking amount of physical shock, pierced its hide and pulled out blood!


    **KuuurrraaAAaaa!


    Laureneunched another magic attack, this time, it was fire magic, an attribute she rarely used, but she was still very proficient in it.


    The enormous fireball hit the leopard right in the face.


    It was that moment the adventurers finally took notice of the girl who was behind them and was shooting powerful magic attacks.


    She fired more at it, alternating between fire, lightning and wind. Her three best affinities.


    At one moment, the leopard stopped trying to trash around and it swayed as it couldn''t extend its front leg. It had be dizzy due to the blood loss from Evan and Laurene''s continuous attacks.


    This was the opportunity that the adventurers were looking for so much.


    "It''s slowing down!"


    "Corner it more, more!"


    The moment the target was acquired, all the people in that area started an all-out attack. The mages fired their strongest spells, and the closebat attackers approached it from the other side of the line of fire and shed its leg and beat it.


    Honestly, most of them were within the range of levels 10- 20 or 25, their individual attacks didn''t mean much to a level 55 monster.<sub> </sub>


    However, when it stacked ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand times, it eventually produced a result of the hide being pierced and the muscles being injured.


    Human wave tactics weren''t scary for nothing.


    At this moment, in front of the human''s (and beastkin) will which agglomerated on survival, the monster keeled.


    Then a message appeared in front of him.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' urges you to kill that monster quickly.]


    Evan shook slightly, he did not know why, however, the fact that she urged him to kill it quickly meant something bad was about to happen.


    He jumped off the monster''s back, right in time to dodge the wave of magic power that spread from its body.


    The wave pushed back all the closebat attackers who were trying to get hits in, Evan was also slightly affected.


    Hended on the ground and appraised the monster while drinking a health potion.


    |Name- None


    Race- Shadow Leopard


    Level- 57


    Existence Level - Silver


    Titles- None


    ss - Leopard


    Health �C E+


    Energy �C D-


    Strength �C D-


    Agility �C D-


    Durability �C E+


    Intelligence- F+


    Condition- Angered, Weakened.


    Magic Tiers- Non-Attribute Tier 1


    Skills- Body Enhancement, Physical strength enhancement, Energy st.


    Unique Skills- None.|


    Looking at the status he instantly noticed the difference.


    ''Its existence level increased and it gained a new skill.''


    He looked at the skill''s description immediately while locking eyes with the leopard''s remaining eye.


    |Energy st;


    Type: Rare Active Skill


    Effect;


    Condenses energy on a suitable body part and fires it out as a st.|


    He immediately activated his mystic eye of mimicry, since he maintained eye contact for more than 10 seconds, knew the name and effect of the skill, all the conditions to mimic it were met.


    |Skill Acquired: Energy st|


    He was about to do a guts pose before he noticed something, the leopard''s mouth was open.


    "Shit!! Everyone duck!!!"


    The adventurers would not normally listen to a kid who was young enough to be some of their sons, however, after seeing the power he disyed, they chose to trust him rather than keep their pride.


    Unfortunately, some refused to listen, that was expected, they were in a dungeon with the ''Arrogance'' status effect.


    The reason why none of them ran away even though they could not defeat this monster was because of that effect.


    Those who did not listen to Evan''s words, did not live to hear what he said next.


    "F*ck!"


    **BOOooOOM

 Chapter 27 …And The Experience Pours In.

    "F*ck!"


    **BOOooOOM


    There was a blinding sh of light, followed by arge explosion. A high-rise building would have crumbled to dust if it was hit by such an explosion.


    The Leopard used its newly acquired skill to condense energy in its mouth and fired it at its assants.


    The moment it did so, it turned tail and began to run. It was weakened after all, even if its existence level had risen, it needed to recover from its wounds before it could disy its full might.


    But there was no way Evan would let it go.


    He stretched out his palm and uttered two words.


    "Energy st."


    A condensed beam of light shot out at a frightening speed towards the leopard''s leg, hitting it urately. It was a destructive skill so the blessing of destruction activated increasing its power by 30%.


    Evan did not wait for it to fall before he shot of towards it, Laurene who had been silent decided to take action too.


    "Thunder Spirit!"


    Alongside her shout, she casted a buff magic on Evan.


    For 30 seconds, attack power, movement speed, and critical rate were increased by 50%. With a fixed chance of getting a lightning infused hit in when attacking.


    From the moment the buff ended however, all of his abilities would decrease by more than half for 3 minutes.


    Although its duration was short, 30 seconds was enough for Evan to catch up with the weakened leopard that had lost a leg and couldn''t run properly.


    The speed increment from his Pdin skill, the 10% boost to his speed stat from the Blessing of destruction.


    The 10% Stat Boost and 120% Stat Effectiveness from his system benefits, coupled with Laurene''s buff, it was enough for him to reach the monster almost instantly.


    He struck with his sword at a speed which made one wonder if this really was a speed of a living human.


    **KKKkkkkkaaaaaAAAAaaaa!


    The leopard''s muscle strands shot up before cracking apart and bursting out in blood. Its pain filled scream became higher, but even if it had a heart wrenching behind story, Evan didn''t even want to know.


    He only had the thought that he had to finish off instantly.


    And while doing that, at one moment, when his sword flew towards its already deeply dug out head, it abnormally pierced through violently, and both a critical hit and a lightning attribute attack bursted out at the same time and a golden light coloured their vision.


    Immediately after, a huge amount of blood, which couldn''t be said to be a result of a normal attack, soaked Evan''s body.


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    |Mystic Eyes Stage 1 has been awakened. |


    |User can now see incorporeal beings.


    User can now see the flow of mana. |


    His eyes felt hot, but the pain was bearablepared to the benefits he received.


    He had levelled up 7 times and had unlocked his mystic eyes stage one.


    He sat on the ground and looked at his status board while smiling in satisfaction.


    |Name- Evan Del Eris


    Race - ###e# ###s###e#


    Gender - Male


    Age - 10


    Level- 36


    Existence Level - Bronze


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman<sub> </sub>


    Health �C F+ (D-)


    Energy �C F+(D-)


    Strength �C F+(D-)


    Agility �C F(E+)


    Durability �CF+ (D-)


    Intelligence- F+(D-)


    Condition- Heavily Fatigued, Requires Rest, Debuffed. Status Effect: Arrogance (Corruption: Low)


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 1


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension.


    Mimicked Skills-Energy st.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (1), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing Of Destruction. |


    Seeing that the mystic eyes had been awakened, he looked around to see if he could find any spirits but saw nothing.


    ''Well, there''s no way they''d be in a dungeon where a demon is sealed.''


    Laurene and Ralphie came up to him at this point. Laurene hurriedly checked his body, she knew better than anyone the side effect of her buff so she wanted to be sure Evan was fine.


    "I''m fine, if you have the strength to check my body, go pull out the leopard''s magic stone, I wanna use it for something."


    He wanted to use the magic stone to increase his realm of existence, the system information told him that his realm of existence could be increased by absorbing energy cores, in other words, magic stones.


    He nned to do this after he had gotten the sword of pride. As Laurene went to get the magic stone, Ralphie pulled out a healing artifact and used it on him.


    "Good work, young master."


    "Apliment from you? Now that''s even rarer than unique skills."


    Evanughed to himself as Laurene came back with the magic stone. At this point, the other adventurers had recovered themselves and came over to the trio.


    Some came to thank Evan and Laurene, however, when they saw the magic stone in Laurene''s hands, a hint of greed shed in their eyes.


    Seeing this Raplhie was about to act, however, Evan stopped him and gestured for them to speak.


    The distribution of the spoils of war was always a problem.


    Although it was good to fight the monster with one mind, with the spoils of war after the fight, in front of them, human greed will always appear.


    Moreover, as they had clear proof that they fought with their lives on the line, no one would want to forgo their rewards for another person.


    The problem was that everyone here had put their lives on the line to fight.


    They all wanted a piece of the materials from a level 55 monster, those who had lostrades demanded even more materials, they somehow felt they could take advantage of Laurene and Evan because they were kids.


    They conveniently ignored Ralphie who was standing beside them.


    ''Pride huh? This status effect of theirs is really a hassle.''


    Evan looked at one of the adventurers who had been silent and asked him,


    "What''s the fair ratio?"


    "60% to you, 20% to the girl, 20% to the rest."


    At his words they all had different reactions, Evanughed, Laurene alternated between looking at Evan and Ralphie, and Ralphie smiled in satisfaction.


    The others naturally did not agree with this, they began to raiseints, Evan just silently stood up and put his hand out.


    The ones who saw Evan''sst attacks recognized that gesture. White light started gathering on Evan''s palm, he pointed it towards them wordlessly.


    ''Trash like them should not exist.''


    He was about tounch the energy st before being interrupted by Laurene.


    "Wait, don''t kill them Evan."


    "Why?"


    "Sir Ralphie is here for that."


    At her words, Ralphie unsheathed his sword and activated a skill, he nned to end them all in one strike, Evanughed and put his hand down before speaking to Ralphie.


    "Forget it, the sword of a great swordsman should not be dirtied with the blood of idiots like these, the magic stone was the only thing I needed anyway, they can do whatever they want with the corpse."


    He then began walking away, thinking of how he was going to find the fake entrance to the 5th floor that actually led to the hundredth floor.

 Chapter 28 Troll King

    After walking away and leaving the adventurers to fight among themselves for the corpse of the leopard monster, Ralphie suggested they return, however, Evan said they should do so after entering the fifth floor.


    "Once we''re done with the fifth floor, we''d go back immediately."


    He walked around killing weaker monsters they found. They did not see another monster on the Leopard''s level, monsters like that were the masters of territories on that floor.


    They had to go a long distance before entering the territory of another monster which would most likely not be as strong as the leopard was originally.


    After all, Level 55''s on the fourth floor was not exactly a normal urrence.


    "That''s through, did you level up Laurene?"


    "Yep."


    "What Level?"


    "Take a look yourself."


    Sighing in exasperation, he appraised Laurene.


    |Name- Laurene Hayes


    Race- Human


    Level- 29


    Existence Level - Bronze


    Titles- Princess of the Great Western Empire, Fourth of the Seven Heroes, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Mana.


    ss - Mage


    Health �C E+


    Energy �C E+


    Strength �C E-


    Agility �C E


    Durability �CE


    Intelligence- E-


    Condition- Mana Deficient


    Magic Tiers- Lightning Tier 1, Fire Tier 1, Wind Tier 1.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Lie Detection, Magic Control, Lightning Magic (High), Chant Revocation, Mental Block, Language Comprehension.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Truth. |


    Like him, since she had high contributions during the fight, she also levelled up 7 times. After 6 more levels, she would awaken the first stage of her mystic eyes and be finally able to use its actual power and not just the lie detection.


    ''I think it allowed her to see through illusions, see weak points of opponents, see through the weak points of magic spell and circles, see invisible objects and hidden items, she can see ghosts too if I''m not mistaken.''


    Those were some of the abilities of the mystic eye of truth, Evan recalled them while hoping she awakened them quickly.


    They finally found the stairs to the fifth floor. The problem was that they were two of them in the same ce instead of the usual one.


    Ralphie felt a sense of foreboding towards the door on the left, his senses he had trained for years told him something was waiting on the other end of that door.


    Something that was definitely not a fifth-floor monster.


    Evan on the other hand felt like dancing for joy, but he had to act natural, he couldn''t let Ralphie get suspicious.


    "Huh? They''re two? Is that normal?


    Oh well, the existence of dungeons is not normal either. Let''s go through the one on the... Right?"


    As he said that he began walking to the door on the right, and Laurene also followed him.


    As he got closer, Ralphie felt something was off. Right before he opened his mouth to speak, Evan abruptly pulled Laurene into the left door.


    "I knew he was up to something! F*ck!"


    Ralphie cursed as he ran into the left door after Evan and Laurene. The door subsequently disappeared after the trio had entered.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    The condition that needed to be met for the trap door to open was simple.


    You had to reach the fourth floor on your first try in the dungeon, on the first day of the week.


    Evan discovered this after resetting his character multiple times in order to face the troll king that ended his streak of clearing dungeons perfectly on his first try.


    However, this was reality, there was no reset, Evan only had one chance.


    In order to make sure they went on the first day of the week, he dyed their trip by two days.


    The excuses he gave were ridiculous but it didn''t change the fact that he managed to get Ralphie to change their schedule.<sub> </sub>


    That was enough.


    Today, was Monday, the first day of the week, it was also Evan''s first time in the dungeon, same as Laurene. Although it wasn''t Ralphie''s first time, Evan alone was enough to trigger the hidden door.


    Naturally, what waited behind was not the fifth floor but the hundredth.


    One would normally wonder why the existence of such a thing was not known but the answer was quite simple.


    Majority of those who were unlucky enough to enter the door were murdered by the monsters on the other end.


    As for the ones who left to report it, the door was not there when they returned, after all, they did not meet the conditions to open the door anymore.


    The room was fairlyrge,rger than the size of a banquet hall. There was a throne of bones in the middle, seated on that throne was a giant troll.


    It was a hairy, apelike humanoid monster with ck fur and a face thatprise elements of various big breeds. It had wide and bulging eyes with a snout that was thick and fleshy.


    Seeing the monster Ralphie recognized it immediately.


    "Troll King."


    Hearing that, Laurene Instinctively appraised the monster.


    |Name- Gu


    Race- Troll


    <o>,m Level- 360</o>


    Titles- Troll King


    ss �C Troll Warrior


    Health �C A+


    Energy �C B-


    Strength �C S+


    Agility �C B-


    Durability �C B


    Intelligence-D+


    Condition- Normal, Expectant.


    Magic Tiers- None


    Skills- Titan Punch, Size control, Strength Amplification.


    Unique Skills- Foreshadowing. |


    "Tch... this one had foreshadowing, it was prepared."


    There were two variations of the troll king, the one with a unique skill and the one without. The chance to encounter either of them was 50/50.


    It waspletely random, sometimes Evan encountered the one with a unique skill about 5 times in a row before the one without.


    Fortunately, or unfortunately for them, this one had, a skill called foreshadowing that allowed it to vaguely predict iing threats to its life and make some preparations.


    The perperations this one made, were evident in its level. The troll king was supposed to be a level 350 monster.


    ''However, it''s 360, it gained 10 levels in just one day, it probably killed all its subordinate trolls to level up.''


    The troll king was usually not alone, it was a boss monster after all. It had tens of troll knights and troll generals around it, however, this one had killed them all to increase its level and its chances of survival.


    Ralphie looked at Evan as he unsheathed his sword and asked.


    "Did you know this was gonna be here? Is that why you entered that door?"


    "Of course, why do you think I suggested you go with us? It''s so you can kill that for us."


    Hearing this, Laurene was surprised, she wanted to shout at Evan with all her might, however, she saw something that shut her up.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' suggests you remain calm.]


    She had never heard of such a thing where the goddess sent messages to humans with such a method. However, she had memories of it, the memories of the previous hero she possessed.


    So that was why she was sure, that the message in front of her was sent by the actual goddess that governed this world.


    "Don''t re at me like that Raplhie, you''ve got other things to do, see, it''sing over already."


    Evan''s words brought Laurene out of her thoughts. As he said, the troll king had risen from his throne, fists clenched tightly.


    It locked eyes with Raplhie, ignoring the other two as Raplhie was the only one in the room who could threaten its life.


    **ROoaAR

 Chapter 29 Testing The Waters

    It let out a deafening roar and charged towards Ralphie who rushed out to meet with it.


    Ralphie grabbed his sword tightly and struck the troll king.


    His sword, trained over years, and the troll king''s fist, which had gone through not-so-many battles, shed!


    **BOOM!


    Ralphie''s two-handed sword strike, and the opponent''s fist, which glowed brightly shed head-on and caused a boom under the ground.


    However, the one to step back first in that monstrous sh, was Ralphie.


    This was expected. Trolls were monsters specialized in brute strength.


    The troll king''s strength stat was already higher than Ralphie''s, and coupled with its Titan Punch Skill, there was no way for Ralphie to withstand it.


    <o>,m "Kuhk!"</o>


    **KROAAAAAR!


    Ralphie couldn''t believe it. The opponent''s attack did not contain a lot of mana, even for a strength-enhancing skill, it was too powerful.


    Evan nodded as if he expected it.


    ''Let''s be serious, it''s a troll king, one with the foreshadowing skill and had prepared a lot for this battle. It has probably learned an advanced martial art as well. It won''t be easy to beat it in a contest of strength.''


    Ralphie''s eyes changed. His stance became more meticulous, and his sword twisted at a weird angle and aimed for the opponent''s heart. Synchronizing his breathing and mana, he focused everything on the sword tip.


    Although he lost in the earlier sh of strength, he was still a Grandmaster level existence, one over level 350, and one of the ten great swordsmen of the great western empire.


    Even though he was slightly surprised, it did notst for long and he quickly rposed himself. If he did not kill this troll, Evan and Laurene were going to die, he could not have that happen.


    However, the surprise was the same for the enemy. It seemed that he had realized that Ralphie was not like the other humans it had fought, but a trained sword master. It frowned and charged forward again.


    **BAAMMM!!!


    Another sh.


    Although Ralphie tried to add a fake to his hand or shoulder movements, it seemed that it wasn''t that effective against an opponent who had learned an advanced martial art. He was the one to retreat in the second sh as well.


    However, with this, he was finished measuring the opponent. The opponent really was not hiding any of his power.


    ''Besides that punch skill, and his ability to reduce his size, there''s nothing else, more importantly, this thing is a lower level than I am.''


    He did not have appraisal like Evan and had to guess, but if Evan had heard his thoughts he would have shouted in shock.


    He had urately guessed the opponent''s power and skills, in one go. Even though the troll king tried to hide it, Ralphie still noticed it was steadily manipting its size.


    It increased right before it attacked and decreased right after.


    Ralphie decided to end it quickly before it could use any of the trump cards it prepared.


    On top of his sword, mana and aura intertwined and created a light-blue whirlpool of ice.


    Perhaps the troll king realized that Ralphie was now doing a full-out attack, it gathered whatever energy he had in his body and prepared to counterattack.


    **BooOM!!!


    A greater sh than before, one that made Evan and Laurene realized that they had to hide behind some rocks to prevent themselves from being caught in the crossfire.


    ''There''s no way Ralphie would let that happen but better safe than sorry.''


    Ralphie swung his sword multiple times in quick session. The speed was barely perceptible, the troll king could barely see it, however, it could feel it.<sub> </sub>


    That if any of those strikes hit, it would not end well.


    It reduced its size and tried to dodge, however, Ralphie didn''t let up, he continued attacking at speeds the troll king could barely perceive.


    There wasn''t much difference in their speed stats, but there was a difference in how well they utilized those stats.


    He struck out with another attack, activating his strong-arm skill this time.


    His sword instantly pierced through the skin''s resistance and his aura infested the troll''s body and messed up its energy cirction.


    **KYAAAAAK!


    When it let out a bloodcurdling scream and stepped back, he shot the mini-ice whirlpool enveloping his sword forward! It blocked the attack aimed at its head with its arm, but the ice froze its entire right armpletely.


    The troll screamed and swung its arm toward us. Although there was no way he would be hit by it, when its menacing ws cut through the air, they drew glowing traces of ck aura, which flew toward him. Ralphie then skilfully manoeuvred its body and dodged the attacks before he fired out another ice attack.


    "Not enough!"


    He still had most of his mana remaining. He gripped his sword tightly and fiercely circted his mana at an unbelievable fast speed. In an instant, another whirlpool of ice shot up around the sword.


    It seemed to disregard the ice freezing its right arm as it swung its arms violently.


    With every swing, five aura streams shot toward Raplhie. In the end, dozens of aura streams were flying toward him. Ralphie hurriedly moved away to dodge them, and that was when Evan''s shout came in.


    "Ralphie, the aura attacks have a homing ability!"


    As someone who yed the game and battled this troll countless times, Evan knew its skills and effects without having to appraise it.


    |Titan Punch;


    Type: Racial Skill


    Effect;


    Condenses energy around one''s fist to enhance the power of punches. Creates aura attacks shaped like little fists with the homing feature, the number depends on the number of fingers avable. |


    ''Wasn''t it supposed to be strong physically? How? He''s just ying with auras!''


    Ralphie gritted his teeth and discharged more ice-based attacks.


    "Blizzard!"


    His body shone with a blue light and discharged ice. Countless spears of ice flickered and dealt ice damage to the troll king, freezing it and slowing its movements.


    **KUOOOOOOOO!


    Even so, it managed to raise its left arm against him! He instantly widened his eyes and moved to dodge its thick arm.


    ''Although it is weaker than the true dungeon boss, troll emperor, it is still true that it was stronger than Ralphie in terms of pure strength.''


    Evan was analysing the fight between the two. If Ralphie faced its attack with his sword, he couldn''t guarantee his shoulder''s safety. Therefore, he made his best effort to dodge.


    **BooOM


    The punch that missed, destroyed a part of the wall, Evan was also surprised, the power of the troll was more than he expected.


    It used its aura to stop the freezing of its right arm and stared at Raplhie murderously.


    "Ha! Round 2 Begin!"

 Chapter 30 And Another One Bites The Dust…

    "Ha! Round 2 Begin!"


    As if following Evan''s word, the two moved to sh again.


    It threw another punch toward Ralphie who moved to dodge it again.


    When it realized it missed, it turned its head toward him and swung its arm once more. However, its stance was already ruined. Ralphie leapt forward strongly and thrust his sword out in full force. The ice enveloping the sword swept over it as if to freeze it whole.


    After he sessfully left a bunch of ice in its left arm, he brushed past its body.


    Then, he heard the aura streams it sent out striking its body and exploding. Instantly turning around, he charged towards it again.


    Ralphie imbued his sword full of aura, and Laurene, at Evan''s request, buffed him multiple times.


    Since her buffs worked with percentages, it did not matter that she was over a hundred times weaker than Ralphie, the effect of the buff scaled to Ralphie''s strength.


    However, the troll king didn''t seem to want to lose so easily. Although its arms were being frozen by the ice and letting out a strange noise, it raised its arms without a care in the world and screamed.


    It activated all its skills, increasing its size, adding more aura to its fist and amplifying its strength.


    It sped its hands and struck down on the ground. The ground then sprung up.


    It was almost as if one caused a small earthquake, except with its bare fists. However, the lightning shooting out of Ralphie''s body perfectly, courtesy of Laurene''s buff struck the earth shards away.


    ''Her buffs are quite useful, maybe I''d take her with me when I leave the empire''


    Without knowing the dangerous thoughts of the one he was protecting, Ralphie increased his speed and charged toward the troll king. He also raised my sword high up in the air.


    Above the whirlpool of ice, white lights began to gather around it. He then jumped up in the air towards the troll.


    ''Oh, he''s finally using his unique skill.''


    The troll king spread its arms out and ran towards him. It seemed it wanted to capture him, but that definitely wouldn''t happen!


    **BOOM!


    It smashed its arms against each other. Some of the ice around it even fell off because of it!


    However, immediately before it did so, Ralphie ducked instantly, letting him dodge its arms perfectly. Its attack brushed past his head and could only pick off a few strands of his hair.


    Before hended on the ground, he saw a good target. As expected of a wild troll king, there was something asserting its presence on its uncovered body!


    Evan also noticed this and closed Laurene''s eyes.


    ''Damn, where''s the mosaic!? Otherwise��!''


    "As a fellow male, I apologize."


    Along with Evan''s strange apology, Ralphie attacked the troll king''s.... little troll?


    The ice elerated to the limit with his aura storm skill, didn''t just break, but rather ravaged and ground everything it touched.


    Ralphie dodged the blood, skin, and bone waste flying about everywhere andnded on the ground. Then, he let out a deep sigh.


    "Whew. The sword hit an unfortunate area. From now, troll king Gu can never have a child�� In other words, he cannot ever have a sexual rtionship."


    It was already dead. Mentally, and before it died physically, it let out a pulse of energy against the unprepared Ralphie who believed that the fight was over.


    "I really hated this attack, sometimes, I hadn''t killed all the troll knights and it released this, knocking me unconscious and letting the knights finish me off.


    The point is, have a good rest Ralphie."


    The troll king''sst stand managed to knock Ralphie unconscious but could not kill him.


    "He has more than three-fourths of his health left, after all, he even got stronger too. Ah, you cane out now Laurene"


    Evan appraised Raplhie who was lying on the ground unconscious.


    |Name- Ralphie Thompson


    Race-Human


    Gender - Male<sub> </sub>


    Age - 35


    Level- 391


    Existence Level - Grandmaster


    Titles- Fourth Sword of the Empire, Eris Dukedom''s Knight Captain, One of the Ten Great Swordsmen.


    ss- Sword Grandmaster


    Health �C A


    Energy - B+


    Strength �C S


    Agility �C B+


    Durability �CA


    Intelligence - B+


    Condition- Unconscious.


    Magic Tiers- Ice Tier 4


    Skills- Iron Wall, Ice Magic, Strong Arm.


    Unique Skills- Aura Storm.|


    "One level huh? He got a benefit at least, gonna use that against him when he wakes up."


    Evan snickered to himself before turning to Laurene and continuing.


    "Keep an eye on him, Laurene, I wanna go do something."


    "W-what do you want to d-do with the sword?"


    Laurene asked with a shaky voice, still slightly scared at having encountered a level 360 troll king.


    As the fourth of the seven heroes, one who had the memories of the previous fourth, she knew of the existence that should be sealed behind the door at the back of the troll king''s throne.


    "I am just reiming my ''predecessor''s'' weapon, alongside the being sealed within it."


    Evan smiled and replied to her, he activated his mystic eyes and they let out a strange golden glow.


    Laurene watched as a crest formed within his eyes, the crest of the second of the seven heroes, the Hero of Mimicry.


    "Be right back,"


    He left without giving her a chance to say anything and walked towards the door behind the throne.


    Pouring his magic power in the hole, the door recognized the mana of the one who possessed mystic eyes and opened up.


    He walked in and saw an empty room, there was nothing in it save for a single sword.


    ''From here on is uncharted territory, this never happened in the game so I don''t know what the oue will be.''


    As he thought that the door closed behind him and the ambient energy in the room seemed to increase in quantity.


    In the centre of the room was an ominous jet-ck one-handed sword that had red lines running through it like veins, emitting a dark mist that made Evan hesitate to go closer.


    He then stared at the sword in the middle of the room and spoke.


    "I know you''re awake pride, reveal yourself."


    As he said that the air trembled slightly, and then the ambient mana began to visibly condense, and the condensed mana took up a humanoid form.


    The dark red eyes of the humanoid form stared back at Evan.

 Chapter 31 Meeting Pride

    Roughly 1300 years ago, in the demon world beyond the dimensional rift.


    On a certain day, 7 demons were born, same day, same time, same ce.


    These 7 were born into the families of lowest-ranked demons, the seven families were practically cannon fodder in the demon army.


    The seven men and women were members of the same toon, they were poor so they joined the army simply so they could have a source of food and shelter for themselves.


    They lived in the same barracks, trained together, fought together, slept together, and eventually married one another.


    It was not rare for such a thing to happen in the barracks of the lowest-ranked demon soldiers who were essentially poor demons who only joined the army for food.


    The births of the seven children urring at the same time were nothing short of a coincidence, only one was slightly older than the others by a few hours.


    The children grew up together, yed together, and practically lived together.


    Their attitudes and temperaments were very different, yet they were very close, closer than twins who had been together since their mother''s womb.


    One was arrogant, the other was envious, another was gluttonous, the other was avaricious, one was indolent, the other was prurient and thest had a short temper.


    Even with their contrasting behaviours, theyplimented each other and stood strong together. They werefortable with their mundane lives until tragedy struck.


    It waspletely random, out of nowhere, a band of monsters attacked the base. The monsters were stronger than the demons in the base and they ughtered everyone within.


    The parents hid their children, some made them run away and fought to buy time for them to reach a safe stronghold. But it was futile.


    The monsters killed them all, all except the seven, they were the only ones who survived this disaster.


    A passing lesser demon general saw the situation and wiped out all the monsters but it was toote, there were no survivors.


    Except for those seven.


    The seven of them curled up together in the basement of a destroyed house.


    The general took these children under his wing, perhaps it was out of pity, they never knew. When they realized their parents were no more, they cried and cried until they ran out of tears.


    Eventually, they had to move on, it was not easy, but the general supported them. He raised them as his own for decades.


    Under him, they learned to fight, they learned many other skills that would support them in the future under this general''s tutge.


    At the age of 12, they awakened to their skills, their unique skills named after the seven mortal sins.


    Due to the general''s influence, they enrolled in the army like their parents, but they were a special forces unit.


    A unitprised solely of the seven of them.


    The name of the unit was derived from their unique skills, the ''Seven Deadly Sins''.


    They were a unit that served the demon king directly, however, they were never truly loyal to him.


    He knew this, but let them be.


    Not long after, the demon king was killed and another took the throne. A powerful demon that had a unique skill with the power to subjugate demons weaker than him.


    However, the seven deadly sins were also existences with unique skills as powerful as his, they were unable to be subjugated.


    He became wary of them, using his authority as the demon king, he sent them to various wars hoping they would die.


    But they survived and returned stronger.


    The seven of them even took on the allied armies of all the countries in a lesser world once, killing all the beings who could oppose them in that world and returning victorious.


    The demon king grew warier of them, even though he had surpassed their strength, he did not like having things he could not control.


    When the dimensional rift to the world of Aidos opened up, he sent them over once again, this time, they never returned.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Looking at the red-eyed figure in front of him, Evan was nonplussed. That was only natural, she was a drop-dead gorgeous young woman.


    She looked like someone who had just be an adult, not more than eighteen years old. She was of average height and a slim build, with fair skin and long ck hair that spilt over her shoulders and down to her waist.


    Her most striking feature was her pair ofrge piercing red eyes.


    However, Evan did not let her beauty fool him, she was an existence that could sink entire inds by herself and bring down a country single-handedly without breaking a sweat.


    |Name- Pride


    Race- High Demon


    Gender - Female


    Age - 1350


    Level- 50 (777)


    Existence Level - Silver (Sovereign)


    Titles- Leader of the Seven Deadly Sins, Deadly Sin of Pride, Peak Rank Demon, Ascendant, H#��&Ger of Pride.


    ss- Magic Swordswoman<sub> </sub>


    Health �C E+ (X1-)


    Energy - E+ (X2)


    Strength �C E+ (X1)


    Agility �C E+ (X1-)


    Durability �C E+ (SSS+)


    Intelligence - E+ (SSS)


    Condition- Weakened, Skeptical, Slightly Furious.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 6, Wind Tier 6.


    Skills- Pride Maniption, Pride Embodiment, Aura of Pride, Contempt of the Many.


    Unique Skills- Incarnation of Pride. (HIDDEN)|


    In the game, she was one of the antagonists that possessed an ''Incarnation Series Skill''. Much like the ''Child Series Skill'' holders, they were known as the ''Incarnations of the End'' by the yer base of Aidos Online.


    ''As expected, after 1000 years of being sealed, it''s only natural they''d lose their strength.


    Still doesn''t change the fact that she''s powerful, if she kills a city''s worth of humans, she''d recover a lot of power and be able to disy part of her full might.


    Her existence level, although she''s weakened to silver, she was originally a sovereign.


    How high is that Artemisia?''


    He silently asked Artemisia who he guessed was watching him, naturally, she was.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that it is five levels above the Silver Realm.]


    ''Five?! She was weakened a whole lot, what''s above sovereign? And what''s above that too?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says it is the realm of transcendence, above that, is ssified information]


    ''Tch...why?''


    Artemisia did not reply to him, perhaps it was because Pride who had been staring at him finally opened her mouth and spoke.


    "You smell familiar, are you the original or a fake?"


    "Original or fake? I''m definitely the original me, but I''m probably not the original you speak of."


    She looked at him with aplicated gaze, many emotions shed through her eyes, she then spoke up again.


    "Your eyes, you''re not the true owner of those are you?"


    "Huh? You recognize them."


    "Of course, I do. The bastard who put me here had them after all."


    "Ha! They''re pretty aren''t they? Apparently, the crest is actually the word ''Mimicry'' in an ancientnguage."


    "And why should I care?"


    "No reason whatsoever, I just wanted to make small talk."


    He walked closer and sat on the ground in front of her, resting his chin on his hand, he spoke,


    "I''d offer you a drink but humans under the age of 18 aren''t allowed to have those, not like I''m human in the first ce."


    "You look like nothing but a human to me?"


    "So do you, but you''re not human, you''re a high demon. One with a level over 700."


    "I do not possess the power I once had anymore."


    "Hmm, you admitted that so quickly, were you not supposed to be the demon of pride? Where did all that go?"


    Sheughed depreciatingly at his question before replying,


    "That very pride was the reason I fell a thousand years ago. After being sealed for that long, I did some thinking and decided to curb that pride a bit, doesn''t mean it''s not still there."


    "But you had every reason to be proud, you were one of the strongest demons that existed, after all, you would have killed the seven heroes if you weren''t literally backstabbed."


    "You! You know what happened that day!"


    Heughed at her agitated self, thinking it was funny to see the pride of the seven deadly sins like this.


    "Of course I do, I have the memories of my predecessor, after all. I remember it like I was there."


    As he said that, he thought of a part of the memories he received.


    The part where the seven heroes of the past, almost fell to the demon ''invaders''.

 Chapter 32 The Seven Previous Heroes Vs The Seven Deadly Sins

    Ruined City Outskirts


    Unknown Country


    Dark Continent


    Unknown Day


    Year 49


    **KuuaaAAA!


    A half-transparent Orc Lord floating in the air screamed out in a voice that would have burst the eardrums of any normal existences in the area.


    The dozens of skulls dangling on his ive also screamed at the same time. They were precisely what increased the effect of his war cry. One could see him visibly getting stronger.


    "How many times do you have to multiply your strength before you''re satisfied, you cowardly bastards!"


    The voice of the previous ''Second'' of the seven heroes rang out in rage, however, he had to hold himself back or he''d only empower a certain wrathful demon who was rampaging not far from his location.


    **BOOoooOOM


    He looked to the side and saw the bleeding ''Sixth'', his arm had been dislocated and ''Seventh'' was hurriedly trying to heal him.


    "Ha! What are you saying, foolish human? Everyone fights in a different way. Just like you humans like overwhelming your enemies with numbers, that''s how we fight.


    What''s cowardly about that?"


    Before he knew it, a woman with a foldable war fan in her hands was standing right in front of him, she was an impably beautiful and well-endowed woman, the walking definition of feminine beauty.


    She had tinum blonde hair, fair skin, and bright blue eyes, and looked to be more slender but curvaceous nheless.


    Resisting the urge to look at her, he swung the sword in his hands with more force than he ever had, activating a skill alongside it, one that burned everything in the surroundings.


    *WHOOOOSHHHH!!!!


    The wave of mes tossed and turned, incinerating all that was left in the surrounding, alongside a few of the ghostly orc lords.


    However, the woman was unscathed, she was already out of the range of his mes by the time his hand had moved.


    "Stop taunting him, Lust."


    "You say that but you''re doing the same aren''t you, Pride."


    The woman, Lust of the Seven deadly sins, spoke to Pride who was holding one of the seven heroes by the neck.


    Seeing the one who was held, Second could help but shout,


    "Third!!"


    He kicked off the ground towards Pride and swung his sword, activating several skills and magic at the same time.


    However, Pride calmly dodged before flicking her fingers and generating a sword of pure condensed magic power, one which she used to parry all his attacks, she even threw in a kick and sent him flying backwards.


    He regained his bnce mid-air and cast one of his most powerful magic instantly.


    "Meteor Fall!!"


    Bright burning rocks began to fall from the sky, they burst into mes and increased in speed as they neared the ground.


    However, they nevernded.


    The voice he heard right before they disappeared told him why.


    |Incarnation of Gluttony. |


    "That damn bastard, he devoured the meteors! Everyone!! Iing meteor fall level attack!"


    As soon as he shouted that Gluttonyunched the meteors he devoured them.<sub> </sub>


    Fifth who was battling against Greed kicked him away and used a short-distance space movement skill.


    Appearing right in front of the meteors, he activated his mystic eyes and dispelled the magic on them, returning the meteors to ordinaryrge rocks.


    "Duck!"


    The heroes all ducked at that shout, all except the one who shouted.


    "Be gone!"


    That was all she said.


    **WOOOOONNNGGGG!!!


    ***KAAAAABBOOOOOMMMMM!!!


    Suddenly there was a bright sh of light along with an enormous explosion. When it died down, the entirendscape had changed, the mountains and hills in the distance had a hole through them and the clouds had parted.


    The earth had been divided and a new canyon was formed, one clearly not natural.


    First, the one who unleashed that attack held her right eye and dropped to her knee while clicking her tongue in indignation.


    That was expected, the attack had not damaged the ones it was meant for after all.


    A giant shield could be seen in the distance, it was cracked in several ces but it still stood strong. It faded away and revealed the ones behind it, six of the seven deadly sins.


    "Six...? Where''s the seventh?!"


    **BoOooM!!


    A loud explosion gave them the answer.


    Falling from the sky was the seventh, Wrath.


    Right before First''s attack hit, he instantly jumped high up into the air, out of the range of the attack, and had justnded back on the ground.


    He roared and moved at a barely perceptible speed towards the nearest hero to him, he did not care who they were, he was in a berserk state where he attacked everything he saw.


    Everything besides the other members of the Seven Deadly Sins.


    The barely healed Sixth moved out to hold him back. Seventh was about to assist, however, he suddenly felt a chill down his spine.


    He quickly rolled backwards and dodged the ive that came from behind. After cutting a few strands of his hair, the ive struck the ground, making a terrifying sound ring out.


    At the same time, the earth rumbled. Feeling strange, he was about to fly up with an artifact, but before he could do so, he felt his stomach churning and coughed out a mouthful of blood.


    He grit his teeth and took out a potion and downed it instantly.


    "So, it doesn''t matter whether I dodge the attack��"


    "Bingo! Even if you dodge, my cute little orcs would still get you."


    Lust''s excited voice rang out, she was also pping for him like one would for a kid that got a word right at a spelling bee.


    Like a ghost in a horror movie, the Ghost Orc Lord blinked forward repeatedly to approach him.


    **KYAAAAA!!!!!


    Every time the skulls on his ive cut through the air, they let out ear-splitting screams, which served to stress him out even more.


    The same scene was ying out with the other heroes besides sixth who was barely holding out against wrath.


    Eventually, they were all cornered and rounded up together with the seven deadly sins standing in front of them imposingly.


    "You came here to close the rift, but it seems your n has failed."

 Chapter 33 Fall Of The Seven

    "You came here to close the rift, but it seems your n has failed."


    That was right, the heroes came over to close up the dimensional rift to prevent more high-ranked demons froming through.


    However, the Seven Deadly Sins got word of this and left their positions on the front lines of the war, speedily returning to the dark continent to prevent this.


    The end result was obvious; a beat down.


    A serious beat down.


    The heroes could barely cast any magic or skills, they were that exhausted.


    Even Second who had the most energy reserves only had enough energy left to activate the sealing magic required to close the rift.


    The rift looked like an elliptical tear in space and was continuously expanding ever so slightly.


    The amount of magic power that poured out of the rift constantly was enough for even the seven heroes who were among the strongest fighting force in Aidos to feel chills down their spines just by being there.


    The seven deadly sins stood with backs facing it, staring at the pitiful appearance of the heroes who failed to defeat them.


    **HUMMMM!!!


    At that point, the rift expanded a little more and a demon came out, another peak rank demon casually took his first step into the world of Aidos.


    Pride looked at the new demon and asked,


    "Name and rank?"


    "Kethul, Lesser Colonel."


    "Ohh, your station is southeast, now scurry along."


    She then turned around as the demon began to move, that was why she waste to notice it. The other members of the seven deadly sins paid the demon no attention in the first ce so they did not even realize it.


    The demon unsheathed his sword and stabbed Pride in the back, literally.


    She let her guard down because she never expected the demon to literally backstab her.


    Even if he did, she was confident in her defenses, however, the demon was prepared, no, the ''demons'' were prepared.


    Nearly ten high-ranked demons rushed out of the rift instantly and attacked the seven deadly sins.


    "You bastards!!"


    Pride was enraged, wrath fed on that rage and boosted his strength to attack them.


    Greed sapped all their physical strengths, Gluttony devoured all their magic, Envy negated their known skills, Lust drained their stats and Sloth blocked their attacks.


    Another fierce battle broke out, however, it was over quickly.


    The seven deadly sins were demons who were the incarnations of the seven mortal sins.


    They were sovereign realm existences with levels over 700. Defeating a group of high-ranked demons was not so difficult for them.


    Killing them, was even easier.


    And that was exactly what their opponent aimed for.


    **BOOMMM


    The moment they killed a demon, its body exploded into a poisonous cloud, poisoning the seven deadly sins that were closest to the demon.


    Normal poisons could not work on them and their opponent knew that, that was why they used an abnormal poison.<sub> </sub>


    Two giant glowing red eyes appeared from the other side of the rift, they were just a projection, however, it was enough for the one projecting to achieve what they wanted.


    "Soul Poison."


    A deep voice resounded, a voice that each one of the seven deadly sins recognized.


    Wrath bellowed in rage, he tried to force the poison out of his body. However, the poison was one that affected the soul directly, the root of one''s existence.


    The seven of them dropped to the ground, if it was one demon that died, then they could have resisted it.


    However, all ten were linked together, the death of one, meant the death of the other 9, all of which had soul poison stuffed in their bodies.


    Looking at the weakened seven deadly sins, Second made a decision. Sealing the rift was impossible, the existence on the other side would not let them, however, he could seal away the seven deadly sins.


    He needed a conduit for the seal, but they had nothing to use, nothing except their weapons. He activated the sealing magic.


    Multiple Tier 6 magic circles spread out of the ground, Pride realized what he was about to do and tried to stop him but failed.


    The magic was a pre-casted magic, all he had to do was activate it at the time he wished, he sealed the seven deadly sins into the weapons they wielded.


    The seal waspleted easily because the seven deadly sins were unable to resist, they were already preupied trying to prevent themselves from dying to the soul poison.


    The moment he sealed them, he dropped onto the ground, he was still wary of the existence on the other side of the rift but he was not scared.


    He knew that being could note over, not at that time, they were far too strong toe over through the small rift.


    They heard a deep voice at that time.


    "Wise decision."


    Right before he lost consciousness, he used thest of his energy to activate his appraisal, to appraise the being behind the rift.


    He seeded, but till the day he died, he wished he never did.


    He wished he had lost consciousness and remained ignorant of that existence, not just Second but the rest of the seven heroes too, they all did.


    They didn''t know if it was because it was just a projection, but they could only see a few lines from that being''s status board. However, those lines were all they needed to know to figure out this being''s identity.


    |Name- Ginaroad Sargon


    Race- Half-High Demon, Half-b#10^y


    Level- 1000


    Titles- Transcendent, Demon King. |


    A being in an entirely different realm of existence.


    A being who had transcended their racial limit.


    He had reached the highest peak any mortal existence could.


    The strongest of all the demons.


    The ruler of the Demons.


    Level 1000.


    It was the Demon King himself.

 Chapter 34 Catching Up With Pride

    ''So, the damn bastard is truly level 1000 huh?''


    He was level 1000 in the game too, but that was a thousand years ago, there''s no way he hasn''t gotten higher than that.''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' agrees with you]


    ''So what level is he now?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says she does not know as the god in charge of his world is blocking her from peering into it]


    Evan clicked his tongue in annoyance after seeing that reply, not knowing the demon king''s current level really annoyed him, and Artemisia said that the existence realm above transcendence was ssified information.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that it shall be revealed when you have sufficient strength. She also reminds you not to forget your aim foring here.]


    "Ah, that''s right! Pride, form a contract with me, I''d help you regain your power and beat the demon king, in return you''d help me...kill the demon king."


    "Why should I enter a contract with you?"


    "Why should you not? We have a lot inmon, we both aren''t human, we both aren''t from this world, and we both hate the demon king."


    "You don''t really hate the demon king now do you?"


    Pride looked at him with eyes filled with doubt, Evan on the other hand, just shrugged his shoulders and said,


    "Well, you''re right, but he''s the reason I''m going through all this stress of trying to recruit you so I might have started to develop a little bit of hatred towards him."


    ? "Ha! Even if you do hate the demon king, you''re still a human hero, why should I join hands with you?"


    "Huh? Didn''t I just say I''m not human?"


    "Yes, but you are a hero of the humans are you not?"


    At that point, Evan remembered the bullshit setting from the game that prevented him from gaining the seven deadly sins.


    ''To think the real thing has that silly mentality too.''


    "Well, I''m not a being from this world, I was just called here, and given the task of defeating the demon king, I could not really care less of this world''s mankind.


    I''d just simply return to mine when I''m done with the job after all."


    "Called here? By who?"


    "Take a guess? Who has the power to do that?"


    Pride thought about it for about a minute and replied with a questioning tone.


    "The dragon lord?"


    "Huh? Could Altrishia do that?"


    "Who''s Altrishia?"


    Evan and Pride stared at each other for a while, and they both realized they were not on the same page. Finally, Evan realized why after a few moments.


    "Are you talking about the previous dragon lord from a thousand years ago? Gorm?"


    "Previous? Gorm''s dead??!"


    Pride waspletely shocked, she remembered the power of the previous dragon lord and the number of people she knew of who could kill him could be counted on one hand.


    "Yeah, McEnda killed him."<sub> </sub>


    "Greater General McEnda?! That guy is the demon king''s, right-hand man! That bastard was here?!"


    "Tone it down a bit, yeah he was here, Gorm killed him too."


    "He''s dead too?! And Gorm killed him? How?!"


    "Double suicide."


    Evan took a moment to remember the scene from the game that showed the fight between the two when he was on a quest to retrieve Gorm''s legacy.


    "That was one of the best Cut Scenes."


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' implores you to be serious with the matter at hand.]


    "Oh, yeah... McEnda killed him and he killed McEnda."


    They were both high-ranking members of their respective races. One was the lord of the most powerful race in Aidos, the Dragons.


    The other was the second inmand of the demon army.


    They were both existences over Level 900; both also did not want the other killing off members of their race.


    Half of the Dark Continent was destroyed in the course of their battle thatsted 3 days, in the end, they both ended up killing each other.


    "Simple, Right?"


    "I don''t see how that is simple."


    Pride retorted with an exasperated sigh before asking.


    "How strong is the current dragon lordpared to Gorm?"


    "It''s been nearly a thousand years since she took the position so she''s probably way higher than your level before you got sealed that is, isn''t that right Artemisia?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you are correct.]


    Hearing his words, Pride was shocked.


    She knew the name ''Artemisia'', the priests that usually healed the injured human soldiers during the war usually worshipped her.


    Among the gods worshipped by the denizens of Aidos, Artemisia had the highest denomination. This was only natural as she was the one in charge of it, the other gods worshipped were also her subordinates, but the beings of Aidos didn''t need to know that.


    "Are you speaking to the goddess? Is that even possible in a dungeon like this?"


    "Hm, yeah, she''s the one who called me here, didn''t I say that?"


    "No, you did not. You most definitely did not."


    Pride replied in annoyance while Evan justughed, however, thatugh was cut short the moment he heard pride''s next words.


    "Never expected you to be a puppet of the gods."


    The moment those words left her mouth, the atmosphere changed.


    Pride reflexively attempted to activate her unique skill, this was a danger response ingrained in her body.


    She felt fear, an indescribable fear.


    "WHAT DID YOU SAY??!!"

 Chapter 35 Contract With Pride

    "WHAT DID YOU SAY??!!"


    Evan''s voice filled with pure rage rang out, the air trembled with each word, as for the one being spoken to, she felt fear.


    ''Me? This me? Is scared of a child who''s still wet behind the ears?''


    She couldn''t understand it, she was nonplussed, she was someone who was not scared when she was ambushed by dozens of beings at level 500, she was someone who wasn''t scared even when the demon king attacked her.


    Yet she was sure the emotion she currently felt was fear, she could notprehend why.


    Evan on the other hand felt indescribable rage towards Pride, or rather the words Pride just said.


    If Wrath was present, then he would have considered Evan''s rage as a full course meal. That was just how angry he was.


    Rage towards the phrase ''Puppet of the gods'' bloomed from the depths of his heart, his thought process was clouded by it and he could not see or hear anything else.


    It was at that point in time that a familiar light blue notification board appeared in front of Pride.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' demands you do apologize immediately]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' warns you to never imply that the entity �C Evan ###### is a servant or puppet of any and every divine being.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' requests you change the topic to draw his attention away from your earlier words.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' DEMANDS you change the subject of discussion immediately!]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' ...]


    She was shocked once again.


    Pride possessed some knowledge on how the system of the gods worked, knowing fully well that sending messages of any kind to beings not from a world under their control, or beings who were not their believers, cost a lot of energy.


    More than three times the amount required to send a message to a being who was from a world under their control or their believer.


    Yet, Artemisia was continuously spamming her with messages telling her to change the topic or apologize to Evan immediately.


    She instantly understood that her action of calling him a ''puppet of the gods'' was the trigger for the change in attitude she just witnessed.


    In order to prevent getting on a god''s bad side, especially when she was at her weakest, she did not hesitate in doing as Artemisia said.


    "So, what about Altrishia, where is she?"


    To her surprise, Evan returned to normal instantly, not even realizing that the way he just acted was clearly irregr and abnormal.


    He also did not notice the censored words on his status, reveal themselves before being covered up once again by Artemisia.


    He answered her normally like before.


    "She''s probably wandering the continents at regr intervals."


    Pride just stared at Evan in shock, not understanding how a person''s attitude could change at the drop of a hat.


    Meanwhile, Evan who was wondering why his hand was on his sword, let go of it as he recalled the information about the strongest beings in Aidos.


    The beings over level 800 in Aidos numbered very few, not more than a hundred, as for level 900s, they were just 5.


    ''Dragon Lord'' Altrishia,


    ''Elven Emperor'' Zaos,


    ''Beast King'' Kolvar,


    ''Smith Master'' Vulwin, and


    ''Strongest Human'' Rathal.


    They were the only beings in all of Aidos who were over level 900, however, none of them were over level 950.


    Even so, they were still strong enough to be counted as natural disasters.


    There were two inhabitable continents in Aidos, the Alpha and Beta continents. They were divided by arge river and some small groups of inds.


    These five beings came together and decided to not reside in one continent, splitting themselves between the two.


    The Elven Emperor Zaos and the Smith Master Vulwin resided on the Beta continent. They founded their countries there.


    The Beast King Kolvar and the ''Strongest Human'' Rathal resided in the Alpha continent.


    Kolvar was the king of the Beast man kingdom in the south of the Alpha continent, his existence was the reason why many did not dare discriminate against the beast kin like they did hundreds of years ago.


    A country that enved beastkin and advocated human supremacy was destroyed by him single handedly before.


    That struck fear into the hearts of the highest continental powers at the time, even the Great Eastern and Western empires. They left a message to their descendants.


    ''Never go against the Beast King.''


    As for Altrishia, she wandered the continents at regr intervals, never staying on one for too long. Most of the time, she stayed on one of the inds in between the two continents.


    "She should be on her ind now right?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you are not allowed to know that information, as you are still too weak]


    "Wtf?! It''s just someone''s location?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says it is the location of a transcendent being, one with a higher ###### ###### than you.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you are too weak to even know what she has higher than you. She sighs and implores you to get stronger]<sub> </sub>


    "Level 900 isn''t exactly something I can achieve easily you know?"


    He sighed and looked back at Pride and asked.


    "The contract? Still up for it?"


    Pride who was still shocked at his change in atmosphere nodded absent-mindedly.


    The moment she gave her consent, the ground glowed and a six-ringed magic circle filled with more runic symbols than the current Evan''s brain couldpute made its appearance.


    It was the sealing magic that the Previous second used to seal Pride.


    And it was doing its job of trying to prevent her from moving from that spot.


    Before Pride could tell Evan to do something about it, they heard a voice.


    [Break]


    And it broke, the tier 6 magic circles shattered instantly, leaving only one behind. Thest circle then slightly changed in structure.


    "Artemisia? Was that you?"


    Silence.


    He received no reply, he then remembered her saying she was not allowed to interfere in this world.


    ''Perhaps she broke a rule just now?''


    Deciding to think about itter, he hurriedly activated the contract magic on Pride. The contract was established with a magical chain binding the two.


    It was a 50/50 contract of mutual cooperation.


    Even if she was weakened, it was simply impossible for Evan to ce a demon like Pride under his control, as such he had to settle for this.


    The information about the contract flowed into his mind, allowing him to understand the benefits and drawbacks of the contract.


    ''Shared experience, huh?''


    One of the effects of the contract, was shared experience between him and Pride.


    Their levels were tied together and any experience points gotten by one of them was shared between the two.


    So even if Pride was the one who killed the monster, Evan would receive half the experience and vice versa.


    The good part was that Evan''s extra experience boosts also applied to Pride so the experience she would get upon killing any creature would be higher than normal.


    Besides that, the two now had a connection that they could use to talk telepathically and a few other minor effects.


    A magic crest appeared on the back of his palm. It was the crest of a sword inscribed in a circle.


    The moment the contract was finalized, Pride''s incorporeal form made by condensed magic disappeared and her real body manifested itself.


    "It''s a refreshing feeling."


    She picked up the sword in front of her a swung it slightly.


    "Tch..st time I did that, a level 600 died, now I can barely cut the air."


    "You''ve got to recover your strength, you can re-enter the sword to sleep you know?


    Artemisia didn''t destroy the magic circle that put you in it, she even modified it so you could enter ande out at will."


    "Yes, but I want to be outside for now. I''ve been in that sword for a thousand years, don''t exactly have any happy memories of it."


    "Makes sense"


    Evan chuckled as he appraised the sword in Pride''s hand. The details of the weapon were the same as in the game, along with its effects.


    |Sword of Pride (Vanitas)


    Type; One-handed Sword.


    Woe to those who dare to stand against the wielder of this sword.


    As the weapon wielded by the High Demon Pride, this de is capable of cutting down whoever has the gall to antagonize its wielder.


    While the primary effects of this sword can be used by those given permission to wield it by the Demon of Pride herself, Its true ability can only be manifested when wielded in the hands of the incarnation of Pride.


    Effect;


    All shall fall by this sword. It matters not whether one is incorporeal or possesses a physical body, this sword deals damage to them regardless.


    Infusing this de with energy increases its overall attack power by 10%, and by 15% if the energy infused into the de is demonic in nature.


    [Locked Effect] |


    Evan couldn''t help but heave an exasperated sigh at how he missed out on such a good weapon in the game.


    It was a pity that the true power of the sword could not be used by him as he did not possess Pride''s ''Incarnation Series Skill''.


    He looked the weapon over again before turning around and begun to leave the room, gesturing for Pride to follow suit.


    When they got outside, they were met with the scene of Ralphie lying unconscious and Laurene seated beside him, struggling to stay awake. Evanughed at her and spoke.


    "Laurene, wake up. It''s time to go."

 Chapter 36 Returning Home

    "Laurene, wake up. It''s time to go."


    She instantly got up at his voice and was about to speak, then she noticed Pride behind Evan and choked on her words.


    "Oh yeah, this is Pride, we just formed a contract."


    Evan spoke without a care in the world before turning to Pride and continuing.


    "This is Laurene, she''s the new Fourth."


    Pride''s red eyes widened slightly at his words,


    ''As I thought, there is a new generation of the seven heroes. Surprisingly, he''s stared gathering the seven already?''


    She then looked at Ralphie who was unconscious and the mutted troll not far from him. The sight was too bizarre, she did not even bother to ask Evan concerning it.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Ralphie opened his eyes and met a red pair of eyes staring back at him, he did not recognize those eyes, nor did he recognize the face they were on.


    "Wee to the afterlife mortal."


    He hurriedly stood up and took distance from the woman immediately, his hand on his sword and his unique skill already activated, it was an automatic response.


    "As I thought, even though your weakened, your aura is still threatening enough."


    As Ralphie heard that voice, he turned around and saw Evan seated on the ground with Laurene on hisp.


    "Young master?"


    "Good morning Raplhie, how was your sleep?"


    At Evan''s question, Ralphie slowly recalled the series of events that led to him being unconscious. He immediately wanted to reprimand Evan but he held it in, he decided to let the Duke handle that.


    "Why did you enter that door? Did you know what was behind it? Who''s that woma-?!"


    He looked around as he was speaking and realized h could not see the woman he saw before.


    "Where is she?!"


    Evan shrugged his shoulders and gave a reply that Ralphie definitely would not believe.


    "Someone who was down here with us, she was only gonna be here till you woke up."


    He did not understand, how did she leave without him noticing? Predicting his thoughts, Evan pointed at the teleportation circle that was behind him.


    It was the exit leading to outside the dungeon that appeared shortly after Ralphie killed the Troll King Gu.


    "Let''s go already, we''d deal with the other shitter."


    Evan said as he stood up and carried the sleeping Laurene on his back he started walking out without even waiting for Ralphie.


    Ralphie hurriedly followed behind and they left the room, marking the end of Evan''s first dungeon expedition.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    ''Artemisia''s reward though, didn''t expect to go there this early.''


    Artemisiater responded to him, with a quest saying the reward she promised was at the end of the quest.


    He felt cheated but when he saw the quest details, he was shocked.


    ''The Lair Of The Lizard Lord''


    It was a quest to attack a dungeon that was about to overflow, in the game the dungeon overflow happened muchter, when the demon invasion had already begun and it imed a lot of lives in the process.


    The lizard lord was a level 700 monster capable of levelling mountain ranges with ease. Itmanded forces of hundreds of lizard men at level 400-500 and it was one of the most difficult quests in the game.


    ''This time, I''m attacking nearly 10 years before that, they won''t be that strong yet.''


    The Lizard lord was probably around level 100 now.


    ''Still, six hundred levels in ten years, that''s too much.''


    Existences ssified as ''monsters'' by the system had the ability to level up faster when they killed members of other races.


    The amount of people that would enter the dungeon within ten years would not be small, and the amount who died, would be even higher.


    It bing level 700 in 10 years was understandable.


    ''They''re not gonna let me go out so easily once Ralphie tells the Duke and Emperor of what happened here. Guess I''m gonna have to sneak out.''


    Evan grinned evilly to himself as he walked out of the dungeon while constructing a n to somehow go over to ''The Lair of The Lizard Lord'' that was in the Beast Kingdom.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    The trip back to the duke''s mansion was as uneventful as possible, mostly due to Evan not wanting to cause any more trouble, for now.


    The moment they arrived, they met the Emperor who was already waiting at the door of the mansion.


    Such a thing was normally unthinkable but when one thought about the fact that it was the overprotective emperor who was doing this, it kind of seemed eptable.


    He hugged her, and then checked Laurene''s body for any irregrities. After seeing she was fine, he then hugged her again and didn''t let go until the Duke and The Empress who arrivedter pulled him off.


    "Tsk...you''re not the only one who wants to hug our daughter you know?"


    Those were the empress'' words before she picked up Laurene with a barely perceptible speed and hugged her.


    Evan was shocked, he could not catch the empress'' movements at all. He appraised her and was even more stunned.


    |Name- udia Hayes<sub> </sub>


    Race- Human


    Level- 200


    Existence Level - Master


    Titles- Empress of the Great Western Empire, Head of the Intelligence Division


    ss - Shadow Master


    Health �C C+


    Energy - B-


    Strength �C C


    Agility �C A-


    Durability �C C-


    Intelligence - C+


    Condition- Happy


    Magic Tiers- Shadow Tier 3.


    Skills- Shadow Control, Concealment (Extreme), Dagger (Extreme)


    Unique Skills- Life Sensing. |


    ''What?! Isn''t she supposed to be the empress?!!''


    "Oh my, it seems your appraisal can see through my concealment."


    udia had her hand over her mouth while smiling at Evan as if amused. Evan on the other hand was still in a state of shock.


    ''What sort of empress is that?''


    She stared at his shadow with a weird expression before shaking her head and walking away with Laurene in her arms. Evan, however, was slightly scared at this action.


    ''Did she notice it?''


    He looked at the emperor who was being dragged inside by the duke and appraised him.


    |Name- Rudeus Hayes


    Race- Human


    Level- 220


    Existence Level - Master


    Titles- Emperor of the Great Western Empire, One sh Sword Master


    ss - Sword Master


    Health �C B-


    Energy - B-


    Strength �C B


    Agility �C C-


    Durability �C C


    Intelligence - C+


    Condition- Sad


    Magic Tiers- Light Tier 2


    Skills- Swordsmanship (Extreme), Light Magic (Medium), Thought eleration.


    Unique Skills- One sh Sword. |


    He was shocked once again, the emperor, Rudeus was a lot stronger than he expected.


    ''Why the hell were they background characters in the game??''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that they are going to be useless in the face of theing disaster, as such she did not bother adding them]


    "No No No, even so at least make their levels known, this just messed with most of my calctions, I have to change my ns."


    "ns about what?"


    Evan was shocked when he suddenly saw the duke in front of him.


    He then realized that he had unconsciously followed the group to the mansion''s lounge, his mother, the duchess was also there.


    [Kyaa, he got caught!]


    [he wants to run away~]


    [Someone hold him!]


    [Hey, what about that scarydy in his hand]


    "Nothing serious, I''d tell youter."

 Chapter 37 Forbidden ‘Topics’…

    He ignored the weird voices he was hearing and walked to the couch, also ignoring the bundle of yellow he saw there and sat down before continuing.


    "First of all, Laurene and I had a good harvest, I got to level 36 and she got to 29."


    Hearing the levels they achieved, the ducal and imperial couple were surprised. They had only expected a level increase of 6 or at most, 7.


    However, Evan had a level increase of 15 and Laurene had an increase of 17. This had exceeded their expectations by arge margin.


    "Just what the hell did you fight?"


    The emperor finally broke the silence and asked, the others were also curious.


    "A level 55 Leopard at the sil- ah! A level 55 leopard that somehow got stronger over time."


    He was about to speak of the leopard''s existence level, then he remembered he was the only one who could see it, so he kept quiet.


    "Level 55!!!"


    The emperor was visibly angry, he turned to Ralphie and was about to question him as to why he let the both of them fight the monster before being stopped by the duke.


    "Calm down, Rudeus, there''s more to this he isn''t telling us, right Evan?"


    "Obviously, I never said we did it on our own, that''d be suicide.


    We had help, well they were mostly useless individually but their numbers made up for it, about 50 of them I think?"


    He looked at Ralphie for confirmation, who then nodded and followed up.


    "Originally 53 to be exact, 18 perished in battle leaving 35 idiots remaining."


    "Idiots?"


    It was rare for Ralphie to insult someone so the duchess was surprised, Ralphie nodded and exined the events that urred after the battle.


    "They dared to argue with the young master for the spoils of battle after he did almost all the work, shameless idiots."


    "What happened to them?"


    The duke questioned with a tone of annoyance.


    "Young master spared their lives."


    The reply caused the duke to look at Evan strangely, the ''Evan'' he knew was someone who did not take any insults, whether big or small.


    Yet that same Evan let people who dared to argue with him for the spoils of his hard work? Something was definitely wrong.


    ''He''s changed.''


    Evan guessed the duke''s thoughts andughed lightly, his eyes seemed to sh as he said.


    "People change daily father, even me, I''m not the same person I was a few months ago."


    The duke did not understand the true meaning behind Evan''s words, Laurene on the other hand, looked at him with suspicion.


    ''He changed too much, especially after he gained his hero title.''


    The Evan she had met a few times at tea parties and balls was the typical authoritative noble son, the current carefree Evan was the exact opposite of that.


    Evan had already given up acting like the duke''s son for months now, it was too much of a hassle for someone as wilful as he was.


    Ralphie interrupted the strange silence with his next words that surprised all of them again.


    "The young master also seemed to know about a secret entrance to a lower floor, one with a level 300 monster."


    "Ralphie!"


    ''Shit, I was too preupied with those children and I forgot to bribe him.''


    [He was caught again!]


    [Hey that scarydy is still there you know?]


    [Leave her alone, she''s sleeping]


    [We can run when she wakes up]


    [Yes, run run run!]


    He ignored the voices in his ear and turned to the Duke to exin, but was cut off by the emperor, Rudeus.


    "How did you get ess to such information?"


    Evan clicked his tongue in annoyance, he had not thought of a solution because he was preupied with other matters, namely, dealing with the little critters that had been making noise in his ear for a while now.


    Surprisingly Laurene helped him out,


    "It''s your unique skill, isn''t it?"


    He was stunned at first but he quickly grabbed onto the lifeline she was holding out for him.


    The existence of Pride, a demon of level over 700 and one of the invaders from a thousand years ago. One with a track record of defeating the heroes multiple times, was not something that could be made public.


    At least not for now.


    "I wanted to hide that, you know."<sub> </sub>


    "Didn''t you say you had no unique skill?"


    The duke asked skeptically, he recalled Evan denying that he had a unique skill before. Evan, however, replied with a grin.


    "I said unique skills weren''tmon, never said I didn''t have one."


    "Are you trying to mess with me?"


    The Duke was slowly bing annoyed, however, Evanughed and decided toe clean about the fact that he was not allowed to tell them the details of his skill.


    It was to prepare for when they would eventually have to disclose the details of their skills along with the iing demon threat.


    He decided to consider this asying the groundwork.


    "Oh please, I got better things to do. I couldn''t even tell you about the skill even if I wanted to."


    "Huh? What does that mean?"


    Laurene looked at Evan in suspicion after the empress'' question.


    ''He couldn''t possibly...?''


    "Appraise me and see if you can find it, you won''t. Only I can see it."


    He had hidden his skills with concealment so even if he was appraised, it would not be seen, even if they possessed full appraisal.


    However, it would be revealed if the one with full appraisal was higher levelled than him but full appraisal was not exactly amon skill like the normal appraisal.


    "Only you can see it, what sort of skill is that?"


    The duchess asked Evan while everyone else, Laurene excluded, nodded in affirmation. They wanted to know.


    Evan, however, face palmed loudly and repeated his earlier words with a tone of annoyance.


    "What part of ''I couldn''t even tell you about the skill even if I wanted to'' did you all not understand?"


    "And I''m asking what kind of skill is that??"


    "As I said, I can''t say."


    "What sort of nonsense is that, why can''t you talk about your skill?"


    "If I could tell you the reason why, I''d rather just tell you about the skill itself."


    "Who are you trying to fool? There''s no such skill like that?"


    "Fine, I''d tell you, if anything happens it''s your fault."


    "Huh?"


    The duchess asked once again, as if she was oblivious to Evan''s annoyance despite him giving a somewhat positive answer.


    Laurene on the other hand couldn''t help but let out a shocked voice as she heard Evan speak.


    At this point, the emperor who saw Laurene''s expression of shock, noticed something was wrong.


    ''Laurene knew about the unique skill, but she never said its name, there must be a reason why. And her expression as he said he was going to talk about the skill, it was one of shock and fear.


    She has the ability to tell lies from truth, if she knows the reason he can''t speak of his skill and his words of right now were true, that means she''s scared of whatever the consequence of speaking about the skill is.''


    All these thoughts did not take more than a second due to Rudeus'' thought eleration skill. However, even if he figured out all that in less than a second, It was after Evan had dered his intention to finally speak of the skill and he noticed Laurene''s reaction.


    In other words, it was toote for him to stop Evan from speaking.


    "Evan Don''t!"


    Laurene''s scream rang out, surprising the empress who was holding her, however, she was toote.


    "The skill''s name is th-###rgc#~##jhv@####-"


    His words were garbled the moment he attempted to speak of the skill''s name.


    [He''s bleeding!]


    [Call a lightie!]


    [A lightie shoulde heal him]


    [The lighties ran away from that scary woman]


    [Oh no!]


    Evan coughed up a bit of blood, it wasn''t much but it shocked the others who were in the room, especially the duchess.


    They could not understand how speaking of a skill caused him to cough up blood.


    Such a situation was out of the norm and did not conform to themon sense they knew all their lives.


    Evan''s consciousness slowly dimmed, at thest moment, he saw a message in front of him.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' questions your sanity]


    Then everything went ck.

 Chapter 38 Monsters Talk Too!

    Dungeon City Merdin


    Great Western Empire


    April 12th


    Year 1051


    On thest floor of the ''Graveyard of The Arrogant'', a brown-haired man with slit eyes kicked the corpse of the troll general at his feet before heaving a sigh in exasperation.


    He had a slightly pointed nose that somehow matched with his oval face, with a small stubble on his chin that he stroked before sheathing his bloodstained sword.


    Turning behind him, he locked eyes with the existence seated on arge throne of bones.


    ''Trolls are undoubtedly ugly creatures.''


    Those were his thoughts as he stared at the giant troll that was staring back at him.


    It was a hairy, apelike humanoid monster with ck fur and a face that was quite hideous to look upon. It was a creature possessing a long nose and long ears with a pair of wide and bulging eyes with a snout that was thick and fleshy.


    The duo stared at each other in silence for a few minutes before the silence was broken. Surprisingly, it was by the troll.


    "Why?"


    It was a hoarse voice that would be diforting to hear, but it was a voice nheless, the voice of a monster.


    "Your very existence is something that prevents me from achieving my goals, as such I have to eliminate you.


    No hard feelings, Troll Emperor."


    The man replied to the Troll emperor without a hint of surprise, after all, he had expected that a monster on its level would have developed the ability to speak the human tongue.


    If Evan was here, he would definitely recognize the Troll emperor who this unknown man was conversing with.


    It was the final BOSS monster of the ''Graveyard of The Arrogant''.


    Troll Emperor Yetu!


    |Name- Yetu


    Race- War Troll


    Level- 512


    Titles- Troll Emperor


    ss �C Troll Grandmaster


    Health �C S-


    Energy �C A-


    Strength �C SS-


    Agility �C A


    Durability �C A


    Intelligence- B+


    Condition- Normal, Ruminating.


    Magic Tiers- Earth Tier 3, Wind, Tier 3.


    Skills- Titan Punch, Size control, Fatal Edge.


    Unique Skills- Whirlwind. |


    Unlike what Evan would have guessed, a great many adventurers had seeded in reaching thest floor of the ''Graveyard of the Arrogant'' over the past few centuries.


    It was precisely because of these people that the Troll emperor managed to umte a certain level of fighting experience despite being born inside the dungeon and not being able to leave.


    Nevertheless, the fact that it was level 512 and not 500 like it was in the game could only mean one thing.


    Not a single being who met the troll emperor had lived to tell the tale.<sub> </sub>


    The troll emperor sighed as it rose from its throne. Picking up the giant great sword on beside its throne, it spoke to the brown-haired man.


    "I know not how many days have passed since thest challenger came here, he was powerful, enough to put me on the brink of death multiple times.


    Sadly, he wasn''t enough.


    He was not strong enough to put me down.


    In the end, he left this sword to me, and I have longed for the day I would be able to use it to battle another worthy opponent."


    **RUMBLE!!


    The troll began walking towards the man while dragging the great sword on the ground. The ground trembled with each step its enormous 6-meter-tall body took.


    In response to this, the brown-haired man smiled as he began walking toward the troll emperor.


    When there was but a meter''s distance between them, they both stopped and looked each other in the eye once more.


    "Emperor of the Troll Race, Troll Emperor Yetu."


    "Executive of the Demonic Hand, Sixth Finger Seith."


    **WHOOSH!!!


    **SHCRINGG!!


    ***BOOOOMMMMM!!!!


    The brown-haired man, Seith, unsheathed his longsword faster than the eye could follow and raised it to block the great sword that threatened to cleave him in half, courtesy of the troll emperor Yetu.


    "Martial Art: Fatal Edge."


    Troll Emperor Yetu did not hesitate to unleash a skill the moment he realized his attack had been blocked by Seith.


    The great sword in Yetu''s hands glowed with an eerie brown light as he swung it down towards Seith who grinned and twisted his sword to block.


    "Slippery Sword."


    At their level of strength, it was not necessary to call out the name of the skill they were using, after all, they had reached a level of proficiency where such a thing was unnecessary.


    Even so, they still did.


    And the end result was nothing short of devastating.


    ***BBOOOOOMMMM!!!


    The entire boss room shook as the two des collided, releasing shockwaves that passed through the walls of the dungeon and making those on the upper floors lose their footing.


    That was just how powerful their attacks were.


    Even after releasing such powerful skills, the duo did not let up and continued shing des with each other.


    Naturally, it was impossible for a human-like Seith to keep up with the strength of a troll emperor like Yetu even though they were in the same level range.


    The moment Yetu took a moment to catch his breath, Seith Kicked off the giant great sword and took distance from the troll.


    "The distance��is to my advantage."


    Yetu activated his size control and erged his already huge body even further, bing a whooping 15 meters tall as he simultaneously activated another skill.


    In the game, Aidos online, this skill was the bane of all yers who challenged the troll emperor, even the world''s best, Evan.


    "Whirlwind."


    Yetu called out in a small voice as he took a rough stance and pulled his sword back. The flow of wind in the boss room changed, creating a vortex that surrounded and attracted almost everything in the area.


    Even the corpses of the troll kings and generals that Seith had murdered right before moving to battle Yetu.


    The giant troll corpses were drawn to Yetu''s sword, some of them knocking into Seith in the process and making him lose his footing, albeit temporarily.


    "Try not to die."

 Chapter 39 [Bonus Chapter]Strength Of The Sixth Finger

    "Try not to Die."


    The moment he said that, Yetu thrust out his great sword with all his might, creating a vortex with a repulsive force that pushed away everything in the vicinity.


    Countless des of wind were released from this vortex, slicing the corpses of the airborne trolls into mere pieces of meat and sttering blood everywhere.


    "��haah"


    Yetu heaved a sigh as he stabbed his great sword into the ground, using it as support to stand up while looking at the red cloud of dust and dirt that was created as a result of his attack.


    **SWISH!


    A longsword coated in ck mes suddenly appeared behind him, threatening to slice of his neck, nevertheless, the troll emperor only grinned as he called out in his mind.


    ''Size Control.''


    His enormous body suddenly shrunk down faster than the de could reach his neck, causing it to slice through empty air.


    "Tsk��"


    Its wielder clicked his tongue audibly as he looked downwards for the figure of the troll emperor.


    "Huh?"


    He let out a voice of surprise as he saw the figure of an average tall humanoid, one not up to two meters in height cing his hands on the ground.


    ''That��!''


    Instantly figuring out the identity of the humanoid, he condensed the water vapour in the air and froze it, creating a small foothold which he kicked off on to propel himself downwards with his sword raised high.


    The violent ck mes on his sword increased in intensity as he shot toward the figure on the ground.


    Meanwhile, the figure on the ground, Troll Emperor Yetu, poured his energy into the earth and formed a sword from the soil.


    Infusing more energy into the de, he made it sturdier than most weapons out there and turned his body, shing upwards just in time to block the ck me-engulfed sword that came down on his body.


    "Using size control to reduce your size that much, you are one tricky troll, ay?"


    "I learned from experience."


    Yetu replied to Seith as he infused wind energy into his sword, creating a small whirlwind around the de to divert the mes that snaked towards his arm.


    "HAAAA!!"


    He let out a loud shout as he pushed back the me-sword-wielding Seith who had no footing before clenching his left fist and punching out.


    "Titan Punch!"


    |Titan Punch;


    Type: Racial Skill


    Effect;


    Condenses energy around one''s fist to enhance the power of punches. Creates aura attacks shaped like little fists with the homing feature, the number depends on the number of fingers avable. |


    He activated his racial skill as energy condensed around his clenched fist that mmed into the body of the airborne Demonic hand executive, sending him flying into the wall of the boss room.


    **BAAMMMM!!!


    Without even giving Seith any time to recover, he kicked off the ground and shot toward the immobilized man, his small body allowing him to maximize the efficiency of his speed stat to the fullest.


    He clenched his right fist and condensed even more of his energy into it, erging it as he threw out another earth-shaking punch in hopes of incapacitating the longsword wielder.


    **BAMM!!! BAMMM!!!!


    Wind gathered around his left fist as he pulled it back and punched out with it, sending forth a mini-sized version of the whirlwind he unleashed earlier.


    "Demonic Arts: Life Devouring me."<sub> </sub>


    A rose made of dark mes suddenly manifested less than a meter away from Yetu''s face, blooming in the next second as it released a burst of pollen.


    Each one of the pollen was a me elemental particle that was absorbed by the sword that came shing through the rose.


    **KAABBBOOOMMMM!!!


    The sound of an explosion rang out as a giant tornado of ck mes swirled around in the centre of the boss room.


    "HAAAAAAA!!"


    **WHOOOSSHH!!


    This tornado was dispersed in the next moment as the one caught in the centre released a burst of pure energy that doused the mes that circled around him.


    The figure of a blood-stained Yetu could be seen, breathing heavily while hurriedly looking around for the figure of his opponent.


    "Looking for me?"


    He suddenly heard a voice right next to his ear, sending chills down his spine as he reflexively turned around and threw out a fist,


    **SWISHHH


    "ARGHHH!!"


    His thrown-out left fist was sliced off with the ck ming sword as its wielder wasted no time in redirecting his de towards Yetu''s neck.


    **KAKINGG!!!


    "Huh?"


    Seith could not help but let out a surprised voice as his de that he was sure would lop off the troll emperor''s neck, was stopped by a metallic object at thest moment.


    Taking advantage of his shock, Yetu condensed his energy and sent out a Titan Punch to Seith''s side. Nevertheless, catching someone on his level off-guard twice in a row, was not an easy feat.


    **CCRACKK!!


    He hurriedly created an aura-based barrier that cracked upon impact but still stood strong even though the knockback from Yetu''s punch sent him flying.


    **BAMMM!!!


    Seeing the dust cloud that rose up from Seith crashing into the wall, Yetu turned his gaze to the vitality-sucking mes on the stub of his arm that were burning out his life force rapidly.


    He grabbed a fistful of earth from the ground and used is magic to reform it into a de which he used in slicing off what was left of his arm before struggling to his feet and removing the metal neck protector he ced on his neck.


    It shattered into pieces of metal before falling on the floor and returning to being sand from the ground.


    ''The ability to manipte metal that I gained from glimpsing into Tier 4 magic saved my life. Nevertheless, myck of knowledge on spells is making me unable to utilize it fully.''


    He walked up to the great sword that had been tossed around in by the earlier tornado of mes and picked it up with his remaining arm.


    Turning around, he locked eyes with the injured Seith who cracked his neck and took a stance solely for the sake of thrusting.


    "Let''s end this, shall we?"


    Yetu''s lips curled into a grin as he nodded before raising his greatsword above his head, pouring all of his remaining energy into it, causing the de to light up with a brownish light.


    He ced his dominant foot forward and his other foot backwards, all emotions disappearing from his ugly face as he took a deep breath.


    Seith took a stance with his free arm stretched forward and his sword arm pulled back, his eyes narrowing as he took a deep breath.


    The two simultaneously kicked off the ground, shattering the ground underneath their feet with their first steps and blitzing towards each other with trails of light following behind them.


    "Martial Art: Fatal Edge."


    "Demonic Arts: Final me."

 Chapter 40 Meanwhile, On Evan’s Side Of The Story... [REWRITTEN]

    "Martial Art: Fatal Edge."


    "Demonic Arts: Final me."


    Yetu swung down with his sword coated in brownish light while Seith thrust his sword covered in ck mes forward to meet his de.


    **KABOOOOOMMMMM!!!!


    There was an explosion of greater intensity than ever, releasing shockwaves that shook the entire dungeon and the city above it.


    A giant mushroom cloud could be seen in the boss room as the entire room was covered in dust, smoke��and blood.


    **WHOOSHHHH!!!


    A burst of energy released by Seith revealed the result of their final sh as Yetu looked down at the hole in the middle of his torso that had a sword through it.


    His gaze turned to his sword that had divided the earth where itnded, but sadly missed its target as he heaved onest sigh.


    **PLOP!


    Seith pulled out his sword from Yetu''s torso as the troll Emperor dropped to his knees, enlightenment shing through his eyes as he took onest deep breath.


    Seeing the troll Emperor that died while on its knees with its eyes open caused Seith to sigh while sheathing his sword before raising his hand to close the troll Emperor''s eyes.


    He walked past the corpse and moved towards the double doors that were originally hidden by the now-destroyed troll Emperor''s throne.


    "Finally��"


    He pulled out a silver medallion from his pocket and rose it towards the doors.


    **HUMMM!!


    With a loud humming sound, the giant set of double doors creaked open, revealing the room behind it.


    �� �� ��


    Eris Main Residence, Gerfast


    Great Western Empire


    April 12th


    Year 1051


    The young master of the Eris household copsing caused a stir among the servants as they did not understand why he suddenly copsed.


    He seemed fine when he just returned and was chatting with the royal family alongside the ducal couple.


    Suddenly, there was a scream from the lounge that alerted the knights standing guard in the corridor.


    When they barged into the room with weapons drawn, they were met with the image of the Duchess in tears and the young Duke on the floor.


    The Duke was about to summon multiple physicians to examine him, however, the Princess strangely insisted on summoning none, iming it was not necessary.


    She even went as far as to use her authority as a member of the imperial family to order the Duke.


    This shocked the servants that witnessed it, causing them to have mixed feelings about the Princess. After all, if a person suddenly copsed, the normal thing to do was to call a doctor.


    The Princess insisting on not calling one, even going to great lengths to prevent a doctor from being summoned made it seem like she did not mean well to Evan.


    Much to their surprise, the Emperor followed through with his daughter''s words despite the Duchess'' pleas.


    ''There has to be a reason why she doesn''t want him being examined.''


    There was indeed a reason why she didn''t want that, and that was because even if they examined Evan, they would not find a thing!


    The reason Evan copsed was something that only the Seven Heroes were privy to.


    To sum it up nicely, Evan''s actions, were pretty much him breaking a restriction that was ced on the seven heroes.


    Or to be exact; whoever possessed a Mystic Eye Series Skill.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    How they were restricted from taking certain actions and the reason why dated back to more than a thousand years ago when the previous Seven Heroes reincarnated.


    Their reincarnation magic was wed and it messed with thew of reincarnation. As such, in order to reduce the probability of others messing with thew like how they did, restrictions were ced on them.


    All these were done by a ''certain son of a bitchw'' that existed to ce restrictions on and punish those who broke otherws.


    The restrictions were ced on the important things that pertained to their reincarnation.<sub> </sub>


    Concerning the restrictions on the knowledge of the ''Mystic Eye Series Skills'', these skills were the main conduit for selecting the bodies they were to reincarnate into.


    The bodies they had set to reincarnate into, were the bodies of whichever children possessed their Mystic eye skills exactly a thousand years from then.


    As such, the current Seven Heroes could not ''spread information about'' the ''conduit'' for the reincarnation magic that deified thew of reincarnation, which were the ''Mystic Eye Series Skills''.


    Concerning the restrictions on information pertaining to the iing demon invasion and details of the invasion from a thousand years ago, these were the ''reasons'' or the ''justifications'' that the heroes had for reincarnating.


    As such, the current Seven Heroes could not ''spread information about'' the ''reason'' why the reincarnation magic that defied thew of reincarnation was cast, which was the iing demon invasion.


    Of course, said restrictions only applied to whoever had the ''Mystic Eye Series Skills'' so other people were allowed to talk about this.


    The problem was that for the Seven Heroes to speak about this themselves, the ones they were speaking to had to have prior knowledge of what they were speaking about or they would suffer repercussions depending on how much information they tried to ''spread''.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Eventually, Evan was moved to his room and all the servants were sent out. It was then that Laurene finally said that the young hero would wake up in a few minutes.


    The Duke was surprised, wondering why Laurene knew this. Thinking further, he realized she also seemed to know the reason for him falling unconscious in the first ce.


    The weather also changed rapidly as if in response to the gloomy mood in the ducal mansion.


    In Evan''s room, Laurene was currently throwing a fit for the first time since she had awakened her mystic eye skill and gained the memories of the previous ''Fourth''.


    The one her anger was directed to, was none other than the Duchess.


    "He said he couldn''t tell you about it, so why didn''t you leave it at that?! Why did you have to ask him again?!"


    "Calm down Laurene."


    The Emperor tried to calm Laurene but it was futile.


    Laurene, after being influenced slightly by the memories she possessed, had a personality change.


    She had begun acting more mature for her age, a result of the influx of memories of a being who was decades older than everyone in the roombined.


    But when it came to issues regarding the seven heroes, she lost her cool, just like the previous fourth.


    The current seven heroes were not allowed to speak of their mystic eye series skills due to the actions of the previous heroes.


    There would be repercussions if they did not meet the conditions to speak of the skill.


    Their unique skills were not ordinary unique skills, to say the least. If unique skills had grades, then theirs would be the rarest of the rare.


    They were ''Series Skills'', after all.


    Thus, the previous heroes'' actions incurred greater restrictions on the knowledge of them. This was also due to the things that could be gained when one gathered multiple series skills but Evan and Laurene didn''t know this.


    If the party being told did not have the basic knowledge of the existence of the skills, then the one telling would suffer a repercussion.


    They were also not allowed to speak of another hero''s skill without the permission of the hero in question.


    The repercussion they received differed depending on the situation.


    "Luckily it''s just a level decrease, not much difference in his stats too, no lost skills or titles either."


    Laurene heaved a sigh of relief as she appraised Evan and discovered the repercussion that he received was one where he lost a single level.


    It was not much in her eyes. As for him falling unconscious, that was simply because his body was regressing to a state where he was one level lower.


    It was a single level so it would not take long, that was why she was sure he would wake up soon.


    As for the others, they were shocked for obvious reasons.


    Especially the Duchess, she shed tears when she realized that she might have weakened her son or caused him to be deprived of his skills.


    ''What sort of dangerous skill is that?


    To think his level would decrease just by speaking of it, there were no records of such skills in the royal library skill archive, as far as I had checked.''


    Most of the known skills were recorded in the royal library''s skill archive, along with their effects and side effects. The Emperor usually read through them in his spare time so he had a lot of knowledge about skills.


    The Empress then broke the silence, asking the question that had been on her mind for a while.


    "Still, why did he not just keep quiet about I- Oh!"


    She wanted to ask why Evan did not keep his silence but then she remembered the skill possessed by the Duchess. It was one that could be considered slightly dangerous.


    Laurene who sensed something wrong with her reaction, appraised the Duchess and saw the skill that the Empress just thought of.

 Chapter 41 So Many Questions

    |Name- Patricia Del Eris


    Race- Human


    Level- 110


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- Duchess of Eris Dukedom, Interrogator of the Intelligence Division.


    ss - Apprentice Mage


    Health �C C-


    Energy �C B-


    Strength �C D-


    Agility �C C-


    Durability �C D+


    Intelligence �C B-


    Condition- Sad, Emotionally unstable


    Magic Tiers- None


    Skills- Compulsive Questioning, Fire Magic (Medium)


    Unique Skills- None. |


    | Compulsive Questioning;


    Type; Passive Rare skill


    Effect;


    The more you ask someone something, the more they feelpelled to give you the answer you want


    Restrictions;


    Does not work on those with Intelligence Stat two or more ranks higher than the user|


    Ignoring the fact that both the Empress and the Duchess were involved in the country''s intelligence division, the skill was one that was very effective in questioning.


    It was also passive, this meant it was activated at all times and barely consumed any energy.


    "Tch...What a troublesome skill, the restriction is as good as useless too. There aren''t that many people with such high intelligence stats after all."


    Laurene clicked her tongue in annoyance once again. She then felt a gaze on her and turned to stare at her father who was looking at her strangely.


    "What?"


    Her tone came off as quite harsh as she was still slightly annoyed but Rudeus ignored it and asked a question. The first on his long list of questions.


    "About Evan''s situation, is the weird skill that causes him to lose levels if he speaks about it rted to that strange crest in his eyes?"


    The crest symbol in Evan''s eyes was something that the boy was not even trying to hide in the first ce.


    Knowing that they would ask about it, he had nned to use it to get the royal family to start looking into the seven heroes of a thousand years ago.


    ''Nothing is ever perfect, as far as humans are involved, there would be mistakes. As such, there''s bound to be something about the event of a thousand years ago left somewhere, and this would make them look further into it. A human with this crest appearing would make them increase their efforts.''


    Those were the words Evan told Laurene on the way back when she asked him why he had not attempted to hide his mystic eyes with magic or artifacts.


    Remembering this, Laurene looked around the room before sighting the in sheets of paper right next to the quill pen on Evan''s desk. She walked up to the desk and took a sheet of paper out before writing two letters on it.


    ''X'' and ''O''


    She then gestured for her father and the Duke toe closer and dropped the quill pen on top of the ''O''. Rudeus instantly understood that she was not able to answer his question directly, so she used a roundabout method of doing it.<sub> </sub>


    "It''s not gonna work a second time, at least for now."


    The Emperor nodded in understanding as he sunk into his sea of thoughts.


    ''The symbol in Evan''s eyes is simr to the one in that ''Ruin''. Why does Evan have that symbol in his eyes and what rtion does he have to the ''ruin''? There is also a possibility that Roger knows the reason why too. Laurene also seems to know something about it but she can''t speak about it, it''s just like the researchers said...''


    He was sinking deeper into his sea of thoughts, his Thought eleration skill working at maximum efficiency as within a few seconds, he had already run through nearly a dozen possible scenarios in his head.


    Suddenly, he heard a voiceing from Evan''s bed, causing him to put his spection on hold and turn in the direction of the young hero.


    "Would you little critters shut up already?"


    Which was followed by a very audible tongue clicking that showed the annoyance of the person whoying on the bed.


    "Evan!"


    Patricia ran and hugged Evan who sat up on his bed before apologizing repeatedly.


    "I''m sorry, I''m sorry, I''m sorry, I''m sorry, I''m sorry, I''m sorry..."


    She repeated those words continuously like a broken machine.


    Evan was surprised at first, but finally realized why she was apologizing tried to make things easier for her by saying he was fine, but this had the opposite effect as she burst out in tears. Now, Evan was even more lost as he did not know how to console a crying grown woman, especially one that was the mother of the body he was inhabiting.


    ''My mum was a strong-headed woman who didn''t cry even when she nearly cut her finger off when she was cooking while angry at dad.


    Bottom line is, I don''t know how to deal with a crying mother.!''


    The Duke sensed Evan''s awkwardness and pulled her off him. After cing his hands on Evan''s head and using his skill to confirm the boy was okay, he took his wife out of the room so she could rest as she was very obviously emotionally stressed.


    Laurene then pushed her parents out of the room right after the Duke left, as she wanted to talk to him in private. Closing the door, she finally spoke.


    "Un-conceal your status, I wanna be sure everything is fine."


    "I said I''m fi-"


    "Un-conceal. Your. Status."


    She repeated each word, weirdly stressing them out while excluding a silent sense of pressure that made Evan reflexivelyply with her.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you are a wuss]


    ''I''m not okay, it''s just so I can go on with the conversation. Definitely not because I''m scared of her okay?''


    He tried to convince Artemisia otherwise but she just resent the same message, multiple times, and it got worse each time.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you are a wuss]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you are a sad wuss]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you are a foolish wuss who forgot to appraise his own mother despite living with her for over seven months]


    ''Hey! She was just a background character, I didn''t expect her to have such a skill. That was a very annoying feeling.


    Also, I''ve noticed it but aren''t you sending too many messagestely, I don''t want my mind copsing okay?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says your mentality bes stronger with your level ups, as you are at a higher level, your mind would not copse easily anymore.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says your head would physically copse if you do not pay attention to the girl before you.]


    He looked up to see a scene of a very obviously furious Laurene about to knock him on the head. Before he could block or dodge, something strange happened.


    "Krrrrrr!"


    **ZZAP


    A lump of yellow manifested itself and blocked her hand, it growled at Laurene in anger while emitting sparks from its body.


    "What the f*ck is that?"

 Chapter 42 Spirits

    "What the fuck is that?"


    "A spirit."


    [See! I told you he noticed us]


    [But he didn''t notice before?]


    [He got stronger!]


    [He got weaker too!]


    [Shhh! He''d tell us to shut up again.]


    The voices Evan had been hearing for a while now, were the voices of the spirits.


    His ''Loved by Nature'' title had already taken effect but he did not notice this due to being unable to sense nor hear the spirits.


    Now he had awakened his mystic eyes, he could sense, hear, see and interact with them.


    "Ah! Your ''Loved by Nature'' title. That means that you could be a potential spirit contractor!?"


    Laurene who finally understood the severity of the situation shouted out loud, luckily Evan''s room was soundproof so the shout could not be heard outside.


    "Yeah, I know."


    Evan picked up the little spirit who was still growling at Laurene and ced it on hisp. It stopped and hopped around, visibly excited.


    The spirit looked like a slime, the weakest monster you could find, yet it was actually a mid-rank spirit.


    Spirits had 4 ranks, low ranks, mid ranks, and high ranks. Then there were the great spirits, where only one of each existed for each attribute.


    Governing over all the spirits was the spirit king, an existence over level 700. He was the most powerful spirit and he had the power to use all attributes avable.


    Then there''re contracts.


    The ones who were able to make contracts with these spirits were called spirit contractors.


    Spirits sadly had a below-average growth speed, however, they became stronger nearly two times faster than normal if they were contracted with an individual.


    Being able to hear and interact with spirits was the first step to bing a spirit contractor.


    Of course, just because one could hear the voices of spirits and form contracts with them, it did not mean that they could form a contract with any random spirit.


    A spirit contractor could only form contracts with spirits on the same wavelength as the contractor''s soul.


    As the quality of the contractor''s soul increased, he would be able to contract with more spirits. However, for now, Evan could only contract with one.


    And he chose the one jumping happily in his arms.


    |Name- Unknown


    Race- Spirit


    Level- 50


    Existence Level - Bronze


    Titles- Medium Rank Spirit [], [].


    ss - None


    Health �C E+


    Energy - E+


    Strength �C E+


    Agility �C E+


    Durability �C E+


    Intelligence - E+


    Condition- Happy


    Magic Tiers- Lightning Tier 1.


    Skills- Lightning Magic (Extreme)


    Unique Skills- Body Transformation. |


    It was a lightning spirit with the ability to transform its body into any form it recognized.


    While it was currently in the form of a slime, upon contracting with it, he could supply it with the necessary mana to transform into more forms.


    There was something weird about its race and titles but Evan''s existence was weird in itself, a few more weird things won''t cause any trouble.<sub> </sub>


    "You know how spirit contractors are treated, right?"


    "Like birds in cages, trust me you won''t walk out that door if you are going to tell your father.


    It''s not a threat, just a fact."


    Evan''s sudden deep voice and cold re gave Laurene chills, she instinctively knew he was not joking. She didn''t even have to use her lie detection.


    ''This guy...He''s serious!''


    His tapping of the crest at the back of his palm only increased the amount of fear she had.


    Due to the situation with Evan suddenly copsing, Laurene had conveniently forgotten about the thousand-year-old demon that Evan had recently contracted.


    A demon that possessed the power to effortlessly wipe out a country if provoked, even if weakened, Laurene expected that she should be able to take out a few dozen Level 300s.


    She was a Peak Ranked Demon, after all.


    Of course, Laurene knew that the seal on Pride had weakening effects, but she never would have expected it to weaken Pride to the extent where she could barely take on an Upper-Low Rank Knight.


    Evan purposely withheld this information from her so he could make the Princess do his bidding for a while.


    However, he only made her think he was going to unleash the demon to ''clean up'' loose ends, to give Laurene the wrong idea. He didn''t dare kill a member of the seven heroes after all.


    At most, he could only trick her into forming a magic contract with him. One where she was prohibited from disclosing that fact to anyone, nothing more, nothing less.


    ''But that''s probably unnecessary.''


    Evan was considering how he was going to exit the Ducal residence as after the events of the day, there would be a higher amount of security around him.


    ''I could use that guy sleeping in my shadow.''


    There was a spirit of the darkness attribute that had been sleeping in Evan''s shadow ever since he left the dungeon two days ago.


    p To be precise, it entered his shadow right after the lightning spirit in hisp started following him around.</anda>


    He was ready to use its shadow travel, an ability he had seen it had when he appraised it to run away if need be.


    ''The Duke and Emperor aren''t fools, when I leave, they are bound to consider all the potential methods I could have used, and they''d definitely consider spirits.


    There''s also the chance that the Empress knows about the one in my shadow, her earlier reaction is unsettling.


    In the end, stopping Laurene from telling them about my affinity for spirits is pointless as they''d discover it eventually.''


    As for why he said the contractors were kept like ''birds in cages'', this was because of the role of spirits in Aidos.


    The spirits were beings that were closely connected with and affected nature.


    They were also wilful, carefree and yful existences, especially the lower-ranked ones.


    As the number of spirits reduced as you went up the ranks, there were very few high-ranked spirits to keep the hundreds of thousands of lower-ranked spirits that could reside in one country in check.


    This meant that the spirits could cause disaster or blessing depending on their moods.


    Lower rank spirits were more susceptible to doing this.


    As one ''Loved by Nature'', arge number of spirits would gather around Evan, this would also affect the surrounding area.


    There could be blessings of nature like good crop yield, good weather, good health for the individuals there etc.


    However, this only applied if Evan was in a good mood, if he was not, although not instantly, the spirits would eventually begin to feel the same emotions as him, and the surroundings would be affected based on that.


    Just like a few minutes ago when Evan fell unconscious, the water spirits felt sad at this and that sadness was reflected in the weather.


    However, now that he was awake the weather had returned to normal. This was because they had sensed him happy.


    This was just one of the few reasons spirit contractors were excessively overprotected to the point it felt like they were kept birds in a cage.


    There was once an ancient country that had a spirit contractor as the leader of its military. During a war with a nearby country, he and his contracted spirit wreaked havoc on the enemy.


    This made the enemy have no other choice but to think of a way to remove him; assassination.


    However, he had a high-rank spirit at his side, it was almost impossible for them to seed.


    ''Almost'' being the keyword here.


    They were able to create a barrier that prevented the entry of spirits, and this made them seed in separating him from his contracted spirit.


    Eventually, he was murdered after getting stabbed by multiple poisoned daggers, and naturally, his contracted spirit sensed his death.


    At that, the spirit was enraged, and with the power of a high-rank spirit, itmanded all lesser-ranked spirits in that country to do one thing.


    Destruction.


    Pure, absolute destruction.

 Chapter 43 Spirit Contract

    The two countries were wiped off the map in 3 days, the survivors were no more than a thousand.


    This meant that in three days, two countries with millions of citizens were wiped out, all because of the death of one being.


    The high-rank spirit''s rampage was finally ended by the intervention of a great spirit, however, the spirit took its life saying there was no point in living in a world without its contractor.


    Ever since then, countries always treated spirit contractors like they were walking on eggshells due to the fear of having their countries destroyed by the rage of the spirits.


    Spirit contractors were to be reported on sight so as to prevent such an incident from reurring, which was why Laurene was at a loss.


    She had the responsibility to report Evan''s existence, on the other hand, she feared for the end result of what would ur if Evan were to let the Demon Pride on the loose.


    ''Sir Finley isn''t present right now, only Ralphie would stand a chance but I don''t know how much power the demon still has left so I can''t make a proper analysis.


    I should have appraised her earlier.''


    Her gaze moved to the red crest on the back of Evan''s palm while the young hero was deep in his thoughts.


    ''That''s the Crest of Pride.


    The same one that the faction of Demonic worshippers that worshipped Pride a thousand years ago used as their symbol.


    She should be inside that thing, right?''


    Poor Laurene overestimated the current Pride, whom she had not appraised earlier.


    She also didn''t have another chance to as the demon had not made an appearance since Ralphie was with them and Evan seemed to be hiding the demon''s existence from others.


    Due to this series of events, Laurene could not find out that Pride was far weaker than she had expected.


    As for why Laurene believed that Evan would actually pull off such a thing, it was quite simple.


    ''His regard for other people is low, very low.''


    During the seven months the duo spent in training, Laurene had be a lot closer to the boy.


    They were close enough for Evan to even asionally review what bits about the future that he could to her, and even tell her about ces with good artifacts and weapons that would suit her.


    This meant that she was also close enough for Evan to drop all pretences with her.


    ''His words that day, were quite worrying...


    The problem is that he was not lying, that was how he really felt.''


    Laurene remembered the statement that Evan made to her when they were talking about the method that a certain group of nuisances had used to elerate the rate at which the rift opened in the game.


    ''You know, as far as the world poption doesn''t go below a certain number, I might have not cared less about how many died.


    Fortunately, or unfortunately, those bastards chose to use this particr method to open up the rift, huh?


    Now I have no choice but to exert more effort to prevent more deaths.''


    Her Mystic Eye skill happened to be active as she was looking through a magic theory textbook, allowing her to inadvertently confirm his words to be true.


    It was because of this that Laurene was convinced that Evan would unleash the demon Pride if he so wished to.


    As she was remembering this, the young hero jumped down from his bed and began sorting out some of the materials he had prepared on the way back.


    From them, he picked up the magic chalk and began drawing a magic circle on the ground.


    When he was done drawing the slightlyplicated magic circle, he cut his finger and dropped a bit of blood on the perimeter.


    "What are you doing?"


    "You have the memories of an Arch mage and you can''t recognize this?"


    "This...thi- Ah! A contract circle!"<sub> </sub>


    [She got it!]


    [Look! It''s a contract circle!]


    [Really?]


    [It is a contractor!]


    [I have never seen one before.]


    [I want him to contract me! Then, I will ask him to embrace me snugly.]


    [Dream on, weakling.]


    At Laurene''s words, the spirits began chattering about, however, Evan ignored all this and ced his hand on the circle.


    Turning his gaze to Laurene, he spoke,


    "Could you help me divert their attention from here? Tell them I want to rest or something.


    Wait...no, that''s not gonna work. They''d sense the magic power after all."


    By ''them'', Evan meant the Duke and the Emperor who had been outside Evan''s room for a while now.


    "Don''t worry, I''d keep them away."


    "Thanks."


    Laurene offhandedly waved at him as she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. Naturally, she had no intention of ousting Evan as a spirit contractor.


    As she closed the door, Evan sighed before injecting his magic power into the circle.


    After seeing spirit contractors in-game use the spell so many times, he knew the exact words to activate the magic circle on the floor.


    The memories of the previous ''Second'' also helped him confirm his knowledge to be true.


    ''So, if I had tried to use this spell in my old world, would I have summoned a spirit?''


    He had such a random thought in his mind as he opened his mouth to speak.


    "I, Evan Del Eris, request the world''s help. Draw a connection between me and the one who will be my friend and strength. Let use together like we were at the beginning of the world."


    The circle flickered with a bright golden light before dying down immediately after causing a frown to creep up Evan''s face.


    This was natural, after all, the contract had failed.


    "goddess-pedia, exin."


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' is lost as to why the contract failed too.]


    |Connection Initiated|


    |Connection Confirmed|


    [The ''Eternal of time and destruction'' says the reason is because your true name is not ''Evan Del Eris''. That is just the name of the body you are inhabiting.]


    ''So, I have to use my real name? I haven''t used it in a long while now.


    ''It was the same as that hidden Duke in the Eastern Empire huh? Just that it''s his first name, unlike me.''


    And so, for the first time since he came to this world, he said his real name out.


    "I, Evan Von Bourne, request the world''s help. Draw a connection between me and the one who will be my friend and strength. Let use together like we were at the beginning of the world."


    At that, the magic circle glowed brightly, a little too brightly.

 Chapter 44 Unexpected Boon

    "I, Evan Von Bourne, request the world''s help. Draw a connection between me and the one who will be my friend and strength. Let use together like we were at the beginning of the world."


    At that, the magic circle glowed brightly, a little too brightly.


    The light and magic power emitted were not ones that you would see in the magic circle to contract a mid-rank spirit.


    ''Is that little critter really a mid-rank?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' rolls her eyes while saying ''obviously not''.]


    The contract circle began to vibrate, radiating light. It not only sucked in his own mana, but it began to absorb the mana in the atmosphere.


    [Kyaa, run! We''re being sucked in!]


    [Run!]


    [As I expected, he''s a-ma-zing-!]


    [It''s the birth of a contractor!]


    [You stupid spirits! I said run!]


    The little spirits flew around noisily like always, and as always, Evan ignored them. He appraised the little spirit that had somehow found its way into the magic circle.


    |Name- Ka


    Race- Spirit


    Gender-Female


    Level- 50


    Existence Level - Silver


    Titles- Great Lightning Spirit (Middle Rank)


    ss - Lightning Controller


    Health �C D-


    Energy - D-


    Strength �C D-


    Agility �C D-


    Durability �C D-


    Intelligence - D-


    Condition- Happy


    Magic Tiers- Lightning Tier 1.


    Skills- Lightning Magic (Extreme)


    Unique Skills- Body Transformation. |


    "The fuck?!"


    Evan could not be med for his ''exmation''.


    The result of his appraisal said it was a great spirit and not just any middle-ranked spirit. It''s just that its strength was currently on the mid-level now.


    While he was still dumbstruck, the little spirit had transformed into the form of a small Oriental dragon, about 50cm in length, and floated towards him in joy.


    [Master!]


    Hearing the feminine voice, Evan finally noticed the gender on the status board in front of him.


    "So, you''re a girl, this might be troublesome, I don''t know how to take care of girls."


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that spirits are different from humans and do not need to be treated like so.]


    [What big sis says is true!]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' chokes on her t-.]


    |Message retracted by sender. |


    "It''s toote Artemisia. Besides that, to think she could see the notifications too, huh?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' hurriedly exins it''s not what you think. She also says she has no idea why the spirit refers to her as ''sister''.]


    [The ''Eternal of time and destruction'' says it is because she was affected by the residual divine power of the goddess ''Artemisia'' dwelling on the body of ''Evan''.


    This helped her evolution and also created a faint, almost non-existent connection between the two.]


    "On? Not in?"


    [The ''Eternal of time and destruction'' says you should have noticed you possess high resistance against divinity, the divinity tries to enhance your body but it can''t because of your resistance.


    You will also die if she uses an amount high enough to bypass your resistance.]


    "Tch...never thought I''d hate a resistance so much, why do I even have that anyway?


    Is it Adaptive Evolution?


    Does it think the divinity is harmful and is making my body resistant to it?"


    There was no reply this time but Evan didn''t think too much of it and continued to pet the little golden dragon that was resting on his shoulders.


    "Do you have a human form you can take?"


    [Yes!]


    As she replied, she activated her body transformation and transformed into an adorable girl, whose height did not seem to reach 20cm, floating above his shoulder.


    She wore a delicate ck silk dress and silk gloves and had straight ck hair that curled at the ends.


    She had snow-white skin, eyes that shone with noble gold, and an appearance like a porcin doll. It was a shame. If she were human, she would have been a girl of iparable beauty.<sub> </sub>


    [Wow, a great lightning spirit!]


    [It''s the first time I''ve seen one!]


    [How beautiful. She stole my heart.]


    [Heart�� Thief?]


    [Ah, she is a spirit contractor''s contracted spirit!]


    Evan was shocked at the reactions of the other spirits,


    ''Aren''t these guys a little too carefree, still she would indeed be considered cute by some standards.''


    [How does it look? I can''t make it bigger until I reach a higher level]


    She said as she floated around his head and sat on his head. Evan chuckled at her childish actions and replied.


    "No problem, Ah! Lemme try something."


    He held her and ced her on his palm, he then looked into her yellow eyes and activated his mystic eye skill. 10 secondster, he saw an alert.


    |Body Transformation Acquired|


    |Unique Skills require three skill slots. |


    |All skill slots are currently filled up|


    ''Tch...same as in the game, why didn''t you reduce this?''


    <o>,m Artemisia did not reply so he assumed she was busy doing other things and carried on with his ns.</o>


    ''Time to think of how to get the fuck outta here by tonight.''


    Evan nned to run away before but he was only going to do that about a week after returning from the dungeon.


    He had a lot of knowledge about some events of the future due to the game, he also knew a lot of locations of hidden items and artifacts he might use.


    The original n was to send the Duke''s knights to get whatever artifacts he could from the capital city, Gerfast, before finally leaving.


    However, he knew that his movements would be closely watched after the day''s earlier events so he had no choice but to make a break for it tonight.


    ''Also, this has been on my mind for a while.


    Since the game was a simtion of the future, there has to be a reference the ''future'' was based on.


    I don''t think that the events happening in the game were all Artemisia''s ideas, she had to have gotten them from somewhere.


    I assumed it was just her and her subordinates that thought everything up, but after knowing about ''that'' guy, it doesn''t seem that way again.''


    [The ''Eternal of time and destruction'' stares at you in amusement]


    "You can read my thoughts too, huh?


    Oh well, answer me, will ya?


    The game scenarios, are they events that would actually happen in the future? Perhaps a future you saw with your power of time? I don''t think the system would call you the ''E-"


    Evan was abruptly cut off by two warning messages.


    [The ''Eternal of time and destruction'' requests you do not say his title aloud.]


    |Warning: User has almost attempted to break thew of #########. Please refrain from such actions in the future. |


    "Thew of what now?"


    [The ''Eternal of time and destruction'' says you should be a master level existence first before you can know, a bronze level existence is not qualified to know of thew''s existence.


    He also says you should not casually utter his title in this world for there are consequences. Your thoughts are enough.]


    Evan looked at the messages and sighed.


    He was tired of being told he was too weak.


    This only gave him more of a reason for him to leave the Duke''s mansion and go to dungeons he knew of from the game.


    ''Especially Kasteblum''s dungeon. The double experience would be wee.''


    He cleaned up what was left of the spirit contracting circle before taking a seat at the desk in his room.


    ''After today''s events, they are definitely gonna get me to stay at home a lot more.


    They might even stop me from levelling up until they figure out what my skill is. That would be disastrous as it would prevent me from getting the weapon I want.


    Can''t have that now.


    I''m gonna move with the assumption that the events of the game are future events that would definitely happen, as such, the negative ones should be prevented.''


    [The ''Eternal of time and destruction''ughs heartily]


    He ignored the headache he was having due to the higher being''sughter and went on with his ns. Taking a pen and paper, he wrote down the major events to be stopped.


    "The Eight disasters;


    The Dulhan Attack,


    The Lizard Lord''s Outbreak,


    The Seven Deadly Sins Massacre,


    The Wolf of the End,


    Fall of the Desert Country,


    The Basilisk''s Stone Festival,


    The Barbarian King''s uprising, andstly, the worst of them all;


    The Ancient Demonic Dragon''s Resurrection."

 Chapter 45 The Eight Disasters

    "The Eight disasters;


    The Dulhan Attack,


    The Lizard Lord''s Outbreak,


    The Seven Deadly Sins Massacre,


    The Wolf of the End,


    Fall of the Desert Country,


    The Basilisk''s Stone Festival,


    The Barbarian King''s uprising, andstly, the worst of them all;


    The Ancient Demonic Dragon''s Resurrection.


    I have prevented the ''Seven deadly sins Massacre by unsealing Pride.


    The game cutscenes showed that ''they'' tried to get the other sins first but were all redirected to Pride.


    That was natural, the other six all saw Pride as their leader and listened to her. If she didn''t give the go-ahead, then the Massacre would not have happened.


    The massacre that had casualties in the millions..."


    He remembered the difference between the Pride in the game and Pride in reality and sighed.


    ''How did a beautiful woman turn to ''that''?''


    In the game, Pride, along with the other sins looked like gigantic dragon bull-like beasts. They had wings on their backs and long horns, their heights were an average of 3.5 meters tall.


    ''Maybe it''s some true form release thingy?''


    He gave up thinking about it and decided to think about other things, namely the next disaster to prevent.


    ''Gotta be the Duhans, huh?


    I know Artemisia had a reward for me in the Lizard lord''sir but I''m not strong enough to take those guys yet.''


    Evan thought about the Duhans that were preparing to break out of the dungeon they were stuck in. It was a dungeon located in the northern part of the Great Western Empire.


    Bultom City, in the territory of Duke Cheverton.


    ''The Duke of North and the Third of the Ten great swordsmen. I spoke to him during the founding ball so he would not be unfamiliar with me when I randomly appear in his territory by next year.''


    Now then, one would wonder why someone even more powerful than Ralphie would be unable to defeat the Duhans that were barely level 350.


    The reason was simple;


    He was held back somewhere else, by a far greater threat to Aidos.


    ''The Eight Finger of the Demonic Hand.''


    The ''Demonic Hand'' was an organization with ten leaders, all called the ''Fingers'' of the Demonic Hand.


    The one who was responsible for the ''Duhan Attack'', was the ''Eight Finger'', he was also the one who made sure the Duke and his knights were unable to quell the original attack, letting it spread from Bultom City to other cities in the territory.


    Within a few days, the undead monsters that knew no rest or sleep had massacred hundreds of thousands over multiple cities in the Cheverton territory.


    Sadly, the news did not reach the capital fast as the traitors among Duke Cheverton''s vassals prevented the information from going through.


    As Evan was thinking about the names of the traitorous nobles, this time, Laurene walked back into the room and Evan offhandedly mentioned he was going to run away.


    Naturally, her reaction was not the best.


    "How on Aidos did youe to that conclusion?"


    "After today''s events, they are definitely gonna get me to stay at home a lot more. They might even stop me from levelling up until they figure out what my skill is.


    The original n was to make your dad increase the effort put into researching our mystic eyes but me suddenly copsing messed that all up. I also seemed to have underestimated how much the current Royalty knew about the ''Seven Symbols''."


    He jumped off his seat and walked towards Laurene as he continued.


    "I''m going to have to get stronger quickly, and I have to prevent some shit from happening too.


    Those things you don''t know about since I couldn''t tell you.


    Or maybe...you can see them...?"


    He picked up the paper with the disasters written on it from his desk and showed her before asking.


    "What do you see there?"


    "The Seven Deadly Sins Massacre...? What''s this about?!"


    "As I thought you can''t see the rest, huh."


    "Can''t see the rest of what?"


    "The other disasters I wrote on the page.


    The ''Seven Deadly Sins Massacre'' has already been prevented by my action of unsealing Pride, however, the others have not so that''s probably why you can''t see them."


    Hearing his words, a frown crept up to Laurene''s pretty face. This wasn''t the first time Evan had asked her questions like this within the past seven months.


    More often than not, it always ended with Laurene being unable to see or hear what he was either showing or telling her.


    ''Why can''t I see it?!


    He indeed wrote something on that paper but all I can see are ''The -nk- Disasters'' and ''The Seven Deadly Sins Massacre.''


    I know he''s not lying about there being other things as my skill has confirmed his words to be true. The issue is why I can''t see it.


    He said he knew these things because he was the ''Leader'', but that''s a lie. So, the reason I can''t see them is not because I''m not the ''leader''.''


    She gazed at the upper part of the paper after Evan ced it back on the desk, her eyes locking onto the words on the first line.


    ''The heading has a nk space in between, is that the number of disasters or something?''


    Laurene almost began pulling at her hair due to stress, she was barely able to stop herself. However, Evan''s next words instantly rekindled that dying desire.


    "Tell your brother to watch out, he might get killed."


    "Huh?! Why?!"


    "Don''t ask me, ask him, he''s the one doing shady things."


    "How do you know this?"


    "The title of the ''Leader of The Seven Heroes''es with extra information."


    Of course, this was a lie.


    Evan knew because the reason for the Great War quest in the game, was Laurene''s Elder brother.


    ''I''d forgotten his name till I met him during the founding ball. He only showed up once during the game, after all.''<sub> </sub>


    He was involved with the true masterminds behind the great war, the ''Demonic Hand''.


    A group of demon worshippers.


    They were one of the few groups who still possessed detailed records of the events of a thousand years ago.


    ''If anyone is gonna reduce the time before the seal breaks, it''s definitely them.''


    A thousand years ago, the seven heroes battled the higher-ups of the demonic hand before they were finally able to seal the dimensional rift, of course in the absence of the Demon king.


    ''This is probably what Artemisia meant when she said some people''s actions might shorten the time I have.


    Damn bastards, they were also behind most of the disasters too. Especially the ''Ancient demonic Dragon Resurrection''.''


    He sighed as he thought of the group that would be one of his greatest enemies, oblivious of the fact that an executive of said group was currently at the bottom of the ''Graveyard of the Arrogant'' screaming in anger due to the fact that Pride was not there anymore.


    "I''ve been trying to ignore it but what''s that little creature that has been flying around your head all this while?


    It''s too fast for me to appraise it."


    Laurene asked, pointing at Ka who had transformed into a birdlike monster and was ying catch with the other spirits.


    "That''s enough Ka, return to normal now."


    [Okay!]


    Laurene was shocked as she heard the voice only for the birdlike monster to transform into a little girl of 20cm in height.


    Appraising her she realised she was a great spirit of lightning, her eyes widening in even more shock at this.


    ''G-great Spirit?!''


    At this point, Laurene''s brain shut down and she decided to ept anything Evan threw at her, this was why she almost ended up agreeing to Evan''s next words.


    "Wannae with me?"


    "Oka-?!wait, no!"


    "Tch...I could use a good mage for support."


    "I''m happy that you praised me but one noble running away from home is gonna cause an uproar.


    Two on the other hand, especially when one is the Princess, an Imperial family member, is gonna turn the nation upside down."


    "True, your father would turn the country upside down just to find you so youing with me would be a bad idea.


    I also understand that just by leaving, I would be causing a lot of problems for the Dukedom. Thankfully, there aren''t any who would dare to go up against the Blood Pdin''s family, at least for now.


    Though I won''t be gone forever, I''de to find you in about 3-4 years, maybe more...."


    Evan nodded in affirmation and calmly disclosed the amount of time he was going to be away, Laurene just held her head and sighed in exasperation.


    ''Oh please!''


    She decided to try her luck onest time.


    "Can you not go? It''s gonna cause a lot of problems if you do."


    And naturally,dy luck was not on her side today.


    "No, I have to.


    The thing is, a lot of bullshit is gonna happen soon, and I need to prevent said bullshit from urring.


    A lot of questions would be raised if I tried all that while still here, especially now that your father has his eyes on me, so it''s best I go alone.


    I''m gonna leave a vague exnation of why I''d be going. I''m leaving tonight too."


    [Don''t try to stop master from leaving!]


    The appearance of Ka ring at her with glowing eyes and lightning sparking around her body, made Laurene have mixed feelings.


    ''It''s cute but if that lightning hits me, I might die! She''s twice my level after all.''


    "Ah, Laurene, can you get your dad to call off the search party after like a month or two?"


    "Huh? Why and how?"


    Evan took a seat on his bed and exined his n to prevent the search party that would most likely be sent after him from catching him.


    "They already know about our mystic eye crests; a lot more than we think they do.


    What they don''t know, is what the symbols mean.


    So cut a deal with your dad, he''d definitely agree if it''s you."


    Laurene pondered on the pros and cons of the situation before asking Evan onest question.


    "Your real reason for leaving, it''s to prevent disasters on the scale of the ''Seven Deadly Sins'' going on a massacre?


    Something that would have caused millions of deaths..."


    "Yeah."


    "I see. Then you should have said that from the start, no need to threaten me."


    As Laurene spoke, her gaze moved over to the great spirit ring at her, resulting her heaving an exhausted sigh.


    "That''s just her, not me."


    The Princess ignored Evan''s words before getting up and speaking.


    "Okay, I''d help you out."


    "Really? Thanks."


    Laurene didn''t reply as she decided to leave, saying she didn''t want to be around when the whole situation went wrong.


    Evan told her that he''d send her messages periodically, but he didn''t say how. He just said she''d figure out when he did.


    After she left, Evan decided to do onest thing before leaving.


    Most of the things he needed were already packed inside the space expansion bag he took from Ralphie, he had also gotten confirmation from Artemisia that there was no tracking magic on it.


    ''Can''t get caught right after I leave now can I.''


    Among them was his identification badge, something that was given to all members of every royal and noble family and was attuned to their magic powers from a young age.


    Each badge contained a crest that would only light up when the legitimate owner poured magic power into it.


    ''Even though I''m running away, this would still be useful. Provided the Duke doesn''t disown me.''


    The head of each family had the authority to disable each badge and prevent it from responding even if the owner poured magic power into it. This was only done under certain circumstances like the owner''s death or expulsion from the family.


    The young hero took this with him, along with many other essentials he believed would be useful.

 Chapter 46 Interlude 2 – Preparations And Movements

    The goddess Artemisia walked out of ''Their of the Lizard Lord'' after cing the reward for Evan''s quest within it. She looked at the adventurers who could not see her and heaved a sigh as she scanned their levels.


    ''Aidos, it''s been a while since I''ve been down here''


    She then felt a gaze on her and clicked her tongue before speaking.


    "It''s rude to peek on ady"


    A familiar notification board appeared in front of her with a reply.


    [Says the thief that stole from me]


    "It''s not stealing if the one the item was taken from is aware."


    [Sophistry.]


    "So? It was not yours in the first ce."


    [Are you really going to give him ''that''?]


    "Yes, is there something wrong?"


    [No, I just thought you may have overlooked something, seems I was wrong]


    The reply she received made her narrow her eyes, she was sure she checked everything thoroughly. She took a deep breath before asking just to be sure.


    "Did you see anything?"


    [I never checked in the first ce, I dislike using the power of time for such trivialities.]


    She rolled her eyes at the response.


    The being she was talking to was one who was powerful enough to see the future even if he did not want to, his words were him simply trying to mess with her.


    She sighed one more before activating her teleportation magic.


    Looking at the dungeon onest time, she thought.


    ''I double checked and there was nothing suspicious, it''s safe, he''s just trying to scare me''


    She then disappeared the moment after, not a single person noticing her from start to finish.


    Not a single person on Aidos noticed the goddess that they worshipped, had just triggered a dungeon break.


    �� �� ��


    The ''Beast King'' Kolvar rose from his throne in the garden and stared at the night sky.


    His eyes seemed to glow like the stars as he studied the constetions and spoke to no one in particr.


    "It''s beginning, huh?"


    He turned and walked back into his castle.


    To prepare.


    For the Coming battle.


    �� �� ��


    The ''Elven Emperor'' Zaos sensed it.


    The spirits were sad.


    Yet they were also happy.


    Contradicting feelings.


    The one they loved had appeared.


    However, the one they loved sided with the one they hated.


    He turned to his daughter who stood beside him with her eyes closed.


    "Are you sure?"


    "Yes, father."<sub> </sub>


    She opened her eyes and looked in the direction of the Alpha continent.


    In her eyes, a crest could be seen.


    A single letter.


    From an Ancientnguage lost to time.


    It meaning;


    ''Destruction''


    �� �� ��


    The ''Strongest Human'' Rathal rose from his bed.


    He ignored the women clinging to his body and walked to the window.


    Picking up a stone te from the table beside it, he smiled.


    <o>,m He stared in the direction of the Dark Continent in the north.</o>


    Then he looked towards the west and spoke.


    "They''ve returned."


    On the stone te, seven symbols could be seen.


    Seven ancient letters with different meanings.


    The letters that had been dull for years, finally glowed like they were supposed to.


    �� �� ��


    Evan saw himself in a broken world.


    An Exploding sun.


    A broken moon.


    And earth shattered beyond repair.


    He sat down on a hill of corpses as he gazed at this apocalyptic scenery.


    Dropping his sword, he spoke.


    "I need to rest."


    From behind, a voice answered.


    "Worry not, I shall grant you the rest you deserve."


    He turned to the source of the voice.


    But his consciousness was fading already.


    Thest thing he saw.


    Were a glowing pair of red and blue eyes.


    �� �� ��


    Evan woke up on his bed and looked around before sighing in relief. He then frowned as he realized something.


    ''Why can''t I remember my dream anymore?''


    He clicked his tongue and jumped off his bed before walking out of the balcony and staring at the night sky.


    ''If only it remained a game...''


    He sighed and looked at the papers on his desk.


    "The years passed by so quickly, can''t believe this body is already fifteen."


    He began to reminisce about the events of the past five years, starting from the night he left the duke''s residence.

 Chapter 47 Seems ‘Someone’ Is Coming Back...

    On the Last floor of the ''Graveyard of The Arrogant'', the Demonic Hand Executive, Seith, spoke into amunication medallion in his palm.


    "...My lord, the Sword of Pride...is gone."


    [...]


    There was silence on the other end as Keith found himself sweating while waiting for a reply.


    Finally, after an ufortably long silence, a response came.


    [...Very well then, it seems we were a step toote. Return.]


    "Yes, my lord."


    The connection cut off and Keith stared at the empty room while gritting his teeth.


    ''To think such a thing would happen!!''


    He wanted to thrash around and destroy anything he saw but he knew doing that would not bring back the sword of Pride so he held himself and turned around, walking in the direction of the teleportation circle that led outside the dungeon.


    �� �� ��


    After Seith left, the corpse of Troll Emperor Yetu that had gone cold suddenly twitched as energy condensed in front of it.


    A notification board appeared in front of it, disying a single message.


    |Conditions Met|


    |Unique Skill, Second Life has been acquired. |


    |Unique Skill, Second Life has been used. |


    |Beginning Resurrection Process|


    | Hidden Conditions Met|


    |Commencing Evolution to Humanoid Battle Troll|


    The condensed energy entered the corpse of the Troll Emperor Yetu as the hole on his torso began closing up slowly.


    Unbeknownst to anyone, a type of existence Aidos had never seen before was being born.


    �� �� ��


    Thest thing Evan nned to do after packing the identification badge and many other essentials, including loads of money, from copper to gold coins, was to increase his Existence Level.


    Evan poured out all the magic stones he got from all the monsters in the dungeon and began to absorb the magic within.


    He had no idea how to go about this at first but after a hint from Artemisia, he was able to realize his magic control skill was what he needed, at least until he learnt to do this without the skill.


    After three hours and three jugs of strawberry juice, he had managed to absorb the magic in the stonespletely, though he had to stop asionally to pacify the Duke who barged in multiple times after sensing arge amount of magic within his room.


    Eventually, after a few surges of energy and a few bouts of pain, he managed to increase his existence level, a little too much at once.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' deres you as a bug in the system]


    Artemisia''s reaction was natural, even he was surprised because he broke through two levels at once.


    [The ''Eternal of time and destruction'' says that although you are close to being useful, you are still effectively useless.]


    He ignored the tant diss and decided to take a look at his status.


    |Name- Evan Del Eris


    Race-###e# ###s###e#


    Gender - Male


    Age - 10


    Level- 36


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved by Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########. Bug in the System (Temporary)


    ss- Magic Swordsman


    Health �C D-


    Energy �C D-


    Strength �C D-


    Agility �C D-


    Durability �CD-


    Intelligence- D-


    Condition- Heavily Fatigued


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 1, Lightning Tier 1


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension.


    Mimicked Skills-Energy st, Body Transformation.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (1), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction. |


    ''It seems raising my existence level helped me recover the level I lost and-Oy!''


    "What the hell Artemisia?!


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' looks elsewhere and whistles.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you should hurry up and leave within the next five minutes if you really want to, anyter and you would not even be able to take a step outside the floor you''re on.]<sub> </sub>


    "Haa~, good thing it''s temporary."


    Evan facepalmed as he stuffed the rest of his load into the space expansion bag. He looked at the night sky outside and nodded before turning his gaze to his shadow.


    "Alright, it''s time to leave.


    Little guy, you''ve had a nice sleep in my shadow but it''s not for free, pay up."


    As he said that, his shadow wriggled and a ck cat came out and meowed. He picked it up and petted its head lightly.


    [Master, pet me too]


    Naturally, Ka was jealous and transformed into a cat and said to pet her too.


    "Not now, when we leave here, so Kuro get us out of here with that skill of yours."


    He arbitrarily called the spirit a name he heard that meant ''ck'' in anguage from his previous world.


    However, it seems that there were other implications in that, a pseudo contract was formed within them.


    There was no proper contract ceremony neither could he contract with another spirit so it was only half a contract, still he didn''t expect calling the spirit a name to have such an effect.


    Appraising it he saw that it had indeed gotten a name.


    |Name- Kuro


    Race- Spirit


    Gender - Male


    Level- 30


    Existence Level - Silver


    Titles- Middle-Rank Spirit


    ss - Shadow Controller


    Health �C E+


    Energy �C D-


    Strength �C E+


    Agility �C D-


    Durability �C E+


    Intelligence - E+


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers- Shadow Tier 1


    Skills- Shadow Movement, Shadow Maniption, Shadow Magic. (Extreme)


    Unique Skills- None. |


    ''At least he''s a genuine mid-rank spirit''


    Kuro purred and jumped down from his hands, he then circled Evan a few times drawing a magic circle around him with his ws.


    Jumping back into Evan''s arms, he spoke for the first time.


    [I''m sending us to the nearest location we can evade the guards from]


    His voice was like that of a little boy''s, testament to his young age. Evan nodded, as he ced the short note he had written down exining the reason for his ''departure'' on his desk.


    He used body transformation to transform into the form of a random servant he saw earlier in the day, for the event he was noticed by someone on his way out.


    However, this was not necessary.


    The moment Kuro activated shadow movement, he felt his magic power being drained out of him till there was almost nothing left.


    His sight was covered in darkness as he sank into the ground. When it brightened up once more, he realised he was outside the mansion.


    ''This is way too handy!!''


    [Too much energy used, sleepy]


    <o>,m Kuro murmured and jumped back into Evan''s shadow without even bothering to ask for permission.</o>


    ''Enjoy your rest, you really deserve it.''


    The young hero took a moment to rest and downed a magic potion to get rid of the lethargy he was feeling, only standing up after a few minutes of rest.


    Like so, Evan disappeared into the night of the capital. Completely uncaring in regards to the uproar his disappearance was gonna cause the next day.


    �� �� ��


    The next morning, Rei came over to Evan''s room to wake him up at the order of the Duke, however, even after knocking a few times, she received no reply.


    She finally decided to use her presence detection, and that was when she realised there was no one in the room.


    Even a hidden bodyguard like her would panic at such a thing. She hurriedly reported to the Duke who was in the dining, unfortunately, the Duchess just walked in as she spoke.


    Hearing her son had literally ''disappeared'', she fainted in shock and had to be carried back to her room.


    The Duke then personally inspected Evan''s room to see if he left of his free will and the letter on the table gave him all the answers he needed.


    "What on Aidos?!"


    Unfortunately, a nobledy who hade over to meet the Duchess unannounced, heard the maids talking about it and went on to spread it to her friends.


    Within a week it had be a topic of discussion between the various nobles of the Empire.

 Chapter 48 ‘Leaving’ The Capital

    The Emperor heaved an exasperated as he looked at the letter the Duke just ced on his desk. It was a situation that he could have never expected, not in a million years.


    "This doesn''t make any sense."


    That was true, it was impossible for anyone to not be pissed after reading the letter Evan left behind as he ''disappeared'' from the Duke''s mansionst night.


    [Yo! Whatsup Dad?


    I know I''m definitely feeling good.


    So, I decided to take a leave from being a Duke''s son for a while. Don''t bother sending a search party, I''m already out of your range, after all.


    As for the reason I left; I wanna go explore some dungeons, prevent a few disasters, and save a few million lives.


    I''d be saving citizens of the empire so you''re gonna let me off, right?


    I''d be back in about 5 years.


    PS. Tell mum it''s not her fault, I was gonna leave either way.


    With Love;


    Your friendly neighbourhood temporary ex-Duke''s son]


    Rudeus sighed once more before turning his gaze to the Duke, Roger, and asking a question.


    "Have you discovered how he left?"


    "Yes, we discovered a magic circle drawn on the floor in his room.


    Jenson said it was a transportation magic circle, most likely shadow magic."


    "But he doesn''t have the ability to use shadow magic, does he?"


    The two men were confused about how he managed to cast shadow magic when they were interrupted by a third voice.


    "He doesn''t, but the little creature in his shadow definitely did. It seems he had nned to leave for a while now."


    "Little creature?"


    As Rudeus asked back in a voice tinged with surprise, the intruder, the Empress, udia replied.


    "I noticed a shadow creature in his shadow earlier that day.


    I didn''t think he knew it was there so I left it, deciding to address itter. Sadly, themotion that urredter prevented me from doing so.


    However, judging from the fact that he used it to leave, it seems he was aware all along. He probably put it there too."


    udia spoke as she took a seat beside the two men and read the note Evan left. She then voiced out a question that the two men had previously discussed before he left.


    "Even if that shadow creature helped him teleport, it doesn''t make sense how he was able to leave freely."


    Indeed, that was the case.


    The Eris household was a Ducal Household, with its head being the Prime Minister of one of the most powerful countries in all of Aidos


    The level of security that his family''s main residence possessed was even more than that of the royal families of some lesser countries.


    It possessed hundreds of physical traps and magic defence circles intricately woven together, along with multiple anti-magic formations.


    These were magic formations that prevented the use of other types of magic in the residence, and the Duke made sure to ce dozens of them in each section of the mansion.


    Moreover, there were also magic circles that weakened the effects of skills within the walls of the mansion.


    Magic circles that could only be deactivated by the head of the family.


    Last but not the least, teleporting in and out of the mansion, should theoretically be impossible for anyone with magic below Tier 5.


    Naturally, Evan was included in this category.


    After all, the anti teleportation magic was ced there by the Chief Court mage, Jenson. Someone who possessed Tier 5 spatial magic capabilities.


    Although the effects of the other magic circles and formations were weaker on members of the Ducal family who possessed a family badge, this did not extend to the teleportation restrictions.


    In other words, Evan should not be able to teleport out without breaking all of these formations, and one could not do so without the family head, Roger, being alerted.


    This then brought the question of how Evan was able to seamlessly teleport outside and escape all the guards without alerting anyone.


    It was something that also baffled Rudeus too!


    Rudeus ced a hand on his chin as he sorted out his thoughts, however, the sudden shout from beside him brought him out of his seas of thoughts almost immediately.


    "That idiot! He told me three years!"


    This was Laurene who was annoyed at Evan''s extension of his return. Hearing this, Roger couldn''t help but ask.


    "Your Highness? Did you know he was going to leave?"


    "Yeah. Found out a few hours before he did."


    To his question, Laurene replied as nonchntly as ever, evoking an annoyed reaction from Roger. However, before he could speak, Rudeus fired another question at her.


    "Did you not think to stop him from doing so? Perhaps advice him on the consequences of his actions?"


    "I did, I really did but-"


    Laurene sighed and put down the letter in her hand before clearing her throat and continuing,<sub> </sub>


    "You see, this thing I have that happens to be called a ''life'', I really like it and I want to keep it.


    In order to do that, I won''t try to stop someone more than ten levels above me with force if he refused to listen to me now, would I?


    Also, I can''t exactly do anything when I''m being stared at by a person twice my level with lightning literally...


    I repeat, ''LITERALLY!''ing out of her eyes.


    Oh! Did I say stared, sorry I meant ''red''."


    Her words shocked all of them present, as it insinuated that Evan threatened her into keeping silent about it.


    Ignoring their surprised states, she continued speaking nonchntly.


    "If you all knew about ''what'' Evan and I are, as well as our ''Purpose'', you would probably understand part of why I let him go.


    Don''t ask what though, I can''t say.


    Really don''t wanna lose an eye."


    Rudeus'' eyes narrowed upon hearing Laurene''s words, he had already given the order for the researchers to present him with more information by the end of the week, especially on why and how one of the ''Seven Symbols'' was in Evan''s eyes.


    ''Perhaps, does Laurene have one of the symbols somewhere on her body too?''


    He was about to ask when he saw Laurene casually flip the paper in her hands over and read the contents of its other side as she spoke.


    "Oh well, even if I didn''t know Evan''s reason for leaving, I couldn''t stop him even if I wanted to. Thebined might of everyone present there yesterday probably won''t have been able to ei-WHAT???!!!"


    Laurene suddenly screamed out mid-speech, surprising the other three in the room. Seeing her hold the paper in her hands with trembling fingers, Rudeus remembered that the note had a second part that was addressed to Laurene specifically.


    [PS. II


    Tell Laurene that the one I got from the dungeon had actually been reduced to Level 50.


    I bet she''d scream out in shock when she hears this, too bad I wouldn''t be able to see her expression.]


    The moment Laurene saw the note, she remembered the high demon Evan was contracted and instantly figured out what he meant.


    ''So I was scared for no reason?!


    A random mid-level knight of the duke could have taken her out!''


    She stomped her foot on the ground multiple times before gritting her teeth and dropping the note back on the table.


    She then proceeded to walk out, ignoring the shocked expressions of the three others in the room. Upon getting to the door, she turned to her father and spoke up, all earlier traces of rage in her voice nowhere to be found.


    "Oh yeah, I''m quitting all my sses and going for magic training and dungeon expedition full time, just wanted to let you know."


    And like so, she walked out of the room, leaving the dumbfounded trio behind.


    �� �� ��


    The event of a Duke''s son ''disappearing'' from home caused an uproar among the nobles of the empire.


    Many criticised Evan while some took this as an opportunity to mock the ducal couple a bit.


    Others said it was all a ruse to gain attention, while some simply didn''t care.


    �� �� ��


    Eris Main Residence


    Great Western Empire


    April 12th


    Year 1051


    While Duke Roger was in the castle with the Emperor and Patricia had cried herself to sleep believing her son running away was her fault, a certain person was calmly drinking tea in his private drawing room.


    It was none other than thest member of the Eris Family, and the Elder brother of the runaway Evan, Arnold Del Eris.


    He ced his teacup down silently before taking a bite of the sandwiches prepared as his other hand streaked across the newspaper on the desk.


    His green eyes that he inherited from his mother darted around as he solved the crossword puzzle while taking a few bites of the sandwich.


    ''This is quite good. I should have them send in more.''


    As he thought that, he picked up the bell beside him and rang it slightly, the sound being heard outside the door as a servant knocked twice immediately after.


    "Enter."


    He gave the go-ahead and the servant entered the room and walked up to the desk before stopping and bowing in silence.


    All of the servants knew the attitude of their young master and did not speak unless spoken to.


    "This sandwich is quite good. Send in more, and see if you can give the chef a raise for this week. He seems to be doing a good job."


    The servant nodded and left the room immediately, as if running away, leaving Arnold who noticed this behind.


    He heaved a sigh as he turned his gaze back to the crossword puzzle, only to hear a knock on the door the moment he did.


    **KON! KON

 Chapter 49 Hero Killer

    **KON! KON


    Arnold rose his head and was about to question whoever it was when he heard the knock once more.


    **KON! KON KON KON!!!


    ''That pattern...?''


    "Enter."


    He recognized the pattern of the knocking and allowed the person to enter. The door opened to reveal a girl in her teens who was wearing a maid uniform, one Arnold recognized to be the Eris'' Dukedom''s maid uniform.


    However, he was sure that the person wearing it, was definitely not a servant, and was most definitely not in her teens.


    "Brenda, can you at least look your age?"


    "What are you talking about, young master? I look my age, eternally sixteen."


    The ''teenage girl'', Brenda, tilted her head to the side and asked with a genuinely confused expression on her face. Looking at the blonde-haired and golden-eyed girl in front of him, Arnold gave up trying to make sense of whatever reason she had for snatching that appearance.


    Arnold just shook his head and dropped his pen before cing his elbow on the armrest of his chair and propping his chin on his palm.


    "So? What brings you here?"


    "Hmm? You''re a lot calmer than I thought.


    Your father is very angry and your mother is crying herself out in her room, well, not exactly, but it''s close enough.


    You on the other hand are casually enjoying tea time while solving crossword puzzles."


    She walked towards him and took a seat on his desk as she spoke, her hand going behind her back to tie her long hair into a ponytail.


    After this, she locked eyes with Arnold and continued.


    "Your brother ran away from home, aren''t you sad?"


    The moment she spoke, the look on Arnold''s face changed. Traces of annoyance began to show as he struggled to keep his calm while replying.


    "That isn''t my brother.


    It''s just something else in my brother''s body, after all, my real brother is already dead."


    His words revealed that he was already aware, that the real ''Evan Del Eris'' was long dead!


    He knew that there was someone else inhabiting his brother''s body, something that no one was aware of!


    "So, the ''previous second'' has taken over, huh?"


    "No."


    Brenda''s expression morphed into one of shock as she heard Arnold''s reply.


    "What do you mean? If it isn''t the previous second in his body, then who is that?!"


    "Someone else, a third party that we were previously unaware of."


    Arnold calmly replied as he stretched his hands before turning to look out the window behind him for a moment before turning back to Brenda.


    "The ''World'' told me that it was the intervention of the third party was the intention of a ''higher being'', most likely a god.


    It was also this ''higher being'' that paved the way for him to escape without alerting anyone. He''s not strong enough to achieve that alone, after all."


    Hearing that, Brenda frowned deeply as she thought about the only god who would do such a thing. She was also responsible for the existence of the ''Seven Heroes'' in the first ce.


    Disabling the magic formations of the Ducal Residence so Evan could escape would also be a walk in the park for this god.


    "goddess Artemisia...


    She abandoned us and now she makes someone possess the body of a hero? Then she makes him leave where we can watch him.


    Just what is she nning?"


    "Nothing that you would think, she also wishes to prevent Aidos from getting destroyed."


    Brenda scoffed loudly as she heard Arnold''s words, however, she shivered in fear in the next moment as she felt Arnold''s gaze on her turn cold.


    "I believe I told you all not to speak of that foolish misconception in my presence."


    She immediately got down from the table and performed a ny-degree bow before apologizing.


    "I am deeply sorry, young master."


    Arnold only gazed at her with his green eyes before shaking his head and speaking.


    "If you do not know the full story behind the goddess'' actions, then just shut the fuck up.


    That foolish misconception of yours makes you no different from the ''Demonic Hand''."


    Brenda''s eyes revealed unconcealed rage when she heard Arnold''s words but she grit her teeth and kept silent while maintaining her bow.


    She knew better than to anger Arnold anymore with her words.


    "Nevertheless, our goal still stands..."


    Arnold noticed her reaction to his statement but ignored it and continued speaking as he opened his status board to look at his unique skill.


    This unique skill was the reason he did not possess the pdin skill that all members of the Eris Ducal family by blood possessed.


    After all, it was a skill that prevented him from having any skill that the ''Second of the Seven Heroes'' possessed, save the skills he mimicked from others.


    This skill also had the powerful effect of nullifying the abilities of the ''Mystic Eye of Mimicry'' within a certain radius as far as it was active.


    |Name- Arnold Del Eris<sub> </sub>


    Race- Human


    Gender- Male


    Age- 15


    Level- 130


    Existence Level - Master


    Titles- The Second of the Seven Hero Killers, Leader of the Hero Killers, Defense Mechanism of ''Aidos''.


    ss - Hero Killer


    Health �C C-


    Energy - C


    Strength �C C-


    Agility �C D+


    Durability �C C-


    Intelligence - D+


    Magic Tiers- Lightning Tier 2, Water Tier 2, Earth Tier 2.


    Skills- Appraisal Blocking, Concealment Removal, Magic Destabiliser, Language Comprehension;


    Unique Skills- Anti-Mimicry. |


    He read through his skill''s description as he carried on with his words.


    "...In the event that any of the heroes turn against the ''World'', then we shall fulfil our duties as ''Hero Killers''."


    He clenched his fist and turned to stare at the afternoon sun in the sky before continuing.


    "We shall exterminate them, for the sake of the ''World''


    For the sake of ''Aidos''."


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Main Building Rooftop


    Eris Main Residence


    Great Western Empire


    April 12th


    Year 1051


    Looking at the young boy who was steeling his resolve to kill his ''brother'' for the sake of the ''World'', a certain being gave a wry smile while shaking his head.


    He was seating on the roof of the Eris'' Main Residence, right above the drawing room Arnold was in and was listening to the boy''s conversation with his ''maid''.


    However, he was not noticed, not by the boy, or the ''maid'' who was actually more powerful than Arnold. Neither was he noticed by anyone in the entire Ducal mansion that was currently on high alert.


    It was a man who looked no more than 18 years of age. He had hair that looked like a mix between silver and tinum blonde hair, along with heterochromatic eyes. One red and one blue.


    This man, was none other than the being Evan knew as ''The Eternal of Time and Destruction''.


    He snapped his fingers and he vanished from the rooftop of the building, reappearing in apletely part of the Great Western Empire the moment after.


    Looking down, he could see the appearance of the young hero, Evan, being lectured by the High Demon Pride who intended to have Evan gain more fighting Experience.


    He floated in the air unbeknownst to the two as he thought about Evan''s conjecture.


    ''Well, anyone with a brain would figure out that I was obviously behind the simtion and that the events of the simtion are actually events that would happen in the future.''


    A thought came to his head as he rose his right hand into the air. Light blue-coloured magic power began gathering on it as the space around his arm began to distort.


    ''Hmm?''


    He then felt a gaze on his body, followed by a blue notice board appearing in front of him with a message.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' asks just what in the world do you think you are doing?]


    "Pfft!"


    He burst intoughter after reading the message, his right hand dropping down as the gathered magic power dispersed into the atmosphere.


    "I wanted to make things more fun, you know?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you should cease all thoughts of doing so immediately.]


    He only heaved a sigh of exasperation before waving his hand and removing the floating board in front of him.


    ''The gods really don''t want my influence growing even by the tiniest bit.


    To think they would make even speaking of my title a taboo and restrict beings in many worlds from doing so.''


    The man looked down on Evan who was running away from an enraged hobgoblin chief and chuckled a bit.


    ''Maybe the boy would seed on his own without my interference.


    I won''t take major action for now.''


    With that thought, he snapped his fingers and teleported out of Aidos, deciding to storm Artemisia''s realm and mess with her a bit

 Chapter 50 Life In Luka

    Outskirts of Luka Town


    Great Western Empire


    May 5th


    Year 1051


    As for those who went as far as to say Evan was foolish for running away, Evan was currently practicing his methods of killing them on some unfortunate goblins that tried to attack him in a small forest clearing.


    "Hup-!"


    The goblin let out a strange sound as Evan''s slit its throat. Before it could even begin to bleed out, Evan tossed a fist sized fireball to its neck and kicked it in the direction of two other goblins.


    "Fire Magic: me Grenade."


    **BOOOMMM!!


    As he invoked his custom spell, the small fireball he threw at the goblin Exploded with a loud noise, releasing a shockwave that knocked Evan off his feet, forcing him to stab his sword into the ground to prevent himself from falling.


    "GUAAAAA!!"


    A goblin that was behind him took this as a chance and charged at him with a club in hand.


    [Don''t bully master!]


    A cute voice rang out as a small dark cloud formed above the clearing. From this cloud, golden lightning dropped down on the heads of not only the club wielding goblin, but every other goblin in the area.


    "KAAA!!


    "ARGGGG!!!"


    "WAAAA!!"


    There was a total of twelve level 40 goblins that attacked Evan. These goblins were all led by a level 50 Hobgoblin, the only one that was strong enough to survive Ka''s lightning strike.


    Evan pulled out his sword from the ground and kicked off the ground, dashing in the direction of the slightly stunned hobgoblin.


    ''Pdin.''


    He called out internally as a small whitish aura enveloped his body, boosting his base strength and speed, enabling him to reach the hobgoblin faster than it could recover from Ka''s magic.


    "GROAAAHHH"


    Nevertheless, the level 50 monster showed Evan just why it was the leader of its gang as it suddenly roared and threw a punch in his direction.


    "GUH!!"


    Sadly, it was stopped in its tracks as two dark shadowy ws crept up its legs and immobilized it.


    It wasn''t for long but it was long enough for Evan to slice off its outstretched hand, and then redirect his de towards the hobgoblin''s neck.


    "me."


    As he called out, his sword was engulfed with bright red mes that helped it cleave through the hob goblin''s neck, ending its life for good.


    [Level Up]


    "Good work guys."


    Evan wiped his brow as he praised the two spirits who were now resting on his shoulders. Kuro was as sleepy as always but he never cked off in providing timely support for Evan.


    Ka on the other hand, was as hot blooded as ever, but her attacks were even more so. This was evidenced by the fact that she took out nearly ten other goblins with a single lightning strike, just minutes before the trio encountered this group of thirteen.


    "It''s more than the guild wanted but i could use an extra reward, since a certain goddess doesn''t want to fund me."


    Evan rolled his eyes at the sky as he spoke, causing a familiar notification board to pop up in front of him.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' suggests you rid your mind of such ideas as she would not do such a thing,]


    "Tsk...


    Still, to think that news of me leaving has reached this part of the country, I really thought they''d keep it under wraps."


    It was a fine Wednesday that marked the sixth week since he had left the Ducal mansion on that faithful night.


    He had spent three of those weeks travelling to a rural town not so far from the Empire''s borders with the neighbouring country.


    The enormous forest he was in was what marked the borders between the two countries.


    ''I guess I''d go there soon, it''s the one that had the spider dungeon after all.''


    "goddess, there''s now that prevents me from killing humans, right?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says there is not. Your karma value might reduce though.]


    "I don''t really want to burden myself with a concept I don''t have qualifications to find out about."


    Those were his words as he counted the magic stones from the goblins in silence. After this, he made his way back to the city he arrived in a few weeks ago.<sub> </sub>


    The town he was in was called Luka, and it was about two weeks away from the capital by carriage. For Evan, it took even longer to get there, he wasn''t used to travelling without the convenience of cars and nes after all.


    The town was average sized with an equally average poption. The dungeons close by were not high ranked enough to warrant a dungeon city being built around them.


    Despite that, the city still had an adventurer''s guild branch and that was Evan''s first stop as soon as he got there.


    The adventurer card he possessed when he registered in the adventurer''s guild of Merdin was not usable anymore.


    If he took quests with it, it would be logged into the adventurer''s guild data base. If the royal family so wished, they could check what branch it was logged in from and zero in on his position from there.


    As such, he decided to re-register under his ''real'' name, Evan Bourne. In the past few weeks, he had managed to increase his rank from F to E, allowing him to take on both E and D rank quests.


    This was also a win-win since he got to gain more fighting and battle experience, something he clearlycked a lot of.


    With a few tips from his contracted demon, Pride, who asionally spoke to him through their link, he was able to gain enough experience to not be considered useless for his level by the high demon''s standards.


    That brought us to the reason why he was in a forest murdering poor goblins that were just going about their daily lives.


    ''Strength wise I''m a D- rank already.''


    In the past six weeks he had grown in level considerably, and had acquired a new skill. Naturally it was mimicked from a monster.


    |Name- Evan Del Eris


    Race-###e# ###s###e#


    Gender - Male


    Age - 10


    Level- 47


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman


    Health �C D-


    Energy �C D


    Strength �C D-


    Agility �C D-


    Durability �CD


    Intelligence- D-


    Condition- Slightly Fatigued


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 1, Lightning Tier 1


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension.


    Mimicked Skills-Energy st, Body Transformation, Aura sh.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (1), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction. |


    He was unable to use Aura naturally due to the fact that he wasn''t a sword master yet, but the skill let him bypass that.


    Naturally, this was only when he used the skill.


    As for Pride, Ka and Kuro, their levels were tied to his due to the nature of their contracts.


    As such, until he reached Pride and Ka''s levels, they were unable to level up. Kuro, however, had levelled upfortably.


    While looking at his status, he entered the single adventurer''s guild building in the town and walked up to the counter.


    He thought about how quiet the spirits who were usually nosily chatting around him had be after he had given them a few not so polite warnings.


    Submitting his adventurer''s guild card, something that he considered to be a pseudo-smartphone, he waited for the receptionist to mark his quest as done before striking up a conversation.


    "Yo, John. What diner do you suggest I go to tonight? Preferably one that serves strawberry voured drinks."


    "Haa...this kid. Strawberries are out of season, you won''t be seeing anyone selling them around these parts.


    Besides, you always do this and always end up going to anyone but the one I tell you to.


    What''s the point of asking then?"


    "I feel like?"


    "Why is that a question?"


    John heaved a sigh as he collected the bag of magic stones and gave Evan back his card before shooing away the ten-year-old.

 Chapter 51 Partying Up

    Outskirts of Luka Town


    Great Western Empire


    May 6th


    Year 1051


    The next morning, Evan groggily got up from the bed in the inn he stayed at and made his way to the public bathhouse to take a bath before beginning the day''s activities.


    He had no thoughts about showing his actual face so he did not attempt to disguise himself or anything.


    This was because the majority of the people around were allmoners, there was a low chance of them recognizing a high noble like him just from his face.


    Entering into the adventurer''s guild building and greeting the receptionist John along with a few other adventurers he became familiar with over time, he walked up to the quest board to see what quests were avable for the day.


    It was a simplerge board that was in adventurer''s guild branch, where the avablemissions the guild had were pinned to it so the adventurers could pick them up andplete them.


    He saw no reasonable quest that an E rank like him could do, and all of the good D rank quests had already been picked by other adventurers.


    Heaving a sigh, he thought about just going into the E Ranked dungeons that were in Luka when he heard a group shouting that they were looking for apanion to join them on a quest.


    He walked up to them and decided to join them.


    "Yo! You''re looking for apanion, I''m up for it if you want."


    They were nine in total, he noticed that most of them had white or dark skin, and had blonde, red, or brown hair.


    ''What a multi-colouredbination.''


    As he thought that one of them approached him, it was a man was wearing a small shield on his arm and had a short sword attached to it.


    With a sigh, he reached his hand out to Evan and shooed him away.


    "Hey kid, you better go y somewhere else okay, we''re going on a real quest here."


    As he said that, the other adventurers in the guild building suddenly quieted down, some of then shook their heads in sadness while some sent sympathetic gazes to the man and his party.


    Evan looked at the man that spoke to him and appraised him. Upon seeing his level, he couldn''t help but reply out loud.


    "Well, this ''kid'' has a higher level than you though?"


    "Hold on, what bullshit are you spouting?"


    Another voice spoke up and Evan turned his gaze in the speaker''s direction.


    It was a girl whose height was not much different from his, one he believed was most likely not form Luka.


    Besides this small girl, three other members, a woman carrying a rapier, a long-eared beauty with a quiver on her back, and a weak framed girl barely holding onto her wooden shield.


    The three of them seemed to know each other and were quite close too.


    The girlwho spoke up was a blonde, twin-tailed beauty, whose hair shone like gold and whose wooden staff matched well. However, the way she talked wasn''t cute in the slightest.


    "Did you walk into the wrong ce? This is the adventurer''s guild you know, where people who fight monsters that can kill you with a p are meant to be."


    Let''s say you are actually an adventurer, I bet you probably just registered.


    What''s with your clothes too? You don''t even have a weapon, totally unprepared, you''d just be dead weight if we took you."


    Evan casually ignored her rant and spoke to the man who seemed to be the leader of the party.


    "Are you letting me in or not, I can prove my level you know? The adventurer''s guild has a level measuring artifact."


    He turned towards the counter and continued.


    "Right?"


    "Yup"


    John who was at the counter replied and pulled out the magic artifact from under the table.


    It was then the party leader noticed the fact that the guild was strangely quiet and everyone was staring at them.<sub> </sub>


    When he looked back at Evan, thetter had already gone over to the counter and ced his hand on the level measuring artifact.


    The artifact was a simple cuboid like device that had a separate stone te which the one wishing to measure their level ced their hand on.


    This te was connected to the cuboid like part that Evan termed the ''CPU'' and it scanned the magic power in the body of the one cing their hand on it to determine their level.


    As for the number that was disyed, it was far higher than the party members had expected.


    "F-fourty seveen?!"


    "Oh! he''s gotten two more levels this week."


    "He really is a fast leveller."


    [Fast Fast!]


    [shut up you fat spirit!]


    The adventurers and spirits voices rang out as his level was disyed. From the reactions of the adventurers, it seemed to be an expected result.


    The party leader was shocked once again and could notprehend how a kid that looked no less than ten had a higher level than him, despite the fact that he had been entering dungeons for months.


    Evan had nearly stabbed the snot nosed receptionist who was working a different shift from John when he first came over to register himself.


    She had arbitrarily concluded that he was too weak to be an adventurer and sent him away. Sadly, for her, he was very pissed from his three weeks of switching carriages and camping in the forest so he took his anger out on her.


    Evan did not hesitate to pull out his main weapon, the sword of Pride that he had gotten used to during his travels and forced her to conduct the registration process while the sword remained on her neck.


    As for the other adventurers who were present then, they all watched the show while making bets on how long it would take the guild master toe down.


    They had also gotten fed up with the attitude of the receptionist and saw the situation as her reckoning.


    Even so, this event caused the adventurers of Luka to have mixed feelings towards Evan.


    Some weaker ones feared him slightly, some were scared of his weapon, the ominous looking Sword of Pride, and not him


    To others, it was as if he was just a slightly hot-blooded kid who happened to be in a bad mood.


    They even came up to him and offered to take him on some quests as his strength was far higher than the rank of quests he could go for.


    This was part of the reason he met the quota to increase his rank within a mere three weeks.


    After looking at his disyed level, Evan turned to the dumbfounded group leader and asked again.


    "You up for it?"


    "Y-es"


    "Good. Then let''s go."


    He then looked at the John at the counter and asked in a quiet voice.


    "Can you help me with a few more quests from tomorrow''s batch?"


    "You know the drill, I get part of themission."


    John answered as he pulled out two sheets of paper and slipped them into Evan''s hands.


    "Those are ten-man quests, the nine of them should make up the number requirement. Get back before the guild masteres back."


    Evan nodded and fist-bumped with John before walking up to the dumbfounded party leader and informing him about the two other quests he took.


    "H-hey! We can''t do three quests."


    "I''d do them myself, just stay for the head count. Its not like its the first-time I''d kill that many orcs alone."


    Evan replied the group leader and walked to the door before turning around and saying,


    "Are you noting?"

 Chapter 52 Cool Orc!

    Hearing Evan''s question, the party finally snapped out of their stupor and moved out of the guild house after picking up their supplies.


    The orc subjugation quest they had taken was a quest to subjugate a group of orcs living in the caves in nearby mountain, a cave of orcs was equal to one quest.


    The two other quests that van had gotten from John were the exact same thing, with the same requirements and giving the exact same rewards too.


    There were between 10-20 orcs per cave and as the caves were quite far apart, they hardly had contact with each other.


    They took a carriage to the foot of the mountain that was beside therge border forest.


    Upon getting down, they began climbing using the stairs created by the adventurer''s guild to aid adventurers since this was a frequently used ce.


    After a few minutes they finally found a cave and prepared themselves to enter.


    Evan flicked his fingers and summoned the Sword of Pride, instantly evoking a shocked reaction from the group, especially the blond-haired girl, she was a priest after all.


    "T-that s-sword-"


    "Shut it, will ya?


    it''s just a sword, what''s the big deal?


    I use it to kill monsters, and the asional human that pisses me off so please don''t be that asional human."


    ''I guess I should start killing of all the priests I see if they have this reaction every time.''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' demands you should definitely not do that]


    ''Course I won''t.''


    Evan chuckled as he shed a mischievous smile in the party leader''s direction, allowing the older man to instantly figure out that Evan was only getting back at her for her earlier words.


    He shook his head and cleared up the misunderstanding before gesturing for the party to enter the cave.


    Upon doing so, it didn''t take them long to find the orcs inside. There were about 15 in number, with one of them being slightlyrger in size.


    ''Probably the leader of this group.''


    They were feasting on meat, either that of a random wild animal they caught or the remains of an unfortunate adventurer.


    Evan wasted no time in dashing towards the orcs, attracting their attention and causing them to attack him.


    Sadly, for the orcs, Evan hadrades with him. In this party, there were two archers who did not ck off in doing their jobs.


    One aimed at the Orc Leader and the other aimed at the orcs attacking Evan.


    Evan made use of the time the archer earned him, shooting out with his sword and quickly decapitating an orc.


    "Next!"


    "Wow, you''re doing great, mate!"


    He ignored the group leader''s shout and continued fiercely fighting off the attacking orcs.


    "GROAAAARRR"


    The Orc Leader''s weird roar resounded throughout the cave as Evan heard the warrior fighting the Orc Leader letting out several grunts of pain.


    "Healer!"


    "I know! Healing!"


    The blonde-haired priest girl responded with a healing spell, one that made Evan stop for a moment to analyse her spell with his mystic eyes.


    ''I might actually end up recruiting her for her skills despite her annoying attitude''


    **BZZZTT!!!


    "GROoo..."


    Another orc took advantage of his absent-minded state to attack him from behind, however, there was no way that the lightning spirit on his shoulder would let it seed.<sub> </sub>


    "He can use magic too?!"


    He dodged the ive of another orc and shed at it with an Aura de, cutting through it like butter and going on to damage the wall lightly.


    "Kuhahahaha! Orcs, RISE!"


    At the Orc Leader''s voice, a skill was activated and the orcs that were still alive, let out a rejuvenated cry and charged towards them.


    "Tch...War cry."


    Evan clicked his tongue and called out the orc leader''s skill he remembered from the game while dashing towards it, killing the orc in his way with a single aura sh.


    A female swordsman who was swinging her sword next to him yelled out and cursed.


    She was one of the women from the same area as the blonde healer, one who used a rapier that fit her elegant appearance.


    Realizing that you really can''t judge a book by its cover, Evan silently attacked the Orc leader with his sword.


    **WHOOSHH! WHOOSH!


    The two archers aimed at the Orc leader''s eyes without hesitation, with one arrow missing its mark and the other correctly piercing through the Orc leader''s right eye.


    This caused the Orc leader to hold its eye as it cried out miserably.


    "KRRAAAA!"


    It turned its literally bloodshot gaze to the Archer that fired the arrow and used Orc leader used its second skill, a sword st.


    **WHAMM!!!


    Even as it fired the skill multiple times, they were all able to dodge it with ease, having seen it before.


    Sadly, right after it used the sword st attack, it left itself wide open to receive an attack in kind.


    In the end, the Orc leader fell, its throat pierced by the sword Evan had put all his strength into.


    "Kuk, strong humans�� good�� fight��"


    "This bastard''s acting cool at the end."


    Watching the Orc leader annoying him until the end, Evan kicked its head, not letting it finish what it was saying as it died miserably.


    The party leader pped and told him he did a great job, tapping him on the shoulder before going on to check on the others.


    Evan nodded and turned his gaze to the notification in front of him with a smile.


    [Level Up]


    ''Good, two more.''


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Evan left the party in the previous cave and went on to the next cave he sensed orcs in earlier. Immediately after entering, he charged towards the group of orcs, ignoring the armoured leader in the centre.


    Evan could send the trash mob orcs'' heads flying by just shing with his weapon.  He could also use Aura sh to extend his reach temporarily.


    "Kuaaa!"


    Seeing his minions drop like flies, the Orc leader stretched its back and roared.


    ''He is using War cry!''


    Although Evan could not sense the activation of a skill, he knew that it was using its war cry skill that rejuvenated and enhanced the strength of its minions.


    ''That''s how they were in the game, after all.''


    Unfortunately for it, Evan had already cut down more than half the orc leader''s minions.

 Chapter 53 [Bonus Chapter]Nothing Is Ever As Simple As It Seems

    ''One more, one more!''


    His body moved exactly like he had calcted.


    Like a farmer harvesting his crops, he quickly cut down the orcs'' heads,


    The speed at which he did so was so fast that by the time the Orc leader finally finished his War cry, there were no orc minions left in the room.


    "Kuaaaa! You dare!"


    "Shut up you foolish Orc!"


    He charged toward the armoured Orc leader without hesitation. Concluding, the fight was already over when he cut down all the orc minions.


    ''War cry was a skill that increased attack power increases by 100% and lowered defence by 50%. It also temporarily put it in a super armoured state.''


    A super armoured monster ignored iing attacks and focused on its own attacks. However, it had its disadvantages.


    Because it did not stop at all, it sometimes ended up taking more damage.


    As a result, it was much easier tond a critical hit, which dealt more than double the usual damage and sometimes even damaged the target permanently.


    Of course, it was easier for the Orc leader to deal critical damage to others under the effect of its war cry skill, but one just had to not get hit.


    Like now!


    "Haaap!"


    "Kuaaak!"


    "Haaap!"


    "Kuaaak!"


    As he rolled on the ground to dodge its attack, Evan swung his sword and cut its Achilles tendon.


    Because it was in a super- armoured state, it kept charging forward regardless. As a result, its wound only became worse.


    When its super- armoured state ended, it was bound to face an unimaginable pain, if it would live that long.


    "HUMAAAAN!"


    "I''m not human though!"


    At the Orc Lord charging forward due to super- armour, he continuously attacked with his sword from the back.


    When it hit the cave wall and stopped, he shed down on his back and jumped back.


    "You will not escape alive!"


    ''Is it me or is this orc a lil bit too smart?''


    He then decided to appraise the orc and what he saw surprised him.


    ''Oh shit!''


    |Name- None


    Race- Orc


    Level- 60


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- Orc Lord


    ss - Swords Orc


    Health �C D+


    Energy - D+


    Strength �C D+


    Agility �C E+


    Durability �C C+


    Intelligence - D-


    Condition- Super armoured, Enraged


    Magic Tiers- None


    Skills- War cry


    Unique Skills- Sword st +. |


    ''It was not an ordinary orc in the first ce!''


    It was an orc with a unique skill, an Orc Lord, one of the leaders of all the orcs in this mountain.


    He clicked his tongue at his impatience and internally scolded himself for not appraising it earlier.


    While he wished for the others toe assist him now, they could not as they were upied with the other orcs that hade over after hearing the Orc Lord''s initial war cry.<sub> </sub>


    ''Alright, I remember this from the game, lets do it like I did there.


    Oh shit! Here ites!''


    The Orc Lord raised its ive and ck mana began to gather around it with a ringing sound. It was the unique skill that it had! Sword st!


    **HUMMM!!


    **WHOOSSSHHH!!!!


    He slid to the side, dodging the Sword st with ease, standing up immediately after to make use of the small opening it had after using Sword st.


    **PUK!!


    "Kuaaak!"


    "Whoops, that was close."


    He distanced himself from the Orc Lord thrashing about randomly after stabbing it in the gut.


    At least 10 minutes had passed since the battle began, but the Orc Lord still seemed healthy as it roared incessantly.


    If there was a difference between the game and the dungeon in reality, it was that the actual monsters were a lot difficult to defeat.


    "DIE, HUMAAAAN!"


    After the Sword st was the random thrashing.


    **BAMMM!! BAAMMM!!!


    It swung its arms and legs everywhere and made aplete mess of the surroundings.


    This skill gave off powerful vibrations and powerful blows, which easily disrupted even the most well-organized parties.


    "DIEEE!"


    "Would you jump into a charging bulldozer because someone told you to?"


    "DIEEE!"


    "Alright, alright, I''ll kill you, just wait a little."


    Thankfully, it wasn''t so difficult to dodge it. He just had to keep running back when it started thrashing around.


    If it chased after him, Evan just had to draw circles around it as he retreated.


    Because the cave was ratherrge, it wasn''t so hard to do. Additionally, after this phase ended, it stood in ce and drew its breath for a little while.


    That was the best chance to counterattack.


    "DIEEE!"


    Ignoring the fact that he was making fun of its speech earlier, Evan charged toward the Orc Lord shouting the same thing it had been shouting.


    **CRACKLE!


    In his hands was the Sword of Pride infused with Ka''s lightning. His target was�� its thigh!


    **STAB!


    "Kuaaaak!"


    "Alright, it went in!"


    The super-armoured state had already ended and the Orc Lord dropped its weapon in pain while wrapping its arms around its thigh.


    When the Orc Lord received damage surpassing a certain threshold, it dropped its weapon. This was a kind of behaviour that the Orc Lords in game exhibited.


    A behaviour that was based on the real Orc Lords.


    ''Another great chance to attack!''


    Excited, he stabbed his sword through the other thigh.


    With luck, it would probably be a critical hit!


    When the Orc Lord received huge damage while it had its weapon dropped, it would just fall in ce. It would then faint and stay unconscious for a period of time.


    ''I won. This battle is mine!''


    "Haaaaap!"


    He aimed his sword at the Orc Lord''s throat, which was at a perfect height for him to do so.


    Although he couldn''t pierce through it, he had dealt the damage. Of course, he wouldn''t be satisfied with just one attack. he stabbed with his sword a couple more times.


    Then, a thick stream of blood exploded out.


    ''Did I get too excited?''


    He forgot to control himself and stabbed its throat one more time. It was then that the Orc Lord opened its eyes and screamed out.


    "Kuaaaaa!"

 Chapter 54 Lesson Learned

    ''Did I get too excited?''


    He forgot to control himself and stabbed its throat one more time. It was then that the Orc Lord opened its eyes and screamed out.


    "Kuaaaaa!"


    "Damn! War cry!"


    Orcs wererge bodied beings with strong vitality, they were also beings that possessed monstrous physical strength, as expected of theirrge bodies.


    It was with this monstrous strength that it swung its fist towards Evan, hitting him square in the side.


    **PSHHCHH!!


    There was a burst of lightning at that moment, and with just that, Evan was sent flying as his health dropped tremendously.


    Thankfully, he did not hit the wall and just fell on the ground.


    "Agh, damn it��!"


    As he screamed in pain, Evan could not help but internally curse his carelessness.


    He was feeling more confident as he had gained a level today and hoped to gain more by fighting more monsters that he had thrown caution out the window.


    This ended up in him attacking a monster without appraising it first like he normally would have, as such, he was unaware of the fact that he was battling a monster that was more than ten levels higher than him.


    Adding the fact that monsters at any level were always stronger than their adventurer equivalents, the level 60 monster was a lot more powerful than Evan was prepared for.


    The actions of the orc lord just now also taught Evan another lesson.


    No matter how simr to the game their actions were, he should not forget that the monsters of this world were living breathing beings who could make decisions on their own just like him.


    They would not move like the monsters in the game were programmed to.


    Losing too much blood too quickly, he couldn''t move my body for a moment. Setting aside the pain he was feeling, he would definitely have died without the barrier Ka casted at thest moment.


    [You harm master! DIE!]


    "Wait Ka!"


    He forcefully pulled Ka who was about to attack the orc, put strength into his knees and got up.


    His legs were shaking and he couldn''t stand properly, It wasn''t easy to digest the damage from an orc lord''s fist after all.


    ''I''ve gotta beat a demon king, a mere orc lord is nothing.''


    "DIEEEEE!"


    ''It''s charging!''


    The orc lord disyed its tenacity as it charged towards him with ive in hand, despite the huge amount of blood it was continuously losing, intending on ending Evan for good.


    "HUMAN, THIS IS THE END!"


    "Kuk!"


    Evan hurriedly took out a health potion from his space expansion bag that was strapped to his belt and drank it.


    Once his health recovered a little, it would be easier to move. However, the feeling he received was not the one he was expecting.


    "Damn!"


    He nced at the bottle and realized it was a strength enhancing potion instead.


    ''It seemed like I would have to face him directly. I don''t have the time to drink a health potion anymore and my legs aren''t fully recovered. They can only manage standing their ground.<sub> </sub>


    Although this isn''t what I had nned��''


    He had enough time to temporarily sink into his thoughts as although the Ord lord was tenacious, the fact that it had lost a lot of blood could not be ignored so it was much slower than before.


    Evan tightly gripped his sword and looked forward at the Orc Lord that was charging towards him in a straight line, its eyes glowing red.


    Its eyes were burning with love and the ive in its hands were full of passion. It was truly the worst love confession.


    "Whew�� let''s do this."


    He muttered some things he would probably regret to hype himself up for the sh.


    "DIE!"


    "DIE!"


    And so, the both of them shouted out at the same time.


    ''Faster than lightning, stronger than a dragon, grander than Mt. Tai, and more delicate than the ocean!''


    Thinking rather useless things as the Orc Lord neared him, Evan thrusted his sword toward the Orc Lord''s chest.


    If it could survive this, then Evan would be the one to die!


    **PUK!!


    He heard a sound.


    His attack had definitely hit its mark.


    The question was whether it died or not. Because his eyes were shut, he couldn''t see if it was dead or if he was about to die.


    In an instant, everything became quiet as if all sounds in the world had disappeared. It like when you turned off the TV in the middle of the night.


    Slowly, he opened his eyes.


    "That''s a disturbing sight!"


    The Orc Lord''s face was right in front of his. When he pulled out his sword and stepped back, the Orc Lord fell with a thud.


    He blinked. This�� could this be?


    ''�� Did I seed?''


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    The messages in front of him were all the confirmation he needed.


    He turned around and saw the party of nine entering the cave after a fierce battle with two orc groups, leaderless of course.


    He was about to call out to them when a familiar notice board appeared and disyed a very ominous group of messages to him.


    |Level 50 Achieved|


    |Partial ''Blessing of Destruction'' requirement met|


    |New Effect is being added|


    |Kindly grit your teeth, for it shall hurt a lot. |

 Chapter 55 Energy Circuit Acquired

    |Level 50 Achieved|


    |Partial ''Blessing of Destruction'' requirement met|


    |New Effect is being added|


    |Kindly grit your teeth, for it shall hurt a lot. |


    And the next thing that happened was Evan screaming as he fell on the floor holding his body with an expression of agony on his face.


    The others were shocked and tried to reach out to him but Ka created a visible lightning barrier to prevent them from touching him.


    The priest girl tried to use healing magic but Ka''s barrier prevented it from reaching Evan''s body.


    After about five minutes of screams, he finally lost consciousness.


    This did notst long, just another five minutes, he woke up soon afterwards feeling sore over his body.


    As soon as he woke up, the party leader screamed at him while checking his body for any visible injuries.


    "What the hell kid?!! You just started screaming and used lightning to block us from helping you.


    Also what happened?! You''re bleeding everywhere!"


    The dried blood on Evan''s clothes was still very visible, causing the party leader to cry out in shock. The resident priest did not hesitate in applying healing magic to Evan, soothing the pain he felt.


    Evan clicked his tongue before replying to the party leader''s earlier question.


    "Let''s just say ''a skill of mine that has a rather painful drawback'' happened."


    [The ''Eternal of time and destruction'' questions if he should take back his blessing]


    Evan ignored this and brought up his status board to take a look at the skill''s effects to see if anything had been added.


    |Blessing of Destruction;


    Type: Unique Skill


    Increases all skill effectiveness by 10%


    Extra 10% Stat Boost


    Increases all Destructive skill strength by 30%


    Increases all Destructive magic strength by 30%


    Grants one a Destructive Energy Circuit. |


    |Destructive Energy Circuit;


    Type: Energy Maniption Circuit


    Increases all Energy maniption speeds by 10%


    Increases Destructive Energy Based Attacks by 10%. |


    Looking at the new energy circuit that got ingrained into his body, he sighed as he thought.


    ''What the fuck is this guy putting in my body?!''


    �󡡡󡡡�


    In an empty white room with nothing but a transparent coffin, a heterochromatic tinum-haired man was yawning loudly.


    **CCRACK!!


    There was a cracking sound as the space beside him cracked open to reveal the annoyed face of a certain ck-haired woman.


    The size of the crack increased until it wasrge enough for her toe through it and that she did.


    Immediately afterwards, she screamed at the yawning man.


    "What the fuck did you put in his body?!"


    "Hmm...? Oh Artemisia, been a while."


    "Answer Me!"


    "Chill out, I only gave him a little something you should have given him earlier. I thought you would have added it in your ''system updates''."


    The woman, goddess Artemisia replied in rage.


    "I would have given him an evolutionary circuit in due time when his body could take it without repercussions!


    Last I checked, that would be when he''s at least level 150 and has unlocked his mystic eyes second stage!"


    "But his soul can take it. So I gave it to him."


    The man nonchntly replied as if his actions didn''t just ce Evan''s life at risk. His attitude only served to fuel Artemisia''s anger.


    "What?! Are you for real?! If I didn''t tell that spirit of his to prevent outside interference, the results would have been disastrous.


    Even if his soul is strong, his body is still that of a gold realm existence, he can''t use the power of an energy circuit like that for free!"


    Her words revealed the reason why Ka put up a barrier around Evan, it was because she received an order from Artemisia to do so.


    "Would you please stop interfering? The blessing was already enough. Now I have to work on preventing him from screaming in pain every time that circuit activates."


    The man yawned once more before replyingzily.


    "You do realise you were the one who interfered first, right?


    Besides, if we look at things normally, none of the gods has the right to tell me not to interfere."


    His eyes glowed with a dangerous light as he said this but Artemisia did not back down.


    A burst of golden energy was released from her body as the tension in the white room became so thick you could cut it with a knife.


    The two silently stared at each other with glowing eyes for nearly a minute before the man heaved a sigh and waved his hand.


    "Just let him be, he''de around soon enough.


    You should be more worried about the actions of the other gods in your pantheon."


    "I can deal with those idiots on my own."


    Artemisia frowned as she thought about the other gods who were scared of her ever-growing power.<sub> </sub>


    As the goddess of Evolution, she embodied the aspect she governed over and continuously evolved to greater heights on a daily basis.


    Something that the other gods who wanted to remain in power did not like.


    The heterochromatic-eyed man, ''The Eternal of Time and Destruction'', heaved an exasperated sigh before asking another important question.


    "So, Care to tell me why you didn''t inform Evan of the existence of Hero Killers."


    Artemisia''s expression disappeared the moment she heard those words.


    Seeing this, the tinum-haired man continued with his words.


    "The ''Future''


    It is something that can never be set in stone, normally, that is. There always exist infinite possibilities for the future and these possibilities increase by the day.


    However, with my power over ''Time'', it is possible to select a particr future that can be made to be absolute.


    A future that would supposedly be 100% guaranteed to happen."


    He walked up to Artemisia and ran his hand through her long ck hair as he spoke.


    "That was what I did for your sake, I selected a future you wanted for Aidos and made it ''absolute''.


    The one future, where the of Aidos did not lose 90% of its poption due to the advent of Demon King Sargon.


    You then took the details of that future, removed some parts, and created a simtion in another world, intending on selecting the best possible candidate to send to Aidos, just to change a piece of that supposedly absolute future.


    You introduced a variable that is ''Evan Bourne'', in an attempt to reduce the number of casualties that would ur, as the original ''Second'' would have ended up massacring millions in a ritual he and the ''Fourth'' were supposed to conduct.


    By reinforcing the mental defenses of the current fourth and cing someone who had passed your simtion test in the body of the ''Second'', you have averted the deaths of millions, while also removing the 100% guarantee of that future.


    Now, only about 80-95% of the Events from that future are guaranteed to happen."


    He stopped talking and gazed into Artemisia''s golden eyes as the goddess did nothing but stare back at him.


    "Last time I checked, the ''Hero Killers'' yed a major role in that future, however, despite being the best product of your simtion, Evan doesn''t seem to know about their existence,


    Why is that?"


    He finally asked the question that had been on his mind since he overheard Arnold''s conversation with Brenda.


    "It''s quite simple. Since not everything is guaranteed, I have to prepare for the possibility that Evan might end up changing sides or taking actions that would be detrimental to Aidos in the long run.


    The ''Hero Killers'', are perfect to deal with him in that situation."


    Artemisia pushed his hands out of her hair and tied it up in a ponytail as she replied calmly.


    "Simply put, you don''t trust Evan?"


    "Oh, I do.


    However, I am a goddess. I have the duty to make sure that the worlds under my rule do not meet their ends before their appointed time.


    I cannot make decisions concerning the continued existence of one of said worlds based on my personal feelings towards Evan."


    After saying her piece, Artemisia turned around and teleported out of the space, leaving the man behind before he could even reply.


    The man then sighed once more as he looked at the body in the transparent coffin before speaking to himself.


    "Sleep well, my friend..."


    He snapped his fingers and the light of teleportation wrapped around his body and carried him out of the room.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    While the party wanted to call it quits for the day, Evan reminded them about the fact that he still had to deal with one more cave of orcs as he had epted two quests for it.


    To lighten his burden, the group helped him clear thest cave in return for a portion of the rewards, of course.


    The ten of them then returned to Luka immediately after.


    Looking at his status as he walked into the adventurer''s guild building, Evan smiled in satisfaction.


    |Name- Evan Del Eris


    Race-###e# ###s###e#


    Gender - Male


    Age - 10


    Level- 50


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman


    Health �C D


    Energy �C D


    Strength �C D


    Agility �C D


    Durability �CD


    Intelligence- D


    Condition- Heavily Fatigued


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 1, Lightning Tier 1


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension.


    Mimicked Skills-Energy st, Body Transformation, Aura sh.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (1), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction. |


    ''I have the stats a level 80 should be having, I''m quite strong if I say so myself.''

 Chapter 56 Series Skill Holder

    |Name- Evan Del Eris


    Race-###e# ###s###e#


    Gender - Male


    Age - 10


    Level- 50


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved by Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman


    Health �C D


    Energy �C D


    Strength �C D


    Agility �C D


    Durability �CD


    Intelligence- D


    Condition- Heavily Fatigued


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 1, Lightning Tier 1


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension.


    Mimicked Skills-Energy st, Body Transformation, Aura sh.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (1), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction. |


    ''I have the stats a level 80 should be having, I''m quite strong if I say so myself.''


    After turning in the magic stones gathered from the orcs they killed, they were able to acquire their rewards, with a bonus.


    As for Evan, his bonus went into John''s pocked aspensation for his earlier favour. Nevertheless, Evan didn''t really care less, he had tons of gold coins in his space expansion bag, after all.


    It was the money he had received as allowance during his seven months of training. He had most saved up as he barely had any use for it.


    The currency denominations were named after the metals used to make the coins.


    Copper


    Bronze


    Silver


    Gold


    tinum


    With copper being the lowest and tinum being the highest.


    Looking at the E- rank adventurer card, he sighed thinking about how many quests were required for a rank-up.


    ''Maybe I should go kill a young dragon, it''d be good for leveling up.''


    Unfortunately, even the youngest of dragons could easily kill the current Evan. The boy could only sigh and hope he could kill one when he was level 100.


    He then turned his gaze to the annoying blonde-haired healer in the group and decided to keep in contact with her because of her unique skill.


    |Name- Eliza Lane


    Race- Human


    Gender - Female


    Age- 14


    Level- 33


    Existence Level - Bronze


    Titles- E-Rank Adventurer


    ss �C Priestess


    Health �C D-


    Energy - D-


    Strength �C E-


    Agility �C E+


    Durability �C E-


    Intelligence - D+


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers-; Life Tier 2


    Skills- Heal, Support Magic (High), Barrier.


    Unique Skills- Child of Life. |


    Eliza possessed a unique skill that Evan recognized, it was also a ''Series Skill'' belonging to the ''Child Series Skills''.


    When it came to healing and support, the only skill that could match it was the ''Breath of Life'' skill from the ''Breath Series Skills''.


    And unlike popr belief, the @Child of Life'' skill was also one that had fearsome attack potency.


    ''That skill is practically an extra life! It was one of the hardest support skills to gain in the game!


    If I have her as my party member, it''d be useful, a lot useful.''


    The guild cards, or as Evan would like to call them, pseudo smartphones, were ridiculously high tech for a world in the middle ages.


    Although the exact ability of each card is different depending on the rank of the card, the ability tomunicatees standard with all of them.<sub> </sub>


    Evan realized that the 1.5cm thick ''cards'', all had a group of six holes on the top right edge of the card, something that reminded him of the speakers of a certain phone produced by a certainpany with a half-eaten fruit for a logo.


    They had town maps and monster encyclopedias depending on the rank and additional paid content too.


    This was something Evan did not know about beforehand as it was not in the game.


    It was known that a saint that received wisdom from the goddess was the one who created this. The saint had also been the one to advocate the construction of transmission towers called ''Card Control Towers'' that were basically telephone masts.


    ''Artemisia, did you perhaps try to imitate the phones of earth?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you are definitely mistaken. Emphasis on ''Mistaken'']


    ''So, you did imitate it after all.''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' insists you are mistaken.]


    He chuckled internally as he walked up to Eliza who was talking with her party members and spoke.


    "Good work today everyone.


    My skill''s side effect came at a horrible time though. Still, thanks for the help. You guys seem chill so I think it would be great to stay in touch."


    "Stay in touch? How?"


    "Don''t you know how to use your guild card?"


    He replied Eliza''s question with a question of his own.


    The party leader facepalmed and asked her with a skeptil look on his face.


    "Eliza, you didn''t possibly forget to read the instructions on how to use the guild card now, did you?"


    "Hee~! I didn''t."


    She shook her head in denial while sweating profusely. One didn''t need a lie detection skill to know she was obviously lying.


    Evan just dragged her over to a nearby table and sat her down, he then began exining the features of the guild card one by one.


    Looking at this scene, the other group members couldn''t help but ask;


    "He didn''t end up falling for her right?"


    "He was staring at her a lot during the fights too."


    "To think he was that kind of guy..."


    Evan, who had superior hearing heard them and decided to correct their misunderstanding earlier thanter.


    "It''s because of her healing skills. She''s good for her level despite being a loudmouth."


    "H-hey im not a lou-"


    "Shut up and show me where the messages tab is."


    "Yes teacher."


    It seemed a strange hierarchy had been formed in just a few minutes of him teaching her. Looking at this, the other guild members who were present had mixed feelings.


    ''A pretty girl has caught the eye of a bloodthirsty kid.''


    -Was what they thought.


    Evan didn''t know nor care about this and only continued to teach Eliza about the guild card''s functions.


    On a side note, Eliza''s birthday was exactly one month before Evan''s.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Outskirts of Luka Town


    Great Western Empire


    May 8th


    Year 1051


    Two dayster, Evan partied up with the group of nine once again and entered a small single floored dungeon with ghosts inside it.


    To be specific; wraiths.


    They were incorporeal monsters that barely got damaged by physical attacks, they also had the attribute of dealing soul damage.


    Evan did not have time to face the lesser wraiths so he told Ka to torch them all, which she happily did.


    [Level up]


    ''It seems our experience is shared, huh?''


    Eventually, the group reached the dungeon boss room within a few minutes of entering.


    Upon opening the door, they were met with a sight that would make some piss themselves.


    "Kiyaaaa!"


    "Kyaaak!"


    Dozens of menacing ghosts turned their attention toward them.


    Evan quickly scanned the room to find the Wraith''s Leader. Just like he had expected, she was looking down at them from a throne in the innermost area of the room.


    She appeared to be 3 meters tall and took the form of a woman.


    "Humans dare to enter my territory? I shall extract your souls and make you suffer for all eternity!"


    "We''ll take care of the wraiths first!"


    The party leader shouted as they moved forward.


    The attack strategy was not too different from the strategy for the Orc leaders.


    Against all the wraiths flying toward them, Evan roused his magic power as he raised his arm and called out.


    "Energy st"

 Chapter 57 Tenacious Wraith Queen

    "Energy st."


    **BOOoOM!


    "S-such destructive power."


    Eliza was temporarily shocked as she saw the skill pave out a path for them, however, after feeling Evan''s re, she turned her attention back to her party members and used support magic to buff their basic stats.


    "Kuaaaaak!"


    "Alright, let''s go!"


    "More wraiths areing out! I have a limit to my mana, so I can only use that skill two more times!"


    Though that was a lie, Evan said it so that he could have time to gauge Eliza''s performance properly. He wanted to see how much she could utilize her skill''s abilities.


    "Charge! Priestesses, prepare your status effect cleansing spells!"


    "Yes!"


    With the party leader taking the lead, everyone rushed forward.


    Although Evan also ran while taking care of the iing wraiths, the Wraith Queen re-summoned ten wraiths in one go.


    The summoned wraiths flew toward them the moment they were summoned, and the Wraith Queen went back to her summoning gesture.


    "She''s one annoying ghost for sure. When the number of wraiths fall below twenty, she starts summoning more!"


    Evan shouted out as he remembered the reason why Wraith queens required yers in the game to have crowd control skills when dealing with them.


    It was so they could take out all the wraiths at once and engage the wraith queen in battle, preventing her from summoning more wraiths.


    ''Ka!''


    Evan called out internally and the lightning spirit responded with an attack.


    **CCRACKLEE!!


    Tendrils of lightning snaked around Evan''s body as he dashed forward with increased speed and cut down the dozens of wraiths faster than they could even sense his presence.


    Kuro made himself useful by using his shadow magic to restrain the wraiths to allow the party members have an easier time killing them.


    "I''ll take care of the wraiths so you can focus on dealing damage!"


    "Got it! Everyone, use magic!"


    A bluish aura wrapped around the party leader''s sword as he kicked off the ground and dashed towards the wraith queen.


    As Evan struck down the wraiths, the party leader and five other people all used their swords, des, and spears to attack the Wraith Queen.


    "Huh?"


    "What-!"


    Right before their attacks hit, they couldn''t help but let out surprised voices as their weapons were suddenly covered in lightning, courtesy of Ka.


    Even as she screamed out in pain, the Wraith Queen didn''t stop summoning more wraiths.


    ''I miss having the fifth and sixth heroes with me when dealing with wraith queens!''


    The ''Fifth'' and ''Sixth'' of the seven heroes had the best skillsets for dealing with opponents like these. Evan always had them in his party whenever he nned to face a wraith queen.


    "Haaap!"


    Evan let out a spirited shout as he took a stance and activated his Energy st to sweep the wraiths once more.


    Mana surged from his body as it travelled from his heart, ran down his arm, and wrapped around his sword in his hand.


    His eyes shed with a red light as the destructive energy circuit in his body rapidly circted his magic power and amplified its destructive power.


    **BOOM!!


    "Kiyaaaaa!"


    "Syaaaa!"


    A majority of the leftover wraiths were swept away by the Tempest, making the Wraith Queen finally stop her summoning as she let out a rageful scream.


    "KIYAAAAA!"


    That scream, was a skill activation action.


    Evan reflexively appraised the wraith queen''s skill and couldn''t help but click his tongue seeing the state of some of the party members.


    ''This is why I wanted ''Sixth'' Here!''


    |Vengeful Spirit''s Wail;


    Type: Racial Skill<sub> </sub>


    Effect;


    All enemies fall under a state of confusion!


    All enemies fall under a state of fear. |


    Evan still remembered suffering a mental attack from the duchess''pulsive questioning skill, so he had taken appropriate measures against mental attacks.


    As for the other party members who got caught, this was Eliza''s time to shine. She activated her unique skill and called out one of its abilities with a chant.


    "Save those who fell under darkness! Light of Life!"


    Unexpectedly, Eliza shone a bit too brightly!


    Hearing Eliza use her one of her unique skill''s effects, Evan infused his sword with mana and tore the wraith in front of him in two, before rushing towards her and knocking her on the head.


    "Idiot! You can only use that thing three times a day, why would you waste it when you can just use a purification spell?!"


    "How do you know my skill limit?!"


    "Is that really the problem here?!"


    "Leader!"


    A shout brought Evan back to his senses, he clicked his tongue and activated Aura sh, dashing forward with speed.


    ''I got pissed seeing someone use a good skill in a bad way.''


    The Wraith Queen was endlessly shooting out something that looked like ectosm arrows at the party leader.


    He didn''t seem to possess any defence against this particr attack as he turned pale and soon fell.


    "Eliza! Heal him now!"


    "i-i know okay."


    Evan shouted at Eliza and shed at the wraith queen multiple times causing her to scream out in pain.


    Nevertheless, he didn''t let up so she also couldn''t perform the gesture to summon more wraiths.


    "Buff!"


    At his shout, the other priestess in the party buffed Evan with a simple buff that doubled attack power.


    He rushed toward the Wraith Queen with the fastest speed he could muster and thrust his sword into her chest.


    ''As expected of a 100 percent attack power increase!''


    He could feel a definite response as the sensation so stabbing something travelled through his arm.


    "Kiyaaaak!"


    "Die already you annoying ghost!"


    ''I''m going to have to work on my habit of shouting out in fights.''


    Evan as he scolded himself internally.


    On the outside, he was acting wild like a boar that had just been hit.


    The party members seemed to understand that questions were forter as they followed his lead and attacked the Wraith Queen.


    Attacks from the entire party!


    Not to mention, they were strengthened by 100% percent!


    The Wraith Queen could not finish her summoning gesture and stumbled down.


    When a beautiful woman fell, it would be a man''s instinct to help her rise. Unfortunately, none of the men here had the desire to escort the Wraith Queen.


    "Kiyaaaaak!"


    She screamed and used ''Vengeful Spirits wail'' again, but this time they were preprepared unlikest time.


    ""Purification!""


    Eliza''s voice rang out at the same time with the other healer, instantly dispelling the status effect. Evan stepped back a bit to lend some assistance to the ones fighting the other wraiths.


    "Kuk, we''re being pushed back!


    "This Wraith Queen! Even her physical attacks are strong!"


    "Sine''s about to die! Heal her!"


    "Kiyaaaa! Let the vengeful spirits burn you alive, humans!!"

 Chapter 58 [Bonus Chapter]Skill Creation

    "Kiyaaaa! Let the vengeful spirits burn you alive, humans!!"


    The Wraith Queen disyed the tenacity of a dungeon boss as she screamed out and released a burst of mana, pushing back the party members who had gotten close.


    While her action doubled as an attack, Eliza'' timely used her barrier skill, preventing them from taking damage.


    Looking at the scene of the Wraith Queen summoning a dozen more wraiths, Evan came to a decision.


    ? He brushed aside the wraiths that were nearing him with a single swing and then pulled his sword back slightly.


    This was not a sword technique he learned from Finley, but a sword technique from his previous world he had been forced to learn by his entric father.


    It focused the entire body''s power into the sword tip and prated the enemy.


    By pouring all of one''s concentration into the sword tip, it created a single blow that surpassed the limit of humans.


    However, that was the case for his previous world.


    The current Evan would be considered a superhuman in that world, so if someone already above the human limit used it, what would be the result?


    "Pride, you''re up."


    The sword, or rather the demon Pride who resided in the sword responded by adding demonic energy into the sword.


    Even if Pride had been reduced to a mere level 51, her energy maniption skills were still top notch.


    In fact, they had gotten even better.


    When Evan asked her how she achieved that while being sealed, she replied with nk eyes.


    ''When you''re trapped alone for 1000 years, you end up learn new things to prevent yourself from going insane due to the loneliness.''


    Deciding once more not to bring up the topic of the time she spent sealed, Evan wrapped the demonic energy and magic power in a spiral current around his sword.


    The amount of the very obviously ''Evil'' energy made both priestesses shiver in their boots, even the Wraith queen couldn''t help but take a step back in fear.


    The sword tip began to tremble, but he held it back with his willpower alone.


    For a move that poured everything into a single attack, not a shred of hesitation or wavering could be allowed.


    Naturally, the wraith queen would not sit back and watch him attempt to end her life.


    Even if another wraith queen would take her ce after she was killed, it did not change the fact that the current one possessed an instinct to survive


    "GO!"


    She screamed out and the summoned wraiths began to move once more. The party members snapped out of their stupor and circled round Evan to protect him from the wraiths.


    [Leave Master alone!]


    Ka screamed out as she rose her hands in the air, causing a wave of lightning to spread out with her as the centre.


    She then mmed her palms together as lightning rained down from above, incinerating dozens of wraiths.


    **PANG!!!!!


    Even so, the wraith queen only summoned more as if she had an infinite amount of magic power, something that Evan would normally find weird, but he was too focused to deal with it for now.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' stares at you in shock]


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says even if one''s memories are erased, they cannot forget what has been engraved in their souls.


    He tells the goddess ''Artemisia'' to take note of this]


    Evan ignored the two messages that appeared and focused on keeping the mana on his sword from running wild.


    He had been having the idea of this move for a while and really wanted to try it out, now was the best time.


    No words entered his ears.


    The only important thing to him right now was this attack.


    He devoted his entire focus on this attack.


    The attack timing came in a surprise. It was the moment right before the Wraith Queen tried to use another Vengeful Spirit Wail and also the moment right before 100% buff ended.


    He thrust out with his sword, one word leaving his lips.


    [Vortex]


    **PUUUK!!


    Surprisingly, a soft sensation like sticking a fork through cake flowed through his arm.<sub> </sub>


    He smiled in response. He knew this attack was a sess. There was no chance that it failed.


    "KIYAAAAAA!!!"


    The Wraith Queen let out a bloodcurdling scream, slowly turning transparent.


    At the same time, in front of the ten party members, she drew herst breath, or the ghost equivalent of that.


    A notification appeared in front of Evan.


    |Skill Created|


    |Vortex;


    Type: Personal Unique Skill


    This skill cannot be lost or taken away.


    This skill cannot be used by anyone other than the user.


    Effect;


    Using a special breathing methodbined with a special energy cirction method, it takes the artificial current of energy that is generated around the user''s weapon and explodes it forward. Everything in its path would be torn to shreds. |


    Seeing this, Evan had one thought.


    ''I can create skills?''


    The aura on his sword died down, alongside the demonic energy Pride infused into it.


    The party members on the other hand, stared at him in shock as the party leader shook his head with a sigh.


    ''He keeps surprising me very time.''


    Eliza, who finally gained courage to talk to him after seeing the demonic energy on his sword die down, came up and was about to ask if he was injured but-


    "U-um are you-"


    [Don''t disturb Master, Loudmouth!]


    -she was interrupted by Ka who arbitrarily manifested herself and threatened to strike her with lightning.


    Upon Ka''s sudden appearance, two words came to the minds of all of the party members watching.


    ''Spirit Contractor!''


    There was no need to tell them, seeing the small cm girl floating around him with strong lightning, the same lightning they remembered ending all the wraiths in a single strike before, they instantly figured out she was a spirit.


    As for Eliza who was interrupted-


    "S-so Cute!"


    -she seemed to have fallen for Ka''s cuteness and had forgotten what she was about to ask Evan.


    Evan who had finally finished checking out his new skill, looked up to see a strange sight of Ka flying away from a drooling Eliza.


    "What the actual fuck?"


    Hearing his voice, Ka turned to him and ran towards him for protection from Eliza.


    [Master, Loudmouth is scary.]


    "Loudmouth?"


    He then turned his gaze in Eliza''s direction and remembered he had indeed once called her a loudmouth, that was probably where Ka got that from.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you should not teach the young spirit useless things]


    ''I''m sorry but I don''t think I taught her that. Still, it seems you care for your younger sister huh?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' chokes on her dr-]


    |Message Retracted by sender. |


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you should not refer to the spirit as her sister.]


    ''Why do I get the feeling you''re watching me like you would a movie with popcorn and a drink?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you are clearly Mistaken.]


    [She ces great Emphasis on this]

 Chapter 59 Leaving Luka

    The goddess Artemisia rose her hand from the screen it was ced on and picked up some popcorn, tossing it into her mouth before taking a sip of her drink that was floating mid-air.


    ''I made the wraith queen stronger than usual and messed with his party member''s perceptions, but to think he ended up creating a skill instead.


    The ''system updates'' I installed would have only let him do that at Level 100.''


    Her thoughts revealed the reason why the wraith queen was far stronger than usual, having the mana to summon wraiths almost endlessly.


    She turned her gaze to another screen that was floating in front of her with a raised eyebrow.


    ''Really?! I take my eyes off that empire for a day and they want to start a war!''


    She stood up from her seat and took onst look at Evan as she thought to herself.


    ''Vortex, huh? Brings back memories.''


    �󡡡󡡡�


    "U-m."


    The voice of the second priestess in the group rang out, drawing Evan''s attention to her. Sadly, he did not care to remember her name as he didn''t nned on conveniently forgetting her existence soon.


    "Y-your sword, what i-"


    "Hey, didn''t I tell you all not to ask?"


    She was about to ask about his sword before being stopped by the group leader, apparently, he had told them not to ask questions about his weapon.


    However, some of the group members were clearly dissatisfied.


    "Leader, I''m with her on this, we can''t keep partying with him. Didn''t you feel that scary aura earlier, who knows what that weapon is?"


    "Maybe it isn''t the weapon, but actually the one wielding the weapon?"


    Evan looked at the group who began to voice their disagreements about partying with him and sighed.


    Their reactions were normal, they had only known each other for a few days, it was impossible for them to befortable with him using a weapon like that.


    The only reason they had attempted to protect him earlier was because of the Wraith queen''s reaction.


    She had considered whatever he was doing as a threat and they, who were here to kill the wraith queen, decided to protect him in their best interest.


    Evan held back Ka who was getting increasingly annoyed and spoke up towards the party members who were ufortable with him.


    "Haa~ let me get this straight.


    You guys think I''m some sort of ''Evil'' being cus of my sword and don''t want to party with me, right?


    Fine with me, I''d go. I was gonna leave Luka soon either way, you just gave me a reason to do so earlier."


    He swept his gaze around them all as he murmured to himself.


    "Probably gonna forget you all soon, except Eliza that is. She''s the only one of you who''s slightly useful."


    Although his voice was low, the people in the boss room with him were all beings over level 30. They had superior senses than ordinary people so hearing his murmur wasn''t hard for them.


    "Huh? What''s that supposed to mean?!"


    "YEAH, and don''te around Eliza anymore. Who knows what you''ll do to her?"


    They voiced their dissatisfactions at his words, some even said he should not speak to Eliza again, causing Evan to actually begin to get pissed off.


    He decided to mess with them a bit and grinned evilly as he ced his hand on his sword hilt.


    "You should be more concerned about what I''d do to you. Don''t forget we''re in a dungeon, you can''t beat me alone, much less the spirits with me."


    The leader who had been silent realised something wrong with Evan''s words.


    ''He said ''spirits''? That means there''s more than one?''


    He hurriedly spoke up to keep the other party members from aggravating Evan any further, the look on Ka''s small pretty face was also giving him chills.


    She looked like she wanted to kill them all and was only holding back if not for Evan.


    "Stop it you all. If you want him to go, that''s fine, but don''t restrict him from talking to Eliza.


    You''re also restricting Eliza too, she''s our genuine party member, why would you speak up for her when she can do so herself."


    Evan looked at the leader andughed upon realizing why the leader spoke up to shut the rest up. It was because he figured out that antagonizing Evan further was a stupid and pointless decision.


    While he didn''t have any problems with Evan besides the scary feeling he got from the sword, he had to consider his party member''s feelings when making decisions.


    "Alright, Lets go Kuro."


    Hearing the strange name Evan called out, they tilted their heads in question but not for long.


    One of them traced Evan''s line of sight and saw him looking at the party leader''s shadow, they wondered why he was doing that until Kuro came out of his shadow.


    "A-another spirit?!"


    [Shut up already]


    Kuro said with annoyance and jumped on Evan''s arms, he then looked at the party leader and spoke in a voice filled wit obvious disdain.<sub> </sub>


    [You''re lucky, you''re all lucky.]


    Hearing the words spoken from the being that looked like a cat sent chills down their spines, they finally realised part of why the leader tried to shut them up earlier.


    Before leaving the dungeon, he looked at the floating notification board in front of him before turning to Eliza and speaking.


    "If a group of knightse over and ask about me tomorrow, tell them I went south. Also tell them I told you where I went and said you should inform them."


    He then walked out before she could reply to his words.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    As heid his eyes on the forest in front of him after exiting the dungeon, Evan thought about the ''Spider Nest'' dungeon that was in a city quite far from Luka.


    It was also along the border like Luka was, nevertheless, it would take Evan at least two weeks to get there on foot.


    ''Guess I''d go to the ''Spider Nest'' next.


    If people from the dungeon''s previous Location, the Beta continent were able to kill the dungeon''s final boss like they did in the game, it should have appeared in the Alpha continent by now.


    As no one knows what''s in it, they''d be scared to go in, its perfect for me


    I should also train my bare-handedbat there too, hopefully I meet a good team.''


    The ''Spider Nest'' was a mobile dungeon in the southern part of the great western Empire, it was a new dungeon that was going to be attacked first by a party of C rank Adventurers.


    Evan nned to be in that party, he also decided to hide his identity this time to prevent getting found out easily.


    As there were other cities with single or double floored dungeons on the way, he nned to take a lot of quests and clear those dungeons, making himself strong enough to face the boss of the ''Spider Nest'' by then.


    ''At least, Level 75-80, so that means 30+ levels in two weeks. The boss of the dungeon should be level 100 but I''d be able to take it after leveling up from killing its guards.


    Though I hope I can resist its initial mental attack.


    That''s normally not possible as it gets harder to level up the higher you are, but for me that has the ''system updates'''' boost, it would be smooth sailing.


    For now, at least.''


    Evan fantasized about bing Level 500 soon enough due to the system''s boost. He believed he''d get to unlock more things that came with these ''updates'' as he increased in level.


    At level 500, one began gaining stats on the SS- rank and above, it was very difficult to achieve this as merely leveling up was not going to be enough.


    S rank was like a wall, the path before and after were smooth, but if you could not break that wall, you would never get to the other side.


    If he seeded in breaking the wall that is S rank, then it''d be easier for him to increase his stats afterwards.


    ''At that time I''d consider myself a true power house.


    Oh! My birthday ising soon too, finally gonna be 11 again huh?''


    He thought of random things as he walked back to the guild to report his dungeon clearing quest to bepleted.


    By the next morning, he was gone from Luka.


    In the afternoon of that same day, a group of Knights arrived at Luka, looking for Evan.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Royal Pce, Gerfast


    Great Western Empire


    May 9th


    Year 1051


    "So, you''re telling me to call off the search party after Evan?"


    "Exactly."


    Laurene replied to her father, Emperor Rudeus as she looked through the catalogue of magic catalysts ced in front of her.


    "In return, I''d give you information about those symbols you''ve been researching."


    Emperor Rudeus narrowed his dark gray eyes at his daughter, wondering how she even got to know about the research.


    He felt she had changed a lot in the past few months but still felt that she was the same ''Laurene Hayes'' he had known for the past ten years.


    "And who would you get this information from?"


    He asked while paying close attention to her, studying her every move, even the actions she took unconsciously.


    Laurene on the other hand, calmly dropped the catalogue on the desk in front of her and snapped her fingers, the illusion magic on her face being dispelled as Rudeus'' eyes widened in surprise.


    "For someone with the power to see the ''Truth'' about things, i seem to be a bit too proficient in hiding stuff."


    She spoke with a chuckle as she looked up to meet her father''s gaze, the mystic eye crest in her pupils glowing with a golden light as she continued.


    "Now, about that search party..."

 Chapter 60 [Bonus Chapter]Onwards!

    In the afternoon, a group of knights arrived at the adventurer''s guild of Luka town, surprising the adventurers in it.


    When the guild master came over to ask them about what they needed, they held up a painting of Evan and asked if they had seen him.


    Evan was fairly popr in Luka during the few weeks he spent there so a lot of the adventurer''s present could recognize him.


    They all turned their gazes to Eliza''s party as they had been with him the day before.


    "U-m! He said to tell the knights that came asking for him that he was going south."


    "Eliza!"


    Eliza ryed Evan''s message and her party members scolded her. They seemed to think Evan was wanted as a criminal or something simr and by knowing his whereabouts they could be suspected of colluding with him.


    "He said south? Are you sure it''s the same person?"


    "Y-yes, he was slightly taller than you said he was but it was definitely him. He had a scary sword and a spirit, or rather two spirits with him."


    The party leader spoke up this time. Although he was slightly scared, he did not want to offend the knights nor endanger his party.


    His reveal of Evan''s spiritpanions evoked surprised shouts from the adventurers, they seemed to think that was why the knights were looking for him.


    The Knight who asked the question sighed and looked back at the other knights, before speaking to one of them.


    "Go to the south gate and confirm this quickly."


    "Yes, Sir Thompson."


    The knight who gave the orders, Ralphie waved his subordinate off and sighed to himself for the nth time today. He turned his gaze back to Eliza and studied her for a moment, only looking away after a few seconds.


    "Thanks for the info.


    Seriously, why the hell is the young duke giving me so much stress. I should be on leave right now."


    He kept on grumbling to himself as he walked out of the guild, but those who heard his grumbles were left in a state of shock.


    ''Young Duke!''


    They all remembered the news of a duke''s son who ran away from home that was strangely spread at a fast rate.


    A Duke was the highest rank of nobility that none of them ever believed they would ever encounter.


    That was precisely why they couldn''t believe that very same duke''s son was the blood-thirsty kid they just met a day ago.


    Eliza was the most shocked of them all.


    ''He was a duke''s son!! And I was disrespectful to him!! What if he took offense? He might have me executed!!!''


    Fortunately, here fears would note true because Evan was quite interested in her, or rather, her healing skills.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    The weeks turned into months that went by as quickly as ever and the search for Evan led by Ralphie, one of the ten great swordsmen of the Great Western Empire and the Captain of the Duke''s knights, continued, although the search party was visibly exerting less effort to locate him.


    As always, the searches were fruitless as nned, although they gained information that Evan had spiritpanions and was most likely a spirit contractor, that was all they gained.


    He always seemed to know when they were about to reach him and left wherever he was a few days earlier or even the day before.


    One time, he left nearly an hour before they arrived, leaving a message with the city lord telling them that he got bored of that city at thest moment so he left immediately.<sub> </sub>


    He also said that the next time they should move faster if they want to have any chances of getting to him.


    Although they searched the perimeter around the city, they unsurprisingly found no traces of him at all, this led them to believe that he had some sort of teleportation artifact that could take him long distances.


    This also confirmed the theory brought up by the empress that he had a shadow spirit with him, one that could use a fairly high rank of shadow movement.


    Fortunately, or unfortunately, they were half wrong and half right.


    While he indeed possessed a shadow spirit that could use a high-ranked shadow movement skill, the distance he could move with it depended on his and Kuro''s magic power.


    Luckily for Evan, he had also gained a teleportation skill of his own.


    Although he could only teleport distances he could see and as far as his magic power could take him, it was still a handy skill to have.


    He could also support this skill with magic stones when necessary.


    It allowed him to run away from the knights once when they went undercover and entered the city he was in at separate times like normal citizens.


    He would have been caught if he didn''t see a knight that he recognized wearing a farmer''s hat and driving a run-down carriage.


    Evan quickly went to the highest point in the city, the top of the church tower, and used the skill to teleport outside the city walls.


    He then used Kuro''s shadow movement to go further as he had exhausted all his magic power and magic stones on hand after that teleportation.


    Luckily, they did not search the surrounding forests so he was able to rest for a while before continuing on his journey to the next city.


    As for how he knew when they would arrive, it was naturally because he had eyes in the sky looking out for him.


    The ''eyes in the sky'', in this case, belonged to the goddess Artemisia, who urged him to go to the ''Spider Nest'' as fast as possible.


    <o>,m She even went as far as to create a dungeon diving schedule for Evan, urging him to adhere to it as it would be the best for his growth.</o>


    �󡡡󡡡�


    While he did n to keep in touch with her, Eliza surprisingly contacted him first.


    She began apologizing repeatedly for being rude to him, this led him to figure out that she must have found out about his identity.


    It took three days to finally convince her he was not annoyed, he also gave her advice on how to use her healing skills better and suggested she learn some closebat techniques (preferably mace wielding so she could wrap a barrier around the mace to increase is power) to protect herself.


    She was promoted to a D-rank adventurer and decided that bragging to him about it was the best course of action.


    She also went to the Dungeon of Pride, ''Graveyard of The Arrogant'' and sessfully cleared a few floors together with her party.


    There was a time she called him to seekfort as one of their party members perished during a dungeon raid, Evan sighed remembering how much she cried then.


    Their contacts continued for weeks and they had reached the stage where they could befortably called friends, albeit long distanced ones.


    She was still slightly stiff when talking to him as all things considered, he was still the son of a duke.


    He told her that he''d need her help sometime in the future and that she should be stronger by then. She asked when this was but all he said was that he''de and get her when he was ready.


    [I heard you never went past the 4th floor.]


    "Tsk, where are you?"


    [H-Hmph, I''m already on the 13th floor. I''m different than you.]

 Chapter 61 Adventurer Rank Promotion Commission

    [H-Hmph, I''m already on the 13th floor. I''m different than you.]


    "Good for you��"


    It wasn''t sarcasm.


    Evan was really was happy for her.


    Reaching the 13th floor of the ''Graveyard of the Arrogant'' could be considered a feat for a D rank adventurer.


    This was taking into notice that the highest floor that had been reached was the 60th floor.


    If Ralphie knew that the floor he was on with Evan that day was the 100th he''d probably pull his hair out due to stress.


    [I-If�� If it angers you that much, hurry up climb up! There''s no time to dawdle on the 4th floor!]


    "You seem to be forgetting that I''m a runaway son, right? Merdin is too close to the capital, if I''m spotted there I''d be caught instantly."


    [Eek, do something about that with your spirit! That ck cat could enter people''s shadows right, can''t you use that power too. Use it to sneak in!]


    "�� Heh."


    [W-What��]


    "Your strange ideas never cease to amaze me. How sure am I that you aren''t a runaway kid too?"


    [!? No, I''m definitely not!]


    "I see, so you are, huh? Don''t worry, i won''t spill the beans."


    [Uuuu�� do what you want! Next time, you contact me first, stupid!"]


    Then she cut the connection.


    Evanughed as he figured she''d probably call him soon to apologize for calling him stupid.


    ''She seems like a little sister.


    I never had one so I''m not sure but this is definitely how I''d feel having one.''


    He conveniently ignored the fact that Eliza was actually more than 3 years older than him. Laughing to himself he sliced off the neck of the Hobgoblin mage in front of him.


    "GUAAAA!!!!"


    Perhaps said hobgoblin mage was the mate of the other hobgoblin in the party he was fighting, but it suddenly screamed out and rushed at him with the ferocity of a moving truck.


    "Truck-Sama reincarnated as a goblin?"


    The goblin ignored Evan''s words as it swung its club at a speed that Evan of a few weeks ago would be unable to catch with his eyes.


    ''However, I''m stronger now.''


    Evan predicted the club''s trajectory and dodged ordingly. He rose his hand to counter attack, but the goblin suddenly went silent and dropped to the ground with silently.


    Looking at its corpse, he could see a familiar ck sword sticking out of the back of its head. Evan sighed and sheathed his spare sword before turning his gaze to the one who threw it.


    "Really, Pride?"


    "You were wasting too much time, don''t forget we have a bandit base to raid."


    "I didn''t."


    Evan replied as he pulled out the sword and tossed it back to the fair skinned demon standing a few feet from him.


    While Pride had originally just nned to let Evan use the sword while she resided in it, she changed her mind and decided to polish her skills that had be rusty after a thousand years.


    This left Evan with no choice but to use the spare weapon he had gotten from the Duke on the day he went to Merdin.


    **PANG!! PANG!!!


    ''I need to get a new weapon.''


    He addressed his currentck of weapon as he turned his gaze to the source of the sound he suddenly heard.


    In the sky, one could see a giant ball of lightning that unleashed powerful bolts of golden lighting, roasting whatever unfortunate foes they hit.


    "Ka''s going wild, huh?"


    "This much is expected from a great spirit, even if she is at the mid rank currently."


    Evan nodded in response to Pride''s words as he walked in the direction of the lightning orb.<sub> </sub>


    Upon arriving, he was met with the sight of dozens of dead goblin corpses scattered all over the floor.


    Each of them was charred cker than Evan''s hair as they let of steam, showing how recently the goblins had been sent to the afterlife.


    "Ka"


    [MASTER!]


    The little ck-haired spirit flew towards Evan with a look that screamed ''Praise Me!''.


    Evan couldn''t help but sigh as he patted her head while praising her for a job well done. He then fished out their magic stones and tossed them into his space expansion bag before announcing the continuation of their journey.


    As Pride said earlier, they were currently doing amission to increase Evan''s adventurer rank from E to D.


    It was amission to take out a gang of bandits that had taken refuge in a cave located within a nearby forest.


    Evan had decided to let Ka and Kuro go wild on the way but the shadow spirit preferred to stay on the sidelines while binding opponents with his shadows.


    While he was above average in closebat, Kuro preferred to give support instead so he rarely bothered with it.


    As Evan was lost in his thoughts, Pride suddenly snapped her head in a certain direction, kicking off the ground a momentter as she charged towards the pile of bushes there.


    "GUH!"


    Her nails grew out into ws instantly as she reached her hands into the bushes and grabbed the neck of the man inside.


    She pulled her hand out to reveal a middle-aged man wearing worn out leather armour, struggling to escape from her iron like grip.


    Evan''s eyes widened in surprise as he had not noticed the man''s presence at all. Kuro on the other hand yawned and disabled the shadow magic that was holding the man''s feet to the ground.


    Pride looked the man over several times before nodding to herself as she came to a conclusion.


    "This is very obviously a scout of the bandits you are to eliminate."


    "No shit. I didn''t even notice him there."


    Evan replied as he walked closer to the man who was still struggling to escape from Pride''s grip on his throat.


    ''Full Appraisal.''


    Seeing as the bandit was skilled enough to avoid his detection, Evan decided not to take any chances and used ''Full'' Appraisal even though it consumed more energy.


    |Name- Elut


    Race- Human


    Gender - Male


    Age - 22


    Level- 51


    Existence Level - Bronze


    Titles- Mountain Bandit


    ss - Scout


    Health �C E


    Energy - E+


    Strength �C E


    Agility �C D+


    Durability �C E+


    Intelligence �C E


    Condition- Scared Shitless


    Magic Tiers- Shadow Tier 0


    Skills- sh, Farming (High).


    Unique Skills- Camouge. |

 Chapter 62 Info Gathering

    |Name- Elut


    Race- Human


    Gender - Male


    Age - 22


    Level- 51


    Existence Level - Bronze


    Titles- Mountain Bandit


    ss - Scout


    Health �C E


    Energy - E+


    Strength �C E


    Agility �C D+


    Durability �C E+


    Intelligence �C E


    Condition- Scared Shitless


    Magic Tiers- Shadow Tier 0


    Skills- sh, Farming (High).


    Unique Skills- Camouge. |


    He possessed a nice unique skill that Evan would really love to get, sadly, he did not have enough skill slots avable to mimic a unique skill.


    ''Still, to think a mountain bandit has such a nice unique skill. Or rather, is ''Mountain Bandits'' the name of their crew?''


    "Ka, Zap him."


    The moment Evan gave themand, Pride let go of his neck and the man, Elut, dropped to the ground.


    **BZZZTT


    Ka pointed a finger at him and a bolt of lightning shot out from her finger and into his chest. The man spasmed for a moment before falling on the floor while being stiff.


    "Kuro, restrain him."


    The ck cat yawned as it rose a paw, causing the man''s shadow to act like it had a life of its own, rising up from the ground and gaining a three-dimensional form.


    It then hugged the man''s body tight, preventing him from moving from the spot.


    Looking at this weird restraining technique, Pride cocked her head to the side while analysing it.


    ''Despite how it looks, it''s quite meticulous. As far as he has a shadow, he would be unable to move from that spot.''


    She looked up at the sun in the sky and nodded after confirming that the man would not be able to run away anytime soon.


    Evan then pulled out a paralysis resistance potion he got from a potioneer in one of the cities he stopped by, pouring a few drops into the man''s mouth.


    "guH!"


    The man grunted in pain the moment he realised he could move his head once more, the gaze he sent in Pride''s direction was one of fear as she was the one to discover and capture him in the first ce.


    "What do you n to do?"


    "Get information from him..."


    "Then allow me."


    Pride replied to Evan as she cracked her knuckles before gripping the man''s mouth faster than he could scream in fear.


    "Mmmpfh!!"


    ''First...''


    Pride infused demonic energy into her arm and poured it into the man''s mouth, he tried to scream and il around, but his mouth was blocked by Pride and Ka''s lightning induced paralysis was still in effect.


    ''Let''s start from boiling his own blood, shall we?''


    Pride grinned sinisterly as her red eyes shed with amusement, the demonic energy she was pouring into his body suddenly increasing in temperature exponentially.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Long story short, Pride''s actions reminded Evan that this woman was indeed a demon of the highest rank.


    Looking at the poor bandit who was bowing at her feet while shedding tears of blood in his only eye, he began to pity him a bit.


    However, after hearing the information on the leader of the bandits, Evan''s thoughts shifted in a totally different direction.


    ''No matter how you look at it, this quest is too difficult to be a mere D Rank advancement quest.<sub> </sub>


    Is someone trying to mess with me?''


    His gaze darkened as he thought of the people he met in the past few weeks that could have such connections and couldn''t think of anything he may have done to get on their bad side.


    ''I''d figure I out when I return, for now, I have to deal with this.''


    The information he got from the bandit was very useful. He was able to figure out the bandits'' exact location, their numbers, a few of their levels and most importantly, their skills.


    They were about 45-50 in number, with an average level of 60. The three leaders of the group were confirmed by Elut to be at least level 70 each.


    In the skills department, Elut was able to confirm that besides him and another scout, he did not know of anyone else that possessed a unique skill, save the three leaders themselves.


    Among the three leaders, Evan was able to discover that one of them possessed a skill he had been searching for.


    He grabbed the shirt of the poor bandit scout and questioned him with a dangerous glint in his eyes.


    "Are you sure that he has such a skill?!"


    "y-y-y-yyy-ee-s."


    Elut stammered to reply as Evan let go of him and began pacing around while lost in his thoughts.


    ''I don''t know what unique skills they have and I only have three skill slots. That skill would be crucial for my travels now, even more so in a lot of battles as it allows me to switch weapons instantly and maximize my weapon control skill.


    I should also learn to use other weapons besides swords and spears.''


    Deciding that getting the skill the bandit leader had would be perfect, Evan turned back to Pride and asked for her opinion on how to attack the bandits'' base.


    Their base was one that was located in a small rock''s cave that had two openings, serving as entrances and exits.


    This meant that he had to attack from both sides to prevent them from escaping.


    Apparently, there was a small camp in front of one of the entrances and they had two towers with look outs on it.


    In the camp, about ten to twenty of their members usually hung out together, ying games, drinking or ''ying'' with the people they had captured.


    Evan had mixed feelings upon hearing that the bandits had prisoners, it was because he had originally nned to indiscriminately kill anyone he saw in the base.


    "Tsk..."


    ''Even though I said I didn''t care, when it came down to it, my morals from Earth are still there, huh?


    But those same morals could cause me a lot of problems in the future, thus, this is the best chance to see whether I would still be able to uphold them to a certain extent.''


    Evan ran his hand through his slightly long hair that he hadn''t cut since he left the capital, heaving a sigh of exasperation as he turned to Pride and told her his ns.


    He split the three leaders of the bandits between the four of them, with him and Pride taking one each and Ka taking thest one alongside Kuro.


    Pride nodded in affirmation while Ka just hummed to her self as she sat on Kuro''s back while petting the cat spirit''s fur.


    "Alright, Let''s move out."


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Now then, the mountain bandit gang was one that had been active for a little bit over fiver years. They moved bases asionally to prevent themselves form being captured by the local authorities and always steered clear ofrge cities.


    Their major targets were passing merchants or travelling families, asionally, they attacked viges and piged them for supplies.


    Nevertheless, they were always quick in their getaways as they didn''t have to physically carry the goods they had stolen.


    This was the reason that the local authorities that attempted to catch them were having a hard time in doing so.


    What''s more, was the fact that none of them were weak. If one was to take in the average strength of knights in the territories at the outskirts of the Great Western Empire, then the bandits would be considered fairly strong.


    Having an average level of 60 with leaders over level 70 meant that they were all in the D rank level, as such, it would be unwise for one to underestimate them, provided they were not at least ten levels higher.


    Among the list of offences that these bandits had were stealing, killing, piging, assault, kidnapping, trafficking and many more.


    Against these kinds of people, Evan had decided that holding back against them would be the height of folly, as such, he was moving with the intent to kill each and every one of them.


    After doing this, he would then return to the adventurer''s guild in Geto, the city where he received this quest and unravel the reason why he was given such a quest that would normally require a party of D Rank adventurers toplete.


    He felt something was very obviously wrong with this situation, even more so when Pride suddenly stated that she had began feeling something unsettling the closer they got to the bandits'' base.


    As for the bandit scout Elut, they had made sure that the man had no means to contact his colleagues and alert them of the iing attack.


    Even if thess had anymunication devices, he would have turned it over to Pride due to fear as the young man had been traumatized by the high demon.


    Evan thanked his stars that Pride was unable to harm him due to the nurture of their contract, if not, he would have been scared of the day that he would eventually get on her bad side.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    It was a bright and sunny afternoon, the members of the Mountain Bandits gang werezing around in their camp when one of them suddenly felt like he saw something falling from the sky.


    "Huh?"


    Before he could even think about warning his teammates, it was already far toote.


    "Vortex."

 Chapter 63 And It Begins With A Vortex!

    Outskirts of Geto City


    Great Western Empire


    November 3rd


    Year 1051


    The cave where the mountain bandits made camp was in the middle of a small clearing in the forest, as such there were no high trees in the area.


    However, it was possible for Evan to climb up to the top of the towering trees nearby and position himself in a way that if he was to jump down, he wouldnd directly in the middle of the camp.


    Of course, his concealment skill was active as they would most likely sense him and move out of the way otherwise.


    "Let''s go."


    Evan called out softly as he crouched his legs and like power stored in a spring, he released a burst of energy, propelling himself towards the bandits'' camp with his sword in hand.


    He pulled his arm backward and gathered all his body''s power into the tip of his sword. Magic power wrapped around the sword in a spiral current as Evan disabled his concealment and called out.


    p "Vortex."</anda>


    **BAAAMMM!!!! RUMBLEEE!!!


    The spiral mass of magic power crashed into the ground with a loud noise, exploding the moment after as it released shockwaves through the ground that made all the bandits present lose their footing.


    "GAHHH!!"


    "ARGH!!


    "AAHHH"


    They screamed out in pain as the explosion of magic power released small des of magic that tore through their worn-out armors like a knife cutting through butter.


    Not only were their clothes and amours shredded, their bodies were also cut up in various ces as the bandits who were closest to the attack''s point of impact perished instantly.


    "Hup!"


    Evan pulled out his sword from the ground and roused his energy, his eyes shing as he activated another skill.


    "Aura sh."


    His sword glowed with a red light as he spun around and released a horizontal de of aura that sliced the necks and torsos of more bandits around him.


    "Ka!"


    The spirit responded to his call as a giant ball of golden lightning appeared in the sky, unleashing smaller bolts of lightning on the heads of the wounded and disoriented bandits.


    Evan was about to confirm if they were all dead when he suddenly felt a chill down his spine causing him to reflexively turn around and raise his sword just in time to block the giant axe that came thundering down from the sky.


    **CLANNGGGG!!!!


    "Guh!"


    Evan grunted as he dropped down on one knee, the force behind the attack being too much for him to take.


    [Master!]


    Ka screamed out as she redirected all the bolts of lighting to the body of the axe wielder who attacked Evan, however, the person only snorted as they jumped backwards at thest moment, causing the lightning bolts to strike the ground.


    "Tremor!"


    Another shout was heard as a giant great sword wielder suddenly appeared at Evan''s back, his sword glowing an eerie red light as he swung his de down, intending on cleaving the eleven-year-old into two.


    **SWISHHH!! CLANGGGG!!


    Midway through his swing, the great sword wielder suddenly sensed something wrong and forcefully redirected his sword with brute strength, raising it up just in time to block the jet-ck de that came from above.


    "Tsk..."


    He jumped backward and gazed at the person who attacked him, while also thinking of how to buy time for his numb arm to recover.


    ''Shouldn''t have cancelled the skill forcefully!''


    "They didn''t fall for it, these guys aren''t your average bandits."


    Evan spoke up as he gazed at the two men who were armed with arge battle axe and great sword respectively, donning metal armour pieces that covered their vitals like their knees and chest, over their leather armour.


    The axe wielder was an average heighted bulky man with two smaller axes strapped to his back, probably for throwing.


    The great sword wielder on the other hand, had a spare sword hanging from his waist, alongside other knives and daggers.


    Pride nodded in affirmation to Evan''s words as she gazed around and found the source of the unsettling feeling she had earlier.


    "Evan, I''m going for the third one that''s still in the cave."


    Without waiting for Evan''s reply, she kicked off the ground and dashed in the direction of the cave, however, the axe wielder standing in front of it would not let her in so easily.


    "HAAA!!"


    He cried out as she swung his axe horizontally, releasing a sh of light that threatened to cut Pride in half, however, the demon only snorted as she coated her sword in demonic energy and rose it to block his sh.


    Before he could even understand what the bone chilling energy she had used was, Pride had already entered into attack range, pulling back her free fist and punching forward.


    The man hurriedly twisted his axe and blocked her punch with the t side, nevertheless, the force of her punch was enough to send him flying into the rock wall behind him.


    **BAMMM!!


    He mmed into the rock wall as Pride went past him and entered the cave easily.


    Sadly, he could not follow her as he suddenly felt his hairs stand on end, sensing an enormous amount of energy building up from the side.


    "Energy st."


    **WOOOONNGGG!!!!<sub> </sub>


    A beam of condensed magic power that was gather at the tip of Evan''s outstretched palm, shot out in his direction, causing him to roll on the floor to dodge the attack.


    **BOOOOMMM!!!


    It mmed into the rock wall, shattering it instantly and going on to destroy the cave entrance that Pride just went through.


    "Ka, Kuro. Take the great sword wielder."


    Evan barked out his orders as he dashed towards the axe wielder, intending on taking advantage of his disoriented state to at least get a major hit in.


    "Don''t underestimate me brat!!"


    The man screamed out as he put his hand behind his back and grabbed his smaller spare axe and tossed it in Evan''s direction, intending on buying time so he could regain his bnce.


    Unfortunately, his trick didn''t work as Evan had already expected such a thing, easily ducking to avoid the axe without stopping his movements at all.


    "Pdin."


    Evan activated his pdin skill to boost his base stats, swinging his sword towards the man''s neck without hesitation.


    "ARGH!"


    The axe wielding man tightened his grip on his axe as he hurriedly swung it to counter Evan''s sh, the two metallic weapons, colliding with a loud ''CLANG!''.


    The two were then locked in a contest of strength as Evan''s pdin skill let him keep up with the bulky man''s physical strength.


    Evan locked eyes with the man and appraised him alongside his skills, confirming that the axe wielding man was indeed the one he was looking for.


    |Name- Dorri


    Race- Human


    Level- 79


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- Second Leader of the Mountain Bandits


    ss - Axe Warrior


    Health �C D+


    Energy �C D


    Strength �C C-


    Agility �C D-


    Durability �C D


    Intelligence �C D-


    Condition- Slightly Injured


    Magic Tiers- None


    Skills- Inventory, Body Strengthening


    Unique Skills- Surge. |


    |Inventory;


    Type: Rare Skill


    Effect;


    Allows the user to store items in another pocket space that increases in size depending on their maximum magic power level.


    As it is storing the items in a predetermined space, it does not require energy to constantly maintain. |


    Upon appraising him and the skill he wanted, Evan grinned as he poured more energy into his pdin skill, increasing the boons he gained from it.


    He locked eyes with the man and activated his mystic eyes, causing the crest in his eyes to glow slightly.


    "Hmmm?!"


    The bandit leader who obviously figured out that Evan''s eyes glowing was bad news, activated his body strengthening and over powered Evan instantly, sending a kick to the eleven-year old''s torso.


    "Gufh!"


    Evan was sent flying a few meters before he finally crashed on the ground. He held his stomach as he forced himself back to his feet, only to suddenly have arge shadow casted on his body.


    He looked up to see the figure of the bandit leader in the air with his axe held overhead, obviously intending on cleaving him in two with the axe.


    As there was no time for Evan to stand up, he could only roll to the side to avoid the giant battle axe from sending him to an early grave.


    **BAMMM!!!


    The axe crashed into the ground and shattered the earth where it hit, making cold sweat drip from Evan''s back as that would have turned him to a paste if it hit.


    Sadly, he did not have time to celebrate his escape from the jaws of death as the mad dragged his axe on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and dirt, with a few rocks being sent flying in Evan''s direction.


    Raising his axe into the air, the man swung it in Evan''s direction once more, leaving the eleven-year-old no choice but to roll on the ground to avoid losing his head.


    He quickly activated his energy st skill, condensing energy on his free hand and throwing the orb of condensed energy at the man''s face.


    The bandit leader knew how powerful Evan''s energy st was, and had already begun twisting his body to dodge the moment he saw Evan''s hand move.


    He then raised the battle-axe overhead once more as he poured his energy into it, activating his unique skill with a loud cry.


    "Surge!!!!"

 Chapter 64 Close Victory

    "Surge!!!!"


    Therge battle axe mmed into the ground.


    **BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    The ground around him cracked, and a mighty shockwave surged like a fountain.


    "Vortex."


    Evan did not hesitate to pour his remaining energy into the skill as it created a whirling spiral mass of magic power around his sword, which he thrust forward in the direction of the shockwave that was surging towards him.


    ***BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!


    The shockwave collided with the mass of magic power as the two exploded instantly, releasing a small mushroom cloud into the air.


    Evan reached for his space expansion bag on his waist and pulled out three random potions.


    He downed the contents of the bottles, wishing that at least one of them would be an energy recovery potion.


    Luckily, his wish was fulfilled as he felt his body getting reinvigorated, along with his muscles bing firmer to withstand the sudden implosion of strength he felt next.


    **WHOOSHHH!!!


    Evan did not have the time to revel in this feeling as a giant battle axe tore through the cloud of dust in front of him, its wieldering through a secondter as the bandit leader tossed the second axe he had strapped to his back in Evan''s direction.


    "Tsk..."


    The young hero clicked his tongue, backstepping to create more distance as she squeezed his barely recovered energy and casted a spell.


    "Lightning Spear."


    His heart thumped wildly as his magic power roused itself to generate golden lighting that travelled down his arm and shaped itself into a short spear that could be held with one hand.


    Evan swung his sword to block the thrown axe, his other hand throwing the lighting spear immediately after.


    He heard the sounds of explosions in the distance but he did not have the liberty to find out the cause as he had to take down the bandit leader in front of him quickly.


    "Aura sh."


    Evan''s head ached as he pulled back his arm and swung his sword with all his might, releasing a red sh of aura that followed right behind the spear of lighting.


    As the bandit leader rolled to the side to dodge the two attacks, Evan screamed out amand to the spear of lighting he formed with his low magic power.


    "Explode!"


    **PANNGGG!!!!


    And that it did.


    The spear of lightning exploded with a sh of bright light, catching the bandit leader off guard as he was not far enough to escape the st radius.


    "ARGHHH!!!"


    The bulky man was scorched by the lightning that seemed to use his metal armour as a conduit to wreak more havoc on his body.


    "Hup!"


    Evan jumped in the air and swung his sword down, intending on at least dealing a fatal wound, however, the bandit leader quickly rolled out of the way.


    "Just die already, you pest!!"


    The young hero snapped as he pulled his leg back and unconsciously activated a partial form of his pdin skill, only his right leg being encased in light as he sent a kick to the face of the bandit leader on the floor.


    He then puled his sword out from the ground and stabbed it into the arm of the bandit, nailing it into the ground and preventing him from lifting his axe again.


    "FIREBALL!!"


    �󡡡󡡡�


    While Evan was having a hard time against the second leader of the Mountain Bandit gang, Ka and Kuro seemed to be toying with the third, alongside the dozen other bandits that came to support him.


    The reason was simple, he could not see his opponents at all!


    Only if a spirit wanted to manifest themself, would someone who did not have the ability to see them, be able to do so.


    The bandit leader obviously was not able to see spirits in the first ce, and Ka was not foolish enough to show herself to him!


    All he could do was barely dodge the bolts of lighting that came from various angles while trying to escape the dark shadowy arms that threatened to grab his feet and hold him in ce.


    "Tremor!"


    He activated his unique skill as he swung his sword horizontally, slicing through dozens of threes like a piece of cake.


    ''Did one of them hit...?''


    He hoped one of the falling trees would somehow collide with his invisible attackers. Unfortunately, that was not the case as a rose of lighting suddenly bloomed above his head, sending chills down his spine.


    He hurriedly rolled out of the way, just in time before a golden bolt of lighting suddenly dropped to the ground, scorching the spot he was just standing in.


    "GUH!"


    He suddenly found himself unable to move as his shadow had somehowe out from the ground and was holding him in ce.


    [Good boy, Kuro!]


    Ka called out to Kuro as she diverted her attention from the dozen bandits spasming on the ground to the immobilized leader who was trying to use his energy to break out.<sub> </sub>


    [Fall]


    Ka snapped her fair fingers as a giant hammer made of lighting manifested above the bandit leader''s head and mmed downwards.


    **BOOOOMMMM!!!


    The moment she heard that sound, Ka frowned as she had not expected her attack to miss. Her noble gold eyes darted around, searching for the figure of the third bandit leader.


    [You damn pest!]


    Sticking around Evan for the past few weeks had caused Ka to imitate Evan''s habit of calling enemies that refused to die easily, ''Pests''.


    Seeing her in this state, Kuro silently withdrew as he instinctively sensed that Ka''s anger had reached its peak.


    **RUMBLEEE!!!


    Storm clouds gathered in the sky as shemanded the power of nature to do her bidding.


    Her usual ck dress turned bright gold as the young great spirit utilized a bit of the ''authority'' she had as the great spirit of lightning.


    Ambient energies coalesced together to form a giant pearl of lightning that floated mid air. From this orb, spears of lightning rained down across the entire forest.


    Trees were struck by the mighty lightning, catching fire instantly as the spears of lightning that rained down, mixed with this fire, resulting in an elemental reaction that triggered multiple explosions across the forest.


    **BOOOM!! BOOOMM!! BOOOOOMMM!!!


    "GARRHHHH!!!"


    Even if he was lucky to escape the lightning hammer, the multiple explosions spread way too fast for the fleeing bandit leader toe out unscathed.


    Ka''s golden eyes locked on the figure of the limping man who had long abandoned his great sword, blitzing towards him with a distorted smile on her face.


    She closed the distance instantly and created a human sized arm of lightning which she used to grab the bandit leader''s face and pull it closer to hers.


    She then manifested her physical body, causing the man''s eyes to widen as he saw the floating little girl.


    "S-s-sspirit?!"


    [Yes, Master''s Spirit]


    Those were thest words he heard as Ka summoned spears of lightning that pierced through his head, killing him instantly.


    She then disabled the giant pearl of lightning and smiled to herself as her dress reverted to normal.


    [I feel ...sleee...p...y]


    The young great spirit dropped down to the ground and would have collided with the scorched earth, if not for the timely intervention of a certainzy shadow spirit.


    He looked at the destroyed forest as unknown thoughts went through his mind.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    "FIREBALL!!"


    Evan activated the basic fire magic that barely took any magic power in his free hand before mming the fireball down on the exposed neck of the bandit leader.


    "grouahhhhhhgggf-!"


    The man let out a garbled scream but Evan did not care less, only grabbing his head and forcing the man to look into his eyes.


    |Inventory Acquired|


    |Rare Skills require one skill slot. |


    |Two Skill Slots left. |


    "FINALLY!!"


    Evan screamed out loud as he pulled out his sword from the bandit leader''s hand and stabbed it into his forehead, ending his life instantly.


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    Immediately after, he copsed on the floor, exhausted as he barely managed to summon the strength to rummage through the items in the space expansion bag to find health and energy potions.


    Evan groggily stood up and grabbed his chipped de, heaving a sigh as he stared at therge battle axe that was responsible for the sword''s miserable state.


    He rose his free hand and called out the name of the skill that he took great pains to acquire.


    "Inventory."


    A small ck hole, no more than 50 cm in diameter, appeared in front of him as Evan ced his hand through it with excitement visible on his face.


    "it seemsrge enough..."


    He lifted the space expansion bag that he had always carried on his waist and tossed its contents into the inventory space before turning his gaze to the direction of the forest he heard explosions from.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Pride smiled lightly as she sensed the deaths of the two bandit leaders, her expression turning stern the moment after as she gazed at the monstrosity that was in front of her.


    "I guess I''d better finish up too, huh?"

 Chapter 65 Commission Complete

    Pride smiled lightly as she sensed the deaths of the two bandit leaders, her expression turning stern the moment after as she gazed at the monstrosity that was in front of her.


    "I guess I''d better finish up too, huh?"


    The spasming creature in front of her that was once the first leader of the Mountain Bandit gang, roared wildly as it stretched on of its many arms in her direction.


    "Burn."


    The high demon called out with a tinge of rage in her voice as the demonic energy scattered in the atmosphere moved to fulfil hermand.


    "GWWOOUGHHHHHHH!!!""


    ck mes engulfed the monstrosity that had absorbed the bodies of all its subordinates, as well as the trio of prisoners who had been unlucky to be captured by the bandits as it began to scream in pain.


    "Wind de."


    She rose her sword and swung it multiple times, sending out des ofpressed wind magic that tore through the body of the monstrosity, reducing it to mere chunks of meat within a minute.


    "This...is no coincidence."


    She gazed at the burning pieces of flesh on the floor and thought about the fact that Evan would undoubtedly lose if he was to battle the abomination she had just killed.


    "To think that some people still have ess to such disgusting magic items."


    Walking up to the centre of the room, she rose her ck de and stabbed it into the ck gem on the floor, shattering the gem and releasing the poor souls trapped within.


    Turning around, she began to walk out of the room, not before calling out the name of one of her skills.


    "Aura of Pride: mes of Hubris."


    An orb of ck mes appeared in the centre of the room, floating there silently, until she left the room and closed the door.


    **KAAAABOOOOOMMM!!!!


    The orb of mes exploded, shaking the entire rock and causing the cave to copse inwards, destroying everything within it.


    "I have to recover my power, fast."


    Pride spoke out those words while she clenched and unclenched her fists multiple times as she walked out of the copsing cave.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Upon reaching outside, Pride was met with the scene of Evanying on the floor while staring at the sky.


    The forest around them was now a small wastnd with scorched earth and burnt trees everywhere, making Pride wonder exactly what transpired here.


    "Good, you''re done.


    Let''s go, I''m tired as fuck."


    Evan pulled himself off the ground and heaved a sigh as he picked up his space expansion bag from the ground and began to walk out of the forest.


    Pride looked around and saw that the two bandit leader''s corpses were missing their heads and instantly figured out what Evan had in the bag.


    She shrugged her shoulders as she unsummoned her sword before following behind as she looked over her status board.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Unknown Area


    Spirit Forest


    November 3rd


    Year 1051


    "Did you feel it?"


    "Yes, I definitely did. That was a ''Pseudo-Authority''."


    Two beings sat at a table beside a dried-up fountain as they moved their respective pieces across the chess board that sat atop the wooden table.


    One of them was a man with brown hair and skin, his clothes consisting of a simple short sleeved tunic shirt and shorts, as opposed to the man opposite him who wore long sleeves and trousers.


    The other man was someone with fair skin and long hair tied up in a ponytail. His hair sparkled with the lights of more colours than there were on a rainbow.


    Suddenly, water began surging from the top of the dried-up fountain, causing the two men to turn their gazes in the direction of the fountain.


    When the water reached a suitable level, it suddenly condensed together and formed a small oval cocoon about a meter in diameter and two meters in height.


    The next moment, the cocoon burst open and a being emerged from within.


    It was a beautiful woman whose long hair and gown were made of water, fish-like fins in ce of ears, blue eyes and pale skin that almost looks blue.


    She tantly ignored the brown eyed man and turned her gaze to the multi-coloured haired man, her gaze softening as she spoke.


    "A new lightning child has been born. I am moving to find them."


    The man held a hand to his chin and pondered on her words for a few moments before nodding in affirmation.


    "Be careful."


    The blue-eyed woman nodded as she entered back into the cocoon that closed up and returned to the fountain water body.


    The next moment, the fountain water dried up instantly, however, the two men ignored this and carried on with their game of chess.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    |Name- Evan Del Eris


    Race-###e# ###s###e#


    Gender - Male


    Age - 11


    Level- 78


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved by Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman


    Health �C D+


    Energy �C C-


    Strength �C C-


    Agility �C D+<sub> </sub>


    Durability �C D+


    Intelligence- D+


    Condition- Magically Deficient, Mentally Exhausted, Physically Exhausted.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 1, Lightning Tier 2, Shadow Tier 1


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension.


    Mimicked Skills-Energy st, Body Transformation, Aura sh, Blink, Inventory.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (1), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction, Vortex. |


    ''No shit!''


    Evan cussed internally as he awaited his adventurer card at the counter of the adventurer''s guild in Geto.


    He had gotten stronger considerably over the past few months he had been away from the capital, his 300% leveling efficiency proving to be more useful than he had expected.


    Upon looking at his status board, he also discovered that at one point, it had been his birthday and hadpletely forgotten about it.


    Thinking along those lines, he realised that it had been more than a year since he came to Aidos.


    He turned his gaze to the small lightning spirit that was sleeping on his shoulder in the form of a cat and appraised her, the results making him heave a sigh of exasperation.


    |Name- Ka


    Race- Spirit


    Gender-Female


    Level- 78


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- Great Lightning Spirit (Medium Rank)


    ss - Lightning Controller


    Health �C D+


    Energy - C


    Strength �C D+


    Agility �C D


    Durability �C D-


    Intelligence - C-


    Condition- Exhausted


    Magic Tiers- Lightning Tier 2, Fire Tier 1.


    Skills- Lightning Magic (Extreme), Lightning Rose, Electrome.


    Unique Skills- Body Transformation, Pseudo-Authority of Lightning. |


    ''When did she be a Gold level existence? More importantly, what the hell is that new unique skill?!''


    He tried appraising the spirit''s new unique skill but the results were less than desirable.


    | Pseudo-Authority of Lightning;


    Type:#s1#7i5 Unique Skill


    This skill cannot be lost or taken away, except certain conditions are met.


    Effect;


    The ability to control the power of one of the kb#!^"g7# 3B8  @:x#4c doctrines that exist in the vicissitudes of time. This skill grants one a Pseudo Authority over the kb#!^"g7#3B8  @:x#4c of Lightning.


    With this, one can manipte one of the essences of the kb#!^"g7#3B8 at the 21cis rank. |


    It seemed to be some sort of lightning control ability, but there were too many unknowns in this ability that made Evan worried.


    ''Troublesome. I would have liked to ask Artemisia, but...''


    For the past month, Artemisia stopped responding to him after telling him that the search for him had been called off by the emperor.


    This ced a smile on Evan''s face as he knew that Laurene had indeed helped him out like she said she would.


    Since then, he had not heard a single word from the goddess and was unable to even contact with the being who gave him his ''Blessing of Destruction'' skill.


    ''Then again, maybe it''s good that she isn''t answering. I''d been relying on her a bit too much.''


    Those were Evan''s thoughts as he rose his head to see the receptionist who smiled depreciatingly as she gave him his D rank adventurer card.


    "Congrattions on bing a D Rank at your age, it''s something never seen before."


    Evan nodded as he collected the card, yawning a bit before asking about the reason he came to this city in the first ce.


    "Since I''m D rank, I can join the Spid-, the new dungeon exploration, right?"


    "...Yes, you can. However, are you sure? It is an unknown dungeon? Even C rank adventurers are skeptical about going in."


    "I''m sure. I have my reasons for going."


    The young woman sighed once more upon seeing that Evan would not let himself be convinced by her. She quickly scanned his card and confirmed his participation in the dungeon exploration.


    "The information on the meeting dates would be sent via your card."


    After giving him back the card, she hurriedly looked around and leaned over before whispering in Evan''s ear.


    "I don''t know what you did but some of the higher ups seem to have it out for you. Leave this city as soon as possible to avoid getting caught up with them."


    She then resumed her normal posture and continued.


    "Thank you for adventuring with us, see you next time."


    Evan frowned when he heard the message but he instantly controlled his expression and nodded in affirmation.


    He thanked her and began walking towards the exit of the guild until he inadvertently caught the sight of someone he recognized.


    His expression changed to one of shock as the person that Evan recognized, was not someone who should be in this part of the continent at all!

 Chapter 66 Meeting A Powerhouse

    Evan''s expression changed to one of shock as the person that he had recognized, was not someone who should be in this part of the continent at all!


    It was someone he knew very well, probably even more so than this person knew themself.


    It was a middle-aged man dressed in casual clothes, wearing a hoodie on his head while he was drinking alone on the counter not far from where the receptionist was.


    He was a fairly muscr man wearing a dress shirt underneath his hooded jacket and ck trousers.


    His face was visible even though he had his hood up as it was not covering much in the first ce. To an onlooker, it seemed he wore it just because he could, rather than to hide his face.


    While he looked to be expressionless, Evan could see the amused glint in his eyes as he gazed at the adventurers moving around in the guild hall.


    Evan contemted talking the man, but upon remembering his character description from the game, Evan decided it wouldn''t do him any harm to try.


    ''If he lets me, I may even end up getting his skill...!''


    The eleven-year-old walked towards the man while cing his guild card in his inventory.


    Evan had grown far taller than the average eleven-year-old, it was a result of his rapidly increasing level as his body was growing in response to match his level.


    Looking at him, one would think he was about thirteen or fourteen years of age, an age where most children who wished to be adventurers, started out.


    Since most younger adventurers were at this age, it was not strange to see Evan in the guild. This reduced the amount of attention he gathered because of his age.


    As for those who knew him personally, they were all surprised at his strength that was a way too high for a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old.


    The fact that his mystic eyes gathered a bit more attention due to the crest in them was something unavoidable, as such Evan could do nothing about that.


    Besides, if people like the man he was going to meet see the crest and look into it, they would be able to discover information about the seven heroes and theing invasion, allowing Evan to share a bit of his knowledge on it.


    Evan contemted this as he walked up to the man and took a seat beside him, ordering a ss of strawberry juice while reminiscing about the time he went to a bar with his friends back in his previous world.


    ''I wonder how those guys are doing.''


    He snapped himself out of his reverie and turned to the man before speaking.


    "Didn''t expect to see someone like you here."


    The man, realizing he was being spoken to, turned his gaze to Evan who continued speaking.


    "Name''s Evan by the way."


    ''If he sees my face, he''d definitely recognize who I am. After all, even if a normal people don''t recognize me, someone of his status would.''


    The man''s brown eyes shed with recognition as he saw Evan''s face. To be sure he was speaking to the right person, he asked aloud.


    "The runaway kid?"


    "Yep, the runaway kid."


    Evan chuckled a reply as he downed the ss of juice and ordered for another.


    "Hmm...You look a lot older than the portrait but the simrities are still there. Why''d you run away?"


    "The ce felt too stuffy. Besides, it would have been disadvantageous in the long run."


    "Disadvantageous?"


    "Yep. You''d understand in due time."


    Evan''s reply made the man burst in toughter as he yfully pped Evan''s shoulder with hisrge muscr hand.


    "You are really one funny kid!"


    "I know."


    The manughed even louder at Evan''s words, only stopping to chug down his mug of beer. After doing so, he ordered for a refill while Evan took this chance to address a different matter.


    "Old man, you know I''m not the only one who can recognize you around here. If you wanna mess around in another country, at least change your looks."


    He had the looks of a middle-aged man, with long legs that would make him fairly tall if he was standing. His hair was a light-brown colour and he had brown eyes to match.


    "Says the kid who didn''t do the same even after running away from home."


    "I left it on purpose to troll the knights who were after me. Too bad they''ve called of the search"


    "Troll them? You say funny things kid, you know who was leading the search party, right?


    "It''s Ralphie. He''s a bit too stuck up, that''s why I''m doing it."


    Evan gave a small chuckle as he spoke, remembering how he caught sight of Ralphie''s frustrated face once. He did have to teleport away immediately after because his gaze was sensed in the next moment and he was almost caught.


    ''Good thing Ralphie couldn''t read the traces of spatial magic. If it was Jenson then I''d have been fucked!


    Come to think of it, Laurene had probably already told her dad to call of the search party by then otherwise Ralphie should have still been able to find me.


    I can''t teleport very far, after all .''


    Jenson was more skilled in spatial magic than Ralphie could ever hope to be. If he was the one leading the search then Evan would have long been captured by him.


    However, the search party was not intending on capturing Evan due to Laurene''s intervention, hence the reason that even though they knew he was using some sort of teleportation to run away, they had not dispatched any magician proficient in spatial magic to go after him.


    In fact, after the first two months, the search party going after him, was only doing so to put on a show so it would not seem like no attempts to capture Evan were made.<sub> </sub>


    "Oh! Old man, can you look into this for me, with your full authority, that is."


    Evan pointed at his eyes as he spoke, causing the man to look at them. He studied the crest in them, even when he knew Evan had activated a skill.


    "Is it a unique skill?"


    "Well, I didn''t expect you to miss that. All I can say is I''m ''POSITIVE'' about some things now."


    "Hmm...? Oh! What a roundabout means of answering."


    The man wondering what Evan meant, but he noticed the boy''s weird emphasis on the word; Positive.


    "Perhaps, can you not answer me directly?"


    "As expected of someone with great ''Intuition''. You figure it out instantly."


    His question caused Evan to heave a sigh of exasperation. The man had instantly figured out that Evan could not give a direct answer about his Mystic Eyes.


    "Can you look into it? You can tell the others too.


    Even the ice dude you don''t get along with. It''s important you do so, for my sake, yours and the rest of Aidos."


    Evan stood up after speaking, ignoring the shocked look on the man''s face as he ced a silver coin on the counter before tapping his shoulder and saying a few parting words.


    "Got to prepare myself for the dungeon exploration. I''d probablye over to your country in a few months time, or maybe when you guys move in on Wolfen.


    Till then, Old man."


    He then walked out of the building, leaving the still surprised man behind. It was only after the door closed behind Evan that the man recovered from his surprise.


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Heughed loudly, attracting a few gazes but he could not care less. After paying for his drinks, he walked out of the guild building and entered a deserted alley.


    After making sure no one was around, he took out a fist sized stone from his trouser pocket and poured magic power into it.


    **HUMM!


    The moment it let out a small humming sound, he crushed it in his palm.


    With a puff of smoke, the man disappeared from that spot.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Unknown Location


    Great Eastern Empire


    November 3rd


    Year 1051


    Re appearing in a dark room, the man took a step forward before sensing the presence of another being and turning his gaze in their direction.


    "Duke Bourne, you''re back."


    "Can you stop calling me that?"


    The brown eyed man, Duke Bourne retorted as he walked over to the couch and dropped his hoodie on it. He then turned back to the other man seated on his couch who was dressed in a white ceremonial military uniform.


    It was a clean-shaven man with dark eyes and hair worn slicked back. The man matched his gaze and asked a question, one he knew would displease his brown eyed friend.


    "What''s the big deal? There''s no one here."


    "I''m here, you know."


    A third voice rang out as a man dressed in all ck appeared from the corner of the room. It was a tall young male with red eyes and straight red-brown hair that fell just above his shoulders.


    His clothes consisted of a necktie wrapped around the cor of a white button-up, a ck hoodie underneath the school zer, id pants for lower garments, and a pair of rubber shoes for footwear.


    Looking at him, Bourne picked up the hood he just dropped and threw it at the man in ck.


    "Oh, you fool."


    The man in ck caught the hoodie and dropped it on the floor before replying with an annoyed tone.


    "Huh? You wanna pick a fight?"


    "What you gonna do about it? I''d literally melt you if you pull any bullshit."


    "And I''ll literally freeze you if YOU pull any bullshit."


    The tension in the air increased and it seemed like a fight was about to break out. The magic power concentration in the room increased exponentially as a white steamy haze began rising from Bourne''s body.


    As for the man in all ck, the ground around his feet began freezing as his eyes shed with a blue light, magic power condensing in his hands as he was ready to fight Bourne to the death.


    However, the timely intervention of the military uniformed man prevented this.


    "Calm down both of you."


    ""TELL THAT TO HIM!""

 Chapter 67 On The Other Side Of The Continent...

    The both of them shouted in sync, then red at each other before snorting and turning away. Suppressing the rude thoughts that came to his mind, the uniformed asked Bourne.


    "By the way, where the hell were you this time, Bourne?"


    "Oh, I went over to the Great Western Empire an-"


    ""What the actual fuck?!""


    This time, the uniformed man couldn''t help but retort in sync with the man dressed in all ck. He pressed his fingers to his temple as he spoke.


    "Bourne, you''re a duke of-"


    "Marquis."


    "Yes, you''re officially a ''Marquis'' of the great Eastern Empire.


    Even though we are at peace with them, if you enter their country without alerting them first it could cause a lot of problemster on, you know?"


    "Well, its fine if they never find out. No one noticed me, except for that runaway kid."


    "Huh? A kid noticed you?"


    Bourne nodded in affirmation as he sat back down on the couch, ignoring the shocked looks on the other two men''s faces.


    "Wait a moment? By runaway kid, you don''t mean Duke Eris'' son, do you?"


    "That''s exactly who I''m talking about."


    Bourne opened the drawer of the small table beside the couch and pulled out a sketchbook. He rummaged through it a bit and found a suitable pen, before closing it and flipping the switch atop the table.


    The curtains opened and the light of the afternoon sun illuminated the room, allowing him to clearly see his sketchbook.


    He began drawing as he narrated his meeting with Evan to the two men, causing their jaws to drop.


    "He knows about the Wolfen n?! How?!


    Not even all our country''s nobles are aware of this!!!"


    "I have no idea how he found out, he also seems to know something about the reason why we want to conquer Wolfen."


    "HOW?!"


    The military uniformed man mmed his fist on the table in the middle of the room as he screamed out in question.


    Their n to attack and conquer Wolfen was something that only Ten people in the entire Great Eastern Empire were aware of.


    It hadn''t even been a month since they had begun nning, but somehow a duke''s son from another empire knew of it.


    His enraged reaction was only natural.


    Bourne, however, was calm as he continued making a sketch, trying to remember exactly how what he was sketching looked.


    "The kid needs to be brought into custody. We have to find out how he knows of our ns!"


    "No need."


    In response to the military uniformed man''s words, Bourne responded as he dropped his pen and showed the two men the sketchbook.


    On it, was something that the two men recognized.


    "This...! It''s the same as the stone te ''Rathal'' took from the advance team!"


    "Exactly. And guess where I saw it?"


    "Out with it already!"


    The man in ck screamed at Bourne, causing the brown eyed man''s eyebrow to twitch but he held in his annoyance and replied.


    "This symbol, crest or whatever it is, was inscribed in the eyes of Evan Del Eris."


    The reply Bourne gave them was so out of their expectations that they couldn''t even form the words to say, only staring at him ck jawed.


    "What I think is, Evan Del Eris is rted to whatever this symbol means, and he wants us to look further into it.


    The kid also seems to know more about it than we do, but he can''t say for some reason."


    Hearing that Evan knew more of the crest that Bourne sketched than they did caused the uniformed man to frown.


    He was confident that the Great Eastern Empire''s research into those symbols was unmatched, however, Bourne just informed him that it wasn''t the case.


    And he was right.


    The crest that Bourne sketched, was something any of the ''Seven Heroes'' would recognize, it was the crest of the ''Second'' of the ''Seven Heroes'', the ''Hero of Mimicry''.


    Bourne just sketched exactly what he saw in Evan''s eyes earlier that day.


    Without waiting for the two men to collect their thoughts, Bourne repeated Evan''s exact words.


    "-Can you look into it? You can tell the others too.


    Even the ice dude you don''t get along with. It''s important you do so, for my sake, yours and the rest of Aidos.-"


    "Huh? What does that mean?"


    In return to the man in ck''s question, Bourne replied.


    "Those were the kid''s exact words. Strange, don''t you think?


    Only the Ten of us know I don''t get along with Kieran, so how did a kid we''ve never mete to find out?<sub> </sub>


    Secondly, he said that looking into it would be for the sake of ''Aidos'', that''s the whole world. Sound familiar?"


    Upon hearing Bourne''s questions, the two men couldn''t help but realise how strange the situation was. It seemed like Evan knew a lot about them, up on to their personal rtions, yet they knew nothing about him.


    "The second part of his statement! Those were the exact words that ''He'' said to the advance team!"


    It was not known to many, but about in the year 1048, a team of researchers led by one of the Seven Star Generals, infiltrated the Wolfen, a country sharing borders with the Great Eastern Empire.


    The team''s aim was a ruin located in the central region of the country. They discovered that this ruin was some sort of ancient base of operations used by an unknown group of beings.


    From the area they presumed to be the control centre of the base, they recovered a stone te that had seven symbols on it.


    These seven symbols were also seen in multiple areas around the ruin and they believed it belonged to the unknown group of people who used the ruin as a base.


    However, when they were leaving, they were attacked and the Seven Star General that led the team was defeated thoroughly by the assant.


    The one that attacked them was someone that even all the Seven Star Generalsbined would not be able to beat.


    One of the ''Five'', the strongest beings in all of Aidos.


    ''Strongest Human'' Rathal!


    As if the fact that one of the ''Five'' moved personally was not shocking enough, it was revealed that ''Rathal'' was after the same stone te that was recovered from the ruin.


    When he took it from the team, he spoke these words.


    -"Investigate this ruin more thoroughly, there''s something you missed. For our sakes, and for the rest of Aidos."-


    He disappeared after this and no word on the location of ''Rathal'' had been heard since then.


    This was the reason that the Empire was moving to conquer Wolfen, as their attempts at asking for official permission had failed.


    "Either the boy is somehow connected to the ''Strongest Human'' Rathal, something I highly doubt, or he''s connected to the group of people who used that base in the ancient times.


    Oh well, it doesn''t matter. We''d find out when he gets here, after all."


    "Just what kind of kid did you meet over there?"


    Bourne just chuckled in response to the man in ck, Kieran''s question as he walked out of the room, leaving the two behind.


    If one could appraise the back of the man walking out of the room, what they would see would shock them out of their minds.


    |Name- Bourne Randall


    Race-Human


    Gender - Male


    Age - 55


    Level- 462


    Existence Level - Grandmaster


    Titles- First Star of the Great Eastern Empire, Seven Star General, Hidden Duke of the Empire, Marquis of the Great Eastern Empire, Human me.


    ss- Sword Grandmaster


    Health �C S


    Energy - S+


    Strength �C S


    Agility �C A


    Durability �C A-


    Intelligence - B+


    Condition- Happy.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 5, Gravity Tier 2


    Skills- Gravity Maniption, Swordsmanship (Extreme), Limit Break.


    Unique Skills- Child of Fire. |


    He was the ''First Star'' of the ''Seven Star Generals'' of the Alpha continent''s Great Eastern Empire, a hidden duke and Official Marquis of the empire.


    His ''Child of Fire'' skill had earned him the moniker of Human me, with his Gravity Maniption also being a skill feared by many on the battlefield.


    In the game, he was also one of the NPC''s that possessed a ''Child Series Skill''. They were known as the ''Children of the Elements'' by the yer base of Aidos Online.


    He also possessed the rare Limit Break skill, one that multiplied the stats of the user by three for as long as they had energy within their bodies.


    Although it came with the drawback of weakening the user greatly after they deactivated it, it didn''t change the fact that it was a fearsome skill.


    After all, the power someone on his level would gain if he used the skill would beparable to the great spirits of legend, if not higher.


    Besides, there was a way to circumvent that weakness, and Evan knew this method. This was why the second reason Evan had made Bourne look into his eyes.


    To make him meet the conditions to mimic the skill.


    The man obviously noticed Evan doing something but he let it be because he sensed no hostility.


    More importantly, he was confident enough to crush Evan instantly if he tried anything funny.

 Chapter 68 MIN Triad

    TellTale Inn, Geto City


    Great Western Empire


    November 4th


    Year 1051


    Evan was peacefully having his breakfast in the tavern on the ground floor of the inn he was staying in, when he received a message on his guild card.


    He took it out of his pocket and opened it to see that it was a message from the adventurer''s guild confirming his participation in the new dungeon exploration, and asking if he would be avable to meet the other people who would be in the team with him.


    He gave a positive reply and took his times to finish his meal, even ordering for seconds, before he finally left the inn and mad his way to the adventurer''s guild building.


    After exchanging greetings with the receptionist, Evan was led to the meeting room on the second floor of the building where he met with the rest of the team that would be going on the dungeon exploration.


    Upon entering the meeting room, he was met with the figures of three other adventurers, seated at the same table as the Geto city Adventurer''s guild master.


    The guild master was a stern looking man with a cross scar under his left eye. His muscr body seemed to barely fit in his clothes and the amount of magic power he was emitting made Evan realise he was no pushover.


    ''At the very least, Peak B rank, close to A. Someone like him should be able to sense a skill''s activation, appraising him would be unwise.''


    Evan came to a decision as he turned his gaze to the other people in the room. The three of them were adventurers belonging to a C-Rank party known as the ''MIN Triad''.


    The leader was a beautiful woman with eye catching red hair and fiery red eyes to match. She looked to be in herte 20s and had an hourss figure that entuated her curves. Her name was Merle and she was the elder sister of the second member of the group.


    It was a timid looking girl with ck hair that had gray streaks in it. Below her short fringe was a pair of emerald eyes that shone with a light of innocence. While she was slightly short in height, she was more grown in other areas.


    Lastly, was the only male of the triad, a short haired young man who had a slightly overgrown beard. He stared at Evan with narrowed eyes the moment he entered into the meeting room, turning his gaze to the guild master the momentter as he voiced out a question.


    "Guild master, is this kid the addition to the squad?"


    Evan''s brow twitched as he heard this, nevertheless he held his annoyance in and walked to the empty seat on the couch before sitting down and turning his gaze to the guild master.


    "You can go now."


    The deep voice of the aged guild master rang out as the receptionist bowed and left, closing the door behind her.


    **CLICK!


    The guild master then flipped a switch on the table, activating the sound istion artifact that every guild master''s office was equipped with.


    "This is your first-time meeting so I''d introduce you."


    The guild master ignored the other man''s question before pointing to the three members of the squad and introducing them.


    It was then that Evan learned the names of the other two, with the Emerald eyed girl being Ina and the short haired man being Nodin.


    ''Hmm...? So their party name is actually just the first letters of all their names, huh?''


    "The three of you, this is Evan and he''d be joining you on the dungeon exploration."


    "I object."


    The man mmed the table as he voiced his disapproval, however, the guild master only scoffed before replying.


    "You don''t have the right to. If you refuse to cooperate, then the guild can find another party for this.


    Or, I can just do it myself."


    The expressions of all the others in the room changed upon hearing his words. It was surprise for the C rank party and annoyance for Evan.


    ''This guy...! What''s he ying at?''


    It was at this point that Merle, the party leader finally spoke up.


    "Be quiet for a bit Nodin. There has to be a reason why the guild master would allow him to join us at thest moment.


    Isn''t that right?"


    She turned her gaze to the guild master who nodded in response before pulling out a sheet of paper that Evan recognized.


    "This is amission to take out the ''Mountain Bandit'' gang that had taken root in the nearby forest.


    And this ''kid'', is the one whopleted it on his own."


    Merle''s eyes shed as she stared at the details on the paper before turning her gaze to Evan. However, the eleven-year-old tantly ignored her and spoke to the guild master.


    "I don''t think even you have the right to show the information about mymissions to other adventurers without my permission.


    I expect apensation for this."


    Evan rxed on the chair as he spoke, surprising the others in the room once again as they didn''t expect him to ask the guild master forpensation over a small issue.


    "KNOW YOUR PLACE, BRAT!!"


    Unsurprisingly, Nodinshed out at Evan once more but the eleven-year-old decided that ignoring Nodin''s existence was the best course of action.


    Unfortunately, the two spirits who were with Evan did not think so too.


    **CCRACKLEEE!!!!


    Tendrils of lightning snaked around Ka''s small body as she red at Nodin from the top of Evan''s head where she was resting.


    While Ka was invisible and couldn''t be seen by normal people, the lightning she emitted was not.


    To the others in the room, it looked like Evan had just released a burst of lightning from his body while staring at Nodin.


    Kuro on the other hand, hand already manipted the adventurer''s shadow and was about to use it to restrain him so Ka''s lightning would hit.


    ''Stop.''


    "Stop."


    "Stop!"


    Three people spoke that word simultaneously, all for different reasons.


    Evan-To Ka and Kuro, telling them to calm down.


    The guild master-To Evan, telling him to withdraw ''his'' lightning.


    Merle-To Evan, telling him to withdraw his shadows from Nodin''s feet.


    The C rank adventurer''s fiery red eyes were locked on to the two shadowy hands that were grabbing the oblivious Nodin''s feet.


    "Huh? You wanna fight?!"


    Nodin, however, took the spirits'' actions as a provocation from Evan.


    **SLAP!


    Merle pped Nodin''s face, shutting him up instantly before turning her gaze to the Evan and apologizing.<sub> </sub>


    Evan on the other hand, only nodded and turned his gaze back to the guild master.


    "I was told toe her for a meeting but the past few minutes has been anything but that."


    His annoyance was evident in his voice. Normally, Evan would have just gone into the dungeon regardless of whether he had the guild''s permission or not.


    He had Pride, Ka and Kuro and he was sure the four of them would be able to clear the dungeon as far as it was still in its early stages.


    It was just a single floor dungeon after all. The only difference was upon entering, one would feel like they were entering a totally different world.


    The interior of the dungeon filled with a different type of ecosystem than what was outside and it was usually one that favoured the monsters within.


    However;


    [Stay calm. Something is fishy about this city and doing something that might attract attention to yourself would be disadvantageous.]


    The words of the Ancient High demon rang out in his head once more, causing him to frown.


    ''Why is Pride acting weird? She has been like this since we came back from the rank promotionmission.''


    Nevertheless, Evan chose to take her words to heart and decided to act like a normal, slightly strong for his age adventurer.


    "My Apologies. I only wanted you to familiarize yourselves with each other before the day of the raid but it seems that my thoughts were unnecessary."


    Evan rose an eyebrow at the guild master''s words as he appraised the members of the MIN Triad.


    |Name- Nodin


    Race- Human


    Level- 87


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- D Rank Adventurer


    ss - Spear Warrior


    Health �C D+


    Energy - D+


    Strength �C C-


    Agility �C C-


    Durability �C C-


    Intelligence - D-


    Condition- Enraged, Aggrieved


    Magic Tiers- Non-Attribute Tier 1


    Skills- Shockwave, Spearmanship (Mid).


    Unique Skills- None. |


    |Name- Ina


    Race- Half-Elf, Half-Human


    Level- 90


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- D Rank Adventurer


    ss - zing Shielder


    Health �C C-


    Energy - D+


    Strength �C C-


    Agility �C D+


    Durability �C C-


    Intelligence - D-


    Condition- Normal, Curious, Fascinated


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 0


    Skills- Protection, zing D��fense, Swordsmanship (Low)


    Unique Skills- None. |


    |Name- Merle


    Race- Human


    Level- 101


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- C Rank Adventurer


    ss - mebourne Mage


    Health �C D+


    Energy - C+


    Strength �C D-


    Agility �C D+


    Durability �C D-


    Intelligence - C+


    Condition- Suspicious, Slightly Annoyed


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 2.


    Skills- Fire Magic (Extreme), Magic Control, me Summoning.


    Unique Skills- None. |

 Chapter 69 Looming Trouble

    While the first two''s status boards left him a bit surprised in some areas, especially about Ina''s race, the third one was the one that answered some questions while making him have more questions.


    |Name- Merle


    Race- Human


    Level- 101


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- C Rank Adventurer


    ss - mebourne Mage


    Health �C D+


    Energy - C+


    Strength �C D-


    Agility �C C-


    Durability �C D-


    Intelligence - C


    Condition- Suspicious, Slightly Annoyed


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 2.


    Skills- Fire Magic (Extreme), Magic Control, me Summoning.


    Unique Skills- None. |


    ''I see, so that''s why they are a C rank Party. Not all of them are C rank but one is. And the other girl, she''s a half elf? I didn''t even notice a difference.''


    He looked her over for a bit before noticing a small piece of metal on her ear that reflected light,


    ''Perhaps?''


    Appraising it, he found the result he expected.


    |Earing of Transformation;


    Type: Artifact


    Effect;


    Using the stored magic power in the earring, it transforms a part of the body into a form that the user desires. Therger the scale of transformation, the greater the magic power consumption. |


    "Well, that answers a lot more questions."


    Evan spoke out loud after appraising the girl''s earring before turning his gaze to Merle and continuing.


    "While I normally use a sword, I''m gonna be going with hand-to-handbat for this dungeon as my sword is not exactly in the best shape.


    I possess a bit of knowledge in fire, lighting and shadow magic. Lastly, I have a skill that lets me shoots out beams of energy.


    That''s all."


    The young hero stood up and began to walk out of the room after saying all of that. He was simply telling them about himself as he had appraised them and found out about them.


    With his knowledge as a gamer and the experiences of the previous hero he had, he could already predict how they would fight and how it would be best for himself to provide assistance when raiding the dungeon.


    "Huh? You''re just going to leave?"


    Merle spoke up after seeing Evan walk to the door but Evan didn''t even look at her as he replied.


    "I can already predict your fighting style. Ina''s the tanker, Nodin for physical damage and knockbacks while you handle long range attacks while being the team''s main firepower.


    Since I''m using my fists, I''d be the close to mid range damage dealer so that Nodin can focus on being long range and you just burn everything wee across with your magic."


    He then ced his hand on the doorknob and was a was abut to open it but the loud voice of the guild master stopped him in his tracks.


    "Evan!"


    Turning around, the eleven-year-old narrowed his eyes at the guild master, he really didn''t understand exactly what this guy had in store for him.


    "Are you familiar with Lord Geto?"


    "Huh?"


    His question was unexpected, leaving Evan slightly stunned.


    The ''Lord Geto'' that he spoke of was the lord of the Geto territory, a baron who inherited his title from his father a few years ago after a bloody session battle with his brothers.


    "I don''t.


    You should know that I''ve only been here for two months. When would I have time to get familiar with the lord that barely leaves his castle?"


    The guild master nodded at Evans words before taking out a card from his desk and typing a few things into it.


    The next moment, Evan received a message on his guild card. He took it out and saw that it was a message from the guild master in front of him.


    [I understand, I just wanted to be sure. Be careful, he was the one who gave the order for your quest difficulty to be raised.


    While you may not know him, he seems to be hell bent on making things difficult for you.]


    Evan''s eyes narrowed in displeasure. Some unknown baron was targeting him for no reason, even trying to get him killed by telling the guild master to make his quest harder.


    He clicked his tongue and walked out of the room, mming the door behind him.


    ''I have no recollection of meeting this bastard. I also haven''t done any attention-grabbing things since I came here besides requesting a rank promotion.<sub> </sub>


    Why''s he out for me?!''


    Evan''s anger only increased as he looked towards the territory lord''s castle in the distance before turning his gaze back to the street as he made his way to the nearest cksmith shop to get a pair of gauntlets.


    He also decided to get a potion that increased mental resistance as the dungeon boss of the Spider Nest, was a monster who possessed a very irritating mental attack.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    As Evany on his bed that night, he received a ''connection request'', or as he''d like to call it, a ''call'', from Eliza.


    Over the past few months, they had been contacting each other regrly and if Evan was to believe what she told him, then she had grown far stronger than Evan had expected.


    ''I should really add her to my party when I start moving in earnest. I''ve got 22 more levels till I reach 100.


    After that, I can head towards the north, to prevent one of the ''Eight Disasters''.''


    He thought to himself as he answered Eliza''s ''call'', the mellifluous voice of the older girl flowed into his ears as she screamed out excitedly.


    [Evan!!!]


    Evan''s body flinched upon hearing her loud shout. He took a moment to calm himself before asking Kuro a small favour.


    ''Can you set up a barrier that prevents sound from leaving where the small area around me?''


    The shadow spirit jumped out of Evan''s shadow and infused magic power into its paws before circling round Evan once and jumping back into his shadow.


    [Evan?? You there?!]


    Evan''s mystic eyes that allowed him to see the flow of magic, allowed him to see that there was indeed some sort of barrier around him now.


    After confirming this, he screamed back at the over excited teenage girl on the other end of the ''call''.


    "Would it kill you to talk like a normal human being for once??!!!"


    [Eeekkkk!!!]


    Evan took a deep breath afterwards before speaking normally once again.


    "Hello there, how are you today?"


    [S-scaary...]


    "Hmmm?!"


    [N-nothing! I''m fine, fine as always!]


    Evan let out a small chuckle as he heard the teenage girl instantly be meek.


    [Stop Laughing at me!]


    "I would when you stop being silly."


    [I''m not silly!]


    "Of course, you aren''t."


    While he agreed with her deration, the sarcasm in his voice was just too much for her not to notice.


    [Evan!!]


    And so began another day of bickering between the two children, something that happened virtually every time the two spoke to each other within the past few months.


    Evan and Eliza had been contacting each other at least twice every week ever since he left Luka. While most of her party members were not aware of it, her party leader definitely was.


    During the time she spent apart from Evan, the girl had considerably matured physically and strength wise, or so she imed but Evan didn''t really buy it.


    The death of one of her party members earlier in the year was what acted as the trigger for her change, and also the reason she strived to be stronger, to prevent herself from meeting an early grave like he did.


    She always boasted about her strength to Evan and how she was seen as one of the rising stars in Merdin Dungeon city adventurermunity.


    ''I doubt she even knows how useful her ''Child Series Skill'' is...''


    Of course, Evan couldn''t care less about her boasts and always waved them off as the rant of a teenager, conveniently ignoring the fact that even if one added his age from his previous life to the time he had spent as ''Evan Del Eris'', he wasn''t an adult yet.


    [...and then we decided to go ou- Are you listening to me, Evan?!]


    "Yeah, yeah. I am."


    Evan snapped out of his thoughts upon hearing her loud voice, not bothering to hide his disinterest in whatever she was talking about.


    "I''m quite tired today, had to search for a new weapon. I''d talk to you soon, okay? Maybe in two or three days, I have a dungeon exploration to do."


    [Three days? It''s the finalp of the trip so yeah, we would definitely talk in three days.]


    Evan didn''t bother to understand what she was taking about and cut the connection beforeying on his bed and delving into dreand almost instantly.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    "He''s the same as ever, huh?"


    Eliza nodded in affirmation to the voice that came from behind her the moment Evan cut the connection.


    She stared at the bonfire in front of her and ced her guild card in her pocket before turning her gaze to the speaker.


    "Why don''t youe with me?"


    "No need, one of us has to stay back and make sure things are on the right track here. Even more so when I just discovered that they already know quite a bit about those symbols I showed you."


    "You said your family was researching them, right?"

 Chapter 70 Spider Nest: Prelude

    "You said your family was researching them, right?"


    Eliza tilted her head to the side as she asked, her blonde hair swaying to the side as the person she spoke to nodded in affirmation.


    She studied the angr face of the girl with chestnut-coloured fairly long hair who walked over and sat on the other side of the bonfire in front of her.


    Despite being four years younger than Eliza, the girl''s looks and air of maturity suggested she was far older.


    Her most noticeable feature, was her pair of blue eyes that reflected the light of the mes. Within her pupils, Eliza could see something simr to what she saw in the eyes of a particr gray eyed boy a few months ago.


    It was a crest that was made up of a single letter, from an ancientnguage lost to time.


    ''Truth, huh?''


    The girl once imed that the crest in her eyes was the word, ''Truth''. This was seconds before blood began trickling down from the corner of her eyes, startling Eliza.


    The fifteen-year-old was even more shocked when she discovered that her unique skill was unable to discover the cause of the bleeding, neither was it able to heal the girl.


    ''She seems to have some sort of ''deep'' connection to Evan. For some reason, that pisses me off.''


    Eliza heaved a sigh as she picked up her staff and ced it in her spatial expansion bag before standing up and dusting her clothes.


    As she stood on her feet, one could see that she had grown quite a bit during the past six months. While there wasn''t much of a change height wise, her once child-like, twin tailed blonde hair was now flowing down to her waistline, glistening a lustrous gold.


    Her sapphire eyes were deep, like they contained countless years. Furthermore, her white skin looked smooth enough that water droplets could flow down seamlessly


    "Are you really noting with me? We''re already on thestp of the trip, by tomorrow, we''d be in Geto."


    Eliza asked once more but her travellingpanion only shook her head making Eliza shrug her shoulders as she turned and began walking towards the carriage parked nearby.


    "Send my regards to him for me."


    "I will, Laurene."


    Eliza climbed onto the carriage after replying, closing the door behind her as the coachman rallied the horses to begin moving.


    While watching the carriage trail off into the distance, the blue-eyed girl Eliza was speaking with, Laurene smiled lightly before turning her gaze to the top of a tree behind her.


    "You cane out now."


    The tree shook lightly and a ck clothed figure dropped down from it.


    "Your highness."


    The ck clothed figure dropped to his knees and greeted Laurene, however, she ignored his greeting and proceeded to tie up her hair in a ponytail.


    ''That''s better.''


    Standing up she instructed him to prepare another carriage for her as she began walking towards the city lights in the distance.


    "Don''t ck off Evan, or you won''t know when I''d catch up to you."


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Geto City Gate


    Great Western Empire


    November 5th


    Year 1051


    Evan yawned as he climbed onto the not sofortable carriage, his gaze alternating between the three other adventurers seated within it.


    Taking a seat himself, he looked at the guild master who spoke a few parting words before signalling the coachman to begin the journey.


    The horses neighed and began trotting the road, pulling the carriage behind them as the quartet of adventurers made their way to the newly discovered dungeon, the ''Spider Nest''.


    ''Well, they only named it that after it was explored by yers for the first time. Hopefully, none of this lot here has a fear of spiders.''


    Evan thought to himself while gazing out the window and admiring the scenery.


    The dungeon was located not too far from Geto, in the middle of a small area that was cleared out for the construction of a farming vige.


    Adventurers who had entered the dungeon reported that the monsters located within were spider-based monsters that had a lot of known weaknesses.


    One of them was fire, hence the reason that Merle, a C rank adventurer that specialized in fire magic was recruited for this expedition.


    ''It''d take an hour to get there, and as a single floor dungeon, it should not take us more than a day to clear it.


    Once we are done, we can return today.''<sub> </sub>


    Ever since Evan left the capital, he had not entered any dungeons or gone on any expeditions that required him to sleep in a dungeon.


    The reason; he simply didn''t like it!


    As such, Evan was hell bent on making suite that the grouppleted the expedition and returned on the same day.


    He thought about the reward he would gain when he cleared the dungeon and looted the Spider''s domain afterwards.


    ''I hope I am able to get a new weapon there, preferably a one-handed sword so I can dual wield with Pride''s sword.''


    While thinking such random thoughts and fantasizing about himself cutting through monsters like butter with his new sword, an hour passed and the quartet of adventurers arrived at the dungeon.


    Coming down from the carriage, Evan looked around to see a semicircle of iplete buildings, with a half dug well at the centre.


    Right in front of the well, was a swirling whirlpool of grey clouds about half a meter above the ground and three meters in diameter.


    Merle greeted the adventurer''s guild officials who had surrounded the dungeon gate and showed their pass permit from the guild.


    After receiving the go-ahead, Merle came back and asked them to cross check their supplies, antidotes and potions before they embarked on the expedition.


    To avoid drawing attention to his inventory skill, Evan only carried a bunch of random potions and stuffed them in his spatial expansion bag which he attached to his belt.


    Today, he was wearing a white undershirt with a ck jacket and a pair of simrly coloured trousers. He had partial metallic armour covering his chest and joints.


    Merle was outfitted in a fiery red dress that matched her eyes. While it looked fluttery, it was actually a dress made with the hide of a Gnoll Mage.


    It provided sufficient defensive capability and increased her total magic power amount by half a rank.


    Strapped to her waist, was a ck belt adorned with red lines. It was a magic catalyst, a weapon that had the effect of amplifying me magic spells.


    Evan turned his gaze to Nodin who wore steel armour on his upper body alone and Ina who was outfitted in a simr style like Evan but with a great shield strapped to her back.


    The MIN Triad entered the dungeon first with Evan following suit, however, before he could enter, he felt someone''s gaze on him.


    ''Hmmm...?''


    He snapped his head in their direction and was met with the figure of a brown-haired man wearing a simple short sleeved tunic shirt and shorts, floating in the air while staring at him with a look of surprise.


    Ka who was seated on his head turned her gaze to the man as her eyes widened in shock.


    [Uncle Earth...?]


    ''Huh?''


    The man narrowed his eyes at Ka before snapping his fingers and disappearing from the spot.


    Evan looked around for the man but his mystic eyes only caught the figures of tiny little brown lizard-like spirits floating in the air.


    He decided to enter the dungeon while asking Ka about who that man was as she seemed to recognize him.


    [He was Uncle Earth!]


    The young spirit replied as she grabbed fistfuls of Evan''s hair and began to weave them together. The look on her face showed she considered weaving his hair to be more important than whoever that man was.


    [He was an Earth spirit, most likely a high ranked one.]


    Kuro came to the rescue, giving Evan the reply, he was seeking, but leaving him with two more questions.


    ''What would a high rank spirit be doing here? What if he recognized Ka as the Great Spirit of lightning?''


    Kuro wanted to say that there was no way for the earth spirit to realize, but he then remembered the ''Pseudo Authority'' Ka recently disyed and couldn''t be so confident about that anymore.


    While the shadow spirit was lost in his thoughts, Evan had finally stepped into the ''Spider Nest'' dungeon for the first time.


    He looked around to see he was in apletely dark forest, dense with trees he had never seen before.


    The sky was no longer blue, but jet-ck. At the same time, two moons, one yellow and one red, were lighting up the world.


    "You''re finally here, hmph."


    Evan''s eyes shed with a golden light as he ignored the stupid remark from Nodin, cing his hands in his spatial expansion bag and retrieving his gauntlets immediately.


    It was a pair of steel gauntlets with what Evan called a ''dragon'' theme. The steel tes were shaped like the scales of a dragon and the finger tips were shaped like a dragon''s ws.


    He silently put on the gauntlets while locking eyes with Merle who had noticed the same thing he did.


    She nodded towards Evan as a ball of mes lit up in her palm.

 Chapter 71 Spider Nest : Opening Act

    A ball of mes lit up in Merle''s hand and in the next second, something flew towards the quartet from every direction.


    [Spider webs! Master, burn them!]


    Ka took her attention off Evan''s hair and shouted aloud. Following her advice, Evan poured lightning magic power into his gauntlet and fired it out as he pleased.


    The lightning collided with the webs flying towards them, burning the webs to a crisp.


    ''The magic infusion is good.''


    Evan took a step back to analyse the performance of the gauntlets before turning his gaze to the section of the forest that had been set aze by the fire magician, Merle.


    "I''ll go to the front!"


    Nodin seemed to have discovered the enemy''s positions as he charged at a certain direction with his spear in hand.


    Evan followed suit as he spread out his magic power to sense the number of spider monsters moving towards them and their positions.


    "Those are some huge spiders."


    Merlemented as she shot out balls of mes everywhere. It was perfect, except her overly strong mes burned up the trees along with the spiders crawling down from them.


    Not even ashes were left of the spiders, making Evan pity them a bit.


    ''Looking at her face, its obvious she doesn''t exactly get along with spiders, huh?''


    "Merle, can you freely extinguish your fire?"


    "Yeah, I can just withdraw my mana."


    "Then let''s burn up all the trees as we go. That way, we won''t need to worry about ambushes from above!"


    Evan spoke as he formed a knife hand and stabbed his gauntlet into the head of a spider that used its thread like a rope to fly from a tree across him.


    [Weee!!]


    **PZZZTT!


    Followed by Ka''s yful voice, was a bolt of lightning that dropped from above and caused the spider''s head to explode into chunks of charred flesh.


    Its disgusting bodily fluid sshed out in all directions, making Evan regret wearing a whit shirt today.


    As Evan was thinking that, Merle stretched out her arms and sent dozens of ming spears flying.


    Any spiders and trees that were hit by them were burnt up in an instant.


    There was truly no environmental destruction like it. Even an arsonist would bow down to her skills.


    Nodin, who was watching after killing a spider with his shockwave spear attack, gasped.


    "Merle! Three ''clock!"


    A slightlyrger spider charged in from within the mes, ignoring its burnt legs as a single ringed purple magic circle manifested in front of it.


    **GLOP!


    From the magic circle, blobs of a purple liquid that was very obviously poison, shot out in rapid session.


    Their speed was quite fast and even Evan thought Merle would get hit until a ck-haired girl holding a great shield suddenly appeared in front of Merle and mmed her shield into the ground.


    "Protection."


    She called out in a small voice and her shield was covered in a thinyer of white light that spread out to create two illusory shields on both sides.


    **GLOPP!! GLOP!!!


    The two illusory shields served to block the extra globs of poison that three new spiders who burst out of Merle''s mesunched towards the C rank adventurer.


    ''They''re buffed!''


    Evan appraised the spiders and instantly figured out the reason they were able to survive the mes that turned their brethren to ashes.


    Nodin was about to move to help but Ina took action faster than he could.


    "zing D��fense."


    The thinyer of white light on her shield became tinged with red. The next moment, the shield burst into mes and Ina kicked off the ground, sprinting in the direction of the spiders and mmed into them with the ming shield.


    Not wanting to get burnt, the spiders stopped their poison bombardment and scrambled out of the way but they were stopped in their tracks by a certain shadows spirit''s restraints, allowing for Ina''s shield to m into them all at once.


    **BAMMMM!!!


    The strength behind her m sent the spiders flying into the air after the mes on her shield had set them aze.


    *SNAP!


    Ka snapped her small fingers and spears of lightning manifested in the air before shooting towards the airborne spiders.<sub> </sub>


    **BOOMM!!


    The mix of mes and lightning resulted in an explosion sent the spiders to the after life instantly.


    ''This girl, she can activate two skills at once without strain, she''s good.''


    Evan internallymented on Ina''s skill prowess as her elder sister took a deep breath before activating her me summoning skill.


    Two ringed magic circles appeared beside her head, from which small ming lizards with half meter long tails emerged from and rested on her shoulders.


    "Go!"


    She gave amand to her summons and the ming lizards spewed even greater mes from their mouths, making Evan remember a certain me thrower wielding character from an anime about assassins he watched back in his home world.


    ''That guy died in the end though, I hope she doesn''t.''


    Merle''s summons were truly powerful. She was proving the worth of a C rank adventurer.


    No matter where a spider came from, when she stretched her arms out, the me lizards on her shoulders spewed mes and that would be the end.


    There wasn''t much left for the rest of the party to do. The few times that they had to take action was when spiders that were lying hidden underground suddenly popped up.


    The spiders had tough carapaces that were hard to prate with pure strength.


    However, Evan had his fists strengthened with magic power, and Nodin had his shockwave-infused spear techniques.


    The two both had no problem killing the spiders in one blow. Although Evan was ready for a certain amount of risk, it seemed he didn''t need to worry too much.


    For the record, Ina handled defence against the spiders that suddenly came flying from trees while also picking up the magic stones that could be recovered from the charred corpses.


    Merle''s me lizards burned the majority of spiders they came across to a crisp so there were a lot less stones than expected.


    However, since they were here to clear the Dungeon and not to farm money, Evan stayed quiet.


    He recalled the dungeon''s pattern in his mind, preparing himself for the wave of monsters they were going to encounter soon.


    ''I remember that it started with the web shooting spiders, then the poison shooting spiders. Next came those that fired both webs and poison, then the ones that added physical attacks to the mix.


    Following those, were the royal guard spiders that shot out web bullets. The bullets were easy to dodge provided you knew their trajectory.


    There were a little above a dozen waves of level 90 royal guard spiders that moved in groups of three to five.


    The number changed depending on the time of day. Three in the morning or afternoon, then four and five in the evening and night.


    After that, there would be a final trio of royal guards, all which would be level 95. After defeating those, there won''t be any more obstacles before meeting the boss monster.


    I remember its attack patterns so I should be able to dodge its most basic attacks and skills.


    The problem is the mental attack it uses the moment we intrude into its domain. I got potions for this but I''m not sure how effective thy would be.


    If I fall under its clutches, the memory of it would haunt me for life!''


    An hour passed like this as the group stopped to take a rest, only continuing when a they were suddenly attacked by a dozen poison shooting spiders.


    "You are really strong. These monster spiders have hard carapaces that many adventurers your age can only scratch."


    "I''m a lot older than you think though."


    Evan replied to Ina as he opened his palm up and channelled his magic power. His destructive energy circuit red as magic power flowed through it before condensing atop his open palm.


    "Merle, hold on a bit, I wanna do something."


    Merle rose and eyebrow but nodded and gave themand for the m lizards on her shoulders to stop their bombardment of mes.


    Evan utilized his Magic Control skill to infuse mes and lightning into the condensed orb of magic power on his palm while looking around at the area that suddenly turned misty and decided to use this to clear up some of the mist.


    He then pointed it on ground few meters ahead of them and called out in a soft voice.


    "Energy st."


    His destructive energy circuit amplified the effect of the skill as it was grouped under the ''destructive'' category.


    **WOOONGG!!


    ***BOOOOOMMM!!!


    *KIEEEEKKKK!!


    The beam of condensed energy was fired towards the ground, resulting in arge explosion that dispersed some of the mist in the atmosphere.  This was followed by a loud shriek as three spiders emerged from the ground.


    The party took up battle positions as they studied the trio of four-meter-tall spiders that emerged from the ground.


    "Feels like Harry Potter!"

 Chapter 72 Adaptive Evolution To The Rescue

    The spiders, perhaps sensing Merle to have the most energy amongst the quartet and deeming her a greater threat, fired streams of white spider webs like bullets, aimed at her.


    Ina stepped up with shield in hand as she activated her protection skill and attempted to block the web bullets, however, her movements seemed more sluggish than before.


    ''Something''s wrong...''


    **BOOMM!! BOOMM!!


    Before Evan could address his suspicion, the sound of a cannon shell colliding with metal rang out consecutively, surprising Evan as he did not expect such destructive power from a mere spider web bullet!


    Appraising one of the spiders, Evan barely held him self back from cursing out loud.


    |Name- None


    Race- Araneae


    Level- 90


    Existence Level - Silver


    Titles- Spider Queen''s Guard


    ss - Royal Guard


    Health �C C (C-)


    Energy - C (C-)


    Strength �C C- (D+)


    Agility �C C (C-)


    Durability �C C- (D+)


    Intelligence - D- (E+)


    Condition- Buffed, Enraged


    Magic Tiers- Poison Tier 2, Earth Tier 1.


    Skills- Poison Magic (High), Earth Magic (Low), Thread Creation, Web Bullet, Poison Mist.


    Unique Skills- None. |


    ''In what world is that the status of a Level 90?!


    So many skills! Who the hell buffed this thing?!''


    Evan screamed internally as he took note of the spider monster''s various skills and their effects.


    ''Huh? Poison Mist...?''


    |Poison Mist;


    Type: Rare Active Skill


    Effect;


    By mixing the user''s magic power with the ambient magic power, this skill allows the user to release an odorless poison in the form of mist into the atmosphere.


    The Poison''s effects range from nausea to paralysis and in the worst-case scenario, death. |


    The name and effect of the skill sent chills down Evan''s spine as he remembered seeing some mist in the area before he forced the spiders out of the ground with his energy st.


    "Shit! Everyone! Take an antidote now! We''ve been poisoned!"


    ''Ka! Kuro!''


    Evan called out to the young great spirit who responded by activating her newly acquired skill.


    [Electrome!]


    [Shadow Bind!]


    Ka''s Electrome summoned bolts of golden lightning that descended onto the spiders'' bodies while Kuro utilized the spiders'' shadows to hold them in ce to prevent them from moving.


    The moment the bolts of lightning hit the immobile spiders, a rose of mes bloomed on the bodies of the spiders at the point of impact.


    The mes mixed with the lightning, resulting in an elemental reaction that triggered an explosion on the bodies of the three spiders.


    *KIEEEEKKKK!!


    *KIIIEEEEKKKKKK!!!


    The spiders screeched in pain as the ground cracked open, revealing another trio of spiders that shot out streams of white web bullets.


    "Hup!"


    The attacks from the new enemies caused Ina to drop the antidote bottle she was about to drink from and rush forward with her shield, activating two of her skills simultaneously.


    "Protection. zing Defense!"


    **BOOMM!! BOOMM!!


    Her face was a little pale as the effects of the poison had started showing, her physical strength not being enough to avoid getting knocked back by the bombardment of web bullets.


    "Argh!"


    She grunted in pain as she fell to the ground, her grip on her shield loosening, causing the shield to fly out of her hands.


    The sudden appearance of a notification board in front of Evan, caused him to make the decision to dash towards her in the next moment, as Nodin mmed his spear into the ground and released a shockwave that knocked back the two trios of spiders.


    [Die Pests!]<sub> </sub>


    "Fire Magic: Spear of Retribution."


    Ka screamed out as dozens of lightning bolts manifested in the air andunched towards the spiders.


    Simultaneously Merle rose her hand in the air and a giant two-ringed magic circle appeared. A spear of mes emerged from this circle, crashing into the midst of the spiders.


    ***KAAAABOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!


    The explosion, was a matter of course as three of the spiders, having been damaged by Ka''s Electrome perished instantly.


    "Haaaatt!!"


    As for the other three, one had its head pierced by Nodin''s spear as he charged through the mes with a shout.


    Evan reached Ina and opened up his antidote bottle, forcing her to drink the contents while Kuro ran over to her shield and pushed it closer to her hands.


    This small action was only noticed by Merle who worriedly looked in her sister''s direction but had to turn her attention back to the quartet of spiders that came in from various directions the moment after.


    "I-I''m fine, so take care of the spiders!"


    "Got it!"


    Evan replied to Ina as he clenched his fists and charged at one of the giant spiders in charging towards them.


    Nodin was also shooting out shockwaves at the other giant spiders, handling two at the same time. He used his shockwaves to make them lose their footing, taking out two or more of their eight legs before charging forward with his spear and coating it in magic power before swinging it.


    A sh of pure magic power was released from the swung-out spear, going on to slice off the front legs of one of the spiders and leaving a gash on its belly.


    **KIEEEEKKKK!!!


    The spider screeched as it created a magic circle in front of it, intending to fire blobs of poison. Sadly, Merle''s me lizards incinerated it before it couldunch its magic.


    On Evan''s end, he charged toward the spider with Pdin activated, closing the distance instantly as he slid underneath the four-meter-tall creature and sent a lightning infused punch to its belly.


    The force of his punch, with his strength being enhanced by his pdin skill, was enough to lift the spider off the ground temporarily, giving him enough time to charge a small energy st andunch the skill towards the spider''s head.


    **WOOONG!


    He rolled out of the way just in time to avoid the corpse falling on his head, hurriedly standing up to avoid the sharp spider leg that came from above.


    Therge spider screeched at him, perhaps enraged at the death of its brethren but it never got the chance for revenge as Merle''s me lizard set it aze in the next moment.


    Evan pped his palms together and slowly separated them, revealing a small ball of lighting formed in between his palms.


    His destructive energy circuit wildly circted his magic power as he grabbed the ball of lighting and mmed it into the head of the spider.


    ''Shit!''


    Evan cursed internally as the ball of lightning exploded, along with the rest of the spider''s head, causing small chunks of flesh and disgusting fluids to ssh on his face.


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    ''About time.''


    �󡡡󡡡�


    The party finally had the chance to rest as they had exterminated all the groups of spiders that attempted to ambush them from underground.


    Merle, who seemed to be angry that her sister was ''hurt'' by the spiders,manded her me lizards to burn them to ashes as she downed potion after potion to recover her magic power.


    Evan on the other hand relished the feeling of being Level 80 as he punched through the spiders'' heads with lighting infused gauntlets.


    Ka flew around and dropped lightning bolts on the spiders, sometimes paralysing them while asionally turning them to charcoal with her Electrome.


    Nodin disyed a level of mastery in the spear that Evan had to admit was far better than his as the bearded young man sliced and diced the spiders with finesse.


    Eventually, they seeded in exterminating all of the Royal Guards that they came across, going deeper and deeper into the dungeon.


    By this time, three hours had passed making Evan think that they would be meeting the boss of the dungeon soon.


    "Are you sure you''re okay? I saw you give her your antidote."


    Merle asked when the group stopped to rest as she noticed that Evan had not taken an antidote during the earlier battle against the spider royal guards.


    "I''m fine. Let''s just say I''m a bit resilient against poison."


    "If you say so."


    Merle shrugged her shoulders as she went back to checking her little sister''s body all over for any injuries of any sort despite the younger girl saying she was fine.


    Evan on the other hand, turned his attention to the blue notification board that had been floating in front of his face for a while now.


    ''About time you showed your effects.''


    |Adaptive Evolution has been triggered. |


    |High Level Poison resistance has been acquired. |


    |Variation in poison type required to acquireplete Poison Immunity. |


    The newly acquired poison resistance was the reason he did not take the antidote and instead used it on Ina.


    He had already be highly resistant to the poison, as such, he did not see the need for an antidote anymore.


    ''Still gotta be careful though. After all, it''s just resistance, notplete immunity.''


    Evan warned himself as he took a look at his status board to admire his rapidly rising Level.


    ''I fought a bunch of level 90s, it''d be weirder if I didn''t level up. The extra efficiency is very useful too.''

 Chapter 73 Spider Nest: Royal Guards

    The party rested for another ten minutes before setting off once more. This time, they encountered a trio of spider royal guards that were at level 95, making Evan confirm that the details matched with what he remembered from the game.


    ''There''s no doubt about it, the boss monster of this dungeon would be exactly like it was in the game.


    I really didn''t want to fight such a creature but I got no choice, for the sake of my new weapon!''


    Evan hyped himself up as he charged towards one of the spiders that just finished with its barrage of web bullets which were blocked by Ina''s protection skill.


    He kicked the ground and approached it, not intending on giving it time to tilt its body and dodge. He plunged his lightning d gauntlet in the hole where it had shot spider webs earlier.


    When he let the lightning flow, the giant spider trembled and shrieked.


    **KYAAAAAAA!!!!!


    "Eat another one!"


    Using his left hand this time, he punched the monster''s fragile opening before switching back to his right hand.


    Left hand again! Right hand once more!


    When he consecutively punched with his fists, it tried to use its two front legs to strike down at him.


    Although they were fast, Evan could easily dodge them as he had seen the legs'' initial movement. The two legs only hit empty air and dug into the ground with an explosive sound.


    **CLANG!!


    Immediately afterwards, he threw a right cross at one of its front legs. A sound like he had hit a metallic pir rang out.


    While Evan had to clench his teeth to endure the recoil, he had obtained the result he wanted.


    *KIYAAA!"


    "An opening!"


    When it screamed and raised its body half way up, Evan instantly ducked and jumped under it. He then pushed it upwards with his lightning d fists, making it fall on its back.


    [Wow, amazing!]


    Leaving behind Ka''s awestruck shout, he leaped up andnded on its belly. Although it struggled and tried to attack him with its legs, it was in vain.


    He held its carapace on one hand and rained his other hand down like a hammer.


    "Die! You damn pest!"


    Evan''s habit of calling opponents pests resurfaced as he struck down with his fist strengthened with magic power and infused with lightning.


    The spider twitched and let out a bloodcurdling scream as it struggled every time it was hit, but as time went by, its reaction lessened.


    To end it, Evan formed his palm into a knife hand and pierced its belly. With his hand inside it, he let as much lightning flow out as possible.


    **PZZZZZT!


    *KI��!


    The giant spider let out a short scream, then became calm as it dropped its eight legs on the ground.


    [Level Up]


    The notification that appeared afterwards helped Evan confirm that it was dead so he dropped back down to the ground.


    |Skill Acquired|


    |Martial Arts;


    Type: Passive Skill


    This skill allows forbat utilizing physical capabilities and coordination without weapons with the exception of gauntlets or brass knuckles.


    It allows for the user''s body utilization to be quicker and stronger.


    Increases effectiveness of attacks on opponents stronger than the user. |


    ''That was considered martial arts? I was just punching it!''


    Evan couldn''t help but chuckle as he stretched out his fist to punch the small spider that attacked him from the side.


    He snapped his fingers and a spear of lightning manifested mid air before going on to impale the spider on the ground.


    ''My magic control is getting better, I can use simple magic attacks with gestures only now. Sadly, I still have to chant for full blown spells.''


    Evan turned his gaze towards the rest of the party to see how they were faring and was met with the scene of Nodin''s shockwave zing a spider and hitting the ground.


    The two remaining spiders teamed up, as one attacked with its legs and the other attacked from the back by shooting out its webs.


    Ina dashed forward and did her jib as the tank, utilizing her protection skill to shield Nodin and Merle from the web bullets.


    As for the spider attacking with its legs, it suddenly found itself unable to move as Ka used her Electrome skill to blow up its head.


    With a few seconds to concentrate her magic power, Merle chanted out a spell as yellow mes spewed out of the mouths of the twin lizards on her shoulders, setting thest spider aze.


    ''Quite a decent teamy.''


    Evan thought as he dashed towards the burning spider and punched its head with his pdin enhanced fist.


    **BZZTT!!<sub> </sub>


    Lightning flowed to the spider''s head from his gauntlets, causing its body to twitch in pain as it let out a final screech.


    ''Experience points are always wee.''


    "Thesest three were stronger than the previous waves, and we haven''t met the boss yet."


    "Yeah, it seems the boss is far more powerful than expected."


    Nodin replied to Ina''s words as he stabbed his spear into the ground and took out a notepad. He then jotted down the details of the fight to be used as a reference by the guild.


    "They were over level 95, add that to your report."


    Evan spoke to Nodin as he dug through the corpse of the spider he killed earlier for its magic stone. Upon finding the stone, he reflexively tossed it into his inventory without caring for the eyes of the others present.


    ''All that''s left is the boss."


    He ignored Nodin''s questioning gaze and walked up the headless spider corpse and extracted its magic stone.


    "You guys want this?"


    "Ye-"


    "...No, you can keep it. You killed it after all."


    Merle cut off Nodin who was about to speak and downed her magic recovery potion before passing a strength enhancing potion to Ina.


    "Let''s go get the boss, shall we? I don''t want to spend any longer in this ce."


    "I agree with you."


    Evan replied to her as he mmed his fists together. Ina nodded in affirmation, picking up her shield at the same time Nodin put away the notepad and un earthed his spear.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    As they walked further forward, the forest became more and more like a vast in.


    Now one would feelpelled to ask, how could a forest be a in?


    It was simple.


    You just had to put a bunch of spiders in the forest along with Merle. With that, you''ll be able to see the forest be a in with your very eyes. More precisely, the forest would be a field of ash.


    Though there weren''t any spiders left after the three level 95 royal guards, it did not stop Merle from turning the dark forest to ashen ins.


    "Merle, are you fine on magic power?"


    "Yea, light mes like these don''t use up much mana. Impressive, right?"


    "Yeah, it''s impressive."


    "Even so, I''m more impressed by your use of lightning and mes. You also seem to have some sort of restraining skill that immobilizes the enemies, makes things easier for me.


    As for your magic power reserves, I feel like they''reparable to mine."


    "Nahh, I have to get to your level for that to be the case. Mine are currently about two sub-ranks lower.


    Evan off handedly replied to Merle as he downed a magic recovery potion, only to feel an inquisitive gaze on his body in the next moment.


    "What?"


    "I don''t recall telling you any of my stats, why are you so sure that my magic power is two sub ranks higher than yours?"


    Her question caught Evan off guard as he did not expect her to notice that detail.


    ''Shit! I forgot to consider how my knowledge of her abilities would affect behaviour!''


    "Even earlier too, you seemed to know that the spiders had a poison ability that worked without direct contact.


    You also knew they were buffed even though we never came across any spider variations that would have such and ability."


    Merle''s observations were spot on as Evan couldn''t help but apud her in his mind, to think that she was able to take not of all these details in the heat of the battle.


    He decided toe clean and tell her about his skill when she suddenly frowned.


    "It won''t burn."


    "Where? Oh."


    Evan looked ahead and realised what she was speaking about.


    In contrast to the barren surroundings, there was one area of ck trees where her mes could not invade.


    She tried once again using her sun-yellow me, but it was only enough to burn a few branches of the trees. The ck trees were clearly special.


    Suddenly, ck smoke began to rise amongst the trees. It was as if the trees were calling them in.


    ''That''s the boss'' domain. Those trees absorb magic power and send the magic to the boss, burning them is futile.''


    Evan remembered the detail from the game as he spoke to Merle with a serious tone.


    "We should go in. It doesn''t look like we can burn them."

 Chapter 74 Charmed? Or Not?

    The whole party became on guard instantly. Merle used her me summoning skill and summoned two birds of mes that cried out while hovering around her.


    Evan was about toment on them when he suddenly stiffened involuntarily.


    [Evan, that thing isn''t something you can defeat on your own. Work with them, or go all out.]


    Pride''s voice rang out in Evan''s head as he turned his gaze to the forest. The feeling he was getting from whatever was inside there told him that he might have to use the skills he had been restraining himself from using.


    Namely his Blink and Aura sh. Most importantly, he might have to drop the gauntlets and use the Sword of Pride that was sleeping in the crest on the back of his palm.


    He activated his pdin skill, his body bing coated in a thinyer of white light as hemented internally.


    ''Why don''t things always go the way I want?''


    The barren ground around them became dyed in ck. Seeds sprouted up and grew to ck trees in an instant.


    The ck earth continued to expand and approached where they were.


    "It''sing!"


    "Kiyaaaaa!"


    The moment Evan shouted aloud, a deafening shriek rang out from the forest. At the same time, a killing intent sharper than razor des shot out toward the party.


    There was no doubt. The owner of the forest had locked onto them.


    "Everyone, prepare for battle! Ina, protect Merle!"


    Nodin shouted out as he coated his spear with magic power, taking a stance with his gaze trained on the ck forest.


    "Protection!"


    Ina shouted out as two illusory shields formed on either side of her great shield.


    Evan and Nodin stood on guard on the left and right side respectfully when suddenly something flew toward them.


    [It''s poisonous! The spider web is poisonous!]


    "It''s poisonous, be careful everyone!"


    Thanking Kuro for warning him, Evan punched at the spider web and burned it up with lightning. However, not one or two streams of spider webs, but hundreds flew toward them consecutively.


    ''Damn, if collected, there were enough to make several shirts!''


    Merle also created a few balls of mes in mid air, and was freely controlling them to burn up iing spider webs.


    Nodin consecutively shot out light shockwaves and exploded spider webs mid flight. Watching it, Evan suddenly had a thought on how to develop new ways to use my ability as an Spirit contractor.


    ''Ka, can you infuse yourself in my gauntlet?''


    <o>,m [Mmmmm...I can but it seems ufortable!]</o>


    The young great spirit pouted as she refused to enter Evan''s gauntlet, however, she sensed the presence that was rapidly approaching and decided that this as not the best time to be childish.


    [Fine! Master has to praise meter!]


    As she said that, the young great spirit temporarily manifested her physical body before turning into a stream of lightning and entering Evan''s gauntlets.


    Now he did not have to bother actively using lightning magic as Ka could take care of that on her own.


    Evan struck forward with his fist and lightning poured out, burning the iing spider webs too crisp. He then pulled out the pocket sack of mental resistance potions he got the day before and tossed it to Merle after taking one out.


    The red-haired mage reflexively caught the sack and sent a questioning gaze towards Evan.  He sent out another punch and burnt the webs before speaking.


    "The boss has a mental attack that it would unleash at the very beginning, take those so you won''t fall under its clutches."


    Evan popped the bottle in his hand and downed the entire potion instantly before dropping the bottle on the ground and continuing to burn the iing web bullets.


    Merle saw him do this and nodded, deciding to trust him as she opened one of the potions and drank it, giving one to Nodin and Ina.


    "Huh? Why would you drink something so suspicious?!"


    Nodin voiced out a reasonable argument but Evan shot him down instantly with a counter he prepared.


    "If you don''t want to be food for spider babies, tied up in a web as the little spiders eat you up piece by piece every day until you slowly die from the poison in their fangs then I suggest you drink that now!"


    Nodin shivered at Evan''s words but still wanted to refute, but upon sensing the iing presence that was cutting down the trees as it made its way towards them, he decided to give up arguing and drink it.


    By the time all the spider webs had been leisurely taken care of, the trees in a section of the forest suddenly copsed and someone''s voice flowed out from within.


    "Ah, humans. I finally meet you."


    Because the voice was so sweet, Evan stopped moving for an instant.


    Where is this voiceing from? Who''s was it?


    These were questions Evan did not need to ask. As someone who had yed the game Aidos Online, he was very familiar with the owner of that voice.


    It was the Master of the Spider Nest dungeon.


    The Queen of the Spiders.


    An Arachne.<sub> </sub>


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Araneae


    It was the name of the race the spider monsters in the Spider Nest dungeon belonged to.


    In Evan''s home world, the word ''Araneae'', was the scientific name for spiders. Coincidentally, it happened to be the name of a race of spider-based monsters in Aidos.


    They possessed the same abilities that normal spiders had, poison and web creation.


    As monsters, they possessed high levels of magic power and physical strength that allowed them to over power the average human on their level.


    With magic power and sufficient intelligence, these spider monsters were capable of casting deadly magic spells that have been the doom of a great many adventurers.


    When an Araneae evolved even further, their intelligence increased exponentially and they gained the ability to speak thenguage of mankind.


    However, these were just the side benefits, the real benefits from this evolution, were a exponential increase in strength and a high probability of gaining a rare or unique skill.


    The dungeon boss of the ''Spider Nest'', was a monster that had reached this level of evolution.


    It had evolved from a mindless Araneae to an Arachne, a monster that was considered a queen among its species.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    "Come,e to my embrace."


    Hearing that melodious voice, Evan raised his head to look at the owner of the voice.


    From beyond the ck trees, the abdomen of a spider appeared. It was slightly bigger than the giant spider from before at about 5 meters, but on the ce where the spider''s thorax should be, there was something one would not expect to see on a spider.


    "Come, hurry. I will give you everything you desire."


    "A girl��?"


    Nodin quietly whispered.


    Yes, it was a human.


    An extremely beautiful one at that. She had flowing ck hair and a pair of big eyes. The irises which carried a web shape left a deep impression.


    It was a beauty that could not exist in reality. A mystical, illusionary beauty.


    She had the power to grasp people''s attention and not let go. Without wearing any clothes, her seductive figure was hard to describe with words��!


    |Adaptive Evolution has been triggered. |


    |Charm resistance has been acquired. |


    The notification that appeared in front of Evan''s face snapped him out of his daze. He had prepared for this but it seems that the potions were not enough to block the charm skill of the Arachne.


    Also, the fact that Adaptive Evolution was triggered showed just how strong the Arachne''s charm was!


    Thinking that he was about to run into its embrace, he couldn''t help but get goosebumps all over his body.


    Not to mention, the temptation had not ended yet!


    "You damned Pest!!!"


    **CCRACKLEE!!!!


    Evan growled as tendrils of lightning snaked around his fists. His destructive energy circuit wildly circted his magic power as he kicked off the ground, closing the distance between him and the Arachne in a few seconds.


    As Evan arrived in front of the stunned monster, he pulled his fist backward and used body transformation to erge his hand to size limit the gauntlet could take, as well as to harden his muscles.


    [Electrome!]


    Simultaneously, Ka activated her Electrome as golden lightning burst out of the gauntlets.


    **BAMMMM!!!


    **BOOOOMMMMM!!!


    A rose of mes bloomed at the abdomen of the spider where Evan''s fist mmed into it.


    The mes then mixed with the lightning and exploded in the next second along with the force of Evan''s punch sending the five-meter-tall Arachne flying back into the direction of the forest it emerged from.


    "KYAAAAAAA!!!!"


    The monster screamed as it crashed into the magic absorbing trees, shattering the trees and causing some of the broken trees to fall atop its body.


    Looking at his handiwork, Evan took a deep breath and turned around to see Merle giving Nodin a knock on the head.


    "OWWW!!! Huh? W-what happened?!"


    "You got charmed, that''s what."


    Merle calmly replied as she turned her gaze to Ina and made sure thetter was okay before looking back at Evan.


    "You guys were fine?"

 Chapter 75 Spider Nest: Arachne

    "I doubt I would have been normally, but the potion helped. Same with Ina."


    Merle responded to Evan''s question, making him ponder on why only he and Nodin were affected greatly.


    ''If it wasn''t for my Adaptive Evolution, I would have been fucked! Perhaps...?''


    ""...The charm is more effective on men?""


    Evan and Merle voiced out the conclusions they simultaneously arrived at. Before they could address it further, a screech rang out, making them remember that the dungeon boss was still alive and was definitely enraged at them.


    "We''d talk about itter. For Now, Attack."


    Merle spoke as she roused her magic power and began chanting a spell.


    Evan turned his haze to the fallen trees and nodded. The Arachne''s favoured weapon, the ck forest was temporarily restricted as the explosion from Ka''s Electrome and the knockback from his punch, sent the Arachne flying with enough force to shatter a good number of the trees.


    **BOOOMM!!!


    To make sure things stayed that way, Merlemanded the two airborne birds to fly into other areas of the forest and self destruct simultaneously, burning down a good chunk of the forest.


    ''Good, now she can''t absorb out magic power through the trees.''


    The Arachne had the ability to control the ck forest and absorb the magic power contained in any attacks that hit the trees of this forest, however, this was under the condition that it was doing so consciously.


    As Evan had sent it flying into the forest, it was more upied with healing its wounds than absorbing magic power, as such Merle was able to burn the forest with ease.


    The Arachne re-emerged from the forest in a much worse state than its first appearance. One of its legs was missing and green goo wasing out of what should be a hard carapace.


    For the record, Arachne''s bodily fluid sizzled upon contact with the air and rose up as smoke. It was poisonous as well!


    Evan activated his full appraisal to confirm the level and stats of the Arachne before taking any other action.


    |Name- Yaqash


    Race- Araneae (Arachne)


    Level- 110


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- Spider Queen, Boss of ''Spider Nest''


    ss - Queen


    Health �C C


    Energy - D-


    Strength �C C-


    Agility �C C+


    Durability �C D+


    Intelligence �C C-


    Condition- Injured, Furious.


    Magic Tiers- Poison Tier 2, nt Tier 1


    Skills- Leader, Forest Control, Magic Absorption, Thread Creation, Web Bullet, Poison Web.


    Unique Skills- Charm. |


    Seeing the Arachne''s skills, Evan figured out the source of the buffs the spider monsters had, it was the Leader Skill.


    The skill increased the stats of all those who were considered subordinate to the user by one sub rank, making it an effective skill for those who were in the higher ranks in armies.


    It was a skill that Evan very much wanted to have but he doubted he''d be able to acquire, at least from this particr Monster.


    Its stats also showed that it had a high amount of life force, a bit too high for its level.


    [This is obviously not normal. And that energy too! Evan, kill this thing first. We need to talk.]


    Pride''s serious voice rang out in his head, making Evan narrow his eyes in displeasure. He also felt something was wrong but he didn''t have the time to address the issue yet.


    "Human!!"


    The Arachne gaze zeroed in on Evan, screaming as two of the its legs flew towards him. He instinctively knew that if he was hit, he''d die!


    "KIAAAAAKKKK!!"


    What sounded like the singing of a beautiful voice was now nothing more than a monster''s roar. Evan kicked off the ground and charged past the attacking legs, sending a blow towards it upper body.


    "Kiaaak!"


    [Master, let me Help.]


    The moment Ka spoke, she spread out her lightning and expanded it to cover his whole body. He could feel it strengthening his muscles and nerves, allowing him to tell that Ka had at least doubled his overall power.


    From the outside, he looked like he was simply shining, as if he was shooting out lightning from his body.


    To anyone looking at him, he probably looked more like a lightning beast than human.


    [Go Master! Kuro, help Master too!!]


    Ka cheered Evan on while also telling Kuro to help him out. The shadow spirit responded by creating shadowing hands that sprang gup from the ground and held the Arachne''s legs in ce, preventing it from dodging Evan''s iing fist.<sub> </sub>


    Evannded a clean hit on Arachne''s face with his lightning d fist.


    Although it looked like a weak woman''s face from the outside, there was not even a scratch, as expected of a boss.


    In fact, the Arachne screamed and tried to bite down on his fist. At the same time, it raised its two legs to attack him. Thankfully, Nodin was there to stop it.


    "Wavnce!"


    Nodin seemed to have used a powerful technique as the Arachne screamed as her huge eyes trembled.


    Using this opening, he quickly wrapped his legs around its waist.


    Although the Arachne was a monster, it still had the body of a beautiful woman with a sweet scent and soft skin.


    Evan was slightly distracted but his charm resistance kicked in and he clenched his fists, punching the Arachne''s fair face continuously.


    Tactile feeling aside, the Arachne was still a monster!


    Its beautiful looks made him feel like he was doing something inhumane, but he chose to ignore it.


    "KIAAAAAAA!!!"


    "Don''t open your mouth, your spit''s getting on my fist!"


    **PUK! PUK! PUK! PUK!


    After continually pummelling its face with all his strength, the Arachne''s face finally tore up from the heightened impact from Ka''s lightning boost, and poisonous blood began to shoot out.


    However, the lightning enveloping his entire body did not let the poison reach him in the slightest.


    Evan continued to punch the Arachne to do as much damage as he could before his and Ka''s magic power ran out.


    At the same time, just in case he couldn''t finish her off in the time frame, he readied himself to activate his inventory and fish out magic and health recovery potions as fast as he could.


    "HUMA-!!"


    The Arachne seemed frustrated that it was unable to do anything as it wildly shook its upper body''s human arms to attack Evan.


    Although they looked like a frail girl''s arms, the impact they had upon hitting his body was indescribably painful.


    "Guh!"


    Evan coughed up a mouthful of blood onto the spider''s face. He then suddenly felt a wave of weakness assault him as well as a bone chilling energy pouring into his body.


    [GET OFF!! NOW!!]


    Pride''s scream startled Evan a bit as he used thest of his strength to jump of the monster''s body, just in time for Nodin''s spear to stab into its torso.


    ''Tsk...it stole some of my magic power.''


    The Arachne used the magic power it stole from Evan and fired out spider webs crazily from its bottom half.


    The streams of spider webs flying out in all directions then joined into a singlerge stream and attacked Evan and Nodin.


    "zing Defense!"


    Ina the tank came to the rescue as she mmed her ming shield into the ground. She then charged towards the spider that was still unable to move, courtesy of Kuro and mmed the shield of mes onto its body.


    "GYAK!"


    It let out a short scream as it fell back wards, its enormous body crashing onto the ground with enough force to shake the earth.


    [Master, No Magic!]


    Ka shouted out as the lightning that enveloped Evan''s body died out. Simultaneously, he sensed a surge of Magic power from behind him causing him to reflexively turn towards the source.


    Evan was met with the figure of Merle who had taken quite the distance away from them, grinning as beads of sweat dripped down her forehead. A gigantic white three ringed magic circle floated behind making Evan''s eyes widen in surprise.


    ''Tier 3 magic?!''


    He did not have much time to be surprised as a vine suddenly grew from the ground and wrapped around his legs, restraining him just like Kuro did to the Arachne.


    ''nt Magic!''


    The little magic power Evan had left was rapidly drained by the vine, however, he hurriedly pulled out his sword from his inventory and sliced off the vine just in time to prevent himself from bing Magic power deficient.


    "Go! mebourne''s Revenge!"


    Merle cried out at that exact moment, the next, Evan felt something fly past his shoulders like and arrow.


    At the same time, the poisonous spider webs that were attacking him burnt up and disappeared.


    Not only that, a white ball of me that was flying through the air struck Arachne''s body, making it cry out in pain.


    The ball of white mes then reformed into a spear mid air and dropped down towards the Arachne''s body.


    "KIIAAAKKKKK!!!"


    The monster screamed out as dozens of vines sprang up from the ground, going in to wrap around multiple broken trees and tossing them towards the iing ming spear.


    However, Nodin infused magic power in his spear and threw it towards the airborne broken trees.


    "Shockwave!"

 Chapter 76 Spider Nest: Closing Act

    "ShockWave!"


    He activated his skill and the infused magic power was released in the form of a shockwave that not only flung the trees out of the air, but shredded the vines that were moving to pick up more trees.


    "SHIT!"


    Ina cursed for the first time today as she turned around and grabbed Nodin, tossing his body backwards with strength unexpected of someone of her body stature.


    She then mmed her shield into the ground and activated her protection skill at the exact same moment the spear of white mes mmednded on the body of the Arachne.


    ***KAAABBOOOOOMMMM!!!


    The deafening sound of the explosion rang out as a small mushroom cloud rose up into the air. The shockwaves released from the explosion knocked Ina back a bit but she stood strong in front of Evan and Nodin, shielding them from the mes, dust and dirt flying around.


    The explosion reminded Evan about the time he watched a two-storey crumble to the ground once in his home world.


    It took a full minute for the mes of the explosion to die down due to the fact that the magic power sustaining the mes had been exhausted.


    Ina dropped her shield on the floor, her body following suit as she heaved a sigh of exhaustion.


    Evan on the other hand stared at the spot the Arachne was in, he was still doubtful that the monster was dead yet.


    Especially since the bone chilling energy that it forcefully poured into his body was still there. He was about to appraise himself to find out what it was when a series of notifications suddenly popped up in front of him.


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    Evan''s weakened body suddenly felt reinvigorated. He instantly opened his status board and looked through it to see if there were any changes to his stats.


    |Name- Evan Del Eris


    Race-###e# ###s###e#


    Gender - Male


    Age - 11


    Level- 88


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman


    Health �C D+


    Energy �C C-


    Strength �C C-


    Agility �C D+


    Durability �C D+


    Intelligence- D+


    Condition- Magically Deficient, Physically Exhausted, Partially Corrupted.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 1, Lightning Tier 2, Shadow Tier 1


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Martial Arts, Language Comprehension.


    Mimicked Skills-Energy st, Body Transformation, Aura sh, Blink, Inventory, Limit Break.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (1), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction, Vortex. |


    ''Four Unique Skills, huh? I really am a cheat.''


    His eyes darted across the status board and he saw his unique skills that were a bit too many for one person to have.


    He heaved an exhausted sigh as he looked through his stats but didn''t see any changes in their ranks, nevertheless, he could tell that he was closer to getting another stat at the C- rank.


    ''Most likely when I be level 90.''


    The 300% Leveling Efficiency he possessed that let him level up three times as fast as the normal person was evident as he had gained a whole six levels from this fight, despite not being the one who dealt thest blow.


    His gaze turned in the exhausted Merle''s direction as he used his skill on her. The results, were shocking to say the least.


    |Name- Merle


    Race- Human


    Level- 104


    Existence Level - Master


    Titles- C Rank Adventurer


    ss - mebourne Mage


    Health �C D+


    Energy - C+


    Strength �C D+


    Agility �C D+


    Durability �C D+<sub> </sub>


    Intelligence - C


    Condition- Magically Deficient, Magic Circuit Instability.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 2.


    Skills- Fire Magic (Extreme), Magic Control, me Summoning.


    Unique Skills- None. |


    The fact that she had increased in realm of existence left Evan stunned for a bit. Perhaps he stared at her a bit too long but Merle seemed to sense his gaze and gave him a questioning look in response.


    He waved her off and hurriedly opened the system''s Archive to read up information about the Master Level of Existence.


    | Master Level - The level of Master Swordsmen or Great Mages, peak of human limits. Children of some races could be at this level from birth, depends on the parents or the race.


    It ismon among non-human races like dragons, elves, devils, giants etc. Depending on the circumstances, defeating one may require tens of Gold levels or an equally strong Master. |


    Evan skimmed through the important details of the Master level of existence and couldn''t help but wonder what boosted Merle over to that level.


    ''Perhaps, the fact that she utilized Tier 3 magic despite not meeting the level requirement to aplish such a feat.''


    Evan recalled that one had to be at least level 200 to properly use Tier 3 magic without being rendered magically deficient like Merle was currently.


    What''s more was the fact that her Magic circuits were overloaded and were currently unstable, meaning she would be unable to recover her magic power until they had healed up.


    For a mage like her, this was the worst situation possible.


    [Evan.]


    ''Hmmm...?''


    [Are you ignoring this or you really just didn''t notice it?]


    ''Huh?''


    Hearing Pride''s question, Evan looked around trying to understand what she was talking about but he could not see anything wrong.


    The high demon noticed his actions and sighed before telling him to look over the Arachne''s corpse.


    ''Is there Anything Left?''


    He forced himself to his feet and walked over to the spot of the explosion. All he could see were the charred Remains of the Arachne''s abdomen as its upper body was turned to ashes.


    [So she turned it to ash too, huh?]


    ''Turned what?''


    [The thing that allowed the Arachne give you that status effect.]


    Hearing about a status effect, Evan re opened his status board and looked at the condition tab. It was then he finally understood what Pride had been talking about.


    ''Partially Corrupted?''


    He remembered the Arachne trying to forcefully pour some sort of energy into his body, but he had jumped off before she could finish whatever she was trying to do.


    ''What''s this, Pride?''


    [I don''t know, I have an inkling but I''m not sure yet. Give me some time to analyse it.]


    With that, Pride went silent and didn''t answer Evan anymore. He heaved a sigh of exhaustion and walked into what was left of the ck forest, ignoring the looks of surprise Merle was giving him.


    He popped a few health and magic potions, but their efficiency was abysmal as he had consumed a huge amount of them in a short time.


    p ''Gotta wait till tomorrow before i can use them again.''</anda>


    Whilst thinking such things, he arrived at his destination, a hole in the ground in the middle of the forest of ck trees.


    Looking inside, one could see that the hole was the entrance to an underground passage way. It was about 7 meters in diameter, just enough for the five-meter-tall Arachne to crawl out with ease.


    He jumped in without hesitation and used his little magic power to torch the spider webs that covered the underground passageway.


    Walking forward for what felt like ten minutes, he finally arrived at an wide underground room that was about twenty by twenty meters.


    The room was filled with cracked open eggs on one side with each being at least fifty centimetres wide. On the other side was a crate filled with a bunch of weapons and armour that seemed to belong to adventurers who had braved this dungeon before.


    If there was one thing about the ''Spider Nest'' that Evan had not dwelled on, it was the fact that the dungeon was once at another part of Aidos and had had only appeared in the Great Western Empire after it had been cleared a certain number of times.


    It was originally on the Beta continent, but it was cleared multiple times by the adventurers of that continent and it changed locations.


    ''I guess after 99 more clears, the final boss would show up again. I really don''t wanna battle a level 500 ''Spider Nemesis''.''


    Evan got shivers from just remembering the appearance of the monster from the game.


    ''It looked like a pretty girl at first, then it became this fifty-meter-tall huge spider in its second phase!


    Its fangs were dripping with poison that melted my avatar within a minute of battle. I don''t want to battle that thing in reality!''


    He kept on rejecting such a future as he searched through the piles of weapons for a particr sword.


    ''There!''


    Upon discovering it, his expression lit up and he picked up the weapon. It was an obsidian ck one-handed sword with an eighty-centimetre-long de. The hilt of the sword fit perfectly in his palm and when he swung it, he discovered its weight was just right too!''


    |Unforged Vanquisher (The Unforged)


    Type; One handed Sword.


    What was left behind from a once great adventurer who perished at the hands of the ''Spider Nemesis'' Cheisnih.


    This sharp sword can seemingly pierce through anything. When swung, one can almost see the rift it tears in the air.


    Effect;


    Scoring hits on opponents increases overall attack power by 5% for thirty seconds. This effect can be stacked for a maximum of five times. Can only ur once every ten seconds. |

 Chapter 77 The Unforged

    |Unforged Vanquisher (The Unforged)


    Type; One handed Sword.


    What was left behind from a once great adventurer who perished at the hands of the ''Spider Nemesis'' Cheisnih.


    This sharp sword can seemingly pierce through anything. When swung, one can almost see the rift it tears in the air.


    Effect;


    Scoring hits on opponents increases overall attack power by 5% for thirty seconds. This effect can be stacked for a maximum of five times. Can only ur once every ten seconds. |


    It was a weapon that allowed him to increase his overall attack power by 25% if he scored five hits on his opponent.


    Even if the effect had a ten second cooldown, he was more than satisfied to obtain it.


    ''If I yed my cards right, I could upgrade it and increase the duration!''


    Evan was about to jump up in joy when he heard a familiar female voice from behind him.


    "What are you doing?"


    He turned around and was met with the figures of Ina and Merle. The younger sister was helping her older sister whose body was weakened to stand.


    The mbourne mage''s fiery red eyes went from Evan''s shocked face to the weapon in his hands.


    "Where did the weapone fr- Oh."


    She wanted to ask him where he got the sword but upon seeing the pile of weapons behind him, her questions were answered.


    Evan then snapped out of his shock and went back to rummaging through the pile of weapons, tossing out any he considered to be ''shit'' or ''scrap''.


    "Aha! A magic catalyst for a mage like you!"


    He pulled out two magic catalysts and appraised one of them before nodding in affirmation.


    |As of Memories


    Type; Magic catalyst.


    A cloud as containing distant memories. Its endless transformations reveal the power within.


    Effect;


    Elemental damage is increased by 10%, with a chance to deal double damage. |


    It wasn''t as grand as the unforged, but it was still a good weapon nheless. Its appearance reminded him of arge 30cm long dictionary despite its light weight.


    It was blue in colour and had silver rimmed edges.


    He tossed it towards Merle who reflexively caught it. Seeing that, Evan couldn''t help butment.


    "You have really good reflexes, you caught the potions with ease earlier too."


    "Thank you but, what''s this...?"


    "Spoils of war. It''s a magic catalyst that''s better than the one you have now."


    He then tossed the second catalyst alongside the sword into his inventory before speaking to the stunned Merle.


    "Can we leave now, it''s gettingte and I don''t really want to spend more time here.


    If you want to take the rest of the weapons to the guild to sell, i can carry them for you."


    Merle pondered on Evan''s suggestion for a moment before agreeing to it. Evan nodded and picked up the crate, cing it in his inventory the moment after.


    "Shall we leave this disturbing ce, now?"


    Evan asked with a bow, causing the older woman to chuckle a bit before she nodded in affirmation.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Adventurer''s Guild Geto City


    Great Western Empire


    November 5th


    Year 1051


    The trip back to the city was as uneventful as Evan wished, with the party arriving at the city gates just a bit after sunset.


    They made their way to the adventurer''s guild building to submit their dungeon exploration report, along with their spoils of war; namely the crate of weapons Evan discovered.


    However, when they wanted to collect their rewards from the guild, they discovered that the only two people with the qualifications to mark their questplete, the guild master and his vice, were currently out of town.


    "What? We just met him this morning!"


    "Sorry but the guild master didn''t expect you toe back this quickly so he said he would issue the permit when he returns."


    "And when is that if I may ask?"<sub> </sub>


    "Within three to five days. The ce the city lord sent him and the vice guild master to seems to be quite far,"


    Hearing the receptionist''s reply to his question, Evan couldn''t help but let out a voice of surprise.


    "The city lord can do that?"


    "Provided the adventurer''s guild is an organization upyingnd in his territory, yes he can send the guild master on errands provided it is in rtion to the city''s well being."


    Merle narrowed her eyes in displeasure upon hearing the receptionist''s reply, however, there was nothing she could do as even she did not know where the guild master went to.


    "What about the weapons, can we sell them?"


    "Oh! Yes, you can. We can get them appraised and you should have the results earliest by tomorrow morning,test by next tomorrow morning.


    After that we can begin the negotiations to select suitable prices for each of the weapons. As there are quite a lot, I suggest you keep your entire day open for this."


    The receptionist''s gloomy face brightened up at the thought of the guild acquiring good weapons and armour in bulk. As for their origin, she could not care less.


    Seeing her honest reaction made Evan break out intoughter as he waved her off and turned to Merle.


    "So, we meet here in the morning two dayster?"


    "Yes. It was good working with you."


    "I could say the same."


    The two exchanged parting words and Merle went back to Ina and Nodin while Evan went back to his inn to take a bath and sleep!


    �󡡡󡡡�


    While Evan was thinking about how he would sleep for at least a day, a battle was unfolding between two beings in another part of the continent.


    **SWISH!!


    A great sword cleaved through the air with enough force to split a full-grown human in two, nevertheless, its intended target only heaved a sigh of disappointment as he casually dodged the de.


    The force generated by the sh went on to smash the trees behind him into pieces. He attempted to turn his gaze towards the broken trees and was about toment but his assant refused to let him as a thin rapier came piercing through the air.


    He rose his hand and grabbed the de of the rapier with his bare left hand before pulling it closer to himself, along with its wielder.


    "Huh?"


    A stunned voice rang out as the wielder of the rapier was pulled along with the weapon, courtesy of the man''s enormous physical strength.


    He clenched his right fist and threw out a punch towards the stomach of the rapier''s wielder.


    **BAMMM!!!


    Unlike the great sword sh earlier, his punch hit its intended target, forcing them to lose their grip on their weapon and even sending them flying in the air.


    Despite being the one dishing out the attack, the man sensed something wrong and looked at his fist.


    He could see a bruise on his fist and even felt like one of his fingerbones was broken.


    "Tsk...I ended up using it in the end."


    The feminine voice he heard made him turn his golden eyes in the direction of the speaker.


    In front of him was the person whose torso he just punched, a girl standing at 170 cm who had her ck hair tied into a ponytail on the right side of her head using a gold-colored crown-shaped hair essory.


    She had dark gray irises with a glowing crest within each of them.


    Perhaps reflecting her tomboyish lifestyle and energetic personality, her outfit consisted of a yellow hoodie and pants, a ck tank top, red socks and white running shoes.


    Strapped to her back, was a one-handed sword that waspletely mismatched with what she was wearing.


    She cracked her neck as she stared at the man in front of her who was still alternating his gaze between her and his fist.


    "Why so surprised? You said you wanted to know what my ''power'' was, right? Ain''t no way I''m telling you for free.


    Either you give me the information I want or you figure it out for yourself."


    As she spoke, she unstrapped the sword from her back and pulled out the de from its sheath. It had the appearance of a ceremonial de with intricate designs and ornaments all over it.


    In no way did it look like it was suitable to use in a fight against someone, much less an opponent obviously more powerful than its wielder but the girl only gave a fearless grin while tightening her grip around this weapon.


    She studied the man who was still holding up his now healed fist and couldn''t help but heave a sigh of disappointment.


    He was a tall, attractive man with lightly tanned skin and a muscr build. He had golden eyes and very long, purple hair tied in a ponytail.


    Donning a red shirt atop a pair of ck jeans with a cardigan over it, his current appearance suited all her tastes to a ''T''.


    ''So this is the ''Strongest Human''. Pity he''s a jackass though.''


    She thought this as she kicked off the ground and dashed towards him with her sword raised high.


    Upon seeing the girl fearlessly dashing towards him, the man revealed a satisfied grin as he thought to himself.


    ''Show me your power, Oh ''Third''.''

 Chapter 78 Two Days Later

    Telltale Inn, Geto City


    Great Western Empire


    November 7th


    Year 1051


    |Name- Evan Del Eris


    Race-###e# ###s###e#


    Gender - Male


    Age - 11


    Level- 80 (88)


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman


    Health �C D (D+)


    Energy �C D+ (C-)


    Strength �C D+ (C-)


    Agility �C D (D+)


    Durability �C D (D+)


    Intelligence- D (D+)


    Condition- Corruption (30%).


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 1, Lightning Tier 2, Shadow Tier 1


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Martial Arts, Language Comprehension.


    Mimicked Skills-Energy st, Body Transformation, Aura sh, Blink, Inventory, Limit Break.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (1), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction, Vortex. |


    Moonlight seeped into the room through the gaps in the windows as Evan stared at his status in silence for a moment before closing it and deciding that he was still dreaming.


    Heid back on his bed and covered himself with his nket, drifting into sleep for few more hours, however, when he woke up at daybreak and looked at his status once more, the result was even worse.


    |Name- Evan Del Eris


    Race-###e# ###s###e#


    Gender - Male


    Age - 11


    Level- 78 (88)


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman


    Health �C D- (D+)


    Energy �C D (C-)


    Strength �C D+ (C-)


    Agility �C D (D+)


    Durability �C D (D+)


    Intelligence- D (D+)


    Condition- Corruption (32%).


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 1, Lightning Tier 2, Shadow Tier 1 (Sealed)


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Martial Arts, Language Comprehension.


    Mimicked Skills-Energy st, Body Transformation, Aura sh, Blink, Inventory, Limit Break.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (1), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction, Vortex. |


    "I''m not dreaming, neither am I in a illusion...I actually got weaker."


    Ka who was asleep on Evan''s head woke up with a yawn. She then turned her gaze to Evan''s status board and eximed.


    [Hmm...?? Master got weaker!]


    Evan did not bother to think about how Ka could see his status board. He suddenly felt strength leave his body and saw the corruption percentage increase by 1%.


    "What the hell is this?!!!"


    If there wasn''t some level of sound proofing in the inn he was lodging in, then the whole building would have definitely heard his scream just now.


    [Calm down Evan, I can resolve this for you.]


    The voice of the ancient high demon, Pride, rang out in his head, telling him to calm down but that was simply impossible for the current Evan.


    The status effect he was receiving was something he had no knowledge of, not from the game, not from the system archive and not from the memories of the previous hero he possessed.


    He knew of something simr belonging to a certain dead ''Demon king''s right-hand man'', but even that did not weaken the user by this much.


    Neither did it mess with his mind like it was doing right now.


    Naturally, there was no way that Evan would calm down so easily.


    Not until Pride manifested her physical body and smacked the shit out of him.


    **CCRACKLEE!!!


    [You hit Master!!]


    Ka growled in anger as tendrils of lightning burst out of her body. Spears of lightning manifested all around her and she motioned for them to attack Pride.


    However, before she could, Kuro leaped out of Evan''s shadow and restrained her before scolding the young great spirit.


    [Forgive me for this mydy but that would be most unwise.]<sub> </sub>


    Before Ka could push him off, a wave of darkness spread out from his shadow and wrapped around the bodies of all the people present in the room.


    Their sights darkened and their bodies sank into the ground, swallowed by the darkness.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Outskirts of Geto City


    Great Western Empire


    November 7th


    Year 1051


    In the area right outside the cave that once served as the base for the Mountain Bandits gang, a pool of darkness spread out from the shadow of an enormously tall tree that towered over others in the area.


    Four beings emerged from this darkness, a quartet consisting of a high demon, two spirts and a young human looking boy.


    "Huh?"


    Evan let out a surprised voice as he lost his bnce and fell to the floor. He felt pain searing through his right cheek as he tried to understand what was currently urring.


    "I ...was in my room..."


    "And your spirit pet brought us here."


    Hearing Pride''s voice, he looked up to see the ancient high demon looking down on him. To her left, he could see an obviously enraged Ka being held down by Kuro who seemed to be losing strength rapidly.


    "What''s going on...?"


    [Master?!]


    Ka''s expression brightened up as she heard his voice, her body glowing with golden light as her form morphed into that of a 50 cm tall golden wolf.


    She then used herrger size to instantly overpower Kuro and push him off her. Wrapping her tail around his body, she flung him to the side and pounced on Evan''s body.


    [Master! You''re fine right?!]


    Evan who was still lost on what was happening was unable to stop the wolf from pouncing on him and sending him back to the ground.


    Meanwhile, Pride was staring at Evan with narrowed eyes as she tried to understand the cause of his current listlessness.


    ''Even earlier, he seemed like he was about to have a panic attack. Even if he was stunned from his level reducing, his reaction was still too weird. Perhaps...?''


    Upon arriving at a conclusion, Pride enhanced her body with magic power and grabbed Ka''s wolf form by the tail.


    "Get off him for a moment."


    She pulled the spirit off Evan''s body and flung her to the side. She then went on to pull up Evan''s shirt to see if her suspicions were true.


    "As I thought..."


    [What are you doing to Master?!]


    "helping him."


    [Get of-Huh?]


    Even Ka who had climbed onto Pride''s back and was about to bite her neck using the wolf form''s sharp jaws couldn''t help but let out a surprised voice.


    Her eyes caught sight of a purplish red mark that was visibly spreading across his torso.


    Pride paid Ka no mind and coated her palm with a simrly coloured me, she then ced her palm on Evan''s stomach and chanted one word.


    "Absorb."


    The purplish red blight that was spreading across Evan''s torso, began receding towards her hand, surprising Ka who was watching the entire process with widened eyes.


    "And... done."


    The blight was sucked into Pride''s body through her palm on Evan''s torso. The moment it disappeared, Evan jerked up and the light of life returned to his eyes.


    "What the fuck is going on here?"


    Hearing the question that would only be asked by the ''normal'' Evan, Pride let out a small chuckle as she replied.


    "You were losing your shit, in more ways than one."


    [Master?]


    "Huh? Ka? Why are you a wolf?"


    The young great spirit was about to reply to Evan''s question but Pride cut her off and told Evan to check his status board.


    He looked at his status and saw that everything was normal, it was at this point that the memories of the earlier events that led to the current situation came pouring back into his mind.


    "The corruption is gone..."


    "Yes, it is gone from your body."


    Evan looked up and saw a purplish red ball hovering above Pride''s palm that was coated in simrly coloured mes.


    "That''s the corruption, right?"


    "Yep. It was a pathetic imitation of something I am quite familiar with. Nevertheless, the current you who is not even a Master level existence is very susceptible to it.


    "I have an idea but I''m gonna ask either way. What is it?"


    "Demonic energy."


    Pride''s reply was expected but Evan couldn''t help but feel a bit of shock upon hearing it. Pride allowed him to take the reality in as she crushed the orb of demonic energy in her palm.


    After this, she turned her gaze in the direction of Kuro who silently crawled back into Evan''s shadow and thought that the young spirit needed a bit of rest.


    ''Teleporting all of us from that city to the middle of this forest in one trip must have taken a lot out of him. He even had to take that lightning brat who was actively resisting the teleportation too.''


    She shook her head to get those thoughts out of her mon before turning back to Evan and saying with a serious voice.


    "Evan, the demonic energy that corrupted you. It came from Geto City."


    "What?"


    "To begin with, just what do you know about Demonic Energy?"


    Hearing Pride''s question, Evan summarised all the knowledge of demonic energy he possessed and told it to Pride.


    Energy in general, can be called the strength and vitality required for sustained physical, mental or supernatural activity.


    Demonic energy, on the other hand, a powerful source of energy but some form of malevolent traits. It was an energy source that worked in the same way that mana or magic power did.


    In some ways, demonic energy can be called the magic power of demonic creatures.

 Chapter 79 Meeting Baron Geto

    "That analogy is correct to an extent.


    The same way this world, Aidos, had magic power existing within nature and in the bodies of its denizens, is the same way that demonic energy exists within nature in the demon world."


    Pride held up her palm and a small ck me lit up atop it.


    "Demonic energy is a special type of energy, apart from the regr Physical Energy that permeates throughout the entire demon world. It is the building block of all magical/demonic life.


    The ability to manipte it, is something that all demons, regardless of rank, are born with.


    Even if a demon is a ''Straga'' type that possesses no magic power, they are still able to use demonic energy."


    "So, all demons can use demonic energy, huh?"


    "Yes. Most of us possess the ability to also use magic power just like the mankind of this world. After all, the demon world is filled with high concentrations of magic power too.


    As the ability to manipte energy efficiently is second nature to us, almost all demons who have the ability to use magic power, use it alongside demonic energy.


    Those who don''t, simply refuse to do so willingly."


    The small ck me that was in Pride''s hand suddenly increased in size and intensity, emitting an amount of heat that Evan did not expect toe out of a palm sized ball of me.


    He wiped his sweat as he stared at the me with his mystic eyes, trying to understand its structure and to see if he could mimic it.


    "You can."


    Perhaps reading his thoughts that were writing all over his face, Pride spoke as she created three more balls of mes and began juggling all four of them.


    "Mimicry of demonic energy is possible with magic power. Magic power is a pure form of energy that can be infused with any attribute, allowing those who manipte it to use a myriad of elemental attributes with ease.


    That is the reason that many demons take a liking to magic power and use it even more than the demonic energy they can inherently use.


    Using magic power also allows us demons to circumvent our weakness to holy attributed magic power or divinity."


    The high demon dissolved all the balls of demonic energy as she decided to reveal something she had kept hidden from Evan.


    "The reason I told you toy low in this city, was because there was something brewing here that disturbed me."


    Pointing to the half-destroyed cave behind her, she continued.


    "The third leader of that group of piging humans I fought over there possessed this pathetic disgusting imitation of demonic energy. It corrupted him and turned him into a mindless monster that absorbed all his subordinates into himself."


    From the way she spoke, Evan could tell that Pride really disdained the notion of imitating demonic energy with magic power.


    "Not fully though, it''s okay of the imitation is nicely done, but when its improper and iplete, it irks me.


    In this case however, it was left iplete on purpose. The aim was most likely to increase the damage it was dealing to your body.


    How it remained hidden from me is the problem I still haven''t figured out."


    Evan ran his hand through Ka''s wolf fur as he digested the information that Pride was giving him. His thoughts then drifted over to the Arachne he fought two days ago in the ''Spider Nest'' Dungeon.


    "The Arachne was the one that put that demonic energy in my body, right? I recall the feeling of it pouring something into my body while I was pummelling its head."


    "Yes. That''s exactly why it disturbs me. Two sources of iplete imitations of demonic energy appearing in the same area at the same time.


    Not to mention the abnormal stats of the Arachne and its charm ability that more potent on you than it was on the others you partied up with."


    "Huh?"


    "Don''t you think it was weird?


    That ''Evolution'' ability of yours triggered after you had been inhaling the poison for an extended period of time.


    But it triggered once again not more than 10 seconds after you were charmed. What does that say about the amount of charm magic directed at you?"


    "Wasn''t that because charm was more effective on men?"


    "That''s what I thought too, until the Arachne poured demonic energy into your body, that is."


    "So, you''re saying that something or someone is targeting me for some reason?"


    "While I''m not so sure, there is a high probability.


    Another thing that I noticed was the fact that majority of this city''s strongest adventurers were all partially corrupted by the demonic energy imitation to a certain degree.


    Ah, except that human mage you worked with.


    The Knights that serve the baron are also corrupted, even more so than the adventurers.


    If the adventurers were only 10% corrupted then the knights'' corruption is above 50%."


    ''It''s probably even possible for the one corrupting them to control them to a certain extent...''<sub> </sub>


    Evan clicked his tongue in annoyance upon hearing Pride''s reply. While it sounded like a far fetched, it didn''t change the fact that he indeed felt it was suspicious.


    He looked at the rising sun and spoke to Pride.


    "What do you suggest I do?"


    "The moment you collect your rewards for the dungeon exploration, leave this city and go somewhere else."


    "What about the people in this city? The adventurers affected by the demonic energy?"


    Hearing Evan''s question, Pride gave him a look that showed she could notprehend why he was asking about them.


    "In case you have forgotten this, I am a demon. One who cares not for the lives of random humans who would end up dead with the next few decades.


    The only reason I care about your well being, is simply because you are my best bet to ensuring my revenge against the one caused me to be reduced to this sorry state."


    Pride''s words did indeed serve as a reminder to Evan. It reminded him of the decision he made when he just came to Aidos.


    That besides the seven heroes and the other major figures who would be important to repel the demon armies, he would not give a shit about others.


    ''However, it''s simply impossible for my mindset to change so easily.


    I did say that multiple times as some kind of self-hypnosis but it doesn''t seem to have stuck yet...''


    Heughed depreciatingly to himself before standing up from the ground and making a decision.


    ''I probably can''t do anything about it now since I''m not strong enough yet, but I''d try toe back here and find out exactly what in that city is the source of the demonic energy and see if I can do something about it.


    It could even be the Demonic Hand who''re responsible, in that case it''d be wiser to leave ande backter when I''m stronger.''


    Like so, Evan returned to the inn and packed his stuff into his inventory. He then went to the adventurer''s guild building to meet up with Merle and the others as per their agreement.


    As it was still early in the morning, the guild building was filled with dozens of adventurers who were still trying to select suitable quests to take and a lot more who were just returning from their previously taken quests.


    Evan walked up to the receptionist and informed her of the reason he was here, he was then informed that there was someone who wished to meet with Evan and the rest of the dungeon exploration team.


    He was told that Merle and her party members were already present so he just had to go up and join them.


    Deciding that I couldn''t hurt to meet with whoever that was, he followed the receptionist up the stairs and to one of the meeting rooms on the second floor of the guild building.


    "Ah, i forgot to ask. Just who is it that wishes to meet with us?"


    "Hmm...Oh, it''s the lord of the city. Baron Geto himself. Be polite."


    The receptionist replied as she opened the door of the meeting room. Inside, Evan could see two couches opposite each other with a small ss table in between.


    On the couch on the left, he could see three familiar faces. They were the ones he had partied with to explore the Spider Nest a few days ago.


    On the right, he could see another man who he had never seen before in his life. He looked like a man of average height and slender build with short, messy red hair and nted pink eyes.


    He had e scars on his nose and cheeks and was dressed in a formal knight''s uniform.


    That man, was obviously Baron Geto.


    However, uponying eyes upon him, Evan felt something different. Something ominous...


    As the number one ranker of Aidos online, he made an assumption.


    [Master!]


    The young great spirit''s cry affirmed his thoughts.


    [Evan...!]


    The voice of the high demon Pride confirmed his suspicion.


    The memories of the previous ''Second'' of the ''Seven Heroes'' he possessed, verified his conjecture.


    His title as a ''Hero'' validated his uncertainty.


    The fearless grin that the Baron suddenly revealed cleared all of his doubts.


    There was no mistaking it.


    The man seated in front of Evan was one of ''them''.


    He was one of the invaders that Artemisia sent him to deal with.


    A demon.

 Chapter 80 The Consequences Of Ones Actions

    The moment Evan locked gazes with ''Baron Geto'', his entire body screamed at him.


    It told him that the man seated before him, was apletely different kind of existence. One that should not be in the world of Aidos at all.


    As ''Baron Geto'' saw Evan''s shocked expression, he revealed a fearless grin in response, clearing all of Evan''s doubts.


    ''Baron Geto'', was a demon.


    To be precise, the real ''Baron Geto'' had long since perished and a demon was currently masquerading as him.


    Evan''s brain recalled that the current baron had seeded his father after a bloody session battle.


    Perhaps it was then.


    It was at that time that the demon took over.


    [Evan...!]


    Whenever it was, Evan did not have the time for that right now.


    He needed to warn Merle and the others, especially as Merle still hadn''t fully recovered from overloading her magic circuits.


    As if by reflex, he ced his left hand in his inventory and pulled out the unforged. In his right hand, he summoned the sword of Pride, Vanitas.


    However, his opponent wasn''t one to let him prepare arm himselfpletely.


    "Did you know? More than half of Geto''s C rank adventurers are currently in this building. I wonder what would happen if I were to blow it up?"


    The words he suddenly spoke left Merle and the other two members of the MIN Triad stunned. However, this was not the time for them to be staring at Baron Geto nkly.


    Evan kicked off the ground and dashed towards the demon in human skin with his swords raised high.


    "Let''s find out, shall we?"


    "Merl-!"


    **TINGGGGG!!!!


    Evan could notplete his statement.


    His vision suddenly went white as he heard a loud ringing sound in his head.


    **KAAABOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!


    �󡡡󡡡�


    To the adventurers of Geto City, it was another day of work. epting quests and takingmissions like always.


    Some were even having breakfast in the guild building, while others were catching up after having not seen each other in a while.


    The 7th of November, Year 1051, was a normal morning.


    And that was precisely why none of them expected it.


    None of them could have possibly counted for the possibility, that a demon from another world, would suddenly blow up the entire building.


    **KAAABOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!


    There was a bright sh of white light as the entire adventurer''s guild building suddenly went up in mes.


    Screams rang out as the force of the explosion affected the nearby buildings. The normal citizens who had no rtion to the adventurer''s guild screamed out in fear as they ran for safety.


    In the middle of wrecked building that was suddenly burning to ash, a single individual dressed in a knight''s uniform stood.


    His body was suddenly engulfed by a wave of darkness.


    When the darkness receded, his knight uniform had been changed to a pitch-ck full body armour. In his right hand was a fairlyrge one-handed sword that he swung around randomly.


    Shrugging his shoulders, a pair of brown bat-like wings with a wingspan of about four meters emerged from his back.


    pping them lightly, his body levitated from the ground and floated into the air.


    He looked down on the city below him, at the humans and beastkin running for safety. At the adventurers who were rushing towards what was left of the guild building to assess the situation.


    ''Good thing I sent out the guild master beforehand. He was the only one who would have been able to defeat me.''


    Thinking of the ns that he had made for this day, he couldn''t help but heave a sigh of exasperation at how much stress he went through.


    ''When I saw him and saw his title, I was scared shitless. But I realized that he was just a brat who was still weak, so I made sure he would go on thatmission alone and corrupted the leader of those bandits.


    Somehow, he survived.


    Next, I manipted the dungeon boss, even gave it some of my power to make it stronger and had it corrupt him.


    However, he was able to get rid of the corruption somehow and the empowered dungeon boss only served to make him stronger.


    In the end, I decided to do things the old way.


    All these scheming and conspiring doesn''t really suit me. It would have been better if I just waltzed up to him and beheaded him the moment that I saw him.


    I couldn''t have cared about the consequences, after all I was done with my mission here already.


    However, I ended up wasting time and giving away a part of my power, all for naught.''


    He gazed downwards, at the adventurers who had finally taken notice of him floating in the air and had attempted to use long range attacks against him.


    "Fools."


    He rose his free left hand and pointed it at them.<sub> </sub>


    "Burn."


    And so they did.


    "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"


    "HELLPPPPPMMEEEE!!!!"


    "IT HURTHS!!"


    The adventurers screamed around as they burnt to their deaths but he paid it no mind. His gaze went towards the wreckage of the guild building as he thought to himself.


    ''He''s not dead.


    I''m sure of it. Something protected him at thest moment. Something from his shadow.''


    **BOOMM!!!


    He was about to descend towards the wreckage when a sudden explosion caught his attention. He turned his gaze in the direction he heard ite from and was met with a quite unbelievable scene.


    "She''s ...unscathed?"


    The cause of the explosion, was the young woman who was gazing up at him with piercing red eyes.


    The young woman who looked no more than eighteen years old had released a burst of magic power, clearing all the wreckage in the area around her.


    She flicked her fingers and a jet-ck sword appeared in her hands, it had red lines running through it like veins and emitted a familiar dark mist that he could not mistake even in a thousand years.


    "Demonic energy...? And it''s very potent, way too potent to be an imitation with magic power. In other words, a genuine bona fide demon.


    That sword is also the one the brat was holding, so I take it that she''s hostile.


    As such, I move with the intent to kill."


    As soon as he said that to himself, he pped his wings to propel himself in her direction with his sword raised high.


    Perhaps sensing his intention to battle, the unidentified demon rose her weapon and kicked off the ground and into the air.


    **SWISH! CLANGG!!!


    In the middle of the wreckage of the Geto city''s adventurer''s guild building, the sound of des shing signified the beginning of a battle between two demons.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Evan saw himself in a broken world.


    An Exploding sun.


    A broken moon.


    And earth shattered beyond repair.


    With a sword in hand, he sat down on a hill of corpses as he gazed at this apocalyptic scenery.


    "Beautiful, isn''t it?"


    A sonorous voice rang out from behind him. He tried to turn around but he found out that he could not.


    "I would love for you to admire this scenery with me. Sadly, you aren''t meant to be here."


    "Then where am I meant to be?"


    "You don''t need me to tell you that, do you?


    The Prideful one is risking her life to give you a chance to recover, don''t let it go to waste."


    Right after he heard those words, his vision darkened as his consciousness faded.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Evan opened his eyes as, feeling pain all over his body. He felt something force its way through his lips and he felt a liquid go down his throat.


    His eyes widened to see the sight of a crying ck haired little girl, forcing him to drink what he believed was a healing potion.


    [Master!]


    The familiar voice rang out as she tossed the bottle aside and pulled out another bottle, forcing its contents down his throat as he felt his energy wildly circting through his body.


    "Cough!...cough!!"


    Evan coughed out loudly as he forced himself to sit up.


    He gazed at the scenery of destruction around his with a deep frown on his face.


    ''Would all this not have happened if I simply refused to meet him?''


    He patted the head of the injured spirit who was clinging to him while in tears and he forced himself to his feet.


    His eyes caught a burnt-up corpse not too far from where he was, turning in another direction he saw the figure of a nameless adventurer who was impaled by a broken beam that fell on him.


    Behind him was the severed upper body of the adventurer he saw eating breakfast in the guild hall just before he spoke to the receptionist.


    He was sure that they were many more adventurers who were just going about their day like normal, normal citizens who hade to the guild to postmissions or see off their loved ones who were going on long trips.


    ''What if I had just left immediately? He wouldn''t have done this, right? So many people would not have died for no reason.''

 Chapter 81 Regaining Resolve

    ''What if I had just left immediately? He wouldn''t have done this, right? So many people would not have died for no reason.''


    Evan asked himself these questions but he didn''t expect an answer.


    This was just his brain trying to distract him from all the death and destruction around him. A scenery he had only seen in games or movies.


    He was currently in said scenery, and was obviously at a loss on how to move forward.


    His feet were rooted to the ground and he couldn''t help but begin to feel fear from the depths of his heart.


    Wasn''t something like this, one of the reasons he dreadeding to Aidos?


    Another question came to his mind the moment after.


    Didn''t hee to Aidos to fight demons?


    Why was he cowering at the sight of the destruction a single demon could cause?


    If so, how was he going to survive against the hordes of them that would soone pouring through the dimensional rift soon?


    The rational part of his mind told him to run.


    It told him that defeating that demon was an impossible feat for the current him to achieve alone.


    [Master! Please help her!


    She said she couldn''t beat him, that you should help her!]


    Ka''s pleading voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Nevertheless, the thoughts of fleeing didn''t seem to want to leave his mind.


    He knew who the ''Her'', Ka was talking about was.


    If even ''she'', someone with hundreds of years of fighting experience under her belt, someone who had seen more carnage and destruction than he could ever hope to see couldn''t bet that demon, then wasn''t that more of a reason to run away?


    He was only a normal kid just a year ago. A normal kid who only wanted to drink his favourite strawberry juice y video games all day in his room.


    How could he suddenly try to defeat a creature that didn''t even think twice about murdering innocent people who had no rtion to his goal, just because he could?


    He realized that only survived now because Kuro had put his life on the line to save his ass. That was the reason Kuro was currently out ofmission and was recovering in his shadow.


    |Adaptive Evolution has been triggered. |


    |Fear resistance has been acquired. |


    The blue board that suddenly appeared in front of him caused his mind to clear up a bit. His fear was still there, it was still dominating his mind, but his mind wasn''t clouded by it anymore.


    ''So what if I run away?


    Wont I just be postponing the inevitable?


    If he defeats Pride andes after me, what would i do?


    I can''t defeat him alone, that impossible for the current me.


    So I should do so now when he has most likely expended energy from battling Pride.


    Yes, this is my best chance at beating him.''


    The moment he arrived at that conclusion he stuck his hand into his inventory and grabbed as many potions as he could.


    Strength potions, health positions, magic amplification potions, energy recovery potions.


    He didn''t care about their effects, he just drank them all and tossed the bottles on the ground.


    His body felt hot, his head felt dizzy but he bit down on his inner cheek to keep himself conscious.


    Fallen on the floor a few meters in front of him was his newly acquired sword.


    The Unforged.


    He walked forward and picked his sword off the ground.


    Infusing the sword with magic power, his took faster steps, and then he broke into a sprint.


    His destination was the one ce where he could hear sounds of battle from.


    Upon getting closer, he could see shes of light flying around as the two demons shed des and exchanged blows at a speed he could barely perceive.


    **BOOOOMMMM!!!!


    A bone chilling energy filed the air, an energy he recognized as demonic energy.


    Tornadoes of ck mes swirled around the scene of the battle, asionally shooting out wind des that were always countered by ck shes of aura.


    Evan activated his concealment skill and gazed at the two demons fighting. Although it looked like an evenly matched fight, he knew fully well that Pride would most likely soon be overwhelmed by the level difference.


    ''Provided she doesn''t use her skills, that is.''


    He activated his pdin to boost his base parameters and managed to catch a glimpse of the figure in ck armour.


    The moment he did, he activated his Full appraisal on him.


    |Name- Xakon Ilmoth


    Race- Scout Demon


    Gender - Male


    Age - 50


    Level- 125 (140)


    Existence Level - Master


    Titles- Baron of the Great Western Empire, Scout of the 4th Demon Army, Member of Intelligence division.<sub> </sub>


    ss - Combat Scout


    Health �C C+


    Energy - C


    Strength �C C-


    Agility �C C+


    Durability �C D (C-)


    Intelligence �C D (C-)


    Condition- Slightly Amused.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 2, Ice Tier 2.


    Skills- Prying Eyes, Fire Magic (High), Ice Magic (High), Swordsmanship (Mid), Cutting Edge.


    Unique Skills- Detonation, Shapeshifting. |


    As soon as he received the appraisal results, Evan began analysing all of the demon, Xakon''s skills.


    The Prying eyes skill was a skill simr to Evan''s full appraisal, it let the user view the status of its target and was very effective in bypassing concealment magic.


    His three other skills were self exnatory, with hisst skill, Cutting edge, being a skill that granted the user the ability to gather air to give an extra cutting edge to a ded weapon upon attacking.


    As for his unique skills, Detonation was probably what he used to blow up the adventurer''s guild building instantly.


    Shapeshifting on the other hand, was very obviously what he used to impersonate the probably already deceased ''Baron Geto''.


    He was able to use two attributes and although his level was far higher than what Evan could take, he seemed to be missing a few levels, hence the reason why two of his stats were a few sub ranks below what they normally were.


    Nevertheless, this was good news for Evan as the demon was not at full power.


    ''Okay, I''m going all out from the beginning. I''d leave limit break for the final act, just when I know I can end him for sure.''


    He took a thrusting stance with the unforged and zoned out from the world around him. Magic power began swirling around the tip of his sword as he pulled his sword arm backwards.


    Raising his head, he gazed at the two demons battling and waited patiently. In the process, flickers of red, yellow and brown could be seen in the swirling mass of magic power that was spiralling around his de.


    [He wants to help that scarydy.]


    [But that scarydy is fighting for him.]


    [So scarydy isn''t bad? If so we''d help him.]


    [Don''t forget me Master!]


    [Ohh, a lightning spirit]


    The spirits who were usually very quiet around Evan became noisy once more as they began infusing their magic power into the mass of magic power on Evan''s sword.


    [Don''t hit the armour, that armour gives bad vibes.]


    [Hmmm...magic around it feels weak.]


    ''So the armour has some sort of magic resistance ability, huh? True, with such a low Durability, he was bound to have some sort of countermeasures.''


    Evan didn''t bother to begin theorizing why the demon''s durability was a bit too low for his level, he just stared straight at the two while doing his all to maintain the concealment.


    After all, with the amount of magic power he was gathering, the concealment skill was the only reason he hadn''t been noticed yet.


    Evan''s destructive energy circuit wildly circted magic power through his body as Evan decided to do something that he would normally consider insane.


    [A skill?]


    [But he''s already using two?]


    [Master...?]


    Taking a deep breath, he ignored the blood seeping out of the corner of his lips as he called out softly.


    "Blink."


    �󡡡󡡡�


    "I don''t know what a demon like you is doing here but don''t interfere with my ns!"


    Xakon screamed out as he rose his sword to block the demonic energy filled de that came crashing down on him.


    "Hup!"


    He pulled his left hand backwards and sent a punch to the torso of the sword''s wielder before ducking to avoid the wind de that threatened to lop off his neck.


    A few strands of his messy red hair were sliced off but he paid it no mind as he kicked off the ground and dashed towards the demon that was ring at him with bloodshot eyes.


    **SWISH!!!  CLANG!!


    Closing the distance immediately, the he activated his cutting edge skill and swung his sword twice, nevertheless, he could see the demon''s eyes darting around as she sent out wind des to block his shes.


    He clicked his tongue as he mmed his foot into the ground and cried out.


    "Detonate."


    Magic power seeped out of his body as the oxygen and hydrogen in the air before him concentrated across a single point.


    A small match sized me appeared in the middle of this point, detonating the concentrated oxyhydrogen.


    **KAABOOOOMMMM!!!

 Chapter 82 The ‘Hero’ Joins The Battle

    **KAABOOOOMMMM!!!


    As the user of this skill, he was unaffected by the resulting explosion, which was why he fearlessly charged in through the mes, intending to get a hit in on the demon he was battling.


    "DON''T MESS WITH ME!"


    He heard a voice filled with pure rage as a burst of demonic energy forcibly quelled the mes of the explosion sending him flying by a few meters.


    "Guh!"


    He grunted in pain as he roused his energy to defend himself from the destructive demonic energy that abruptly mmed into his body.


    "Aura of Pride."


    His body suddenly felt weakened, causing him to temporarily lose control of the energy coat he had wrapped around his body.


    He then felt a foreign gaze on his body but he did not have the time to look for the source as he heard the voice of the demon in front of him.


    "I was originally only buying time for him, but I''ve grown tired of this charade!"


    His body felt even weaker as a sense of fear began to creep into his heart. He felt his confidence of beating this demon and defeating the young hero he saw waning, causing rm bells to ring in his head.


    ''What the fuck?!''


    "A mere low rank demon like you dares to slight me so many times, how arrogant of you."


    Before he could say anything in response, the winds around him became restless as four tornadoes with ck mes swirling within them manifested around him and began to fire dark wind des in his direction.


    ''Tsk...I was saving my energy for the hero kid, but this bitch is more troublesome than I thought.''


    With that thought, his eyes shed cerulean blue with the activation of his ice magic as walls of ck ice sprung out of the ground, blocking the wind des from hitting bis body.


    Before he could even think about his next move, the oppressing feeling around him increased as the demon spoke out once more.


    "You dare to block an attack from me? How presumptuous of you."


    Arge seal shaped construct of ck mes appeared above his head and dropped down immediately, causing him to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit.


    **BOOOM!!


    As itnded on the ground, it exploded, releasing shockwaves that sent him flying a few meters in the air.


    He could see his ice walls vaporizing as he regained his bearings andnded on the ground.


    Deciding to hold noting back, he roused his energy as two trios of icicles and balls of ck mes manifested in the air and began revolving around him diagonally.


    However, before he could dash towards the demon to finish her off once and for all, he suddenly sensed a presence from behind him causing his eyes to widen in surprise.


    ''Wha-!''


    It was as of the person had suddenly appeared behind him, and the amount of magic power he sensed from that person was not something that he could take lightly.


    He hurriedly created a small dome of ice around his head to protect the vital body part while also coating his upper body with aura.


    "Vortex."


    He heard a voice call out softly as arge whiling mass of multiple attributed magic power forcefully mmed into his upper body, a deing through the centre of the magic power storm and piercing through the ice around his head, shing past his cheek.


    **BOOOOMMMM!!!


    Xakon''s body was hit with enough force to send him flying a few meters into the air.


    **BAMM!!


    He crashed into the wreckage of a random merchant''s store, breaking in through the roof and mming into the ground with enough force to form a crater around him.


    The building''s foundation crumbled as it copsed inwards, with all the bricks and metal involved in its construction crashing down on his body.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    "Huh?"


    Looking at the scene of Xakon being hit by an attack that sent him flying int a nearby building, Pride couldn''t help but let out a voice of surprise.


    She turned her gaze to the one responsible and saw the familiar figure of a certain young hero she contracted with over a year ago, barely standing as he went into a coughing fit and spat out blood.


    [Master!]


    She saw a familiar lightning spirit manifest herself, floating around the boy and trying to make him drink the contents of a small bottle in her hands.


    While she felt annoyed that someone interfered in her battle, the rational part of her mind told her that defeating that demon alone was not possible.


    She heaved a sigh of exasperation as she walked towards the two and snatched the potion bottle out of the spirit''s hands and grabbed the boy''s chin, force feeding him its contents.


    "You should have recovered a bit more, I could hold him off for a while longer."


    "Haaah...I did, and then I wrecked my body activating three skills at once."


    [Three skills!]


    [He''s too weak to do that!]


    [So are you!]


    "Are you crazy, activating two at once is pushing it for someone on your level, what makes you think your body would be fine with three?"


    "It was the only way I could stay undetected till thest moment. My magic power is drained though."<sub> </sub>


    [No Magic!]


    [Magicless!]


    [Is that Even a word?]


    [Let''s give him magic power!]


    [Yes, let''s do that!]


    Pride went silent at Evan''s reply, only shaking her head as she turned to the direction the Xakon crashed in.


    Evan on the other hand was asking the spirits about their offer to grant him magic power.


    ''Can I do that even if I''m not in a contract with you?''


    [Yes!]


    [We have to synchronize though!]


    [And only the fieries and sparklies can do that!]


    The spirits happily replied as they danced around his head. Evan understood that ''fieries'' and ''sparklies'' referred to the fire and lightning spirits. He nodded in affirmation as he decided to ept their offer.


    ''Thank you.''


    [Make sure you beat him!]


    [Yeah!]


    The glowing orbs of lights that were the spirits he could not see the true appearances of,tched onto his body as he felt his drained energy reserves filling up once again.


    "He''s not dead."


    "I know, even if he''s weakened, there''s no way a level 140 would die so easily."


    "140? No wonder the boosts from my skill were so high."


    "Skill? Oh, Your power of hubris."


    Pride smacked Evan lightly causing him to nearly drop the magic recovery potion in his hands. The young hero only chuckled in response as he recalled the high demon''s skill description.


    |Pride Embodiment;


    Type: Rare Passive Skill


    When encountering adversaries having a greater degree of strength, the user acquires the power of hubris itself. This power can be utilized to improve attacks or defences. The amount of enhancement is dependant on the genuine pride lurking deep in the user''s heart, which might be nourished to grow so huge that nothing is permitted to eclipse it!


    The boosts scale depending on the opponent''s level. |


    It was a skill that fit someone with the title of the ''Deadly Sin of Pride''.


    "Hey, do you consider me an ally?"


    "Hmm? Why do you ask?"


    "Because of your other skill."


    "Ohh."


    Pride nodded in affirmation as she thought about her ''Aura of Pride'' skill that strengthened those the user considered allies.


    Taking a deep breath, the demon used the link between her and Evan to tell him something.


    [Evan, in the worst-case scenario, there''s something i want you to use.]


    ''Huh?''


    [There''s no time, just listen. In the event that the demon recovers his strength and we cant beat him normally, I want you to use a certain technique.


    It''s something only you can do as you are contracted to me, a demon from another world. I don''t really like this and have never had to resort to this but I have no choice.


    There''s just one problem...]


    ''What?''


    [In order to use it, I have to know a part of your name, your TRUE name. The same goes for you, I''d tell you a part of my true name too.


    This would enable you to use this technique to the fullest.]


    Evan went silent upon hearing Pride''s words. Her obvious reluctance to using this ''technique'' showed that telling him her TRUE name was something that she really didn''t want to do.


    If there were consequences of her doing so, then he believed there might be something simr for him. Upon arriving at this conclusion, he became reluctant to do this.


    However, when he though that he might not be able to defeat the demon and perish in the process if he didn''t, then he threw away all hesitations.


    ''I agree.''


    [Good, we need to do it when he believes we are at ourst straws and can''t resist anymore. So take half your magic power and use it to enhance your body''s strength so you can remain conscious to use it.


    I''d do the same.]


    "Oka-"


    "HEY! YOU OVER THERE!! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED??!!"

 Chapter 83 Regaining Strength

    Evan''s reply to Pride''s question was interrupted by the shout of an adventurer who had just returned from a long-distance quest.


    He saw the cloud of smoke from afar and had rushed in with his party of three to assess the situation. Upon seeing Evan and Pride who were standing still in the middle of all this chaos, he called out to them.


    **BOOOMMM!!!


    Evan dropped thest potion bottle he had on the floor and was about to answer the man when a sudden explosion from the direction of the merchant''s store where Xakon crashed in caught his attention.


    He activated his mystic eyes and read the flow of magic power, instantly understanding that the explosion, was a diversion.


    "Oh Shit!"


    Turning around, his eyes barely caught the sight of the bleeding Xakon creating a sword of ck ice and dashing towards the group with bloodshot eyes.


    He pushed Pride out of the way and grabbed the unforged, raising it in the air to block the ck ice de that threatened to lop off his head.


    **CLANGG!!!


    Unlike an ice de, the sound of metal colliding with metal rang out, as Evan didn''t need to be a genius to realise that the ''ice sword'' was actually Xakon''s weapon coated in ice.


    The two began to exchange sword strikes, Evan activating his pdin skill for strength boost andunching the asional aura sh in Xakon''s direction.


    **CRACKLEE!!!


    Tendrils of lightning snaked across Evan''s de as he tilted his head to dodge the ice imbued sword sh and retaliating with his own.


    **SWISH!!!


    Xakon shed down at Evan once more, his superior strength overpowering Evan and causing his grip on his weapon to loosen a bit.


    Taking advantage of this, Xakon pulled back his sword and thrusted it forwards, intending on impaling Evan''s heart.


    **PANG!!!


    He would have seeded, if a certain high demon wielding a ck de didn''t suddenly interfere and raised her sword diagonally to block his thrust.


    "HAP!"


    Pride sent a kick towards Xakon, causing him to back step a bit. She then covered her de in ck mes, spinning around and shing in Xakon''s direction.


    Fire began to swell from the ground below, dyeing the surroundings in a deep shade of ck.


    *SNAP!


    Snapping her fingers, the ground beneath Xakon''s feet cracked open and a geyser of mes instantly erupted into the air.


    However, by the time the mes erupted, Xakon was no longer on ground level.


    Pride gazed up to see Xakon who had used his wings to propel himself into the air, spinning around as dozens of ice blue two ringed magic circles appeared in the air beside him.


    With bright shes of light, each magic circle produced at least three icences that wereunched as projectiles towards Pride.


    **BOOOMM!!! BOOOMMM!!! BOOOMMM!!!


    Perhaps due to being rigged with his detonation skill, each iciclence exploded upon contact with the ground, forcing Pride to coat her body in demonic energy to avoid being damaged by the explosions.


    Her pupils darted around as she quickly analysed the falling icicles and chose to block only those that targeted her vitals or would fall a bit too close to her body.


    Meanwhile, Xakon dropped to the ground afterunching the magic attack, his eyes zeroing in on the adventurer party of three who had been trying to ask Evan questions earlier.


    They were stunned by the events that just urred before them, and couldn''t help but gaze at the battle with cked jaws.


    Xakon''s gaze on them, snapped them out of their shock as they instantly deduced who was hostile and readied themselves to fight.


    "Aura sh."


    Before Xakon could take action towards them, however, Evan suddenly blinked beside him andunched an aura sh in his direction, forcing him to jump in the air to dodge the de of aura that was released from the young hero''s sword.


    However, Evan wasn''t done yet as mes engulfed the unforged in his hands. He then went on to swing it in Xakon''s direction, making thetter raise his own de to parry the boy''s sh.


    Evan''s shed again while maintaining the mes on his sword but Xakon tilted his ice coated weapon in response, causing Evan''s sword to slide off his ck de.


    His weapon being parried made him temporarily lose his footing but he kept himself up with pure physical strength.


    Xakon, however, would not let him regain his bearingspletely. The ice on his de melted off as mes engulfed the de he raised high and shed towards Evan''s head.


    "Blink."


    Evan called out as he disappeared from his position, causing Xakon''s eyes to widen as his de sliced through the empty air and mmed on the ground.


    **BAMM!!!


    His de dug into the ground and the mes on his sword were smothered by the sand, making him switch elements back to ice.


    "Elemental Vortex."


    Magic power condensed behind him as he heard a voice call out a familiar word, although it had a prefix this time.


    "HUP!"<sub> </sub>


    Xakon gritted his teeth and spun around, dragging is de through he sand and kicking up a cloud off dust and dirt.


    ''It''s a thrusting attack, if I can redirect his de, then it can be averted!''


    ***BOOOMMM!!!!


    An explosion rang out as Evan and Xakon were sent flying by the shockwaves, the duo regaining their bearings andnding on the ground, before simultaneously dashing towards each other with vigour.


    "Blink."


    Evan gave out orders to Ka who he had stand by as he blinked once more and appeared at Xakon''s left side before sending out and aura sh in his direction.


    Xakon tried to retaliate but the spears of ck mes that came from his right side screamed of more danger so he decided to let Evan''s attack hit in favour of defending against the ck mes and their conjurer who came dashing through them.


    **CLANGG!!!


    His nameless de shed with Pride''s vanitas, sparks flying around as the two metal des screeched against each other.


    "GAH!"


    He suddenly let out a mouthful of blood as he felt Evan''s aura de hit his armour, however, that was not the reason for his injury.


    ''Ka Now!''


    [Yes Master!]


    Ka who had de materialized herself and flown in to Xakon''s armour through the gaps, manifested her physical body once more with a burst of lightning as she called out her skill''s name.


    [Electrome!!]


    Xakon felt like his body was on fire as lightning and mes rampaged across his unprotected back, with the mes burning his skin and the lightning''s electric discharge, destroying his nerves and paralysing him.


    This left him vulnerable enough for Pride''s sword thrust to m into his torso and send him flying once more.


    Evan rolled out of the way to avoid getting hit by Xakon''s body, standing up immediately as he dashed towards the airborne demon.


    **PHEW!!! BOOOOMMM!!!!


    A ming arrow fired by one of the adventurers in the party standing nearby hit the defenceless Xakon and caused another explosion that in conjunction with the mes from Ka''s Electrome skill, created enough heat to melt parts of his armour.


    ''So even if it''s magic resistant, it doesn''t mean that it the heat from magic cant damage it, huh?''


    Evan thought to himself as he saw a giant icicle appear above Xakon and m into his torso, sending him crashing down onto the ground.


    **BAMMM!!!


    A deep crater was formed about five meters wide was formed with Xakon''s body at the centre.


    ''Ka, have you withdrawn?''


    [Yes]


    After receiving confirmation that Ka was no longer in Xakon''s armour, Evan dropped his sword and jumped up in the air above Xakon, stretching out his two hands as he activated the first skill he ever mimicked.


    "Energy st!"


    With his shout, magic power condensed on his open palms and wasunched out as a beam shooting through the air, down towards Xakon on the ground.


    ***BOOOOMMM!!!!


    Evan flipped andnded on the ground, his hand stretching towards his de as the unforged rose up from the ground and flew back into his hands.


    "Huh? I can do that?!"


    Evan didn''t have time to be surprised at the effect of his weapon control skill as fist sized balls of mes descended from the skies down on the ground.


    "Fire Magic: Hail of mes! Overload!"


    Xakon''s enraged shout rang out, activating another spell that doubled the effects of any spell casted before hand.


    "Tsk...how the fuck are you not dead?!"


    Evan appraised Xakon and the result he saw caused his eyes to widen in surprise.


    "Shit! Pride, He''s regaining his strength!"


    Xakon''s level that was at 125 due to whatever had weakened him, had increased to 132, increasing his total health and magic power.


    ''Is that the reason he was still able to stand back up with ease after receiving the earlierbo of attacks?''


    Evan checked his magic power and saw that he was down to half his total, however, the spirits poured their magic power into his body, reinvigorating him as he activated blink once more.


    He re-appeared about two metres above Xakon''s head with his sword raised high.


    "Aura sh!!"

 Chapter 84 True Form Released

    The young hero shed down with his sword, but Xakon coated his hand in aura and grabbed the de, using his superior strength to fling both the sword and its wielder in a random direction.


    The moment he flung Evan away, he was besieged by a wave of ck mes from his left and a torrent of water from his right.


    **CCRACKLEE!!!


    Xakon spread out his wings and chose to take flight but a pearl of golden lightning suddenly appeared above his head, unleashing a dozen bolts of golden energy on his body.


    ''Shit!''


    He cussed internally as he created a small sphere of condensed ice around him to block the three simultaneous attacks.


    **BOOOOMMM!!!!


    mes, lightning and water all collided, resulting in an electrocharged steam explosion that broke the dome of ice Xakon had used to cover his body.


    However, it had done its job and protected him. Now, it was his turn to retaliate.


    Tossing his sword in the air, he cupped his palms together as a ball of condensed mes appeared in between.


    He resultant cloud of steam from the earlier explosion to hide his current location as he condensed enough mes in his palm, before pping his wings and propelling himself into the air.


    Going airborne, saved him from losing his head as a demonic energy filled sword shed the empty air where he was just standing.


    "Die you damned pests."


    Xakon rose both hands in the air and the condensed ball of mes that were cupped within his palms, swelled in size until it was nearly five metresrge.


    He then swung his hands downwards, the ball of mes following suit as it shot towards the ground.


    "Hah!"


    Pride cried out as she rose her hand in the air and created aplex two ringed magic circle. An illusory third ring appeared around the circumference of the magic circle, causing Xakon''s eyes to widen in surprise.


    However, he snapped out of it upon reading the magic circle and realising what Pride was about to do.


    pping his wings with all his might, she flew higher into the air, going higher until he was sure he would be out of range of Pride''s magic.


    ***KAAABOOOMMM!!!


    The ball of mes he had created exploded into the air, dyeing the skies red.


    Xakon heaved a sigh as he caught his breath before opening his status board and confirming that his level had returned to normal.


    ''Good. Now I can end this, once and for all.''


    Demonic energy churned within him as all his injuries were healed due to the increment of his level. While his health and energy had not recovered, their maximum values were back and to normal.


    His intelligence stat that had been lowered by his level reduction had also returned to normal, this meant he could use the spell he had wanted to from the very beginning.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Xakon Ilmoth was descended from a prestigious line of demon nobility. In the demon world, his family held a lot of political and military power.


    However, although he possessed the Ilmoth family name, he was just thest grandson of a branch family member, as such, he did not enjoy the prestige that the main family members enjoyed.


    He left his family and joined the demon army on his own, choosing to join the intelligence division in order to maximize his shapeshifting skill''s efficiency.


    That was how he came to be sent as a spy into the world of Aidos, to scout the current state of the world for five years and return with reports for the top brass of the Demon Army.


    He came into Aidos through a small gap in the dimensional rift that was opened up by a group of beings who seemed to be trying to break the seal on the rift and let the demonse through.


    Xakon felt that it was foolish of them to join hands with the beings who wereing to conquer their world but he said nothing about it.


    Using them, he was able to gain back ground information on Aidos and knowledge of the major powers here.


    He chose to impersonate the second heir of a backwater noble territory that he had studied for over six months and made sure that. He then went on to poison the Baron who ruled the territory and killed off his other children to take the position.


    Although this brought a bit of attention towards him, he was able to divert all suspicious towards him and carried on with his duty.


    For five years, he ruled as the lord of this territory, while secretly contacting with all sorts of underground information guilds to get as much data on the major powers, their secrets and possible weaknesses.


    During thest month of his stay here, he was walking around in the city undercover while gathering a few things for his return.


    He entered the adventurer''s guild and was met with the scene of a young fourteen boy about fourteen years old, requesting an adventurer rank promotionmission.


    Originally thinking it was just another brat who was trying his luck, he intended to ignore it but something about the boy made him feel uneasy.<sub> </sub>


    He then used his prying eyes skill on the boy and was shocked to realise that the boy was one of the ''Seven Heroes'', a group of beings known for being the first to ever repel the demon world''s invasion into other worlds.


    Deeming him a threat, he tried to get the boy killed through different means but he seemed to survive somehow, even when he was matched with a dungeon boss that should have been at least a dozen levels above him.


    Xakon was fed up and decided to take matters into his hands, even going as far as to kill all the knights of the Geto territory beforehand, so that there would be no unexpected interferences.


    And that brings us to the current situation of him staring down on the boy from above as he casted a spell that could only be used by Noble Demons.


    "Release the true Nature of My Soul."


    His deep voice resounded in the ears of all those who were on the ground as he chanted out softly.


    "True Form Release."


    �󡡡󡡡�


    "Release the true Nature of My Soul."


    The moment Pride heard that line, her expression darkened. She turned to Evan who was receiving magic power from the spirits and asked impatiently.


    "Evan!!! What''s that demon''sst name?!"


    "Last Name? It''s Ilmoth."


    A light of recognition shed through Pride''s eyes as she clicked her tongue in annoyance before screaming in response.


    "Why didn''t you say that earlier?!"


    "Huh? How does it mat-"


    Evan was unable toplete his question, the reason was simple. Xakon had suddenly appeared beside him and grabbed his head, mming him in the ground the moment after.


    **BAMMM!!!


    The appearance of Xakon was a far cry from what he was previously. He had grown taller, standing at above six foot, with his skin colour now being gray and his eyes turned purple.


    Although they were hidden under his armour, his muscles had erged considerably and were now brimming with strength.


    The wingspan of his bat like wings had increased by another meter, as one could see a glowing magic circle on the interior part of his wings.


    On his forehead was a magic crest consisting of a star inscribed in a circle overpping a triangle, and his red hair had grown to the point where he could tie it up in a ponytail.


    Pride roused her demonic energy and tried to attack but it was futile. Xakon grabbed her wrist and broke it with brute strength, causing her sword to fall out of her hand.


    With his other hand, he clenched his fist and sent a punch to her stomach.


    **DUMM!!!


    "GAH!!"


    Pride spat out a mouthful of blood as the force behind the punch was enough to send her flying. Nevertheless, Xakon did not stop there and delivered three more punches to her torso before tossing her up in the air and sending a spin kick to her defenceless body.


    **BAMMM!!!!!


    Pride crashed on the ground at the same time that a bolt of lightning dropped from the skies.


    "Just because I can''t see or sense you, doesn''t mean you aren''t there."


    With those words, Xakon jumped out of the way to avoid the lightning bolt. Uponnding on the ground, he took a deep breath and released it alongside a burst of demonic energy imbued with mes.


    [AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!]


    While he did not hear the young great spirit''s scream, he received feed back and was sure his attack had hit.


    **WHOOSHHH!!!


    A ming arrow flew in towards his head but he only tilted his head a bit to the side to doge. His eyes then shed with a cerulean blue light as he mmed both hands on the ground.


    "Ice Magic: Ice Fang."


    Magic power poured into the ground as the earth rumbled in response. Dozens of icicles suddenly erupted from the ground and floated up into the air.


    Xakon snapped his fingers and these icicles wereunched as projectiles in the direction of the adventurer party of three that couldn''t find the time to run.


    **BOOOMM!!

 Chapter 85 Unexpected Interference

    **BOOOMM!!


    He ignored the ''small fry'' and turned his gaze towards the young hero who was bleeding from the side of his head while ring at him with eyes shining a golden light.


    Stretching out his arm, his eyes shed with a fiery red light as he called out a spell.


    "Fire Magic: Spiral mes."


    mes were generated from the palm of his hand,ing out in a spiralling motion, which created a tornado-shaped st of mes.


    The mes'' intensity was enough to incinerate anything in its path, and that it did, until it was stopped by a simr spell fired from the both hands of the young hero.


    ''He copied my spell? Pointless.''


    Xakon kicked off the ground and dashed through the mes, his increased resistance and magic armour protecting him as he arrived in front of the shocked hero instantly.


    Without waiting for him to react, he stretched out his right hand to grab the boy''s head once more, but his hands grabbed empty air as the boy disappeared from the spot.


    ''Teleportation again? His magic power should be low, so he can''t go far. In his situation, I would attempt tounch an attack that would disorient my opponent and give me time to recover.


    The best ce would be...here!''


    Xakon instantly analysed things from Evan''s standpoint (except that the spirits were supplying him magic power) and stretched out his right leg to the side, just in time for Evan to re appear beside him.


    "GUH!!"


    The bottom of his foot mmed into Evan''s torso as he twisted his body and used the back side of his outstretched right hand to m into the side of Evan''s head.


    "That was quite the awkward posture."


    He remarked to himself as he put down his legs and walked over to the boy copsed on the floor and grabbed his head.


    ''Hmmm?''


    Sensing movement behind him, he turned around and saw Pride struggling to get up. He also noticed his discarded weapon not far from her location.


    Seeing this, an idea came to Xakon''s mind as he grinned sadistically before spreading out his wings and kicking off the ground in Pride''s direction.


    He grabbed the face of the injured Pride and kicked off the ground into the air, flying up for a few metered before abruptly dashing back to the ground, mming the two in his hands on the cold hard ground.


    **BAMMMMM!!!!!!


    Without even waiting a bit, he ran towards the direction of his weapon while dragging the both of them in the sand.


    Upon reaching his destination, he pulled them up abruptly and mmed their bodies together before tossing them in opposing directions.


    "Now then. Shall we conclude?"


    He spoke with a grin as he picked up his sword and turned to walk in Evan''s direction, however, the sudden surge of magic power he felt behind him made him turn around and rouse his demonic energy in response.


    "Flower Cannon!"


    ***WOOOONGGG!!!!


    A beam of concentrated magic power crashed into Xakon''s body, knocking him back by a few meters.


    Although the attack was unexpected, it did not possess enough power to deal any major damage to him, especially in his powered-up state.


    "Breath of Life!"


    He heard a feminine voice scream out as a wave of magic power spread out from a point in front of him, phasing through his body as it travelled towards it target behind him.


    "Royal Knights dework: Ark!"


    A voice screamed out as a wave of aura crashed into the side of his body, sending him flying into the air.


    **BAMM!!!


    He regained his bearings mid air and managed to coordinate hisnding, his gaze locking on the culprit, a man wearing a full body armour like his.


    The difference was that this man''s armour was silver in colour and had a crest he recognized on it.


    ''Why the hell is a royal knight here?!''


    Although he was stunned at the appearance of the royal knight, he snapped out of his surprise and scanned the area for more enemies.


    ''Six royal knights? What are they doing here? And who was the one whounched the beam attack earlier?''


    His pupils darted around as he found the answer to his question in the next moment, catching the sight of a blonde-haired figure casting what he believed was healing magic on the young hero he was about to kill.


    "Are you for real?!"


    He screamed out in rage as he kicked off the ground and dashed towards the Blonde, intending on killing her alongside the hero.


    "You shall not pass!"


    One of the Royal Knight''s screamed out as he utilized a Royal Knights Shield technique to halt Xakon''s dash.


    **BAMMM!!


    Xakon mmed into the shield and was knocked back a bit, not having any time to rest as three other knights simultaneously used dework techniques on him in the next moment.


    "Royal Knights dework: Gant!"


    �󡡡󡡡�


    "Breath of Life!"<sub> </sub>


    The blonde figure who was kneeling in front of Evan while using a ''Breath Series Skill'' to heal him, was none other than Eliza, the priestess that Evan met in Luka some months ago.


    She poured as much magic as she could into Evan''s body, trying her utmost best to brink him back from the brink of death.


    "Didn''t...e-expect to see you so soon."


    "Shut up and let me heal you.


    Breath of Life!"


    [Yeah! Shut up!]


    [If it wasn''t for us, you''d be dead. Let her heal you.]


    Eliza scolded Evan and used her skill once more, causing colour to finally return to the boy''splexion as he pacified the spirits who were screaming at him in anger.


    ''Those little critters are as loud as ever, still, it''s thanks to them that Pride and I aren''t already dead.''


    "Lady Eliza."


    One of the royal knights that Laurene sent along with her called out to her with Pride''s injured body in his arms.


    "Cough!!...w-what?"


    Evan, who could finally move properly, looked up to meet Eliza''s sapphire eyes that had teardrops spilling from them.


    His gaze then moved onto Pride''s unconscious body, his eyes widening as he grabbed Eliza''s hands that were about to cast her healing skill on him once more and turned them in Pride''s direction.


    "Wha-!"


    As she had already used the activated the skill, the healing light fell on Pride''s body as to Eliza''s surprise, her wounds began healing at a visible rate.


    ''Even with my skill, its not supposed to be this fast.''


    Evan didn''t even bother to think about how or why Eliza was here, only thinking about healing making her heal Pride so they could execute the n they had prepared.


    "You can put me down now, human."


    The knight was stunned as the person he felt was unconscious suddenly spoke to him. He reflexively dropped her on the ground, earning a re that sent chills down his spine.


    Pride got on her feet and looked at Eliza that was staring at him with a stunned face.


    "Oh, the priestess from that time."


    "Huh?"


    Pride ignored Eliza''s shout and turned her gaze in the direction of the five royal knights who were doing their best to hold off the demon Xakon who was trying to get to them.


    "One of them is a master level existence, no wonder they can hold on."


    She then stretched her hand into the air and called out to her sword.


    "Vanitas."


    **WHOOSH!!


    The sword of Pride flew back into her open hand at a speed that Eliza could barely catch. To her surprise, Evan took a simr action as he called out the name of his weapon.


    "Unforged."


    Albeit at a slower speed, the de flew into his hands as he grasped it tightly and turned to Eliza.


    "Can youyer as many buffs as you can on us, we''re gonna kill that thing now."


    "What do you mean ''You''re gonna kill it''? You''re injured! You''re in no state to fight."


    Eliza shot back in anger as she got up from the ground and red at Evan. However, the young hero only sighed and replied.


    "I don''t have time to exin why but its impossible for those knights to beat that guy. They''d die.


    If you don''t want that, then buff us so we can kill him quickly."


    Evan''s voice came out as a bit harsh but he couldn''t help it. He was worried about Ka as he felt she was injured through their link and wanted to attend to her, but killing the demon came first.


    It was now or never.


    "You have a lot of exining to do."


    Although sheined, Eliza picked up her staff and activated her support magic skill as she began preparing various buff magic.


    Evan forced a smile and patted her head before turning in Pride''s direction only to find the demon staring at him with a dead gaze.


    "What?"


    "Nothing."


    A wave of green light washed across Evan and Pride as they felt their strength being enhanced and their magic power rising.


    The two nodded towards each other as Evan began the chant Pride had taught him earlier.


    "Discarding that which is just and embracing the fragment evil, I, Evankhell, summon forth the Demon Superbia into my vessel.


    Demonic Possession."

 Chapter 86 Demonic Possession

    "Discarding that which is just and embracing the fragment evil, I, Evankhell, summon forth the Demon Superbia into my vessel.


    Demonic Possession."


    The moment he called out the technique''s name, a wave of miasma burst out of Pride''s body, making Eliza and the knight who was beside her take a step back due it.


    Pride''s physical body turned into a streak of dark light that flew into Evan''s body.


    When the light died down, Evan''s possessed appearance could be seen, with his fair skin turning a shade of light gray and unique marking appearing on his forehead, nose and cheek.


    Two lines appeared on both wrists, with segmented curve lines appearing on his forearms. A pair of ck bat-like wings emerged from his back, tearing through his already torn shirt as they spread out to reveal their three-meter wingspan.


    In his left hand, was his recently acquired weapon, The Unforged. In his right, was the Sword of Pride, Vanitas.


    [Evan. We have Five Minutes.]


    Hearing Pride''s voice in his mind, Evan nodded as he called out the name of the skill he had been saving for this moment.


    "Limit Break."


    |Limit Break;


    Type: Rare Active Skill


    Effect;


    A skill to go over one''s limits!


    It amplifies the user''s power by three times their basic stats. The boosts scale depending on the opponent''s level.


    Restrictions;


    Once used the user will be heavily fatigued. Using it for long periods of time will damage the user''s body. |


    The skill was self exnatory, being one that multiplied his power by three times for a certain amount of time.


    Although he hadn''t gotten the way to go around the drawbacks of the skill, he had no choice but to use it now.


    His foot dug into the ground as he watched the battle between the five royal knights and the Demon Xakon.


    Taking a deep breath, he activated pdin as he kicked off the ground, dashing in their direction.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    At this point, Xakon could not be any more enraged.


    Not only were the knights stopping him far more tenacious than he expected, one of them was not too far from him in level, being a master level existence just like him.


    With the master level,es the ability to manipte aura. At this stage one could imbue aura into their bodies to strengthen them or infuse aura into their weapons to attack.


    "Royal Knights dework: Sever!"


    "Cutting Edge!"


    **SCHRINGGG!!!


    The two des slid across each other as sparks danced around, Xakon gritting his teeth as his true form release was nearing its end.


    ''Five minutes, that''s how long I have.''


    He turned his gaze in the direction he tossed Evan in earlier to check if he had been healed by the blonde mage, only to be met with the sight of someone dashing towards him at high speed.


    Xakon coated his hand in aura and grabbed the de of the master level knight in front of him, pulling the de along with its wielder with all his strength and tossing him in the direction of the iing figure.


    To his surprise, the person dashing towards him ignored the knight and let him fall on the ground, even stepping over his body and using him as a foothold to propel himself even further.


    Xakon coated his weapon in demonic energy as his magic power had long been exhausted during the fight against the master level knight.


    ***CLANGGG!!!


    His de collided with the two des of his assant as he held up the t side of his de with his other hand to block.


    He locked eyes with the twin de wielder and realised it was the figure of the young hero he wanted to kill.


    "Hap"


    Enhancing his physical strength with aura, he forced the boy backwards and sent in a punch which was blocked with the t side of his opponent''s ck de.


    Pulling his hand back, he stared at the form of the boy in front of him and couldn''t help butment.


    "First you were fighting alongside a demon, next you''re letting the demon possess your body.


    Are you really a hero?"


    "I''m not your typical Hero!"


    Evan replied as he pped his newly acquired wings to boost himself in Xakon''s direction, with thetter closing the distance with sword raised high.


    **CLANGG!!


    The collision resulted in a huge ''ng''. It was a sign that the power behind both their des was tremendous.


    They were both knocked back but the two of them didn''t hesitate to dash back towards each other, closing the distance once more.


    Like so, they began exchanging a flurry of strikes as cuts began to appear on their exposed body parts.


    Although Evan Had two des, he was obviously not used to fighting with them so his efficiency was a lot lower than Xakon who was using one.


    Taking advantage of one of Evan''s slip ups, Xakon sent a kick towards the demonic possessed hero''s torso, sending him flying in the air.


    He immediately pped his wings and took flight but Evan regained his bnce andunched a skill wile being mid air.


    "Vortex!!!"<sub> </sub>


    A roaring spiral-shaped mass of magic power shot out of his each of the des in his hands, and dashed towards the airborne Xakon.


    **BAAAMMM!!!!


    Xakon was surprised at the speed of the attack and dyed in putting up defenses. He was thrown onto the floor from the force of the attack even though he maneuvered in the air to dodge most of it.


    The demon crashed on the ground with enough force to create a small crater around him, his armour not being able to stand the repeated bashing as it cracks began to spread around the chest piece.


    Evannded on the ground and stretched out his ck wings as demonic energy exploded from his demon-possessed body.


    Xakon got up and raised his sword just in time to block Evan''s double overhead shes, before rolling out of the way to dodge the foot that came stomping down on his chest.


    He spread his wings and took flight faster than Evan could pull his des off the ground, but the young hero did not give him the chance to enjoy his aerial superiority.


    "Aura sh!"


    Evan swung the two des, releasing a cross shaped aura sh that flew into the air towards Xakon. The demon reacted quickly and dodged the sh, however that was just the beginning.


    **SWISH!! SWISHHH!!


    Evan swung his two swords repeatedly, activating the aura sh skill each time he swung them.


    Xakon stretched his wings, dodged the aura shes, and flew right at Evan. He swung his one-handed sword while flying horizontally, and Evan pped his wings, flying up towards him to meet his attack head on.


    **CLANGG!!


    Their swords collided as the both of them were knocked out of the air,nding on the floor simultaneously.


    Evan extended the unforged and filled it with magic power as he thrusted it powerfully.


    Xakon blocked it with a thrust of his own, despite it being the tips of the swords that collided, both of them were pushed back.


    The young hero was the first to get back into position and attack as Xakon was forced to respond btedly.


    He swung the two ck swords, but Xakon deflected them and stabbed towards the middle of Evan''s chest, he also didn''t stop there.


    The two exchanged strikes at speed they normally would not be able to reach, with the power behind each sh increasing exponentially.


    Each time Evan was in a situation where he could not dodge, he hurriedly used Blink to take distance before either blinking to Xakon''s blind spot or charging in again.


    "Lightning! mes!"


    **CRACKLE!


    Sparks danced across the unforged''s de while mes engulfed the sword of Pride, Vanitas.


    Both his swords began to dance through the air.


    Unwilling to be outdone, Xakon began to swing his sword as fast and as powerfully as he could.


    ***CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!


    Their des continually met, resounding in repeated ''ngs''.


    Right after Evan pulled the unforged backwards, Xakonunched a whip like high kick towards this hand, causing his grip to loosen and the de to fall out of his hands.


    **SWIIISHHH!!!


    Without wasting time, he dropped his leg and swung his sword downwards, aiming to cut Evan''s arm but the young hero just grinned fearlessly.


    "Energy st."


    From his now open palm, a beam of condensed magic power was fired, hitting Xakon square in the face and sending him flying backwards.


    **BAMMM!!!


    Evan wasted no time in infusing vanitas with magic power and throwing the sword towards the airborne Xakon.


    In the heat of the moment, he didn''t notice something ck emerge from his shadow and dash in Xakon''s direction.


    He then summoned the unforged back into his hand and pped his wings, boosting himself into the air as he began gathering magic power on the de.


    Although he crashed into the wall of a nearby building, Xakon still saw the mass of ck metal flying towards him and rolled out of the way to dodge the de.


    Before he could stand up, sensed magic power from above and looked up to see an airborne Evan with his sword raised high.


    Xakon tried to stand up and jump out of the way to dodge the iing attack, however, to his surprise, he realised that he was unable to move!


    His arms and left leg had been pinned to the ground by some sort of dark shadowy arm that emerged from his shadow.


    Meanwhile Evan had retracted his wings and allowed gravity to bring him down to the ground.


    Xakon''s short moment of surprise from unexpectedly being restrained by something, was enough for Evan to fall into a suitable range.


    "VORTEX!!!!!"


    The young hero screamed out as he thrusted his sword down wards, the roaring spiral-shaped mass of magic power and demonic energy around it mming into the body of the immobilized Xakon.


    **KAAABOOOOMMM!!!!


    "GAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"


    Xakon''s scream of pain rang out as the domineering force of the enhanced vortex shattered his armour, prated through his aura enhanced skin and broke his bones to pieces.


    Right at that moment, Evan''s limit break skill was released, alongside the demonic possession. The young hero was suddenly hit with a wave of weakness across his entire body.


    Before he lost consciousness, Evan saw a familiar blue notice board pop up in his dimming vision.


    [Level Up!]


    END OF VOLUME 1

 Chapter 87 Interlude 3-1 – The ‘Five’

    Unknown Ind.


    Divider Ocean.


    December 5th


    Year 1051


    *TAP! TAP! TAP!


    Footsteps rang out as a purple haired man walked down a passageway, through two lines of dozens of servants bowing their heads.


    At the end of the passageway, was a set of double doors held open by two men dressed in butler uniforms.


    He walked through them and stood still with, raising his gaze to scan room beyond the doors.


    A chestnut rug ran in a circle around the room, with one path at the main entrance he just walked in from, while guidon banners with burnished tapestries decorated the walls.


    Between each banner hung antern, many of them haven been lit and in turn illuminating the sculptures of war heroes below them.


    Slim braziers encircling each of the fourteen marble columns lit up the entire room and engulfed the room in a brilliant glimmer.


    The marble stone of the bowed ceiling danced in the flickering light while stone effigies looked down upon the rug covered grey wood floor of this marvellous room.


    It had huge, washed ss windows that were bordered by curtains, coloured the same chestnut as the banners. The curtains had been adorned with gold leaves and intricate embroidery.


    A sublime table of gold sat atop an elevated tform and was surrounded by five equallyvish seats.


    The seats were covered in nothing butbyrinthine etchings and fixed on the backside was avish sun. Thefortable pillows were a dark chestnut and these too had been adorned with embellished tufts.


    "Extravagant."


    His voice echoed across the quiet room as he walked towards the only empty seat and sat down before crossing his legs.


    He then pulled out a rubber band and used it to tie his long purple hair into a ponytail before gazing at the other beings seated at the table with his golden eyes.


    From his right, was a stunningly beautiful woman withrge bust size dressed in what appeared to be a negligee with a bathrobe loosely draped over it. From her long legs, one could tell she was fairly tall.


    She had silky, long ck hair and red reptilian golden eyes with vertical slit pupils. She yawned without covering her mouth, indirectly saying she''d rather be sleeping than be seated in that room.


    Beside her was a fair-skinned Long haired man with beautiful blonde hair and green eyes. He was dressed in floor-length purple and white robes, a white crown with feather decorations, and purple ts.


    Next was arge muscr man with an unruly mane of deep brown hair. He had simrly coloured eyes with a metal headband with horsetail crests framing his face. The two lion ears atop his head and his fairly long tail that was wrapped around the chair legs showed his identity as a beastman.


    Lastly, was a short man with tanned skin and a strong muscr physique contrary to his height. He had a long red beard that was tied in multiple sections which he stroked as a habit.


    His outfit appeared to be an ordinary pair of trousers and ck boots with a casual T-shirt atop his upper body.


    On his waist, was some sort of utility belt, with multiple miniaturized tools strapped across it. One of such tools is a Warhammer which appeared to be a small mallet at first nce.


    "You''rete as always, Rathal."


    "Says the one who looks like they''d rather be asleep."


    The purple haired man, ''Strongest Human'' Rathal replied to the words of the golden eyed woman beside him with a snort.


    She only chuckled in response before yawning once more and adjusting her horrible sitting posture. Her gaze turned serious as she ced a hand on the table and spoke.


    "I''m sure you all are already aware of the incident that took ce about a month ago. Where a ''grey skinned, winged-humanoid'' attacked a human town in the Alpha continent and killed hundreds of people.


    He was then taken down by abination of some human knights, and adventurers. However, it was said that most of the work was done by a young adventurer of no more than fourteen years old, along with his older femalepanion.


    Reports from the knights say he was the one who dealt the final blow to this ''grey skinned, winged-humanoid''."


    Hearing her words, Rathal revealed an amused grin while rubbing his palms together.


    ''A kid that beat one of those guys? He''d definitely be one of the ''Seven''.''


    The fair skinned long eared man, ''Elven Emperor'' Zaos, had a pensive look on his face. After a few moments, he voiced out a question.


    "Can we get more details on the incident?"


    "You should ask Kolvar and Rathal, they''re the ones on the Alpha continent."


    The woman yawned once more after replying. She then turned her gaze to the lion beastman, ''Beast King'' Kolvar.<sub> </sub>


    "There''s not much more to know besides what she has already said. I don''t like beating around the bush so I''d get to the point.


    A ''demon'' somehow got in through the rift and attacked a town of humans, and that demon was put down by a human noble, one that was rumoured to have ''run away'' from home some months ago."


    "This kid, is there anything odd about him we need to take notice of?"


    The short tanned man stroked his red beard as threw a question at Kolvar. He was the ''Smith Master'' and reigning monarch of the dwarf Kingdom Stonehammer, Vulwin.


    "Yes. It was something that was quite hard to miss.


    He was said to possess some sort of crest in his eyes. Though the exact details of the crest''s description haven''t been given, we all know who he could possibly be."


    Kolvar calmly responded to Vulwin''s question without even looking at him, his attention was on the scene of the golden-eyed woman opposite him extracting a ball of light from Rathal''s head.


    "This woman...! Stop extracting my memories without permission!"


    "It saves me the stress of asking you, plus I get to see if you messed around while you were away. Two birds with one stone."


    She waved him off as her eyes glowed lightly. The ball of light in her arms disappeared and the memories she extracted were downloaded into her mind.


    "I see.


    If my guess is right, then the kid who defeated the demon on the Alpha continent, is one of the new generation ''Seven Heroes''."


    The woman then pped Rathal''s back before continuing.


    "This idiot over here, also found one of them in the Desert country. The ''Third'' of the ''Seven''."


    A look of shock shed across Zaos'' face as he rose his finger and pointed it at Rathal before speaking with a shaky voice.


    "T-this wa-aste of s-space, h-he did s-someting useful?"


    "Oy! What the hell?!"


    Hearing the question Zaos asked, Rathal couldn''t help but retort with a bit of anger. The golden eyed woman, ''Dragon Lord'' Altrishia burst intoughter, earning a re from the human man beside her.


    "When on Aidos are the lot of you ever going to act your age?"


    Kolvar''s voice tinged with a bit of annoyance killed the jovial mood instantly causing Altrishia to pout in dissatisfaction.


    "Geez. You''re so stuck up."


    However, her facial expression changed into one of seriousness a momentter as she narrowed her eyes and continued.


    "But I understand your concerns. The fact that a demon was able to get into Aidos means one of two things.


    Either the dimensional rift is re-opening and the demons woulde pouring in faster than predicted.


    Or one of those insufferable bastards did something."


    The ''insufferable bastards'' she spoke of were the same group of people a certain reincarnated hero referred to as nuisances, the ''Demonic Hand''.


    Vulwin frowned upon hearing Altrishia''s words, not just him but Zaos and Kolvar too. Having lived for hundreds of years, the three of them had shed with the demonic hand on numerous asions.


    "Tsk...their leader is the only reason we haven''t crushed them yet.


    He clicked his tongue and spoke with gritted teeth.


    The reason why even the ''Five'', the most powerful beings on Aidos had been unable topletely crush the demonic hand for the past few hundred years was because of the existence that was at the top of the organization.


    "We''ve killed off the ''Fingers'' of the ''Demonic Hand'' time and time again but as far as the ''First Finger'' remains, they alwayse back.


    They''re even more tenacious than cockroaches."


    The leader of the ''Demonic Hand'', was someone that although he did not possess power on par with that of the ''Five'', possessed a skill set that let him escape their clutches every time he was cornered.


    "Let''s forget about that rat and talk about more important things.


    Two of the ''Seven'', have been discovered, we should move to secure them before the ''Demonic Hand'' can find out.


    I reckon the reason the demon attacked that town was also to take out the new generation hero who was in it."

 Chapter 88 Interlude 3-2 – The Goddess Returns

    "Let''s forget about that rat and talk about more important things.


    Two of the ''Seven'', have been discovered, we should move to secure them before the ''Demonic Hand'' can find out.


    I reckon the reason the demon attacked that town was also to take out the new generation hero who was in it."


    The other members of the ''Five'' who were seated at the table, nodded in affirmation upon hearing Altrishia''s words.


    All of them, except one.


    Zaos heaved a sigh as he whispered something to himself before mming his hand on the table to attract the attention of the other four.


    "Of the new generation ''Seven Heroes'', ''Three'' have been discovered, not two."


    Looks of shock shed across the faces of the four who heard his words. The first to recover was Altrishia who asked the identity of the third.


    "Who is it?"


    "My daughter."


    """Huh??!"""


    Kolvar, Altrishia and Rathal let out shocked voices upon hearing the identity of the newly discovered hero.


    "It couldn''t be one of those rascal delinquent-looking bratty daughters of yours, right?"


    "First of all, none of my daughters are ''rascals'' and ''delinquent looking brats''. That doesn''t even make sense!"


    Rathal let out a heartyugh upon hearing Zaos'' retort, though this onlysted until he was smacked in the head by Altrishia.


    "Ignore the idiot. Which one of your daughters is it?"


    "Thest born, Abigail, right?"


    Before Zaos could reply to Altrishia''s question, Vulwin interjected with a guess he believed to be 90% urate.


    "You''re right."


    Zaos nodded as he confirmed Vulwin''s guess, making a satisfied smile appear on the face of the dwarf as he stroked his beard.


    "What''s with him?"


    "Nothing much, just that my daughter took an interest in smithing and he instructed her for a while. He said something about her being his best student ever."


    "Oh..."


    Zaos answered Kolvar''s not so quiet whisper before turning to the rest of them and continuing.


    "My daughter is most likely the ''First'' of the ''Seven''."


    "Hmmm...so like a thousand years ago, she''d be their leader, huh?"


    "No."


    Altrishia''s words were refuted almost instantly by Zaos who proceeded to exin about how his daughter did not possess the ''Leader of the Seven Heroes'' title.


    "So, who''s the leader then?"


    "She told me that she would only know if she were to meet them."


    "That''s disappointing."


    Altrishia spoke with a downcast gaze, her eyes brightening up the moment after as she mmed both hands on the table and spoke.


    "Let''s just kidnap all the new generation ''Seven Heroes'' and gather them in one ce. We''d figure out who their leader is and what their powers are too."


    She nodded to herself with a satisfied smile, making the others shake their heads with a single thought in their minds.


    p ''How does she act the least mature while being the oldest?''</anda>


    �󡡡󡡡�


    The goddess Artemisia pressed her fingers to her temples as she stared at the floating screen in front of her.


    She had reyed the video currently showing on it, tens off dozens of times but she still couldn''t wrap her head around how such a situation came about.


    "I just stepped out to deal with those bastards, and this happens."


    On the floating screen, a video showing the events of the battle between Evan and Xakon was showing.


    Starting from the moments leading to the battle, where Xakon called all the knights of the territory into his castle and murdered them in cold blood.


    Showing how he had prepared to make his exit the moment he was done with his ns for the next day, even the teleportation circle he prepared using the blood of the murdered knights.


    Artemisia snapped her fingers and the two ringed teleportation magic circle that looked like a mix of various shapes shattered into particles of light.<sub> </sub>


    She then watched how Xakon destroyed the adventurer''s guild building and killed hundreds of adventurers and injuring dozens more.


    She watched how Pride bought time for Evan to recover enough to join the battle. Saw how the high demon temporarily showed a bit of her true personality and power.


    "MMMPH!!!!"


    Evan''s near mental breakdown was also witnessed in all its glory, with his adaptive evolution saving the day by reducing the amount of fear he felt.


    The fact that his skill triggered itself in such a short time showed just how much fear Evan felt from the depths of his soul.


    Nevertheless, he resolved himself and joined the battle at the perfect time, even dealing a major wound in the process.


    The video showed how Xakon gradually recovered his power, his external injuries healing with each level up, until he met the level required to perform his ''True Form Release''.


    Moving on, the scene of Xakon temporarily wiping the floor with Evan and Pride could be seen, also when he incapacitated Ka, up until the point where Eliza who saw the cloud of smoke from the destroyed guild building rising into the air, urged the knights with her to move faster.


    Artemisia didn''t even bother to think about how Eliza and Laurene met in the first ce, deciding to dwell on that matterter.


    "GUMMPPPFFHHHH!!!"


    She went on to watch how Eliza used her newly acquired ''Flower Cannon'' skill tounch a beam of condensed magic power at Xakon, preventing his attempt to kill Evan.


    The screen then showed how Evan and Pride turned out to be awake all this while and were waiting to strike when their opponent''s guard was down.


    It showed how they received healing from Eliza before activating demonic possession, allowing Pride to possess Evan''s body and temporarily boost his strength over level 100.


    Even so, it was not enough to take on the empowered level 140 Xakon so he used limit break together with it, giving him enough power to fight Xakon on equal footing.


    Artemisia saw how the injured Kuro dashed out of Evan''s shadow when thetter wasn''t looking and squeezed out thest of his magic power and a bit of his life force to hold Xakon in ce long enough for Evan''s ''Vortex'' tond a direct hit and end the demon''s life.


    "Vortex, huh?"


    The goddess heaved a sigh as she thought about the all too familiar skill Evan had ''created''.


    "MMMmmmPFHMM!!!"


    It was then she finally took notice of the man who was tied up and gagged on the floor beside her, iling around like he was trying to escape his restraints and say something.


    Her gaze turned cold as she red at the man with a look that could kill, causing him to shiver due to instinctive fear and curl up silently.


    After this, Artemisia stood up from her throne and ran her slim fingers through her long ck hair, heaving an exasperated sigh as she thought about how the child that she had sent to help with Aidos'' situation almost died.


    "After I went through all this stress to get him toe over, some fool decides to make an attempt on his life.


    And I''m sure that fool was influenced by you rag tag group of foolish idiots."


    She shot a gaze filled with disdain at the tied-up man as she spoke with glowing eyes.


    cing a hand on her chin, she wore a pensive look on her face as she began to make attempts to understand exactly what could have caused the demon who had nned to leave Geto, to suddenly change his mind at thest moment and attack a random hero who happened to be in town.


    "The fact that he discovered Evan in the first ce is suspicious in itself.


    How did a demon who was nning to return to his home world silently suddenly decided to take a walk in the town and enter the adventurer''s guild at the exact same time Evan was requesting a rank promotion?"


    Artemisia couldn''t wrap her head around how suspicious the train of events that led to Xakon discovering about Evan were.


    "Tsk...that''s a matter forter.


    For now, I have to send the new system updates to him."


    As she spoke, an illusory keyboard appeared in front of her and her hands flew over the it, her long fingers tapping the keys with just the right amount of force as she typed away.


    Multi coloured Lines of code began appearing on the floating screen beside her and she was gradually getting lost in her work until a voice sounded in her ears.


    The kind of voice that didn''t require one''s mouth to be open when speaking with it.


    |It was quite suspicious that a reincarnator appeared in that world, as expected, you were the cause, huh? |


    Artemisia turned her gaze to the man who was tied up on the ground beside her with narrowed eyes.


    |You think you can stop our lord from getting what he wants? He will-|


    |Devolve. |


    The man''s weird speech was cut off by Artemisia.


    With one word, his pupils dted due to fear but before he could say anything more, the light in his eyes went out.


    |GUGU...GAGA! |


    The man began making the kinds of noises one would hear from a one-year-old but Artemisia ignored him and silently went back to her work.

 Chapter 89 Interlude 4-1 – On The Other Side Of The Rift

    A red sun shone brightly in the sky, lighting up the afternoon sky as the inhabitants of this world went about their daily activities like always.


    Below the sun, a verdant green field stretched out as far as the eye could see, the only other things on this field besides the grasses and the asional birds being therge imposing castle that stood right in the middle.


    The castle''s structure was quiteplicated, having multiple walls and gates, with various kinds of defensive mechanisms surrounding the main buildings.


    From afar, one could see eight skinny, square towers dwarfing everything below them, connected to each other by solid walls made of a dark brown stone.


    Tall, wide windows were scattered thinly across the walls in an asymmetric pattern, along with the overhanging crentions for archers and artillery.


    A sizable gate with tall metal doors, guard the structures within as it was the only way inside, at least without taking down the castle''s outer walls.


    Sitting atop one of these walls, was a man dressed in a long ck overcoat adorned with many medals and insignias.


    Underneath this overcoat was a military uniform that showed his rank and more of his honours, something he was very proud to wear.


    He had the typical look of an old man having a white hair and a long silver beard that over reached his neck.


    Big, round amber eyes, set wickedly within their sockets, calmly watched the grasses as they swayed in the wind.


    *DING!


    There was a sound as his brows twitched for a moment, his hands moving down to the pocket of his overcoat in the next and pulling out a small pocket watch.


    "What is it?"


    He pushed a button on the side of the watch and spoke up, his voice showing his irritation at having his free time disturbed.


    [Sir. The scouts have returned.]


    A voice replied to him, causing his eyes to widen as he replied immediately.


    "Send them to my office, I''d be there soon."


    [Yes Sir.]


    He pushed another button on the side of the pocket watch and cut off the connection, before standing up and turning around, jumping down the enormous walls.


    **WHOOSH!!


    His overcoat pped in the wind as he descended to the ground, opening up enough for one to see the name on the tag right above his breast pocket.


    [Felix Gillet]


    Written in cursive on the gold-ted name tag was the name of this old-looking military officer.


    Despite jumping off a height that most would not even dare to think of doing, his momentum vanished right before he hit the ground, allowing him tond softly without damaging the stone floor.


    "Huh?"


    "Who?!"


    "Oh!"


    "General!"


    The surprised voices of the other people who were working in the area of the castle''s outer walls rang out upon suddenly seeing someone drop from the sky.


    One of the voices recognized this man and called out his title, allowing the others to instantly figure out who he was as they dropped whatever they were doing and lined up before saluting.


    The man, General Felix Gillet, nodded as he walked through the lines of saluting military personnel, his eyes darting around as he looked at the inner gates of the castle.


    Huge statues of heroes and kings decorated the outer section of the second walls (inner wall), memories of glories of the past.


    This castle has stood the test of time and despite knowing some very rough times, the castle still stands and it looks like it will do so for many years toe.


    He walked in through the vast gate with great metal doors and strong defences that guarded the fairly low, heavy walls made of light grey stone.


    After getting in to through the castle''s second walls, a simr situation urred as the personnel within these walls dropped their activities and gave him a salute.


    Acknowledging them with a nod, he walked towards the main castle building that was showing signs of expansion as some parts were clearly built more recently than others, the inhabitants are already working on another part and hoping to keep expanding.


    ''The walls have to expand to or it''d get cramped in here.''


    He had this offhand thought as he walked into the main building, swiftly walking through the long hallways and arriving at his office which was located at the very end of the top floor in record time.


    Opening the door, he was met with the sight of four young men dressed in military uniforms, standing and saluting right in front of his desk.<sub> </sub>


    A lc rug splits the entire office room in half and was matched by the thinner ones on either side of the hall while square dag banners with emzoned quilting drooped from the walls.


    His feet glided across the rug as he reached his mahogany desk and took a seat on the slightly pulled-back chair right in front of it.


    He ced his right hand on the chair''s armrest and propped his chin on his palm, gazing at the four in front of him with his amber eyes in silence for nearly ten minutes.


    Just when the four scouts were beginning to feel cold sweat from this general''s heavy gaze, his lips opened as he questioned them.


    "Where is the fifth?"


    The four of them looked among each other before one of them volunteered to speak for the entire group, not daring to dy as he gave the general the answer he wanted.


    "Unknown.


    We lost contact with him in thest week we were posted there."


    Hearing of the missing state of one of the scouts he had sent over to his race''s next target, the general''s eyes narrowed in displeasure.


    ''Come to think of it, I haven''t checked his soul board. I''d do thatter.


    For now, Let''s hear their reports.''


    As he thought that, he pointed to the scout who answered him and ordered.


    "State your location of posting and give your report."


    "Yes Sir.


    I was posted to the Elven Empire on the Aidos world''s Beta Continent and I was there with the identity of ''A Rich Merchant''s First Son'' who was sent to the capital city, Lustea by his father to learn the trade."


    The words he spoke revealed the location he was posted to and the hidden identity he had while he was there.


    This also, in turn, revealed his true identity.


    He was a spy!


    A spy who was sent into Aidos to scout the situation there and report back to his superior, just as he was doing now.


    And one didn''t need to be a genius to find out exactly where he was sent from. There was currently only one other ce that could consider sending spies into Aidos to scout the world''s situation.


    The man kept on talking about the five years he spent there and all the information he was able to gather.


    He spoke about the Beta Continent''s great powers, the Elven Empire, the Dwarf Kingdom, the Aelum Kingdom and the Holy Empire.


    "The ''Holy Empire'' has their main source of powering from the fact that they are the capital of the ''Church of Artemisia'', the predominant religion on Aidos that worships the goddess ''Artemisia''."


    Hearing that, General Felix scoffed loudly before telling the scout to carry on.


    "...Also, the Holy Empire has a lot of artifacts and treasures that would be detrimental to our race, they have so many to spare that even countryside bishops possess at least one artifact containing high levels of ''Holy Magic''."


    "Holy magic? That damned thing still exists?"


    The aged general interrupted the scout as he spoke up with a voice tinged with annoyance. The young scout could only swallow his saliva before answering.


    "y-y-yes...the le-level is also h-higher."


    He stammered a bit but the general didn''t really care about that, he still remembers the reason he almost had an early retirement a thousand years ago.


    He had battled one of the pdins of the ''Church of Artemisia'' and although he ultimately won, the Pdin made sure he could no longer participate in the war.


    ''That pdin had absurd levels of holy magic and he was only a low-ranking one...''


    If a low-ranking pdin of a thousand years ago had that much holy magic, then how did the current ones fare?


    ''Although I had killed hundreds of those pdins, they were all close fights as I had to watch out for their absurd energy levels and potent magic power.''


    Felix rxed on his chair and thought about the blow that his world suffered due to their loss against Aidos.


    ''No, I don''t think that they would have that many pdins left. Although it would be the height of folly to underestimate them, it is not a wrong assumption that they definitely lost a lot of talents, reducing the amount of people that can pass down their skills to the next generations.


    The ones who were strong enough to survive that war would have also died out, except they are from a long-lived race like Elves and Dwarves.


    The beastmen of that world can live a few centuries but that''s about it, they cannot survive up to a thousand years unless they are ''Legendary Level'' existences.


    As for the Dragons....''

 Chapter 90 Interlude 4-2 – Reports And Discoveries

    ''No, I don''t think that they would have that many pdins left. Although it would be the height of folly to underestimate them, it is not a wrong assumption that they definitely lost a lot of talents, reducing the amount of people that can pass down their skills to the next generations.


    The ones who were strong enough to survive that war would have also died out, except they are from a long-lived race like Elves and Dwarves.


    The beastmen of that world can live a few centuries but that''s about it, they cannot survive up to a thousand years unless they are ''Legendary Level'' existences.


    As for the Dragons....''


    At that point his thoughts came to a halt, his mind could not help but remember that day. The day that marked the beginning of the end of the war.


    The day when the Demon King''s right-hand man, Greater General McEnda IV stepped into Aidos and wiped out half the Dark Continent.


    The day that the most powerful existence that Felix had ever seen, save the Demon King, showed up to battle McEnda.


    As weak and injured as he was then, he had no choice but to retreat back to the demon world, after all, even high-ranked demons ran for their lives, and he was only a measly mid-rank demon then!


    ''Let''s try not to remember depressing things.''


    He snapped out of his thoughts and motioned to the scouts to continue, hoping that they gathered a lot more details about Aidos than what was already known.


    The scouts began to give a rundown of the situation in Aidos, listing out all the currently existing countries from the current major powers on the two continents and their rtionships with each other.


    Five years was not that long, but it also not that short.


    Within those five years, the five scouts had positioned themselves in the world powers in Aidos.


    One was ced to the Elven Empire''s capital, Lustea.


    The second was in the Aelum Kingdom''s capital, Eblor.


    The third didn''t dare enter the Holy Kingdom and only stayed on a country that bordered it, Deston. While not to the level of major world powers like Aelum, it was still considered a world power.


    The fourth was ced in the Great Eastern Empire''s major trade hub, Irisa, the city was also not so far from the Desert Country of Tarse.


    Lastly, the fifth was posted to the country on the other side of the Desert Country, the Great Western Empire.


    The fifth was also the only scout who had not returned to his home world and lost contact with the other four in thest week they were supposed to spend there.


    They reported the alliances and political tensions between these countries and their neighbors.


    Starting from how the Beast Kingdom south of the Alpha continent did not seem to be on good terms with a human supremacist country in the west.


    They also talked about the growing tensions between the Great Eastern Empire and one of the smaller countries to the south that bordered them, Wolfen.


    Some other countries who did not appreciate the Great Eastern Empire''s monopoly over some goods decided to form an alliance in order to pressure the Great Eastern Empire into giving them some benefits in exchange for their neutrality on the matter.


    They also talked about how trade with the Elven Kingdom to the north and one of the countries north of the Great Western Empire, Terrok was worsening as the elf ve trade over there kept increasing.


    One of the scouts also noted how despite the bad rtions everywhere, there were still some good ones as six small countries in the Beta continent united to form arger nation, with theirbined forces being enough to threaten surrounding countries that had existed for centuries.


    There was also the case of two coastal countries on the Alpha continent, reaching out to their neighbors in the Beta continent and forming trade rtions.


    They also went on to exin the situations of other races that did not actively involve themselves with the world powers like the dragons on spirits, with the information on the spirits being very low due to the fact that they were not a race that could be seen by just anybody.


    The talk about the dragons made Felix recall memoires he tried to bury deep into his subconscious.


    He recalled the day he ran for his life when the only existence on Aidos who could match Greater Demon General McEnda IV arrived to battle the most powerful peak-ranked demon.


    "Dragon Lord...Gorm."


    "The previous Dragon Lord?"


    One of the scouts responded to Felix''s absent-minded mutter, snapping the aged general out of his thoughts as he asked.


    "Hmm? Is there anything about him I need to know?"


    "No... Nothing of note. Just that his daughter is now the current Dragon Lord."


    Felix''s eyes widened upon hearing this; he made a note to report this when he went to meet the greater generalster in the day.


    ''There''s no way the daughter of such a powerful dragon would be weak!''


    "Sir!"


    "What?"<sub> </sub>


    "There is something we need to say, it is perhaps the most important thing we discovered."


    "Out with it already."


    After receiving permission, one of the scouts stepped forward and began to tell the story of ''The Five'', the five most powerful existences in Aidos.


    "Current Dragon Lord Altrishia, King of the Beast Kingdom that is in the south of the Alpha continent Beast King Kolvar, Strongest Human Rathal, Emperor of the Elven Empire North of the Beta Continent, Elven Emperor Zaos and the one known to make the most powerful weapons the world of Aidos has ever seen, the Smith Master, Vulwin.


    These five are the strongest beings in Aidos, and from what we were able to find out, each of them possesses powerparable to that of a peak-ranked demon.


    And not just any Peak ranked Demons, ones on the level of Greater Generals."


    Felix''s expression contorted slightly upon hearing those words, however, the scouts didn''t seem to notice and kept on talking about ''The Five''.


    ''If what they say is correct, then they have the power to easily defeat even the current me.''


    He looked at one of the pictures on the wall in his office and saw himself in his ceremonial uniform, with the badge stating his rank as Lesser General showing on his chest pocket.


    As soon as his thoughts reached that point, he then suddenly remembered something, his gaze turning sharp as he asked the scouts.


    "What about the ''Seven Heroes''? Did you discover any information on them?


    It was confirmed that a few of them possessed the power to interfere with the naturalws of reincarnation, besides, they were existences who could easily live for a thousand years with their power."


    Hearing his questions, the scouts looked at each other nervously before replying.


    "Apologies but we did not discover anything about them."


    "What?!"


    "The ''Seven Heroes'' are no more than legends of a thousand years ago to the people of Aidos."


    **BAM!


    Felix mmed his fist on the table and screamed at the scouts.


    "Legends?! Sure! They were definitely ''legends''!


    But did you think that Legends would not leave methods for their descendants to prosper, or leave legacies for their sessors, especially when they know fully well that the seal on the rift was not permanent?!"


    The aura of a Lesser general of the Demon Army red wildly, sending chills down the spines of the scouts who were only low ranked demons and making it harder for them to breathe.


    Upon seeing the expressions of pain in the eyes of the scouts, Felix snapped back to his senses and retracted his aura.


    "Tsk...How can you call yourselves intelligence officers when you didn''t even think to search for any legacies left behind by the greatest threats in conquering Aidos.


    And one of you isn''t even here."


    As he spoke, he pulled his drawer open and dipped his hand inside, bringing out a small wooden board with inscriptions on it that had a hole perforated on the tip.


    A rope passed through the hole at the tip of the board and Felix grabbed this rope before pouring a small amount of magic power into it.


    Upon doing this, the inscriptions on the board lit up, allowing for the scouts who were quite far to make out their contents.


    "...Xakon Ilmoth?"


    Recalling that to be the name of their fellow scout, they instantly figured that the board that Felix was holding was a soul board.


    A magic tool capable of telling the vital status of the one linked to it by blood. One of them was about to speak up when something that shocked all five men in the room happened.


    **SHATTER!!


    The soul board in Felix''s hands shattered to pieces right before their very eyes.


    The four scouts'' eyes widened as they could not believe what they had seen.


    Felix was also initially surprised but that look of surprise turned into a frown in the next moment.


    All five of them knew how soul boards worked, and the fac that Xakon''s soul board had broken, meant one thing.


    "Xakon....is dead."

 Chapter 91 [Bonus Chapter]Interlude 4-3 – Resultant Actions

    "Xakon....is dead."


    Felix''s words served as a confirmation of the reality of the situation. He ignored the looks of shock on the scouts'' faces and began to think about how Xakon could have possibly died.


    ''Albeit low ranked, Xakon was an Ilmoth, a noble demon. He should have been capable of using ''True form release''.


    If he still died, then this means that his opponent was just that strong.


    The problem is if he was killed instantly or captured and tortured for information before his death. It would be good if it was the former but in the case of thetter, just how much did he spill before dying.''


    His frown deepened as he sank deeper into his thoughts, only breaking out when he heard one of the scouts say something shocking.


    "Sir, I have a conjecture on how Xakon died."


    "Speak?"


    "One of ''The five'' was on the Alpha continent where Xakon was just a few days before he died. The one called ''Strongest Human'' Rathal."


    "What?!"


    Hearing this, Felix abruptly stood up and walked out of the office, not before dismissing the other scouts.


    ''I have to contact the Council of Generals; we need to move our ns forward.''


    He gazed out the window of the hallway and looked at the horizon in the distance before changing his thoughts.


    ''No, it''d be better if I go in person.''


    As soon as he made his decision, he pulled out his pocket watch and pressed one of the buttons on the side.


    *RING!


    There was a short ring and he turned around to lock gazes with another demon who wasing up the stairs.


    "General Gillet."


    Seeing that the person he wanted to contact was already in front of him, Felix ced the watch back into his pocket and spoke.


    "Good thing you are already here. Let''s go to the roof, I''ll fill you in on the way."


    Felix then proceeded to inform his assistant and aide, a Colonel of the Demon Army, about what the scouts told him and how he discovered Xakon was dead.


    "The Ilmoths would not take kindly to this news."


    "Yes. Even if they don''t give two fucks about what goes on in the branch families, their Pride won''t let them ept the fact that a human from a world we wish to conquer killed one of them."


    Felix heaved a sigh as he thought about one of his fellow lesser generals who was also the head of the Ilmoth n and how he would react upon hearing this.


    As he talked with his aide, the went up thest flight of stairs and arrived on the roof.


    "Handle everything here when I''m out, I''d be gone for at least a month so make sure nothing goes wrong."


    "Yes Sir."


    "Good, I trust you''d do well."


    After saying that, Xakon took a few steps back and released a pair of ck bat-like wings from his back.


    He then kicked off the ground and soared into the sky, his wings beginning to p as he maintained his bnce in the air.


    ''I wish I knew teleportation magic.''


    The demon generalmented to himself as he gazed at a certain direction before taking a deep breath.


    **BOOMM!


    The next moment, there was a loud boom as he instantly shot forward, blitzing across the sky faster than the naked eyes could see.


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    It was, an infinite darkness.


    No matter how far one went, there was no end


    No matter how long one waited, there was no dawn.


    There was one spot, where there was light.


    A throne that floated within the darkness--Only there.


    A being sat on this throne looking at a screen in front of him, disyed on the screen was the scene of the Demon General blitzing through the skies as he flew to his destination.


    "Hmm...it seems making him meet that demon was a bad idea. The demons would move their ns forward now and I highly doubt he would be strong enough to resist their armies when theye through."


    His left blue eye glowed a bit before a surprised look appeared on the face of this being.


    "Oh? He would not have the influence required to make the other world powers move at hismand, huh?


    Since he has decided to distance himself from political matters of Aidos, he has to get his influence in another way.


    He has to up his game, get strong enough to make even the strongest countries bow to his will just like the ''Strongest Human'' did.


    That way, even if they don''t follow him out of respect, they''d do it out of fear."<sub> </sub>


    The being''s right red eye glowed as heughed evilly to himself.


    "Even if he wants to go down that road, he needs to have public opinion on his side. While I would have waited for him to get to the Cheverton Duchy, that''s too far off.


    How about I do this..."


    As he spoke, the image disyed on the screen changed from the demon world''s skyline to that of a sword, arge ck great sword that seemed to be stuck in the ground.


    It was a massive two-edged, two-handed sword with a massive de measuring about 70 inches long and 8 inches thick.


    The sword''s brown handle was about 10 inches long, giving the weapon a total of 80 inches in length.


    There were dozens of chains that wrapped round this sword tightly, as if keeping it bound to the ground.


    "Let me make him see the power of public opinion for a bit..."


    He snapped his fingers and the chains around the sword all shattered to pieces.


    After that...there was silence.


    "That was expected, Even the prideful one had to take a while to readjust, much less this one."


    Yawning a bit, the being waved his hand and the screen disappeared, leaving the only source of light in this entire dark space to be his two heterochromatic eyes.


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    **RUMBLEEE!!!


    **BOOMM!


    There was a rumbling sound as the earth trembled, followed by a loud explosion as something burst out of the ground, sendingrge chunks of dust and dirt flying.


    "KRIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!"


    Emerging from the ground, was arge worm of about thirty metres long and three meters wide. It had scales all over its body and sharp spikes protruding from its back.


    The worm shrieked and opened up its mouth cavity to reveal a set of sharp teeth-like appendages that twitched asionally.


    It then twisted its cylindrical body and shot towards the cloud of dust that rose up when it burst out form the ground.


    Before it reached its destination, it seemed to sense something as it abruptly stopped its movements and rolled to the side.


    **WHOOSHHHH!!!!!


    The next moment, the dust cloud cleared up as arge horizontal tornado shot into the air and drilled right through where the worm was mere seconds ago.


    "KRIEEEE!!!"


    The worm shrieked once more as it moved its magic power. The ground cracked open and spears of earth emerged from withing the cracks, piercing through the air and every other animal or minster that unfortunately happened to be within a fifty-meter radius.


    "I see, so that''s how you do magic. Even an unintelligent monster could do this, to think that i could not even after hundreds of years.


    I''m ashamed."


    A voice tinged with a bit of surprise rang out as a gust of wind blew away all the dust that resulted from the ground cracking open.


    The figure of the voice''s owner was revealed to be a fairly tall man with darkplexion and distinctive red irises. He had a muscr build and his hair was shaved close on the back and sides, leaving a ck-coloured crown on top.


    Strapped to his back was a huge great sword that was more than two metres long and twenty centimetres wide.


    Seeing him, the worm charged towards with speed so fast that it looked like a blur, however, this man only looked at the rock spear that emerged from the ground beside him and thought to himself.


    ''I need to learn magic.


    That other human I killed said that there was a city of magic not far from here. Maybe i should go there next.''


    A soon as he thought that, his left hand stretched to his back and grabbed the handle of therge great sword pulling it out of its sheath as he poured magic power into the de.


    **HUMM!!


    The steel brown de vibrated as it resonated with his magic power, its colour turning a deeper shade of brown as he grabbed it with his second hand and took a stance while facing the charging worm.


    His magic power red as he coated his de with wind magic and shaped the already long de into a longer de, extending its reach.


    All these actions were taken in one fluid motion, within the ten seconds it took the worm to close the distance between them.


    **SWISHHHH!!!!


    *BOOM!!


    With a downward sh, his de cleaved through the worm, splitting int into two halves and ending its life.


    "One strike...huh..."


    He gazed at the two halves of the worm''s corpse as he spoke, before turning his gaze towards the sky and continuing.


    "I''m getting stronger.


    Soon, we would have our rematch...Sixth Finger of the Demonic Hand, Seith."

 Chapter 92 Volume 2 Teaser 1

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    Unknown Residence


    Capital City Acron


    Beta Continent''s Holy Empire


    Unknown Date


    The entire residence was busy, knights and servants shuffling around hastily, however, there was one part where there was no activity.


    One could see a fresh bed of moss-covered grass, apanied by a variety of flower bushes and shrubs.


    The sound of water running could be heard as a fountain stood to the left of this garden, spouting water into the air and offering birds and insects a ce to drink.


    A young teenager watched these birds and insects with a small smile on his face, asionally petting some of the birds that wandered close to him as he sat on a bench not too far from the fountain.


    "We don''t really have much time left, huh?"


    He opened his mouth and spoke to no one in particr, a calm and collected baritone voice flowing out of his lips as his smile slowly disappeared.


    He was a young boy with a shaven chin and short hair as white as snow and was dressed in a cassock underneath white priestly robes and a zhetto atop his head. His robes were intricately designed with gold and silver linings, same with the red Humeral veil on his shoulders.


    On the back of his robes, arge Golden Rose could be seen, showing his identity as a priest of the Church of Artemisia.


    He turned his dark eyes in a certain direction, the golden inscription in his iris bing fully visible as he spoke once more.


    "I guess everyone should be ''awake'' by now. It''s high time we began to regain our power..."


    A swallowtail perched on his shoulder right after he spoke and nuzzled its head into his neck. His attention was called towards the small bird as he broke out into a smile and petted its head.


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    6


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    Unknown Vige


    New Ozon


    Beta Continent''s Aelum Kingdom


    Unknown Date


    The Adventurer''s guild master of New Ozon could not believe his eyes. His eyes were capturing the information and sending it to his brain but his brain simply refused to agree that what it was seeing was real.


    He had run all the way to one of the viges on the city outskirts that was raided by bandits upon hearing that the leader of the bandits had the strength of a C-rank adventurer, none of which were avable at the moment as most of the higher ranked adventurers were busy investigating the case of the missing Spider Nest dungeon, alongside three other dungeons that had vanished out of the blue.


    The wounded viger who was barely able to pass the news of the bandit raid to him only did so less than ten minutes ago and he had run all the way over to that vige as fast as he could within ten minutes, however, the scene he was met with was not what he was expecting.


    The vige was littered with wounded fighters, weapons, and carnage. Red, gray and blue were the new colours of what was once a small, hard-working vige, which had now be the stage of a short, destructive battle.


    The air which would normally be rich in scents of food, fresh fish, and new brews was now thick with the stench of blood, gore, and death.


    In the middle of all this, was the person responsible, a boy in histe teens with snow-white skin who was pretty enough to be mistaken for a girl. His flowing ck hair was smooth and reached his waist.


    From the sides of his head, two curved horns could be seen jutting out, having intricately designed patterns on them. He had a long red scaled tail that waved around in the air. His eyes were unlike normal, as he had red sclera and ck pupils.


    Inside his pupils, a golden inscription of a crest could be seen, a single letter, from an ancientnguage lost to time.


    Looking up to the sky, he spoke to no one in particr.


    "Time is running out..."


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    5


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    Unknown Residence


    Cerul


    Alpha Continent''s Beast Kingdom


    Unknown Date


    A young boy wearing a suit waved around a de in his hands as he walked through his father''s garden.


    He was a tall, handsome teenage boy with red hair and brown eyes. His clothing consisted of a ck suit, gray under-shirt, and maroon tie. He also wore ck half gloves on both hands.


    He had two ears, reminiscent of those of a lion''s; at the top of his head with a fairly long tail emerging from in between the back slit of his zer.


    The de in his hands was simple. No decorations or engraved patterns as the de needed none of that. It only needed to be strong and sharp.


    He made a few practice swings as he moved, asionally incorporating some sword techniques into his arm movements and footwork styles into his steps.


    Eventually, he arrived at the centre of the garden and was met with the sight of a radiant throne of bronze sitting atop a tall elevated tform.<sub> </sub>


    Looking at the throne in front of him, he chuckled lightly and stabbed the de into the ground beside it before taking a seat at the foot of the throne.


    ''With father''s life expectancy, I would not be sitting in that anytime soon. If that''s the case, then I hope he lives longer or has another kid with mom.


    Being a king does not suit me.''


    He ran his finger through his red hair as he looked up at the night sky, his irises being fully visible as one could see a golden crest within them.


    "I wonder who the others are and how they are faring..."


    His ears twitched as he heard the footsteps of someone silently approaching, nevertheless, he remained seated as he knew that if this person had any ill intent towards him, he would not live long enough to even hear his footsteps.


    A small smile appeared on his face as he picked stood up and picked up his sword, standing up and turning around to face the muscr brown eyed man who was behind him.


    "Let''s have little bout, Dad."


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    4


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    Unknown Forest


    Capital City Gerfast


    Alpha Continent''s Great Western Empire


    Unknown Date


    **BOOM!!!


    An earth-shattering explosion resounded in the verdant green forest as a cloud of dust rose up from among the trees.


    A series ofrge columns protruded from the ground and crashed into a humanoid figure that was obscured by the dust cloud.


    "Break."


    A young girl''s voice rang out from within the dust cloud as therge columns shattered and turned into a pile of rocks.


    "Tsk...so much dust."


    **SWOOSHH!


    The moment those words were spoken, the dust clouds were immediately blown away by a gust of wind, revealing the destroyed state of what was once a beautiful forest.


    The owner of the voice looked around and heaved a sigh before tying her chestnut-coloured fairly long hair into a ponytail before turning her gaze towards the being in front of her who was staring at her with wary eyes.


    She was wearing a pair of ck T-shirt and oversized shorts, with ckced boots on her feet.


    Her most noticeable feature, her pair of blue eyes, were narrowed in displeasure as she gazed at this being in silence.


    Within her pupils, one could see a crest that was made up of a single letter, from an ancientnguage lost to time.


    "Couldn''t you have at least spared the forest?"


    She asked the being in front of her, a four-metre-tall ogre with light blue skin and four arms, with the normally positioned pair each having an arm band.


    However, she received no reply as the ogre only gazed at her silently before abruptly mming two of his arms together and rousing his magic power.


    The ground rumbled once more, imploding into a multitude of earthen chunks in the next moment, floating up in the air at a speed faster than an average person could see.


    The earthen chunks then stopped floating mid air and allunched themselves in the direction of the girl who was staring at all this with an impassive look on her face.


    "Magic Catalyst."


    She calmly called out as a small crystal orb about 15cm in diameter appeared beside her and slowly floated in the air.


    The crest in her blue eyes glowed with a golden light as she spread out her arms and called out.


    "Rain of Earth."


    The floating orb beside her glowed slightly as spears of earth emerged from the ground behind her and shot forwards towards the iing earthen chunks.


    **BOOOMMMM!!!


    The spears and boulders of earth collided mid air, releasing a shockwave that was enough to uproot even the oldest trees in the forest with ease.


    Clouds of dust and dirt covered the entire area and obscuring the vision of the ogre who darted his eyes around while spreading his senses trying to sense where the girl was only for him to suddenly feel something mming into his torso.


    "Guh!!"


    The ogre coughed out blood due to the force of the blow and his enormous body was sent flying into the pile of broken trees behind it.


    Where he was standing formerly, the blue-eyed girl could be seen standing on an elevated rocky tform with her outstretched fist encased in a thickyer of stone.


    "Who said mages aren''t good at closebat?"


    She said to herself as she pulled her fist backward, her gaze turning to the sky as she continued.


    "I wonder how many of us are mages?"

 Chapter 93 Volume 2 Teaser 2

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    3


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    Unknown Monument


    Saer


    Alpha Continent''s Desert Country of Tarse


    Unknown Date


    ? The city of Saer was built in the middle of a scorching desert and was truly a contemporary marvel. Its appearance was matched by the backdrop of clear blue skies which have helped shape the city into what it was in the current day.


    The climate these skies brought was of great importance, but they were also influential when it came to architectural designs as the vast majority of buildings have been built with lots of ss and light elements to mimic the aesthetics of the blue skies around them.


    In the middle of this city was a monument that was designed by a famous international artist who marvellously captured the natural beauty of the region and used a sophisticated style to convey his vision in this piece of art.


    A girl standing at about 170 cm tall, with ck hair tied into a ponytail on the right side of her head using a gold-coloured crown-shaped hair essory stared at this monument in silence as she tried toprehend what the Artist could have possibly been thinking when they designed this.


    She was wearing a brown hoodie and pants, a ck tank top with brown socks and ck shoes. Strapped to her back, was a one-handed sword that waspletely mismatched with what she was wearing


    ''This thing was crafted and created with premium materials from local suppliers so at least it would continue to both ''decorate'' themunity and provide the locals with maintenance jobs.


    It''s not like anything of note happened here within the past few centuries so that was probably the reason they built this monument.''


    She thought to herself while she gazed at the city''s inhabitants that were busily moving around, carrying on with their daily lives.


    The golden crests within her dark gray irises shed for a moment asplicated thoughts passed through her mind.


    "At least one should be on this continent, I hope to meet them soon..."


    She pulled over her hood and covered her head as she walked away from the monument and blended into the crowd of people busily shuffling about.


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    Unknown Abandoned City


    Bultom


    Alpha Continent''s Great Western Empire


    Unknown Date;


    Apocalypse.


    That was the only word that could be used to describe the that this boy found himself looking at.


    An Exploding sun.


    A broken moon.


    And earth shattered beyond repair.


    The ground was littered with gore, weapons, and carnage. Rivers of blood flowed endlessly as the boy watched everything from the top of a hill of corpses.


    All of a sudden, the sky turned red, his vision going ck in the next moment as he opened his eyes, his ears being greeted with the melodious voice of a girl not too far from him in age.


    "You''re finally awake. Seriously, who the hell sleeps atop a pile of corpses?"


    Looking around him, he could see he was not in that apocalyptic scenery in his mind but in a city that could have been said to have gone through its own form of apocalypse.


    The once smoothwork of roads that interconnected all the streets and districts of the city was torn to pieces by the elements. Grass filled thebyrinth of cracks and sand covered whatever was left. Gardens were bustling with insect life who had made their home in the now tall grasses and overgrown bushes.


    Most doors were eitherpletely gone or mere remnants of rotten wood and rusty metal. The open doorways looked eerie as only darkness showed within. There were signs of fires, in some cases, it was merely a trail of soot and smoke above a window pane, in others, it was a pile of ash where once a building stood.


    "I was not asleep, just going through some past memories."


    "Really? Of all ces to reminisce about the past!"


    The boy chuckled lightly as he jumped down the hill of headless corpses he was sitting down on and adjusted his clothes.


    He wore a pair of ck trousers with a simrly coloured short sleeved T-shirt on his upper body. Atop his shirt, was a gray cardigan that matched the colour of his shoes. On his right wrist was a in ck bracelet about 15 cm in length.


    Running a hand through his short ck hair, he looked to the side and saw pieces of broken body armour and helmets of various kinds gathered into a single pile.


    His dark gray eyes narrowed slightly as he gazed at this pile of junk, the golden crest in his eyes lighting up with a golden glow.


    "Good...they''re all dead."


    He spoke to the blonde-haired girl beside him as he stretched his arm into the air and called out.


    "Unforged."


    *SWOOSHH!!


    Within a few seconds, an obsidian ck one-handed sword with an eighty-centimetre-long de flew into his open palm.


    Grasping the sword tightly, he turned to the blonde girl and asked a question.


    "Where''s our resident invader?"<sub> </sub>


    "She went ahead to the main city, saying that we should meet her there when you wake up from your beauty sleep."


    Hearing the girl''s reply, he nodded in understanding before sheathing his sword and walking towards the wide fallen temple in the middle of the city square as he continued.


    "Let''s go then.


    There are a lot of knights that we have to relieve of the burden of carrying their heads in their hands."


    The girl nodded in affirmation as she picked up her magic catalyst, a look of remembrance appearing on her face as she asked.


    "When are you going to start looking for the rest?"


    "Soon...very soon."


    The boy replied as he looked beyond the entrance of the fallen temple with glowing eyes.


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    Unknown Forest


    Lustea


    Beta Continent''s Elven Empire


    Unknown Date;


    The forest was vast, imprable, and verdant. Its canopy was contested by cedar, willow, and oak, and asional openings in their crowns allowed plenty of light through for a flood of herbs to im the sloping and nting ground below.


    Swooping branches waved from a couple of trees, and a range of flowers, which were unique to this region, added more life in the otherwise homogeneous forest grounds.


    A disharmony of animal sounds, most of which were singing birds, reverberated through the air, and formed a chaotic orchestra with the sounds of several woodpeckers in the distance.


    The variation of wild noises, brightened up the forest, and almostpletely muffled the asional roar of arge animal trying to scare away predators.


    Smack dab in the middle of said forest, was a small park bench that had many bundled vines hanging from it.


    Sitting on said bench, was a beautifuldy in herte teens wearing an oversized hooded jacket that did nothing to hide herrge bust size. On her legs, she wore ck pants and simrly coloured thigh high boots.


    She had long blonde hair that flowed down her back, with a few strands tucked behind her pointy ears.


    Her hands were inside the pockets of her hooded jacket, her eyes closed as she hummed in tune with the birds while swinging her legs. A pair of half framed sses with lenses tinted purple rested on the bench beside her.


    She remained in this state, happily enjoying the breath of nature as multiple birds and other small animals gathered around her as if seekingfort in her presence.


    All of a sudden, she stopped humming and the animals gathered around her all stared at her with confused gazes, as if they were wondering why she stopped.


    Her closed eyelids slowly opened up to reveal a set of deep purple pupils, each having a golden crest within them.


    She turned her gaze to the skies and smiled before waving at something.


    "I guess I have to leave soon, huh? The others should be doing the same about now."


    After saying that to no one in particr, she closed her eyes once more and resumed humming in tune with the birds in the distance.


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    Unknown Location


    Unknown Continent


    Unknown


    Unknown Date;


    The goddess watched the seven screens floating in the air with an impassive look on her face. Each one of them was showing a particr teenager who was taking a different set of actions.


    "Even if the paths they take are different from each other, their end point remains the same."


    She spoke to no one in particr as she watched all seven screens simultaneously, her mind simting various possible paths the beings in the screens could take.


    "Hmm?"


    Seeing one of them teenagers on the screens look upwards and wave, as if knowing she was being watched, the goddess chuckled in amusement.


    "I should have made her the leader."


    After saying those words, the goddess stood up form her seat and buttoned the zer of her suit before speaking.


    "Debug the ''Stage Two'' Updates, and begin finalizing the ''Tower''."


    She turned around and walked away from the screens as she continued.


    "Let the Saga Begin."


    Reincarnated Hero System Volume Two: Duhan Saga

 Chapter 94 For The Sake Of The Departed...

    Geto City Outskirts


    Great Western Empire


    December 7th


    Year 1051


    **RUMBLE!!


    The sky rumbled as the clouds began to gather in the sky. The postcard-perfect sky had changedpletely. The beautiful cocktail-blue shade had darkened into gravel-grey. Large pillows of cloud had formed, blotting out the old-gold colour of the sun.


    **PITTER-PATTER


    The rain sttered down on all the people dressed in ck who were staring at the proceedings of the funeral ceremony in front of them.


    Evan took shelter under an old oak, subconsciously hoping that he could see out the shower.


    Droplets of moisture dripped from the leaves, sprinkling onto the grass like a gardener''s hose. The rainfall became more intense as a wall of rain moved over the oak with the drops drumming against the canopy.


    His gaze, however, was fixed on the figures of the priests wearing robes inscribed with a ''Golden Rose'' symbol who were conducting the funeral ceremony in front of him.


    Ever since he came to Aidos, he had not encountered members of the church at all, he had been unconsciously avoiding them.


    This funeral ceremony was his first time being so close to any of the church''s members. As for the deity they worshipped, it was naturally the goddess who sent him to Aidos, Artemisia.


    **PITTER-PATTER


    A month had passed since that faithful day, the day when tragedy struck Geto city.


    Ny-five


    That was the number of Knights Xakon murdered the night before the day of the tragedy. All the knights of the Geto barony were found dead in the basement of the baron''s mansion.


    This was the reason for theck of security response by the knights, they were all already dead, after all.


    One hundred and twenty-eight.


    That was the number of adventurers who had met their unfortunate ends when the demon, Xakon, used his Detonate skill in the adventurer''s guild building.


    Forty-three.


    That was the number of innocent civilians who just happened to be close by to the adventurer''s guild building and were killed by the explosion.


    Seventy-nine


    That was the number of those who were injured by the explosion and were still under intensive care in the Geto City clinic.


    As for the party that happened to be in the same room with Evan when Xakon activated his skill, one of them met his end while the other two were injured and were currently still unconscious.


    They either lost a few limbs or had their entire skin burnt off from their bodies.


    Even if Evan didn''t really get along with him, seeing what was left of Nodin''s body being lowered into the ground by the undertakers left more than just a bad taste in his mouth.


    A part of the eleven-year-old still med himself for Xakon''s actions that day, after all, if he was never there, then Xakon would not have killed off nearly two hundred and fifty people who were just going about their everyday lives.


    Evan would also have not survived if the still recovering shadow spirit did not put his life on the line to save the young hero.


    Since that day, Kuro retreated to Evan''s shadow and had note out ever since. Though Eliza performed some healing on Kuro, she stated that the young shadow spirit''s injuries were a lot more severe than they appeared to be.


    As for Ka, even after Eliza used a few charges of her skill, she was still unable to purge out the demonic energy that Xakon had infected her body with.


    Even Pride did not have much luck in that area, despite being a demon herself.


    Evan heaved a sigh as he watched the mass burial urring in front of him. On his left was a woman of average height and a slim build, with fair skin and long ck hair that spilled over her shoulders and down to her waist.


    She was dressed in an all-ck gown with a ck hat on her head and she stood under the old oak with Evan, shielding herself from the rain.


    "I always disliked meaningless ughter. Why go through all the stress of killing hundreds of others besides your original target, such an action was unnecessary.<sub> </sub>


    She muttered to herself under her breath as she clicked her tongue and shook her head at the scene in front of her.


    ''Says the person who sunk entire ind countries a thousand years ago.''


    Evan retorted internally as he turned his gaze to the guild master who Xakon had sent out two days before, and had returned barely a few minutes after the demon had met its end.


    It was tantly obvious to anyone who knew what fully happened that Xakon had sent the guild master out using the city lord''s authority to prevent him from interfering.


    Sadly, his n worked perfectly.


    Geto had barely even began to recover from the chaos and destruction of that faithful day.


    The normal citizens were scared of leaving their homes as the ones responsible for protecting them, namely the knights and adventurers, had faced a drastic reduction in numbers.


    Many others had now begun toud Evan and Pride as their heroes as some who were hiding in their houses and didn''t flee the city, witnessed Evan and Pride fighting against some ''grey skinned, winged-humanoid''.


    Between the normal looking Evan and Pride, and the grey skinned obviously inhuman Xakon, they were more inclined to believe Evan and Pride to be on their side.


    This belief turned into conviction as the Royal knights who came with Eliza on Laurene''s orders vouched for Evan.


    Naturally, this was partially because they recognized him as the missing son of Duke Eris and partially because he indeed dealt the final blow to the monster.


    As for Evan''s demonic possessed state, not many saw its true nature and so they did not realize that Evan had taken on a simr for to that of Xakon''s.


    As such, he had now begun to be considered a hero among the people of Geto, even though part of the reason Xakon attacked was because of him.


    Of course, Evan was not stupid enough to say that.


    In regards to how they were unable to sense his demonic possession and the transformation that came with it, he had two suspects.


    ''Most likely Artemisia''s doing. If it wasn''t her, then it''s definitely ''that'' guy.''


    He stared at the blinking blue notice board in front of him that carried a single message that had been reying itself over the span of the past few days.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says you should not me yourself for the deaths of people unrted to you.]


    The other ''godly'' being who imed to be friends with Artemisia and had been silent ever since he ''created'' his vortex skill.


    He suddenly sent Evan the message the moment he woke up after being unconscious for two weeks.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' states that he was once like you, acting like he didn''t, but deep down, caring about every single innocent life that he endangered during his quest for power and feeling sad at the deaths of all those who perished because of him.


    However, he soon realised that in order to achieve his goals, he had to steel his heart and not be affected by things such as the passing of people unrted to him.


    He says that besides the party you braved the spider folk dungeon with recently, none of the other beings who perished are of any rtion to you, thus, you should not let their deaths bring you down and make you waver in your determination.


    Nevertheless, this does not mean that you should not try to prevent such meaningless killing if you are able to.]


    While Evan found some sense in what he was being told, it was not so easy for his mentality to change, as such, he still felt that Xakon''s actions and the deaths that resulted from these actions were his fault.


    p Before he could dwell on these thoughts any longer, he felt a gaze upon his body and looked around to find its source.</anda>


    Upon hurriedly turning his head around, making Pride send him a questioning gaze, he discovered a figure gazing at him from atop an upleted building in the distance.


    After the attack, it took the people of Geto a week to recover enough to start rebuilding the buildings that were destroyed in the battle. The reconstruction was still ongoing even at the time of the mass burial for the departed souls.


    Evan on the other hand, had woken up a week after this rebuilding action began and ever since then, he had felt that his body had gone through a change that he could not fully exin.


    His status board was also unavable due to some reasons he did not understand so he could not see what changes were made to his body.


    His enhanced eyesight and increased kic vision were some of the benefits he now enjoyed, this was the reason he was able to clearly spot the face of a man atop the roof of a building more than five buildings away.


    ''That...!''


    As the highest-ranked yer of Aidos online, it was impossible for him to mistake that person for someone else.


    ''There''s no doubt...it''s ''him''!''

 Chapter 95 Updates Completed

    ''There''s no doubt...it''s ''him''!''


    It was a tall, attractive man with tan skin and a muscr build. He had golden eyes and very long, purple hair tied in a ponytail.


    Evan did not even bother with his clothes as he already knew the identity of the man standing on that building roof.


    It was one of the strongest NPCs in all of Aidos online. Now that he was in the world the game was based on, it only made sense that Evan was going to encounter him, sooner orter.


    ''That''s ''Strongest Human'' Rathal!''


    It was a being he had not expected to see anytime soon. One of the ''Five'', the strongest beings in all of Aidos.


    Before Evan could even finish being surprised, Rathal just held up two fingers and pointed them to his eyes before turning them in Evan''s direction.


    [I''m watching you, boy.]


    Evan suddenly heard a deep masculine voice in his head, a voice that he was all too familiar with.


    The next moment, Rathal''s body vanished from the spot. Or rather, he moved so fast that Evan could not dream of catching his body''s movements.


    The whole situation was so bizarre that Evan couldn''t help but stare at the empty spot where Rathal was standing with a cked jaw.


    ''Wait! Was that really Rathal or was it my mind ying tricks on me?''


    Evan began to doubt what he had just seen.


    After all, at this point in time, ''Strongest Human'' Rathal was supposed to be in a dungeon in the Beta continent where he discovered a means to elerate his leveling speed and break past the level 950 barrier.


    ''That''s how it was in the game. Why has it changed, is it because of me?


    No way that''s the case, I haven''t done anything that affects the future much besides stopping the Seven deadly sins from wiping out a country.


    But, if it really is because of me, because I fought Xakon...''


    The reality that his actions were changing things that he wanted to remain the same infuriated Evan a bit.


    ''I only wanted to avert the disasters and leave everything else to flow like it did in the game. But Rathal''s presence here means that a major event has changed, and it was an event that I did not want to change.''


    Evan held a hand to his chin and began to ponder on Rathal''s words when Pride suddenly tapped him on the shoulder.


    He looked up to see the priest presiding over the ceremony looking in his direction.


    ''What...?''


    Before Evan could even ask Pride what happened, the priest spoke to him, causing the attention of the hundreds of people present to turn towards him.


    "Can the hero who felled the monster responsible for this tragedy say a few words before we send off the departed to the goddess Artemisia''s embrace?"


    ''Tsk...troublesome.''


    Evan clicked his tongue internally but maintained a sad smile on his face as he gazed towards the hundreds of coffins in the ground before speaking.


    "May the souls of those who have departed, rest in eternal peace."


    The priest nodded before flicking his fingers. Holy magic filled the area as he casted a blessing on those present before carrying on with the final part of the funeral ceremony.


    Evan was about to make another snidement to himself when he suddenly lost all feeling in his left arm.


    ''Huh...? For real! Why now of all times?!''


    Pride who was beside Evan, noticed his ufortable expression and figured out the reason instantly.


    She didn''t think twice about grabbing Evan''s other arm and silently leading him out of the area, taking him back to the inn they resided in.


    By the time they arrived, Pride was basically carrying him as Evan had lost all feeling in his entire body, save his head.


    "Thanks."


    Evan muttered out words of gratitude as Pride hoisted him up to his bed, his vision fading shortly after as he lost consciousness.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    To understand the reason for Evan''s body''s strange reaction, one has to understand the first message Evan had seen the moment he regained consciousness two weeks ago.


    He tried to open his status board to see what level he was at now, but he was unable to see it due to this notice.


    |Reincarnated Hero System Updates Installing.


    Status would be temporarily Unavable until the updates arepleted.


    The host''s body would asionally shut down to ''update'' its state.


    Advising the host to not take any strenuous action during this period. |


    Naturally, his first course of action was to call out to Artemisia but like he past few weeks, the goddess did not answer him.


    Evan also discovered that he could not use magic or skills during this period, even his body'' strength was lower than it was before.


    However, after the first time that he lost all feeling in his body and passed out, his body''s strength recovered to a certain extent.


    He understood that this was the ''shutting down'' phenomenon the system spoke of and the process of him recovering his strength was his body updating its state.


    The only issue was that the times his body shut downpletely werepletely random, as such he could not predict when it would happen.


    Once, it even happened during his bath and he nearly drowned in the bath tub had it not been for Pride who noticed his unusual state and pulled him out.


    The second time, his body recovered even more as he felt his muscles increase in strength andpress, allowing him to wield his full strength even with his lean physique.<sub> </sub>


    The third time, he realised that his eye level had gone a bit higher, making him figure out that his body was growing exponentially.


    The fourth time, his body bulged up with muscles temporarily before returning to normal a few moments after.


    By the fifth time, he felt the familiar feeling of magic power circting through his body, making him realise his full recovery was not far off.


    At the sixth, his body grew again, this time even more obvious as his clothes became undersized for him.


    His face matured a bit and his overall physique became like that of a fifteen-year-old''s, despite his body only being eleven.


    Eliza evenmented on his new appearance stating that he looked a lot cooler than before.


    The seventh and most recent was during the funeral ceremony, a few moments after his short speech.


    Eliza who knew about his situation, couldn''t help but rush towards his room after handing over the remaining matters concerning the funeral ceremony to actual ''Priests''.


    Her blonde hair flowed in the wind as she ran through the empty street and into the Telltale inn Evan was staying in.


    **BAMM!!


    She mmed the door open, causing Pride to turn her cold gaze to the fifteen-year-old priestess, causing thetter to instinctively tremble in fear.


    "Can you be quiet?"


    Eliza nodded in response to Pride''s question before turning her gaze to the boy on the bed. Upon seeing him, she couldn''t help but let out a shocked voice.


    "Huh?"


    "What is it no-Huh?"


    Pride who wanted to chide her turned to Evan and had the same reaction. That was only natural, after all, Evan''s hair had suddenly grown long enough to reach the floor.


    "I call bullshit!"


    "I second that!"


    Ignoring the strange words exchanged between Pride and Eliza, Evans eyes fluttered open as he turned his gaze to the two females who were staring at him like a monkey in a zoo.


    "What?"


    He cocked his head to the side as he asked, only to notice two things that were very different from before.


    One; there was more weight on his head, courtesy of his now waist long hair.


    The second, was the one that made his eyes widen in surprise.


    "My...voice."


    It was then that the two females snapped out of their shock and took note of the difference. Evan''s voice had indeed changed a lot.


    It was a lot less like ''Evan Del Eris'''' voice and more like ''Evan Von Bourne''s'' Voice.


    "My actual voice..."


    "Actual?"


    His words made Pride raise a question to him, making Evan remember he was in the presence of others.


    "Nothing serious.


    More importantly, why are you guys staring at me like a monkey in a zoo?"


    "Why?!


    You look so different, that''s why!"


    Evan sent a questioning gaze towards Eliza but the priestess only heaved a heavy sigh before pulling out a mirror from heaven knows where and shoving it in his face.


    "Where did thate from?"


    "Don''t ask, just look."


    Evan wanted to ask once more but upon seeing the look on Eliza''s face, he didn''t bother and just turned his gaze to the mirror.


    "What the actual fuck?"


    Now, it was his turn to be surprised as the amount of hair on his head was a lot more than he remembered.


    "It definitely was not like this when I passed out!"


    "And that was barely an hour ago."


    "Barely an hour? That''s short!!"


    Normally, when Evan passed out, it usually took him about three to five hours to wake up. Spending barely an hour was a first so he was naturally surprised at this.


    "The both of you are getting surprised over every little thing that it bing noisy here. Let''s take this from the top and address the important matters one by one.


    First of all, Evan."


    "Yeah?"


    "You need to get a haircut done. ASAP."

 Chapter 96 Update Changelog

    "The both of you are getting surprised over every little thing that it bing noisy here. Let''s take this from the top and address the important matters one by one.


    First of all, Evan."


    "Yeah?"


    "You need to get a haircut done. ASAP."


    "No shit."


    Evan grabbed a fistful of his unnecessarily long hair as he replied.


    "I don''t have time for that so I''m gonna improvise for now."


    "Huh?"


    Before Pride could figure out what Evan meant, he summoned the unforged and sliced off his hair from his neck downwards.


    "That''s better."


    Feeling the breeze from the open window blow on his neck made him feel much more rxed. However, that was not for long as he suddenly realised something wrong.


    ''Did I just summon my weapon?''


    He looked at his hand was met with the figure of an obsidian ck one-handed sword with an eighty-centimetre-long de.


    "I just used a skill now, right?"


    "Yes, you did."


    Eliza replied to Evan as she picked up the fallen hair on the ground. Activating her barrier skill and conjuring a soundproof barrier around the room, seconds before Evan screamed out in joy.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Thanks to Eliza''s timely interference, the citizens of Geto were saved from hearing a shout of joy from the one they called their hero on a funeral day.


    Evan on the other hand was activating multiple skills to confirm that he could still utilize his skills like always.


    "Yep. Everything works."


    He then called out to his status board and was not greeted with the now familiar ''Status Unavable'' message, but a set of totally different ones.


    |System Updates Completely Installed.


    The user''s body and soul have now been synchronized with each other. |


    |Update Changelog;


    Resistances tab Added.


    Avable Skill slot Tab added.


    Age Tab modified.


    Race tab modified.


    Leveling up efficiency increased by 100%.


    Stat Effectiveness increased by 10%.


    Stat boost increased by 10%.


    Due to increase in existence level, user can now ess formerly restricted information.


    Due to increase in existence level, user can now gain knowledge on worldw doctrines that were formerly restricted.


    One extra skill slot acquired |


    |System Benefits are now as follows;


    Extra 200% Leveling Efficiency.


    Boosted Life Force.


    20% Stat Boost


    130% Stat Effectiveness. |


    There were so many changes that Evan didn''t feel the need to look through all of them one by one.


    He just skimmed through them and opened up his status board, before scanning through it to notice any differences.


    |Name- Evan Von Bourne


    Race- Body: Human; Soul: ###e# ###s###e#;


    Gender - Male


    Age - Body: 11; Soul: 17;


    Level- 103


    Existence Level - Master


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman


    Health �C C-


    Energy �C C-


    Strength �C C-


    Agility �C C-


    Durability �C C-


    Intelligence- C-


    Condition- Normal, Surprised.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 1, Lightning Tier 2, Shadow Tier 1;


    Resistances- Poison, Charm, Fear.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Martial Arts, Language Comprehension;


    Mimicked Skills-Energy st, Body Transformation, Aura sh, Blink, Inventory, Limit Break;


    Avable Skill Slots- 4;


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (1), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction, Vortex. |


    ''Master Level!!''


    The first thing his eyes caught sight of was his increased level of existence. He was now considered a ''Master''.


    Although his sword or magic skills were definitely not up to the required level of expertise, he would definitely not loose out whenpared to those who had.


    After all, he had the memoires of an expert swordsman alongside all of his techniques.<sub> </sub>


    ''The previous ''Second'' was far above the level of a mere master, with his knowledge, I canpete on equal footing with ''genuine'' masters.''


    Evan also noticed the addition of the resistances tab that listed all the resistances he had acquired with adaptive Evolution.


    Going further below, he saw the ''Avable Skill Slot'' tab and nodded in affirmation as he pondered on how useful these new additions were.


    It was then that he finally took notice of the things he was supposed to notice first. Namely, his name, age and race.


    ''That''s my real name!''


    Ever since he possessed the body of the deceased new generation hero, the name disyed on his status was not Evan''s real name but that of the body''s original owner.


    The age was also that of the body''s original owner.


    The race disyed on the status board was the only thing Evan believed was because of him, and now seeing his current status board, his suspicions were confirmed.


    ''The body''s age is eleven while my soul''s age is seventeen. It adds up, given I just turned sixteen when I came here and I have spent more than a year here.


    The body''s race being human also adds up as the parent of this body were both humans. As for the soul race however, that''s obviously a different case.''


    While Evan hade to terms with the fact that he was not human over the past one year, seeing the reality of the situation shoved in his face once more, he could not help but have mixed feelings about it.


    However, before he could turn mncholic, a suspicion suddenly shed through his mind.


    ''Could it be that Artemisia chose me not because is was the highest ranked in Aidos online but because of my race?''


    He didn''t have anything to confirm this suspicion, until another notice board suddenly appeared in front of him.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' smiles upon you]


    His entre body went stiff the moment he saw that message, the next, he let out a heartyugh, surprising Eliza and Pride who were in the room with him.


    ''This is obviously something that Artemisia doesn''t want me to know about.


    But in that case, why didn''t she just make my status show ''Human''?


    Was there a specific reason behind it?''


    He received no answers to his question but he didn''t really mind. The boy took his attention back to the name disyed on his status board.


    ''Evan Von Bourne. Full name, Evankhell Vontdante Bourne.


    That''s definitely my name.''


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says you should guard your true name as your closest secret. Especially now that you are a master level existence.]


    Evan couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow in surprise upon seeing the message sent by the other ''godly being'' who had been watching him since he came to Aidos.


    He didn''t need to be a genius to understand that this being''s advice was for his own good. The memories of the previous second hero he possessed enlightened him on the existence of magic and sorcery that required the target''s true name to be activated.


    He nodded in affirmation before turning towards Pride with the intention of telling her about the changes in his level and his stats.


    **BOOM!!


    But before he could speak, a burst of energy was suddenly released from Pride''s body as Evan could feel her power increasing due to their connection.


    The amount of demonic energy she could store within her body increased exponentially, alongside her magic and aura reserves.


    She summoned her weapon, Vanitas, in her hands and coated it with and ominous ck aura, a feat that could only be aplished by a master level existence.


    Evan appraised the high demon and let out a sigh of exasperation upon realising that this power up was only a drop in the bucket that was her full power.


    |Name- Pride


    Race- High Demon


    Gender - Female


    Age - 1351


    Level- 103 (777)


    Existence Level - Master (Sovereign)


    Titles- Leader of the Seven Deadly Sins, Deadly Sin of Pride, Peak Rank Demon, Ascendant, H#��&Ger of Pride.


    ss- Magic Swordswoman


    Health �C C- (X1-)


    Energy - C (X2)


    Strength �C C (X1)


    Agility �C C- (X1-)


    Durability �C D+ (SSS+)


    Intelligence - C- (SSS)


    Condition- Curious, Slightly Surprised.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 6, Wind Tier 6.


    Skills- Pride Maniption, Pride Embodiment, Aura of Pride, Contempt of the Many.


    Unique Skills- Incarnation of Pride. (HIDDEN) |


    ''It''s just level hundred out of seven hundred.''


    He looked through her status board once more, his eyes going through each detail, eventually arriving at the unique skills tab.


    ''Huh?''


    It was then he realised something that he didn''t find weird until now.


    "Hey, Pride."


    "Yeah?"


    "Against that demon, Xakon. Did you use your unique skill?"


    Pride momentarily stiffened upon hearing his question, but she yed it off and acted normally right after.


    Unfortunately, Evan who was paying a great deal of attention to her, noticed this.


    "...No, I did not."


    "I thought so."


    Evan replied as he remembered the effects of Pride''s skill from the game. He did not recall seeing any of said effects.


    "Since you possess the ''Appraisal'' skill, you should know the name of my unique skill.


    The reason I did not use it, or rather, the reason I could not use it was simple."


    Pride unsummoned her sword and gazed at Evan with her piercing red eyes as she continued.


    "An existence below the master level, is not worthy to be the ''Incarnation of Pride''."

 Chapter 97 Changing Outfits

    "An existence below the master level, is not worthy to be the ''Incarnation of Pride''."


    Pride went silent after saying this, causing Evan to narrow his eyes at her.


    "Is this restriction an actual restriction of the skill?


    Or is it self imposed?"


    "What do you think?"


    Pride replied to Evan''s question with a question of her own, making the young hero to click his tongue in annoyance.


    "You really left out such a powerful skill because of your pride? It thought you said you had curbed it?"


    "I was counting on your boosted life force, and it did not let me down.


    "Boosted Bull shit!"


    Evan was about to stand up from the bed as he screamed at Pride, however, Eliza who had at a time he did not realize, carried a scissors and began trimming his hair forced him back down instantly with strength he did not expect from her slender arms.


    "Huh? When did yo-"


    **KNOCK!! KNOCK!!


    Evan''s question was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door.


    "Come in."


    After giving permission, the door opened up and the appearance of the person on the other side was revealed.


    "Guild master?"


    It was the Geto city''s adventurer''s guild master who had warned Evan about the city lord, Baron Geto, who hadter turned out to be a demon named Xakon in disguise.


    "Is there a problem?"


    The guild master turned his gaze towards the red eyed woman on one end of the room, then towards the blonde-haired girl who was humming a tune while trimming Evan''s hair before heaving a sigh.


    "The leader of the Royal knights told me to call you over to inspect the ''unidentified creature''s'' ''corpse.


    ''Unidentified Creature''


    That was what the people of Geto were calling the humanoid monster that had attacked their city''s adventurer''s guild and had killed hundreds a month ago.


    It was only natural as they had never seen or heard of demons before in their entire lifetimes.


    The guild master could have never imagined that the red eyed woman in the same room with him was of the same race as this ''unidentified creature''.


    Evan nodded as Eliza finished up his haircut, nodding to herself in satisfaction as she pulled out a mirror from a small pouch on her waist and showed Evan her handiwork.


    If Evan had looked like a hoodlum when he had just randomly cut out parts of his abnormally long hair, he now looked like a high school student on his way to his first part time job interview.


    "That''s nice."


    Hemented offhandedly before standing up from the bed and realising something.


    "I think I may have grown a bit too tall, my clothes no longer fit."


    �󡡡󡡡�


    After about an hour of Evan going through what was left of the clothing industry in Geto city, he finally discovered clothes his size that also fit his taste.


    He was now outfitted in a pair of ck trousers with a normal white short sleeved T-shirt on his upper body. Atop his shirt, was a gray cardigan he wore because of the cold.


    Pride had also taken her time to change her appearance, making Evan realise that women everywhere were the same, even if they were from the demon race.


    "You think I''m generalizing? That''s your problem!"


    Evan turned his attention back to the demon after ranting towards the readers for a bit.


    She was dressed in a white turtleneck shirt, with ck trousers tucked into her knee height boots. Arge red overcoat hung from her shoulders as she adjusted her ck gloves before turning to Evan.


    "Shall we?"


    "You guys look like you''re going for a fashion show, not to inspect a corpse."


    Eliza couldn''t help butment as she saw the two of them walk together, nevertheless, she was not much different as she was now dressed differently from before.


    She wore a turtleneck shirt like Pride but unlike the high demon''s, hers was ck in colour. She wore this with a ck skirt and long ck stockings under brown leather ts.


    Now properly dressed and outfitted in new clothes, the trio made their way over to a part of the forest on the outskirts of Geto that was familiar to both Evan and Pride.


    "This was where the bandit''s base was in. What did they call themselves again?"


    "Mountain Bandits."


    "Yeah, that. Such a cringey name."


    Evan made small talk with the high demon as the scene of the six royal knights and the guild master staring at a corpse on the floor came into view.<sub> </sub>


    Upon seeing the demon who drove him to the brink of death, Evan only shook his head before turning his gaze to the only ''Master'' among the knights present.


    "So, what did you call us here for?"


    "To decide what to do with ''This''."


    By ''this'', he naturally meant Xakon''s corpse that was in front of them. Although he felt that Evan looked a lot different from before, the knight ignored it and decided to address the more important matter.


    "Sir...?"


    "Walsh."


    "Walsh? As in, Marquis Walsh?"


    "Yes. I am the fourth child of the current Marquis."


    Evan nodded as he instantly discerned the family that the knight leader belonged to before continuing.


    "So, Sir Walsh. I''m going to need you to send this corpse to the Princess."


    "Huh?"


    His words surprised not only the guild master, but also the five other knights who were present. Evan, however, did not give them time to collect themselves as he continued speaking.


    "When you see Laurene, tell her that I said she should begin looking towards the ''Beast Kingdom''. And that one of ''us'' is supposed to be there.


    Also, tell her to use this corpse as proof of what''s iing and urge her father to begin preparations."


    He spoke all of that in one breath before squatting to the ground and poking Xakon''s corpse.


    "You do not seem to have any intention of hiding your identity again, do you?"


    Pride remarked as she saw the narrowed eyes of Sir Walsh who was taking nces at Evan while exining to the other knights and the guild master who Evan was and how he had the gall to call the country''s princess by her first name.


    "Nahh. That''s pointless now.


    I''ve already attracted way too much attention with this.


    Besides, any moves I make from now on require me to use my actual identity. I have to start building my influence so that when the timees, I would be able to grab the attention of both continents with even the smallest actions."


    Evan remembered one of the reasons he left the duke''s mansion in the capital; to gain the strength necessary for preventing the ''Eight Disasters''.


    The Dulhan Attack,


    The Lizard Lord''s Outbreak,


    The Seven Deadly Sins Massacre,


    The Wolf of the End,


    Fall of the Desert Country,


    The Basilisk''s Stone Festival,


    The Barbarian King''s uprising, andstly, the worst of them all;


    The Ancient Demonic Dragon''s Resurrection.


    So far, he had only stopped the ''Seven deadly Sins massacre'' by contracting with Pride and preventing the scenario of the ''Demonic Hand'' from using her hatred against the demon king to further their own goals.


    ''The next one is the ''Duhan Attack''.


    ording to the game''s timeline, I have about six months before the undead start running wild, a month after that, the flesh golem would spawn, taking the attention of the one person who could prevent the Duhans from rampaging.


    In the game, the Duhan attack was something that urred in a territory situated in the northern parts of the Great Western empire.


    It was ruled by the one know as the ''Northern Sword Duke'', the sixth of the Great Western Empire''s ''Ten great swordsmen''.


    One had to work with the Northern Sword Duke in order to subjugate the Duhans that had spread out to many parts of the vast territory and were reaping thousands of lives on a daily basis.


    ''With so much pain and suffering umted by the Duhans'' actions, its only natural that the ''Demonic Hand'' acquired a lot of ''fuel'' for their spell.


    He thought of how the dimensional rift was destroyed in the game and shook his head before standing upright and speaking to Pride.


    "We would be going to the north after this is dealt with."


    **BEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPP!!!!!


    The high demon nodded and was about to reply when a loud beeping sound attracted the attention of all those present.


    "Hmmm?"


    The guild master frowned as he pulled out the source of the sound from his pocket and opened it up. After a few moments, he heaved a sigh and announced his departure.


    "It seems that there is a problem that requires someone of my authority present. I would be leaving this to you all then."


    After speaking the guild master turned in the direction of Geto and kicked off the ground, blitzing into the sea of trees at a speed that none of the others left behind could catch.

 Chapter 98 Figuring Out The Emperor’s Plan

    As soon as the guild master left, Evan turned back to Sir Walsh and voiced out a question.


    "So, when are you going to tell me the true reason someone under the Emperor''s directmand is masquerading as one of the Princess'' knights?"


    His question caused the eyes of Sir Walsh to turn sharp as his hand gradually went towards the hilt of his sword.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    During the few weeks before the funeral that Evan had been awake, he had been informed by Eliza about how she came to be present in Geto on the day of that attack and why she had arrived with Royal knights in tow.


    The blonde had met with Laurene while thetter was dungeon diving and the two of them seemed to hit off with each other.


    Once, Laurene walked in on Eliza contacting Evan and was surprised that the blonde-haired girl she had met randomly was familiar with the missing Duke''s son.


    It was then she revealed her true identity to Eliza and asked her for information about Evan''s whereabouts.


    After a lengthy conversation that Eliza would rather not disclose the details of, she left her original party and began dungeon diving with Laurene, much to Evan''s surprise.


    During this time, the two managed to findmon ground and establish a form of friendship and camaraderie between each other.


    Not long after the official search for Evan was called off, the two girls caught onto his trail in one of the cities he visited on his way to Geto and were surprised to find out that he was quite close.


    Eliza then confirmed from Evan that he was really in Geto and suggested that the two meet up with him, however, Laurene was summoned back to the capital by her father.


    As such, Eliza was the only one who continued the journey to Geto, a few of the knights apanying Laurene being sent along with her.


    These few knights, all coincidentally happened to be knights that were newly transferred to Laurene''s security detail by the Emperor a few days before she set off on her dungeon diving journey.


    They were actually sent by the Emperor who had wanted to utilize Eliza''s connection to Evan to locate where the ''eleven-year-old'' was.


    Eliza had inadvertently told Ralphie that she had a means of contacting Evan; with his guild card, and that had been promptly reported back to the emperor.


    So, when he discovered that Laurene had made friends with this same girl, he could only call it a stroke of fortune.


    As such he had assigned these knights to Laurene to follow her and Eliza and see if they could get Evan''s location from the blonde girl without Laurene''s knowledge.


    They did not know why the emperor instructed them to not let Laurene know but they obeyed his order without question.


    Before they left, the Emperor personally summoned Sir Walsh and gave him orders to bring Evan back to the capital in the event that they had encountered him.


    So, when the group arrived and saw the scene of Evan''s battle against Xakon, hey had joined in to prevent the demon from killing their target and hand seeded in buying enough time for the boy to return and overpower the demon.


    Now that that chapter was closed, they decided to aplish their original mission.


    As for how Evan knew Sir Walsh was a knight under the emperor''smand, it was simple.


    The Marquis House Walsh and the Marquis House Thompson are quite close, and Finley had offhandedly mentioned something about the fourth son of the house Walsh joining the knight corps under the emperor''s directmand when training Evan.


    It was due to that random statement that Evan understood that Sir Walsh must have been sent by the emperor as not even the empress had the authority tomand these knights, much less the princess.


    Even if they were among the weaker members of the knight corps, it did not change the fact that they were members.


    As such, their presence meant the Emperor had willed it.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    As Evan narrated his theory, Eliza''s sapphire eyes couldn''t help but in shock. She alternated her gaze between Sir Walsh and Evan multiple times until Evan''s voice snapped her out of her surprise.


    "Your acting earlier when you pretended you didn''t know who I was, it was quite good."


    As Evan spoke, Sir Walsh who was studying his every move, heaved a sigh of exasperation as he spoke.


    "It seems you would note quietly. Thankfully, I was authorized to use force if necessary."


    He gripped his sword and was about to unsheathe it when Evan suddenly questioned him.


    "Do you really think you can beat me? Don''t forget that I killed the ''unidentified creature'' thatys at your feet."


    "It was very obviously a temporary power boost, I am confident I can overpower you normally."


    As he spoke, Evan''s gray eyes shed lightly, signifying the appearance of his ''Full Appraisal''.


    |Name- Brice Walsh


    Race- Human


    Level- 130


    Existence Level - Master


    Titles- Knight of the Great Western Empire, Member of the First Knight Corps.


    ss - Royal de master


    Health �C C-<sub> </sub>


    Energy - C-


    Strength �C C


    Agility �C C-


    Durability �C C-


    Intelligence - D+


    Condition- Wary


    Magic Tiers- Ice Tier 2;


    Skills- Royal Knights dework, Gnawing Frost, Swordsmanship (High).


    Unique Skills- Frozen Waltz. |


    Seeing his status, Evan instantly figured out the reason for his confidence, he was quite strong. Strong enough to give a base Xakon a bit of a though time.


    But that was it, Evan was still confident in defeating him if it ever came to a fight.


    The reason was simple, the presence of Pride and Eliza.


    There was no way that Pride would allow her contractor whom she was bound to, to be captured so easily.


    This was evidenced by the fact that her gaze on Sir Walsh had turned sharp the moment his hand touched his sword.


    Wirth a flick of a finger, her prized weapon, Vanitas would be in her hand and she would instantly turn hostile.


    As for Eliza, he had faith that she would not side with the knights if it came to blows. It was a gamble he was confident in winning, and his confidence was not misced as in the next moment, Sir Walsh swung his sword towards Evan''s torso at a speed that would have seemed like a blur to the previous Evan.


    **CLANGGG!!


    But before he could fully react, a golden coloured translucent barrier appeared in between him and Evan, blocking his sword and preventing it from reaching the young hero.


    Although he was much stronger than the barrier''s caster, his attack was not one meant to be fatal so it did not carry as much strength as it had appeared to, as such, it was rtively easy for a hastily made barrier to block it.


    He turned his gaze to the barrier''s caster and heaved a sigh of exasperation.


    "I should have known you would not stay put.


    Oh well, that only means me putting more effort into this."


    As he spoke, his sword began to glow with the blue light of aura. The other also knights unsheathed their weapons and got into battle ready stances.


    Upon appraising them, Evan discovered that they were all above level 95 with two of them being level 100 already.


    ''Nevertheless, they aren''t masters. Since they aren''t, dealing with them would be easy."


    The moment he thought this he flexed his fingers and summoned the unforged, kicking off the ground simultaneously as Eliza disabled her barrier to let him pass.


    **SWOOOSH!!!


    The magic power infused sword shed with the knight''s aura infused weapon, sending sparks flying in the air.


    The other knights turned to assist Sir Walsh but it was impossible for them to do so when Pride was present.


    "You dare attempt to capture this one''s contractor!"


    As she spoke, a ck wave of aura poured out of her body, startling the knights facing her and Sir Walsh who was a bit further away.


    "What kind of Aura?!"


    While he expected Pride to at least be able to use and aura, he did not expect her aura to be so dark and sinister that it gave him chills even though he was not facing her directly.


    He didn''t have the time to think about that as Evan suddenly appeared behind him and thrusted forward the unforged, making Sir Walsh to twist his body awkwardly in an attempt to dodge.


    But as expected of a master, he did not loose his bnce and was even able to toss in a small counter attack.


    A thinyer of gold light that covered Evan''s body deflected Sir Walsh''s conjured ice de making the young hero send his thanks to Eliza mentally.


    Evan and Sir Walsh continued shing, their swords slicking through the air and meeting with each other and causing sparks to fly out.


    **CLANGG!!


    The two''s des shed once more, before sliding off each other as Evan blinked away from Sir Walsh.


    "Now the warmup is done.


    Let''s get real, shall we?"

 Chapter 99 An Efficient Way To Battle

    "Now the warmup is done.


    Let''s get real, shall we?"


    As soon as Evan spoke, he essed the memories of the expert swordsman he possessed, those of he Second of the precious seven heroes.


    He didn''t scour through them looking for sword techniques to beat Sir Walsh with, but looking for the method used to activate the new energy type that was a proof of his ''master'' status.


    Aura.


    Evan had just entered the Master level of existence so expecting him to defeat Sir Walsh in his base state without any buffs was the same as expecting the impossible.


    As such, he relied on the memories he possessed on how to activate the aura that was nowying dormant within his body.


    "Hap!!"


    He swung his sword sideways to meet Sir Walsh''s over head strike, a thinyer of white light surrounding his body as he temporarily overpowered the royal knight and forced his de backwards.


    Although surprised, the Sir Walsh regained hisposure rtively quickly and sent in another attack that threatened to disarm Evan.


    The young hero jumped backwards, creating a bit of distance between the two before swinging his sword wildly.


    "Hmmm...?"


    Sir Walsh cocked his head to the right, wondering what Evan was doing, but his senses warned him to dodge instantly and that he did.


    **SWISH!! SWISHH!!!


    Rolling to the side, he turned his gaze and saw that the spot he was just standing on had multiple sh marks on it.


    ''An invisible attack?''


    He narrowed his eyes and got to his feet instantly, before kicking off the ground and closing the distance immediately.


    **HUMM!!!


    There was a humming sound as his sword was filled with a blue coloured energy that Evan recognized as aura.


    "Royal Knights dework: Ark!"


    He swung his sword, releasing a wave of aura that toppled all the tall trees in its path as it made its way towards Evan who tried to counter attack with an aura of his own.


    Emphasis, on ''tried''.


    "Tsk...."


    Evan clicked his tongue as he failed in activating the aura and used his short distance teleportation skill, blink, to warp himself over to the left side of the royal knight.


    With his pdin skill active, Evan infused his sword with lightning attributed magic power and shed at the knight who cancelled his dework technique and twisted his body to block Evan''s sh.


    "GGuh!"


    He grunted as the lightning on Evan''s de flowed into his de and down to his hand, numbing his fingers holding his sword and making him loosen his grip.


    Nevertheless, he strengthened his body with aura in the next second, expelling the lightning from his body.


    **SWISHH!! CLANGGG!!!!


    The two began to exchange a flurry of sword shes, each one capable of inflicting serious injuries on the other.


    However, one thing was evident, they were not trying to kill each other.


    Cuts began to appear on Evan''s arm, with blood seeping through the cuts as Sir Walsh gradually overwhelmed him with his superior sword techniques.


    Even though Evan had reached the Master level of existence, he did not have the techniques required of such a level.


    While he had the knowledge of said techniques, he could not perform these techniques properly, and thus could not bring out their full power.


    Sir Walsh on the other hand, was more skilled than the current Evan, and was also at a higher level. Most importantly, he was capable of using Aura to bypass the defences of Evan''s pdin skill and inflict damage on the young hero.


    Evan had tried using his aura sh skill in tandem with his concealment skill like he did earlier, but Sir Walsh seemed to anticipate it and didn''t let Evan have any distance


    As it was a mid to long ranged skill, his aura sh waspletely useless in close range where Sir Walsh would be able to counter attack with his aura more easily.


    Sir Walsh shed horizontally with his aura filled sword and Evan bent his upper body backwards to avoid it.


    He instantly rebounded and sent a lightning infused sh of his own but it was cked by the de of the royal knight.


    Sir Walsh pulled his sword backwards and turned his body to the side, sending out a whip like kick to Evan''s head which the young hero had to duck to avoid.


    He ced his free hand on the ground and twisted his body, his leg moving in an attempt to sweep Sir Walsh off his feet but the royal knight conjured a barrier of ice at thest moment, preventing Evan''s kick from connecting.


    **SWISH!!


    Without any hesitation, Sir Walsh swung his sword downwards, attempting to knock Evan out by hitting his head with the t side of the de but the young hero rolled out of the way just in time.


    The swordnded onto the sand as Evan got up from the ground instantly and waved his hand.


    A single ringed magic circle appeared in front of him, followed by a ball of mes that headed straight for the royal knight''s torso.


    Sir Walsh roused his magic power and created an ice spike that pierced into the fireball, causing it to explode with a small burst of magic power.


    With a small distance in between them, the two locked eyes with each other as Evan heaved a sigh and tossed his sword up in the air before catching it with his left hand.


    He repeated the same action and grabbed the airborne de with his right hand once more before speaking.


    "My fighting style is very inefficient. I don''t make the most of myrge energy reserves and myriad of skills, as such, I can''t fight at full power even if I wanted to."<sub> </sub>


    He opened up his status board and counted looked at the number of skills he had, counting each and every one of them.


    |Name- Evan Von Bourne


    Race- Body: Human; Soul: ###e# ###s###e#;


    Gender - Male


    Age - Body: 11; Soul: 17;


    Level- 103


    Existence Level - Master


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman


    Health �C C-


    Energy �C C-


    Strength �C C-


    Agility �C C-


    Durability �C C-


    Intelligence- C-


    Condition- Normal, Surprised.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 1, Lightning Tier 2, Shadow Tier 1;


    Resistances- Poison, Charm, Fear.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Martial Arts, Language Comprehension;


    Mimicked Skills-Energy st, Body Transformation, Aura sh, Blink, Inventory, Limit Break;


    Avable Skill Slots- 4;


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (1), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction, Vortex. |


    "Seventeen skills in total, huh?"


    As he spoke, Sir Walsh''s eyes widened in surprise. This was natural, it was impossible for a single being to have that many skills.


    ''Except for a ''Skill Eater'', that is...''


    "You look surprised. I understand why. Having this number of skills isn''t normal.


    I possess zero defensive skills, four auxiliary skills, seven support skills, two attack skills and four unique skills.


    Yet, I can''t seem to make the most of them."


    Evan casually revealed the number of skills he had, much to Sir Walsh''s surprise. Nevertheless, the royal knight did not believe Evan possessed that many skills.


    He thought the young hero was just trying to mess with him. If only he knew that Evan was not joking at all.


    As for Evan, he had no particr reason for telling the royal knight about his number of skills, he just heaved a sigh afterwards and took a stance.


    "So, Brice Walsh, would you mind helping me use my skills more efficiently?"


    As soon as Evan spoke, he warped using blink and re appeared directly above Sir Walsh''s head, shing down with a glowing golden de.


    **SWISHHH!!!


    Recognizing the golden glow of the aura sh skill, Sir Walsh infused his weapon with his own blue aura and rose it to meet Evan''s sh.


    ***CLANGGG!!!!


    A loud sound rang out as the two metal des collided with each other, the force behind the attack being more than Sir Walsh had expected as he was forced down on one knee.


    Before he could get back to his feet, Evan had blinked away and reappeared beside him with a thinyer of white light glowing around his body and an outstretched leg.


    "HUP!"


    He sent a kick towards the defenceless torso of the royal knight, sending him flying in the air and crashing on to the ground.


    "Energy st."


    Without giving the knight time to recollect himself, Evanunched a beam of pure magic power in his direction, forcing the knight to roll out of the way to avoid the damage.


    **BOOMM!!!


    The beam of magic power tore through the earth and uprooted a few trees before suddenly stopping.


    "Aura sh."


    Hearing the skill being called out, Sir Walsh looked up to see an airborne Evan shing down multiple times in his direction.


    **SWISHH! SWISHHH!! SWIISHHHH!!!!


    shes of golden light poured down on the royal knight as he utilized a dework technique coupled with his aura to fend off each one of the shes.

 Chapter 100 Manipulating Aura

    ??(100)Chaps ??


    "Aura sh."


    Hearing the skill being called out, Sir Walsh looked up to see an airborne Evan shing down multiple times in his direction.


    **SWISHH! SWISHHH!! SWIISHHHH!!!!


    shes of golden light poured down on the royal knight as he utilized a dework technique coupled with his aura to fend off each one of the shes.


    "Hup!"


    His eyes shed as he twisted his body to the side and shed towards his right, magic power flowing into his arm as he called out the name of a skill.


    "Gnawing Frost!"


    A frigid st of pure ice poured out of his sword towards Evan who was swinging down a pdin enhanced de in his direction.


    Without even requiring a skill for it, Evan released a burst of mes from his body to shield himself from the cold ice that threatened to freeze his body.


    Immediately afterwards, he infused lightning into the unforged and stabbed it towards the royal knight''s head, forcing him to tilt his head to the side to avoid the lightning infused de.


    Evan back stepped to create distance between them as he stabbed his sword into the ground and pped his hands together.


    Upon opening them, a two ringed orange magic circle revealed itself in between his palms. Evan fought back the urge to reflexively call out the spell''s name as he thrusted his right palm forward while holding the arm with his left.


    **WHOOSHHH!!!!


    From within the magic circle, mes poured out in a spiral motion, creating a tornado shaped st of mes with enough intensity to incinerate anything in its part.


    "Are you trying to start a forest fire?!"


    Sir Walsh screamed out as he roused his magic power to coalesce the frost in the air and activate his unique skill.


    "Frozen Waltz."


    The skill summoned three sword shaped icicles that revolved around him. He hurriedly let go of his metal sword and grabbed one of the summoned ice swords, pouring in his magic power as he thrust it in the direction of the iing spiral mes.


    "Royal Knights dework: Fang."


    As he called out, his hand moved at a speed that Evan could barely catch even with his enhanced vision.


    **SHINKKK!!!! **PSHOOOO!!!!


    The next moment, the sword in his hand transformed into a giant icicle and collided with the spiral shaped mes, resulting in an explosion of steam that impaired Evan''s vision.


    **SHINKK!!


    Evan''s tried to take a step back to escape the range of the skin scalding explosion of steam, but his outstretched arm suddenly felt cold and he realised he was unable to move.


    Realising that Sir Walsh had frozen his arm, Evan did not hesitate to engulf his other hand in mes and m his palm down on his frozen arm.


    **PISHHHH!!!!


    The ice melted rapidly but Evan did not have the time to wait for it to melt fully as two ice swords came flying at him from within the steam cloud in front of him.


    He ducked to avoid the two des before releasing a burst of lightning infused magic power to force the royal knight that followed the des to take a step backwards.


    Three more sword shaped icicles appeared around Sir Walsh, rotating at a speed that reminded Evan of a celling fan as the knight kicked off the ground and dashed towards Evan again.


    Not having time to grab his weapon even though the ice on his hand had melted, Evan took a stance after coating his arms with magic power.


    Sir Walsh paid it no mind as he shed horizontally, making Evan bend his body backwards to avoid the aura coated sh.


    Evan could feel the effects of the passive martial arts skill as his body sprang back upwards. He clenched his left fist and delivered a punch to the side of Sir Walsh''s face with all his might.


    "GFUH!!"


    The force of Evan''s punching from a fist enhanced by pdin and coated with magic power was enough to send Sir Walsh flying a few meters.


    The royal knight re oriented himself mid air andnded back on the ground. He used his free left hand to rub the bruise on the side of his face before spitting out a broken tooth.


    He was about to charge back at Evan but the young hero had already closed the distance.


    Arriving in front of the dumbfounded knight, Evan spun around and delivered a backhand punch to the other side of Sir Walsh''s face with his left hand.


    Sir Walsh was sent flying once more and his back mmed into a nearby tree. Before he could catch his breath, Evan dashed towards him once more and sent a whip like high kick to the side of his head.<sub> </sub>


    The royal knight rose his free right hand to block the kick before reattempting to grab Evan''s leg but the young hero retracted his leg faster than expected and crouched down on the ground.


    Before Sir Walsh could evenprehend why Evan did that, the boy sprang back upwards with his clenched fistnding on the knight''s lower jaw.


    Evan was about to take a step back when he suddenly realised something strange. The three floating swords that were rotating around Sir Walsh weren''t there anymore.


    His blood ran cold as his instincts screamed at him to dodge, however, it was already toote.


    A gigantic ten meter long and five-meter-wide ice sword that was floating in the air, thrust towards him at a speed that he would have been unable to react to previously.


    "Unforged!"


    He cried out as the passive weapon control skill disyed its usefulness, summoning the sword he had left stabbed in the ground back into his hand.


    As soon as the de flew into his hand, Evan grabbed it tightly and roused his energy, deciding to utilize the most powerful attack skill at his disposal.


    However, instead of magic power, a golden aura coalesced around the sword in his hand. Evan paid this no mind as he spun around and thrust his sword in the direction of the iing ice sword.


    "Vortex!"


    He screamed out as the roaring spiral-shaped mass of aura collided with the gigantic ice sword, resulting in an explosion that shook the earth.


    ***BOOOOMMM!!!!


    Evan, who lost his bnce due to the trembling earth, tried to reorient himself only for the shockwaves released after words to send him flying through the copsing trees.


    "Argh!"


    The young hero grunted in pain as his body crashed on the ground, the damage he received being minimized due to the pdin skill''s improved defences.


    He tried to stand up once more but then he felt a presence in front of him, he looked up to see a metal de wielded by the royal knight he was facing, just inches away from his face.


    "You''re quite strong. But you lost."


    Sir Walsh cracked his neck as he said this, before turning his gaze to the side.


    **CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!!


    Evan heard the pping and turned to the direction the sound came from, his eyes widening as he was met with an absurd scene.


    Pride could be seen seated atop the back of one of the royal knights that Sir Walsh left to face her, her expression being one of satisfaction as she studied the remnant traces of the golden aura left in the area.


    The knight gritted his teeth in shame as he crawled on the ground, carrying Pride on his back while she nonchntly flicked her fingers.


    Sir Walsh frowned as he did not expect the five knights to be overpowered so easily. He looked to the side and saw Eliza holding her head while heaving a sigh of exasperation.


    <o>,m Perhaps feeling his gaze, she looked and spoke with a tired voice.</o>


    "The rest are all fine, I healed them up. Except, well...him..."


    As she spoke, she gestured to the knight who was very obviously being forced to be a stool for a certain prideful demon who was filing her nails with her sword.


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!"


    Evan on the other hand, burst out intoughter, dropping his sword on the ground as he rolled on the floor whileughing.


    All eyes turned to him but he continuedughing without a care in the world.


    "HA!!


    I half expected this but the oue is even better than I thought."


    The young hero stood up, not minding the de that was inches away from his neck as he spoke.


    "When she told me to face you and leave them to her, I wondered why she wanted to take the weaker ones for herself despite being stronger than I am.


    But now I finally activated my aura, I think I understand why."


    Evan picked up his sword and took a deep breath. A golden mist spread out from his body and was infused into the weapon, coating it in a thinyer of golden-coloured energy.


    "So this is how it feels to be an aura user, huh?


    I have to say, it is a lot less exhrating than I had expected, but it is still okay."

 Chapter 101 Pride’s Decision

    "So, this is how it feels to be an aura user, huh?


    I have to say, it is a lot less exhrating than I had expected, but it is still okay."


    He did a few practice swings before nodding to himself and deactivating the aura, along with the rest of the skills he had active.


    Turning to Sir Walsh who had a displeased look on his face, he spoke.


    "You may have beat me, but she who is stronger than I am, and is in a far better condition is still there.


    You sure you wanna go?"


    Sir Walsh, who wanted to fulfil the orders given to him by the emperor and also take revenge on Pride for sullying his fellow knight''s dignity, roused his magic power and aura, getting ready to battle them, until Evan spoke once more.


    "Oh, just so you know. The stronger her opponent is, the stronger she is."


    Hearing Evan''s words, Sir Walsh narrowed his eyes at the demon two before heaving a sigh and dropping his sword.


    "I''ll let you go, in return, release my knight."


    He decided to take a step back and make a concession, nevertheless, the rage in his voice could not be contained.


    "Ah, that''s a bad idea."


    The royal knight was confused as to why Evan said that but the sudden burst of ck ominous aura he felting from Pride''s direction captured his attention instantly.


    He grabbed his de and took a fighting stance, but that was unnecessary as Pride suddenly retracted her aura and clicked her tongue.


    She then red at Sir Walsh and spoke, her voice dripping with venom.


    "Don''t talk to me like you are superior to me, human."


    She jumped down from the knight''s back before turning around and walking away, Evan and Eliza following her after heaving sighs simultaneously.


    "How did it end up like that?"


    Evan caught up to Eliza and asked, making the girl sigh for the nth time to day as she recounted the events that led to the current scenario.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    "So, when are you going to tell me the true reason someone under the Emperor''s directmand is masquerading as one of the Princess'' knights?"


    The moment Evan said that and Sir Walsh ced his hand on his weapon, Eliza realised that a fight was about to break out and rose her staff, ready to side with Evan.


    As soon as she caught Sir Walsh moving, she instantly casted her barrier skill and blocked the royal knight''s first sh with it.


    **CLANGGG!!


    "I should have known you would not stay put.


    Oh well, that only means me putting more effort into this."


    As Sir Walsh spoke, his sword began to glow with the blue light of aura. The other knights also unsheathed their weapons and got into battle ready stances.


    Evan then summoned his unforged, kicking off the ground and dashing towards the royal knight.


    The magic power infused sword shed with the knight''s aura infused weapon, sending sparks flying in the air.


    The other knights turned to assist Sir Walsh but it was impossible for them to do so when in the presence of the high demon, Pride


    "You dare attempt to capture this one''s contractor."


    As she spoke, a ck wave of aura poured out of her body, startling the knights facing her and Sir Walsh who was a bit further away.


    "What kind of Aura?!"


    Even Eliza took a step back in fear as she felt the aura that poured out of the woman beside her. It was then that she remembered that it was a lot familiar with the aura that Evan''s sword emitted when they first met.


    Seeing Pride then summon the exact same de Evan used then, confirmed her suspicions.


    Despite having spent two weeks with Pride, Eliza still hadn''t gotten a handle on the woman''s identity or her background.


    All she knew was that she and Evan were close and she seemed to know of Eliza before hand and even spoke as if they had met before.


    She snapped out of her thoughts and turned her gaze in Evan''s direction as he suddenly appeared behind Sir Walsh and thrusted forward the unforged, forcing the royal knight to twist his body awkwardly in an attempt to dodge.


    But as expected of a master, he did not loose his bnce and was even able to toss in a small counter attack.


    ''Now!''


    Eliza casted a small protection spell on Evan''s body in that exact moment, deflecting Sir Walsh''s conjured ice de.


    "The boy says to thank you."


    "Huh?"<sub> </sub>


    Pride suddenly spoke up as she swung her sword in the air, as if trying to get a feel for it. Without waiting for Eliza to speak, she continued.


    "Stop assisting him. I want him to use this as a chance to improve his capabilities and activate his aura. That knight is stronger than he is so it is a perfect match."


    Being told to not assist Evan made Eliza angry, she ignored Pride and was about to run off towards Evan and Sir Walsh who had moved deeper into the forest in the process of their sh but her hand was suddenly grabbed by the woman beside her.


    "What the-! Unhand me!"


    She struggled to break free but it was impossible. The difference in physical strength between the two was too much to be ignored.


    "I hate dealing with people like you, but Evan values you so I wont harm you for his sake.


    Just. Stay. Put."


    Thest three words were spoken with gritted teeth, the ominous aura around Pride increasing as she stared at Eliza with nk eyes.


    Eliza felt fear seep into her body, her legs losing all strength as she dropped to the ground.


    Pride then suddenly revealed a smile that beautiful enough to charm both men and women alike as she spoke.


    "Worry not, I wouldn''t let Evan get hurt too much."


    She then turned her gaze to the knights who had circled around the two, the smile on her face disappearing and turning into a frown.


    "Stupid Evan, making me promise not to kill them. Holding back is going to be difficult. Controlling my power output now would be difficult as I just regained part of my strength."


    Twirling the sword in her hand she and the knights looked at each other in silence.


    "HAAA!"


    One of the knights suddenly screamed out, making Pride reflexively turn in his direction, but he remained standing in his spot as another knight was the one who moved, aiming to get a hit in on the seemingly unsuspecting Pride.


    **CLANGG!!!


    Despite not looking, Pride rose her sword and blocked the knight''s sh, surprising him temporarily, but he controlled himself and activated a skill immediately.


    He knew better to hold back against someone who had stepped into the realm of master swordsmen and had achieved aura.


    **CRACKLLEE!!!


    Lightning sparked around his sword, releasing a bright sh of yellow light that made Eliza reflexively close her eyes.


    "Skills with long activation times should not be used in close range."


    She heard Pride''s nonchnt voice and looked up to see her holding the lightning infused de of the knight with her hand coated in ck aura.


    She then pulled the knight along with his de and tossed him in the direction of the second knight who dashed towards her.


    "I don''t have time for this so I''d end it quickly."


    Her eyes shed as she spoke, a skill activating as the remaining three knights who had activated their skills suddenly felt their magic power cirction slow down considerably.


    Their bodies became heavy, reducing their speed in turn, making them unable to move as fast as usual.


    Pride grabbed Eliza''s hand and held the young girl close to her body as she coated her sword in an enormous amount of aura.


    "Keep them from dying, will ya?"


    Hearing Pride''s ominous words, Eliza hurriedly casted protection spells on the knights who had dropped to their knees and were trying to distance themselves from the demon of pride.


    The moment she did, Pride rose her sword up in the air and spun around, releasing an omnidirectional sh of aura that felled all the trees within a twenty-meter radius.


    "AAAAHHH!!"


    One of the knights screamed out in pain as the sh went through his armour like a knife going through butter, before going on to slice his torso.


    Pride dropped Eliza as she deactivated her skill, allowing the priestess to cast her healing spells on the knights and prevent them from dying.


    One might think it was a bit too easy for Pride who was only Level 103 to incapacitate multiple opponents over level 95, with two being level 100, however, this was nothing but a show of the difference in power between ''levels'' of the two existences.


    Taking into ount Pride''s ridiculous debuffing skill, it was only natural she was able to deal with the knights so easily.


    |Contempt of the Many;


    Type: Rare Active Skill


    It is futile to attempt to use numbers to overwhelm the user of this skill as the more adversaries they face, the stronger they be.


    For daring to be hostile against the Deadly Sin of Pride, those under the effect of this skill experience a reduction in strength that scales of how many hostiles are present.


    The more hostiles there are, the greater the weakening effect, but this, in turn, increases the energy cost for the skill and reduces the duration exponentially. |

 Chapter 102 Bringing Eliza Up To Speed

    |Contempt of the Many;


    Type: Rare Active Skill


    It is futile to attempt to use numbers to overwhelm the user of this skill as the more adversaries they face, the stronger they be.


    For daring to be hostile against the Deadly Sin of Pride, those under the effect of this skill experience a reduction in strength that scales of how many hostiles are present.


    The more hostiles there are, the greater the weakening effect, but this in turn increases the energy cost for the skill and reduces the duration exponentially. |


    Pride stared at her skill''s description before turning her gaze to the one knight who was able to dodge her sh by jumping upwards after enhancing his body via a strengthening skill.


    "You...are suitable enough."


    Before the knight could evenprehend what she meant, his vision tiled sideways as Pride had suddenly appeared behind him and swept him off his feet, literally.


    He didn''t even get the chance to hit the ground as a boot wearing leg mmed into his torso, cracking his armour and sending him flying into the distance.


    **BAMM!!!


    He crashed into a pile of trees that had been felled by Pride and was not given the opportunity to stand back up as Pride was already in front of him with her foot raised high.


    **BAM!


    She stomped her foot down on his chest, her absurd strength keeping him from getting back up to his feet.


    "I feel like messing around so I''d be using you. me your weakness."


    She then proceeded to beat up the knight with her bare hands, using enough force to inflict the maximum pain yet letting him keep his consciousness...and his life


    This beat down continued until Eliza returned from healing the other knights but Pride continued to beat him up for another full minute while wearing a brilliant smile on her face before forcing him into the humiliating position the duo had encountered Evan and Sir Walsh in.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    By the time Eliza was done narrating, the trio had already gotten back to the town and Evan had changed torn clothes to another simr attire, but with a ck cardigan this time.


    He turned his gaze to Pride as the high demon looked elsewhere while whistling.


    "Why?"


    "NO reason whatsoever."


    Pride replied as she continued avoiding Evan''s gaze, making the young hero heave a sigh of exasperation.


    Deciding to address the high demon''s sadistic tendenciester, Evan brought up the more important topic of the group''s next destination.


    "So, given that none of us are as high levelled as a low rank scout demon, increasing our levels is number one on our priority list.


    I happen to know a few dungeons where we can go to and increase our levels rapidly in a short period of time. Although they would be dangerous, it''d be more rewarding than the dingle floor dungeons I''ve been going to for the past few months.


    Any questions?"


    As he spoke, Eliza rose her hand with a questioning look on her face.


    "Hmm? Ask away."


    After being given the go ahead, Eliza began firing a barrage of questions at Evan, far too many questions for Evan to answer at once.


    "So, what''s this thing you called a ''demon''?


    Is it that strange humanoid monster with wings that the both of you fought?


    Why was it trying to kill you?


    Why did you call it a ''low rank scout demon''?


    Where did ite from?


    Wha-."


    "Hold up, will ya?!"


    Evan had to interrupt her barrage of questions as it seemed that she would have kept on going for quite a while if he didn''t.


    Taking a deep breath, Evan thought about the fact that he hadn''t really exined things in detail to Eliza. This made him grateful for the fact that she still decided to side with him even though he did not tell her his full goals.


    ''Though I won''t say that, I have a feeling I might regret it if I told her how grateful I was.''<sub> </sub>


    Evan shook off those thoughts and turned his gaze to Pride who was flipping through one of the catalogues from the clothes shop where they procured their outfits from.


    ''She''s not gonna help.''


    He turned back to Eliza who was silently pressuring him for answers with her deep sapphire eyes. The young hero began arranging all the information in his head, trying to filter out what he was not allowed to tell her and what he could not.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says you can tell her everything besides the fact that you are not from this world.]


    ''Huh? I can?''


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says that the entity, ''Eliza Lane'', has met majority of the requirements to know of the impending demon threat.


    After all, she has seen and participated in a battle against a demon from G#30^.]


    ''I don''t think the restrictions were that easy to break, though?''


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says that her case is different due to her circumstances.]


    Evan felt like there was another reason but he decided to ignore it and exin the situation to Eliza who was visibly growing impatient.


    He told her everything, from how he was one of the new generation seven heroes, to part of the truth of the invasion that urred a thousand years ago and how the demons would return soon.


    He also informed her of the real reason he left the duke''s mansion, to Pride''s identity and why he unsealed her, to the reason Xakon tried to kill him and why he could not let Xakon return to the demon world.


    When he was done, Eliza massaged her fore head with her hand as she attempted to digest all the information she was suddenly fed with.


    "Oh, Laurene is also one of the new generation seven heroes. I can''t tell you what her powers are though, I''d lose part of mine if I do so without her permission."


    "Evan, be quiet."


    "Yes, ma''am."


    Evan obediently kept shut after hearing Eliza''s annoyed voice. The fifteen-year-old then turned her gaze to the demon who was happily looking through the previous year''s outfit catalogues with a smile on her face.


    "So, you mean ''she'', is actually more powerful and higher ranked than that ''demon'', Xakon, you called him?"


    "Yep. She''s one of the famed ''Seven strongest invaders'' from a thousand years ago."


    Upon hearing the young hero''s reply, Eliza thought about the stories she had been told about the most powerful invaders but could not connect them to the young-looking woman who was trying to create a new fashion trend beside her.


    She heaved another sigh of exasperation and turned her gaze to Evan, thinking that the boy she happened to meet in Luka, a nearly a year ago, had such an identity.


    "Honestly, I don''t fully understand everything you told me. It''s quite a lot to take in at once. But I get the general idea.


    The bottom line is you had some sort of deal with the goddess where she would grant you a wish if you took out the...um, demons that are gonna invade, am I right?"


    "So far, so good."


    "Okay. And you decided to recruit one of said demons who happens to have a grudge against their ruler as your ally, and she also happens to be the ''demon of Pride'', who was sealed at the bottom of the Graveyard of the Arrogant."


    "Yup."


    "I really don''t know what being the ''Demon of Pride'' entails and I am not even gonna bother with asking. Moving on, you left home due to the reason that your growth would be limited if you stayed there. Met me in Luka, beforeing over here where you nearly got killed by a demon who identified you as a hero."


    "That just about sums it all up."


    Eliza nodded in affirmation before deciding to filter out the parts that sounded crazy like him meeting the goddess ''Artemisia'' in person or the fact that Pride is one of the reasons that dozens of ind countries met their ends a thousand years ago.


    "So where did you say our next destination was again?"


    "I feel like we are skipping a lot of steps but I''m gonna ignore it. Our next destination is a dungeon known by many as the ''Mansion of the Damned.''


    The location is in the country that shares borders with us and the Desert Kingdom. The City State of Magic, Kasteblum."


    "Kasteblum, huh? I always wanted to go there once."


    Eliza spoke in a tone filled with yearning, thinking about how she had wanted to be a great mage while she was younger.


    "Kasteblum? That ce still exists? I thought Gluttony ate everything there?"


    Pride forcefully ended Eliza''s reverie with her casually ominous words, further reminding Eliza of the fact that the woman beside her was indeed over a thousand years old.


    The reason was simple, thest time that the City State of Kasteblum had been recorded to ever be under the threat of annihtion, was a thousand years ago when one of the ''Invaders'' from another world attacked the city and razed it to the ground.

 Chapter 103 Destination Change

    Evan left the two females in the room and went over to the Adventurer''s guild temporary building to bid the guild master and the priests that officiated the funeral ceremony farewell before making his way back to the inn to call the duo he left behind.


    He did all this while ignoring the re he received from a certain royal knight while chuckling to himself.


    Of course, he didn''t forget to take the money the guild owed him.


    ''Thankfully, the guild treasury was in a different building. With that, I have secured travelling expenses for the three of us.


    I also have to go and request for another adventurer rank up when we get to the next town over, Pride also needs some sort of identity if she is going to remain outside her sword too.''


    As Evan was having those thoughts, a familiar notice board popped up in front of him, making him narrow his eyes in displeasure.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' asks why you changed your next destination.]


    ''What?''


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says that he believes you did not go to ''Wolfen'' like you originally nned because you wish to find a way to heal the two injured spirits residing in your body, and what better ce to search for a cure than the ''City State of Magic''.]


    ''Tsk...''


    Evan clicked his tongue in annoyance as the real reason he had changed his ns was promptly uncovered by this foreign god-like being.


    ''I hate the fact that he can read my mind.''


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says that he doesn''t read your mind as much as you think he does.]


    ''Yeah, right.''


    Evan rolled his eyes as he tossed the sack of gold coins into his inventory, along with the other outfits he bought before making his way back to the inn.


    Evan did not forget the fact that Ka and Kuro yed a big part in his survival against Xakon, especially Kuro, as Evan doubted he would have survived the first attack if not for Kuro.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says you would not.


    He further borates that the demon had intended to finish you off with the first strike, hence the reason he loaded more than half his magic reserves into it and the reason the spirit was out ofmission after protecting you.


    The fact that the shadow spirit still seeded in restraining the demon long enough for you to kill him was simply because the shadow spirit burnt a bit of its life force for power.]


    "What?!"


    Evan eximed out loud without a care for the looks people were giving him as he heard the real reason Kuro was able to help him kill Xakon.


    The shadow spirit had shortened its own life to do so.


    But before Evan could grow distressed, the foreign god-like being extended an olive branch to him.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says you should visit the temple of Artemisia in the next territory.]


    The temple that this being spoke of was the same on that the priests who officiated the mass funeral ceremony hade from.


    ''Why should I go there? How would it help Kuro regain his life force?''


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says that you would find out when you arrive there in person. He also suggests you set off immediately to ensure a faster arrival.]


    Evan was skeptical about it, but so far this being had not taken any actions to cause Evan intentional harm, besides, saving Kuro was more important so Evan decided to keep his suspicions at bay and do what he was told.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    And that was how the trio found themselves departing Geto City a bit over an hourter, their destination, not being the city state of Kasteblum that was over the border, on the other side of the gigantic forest, but a border city on the outskirts of the Empire like Geto, one that had a proper entrance to Kasteblum.


    Its name was Bonas.


    The city was one that was far more advanced than Geto City in every known area, be it trade, infrastructure, medicine, etc.<sub> </sub>


    Walking in through the gates after passing through the checkpoints, Evan could not help but marvel at the difference in appearance between Bonas and Geto.


    Unlike Geto, the number of tall buildings in Bonas, while not distinct enough to spread across the sky, was enough to show the difference in levels between these two cities.


    Many of these buildings, have clearly been built within thest five years, further cementing the fact that the territory was growing continuously.


    Business was booming in Bonas and it had attracted a lot of attention. Many new cultures had left their mark not just on the city''s history, but also upon the city''s identity. What historically was a city of in, ordinary people had grown into a multicultural hub and it was this that united the thousands of people to this day.


    It was this multicultural identity that had truly left its mark. Hundreds of gastropubs, diners and ethnic restaurants offered a plethora of culinary choices and those who felt hungry for something else could enjoy nature, dance, sightseeing or one of the many other recreational venues.


    All in all, Bonas had a morous atmosphere, which was a breath of fresh air for Evan, Eliza and Pride, having just left Geto that was in a state of mourning.


    The main attraction was the greenhouse, which was built 43 years ago by the lord of that time and designed by elves.


    The ruling family of Bonas, the Amano family, was a Viscounty that had very good rtions with the people, with members of this family often seen mingling with themoners despite their noble status.


    Of course, it wasn''t all sunshine and rainbows, as there were those who were not satisfied with the current state of things.


    However, the Amano family, also had a good rtionship with the No 1 religion in all of Aidos, the Church of Artemisia.


    The gigantic temple building that was dwarfed only by the Amano family''s mansion was proof of how good their rtionship was, after all, not every territory had a temple built in their main city.


    Even some lords who were on good terms with the church, did not grant them permission to have temples constructed in their territories.


    ''It seems that although the church has sufficient power in Aidos, the nobility and royalty aren''t letting them run free and are keeping them in check.''


    Evan thought to himself as he asked for a refill of his ss of strawberry juice, adding an extra copper coin as a tip for the bartender who smiled and epted it.


    "Bonas has a good economy, which is mainly supported by carpenting, herbalism, medicine and baking. But our dear old city''s biggest strengths lie in our rare crop farming and sophisticated cooking.


    Sadly, we seem tock a lot of people skilled in wine brewing. Which is quite sad given the number of wine lovers who would love to have a drink to go with their food in our top tier restaurants."


    The bartender was able to easily guess Evan was a traveller and fed him information about the city while refilling his ss of juice.


    "Any festivitiesing up soon?"


    "Nahh, it''s winter season so festivities are put on hold until spring. Though the cold and snow seem to beingte his year."


    Evan nodded in affirmation as he dropped his ss. It was December already, yet there were no signs of snowfall at all.


    ''Weird...''


    He decided to put that at he back of his mind as it was not important and stood up to leave the diner, intending on meeting up with Pride and Eliza who had gone to look for amodation for their stay in Bonas.


    He stared at the tall bell tower of the church from a distance and shook his head before turning around and walking towards the two females he could see in the distance.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' suggests you request to see the bishop of the church when you eventually go over there.]


    Evan ignored the message in front of him as he met up with the two, finding out the inn they had booked and how much they had spent before moving off to the adventurer''s guild building to get their party registration.


    In order to make things easier and prevent themselves from wasting an extra thirty minutes at every city''s checkpoint like they did at Bonas due to Pride not having any means of identification, the trio saw it best to get her registered as an adventurer and then get all three of them registered as a party.


    "Come to think of it, why did you leave your previous party in the first ce?"


    "I had a few arguments with some of them, saying I was the reason that Tel-, I mean, one of us died.


    Our rtionships were pretty strained at that point and our party leader was too depressed to try and smooth things over.


    So, when Laurene came over at that ''Oh So Convenient'' timing, I epted her offer and left them."

 Chapter 104 Arriving At The Church

    "I had a few arguments with some of them, saying I was the reason that Tel-, I mean, one of us died.


    Our rtionships were pretty strained at that point and our party leader was too depressed to try and smooth things over.


    So, when Laurene came over at that ''Oh So Convenient'' timing, I epted her offer and left them."


    "Whoa...that sounds rough."


    "It was, but I was able to get through it. Let''s just say that the death of one of us, served as a huge wake up call for us who were still illusioned about reality.


    Especially myself."


    Hearing her words, Evan was able to figure out the reason for her sudden change in attitude and discovered this was not exactly a topic she liked talking about.


    He changed the subject of the conversation to something else as the trio navigated through the streets and made their way into the busy adventurer''s guild building.


    Upon entering, they attracted a bit of attention but that attention was gone in a few seconds as the adventurers went back to whatever they were preupied with.


    Evan felt this was better than being stared at like he was some sort of animal in a zoo as he walked up to the free receptionist desk.


    "Hello, wee to the Adventurer''s guild. How may I help you?"


    Taking a seat on the stools prepared in front of the desk, Evan gave a simple made up lie about how Pride lost her means of identification and needed a new one.


    "I see...So you wish to register her and then have her join your party, am I correct?"


    "Yep."


    "Can I see your own guild cards to confirm your identities?"


    Evan and Eliza presented their guild cards, which the receptionist took and scanned them with a magitech device built into the desk.


    Beside the card slot was a screen where Evan and Eliza''s data were disyed, making Evan wonder how a world that was capable of creating such devices didn''t have TVs yet.


    ''The technological advancement of this world is all over the ce.''


    Evan thought to himself as he collected his guild card back form the receptionist and stood on the sidelines while waiting for Pride toplete the registration process.


    After this, they registered their party, not before Eliza spent nearly twenty minutes trying toe up with a party name for them.


    In the end the trio settled on something quite simple; The Rangers.


    It was a random word that Evan thought of when he realized that the queue behind them was getting a bit too long.


    "I feel like I wasted thest twenty minutes of my life."


    Evan remarked outwardly as he dragged the dissatisfied Eliza out of the guild building. The duo was followed by Pride who still staring at the giant ''F'' on her guild card with twitching eyebrows.


    While she understood that the guild could not give her the rank she wanted or deserved as they knew next to nothing about her martial prowess, epting the fact that she was considered and ''F'' rank in something was impossible for the Demon of Pride.


    ''Should I wipe out a horde of monsters, I''ve recovered my aura so I can at least kill a few hundred before tiring out.''


    The demon would most likely have acted upon her thoughts if she wasn''t pulled out of them when they arrived at their inn to stay the night.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Bonas City


    Great Western Empire


    December 10th


    Year 1051


    The trio awakened from their slumber the next day, deciding to go over to the church first thing in the morning before a crowd gathered.


    On their way, they passed a few adventurers setting off on long distance quests and saw dozens more returning from their adventures.


    As the temple entrance came into sight, Eliza decided to ask the question that had been on her mind ever since Evan changed their destination from Kasteblum to Bonas.


    "So, Evan. How exactly are we gonna heal the spirits by going to the church?"


    "Well, to be honest, I don''t know."


    "Huh?" "What?"


    Pride and Eliza let out voices of surprise upon hearing Evan''s answer but the young hero ignored them and kept on walking towards the temple, his mind going back to the advice of the foreign godly being that directed him here in the first ce.


    By the time the two recovered from their surprise, Evan had already walked up to the knight of the church standing guard by the entrance and asked to meet the bishop, naturally, he was rejected.<sub> </sub>


    "So, you''re saying its not possible to meet them?"


    "It''s not that it isn''t possible, but you have to make an appointment days before. The bishop is a very busy person and does not have the time to meet with the likes of every random adventurer thates over."


    "What if the person is not an adventurer but a nobleman, one of a fairly high rank at that? Are you still gonna deny the noble entry?"


    As Evan replied, he held up a badge in his hands, something he had even forgotten he had, nevertheless, it was something very handy.


    Every member of every noble or royal family possessed a badge that was attuned to their magic power from birth.


    This badge contained either the family''s coat of arms or their crest and would only light up if the person whose magic was attuned to it, poured magic power into it.


    It was something that Evan had on him ever since he left the Duke''s mansion and something, he had almost forgotten he had.


    Thankfully, he was not disowned by the duke and the badge was still active.


    So, when the knight saw the crest dark bronze crest of two crossed swords oveid by a roaring lion head, his face rapidly paled due to fear.


    However, before he could even say a word, another voice rang out, one he was all too familiar with.


    "No need for that, Lord Eris."


    Hearing that voice, Evan turned to the side and was met with the figure of a woman clothed in white ceremonial robes standing at the door of the temple building.


    He stopped pouring magic power into the badge and tossed it back into his inventory before narrowing his eyes to study the woman.


    She was a fairly young golden eyed woman who had long ck hair tied up into a braid. Her robes were decorated with the church of Artemisia''s symbol, the ''Golden Rose''.


    "Lady Bishop!"


    The knight''s exmation revealed her identity to Evan as he tilted his head in confusion.


    ''Why is the bishop here?''


    "I''m sure you have your questions but this is not the ce where they can be answered. Shall we go to my office?


    Of course, yourpanions are wee too."


    Evan concurred with her words and followed her into the temple building. They passed by a few priests on the way who bowed lightly to the bishop while giving Evan and the two girls looks of confusion.


    Upon arriving at a beautifully designed door, the bishop opened it up and gestured for the trio to follow suit.


    The insides of the office looked more like a library than an office due to the number of bookshelves on the walls, each one stacked full with books.


    The cracked spines of the books showed how frequently they had been read, instantly divulging one of the hobbies of the owner of this office.


    In the middle of the office was a small centre table with three couches around it in a ''U'' formation.


    Evan took a seat on the couch on the left, with Eliza and Pride seating opposite him.


    "I was just about to enjoy some early morning tea. Care to join?"


    Evan nodded in affirmation as he scanned around with his mystic eyes, studying the flow of magic power in the room.


    He was astonished when he discovered that besides the defensive inscriptions on the wall, there was barely any magic power in the room.


    **CHINK!


    ? The sound of the teacup being ced in front of him brought him out of his thoughts as he turned his gaze to the golden eyed woman giving him a warm smile.


    "The room has quite a few defensive inscriptions on the walls, along with sound proofing, so rest assured that the contents of our conversation would not get leaked out."


    Evan took a sip of the tea after blowing lightly. He then dropped the cup afterwards and rose his gaze to meet the woman.


    "So, are you ready to answer my questions now?"


    "Although I may be able to answer some of them, I cannot provide all the answers you seek."


    The bishop responded as she took a sip of her tea, before adding a few more cubes of sugar and mixing it.


    "It''s better than nothing.


    First of all, how is there barely any magic power in this room? It is simply impossible for a ce devoid of magic power like this to exist."


    Evan''s question caused the Bishop''s eyes to widen in surprise, she then muttered a few things to herself before asking Evan a question in return.


    "Lord Eris, have you never been to a temple before?"

 Chapter 105 Nani?!

    "Lord Eris, have you never been to a temple before?"


    The bishop''s question caused Evan to look back on his memories and those of the original ''Evan''. Upon confirming that this body of his had never set foot into a temple as far as it could remember, he nodded in confirmation.


    "I see, that''s why."


    She ced her cup down on the table before responding.


    "Every church dedicated to the goddess Artemisia is kind of a holy territory belonging to her, as such, it is filled with her divine power.


    The high concentration of divine power in the area thins out the magic in the area, which is why it appears that magic does not dwell here, even through your ''Magic'' eyes."


    Magic power was something that naturally dwelled in almost every area in Aidos, save for some certain circumstances like this situation of the temples and a few other Evan was not aware of.


    "The goddesses'' divine power, huh?"


    Pride voiced out as she looked around the room with glowing eyes, nodding to herself before turning back to the bishop who continued speaking.


    "Perhaps, Lord Eris, are you unable to sense divine power?"


    "First off, just call me Evan. Secondly, is there a reason I should be able to?"


    "Lor-, Evan, I believed you were able to do so. After all, your body is covered by a thinyer of divine power, or to be more precise, it is covered by ayer of divinity.


    That was the reason I came over to the entrance, I had sensed the divine power on you and came over to see the source."


    Evan''s eyes widened in surprise upon hearing the bishop''s words. He remembered being told the same thing months ago before he left the duke''s mansion.


    "Although it is mostly only the Archbishops and the pope who possess the goddesses'' divinity due to the nature of their positions, it is also possible for other people to possess divinity even if they are not members of the church.


    The Princess of the Empire I believe you are familiar with, is one of them. She is known to possess divinity that is leagues above the normal holy magic used my more than 95% of the church.


    Said ''Holy magic'' is just magic power that has been attributed, transforming it into what is known as holy magic."


    The bishop carefully exined things to Evan, broadening his understanding of how holy magic and Divinity worked.


    As for Eliza and Pride who were aware that the goddess had been the one to select Evan as a hero, him having divinity on him did note as much of a surprise to them.


    "On the topic of people other than the Archbishops and the pope possessing divinity, I am one of said people as my ability to wield divinity is whatnded me my position of bishop and potential archbishop in the future."


    As she spoke, she waved her hand and ayer of an unfamiliar golden energy coated her palm, something Evan recognized as divinity.


    He then activated his appraisal skill on the bishop, intending on discovering more about this woman whose name he didn''t even know.


    |Name- Amelie Harris


    Race- Human


    Level- 155


    Existence Level - Master


    Titles- Bishop of the Church of Artemisia, Holy Woman, Pseudo Saintess, Vessel of the goddess.


    ss - Quasi-Saintess


    Health �C C


    Energy - B-


    Strength �C C


    Agility �C C


    Durability �C C


    Intelligence - C+


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers- Holy Tier 3, Water Tier 2, Light Tier 2.


    Skills- Golden Magic (High), Alchemy (High), Judgement, Purification.


    Unique Skills- Blessing of Light. |


    ''Wtf?! She''s strong!''


    Evan was most certainly not expecting to see someone with such stats, especially her high tier of magic.


    She had achieved Tier 3 Magic, something that was only supposed to be possible when one was within at least a dozen levels of level 200.


    Besides anomalies like Pride who had already passed such a stage in the past, a person with a level in the hundreds having tier 3 magic was unheard of.


    However, Evan''s greatest shock was not her level of magic or her unique ''Blessing series Skill'', but her title.


    ''Vessel of the goddess?''


    Before Evan could even think about what that meant, Amelie suddenly dropped her teacup on the table and turned to Evan before speaking.


    "My apologies, I''m gonna have to time out for a bit."


    "Huh?"


    As Evan let out a voice of surprise, Amelie''s eyes started glowing while releasing a golden light. Waves of divinity poured out of her body as a familiar notice board appeared in front of Evan.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says this situation is too eye catching.]<sub> </sub>


    The next moment, Evan''s vision turned monochrome. He could not see colours of any kind except ck and white, even Pride''s red overcoat only looked ck to him.


    Another thing he noticed was that Pride and Eliza seemed to be in a weird state, not moving a muscle.


    His thoughts were distracted when about a dozen golden 7-ringed magic circles appeared above Amelie''s head while rotating counter clockwise.


    A beam of light then shone down from the sky, piercing through the building andnding on the magic circles above her head.


    **HUMMM!!!


    There was a humming sound as Evan saw the illusion of a familiar white suit d woman appearing before Amelie.


    The next moment, the magic circles disappeared along with the golden light, and colour returned to the world.


    The first to notice something wrong was Pride, she reflexively summoned her weapon and widened the distance between herself and ''Amelie'' while ring at thetter with glowing eyes.


    [Hmm? Calm yourself, Demon of Pride. If I was hostile, you''d already be dead.]


    ''Amelie'' spoke with apletely different voice than before, a voice Evan recognized all too well. Eliza also noticed the difference and warily rose her magic staff, but Evan''s next words shocked the wariness out of her.


    "Artemisia..."


    "Huh?"


    "Nani?!"


    Evan called out the name of the person he believed was currently inhabiting Amelie''s body, Pride and Eliza let out shocked voices in response. Following that, was a reply, confirming his conjecture.


    [Nice to see you again Evan.]


    "Oh, it definitely isn''t nice to see you again. Not even a little bit."


    Seeing Evan''s reply to her, the goddess Artemisia who was in Amelie''s body heaved a sigh of exasperation as she thought about how annoying this conversation was going to turn out.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Church of Artemisia Temple


    Bonas City


    Great Western Empire


    December 10th


    Year 1051


    [Evan...]


    "What is the problem? Goddess who decided to forsake the hero she sent to this world when he needed her the most.


    No wonder the ''demonic hand'' decided to worship the demons, if they kept getting abandoned like this, then its only natural they''d change sides."


    Artemisia sighed for the nth time today as she attempted to speak once more but was interrupted by Evan before she could even get a word out.


    [T-]


    "What was that? Sorry, couldn''t hear you over the sound of all these betrayals everywhere."


    [Tsk...he told me you''d be like this. I should have just sent a proxy.]


    "Would you look at that, she''s already nning how she''s gonna abandon me next time."


    Artemisia face palmed as she turned to the two girls seated on the couch on her left and asked.


    [Any suggestions on how to deal with his bullshit?]


    Sadly, she was unable to get an answer as the two were too busy being stunned by the fact that Artemisia, the goddess of Aidos, and its chief deity, descended personally because of Evan.


    This was a bit too much information to take in all at once and they two didn''t know how to do so.


    The more experienced Pride recovered pretty easily but was still surprised to an extent, Eliza on the other hand, was just staring at Artemisia''s golden eyes with a gaping mouth.


    *SNAP!


    Artemisia snapped her finger and a golden ring of light appeared around Eliza''s head briefly before disappearing.


    "Huh?"


    [Good, you''re back to normal. So how do you deal with this idiot beside me?]


    Artemisia tossed a question towards Eliza who turned her gaze to Evan and then back to Artemisia before shaking her head in denial.


    [Quite Sad....]


    Artemisia remarked in response before turning to Evan who was weirdly silent. The moment she looked over, he resumed ranting some nonsense about betrayals and whatnot.


    However, while Evan was ranting like an idiot, it was honestly so he could give himself a bit of time to think about some things, evidenced by the fact he asionally got lost in his thoughts and turned silent.


    Sadly, Artemisia''s next actions snapped him out of said thoughts as she casually dipped her hand into Evan''s shadow and pulled out a familiar ck cat that he hadn''t seen in a while.


    "Kuro!!"


    Pride and Eliza directed their gazes at the cat and saw that he looked no different than usual, however, being the cat''s pseudo contractor Evan could feel that Kuro was anything but alright.


    As for Artemisia, she narrowed her golden eyes in displeasure upon seeing the state of the shadow spirit.

 Chapter 106 The True Reason For Non-Interference

    [A bit of his life force, my foot!


    This spirit iscking more than half of his life force, any more and he would have been in a critical state.]


    Artemisia''s words elicited reactions of shock and surprise from the three who heard her. She paid them no mind a she calmly began pouring divinity into the body of the spirit, giving his fur a golden sheen as particles of golden light danced around.


    "Huh? Wait, didn''t you say that you were not allowed to interfere in the world?!"


    [Healing the wounds of a guardian spirit of my world that were caused by the denizen of another world, is well within my rights as a goddess.]


    Artemisia answered Evan''s question as she stopped her actions, patting the head of the unconscious spirit and transmitting her thoughts to him before giving him back to Evan.


    Before Evan could even properly hold the spirit, she ced a hand on his chest and pulled out another spirit, one about 20cm in height and was wearing a ck silk dress with ck hair that curled at the ends.


    [This one is suffering from something simr to demonic energy corruption, but is totally different.]


    Turning to Pride, she asked.


    [Did you attempt to remove the demonic energy in her body?]


    "Of course, however, it refused to budge."


    [That''s because the demonic energy was imbued with a trait that the Ilmoths recently included into their bloodline.]


    As she spoke, Artemisia ced her palm on Ka''s face, pulling it up a few seconds after, along with a string of ck gooey liquid that came out of the young great spirit''s mouth.


    [Guh!...*cough*...*couGH!*]


    Ka let out a few coughs but remained unconscious, however, Artemisia paid this no mind and poured a bit of divinity into her body, healing her before giving the young spirit back to Evan.


    [Treat her right.]


    "...You say that like you''re sending your sister or daughter off to get married."


    [Well, the contract with you isn''t much different and I''ve grown fond of the young spirit. I also take her guardian, Kuro, as some sort of little sibling.


    I need to have a talk with the Spirit King soon, maybe before I return to my realm.]


    Evan ced Kuro on his shadow and the sleeping cat melded into it instantly, as for Ka, she miraculously opened her eyes, flew to the top of Evan''s head andid there before going unconscious once more.


    ? "Speaking of which, where on Aidos were you for the past few months?"


    [Hmm...Me? I was in another #gxy# in different part of the #universe#.]


    "What?" "Huh?" "For real?"


    Pride, Eliza and Evan reacted all at the same time upon hearing their answers. Evan then turned towards the two girls with a look of shock on his face as he asked.


    "Did you perhaps not hear her?"


    "All I heard was ''I was in another'' and then the rest was garbled, it was like there was some sort of noise that prevented me from hearing her other words."


    Evan''s jaw dropped upon hearing Eliza''s reply, he turned to Pride for confirmation but she nodded in affirmation while having an annoyed look on ger face.


    "I understand Eliza not being able to hear it, but Pride too?!"


    "Hey! What''s that supposed to mean?!"


    "Be quiet for a moment, Eliza."


    Evan shut Eliza up before turning to Artemisia who was chuckling at the duo''s interaction.


    "What are youughing at?"


    To Evan''s question, Artemisia only shook her head and flicked her finger, sending a bolt of golden energy through a small portal she created in front of it.


    ''It''s a pity I won''t be able to see his reaction when it hits him. This is what he gets for showing me silly possible futures.''


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' cries out in pain while ring at you.]<sub> </sub>


    Artemisia ignored the notification in front of her and spoke to the trio with a yawn.


    [The reason that you can hear it is simple, your original world is technologically advanced enough to discover whatid beyond the sea of stars. Thus, prior toing here, you already possessed knowledge on #gxies# and the theory of the #universe# was already established in your world.


    However, due to the restrictions on Aidos, the existence of another world was barely discovered a thousand years ago. Sadly, the technology that would let them explore other worlds without relying on something as unstable as dimensional rifts is not avable anymore.


    While the possibility of others existing is known to them, its simply impossible for them to leave and explore the other worlds beyond the sea of stars, hence, it is impossible for them to know of another #gxy''s# existence.]


    Artemisia said so many things in one go and Eliza had a hard time understanding, especially as a few of her words were censored to her.


    Pride on the other hand, could more or less guess what the censored words were, after all, she was a demon that spent nearly two centuries travelling to other worlds through dimensional rifts and conquering them.


    She was aware of the existence of other worlds and while she didn''t know all about whatid beyond the sea of stars she saw ''that day'', she knew fully well that everything was inside one ''gigantic bubble of energy''.


    Evan rose an eyebrow upon hearing Artemisia''s words. His mood turned sour as he voiced out a question.


    "Restrictions... Was it the previous seven again?"


    [No, this restriction applies to all worlds in this part of the #universe#. With, my authority, I can temporarily lift it to make it easier to exin why these restrictions are in ce.]


    Artemisia waved her hand and a translucent blue screen that had different coloured lines of code running through it appeared in front of her.


    A smaller keyboard appeared below and ran her fingers across the keyboard. The next moment, a wave of golden light spread out across the room, the screen and keyboard disappearing along with it.


    [That just reduced my time in this body by about an hour. So, I''ve only got one more hour left. Should be enough to handle everything I nned.]


    She muttered to herself before looking up at the trio in front of her, her mind recalling a certain series of events that urred dozens of millennia ago.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    The worlds that existed in the gxy Aidos was in were all once technologically advanced, far more technologically advanced than even Evan''s original world.


    After all, these worlds had discovered the existence of magic and other ''supernatural'' energies and had used these energies to further their world''s advancement.


    Magi technology was something that was prevalent and the things achieved with said magi technology


    In a certain world, an Emperor of a country set out on a path of conquest, aiming to dominate every country on his.


    He was fortunate enough to discover a dimensional rift that led to a treasure filled world, one he asionally explored and used its vast resources to improve his existence level, empowering his armies alongside.


    He gained enough strength to dominate all other kingdoms and empires on his and seeded in doing this barely three years after he set out on his path of conquest.


    After this, he consolidated his rule on his home world, before venturing out to other worlds. He spent a few decades researching on methods to achieve interster travel and seeded nearly fifty years after, setting out with his empowered armies to another to dominate its denizens, just like the demons that invaded Aidos intended to do.


    That in itself was not an issue, there was no restriction that prevented him from going over to other worlds so he was free to do what he wanted.


    Along with his armies, he explored through space, sometimes being unlucky enough to enters that were uninhabitable for him and his armies, and nearly dying a few times due to the resistances of the world''s original inhabitants.


    However, all these experienced made him stronger and allowed him to eventually seed in conquering all thes in his star system.


    Like before, he spent years consolidating his rule, taking advantage of his increased lifespan form his high existence level.


    One day, he had a thought.


    "All the worlds I conquered rotate around this one star, our sun. What about the other countless stars we see in the night sky? Do they all have worlds rotating around them?"


    To confirm his thoughts, he set out once again, leaving behind the children he sired to watch his conquered territories as he moved to confirm his theory.


    His first few attempts failed, but after spending decades in the darkness of space, he finally discovered another star system, one that was smaller than his original one and had three inhabitables in it.


    Thus, the conquest began once more.


    Discover, wage war, conquer, plunder, consolidate, empower, set forth.


    That was the line of action he took every time he discovered some new or new star system.

 Chapter 107 The End Of A Conqueror

    Discover, wage war, conquer, plunder, consolidate, empower, set forth.


    That was the line of action he took every time he discovered some new or new star system.


    During this time, he discovered that he was not the only one on the path of conquest and had even lost to other world dominators a few times, however, he carried on with his conquest, getting revenge on those who formerly defeated him more often than not.


    By the time he realised, had been on the path of conquest for thousands of years, maybe two thousand, maybe three, possibly even five.


    He had lost count.


    Some of his weaker children had perished long before him but his increased existence level let him outlive them by leaps and bounds.


    [I don''t recall the exact number, but he had conquered 90% of the technologically advanced worlds in this gxy.]


    When Evan thought about how manys supposedly existed in a gxy, the fact that one man conquered 90% of the technologically advanced ones was shocking, to say the least.


    One of the conquereds was one that was researching inter gctic travel, and it was through this he discovered about the existence of other gxies.


    He spent another 500 years to solidify his rule across the conquered worlds before setting forth into another gxy, the starships he and his team of scientists had invented protecting their bodies and preventing them from dying due to the increase in ambient energy concentration outside the gxy.


    Moving to another gxy, he did the same thing he had been doing for millennia.


    He conquered.


    Discovering more rare and exquisite treasures unique to that gxy, he was able to increase his existence level and his armies'' strength even further.


    His influence increased to the extent that his name begun to be spoken of even in other gxies.


    He kept on conquering worlds and star systems, eventually building an inter gctic empire that was unmatched my many.


    At this point, he was at least twelve thousand years old and had long since broken his mortal shell and ascended to be a higher existence.


    He had conquered countless worlds and multiple gxies, even other intergctic empires created by others fell under his rule.


    Others who had also done the same thing he did in other parts of the universe, asionally shed with him.


    He lost some wars, and won some more.


    In one of the inter gctic empires he conquered; his generals had discovered a that ha a new energy source they had never seen before.


    He decoded to visit personally and summoned the noble family that was in charge of that t question them on that energy source.


    However, the daughter of said noble family was a rare beauty he took a fancy to and wanted to make one of his concubines.


    This was where everything began to go wrong.


    He hadid with many women over his thousands of years as an emperor, and the children he had sired were the ones who were in charge of the parts of his empire he was not physically present at.


    Sadly, this noble''s daughter was not just any random noble''s daughter.


    She was also the lover, of a god.


    The girl''s parents informed him of this fact and the emperor thought back to the times he had met a few gods in the past thousands of years.


    Remembering these beings as arrogant beings that looked down on everything besides themselves, he believed that said god did not really care for the noble''s daughter.


    Also, he had defeated a few gods before and he had felt that they were nothing more than another race of beings that could be found anywhere.


    Unknown to him, he had only battled with either weak low ranked gods and random members of the ''god race'' that had not ascended to be higher existences.


    Assuming all gods were like the ones he met, was his mistake.


    He imprisoned the girl''s parents and forcefully took their daughter, even going as far as to im that at his level of power, even a god would fall at his hands.


    Regardless of her wishes, he took this girl as one of his concubines.


    Then, the god found out.


    [Well, you can pretty much guess what happened from here.]


    Artemisia said as she poured a cup of tea for herself and took a sip while keeping her gaze on the trio in front of her.


    She studies their reactions and couldn''t help but chuckle in amusement, especially at Eliza''s reaction.


    "Revolting bastard..."<sub> </sub>


    She had such a disgusted look on her face that Artemisia wondered what would happen if she were to ever meet said emperor.


    Pride on the other hand, shook her head while muttering something about the emperor being a fool while Evan just facepalmed while thinking something along the lines of;


    ''It was at that moment, that he should have known, he fucked up.''


    He looked up at Artemisia and spoke.


    "Lemme guess, he died?"


    The goddess only scoffed before replying.


    [If only he died...


    It would have been a lot better for him.]


    She dropped her tea cup on the table and rxed he back on the couch before continuing.


    [The inter gctic empire he built, the worlds he conquered, all his work, form when he was just a puny human in the bronze level, all the way till he had transcended mortality and became a *fvr%7#.


    His tens of thousands of years of work, fell in less than ten minutes.


    The godid waste to it all, nothing was left.


    And as for the man in question, his soul still suffers under the hands of the same god he had...what was that word again?]


    Artemisia ced a hand on her chin and thought for a few moments, searching through her memories for a particr world before balling her right hand into a fist and mming it on her left open palm


    [Aha! I got it.


    The emperor''s soul still suffers under the hands of the same god that he had NTR''d.]


    Eliza and Pride gave her questioning looks while Evan facepalmed once more, shaking his head that this goddess''s behaviour.


    After spending five minutes to persuade the two girls to never inquire about the meaning of that forbidden word, he urged Artemisia to carry on with her story.


    The god whoid waste to an entire intergctic empire that consisted of tens of dozens of gxies, was naturally sanctioned for his actions and as some of those gxies were lower levelled ones, a certain ''universal son of a bitchw'' had a good time dealing with him.


    However, all the sanctions in the universe would not bring back the people who had been killed, neither would it fix the damage that the high ranked god had done to the gxies.


    So, the in the end, thews of causality in that section of the universe were strengthened and restrictions were put in ce on the gods'' side and on the mortal''s side.


    On the gods'' side, too much interference was prohibited, preventing the gods from taking major actions that affected the natives of a great majority of worlds in this part of the universe.


    For the mortals, knowledge of other worlds and gxies was restricted.


    After all, if they never knew of other worlds and star systems, it would have been impossible for the emperor to know that the ce he had discovered when he was young was another world and he would not have thought of conquering other worlds.


    And if the god didn''t randomly descend and take a mortal as his lover, he would have not been NTR''d by a random intergctic emperor and would not have killed quintillions of beings in a fit of rage.


    [Thus, the reason why I was unable to personally wipe out every member of the demon race that stepped foot on this world a thousand years ago.


    Even if they are more powerful than humans, they are still mortals in the end. Such an action would be considered a ''Major Action'' that''s currently not allowed.


    Wiping them all out would be easy but that''d just give the ''others'' some sort of leverage over me and honestly, that would be a hassle.]


    Artemisia spoke with a yawn as she calcted how much longer she had in the Bishop''s body before moving on to the real reason she had descended in the first ce.


    [Now then, I didn''te here to tell you stories. I came to inform you of a certain location that no one on Aidos knows exists.]


    Hearing Artemisia''s words, Evan''s mind temporarily forgot about the entire story she had just narrated for them and replied with a question.


    "Is it a ce that wasn''t in the game?"


    [Yes.]


    Hearing the two talk about some sort of ''game'', Pride rose an eyebrow in question but decided to let Artemisia finish her words.


    [Now to exin this.


    Let''s use the Dragon lord as an example. A thousand years ago, she was barely level three hundred, yet even a thousand yearster, she still hasn''t reached level 1000 even with how ridiculously easy the w of Knowledge''s devour ss system'' made it to advance in power.


    What do you think is the reason?]

 Chapter 108 Daring To Appraise A God?!

    [Now to exin this.


    Let''s use the Dragon lord as an example. A thousand years ago, she was barely level three hundred, yet even a thousand yearster, she still hasn''t reached level 1000 even with how ridiculously easy the w of Knowledge''s devour ss system'' made it to advance in power.


    What do you think is the reason?]


    Upon hearing her question, Evan thought about it and found that it was indeed very strange. The fact that none of ''the Five'' was over level 950 was something he hade to ept as natural, but he never stopped to think about why they hadn''t gotten any stronger.


    "The experience needed to level up at such a high level is exponentially higher than that of lower levels, especially after level 500."


    It was Pride who spoke up and Artemisia nodded in affirmation to her answer, without waiting for Evan to even raise a question, she continued.


    [If the experience points were quantified and shown to you in figures, at such a high level, they''d need experience in the billions to even move up a single level. The problem is, where are they going to get said experience points from?]


    The goddess'' second question finally made things clearer to Evan and Eliza who were a bit slow on the uptake.


    For Evan, Aidos online always had monsters at every corner that yers could kill to level up, hence, reaching level 1000 was very easy in game.


    Even if the monsters died, they could just respawn.


    However, reality was a lot different.


    There was no respawning for the monsters, once they were killed, it was over.


    It also was not easy for monsters to reach such a high level of existence as they had to kill fellow monsters and humans to level up and get stronger.


    And for the monsters, killing humans always yielded more experience points than the seven heroes'' experience multiplier did. It was the same for anyone who killed a being of a different race.


    Even so, the experience multiplier was useless if the existence being killed was at a low level.


    This was the problem that not only ''The Five'' but every other high levelled existence in Aidos faced.


    Lack of existences to kill in order to level up.


    [You would eventually face that problem, hence I decided to construct something special for you. I called it a ''Tower of Trials''.]


    "Tower of Trials?"


    [Yes, simply put, its a challenge.


    There are multiple floors in the tower, and each floor has ten chambers. Upon entering, you are to clear all ten chambers of each floor and the monsters I ce within are stronger the deeper into the tower you go.


    With your experience multiplier and a constant amount of monsters to kill, you should face little barriers in leveling up.]


    Artemisia exined to Evan with a proud look on her face, feeling satisfied at having created such a convenient system for Evan.


    Evan on the other hand, felt that the Tower was indeed convenient for him. He was about to thank Artemisia for it when he suddenly realised on major problem.


    ''She only told me about the good sides, and everything always has a bad side.''


    He narrowed his eyes at the goddess who had fished out cookies from heaven knows where and was silently munching on them before asking.


    "So, this ''Tower of trials''..."


    [What about it?]


    "Are there any extra information is should know before hand?"


    Artemisia ced her hand to her chin, her face revealing a pensive look while Pride gave Evan a satisfied smile.


    ''There''s no way this woman made that ''Tower'' without adding anything fishy.''


    [Well, they''re not really important things.


    Just that stuff like recovery & enhancement potions or drugs of any kind don''t work inside there. Also, once you begin challenging a floor, you can''t leave until you clear all ten chambers of it or die.


    That''s about it.]


    "THOSE ARE VERY IMPORTANT THINGS!!!"


    Evan screamed at the top of his lungs as soon as Artemisia was done with her words, he could not believe that this goddess considered his life and death to not be important.


    [Its not that I don''t think they are important, its just that I felt you should already know how to ''Not Die'' when fighting waves of monsters.


    Didn''t you finish that challenge in the game?]


    Evan only silently red at the goddess who seemed not to understand why he was annoyed in the first ce despite just having read his thoughts.


    [Well, look on the bright side. The Tower can help you train your skills and abilities to the best you can.]


    Hearing the oblivious goddess'' words, Evan facepalmed while heaving a sigh of exasperation.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    The trio of mortals and one goddess discussed a few more matters of lesser importance before Artemisia began getting ready to leave, with Bishop Amelie''s body of course. She imed she had a few more things to do on Aidos before returning to her realm.


    [Since I''m here, I might as well just use this body to deal with everything else.]<sub> </sub>


    The goddess shrugged her shoulders as she thought of the entrance to the ''tower of trials'' which she was working on moments before Evan entered into the church.


    She was discussing a new way of applying Eliza''s flower cannon skill with the fifteen-year-old girl when Evan had a sudden thought.


    ''It should work since she''s in a mortal''s body, right?''


    He gazed at the goddess with his gray eyes as the crest of Mimicry within them glowed golden, his appraisal skill activating the moment after.


    |Name: Artemisia njv^%CC MB*N&V%@


    Race- gB&TR%F


    Level- Error! Could not C0mp%7))*


    Ex^&NG*&N"!)*(XC:@XP.|


    **BZZTT!!


    As soon as Evan''s vision glitched, he had one thought.


    ''Ah, I think I kinda fucked up.''


    The next moment, Eliza let out a scream as Evan''s left eye suddenly started bleeding, with tears of blood dripping from one side of his right eye.


    "W-wa-what on Aidos is going on?!"


    The young girl screamed in surprise as she reflexively activated her healing magic to try and heal Evan, only to find out that it was not working.


    "It couldn''t be...?"


    She remembered this kind of thing happening before with Laurene when thetter told her a bit about the meaning of the crest in her eyes.


    Eliza was about to ask Evan what he did when Artemisia''s voice tinged with a bit of shock rang out beside her.


    [You...? Did you just try...to use your appraisal skill on me?]


    Knowing that he had been found out, Evan nodded in affirmation, to which Artemisia''s clicked her tongue in annoyance.


    [Are you stupid? What did you think woulde out of daring to appraise a god?


    A mere Master level existence like you.]


    One could notice traces of anger in the normally calm Artemisia''s voice.


    [Among all three of you in this room, you, who is the least qualified to even dream about appraising me dares to do so?


    You''re not even remotely close to forming your ''Ultimate Seed'' and you thought it would be wise to do such a thing.]


    Artemisia then spent the next few minutes scolding Evan for attempting something stupid before healing his eyes and scolding him some more.


    Meanwhile, Pride who heard the words ''Ultimate Seed'' from Artemisia''s mouth, could not help but remember thest time she heard that word from someone.


    ''It''s been more than a thousand years since then, huh.''


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    Ruined City Outskirts


    Unknown Country


    Unknown


    Year 9958 of the 50th General Calendar


    A field of grasses stretched as far as the eye could see. A moderate yellow green colour that was lighter and stronger than average moss green.


    The short height if thiswn showed that it was frequently maintained and the blooming flowers at regr intervals were enough to enlighten one as to what time of the year it was.


    A young woman of average height and slim build with fair skin and long ck hair that spilled over her shoulders and down to her waist plucked off a rose flower and gazed at it with herrge piercing red eyes.


    In her other hand was a nkbelled blue book, its cracked spines showing just how much this book had been read over and over.


    On the back of her right palm was a crest, one that consisted of a sword inscribed in a circle.


    Her outfit consisted of a long ck turtleneck shirt and simrly coloured trousers over ck military boots.


    She dropped the rose on the floor sat down on the ground beside it, opening the book and flipping through the pages at a casual pace.


    This young woman was reading the book in her hands peacefully, until her surroundings suddenly changed to something else.


    The verdant green field transformed into a vast wastnd, like a wide valley surrounded by cliffs everywhere and the once clear blue sky was now dyed in an ominous red colour.


    Nevertheless, this young woman paid this no mind as she casually flipped the pages of the book in her hands, as if the change in surroundings was not surprising, to say the least.

 Chapter 109 Pride’s Reminiscence

    The verdant green field transformed into a vast wastnd, like a wide valley surrounded by cliffs everywhere, and the once clear blue sky was now dyed in an ominous red colour.


    Nevertheless, this young woman paid this no mind as she casually flipped the pages of the book in her hands, as if the change in surroundings was not surprising, to say the least.


    After a few minutes of silence, she looked up to find herself surrounded by dozens of people, their numbers reaching nearly forty.


    They had assumed a formationposed of front guards, magicians protected by the front guards, and rear guards at the back.


    Each of them gripped their weapon tightly as they red at this young woman, the hatred in their eyes being very visible to the onlooker.


    Nevertheless, the young woman only calmly gazed around before asking a question to the man who stood at the forefront.


    "Is this, all of you?"


    **GASP!


    Gasps of surprise and mutters for anger could be heard by the group that surrounded her but she ignored them all, her gaze focused on the being at the forefront, one who was most likely the leader of this group of forty.


    With gritted teeth, the man replied to her question while cursing at her in his heart.


    "...yes."


    "Hmm...Hold on then, let me put this away."


    She looked down at the book in her hands, ignoring the dozens of armedbatants surrounding her, and ced a bookmark inside it before closing it and storing it in an extra-dimensional storage artifact ne she had hanging from her neck.


    Her actions were a tant show of both disregard and disrespect for thebatants, most of which looked old enough to be her grandparents.


    Nevertheless, they knew that she had every right to disregard them like so, after all, it was the reason they all ganged up on her in the first ce.


    They even used their precious treasures to create a special space where they could all battle her with no holds barred, also preventing the surroundings from being destroyed as a result.


    All forty of them had no intention of letting her get out of this space alive, their goal was to kill her here, even if it cost them their lives.


    The reason was simple, of all the members of the demon race that suddenly invaded their world one day, she was the most powerful of them all.


    Behind her young appearance, was a demon who was nearly two centuries old, one who had invaded multiple worlds before and had ughtered tens of millions.


    Supreme Commander of the Demon Army under Demon King Sargon.


    The Peak-ranked demon who bore the same name as the deadly sin she represented, Pride.


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    The attack on Pride was something that had been in the works for months on end, all the leaders of the Demon Resistance Alliance in that world came together and nned to lure the Supreme Leader of the Demon Army to some remote ce and trap and kill her there.


    They wanted to take out the top dog of the army, effectively crumbling the very simplemand structure of the army.


    However, they understood that doing so would not be easy so they spent nearly a year nning on how to take her down with the least casualties.


    The strongestbatants from forty countries were selected to join this elite attack force created solely to take out Pride.


    While she had not personally taken action since what she did at the beginning of the war and left all the work to the other members of the seven deadly sins, they knew she was not weak, as the demon army that valued strength above all would not have her as its leader if she was weak.


    The other members of the Seven deadly sins which they had met also confirmed that she was the strongest among them all.


    Intel also revealed that if she was not defeated, then it was likely that she was going to be the one to pave the way for the leader of the demons, the one who sent Pride and the demon army into their world in the first ce toe over himself.


    That was something that the denizens of that world wished to prevent at all costs.


    And so, the multiple world leaders from multiple races, humans, beastkin, elves, and celestials alike, came together to create a n to take her down, with the assumption that she was more powerful than all other members of the seven deadly sinsbined.


    The notion was ridiculous to some but others who were more paranoid epted this train of thought and nned ordingly.


    However, the moment they saw Pride''s reactions, they realised that their ns had been leaked. And that was true.


    One of the world leaders was ensnared by Lust of the Seven deadly sins and had given up all the details of their ns, as such, Pride had gone to the nned location beforehand to wait for the elite attack force.


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    "We have to finish this quickly and not give the other demons a chance to wreak havoc in our world."


    The leader of the attack force, a celestial race hero named Webb said to the rest of them as he unsheathed his de and took a battle-ready stance.


    He was about to give out moremands when Pride''s calm voice rang out in the temporarily silent space.


    "The fact that you dared to make the assumption that you could defeat me. To dare to even think of the possibility of me losing.<sub> </sub>


    How impudent of you."


    She flicked her fingers casually and, in her hands, appeared an ominous jet-ck one-handed sword that had red lines running through it like veins, emitting a dark mist that made one hesitate to get close to her.


    "Don''t get the wrong idea worms."


    "What?!"


    "I would be the one finishing you quickly,"


    Both theirrge numbers and flexible formation didn''t mean anything to Pride.


    "I have a new book I want to read it as soon as possible, so hurry up and make your move already."


    Nothing mattered when there was an overwhelming difference in the level of power and skills.


    "Let me show you the difference in our level."


    She nned to end the lives of each and every one of them. Herst line was the trigger that set start of the battle of the group of Heroes against the lone viin.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Heroes against a viin.


    With a tense atmosphere, the group of heroes held their weapons nervously and red at Pride.


    Nevertheless, to her, no matter how much they red at her, the final result won''t really change in any case.


    ''Their looks are getting annoying...''


    Pride considering depriving them of their sight for daring to re at her when the heroes side made the first move.


    "Shoot the magic!!"


    After Webbmanded his fellow heroes, the loud shout resounded inside the space, as rear guards started enchanting their spells.


    "me!"


    "G-Lance!"


    "Water barrett!"


    "Ice block!"


    Pride could only hear some of them being chanted and could not hear the rest of the light, dark and lightning magic.


    Various magic attacks were directly aimed at her. A fireball, an earthnce, a tornado, an ice rock, a heavy water ssh, and many more other spells. The variation of colours made it look pretty, however, that was it.


    To Pride, this barrage of spells was nothing more than a pretty light show to her.


    "Contempt of the Many."


    Pride activated one of her skills as she yawned, watching all their magic attacks get obstructed by something invisible and change locations one after the other.


    "Tsk...Barrier."


    Webb clicked his tongue as he instantly figured out the reason for the magic attacks not hitting their mark.


    He possessed special magic eyes that let him see the flow of magic and it was with that he was able to see the thin barely noticeable barrier of pure mana Pride had set up.


    The celestial hero gazed at the yawning demon and the magic power she emitted and estimated her level.


    "At least 750, but not more than 800. All of us here are nothing less than 750 too, we should be able to defeat her with ease."


    He sent a message to hisrades, informing them of Pride''s estimated level while also increasing their morale.


    Pride disabled her barrier and was about to move forward when she suddenly sensed someone behind her.


    **SWOOSH!!!


    She ducked to avoid the de of light that tore through the space where her head was a few seconds ago, but was unable to move the moment after as two other magicians had used abination of Earth and water magic to make the ground around her feet muddy enough for her to sink into it.


    They hardened it the second after and seeded in sealing her movements, long enough for the swordsman who missed his earlier swing to correct his bnce and attack once more.


    **CLANGG!!!

 Chapter 110 Heroes, Versus A Lone Demon

    Pride rose her weapon into the air and blocked the iing overhead sh, stretching her other hand behind her to create a barrier to block the iing rock spears while exchanging blows with the swordsman in front of her.


    She casually rose her foot from the hardened ground, sending a kick to the Swordsman''s torso, and flicked her fingers to create an earth wall to block the water magic that came from behind once more.


    **BOOMM!!


    ''Hmm...?''


    Pride rose an eyebrow while standing inside the cloud of dust caused by the crumbled wall of earth.


    She noticed one of the magicians touching the shoulders of two of the front guards before the wall of earth crumbled, slowing her to instantly figure out how the swordsman with the light de got behind her in the first ce.


    ''Some sort of teleportation skill?''


    The two people the magician had tapped vanished from their spots and appeared on Pride''s both sides, their swords glowing with the light of aura, signifying their grandmaster status as they shed at barely perceptible speeds.


    **SWISH!! SWOOSH!!


    As Pride only had one de in hand, she chose not to block the attacks, instead, she used a footwork technique to quickly back step and avoid their shes, however, as if having anticipated it, someone from the opposite side came rushing at her with a golden spear imbued with an energy Pride found repulsive.


    "HAAPP!!"


    It looked like he had a speed skill as he closed the long distance between them in the blink of an eye and stabbed towards Pride with his glowing spear.


    He had nerves to rush at her alone like that. But still���C


    "Too Slow."


    "Guaa!!"


    Pride was way faster than that.


    She dodged the spear thrust he made using all his power and rose her sword to slice his neck off instead.


    However, a thinyer of white light appeared on his neck and deflected her de, causing it to slide off from his neck to his shoulder and give him a light cut there.


    "Don''t rush alone! Front guards, attack her from all four sides without changing your formation! Rear guards, look for a good timing and cover for the front guards!!"


    The attack force heard Webb''s loud yell and braced themselves, executing hismands with utmost efficiency that surprised even Pride herself.


    "Everyone, use all of your skills!! Don''t hold back!"


    The heroes activated their skills and surrounded him, one of them ignited a fire in his swords, another one grew huge muscles on his entire body while one of them had even transformed into a beast.


    Each one activated their unique and racial skills as if they were at a skill exhibition.


    "Let''s go!!"


    "Eat this!!"


    The beastkin rushed at Pride from the lower side while the me swordsman came for her from the upper side; both at the same time.


    The me sword hero swung horizontally and the beastkin hero who had entered his ''Beastmaster'' form tried to tear her body with his ws.


    It was a simr situation like earlier where the two swordsmen attacked her from both sides, if she dodged the one on top, she was going to end up receiving the attack from the lower side and if she did the opposite of that, then she was going to be met with a face full of mes.


    However, to Pride, it was all futile. She felt that using her contempt of the many skill on them was a waste so she deactivated it, leaving her passives to work alone.


    A secondter, she changed her mind and decided to activate her Pride maniption skill, deciding to slowly make the heroes lose contact with reality and overestimate themselves.


    She coated her sword in ck mes and rose it to sh with the me sword that came from above while coating her other hand in demonic energy and grabbing the ws of the beast kin that came from below.


    "What?!"


    She exhibited strength that was far from what one would have expected from her slim arms as she forced both attackers backwards at once.


    "You first."


    She turned to the Beast kin and kicked off the ground, arriving in front of him almost instantly and ducking to avoid the aura coated ws he threw at her.


    "Have some of this."


    Pride delivered a palm strike to his defenseless torso, injecting a bit of demonic energy into his body in the process.


    **BAMM!!


    "Hap!"


    Sadly, she could not inject enough to take him out of the fight as the ground cracked open and an axe-wielding dwarf emerged from within.


    The dwarf swung his axe coated in thunder at her feet, causing her to jump up to avoid the sh, nevertheless, they had expected her to do that and had multiple archersunch elemental arrows of various types to her vitals.<sub> </sub>


    Even while the arrows were still mid-flight, two more attackers dropped down from above, one of them being the celestial hero, Webb.


    Pride coated her entire body with a thickyer of magic power while twisting her body mid-air to avoid the attacks of the two from above.


    **BOOMMMM!!!!


    The sword of Webb that missed its target, mmed on the ground and shattered the earth, however, he hurriedly let go of the weapon and jumped back just in time to avoid Pride''s thrown sword.


    He mmed his hands together and red at the airborne demon who had revealed a pair of jet-ck bat-like wings as he called out one word.


    "Lightning."


    The skies turned dark and a six-ringed magic circle could be seen from the gaps within the dark clouds.


    Momentster, golden bolts struck down on Pride from above, each of them carrying enough power to instantly roast a high-ranked demon.


    Pride frowned as she pped her wings and moved to avoid the lightning but the bolts seemed to know their target and followed her.


    **CRACKLLEE!!!


    Without giving her time to rest, multiple elemental arrows came flying towards her mid air, with a few of the heroes taking to the skies with her to engage her in aerialbat and stall her long enough for the lighting to hit.


    "Out of my way."


    Pride spoke as she coated her sword with demonic energy and swung it at the airborne heroes, releasing a sh of ck light that mmed into their bodies and sent them flying back onto the ground.


    **BAMM!! BAAAAMMM!M!!!


    Multiple heroes crashed on the ground simultaneously, releasing dust clouds that towered into the sky and creating craters that were hundreds of meters wide.


    Meanwhile, Pride turned around and released the same sh of dark light towards the iing lightning, not forgetting to keep her attention on the celestial who sent the lightning in the first ce.


    ***BOOMMM!!!!


    The sh of demonic energy and lightning collided, resulting in a giant explosion in the sky as the two attacks cancelled each other out.


    "Raging tempest."


    Pride decided to bring her own magic into the battle, activating a tier six spell with ease as the wind swirled around to generate half a dozen towering tornadoes of ck wind.


    She stretched her hands forward as the tornadoes spun around ferociously, asionally shooting out des of ck wind indiscriminately as the heroes struggled to avoid them.


    "Spiral mes."


    Without giving them time to rest, she casted another spell as nearly two dozen five-ringed magic circles appeared around her, each of them facing the heroes as ck mes came out in a spiral-shaped motion, creating tornado-shaped sts of mes with enough heat to melt the surrounding cliffs.


    "Thousand Blood Lightning!"


    Webb shouted out as multiple magic arrays formed over Pride''s head, each one amplifying the previous one until they were about a dozen in number.


    Sadly, he was unable tounch the spell as Pride didn''t hesitate to summon her weapon and slice through the magic arrays with a demonic energy-infused sword.


    Suddenly, one of the heroes appeared in front of her and activated a skill as he screamed out.


    "Take this!!"


    He inhaled arge amount of air then suddenly sprouted fire from his mouth.


    "That''s impressive."


    "Buho!!"


    She readily avoided the mes he shot from his mouth and whispered in his ear before stabbing her sword in his abdomen.


    The next moment, she infused arge amount of magic power into the de and shed sideways, effectively tearing through the hero''s torso.


    The Hero twisted his body while holding onto his belly and crumbled down to the ground silently as Pride looked at him in silence.


    "Get from the way!!"


    As soon as Pride heard that shout, a loud shadow was casted upon her and the cliffs in the distance behind her.


    She looked up to see one of the heroes who was a descendant of the giant race, standing tall at over a thousand meters.


    Before she could evenprehend when he got that big, she noticed that he was lifting something above his head with both his arms.


    ''That, might actually be dangerous.''


    For the first time since the battle began, Pride began to have second thoughts about not going all out from the start.

 Chapter 111 Sword Of Hubris

    ''That, might actually be dangerous.''


    For the first time since the battle began, Pride began to have second thoughts about not going all out from the start.


    The ground behind him was left with a giant hole that was nearly five hundred meters wide with a depth that was more than three times its width.


    His muscles bulged up with blood vessels showing on his forehead as he tossed the mountain-sized chunk of earth at Pride.


    "AAAAAAAAA!!!"


    Followed by a loud booming scream, the gouged part of the ground was thrown at her. At the same time, the heroes immediately took their distance, the spatial magicians teleporting them away from the area.


    ''They''re really nning to kill me, aren''t they?''


    Pride thought to herself as she turned her gaze to Webb who was watching her with narrowed eyes. Among all the heroes present, Pride was sure that he was the only one strong enough to give her a bit of a hard time.


    ''First, let''s break the other heroes'' spirits.''


    As Pride thought that, she rose her sword overhead and muttered something to herself.


    **BOOM!


    The next moment, there was an explosion of magic power as a pir of ck light surged from her sword, piercing into the clouds.


    Upon feeling the amount of energy in the de, both the giant''s descendant that threw the mountain of earth at her and the heroes on the ground frowned in displeasure as they instantly figure out what she nned to do.


    The giant''s descendant resolved himself and coated his fist with mes while taking a stance, getting ready to attack Pride as he kept on condensing magic power around his fist.


    "Aura of Pride: Sword of Hubris."


    Pride swung her de down right after she called out the name of the technique she was using, an action she normally deemedpletely unnecessary.


    The amount of demonic energy in the giant pir of dark light was released from the tip of her de like aser beam that destroyed everything in its path.


    ***KAAAABBBBOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!


    A deafening explosion rang out as the ground shook with more force than an earthquake with a magnitude of 7 or above.


    The sky darkened, as theser of ck light split and shattered the mountain of earth, turning it into dust, before going on to split the giant''s descendant behind it in two from head to crotch.


    Tiny pebbles rained down as a result and clouds of dust that stretched up thousands of meters in the air covered the entire space.


    **BOOMM!!


    The sliced halves of the giant''s descendant''s body fell down to the ground, revealing the scene of carnage that stretched on for miles on end behind him.


    Not only had Pride''s attack shattered the mountain of earth hundreds of meters wide and thousands of meters long, but it had gone on to blow a hole through the ground behind the giant it had cut in two, forming a canyon in the process.


    However, the part that left the heroes shocked the most, was the fact that they could now see cracks in the space that was the newly formed canyon.


    Cracks in space that signified that Pride''s attack had actually seeded in damaging this special space that they had created to iste and take her down.


    After that, she slowly descended to what was left of the ground and gazed at the heroes as if she was looking at mere insects.


    "No, way��"


    "You''re, kidding��"


    "This...impossible..."


    The heroes were told that Pride was in the same level range as they were, but even they were not so sure they could dish out an attack of that scale, destroy the mountain of earth and slice the giant''s descendant in half while also cracking the space created, and still have energy left in their bodies.


    However, from the frown on Webb''s face, as he stared at Pride, they could tell that she still had more than enough energy to take them onfortably.


    "I''d hold her off, begin the preparations."


    The moment Webb spoke, he grabbed his sword and kicked off the ground, appearing in front of Pride a secondter as he swung his de at her neck.


    "Not enough."<sub> </sub>


    She dodged his sword at thest possible moment with minimal movements and prepared to thrust her fist on his face before the sword in his hands suddenly gleamed.


    "!?"


    Pride instinctively guessed the danger in that light and instantly took a distance from him. The next moment, a de of light left the sword and flew to the ce where she was standing just now.


    "Celestial Energy, huh?"


    Webb corrected his bnce as he swung his shining sword in the air multiple times, as if trying to test out the de, and nodded to himself in satisfaction.


    Pride cracked her neck and began walking towards him, her entire demeanour changing as she infused her sword with demonic energy.


    Webb took simr actions, increasing the concentration of his ''Celestial energy'' in his sword as he took slow but steady steps towards the demon who had long seen through his through level of power.


    If one were to appraise Webb now, they would see his level; shooting up rapidly, past the eight hundred mark and even going towards the level 850 barrier before finally settling at 843.


    The level difference between him and Pride was nearly a hundred, but he did not dare underestimate the demon as he had seen that she easily possessed power that was leagues above what her level represented.


    ''I knew something was fishy when all the seven of them had levels at 777.''


    He thought to himself as he picked up the pace, Pride doing something simr as the two blitzed towards each other with energy-infused weapons.


    **CLANGG!! BOOMM!!!


    The two''s weapons met each other with a sh of ck gold light as the ground underneath their feet crumbled due to the shockwaves released at the point of the sh.


    Before the shockwaves could even spread properly, the duo had already moved out of the area at speeds so fast they appeared to be streaks of light in the air, shing asionally and exchanging blows that cratered the earth underneath their feet.


    Webb coated his sword in golden lightning and struck down at Pride who twisted her body to the side, effectively dodging the sh while sending in her own me-coated sword towards the celestial hero''s neck.


    He easily ducked to avoid the sh while clenching his fist and enhancing his strength with magic before delivering an uppercut to Pride''s torso.


    Nevertheless, the demon foresaw this and blocked his punch with her open palm, grabbing his fist and flinging his entire body into the air with enough force to send him flying a few hundred meters.


    **BAMM!!!!


    Webb crashed on the ground and bounced back up multiple times before his body finally came to a stop as he mmed his back on a small cliff.


    **BOOM!!


    Pride, who had taken to the skies right after flinging him, plunged down with her sword, turning the small cliff into a pile of dust as she crashed down on it.


    An injured Webb emerged from the cloud of dust but his wounds healed rapidly as he disappeared from his spot and re-appeared behind Pride, sending a kick to the side of her body.


    The demon of Pride was sent flying into the air faster than she sent him flying earlier, but she had no time to catch her breath as he reappeared in front of where she was about tond and thrust his sword filled with golden energy straight into her chest.


    **PUKK!!


    Webb frowned as the feedback he felt was not the kind he was expecting, instantly deducing his attack had failed, and jumped back before coating his sword in energy, extending its reach to a hundred meters as he roes it overhead and shed downwards.


    Pride, on the other hand, looked at her arm which had a stab wound that was burning with golden mes as she tossed her de to her other hand and coated it in demonic energy, extending its reach to a simr length as her opponent had just done.


    She swung the sword horizontally, her de shing with Webb''s and resulting in arge explosion of great intensity.


    "I wonder how many cities we would have destroyed by now if not for your special barrier."


    Pride remarked as she used her magic power to expel the celestial energy that was eating at her arm before empowering her natural regeneration as she dashed towards Webb.


    **BZZZTTTTTT!!!!


    The celestial only remained silent as he waved his hand and created a pir of lightning that smashed down upon her.


    However, the demon easily cut the lighting pir in half with her sword, reaching him an instantter and intended on doing the same to him.


    Webb quickly raised his sword to block her sh before countering with one of his own, the power behind it not being enough to push her back.


    The next moment he released a burst of magic power, creating a shockwave that sent Pride flying dozens of meters and creating a crater easily ten times that distance.

 Chapter 112 Slight Suspicion

    Webb quickly raised his sword to block her sh before countering with one of his own, the power behind it not being enough to push her back.


    The next moment he released a burst of magic power, creating a shockwave that sent Pride flying dozens of meters and creating a crater easily ten times that distance.


    A golden haze rose up from his body as he flicked his fingers, causing multiple six-ringed magic circles to appear around him.


    From each magic circle, a variety of lightning magic shaped in many forms emerged, from lightning spears to lightning whips.


    A few of circles even spouted lightning beasts that blitzed towards Pride at lightning speed with their jaws wide open.


    He didn''t sit back and let his spell do all the work, attacking Pride himself.


    **BOOMM!! BOOMMM!!! BOOOOMMMMM!!!!


    In response, Pride released her ck aura and let it rampage around her, reducing the lightning magic beasts to nothingness and blocking the lightning spears.


    She grabbed the whips of lighting with her bare hands and hijacked the magic, turning it against its caster as she used it to mess with the trajectory of Webb''s sword mid-swing.


    **BAMM!!


    Pride then took advantage of his crumbled bnce to send a fist full of condensed demonic energy to his torso, mming into him with enough force to misalign his internal organs and make him cough up a mouthful of blood.


    ''What? I was sure I had her...''


    Those were Webb''s thoughts as he was sent flying by a few dozen meters before abruptlying to a stop as the hijacked lightning whip spell wrapped around his leg and pulled him back to Pride where he received another fistful of demonic energy, this time to the chest.


    The demon''s fist punctured his flesh, shattered his ribs and nearly pierced his heart but he released a sudden burst of celestial energy infused lightning that burnt Pride''s arm, making her reflexively pull her arm out and take distance from him.


    "Tsk..."


    She clicked her tongue as she looked at her arm which barely had any flesh left and was just charred bone, before infusing magic power into it to enhance her regeneration.


    Webb on the other hand was down on one knee with his hand on his chest as he casted healing magic on himself while downing multiple magic potions.


    A beam of white light descended from the sky onto his body, something he recognized to be healing magic sent by the magicians who were setting up the magic formation he had ordered them to.


    He thanked them for it as he spat out a bit of ck blood before dashing towards Pride with the greatest speed he could muster as he tried to prevent her from healing her arm.


    For some reason, the healing magic casted by nearly a dozen magicians was not as potent as he had expected, and he was barely feeling the effects but a part of his mind told him that it being like that was normal and there was nothing wrong with the current situation.


    He felt something was terribly wrong but his senses perceived nothing amiss as he continued his charge towards Pride.


    The Demon noticed this and stabbed her sword into the ground before making various gestures to activate multiple magics of various attributes.


    The ground trembled as rock spears erupted from below and the skies darkened with ck lightning dropping down.


    Apanying this lightning was a rain of ice and mes that crashed down on all areas of the battlefield.


    The winds raged and turned ck, swirling together to create a gigantic sword of ck wind tens of meters long above Pride''s head.


    She then grabbed the wind sword with her free hand and swung it down in Webb''s direction.


    **CCRACKLEE!!!


    The celestial Hero tried to counter the wind magic sword with spells of his own but discovered that the wind sword had the ability to absorb other spells as his lightning was absorbed and added to the attack.


    The wind sword that now had Lightning crackling around it crashed down from above,nding on the ground and splitting the earth.


    **SWOOOOSHHHH!!!! BOOOOOMMMMM!!!!


    The lightning exploded, apanied by a gust of wind that spread the effects of the rain of mes and ice.


    Multiple heroes had to activate barrier magic of many kinds to prevent themselves from being damaged by the spell.


    Pride, however, paid this no mind and searched for the figure of the celestial hero in the raging whirlwinds and rain of ice and mes.


    She suddenly sensed magic power building up from above the clouds and looked up to the sky, a loop of shock appearing on her face as she saw the bloodied celestial holding up an enormous bullet of concentrated lightning streams amidst the rain of ice and mes.


    As if emting her spell''s effect, she noticed that the bullet of lighting absorbed the droplets of fire and ice that touched it, making the spell even more powerful and dangerous.<sub> </sub>


    "I should probably avoid that."


    Pride was about to make her move when she sensed another source of magic from the ground, her eyes instantly locating the source.


    "A Magic circle? Did I just get caught in a trap? Worms not even worth my time dared to trap me? Who gave you the permission to do so?"


    The moment she spoke, waves of magic power and aura poured out of her body, instantly overloading the magic circle on the ground and shattering it.


    **SHINKKK!!!


    "Huh?"


    It was then that Pride realised that the first circle was actually a decoy to hide the real magic circle underneath, the circle formation that Webb had told them to create before he went off to attack Pride single-handedly.


    "Sir WEBB!"


    "Do it NOW!"


    Webb screamed out as he locked his sights on Pride, noticing that her arm had not yet healed and she only had one hand to take defensive action with.


    ''Soon, she''d have none.


    We''d restrain her and I''d defeat her, then afterward, I would use my remaining magic power to end her life and absorb her skills for myself.''


    He grinned to himself as he began imagining the treatment he would receive when he was done dealing with Pride while watching the magic formation''s first effect begin.


    Chains of light erupted from the ground and blitzed towards Pride but the demon frowned in annoyance as she controlled her aura to form barriers that obstructed the chains while she used her magic power to attempt to hijack the spell circle.


    She could see seven rings on the white spell circle with a crest inside the innermost circle that signified the word ''Bind'', written multiple times in a plethora ofnguages.


    The chains of light multiplied instantly, bing more than five times their original number as they attempted to constrain her entire body.


    Pride tried to slip out of the ones that caught her but their attempts to hold her down were not going to end there.


    "Not going to let you go!"


    "Just stand there obediently."


    This time, the chains bound her entire body and she couldn''t move. Having twoyers of chains coiled around her body and even her legs, even standing still became difficult.


    Nearly twenty spears of magic of different attributes appeared around her, the magic power in them being something that the heroes saw Pride''s face express wariness in response to.


    She controlled her aura to increase her body''s defences, reactivating her Contempt of the many and tuning her passive skills to maximum efficiency.


    After making sure she could survive the attacks, she gave up resisting and shook her head in disappointment as she gazed at the heroes who didn''t realise that they had long been caught by her skill.


    The heroes, however, misinterpreted this as her giving up on life and their confidence in defeating her grew to new heights as they poured more and more of their magic power into the spears of magic that surrounded her.


    One even exhausted all his magic power but kept on trying to squeeze out more magic power, even going as far as to convert his life force into magic power, an action he normally would never take.


    Another who was responsible for maintaining the chains that bound Pride, infused more energy into the magic circle while she smiled to herself, a hundred percent assured of their victory.


    Meanwhile, Webb who was floating mid-air while holding the enormous bullet of lightning, activated his magic eyes and realised something weird.


    ''The magic in their attacks is far less than nned, what the hell?!!!''


    He noticed that one of the heroes had even ignored his remaining reserves of magic power and was converting his life force to magic power when not necessary.


    The hero who was responsible for restraining Pride with the chains was loosening them instead while smiling to herself.


    ''The fuck?''


    He saw another hero who was just stretching his hand towards the magic spears in the air but wasn''t even attempting to add his magic power to it, and he had more than half his magic power reserves left!


    ''Something is definitely wrong!''

 Chapter 113 Something Is Obviously Wrong!

    ''Something is definitely wrong!''


    Webb realised that something had gone terribly wrong but before he could even speak, the heroesunched thebination spell at Pride.


    "Launch!"


    Thebination magic created by the thirty-seven surviving heroesunched toward Pride as they blitzed towards her at lightning speed.


    At thest moment, right before the light of the explosion enveloped her, Webb locked eyes with the demon smiling to herself as if she was trying to hold back herughter.


    ***BOOOOOMMMM!!!!!


    An explosion that released shockwaves that spread for miles urred as a giant mushroom cloud of dust and smoke rose up in the air.


    Webb didn''t even wait for the explosion to finish as he instantlyunched his bullet of lightning streams towards Pride, calling his weapon into his hands afterward as he tried to summon more magic power but coughed ck blood instead as his insides felt hot like they were burning.


    It was then that he noticed that his arm had turned ck due to demonic energy infection and his energy cirction had been affected.


    "Why didn''t I notice this earlier?!!!"


    ***DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNN!!


    Along with a deafening noise, the enormous lightning bulletid a direct hit at Pride, synergizing with the earlier fired concentratedbination of magic to create an even greater explosion.


    Clouds of dust oveyed the surroundings, and the ground trembled greatly from the intense shock caused by the attack.


    If such an attack were to be released outside this space, arge country that was hundreds of thousands of square kilometres would be reduced to nothing but a pile of rubble.


    Nevertheless, the heroes were unharmed as they were the ones who casted the spell in the first ce, giving them immunity to its destructive effects.


    The space they had created was cracked in various ces, with white light spilling into it but the heroes paid this no mind.


    They defeated Pride.


    That is what they thought as every single one of them was fixing their eyes on the ce where she was bound.


    "W-We did it��"


    One of them said a line that could not be considered anything but a g as the dust cloud began to clear up.


    A magician even used wind magic to blow away the remaining dust to confirm Pride''s death but the sight he saw shocked him to his core.


    "You should never say that."


    Once they heard the voice, they all turned pale from the shock and bewilderment. The dust cleared away and Pride''s figure standing there asposed as usual, though with the chains still bound around her became visible.


    "h-how��"


    All of them found the fact that she was still standing even after their strongest attack to be strange.


    She was clearly injured, that alone was correct. Her wounds were very serious as she had cuts, bruises, and burns all over her body.


    Her clothes were a mess and they could not be any more than rags at this point, this allowed them to indeed confirm that Pride was definitely wounded by their attacks.


    "Let me remove this now."


    Pride spoke as she poured some strength into her limbs and with a snapping sound, the chains got shattered to pieces.


    "Huh!?"


    "The chains!"


    "How is that even possible?!"


    The heroes whose job was to make sure she was restrained with said chains let out voices of surprise after each other.


    "I apud you all. You actually managed to push me this far despite having no prior knowledge of my strength.


    Your nning was meticulous and your strategy was although simple, very effective. Your individual strengths were also not low, and your choice of magic was also good.


    What''s more, you picked a member of the celestial race, one that while not directly opposed to my demon race, can still be considered our anthesis in some situations.


    For all these, I apud you. Nevertheless, it was all futile in the end.


    Despite your meticulous nning, the mere thought that you could actually win was nothing more than hubris on your part as the difference between us is far too removed.


    And since you were not aware, I would take the liberty of enlightening you pests.


    Your Pride, your self-confidence, your arrogance, and your numbers, all served to empower me while weakening you.


    Lastly, from the moment you all lost contact with reality, it was impossible to defeat me."


    Pride nodded to herself with a satisfied smile after her not-so-short speech. Normally, she would not do such a thing but she did so now to distract the stunned heroes from the fact that her injured arm was healing.


    The moment it was done healing, she ended her speech and deactivated her Pride maniption skill, chuckling to herself as she remembered the look on the celestial hero who was fallen not far from their location when he realised something was wrong.<sub> </sub>


    She looked at the description of the skill responsible for all this silently before turning her head in the direction of the celestial hero who was dragging his sword towards her while coughing ck blood.


    |Pride Maniption;


    Type: Rare Active Skill


    With this skill, the incarnation of Pride can induce extremely high or low levels of Pride in others, causing them to lose contact with reality and either overestimate or underestimate themselves and their abilities. In some cases, it is possible to make them misjudge things like energy levels and degree of injuries.


    Cannot be applied to Oneself. |


    She locked eyes with the wounded celestial hero before speaking.


    "How about we..."


    Pride halted her words and lifted up her leg before continuing.


    "...end this farce."


    **BAM!


    She struck the leg she was lifting on the ground which caused a giant purple magic circle to form under her feet.


    The circle rapidly erged and surrounded all the heroes. Everyone watched over the circle and waited to see what will happen next. The next moment��


    "W-What!!?"


    "M-My body��!!"


    "It''s heavy��?!"


    They suddenly felt as if a massive weight had been ced on top of them.


    Even the strongest one of them, the celestial hero, crumbled on his knees, unable to bear the weight.


    The other heroes also followed him and fell to the ground.


    The first exnation they woulde out with would probably be that Pride used gravitational magic. However, she had used no such thing.


    It was a simple curse that made the enemy feel heavy. It influenced everyone who was inside the magic circle except for the one who casted it; that was her in this case.


    She shrugged her shoulders as a pair of jet-ck wings appeared behind her and she began floating into the air.


    When she reached a height where she could look down at them all, she released multiple types of magic from my body.


    "Let''s finish this in a shy way."


    The five types of magic emanating from her body, starting with the ones she was most proficient with; Fire and Wind.


    Next were the other attributes she could use despite herck of affinity, water, earth, and darkness, which gradually grew more intense in power.


    In the next few moments, a pentagon formed from fivences of various colours; red, green, blue, brown and ck surrounded the group of heroes by piercing the ground.


    "And... the End."


    The fivences released different types of magic to the top of the centre of the pentagon formation andbined them there, giving birth to a giant mass of magic power.


    The fear in Webb and the heroes cracked up as they watched the mass of magic growingrger. With their bodies pushed down against the ground, all that they could do was receive her attack without being able to defend for themselves.


    Neither of them had theposure to think of a way to use their magic and block it.


    **BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!


    The merciless hammer of defeat struck down the heroes.


    The concentrated mass of magic was entirely released at the heroes who were stuck inside. The ground still trembled violently due to the shock and dust covered Pride''s field of vision as she descended back to the ground.


    �� �� ��


    A few minutester, Pride could be seen in the middle of the verdant green field she was originally in, her torn clothes reced with an oversized casual gray shirt and a pair of ck trousers.


    She sat on the ground in silence, a book in her hand as she flipped through the pages casually.


    Surrounding her, one could see dozens of mangled corpses that were either burnt ck by mes, shredded by wind, or riddled with holes by earth.


    The group of forty heroes over level 750 had been wiped put by the demon who was seated in the middle of their corpses while reading.


    "Hmmm?"


    Pride noticed another presence in the field and looked up to see the figure of a pale-skinned man in a brown suit with a simrly coloured overcoat hanging from his shoulders walking towards her with a smile on his face.


    "You never change, do you?"

 Chapter 114 Alvey Sargon

    "You never change, do you?"


    Pride ignored the man''s question and called out his name. If anyone of the members of the heroes she had murdered was to hear it, they would wonder what the point of fighting Pride was when the being they wanted to stop her from calling over was already in their world.


    "Lord Sargon."


    Upon hearing his name from the mouth of this prideful demon, the Demon King Alvey Sargon revealed a light smile as he walked toward her.


    He took a seat on the floor beside her and stared at the sky silently while Pride continued reading her book.


    A few minutester, he finally broke the silence as he spoke up.


    "I saw your battle."


    "Hmm..."


    Pride nodded in reply, showing no surprise whatsoever. She was the one person who knew of the Demon King''s power more than anyone so she was not surprised when he said he could peer through the special space that was created and see what was going on inside.


    If he wanted, he could have even broken into it and eliminated all the heroes there but he refrained from doing so.


    The reason was simple, he did not want to lose the respect of the high demon seated beside him.


    Demon King Alvey Sargon was a wise man, one who knew that getting the Seven Deadly Sins under his control was impossible.


    The other six all listened to the orders of Pride, and she was someone who would never be truly subservient to anyone, so to keep her in check, he opted for an alternative means.


    And that was simple, he became her friend.


    It was as easy as that, he was the most powerful Demon in their world and Pride respected him for that, from that point on, getting to know the Leader of the Seven Deadly sins was as easy as pie.


    He also knew that neither Pride nor the rest of the seven deadly sins, had any intentions of going against him even if they would garner a great amount of support if they did so.


    The Seven deadly sins had that much power and influence in the demon world.


    In fact, for Alvey, getting close to the Seven Deadly sins wasn''t the issue, the real problem was keeping the aides of his who didn''t think the Seven Deadly Sins didn''t have ambitions for his throne and tried to scheme against them.


    He even tried to assure them that even if the Seven deadly sins started a rebellion, it would be futile but they didn''t believe him.


    ''It was a hassle dealing with those guys, especially McEnda III.''


    He heaved a sigh of exasperation as he thought about the battle that yed out earlier and how Pride managed to win despite not going all out.


    Pride had way too many debuffing abilities that stacked atop each other and prevented her opponents from utilizing their full strength, adding the second effect of her de that reduced the power behind every attack directed at her, fighting the high demon was an arduous task.


    To add more problems to the mix, Pride could literally make herself stronger with the power of hubris itself!


    Then when one considers the fact that her Pride maniption let her manipte more than just ''Pride'' and went on to make her opponents lose contact with the reality of their situation, almost as if they were stuck in an illusion, the mere thought of fighting her became terrifying.


    Alvey remembered the look on the face of the celestial hero when he discovered that he had been under the effect of Pride''s skill since the beginning and had been severely underestimating both Pride and himself.


    The sight of multiple heroes letting out attacks at half their maximum power while thinking they had been squeezing out all their energy, along with those who had been fooled into using their life force whenpletely unnecessary made Alvey change his evaluation of Pride.


    "You didn''t go with the swift but destructive approach this time, huh?"


    "Hmm...I wanted to draw things out a bit. By now, Gluttony and the others should have finished taking out the headquarters of the alliance force.


    Our conquest in this world is effectivelyplete."


    Pride dered as she flipped to thest page of the book with her eyes darting around the page for a minute before closing the book.


    "That was a good read."


    "Which book was that?"


    "A novel called ''A Queen Disgraced''. I found it in one of the libraries of the Magic country Greed ttened a few weeks ago."


    Pride answered Alvey''s question as she ced the book inside the storage ne on her neck before turning to him and asking.


    "What else is left?"


    "Huh?"<sub> </sub>


    "When I said ''Our conquest in this world is effectivelyplete.'', you did not affirm my words. This means there''s something I''m missing.


    What is it?"


    Her question made Alvey stare at her in silence for a few moments before bursting intoughter.


    "You never cease to amaze me, if I had someone like you to be my son''s queen when he ascends the throne, then I would have no worries in life."


    "I believe I told you that while I hold lots of respect for you and the high demons in your generation, my feelings about your son Ginaroad and his aides, especially McEnda IV, are on the opposite end of the spectrum."


    Pride spoke about the Demon Prince Ginaroad and his right-hand man with so much disgust in her voice.


    Alvey smiled as he decided to mess with her a bit, keeping up the topic of her getting together with his son even though she clearly didn''t like it.


    "The age difference between the two of you isn''t much, just a measly 300 years. You should really consider it, or perhaps I should bring the offer to your ''sisters'', Lust and Envy?"


    "There are limits to jokes, Lord Sargon."


    Pride spoke as she stood up and dusted the des of grass stuck to her trousers before turning to Alvey and continuing.


    "And you know I don''t do well with jokes."


    "Always so serious, loosen up a bit, would you? I bet your ''siblings'' also tell you this too."


    "They do, and I always ignore them."


    Alvey shook his head upon hearing Pride''s reply as he got up and stared at the setting sun, the wry smile on his face then vanished as his entire demeanour turned serious.


    "Hey Pride, did you know what happens when one person acquires three unique ''series skills''?"


    Hearing the question she was suddenly asked, Pride pondered on it for a moment before shaking her head.


    "There is a reason why ''Series Skills'' like your ''Incarnation Series'' and my ''Annihtion Series'' are a step above other unique skills.


    It is because the ''Series Skills'' are the fragments of something greater."


    Alvey''s body began levitating as the effect of that world''s gravity on him reduced considerably. Pride took to the skies with him as the two of them instantly ascended far above the clouds.


    He then grabbed Pride''s arm and coated her entire body with his energy as he suddenly elerated, his speed being so fast that even Pride wouldn''t be able to catch him moving if she looked on from afar.


    In no time he had reached the sufficient speed required to do something that even though she had gone over to a dozen worlds, Pride had never done.


    While carrying Pride with him and protecting her from the intense heat caused by his actions, Alvey easily crossed tens of kilometres in a single second, breaking through the''s atmosphere and floating up into the darkness of space.


    It was a scene Alvey had seen multiple times but it was a first for Pride so she couldn''t help but stare nkly at the sight in front of her.


    Stars of various colours and sizes lit up the dark space, with one of said stars being particrly brighter than the others due to its close distance.


    "...Is that...the sun?"


    "Yes. That is this star system''s sun."


    Alvey replied to her as he looked down on the world they had just left, before turning his gaze to the others around them.


    "Nine, an average star system."


    He counted thes around them as Pride finally turned her gaze downwards, her eyes widening in shock as she saw the enormous size of the she was just in.


    "That''s..."


    "The world we were just on. The world, '', is more fitting in this case."


    It took Pride nearly ten minutes to recover from the shock of being suddenly yeeted into space for the first time, something Alvey acknowledged to be ''quite fast''.


    "Most people spend longer in a state of shock, some even pass out from the shock."


    Alvey yawned as he spoke, warning Pride to stick close to him as he was the only reason that she was not freezing due to the coldness of space.


    "Oh well, before you could even freeze, the pressure of the ambient energies in space would bear down on your body and soul and crush them to bits."

 Chapter 115 Ultimate Seed

    "Oh well, before you could even freeze, the pressure of the ambient energies in space would bear down on your body and soul and crush them to bits."


    He casually spoke about such a grim possibility, causing Pride to unconsciously try to move herself closer to him, resulting in making the Demon King chuckle in amusement.


    "I didn''t bring you here to admire the scenery, I brought you here to tell you something important."


    Alvey''s smile vanished from his face as he continued speaking, taking great care to keep up the barrier around Pride that allowed her to survive in space.


    "The ''Series Skills'' you and I possess, are fragments of something greater.


    They are the fragments of something called the ''Ultimate Seed''."


    "Ultimate seed?"


    "Yes. Each ''Series Skill'' is one-third of an ultimate seed, hence acquiring three ''Series Skills'' of any kind allows one to form an Ultimate Seed.


    The series skills to be acquired don''t necessarily have to be from the same series, nor do they all have to be offensive in nature.


    Nevertheless, the acquired ultimate skill would possess characteristics of all three series skills that the user possesses."


    Pride was following his words until he suddenly started speaking about ''Ultimate Skills'', a different concept she had not heard of before.


    "Wait a moment! What are Ultimate Skills?"


    "Hmm...I didn''t say?


    When an Ultimate seed germinates, the thing that pops out is an ultimate skill. And like I said earlier, the nature of the ultimate skill depends on the three series skills used to form its seed."


    Alvey stretched out his palm and a small pale blue me appeared in front of it. He touched this me with his other finger and continued his exnation to Pride.


    "If one has an Ultimate Skill, it is pretty much impossible to defeat them with anything less than that. The reason is simple, the wielder of the Ultimate skill possesses a 90% damage negation from any existence without one.


    Regardless of how strong they are, if their opponent possesses an Ultimate skill, or just Ultimate for short, their attacks would only be 10% effective.


    And that is if their opponent doesn''t attempt to defend and just stands there to take the hit."


    Pride''s eyes widened in surprise as she learned this frightening fact about ultimate skill wielders, the next moment, a more frightening thought crossed her mind as she looked at Alvey.


    "Perhaps, you also..."


    "It is exactly as you think. I am also an ultimate wielder myself.


    I have lived for at least twice thebined ages of you and the rest of the seven deadly sins, it''d be a shame if I didn''t have a few ultimates to show for it."


    His words finally gave Pride an answer to a question that had gued her mind for years. The question of where the Demon King''s confidence that if the seven deadly sins were to start a rebellion, it would be futile.


    If 90% of their attacks on him simply didn''t work, then what was there for him to fear? Be they Seven or Seventy, it would not make a difference.


    ''Such Powerful skills...''


    "What? Do you respect me more now? How about getting together with my son? Ginaroad is quite the catch."


    Pride was snapped out of her thoughts by the Demon king''s teasing voice, causing her to end up rolling her eyes at him and ignoring his words.


    "As I said, that''s not gonna happen."


    "I know it isn''t. My son is actually a control freak, his skill is most likely a manifestation of that desire.


    When he realises, that he cannot control you as you are two-thirds of the way towards gaining an ultimate seed, he''d try to get rid of you in any way he can."


    Alvey smiled depreciatingly as he analysed his son''s nature, while also disclosing the fact that he knew of Pride''s second ''Series Skill'', something she hadn''t even told the other Seven Deadly Sins.


    ''Perhaps, he could tell because he has an ultimate?''


    Pride once against descended into her sea of thoughts, choosing to ignore his words about his son''s nature, and began formting ns to acquire another Series Skill.


    "Well, on to more important things.


    Ultimate skills are much more powerful than unique skills as with an Ultimate skill, turning a like the ones you see around you into a dead rock is within the realm of possibility."


    Once again, Alvey casually dropped frightening information like it was a walk in the park, startling Pride in the process and getting a kick out of her reaction.


    "Oh, and I am capable of such a feat too. I also think that the father of the celestial who you recently killed is too."


    This time, he dropped two dangerous pieces of information as his gaze locked on the right beside the one they were just on.


    "That is the reason why I believe our conquest in that world wasn''t done yet. Because like our home world, theirs has a supreme ruler who controls everything in it.<sub> </sub>


    An Equivalent of a Demon King, one who just happens to be a member of the Celestial Race.


    He probably did not take any action since the beginning because he was wary of what actions I''d take in response.


    However, now his son is dead, he isn''t so patient anymore."


    Alvey grabbed Pride''s arm and began descending, his eleration speed being fast enough to achieve the necessary velocity required to re-enter the''s atmosphere in seconds.


    **BOOMMM!!


    The duonded on the ground with enough force to create a crater hundreds of metres wide, Alvey having negated most of the damage as they only had a few scratches on them.


    He then ced his second hand on Pride''s shoulder as he looked into her eyes and spoke.


    "Pride, right now I am going to battle someone with the same level of power as I have, and honestly, I don''t have 100% confidence in defeating him.


    If after 24 hours, you hear nothing from me, order a full retreat on all our forces and shut down the rift to this world.


    After this, you are to immediately crown my son, Ginaroad, as the next Demon king and eliminate all dissent against him.


    This, is my first order to you as the ''Demon King''...and also, thest."


    His words were so sudden and Pride was momentarily dumbstruck by them, the most powerful man she knew just told her he wasn''t sure about his survival in battle, it would be weirder if she wasn''t.


    "Alvey, what do you mean by-!"


    Pride''s words were cut off when she suddenly felt a bone-chilling aura that shook her to her core.


    The skies turned dark and golden lightning shed from within the clouds. She sensed a mass of magic power that Pride was sure was easily triple her maximum rapidly approaching their location at a speed that should not be humanly possible.


    **SHATTERR!!


    Alvey''s face contorted as his gaze turned sharp, a terrifying pressure escaped from his body as he took his hand off Pride''s shoulder and punched the space behind her, shattering it like ss.


    "Go, I hope we meet again."


    With that, he pushed her into the hole in space that he just created behind her and turned around to face the source of the magic power Pride sensed.


    The space began closing up as Pride reflexively stretched her arm out towards Alvey but was unable to reach him as he had moved away.


    Before the space closed uppletely, she caught the figure of a being adorned in an armour of light with golden tendrils of lightning crackling around his body, descending from the sky.


    She could see the back of Demon King Alvey Sargon, exuding an aura of authority and power as he flew into the air to sh with this light armoured celestial.


    That was thest time, Pride saw Demon King Alvey Sargon.


    �� �� ��


    "...ide. Pride!"


    "huh?"


    "Finally, you answered me. What happened, you just zoned out right after Evan started getting scolded."


    Eliza''s voice brought Pride back from her sea of memories as she shook her head while saying nothing was wrong.


    "You sure as hell don''t look like it."


    The priestess narrowed her eyes as she locked gazes with the high demon for a moment, before shrugging her shoulders in the next moment.


    "Oh well, if you say so."


    Eliza turned her gaze to Artemisia who was concluding her list of why Evan''s actions were the height of stupidity.


    [Why were you the one to rank first in the game? The 1%1||�� of destiny said you were the right choice too.]


    Artemisia heaved a sigh of exasperation as she spoke of something Evan and Eliza did not fully understand.


    [Maybe it was for the best.]


    She shook her head and checked how long she had in this body before turning to Evan and continuing.


    [I''d be going somewhere now, I''d contact you when I''m done with the tower of trials, till then, I doubt you''d hear from me.]


    As soon as she was done speaking, she disappeared in a sh of light.

 Chapter 116 Spirit King And Dragon Lord Meet Goddess

    [I''d be going somewhere now, I''d contact you when I''m done with the Tower of Trials. Till then, I doubt you''d hear from me.]


    As soon as Artemisia was done speaking, she disappeared in a sh of light, leaving behind the trio who were wondering what to say if they were asked by the priests outside where the bishop was since Artemisia left with the bishop''s body.


    �� �� ��


    Nameless Ind


    Divider Ocean.


    December 10th


    Year 1051 of the 51st General Calendar


    On a random rock on this nameless ind, a woman yawned as she stared at the circr portal in front of her.


    She was a fairly tall and stunningly beautiful woman with arge bust size. silky, long ck hair and red reptilian golden eyes with vertical slit pupils.


    On the sides of her head, two horns, curved upwards could be seen from the gaps in her hair and a long reptilian tail emerging from her lower abdomen could be seen wrapped around her waist.


    She was dressed in an almond green t-shirt and ck jeans, with ck leather boots on her feet and simrly coloured gloves on her hands


    "A weird portal suddenly appearing on one of these uninhabited inds at these times is suspicious as hell."


    A man who was standing beside her spoke as he narrowed his golden eyes in the direction of this circr portal.


    He was wearing a brown long-sleeved shirt and simrly coloured trousers. He had fair skin and long hair that sparkled with the lights of more colours than there were on a rainbow tied up in a ponytail.


    Turning his gaze to the woman beside him, he asked.


    "Altrishia, is it possible that this is a result of the rift on the Dark continent re-opening?"


    The woman beside him, one of ''The Five'', the strongest beings on Aidos, ''Dragon Lord'' Altrishia, shook her head as she replied.


    "Nahh, I don''t think it i-!"


    She suddenly stopped talking as her gaze turned sharp, thezy attitude she showed earlier disappearing as she turned in a certain direction.


    "What''s wrong?"


    Sensing the change in her mood, the golden-eyed man turned in the same direction as she did and asked out loud.


    "The ''thing'' I picked up recently is of the space attribute, one of the passive perks of it is that it allows me to sense any spatial movements within a 5-kilometre radius from my location.


    I just sensed some spatial activity, and it is getting closer even as I speak."


    The man''s eyes widened in surprise but he quickly regained his calm and asked.


    "What if it''s another member of ''The Five'' like you?"


    "Negative, none of them are proficient enough to perform cross-continent teleportation. I''m a hundred percent sure of it."


    She flexed her fingers as her nails slowly turned into ws and ck scales began appearing on the sides of her face.


    The main realised she was perceiving whoever wasing over as a threat and instantly increased his guard.


    Six orbs of condensed elemental energy appeared behind him as he spread out his senses to see if he could detect this potentially hostile entity.


    The two remained in a state of alert for another ten seconds before Altrishia''s eyes widened as she instantly spun her body at a speed that made sound seem as slow as a snail and coated her ws in ck-colored magic power before shing with enough force to split a mountain in two.


    **BOOM!


    **SHING!!


    ***BOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!


    There was a loud sonic boom, then her ws collided with something that appeared the moment she spun around, the magic power around them igniting, resulting in an explosion of untold magnitude.


    A small mushroom cloud of dust dirt and smoke soared into the sky with the sounds of flickering mes being heard all around.


    A piece of the nameless ind was obliterated with another piece sinking to the bottom of the ocean as the cloud of smoke finally cleared out.


    The golden-eyed man waved his hand and summoned winds to blow away the dust, his mind not even considering the possibility of whoever or whatever Altrishia had attacked surviving.


    His eyes widened in shock the moment the smoke cloud was blown away as the sight before his eyes was not something he couldprehend.<sub> </sub>


    [Hmm? I was wondering who it was, to think it was you.]


    A calm and collected voice rang out as the speaker held up a palm in front of their chest. It was a fairly young golden-eyed woman who had long ck hair tied up into a braid. She was wearing priestly robes which were decorated with the church of Artemisia''s symbol, the ''Golden Rose''.


    She looked down to see Altrishia''s ws threatening to tear her body to pieces and heaved a sigh of relief as she spoke to the Dragon Lord who was ring at her.


    [I know you hate me and all, but this is a mortal''s body. I can''t have it get damaged.]


    She then proceeded to push Altrishia''s hands back and use magic to clean off the dust on the priestly robes while ignoring the reactions of the two beings in front of her.


    "That voice... it''s you, isn''t it? Goddess Artemisia..."


    Altrishia retracted her ws as she spoke up through gritted teeth, her every wordced with unconcealed hatred as she clenched her fists tightly.


    Her words made the golden-eyed man beside her snap out of his shock as he finally realised the reason why Altrishia''s ws did not shred her body to pieces and turn those pieces to ashes.


    [Umu.]


    Artemisia nodded in affirmation before snapping her fingers as magic power flowed out from her body and covered the whole ind.


    Right before Altrishia''s eyes, the destruction caused by her attack that had sent more than half the ind to the bottom of the ocean was reversed in real time as theyers of earth that made up the ind reformed, followed by the sands and then the grasses.


    The trees regrew back to exactly how they were before with the hill in the distance rising back to its previous height.


    [That''s better.]


    Artemisia confirmed everything was back to normal before turning to face the two in front of her.


    [Oh, Sinir, you''re here too. Perfect, saves me the stress of going over to your forest.]


    She spoke to the man, Sinir as she walked towards the circr portal floating a few feet above the ground that survived the earlier destruction.


    [What the heck is with you?


    A new great lighting spirit was born and you sat back and did nothing, even letting her and her guardian spirit to get hurt and lose part of their life forces.


    If the guardian spirit had lost any more life force, he might have died. Even worse for the new lightning spirit who nearly lost her life to demonic energy corruption.


    What kind of spirit king are you if you can''t care for the great spirits you rule?]


    Her words revealed the identity of the man she called Sinir, the current Spirit King and one of the most powerful Existences on Aidos.


    Sinir frowned upon hearing her words, not having expected a busy goddess like Artemisia to personally descend in a mortal''s body just to tell him that he did not do a good job of taking care of the new great spirit.


    Hearing that the great spirit was corrupted by demonic energy was a shock to him as he couldn''t think of what the spirit could have possibly done toe in contact with demonic energy.


    ''Was she fighting the ''Demonic Hand''?''


    [What?


    Cat got your tongue?


    Did you think you could sit back and y chess with Gnome just because Undine said she was going to search for the new lightning spirit herself?]


    Artemisia questioned him further, even going as far as to reveal an event that happened a few months ago when the great water spirit, Undine, came to inform him that she was going to search for the new lightning spirit, moments after he sensed her Pseudo Authority as a great spirit being activated.


    ''How did she know? Was she watching all this while?''


    [My poor little sister suffered a lot because the person who was supposed to guide her along the ropes of being a great spirit was neglecting his duties, huh?


    p Maybe I should consider removing you from that position as Spirit King?</anda>


    You don''t seem to be doing a good job seeing as you haven''t found Ifrit who has been missing for nearly seven hundred years, nor have you made any attempts to locate her.]


    Artemisia didn''t even give the Spirit King a chance to defend himself, as she ced a hand on her chin and thought about her decision for less than a second before taking action.


    Her hand glowed golden as she stretched it out towards Sinir, causing a multicoloured crown to manifest a few centimetres above his head.


    She reached out to grab the crown; his symbol of authority as the Spirit King as Sinir found himself unable to even move his body.


    Right before she touched it, another hand grabbed hers as a voiceced with rage rang out.


    "You ignore this world for centuries and then randomly pop up whenever you feel like just to change things how you feel like?!"

 Chapter 117 Festering Threat

    Artemisia reached out to grab the crown atop Sinir''s head; his symbol of authority as the Spirit King as he found himself unable to even move his body.


    Right before she touched it, another hand grabbed hers as a voiceced with rage rang out.


    "You ignore this world for centuries and then randomly pop up whenever you feel like just to change things how you feel like?!"


    Artemisia turned her golden eyes in the direction of the person who grabbed her hand, gaze meeting the vertical slit golden eyes of the dragon lord that had mes of hatred burning within them.


    [Did you notice? All three of us here have golden eyes.]


    The goddess asked a question that was totally unrted to the current situation, causing the dragon''s rage to go over the limit as she pushed Artemisia''s hand to the side and swung her fist to the goddess'' face.


    **BAMMM!!!!


    A loud noise rang out with shockwaves spreading for hundreds of meters, even knocking Sinir''''s body to the ground.


    However, despite this, Altrishia''s fist never met its target.


    Exactly one centimetre from the goddess'' nose, a translucent barrier that looked as fragile as ss stopped the dragon lord''s fist from meeting the goddess'' face.


    [I told you this was a mortal''s body and I can''t have it getting damaged. What part of that did you not understand?]


    Artemisia''s cold voice rang out as she grabbed Altrishia''s hand faster than the dragon could react, only to push her hand away lightly.


    However, what Artemisia considered a ''light'' push, wasn''t so light for Altrishia as she found her body being sent flying for about a dozen meters.


    Before she could stand up, Artemisia was already in front of her as the goddess tapped Altrishia''s head and spoke calmly.


    [You see, I understand your hatred for me.


    After all, I watched Demon General McEnda IV enter this world and battle your father, Gorm, eventually double suiciding with him to prevent the peak-ranked demon from spreading more chaos in Aidos.


    I could stop it, save your father, kill McEnda, but I didn''t and I instead watched Gorm die. So, I understand why you may resent me, however, you do so without knowing the full story.


    You resent me because of what you believe happened, not knowing the full truth as you were far too weak to even survive being in the vicinity of the battle that urred that day.


    You have no idea about the circumstances of those involved, McEnda''s, Gorm''s, and mine.]


    To her words, Altrishia pped Artemisia''s hand from her head as she screamed in response.


    "Circumstances?! Bullshit!!!


    You''re a freaking goddess, you were powerful enough to kill McEnda, powerful enough to prevent him from even entering this world in the first ce, but you did nothing.


    You just stayed there and watched it all happen, you stayed there and watched the millions of people who called out to you suffer at the hands of the demons and get cruelly murdered by them, and yet you have the audacity to speak of ''your circumstances''?!"


    Artemisia only heaved a sigh of exasperation in response to Altrishia''s outburst before shaking her head and turning around.


    [Sometimes I wonder how stupid the dragons of this world are if they chose someone as foolish as you to be their lord.


    Use that thing in your head to think.


    If I had the free reign to do whatever I wanted, then the dimensional rift in the dark continent would not even exist and I would have personally wiped out the demons myself.


    Yet I didn''t do that.


    Can''t your brain even think of a reason why I didn''t?


    When it can, you can talk to me and I''d listen to your bullshit.


    If it wasn''t for your father''s sake, I would have killed you long ago and ced another dragon in that position you hold.]


    Artemisia waked towards the circr portal before snapping her fingers and continuing.


    [Your stupidity has pissed me off, get out of here before I turn you back to a baby lizard.]


    As she spoke, she unconsciously put magic power into her voice, causing her words to be reality as space-attributed magic power wrapped around both Altrishia and Sinir''s bodies, warping them to a totally different part of Aidos.


    [Hmm? Oh, well, the noise is gone. Now I can concentrate on designing the ''Tower of Trials'' entrance.]


    The goddess rose her hand and ced it on the portal, continuing the task she was undertaking before descending to Bishop Amelie''s body when a blue notice board appeared in front of her.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says that you should really just tell the young dragon what happened on that day.]


    [There''s no point, it''s only going to put her in more...despair?]


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction''ughs at your uncertainty.]


    [Well, I''m uncertain because I don''t know how she would react if she found out what was toe.]


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' states that it is only a matter of Time. He goes on to borate on how he wishes to sit back and watch the show.]


    [Sometimes, you make me wanna punch you in the face.]<sub> </sub>


    Artemisia''s brow twitched as she waved her hand and turned the circr portal into an Archaic door with intricate designs. Inside it, one could see a swirling mass of purple space attributed magic power as she began to fine-tune it to prevent errors.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says that you should really find someone besides himself to confide in, as not every problem can be solved by keeping to yourself.]


    [What do you mean?]


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' exins that he means you should tell someone, preferably the young hero you sent over here, exactly how you truly feel about this world and your attachment to it.


    Informing him of your rtionship with it, and finding someone to help you ''carry'' your burden would also be ideal as it would get a load off your chest.


    Literally and figuratively, of course.]


    [Son of a-!]


    Artemisia held back her urge to curse as she ignored the being who was giving some reasonable advice, only to turn it into sexual harassment in the end.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction''ughs heartily at your current mood]


    The goddess hurriedly finished her task and cross-checked it multiple times before going back to the Alpha continent to return the bishop''s body and ascending back to her realm.


    ''Ignoring his stupidity, maybe I should consider taking his advice? Perhaps talking to someone, perhaps telling them about my connection with this world would help.


    Still, am I really okay with telling someone about the thing I''ve thoroughly hidden from the eyes of even my subordinates for thousands of years?


    The true nature of my connection to Aidos, my birth world.''


    �� �� ��


    Bonas City


    Great Western Empire


    December 11th


    Year 1051


    Evan, Eliza, and Pride, who had packed up all their things, boarded a carriage that was heading for the City State of Magic, Kasteblum.


    As they had achieved their goal foring to Bonas, which was to get the two spirits with Evan healed, they were free to set off to Kasteblum since they had nothing more to do in Bonas.


    Eliza was the most excited of the three as she had always dreamed of visiting the City State of Magic.


    Pride, on the other hand, was merely interested in seeing how the city had advancedpared to what it was a thousand years ago when she watched Gluttony reduce it to a pile of rubble during one of his tantrums about not getting to eat dragon meat.


    As for Evan, he was thinking about the hidden pieces that were in Kasteblum, wondering how he was going to get to some of said pieces as he didn''t feel like using the badge signifying his identity as a noble as that would draw too much attention.


    I guess I have to forfeit some of those hidden pieces, huh?


    Too bad.''


    Evan looked at the passing scenery through the window of the carriage, heaving a sigh of exasperation as he closed his eyes and descended into dreand.


    �� �� ��


    Unknown Area


    Bultom City


    Great Western Empire


    December 11th


    Year 1051


    Inside a slightly dark cavern, footsteps could be heard as a lone being walked towards a throne and sat on it.


    Around him were various living armours and flying weapons scattered everywhere. Some of the living armours wielded bloody weapons while others were empty-handed.


    Beside the throne was a ck horse with a big enough body to swallow any ordinary horse whole. The being who sat on the throne, had arge build to suit the horse''s size, with his every breath expelling a blue gas.


    Arge cleaver leaned against his shoulder while he carried a helmet in one hand.


    His ck steel armour had sharp spikesing out of its joints, looking extremely intimidating. More importantly, he did not have a head.


    The helmet he was carrying, was his head.


    He was one of the highest ss of undead monsters, a headless undead knight, Duhan.


    The red eyes on the helmet on his eyes gazed towards the ceiling as he muttered one word.


    "Soon...."

 Chapter 118 Interlude 4 – 1 – Happenings On The Beta Continent I

    Chapter 118 �C Interlude 4 �C 1 �C Happenings on the Beta Continent I


    Unknown Area


    Aelum Kingdom


    Beta Continent


    December 11th


    Year 1051


    In the centre of a deep forest of white trees, was a vast in filled with snow-covered grasses all around. In this in, two beings sat atop a rock as they stared at the setting sun.


    The winter winds blew softly, rustling the clothes of these two as they remained still with their gazes up in the sky.


    On the left side of the rock, was a boy in histe teens with snow-white skin and was pretty enough to be mistaken for a girl. His flowing ck hair was smooth and reached his waist.


    From the sides of his head, two curved horns could be seen jutting out, having intricately designed patterns on them.


    He had a long red scaled tail that waved around in the air. His eyes were unlike normal, as he had red sclera and ck pupils.


    Inside his pupils, a golden inscription of a crest could be seen, a single letter, from an ancientnguage lost to time.


    He yawned loudly as he took off his jacket and smoothened his blue jeans as he turned his gaze to the person beside him and asked.


    "How much longer would it take?"


    "Not too long."


    A calm and collected baritone voice replied as the person beside him jumped down from the small rock and walked over to a tiny sack on the floor.


    Green-coloured gas was flowing out of this sack, which was then carried by the wind into the sea of trees around them.


    He was a fairly tall teenage-looking boy, with a shaven chin and short white hair that matched with the colour of the snow.


    Dressed in a cassock underneath white priestly robes and a zhetto atop his head. His robes were intricately designed with gold and silver linings, same with the red Humeral veil on his shoulders.


    On the back of his robes, arge Golden Rose could be seen, showing his identity as a priest of the Church of Artemisia.


    He turned his dark eyes in a certain direction, the golden inscription in his iris bing fully visible as he spoke.


    "They''re here."


    As soon as he spoke, monsters of various kinds began to emerge from within the sea of trees around them.


    Most of these monsters was growling at them with bloodshot eyes,cking all semnce of sanity while some others gazed at the two boys calmly.


    Goblins, orcs, wolves, trolls, ogres, cicins; monsters that looked like oversized dragonflies and spectres, circr floating monsters at 50 cm in diameter with a single eye and wings that spun around atop their heads.


    There were even some elemental lifeforms and a few monsters that looked like lesser mythical beasts.


    These were all monsters that would normally be hacking and wing at each other but they were all ring at the centre of this clearing with the two boys in it.


    The boy in priestly robes picked up the sack on the floor and tied it up before dropping it back to the ground.


    Right before it hit the ground, a hole about 60 - 70cm in diameter appeared and the sack fell right into it.


    The hole closed up afterward as the boy turned to hispanion who was staring at the monsters with a smile on his face.


    "After you."


    "Why, thank you."


    The ck-haired boy jumped down from the rock as red scales began to appear on his neck, his fingernails growing longer and bing sharper as he took a stance.


    His tail snaked around as a sharp spike protruded from the edge of it, tapping the ground twice as he spoke.


    "Ten minutes, if I''m not done, you can join in."


    **BOOOMM!!!


    As soon as he was done speaking, he kicked off the ground with enough force to leave a small crater in the earth as he sped into the swarm of monsters.


    "RAAAAA!!!!!!!"


    "ROAAARRRRRR!!!"


    The stronger and more intelligent monsters saw his action as an act of hostility and roared out loudly, rallying the weaker monsters as they all charged toward the boy.


    Some of the higher monsters like goblin chiefs, Orc Lords, Ogre generals and Wolf Lords roared and activated skills to empower their subordinates, increasing their morale as they jumped into the fray.


    The ck-haired boy had a wide grin on his face as he jumped up into the air andnded in the midst of the monsters.<sub> </sub>


    **BAMMM!!!


    He crashed into the ground, squashing the bodies of some monsters due to the force of hisnding and releasing shockwaves that pushed the other away.


    From then on, it was a ughter.


    He hacked at a random Orc''s throat with his ws andughed as he spun around and sshed the blood on the eyes of a wolf that jumped on him from behind.


    "AWOO!!"


    Taking advantage of the wolf''s blinded state, he grabbed it from its tail and swung it around, bashing the wolf''s body into the head of a random troll, causing it to lose its footing.


    He then climbed to the top of the troll''s body and stabbed his ws into its head multiple times, ending its life instantly.


    Without waiting for its body to drop to the ground, he jumped off andnded on another orc that was attempting to cast some sort of magic, pulling its staff away and bashing its skull to bits with that same staff.


    The staff shattered to pieces but he used the broken handle in his hand to finish off another wolf monster that jumped on him from behind.


    ? "RAAAA!!!"


    A loud roar resounded as another horned monster came charging on with a shield, knocking others out of the way as it mmed into the boy''s body.


    The force of the m knocked him into the air but the monster didn''t give him a chance to fall as simr monsters dropped to their knees and let it use their bodies as a foothold to jump into the air and give chase.


    "RAAAA!!"


    The horned monster screamed out as it jumped into the air with shield in hand, raising the shield overhead as it mmed down on the boy.


    Right before it hit, the monster''s eyes shed as the wooden shield was instantly covered by steel and spikes grew out from it.


    **BAMMM!!!


    The shield mmed onto the body of the boy, sending him crashing to the ground with enough force to create a small 10-meter-wide crater.


    Seeing that its attack seeded, the monsternded on the ground andmanded its brethren to hack away at the fallen boy.


    Without hesitation, they all dashed towards him with weapons of various kinds raised high, intending of shing him to bits.


    Nevertheless, they had to be careful for fear of friendly fire. Although they wanted him dead, they didn''t want to kill their brethren in the process.


    "KAAA!!"


    The first monster swung its great sword that was twice its height down, but surprisingly, it never reached the ground.


    "KAA??"


    Before it could even realise what happened, it felt pain in its torso and looked down to see a spiked tail stabbing into its stomach.


    The next moment, something shed as the monster''s head was separated from its neck, itsrge body falling down to the ground as its blood stained the snow red.


    The shied-bearing monster narrowed its eyes upon seeing this and mmed its foot on the ground as it roared to activate its skill.


    Magic power poured into the ground and travelled underground, as the bodies of its brethren were instantly covered in steel starting from the pints where their feet touched the ground.


    Seeing their armoured states, the monsters roared as they shed down on where the boy was, however, their swords tore the earth and their clubs ttened the soul.


    Sadly, their target was long gone as the screams of other monsters could be hearding from another part of the swarm, their gazes turning to see their intended target wielding arge great sword he grabbed from a fallen goblin chief and lopping off the heads of other hobgoblins with it.


    He then flung the sword into the air randomly, kicking off the ground the second after as he dashed towards a spectre in the distance, piercing the monster''s only eye and flinging its entire body to m into the cicins beside it.


    He poured magic power into his left leg and stomped it on the ground, releasing a shockwave that pushed back all the monsters around him by at least ten meters,


    This distance was covered again in the next moment as more monsters swarmed him, the wolves leading the charge as three wolves simultaneously jumped at him from different directions.


    He turned his back to one of the wolves and stretched out his ws to sh with the two in front of him, his tail lifting off the ground and mming into the one behind him and sending it flying.


    One of the wolves, used his body as a foothold and jumped backward,nding on the ground and roaring as a wave of sound was emitted sent out from its position.


    "GUH!"


    He grinned in pain as the sound waves hit his ears, temporarily disorienting him and giving the second wolf enough time to jump at his neck.


    *KRIIN!!


    To the wolf''s surprise, its jaws scratched off the scales on his neck, not even prating them by an inch.


    Its surprise dyed it long enough for the boy to recover and grab the wolf with his ws and fling its body in the direction of the other one.


    **PSHEWW!!!

 Chapter 119 Interlude 4 – 2 – Happenings On The Beta Continent II

    *KRIIN!!


    To the wolf''s surprise, its jaws scratched off the scales on his neck, not even prating them by an inch.


    Its surprise dyed it long enough for the boy to recover and grab the wolf with his ws and fling its body in the direction of the other one.


    **PSHEWW!!!


    His ears twitched as he tilted his head to the side just in time to dodge an arrow that came from behind.


    **PSHEWW!! PSHEW!!!


    There were more whistling noises as arrows came in from all directions, causing him to roll out of the way to avoid them.


    Right before he could stand up, his senses tingled and he looked up to see an airborne orc with its ive raised high.


    ''Shit!''.


    Gravity did its work as the orc crashed down towards the ground, simultaneously mming its ive in the boy''s direction.


    **RUMBLEEE!!


    To make matters worse, the clouds turned dark as blue lightning dropped from the skies, straight towards his head.


    "RAAA!!!"


    Another horned monster stabbed in his direction with its spear that was as thick as his forearm, its eyes red with rage as it seemed hell-bent on killing him.


    ''First Step Awakening.''


    **BOOOMMM!!!


    A burst of magic power was released, generating a shockwave that mmed into the bodies of the two monsters and sent them flying.


    The lightning was blocked by the barrier as it fizzled into nothingness.


    **BOOMM!!


    There was a loud sound as a streak of red light dashed into the air before crashing down onto the swarm of monsters, blitzing through them as the monsters perished one after another.


    Naturally, this streak of red light was the horned boy dashing in through the monsters, his body covered by ayer of red-coloured magic power.


    Each time he touched a monster, his ws tore through whatever armour it was wearing and shed through their skins like a knife through butter.


    He jumped atop some monsters and twisted their necks, moving on to the next and stabbing through their heads with his ws while his tail lopped off the necks of some.


    Before the body of a troll he had beheaded could fall, he jumped off andnded on the club of an ogre that charged at him.


    As soon as the ogre realised, he was on its club, its vision nted as its head fell off its neck.


    The boy caught the ogre''s severed head and mmed it into the mouth of a wolf that came at him with an open mouth.


    He then sent a kick to the wolf''s stomach, sending it flying as he turned to catch the falling body of the ogre and lift it up into the air.


    "HAAAAA!"


    He screamed as he tossed the ogre''s body towards the trio of ogres who were charging at him from the side, before twisting his body to avoid the condensed elemental bullets that were fired by the spectres in the sky.


    He kicked off the ground and dashed to another location but the spectres followed him whileunching bullets of condensed attributed magic power, not caring for the other monsters.


    He kicked the legs of an unfortunate troll and circled around it before stabbing into its head and ending its life with his ws.


    **PUKK!!


    Holding up its body, he hoped to use it as a shield against the spectre''s attacks but to his surprise, the condensed bullets of magic power effortlessly pierced through the troll''s skin.


    ''WTF?!''


    He abandoned the n of using the corpses as a shield and was about to think of a new n when he heard a voice in his head.


    [Ten minutes are up, I''m joining in.]


    �� �� ��


    [Ten minutes are up, I''m joining in.]


    The white-haired boy wearing priest robes sent a telepathic message to his horned partner as he scanned the battlefield with his eyes.


    Surprisingly, he had not been attacked by any monster at all as they all had eyes on his partner, ignoring him as if he didn''t even exist.


    ''So, he has used the First step already, huh? Using it Against this bunch of mobs shows how weak we arepared to our prime.''


    He shook his head and was about to take a step forward when he heard a reply from his horned partner.


    [Chill, let me end my ''act''.]


    Upon hearing that, he turned his gaze to the boy''s location and saw him in the middle of dozens of monsters as he suddenly got on all fours and opened his mouth.


    His throat turned red as magic power condensed in it before beingunched out as a beam shooting through the sky.<sub> </sub>


    **BOOOOMMMMM!!!!!


    The attack incinerated any and every monster it hit, including the higher levelled ones as even they were taken out without a trace left.


    Even still, there was still an abundance of monsters charging at him with bloodshot eyes. They had various skills activated as various kinds of attacks wereunched toward him without care for friendly fire.


    He saw this and grinned as he jumped into the air, a pair of wings spreading out from his back and keeping him in the air as he stared at the monsters swarming the earth below him.


    "Pfft. Look at them swarming like ants."


    Energy flowed to his eyes as the golden inscription in his irises glowed.


    "KAAA???"


    "WA?"


    "GUH?"


    "AWOO?"


    All the monsters that had skills of various kinds active suddenly became unable to use their skills as they looked around in confusion.


    They tried to reactivate their skills but saw that they could not. The smarter ones looked up and saw the boy''s golden eyes, their own eyes widening as they concluded he was somehow responsible for their inability to use skills.


    "Prominence."


    The boy calmly called out as he looked at the monsters beneath him with a condescending gaze. Ambient magic power condensed behind him, bursting into a gigantic ball of mes that lit up the dimming evening sky.


    The ball of mes hovered in the air behind him as he condensed more magic power into it while thinking about his slow casting time.


    Meanwhile, the monsters below scrambled to run away as they saw the gigantic ball of mes that looked like a second setting sun to them.


    Their senses screamed at them to run as they scampered away with all their might.


    Sadly, the boy was not ready to let them go yet.


    He stretched out his hand as he reduced its altitude, allowing the ball of mes to descend to the ground at breakneck speed.


    It looked like there were two suns in the sky, just that one was getting closer by the second.


    ***KAAABBOOOOOMM!!!


    **RUMBLLEE!!!


    Within five seconds, the ball of mes crashed into the ground, resulting in an explosion that shook the earth.


    Shockwaves spread out as the explosion generated a giant cloud of smoke that spread into the sky.


    It took a minute for the explosion to calm down and the mes began receding.


    "Well, that was an ''explosive'' end."


    The young boyughed as he saw the dozens of level-up notifications he was getting. Turning his gaze to his white-haired partner who was suddenly floating in the air beside him, he asked.


    "I should have caught up to your level now, right?"


    His white-haired, robe-covered friend shook his head upon hearing the question, before turning his gaze to thergest monster he could see in the distance.


    It was a wolf with dark gray fur, standing at about five metres tall. It was one of the higher levelled intelligent monsters that created a barrier with magic to prevent itself from taking damage from the fireball attack.


    The monster was also not affected by the status effect that was clouding the eyes of the other monsters with madness.


    The golden crest in the boy''s dark irises glowed and his veil dropped to the floor as his body suddenly started expanding.


    His arms bulged and thick dark gray fur grew from his skin, with two wolf ears appearing from the top of his head and a bushy tail sticking out from the bottom of his cassock.


    There was a sh of light so bright that the surviving high-level monsters had to squint their eyes to avoid having their eyes blinded.


    By the time the light died down, there was the figure of a five-meter-tall gray wolf floating in the air, having a scar above its left eye in the exact same ce the wolf on the ground did.


    The airborne wolf descended to the ground,nding with ease as a golden crest glowed in its dark eyes.


    "AWOOOOOO!!!!!"


    It howled loudly before crouching on the down low. In the next second, it leapt off the ground, crossing the hundreds of meters of distance between it and the other wolf instantly.


    The other dark gray wolf growled menacingly as it rose its ws to attack the imposter wolf that jumped towards it.


    Meanwhile, the horned ck-haired boy watched all these happen with a smile on his face as the golden glow in his eyes dimmed.


    He looked in the direction of the Alpha Continent as he thought about the rest of hispanions.


    "I hope they managed to get into their new bodies and adapt well. Because things are getting worse by the day."


    His gaze turned to the Dark continent''s direction, where a dimensional rift with a slowly breaking seal existed.

 Chapter 120 Strange Dreams

    Evan found himself sitting on a hill, staring at the sunset as autumn winds blew, rustling the leaves of the trees behind him.


    Beside him was someone who had their hand held out towards the sun. Unlike the sun he was familiar with from his home world, this was Red in colour.


    "I just remembered something that someone once told me. I believe his exact words were;


    ''Most people only used their weapons to direct their attacks, more like gestures for activating attacks.


    That is the reality of things at certain levels of power. The level of skills would matter but that''s only when dealing with low numbers of enemies in the dozens or so.


    Your actual weapon skills and in-depth understanding of the weapon only matter when using anti-unit abilities.


    But when ites to Anti-fortress, anti-army, and anti-54c%^ level abilities, no one really gives a shit how skilled you are.


    After all, most of your attacks would either be energy-based, or attacks with "^��c4r, or powers of 9��%d.


    Nevertheless, it doesn''t mean you should not learn to use weapons properly as in an event where you meet an opponent on the exact same level, your proficiency in weapon wielding may be what decides your fate.''


    It was something that stuck with me for a long while and even helped me in discovering my own unique style of battling.


    You may wonder why I''m telling you this but, to be honest, there''s no real reason, perhaps I want to help you find your own way the way he did to me.


    Who knows?..."


    The person chuckled as Evan felt a handnd on his shoulder before the voice continued.


    "...you might probably remember this even after all ''this'' ends and you get the rest you deserve."


    That was thest thing Evan heard as his vision gradually went dim.


    �� �� ��


    Evan felt someone tapping him on his shoulder and groggily opened his eyes to meet with a pair of sapphire eyes that fit perfectly on the beautiful face of the owner.


    His gaze trailed down to see the owner''s moist lips glowed with a peach-like light pink before travelling back up to meet with the pair of sapphire eyes that stared at him in silence.


    "..."


    "..."


    "...You awake now?"


    Finally, the owner of these eyes, Eliza, broke the silence between the two of them as she moved her face away from over his.


    Evan turned his gaze out the window and realised that the carriage had temporarilye to a stop for the night as some of the travellers could be seen setting up camp outside.


    "Um...can you get off my shoulder now, it hurts."


    Hearing Eliza''s voice, Evan finally realised that he had been resting his head on her shoulder all this while, his eyes widening in surprise as he sat upright immediately.


    "Sorry bout that."


    "No worries, you must have been a lot more tired than we thought, seeing as you slept like a log throughout the journey here."


    Evan thought about the fact that he closed his eyes to sleep when it was morning, now the setting sun could be seen from the west as he stretched his body.


    "Hmm? Why do I feel weird when I see the setting sun?


    Could it have to do with my dream? Come to think of it, what was my dream even about?


    I barely remember what happened."


    "If you don''t know then how am I supposed to know?"


    Eliza''s reply to his question made Evan realise he had been thinking out loud as he shook his head and came down from the carriage.


    He looked around the area where they were in and saw they had stopped in a small clearing not too far from the road but not too deep into the forest that was on both sides of the road.


    He looked around for Pride and was unable to see her, finally resorting to using his connection with her to find her location.


    ''What''s she doing there?''


    He navigated through the trees with ease as he eventually came across Pride standing a few feet away from a small stream that ran through the forest.


    "What''s up?"


    "Hmm? You''re finally awake.


    As for me, I''m just admiring the scenery."


    Evan looked around him before turning back to Pride and replying.


    "There doesn''t seem to be much of a scenery to admire...it''s just trees everywhere."


    Pride, on the other hand, ignored Evan''s words as she squatted to the ground and put her hands into the stream.<sub> </sub>


    "When are you going to unseal my siblings?


    I was the first to be ced in that dungeon so I have no idea where the rest are, but I''m sure you know their locations."


    "When I''m done with my business at the ''Mansion of the Damned'', I''d go to the ''Tower of Avarice'' located in a country north of Kasteblum."


    Evan''s reply brought a smile to Pride''s face as she instantly figured out which of the Seven Deadly Sins was sealed in the ''Tower of Avarice''.


    She called out his name with longing in her voice as she drew her fingers across the surface of the stream.


    "Greed...it really has been a while."


    The high demon shook her head before standing upright and turning to Evan before asking.


    "Are you going to enter a contract with him?"


    "Yeah, I was hoping on using your help to make that easier."


    Pride nodded upon hearing Evan''s reply, however, her facial expression turned stern in the next moment as she spoke up.


    "Be careful. The more of us you contract with, the stronger our influence on you is."


    "Huh? What do you mean by that?"


    Evan asked but the high demon ignored him and walked back to the camp, arriving just in time for them to share out dinner for the day.


    �� �� ��


    Royal Pce


    Gerfast


    Great Western Empire


    December 15th


    Year 1051


    "So, you''re saying that an eleven-year-old kid single-handedly bested you and your knights?"


    The annoyed voice of the Great Western Empire''s Emperor, Rudeus Hayes rang out across the silent hall as his blue eyes coldly gazed at the knights in front of him.


    He rested his elbow on the armrest of his chair, his chin propped up on his palm while his other hand impatiently tapped the other armrest of the chair.


    Seated on a simr chair beside him was a woman with deep ck hair and gray eyes who heaved a sigh of exasperation upon seeing her husband''s state.


    Empress of the Great Western Empire, udia Hayes, tapped her husband''s shoulder and whispered something in his ear.


    His impatient taps on the armrest ceased as he sighed before turning to the other two people in the room.


    One of them was a Kind and easy-going-looking man with ck hair and eyes. He was standing to the side of the room with a sword on his waist.


    Beside him was a considerably handsome man with a bored look on his face. He had long, silver hair and was dressed in a dark blue robe that matched his blue eyes.


    They were none other than the Captain of the Imperial Guard, Finley Thompson, and Chief Court Mage Jenson Burke.


    "The both of you interacted with Evan the most before he vanished, do you think he can be strong enough to best a fully-fledged knight in just six months?"


    Hearing the question they were asked, Jenson tilted his head to the side while lost in thought, after a few seconds, he finally seemed to havee to a conclusion and nodded in affirmation.


    "I think so too, his growth speed was...frightening, to say the least.


    He perfectly replicated every move, every technique, and every movement I showed him as if he had been doing so for years."


    Finley spoke up a few secondster, a nostalgic look on his face as he remembered the shock he went through when Evan replicated his footwork technique in just one try.


    Rudeus'' eyes widened as he heard Finley''s reply, his thoughts going into overdrive as he began to recalcte his ns for Evan.


    ''I had to call Ralphie back because of the deal I made with Laurene.


    However, his presence is needed if we want to gain more insight into the things called ''Dimensional Rifts'', and the symbol in his eyes is closely rted to the rifts.


    Whatever is on the other side of the rift, we need to know. We can''t have another situation like the invasion of a thousand years ago.''


    As he was lost in his thoughts, he did not notice Jenson and Finley turn their gazes to the door simultaneously.


    The next moment, the door opened to reveal the figure of a girl with straight chestnut-colored hair of shoulder length.


    She had blue eyes that were simr to those of the emperor and she emitted an air of maturity that made people forget she was just eleven.


    Within her irises, a crest could be seen, a single letter written in an ancientnguage lost to time.


    Its meaning; Truth.

 Chapter 121 Laurene’s Side Of The Story

    The door opened to reveal the figure of a girl with straight chestnut-colored hair of shoulder length.


    She had blue eyes that were simr to those of the emperor, and she emitted an air of maturity that made people forget she was just eleven.


    Within her irises, a crest could be seen, a single letter written in an ancientnguage lost to time.


    Its meaning; Truth.


    Laurene Hayes walked into the room and shook her head at the sight of the kneeling knights in front of her father.


    Behind her were two familiar faces, one of them being the father of the runaway noble, Roger del Eris, and the other being the brother of the Imperial guard Captain, Ralphie.


    "Laurene? You said you were going to procure the materials for your magic catalyst. Why are you here?"


    "I''m already done. Besides, why should I not be here?


    Perhaps, you didn''t want me to walk into the scene of you receiving reports from the knights you sent after Evan, despite giving me your word that you would call of ''all'' searches for him."


    Rudeus'' face contorted slightly upon hearing her words.


    As for the others, the light of surprise shed through their eyes as they finally understood why the Emperor had suddenly called off the search for Evan a few months ago.


    ''So, it was because of the Princess!''


    Even Duke Roger was unaware of this, as he had even argued with the emperor when he received the order to make Ralphie put on a show of searching for Evan for a month before returning afterward.


    The princess in question, ignored the gazes of the other people in the room and walked up to the leader of the kneeling knights, Sir Walsh.


    She held his chin and chuckled a bit before saying.


    "I can imagine the expression you had on your face when ''she'' arrived with your fellow knight in a deplorable state."


    A frown crept up both Sir Walsh''s and the face of the knight who was humiliated by Pride.


    "Seats for us, please?"


    As she spoke, two maids entered the room and ced seats for her the Duke and Ralphie, cing one behind Finley and Jenson before bowing and hurriedly leaving the room.


    Laurene took a seat while Roger greeted the Emperor and Empress before doing the same. Laurene ignored her father''s gaze that was boring into her head, adjusting her dress as she crossed her legs and turned to Jenson.


    "Remember that spell from before? The one you said can let you view a person''s memories as videos. Can you use it on him?"


    Pointing to Sir Walsh, Jenson pondered on it for a few moments before taking out a space expansion bag from inside his robes and pulling out a few things from it.


    "What''s the target?"


    "Everything with ''Evan Del Eris'' in it. Oh, and try to get the audio too."


    After Laurene answered his question, Jenson then turned to the Emperor who was staring at Laurene with aplicated gaze. He shook his head and signalled for Jenson to carry on.


    He knew his daughter well and he knew that she would not interrupt his meeting with the Duke just because she wanted to.


    He was sure that there was a reasonable reason.


    The chief court mage nodded, pulled out amunication device, and then drew a small circle around Sir Walsh before taking a step back and rousing his magic power.


    "Memory Magic: Memoir Sine Dolo."


    As he chanted, a spiked dome appeared over Sir Walsh''s head. The dome then connected to a sphere that appeared further above.


    Along the connecting column, five horizontal nes appeared, each with a screen extending from it.


    "Don''t resist too much, only do so when you feel the magic perusing through memories it''s not meant to."


    Jenson spoke to Sir Walsh as the memory magic perused through every single memory of his that had Evan in it.


    The mage then tapped the first screen and it erged itself, disying the memories of a certain situation that all the knights remembered.


    It showed the scene of a burning city with towers of smoke rising from almost every corner.


    All those in the room were aware of the incident that took ce more than a month ago, but none of them had seen the scene of the incident with their own eyes.


    The sight of the city shocked Rudeus as he decided to increase the relief sent to the people of Geto City and began formting ns to help the city get back on its feet while his eyes watched the floating screen.<sub> </sub>


    They all saw the appearance of the demon whose corpse was brought to them, Xakon, standing at above six feet, with his skin colour being gray and his purple eyes.


    The wingspan of his bat-like wings that were almost three and a half meters long, and the glowing magic circle on the interior part of his wings.


    On his forehead was a magic crest consisting of a star inscribed in a circle ovepping a triangle, and his red hair was long enough for him to tie it up in a ponytail.


    They saw him m two ''things'' into the ground before tossing them in opposite directions. He then walked up to his fallen de and picked it up when a beam of concentrated magic power fired from beside Sir Walsh suddenly hit him.


    The video then proceeded to show how Sir Walsh utilized his Royal knight''s dework skills to hold off the demon Xakon for a while.


    As for Audio, Jenson had reproduced that with his magic power, using themunication device in his hands as a stand-in speaker to generate the sound.


    ["Royal Knights dework: Sever!"


    "Cutting Edge!"


    **SCHRINGGG!!!]


    It didn''t take long, barely a few minutes when the demon suddenly coated his hand in aura and grabbed the de of Sir Walsh, pulling him with all his strength and tossing him into the air.


    Sir Walsh''s vision was shaky as he was tossed in the air, causing the video they were seeing to be shaky as well.


    When it finally stabilized, they could now see the appearance of Evan, who was shing with Xakon.


    Seeing his form, Laurene''s mystic eyes activated as she stared at the markings on his arm.


    She understood the ''Truth'' of the technique Evan was using and after cross-checking with her memories of the Previous Fourth, she spoke up.


    "Possession...To think he let ''her'' inside his body."


    Her mutter did not go unheard by the others in the room, especially Finely and Ralphie whose eyes had been on her ever since they sensed her skill activation.


    However, they let it be, for now, choosing to view the rest of the memories before asking any questions.


    ["First you were fighting alongside a demon, next you''re letting the demon possess your body.


    Are you really a hero?"


    "I''m not your typical Hero!"]


    On the screen, the scene of Evan and Xakon screaming to each other could be seen, right before the boy pped the wings that had appeared on his back and dashed towards the demon with a sword in each hand.


    Hearing Xakon refer to Evan as a ''hero'' and Evan indirectly admitting it made those in the room raise eyebrows in question.


    More attention was also drawn to the thing that Xakon called a ''demon'' that was possessing Evan. Because Sir Walsh did not witness the moment Evan was possessed by Pride, they could not see the appearance of the ''demon'' in question.


    They saw him use his vortex skill, with Finely showing small surprise at the skill he didn''t know Evan had.


    Seeing him disappear and reappear multiple times, confirmed their earlier data of Evan now possessing some sort of spatial movement skill.


    They watched the fight in silence until the point where Evan knocked the demon to the ground and ended him with arge elemental Vortex, passing out right after the demon died.


    As soon as the memory stopped ying, there was silence in the room as none of them had any words to say in regards to what they had just seen.


    Duke Roger clenched his fists tightly as he thought about the fact that his son had to go through the pain of battling the ''humanoid monster'' in the video while he did not know anything about it.


    ''Tsk...''


    He clicked his tongue internally as he thought about the fact that the reason the emperor stopped him from sending spatial mages after Evan was because of Laurene and slight hatred towards the princess bloomed in his heart.


    However, he kept a poker face and watched everything calmly.


    "Move on to the next one, after he woke up."


    Jenson nodded and minimized the screen before selecting another one as a different memory began ying.


    It showed the conversation with Evan after the funeral, all of them in the room being surprised by the change in Evan''s appearance.


    It was too much change for just one month and they couldn''t fathom how it was possible.


    The moment Sir Walsh''s gaze travelled to Pride, Ralphie''s eyes widened in surprise as he recalled her to be the woman he met right after the incident in the Graveyard of the Arrogant.

 Chapter 122 Disclosing The Identity Of The Two

    The moment Sir Walsh''s gaze travelled to Pride, Ralphie''s eyes widened in surprise as he recalled her to be the woman he met right after the incident in the Graveyard of the Arrogant.


    His eyes narrowed as he watched her closely, as if trying to discern her rtionship with Evan.


    Right before their very eyes, they all watched the situation transform into a dangerous one as Sir Walsh unsheathed his de and dashed toward Evan only to be blocked by a translucent barrier of light.


    ["I should have known you would not stay put.


    Oh well, that only means me putting more effort into this."]


    They saw him turn to Eliza who had a frown on her face as he activated his aura and moved towards Evan, their surprise increasing as they saw Evan dash towards him.


    ["You dare attempt to capture this one''s contractor!"]


    They heard Pride''s voice as she released her aura and Sir Walsh''s reaction. The next moment, Evan who was supposed to be in front of Sir Walsh vanished from his position and reappeared behind him but the knight was able to dodge and counterattack.


    The fight disyed on the screen progressed as they all watched Evan battle Sir Walsh and his asional attacks with a weird invisible sh.


    ["Royal Knights dework: Ark!"]


    They saw Sir Walsh''s attempt to end the conflict fail as Evan teleported to his side and attacked him. Although Sir Walsh blocked the attack, he was temporarily stunned due to the lightning on Evan''s sword.


    Continuing to y, the video showed Evan and Sir Walsh''s battle, to the point where they took distance from each other and Evan tossed his weapon into the air before speaking.


    ["My fighting style is very inefficient. I don''t make the most of myrge energy reserves and myriad of skills, as such, a can''t fight at full power even if I wanted to."]


    ["Seventeen skills in total, huh?"]


    Hearing Evan''s voice, their eyes all widened in surprise while Laurene burst intoughter as she shook her head.


    "This guy! Hahaha!!"


    ["You look surprised. I understand why. Having this number of skills isn''t normal.


    I possess zero defensive skills, four auxiliary skills, seven support skills, two attack skills, and four unique skills.


    Yet, I can''t seem to make the most of them.]


    The video continued nheless as Evan went on to list out his skill categories to Sir Walsh, making them wonder why he did that.


    ["So, Brice Walsh, would you mind helping me use my skills more efficiently?"]


    And like so, the battle resumed with Evan using more skills than before, even the Energy st skill that Ralphie recalled from the time Evan had fought the leopard monster in the Graveyard of the arrogant.


    ["Aura sh."]


    Evan used an aura skill much to the surprise of all those present who knew Evan to not be on the ''Master'' level.


    The battle continued, with Evan switching to bare-handedbat mid-way and giving Sir Walsh a tough time as he utilized a myriad of skills.


    In the end, they witnessed Sir Walsh get serious and even use his unique skill, also seeing Evan fail to fully block it with his Vortex as Sir Walsh ced a de at his neck.


    ["You''re quite strong. But you lost."]


    Finley could not help but agree with the words he heard, and was about to speak when the memory cut off.


    "Chief Mage, wait a-!"


    Jenson casually ignored Sir Walsh''s words and switched to the next screen, disying the next scene from after the battle.


    [**CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!!]


    In the video, Pride could be seen seated atop the back of one of the royal knights that Sir Walsh left to face her, her expression being one of satisfaction as she studied the remnant traces of the golden aura left in the area.


    It was then that Finley studied the video closely and saw the same traces of Aura after tracing Pride''s gaze.


    His eyes widened as he realised that Evan had truly reached the ''Master'' level.


    Meanwhile, the others saw the knight who gritted his teeth in shame as he crawled on the ground, carrying Pride on his back while she nonchntly flicked her fingers.


    Sir Walsh''s gaze turned to Eliza who felt his gaze and looked up before speaking with a tired voice.


    ["The rest are all fine, I healed them up. Except, well...him..."]


    As she spoke, she gestured to the knight who was very obviously being forced to be a stool for a certain prideful demon who was filing her nails with her sword.


    ["HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!"]


    Evan on the other hand, burst out intoughter, dropping his sword to the ground as he rolled on the floor whileughing.


    All eyes turned to him but he continuedughing without a care in the world.


    ["HA!!<sub> </sub>


    I half expected this but the oue is even better than I thought."]


    The young hero stood up, not minding the de that was inches away from his neck as he spoke.


    ["When she told me to face you and leave them to her, I wondered why she wanted to take the weaker ones for herself despite being stronger than I am.


    But now I finally activated my aura, I think I understand why."]


    Evan picked up his sword and took a deep breath. A golden mist spread out from his body and was infused into the weapon, coating it in a thinyer of golden-coloured energy.


    ["So, this is how it feels to be an aura user, huh?


    I have to say, it is a lot less exhrating than I had expected, but it is still okay."]


    Seeing the golden aura on Evan''s sword, all those in the room, Laurene and Finley excluded had their jaws drop in shock.


    That Aura signified that Evan was now on the level of at least, a mid-level Royal Knight, a Sword Master level existence.


    They watched him make a few practice swings before nodding to himself and deactivating the aura before turning to Sir Walsh and speaking.


    ["You may have beat me, but she who is stronger than I am, and is in a far better condition is still there.


    You sure you wanna go?"]


    They saw as Sir Walsh''s sword rose up while being covered in aura, however, Evan''s words made him drop his de.


    ["Oh, just so you know. The stronger her opponent is, the stronger she gets."]


    ["I''ll let you go, in return, release my knight."]


    From then on, everything proceeded as the Knights had reported to Rudeus. The memory ended there and Jenson deactivated his magic before going to take a seat.


    The room was silent as everyone was lost in their own thoughts.


    <o>,m It remained this way until the Emperor finally spoke up and dismissed the knights. As soon as they left the room, all eyes turned to Laurene who titled her head in confusion and asked.</o>


    "What?"


    Rudeus heaved a sigh of exasperation and asked the first question on behalf of everyone in the room.


    "Laurene, just what is Evan?"


    Hearing the question, Laurene chuckled a bit before replying to her father.


    "You all watched the memories y and heard the words of the ''demon''."


    She paused for a moment and continued after confirming that there was no barrier on talking about ''demons'' to the people in the room anymore.


    "Evan is a ''Hero'' of some sort. I am too.


    I originally wasn''t allowed to say this but since you all gained prior knowledge on the existence of ''heroes'' in ''this generation'' from a ''third-party source'', I am now allowed to say a bit more.


    Evan and I are Heroes, and we aren''t the only ones.


    I''m still not allowed to tell you anything about the others but it''s easy to find them. After all, we all have golden crests in our eyes.


    Those crests are symbols of our ''ability'' as heroes.


    Each one represents something that I doubt I am allowed to tell you about. Well, mine means ''Truth'', like I told dad before but if it told you about Evan''s, I''d lose an eye.


    Can''t have that now, can I?"


    Hearing her exnation, a lot of things began to make sense to them, including why Evan passed out when he tried to tell the Duchess about his skill the day he vanished.


    Although they had deduced most of the situation, Laurene''s words served as a confirmation.


    "So, Evan''s unknown unique skill, is his ''power'' as a ''Hero''?"


    "Yep.


    You have not seen him use said power in person, neither do you have prior knowledge of it, as such, he can''t tell you about its specifics.


    As for mine, you all know about my ''Lie Detection'' and have seen me use it before. Although it is but a fragment of my ''power'', it''s still part of it nheless.


    You''ve also been informed about the research into the ''Seven Symbols'' and how it was somehow rted to Evan and I.


    Even so, telling you the meaning has consequences. It''s a word from anguage lost to time, after all."


    As soon as Laurene finished speaking, she fished a handkerchief out from the pocket in her dress and wiped her lips.


    She then set it on fire with magic right after but Rudeus'' eyes were sharp enough to catch the bit of red on it.

 Chapter 123 Feeding Information

    As soon as Laurene finished speaking, she fished a handkerchief out from the pocket in her dress and wiped her lips.


    She then set it on fire with magic right after but Rudeus'' eyes were sharp enough to catch the bit of red on it.


    Before he could even say anything about it, Laurene continued speaking as she shook her head, gesturing for him not to say anything.


    ''Can''t have mum worrying about me any more than she already is.''


    The girl thought about her mother whose eyes only contained worry for her daughter as she continued speaking.


    "Also, we are ''heroes'' of ''this generation'', and we are ''seven'' in number, as evidenced by the seven symbols you know of.


    Sound familiar?"


    Her words resonated with all those who heard, their thoughts instantly arriving at the same answer.


    "The Seven Heroes of Legend!!! You are...this generation''s ''Seven Heroes''."


    "Bingo!


    Finally, it''s so irritating, not being able to tell anyone something as basic as that."


    Laurene spoke up with a relieved smile on her face, as if she had finally managed to deal with a major life problem.


    "Evan and I are New generation Heroes, that''s why we have the weird symbols in our eyes. And why we have special skills we can''t talk about until certain conditions are met.


    So, in other words. I can''t really exin why Evan has so many skills either."


    She casually shot down their second question before it could even be asked.


    "Why did you want Evan''s search Party to get called off?"


    Duke Roger voiced out the only question whose answer he actually cared about, making Laurene hold her hand to her chin for a moment before deciding to on how to reply.


    She turned to Jenson who was seated beside Finley and asked.


    "Can you use the memory magic on me, I have a specific memory I want yed out."


    Jenson nodded and proceeded to do the same thing he did on Sir Walsh. He activated the magic and was able to easily ess the particr memory she wanted as she was currently thinking about it.


    It was a scene of Evan packing multiple things into his spatial expansion bag, still wearing the same clothes he changed into after returning from the Graveyard of the arrogant.


    ["Wannae with me?"


    "Oka-?!wait, no!"


    "Tch...I could use a good mage for support."


    "I''m happy that you praised me but one noble running away from home is gonna cause an uproar.


    Two on the other hand, especially when one is the Princess, an Imperial family member, is gonna turn the nation upside down."


    "True, your father would turn the country upside down just to find you so youing with me would be a bad idea.


    I also understand that just by leaving, I would be causing a lot of problems for the Dukedom. Thankfully, there aren''t any who would dare to go up against the Blood Pdin''s family, at least for now.


    Though I won''t be gone forever, I''de to find you in about 3-4 years, maybe more...."]


    It was a conversation that happened between Laurene and Evan a few months ago, the day before he was discovered to be missing.


    ["No, I have to.


    The thing is, a lot of bullshit is gonna happen soon, and I need to prevent said bullshit from urring.


    A lot of questions would be raised if I tried all that while still here, especially now that your father has his eyes on me, so it''s best I go alone.


    I''m gonna leave a vague exnation of why I''d be going. I''m leaving tonight too."]


    They all saw Laurene''s failed attempt at persuading Evan to stay and the sudden appearance of the tiny 20cm tall girl who red at Laurene, instantly figuring out that she must be some kind of spirit.


    [Don''t try to stop master from leaving!]


    Next, came the answer to Duke Roger''s question.


    ["Ah, Laurene, can you get your dad to call off the search party after like a month or two?"


    "Huh? Why and how?"]


    They watched Evan take a seat on his bed and exin his n to prevent the search party from catching him.


    ["They already know about our mystic eye crests; a lot more than we think they do.


    What they don''t know, is what the symbols mean.


    So cut a deal with your dad, he''d definitely agree if it''s you."


    "Your real reason for leaving, it''s to prevent disasters on the scale of the ''N&*MBB7b r%B��'' going on a massacre?


    Something that would have caused millions of deaths..."


    "Yeah."


    "I see. Then you should have said that from the start, no need to threaten me."]


    The part where Laurene spoke of the ''Seven Deadly Sins'' was garbled as the group had no prior knowledge of the seven deadly sins.


    All they knew of were the ''Seven Strongest Invaders'' from the legends and did not have enough information to connect the two.


    ["Okay, I''d help you out."<sub> </sub>


    "Thanks."


    "Yeah. Better get out before shit goes wrong."]


    The memory ended right after Laurene said those words as she left, answering Duke Roger''s question and leaving them with more.


    "Sadly, I don''t seem to be able to tell you about a lot of things, including who the red-eyed woman with Evan was."


    Her gaze turned to Ralphie for a moment before continuing.


    "There are a lot of other things with stupid restrictions on them, but hey...You''d figure it all out eventually."


    Laurene shrugged as she spoke, uncrossing her legs as she stood up and was about to leave when the Duke Roger asked another question.


    "Do you, perhaps know his next destination?"


    They were all sure that Evan had definitely left Geto city and had no idea of his next destination, Laurene, however, shook her head and replied.


    "I don''t, and I honestly can''t predict. I only found him by chance before.


    And I don''t recall anywhere he may want to-!"


    It was then that she finally remembered something Evan did when they were in the graveyard of the arrogant.


    ''Getting Pride was his goal all along.


    Perhaps he''d go after the others?''


    She looked at the worried father and heaved a sigh before answering.


    "I''m not too sure, but I think his next destination is somewhere in Hobha."


    After answering the Duke''s question, she excused herself from the room.


    �� �� ��


    Abe''s Guest House


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum


    December 17th


    Year 1051


    "We, are going to Hobha next."


    Two dayster, Evan and the gang had arrived at Kasteblum and were discussing their ns for Kasteblum along with their next destination. Unsurprisingly, the ce he called out was the same as Laurene''s guess.


    The reason was quite simple.


    It was where the next member of the ''Seven Deadly Sins'' who was closest to them was sealed.


    The ''Tower of Avarice'' was located in the country north of Kasteblum, Hobha.


    One didn''t need to be a genius to figure that out.


    "So, why are were going to the mansion of the damned? I never really asked."


    Eliza voiced out a question, one which Evan answered in the next moment.


    "To Level Up!


    There''s nothing different about the Mansion of the damned except the fact that it is a dungeon where those entering receive twice the amount of experience points.


    It is a dungeon rmended for those who wish to level up faster."


    ''And it makes me get eight times the experience as I normally get four times the experience. Multiplying that is eight times, I can reach level 150 in no time!''


    Evan fantasized about breaking the Level 150 barrier as Pride asked another question.


    "Is this information public?"


    "Yep,"


    "Then why is the adventurer poption of this city the same as any other?"


    Pride had noticed that on their way to the guest house they were in, there was no influx of adventurers in the city with the amount being the same as they were in any other city with a dungeon.


    "Well, the thing is All the dungeons in Kasteblum have level boost of two times but to regte adventurers who entered them and prevent an increase in disorder in the city, the city''s leaders limited the number of times adventurers could challenge dungeons within a certain period of time


    This means we can only enter the dungeon once in six weeks.


    And since you have to show your adventurer ID on the way in, it is easy to keep track. If you try to force your way in, it is possible to have your adventurer card revoked and you may end up paying some ridiculous fines."


    "Makes sense..."


    Pride nodded in satisfaction as she understood how the city managed itself. The public order was good as criminals barely tried anything.


    Kasteblum was not called the city-state of magic for no reason, the sheer amount of battle mages randomly walking around the city streets was enough to fit dozens of toons in any nation''s army.


    Randomlymitting a crime and being caught by a passing battle mage, who had been told beforehand that they would receive more resources from the government for every criminal caught, was the worst thing that could happen to one.


    "So, tomorrow is a free day for sightseeing. Go around the city, buy stuff, eat whatever you want. Cus we are gonna be stuck inside a dungeon for at least two weeks afterward.


    We''re going as deep as possible."

 Chapter 124 Chatting Through The Night

    "So, tomorrow is a free day for sightseeing. Go around the city, buy stuff, eat whatever you want. Cus we are gonna be stuck inside a dungeon for at least two weeks afterward.


    We''re going as deep as possible."


    Eliza''s face paled upon hearing that, her memories suddenly travelling back to thest time she spent more than a week inside a dungeon.


    Her body shivered uncontrobly as she remembered the death of her former party member. Evan noticed this and frowned before spending the next few minutes trying to convince her that no one was going to die.


    Eventually, Evan barely managed to get her back to normal by distracting her with other things.


    He took out the magic catalyst he had gotten for her earlier, trying his best not to remember the scene of Xakon using his detonation skill on him and the rest of the MIN Triad causing one to lose his life and the other two to be inactivated.


    ''I hope they are okay...''


    He ended up getting depressed himself but held it in and tossed the magic catalyst to Eliza.


    It was an artifact that looked just like arge orb, one about twenty centimetres in diameter. It had a ring made of bronze around it with two pieces of a cloth-like material tied to the two edges of the ring.


    The artifact was built for support sses and didn''t require the user to hold it like they did a staff as it floated beside them whenever it was active, allowing the user to also use a magic staff at the same time.


    |Radiance of the Evesting Moon (Radiant Codex)


    Type; Magic catalyst.


    A catalyst that carries the memory of a string of lovely jasper from the deep sea. It shines with a pure radiance like that of the moon and is just as ever-distant.


    Effect;


    Healing Bonus is increased by 10%.


    All support skills and magic casted with the aid of this catalyst enjoy increased efficiency and power of 50% each. |


    It would be able to boost the effectiveness of Eliza''s already ridiculous healing skills which were also unique series skills.


    "Come to think of it, I don''t know how high your level is now."


    "Hmm? I''m at level 80. Why?"


    "Huh?"


    Evan was stunned upon hearing her level, he had honestly expected it to be lower as she did not have any sort of experience boost like he did.


    The fact that she was at level 80 shows how much she had worked in the past few months to get there.


    |Name- Eliza Lane


    Race- Human


    Gender - Female


    Age- 15


    Level- 80


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- D-Rank Adventurer


    ss - Battle Priestess


    Health �C D+


    Energy - C-


    Strength �C D


    Agility �C D+


    Durability �C D


    Intelligence - C


    Condition- Worried.


    Magic Tiers- Life Tier 2


    Skills- Healing, Support Magic (High), Barrier, Flower Cannon, Staff Proficiency, Unarmed Combat.


    Unique Skills- Child of Life, Breath of Life. |


    Upon appraising her, he was shocked to see a few skills he had not seen thest time they met.


    ''Come to think of it, I haven''t appraised her since the fight against Xakon.''


    Evan was unable to use his skills for the month after the fight and when he finally got them back, he hadpletely forgotten to appraise her.


    "Wow...nice stats."


    "Did you just use your appraisal?"


    "Yeah."


    Eliza frowned at Evan upon hearing his answer, the next moment she stomped on his foot and began muttering something about an invasion of privacy while the young hero was moaning in pain.


    Pride watched this scene with an annoyed look on her face. Her gaze turned to the window where she saw the dark night sky and the moon slightly obscured by clouds.


    Deciding that waste enough, she stood up and left to go to her room.


    "Where''re you going?"


    "To sleep. My body is not strong enough to brave dungeons without enough sleep yet."


    **SLAM!!<sub> </sub>


    After that, she mmed the door shut, leaving the dumbfounded teenagers in Evan''s room. The young hero shrugged and turned to Eliza as he asked.


    "What about you?"


    "I don''t feel sleepy yet."


    "Me neither."


    "Of course, you don''t, you slept halfway throughout the journey."


    Evan casually sat down on the bed beside Eliza as she spoke, he ced a hand on his chin and thought about how much he slept on the trip and discovered it was indeed abnormal.


    "Well, it was kinda weird. I also kept on having these strange dreams I barely recall anything about."


    "That''s strange for you? As for me, I can''t remember thest time I recalled what happened in my dreams after I woke up."


    "Who''s the weird one here."


    <o>,m "Probably you."</o>


    The two kept bantering like that for the next few minutes, their topic of conversation eventually shifting to something else.


    Somehow, they had begun telling each other about their lives, with Eliza borating on a lot of things that happened when she was a lot younger.


    "Wait a sec, you aren''t thest child?"


    "Hmm? Of course not, I''m the eldest."


    Evan''s jaw dropped upon discovering that Eliza apparently had siblings, and she was the eldest in her family.


    "I pity your younger ones."


    "Huh? Why?"


    The girl titled her head to the side with a questioning look on her face, her long blonde hair falling off her shoulder as she caught a few strands and subconsciously twirled them around her fingers.


    Evan was slightly mesmerized for a moment but he managed to collect himself and replied with feigned sadness.


    "If you of all people are the eldest, how is life going to be for them?


    To think they have to suffer the unfortunate fate of having such an elder sister."


    He even added a few sobs in between his words to make his act more impable. Of course, Eliza''s reply was far from positive.


    "You damned brat!"


    She grabbed the magic catalyst Evan had just given her a few moments ago and ended up nearly pummelling the poor hero to death with his own gift to her.


    Evan eventually had to apologize repeatedly before he was spared from death, nevertheless, the young hero didn''t stopughing at the sight of Eliza''s angry pouting face.


    "Tsk...I would have said the same for you but you have an older brother."


    "Brother? I''m an only-Oh!"


    Evan had unknowingly forgotten about the existence of Arnold Del Eris, Evan Del Eris'' older brother, as evidenced by the fact that he didn''t even remember the poor boy''s name.


    At least until Eliza told him, that is.


    "Laurene told me a bit about you, she ended up telling me about how your dad judged your brother unsuitable to take the position of Duke because he doesn''t have a certain skill."


    "Oh, that."


    Evan shook his head in silence as he remembered the reason why the original owner of his body''s brother lost his position as duke''s sessor.


    "Are you guys on good terms?"


    "Are we even on ''any'' terms?"


    Eliza rose an eyebrow in question to Evan''s words. The young hero then went on to borate, making the girl realize the meaning behind his words.


    "We don''t talk at all.


    Within thest six months, before I left the Duke''s mansion, I can count the number of times I met him beside family meals on one hand.


    He doesn''t even bother to talk to me at all.


    If he hated me or something, then he would at least show it on his face when he sees me, but there''s nothing.


    No love, no hatred, just apathy, like he doesn''t even care if I exist."


    The teenage girl could not imagine being treated that way by her only sibling, after all, she was quite close with her younger ones and they even cried when she announced that she was going to leave home upon turning 14.


    She looked at the wry smile Evan had on his face and patted him on his back, earning a look of pure confusion from the young hero.


    "Worry not. You guys are blood brothers, he may look like that but he probably cares about you to some extent."


    Evan couldn''t help but chuckle a bit upon hearing her words, he escaped from her hand and pulled her closer to him before patting her head as he would do to a child.


    "You''re a good kid, slightly annoying but a good kid nheless.


    However, not everything is as it seems. You may think you know someone but it turns out you may not even know anything about them at all.


    Even between twins, much less normal blood-rted siblings."


    The girl waspletely lost as to why Evan suddenly started thinking about that while Evan was thinking about what to do in the eventuality that it was revealed he was not the original ''Evan Del Eris''.


    ''Even my status board has changed. If I get appraised, I doubt it''d show Evan Del Eris. I should have asked Artemisia.''


    Eventually, they two carried on with their conversation, moving on to other topics until they eventually fell asleep side by side.

 Chapter 125 Eliza’s Free Day

    Abe''s Guest House


    p City State of Magic, Kasteblum</anda>


    December 18th


    Year 1051


    Eliza Lane was having a nice dream where she was in an all-eat buffet, with all of her favourite foods and more on disy.


    She then felt cold and hugged her body while rubbing her arms to generate a bit of heat, her eyes then caught sight of a hotpot on one of the buffet tables.


    She happily ran towards that table, braving the obstacles on the way as she arrived at the hotpot and opened it up.


    From within, a bright light shone, making her squint her eyes due to its brightness. When she opened them once more, she was met with a pair of piercing red eyes staring at her.


    Her brainpletely forgot everything that had just happened as she groggily sat up and looked around her.


    "Huh?"


    "You''re finally awake."


    A voice resounded in her ears as she turned to the speaker of the voice, her brain finally waking up from its sleep as it processed the images her eyes were seeing and scoured her memories for the identity of the owner of the voice.


    "Pride?"


    "In the flesh."


    She looked around and saw Evan leaning on her shoulder with his eyes closed, his breaths even as he was still deep in dreand.


    "Why am I still in Evan''s room?"


    "I should be asking you that."


    Pride replied to Eliza''s question as she tapped Evan''s shoulder and injected a bit of her aura into his body.


    "The fuck?!"


    Evan screamed as he jolted awake, half his hand instantly travelling into a small fifty-centimetre-long ck hole that had appeared mid-air.


    "Oh?"


    It was then that his brain finally registered the sight of Eliza and Pride, his guard dropping as he closed his inventory.


    "It''s nice and all that your first reaction to that was to touch your weapon, but in reality, you''d be dead before you even get to wake up.


    You should have noticed me from the moment I walked into this room."


    "Well, you can''t me me. I''m not exactly as experienced as you are."


    "Even an inexperienced brat should know to lock his room door before falling asleep."


    Pride shot back as she pointed to the slightly ajar door before continuing.


    "That door was opened by a kid who was randomly turning people''s door handles. If I wasn''t awake and on my way to your room, who knows what would have happened if someone walked in while you two were still asleep?"


    The two instantly realised the gravity of the situation when Pride pointed it out to them. Upon seeing that they acknowledged where they went wrong and were reflecting, Pride stopped chiding them.


    ''Reminds me of when I was dealing with a younger version of Sloth. I wonder how he''s doing now?''


    The duo then took their baths at the general bathhouse at the bottom floor of the guest house, a service that made the prices of their rooms increase exponentially, before dressing up for the day.


    As per Evan''s words the day before, Eliza decided to spend her day freely, however, she had no idea on what to do for the day.


    She took a stroll around the City state, keeping her adventurer''s guild card on her in the event that she stumbled into somewhere she had to prove her identity.


    She spent a few minutes randomly walking around, taking in the sights of the city and admiring the tall magic towers she could see on almost every street.


    It was then that she apparently stumbled into a district built atop a small hill in the city known as the ''Culinary Heights''.


    The road leading into the district was one that was very busy as hundreds of people shuffled about, moving in and out of various establishments on the street.


    The scents of various kinds of delicious food that could be perceived were enough to make one''s mouth watery.


    Somehow, the scents of the foods seemed toplement each other and enhance each other even though a great majority of them were from different meals not even in the same food category.


    Like so, Eliza ended up deciding what her free day was to be spent on, her figure hurriedly speeding up the road as she decided to try out as many restaurants as her wallet could let her.<sub> </sub>


    �� �� ��


    The first ce that caught her attention was a restaurant three buildings in on the left side of the road.


    From the outside, it looked homey, peaceful, and cheerful, withrge and small stones and carved pirs making up most of the building''s outer structure.


    It was tough to see through the stained-ss windows, but theughter and cheering from within could be felt outside.


    As Eliza entered through the heavily used, metal door, she was weed by a sense of home and a pleasant atmosphere.


    It was as alluring inside as it is on the outside. Squared, wooden beams support the upper floor and thenterns attached to them. The walls were full of paintings, all in a different styles.


    "Wee! How may I help you today?"


    Her entrance was noticed by a standby waiter who walked up to her with a smile on his face as he led her to a free table.


    "Um...to be honest, this is my first time in this city so I don''t exactly know what kinds of food are popr here."


    "Oh, so a first timer then? Very well, we give first-timers a thirty percent discount on their first order.


    As for what to get, here is the menu."


    He helped her tuck the chair in and produced a cardboard paper board from underneath the table, cing it in front of her as he continued.


    "The menu is simple and easy to understand, with each category clearly represented.


    For each day of the week, there is a particr featured meal and today''s featured meal happens to be ''End of Year Broth''.


    Also, there is the chef''s rmendation for the week which is the ''Foil-Baked Buttered Salmon and Mushrooms''.


    For a first-timer, I would personally rmend the ''End of Year Broth''."


    The waiter then looked around as if checking if he was being watched before lowering his head and whispering in her ear.


    "There''s a rumour that the action of cutting the noodles used in the broth cuts off all the bad fortune for the year."


    He then stood upright and winked at her causing her to giggle in response.


    "I''d take the ''End of Year Broth'' then."


    "Coming right up.


    Would you like a drink while you wait?"


    "Okay."


    He gave a slight bow before turning around and speedily walking to the kitchen to process the order. Not less than a minuteter, he re-emerged from the kitchen with a tray in hand.


    On top of the tray, was a ss of orange juice, something that Eliza coincidentally happened to like. He ced the tray on her table and bowed slightly before returning to the kitchen.


    As she waited for her meal to be served, Eliza took her time to look around her and admire the restaurant''s design.


    She studied some of the paintings on the walls, each of them having a different style from thest. Below each painting was an exnation of the painting and what it represented.


    Another thing she noticed was that mages seemed to be the primary clientele of the restaurant, which is often a good sign in this city.


    Several long tables were upied by, what seemed to be groups of colleagues, all dressed in simr coloured robes and having the same insignia at the backs of their robes.


    A few had some magic catalysts hanging from their neck with a few others having small wands beside them on the table.


    She sensed the concentration of magic power was higher than it was outside, the result of having dozens of mages in the same ce at the same time.


    Although she did not have the appraisal skill, she could still sense the frightening amount of magic power that some of these mages emitted from their bodies and could tell they were very obviously over level 200 at least.


    This spoke of the amount of military power that Kasteblum possessed as even the people she saw that looked like researchers, had absurd amounts of magic power, making her wonder when they found time to level up between all the research they were supposed to be buried in.


    They all appeared to be enjoying the food, drinks, andpany of each other as Eliza took her gaze off them so as not to be seen as rude for staring.


    Within five to seven minutes, the waiter returned with her food and proceeded to exin each of the ingredients, from the type of broth used, to the brand of noodles and the specie of chicken added.


    Eliza listened to his exnation, her mouth-watering when he got to the part about the chicken as she wondered how delicious it would be.


    Still, saving the best forst, Eliza began her meal seconds after his exnation as she wondered just how many restaurants could she go to before being full.

 Chapter 126 Pride’s Free Day

    Abe''s Guest House


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum


    December 18th


    Year 1051


    The moment a foreign presence set foot on the floor of the Guest house she was in, Pride''s eyes shot open as she turned her gaze in the direction of the presence she sensed.


    Upon seeing that said presence wasn''t getting any closer, she dropped her guard temporarily as she stood up from her bed and walked to the door, opening it slightly and looking into the hallway.


    She caught sight of the innkeeper who weed her and Evan the day before walking downstairs whileining about a guest being annoying.


    *CLACK!


    Pride closed the door and took out her things from her bag which she collected from Evan the night before.


    Despite them having quite a bit of load, they were able to travel light due to Evan''s inventory and she couldn''t help but appreciate the usefulness of the skill while also wishing to regain her ability to do something simr with her magic.


    She took a quick bath and dressed herself up, putting on her favourite turtleneck type shirt, one which was ck in colour, simr to the trousers and knee-high boots she had worn.


    She hung a long gray overcoat on her shoulders before putting on simr coloured gloves. After this, she walked out of the room and saw a kid, probably the child of another guest knocking on people''s doors and running away.


    "HMM?"


    It was then she realised that the door the kid had randomly opened was that of the room she was in before she went to bedst night.


    The kid then turned in her direction and was about to go to her room but upon seeing her standing in front of the door, he stopped in his tracks.


    "What are you doing?"


    She calmly asked, her toneing off as cold as she just witnessed the door of herpanion''s room being opened by this same kid.


    Her piercing red eyes gazed at the kid making him tear up and run away while crying.


    "Tsk..."


    She clicked her tongue in ridicule s as she walked up to the door and pushed it open, her eyes catching the sight of two figures on the bed, leaning on each other as they slept peacefully.


    ''Really...''


    With a look of disappointment, she opened up the curtains of the room and let the light of the morning sun shine in on the two teenagers as she tied up her long ck hair in a ponytail.


    When she was done, she turned her gaze to Eliza who was stirring from her sleep. The teenage girl squinted her eyes a bit before opening them wide and locking gazes with Pride.


    "Huh?"


    "You''re finally awake."


    It seemed as if Pride''s reply woke the girlpletely as the light of recognition shed through her eyes.


    "Pride?"


    "In the flesh."


    She looked around and saw Evan leaning on her shoulder with his eyes closed, his breaths even as he was still deep in dreand.


    "Why am I still in Evan''s room?"


    "I should be asking you that."


    Pride shrugged and replied to Eliza''s question as she tapped Evan''s shoulder and injected a bit of her ck aura into his body.


    "The fuck?!"


    The young hero screamed as he jolted awake, half his hand instantly travelling into a small fifty-centimetre-long ck hole that had appeared mid-air, something Pride recalled being his inventory skill''s manifestation.


    "Oh?"


    It was then that his brain finally registered the sight of Eliza and Pride, his guard dropping as he closed his inventory.


    "It''s nice and all that your first reaction to that was to touch your weapon, but in reality, you''d be dead before you even get to wake up.


    You should have noticed me from the moment I walked into this room."<sub> </sub>


    "Well, you can''t me me. I''m not exactly as experienced as you are."


    Pride scoffed upon hearing his excuse, her mind recalling the scene of that child opening up the room door as she retorted.


    "Even an inexperienced brat should know to lock his room door before falling asleep."


    She then pointed to the slightly ajar door before continuing her words.


    "That door was opened by a kid who was randomly turning people''s door handles. If I wasn''t awake and on my way to your room, who knows what would have happened if someone walked in while you two were still asleep?"


    The two then instantly realised the gravity of the situation, as looks of shock adorned their faces when Pride pointed it out to them.


    Upon seeing that they acknowledged where they went wrong and seemed to be reflecting, Pride stopped chiding them.


    ''Reminds me of when I was dealing with a younger version of Sloth. I wonder how he''s doing now?


    I think he might be the only one fine with being sealed, considering he got to do nothing for a thousand years.''


    The duo then took their baths at the general bathhouse at the bottom floor of the guest house, a service that made the prices of their rooms increase exponentially, before dressing up for the day.


    As per Evan''s words the day before, Pride had decided to spend her day freely, her destination already being set in stone from the start.


    Pride had a hobby she had been unable to indulge in for a while, and that was reading.


    She liked to read books of any kind that she could get her hands on, umting knowledge, both real and fictional, had been her favourite pastime before she was sealed.


    With the assistance of a few city guards, Pride made her way to the City Library at the centre of the city, not too far from the Magic Academy and the Grand Magic Tower that stood taller than all the other towers in the city.


    She arrived in front of the Archaic-style building and waltzed in through the doors, attracting the attention of a few passers-by due to her eye-catching outfit.


    Upon arriving at the receptionist''s desk, she asked for the basic information about the library that anyone entering it needed to know.


    "I see, this is your first time here.


    The library has multiple rooms with books of a category group in each one. Every room has four floors with the first two being for tourists and casual visitors to the library. From the third floor and above, one has to be a magician registered with the city or an A rank and above adventurer to go there.


    As for the fourth floor, only Grand Mages and S Rank adventurers are allowed to go to that floor so please take care to not wander up to those floors.


    Doing so would incur either a fine or a ban from the library. A lifetime ban.


    As for the process of borrowing books..."


    The receptionist kept on droning about the rules while Pride filtered out the things that mattered while ignoring everything else.


    After he was done, Pride casually walked into the library hallway, looking at the category names on the double doors to each of the rooms.


    Upon discovering the fictional stories category, she revealed a small smile and pushed open the doors, grabbing the attention of the librarian who gave a light bow to wee her.


    Entering the room full of the smell of paper and magic was a treat for Pride''s mind. She felt like she could drown in the ocean of tranquillity.


    The whole aura of the space was as peaceful as nature, with the long stretching room full of piles of information captured in the pages being something truly mesmerizing to her.


    People of various races quietly moved about the room, looking through shelves and picking books, with a few others in the same uniform as the librarian beside the door on smalldders arranging books on their shelves.


    There were desks beside the shelves, prepared for the readers to sitfortably and enjoy their time.


    Pride walked up to a random shelf and began to look around, her eyes catching sight of some familiar series she read a thousand years ago before Gluttony razed the city to the ground in his temper tantrum.


    ''To think that they managed to save some of those books. I guess preventing Gluttony from devouring the survivors was a good decision then.


    I can get toplete some series then.''


    She was slightly surprised upon this discovery, however, this did notst for long as she discovered a sequel to a series she had read before and was unable toplete since she was sealed.


    The book was ced on a shelf for ''Ancient'' books that were not allowed to be borrowed.


    She picked the whole series and found her way to a desk where she quietly sat down and delved into the book instantly.


    The soothing light falling on the table, from the window above the shelves beside her made her rx as she passed the time peacefully.


    If any one of the previous heroes was toe across this scene, they would surely spit blood in shock while refusing to ept the reality that the demon who nearly killed them multiple times would be peacefully reading a book in a library.

 Chapter 127 Evan’s Free? Day

    Abe''s Guest House


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum


    December 18th


    Year 1051


    Evan Von Bourne was in for a rude awakening on this fine morning as the sinister aura of the demon, Pride, invaded his body and jolted him out of the dreand.


    "The fuck?!"


    He reflexively opened up his inventory and pulled out his weapon, the unforged, only to see that there were no enemies around him.


    "Oh?"


    When he saw that it was just Pride who was standing in front of him, fully dressed, and Eliza who was seated on the bed beside him, his guard dropped as he tossed the sword back into his inventory.


    "It''s nice and all that your first reaction to that was to touch your weapon, but in reality, you''d be dead before you even get to wake up.


    You should have noticed me from the moment I walked into this room."


    "Well, you can''t me me. I''m not exactly as experienced as you are."


    Pride scoffed upon hearing his excuse before retorting in the next instant.


    "Even an inexperienced brat should know to lock his room door before falling asleep."


    She then pointed to the slightly ajar door before continuing her words.


    "That door was opened by a kid who was randomly turning people''s door handles. If I wasn''t awake and on my way to your room, who knows what would have happened if someone walk in while you two were still asleep?"


    Evan''s eyes widened as he heard Pride''s words, instantly realizing the gravity of the situation.


    ''To think that I forgot to lock the door!''


    Pride stopped chiding him when she saw that he and Eliza were reflecting, her expression turning pensive as she appeared to be lost in her thoughts.


    He and Eliza then took their baths at the general bathhouse on the bottom floor of the guest house, a service that made the prices of their rooms increase exponentially, before dressing up for the day.


    As per Evan''s words the day before, the young hero had decided to spend his day freely, after dealing with the important issues he had first.


    He saw off Eliza and Pride who went to two totally different parts of the city as he made his way to the adventurer''s guild building.


    On his way there, he dropped by a roadside stall and got a few handheld cartons of strawberry juice, sipping on one of them as he moved to the Adventurer''s guild building.


    It didn''t take him long to find the building as It was on one of the busiest streets of the city, with one of the Grand Magus of the city who was into adventuring erecting his tower not too far from the guild building.


    There was also a small market for monster materials and adventurer essentials on that street, a few of the products being sold catching Evan''s eye.


    However, he chose to ignore them as he was aware of where they were more interesting and useful artifacts hidden in the city, especially one particr one that he remembered worked well with the unforged.


    ''It was one of the best weapon artifactbos in the game, the unforged and the ''doubler''.


    The artifact was self-exnatory, it was an artifact that doubled the effects of all weapons, armour, and other artifacts equipped by the user.


    It mattered not the type of weapon or armour; however, it could only apply this effect on the next five weapons, artifacts, or armour equipped by the user after they equip the doubler.


    Evan thought about the location of this artifact as he walked into the adventurer''s guild building, navigating through the crowd of adventurers as he made his way to the next empty receptionist table.


    He tossed his strawberry juice carton in the trash can and took a seat on the stool, grabbing a new one from his inventory as he spoke.


    "Yo.


    So, I have a few things to do."


    The receptionist who didn''t even get to say her wee speech only gave a wry smile as she listened to his words.


    "First off, I want to ept some quests on behalf of my party. Here''s my guild card."


    He dropped his guild card on the desk before opening up the juice pack and continuing.


    "One of my party members is still quite low ranked despite their strength being above mine so I want some quests that would help them in increasing in rank quickly."


    The receptionist nodded as she picked up Evan''s card and scanned it, pulling up information about his party and confirming it before bringing out a list of quests for him.


    Evan casually sipped the juice in hand as he picked a few quests to get the magic stones of specific monsters.


    He then selected a quest that asked him to provide the horns of a ''Snow frost Boar''.


    "I think that was the floor thirty-floor boss, ''Snow Frost Boar King''."<sub> </sub>


    "Yes, that is the case. I can see you have done your research."


    "Huh? Yeah... Research, definitely did that."


    Evan replied to the receptionist''sment as he thought about the time, he soloed the dungeon without any support characters when he was using the ''First'' as his main character.


    ''Good times.''


    He had a look of nostalgia on his face as he collected the quest form and signed it on behalf of his party before standing up and tossing the second juice pack in the trash.


    ''Hmm? Didn''t he already trash that? When did he get a new one?''


    The receptionist was confused as she saw Evan manifest a new juice pack out of thin air but had to take her attention off it as she saw another adventurering towards her.


    Evan on the other hand was stylishly cing his quest papers into his inventory when he bumped into another adventurer.


    "Oh, sorry ''bout that."


    "No, it was my bad, I wasn''t looking."


    The man he bumped into apologized, making Evan take a look at him as he also apologized.


    It was a fairly tall man with a darkplexion and distinctive red irises. He had a muscr build and his hair was shaved close on the back and sides, leaving a ck-colored crown on top.


    Strapped to his back was a huge great sword that was taller than Evan was, making the young hero admire the strength of this man who carried this sword like it was nothing.


    Evan nodded at the man as he walked away, with the man also going over to the receptionist Evan had just left and dropped his guild card and quest items on the table.


    "Ah, Mr. Yetu, right?"


    "Yes."


    Evan''s hearing allowed him to discover the man''s name as he closed the door behind him. Unknown to the young hero, the man was gazing in Evan''s direction with an unreadable look on his face.


    "I see..."


    He muttered to himself before turning his attention back to the receptionist who was holding out his guild card.


    �� �� ��


    Immediately after leaving the guild building, Evan made his way to his next destination, a park in the city located a few blocks away from the library Pride was in.


    He activated his mystic eyes and began to read the flow of magic around the park, looking down at the tiles as he walked while relying on his senses to avoid other pedestrians.


    The young hero took note of each tile on the walkway until he discovered one that emitted more magic than the others.


    "Found it!"


    He eximed in joy as he ced his palm on the tile and poured magic power into it, earning him a few weird looks from those passing by.


    Ignoring them, he watched the tile light up before dimming a moment after, with the tile to its left lighting up and dimming in the next second.


    Multiple other tiles all connected to each other began lighting up and dimming right after as Evan hurriedly followed the pathway they were forming on the pedestrian walkway.


    It took him nearly three minutes, with him going in circles multiple times before he finally managed to locate thest tile to light up.


    He then ced his palm on the tile right above it and poured a bit of magic power into it, causing the tile to glow with a green light for about five seconds.


    Within those five seconds, Evan looked around him with his mystic eyes active, searching for another tile within his vision that was also lighting up at the exact same time.


    "What''s he doing?"


    "I don''t know."


    "Should we call security?"


    "Maybe."


    "Huh? Why is the grass glowing?"


    "Weird kid..."


    Evan could hear the words of the many passers-by, however, one person''s words caught his attention.


    He turned his gaze in the direction he heard the voice from and saw a middle-aged man who was carrying a baby who was probably his son while staring at the ground in front of him.


    Evan''s eyes shed as he sensed the flow of magic right before it disappeared, abruptly standing up and dashing towards the spot the man was staring at.

 Chapter 128 Doubler And Strange Old Man

    Evan''s eyes shed as he sensed the flow of magic right before it disappeared, abruptly standing up and dashing towards the spot the man was staring at.


    ''If it showed a green light when you found it, it would have been easy to discover as the tiles are gray.


    But although the path to finding it was on the tiles, no one said the ''prize'' was on the tiles too!


    Green light shining in green grass, no wonder they missed it!''


    Evan thought to himself as he dug out the ground with his hands, reaching a small ck twenty-five by twenty-five centimetres box that was not more than ten centimetres below the earth.


    He pulled out the box and filed the earth back before getting to his feet and walking out of that section of the park, leaving behind the group of stunned pedestrians.


    Meanwhile, Evan had already gone over to a nearby fountain to wash his hands and the box. After this, he opened the box to reveal a thick bracelet about fifteen centimetres in length and width.


    Activating his appraisal, he viewed the stats of the bracelet.


    |Prototype Replicator (Doubler)


    Type; Magic Artifact.


    Effect;


    A genius Great Mage and Master Alchemist once crafted this masterpiece and dubbed it a ''prototype'' because he felt it wasn''t up to his standards.


    Nevertheless, this artifact is one of a kind as the Great Mage passed before he could create a plete'' version.


    Effect;


    The Effects of the first five pieces of equipment worn or held by the user after equipping this bracelet are doubled in power and efficiency.


    Automatically adjusts to fit the wearer. |


    Evan revealed a small smile as he grabbed put his hand through the bracelet and saw its size adjust to fit his arm instantly.


    He then pulled out the hilt of the unforged and appraised the weapon, his smile bing wider as he noticed the change in effect.


    |Unforged Vanquisher (The Unforged) [Boosted]


    Type; One-handed Sword.


    What was left behind from a once great adventurer who perished at the hands of the ''Spider Nemesis'' Cheisnih.


    This sharp sword can seemingly pierce through anything. When swung, one can almost see the rift it tears in the air.


    Effect;


    Scoring hits on opponents increases overall attack power by 10% for one minute. This effect can be stacked for a maximum of ten times. Can only ur once every twenty seconds. |


    The bracelet literally doubled everything, from the attack bonus to the maximum stacks and the cooldown.


    ''Perhaps that''s the reason the creator called it a ''prototype...''


    Evan sighed as he thought of how easy it was to get the artifact in the game, all he had to do wasplete a quest and he was given the artifact as a reward.


    However, he did not have the option toplete said quest as he was not in the game anymore but in reality.


    He had to follow the steps that were listed by one of the yers on a forum he had gone through once.


    Apparently, if one did notplete the quest and followed those steps, they would find the bracelet buried underneath a random spot in the park.


    The story behind it was that a Great Mage hid the bracelet in that park during the hide and seek event of a festival in Kasteblum a few decades ago but it was never found.


    As Evan was reminiscing about the game, a few balls of light invisible to everyone around him, floated over to his location and began circling around his head.


    [IS that him?]


    [That''s him!]


    [He changed!]


    [He looks bigger!]


    [It''s called growing taller, you idiot!]


    [Hey!]


    Evan snapped out of his reverie and looked around to see multiple spirits of various elements floating around his head while chatting noisily.


    He then felt a presence and looked up to see a gray-haired man standing in front of him. Sitting on his head was a small twenty-centimetre-tall brown-skinned boy who was staring at Evan with a cked jaw.


    "Hello, young one. Care to spare this old man some time?"


    "Not at all."


    Evan responded as he instantly discovered the reason why the old man came to talk to him.


    [The boy sees us too.]


    [The old man sees us!]


    [Hey! he''s not a boy!]


    [And he''s not an old man!]


    A group of spirits on the man''s shoulder pointed at Evan as they spoke, with the spirits around Evan retorting as they both got into an argument.<sub> </sub>


    Seeing them, the man let out a wry smile as he spoke.


    "I didn''t think I''d meet someone with the aptitude to see spirits when I decided to take a stroll around town."


    "Neither did I."


    Evan replied as he gazed at the spirit atop the man''s head, one which he presumed was a high-ranked spirit.


    The man stretched out his left hand to pat the head of the spirit, allowing Evan to see the scar on his forearm that had scabbed over.


    Tracing Evan''s gaze, the old manughed as he spoke.


    "It''s a lot less serious than it looks, besides, I''m not bothered. It''s something thates with the job after all."


    As he said that, Evan took his time to scan the man from head to toe, noticing his appearance and how different it was from others with a simr appearance.


    The man was wearing dark-coloured magician robes with a the of Kasteblum''s Grand magic tower, a magic staff inscribed within a pentagram on the back of his robes.


    Evan thought his robes were navy blue at first, but he looked closer and realized the navy blue he was seeing was actually an illusion created by magic.


    This was something he only managed to notice as his mystic eyes were still active and he was seeing the magic flow from the man''s body into the robes.


    The actual colour of the robes was ck.


    And as far as Evan knew, there was only one person in Kasteblum who was allowed to wear ck robes with the symbol of the grand magic tower on them.


    "Chief Grand Magus, Gavin Josey..."


    Evan absentmindedly called out the name of the person he remembered from the game and the man nodded in affirmation, confirming Evan''s words.


    ''In the game, he looked much older and had more scars on his face. He also wore a mask to cover half his face so I could not recognize him without it.''


    Evan was about to speak again when the man tapped his shoulder and stood up before speaking.


    "We would have more time to chat another day, boy. For now, I shall take my leave, it seems they''ve noticed I''ve gone missing from the tower."


    And then he walked out just like that, leaving Evan stunned and lost for words until the spirits with Evan suddenly said something more shocking.


    [Evan!!!]


    [A big shot called us to ask about you!]


    ''Huh? Big shot?''


    Evan couldn''t help but ask. He was always gathered by spirits wherever he went but there was this particr group of fire, lightning, and light spirits that had been following him since he got his mystic eyes to stage one in Merdin.


    They were also part of the spirits who helped him against Xakon and even could not help but notice their absence.


    Now they finally reappeared, saying a ''big shot'' called them to ask about him.


    [Don''t you mean big shots?]


    [Huh?]


    [There were two, so ''big shots''!]


    [Oh!!!!]


    Evan ignored their banter and asked them directly about who called them to ask of him.


    [Lady Undine and Lord Gnome called to ask about you.]


    [And Lady Ka!]


    [Lady Undine was worried about Lady Ka!]


    [She wanted toe to find you but you had left that city so she sent us to find you first!]


    [Didn''t she say we should not tell him that part?]


    [Did she?]


    Evan recognized the two names that the spirits called out. They were the great spirits of water and earth respectively.


    Two powerful spirits that were present during the war against the demons of a thousand years ago, although they were born towards the end of the war.


    Each of them was also above level 650, possessing power not far off from that of the spirit king Sinir.


    As for why they could be asking about Ka, he didn''t need to be a genius to figure that out.


    ''They must have sensed the birth of the new great lightning spirit and they are looking for said spirit.


    Or rather, they have already found her but since I changed locations quickly, they could not get to her.''


    Evan heaved a sigh of relief as he was sure he would lose on all fronts whenpared to great spirits that were centuries old, be it strength or wit, and didn''t really want to get into an argument about Ka with them.


    ''Although the final decision would rest with Ka, I really don''t want them to juste over and take Ka away.


    Maybe I''d get Artemisia to stop them?


    Evan stood up and spoke to the spirits who were flying around him while chattering noisily and asked.


    "For Ka''s sake, can you not tell Undine where she is?"

 Chapter 129 Problems On The Way

    "For Ka''s sake, can you not tell Undine where she is?"


    [For Lady Ka?]


    [For Lady Ka!!]


    [Okay!]


    [I dunno!]


    [I can try?]


    Their answers were all over the ce but Evan was able to understand that the spirits were not going to willingly go over to undine and spill his location, at least for now.


    ''Meanwhile, I have to think of possible countermeasures for what would happen when Undine eventually finds us.


    In the game, she wasn''t really friendly with other races, especially those on the alpha continent because of the disappearance of Great Fire Spirit Ifrit.''


    Evan heaved a sigh as he thought about the random boss battle he had identally triggered when he tried to utilize his high favourability stat to recruit the Great Water Spirit during the game.


    ''She was screaming something along the likes of ''You guys are the reason my sister is gone!'', or something simr.


    I don''t want a situation where she thinks I''m restricting Ka, but the problem is that she won''t even bother to listen to my opinion.


    Although Artemisia seems to have some sort of control over the spirit king, getting her to intervene would not be wise.''


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says that if you try to gain Artemisia''s help on this matter, he would personally see to it that the goddess does not make a move.]


    ''The heck?!''


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says you should not rely on the goddess'' help as she would not always have time for you.


    He says you should take the situation where she was not present in Geto City to warn you about the demon and give you time to prepare as an example.]


    Reading the notice, Evan''s body went cold as he involuntarily trembled in fear. Although he seemed like he had gotten over it, it was not easy for the young hero to forget his close encounter with death.


    He shook his head multiple times as if trying to get rid of his fear before standing up and deciding to go back to the inn.


    ''I''m calling it a day, we are also going to the dungeon tomorrow, so it should be alright for me to rest now so I''d be at my best condition tomorrow.''


    As he thought that to himself, he casually bought a few cans of strawberry juice that he finished by the time he reached the inn.


    �� �� ��


    Abe''s Guest House


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum


    December 19th


    Year 1051


    Evan felt something brushing against his face while he was asleep. It felt like some sort of soft cushion coated in fur.


    He pushed it away first but it kepting back and eventually became a nuisance to the young hero.


    ''Is someone trying to mess with me?''


    He opened his eyes with those thoughts and was met with two pairs of eyes staring back at him.


    The eyes belonged to two cats that closely resembled a breed of cats from his original world.


    ''I think they were called ''Van'' cats, right?''


    One of the two cats that were staring at him was rtivelyrge and had a chalky back coat with ck eyes.


    Its tail was swaying from side to side as it stared at him silently.


    Beside it was another cat that had gold-coloured fur and eyes that shone noble gold. The cat also stared at him silently with its tail swaying and asionally poking its forehead.


    ''That''s quite long...NO, HOLD ON A SEC!''


    It was then that the remnants of sleep left his eyes as he shot up and took a proper look at the two cats who were staring at him in silence.


    "Kuro? Ka?"


    [Hmph! Took you long enough!]


    [Was there any point in this,dy Ka?]


    Evan heard two familiar voices that he hadn''t heard in so long and could not resist picking up the two cats and giving them a tight hug.


    [I must say, this is quite embarrassing.]


    A voice that sounded like that of a little boy''s, testament to the speaker''s young age rang out as the ck cat in Evan''s embrace squirmed around.


    [Hug! Hug! Hug!!!!!]


    Meanwhile, the gold-coloured cat seemed to be enjoying the hug, as opposed to its ck coloured counterpart.


    [Lady Ka seems like she''s having fun.]


    [I know, right?]


    [Now I want a hug too]


    [Who the heck would hug you?]<sub> </sub>


    [Shut up all of you!]


    As usual, the spirits around Evan were noisily chattering about.


    �� �� ��


    In the end, it was only when Pride entered the room after sensing the increased concentration of magic power, courtesy of the dozes of spirits flying around in the room, did Evan release the two cats, or rather, spirits.


    Ka had transformed back into her humanoid form and was sitting on Evan''s shoulder while chatting with the other spirits who were telling her about Undine''s inquiry.


    [Aunty Water ising?]


    The young spirit tilted her head to the side as she asked the fish-shaped water spirit that was swimming in the air.


    [Soon, when she knows exactly where you are.]


    Evan watched the two spirits interact with each other until something that Ka said shook him to his core.


    "Ka..."


    [Master?]


    "What did you call Undine just now?"


    [Aunty Water?]


    Hearing her say it again made Evan remember thest time she addressed someone with that kind of title.


    "How many uncles and aunts do you have?"


    Ka smiled widely as she rose her hand and started counting on her tiny fingers.


    [There''s Aunty Wind, Aunty Water, Aunty Fire and Uncle Earth, Uncle Light and Aunty Dark so six!]


    The moment she finished speaking, Evan''s face turned pale. Pride noticed his reaction and asked him what was wrong but the young hero was lost in his thoughts.


    "So that''s how Undine knew I was in Geto City!"


    [It is exactly as you think.]


    Perhaps understanding what he was talking about, Kuro spoke up as he jumped down from the bed and walked towards the window of the room.


    "Just what are the two of you talking about?"


    Feeling annoyed that she had been left out of the loop, Pride grabbed Evan''s shoulder and asked him to exin the situation to her.


    It was only then that Evan exined to her how they encountered the Great Earth Spirit who Ka called ''Uncle Earth'', right before they entered the ''Spider Nest'' dungeon.


    "So, you mean the Earth spirit told the Water spirit who was looking for Ka about your location?"


    "That is most likely the case."


    Evan replied to Pride while his gaze went over to a small fire spirit that was resting on her head and ying with her hair.


    "Normally, these guys would be scared of you but this little one seems to like you quite a bit."


    The fire spirit had even materialized its physical body in front of the demon much to the shock of the other spirits in the room who didn''t even want Pride to know what they looked like.


    "That''s not important right now, what is important is that there is a Great Spirit after her."


    Pride dismissed Evan''s words as she spoke of the more serious matter while gesturing towards Ka.


    "Yeah, but she doesn''t know where we are for now.


    Going into the dungeon would also throw her off for a while as she would not be able to sense us inside there."


    Pride nodded in affirmation to Evan''s words but she couldn''t help but feel that the Great Spirit on Evan''s shoulder really brought more than just a few problems.


    ''Then again, to the other spirits, she''s like the young child they have to protect. How did she even get away from the spirit''s domain in the first ce?''


    Coincidentally, Ka was thinking about the answer to Pride''s question.


    ''It has been a while since I saw Aunty Wind, I should tell master so we can go see her soon. Maybe she would have gone back to the other continent...''


    While the young great spirit was lost in her thoughts, Pride had gone to wake Eliza who was sleeping like a log while Evan was reinforcing his contract with Kuro.


    After bing a Master Level Existence, Evan''s soul was now capable of forming multiple spirit contracts.


    As the limit he had was now Three spirits, adding Kuro to the mix was no more a problem.


    Just Like with Ka, some of Kuro''s hidden titles and skills were revealed after the contract seeded.


    Evan had half expected this, so he was not all that surprised when the spirit in the form of a cat started twirling around a ring of ck light on its tail.


    ''Light Shadow magic, huh?


    Would this perhaps give him some resistance to the light element that is one of the weaknesses of his shadow element?


    While he was deliberating this, Eliza came into the room and attempted to hug the two spirits, only to find herself held down by her own shadow before a bolt of lightning hit her in the forehead.


    She then spent the next few minutes in some sort of staring contest with the fire spirit on Pride''s head.


    Seeing this, Evan couldn''t help but heave a sigh of exasperation as he prepared himself for the dungeon dive.

 Chapter 130 The One Who Wants All There Is

    Unknown Dungeon


    Dungeon City Osto


    Hobha


    December 19th


    Year 1051


    A frail-looking man, dressed in ragged clothes took slow and steady steps as he dragged a great sword that was a bit over two metres in length along with him.


    He had long ck hair cut at uneven lengths with his bangs hanging low on his face and covering his both eyes.


    On the back of his left palm, was the crest of an upside-down Great Sword inscribed in a circle with a number written in roman numerals in small barely visible text under it.


    As he walked down the long hallway, he staggered asionally as his bony arms struggled to pull the weapon behind him.


    Reaching a flight of stairs going downward, he pulled the sword forward and tossed it down the stairs, making loud nging sounds that echoed across the empty hallways.


    After a few minutes of struggling, he finally got down the flight of over fifty stairs before spending another few dozen more seconds picking up the great sword as he resumed carrying it.


    "AHHH!!!!"


    "SHIT! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS??!!"


    "GYAAA!!!"


    "We didn''t opt for this!"


    "Stop talking and run!!"


    As he kept walking through the hallway, he began to hear screams and shouts from multiple people, causing him to turn his head sideways.


    "Hmm? To think I almost missed it."


    He spoke to himself as he turned and began moving down the hallway that was to his right, his grip on the sword tightening as he staggered down the hallway.


    "WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    "SORRY BRO BUT WE GOTTA SURVIVE!"


    "We''d tell the guild you guys gave your lives to save us!"


    "FUCK YOU!!!"


    The voices became louder as he closed in on the location of the source, a distorted smile appearing on the man''s lips as he forced his body to move faster.


    In less than five minutes, he arrived at the source of the shouts, a small room at the end of the hallway where a monster had cornered an Adventurer and was about to end his sorry life.


    The stone floor of the room was painted with red and the thick stench of blood and gore assaulted his nostrils upon entering the room.


    Dismembered limbs of what was once a brave adventurer were scattered around the room, with the adventurer''s half-eaten torsoying on the ground not far from the predator that ended his life.


    It was a monster that was a type of mammal. It had four arms and four legs, with remnants of what was once a tail.


    Its head held four eyes which sat sunken in their sockets and made it appear to beposed. The mouth of this creature was enormous with an almost hidden nose and long ears.


    The rag-wearing man stared at the monster for a few moments before turning his gaze to the monster''s next target, a middle-aged man who was shivering in fear in the corner of the room with blood snot and tears all over his face.


    "Hideous to look at..."


    The man had red, short hair clumsily hanging over a round, anguished face.


    It was at this point that both the man and the monster noticed the new entrant to the room. The monster turned to him and was about to growl at him but he turned his gaze in the direction of the beast and spoke.


    "Stay."


    One word.


    And the predator that was about to pounce on someone, dropped to its knees like it had lost all of its strength in its legs.


    He ignored the monster that looked at him with a confused gaze as he lifted up his great sword with newfound strength and ced it on his shoulder.


    He then walked towards the red-haired man staring at him with a dumbfounded look on his face and helped him stand up before asking.


    "So, what''s your name?"


    "Huh?"


    "Name, now."


    **BAMM!!!


    As he spoke, he stabbed the great sword into the ground, eliciting a scared reaction from the red-haired man as he hurriedly spoke his name.


    "Terence!"


    He shouted his name with a high-pitched voice, eliciting augh from the ck-haired rag-d man.


    "So, Terence, how did you end up here?


    Lemme guess, you were abandoned by your friends? Party Members?


    You all encountered this stronger monster and they sacrificed you and your sorrypanion on the floor to the monster to buy time for themselves to escape."<sub> </sub>


    As he spoke, he rested his arms on the hilt of the sword while asionally turning his gaze towards the monster that kept struggling to stand up for the past few minutes.


    Hearing his words, Terence remembered the reason he ended up stuck in this situation in the first ce.


    His tears stopped as the light of rage shed through his eyes, the rage that had been hidden deep beneath his fear rose up as the source of his fear was temporarily incapacitated.


    He remembered the looks on the faces of his party members as they pushed him and his brother towards the unknown monster that wanted to im their lives.


    Before he could even say anything, the ck-haired man continued speaking.


    "I have but one question for you.


    Do you want Power?


    Power to get revenge on the detestable bastards who left you here to die, who pushed you to your death just to save themselves.


    Power to end the life of the monster that tried to take yours.


    Don''t you want the power to get revenge on them?"


    The man''s offer was something that Terence found appealing, especially as he knew that he was not strong enough to defeat the monster that the man in front of him rendered immobile with but a single word.


    He was also sure his former party members were not strong enough to defeat it, after all, they would not have used him as a sacrifice if they could.


    If he gained the power to end the monster that scared them shitless, he was sure he could deal with them easily too, and avenge his brother.


    However, the rational part of his mind held him back right before he hastily epted the offer.


    "Why?"


    "Hmm?"


    "Why are you asking me this? What do you want?"


    Terence asked through gritted teeth. He wanted to ept the man''s offer and gain this ''power'' so he could have his revenge but he held himself back.


    Seeing this, the edges of the ck-haired man''s lips curled up in glee as he replied.


    "What I want, huh?


    I am ''The One Who Wants All There Is''.


    So naturally, I want Everything."


    He turned his gaze to Terence as his red eyes glowed from behind his long bangs, his gaze startling Terrence.


    And overwhelming killing intent suddenly enveloped his body. An aura that could only be gained by those who have taken hundreds of thousands of lives.


    The pressure of the Aura bore down on Terrence''s body and soul, disorienting him and forcing him to his knees.


    Just as it suddenly came, the pressure suddenly disappeared, leaving a terrified Terrence who was staring at the man with more fear than when he was about to die.


    "Normally, I would take my time to entice you slowly but I don''t have the time for that.


    So, let me ask you again.


    Do you want power?


    If you refuse my offer once, I would walk out that door, however, I''m not sure what the monster that''s ring at you would do


    So, what do you say, Terrence?"


    He was Practically forcing Terrence to ept his offer as the redhead was scared at the prospect of death.


    ''If he leaves then the monster woulde after me!''


    In his state of fear, he was unable to think properly and realise that the monster did not even have its eyes on him anymore.


    The man making him the offer would definitely be its target given how it was ring at him with so much bloodlust.


    Terrence slowly rose his head and looked at the man''s outstretched hand. Various emotions swirled within his eyes as he hesitantly rose his hand and epted the man''s offer.


    As soon as Terrence touched the man''s hand, he smiled and spoke to Terrence with unconcealed joy in his voice.


    "I look forward to our time together, Terrence."


    The man then ced Terrence''s hand on the hilt of the sword and made the redhead grab it. In the next moment, the man''s body burst into a bloody mist which was then absorbed by the great sword he had stabbed into the ground.


    [Pick It up]


    Terrence Heard the man''s voice in his mind as he slowly tightened his grip on the sword and picked it up with newfound strength.


    It was then he took a closer look at the sword, it was a two-edged, two-handed great sword with a massive ck de measuring about 70 inches long and 8 inches thick.


    The sword''s brown handle was about 10 inches long, giving the weapon a total of 80 inches in length.


    As he held it, Terrence felt a surge of powering from within the depths of his soul, his muscles bulged up considerably and his physical strength was boosted to new heights.


    While he was mesmerized by the sudden increase in strength, he heard the man''s voice in his head once more.


    [Now then, Terrence. Shall we?]

 Chapter 131 Mansion Of The Damned, Day Two

    Mansion of the Damned, 1st Basement Floor


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum


    December 20th


    Year 1051


    "Day Two of Dungeon diving and I am already regretting it."


    Evan spoke up as he looked at the entrance to the second basement floor of the ''Mansion of the Damned''.


    As the name implied, the dungeon looked like a mansion one would expect a rich noble to live in. It had a massive front garden filled with beautiful flowers of various kinds and a fountain that sprinkled clear water on all the nts around it.


    It was built with wheat-coloured bricks and had tan stone decorations. Small, rounded windows ced at regr intervals allowed enough light to enter the building.


    When one entered, they would be met with arge hall with doors on each side and a central stairway that led to the first basement floor of the building.


    Each one of the doors on the sides was locked, probably with some sort of ancient magic as only those among the higher echelons of the City State knew whaty behind said doors.


    All the doors had intricate writings that glowed a deep red colour, perhaps signifying the status of the doors as only the main door that had green writings could be opened while the others with red writings could not be opened.


    The main dungeon began when one went down the basement floor after having their credentials checked and confirmed by the guild officials besides the main door.


    As the hall wasrge enough to amodate hundreds of people, there was never a situation where the entrance was crowded with adventurers.


    Evan, Pride, and Eliza entered the dungeon the day before and were met with the default stater monsters of any dungeon in games and stories; goblins.


    The trio spent the previous day killing dozens of these monsters while moving through the passageways, sometimes encountering other parties as they searched for an entrance to the deeper floors.


    Something the trio finally found on the morning of Day two.


    "And thus, they gathered their things into Evan''s inventory and ventured down to the second basement floor of the mansion of the damned, where the ancient sword-wielding monster species, the de wraiths,id in wait."


    Pride and Eliza gave Evan confused gazes as he suddenly started narrating the current Events in third person.


    "What are you doing?"


    "Temporarily taking over the job of the narrator. What else does it look like?"


    Pride only shook her head as she walked past the eleven-year-old and grabbed him by the cor, dragging him to the second basement floor entrance.


    "Let''s just go."


    �� �� ��


    Ignoring Evan''s earlier breach of role, the trio went down the stairs and officially entered the second basement floor.


    Even Evan had to stop joking as he knew that from this floor, the difficulty of the dungeon spiked exponentially which was quite absurd considering it was just the second floor.


    "From floor two to ten, we have to deal with de wraiths, from floor eleven, things change up a bit and we have to battle a very irritating set of monsters that have a habit of teleporting around mid-fight.


    They can even summon other monsters to help them mid-fight. They are called Rift Mages.


    Then from floor twenty-one to thirty, the enemies we have to face there are snow boars. The floor thirty boss is the one who would provide us with the materials we need for our quest.


    From floor thirty to floor fourth, we have another set of teleporters to deal with, the Doom Hounds.


    Every ten floors are boss floors, with multiple boss rooms scattered around therge floor so we just have to find one that''s not upied at the time and enter.""


    Evan gave the two a rundown of the dungeon''s enemies as he pulled out the quest papers and passed them over to Pride and Eliza.


    The two looked them over while being vignt of their surroundings as even if they were still at the entrance of the dungeon floor, it was still possible to be attacked.


    And that''s exactly what just happened.


    Pride who was flipping through the magic stone collection quests suddenly stopped and turned her gaze in a certain direction.


    Seeing her actions, Evan realised that there was something there and asked her.


    "How many?"


    p "Just one."</anda>


    "Perfect, I''ve wanted to test out something for a while now."


    As he said that, he pulled out the gauntlets that he used during the Spider Nest dungeon raid and put them on before taking a deep breath and telling Ka to infuse herself in the gauntlets.


    "What are you trying to do?"


    To the ancient demon''s question, Evan only gave a short reply.<sub> </sub>


    "Watch."


    Afterward, he took a deep breath and sensed the surrounding ambient magic power, before attempting to absorb it into his body.


    His destructive magic circuit came alive and greedily sucked all the magic power, giving Evan a feeling of refreshment as if he just chugged down a jar of cold water after taking a walk in a desert at high noon.


    ''My energy maniption speeds have increased since breaking past level 100, and this energy circuit makes things easier by increasing it even more by another ten percent.''


    Evan thought to himself as he felt the absorbed energy coursing through his body, he wanted to relish in this feeling but he knew this was not the time.


    The iing presence had entered his range of detection and he was sure it was not a random unique monster that mistakenly came up to a higher floor.


    ''Ka, you''re up.''


    [Okay!]


    Immediately the young great lightning spirit replied, and golden sparks began to dance around his arms, starting from his gauntlets.


    As if the iing enemy sensed the energy gathering around Evan''s arms, it increased its speed and rushed forward, finallying into view as Eliza and Pride set eyes upon a normal de wraith for the first time.


    Although they were called de wraiths, they werepletely different from the wraiths that Evan faced in Luka town with Eliza and her old party members.


    It was a male humanoid dressed in ragged brown robes and a wide-brimmed straw hat that covered its face. The only thing visible was its pair of glowing red eyes that locked onto Evan.


    In the de wraith''s left hand, was a long ck curved de that seemed to be joined with its palm.


    "Um...remind me why they are called ''wraiths'' again?"


    Eliza couldn''t help but ask as she saw the monster''s appearance, it did not look like the ghostly creature she met a few months ago at all!


    Seeing that the de wraith had locked onto him, Evan closed his eyes and took a stance, with his left leg ced forward and his right leg ced backward.


    He then clenched his right fist and pulled it back before extending his left arm forward.


    The de wraith saw his actions and tilted its head to the side, before cupping its right palm beside its waist.


    A sword sheath appeared in its cupped palm and it proceeded to sheathe the de in its left arm while staring at Evan.


    ''Is it perhaps nning to end things in a single strike?''


    The monster''s level of intelligence made Pride have high expectations for the monsters on the lower floors, as if one on the second floor could be this smart, then the ones on the lower floors should be just as smart, if not smarter.


    The de wraith took a stance and stared at Evan while silently infusing magic power into its de.


    There was a sudden silence as the only sound that could be heard was the crackling of the lightning condensing around Evan''s fist.


    Just when Eliza was about to break the silence and ask what was going on with the both of them, Evan and the de wraith suddenly kicked off the ground simultaneously as if having nned on it before.


    With a sh of golden light, Evan blitzed towards the de wraith who soundlessly dashed towards Evan.


    **BZZZZZTTT!!!


    **SHRRING!!!


    **BAM!!


    Multiple sounds resounded across the quiet dungeon hall as Evan''s fist met the de wraith''s sword that was pulled out from its sheath faster than Eliza could see.


    Before she could even make ament on the sh, Evan pulled back his fist again with lightning-fast speed whilst grabbing the de wraith''s sword with his left hand coated in lightning.


    ''Fracture!''


    He shouted internally as his lightning-d fist mmed into the head of the de wraith, burning its straw hat into ash and pulverizing its skull mere seconds after.


    The rest of the monster''s body was sent flying as Evan let go of the sword at thest moment.


    **BAMMM!!!


    The de wraith mmed into the wall with enough force to crack the sturdy dungeon walls, falling down to the ground in the next moment.


    Evan saw this and took a deep breath before telling Ka to leave his gauntlets.


    [Master, are you okay?]


    As soon as the spirit moved out, her nose twitched as she perceived the smell of burning flesh. Instantly deducing the reason for it, she flew towards Evan''s hand and tried to pull the gauntlet that still had some residual lighting in it off Evan''s arm.


    "Hmm? I can''t say I''m okay, I didn''t get any of the two things I wanted."

 Chapter 132 Mansion Of The Damned, Day Three

    "Hmm? I can''t say I''m okay, I didn''t get any of the two things I wanted."


    "And just what were the two things you wanted?"


    Pride asked with a frown on her face as she walked up to Evan with Eliza trailing behind her.


    "My main goal was to see if I could replicate a skill from the ga-?!, a skill that I saw somewhere. My secondary goal was to see if my adaptive evolution would trigger."


    As Evan replied, he pulled off the gauntlets to reveal his palms that had been burnt by the excessive amount of lightning that he had gathered around his hands.


    "Sadly...Both were failures."


    He heaved a sigh of disappointment before abruptly being pped on the back of his head.


    "What...?"


    "Don''t ''What?'' me! It''s fine if you want to replicate a skill or something but how could you injure yourself this much when we''re just entering the dungeon?!"


    "Because I would not have the time to test these outter on? de wraiths are monsters that move in groups, we were lucky to find one on its own so I just had to try it out."


    Evan gave an honest reply but he only saw Eliza summon her staff and swing it at his head.


    "WHAT THE HELL?!"


    "You seem to be mentally ill, maybe a few whacks to the head would solve your issues."


    Eliza replied to Evan''s question as she swung her staff wildly, with just enough force to inflict the maximum amount of pain on the young hero while letting him keep his consciousness.


    "That is not how you deal with mental illnesses!"


    [Master, I really don''t think that should be your problem here.]


    Ka who was watching the two couldn''t help but retort as she turned her gaze in Pride''s direction and flew over to her.


    The high demon was looking over the de wraith''s corpse, taking note of a few of the de wraith''s characteristics.


    She even picked up its weapon and inspected it after noticing that the weapon seemed to have detached itself from the creature''s arm after its death.


    "Hmm? I thought you didn''t like me much?"


    Pride could not help but ask as she saw the spirit fly over to her and sit on her shoulder.


    [I don''t dislike you as the others do. You are master''s ally so that''s even more of a reason to not hate you.]


    Hearing the spirit''s reply, Pride''s eyes shed for a moment as she nced at the ck-haired spirit from the corner of her eyes.


    "You...you''re a lot more mature than you make yourself out to be."


    [Isn''t that obvious? Master is the only one who hasn''t noticed. Even that creepy girl figured it out.]


    Ka rubbed her shoulder as she thought about how Eliza kept trying to hug her at every chance that she got.


    She then shook her head to clear the scary things out of her head and turned her gaze to the fire spirit that had been following Pride ever since the usual group of spirits that always followed Evan came back from Undine''s questioning.


    [If you can get even Amy to stick to you this much, then I don''t think it is impossible for the other spirits to hateing close to you for long.


    Then again, to aunty undine and uncle earth, it would be a lot harder to get them to not hate you because of what your race did a thousand years ago.


    I wasn''t alive then so although I understand why they hate you guys so much, I don''t share the hatred.


    The bottom line is when Aunty Undine eventually catches up to us, you are the one who''s gonna have the hardest time so start nning how you''d get out of that mess from now.]


    Leaving those words, she turned around and flew back to Evan who had been whacked a few times by Eliza''s staff and was now obediently epting healing magic from her.


    As she left, Pride turned her gaze to the fire spirit who had jumped off from the de wraith''s corpse with a magic stone in hand and offered it to Pride.


    "So, your name is Amy, huh?"


    The spirit''s eyes widened in surprise but after a quick nce at Ka, she seemed to figure out how Pride knew her name and nodded before flying back to Pride''s shoulder and resting there.


    Pride only looked at the magic stone in her hands before petting the head of the small humanoid spirit as she turned around and walked toward the others.


    ''Perhaps I should ask Evan how to make contracts with Spirits.''


    �� �� ��


    Mansion of the Damned, 3rd Basement Floor


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum<sub> </sub>


    December 22nd


    Year 1051


    "Eliza! Now!"


    Evan shouted as he dashed towards the seven feet tall de wraith in front of him with his sword in hand.


    His body glowed as a thinyer of white light that signified the activation of his pdin skill enveloped his body.


    Next, a green ring of light appeared around his ankles as his speed increased to a level that made the de wraith lose sight of him for a moment.


    And that moment was all Evan needed to deal a deadly blow.


    ''Blink''


    He activated his blink skill and shed to the monster''s side, his sword coated in his signature golden aura as he swung it towards the monster''s waist, intending on severing it in two.


    **CLANGG!!!


    Sadly, his attack was blocked at thest moment as a ming crossbow bolt crashed into his de and diverted its path, making him miss his swing.


    ''Shit!''


    Before he could regain his posture and attack again, his opponent had already noticed where he was and turned its glowing red eyes in his direction.


    He made a split-second decision to blink away and that prevented him from being hit by the monster''s lightning-coated fist that came crashing down on his previous location.


    "This...might have been a bad idea."


    "Now you regret it?"


    Pride replied to his words as she backtracked towards him, with Eliza ducking to avoid another de wraith''s sh and rolling out of the way to avoid the de coated in an ominous ck haze that came crashing down on the ground.


    She rolled towards the hero and demon whose backs just hit before standing up and tightening her grip on her staff as she stared at the de wraith that nearly beheaded her seconds ago.


    Surrounding the Trio, were a Trio of de wraiths that Evan was sure were definitely not supposed to be on the third floor of the dungeon.


    Their levels were way too high and they were way too smart. It was as if they came over from the dungeon''s floor boss room.


    "Yep, going inside the room with the monsters was a horrible n!


    To understand how Evan and co. Ended up in this situation, we have to backtrack to the previous day, right after the trio woke up from sleep and prepared for their third day of dungeon diving.


    �� �� ��


    Sleeping in dungeons was a very risky endeavour that very few adventurer parties dared to try, however, if one was in a party with reliable teammates who they were sure would not backstab them, both literally and figuratively, then it was possible to live in the dungeon for a month or two, provided the party possessed enough supplies.


    And that was the situation that Evan, Eliza, and Pride found themselves in.


    The trio had prepared enough food tost an average family of three for three months, coupled with Evan''s inventory skill that did not allow for foodstuff to rot inside, then food was not a problem for their dungeon diving.


    The trio then took turns to keep watch for monsters and other adventurers, with the other two sleeping while one kept watch for three hours.


    Like so, they were able to get enough rest and carry on with the dungeon diving by the next morning.


    They had a small breakfast that was slightly dyed because Eliza kept wanting to feed Ka while the lightning spirit zapped away from her multiple times.


    Eventually, they were able to get that behind them after Ka finally agreed to be fed by the battle priestess who smiled as if someone had just given her a few hundred pounds of gold coins for free.


    Upon entering the third basement floor of the dungeon, their opponents were a group of six de wraiths that charged at them the moment they caught sight of the group.


    "Okay, everybody gets two for themselves."


    Evan spoke before dashing towards the sword-wielding monsters with the unforged in his hands. Lightning danced around the de as Evan swung upwards to meet the iing overhead sh from the de wraith that reached him first.


    **CLANGG!!!


    The sound of metal shing against metal rang out as the two began to exchange rapid sword strikes between each other.


    Within the short gap between strikes, the de wraith suddenly back steeped as another de wraith jumped over it with its sword held up high.


    Sensing the amount of magic power in the de, Evan realised that blocking it would be a foolish decision and jumped backward to avoid it.


    **BAMMM!!

 Chapter 133 Mansion Of The Damned, Day Three II

    **BAMMM!!


    The de wraith''s shnded on the ground, creating a small crater where itnded and releasing a unidirectional sh of energy.


    Evan noticed this and dropped to one knee before turning his de around and stabbing it into the ground, going on to infuse it with magic power and brace for impact.


    The energy in the sh and the magic power infused into the unforged canceled each other out and Evan released his hold on the sword, kicking off the ground and dashing forward immediately after.


    Sparks danced around his arms as he summoned his gauntlets from his inventory and encased them with lightning.


    Eliza timely assisted him by buffing his speed, with two rings of green light appearing around his ankles as he dashed forward faster than the de wraith could recollect itself afterunching such a powerful attack.


    Instantly arriving in front of the monster, Evan grabbed its de with his left hand and punched forward with his right hand.


    [Electrome.]


    Ka who was seated on Evan''s shoulder all this while, calmly called out as a small rose of mes bloomed in front of Evan''s fist one second before itnded on the de wraith''s face.


    **BAAMM!!


    Thebination of fire and lighting overloaded the de wraith''s head with a small explosion, ending its life immediately.


    However, in the next moment, the second de wraith''s sword came shing through the cloud of smoke, intending to lopping Evan''s head off.


    �� �� ��


    While Evan was dealing with his own share of the de wraiths, Eliza was testing out her staff skills with another set.


    Although her agility wasn''t exactly the best, it was still higher than the average D rank adventurer and even some lower levelled C rank adventurers.


    "Hap!"


    She performed five consecutive staff strikes without hesitation, twirling the staff in her hand around with fluid movements as the de wraith she was facing didn''t even have a chance to attack.


    Nevertheless, her attack power was definitely lower than average and the monster was higher levelled than she was.


    Finishing it off with just five strikes was simply impossible.


    ''In that case...''


    Her eyes shed with a green light as rings of light appeared around her wrists and ankles, boosting her strength and speed respectively.


    With her right-hand palm facing up and left-hand palm facing down, she nted the butt of her staff on the ground and ran forward a bit before jumping up into the air.


    The de wraith that was just about to sh at her could only stare at her with confusion on its face as with all its intelligence, it could not understand why the opponent in front of it had used her weapon as a boost to jump into the air.


    Eliza''s next actions only served to make the monster more surprised as she flipped in mid-air while maintaining her tight grip on the staff.


    Naturally, she ended up pulling the staff into the air with her as she infused it with magic power.


    By the time the staff was over her head while she was still in the air, the second de wraith she was facing finally realized she was the target of whatever she nned to do and rose its sword to defend.


    In the next moment, Eliza mmed her energy-infused staff downwards, targeting the second de wraith who rose its gripped its sword with both hands and rose it to block her attack.


    **BAM!


    Despite looking like a random wooden staff, Eliza''s staff was able to stand its ground against the monster''s de, even making the monster''s arms tremble from the force behind the attack.


    By this time, gravity had done its job of returning Eliza back to the ground and she did not hesitate to apply more buff on herself as the rings of light on her right leg multiplied by three.


    She then unleashed a kick to the defenceless torso of the monster, sending it flying to the side as it mmed into the dungeon wall.


    In the corner of her eyes, she inadvertently nced at Evan who was dashing towards his opponent with lighting crackling down his arms as she sent a simple speed buff to him before ducking to avoid the diagonal sh of the other de wraith that cut off a few strands of her blonde hair.


    The monster instantly redirected its de and tried to get a hit in but it was stopped by a translucent wall of magic power that appeared right before Eliza at thest moment.


    The battle priestess let go of her staff and coated her arm in magic power as she sent a punch toward the monster''s torso.


    Although it did little damage, the knockback the de wraith received was great, giving her space to recollect herself and pick her staff back up in preparation for her next attack.<sub> </sub>


    She took a deep breath and lunged forward after increasing the number of buffs on herself to the maximum she could maintain at once.


    Her staff mmed into the torso of the de wraith, breaking through its body''s defences and piercing a hole in its stomach.


    Using all her strength, Eliza mmed the monster into the wall behind it, pushing her staff further into its body until it burst out from its back, sttering blood on the wall.


    To finish the job, she created a small barrier around her fist and punched the monster''s head with it multiple times, only stopping when she heard the sound of bones cracking.


    She then pulled out her staff and twirled it around her fingers before turning around to face to other de wraith that was charging toward her with a glowing de.


    �� �� ��


    While Eliza was performing her wonderful pole vault that left two de wraiths too stunned to act, Pride was experimenting to see how well she could coordinate her attacks with the fire spirit Amy.


    The moment vanitas shed with the de wraith''s sword, it was engulfed in bright red mes that surprisingly did not give off any heat.


    Taking advantage of the monster''s instinctive reaction to back away from the sudden mes, Pride pressed forward and forced the monster to pull back its weapon to recollect itself.


    At that moment, the second de wraith charged toward Pride from her left side after observing that she was holding her sword on her right.


    However, the ancient high demon only infused her de with demonic energy, activating one of its effects as she made a circr sh while moving forward a little bit at the same time.


    The de wraith had no choice but to stop its charge and swing its de to its right side in an attempt to block Pride''s iing sh.


    **CLANG!!!


    The moment it did, three spears of mes materialized behind it and shot towards its feet, mming into them and making it lose its footing.


    Pride did not hesitate to take advantage of this as she lunged forward, ignoring the other de wraith that sent out a sh of pure magic power in her direction.


    She poured more demonic energy into her de and released three rapid sword strikes, aiming at the de wraith''s arms and feet respectively.


    Right after this, she kept pressing the monster, not giving it a chance to rest as she kicked off the ground and dashed forward once more, swinging her sword at as fast as she could, her target being the neck of the unfortunate de wraith.


    Mid-swing, her de was engulfed in mes as the corners of her lips curled up a bit.


    The sword infused with demonic energy and engulfed in mes was enough to sever the unfortunate monster''s head and sent it flying into the air.


    She then turned around and saw the other de wraith lying on the floor, its whole body charred ck from being continuously bombarded with mes.


    The fire spirit on her shoulder then poked her to attract her attention before gesturing to the monster.


    Pride chuckled lightly as she went forward and severed the head of the de wraith, putting an end to its misery.


    The me spirit then floated in front of her and asked.


    [Did I do good?]


    Her voice sounded like that of a young girl between eight to ten years old. Pride''s eyes widened upon hearing this as she never expected the spirit to sound so young but she quickly recollected herself and replied.


    "So-so, you have to make yourself more useful."


    Hearing her reply, Amy nodded to herself before resuming her previous position on Pride''s shoulder.


    On the other hand, Pride was looking at Evan and Eliza who were making short work of their opponents.


    Eliza had overpowered the de wraith and had bashed its head in with her staff while Evan had taken inspiration from Amy and torched his opponent with me magic.


    "Let''s move on, shall we? I have more skills to test."


    Evan spoke up as he moved down the dungeon hall, stretching his hand into the air as he gave a mentalmand.


    The unforged that was stabbed into the ground a few meters away from him suddenly vibrated before uprooting itself from the ground and flying into his open palm.


    "That looks cool, how''d you do it?"

 Chapter 134 Aim For The Monster Room

    "Let''s move on, shall we? I have more skills to test."


    Evan spoke up as he moved down the dungeon hall, stretching his hand into the air as he gave a mentalmand.


    The unforged that was stabbed into the ground a few meters away from him suddenly vibrated before uprooting itself from the ground and flying into his open palm.


    "That looks cool, how''d you do it?"


    "Through the help of a skill called Weapon control."


    Evan replied to her as he sent out a wave of magic power to detect if there were any enemies within a hundred-metre radius of his location.


    "We have like a dozen more opponents iing, let''s wrap them up quick so we can see if we can reach a monster room today."


    "Monster room?"


    "Yeah. It''s a room in a dungeon that spawns monsters a few levels higher than the monsters on that floor. Upon defeating those monsters, we get double experience points."


    Evan replied to Pride as he counted the magic stones that Kuro ced in his palm when Eliza asked a question.


    "Aren''t we already getting double?"


    "I know, a monster room makes it so we get quadruple."


    "I see. How much is the difficulty increase?"


    "At most ten levels, nothing we can''t handle. The monsters of the first ten floors are usually around levels 95 and 120. The boss is usually above that by one or two.


    So, the monsters in the monster room should be around 100-110. The three of us should be able to take that.


    Also, the more monsters there are, the lower the average level so they might not be more than level 105."


    Evan exined how the monster room worked from his game knowledge, making a mental note to test out if this was correct with the monster room that should be somewhere on floor three rather than the monster rooms on floor thirteen or floor twenty-three which would have more dangerous monsters.


    As he exined more things to them, the group slowly advanced.


    "Oh, just so you know, we might encounter rare monsters like the ones who just pop up and toss random potions at you or the ones who sneak around ad try to steal your weapon mid-fight,"


    Hearing his words, Pride''s eyebrow twitched as she asked.


    "Don''t you think you should have told us this before entering the dungeon? And why is this not on the adventurer handbook that I read?"


    "Don''t ask me why it is not there and in my defence, I only just remembered the existence of these monsters, because we are about to encounter one of them!"


    As soon as Evan spoke, he activated his blink skill and disappeared, seconds before a crudely made ss bottlended where he was standing just moments before.


    **SHATTERR!!


    The bottle shattered and left behind an elemental residue of its contents, that turned the ground purple and released asional sparks of lightning.


    "And this is why, any season Aidos online yer, takes them out first."


    Eliza and Pride suddenly heard Evan''s voiceing from another location and reflexively turned in that direction, just in time to see him sever the head of a short yellow-skinned humanoid monster with a fire-d de.


    The de wraiths in front were stunned as they did not understand how Evan got there so quickly, but the young hero did not give them time to recover from their shock.


    He stretched out his left hand and manipted his energy, feeling his destructive energy circuit activate as magic power flowed through his arm and condensed in front of his outstretched palm.


    In the next moment, it wasunched forward as a beam of golden light that carried traces of blood red within it.


    ***BOOOOMM!!!!!


    Itnded on a de wraith''s torso, pulverizing the monster instantly before going on to consign three more monsters to oblivion.


    However, instead of dissipating like usual, the beam exploded upon contact with the fourth de wraith, releasing a shockwave that swept the other de wraiths off their feet.


    Pride and Eliza did not idle about and instantly dived into the fray, with Eliza summoning the radiant codex while activating her support magic skill simultaneously.


    Rings of light appeared around both Evan and Eliza''s hands and feet, increasing their strength and speed.


    She flicked her fingers again and a ring golden ring appeared on their sword arms; it was a buff that increased their elemental damage by 20%.<sub> </sub>


    "This is very useful."


    Evan couldn''t help butment out loud as he appraised the ring of light, however, his expression darkened in the next moment as he sensed more enemiesing over to their location, perhaps being drawn by the sound of the explosion.


    "Let''s test out how good the doubler is, shall we?"


    He said to himself before informing Pride and Eliza of his next actions and dashing forward to the iing wave of enemies, leaving what was left of the first wave for Pride and Eliza to deal with.


    His enhanced speed was faster than he had expected, causing him to have to slow down a bit, lest he crashed into the wave of enemies due to being unable to control his speed.


    Instantly arriving in front of the first enemy, he swung his sword rapidly, taking advantage of his increased speed and strength to strike up to five times in a single breadth.


    The unforged''s effect activated and he instantly felt the effects of a 10% power boost as his second strike felt more powerful than the first.


    Stretching out his free left arm, heunched an energy st in the direction of the de wraith that was charging at him from the side, before blinking away.


    ''Ka.''


    Upon reappearing in the midst of the enemies, he tossed his sword in the air and channelled his magic power as Ka let her lightning flow through him.


    Feeling the abundance of lightning that was too much for him to handle, Evan bumped his fists together before sending a punch to the ground in the middle of the group of enemies.


    **BANGG! BANNNGGG!! BAAAAANNNNGGGGG!!!


    The lightning flowed through his body as a conduit, spreading into the surroundings and zapping all the enemies within a dozen metres radius of his position.


    Due to the influx of lightning that flowed through his body, even Evan found it a bit hard to move as his body was numbed by the lightning but a wave of green light that spread from Eliza and phased through the enemies, reached him and reinvigorated his body.


    "Thanks!"


    Evan called out as he spun round with his hand stretched out, his fallen sword flying back into his palm midway, just in time for him to sever the head of a de wraith who happened to be within range.


    Perhaps due to the effect of the residual lightning magic that was still coursing through his body, his speed was faster than normal as asional golden sparks could be seen around his body as he moved.


    On Pride''s side of things, she was calmly dispatching one de wraith after another with her demonic energy-infused sword.


    About six de wraiths surrounded her and attacked simultaneously but a translucent barrier of magic power blocked all their attacks and even knocked them back a bit.


    Before Pride could take action, the spirit on her shoulders mmed her palms together as two ringed magic circles manifested below the feet of each of the de wraiths.


    In the next moment, a pir of spiral mes erupted from the ground and engulfed the six de wraiths, turning them into pieces of charred flesh in seconds.


    ''This little spirit is definitely higher levelled than all of us here, she was able to take out all these enemies in a single attack without breaking a sweat.''


    Pride revaluated the little spirit whozily readjusted her sleeping position on Pride''s shoulders and closed her eyes.


    Meanwhile, Eliza was casually bashing the head of an unlucky de wraith with her staff as she watched the other two battle, supporting them when necessary and tuning the effects the buffs applied on them when required.


    Right before she could increase the effect of Evan''s speed buff, she felt a presence behind her and abruptly turned around, swinging her staff with the intention of bashing the head of whoever of whatever was behind her.


    "Wha?!"


    **BAMMM!!!!


    Her staff collided with something and sent it flying into the wall beside her, however, the feedback she received told her that her sudden attack had beenpletely blocked.


    She frowned as she applied a defence buff on herself, her sapphire eyes gazing in the direction where what she attacked mmed into.


    "Did this guy seriously try to interfere with another group?!"


    She heard an unfamiliar voice as a group of five consisting of two men and three women ran towards her location from the corridor behind her.


    Upon seeing Eliza''s wary expression, one of the men heaved a sigh and gestured for the others to stop before stepping forward with both hands raised high.


    Seeing this, Eliza lowered her staff a bit but the buffs she applied to herself increased as she still did not let down her guard.


    After all, she knew full well that the thing to be most wary of in a dungeon was not the monsters but other adventurers.

 Chapter 135 Meeting Another Party

    "Did this guy seriously try to interfere with another group?!"


    She heard an unfamiliar voice as a group of five consisting of two men and three women ran towards her location from the corridor behind her.


    Upon seeing Eliza''s wary expression, one of the men heaved a sigh and gestured for the others to stop before stepping forward with both hands raised high.


    Seeing this, Eliza lowered her staff a bit but the buffs she applied to herself increased as she still did not let down her guard.


    After all, she knew fully well that the thing to be most wary of in a dungeon was not the monsters but other adventurers.


    Before she could speak, she heard Pride''s voice from beside her, causing her to flinch in surprise as she didn''t notice when Pride got that close.


    "Who are you?"


    Unlike Eliza, Pride did not make any show of lowering her guard, talking to them with her sword pointed forward.


    The man who stepped forward nced at the ominous-looking de that was giving him chills before taking a deep breath and speaking.


    "We''re an adventurer party who came to explore the dungeon like you two but our team''s scout has a bad habit of poking his nose into other people''s business and we came over to stop him..."


    He then nced at the man who fell out of the wall while rubbing his arms with a pained expression on his face and continued.


    "...But looking at that, we might have been toote."


    "No shit."


    Another one of his teammates retorted but before Pride could even guess who spoke, there was a bright sh of orange light behind them, followed by a sudden explosion that made the ground tremble.


    "This guy..."


    Eliza facepalmed as she thought about Evan who was still killing de wraiths without a care in the world.


    ''Even though it ispletely logical for him to continue attacking the monsters while Pride and I deal with this unknown group, it still infuriates me how he does it.''


    "Finally!! I don''t recall it being so hard to advance two levels."


    Evan''s loud voice was heard as he walked out of the middle of the explosion with a satisfied smile on his face.


    Beside him, his sword was floating in mid-air as he casually walked over to where Pride and Eliza were.


    "So, who the heck are these?"


    Evan nced at the group of six before asking Pride, however, the voice of the adventurer Eliza sent flying earlier rang out before she could reply.


    "Damn girl! I just wanted to scare you a bit but you hit me like you wanted me dead!"


    Hearing this, Evan did not understand what he was talking about but Kuro who had been paying attention to the situation filled him in.


    Before his teammates could even begin to reprimand him for interfering with others, he suddenly felt something cold on his neck and looked down to see a ck de under his chin.


    "So, if I did this to you when you were fighting, you won''t attack me with the intent to kill?"


    He then heard a voiceing from right beside his ear, causing him to flinch as he didn''t even notice when someone got close to him.


    His party members were even more surprised as not one of them couldprehend how Evan had suddenly appeared beside the party member who was just a few feet away from them while Evan was supposed to be a good five metres away.


    Seeing Evan''s reaction, Eliza raised an eyebrow in surprise while Pride only nced at Eliza and then at Evan before heaving an exasperated sigh.


    ''His reaction means he knows that she was that man''s intended target.''


    "Whoa! Bro, Chill!"


    The man who spoke up earlier, perhaps the party leader, was the first to recover from his shock as he instantly stepped forward and tried to get Evan''s de off his party scout''s neck.


    Evan only gave him a cold look before removing his sword and kicking the scout toward his party members.


    "Keep him in line."


    After saying that, he turned around and moved toward Pride and Eliza.


    "Let''s get out of here, shall we?"


    He ignored theints of the other party members as he dragged the two females away from the area and into a different pathway of the dungeon.<sub> </sub>


    The moment that Eliza was sure that the party was out of earshot, she turned her gaze to Evan and asked.


    "So, mind telling me why you overreacted just now?"


    "Overreacted? Me? How?"


    "There was no need to do all that, you even revealed one of your skills to them. What if we encounter themter on and they''re hostile? They''re sure to be on guard against you because of your teleportation."


    Eliza''s words made Evan stop in his tracks, he understood what she just said and understood it was true.


    ''I would not normally react like that, at most a light warning would have been okay but the moment Kuro told me he tried to sneak up on her, I got pissed.


    Who the heck does he think he is to mess with my party member like that?''


    Evan shook his head to get rid of his thoughts before replying to Eliza.


    "My reaction was indeed over the top but it was more than necessary considering the situation, that scout guy has a concealment skill that''s even better than mine, after all."


    He then walked forward before continuing.


    "Besides, that''s not the main order of business for today, we have a monster room to find after all."


    The young hero forcefully changed the topic, drawing the group''s attention to the monster room they were supposed to look for.


    "Do you know exactly where it is?"


    "Nope. But there are more than one so if we wander about enough we are bound to run into one."


    "Again, you should say things like these earlier!"


    Eliza couldn''t help but retort after hearing Evan''s reply to Pride''s question, but in the next moment, she wished she didn''t retort so loudly as a bunch of de wraiths, perhaps having heard her loud voice, were speedily making their way over to the group''s position.


    Sensing them, Evan pulled out his sword and tossed it into the air, making it float with his weapon control skill before calling out to his newly contracted spirit.


    "Kuro, you''re up this time."


    The moment he spoke, a ck cat jumped out of his shadow and walked in the direction of the iing enemies.


    "Test out your new magic first, then your skill."


    The spirit nodded as his ck eyes locked onto the first group of iing enemies. The next moment, he twirled his tail around and a ck two-ringed magic circle formed at the tip.


    Each of the rings in the magic circle had a thinyer of white light bordering it, signifying the light properties that the spell possessed.


    Multiple shards of ck light, with each having four shards going through them appeared mid-air and pointed in the direction of the sword-wielding enemies.


    [Go.]


    The cat spoke one word as he flicked his tail, the shards of light beingunched towards the iing enemies at barely perceptible speeds, impaling each one of the enemies with rtive ease and sending them to their deaths.


    The next moment, the cat turned his dark gaze in a certain direction and melted into his shadow, reappearing a few feet away through the shadow of a de wraith that was able to block the iing shards of light.


    [Shadow w.]


    Calling out softly, the cat swiped its paw, releasing a three-pronged sh of magic towards the de wraith, messily splitting its body into three pieces and sttering blood everywhere.


    However, the blood never reached the cat as he had already dived back into the shadow of the falling corpse and reappeared right next to the feet of another de wraith.


    The cat''s shadow suddenly glitched and a long tendril arm-like appendage rose up from within it and sliced off the legs of the de wraith beside him.


    Before the cat could finish off the monster, it suddenly caught sight of a crude ss bottle flying in the air from the corner of its eyes, melding back into the shadows in the next moment to avoid it.


    That decision proved to be correct as the bottle crashed just where the cat was secondster and exploded, releasing a cloud of green smoke that couldn''t be anything but poison.


    As for the creature responsible for throwing the bottle, it titled its head in question when it saw that the cat it had thrown the bottle towards reappeared at the feet of one of the humans a few metres away.


    Its yellow eyes narrowed as it was about to throw out two more bottles, only to realise that the cat had disappeared once more.


    Perhaps learning from what happened to the de wraiths, the monster turned around, hoping to catch the cat, however, it suddenly felt pain in its chest and looked down to see a forked tail sticking out through its chest.


    [Turning around was futile. I never intended to move into your shadow in the first ce.]

 Chapter 136 Kuro’s Brightest Shadow

    [Turning around was futile. I never intended to move into your shadow in the first ce.]


    Those were thest words it heard as the forked tail was pulled out of its chest, its body dropping to the floor in the next second.


    Kuro looked at the de wraiths that were paying attention to him and turned his gaze to his master who was severing the head of another de wraith that had attacked him with his sword before speaking.


    [I''m going to use it.]


    As soon as he spoke, Evan''s eyes widened in surprise for a moment, hurriedly calling out to Pride and Eliza in the next as he backstepped.


    "Clear out of the area, Kuro''s about to use a big one."


    While they didn''t exactly understand what Evan meant by ''Big one'', they were sure that whatever Kuro was about to do could potentially harm them, hence the reason Evan called for them to pull back.


    The moment that the cat noticed that they were a reasonable distance away, he turned to the group of de wraiths charging over with one of his ck eyes bow glowing with a white light and called out softly.


    [Brightest Shadow.]


    Above the cat''s head, ck light began concentrating until it built up into arge sphere. From therge sphere, a multitude of very thin beams of light and shadows were released, shooting straight toward the remaining enemies and piercing them in various parts of their bodies.


    By the time the beams stopped, the majority of them had been pierced to death while the stronger ones were heavily damaged.


    However, the shadow spirit was not done yet.


    His white and ck eyes gazed at the remaining enemies for a moment before he raised his paw and swung it down.


    The sphere of dark light that had considerably reduced in size, shone brighter for a bit before being released in a column of light too fast and too widespread to avoid.


    **BOOOMM!!!


    There was a small explosion as the column of dark light collided with the ground, however, it didn''tst for long, dying down mere seconds after and revealing a small crater about thirty metres wide.


    Seeing this, Evan and Eliza stared at Kuro with cked jaws while Pride was busy talking about something with the fire spirit on her shoulder.


    Kuro''s skill was automatically deactivated and his eyes returned to normal, after which he walked over to Evan''s feet and re-entered his shadow like everything was normal.


    It took Evan a few minutes to recollect himself and he only spoke two words to Kuro.


    ''You''re broken.''


    [I know.]


    The spiritzily replied as he readjusted himself inside Evan''s shadow and closed his eyes to continue his nap.


    Seeing the spirit''sckadaisical attitude, Evan''s brow twitched in annoyance but he held it in with superhuman willpower.


    And like so, the group continued their dungeon diving,ing across a total of five other adventurer parties besides the first one that was also dungeon diving.


    Evan asked them if they knew the location of any monster rooms but sadly, none of the parties was able to give them information on the location of a monster room that hadn''t been raided already.


    They even encountered a party that had just finished raiding a monster room that they had just happened to find and decided to raid because they felt like, leaving Evan screaming about the injustice of the world.


    Eventually, the group found a secluded-looking area in one of the copsed rooms of the dungeon and spent the night there, keeping watch in shifts just like before.


    �� �� ��


    Mansion of the Damned, 3rd Basement Floor


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum


    December 22nd


    Year 1051


    The next day began with Evan pulling up the details of Kuro''s skill and reading it again, trying to deepen his understanding of how the skill worked.


    |Brightest Shadow;


    Type: Unique Skill


    Concentrates dark light until it builds up into arge sphere that hovers above the user.<sub> </sub>


    The user can then consume this concentrated dark light and use it to attack in various ways ranging from firing thin beams of light and shadows that pierce the enemies, to absorbing it to release arge burst of light and shadows from their body, and reforming it into


    dozens of shadowy des that can beunched at targets from a distance. Despite beingposed of shadows, the des would have all the properties of a real one.


    When the sphere of dark light has been consumedpletely, the skill is automatically deactivated. |


    No matter how he looked at it, this skill was the kind where how powerful it was depended on how good the user was at utilizing the skill.


    ''It didn''t explicitly state that he has to use only those three means to attack, after all, thest column of light wasn''t stated in the skills description. This means that Kuro was the one who thought of that himself.''


    Evan was analysing Kuro''s wonderful skill as the group moved along a twisted trial that led them past copsed rooms and piged treasure storages, eventually entering a weary area when Eliza suddenly tapped his shoulder and broke him out of his thoughts.


    He looked up to see the priestess pointing somewhere and after turning his gaze in that direction, he finally realized why she called his attention.


    "What are the odds..."


    "...that we just happen to find a room that seems very suspicious, the next day after I told you that I was looking for a monster room."


    Evan narrowed his eyes as he stared at the room, or rather, the door that he was sure definitely led to the monster room.


    As for why he was so sure, it was naturally because he had seen it hundreds of times in the game!


    It was a very normal-looking door and the group would have thought it was just another door that could not be opened, if not for the intricate writing all around the doorpost that glowed a green light instead of red like the others.


    "So, are we still entering?"


    Hearing Eliza''s question, Pride ced her hand on her chin and thought to herself for a moment before nodding in affirmation.


    "The enemies here are indeed too weak and it''s quite impossible for me to improve my skills with the difficulty being so low, at most, I''m only managing to umte experience points that are being shared with Evan and his contracted spirits."


    "Though in your case, it''s not that you''re improving your skills. You''re simply regaining the skills and techniques that you already had in your prime."


    Evan added as he walked towards the door, pushing it open and looking inside.


    The sheer amount of ambient magic power in the room was so much that even Eliza who was normally unable to see the flow of magic power could see it as clear as day.


    "Magic so potent it has physical form...Are you sure we should enter that room?"


    She began to have second thoughts as there was no way any monster that spawned in that room could be normal.


    Looking through the slightly open door, she could see an altar in the centre which was covered in runes, some of which were glowing.


    "That''s what''s drawing so much magic power into this ce and generates the monsters when it detects the presence of other beings entering the room."


    Evan exined as he wore his gauntlets that seemed to be barely holding up after the constant channelling of the lightning magic belonging to the great spirit of lightning.


    It didn''t take long for Evan and Pride to skilfully swindle Eliza into entering the room and by the time she realised she had been had, it was already toote as the door snapped shut behind them.


    The room was quiterge, being about fifty metres in length and width, almost half the size of an average adult football pitch.


    At the four corners of the room, were openingsrge enough for a ten feet tall person to walk through with rtive ease. Looking through them, all they could see was endless darkness that gave one chills down their spine.


    "Those are where the monsters appear from, the room is big so we should be expecting dozens of monsters toe out with each wave.


    It won''t stop until we kill them all so get ready for a drawn-out battle."


    Evan scanned through his inventory and picked out one of every potion, healing, strength enhancement, agility boosting, mental resistance, poison resistance, and magic regeneration.


    He put them in small partitioned knapsacks and tossed them to Pride and Eliza.


    "In case I''m too far to give you a potion when you need it."


    As soon as he spoke, the runes on the altar began to glow with a brighter light as three of the four monster spawn points shed with light.


    "Evan bumped his fists together, lightning crackling down his arms as he locked his gaze onto one of the three spawn points, his trusted contracted spirit floating beside him as the duo prepared to roast the unfortunate de wraiths."


    "Evan...."

 Chapter 137 Monster Room!

    [Hey y''all


    It''s your friendly neighborhood Author.


    So I was nning to make a few changes to the ages of some characters, mainly Evan and Laurene.


    I would be changing their current ages from eleven to thirteen.


    Due to this there would be some inconsistencies.


    I would like to apologize for the trouble.


    Thanks for your understanding and I look forward to seeing you continue our Reincarnated Hero''s journey.]


    "Evan bumped his fists together, lightning crackling down his arms as he locked his gaze onto one of the three spawn points, his trusted contracted spirit floating beside him as the duo prepared to roast the unfortunate de wraiths."


    "Evan...."


    The young hero breached his role once more, earning him a re from the ancient high demon, however, she had no time to reprimand him as dozens of de wraiths began running out of the three spawn points.


    "Let''s go!!


    Ka!"


    [Umu!]


    The moment Ka responded to Evan''s call, she spread out her lightning and expanded it to cover his whole body. He could feel it strengthening his muscles and nerves, allowing him to tell that Ka had at least doubled his overall power.


    From the outside, he looked like he was simply shining as if he was shooting out lightning from his body.


    To anyone looking at him, he probably looked more like a lightning beast than a human.


    "You''re using that again, huh?"


    Pride recognized the familiar state that Evan had entered and heaved a sigh of exasperation as she took a stance with her right arm and leg drawn backward and her left arm stretched forward.


    "Vanitas."


    Her treasured sword responded to her call and appeared in her hand as she began focusing the might of the formless wind around her de.


    She consumed her magic power and manipted the whirlwind, generating enough suction force to pull the iing de wraiths towards her front.


    "Hap!"


    With a short cry, she thrust her sword arm forward, releasing a miniature storm as all the de wraiths running towards her wereunched into the air.


    On Eliza''s side, she decided to bring out the big guns early, holding nothing back as she activated her flower cannon skill.


    A gigantic shoot emerged from the ground, towering over Eliza, as a flower bud bloomed and from an opening of the petals,unched a powerful beam of concentrated magic power.


    ***WOOOONGGG!!!!


    ***BOOMM!!!


    There was a loud explosion as dozens of de wraiths were sted to bits and pieces, yet the force behind the cannon did not recede.


    Taking from the advice Artemisia gave her, Eliza rotated the flower, resulting in the beam of magic power affecting a wide area and consigning a few more de wraiths to oblivion.


    [Level Up!]


    [Level Up!]


    She then deactivated the skill the moment she saw the level-up notifications, so as not to exhaust herself already before casting a basic strength and speed buff on herself.


    A ring of light appeared around her wrists and ankles, as she crouched with her front knee over and both hands on the floor.


    The radiant codex hovered beside her and she took a deep breath before kicking off the ground and dashing in the direction of the monsters that had already replenished their numbers.


    Meanwhile, Evan was having the time of his life, concentrating great amounts of lightning magic on his fists and punching the heads of the de wraiths, exploding the lightning on contact after adding a little bit of fire magic to it at thest moment.


    He used his blink skill to weave his way through the enemy numbers without getting caught by their sword shes that were powerful enough to make him lose a limb or two.


    With the help of Kuro''s shadow maniption, he could restrain enemies that attempted to attack him from his blind spots, giving himself enough time to either deal with the enemies in front or to turn around andunch an attack at the de wraith at was unlucky to be restrained.


    He even borrowed Kuro''s light shadow magic to create a cage of light that held about half a dozen enemies in ce, giving him a bit of breathing room as he dealt with the remaining ten or so that were sprinkling explosive powder on him.


    In order to prevent the situation of him blowing himself up, he had to reduce his usage of fire magic and lightning, giving him a chance to familiarize himself with Kuro''s light shadow magic.


    He switched out Ka''s lightning possession for Kuro''s shadows as his body effectively turned into shadows that could not be touched by normal means.


    The young hero extended his shadow in length, creating a swirling vortex that pulled in any and every de wraith within a five-metre radius of him.


    He then grabbed his sword that had been floating beside him all this while and sheathed it. In the next moment, he dashed forward while striking with two wide arcs.<sub> </sub>


    **SWISH!!


    Blood sttered all over the floor as multiple de wraiths were severed in two, with their corpses dropping to the floor and preventing the others from having a proper ce to put their feet down.


    [Master, I found them!]


    Hearing Ka''s voice, Evan looked up to see the lightning spirit raise her hands in the air and clench her fists before swinging them downwards.


    Dark clouds of magic gathered above their heads, followed by golden bolts of lighting dropping down onto a trio of yellow-skinned monsters that had bottles of explosive powder and unknown poisons in their hands.


    **BOOOOMM!!! BOOOOOMMM!!!


    "GURGH!!!"


    Only one of them lived long enough to let out a scream as the other two exploded into chunks of meat as the lighting hit the explosive bottles in their hands and ignited them.


    [Level Up!]


    As soon as Evan confirmed the deaths of the yellow-skinned monsters, he switched out Kuro''s shadowy form for Ka''s lightning and took a stance with his right arm pulled backward.


    A golden aura coalesced around his sword, with Ka''s lightning causing sparks to appear along the de and Kuro''s shadows causing traces of dark light to appear within the gold aura.


    "Vortex!"


    He thrust his sword forward in the direction of the newly spawned de wraiths, the roaring spiral-shaped mass of aura crashed into the bodies of the unfortunate monsters, sending them to their deaths mere seconds after they just came into existence.


    **BOOOMM!!


    He heard an explosion and turned around breathing heavily, his eyes widening as he looked at the scene of Pride floating in the air with six tornadoes of ck wind rotating around her.


    She snapped her fingers and a ck circle of about ten metres in diameter appeared around her. In the next moment, all the enemies within that range were sucked towards the centre without being able to resist.


    However, before they could even reach the centre, they were shredded to pieces by the might of the six tornadoes of demonic energy-infused wind.


    ''Hmm? Then the explosion was from Eliza?''


    He turned his gaze in Eliza''s direction, seeing the battle priestess impaling a yellow-skinned monster with her staff and flinging its body in the direction of a group of de wraiths that were releasing shes of condensed magic power towards her.


    The shes tore the yellow-skinned monster apart, with one of them breaking the bottle it was holding in its hand and triggering another explosion.


    **BOOOOOOMM!!!!


    Clouds of dust and smoke rose up as Eliza took advantage of this to buff her speed and bash the heads of the de wraiths who had their vision clouded with her magic-infused staff.


    "Where did she get that thing from?"


    It did not take long for the group to make short work of the monsters, killing them all and finally giving themselves a few minutes of rest.


    "We''ve dispersed a lot of the magic power that has condensed in the room and absorbed most of it into our bodies as experience points so it would take a few minutes for the monsters to re-spawn.


    After all, this is just the first wave."


    Evan remarked as he took off his gauntlets and looked at his arms which were a lot less injured than he had expected.


    "huh?"


    Before he could even ask why he received the answer in the form of a skill notification.


    |Adaptive Evolution has been triggered. |


    |Lightning resistance has been acquired. |


    "Finally!"


    He screamed out in joy as he had achieved one of his goals, with the other being to mimic the ''Fracture'' skill that he once saw another top-rank yer use during the game.


    ''It would be a good skill to use in closebat situations with my fists.''


    As he thought that, he caught sight of Pride who picked up a potion but suddenly decided against drinking it and put it back into the knapsack.


    She then tossed the sack to Evan and told him to ce it back into his inventory.


    "Why?"


    "Whenever we end up going to that tower of trials that the ''goddess'' created for you, it would be impossible for us to use potions and the like so I''m using this as practice."


    Hearing what she said, Evan nodded in affirmation and ced the knapsack back into his inventory, taking his time to rest as he dwelled on Pride''s words while his contracted shadow spirit reaped the magic stones of the de wraiths from their corpses.


    ''Let''s try fighting without the spirit''s assistance now, shall we?''

 Chapter 138 Careful What You Wish For...!

    ''Let''s try fighting without the spirit''s assistance now, shall we?''


    This was the conclusion Evan came to and he should have honestly not voiced it out, unfortunately, he wished to inform his party members of the reason why he would not be using his spirits so that they would not be caught unawares.


    It''s not like it was a bad idea, it was a rtively good one. It''s just that the timing at which he had that idea, was the worst possible timing.


    "Hey, guys. Let''s try something..."


    Unfortunately, at the moment before he spoke, thest person that should have heard him say that, turned their gaze towards him and upon hearing Evan''s words, the corners of his lips curled up into an evil grin.


    �� �� ��


    A man was dressed in a ck knight uniform with white and gold colours as a contrast. A ck mantle with red lining was draped over one of his shoulders and he sat atop some sort ofrge golden tform while his legs swayed in the wind.


    Just beneath his bangs were a pair of eyes coloured red and blue respectively, an elegantly straight nose, and a pair of thin lips. All came together��perfectly.


    The man reminisced on something that someone had once told him.


    ''The cosmos is boundless.


    From the existences of ancient times that have attempted and failed to restore the universe to its primordial nothingness...


    The nations of various worlds contending for supremacy...


    The strong beasts of the wastnds that emerge one after another...


    The races that have lived in seclusion for thousands of generations...


    The primordial chaos of life and death in the afterlife...


    Unknown alien races, never seen before secret realms, unpredictable trajectories, and hitherto unseen wonders.


    All sorts of things like this.


    So excessively vast that once could not possibly see it through it all through thousands of lifetimes.


    Some, nevertheless, im that the ''godly beings'' who tower over all other existences and their opposites who "aggress" them are responsible for all of these things.


    As he opened his mouth to speak, the man continued to stare out at the gathering clouds.


    "I was curious to find out if these supposedly colossal and potent godly beings lived up to their reputation. If that was the case, all I could do was to take after them.


    But if they were nothing great..."


    He turned his gaze downwards and took in theplete design of his perch.


    If one were to look at it from afar, they would be dumbstruck at the absurdity of what they were seeing.


    All around where the man was seated, was a scene of carnage with what was probably once a beautiful continent, now littered with blood, gore, and death, in every nook and cranny, enough to make even the bravest tremble in fear.


    The entire area was deathly quiet except for the sound of the wind, nothing else could be heard.


    There wasn''t even so much as a fly buzzing!


    There was nothing left alive on the continent save for the man surveying the devastation and carnage from above.


    Men, women, children of all races, animals, monsters, insects, nts, it all mattered not. As far as it was something to which the concept of life could be attached, it was dead.


    In the middle of it all, a massive figure in blue full body armour, standing at several tens of kilometres tall, knelt down on one knee.


    To keep his massive frame from copsing to the floor, he propped it up with an equally massive sword.


    On the floor beside his enormous body were the shattered remnants of what was once the helmet that paired with this full body armour.


    The entity was surrounded by rivers of golden blood, and additional blood could be seen oozing from its eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.


    A gigantic sword easily the same height as this gigantic being, was stabbed through this being''s back, bursting out from his chest as more golden blood poured out of the stab wound.


    The sword was one with an intricately designed golden hilt, a semi-transparent de with a ck line running through it along with various runguages written on it.


    And then came the absurd part of the situation.


    The tiny figure of the heterochromatic-eyed man was seated atop the hilt of this gigantic sword as he stared down at the corpse of the ''godly being'' his sword was impaling as he continued his statement.


    "...then killing off these ''godly beings'', is something that I would do myself.


    After all, in all of existence, there is no other being who embodies and personifies the concept of ''god ying'' more than I do."


    While staring at the golden lightning that crackled beneath the ck clouds, he ran his fingers through his silver hair.


    He tapped the air, and a screen materialized in front of him, disying the figures of six beings, three of whom were noticeably smaller in size than the other three, all in a big room littered with the corpses of humanoid monsters.<sub> </sub>


    One of these beings, a boy who looked to be about fifteen years of age, stood up and turned to the others before speaking.


    [Hey, guys. Let''s try something...]


    The moment the man heard the words of the boy, the corners of his mouth turned up in a sneering smirk.


    "Very well. Since you want to train so well, I would help you out to the ''best'' of my ability."


    He burst out intoughter as he flicked his fingers, causing a split-second increase in the concentration of the ambient energies around him.


    The next moment, the world around him turned monochrome as everything seemed to have stopped, even a drop of the blood of the ''godly being'' he just killed that was in the process of falling down to the ground.


    A second screen appeared and this one split into several smaller screens, each showing multiple humanoid monsters simr to the ones on the first screen.


    "Sending him the boss would be too much and Artemisia would notice, so how about I send those three?


    Individually, they do not match up to the floor boss, but when they are together, they can make short work of it in a few minutes."


    Immediately following his words, the secondary set of screens faded away, and colour returned to the world.


    He ced his elbow on hisp and rested his face on his palm as he gazed at the remaining screen and spoke.


    "Now then, amuse me.


    Surrender, is NOT a valid option."


    �� �� ��


    Mansion of the Damned, 3rd Basement Floor Monster Room


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum


    December 22nd


    Year 1051


    Pride and Eliza took advantage of the time they had to rest and recovered their energies as they knew that the monster room would not end with only one wave of enemies.


    Meanwhile, Evan was frowning as he noticed that the enemies were taking longer than expected to spawn.


    ''It''s been nearly five minutes. In the game, the monster rooms all had one-minute cooldowns, did it chance in reality and I''m not aware because I didn''t ask the guild?''


    He had assumed that all monster rooms had the one-minute cool down between waves, game, or reality but he was beginning to think that he was wrong on that assumption.


    For a moment, Evan felt his vision go monochrome but after rubbing his eyes and looking again, everything looked normal so he ignored it and turned his attention back to the abnormal situation.


    ''Either that or something else I going on...


    What do you think Ka?''


    He called out to his contracted spirit who was always seated on his shoulder but heard no reply. He then looked at his shoulder and realised she was not there anymore.


    "Huh? Kuro, where did Ka go?"


    Turning around, he looked in the direction of the monster corpses but he did not see the familiar ck cat.


    All he saw was a pile of monster magic stones that were dropped on the ground messily.


    He tried contacting them through his connection with them but for some reason, it didn''t work!


    A chill ran down Evan''s spine as he turned in Pride''s direction. He had an idea of what happened and he hoped it was not the case, however, when he did not see the familiar me spirit on Pride''s shoulder, he realised he was right.


    This situation was very obviously not normal.


    "Guys! Something''s wrong!"


    He ran up to the two who stared at him quizzically while tightening their grips on their weapons and spoke.


    "The spirits, they''re gone."


    It was then that Pride realised that the fire spirit Amy was not on her shoulder anymore.


    "What...?"


    The high demon was nonplussed as she never even felt the spirit move an inch, yet, it had suddenly disappeared.


    "I can''t contact Ka and Kuro either, it''s as if my connection with them has been cut off but the contract is still there!"

 Chapter 139 ...Because You Don’t Know How It’d Be Granted![Bonus Chapter]

    "I can''t contact Ka and Kuro either, it''s as if my connection with them has been cut off but the contract is still there!"


    Evan tried to remain calm but he could not. All the spirits with them had disappeared not long after he said something about not using the spirits for battle, it''d be weirder if he was still calm after that.


    The next moment, the runes on the altar began to glow with a brighter light as three of the four monster spawn points shed with light.


    ''This is horrible timing!''


    Evan cursed as he summoned his de, gazing at the spawn points with fury in his eyes, however, a chill ran down his spine in the next moment as he felt the auras of the monstersing out.


    "No fucking way!"


    From the three glowing spawn points, three monsters emerged, each of them emitting an aura that made Evan reflexively take a step back.


    The three de wraiths that walked into the room were d in glided armour and bucket-like helms that reminded Evan of ancient samurai from his home world''s history.


    They wore masks that covered every inch of their faces, save for their blood-red eyes that gazed towards the party silently. Their armours were coloured red, golden and ck respectively.


    Each one carried a sword that was wrapped in the aura of their corresponding colour and their red eyes red straight at Evan''s party.


    ''Helmet, mask, and chest armour paired with shoulder guards, sleeves, a skirt, thigh protection, and shin guards.


    No doubt about it, these are superior de wraiths!''


    "This is bad..."


    Sweat dripped from Evan''s forehead as he spoke.


    "de wraiths are an ancient monster species that are dedicated to using des all through their lives. They never pick up other weapons except under a single condition..."


    Hearing him speak, Pride tightened her grip on her sword and asked.


    "I already have a guess but I''m gonna ask either way. What is that condition?"


    "...That the de wraith in question, has reached a sufficient level of mastery in their de. In other words, de wraiths only pick up other weapons when they have be master-level existences."


    The moment she heard Evan''s words; Eliza''s eyes darted around before zooming in on the things hanging from the waists of the three de wraiths.


    The red and golden armoured de wraiths had crossbows hanging from their hips while the ck armoured one had a short staff that was a bit below the halfway mark of Eliza''s staff''s length.


    "Those are secondary weapons, aren''t they?"


    "yep."


    "So, you''re saying that these three de wraiths are on the level of a sword master."


    "Exactly."


    "How are we supposed to fight that???!!!"


    The young priestess couldn''t help but scream out loud. She knew that although Evan was a master-level existence, his sword skill was not up to par and she was at least a dozen levels away from bing one herself.


    Pride was the only genuine master level among them and they had three genuine masters as enemies.


    The scales weren''t bnced at all!!


    Nevertheless, for some reason, the three de wraiths were not even moving, only standing in ce and staring at the trio in silence.


    Evan noticed this too but couldn''t think it through as his mind was upied with thoughts of his contracted spirits.


    "Facing these three without the help of the spirits is gonna be difficult, to say the least."


    The young hero murmured to himself silently, only for a familiar notice board to pop up in front of him.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says that is exactly the point of taking away the spirits.]


    "Huh?"


    The boy couldn''t help but let out a surprised voice, causing Eliza and Pride to give him strange nces, however, he was far too preupied to even notice this.


    ''What do you mean by that?!''


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says he means exactly what you think. He is indeed responsible for cutting off the connection between you and your contracted spirits.


    He wishes for you to battle these adversaries without their help, with the intention of it being practice for the future.]


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' also says that you of all people should know about your future enemy who possesses powers that are very effective against spirits.]<sub> </sub>


    Evan didn''t even get a chance to reply when he suddenly heard a voice ringing out in his head.


    [Now then, amuse me.


    Surrender, is NOT a valid option.]


    The moment he heard thatst line, his blood ran cold as he looked up and shouted with all his might.


    "They''reing!!!!"


    And that was exactly what ''They'' did.


    The three de wraiths that had been silent since they stepped into the room suddenly unsheathed their swords and dashed forward with the swords in front.


    Evan and his party members reacted appropriately, pulling up their weapons to defend themselves from the monster''s attacks.


    Without hesitation, the trio drew their weapons to fend off the three monsters'' onught, preparing their energies for the inevitable counterattack.


    The destructive energy circuit in Evan''s body circted his energy wildly as he coated his de in his distinctive golden aura to fight the de wraith''s lightning-infused aura.


    He then activated two skills simultaneously, his body being coated in a thinyer of white light while delivering a palm strike to the monster''s midsection with his left hand off the sword hilt.


    Although his strength did not match up to that of the seven feet tall monster, he was able to hold on for a few seconds with just one hand, long enough for the second skill he activated to take effect.


    **BOOOMM!!!


    There was a loud explosion, with Evan and the de wraith being sent flying for a few dozen metres.


    "Guhh!"


    Evan grunted in pain as he struggled to his feet as fast as he could. He tried to grab onto his sword with his left hand and use it to prop himself up but the pain he felt only intensified.


    As if on cue, a ring of green light appeared around his left wrist and the pain was alleviated before he could even scream in agony.


    Sadly, Evan did not even have the time to say words of thanks as he sensed two chunks of magic power heading in his direction, looking up to see two crossbow bolts of pure lightning-infused magic power speeding toward him.


    He rolled out of the way to avoid the bolts before rousing his magic power and snapping his fingers.


    The spell he had copied from the demon Xakon was activated as five two-ringed magic circles appeared around him.


    From each of these magic circles, mes were generated,ing out in a spiralling motion, which created a tornado-shaped st of mes.


    The five sts headed straight for the golden armoured de wraith that was speeding towards him, burning through the air in their paths as they zoomed towards their targets.


    To the young hero''s surprise, the de wraith suddenly tossed its de up in the air and pulled one hand backward while fiverge orbs of golden lightning formed on its open palm.


    In the next moment, the de wraith then leaned forward andunched the orbs of lightning in the direction of the iing sts of mes.


    **BOOOMMM!!!!


    The lightning orbs and me sts collided mid-air and exploded, releasing a cloud of dust and smoke that obscured the young hero''s vision temporarily.


    He didn''t dare stay within the smoke any longer, activating his blink skill and warping nearly twenty feet into the air.


    Looking down, he saw the ghostly outline of the de wraith that had just cut the ground where he stood moments prior with a de coated in a golden aura.


    "AHHH!!"


    Upon hearing a familiar voice screaming, his eyes turned in the direction of the source, locking on the figure of the ck armoured de wraith raising its sword above its head and swinging downwards in the direction of his party''s one and only support.


    ''Oh no, you don''t!''


    Right before the force of gravity made him fall to the ground through the cloud of smoke that was yet to clear up, he blinked once more, appearing at the side of the ck armoured de wraith and activating another skill immediately after.


    "Aura sh!"


    The de wraith''s sword strike was disrupted by a sh of aura that coalesced around his weapon and radiated forth from him in a golden hue.


    Before the monster could evenprehend why Evan was suddenly beside it, the young hero had transitioned to another attack, his left palm stretching out as he activated his energy st skill.


    A golden beam of lightning wasunched from his palm, hitting the de wraith straight in the head and knocking it off its feet.


    Evan heard the sound of something cracking and shattering, but he paid it no mind, refusing to give the de wraith even the slightest bit of time to recover as he coated his sword in lightning and swung it downwards faster than he normally could, releasing another aura sh simultaneously.

 Chapter 140 It’s Always Too Late For Regrets

    Evan heard the sound of something cracking and shattering, but he paid it no mind, refusing to give the de wraith even the slightest bit of time to recover as he coated his sword in lightning and swung it downwards faster than he normally could, releasing another aura sh simultaneously.


    As soon as he did this, he let go of his sword and allowed it to fall to the ground, dropping to his knees and mming his hands into the ground.


    He poured his magic power into the ground and a burst of mes manifested on the ground, surrounding him.


    Multiple fireballs materialized from the ring of fire and shot out in all directions except to his right, where he knew Eliza was.


    **BAM BAAM! BAAMM!!


    Some of the fireballs managed to m into the body of the ck armoured de wraith, cracking its armour and burning off pieces of its flesh underneath.


    ''Just like this, I sh-!''


    "EVANN!!!"


    Before the young hero could even think of what attack to use next, he heard his name being screamed out as arge shadow was suddenly cast on the ground in front of him.


    His blood ran cold as he felt the pure bloodlust of whatever was standing behind him, moments before the sound of ss shattering was heard, as if a stone had been hurled through a double-paned window.


    The few seconds in which the sound could be heard were the few seconds that saved his life as the teenage hero triggered his blink for the third time within a few minutes, teleporting out of his circle of mes.


    Despite only being able to move no more than five meters ahead before the skill was cancelled, it was enough to spare him from the fiery sword that tore through the air where he had been just seconds before.


    His vision was shaky as he tumbled onto the ground but he managed to glimpse the appearance of the red armoured de wraith standing precisely where he was a few seconds before.


    Luckily, his attacker was unable to send in a second assault as its original opponent appeared in front of it with a speed that Evan could barely catch.


    Rings of green light enveloped the person''s wrists and feet as they swung their auraden sword into the air.


    He saw a trail of dark light tear through the air as it streaked towards the neck of the de wraith, only to be halted by the same sword that nearly cut Evan''s journey short mere seconds prior.


    As soon as Evan was able to pull himself back up off the ground, three golden coloured crossbow bolts zoomed in on him, prompting him to jump out of the way to avoid them.


    "Unforged!"


    He called out to his de as his weapon control skill was activated, causing his sword to fly into his hand.


    Gripping it tightly, he turned his gaze in the direction of the familiar golden armoured de wraith that was dashing towards him.


    "Eliza, on my signal, I need you to give me a speed buff."


    As soon as he spoke, he kicked off the ground and dashed forward to meet the iing de wraith.


    **CLANGG!!


    Their swords shed for the second time today, with Evan twisting his body and diverting the impact of the seven-foot-tall monster''s blow to the ground, before whirling around and executing his counter assault to the monster''s left side.


    However, the de wraith took advantage of its greater speed and strength, bringing up its de to the side as it stopped Evan''s attack.


    Evan swiftly moved backward taking distance from the monster in preparation to execute a ranged strike.


    Sadly, the monster perceived his aim and didn''t allow him as much room as he would have desired.


    Golden aura surged around the de wraith''s weapon as it rushed forward while swinging its de in three, diagonal shes.


    Evan lifted up his own sword, wrapping it in aura as he swung it at varied angles to parry the de wraith''s repeated assaults.


    The young hero immediately opened his lips, ambient energy swiftly collecting in front of it before being fired out as a beam in the direction of the shocked de wraith.


    **BAMMM!!


    **CRACKK!


    The beam of magic power mmed into it fair and square, cracking a piece of its armour as Evan finally attained the distance that he had desired.


    He stretched his hand into the air, with half of it instantly travelling into a small fifty-centimetre-long ck hole that had appeared mid-air, and grabbing a bottle out of it.


    Briefly ncing at the bottle to confirm if it was the right one, he downed the contents while keeping his eyes trained on the monster that was slowly but surely staggering to its feet.


    "Eliza! Now!"


    Evan shouted as he tossed the bottle away and kicked off the ground, dashing towards the seven feet tall de wraith in front of him with his sword in hand.


    His body glowed as a thinyer of white light that signified the activation of his pdin skill enveloped his body.


    Next, a green ring of light appeared around his ankles as his speed increased to a level that made the de wraith lose sight of him for a moment.


    And that moment was all Evan needed to deal a deadly blow.


    ''Blink''


    He activated his blink skill and shed to the monster''s side, his sword coated in his signature golden aura as he swung it towards the monster''s waist, intending on severing it in two.


    **CLANGG!!!


    Sadly, his attack was blocked in thest moment as a ming crossbow bolt crashed into his de and diverted its path, making him miss his swing.


    ''Shit!''


    Before he could regain his posture and attack again, his opponent had already noticed where he was and turned its glowing red eyes in his direction.


    He made a split-second decision to blink away and that prevented him from being hit by the monster''s lightning-coated fist that came crashing down on his previous location.


    "This...might have been a bad idea."


    "Now you regret it?"


    He heard Pride''s voice reply to his words as she sent out a ball a ball of ck mes in the direction of the de wraith in front of her who retaliated by firing multiple bolts of bright red mes from its crossbow.


    **BOOM!!


    On the other hand, the ck armoured de wraith who had recovered from Evan''s earlier onught of attacks, charged at Eliza with its sword in hand, however, the battle priestess rolled out of the way to avoid the de coated in an ominous ck haze that came crashing down on the ground.


    After that, she rolled toward the hero and the demon whose backs had just touched, and then she got up, tightening her grip on her staff, and red at the de wraith that hade dangerously close to beheading her just a few seconds before.


    "Yep, going inside the room with the monsters was a horrible n!


    Her weary voice resounded across the room as she narrowed her eyes and stared at the ominous ck cloud that surrounded the de wraith''s ck sword.


    It was at this point in time, that Evan finally had the peace of mind to activate his appraisal skill on the trio of de wraiths that surrounded them.


    |Name- Elecrus


    Race- de Wraith: Veradas<sub> </sub>


    Level- 121


    Existence Level - Master


    Titles- One Who has Broken Through


    ss - Lightning Sword Master


    Health �C C-


    Energy - C


    Strength �C C-


    Agility �C C+


    Durability �C C


    Intelligence - C-


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers- Lightning Tier 2


    Skills- Electro Charge, Swordsmanship (High).


    Unique Skills- None. |


    ---


    |Name- Leviron


    Race- de Wraith: Veradas


    Level- 119


    Existence Level - Master


    Titles- One Who has Broken Through


    ss - Dark Sword Master


    Health �C (C-) D+


    Energy - C+


    Strength �C C


    Agility �C C-


    Durability �C (C-) D+


    Condition- Weakened, Recovering


    Magic Tiers- Dark Tier 2


    Skills- Haze Sword, Swordsmanship (High).


    Unique Skills- None. |


    ---


    |Name- vore


    Race- de Wraith: Veradas


    Level- 123


    Existence Level - Master


    Titles- One Who has Broken Through


    ss - me Sword Master


    Health �C C


    Energy - C


    Strength �C C+


    Agility �C C-


    Durability �C C-


    Intelligence - C-


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 2


    Skills- Firebolt, Swordsmanship (High).


    Unique Skills- None. |


    "!!!"


    Their statuses were disyed in order of the gold armoured, ck armoured, and red armoured de wraiths respectively.


    Evan was at a loss for words as he examined the monsters'' statuses.


    All three of them were named monsters that by all rights, could be considered floor bosses on their own!


    With levels no lower than 119, it was simply impossible to find such monsters in anywhere before the tenth floor of the dungeon.


    Another thing Evan noticed, was that the monsters seemed to be ced here just for him, Pride, and Eliza.


    That was the only thing that could exin why the one that attacked him happened to be a lightning sword master while Pride was attacked by a me sword master.


    As for Eliza who possessed Life magic, she was attacked by a monster with dark magic on the exact same tier as she did.


    "That son of a bitch! He picked these three on purpose!"

 Chapter 141 Round Two!

    "That son of a bitch! He picked these three on purpose!"


    Evan instantly figured out the reason for the de wraith''s skills and attributes being so simr to theirs, gritting his teeth in anger as he fished out three bottles of magic potions from his inventory and tossed two to Pride and Eliza.


    After downing his, he red at the monsters and spoke up.


    "The three of them are named monsters, Level 121 Elecrus; the lightning one, Level 119 Leviron; the dark one and Level 123 vore; the me one.


    They all possess high-level swordsmanship skills and one more skill each.


    Leviron has a Haze Sword skill, the reason why he has that ominous haze around his sword. vore has a firebolt skill that''s quite self-exnatory while Elecrus has a skill called electro charge, which he uses for his crossbow bolts."


    Pride''s eyes widened as she heard Evan''s words, a small smile creeping up to her face as she spoke.


    "I see what they are doing. Attacking the person whom they have the most resistance towards, huh?


    How cheeky of them..."


    Her blood-red pupils glowed with an eerie light as a wave of demonic energy spread out from her body.


    "Contempt of the Many."


    She called out softly, taking a stance with her right leg pulled backward and her left leg stretched forward.


    She gripped her de with both hands and pulled it backward. An aura of sinister ck mes surrounded her sword as she locked gazes with the me Sword Master, vore.


    Simultaneously, Evan assumed a stance that was designed specifically for the purpose of thrusting, and he pulled his sword arm backward while a golden aura began to swirl around the tip of his sword.


    Lightning crackled his entire arm, going on to mix with his aura as he took a deep breath and activated his mystic eyes of mimicry before speaking to Eliza.


    "Leviron, the one with the hazy sword is the weakest among the three, and it is not at full power so, Eliza, you should take him."


    Eliza, on the other hand, gave a little nod in response to the words that Evan had spoken. She then pulled out the radiant codex and let it to float alongside her. Finally, she aimed her staff in front of her as she condensed green-coloured magic power at the tip.


    She was holding the other end of the staff with her left hand as she clenched her right palm around the midsection of the staff.


    The radiant codex released a low humming sound, with two rings of green light appearing around each of her wrists and ankles respectively.


    The three of them stared at their opponents who had taken up stances that were identical to their own, which gave them the ability to either attack first or counterattack with rtive ease.


    Silence pervaded the entire area as both teams stared at each other motionlessly.


    In the next moment...


    "Vortex."


    Evan materialized out of nowhere, right behind Elecrus, and immediately unleashed the most powerful skill he possessed without showing any hesitation.


    The roaring spiral-shaped mass of lightning-infused aura forcefully mmed into the de wraith''s torso, a deing through the centre of the aura storm and piercing through its armour before going on to stab through its flesh like butter.


    Simultaneously, Pride dashed towards her opponent with barely perceptible speed, swinging her sword upwards as she called out.


    "Aura of Pride: mes of Hubris."


    Unlike Evan, Pride didn''t have any spatial skills, so vore was just barely able to see hering and instinctively rose its ming sword to block her attack.


    A small explosion rang out, releasing omnidirectional shockwaves as the two des shed with each other.


    To vore''s surprise, it found that it was unable to push Pride back as it had before. In fact, it was incapable of withstanding the force that was driving her attack, and it had no other option than to retreat a few feet.


    Nevertheless, Pride''s attack wasn''t done as the ck mes on her sword went on to devour its own mes, corrupt them and turn them against him.


    The ck mes melted a section of its armour and scorch its skin, forcing the de wraith to cry out in pain.


    On Eliza''s side, she was aware that she was weaker than the de wraith, and that even if she was to buff herself to the max, it was still impossible for her to singlehandedly take the monster out.<sub> </sub>


    This was natural, it was more than thirty levels higher than she was and most importantly, she was more of a support mage than she was a fighter.


    Even if her ss was called battle priestess, the ''battle'' there was only because she was capable of holding her own inbat against enemies either on her level or a few levels higher while most support sses on her level were unable to do so.


    However, asking her to do the same to a named monster that was 33 levels higher than her, was simply asking her to die.


    Even if it was weakened, it was still impossible for her to kill it on her own, provided she did not use her unique skill, that is. But the drawback for using the skill was something she didn''t really want to incur right now as she was still in the monster room.


    So, she decided to hold off Leviron for as long as she could, and then borrow help from either Evan or Pride to take out the monster when they were done with their own opponents.


    The n was to make use of her barrier skill to block most of the monster''s attacks while throwing in some of her own asionally and buffing Evan and Pride using the Radiant codex when necessary.


    ''I would really love to use my unique skill but I''m not too sure about the energy consumption. I don''t know what else is in this monster room and I can''t afford to leave myself without magic power for long.''


    Those were the thoughts that ran through her mind as she charged towards Leviron.


    The de wraith kicked off the ground and dashed towards her in response, closing the distance almost immediately and shing horizontally with its de coated in a ck aura.


    As soon as Eliza saw that she was within the monster''s striking range, she instantly ducked, knowing fully well that an attack was bound toe in within seconds.


    Her decision was proven to be right as the de wraith''s sh cut the empty air where her upper body was, a few seconds ago.


    Without stopping for even a moment, Eliza twisted her body and spun round,yering her arms with all the strength buffs she could cast as she swung her staff in a wide arc.


    **BAMMM!!


    The magic-infused weapon mmed into the torso of the de wraith, knocking it back a bit as all the magic in the weapon was forcefully injected into the monster''s body.


    "Guh!"


    Eliza''s lips curled up into a small grin as she heard Leviron''s small grunt of pain.


    ''As I thought, my magic is quite effective if I forcefully inject it into its body!''


    What Eliza had just done, was something that only she could do best because she was a support magician.


    Whenever she healed people, she did so by injecting her life-attributed magic power into their bodies and elerating their natural healing abilities and regenerative processes at the cost of her magic power.


    This caused her targets no harm for two reasons.


    One was that she was injecting life-attributed magic power into their bodies and the second was that she was doing so with the intention to heal them, with her ''Healing'' skill being activated most of the time as she took care to prevent her magic from going haywire in her target''s bodies and messing up their energy flow.


    However, what would happen if she were to take pure unattributed magic power and forcefully inject it into the body of her target?


    What if she did so without taking care not to interfere with her target''s energy flow?


    The de wraith that was staring at her with widened eyes just found out the answer.


    Leviron instantly realised what Eliza had done and made the decision to not let her get in range as it jumped backward and waved its free arm in the air.


    Dozens of ck two-ringed magic circles manifested mid-air, with dark energy spheres being conjured in front of each one of them.


    Directing its hand forward, all the energy spheres wereunched towards the battle priestess, shooting through the air faster than she could outrun them.


    "Barrier!"


    She cried out as she activated her barrier skill, conjuring multiple translucent walls of pure magic power that blocked a few of the dark energy spheres.


    **BOOM!! BOOOMM!!


    Although it was only simple dark magic, the level disparity between them made themon dark spheres seem like tactical level spells to Eliza.


    Eliza rolled out of the way to dodge some of the attacks, however, she was unable to avoid some and had to rely on her barrier to save herself.

 Chapter 142 Child Of Life

    **BOOM!! BOOOMM!!


    Although it was only simple dark magic, the level disparity between them made themon dark spheres seem like tactical level spells to Eliza.


    Eliza rolled out of the way to dodge some of the attacks, however, she was unable to avoid some and had to rely on her barrier to save herself.


    ? Even so, her barrier was only able to do so much, with no more than a few of the spheres shattering the singleyered barriers and mming into the body of the priestess.


    "Now!!"


    She heard Pride''s loud voice, mere moments before two streaks of ck and gold light passed her on both sides.


    Looking up, she caught the figures of Evan and Pride who had cut through the remaining dark spheres with their swords.


    Evan''s eyes shed with a golden light as the exact same magic circle that Leviron used appeared right above his head.


    A dark energy sphere was conjured in front of it and he stretched his left hand up in the air, grabbing the energy sphere and mming it into the ground after infusing it with lightning and fire magic.


    Pride on the other hand focused the might of the formless wind around her de, manipting the whirlwind and generating enough suction force to pull Leviron towards her.


    The de wraith''s eyes shed as it let itself be pulled towards her, raising its sword overhead and coating it in an ominous ck haze.


    It intended to sh down on her the moment she pulled it into range, but to its surprise, Pride didn''t let him get that close, thrusting her sword arm forward with a short cry and releasing a miniature storm thatunched its body into the air.


    Due to the force of the wind, the baton that was hanging on its waist was flicked away to some unknown corner of the room.


    It was at this moment that Evan mmed the energy sphere in his hands into the ground, creating a wave of explosions that travelled on the ground.


    Leviron''s body crashed on the ground after beingunched in the air by Pride and the wave of explosions that Evan sent out hit its body.


    Eliza didn''t sit still and stare at the two as they helped her take out her opponent, she performed her role as a support best as she grabbed the radiant codex and utilized its effect, granting Evan and Pride Elemental damage buffs.


    Two rings of yellow and dark red light appeared around Evan and Pride''s wrists respectively. Right after that, she activated her flower cannon skill, causing the ground to crack open as a gigantic shoot emerged from within.


    The shoot''s flower bud bloomed and from an opening of the petals, a powerful beam of concentrated magic power wasunched towards the unfortunate Leviron.


    ***WOOOONGGG!!!!


    ***BOOMM!!!


    There was an explosion as Leviron was unable to take any defensive actions against the beam of magic power, allowing it to crash into its body and shatter its armour.


    Evan on the other hand, tossed a familiar-looking bottle to Eliza as he shouted something that only she understood.


    "Use your Anti Regen!"


    The moment he said this, he turned around and swung his sword upwards to meet the Elecrus'' overhead sh.


    The de wraith didn''t give Evan a chance to stand his ground, conjuring multiple spears of lightning at the young hero''s blind spot, however, Eliza interfered, creating a barrier that held off the spears long enough for Evan to teleport away.


    Immediately after, she downed the contents of the bottle Evan tossed her and turned her gaze in Leviron''s direction, inadvertently ncing at Pride who was exchanging strikes with vore at speeds she could barely see.


    She picked up her staff and kicked off the ground, dashing towards the de wraith who was getting up from the ground as she activated the unique skill she was born with.


    "Child of Life!"


    As soon as she spoke, her body was surrounded by a thinyer of green light, her exhaustion disappearing as she felt magic power permeate into her body and strengthen her muscles and nerves.


    Her speed increased as she closed the distance between her and Leviron instantly, swinging her staff upwards.


    *BAMM!!


    The weapon mmed into the lower jaw of the monster, slightly lifting its body up in the air and knocking it back a bit.<sub> </sub>


    She twirled the staff in her hand before stabbing the tip downwards into the monster''s exposed chest and activating one of her skill''s abilities.


    "Anti Regeneration!"


    Her child of life skill allowed her to shape and manipte the essence of ''life'' both positively and negatively, as such, she was capable of reversing elerated recovery and worsening pre/post-existent injuries.


    Light green coloured magic power poured into Leviron''s body, making it scream out in pain as Eliza''s ability reversed its natural healing process, worsening the injuries it received from the trio''sbined assault.


    Eliza didn''t stop there and poured in all her remaining magic power, activating the second stage of the anti regeneration ability.


    A metallic taste filled her mouth, with blood dripping from the corners of her lips but she gritted her teeth and stabbed the poor de wraith''s exposed chest with her staff multiple times.


    �� �� ��


    Leviron was a monster that had roamed the ninth floor of the Mansion of the damned for years, and within those years, it had battled no less than a thousand adventurers and hade out alive each time.


    Sometimes it had to run for its life as the opponents were stronger than it was, other times it encountered opponents while still healing from the wounds sustained in a previous battle.


    Nevertheless, it survived in this dungeon, battling other adventurers and fellow de wraiths alike and growing stronger with each battle.


    When it broke through level 100 and became a master-level existence, it suddenly discovered the entrance to the tenth basement floor of the mansion of the damned, going through this entrance in search of stronger opponents to battle.


    It was then it met with other de wraiths who had broken through just like it, alongside more powerful adventurers who used the tenth floor as a regr hunting ground.


    Repeating the same process it had taken on the ninth floor, it engaged itself in multiple battles, eventually picking up a second weapon that it barely used as it continued improving its strength over the period of close to a year.


    Unfortunately, Leviron had a recent near-death encounter with an A-rank adventurer who was breezing through the dungeon and was left with an inch of its life as the adventurer didn''t even bother killing it at all.


    Even with its superior regenerative abilities as monsters and master-level existences, it took Leviron over a week to heal from the injuries it had received when the adventurer merely blitzed past it at lightning speed.


    Its body was nearly shredded to pieces and it had to hide and recuperate over the span of ten days before it could finallye out of hiding.


    The moment it did, it suddenly found itself in a room besides two other stronger de wraiths.


    Opposite it, were three humans who seemed to be hostile towards it, however, for some reason Leviron found that it was unable to move to eliminate the hostiles until one of the humans shouted something as he rose his weapon.


    They fought the humans together, with the other two more powerful de wraiths picking the humans who they sensed possessed the same affinity as they did.


    Leviron was left with the battle priestess who was currently stabbing its exposed chest with a magic-infused staff.


    At first, it had wanted to grab the staff and toss it away, however, the human mage girl twisted the staff in his body and shouted something it could not understand.


    In the next moment, its body felt pain all over, as if it was being torn apart by a flurry of wind des.


    The feeling reminded Leviron of how it felt the moment the frightening aura of the A rank adventurer passed right in front of its face ten days ago.


    Or rather, it was exactly how it felt.


    After all, Eliza had used her Anti-regeneration skill to undo the healing process of its most recent injuries that hadn''tpletely healed.


    Even more so, it forced him to re-experience the pain it felt when the injuries were inflicted on it originally.


    The shock it caused it, had rendered it temporarily unable to move, giving Eliza the chance she needed to inflict more damage on him before the effects of her skill ran out.


    Of course, the pain would not magically disappear and the severity of its injuries would not decrease, but the battle priestess didn''t dare take her chances.


    She stabbed her staff towards its forehead, hitting it straight in the centre, she then spun her staff around horizontally, mming into the side of its head with the other end of the staff and knocking its head to the ground.


    Her eyes caught sight of the de wraith''s hands trying to reach for its sword that had been tossed to the side, a dangerous glint appearing in them as she calmly walked towards the weapon and picked it up.


    "...As I thought, swords really aren''t for me."

 Chapter 143 One Down

    "...As I thought, swords really aren''t for me."


    Those were the battle priestess'' remarks to herself as she walked towards Leviron who was immobilized on the floor due to thebination of its severe injuries and the pain that came along with them.


    "If I left you like this without my skill in this scenario, you would eventually recover, but I have to wait for my magic power to recover before I can heal myself.


    Quite unfair, don''t you think?"


    Her sapphire eyes darkened as she coldly gazed at the de wraith who was rousing its energy to elerate its healing process, only to be met with more pain and agony as its injuries worsened instead.


    Seeing this, she only clicked her tongue and rose the sword in her hands in the air, before bringing it down on the monster''s neck and slicing it into its neck.


    **PUKK!


    "Hmm? I didn''t cut through cleanly? I guess the bones of an above level 100 monster aren''t that easy to break."


    She rose the sword in the air and swung it down again with all her strength, her swing severing the monster''s head from the rest of its body.


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    "Eight Levels? No, they''re nine..."


    She was initially confused due to the number of level-up notifications she was seeing, however, she remembered that they were in a dungeon that doubled the experience they received and the monster room made it quadruple!


    "So, I''m level 95 now, huh?"


    Eliza opened her status board as she deactivated her child of life skill, her body feeling momentarily weakened even after the increase in strength she received due to the numerous level-ups.


    She made her way to one of the walls of the room and sat down on the ground, resting her back on the wall as she gazed at her status.


    |Name- Elizabeth Lane


    Race- Human


    Gender - Female


    Age- 15


    Level- 95


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- D-Rank Adventurer, She Who Peruses the Doctrine of Life.


    <o>,m ss - Battle Priestess</o>


    Health �C C-


    Energy - C-


    Strength �C D+


    Agility �C D+


    Durability �C D+


    Intelligence - C


    Condition- Heavily Exhausted.


    Magic Tiers- Life Tier 2


    Skills- Healing, Support Magic (High), Barrier, Flower Cannon, Staff Proficiency, Unarmed Combat.


    Unique Skills- Child of Life (2/3), Breath of Life. |


    Seeing the new title that had appeared, the young battle priestess let out a depreciatingugh as she spoke to herself.


    "I left home so I could avoid this, but it seems to have followed me instead, huh..."


    Her words were heard by no one, save the being from a higher ne who caused her to enter her current state in the first ce.


    Fortunately, or unfortunately, she was unaware of this being''s existence.


    �� �� ��


    Now then, let us backtrack to half an hour ago, the moment before Evan blinked right behind Elecrus and activated his unique skill.


    The young hero''s two ray eyes stared right into the two red eyes of the golden armoured de wraith.<sub> </sub>


    Many thoughts went through his mind, as he wondered whether he should pull out all the stops and use his limit break skill, however, he decided against that as using the skill would leave him weakened greatly, something he couldn''t allow to happen to him as far as he was still in the dungeon.


    ''In that case, I have no choice but to bombard him with my mostbo of skills while trying to leave just enough magic power to activate limit break in the event that these three de wraiths aren''t the only enemies we have to face.''


    He briefly nced at his two party members, concluding that the both of them would be able to hold their own against their opponents.


    ''Pride would most likely use this guy to get herself back into shape, testing out how efficient her techniques are on it currently.''


    The demon of Pride did not actually consider the de wraith to be a difficult opponent at all.


    While she was not able to easily kill vore, she was more than capable of taking it out without having to rely on her unique skill or more advanced techniques and magic, but she refrained from doing so due to the fact that she was using it to evaluate just how powerful she was currently.


    And what better training dummy to use than a master-level de wraith that delivered itself straight to her doorstep?


    As for the level difference between them?


    That didn''t really matter when faced with her Pride Embodiment skill!


    She had the power of Hubris on her side, Evan didn''t worry about her at all!


    His main worry was Eliza who was less than thirty levels lower than her opponent, and worst of all, was not a master-level existence at all.


    Although Evan had dealt a lot of damage to Leviron earlier, it didn''t change the fact that Leviron had quite a lot of strength left.


    ''However, she should be fine! She should be able to hold her own and even possibly kill him too!''


    The reason for his confidence in her, his confidence that she could take out a weakened master-level existence enemy more than thirty levels higher, despite the fact that she was more of a support ss than a fighter, was quite simple.


    It was the reason he even bothered to get close to Eliza when they first met in Luka.


    It was because of her ''Child Series Skill''!


    Unlike its ''Breath Series'' counterpart, the Child of life skill, was not a support skill in any way shape, or form.


    In fact, all the child series skills were powerful attack skills, even if some of them had support abilities embedded into them.


    After all, it was because of the ''Child of Lightning'' skill that Jenson was able to defeat the ''Crawling Lightning'', a monster that had a body that was made of lightning!


    It was also with the ''Child of Fire'' skill that Bourne became known to the world as the ''Human me'', despite the fact that he also possessed a skill that let him manipte gravity!


    Taking note of these, it was impossible for the ''Child of Life'' skill to be any less powerful than its other elemental brethren.


    Evan recalled the description of the skill that he got with his appraisal, a description that didn''t do the skill justice!


    |Child of Life;


    Type: Unique Skill (Child Series)


    Effect;


    Allows the user to sense, shape, and manipte the essence of life for the duration of the skill. The greater the degree of maniption, the higher the magic power cost.


    While active, the user is capable of utilizing the essence of life both positively and negatively, ranging from positive uses like regrowing lost limbs to clearing status effects, and cleansing corruption effects, to negative uses like undoing wounds, diseases, and injuries on living beings that have been previously healed or cured, to preventing regenerative processes and rupturing internal organs.


    Restriction: The Skill can only be used three times daily (3/3).


    Initial activation requires half the user''s maximum magic power, and can be substituted for vitality when necessary. |


    Even though one could tell how broken it was from the description, Evan still felt it was a subpar description.


    ''I remember that the owner of the skill was the wife of the Laneford n''s master. She was shown in a shback event that happened around the mid stages of the game.


    Sadly, she died before the events of the game started and the skill was supposedly lost.


    The fact that Eliza has the skill right now, means that she''s already dead now.''


    He shook his head to get rid of the useless thoughts as he charged his Vortex and stared back at the de wraith facing him in silence.


    ''That ''guy'' is definitely stopping them from moving, otherwise, the de wraiths would have attacked us by now.''


    Those were his thoughts as the adventurer trio stared at their opponents that had taken up simr stances, allowing them to either attack first or counterattack with ease.


    Silence pervaded the entire area as both teams stared at each other motionlessly.


    In the next moment...


    ''Blink''


    Evan called out in his mind as he vanished from the spot he was in, reappearing right behind the surprised Elecrus as he thrust his sword arm forward


    "Vortex."


    Evan suddenly appeared right behind Elecrus and unleashed his most powerful skill without hesitation.


    A whirling mass of spiral-shaped magic power mmed into the unguarded back of the de wraith Elecrus.


    The de wraith attempted to coat its entire body with its golden aura, but it was already disoriented by the force that abruptly mmed into its back, making it incapable of properly manipting its aura.


    Evan''s sword came through the centre of the magic power storm and pierced through the de wraith''s armour, stabbing into its flesh like a knife going into butter.


    Elecrus'' blood-red eyes widened as it let out a roar of rage, simultaneously releasing a burst of its golden lightning-attributed aura.


    **BAM

 Chapter 144 Evan Vs Elecrus

    **BAM


    The force behind Elecrus'' aura burst, was enough to send Evan flying into the air, however, the young hero stretched out his hand and activated another skill right before he crashed onto the ground.


    ''Energy st!''


    Ambient magic power condensed in front of his palm, before beingunched out as a beam of yellow light.


    Elecrus who was about to chase after the airborne Evan had no choice but to stop as it had to dodge the beam of energy that wasunched in its direction.


    Evan took advantage of that brief gap to get back up on his feet, activating his mystic eyes as he gazed at his opponent.


    The moment Elecrus charged toward him, Evan kicked off the ground, dashing towards the de wraith and swinging his sword in an upward arc.


    To counter him, Elecrus swung its de downwards, taking its right hand off the hilt of its sword and throwing a punch toward Evan''s face.


    **SWOOSHH!!!


    Evan felt the force of the punch as he dodged it by a paper-thin margin, twisting his body around as he pulled his sword backwards before swinging it towards Elecrus'' right side.


    However, as if expecting it, Elecrus simultaneously pulled its outstretched hand backwards and grabbed Evan''s de with its palm, slightly surprising the young hero.


    His momentary surprise reflected in his movements as he unconsciously reduced the force of his blow, giving Elecrus an easier time as the de wraith took a step back without letting go of Evan''s sword before lunging forward in the next second.


    The monster''s actions shocked Evan back to his senses, instantly realizing that he could not pull his weapon away as the monster''s strength was higher than his.


    ''Even if our stats are both considered ''C-'', there''s still a difference!''


    With that thought, the young hero discharged a burst of lightning from his body, immediately switching attributes and releasing mes right after.


    "Just because you only use lightning, doesn''t mean I would do the same!"


    He screamed out as he let go of his sword and jumped backwards, stretching his two arms out as he activated his energy st skill.


    Two beams of red light wereunched from his palm in the de wraith''s direction, causing the monster to take defensive action.


    Elecrus coated both its sword and Evan''s with its golden aura and used them to deflect the beams of light, however, Evan didn''t let up, utilizing more magic power to rapid fire his energy sts.


    While keeping Elecrus upied, he opened up his inventory and pulled out his spare sword, swinging it at Elecrus as he activated his aura sh and concealment simultaneously.


    His body screamed at him in pain but he ignored it and sent multiple invisible aura shes at Elecrus.


    However, although they were not visible to the eye, it was still possible to know something was there as his concealment was imperfect due to the strain on his body from activating three skills at once.


    ''Taking my mystic eyes, that''s four!''


    Evan immediately deactivated the aura sh the moment he was done, transferring the effects of his concealment to himself as he stopped his onught of energy sts.


    Elecrus on the other hand, flinched as it sensed somethinging its way even though it clearly couldn''t see anything.


    It then noticed that the energy sts that wereing in pairs had suddenly stopped. Instantly connecting it to the weird feeling it had earlier, the de wraith coated its body in a thinyer of aura, just in time for the first aura sh to hit and cancel out its own aura coat.


    Elecrus was about to move out of the way, but the next aura sh came right after, hitting its right leg and breaking its bnce.


    This allowed the remaining five aura shes that Evan had sent to hit it without obstruction, save for the two that it had identally blocked with its sword.


    Its body armour was cracked in various ces, however, the creature''s real body remained rtively unharmed.


    It was at this point that it finally noticed, that Evan was nowhere in sight!


    Before it could even fully understand the situation, it suddenly sensed a jarring amount of magic power in close proximity.


    "Vortex."


    Hearing the voice of its opponent softly call out, Elecrus felt a chill down its spine as it tried to move out of the way, however, with its messed-up bnce, it was simply impossible for it to move out even with superior agility.


    Moreover, Evan had teleported a short distance of less than two metres away, it wouldn''t have been able to escape the range of vortex even if it on form.


    Therge whiling mass of magic power forcefully mmed into its defenceless upper body, shattering its armour and giving the de at the centre of the magic power storm an all-ess pass to its real body.


    **PUK!


    Evan''s sword stabbed into the monster''s back, with the young hero dispersing the vortex and infusing the de with mes as he twisted the de.


    "GRAA!!!"


    Elecrus roared in rage and rose the two weapons in its hand overhead and stabbed towards its back.<sub> </sub>


    "WHoA?!"


    Evan hurriedly let go of the weapon, not before activating a me magic spell on it to deal more damage to the unfortunate Elecrus.


    "Fire Magic: me Grenade."


    **BOOOOMM!


    A small ball of mes formed right beside the sword and exploded, causing the de wraith to scream out in pain but Evan wasn''t done yet.


    "Fire Magic: Spiral mes."


    The glow of his mystic eyes brightened as he utilized the spell he had copied from Xakon during his battle with the demon.


    mes were generated from the palm of his hand,ing out in a spiralling motion, which created a tornado-shaped st of mes.


    The intensity of the mes was too great, scorching the floor of the dungeon here it passed as the spell made its way to its target.


    Secondster, the still recovering Elecrus was met with another st of mes, screaming out in rage as it used its aura to protect its body before rolling out of the mes'' path.


    "Bang, bang, and BANG."


    Evan yfully called out as he tossed three small balls of mes towards Elecrus as the de wraith kept rolling on the floor to avoid whatever was tossed at it.


    **BOOM! BOOM!! BOOOOOMM!!


    The three balls of mes, me grenade spells, exploded on contact with the ground, sending out shockwaves that tossed the poor de wraith into the air.


    Evan mmed his fists together, lightning crackling around them as he pulled his right arm backwards, kicking off the ground immediately after as he dashed towards the airborne de wraith.


    ''Huh? I''m faster?''


    Those were Evan''s thoughts as he threw his right fist into the monster''s torso with all his strength, sending the poor de wraith flying once more.


    Right after he punched the monster, he realized he had punched it in the direction of where Pride and vore were having their showdown.


    "AH! Pride, duck!"


    The high demon reacted before Evan could even speak, as she had already sensed the iing presence from behind her and had jumped out of the way.


    However, vore wasn''t so lucky as it didn''t expect for its fellow de wraith to be suddenly sent flying in his direction.


    **BAMM!


    Elecrus crashed into vore, and the two of them were mmed into the wall behind them, creating arge spider web-like crack on it due to the force of their wall m.


    "Sorry about that."


    Evan spoke as he walked up to Pride while wiping off the blood on the corner of his mouth with one hand with the other entering a small ck hole that was about half a metre long in diameter.


    He took out a magic potion and downed it instantly, taking a deep breath immediately after while keeping his gaze on the two de wraiths who were struggling back to their feet.


    "Can I lean on your shoulder for a bit? Chaining multiple attacks really took a lot out of me."


    Pride lowered her de and nced at the boy''s state before asking a question with a raised eyebrow.


    "Did you perhaps activate three skills at once again?"


    Evan flinched before turning his gaze elsewhere and whiling suspiciously. Pride only heaved a sigh before turning around and speaking.


    "Let''s use this time to go assist Eliza.


    We have to time out entry so her opponent would not expect it. Let''s do it like this..."


    The duo began nning on their method of attack while watching Eliza''s fight against Leviron, asionally makingments on some of her actions.


    Mid conversation, Evan suddenly mmed his palms together and created about half a dozen small balls of mes.


    He then turned around and tossed them in the direction of Elecrus and vore, giving the two de wraiths more work as they had to avoid the sudden attack.


    Evan did not let it end there, mimicking the effect of the me grenade spell with lightning magic as he tossed balls of lightning that exploded upon contact in the direction of the two.


    To end it, he then stretched out his hand and activated a basic shadow magic spell.


    "Bind."

 Chapter 145 Evan Vs Elecrus II

    Evan mimicked the effect of the me grenade spell with lightning magic as he tossed balls of lightning that exploded upon contact in the direction of the two.


    To end it, he then stretched out his hand and activated a basic shadow magic spell.


    "Bind."


    He then turned around to Pride with a smile on his face and asked.


    "What were you saying again?"


    The demon stared at the young hero in silence before sighing as she asked.


    "How do you have that much magic power already? The potion hasn''t taken full effect yet."


    "130% stat effectiveness and 20% boost.


    That also applies to my energy reserves and energy regeneration, I think?"


    He replied as he pulled up his system benefits tab while wondering how the stat boost and effectiveness worked together when they did almost the same thing.


    |System Benefits


    Extra 200% Leveling Efficiency.


    Boosted Life Force.


    20% Stat Boost


    130% Stat Effectiveness. |


    Before he could even think about whether his stats were boosted first before the ''effectiveness'' applied or if it was the other way around, he heard a series of explosions right before Pride''s loud voice resounded beside his ear.


    **BOOM!! BOOOMM!!


    "Now!"


    Immediately after, he looked up to see Eliza dodging an onught of dark energy spheres. He frowned unconsciously as he infused his body with lightning magic and kicked off the ground the same moment that the demonic energy-enhanced Pride did.


    He stretched his right hand and activated his weapon control, causing the unforged to fly into his hands as both he and Pride passed right beside Eliza and sliced up the dark spheres that Leviron fired at her.


    His mystic eyes shed as he copied the spell Leviron had used, recreating the magic circle immediately after.


    A dark energy sphere was conjured in front of it and he stretched his left hand up in the air, grabbing the energy sphere and mming it into the ground after infusing it with lightning and fire magic.


    Meanwhile, Pride showcased her prowess in wind magic, focusing the might of the formless wind around her de.


    She manipted the whirlwind and generated enough suction force to pull Leviron towards her.


    The eyes of the de wraith glowed as it allowed itself to be pulled towards her. At the same time, it raised its sword over its head and coated it in an ominous ck haze.


    It had every intention of shing down on her the minute she brought it into range; however, to its astonishment, Pride didn''t let him get that near.


    Instead, she threw her sword arm forward with a quick shout and released a small storm that propelled its body into the air.


    The strength of the wind caused the baton that was hanging around its waist to be blown off to an unknown part of the room.


    At this precise instant, Evan smashed the energy sphere he was holding in his hands into the earth, which resulted in a wave of explosions that propagated throughout the ground.


    After being propelled through the air by Pride, the corpse of Leviron eventually came crashing down to the ground and was struck by the wave of explosives that Evan detonated.


    As for Eliza, she didn''t just stand there and watch as Evan and Pride took down her opponent; instead, she put her best foot forward in her duty as a supporter by seizing the radiant codex and using its power to aid Evan and Pride do more Elemental damage.


    There was a sudden appearance of two rings of light, one yellow and one dark red, around each of Evan and Pride''s wrists.


    Immediately after that, she unleashed her flower cannon skill, which resulted in the ground splitting up and a massive shoot emerging from within it.


    The flower bud on the stalk opened up, and from within one of the openings in the petals, a strong beam of focused magical power was sent in the direction of the unlucky Leviron.


    ***WOOOONGGG!!!!


    ***BOOMM!!!


    An explosion urred as a result of Leviron''s inability to take any defensive steps against the beam of magical power. As a result, the beam was able to smash into its body and fracture its armour, which led to the explosion.<sub> </sub>


    Evan, on the other hand, threw a bottle that appeared to be familiar to Eliza while at the same time yelling something that only she understood.


    "Use your Anti Regen!"


    As soon as he finished saying this, he spun around and raised his sword to parry the overhead sh that Elecrus was about to deliver.


    Evan was not given the opportunity to stand his ground by the de wraith, which summoned multiple spears of lightning and directed them at the young hero''s blind spot.


    However, Eliza interfered and created a barrier that held off the spears for a sufficient amount of time for Evan to teleport away from the danger.


    "How has this bastard already recovered?!"


    Evan was sure that even with the vitality of a master-level existence, it should still take Elecrus sometime before it charged at him again, especially as its armour was now..broken...brok..en?


    "It''s not broken?!"


    It came as aplete surprise to our young hero when he discovered that, by some miracle of nature, Elecrus'' armour had been restored to its original condition, as if he had not broken it in their earlier battle.


    He had little time to process this information, however, as the de wraith swung its sword at him up to three times from different angles while imbued with a lightning aura.


    Evan swiftly retaliated, his mystic eyes glowing as he swung his sword to meet the de wraith''s weapon.


    For every time Elecrus thrust its de forward, Evan twisted his body to dodge before retaliating with a thrust of his own, sometimes causing the tips of their weapons to sh mid-air.


    When Elecrus sliced upward, Evan would bend backwards to dodge the blow, then counter with an upward sh of his own.


    When Elecrus attempted a downward sh, Evan would parry its de to the side, causing the de wraith''s weapon to be lodged in the ground more than just a few times.


    Whenever the de wraith performed multiple sword swings of varying angles, imbuing its de with lightning and either thrusting forward or performing a jumping sh, Evan either blocked its attacks with his sword or defended with his aura before performing the exact same actions the de wraith did.


    When an intelligent creature like Elecrus saw that Evan was imitating it, the result was predictable: rage.


    It tossed out multiple attacks, utilizing its master-level prowess in the de but Evan only blocked his attacks before using the same movements to retaliate.


    Enraged, it released a burst of aura to knock Evan backwards before taking distance and charging itself up with lightning.


    Golden tendrils snaked down its de as it dashed forward while releasing a circr sh using the full might of its ''C+'' agility stat.


    Evan naturally realized what the de wraith was about to do and judged that it was impossible for him to dodge it as he simply wasn''t as fast as the de wraith was.


    What''s more, this was just like some of the attacks that the de wraith asionally threw out, something that Evan was not confident in getting out with minimal injuries from.


    ''So, all I have to do is not be within range in the first ce!''


    With that thought, Evan blinked away, summoning his inventory and downing another magic potion the moment he reached his destination.


    Surprisingly, the de wraith''s attack still reached him as it had coated its sword in lightning and shaped the lightning into a longer de to extend its reach to almost ten metres!


    Evan who had not expected it to have that much reach, naturally didn''t move very far, after all, blink consumed a lot of magic power.


    Thus, he was still within range and had no choice but to activate his pdin skill and fortify himself with aura, however, it was still unable to block the de wraith''s full-powered attack.


    He wasn''t even fast enough to reposition his sword and use it to block!


    **BAMM!!


    The elongated lightning de shattered Evan''s aura coat before going on to render his pdin skill''s defences useless.


    Although the attack lost some of its ferocity, it still had more than enough to give Evan a run for his money, slicing through his clothes and the leather armour underneath with rtive ease.


    "Gahh!"


    Evan let out a short scream as his body was sent flying in the air, spraying blood everywhere before crashing down on the ground unceremoniously a few secondster.


    Since his pdin skill had been forcefully cancelled, its limited healing could not help him deal with the injury that Elecrus just inflicted.


    A metallic taste filled his mouth as Evan struggled to get back to his feet, but the injury on his body decided it would be better to leak forth more blood as if to mock his attempts.


    It was only natural that Evan would be unable to grit his teeth and tolerate the anguish associated with such an injury.


    ''Healing potion...!''

 Chapter 146 Evan Vs Elecrus III

    A small ck hole materialized in mid-air, with Evan''s hand diving right into it as he tried to grab a healing potion.


    Fortunately for him, Elecrus didn''t charge right after him; perhaps it was fatigued afterunching such a powerful attack with its limited magic power and needed some time to recover before continuing its pursuit.


    Evan on the other hand, had downed about two healing potions before the pain finally lessened, however, it was still going to take a while before the injury began healing.


    In fact, right now, it was already a miracle that his guts weren''t spilling out considering the part of his body that the attack sliced through.


    Even after the lightning on the de had torn through his skin and cauterized the wound immediately, the fact that blood still leaked out in huge quantities was a testament to how serious the wound was!


    While he had a health stat of ''C-'' that allowed him to heal from wounds dozens of times faster than the average human, the power of the monster who injured him was nothing to scoff at, as such, the wound was taking time to heal even with the help of the healing potion.


    His only saving grace was that this was the first major attack that had actually hit him as he had always teleported out of the range of other attacks with a simr level of power.


    ''At least the bleeding has stopped...''


    Just as he thought that, a familiar notification suddenly appeared right in front of him.


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    ''huh?''


    Upon seeing the level-up notifications, he was initially confused, however, a casual nce in Eliza''s direction allowed him to find out the reason for the sudden level-up.


    ''Leviron is dead!''


    Due to the fact that Evan had contributed more than just a helping hand to the defeat of Leviron, it was only fitting that he get some experience upon the monster''s demise.


    It was just two levels, however, for Evan right now, it was literally a God send.


    When a being levelled up, their body was strengthened to a new level, with the level of strengthening increasing the higher one went at the cost of higher experience required.


    Except for special circumstances, every aspect of them received an upgrade, no matter how small it may seem.


    And if their current amount of power was not optimal, some of it would be restored during the process of the upgrade.


    Normally Evan was supposed to only receive a single level up, however, his hero title and system benefits were applied, allowing him to gain enough experience to jump two levels.


    For Evan who was injured right now, a level up that increased his overall power and helped him recover even by a little bit, was one of the best things that could happen to him now.


    ''Thanks, Eliza.''


    He internally thanked the girl as he got up from the ground and rose his sword just in time to meet Elecrus'' aura-coated de that came crashing down from above.


    His mystic eyes shed as he immediately began mimicking the movements of the de wraith, right from the overhead sh, to the forward thrust and the sideways sh.


    Evan''s feet slid across the ground as he moved to dodge the attacks by a paper-thin margin, however, with his injuries, his movements were slower than normal and Elecrus'' de ended up cutting his skin lightly.


    Elecrus realized its sequence of attacks would be replicated and instantly changed its movements, pulling its sword to the side before immediately swinging in a wide arc while moving forward at the same time.


    Evan, however, blinked out of the way and appeared right behind Elecrus, before replicating the de wraith''s actions and delivering a circr sh to its back.


    His de which was infused with me magic, tore through Elecrus'' armour once more and sliced its flesh.


    The young hero then blinked away just in time for the de wraith to turn around and deliver an upward sh.


    Looking at its movements from above, Evan allowed gravity to bring his body back to the ground as he shed downwards, his de shing with Elecrus'' sword and releasing sparks of light as they slid against each other.


    Elecrus twisted its body around as it delivered a sh towards Evan''s right side, sadly this was within expectations as the young hero concentrated his aura on his side.


    "Ngh."


    The force of the blow was great, great enough to normally knock Evan off bnce, even more so in his injured state.


    However, the young hero was already off bnce due to the fact that he wasnding from the air.


    So instead of knocking him off bnce, it actually helped stabilize himself as his left footnded on the floor not too far from his right, inadvertently cing him in the perfect stance to execute another attack.


    He reversed his grip on his de and infused it with his own aura as he stabbed toward the de wraith on his right side.


    Elecrus backstepped to avoid the sh, lunging forward immediately afterwards with its sword raised overhead as Evan switched his sword grip to block the iing de.<sub> </sub>


    **CLANGG!!


    As soon as their weapons shed, the two pulled backwards simultaneously and attacked once more, with Elecrus swinging his sword downward and Evan swinging upwards to meet its de.


    mes burst forth from Evan''s sword at the same time Lightning was discharged from Elecrus'' de.


    *BOOM!!


    The two elements exploded upon contact, sending the twobatants flying, however, Evan pulled out his second spare de mid-air and flipped his body, stabbing it into the ground to prevent himself from falling on the ground.


    He looked up to catch the sight of Elecrus who performed a simr action with the handle of his crossbow, damaging the weapon as the de wraith tossed it away and kicked off the ground, dashing towards Evan.


    Evan spat out blood as he pulled out the spare sword and tossed it like a spear in Elecrus'' direction, making the de wraith raise its de to block the sh.


    In the short moment that the thrown weapon covered Elecrus'' vision, Evan vanished from its sight.


    The monster''s red eyes darted around the room, its gaze locking on Eliza who was seated at one of the walls to rest after killing Leviron.


    The fact that the girl who was fighting its brethren was not doing so anymore, was enough to give it an idea of how the fight ended up.


    It dashed in Eliza''s direction, intending on taking advantage of her obviously tired state for one of two things.


    Either Evan would be forced to make an appearance or it would end up killing Eliza.


    And just like it had expected, Evan indeed made an appearance, with a thinyer of white light surrounding his entire body and a golden aura enveloping his sword, making him look like a holy knight, however, his expression was far from holy.


    "How dare you?!"


    The young hero was no fool and had realized why Elecrus targeted the resting Eliza, rage bubbling up from the depths of his heart as he cancelled his original ns and blinked right In front of the monster with his de coated in aura.


    **SWISH! SWISHH!!


    He swung it twice activating his aura sh skill from a range that Elecrus who was already charging forward, would be unable to dodge in time.


    "The nerve? To actually dare go against myrade when I''m still here."


    As he spoke, he channelled magic power into his left arm and pulled it back while forming lightning on the hand.


    He then tossed the lightning in his hand towards Elecrus, gracing it with a lightning spear right after it barely managed to block the aura shed with its de.


    *GUHH!"


    The monster grunted out as the lightning struck it right in the face, exploding right after and knocking it backwards.


    "Just what do you think you are?"


    Evan asked as he blinked towards the back of the falling de wraith with his de coated in a golden aura, stabbing towards the monster''s armour and piercing right through it.


    With no armour to protect it, his de tore into the monster''s flesh with rtive ease.


    ''Hmm? I missed where the heart was supposed to be?''


    He asked himself the question internally as he poured more aura into his sword, causing Elecrus to scream out in pain.


    Infusing his gauntlet in lightning, he punched at the monster''s defenceless back, shattering the rest of the armour and exposing its scorched back.


    ''The wounds I inflicted earlier are still there, so how did its armour get restored? Magic?


    It sure as hell doesn''t have a skill that restores its armour.''


    While Evan was lost in his thoughts, Elecrus recovered its wits and discharged lightning from its body, forcing Evan to pull out his de and take a few steps back.


    Studying the de wraith, Evan could see that it was now breathing heavily, showing that it was indeed exhausted due to the constant consumption of magic and aura.


    ''Pride, can you help me check if there''s any other monster around? This thing''s armour was restored by some weird means and I can''t seem to figure it out.''


    [Got it.]


    Evan sent a mental message to Pride through their connection, turning his attention back to the exhausted de wraith upon hearing the high demon''s reply.


    ''Well, my state is not far off from its own.''

 Chapter 147 Glavore’s Fate

    ''Pride, can you help me check if there''s any other monster around? This thing''s armour was restored by some weird means and I can''t seem to figure it out.''


    [Got it.]


    Evan sent a mental message to Pride through their connection, turning his attention back to the exhausted de wraith upon hearing the high demon''s reply.


    ''Well, my state is not far off from its own.''


    He checked himself and realized that he only had little magic power left, clicking his tongue in annoyance at his earlier actions.


    ''I really should have stayed hidden to take a magic potion. But he wanted to attack Eliza, I couldn''t let that happen.''


    [There''s nothing else in the room.]


    He received a reply from Pride, confirming that there was no other existence in the monster room beside them.


    ''So how...?''


    Evan nced at the de wraith that had just grabbed and thrown aside what remained of its damaged armour, attempting to understand the circumstances under which Elecrus'' armour had miraculously been rebuilt in the midst of the fight.


    ''Let''s kill it first and see...''


    The young hero began deliberating on whether to allow himself to recover a bit before attacking or not when a green ring of light appeared around his wrist.


    He felt the paining from his injury lessen considerably as a familiar magic power covered his wound.


    "Thanks."


    With a small smile, he gave his thanks to the girl who healed him even in her exhausted state and kicked off the ground, dashing towards the de wraith ring at him.


    "HAA!"


    "..."


    In response to the monster''s spirited shout, Evan only silently brought his de up to meet Elecrus'' weapon.


    **CCLANGG!!


    At the sound of the nging des, Evan dropped his sword and syed his right leg wide, cing his hands on the ground and partially activating his pdin skill on his outstretched leg.


    "?!"


    He didn''t wait for Elecrus topute his actions, spinning 360 degrees and delivering a sweeping kick to the monster''s feet, sending it tumbling backwards.


    He then shifted his body to the side to avoid his falling sword and got up slightly, lunging forward and driving his right palm into the monster''s chest.


    And then, with thest of his magic power...


    "Energy st."


    **BAMM!


    There was a loud noise as a point-nk range energy st hit the de wraith, tearing a hole right through its heart before going on to create a small crater in the ground.


    Elecrus'' bodynded on the floor as the light in its eyes dimmed, ring at Evan onest time before it died.


    Evan dropped to his knees, heaving an exhausted sigh as he copsed right beside the de wraith''s corpse.


    ''No more monster rooms.''


    Those were hisst thoughts as the adrenaline rush that he was experiencing ran out and his eyelids closed as he passed out from exhaustion and slight anaemia.


    �� �� ��


    After seeing both Eliza and Evan''s take on the battle, it''s only natural that we get to see Pride''s side of things.


    Among the three of them, Pride was undisputedly the strongest.


    Even if her level was tied to Evan''s and she still hadn''t unlocked all of her skills and magic from her prime, she was still capable of dealing with both Evan and Eliza together if they ever fought.


    The moment after Evan downed his magic potion and called out the levels of the de wraiths, Pride made the decision to use vore as a training dummy.


    "I see what they are doing. Attacking the person whom they have the most resistance towards, huh?


    How cheeky of them..."


    A small smile crept onto her face as she spoke, while she went through the levels of the opponents, gauged them and then matched them ording to Evan and Eliza''s levels.


    ''Eliza would lose if she fights head-on, as for Evan, it might be a bit tough for him.''


    The moment she thought that, her blood-red eyes glowed as she activated one of her skills that could be considered a crowd control skill.


    "Contempt of the Many."<sub> </sub>


    A wave of demonic energy spread out from her body called out softly, taking a stance with her right leg pulled backwards and her left leg stretched forward.


    |Contempt of the Many;


    Type: Rare Active Skill


    It is futile to attempt to use number to overwhelm the user of this skill as the more adversaries they face, the stronger they be.


    For daring to be hostile against the Deadly Sin of Pride, those under the effect of this skill experience a reduction in strength that scales of how many hostiles are present.


    The more hostiles there are, the greater the weakening effect, but this in turn increases the energy cost for the skill and reduces the duration exponentially. |


    Although she was not the one who was going to be battling Leviron and Elecrus, they were still considered hostiles by her, as such the effects of the skill applied.


    Even if they weren''t hostile to her, as far as she considered them to be hostile, then her skill''s effects would apply.


    It might sound unreasonable but this was the embodiment of the sin of Pride we''re talking about, she needs not the opinion of others on who she considered hostile.


    If she said you were a ''hostile'', then that was what you were, your views and opinion on her decision, really didn''t matter to her.


    Her Pride Embodiment skill was always active, granting her the power of hubris to face the enemy that was higher levelled than she was.


    And then there was her aura of pride that buffed those that she considered to be allies; Evan and Eliza in this case.


    After taking action to make sure the two kids survived, Pride gripped her de with both hands and pulled it backwards.


    An aura of sinister ck mes surrounded her sword as she locked gazes with the me Sword Master, vore.


    "Leviron, the one with the hazy sword is the weakest among the three, and it is not at full power so, Eliza, you should take him."


    Pride heard Evan''s words to Eliza, mere seconds before she abruptly kicked off the ground the same time Evan blinked away, as if nned beforehand.


    "Aura of Pride: mes of Hubris."


    Even if she could not teleport like Evan, it was not much different to vore as it could barely see hering, raising its ming sword just in time to block her attack.


    A small explosion rang out, releasing omnidirectional shockwaves as the two des shed with each other.


    "?!"


    vore was surprised to see it was unable to push Pride back as it did earlier, instead, it was now incapable of withstanding the force driving her attack, having no other option but to make an attempt at retreating a few feet.


    Nevertheless, the demon of Pride wasn''t done with him as the ck mes on her sword went on to devour its own mes, before corrupting them and turning them against him.


    It watched its bright red mes turn ck in an instant, going on to melt a section of its armour and scorch its skin, forcing the de wraith to cry out in pain.


    Pride took advantage of its momentary pause due to pain and grabbed the de wraith''s neck with her arm.


    "hup."


    She flung the monster that was at least 3 heads taller than she was with more ease than taking candy from a baby.


    *BAM!


    vore fell to the ground and rolled a bit before stopping and struggling to get back to its feet.


    As if to mock the monster''s efforts, Pride casually kicked the air, sending a gust of wind at the monster''s feet and making it tumble forwards.


    "Now then, vore, was it?"


    The de wraith instinctively flinched when it heard the humanoid opponent in front of it call out its name, forcing itself up to its feet and jumping backwards to take distance as it stared at her warily.


    "Let''s use you to test out my fire magic since you seem to have resistance to that.


    As you are taking distance on your own ord, I''d start with the ranged spells."


    She stabbed her sword into the ground before cupping her palms in front of her chest, a two-ringed magic circle appearing underneath her palms as she called out.


    "Fire Ssh."


    She opened her palms to reveal a small ball of mes, simr to the ones Evan usually created when using me grenades.


    Pride smashed the ball of mes into the ground, creating a fire wave. It then travelled the ground all the way to where vore was standing.


    Naturally, there was no way the de wraith would let itself get hit, however, it''s not like Pride only intended to cast one spell from the start.


    She snapped her fingers and conjured a dozen fiery red magic circles in the air behind her, snapping her fingers again as each one began firing multiple me magic spears, forcing vore to move around in order to dodge.


    It tried to ignore the spears and dash toward her, intending onnding an attack when it saw three balls of mes manifesting about a metre away from her.


    "me Grenade...was it?"

 Chapter 148 Testing Out Magic

    "me Grenade...was it?"


    As someone who had achieved Tier 6 of Fire magic in the past, understanding the nature of a measly Tier 2 spell and replicating its effects was a walk in the park for Pride.


    **BOOM BOOOMM BOOMM!!


    Three explosions rang out consecutively as the three balls of mes exploded, a small smileing up to Pride''s face as she inwardly admitted the usefulness of this spell.


    ''So, Evan knows about grenades, huh? Maybe the world he came from is just as advanced as that one world I went to...''


    As she thought that to herself, her fingers tightly gripped her de and pulled it out of the ground, she then spun around to generate momentum, delivering a diagonal sh imbued with demonic energy right in the direction of the smoke from the earlier explosion.


    **CLANGG!!


    The sound of metal des shing against each other rang out as vore''s sword came shing through the smoke, meeting Pride''s de immediately after.


    Pride lifted her foot as a small orb of mes formed right under her raised leg, she then opened her mouth and called out calmly, simultaneously mming the orb of mes into the ground underneath her foot.


    "Fire Pir."


    A pir of mes rose up from the ground where vore was standing, giving the de wraith a me bath, it really didn''t want.


    Even if it was resistant to mes, it was still just resistance in the end, not immunity.


    As such, it still took damage and felt pain when hit by the me magic.


    ''Next Element...''


    Her energy circuits responded to hermand, circting wildly as a gust of wind manifested around her and began swirling around.


    Within seconds, a small tornado was generated with her in the centre, mming into vore and sending him flying without any chances of counterattacking.


    "Force Wave."


    From within the tornado, Pride swung her fair hand downward,unching an aura wave from each of her fingers.


    The air waves phased through the tornado, travelling horizontally through the air at a high speed that not many could be privileged to see.


    However, her opponent was a master-level existence, even with her ''Contempt of the Many'' weakening it, it wasn''t to the extent that vore was unable to block her attacks.


    The de wraith flipped its body mid-air andnded on the ground, stabbing its sword into the ground to prevent itself from sliding backwards.


    With fluid movements, it pulled out the crossbow on its waist and activated its firebolt skill, rapidlyunching five bolts of mes towards the iing air waves.


    There was a dull extinguishing sound as the firebolts and Air waves cancelled each other out, however, vore didn''t stop and continued rapid firing the firebolts towards the tornado in the distance.


    Sadly, instead of dispersing the tornado spell, the mes were instead absorbed by the tornado, giving the swirling winds a red hue.


    "Have your mes back..."


    Pride rose her hands and flicked her fingers, making the tall vertical tornado fall horizontally


    "...with a little extra, of course."


    The spinning cluster of wind and mes became arge drill that spun fiercely towards vore, forcing the de wraith to roll out of the way to avoid getting hit.


    In the process of doing this, it was in no position tounch any attacks, something Pride took advantage of as she dashed towards the de wraith with her sword in hand.


    Perhaps sensing something, the de wraith hurriedly got to its feet and twisted its body while enveloping its de in aura, raising it to block Pride''s overhead sh just in time.


    **SWISH! CLANGG!!


    And then begin the exchange of rapid attacks, with the two sword masters forsaking magic and focusing solely on using their skills with the de, enhanced with their ferocious auras.


    Pride''s ck devilish aura filled her sword as she hacked and shed away at the de wraith who wielded its red-hot me aura sword and blocked every one of her strikes, even managing to throw in a counter attack asionally.


    The demon smiled maniacally as she increased the intensity of her attacks, forcing the de wraith to up its game if it wanted to survive her onught.


    Pride twisted her wrist as she let vore''s sword slide off her de, raising her arm immediately after to deliver a downward sh in its direction.


    In response, vore parried her de and forced it to the ground, causing vanitas to get lodged in the floor as it dropped to the ground and delivered a sweeping kick to her legs, all in one fluid set of motions.<sub> </sub>


    Pride''s eyes gleamed as she jumped up to avoid the sweeping kick, locking gazes with the red eyes of the de wraith as the two of them reached a tacit understanding.


    The close-range battle was over, for now.


    The de wraith grabbed its crossbow and pointed it at Pride, however, before it could even fire a single bolt, the high demon stepped on it and used it as a foothold to jump backwards, not forgetting to leave a few me grenades in the process.


    As it would have been unwise to tank such attacks even with its high me resistance, vore decided to retreat, something that proved to be a wise decision as those me grenades were very obviously not normal.


    After all, if they were, then the mes wouldn''t have been ck!


    **BOOMM!!!!


    The three orbs of fire exploded simultaneously, releasing shockwaves that knocked the retreating de wraith off its feet, however, its fingers still moved, firing as many bolts from its crossbow as it could before falling to the floor.


    Pride, on the other hand,nded on the ground and waved her free hand, sending out multiple force waves towards the iing firebolts.


    ''It seems this one is not well versed in magic. That''s expected, there''s no one in here to teach it magic after all.''


    As she thought that, she manipted her magic, manifesting multiple miniature vortexes of wind and elongating them to create needle-shaped spears.


    "Piercing Needle."


    The moment she called out the name of the spell, the spears shot out at a high speed, moving in the direction of the me sword master that swung its sword in a circr motion with its right hand, cutting through hall the piercing needles except the middle one.


    "What''s it doing?"


    Pride couldn''t help but voice her confusion, however, vore suddenly coated its hand in pure magic power and grabbed the piercing needle.


    With the full power of its ''C-'' agility stat, it spun around so fast it seemed like a blur and threw the piercing needle back to Pride with all its strength.


    **SWOOSH!


    The needle shot through the air at unimaginable speeds, giving the high demon the shock of her life as she was just barely able to tilt her head out of its trajectory.


    Even so, the needle still scratched the side of her face, leaving a trail of blood across her cheek.


    **BAMMM!!!


    The needle went on to hit the wall a few metres behind her, drilling a deep hole in the wall that was sturdy enough to withstand a sword master''s full power and creating arge spider web crack across it that spread to the ceiling.


    In a daze, Pride lifted her hand to touch her cheek, moving it in front of her eyes as she gazed at the red blood that was undisputedly hers.


    ''How dare this training dummy...?!''


    Demonic energy began bubbling inside her and a dark aura started to leak out of her body. Her brows furrowed in displeasure as her gaze on the de wraith turned cold.


    She was about to take action when she suddenly sensed an iing presence from behind her, her body beginning to move out of the way when she heard the familiar voice of her contractor.


    "AH! Pride, duck!"


    As for vore, the poor monster wasn''t so lucky as it had never expected Elecrus'' body to suddenly fly in his direction.


    **BAMM!


    Elecrus crashed into vore, and the two of them were mmed into the wall behind them, creating arge spider web-like crack on it due to the force of their wall m.


    "Sorry about that."


    Pride heard Evan''s apology as he walked up to her while wiping off the blood on the corner of his mouth with one hand with the other entering a small ck hole that was about half a metre long in diameter.


    He took out a magic potion and downed it instantly, taking a deep breath immediately after while keeping his gaze on the two de wraiths who were struggling back to their feet.


    Pride on the other hand was trying to calm herself down, realizing that if Evan hadn''t thrown Elecrus in her direction, she would be beating the fuck out of vore for daring to injure her face.


    ''Tsk...if I didn''t want to use it as a training dummy, I''d have killed it already.''


    She clicked her tongue internally and rubbed her cheek, confirming that she had already healed from the scratch as she turned to Evan who posed a question to her.


    "Can I lean on your shoulder for a bit? Chaining multiple attacks really took a lot out of me."

 Chapter 149 Punishment For Impudence?

    "Can I lean on your shoulder for a bit? Chaining multiple attacks really took a lot out of me."


    Pride lowered her de that was still pointing in vore''s direction, intending on stabbing through the impudent monster that dared to injure its master before ncing at the boy''s state.


    She rose an eyebrow in question as she spoke.


    "Did you perhaps activate three skills at once again?"


    Seeing the young hero flinch before turning his gaze elsewhere and whiling suspiciously, Pride instantly figured out that her suspicion was spot on.


    The high demon only heaved a sigh as she turned herself towards Eliza who was facing off against Leviron at the time.


    "Let''s use this time to go assist Eliza.


    We have to time out entry so her opponent would not expect it. Let''s do it like this..."


    While observing Eliza''s battle with Leviron and sometimesmenting on some of her acts, the pair started formting their strategy for assault.


    In the middle of the discussion, Evan abruptly smacked his hands together, igniting approximately half a dozen little balls of mes.


    The two de wraiths had to work harder to evade the surprise attack as he whirled around and threw them in the direction of Elecrus and vore.


    Evan did not want it to end there. He used lightning magic to replicate the effect of the me grenade spell as he threw lightning balls that detonated upon contact in the direction of the two.


    He then reached out his hand and cast a simple shadow magic spell to put an end to it.


    "Bind."


    Seeing the young hero''s abrupt action, Pride narrowed her eyes as she noticed something peculiar.


    ''Even with my skill''s effect, his power is a bit too strong...''


    "What were you saying again?"


    The boy turned back to her with a smile on his face and asked, making Pride sigh for the nth time today as she asked.


    "How do you have that much magic power already? The potion hasn''t taken full effect yet."


    The time interval between him taking a potion and him casting the magic was too short, and there was no way the magic potion worked that fast.


    She was sure, after all, she had taken the same type of potion before.


    "130% stat effectiveness and 20% boost.


    That also applies to my energy reserves and energy regeneration, I think?"


    |System Benefits


    Extra 200% Leveling Efficiency.


    Boosted Life Force.


    20% Stat Boost


    130% Stat Effectiveness. |


    A familiar system tab manifested in front of Pride''s face, allowing her to see the effects of his ''Reincarnated Hero System Updates'' that Artemisia installed.


    ''Achieving stat effectiveness over 100% is already difficult even for some legendary level existences, and he has 130%?''


    Stat effectiveness, was in a way, also a stat value.


    To be more specific, it was kind of a hidden stat value as not many were able to quantify how effective their stats were.


    Effectiveness was simply the capability of something to produce the desired result or in the case of stats, the ability to produce the desired output.


    If one''s stat was 100% effective, that meant that they were capable of using the full power of that stat.


    If one was to exin Evan''s 130% stat effectiveness, it was quite simple.


    Take his strength stat, for example. It was a ''C-'' stat. With 130% effectiveness, this meant that Evan''s strength was actually 100% of what someone with a strength stat of ''C-'' had, along with close to 30% of that tacked on top.


    Then one had to note that this also applied to all of his stats, just thinking about it gave Pride a headache, figuratively of course.


    However, she didn''t have the time to dwell on it as she saw the de wraith Leviron suddenly back away before casting multiple dark spheres, something Eliza was not able topletely avoid.


    **BOOM!! BOOOMM!!


    "Now!"


    She shouted at Evan who frowned slightly before enhancing his body with lightning the moment Pride did the same with demonic energy.


    The duo kicked off the ground simultaneously turning into streaks of ck and gold as they passed by the sides of the cornered battle priestess and sliced through all the iing dark spheres.


    While Evan was doing something that warranted him getting the title of ''Copycat'', Pride decided to test out one of her wind-based attacks on the de wraith.<sub> </sub>


    ''Aura of Pride: Gale Sword.''


    She controlled the formless wind and generated a whirlwind with enough suction force to pull Leviron towards her.


    The eyes of the de wraith glowed as it allowed itself to be pulled towards her. At the same time, it raised its sword over its head and coated it in an ominous ck haze.


    Pride understood the intention of the de wraith just from seeing its actions, chuckling lightly as she didn''t allow it to have its way.


    Instead, she threw her sword arm forward with a quick shout and released a small storm that propelled its body into the air.


    The strength of the wind caused the baton that was hanging around its waist to be blown off to an unknown part of the room.


    That was the same moment Evan smashed the energy sphere he was holding in his hands into the earth, which resulted in a wave of explosions that propagated throughout the ground.


    After being propelled through the air by Pride, the corpse of Leviron eventually came crashing down to the ground and was struck by the wave of explosives that Evan detonated.


    Pride then noticed a ring of dark red light appearing around her both wrists, her gaze turning to the battle priestess just in time to see her activate her flower canon skill.


    ***WOOOONGGG!!!!


    ***BOOMM!!!


    ''Good, she knows how to take advantage of an opportunity.''


    Pride nodded in approval upon seeing Eliza''s action, moments before she sensed two iing presences.


    ''They''re back up?''


    She caught the sight of Evan throwing something towards Eliza while yelling something about anti-regen as she turned around and rose her sword to meet vore''s de.


    ''Now then, let''s punish you for your earlier impudence.''


    Pride calmly deflected his high-speed strikes, before clenching her fist and throwing a punch at vore''s face.


    *BAM!!


    She then ignited her fist with demonic energy-infused mes, melting the de wraith''s helmet and burning its face in the short moment before the force of her punch sent it flying in the air.


    "It''s not broken?!"


    Hearing Evan''s voice, she turned her gaze towards the young hero affirming his role as a copycat as he replicated each one of Elecrus'' moves, taking advantage of his blink skill to escape the obviously lethal attacks.


    She turned her gaze away immediately as if having lost interest before twirling her sword in her hand as she walked towards vore.


    "I''m not gonna wait for you to get up, you know?"


    As she spoke, half her de was already rushing towards its chest, forcing it to hurriedly get up and jump back reflexively.


    But just when it had barely evaded the first strike, the second one came in, her de surrounded by small winds that seemed to elerate its speed.


    vore rose its sword to block but at thest moment, she changed the trajectory of her de, releasing an arcing sword sh upwards.


    This allowed vore to realise that her de was also infused with fire magic, as that was the only reason it could cut through its armour like butter and scorch its skin.


    Pride didn''t let up, flipping her de in mid-air and switching her grip before swinging downwards in an arc.


    vore repositioned its sword and drew back while blocking the sh that came crashing down towards its neck, its now free hand going to its back to get its crossbow.


    However, Pride didn''t give it the chance to even try anything, tapping her foot on the floor twice and activating simple earth magic, creating a bump that tripped the de wraith and knocked him off bnce.


    "?!"


    Whether it was due to an adrenaline rush or it was simply because of its will to survive, the de wraith was suddenly able to pull out the crossbow and raise it, using it as a shield to block the iing punch from the high demon that went straight for its chest.


    **BAM!!


    The crossbow shattered into pieces, abating most of the punch''s force, but still leaving just enough to send it flying.


    Pride looked at the de wraith she had sent flying and flicked her wrist as she remarked to herself.


    "I intended to finish him with that one, the fact that it''s still alive shows just how weak I am now.


    Way too weak."


    Her blood-red eyes glowed with an eerie light as she swung her sword in its direction, releasing aura shes that hacked at its armour and shattered it to pieces.


    Since it was not in a position to either dodge or defend, it had no choice but to let its armour get shattered to bits by the dark-coloured aura shes.


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]

 Chapter 150 Lions And Rabbits

    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    Seeing two level-up notifications instantly appear in front of her, Pride rose her eyebrows in surprise before turning towards Eliza''s direction and seeing her sitting on the wall not too far from the corpse of Leviron.


    ''Oh, so she killed him, and the kid levelled up, so I levelled up too.''


    She instantly figured out the reason for her sudden level up, her eyes gleaming as she had a sudden idea.


    ''Let''s try this...''


    Pride manipted her energy and waved her hand, a dark silhouette forming beside her as arge arm-shaped constructposed solely of aura was formed.


    However, in the next moment, it shattered into pieces and the aura was re-absorbed into her body.


    ''Seems like I haven''t gotten to that stage yet, huh?


    It was too much to expect to use a peak grandmaster level aura technique that easily.''


    While she was running her tests with herself, vore had gotten up from the ground while salvaging what was left of its armour.


    Its ragged undershirt waspletely exposed, with the remaining parts of its armour just being barely enough to protect its arms.


    As for the armour protecting its torso, it had beenpletely destroyed, just like the armour on its right leg and left thigh.


    "I''m bored."


    The high demon remarked off-handedly, her apathetic gaze turning over to the sorry state of the de wraith.


    "mes of Hubris."


    Her Pride Embodiment skill went into full drive as it channelled the power of hubris into her sword, igniting it with her demonic energy and causing her sword to be engulfed in her signature ck mes.


    She took slow and steady steps towards the me sword master, her sword dragging on the floor and melting the ground where she walked by.


    vore, perhaps sensing that pride intended to end things, took a stance with its sword engulfed in its ming aura.


    Its red eyes locked onto Pride, not wanting to miss even the slightest movement from her.


    It was then that a message came in from her contractor, through the link that the both of them shared.


    [Pride, can you help me check if there''s any other monster around? This thing''s armour was restored by some weird means and I can''t seem to figure it out.]


    ''Got It.''


    She spread out her aura as she spoke to the de wraith in front of her, her speech only being a means to buy enough time for her to bepletely sure there wasn''t anything else in the monster room.


    Of course, it was also what she really thought.


    "You are not worth me using my actual techniques, but as a Lion brings its all to hunt even a mere rabbit, I shall take you seriously even if you are just a mere ant to be squashed under my feet."


    She stabbed her sword into the ground and ran her hands through her glossy ck hair, retying it back into a ponytail as she sent a message back to Evan.


    ''There''s nothing else in the room.''


    As for vore, a monster with intelligence, it understood her words and was enraged at being looked down upon.


    Naturally, it did not miss this chance as she had dropped her sword, kicking off the ground and dashing towards Pride at a speed so fast it actions seemed like a blur.


    "AHHH!!"


    It roared loudly as It lunged towards Pride with great force while surrounded by bright red mes.


    Just when it thought that Pride would be caught by its attack, her aura suddenly red up as she grabbed her sword and dashed forward, carving the ground in her wave as she moved.


    She moved towards the iing de wraith and swung her sword in an upward arc as she called out softly.


    "Origin Sword."


    *SWISH!


    There was a barely audible sound as her sword cut through three things.


    The wind,


    Her opponent''s sword, andstly,<sub> </sub>


    vore itself.


    A dull extinguishing sound rang out as vore''s me aura died out, the light in its eyes dimming as its body split apart into two equal halves before falling to the ground.


    Seeing two halves of the dead de wraith''s corpse falling to the floor, Pride heaved a sigh as she spoke to herself.


    "You died before I could evenplete the technique..."


    She turned around and swung her sword in the air, flicking off the blood on the ck de as she walked in the direction of Evan who was concluding his battle with Elecrus at the time.


    �� �� ��


    The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' propped his hand upon his thigh and rested his chin on his palm as he watched the demon of Pride split the unfortunate vore in two with her sword.


    "Took them less than an hour, a lot shorter than I had expected..."


    He loudly yawned without a care, tapping his hand in the air as another screen manifested beside the one which he used to watch the events going on in the monster room.


    Panning the bird''s eye view on the screen around, he searched the entirety of the first ten floors of the mansion of the damned for any trio of monsters that fit his preferences but saw none, clicking his tongue in irritation upon this discovery.


    "There are stronger de wraiths but no trio close to each other with the elements I want."


    Taking his hand off the screen, it shattered and faded into particles of light as he turned his gaze back to the first screen.


    "Well...that was quite entertaining.


    Especially that Eliza kid, to think her ''Child of Life'' could go that far. I thought it was gonna stick to the worldlyws but even if it was only a tiny minuscule fraction of it, the skill allowed her to tap into the universalw of life and stop that de wraith''s regeneration process, even going as far as to cause its healing to work in reverse.


    Being able to use such a skill while being an existence below the sovereign realm is already grounds for her to be considered a singrity.


    As for Evan, he really amazes me with how he acts. He possesses the knowledge of the sword skills and technique of a near transcendent level existence but doesn''t seem to be making use of it at all, instead, he went on to mimic the moves of a de wraith that just became a master not too long ago."


    The man shook his head as he thought about how Evan was casually ignoring the golden finger thatnded in hisp.


    <o>,m "As for that demon, she''s really trying to hold herself back, huh?</o>


    But that''s not gonnast long, it''s in her nature to be prideful and holding that back is only going to make things worse when she finally snaps."


    **BOOOOM!!!!


    As he was monologuing to himself, there was a loud explosion as the skies cracked open to reveal the silhouettes of dozens, possibly hundreds of beings.


    |Aj9+@"h2d!|


    The ground trembled as a loud voice filled with rage, screamed out something that sounded like gibberish.


    However, the after-effects of that scream, showed that whatever was screamed out, was far from being mere gibberish


    **BZZZTT!!


    **KER-CHRRaaaaaaaannKKKKKKK!!


    There was a buzzing sound, followed by the noise of something that sounded as if a gear that was about to fall into ce, suddenly had an increased amount of load to deal with and croaked under the stress.


    Golden tendrils of lightning snaked around the heterochromatic-eyed man as he frowned in displeasure before gazing up at the dozens of beings floating in the air.


    Her opened his mouth to speak, his voice changing as he utilized his ''true voice'' for the first time sinceing to this universe.


    |Are you stupid?


    Or are you all just a bunch of idiots? |


    The recipients of his question, were obviously displeased as they descended from the parted clouds, each of them carrying at least two pairs of glistening white wings that shone with bright white lights.


    Standing on the forefront, was a huge, slender white knight with five pairs ofrge white wings, glowing white eyes, and a distinct white crest.


    He also wore golden armour over an intricate white and blue robe, and wielded arge gray spear.


    Floating adjacent to him, were a dozen beings dressed in simr clothing, with all of them possessing simrlyrge wings and holding various weapons ranging from swords and spears to maces and axes.


    Behind them was a legion of soldiers dressed in white battle armour with all of them having two or three pairs of wings and gripping their weapons tightly as they looked at the sitting ''Eternal''.


    Ignoring their grand entrance, the man who all these beings gazed at continued his questioning, his voice bing louder as cracks formed in the space around him with each word.


    |Anyone with a brain would know that saying out my real name in this fucking universe is a goddamn taboo! |

 Chapter 151 Artemisia’s Troubles

    |Anyone with a brain would know that saying out my real name in this fucking universe is a goddamn taboo! |


    The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' shouted out towards the winged beings who descended from the skies, looking glorious and holy, if one ignored the fact that they were all armed and ready for a battle.


    Seeing the spear-wielding being at the forefront, the ''Eternal'' pointed at him and continued.


    |You there in the front! I remember you.


    Were you not present when the ''Bastard of Causality'' made it a taboo to speak my name in his multiverse?!''|


    Despite being singled out by this obviously dangerous being, the man''s eyes remained calm as he looked around the world they were in.


    Space had ruptured in various ces due to the world being unable to handle the might contained in the ''true voice'' of the eternal, but even before that, the world was already a lost cause as everything that had life had already been marked for ''Destruction''.


    He then turned to the blue armoured corpse on the floor that was still spilling out golden blood, his gaze narrowing in displeasure as he noticed something.


    ''No other scratch on the armour except for the broken helmet, he was killed in a single strike.''


    Looking at the heterochromatic-eyed man staring at him, a bit of fear crept into his heart as he re-evaluated the man''s strength.


    ''He could kill a giant god in a single strike, and this is what he''s capable of while sealing off his own power?!''


    Before his thoughts could progress any further, the space in between him and the ''Eternal'' folded in on itself, causing the heterochromatic-eyed man to suddenly be right in front of him.


    His eyes widened in surprise as he instinctively backed away, his spear pointing forward as he roused his divinity to attack.


    |So, you''re still in there, huh? You didn''t answer my question so I was wondering if you were just a puppet. |


    Ignoring the spear pointed at him, the man ran his hands through his silver hair as he studied the legion behind the winged knights.


    |Since you brought your subordinates to the party, it''s only polite that I do the same. |


    **BZZTTTT!!!


    He waved his hand and the space behind him cracked open, revealing the figures of thousands of armoured soldiers on standby, each of them holding their personal weapons while dressed in simr armours as they all simultaneously turned in the direction of the crack in space.


    |Just a hundred would do. |


    As he spoke, exactly one hundred soldiers stepped into this dying world through the crack right before it closed up, along with all the other ruptured points in space, giving the poor world a few more minutes of life.


    |Now, shall we? |


    He spoke as his red and blue eyes glowed with eerie lights and an evil grin crept up to his face.


    �� �� ��


    A long ck-haired woman wearing a white suit sat at an office desk that floated in the midst of endless white space as she sorted through multiple papers in silence.


    She had beautiful skin, long legs and a slim body like that of a model''s and a rxed attitude with no expression on her face.


    Her golden eyes darted around as she read the contents of each paper in seconds, moving on to the next immediately after while she drummed on the table with her fingers.


    Suddenly, there was another being in the room, a young woman with long ck hair and a pair of almond-shaped green eyes and spruce eyebrows.


    She had a face that made her look like a doll, with her long hair that spilt over her shoulders and ck frilly dress only reinforcing this notion.


    "Artemisia..."


    Hearing her name being called, the woman in the suit, the goddess Artemisia looked up to meet eyes with her uninvited visitor, a small frown appearing on her usually expressionless face.


    "Hmm? You really don''t want to see me that much?"


    The green-eyed woman spoke as shey down on therge table, turning her head to the side and gazing at the frowning goddess with a small smile on her face.


    "It is not you that I have a problem with, it''s the reason you''re here."


    Artemisia heaved a sigh as she put down the papers in her hands and replied, her fingers rubbing her temples as she thought about the headache the green-eyed woman''s presence here meant.


    "True, even I have a problem with it, however, there are very few people who are capable of reining in that ''idiot''."


    "I agree..."


    The goddess nodded in affirmation with the woman''s words as she flicked her fingers, materializing a bottle and two sses out of thin air.


    She popped open the wine bottle and poured some into the two sses before giving one to her guest who sat up and collected it.


    "Thousand-year wine? Didn''t expect you to be extravagant."


    "It''s good for dealing with stress."


    Artemisia downed the contents of her ss before continuing.


    "Since you had time toe here, you must have already started tracking him, right?"<sub> </sub>


    The green-eyed woman nodded with a smile that instantly changed into a frown as she dropped the ss on the desk and turned to Artemisia.


    "I have good news and bad news, which do you wanna hear first?"


    "Does the order really matter?"


    "Nope."


    "Haaaa...."


    Artemisia poured another ss of wine for herself and downed it before looking back at the woman and gesturing for her to speak.


    "Good news is, I found him rtively easily. The bad news is that he''s about to murder enough gods to fit a small pantheon."


    "Son of a-!


    Where is he?!"


    The green-eyed woman only grabbed Artemisia''s shoulder and activated teleportation magic, warping the two of them to a different location and leaving the unfinished bottle of wine on the desk.


    �� �� ��


    Lento City Outskirts, Nepte Province.


    Great Western Empire.


    December 25th


    Year 1051


    [Level Up.]


    "Finally!"


    A young female voice rang out in the quiet forest clearing as a young girl jumped up and made a guts pose in the air.


    "Now I canplete ''Venus'' without problems."


    Landing back on the ground, the girl spoke to no one in particr, her left hand moving over to rub the bracelet on her left wrist as if trying to make sure it was still there.


    She had a beautiful smile on her face as she began humming to herself, a scene that would have looked picturesque if one ignored the fact that she was standing next to the corpse of a six-foot-tall pig-faced monster.


    Possessing tender-looking fair skin with chestnut-coloured fairly long hair that spilt over her shoulders and a pair of striking blue eyes, she was the perfect definition of ''Young Beauty''.


    She was wearing a ck polo neck jumper, with a simrly coloured pair of shorts and leather boots all underneath a long blue jacket that matched the colour of her eyes.


    "Your highness, your hair has gone loose again. Please stay still while I redo it."


    A male voice rang out from behind her, prompting her to turn her blue eyes in the direction of the speaker with a small frown on her face.


    "I said, call me ''Laurene''!"


    The girl, Princess of the Great Western Empire, Laurene Hayes, spoke to the teenage boy who stood behind her and tied her hair back up in a ponytail.


    "Yes, your highness."


    However, despite her words, he still called her by her official title as he turned her head forward and tied up her hair with such a fluid set of motions that showed he had done this more than just a few times.


    He had dark-coloured hair and green eyes with a calm expression on his face that looked just like a younger copy of his father''s. He was fairly tall for his age and possessed a well-built body that was obvious from his arm muscles.


    "You are a lot harder to deal with than your brother, in more ways than one, Arnold."


    Laurene spoke as she turned back to gaze at the first-born child of the Eris Ducal couple, Arnold Del Eris.


    He gazed back into her blue eyes calmly, only for his own eyes to widen in surprise as his jaws dropped in shock.


    "Hmm...your surprised expression looks so authentic I could actually have fallen for it."


    Laurene remarked as she studied the face of the teenager who was still looking at her with cked jaws.


    That was only natural, as a crest had suddenly manifested in her pupils right before his very eyes.


    It was something that anyone close to Laurene was now familiar with as they had seen it multiple times over the span of the past few months.


    A single letter from an ancientnguage lost to time, one that meant ''Truth''.


    She chuckled lightly as she walked away from him and pulled out a dagger strapped to her thigh, using it to cut open the chest of the monster corpse in front of her and pull out a bloodied fist-sized stone.


    Turning back to Arnold who had rposed himself, she spoke.


    "Can you keep watch for me while I absorb this? Should not take a few minutes."

 Chapter 152 Laurene And Arnolds Little Adventure I

    "Can you keep watch for me while I absorb this? Should not take a few minutes."


    "Your highness, I don''t think you should do that here. It''s not safe."


    Despite hearing his words, Laurene ignored them and sat down before opening up the small pouch on her waist and pulling out about a dozen simrly sized stones.


    "Why? I trust you would protect me from anything dangerous."


    "You really should not ce that much trust in me, your highness."


    Laurene washed the stones with water magic and grabbed one in her palm before turning her gaze to Arnold and replying with a smile.


    "You know, saying that only makes me wanna trust you more for some reason.


    Don''t let me down, would you?"


    Immediately afterwards, she closed her eyes, all expressions fading from her face as the stone in her hand cracked.


    Seeing the magic leaking out of the magic stone in Laurene''s hands get absorbed into her body, Arnold heaved a sigh and spread out his aura to detect any presence within a hundred-metre radius.


    Perhaps sensing the aura, the corners of Laurene''s lips curled up momentarily before returning to normal as she continued absorbing the energy contained within the magic stones.


    Meanwhile, Arnold calmly stared at the young hero in front of him in silence, however, his thoughts were not as calm as his face was.


    ''She''s suspicious of me.''


    That was the conclusion that the teenager hade to after watching Laurene''s behaviour towards him in the past few weeks.


    She had suddenly said that she wanted toe over to the Nepte Province, one of the provinces within the Eris Dukedom, a province that Arnold was going to eventually take control of when he came of age, saying that one of the materials for her magic catalyst was located there.


    It was no secret in the capital city that the princess seemed to have developed a strange fascination for magic and was nning on creating some sort of magic artifact, given that she had been buying out various materials and recruiting skilled alchemists from all over the country.


    As for what she was trying to create, no one knew as all those involved werepelled to sign confidentiality magic contracts so they could not say even if they wanted to.


    So, when she suddenly said she wanted toe over to the Nepte province to search for her desired material, Arnold initially thought that was all she really wanted to do.


    However, ever since she came, the way she had been acting was causing rm bells to ring around in Arnold''s head.


    This was even more so when he received a letter from her brother, Richard, a few days after she arrived.


    In the entire letter, there was just one line that stood out to him.


    [''I think Laurene knows.'']


    ''Richard wouldn''t send me such a message if he really didn''t think that way, and now, she just activated her mystic eyes right in front of me, trying to gauge my reaction.


    She knows I know something about her mystic eyes but she''s probably not sure. Then again, that''s not really a problem, but if she finds out about the ''hero Killers'', that''s where the issue lies.


    If she asks me directly, there''s nothing I can do to avoid it since she can literally see through any lie I cane up with.


    Avoiding the question too would also be suspicious so either way, she''d figure out I know something and she''d definitely want to find out.


    She''s always been a curious girl after all.''


    He sighed as he remembered the younger Laurene from a few years ago who always followed him and Richard around, sticking her nose into every matter she found even remotely interesting.


    If something managed to pique her curiosity, she always strived to find out more about that thing.


    ''With her mystic eyes, there a few things that can remain hidden from her anymore so her childish curiosity had died down. But now that there''s something she can''t find out easily, it has been reignited.''


    **CCRACKK!


    The sound of another magic stone shattering brought him out of his thoughts as he turned his gaze to the girl who was done absorbing the magic stones and was now trying to stabilize the energy in her body.


    For some reason, this made him remember how he ended up on the outskirts of Lento City with Laurene.


    He had only been taking a walk in his family mansion, thinking about how he could deal with the task his father had assigned him when he felt a gaze on him.


    Looking up, he was met with the sight of his country''s one and only royal princess jumping out of one of the windows of the mansion''s servant residence andnding right in front of him.


    She then grabbed his hand and applied some sort of invisibility magic before dragging him out through the nearby exit of the mansion''s outerpound.


    Normally, it was not so easy to leave thepound, but since she was with him, the son of the duke, the defensive magic on the exit let the duo pass through without restriction.


    As it was an exit for servants only, one that was in the outerpound that had lesser security than the innerpound, the two only had to pass by half a dozen low-ranked knights who barely noticed something wrong.


    It was only after dragging him out did Laurene exin where she was going and why she pulled him along with her.


    ''What do you mean [You''re fishy so I pulled you along]?!''


    "Done!!"


    The princess shouted out as she jumped off the ground and stretched her legs.


    "I really needed that, now my body''s energy has been stabilized, and I even got an extra level!"


    She walked up to Arnold and her eyes seemed to glow a bit before a frown appeared on her face.<sub> </sub>


    "I still have a long way to catch up to you, huh?


    I''ve only recently be a master-level existence but I don''t see myself beating you in a fight."


    Laurene''s words made Arnold frown for various reasons.


    Firstly;


    "Princess, you''re just thirteen years old. Being a master-level existence at thirteen is already something only heard of in fairy tales.


    Even I only became one at 15, and I''m already considered a freakish genius."


    Secondly;


    ''Why do you want to beat me in a fight?!''


    Of course, he could not voice the second question out loud.


    Laurene on the other hand only titled her head in question as she replied.


    "So I''m the rare ''one in thousand years genius'' they usually talk about in novels?"


    "...Yes."


    The young princess nodded to herself as she opened up her status board and looked at her stats.


    |Name- Laurene Hayes


    Race- Human


    Gender-Female


    Age - 13


    Level- 106


    Existence Level - Master


    Titles- Princess of the Great Western Empire, Fourth of the Seven Heroes, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Mana, Seeker of Truth.


    ss - Myriad Mage


    Health �C D+


    Energy �C C


    Strength �C C-


    Agility �C C-


    Durability �C D+


    Intelligence- C-


    Condition- Slightly Amused.


    Magic Tiers- Lightning Tier 2, Fire Tier 2, Wind Tier 1, Earth Tier 2, Water Tier 1, Dark Tier 0.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Lie Detection, Magic Control, Magic Amplification, Lightning Magic (High), Chant Revocation, Mental Block, Language Comprehension.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Truth (1), Myriad Casting. |


    "106, huh? I needed to be at least 100 to use Venus and 105 to be sure it''d work."


    Laurene had also been doing her own share in terms of her hard work to level up and get stronger, even more so than Evan, given the fact that she did not have his extra levelling boost, nor did she go to any dungeons that gave double experience or battle powerful enemies like Xakon.


    Despite that, she had still passed the level 100 barrier and had be a master-level existence on her own.


    Of course, the same way Evan''s game memories helped him, the memories of the previous fourth that she possessed also helped her quite a bit.


    In fact, the ''Venus'' she had been speaking about, was something that belonged to the previous fourth.


    It was the magic catalyst that was used by the previous fourth a thousand years ago, a catalyst that was undeniably the most powerful all-round magic catalyst in all of Aidos.


    It was better than any wand or staff or any casting aiding device you could find.


    That was the reason she was currently in the deserted Lento city outskirts with Arnold.


    She was looking for the final material toplete ''Venus'', the thing she had been trying to recreate and the reason she had been hiring skilled alchemist and magi technicians from all over the country.


    The previous ''fourth'' of the ''seven heroes'' was a near transcendent level archmage and all her knowledge of magic was stuck inside Laurene''s head.


    When the previous seven heroes made the n to reincarnate, all of them made special private ns for each of themselves, on how they would regain their previous weapons and magic.

 Chapter 153 Laurene And Arnolds Little Adventure II

    Laurene was looking for the final material toplete ''Venus'', the thing she had been trying to recreate and the reason she had been hiring skilled alchemist and magi technicians from all over the country.


    The previous ''fourth'' of the ''seven heroes'' was a near transcendent level archmage and all her knowledge of magic was stuck inside Laurene''s head.


    When the previous seven heroes made the n to reincarnate, all of them made special private ns for each of themselves, on how they would regain their previous weapons and magic.


    For the previous fourth, her main n was to regain ''Venus'', her magic catalyst that stood atop every other magic catalyst a thousand years ago


    Laurene didn''t know if there were better existing ones now, especially in Kasteblum, the city-state of magic, but she was sure that whenpleted, Venus would still be among the top ten in the world.


    The previous fourth had gathered some of the materials and left them in multiple bases that the previous seven heroes had, however, Laurene had been unable to find those bases due to the fact that their surrounding terrain had changed after a thousand years.


    Some of the bases had been destroyed over time and the few she managed to find were in the territories of other countries, ces that she, a princess, couldn''t just randomly go to without a care in the world.


    As such, she had to start gathering the materials again, one by one, spending hundreds of thousands of gold coins to acquire the materials and recruit skilled alchemists and magi technicians to help in recreating Venus.


    However, even though Venus was recreated, it still missed one thing that could not be gotten elsewhere.


    It still missed its core


    While she had managed to recreate it, she had not been able to find anything that could rece Venus'' core.


    The core of Venus was something that she could not replicate so easily as even the previous fourth took years to make that core.


    So, the previous fourth took her time to enchant the entirety of the base where the magic catalyst''s core was kept, making sure that it would still be standing even after a thousand years.


    Having the knowledge of the deceased archmage, she knew just where the core was located and afterparing the location on the map in her memories to the modern-day map, she discovered that it was in a ce she could have easily gone to a lot earlier.


    That ce, was the Nepte province, one of the provinces in Duke Eris'' territory, that''s why she was there with Arnold as the two went over to go get the final piece of the catalyst.


    Even though she had discovered the location quite a while ago, she did not go there because she knew fully well that an existence below the master level would be unable to handle the core of the catalyst and might end up suffering adverse effects ranging from energy flow deviation to losing the ability to manipte energy, and worst case scenario;


    Instant death.


    As such, she needed to be over level 100 to use the catalyst, and at least 105 to ensure no problems would arise.


    That was why she only came to retrieve the catalyst now.


    Besides that, there was the fact that she had just turned thirteen a month ago and was dealing with her birthday party proceedings so she could not easily leave the capital.


    After that, there was the incident where she encountered the knights who her dad sent after Evan when she returned from collecting some of the materials she needed for Venus, so it was onlyst week that she finally managed to recreate Venus.


    Her n was to go over and confirm if the base was still in the location that she believed it to be before returning and leading the rest of the guard detail that followed her from the capital there, but she ran into Arnold and decided to drag him along to confirm some of her suspicions.


    Naturally, she also couldn''t just vanish from the Duke''s mansion as that would cause a whole lot of problems so she and Arnold informed the knights at the city gates of their destination and sent them to inform the members of her guard detail who had already realised she was missing and were tracking her down before borrowing a pair of horses and riding over to the forest.


    That brought us to the current situation where Laurene and Arnold were standing atop a small hill about twenty metres high, staring down at an abandoned town with a structure in the middle that researchers from all the major powers of the Alpha continent would find familiar.


    p It was a building shaped like a circle, surrounded by metal overhanging panels. The second floor was bigger than the first, which created several overhanging parts on one side of the building.</anda>


    The roof was high and circr and was covered with metal shingles. Small, half-rounded windows adding to the overall look of the building had been added to the structure in a fairly symmetrical pattern.<sub> </sub>


    Thepound had three circr walls that surrounded the building, with each of them having multiple copsed sections that the orcs busily moved in or out of thepound through.


    Despite having lived here for a while, the orcs had actually been unable to get into this structure, with the materials being used in the construction proving a bit too strong for even the orcs over level 100.


    ''It was built by a near transcendent level archmage, if level 100 orcs could break it, then there''d be a problem.''


    The main striking feature of this structure, was the presence of the spherical dome at the centre of the roof, that despite being made with ss, had somehow been able to withstand the various climates and hadn''t been damaged for so long.


    Now then, it stands to question why such a structure had not been discovered by the researchers a long time ago despite the fact that they were searching for simr buildings. The reason was quite simple.


    Where the duo stood, was currently smack dam in the middle of a forest that had been known to be infested by various monsters for a very long time.


    The location of the forest was also a few kilometres away from the main Lento city, far enough that it took Laurene and Arnold about an hour to get there by horse.


    To be more specific, it was one of the bases of the orc monsters that inhabited this forest.


    As for the Lento city adventurer''s guild, they were aware of this structure''s existence. It was something they hade across when researching the ecosystem of the forest and scouting the main bases of the monsters inhabiting it.


    Due to the presences of other broken down and depted buildings all around the valley, weather-worn stone pirs surrounded by dead clumps of grass, cracked blocks and stones broken up by meandering tree roots, pitted steps and staircases, and caved-in roofs weighed down by vines or other foliage, they had concluded that there was a town that had existed in that area a long time ago, but the town had been abandoned for heaven knows how many generations.


    As such, it was catalogued as an abandoned town and potential monster base in their archives. They never deemed it important enough to report this to the government, after all, this wasn''t the only one of such towns that had been discovered by other adventurer''s guilds across the continent.


    And since this guild branch''s executives were unaware of the research being conducted on the bases of the previous seven heroes by the major powers of the continent, they didn''t know how important what they discovered was and didn''t even report it to adventurer''s guild main headquarters.


    Thus, this base had remained undetected for years and Laurene wouldn''t have known it was till there if she didn''te over to check personally.


    Besides, even if they found it, they would have been unable to enter it as this was unlike the general bases they had discovered before, it was a private base owned not by all the previous seven heroes but only by the ''fourth''.


    As such, the means to enter differed from the others, it was the same with all the other ''private'' bases that had not yet been discovered.


    "They''re over a hundred..."


    "Yeah, but their general levels are all below 70, only about a dozen are in the 90s and there are only two at level 100, but they''re not master level so I can actually take them all out.


    Actually, why don''t I try it? It''d be a good way to test Venus out too."


    "Princess, taking on over a hundred monsters by yourself is not a wise idea in any way, shape or form."


    "I know."


    "..."


    "..."


    The two stared at each other in silence before Laurene suddenly applied body-strengthening magic on herself and was about to jump off the hill, only for her right arm to be grabbed by Arnold who looked at her with a frown.


    "Your Highness.


    Since you''ve confirmed what you are looking for is still here, let''s go back. Your guards are definitely worried about you by now."

 Chapter 154 Laurene And Arnolds Little Adventure III

    "..."


    "..."


    Laurene and Arnold stared at each other in silence before Laurene suddenly applied body-strengthening magic on herself and was about to jump off the hill, only for her right arm to be grabbed by Arnold who looked at her with a frown.


    "Your Highness.


    Since you''ve confirmed what you are looking for is still here, let''s go back. Your guards are definitely worried about you by now."


    "Nahh, they have mages who can track my location so they should know exactly where I am and would be here soon.


    Let''s have some fun before they get here."


    ''Besides, I''ve already disabled the concealment artifact on me. Dad gave it to me to hide from enemies in the event of danger but he probably wouldn''t have expected me to use it to hide from my own guards.''


    Laurene''s guards were indeed already tracking the princess and were closing in on her location, but unbeknownst to her, the area she was in had a boundary magic field that disabled all sorts of tracking magic; hence, her guards actually didn''t know her exact location.


    It was a result of a particr artifact that was within the structure not too far from her.


    "Even if they do, it''s not enough justification to dive into a monster nest."


    "I want to test out my magic catalyst, that''s justification, right? Besides, there''s nothing there that can be a threat to me with you around."


    "I''m happy that you see me so highly but let''s go back, Princess."


    Hearing Arnold''s words, Laurene stared at him in silence before a mischievous smile suddenly crept onto her face. She moved her left hand and tapped on the bracelet on her right wrist.


    It was a small simple gemstone bracelet with a single ck spherical gem the size of a blueberry.


    As soon as her finger touched it, the gem glowed and shot out of the bracelet, floating into the air as it shone with a bright light that made Arnold reflexively close his eyes.


    "Grease."


    In his darkened vision, he heard that one word and his grip on the arm of the girl in front of him loosened as her arm slipped out with ease.


    He opened his eyes to see an iing fist which he dodged by a hair''s breadth before reaching out and trying to grab the arm of his assant.


    However, right before he touched it, he felt something was wrong and hurriedly jumped away, a second before the arm exploded.


    **BOOMM!!!


    The entire hill trembled as more than five metres of its twenty-metre height had been taken out with that one explosion.


    **WHOOOSHH!!!


    Arnold waved his arm and summoned a gust of wind to blow away the dust and smoke from the explosion, his gaze locking onto the person standing at the bottom of the explosion-ridden hill as he asked.


    p "Princess Laurene, just what are you doing?"</anda>


    However, the reply he got was not one he expected. Laurene who was initially chuckling to herself suddenly froze before turning to him and breaking out into arge smile.


    "You finally called me by name!"


    Arnold could feel the happiness radiating off her despite being over ten metres away from the girl, causing question marks to appear in his mind as he didn''t understand why she was so happy.


    ''Is it because I addressed her the way I did when she was younger? Just that?''


    His confusion was very visible on his face, but he did not have the time to think it through as the nearby orcs who were definitely not deaf, heard the explosion and were rushing over to find out the source.


    "Princess, we have to lea-! Shit!"


    Arnold cursed loudly as he felt the gaze of one of the level 100 orcs lock onto him, right before it shouted out something to the other orcs.


    ''It has spotted us!''<sub> </sub>


    He looked down towards Laurene and saw that the young princess had wiped the smile off her face and was staring at the orcs with all seriousness.


    The ck orb that was the gemstone in her bracelet, the Magic catalyst ''Venus'', floated in the air silently as she roused her magic power and prepared for battle.


    ''Did she use the explosion to get them to notice us?''


    Upon realizing that the earlier explosion was Laurene''s way of attracting the orcs'' attention, putting them in a situation where they had no choice but to battle the orcs, Arnold''s brow twitched as he barely held back his urge to flip out on the princess.


    ''I really didn''t n for a battle.''


    He looked at the mass-produced sword he picked up from one of the city gates'' guards, and then at his clothes and concluded that he had to be careful so as not to get hit even once.


    ''Even if my clothes are enchanted, they were not enchanted to be used in battle but for simple self-defence, but her...''


    He studied the clothes that Laurene was wearing and noticed that they were enchanted with about a dozen physical and magic defensive spells with the materials of the clothes themselves being sourced from fairly powerful monsters, thus possessing enough defensive power to protect her from almost anything below level 200, except against beings with special abilities.


    If he knew that these clothes were just prototypes and that the real deal was designed to be strong enough to take hits from level 300 monsters then he''d probably be in for the shock of his life.


    While Arnold was tabting the matter of equipment, Laurene hadpletely gone into battle mode, activating her ''Myriad Casting'' skill that she acquired upon bing Level 100.


    The moment she activated the skill, Venus glowed lightly as seven fist-sized orbs of pure magic power manifested behind her, something that would make Evan ''Truth Seeker!'' if he saw them.


    ''Activate all Elements.''


    As she gave themand, Venus glowed and her skill''s effect continued as the six of the seven orbs were then attributed with various elements of magic and changed colours.


    Golden-Lightning, Red-Fire, Green-Wind, Brown-Earth, Blue-Water, ck-Dark.


    Thest orb remained transparent, showing the pure and non-attributed nature of the magic power contained within.


    Seeing the skill''s effect for the first time, Arnold''s eyes widened slightly as he deduced what those orbs were meant for.


    When one cast a magic spell, they took the (mostly pure) unattributed magic power in their bodies and infused it with an attribute, before channelling it into the spell circle that they either generated outwardly, or for skilled mages and experts in a particr spell, visualized inwardly.


    There was also the issue of using a chant or having to call out the spell''s name to solidify the image of the spell and its effect, allowing the caster to influence the magic power and make their will a reality in the form of the spell.


    This was a process that usually took a certain amount of time, ranging from a few minutes for less skilled mages and those using longer chants, to mere seconds for more powerful mages and those who activated spells just by calling out the names of the spells in demand.


    However, Laurene never had to go through the process of using a chant or even calling out the spell''s name due to her chant revocation.


    All she had to do was manipte her magic power and will for the spell to be cast, but even that took time depending on the attribute of the spell and the amount of magic power required.


    She only asionally called out spell names to reinforce her image of the spell in her mind.


    However, her myriad casting solved that problem for her by attributing her pure magic power for her and keeping it on standby inside the orbs floating behind her.


    Thus, the moment she needed to cast a spell, all she had to do was will it and the already attributed magic power inside the orb would be consumed instantly to cast the spell.


    This saved her the stress of having to infuse her magic power with an attribute every time she wanted to cast a spell and made it easier for her to switch attributes with others as even with her chant revocation, switching from water magic to fire magic was still going to take her a few seconds.


    Seconds that when one looked at battles between existences on the master level and above, those few seconds could be the deciding factor.


    An example would be the time that vore had suddenly appeared behind Evan and nearly split him in half. He would have perished there if not for the fact that Eliza''s barrier managed to hold the de wraith at bay for a few seconds, giving him the time needed to activate blink.


    So, for a mage like Laurene, the ability to instantly cast attributed magic spells and switch elements, even going as far as to use multiple elements without any issues, was very useful.


    And that was what she had achieved when shebined the effects of her chant revocation and her Myriad casting.


    Due to being Loved by Mana, the amount of magic she required when casting spells was reduced drastically and the strength of her spells didn''t drop but instead increased instead.


    "Try to keep up, Arnold."

 Chapter 155 Laurene And Arnolds Little Adventure IV

    "Try to keep up, Arnold."


    Laurene took a deep breath right after she spoke, before abruptly kicking off the ground as she dashed toward the dozens of weapon-wielding orcs that were charging toward her with vigour.


    She flicked a finger and the brown orb glowed slightly as a small tform rose from the ground. Stepping on it, she jumped up into the air and performed a beautiful flip that surprised the charging orcs.


    Mid-air, she spread out her both arms as all the orbs behind her glowed, with beams of light shooting through the air in the next second.


    "GUAH?!"


    "BUFO!"


    "KAAAKK!"


    The multi coloredser-like beams of light seared through the air and hit a dozen unfortunate orcs, tearing through their bodies and reducing them to mere chunks of meat instantly.


    On the faces of the six-foot-tall pig-like monsters, pure shock could be seen as they were not well versed in magic to understand how Laurene had killed twelve of their brethren with beams of light.


    However, they understood one thing, and that was that she had to die.


    "human female kill Orc brother!"


    "Kill human!"


    They shouted in broken speech as even the orcs who had originally stood back to watch the situation, picked up their weapons and charged toward Laurene with rage.


    Orcs were quite ugly monsters, with the average orc possessing arge body with a head that resembled that of a pig and having two long fangs protruding from their mouth.


    And these features only seemed to get more pronounced as they levelled up, making them look even worse.


    So, seeing dozens of gigantic monsters, averaging from six to eight-foot charging toward one with enraged expressions and bloodthirsty eyes, was not something that any thirteen-year-old girl could take calmly.


    However, when said thirteen -year-old had hundreds of years of memories and battle experience of a near transcendent level archmage, things were a bit different.


    Laurene didn''t even flinch as shended on the ground and gazed at the iing orcs that were charging at her from almost all directions.


    The symbol within her blue eyes glowed with a golden light as her pupils darted around quickly, utilizing the kic vision granted to all possessors of vision-based unique skills to scan the iing orcs.


    ''Left leg, right chest, lower abdomen, left shoulder, left knee, right foot, sr plexus, left thigh, left wrist...Lock On.''


    She used her mystic eyes and saw through the points on the orc''s bodies that were their weakest and would give the most damage when attacked and locked on to them.


    The next moment, she stretched her hands forward and the red and golden orbs behind her glowed with dozens of lightning and me spears manifesting all around her.


    The instant the spears were done manifesting, they were sent flying with zero-time dy, shooting towards the various weak points of the orcs and piercing through said weak points with ease.


    Naturally, some of the more agile orcs moved theirrge bodies to dodge the spears, while some others rose their weapons to block, however, these actions slowed them down and Laurene took advantage of that tounch another wave of attacks.


    The ck and red orbs behind her glowed as numerous balls of dark energy manifested around her, smashing into the ground in the next second and creating a wave of explosions that travelled on the ground in all directions.


    **BOOMM! BOOOM!


    A few more unfortunate orcs met their ends as their legs were blown off by the explosions at their feet, making them nothing butrge targets for the iing spears of lighting that seared through their heads.


    Laurene did not stand still, moving around as she cast many spells, the orbs around her glowing at different intervals as she cast spells from over three attributes without having to deal with the mental pressure that was associated with such an act.


    Two ringed magic circles manifested in the air, releasing rains of mes, torrents of water, or spears of earth in every moment as at least one or two orcs lost their lives with each spell.


    Much like the archmage whose memories she possessed, Laurene had the habit of getting up close and personal, allowing her spells to hit the orcs without losing any bit of power as they would if she fired them from long distances.


    The young hero crouched before infusing magic power into her feet.


    She then created a small column of earth underneath her legs to give her a boost as she jumped tens of metres into the air and looked around rapidly, her eyes locking on to a few orcs she considered to be ''slightly troublesome'' as she activated multiple magic spells in that instant before her body began falling to the ground.


    The green orb glowed as dozens of desposed solely ofpressed solid wind manifested in the air. The des took a shape closer to a throwing knife rather than to a de where it did not have a handle or a hilt.<sub> </sub>


    The blue orb glowed with light as the air around the area instantly cooled to the point that it condensed into water. The water was then formed into streams that gathered together to form onerge bullet of water magic.


    When the yellow orb glowed, Laurene pointed her hand in the direction of one of the ''slightly troublesome'' orcs, a Level 100 Orc as golden tendrils of lightning began crackling down her arm.


    ''Go.''


    She gave a mentalmand and all three spells wereunched at the same time, with the wind de speeding through the air and tearing through the throats of numerous orcs.


    The water bullet wasunched in the direction of the level 100 orc, causing it to make a surprised noise as the bullet reached it faster than it had expected.


    The orc moved itsrge body to dodge, causing the bullet to crash onto the ground, but not before the water bullet tore a huge chunk out of its arm on its way to the ground.


    **BAAAMMM!!!


    The ground trembled as therge bullet crashed into the ground, making the few dozen or so orcs who were nearby to lose their footing as theirrge bodies tumbled to the ground.


    A cloud of dust rose up as water and mud sshed everywhere, with some even entering the mouth of the orc as it hurriedly tried to spit the mud out.


    It was at that point that the orc realised something, the human mage created three things while in the air, the wind des slicing its brethren''s necks, the water bullet that ripped off part of its arm, and...


    **BZZZTTT!!!


    ...a golden lightning bolt!


    "AU-!"


    **BOOOOOMMMMM!!!!


    Whatever cry the orc tried to voice out was cut short as the lightning bolt that was circling around in the air suddenly took a nosedive and arrived at the orc''s position in less than a second.


    The lightning boltnded on the head of the orc that was covered with mud and water, causing its head to explode into bloody chunks of meat.


    However, that was not all as the lightning bolt went on to roast the rest of the orc''s body and hit the ground, exploding upon contact.


    Another set of orcs found themselves being thrown around by the st with the most minor injuries being the loss of at least a limb.


    Meanwhile, the mage responsible for all this was called back to the ground by gravity, her body dropping downwards as she had almost reached the ground in less than five seconds.


    Right before she could activate her wind magic to slow her fall, her body was suddenly enveloped in a warm embrace, her nose being filled with a familiar scent causing her to realize something.


    ''He''s carrying me...?''


    Indeed, right before the princess could activate the magic, Arnold had beheaded the orc he was fighting and used its corpse as a foothold to jump in the air and catch the falling Princess in his arms.


    **BAMM!!


    He took advantage of his position in the air to infuse his feet with his aura,nding on the head of another orc and squashing it to bits as blood and brain matter sshed everywhere.


    However, he paid this no mind as he dropped Laurene to her feet, turning his gaze to scan the battlefield as he spoke.


    "The orcs, their numbers are increasing..."


    Sadly, the princess he was speaking to was not listening as she stared at him in a daze. Not hearing a reply, he turned his gaze and noticed her looking at him weirdly.


    "Princess?"


    "Huh? Oh? What did you say?"


    It was only when he called out to her that she snapped out of it and hurriedly looked around. Although he found it weird, it was low priority considering that the orcs that he initially believed to be just a little over a hundred were increasing in numbers.


    Laurene had personally taken out close to a hundred herself with her bombardment of spells, with him having killed no more than a few dozen on the side, despite this he could still see a few tens of orcs trooping into thepound every minute.

 Chapter 156 Laurene And Arnolds Little Adventure V

    ''Was the whole town the orcs'' base? I didn''t sense any orcs in the buildings when we were making our way here so where were they?''


    The hero killer looked around trying to spot the source of the increasing orc numbers when he instantly sensed magic power in the ground beneath his feet.


    ''It''s not hers!''


    He instantly noticed it was not the same magic as the one the princess beside him possessed, activating his magic destabiliser skill instantly and caused whatever spell was cast to instantly fail as the ambient magic power around him went haywire.


    "Huh?"


    ''Ah, shit!''


    The moment he heard the surprised voiceing from beside him, he cursed inwardly and asked himself why he didn''t just pick the princess and jump out of the range of the magic spell instead of using his skill.


    The reason was simple since he destabilized all magic and spells around him, there was no way that Laurene, a mage, would not notice something wrong and instantly realize the source to be him.


    Even if she could not sense his skill''s activation, it was still obvious to her that the only reason the spell that was about to manifest under their feet would suddenly get destroyed was because of him.


    And Arnold most certainly did not want her to realize he had a skill that could be considered a bane to all almost mages.


    Laurene''s gaze on him went from shock, to confusion, bing cold for a split second before a look of resignation appeared on her face for some reason.


    She didn''t ask any questions and instantly kicked off the ground, deactivating and reactivating her myriad casting skill as dashed towards the new set of orcs that just ran into thepound, dragging along carts that held the corpses of other monsters and ferocious animals.


    ''I see, so they went hunting and just returned, that''s why their numbers increased.''


    Laurene decided to leave the orc mage who was about to cast a spell on her and Arnold to the young hero killer as she moved to take out the new duo of orcs over level 100 that just entered thepound.


    Appraising both of them, her eyes narrowed slightly as she discovered that one of them was a master-level existence.


    ''This is gonna be tricky.''


    Laurene used her myriad casting''s second ability to absorb the ambient magic power in the air into the non-attributed magic orb, before spreading it across the other six orbs floating behind her.


    She mmed her palms together as golden lightning crackled around her arms, a pair of lightning gloves forming over her arms before the lightning spread down to her feet and formed a pair of boots.


    The gloves reached up to her elbows and the boots reached up to her knees, with sparks of electricity dancing around in the air as her jumping power and speed were taken to new heights.


    She absorbed more ambient magic power from the atmosphere, thinning out the mana concentration within a ten-metre radius of her as she refuelled the magic power in the floating orbs.


    **BZZZTTT!!!


    The next step she took after creating the boots of lightning, cratered the ground around her feet as she dashed forward with newfound speed, spreading her arms out as her wed gloved tore through the flesh and rended the bones of a few orcs in her way.


    She moved in a zig-zag pattern making it hard for the master-level orc who could barely see her movements, to predict where she would move to next.


    It instantly pulled out its sword and raised it up in the air, before roaring out loudly.


    "KUAAAAA!!!"


    The skill given to all Orc lords, War Cry, was activated as the Orc entered a super armoured state with the weaker orcs being rejuvenated as they also entered a simr state.


    "Leave the human to me and help the others!"


    The orc disyed its intelligence as it screamed out orders, mere seconds before Laurene arrived in front of it and delivered a spinning jump kick to the orc''s head.


    However, in its super armoured state, it saw her movements and rose its sword to block her lightning boots, its hand trembling as it realized the strength of this human girl was more than it expected.


    Lightning travelled through its sword and tried to stun it, but the orc''s super armoured state allowed it to shrug off all the lightning damage and the paralysis that came with it as it forced Laurene backwards with a small cry.


    The young hero jumped backwards and flipped in the air, spreading her hands out in the air as the golden and red orbs behind her glowed slightly.


    Spears of lightning and fire magic manifested in duos, locking onto multiple unfortunate orcs andunching in their directions.


    **BOOM BOOOM BOOOOMM!!


    Explosions rang out as the fire and lightning spears crashed into the orcs around her, releasing an overloaded explosion as the lightning paralysed the orcs and the mes charred them ck.


    While doing this, Laurene''s eyes locked onto the Orc lord she was facing, with her eyes glowing as she spotted a weak point and locked onto it.


    ''As expected of a level 135 monster, I can only see a single weak point.''<sub> </sub>


    The moment her feetnded on the ground, she blitzed in the orc''s direction again, carving the ground where she moved and instantly arriving in front of the seven-foot-tall monster.


    She sent out a punch towards the monster''s left knee, with a single-ringed magic circle manifesting right behind its knee as the blue orb behind her glowed.


    An orb of water manifested behind his knee and sshed onto it, with her lightning fist crashing into that knee in the next second as the orc let out a scream of pain.


    "GAAAAAA!"


    Before it could even fully wing its sword in retaliation, the lightning boots on Laurene''s feet let out sparks of light as she blitzed out of its range instantly.


    **BAMM!!


    The aura-coated sword crashed onto the ground where Laurene just stood, rupturing the earth and causing chunks of stone to fly out in all directions.


    A few unlucky orcs were hit in the head and perished instantly, with others losing their footing due to the shockwaves of the strike.


    And all these happened from the casual strike of the master-level Orc Lord.


    It spread out its aura and instantly found Laurene, its eyes turning in her direction as it rose its free hand and spoke.


    "Burn!


    Fireball!"


    A two-ringed magic circle appeared in front of it, with a ball of fire shot from it towards Laurene.


    **BZZTTT!!


    Laurene dodged the spell with rtive ease, taking more distance from the orc lord as she was getting closer to what was once the town gate of the abandoned town.


    Suddenly, the area around her abruptly turned dark, causing Laurene to look up and see arge figure holding something she recognized to be arge sword overhead in the air.


    ''Shit!!''


    The young hero cursed internally as she instantly activated wind magic, to propel herself in another direction and give herself a boost of speed.


    Her lightning boots increased in length until they covered her thighs, causing her face to contort in pain slightly but she ignored it and kicked off the ground with all her might and dash away from her previous location.


    ***KAABOOOMM!!!!


    ? **RUMBLLEE!!!!


    The sound of an earth-shaking explosion rang out, with a huge cloud of dust and dirt rising up into the clouds, quickly taking on the shape of a giant mushroom cloud surrounded by mes.


    The shockwave from the explosion swept through orcs and buildings alike, destroying everything in its path with terrifying ease.


    Every single orc within a hundred-metre radius instantly perished without even knowing how and why they had died. Laurene found herself rolling on the ground for over a dozen metres, crashing onto several trees, smashing everything in her path and showering herself with dirt and mud.


    When she finally stopped rolling, she forced her pained body up to her feet and couldn''t help but have her jaw drop when she looked at the scene in front of her.


    ''...How?''


    There was nothing in front of her.


    And that was precisely the issue.


    Laurene was in a forest filled with trees, a ce where a town once stood centuries ago, with the broken down and depted building serving as proof of this.


    However, everything had been wiped clean and reduced to mere chunks of earth, with the trees that had grown over the years being left with nothing but their roots.


    If one was to calcte it, everything approximately 150 metres forward from the point she was standing had been reduced to rubble.


    *BAAMMM!!!


    She heard another loud noise, causing her to break out of her daze as she fished out magic potions from the pouch on her waist and downing the contents of the bottles instantly.


    She didn''t know how long she had cked out, but she assumed it was long enough for Arnold and the Orc lord to engage in a brawl that had caused the ground around them to be carved with sword shes.


    In reality, it was actually not up to three minutes but she was not aware of this.

 Chapter 157 Laurene And Arnolds Little Adventure VI

    *BAAMMM!!!


    Laurene heard another loud noise, causing her to break out of her daze as she fished out magic potions from the pouch on her waist and downing the contents of the bottles instantly.


    She didn''t know how long she had cked out, but she assumed it was long enough for Arnold and the Orc lord to engage in a brawl that had caused the ground around them to be carved with sword shes.


    In reality, it was actually not up to three minutes but she was not aware of this.


    The princess could still even see the residual aura on some of the sword shes, showing how recent they were made as she dashed towards the location of the battle.


    The moment she set eyes on the two shing existences; she instantly understood the reason for the sudden destruction of the surroundings.


    "It''s using a berserker skill."


    When she had appraised the orc lord earlier, she had seen it had a berserker skill, thus she opted to use lightning magic to boost her movement speed so she could quickly take the monster out, having nned the list of spells she was going to bombard it with.


    However, she had not expected the monster to suddenly activate the berserker skill so early and was caught off guard.


    Right after it activated its fireball magic, it activated the berserker skill and jumped in the air, raising itsrge sword overhead and infusing it with aura before shing down on the ground where she was previously standing.


    If she had not escaped as fast as she could, she would have definitely been unable to get out with minor injuries like she did as the force of the Berserk Orc lord''s sh had destroyed everything within a 75-80 metre radius, before going on to release shockwaves that spread for a little bit over 25 metres more.


    That was the reason for the current situation where more than half the abandoned town had been turned to rubble.


    Of course, the base of the ''Previous Fourth'' in the centre of the town still stood strong.


    Now then, onto the reason why the berserk orc lord had not dashed towards her and tried to end her life while she was cked out on the ground.


    "Arnold..."


    The reason was simple, it was battling a far greater threat to its life, Arnold Del Eris.


    Although Arnold was young, he was still an existence ten levels higher than the orc lord, so naturally, the monster perceived him as a greater threat and went for him first in its berserk state.


    Of course, Arnold was slightly injured since he was also caught off guard by the Orc Lord''s sudden attack and was within the st range but he was fast enough to cover his body with aura and prevent the worst.


    Nevertheless, his injured state naturally reduced the amount of power he could use, leading to the situation of him and the orc lord being stuck in a stalemate.


    ''And I''m gonna break that Stalemate.''


    Laurene''s eyes shed as she reactivated her myriad casting skill, this time only summoning two orbs behind her.


    The brown orb representing earth magic and the yellow orb representing lighting.


    She mmed both hands on the ground and poured a bit of magic power into her voice before screaming out.


    "Arnold, Hold it in ce!!"


    The young hero killer who was shing swords with the orc lord heard her voice and chuckled lightly before replying with a low voice.


    "Easier said than done, princess."


    He engulfed his sword in his signature red aura and swung it in towards the orc lord''s free arm, however, the monster repositioned its de and blocked his strike.


    Arnold didn''t even bother to press on, allowing his sword to slide off the orc lord''s de and down to the ground.


    "KUAAAAAHH!!!"


    The orc lord roared as it swung itsrge fist, intending on punching Arnold''s brains out, but the teenager ducked to avoid it.


    His eyes shed lightly as he manipted his magic power and infused lightning into his body, temporarily increasing his speed to new heights as he swung his sword arm.


    **SWIIISSHHH!!!


    The aura-coated sword moved through the air at break-neck speed, cleanly cutting into the outstretched arm of the orc lord and severing it in the middle.


    "ARGGHHHH!!!!!"


    The orc lord roared in pain as its feet stopped for a moment due to the pain of its arm being cut off. The pain was so much that it temporarily knocked the monster out of its berserk state.


    However, at that moment, its two feet were still, giving Laurene the opportunity she was waiting for.


    The brown orb floating behind her shattered to pieces as all the magic in it was used up instantly.


    Simultaneously, the ground behind the orc lord cracked open as a sentry-like golem consisting of stone emerged from underneath the ground and grabbed the Orc lord''s torso and remaining arm.


    In the next moment, the golden orb behind Laurene shattered as for the first time in a while, she called out the name of a magic spell.


    "Arcane Bolt of Severance."


    Storm clouds gathered in the sky above the orc and there was a bright shing light as a golden lightning bolt crashed down onto the Orc, instantly severing it from life.


    **BAAMM!!!!<sub> </sub>


    It was a quick and precise strike, one that targeted the head of the Orc Lord and didn''t have a chance to even move to dodge.


    By the time the sound reached Arnold''s ears, the Orc lord''s head had already exploded into chucks of charred flesh, burned bone and brain matter.


    *THUD!


    The golem holding its body crumbled to dust and therge body of the orc lord fell onto the ground with a thud.


    And thus, was how, in less than thirty minutes after Laurene and Arnold arrived, the Orc Lord of the forest met its untimely death.


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    Five Level up notification appeared in Laurene''s sight as she heaved a sigh of relief.


    ''Counting the levels I got from killing the other orcs, I''m level 113 now. To think I would get 7 levels just like that.''


    Her legs felt weak and just as she was about to copse from exhaustion, she felt a fairly muscr arm catch her body mid-air and lift her up princess carry style.


    "You seem to like falling to the ground today."


    "...Can''t help it."


    Arnold was about to reply when his expression suddenly turned grave and he looked in a certain direction.


    Laurene was initially confused but a few secondster, she realized the reason why as she felt the frightening auras of a few dozen beings closing in on their location.


    Arnold gripped his cracked sword tighter as he racked his brain for a solution to the event that the iing auras were hostiles.


    Before he could even think about backstepping, a gust of wind brushed past him as he felt a cold metal de on his neck.


    "Apologies Sir Eris, but I''m going to have to ask you to put her highness down."


    It was too fast for Arnold to even react despite his superior senses as a sword master. Two possibilities came to his mind as Arnold looked down at the glistening silver de on his neck.


    ''An end-stage sword master, or a .... Grand Master.''


    Even if the Ten great swordsmen were the most powerful grandmasters in the Great Western Empire, it did not mean that they were the only ones.


    The person wearing the silver armour of the royal knights with his sword on Arnold''s neck, was one of these other grandmasters.


    "Huh?"


    It was then that Laurene finally reacted.


    "W-wait! Put your sword down! He just caught me when I was about to fall!"


    The knight narrowed his eyes for a moment before obeying the orders of his princess and lowering his de.


    "Put me down, Arnold."


    The teenager didn''t even have to be told twice, he hurriedly dropped the Princess and let her stand on her feet.


    The next moment, there were gusts of wind as the rest of the massive auras they sensed reached their location.


    About ten knights, all wearing the royal knight''s armour, arrived on horseback, jumping off their horses and moving towards Laurene with swords drawn.


    "Whoa, chill!"


    The young princess eximed upon seeing the other members of her guard detail arriving, a shocked expression appearing on her face as she looked up and saw about half a dozen mages floating in the air.


    ''That''s twice the number of mages I was aware of.''


    Instantly understanding that the other three were the guards she was supposed to be unaware of, the princess heaved a sigh of exasperation.


    One of the mages dropped down from the sky and instantly applied healing magic on Laurene, causing all of her cuts, scratches and burns from overusing the lightning boots spell to disappear within seconds.


    Seeing this, Arnold''s eyes narrowed as he noticed one important fact.


    ''Master level existences, all of them.


    How was she able to escape their watch in the first ce? Even if she''s also a master level, it shouldn''t be that easy, right?''

 Chapter 158 Laurene And Arnolds Little Adventure VII [Bonus Chapter]

    ''Master level existences, all of them.


    How was she able to escape their watch in the first ce? Even if she''s also a master level, it shouldn''t be that easy, right?''


    All of the members of the princess guard detail that were present were all master-level existences, this brought the question of how Laurene was able to leave the Duke''s mansion without them noticing.


    Of course, he was naturally unaware of the fact that Laurene would use the artifact that her dad gave to her for her ''safety'', to avoid the detection of those keeping her safe.


    He was still trying to rationalize how an existence that was barely level 100, managed to evade the detection of a level 300 being for over an hour.


    ''I didn''t think about it earlier but it''s really weird how her guards didn''te right after us the moment she left the mansion.''


    Laurene''s guard detail didn''t only consist of the ten peak master level knights, six mages of simr strength and the grandmaster that were present.


    There were dozens of other knights with levels ranging from 90 �C 150. With that many people watching her, the teenager didn''t understand how she got out without them noticing.


    Meanwhile, Laurene who had tossed on a long overcoat over her clothes was currently being chided by the grandmaster.


    "Your highness, can you not do such a thing next time?


    You gave us a fright when you turned off your tracker."


    He was unaware of the existence of her concealment artifact so he assumed the reason the mages couldn''t track her was because she turned off the tracker embedded in her clothes.


    "I know, I didn''t want to have y''all make a wasted trip here so I came over to check the location out beforehand.


    Fighting against the orcs was a n that came afterwards."


    The aged man only heaved a sigh of exhaustion as he stared at the young girl in front of him.


    ''Even if she acts mature for her age, she''s still just a thirteen-year-old in the end.''


    "But please, do well to switch it back onter."


    "Huh? I already did that the moment I entered the forest."


    The man''s words made Laurene tilt her head in confusion. Her hands moved towards her shirt''s cor and she tapped the small gem embedded in the material.


    "Yes, we noticed that but didn''t you switch it off again? Around��?"


    His gaze turned to one of the mages who came forward andpleted his statement.


    "Almost half an hour, if not more."


    The knight was not sure of the time the tracker had gone offline but the mages who were In charge were clear about it.


    However, the expression on Laurene''s face turned sour as she voiced out a question.


    "How did you guys find me here?"


    "The earlier explosion."


    When the guards found out Laurene went into the forest, they chased after her and were very close to catching her after she switched on the tracker.


    Unfortunately, that was when Laurene entered the range of the artifact that nullified the tracking magic, thus they lost track of her location temporarily.


    However, when the Orc Lord executed its first attack in berserk mode, the resulting cloud of dust and dirt was enough for anyone to realise that something was definitely happening there, thus they moved in that direction and got to her right after she had ended the orc lord''s life.


    The time from when they noticed the explosion till when they arrived at her location was at most, five minutes, but things had already ended by then.


    That was the exnation they gave, however, Laurene frowned as she spoke afterwards.


    "I haven''t switched it off again since I entered the forest, in fact, it''s on right now."


    The eyes of the knights and mages listening widened upon hearing this. Laurene had no reason to lie to them at this point so they believed her words.


    But before they could even begin to ask how they lost her location again, her gaze turned in the direction of the structure in the middle of the abandoned town that stood strong despite the earlier battle.


    "You two, follow me. The rest, guard the perimeter, not even a fly should get in.


    Arnold, youe too."


    Laurene gave orders to the knights before turning around and dashing towards the building.


    As expected of trained knights, they instantly followed orders and spread out in a circle, spreading out their auras to sense and deter any monster or animal who came close.


    <o>,m The mage that Laurene called along the aged grandmaster and Arnold, followed the young princess as she sprinted towards the building.</o>


    Upon arriving at therge double doors, Laurene could see several dents all across it, evidence that there had been numerous attempts to break down the doors and enter the base.


    When the group got closer, they were finally able to see the same sights Laurene saw, and that included the seven crests spread out in a circle on the door.


    "This��?!"


    The aged grandmaster who was privy to a bit of ssified information instantly recognized those crests and couldn''t help but let out a shocked voice.


    Laurene gazed up at him before turning to the mage and speaking.


    "Each person here is to sign a binding magic contract preventing them from speaking of what they see until the appointed time.<sub> </sub>


    We can''t have rumours spreading and causing panic among the masses."


    The duo nodded in response and Laurene ced her right palm in the centre of the circle on the door.


    In the next moment, she began to pour magic power into the door, causing the outline of the circle to light up with a golden light.


    The crest in her eyes glowed with a simr coloured light as the crest on the door resonated with it, lighting up simrly.


    **CLACK


    There was a sound as therge double doors creaked open, revealing the interior of the building that waspletely free of dust and dirt.


    It looked as if it had been taken care of every day for the past thousand years, causing even Laurene''s eyes to widen in shock.


    "This was unexpected."


    The young girl''s voice rang out as she deactivated the cleaning magic she was about to deploy.


    "Let''s go."


    She called out to the other three who were still stunned, snapping them out of their shock as they followed her into the building.


    As they took their first step into the area that seemed to be the building''s reception, the entire area lit up as dozens of mana stone-powered bulbs came alive.


    ''Motion sensing magic? No, these are runes.''


    Laurene looked on the ground and saw that there was a lone she had just crossed, the reason why the mana stone bulbs came on as the line was filled with runes that sensed motion and sent the information on that motion to a control module somewhere, which sent themands to power the bulbs.


    ''The runes are much more effective when ites to keeping a whole system like this up for extended periods of time.''


    She looked up to see tworge curtains drooping from the ceiling on both sides of the entrance to a hallway, with the seven crests of the seven heroes embroidered in them with gold threads.


    "Although this ce looks simple, the things here probably cost more than the funds used to build the royal castle."


    Having the memories of the person who built this base, Laurene was aware of how many millions of gold coins went into building this ''simple'' base.


    As for the others who heard her words, they had their jaws drop in shock as they stared at her with widened eyes.


    "It''s a joke, right?"


    The mage tried to deny the reality but Laurene walked up to the desk in front of one of therge curtains and picked a random ring that was lying on it.


    She tossed it to the mage and told him to appraise it with magic before going down the hallway beside it.


    "How the?! An A-grade artifact?!"


    She heard the surprised voice of the mage as she calmly walked down the hallway, navigating her way with ease as if she had lived here for a lifetime.


    Naturally, this was her relying on the memories of the real owner of the base.


    She entered various rooms with the trio following behind her silently, a storage room for artifacts, a study, armoury, researchb, library and even some living quarters.


    "Just who owned this ce?"


    "An ancient group of beings you''re very familiar with."


    Laurene replied to the grandmaster''s casual question as she walked up to the ck reinforced door at the end of the hallway that only had one crest on it.


    Seeing that confirmed Arnold''s suspicion that this ''base'', was actually a private residence of the previous ''Fourth''.


    As all of the people present weren''t blind, they could see that the crest on the door and the symbol in Laurene''s eyes were the exact same thing.


    "Your highness, how are you��"


    ''��rted to this?''


    Is what the aged grandmaster wanted to ask but he held his tongue when he saw the princess''splicated gaze.


    "What do you think?"


    She turned to Arnold who had been silent as asked with a smile, however, the teenager only stared back at her with a gaze that contained many emotions.


    The most prominent of them, being sadness.


    ''I think I know why Richard was overreacting that day.


    How did she deal with the sudden influx of memories and information when she was just an eleven-year-old kid?


    Knowing that someone just tried to kill her and take over her body, and upon failing, left who knows how many years'' worth of memories in her head.''


    He felt sad for the young girl who was carrying a burden muchrger than her age, rting to her internally as he remembered how he felt the day he gained the title of hero killer''.


    Perhaps noticing his reaction, Laurene let out a short deprecatingugh as she ced her palm on the door and poured magic power into it while speaking in anguage those present had never heard of.


    "Ego sum ille qui videt omnia quae sunt ''vera''."

 Chapter 159 Laurene And Arnolds Little Adventure VIII (End) [Bonus Chapter]

    The Crest lit up with a golden light as the door opened up, revealing a staircase that led downwards to a basement floor.


    The quartet moved down the stairs in silence, many thoughts running through their minds as they masked these thoughts with different facial expressions.


    Upon reaching the bottom, another motion-sensing rune did its job and activated the mana stone-powered bulbs, allowing them to see the interior of this new room.


    It was ab, much like the one on the ground floor but possessed much more things within it.


    Multiple desks with still opened papers, looking like someone had been reading them a few minutes earlier, and various magical and biological equipment of varying shapes and sizes.


    Hundreds of test tubes containing different coloured liquids were lined up against the walls, with a few being half a head taller than Laurene.


    And one had to note that Laurene was at least 5 feet tall!


    This showed just howrge these test tubes were.


    The thirteen-year-old stared at the strange tubes with a bit of annoyance in her gaze. She suddenly remembered that the previous ''Fourth'' had created some sort of growth control magic.


    ''Maybe I should use it...?''


    She shook her head as her thoughts started to go in a dangerous direction, reminding herself that she was only thirteen years old and still had more time for growth.


    In thisb, the quartet could see baskets with artifacts randomly stuffed into them like they were clothes meant forundry.


    "Just who lived here? Every single thing in this basket is at least B-grade!"


    The mage was having the shock of his life seeing artifacts that B-ranked Adventurers over level 200 would fight to the death for, tossed around randomly.


    Laurene walked up to one of the desks and opened it up, revealing a small box that contained dozens of memory gems within it.


    The Memory gems were devices that Evan would describe as ''Canned Knowledge''. Just by possessing a memory gem, it was possible to view the memories or whatever information was stored within in an instant.


    It was very convenient for passing information over quickly and stealthily, sadly, these memory gems weren''t exactly easy to produce and were very rare so they were only used for the most important and ssified information that could not be kept in writing.


    Inside the desk, there were dozens of memory gems with information on various subjects, ranging from dimensional rifts to analysis of the various breeds of the ''invaders'' of a thousand years ago.


    ''Even if the previous ''First'' ordered for the information to be destroyed, she still kept some memory gems, huh?''


    "Perfect, just what dad needs.


    It was worth it going over to that international ball with my mystic eyes active, the other countries now believe that we have made breakthroughs in researching the dimensional rifts and the events of a thousand years ago.


    This would give us the upper hand and with this, we would hold even more information regarding the subject.


    When the timees, we would be able to ''influence'' things in our favour easily."


    The young hero was thinking out loud when she remembered something that made her burst intoughter.


    "The surprised expression on the Great Eastern Empire''s emperor''s face when he saw my eyes was really a sight to see.


    But Marquis Randall seemed to not be as surprised as the rest..."


    ''Could he have met Evan or another one of the heroes? It''s probably not Evan as the Great Eastern Empire is on the other side of the continent and Evan definitely hadn''t gone that far at the time.


    So, it''s probably another one of the heroes who''s there. But which one could it have been?''


    Of course, Laurene could have never imagined that ''Marquis'' Randall had actuallye over to the Great Western Empire in secret and met with Evan.


    While she was lost in her thoughts, the guard mage and the grandmaster were perusing the memory gems and after going through a few, they realized why Laurene didn''t want the information here to spread.


    ''The chaos caused by this discovery would shock the masses, to think that the ''Invaders'' of a thousand years ago might return within a few decades.''


    Arnold who was close to Laurene, had a frown appear on his handsome face when he heard her monologue.


    ''So that was her real goal for doing that, huh?''


    He was oblivious to the gaze that Laurene gave him right after as he sunk deeper into his thoughts, analysing the young hero''s actions and thinking about other matters.


    Laurene decided to drop the less important things and immediately tackle the main reason she came over, tapping the bracelet on her arm and summoning her magic catalyst, Venus, as she walked towards a painting on the wall.


    "Domina veritatis imperat tibi."


    She spoke in the same strangenguage that she did earlier, activating her mystic eyes as the crest within them glowed with a golden light.


    cing her palm on the painting while holding Venus, on the other hand, she began to speak a chant, drawing the attention of all the other people in the room as they watched both the catalyst in her palm and the painting on the wall vibrate simultaneously.


    After a minute of chanting, the painting on the wall disappeared as if it was never there, revealing a hidden space in the wall.


    A small box slowly floated out as Laurene made ament about things being easier than expected.


    ''Now, this is the main part. I have to rewrite Venus'' code so it listens to me and me alone.''


    She opened the small box and saw the small multi-coloured orb that rested on a cushion within it. The moment she took it out, the box dropped down to the ground as if it was finally affected by gravity.


    "?!"


    "!!!"


    The expressions of all the beings in the room except Laurene changed as they instinctively raised their guards to the highest.


    "Your highness...?!"


    The grandmaster unsheathed his sword and was about to take a step forward but Laurene''s cold gaze shut him up instantly.


    "Don''t disturb me."


    She turned her attention back to the core in her palm, ignoring the fact that the amount of magic power being emitted by the core was enough to make a grandmaster over level 300 fear for his life.


    ''If that thing exploded...''


    The mage who was more sensitive to magic was in a worse situation as he knew just what would happen if that orb were to explode by ident.


    ''With the amount of magic power in it, I dare say that half the empire might disappear...''<sub> </sub>


    If only he knew that what he sensed was what remained after the core had lost magic power over the past millennium.


    Meanwhile, Laurene had multipleplex magic circles floating around her as she worked her mystic eyes to full power to decode the magic circle''s true nature and formte a way to rework it in her favour.


    ''Even if I have the memories of the one who made it and know how to change it, I need to be sure what I''m doing won''t trigger some hidden self-destruct function or something.''


    She let the magic catalyst and its core float side by side as she modified the magic circles with her hands, pulling out a magic pen mid-way to rewrite the rainbow-coloured runes that suddenly appeared on Venus'' ck surface.


    She didn''t know how long it took, but she eventuallypleted her task and slowly pushed the core into the magic catalyst.


    There was no rejection as the multi-coloured core slowly melded into the catalyst.


    "Done!"


    Just as Laurene let out a shout of joy, Venus glowed with a bright multi-coloured light as the magic power that the guard knight and mage had sensed died down as if it was being rapidly absorbed by something.


    Multi-coloured rune lines manifested on Venus'' surface as the magic power amount reduced with each new rune line.


    The magic catalyst was created to aid a near transcendent level archmage in battle, so a mere master level Laurene naturally could not use it to its full potential.


    She could not even use it in that state in the first ce, much less use its full potential!


    Each of the rune lines was a seal that locked away the full power of Venus and brought it down to a level suitable for her to use with ease.


    It was thest thing that the previous fourth coded into the core, to allow herself to use it after her reincarnation when she would have been at a lower existence level.


    "Good. Now I can.... huh?!"


    Laurene let out a voice of shock when the multi-coloured light died down and she grabbed the magic catalyst that had returned to its normal in ck orb appearance.


    **KER-CHINKK!


    It was as if a gear in her head fell into ce, with decades worth of memories suddenly flowing into her head and joining her previously inherited set of memories.


    The ones she already had scattered like a puzzle missing various vital pieces and the newly acquired memories fit into each of those pieces perfectly, shocking Laurene to the core.


    When the memory transfer finished, the young hero dropped to her knees much to the shock of the others present in the room, but she honestly could not care less at the moment.


    ''To think this was the case!''


    What Laurene thought were the previous ''fourth''s'' memories were only two-thirds of the full thing, edited in a way that she would not feel that something was out of ce until she discovered the remaining one-third.


    And as for the location of the remaining one-third, it was inside the core of the magic catalyst she had just fused together.


    The previous fourth was a mage who kept countermeasures for almost every situation, even the possibility of her soul failing to safely reincarnate into a new body!


    The core of the magic catalyst Venus contained not just one-third of the previous fourth''s memories, but one-third of her soul itself!


    In other words, what had gone through the faulty reincarnation magic, was only two-thirds of the near transcendent level Arch mage''s soul!


    She had kept the other one-third elsewhere, along with one-third of her memories in the event that the reincarnation failed!


    She had even extracted her own memories to prevent her backup n from being found out.


    In other words, the soul of the previous fourth had not been lost forever!


    Looking at the magic catalyst in her hands, Laurene really could not see any indication that one-third of a powerful arch mage''s soul was now resting within it.


    ''I could refine it and use it as fuel to make Venus stronger, but that would be unwise. I''d keep it and wait until the consciousness awakens as there might be other sealed or erased memories that can''t be recovered until it does.


    Besides, Venuspletely belongs to me now so it''s impossible for her to take control of it even if her soul is embedded in its core.


    At most, I would gain a sentient magic catalyst...''


    As her thoughts reached that point, Laurene snapped back to reality and felt magic power wash over her body.


    Looking up at the mage guard who was trying all sorts of mental magic he could on her to no avail, Laurene asked.


    "How Long Was I Out Of It?"


    "Your hi-!"


    "How Long?"


    "...A bit over five minutes."


    The young hero nodded to herself before standing up from the seat she had been moved to and turning her gaze in Arnold''s direction.


    "What?"


    "No, nothing."


    ''That magic catalyst is more powerful than before, even if I''m higher levelled and have a magic destabilizing skill, I doubt I can beat her if she uses that thing against me.


    Besides, why can I feel a faint presenceing from it?''


    Arnold scratched his hair while gazing at Venus with a look of confusion.


    ''Forget it, I''m probably tired from the stress.''


    Little Arnold did not know that his ''Hero Killer'' title was simply reacting to the soul of a hero that was held within the magic catalyst.


    Laurene on the other hand was telling the grandmaster guard to send a message to her father to send the special research group over and make them sign binding magic contracts not to disclose of the details of anything inside theb until she gave them permission to.


    ''We can''t have them creating unrest because one idiot decides to b about the demons too early.''


    Those were her thoughts as she walked out of the base with the other three trailing behind her.


    ''I''m gonna have to modify all my ns...''


    The young hero gazed in the direction of the Cheverton Duchy in the north as the crest within her eyes glowed with a golden light.

 Chapter 160 A Very Thin Fourth Wall

    Mansion of the Damned, 3rd Basement Floor


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum


    December 21st


    Year 1051


    "After Nine chapters, the story finally goes back to me, huh?"


    "You just go ahead and say something iprehensible right after you wake up..."


    "Exactly.


    That''s why we have to finish this Arc quickly and get to Greed''s Arc already."


    ? "What...?"


    "Nothing!"


    Such was the strange conversation between Evan and Eliza right after the former just regained consciousness.


    This was about half an hour after the trio had to fight the trio of de wraiths in the monster room of the Mansion of the Damned''s 3rd basement floor.


    The young hero was lying on the floor and staring at a pair of sapphire eyes with his gray eyes as he casually ignored the fact that he just spoilt the next Arc.


    Kneeling beside him was Eliza who had just used her ''Breath of Life'' skill on him to heal the injuries he had sustained in the earlier battle.


    ''She''s not kneeling beside me but under...?''


    It was then that Evan finally realized that his head was notying on the cold hard ground, but on Eliza''s..ps?


    "The legendaryp pillow...!"


    "This guy!"


    Hearing Evan''s words, Eliza''s brow twitched in annoyance as she grabbed the Radiant Codex that was floating beside her and nearly bashed Evan''s face in.


    Seeing the iing attack, Evan reflexively tried to get up, only for a bolt of pain to shoot from his stomach straight to his brain.


    The shock he received in that short instant was enough shock to render his body immobile.


    "Hold your horses kid, I only healed your wounds with my skill. I didn''t do anything about the blood loss and I don''t have enough magic power to heal you to the point of not feeling the pain."


    Evan, who currently felt like his stomach was on fire, forced a smile as he looked at Eliza and replied.


    "Sweetheart, the fact that you already healed the wound in the first ce is a blessing in itself."


    "W-who are you calling s-sweetheart?!"


    While Eliza was barely holding herself back from grabbing the Radiant Codex and mming it on Evan''s face to cover up her embarrassment, the third member of the group who had been silent all this while, walked up to them as she asked.


    "What I want to know is how that de managed to avoid every single one of your vital organs and only cut through flesh.


    With the amount of blood that spilled, I wouldn''t have been surprised if you lost an intestine or two."


    Evan burst intoughter upon hearing Pride''s question before giving a reply that the demon would have never expected.


    "It''s called plot armour; every protagonist has one."


    "Plot...armour...?"


    "Ah! I''m not supposed to know that. Forget what I just said."


    The young hero shamelessly ignored the narrator''s re as he changed abruptly changed the topic.


    "How long have I been out? My watch is broken so I can''t tell the time anymore."


    Pride gazed at Evan with narrowed eyes for a moment before replying to him.<sub> </sub>


    "Close to half an hour."


    "Shorter than I had expected."


    Eliza who had finally recovered from her embarrassment, interjected as she beat her chest with a proud expression on her face.


    "Of course, I am the one who healed you, after all."


    Evan''s face turned a slight shade of crimson as his eyes followed two things that moved up and down when Eliza hit her chest, averting his gaze in the next moment as he coughed awkwardly before asking another question.


    "...have you guys been able to contact with the spirits yet?"


    "...no."


    Pride was the one who replied this time, her tone carrying a hint of displeasure as she went on to exin how the door to the monster room had not opened since Evan killed Elecrus.


    "The condensed magic power in the altar over there has been exhausted already, so no more monsters have spawned.


    However, the door has refused to budge either. Is this normal?"


    "Not in the slightest."


    Evan frowned as he heard Pride''s words.


    Upon defeating all the monsters in the monster room, the door was supposed to open up immediately.


    ''That fact that it hasn''t means there are either more enemies, or that guy is still trying to mess with us...''


    "Before we think about that, let me heal youpletely. Since you''re awake, can you pass me a magic potion?


    I recall we bought enough tost two months even if each of us drank 2 a day."


    Eliza''s voice snapped Evan out of his thoughts as he activated his inventory skill, causing a small 50 cm ck hole to appear beside his hand.


    Dipping his hand into it and pulling out a potion, he tossed it to Eliza who opened it and quickly downed its contents.


    Evan also took out a health potion from his stock and popped the bottle, drinking all of its contents before turning to Pride and asking a question.


    "...what are you doing?"


    The high demon had sat down on the ground in a lotus position with multiple energies swirling around her body.


    Magic power, aura and demonic energy.


    Despite his question, the demon remained silent for a few more minutes before the energies were sucked back into her body.


    Seeing the two kids staring at her, she titled her head in confusion before asking.


    "What?"


    "What were you just doing?"


    "Oh, that? Stabilizing my energies and sealing off one of my titles again."


    "Sealing off a title?"


    "Mmh. Don''t bother about that, it''s not important."


    Eliza nodded upon hearing Pride''s words and went back to treating Evan, activating her breath of life while the young hero began to ponder on her words.


    ''Sealing off a title? How is that possible?''


    He appraised the demon silently and saw that the title she possessed were the same as in the game, no changes to them.


    ''Is it a hidden title? Or that one that has the garbled text?''

 Chapter 161 Back To Unconsciousness...Temporarily

    ''Is it a hidden title? Or that one that has the garbled text?''


    The matter of ''sealing off'' a title was something that disturbed the young hero greatly.


    ''She said she was sealing it off ''again'', which means she had sealed it off before.


    What if the title doesn''t show up when sealed, even on Full appraisal? In that case, there''s the possibility that I can face someone else in the future with a sealed title that might bed very dangerous.


    What does sealing the title even do? Do the effects still apply and it just hides the title, or do the title and effects disappear?''


    He had so many questions concerning the issue but the high demon was in no mood to answer him.


    "You can move now."


    Eliza''s voice brought him back to reality as he slowly but steadily pushed his body off the ground and managed to get to his feet with some difficulty.


    "It still hurts but it''s bearable."


    "Then that''s what you''re gonna have to do, I can''t do more until my magic power fully recovers again. I really can''t stomach another potion right now."


    "It''s more than enough."


    Evan stomped his feet on the ground, stretched his arms out, and flexed his fingers before nodding to himself.


    "Now that you''re fully up, can you give me my stuff? I need to change my clothes."


    Pride who was silently watching the duo''s conversation, spoke up as she held out her arm to Evan. Due to the inventory skill, the trio was able to travel light, only having to carry minimal hand luggage.


    Most of their clothes and other belongings were ced in Evan''s inventory, including the spare clothes and armour they had prepared for their dungeon diving expedition.


    Evan nodded as opened up his inventory and fished out Pride''s bag, tossing it to her as the high demon turned her gaze to Eliza.


    The battle priestess looked down at her clothes and realised that she really needed to wipe herself down and change so she asked for her bag too.


    "Now then, Evan."


    "Huh?"


    The young hero turned his gaze to the high demon who was cracking her fingers for some reason. However, the reason became clear to him as he heard her next words.


    "I''m gonna have you take a short nap while we change."


    "Wh-!"


    Before he could evenplete his words, the high demon had already decked at the side of his head, sending him back into unconsciousness.


    �� �� ��


    Dumbfoundedly watching the scene of the young hero being knocked unconscious by Pride, Eliza''s jaws dropped in surprise before she snapped out of it and sent a questioning gaze to the demon.


    "If you have the hobby of being watched while you change clothes, you can wait for me to wake him up so you can have your ''desires'' fulfilled."


    The battle priestess'' face flushed red as she understood what Pride was hinting at.


    "...N-no need."


    "Suit yourself.


    We''re in a ce where we''re not sure of what''d happen next so try to be quick."


    Leaving those words, the high demon ced her hands into her bag to fish out a new outfit set while Eliza nodded with a still red face.


    Pride wiped down her body with a towel before changing into a simple ck turtleneck shirt with dark blue jeans and retied her hair into a half ponytail, sweeping her bangs to one side of her face.


    She then channelled demonic energy into her finger and used it to write something in thenguage of her home world, seconds before her clothes glowed with an eerie ck light.


    Eliza on the other hand, changed to a casual red t-shirt and a ck skirt, changing out her shoes as the soles of her previous pair had been worn out.


    "You should just get leather boots like mine, it''s more efficient."


    The high demon made a suggestion to the blonde teenager as she arranged her clothes back into her bag and kept it to the side.


    "I did, but it seems puberty hit me in full force this year as I grew out of almost all the clothes and shoes I got from home.


    These ones are just spares I bought on the way.


    I have to get new sets when we leave here."


    Eliza replied as she stood up and stretched her body, her gaze turning to Evan who was lying unconscious on the floor.<sub> </sub>


    "...so, how are we gonna wake him up?"


    �� �� ��


    "...Ow..."


    Evan rubbed the side of his head as his eyelids fluttered open. He gazed at the ceiling listlessly for a moment before the circumstances in which he fell unconscious came shing in his head.


    "!!"


    He hurriedly got up from the ground and turned in Pride''s direction.


    "What gives?!"


    "Me, a person who likes their privacy."


    Evan wanted to retort that there was the possibility of a higher dimensional being peeking in on them but he held his tongue as he would have to exin how he knew that in the first ce and that would lead to a whole new set of issues.


    "Just, don''t do that again."


    "I can''t make any promises."


    The young hero could only sigh in exasperation as he had the feeling that Pride would probably take simr actions again, and very soon at that.


    ''How was she able to hit me in a ce that would instantly knock me out so quickly in the first ce?


    Should I say as expected from someone who has probably trained in more martial arts than I know exist?''


    As he was thinking along those lines, he finally remembered that they were in a monster room where he met and killed a certain lightning-using de wraith after sustaining a cut to his stomach.


    ''That''s right, I levelled up!''


    The young hero decided to check his growth progress, opening up his status board to see if there were any significant changes.


    |Name- Evan Von Bourne


    Race- Body: Human; Soul: ###e# ###s###e#;


    Gender - Male


    Age - Body: 11; Soul: 17;


    Level- 120


    Existence Level - Master


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman


    Health �C C-


    Energy �C C-


    Strength �C C-


    Agility �C C-


    Durability �C C-


    Intelligence- C-


    Condition- Exhausted.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 1, Lightning Tier 2, Shadow Tier 1;


    Resistances- Divinity, Poison, Charm, Fear, Lightning.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Martial Arts, Language Comprehension;


    Mimicked Skills-Energy st, Body Transformation, Aura sh, Blink, Inventory, Limit Break;


    Avable Skill Slots- 5;


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (1), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction, Vortex. |

 Chapter 162 And Thus Eliza Joins The Gang Of Anomalies

    Looking at his status, the first thing that was different, was that his level had gone up by a whopping fourteen levels!


    ''Is this the power of Octuple experience points?


    No wait, it''s actually twice that! This is a monster room after all.


    I already get 4 times the experience a normal person does, inside this dungeon I have eight times, then in the monster room, I get sixteen times the experience!


    Is my body gonna be okay absorbing all that at once?''


    Evan''s jolly mood instantly turned sour as he subconsciously began checking his body for any abnormalities.


    "What are you doing?"


    "Huh? I just felt worried that something might go wrong due to me suddenly boosting by fourteen levels at once."


    Evan replied to Pride''s question, prompting the high demon to nod in affirmation before suddenly freezing and turning her gaze back to him.


    "Did you say fourteen?"


    "Yeah, why you asking?"


    Pride, who had actually not checked her level since she was too busy trying to either find an exit to the monster room or sealing her title away, finally opened up her status board.


    |Name- Pride


    Race- High Demon


    Gender - Female


    Age - 1351


    Level- 120 (777)


    Existence Level - Master (Sovereign)


    Titles- Leader of the Seven Deadly Sins, Deadly Sin of Pride, Peak Rank Demon, Ascendant, H#��&Ger of Pride.


    ss- Magic Swordswoman


    Health �C C- (X1-)


    Energy - C (X2)


    Strength �C C (X1)


    Agility �C C- (X1-)


    Durability �C C- (SSS+)


    Intelligence - C- (SSS)


    Condition- Slightly Surprised.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 6, Wind Tier 6.


    Skills- Pride Maniption, Pride Embodiment, Aura of Pride, Contempt of the Many.


    Unique Skills- Incarnation of Pride. (HIDDEN) |


    "Even though the experience points between us are shared, isn''t fourteen levels a little bit too much?"


    "I know right?"


    The young hero who appraised the demon couldn''t help but concur with her as he looked at her simr level.


    "Just how much is your experience multiplier?"


    "Four times normally, eight in this dungeon."


    Pride deadpanned at Evan before cing a hand on his shoulder and saying with a serious voice.


    "You know not to tell anyone about this, right?


    Otherwise, some secret organization you never knew about might pop out and kidnap you to experiment on you."


    "I know."


    Evan chuckled in response to the Demon''s words, before feeling a re boring into his head and turning his gaze in that direction.


    "...what?"


    "It''s not fair that you get to level up so fast."


    "Hmm?"


    The young hero stared at the battle priestess who was murmuring something about the injustice of the world and appraised her, his eyes widening slightly as he noticed her increase in level.


    |Name- Eliza Lane<sub> </sub>


    Race- Human


    Gender - Female


    Age- 15


    Level- 95


    Existence Level - Gold


    Titles- D-Rank Adventurer, She Who Peruses the Doctrine of Life.


    ss - Battle Priestess


    Health �C C-


    Energy - C-


    Strength �C D+


    Agility �C D+


    Durability �C D+


    Intelligence - C


    Condition- Exhausted, Frustrated.


    Magic Tiers- Life Tier 2


    Skills- Healing, Support Magic (High), Barrier, Flower Cannon, Staff Proficiency, Unarmed Combat.


    Unique Skills- Child of Life (2/3), Breath of Life. |


    "Let me see."


    Evan made the appraisal result visible to Pride, with the two of them analysing Eliza''s stats and having a small discussion about it.


    "The two of you do know that I''m right in front of you...."


    Having her status board being discussed by the two of them right in front of her made the battle priestess'' eyebrow twitch in annoyance, however, her annoyance quickly turned into fear when it dawned on her that Evan was currently looking at her status board.


    "...E-Evan!"


    "Huh? What''s up?"


    "C-can you see my entire status?"


    "Yeah, I can. My skill is called ''FULL appraisal for a reason."


    Eliza''s face rapidly paled upon hearing his answer, seeing this, the young hero and his contracted demon only titled their heads in confusion.


    Evan reflexively looked back at her status board but before he could even see a thing, Eliza rushed towards him and grabbed his head, forcefully facing it in another direction.


    "E-Evan. Never ever appraise me without my per-!"


    "[She Who Peruses the Doctrine of Life]."


    Eliza''s words were cut short when the high demon beside Evan who could still view the appraisal results that Evan made visible to her, called out the new addition to Eliza''s status board.


    Pride turned to the girl with an expression of surprise as she, being a former sovereign level existence with hundreds of years of experience, understood just what that title entailed.


    As for Evan, he had just recently gained knowledge on the things called ''Worldw Doctrines'' when his system updates werepleted earlier in the month.


    Although he had actually not gone to the archive to look perform in-depth research into this newly acquired information, the basics were forcefully imnted in his head.


    That was precisely why he understood that the things called ''World Law Doctrines'', were exactly as their names implied.


    Doctrines of thews that governed the world.


    Without saidws, the world of Aidos would enter a state of instability, before rapidly copsing in on itself.


    Take thew of Life for example, it was precisely because of thisw that there was ''life'' in Aidos, as without it, nothing would be ''alive''.


    And the doctrine of thisw was pretty much the framework or the codification of the working principles of thew of life.


    "Being able to grasp aw''s power while not being an Epic or Sovereign realm existence, you''re pretty abnormal, aren''t you, Eliza?"


    Pride looked at the blonde-haired priestess in front of her with a dead gaze as she spoke, causing the poor girl to burst into tears as she crouched on the ground and started screaming something about wanting to be the only normal person in the group.


    At first, the high demon only thought she was messing around, but after Eliza was crying for a whole minute, she realised that the blonde priestess was for real.


    After taking about five minutes to calm the crying teenager down, Evan finally realised where he had seen a title simr to Eliza''s title.


    "It was the Laneford Quest!"

 Chapter 163 Laneford Quest

    "It was the Laneford Quest!"


    His sudden shout made Eliza flinch for more reasons than just being startled but the young hero did not notice as he continued monologuing.


    "The main quest to take out the ''Eighth Finger'', we had to find out the location of the skill that was most effective against his undead, the Child of Life skill.


    It was this quest that triggered the shback Event where we saw the past of the skill and discovered that the previous owner of the skill was the wife of the Laneford n''s master. She possessed the exact same title that Eliza has."


    Each time the word ''Laneford'' came out of Evan''s mouth, Eliza flinched involuntarily but the young hero was too caught up in his thoughts to notice.


    He then abruptly turned to Eliza and grabbed her shoulders before speaking with excitement.


    "When we''re done with this dungeon and retrieve Pride''s brother from Hobha, we''re going to search for someone to teach you how to use your skull to full potential.


    He''s the head of this hidden n called the ''Laneford n'' and he also has another ''Child Series Skill'' like you.


    His wife, the madam of the ''Laneford n'', was the previous owner of your skill and he was the one who taught her how to use the skill, so he''d be suited to teach you too."


    He took his hands off the surprised girl and rubbed his chin with his fingers as he continued talking.


    "The only issue is finding the Laneford n in the first ce. It was a lot of work to find them in the game too.


    Maybe I''d ask Artemisia for help with tha-OW!!"


    Evan''s monologue was cut short when Pride suddenly flicked his forehead, causing him to scream in pain as he held his sore forehead with teary eyes.


    "You''re scaring Eliza, in more ways than one."


    "Huh?"


    He turned towards Eliza only to see her face as pale as a sheet of paper, the fear in her eyes evident as she stared at Evan.


    "Are you okay? What''s wrong?"


    Evan who realized she was very obviously not okay, began to panic but the teenage girl recovered her wits and prevented him from doing so.


    On the side, Pride heaved a sigh of exasperation as she stared at the duo, before turning her gaze back to the small altar at the centre of the room.


    ''Sometimes Evan can be really smart but other times he can be outrageously dense. How has he really not figured out the reason for her reaction?''


    She shook her head as she turned back to the two kids who had somehow begun engaging in a conversation about power levelling.


    "You want to ''power level'' me?"


    "Yep.


    To be honest, you are very crucial to my ns and the higher level you are, the higher the chance of my n seeding.


    That''s also why I wanted you to learn how to use your skill to its full potential. After all, without it, fighting a certain necromancer is going to be hell.


    ? But first, we have to increase the daily charges of your skill and upgrade the skill''s abilities so you can mark someone and make them a carrier of your blessing, it''s simr to the ''Blessing of Life''s'' ability but a little bit different."<sub> </sub>


    Eliza who had returned to her normal state, held up her palm to stop Evan from talking as she pressed her forehead with her fingers and heaved an exhausted sigh.


    "Firstly, why do you know more about my skill than I do?"


    "Girl, if I start exining, we''re not gonna leave here today. You should already know that I have a close connection with the goddess and that is the reason she descended to meet me a few weeks ago.


    Just take it that I know about a lot of skills and their effects thanks to her."


    Deciding not to take his words for a grain of salt, Eliza asked her next question, one that Evan promptly answered.


    "Who''s this necromancer you''re talking about fighting?"


    "A guy who''s unhesitant to cause the deaths of a few million people, wiping out the entire northern part of the Great Western empire."


    "What the actual fuck?!"


    "I know, right?"


    Evan nodded as he concurred with Eliza''s words, before going on to talk more about what the ''Eight Finger'' had done in the past, painting him as some sort of grand Viin.


    ''The guy overran nearly a dozen cities with undead two decades ago, he IS a grand viin.


    Although he got killed by one of ''The Five'', he''s been revived thanks to the ''First Finger''. Even if he''s weaker than before, fighting him is gonna be tough


    If he deploys his death domain, then anyone who dies there would be his undead servant.


    I''m gonna need Laurene''s help with this matter, Artemisia''s too. Since it''s a matter of undead, it should be enough justification to get the church to move in earnest.


    It would also be really nice if that bishop from Bonas city helps out too, the Blessing of Light series skill would go a long way in weakening his undead and making it easier to kill him.''


    Sinking into his thoughts, Evan began to remodel his ns for countering the second of the eight disasters that he nned tobat, the Duhan Attack on the Cheverton Duchy.


    ''The problem is when the ''Eighth finger'' himself joins the fray.''


    Evan''s greatest fear was not the hundreds of thousands of undead creatures under the Eighth finger''s control, nor the death knights and the bone dragon.


    ''It''s his demonic possession, or rather, demonic fusion.''


    All the high-ranking members of the ''Demonic Hand'' were all contracted with demons!


    It was precisely because of this that Evan could even think about contracting with Pride in the first ce.


    He was already aware that it was possible to contract with demons due to the existence of the demonic hand.


    And if the high-ranking members of the demonic hand were all contracted with demons, then the same would obviously be the case for the executives of the demonic hand, the ''Ten Fingers''.


    Each of them was contracted with a powerful demon and much like Evan''s demonic possession with Pride, it was possible for them to fuse with their contracted demons.


    In that state, not only were they far more powerful, but they could alsobine their abilities with that of their contracted demons.

 Chapter 164 Plans For The ‘Eighth Finger’

    ''The eighth finger is contracted with a mid-rank demon that has simr abilities to him, it''s also because of this demon he was able to get a bone dragon in his undead army.


    When he fuses with this demon, only Duke Cheverton is strong enough to take him on.


    The problem is that if he enters this state while the duke is busy fighting the bone dragon or the death knights, it''d be a disaster.''


    Evan thought things through for a few minutes beforeing to a conclusion.


    ''I need the help of another member of the ten great swordsmen, preferably, two more of them.


    Problem is, I don''t have enough authority tomand them to move.


    Besides, there''s a high chance they would not believe what I say about the demonic hand''s existence or the fact that the undead attacking the Cheverton duchy were all artificially created.


    But there''s someone who already knows about the demonic hand and would believe my words, she also has the right to order the ten great swordsmen to move.


    Laurene.''


    "I guess I''m gonna need to contact her, huh?"


    He turned his gaze to Eliza who was sorting through something in her bag and asked.


    "Do you have a means to contact Laurene?"


    "Huh? Yeah, the guild card system.


    Though I doubt she''d answer,st time we spoke she told me something about dropping adventuring for a while so she canplete ''Venus''.


    I don''t know what that is though..."


    Hearing the words Eliza spoke, Evan''s eyes widened as he searched through the memories of the previous seven in his head.


    ''Venus! That''s the previous fourth''s weapon!


    Is Laurene trying to recreate it? How is that possible?''


    Evan was aware of the existence of Venus and how powerful it was. However, the young hero did not see any possible means for Laurene to plete'' Venus.


    That was natural, as he was unaware of the fact that the previous fourth had preserved the core of the magic catalyst.


    ''Is she nning to find a substitute core?''


    He racked his brain about it for almost a minute before deciding that it actually didn''t matter in the end.


    ''I guess I should call off ns of attacking ''that'' dungeon with Laurene, if she has Venus, even if it''s not at full power, then very few magic catalysts from the game can match it.


    So, it''s actually better if she can seed in recreating it.


    Still, I''m gonna have to find a way to contact her so she can see if she can at least get one more of the ten great swordsmen to move.


    Though I don''t think it''d be possible to expect Finley toe over, so Ralphie would be good. If the ''Second Sword'' cane, it''d be good, but personally, I hate that guy.


    He''s just an arrogant old man who hates Finley because Finley took his title of ''First Sword'' from him.''


    The young hero turned his gaze back to his status board, his expression turning dark as he remembered the ''Second Sword''.


    ''Let''s think about more important things.


    Like how I levelled up so much but didn''t have a single stat increase by a full rank.


    Although my overall battle power has indeed increased and the power of my attacks is definitely higher, being able to see it reflecting in my stat board would be nice.''


    He turned his gaze towards Pride who was resting on the side of the room, moving over to Eliza who was changing her stockings for some reason.


    ''I''m not even gonna ask.''


    The young hero heaved a sigh of exasperation before going on to make ns to power-level Eliza since her level was quite lowpared to his and Pride''s.<sub> </sub>


    ''At the very least, she has to reach master level by the tenth floor.''


    It was then that the boy finally realised something weird about Aidos.


    ''It''s Funny how sword masters are usually a big deal in the novels I read, but here, any random C-rank adventurer you meet has a 90% chance of being a sword master


    Grandmasters are also quitemon, I mean, all A-rank adventurers are grandmasters after all.


    Okay, they''re not somon but that''s beside the point.''


    In response to his thoughts, a familiar blue notification popped up before his eyes.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that this is rtively normal as Aidos is a higher world.]


    ''Can you not just randomly pop up like this?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' looks at the entity- ''Evan Von Bourne'' with a confused gaze.]


    ''Never mind. what did you mean by higher world though?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' states that understanding the spectrum of how thes and star systems are arranged is not something that you need right now.]


    ''Great. You just drop a new term I''d never heard of and then tell me I don''t need to understand it.''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that she has indeed mentioned the concept of ''higher worlds'' to you before, on the day that she reincarnated you into the body of entity- ''Evan Del Eris''.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' goes on to exin further that worlds like Aidos and the demon world are higher worlds so finding arge amount of master and grandmaster level existences is normal.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' states that in some higher worlds, a random person that you can bump into on the street has a 50% chance of being a transcendent level being.


    As for the other 50%, I could either be a grandmaster, legendary or even a sovereign level existence.]


    ''Okay, that''s too high!!!''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' reminds you that she has indeed stated that the strength of the existences on Aidos is rtively lowpared to other higher worlds.


    Thoughpared to lower worlds, it is worlds apart, literally.


    She states that the current ''Evan Von Bourne'' is capable of being among the most powerful beings on any normal lower world right.]


    ''So lower worlds are weak, huh?


    Why though?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you don''t need to know since you won''t be going to any lower world or any other worlds.]


    Seeing the notification that popped up in front of him, Evan heaved a sigh as he spoke out loud, attracting Pride and Eliza''s attention.


    "Artemisia..."


    [?]


    "That''s a g."


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' is deliberating tossing entity- ''Evan Von Bourne'' into the void of space for a few moments.]


    "Haha...nice one."


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' stares at the entity- ''Evan Von Bourne'' with a dead gaze.]


    "That''s a joke, right?"


    [...]

 Chapter 165 Flags Raised

    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you don''t need to know since you won''t be going to any lower world or any other worlds.]


    Seeing the notification that popped up in front of him, Evan heaved a sigh as he spoke out loud, attracting Pride and Eliza''s attention.


    "Artemisia..."


    [?]


    "That''s a g."


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' is deliberating tossing entity- ''Evan Von Bourne'' into the void of space for a few moments.]


    "Haha...nice one."


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' stares at the entity- ''Evan Von Bourne'' with a dead gaze.]


    "That''s a joke, right?"


    [...]


    "...right?"


    Evan felt cold sweat dripping down his body as Artemisia suddenly went silent. The next moment, he suddenly realised he could not feel the ground anymore and looked down to see himself floating.


    A chill went down his spine as he began apologizing profusely, only for his body to fall back to the ground, along with two familiar cats with ck and gold-coloured fur.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that you would not be bothered by that ''Nuisance'' anytime soon.]


    Before he could even begin to question who or what she was talking about, his body was pushed down to the ground when one of the two cats jumped onto him.


    [Master!!!!!]


    Hearing the familiar voice of his contracted spirit, Evanpletely forgot about Artemisia''s words as he hugged the cat in his arms.


    Meanwhile, the second cat, shadow spirit Kuro, silently sank its body into Evan''s shadow before Ka pulled it for a group hug.


    Beside Pride, the small fire spirit slowly flew to the high demon''s shoulder and sat on it, turning her bright red eyes toward the demon''s face as she let out a small smile.


    "You''re back, huh?"


    Amy bobbed her head up and down as she nodded in affirmation to Pride''s words before poking the high demon''s shoulder.


    "Hmm?"


    <o>,m She then pointed towards Evan who was talking with Kuro beside Ka who was being chased around by Eliza before saying one word.</o>


    [Contract]


    Pride stared at the spirit of few words in silence for a while, before chuckling a bit as she stood up and spoke.


    "Okay."


    Amy''s happiness upon hearing her affirmation was visible as the small spirit began swinging her legs around while humming with a smile on her face.


    Seeing this, Pride unconsciously sped up her steps toward Evan to ask him about the spirit contracts.


    a��? a��? a��?


    "I see. So you and Amy here, wish to form a contract, huh?"


    That was Evan''s reply after hearing from Pride that she wished to form a contract with the spirit that was currently discussing something with Ka atop Eliza''s head.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' looks at the entity-''Pride'', with aplicated gaze.]


    ''You''re still here? And this thing really describes all of your actions, huh?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that it is a form of ''Indirect Messaging'' that is more secure and prevents other snooping gods from discovering the connection between the two parties involved.]


    ''Then how did ''that'' guy initiate a connection to the system?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that you should attempt to understand Grade 7 Singrities as they are not within the realm ofmon sense.]


    ''I have no idea what a ''Grade 7 Singrity'' even means and I''m not gonna ask. What I want to ask is if it is possible for Pride to form a contract with Amy?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says it''s possible, just that the spell circle and chant have to be altered.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' suggests you take advantage of the fact that you are in a room where you would not be disturbed to make the contract.]<sub> </sub>


    ''Yeah,e to think of it, it is weird how we haven''t thought about the fact that the door cant open.''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that a certain idiot locked it, but you need not worry as she would simply unlock it when you wish to leave.]


    ''Okay, so what''s the chant? Lemme see if I still have magic chalk in my inventory.''


    As Artemisia was telling Evan the new chant, the young hero fished out the magic chalk he used to draw the circle for his contract with Kuro and began to draw a simr circle, only that some parts of the circle were different.


    Naturally, someone with an impable memory like Pride who was present during his two contracts noticed the difference.


    "The first and third outer circles are different from yours. The inscription you''re currently drawing is also different. Why?"


    "It''s because you, who is not a native of this world, are trying to form a contract with a spirit who IS a native of this world."


    "Are you not the same?"


    Pride narrowed her eyes as she asked Evan. She remembered the conversation Evan had with Artemisia when they were in Bonas and the goddess'' exact lines.


    ''The reason that you can hear it is simple, your ORIGINAL WORLD is technologically advanced enough to discover whatid beyond the sea of stars''


    She didn''t care much for the rest of the statement, but the fact that the goddess herself said the words; ''Original World'', was an indirect confirmation that the Aidos was not Evan''s original world and he was an otherworlder like she was.


    "I''m different from you.


    Everything about you is from ''whatever the demon world is called'', and it''s just my soul that''s not from Aidos. This body is 100% Aidos, that''s why I could cut corners and use the original chant."


    He stood up and finished drawing the circle while he answered Pride and cleaned the sweat on his forehead before speaking to himself.


    "I need to change my clothes..."


    And that he did, without caring about the fact that there were other people present, he took off his shirt and the torn leather armour underneath before removing his vest, revealing his bare upper body.


    "What the?!"


    Eliza who looked over after seeing a shirt being tossed in the air, could not help but exim in surprise as a small blush crept onto her face.


    Noticing her reaction, Evan turned around and smiled before saying something that the him of a few seconds into the future would regret.


    "Like what you see?"


    a��? a��? a��?


    Special shout-out to;


    Daoist7x6p6b


    Zamir


    Michael_Fox_8385


    Thank you for the Golden Ticketsa?��??����


    Shout out to;


    Fallenking13


    Peruro


    David_Ross_0205


    LokiExperte117


    Joey_Cingas


    vacile


    Mark_Whitney


    Peter_Bailey


    And many more!??��???��?


    Thank you all for your support and I look forward to you continuing our Reincarnated Hero''s Journey. a?��???

 Chapter 166 Breath Of Fire

    "Like what you see?"


    "...Umu."


    Due to the continuous Level ups and the end result of Evan''s body and soul synchronizing with each other after he became a master level existence, Evan''s physical appearance had been elevated to a whole new level.


    His overall physique was simr to that of someone in their mid-teens despite the fact that his current body was not even in its teens yet.


    He had attractive facial features with striking grey eyes that captured the attention of anyone who looked at him and a well-sculpted nose above his thin lips. Standing at five foot four and possessing a lightly toned body with thin four-pack abs, Evan was actually quite a catch.


    Thus, when he smiled with curved eyes and asked that question, Eliza''s unconscious nod of affirmation, was well within expectations.


    For everyone except Evan himself, that is.


    "..."


    "..."


    The next few seconds after her reply were followed by an awkward silence that made even Pride who was usually indifferent about such things, to feel weird.


    "...Can you change already?"


    "...huh? Ah!"


    It wasn''t until Pride''s words, did Evan finally remember he was in the process of changing, snapping out of his daze as he picked up another vest and ck shirt from his inventory, quickly putting them on, deciding to leave his jeans on as there wasn''t any major damage to them.


    He then put on partial armour over his torso and joints, before silently turning back to the contract circle on the floor and confirming that it was in order.


    Afterwards, he told Pride the chant and had the high demon begin the contracting process with Amy.


    Pride turned her gaze to Eliza who had buried her head in her arms for a few moments before cing her palm in the centre of the magic circle and speaking.


    "This Visitor from another world, Superbia c*(^$gf#s, requests the help of the world. Draw a connection that breaks through the barriers between myself and the one who shall be mypanion."


    The magic circle lit up, shining with a bright white light. Seeing this, Pride continued with the chant as the fire spirit floated over to the middle of the circle.


    "Let it be dered now; us two shall bridge the gap that separates us, and thine fate shall be one with mine.


    In ordance with the approach of nature, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer."


    The moment she reached that part, the formerly bright magic circle changed colours to a dangerous red as sparks of red light began to appear around the circle.


    [I ept the contract.]


    However, the moment that Amy''s voice rang out, the magic circle returned to normal as the white light was then absorbed into Amy and Pride''s bodies, concluding the contract ceremony.


    The moment the contract waspleted, the appearance of the fire spirit underwent a slight change with her body returning to its original size, however, the spirit only frowned as mes engulfed her body.


    When the mes died down, had returned to her previous form, being a small girl about 30 cm in height who was dressed in a long red sleeveless dress and no footwear.


    Her red hair, simrly coloured eyes and fair skin seemed to glow as she floated back to Pride''s shoulder and sat there, closing her eyes and resting on the high demon''s neck.


    "...this is really one ''my pace'' spirit..."


    Evan couldn''t help butment after seeing the spirit''s casual action, disregarding everything else andfortably taking a nap on Pride''s shoulder.


    Having seen the spirit''s original appearance that was nothing like how she looked, Evan grew curious about the spirit''s strength and decided to appraise her.


    The results, were shocking, to say the least.


    |Name- Amy


    Race- Spirit


    Gender-Female


    Level- 137


    Existence Level - Master


    Titles- High-Rank Spirit, Disciple of Fire


    ss a��� me Mystic


    Health a��� C-


    Energy - C


    Strength a��� C-


    Agility a��� C-


    Durability a��� C-


    Intelligence - C<sub> </sub>


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 2, Dark-me Tier 1


    Skills- ming Fervour, Fire Maniption, Fire Magic. (Extreme)


    Unique Skills- Breath of Fire. |


    "What are the odds???!!!"


    Evan screamed out due to his shock at seeing the unique skill possessed by the spirit.


    "Like for real, what are the chances that the spirit that just happens to get attached to you is one with the Breath of Fire skill?"


    Pride, on the other hand, was rtively calmer as she looked at the spirit''s status board, tilting her head to the side as she asked.


    "A series skill?"


    "Yes. Another one of the breath series, just like Eliza''s breath of life."


    Evan appraised the skill and confirmed it was indeed the breath of fire he was aware of.


    |Breath of Fire;


    Type: Unique Skill (Breath Series)


    Effect;


    Just by possessing this skill, all fire elemental abilities and magic of the user and those considered allies are enhanced.


    The user is able to generate and manipte mes to varying shapes depending on the user''s understanding of mes, with the generated mes being harder to extinguish. The user can also surround themself with the mes of rejuvenation, granting increased health and energy regeneration capabilities.


    As mes can be used for attack, they can also be used for defence as the user can generate a unique shield rich in the essence of fire, granting increased protection from any source of elemental damage. |


    "Yep, depending on how much the user understands mes, this skill can be extremely useful or extremely useless.


    However, the wielder of the skill is a fire spirit. If a fire spirit doesn''t understand mes well, then I font know what can."


    Evan decided to give up on understanding how the series skill that was owned by a certain hot-blooded swordsman from the beta continent in the game ended up in the hands of a random high-ranked spirit.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' silently hides the thread of dest-]


    |Message Retracted by sender. |


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you do not want to know the reason why.]


    ''Now, I''m curious.''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you should be curious about other things, like when you are going toplete the quest she gave you more than half a year ago.]


    a��? a��? a��?


    Special shout-out to;


    Daoist7x6p6b


    Zamir


    Michael_Fox_8385


    Thank you for the Golden Ticketsa?��??����


    Shout out to;


    Fallenking13


    Peruro


    David_Ross_0205


    LokiExperte117


    Joey_Cingas


    vacile


    Mark_Whitney


    Peter_Bailey


    And many more!??��???��?


    Thank you all for your support and I look forward to you continuing our Reincarnated Hero''s Journey. a?��???

 Chapter 167 Plans For The Lizard Lord

    Seeing that message, Evan sorted through his memories before finally remembering the reward quest that Artemisia gave him when upon unsealing Pride.


    ''The Lair of the Lizard Lord, huh?''


    The ''Lizard Lord''s Outbreak'' was one of the ''Eight disasters'' of Aidos that Evan had decided to prevent, being the third on his list as he nned to go to where the dungeon was after he was done with all his matters in the Western part of the Alpha continent.


    ''Since I''m going to the eastern empire to meet Bourne, I would take a detour and pass through ''his'' territory on the way.


    The Lair of the Lizard lord was a dungeon located in the territory of one of ''The Five'', the Beast Kingdom under the rule of ''Beast King'' Kolvar.


    ''Maybe I should try meeting the beast king, if I can form friendly rtions with him, then preventing the greatest disaster of the Alpha continent, the ''Fall of the Desert Country'', would be a lot easier.''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' agrees with your thoughts.]


    ''You think so too, huh? Any of the five will do but three of them are off continent, Rathal is too much of a variable so Kolvar is the best bet.


    But before that, I have to get his attention with something other than my mystic eyes, I can''t exactly barge into his pce as I please without having one of the beast generals offing my head.


    This is where the Lizard Lord''s Outbreakes to y.


    Although I would like to take out the lizard lord before ites out of the dungeon, I have to let the dungeon break so it would attract more attention.''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says she ''Dy ''triggered'' the dungeon break, making it such that it would only break when entity �C ''Evan Von Bourne'', enters the nearby dungeon city.]


    ''What?! This makes it seems like it''s my fault that the dungeon''s gonna overflow.''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that is indeed the case.]


    ''...''


    [...]


    The two were silent for a moment, before unanimously deciding to ignore their respective faults in this situation and address other matters.


    ''Like the Hidden boss!''


    In the game, the Lizard Lord Outbreak was one of the disasters with the highest casualties.


    Not only because it was a Level 700 Lizard lord and its level 500-600 minions with an army of level 300s wreaking havoc everywhere, but because of the hidden boss.


    There was only a 25% chance of this hidden boss appearing and the unlucky Evan always ended up facing it every time he reset his ount.


    <o>,m ''The first time was the worst, the hidden boss literally surprise attacked out of nowhere!</o>


    It''s not gonna do that in reality, right?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' states you should not get too optimistic.]


    ''Fuck.''


    Seeing her reply, Evan was sure that the hidden boss was definitely gonna start with a surprise attack.


    ''But since I know the attack ising, I would be able to prepare to an extent. I just don''t know where it''sing from as it had over a dozen different surprise attacks in the game!''


    Even still, it was still possible to make some preparations, and knowing the race of the hidden boss, there was a 100% chance of attracting Kolvar''s attention.


    ''It''s just that it might decrease my favourability with Altrishia. But the favourability stat doesn''t exist so I should not worry too much, I guess?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' once again states you should not get too optimistic.]<sub> </sub>


    ''Fuck!''


    Evan eximed inwardly once more as he was now sure that taking out the hidden boss would definitely make him lose points with Altrishia.


    And that the next time the system updates, it would definitely have a favourability stat!


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you should wait till level 150 to find out.]


    ''Level 150? That''s not far off considering the boosts of this dungeon. Things would get slightly harder afterwards though.''


    The young hero nodded to himself as he turned to Pride and began to discuss some of their ns for after Kasteblum with her.


    Namely, his ns to go to the Cheverton Duchy of the Great Western Empire and mess up the Duhan attack.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that the nuisances would most definitely speed things up due to certain circumstances.]


    ''What circumstances?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you are not qualified to know as your existence level is too lowpared to the being involved.]


    "Ah, shit! Here we go again."


    "What?"


    "No, never mind.


    What you should mind, is the fact that your unique skills would be useful in this scenario. Both yours and Eliza''s."


    Pride rose an eyebrow in surprise upon hearing Evan''s words. She knew that he was indeed already aware of her unique skill and its abilities, but seeing that he did not know of the limitations, she realised that he perhaps did not know everything about her skill.


    This was the case as Evan''s knowledge of the unique skill ''Incarnation of Pride'', was based on the Level 777 Pride who he fought in the game.


    "You haven''t appraised my skill recently, have you?"


    "Hmm? Why should I? I already know the skill description."


    "But you don''t seem to be aware that I can only use the ''Level 1'' of my unique skill."


    Hearing her words, Evan''s eyes shed as he appraised Pride''s skill and saw a description different from the one he was aware of.


    ''In the game, it said ''All Levels can be used'', but now it says ''User can only use level 1 at the master level''.


    So, she wasn''t kidding when she said that an existence below the master level was not worthy of being the incarnation of Pride.''


    "If your level 1 is what I think it is, then I''d be enough. Adding greed''s own to the mix, the results would be even better as your skills would resonate."


    When fighting together with another user of a unique skill of the same series, the power of the two skills was elevated depending on how many members of the series were present.


    "The problem is our levels. No matter how fast we are, it would be difficult for us to be above level 200 before then.


    Although killing some undead and flesh golems on the way would boost our levels, getting to above level 200 before the time when the Duhans start attacking in earnest is going to be difficult.


    And the ''Eighth finger'' is going to be present too...


    I''m going to have to be forced to use Limit Break."

 Chapter 168 Limit Break Working Process

    "...I''m going to have to be forced to use Limit Break."


    "Limit break? That thing you used against the demon in Geto?"


    Hearing him talk about limit break, Eliza joined in on the conversation, her face darkening as she remembered the state Evan was in after he used it.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that the thing that can avert the drawback of limit break is part of the rewards in the Lair of the Lizard Lord.]


    ''For real?! Can I go there now?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that the current you would die from a flick of the hidden boss''s tail.


    She states that only when you are at least level 200, would you stand a chance of survival. Against the tail flick, that is.]


    "Then you should not have told me about it!"


    Evan suddenly screamed out loud, startling Eliza and the lightning spirit sitting on her head.


    "w-what''s wrong?"


    "Huh? Oh! Just that the thing I need to avoid the drawbacks of limit break is in another country. And it''s impossible to go there, get it ande back before the Duhans start messing up shit.


    We''re not even strong enough to take out the guard lizard."


    "Guard lizard? Not guard dog?"


    "Yep."


    Evan replied to Eliza''s questioning words with a straight face, making the battle priestess realize he was serious about there being a Guard Lizard.


    While the blonde teenager was thinking about why someone would have a lizard stand guard for anything, Pride was asking more questions concerning the thing Evan wanted.


    "How does this thing help you alleviate your skill''s drawback?"


    "To exin that, I have to exin how limit break works in the first ce."


    |Limit Break;


    Type: Rare Active Skill


    A skill to go over one''s limits!


    Effect;


    It amplifies the user''s power by three times their maximum values. The boosts may scale up depending on the opponent''s level.


    Restrictions;


    Once used the user will be heavily fatigued. Using it for long periods of time will damage the user''s body. |


    Looking at the description of the skill, Evan felt that it didn''t do it justice, especially in the restrictions part.


    When Limit break is activated, the user experiences a power boost of three times their original, making them strong enough to take things that are three times as strong as them with ease.


    "This then brings the question, where does the extra powere from?


    The answer to that, is the reason for the drawbacks."


    Limit break, upon activation, absorbed the ambient energies in the area around the caster or user and used it to multiply their power.


    Let''s have an example.<sub> </sub>


    If the user''s maximum power was quantified in units, summing up to 500 units.


    Then what limit break would do, is to borrow 1000 more units and add these extra units on top of the user''s original 500, giving them 1500 units, which is triple their original 500.


    Of course, if the user was not at their maximum, and only had, let''s say, 300 units left, then the sill would absurd 1200 units to make up for the difference.


    The bottom line is that the skill always made sure the user was at three times their maximum power value.


    "However, the energy required for his power boost has to being from somewhere, right? That somewhere, is the world itself."


    The skill absorbed ambient energies from the surroundings and used said energy to multiply the user''s power.


    It bowered the amount of energy necessary to temporarily elevate the user''s maximum energy levels, enhance their stats appropriately, and strengthen their body to be able to hold the increased power.


    "But since it''s being borrowed..."


    "...it has to be paid back."


    "Exactly."


    Upon deactivating the skill, the reason for the use being ''heavily fatigued'', was because they were paying back the energies they had borrowed and consumed from the world.


    When they regenerated their own energies, it was taken out of their body and sent back into the atmosphere to rece what they had borrowed and used.


    If used for a short amount of time and did not use all that was borrowed, then the remaining would be returned and they would only have to pay back what they had used.


    So, for a user with a maximum of 500, using limit break to borrow 1000 and get 1500, only to end up using only 300 out of the borrowed 1000, the remaining 700 would be and back and they only have to pay back the 300 used.


    Once that is done, then the user is back to Prime condition.


    That was the same for Limit break and its derivative that Evan really didn''t want to use, Overload.


    "The derivative is really an Overload, if I use that thing now, my body won''t be able to handle the stress, even after being strengthened."


    "Then you just have to be strong enough not to use it."


    "Easier said than done, my dear Eliza."


    Evan readjusted the doubler on his arm as he spoke, before tapping his other wrist where his broken watch was and continuing.


    "The artifact that allows me to bypass that drawback, requires magic stones to work."


    After using Limit break, the user could wear the artifact and consume magic stones to pay back the energy borrowed.


    "Simply put, the artifact consumes magic stones to pay back the energy on my behalf, so I can regenerate my energy normally as I would after a fight.


    It''s quite tricky so I have to be wearing the artifact while using it. If I''m not wearing it, it won''t return the energy on my behalf and it would be a waste of magic stones.


    But with it, all I have to deal with is the strain from absorbing too much power at once, which would be alleviated over time when I return to full strength.


    Healing magic can also solve that too."


    Evan walked up to his sword and picked it up as he concluded, before looking around and noticing the scattered magic stones on the floor.


    "Help me out Kuro."


    His shadow wiggled as a familiar ck cat sped out of it, moving towards the magic stones as Evan turned his gaze back to Pride and Eliza.


    "This artifact is indeed handy, but you say it''s in another county?"

 Chapter 169 Counter For Revival

    "This artifact is indeed handy, but you say it''s in another county?"


    "Yep. A country that''s way too far for us to go to. It''d be easier to go to Hobha and then to the Great Western Empire and back than to go there right now.


    So, I''m gonna have to bear with it. And we are going to have to level up so we aren''t forced to use our trump cards so easily."


    "So, about that power levelling thing you spoke of?"


    "Worry not Eliza, Pride and I would help you boost your level to over 100 very quickly. You would catch up to where we are now in no time.


    Oh and, we''re still gonna enter monster rooms."


    Eliza''s brow twitched in annoyance as she whipped out her staff and flung it towards Evan''s head, forcing the young hero to either duck or lose a head.


    "What gives?!"


    "Did you learn nothing from today?!


    You want us to go to another monster room when we''ve not even figured out how to get out of this one!"


    **SHOOWSHH! **BAM!


    Her staff tore through the air as Evan rolled out of the way just in time to avoid it from mming on his body.


    "It''s more for your sake than mine!


    You are pretty much one of our trump cards against that bastard who wants to wipe out millions with undead!


    Besides the reason we can''t leave here is because Artemisia hasn''t unlocked the door, when she does, we can leave with ease."


    "Oh, that''s good.


    p But what''s this about me being a trump card? Why don''t I know this?!"</anda>


    "Because I hadn''t told you yet!"


    Evan screamed out his reply as he twisted his upper body to dodge the radiant codex that came flying through the air, seconds before he jumped to avoid the staff attempting to sweep him off his feet.


    "Why hadn''t you told me something this important?!"


    "Cus I was looking for alternatives!


    You being our trump card is like tossing you into a lion''s den, putting you in so much danger and I didn''t want that so I wanted to find another alternative.


    But you just had to go and get yourself a title that literally screamed ''Trump Card against the Eighth Finger''!


    It''s your fa-OUF!"


    Evan''s words were cut short when Eliza''s fist mmed into his torso, sending him flying a few metres and mming into the wall behind him.


    "...Is this the power of the unarmedbat skill? How did I feel her punch that much when wearing armour?"


    The young hero suddenly felt a chill down his spine, his body responding as he tried to run away but he was toote.


    **BAM!


    Eliza''s magic staff mmed into the all on his left side and she rose her leg and used it to block his right side, effectively trapping the poor hero in between her and the wall.<sub> </sub>


    "Evan..."


    "...yes, ma''am."


    "Exin everything.


    Now!"


    Upon being caught, the young hero had no choice but to exin his n to use Eliza''s child of life skill to mess with the Eighth Finger''s ''real'' trump card.


    "The truth is, the leader of the ten fingers has a skill that he can use to revive all of the ten fingers at the cost of half to three-quarter of their maximum power.


    So even if we kill the eighth finger, his boss can just bring him back."


    This was a truth that very few people in Aidos knew of. To begin with, the number of people who were aware of the existence of the ''Demonic Hand'' were already few whenpared to the poption on the.


    This skill that the leader of the demonic hand possessed, was the reason why ''The Five'' referred to the demonic hand as being more tenacious than cockroaches.


    As far as the ''First Finger'' was still alive, then it was impossible to kill off the demonic handpletely.


    "It''s a skill that I really didn''t understand before, but after gaining information on the worldlyw doctrines, I can now understand how the skill works.


    It''s a skill that utilizes the power of thew of reincarnation to revive a certain amount of people as far as certain conditions are met.


    One of the things that can beat that-"


    "-the power of anotherw. Something Eliza can temporarily use with her unique skill."


    Pridepleted Evan''s statement as she tossed all the magic stones Kuro had packed into a small bag, before tossing the bag to Evan.


    "If Eliza manages to imbue the weapon of the one who deals thest blow on him with the essence of thew of life, then it is possible to cut his connection to the skill that would revive him upon his death.


    That''s what I was thinking, but the battlefield where the Eighth finger would be fighting in, is one where any random attack has a 50% of killing her in one shot.


    So, I decided to get her to level up for now while thinking about any artifacts, tools or people I could get to that would serve the same purpose and keep her out of danger.


    Or I could just do it myself."


    ""Huh?""


    The two stared at Evan in shock when they heard the young hero''s words. He had just told them that Eliza''s skill was the trump card and then suddenly said he could do it himself.


    "Eliza''s skill is not the only one capable of countering his revival skill. Anyone with a Series Skill is capable of doing so provided they can use their skill properly.


    I mean, his revival ability is the effect of his own Series Skill. So it stands to reason that it can be counteracted with another Series Skill."


    ''That was the only way to kill him in the game too, with series skills and every yer had one since we all had to start out with one of the seven heroes.''


    "As for me, I think I need to be in at least stage three of my skill to kill him permanently and this is only if I deal thest blow. I don''t know about Pride though.


    It''s just that Eliza is the best counter in this case since our enemy is a necromancer that deals in death and her skill is a skill that deals with life."


    Hearing his words, the two stared at Evan, before looking at each other and then back at Evan.


    "Huh? Why are you guys looking at me funny?"

 Chapter 170 Getting To The Boss Room Is A Walk In The Park

    "Huh? Why are you guys looking at me funny?"


    �� �� ��


    A few secondster, Evan was crouching on the ground while holding his sore forehead, the reason the two looked at him ''funny'' being apparent with the slight bump on his head.


    "...teaming up against me is not fair."


    "Haah?!"


    "...nothing."


    Eliza''s timed re shut the young hero up as he turned his gaze upwards, only to realise something and hurriedly look back down.


    "Um...Miss child of life, can you kindly put your leg down?"


    Hearing Evan''s words, Eliza looked at her leg and realized she still had Evan cornered to the wall, cing her leg down and pulling her staff out of the wall the moment after.


    Meanwhile, in Evan''s head, he was struggling to the sight he saw earlier out of his mind.


    ''I looked up and all I could see was white...''


    It took the young hero a few more seconds to snap out of his daze and act natural so as to prevent the Radiant Codex from being tossed at his head once more.


    "Alright guys, let''s eat and rest here for the night and then continued dungeon diving tomorrow. The goal is to arrive at the tenth floor by the end of the week, so we can challenge one of the floor bosses before next week."


    "Is it gonna be that easy?"


    Eliza narrowed her gaze at Evan sceptically as she asked, but the young hero only replied with a smug grin.


    "It''s gonna be a walk in the park."


    �� �� ��


    Mansion of the Damned, 10th Basement Floor


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum


    December 29th


    Year 1051


    "It really was a walk in the park."


    Eliza''s voice rang out as she nkly stared at the boss room door in front of her.


    An ominous metal door blocked her path forward. Messages in strangenguages were all over it in green, somehow untouched by time and the elements.


    Taking a step closer, she attempted to inspect it, only to hear a loud bang in the distance from which she came.


    She turned around and was met with the scene of Evan pummelling an unfortunate de wraith that was no weaker than Elecrus to death with his fists.


    **BZZTT!


    Lightning crackled around his fists as he seemed to be hell-bent on recreating some sort of skill he had probably seen elsewhere to no avail.


    ''Wasn''t his power the ability to copy skills he sees? Why didn''t he just copy it?''


    Of course, Eliza did not know that Evan had seen said skill before he gained his mystic eyes and the original owner of the skill wasn''t on the same continent so Evan could not go meet him even if he wanted to.


    **BAMM!!<sub> </sub>


    The loud noise shook her out of her thoughts, her eyes looking up to see Evan stretching his arms as he would after a quick workout.


    "Hmm?"


    Perhaps sensing her gaze, Evan turned in her direction and gave her a small smile, one which she felt her face heating up at the sight of.


    ''Hold your horses girl! He''s y-''


    Eliza was about to sink into her thoughts once more when Evan''s face suddenly filled her vision.


    "What''s wrong? You''re spacing out."


    "...n-nothing!"


    The blonde teenager pushed his face away from her while muttering something about being too close.


    She then noticed that Evan''s arms seemed to have burns on them, ones he sustained from battling the now deceased de wraith on the ground.


    Eliza decided to take advantage of this chance to test out something she had noticed in the past week.


    "Hey Evan, gimme your hand."


    "Huh? Okay."


    Grabbing one of the young hero''s arms, she activated her breath of life skill, eliciting ament from Evan about how that was unnecessary for such minor wounds but she ignored his words.


    ''As I thought, it''s back to normal.''


    She didn''t heal the wounds on his other arm, instead choosing to wait for a few more minutes until footsteps resounded in the distance, indicating that someone wasing closer.


    Immediately, Eliza was hit with a sudden wave of familiarity for whoever was walking toward them, choosing this time to activate her skill on Evan''s other arm.


    Before she could evenplete the activation process, the burns instantly disappeared, returning Evan''s fair skin to its original state.


    "...just what are you up to, Liz?"


    Evan called out to her but the battle priestess had sunk into her sea of thoughts, trying to understand exactly what was causing the current phenomenon.


    Said phenomenon was her skill''s increased power whenever Pride and Amy were present.


    She looked up to see the iing figure of the high demon flicking the blood off her sword as her recently contracted me spirit sat on her head and yed with her hair.


    ''And it''s just my ''Breath of Life'' skill. Oh well, I''d ask Evanter, he seems to know more about my skills than I do.''


    Deciding to push the matter to ater time, she took a quick peek at her status and couldn''t help but heave a sigh of exasperation.


    ''They really did power level me over 100 in a week...''


    Looking at her level sitting at 106, the young battle priestess remembered how Evan and Pride pretty much brutalized everything from the third to eighth floors due to the level difference between them.


    By the time they arrived at the ninth floor where opponents of Leviron and Elecrus'' level could be seenmonly, the duo had already levelled up higher than that so they were able to easily breeze through the ninth floor in just three days.


    The only reason it took them two extra days was that they were trying to hunt more monsters and ended up getting lost in the process when they had chased a swarm of de wraiths that took to their heels upon spotting them.


    ''The poor monsters were scared.''


    After murdering the unfortunate monsters, Evan sat Eliza down and poured out all the magic stones from the monsters they had killed since the first floor and spent the next half day, instructing her on how to absorb the energy within the stones and increase her existence level.

 Chapter 171 Boss Battle?

    It was difficult for Eliza at first as she had actually never had to absorb energy from magic stones, but it was a process she had seen quite a lot when she was at home so she was able to get the hang of it rtively quickly.


    After a few dozen magic stones were absorbed, Eliza found that she seemed to have hit some sort of barrier and could not absorb any more, so Evan got her to level up some more, and in the process, the barrier broke and her level shot up by two instantly.


    She then spent the next few hours writhing in pain due to the fact that her body was in the process of strengthening itself and she couldn''t heal herself since her magic power was going haywire and even the most basic healing spell couldn''t even be constructed.


    Evan was worried since her situation was far from his expectations but Artemisia assured him that it was simply because her body was in the process of strengthening itself by a huge margin since Eliza, who was apparently still at the lower stages of the gold existence level at the time, was suddenly breaking through into a whole new existence level in one go.


    Even then, the young hero was still restless until the pain stopped and the blonde teenager passed out from exhaustion.


    They then spent another day on the ninth floor so she could rest some more after waking up, before finally making their way to the next floor the next day.


    During their speed run week, they came across other adventurer parties and a few solo adventurers who were braving the dungeon, with a few of them being hostile and even fewer being friendly.


    However, the majority of them were simply indifferent and carried on with their dungeon diving after acknowledging Evan''s group with a nod.


    "Hey Liz, why don''t we change our party name to ''Anomalies'' after we leave the dungeon?


    You know, since none of us is normal?"


    Of course, Evan chose the best time to bring her out of her reverie using something that was considered a sore spot for the teenager.


    ''I wanna hit him! But it''s futile since he''s just gonna dodge.


    And when did he even start calling me ''Liz''? Before I knew it, I had been answering him like normal.''


    Evan, had for some reason decided to shorten Eliza''s already short name and was now calling her a nickname that only her parents called her.


    ''It''s not like I hate it so there''s no problem.''


    The girl just decided to go with the flow, casually swinging her staff towards Evan''s head as she walked towards the boss room door and pushed it open.


    "Let''s go to the next floor already, shall we?"


    As she spoke, she walked into the room, her grip on her staff tightening as the radiant codex floated in the air beside her.


    This particr boss room looked like a small throne room, with narrow braziers at the bottoms of each of the six ivory columns lighting up every part of the room and engulfing it in a brilliant glimmer.


    A magnificent throne of bronze sat atop a small elevated tform and was covered in intricate etchings.


    Seated atop the throne in azy position, was a de wraith that was noticeably smaller than the others in the dungeon as evidenced by its shorter legs and slender body structure.


    It was dressed in full body armour like its brethren, with a t top helm and half-rounded face guard with two openings for its glowing blue eyes.


    The upper and lower arms were protected by rounded, half-covering rerebraces which sat perfectly under the shoulder tes and simr vambraces respectively.<sub> </sub>


    The breastte was made from onerge piece of metal, covering almost everything from the neck down. It narrowed near the groin and left part of the sides exposed.


    Stabbed into the ground beside the throne was a simple one-handed sword. No decorations of any sort were on it, with the exception of the small scratches from battle, which were perhaps the best marks for a weapon.


    As soon as the trio walked into the room, the door closed behind them, something the de wraith on the throne took as a cue, as it stood up and picked up its de before approaching them slowly.


    "Yo! Whatsup."


    Evan casually called out to the monster with a smile, however, it remained silent as it continued drawing closer to him.


    "Hello?"


    The young hero kept calling out to the monster, trying to make a conversation but it remained silent and continued approaching him.


    Seeing this, Evan frowned for a moment before a sh of inspiration hit him as he spread out his arms slightly and spoke with a cockney ent.


    "Ho? You''re approaching me?


    A mere de wraith: Raja at level 126?"


    Evan casually remarked as he slowly pulled out his sword, an evil grin spreading on his face as he noticed the monster flinch upon hearing his words.


    "The trio from the monster room on the third floor could kill this guy with ease."


    The monster''s grip on its sword tightened as Evan spoke, nevertheless, it remained silent and kept on slowly closing the distance.


    "What, you can''t defend yourself? So much for being a Raja type."


    The young hero continued his attempts to taunt the monster, something Eliza was about to stop him from doing but Pride held her back.


    "Tsk...Tsk...to think that a useless creature who can''t even refute my words is the boss of this floor, it''s very disappointing.


    I''ve seen stronger de wraiths on the lower floors, they deserve this position more.


    Even your name-"


    "Human."


    Evan''s words were cut short when an unknown voice suddenly echoed in the room. Eliza''s eyes widened as she traced the source of the voice and realised why Evan had been taunting the de wraith all this while.


    "You finally spoke, huh?


    Why didn''t you answer me earlier? I only wanted to talk to a de wraith that was capable of speech."

 Chapter 172 Getting Better At Pissing People Off

    "You finally spoke, huh?


    Why didn''t you answer me earlier? I only wanted to talk to a de wraith that was capable of speech."


    The young hero replied to the owner of the voice, the de wraith that had now paused its steps and was staring at him with its glowing blue eyes.


    "I have nothing to talk to you about, human."


    "Oh? But I have a lot to talk to you about.


    You see, I nned to create a battle style that relies on my energy and dework working together.


    My aim was to mix the techniques I learnt due to my ''father'', the techniques I inherited when I received a certain someone''s memories and the ones I was thought by the strongest sword grandmaster in the neighbouring country.


    But uponing here and meeting you de wraiths, I decided to incorporate your swordy into it too.


    That''s why I wanted to talk to you."


    Evan casually revealed one of his ns, his words going on to make Pride understand just why he was mimicking Elecrus'' moves during the battle a week ago.


    "What do you think, genius right?"


    "What does this have to do with me?"


    The de wraith casually ignored Evan''sst question and posed a question of its own to the young hero who only shrugged his shoulders as he replied.


    "Simple. I wanted you to teach me for a while before I eventually kill you.


    But that''s up to you though, if you refuse, I''d simply kill you and move on to the next floor. I have to speed things up here so I can''t waste too much time on you."


    Evan''s proposal was, oundish, to say the least.


    He had an air of arrogance around him as he confidently asked the de wraith the question, something Pride noticed and facepalmed.


    ''I sealed the title but he''s already getting influenced. If he contracts with greed in this state...''


    Oblivious to the high demon''s thoughts, Evan stretched out his hand and asked the de wraith.


    "So, what say you?"


    To his question, the de wraith showed visible anger as it gripped its sword tightly, a hazy blue aura rising from the de as it asked in a voice tinged with anger.


    "Are you looking down on me, human?!"


    "Eh? No, am I?"


    Evan, who seemed to not know what he said wrong, turned to Pride and Eliza who were silently watching behind him and asked them thetter half of his statement.


    However, before he could get a reply, Eliza''s eyes widened in shock as she hurriedly screamed out.


    "Barrier!"


    **BAAMM!!


    **CRACKK!!


    A thin translucent barrier manifested behind Evan, just in time to block the wave of aura that came crashing in on him from above.


    However, due to the strength disparity between the owner of the barrier and the attacker, the barrier cracked under the stress, and its durability was reduced to the point that even a casual finger flick would break it.<sub> </sub>


    "..."


    Despite being the one attacked, Evan calmly turned his gaze around and looked into the blue eyes of the de wraith at the other end of the barrier, his grip on his sword tightening as he opened his mouth to say one word.


    "Blink."


    The next moment, Evan vanished from his position and reappeared right in front of the de wraith, his sword cleaving through the air while coated in his golden aura.


    **SWISHH!!


    **CLANNG!!!


    ''Hey Pride, please don''t interfere, I want something from this monster.''


    Evan sent a message to Pride who had picked up her sword and was about to join the fray, with the high demon nodding as she unsummoned her weapon and held Eliza back from taking a step forward.


    Meanwhile, Evan was still trying to ''converse'' with the de wraith.


    "It''s fine and all if you didn''t wanna ept but you suddenly attacked me while I was still talking. Isn''t that a bit rude of you?"


    "Shut up, Human!"


    The de wraith screamed in rage as it shed rapidly, each of its sword strikes leaving a trail of blue light in the air due to the aura imbued in the sword.


    However, Evan casually blocked the monster''s strikes without care, yawning in the middle as he ducked to avoid a horizontal sh and switched his sword''s grip, holding it in reverse as he countered by sending in a diagonal sh upwards.


    ** KRREEEEE!


    His de scratched against the metal of the de wraith''s armour, with a screeching sound ringing out as the boss monster clicked its tongue audibly before jumping back in an attempt to widen the distance.


    Sadly, Evan did not allow it that luxury as he dashed forward like a speeding arrow, his sword, rushing at the chest of the de wraith.


    Normally it would have allowed Evan''s de to hit and tanked it with its armour, but the gash running through the chest piece of the armour was enough evidence that Evan''s de was strong enough to pierce its armour.


    And that was when he hadn''t coated it in aura. If he did, the end result was something the boss monster didn''t wish to find out.


    Half a gasp left it as it jumped sideways reflexively, and just when it''d barely evaded the first strike, Evan''s sword swept relentlessly sideways in pursuit.


    The de wraith rose its sword to block but Evan changed his sword''s trajectory at thest moment, inscribing an arc in mid-air as it evaded the de wraith''s sword and flew towards its forearm.


    *PUK!


    Evan''s sword stabbed it right in between the gaps in its armour, forcing the monster to temporarily loosen its grip on its de.


    "That''s a bad idea, you know?"


    The young hero''s free arm was already moving through the air as he spoke, tendrils of golden lightning crackling around his fist as he sent a punch to the monster''s arm.


    Although it attempted to dodge, it suddenly realised that it could not move as its feet had been held down by its own shadow, keeping it in ce long enough for Evan''s fist to connect.


    Ka who had been silent from the start poked her head out from above Pride''s head where she was talking with Amy and red at the boss monster.


    Her Electrome skill was activated as a small rose of mes bloomed on the monster''s arm, seconds before Evan''s fist mmed into it.


    **BAMM!!

 Chapter 173 Blade Cannon

    "That''s a bad idea, you know?"


    The young hero''s free arm was already moving through the air as he spoke, tendrils of golden lightning crackling around his fist as he sent a punch to the monster''s arm.


    Although it attempted to dodge, it suddenly realised that it could not move as its feet had been held down by its own shadow, keeping it in ce long enough for Evan''s fist to connect.


    Ka who had been silent from the start poked her head out from above Pride''s head where she was talking with Amy and red at the boss monster.


    Her Electrome skill was activated as a small rose of mes bloomed on the monster''s arm, seconds before Evan''s fist mmed into it.


    **BAMM!!


    The rose of mes, however, was only the ''me'' part of the skill, with the ''electro'' parting a second after Evan''s fist hit, causing a small distortion in the air as the energy in the lightning shed back, multiplying the destructive power of the strike by nearly three times.


    Even Evan''s shadow bind was unable to hold the de wraith''s body in ce as it was sent flying into the air, smashing through the bronze throne before mming into the wall behind it.


    Seeing this, Evan and even Pride who was spectating had wide eyes as they had never expected such a development.


    "Hey, Ka."


    [Master?]


    "Let''s try that again."


    [Okay!]


    Evan smiled upon hearing the spirit''s reply, coating his fist in lightning once more as he kicked off the ground and blitzed towards the de wraith whose body was still embedded inside the wall.


    "Hup!"


    The young hero pulled back his fist and stuck forward immediately after, with Ka activating her Electrome skill at the same time.


    **BAMM!!!


    Before the poor boss monster could even realise what was going on, the rose of mes had bloomed on its chest, with Evan''s fistnding right after.


    Right before the lightning on his fist could flow forward, Ka''s lightning came in and the two energiesbined, distorting the air slightly as the energies shed back once more.


    The de wraith''s armour shattered effortlessly as Evan''s lightning-coated fist hit it straight in its chest.


    "GAAAAAAA!!!!!"


    The monster let out a scream of pain and coughed up blood in its helmet, its eyes turning red in rage as it activated its magic that it had not used from the start.


    Simultaneously, it activated another skill, making Evan who was about to bnce himself and attack once more, blink out of the area in haste.


    **SWOOSSHHH!!


    Right after he blinked away, the de wraith''s fallen sword sliced through the air where Evan was standing seconds ago, his eyes narrowing as he instantly figured out the reason for this.


    But before he could take action, the effect of the de wraith''s magic began, with the ground rumbling as Evan found it difficult to maintain his bnce.


    ''Tier two Earth magic, huh?''


    A magic circle shed on the floor as the ground underneath Evan''s feet cracked open the moment he had that thought, with a series ofrge columns easily twice his height protruding from the ground and crashing towards him.


    "Barrier!"<sub> </sub>


    Eliza''s voice rang out as a translucent barrier appeared right underneath Evan''s feet, the young hero thanking her internally as he used it like a springboard to jump into the air.


    The barrier shattered right afterwards, however, Evan was already in the air, turning his gaze towards the de wraith that had pulled its body out of the wall and was ring at him.


    ''It has earth magic, weapon control, de cannon and another skill called swirl.


    I want the de cannon skill as it seems to be a long-ranged aura-based skill, just that, unlike aura sh, this one can be used as a multiple target skill.''


    Gravity pulled his body down to the ground but by this time the earth pirs had already stopped protruding so hended on them calmly while keeping his gaze on the injured monster.


    [Evan, Focus.]


    ''Hmm?''


    The voice of the high demon rang out in his mind as he was about to ask what was wrong before noticing it himself.


    ''Wind...?


    The swirl skill!!''


    Evan did not hesitate to jump off the column andnd on the ground, just in time to see a swirling column of wind appear in front of the rock he was standing on.


    The next moment, a small vacuum field was generated and the upper half of the rock was pulled into it before being shredded by countless tiny wind des.


    ''Looks nice but it''s not my target.''


    With that thought, he kicked off the ground dashing towards the de wraith and releasing an aura sh mid-way.


    In response, the injured boss gripped its sword tighter and swung wildly it with movements so fast it seemed to form an illusion with its high frequency.


    It didn''t just swing wildly, as it also activated a skill, the same skill Evan wanted to copy from it.


    "de cannon!"


    With each swing of its sword, a thick blue aura sh was released. From each of these shes, smaller fist-sized bullets of aura wereunched out, with each shunching out at least 3 three aura bullets.


    When multiplied by the number of times the de wraith swung its sword, Evan had to deal with at the very least fifteen aura shes and forty-five aura bullets.


    ''Yeah, right.''


    The young hero didn''t even think twice about activating blink, his destination being the space above the de wraith as he appeared atop the monster''s head and shed downwards, towards its shoulder with his sword imbued in aura.


    ''Kuro!''


    **BAM!


    The de of the unforged mmed into the boss'' armour and shattered it, before going down to cut into its sword arm. The force behind the sh, was naturally too much for the monster going through agony to regain standing, with its body falling backwards and mming onto the wall.


    "ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!"


    The monster screamed loudly as it felt the pain of the aura-infused de slicing through its flesh and cutting into its bone.


    <o>,m It wanted to il about in pain and fling the human away but it realised that it could not move as its shadow seemed to have gotten a life of its own and had restrained its movements.</o>


    ''The human''s shadow control!''

 Chapter 174 New Skill

    ''The human''s shadow control!''


    Evan didn''t even give the monster the time to formte its next thoughts, letting go of his sword as he let his feetnd on the ground, stabilizing his footing before grabbing the monster''s head and forcing it to gaze into his eyes.


    The crest in Evan''s grey eyes shed golden as his mystic eyes came active and the mimicking process began.


    However, in its struggle to break free, the monster blinked and shook its head multiple times, cutting the eye contact between it and Evan and forcing the mimicking process to reset.


    "Stay still you damned creature!"


    Evan flipped out on the monster, pulling one of his arms backwards and giving it a punch to its gut, before pulling off its helmet and revealing its face.


    This was surprisingly the first time that Evan had seen the face of a de wraith since he entered the dungeon and he could not deny that it looked very simr to that of a human except for the fact that its eyes had no eyebrows, no pupils or irises.


    It only had sclerae that were glowing with a bright blue light.


    [Master, be quick.]


    Kuro''s voice rang out in his head, making him realise that the de wraith was gradually breaking free of Kuro''s hold so he ignored how weird its eyes were, alongside the bloodstain on the creature''s mouth, using his fingers to hold up the de wraith''s eyelids before activating his unique skill once more.


    ''1, 2, 3, 4...9, 10!''


    |de Cannon Acquired|


    |Rare Skills require one skill slot. |


    |Five Skill slots remaining. |


    The moment Evan saw that message, he headbutted the monster, disorienting it temporarily as one of his hands left its head and moved towards his sword still embedded in its shoulder.


    ''Hmm? Why don''t I toy with it for a little more? I can kill it whenever I feel like, after all.''


    As he had that thought, the hand reaching for his sword stopped and blinked away before giving Kuro the order to release it.


    "HUMANNNN!!!!!!!"


    As soon as it regained freedom, the de wraith roared at the top of its voice, picking up its sword with its other arm and swinging it wildly, activating its de cannon skill with each swing.


    Evan on the other hand, had no choice but to run for his life as the consecutive blinks had left him ''drained'', and he didn''t want to ''exhaust'' all his magic power here in case of an emergency.


    **BOOM!! BOOOOMM!! BOOOMM!!


    Mini explosions rang out as each aura bullet collided with either the ground wall or the ceiling, creating small craters everywhere.


    Evan jumped behind the column of earth that rose up when the monster activated its magic earlier, using them as a shield against its de cannon.


    ''Let''s see what else it can do before I kill it, maybe I might end up taking its other skill too...''


    Meanwhile, the de wraith was feeling like it had been pped in the face as it saw Evan use its previous attack a as shield from its de cannon.<sub> </sub>


    It gritted its teeth as it stopped its attack and moved its hand towards its wounded shoulder, pulling out Evan''s sword and tossing it away in an attempt to give the young hero a hard time recalling its weapon.


    Its eyes briefly nced at Eliza and Pride who had been standing at the door and watching the whole spectacle.


    ''Women...? His femalepanions? I can use them as hostages! Especially that one with the staff, the human women with staves are usually weaker than the others.''


    The boss monster instantly remembered the tactic it had used on a previous adventurer party, holding their support mage hostage and using her to threaten the other party members into lowering their weapons, seconds before it killed them with its de cannon.


    It had been a while ago since it did that so it had forgotten, but seeing Eliza who was conjuring barriers to block his aura bullets, jogged its memory.


    ''He ran instead of teleporting; can he perhaps not use it anymore?


    Either way, it''s good for me. Since he''s hiding there, I can use this time to get to them before he can use that teleportation!''


    The boss monster moved its good arm and its sword levitated before speeding through the air and shing the side of Evan''s face in the short moment he had peeked to see what the monster was doing now it had stopped its de cannons.


    "Whoa!"


    Evan rolled out of the way to avoid the sword that was shing at him, using the same sword techniques he wished to mimic from the de wraith, even imbuing aura into its shes.


    This showed how much higher the de wraith''s weapon control skill proficiency was as Evan could only use his to call his sword into his hands.


    ''I have to reach this stage...huh?''


    It was then that Evan noticed the de wraith dashing towards Eliza''s direction, its good arm stretched out as it clenched its fist in the air.


    He saw Pride stretch out her arm and pull the unsuspecting Eliza out of the way, seconds before a small vacuum field manifested a mere metre away from where Eliza''s head was previously.


    ''This bastard!!''


    Evan was no fool, and he instantly understood that the monster had sent the sword to keep him busy while it went for Eliza.


    As for the reason why, Evan honestly did not care.


    There were only two thoughts that went through his head at that moment.


    ''How dare you turn you lowly monster turn your back on me?!''


    ''How dare you go after her??!!!''


    The young hero did not care for magic consumption, stretching out his arm and instantly activating his blink, moving through the space between them.


    He appeared right in front of the de wraith, his eyes capturing every expression on the monster''s face, seeing as it transitioned quickly into shock.


    Before the boss could evenpute its next set of thoughts, Evan''s weapon control had already pulled his sword back into his hand as Evan instantly imbued the de with his aura faster than he ever had and thrust it forward.

 Chapter 175 Why On Aidos, Didn’t I Use This Before?

    Before the boss could evenpute its next set of thoughts, Evan''s weapon control had already pulled his sword back into his hand as Evan instantly imbued the de with his aura faster than he ever had and thrust it forward.


    Sensing the amount of aura in the de, Pride made the split-second decision to grab Eliza by the waist and jump out of the way, even going as far as to propel herself with wind magic.


    In the same instant she did that, Evan''s destructive energy circuit went wild as his aura maniption speed skyrocketed, with his golden aura swirling around the de of the unforged so fast it looked like a blur.


    "Ho-!"


    The boss monster didn''t even get its first word out as in the next second, the wildly spinning spiral-shaped mass of aura mmed into the body of the de wraith with the full force of Evan''s C- strength stat and all his stat boosts behind it.


    ***BOOOOOMMMMM!!!!


    The ground trembled as a terrifying explosion shook the entire boss room. The sturdy dungeon walls began to show signs of copsing from the explosion''s initial shockwaves.


    [Level Up]


    Every adventurer on therge tenth floor of the monster of the damned felt the ground trembling as the walls of Evan''s boss room shook harder before eventually crumbling under the pressure.


    The earth split into pieces, withrge cracks spreading around everywhere as the entire boss room lit up golden as Evan''s vortex decimated everything in its path.


    It took a few minutes before the ground stopped trembling as the explosion began to slowly die down, with the main culprit behind it staring at the wrecked boss room in front of him as one thought came to his mind.


    ''Why on Aidos, didn''t I use this against Elecrus?!''


    As Evan had very obviously vented out all the rage he felt towards the poor boss monster, he was now clearheaded enough to think about past events that hade and gone, as he stared at the destruction he had caused.


    Evan didn''t know it, but a thinyer of red light was currently surrounding his sword, giving the sword an ominous vibe that was no less than Pride''s weapon, Vanitas.


    Looking down at the hole in the ground that formed after the earth split into pieces, Evan could see the next basement floor along with the corpses of a few unfortunate rift mages that happened to be in the area.


    He then turned his gaze to the side and saw that he had only wrecked one half of the boss room and although the other was still rtively ''intact'' whenpared to its opposite half, it was still messed up due to his actions.


    Before he could even think about anything else, his hair stood on end as he felt an attacking from behind him. His body reacted appropriately as he jumped out of the way just in time to avoid therge lightning-d fist the size of his head that tore through the air.


    [Stupid Master!!!!]


    The voice of his familiar contract spirit rang out as Evan realised the identity of the gigantic fist to be Ka''s hand which she had erged with her body transformation skill.


    However, he didn''t have the time to think about that as the re the lightning spirit was giving him, sent chills down his spine, worse off when his connection to her told him that she only felt two things towards him at the time, and those were anger, and disappointment.


    ''Ah, shit.''


    It was at this moment, that it fully dawned on Evan, that he had indeed fucked up big time.


    �� �� ��


    Grand Magic Tower


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum<sub> </sub>


    December 29th


    Year 1051


    On the topmost floor of the Grand Magic Tower, a grey-haired old man was going through dozens of files on his desk, signing some and stamping on them asionally.


    The desk was an ''L'' shaped one, with him sitting on the top side and working there, while the return side had a few papers open and pens surrounded in magic power moving across these papers and writing different things.


    **KNOCK!


    p "Come in."</anda>


    The man gave permission to the one who knocked, following which the office door opened to reveal a fairly young man dressed in green robes that had the symbol of the Grand Magic tower, a magic staff inscribed in a pentagram embroidered on it with gold.


    "Sir, I have brought the results of your inquiry to the adventurer''s guild."


    "Carry On."


    Receiving the old man''s order, the young man opened the file in his hands and quickly skimmed through the contents before summarizing it to him.


    "The person you inquired about has been discovered. A ck-haired, grey-eyed teenage boy with a weird crest in his eyes.


    He is registered in the adventurer''s guild with the name, ''Evan Bourne''. He is in an adventurer party called the rangers with two other people named ''Eliza Lane'' and ''Pride''?"


    Towards the end of his speech, his words turned into a question as he found it a bit hard to wrap his head around the fact that someone was called ''Pride''.


    ''The people of the west indeed have weird names.''


    Nevertheless, he got over this quickly and pulled out three pictures from the file, cing them on the desk of the grey-haired old man.


    Seeing this, the man picked up the pictures and looked through them, nodding in affirmation when he saw thest one before dropping them on the desk.


    "His whereabouts?"


    "He checked into the ''Mansion of the Damned'' on the 19th and has not checked out since.


    Speaking of which, a lot of adventurers checked out of the ''Mansion of the Damned'' today, with the majority of them reporting that the tenth floor of the dungeon was trembling for a period of time and they left to avoid getting caught up in whatever was going on.


    The adventurer''s guild requested our help in looking into the matter."


    The old man rose an eyebrow upon hearing this, his hands that were signing papers stopping temporarily as he gave out orders.


    "Send in 2 ss B and a team of ss Cs to investigate the matter with the adventurer''s guild.


    As for the boy..."

 Chapter 176 Understanding The Reasons Behind The Changes

    "Send in 2 ss B and a team of ss Cs to investigate the matter with the adventurer''s guild.


    As for the boy..."


    He paused for a moment as a pensive look appeared on his face, his eyes widening as the light of remembrance shed through his eyes.


    "Is ''she'' still in the ''Mansion of the Damned''?"


    Knowing who the ''she'' the old man was referring to was, the red-robed young man nodded in affirmation.


    p "Good. Send the boy''s details to her, even better if you can send a magical copy of his image, though I doubt she took her receiver with her.</anda>


    Even so, send the details to her guild card and tell her to make an attempt to scour the first thirty floors for him on her way out.


    It should be a walk in the park for someone like her. When she finds him, tell her to bring him to me. As a guest, that is."


    The red-robed young man wondered just who the boy was for the old man to take him as a guest but he kept his questions to himself and bowed before leaving the room.


    **CLACK!


    After the door closed, the grey-haired old man, Chief Grand Magus, Gavin Josey, heaved a sigh to himself as he turned around and stared at the skyline through his office window.


    "All this work, it''s too much for an old man like me. Perhaps I should consider retiring, I have been at this for more than a century, after all."


    He watched the sunset in silence as he thought about the appearance of the red-eyed woman in the picture he just saw.


    "Let''s hope I''m wrong, because if I''m not, then the world might be in real deep shit."


    �� �� ��


    Mansion of the Damned, 11th Basement Floor


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum


    December 30th


    Year 1051


    Evan was finally on the long-awaited eleventh floor! But he could not feel any joy at this moment as he was still thinking through the events of the previous day.


    Needless to say, all of hispanions, both spirit, human and demon were all pissed off since he had wrecked the entire boss room.


    From the scale of that attack, if Evan had even used a bit more aura or magic, then it was possible that the attack would have affected them too.


    However, despite Pride also not liking his actions just as Eliza did, she did not say a single word to reprimand Evan.


    In fact, she even helped calm Eliza before sitting Evan down and analysing his behaviour for the past week.


    Initially, he was confused about why she did this, but as they went on, he finally realised that something was wrong.


    Throughout the week, he had been acting a bit more on the haughty side of things.


    Settling down to think about the ''offer'' he had made to the de wraith, he understood why the monster ended up flipping out and attacking him in rage.


    He also discovered a few things odd, like how he had so many chances to end the de wraith before it could even have the chance to think about going in hispanions'' direction.


    ''When it started randomly firing the de cannons, I could have just teleported behind it and stabbed it or hit it with usingbo attack with Ka.


    I could also have used Kuro or Ka''s magic if I didn''t want to consume mine, there was also the option of using my own magic power and simply downing a magic potion after.<sub> </sub>


    However, I didn''t do all that, instead I was wasting time, even getting lost in my thoughts and disregarding my opponent, multiple times at that.


    The time when I shed at its shoulder, I could have cut off its entire arm but I thought it would be fun to see it struggle with just a single arm.


    And most of all, I... enjoyed it.''


    Evan felt a chill down his spine the moment his thoughts reached that point.


    ''That feeling of having its life in the palm of my hand, like it was an ant I could squash anytime I wanted.


    I was relishing in it.''


    His facial expression darkened as he realised something was wrong with his thought process, even now, there was still a part of him that was saying that he had every right to y with the monster''s life.


    Shaking his head, he thought back to when he saw it rushing towards Pride and Eliza and remembered the things that crossed his mind.


    To put it in simpler terms, he was thinking something along the lines of;


    ''What gave you lowly monster the gall to dare to turn your back on me in a fight?!''


    ''How dare you go after mypanion??!!!''


    Evan was sure that the first line of thought was something he would not think of on a ''normal'' day. The second, however, was quite understandable.


    With this and a few more things, Evan concluded something was indeed wrong somewhere, but didn''t know where.


    Pride''ster suggestion to check his status, told him what and where.


    A single line in the condition tab that went like this;


    [Condition- Status Effect (Arrogance)]


    And with his game knowledge and personal experience, Evan instantly figured out the source of that status effect, thus, his reaction;


    "What the fuck, Pride?!"


    In contrast to his agitated state, the demon went on to calmly exin the reason for that effect suddenly appearing on his status board.


    "It is a side effect of contracting with a member of the demon race. The contracted person is usually affected/influenced negatively by the nature of the contracted demon.


    The system attributes my influence as Arrogance, a status effect."


    Eliza looked at Pride with a raised eyebrow after hearing this and questioned.


    "Wouldn''t that mean that you''re the ''Arrogant'' one here and Evan is an idiot who got influenced?"


    "Hey!"


    She waited for Pride''s response without paying attention to Evan''s small protest.


    "That is indeed the case."


    "But you don''t seem all that arrogant to me..."


    "Girl, the woman''s name is LITERALLY ''Pride''!"

 Chapter 177 She’s Still ‘Pride

    "Girl, the woman''s name is LITERALLY ''Pride''!"


    To Evan''s retort, Eliza only stared at him with a face that said ''How does that matter?''


    "Evan, you possess your predecessor''s memories, right?"


    "Yeah, why?"


    "Then that''s precisely why your view of me is a bit skewed. You know of how I acted during the war a thousand years ago, but Eliza doesn''t, hence she doesn''t think of me the same way you do."


    Upon hearing her words, Evan thought about it for a moment and realised that was indeed the case.


    "True, you don''t go around gouging out the eyes of anyone on the street who stares at you lovestruck anymore.


    You''re a lot calmer now."


    "Wait, what?"


    "For your information, I was in a bad mood that day since that dragon lord had just messed up one of my ns.


    Besides, my beauty is not something the likes of them were worthy to gaze at so I simply relived them of their sight, permanently."


    Seeing her talk about rendering people blind just because they looked at her in a way she didn''t like at the time, Evan and Eliza didn''t even know where to start retorting and just nkly stared at her in silence.


    "What? It is a fact that I am too beautiful for the likes of them, though. Even Lust would agree with me."


    Her next words turned the nk looks on their faces to ones of shock. The two felt that they could literally see the self-confidence oozing out of Pride''s body as they spoke to Each other.


    "Whoa...she said it."(Eliza)


    "She actually did."(Evan)


    "Talk about self-confidence."


    "Yeah, even in my current state, I doubt I could pull that line off with so much ease."


    "But you have to agree, she is indeed a beauty on a different level."


    "No Shit."


    "Yeah. Who''s Lust though?"


    To Eliza''s question, Pride replied with a nostalgic look on her face.


    "The ''Demon of Lust'', and my younger sister."


    "And pretty much the most beautiful person you''d ever meet."


    Evan chimed in after Pride as he recalled the appearance of the blue-eyed tinum blonde-haired woman in the memories of the previous ''Second''.


    "That''s not true, though."


    "Huh? What isn''t?"


    "The thing you said about my sister being ''pretty much the most beautiful person you''d ever meet'', that''s not true. I am."


    The young hero was dumbstruck as he stared at the demon in front of him. After a few moments, he finally managed to find his words.


    "...She''s Lust, you know?"


    "So? I''m the best at everything, naturally, that includes appearance."


    "...what?"


    At the outset of her justification for her statement, Pride sighed heavily.


    "When I say I''m the best at everything, I mean it. It can be likened to a trait of some sort that''s unique to me. To seed at everything I put my mind to is a given.


    No matter how long it takes, I will always make great achievements in everything I undertake, ultimately excelling to the point where I am the best at it.<sub> </sub>


    It''s just like how Greed wants all there is for himself, or how Sloth wants toze around and do nothing until the end of time.


    I am confident that I can be the best at anything I''m involved in.


    Bottom line is, even if my sister is a breathtaking beauty, she''d have to settle for second ce if ranked, because I, who am the best at everything, would naturally be the first ce."


    "..."


    The young hero and the teenage battle priestess were left lost for words upon hearing the demon''s statement. And they remained like that until Eliza snapped out of her daze and pointed out one very important thing.


    "Weren''t we supposed to be discussing Evan''s status effect?"


    �� �� ��


    "GROARR-!"


    A poor wolf''s roar was abruptly silenced as Evan''s sword prated the creature in the throat and exited its back.


    He calmly pulled out his sword and flicked the blood on it off, before turning to Pride who was turning another wolf to ashes as he spoke.


    "So, you''re saying that the influence thingy has always been there, just that it wasn''t strong enough to be considered a ''Status Effect''?"


    "Exactly."


    "So why did it suddenly get stronger?"


    Evan posed this question to Pride as he kicked off the ground, dashing towards a magic circle that appeared mid-air and slicing it with his sword coated in his golden aura, surprising the creature behind it.


    Sadly, by the time he had managed to reposition his sword to attack that creature, it had vanished and reappeared a dozen metres away, releasing a small light blue aura that reduced the surrounding temperature.


    ''Tsk, an Ice type that happens to have the unique skill, Mind Control, huh? Troublesome.''


    "Simply put, my title was going haywire.


    I had drained out most of the power in the title over the past thousand years, which resulted in the dungeon I was sealed in bing filled with it.


    That''s the reason why anyone who entered there gained the status effect you currently had.


    That same title was the one I told you I was sealing on the day we entered the monster room. The seal isn''t permanent, as such, I have to periodically renew it.


    However, that process requires me to unseal it first, and then seal it again.


    In that short moment I did, its power flowed out and affected the person who had the closest connection to me at the time."


    "Which was your contractor, me."


    "Exactly."


    Pride replied as she flicked her fingers and created a light green two-ringed magic circle around her right wrist.


    In the next moment, small tornadoes sprung up from the ground underneath the ten wolves that were circling her warily, tossing them into the air.


    "What kind of title is it anyway?"


    The high demon manipted her magic power expertly, pulling back her right arm with an open palm, and generating tworge bows made of wind.


    "Gale Arrow."


    As she spoke, five arrows of swirling wind whirled out from the bows of wind, pulling back slightly beforeunching towards the airborne wolves.


    The magic circle around her wrist disintegrated into particles of light as she turned to Evan and answered his question.


    "One I am unable to permanently disable, at least until I recover a quarter of my original level. At that level, I am confident I should be able to erase the title''s negative effects permanently."


    "I see."

 Chapter 178 Casually Wiping Out Wolves Mid-Conversation

    "I see."


    Evan responded while coating his arms in shadows and grabbing the jaws of a wolf that attempted to attack him. He then tore it in half using his raw power as the creature fell to the ground.


    He had just viciously murdered the alpha wolf of the pack, which meant that he was the most powerful of all of the wolves in the pack. The blood and guts that were sprayed everywhere terrified the other wolves.


    The young hero threw away the two pieces of the wolf''s body without much thought and then turned to face the other wolves who were cowering in fear, his gaze turning cold as he spat out in disgust.


    "How pathetic."


    Tapping his foot on the floor, the shadows of the wolves wriggled about and dark spears emerged from within.


    The spears struck them from underneath, throwing them into the air whilst simultaneously piercing through them.


    [Level Up]


    Despite his increase in level, Evan frowned as he stared at the wolves'' corpses before asking Pride a question.


    "So, I''m stuck like this until we reach Level what? 194? 195?"


    "Oh, no. This is just temporary; you''d be fine in a day or two. Depending on how strong your mentality is, a few hours might be enough.


    The status effect simply induces arrogance in its target, a greatly watered-down version of my ability to manipte pride, which itself is an emotional maniption type power."


    "And emotional maniption is a kind of like a sub power of mental maniption, something that can be resisted with a strong enough mentality.


    I get it now."


    As he spoke, he used a basic cleaning magic spell on himself to wipe off the blood stains on him, his gaze turning to Eliza who was sitting down on the floor not far from them.


    The battle priestess had her elbows propped up on herp while her face rested in her palms as she stared at the young hero and high demon who casually ughtered a pack of wolves mid-conversation.


    "Are you done?"


    "Hmm? Where''s the rift mage?"


    "It escaped while the both of you were making small talk."


    She answered Evan''s question as she stood up and dusted her skirt, picking up her staff as she began to walk down the corridor to the right.


    "Let''s go, it went this way."


    Evan and Pride looked at each other, before shrugging their shoulders and following the battle priestess down the corridor.


    As they walked, Eliza decided to voice out a question she had concerning Pride.


    "Is your name really the word ''Pride''? Or is that just a pseudonym you use because you don''t want anyone discovering what your actual name is?"


    "And why would you think I don''t want that?"


    "Well. I know of particr curses and magic that require the name of the target to activate. The closer to the target''s true name they have, the more effective it is.


    That''s the real reason why no one tells others their ''true names'', even if more than 99% of the poption don''t know this."


    Eliza turned around to face Pride who was behind her and backstepped as she continued.


    "Like me, my real name isn''t just ''Eliza''. It''s something else.


    Oh, just so you know, It''s not ''Elizabeth''. A lot of people seem to think that''s the case.


    Anyway, you get the point, right?"


    "Yeah, I do."


    The high demon replied as she patted the head of the miniaturized spirit sleeping peacefully on her shoulder.


    "But my name is indeed ''Pride'', just not in yournguage, or anynguage of this world."


    "I see."


    Eliza nodded to her self as she turned around and kept walking forward. Meanwhile, Evan wasing to terms with a realization that he was actually part of the stronger percentage of beings in Aidos.


    ''Right now, I can easily defeat the average C-Rank adventurer. Although it doesn''t sound like much, whenpared to the rest of the poption, C-Rank adventurers are actually very small.''


    Nevertheless, he also understood that he wasn''t strong enough to be considered a ''Powerhouse'' on Aidos.


    Only beings who were Level 300 and above or those who had reached the Grandmaster level of existence and above were considered powerhouses in Aidos.


    He remembered the amount of destruction he caused with his Vortex skill in the boss room andpared it to his original world.


    ''Considering that even a stone here is significantly stronger than a stone on my home world due to the higher concentration of ambient energy, it''s obvious that anything the current me can do here would be enough to be a small disaster over there.


    From the previous Second''s memories, the weakest boss rooms in Kasteblum are built to withstand the full power attack of a ''peak inferior stage master level existence''.


    So, can I assume that since I can turn said boss room to rubble and have energy left over, I am capable of easily defeating these ''peak inferior stage master level existences''?


    Beings who, going by the memories I have, can reduce an urban city block to rubble in mere minutes.''


    He held out his arm and clenched his fist tightly, a smug grin appearing on his face as his thoughts continued.


    ''This feeling of power, knowing that I am superior to a great majority of the existences in an entire world, I like it.


    Should I forcefully speed things up so I can get stronger faster? That''s a good idea. After all, the stronger I am, the higher my level of super-!''


    At that point, his thoughtspletely came to a halt, as did his steps.


    Pride and Eliza noticed this and asked him what was wrong, but Evan could barely hear them. Conflicting thoughts were swirling around in his head, like his normal thoughts were torn apart and twisted around before being mashed together roughly.<sub> </sub>


    Be superior to them!''


    ''Gain more power!''


    ''Be stronger for yourself!''


    ''Just let the UNDEAD kill them all.''


    ''Why do you want to fight for their sake?''


    ''You''re already superior to them.''


    ''Just let them die.''


    ''They''re all lower life forms.''


    No, he wasn''t even sure if these were his ''normal'' thoughts.


    ''But who''s ''they''?''


    ''The inferior ones.''


    ''The ones beneath you.''


    ''Let the LIZARDS tear them to shreds.''


    ''You''re more important than them.''


    ''Don''t help them until they grovel at your feet and beg.''


    ''Allow the BASILISKS turn them to stone.''


    ''They should worship you.''


    Or maybe they were?


    ''It''s your right!''


    ''You''re their saviour.''


    ''They''re all worthless.''


    ''All of them are.''


    ''Regardless of their race.''


    ''Regardless of their gender or ss.''


    ''Let the BARBARIANS kill them all!''


    ''They''re not as good as you are!''


    Maybe this was really how he felt?


    ''Those ingrates don''t deserve your attention.''


    ''Disdain them!''


    ''You have their lives in your control''


    ''Choose who lives and who dies.''


    ''The choice is yours.''


    Yes, Indeed, that was the case.


    ''The WOLF should end them all!''


    ''It''s only natural for you to do that.''


    ''Because you''re strong.''


    ''And they''re weak!''


    ''Because you''re more important!''


    ''And they''re not!''


    This was how things were supposed to be.


    ''Let that DESERT fall!''


    ''You''re a HIGHER lifeform.''


    ''And they''re mere mortals.''


    ''Because you''re better''


    ''Because you''re SUPERIOR!''


    He was superior.


    |Adaptive Evolution has been triggered. |

 Chapter 179 A New Resistance

    |Adaptive Evolution has been triggered. |


    |Mental resistance has been acquired. |


    The moment that notification showed up in front of Evan, his head became clear and all the warped thoughts disappeared, retreating back into the deepest recesses of his mind.


    "Evan?!"


    He looked up with glowing eyes and he saw Eliza and Pride staring at him warily. Pride had summoned her weapon and filled it with demonic energy, however, one of her palms was pointed backwards and a spear of mes had manifested in front of it.


    Amy who was on her shoulder also had her gaze facing backwards, seemingly staring at nothing.


    Meanwhile, Eliza''s barrier was active with her staff coated in magic power pointed at him.


    Even Ka who had said she didn''t want to talk to see anymore had materialized her Physical body and was staring at him warily.


    "Huh?"


    He was initially confused why they were reacting like that, but the moment he turned his gaze to himself, he understood.


    **BZZZTT!!


    His body was surrounded by tendrils of golden lightning and orbs of red mes floated in the air around him.


    In his right hand was his weapon, the unforged, with a violent mass of magic power swirling around its de.


    A thinyer of white light thatid just above his skin, covered his body from his head, down to his feet.


    His shadow was wriggling about creepily, with the asional spark of while light around his feet.


    In his left hand, was an orb of pure energy ready to beunched, the initial state of his energy st skill.


    His muscles had bulged up considerably, enough make the straps of the partial armour on his elbows to snap off and his shirt to begin tearing.


    When he thought about how chaotic his thoughts were and considered the resistance he just gained, the young hero sighed heavily as he begun to deactivate his skills one by one.


    ck blood dripped from his nose to the ground, showing the strain his body was currently under due to having so many skills active at once.


    **WHOOSHH!!!


    A fierce gust of wind blew as he forcefully scattered the magic power swirling around the unforged into the surroundings, taking care not to identally detonate it.


    His arms returned to normal size and the glow in his eyes dimmed as the number of skills and magic he was using continued decreasing.


    Eventually, only his Energy st and Pdin skills were active as he was relying on Pdin''s limited healing to deal with his internal injuries.


    As for the Energy st, he had other ns for it.


    "Hey, Pride. Let me deal with that bastard, will ya?"


    Hearing his question, Pride heaved a sigh and disabled her me spell causing the spear of mes to scatter.


    She then patted Amy on the head as the spirit turned her gaze back to Pride and then to Evan.


    [Master...]


    Ka called out to Evan with a pained expression on her face. As Evan''s contracted spirit, she could feel his emotions just the way he could feel hers and she could tell that Evan was currently very angry, at himself.<sub> </sub>


    ''And here I thought I had strong mental fortitude...''


    The young hero casually remarked to himself as he took a step forward, and then disappeared.


    Approximately thirty metres from where Pride and Eliza were standing, he reappeared, his eyes cold as he gazed at the floating creature that was hiding itself in the shadows.


    "KWEEE??!!!!"


    Upon sensing Evan''s teleportation, the creature instantly turned around and cried out, activating multiple skills and magic at the same time.


    |Adaptive Evolution has been triggered. |


    |Mental resistance has increased. |


    The same instant Evan saw those notifications in front of him, magic power swirled in the air above him as the temperature of the water vapour in the cooled to the point where it became Ice.


    Around the floating creature, a thin light blue barrier began to materialize, increasing the chill in the air as particles of Ice began to appear Evan''s body.


    Evan summoned a small ring of mes on his arms to warm his body up, while swinging his left arm that was still holding an energy st towards the creature floating in the air.


    Threerge Icicles manifested above his head and dropped towards him in the same instant that his palm mmed into the monster''s chest.


    **BAMM!! **BOOOOOMM!!!!


    The next moment, an explosion rang out, releasing shockwaves into the surroundings as spider web like cracks spread out on the right dungeon wall.


    Pride waved her hand and a gust of wind blew away all the smoke from the explosion, revealing the sight of Evan''s face covered by red blood.


    His left hand was mmed into the wall, with a crater about 3 metres wide and high around it.


    **PLOP!


    Two short legs, all that was left of what was once the culprit for his earlier state, slowly dropped onto the small pool of blood on the ground.


    Evan took a deep breath and ran his right hand through his hair as he disabled his pdin skill. He then pulled his left hand out of the palm sized print in the centre of the crater on the wall and turned towards Pride, or rather, the spirit on Pride''s shoulder.


    "Thanks for the help."


    Amy only nodded in acknowledgement before closing her eyes and going back to her usual rxed position on Pride''s shoulder.


    "...what just happened?"


    The only person who still didn''t understand whatpletely went on, Eliza, asked after a while as she alternated her gaze between Evan and Pride.


    "...That thing Evan just killed, it used some sort of mental ability to mess with Evan''s mind, that was the reason he suddenly activated a lot of skills earlier. It was trying to get him to attack us."


    The battle priestess'' eyes widened in surprise as she hadn''t expected that to be the real reason for his weird behaviour.


    She recalled the series of events that led to the current situation before asking another question.


    "Did it try to mess with our mind''s earlier?"


    "Yes, it did."


    Fully understanding what just happened, would require one to start from the moment the trio encountered their first monster on the eleventh floor.

 Chapter 180 And The Questions Keep Piling Up

    After Eliza pointed out the digression of their earlier discussion, the trio decided to continue their dungeon diving while Evan and Pride still talked about the status effect situation.


    Not long after, they encountered one of the monsters normally found on the 11th -20th floors of the Mansion of the Damned, a rift mage.


    The creature was a short-masked humanoid about a metre tall. It was dressed in light blue and white coloured mage robes, showing its ice element type, and held a short staff or wand that was the same height as it was.


    Upon noticing them, the monster squealed before waving its staff and tossing a dozen icicles at the group.


    In the short moments it took for them to avoid the iing attack, it summoned a pack of wolf monsters and sent them after the trio.


    These were the monsters that they were dealing with while discussing Pride''s title. Mid-battle, Evan appraised the creature and saw that besides the default rift mage skills, it also had a unique skill; Mind Control.


    The creature escaped right after Evan destroyed its second summoning magic circle, which led to Evan and co following Eliza who saw where the rift mage disappeared to.


    Just when they got into range and sensed the monster, it used its mind control skill on Eliza, however, it found that it was unable to take control of her mind and instantly switched target to Pride.


    However, that was a bigger mistake as the high demon''s mentality was too strong for it to breach, and the act of using its skill on her allowed her to zero in on its exact position.


    In ast-ditch effort, the creature reactivated the skill on Evan who was lost in his thoughts at the time, taking advantage of the status effect currently on Evan and infiltrating the young hero''s mind through the gap it created.


    Pride had created a spear of mes and was about to toss it towards the monster, however, she instantly sensed something wrong with Evan and turned to him warily, just in time to see him suddenly activating multiple skills at once, something a normal Evan would not do as he knew his body would not have been able to take it without repercussions.


    Eliza noticed the monster at the same time she saw Evan and Pride''s actions. She had wanted to speak up, but upon seeing Ka materialize herself and gaze at Evan warily, she realised something was wrong.


    All these happened within the span of a single minute, long enough for adaptive evolution to kick in and deal with the mind control on Evan.


    Thus, the current situation with Evan receiving healing from Eliza to deal with his internal injuries caused by overloading his body with skills.


    ''The status effect is gone...''


    Although Evan was notpletely sure why, the status effect on him was not there anymore. He lowered his gaze and looked at the new resistance that had appeared on his resistance tab.


    ''So, we just talked about how the status effect was a mental thing and some stupid creature decided to use enough mind control on me to trigger adaptive evolution once more.


    But still, although adaptive evolution hardly activates, when it does, the things it gives are quite useful.


    Though it has only given me resistances so far.''


    "Thanks, Liz."


    Evan thanked Eliza who nodded while giving him a strange gaze. Noticing this, the young hero only gave a depreciating smile as he understood the reason for her gaze.


    He remembered every single thought that passed through his mind in those few moments and couldn''t help but heave an exhausted sigh.


    ''There''s no way that those thoughts came out of nowhere. The fact that they came up there meant that they were things I had been subconsciously thinking about.


    Though I''m attributing the ones about being ''superior'' to the status effect, the ones about the ''disasters'' aren''t the same.


    Or are they?''<sub> </sub>


    Standing up, he stretched his body out with a pensive look on his face as he pondered on the thoughts he had at that time.


    [''Just let the UNDEAD kill them all.''


    ''Let the LIZARDS tear them to shreds.''


    ''Allow the BASILISKS to turn them to stone.''


    ''Let the BARBARIANS kill them all!''


    ''The WOLF should end them all!''


    ''Let that DESERT fall!'']


    ''That just casually picked out six of the seven disasters I haven''t prevented yet. Disasters that would be detrimental to Aidos if they happened.


    After all, all these disasters were just conduits for the ritual magic the Demonic Hand is preparing to use and destroy the seal on the dimensional rift.''


    This was a shocking truth that not even ''The Five'' were aware of.


    Evan himself, only became aware of it when he battled the ''First Finger'' in the game too, as without that, he would have not known this too.


    Behind every one of the ''Eight Disasters'', there was a ''Finger'' of the Demonic Hand involved.


    Just like how the ''Sixth Finger'' was the one in charge of getting Pride from the Graveyard of the Arrogant, and the ''Eight Finger'' was the one in charge of the ''Duhan Attack''.


    The Demonic Hand was behind each one of the disasters, all for the sole reason of causing more death and destruction, and causing more blood to be spilt.


    ''That''s why even if I say I don''t care for the people of Aidos, I can''t let the disasters happen, and even if they do, they can''t happen on the scale they did in the game.


    Besides, each one of the disasters involves high levelled beings, so more things for me to kill and gain more experience points.''


    It was then that he realised he was just making excuses to himself and sighed. Picking up his weapon from the ground and tossing it into his inventory, he decided to call it a day, even though it was still early.


    ''I do wonder where the extra experiencees from though, Artemisia didn''t exin how it worked, and neither is it exined in the Archive.


    I don''t even know how the ''Devour ss system'' Artemisia talked about works, just what Is being ''Devoured''?


    Energy?


    Life Force?


    Souls?


    Energy cores?''

 Chapter 181 Having Designs On Ice Magic

    ''Just what Is being ''Devoured''?


    Energy?


    Life Force?


    Souls?


    Energy cores?


    Saying that the opponent''s ''power'' was being absorbed is a bit too vague.''


    He thought about it for a while before deciding that it really didn''t matter to him at this point in time, besides, even if he knew how it worked, there was nothing he could do about it!


    And that was the truth.


    The inner workings of the ''System'' were something not even Artemisia fully understood.


    She was just capable of replicating and altering some of its features using the power of a few ''Authorities'' and universalws.


    Weaving the essence of universalws to add some more features to the altered version of the system she had created was also within the scope of her actions.


    The extra experience boosts and other extra features that Evan had were a result of her ''additions'' and ''alterations'' to some of the original system''s features, creating a new version of it which she ''installed'' into the boy''s soul in the form of the ''System Updates.''


    As for who, what or how the system that spanned heaven knows how many universes was created, she didn''t know this!


    And although she was close to a being who knew, he wouldn''t tell her simply because it was no fun to do so, as such, the goddess didn''t even bother asking.


    Bottom line, if Artemisia didn''t fully understand the system and hadn''t been able to wrap her head around it after living longer than the current Evan couldprehend, then there was no way Evan would be able to do so!


    So, Evan put that at the back of his mind and pulled out his sleeping bag,id it on the floor, and slept off!


    �� �� ��


    Fast forward to the next day and the group were continuing their dungeon dive while Evan was teaching Eliza how to use the cleaning lifestyle magic.


    Discovering another rift mage didn''t take them long, as the monsters liked to roam about their floors and summoned other monsters to attack anything that wasn''t a fellow rift mage!


    "KUEEEE!!!"


    That brings us to the current situation where a light blue-robed rift mage, squealed loudly as dozens of magic circles manifested around the trio.


    "Ah, shit. Here we go again."


    "GRRRR!!!!"


    Wolves belonging to the same pack jumped out of the magic circles and towards the trio, baring their fangs and ws while growling loudly.


    Pride unsheathed her sword and Eliza rose her staff, getting ready for battle. Meanwhile, Evan took a deep breath and called out to his contracted great lightning spirit.


    "Ka."


    [Yes!]


    His intentions were transmitted to her, making the young spirit hesitate for a moment, before deciding to go along with his decision.<sub> </sub>


    With closed eyes, magic power began building up around Ka, attracting the attention of all parties present, the wolves, the rift mage and Evan''spanions.


    Amy''s eyes widened in shock as she began pulling on Pride''s hair, shaking her head rapidly while pointing at Ka.


    Seeing this, Pride understood and pulled Eliza backwards, taking a distance of over a dozen metres away from Evan''s position.


    ''Saves me the stress.''


    As soon as Evan thought that, he flicked his fingers and generated a small ball of mes in his right palm, he then mmed the fireball into the ground, resulting in a wave of mes that propagated throughout the ground.


    The iing wolves had their paws burned by the sudden wave of mes, crying out in pain as Ka chose this time to make her move.


    Her eyes shot open as she called out the name of the unique skill she had not used since the day she acquired it.


    [Pseudo-Authority of Lightning.]


    p Her usual ck dress turned bright gold as the young great spirit fully utilized the ''authority'' she had as the great spirit of lightning.</anda>


    Ambient energies coalesced together to form a giant pearl of lightning that floated mid-air. From this orb, spears of lightning rained down across the entire area.


    The wolves were struck by the mighty lightning, with the weaker ones charring ck instantly and the stronger ones onlysting a few seconds.


    The spears of lightning that rained down, mixed with the wave of mes on the ground, resulting in an elemental reaction that triggered multiple explosions across the ground.


    **BOOOM!! BOOOMM!! BOOOOOMMM!!!


    "GARRHHHH!!!"


    "I didn''t get to do this yesterday, but this has always been my main reason foring to this floor of the dungeon."


    Evan, whose right hand was still on the ground, ced his left hand on the ground, crouching slightly as he took a runner''s starting position.


    Ka tapped his back and a lightning seal appeared on it, granting him temporary immunity to her lightning.


    In the next instant, he shot off the ground, blitzing through the air so fast his movements seemed like a blur.


    He crossed through the storm of lightning created by Ka, with some of the spears of lightning striking him but he took no damage as he dashed straight towards the rift mage that was still summoning more wolves in the back.


    Since it was outside Ka''s range, it was unaffected and kept on summoning more wolf monsters from heaven knows where.


    As soon as Evan got close, it reacted instantly, waving its staff as the red summoning magic circle turned light blue instantly.


    "KUEE!"


    The creature let out a strange scream as the thermal energy in the surroundings dropped instantly, with a solidified bolt of ice appearing in front of the blue magic circle.


    With a low sound, the bolt wasunched towards Evan who pulled out the unforged from his inventory and coated the sword in mes, slicing through the bolt and proceeding forward.


    The rift mage didn''t let Evan get as close as he wanted, activating its teleportation as it vanished from the spot and reappeared a dozen metres away.


    As soon as it reappeared, it waved its staff again, this time forming not one but tens of ice bolts, firing them all at the same time in several directions like a shotgun.


    ''Smart creature, it doesn''t matter where I run, I''d still meet icicles, huh?''

 Chapter 182 Skills From The Rift Mage

    ''Smart creature, it doesn''t matter where I run, I''d still meet icicles, huh?''


    Evan thought to himself as he tilted his head to the side to dodge the icicle that nearly impaled him, swinging the unforged in a circr arc and cutting through the next set of icicles that targeted multiple points on his body.


    The rift mage showed the reason it was called that, teleporting once more behind Evan and creating arge chunk of spiked ice, releasing it immediately as it extended toward its target-Evan.


    "Whoa."


    Evan jumped out of the way to avoid it, catching sight of the rift mage who turned in the direction of hispanions for a moment to see if they were taking any action besides ending the lives of the other wolves.


    "KUE!"


    It screamed out as three red summoning magic circles appeared, with giant eight-foot-tall wolves walking through each of them.


    Immediately after, it teleported out of the way to avoid the spear of lightning Ka shot in its direction,nding on the ground not too far from Evan and waving its staff again.


    Spikes made of ice emerged on the surface around Evan, namely, the ground, walls and ceiling. The spikes shot out of the surfaces around and in his direction.


    Meanwhile, Evan just activated his mystic eyes and copied the spell, just like he had done the other two the rift mage had used.


    ''I think that''s enough. Kuro.''


    As soon as he thought that, his shadow spread out and he let his body fall back into the erged shadow that disappeared immediately afterwards, causing the ice spikes to hit the cold hard ground and shatter to pieces while leaving dents on the floor.


    "?!"


    Seeing Evan disappear into his shadow, the rift mage hurriedly looked around, trying to locate where he was going to pop out from.


    It activated another skill and a light blue spherical barrier surrounded its entire body as it floated up into the air while releasing an icy aura into the surroundings.


    If a normal person were to be within ten metres of the rift mage now, they would instantly get frostbite as the amount of cold energy it was releasing was not something a normal human body was built to take.


    Sadly, it was up against Evan, who was not in any way or form, considered ''normal''.


    In the short moment that the rift mage was distracted due to sensing the death of one of its summoned wolves, the shadow under it expanded rapidly and Evan sprang out towards the monster.


    He swung his entire right arm which was engulfed in mes, towards the spherical shield of ice energy around the rift mage.


    **BAAAMM!!!


    Despite ramming into the shield with more force than that of a speeding subway train, the shield only cracked a bit, with most of the damageing from the fact the rift mage was mmed into the wall by the knockback.


    "Ka!"


    Evan didn''t Evan give the monster time, calling out to his contract spirit while dashing towards the rift mage as she activated her Electrome skill on the monster.


    "Guh!"


    Evan grunted a bit as his body screamed at him for switching elements too quickly, with the mes engulfing his arm being instantly reced by lightning.


    ''Fracture!''


    **BAMM!!


    He called out internally as he punched towards the rose of mes that bloomed on the stunned rift mage''s shield, his fist mming into the shield and cracking it a second before the lightning part of Ka''s skill hit.


    The air distorted as the lightning shed, the intensity of the light being too bright that Evan had to momentarily close his eyes.


    **CCRACK!!!


    The rift mage''s shield creaked under the force of his punch, shattering the moment after along with the distortion in the air and allowing Evan''s fist to reach the monster''s torso.<sub> </sub>


    "GAHH!!"


    Even though the force behind his punch had been reduced due to the shield, it was still enough to crumble a certain 93-metre-tall blue-green torch-wielding statue from his home world.


    Naturally, the rift mage whose durability was significantly lower than other monsters of its level could barely withstand the force and was left with an inch of its life.


    "Kuro."


    [I know.]


    The shadow spirit hopped out of Evan''s shadow and ran up the wall to the half-dead rift mage and manipted his shadow to hold it in ce, before grabbing its staff from its hand and tossing it away.


    Evan then pulled off the monster''s mask, revealing its face that only had eyes and a mouth, making him wonder how the creature breathed.


    He held open the monster''s eyelids and activated his mystic eyes, deciding to take not one but two skills from this unfortunate mage.


    |Ice Magic (High) Acquired|


    |Normal Skills require one skill slot. |


    |Four Skill slots remaining. |


    |Elemental Shield Acquired|


    |Rare Skills require one skill slot. |


    |Three Skill slots remaining. |


    The moment he confirmed he had indeed gotten the skills he wanted, he snapped the monster''s neck, ending its life instantly.


    [Level Up.]


    Kuro jumped back into Evan''s shadow as he turned around and let the monster''s corpse fall to the ground, meeting eyes with Pride who asked him a question he never sawing.


    "Between the grey fur and the ck fur, which one is better for making a nice winter coat?"


    The high demon was alternately poking her sword into the heads of two of the three giant wolf corpses on the ground while trying to decide which corpse to keep and which to take with her.


    "You are really a ''my pace'' kind of person, huh?"


    Eliza couldn''t help butment as she saw Pride''s serious expression, thinking of how the people of Aidos from a thousand years ago would feel if they saw the demon that terrorized them right now.


    Evan on the other hand went along with her and suggested she take the ck one since it matched her hair while he would take the grey one since it matched his eyes.


    "And you''re going along with her?"


    "Hmm? Yeah. What''s wrong? Did you want the grey one too?"


    Eliza''s brow twitched in annoyance when she heard the question Evan asked her while petting the head of Ka who had at one point in time, transformed into a cat and snuggled herself in his arms.


    Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she asked the question she wanted to originally ask the young hero.


    "You took longer than usual this time, was there a problem?"


    "Nahh...I just took two skills instead of one."


    "You can do that?"

 Chapter 183 All Hands On Deck

    "You took longer than usual this time, was there a problem?"


    "Nahh...I just took two skills instead of one."


    "You can do that?"


    "Yep."


    Evan replied as he pulled up the description of one of the skills and made it visible for Eliza to see.


    "How does this work?"


    He was about to exin, when he sensed multiple iing presences, a distorted smile appearing on his face as he replied.


    "You''re about to find out."


    Turning around, he ced his hands on the two wolf corpses and tossed them into his inventory, just in time to look up and see a group of rift mages floating toward the party''s direction.


    "KUEE!!"


    "KEE!"


    "KUUUU!!"


    While screaming iprehensible things, the rift mages waved their staves in the air, activating a plethora of elemental magic as bolts of mes, ice, water and lightning came flying toward the trio.


    "All hands on deck this time."


    Evan spoke as he pulled out his sword and charged towards the iing magic, with Eliza and Pride trailing behind him.


    "Support Magic: Greater Resistance."


    Eliza called out as she channelled magic power towards the floating radiant codex, with four rings of light-coloured red, blue, light blue and yellow appearing around the trio''s right wrists simultaneously.


    Pride, on the other hand, infused her weapon in demonic energy, generating a small ck whirlwind around the de as she shot out with boosted speed.


    The high demon easily dodged the iing bolts of magic, slicing through the ones she could not avoid as she closed the distance between the two groups.


    As if on cue, all the rift mages manifested shields of elemental energy around them, with each one releasing an elemental aura into the surroundings.


    The conflicting auras somehow didn''t cancel each other out, with their effects stacking on top of each other as the rift mages waved their staves and activated their signature summoning magic.


    However, there was no way that Evan would let all of them summon other monsters, as he knew that the sheer amount of monsters to be summoned would be too much for the ground to deal with in the space that they were in.


    ''Ka, Kuro.''


    The two spirits responded to his call, with Ka returning to her human form and spreading her arms out, a bolt of golden lightning shooting out from each finger in the direction of the summoning circles that appeared mid-air.


    Kuro melded into his shadow and moved on the ground, appearing beside a summoning magic circle and slicing it with his ws, before delving back into his shadow and moving on to another.<sub> </sub>


    For the magic circles that had already activated, he coated his paw in a dark light and sliced the unfortunate monster that came out first with a three-pronged w attack, splitting its body and the magic circle behind it into three pieces.


    Unwilling to be outdone by her fellow spirits, Amy floated up in the air and spread her arms out wide.


    Her red eyes shed as she activated her unique skill and clenched her right fist tightly.


    Instantly, all the fire-type rift mages lost control of both their magic, their elemental shields and their elemental auras as their spells redirected towards their fellow rift mages and their shields disabled themselves.


    Without their handy shields to protect them, the rift mages were now sitting ducks for Pride''s ck wind shes to tear through their bodies and turn them into chunks of meat.


    As for the ice-type rift mages, they were in for a hell of a surprise when the magic spells of the fire types suddenly changed directions and mmed into their shields, small explosions ringing out as their shields were shattered instantly.


    Eliza took advantage of this and jumped into the fray, swinging her magic-infused staff with fervour and mming into the bodies of the injured rift mages.


    ''Child of Life.''


    She called out internally as she selected ''Anti Regeneration'' as the aspect she wished to manipte.


    Each time she hit any rift mage with her staff, no matter how weak the hit was, the rift mage reexperienced all their recent injuries, and if there weren''t any, then any wounds they received after were magnified.


    She switched her aspect to ''Health Reduction'', forcefully reducing the health of the rift mages and impairing their ability to battle.


    If one were to appraise any of the affected rift mages, they would see that their health stats had dropped by a whole rank!


    If stats were quantified in numbers, then it was equivalent to them permanently losing 250 out of 1000 points of health.


    The moment Evan saw the familiar green glow engulfing Eliza''s staff, he guessed she had activated her unique skill and began trailing behind her, swinging his aura-infused sword at any rift mage her staff touched.


    His energy maniption circuit spun wildly as each attack he dished out was infused with enough energy to instantly end the life of his targets.


    All his stat boosts, skill and weapon effectsbined together, resulting in his attacks possessing over 200% of his base attack power, with every ten strikes of his sword releasing a powerful shockwave into the surroundings.


    Coupled with Eliza''s buffs, each of his attacks was dealing terrifying damage to the monsters.


    The poor rift mages didn''t even stand a chance against thebined might of the group, with even the reinforcements who were drawn to the noise of the battle and their summoned monsters perishing within minutes.


    The trio cooperated well with their spirits, with Amy and Ka taking care of the elemental shields and summoning magic circles/summoned creatures respectively.


    Kuro moved around on the ground to make the job easier, spreading out his shadow to restrain the feet of the monsters and seal their movements long enough for either Amy''s me spears or Ka''s lightning bolts to reach them and end their lives.


    Eliza on the other hand, switched out the buffs on Evan and Pride appropriately, asionally creating a barrier or two to block the attacksing from their blind spots while her staff did not forget to impale a few unfortunate rift mages.


    Pride swung her demonic energy-infused sword, disying the 10% boost to her already monstrous attack power as each of her quick and precise strikes resulted in a monster or two losing their heads.


    asionally, she created whirlwinds to swirl the mes generated by Amy while taking advantage of the Kuro''s shadow binds and releasing demonic energy shes that turned the monsters into chunks of meat.

 Chapter 184 Elemental Shield

    As for Evan, he sent skills and magic flying all over the ce, while taking care not to hit his allies. With each swing of his sword, either an aura sh was sent out, or a de cannon wasunched in the direction of the iing enemies.


    "These guys are reallying in waves."


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you should use this to practice for the ''Tower of Trials'' as you would face simr waves of monsters there.]


    "Gee, thanks.


    me grenade. Fire ssh. Spiral mes."


    Each time his lips moved, his arms pointed in a certain direction as he unleashed a spell in that direction, burning the enemies there to crisp.


    [Level Up]


    He then switched to lightning magic shot towards the iing wave of monsters, courtesy of the dozen or so fire and lightning-type rift mages behind them.


    He jumped into the wave of monsters, causing them to all turn their fangs and ws in his direction with the rift magesunching elemental magic towards him.


    The young hero dodged most of the attacks, swinging his sword to stop the ones he could not and asionally using his hand to catch the arms and legs of the monsters, squeezing them tightly and breaking their bones with his superior strength.


    The newly appearing rift mages all turned their attention towards him, ordering the summoned monsters to run after him as they waved their staves and summoned more monsters, ranging from wolves to orcs and goblins.


    Evan increased his speed, running down the corridor with the monsters hot on his heels as he sped towards the end of the wide corridor, towards therge space he could see there.


    Although it was a dungeon, the mansion of the damned was called a ''Mansion'' for a reason, as one could sometimes find long hallways with locked doors on each side, orrge halls/ballrooms with chandeliers hanging from the ceilings.


    Evan had encountered one of such ballrooms at the end of the corridor he was initially in, with the monsters that were originally there and the ones that were chasing him all crying out as they charged toward him.


    Some water-type rift mages who joined the fray, teleported behind him and waved their staves towards him, at the same time that the lightning rift mages teleported in front of him and did the same.


    ''Oy! These bastards are ganging up on me!''


    As soon as Evan thought that, the water-type rift mages created balls of water that released pressurized streams of water towards him, at the same time that the lightning typesunched balls of destructive lightning toward him


    "Elemental Shield!"


    "KUEE??!!!"


    One of the rift mages cried out in shock as it saw a familiar golden spherical shield of lightning-infused magic energy surround Evan''s body just in time for thebination attacks to hit.


    The lightning discharge from thebination of water and lightning magic spells was blocked by the elemental shield, leaving Evan who was surrounded by the omnidirectional shield unscathed.


    Perhaps seeing that theirbination attack did not work, the rift mages waved their arms andmanded the summoned monsters who begrudgingly charged toward Evan.


    Sadly, the physical attacks of the summoned monsters who were strong enough to brave the lightning-charged water on the floor could barely dent the shield. In fact, the monsters close to him could barely move due to paralysis caused by the sheer amount of lightning aura that spread out from the shield.


    The elemental attacks of the lightning-type rift mages were as good as useless, as the elemental shield provided him with near immunity to lightning.


    As for the fire types'' magic attacks, although they were effective, they were far from being able to destroy the shield immediately.<sub> </sub>


    Meanwhile, Evan who was inside the shield was going through the skill''s description once more as he tossed his sword inside his inventory.


    |Elemental Shield;


    Type Rare Active Skill:


    Effect;


    Allows the user to temporarily generate a shield of elemental energy which is almost immune to whatever element it is imbued with and grants increased defence against physical type attacks. The shield also applies an elemental aura of their affinity around them as long as it is active.


    The shield''s ability to absorb damage depends on how much energy is used to generate the shield, with higher energy resulting in higher damage absorption.


    The user can also choose to make the shield explode and release a burst of elemental energy that damages anything in the vicinity.


    Restriction: As the generated shield is elemental in nature, it may be more vulnerable to opposing elements and certain elemental reactions. |


    ''Since I''m using a lightning-type shield now, it''d be bad if I get hit by ice and fire, huh?''


    He looked up to see the shield beginning to crack in various ces, with more cracks spreading out with each fireball, bolt or spearunched by the fire-type rift mages.


    [Level Up]


    Seeing another Level up notification appear in front of him, Evan checked his status board and saw his new level and saw it sitting at 129.


    ''Pride is probably going wild out there on those other rift mages. There might even be othersing from the other end of the corridor.


    Oh well, she can handle it.


    Now let''s recreate that spell Jenson showed me that one time.''


    Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and activated the ice magic skill for the first time as his breaths turned frosty and his fingers started getting covered by ice.


    Streams of energy from the atmosphere swirled around his body as he began to visualize the energy freezing.


    It was a bit rough as he did not have a magic catalyst with him but Evan could not care less as it took his all to keep the spell under his control while channelling energy towards his shield to keep it active.


    ''Ka, tell the others to take distance.


    A lot of distance.''


    He sent transmitted his thoughts to his contract spirit through their connection as he wildly circted his internal energy, with his blessing of destruction synergizing with the destructive energy circuit within his body.


    The rift mages, on the other hand, sensed the building-up energy and began to cast anotherbination magic spell, intending on destroying both his shield and him instantly.


    They cried out in strange voices as their energies began weaving together to create aplex spell formation that would make the battle mages of some small countries cry out in shock.


    At the same time, Evan took a deep breath and began chanting in a low voice.

 Chapter 185 Ice Nova

    ''Ka, tell the others to take distance.


    A lot of distance.''


    He transmitted his thoughts to his contract spirit through their connection as he wildly circted his internal energy, with his blessing of destruction synergizing with the destructive energy circuit within his body.


    The rift mages, on the other hand, sensed the building-up energy and began to cast anotherbination magic spell, intending on destroying both his shield and him instantly.


    They cried out in strange voices as their energies began weaving together to create aplex spell formation that would make the battle mages of some small countries cry out in shock.


    At the same time, Evan took a deep breath and began chanting in a low voice.


    "Let a chilling breeze blow across this,


    ? Into a deep freeze, it shall be sent.


    When my mind is at rest,


    And this spell is through,


    Then my target shall be frozen"


    As soon as hepleted his chant, a gigantic magic circle spread out across the floor, spreading to the edges of therge ballroom that was evenrger than the monster room they were in a week ago.


    Considering that the monster room was nearly the size of a football pitch, one could imagine howrge this ballroom-like area was and how wide the magic circle spread out.


    From the centre to the circumference, were the elemental mark representing the element of the spell, the magic letters describing the type of magic being invoked and the rings thatpleted the circle, showing the flow of magic.


    Unlike most of the magic circles that Evan usually created that had two rings, this time, the magic circle was a three-ringed one, with the third ring being illusory in nature, flickering in and out of existence.


    Seeing this, the rift mages naturally sensed the danger the third ring represented and stopped their attempts to break his shield, deciding to teleport out but it was already toote.


    The activation speed and power of a Tier 3 Magic spell was not something that the rift mages were fast enough to cancel theirplex spell formation and teleport out of.


    Evan opened his eyes and called out in a cold voice.


    "Ice Magic: Ice Nova."


    The spell didn''t even wait for his words to finish, releasing a blinding sh of light that disoriented the senses of all the monsters within the spell''s range, keeping them in ce long enough for the spell to unleash its full might as waves of ice surged forward omnidirectionally in that same instant.


    By the time the light died down, the room and its inhabitants were encased inyer uponyer of ice.


    Everywhere within the spell''s range, which was pretty much the entirety of the ballroom-like area was covered in spectacr spiky and jagged ice formations fifty feet in height.


    The monsters that were in the room, be they orcs, goblins, wolves or even de wraiths, along with their rift mage summoners, fire, water or lightning types, were all frozen solid.


    With so much Ice everywhere, it was only natural that the room''s temperature plummeted to somewhere within the range of 1 and 5 degrees Celsius and was reducing in real-time.<sub> </sub>


    The only ce without Ice in the entire room was the spot where Evan stood as he surveyed the results of the spell before heaving an exhausted sigh.


    He released the magic and cracks began to spread rapidly across the ice around him until every single piece of ice in the room was filled with cracks.


    "Shatter."


    As he gave themand, all therge ice chunks simultaneously shattered into tiny shards of ice, along with the corpses of the monsters that were frozen within them.


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    Level-up notifications appeared in front of Evan as he dropped to his knees, his movements stiff due to the sheer amount of cold in the room.


    ''I really have to stop using attacks that damage me too. Oh well, at least I was able to confirm that I am indeed capable of using tier three magic.


    The only issue is that I don''t have the ice attribute myself despite possessing the skill, thus my current state where my own spell affects me this much.''


    Opening his inventory, he pulled out a magic and healing potion, downing the two bottles instantly, before flexing his fingers and conjuring a small ball of mes on his right palm.


    However, this was unnecessary as in the next moment, the temperature of the entire area increased by close to thirty degrees in an instant, his gaze turning towards the entrance to the area as he locked eyes with the reason for the sudden temperature rise.


    "Thanks, I really needed that."


    In response to his words, the fire spirit Amy only nodded before floating towards him and cing her hands on his shoulder, warming his body up to normal temperature instantly.


    Trailing behind her were a worried Ka, a mildly surprised Pride and a ck-jawed Eliza who looked at the melting shards of ice on the ground as they walked/flew towards him.


    "Since when were you able to use Ice magic? And on this scale too?"


    Hearing the high demon''s question, Evan caught the lighting spirit that flew towards him in his arms and patted her head before responding.


    "Since about a dozen minutes ago when I stole the skill from the first rift mage I fought."


    Pride nodded upon hearing Evan''s response to her question, before stepping out of the way and allowing Eliza who had recovered from her shock, to begin with her scolding.


    "You knew you weren''t gonna be fine when you used this right?! Then why did you do it?! Do you have a fetish for self-harm or something?!"


    Despite her shouting, she was checking his body for injuries and upon seeing none, used her healing magic on him once just to be sure there was nothing wrong.


    "I''m fine though. Well, besides the frostbite, but our resident fire spirit has taken care of that for me."

 Chapter 186 After The Nova

    "I''m fine though. Well, besides the frostbite, but our resident fire spirit has taken care of that for me."


    And that was indeed the case, he had little to no injuries, with the only issue being the fact that he wasn''t resistant enough to the cold generated by the spell as he did not possess the ice attribute.


    The magic tiers shown on the status board, did not only denote how high the level of magic of a particr attribute one could use, but also how resistant to the element they were.


    It was because of Evan''s tier 2 status in me magic that his arm was not burned when he covered his entire right arm in mes earlier. He was more resistant to mes, especially his own.


    This was the reason why he had to overload himself with lightning and bypass his own base resistance, to gain the additional resistance from adaptive evolution.


    If he wanted to increase his lighting resistance again, he definitely could not use this method again. Maybe he could increase it if he fought a ''crawling lightning'' like Jenson did, although the current him would die from a casual p of its wings.


    Anyway, Evan''s only current problem was hisck of cold resistance, which was something he wished to avoid given the nature of the 21st to 30th floors, but he was sure that given enough time, he would definitely gain it due to his adaptive evolution.


    That and the fact that his energy circuits were overexerted by him casting a Tier 3 spell when he had not yet achieved tier 3 magic, but this was a minor issue that would be solved over time as well.


    With an hour or two of rest, he would be back in shape and able to continue dungeon diving. In fact, as far as he didn''t overexert himself again, he was very capable of using his energies now.


    After all, he was a master-level existence at level 133, and with his 130% stat effectiveness, his body''s natural recovery rate was leagues above that of a normal person on his level.


    So, it would actually only take him a few minutes to recover enough to use basic and Tier 1 spells, and a few hours to be able to use tier 2 spells again without issues.


    "I wanted to replicate one of the spells Jenson showed Laurene and me during one of our lessons, but sadly I don''t have the Ice attribute so I had to make do with the skill."


    "Jenson? You mean the chief court mage?"


    "Yeah. That Jenson."


    As Evan replied to Eliza''s query, he suddenly realised that there was something about her he wasn''t sure of.


    "Hey Liz, are you from the great western empire?"


    "Huh? Obviously Not."


    Her reply made Evan''s brow twitch silently as he instantly retorted.


    "Where the heck was it Obvious that you were not?!"


    "I believe I told you this before, haven''t I? That I left home and ''Came to'' the great western empire. My choice of words should have made it obvious, shouldn''t it?"


    It was then that Evan realised that he had indeed had a conversation regarding this with her and she indeed said that.


    ''Ah, the day before we entered the dungeon.''


    "Oh...I forgo-OW!"


    Eliza flicked the grey-eyed boy''s forehead before pulling him off the ground and turning towards Pride.


    "Do we move keep going, or we call it a day?"


    "We can keep going. He can too."


    The high demon replied, with thetter half of her statement referring to Evan who was now ying some sort of hand-pping game with Ka and Amy.<sub> </sub>


    "Ha! I win!"


    [Master! No fair!]


    [Mmh. Unfair.]


    Seeing the interaction between the three, Eliza didn''t even know when to start retorting, eventually choosing to ignore it altogether and find constion with Kuro who was trying to see if he could find any magic stones among the thousands of shards of ice on the floor.


    Meanwhile, Pride had pulled Evan out of his game and was questioning him about his new ice magic skill.


    "You know about my adaptive evolution, right? If I have enough time and fight enough ice-type rift mages, perhaps let a few spells hit me, it would be enough for me to develop a cold resistance.


    As for you, just the very existence of Amy sitting on your shoulder would eliminate all traces of colding to you and she can also extend that to Eliza.


    That way, we won''t end up using any of the resistance potions we brought."


    The young hero exined to her as he tossed his damaged gauntlets into his inventory, pulling out a pair of ck gloves and putting them on.


    "Just how many types of potions do you carry in your inventory?"


    Hearing pride''s question, Evan ced a hand on his chin and thought about it for a moment before giving a reply that stunned the high demon.


    "I bought at least a dozen potions of each type from every city we passed on the way here. And then on the day before we came to the dungeon, I went to the magic tower and was able to purchase full cartons of magic, health, buffing potions for strength, agility, durability and a few others, then I got as many resistance potions as I could for a variety of things.


    In the end, I blew through more than half of our cash on potions and used half of what was left on armour and weapon maintenance."


    "...Evan, maybe I should manage our money from now on."


    "Huh? Why? What''s wrong?"


    While the two were discussing their finances, Eliza walked back to the group with Kuro in her arms and posed a question to Evan.


    "Hey, Evan. Just how many unique skills do you have?"


    "Hmm? Four. Why?"


    "Four?!


    Aren''t unique skills supposed to be like, super rare? How do you have four?"


    Evan tilted his head and appraised Eliza before making his appraisal result visible to her. He pointed to the unique skills tab and asked.


    "Aren''t unique skills supposed to be like, super rare? How do you have two?"


    "First of all, stop appraising me without permission.


    Secondly, my case is different, I was born with one and I got the other one when I was forced to use the first one to escape a few pursuers from home."


    "Pursuers from home?"

 Chapter 187 Slight Reveal

    "Pursuers from home?"


    Pride repeated Eliza''s words quizzingly, prompting the blonde battle priestess to give a short exnation.


    "My parents miss me so much and regret giving me permission to be an adventurer, so they sent people to find me and tell me to quit adventuring ande back home but I refused and the gua-, I mean people, tried to take me by force.


    I didn''t wanna injure them since I knew them so I beat them up while healing them at the same time.


    I ended up using the unique skill''s power for hours on end and by the time I realised it, I had another unique skill."


    Her exnationcked so much detail that Evan and Pride didn''t even know where to start questioning her.


    "Enough about me, what about you? How do you have four?"


    "Well, I created one. Got one from some weird dude that''s friends with the Artemisia, got another from Artemisia and thest one is the one ''I'' was born with."


    This time, it was Eliza''s turn to be gobsmacked. Pride on the other hand who pretty much knew where his skills came wasn''t paying much attention to the conversation anymore and was discussing something with Amy.


    "I''m not even going to ask how you even created a unique skill. As for the one you were born with, that''s understandable.


    However, the goddess gave you a unique skill and her ''friend'', who I''m gonna assume is some sort of god too, gave you another one."


    "Yep!"


    Evan replied with a smile on his face, in contrast to the weird expression on Eliza''s face. The battle priestess'' next set of questions, however, wiped that smile off his face.


    "Dude, you''re really involved with a lot of gods. I bet you''re closer to the gods than the church is, I mean, goddess Artemisia descended personally just to talk to you.


    Just what are you to her?


    Friend?


    Ally?


    Servant?"


    Eliza was only just calling the possible ''rtionships'' that a mortal could possibly have with a goddess like Artemisia, however, the moment the word ''Servant'' left her lips, Evan''s entire demeanour changed.


    His gaze towards her turned cold, sending shivers down her spine as she instinctively backed away.


    Pride who wasn''t originally paying much attention to the conversation, noticed something wrong after all, she had experienced this before when she inadvertently called Evan a ''puppet'' of the gods.


    Upon hearing Eliza offhandedly ask him whether he was a ''Servant'' of Artemisia, a goddess, she instantly understood that Evan had been ''triggered'' again.


    However, before she could even say a thing, Evan spoke up, his voicepletely calm, contrary to her expectations.


    "I''m fine, Pride."


    And indeed, he was.


    He was not sure if it was because of his newly acquired mental resistance, but he did not flip out as he did before.


    He even recovered the memories of how he had acted thest time he flipped out when he and Pride were talking in the Graveyard of the Arrogant.


    Emotions he could not understand sprouted from the depths of his soul. There was this uncontroble hatred towards gods, which was weird considering he had only met a single god and that was Artemisia.


    Speaking of Artemisia, his feeling towards her wereplicated, bits of suspicion mixed with appreciation and some other emotions.


    It was at this moment that his status board suddenly opened up before him and some of the concealed letters on the race tab began to slowly unfurl themselves.<sub> </sub>


    The first two letters revealed themselves to be ''E'' and ''L'', but Evan did not know any five-letter race names starting with ''E'' and ''L''.


    The race tab was not the only one with changes, as his unique skill tab also had some changes too.


    A new unique skill appeared on the tab, and although most of the letters were censored, Evan could make a guess on what those letters were.


    If Pride had seen it and made the same guess as he did, then her question of why she felt fear towards Evan from her soul when he raged that time in the Graveyard of the arrogant would be answered.


    Just as Evan was about to open up the skill''s description, the skill suddenly vanished, and the letters on his race were covered up once more.


    One didn''t need to be a genius to figure out who was responsible.


    ''Artemisia, you have a lot of exining to do.''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' uses her right to remain silent.]


    ''Bullshit, you''re telling me everything.''


    However, before that, he had to put a certain blonde-haired teenager at ease.


    The moment he thought that, his body had already moved and he closed in on Eliza faster than she could activate her barrier.


    Just when Pride thought Evan was not ''himself'' and was about to grab him and pull him away, he suddenly spoke up with his normal voice and the cold gaze in his eyes disappeared.


    "Hey, Liz.


    Even though I really like...care about you a lot, there are some things I can''t put up with-not even for you.


    Just don''t say anything or ask about me being the ''servant'' of any god again, it pisses me off for some reason and honestly, I don''t want to know what it is right now.


    I have a lot on my te already, so let''s just avoid such situations in the first ce."


    He slowly rose his hand and pulled the locks of golden hair that had stuck to her face and tucked them behind her ear before continuing with a small smile on his face.


    "We cool, right?"


    "...mmh."


    Eliza nodded absentmindedly and Evan chuckled a bit before flicking her forehead.


    "OW! What the hell dude?!"


    "You were spacing out. Was my smile that mesmerizing?"


    Hearing his teasing words, a faint blush crept up to Eliza''s fair face as she screamed out in denial.


    "No, it wasn''t!"


    "Really? It looked that way to me..."


    "No, it didn''t!"


    The two began bantering again like normal, with the previous strange atmosphere beingpletely dispelled.


    ''Why did I even bother?''


    The Demon of Pride asked herself this question as she went back to her discussion with Amy about how the two could synergize their dark mes and wind magic to achieve increased damage against enemies.

 Chapter 188 Mansion Of The Damned, Day 23

    Mansion of the Damned, 19th Basement Floor


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum


    January 10th


    Year 1052


    10 days had passed since the party of three stepped onto the eleventh floor and the results of their dungeon diving had been nothing more than outstanding.


    Evan, Pride and Eliza had totally brutalized every single monster they came across from the eleventh floor to the neenth floor.


    Of course, Evan had suggested they enter the monster room on the thirteenth floor and Eliza had furiously objected to this decision.


    It took Evan half a day to finally convince her to enter the monster room. The young hero felt more exhausted convincing the battle priestess than fighting the nearly hundred rift mages in the monster room.


    Initially, their levels were increasing at an average of two to three per day, but within thest four days, the rate of increase dropped to one level in two days.


    And this was after the trio spent nearly twenty hours hunting rift mages across the eighteenth floor of the dungeon.


    Eventually, they gave up on the eighteenth floor and entered the neenth floor where Evan finally realised something was wrong.


    "Hey, Pride. Why can''t I level up anymore?"


    The young hero voiced the question out to the high demon while he casually stabbed the unforged through the chest of an unfortunate ice-type rift mage.


    Eliza facepalmed upon seeing him start up a conversation mid-fight again, something he had gotten used to doing since the enemies they had been facing had not been strong enough to give him much of a hard time.


    She decided to ignore the high demon who was dragging a six-metre-tall wolf by the tail and use the edge of her staff to bash the head of the goblin lord that just tried to sneak up on her.


    While the battle priestess casually murdered a level 137 monster that was almost as powerful as the demon Xakon in his normal state, Pride was answering Evan''s question with a serious expression on her face.


    "I had not noticed it at first but looking at you now, it seems that you have reached the peak of the inferior stage."


    Each existence level had three stages within them.


    The inferior stage, the intermediate stage and the superior stage.


    The current Evan was nothing more than an inferior stage master-level existence, and although he was capable of dealing with normal intermediate stage existences whose levels were not far off from his own, he would not fare well against stronger intermediate stages with higher levels.


    And if Evan did not increase his existence level stage, then he could kiss levelling up goodbye for a while.


    It was worth noting that the current Evan was capable of dealing with normal enemies at least ten to fifteen levels above him.


    This was due to his high base stats which were then boosted again by his skills and system benefits. He could without a doubt stand a chance of defeating a normal existence around the level 155-160 range despite being level 148.


    "So now I''m like a protagonist who can fight those above his levels of power, huh? This feels like one of the cultivation novels I rea-OW!"


    "Stop messing with the fourth wall."


    The young hero held his head and narrowed his gaze at the high demon who hit him with her sword before replying.<sub> </sub>


    "With how many people are doing so these days, Isn''t it less of a ''Fourth Wall'' and more of a ''Fourth Piece of Paper''?"


    "What are you guys talking about?"


    Eliza who was done dealing with the summoned goblin lord with Kuro''s assistance, walked back to the group and asked as she petted the cat in her hands.


    "Nothing serious. Just Evan being silly."


    "Oh. So, like normal?"


    "Yep."


    "HEY!!"


    The two females casually ignored the young hero''s shout of protest as they concluded on Evan being silly as his default state.


    Even I the narrator, agree with them.


    Anyway, most people who reached the peak of their existence level stages, and had faced the wall of being unable to level up as Evan had, overcame this with the assistance of the level system.


    If the peak of the inferior stage could be likened to some sort of barrier that prevented the person''s power from going to the next stage, it could be broken forcefully by absorbing so much power that the barrier would not be able to take it anymore and end up breaking.


    Of course, most of the power they absorbed would go towards strengthening their bodies to a level suitable for their new existence level stage and strengthening their stats so their levels would not actually see much of an increase after breaking through but they could always kill some more monsters and level up as the barrier preventing them from levelling up had been broken.


    So, people just understood that when levelling up, they would face various ''walls'' and these ''walls'' could be broken by either killing a lot of enemies or defeating higher levelled enemies and gaining more experience points.


    Majority did not know about the existence level stages, with even most of the grandmasters being in the dark.


    Of course, the ''living legends'' in the world of Aidos, the Epic level and Legendary level existences were more knowledgeable on this.


    "Bottom line is I could just casually keep on killing everything from here down to the thirtieth floor and I would eventually break through to the next stage, huh?"


    "Exactly. Though it is possible to initiate the breakthrough yourself."


    "Any disadvantages?"


    "For the current you, none whatsoever. You have fulfilled the conditions to advance, after all."


    ''I see, that means if I hadn''t done so there would be problems, huh?''


    Evan pondered on the demon''s words and realised that these ''problems'' only urred in cases where those who knew too much were too impatient to break through without achieving a sufficient level.


    Simply put, as far as one continued levelling up, it was almost impossible to not meet the conditions to break through to the next stage.


    Evan perused the memories of the previous hero he possessed for confirmation and found this to indeed be the case.


    He also ended up discovering that there were methods to maximise the power one possessed in the inferior stage and to increase it to the utmost limit, that way when breaking into the intermediate stage, they would naturally be stronger than normal intermediate stages.

 Chapter 189 It’s Basically Cultivation

    Evan also ended up discovering that there were methods to maximise the power one possessed in the inferior stage and to increase it to the utmost limit, that way when breaking into the intermediate stage, they would naturally be stronger than normal intermediate stages.


    An example of this was a situation where an existence at around level 195-200 already had ''B'' ranked stats.


    Considering that B-ranked stats were things one normally got at level 230 and above, it showed that this method was indeed not without results.


    Besides, doing this could also increase the amount and quality of the energy that the existence held.


    ''So, it''s pretty much just circting my energy and spreading it throughout my entire energy circuit. Then I would retract it quickly to my energy core and not let any of it leak out of my body at all.


    With this method, the energy in my body would naturally be denser due to it being tenser in the process of spreading and retraction, allowing me topress it and improve its quality.


    Bypressing it and reducing the volume it upies, I would be freeing up space for further energy growth.''


    The only issue was that since Evan possessed two energy types, namely aura and magic power, he had to do this for both of them or the quality of energy he had would be imbnced with one being stronger than the other.


    "No matter how I look at this, what I''m doing is cultivation!"


    *SMACK!


    "OW!!! WHY?!


    I AM cultivating! It''s even one of the genr-!"


    The young hero could notplete his statement and had to duck to avoid the high demon''s palm that wanted to cover his mouth.


    "Okay! I''d keep quiet andpress my energy in silence!"


    Eventually, he realised that the best thing to do was to shut his mouth and silentlypress his energy, an endeavour that was going to take him quite a while due to his high energy level granted to him by his ''C'' rank stat.


    As for Pride, since she had long passed the master level more than a millennia ago, it was rtively easier for her to break through to the intermediate stage again so she did just that.


    �� �� ��


    The group quit monster hunting for the day and decided to deal with their existence level issues, with Eliza joining Evan in attempting topress her energy.


    They chose a rtively secluded spot that was actually a dead end at the end of a small corridor connecting to one of the ridiculouslyrge hall-like areas that the group discovered.


    It was a corridor that was usually overlooked due to its position on the wall being adjacent to the entrance into therge area.


    In fact, multiple adventurer parties had entered this area and had not even noticed the corridor, much less the party of three who were at the end of it.


    And like that, the group passed the night and weed the eleventh day of the new Year 1052, being woken up when dozens of presences suddenly entered their range of detection.


    Due to living in the dungeon for the past few weeks, the presence detection abilities of the three had risen to new heights, with Evan and Eliza being capable of noticing when someone came within a certain range of their position.


    Evan did this by spreading out a thin barely perceptible wave of energy and sensing any disturbances in this range while Eliza who was more attuned to using life energy after bing a master-level existence, directly sensed the life forces of whoever entered her range.<sub> </sub>


    Pride remarked that while it was useful against living beings, it was next to useless against undead creatures and advised her to gain other presence detection methods.


    The high demon herself had also achieved a new level of sensory perception with an increased range, evidenced by the fact that she was the first to notice the iing presences with Evan and Eliza noticing a beatter.


    "Really? Isn''t this a bit too early?"


    Evan yawned as he spoke, his hand diving into the small half-metre-long ck hole that appeared mid-air and pulling out the unforged.


    ''I should really find the materials required to unseal the unforged''s full power soon.''


    He had this thought as he got to his feet and rubbed his eyes while moving towards the entrance to the corridor.


    As he got closer, he could gain a clearer picture of the situation, with the asional weird squeals and shes of light confirming his spection.


    ''I''m guessing an adventurer party got sieged by a bunch of rift mages and their summoned monsters, huh?''


    Upon reaching the edge of the corridor, the three saw a scene that was just as Evan had thought, with a visibly exhausted and lightly wounded party of six battling against over a hundred monsters ranging from goblins and orcs to spiders and trolls.


    As the floors deepened, the variety of monsters summoned by the rift mages increased with a few rift mages being capable of summoning creatures like harpies and minotaurs.


    ''Those bull-headed fuckers were so irritating to deal with.''


    Evan recalled the memories of fighting a group of minotaurs on the eighteenth floor for hours simply because the rift mage who summoned them had a concealment type skill which it used to hide and continuously summon the monsters, thereby keeping the group upied and preventing them from searching for it.


    The situation was resolved when Evan and Pride who were pissed by the rift mage''s actions, unleashed powerful magic everywhere, decimating both the minotaurs and the rift mage instantly.


    "KUEE!!!"


    The familiar squeal brought him out of his memories as Evan turned his gaze towards the party of six consisting of three young men and women.


    ''Some of them look like teenagers.''


    As Evan was analysing their ages, a few of the monsters noticed him and roared, charging towards him only to be cleaved in two faster than they could realize.


    Naturally, the change in behaviour of some of the monsters alerted the party being besieged, allowing them to notice Evan, along with Pride and Eliza who just walked up behind him.


    "Huh? There''s another group here?"


    "Shit! These fuckers are summoning more monsters!"


    "Help Us Please!!"


    Evan casually scanned the entire room and realised that it was impossible for them to leave the area without shing with the monsters, heaving a sigh as he rose his sword and shouted towards the other party.


    "Duck!"

 Chapter 190 Meeting Another Party, Again

    "Duck!"


    They were initially confused hearing him say that, but when their leader saw Evan''s sword glowing golden, he instantly reacted and got his party members to duck just in time for Evan tounch his skill.


    "de Cannon."


    He swung his sword multiple times, releasing thick shes of golden aura horizontally, with each shunching five smaller fist-sized bullets of aura.


    Screams of pain filled the room as the bullets and the shes following them tore through the monsters'' bodies, with a few not even getting a chance to scream as the aura bullets turned their heads to bloody pastes.


    A water-type rift mage squealed andunched a flurry of water projectiles toward Evan, however, the young hero didn''t even look at it, directly activating his elemental shield and setting the element to ice.


    A thin light blue bubble of ice energy covered his body, releasing a frosty aura in the area that slowed the movements of the monsters that were lucky to survive his attacks.


    One of the shorter goblins who was able to easily duck when Evanunched the de cannon, tried to sh at Evan with its sword, only for the elemental aura to not only slow its movements, but even begin to freeze its sword arm.


    Of course, the goblin''s sword sh could not deal any major damage to the elemental shield either way, with Evan partially activating his pdin skill on his foot and kicking the goblin''s head off its neck.


    ''If I use vortex, they''d be affected too.


    I guess de cannon, aura sh and energy st are my best bets, huh?''


    He calmly analysed the situation and rose his left hand, manipting his energies as a red ball of condensed energy about 25cm wide appeared on his palm almost instantly.


    ''My skill activation time is shorter.''


    He thought that as heunched the energy ball in his hand as a beam of red light shot through the air, burning through the monsters and consigning them to death.


    "GRROOOOAAARR!!!"


    One of the trolls who saw this roared in rage and charged toward Evan, with itsrge body making the ground tremble under its feet as it closed the distance almost instantly and punched down at the young hero.


    However, before its punch could even reach Evan''s shield-


    "Don''t hug all the fun to yourself."


    **SWISH!!!


    -the troll''s arm was cleanly separated from its shoulder.


    "ARRRGGHHH!!!"


    "Noisy."


    There was the sound of a de slicing through meat and the head of the troll slowly rolled off its neck and down to the ground, its enormous body following immediately afterwards, crushing a few monsters due to itsrge weight.


    Standing on top of Evan''s elemental shield, was the culprit responsible for the troll''s sudden death, the high demon Pride, who casually stomped on the shield she was standing on, unaffected by the frosty aura it was releasing.


    "This shield is quite sturdy."


    As she spoke, she waved her free arm, manifesting dozens of light green two-ringed magic circles mid-air.


    Using these circles, she manifested multiple miniature vortexes of wind and elongated them to create needle-shaped spears.


    "Piercing Needle."


    Following hermand, the spears shot out at a high speed, piercing the heads of the target monsters and ending their lives immediately.


    While Evan and Pride were culling the monsters, the adventurer party who were the monsters'' original target did not ck, activating their own skills and magic and unleashing them on the monsters.


    In the process, Evan noticed a spell he liked among the spells used by the party''s resident mage.<sub> </sub>


    "Pride."


    He called out to the demon who understood and jumped off his shield, into the swarm of monsters, hacking and shing at Everything, with Amy asionally burning a few to ashes to create more space for Pride to move around.


    Evan then turned to check on Eliza but when he saw the battle priestess use her magic-infused staff to stab an orc in the heart, he concluded she was okay and deactivated his elemental shield.


    Perhaps mistaking this as a sign of him running out of energy, the fire-type rift mages floating in the air squealed andunched torrents of mes toward him.


    "Pdin."


    Evan crouched lightly before kicking off the ground and dashing forwards, causing the spells of the rift mages to hit the empty ground.


    While moving, he extended his left hand towards the floating rift mages and swung it upwards, activating an ice magic spell.


    "Ice Fang."


    Arge icicle appeared from the ground and extended towards the rift mages in the air, striking the monsters in the way and crashing into the rift mages'' elemental shields.


    Some of the rift mages teleported away, with one appearing in front of Evan andunching a barrage of fireballs toward him.


    ''Blink.''


    Evan decided to retaliate against the rift mage in a simr manner, teleporting to its back and activating another ice magic spell.


    "Ice Slicer."


    Spikes made of ice emerged from the ground underneath the rift mage and shot upwards towards the unsuspecting creature.


    Before it could even react, the ice spike shattered its elemental shield and allowed Evan''s second spell to hit it without obstruction.


    "Ice Bolt."


    A solidified bolt of ice appeared in front of the rift mage and impaled it in the chest, ending its life instantly.


    Evan left the falling corpse and beelined towards the party that was having an easier time dealing with the monsters attacking them.


    ''Kuro.''


    [On it.]


    The shadow spirit didn''t need to be told twice as he understood his master''s intentions and restrained all the monsters in Evan''s path, allowing the young hero to easily reap their lives with his aura-coated sword.


    **BOOOMM!!!


    An explosion rang out in the background, making Evan turn momentarily and catch the sight of Pride spamming me grenades on the ice-type rift mages that attacked her.


    "KCHWEEKK!!"


    As he turned, one of the spider monsters made an iprehensible sound and shot blobs of poison toward him, but the young hero activated his elemental shield and blocked the poison before encasing the spider in a block of ice.


    ''I need to learn how to partially activate this just like pdin.''


    Those were his thoughts as he arrived in front of the adventurer party''s mage and appraised her, before speaking to her.


    "Nice to meet you, Miss Rhonda. Would you mind casting the lightning spell you just did again? The one that chained the lightning."


    "Huh...?


    How did you know my name?"

 Chapter 191 Combo Spell

    "Huh...?


    How did you know my name?"


    "That is something that we can discusster.


    But first, can you re-cast that spell?"


    As he spoke, Evan waved his hand and summoned multiple lightning spears that dropped down on the restrained enemies around them, instantly reaping their lives.


    In regards to the spell he told the mage to re-cast, he was well aware that it was not a spell but a skill that she possessed, one that he wanted.


    However, he could not tantly tell her that he wanted to copy it so he engaged her in a conversation while maintaining eye contact, with his mystic eyes fully active.


    |Chain Lightning Acquired|


    |Normal Skills require one skill slot. |


    |Four Skill slots remaining. |


    The process waspleted a second before she unconsciously blinked, before finally managing to find the words to reply to him.


    "Um...It wasn''t exactly a spell per se..."


    "Oh, I see.


    Very well then."


    Since he had gotten what he wanted, he decided to deal with the remaining monsters before having a proper conversation with the party.


    "Pride! Liz!


    Let''s use thatbo we talked about."


    Evan screamed out to hispanions who had reduced the number of monsters to less than half of what they originally were, and had caused some of the rift mages to even run away!


    Pride who was about to slice another troll in half with her demonic energy-infused de, redirected her sword and only cut off one of the troll''s arms before jumping backwards.


    Kuro then hopped out of Evan''s shadow and jumped into the swarm of monsters faster than the members of the other adventurer party could notice.


    Eliza, on the other hand, activated her flower cannon and used it to clear a path to Evan''s location, casually strolling across the scorched ground as she fished out a handkerchief to clean off the blood on her face.


    "You still got some on your cheek."


    Evan spoke as he took the handkerchief from her and cleaned off the green blood that was from some unknown monster she had killed before incinerating it with his mes.


    "Can the two of you not do this now?"


    Pride remarked as she walked towards them while flicking the blood on her sword off.


    "Ah-"


    The party leader who wanted to speak was stunned by Pride''s beauty and stared at her ck-jawed until his fellow party member smacked him on the back.


    "Huh? Oh! Thanks for your help."


    He was about to continue when Evan interpreted him.


    "Dude chill, we aren''t done with the monsters yet.


    You''re wee though."


    While he was talking, Eliza mmed her staff on the ground and created four barriers to surround the few remaining monsters in an enclosed space.<sub> </sub>


    Pride then flicked her fingers, creating a small two-ringed circle in the air, as arger mirrored version of the circle appeared on the ground of the space that Eliza had enclosed with her barrier.


    Right after, Evan stabbed the unforged into the ground and asked for Ka''s assistance as he created arge golden magic circle in the air above the enclosed space.


    The rift mages who sensed the danger, naturally wanted to teleport out of the area, however, gigantic arm constructs made of shadows rose from the ground and grabbed their bodies.


    The shadowy arms mmed the bodies of the rift mages into the ground, with enough force to shatter the elemental shields of those who had shields active.


    One of them managed to escape the shadowy hand''s grip and teleport out, but upon reappearing, a spear of dark light shot towards its chest and impaled it into the wall.


    After making sure that all the rift mages were not in the state to use teleportation magic, Evan and Pride simultaneouslyunched their magic spells.


    **BOOMMM!!!


    The ground trembled as the lighting and mes exploded in the enclosed space, cracking the barriers instantly and forcing Eliza to create new ones and constantly channel her magic power inside them to prevent the barriers from breaking.


    Even so, cracks still spread across the four barriers due to the raging mes and the intense shockwaves of the explosions.


    Just like the barriers Eliza created, the walls of the room were also riddled with cracks all over, with some spreading to the ceiling.


    The intense heat scoured in all directions, causing beads of sweat to form on the faces of all those who were present.


    It took nearly three minutes for the explosion to die down, with Evan and Pride staring at each other with shocked expressions.


    "...This was not within our calctions."


    "Don''t forget that the quality of your energies has increased, we nned this based on your previous energy quality, so it''s only natural that the results were different."


    "Thank Heavens we cancelled our spells midway."


    The conversation between the two stunned the six adventurers who were listening, after all, Evan said that the spells they cast were cancelled mid-way!


    If this was the result of the spells when they were cancelled midway, then what would have happened if the spells were not forcefully cancelled?


    They didn''t even want to think about it!


    Meanwhile, Evan was checking his status board to see if there were any changes to his level, but unfortunately for him, there were no changes.


    "Um...hello?"


    "Ah! Sorry, bout that. Was checking something."


    "No, problem. In fact, thank you for your help."


    The leader of this party of six bowed lightly as he gave his thanks to Evan''s group. In response, Pride nodded in acknowledgement while Eliza was too busy healing the party''s tank who had gotten sshed with some spider poison to even hear the words of gratitude directed towards her.


    "Once again, you''re wee."


    Evan replied to the young man before looking at the monster corpses around them. Noticing this, the party leader spoke up once more.


    "Ah! You can have the magic stones from the monsters."


    "Huh? Really?"


    <o>,m "Yeah. You did kill most of them, after all."</o>


    Evan nodded and gave a mentalmand to Kuro who replied saying he had already begun gathering the magic stones before continuing his conversation with David.


    "You know, if you guys are having trouble with this floor, then I suggest you guys don''t go any deeper."

 Chapter 192 David’s Offer

    "You know, if you guys are having trouble with this floor, then I suggest you guys don''t go any deeper."


    "Haha...Thanks for the advice but the truth is that we''ve been continuously fighting since morning so we''re a bit tired. Then we got spotted by a bunch of rift mages when we tried to find a spot to rest, and you know what happened afterwards."


    The young party leader whose name was David, scratched his messy brown hair as he replied to Evan, his gaze asionally moving to his party''s support who Eliza talking to.


    "Wait...Since Morning?


    What''s the time?"


    "Huh? It''s a bit past noon."


    ""Noon!""


    Evan and Eliza''s voices echoed out simultaneously as the two never expected it to be noon already.


    "So, we were sleeping till noon? And here I thought it was still like seven in the morning."


    "I know right, our sleeping schedule is really messed up these days."


    Eliza replied to Evan''s words as she searched the small waist pouch she had on for her timepiece, checking it and seeing that the time was almost an hour past noon!


    ? Seeing their reactions, David chuckled a bit before posing a question.


    "We were about to go rest for a bit, mind joining us for a while?"


    "Huh? Why? We literally just met; you know?"


    To Evan''s question, David''s face turned solemn as he replied.


    "Seeing your earlier disy of strength, we have an offer for you. One that I feel would benefit you guys."


    Evan''s gaze lingered on David for a moment, before moving over to his party members. He ignored the strange gazes the mage Rhonda and the brown-haired girl who looked to be the scout were giving him and turned to the other three.


    Seeing their silent acknowledgement of David''s words, Evan then turned to Pride who shrugged her shoulders while saying that she could not care less.


    As for Eliza, the teenage battle priestess seemed to have already made quick friends with the party''s support.


    "Okay then, let''s hear this offer."


    �� �� ��


    The two groups retreated inside the corridor where Evan and co were staying originally, with David''s party showing huge surprise upon seeing Kuro emerge from the shadows and drop a pouch beside Evan''s feet before promptly diving into the young hero''s shadow.


    Although they were very curious as to what Kuro was and had their guesses, they held themselves back and did not ask any questions.


    The mage Rhonda, who finally saw a chance, asked Evan how he knew of her name beforehand, to which the young hero replied that he possessed the appraisal skill while pointing to his eyes.


    As Evan''s mystic eyes were in an active state, the golden glow of the crest within them was quite visible to David''s party members, especially in the closed corridor that had quite a few dark spots.


    "Oh..."


    Perhaps having her curiosity sated, she turned her attention from Evan to the tank in their team who was injured in the earlier battle.


    Their party was a simple default adventurer party of six, with a swordsman, mage, tank, support, spearman, and scout.


    "I''m the party leader, David Dyer. And these are..."


    He did a short introduction on his party members, with Evan acknowledging them with a nod before doing the same.


    "The one over there is Pride, and our resident best support in the world here is Liz. Ah! I''m the only one allowed to call her that, her nam-OW!"


    Eliza poked the side of Evan''s mouth with her staff before he could finish his words, introducing herself properly before checking on the other party members for injuries.


    "Anyway, I''m Evan....Bourne?...Eris?..."<sub> </sub>


    His voice slowly trailed off as the young hero ced a hand on his chin and thought about what name to go with for a moment before deciding to go with both.


    "Name''s Evan Bourne Eris. Nice to meet you, David."


    "Oh, Okay."


    Upon hearing Evan''s name, the girl who was the scout, Suzanne tilted her head to the side and echoed his words.


    "Evan Eris?"


    "Yeah. You know me or something?"


    "...I think?"


    As Evan said that as a joke, he didn''t really expect her to affirm his words, causing him to be momentarily surprised upon hearing her reply.


    In that short moment, Suzanne felt a gaze on her and turned around to meet Eliza''s sapphire eyes staring at her. She alternated her gaze between Evan and Eliza before nodding to herself as if she had figured something out.


    "I assure you, whatever you think you just figured out is a huge misunderstanding."


    urately guessing her thoughts, Eliza spoke up to clear up any potential misunderstandings before they grew, while Evan had gone back to discussing with David.


    "So, a certain noble hired us for a job, to recover something that was stolen from them by a thief. After epting themission, we tracked down the thief all the way from our country down to here, Kasteblum."


    "Huh? What country?"


    "The Great Western Empire."


    "Oh, carry on."


    David continued his narration, telling him about how they had tracked the culprit all the way down to the Mansion of the Damned where the thief had gone to hide and had cornered him when they were on the eighteenth floor.


    However, this was where the problem arose. It seemed that the thief had two more aplices, who swooped in at thest moment and saved theirpanion, before promptly escaping from the party.


    Although they wanted to give chase, they were ambushed by monsters from behind and had no choice but to spend some time fighting them off, time that the thieves used to escape.


    After this, they could have tracked them down again, however, one of the aplices said something that unsettled David and his party.


    " ''Let''s get you to the others.''


    Those were his exact words."


    "So, you think that they are more than just three, huh?"


    "Yes, and the other two were quite powerful, makes me wonder why they chose this line of work when they could make stable ie as C-ranked adventurers."


    "Yeah, I understand but who are we to judge others? They might have had their own circumstances that led to their path.


    Circumstances we may or may not understand."


    "True..."


    David nodded in affirmation to Evan''s words, before going on to exin exactly what he wanted from Evan''s group.


    "We were able to defeat him with numerical advantage but the main culprit himself was also quite powerful. With him potentially having more than four morepanions, which may be of simr strength, I fear that we would not be able to take them out on our own.


    Thus, we are asking for your help on this."


    "I see.


    Assuming we do help you, what''s in it for us?"

 Chapter 193 Suzanne Dyer

    "I see.


    Assuming we do help you, what''s in it for us?"


    Seeing Evan''s positive attitude, David internally did a guts pose before beginning the discussion of benefits.


    "Firstly, for everyone more aplice we discover, we are going to charge the noble more as the initial reward was only for one person."


    He looked towards the scout, Suzanne, who nodded in affirmation before continuing.


    "Yeah. In that case, a percentage of the reward money would go to you for your assistance."


    Evan alternated his gaze between David and Suzanne, having noticed their earlier eye contact before replying.


    "Well, to be honest, money isn''t really a problem for us. With the quests we have undertaken, we could get enough to feed an average family for at least three months with the rewards."


    He ced a hand to his chin and sunk into his thoughts for a moment before cupping his fist into his palm and continuing.


    "How about we see what other stock this group of thieves have, besides the item that you are meant to recover? If there''s anything on the level of the reward there then we''d take it."


    It was an unwritten rule that upon catching thieves, bandits or other criminals, the possessions of the captured ones belonged to the captors, provided the original owners of these items could not be found.


    "Okay, let''s go with that for now, then."


    "Cool."


    The two shook hands to conclude the deal before Evan posed a question to David and Suzanne.


    "Oh yeah, why''d you look at her when you spoke about charging the noble more? Is she the noble''s daughter of something?"


    He chuckled to himself as he spoke but upon receiving silence from the six of them, Evan''s smile disappeared as he asked.


    "Wait...I''m right?"


    Seeing the expression on Evan''s face, it was David who burst intoughter this time, while Suzanne only nodded lightly, affirming Evan''s words.


    �� �� ��


    A short while after Evan''s unexpected discovery, the group recovered from their silent shock with Evan posing a question about something he found weird from David''s exnation.


    "You said you tracked him from the great Western Empire, right? How did you do that?"


    To this question, it was Suzanne who gave the answer.


    "I have a skill that lets me track the location of the item since I have-"


    "-previously marked it with your magic power?"


    Her eyes widened in surprise when Evanpleted her statement for her.


    "How do yo-Oh, you have the appraisal skill."


    "Hmm? I haven''t used that on you. It''s just that someone has told me about this skill before."


    The young hero ced his hand on his chin and thought about it for a moment. Turning his gaze to Suzanne, he appraised her and studied her skill name and description.


    |Track Down;


    Type: Rare Active Skill


    Effect;


    Grants the user the ability to mark a particr item with their magic power and be able to ''track down'' the location of the marked item(s) regardless of distance, provided the magic power mark is not removed.


    The user is able to observe a detailed three-dimensional blueprint of the location of the marked item. The blueprint is in a form of a hologram which consists of a meticulous representation of the target location, including the changes that are happening to the original location due to various means. |


    Upon setting his eyes on the name of the skill, his memory was jogged and he remembered who told him about the skill before.


    "It was Laurene."<sub> </sub>


    "Huh? Laurene?"


    Hearing her friend''s name being called, Eliza joined in on the conversation while echoing Evan''s words.


    "Yeah. You know she has a sweet tooth, right?"


    "True, she did try to deny it at first though."


    The battle priestess replied while remembering the embarrassed expression on Laurene''s face when she originally called the princess out on it.


    "Really? Well, that''s beside the point.


    The thing is, she once told me about this noble family that was into the confections business and had quite the connections to be able to get so many ingredients for expensive deserts. (The noble family spoken about in chapter 6).


    We were talking about useful skills (that I could mimic) and she mentioned that the daughter of the family head had a tracking skill just like that."


    As soon as he spoke up to that point, his eyes widened in surprise as he turned to David and asked.


    "What did you say yourst name was?"


    "Huh? Dyer."


    After receiving David''s reply, he turned to Suzanne and asked.


    "Are you two cousins?"


    "Yeah, how''d you know?"


    Hearing her response, Evan face palmed and asked one more question.


    "What are the chances that you are the daughter of Count Dyer?"


    "...100%"


    "Thought so."


    Everyone gave both Evan and Suzanne looks of confusion but the two were too busy confirming each other''s identities to notice.


    "I''m guessing when you spoke of ''Laurene'', you meant the Princess, right?"


    "Yep."


    "Then my guess was correct. You really are the Prime Minister''s son."


    Although there were a lot ofmoners who were not aware of the appearances of nobles, the same wasn''t the case for other nobles.


    They were made to learn the names and appearances of other nobles, especially those higher ranked than they were.


    Hence, the reason why Suzanne said she thought she knew who Evan was when he said his name earlier, she just wasn''t sure since his appearance was quite different from what she remembered.


    "Well, I''m not sure I can proudly admit that. I did run away from home and it''s been close to a year since then, honestly, it''s quite a miracle that he hasn''t disowned me."


    The young hero shrugged his shoulders as he replied casually, however, the reactions of the others who heard his conversation with Suzanne, weren''t casual, to say the least.


    �� �� ��


    It took Evan a few minutes to convince David and Suzanne to drop the formalities and the polite speech, and a few more to convince the other party members that they had not unknowingly disrespected in any way or form.


    Then again, they could not be med for their reactions as Evan was indeed the son of the second most powerful person in their home country. Getting on his bad side was one of the worst decisions any Great Western Empire citizen could make.


    Even if he said to be casual with him, it was nigh impossible for that to happen now that they knew of his identity.


    Only Suzanne who was a noble, albeit a mid-ranked one was able to adjust her attitude towards Evan to a degree that was just barely eptable.


    ''Still, I gotta say, the nobles in this world aren''t as weak as I had expected.


    None of the older ones I met when I was still at the Duke''s residence was below level 100, with the majority of the higher ranked ones surpassing level 150 and approaching 200 too.''

 Chapter 194 Finding Out About Geto’s Aftermath

    ''Still, I gotta say, the nobles in this world aren''t as weak as I had expected.


    None of the older ones I met when I was still at the Duke''s residence was below level 100, with the majority of the higher ranked ones surpassing level 150 and approaching 200 too.''


    Those were his thoughts as he appraised Suzanne and discovered that although she wasn''t a master-level existence yet, she was already level 110.


    ''This dungeon may be a bit too high level for her but with the assistance of the other five, it''s possible for her to pull through.''


    As he was thinking that, Suzanne was talking with Eliza, having recognized her due to seeing her with Laurene once when she had gone to Dungeon City Merdin some months back.


    "You are Eliza Lane, right?"


    "Yeah, why do you know myst name?"


    "Well, to be honest, besides having seen you before, there are more than just quite a few nobles who are aware of you."


    "Haaahh?!"


    Suzanne chuckled a bit upon seeing Eliza''s shocked reaction before going on to exin what she meant.


    "Well, it''s kinda Sir Evan''s fault."


    A few weeks earlier, the Emperor suddenly appointed a new noble to be in charge of the Geto Barony, also sending in a bunch of ''relief packages'' to the main city of the territory.


    This drew the attention of many nobles and they began to investigate the Geto barony to see what about it had drawn the Emperor''s attention.


    Due to this, the information about Xakon''s attack spread from just the southern empire to the rest of the country.


    People found out that a ''Winged Humanoid Monster'' had murdered the knights of the Geto Barony, before going on to bomb the adventurer''s guild building, killing hundreds of people and injuring dozens more while the guild master was away.


    Digging deeper, it didn''t take long for news to spread that one of the people responsible for defeating this ''Winged Humanoid Monster'', was the son of the Prime Minister who was said to have disappeared months earlier.


    An eyewitness report stated that after the adventurer''s guild building had exploded, someone had engaged the culprit in battle for a few minutes before Evan appeared and joined the fight.


    Afterwards, some knights appeared alongside someone who seemed to be a mage and helped Evan and co to defeat the monster, saving the lives of all the potential targets of the culprit who in this case were the inhabitants of the city who had been unable to evacuate.


    Evan''s presence and the fact that knights belonging to the princess'' guard detail were present made curious nobles search for more details and it was only a matter of time before the names of all the parties involved were discovered.


    Both the names of the knights and the names of the priestess who arrived at the scene together ''with'' the knights.


    Now it has to be noted that before this, Eliza''s name was already known by some nobles due to the events of more than half a year ago when Evan had absconded from the Ducal Residence.<sub> </sub>


    People were curious to see the reactions of those who were rted to the missing Prime Minister''s son and those who were with him in the few hours before he disappeared. Reactions of people like Evan''s family, Ralphie and the Royal family members who visited the Eris Residence on that day.


    As such, they had snooped around (practically stalked) Laurene who was rumoured to be engaged to Evan for her reaction on the matter.


    Sadly, Laurene did not give them the reaction they had wanted, as the princess had actually carried on with her daily life like normal as if Evan''s matter had nothing to do with her. She even started frequenting dungeons a lot more than before and began recruiting skilled alchemists from all over the country.


    Still, these people who could be said to be the equivalent of ''paparazzi'' in Aidos, continued watching Laurene for a while.


    It was during this time that she met and befriended Eliza, something that they found out easily as she didn''t try to hide her friendship with Eliza in the first ce.


    As such, Eliza''s name hade up when the nobles were trying to discover who this new ''friend'' of the princess was and if she had any special identity.


    Now, her name hade up once more among the names of people involved in the Geto City indecent and her arrival with knights of Laurene''s guard detail caused heads to turn towards her.


    From the people who had observed Evan and Eliza''s interactions within the few weeks they spent in Geto after the incident before leaving, it was then revealed that the two knew each other before the incident.


    This then ced Eliza in the spotlight as the nobles wondered just who this ''Eliza Lane'' was, seeing as she was somehow friends with both the Princess and the Prime Minister''s son.


    On a side note, the Duke had taken advantage of the incident and had tweaked a few of the rumours about it pertaining to why Evan was there and somehow made people believe Evan''s reason for ''disappearing'' was rted to the incident and in one way or another.


    He had somehow made it seem like Evan was there to prevent the incident from escting and to prevent further loss of life due to the actions of the ''Winged Humanoid Monster'' who had murdered the original Baron Geto and his family.


    This had also inadvertently brought people''s attention to the fact that Evan was strong enough to take out Xakon who was able to kill off dozens of full-fledged knights.


    "I see, so that''s what happened after we left."


    Those were Evan''s words to himself after listening to Suzanne''s not-so-short exnation. Eliza on the other hand heaved a sigh of exhaustion upon thinking about how she had gotten the attention of some very troublesome group of people.


    "And here I thought that there would not be much attention on me until I reached Bultom to deal with the Duhans.


    ? That Geto Incident blew up more than I had expected."


    "Well, it was impossible for it not to do so when the emperor appointed a new noble. He hasn''t done that in years."


    Evan gave a nod of affirmation in response to Suzanne''s words, after which Eliza tapped him on the shoulder and spoke.


    "It''s funny how all of this somehow ended up originating from you ''disappearing'' from home."


    "When you think about it that way, it somehow does."

 Chapter 195 Laurene Gets Pissed

    "When you think about it that way, it somehow does."


    "Yeah, and you caused Laurene a lot of problems too. I can''t even begin to imagine how she felt having to deal with those ''snoopers'' on a daily basis."


    In response to Eliza''s words, Evan just scratched his hair as he spoke of his thoughts on the situation.


    "Well, yeah. I did cause Laurene a lot of problems. And not just her, but the Duke, Ralphie, and many others.


    But If I had the chance to redo, I''d still choose to leave. Because if I didn''t, so many things would not have turned out the way they did.


    I would not have met you or known about your unique skill, which would then lead to me having a bit of a harder time when I go to Bultom. The incident with Xakon would not have happened and I would not have discovered that the bishop in Bonas has a skill that would make dealing with Vazgan (Duhan King''s Name) easier.


    I would definitely not be allowed toe here and level up this much, and neither would I have been able to go to Hobha to help find Pride''s brother.


    You and Laurene might have not ended up as close as you are now. If I recall correctly, you did say you guys got closer after discovering you had a mutual acquaintance that was me.


    All of these may not have happened without my original decision to leave so I don''t regret leaving."


    As he finished speaking, the sound of a book snapping shut rang out and Evan turned his head in the direction of Pride who just closed the novel she was reading all this while.


    "I like that attitude, not regretting past decisions."


    She tossed the book in her hands to Evan and asked him for the next volume, prompting the boy to open his inventory to check for it, much to the surprise of David and Suzanne''s party.


    Ignoring their reactions, he tossed the book he had pulled out of his inventory towards Pride and continued with his words to Eliza.


    "Besides, knowing Laurene, she would not have had a hard time dealing with the nobles'' prying eyes.


    It would have definitely been easy for her."


    �󡡡󡡡�


    "This is definitely NOT easy!"


    Those were the words that Princess of the Great Western Empire, Laurene Hayes screamed out at the exact same moment Evan said the opposite.


    The girl was seated at the desk of her office in the Royal Castle, her hands running through her hair as she stared at the bunches of files in front of her.


    "Nope. I just can''t."


    She took one pile of documents and stuffed them into a random file before dropping the said file on the floor beside her desk.


    "Um...Princess Laurene, exactly why am I here?"


    The voice of the only other person in the office besides her rang out, causing her to raise her head and gaze at the speaker in silence for a moment before replying.


    "...Mental Support."


    "...What?"


    "Yep, that''s what you''re here for, mental support."<sub> </sub>


    Laurene repeated her earlier reply, making the person she was speaking to, the first son of the Great Western Empire''s Prime Minister, Arnold Del Eris, stare at her with a look of pure confusion.


    He thought about how he ended up here, remembering that he was having tea with his mother while trying to exin to the woman that he was not dissatisfied by not having the position of sessor to the Duke and understands that he lost said position due to the family rules.


    He was about to exin the problems with the vassals that would ur if the Duke changed the rules for his sake when a messenger from the castle came and told him that Laurene called for his presence.


    ''And I rushed over because I thought it was something important.''


    Before he could even say anything, Laurene mmed her fist on the table, causing cracks to spread out across the table but the princess paid it no mind as to busy stopping herself from ripping apart the letter in her hands.


    "They''re threatening me?! Are they stupid or something?


    I clearly have the upper hand in these negotiations, I''m the one who has the information they want and they''re threatening me stylishly.


    Do they think I''m easy to deal with cus I''m a kid?!"


    She mmed her fist on the table once more, worsening the cracks on the poor table as she continued.


    "They''d see how easy I am to deal with when I fuck up their entire country...they''d definitely regret provoking the princess of a global superpower nation.


    When the rift''s seal breaks open and they have zero intel on the opposing forces, they''d know to put down their stupid pride and beg me for help."


    While spouting those dangerous words, she grabbed a nk piece of paper and set it down before picking up her pen and writing something on it.


    After a few minutes, she folded the piece of paper and pressed the buzzer on her desk, before opening her drawer and pulling out an envelope.


    By the time she was done putting the paper in the envelope, there was a knock on the door with someone asking for permission to enter, to which she gave consent.


    The door opened and a butler entered the room, bowing lightly as he greeted Laurene and Arnold.


    The princess acknowledged his greeting with a nod as she channelled magic power into her thumb and pressed it on the envelope, sealing it before tossing it to the butler.


    "Send that to my father for approval. Tell him that I INSIST he approves it.


    Those fucking bastards dare to threaten me, I''d show them who''s boss."


    Hearing her words, Arnold heaved a sigh and chided her softly.


    "Princess, your real thoughts are leaking out."


    "Huh?"


    Laurene looked up to see the butler''s expression that looked like he''d seen a ghost, clicking her tongue internally as she spoke.


    "Forget the second half of my previous statement, now go."


    After chasing out the dumbstruck butler, she faced the desk and continued sorting out some files while speaking to Arnold.


    "Terrok deals in the ve trade, right? Do you think cutting off all imports and exports to them while aiding the oppressed races to rebel would destabilize them for a while?"

 Chapter 196 Arnold’s Slip Up

    "Terrok deals in the ve trade, right? Do you think cutting off all imports and exports to them while aiding the oppressed races to rebel would destabilize them for a while?"


    "It would do more than ''just destabilize'' them. More than 40% of Terrok''s imports and exportse from our empire, cutting that off suddenly would be disastrous, for both sides.


    Though the damage to them would be a lot worse.


    Let''s not even talk about the implications that the ''rebellion'' fails, that''s a different case altogether."


    "True, it''s not worth it if our people suffer even a little bit just to make Terrok miserable."


    Laurene affirmed Arnold''s reply as she ced her elbow on her desk and propped her chin up with her hand. She rhythmically tapped her fingers on the desk, with each tap releasing a pulse of magic power that slowly repaired the desk.


    Seeing that she was rtively calmerpared to before, Arnold posed a question to her.


    "Mind if I know what made you even think about doing that kind of thing?"


    "They''re looking down on us, that''s what. The damn bastards seem to think that they''re on top of the continent.


    When there''s us and the Great Eastern Empire, not to talk of the Beast Kingdom and Tarse.


    I really don''t know where they got the gall to demand we release ssified information that could affect the whole world for free, saying that we are obligated to do so.


    Exining it with words is hard. You''d understand why I am pissed off if you read the letter but I can''t show you that since it''s confidential. Royal family members only.


    Or maybe I can? It''s not like there''s anyone here to see."


    "I''d rather not see It, Princess Laurene."


    Upon hearing Arnold''s words, Laurene dropped the papers on her desk and turned her gaze to him before asking.


    "Didn''t I give your permission to NOT call me with my title?"


    "The only time I would stop calling you by your title is when you stop possessing it which is never."


    His reply was just as she had expected, making the young girl heave a sigh in response


    "You know, sometimes you can be harder to deal with than Evan is."


    The moment the name ''Evan'' came out of her mouth, Arnold''s previously neutral expression changed into a light frown, one that was impossible for Laurene to miss given she was staring right at him.


    "Hmm? What''s wrong?"


    "It''s Nothing."


    Arnold quickly adjusted his expression and replied perfunctorily but unfortunately for him, that was kind of pointless in front of Laurene.


    "Oy, Arnold. Did you forget who I am?


    If you did, then let me give you a short reminder."


    Laurene ced her hands down on the desk and leaned forward as she continued.


    "I am Laurene Val Hayes, arguably the only person in the entire Great Western Empire who possesses a skill that lets them tell lies from truth.<sub> </sub>


    And you, just lied to me.


    Well, that much was obvious without the skill but you get my point."


    Her words made Arnold chuckle slightly as he replied to her.


    "Princess, you really should not use your unique skill''s ability for such trivialities."


    "Yeah, yeah. I kno-! Wait up!"


    Laurene suddenly paused mid-speech and rose from her seat. She abruptly jumped over the table, walked towards Arnold and ced her hands on the two arms of the chair he was seated on, effectively trapping him in his seat.


    "Repeat exactly what you just said."


    Although Arnold was stunned due to her sudden actions, he regained his calm rtively quickly and repeated his earlier words after a moment of silence.


    "...I said you really should not use your unique skill''s ability for such trivialities."


    After he spoke, Laurene silently stared at him with a slightly cold expression on her face. A conflicted look appeared in her eyes for a moment, but it disappeared so quickly that Arnold almost thought it was an illusion.


    The Princess heaved a sigh of exasperation before turning around and walking back to her seat. Multiple thoughts went through her head in the few seconds It took her to do that.


    ''Should I call him out on it?


    But even if I did, it''s not like I can force him to talk, at least for now.


    But it''s so annoying to not do anything, just when he finally slipped up.


    Should I probe him for a bit? No, that''d make him warier. He might realise where he messed up and that''d be bad.


    He already knows that I''m onto him, I can''t make him raise his guard any more than he already has.''


    As she sat down, she stared at Arnold in silence, causing the teenager to have a questioning look on his face.


    ''The general knowledge of my ''Lie Detection'' is that it ''IS'' my unique skill. That''s what everyone thinks, even my family. However, Arnold just said that it''s an ''ABILITY OF'' my unique skill.


    There''s only one person in the country who is supposed to know that ''Lie Detection'' is NOT my unique skill, but an ability that resulted from my actual unique skill.


    No one is supposed to know that besides Evan, and Evan can''t tell him about it even if he wanted to. So why does Arnold know this?''


    Arnold would have never expected that the fact that he knew of Laurene''s mystic eye skills would be exposed just because of the way he phrased the words he had just spoken.


    While he knew that Laurene was suspicious of him, he did not expect that she would catch on to such a minor detail that could have been easily ignored.


    ''Judging from the expression on his face, he still hasn''t realised. That''s good.


    I have already thrown in a few words casually over the past few months and I''ve discovered that the restrictions that prevent me from speaking about the demons and my mystic eye skill, don''t apply to Arnold...and my brother.


    This means that they are already somewhat aware of the two subjects.


    I could understand Richard as he is dad''s sessor so it''s understandable that he is aware of the dimensional rifts, as all the royalties and heads of state of all the countries on the continent are aware, however, it makes no sense for him to be aware of the demons when Dad isn''t.

 Chapter 197 Have You Ever Heard Of A Mountain Chicken?

    The concept of a race of beings called the ''Demons'' does not exist to the current people of Aidos, so the restrictions should apply, just like it did when I tried telling Dad that the invaders are actually the ''Demon'' race.


    But for some reason, when I identally spoke about the demons, Richard heard my words loud and clear and I received no repercussions for breaking a restriction.''


    That was the reason she had be suspicious of her brother and had been watching him closely. Arnold was just an extra target because he was very close to her brother, however, now she was 80% sure that Arnold was definitely in on something with Richard, something that made them aware of the ''Demon'' race, a race that people didn''t even know existed.


    There were restrictions on the seven heroes that prevented them from speaking important details concerning the iing invasion by the demons as it was the ''justification'' for the wed reincarnation magic that messed with thew of reincarnation, with one of the said details, being the identity of the invaders.


    However, if the person being spoken to already knew about them, then there were no restrictions preventing the seven heroes from speaking about them.


    The crest in Laurene''s blue eyes lit up with a golden light as she sorted through her thoughts. She wanted to ask Arnold one more question but decided against it for now.


    ''I can''t make him any warier, I should instead be making him drop his guard.


    So, the right decision, for now, is to act like I didn''t notice his slip up.''


    "Hey, Arnold."


    "Yes, princess."


    "Have you ever heard of a mountain chicken?"


    "Huh?"


    Arnold could only stare at Laurene dumbfoundedly as he had definitely never expected that question at all.


    Seeing his expression, Laurene snickered to herself as she stood up and walked the shelf in the room.


    "What do you think It looks like?"


    Arnold replied with a strange expression on his face after considering it for a few seconds.


    "Well, a really big chicken, I suppose?"


    Laurene nodded upon hearing his reply as she finally found the book she was looking for and opened it.


    "You''d think it''d be a really big chicken, but It''s actually not. Here, look."


    She flipped to a particr page and showed the picture on it to Arnold, who only stared at it with a strange expression before finallymenting.


    "Isn''t that a frog?"


    "I know right!"


    Like so, Laurene used such a pointless conversation to distract Arnold from his thoughts and prevent him from realising his slight slip-up.


    �� �� ��


    Boss Room


    Mansion of the Damned, 30th Basement Floor


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum


    January 20th<sub> </sub>


    Year 1052


    "If you were a bull and I had a red cloth, then I would be able to fulfil one of my long-time wishes right now."


    Those were Evan''s words as he stared at the five-metre-tall horned frost boar that was growling at him with reddened eyes.


    It looked just like a normal boar would at the base, just that its body was significantlyrger and it had two curved horns that looked just like elephant tusks protruding from its lower jaws.


    Its skin was a shade of light brown that was infinitely close to white and it possessed partial dark brown stripes on its sides.


    With each breath it took, Evan could see the frosty air pouring out of its nostrils and the frost boar''s blood-red eyes made it look all the more menacing.


    ''It looks like it weighs a ton, just how heavy is this thing?''


    Evan did not know that he had already answered his question before he asked it. The Frost Boar in front of him really did weigh a ton, a little bit over that to be exact.


    That was more than a thousand kilograms.


    With a body like that, Evan would only be begging for death if he got hit by any of its charges. Not only because of its weight but because the sheer strength of this frost boar was enough for it to run through about a hundred two or three-storey buildings and turn them all to rubble with rtive ease.


    ''If it used its unique skill, things would only get worse...''


    Owing to its title as Frost Boar King, this frost boar possessed a unique skill that could allow it to freeze a small town into a block of ice hundreds of metres tall if it so wished to.


    "Guys."


    "What?" "?" [Master?] [?] [Yes?]


    Eliza, Pride, Ka, Amy, and Kuro who had assumed battle-ready positions all turned to him in response to his call.


    "Under no circumstance, can we let this monster use its unique skill. It would LITERALLY, be an Ice Age."


    The expressions of the spirits/human/demon who heard his words turned solemn, however, they could not ask any questions as the frost boar king roared loudly as it stomped its hooves on the ground, making the earth underneath its feet tremble.


    The next moment, it kicked off the ground and charged forward with speed unexpected by its enormous body, signifying the start of the group''sst boss battle in this dungeon.


    Now then, a quick rundown of the events of the past ten days is in order to exin just how Evan and co ended up here.


    �� �� ��


    After resting up with David Dyer''s group, Evan, Eliza and Pride continued their monster hunting on the neenth floor for a few more hours, before deciding to go to the boss room with David''s party following them.


    The boss monster was a superior variant of rift mages, that had dozens of other rift mages of almost all elemental types as servants.


    Since they already knew this beforehand, Evan chose to opt for the simple but effective strategy he and other yers used in the game.


    And that was to kill the rift mages faster than they could summon anything.


    The moment they entered the boss room, Evan shot forward and activated a full-powered Vortex, firing the roaring mass of magic power toward the rift mages without hesitation.


    However, these rift mages were far stronger and faster than those on the other floors, with 70% of them either instantly teleporting out of the range of the vortex or activating their elemental shields just in time for the explosion to hit.

 Chapter 198 Quick Rundown Of Events

    The rift mages in the boss room were far stronger and faster than those on the other floors, with 70% of them either instantly teleporting out of the range of the vortex or activating their elemental shields just in time for the explosion to hit.


    And among those who stayed back and used their elemental shields, none of them died as their shields stood strong!


    The shields of the ones at the forefront who received the full brunt of the attack had cracks all over but they were not broken.


    Unfortunately for them, Evan was not alone.


    Pride who was right behind him charged in and released a sh of pure demonic energy that shattered the shields of the rift mages and injured them severely, paving the way for Amy''s Breath of fire to turn them into charred chunks of flesh.


    David''s group did not ck either, with their support mage and Elizabining forces to not only increase the strength of the attacks but also decrease that of the opponents.


    David himself proved to be a skilled swordsman, as he swept through the boss room at break-neck speed, slicing apart the summoning magic circles created by the rift mages with his aura-coated sword.


    Some of the rift mages tried to take him out but his team''s tank jumped in and blocked their flurry of attacks with hisrge shield, before ducking and letting the spearman use his body as a foothold to jump in the air and stab the rift mages with his skill.


    <o>,m The mage Rhonda showed expertise in water magic, creating a surging wave that blew apart a cluster of fire-type rift mages, something that Ka took advantage of to drop a few bolts of lightning on them.</o>


    Naturally, there was no way that the superior variant rift mage would sit back and watch its brethren die as it waved its staff and summoned not only monsters but other rift mages too!


    These other rift mages then began to summon monsters but they soon discovered that none of the monsters could take any steps forward as multiple tentacle-like appendages had grown from their shadows and wrapped around their bodies tightly, holding them in ce.


    Of course, this was Kuro''s work.


    With the shadow spirit''s assistance, the summoned monsters and some unlucky rift mages who had tier shields broken by Ka and Amy''s magic became sitting ducks for Evan, Pride and David to ughter at will.


    Suzanne also had her part to y, revealing her mastery over the bow that made Evan''s jaws drop with shock.


    She skillfully twirled the bow in her hands around, releasing arrow after arrow that pierced the vitals of multiple summoned monsters and rift mages alike.


    The frightening thing about her was that none of her arrows missed!


    Each arrow was actually generated through her condensing her light attributed magic power into an arrow of light, one that possessed great prating power.


    When all of these existences over level 140 (except Suzanne) attacked, the rift mages and their summoned monsters had no choice but to all die within five minutes despite there being hundreds of them.


    Like so, the groups progressed to the 21st floor and continued monster hunting, with Evan continuing his magic power condensation to improve his magic power quality.<sub> </sub>


    The 21t to 30th floors were known as the ''North Pole'' of the dungeon, due to the outrageously low temperatures of the area.


    Averaging at around 10 degrees Celsius, these ten floors were the home to the monsters known as frost boars,rge one-metre-tall boars that possessed unusually long tusks and formidable charging strength.


    What''s more was that these boars never stayed alone, with the lowest number of boars one could see together being five!


    The levels of the monsters in the mansion of the damned had a cycle averaging at around seventeen levels every ten floors, with floors 1-10 having their average monster levels being 105 to 122, however, the bosses and elite monsters on floor 10 were exceptions to this.


    Floors 11 to 20 had monsters with levels of 121 to 138, however, the strength of adventures who braved the 11th to 20th floor sessfully increased exponentially due to the fact that they also received experience from the monsters that rift mages summoned too.


    Perhaps this was the reason why the 21st to 30th floors did not conform to the normal rules, with the levels of the monster averaging at around 140 to 160 and the temperature of these floors was dangerously low.


    To add to the mix, the low temperature granted one the ''Blistering Cold'' status effect, which worked wonders in reducing the fighting strength of adventurers.


    Normally, with such low temperatures, an average human would have frozen up multiple times over, however, the adventures that usually braved these floors had levels averaging at around 145-155 and their bodies were resilient enough to match their level.


    They also weren''t stupid and obviously prepared countermeasures, so crossing these ten floors was not much of a problem at all.


    Provided that the ones crossing the floors weren''t paper tigers who only had high levels but ridiculously low strengthpared to what people on their level should have as the monsters here were quite ferocious, to say thest.


    Imagine five one-metre-tall boars weighing over two hundred kilos each charging toward you at speeds exceeding fifty metres per second while exhaling cold breaths from their nostrils.


    Even for the groups who were capable of seeing the frost boars'' movements clearly, it was still a scary sight, because they knew that the striking power of these boars'' charges was not something to be trifled with.


    In the game, Evan used the 21st to 30th floors of the mansion of the damned to train himself on how to dodge attacks, and this time, he wasn''t training alone as even Suzanne who was the weakest in the group, had her speed stat raise by a whole rank by the time they had left the 21st floor.


    Due to his continuous grumbling, David''s party eventually discovered Evan''s temporary inability to level up, with David sympathizing with Evan as he had faced a simr situation when he was about to be a master-level existence.


    He made a remark about it taking him a few months, Evan''s face to turn pale, and it wasn''t from the cold.


    Thanks to Amy''s presence, the area around the group was rtively warm as the mere presence of the fire spirit was enough to ward off the cold.


    David''s party members were surprised when the me spirit suddenly appeared on Pride''s shoulder, with their shock doubling when Ka also manifested her physical body just for the fun of it.

 Chapter 199 Back To The Boss Battle

    Fortunately, or unfortunately, the frost boars always sensed the group when they got within a certain range due to this so they had a lot of battles to fight and a lot of kills to make.


    Evan had also told Amy to reduce the range of her heating and stayed just outside it to improve his ice control.


    He also performed the crazy action of using Ice magic to fight against frost boars, monsters who possessed tier 2 ice magic from birth.


    ? Naturally, to overwhelm the frost boars near immunity to ice magic, the sheer amount of magic power Evan had to use was on a different level entirely, causing him to always be exhausted after each battle.


    However, his hard work paid off as due to constantly being in the cold and forcing himself to use the tier 2 ice magic, adaptive evolution kicked in and made things easier, reworking his body to handle the low temperatures of the magic he was using.


    He reached the 25th floor with Ice Resistance and Ice Magic Tier Two appearing on his status board.


    It was on this floor, that the groups finally found the thieves who had been using a certain area as their hideout.


    Naturally, the thieves were shocked as they had not expected to be found, having removed the trackers (dummies ced to fool potential thieves) in the item they stole.


    So, when they saw Suzanne appear, with Evan and the rest of David''s party trailing behind, their shock was on a different level.


    As David had predicted, there were more thieves, with their group actually consisting of fifteen people, all with levels above 150.


    Sadly, Evan, Pride and Eliza had been added to the mix, along with their spiritpanions, making the defeat of the gang of thieves a certainty.


    Suzanne was able to retrieve her missing item and Evan was able to loot the thieves in such a way that David was confused about who the real thieves were.


    Afterwards, David directly killed all the thieves except the one they originally came for, as they were going to die either way and he didn''t really have the resources to transport fifteen people to the surface.


    The crime of stealing from a noble was punishable by death after all.


    After this, the groups finally split up, with Evan giving Suzanne a letter detailing his next movements and all his ns for the Cheverton duchy, as well as the request for one of the ten great swordsmen.


    He also added that she should show it to his father and the emperor too so that they would know about the iing threat (The Duhans).


    The young hero added an excuse he wanted her to use as to why she knew of the existence of a group like the ''Demonic Hand'' that even the royal family was unaware of, but it might not be necessary as she could just say that she knew about them because she was a hero (Evan doesn''t know that they know Laurene is a hero yet).


    He tried not to put too much information about the future, however, he wasn''t sure how much of it Laurene would be able to see.


    Of course, as the main person involved, he added that Duke Cheverton should be informed about the matter too.


    After giving this bulky letter to Suzanne and sealing it with a method the previous seven heroes used when passing information to their fellow heroes, they parted with the young noble''s group and Evan''s group resumed monster hunting.


    Eventually, they arrived on the 30th floor in six days, their speed being something that would shock most veteran adventurers out of their wits.


    And thus, we have the current situation with the group facing the floor 30 boss, the Frost Boar King Ocsuat.


    �� �� ��


    |Name- Ocsuat


    Race- Frost Boar


    Level- 167


    Existence Level -


    Titles- Mansion of the Damned Floor 30 Boss


    ss - Frost Boar King<sub> </sub>


    Health �C C+


    Energy - C+


    Strength �C C+


    Agility �C C-


    Durability �C C+


    Intelligence - C-


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers- Ice Tier 2, Earth Tier 2;


    Skills- Charge, Berserker, Household Summoning, Tenacity;


    Unique Skills- Ice Age. |


    Those were the results Evan got from appraising the monster the second he entered the room. He had already told the rest beforehand that this boss monster was quite troublesome and warned them about its attacks and magic.


    As for the boss monster''s level and overall power, it was well within expectations so, besides its Tenacity skill, he wasn''t surprised at all.


    ''It''s a monster with Earth and ice magic. So, it''s best to stick with mes mainly, with the asional lightning.


    However, the lightning has to be timed so it does not block with earth magic.


    I''d leave binding it and the other monsters it would summon to Kuro, and as for the main firepower, it''d have to be Amy and Ka.


    Pride and I would support her while Eliza would do what she does best, buffing us to outrageous degrees.


    She can even tack in her flower cannon too, that skill has a huge knockback effect which would be useful against arge-bodied monster like this.


    If it gets knocked off its feet, the time it would take to get back up is enough for us to deal a lot of damage.''


    He had alreadymunicated his thoughts to the group while they were outside so the moment they entered, they all assumed battle-ready positions and started at the boss in front of them.


    Unlike other boss monsters that took a bit of time to get into a battle-ready state, the Frost Boar King was already growling at them from the moment they entered the room.


    Its glowing red eyes made it seem like it had already started using its berserker skill, however, Evan was sure that it was not.


    "If you were a bull and I had a red cloth, then I would be able to fulfil one of my long-time wishes right now."


    He remembered the scene of a bullfighter from his home world wielding his muleta and sword while leading a bull around its nose.


    A few other thoughts came to his mind but he shook them off and called out to hispanions.


    "Guys."


    "What?" "?" [Master?] [?] [Yes?]


    Eliza, Pride, Ka, Amy, and Kuro who had assumed battle-ready positions all turned to him in response to his call.


    "Under no circumstance, can we let this monster use its unique skill. It would LITERALLY, be an Ice Age."

 Chapter 200 Vs Frost Boar King I

    [200 CHAPS!!]


    "Under no circumstance, can we let this monster use its unique skill. It would LITERALLY, be an Ice Age."


    The expressions of the spirits/human/demon who heard his words turned solemn, however, they could not ask any questions as the frost boar king roared out loud as it stomped its hooves on the ground, making the earth underneath its feet tremble.


    The next moment, it kicked off the ground and charged forward with speed unexpected by its enormous body, signifying the start of the group''sst boss battle in the mansion of the damned.


    The speed of the frost boar king''s charge was on a totally different level from the other frost boars, as it crossed the nearly hundred-metre distance between it and the party in less than two seconds.


    Naturally, there was no way that the group would stand still and let themselves get hit, so they all jumped out of the way instantly.


    **BAAAMMM!!!!!


    The boss room trembled as the frost boar king''s missed charge resulted in therge monster mming itself into the wall.


    While Evan wanted to admire the sheer strength possessed by this creature, he knew this was not the time and focused on the fight.


    ''Pride.''


    [I Know]


    Coordinating with the high demon who jumped towards the opposite side, the young hero engulfed his sword in mes and dashed towards the sides of therge five-metre-tall boar.


    *SWISH!!


    Their me-engulfed des swished through the air and slicked into the thick hide of the boar, causing it to roar out in pain as their mes melted through the thinyer of ice around it and pierced its flesh.


    However-


    [It''s shallow!]


    ''No shit.''


    Evan and Pride frowned simultaneously as they pulled back their des and moved out of the way, seconds before the boar pulled its horns out of the wall and turned around while roaring loudly.


    Its red eyes darted across the room, seemingly looking for something before Landing on Eliza who had retreated to a corner of the room.


    Seeing this, Pride instantly sent a message to Amy who was on Eliza''s shoulder to warn the battle priestess, however, this was quite unnecessary as Eliza had already seen the creature turn its attention to her.


    It stomped its forelimb on the ground with enough force to crack it slightly, before shooting forward in her direction at full speed.


    Eliza instantly created a horizontal barrier, not to use for defence, but as a foothold to jump up in the air and avoid the boar''s charge.


    **BAMM!!


    The monster mmed into the wall once more, however, Evan noticed that its horns didn''t dig as deeply as before.


    ''It''d be easier for it to escape, not enough time for me to reach and deal as much damage as I want without using blink.


    A card I can''t reveal yet.''


    Those were his thoughts as he killed his charge towards the monster and backstepped instead, not before catching sight of the monster''s pupil turning in his direction.


    ''?!''<sub> </sub>


    Evan could have sworn he heard a dissatisfied grunting from the boar king as it casually turned around and stomped its forelimb into the ground.


    ''Did this thing just try to bait me into attacking?!''


    He didn''t have the time to verify his conjecture as the ground trembled and he felt magic power flowing underneath his feet.


    The young hero immediately reacted, utilizing the footwork technique Finley thought him to weave his way out of all the spots that he felt magic power concentrating on, with each step being a second before a spike of earth erupted from the ground.


    His movements were swift, making it look like he was dancing in a way, however, he was also preparing a counterattack while moving.


    The moment the trembling stopped, Evan rose his palm and revealed a ball of red light that was looking like it was about to burst.


    Seeing this light, the boss monster let out a surprised sound as it knew it was seeing condensed magic power, but it could not sense the magic at all.


    That was only natural as Evan had used his concealment skill to conceal the magic power he was condensing in his palm, releasing it as a beam of light shooting through the air the moment the frost boar king''s spell stopped.


    The frost boar king, Ocsuat, moved itsrge body to the side in an attempt to dodge the spell, but sadly, it still got hit as the condensed beam ofme energy tore through the thinrge of ice it used to coat its body and burnt its hide.


    "GRR!"


    However, Evan''s intention was never for Ocsuat to get hit by the stack in the first ce, with the boar king realizing that a beatter when it sensed the presence of the other humanoid female suddenly close in on it.


    Pride swung her demonic energy-infused sword in an upward arc as she called out softly.


    "Origin Sword."


    *SWISH!


    The de easily tore through Ocsuat''s ice skin spell, the thick hide it had underneath, and its flesh altogether, causing red blood to ssh in the air.


    "GUOOOHH!!"


    It screamed out in pain, but that didn''t stop t from attempting to retaliate. Its short tail moved to swayed slightly before suddenly straightening and pointing in Pride''s direction.


    "Tsk."


    The high demon clicked her tongue as she noticed this from the corner of her eye, coshing to retreat instead ofpleting her attack sequence.


    That proved to be the wise decision in this case, as numerous jagged icicles formed in the air and dropped down on where she was standing.


    Evan who was about to move forward and attack the boar''s other side, momentarily stiffened upon recognizing the technique Pride just used.


    ''Is this...fear? I''m scared of her sword?


    No, it''s not my fear...it''s ''his''.''


    As he had the memories of the previous second, he naturally remembered that technique as that was what Pride used to best the hero in one of his battles against her.


    However, the fear he felt came from the fact that the technique was what cost the hero his arm and leg once, and if the previous first didn''t interfere, his head would have been gone too.


    ''Tsk...!''

 Chapter 201 Vs Frost Boar King II

    ''Tsk...!''


    Evan clicked his tongue internally as he backstepped, the short window he had to attack beingpletely lost as Ocsuat roared out loud and stomped its foot on the ground multiple times.


    [Evan?]


    He heard Pride''s thought transmissioning through but he paid it no mind and swing his sword wildly.


    "de cannon."


    Each swing released a golden aura sh thatunched five fist-sized aura bullets towards the frost boar king, forcing it to cancel the charge skill it was about to use and shield itself with earth magic.


    [Master, should we move now.]


    ''Not yet.''


    He replied to Ka''s enquiry as he took a deep breath and calmed himself, before turning to Pride and speaking.


    "Sorry about that, your sword left some deep trauma to the previous idiot.


    Let''s re-coordinate ourselves."


    Although Pride had a lot to ask, she held herself back and faced the earthen shell that covered the frost boar king, seconds before it shattered into jagged chunks of earth.


    Ocsuat suddenly turned its head in Eliza''s direction once more and used earth magic, causing all the chunks of earth to fly in her direction.


    "Wha? Why?!"


    The battle priestess screamed out as she jumped out of the way, using smaller barriers as footholds and usingrger ones to block the chunks of earth she could not dodge.


    Evan and Pride took advantage of this small gap to zoom in towards the monster''s sides and unleash powerful magic simultaneously.


    "Spiral mes!"


    "Wrath of me!"


    Ocsuat was shocked as it did not think that the sword-wielding humans also had powerful magic like it did, and was unable to take any defensive action except reinforce the ice skin spell it had active.


    However, the monster knew that this spell was going to be useless against the two spells that they used.


    A tornado-shaped st of mes hit it from the right, while an omnidirectional wave of mes mmed into it from the left side.


    The mes instantly melted the ice coating its skin, burning off its hide and the flesh underneath.


    "GROOOOO!!!!"


    It let out a strange roar and moved its magic power, generating a giant blizzard around its body.


    "Not good!"


    Pride shouted as she jumped out of the spell''s range instantaneously while Evan just blinked away, mere moments before the violent icy winds swept through where they were seconds ago.


    "Evan, Let''s...? Evan?"


    Pride wanted to speak to Evan, but upon realizing that he was not on the ground, she hurriedly looked around and saw the young hero in the air above Ocsuat.


    "Fire Magic: Grand Fireball."


    Evan pointed his hand downwards and called out as a two-ringed magic circle appeared in front of his palm.


    A huge swirling ball of mes nearly two metres in diameter appeared in front of him and dropped towards the boar underneath him.<sub> </sub>


    While gravity pulled him to the ground, Evan generated two more fireballs and dropped them before blinking away and reappearing beside Pride.


    "Liz, Now!"


    "Finally!"


    Eliza screamed out in reply to Evan''s shout as she mmed her staff on the ground and activated her skill.


    The earth cracked open, paving way for the emergence of a gigantic shoot. The shoot''s flower bud bloomed and from an opening of the petals, a powerful beam of concentrated magic power wasunched towards the boss monster.


    **BOOOOOOMM!!!!!!


    A loud explosion that shook the boss room rang out as Evan''s fireballs and Eliza''s flower cannon hit the frost boar king at the same time.


    The monster''s screams of pain could be heard from within the mes; however, Evan knew the battle was far from over as the monster still hadn''t used any of its skills yet.


    "The fact that it hasn''t entered its berserk state means that it still has a lot of strength left, let''s wear it down a bit so Ka and Amy can do their part."


    "Mmh."


    Pride nodded in response as she coated her sword in her signature ck mes, with Evan activating another set of skills while giving Kuro amand.


    ''Pdin, concealment and aura sh.''


    ''Kuro, hold him down.''


    His shadow wiggled and something ck shot out of it into the explosion, a second before he dashed forward as he swung his sword, releasing shes of aura that could not be seen nor sensed by anyone or anything present except him.


    ''Blink.''


    Without waiting for the shes to reach, he dropped his sword to the ground and teleported to the space in the air above the monster, pointing his two hands downward as he activated his energy st skill.


    Bright red beams of light shot into the smoke, towards the screaming frost boar that tried to move out of the way but could not as its feet had been held down by its own shadow.


    And due to the fact that the smoke of the explosion had obscured its vision, it could not tell what was preventing it from moving!


    It was at this moment that the two beams of red lightnded on its back, causing it to scream in pain as its struggles to break free intensified.


    However, Evan still had more in store for it, as he stretched out his arm and called his sword into it, before swinging downwards twice with de cannon active.


    "GRAAAAAA!!!"


    The fist-sized bullets of aura bore holes in the monster''s body, causing blood to spray out everywhere as the creature finally snapped.


    Its magic power swelled and it forcefully broke free from Kuro''s restraints, right before activating anotherrge-scale ice magic spell.


    The temperature of the room instantly dropped by at least a dozen degrees, as arge violent ice blizzard formed around the entire room.


    The destructive icy winds swirled around with dozens of jagged icicles moved to rip apart any sources of ''heat'' in the room.


    Evan, Pride and Eliza were the targets in this case, as their natural body heat was enough for the spell to lock on them, even if they were concealed like Evan was.


    "WHYYYY???!!!"


    However, the most unlucky one in this case, was Eliza who had nearly a hundred icicles attempting to rip her to shreds and they followed her no matter how much she ran.


    "Why is i-! Shit! The monster is aiming for-!"

 Chapter 202 Vs Frost Boar King III

    "Why is i-! Shit! The monster is aiming for-!"


    Evan did not get the chance to finish his words as Ocsuat emerged from the smoke of the explosion, charging straight at him with rage in its eyes.


    Its speed was faster than before, giving Evan no time to dodge as he reflexively activated his blink and moved a few metres to the right.


    However, to his surprise, the monster suddenly killed all its momentum and stopped, turning to the right and charging straight for Evan.


    Naturally, there was no way that Pride would stand by and let Evan get run over by the thousand-kilogram frost boar.


    "Fire Magic: Prominence of Hell."


    Arge, long and powerfully destructive redser-like beam mmed into the body of the monster from the side, knocking it off its feet and forcing itsrge body to the ground.


    **BOOOMM!!!


    Theser beam exploded a secondter, releasing a shockwave that spread out across the entire room.


    "This damn thing really IS tenacious!"


    Evan screamed out as he swung his sword to cut apart therge icicles that still kept trying to impale him while transmitting his thoughts to Pride.


    ''The monster knows where Amy is, that''s why it has been asionally attacking Eliza.''


    It was worth stating that the entire boss room was nothing more than a frozen cave when Evan and co stepped into it, with ice stctites hanging from the ceiling and small tiny snowkes asionally dropping to the ground.


    However, most of this ice had melted due to the waves of heat released by the fire magic spells and the multiple explosions that urred since the battle began.


    But despite this, it was hard to miss the fact that the ice around Eliza melted a lot faster than in other areas.


    And as the master of this boss room, there was no way that Ocsuat did not notice this, hence the reason it was asionally tossing attacks at Eliza because it sensed the highest source of heat and me energying from her.


    However, the true source of this heat was the me spirit that was sitting on Eliza''s shoulder. But since she had not manifested her physical body, the monster could not see her at all.


    [Should they do it now, then?]


    ''yeah, no point staling again.''


    As soon as Evan gave Pride confirmation, he sent out a message to Ka and Kuro, while Pride contacted Amy who was on Eliza''s shoulder.


    The blizzard around them suddenly died down as Ocsuat withdrew its magic power and channelled it into the ground, creating arge stump of earth that pushed its body back upright.


    "GRR-?!"


    However, before it could evenplete its first growl, it found that it had been surrounded by four translucent barriers on all sides, blocking off all its possible means of escape.


    The sheer amount of magic power in each of these barriers was not something it could break with brute force unless it had space to run and build up momentum to charge through.


    Unfortunately, the barriers were too close for it to have that kind of space.<sub> </sub>


    [Pseudo Authority of Lighting]


    [Breath of Fire]


    The ambient energy in the room coalesced to form a gigantic pearl of lightning that floated mid-air, asionally shooting out bolts of lightning that rained down on the ground.


    Ka''s usual ck dress turned bright gold as three small rings of lightning formed around her arms.


    At the same time, Amy floated up into the air and looked at the frost boar with her usual calm look, gaze, however, a glint of slight annoyance could be seen in the depths of her eyes.


    Her body was covered in a thinyer of red light and a tornado of mes swirled around underneath her feet.


    Suddenly sensing two new presences on either side of the room, Ocsuat was momentarily stunned, however, it recovered instantly and attempted to attack activate its magic to attack the source of fire while generating a wall of earth to block the lightning.


    It rose its foreleg up in the air and was about to stomp it on the ground, however, a spear of dark light shot out from its shadow and pierced into its foreleg from underneath its hoof.


    "GAAH!"


    Its concentration was shattered as it let out a short cry of pain, with the magic power it had gathered scattering into the surroundings.


    [Brightest Shadow.]


    Kuro''s voice rang out as ck light rapidly concentrated in front of the boar''s nose until it built up into arge sphere. However, unlikest time, the sphere did not shoot out a multitude of thin beams of light and shadows, but directly exploded in its face.


    **BOOM!!


    Ocsuat, who had tried to activate its magic once was suddenly dealt a hand of exploding dark light. The creature raged and tried to use its charge skill to bulldoze its way out of the barriers, but it was a bit toote for that.


    The ground underneath its feet turned red hot while the pearl of lightning above its head glowed brightly, with enormous magic power building up on both ends.


    [[Combination: me-Lightning Explosion.]!]


    Ka and Amy shouted/called out at the same time, activating their attacks simultaneously.


    The tornado of mes that swirled around underneath Amy, disappeared, a second before it immediately shot out of the ground underneath Ocsuat''s feet.


    At the exact same instant, all the bolts of lightning released by the pearl floating in the air, fused together with each other, before fusing once again with therge bolt of lightning that dropped from the pearl.


    The energy discharge from thebination of the me tornado and the lightning bolt created a massive explosion that shook the entire boss room.


    ***KAAABOOOOOOOMMM!!!!


    The earth shook and the air trembled due to the force of the explosion, with arge cloud of smoke and fire rising into the air, taking on the shape of a giant mushroom surrounded by fire and lightning.


    The omnidirectional shockwaves from the explosion swept Evan, Pride and Eliza off their feet, going on to hit the wall and causingrge irregr cracks to spread out across it.


    ''Shit!''

 Chapter 203 Vs Frost Boar King IV

    ''Shit!''


    Evan saw Eliza fall to the ground and his face turned white, seconds before he blinked towards her and grabbed her body, preventing her from falling to the floor.


    ''If she fell and lost consciousness, her barrier would be released, and I really don''t wanna know what would happen in that scenario.''


    His fear was natural as the only reason why the only thing reaching them was just the heat waves and shockwaves from the explosion, was because Eliza was keeping the whole thing contained with her barrier, preventing the mes of the explosion from spreading out on the ground.


    She was constantly creating barrier upon barrier to prevent the mes from spreading out, her face pale as she instantly exhausted 70% of her magic power reserves all at once.


    ''Ka!''


    [I know!]


    The spirit responded to Evan''s call and recalled the lightning energy she had discharged, at the same time Amy recalled all her me energy.


    And just like a fire that had been put out, the explosion died down almost instantly, with the smoke and smell of burnt flesh being the only thing left.


    Noticing this, Eliza released her barriers and the smoke that was contained within them spread out across the room in full force.


    Within seconds, the entire room was engulfed in clouds of smoke, thick enough to suffocate someone to death almost instantly.


    **WHOOSSHH!!


    Pride activated her wind magic and created a small barrier that covered her, Evan and Eliza, protecting them from the smoke that filled the room.


    "Evan..."


    "I know, it is not dead."


    Evan frowned as he recalled the name and description of the fourth skill that the boss monster possessed, the only thing that wasn''t within his expectations.


    ''Tenacity, eh?''


    Exining the skill with a long description was unnecessary as its effect could be summed up in on single line;


    It was a skill that made it VERY EXTREMELY difficult to kill the user.


    Even if it was an attack that would normally kill the user, this skill would make it so that they would forcefully snap the jaws of death shut and still cling on to life.


    Before Evan could even say anything, his blood ran cold as he felt an ominous wave of energy spread out across the room.


    Even if he could not sense the activation of skills, that wave of energy was enough to tell him what just happened.


    "Shit! It''s in berserk mode!"


    As soon as he said that, arge figure burst out of the cloud of smoke and easily smashed through Pride''s wind barrier.


    Evan didn''t even consider the fact that he was still holding Eliza and reflexively activated blink, consuming nearly three times as much magic power than usual as he and the battle priestess moved through space.


    The duo crashed on the ground a few metres away, while Pride instantly generated a whirlwind around her feet and propelled her body out of the way.<sub> </sub>


    **BAAAMMM!!!!


    Ocsuat''srge body mmed into the wall of the boss room, causing the cracks across it to spread out further, however, the frost boar king could no longer care about that anymore.


    "Super Cyclone!!"


    Pride''s voice rang out as the wind around the room gathered to form an enormous cyclone in the centre of the room, sucking up all the smoke in the room along with it and clearing up the area.


    With this, Evan and Eliza had an easier time breathing, and they were now able to see clearly, enabling them to see the appearance of the frost boar king.


    All the fur on its hide had been burnt off, revealing its flesh which was filled with numerous charred spots. In some parts, of its body, all of the skin and tissue had been burnt off, exposing its muscles that were not in a much better state.


    Its long horns that it had probably once been proud of had been broken offpletely, and one of its eyes had been burnt offpletely, with the blood having evaporatedpletely due to the heat of the explosion.


    Evan could catch glimpses of the monster''s bone on its legs as it turned around unsteadily while ring at them with its blood-red eye.


    Unlike before when only its pupil was red, its sclera was also red, and its body was surrounded by a dark red hazy aura.


    It stomped what was left of its fore legs on the ground, activating another skill as five magic circles appeared around it.


    "This tenacious fucker!"


    Seeing this, Evan shattered the potion bottle he had just drunk from in his hand while stretching out his other hand to call for his sword.


    By the time the sword reached his hand, the light of the magic circles died down and five new frost boars were revealed, the household of the frost boar king answering to the call of its head.


    The five newly summoned frost boars were about 2 metres in height and weighed about 500 kilograms each.


    As soon as their summoning wasplete, the creatures instantly charged toward Evan, Pride and Eliza, with each of them activating ice magic andunching dozens of ice spears toward their targets.


    [Lighting Rose!]


    Ka''s voice rang out as a rose of lightning appeared in the air, blooming in the next second as powerful lightning bolts dropped from it towards the charging frost boars.


    The bolts of lightningnded on the monsters andunched them up into the air while dealing enough lightning damage that left them paralysed.


    [Burn.]


    Amy''s voice followed as mes engulfed the lightning-covered monsters, mixing with the lightning and exploding as the five summoned frost boars all turned to chunks of meat.


    Meanwhile, Evan had long dashed forward to help Pride deal with the frost boar king that charged right at her after summoning its household.


    The young hero decided not to hold anything back as he engulfed his sword in his golden aura andunched multiple de cannons, before blinking to the side of the monster and crouched as he gathered magic power around his sword.


    He instantly sprang back up and activated vortex, thrusting his de toward the monster.


    **BAMM!!


    The aura missiles mmed into its left side and knocked it towards the right a bit, just in time for the spiral-shaped mass of magic power to m into the monster''s right side and fling it into the air, making it a nice target for Pride who had activated her magic in earnest.

 Chapter 204 Vs Frost Boar King V

    **BAMM!!


    The aura missiles mmed into its left side and knocked it towards the right a bit, just in time for the spiral-shaped mass of magic power to m into the monster''s right side and fling it into the air, making it a nice target for Pride who had activated her magic in earnest.


    "Gale Arrow."


    She pulled back her right arm and with an open palm, generated arge bow made of wind, and created tenrge arrows on this bow.


    Right before she fired them out, Eliza''s magic enveloped her and the size of the arrows doubled instantly,unching into the air with twice their normal speed and piercing into the body of the airborne frost boar.


    The arrows of wind pierced the body of the monster all over, causing blood to ssh in the air as gravity brought the huge creature back to the ground.


    "Flower Cannon!"


    Eliza released a timed flower cannon that hit Ocsuat the second before its body mmed on the ground, knocking it towards the wall of the boss room.


    **BAMM!!!


    The monster''s huge body mmed into the wall of the boss room, but Eliza didn''t cancel the skill''s effect yet, allowing the beam of magic power to tear through its already weakened skin and rupture more than just a few internal organs.


    However, despite the severity of its injuries, the monster did not sumb to death.


    Kuro jumped towards it and swung his paw, releasing a three-pronged sh of dark light that slicked through the weakened flesh of the monster and nearly took out its other eye.


    Ka flicked her fingers and golden bolts of lightning and mes dropped from the pearl of lightning in the air while Amy held up a finger gun in its direction.


    [Bang.]


    The fire spiritzily called out and a small sun-like sphere manifested in front of her finger, before shooting out an intense beam of fire against the monster.


    At the same time, Pride activated another spell, causing the winds around the area to be restless as four tornadoes with ck mes swirling within them manifested and began to fire dark wind des in the direction of the boss.


    All these attacks wereunched at the exact same moment, speeding towards the monster who had yet to recover from Eliza''s flower cannon.


    Right when everyone thought the attacks would hit, the monster''s only eye opened and shed with a white light, something Evan or anyone who yed Aidos online would find familiar.


    "For fucks sake!


    Guys, we need to get off the ground!"


    <o>,m As soon as he said that, Ocsuat who the others expected to obediently get hit by the attacks, suddenly released a burst of magic power as multiple high walls of earth and ice emerged from the ground and blocked thebination of attacks.</o>


    The walls of earth and ice were instantly destroyed by these attacks; however, they served their purpose and protected the monster from certain death.


    With its eye glowing white, Ocsuat decided to make itsst stand, gathering all of its remaining magic power and absorbing more from the surroundings.


    Meanwhile, Evan had his mystic eyes active, studying the flow of the magic power of the monster while holding out his hand towards Pride.


    "GRRROOOOOAAARRRRR!!!!"


    Ocsuat let out a loud roar before suddenly jumping up in the air.


    ''Wait for it...''


    Right before it touched the ground, Evan screamed out to Pride and the high demon mmed her palms together.


    Three green two-ringed magic circles appeared underneath hers, Evan''s, Kuro''s and Eliza''s feet, from which a gust of wind manifested and was instantly shaped into an ark-like vessel.


    This floating ark spell had enough density that enabled them to stand on top of it. Then two smaller whirlwinds swirled at the bottom of the ark and the wind current generated by them allowed the ark to float up into the air carrying the four of them.


    As soon as they were all in the air, the frost boar king mmed down on the ground and all of the magic power it had gathered was instantly injected into the earth.


    **RUMBBLLEE!!!


    The ground trembled wildly as shockwaves spread out in all directions, followed by spider weblike cracks that spread out across the floor and the walls.


    The water vapour in the air rapidly condensed into drops of water before freezing and bing shards of ice that rained down on the ground.


    Eliza created a barrier above the heads of the group and prevented these shards of ice from attacking them.<sub> </sub>


    Meanwhile, the frost boar king kept on jumping up in the air and mming down on the ground, releasing shockwaves with each m, however, it could be seen that the ranges of the shockwaves reduced considerably after each m on the ground.


    The consecutive jumps and rain of ice continued for an entire minute before the ice shards suddenly liquified and dropped to the ground as normal water.


    As for the frost boar king, it had run out of energy and was on itsst legs, its life slowly slipping away as even its skill could not help it out in this state.


    Evan noticed this and jumped down from the wind ark,nding on the ground and walking towards the monster that had copsed on the ground.


    His mystic eyes glowed as he stared into the creature''s only eye that was staring back at him.


    ''Would itst twenty seconds? This is why I wanted to be in stage two before challenging this boss. Oh well, I can just challenge another one and get the skill I wanted.


    For now, I''d make do with this.''


    |Tenacity Acquired|


    |Rare Skills require one skill slot. |


    |Two Skill slots remaining. |


    The moment he saw that message, he infused his arm with enormous amounts of lighting magic and pulled it back slightly.


    He then punched forward with all his strength, his eyes catching sight of the monster''s eyelid snapping shut right before his fist mmed into its head.


    **BOOMM!!


    |Skill Acquired|


    |Fracture;


    Type: Rare Active Skill


    Effect;


    Coats the user''s fist in lightning that can be used to punch a target, engulfing them in lightning and causing both blunt physical and explosive elemental damage.


    The energy discharge of the skill creates arcs of lightning that increase the speed of the user''s consecutive attack when the skill is active.


    Restrictions;


    May also damage the user if they do not possess sufficient lightning resistance. |


    Evan did not even have the time to celebrate finally acquiring the skill when a stream of notifications suddenly appeared in front of him.


    |Level 150 Achieved;


    Existence Level Stage Increased;


    Partial ''Blessing of Destruction'' requirements met;


    Current effects are being strengthened;


    New Effect is being added;|


    |Level Requirement Met;


    Mystic Eyes Stage 2 has been awakened|


    |Level Requirement Met;


    System Updates Installing...|


    |Kindly grit your teeth, for it shall hurt a lot. |


    ''Ah, Shit! Here we go again!''

 Chapter 205 Update Changelog II

    |Level 150 Achieved;


    Existence Level Stage Increased;


    Partial ''Blessing of Destruction'' requirements met;


    Current effects are being strengthened;


    New Effect is being added;|


    |Level Requirement Met;


    Mystic Eyes Stage 2 has been awakened|


    |Level Requirement Met;


    System Updates Installing...|


    |Kindly grit your teeth, for it shall hurt a lot. |


    ''Ah, Shit! Here we go again!''


    �� �� ��


    Unlike Evan''s expectations, he actually didn''t feel as much pain as he had expected, well, physically at least.


    The real pain was more of a spiritual thing, or at least that was what artemisia said to him.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that the ''idiot''s'' blessing just upgraded to a whole new level, giving you a kind of power that your current body is too weak to handlepletely, hence your soul carried all the burden.]


    "Mind exining to me why my soul is a lot stronger than my body is?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that this requires her to exin a lot of things that are unnecessary for the current you to know.]


    "Yeah, you''re not the one with the right to decide if its necessary for me or not."


    Evan frowned as he replied to the goddess'' message. The fact that a lot of things about himself were being hidden from him pissed him off, a lot.


    |Reincarnated Hero System version 2 Updates Completely Installed. |


    "You''re not even trying to hide the fact that you want to change the topic."


    The young hero sighed as he turned his gaze to the floating notice in front of him and opened up the changelog/.


    |Update Changelog; II


    Interface Updated.


    Date Tab Added. (Since you seem to like breaking your time pieces)


    Existence Level tab modified.


    One Extra Skill Slot acquired.


    Law Restrictions slightly reduced.


    Boosts, Bonuses and Title Effects have now beenpiled. |


    "What the-? Did you update the OS or something?"


    [OS?]


    Ka echoed Evan''s words while tilting her head to the side, but the young hero just waved her off as he studied the system interface that was a lot different from before.


    ''Yep, changed OS.''


    The design of the interface was a lot different, with a lot of things that were previously scattered about now beingpiled together.


    He opened up his status board and looked at it to see any changes, with the date and time floating at the top right corner of the board.


    |Name- Evan Von Bourne


    Race- Body: Human; Soul: ###e# ###s###e#;


    Gender - Male


    Age - Body: 13; Soul: 17;


    Level- 164


    Existence Level - Master (Intermediate)


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.


    ss- Magic Swordsman.


    Health �C C+


    Energy �C C+


    Strength �C C


    Agility �C C


    Durability �C C


    Intelligence- C


    Condition- Tired.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 2, Lightning Tier 2, Shadow Tier 1, Ice Tier 2;


    Resistances- Divinity, Poison, Charm, Fear, Lightning, Mental, Ice.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension, Martial Arts, Fracture;


    Mimicked Skills-Energy st, Body Transformation, Aura sh, Blink, Inventory, Limit Break, de Cannon, Elemental Shield, Ice Magic (High), Chain Lightning, Track Down, Tenacity;


    Avable Skill Slots- 5;


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (2), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction (1), Vortex. |


    First things first, He had finally managed to level up and all the umted experience from all the monsters he killed from floors twenty to thirty poured in all at once and took his level up by nearly twenty levels.


    His body felt off as he was still trying to adjust to the sudden increase in levels he was experiencing.


    He studied his stat increases and skill upgrades, a small smile appearing on his face as he saw the ''2'' beside his mystic eye skill.


    ''Now it''s easier for me to steal people''s skills.''


    While having such ''ominous?'' thoughts, the young hero closed the status board and moved over to the next set of notifications on the list.


    |Mystic Eye of Mimicry Stage 2 has been awakened;


    Enhanced Visual Prowess.<sub> </sub>


    10% Mimicked Skill Effectiveness/Damage.


    Reduced Strain on Using Mimicked Skills.


    Reduced Time To Mimic Skills. |


    ''Enhance Visual Prowess, huh?


    So, it''s practically enhancing my already enhanced visual prowess.''


    All mystic eye series skill wielders possessed enhanced vision (Kic Vision) that allowed them to use their skills more effectively, and their visual prowess was enhanced with each increasing stage of their skills.


    The second benefit was something that put a smile on Evan''s face, the fact that his mimicked skills were now 10% stronger than their original states.


    Up until now, Evan''s mimicked skills were just as powerful as they were in the hands of their original users, provided he could use them properly, but now they were more powerful than before, even if it was just a 10% increase.


    Although this meant a slight increase in the energy utilized for these skills, his growing energy pool was more than enough for him to be able to bear the costs.


    Then the third benefit was something that he really needed. The greatest number of skills that the current Evan could use at once without overworking his body, was at most, three, excluding his mystic eyes.


    And this depended on the skillbination, as if he tried to use de cannon, vortex and chain lightning all at once, it''d be hell for him.


    But a milderbination where the switched out vortex with concealment was feasible for a few moments.


    However, the reduction in the strain on using mimicked skills meant that he could use two mimicked skills and another skill at once and still be fine.


    He could even push it and use two other skills while using two mimicked skills at once and have little to no problems, besides the fact that he has to work his head around controlling all those skills at once.


    Now then, the most important benefit out of them all, was the fact that the time to mimic skills had been reduced.


    ''In the game it reduced by half, is it the same here?''


    |Mystic Eye of Mimicry;


    Type: Unique Skill (Mystic Series)


    Effect;


    Allows the User to Mimic the Skills and Magic spells/spell circles of Another Existence Within Their Field of Vision.


    It is possible to mimic magic spells just by having the spell circle in the user''s field of vision, without needing to know the name or effect.


    The Mimicked Skills enjoy a 10% increase in Skill Effectiveness/Damage and Remain Until the User Removes Them Personally.


    Stage 1


    Enhanced Visual Prowess.


    Ability to see Incorporeal Entities.


    Ability to see the flow of energy.


    Stage 2


    Reduced Time to Mimic Skills.


    Further Enhanced Visual Prowess.


    10% Mimicked Skill Effectiveness/Damage.


    Reduced Strain on Using Mimicked Skills.


    Conditions;


    Maintain Eye Contact with Desired Target For 5 Seconds to Mimic Skills.


    Knowledge of the Name and Effect of the skill the user wishes to Mimic.


    Knowledge of the Name and/or Effect of the Magic the user wishes to Mimic.


    Restriction;


    Only One Skill Slot to Mimic Skills Every Ten Levels.


    Breaking Eye Contact with Desired Target Resets Mimicking Process.


    Some of the Mystic Eyes'' abilities are sealed and would only be unlocked when the mystic eyes have reached the appropriate stage. |


    He opened up the description of his mystic eye skill and studied the changes, with a look of satisfaction appearing on his face as he saw that the effects were just as they had been in the game.


    ''It IS easier for me to steal people''s skills''


    He had the same thought again as he checked out the next thing on his list of upgraded skills.


    The next thing that upgraded was his unique skill; ''Blessing of Destruction''. And the upgrade, was a HUGE one.


    The upgrades were so overwhelming that Evan didn''t even know where to start looking from. Pride noticed his weird state and came over to look at his status bard, only for hr jaw to drop when she saw the skill''s difference.


    "Where did you get this thing from?"


    The high demon couldn''t help but ask as she actually felt a bit envious towards Evan for having such a skill, however, those feelings quickly disappeared just as they had appeared.


    Seeing the reactions of the two, Eliza and Ka couldn''t help but want to see the effects of the skill and looked over, only to end up in a simr state of shock.


    "Isn''t this exactly what your limit break does, but with more benefits?"


    Eventually, Eliza was the first to break out of her shock, posing a question to Evan as she studied the new description of the blessing of destruction.


    First off, the effects of the skill that Evan was already aware of were disyed. The young hero hoped to see upgrades there but there was barely any difference except the short note added after the skill type.


    |Blessing of Destruction;


    Type:#s1#7i5 Unique Skill.


    A partial watered-down version of the Blessing granted to the user by the one who governs over ''Destruction''.


    This skill cannot be lost or taken away, except certain conditions are met.


    Effects;


    Base Effects;


    10% Stat Boost.


    10% Increase in Skill Effectiveness.


    30% Increase in Destructive Skill Strength/Damage.


    30% Increase in Destructive Magic Strength/Damage.


    Grants one a Destructive Energy Circuit. |

 Chapter 206 Blessing Of Destruction’s Massive Power Up

    After the original effects of the skill, came the newly added effects that required Evan to be level 150 before he could use.


    |1st Activation;


    For the total time period of one hour per day, this skill would allow the user to temporarily channel the essence of an aspect of destruction.


    The user is also granted limited maniption over the essence of destruction for this time period.


    This envelops the user in an aura of destruction essence that boosts their overall power by 300% and gives them the ability to deal True Damage to an opponent, damaging not only their physical body, but also their soul.


    It can only be defended against by using outrageous amounts of energy or with the power of anotherw aspect, however, this has a low chance as the essence of ''Destruction'' is more likely to ''Destroy'' this attempt of defence, provided the user is more skilled at manipting it than the essence than their opponent.


    2nd Activation;


    [SEALED]


    Restrictions;


    Can only be used when the user''s energy reserves have not beenpletely exhausted.


    While it is possible to use this skill on an empty energy reserve, it is inadvisable as the essence of destruction is very likely to destroy the body of the user thatcks energy to protect it.


    Attempting to use this skill for more than one hour per day would result in the user''s body and soul receiving severe damage, which is not advised as the current user does not have an inkling on how to heal soul damage. In the worst-case scenario, the soul damage dealt by the essence of destruction, might end up being permanent and cannot be healed by any means. |


    The original skill effects that he had received from the skill were still there, along with a few other mind blowing extras.


    Starting from the newly added ''1st Activation'', something that pretty much gave him the effects of limit break for an hour, without him having to pay back any energy afterwards.


    Then the ability to channel the ''essence of destruction'', this was another effect that blew Evan''s mind as his newly acquired knowledge on worldlyws told him just how frightening the ability to channel this essence was.


    ''It''s just like how Eliza can use the essence of thew of life with her skill, I''m using thew of destruction.''


    And it was through this ability to channel the essence of destruction, that the effect of being able to deal true damage could be actualized.


    Exining the rtionship between the body and the soul was something that was quiteplex, yet very simple at the same time.


    If one was to consider the three most important aspects of most existences, then these aspects were the body, the soul and the energy core.


    Though things were a bit different from beings with non physical bodies, but those were different cases and had different structures.


    A being''s energy core was the source of energy in their body. It was from this energy core that the being''s energy was generated and spread out across the body via their energy circuit, just like how the heart pumped blood through out the body via the veins and arteries.


    A lot of people believed that the magic stones gotten from monsters, were actually either bits or whole pieces of their energy cores, however, many debunked this theory as it was not all the time one found a magic stone within a monster''s corpse, with some other iming that the energy core of an existence was what was absorbed by their ''killer'' as ''experience''.


    As for the body and soul, they could just be respectively summed up as the material and immaterial aspects of an existence, with the body housing the souls and energy cores of most existences.


    A strong enough soul, was capable of persisting after the death of the physical bodies. Naturally urring Liches were an example of this case.


    The body was driven by the soul, the root of one''s existence, and the soul was housed in the body for protection. Any problem with the body and soul would spell disaster for the existence.


    If one''s ''Level'' was a numerical measure of their body''s power, then the ''Existence Level'' can be said to be a measure of the body AND soul''s power, as one''s soul would grow stronger with each increase in existence level.


    Then there came skills, abilities that one possessed and acquired through various means. The skills of an existence, could be likened to ability runes engraved in the soul of the existence.


    If you pit two individuals with the exact same skillset, exact same level and with the exact same stats against each other, but with one of the two having a higher existence level, then you would see that the skills of the one with a higher existence level would be more powerful than that of the other.


    This was also the reason for the ''Ten Fingers'' of the Demonic Hand still retaining their skills after death and revival.


    If the body was harmed, the soul would remain unaffected, provided the source of damage was not capable of dealing true damage that affected the soul too.


    However, in a case where the soul was also harmed, then even if the body was healed, it would be impossible for that existence to return to top condition unless the soul''s damage recovered too.


    And this was a big ''IF'' because in cases where the soul of an existence received damage, said damage reflected on their bodies through various means.


    For example, one might experience certain physical disabilities, may be unable to use certain skills, or have their stats reduced drastically despite not being physically or mentally injured.


    With this, one could understand just how dangerous the ability to damage the soul directly was, and how useful it would be in Evan''s hands.


    And with how dangerous it was, it only made sense that such and ability had outrageous drawbacks and restrictions.


    Starting the fact that it could only be used for one hour every twenty-four hours, for the reason that using it for more than the stipted time, would result in the user''s body and soul receiving SEVERE damage.<sub> </sub>


    It wasn''t a MIGHT, but a WOULD, meaning that it was 110% certain he would receive soul damage if he tried to over do it.


    Summing it up, the skill was telling Evan one line:


    ''You can deal soul damage to others with this power, but if you abuse it, you''d be dealing soul damage to yourself!''


    Even if Evan had an abnormally strong soul for some reason, he didn''t even want to risk it.


    Especially with the possibility of the soul damage being permanent.


    It was a powerful skill, with powerful restrictions to match.


    ''A real double-edged sword, just that one edge is on a timer. And the moment I exceed that timer, the two edges be equal and deal damage to both sides.''


    Evan''s analysis of the skill was spot on.


    He gazed at the currently sealed 2nd activation and wondered just what else this already outrageous skill could give him again.


    ''If I had to guess, it might be like Ka''s skill?''


    Evan looked at the Skill type tab, which currently showed the exact same thing that Ka''s Pseudo Authority of lightning showed.


    [Type:#s1#7i5 Unique Skill.]


    He didn''t know what the garbled text meant, but he felt he would understand when he eventually unlocked the 2nd Activation.


    But he doubted that was something he could achieve anytime soon.


    |Connection Initiated|


    |Connection Declined|


    |Connection Initiated|


    |Connection Declined|


    ''Just what are these two doing?''


    Evan asked internally as he saw what was most likely a spat between Artemisia and the being who gave him his unique skill.


    |Connection Initiated|


    |Connection D&%0##]######### Confirmed|


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says that you should not even think about the Second Activation for the next few years.


    He goes on to further state that the first activation is challenging the limits of what the current you can withstand.]


    "Is it really okay for me to have such a thing at Level 165?"


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says it is just ''barely'' okay. Hemends you for being able to finally use part of his blessing''s true power, further stating that your current existence level is also passable.]


    "Again, with you insinuating that I''m weak.


    You do realize that there are beings in this world who are centuries old but are only just in the master level, right?


    Shouldn''t you bemending me for getting to their level in less than a year?"


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' states that at your age, he was already breaking through from superior master level to the intermediate grandmaster, in a world that didn''t have an ''oh so convenient'' thing like a ''system'' and he was in a state where he was unable to use his body''s energies.


    Furthermore, he was capable of defeating superior stage grandmasters while being an entire existence level lower, and by the time he reached grandmaster, he could kill an inferior stage epic level existence.


    And all of these, was done by him at the tender age of thirteen, just like the current you.


    So now you should understand that by his standards, you are weak.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that you should not listen to the ramblings of a being with standards that even gods like herself find ridiculous.


    The fact that you can achieve the master level in less than a year is a feat worthmending and you should keep up the good work.]

 Chapter 207 Ridiculous Standards And Compiled Boosts

    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that you should not listen to the ramblings of a being with standards that even gods like herself find ridiculous.


    The fact that you can achieve master level in less than a year is a feat worthmending and you should keep up the good work.]


    "...thank you for the constion."


    Evan shook his head, as if trying to get the ridiculous things he just heard out of his mind before looking at the blessing of destruction skill and analysing it once more.


    "If I use this with my limit break, the power I''d gain would be astronomical."


    "As would the drawbacks you would receive."


    Pride responded to Evan as she knocked him on the head and warned him not to even think about trying it, before going on to pose a question.


    "Can''t this skill be effective against that ''Eight Finger'' guy you keep talking about?"


    Hearing this, Evan''s eyes widened in surprise as he hadn''t even considered the ''Eighth Finger'' at all. A skill with the ability to deal soul damage was sure to be effective in permanently killing the ''Eighth Finger, or any of the other ''Fingers''.


    Even if it wasn''t, it was sure to make reviving them harder as their souls would not beplete for the revival process.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that this is the reason why she agreed to leave the skill and did not seal its effects or directly remove it, as it would be useful in theing days.


    Nevertheless, she says that it would only be truly useful, provided your attacks can reach your target in the first ce.]


    "True that. Even if he is one of the weaker members of the ''Right Hand'', it doesn''t change the fact that he''s a grandmaster-level existence."


    "Right hand?"


    "Hmm? Oh. The ten fingers are separated into left and right hands. Well, it was something that we used in the game.


    The right-hand guys were the ones on the alpha continent, and the left-hand guys were the ones on the Beta continent. They were five on each side, including their leader.


    The left-hand guys were really troublesome to deal with, I recall having to grind my level like crazy before fighting them."


    "Huh?"


    "Hm?... huh??"


    It was only after he heard Pride''s surprise voice, that Evan realised that he had inadvertently told her about the ''game'' without even realising.


    "Wait...how was I able to do that?"


    After asking himself that question, he immediately found the answer. One of the messages in the system updates changelog.


    [Law Restrictions slightly reduced.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' states that you have a bit more leeway in talking about things from the game and the other restricted information you were previously unable to speak about.]


    "...!"


    Evan was nonplussed!


    He was thinking that he''d always have to deal with the silly restrictions that prevent him from talking about some of the important information concerning the iing invasion, just like the other members of the even heroes, but the fact that the system updates reduced these restrictions, came as a shock to him.


    "When is the next update?"


    [Level 300]


    "...fuck."


    The young hero cursed as he realised that the next time he''d see an update, he would be on a whole new existence level. By then, his mystic eyes would also reach stage 3.


    "I''d leave this issue for future me."


    He then looked at thest thing the updates brought, aption of all the Boosts and Bonuses he gained from his various skills along with the effects of his titles.


    |Boosts, Bonuses and Title Effects; (Expanded)


    Hero Title Bonuses;


    200% Leveling Efficiency.


    10% Damage Bonus against ''Invaders'' and ''Enemies of Aidos''.


    Hero Leader Title Bonuses;


    10% Damage Bonus against ''Invaders'' and ''Enemies of Aidos''.


    Reincarnated Hero System Benefits;


    20% Stat Boost.


    Boosted Life Force.


    200% Leveling Efficiency.


    130% Stat Effectiveness.


    5% Damage Bonus against ''Invaders'' and ''Enemies of Aidos''.


    Mystic Eye of Mimicry (2) Effects and Boosts;<sub> </sub>


    Enhanced Visual Prowess.


    Ability to see Incorporeal Entities.


    Ability to see the flow of energy.


    10% Mimicked Skill Effectiveness/Damage.


    Reduced Strain on Using Mimicked Skills.


    Blessing of Destruction (1) Bonuses;


    10% Stat Boost.


    ? 10% Increase in Skill Effectiveness.


    30% Increase in Destructive Skill Strength/Damage.


    30% Increase in Destructive Magic Strength/Damage.


    300% Overall Power Boost. (1st Activation State Only).


    Destructive Energy Circuit Bonuses;


    10% Increase in Energy Maniption Speed.


    10% Increase in Destructive Energy Based Attack Strength/Damage. |


    It neatly arranged everything for him, and then gave him a total result, allowing him to see the cumtive boosts.


    |Boosts, Bonuses and Title Effects;


    30% Stat Boost.


    Boosted Life Force.


    130% Stat Effectiveness.


    400% Leveling Efficiency.


    10% Increase in Skill Effectiveness.


    10% Mimicked Skill Effectiveness/Damage.


    10% Increase in Energy Maniption Speed.


    30% Increase in Destructive Skill Strength/Damage.


    30% Increase in Destructive Magic Strength/Damage.


    300% Overall Power Boost. (Blessing of Destruction 1st Activation State Only).


    25% Damage Bonus against ''Invaders'' and ''Enemies of Aidos''.


    10% Increase in Destructive Energy Based Attack Strength/Damage. |


    (Author Note: Not gonna lie, I probably need thisption more than you readers do.)


    "Yeah...this is a lot."


    "No kidding."


    Pride was also going through the boosts with him as the two of them sat atop the corpse of the Frost boar king and went through all the effects one by one.


    "Extra damage towards Invaders and Enemies of Aidos?


    Have you always had this?"


    "Yeah. It''s something that''s been there from the start."


    The existence of the hidden bonus damage dealt by all heroes towards Enemies of Aidos was finally revealed, showing another one of the reasons why Evan was able to eventually defeat Xakon a few months ago.


    "Wait up! My levelling efficiency didn''t increase!"


    [This idiot! Do you think that the extra experience you getes out of thin air?! Reality-altering effects aren''t that easy to add, you know?!]


    Evan''s iingint about no new experience multiplier was shot down before he could even make it by a very pissed-off goddess.


    She didn''t even bother to use the indirect messaging and spoke directly into his head.


    [Oy! Behave yourself and stop switching off the indirect messaging!]


    The second line, however, didn''t seem to be for Evan, but for whoever the goddess was currently with and hopefully, the source of her anger.


    |Connections Terminated. |


    It seemed that in order to deal with whoever was disturbing her, the goddess directly terminated the connections to Evan so as not to give the poor boy a migraine every time she spoke with her ''true'' voice.

 Chapter 208 A Different Kind Of Boss Battle

    The ''Tenth Finger'' of the Demonic Hand cursed her ancestors with all her might for using up all the luck in the bloodline and causing her to end up in a situation like this.


    Looking at the purple-haired and golden-eyed man who was causally looking through one of her magic pouches while standing atop a small hill made of the corpses of her most trusted subordinates, the amount of fear the elven woman felt broke through to new heights.


    ''Shit! Shit! Shit!! Shit!!!!!


    It wasn''t supposed to turn out like this!!!


    Why the fuck is he still on this continent??!!!''


    She gazed at the handsome face of the man standing not too far from her, with slightly tanned skin and a muscr build.


    His long unkempt purple hair hung loosely on his shoulders, with a few strands blowing in the wind.


    This man was none other than the youngest member of ''The Five'', the strongest beings in Aidos.


    The Transcendent Level Human who had gained the title of ''Strongest Human''.


    Rathal.


    Although he looked like he couldn''t really care less about her existence, her senses told her that if she took even a single step backwards, she might as well forfeit her life.


    [Fighting is futile, don''t even entertain the thought of shing against him for even a microsecond.


    The best option is to instantly teleport away using that teleportation stone you were given.


    Fusing would only make him think that we intend to fight and that''s the worst possible scenario.]


    The voice of her contracted demon rang out in her head, but the demon''s words sounded like distant whispers to her as her mind was clouded by fear.


    She was one of the few beings in Aidos who truly understood just how nonstandard the existences of ''The Five'' were, this was precisely why even she who had not cowered when faced with a Legendary Level Existence of her race in the past, was currently paralysed by fear.


    Meanwhile, the object of her fear had only just been trying to satisfy his curiosity, nothing more and nothing less.


    Rathal Cox had always been a very curious person, and he was someone who would pretty much stop at nothing to satisfy his curiosity.


    In the original timeline, Rathal was supposed to be currently in a dungeon in the Beta Continent, attempting to gain a glimpse of one of the universalw doctrines that held the secret to him elevating his existence level to the next.


    However, Evan''s action of killing Xakon, a demon from another world, got him thinking about how this thirteen-year-old was able to somehow take out this demon.


    He wanted to know what was so special about this 13-year-old who was not even Level 50 a few months earlier, that made him capable of killing a demon above level 100.<sub> </sub>


    The man wanted to see this boy for himself, to see if he could tell how he managed to get that strong in just a few months.


    Even if it was a low-level demon, one had to consider the fact that the demon was a master-level existence.


    To the other members of ''The Five'', it may have not been anything much, after all, Xakon wasn''t the only low-level demon to slip through the cracks within the past few decades, and he definitely wasn''t the only one who had been killed.


    However, no demon had been killed by someone as young as Evan.


    For the rest of ''The Five'', the only curiosity they held towards Evan was just their desire to know if he was among the new generation of Seven Heroes.


    And Rathal dering his intention to check personally, made them turn their attention elsewhere, after all, the rest of ''The Five'' were busy people. Each of them was the leader of a nation after all.


    So Rathal came over, and discovered that Evan was indeed a member of the seven heroes, and just to mess with the young teenager, Rathal decided to give him a little ''scare''.


    Afterwards, he was nning to return to the Beta continent, but on his way out of the Great Western Empire, he was randomly snooping around the ''underground world'' and ended up discovering the suspicious movements of a certain group of people he identified to be from a group of demon worshippers, the ''Demonic Hand''.


    With his curiosity ignited once more, he decided to tail them for a few weeks and discovered all their ns, with them none the wiser that a transcendent level being was within their midst.


    He discovered that they were nning something they called a ''Disaster'' and it was apparently a backup n they had in the event that the original ''Disaster'' n failed.


    Further research showed that the reason the original disaster palm failed, was because one of the main catalysts for the n, was stolen from the dungeon in Merdin.


    He saw the lists of people, who held both highbat and political power, and were their suspects for taking away this catalyst they needed. There was a second list that had only the names of those on the first, who had entered Merdin''s dungeon within the week of the ''theft''.


    And on that list, two names caught his attention.


    ''Evan Del Eris.''


    ''Laurene Val Hayes''.


    The name of the boy who had killed the demon Xakon, and the boy who from the reports he had, possessed an ominous jet-ck one-handed sword that asionally had red lines running through it like veins, just like the sword that the Demonic Hand Executive, the Sixth Finger was supposed to retrieve from Merdin.


    He was reported to be in the dungeon, exactly twenty-four hours before the Sixth Finger reported that the Sword was missing.


    And he was seen there along with another person who ''The Five'' had pretty much concluded was a member of the new generation heroes due to the fact that she openly revealed her mystic eyes in public recently, Laurene Hayes.


    ''This...is too good to be a coincidence.''


    The moment he found out all he wanted, he decided to bring his undercover mission to a close, a decision which led to the current scenario of him standing on the corpses of both senior, middle and junior members of the Demonic Hand who worked under the tenth finger and their contracted demons, while being gazed at by the fear-stricken ''Tenth Finger'' of the Demonic hand.

 Chapter 209 Heads Or Tails?

    In the barrennds around the outskirts of one of the Great Western Empire''s border cities, the ''Strongest Human'' Rathal and the ''Tenth Finger'' of the demonic hand stood opposite each other in silence.


    "You know, you guys'' ns wouldn''t have drawn much of my attention and I may have not decided to follow you up."


    The man''s voice rang out, breaking the silence and startling the tenth finger whose hand was slowly inching closer to the spare magic pouch at the back of her dress.


    "But your presence here, changed the whole game n.


    It meant that whatever you were nning, it was important enough for one of your organization''s executives to personally oversee it."


    He turned his golden eyes towards the elven woman as he dropped the magic pouch in his hands back on the floor.


    "And now that I found out about it, I actually.... don''t care."


    "Huh?"


    [What?]


    The tenth finger and her contracted demon could not help but let out voices of surprise upon hearing Rathal''s words.


    The man, however, continued speaking as if her surprise didn''t really matter to him.


    "Truth be told, this doesn''t seem like something that would affect the dimensional rift on the dark continent. Though it still bugs me as to why you''d do it though but that''s something forter, I''m kinda pressed for time now.


    So I''m considering letting you go with your life."


    "..."


    [...]


    Although he said that, the tenth Finger obviously didn''t buy his bullshit, as she knew from the First Finger that Rathal was a man who liked to talk a lot of ''nonsense''.


    She closely watched his every movement as he took slow steps down the hill of corpses. One of the mangled hands from the pile ended up getting tangled with his loosened shoce and turned his gaze down momentarily.


    The instant he did that, the tenth finger shattered the teleportation stone in her left hand as space-attributed magic power poured out of it.


    However-


    **BOOMM!!!


    -there was a loud sonic boom and the tenth finger dropped to her knees as she held what was left of her left arm with her right.


    Blood poured onto the ground inrge volumes as she grit her teeth to bear with the pain. Looking up, she could see one of Rathal''s fingertips sticking out, allowing her to instantly understand what just happened.


    ''He flicked his finger?''


    Indeed, that was the case.


    A simple supersonic speed finger flick from Rathal generated enough pressure to release a shockwave capable of tearing out her left arm from the elbow downwards.


    Showing his precise control over his strength, the only part of her body that was harmed, was her left arm.


    However, it wasn''t like her arm was destroyed. He had simply cut it off from the rest of her body and let the cut-off arm teleport away.


    "Did you just try to walk out on me?<sub> </sub>


    Well, you tried to teleport but it was petty much the same thing.


    Didn''t your parents teach you to listen to people when they''re talking? Or do elves have different standards than humans?"


    Rathal shook his head after he spoke, before picking up a coin that was on the ground and continuing his words.


    "So, as I was saying, I was considering letting you live. So, I''m gonna bet your life, on this coin toss.


    Heads, you live.


    Tails, I kill Ya.


    Easy, right?"


    He spoke with a small smile on his face; however, his eyes definitely weren''t smiling and the tenth finger could feel it. If Rathal didn''t care too much about her before, then right now he was definitely pissed.


    The golden-eyed man tossed the coin up in the air while the tenth finger began revoking her earlier curses and begging her ancestors for tall the luck they didn''t use up in their lifetimes.


    Sadly, even if her ancestors did send the luck, it wasn''t fast enough.


    The coinnded on the floor and the two of them saw it spin around vertically, before falling on one side.


    And the side that faced the sky, was the tail side of the coin.


    Seeing this, the tenth finger heaved a small sigh as she cursed out loud.


    "Ah Shit. Fuck y''all after all."


    The next second, Rathal was suddenly standing right in front of her with his hand raised towards her forehead.


    **BOOOMM!!


    A loud mushroom cloud of dust and dirt rose up into the sky, clearing up after a few minutes to reveal a crater that ran almost a hundred metres deep and was twice as wide as that.


    He rose his index finger and blew on it, before pulling out a handkerchief to clean off the blood that was on it.


    On the floor around him, there was so much blood sshed around that it was hard to believe it all came from one single elf.


    "That was a lot less interesting than I thought."


    Those were the words he had as he incinerated the handkerchief in his hands and jumped out of the crater before walking away.


    And just like that, the ''Strongest Human'' Rathal,pletely crushed one of the Demonic Hand''s ns for another disaster. While it would not have been up to the level of the ''Seven Deadly Sins Massacre'', it was still something that would have cost the lives of millions of people.


    However, through a series of coincidences, it had somehow been nipped in the bud.


    Rathal hadn''t even taken ten steps away from the crater when he suddenly felt the presence of someone behind him.


    It was as if the person had just phased into existence behind him, there were zero signs of the person''s appearance, not even a spatial ripple to tell him that teleportation had taken ce.


    His blood turned cold as he instantly turned around and roused his magic power while assuming a battle-ready stance.


    He activated the unique skill he had just used to ''end'' the tenth finger and a few other skills at once as he gazed at the woman who had suddenly appeared behind him.

 Chapter 210 Two Descents In One Day

    Rathal activated the unique skill he had just used to ''end'' the tenth finger and a few other skills at once as he gazed at the woman who had suddenly appeared behind him.


    She was walking around the crater that he had made when he killed the tenth finger, with a hand on her chin and a pensive look on her face.


    Possessing waist-long light green hair with a gentle shine and pale limbs which would undoubtedly shine white even in darkness, the woman had long pointed ears and a small crown of flowers that rested on her head.


    Her emerald green eyes gave her a mysterious atmosphere while her long white dress revealed her simple yet feminine curves.


    With each step she took, the barren ground at her feet regained its vitality right before Rathal''s eyes, with small grasses growing and flower buds spouting from the earth.


    The moment Rathal met her eyes, he deactivated his skill and withdrew his energy, as he understood two things.


    One was that she had zero hostile intent towards him, and the second was that fighting her was futile.


    Just like how the now deceased tenth finger understood that fighting Rathal was futile, Rathal understood that if he was to fight this woman, he would lose even if she didn''t retaliate.


    Her appearance was an appearance that not many humans were familiar with, but a great majority of the Elves were aware of.


    "...goddess of life, nature, the forest and the elves, Aphine."


    Hearing Rathal''s mutter, the woman stretched out her arm towards the crater and clenched her fist as the ambient magic power trembled lightly before replying.


    "I''m quite lost, what could possibly make you think of me as a goddess?"


    Her voice was like a melody to Rathal''s ears, with each word releasing causing a wave of calming aura that spread out from her person. It even made him forget about the fact that the goddess had just done something to the space around the crater.


    Rathal felt like his soul was being cleansed just by listening to her voice. He shook his head for a moment before answering.


    "Your appearance is exactly like the statues in the temples depict you to be. Besides..."


    "Besides...?"


    She tilted her head to one side, causing some locks of hair to fall over her face, however, as if someone else was present, the hair was lifted off her face and tucked behind her ear.


    Rathal didn''t need to be a genius to understand who was responsible, he could see with his eyes exactly who it was.


    ''A spirit.''


    He didn''t have the Loved By Nature title like Evan did. He was simply just strong enough to see the immaterial spiritual bodies of the spirit race''s members.


    His eyes darted around for a second and he was able to confirm that at the very least, there were a hundred high-ranked spirits present, with thousands of mid-ranked and tens of thousands of low-ranked spirits crowding around in the area around her.


    And the number was increasing by the second.


    He took his mind off the spirits as he continued his earlier statement.


    "Besides, there''s so much divinity pouring out of your body that you couldn''t possibly be a mortal."<sub> </sub>


    "Oh..."


    That was the reason why Rathal had concluded that fighting was futile, the sheer amount of energy she was passively emitting was more than a dozen times greater than that of all the members of ''The Five''bined.


    And that was what she was just passively emitting! He couldn''t even fathom just how much energy she actually had inside her body.


    "...True, no mortal could possibly hold this amount of energy without imploding."


    <o>,m She replied as she picked one of the cat-shaped fire spirits and petted its head, asionally petting a few of the other spirits that nuzzled against her.</o>


    The goddess Aphine was one of the other gods who were worshipped on Aidos besides Artemisia. The race where most of her believers came from, was none other than the elven race.


    The Elvesuded her as the guardian of nature and the forests, as well as the creator of their race. However, thest part wasn''t truly correct as creating entirely new races wasn''t exactly something that was within the domain of the gods.


    She was only responsible for bringing the first elves to Aidos, and she did so on Artemisia''s orders. However, those elves had mistaken her as their creator and passed this information down to their descendants, thus the myth about her being the creator of the elves was born.


    Rathal stared at the goddess who was chatting with the high-ranked spirits while having a bright smile on her face as he wondered why she hade to where he was in the first ce.


    ''It isn''t because I killed an elf, right?''


    He was about to ask when she beat him to the chase and exined the reason for her presence.


    "Well, I personally don''t have any business with you Rathal, however, ''My Lady'' is the one who wishes to speak to you."


    As soon as she spoke, the atmosphere around her changed and became heavier. More divinity spread out of her body, enough to give Rathal a hard time just standing as it took his all to not forcefully drop to his knees from the pressure.


    Suddenly, the pressure disappeared as if it was never there, along with all the divinity emitting from her body.


    Rathal looked up and noticed one major difference.


    ''Her eyes!''


    Her formerly emerald green eyes were now a bright gold colour as she looked around with an unfocused gaze.


    The spirits surrounding her all unconsciously retreated momentarily before jumping back towards her with even more fervour, with some directly transforming to their full human forms and hugging her tightly.


    [These little critters...]


    An exasperated voice rang out as the goddess pulled off the spirit on her head and turned her gaze to Rathal.


    [Give me a moment.]


    Rathal then spent the next few minutes witnessing how a goddess coaxed a few dozen thousand spirits and somehow got them to leave her alone.


    [Finally. They weren''t this clingy when I came herest time. Or is it because I was in a mortal''s body?]

 Chapter 211 How Does One ‘See’ Time?

    While the goddess muttered to herself with a pensive look on her face, Rathal was racking his brain trying to think of ''who'' the ''person'' in front of him was.


    ''That''s definitely not Aphine. It''s apletely different god.''


    He understood that it was Aphine''s body but someone else was currently inside it. The voice was also different too, so he searched his memories trying to think of any god who Aphine could possibly refer to as her dy'' and allow to possess her body but he came up with zero answers.


    This was natural, not much was known about the personal rtionships the gods had with each other.


    In the end, he decided to think of all the golden-eyed goddesses in Aidos'' myths and it didn''t take him long to arrive at the answer.


    In fact, it was the most obvious option that he should have chosen from the start.


    "...goddess Artemisia."


    [Hmm? Did you realise? Now that makes things easier for me.]


    Artemisia casually replied upon hearing Rathal call out her name. She took a step towards Rathal with her hands behind her back as she began to ask.


    [How do you Rathal, see ''Time''?]


    "Huh?"


    He was initially confused upon hearing her words, but he calmed himself and quickly replied to her with a question of his own.


    "How am I supposed to even ''see'' time?"


    [Hmm...true. That''s something impossible for the current you.]


    Artemisia stopped bout a metre away from Rathal as she sunk into her thoughts for a moment before continuing.


    [I see time as a single solid straight line, one that branches out into an infinite number of illusory lines, representing the various possibilities of the future.]


    As she spoke, she waved her hand and generated an image in front of Rathal, one depicting exactly what she was saying.


    A single thick straight golden line ran through a dark space, branching out into countless thinner faint brown dashed lines.


    [These possibilities are infinite in number and increase by the day.


    However, in the end, only one of these possibilities would happen.]


    [As for the other possibilities, they might as well have never existed.]


    As she spoke, one of the various thin dashed lines changed into a thick golden straight line, with the dashes closing up as it ran through the dark space uninhibited.


    Simultaneously, the other thin faint brown dashed lines all disappeared as if they were never there before.


    Although Rathal was confused as to why she suddenly said this, he decided to wait for her to finish before asking questions.


    [I have seen various possible futures of this world, Aidos. And in most of them, Rathal Cox is not supposed to be on this continent at this point in time.


    Rathal Cox is supposed to be somewhere else, attempting to gain something that would make him stronger and reduce the chances of any of this world''s bleak futuresing to pass.


    The kind of bleak future where the entirety of the goes ''BOOM''. And explodes into chunks of dead rocks, before slowly disintegrating into space dust.]


    She generated a small illusory video of a exploding into bits and held it up towards Rathal''s face, reying it multiple times as she gave a sad smile.


    [It looks beautiful, don''t you think?]<sub> </sub>


    "..."


    Rathal was at a loss on how to answer that question, however, Artemisiaughed as she patted his shoulder and spoke.


    [I''m just kidding.


    However, what I said about how Rathal Cox is not supposed to be here is true.


    Sadly, due to my actions and that of a variable I introduced, Rathal Cox is currently here and not where he is meant to be.


    And even more unfortunately, by the time he gets back, the window of opportunity would have been closed and he would have forever missed the chance to gain this particr item that was supposed to increase his power.]


    Artemisia held out her palm towards Rathal and a small grey crystal that was no more than 15cm in length and 7cm in width appeared in her palm.


    Holding this crystal up, she finalised her speech.


    [My presence here, is intended to correct the changes that came about as a result of the actions of my variable.]


    Rathal was silent for a moment before he opened his mouth and asked slowly.


    "So, you came to give me this item?"


    However, Artemisia instantly refuted his words.


    [Give you? Heck No.


    Do you have any idea how much stronger this item would make you? It won''t be an instantaneous increase in strength; however, it doesn''t change the fact that by using this you would eventually be more powerful than you are now.


    And no matter how powerful you are as a transcendent, you are still a mortal in the end. Even worse as you are one of the most powerful and most influential mortals in this world.


    I dare say that you bing stronger indirectly affects the fates of everyone else in the world in various ways.


    So, the action of me giving this to you and directly making you stronger is a MAJOR action that influences this world and falls under the category of things I''m not allowed to do.


    Well, I could do it and get away with it but now is a delicate time for me. I''d rather not draw the attention of the other gods for now.]


    "What?! Then telling me that there exists a future where the world might be destroyed isn''t a direct MAJOR action?"


    In response to Rathal''s question, Artemisia tilted her head to the side and asked.


    [Who said I was talking to you when I said that?]


    "...What?"


    [I was indeed speaking about Rathal Cox, but I was only speaking to myself and not ''to'' Rathal Cox. If Rathal Cox happened to hear my words, then that''s just an unfortunate coincidence.]


    Her words made Rathal think back to everything she said, and he realised that whenever she talked about the possible future and where he was meant to be, she never used the pronoun ''you'' or the words ''you are''.


    She either used the pronouns ''his'' or ''him'', or just tantly said his full name.


    It was simple wordy that Artemisia used, and she had gone around all the restrictions that prevented her from taking direct actions.


    [Oh well, if you really wanted to know why I took the pains toe here then maybe I might just be a benevolent goddess and enlighten you.]

 Chapter 212 The Goddess’ Action

    [Oh well, if you really wanted to know why I took the pains toe here then maybe I might just be a benevolent goddess and enlighten you.]


    Her words brought him out of his thoughts and he stared at her in silence for a few seconds. From what she just said, he understood that she ''wanted'' him to ''ask'' her why she was here.


    And that he did.


    "So, what is it that would cause the goddess toe down all the way from her divine realm?"


    [Pfft. ''Divine Realm''. Like such a ce exists.


    Besides a few oddities like me and some other high-ranked gods who reside in higher dimensional spaces, most of the gods just reside in worlds like this one.


    But, that''s beside the point.]


    She walked towards the crater not far from them as she continued her words.


    [Since you wish to know why I am here so much, then I might as well just tell you.]


    Stopping at the edge of the crater, she stretched her hands out and spoke.


    [While I was doing a little sweep of the situation on one of the worlds under mymand, I discovered a scenario where one of the most powerful existences of the world had just killed a member of the race one of my subordinate gods was assigned to govern over, along with a member of a race from another world.


    So, I borrowed the body of the subordinate god in question and made my way to the scene to ''investigate''.


    In the end, I concluded that it wasn''t worth my attention and decided to take my leave after monologuing to myself for a bit.


    And since the two souls of the deceased existences ''happened'' to be sealed in space, decided to take them away lest they end up causing harm to innocents.


    But since I only had two hands and there were two souls, I had to drop the thing in my hands so I could pick up the souls.]


    As she spoke, she dropped the grey crystal in her palm on the floor, before stretching out her hands and grabbing two balls of light that floated towards her from the centre of the crater.


    [After that, I decided to leave the world as I had spent too much time there, leaving the thing I dropped on the ground where a transcendent level mortal coincidentally happened to be nearby.


    However, while the thing I dropped might be useful to transcendents, it was useless to me as I had long surpassed that stage so I just left it there.


    If the transcendent happened to pick it up after I left, well, that''s not my problem per se.]


    She turned around and gazed at Rathal for a moment, before her body flickered out of existence, leaving the stunned transcendent-level human there.


    A few momentster, Rathal snapped out of his shock and walked up to the crystal, picking it up and dusting it before looking it over.


    "This is aw crystal with a basic rankw inside it."


    He thought about the words Artemisia spoke right before she disappeared and shook his head as he ced the crystal into his pocket and left the scene.


    Meanwhile, Artemisia who was still in Aphine''s body was floating in the void of space with two souls in her both hands while gazing down at a particr spot on the Alpha continent of Aidos.


    ''Good, he got the hint.''


    She clenched her fists and squashed the two souls in her hand, shattering them to nothingness as shepletely terminated the existences of the tenth finger and her contracted demon.


    She was about to turn around when she suddenly felt dizzy and temporarily lost control of the body she was in.


    Her left eye turned Emerald green as the worried voice of the body''s owner rang out.


    "Mydy! Perhaps..."


    [Calm down Aphine.]


    Artemisia paused for a moment before continuing.


    [My evolutionary cycle isplete and all the perquisites have been met, I''m advancing to the superior stage.]<sub> </sub>


    "So soon?! We have to get your soul fragment back into your body quickly.


    If the other gods sense your aura, they might not be able to sit still anymore upon discovering you have gotten stronger.


    Especially that wretched bitch!"


    Aphine turned her gaze towards the Dark continent as she spoke with unconcealed anger, however, she calmed herself quickly and spoke to Artemisia.


    "My Lady, focus on concealing your aura. I''ll handle the teleportation."


    As she spoke, she activated her ''Authority'' over space and silently muttered four sets of coordinates to herself.


    [Thank you Aphine.]


    A small smile bloomed on the goddess'' face as her second eye returned to its emerald green colour, signifying that Artemisia''s soul fragment within her had entered a dormant state.


    "Dimensional Move."


    With those two words, her body disappeared in a sh of light.


    �� �� ��


    Underground Facility


    Unknown Ind


    January 21st


    Year 1052


    The Fingers of the Demonic Hand sat at a long rectangr table, with each one of them having sombre looks on their faces.


    Not all of them were present, but it did nothing to hide the depressing air in the room.


    "I can''t sense her soul anymore."


    The words spoken by the person seating at the head of the table caused the expressions of the ones present to distort.


    "The connection was cut at first, but her soul still existed, however, now I can''t sense her soul again."


    After they spoke, one of the other Fingers seated at the table posed a question.


    "She was posted to the Great Western Empire, right?"


    "Yes, but her exact location was unknown. She had multiple bases of operations in the Great Western Empire, the Desert Country and the Beast Kingdom.


    It''s hard to know exactly where she was at the point of her death."


    "This makes finding out who killed her to be more difficult. She could have been taken out by one of those ''Ten Swordsmen'', the Desert country''s ''Warlords'', or the Beast Kingdom''s ''Beast Masters'', maybe even the Beast King himself."


    The others in the room nodded upon hearing the words of the person who spoke, however, the one seated at the head of the table shook their head before saying.


    "Finding out who killed her isn''t the issue, the real issue is that everything she was nning was most likely found out by the other party.


    Whatever she was nning is now officially scrapped.


    There is also the possibility that all of her subordinates have been wiped out too.


    This is the second time our ns are going awry in the span of a single year. And it''s just when we started taking major action.


    Tsk..."

 Chapter 213 The ‘Fingers’ Meet

    "...Tsk"


    The person at the head of the table turned towards the third seat on the right side of the table and spoke to the person seated there.


    "Speed up your ns concerning the undead in Cheverton."


    To their words, the one who was spoken to, the Eighth Finger, replied.


    "This would make them weaker than we originally nned."


    "Do it anyway, and watch the situation closely.


    I want to see if all these are just a series of coincidences. Something I highly doubt."


    The eighth finger nodded as he arose from his seat, a dark mist emanating from his body as he spoke.


    "Even if they''d be weaker, I''d make up for it with numbers. In the end, they should be enough to wipe out the northern part of the Great Western Empire."


    �� �� ��


    Mansion of the Damned, 9th Basement Floor


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum


    January 23rd


    Year 1052


    Two days after sessfully clearing the thirtieth floor of the Mansion of the damned, Evan''s group began their journey back to the surface.


    They had challenged another boss room after defeating Ocsuat, with the intention to acquire the materials for the quest that Evan had almost forgotten he epted.


    He also nned to see if he could mimic the skill Ice Age skill, however, to his surprise, the second boss they challenged did not have the skill.


    The moment Evan concluded that it did not have any particrly appealing skills to him, he and Pride worked together and made short work of the boss monster.


    Sadly, the duo only gained one level from defeating it as the level difference between them wasn''t so much anymore.


    Even so, it did not change the fact that their strength had improved substantially aftering to the dungeon.


    Evan was sure that the moment they went back to the guild, all their adventurer ranks would be instantly upgraded.


    The group continued butchering all the monsters on their way back, speed-running through the dungeon as they raced back to the top.


    And after killing all the monsters on floors thirty to ten, Evan and Pride gained two more levels, with Eliza gaining three more as the battle priestess took it upon herself to kill even the weakest monsters they found, her goal being to catch up to the levels of Evan and Pride and close the 10+ level gap.


    "Don''t overwork yourself, Liz, there''s still a lot more stuff you can use to level up. Like the thousands of undead, we''re about to go wreck.


    We can even enter the ''Tower of Avarice'' in Osto too."


    "And your levels would keep going higher and sooner orter I''d be left in the dust.


    I don''t like that."


    Eliza replied to Evan''s words as she disabled her active skill and withdrew the magic power back into her body while staring at her staff.


    "I should have listened to dad and learnt attack magic."


    The battle priestessmented herck of offensive magic capabilities while ignoring the strange gaze that Evan was giving her.


    ''You do realize that some attack mages on your level may not stand a chance against you, right?''


    Of course, he didn''t voice out his thoughts and only patted the blonde teenager''s hair, causing him to nearly have his head bashed in by her staff.<sub> </sub>


    "Hey Liz, we really need to talk about your domestic violent tendencies."


    "I wouldn''t have them if you didn''t st-!"


    [...!]


    [Huh?!]


    Eliza''s speech was suddenly cut short when she suddenly turned around and stared at the stairs from the tenth floor that they had just climbed.


    Ka manifested her physical body and red down the stairs while Amy''s expression turned strange as she looked in the same direction.


    Naturally, Pride and Evan noticed this strange reaction from all three of them and asked what was wrong.


    "I-" [Mas-] [The-]


    The three ended up speaking at the same time, only to also stop simultaneously to let the other person speak first.


    In the end, Ka took the mantle and spoke first.


    [Master. There''s lightninging.]


    "Huh?"


    [A big source of lightning ising in our direction. It''s quite deep but it''s moving fast and closing the distance.]


    As the great spirit of lightning, Ka could obviously sense lightning of all types and colours, and even tell if a person possessed lightning magic or a lightning-rted skill just by being near them.


    Even if one was using a concealment skill to cover this fact, it was impossible to escape her senses. She could also tell when someone was casting a lightning magic spell within a certain range around her, even if they were hiding all traces of their magic power.


    And now, she had sensed that someone or something that had enormous amounts of lightning energy was quickly closing in on their general direction.


    She exined further saying that they were most likely on a lower floor, however, whenever they reached a point right under the group, the ''source of the lightning'' would turn around and go up a higher floor, getting closer in the process.


    She had noticed it earlier and ignored it, however, after the source of the lightning had done that three times, she could not ignore it anymore.


    "What the? Is someone following us?"


    That was Evan''s first reaction, however, he decided to hold on and listen to Eliza and Amy first.


    "I don''t think this is as important as someone following us but my skill just felt weird, like it IS in a state of half activation.


    Furthermore, it felt as if someone close to me was getting closer to us.


    It''s quite an indescribable feeling so I don''t know how to exin it. Like a long-lost sibling suddenly finding you once more?


    Putting it into words is kinda hard.


    The battle priestess scratched her hair as she unsessfully tried to exin what she was feeling.


    "I felt the same way when I first saw Amy but it''s stronger now for some reason."


    The moment those words left her lips, Evan''s expression changed as he grabbed her shoulders and asked.


    "Which skill of yours is acting strange?"


    "Huh? Didn''t I say? It''s my Breath of Life. Why?"


    Evan turned towards the fire spirit and Amy nodded to him and spoke.


    [Same thing.]

 Chapter 214 Series Skill Resonance

    As always, the fire spirit''s words were scarce but Evan was able to get the general picture of the situation from them


    While increasing their movement speed as they headed outside the dungeon, Evan asked Amy and Eliza a few more questions and was able toe to a conjecture.


    After confirming with Amy and Eliza that their skills were currently stronger and more potent than normal, he and Pride instantly understood what was going on.


    "Series Skill Resonance."


    That was the phenomenon that both Eliza and Amy had been experiencing.


    When two users of unique skills from the same series were together, their skills resonated and became more powerful than normal.


    The more wielders of the series were present, the more powerful the resonance.,


    This was part of the reason why the previous seven heroes fought together a lot. Their skills resonated with each other and became many times more powerful when they were together.


    As for the feeling that Eliza described as ''finding a long-lost sibling'' Evan had experienced it before so he was able to confirm that this was Amy and Eliza, sensing the nearby Breath Series Skill wielder.


    He had felt something simr when he first met Laurene, however, he had just thought she was ''familiar'' and didn''t dwell too much about it. (Refer to Evan and Laurene''s first meeting in Chapter 5)


    As for Pride, she possessed a series skill herself, as with her siblings and the other members of the ''Seven Deadly Sins'', as such she knew of series skill resonance.


    It is just that the two had been around people with the same series skill as them for extended periods of time, as such, that feeling had be somewhat normal to them, hence they did not immediately think about skill resonance when they heard Eliza''s words.


    "Coupled with what Ka just said, it seems that the person who''sing towards us is the user of the Breath of Lightning skill, hence the reason why Ka identified them as a ''huge source of lightning''."


    The moment Evan said that his feet slowed and he immediately came to a halt.


    Pride and Eliza gave him questioning looks but Evan had already sunk into his thoughts by this time. The next moment a look of realization shed in his eyes as he turned and asked Ka.


    "How close is this person?"


    [Very close. They''re faster than us and their speed increased when we started moving. I''m not sure but they''re probably one or two floors below.]


    Evan nodded upon hearing her words and spoke up.


    "Well, there''s a 90% chance that whoever ising towards us might not be hostile."


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    Pride asked with a confused expression on her face. She did not understand how Evan managed to conclude that the person who was most likely following them was not hostile.


    The space they were in was too narrow for all of them to go all out without friendly fire if it came to a fight, so Pride suggested they look for somewhererger.


    However, Evan stopped and began to say that so her confusion was only natural.<sub> </sub>


    "Even if the person was hostile. The current us have less than a 10% chance of being able to get out alive.


    Our chances of winning are even less."


    The high demon frowned upon hearing Evan''s words and was about to speak but there was a loud ''bang''ing from the distance.


    [They''re here.]


    Ka''s words rang out at the same time as the ground heard the sound of thundering from down the corridor.


    After the noise, they began to hear the screams of monsters as the hallway around them was suddenly lit up with a light brighter than that of the magic stones in the ceiling.


    Right after that, the light died down as Pride and Eliza instantly took battle-ready positions while gazing down the corridor.


    [The lightning stopped.]


    At the same time Ka spoke, they began hearing footsteps echoing in the now quiet hallway as Evan began speaking.


    "If my guess is correct, then the person walking down that corridor is an S Rank adventurer."


    Pride and Eliza''s expressions morphed into ones of shock upon hearing Evan''s words. They instantly understood why he said they had little to no chance of winning in a fight.


    The person that was walking towards them was the one responsible for leaving the de wraith that Eliza fought in the monster room nearly a month ago, Leviron, on the verge of death just by blitzing past it.


    "In democratic terms, she''d be considered the Vice President. In aristocracy terms, she could be considered the empress or Prime minister.


    Second inmand of all the Armed forces in the city-state of Magic, Kasteblum. And one of the few existences I know of in the world who can give Chief court mage Jenson a run for his money when ites to using lightning magic."


    As he finished speaking, the figure of the person walking towards them came into view. It was a tall dark-skinned beauty.


    She was about 6 feet two inches, and her messy waist-length hair that covered her ears was a glossy ck colour with golden highlights.


    Although she had thick eyebags under her dark eyes, it didn''t seem to diminish her beauty in any way.


    She had a beautifully sculpted face and a well-proportioned body, dressed in a simple body-fit ck shirt that entuated her curves with a pair of simrly coloured jeans and leather boots.


    Hanging around her waist, was a utility belt with three small pouches that Evan guessed were magic pouches with space expansion and weight reduction magic applied to them.


    Her long slender arms had two bracelets with different coloured gems on each one, with one of the gems reflecting light in the group''s direction as she rose her arm and ran it through her hair.


    Confirming her appearance to be the same as the one he saw in the game, Evan gave a polite bow as he greeted her.


    "Nice to meet you. Vice-Chief Grand Magus, Joanna Ritz."

 Chapter 215 Sleep Deprived Mage

    Chapter 215 Sleep Deprived Mage


    "Nice to meet you. Vice-Chief Grand Magus, Joanna Ritz."


    Hearing her name from Evan''s mouth, she narrowed her eyes as she stared at him, her gaze then moving towards Eliza and then to Pride.


    She looked at Pride a bit longer, tilting her head to the side as a look of confusion shed in her eyes momentarily.


    Turning back to Evan and Ka who was floating beside him, she finally opened her mouth and spoke.


    "ck Hair, grey eyes with golden symbols in them. Side by side with a spirit.


    I only came to see who was resonating with my skill but I didn''t expect to meet the old man''s target here too."


    She spoke slowly, as if the mere act of moving her mouth was tiring for her, however, her words were clear and distinct, allowing her listeners to hear her properly.


    "You''re...What was the name again?


    Ah!


    Evan? Was it?"


    "That''s definitely me. And by old man, I''m guessing you mean the chief grand magus?"


    "Yes, yes. That old man who has lived too long for his own good."


    Evan chuckled as he heard her address the Chief grand magus just like she always did in the game, in a way that never failed to surprise the other mages of Kasteblum.


    "Gimme a sec."


    She opened up one of her magic pouches and pulled out a small device, amunication artifact with her seal as vice chief grand mage inscribed at the back.


    It looked like a pocket watch and had multiple buttons around it, with a long golden chain that she wrapped around her arm before pressing one of the buttons repeatedly.


    *CLICK! *CLICK!! *CLICK!!!


    She kept on pressing the button repeatedly until an annoyed voice rang out from the speaker of the device in her hands.


    [Oy! What the hell''s wrong with you brat?! Do you thi-]


    The voice of an obviously pissed-off grand magus rang out but Joanna didn''t even wait for him to finish before speaking.


    "Hey old man, remember that kid you told me to look for?"


    [For the love of all that is good and just, stop interrupting me when I''m speaking. And yes, I remember, I''m not senile.]


    "Oh, sad. Anyway, I think I just found him."


    [What do you mean by ''sad''?! And if you''ve found him then bring him here already!]


    "k."


    [Yes, an-!]


    Before the grand magus could even say anything more, Joanna already cut the connection and turned to Evan.


    "Um...you heard him, right?"


    Hearing her words, Evan facepalmed and replied with a sigh.


    "You know. One of these days, you''re probably gonna be the first person to achieve the feat of making an Epic-level existence die from a stroke."


    "Hmm? Can that old man even get sick?"


    "He will if you keep treating him like that."


    Evan''s reply made her ce a hand on her chin as she thought to herself for a moment before saying.


    "If he gets sick, then he''d have to step down. If he does, his position woulde to me?


    No, not good.


    I''m already low on sleep as is, if I take his post, I''d barely be able to sleep at all."


    "Then try not to be the reason he falls sick in the first ce."


    "That sounds troublesome. Should I just go permanently home after all?"


    "Sadly, Miss Joanna, if you did that then Kasteblum''s power structure would temporarily copse."


    The vice chief grand magus ran her hands towards her hair as she shook her head and replied.


    "That''s even more troublesome."


    Evan who had begun walking with her while engaging her in a conversation turned around and signalled Pride and Eliza to follow before replying to the obviously sleep-deprived woman.


    As for Eliza and Pride, the two of them looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders before deciding to follow the young hero and the vice chief grand magus who had somehow be fast friends.


    ''Even so, this is a little bit too fast, isn''t it?''


    Those were Eliza''s thoughts as she watched the woman turn her dark eyes in the direction of an iing group of de wraiths, seconds before they were swallowed up by golden lightning and turned to ash.


    She then turned back to Evan before asking a question that would make a certain red-robed mage who was currently in the Chief grand magus'' office, tremble with fear.


    "Perhaps I should train the old man''s personal assistant, that way he''d be able to take the position when the old man croaks."


    "Why are you talking like his death is a certainty...?"


    "Isn''t that what happens when normal humans reach a hundred years of age? Oh, but he''s strong, even more so than I am, so he''d probably live about five times that without issue.


    Too bad...


    So much for betting on his old age."


    And that was how the weird conversation between the two series skill holders went as they made their way outside the dungeon.


    �� �� ��


    With Joanna in tow, it didn''t take the group more than an hour to find their way back to the surface.


    They were met with a city filled with snow-covered buildings and roads, making them remember that they were currently in the winter season.


    ''I almost forgot because there aren''t any seasons in the dungeon.''


    Their unexpected emergence with the Vice-Chief grand magus shocked the hell out of the adventurer''s guild officials who were present.


    They quickly handled the checking out process for the group without even waiting for them to say a word and sent them on their merry way.


    However, they did give Evan weird gazes when they saw him actually keeping up a conversation with thezy entric woman.


    The young hero was unaware of the fact that he had be a living legend to the people of Kasteblum who knew just how much their vice-chief grand magus liked to mince her words.


    "You guys can go back to the inn for a while, I''d go find out what the Grand magus wants with me."


    [I''ming too!]


    Ka''s excited voice rang out as she wanted to meet the earth spirit who Evan said was with the Chief grand magus and see if it was a spirit she knew.


    The young hero agreed and Ka jumped onto his head like usual as the unusual group of three made their way to the Magic tower standing in the middle of the City state.

 Chapter 216 Joanna Ritz

    On their way to the Grand Magic Tower, Evan continued chatting with Joanna, with Ka asionally interjecting in their conversation.


    Soon enough, it became a two-way conversation between the lightning spirit and the vice-chief grand magus while Evan just trailed behind them while thinking about Joanna''s back story he knew from the game.


    Joanna Ritz was a half-human, half-dark elf who was originally from the Elven Kingdom situated in the northern part of the Alpha continent.


    She was the daughter of a fairly high-ranked nobleman and his human lover, who showed exceptional talent with magic ever since she was young. Although she wasn''t born with a unique skill, it didn''t change the fact that she was the most talented out of all her father''s children.


    The magic attribute she disyed the greatest affinity with, was dark magic. Nevertheless, Joanna was a veryzy person who didn''t want to train her affinity for dark magic at all, simply because she found it to be a hassle.


    All she wanted to do was eat and sleep every day, something that the daughter of a nobleman definitely had no chance of doing as she had duties to deal with, along with the fact that her father pretty much made her train her magic even though she didn''t want to.


    During one of the national event celebrations in En, the kingdom''s capital city, a young Joanna snuck out of the outdoor party venue and wandered around in the nearby forest, chancing upon a ''fallen'' spirit who was on the verge of turning into a mindless beast.


    It was a high-ranked lightning spirit who was in a situation simr to Ka, having a low level despite their status among the spirits.


    Unfortunately, it had be corrupted and was on the verge of turning into a monster. This spirit was the original owner of the ''Breath of Lightning'' series skill, and upon chancing upon the young Joanna, it begged her to end its life before itpletely lost its way.


    The then seventeen-year-old halfling ended up acquiescing to the spirit''s request and after a short battle, she ended up killing the spirit.


    Just before it passed on, the lightning spirit used a strange method and passed down its unique skill to the girl, granting her powerful lightning maniption capabilities.


    But not to forget, this was near a ce where a party attended by various nobles was taking ce, it was impossible for all of them to not notice the signs of battle.


    When people gathered, they were met with the scene of the young Joanna trying to rein in the powerful lightning magic that had mixed with her dark magic and mutated, granting her dark lightning.


    This was when the Chief Grand Magus, Gavin Josey, who was in attendance, swooped in and helped the young girl contain her newly acquired power.


    Afterwards, he then offered to take her under his wing and make her his disciple, something the young Joanna instantly refused, much to the shock of everyone present.


    In the end, the young girl begrudgingly went along with the Grand Magus after being forced by her father who wanted to build connections with the highest-ranking personage in Kasteblum.


    By the time she had realised it, she had ended up spending more than ten years in Kasteblum and had somehow be the vice chief grand magus.


    "For some reason, all those old fogeys (Other grand mages) who didn''t want me to take the position because they wanted it for themselves miraculously shut up for some reason.


    I wonder why?"


    When she asked that question with a confused look on her face, Evan could barely hold his retort back in.


    ''Because you beat the heck out of all of them in your ''sparring'' sessions, that''s why!''<sub> </sub>


    But Evan didn''t voice that out or she might just go and attack Gavin for tricking her into unknowingly proving herself worthy of her current position and shutting up the opposition.


    Of course, the person in question didn''t realise this because Gavin always woke her up from sleep for each battle and the only thing in her head at the time was that she was fighting so she could go back to sleep.


    By the time the trio had reached the Magic Tower, Evan had been joined by the usual group of spirits who always hung around him, with them noisily chattering as they flew around him.


    ''Just where were these guys all this while?''


    The young hero wondered this as he ced his hand in his inventory to look for something, only to end up picking out something else that looked simr.


    ''Huh? Isn''t this...?''


    He was about to put it back when he discovered that it was the guild card he had gotten when he registered in the adventurer''s guild in Merdin almost a year ago.


    ''I have Laurene registered on this thing, I could have just used it to contact her instead of sending Suzanne!


    But Liz did say she was dropping adventuring so she might not have answered.''


    He tossed the card back into the inventory and continued searching for his original target as the group entered the tower and went up the magic-tech lift straight to the top floor.


    Upon arriving at Gavin''s office, they were weed by a red-robed mage who Evan offered his condolences after patting his shoulder, much to his confusion.


    However, the moment he saw Joanna staring at him for an extended period of time, he instantly understood why Evan had done that as a chill ran down his spine.


    The young man promptly escaped after picking up the files he came for, even going as far as to use spatial magic to warp out of the room.


    "...Just what did you do to him this time?"


    "...?


    You''re talking to me?"


    "Who else present would make the poor kid scared shitless?!"


    Gavin snapped at Joanna who was looking around in confusion, with his annoyance reaching new levels when she pointed towards him as an answer to his question.


    In the end, the old man ended up using mental magic on himself to forcefully quell his budding rage before turning to Evan.

 Chapter 217 Talk With Gavin

    In the end, the old man ended up using mental magic on himself to forcefully quell his budding rage before turning to Evan and gesturing for him to take a seat.


    "There are more spirits around you this time."


    "And there are fewer around you."


    Evan pointed to the top of his head where the high-rank earth spirit who was with him before rested as he took a seat.


    Joanna muttered something about wanting to sleep for two weeks before walking out of the room and leaving the two to themselves.


    [Master. I don''t see any earth spirit.]


    Ka spoke disappointedly with a pouting expression on her face as she floated towards Evan''s head and sat down there.


    "Well, let''s just say he''s very shy."


    "Huh?"


    "Cheloy, my contracted earth spirit. Suddenly got up and disappeared somewhere a few minutes ago.


    At first, I was confused but seeing this little one''s appearance, I guess I can sort of understand.


    She''s not a mere high-ranking spirit, is she?"


    Gavin spoke as he stared at Ka with narrowed eyes, causing the young great spirit to stare back at him with a simr gaze.


    "How could you tell?"


    "After contracting with Cheloy for more than a few decades, I''ve be able to sense the ''authority'' of the spirits, quite a bit.


    The ''authority'' she exudes is higher than Cheloy''s despite the fact that he is more powerful, and it is more simr to that of Gnome who I met a few years ago."


    [You met uncle Earth?!]


    Hearing Gavin''s words, Ka jumped off Evan''s head and floated towards him while asking intensely. Although slightly startled, the Grand Magus gave a nod of affirmation causing a strange expression to appear on Ka''s face.


    [Uncle Earth stopped being a recluse?


    Unbelievable. Are pigs flying already?]


    The young great spirit casually spouted words that would definitely piss Gnome off if he happened to hear them.


    "...Dear Ka, why would you think that?"


    [Hmm? Aunty Wind said that the only time Uncle Earth would stop being a recluse and meet someone of his own volition is when pigs start flying.]


    Hearing her reply, both Gavin and Evan facepalmed as they had the exact same thought.


    ''''Just what are you teaching her, Sylph?!''''


    Evan spent a few moments trying to prevent the young great spirit from flying out of the window to check for flying pigs before finally getting back to his conversation with Gavin.


    Of course, discovering that the lightning spirit knew that Sylph was just messing around from the start and was just poking fun at the two of them didn''t make the situation any better.


    "...She seems like quite a handful."


    "Tell me about it.


    ...


    But I like how lively she is so I really don''t want her to change."<sub> </sub>


    Evan replied to Gavin as he gazed at Ka who was floating around with the other spirits in the room while singing some strange song.


    "Where''re your otherpanions?"


    "Hmm? They''re back at the inn, resting. We have been in the dungeon for over a month after all. Even I want to have a nice nap on a proper bed but you called for me, so the order of things changed up a bit."


    Gavin nodded to himself as she opened up his drawer and tossed a small metallic card to Evan.


    "Give that to the red-eyed one. It lets her browse the third and fourth floors of the library."


    "Oh, Nice."


    Knowing how much of a bookworm Pride was, this was certainly bound to be something she would find nice.


    "Why though?"


    "Think of it as a whim of mine.


    Let''s forget about the others and talk about you."


    The old grand magus'' face turned serious as he sat up and continued.


    "So, Evan. The rumours circting around now are that the reason why you ''disappeared'' from home nearly a year ago was because of the otherworldly being you fought in Geto city towards the end ofst year."


    "Yeah. I already kn-!"


    Evan was about to causally reply when he realised something strange with Gavin''s choice of words. He narrowed his gaze at the old man and asked.


    "Why did you call Xakon, an ''Otherworldly being''?"


    The rumours about Xakon that were spreading, were that he was a ''winged humanoid monster''. No one said anything about Xakon being from another world, however, Gavin just referred to Xakon as otherworldly.


    "Xakon? Was that his name?


    Oh well. The reason I said that is simple. He was an otherworldly being after all."


    Evan silently stared at Gavin as numerous thoughts began running through his mind. He was about to speak up when Gavin opened his mouth and spoke.


    "Evan Eris. The countries of this world are not as ignorant as you may think they are.


    Although we may not be aware of the full specifics, it doesn''t mean we arepletely clueless about the state of things."


    The young hero nodded in affirmation to his words, opening his mouth to voice out a reply.


    "I know. That''s why I didn''t hide my eyes. I was betting on the chance that you guys would recognize them."


    He pulled his seat closer to the desk and rested his hands on the table as he leaned forward and asked.


    "How much do you know?"


    �� �� ��


    Twenty minutester, Evan and Gavin were seating in silence as the other spirits in the room, Ka included, had gone out to chase after the trail of Gavin''s contracted spirit who momentarily returned thinking Ka was gone, only to meet the Lighting spirit who was still waiting for him.


    Within the past twenty minutes, Evan had received a quick rundown of just how much the world leaders of Aidos were aware of and he was quite surprised to find it was more than he expected.


    "And here I thought that the ''ruins'' were the reason you guys knew about the dimensional rifts. I had expected you guys to have uncovered some of them and gleaned a bit of information from the shared bases but to think that you were already aware of the rifts beforehand."

 Chapter 218 More On Dimensional Rifts

    "And here I thought that the ''ruins'' were the reason you guys knew about the dimensional rifts. I had expected you guys to have uncovered some of them and gleaned a bit of information from the shared bases but to think that you were already aware of the rifts beforehand."


    The young hero held a hand to his chin as he pondered on what Gavin had told him about.


    Apparently, information about Dimensional Rifts had been passed down among the royal families and heads of state of various countries across with world.


    This led Evan to discover that although the Dimensional Rift on the dark continent was thergest yet, it was not the only one.


    Three other rifts had opened up in the past thousand years, however, these rifts only opened up for a short period of time and spewed out a few things before closing up.


    The first time, the rifts spewed out strange devices which became the basis for this world''s current technological advancements, and the other time it spewed out a bunch of monsters that ended up wiping out a small country.


    Said country was apparently something of a ''World Enemy'' at the time since the acts of cannibalism, genocide and a few other things that they engaged in earned them mass hatred.


    The third time, the rifts brought in a new race of monsters into Aidos, ones who the members of ''The Five'' who were active then, personally took action to wipe out.


    And as for the reason, this wasn''t known publicly, it was simple.


    The world leaders didn''t really want the masses to know about the fact that space could just randomly tear up and spit out enough monsters to run over a country.


    That was something that Evan understood.


    Still, after having his information in the System Archive upgraded with thest system updates, Evan was now aware of some things about higher worlds and he understood that breaking through a higher world''s naturalws of space and tearing a rift open in them, was not an easy feat.


    If it was a simple thing to do, then the demons could have just opened up another rift after the one on the dark continent got sealed.


    ''But three other rifts opened up? And the ces they opened up and what they spat out are quite suspicious too.


    I mean, who the heck opens up a rift just to toss in strange tech into another world? Was it defective or something?


    And the second one was the country that seemed to be considered a ''World Enemy''. Do they even understand what it means to be a ''World Enemy'' or did they just coincidentally use that expression?


    Mayb-!''


    The young hero''s thoughts suddenly came to a halt as a certain possibility popped up in his mind.


    ''Perhaps, the rifts were opened on purpose?


    I already know that Artemisia has a hand in this world''s strange magi technology development.


    What if the first rift was opened by her on purpose to let those items reach here? So, this world could evolve technologically?


    And the second one could have been her trying to wipe out that country without taking direct action.


    It''s only a guess but it kind of makes sense. After all, if what the system info says about ''Laws'' is true, then Artemisia is definitely that powerful.''


    Although his thoughts were slightly derailing, the young hero brought himself back to the current issue as he began thinking about how to move forward after hearing what Gavin had to say.<sub> </sub>


    "How much do you guys know about the ruins you''ve been investigating?"


    "Enough to infer that these ''ruins'' were actually the living quarters of a group of ancient beings who were most likely seven in number.


    And that these ancient beings were probably around before the rift on the dark continent appeared, after all, some of the research papers we found were dated decades before the invasion of a thousand years ago."


    Gavin stood up and walked to the small table on the side, picking up a ss and pouring some water for himself and Evan before returning to his seat and continuing.


    "Although the dimensional rift research and uncovering these strange ''ruins'' that exist all across the continent have been a major subject for the countries of the world. It didn''t have that much high priority.


    After all, it would be much wiser to pour their resources into dealing with their current problems rather than trying to research something that has only happened three times in more than a thousand years.


    However, world leaders have now been given a reason to focus on the research of these symbols. As recently, we have also discovered that there exist people in our current time who are definitely rted to these beings of more than a millennia ago.


    For more than one of such people to appear now, means that ''something'' is bound to happen and we don''t know what that ''something'' is.


    You, Evan Eris, are one of them.


    The symbol in your eyes is exactly like the symbol that is always the ''Second'' out of the group of ''Seven''."


    Evan took the ss of water and downed it before nodding in affirmation as he replied.


    "Makes sense, I am the ''Second'' after all.


    And you said that there are others like me, care to tell me who they are?"


    "Well, there''s only one other person we''ve discovered so far and that is someone quite close to you. Your country''s crown princess Laurene Hayes.


    We discovered this when she showed up at an international conference recently with one of these symbols in her eyes.


    It was quite hard to miss.


    But besides the two of you, no others are known currently."


    Hearing his words, Evan chuckled as he set down the ss on the table and replied.


    "If we want to stay hidden, then you wouldn''t be able to find us even if we were right in front of you."


    "What?"


    Evan didn''t answer Gavin and only did something he hadn''t done in nearly twelve months. Hepletely switched off his mystic eyes.


    And as a result, the crest of Mimicry within them vanished like it was never there, causing Gavin''s eyes to widen in shock.


    The fact that the Seven Heroes could deactivate their mystic eyes and hide the symbols was something not many knew.

 Chapter 219 The Potential Consequences Of The Contract

    The fact that the Seven Heroes could deactivate their mystic eyes and hide the symbols was something not many knew.


    This was one of the reasons why there was barely any information on their skills. It was because they only used said skills when fighting and kept thempletely off at other times, after all, the passives still worked even if the skills were not active, just not as potent.


    The previous seven heroes really took to hiding their special abilities from others. All people knew was that they were ''strong'' and had ''special hero powers''.


    "It''s that easy. Laurene and I only let you guys find out about us to draw more attention to the matter of dimensional rifts.


    And not just dimensional rifts, but the other things hidden behind the veils that have been lowered for a thousand years.


    It was the best we could do seeing as we are currently unable to fill you guys in on the details."


    Gavin nodded in affirmation before asking a few more questions bordering on what Evan was able to talk about. The young hero answered the ones he could and stayed silent about the things he could not.


    Eventually, the conversation somehow shifted to the destruction of Kasteblum a thousand years ago at the hands of the ''Seven Strongest Invaders'', with Gavin asking if Pride was one of the said Invaders.


    "Huh? Why would you ask such a thing?"


    Evan neither affirmed nor denied his words, making Gavin narrow his eyes as he replied.


    "The existence of one of the beings who were among the force that Invaded our world in the past is not a small matter.


    If the other nations discovered this, they wouldn''t hesitate to send legions after her just to prevent a repeat of the disasters of a thousand years ago.


    You know what this means, don''t you?"


    "Yeah.


    But your worries are groundless. She currently doesn''t possess the power to perform such mass destruction. Pride is on our side, at least until the D*J%&6 c35j falls."


    Gavin was momentarily surprised by the static noise that suddenly filled his ears and prevented him from hearing what Evan had said, but he quickly recollected himself and asked.


    "What was that?


    Besides, since you say she ''currently'' doesn''t have that power, it means she''d eventually gain it back no? That''s enough for the world leaders to take action.


    And how are you so sure she''s on our side?"


    "Well, ''That'', was the work of the restrictions on me that prevent me from speaking about important details.


    And as for why I''m sure she''s on our side, it is simple. Because I''m on the side of Aidos."


    "What?"


    "Pride is bound to me by contract, and I, am pretty much in the same boat. To put it simply, I am under a contract where I have to work towards saving Aidos from the invaders."


    "So, it was true, huh? The dimensional rift''s seal is really going to break."


    While Gavin was muttering about the indirect answer to one of the questions, that he had asked Evan earlier, the young hero was trying to understand why he had been able to say that even if it was a lie (he was not under any contract to save Aidos), but upon remembering his restrictions were lessened, he instantly understood.


    "Bottom Line is, whatever side I take, is the side she takes. Well, there''s also the fact that she was betrayed by her people thousand years ago and wants to pay them back but that''s not too important."<sub> </sub>


    "No matter how you look at it, that is definitely an important piece of information!"


    Gavin instantly retorted to Evan''s offhandedly spoken words before heaving a sigh of exhaustion.


    "I just wanted to see if you were aware of the implications of what it means to be in cahoots with one of the former invaders."


    "If this is your reaction when I''m with one, I wonder how the rest of the world is gonna react when I find all seven."


    "haaaahh???!!"


    The chief grand magus let out a strange shout as he heard Evan''s words. He began wondering if the kid in front of him truly understood anything he had just said.


    "Chill. The other six would be on our side too.


    They all listen to Pride and her orders are ''absolute'' to them. That''s why I got her on my side first. That way, even if I don''t enter a contract with the rest, they won''t go rampaging like they did a thousand years ago.


    ...probably."


    "Probably?!


    Kid, do you even understand a fraction of how dangerous those seven are?!"


    "I do.


    I understand every single bit."


    "I doubt you do. Because if you did, then you wouldn''t say that."


    Gavin spoke as he put his hands into his drawer and pulled out a memory gem. It looked old and worn out but the green glow in the gem told him that whatever memory was stored in it was still intact.


    "Here, Look at this."


    Using magic, Gavin projected the contents of the memory Gem on the wall for Evan to see, in an attempt to make him understand how dangerous the ''Seven Strongest Invaders'' truly were. (He''s unaware that Evan has memories of the invasion from a thousand years ago.)


    �� �� ��


    The video memory disyed on the wall was that of the city-state of magic, a thousand years ago. It was during the invasion when the Seven Deadly Sins stormed Kasteblum one morning and razed everything in their path to the ground.


    Their target was apparently the Grand Magic Tower, or rather, something that was in the tower and it apparently held so much importance that all seven of them showed up.


    It was the recorded memory of the Chief Grand Magus at the time, who rushed back from the front lines of the war to defend Kasteblum, only to arrive and see the ruins of all the magic towers, save the grand magic tower, surrounded by the corpses of thousands of battle mages.


    He nearly attacked them in a fit of rage, however, he grit his teeth and stopped his anger from taking over him.


    His mental fortitude was something that Evan wished he had as the young hero was sure he would lose himself to rage if he was in that kind of situation.


    "...Why?"

 Chapter 220 Kasteblum, 1000 Years Go

    "...Why?"


    Since it was showing things from the first person POV, Evan could not see the expression on his face but he could imagine how distorted it must have been.


    Perhaps hearing his small mutter, the Pride from a thousand years ago, who was seated on a small throne that had been constructed with magic, closed the book in her hands as she replied.


    "I asked them for something politely, and they refused to grant my request.


    So, I decided to take it forcefully, nothing serious."


    Hearing the words of the high demon, the previous chief grand magus turned towards her, probably ring at her. This allowed Evan to see a glimpse of how Pride was, a thousand years ago.


    Her gaze was she was looking at the chief grand magus as if he was a lower life form, her voice filled with distaste as she frowned and spoke.


    "You''re holding your head up too high.


    Lower yourself."


    Her words were like amand mantra as the ambient magic power pressure around him increased exponentially and forced him down to his knees.


    This alone was enough to show the disparity in power between the full-powered Sovereign Level existence that was the high demon Pride and the Epic Level Chief Grand Magus.


    The video then went on to show how the rest of the seven deadly sins gathered around Pride (except Lust). Envy and Gluttony acted like a big sister taking her little brother out for a trip, Sloth looked like he was sleepwalking, Greed was carrying a bunch of obviously valuable items and Wrath was saying something about the Grand Magus about to go mad from anger.


    All of a sudden, the five of them went silent as their gazes all turned in a certain direction as if looking at something invisible, before moving their gazes along a straight line until they allnded on Pride who had gone back to her book.


    A secondter, a purple-coloured poisoned dagger manifested right beside her head and stabbed into it, spurting out blood that gradually turned ck.


    "Ha! Got you!


    You''d pay for all you''ve done, Demon!!!"


    The figure of a man dressed in ck clothes while sporting a crazed expression manifested beside Pride as the man celebrated his sess in ''assassinating'' the high demon while twisting the dagger in her head and causing blood to stter.


    However, the other Seven deadly sins all sighed as they took steps back. Listening closely, one could hear their mutters.


    "He stained Big Sis'' book? He''s done for."


    "He''s finished."


    "Definitely."


    "His soul won''t` even get to rest in peace."


    Meanwhile, Pride who had a dagger jutting out from the side of her head, heaved a sigh as she spoke in an irritated tone.


    "You''re the one who got yourself."<sub> </sub>


    The moment those words left her mouth, Evan had to tell Gavin to rey the memory because what happened next made no sense whatsoever.


    The man who was holding the dagger into Pride''s head, suddenly appeared in front of Pride, with her fingers wrapped around his neck and his dagger in Pride''s hand.


    What was supposed to be arge poisoned stab wound on her head had disappeared as if it was never there, and even the blood stains were nowhere to be seen.


    The high demon then used the dagger to cut the tendons in the man''s arms and legs, disabling his movements before proceeding to slowly stab the dagger into his head while grasping his neck tightly and looking him in the eyes.


    "I''ve watched this so many times and I still don''t understand exactly what she did there. It didn''t look like an illusion or anything but that''s what made it weird."


    Evan heard Gavin''s words but he kept silent while watching Pride make the assassin wish for death as he thought of what Pride had just done.


    ? ''There''s no doubt, that was her ''Idiosyncrasy''.''


    All of the seven deadly sins had abilities that were neither skills, techniques, magic or spells of any kind.


    These abilities were unique to them and each ''Sin'' had a different ability. Evan knew of the abilities of all the other sins, except Pride.


    In the game, one could tell the effects of their abilities during the boss fights by looking at their character stats and seeing the differences, however, Pride''s ability didn''t even make sense.


    Some yers thought it was an illusion, some thought she was changing positions via some kind of teleportation, while others thought she was bending space.


    There were many theories but no one managed to guess the true identity of her ability.


    Even the previous seven heroes were unable to do so either, so Evan naturally didn''t know what it was.


    Pride had also not used this ability even once ever since Evan had met her, so he couldn''t even study it to try and understand it.


    He tried asking the high demon, but that was futile because she simply stared at him in silence before going back to her book and ignoring him for the rest of the day.


    ''But it''s really deadly.''


    Evan thought as he looked at the figure man who tried to stab Pride,ying on the floor with his arms and legs mangled up with his fingers stuck in his orifices and his dagger stabbed into his head from under his jaw, however, he was still alive for some reason and waspletely conscious as he felt his life slowly drain out of him.


    It was then that thest member of the Sins, Lust, returned from somewhere with a box in her hands and gave it to Pride, making the leader of the deadly sins nod in satisfaction as she got up from her seat and decided to leave.


    The previous chief grand magus tried to stop her but Envy whacked him with her spear, using enough force to shatter the bones of the unfortunate magus while Gluttony drained his magic power to prevent him from using any magic.


    They then teleported away, only for Gluttony to return a few secondster and scream something about their ''sauce not being delicious'' before conjuring an orb of energy and mming it into the ground.


    Watching this, Evan felt like that was how the people who were right beside a nuke felt when it hit its target.


    But as expected of a peak Epic-level existence, that wasn''t enough to kill the previous grand magus even though he was not in a state to battle.


    It did put him out ofmission for the rest of the war, though.

 Chapter 221 Getting Tickets For A Show

    After finishing the video, Gavin thought Evan would be scared upon seeing the great power of the Seven Deadly Sins but the young hero had an indifferent expression on his face.


    "Is that it?


    I''ve seen the ''Seven Deadly Sins'' do worse, even Lust who looks like the least battle oriented among them wiped out a country with an area spanning hundreds of thousands of square kilometres during the war.


    So, this doesn''t even count.


    I mean, even you can do more than what Gluttony did there."


    Gavin was dumbstruck upon hearing Evan''s words, the old mage looked at the young hero who was yawning with an incredulous look on his face.


    ''Wait up! What does he mean by he''s ''seen'' them do worse?


    They were only active a thousand years ago and if he said he''s ''seen'' them...


    Could he have ess to a memory gem with videos of their activities a thousand years ago?


    Makes sense, he did give several hints that pointed towards him being a ''hero''.''


    The old mage arrived at the normal conclusion anyone with a brain would reach upon hearing Evan''s words in this context.


    The thought of Evan having his predecessor''s memories didn''t even cross his mind a bit.


    As for what Evan said about Gavin being able to achieve the same feat, it was true, after all, Gavin was one of the reasons why Kasteblum was considered a world power despite how small they were.


    The old mage in front of Evan was an Epic Level Existence over Level 500 after all.


    "Old man.


    I''m tired so I''m gonna go back. We can talkter as I''d be here for a week before going to Hobha."


    The young hero stood up as he spoke, yawning a bit before turning around and making his way out.


    "Hold on.


    You said you were under a contract to save Aidos, right? Who are you contracted with?"


    "Hmm?"


    Hearing Gavin''s question, Evan turned around and thought about it for a moment before trying his luck with some wordy.


    "You see. It''s not a contract per se, but I still have to save Aidos. I made an ''agreement'' after all.


    And as for who I made said agreement with, you pray to her every day."


    After saying that, he turned around and walked out before Gavin could say anything more. This was exactly why he did not hear the old magus'' reply.


    "But I''m an atheist..."


    �� �� ��


    After Leaving the Chief Grand Magus''s office, Evan encountered Joanna who was talking to a few Senior Mages with one eye closed.


    The poor woman couldn''t even get a bit of sleep after returning from the dungeon because of work. Upon seeing Evan, her second eye opened and she used him as an excuse to run away from the senior mage who was pestering her for something, much to the young hero''s shock.


    She then proceeded to use him as an excuse to shriek all her responsibilities and escape from the Magic Tower, while Evan somehow ended up following her to her private residence.


    "Here."


    The vice-chief grand magus tossed him an envelope and told him it was ''thanks'' for his help. Before the young hero could say anything in response, she kept on talking, ending her statement with very ominous words.


    "It''s some tickets to see some show or something. One of those old fogeys was sharing it and gave me two of them but I''d rather sleep than go watch other people move around on a stage.<sub> </sub>


    By the way, you should leave now. My defensive magic formations activate exactly a second after I fall asleep.


    You might get zapped to death if you''re still here by then."


    Evan didn''t even hesitate to run away, only making it out of thepound about five seconds before he sensed an enormous amount of magic power swelling behind him.


    He looked with his mystic eyes and the enormous amount ofplicated defensive magic formations he saw outnumbered those in the Duke''s residence.


    ''How does she power all of this? And how does she fall asleep that fast?!''


    The young hero sighed as he moved towards the inn while using a bit of fire magic to warm up his body that was getting cold from the snow, and stopping by a roadside shop and having a quick meal.


    He was sipping on his favourite strawberry juice when he noticed a carriage belonging to a restaurant pass by.


    ''The crest on that carriage? Isn''t that the logo of that ce Liz told me about?''


    Evan pulled out the tickets he got from Joanna and alternated his gaze between them, then the carriage in the distance and the clothes shop just across the street.


    ''Let''s do this.''


    He hyped himself up and instantly put his newly formted n to action, beginning with him confirming the date on the tickets and hailing a taxi carriage.


    "Take me to ''The Lotus''."


    �� �� ��


    Abe''s Guest House


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum


    January 24th


    Year 1052


    The next morning, Evan who was finally able to sleep on a proper bed for the first time in weeks, found parting from his bed a bit too difficult to achieve.


    In the end, he had no choice but to do so when Eliza dragged him out while saying something about the inn not serving breakfast again.


    After histe meal, the group converged in Evan''s room, where they began discussing their next set of ns.


    There Ka revealed something that Evan had more or less predicted and had expected from her.


    [Master''s not surprised.]


    "No way! I''m really surprised."


    The young hero replied with a monotone voice as he averted his gaze from the pouting lightning spirit.


    The current Ka wasn''t as small as she used to be before, with her current height being more than five times what it was before.


    The young spirit now stood a bit over a metre tall, with her hair tied up in a long braid that reached just below her knees.


    She wore a slightly loose long-sleeved shirt with ck shorts and a simrly coloured half jacket. While she still had her gloves, they weren''t silk like before but were now ck leather, matching with the boots she had on.


    This outfit somehow matched well with her porcin doll-like beauty and made her look like that cute younger sister that gave one an urge to protect her.


    There''s the question of what to protect her from but that wasn''t really important.


    "Where did you even get this outfit?"


    "Cheloy bought it for me!"

 Chapter 222 Title At End Of Chapter

    "Where did you even get this outfit?"


    "Cheloy bought it for me!"


    It seemed that while Evan was hinting to Gavin about his identity as a hero, the young great spirit had caught up to the runaway earth spirit and had somehow gotten him to buy her a bunch of outfits.


    Apparently, she had even returned to the inn to drag Amy along with her as the fire spirit was also dressed in something simr.


    As for what Ka tried to surprise Evan with, it was the fact that she could now make her bodyrger, but Evan who had temporarily noticed Amy bingrger during the contract with Pride, had guessed Ka might be the same too.


    ''It wouldn''t make sense if a high-rank spirit had arger physical appearance while a great spirit didn''t. And Amy also revealed that even if they weren''t someone with body transformation, spirits are capable of shrinking their bodies.


    Ka also did say she could make her body bigger when she was stronger. And I''m assuming this meant her bing a master-level existence.''


    The young hero coaxed the pouting spirit as he turned to Eliza and asked casually.


    "Hey Liz, so there''s this theatre troupe that''s really famous. They are on tour and they''re having a show in Kasteblum this weekend.


    I got tickets yesterday.


    Do you wanna go see their show this weekend?"


    "Hmm? Sure."


    Eliza replied before turning to Pride and asking her if she wanted toe along. However, Evan heaved a sigh and spoke up.


    "I meant just the two of us, I only got two tickets, after all. Pride gets something else."


    He tossed the card that he had been given by the Chief Grand magus the day before and exined all about the card, from what it enabled her to do, to how she was meant to use it.


    The high demon had a satisfied smile on her face as she studied the card while Eliza muttered something about not being surprised to see Pride being a bookworm as always.


    "Oy yea. The show''s in the evening so how about we do something else to kill time before that?"


    "Something else? Like what?"


    The battle priestess tilted her head to the side as she asked with a tinge of curiosity in her voice,pletely oblivious to the weird gaze Pride was giving her and Evan.


    The young hero, however, saw this and ignored it before cing Ka on the chair beside Pride and taking a seat on the bed beside Eliza as he replied.


    "To be honest, I don''t really know what we CAN do.


    How about we do something YOU like? Go to ces YOU want to go to.


    Maybe go to the park? Go skiing? Do a bit of window shopping? Maybe go ACTUAL shopping? Or we can check out some of the winter events they have here?"


    "You already have this nned out, don''t you?"


    Eliza narrowed her eyes as she asked Evan, however, the young hero noticed he had managed to grab her interest and chuckled lightly as he dealt the final blow.


    "Also, since all of that is bound to leave us tired and hungry, we can have dinner right after. I already booked a reservation at this restaurant called ''The Lotus''.


    Apparently, they''re one of the best."


    His final blow was very effective as Eliza abruptly stood up and grabbed him by the cor before asking with shining eyes.


    "Do you mean the one with the one that''s at the top of Culinary Heights?! The one that has apparently never gotten a bad rating ever since they opened years ago?!"


    "Yep."


    "That''s the ce I couldn''t get intost time because I didn''t have a reservation..."


    Her expression of longing made the young hero burst out into a fit of giggles, earning him a re from the not-so-pleased battle priestess.<sub> </sub>


    "Stop Laughing."


    Sadly, her pouting face as she said that only made her look all the more amusing to Evan as he could barely get his words out between bursts ofughter.


    "Okay, I''ll stop."


    The young hero held his horses, taking care not to trigger her domestic violence tendencies and get whacked with her magic staff as he asked for final confirmation.


    "So...are you in?"


    "Huh? Of course. I''m defi-!"


    The battle priestess replied with a bright smile on her face, only for her words to get stuck midway as a look of realisation shed through her eyes.


    ''Did she finally notice?''


    Those were Pride''s thoughts as she tossed more sugar into hers and Amy''s tea while watching Eliza begin to question Evan.


    "Hey, Evan."


    "Yes, Liz."


    "So, we''re going skiing, shopping, and checking out some of the winter events they have here, right?"


    "Yep."


    "After that, we''re going to watch a show?"


    "Uh...huh"


    "Then, we''re having dinner at a restaurant in the end?"


    "All correct."


    Eliza took a deep breath as if to calm her rapidly beating heart before asking another series of questions.


    "And we''re doing all of these alone? Just the two of us?"


    "Yes. I only made ns for just us two, after all."


    Evan casually replied as he readjusted his shirt cor before bringing out the tickets and reservation notice from his inventory and waving them in front of Eliza.


    Seeing this, the blonde teenager took a step back along with another deep breath while holding her hand over her chest as she asked.


    "Am I reading into this too much? Or are you asking me out on a date?"


    Hearing her question, Evan, who was cing the items he brought out back into his inventory turned towards her with a look on his face that said ''Why ask if you already know?''.


    "Wasn''t that already obvious from the start?"


    The young hero''s reply left the blonde battle priestess lost for words as she just stared at Evan with embarrassment while her cheeks slowly turned red.


    Her blushing face seemed to strike a chord within Evan as the boy was momentarily stunned, before a smug grin crept onto his face as he stood up and took a step forward, making Eliza reflexively take a step back as her face turned redder.


    He chuckled a bit and leaned forward, cing his lips close to the blushing girl''s ear and whispering in a sultry voice.


    "How cute."


    ? ? ?


    Chapter Title: Asking Eliza Out

 Chapter 223 Understanding His And Her Feelings

    "How cute."


    Eliza''s reaction after that, was quite ''explosive'' in a different kind of way as Evan could have sworn he saw steame out of the blonde girl''s head.


    He smiled lightly as he patted her head, before turning around and walking to the door, only to turn back to the still-blushing girl and speak.


    "Oh, you already agreed so you can''t back out now, okay?"


    After saying that, he left the room, leaving the embarrassed battle priestess alone...or not.


    It was only after Evan closed the door that Eliza''s mind finally rebooted and she realised something.


    ''Weren''t Pride and the others still here?''


    She slowly turned around wishing they weren''t but the four life signs she could sense in close proximity told her that her wish did not even have a chance to attempt toe true in the first ce.


    Her eyes caught sight of the quartet who were fed an unexpected amount of dog food this early morning, with four pairs of eyes staring straight at her.


    Pride, Ka, Amy and Kuro were all seated at the table in the room gazing at her as the high demon and the two humanoid spirits who were in theirrger forms, along with the shadow spirit who had no visible appearance change, sipped their tea/milk simultaneously.


    *SLUURP!!


    The sound was the only thing that rang out in the silent room, a few seconds before Pride dropped her teacup and spoke.


    "Don''t mind us."


    Ka instantly followed up her words.


    [You can go after him if you want.]


    And a finisher was delivered by both Amy and Kuro.


    [[We''d just sit here and watch the show.]]


    All four of them simultaneously gestured towards the door of the room, indicating for her to go after Evan, but that only served to increase the blonde girl''s embarrassment to new heights.


    �� �� ��


    Obviously, the current Eliza didn''t have the guts to go after Evan, so she ended up wallowing in embarrassment for the next few minutes.


    To say she wasn''t expecting this, was actually kind of a lie.


    The girl wasn''t dense, she had obviously noticed that Evan''s gaze towards her had recently changed slightly. Like there was something more in it.


    It didn''t take her long to figure out that the young hero might have held some sort of feelings towards her, but while she expected that he would have eventually acted on them, she definitely didn''t expect it to be this soon!


    Thus, she hadn''t noticed how he had casually asked her out on a whole-day date, with the realization only dawning on her when she had agreed.


    "I''m more surprised by the fact that you didn''t notice it after he said ''I meant just two of us''."


    [Even though I don''t know much about that stuff, I realised what master was doing too.]


    Pride and Ka spoke as the two of them finished their beverages and dropped the cups on the table, with Pride asking a question afterwards.


    "So, what are you gonna do about it?"


    "What do you mean by that?"


    Eliza tilted her head in confusion as she asked back, causing Pride, Ka and Kuro to simultaneously sigh in exasperation while Amy just shook her head slowly.<sub> </sub>


    "w-what''s with that reaction?!"


    To Eliza''s question, Pride just facepalmed before replying with a question of her own.


    "The kid has pretty much made his intentions clear with that, so what are your intentions?


    Are you going to reject his advances? Or not?


    Whatever you do, don''t make things awkward around here. It would be very irritating for me."


    With that, Pride got up from her seat and picked Amy up, holding the young spirit''s hand as the two of them left the room.


    Kuro also wrapped his shadow around Ka before the two of them melded into the shadow of the table on the ground and disappeared.


    The blonde battle priestess was left alone in the room, with Pride''s question resounding in her head.


    ''What am I going to do?''


    She questioned herself in silence, tracing her memories back to when she met Evan and trying to figure out how she felt towards him.


    From when she saw the boy in Luka close to a year ago, when he was still acting cranky due to the stress of travelling alone and how she had ended up underestimating him due to his appearance.


    Then moving on to how she spent a few days with him and ended up warming up to him, only for him to vanish after an argument.


    Then Ralphie showing up the next day and her discovering that he was actually a high-ranked noble.


    She thought through their interactions all the time and how they kept in touch despite being at two opposite ends of the country, and how she had freaked out when she arrived at Geto and found him half dead during the battle against Xakon.


    Deciding to follow him and Pride and spending time with them over the past two months, and finally arriving at the current situation now.


    By the time she was done with her reminiscence, Eliza had pretty much figured out how she felt towards Evan, and how he most likely felt towards her too.


    "It''s not like he''s in love with me or anything, I highly doubt it. His feelings for me aren''t that deep.


    At most, it is just a crush..."


    The blonde teenager ran her hands through her hair as she continued her statement.


    "...and I feel the same way too. I have a crush on Evan."


    Her cheeks slowly turned red with embarrassment as she admitted it to herself.


    It wasn''t like it was the first time she had a crush on a guy before so this wasn''tpletely new to her, however, thest time it was someone else who helped her figure out her feelings, not her sitting down to think about it and realizing it herself.


    "I wish I was still at home, maybe then ''she'' would have helped me out on this..."


    She remembered her elder cousin who she looked up to like an older sibling and was more experienced in the matters of the heart before sighing.


    "But if I was still at home then I would not have met Evan, so maybe it is better I left."


    Eliza slowly pulled her legs up to the bed and hugged them as she leaned back and rested on the headboard, unaware of how gloomy her expression became at the thought of not having met Evan in Luka that day.


    It was then that she realised one huge problem.


    "Wait up. What am I gonna wear that day? I obviously can''t dress up like normal."


    The blonde teenager instantly hopped off the bed and bolted to her own room as she began sorting through her clothes to piece together a nice outfit.

 Chapter 224 Contacting Potential Allies And Helpers

    Meanwhile, Evan, who was making his way to the Chief Grand Magus''s office while sipping his favourite strawberry juice, heaved a sigh of exhaustion as he thought about how much mental energy that he had to expend to keep a straight face throughout the time he was talking with Eliza.


    The young hero knew his crush wasn''t exactly averse to the idea of being a ''thing'' with him so he knew he had a chance.


    ''Her expression when she realised was quite cute though.''


    A small smile unconsciously formed on his face as he thought about Eliza, but he remembered he was in public and quickly adjusted his expression so he won''t look like a weirdo smiling to himself while walking.


    Upon reaching the Magic Tower and informing the personnel at the reception that he had an appointment with the Chief grand magus, he took a seat and waited as he went through the list of people he wanted to contact using the chief grand magus'' connections.


    ''If I use him to send more info to Laurene about the Dulhan issue and the demonic hand, it would make things seem a lot more credible and give her an easier time in exining the matter to the Duke and the Emperor.


    I can also use him to contact Amelie in Bonas, her Breath of light skill would be effective. Then I can use him to send a message directly to the Duke too but I''d leave convincing the Duke to Laurene. She''s sure to do a better job than I could.''


    As the young hero''s thought got to this point, he started considering other forces he could enlist to help in the battle against the tens of thousands of undead that the ''Eighth Finger'' was currently brewing in the domains of the traitorous nobles under Duke Cheverton.


    ''The adventurer''s guild, the mercenary guild, the Duke''s knights and some of the Imperial Knights too.


    If Laurene seeds in getting Ralphie and that old idiot toe, then they definitely would note alone.


    Using the Chief Grand magus'' title to send a message to the Emperor would definitely improve Laurene''s chances of seeding.''


    He then finally decided to think about thest force that would be helpful.


    ''The Church of Artemisia.''


    Evan had been purposely ignoring anything that had to do with the goddess because of his personal thoughts towards her, but it did not change the fact that her believers would be helpful against the undead.


    ''Using a god''s power against the undead is basic stuff. If the churches of other gods joined in, it''d be good.''


    The young hero decided to see if he could get Amelie to appeal to the higher-ups of the church since she seems to be an important one among the bishops, or maybe get Artemisia to do that too.


    ''Though that would possibly mean revealing I have a connection with the goddess. Even so, that''s not an issue.


    In fact, I hope to spread that information to the Holy Empire somehow so my movements there would be easier.''


    He clicked his tongue as the multiple conjectures he had over the past few weeks and had been pushing to the back of his mind resurfaced all at once.


    ''Artemisia is sus.


    I knew that from the start but I didn''t think much of it, after all, it was a given that she''d hide stuff from me.


    But remembering how I flipped out in the Graveyard of the Arrogant is what''s making things worse.<sub> </sub>


    If had such a reaction, why could I not remember a single bout of it afterwards? And why did Artemisia make me forget I did?''


    The young hero obviously thought that him miraculously forgetting about having such an explosive reaction was strange as hell. And Artemisia''s reaction afterwards, saying that she wanted to remain silent was another strange thing.


    ''It is very possible, that Artemisia may have manipted my memories. If she could make me forget one thing, then it is possible she could make me forget a lot more.


    Then there''s also the issue with my race revealing itself too, and that new unique skill that temporarily surfaced.''


    He was about to sink deeper into his thoughts when a senior mage came and called out to him, saying that Gavin had confirmed his appointment.


    ''I''d dwell on thister.''


    Evan thought as he stood up and followed the senior mage, deciding to deal with the immediate issues first, before dwelling on matters with higher dimensional beings who may or may not be reading his thoughts.


    �� �� ��


    After contacting the necessary parties using the Chief Grand Magus'' connections and sending a few messages to a few others, Evan left the Magic tower while covering his mouth, trying to prevent hisughter from spilling out.


    ''The look on the Emperor''s face when I showed up in Gavin''s magic projection, it was priceless!''


    Apparently, major powers like the Great Western Empire and Kasteblum had direct magic projection lines that connected to each other, allowing them to contact each other in the case of emergencies.


    However, it was hardly used as the cost of the magic stones required to power such long-distance magic projections for extended periods of time was enormous.


    Even if they were rich enough to afford it, there was no point in doing so when it was not needed so it was usually deactivated.


    As such, Gavin had to first send a message using a system simr to that of the Adventurer''s Guild cards, informing the Emperor about his iing magic projection and waiting a few minutes for the Emperor to activate his own projection artifacts to be able to receive the iing projection message.


    ''It''s like texting someone using your mobilework, telling them to go online on their social media so you can video chat.''


    This was precisely what happened and when Evan showed up in the ''video call'' that the Grand Magus and the Emperor had, the world leader was quite surprised, to say the least.


    He used this chance to inform the Emperor about him sending a letter to Laurene via Suzanne beforehand and telling the world leader not to be too surprised when Laurenees up to tell him about the iing disaster.


    Of course, he was probed for the source of his information, but Evan med it all on Xakon and said he was the reason why he found out about the ns for the Duhan Attack.


    He then further went on to say that Xakon tried to kill him to prevent said ns from being exposed, hence the Geto City incident.


    This was obviously a lie but Evan still said it anyway, it wasn''t like the Emperor had Laurene to confirm if his words were true.


    ''Besides, Laurene''s skill doesn''t work through magic projections, not at stage one or two.''

 Chapter 225 Negotiating With The Guild

    ''Besides, Laurene''s skill doesn''t work through magic projections, not at stage one or two.''


    So, the young hero had no qualms in telling the Emperor this fabricated story, not knowing that Emperor had most likely deduced Evan was lying about the issue and had acquired his information from another source.


    He still wasn''t aware that Rudeus knew he was a hero after all.


    After telling the Emperor to send his regards to the Duke and Duchess, Evan left the magic tower and boarder a carriage to the adventurer''s guild building, intending on submitting the materials for the quests that his group epted before entering the dungeon.


    "There are two sets of materials, though the states of one set is nothing to write home about.,"


    The receptionist at the guild bluntly told Evan as she sorted through the frost boar king corpses that Evan had popped out of his inventory in the guild warehouse.


    Considering their size, they obviously could not be pulled out when in the guild hall so Evan was led to the warehouse with a few of the guild''s dismantlersing over to begin working on the corpses.


    "Oh, yeah.


    For these three specific wolves, I want their pelts. I need to use them to make winter coats. I''de back for thoseter in the day.


    Also, can you rmend anywhere I can get a winter coat made before the weekend?"


    "Before the weekend? That''s a harsh deadline. Any ce that can meet that would most likely charge you triple.


    Are you sure you still want that?"


    Evan pondered on it for a moment before bringing out a few more monster magic stones and corpses, dropping them on the floor and causing the jaws of the receptionist, the dismantlers and the vice guild master who just walked in to drop in shock.


    "There''s no way that all of that fit inside a magic bag."


    The first to recover was the receptionist who calmly spoke while Evan only tilted his head to the side before replying.


    "I never said explicitly stated I was using a magic bag."


    The thirteen-year-old didn''t even bother hiding his inventory skill in the first ce as he kept on pulling out multiple bags of magic stones from his inventory.


    "Stop, Stop, Stoppp!!"


    "Huh? Stop what? And why?"


    In response to his questions, the vice guild master wiped the sweat that had formed from seeing Evan pull out so many materials before replying.


    "Stop casually tossing out bags of magic stones.


    From the quality of the magic power in them, most of them are C-rank magic stones and they''re quite pricey.


    If I let you continue, I have this weird feeling you''re going to make this branch use up its daily budget on just you alone.


    We can''t have that happen as there are other adventurers out there who areing over to sell us mother materials too."


    "Oh...that kind of thing exists?


    Makes sense though."


    Evan''s nodded lightly upon hearing the vice guild master''s words, while the man was busy trying to understand why Evan had so many monster materials and magic stones on hand.


    If only he knew that the young hero in front of him was someone insane enough to challenge a monster room multiple times in a day.


    He looked Evan over and then turned his gaze to the frost boar king corpses, studying them a bit before asking.


    "How many party members do you have?"


    "Two, Why?"<sub> </sub>


    "Nothing serious. Just that you three have to be quite strong to reach floor thirty and even challenge the boss twice, all in just one month."


    The vice guild master here was someone who was nearly level 400, far stronger than the Geto city Guild master that Evan had met before and wasparable to the upper ranks of the ten great swordsmen of the great western empire.


    He was also a skilled mage in his own right and was able to easily identify multiple magic power traces on the corpses of the monsters Evan had brought out.


    Naturally, he could also easily see through Evan''s level of strength and was able to make assumptions about what the boy''spanions could be on.


    "You brought quite a lot for us inrge quantities and considering that this is a city that burns through magic stones like water, the guild is more than happy to buy these stones off your hands."


    He ced his hand on his chin and sunk into his thoughts for a few seconds before telling Evan to call over his party members.


    "It''s so I can collectively raise your ranks using my authority, strong adventurers are always wee in the guild and it would be good if everyone has ranks that are appropriate to their strength and credibility level."


    Pointing at the adventurer guild card in the hands of the receptionist, he continued.


    "That''s yours, right? That D rank card doesn''t match your level of strength at all, and if your party members are the same as you then it is even worse.


    Since you are strong, it would be good for the guild if you can take on higher-level quests, however, if you are unable to ept those quests because of your low rank despite having the necessary ability, that''d be bad.


    So I''d help you out and skip all the tedious processes required to be C rank, but in return, you''d sell all these materials to the guild at a discounted price.


    Let''s say...25%."


    "Huh?!"


    Evan let out a strange sound upon hearing the vice guild master''s final words, before retorting with a loud voice.


    "I know I may be younger than you are but I wasn''t born yesterday, you know?


    There''s no way I''d agree to that. 25% is too much.


    At most 10%."


    In response to the young hero''s statement, the vice guild master wiped clicked his tongue and spoke.


    "10%? Are you for real?


    Even if you wanted to lower it, 10% is too low. Sell it to us for 22%."


    The young hero narrowed his eyes at the man before replying.


    "12%."


    "20% Can''t go any lower."


    "14% Can''t go any higher."


    "This kid...Fine, 19%."


    "This old man. Fine 15%."


    The moment the ''15%'' left Evan''s mouth, the vice guild master suddenly revealed a bright smile as he replied.


    "That was my goal from the start."


    "Huh?"

 Chapter 226 Becoming C-Rank

    "10%? Are you for real?


    Even if you wanted to lower it, 10% is too low. Sell it to us for 22%."


    The young hero narrowed his eyes at the man before replying.


    "12%."


    "20% Can''t go any lower."


    "14% Can''t go any higher."


    "This kid...Fine, 19%."


    "This old man. Fine 15%."


    The moment the ''15%'' left Evan''s mouth, the vice guild master suddenly revealed a bright smile as he replied.


    "That was my goal from the start."


    "Huh?"


    He didn''t wait for Evan to finishputing his words and instantly turned to the receptionist and spoke.


    "15%. Put that down quick."


    "Oy! This old man!"


    "That''s how you do business kid."


    The vice guild masterughed as he spoke, causing wry smiles to form on the faces of the others present.


    One of the dismantlers came up to Evan and patted him on the shoulder before saying.


    "He''s the second son of a Merchantpany who was raised as a backup in case his older brother couldn''t inherit thepany.


    Give up, you''re no match for him."


    �� �� ��


    After the little negotiation that need in the guild''s favour, Evan ended up leaving the guild hall with a lot more money than he entered with, however, his mood was quite sour.


    However, he quickly remembered that he hadn''t changed his party name and ran back into the guild building to change it,pletely forgetting about the previous issue as it wasn''t important.


    After changing the party name from the previously arbitrarily decided ''Rangers'' to ''Anomalies'', he then left the guild and proceeded to move over to his other destinations.


    By the time he had returned to the inn after the day''s errands, it was night time and he was quite exhausted, mentally.


    ''Those dressmakers really seem to like sticking their noses into other people''s love lives.''


    He facepalmed as he remembered the over-enthusiastic set f tailors he met earlier before informing Eliza and Pride about the guild master'' arrangements.


    "So that''s about it.


    With that, we''ve sessfully skipped through all the processes required for the ''C'' rank and gave gotten ourselves a rmendation for B-rank."


    The young hero summarized how he ended up negotiating for an extra benefit when he went back to change the party name while yawning lightly and lethargically leaning on Eliza''s shoulder.


    Such a casual action that would have normally not caused any issues before made the battle priestess tense up, an effect of Evan''s actions earlier in the day.


    However, the young hero wanted nothing more than to sleep at this point as his mental exhaustion was at its peak due to dealing with the overenthusiastic dressmakers in the afternoon.<sub> </sub>


    "Oh, and about those winter coats. I got the fur pelts from the guild so we can stop by a dress shop and get our measurements taken on the way back."


    Evan spoke to Pride as he covered his mouth while yawning once more, before standing up and waving them off.


    "I''m going to my room. Sleep calls."


    Leaving those words, he left the room, leaving the stunned Eliza and Pride who just sighed in exasperation.


    �� �� ��


    The next day, the trio made their way over to the guild and dealt with all the rank updating issues, before making their way over to the tailors to get their measurements taken for the outfits Evan and Pride wanted to get made.


    Eliza originally just followed them because she had nothing to do at the time but Evan ended up talking her into having one made for herself.


    While she was muttering something about it beingpletely unnecessary, she failed to notice the signals that Evan and the tailor measuring her were exchanging with each other.


    After that, Pride went back to the library to bury herself in books while Evan went to meet Gavin and get his help regarding some hidden pieces like the ''Doubler'' that we scattered around Kasteblum.


    As for Eliza, she decided to take another tour around Kasteblum since she was quite free, but it somehow ended up with her scouting potential date spots in the city.


    Like so, the week passed as the group decided to take a well-deserved break from monster hunting and levelling up, indulging in their hobbies or in other pastimes.


    Evan made ns for them to begin their journey to Osto where they would enter the ''Tower of Avarice'' to retrieve Pride''s brother, the ''Demon of Greed''.


    He scheduled the trip to be right after the day of his date with Eliza, something that drew closer faster than even he had expected.


    By the time the two parties involved realised it, the weekend had arrived and the short-awaited say of the date had arrived.


    �� �� ��


    Public Carriage Stop


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum


    January 29th


    Year 1052


    Evan was looking through a magazine he bought from a nearby stand as he awaited hispanion for the day''s nned activities.


    While the boy looked calm on the outside, he was actually a bit nervous on the inside and was only using the contents of the magazine as a means to distract himself.


    The young hero was casually dressed in casual ck jean trousers with a white turtleneck shirt and his newly acquired grey-coloured wolf fur winter coat.


    The ck glove-covered hands that were flipping through the pages of the magazine froze as the young hero sensed a familiar presence iing.


    He turned his gaze upwards and his grey eyes locked eyes with the sapphire-coloured eyes of hispanion for the day.


    She was dressed in a lovely pure white knee-length dress that was cinched at the waist with a wide belt and long ck stockings. A touch of warmth was added to her outfit with the addition of her ck wolf fur coat.


    Her long waist length blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail that swayed slightly with each step she took.


    Seeing her, Evan was dumbstruck for a split second, with his eyes narrowing into a re tinged with a little bit of bloodlust in the next as he swept his gaze around at the passer-bys who were looking at her with cked jaws.


    ''I think I kind of understood why Pride blinded those people a thousand years ago.''


    He heaved a sigh and calmed himself before getting up from his seat and walking up to Eliza with a bright smile on his face.


    "Hey."

 Chapter 227 The Date Begins

    "Hey."


    Seeing Evan act so casually dispelled some of the nervousness that Eliza had been feeling for the past few days. The blonde teenager couldn''t help but heave a small sigh as she waved her hand at him and responded to his ''greeting''.


    They chatted lightly a bit before Evan called for a taxi carriage which the two of them got onto. It was then that Evan clicked his tongue and spoke.


    "Finally."


    "huh? Finally, what?"


    Eliza tilted her head to the side as she asked Evan, however, the young hero''s reply waspletely out of her expectations.


    "Nothing much. Just that today, you look prettier than you already are on a normal basis so there were more ''pests'' staring at you.


    It was a bit infuriating seeing them look at you like that."


    He ran a hand through his hair as he spoke, while facing away from Eliza so she would not see the expression he had on his face at the time.


    ''W-wh-what?!''


    Which was why hepletely missed the sight of the blonde teenager''s face turning redder than a tomato in an instant.


    "Oy, yeah!"


    Evan lightly eximed as he opened up his inventory and pulled out a small flower essory and a hand-held mirror.


    He then moved at a speed that the still blushing Eliza could barely catch and grabbed her hand, pulling her closer before his other hand went towards her hair and ced the essory there.


    ''Magic power traces? Did he just use magic?''


    The girl''s blushing face was reced by a look of confusion as Evan held up the mirror in front of her and allowed her to see how the newly ced essory fit perfectly with her blonde hair and matched well with her ck coat.


    "Oh..."


    "You like it?"


    "Mmh."


    She nodded lightly as she looked up from the mirror to his face, only to realize how close the two were and pull back with a slightly red face.


    Evan was about to speak but there was a knock on the carriage before the driver''s voice saying they were close to their destination rang out.


    "Speaking of which, where is our ''destination''?"


    The blonde teenager voiced out her question as she looked at the passing buildings through the window of the carriage, trying to see if she could recognize what part of Kasteblum they were in.


    ''Huh? Isn''t this the Fashion District?''


    A second after her thought, Evan''s voice rang out as the carriage began slowing down.


    "We''re going to the Clothing shop where we had the coats made. There are a few other stuff that needs to be picked up."


    Although Eliza wondered how this could be rted to their date, she didn''t voice out her thoughts as she came down from the carriage with Evan and entered into the building.


    The moment she walked in, there was an attendant waiting to receive them in the reception who quickly led them to a waiting room on the first floor of the building.


    She couldn''t help but notice that the gazes that the employees she passed on the way gave her were quite strange, to say the least.<sub> </sub>


    It didn''t take a minute after they arrived at the waiting room, when the same dressmaker who had handed their winter coats walked in with a bright smile on her face.


    "You''re earlier than I had expected."


    The woman spoke to the two as she sat down and crossed her legs, her gaze alternating between Evan and Eliza before a look of realization appeared on her face.


    "Hmm? Your cute girlfriend looks as clueless as ever. Did you perhaps not tell her?"


    "Huh?"


    "This woman...!"


    Evan facepalmed upon hearing the woman''s words, before taking a quick nce at Eliza and speaking.


    "She''s not my girlfriend..."


    He turned his gaze back to the woman and continued in a slightly lower voice.


    "...yet."


    Even though he reduced the volume of his voice, the three of them were so close to each other that it was almost meaningless and they all heard him loud and clear.


    Their reactions were varied as the dressmaker had an amused smile on her face while Eliza just stared at Evan in silence.


    If only the young hero knew that she was holding back the small smile that threatened to form on her face.


    �� �� ��


    In the end, the blonde teenager found out about what Evan did; namely his action of ordering a bunch of custom-made outfits for her without her knowledge.


    Unlike her expectations, majority of the outfits seemed to fit her tastes perfectly, making her a tad bit surprised.


    "You do realize that you keep your stuff in my inventory when we travel, right? Is it really that weird that I''d be able to figure out your tastes in fashion by seeing your clothes?


    Oh, and worry not, I didn''t attempt to look into the bags you sealed with magic. Though I can pretty much guess what was in them."


    "Evan, are you asking for a beating?"


    "Nope."


    The young hero dodged the right fist that shot towards his head before grabbing her hand with his right hand and pulling her closer to him as his left hand went around her waist.


    "Let''s get this small issue out of the way and move on with the rest of our date, shall we?"


    Evan spoke with a small smile as he led the blonde girl out of the building and back into the carriage waiting for them.


    �� �� ��


    The two teenagers then went on with their date, looking around various shops for a while, before going over to the park and some other nearby districts that caught their attention.


    After that, they took a ride to a totally different part of Kasteblum, one filled with an artificial snow-tipped small mountain range that was created by magic.


    "To think that these guys actually built a ski resort here..."


    Eliza was a bit surprised as she didn''t know the ski resort until Evan informed her about it. The artificial mountains were also not too high, with the tallest of them peaking at a thousand metres.

 Chapter 228 Ski Resort And Cafe

    "To think that these guys actually built a ski resort here..."


    Eliza was a bit surprised as she didn''t know the ski resort until Evan informed her about it. The artificial mountains were also not too high, with the tallest of them peaking at a thousand metres.


    She couldn''t even see the mountains in the distance over all the tall magic towers in the city-state, aspared to where the mansion of the damned and the inn they lodged in was located, the ski resort was almost on the opposite end of Kasteblum.


    And since the city-state was close to about 1500Km square in area, it showed how far apart they were.


    The duo did a little more than just a little bit of skiing, with them being at the resort until past noon. It was then that they finally decided to call it quits and have a short after-noon snack at the cafe in the resort.


    As they walked into the full cafe, they were greeted by a cheerful female waitress whose cheerful look turned apologetic when she saw that there were two of them.


    "At this time, the only seats avable for two people are a couple-seat, is that okay?''


    "Huh?"


    Eliza let out a surprised voice while Evan withheld from voicing out his surprise like she did and responded to the waitress.


    "That''s fine�� Yes."


    "Yes, I understand. Then, pleasee this way."


    Following the waiter''s directions, they proceeded through the cafe as Eliza silently pinched Evan''s side.


    Eventually, the duo arrived at a cosy table with a sofa for two and a low table, unlike the usual table seating.


    The waitress brought the menu for them as they took their seats, with Evan holding his sore side while Eliza hummed to herself and flipped through the menu.


    "Oh, this looks nice.


    I''d have the blueberry tart and tea set please."


    "Okay. What about you, sir?"


    The waitress noted down her order and turned to Evan, only for Eliza to speak up again once more.


    "The same thing as me, just that his would be a strawberry tart instead. Oh, make the drink a cafette too."


    Although she was initially at a loss, Evan''s nod of affirmation allowed the waitress to see that he was okay with the order as she hurriedly put it down and left with a light bow.


    The two had a light chat with each other, which mostly ended with Evan teasing Elia and nearly getting hit in return while they waited for their orders.


    Since there was no armrest in between them, the two were seated at a distance where their shoulders touched one another.


    This level of closeness was actually quitemonce among them, but there was a slight sense of nervousness pervading the air between the two this time.


    However, this nervousness waspletely dispelled when their orders arrived and they got into their snacks.


    The two left the cafe feeling refreshed, only to meet with an unexpected person right outside.


    "Huh? Miss Joanna?"


    "...?"


    The vice chief grand magus who the duo encountered, slowly turned around and stared at them with sleepy eyes.


    She was surrounded by a few other red-robed mages, with one wearing a dark blue robe that was only allowed to Grand Mages of Kasteblum.


    Upon hearing Evan call out to Joanna, their expressions all turned strange and they were about to re up when Joanna''s voice rang out.


    "Evan...? and... and...


    what was your name again?"


    "It''s Eliza, Vice Chief Grand Magus."


    The tall dark-skinned woman nodded to herself as she muttered Eliza''s name to herself repeatedly.


    "Eliza, huh? Got it.


    Hopefully, I don''t forget it next time."


    Hearing her words, Evan chuckled lightly as he turned his gaze towards the mages who were ring at him with dark gazes.<sub> </sub>


    "You seem busy."


    "I don''t want to be. But that old man keeps forcing me to deal with annoying things.


    I didn''t even get to sleep for more than three days when he barged in and dragged me out."


    When Evan heard this, he couldn''t but be impressed by the fact that Gavin was able to bypass all the protective magic circle formations that surrounded Joanna''s house.


    ''That''s the Chief Grand Magus for you. There''s a reason he''s held that title for a century.''


    It was at this point that the Grand Mage who was with Joanna attempted to speak up, perhaps intending to redirect her attention to whatever job that Gavin gave her.


    "Vice-!!!"


    However, the re that Joanna shot in his direction, made him swallow his words as the aged Grand Mage found himself taking a step back in fear.


    ''There''s a reason why she has ''that'' title after all."


    Those were Evan''s thoughts upon witnessing this as he recalled the status board of the half-dark elf in front of him.


    |Name- Joanna Ritz


    Race- Half-Human, Half-Dark Elf


    Gender - Female


    Age - 33


    Level- 407


    Existence Level - Grandmaster


    Titles- Vice-Chief Grand Magus of Kasteblum, S-Rank Adventurer, Lightning Witch, Scary Woman, Laziest Mage Alive, Sleep Deprived Mage...


    ss - Dark Lightning Mystic


    Health �C A+


    Energy - S-


    Strength �C A


    Agility �C A+


    Durability �C A+


    Intelligence - S-


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers- Lightning Tier 5, Fire Tier 4, Dark Tier 4, Wind Tier 3.


    Skills- Dark Magic (High), Storm wind, Darksh, Dark Lightning Magic (Extreme), Darkness Infusion.


    Unique Skills- Breath of Lightning. |


    ''Just like in the game, she has that ''Scary Woman'' title.''


    The young hero was brought out of his thoughts when Joanna turned her gaze back to him, the re in her eyes disappearing as she continued speaking slowly.


    "Hmm...Two of you...Together?


    It sure is nice to be young."


    "You''re barely into your thirties so why are you talking like you''re some sort of old woman?


    Also, you do realize that you are a half-dark elf grandmaster-level existence, right? You''ve got at the very least, a thousand more years to live, and that''s bound to increase as you get stronger."


    The young hero shot back with a sigh, followed by Eliza''s exmation of surprise upon hearing Joanna''s age.


    "Woah, that''s a lot lesser than I had expected."

 Chapter 229 Show And Dinner

    "Woah, that''s a lot lesser than I had expected."


    The trio chatted for about a minute much to the dissatisfaction of the mages who she kept waiting but they could not say anything as they didn''t want to piss Joanna off.


    As for Evan, he didn''t have a good impression of any of the Grand Mages in Kasteblum, besides those directly rted to Gavin and Joanna.


    He felt that they were all arrogant old fogeys who looked down on people and liked to feel superior to them because of their magic prowess.


    Thus, he couldn''t really care less about whether the Grand Mage got pissed off waiting for his conversation with Joanna to finish or not.


    "So, you two were a thing, huh? I feel jealous, I want a partner too."


    The dark-skinned woman alternated her gaze between Evan and Eliza before gazing into the distance as she spoke.


    Evan didn''t bother correcting her small misunderstanding as he replied faster than Eliza could speak.


    "Maybe I should introduce you to Jenson, you guys would definitely get along well."


    Hearing the name from Evan, a conflicted look appeared on Joanna''s face as she muttered the name to herself multiple times.


    "Jenson...Jenson..."


    Before Evan could even begin an exnation, recognition shed through her eyes as she spoke.


    "Ah! the one from The Gr-, Gerfast."


    Evan''s lips twitched as he realised what Joanna did in thetter half of her statement.


    ''Did she just say ''Gerfast'' because Saying ''The Great Western Empire'' would have been too long?''


    Oblivious to the young hero''s thoughts, Joanna continued speaking, recounting how she came to know about Jenson''s existence.


    "I remember him, He came over some time ago.


    Exactly my type. A pity that I slept through the entire time he was here and only got to talk to him a few moments before he left."


    ''I''m not even going to question how she slept through the entire time he was here.''


    Evan sighed internally as he wrapped up the talk with Joanna and left the ski resort with Eliza to continue with the rest of their date.


    The duo went on a small tour of the districts of Kasteblum that they weren''t familiar with, and participated in a fewte winter events in the process.


    By evening time, they made their way over to the Arts Theatre Centre in Kasteblum where the show was to happen.


    Apparently, their tickets were VIP tickets, which allowed them to seat at a private booth on the second floor of the theatre. This gave them a nice view of the stage without any obstructions whatsoever.


    Fast-forward to two hourster and the duo were exiting the theatre using the special exit prepared for VIPs as they discussed their thoughts on the performance they had just watched.


    Even Evan who had only seen the show as a means to ask Eliza out on a date ended up being engrossed in the storyline of the musical midway through.


    It was a romance story with a bit of action andedy elements added in the right amounts and at the right ces that held the attention of all those who came to watch throughout the two-hour duration.


    The two took a carriage ride to The Lotus restaurant, arriving barely thirty minutes after and just in time for their reservation.


    They were led to a private room that had arge one-way ss window on the wall that allowed them to see thete-night skyline of the city-state of magic.


    After ordering their meal and having their food delivered in less than ten minutes, Evan and Eliza savoured their meal while having a light conversation regarding the show they had just watched, discussing their favourite acts and scenes, their impressions of the characters, and the parts they wished turned out differently.


    However, their conversation about the show gradually came to an end, with them digressing into other topics as they rounded up their meal.


    As it was his first time cing a reservation at their restaurant, Evan received a free bottle of non-alcoholic wine from the restaurant for free, which he had them open up immediately and pour into his and Eliza''s sses.<sub> </sub>


    "Their service really does match their reputation."


    Eliza voiced those words out after the waiter closed the door of the private room, before picking up the ss and taking a sip of the wine.


    "I''m d you liked it."


    A small smile formed on Evan''s lips as he replied while sipping his wine slowly, his gaze on Eliza all the while.


    Naturally, it was simply impossible for Eliza to ignore his slightly heated gaze, given that they were the only people in the room.


    "Hey, Evan."


    "Yes, Liz."


    "Why?"


    "Huh?"


    Evan let out a confused sound upon hearing Eliza''s no-context question. Perhaps understanding his confusion, Eliza went on to borate.


    "Why''d you ask me out?"


    Hearing her question, Evan''s eyes narrowed as he shot back with a question of his own.


    "Are you really asking me this?"


    "Well, I can pretty much guess the reason but I just wanted to hear you say it, that''s all."


    Eliza calmly replied to Evan without a hint of nervousness, internally and externally, while taking small sips of her wine with her gaze locked on Evan.


    "Hmm...


    Oh well, I was still going to say it either way just for ''formality''."


    The young hero shrugged his shoulders and dropped his ss on the table before continuing.


    "I Like you, Eliza.


    The more than just a friend kind of ''like''."


    Although Eliza tried to remain calm upon hearing this, she could not stop the small blush that crept onto her cheeks.


    " ''Like'', huh?"


    "Hmm? Were you perhaps expecting me to say that I love you?"


    Evan tilted his head to the side and asked; however, Eliza dropped her ss and waved her hand in denial as she replied.


    "Nahh. I already know that whatever you feel for me isn''t that deep."


    Her words caused an expression of surprise to appear on Evan''s face as he didn''t expect Eliza to react the way she just did.


    ? ''Perhaps ''she'' caused me to have some sort of prejudice against how girls react to confessions?''


    He shook his head as if to get the unwanted thoughts out of his mind as he turned his gaze back to Eliza who rested her elbow on the table before propping her chin up against her palm and asking.


    "Hey, just what is it about me that you like?"


    "What about you that I like? Almost everything."

 Chapter 230 Small Talk And Reply

    "Hey, just what is it about me that you like?"


    "What about you that I like? Almost everything."


    Eliza rose her eyebrows in surprise, chuckling a bit as she asked.


    "Isn''t this the part where you''re supposed to say ''everything'', not ''almost everything''."


    "I''m not gonna lie to you and say I like everything about you.


    After all, there are some things about you that asionally get on my nerves.


    Your domestic violence tendencies for example."


    Evan replied to Eliza''s question as he poured a bit more wine into his and her sses, before picking his up and taking a small sip.


    "Makes sense It''s the same for me, after all.


    I don''t like your habit of tantly ignoring your body''s well-being and using self-damaging skills and abilities.


    Do you have any idea how worried I get whenever you take such actions?"


    Eliza spoke with a frown right before there was a knock on the door of the room. Evan gave permission and the waiter entered with a tray carrying their dessert, cing them on the table with some drinks before bowing lightly and leaving the room.


    Despite the fact that their desserts were ced in front of them, the two teenagers didn''t even spare them a nce, keeping their gazes locked on each other as they remained in silence for close to a minute.


    Eventually, Eliza broke the eye contact, turning her gaze to the desserts ced in front of her as she spoke.


    "On the topic of things about you that I don''t like. There are your slight sociopathic tendencies, and your attitude of you dealing with serious things like it''s a joke."


    "Huh? Me? Sociopathic? how?


    Besides, if we''re talking about things we don''t like about each other, then there''s the part where you..."


    The two began bantering with each other, however, unlike a normal couple that would talk about what they liked about the other, these two spent the rest of their time at the restaurant tabting their dislikes for each other.


    �� �� ��


    After finishing their food and drinks, the two decided to call it a day and return to the inn. As they sat in the carriage that moved down the illuminated streets of Kasteblum, Eliza posed a question to Evan.


    "Evan, do you really think a rtionship between us can work out?"


    The young hero, tilted his head to the side while lost in his thoughts for a few moments before speaking out again.


    "I honestly feel that whether It can work out or not depends on us alone and not any external factors."


    "Sure about that?


    Don''t forget that you are the son of a high noble. There''s a possibility that your family would interfere.


    Last time I checked, the heir to the Eris Dukedom was still you, and that increases the probability of them butting in."


    Hearing Eliza''s words, Evan shook his head and took a sip of the strawberry juice in his hands before replying.


    "That won''t be much of a problem.


    The only reason I was named as an heir in the first ce was that I had the pdin skill while Arnold did not. Besides that, he is more suitable to be the head of the family rather than me, for more reasons than one."


    ''He is the actual son of the Eris family after all."


    "I happen to have a simple n to for-, I mean, convince the vassals and family elders to change that stupid rule preventing Arnold from bing the heir."


    "You were about to say, you were gonna force them just now, weren''t you?"<sub> </sub>


    The young hero coughed awkwardly as he avoided Eliza''s narrowed gaze, silently sipping his drink before staring out the window and whistling.


    "This guy..."


    Eliza heaved an exasperated sigh before muttering something about him treating a serious issue like it was nothing and this being one of the things she didn''t like.


    "To be honest, I only asked that question to confirm something for myself.


    I feel the same way about you as you do about me so I''m not exactly against being in a rtionship with you.


    I just don''t want it to be something fragile that could end easily."


    Evan just stared at the slightly blushing teenager in silence for a few moments before asking.


    "Can I take that as a ''yes''?"


    "Nahh. It''s more of a ''maybe''."


    "Are you for real, right now?"


    In response to Evan''s question, Eliza nodded in affirmation, before bursting intoughter upon seeing Evan''s expression.


    The young hero only heaved a sigh of exhaustion before shrugging his shoulders and turning his gaze back out the window.


    ''Oh well, that''s okay. I never expected to get a ''yes'' today in the first ce.''


    Those were the thought that went through Evan''s head as silence enveloped the carriage that quickly made its way back tot heir inn.


    �� �� ��


    The two arrived a few minutes past ten and after giving the carriage driver a small tip, Evan and Eliz went up to their rooms.


    As they got closer to the door of Eliza''s room, the blonde teenager slowly entwined her fingers with Evan''s as she began speaking


    "You know, I actually had a lot of fun today.


    So, um...if possible...can we...


    We can..."


    Seeing her beginning to stutter, Evan burst into a fit of giggles, much to Eliza''s dissatisfaction.


    "You were able to calmly admit your feelings for me earlier but somehow you have a hard time with this?"


    "Just what did you expect from me? It''s not like I''ve ever tried a-asking someone out before!"


    "Yeah, yeah. I know you haven''t."


    Evan kept onughing as he replied, causing Eliza''s lips to twist into a dissatisfied pout. However, before she could even voice out her next words, Evan pulled her hand up towards his lips and ced a light kiss on the back of her hand while locking his eyes with hers.


    "Don''t worry too much, we''d go on many more dates besides this one."


    He then chuckled lightly before leaning forward, causing Eliza''s eyes to widen in surprise.


    ''Is he...?''


    Contrary to her thoughts, Evan shifted his head at thest moment and nted a kiss on her cheek before circling her lips with his thumb and saying.


    "I''m saving this one for when I get a ''yes'' and not a ''maybe''."

 Chapter 231 Leaving Kasteblum

    "I''m saving this one for when I get a ''yes'' and not a ''maybe''."


    Right after kissing her cheek and circling his thumb around her lips, Evan spoke in a slow sultry voice, his words causing Eliza''s entire body to freeze as he lightly patted her hair and continued normally.


    "Go to sleep. Don''t forget that we''re leaving for Osto tomorrow."


    After saying this, Evan turned around and walked away, leaving behind the stunned blonder and entering his room.


    The moment he closed the door, he dropped down to the ground and heaved a sigh of relief with his hand over his chest as he calmed his slightly erratic breathing.


    ''Why am I acting like a teenager who just went on a first date with his crush?''


    "...Oh, shit. That''s exactly what I am right now.


    Except that this isn''t my first date."


    The young hero briefly remembered the former rtionship that he had with one of his ssmates in his first year of senior high school.


    Although said rtionship sadly came to an end halfway through his sophomore year, Evan was thankful for the experience as he would have been at a loss on how to move forward with Eliza if not for it.


    Meanwhile, on Eliza''s side, the blonde teenager had somehow made her way into her room and locked the door before changing out of her clothes andying down on her bed.


    She stared at the ceiling in silence as she reyed all the day''s events in her head before silently muttering to herself.


    "To think I actually wanted to take the initiative to ask him out on another date.


    Could it be that I actually like him a lot more than I thought?"


    She yawned right after, with her eyelids slowly closing as she silently fell asleep for the night.


    �� �� ��


    North Gate


    City State of Magic, Kasteblum


    January 30th


    Year 1052


    It was a bright and sunny day, when the Adventurer trio who now went by the name of ''The Anomalies'', decided to set off from the city-state of Magic towards another country that was situated North of Kasteblum.


    The Great Western Empire was arge country, that when looking at a map, upied more than 60% of the western Half of the Map.


    To its right, were three other countries that shared borders with it, the city State of Magic Kasteblum, with another fairlyrge country spanning over half a million kilometre-squares called Uswil, and finally, their destination, Hobha, which was north of Uswil and could be reached after passing some freends in between the two countries.


    "We''d stop over at Uswil''s capital, Shad Glua, first and do a little dungeon diving and artifact farming before continuing towards Hobha.


    I would like to head to Troca, Hobha''s capital first, but that''s a bit too far we''d just go straight to Dungeon City Osto."<sub> </sub>


    Evan ended their travel n briefing with that as they stepped onto the custom-made carriage that the young hero had gotten from the chief Grand magus earlier that morning.


    He had gone over to finalize a few things with the man, getting his word to send over a Grand Mage and a few senior mags to help out with the iing Duhan attack.


    Before he left, the old magus offered to lend Evan one of his carriages to take the group to Uswil''s capital, an offer which the teenager hurriedly epted.


    And this led to the current situation where Pride, Eliza and their spiritpanions were staring at the in-looking carriage in front of them.


    Although its outer appearance left nothing to be desired, the same could not be said about the inside as the interior of the carriage was no less luxurious whenpared to the carriages ridden by the Royal Family of the Great Western Empire.


    Its in outer appearance was just so that it did not draw much attention from outsiders while still providingfort to whoever was riding it.


    "As expected of the Chief Grand Magus'' carriage."


    Evan remarked as he studied the interior of the carriage, before jumping down and walking over to the carriage ''driver'' who was assigned them by Gavin.


    Said ''driver'' was actually a C-Ranked adventurer who was a member of one of the adventurer parties that the Magic towers usually did business with.


    With him was another member of his party, a female swordsman who like him, was also hired for the job because they knew how to control the horses and drive carriages efficently6.


    It was a low-work, high-pay job for them so they had no qualms about epting it.


    After a short discussion with them, Evan turned around to go back to his party members, only to lock eyes with Eliza who hurriedly looked away with a red face.


    The teenage girl was a bit unsettled seeing how casually Evan acted after pulling that little stunt the previous night, something that repeated itself in her dreams.


    ''Am I the only one who''s feeling awkward here?!''


    Her peach-like light pink lips twisted into a small frown as she thought that, snorting lightly as she turned away from the young hero and went to pick up the cat spirit who wasying down on the nearby bench.


    ''And here I was agonizing about things ever since I woke up this morning, only to see him acting as normal as ever.''


    Seeing her sour expression, Evan just heaved a sigh and spoke to Pride concerning the schedules he had discussed with the ''drivers'' before moving over to the sulking blonde teenager.


    He stopped right beside her and leaned forward before whispering to her.


    "If you act like that, you''d make things awkward for me too, you know?"


    After saying that, he walked away, heading back to the inn they stayed in to conclude their checking-out processes, leaving the stunned battle priestess behind.


    It was then that she realised she wasn''t the only one who was feeling a bit awkward after the events of the previous night.


    �� �� ��


    Putting trivial matters aside, the young hero concluded the checkout processes at the inn, went to the adventurer''s guild and epted a single long-term quest on behalf of the party and returned to the carriage just a few minutes before nine o''clock.


    They all got on the carriage which began moving as they bade Kasteblum goodbye and began their journey towards Hobha.

 Chapter 232 Reaching Hobha

    Inter-City Freeway


    Unnamed Abandoned Vige Outskirts, Hobha


    March 14th


    Year 1052


    "So that''s how it works..."


    Evan''s voice rang out as he stared at the Hobgoblin king that was twitching on the ground in front of him while nodding to himself.


    His right palm was covered in a dark red ominous aura that made even Pride take a step back as he silently poked the chest of the half-dead monster.


    Such a small poke normally would not do anything to the tough skin of the nearly level 200 creature, but Evan''s finger effortlessly pierced through its skin and drilled a hole in its bone as he pushed his finger deeper into the monster''s chest.


    "GUAAAAAA!!!!!!"


    It screamed out and attempted to trash around, but its arms and legs were held to the ground by two dark shadowy arms that stretched out from the shadow its body cast on the ground.


    Besides its head was a small ck cat that poked the cheek of the screaming monster with a hint of curiosity in his eyes.


    "I see, it requires a great amount of soul damage to be dealt at once in order to cause the target to lose a skill, huh?"


    Evan''s eyes shed with the light of appraisal as he studied the monster''s status board and noted that its Unique skill was not present anymore.


    All that was in the unique skill tab was a bunch of jumbled letters and symbols, simr to where the monster''s ''Kin Command'' skill formerly was.


    ? "Sadly, I don''t seem to be able to select what skill I want to cause the target to lose. Makes sense though."


    He grabbed the hobgoblin king''s neck and snapped it before getting to his feet, the dark red aura on his palm dissipating as he looked at the system time and counted how long it had been since he activated said aura.


    "Fifteen minutes and no side effects. Energy consumption is also triple that of the original five-minute test.


    Everything is within calctions."


    He stretched his hands and yawned lightly before walking towards Pride who was seated on a tree branch with a book in her hand, asionally stepping over the corpses of goblins and hobgoblins that were scattered around.


    The sheer number of goblins on the ground was enough to raze a small town to the ground if they were caught off guard, even more so, considering that they were led by a level 175 Hobgoblin king.


    However, they were all now corpses, courtesy of the young hero and hispanions who they came across on the way towards the nearest town.


    As for the now-deceased hobgoblin kind, it had ended up bing a test subject for Evan to experiment with his blessing of destruction''s first activation.


    This was more than a month when the party departed from the City state of Magic Kasteblum, beginning their journey to the Dungeon city Osto.


    They spent about two weeks travelling to Shad Glua, where they spent an additional week dungeon diving and dealing with other trivial issues before continuing their journey towards Osto.


    The carriage that the Grand Magus arranged for them returned to Kasteblum after they reached Uswil''s capital city, so the group ended up using other means to move from city to city, finally exiting Uswil and arriving at Hobha after passing the freends in between the two countries.<sub> </sub>


    After Arriving at Hobha, they took a short one-week break at the border city to rest a bit before continuing towards Osto.


    Now, they were finally about a day and a half''s journey away from Osto, when they encountered the group of goblins that were very obviously up to no good.


    The goblins attacked the trio and ended up scaring their travel horses, something that pissed Evan off greatly.


    Eliza barely managed to calm the horses down before Evan and Pride jumped off and ended the hundreds of goblins. After this, Evan experimented on the king and killed it off shortly after.


    "The skill doesn''t seem to have any obvious side effects so far, so I''m guessing that the restrictions spoken about in the skill description are the only downsides to it."


    "That so?"


    "Yep."


    Evan replied to the High demon who ced a bookmark on the page she was reading before snapping the book shut and tossing it towards Evan.


    The young hero just opened up his inventory where the book was going tond and let it fall into his inventory as he walked over to Eliza as he continued.


    "Let''s get the magic stones from the stronger hobgoblins and feed the horses before carrying on. From the map I bought at thest town, we aren''t far from Osto."


    "Yeah, but let us move away from here, the horses are still slightly unsettled."


    Eliza replied as she scratched the throat of one of the horses that snuggled against her, with her hands glowing green as she used magic to abate the horse''s fatigue.


    They did as she suggested, and ended up moving a few hundred meters from the scene of the battle after turning all the goblin corpses to ashes.


    "Still, it is weird how there are this many goblins lurking around Osto.


    Even if it is not a major one, Osto is still a dungeon city. It should definitely have dozens of upper-level C- Ranked adventurers in it and hundreds of D- Rank adventurers who would be given scouting missions to check out the surrounding areas at least once a month.


    It''s impossible for them to have missed such arge number of goblins in a nearby abandoned vige."


    Evan spoke as he downed the ss of juice in his hands, before rinsing it with basic water magic and tossing it back into his inventory.


    "True, the appearance of these monsters here is weird."


    Pride added in as she added more meat to her sandwich before taking a bite out of it.


    If anyone was to pass the freeway now and look to the right, they would be met with a scene that would leave them more than just ''surprised''.


    There were five small tables and chairs, along with a portable magic stone cooker and a few boxes containing multiple things ranging from cutlery and tes to food ingredients and pots for cooking.


    Naturally, all these were usually inside Evan''s inventory, but when it was the time for them to take a break or have a meal during their journey, these items were brought out and the group properly prepared their meals and atefortably, not having to resort to eating preserved foods like majority of adventurers who travelled long distances like them did.


    "What if these monsters showed up here after they did their routine scouting?"

 Chapter 233 Final Lap Of The Journey

    "What if these monsters showed up here after they did their routine scouting?"


    Eliza tilted her head and asked as she slowly sipped her hot tea, citing a possible scenario that would cause the goblins they had just killed to be missed by the nearby dungeon city.


    "True, goblins do have ridiculous rates of reproduction, after all. It is very possible for them to grow this much in just a month."


    Evan replied as he casually circled his arms around Eliza''s waist and hugged her from behind, cing his chin on his shoulder as he continued.


    "But that doesn''t exin how the goblins were that strong, even the weakest among them was a level 100 goblin. It''s impossible for over hundreds of goblins to all get that strong within a month, unless they raid dozens of viges and kill thousands of humans."


    "But if that happened, then it would be impossible for the nearby towns not to notice, after all, they have merchants who go to these small viges on a weekly basis to buy and sell stuff."


    The blonde battle priestess spoke as she leaned back into Evan''s embrace and rested her weight on his body, taking a sip of her tea as she wondered how exactly the goblins got that strong.


    It was then that she noticed Pride giving her a weird gaze and titled her head in question while asking.


    "What?"


    "The two of you have been getting reallyfortable with each other recently."


    At first, she did not understand Pride''s words, but when Eliza looked at herself a secondter, a look of realization shed through her eyes as her cheeks turned red instantly.


    Perhaps in an attempt to cover up her embarrassment, she used her elbow to hit Evan''s stomach, causing him to unconsciously lose his hands that were wrapped around her waist.


    "What gives?!"


    Evan received no answer as Eliza just walked, almost running as she went behind a nearby tree and ''hid'' there.


    Seeing this, Evan just sighed and turned to Pride before speaking.


    "You just had to ruin it."


    "This is the fifth time this morning you two are doing PDA around me. Don''t you think it would be weirder if I didn''t get pissed off at this point?"


    Her rely caused a surprised expression to appear on Evan''s face as he looked in Eliza''s direction, and then at himself before turning to Pride and asking.


    "You were counting?"


    �� �� ��


    A quick apology saved the young hero from getting a fistful of mes from the high demon, with him promising to not inconvenience Pride with his and Eliza''s PDA anymore.


    "I''m not making any promises, I just said I''d try not to. It''s fifty-fifty."


    Ignoring Evan''s words, the group''s journey continues with them crossing more than half the distance left between them and Osto, leaving them with just half a day''s trip left.


    They decided to stop for the day and rest after finding a suitable spot right outside a small forest that was a dozen metres off the freeway, spending the night there and continuing their journey the next morning.


    They rode their horses towards Osto, with Evan asionally looking through the map to gauge their position.


    He believed their journey would be uneventful as always, however, his words ended up jinxing it as less than an hour after they set off, they came across a strange situation.<sub> </sub>


    "These are carriage tracks, and from how they look, it seems that said carriage probably stopped for a moment, before trying to turn around, but something prevented them from going back the way that they came so they ended up driving straight into the nearby forest.


    "And judging from the multiple sets of footprints here, it seems that said carriage was surrounded by a group of people on both sides, which was most likel7 y the reason why they drove into the forest."


    Pride and Evan analysed the tracks on the freeway while Eliza traced the tracks leading towards the forest with her eyes before saying.


    "Well...it seems that the people who caused the carriage to stop followed them into the forests. There are also signs of a battle here.


    Some of the trees here have sword traces on them and a few bushes have burn marks with residual traces of magic."


    The three looked at each other in silence before Evan spoke up.


    "So group A on their carriage got surrounded by Group B who are most likely ouws and ended up driving into the forest to avoid them but were followed by group B who clearly don''t have any problems with starting a forest fire given the fact that they used fire magic."


    "Yep."


    "That sounds like what could have happened."


    [What...happened...?]


    Pride and Eliza answered, with the formerly sleeping lightning spirit waking up as she asked with a sleepy voice while looking around with slight confusion.


    [Master, why...did we...stop?]


    "Oh, Ka.


    No need to worry about anything, just go back to sleep, okay?"


    Evan patted the head of the lightning spirit that shrunk her body and was resting on his head. Her eyelids were slowly closing as she was about to fall back into the abyss of sleep, only for them to shoot open in the next second as she spoke.


    [Lightning...]


    "Huh?"


    Pride followed the gaze of the spirit and saw she was staring in the direction of the forest where the carriage that got surrounded most likely drove into.


    Remembering that Ka could sense all sources of lightning within a certain ranger around her, Pride instantly arrived at a conclusion.


    "Could it be that a fight is going on right now?"


    "And we are not going to interfere in said fight as it does not concern us in any way, shape or form."


    Evan who made a simr conclusion spoke up and turned around, however, his shoulder was grabbed by Eliza who pulled him back and spoke words that were the exact opposite of his.


    "No, we ARE going to interfere."


    The two stared at each other in silence before Evan sighed and held out his clenched fist. Eliza took a simr action and the two of them called out at the exact same time.


    "Rock, paper, scissors!"

 Chapter 234 The Two Groups

    "Rock, paper, scissors!"


    It was a short battle that ended in Eliza''s overwhelming victory as she held up her index and middle fingers whileughing at Evan who had his palm spread open.


    "Since the two of you are done with your bullshit, can we get going?"


    Pride, who was already walking into the forest called out to them, causing Eliza to hurriedly follow with Evan slowly dragging behind.


    "Why would you of all people want to deal with matters concerning totally unrted people?"


    To the question Evan asked Pride, the high demon was silent for a short moment before she took a deep breath and replied.


    "If I''m guessing correctly, then one of the two groups of people involved here.... are my brother''s thralls."


    Hearing her words, Evan''s face turned serious as he understood what Pride''s words implied.


    "Greed''s thralls? Here?


    Are you sure of this?"


    Pride turned to Evan with a look of annoyance as she asked with narrowed eyes.


    "Do you think that I of all people, would mistake my brother''s aura?"


    "Well.... no."


    "I thought so."


    Pride turned around and increased her speed, dashing forwards with Evan and Eliza following suit. The battle priestess spread out a wave of magic power and confirmed more than a dozen life signs a few hundred metres in front of them, however, her expression turned grim right after as she spoke.


    "Some of the life signs are weak, very, very weak."


    Hearing this, the group increased their speed, crossing the hundreds f metres of distance in less than a minute and arriving close to where the groups were most likely confronting each other.


    "Hold on for a moment."


    Evan held out his hands and cked Pride and Eliza from moving forward, before concealing all three of them with his concealment skill.


    "Now then, let''s do it like this..."


    �� �� ��


    Within a small clearing not too far away from Evan and Co''s position, two groups stood at a standstill as they red at the opposing side with rage in their eyes.


    On the right side, were a dozen dull grey light armoured men and women, with each of them having a noble household crest drawn on the shoulder pads of their armour.


    They tightly gripped their swords and spears while gritting their teeth as they red at the group of people that could only be described as a rag-tag group of bandits.<sub> </sub>


    These ''bandits'' stood in front of a toppled carriage that looked in on the outside, however, the fallen doors revealed the luxurious interior of the carriage.


    On the back of one of the said doors, the same crest that was on the shoulder pads of the lightly armoured group that stood opposite the bandits.


    As for the bandits themselves, they consisted of men and women who looked to be in theirte twenties to early forties.


    Their appearances weren''t uniform, with some wearing partial leather, while others had either light steel armour or heavy full-body armour.


    A few of them had insidious grins on their faces while some others had varying expressions, ranging from indifference to anger.


    Now then, the reasons for the multitude of expressions disyed by the two groups were quite simple, to say the least.


    For the bandit''s group, it was because the group of light armoured men and women, who were Knights, had killed five of theirpanions and had three others on sword/spear point, including the one who was their vice leader.


    While for the group of Knights, it was because the person that they were charged with protecting, the daughter of the lord that they had sworn oaths to, was being held hostage by the bandits in front of them.


    Not only that, but some of their fellow knights who had been overpowered were also in a simr situation, with one of them having lost his life already.


    The noble''s daughter and her personal maid were forced to the ground face down, with the bandit leader''s curved swords on their neck.


    The brown-haired middle-aged man, licked his lips as he rubbed his groin against the butt of the maid who silently cried while doing her best not to make a sound for fear that the de at her neck might just cut it off if she did.


    And her fears were not unfounded, after all, the bandit leader was an existence at level 184, and he had more than enough physical strength to slice off the level 100 maid''s neck with rtive ease.


    In the same way, he could easily cut off the neck of the noble''s daughter whose neck he held his other de at.


    This was precisely why the knights could not make any careless movements, because one wrong move would mean the death of their lord''s daughter.


    And just like the bandit leader looked like he wanted to assault the maid at any point in time, the same thing went for another one of the bandits, a woman who looked no more than thirty, however, the sheer amount of physical strength she possessed was enough to enable her to rip off the armour of one of the knights.


    The only reason she hadn''t yet forced herself on him was that the bandit leader had given her to order not to, so she was staying still.


    However, that didn''t stop her from feeling up the poor knight whom she had stripped half naked on the ground.


    Beside her,id the corpse of another knight whose head was missing, with a fairlyrge Warhammer that still had blood stains on it right beside it.


    The two groups stood at a standstill as they watched the other''s moves closely. The knights didn''t want their lord''s daughter whose life was at the mercy of the Bandit leader to die and the bandit leader didn''t want his second inmand to lose his life either.


    This led to the current situation where they red at each other with sweat dripping off their faces under the fairly hot early morning sun.


    However, this standstill was broken by the intrusion of a third party.


    "Oh, this is quite the situation I have run into."

 Chapter 235 Knights And Bandits I

    "Oh, this is quite the situation I have run into."


    Expressions of shock surfaced on the faces of both the bandits and the knights as neither side had felt any presence until the voice rang out, with both sides reflexively turning in the direction of the speaker.


    They were met with the sight of a young boy who looked about fifteen or sixteen years of age, dressed in a in brown shirt and a pair of simple ck jeans with simrly coloured boots.


    He had a surprised expression on his face as he saw the two groups, with his hands going to his head the next moment as he scratched his hair while speaking.


    "Well, this is quite the dilemma.


    I just happen to be a random traveller passing through the woods and happened toe across this situation.


    Would one of you mind telling me just exactly what''s going on here?"


    When they heard his words, the knights and bandits resisted the urge to shut ''BULLSHIT!'' as they warily gazed at him.


    ''I didn''t sense even a bit of his presence until the moment that he spoke, and judging from the expression on that bastard''s face, it''s the same for him too.


    There''s no way this kid is just a ''random traveller''.


    Even more so after sensing his strength, he''s powerful, very powerful.''


    The leader of the knights thought as he studied the bandit leader''s face and slightly turned his gaze towards Evan.


    He was a fairly strong knight, the second strongest among all the knights of his lord and had a level standing stably at 185.


    As such, it was very easy for him to sense the strength that the ''random traveller'' who was obviously Evan, wasn''t even bothering to conceal.


    The same thing was the case of the bandit leader who possessed enough might to fight the knight leader to a standstill, as well as the Warhammer-wielding woman who was even stronger than the bandit leader himself.


    They could easily tell that Evan held power that was in no way inferior to theirs, so they instantly became guarded against him.


    Their guard only increased when another voice rang out from the other direction, with a blonder-haired staff-wielding teenager emerging from the trees with an exhausted expression on her face.


    Although her appearance screamed the word ''Mage'', the short de sticking out of the butt of her staff made them think otherwise.


    This blonde-haired beauty, Eliza, was holding her newly acquired staff, one of the reasons why Evan had the group stop at Shad Glua. It was another staff in the Vanquisher series, made by the same weapon smith who created the unforged.


    It was a staff that was perfect for a mage who also excelled in staffbat,ing with the ability to be separated into two parts, creating two short staffs that can be used in closebat.


    ''What''s more, is that her''s is an awakened type weapon, meaning it has its second and third effects activated.


    Unlike my unforged that only has the default effect of multiplying my overall attack power with each hit.''


    Those were Evan''s thoughts as he recalled the description of the staff in Eliza''s hands.


    |Memory of the Vanquisher (Memoria)


    Type; Staff


    A Staff that was forged with the intention of making the world remember a once great magus who fell before their time.


    This spear-tipped staff capable of raising its wielder''s meleebat capabilities, can be detached into two separate short staves allowing for short and long-ranged meleebat. However, its true strength lies in its ability to raise the power and efficiency of its wielder''s magic to astonishing degrees.


    Effects;


    The owner of this staff receives a 10% overall boost to their base stats, with their overall attack power receiving a 5% boost.


    For each target hit by magic cast with the aid of this staff, the caster gains a 5% damage bonus which can be stacked for a maximum of three times. This effect can only ur once every fifteen seconds andsts for five minutes.


    Grants the owner of this staff and a maximum of four other entities considered to be ''allies'', a 10% damage bonus on all types of elemental magic cast as far as they are within range. |


    With this, Eliza now had three weapons, her original staff which boosted her magic casting speed and efficiency, the Radiant Codex which boosted her support abilities and the Memoria which scaled up her attack power and buffed her allies.


    If there was any unknown, it was that the ''range'' her ''Allies'' had to be in to receive the buff wasn''t exactly known.


    "This boy, do you really need someone to tell you who is right and who is wrong in this situation?"


    Eliza''s question brought Evan out of his thoughts as he threw a quick nce in the direction of the shadow spirit sneaking around before replying.


    "You can''t make assumptions, you know?


    You can''t assume that the ones dressed in the armour of knights are the ''good'' guys just because they look like knights while the other group whose members look like bandits are the ''bad'' guys.<sub> </sub>


    You can never know."


    He shrugged his shoulders as he spoke, turning his gaze towards the bandits as he asked with lips curled up in a smile.


    "Isn''t that right, Pride?"


    "Yes. Indeed, that is the case."


    The bandit leader was shocked out of his wits when a third person emitting a dark aura that made them feel an instinctive fear at the depths of their souls stepped out from the bushes behind them.


    ''When did she?!


    And more importantly, that aura. It is just like...!''


    Pride naturally noticed his surprise but paid it no mind as she continued speaking.


    "However, in this case, we don''t need anyone to tell us who to stand against."


    "No, we don''t."


    The moment Evan replied to Pride, the smile on his face disappeared as the bandit leader felt a chill down his spine.


    He instantly tried to move backwards, however, he discovered that he was unable to move at all!


    "What?!"


    On his arms and legs, he could see long ck shadowy arms that wrapped around him and held him tightly in ce.


    "Thanks, Kuro."


    Evan''s voice rang out from a closer distance in the next moment while a semi-translucent barrier covered the bodies of the two girls that he had held hostage.


    This was a few seconds before a ck booted foot mmed into the side of his face, with the force behind it being enough to dislocate his jaw and cause him to lose a few of his teeth.


    His vision shook as he was temporarily disoriented, even so, he felt the restraints of the shadowy arms on his disappear, a moment before the foot mmed into his face once more.


    **BAM?!!!!


    He was sent flying a few dozen meters, crashing into multiple trees and rag-dolling on the ground before finally stopping.


    Meanwhile, the other bandits and the knights were surprised when Evan suddenly attacked the bandit leader without hesitation.


    The air pressure from his kicks was strong enough to cause the bodies of the noble''s daughter and her maid to burst into pieces, however, they were fine for some reason.


    A quick nce in Eliza''s direction and seeing her outstretched glowing palm, made them understand that she was the reason why they weren''t two more corpses on the floor.


    Without waiting for anyone to even say anything, Pride dashed towards the second greatest threat that was currently present, the female bandit who wielded the bloodstained war hammer.


    mes engulfed her sword as she swung it at breakneck speed, her eyes narrowing as she aimed to lop off the head of the woman in one strike.


    ''Tsk��''


    The high demon clicked her tongue internally when she noticed the woman''s pupils following vanitas while her hands moved to the Warhammer beside her and grabbed it.


    **CLANG!!!


    The sound of metal nging together rang out as the Warhammer and vanitas shed, with shockwaves spreading into the surroundings as the nearby bandits were knocked back while the knight on the floor coughed out a few mouthfuls of blood.


    However, unlike the noble''s daughter and her main, he was an existence over level 160 so it was impossible for him to die from just the shockwaves even though he received the full brunt of them.


    Eliza flicked her fingers and the radiant codex floated up beside her, a second before the injuries of the unfortunate knight began to heal.


    "Pdin"


    The voice of a certain young hero was heard by the Warhammer-wielding woman as Evan appeared right behind her and delivered a kick to the side of her head.


    "Guh!"


    She let out a short grunt as her vision began spinning, however, her instincts warned her of impending death and she rose her war hammer and swung it in the opposite direction.


    A beatter, vanitas came shing down, colliding with her Warhammer as the mes spread out and burned her arm.

 Chapter 236 Knights And Bandits II

    "Guh!"


    The woman let out a short grunt as her vision began spinning, however, her instincts warned her of impending death and she rose her war hammer and swung it in the opposite direction.


    A beatter, vanitas came shing down, colliding with her Warhammer as the mes spread out and burned her arm.


    Evan then took the chance to pull the knight to the ground to safety, tossing him beside the noble''s daughter and her maid.


    As for the rest of the knights, they took action the instant that theirdy was free, attacking the bandits ferociously as their swords and spears glowed with the light of skills.


    Naturally, the bandits weren''t sitting fucks and also rose their weapons to fight back, brining with vigour as they saw the knights kill theirpanions who had been held hostage without hesitation.


    "RAAAAAAAA!!!!"


    A beastly roar rang out in the distance, followed by the sound of something shattering as a huge figure shot through the air in Evan''s direction.


    The young hero was not caught off guard, with his hand disappearing into a small half meter-wide hole that appeared mid-air and pulling out not his usual weapon, but arge shield that was almost his height.


    All these happened within the span of a few seconds, before tworge curved des shed towards Evan from two different angles.


    "Hup!"


    Evan took a step back and rose the shield, forcing the des tond on the shield.


    *CLANG!


    A short nging sound rang out as the shield blocked the full force of the attack and absorbed the resulting shockwaves, however, Evan was still knocked back a good ten meters.


    ''Tsk��the damn shield still doesn''t ept me as its owner.


    In that case, I''d toss it into the trash.''


    The boy''s expression distorted as he let the shield fall back into his inventory, before clenching his fist and blinking.


    He reappeared beside the bandit leader who had just attacked him and punched forward, activating one of his recently gotten skills.


    "Fracture."


    Golden lightning crackled around his palm as he unhesitantly attacked the man''s head.


    **BAM!!


    Sadly, his fist was blocked by the t side of a curved de that suddenly appeared mid-punch.


    The metal of the de conducted the lightning and caused it to flow down towards its wielder''s arm but the bandit leader instantly roused his magic power and dispersed the lightning with rtive ease.


    Immediately after, he swung his other weapon towards Evan, however, the young hero blinked out of the way and reappeared a few meters from the bandit leader.


    He turned his gaze to the bandit leader for a moment before looking towards the other knights who were battling against the other bandits and then to the noble''s daughter and her maid who were still on the ground behind Eliza.


    Appraising the bandits and seeing the leader''s level sitting at 184, Evan narrowed his eyes as he felt that this might be a bit troublesome.


    He looked towards the Warhammer-wielding woman who Pride was fighting and saw she was a bit higher at 187.


    ''This looks like it might be a tad bit troublesome as I can''t instantly go all out because of those two behind Liz.


    If I use enough power to kill the bandit leader in a single blow, even the mere shockwaves from the attack would be enough to turn them into a bloody mist.''


    The young hero clicked his tongue in annoyance as he tilted his head to the side, dodging the piercing attack from the bandit leader who dashed to him, intending to take advantage of the moment Evan was not looking.


    ''This guy is about five levels lower than me. Coupled with my various stat boosts and higher stat effectiveness, dealing with him would be simple.''


    Those were Evan''s thoughts as he grabbed the arm of the bandit leader with both hands and roused his magic power, activating his pdin at full power and using body-strengthening magic.


    "Brace yourselves guys."


    He said casually in the next moment, as he turned around and pulled the surprised brown-haired middle-aged man with all his strength, flipping him overhead and mming him into the ground.


    "Huh?"


    **BAAAMMMM!!!!


    The ground trembled loudly as the bandit leader mmed into the ground with his back faster than he could react.


    Spider web-like cracks spread out in all directions as the ground split open, followed by multiple shockwaves that knocked the knights and bandits who were caught off guard, off their feet.


    However, the leader of the group of knights, the Warhammer-wielding woman Pride was battling and Evan''spanions, all jumped up to avoid the shockwaves that spread out on the ground.


    As for the noble''s daughter and her maid, they were saved by Eliza who created a barrier under their feet and lifted them up from the ground and into the air with it.


    **BZZTT!!<sub> </sub>


    Lightning Crackled around the arm of the woman, flowing up the handle of her Warhammer and onto the head of the weapon.


    She took advantage of her current position in the air, raiding her staff overhead and swinging it down towards Pride.


    "What tha?!"


    Mid-swing, she let out a voice of surprise as she saw Pride drop her sword and grasp the air, just before a Warhammer-shaped construct of mes appeared in her now empty hand.


    **BOOMM!!!


    The lighting engulfed Warhammer and the and its me-constructed counterpart shed mid-air, causing a loud explosion that blew both Pride and her opponent away, sending them flying dozens of metres into the air.


    Evan who was now nearly two hundred metres away, dropped the noble''s daughter and her maid to the ground and popped the cap of a magic potion bottle, downing it instantly as he watched the clouds of smoke and mes rising into the air.


    "Ka."


    [Yes, Master?]


    "Can you watch these two for a bit? I wanna go kill that guy real quick."


    [Mouu...I wanna fight too!]


    The young lightning spirit pouted in displeasure as she manifested her physical body, causing Evan to chuckle lightly upon seeing her dissatisfied expression.


    "Maybe next time, okay?"


    [Promise?]


    "Promise."


    While this conversation was ongoing, explosions were ringing out in the distance as Pride and the Warhammer-wielding ''bandit'' shed repeatedly, with Eliza''s flower cannon going off and turning the upper bodies of three unfortunate bandits to bloody mists.


    The noble''s daughter on the ground stared at Evan with a gaping expression as she saw him promise the young lightning spirit who looked like a small child at the moment.


    Evan nced at the girl briefly, appraising her before revealing an expression of surprise at her identity.


    "Hmm. This would make things a lot easier."


    He nodded to himself as he said that, turning around and taking a few metres of distance away from her before kicking off the ground with enough force to form a small foot-sized crater.


    He shot through the air at breakneck speed, putting his hand into his inventory and pulling out the unforged while pouring his golden aura into the de.


    "Aura sh."


    Activating a skill, he swung his de, sending multiple aura shes in the direction of the bandit leader who was fighting off Eliza and the Knight leader simultaneously.


    The brown-haired man''s eyes glowed with an eerie light as he swung his curved des with force while Eliza and the Knight leader dodged with difficulty.


    His pupils suddenly turned in Evan''s direction as he engulfed his swords in his aura and released simr aura shes to block Evan''s attacks.


    "de cannon."


    The young hero suddenly activated another skill, releasing a singr aura sh that shot out five bullets of aura in the man''s direction.


    However, instead of dodging as Evan had expected, he stomped his foot into the ground and channelled his magic power, summoning a thick three-metre-tall wall of earth that took the brunt of the attack for him.


    The next moment, Eliza dropped to her knees as she grit her teeth in indignation before shouting to Evan.


    "Be careful. There''s something weird about him!"


    As soon as she said that, she created a barrier around her to block the curved de that suddenly tried to lop off her head.


    The sword was deflected by her barrier and crashed towards the ground, splitting the earth open and forming a small crater as the aura coated around it dispersed into the ground.


    "Tsk...?!"


    The bandit leader clicked his tongue and was about to attack once more when he realised something.


    ''At that kid''s speed, he should have reached this position long ago. Then why hasn''t he done so?''


    His pupils darted around as he tried to find Evan''s position with his eyes, not bothering to rely too much on his aura sensing as he guessed that Evan most likely had a means to conceal his presence from being sensed that way.


    A chill suddenly ran down his spine, causing him to turn around and stomp his foot on the floor, erecting another earthen wall just in time to block the invisible aura shes and de cannons thate from behind.


    Turning around once more, he saw Evan grab Eliza and vanish once more, before reappearing a few metres away.


    ''Hey, Pride.


    The thralls are this brown-haired dude and that Warhammer woman you''re fighting, right?''

 Chapter 237 Knights And Bandits III

    ''Hey, Pride.


    The thralls are this brown-haired dude and that Warhammer woman you''re fighting, right?''


    [Yes.


    She has a bit more of his power than he usually gives his thralls so I just wanted to see if there was anything special about her.]


    Pride replied to Evan''s message via their connection, causing the young hero to narrow his eyes as he stared at the man who was gazing at him warily.


    ''So, I''m guessing the reason Greed''s Idiosyncrasy isn''t working on me is because of my contract with you, right?''


    [Yes.]


    After getting a reply from the high demon, Evan nodded to himself before suddenly ring up his aura and allowing his magic power pressure to spread out.


    ''Let''s see if I can get the intimidation skill just like I got fracture.''


    With that thought, Evan unleashed the full might of his higher-quality magic power and aura onto the surroundings, causing the knights behind him to drop to their knees from the pressure.


    He red at the bandit leader before kicking off the ground and dashing towards him, carving up the ground as he moved.


    The unforged tore a rift through the air, shing down towards the bandit leader who rose his curved des to block Evan''s full forced strike.


    Sparks flew through the air as the two weapons shed, with their wielders quickly drawing back before attacking again.


    Even if he was a ''bandit'', he was still a master-level existence who had made his way to level 184 in the end. As such, it was simply just impossible for his skills with a de to be half-baked.


    The two light curbed des sliced through the air, loaded with enough aura to bypass Evan''s durability in a single strike. Yet the des did not creak under the stress, showing how powerful they were.


    Evan on the other hand, did not attempt to directly block any of his strikes, either parrying them or diverting the force behind them to the ground.


    ''Having a strength stat of ''B-'' despite being only level 184? Definitely not normal.


    He''s no doubt a thrall of Greed, I don''t even need to see the title to know.''


    Those were Evan''s thoughts as he pulled his foot backwards, dodging a single powerful strike that went straight for his feet, before twisting his body to avoid the other curbed de that threatened to lop off his other arm.


    He then filled his sword arm with aura and activated his most powerful assault skill, Vortex, without hesitation.


    **BOOM!!


    The bandit leader was stunned when the ambient magic power suddenly gathered around Evan''s sword and mmed into his body faster than he could react.


    He was sent flying into the air, crashing on the ground and kicking up clouds of dust and dirt in the process.


    His skin was covered in a multitude of cuts and burns, with his clothes and armour not faring any better.


    "Chain Lightning."


    Evan''s voice rang out as the bandit leader struggled to his feet, only to see the young hero in the air holding up a ball of lightning nearly half a metre in diameter.


    In the next moment, Evan''s arm suddenly bulged up and blurred, moving at a speed that far exceeded the bandit leader''s realm of cognition.


    "Shi-!"


    Before he could even finish cursing, the ball of lightning shot through the air and arrived in front of his face, leaving a trail of yellow light in the air.


    He reflexively pulled up one of his des and attempted to slice through the lightning orb after infusing it with aura, however it exploded on contact, releasing a shockwave that sent his body flying by a dozen metres.


    Now then, one would wonder why Evan used a skill like chain lightning that was best used against multiple enemies when he was only fighting one person.


    The reason was simple, it was because when he mmed into the bandit leader with vortex, the unfortunate brown-haired man was tossed in the direction of Pride and the Warhammer-wielding woman.


    As such, the moment the lighting orb exploded in his face and charred his upper body ck, the lightning moved on to the next thing Evan considered an enemy.


    The Warhammer-wielding woman who was currently being beaten ck and blue by Pride.


    Naturally, he had already informed the high demon of his intentions beforehand, so the deadly sin was not caught off guard and reacted appropriately.


    Seeing the streak of lightning heading towards her, the woman clicked her tongue and gripped her weapon tight.


    The veins in her arms could be seen clearly as she poured enormous amounts of magic power into her weapon.<sub> </sub>


    She then took an action that Evan most certainly did not expect, she tossed the Warhammer in the direction of the iing lightning, before coating her own body in lightning magic and blitzing towards Pride who was heading towards her with a ck me-coated fist.


    **BAMMM!!!


    The sound of the two women''s fists colliding mid-air was like that of thunder during a rainstorm. Evan saw the ground cave in due to the pressure, with cracks spreading out omnidirectionally.


    "Well, that didn''t go as expected."


    The young hero light-heartedly remarked as he made an effort to regain his bnce, his eyes narrowing in the next instant as he realised something.


    ''Pride, was actually overpowered and had no choice but to pull back?''


    Appraising the woman again, he saw that her strength stat had not shown any difference, with it still being the same ''B-'' that he had seen earlier.


    However, right before his very eyes, that ''B-'' changed to a ''B'', causing his eyes to widen in surprise.


    "Liz, check the life forces of all living beings within a 500-metre radius and tell me if you sense anything abnormal."


    Evan shouted out to Liz as he held out his arm, kicking off the ground in the next moment and shooting towards Pride''s opponent.


    Responding to his call, the unforged flew into his open palm and he gripped it tightly before filling it with his golden aura and swinging it wildly.


    He released multiple de cannons towards the woman, before blinking out and reappearing right beside the woman who was about to throw a punch in Pride''s direction.


    ''Kuro.''


    The shadow spirit that had been silent since the first beginning of the battle, responded to Evan''s call with his actions, generating multiple shadowy tentacle-like appendages that shot out of the woman''s shadow and wrapped around her body tightly.


    "What the-?!"


    Naturally, she was surprised as hell, but Evan did not give her a chance to even express it fully, pping her in the face with all his strength.


    However, in the instant his palm touched her face, he activated his energy st skill, releasing the rapidly condensed energy ball at point-nk range.


    He then stomped his foot on the ground and used ice magic to freeze her feet at the same time that Pride''s me-covered fistnded on her torso.


    "GRAUGHH!!!"


    She couldn''t even scream properly as more than half her face was disfigured due to Evan''s point-nk energy st.


    The young hero then grabbed the already pulled-back arm of the high demon and blinked out of the way just in time for the fist-sized aura bullets to reach their restrained target and riddle her with holes.


    The fact that Evan and Pridepleted this set of actions in the time it took the de cannon aura bullets to reach their target showed how fast they had moved.


    However, this wasn''t the end of it as they two ignored the explosions in the distance and the pearl of lightning that appeared in the air a couple of hundred metres away, infusing their weapons with aura and striking out.


    **SWISH! SWISH!!


    Their auraden weapons sliced towards the arms of their unfortunate victim; however, the des were unable to cut through her flesh in time.


    Perhaps feeling the fear of impending death, the woman let out a strange scream as she released a burst of aura and magic.


    She then grabbed Evan''s sword with her injured arm and pulled the young hero alongside the de, mming his body against Pride''s and flinging the both of them into the distance.


    Contrary to her expectations, the tow didn''t crash and ragdoll on the ground, but instead suddenly stopped moving mid-air, as if held up by invisible forces.


    Next, the ground cracked open and arge pir of ice emerged from within, shooting up a dozen metres into the sky.


    Evan grabbed Pride and blinked to the top of the pir, when the voice of the demon''s contracted spirit suddenly rang out in his ear.


    [Eliza said that there is a huge life sign about 400 metres away from us, however, it seems to be stuck in ce and unable to move.


    She also said that its life force distribution across its body is currently not stable.]


    Hearing this, Evan''s eyes narrowed as he downed the contents of a magic recovery potion. He then turned to the high demon and spoke.


    "This woman seems to be a favoured thrall of you brother, given that he allowed her to use enough power to take her strength stat to ''B''.


    If any of her blows gets to us, it''s game over."

 Chapter 238 Knights And Bandits IV

    "This woman seems to be a favoured thrall of you brother, given that he allowed her to use enough power to take her strength stat to ''B''.


    If any of her blows gets to us, it''s game over."


    He then sent a message to Ka, telling her to keep the bandit leader she was beating the hell out of alive before turning to back to the Warhammer-wielding woman who was dashing towards the pir of ice they were standing on.


    "We can find out about why your brother''s thralls were targeting the daughter of Osto''s lord from the other one.


    We''re killing this one."


    As soon as he spoke, the Warhammer mmed into the ice pir and shattered it to pieces instantly, however, Evan grabbed Pride''s arm and blinked away.


    The Warhammer-wielding woman naturally noticed this and instantly spread out her aura using a technique that acted like a radar to see where they were going to reappear.


    She then sensed a ripple in her aura wave about a few metres away from her position and dashed in that direction, instantly coating her weapon in lightning and deactivating several skills.


    **BOOOMM!!!


    Her hammer mmed into arge shield that suddenly appeared, shattering the high-grade weapon to pieces of metal instantly.


    She then sensed two other consecutive ripples in her aura wave, twisting her body instantly and flinging her hammer in one of the directions.


    As for the second, she clenched her fist and dashed in that direction, punching forward a few metres before reaching the location and releasing a shockwave from the pressure of her fists that was sent flying towards that direction.


    The moment Pride appeared, she had to deal with arge Warhammer that suddenly shot towards her, something that any normal person would be unable to handle.


    However, the high demon was prepared for any unexpected attacks, with two rings of red light circling around her arm, with a glowing red two-ringed magic circle hovering above her palm.,


    An illusory third ring flickered into existence as she held up her palm in the direction of the iing Warhammer and activated the spell.


    ''Fire Magic: Prominence of Hell.''


    Arge, long and powerfully destructive dark redser-like beam shot forward and collided with the Warhammer.


    **BOOMM!


    Shockwaves spread out into the surroundings as the ground cracked open due to the pressure of the Warhammer colliding with theser-like beam of demonic energy-infused mes.


    The hammer was forced to stop as the power of the spell was no less than the ''B'' rank level strength that was used to throw it, with the lighting around the hammer flickering out mere moments before the dark red beam melted a hole through the head of the hammer.


    Although with lesser speed and power, the dark redser-like beam continued in its path after turning the Warhammer to molten metal, aiming for the back of the woman who was sensing out airborne shockwaves in quick session towards Evan.


    The young hero countered each shockwave with his fists, activating his fracture skill in the instant right before his fist collided with the shockwave and deactivated it right after.


    As a destructive type skill, it enjoyed the benefit of 30% increased damage, making it far more powerful than its original version that Evan had seen in the game.


    Although Evan intended to keep the woman upied long enough for Pride''sser to hit, it was impossible for someone on her level to not sense the impending threat to her life that was closing in.


    Naturally, she acted to avoid it, releasing one huge airborne shockwave towards Evan and then jumping out of the way immediately after.


    Unfortunately for her, she had unconsciously forgotten the existence of a third person in Evan''s group, given the fact that Evan and Pride were the only ones who had taken action against her, and she waspletely unaware of the existence of a fourth entity with them which was the fire spirit, Amy.


    "Flower Cannon."


    A beam of condensed magic power shot towards her right after she heard those words, traversing the air at breakneck speed and closing the distance almost instantly.


    Right before she could even make a decision to dodge or block, the illusory third ring on the magic circle on Pride''s palm suddenly became stable, with the dark redser-like beam of increasing in intensity.


    This normally wouldn''t have posed any issue as she had already dodged the spell, however, Pride suddenly flicked her fingers and changed theser''s direction, causing it to shoot towards her.


    At the same time, the ground beneath her feet heated up as a pir of mes shot upwards from the ground, engulfing her body in ck mes and causing her to scream out in pain.


    Due to this, she was unable to dodge the flower cannon and theser-like beam that Pride redirected towards her, allowing them to hit her without issue.


    Next, a palm covered in a tinyer of white light and had a glowing yellow orb in front of it mmed into her neck.


    "Energy st."


    Those two words were thest she heard, as the activation of a certain hero of Mimicry''s first mimicked skill, caused a beam of lightning-infused energy tounch into the air, turning everything in its path to cinders.


    Naturally, this included the neck of the thrall of Greed.


    **PLOP!


    What was left of her burning head dropped to the ground, seconds before the rest of her body followed.<sub> </sub>


    Amy withdrew her mes while Pride and Eliza deactivated their skills and magic, allowing the charred hole ridden body of the unfortunate woman to be seen clearly.


    Evan saw a fist-sized hole in her chest, the ce where Pride''s spell had pierced through, clicking his tongue right after as he spoke.


    "Tsk...she would have died even if I didn''t do anything."


    He used his Pdin skill''s limited healing on his hand that went through Amy''s mes before turning around to see a very bizarre scene of a young ck-haired girl in a casual t-shirt and shorts, dragging the body of a half-dead middle-aged man behind her with her back gloved hands.


    "He''s not dead, is he?"


    [Nope.]


    Ka replied with a beaming smile as she dropped the man''s body on the floor.


    "What about the people I told you to watch?"


    [The maid girl and her master? Those armoured knights came over to check on them so I left them with the knights and went to beat up this guy who showed up again.


    He has a strange power though, I could barely muster up any strength in my body whenever he got close, and the knights were no different.


    I had to resort to using my magic and skills alone.]


    The young lightning spiritined with a pout as she kicked the head of the half-dead man, causing him to groan in pain.


    Hearing her exnation, Evan smiled wryly and patted her head, before fishing out a snack from his inventory and giving it to her.


    [The cookies from that pastry shop?! You still had some left?!]


    "Yeah. Was saving them forter but they''re yours now."


    [Thanks.]


    The young great lightning spirit smiled brightly before flying over to where Amy was sitting on Pride''s shoulder and dragging the me spirit.


    [Look! I got those cookies again! Let''s share them!]


    [But he gave them to yo-]


    [I said, let''s share them!]


    [But-]


    [We''re sharing them!]


    [...Fine. Thanks.]


    Evan and Eliza burst outughing upon seeing the interaction between the two spirits that looked like small children, while Kuro ''face pawed''.


    ''Lady Sylph, just why did you make Lady Ka turn out like this.''


    The young shadow spirit heaved a sigh of exhaustion as it silently jumped back into Evan''s shadow, not before it caught the eyes of the level 185 knight leader who was staring at the three spirits ck-jawed.


    He had personally witnessed the fight between Ka and the bandit leader, and had even helped out the young spirit who was caught off guard by the bandit leader''s strange ability.


    Although he fought alongside her, he was still in shock at how powerful the small ten-year-old-looking spirit was.


    He then looked at Amy that suddenly appeared beside Pride and remembered the appearance of Kuro who jumped into Evan''s shadow.


    ''High-level elemental maniption capabilities and monstrous strength despite her young appearance.


    If I didn''t see the cat jump into his shadow I would not have known but now I''m certain.


    These two young girls are most likely elementals.''


    The knight leader instantly reached a conclusion as he stepped towards Evan and bowed his head.


    "I would like to express my deep gratitude for your help in resolving this matter just now."


    Following him, all the other knights present bowed their heads towards Evan''s group, saying words of gratitude to them.


    Receiving words of heartfelt gratitude from more than a dozen people all at once left our resident battle priestess flustered. Pride couldn''t really care less and was scrutinizing the half-dead bandit leader while Evan was slightly taken back at first, but regained himself instantly and replied.


    "No stress. We also have our own reasons for joining in."

 Chapter 239 Interrogation 101

    "No stress. We also have our own reasons for joining in."


    "Nevertheless, it does not change the fact that you helped us avert a disaster."


    It took Evan a minute to prevent the poor knight from kowtowing on the ground to express his thanks, making the hero feel more exhausted than he did fighting the Warhammer-wielding woman, mentally, that is.


    "May I know the name of our benefactors?"


    Hearing the man ask for their names, Evan did his usual job of introducing the members of the group one by one while Eliza looked him and Pride over for injuries.


    "She''s Pride, our resident support, Eliza. The two spirits are Amy and Ka respectively, while Kuro is in my shadow.


    Oh yeah, Liz, can you keep that guy on the floor alive for a little longer?"


    "...Okay..."


    Evan''s words confirmed the Knight leader''s thoughts, as the young hero didn''t bother to hide the identity of the spirits in the first ce. After telling Eliza to prevent the bandit leader''s slow approaching death, he turned back to Enro and introduced himself.


    "As for me, I''m Evan Bourne Eris. Nice to meet you sir Enro."


    As Evan spoke to the knight leader, Sir Enro, he held up his family identification badge and imbued his magic power into it, causing the crest of the Eris Ducal Family to light up.


    The dark bronze crest of two crossed swords oveid by a roaring lion head looked familiar but Sir Enro couldn''t put his finger on exactly where he saw it, until a slightly dazed young female voice from behind him spoke up.


    "...the Eris Dukedom."


    Hearing it, Sir Enro''s mind finally clicked and his eyes widened in surprise. Although there were many people who had thest name ''Eris'' in the Alpha continent, with some of them being nobles, when one added a ''Duke'' to that name, there was only one family they were referring to.


    The family that had held the position of being the Prime Ministers of the Great Western Empire since its inception nearly a millennia ago.


    Evan tilted his head to the side and gazed at the girl in herte teens who recognized his family crest. She had above-average facial features with brown eyes and waist-length ck hair that had bangs hanging on the left side and a slender, well-defined body.


    She was quite tall, standing at nearly 170cm and when Evan appraised her, he found that she was older than him by at least four years.


    "It seemsdy Perhorn took her studies quite seriously. There are quite a few young nobles who would not recognize this crest after all."


    Evan spoke as he tossed the crest back into his inventory, yawning a bit before turning to Pride who was about to paint the ground red with the bandit leader''s blood.


    "Can you guys hold on a bit, and remain here? You too, Liz.


    Pride and I have a few things we need to deal with.


    Oh, and its best for you that you don''te in this direction."


    As soon as he spoke, he turned around and downed a magic potion, before clicking his tongue and muttering something about it being less effective as he grabbed Pride''s arm and that of the half-dead man on the floor.


    "Let''s go somewhere else."


    Like so, he left the two spirits and Eliza with the knights, causing the blonde teenager to heave a sigh of exhaustion.


    She then turned to the knights and asked.


    "Anyone with injuries? I can take care of that for you."


    ? �� �� ��


    As for Evan and Pride, they had dragged the half-dead man deeper into the forest and tossed him against a random tree, causing him to groan out in pain but Evan and Pride honestly could not care less.


    "Now then..."


    Evan sieved through the memories of the previous second that he possessed as he activated his Blessing of Destruction skill, coating his palm in the dark red aura and pressing it against the chest of the bandit leader.


    "GAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"


    His screams echoed out through the forest, with the sound scaring away any animals that happened to be in the area and making Eliza and the Knight/Noble Lady group feel a chill down their spines.


    The sheer amount of pain that one felt when their soul was damaged was on a totally different level entirely.


    Pride, who was behind Evan, stared at him in shock as she dispersed the cold demonic energy she had been gathering in her palm.


    "Forceful Interrogation 101.<sub> </sub>


    ''Show the target a little taste of the pain that they would receive if they refuse to give you the answers you want.


    It''d make them more cooperative in answering your questions afterwards.''


    Or at least that''s how it works ording to the previous ''Second''."


    Evan spoke before removing his palm from the chest of the poor brown-haired man on the floor, while Pride narrowed her eyes at him and asked.


    "Are you sure you''re okay doing that? This is the first time you are using it more than once in a day after all."


    The high demon was naturally referring to his usage of his skill''s first activation for the second time today, to which Evan replied.


    "I''m fine, nothing wrong with me in any way.


    This confirms my theory that I can use this skill multiple times in a single day, provided that the total usage time does not exceed one hour."


    This was something that Evan had been suspecting ever since he saw the skill''s description that said ''For the total time period of one hour per day'' and not ''Once Per day''.


    Seeing that the boy was okay, Pride turned her attention back to the bandit leader who was staring at her with a fear-stricken gaze.


    This was quite weird, considering the person who had just inflicted a huge amount of pain on him was Evan and not her.


    Evan naturally noticed this and asked, only to be met with silence, however, he simply raised his palm which was still coated in the essence of destruction and the man started spilling all he knew.


    Apparently, he had felt that Pride was a lot simr to his ''Boss'' in more ways than one. However, the thing that caught his attention the most, was the Deadly Sin Crest at the back of her right palm, something he realised Evan also had mid-speech.


    It turns out that he and the rest of the ''bandits'', were actually just a squad under an underground organization that existed in therge dungeon city of Osto.


    Said organization recently underwent a few changes to the top brass and the person who was the squad leader before he was brutally killed by the new ''Boss'', causing him to get promoted.


    The two also learnt that the new ''Boss'' of this organization, had pretty much covered the entirety of Osto with the palm of his hand.


    He was quite powerful and ruled the organization with fear. He had also managed the feat of repelling the coalition of Knights and adventurers who had attempted to take him out when his actions that terrorized the people of Osto had gone too far.


    They also learnt that the new Boss, was the one who sent them to attack the carriage with the daughter of Osto''s lord travelling within. It seemed that he had been trying to prevent the viscount from requesting reinforcements to deal with the organization.


    Evan and pride, however, could not care less about that and only wanted to discover about why he had be Greed''s thrall.


    They could discover about the situation in Osto from the Viscount''s daughter, after all.


    Sadly, the bandit leader seemed to be unaware of the existence of anyone who either answered the name ''Greed'' or looked like how Pride had described, and thus, he could not provide them with the answers they wanted.


    "Then how did you gain that ''ability'' of yours?"


    "T-the Boss!


    H-he ga-a-ave it to u-u-us!"


    "The same boss who has a simr crest on the back of his palm? And uses a Large Great sword to fight?"


    Seeing the man nod repeatedly in response to the question, Evan and Pride simultaneously turned to each other and reached the same conclusion instantly.


    "Greed''s contractor."


    "There''s no doubt."


    Having discovered the identity of this ''Boss'', Evan was about to turn the bandit leader into an experimental subject when he realised something.


    "Wait up.


    Since Greed''s contractor can use his Idiosyncrasy, doesn''t that mean that I should be able to use yours?"


    He posed the question to the high demon beside him, who only gave him a nk stare before turning and walking away.


    However, Evan wasn''t going to let her go so easily.


    He blinked in front of her and blocked her path, his mystic eyes shining as he stared into her red eyes and asked once more.


    "Since Greed''s contractor can use his Idiosyncrasy, doesn''t that mean that I should be able to use yours?"

 Chapter 240 Suzanne And Laurene

    Chapter 240 �C Suzanne and Laurene


    "Since Greed''s contractor can use his Idiosyncrasy, doesn''t that mean that I should be able to use yours?"


    "..."


    "..."


    The two stared at each other in silence for a full minute before Pride finally sighed in exasperation as she replied.


    "Yes, you should.


    However, you need my permission to do that.


    This is a 50/50 contract after all."


    After saying that, she returned to where Eliza and the others were, leaving behind the young hero who shrugged his shoulders and turned towards the Bandit leader on the floor.


    "Now then, shall we continue?"


    A dark red aura surrounded his arms as he spoke, causing the bandit leader to feel fear from the depths of his soul as he roused his magic power and tried to run, however, Evan had predicted this and had Kuro restrain him, allowing the young hero to continue his experiments with his skill.


    After nearly twenty minutes of constant screams echoing throughout the forest, Evan returned to where the group was while wiping his hands with a towel.


    He then proceeded to incinerate said towel before looking up to meet the weird gazes of the knights.


    "What? Why are y''all looking at me like you''ve never tortured criminals to get information out of them before."


    The young hero clicked his tongue in distaste as he walked up to the lightning spirit that was sleeping in Eliza''s arms and picked her up.


    "Did you use that skill again?"


    "Yeah. You can tell?"


    "I can literally see the residual aura around your arms and your right foot."


    Eliza replied as she gazed at Evan''s leg and saw a small blood stain on the sole of his shoes. A terrifying conjecture formed in her mid upon seeing that and she could not help but ask.


    "You didn''t literally stomp him to death with your right foot, did you?"


    "Heck no!"


    The young hero replied before leaning forward and whispering in her ear.


    "I used both feet."


    He then activated a basic cleaning magic spell on himself as he turned towards Sir Enro and spoke.


    "Now then, how about you fill us in on your side of this story?"


    �� �� ��


    Royal Pce, Gerfast


    Great Western Empire


    March 14th


    Year 1052


    At the same time that Evan was getting on the carriage and continuing the journey to Osto with the Viscount''s daughter and their guard detail, a tea party was taking ce in the Royal Pce of the Hayes Royal Family that ruled over the Great Western Empire.


    The daughters of various high ranked nobles were seated around arge table chatting with each other while having smiles on their faces.


    Various drinks, snacks and pastries from high ss five-star restaurants were served on the tables, with maids and butlers at every corner of the gazebo waiting on the nobledies seated before them.


    Each of the young nobledies present was dressed in thetest branded clothes and jewellery, however, they didn''t go over the top and kept it on the modest side of things.


    Despite the fact that they had been served, none of thedies touched anything besides their drinks, only taking small sips to quench their thirst when needed.


    The main reason for this was that the party hadn''t officially started.


    There were a few empty chairs here and there, but the party wasn''t considered to have begun until the host of the party, the one who was meant to take the empty seat at the head of the table, was present.


    Said host, was the highest-ranked youngdy in all of the Great Western Empire, the Princess of the Empire and the Fourth of the New Generation Heroes, Laurene Hayes.


    The Empress had organized a tea party for the older generation which consisted of the mothers of all the youngdies present, and had also decided to let the younger generation have something simr at the same time.


    In reality, she felt that her daughter had been too busy recently and had wanted the young teenager to rx a bit and socialize with her peers, as such, she had this party organized.


    However, Laurene was still handling a few matters concerning another base of the previous seven heroes that had been recently discovered and had beente.


    So, in the meantime, thedies were chatting among themselves, while waiting for the princess to arrive.


    One of saiddies, was the brown-haired girl Evan had met in the Mansion of the Damned, the daughter of Count Dyer, Suzanne.


    She was chatting with a few other youngdies around her when one of them mentioned something they had recently heard.


    "Lady Dyer, I heard that you recently went to Kasteblum recently for the winter."


    "Hmm? Indeed, I did."


    While Suzanne had actually gone over to retrieve something that was stolen from her family, that could exactly be disclosed to the public so the cover story was that she had gone over to Kasteblum for a short winter break.<sub> </sub>


    The young nobledy engaged her peers in the conversation, discussing some of the sights she saw in the city-state of magic, ranging from their enormous number of mages to their foods, some of the sights she had seen and so on.


    "Oh wow, sounds like you enjoyed yourself quite a bit."


    "I did.


    Going there, I understood why some nobles liked to go over there for the winter. It is quite a nice ce."


    Their light conversation about Kasteblum continued until a look of remembrance shed across Suzanne''s face.


    "Speaking of nobles, you guys would not believe who I met in Kasteblum."


    "Who?"


    "You met one of our country''s nobles?"


    In response to her friends'' curious voices, Suzanne gave a short reply.


    "Young lord Evan Eris."


    Hearing Evan''s name, the youngdies present were shocked, to say the least. After all, he was one of the highest-ranked nobles in their generation, yet he had so many stories about him flying around already.


    From his disappearance a year ago, to his actions in Geto City, now they''re finding out that he was in Kasteblum.


    However, that was not the cause for most of their shock. When they heard from Suzanne that Evan had be a Master level existence and was close to level 150, they couldn''t believe their ears.


    "How did he get so strong so fast?! Even Sir Arnold only reached the master level at 15! And he''s the greatest genius of our generation."


    Suzanne was about to reply when a voice suddenly rang out from behind her.


    "Level 150? Seems like I''ve been left behind, huh?"


    Turning around, Suzanne was met with a pair of striking blue eyes staring right at her, causing her to jolt in surprise as she recognized the face those eyes were on.


    "Your Highness?!"


    Her involuntary shout attracted the attention of all the otherdies at the table, causing them to turn in Laurene''s direction.


    They all offered their greetings to which Laurene responded, before taking one of the empty seats beside Suzanne and asking.


    "So, you said something about meeting that id-, I mean, meeting Evan in Kasteblum."


    "...yes..."


    Suzanne disclosed the same story of her visit to Kasteblum that she had told the otherdies and said she coincidentally met Evan when she was touring one of the ''Facilities'' in the city-state of Magic.


    "Also, Miss Lane said to give you her regards."


    "Eliza? She''s still with him?"


    "Yes. The two of them were together when I met him."


    Hearing this, Laurene ced a hand on her chin and sunk into her thoughts, wearing a pensive look on his face before suddenly saying out loud.


    "Maybe I should go over there myself?


    Nahh...there''s no point.


    Knowing that guy, he won''t be in Kasteblum by the time I get there, especially considering the fact that someone he knows saw him there."


    She then turned back to Suzanne and asked.


    "Did he say anything about where he was going to head to afterwards?"


    The young Lady of the Dyer family thought back to her conversations with Evan after being asked that, and remembered that Evan did mention other countries during their talks.


    "Yeah. Some of the things he said didn''t really make sense to me but he did mention a few other ces.


    Like the time he was talking about someone''s brother, he mentioned going to Hobha."


    "Someone''s brother? You mean the tall dark-haired blood red-eyed woman with him?"


    "...yes.


    You know her?"


    Suzanne took a short moment to reply after hearing Laurene''s fairly urate description of the high demon Pride.


    "I wouldn''t say that but we do have a few ''memories'' together. I do know that her brother is in Hobha so it makes sense for them to go over there.


    Did he say anything else?"


    "Yeah. He said something about Bultom in Cheverton, but that''s all i recall."


    "Huh? Isn''t Cheverton supposed to start in July?"


    Laurene reflexively asked back after hearing Suzanne''s reply, but she instantly realised there was no way that the girl could possibly know the answer.


    A quick nce around showed everyone present paying attention to their conversation, so she quickly changed the topic, picking something that was sure to catch the attention of all thedies present.


    "On to more important things, have youdies heard about the new Dress shop that opened up in the noble''s district?"

 Chapter 241 Osto’s Situation I

    "On to more important things, have youdies heard about the new Dress shop that opened up in the noble''s district?"


    "Ah. The one owned by that Merchant group, right?"


    "Yes. I dropped by a few days ago. Their prices were very high."


    As the youngdies jumped onto the new topic that Laurene had brought up, Suzanne tapped the arm of the princess seated beside her and passed over a sealed envelope.


    "From Sir Eris."


    Hearing this, a look of surprise shed across Laurene''s eyes. This then quickly changed to realization as she spoke."


    "I see. So that''s why."


    Laurene chuckled lightly as she epted the letter and offered her thanks before flicking her fingers and causing it to disappear. She then stood up and walked over to her assigned seat, saying a few words of thanks to all thedies present as the tea party officially began.


    �� �� ��


    Inter-City Freeway


    Unnamed Abandoned Vige Outskirts


    Hobha


    March 14th


    Year 1052


    A carriage surrounded by more than a dozen Knights with some on horseback and some on foot made its way down the freeway that led to the main City of Viscount Perhorn''s territory, Dungeon City Osto.


    Seated inside the carriage, were six people, with three of them being the Daughter of Viscount Perhorn herself, her maid and one of the female knights in her guard detail.


    The other three were the group of adventurers who saved them from their earlier predicament, with one of them being a noble ranked higher than the Viscount, and the other two being hispanions whose identities were not so simple either.


    "Give us the details, from the very beginning.


    And please try not to leave anything out because whatever is happening in Osto right now, might be rted to why we''re going there in the first ce."


    Pride spoke towards Viscount Perhorn''s daughter, Leena, with a hint of impatience in her tone, something Evan believed was only natural, given that this ''Boss'' person that wanted her dead was most likely her brother''s contractor.


    Hearing this, Leena went silent for a moment, her eyes darting towards the back of Pride''s palm and seeing the familiar-looking crest.


    She then heaved a sigh in the next, before finally opening her mouth and beginning her story.


    "About two months ago, a powerful adventurer named Terence Stickels emerged from the ''Tower of Avarice'', the main dungeon in the Perhorn Viscounty.


    As soon as he came out, he rushed straight to the adventurers guild and reported that he was abandoned by his fellow adventurers when they were attacked by a powerful monster.


    The people he listed to be his party members, had apparently reported him and some other members of their party dead earlier in the month, but his testimony had changed the whole situation.


    So, the adventurers guild took action to locate the people in question, however, just when they finally located them, it was toote.


    Terence had personally gone over to where they were and killed them all brutally. He even ended up chasing one of them into the adventurers guild building and killed him there.


    This is where the problems started.


    Although his party members have most definitely deserved punishments for their actions, Terence was in no position of authority to dish out said punishments.


    Besides, in the process of chasing that person, a lot of city facilities were destroyed and citizens were injured.


    This caught the attention of my father and the Adventurer''s acting guild master, causing them to take action immediately.


    They had attempted to apprehend him but the knights and adventurers who were sent to bring him in, were all defeated by him and returned with injuries all over.


    These defeated Knights and adventurers brought to light new information about Terence that we were formerly unaware of.


    In the time that the adventurers guild had taken to find his old party members, he had taken performed a hostile takeover of one of the illegal gangs that existed in Osto.


    It was a gang that my father had been trying topletely uproot from Osto for years, a gang that has been rooted in Osto for decades, yet this man took out its top brass and made himself the sole leader. He then went on to absorb the other smaller gangs that existed and killed off all those who resisted him.


    It was using this gang''s resources that he was able to locate his former party members and chase after them.


    After bing the ''Boss'' of this gang, he somehow stabilized his rule within a few weeks and by the time we discovered this, he already had the leaders of the other gangs working for him, obediently following his orders out of fear of being killed.


    Naturally, there was no way that someone who achieved this would be weak, so a few knights were sent to probe him and investigate his power, and it was discovered that he, like the acting guild master and the leader of the Knights of Perhorn, was an existence at around Level 185-195."


    "So, this Terence dude is the same one who sent those guys after you?"


    "Yes."


    Leena replied to Evan''s question before Pride urged her to continue with the story, wanting to understand more about this man called Terence and how he was rted to her brother.


    "After the squad sent to gauge Terence''s power level returned, the man revealed his ambition; to take over the entirety of Osto and put it under his rule.


    Naturally, there was no way that my father would let that happen so he cooperated with the adventurers'' guild and sent out a subjugation force to take him out, one that was led by one of the most powerful adventurers in Osto, along with the leader of the Knights of Perhorn.


    However, this decision...was a mistake.


    We were unaware of the fact that Terence possessed another kind of power, one he revealed only when he saw the two existences over Level 185 who were sent to take him out.


    What''s more, he seemed to be able to give this power to his subordinates too, allowing them to disy enough might to resist the subjugation force that was sent after them.


    From reports, whenever one got within a certain range of them, they suddenly lost all the strength in their bodies, so much that even moving their bodies became difficult, much less lifting their weapons to fight.


    It was discovered that the reason for this was that Terence''s ability somehow let him and his chosen subordinates to debuff his opponents, reducing their Strength Stats greatly.


    That alone was dangerous, however, it turned out that he wasn''t exactly reducing their stats, but absorbing the power behind that stat for himself.


    And while it was possible to resist this power when it was used by his subordinates, it was impossible to do so when used by Terence himself."


    "And you sent two over Level 185 existences against him?"


    "...yes. To be precise, they were Level 189 and 191 respectively."


    "The end results?"


    "..."


    To Evan''s question, Leena was silent for a few moments before she finally replied.


    "They were wiped out. Both Knights and Adventurers were all killed.


    Nearly three city districts were destroyed in the ensuing battle where Terence fought against the Knight Captain and the Leader of the Adventurers.


    The strength he disyed was too overwhelming, and they were unable to disy their full power as Terence''s power had deprived them of their strength, something that was fatal for a melee-type fighter like they were.


    What''s more, was that the battle encroached into areas that hadn''t been evacuated beforehand, causing civilian casualties.


    The Knight captain couldn''t focus fully on the battle as he was also taking action to reduce the casualties, even so, nearly a hundred lives were lost.


    In the end, only the Knight Captain survived while all the others lost their lives. It was from him that we were able to acquire details of Terence''s strange power."


    Leena bit her lips as she finished talking, while Evan and Pride shared a knowing nce.


    The two of them already realised what the ''Strange power'' Terence had was, it was Greed''s Idiosyncrasy.


    The ability to absorb the physical prowess of his opponents without making direct contact with them. An intangible attack that bypasses obstacles in its way, including a majority of magic-based barriers, armour and battle equipment.


    He could also pass a watered-down version of this power onto his thralls who had been enved by his ''Emperor of Greed'' skill.


    There were naturally limitations to this power but the people of Osto did not know of this, and the end result would not have changed even if they were aware.


    While Evan was thinking this, Leena turned her gaze towards the crest on the back of the young hero''s palm and spoke.


    "The Knight Captain did note that Terence had a crest on the back of his palm that glowed multiple times mid-fight, one that looks simr to the crest on you two''s hands."

 Chapter 242 Osto’s Situation II

    "The Knight Captain did note that Terence had a crest on the back of his palm that glowed multiple times mid-fight, one that looks simr to the crest on you two''s hands."


    Before she could even say anything more, Evan sighed and held up his hand, facing the back of his palm towards her and summoning Vanitas.


    The crest glowed and the sword of pride appeared in his palm, causing the knight beside Leena to quickly unsheathe her de and hold it up.


    "Nice reaction but if I wanted to kill you, you''d already be dead.


    Besides, I only did that just to show you what I can do with this crest. I''m assuming that Terence has a simr weapon, most likely a huge Great sword, right?"


    Hearing his words, Leena recovered from her shock before nodding silently.


    "Thought so."


    Evan spoke and then unsummoned Pride''s sword, before continuing with his words.


    "This Terence guy doesn''t seem like the kind of person who would just sit still after making such a scene and killing one of the most powerful people in Osto.


    What happened after the failure of the subjugation force?"


    From the way the viscount''s daughter had described Terence to him, Evan refused to believe that the man would sit still after such a tant attempt on his life.


    Hearing the question, Leana summarized the happenings in Osto after the failed subjugation force.


    It turned out that Terence lost quite a bit of his own forces after the raid, and had not made any big moves since then.


    But it didn''t mean that he sat back and did nothing.


    Apparently, Terence had taken to terrorise the people of Osto, by simply taking away whatever treasures or items of value they possessed.


    If one had anything that was very valuable, like a family heirloom or a treasured artifact, or some sort of expensive decoration, Terence would send people to retrieve this item(s), forcefully.


    Even if the one who possessed the item attempted to hide it, it was futile as Terence somehow was able to sniff out its location.


    The merchants living in Osto were the ones who suffered the most, especially the rich ones who were among the Merchant guild''s higher-ups.


    Terence had personally attacked the Merchant guild building and had taken away a great number of their valuables and treasures, including their Magic projection artifacts and othermunication devices.


    As far as something of high mary value made its way into Osto, Terence would somehow appear and forcefully take it away from its owner.


    This had gotten him the nickname; ''Greedy Red'', because of his greed for items of high mary value, his red hair, and the red blood that spilt whenever someone opposed him.


    One of the adventurers with an appraisal skill, noted that Terence had be far stronger than he was before the subjugation force attacked, causing widespread panic across the city.


    But perhaps he knew that even if he took control of Osto, it would have been pointless if the people in it died out, so he didn''t touch food supplies or basic necessities.


    He also didn''t go about randomly killing people, unless they provoked him first like a group of adventurers from another city who challenged him only to be turned into bloody mists by a wave of his sword.


    People that worked jobs in the food production sector were the ones who felt Terence''s terror the least. He had only sent over some of his subordinates to watch them and make sure they didn''t flee to another city.


    Naturally, it was simply impossible for the citizens to stay locked in their houses forever because of their fear, after all, they needed to eat, work and perform other activities. As such, the city somehow regained a semnce of its previous state.


    Even the merchants who had been robbed by Terence naturally tried to recover their losses.


    However, it didn''t mean that they were content with Terence''s presence, and were obviously scheming to take him out by calling in forces from other cities.


    And although Terence should know this, he didn''t take action for some reason, something they believed to be his confidence in his ever-growing power.


    "However, seeing as he sent people after me just when my father sent me out means that he isn''t actually doing nothing to stop them from plotting against him, they just don''t know this."


    Leana''s words were a trigger for Evan to finally ask about why she was attacked in the first ce, to which the teenager replied.


    "My father has been in contact with other city lords nearby, asking for help to deal with Terence while also trying to find out when the Guild Masters would return from their expedition.


    He had sent me out secretly to go to a neighbouring County and request help from the Count there as he couldn''t move in person for fear that Terence would notice.


    However, Terence somehow found out and...and...he...s-sent those..."


    She suddenly started shuddering as she spoke, something that made Evan and Pride who were ardently questioning her take a step back.


    ''She almost did get assaulted by those guys so her reaction is expected...''


    The young hero didn''t and could not rte to how the girl was currently feeling so he just kept silent and allowed Eliza and the knight with her to calm her down.


    He did notice the knight gritting her teeth in anger, something also within expectations as the knight had indeed failed to protect the daughter of her lord and had allowed the teenager to go through a horrible experience.


    ''There''s also that dude who nearly got assaulted by the Warhammer-wielding woman too. Is he okay?''


    Evan looked out the window as he thought that, trying to locate the knight in question when Leana suddenly spoke up, saying she was okay.


    "Youngdy-!"


    "Stop. I know what you''re thinking but right now they are our best bet at taking out Terence and restoring Osto back to what it was previously.


    Don''t forget the fact that his strange power didn''t work on the two of them. It means that they can fight him at full power and seed in defeating him.


    In that case, I would not hesitate to give them whatever information they want. That is also one of the reasons I said we should return to the city and not continue to the County."


    Hearing her words, Pride rose an eyebrow in slight surprise, while Evan who was about to say something about the possibility of them actually not having to fight Terence kept his mouth shut.


    ''Still, this Terence dude, huh?


    He seems to be the decisive type. Sending out people to kill her on the same day she left the city.


    If they seeded in taking out the viscount''s daughter, no one would ever know that the viscount had sent his daughter out to another city to ask for help in person.


    They might even think he sent her away in secret to avoid Terence.


    He''s probably nning something big and isn''t taking direct action because of that. Justying low and increasing his power.''


    As for how his power kept increasing despite his level not changing much, it was still a mystery to the people of Osto.


    However, it was not a mystery to Pride and Evan who knew about Greed''s skills.


    "If my guess is correct, it isn''t that Terence is growing stronger, it''s just that Greed is recovering his power and Terence is getting ess to more of that power.


    That''s why it looks like Terence is bing stronger even though he''s doing nothing but robbing people."


    Evan spoke to Pride who nodded in affirmation. Hearing his words, Eliza who had been silent since the beginning of the conversation posed a question.


    "Then doesn''t that make defeating Terence pretty simple? You just have to stop Greed from getting his power back.


    How is he even regaining the power in the first ce?"


    Her question made Evan turn silent for a while before deciding that it didn''t really matter if Leana heard about it either way.


    ''Since I can bring up and disy the appraisal results of skills in my memory, I should be able to do the same with the skills in the memory of the previous ''Second''.''


    Evan then held up his palm in front of Eliza, with a familiar semi-transparent notice board popping up a few moments after.


    "Whoa, it actually worked."


    While Evan was in a state of surprise upon seeing that his idea worked, Eliza was reading the details of the skill on the board.


    |Power of Wealth;


    Type: Rare Active Skill


    Effect;


    There resided deep within the Incarnation of Greed, resides an unquenchable, insatiable greed. One can never have too much power, wealth, or treasures. This skill makes it such that the Incarnation of Greed''s power increases proportionately with the amount of treasure they own. |


    "What the heck?!"


    Eliza couldn''t help but exim upon reading the skill''s description, her gaze turning towards Pride as she asked.


    "Is this for real?"

 Chapter 243 Osto’s Situation III

    "Is this for real?"


    "...Yes."


    Although there was a short pause, the high demon gave her affirmation, making Eliza question why someone with this kind of skill even needed a ''Level''.


    "He still does. This skill does make it so that the richer he is, the stronger he bes, but there needs to be a basis for that strength.


    The increase in power he gains because of this skill scales ording to what he originally has. This just makes it so that he can easily battle people higher than his level with rtive ease.


    It''s just like how my stat boosts make me able to confidently take on people 10 levels higher and have no problems whatsoever."


    Evan replied to her question as he dismissed the skill description board before opening his inventory and continuing.


    "Naturally, there''s a limit to the amount of power he can gain with this, after all, too much power would overload his body and start damaging him instead."


    Pulling out a juice pack from his inventory, he turned to Pride and asked.


    "It''s the same as yours, isn''t it?"


    "..."


    "...?"


    After a short silence, Pride heaved a sigh of exasperation and asked back at Evan.


    "Evan, why are you openly discussing the limitations of someone''s skills like it''s nothing?"


    She gestured to the other three people in the carriage as she spoke, causing Evan''s gaze to turn to them as he pulled out three pieces of magic-imbued paper from his inventory.


    "Because I have means to make them never speak about what they''re hearing."


    a��? a��? a��?


    After ensuring the silence of the three others in the carriage using the magic contracts he acquired in Kasteblum, Evan continued analysing the story Leana had told him and pointed out one strange thing.


    "Ever since the start, you had always said the ''Acting Guild Master'', not ''Guild Master''.


    So, I''m assuming that this acting guild master is the person who''s supposed to be the vice guild master and the real guild master is elsewhere?"


    "...yes.


    The Guild Master of the adventurers'' and mages'' guilds, along with most of the high-ranked adventurers in Osto are out on an expedition to investigate a dungeon that emerged just a few weeks before Terence surfaced."


    "Makes sense. After all, there''s no way that a dungeon city like Osto only has one adventurer at the level 190 range.


    I''m guessing all the B-ranked adventurers are with the guild master too, right?"


    "That is the case."


    Evan nodded upon hearing Leana''s reply before suddenly realizing something wrong.


    "Wait up! Did you say that a dungeon emerged in the Viscount''s territory?!"


    When Leana nodded in response to his question, Evan narrowed his eyes and spoke.


    "That makes no sense. There should not be any newly emerging dungeons around Osto.


    Howe this dungeon suddenly appeared and it held monsters powerful enough to require the guild master and all the B-ranked adventurers of Osto to leave, right before someone who could only be defeated by a B-ranked adventurer showed up to terrorize Osto?


    It''s too suspicious!"


    Evan''s words caused the expressions of all those who heard it to turn strange. When one looked at it that way, it did seem too coincidental but at most, it would just be summed up as an unfortunate coincidence.


    However, Evan knew of the future of Aidos, and he knew about Osto very well, after all, it was where Greed in the game began his own trail of destruction during the ''Seven Deadly Sins Massacre'' and had Hobha was the unfortunate country that he had destroyed.


    So, Evan was sure that there wasn''t supposed to be another dungeon with monsters that required an entire team of beings above Level 200 led by one close to level 300 to face in the area, except the Tower of Avarice.


    Even the very existence of a person named ''Terence Stickels'' was foreign to Evan, but he had treated this as a result of his action of preventing the ''Seven Deadly Sins Massacre''.


    "This whole situation suddenly feels like one big plot."


    The young hero clicked his tongue in annoyance, deciding to go to the adventurer''s guild and get all the information they had about this newly emerging dungeon.


    a��? a��? a��?


    The group''s journey back to Osto continued without a hitch.


    No randomly appearing monster hordes, or temte bandits springing up from the sides of the road much to Evan''s dissatisfaction.


    And when Eliza asked him why he was annoyed that their journey was unimpeded, his reply made the battle priestess stare at him ck-jawed.


    "I want to do a bit more experiments with that skill, so either case would do just fine.


    Though I''d prefer a group of monsters, they''re easier to deal with for me."


    The young hero then proceeded to pull out a bunch of random things from his inventory, ranging from torn-up pieces of paper to literal gold bars.


    "Why do you even have gold bars on you?!"


    "I''m not gonna lie but I don''t remember exactly where we got it.


    It''s either in Shad Glua or in some other city, possibly the ones with the casinos."


    He ced a hand on his chin as he reminisced about their experience in the capital of Uswil, where he discovered that Pride apparently had more than just a knack for gambling.


    "You were so good at it that it was terrifying.


    Did you gamble a lot in the demon world?"


    When the high demon nodded in affirmation to his question, Evan made a strange face before saying.


    "You guys have casinos too, huh?"


    His words made Pride''s brow twitch in annoyance as she red at him and spoke.


    "I really don''t know what image of my home world you have in your head but it''s most definitely a wrong one."


    Meanwhile, Eliza just watched the two discuss Pride''s home world while petting the head of Ka who at some point, had transformed into a cat and was resting on herp.


    They continued in this manner until they met with a group of Knights on horseback speeding in their direction.


    The knights had the same armoured crest as Leana''s guards so Evan assumed that they were also knights of the Viscount too.


    It turned out that the Viscount had discovered that Terence took action and had sent another squad of knights after his daughter.


    Unfortunately, it seems that the second squad had been held back by another group of Terence''s goons whose sole purpose was to dy the knights long enough for the first group of goons to finish the job.


    And all would have worked out ording to Terence''s ns if Evan''s group wasn''t passing that route today.


    ''Still, the Viscount doesn''t seem to be a pushover either, given that he figured out Terence''s movements quickly.''


    After meeting up with the second group, Sir Enro exined the situation to them before they split up once more, intending to enter the city in different ways so as to prevent Terence from knowing his n had failed.


    However, Evan''s next words threw these ns out the window.


    "It doesn''t really matter since he can sense that two of his ''Thralls'' have died."


    "Thralls?"


    "That''s what the ones who have that same strength absorbing power are called. If his thralls die, he''d be able to tell so he already knows the ns have failed."


    Evan replied to the knight as he gazed at the walls of the city in the distance.


    "And how do you know this?"


    "Do you really think it''s a miracle that his ''power'' doesn''t work on me?"


    The young hero shot back and held up his hand, letting the knight see the crest on the back of his palm before going back to scouting the surrounding area.


    ''If I fight him there, I''d be able to go all out without wrecking part of the city in the process.''


    He ignored the strange expression on the knight''s face as he analysed his potential battlefields with a pensive look on his face.


    If only he knew that he would not use them as much as he had nned.


    Despite Evan''s words, the knights still split up and entered the city through different means, with the intention of preventing the citizens from realising that the Viscount''s daughter was ever out of the city in the first ce.


    Evan didn''t understand the reason for this but he just let them do what they wanted.


    Upon arriving, the carriage went straight towards the back entrance to the Viscount''s estate, entering from there and heading straight to the Viscount''s mansion without being noticed by the residents of any of the other mansions in the estate.

 Chapter 244 Plans And Actions Taken

    Upon arriving in Osto, the carriage went straight towards the back entrance to the Viscount''s estate, entering from there and heading straight to the Viscount''s mansion without being noticed by the residents of any of the other mansions in the estate.


    ''I''m guessing he doesn''t want the vassals to know his daughter is back, huh?


    Perhaps some of them have already betrayed him for Terence. In that case, it''d make a lot more sense how Terence was able to discover the Viscount''s movements so easily.''


    Sighing upon seeing a simr situation to what was currently going on in Cheverton, Evan got down from the carriage and looked around, giving the Perhorn family a little time for a reunion.


    Afterwards, Evan and the Viscount officially greeted each other and went over light introductions before they all entered the mansion.


    The Viscount was a fairly handsome middle-aged man with brown eyes and short ck hair. He was dressed in a simple noble cloak with rolled-up sleeves and ink-stained hands.


    Appraising him, Evan saw that the man was fairly strong with a level of 158, which was not surprising at all.


    ''I guess even if they are dungeon city lords, they''re still a difference, huh?''


    Evan remembered his appraisal result of Count Merdin, the dungeon city lord he met more than a year ago that revealed a level a bit over 300 and heaved a sigh as he waited for Sir Enro to brief the Viscount on all that happened.


    When the knight leader was done, beads of sweat were dripping off his forehead as the cold gazes of the Viscount and his wife were too heavy to bear.


    This was only natural, considering he had failed to protect his lord''s daughter. In some countries, he would have been executed the moment he gave such a report.


    However, Evan interrupted before the Viscount could say a verdict.


    "It''s okay to punish your knight and all, but can you postpone it for now?"


    "..."


    The Viscount went silent for a bit before dismissing Sir Enro, not before taking away the ''Sir'' from his name.


    The Viscountess took her daughter away afterwards, leaving the Viscount alone with the ''Anomalies''.


    "Now, then. Shall we discuss how we''re going to deal with Terence?"


    Narrowing his eyes at Evan, the Viscount asked with a t tone."


    "And how exactly do you hope to achieve this?"


    Hearing his question, Evan spoke up about the not-so-detailed n he hade up with Pride on the way to the Viscount''s mansion.


    It wasn''t all thatplicated, just that Evan would act conspicuous and draw Terence out towards him, and then Pride shows up and handles Greed who would most likely be with Terence while Evan deals with Terence himself.


    It would be best if Pride can get Greed to make Terence quit his terrorism of Osto without a fight but Evan had low expectations for that possibility.


    Besides, Pride had explicitly stated that a fight with Greed was unavoidable as she had done something she knew he would most definitely hate and that was pretty much the same as provoking him to a fight.


    "Just what on Aidos did you do?"


    "Nothing serious. I just sealed away part of the reason I''m called the Sin of Pride."


    The high demon casually replied like it was nothing but Evan knew that for it to make Greed, one of the seven deadly sins who pretty much always listened to Pride, want to attack her.


    "On the good side, Terence would not be able to use his power since Greed would be too busy dealing with me to spare any energy on him."


    Evan nodded in affirmation before turning to the obviously confused Viscount and giving him a quick summary of the rtionship between Evan, Pride, Terence and Greed.


    There was the other n of going directly to where Terence was but the Viscount sadly admitted that he had no idea of where Terence currently was.


    "He has been changing his location quite frequently after the failed subjugation attempt. So, attacking him isn''t exactly an option for us.


    All the areas he''s been residing in are usually close to where civilians are so any wrong moves and hundreds of people would die.


    I can''t have that."


    Seeing as attacking Terence wasn''t feasible, they decided to go with the n of drawing him out.


    After that, they discussed a few other things like how the knights would evacuate the citizens when Evan and Terence started battling it out in order to prevent civilian casualties and a few other things before deciding to call it a day.


    The viscount prepared guest rooms for them so they didn''t have to go look for an inn to stay in, saving them time and money.


    He went on to be a hospitable host by providing them with meals and giving them rooms that had proper bathing facilities.


    As they were having their dinner in their rooms after bathing, Evan tried to find out exactly what Pride did that made her so sure that Greed would be pissed off about.


    "Remember when I told you I sealed away one of my titles?"


    "Yeah. What about it?"


    "Since that title is connected to our ''power'' as the ''Seven Deadly Sins'', it is possible for us to sense when it''s not active.


    Simply put, the moment Greed nces at me, he''d be able to tell what I did and he would not like it.


    We all do take pride in being the ''Seven Deadly Sins'' so the action of sealing away something rted to that is not something that any of my siblings would like."


    Hearing her words, Evan nodded in understanding.


    "And unsealing it isn''t really an option, huh?"


    "Would you like a few mental status effects?"


    "No, thank you."


    Evan possessed Mental Resistance now, courtesy of his adaptive Evolution, yet Pride still asked that question confidently despite knowing about his resistance.


    That alone was enough to make him realise that the consequences of her unsealing the title currently should be more than he can handle.


    ''Besides, she said status ''effects'', meaning more than one status effect. One alone was already a hassle, can''t even imagine how multiple would be.''


    "It''s not really a bad title, for me, that is. However, its effects are considered negative for you and Amy who are contracted to me so I''d keep it sealed until I can deal with those side effects.


    It''s part of the reason why I don''t use my idiosyncrasy too."


    After saying her piece, Pride stood up and left the room, not before shooting a re at Evan and Eliza.


    "Huh?"


    The battle priestess was naturally confused upon suddenly being red at but Pride had already left the room before she could even ask why.


    Evan on the other hand, looked at him and Eliza and instantly figured out why Pride had done that.


    At some point in time during their conversation, the two of them had moved to the sofa in the room and were halfying on it together. Eliza sat on Evan''sp as she sipped her hot chocte while Evan had his arms wrapped around her waist and his chin resting on her shoulder.


    "Don''t worry too much about it, Liz."


    "...okay?"


    The young hero only ran his hand through her hair a bit as he watched her go back to her drink with a small smile on his face.


    �� �� ��


    The next morning, after taking a bath and having breakfast, the group began the day''s agenda; Drawing out Terence and Greed behind him.


    Evan dressed up looking as casual as always, however, for today he tossed on a set of shy full-body armour that screamed ''EXPENSIVE'', coupled with an ornamental sword that was decorated with various jewels on its hilt.


    He then pulled out a bag of gold coins from his inventory and poured its contents into a knapsack on his back, before leaving the Viscount''s estate and sauntering into the streets of Osto.


    Naturally, his appearance plus the obvious clinking sound the gold coins made as they tossed around in his bag and hit his armour, drew in the attention of pretty much everyone waking on the road.


    "What''s with this kid?"


    "Is he a noble''s son?"


    "Why would he dress like that during this kind of time?!"


    "Exactly, doesn''t he know about Greedy Red?"


    The young hero could hear the questions of the passer-bys but he paid them no mind as he kept a proud expression on his face and sauntered towards the city''s entertainment district.


    From the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of two thugs who eyed him silently, before turning around and running in another direction.


    ''That''s the area where the Viscount said Terence most likely is.''


    Evan took note of this as he opened the doors of a random bar, confidently walking inside without a care in the world as he walked up to the counter and took a seat on one of the stools there.

 Chapter 245 Drawing Attention

    From the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of two thugs who eyed him silently, before turning around and running in another direction.


    ''That''s the area where the Viscount said Terence most likely is.''


    Evan took note of this as he opened the doors of a random bar, confidently walking inside without a care in the world as he walked up to the bar and took a seat on one of the stools at the counter.


    Naturally, the people who were inside the bar stared at him in surprise, with the expression on the face of the man behind the counter being no different.


    He then mmed his knapsack on the table and pulled out a few gold coins, tossing them to the man before ordering a jug of beer for every table in the bar.


    "..."


    "Oy! Didn''t you get my order?"


    When Evan called out to the man, he sighed in exhaustion before gathering the gold coins Evan had tossed on the table.


    Pushing them back towards Evan, he asked.


    "...Kid, are you new in town?"


    "Yeah. What about it?"


    The man sighed once more and turned his gaze towards the other customers in the bar and said.


    "Guys, close it up."


    Right after his words, a few people stood up and shut all the doors and windows, preventing anyone outside from seeing inside the bar.


    The bartender then turned back to Evan and spoke.


    "I''m only gonna say this once kid, so listen closely.


    This isn''t the kind of ce where you casually walk around with a bag full of money while dressed like that. It''s like you''re asking to get robbed.


    And right now, this city isn''t in the best state so it''s even worse.


    I don''t know how you want to do it but you better go hide those coins somewhere and take off that armour before Greedy Red gets wind of yo...u..."


    The man was talking before he suddenly realised something and questioned Evan impatiently.


    "Did you walk out on the street like that?!"


    "Yes, what about it?"


    "What about it?! Is that really what you''re asking right now?!


    Greedy Red has most likely already found out about you!"


    Hearing the bartender''s words, Evan snorted before replying.


    "Greedy Red? Who the heck is that and what sort ofme thug-like nickname is that?


    I''m Evan Bourne Eris! Someone who''s destined to be a great adventurer someday. There''s no way that a mere thug calling himself ''Greedy Red'' can scare me!"


    Evan''s words made the bartender''s expression turn strange as his brow twitched, he was about to speak once more when the doors to the bar were suddenly bashed open.


    Five men wearing partial leather armour stormed into the bar, led by one of the two thugs that Evan recalled eyeing him silently earlier.


    ''That fast!?''


    The young hero was inwardly surprised at how fast they acted but kept it from showing on his face.


    The thug didn''t even need to point to Evan because all five men noticed him instantly due to him being the most eye-catching person in the ce.


    "Greedy Red''s goons...!"


    Hearing the words of the bartender behind him, Evan confirmed that he had indeed seeded in attracting Terence''s attention.


    ''But he didn''te in person. I guess I''m gonna have to improvise, huh?''


    Before the man in the forefront could even say anything, he felt a chill run down his spine, making him feel an indescribable sense of fear.


    He reflexively took a step back and pulled out his weapon before realising something.


    ''Where''s the kid?!''


    Evan was not seated at the counter where he was a second earlier, even the bag of gold coins and the coins on the table were gone.


    "GAAAAA!!!"


    He didn''t need to look around much as the cry of anguish that he heard answered his question about Evan''s location.


    The young hero was standing behind the thug who had probably reported him to Terence, with his hand on the thug''s shoulder.


    Evan ignored the gazes on him as he slowly squeezed his hands, causing an eerie cracking sound to ring out in the silent bar as he squashed the man''s shoulder bones.


    This was followed by a scream of pain that could be heard across the entire street, sending chills down the spines of all the hearers.


    "First things first, let''s go outside, shall we?"


    As soon as Evan spoke, he tapped his foot on the ground, erecting two walls of ice on either side of the group of five goons, he then rose his other hand as golden tendrils of lightning crackled around it.


    "Lightning Bolt."


    He slowly called out the name of the spell, a moment before heunched it towards the stunned men.


    They instantly reacted and moved to dodge, having no choice but to go back out since their left and right sides were blocked by the walls of ice Evan had created.


    Evanunched a few more bolts of lightning to push them further outside before dispelling the ice walls and tossing a gold coin in the direction of the bartender.


    "For the damaged door. You can keep the change."


    He then dragged the thug whose shoulder he was still squeezing and flung him outside.


    "Go and report to Terence and tell him that I said he should get his ass over here.


    If you don''t get going in five seconds, I''d kill you."


    Immediately after Evan spoke, he created another lightning bolt and held it towards the man''s scrunched tear-filled face, causing him to force himself to his feet and run, despite the pain he was feeling in his shoulder.


    Evan then fired the lightning bolt on the floor beside his feet just to scare him even more.


    "Run faster."


    The crying man nodded as he dashed as fast as he could, while Evan turned his attention back to the other five goons who were staring at him warily with weapons drawn.


    Heaving a short sigh, he called out to his contracted spirits and told them to handle it as he made his way towards a nearby carriage stop.


    "GUH!"


    "ARRRGGGHHH!!!


    "GYAAA!!!!!"


    He ignored the sound of lightning that apanied the groans and screeches of pain behind him, using the bench at the carriage stop to rest his legs as he began unbuckling the armour he had on him.


    �� �� ��


    A few minutester, the entire street was silent as everyone quietly watched as Evan moved one of the chairs in the carriage stop to the centre of the street and sat there before cing a bag of gold coins on the floor and waiting in silence.


    The group of goons that hade for him were nowying on the floor within an inch of their lives as they had been roasted by Ka''s lightning.


    People were just watching Evan yawn silently as the surprise from seeing the same kid who walked around with shiny armour earlier beat Terence''s goons still hadn''t faded.


    Just when they were about to recover from their shock, the second group of goons showed up, with them being ten in number and being more powerful than the first group.


    One of them, who Evan presumed to be the leader was even a thrall of Greed, however, the person Evan had been waiting for was not present so he didn''t hesitate to let Ka and Kuro deal with them while he personally took action against the thrall.


    "W-what?!


    Why isn''t it work-!"


    Those were thest words of the thrall, right before Evan''s lightning-filled fist mmed into his face, causing more than half his teeth to fly out and nearly snapping his neck.


    The words he spoke, however, seemed to have caught the attention of a few people who knew about the fact that Terence could pass his strange power on to his subordinates.


    While they were making their spections, Evan sent one of them back with the same message as the first time, before going back to his chair and taking a seat once more.


    Silence pervaded the area once more, as people watched Evan wait for Terence''s next set of goons to show up.


    It didn''t take long for the news to spread to different parts of the city, that someone was openly challenging Terence.


    When people first heard this, they felt that another unfortunate soul had willingly charged towards death, but when they heard that Terence''s strange ''power'' that he gave his subordinates wasn''t working on this challenger, things turned out a bit different.


    Slowly but surely, a crowd began gathering around one of the streets of the entertainment district, blocking the way for other people and carriages that were moving around in the city.


    Some people who felt that Terence would most likely show up in person like he did for thest unfortunate challenger, either fled from the area or came closer to watch a show.


    A few held hopes that this kid could somehow work a miracle and defeat Terence but they were in the minority. Some tried to tell Evan to stop his actions while some others jeered him on, however, the young hero ignored them all the same.

 Chapter 246 Terence’s Thoughts

    A few people watching held hopes that this kid could somehow work a miracle and defeat Terence but they were in the minority. Some tried to tell Evan to stop his actions while some others jeered him on, however, the young hero ignored them all the same.


    When the third set of goons showed up, this time with two thralls, Evan attacked them faster than they had expected, even going as far as to use limit break for almost half a minute.


    ''This one was very close to gaining a strength stat of ''B-''. I had to take him out before he could get there.''


    Ka and Kuro helped out, creating a show of ck lightning and shadows flying around, right before the fifteen men and women were beaten to the ground.


    Like the first two times, he sent back one of them with a message to get Terence over, before going back to his seat.


    He did nearly kill the people who came over him under the guise of trying to ''warn'' him but in reality, were trying to steal from the bag of coins on the ground but that''s a matter not worth borating on.


    The young hero nced at the crowd watching him from a distance, while thinking about how their mere presence was empowering the thralls that Terence had sent, after all, said thralls were absorbing strength from the people in the crowd and using that strength against Evan.


    However, he put that issue at the back of his mind as he pulled out a juice pack from his inventory and started sipping it casually.


    To those watching, it was as if he was suddenly feeling thirsty and had pulled a juice pack out of something that was very obviously a spatial storage skill.


    They did not know that the content of the juice pack was actually a magic potion that he was taking to recover the energy spent on Limit break.


    Defeating lower levelled existences was easy for the current Evan, however, doing so to more than a dozen beings over level 150 with just his fists and no skills or magic was not exactly ''easy''.


    Even more so, when two of them were thralls of Greed who drew upon strength from the watching crowd. Although their range was lower since they were just thralls, there were a few adventurers mixed in into the crowd and were closer to the street so one of them was able to get a huge power-up.


    ''That was a gamble. There was a chance I''d end up in a simr state to how I was after fighting Xakon but when I think about it properly, the chances of that happening were quite low.


    Unlike then, when I was in an exhausted but demonic-possessed state, my current condition is optimal and I''m far stronger than I was then.


    Naturally, the power boost from the limit break is higher and I''m not ending up as exhausted as I was.''


    Those were his thoughts as he slowly sipped the magic potion juice pack in his hands while waiting for the next set of goons to arrive.


    �� �� ��


    While Evan carrying out his ns, in a building in another district of Osto a certain man was seated on a luxurious couch that could almost be mistaken for a throne because of how decorated it was.


    In the man''s hand was a winess of pure silver, adorned with gems and diamonds of various kinds and lined with gold at the rims.


    He sat in a rxed position, with his feet stretched out and rested atop not a stool, but a pile of gold bars stacked together with a purple silk cushion on top.


    His other hand held a bronze jar that was filled with more gold coins than some people have ever and would ever see in their entire lives.


    On another makeshift gold bar stool beside him, was an empty bottle of branded wine, with a few more simrly shaped bottles lying around on the floor.


    He slowly sipped the wine in his silver ss, eventually downing the entire ss and cing it beside the bottle.


    Despite having finished multiple bottles of wine, the man was not even the slightest bit drunk.


    He was a man with a slightly muscr build, dressed in clothes that looked quite in but were actually made of extravagant materials.


    Running a hand through his short messy red hair, he heaved a sigh of exasperation before narrowing his dark eyes in displeasure.


    ''This is very annoying.


    Didn''t I kill thest guy who challenged me? Why didn''t that serve to deter this idiot who just popped up now?''


    From his thoughts, one could already make a guess as to who he was.


    The red crest of a great sword inscribed in a circle on the back of his palm served as a confirmation of his identity.


    He was naturally the man who was responsible for terrorizing Osto in the past few months, the one with the title of ''Greedy Red''; Terence Stickels.


    As for the reason for his current state f displeasure, it was naturally because of Evan''s actions of tantly challenging him in public.


    Terence had be a symbol of awe and fear for the people of Osto in the past few months, with a lot of its citizens submitting to him so as to ensure their continued livelihood.


    He always made sure to disy his power asionally, allowing them to see that he was still just as powerful as ever, and was even growing stronger, so as to quell thoughts of opposition against him.


    Yet, just barely a week after he turned thest party of adventurers who challenged him into bloody mists, Evan appeared and told him to ''get his ass out''.


    What''s more was that Evan had done it publicly, so the matter was sure to spread across all of Osto very soon.


    If he didn''t show up and put Evan in his ce, then what would the people of Osto now think about him?


    ''That I''m scared of the kid?''


    Naturally, with his current infamy, the amount of people who would actually think that would be no less than 5 percent, but they would still be there.


    ''The people of Osto already know how strong I am from my recent demonstration, there''s no need for me to make a move this time.


    The thralls I sent should be enough to deal with the situation. I have more important matters to think about.''


    Terence was currently preparing for a dungeon dive into the Tower of Avarice so he could break through past level 200 in one fell swoop and gain enough power topletely subdue all of Osto.


    ''The mercenaries the merchants are hiring, whoever the viscount wants to call and the adventurer''s guild''s reinforcements.


    I''d be able to deal with them all at once, so I can start preparing for the real threat here.''


    From the start, Terence had never regarded the Viscount and the other nobles, or the merchant''s, mages, and adventurer''s guilds as his opponents.


    He only saw one individual who was truly in his way and could easily prevent him from conquering Osto.


    ''Heck, he can destroy all I''ve built up in a single day.''


    That person was naturally the guild master of the Osto adventurer guild branch.


    A level 300 existence.


    Terence was sure that even with all of Greed''s current power, he wouldn''t stand a chance against the guild master when he eventually returned.


    He was thinking about how he could acquire enough power to deal with the guild master when a subordinate reported something to him.


    Upon hearing the report, his expression darkened greatly, causing the subordinate to shrink back in fear.


    ''Rumours that I''m scared of this kid called ''Evan'' have already begun spreading? This makes no sense.


    I only sent out one thrall squad to deal with him, how the hell did such rumourse about.''


    Terence had eyes and ears all over Osto, so he was able to stay updated on whatever rumours were currently going around in the city.


    However, the current situation was weird, because the rumours were spreading of Evan''s actions and Terence ''being scared'' were spreading to parts of Osto that didn''t even know about Evan''s earlier stunt.


    Dungeon city Osto was a city that was about 350�C400 kilometre squares in area, and the scope of all of Evan''s actions honestly didn''t exceed one of the districts of the city that were barely about one or two kilometres in area.


    ''Yet people on the other side of the city already know about this matter? It''s obvious that someone is spreading it on purpose.


    But who is it?


    The Viscount? The adventurer and merchant guilds?


    The mages? That part of the city is their territory after all. But they''ve been silent since, why would they suddenly take action now?


    I don''t think it''s them.


    The kid called himself an adventurer so is he with the adventurers guild?''


    Terence sat upright on his couch as he began thinking about the matter a bit more seriously.


    ''What''s the point of spreading these rumours? To bait me into taking action?


    Whoever nned this must have figured out that I was not going to move in person so they''re using this tactic.


    The fact that they are trying to bait me into moving personally means that this might be some sort of trap.


    Did the Viscount seed in getting help from outside?''


    Right after asking himself this, Terence shot down the idea immediately.

 Chapter 247 Stealing Opponents Skills Is Common Practice

    ''What''s the point of spreading these rumours? To bait me into taking action?


    Whoever nned this must have figured out that I was not going to move in person so they''re using this tactic.


    The fact that they are trying to bait me into moving personally means that this might be some sort of trap.


    Did the Viscount seed in getting help from outside?''


    Right after asking himself this, Terence shot down the idea immediately.


    ''That''s not possible.


    Unless they used teleportation, it is almost impassable for the viscount''s daughter to get to the neighbouring county''s capital and back, with enough forces to go against me in a single day.


    What''s more, is that they were dyed by the squad I sent.


    So, who exactly is behind this?''


    Just when Terence was about to sink into his thoughts, another subordinate came in holding amunication device.


    He then reported that the news of how his ''power'' didn''t work on Evan was spreading like wildfire.


    "What?!"


    Hearing that, Terence''s eyes shed with a red light.


    If he wasn''t taking Evan''s matter seriously before, then what he just heard changed the game n.


    "Are you sure about this?"


    He asked the subordinate to confirm the authenticity of this news and after a few minutes, one of the thralls that Evan had beaten and sent back to Terence was brought before him.


    After confirming that the ''power'' he had ''given'' them didn''t work on Evan, Terence frowned deeply.


    ''This ''kid'' kid isn''t simple.


    Maybe it isn''t even a kid at all, probably some powerful old man wearing the guise of a kid, but that''s not important.


    What''s important is that if he can somehow negate my ability, then this makes things difficult.


    If he partners with the viscount, then it''s possible for him to disrupt all of my ns.


    Do I really have to go out there even while knowing this kid has some trap nned for me?''


    Terence thought about it for a while and realised that he had only one option in this situation. But he wasn''t about to go out just like that.


    After arming himself with artifacts, he called out to the being he was contracted to.


    ''Greed. I might need your help.''


    �� �� ��


    ''No one''sing?''


    Evan had waited for close to an hour and hand even brought out a book from his inventory to read, however, after the third group of goons showed up, no others showed up again.


    ''The viscount should have started spreading the rumours by now, so sooner orter, Terence would be forced toe out if he doesn''t want his reputation to get damaged.


    But if he wastes any more time, then I might just get his location out of one of these thralls here and attack him myself.''


    With that thought, Evan went back to the novel he was reading, while mumbling something about Pride''s bookworm nature rubbing off on him.


    As for the crowd watching, they had naturally dispersed over time as there was no sign of Terence even after an hour.


    There was no way that these people would sit back and wait for Terence like Evan was, they had things to do with their lives, after all.


    However, a few people still remained for various reasons, not that Evan cared either way.


    Just when the young hero''s patience was about to run out, he suddenly sensed an enormous source of aura rushing in his direction.


    It was as if the owner of said aura was trying to announce his presence for all of Osto to hear.


    ''Finally, he''s here.''


    Evan tossed his book back into his inventory and wore ck gloves on his hands, before standing up from his seat and turning his gaze towards the giant red ball of aura shooting through the sky.


    **BOOOMMM!!!


    There was a loud earth-shaking explosion as the ball of aura crashed onto the ground, right in the middle of the street, cratering the ground and kicking up a huge crowd of dust and dirt.


    Sighing in exasperation, Evan waved his hand and used basic wind magic to clear up the dust clouds, revealing the appearance of the partially armoured man who was down on one knee.


    He slowly stood up and dusted his clothes, however, his pupils were darting around as he scanned all the onlookers for any suspicious people.


    Spreading out a wave of aura, he tried to sense any hidden attackers but found none.


    ''Strange...wasn''t this supposed to be a trap? Howe there''s no one here?


    Did I read the situation wrong or are they just that good at hiding?''


    The man, Terence, thought to himself as he finally turned towards Evan who was gazing at him strangely.


    Opening his mouth, he was about to speak but Evan beat him to it.


    "Dude!! You have Copse?!"


    Evan''s sudden exmation sounded strange to all who saw and heard it; however, it was not the case for Terence.


    He red at Evan and saw the golden crest within the boy''s grey eyes glowing.


    ''An appraisal skill? Troublesome.''


    A slight frown appeared on his face, but it disappeared just as quickly.


    ''This kid is most likely the one called ''Evan''. His appearance matches the description I was given, and there''s this strange feeling I''m getting from him.''


    Those were Terence''s thoughts as he scanned Evan from head to toe, before turning towards the unconscious bodies of all the thralls on the floor.


    Meanwhile, Evan was in a very happy mood, with all his displeasure at being made to wait for an hourpletely gone.


    The reason was because of the two sets of notifications floating in front of him.


    |Copse Acquired|


    |Unique Skills require three skill slots. |


    |Two Skill slots remaining. |


    |Intimidation Acquired|


    |Rare Skills require one skill slot. |


    |One Skill slot remaining. |


    ''Never thought that I''d see ''Copse'' here of all ces!''


    The young hero was in a good mood after having discovered two very useful skills from Terence within a minute of meeting him, however, his jolly mood didn''tst for long.

 Chapter 248 Vs Terence I

    |Copse Acquired|


    |Unique Skills require three skill slots. |


    |Two Skill slots remaining. |


    |Intimidation Acquired|


    |Rare Skills require one skill slot. |


    |One Skill slot remaining. |


    ''Never thought that I''d see ''Copse'' here of all ces!''


    The young hero was in a good mood after having discovered two very useful skills from Terence within a minute of meeting him, however, his jolly mood didn''tst for long.


    |Name- Terence Stickels


    Race- Human


    Gender-Male


    Age-39


    Level- 190


    Existence Level - Master


    Titles- Contractor of Greed, Greed''s Thrall, Greedy Red, Revenger, Terror of Osto, ''Reds'' Gang Leader.


    ss �C Earthen Swordsman


    Health �C C+


    Energy - C+


    Strength �C B- (C+)


    Agility �C C+


    Durability �C C+


    Intelligence - C+


    Condition- Wary, Confused, Avaricious.


    Magic Tiers- Earth Tier 2, Fire Tier 1, Wind Tier 1.


    Skills- Swordsmanship (Mid), Intimidation, Earth Tide, Earthen Sword, Crescent Strike, Treasure Seeker.


    Unique Skills- Copse. |


    Terence''s status board was the definition of a peak C-ranked adventurer''s status board, besides the weirdly high ''B-'' ranked strength stat.


    ''He''s stronger than I had expected.''


    The boy thought to himself as he began walking towards Terence, with the mystic eye crest in his eyes slowly disappearing.


    "You know, if I didn''t see the symbol on the back of your hand, I would not be able to tell that you are a fellow contractor at all."


    Evan''s first words caused Terence''s wariness towards him to increase exponentially.


    ''He knows that I am contracted to ''something'', and he said ''fellow contractor''. In other words, he''s also contracted to a being like Greed. A Demon.''


    "A fellow contractor, you say?


    So then ''fellow contractor'', What do you want?"


    Terence remained in the same spot as he asked Evan, activating his Intimidation skill and causing an oppressive aura to descend upon the area.


    The onlookers who hadn''t fled like other people and were still watching dropped to their knees as the pressure bore down on their bodies.


    Even a few C-ranked adventurers and knights who hade to get civilians out of the area could barely keep standing under the pressure, however, they dropped to their knees in the next second as the pressure they were feeling suddenly doubled.


    Evan activated his newly mimicked skill, causing the crest in his eyes to resurface.


    ''Tsk...that killed the point of deactivating it in the first ce.


    I need to learn to somehow activate my mimicked skills without having the crest show up.


    Is that even possible?''


    He thought that as he kept walking towards Evan, letting the full force of his own intimidation skill pour out towards Terence.


    "Hmm? You have the same skill that I do?"


    Terence spoke with a slightly surprised tone, however, he was still on his guard towards Evan who was now standing barely three metres away from him.


    "Yeah. I just got it."


    "Just got it?"


    "Uh-huh.


    Like about a minute ago."


    While Evan wasn''t exactly lying, it sounded like he was pooing fun at Terence because of the way he had casually said it with a yawn.


    "Anyway, answering your earlier question, there a quite a few things that I want.


    Firstly, the being you are contracted with.


    But for that to happen, I have to do the second thing I want-"


    As soon as Evan spoke, he activated his blink skill and teleported right behind Terence, before continuing.


    "-which is beating the shit out of you."


    **BAMM!


    His words were apanied by a lightning-coated fist that shot towards Terence, time for the exact moment that the red-haired man turned around reflexively after suddenly hearing Evan''s voice from behind him.


    Evan''s fist collided with the bottom of Terence''s jaw, delivering a clean uppercut that caused the man''s body to lift off the ground.


    The young hero''s shadow slithered as a shadowy appendage shot out andtched on to Terence''s torso at the exact same moment.


    Without hesitation, Evan spun his body and delivered a kick towards Terence''s airborne body in a wide arc, sending him flying through the air and crashing into a nearby building.


    ''Kuro.''


    Calling out to his shadow spirit, a long shadowy whip-like appendage appeared in his hand, one which Evan grabbed and pulled with all of his strength.


    Naturally, the person to who this shadowy appendage was tied to, was pulled towards Evan with the force of a speeding dump truck.


    ''Ka.''


    Golden tendrils of lightning crackled around his arm as he activated his Fracture skill, with Ka using her Electrome simultaneously.


    Just as soon as Terence''s body was pulled into range, Evan let go of the makeshift shadow whip he was holding and pulled his fist backwards, striking forward immediately at the same instant that a rose of mes bloomed on Terence''s chest.


    **BAMM!!!


    Before Terence could even regain his bearings, the lighting on Evan''s fist and Ka''s lightningbined, distorting the air slightly as the energy shed back, multiplying the power of the attack by three times.


    **SHATTER!!


    Evan could hear the sound of something shattering, causing a frown to appear on his face as he realised that it most definitely wasn''t Terence''s armour.


    ''His armour is metal, however, that was clearly the sound of ss shattering.''


    Terence''s body flew through the air, crashing on the ground not long after and rag-dolling across the street.


    By the time he finally stopped, the concrete road of nearly two hundred metres had been carved up and destroyed, with Terence''s body flying out of the district andnding at the entrance of another one.


    Panic instantly broke out, with the remaining people in the area beginning to scream in fear as they feared a repeat of the failed subjugation was about to happen.


    However, knights who were already evacuating the civilians, forcefully calmed the unrest, before speeding up the evacuation process and moving all the civilians in the area to another district.


    Of course, there was no such thing as an orderly evacuation, these people were running for their lives after all.


    A lot of them could not care less about what was happening, they just didn''t want to be near it or be a part of it.


    **BOOOOMM!!!!

 Chapter 249 Vs Terence II

    **BOOOOMM!!!!


    The sudden explosion at close proximity only made them run faster with the knights channelling their magic power to create a barrier that shielded the few remaining evacuating civilians.


    Sadly, this barrier only served tost for a short moment as the shockwaves from the explosion shattered it to pieces and sent the bodies of the knights flying into the air.


    They stabbed their swords into the ground to prevent themselves from being tossed into the air once more, but right before they could do anything else, they all suddenly lost all strength in their bodies and dropped to their knees weakly.


    Even the people who were running for their lives suddenly lost the strength to move their legs, falling down to the ground with some getting injured as a consequence.


    ''This, the range is wider than the reports said!''


    **BAAMM!!


    Those were the thoughts of one of the knights, right before another loud noise rang out and dark storm clouds rapidly gathered above a certain part of the city.


    In the next moment, arge golden bolt of lighting dropped to the ground, resulting in another loud explosion, with resultant shockwaves that shattered every bit of ss or simrly fragile materials in the area.


    Protecting his weakened body with magic power, the knight looked up at the sky and was met with a sight that left him ck-jawed.


    Streaks of gold and red shed around in the sky, asionally colliding with loud noises that sounded like thunder.


    ''Are they...flying?''


    His assumption was not far off from reality, however, only one of them was flying, and that was Terence who was equipped with a flight artifact.


    As for Evan, he was using the tall buildings in the area as a foothold to jump back into the air and attack Terence, while sometimes teleporting right in front or beside him to unleash attacks before teleporting out.


    The contractor of Greed was armed with a plethora of artifacts, ranging from support to defensive and even attack-type artifacts, and he did not hesitate to use them.


    So far, Evan hadn''t actually dealt any major damage to Terence, as the man''s defensive artifacts and sturdy armour had taken the brunt of it all for him.


    They exchanged blows asionally, with Evan having to enhance his body with pdin and coat his hands with aura, just to be able to match Terence''s fists without breaking his own arm.


    Normally, a C+ strength stat would not be able to match a B- so easily, but Evan''s stat boosts made up for the difference.


    Evan had also seen that the Tier 2 Earth magic that Terence possessed, wasn''t just for show.


    **BAMM!!


    Terence''s bare fist collided with Evan''s aura-coated fist, with Terence grabbing Evan''s arm with his other hand and flinging the young hero towards the ground.


    Right after, he punched downwards in the empty air and screamed out.


    "Terra''s Rage!"


    A two-ringed brown coloured magic circle manifested in front of the contractor of Greed''s clenched fist, with enormous magic power simultaneously condensing on the floor in front of where Evan''s body crashed.


    The ground cracked open to reveal a gigantic earthen armoured arm-shaped construct, with a length of close to a hundred metres long.


    The construct clenched its fist and punched down towards the body of the young hero, intending to crush him to smithereens.


    "Elemental Shield!"


    "Tsk..."


    Terence didn''t know what kind of ability ''Elemental Shield'' was, however, the amount of energy he sensed gathering on the ground told him that it was definitely enough to counter his ''Terra''s Rage''.


    **BOOM!!!


    There was a loud explosion of dust and dirt, with chunks of earth flying out in all directions as the gigantic earthen arm mmed into the ground in full force.


    More than half of the buildings in that entire city block crumbled to the ground, joining the multitude of earthen chunks that filled the newly formed crater on the ground.


    At the centre of this crater, one could see a brown spherical-shaped shield of earth-infused magic energy, surrounding the body of the surprised Hero of Mimicry.


    The reason for his surprise, was the spider-web-like crack spread out from the point where the gigantic earthen arm had collided with the shield.


    However, he quickly collected himself and generated a small wind orb in his arm which he released into the surroundings after deactivating the shield.


    The orb exploded, creating a gust of wind that blew away all the dust clouds that obscured his vision, allowing him to see that the gigantic earthen arm wasn''t done with him yet.


    Although its fist was cracked and the amount of magic power in it had decreased, it still thundered down towards Evan with the force of a subway train.


    Despite this, Evan wasn''t even looking in the direction of the iing attack, as his pupils darted around looking for Terence''s figure in the air.


    He didn''t have to look for long, as the gigantic brown two-ringed magic circle floating in the air was very hard to miss.


    ''There.


    Fire Magic: Prominence of Hell.''


    The young hero flicked his fingers and two double-ringed red magic circles appeared, right before activating his concealment skill and hiding them from existence.


    ''I''m happy I learnt this from Pride.''


    Evan thanked his stars as he kicked off the ground and dashed towards what was left of a nearby building, dodging the earthen fist that mmed down on his previous position as he ran up a fallen pir while activating his pdin skill.


    ? Reaching the tip, he crouched for a short moment, jumping up immediately after like a spring and shooting into the air.


    Terence saw Evan''s attempt to gain altitude and snorted, before manipting his flight artifact with wind-infused magic power and flying higher into the sky.


    However, Evan just grinned evilly before disappearing from his field of vision.


    ''?! His teleportation!''


    Terence momentarily paused his spell casting and spread out a wave of aura, intending on sounding out Evan''s position.


    "...what?"

 Chapter 250 Vs Terence III

    But when he sensed that Evan did not appear on at his sides as he had expected, but more than a Terence momentarily paused his spell casting and spread out a wave of aura, intending on sounding out Evan''s position.


    "...what?"


    ''He doesn''t seem to be casting any spells, so what can he do from that distance? Does he have a long ranged sk-!''


    Terence''s thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly felt condensed magic power and visibly saw a long red beam of light shoot out from Evan''s left hand towards his feet.


    He instantly moved to dodge, however, that proved to be a mistake in the next moment.


    "I thought you''d do that!"


    Hearing Evan''s voice, he looked towards the falling hero as he flew to the side and saw the boy''s right hand stretched out towards him.


    ''Right hand?''


    Evan then held out two fingers on that hand and pointed them towards the moving Terence, causing the man to be momentarily confused, but not for long.


    **BOOM!


    A small explosion rang out as Terence''s foot was hit by the concealed beam of red light, causing him to lose his bnce and sending him crashing towards the ground.


    As for Evan, the young hero waited until he was close to the ground before blinking and reappearing a metre away from the ground andnding safely.


    However, he despite his sessful attack, he had a frown on his face as he stared back at the figure in the sky that was ring at him.


    "So, it wasn''t the boots, huh?"


    What Evan had just done could be summarised in a single paragraph.


    He had used one of Pride''s fire magic spells that shot out a beam of energy just like his energy st, however, the advantage of this spell was that the energy st could be redirected once mid-flight while Evan''s energy st could not, at least not yet. So, with the spell in both hands and under concealment, heunched the beams of me magic energy towards Terence''s feet, first firing one and letting him see it so he could think he had dodged Evan''s attack and unconsciously let his guard down, allowing the second one to hit him unobstructed.


    He did keep moving after dodging but Evan had ounted for that possibility, hence the reason he used the spell whose direction could be changed mid-flight.


    As for why he targeted Terence''s boots; it was the man''s boots were magic artifacts and they had a magic stone hidden under the soles, so Evan had assumed they were his flight artifacts.


    However, given the fact that Terence had been able to regain his bnce mid-air and remain airborne, it meant that Evan was wrong.


    ''Either that or he has two flight artifacts.


    Anyway, just what spell has he been casting all this while? Mimicking it also isn''t possible yet as I don''t have any idea of what its effect is.''


    Evan''s internal questions were answered in the next moment as Terence pointed his glowing hands towards Evan and screamed out with an anger-filled voice.


    "Earthen Rain!!"


    ''Rain?!''


    The young hero''s eyes widened as he instantly understood just what kind of spell Terence had in store for him from just the ''Rain'' in the spell name.


    He instantly jumped away from his current position, just in time to avoid the rock spear that had fallen from the sky with the intent to impale him.


    ''I''ve never seen any ''Rain'' with a single drop before.''


    Looking up and seeing dozens of simr rock spears floating in the sky around Terence, the young hero sighed and spoke.


    "Thought so."


    Immediately after, he kicked off the ground and ran, putting his full ''C+'' agility stat to use as he moved to dodge the earthen spears that rained down from the sky at speeds rivalling that of average bullet trains.


    **BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOMM!!!


    Small explosions rang out as the earthen spears crashed and drilled into the ground, causing clouds of dust dirt and smoke to cover the area.


    ''Smoke?!''


    Confused at there being smoke from an explosion caused by ''earthen'' spears colliding with the ground, Evan nced upwards momentarily and just before the cloud of dust covered his vision, he saw a tinge of red on the gigantic spell circle in the air.


    ''That''s right, he has the fire affinity too.''


    Terence didn''t let up with his spear bombardment, even going as far as to shoot some spears towards nearby buildings and causing them to copse, inevitably slowing the young hero who had to dodge the copsing buildings.


    ''A copsing building won''t hurt but it''d definitely serve as a good momentary restraint. Besides, just how many city blocks have we wrecked so far?''


    [If those groups of fifteen buildings separated by a street are what you call a ''block'' then you''ve wrecked close to four.]


    ''You were counting?''


    [I was bored since master didn''t want me to do anything.]


    ''Hold on, Ka. Your turn to literally shine is co-!''


    His thoughts were interrupted as he sensed a few presences within his range of detection, clicking his tongue as he kicked off the ground and blitzed forwards, crossing hundreds of metres of distance within five seconds.


    Instantly arriving in front of a group of civilians lying on the floor injured, with some knights struggling to help them to their feet, he roused his magic power as a frosty breath escaped his lips.


    He immediately turned around and dragged his foot across the ground in a wide arc as he while calling out.


    "Ice Magic: Ice Crystal Wall!"


    The ground in front of him cracked open and a wall of light blue ice about half a metre thick emerged from the earth.


    It was more than five metres tall and easily thrice that in width, nting towards Evan and the people behind him.


    The second the wall reached its full height; it was bombarded with dozens of me-tipped earthen spears that chipped away at its durability very quickly.


    The young hero kept infusing magic power into the wall while charging up an energy st with his aura, keeping it concealed with his concealment skill.


    ''Using two different energy types at once is taxing.''

 Chapter 251 Vs Terence IV

    ''Using two different energy types at once is taxing.''


    A moment after, the earthen spear bombardment stopped, with a huge source of energy shooting towards Evan immediately.


    "HAA!"


    He heard a short-spirited shout, right before the ice wall was easily shattered into pieces by the fist of the contractor of Greed.


    Terence, who had decided to finally use the ''B-'' rank strength he possessed, widened his eyes in surprise as he punched through Evan''s defensive wall and saw what was definitely a ball of aura in the young hero''s hands.


    ''How didn''t I sens-!''


    Mid question, Terence remembered Evan somehow concealing the fire magic spell that destroyed his boots earlier, however, he did not have the time to finish remembering as Evan''s calm voice rang out in his ears.


    "Here, have this."


    The ball of condensed aura was mmed towards his chest, hitting him point nk before sting him back into the air.


    The force behind was great, enough to send his body flying in a parabolic arc of hundreds of metres in radius, crashing on the ground and rag-dolling for heaven knows how long.


    It was only when he mmed into what was most likely the wall of a building in another district, that his body finally stopped moving.


    �� �� ��


    ''That has gotta be at least a few kilometres. I can''t even see how far he flew.''


    Those were Evan''s thoughts as he downed an entire magic potion bottle like water, going on to finish another one before finally turning to the civilians who still hadn''t evacuated.


    "You guys should be able to move properly now since he''s out of range."


    He spoke as he helped one of the knights to his feet, before going on to use his pdin skill''s limited healing on a child''s injured leg.


    "Hmm? The mother is injured too, and it''s even worse. I sure as hell can''t heal that."


    Evan clicked his tongue and tossed a healing potion towards the injured elder sister who had been mistaken for a mother due to her simrities with the child with her.


    "Drink that, it''s a healing potion."


    Without waiting to hear her words of gratitude he turned to one of the knights and asked.


    "Why the heck are there till civilians here? The deal with the Viscount was to begin evacuation the second Terence appeared.


    I spent a few minutes talking to him and He and I have been duking it out for more than ten minutes.


    Why the heck is the next district that''s just over five blocks away, not yet evacuated?"


    The knights were not unfamiliar with Evan, having seen him earlier in the morning when they were briefed on the n by Viscount Perhorn.


    "...Um...Some of-!" *BOOM!


    The knight''s words were interrupted by a small explosion that rang out from nearby, causing Evan to frown as he spoke.


    "Whatever the reason is, just get them out of here. Can''t have any civilians dying this time.


    I''m, going over to check what''s going on there."


    Immediately after speaking, Evan got into position to dash forward, however, he remembered that there were civilians who would be blown away by the shockwaves near him and sighed before teleporting a dozen metres ahead and kicking off the ground the instant he reappeared.


    ''Are these guys fighting over there?!''


    Within seconds, he had arrived at the next street where he found two knights being besieged by nearly six men who were very obviously gangsters.


    ''Terence''s goons? And one of them seems to be a thrall. Just how many thralls did Greed make?''


    Evan asked himself the question as he activated the chain lightning skill, throwing the initial ball of lightning towards one of the thugs.


    The next few seconds were filled with a small light show as the chain lightning zapped the six goons repeatedly, bouncing among them over and over.


    Just before Evan could move to finish them off, he sensed a familiar aura and turned around to see Eliza swoop in from above and whack all the goons into unconsciousness with her staff.


    Looking closely, Evan could see a small translucent barrier wrapped around the body of the staff, making him realise that Eliza had indeed hit them with tiny concentrated barriers.


    ''That''s gotta hurt...''


    "Hey, Liz. Care to tell me why the evacuation is taking so long?"


    "...Terence''s subordinates showed up all over the city and started causing trouble, attacking civilians and confining them.


    Some knights were caught off guard and got captured. Pride said that there are ''Weak Thralls'' among most of them.


    Anyway, the knights are spread out trying to calm the unrest. His subordinates are attacking parts of the city that are like dozens of kilometres away from here, or even districts on the other side of the city that don''t know what''s going on here."


    The battle priestess cleaned the sweat off her forehead after she spoke, her gaze turning towards the two knights and the group of people they were trying to protect before continuing.


    "What''s strange, however, is that his subordinates aren''t killing, they''re just capturing people, both civilians and defeated knights, and moving them towards this part of the city.


    I dunno why they''re doing that but get Terence out of the city so they don''t get caught in the crossfire."


    Hearing Eliza''s words, Evan was momentarily confused, however, this was not for long as his eyes widened in the next moment, with him figuring out Terence''s intentions.


    "Son of a-!


    This guy is bringing people closer so he would have targets to draw strength from! Unlike the weak thralls who only have a range of a few metres, this dude is Greed''s contractor. His range is likely hundreds of metres in radius, even more considering that Greed is most likely with him."


    **BOOOMM!!!


    Right after Evan''s words, was an explosion of red aura that could be seen from kilometres away, with Evan narrowing his eyes as he spoke.


    "This is a lot more than I bargained for, Greed."


    Turning to the me spirit that was on Eliza''s shoulder, he spoke.


    "Tell Pride that she''s gonna make Greedpensate me for this."


    He then walked in the direction of the explosion, with his speed increasing with each step. Eventually, he broke into a run before suddenly kicking off the ground with enough force to leave a huge crater in it and jumping into the air.


    "Hey! Wai---!"

 Chapter 252 Vs Terence V

    Terence was so not having the time of his life, as he tossed away his broken defensive artifacts and rose a hand towards his face hesitantly.


    "Argh!"


    He let out a short grunt of pain as his fingers touched his burnt and scaled skin, causing his face to contort in displeasure.


    Terence currently looked very hideous with his burned lower face and neck.


    Despite taking the full brunt of the attack, his upper body was in a much better state due to the fact that he had armour on, however, said armour had shattered to pieces, with the aura going on to burn off his underclothes and the skin underneath.


    Even so, it was because of said armour that he was still able to stand, given the fact that he had rag dolled for kilometres before finally stopping.


    Most of his artifacts had either been damaged or had fallen off in the process, with him only having a few on hand left.


    ''Tsk...my spatial pouch strap got cut!''


    As hemented the loss of one of his pouches, the beaded bracelet on his arm began glowing, with the light of the beads dying out one by one.


    With each light that died out, the injuries he had sustained healed considerably, but sadly, all the lights died out before the injuries were even halfway through healing.


    ''The kid''s residual aura is making my wounds heal slow-!''


    His thoughts were interrupted when he sensed magic power concentrating in the air, looking up to see a streak of golden light shooting towards him.


    "Fuck!"


    Terence screamed out with a burst of aura and kicked off the ground, shooting into the air to meet the iing young hero.


    �� �� ��


    As for Evan, he had jumped off copsed building tops and followed the trail Terence left while rag-dolling on the floor.


    He then jumped up into the air and created a small foothold with aura, which he kicked off and used to boost himself towards the ground where Terence was.


    ''Get ready Ka, we''re doing the thing.''


    Tendrils of lightning snaked around his arm as he activated his fracture skill, with the lightning going on to spread out and covering his whole body.


    To any onlooker, Evan looked like a streak of gold, shooting through the air and to the ground at breakneck speed, with a burst of red aura exploding on the ground and a red streak rising into the air right before he hit.


    **BOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!


    Thebo of Evan and Ka''sbination attack, with thest-minute resistance put up by Terence, generated arge earth-shaking explosion, with a cloud of smoke and mes rising up into the air.


    However, the damage from the explosion''s mes and resultant shockwaves did not spread out as far as they normally would have, as multiple five-metre-tall translucent barriers of light spread out around the point of collision and contained the explosion within a certain range.


    Atop the roof of a building in the next city block, a blonde-haired battle priestess had her arms stretched out with beads of sweat forming on her forehead.


    Behind her stood the lord of Dungeon City Osto, Viscount Perhorn, and a middle-aged armoured knight, the captain of the Viscount''s knights and the only survivor of the previous subjugation attempt against Terence.


    "That idiot! Didn''t he say he was gonna drag him out of the city? What the heck are they still inside?!"


    The battle priestess'' annoyed voice rang out, a frown adorning her face as she struggled to maintain the barriers that prevented the explosion from damaging more of the city''s infrastructure.


    A long spear-tipped staff was stabbed on the floor beside her, with arge twenty-centimetre-wide orb circled by a ring of bronze floating in front of her.


    "Hey, Amy.


    Tell Pride to get Evan to drag Terence out of the city already!"


    Eliza spoke to the miniaturized spirit on her shoulder, as she fished a magic potion bottle out of her waist pouch and downed it.


    A few momentster, the spirit gave a reply that caused the frown on hers and the face of the Viscount behind her to deepen.


    [She says that he would do so soon.]


    "Soon?! When is ''Soon''?!!


    When the entire district has been destroyed?!"


    [...]


    [...She said that ''Soon'', starts now.]


    "Huh?"


    Amy''s words caused Eliza to let out a shocked voice, however, the battle priestess could not ask for an boration.


    The reason, was the sinister presence that suddenly appeared, sending a chill down her spine as she reflexively turned towards the direction of that presence.


    "W-what on Aidos?"


    Eliza dropped to her knees weakly, as all of her strength left her body, with the two men behind her not faring any better.


    Arge gust of wind swirled around and cleared up the clouds of smoke, shattering her barriers and revealing the figures of three beings, standing amidst the destroyed buildings.


    The young battle priestess'' eyes widened as she gazed upon the third person who had suddenly appeared alongside one of the two originalbatants.


    ''That''s...Greed?


    ''That'' Pride''s brother?!''


    �� �� ��


    Let''s backtrack a little to the moment right after Terence put up ast-minute resistance to Evan and Ka''sbo attack.


    The young hero could be seen amidst the mes and burning buildings, holding his bloodied right arm with his left hand.


    A thinyer of light surrounded his entire body, with his pdin skill''s limited healing doing its best to heal his serious wounds.


    "A word for the wise, never try to meet the st minute resistance punch'' of an existence with ''B'' ranked strength when you only have a strength stat of ''C+''.


    You''d regret it."


    [This isn''t exactly the time to joke around, master.]


    Kuro''s annoyed voice rang out beside him as the ck cat manipted shadows to wrap around Evan''s arm.


    [Get ready to feed it to him,dy Ka.]


    The young great lightning spirit nodded as she held up two healing potion bottles in her hands while floating right next to Evan''s head.


    "Wait a sec, KuroOOEEEYOUCH!!!!"

 Chapter 253 Vs Terence VI

    "Wait a sec, KuroOOEEEYOUCH!!!!"


    Evan''s scream of pain overshadowed the sound of the shadow spirit using his solidified shadows to snap the young hero''s dislocated elbow and shoulder bones back into ce.


    In the next moment, Ka forced one of the healing potion bottles into his mouth, before tossing the other one to Kuro who quickly poured it on the boy''s injured arm.


    Evan coughed and was about to speak once more, but suddenly widened his eyes in shock as his head turned towards the right.


    "Elemental Shield!"


    "Ice Crystal Shield!"


    The young hero activated a skill and a spell with the two spirits simultaneously creating barriers of pure elemental energy right above his own.


    **SWOOSHH!!!


    All these actions were taken just in time to block the aura-coated gigantic great sword that cut through the clouds of smoke beside him and sliced down towards his body.


    **BAMMM!!!


    The familiar-looking massive two-edged, two-handed great sword, broke through the two elemental barriers created by the spirits, before going on to shatter Evan''s ice shield spell and the spherical earthen shield behind it.


    ''Blink!''


    Evan did not hesitate to activate his skill, teleporting about ten metres to the left, and dodging therge 70-inch-long de that mmed into the ground where he was just a moment ago.


    ''Ka! Kuro!


    Blink!''


    Just as he appeared after teleporting, he called out to his contracted spirits, transmitting his will directly to them and pulled back his left arm before using blink once again.


    He reappeared right in front of the wielder of the great sword who suddenly found that they could not move after being restrained by dozens of shadowy tentacle-like appendages.


    [Electrome!]


    "Fracture!"


    Evan and Ka activated their skills simultaneously, as a rose of mes bloomed on the side of their target''s head, right before Evan''s left fist mmed towards it.


    Having the punch of a level 189 existence, enhanced with a skill with its damage tripled by thebined effect of another skill, mming straight into one''s head, was not an experience to be wished for.


    Even if they were a level 195 existence with a ''C+'' durability stat, that kind of attack was sure to take them down for the count.


    One needed to remember that Ka''s skill was called ''Electrome'', meaning it was a multi-elemental attack of lightning and mes.


    Coupled with the extra lightning from the synergy between Evan''s fracture and the skill, the end result was sure to be an overloaded explosion that would burn off the entire right side of the target''s face, and go on to crack their skull greatly, causing heaven knows how many brain contusions, with a high probability of the target instantly dying from having their entire head burst into pieces.


    However, all these, are under the assumption, that the attack hits the target in the first ce.


    ''?!


    Kuro! Get back!''


    Evan instantly pulled back his fist and called back the shadow spirit into his shadow, before jumping backwards while ejecting the remaining magic power in his arm as an orb of lightning and mes that shot forward to his target''s unprotected torso.


    The moment his feetnded on the ground, he used his left hand to bnce his body, before opening his inventory and pulling out three different potions.


    He poured the contents of one onto his injured right arm and downed the other two as fast as he could, choking a bit due to how fast he drank the two liquids.


    However, his gaze remained locked on the person in front of him who had nearly split him in two with the familiar-looking great sword.


    ''That weapon...There''s no doubt about it.


    It''s Mammonas.''


    Evan''s eyes narrowed as he stared at the figure obscured in smoke, recalling the feedback he received when he attacked just now.


    ''It didn''t feel like I hit a head, it felt more like my punch was caught in a palm.


    More importantly...''


    [Master. Something blocked the second part of my skill.]


    Ka''s voice rang out inside his head, causing him to frown as he made a guess of exactly what that ''something'' was.


    The voice he heard next, confirmed it.


    "Really Terence?


    I decide to sleep for a bit and I wake up to see you almost get your head blown to pieces.


    Tsk."


    A sinister aura spread out in all directions, sending a chill down Evan''s spine as Ka who was floating beside him suddenly dropped on his shoulder weakly.


    The smoke around Terence''s body cleared up, revealing the red-haired man''s appearance. The side of his face along with a part of his hair, joined his lower face and neck in being burnt.


    The clothes on his upper body were pretty much rags at this point, with it being a miracle that they hadn''t turned to ashes.


    His left arm was covered in various bruises and burns, while the underclothes cloth and skin from his wrist to halfway in between his elbow and shoulder was charred ck.


    Right beside his head, however, was a third arm that extended from behind his back; the arm responsible for blocking Evan''s earlier attack from dealing near-fatal damage to Terence.


    The arm made a small grabbing motion but caught empty air before bursting into a blood-red magic mist and floating towards the side.


    The mist trembled slightly, then the ambient magic power began to visibly condense, with the bloody mist melding together with the condensed magic power that took up a humanoid form.


    Evan watched as the condensed magic power manifested a physical body slowly dropped to the ground on its two feet.


    It was a tall handsome adult man, with a lean, muscr, and slender frame, dressed in all ck. He had a waistcoat, worn atop a long-sleeved cored shirt that was tucked into long ck trousers.


    Multiple demonic runes momentarily shed across his belt and shirt cuffs.


    On the back of his left hand, was a crest of an upside-down Great Sword inscribed in a circle with the number ''7'' in roman numerals written in small, barely visible text under it.


    His long ck hair was tied up in a ponytail with a ribbon as red as his eyes, while his long bangs hung over his face, parted to the left.


    "Too much smoke around here."

 Chapter 254 Greed

    "Too much smoke around here."


    The man spoke before waving his hand, creating arge gust of wind that swirled around and cleared up the clouds of smoke.


    Evan saw some translucent barriers shatter into pieces of light in the distance, however, he quickly returned his focus to the man who just appeared in front of him.


    "Terence. Why are you almost dead while fighting with a kid?"


    The man didn''t even look at Evan, with his gaze turned towards Terence who was trying to heal his arm with hisst bracelet-type healing artifact.


    "Because he''s somehow immune to your power. He''s the one I told you about before I left."


    "Immune?"


    Hearing Terence''s words, the man finally turned to get a good look at Evan who was internally rejoicing that the effects of the healing potions he had consumed had started showing.


    He had his right arm wrapped in shadows to hide the fact that it was healing as he gazed back at the red-eyed man who had suddenly appeared.


    The mystic eye crest within his eyes also wasn''t present, as he was not sure of what the man''s reaction would be if he saw them now.


    "I''d normally say ''Nice to meet you'', but the current situation is the farthest thing from ''Nice''."


    Evan spoke while activating his full appraisal on the man, on the person he hade here for in the first ce.


    The demon who was supposed to be sealed within the Tower of Avarice.


    A Peak Ranked Demon with a level over 700.


    One of the Seven Deadly Sins.


    Greed.


    �� �� ��


    The moment Greed set eyes on Evan, he instantly discovered why the young hero was ''immune'' to his idiosyncrasy.


    "That aura around you...you''re sister''s contractor?"


    Although it sounded like a question, Greed was already sure that Evan was a contractor of his sister, however, his eyes could not hide the surprise when he realised that the ''sister'' in question, was Pride.


    "To think that Big sis would actually contract with a human. She used to look down on them so much before.


    I guess I understand why you could not win Terence, anyone who my sister picks as a contractor is bound to be exceptional.


    She has a better eye for these kinds of things than I do."


    Greed withdrew his power since using it on Evan would be pointless as Pride''s contract with Evan prevented it from working properly, before asking the young hero a question.


    "Where''s my sister?"


    To which, Evan answered.


    "She''s already here."


    "Huh? She''s alrea-!


    Oh. That''s what you meant."


    A look of confusion momentarily appeared on Greed''s face, however, it cleared up in the next moment as his lips curled up into a crazed smile.


    In the next second, he spun around faster than the eye could see and threw a punch with his right hand towards the air.


    His intention was to sh with the iing palm from above, however, said palm avoided his punch at thest moment and grabbed his face, mming him into the ground right after.


    **BAMMM!!!


    Clouds of dust and dirt rose up into the sky for the nth time today, clearing up to reveal a small crater on the floor with Greed lying in the centre.


    Holding his face, was a familiar right hand, belonging to the high demon Evan had spent the past year with.


    "You really like giving people a lot of trouble, little brother."


    "And I see you''re still as violent to me as always, elder sister."


    In response to Greed''s words, Pride just dragged his body across the floor before tossing him against what was left of a building''s wall.


    Demonic runes shed on Greed''s belt as he mmed into the wall, taking no damage at all and getting up immediately after and dusting his body while speaking.


    "But seeing as you are here, I understand why that one who I favoured a bit died. You killed her, right?


    The one with the huge hammer."


    "I did certainly have a hand in her death, but I wasn''t the one who dealt the final blow."


    "You weren''t...?"


    Greed was momentarily surprised upon hearing Pride say she wasn''t the one who killed the Warhammer-wielding woman like he had assumed, with the realization dawning on him a momentter as he turned to Evan.


    "I see.


    You have a fine contractor there, sister. He''s a lot better than mine."


    I want him for myself."


    "This brat. You still dare covet what''s mine?"


    "Actually, I don''t think I belong to you either."


    Evan''s interjection was ignored by the two demons while Ka whacked him on the head and told him to focus on healing his wounds.


    "I am the one who wants all there is, so naturally I want him, even if he''s with you, elder sister."


    Greed spoke with a wry smile, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head as if saying ''it could not be helped''.


    "Why did you get this man to try and take over this city? Trying to y king again like you did in the past?"


    Pride folded her arms and asked, with Evan''s eyes widening as he saw a smug look appear on the high demon''s face.


    "Geh!


    Can you please stop reminding me about my past foolishness, sister?"


    The other high demon who had been acting all calm and collected, had his face contorted in a mixture of shame and displeasure. He was sure that Pride knew why he did that but chose to poke at his sore spot.


    Meanwhile, Terence was staring at the two silently as he let his C+ health stat handle healing his wounds for him.


    ''So, this woman is a being like him, a demon.


    What''s more, is that they''re siblings.


    What if he wants to go with his sibling? Would he take his power away?


    I can''t have that!


    I need to think of a way t-!''


    His thoughts were interrupted when a ck-coloured light spear suddenly shot up from his shadow and stabbed him in the stomach, causing him to grunt in pain and attract the attention of the two high demons who were talking with themselves.


    "You guys were having a bit of a happy reunion there, so I was kinda at a loss on how to draw your attention.


    Ended up choosing this means though."

 Chapter 255 Vs Terence, Again! I

    "You guys were having a bit of a happy reunion there, so I was kinda at a loss on how to draw your attention.


    Ended up choosing this means though."


    Evan spoke while scratching his head, while Greed''s eyes were trailing across the ground, from Terence''s feet to Evan''s feet, or more precisely, their shadows.


    ''Can he see Kuro...?''


    The young hero noticed this and raised his guard but Greed said nothing and turned to Terence, before speaking.


    "Terence, can you get keep this kid busy for a bit? I have something to discuss with my sister, in private."


    ''Also, watch out for his shadow. There''s something there, and there''s another one on his shoulder too.


    I just can''t properly perceive what they are.''


    Hearing the warning from Greed, Terence narrowed his eyes and subtly nced at Evan''s shadow, something that didn''t escape the notice of the entity within it.


    [Master, he knows.]


    ''Tsk...''


    Evan clicked his tongue internally before suddenly letting his body fall backward, disappearing into his shadow instead of hitting the ground.


    Seeing this, Terence''s eyes widened and he instantly turned around and punched with his fist, just in time for Evan to spring out of the man''s shadow.


    However, the young hero disappeared before Terence''s fist could connect, reappearing a few secondster atop a nearby pile of rubble.


    "Really dude?


    You just found out that I could use shadows to attack and you were definitely on guard about it. Did you really think I''d still do the same thing again?


    If you thought so, then I fail to see how you can ''keep me busy'' like Greed said to."


    The young hero spoke while shaking his head with a look of disappointment. He then activated his concealment skill at full power, shocking Terence and Greed as his figure and aurapletely disappeared right before their very eyes.


    He then reappeared at an even further distance, waving at Terence as he shouted.


    "Hello!


    I''m over here!"


    Disappearing once more, he reappeared even further and screamed out.


    "Dude! I''m over here!"


    Are you not seeing me?!"


    He then repeated the same set of actions, causing Greed to facepalm before saying to Terence.


    "He''s trying to lead you out of the city, just follow him."


    Terence nodded in response and kicked off the ground, dashing towards Evan and causing the young hero to get serious and run towards the city gates.


    Left alone, Greed turned towards Pride with a smile as he spoke.


    "Now then, sister."


    Although he wore a bright smile, it did not reach his eyes at all. Seeing this, Pride rolled her eyes and sighed internally as she thought.


    ''Ah Shit. I knew this wasing.''


    Greed instantly closed the distance between them, leaving no gap as he was so close to her that their bodies were pressed against each other.


    He then rose his hands, grabbing the sides of Pride''s face and tilting her head upwards a bit and staring into her blood-red eyes.


    Looking into his eyes, Pride could see a myriad of emotions swirling within them, shock, anger, curiosity, and a hint of disappointment.


    "Tell me, my dear sister.


    Would you mind telling me why I haven''t been able to sense your ''power'' since earlier?


    I''m dying to know just what reason you have for me."


    �� �� ��


    While Pride was being interrogated by her brother, Evan and Terence, were wrecking things as always. Just that this time it was the nearby forest right outside Osto that was suffering from their actions.


    "Have you ever fought a contractor who can''t use their contracted demon''s idiosyncrasy before?"


    **BAMMM!!


    The young hero dodged Terence''s fist right after asking that question, with the air pressure from the punch going on to m into the tree right behind him and erasing it, along with every other tree within a fifty-metre radius, from existence.


    Wood splinters flew in every direction, with Terence flicking his fingers and using wind magic to send them all flying towards the grinning Evan''s face.


    "Als-pfftt!!!!"


    Naturally, the young hero who was about to continue bbing was fed a mouthful of wood. He momentarily paused in shock and Terence''s fist came flying in his direction in that short pause.


    However, right before he got his skull caved in, he suddenly dropped into his shadow and reappeared from the shadow of a nearby tree, allowing Terence''s fist to once again cause environmental destruction.


    [Master, be serious.]


    Kuro''s exasperated voice rang out as Evan was spitting out the pieces of wood. The young hero pulled out a can of water from his inventory and washed his mouth while running away from Terence''s iing rock spears.


    "Finally. That was ying dirty bro."


    "Shut up!"


    Terence finally had enough of Evan''s bullshit and screamed out in anger, with a brown magic circle appearing above him and shooting out a me-tipped earthen spear.


    "Well, since Kuro said so, I guess I''d stop joking."


    The moment Evan said that, his mystic eyes reappeared and a replica of Terence''s magic circle formed in front of him, shooting out the same kind of me-tipped earthen spear.


    **BOOOMM!!


    The two spears exploded on collision, releasing shockwaves that knocked Terence back a bit. Before he could even stabilize himself fully, a serious-faced Evan burst out from the smoke, with the unforged in his hand.


    Floating around him were three other magic circles of differing elements. Darkness, Ice and Lightning respectively.


    ''Dark st


    Iciclence


    Lightning Spear.''


    Three elemental projectiles shot out towards Terence simultaneously, causing the contractor of Greed to activate a skill in response.


    "Earth Tide."


    The earth underneath his feet shattered into pieces of rocks that surged forward like a tidal wave. This wave of rocks collided with Evan''s projectile magic, resulting in an explosion that sent chunks of rocks and ice flying.


    However, the young hero moved through this unhindered, his whole body covered in twoyers of white and golden light respectively.


    "Earthen Sword."


    His ears captured the sound of Terence''s voice, making the young hero frown slightly as Terence activated his ss skill.


    Without hesitation, he spun around and swung his sword wildly, activating multiple aura shes while concealing some of them.


    This was just in time to block the flurry of red-coloured aura shes that flew towards him.


    Evan, however, did not wait to see the oue of the two sets of shes meeting, kicking off the ground and jumping into the air.''


    ''Damn Flight artifact.''

 Chapter 256 Vs Terence, Again! II

    ''Damn Flight artifact.''


    Those were his thoughts as swung his de upwards, activating de cannon and sensing out the fist-sized aura bullets that flew towards the airborne Terence.


    Nevertheless, Terence avoided every bullet with nimble movement, despite the weight of the nearly 70inch long great sword in his hands.


    He then shot towards the grounded Evan, covering his de in his signature red aura as he shed down.


    ''Meeting his sh head-on is stupid, parrying is the only way.''


    With those thoughts, Evan dragged his foot across the ground and rose his sword, tilting it at an angle the moment it shed with Terence''s Earthen Sword.


    The full force of Terence''s ''B-'' ranked strength stat bore down on Evan''s body, causing the hero''s face to contort in displeasure as he enhanced his body with body strengthening while spreading out a wave of aura.


    Terence''s de slid off the unforged and mmed into the ground, with Evan instantly taking his right hand off his de and swinging it towards Terence''s chest.


    ''Kuro!''


    The magic power of the shadow spirit who was waiting for his master''s call, swept across Evan''s arm and coated it in a spiked gauntlet of dark light.


    However, Terence''s eyes shed as he instantly reacted, creating a small shield of stone to cover his chest.


    **BAMM!!


    The young hero''s fist mmed into the hastily created shield and broke it to pieces, before going on to hit Terence''s body and send him flying.


    Sadly, the power behind the fist had decreased greatly so it didn''t deal as much damage as expected.


    Evan''s shadow slithered and a long tentacle-like appendage shot out of it, intending to wrap around Terence''s leg, however, the man suddenly shot upwards as if gravity lost its effect on his body.


    He ascended to a height of nearly ten metres in an instant, before shooting back down to the ground with his fist pulled back.


    **DOONN!


    Terence''s fist crashed into the empty ground where Evan just blinked out from, shattering the earth and causing shockwaves to surge in all directions.


    He grabbed his sword and turned around, seeing Evan floating in the air with narrowed eyes, holding out his two arms towards Terence.


    "Energy st!"


    Two beams of golden aura shot towards Terence, however, he dodged them by flying out of the way at full speed.


    ''!


    That''s it.''


    A grin appeared on Evan''s face even though his attacks missed their mark, with his mystic eyes glowing as he had finally discovered where Terence''s flight artifact was after reading the flow of magic power.


    He created a foothold of ice in the air and kicked off it, dashing towards the great sword-wielding man who abruptly turned around and swung his de at Evan who summoned the unforged.


    **CLANGGG!!!


    Evan''s sword collided with Terence''s de, causing the young hero''s face to contort in pain as he felt more pain than when he had taken a full-strength swing at a rock in his home world.


    His right arm was even worse as it hadn''t finished healing from his earlier recklessness of meeting Terence''s punch with his fist, but he grit his teeth and pulled his weapon back, allowing gravity to pull him to the ground and make him dodge Terence''s follow up horizontal swing.


    Treetops turned to splinters of wood and pieces of leaves due to the force from Terence''s de.


    Evan on the other hand,nded on the ground safely, before turning tail and running in the opposite direction from Terence.


    ''Why is he...?''


    Terence raised his guard as he shot after Evan, following the young hero deeper into the forest.


    ''Ka, now!''


    [Finally!]


    The lightning spirit who had been given permission to act, screamed out in joy as she turned towards the unsuspecting Terence and activated a new skill she gained during her time in Shad Glua.


    [Thunderp!]


    Arge golden wall of lightning blocks appeared behind Terence, folding in a ''pping'' motion immediately after and dealing wide area lighting damage to any thing in front of it.


    In this case, the shocked Terence was the ''thing'' in front of it.


    Just before the contractor of Greed was fully ''pped'', the young lighting spirit generated a ball of mes and tossed it towards him with all her strength.


    **BOOM!! "AAAHHHH!!"


    Terence''s body reflexively moved to block the ball of mes with his earthen sword, however, a beam of golden auraunched from Evan''s palm, collided with his arm and cause him to let go of his sword.


    He was then set on fire and then ''pped'' by a wall of lightning that exploded upon contact with the mes.


    What''s more, Ka apparently hadn''t had enough, and even decided to toss multiple lightning bolts into the explosion, with a crazed smile forming on her face as Terence''s screams of pain reached her ears.


    [Whew...]


    Perhaps because she was done venting her frustrations on him, Ka exhaled loudly as she wiped her forehead with her hand.


    [Huh?]


    However, the young spirit let out a voice of confusion in the moment after, as she suddenly lost all strength in her body and dropped altitude.


    [Not again!]


    A wave of red aura spread out omnidirectionally, with some of it hitting the surprised spirit and knocking her backwards.


    "There!"


    She heard Terence''s shout right before a figure covered in an armour of rocks burst out from the clouds of smoke and mes, shooting straight in her direction with his fist pulled back.


    Ka caught sight of his eyes glowing red as she hurriedly flew away despite the fact that Terence could not see her.


    With the full power of his ''B-'' strength stat, Terence punched right where Ka was a moment before, using so much force that the shockwaves reaching the ground were enough to create a crater that was a good hundred metres deep.


    Immediately after, Terence''s blood-red eyes suddenly turned towards the direction she had flown to, throwing out his fist once more with powerful strength.


    [?!]


    The young spirit instantly figured something was wrong and flew out of the area, her body turning into a streak of lightning as she blitzed towards Evan with her remaining strength.


    ''Block his sight for a bit, and then duck.''


    [Master!]


    Evan''s words rang out in her head and she nodded, before forcing her body around and activating her skill again.


    Instantly, another wall of lighting blocks appeared right in front of Terence, onerger than the previous wall by three times.


    Just before it couldplete its ''pping'' motion, Terence punched it with an aura-coated fist, shattering it into pieces of light instantly.

 Chapter 257 Vs Terence, Again! III

    However, when the wall dissipated, Terence was met with a swirling spiral mass of golden-coloured magic power that mmed into his rock armoured body.


    He was sent flying backwards in a short parabolic arc, before crashing to the ground shortly after.


    ''How did he know where Ka was?''


    Evan narrowed his eyes in displeasure as he had noticed Terence lock onto Ka''s position twice, despite the fact that he should not have been able to sense the spirit.


    However, after remembering Greed''s idiosyncrasy and Terence''s blood-red eyes, the young hero''s own eyes widened as he came to a conjecture.


    ''Could it be that he actually could not sense her, but was just sensing the location of the entity he was drawing strength from?''


    Marvelling in surprise upon the realisation that Greed''s power could be used in this way, Evan shot towards where the fallen Terence was.


    He arrived to see the bloodied man tearing off the leather rags that were once his wrist guards and tossing them on the floor.


    His eyes returned to their original ck colour, signalling the deactivation of Greed''s power as he took a shaky step forward.


    "Dude. Just sur-!"


    **KAABOOOMMMM!!!!


    Evan''s words were interrupted by the sudden explosion in the distance. The young hero activated his elemental shield while Terence created a small wall of rocks to block the shockwaves that swept across the area.


    Looking up, Evan could see a blood red gigantic arm-shaped construct,posed solely of energy, holding arge great sword that it swung downwards.


    Mid-swing, it was intercepted by another gigantic energy-constructed arm, one that was holding an erged replica of a sword that looked all too familiar.


    "Oh, it''s just their Incarnation skills. Nothing serio-!"


    Evan''s dismissive words were cut short as what he had just seen fully dawned on him.


    "They''re using their incarnation skills! Are they trying to kill each other or something?!


    Ah, iing shockwave!"


    He reactivated his elemental shield and braced for impact as the great sword-wielding arm mmed the t side of its de downwards.


    ''If they were still in the city, I bet like five districts would have been turned to rubble already.


    But even so...it''s actually their incarnations skills!''


    His eyes were gleaming like a kid who just got thetest toy of their favourite superhero, deactivating his elemental shield and turning to Terence before speaking excitedly.


    "Dude! Did you see that?!


    Like, for real! Did you see that?!


    That was like, the physical manifestation of the emotional energies of Pride and Greed!


    It''s definitely top of the list for things that i-?!"


    Terence''s response to his excited speech was a punch to the face which the hero dodged by blinking away, before reappearing behind Terence and activating fracture.


    With Ka''s Electrome, the man''s bare back was once again the recipient of a symphony of lightning and mes.


    He screamed out in pain as he dropped to his knees, with Evan looking down at him with a frown on his face. The young hero then grabbed the man''s face with his palm and spoke.


    "It''s futile. The result was already predetermined from the start.


    You couldn''t have possibly beaten me.


    Even your contracted demon could tell from the start, he did say I was better than you, after all."


    Terence pushed Evan''s hand away and attempted to punch him but the young hero simply just teleported beside him and kicked him off his feet.


    "Guh!"


    The man grunted in pain as he fell on his back, with Evan''s footing in immediately after and crashing into his side,unching him into the air for a few metres.


    Evan approached Terence, conjured shadowy arms which grabbed onto the man with his magic, and squatted above Terence''s body, pping his face.


    "Hey, lower life form.


    Hope you aren''t dead yet?"


    He pped the two sides of his face once more, with Terence trying to raise his left arm to punch Evan off his body, only to realise that he had been bound by his own shadow.


    Just before he could try to force his way out of the restraints with brute strength, Evan punched his left shoulder with an aura-enhanced fist, dislocating and cracking the bones there in the process.


    "--!GGAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"


    "Oh, my goddess, that looks like it hurts."


    The young hero spoke in a tone of mock surprise. A sadistic grin adorned his face as he poked Terence''s dislocated shoulder, with his grin only growing wider as he saw Terence squirming in pain.


    "Come on, you still have some magic power left in you. Do something with it.


    Though it wouldn''t really matter in the end, but hey, who says you can''t try?"


    [Master''s weird.]


    [Mhmm.]


    Evan''s two contracted spirits spoke among themselves as they saw the young hero poking Terence''s damaged arm with his finger coated in destruction aura.


    Terence''s screams echoed throughout the forest, scaring any creatures who may have been in the area by happenstance.


    [Master...!]


    Ka''s voice rang out, causing Evan to turn away from Terence and stare at her with a questioning look, however, the young lightning spirit could see that the way he looked at her was different.


    He did not gaze at her in the same way that he normally did, as if she were his mischievous younger sibling or his contracted spirit. The way he was looking at her made it seem as though he was looking at something beneath him.


    Evan''s eyes suddenly widened in confusion, as though triggered by Ka''s expression of shock


    "What the...?"


    He stood up and took a step back, recalling his actions within the past few minutes as a frown appeared on his face.


    Upon opening his status board, he saw three new status effects right next to his ''Injured'' condition.


    ''What the hell, Pride?!''


    The young hero screamed at his contracted demon telepathically, however, the reply he received was most certainly not the one he wanted.


    [Hold on for a moment, Evan.


    I''m dealing, with this foolish brother of mine.]


    "How does that rte to the three new things I''m seeing on my status board?!"


    Pride did not reply to him again, causing the young hero to click his tongue in annoyance. He turned around and was about to move in Pride''s direction when he heard a groaning from behind him.


    Turning back to see Terence struggling to his feet, Evan sighed in exasperation as he spoke.


    "Dude, just give up.


    Normally, you''d be dead by now but I won''t kill you.


    The people of Osto need someone to vent all their rage on. We did wreck the city in the battle so I''m gonna toss most of the me on your head. Besides, you''re already quite hated in Os-."


    "SHUT UP!!


    How could this! How could this! How could this be?!"


    Terence screamed and forced himself to his feet, ring at Evan. His body was in the worst state it had been since he was born, as it could not bear all the damage that had been umting ever since the battle in the city.


    Evan was confused at how he could still stand and appraised him, only to see that his health stat had be ''B-'', with his durability stat being on the cusp of joining it too.


    The man then suddenly released a burst of red aura that knocked the young hero backwards.


    With all of his strength, he rose up his right foot into the air, causing Evan''s eyes to widen as recognition shed through his eyes.


    ''Ah. I know that gesture.''


    The young hero instantly jumped backwards, creating a distance of close to a hundred metres between them.


    Nevertheless, Terence did not care, what he was going to do was still going to affect Evan even at that range, after all.


    Hisst dredges of magic power flowed into his feet, with blood dripping out of his nose as he stomped his foot on the floor and screamed out.


    "COLLAPSE!!!!!!!!!!!"


    **BOOOOMM!


    There was an initial explosion that shook the ground beneath his feet, and then an abrupt discharge of low-frequency acoustic energy into the Earth''s crust caused seismic waves which propagated through the ground at high velocities.


    Because the surfaceyer had copsed, the ground had sunk, creating a massive sinkhole into which any surviving trees in the region fell.


    It felt like an earthquake had already been going on and then andslide had suddenly felt best to ur in the middle of it.


    That was the only way to describe what was currently happening.


    Seeing the iingnd-based disaster, Evan spoke despite knowing Terence could not hear him over the noise.


    "I don''t need to do this, but I''d do it just to spite you."


    He then jumped up in the air and locked eyes with Terence, with his mystic eyes glowing as he slowly mouthed the name of his newly acquired skill, the same one Terence had just used.


    "Copse."


    He grinned evilly when he saw Terence''s eyes widen in shock as gravity pulled him back to the ground, with him activating the skill the moment his feet touched the ground.


    **BOOOMM!!

 Chapter 258 The Two Sin Demons

    A little more than a while before Evan let Ka vent her unprecedented frustrations on Terence by roasting the poor contractor of Greed with lightning, the conversation between the two Deadly Sin siblings had turned violent just as Pride had expected.


    It had pretty much turned into a battle between the ''Power of Wealth'' and the ''Power of Hubris'', and from the trails of destruction that could be seen in their wake as they moved while fighting, one could tell that they were definitely not holding back at all.


    If one saw them now, there was a high probability that they might even suspect that the siblings were trying to kill each other!


    And the next set of actions taken by Pride would go a long way in cementing that belief.


    "Wrath of me."


    The high demon casually called out with the wave of a hand, generating an omnidirectional wave of ferocious mes that turned all the grasses and trees around her to ash, its intensity increasing with each thing it burnt.


    "Rising Meteor."


    However, Greed just casually tapped his foot on the ground and spoke, manipting the ground beneath him to erect arge star-shaped pir.


    The pir shot rose up into the air, taking him off the ground where Pride''s mes charred a second after.


    Immediately after, Greed flicked his fingers and generated an intricate array of brown two-ringed magic circles behind him.


    Another wave of his hands generated anotherplex array of green two-ringed magic circles in the air, a second before he activated them all simultaneously.


    Dozens of earthen spears and wind des rained down on Pride who just sighed softly before kicking off the ground, dashing towards Greed amidst the rain of magic.


    The high demon moved like she was performing a sword dance, with the way that she easily weaved her way through the projectiles, dodging most of them, slicing apart the ones she could not dodge with her demonic energy-infused sword or her palm coated in aura, and either deflecting or blocking the rest with barriers of wind magic.


    Greed showed no surprise, as he had expected this much from the elder sister he respected, silently summoning his own signature weapon and grabbing it tightly.


    His weapon was naturally the Great Sword of Greed, Mammonas.


    It was a ck massive two-edged, two-handed sword with a massive de measuring about 70 inches long and 8 inches thick.


    The sword''s brown handle was about 10 inches long, giving the weapon a total of 80 inches in length.


    Despite itsrge size and equivalent weight, Greed casually lifted the sword like it was nothing, infusing it with demonic energy and taking a stance.


    In the next moment, he kicked off the ground with enough force to shatter the earthen pir he stood on, shooting towards Pride with his sword raised overhead.


    **CLAAANNGG!!!


    The sound of two metals shing rang out as Pride hurriedly rose her own demonic energy-infused de to block Greed''s sudden attack, her arms trembling as the difference in physical strength between the two was too much.


    ''Tsk...''


    Internally clicking her tongue, Pride titled her sword and let Mammonas slide off it, before spinning her body and delivering a horizontal sh towards Greed''s neck.


    However, the high demon let his de fall to the ground, before raising his right arm and hitting the t side of Vanitas with it, redirecting the sword''s trajectory with brute strength and grabbing Pride with his other hand.


    But his sister didn''t let him get a hold of her, instantly releasing a burst of demonic energy that knocked him back by a few metres.


    Greed flipped in the air andnded on the ground upright, before grabbing onto the ground with his right hand to prevent his feet from sliding across the ground.


    Simultaneously, his left hand was outstretched towards his great sword, with therge weapon responding and flying back into his palm.


    He immediately grabbed his sword and shot forward, dashing towards Pride and shing with her demonic energy-infused de.


    The earth beneath their feet shattered, with shockwaves spreading into the surroundings, but the two paid this no mind, blitzing through the air as they shed des repeatedly.


    Greed skilfully swung his great sword, with each strike powerful enough to deal heavy damage to Pride, however, his sister blocked his attacks, avoiding most of them as shing with hisrge de and high strength was not exactly the best idea.


    She also retaliated, asionally coating her sword in dark mes which she swung towards his limbs, though he blocked most of them with the t side of his de.


    **BAMMM!!


    Another sh of weapons between the two of them, generated shockwaves that sent them both flying into the air, however, they easily flipped their bodies andnded upright.


    As if they had agreed on it beforehand, they took familiar stances while locking eyes with each other, their figures vanishing in the next moment as they shot through the air, dashing towards each other with trails of light behind them.


    "Covetous de."


    Greed sidestepped a bit to the right, before rapidly dashing to the left and swinging his demonic energy-coated sword in a wide horizontal arc.


    Pride tilted her body slightly to adjust to Greed''s sudden movement, calling out softly as she swung her sword in an upward arc.


    "Origin Sword."


    The two des collided with a loud ''CLANG!'', the resultant shockwaves from the sh going on to crater the ground within a fifty-metre radius of their weapons, with the resultant shockwaves spreading out to even longer distances.


    However, they weren''t done yet as Greed quickly pulled back his de before thrusting forward multiple times.


    Pride responded, spinning her body around and swinging her sword in a wide circr arc moving from left to right, blocking all of Greed''s imminent frontal rapid sword thrusts in one fell swoop even though her body was knocked back a fair bit due to the force behind Greed''s attacks.


    In one fluid set of motions, Greed released a sword thrust that was blocked by Pride, reversing his grip on his de before transitioning into a wide horizontal sh from his right side (Pride''s left side).


    He had expected this to catch Pride off guard, given that she was in no position to block as she had swung her sword from right to left (left to right for Pride).


    His sharp eyes also caught her arms trembling despite the fact that they were strengthened with aura, something that was expected given his higher physical strength.


    However, those same eyes also widened in shock when Pride suddenly used wind magic under her feet, giving her body arge boost which she used to flip into the air over his horizontal sh.


    Nevertheless, he was not shocked for long, regaining his calm and immediately devising a means to use Pride''s action against him.


    ''She''s off bnce. I can get her on thending!''


    With that thought, he coated his great sword in demonic energy and shaped the energy into a longer de, extending its reach as he pulled it back while taking a stance.


    The moment Pride''s feet touched the ground, Greed shed forward, his sword moving so fast it seemed like a blur.


    Despite this, the high demon was shocked once again as Pride suddenly spread her legs in a wide-leg position, sliding them apart and dropping to the ground.


    Naturally, Greed''s horizontal sh went right over her head, missing herpletely and instead causing Greed to be off bnce as he had used a bit too much force.


    The shockwave generated from the air pressure of his sword as it cut through the air, spread out in a wide area and carved the ground behind Pride in a semi-circr arc, creating a depression that was nearly a metre deep.


    Pride paid no attention to this, cing a hand on the ground in between her legs on either side of her body to stop her movement, keeping her just a few centimetres short of performing a full split.


    She then spun her body, delivering a sweeping kick that sent Greed off his feet and falling with his back to the ground with her left leg.


    Her right leg wasn''t idle as the moment Greed''s body fell backwards, she readjusted the positions of her hands, allowing her to easily shoot her leg out and send a horse kick to his back with the back of her right leg.


    Greed felt his body suddenly being sent flying into the air once more, crashing on the ground after a few seconds and rolling on the floor for a while.


    He hurriedly tried to get up, with his hand stretching out to call his fallen sword when a shadow was suddenly cast above him.


    He looked up and locked eyes with his sister whose weapon was risen overhead and was definitely intending on shing downwards.


    "Aura of Pride: mes of Hubris."


    Upon hearing that technique being called out, Greed gave a wry smile before taking an action that caused Pride''s eyes to widen in shock.


    Incarnation of Greed.


    Avatar of Greed: Partial Activation.

 Chapter 259 Challenge Of ‘Authority’

    Incarnation of Greed.


    Avatar of Greed: Partial Activation.


    ***KAABOOOMMMM!!!!


    A loud explosion rang out, sending out shockwaves that spread out over close to a kilometre, with a blood-red gigantic arm-shaped construct rising up out of the clouds of dust and dirt.


    In its hand was a gigantic great sword that looked exactly like Mammonas, a sword that was instantly coated in demonic energy and swung down with the t a secondter.


    However, its swing was intercepted by another gigantic energy-constructed arm, one that was holding an erged replica of a Pride''s Vanitas.


    Once again, another explosion rang out, with shockwaves spreading out for kilometres, carving the ground, uprooting trees, and shattering rocks to pieces, even reaching as far as Evan and Terence''s battleground, even though it was more than a good five kilometres away.


    By the time that the dust had cleared up, Pride and Greed were standing at the bottom of arge crater that was a bit over a kilometre wide and dozens of metres deep.


    Each of their right arms was encased within therge gigantic energy limb constructs that shed weapons.


    Just like Greed, Pride had not hesitated to use her Incarnation''s partial activation the moment she sensed his skill''s activation.


    Nevertheless, the expression on her face was strange despite having blocked Greed''s sudden attacks.


    Even though they were each releasing attacks that would have definitely taken the other down for the count, if not being outright fatal, Pride didn''t look annoyed or anything of the sort, in fact, she had a calm expression on her face, only asionally showing slight surprise.


    However, right now, she had an expression of displeasure all over her face.


    Pride narrowed her eyes and spoke in a cold voice, calling out to Greed, not with the name of the mortal sin he represented, but with his ''True Name'', at least the part of it she knew.


    "Avaritia Nadarus Gathon.


    Are you challenging me?"


    Greed felt a chill down his spine when he heard Pride''s cold voice, however, he shook off his instinctive fear andughed out loud before saying.


    "What else does it look like, sister?"


    The high demon ran a hand through his hair, before grinning evilly as he spoke.


    "You do realise I''ve always wanted your ''position'', right sister?"


    What Greed was speaking about, was something that happened more than a millennia ago, when the seven deadly sins had just turned thirty and were forming their special unitprised of only them.


    Pride had automatically assumed herself as the leader but Greed and Envy had other thoughts about that.


    The two had challenged Pride to a duel for the position of ''Leader'' and had the shit beaten out of them.


    Their battle was one that left dozens of cities in the demon world destroyed in their wake, as the then Epic-level demons used the full power of their incarnation skills to challenge their eldest ''sibling'', however, they still lost.


    After defeating them, Pride made a statement to the other six.


    "If you still dare to covet my position, then you can challenge me for it using your full power as Incarnations.


    You''d still lose anyway, though.


    But besides such a scenario, using your incarnation skills against each other is not allowed. Of course, this applies to me too."


    Thetter part was more of a mand'', one that the sins had followed to this day.


    So, the fact that Greed used his incarnation skill against Pride, even if only a partial activation, was a challenge to her ''authority''.


    Even though they were not sure of their current status in the demon world, they were eventually going to go back and regain all the authority that they possessed a thousand years ago.


    So, Pride assumed that Greed simply wanted to take this chance to be the leader for when that time came


    He could not be med though, the ''Authority'' and ''Influence'' of the leader of the ''Seven Deadly Sins'' was one that could be said to only be a step below that of the Demon King.


    There was a reason why the previous Demon King''s retainers were scared that they might attempt to usurp the throne, after all.


    What''s more, was that the group''s leader was in control of an astronomical amount of military power.


    Each of the Seven Sins had a ''Sin Legion'', that served their respective sins.


    These legions that had mid-rank demons as their weakest members only took orders from the ''Deadly Sin'' of their corresponding legion, and had even disobeyed the Demon King''s orders to mobilize on more than one asion.


    Greed could notmand Envy''s legion, Envy could notmand Lust''s legion, and so on.


    However, Pride alone, had the authority tomand the legions of all seven sins, with hermands taking precedence over that of the Legion''s leader.


    So, if Greed ordered his legion to mobilize, Envy, Lust, or the rest could not order them otherwise, except for Pride. She alone, could override Greed''smand with her ''authority''.


    "You know I''ve always wanted your ''authority'' and you just had to weaken yourself and make things easier for me.


    Remember when you said we can challenge you for your position?


    That offer is still up, right?"


    The moment Pride heard Greed''s words, her eyes widened slightly and she instantly understood what his real goal was.


    ''He doesn''t actually want to challenge me; he''s just trying to bait me into using my power.


    ...


    Very well then, I''d humour you, little brother.''


    With those thoughts, she deactivated her incarnation series skill with a sigh, causing the gigantic arm of energy to fade into pieces of light.


    ''Sorry about this, Amy.


    And as for Evan, he can handle himself.''


    She then closed her eyes and took a deep breath, much to Greed''s momentary confusion.


    ''Why is sh-?!''


    His question was answered when Pride opened her eyes once more, this time, with her deep blood-red pupils glowing ominously.


    The high demon instantly took a step back, deactivating his incarnation skill''s partial activation due to it making it hard for him to jump back.


    In response to Greed''s sudden movement, Pride only tilted her head to the side and spoke.


    "Did I give you permission to back away?


    Get over here."


    Greed''s vision suddenly turned hazy, and upon blinking momentarily, he opened his eyes to find himself standing a metre in front of Pride when he was clearly more than a dozen away just a second ago.


    Before his brain could even begin to think of possible reasons why, Pride''s foot mmed into the side of his head, sending him flying into the air.


    **BAMMM!!!!


    The high demon mmed into the wall of the crater that was close to five hundred metres away, creating another smaller human-shaped crater in the wall.


    Opening his eyes, he saw Pride take a step towards him, vanishing the moment her feet touched the ground and reappearing about five metres away from his position.


    His eyes hadn''t finished widening in shock when she casually clenched her fist and pulled her arm backwards, before punching forward.


    **CRACCKKK!!


    The ''space'' in between the two of them began to shatter like ss, with Greed forcing his body out of the crater and jumping away, a second before the shattering reached his position.


    "Hahahahahaha!!!"


    Despite the current situation, Greed had a maniacal smile on his face as heughed out loud.


    "I should have expected that you were going to unseal it without hesitation, you aren''t one to dawdle around after all!"


    "Indeed, you should have."


    Pride replied to his words as he held up her hand and made a grabbing gesture, with Greed''s body suddenly floating up to the air like his shirt was being grabbed by something.


    She then pulled her arm towards herself and Greed found his body flying towards Pride. He clenched his fist and infused it with demonic energy before punching out but his punch never hit its mark.


    The moment his fist got within Pride''s range, his entire arm, along with his clothes, turned into a cloud of red smoke and was blown away in the wind.


    Pride then grabbed him by his neck and shook her head, before raising her other hand and tapping the space in between them.


    Greed didn''t understand what happened next as his cognitive features were temporarily impaired.


    By the time he regained his bearings, Pride''s foot was on top of his chest and his arm was back to normal.


    The high demon was staring at him silently while replying to the young hero she was contracted to in her mind.


    "...


    As expected of you, elder sister.


    You are still the same elder sister that I-!"


    "You''re noisy."


    Pride cut Greed''s statement short with just two words, and the high demon did not speak anymore, not because he willingly stopped talking, but because his mouth simply wasn''t there anymore.


    She then crouched down and held Greed''s face with her hand before speaking.


    "No matter how hard you try, it''s simply impossible for you to defeat me.


    So, give up that dream of yours, Little brother."


    After saying her piece, Pride got to her feet and looked around for her sword, finding it stabbed into the ground a few metres away.


    Walking to it, she snapped her fingers in the air and the glow in her eyes faded. Her body staggered in weakness momentarily, but she held herself up with the force of will and moved towards her weapon.


    Meanwhile, Greed, whose mouth had returned to his face, looked at the back of his sister in silence for almost a minute before asking a question.


    "Sister, that day a thousand years ago.


    Why didn''t you resist?"

 Chapter 260 Conclusion And Aftermath

    "Sister, that day a thousand years ago.


    Why didn''t you resist?"


    His question was vague, but Pride understood exactly what he was talking about. Her slow steps stopped and she turned towards him before asking.


    "You know what I''m talking about.


    I''m asking why you didn''t use your second Series skill when that bastard Ginaroad backstabbed us.


    The soul poison was something we didn''t expect and it prevented us from using our skills temporarily. Removing it with the ambientw energies would have also taken us quite a while given its potency.


    But it was different for you.


    You were strong enough to still be able to use your skills, and if you had done so, I bet we would have had enough time to deal with the soul poison.


    At the very least, we would not have fallen to the seal of those damned heroes."


    Greed casually revealed the fact that he was aware of Pride possessing a second series skill, something that the high demon had kept a secret from all her siblings.


    However, even though she just learned that Greed had discovered this, she wasn''t too surprised as she never expected to keep it hidden forever.


    "There''s no big scheme or mind-blowing reason behind it.


    Alvey''s son simply caught us at a bad time. At a time when I was under a geass, one with a restriction that prevented me from using that skill and my idiosyncrasy for a particr period of time.


    I was supposed to gain a power boost afterwards, but sadly, we were sealed before that could happen.


    That''s all."


    As soon as she was done speaking, the ground began trembling, as if an earthquake was urring. However, Greed was 90% sure that this was no natural earthquake.


    "Copse? Your contractor actually pushed him that far?"


    He spoke with slight surprise as he had not expected Terence to be forced to use Copse. Suddenly, there was a loud explosion, right before the trembling intensified by two times.


    "Huh?"


    While Greed was surprised at the sudden increase in the earthquake''s magnitude, Pride facepalmed and spoke.


    "The damn copycat is at it again."


    �� �� ��


    Crossing the distance between the two battlefields was something that took the two sin demon siblings no less than five minutes.


    And upon arriving, the sight they were met with was something that left them speechless for a moment.


    A new hill had been formed, one that consisted of chunks of rocks, sand and dozens of trees. Said hill was surrounded by a three-hundred-metre-wide depression in the ground on all sides, one deep enough to result in ake forming the moment rain fell.


    Seated atop said hill, with his weapon stabbed into the ground beside him, was the young hero contracted to one of the two sin demons, Evan.


    At his feet, was the body of the contractor of the other sin demon, Terence.


    When Pride and Greed arrived, they saw Evan sprinkling the contents of what they believed to be a healing potion on Terence''s badly damaged shoulder.


    Despite sensing their presence, Evan carried on with his actions, only stopping when he had half emptied the bottle.


    He then tossed it into his inventory and looked up at the two demons.


    However, since his mystic eye crest was still active, Greed naturally noticed this, and his reaction was...not as explosive as Evan had expected.


    "...What is the meaning of this, sister?"


    Instead, he calmly turned to his sister and asked, all while withholding the anger he felt upon seeing Evan''s eyes.


    Thinking about it rationally, he knew that there was no way in the universe that his sister would agree to a contract with the same person that sealed her away, so Evan was just someone with the same mystic eye skill as him.


    However, Evan possessing said skill meant he was a ''Hero'', an existence that was fated to be against the demons who were the ''invaders'' of Aidos.


    "You didn''t tell him about that?"


    "...I forgot."


    "...?!"


    Evan could have sworn he saw Pride''s cheeks redden in embarrassment; an expression the boy was sure he would never see on the woman.


    But looking at the red-eyed man next to her, he instantly figured out the reason.


    ''It''s because her brother is here, she probably feels more at ease with him so more of her true feelings are showing, huh?''


    Although he felt a bit sad that the demon didn''t feel that much at ease with him, he realised that it was simply impossible for her to feel like that around Evan whom she had only known for a year, whenpared to Greed who she had spent more than 300 years of her life with.


    Putting trivial issues at the back of their minds, the trio returned to the city of Osto and were met with a group of knights at the gates, along with Viscount Perhorn and Eliza who was seated atop the city walls.


    Upon seeing Evan walking back with Terence''s unconscious body, she sighed in exasperation before jumping down from the city walls and summoning the radiant codex.


    "Hey, Liz. Can you-"


    "I know.


    Breath of Life."


    She cut Evan off, before activating her unique skill on the four of them, draining close to half her maximum magic power and healing their bodiespletely.


    The girl''s control over her skill had improved in the past few months, so she was capable of healing multiple targets with her skill, without the individual healing effectiveness decreasing.


    The radiant codex also helped with that too, making her able to deal with their wounds in mere minutes.


    However, a frown appeared on her face when she looked at Terence''s damaged shoulder, before turning to re at Evan.


    "This guy.


    I thought we agreed not to kill him, so please tell me why you used a skill that could potentially erase his existence?"


    "me Pride, not me."


    Evan was quick to toss the me on Pride''s head, hiding behind the high demon who just facepalmed.


    Eliza didn''t even bother to deal with his antics, only pushing the unconscious Terence towards Evan and saying.


    "I can''t heal his shoulder. That wound there is a physical manifestation of the injury on his soul and it can''t be healed unless his soul is healed first.


    Sadly, I am not capable of healing souls."


    After saying her piece, she turned towards the Viscount and apologized for the dy, before gesturing towards the knights who were waiting with shackles.


    They chained the unconscious Terence and dragged him through the city, with Pride and Greed making themselves scarce while Evan and Eliza discussed a few things with the Viscount.


    Naturally, this procession was witnessed by the citizens of Osto, allowing them to see that Terence had indeed been captured.


    Evan noticed the bartender of the bar among the crowd, a grin appearing on the boy''s face before he walked towards the man and spoke.


    "Remember when I said that there was no way that I, Evan Bourne Eris would be scared by a mere thug calling himself ''Greedy Red''?


    Guess what?


    I also beat the shit out of him too."


    He then put his hand in his inventory and pulled out his adventurer guild card, along with a small cloth pouch of coins and tossed it towards the man who reflexively caught it.


    "Tack a few strawberry-voured drinks atop my previous order. I''d being back for it."


    He then waved the man off and re-joined the procession, inadvertently showing the C-Rank that was on the adventurer''s guild card in his hand.


    �� �� ��


    Viscount Perhorn''s Estate


    Dungeon City Osto


    Hobha


    March 19th


    Year 1052


    It was four days after the battle that resulted in Terence''s defeat and consequently, the defeat of all the gangs that Terence had been controlling.


    Since Greed had withdrawn his power during the battle with Pride and had only let Terence use it against Evan, the thralls lost their number one means of weakening the knights of Perhorn.


    And when the knight captain joined the fray, all of Terence''s subordinates were defeated by the knights with renewed morale.


    By the time Evan''s group returned, the knights were rounding up thest group of goons that Terence had sent out into the city to make trouble.


    Naturally, a great number of them had escaped to the back alleys of the city, however, they were bound toy low for more than just a while, considering that the knights were currently cracking down on all of them.


    The identity of the source of their power, the Demon Greed, was kept secret, so only the top authorities of Osto like the Viscount, the adventurer''s vice guild master and the merchant guild master.


    Other smaller guilds existed in Osto, but it was deemed unnecessary for them to know about Greed''s existence and were told that Terence''s strange ''power'' was something that originated from the man himself.


    Evan did suggest that they revealed that his power came from an artifact that he had destroyed during the battle, indirectly telling the people that Terence''s strange power was no more.


    As for the riches and other valuables he had acquired during his short rule, the ones that could be identified were given back to their owners, while the rest were kept in the viscount''s custody.

 Chapter 261 Aftermath, Decision, And Culprit

    The merchant guild did try to source out some benefits from the situation, iming damages, among other things, but Evan''s mere presence and his stance of siding with the Viscount limited the actions they could take.


    When he saw how wary the merchants were of him because of his power, and his ''ability'', to inflict wounds that could not be healed (Terence''s shoulder), the young hero''s eyes shed with a strange glint as multiple thoughts shed through his mind.


    The mages guild which had been silent since the beginning of Terence''s saga, remained as silent as ever, however, the Viscount''s men caught sight of them gathering information from here and there.


    As for Terence himself, the man had long regained consciousness and naturally tried to break free, but Evan just coated his sword in the aura of destruction and cut Terence''s tendons to permanently disable him, with Greed breaking off their contract and cutting off ess to his idiosyncrasy.


    "Our contract was for me to give him the power to take revenge, and he had his revenge against his formerpanions long ago.


    I was only using him to acquire a few things that would increase my skill''s power boost.


    There''re no problems for me if I break the contract."


    "And you also wanted to y king too, right Lil bro?"


    "Guh!"


    Evan ignored the two demons poking fun at each other before leaving the prison and moving over to the bar district where the battle between him and Terence had begun.


    Along the way, the young hero received a lot of mixed gazes, warm gazes, looks of gratitude, indifference, and some filled with dissatisfaction and res filled with anger.


    Naturally, thest two were from the owners of the properties that Terence and Evan had destroyed in their ensuing battle. There was no way that they would be happy to see Evan, even if he did defeat the person who was extorting them on a weekly basis.


    However, as if it was protected by some force of nature, the bar had not been destroyed despite the two buildings on either side taking severe damage.


    The Viscount hadn''t wasted time to begin the reconstruction activities, enlisting the mages in the city, especially those with the earth affinity, to speed up the process.


    As such, the rubble that was left of the crumbled buildings from the affected districts had been mostly cleared out within the week.


    "That''s a lot faster than I had expected."


    Evan remarked as he downed the entire ss of juice in his hands, before cing the ss on the counter and looking at the almost empty bar.


    "Business isn''t good, huh?


    Well, that''s mostly my fault, though."


    "If I don''t have to pay off more than half my monthly earnings to those goons just so they won''t bash my store anymore, a few days of bad business is nothing."


    The bartender replied as he refilled the young hero''s ss, causing the boy''s eyes to widen in shock as he didn''t know that Terence extorted that much money from business owners.


    He ced a hand on his chin as he sunk into his thoughts for a few minutes, before grabbing his ss and speaking.


    "I happen to have a truckload of monster corpses in good condition inside my inventory. How about I send them to the adventurer''s guild so they can be used to generate funds for helping out with the city reconstruction?


    For both the recent destruction and the one caused by the previous subjugation force''s battle.


    Majority of them are C-rank monster corpses so they should fetch a hefty price."


    After drinking the contents of the ss, he then leaned forward and spoke with a slightly lower voice.


    "Now then, can you do me a small favour and spread this news around? I''m not nning to make an anonymous donation after all.


    I want the people of Osto to know I''m responsible for it, but I don''t want to be the one telling them."


    Hearing the boy''s words, the man''s eyes widened for a moment before narrowing to slits in the next.


    "What''s the goal, kid?"


    "Improving my reputation in Osto.


    A meeting with the merchant guild''s higher-ups a few days ago made me realise a few things pertaining to having great Influence and public opinion.


    So, I''m taking an action that is sure to increase the positive feelings of the people of Osto towards me.


    It''s a little test for when I begin my major movements in the future."


    ''I can also do something simr using the Duhan incident.''


    After a short talk with Evan before the boy left, the bartender then went on to discuss the news of Evan''s ''Donation'' in a tavern with a few of his friends who lived in other districts, saying he heard it in passing when the reconstruction in his district was ongoing.


    The young hero also got the Viscount to help with this, even going as far as to leak a part of the list of C- rank monster corpses he was ''donating'', letting the people understand just how much he was putting into the city reconstruction.


    He also sold a few to the merchant''s guild, using them to experiment on just how much his current influence in Osto was.


    The merchants sent off carriages to other viges and the neighbouring County, carrying the monster corpses that could be used as materials for armour creation, magic tool manufacturing, alchemy, magic potion making and many other things.


    The young hero couldn''t help but burst intoughter when he passed a group of merchants discussing how they were going to basically scam the people of the neighbouring county into buying the stuff at higher prices.


    After overhearing that weird conversation at the merchant''s guild, he returned to the Viscount''s estate for dinner, before retiring to his room.


    "Hmm? You''re here, Liz?"


    "Yeah. Was with Ka but she ended up dozing off on myp."


    The battle priestess gestured towards the young spirit that was sleeping with a smile on her face, making Evan chuckle lightly as he remembered how guarded Ka initially was against Eliza.


    "It''s been how many months since then now? ten, eleven?"


    "Somewhere around there.


    You really acted like some edgy teenager when we first met. Not that you''re any better now."


    "This girl, isn''t this the part where you''re supposed to say, ''Time Flies so fast'' or something."


    Evan replied as he plopped down on the couch beside Eliza, leaning on the girl''s shoulder as he pulled out his guild card from his inventory and began typing something on it.


    "Contacting Laurene?"


    "Yeah. Something is weird about Osto


    I want her to be readily avable so I can update her if it affects my ns for Cheverton. And I also want to know what the Emperor''s reaction to my request for two of the ten great swordsmen would be.


    "Are you still thinking about the monsters we encountered on the way?"


    Evan gave her a thumbs-up that ended up poking the cheek of one of the ambient spirits in the room before speaking.


    "I had initially ignored it, but after discovering the details of the situation where the Guild master and the B rankers left, it suddenly reminded me of two familiar enemies that worked together.


    One could create artificial dungeons and summon monsters, while the other could control monsters summoned in said dungeons.


    The strength of the monsters in his dungeons was around the B rank adventurer level, same as the monsters estimated to be in the dungeon the guild master went to."


    "So, you think that these guys are the ones responsible?"


    Eliza asked as she watched Ka wake up, look around dazedly, wave at two of the floating spirits beside her, before going on to transform into a cat, crawl up to Evan''s stomach, and continue her sleep.


    The young hero just chuckled as he took Ka''s former position, cing his head on Eliza''sp as he replied.


    "Not sure.


    Those demons are annoying bastards, I dont want to encounter them, especially if they are together."


    "They''re demons?"


    Evan nodded as he slowly closed his eyes and let Eliza''s fingersb through his hair, with the room descending into silence for a few minutes before a prompt appeared in front of him.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' gazes at you in confusion.]


    "Long time no see, Artemisia." "Huh?"


    Evan turned to Eliza who let out a confused voice, trailing her line of sight and seeing her staring at the familiar notification board he thought only he could see.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' gazes at the both of you in confusion.]


    "Why so confused?"


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says she is wondering how you two got sofortable with each other.]


    "Oh..."


    Eliza''s eyes widened in confusion once more as she saw the next set of prompts.


    "Time and Destruction? Is he the one who gave you that skill?"


    "Yep."


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says he is indeed the one.]


    The young battle priestess nodded to herself in understanding, while withholding the question of just what kind of existence that ''Eternal'' was.


    ''A god?''


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says he is not.]


    "Stop reading people''s minds."


    Evan spoke as he flicked the message board with the aura of destruction, turning it into pieces of light before asking a question that had been on his mind since the day he met Leana being attacked by Greed''s thralls.


    "Hey, Artemisia. Are you the one who unsealed Greed?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says she was not the one responsible.]


    Evan''s question and Artemisia''s reply caused both the eyes of Evan, Eliza and Pride who had just walked in to widen in shock.


    "Huh? What''s wrong big sis, why are you stuck at the door?"


    Ignoring Greed who was behind her, the high demon realised that she had somehow unconsciously ignored the fact that Greed was supposed to be sealed.


    When Evan met Pride in the Graveyard of the arrogant, it was Artemisia who undid the seal and reforged it into a contract between the two of them.


    This, however, did not mean that he did not know how to unseal Pride himself. He was fully aware as the seal on Pride was created by the previous ''Second'' and Evan had all of the memories of the previous ''Second''.


    However, Terence definitely did not possess said memories and did not know how to unseal Greed


    Besides, they had learnt from Greed himself that he was already unsealed by the time he contracted with Terence.


    "Then who unsealed Greed? Another member of the new generation seven?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that no member of the ''Seven Heroes'' has entered Hobha in the past 6 years.]


    Artemisia''s reply caused Evan''s eyes to narrow. He sat up, tilting his head halfway through his movements to avoid hitting Eliza and asked Greed.


    "You have any idea of who unsealed you?"


    "...No."


    Just when all the people present were thinking about how someone knew the method to unseal the seven deadly sins and free Greed, the indirect messaging system Artemisia used, captured and sent the actions of a certain individual as a message that was disyed to all those present in the room.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' looks to the right while whistling suspi-.]


    [Message Retracted by Sender]


    Although it had been retracted quickly, the eyes of all the beings in this room were fast enough to capture the message that was written on it.


    "It was you!"


    Evan''s exmation, came a second before the notification message glitched, with three dangerous-sounding sets of messagesing right after.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' teleports to <2$%^dfva(926 higher dimensional realm with a sword in hand.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' activates ''Authority of Swords'' on the entity seated on the ck void throne.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' uses ''Forced De-evolution'' on the ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'']


    |Connection Terminated|


    "...."


    There was a long silence in the room after those three messages appeared and disappeared, with the people present being surprised for various reasons.


    Eventually, Evan broke the silence with a question that definitely did not fit the current scenario.


    "Soo....who wants a drink?"

 Chapter 262 Meeting With The Bigwigs I

    Cab Section Hallway


    Royal Pce, Gerfast


    Great Western Empire


    March 21st


    Year 1052


    A fairly tall middle-aged man with dark hair and grey eyes, dressed in an official ''Full Dress'' court uniform, strode across the hallway with his jacket flowing in the wind.


    On his left chest pocket, was an embroidered crest of two crossed swords oveid by a roaring lion head, one that anyone qualified to be in the castle definitely recognized.


    Hence the reason why everyone he passed stopped their activities and bowed to him as he walked down the hallway.


    Trailing a few metres behind him, was a younger man with blonde hair and brown eyes. He had a cold expression on his face, that somehow looked picturesque when taking the blue knight uniform he had on.


    Like the man in front of him, he had a simr crest embroidered on his chest pocket, with the same crest printed on the sheath of the sword on his waist.


    As one of the very few existences who were permitted to hold a weapon in this part of the royal castle beside the guards, he was naturally a man of high standing and authority.


    He also had people greeting him respectfully as the two men walked down towards the door at the end of the hallway.


    When they got far, a few of the maids who were cleaning, huddled together and began speaking among themselves.


    "Just what is happening today?


    First, it was the royal family, then the chief court mage, and now the Prime Minister and Sir Fourth Sword are going in there."


    "Hopefully, it isn''t something bad."


    "Ye-"


    "GET BACK TO WORK!"


    """Yes Ma''am!"""


    Ignoring the tter behind them, the two men walked into therge double doors that were opened for them by the knights standing guard, entering into arge cab room that had a round brown mahogany table at the centre.


    It was surrounded by nine chairs, six of which were upied by other people, with thest one having a magic projection artifact atop it.


    The two men greeted the other people in the room as they walked to two of the open chairs and took their seats, with their gazes going towards the youngest person in the room who was currently spinning around on her luxurious swivel chair.


    Perhaps sensing their gazes, the person stopped, taking off the face towel that covered the upper half of her face to reveal a pair of striking blue eyes that fit perfectly on her beautiful face.


    "Hmm? Seems Like you''re all here.


    Sir Jenson, turn on the magic projector and connect to the Duke, please."


    As she spoke, golden lines appeared in her blue pupils, intricately connecting together to form a symbol that all the people present in the room were familiar with.


    She ignored the slight surprise of the others who just discovered she could hide said symbol, yawning lightly as she pulled out a thick opened envelope from her pocket.


    A few momentster, one of the bulbs on the magic projector ced on the only chair not upied by a person, glowed with a green light, followed by the projected hologram image of a man''s upper body appearing in the air.


    The man was one with a muscr, probably tall frame, with sharp schrly facial features and wine-red hair that had a strand hanging over his forehead.


    He was wearing a ck cored shirt, with the first two buttons off and the jacket of a court uniform draped loosely on his shoulders.


    The man was seated on a luxurious cushion chair, with his elbow ced on the armrest and his chin propped up on his hand.


    "Nice to see you, Duke of Cheverton."


    The blue-eyed girl, Princess of the Great Western Empire, Laurene Hayes, called out to the man, who nodded before responding with a greeting of his own.


    "Good to see you too, Your Highness."


    A small smile appeared on Laurene''s face as she nced at the faces of all the people present in the room. She then took a deep breath before speaking.


    "Thank you all for taking out time from your busy schedules toe here today.


    To not waste our time anymore, I''m gonna go straight to the point."


    She ced the envelope in her hands on the table before continuing.


    "I believe everyone here present should be aware of my little adventure to the Nepte Province, where I conveniently happened toe across one of the ruins holding information about the dimensional rifts you all have been heavily involved in researching and how I just so happened to be able to unlock that particr Ruin without triggering its very dangerous defensive systems.


    A bit too many coincidences for just one day, though."


    She shrugged her shoulders as she spoke thest part of her statement, to which one of the personages in attendance, the Great Western Empire''s Emperor, replied.


    "Yes, and we all know that you didn''t just ''happen'' toe across that Ruin.


    Carry on."


    The young princess'' lips twisted into a pout, a moment before she turned around to one of the other men seated at the table.


    The rather attractive ck-eyed man had a masculine, sightly bulky muscr build, with long legs that put his height at a bit over two metres.


    He had short water-blue hair, tinged with grey strands, on both his head and on his chin, with slightly broad shoulders and thick forearms that looked capable of swinging any sword with ease.


    "Sir Bowthe. You have been briefed about the details, yes?"


    The man, the Second of the Great Western Empire''s Ten Great Swordsmen, Luke Bowthe, nodded in affirmation, an action that was mirrored by Laurene before the young girl picked up the envelope on the table and pulled out a very long letter from it.


    "Good. So basically, all these ''Ruins'' you''ve been researching for information about the dimensional rifts, are actually bases of operations belonging to the ''Seven Heroes''.


    Hence the reason why you guys could barely have any ess to more than half of them, and why grandpa''s attempt to forcefully open one of them cost the lives of five knight toons and an entire team of researchers.


    Basically, any one of these ''ruins'' that has more of one hero''s crest than the other, is definitely a ''private base'' and trying to forcefully open them would have severe consequences, ranging from just five toons getting destroyed to the entire Nepte Province being wiped off the map.


    That''s a bit over two square kilometres, definitely gonna be a disaster if that happens."

 Chapter 263 Meeting With The Bigwigs II

    "Basically, any one of these ''ruins'' that has more of one hero''s crest than the other, is definitely a ''private base'' and trying to forcefully open them would have severe consequences, ranging from just five toons getting destroyed to the entire Nepte Province being wiped off the map.


    That''s a bit over two square kilometres, definitely gonna be a disaster if that happens."


    She rose her gaze from the letter in her hands and turned to her father before continuing.


    "Don''t try forcing anyone of them open, okay?


    And cancel the ns you had for the one in Ospor."


    ".... I will."


    After the Emperor acquiesced, another personage present, Chief Court Mage Jenson Burke, spoke up while holding one of the earlier spoken-about memory gems in his hand.


    "These memory gems contain far more information about the dangers of dimensional rifts than we have ever recovered from the previous ones.


    However, they also have extra information that made me realise something."


    He gazed straight into Laurene''s eyes as he asked.


    "All the previous information we discovered about dimensional rifts, their dangers and how to reduce the probability of them opening up wasn''t just because of the chance of a rift opening up somewhere random like it had in the past millennia.


    It was actually because of the inevitable fact that the dimensional rift on the dark continent would eventually open up, right?"


    "Yep.


    The seal on the rift in the Dark Continent, was never meant to be permanent from the start. It was only supposed to be a temporary fix.


    The possibility of actions on this and the other side of the seal to weaken it were also taken into ount, so in the end, it was predicted tost a thousand years, with a margin for error of fifty to a hundred years.


    And said seal was ced exactly 1052 years ago."


    "So, it''s breaking within 48 years, huh?"


    To the Empress'' causal mutter, Laurene gave a short mirthfulugh and replied.


    "It is not gonnast that long. Give or take, five to ten years, it''s gonna break. Tops, fifteen."


    Her words caused the eyes of all those present to widen in shock, with Duke Cheverton going on to ask why she thought so.


    "The guys on the other side of the rift aren''t the only ones trying to break it, you know?"


    "Why would someone from our side want to break the rift and let the invaders in?"


    To the Second Sword''s question, Laurene tilted her head to the side and shot back.


    "That''s the same thing as asking a mad person, why they are mad. What kind of answer do you think that you''re gonna get?"


    The girl yawned lightly, before continuing.


    "Anyway, just know that we have a group of nuisances on this side who know about the dimensional rift''s vulnerability and are trying to speed up its destruction, with chances of them seeding soon.


    ...


    Oh, just so you know, when I say soon, I actually mean anytime between today and the next, five to ten years.


    Can''t say exactly when, given that I don''t possess future sight."


    Laurene shrugged her shoulders, with an expression on her face that made it seem like she could not care less about when it happened.


    "Tsk...


    If that was the case, then why did the ''Seven Heroes'' of legend say they sealed the rift permanently?"


    "They never did...It was just the authors of your history books that misunderstood them and went on to spread that misinformation for centuries."


    Laurene replied to Ralphie''s sidement as she turned the back of the letter and scanned its contents.


    "Back to your original question, Sir Jenson.


    Most of the rift information is because of the dimensional rift on the dark continent, but that doesn''t mean that dimensional rifts can''t just open up anywhere else.


    It''s just that the probability of being able to tear in through the seams of space and rip open a rift into Aidos is quite low, given that our world''s naturalws of space are far stronger as it is a higher-level world....and half of you here don''t understand what I''m saying, do you?"


    "Not gonna lie, I got lost after you started talking about tearing through seams in space."


    The man who was seated beside Emperor Rudeus, The First Sword of the Empire, Finley Thompson, said with a smallugh as she scratched his head.


    "Space magic is more of Jenson''s thing so he probably understands how whatever you said works."


    Hearing his words, Laurene facepalmed and muttered.


    "How are you able to cut space without such basic understanding of it?"


    "Anyway, that''s why the invaders of a thousand years ago didn''t just create another rift somewhere else in the world after the heroes sealed the first one.


    They simply could not."


    The personages present in the room all nodded in understanding after hearing her words, ones that confirmed one of the suspicions they''d had for years.


    "Anyway, I didn''t call you all here and spend magic stones just to discuss something you should already know.


    I called you all here because of this."


    She gestured to the letter in her hands as she spoke, prompting the Duke to ask the question that had been on everyone''s minds.


    "What exactly is that?"


    "Oh, this.


    It''s a love letter, to me..."


    With half her attention on the paper in her hands, Laurene gave a reply that the Duke certainly wasn''t expecting.


    "...from your son."


    "Wut?!"


    Roger couldn''t help but exim in surprise as he heard Laurene''s reply, only for the princess to burst intoughter right after.


    "I''m just joking.


    ...


    Besides, I already have my eyes on someone else."


    Theter part of her statement was a small mutter to herself, but all the beings in the room at the moment were existences with superhuman hearing, so naturally, they all heard her small mutter.


    This time, it was the Emperor and Empress who eximed in shock, while Laurene justughed lightly.


    However, before they could even say anything in response, the smile on Laurene''s face disappeared and her facial expression turned nk as she mmed the letter on the table.


    The words she spoke next, gave all those who heard their biggest shock of the day, especially Duke Cheverton.


    "These are the details of an Event that could potentially wipe out everything that lives in the Northern part of our Great Western Empire."

 Chapter 264 Imminent Attack I

    Adventurers Guild


    Dungeon City Osto


    Hobha


    March 21st


    Year 1052


    A few hours before Laurene''s meeting with the bigwigs of the Great Western Empire began, our Second new-generation hero was in a meeting with the Vice guild master of Osto''s adventurer''s guild.


    However, the boy''s mind wasn''t on whatever the man was saying, but on one of the skills he recently acquired.


    ''Copse is more of a structure weakening type skill, so its full potential should be realised when fighting inside buildings and simrlyrge structures.


    It does have a huge drawback, considering I''d end up buried under the debris of whatever structure I''m. In the game, I only used it when I was ying as the ''Third'', since their power was quite handy in reducing the damageing to me.


    I can also use Elemental Shield to avoid it.''


    Evan was thinking about how to properly use the skill that allowed its users to crumble and destroy their surroundings or objects around them, when he heard the vice guild master ask him the same question for the fifth time this morning.


    "For the love of all that is right and just, your ''concerns'' are very unnecessary, Mr Vice Guild Master. Tell that to the merchant guild master who was too much of a chicken to ask me in person and had to send you to do it."


    He rolled his eyes and stood up, walking out of the vice guild master''s office and going downstairs into the main hall of the adventurer''s guild building.


    Among the rowdy adventurers, Evan caught sight of a familiar face in front of the reception desk and found that his bad mood was slowly getting better.


    Perhaps sensing his gaze, the person in question, Eliza, turned towards the boy who wasing down from the stairs with slight surprise.


    "Hmm? What are you doing here? And what''s got you in a bad mood this early in the morning?"


    The girl asked as she collected her guild card from the receptionist who was surprised upon seeing her being so familiar with Evan who everyone knew was responsible for Terence''s defeat.


    "Stupid merchant guild guys are pissing me off. I understand their concerns but they have to understand that their concerns are very unnecessary."


    "And exactly what is it they were concerned about?"


    "That I''d be the next Terence and try to take over Osto as he did. As if I don''t have between things to do with my life."


    "Although it is a pointless endeavour from your point of view, you can''t me them though.


    You were able to defeat the person who killed the strongest of the adventurers currently in the city and no one knows when the others would be returning so it''s normal for them to be wary of the possibility that you might take after Terence.


    Even more so when it looks like the Viscount is acquiescing to you."


    Eliza replied to him as she ced her guild card in her pouch, before moving towards the quest board to pick up new quests.


    The adventurers present there parted the way for the duo, something that Eliza thanked them for before picking a few high-level C-rank quests to attempt.


    "Yeah. I understand why they''re scared of that possibility, but again, I don''t have such intentions and I''ve made it clear multiple times.


    I''m a high noble from the Great Western Empire, you know?


    Doesn''t myst name ring a bell in their heads?


    The Viscount''s daughter realised who I was the moment she heard my name and saw my insignia, so why on Aidos do merchants who should be Up To Date on international information still don''t know?


    Besides, even if I wanted to y ''Lord'' over somewhere, why would I settle for just one city when I can just go back home and ask the Duke to give me a territory easily twice the size of the Viscount''s to rule over?


    Being from a Ducal family guarantees me a noble rank of at least, Count, by the time Ie of age. So even if I seed in passing over my position as heir to Arnold, I''d still end up as a high rank titled noble with territory to rule over.


    With all that, it makes no sense for me to want to stay here and be the ''Next Terence''."


    The young hero wasn''t being particrly loud, but in a hall filled with beings of at least level 50, who had enhanced hearing, it was kinda hard for them to miss his words.


    Especially when although it wasn''tpletely quiet, the hall was less noisy than usual due to various reasons.


    Even the Vice guild master who had juste down after Evan, heard the boy''s words and was slightly surprised.


    Although he knew Evan was a noble from another country, he didn''t think that the boy would be from a Ducal Family at all. He instantly figured out who Evan was after putting all the things the boy said and what he already knew together.


    ''Ducal family + Great Western Empire + Last Name; Eris = Prime Minister''s son!''


    However, just when he was about to speak, someone burst out of the operations room and was about to run up the stairs, only to catch sight of the vice guild master and stop before running towards the man.


    "Sir!


    I just received an advance notice from the Guild Master!


    They''ve cleared the dungeon and are set to return today! ETA, Two Hours!"


    The sudden news turned the hall noisy once more, as the guild master who had been gone since the end of the previous year was finally returning.


    It was good news for the adventurer''s guild as it meant that its true elites, the B rankers, would be returning too.


    "He also said to tell the Viscount to immediately dere a state of emergency. He was saying something about an imminent attack but the connection was breaking."


    However, the good news didn''tst long, as the guild official delivered thetter half of the guild master''s message, a second before a sudden rm rang out across the entirety of Osto.


    The next moment, one of the knights of Perhorn burst into the adventurer''s guild building, breathing heavily as he screamed out.


    "INCOMING STAMPEDE!!"


    The sudden shout of the knight that came right after the city-wide rm instantly sent the guild into an uproar.


    The vice guild master tossed Evan''s matter to the back of his mind and instantly issued an Emergency (Order) Quest for all the adventurers present.


    Meanwhile, Evan frowned deeply and asked out loud.


    "Hey Liz, what are the chances of this stampede being natural?"


    "Assuming what you said previously about that duo is true, less than 10%."


    "Thought so."


    Evan replied as he dashed towards the knight who brought the news and asked what direction the monsters wereing from.


    "T-the west g-gate!''


    "West, huh?"


    Evan sunk into his thoughts temporarily, working his brain as fast as he could to analyse the current situation.


    "Vice Guild master, can you block the entrance to the tower of Avarice and apprehend anyone who goes there while the monsters are being repelled?"


    "Normally the dungeons are closed during stampedes, that''s protocol. We can''t have an adventurer''s going in there and reducing the manpower for fighting against the stampede."


    "Good. Now, there are definitely some individuals who aren''t adventurers and would try to enter the dungeon. Please catch them all.


    If my guess is correct, then the guild master isn''t returning only because he''s done with the dungeon, but because he''s chasing after the people responsible for the ''stampede''."


    The vice guild master stared at Evan with narrowed eyes and asked.


    "How do you know this? What proof do you have that your words are the truth?"


    "There''s not much time for a full exnation. Just think about the guild master''s message; he warned about the monsters, showing that he knew that they wereing already.


    As for the reason, I believe the stampede is artificial, it''s because I know the ones responsible for the stampede, and they are definitely targeting Osto for the same reason I came here in the first ce.


    If you don''t wanna send people to man the dungeon, then I''d just tell the Viscount to do so."


    "...


    ...I''d inform the dungeon officials."


    As soon as he heard the Vice guild master''s reply, Evan told Eliza he was going ahead, before dashing out of the guild building and heading towards the west gate.


    On the way, he contacted Pride via his connection with her and told the high demon about the situation, along with what he assumed was the reason for the sudden stampede.


    ''If my guess is correct, then the guy that can control monsters got chased out of the artificial dungeon and redirected all his monsters towards Osto as ast-ditch effort to mess up the city.


    He most likely isn''t alone, given that they are Senior members of the demonic hand with subordinates.


    As for their goal, it''s most likely Greed. He''s the only reason the Demonic Hand has to send two senior members to Osto.


    Of course, this is all on the assumption that the one responsible for the stampede is the person I think is responsible.''


    Evan jumped across rooftops, making his way towards the west gate while avoiding the panicking civilians on the ground.


    He arrived in ten minutes, popping a stamina potion bottle as hended on the city wall battlement beside the Viscount who had already arrived on the scene.


    ''That was fast, considering the distance between the gate and his estate.''


    The boy put that issue at the back of his mind and gazed into the distance, calling out to the nearby ambient spirits that he usually tuned out and asking them to scout the situation for him.


    [I told you he could see us; he was just ignoring us all this while.]


    [He was ignoring us and now he wants us to help?]


    [But if we don''t, it might be bad for the people.]


    [Yeah, I don''t want anything to happen to the bakery boy''s hometown! I like the cakes he gives me every day!]


    [Then get going already, you stupid wind spirit! You''re faster than all of us.]


    The small conversation between the spirits caused Evan''s brow to twitch repeatedly, but he held it in and politely asked the spirits for help once more.


    With their ''reluctant'' agreement, they zoomed off into the distance, contacting multiple other spirits along the way who joined the horde of spirits who went to scout the horde of monsters.


    The result of their scouting came back in about ten minutes, just when adventurers, knights, mages and mercenaries were beginning to gather at the gate side.


    [It''s bad!]


    [Very Bad!]


    [Shut it, it''s not that bad. It''s only a few hundred monsters.]


    [Few hundred? Sure, you didn''t miss a digit?]


    While the group of spirits were arguing, a member of the original group of spirits that usually followed him since before Geto, floated to his shoulder and sat there before speaking.


    [The monsters are a lot.


    Estimating roughly, they are more than six or seven thousand. Most are as strong as the average person in what you guys call the D rank, with a bit over a thousand of them being in the C rank level.


    The real issue is that I could sense a few stronger monsters among those C-rank-level ones.]


    Hearing the spirit''s analysis of the situation, Evan spoke words that shocked the Viscount beside him.


    "So, basically...we''re kinda fucked."

 Chapter 265 Imminent Attack II

    "So, basically...we''re kinda fucked."


    "What...?"


    "There seems to be a few monsters that aren''t within the boundaries of what it means to be C rank among the horde."


    Viscount Perhorn''s eyes widened when he heard Evan''s words. However, when the young hero ryed the information about the guild master''s return, the Viscount ced a hand on his chin and thought.


    "We can''t let it be known that there may be B-rank monsters, it would kill morale seeing as there are no B-rank adventurers around."


    "Since the guild master is returning soon, then let''s hold off the monsters long enough for him and the team of B ranks to arrive."


    "The guild master is returning soon?"


    The viscount showed mild surprise upon hearing about the guild master''s return, before nodding in response to Evan''s suggestion.


    "Any airborne monsters?


    Especially among those potential B ranks."


    The Viscount knew that Evan had contracts with spirits, so he had already assumed that Evan had gotten the spirits to scout the situation to discover the existence of the B ranks.


    [There are some with wings but none among the stronger ones have wings.]


    Evan ryed the spirit''s words before turning towards the assembling knights, while the viscount gave the orders to activate the city''s defence mechanisms.


    "West Side Energy shields, Level One.


    Load the repeater crossbows and power up the magic cannons."


    The Viscount walked across the Bellemont as he spoke towards themunication device in his palm, rying his orders to the wall guard knights who immediately carried them out.


    Evan looked down and saw therge crossbows and cannon mouths sticking out of the crenels in the wall, along with a thinyer of green light covering the city walls.


    ''That''d be useful if the monsters got close enough to bash the city walls with their bodies.''


    There was no convenient thing like a gigantic dome-like barrier that covered the entire city, given itsrge size of over 300 kilometre squares.


    Such a barrier would need to be powered with the magic stone/energy core of an existence with enough power to withstand an attack that would turn a city thatrge to rubble, and the only existences with that capability, are grandmaster-level ones.


    And Osto most definitely didn''t have enough manpower to subjugate a grandmaster-level existence.


    ''Except the guild master. Or maybe if all the B ranks joined hands together, they could take out a weak one.''


    �� �� ��


    The preparations to resist the iing monster hordes finished just in time for those standing on the city walls to be able to see the iing monsters on the horizon.


    Therge city gates were opened up and the mishmash of adventurers, knights, mages and mercenaries that made up the resistance forces could also go out, with the ones possessing visual prowess enhancing skills and abilities being able to see therge number of monsters that were trooping towards the city.


    Although it was notrge enough to bury the earth, the horde of monsters was still quite enormous, making Evan wonder just how many months it took the Demonic Hand members responsible to summon these monsters.


    It also had to be taken into note that this was what was left after the guild master and his team of B ranks had most likelyid waste to most of the monsters.


    ''They probably summoned stray monsters from wastnds or thick monster nests.''


    There were minotaurs, other humanoid-looking monsters, massive ck wolves three to four metersrge, six-legged lizards, pythons with needles growing from their backs, praying mantis-like things with scythes for arms, spiders with tentacles growing out of their engorged torsos, white serpents with horns growing from their heads and many other monsters that Evan could not even recognize from the game.


    Kicking up a tornado of dust as they passed and swallowing the ground before them like a wriggling multicoloured tidal wave, the monsters ran towards the city with glinting eyes.


    There was a fair share of monsters hovering in the sky as well, looking like dinosaurs that Evan had seen in his original world''s science textbooks. Evan could also see a wyvern in the distance with his enhanced vision, and appraising it didn''t bring good news either.


    ''Hiding the existence of the B ranks is impossible since that wyvern showed up, but it''s just hovering there and not doing anything.''


    Evan noticed a humanoid figure on it and was about to speak up when Pride tapped his shoulder and spoke.


    "There''s a demon on that wyvern."


    The young hero''s eyes widened in slight surprise as he heard that, with his suspicions being all but confirmed.


    "This is definitely the ''Demonic Hand''s'' doing."


    "Persistent bastards. I told them multiple times that I would not agree unless elder sister does and they still came back."


    Greed spoke with distaste as he remembered the executive of the Demonic Hand who hade to ''recruit'' him multiple times in the past.


    Hearing Greed''s words, the vice guild master and the Viscount who were nearby instantly figured that if this stampede was induced by someone, and that ''someone'' was after Greed.


    "What? It''s not my fault that you guys built a city around a dungeon I was trapped in."


    The high demon snorted at the Viscount''s displeased look, before jumping off the city wall and down to the ground where more than half the resistance force was.


    "These fodders would be useful for increasing my level."


    Evan told Pride to rein Greed in before turning around to the viscount and vice guild master who went to address the leader of the Mercenaries and the Knight Captain.


    "Have you contacted the guild master again? What''s his ETA?"


    "He said they increased their speed so they should arrive in a bit over an hour."


    "One hour, huh?"


    The young hero ced a hand on his chin as he sunk into his thoughts, only to feel a weird appraising gazeing on him.


    Looking up, he met eyes with the leader of the Mercenaries that the merchant''s guild had hired, with the vice-leader of the mages guild branch that didn''t take any action throughout Terence''s saga.


    "What?"


    The boy narrowed his eyes and asked, activating his intimidation skill and letting the pressure of his power bear down on the two.


    Their eyes, along with those of every otherbatant in the area widened in shock, with some D and weaker C rank adventurers instantly dropping to their knees.


    The sight of multiple adventurers and mercenaries, numbering a bit over a thousand, dropping to their knees evoked something deep within Evan.


    "Sir Eris, please hold yourself."


    The Vice guild master spoke as he grabbed Evan''s shoulder in an attempt to calm the boy down, however, Evan wasn''t angry in the first ce. Just a little annoyed at the fact that the mercenary leader seemed to be looking down on him.


    ''Is this guy stupid? Didn''t he see me fighting Terence like, less than a week ago?''


    Evan just sighed and deactivated his intimidation, before turning towards the resistance force whose full attention he had gotten.


    ''Hmm...How about I use this as a chance to see how effective my actions have been?''


    With more than two thousand pairs of eyes looking in his direction, Evan asked the vice guild master for the loudspeaker artifact he had in his hand before clearing his throat and taking a deep breath.


    He then infused magic power into the artifact before speaking.


    [Alright. I''m sure most of you already know who I am, but I''m still gonna do an introduction.


    Name''s Evan Bourne Eris, C rank adventurer from the simrly ranked party ''Anomalies''.


    Though we''re all about to be B-rank.


    Anyway, that''s it. If you still don''t know who I am, then ask someone else to exin to you.]


    The young hero concluded his introduction like so, going on to the main topic almost immediately.


    [As you all know, there are tons of monsters heading towards this city and they''d probably get here in the next ten to twenty minutes.


    The wyvern in the sky is probably enough for most of you to realise that there''re a few B-rank monsters mixed in.


    However, no one''s asking you to go fight those monsters if you ain''t strong enough, just stick to the C and D ranks, and retreat only if you see anything that looks stronger than that.


    Only engage the B ranks if you are a high levelled C Ranker, and obviously with a team of simrly strong teammates.


    You''re only fighting to hold them off long enough for the Adventurer''s guild master and the B ranks to get back and deal with the more powerful monsters.


    And you guys are gonna have to cooperate with each other for that to happen, after all, even someone like me who can kill off most of the iing monsters there individually, would eventually end up helpless against their sheer numbers.


    So, this is how we''re gonna do this.]


    Since they had already grouped themselves ording to their roles, Evan had an easier time assigning them their posts.


    [Some Mages and other long-distance fighters should man the walls,unching magic towards the monsters in the rear along with the wall guards'' magic cannons.


    Split into two groups and work in shifts, switching every fifteen minutes to rest.


    Try not to use elements that conflict with each other.


    Stay in groups with fellow mages that use elements capable of amplifying your spells'' destructive power or resonating with them properly.


    Fire, with lighting, Fire with wind, water with lightning,bos like that


    And please, no earth mages should group with lightning mages, you''d kill off their spells before they can reach the intended targets.]


    ''People usually did that in the game for some reason.''


    Evan had a lot of experience organizing raids in the game, so he wasn''t at a loss on how to deal with the situation.


    When added to the memories of the Previous Second and his experiences ofmanding hastily put-together armies for war, Evan who had automatically assumed the role ofmander, was able to issue out efficientmands and have the resistance force follow his words.


    Of course, the fact that he was arguably the strongest person present, plus his feat of defeating Terence and his earlier intimidation stunt yed a big role in this too.


    Seeing the thousands ofbatants who were assuming the positions that he had given them to prepare for the monsters that were about five minutes in, Evan''s lips curled up into a smile as he knew that his experiment was a sess.


    ''I guess that this is what happens when you garner enough fame and influence with your actions.


    I guess my "contribution" to assist the city in recovering and saving people from Terence''s goons during the battle earned me some points.


    The people of Osto have be less resistant to following my words and-!


    Shit! Time''s up.''


    The horde of monsters that had gotten close enough that their howls could be heard by those on the walls, made Evan break out of his thoughts as he pulled out his weapon from his inventory and issued thest set of orders.


    [Melee fighters, follow behind me. We''d clear up the ones in front.


    Supports, do your best to keep us in good shape for as long as you can.


    As for the long-distance attackers on the ground, don''t let your spellse crashing down on the front lines.]


    Evan tossed the loudspeaker into his inventory as he kicked off the ground, leaping into the air and creating footholds with solidified aura, which he used to manoeuvre in the air and move above the thousands of people on the ground.


    ''It''s currently 10:30 am, huh?''


    He pulled up the system interface and looked at the time as he moved, closing it and infusing his aura into his sword, right before he jumped into the sea of monsters before him.

 Chapter 266 One Hour Later

    Osto Western ins.


    Hobha


    March 21st


    Year 1052


    11:25 am


    **BOOOOMMMM!!!


    A loud explosion rang out, with its impact sting apart a dozen monsters with tough exoskeletons, and releasing shockwaves that spread out and knocked many more off their feet.


    Before the monsters could get back up, a fair arm guard-wearing hand waved through the air, drawing an array of fiery red magic circles where it passed.


    **BOOOOMM!!


    Another lesser explosion rang out, sending more monsters to their deaths, seconds beforerge shadows were suddenly cast on the ground.


    "Earthen Rain."


    Dozens of brown two-ringed magic circles glowed in the air, before raining down rock spears onto the monsters below.


    Everything that the rock shower fell upon was destroyed. Even the monsters with the toughest exoskeletons were sted to smithereens. All that was left behind were bits and pieces, as well as arge number of craters on the ground.


    "Disgusting bugs."


    The one responsible for the explosions, the young hero Evan, turned to the high demon Greed who had just rained down rocks on a group of insect-type monsters before speaking.


    "Give me a heads-up next time, the blood got on me."


    As soon as he was done talking, he kicked off the ground and dashed forward, releasing aura shes and de cannons that wounded and killed dozens of monsters as he moved.


    With his other hand, he fired out multiple energy sts, targeting the obvious weak points of the humanoid monsters in the fray, while asionally blinking to another area and repeating the same.


    In the distance, one could see a giant golden pearl of lightning that rained down lighting bolts on everything below, charring them instantly, with walls of lightning bricks appearing and folding into a ''pping'' motion on the monsters in front of them.


    Waves of mes spread out from another area, where Evan could see a small fair-skinned red-haired young girl floating in the air and torching dozens of monsters with each wave of her hand.


    On another side, he could see dozens of C-rank adventurers, teaming up to take on the C-rank monsters that were having levels within the ranges of 195 to 200.


    The overall strength of all thebatants present had seen an increase due to the number of level-ups that were flowing in with each monster that perished.


    Suddenly, there was a screech from behind him, but the young hero didn''t even flinch. He calmly waved his aura-engulfed sword and swatted away the insect monster behind him with it.


    However, the monster rolled on the floor for a while, before getting up back to its feet like nothing happened, despite having an obvious bleeding sh wound across its chest.


    Evan clicked his tongue as a thinyer of white light encased his body as he thrust his sword forward at a speed that the monster could not react to, activating a skill along with it.


    "Vortex."


    The whirling spiral-shaped mass of aura mmed into the monster''s unguarded head, with the de piercing into its skill right before the aura shredded its head to pieces.


    As the level 200 monster''s body dropped to the ground, Evan flicked the blood off his sword, his pupils darting around rapidly as he took analysed the current situation.


    Close to an hour after the battle had begun, and about ten minutes after they had discovered that there were about a few hundred more monsters than the initial estimate, the number ofbatants from both sides had decreased in number.


    More than half of the attacking monsters had been killed, but the speed with which this was happening was reducing as fatigue, injuries and casualties slowly built up on the side of the resistance force.


    As for the biggest threat yet, the wyvern and its demon rider, they had descended to the ground behind the sea of monsters right after the battle had begun, and hadn''t taken any move since then.


    Evan dashed towards an area that was concentrated with monsters, dodging the magicunched by a few orc wizards and hobgoblin shamans, however, vines shot out from the earth and grabbed onto his legs, keeping him in ce long enough for abination attack spell to hit.


    **BOOOMM!!


    "Got him!"


    "Kekekekeke!!"


    "Human who kill brethren, dead!"


    The monsters let out cries of joy upon seeing their attacks hit, however, when the mes of the explosion disappeared, Evan''s uninjured body was revealed for them to see.


    A cracked ice-type elemental shield surrounded his body as he calmly downed a magic potion, much to the shock of the previously celebrating monsters.


    "H-how?"!


    "Impossible!"


    The monsters who had used their strongestbination attack were stunned upon seeing Evan remain unscathed. However, they quickly returned to their senses and attributed it to the broken shield surrounding the boy.


    Sadly, before they could take action to shatter the shieldpletely, Evan rose his finger and pointed towards one of them.


    "Chain Lightning."


    **SIZZLE!


    He manipted his magic power while activating the skill simultaneously, infusing shadow magic elements into the lightning that burst out from his fingertip in the next moment.


    The air crackled, and a ck bolt of lightning burst from Evan''s fingertip. The lightning left a twisted light trail in the air and hit one of the Orc wizards in the blink of an eye!


    In the next second, all the water in the orc wizard''s body instantly evaporated under high energy and ck lightning.


    Its entire body was instantly turned into charred carbon particles and copsed under gravity, causing the air pressing against the ground to emit a soft ''puff'' sound.


    However, the bolt of lightning wasn''t done yet, as it had already jumped to the nearest orc wizard that was beside it, charring that one ck in a shorter time.


    "Chain Lightning. X5"


    Evan then went on to spam the skill, releasing multiple bolts of ck lightning that shot through the air, torching the monsters around him and going on to hit an airborne monster that swooped in to attack him, causing it to crash on the ground and turn a dozen other monsters to meat paste with itsrge body.


    The boy instantly shot forward with his sword and released an aura sh that lopped off the monster''s head, with a familiar notification ringing out right after.


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    ''Two? Just how high level was that thing?''


    He didn''t dwell much on the monster, with his gaze turning towards his contracted demon who was battling against one of the weaker B-ranked monsters of about level 210 in the distance.


    A thin translucent barrier of light manifested beside him, a moment before a giant troll''s punch thundered towards his head.


    ''Thanks, Liz.''


    He cancelled the blink he was about to activate and dashed towards the monster, sliding under its body andunching an energy st at the ''thing'' asserting its presence on its uncovered body!


    **BAMM!!


    "GUOOHHH?!"


    The troll let out a cry of pain as its hands reflexively went towards its groin, dropping onto its knees and curling up on the floor.


    Evan, however, just stood up and activated vortex on its head, sting it to bits before charging towards the monster Pride was fighting.


    On the way, he saw Kuro hacking and shing at monsters with ws of dark shadow, while having a sphere of ck light hovering above his body andunching out beams of light and shadows at monsters in his surroundings.


    "Vortex."


    Evan blinked and appeared behind the monster, instantly activating two unique skills, and releasing arge spiral-shaped mass of golden-coloured magic power, tinged with a bit of the Blessing of Destruction''s red.


    The monster that was caught off guard by Evan''s sudden appearance, took the full brunt of the soul-damaging vortex that hoisted its body into the air.


    Right after, Eliza''s flower cannon came through with a beam of concentrated magic power that sted off the monster''s arm, with Pride jumping into the air for the finish.


    "Aura of Pride: mes of Hubris."


    ck mes engulfed the sword of the high demon that shed down on the monster''s neck, facing a momentary resistance before going on to lop the creature''s head off its shoulders.


    [Level Up]


    As therge body of the creature dropped to the ground, Evan sensed a gaze on him and turned to the sky, locking eyes with a man dressed in leather armour that was floating in the air.


    The man''s gaze then moved to Pride, with the high demon ring her aura in response.


    Immediately after, the wyvern that had been silent on the ground since the beginning of the battle, cried out and flew towards the man, with arge amount of condensed magic power building up in its mouth.


    Evan saw two humanoid figures jump off the wyvern''s back right before it opened its mouth tounch its breath of mes towards the floating man.


    However, the man moved at a speed that Evan''s eyes, even with his enhanced visual prowess, could not even trace his afterimage.


    By the time Evan''s brain couldpute the fact that the man had moved, the man had already grabbed the wyvern''s head and forcefully snapped its jaws shut, before going on to spin itsrge body around in the air and fling it towards the ground.


    The earth trembled as therge monster crashed on the ground, with an explosion ringing out a beatter, apanied by a cloud of mes shooting up into the sky.


    Seeing this, Evan sighed and stabbed his sword into the ground before saying.


    "I don''t even need to appraise him to know that he''s the adventurer''s guild master. The fact that he easily flung an over level 250 monster to the ground, even if it was injured, is enough to tell me who he is."


    Of course, Evan still appraised him right after just to confirm that he was indeed the adventurers guild master, and indeed he was.


    The next moment the airborne guild master held up two fingers in front of his lips and muttered something, with nearly a hundred swords of darkness manifesting behind him.


    The swords pointed down towards the wyvern that was pping its wings to get back into the air, before shooting downwards at breakneck speeds.


    Naturally, the wyvern didn''t just stay there and take the attacks, releasing a breath of mes towards the swords while using spears of earth to counter some of them.


    **BOOOOMMM!!!!


    Evan tuned out the explosions behind him, before turning to Pride and asking.


    "Let''s leave that to him. How about we go after our own targets?"


    "...The demon?"


    "And his contractor."


    The young hero replied and took a deep breath, activating limit break right after and kicking off the ground.


    Pride activated her own unique skill, boosting her base parameters to a whole new level as she shot in the same direction as Evan.


    The guild master who was shing against the wyvern momentarily gazed at them, beforemanding his floating swords to shred apart the wyvern''s already injured wing.


    The wounds he gave it the day before also reopened, causing the wyvern to scream out with pain and rage, its eyes turning bloodshot as it shot out a breath of mes.


    Meanwhile, the other B-ranked adventurers finally caught up to the guild master, instantly targeting the remaining B-rank monsters that were about to wipe out another C-ranked party.

 Chapter 267 Ulmoch And Thoruul

    "Fuck, he''s already here!"


    A man wearing a hooded dark robe, cursed loudly as he stared at the scene of the wyvern battling in the distance.


    "Guh!"


    Beside him, a grey-skinned man with pointed ears, dropped to his knees as beads of sweat dripped from his forehead.


    "Thoruul!!"


    The hooded man instantly turned his attention to his kneelingpanion, activating a skill with his magic power in an attempt to heal therge sh wound on his grey-skinned man''s torso.


    "U-Ulmoch, we have to retreat! Fast!!"


    "Huh? My men have already gotten into the city, they should get to the dungeon so-!"


    "Didn''t you see him or sense his demonic energy?! The demon you came to find isn''t in the dungeon anymore! He''s out there fighting!


    Just what were you doing while I was unconscious?!"


    The eyes of the hooded man, Ulmoch, widened in surprise as he thought back to the waves of demonic energy that he had sensed multiple times since the beginning of the battle.


    He had originally wanted to go and check on it but because he was keeping watch on the demon with him, Thoruul, who had been unconscious while recovering from the lethal injury that had been inflicted on him, he didn''t go to confirm the identity of what demon or demon contractor was fighting against the monsters.


    Leaving him with the wyvern also wasn''t possible as Thoruul''s control over the monster had weakened due to the demon''s loss of consciousness, so he wasn''t sure if it would suddenly turn on Thoruul and attack him.


    "If only that damned guild master didn''t suddenly be a grandmaster level inside the dungeon, our n would have worked and the city''s strongest forces would have been wiped out in one fell swoop!"


    "Forget about that Ulmoch! We have to leave here now!"


    Immediately after Thoruul shouted at his contractor, the two heard a voiceing from behind them, prompting them to turn around as they hadn''t sensed any presence until the voice spoke.


    "Senior Member of the Demonic Hand, Ulmoch and his contracted demon, Thoruul.


    In the game, Ulmoch and his brother were two early mid-bosses that I really didn''t want to fight in reality.


    Thankfully, Osto''s guild master has saved me the stress of having to deal with one of them."


    The two saw a boy standing at about 5 feet 6 or 7 inches, wearing a in ck shirt stained with green blood, and simrly coloured trousers, with brown arm guards on his wrists and partial armour covering his crucial points such as his chest and joints.


    For some reason, there was a contradictory mix of excitement mixed with distaste in his eyes as he stared at them, but Ulmoch''s attention was drawn to something else in his eyes, and not the gaze he was giving them.


    ''That''s-!''


    His thoughts could not bepleted, because he sensed another, far more sinister presence suddenly appear behind him, causing him to turn back to meet with a young woman that looked like she had juste of age, dressed in a brown shirt and ck trousers, with simrly coloured knee height boots, all stained with the blood of various monsters.


    She stabbed her eerie sword into the ground and used her hands to tie up her long ck hair while speaking to the boy who appeared before her.


    "I don''t think this is the right time for your iprehensible monologues, Evan. Don''t forget your skill is active."


    "Oh, that.


    I turned it off the moment I started speaking.


    Kind of pointless to keep it on while I''m talking."


    Thoruul''s eyes widened to the limit upon seeing the woman who showed up right after Evan, he instinctively backed away with a fear-stricken gaze and screamed out.


    "Impossible!


    I could understand if it was ''him'', but you! How are you here?!"


    Seeing Thoruul''s strange reaction, Ulmoch couldn''t help but ask why, but although Thoruul gave him a reply, the demon was breathing heavily, almost hyperventting.


    "L-leader of the D-deadly Sins.


    That''s the Demon of Pride herself!"


    Ulmoch''s expression contorted upon hearing Thoruul''s words, meanwhile, the demon was internally panicking.


    ''How the hell is she here?!''


    Even though his senses and the rational part of his mind was telling him that the current Pride in front of him was weaker than he remembered, the fear of the High Demon was borne deep into his soul, deep enough for it to affect him greatly even after a thousand years.


    His instinctive reaction the moment he saw her, was to run for his life, however, he then remembered that there was someone behind him.


    ''He''s working with the Deadly Sin? Is he her contractor? In that case, he''s definitely not normal!''


    If Evan knew his thoughts, the boy would question why everyone who discovered he was Pride''s contractor automatically assumed he was not normal simply because he was her contractor.


    Thoruul used lighting magic to cauterize the wound on his stomach again, before ring his demonic energy.


    ''She''s weakened greatly! If so, I might have a chance against her!''


    The full pressure of a lower middle-rank demon spread out into the area, bearing down on Pride and Evan.


    Pride''s brow twitched in annoyance as she spoke with an annoyed tone.


    "You dare attempt to intimidate me?"


    The high demon used her demonic energy to press down on Thoruul, shockingly forcing the demon''s knees to buckle despite the level difference.


    The Pride that came to Osto, and the current Pride who had been killing monsters for the past hour, were on two totally different levels.


    At that same instant, Evan activated limit break once more, releasing a burst of aura into the surroundings, before calling out to Ka and blinking towards Thoruul.


    "Vortex."


    The boy calmly activated his unique skill, decoding not to hold back as even though he was currently injured and weakened, Thoruul was still a demon at level 227.


    As the spiral mass of aura was sending the demon''s body flying, his other hand stretched towards the stunned Ulmoch''s chest and released an energy st.


    **BAMM!!!


    The beam of aura knocked his body into the air, causing him to cough up blood mid-flight, at the same time that a gigantic energy limb manifested in the air and caught the airborne Thoruul''s body, before mming him onto the ground.


    "Ka."


    Responding to his call, was a bolt of lightning that descended from the sky, hitting the ground with a loud sound.


    The lightning bolt''s true identity was naturally the great spirit of lightning that Evan was contracted to, in her full 3 feet tall form.


    "Hold this guy off while Pride and I take out his contracted demon."


    [Okay!]


    After that order, Evan kicked off the ground and shot forward with the speed of a bullet train in the direction where Pride had tossed Thoruul''s body.


    Ulmoch who had gotten back to his feet, spat out blood to the floor and attempted to chase after Evan, however a wall of lighting suddenly appeared in front of him and attempted to fold in on him.


    He reflexively backed away, finally noticing Ka''s presence with a frown appearing on his face.


    [I''m just going to get serious from the start.]


    As she spoke, she snapped her fingers, causing a bolt of lightning to hit his arm, with a rose of mes blooming on his arm at the point of impact.


    The mes mixed with the lightning, resulting in an elemental reaction that triggered an explosion on Ulmoch''s arm.


    "GAAK!!"


    He screamed out in pain, a few seconds before dousing the mes of the explosion with water magic.


    The man then summoned a magic catalyst and roused his magic and demonic energies, however, Ka just tilted her head to the side and spoke.


    [Did you think I was going to let you?]


    Another finger snap activated her Pseudo Authority of lightning, with a gigantic pearl of lightning appearing in the air and then going on to rain down bolts of lightning on Ulmoch.


    Meanwhile, Evan and Thoruul were exchanging full-powered blows, with shockwaves spreading out at the points in the air where their fists collided.


    Thoruul suddenly threw in a high kick, which Evan sawing with his kic vision and dodged with his limit-break-enhanced body, before spinning his body and delivering a punch to the demon''s back, knocking him to the side.


    Pride then appeared beside his body, with her fist covered in a smaller energy-constructed limb of sin energy, delivering a punch using the full power of her C+ strength stat to Thoruul''s head.


    **BAAM!!!


    The disoriented demon drew a parabolic arc as his body flew into the air, however, he regained his bearings mid-flight and flipped his body,nding on his feet before mming his hands into the ground and piercing the earth with his fingers to prevent his body from sliding any further.


    But the moment he looked up, he was met with a short jump kick to the side of his head, that knocked his body onto the ground once more, causing him to ragdoll on the floor for dozens of metres.


    Following up with Evan''s kick, Pride appeared above him with a ball of dark mes in her hand, one which she mmed into his chest, causing him to scream out in pain.


    She then grabbed him by the neck with her barely ming hand and flung his body into the air.


    A trail of golden light blitzed past Pride, before shooting up into the air and shing with Thoruul''s body.


    "Energy st" X2


    Two beams of aura mmed into the demon''s shoulder bones, right before Pride unsheathed her sword that was engulfed in ck mes.


    "mes of Hubris."


    **SWISHH!!


    **PLOP!!


    The severed arm of the mid-rank demon dropped to the ground, followed by its owner''s scream, however, as if intending to give him more things to scream about, Evanunched a de cannon towards his left leg, drilling four holes into the limb before the aura sh that sliced it into two.


    "GGAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!"

 Chapter 268 Meeting The Guild Master

    "GGAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!"


    Thoruul''s loud scream was apanied by a huge amount of blood pouring from his mouth, with the injury on his stomach reopening and spurting more blood into the air as his body fell back to the ground.


    "Blessing of Destruction: First Activation."


    Evan''s emotionless voice rang out in his ears, a moment before the boy''s clenched fist mmed into his torso, prating his wounded skin and wreaking havoc on his internal organs.


    Thoruul''s stomach burst open, his intestines scattered into the air, his liver was shredded in half and one of his lungs was punctured by a shattered rib bone.


    It was a bloody scene that would hurt just by watching, with the demon feeling the most pain as Evan''s punch also did a good number on his soul along with scattering his lower torso.


    Arge shadow was suddenly cast on his body, with a gigantic sword construct held up by a simr energy limb construct, shed down on what was left of him, splitting the demon''s body into two and ending his life instantly.


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    |Congrattions, You have achieved Level 200|


    |ss Change Requirements met|


    |Searching for suitable ss...|


    The five notifications that appeared in Evan''s line of sight put a smile on his face as he deactivated his blessing of destruction, before turning in the opposite direction.


    "I can''t see the wyvern anymore, seems like the guild master has taken it out. Makes sense, the guild master is level 305, no way a level 252 wyvern was a match for him.


    Pity though, I could have used the experience points."


    He instantly dashed towards Ka''s direction, entering her range the instant she activated her Electrome skill on Ulmoch''s body.


    "Blink."


    As soon as Evan''s foot touched the ground, he blinked and appeared right in front of Ulmoch and punched the blooming rose of mes on his torso.


    In that short moment before his punch hit, he deactivated his limit break and activated another skill.


    "Fracture."


    **BAAMM!!


    The poor demonic hand member''s body was sent flying, with Evan blinking above him and calling out the unforged, engulfing it with the aura of destruction and stabbing the man''s thigh with it.


    The de pierced through his thigh,ing out from the other side and pining his body to the ground before Evan removed the aura of destruction and dragged the sword from the midpoint of his thigh to right above his knee.


    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!


    Ulmoch''s scream resounded across the area, making some of the B-rank adventurers in the distance shiver in fear.


    Evan abruptly pulled out the sword and punched his head, knocking him out instantly, before wrapping Ulmoch''s leg with shadows and flinging the unconscious man over his shoulder.


    Turning to Pride who was walking towards him, with her avatar arm holding Thoruul''s corpse, he spoke.


    "I''m keeping this one alive. We need to get information from him."


    After that, the trio began their return to Osto''s city gates.


    �� �� ��


    West Gate, Dungeon City Osto


    Hobha


    March 21st


    Year 1052


    11:55 am


    The guild master of the Osto adventurer''s guild had a frown on his face as the vice guild master and the Viscount filled him in on the happenings of the city within the months he was away.


    Upon hearing Evan''s words to the vice guild master about how the monster attack was artificially induced by a group of people who were also responsible for creating the dungeon he had spent months trying to clear, his eyes narrowed in suspicion as he confirmed who Evan was.


    "The grey-eyed, ck-haired kid dressed in all ck? With a red-eyed woman carrying an ominous sword?"


    "Yes. That''s him.


    What''s wrong?"


    The blond, somewhat spiky-haired guild master, ced a hand on his bearded chin with a pensive look on his face before speaking.


    "The kid''s one thing, but that woman. She''s-!"


    "She''s what?"


    His words were cut short when a red-eyed tall handsome man wielding arge great sword, suddenly appeared behind him and asked.


    *BAM!


    The eighty-inch-long great sword stabbed into the ground, with its wielder going on to rest his chin on the pommel of the sword, with his blood-red eyes staring right at the guild master.


    "What were you about to say concerning my sister?"


    The guild master''s eyes widened slightly as he stared at Greed.


    "You...you''re the same as ''them''."


    "If by ''them'', you mean whoever you fought in that artificial dungeon you went to, then sure. We''re the same race.


    That doesn''t necessarily mean we''re on the same side."


    Greed replied to the guild master, remembering some of the information that Evan had given him and his sister beforehand.


    The two men began ring at each other in silence, putting the Viscount and the vice guild master at a loss, only for a light-hearted voice to break the heavy atmosphere.


    "Oh! A staring contest!


    Can I join you?"


    The two turned to see the sight of Evan walking towards them while waving, with his other hand dragging along the unconscious body of demonic hand member, Ulmoch.


    About two metres away from their position, Evan dropped the man''s body on the ground, with his next step causing his shadow to wriggle around andtch onto Ulmoch''s body, forming multiple tentacle-like appendages that wrapped around the man''s body and holding it to the ground.


    "Guild master of Dungeon City Osto''s adventurer''s guild, Alok Vimin."


    Evan called out to the guild master, stretching out his right hand for a handshake before continuing.


    "Congrattions on bing a grandmaster-level existence."


    The guild master, Alok, stared at Evan in silence for a few moments before finally shaking the boy who tapped back with his left hand.


    After releasing Alok''s hand, Evan opened up his inventory and pulled out a juice pack, gesturing to the guild master and asking.


    "You want one?"


    "..."


    "I want one."


    Greed replied upon seeing the silent guild master, catching the juice packs that were tossed towards him. Upon opening one and tasting it, he posed a question to Evan.


    "Strawberries again? You addicted or something?"


    "Probably."


    Evan replied before downing three juice packs and tossing them on the floor. He inadvertently nced at another existence close to level 300, one he presumed was the mages guild master while he brought out more than half a dozen chairs from his inventory.


    After this, took a seat facing the guild master, gesturing to the chairs and speaking.


    "Now then, guild master. Let''s talk."


    �� �� ��


    The adventurers of Osto, along with every other guild official who passed the west gate to go and deal with the monster corpses that were left after the stampede was taken care of, were given a strange sight to see as none of them could resist double taking to make sure they were seeing clearly.


    The guild master/leader of the adventurers and mages guild, the captain of the Knights of Perhorn, Viscount Perhorn himself, the C rank adventurer who recently defeated the oppressor of their city, Evan, along with his party member, a hot red-eyed woman named Pride, and a man they recently discovered was her younger brother.


    All these people were seated in the open right outside the West Gate, discussing something that was probably important given the serious looks on their faces, with the boy, Evan, asionally bringing out multiple things from his spatial storage skill and cing them on the table he brought out from the same skill.


    Even the vice guild master who was overseeing the clean-up, couldn''t help but give Evan a strange nce more than once, before sighing and going back to his duty.


    The contents of their conversation could not be heard, even by those who walked right past them, courtesy of the mage''s guild master''s silencing spell.


    As for the people in question, they were all giving Evan a strange nce as the boy brought out his nth strawberry juice pack and began sipping on it.


    "...Just how many of these do you have?"


    "I emptied out about five shops'' stock so.... a lot?"


    The mages guild master didn''t even know how to react to Evan''s answer, while the boy turned to Alok and summarized all he had heard.


    "So, you guys met a bunch of high-level B ranks inside there, almost died multiple times, with two of you actually dying in the beginning. You all then levelled up after killing the monsters and continued to press forward, discovering that it was a trap upon reaching the deepest floor where you met that guy on the ground and his brother, along with their contracted d^R%&s."


    "What?"


    "Ignore the static.


    Anyway! You defeated the dungeon master and wounded the others, but they pulled out two wyverns and had one distract you while the other took those two, along with a bunch of monsters to escape.


    Then you found out about how the dungeon was meant to wipe out Osto''s elitebatants, before killing the dungeon master and turning back to chase after the other, increasing your travel speed the moment you discovered that the dungeon that was previously teeming with monsters was now empty.


    However, by the time you caught up to him, he was already well into his attack on Osto, and you proceeded to join the fray and prevent more casualties from happening while killing a wyvern on the side.


    That right?"

 Chapter 269 Discussions

    "However, by the time you caught up to him, he was already well into his attack on Osto, and you proceeded to join the fray and prevent more casualties from happening while killing a wyvern on the side.


    That right?"


    "...yes."


    The guild master replied after a short pause, with Evan taking his time to analyse everything he heard from the man.


    "So, you know that the reason why they wanted you guys dead was to eliminate anyone who would get in the way of the massacre that they had nned for this big sword-wielding guy over here to cause."


    "Yes, we do.


    I also know that he''s behind 90% of the chaos that happened in the city while I was away."


    Alok red at Greed as he spoke, with thetter ring back while rousing his demonic energy.


    "Hold yourself, silly brother. You can''t win against the man."


    Pride spoke while knocking Greed''s head, before gesturing to Evan and Alok to continue their conversation.


    "You''re a littlete to discussing Greed''s matter.


    I''ve already had a meeting with the Viscount, the merchant guild leader and your vice guild master, and we agreed that letting it be known that Greed was the source of Terence''s power would benefit no one."


    Evan leaned back on his chair and ran a hand through his hair as he continued.


    "Besides, Greed never took any direct action, except giving Terence power and having him gather a few riches.


    The civilians don''t know about him because of that, and their rage is all on Terence. And partly on me too cus I wrecked a part of the city fighting him, however, I took a few measures to reverse how they thought of me.


    Helping to fight off the monsters too also seemed to have an intended positive effect, before you guys came in and wiped everything out.


    As for Terence, it was agreed that he would be dealt with like any other criminal ''from'' and ''in'' Osto, and my party would have not any say in it."


    Right after the boy was done speaking, Eliza who had been healing the injured adventurers with her skills, walked over while wiping off sweat from her brow.


    "You guys done here?"


    "Almost."


    Evan replied to her as he fished out a face towel from his inventory and stood up to help her with that, before cing two magic potion bottles in her hands.


    She was about to thank him, only for her eyes to widen in shock as she realised that the boy''s body was currently in a horrible state, courtesy of him using limit break and blessing of destruction, taking her sweet time to berate him while using up her remaining two child of life skill charges left.


    This also helped the mages guild leader answer the question of how Evan''s magic power had not recovered, despite noticing the boy drink a few magic potions disguised as juice throughout their conversation.


    Their discussion carried on with Evan bringing out a chair for Eliza, eventually broaching the topic of how everything from the existence of the artificial dungeon, to the monster attack on Osto, was also Greed''s fault, but Evan spoke up in his defence, faster than the high demon could even defend himself.


    "Don''t fault Greed for that.


    This guy has been inside the ''Tower of Avarice'', longer than your country even existed.


    If you want to me anyone, then me your ancestors for not properly researching what dungeon they were building a city around."


    The boy''s words caused the Viscount''s brow to twitch slightly, with the Knight captain adopting a displeased expression.


    "Are you saying that he''s over 300 years old?"


    "If that''s how old Hobha is, then this guy is easily twice that."


    Evan replied to the mage''s guild master with a yawn, before continuing.


    "These people knew about him and the fact that he was trapped inside the dungeon, and tried to get to him for their goals."


    "They didn''t just try, they seeded, multiple times and they were very irritating to deal with.


    The first time I told them to get big sis'' answer first, then they came back and told me that Big sis was missing, and tried to get me under the pretext of ''looking for her''. "


    All those who heard Greed''s words, including Evan, had their eyes widen in surprise, with Alok turning to Pride and asking.


    "You''re his elder sister?"


    "Yeah."


    "So, you''re also..."


    "Older than your country? Yes."


    Pride replied before going back to the book that she was reading, as if what was being discussed had no rtion to her whatsoever.


    "Oh yeah. Can you handle this for us?"


    Evan pulled out the letter he received from Kasteblum''s vice guild master and passed it to Alok before the man could question why Greed was trapped in the dungeon in the first ce.


    Upon seeing the adventurer''s guild stamp on it, he collected the envelope and opened the seal with a special method before reading its contents.


    "You''re level 200?


    Well...it makes sense, considering that you were able to kill that guy''spanion."


    He spoke while gesturing to Ulmoch on the ground, before getting the mages guild master to remove the silencing spell and calling one of the B-rank adventurers who was nearby.


    Alok then sent him to get another B-rank adventurer, who possessed an appraisal skill, toe and confirm if the party members were truly Level 200.


    "Huh? I''m not though.


    I''m just 188."


    Eliza remarked when she noticed that she was also a target for appraisal, with Evan revealing slight surprise upon hearing her level.


    "Just a dozen more to get to 200.


    Oh well, you can get those before we reach Bultom."


    The adventurer who had the appraisal skill arrived and used her skill on Pride and Evan, confirming the two to be level 200, while showing slight surprise upon discovering Pride was the same race as the person who made the dungeon they just returned from.


    Her jaw dropped in shock when she saw just how many skills Evan had, re-appraising him to make sure the number she saw was correct.


    "You can see all my skills?"


    ".... n-no. Just the number of skills you have."


    "I see. I guess my Full Appraisal is really in a league of its own."


    Ignoring the surprised expression on the Alok''s face, he asked her how many skills she could see, to confirm if she could see his mimicked skills too.


    "T-twenty s-seven."


    "Twenty what now?"

 Chapter 270 Poor Ulmoch

    "What''s the number of skills you can see?"


    "T-twenty s-seven."


    "Twenty what now?"


    Evan nodded to himself, having confirmed that she could obviously see his mimicked skills, while tuning out the strange gazes he was receiving.


    **BAMM!!!


    The boy''s, along with everyone else''s reaction was instantly redirected to the scene of one of the B-rank adventurers being mmed on the ground by a gigantic energy limb construct, courtesy of the high demon of Pride.


    "Just kill him, already."


    They heard those ominous words, seconds before Greed''s great sword shed down towards the surprised adventurer''s neck, only to be stopped about 30 cm away by the hand of a displeased Alok.


    "Stand down, Greed.


    The idiot should have learnt his lesson."


    Pride spoke as she cleaned the back of her palm with a handkerchief that she burnt to ashes immediately after.


    "...What on Aidos, happened?"


    Evan''s question was answered by a nearby dumbstruck adventurer who said it looked like the person Greed had almost killed was hitting on Pride, despite the demon''s obvious disinterest.


    In the end, he had activated some kind of skill and tried to touch her hand, actually seeding a second before Pride retaliated with her still active unique skill.


    ''Why''s it still active? Was she on guard against the worst-case scenario of having to fight the guild master?''


    Evan thought to himself as he saw Alok surprisingly not take the issue any further, instead scolding the adventurer in question.


    "He has a bad record of hitting on women everywhere he goes, and he doesn''t know when to quit so he always ends up pissing them off.


    He even has a title that makes the opposite gender inherently dislike him, no matter what he does."


    The adventurer with the appraisal skill filled Evan in on the reason for the Alok''s reaction, with the boy appraising the man to see said title.


    "Abhorred by females?


    Is this guy ever gonna be able to get married in the future?"


    While Evan felt pity for him, it was only momentary, as he remembered the demonic hand member on the floor and turned to Eliza.


    "Can you heal this guy?"


    "Dude. I''m the party''s support, meant to be healing my party members, not my party members AND the people they leave half dead."


    The battle priestess grumbled and activated her breath of life skill once more, before muttering something aboutcking magic power to heal himpletely.


    "Can you make an exception and give her a B-rank guild card already?"


    "She needs to be level 200 for that."


    "But she can kill level 200''s already, and she''s got a rmendation letter."


    Evan tried to get Eliza an early B rank promotion, only to be interrupted by the vice guild master who came to inform him that more than 10 people were captured trying to sneak into the dungeon, with three others escaping.


    "That''s three of their organization''s members on the loose in your city, you know?"


    The young hero sighed in exasperation as he walked up to the unconscious Ulmoch, activating his blessing of destruction and coating his finger in its aura.


    The second he did that, Alok instantly reacted, pulling the Viscount and the Knight Captain behind him while rousing his magic power.


    Seeing this reaction, Evan''s eyes narrowed momentarily.


    "The look of confusion in your eyes tells me that you don''t know what this is, yet your reaction shows you perceive how much of a threat it is.


    So, the senses of a grandmaster are sharp enough to realise that this isn''t just any aura, huh?


    Thanks for the intel."


    Nodding to himself, the boy crouched beside Ulmoch''s body and poked his shoulder, with his finger prating his flesh and piercing through the man''s bone like tofu.


    "Silencing magic please."


    Following Evan''s words, was a sharp piercing scream, that the citizens of Osto were saved from hearing thanks to the mages guild leader''s quick reaction.


    "A poke to the soul, the best way to wake an unconscious person up."


    "You do realise that there are millions of other ways you could have done that."


    "I know."


    Replying to Pride''s words, Evan deactivated his skill and avoided the mouthful of blood that Ulmoch randomly coughed up.


    "Bacsh from his contracted demon''s death."


    "Oh..."


    The boy just poured a healing potion down Ulmoch''s open mouth, resulting in the man choking uncontrobly for a few moments.


    After which, he shot a hateful re towards Evan, an attitude that the young hero did not like at all.


    "GUK!"


    Evan abruptly grabbed his neck and activated the blessing of destruction, letting the aura cover everything from his shoulder to his wrist.


    Seeing this, Ulmoch''s gaze changed to one of fear, as he remembered the amount of pain he felt when Evan stabbed him with that red aura stabbed him earlier.


    "Now then, you are a servant of the ''Seventh Finger'' are you not?"


    "..."


    Seeing Ulmoch''s silence and unwilling expression, Evan''s brows raised in slight surprise as he asked.


    "You really want to go down this route?"


    The aura of destruction slowly started spreading below his wrist, slowly reaching his palm but Ulmoch grit his teeth and remained silent.


    A look of remembrance shed across Evan''s eyes, with an evil grin spreading on his face as he asked with an amused voice.


    "AH!


    Maybe you aren''t a servant of the ''Seventh'', but a servant of the ''Eighth finger''..."


    The moment those words left his mouth, Ulmoch''s reaction was quite...explosive.


    "NO WAY IN HELL AM I A SERVANT OF THAT NECROPHILIAC BASTARD!!!"


    However, the moment he saw the look of mirth on Evan''s face, he realised he''d been had.


    "Got Ya."


    Deactivating the aura of destruction, Evan stood upright while chuckling, before exining to the confused people around him.


    "The ''Seventh'' and ''Eighth'' fingers of the demonic hand hate each other''s guts, and that hatred spreads to their subordinates.


    I already knew that Ulmoch was a subordinate of the ''Seventh'', but I just wanted to get a reaction out of him by saying he was a subordinate of the ''Eighth''.


    It really has been a while since Ist saw this reaction, almost two years now."


    Evan spoke with a sigh, reminiscing about the fight to defeat the Seventh finger in the game as he casually rose his leg in the air and stomped down right in the middle of his knee and ankle.


    "AAAAHHHHH!!"


    The man screamed for the nth time today as his tibia bone was broken into a lot more than just two pieces, with Evan''s cold gazending on his body, followed by the young hero''s emotionless voice.


    "Next time, I''d use this;"


    He rose his leg once more and coated it with the aura of destruction, before continuing his statement.


    "So, start talking, now."


    Ulmoch didn''t hesitate to talk. He was verypliant, answering all of Evan''s questions.


    However, the answers he gave were bombshells that caused the jaws of Evan, as well as everyone else who heard, to drop in shock.

 Chapter 271 Meeting With The Bigwigs III

    Cab Room 2A


    Royal Pce, Gerfast


    Great Western Empire


    March 21st


    Year 1052


    "So, what you want to tell us right now, is that there exists an organization, this ''Demonic Hand'', and they have been behind a lot of the ''Disasters'' that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands, for how long now?"


    "Centuries."


    "This organization has existed for centuries and we somehow don''t know about it?"


    Emperor Rudeus narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he asked his daughter who just read out the contents of a letter that held all kinds of bizarre information, half of which, he had a hard time believing.


    "Isn''t it obvious that you don''t? I mean, you all didn''t know that there was a race called the ''Demon'' race till you watched Sir Walsh''s memories and used the memory gems I got from Nepte."


    Despite the gazes she was receiving, Laurene was spinning around on her swivel chair with a calm expression adorning her face.


    This was a few minutes after the contents of Evan''s letter had been read out to all those present, and they had barely just finished processing all the things inside the letter.


    "The existence of the ''Demonic Hand'' has been intentionally concealed from the masses.


    Oh, andpared to the people who concealed this, even if you all are Big wigs of a world power nation, you''re still considered ''Masses'' to them."


    Hearing this, the Second of the ten Great Swordsmen, Luke Bowthe, frowned deeply as he asked.


    "If they really do exist, just who are the ones responsible for concealing this information?"


    Laurene stopped spinning on her chair and faced Luke, going on to rest her arms on the table and lean forward as she replied.


    "The Five."


    "Really Princess? Are you seriously going to bring ''The Five'' into this?"


    Those who heard her reply all had expressions of confusion, but the expression on the face of one of them changed the moment Laurene pulled out a bunch of files from under the table.


    "Yes, I am going to bring ''The Five'' into this.


    I''m also bringing these records out here for you guys to see."


    She shared the files among them, before continuing.


    "These are the records of the Graugro Undead incident of twenty-five years ago.


    This happened before I was even born.


    Anyway, we all know what happened, I mean, you guys were alive then.


    A ton of undead suddenly appeared in a single city in Graugro, wiped out the city and turned all those leaving in them to undead, before sending them to other cities, iming the lives of three grandmaster-level existences and close to five million people that lived in those twelve cities."


    Hearing her words, Emperor Rudeus didn''t even bother touching the file in front of him, directly asking Laurene what this had to do with the ''Demonic Hand''.


    "This incident was the work of the Demonic Hand''s ''Eighth Finger''. He''s the only executive of the organization with necromantic abilities."


    "You''re saying that this ''Eighth Finger'' person, was active twenty-five years ago and was responsible for this incident."


    "Exactly."


    "And how are we supposed to believe this."


    "The fact that the ''Beast King'' himself moved in person to end the incident, is enough proof of the Demonic Hand''s involvement."


    "How do-!


    What do you mean that the Beast King''s action is enough proof?"


    Laurene silently gazed at her father with a nk look, before opening the file in front of her and bringing out a map of the continent.


    "Graugro is a coastal country that is in the northern half of our Alpha continent, while the Beast Kingdom is in the Southern half, very close to the coastal region.


    Why would the Beast King, leave his country in the south, travel more than halfway across the freakin continent, just to take care of a few undead?"


    The girl''s question made Duke Roger frown as he put down the file in his hand and spoke.


    "Undead numbering enough to wipe out every living thing in twelve over 250-kilometre square cities, aren''t ''Few'' in any way, shape or form."


    "For us, definitely a lot. But from the Beast King''s perspective, it''s something he can deal with in a single casual attack.


    All twelve cities along with their undead would cease to exist afterwards."


    Laurene cited a gap in the reports, before then proceeding to narrate what was recorded of the incident, starting from the first city that was reported to have been attacked by the undead and quelled the situation almost immediately.


    However, after a second attack within a week, they realised something had to be wrong somewhere and sent out scouts to find out the situation while sending a message to the nearby city that was a few towns away from them


    What the messengers discovered, however, was a city that was already infested by the undead, and that their city was not the first to be attacked by the undead. They also discovered the undead consolidating their forces under a ''leader'' whose characteristics were never reported, so it was unknown if said leader was a living or dead existence.


    They instantly reported this straight to the capital of Graugro and the government instantly dispatched a military unit led by a Grandmaster level existence to handle the situation.


    "Even if they don''t have as many as we or any major power, they were still strong enough to be considered a country and thus had to have the corresponding military power to protect their citizens, which could be reflected in the amount of Grand Master level existences they had.


    Six."


    One of the said grandmasters was dispatched to handle the undead situation, however, nothing was heard from him after close to two weeks. A second expedition was carried out, spearheaded by two Grandmasters.


    It was this second unit that noted that the grandmaster that was initially sent had been turned into an undead.


    So, the two that were sent were ordered to take out their formerrade, along with what turned him into an undead in the first ce.


    "But they failed."


    "Exactly, Dad. They failed.


    And it was after that failure that they began to seek help from other countries, Terrok, the Elven Kingdom and a few others.


    Even us, isn''t that right, father?"


    "Yes.


    I dispatched the sixth and seventh of our Ten Great Swordsmen to join the coalition force."

 Chapter 272 Meeting With The Bigwigs IV

    "Yes.


    I dispatched the sixth and seventh of our Ten Great Swordsmen to join the coalition force."


    Rudeus replied to his daughter with a calm expression, however, dozens of thoughts were running through his mind at once.


    "The coalition force of grandmasters from almost ten countries set forth, reaching Graugro to take out the undead.


    But before they could set out towards the affected areas, ''he'' appeared."


    "The ''Beast King''."


    "Exactly.


    But Duke Eris, if you look at the official reports, Graugro''s head of state admitted to never having sent a request for help from the Beast Kingdom.


    The reasons stated were that help had already been asked for, from three major world powers, and that Graugro was not capable of repaying the help of any more major powers.


    The Head of State stated that he never had any intention of asking any more countries, especially when he had his hands full dealing with our Great Western and the opposite Great Eastern Empires.


    He also stated that he was quite apprehensive towards the beast Kingdom, given that its king had been the one responsible for the destruction of the country that once existed towards the south of Graugro.


    The man had zero intentions of attempting to negotiate a plea for help with the Beast Kingdom, yet, the Beast King still came.


    It was fine if he just happened to be in the area, but the Beast King had been confirmed to be spotted in the Beast Kingdom, a day before the coalition force was supposed to set out.


    So, he wasn''t anywhere near Graugro before this, only appearing on the day that the coalition force had nned to move.


    He then went on to prevent the coalition force from taking action, moving in person to the ce where the undeads'' main forces were concentrated and wiping out all the grandmaster-level undead there himself.


    After that, he left the coalition force to clean up the remaining undead in the master level and below.


    This eyewitness report from our Empire''s Seventh Sword, confirmed that the beast king was holding the severed arm of what he believed to be a human, in his hands, and that he also made a statement that the Seventh Sword deemed important enough to report to you, father."


    The moment Laurene said those words, the air around Rudeus changed, and magic power began leaking from his body, drawing the attention of everyone present in the room.


    As the person who had been married to him for over twenty-five years, udia recognized the expression on his face as one he only made when he was angry.


    However, Laurene only smiled and asked.


    "Don''t the words; ''Tsk...dealt with him but he still escaped.'', sound familiar to you, dad?"


    **BAM!!


    Rudeus mmed his fist on the table, causing cracks to spread out as he spoke with a cold voice.


    "How did you get ess to those records?


    That part of the records should be kept in a level of the Royal Archives, under a level of security that you, Laurene, should not have the clearance to pass.


    Your royal family insignia doesn''t give you the authority to bypass the magic formations guarding that level."


    Expressions of surprise adorned the faces of all those who heard Rudeus'' words, with the understanding of the reason for his displeasureing to them.


    In response to her father''s question, Laurene propped her chin up on her palm, before pointing towards her eyes with her other hand.


    "These guys happen to be good at helping me ''see'' through the weak points of magic formations and how to bypass them without triggering the security rms.


    Worry not though, I only got to level three. The formation at level four was way tooplex for the current me to decipher."


    The way she spoke made it sound as if her action of entering into the Country''s information Archives without the required level of authority was nothing serious.


    "That doesn''t change what you did."


    "I know, but on to the matter of the ''Him'' that the Beast King spoke of, did you conduct an investigation?


    Knowing you, there''s no way you wouldn''t. I''m guessing you turned up with no results?"


    Laurene tantly returned the topic of discussion back to the matter of the undead incident of twenty-five years ago, while Rudeus only stared back at her in silence for close to a minute.


    Just when udia was about to say something to disperse the heavy atmosphere in the room, Rudeus withdrew his magic power back into his body and leaned back on his chair before saying words that shocked all those present.


    "I believe you."


    "HUH?"


    "Your majesty?"


    "What?"


    "Rudeus? What do you mean?"


    Even Laurene who had been calm since the beginning, couldn''t help but let out a voice of surprise upon hearing him believe her so easily.


    "It''s not that I didn''t turn up with any results at the end of my investigation, it was that I stopped my investigation halfway through.


    Not long after I began my investigations into who this person, most likely the mastermind of the incident was, I was visited by one of the Beast Keepers with a message from Beast King Kolvar himself.


    He advised me to stop looking into them, and it would not be good for our Empire''s citizens if said masterminds were to draw their attention towards us."


    Laurene''s eyes widened in shock as she heard her father''s words. She had prepared another means to convince him of the existence of the Demonic Hand but never expected that he already knew about them somewhat.


    "Twenty-five years ago, I had just barely ascended to the throne after my father decided to retire.


    The advice of someone who had been ruling a country for centuries before I was even born, was something that I had zero reasons to reject.


    Even the action of sending two of the Ten Great Swordsmen was meant to Boost the image of mine and that of the Great Western Empire, internationally.


    I even gave the two ''Swords'' orders to retreat in the event that the situation was more than they could handle. Couldn''t afford to lose two of our most powerfulbatants.


    Everything about the incident was suspicious, and the Beast King''s message made me wash my hands of the matter.


    I focused on other important things that concerned my Empire and eventually forgot about the incident.


    Only to remember it when you read out that letter with information stating that the Cheverton duchy would be attacked by undead monsters again."


    The room was dead silent for a few minutes after the Emperor was done speaking, with Duke Cheverton finally breaking the silence.


    "So, this ''Demonic Hand'', really does exist, and ''The Five'' doesn''t want us to know about them."

 Chapter 273 Meeting With The Bigwigs V

    "So, this ''Demonic Hand'', really does exist, and ''The Five'' doesn''t want us to know about them."


    "Yes.


    The thing is, the ''Demonic Hand'', is an organization connected to the Seven Heroes of legend.


    Just like the way that besides the names, faces and basic backstories of the Seven Heroes of legend, barely anything about them is known.


    No one knows anything about what ''powers'' they had or anything important, all people know is that they were heroes.


    The previous seven concealed the Demonic Hand''s existence the same way they concealed information about themselves and the existence of the Demon race.


    They didn''t exactly want the birth of a second or third ''Demonic Hand''.


    The fewer people who knew about the true identity of the invaders and their strengths, then the lesser the probability of another ''demon worshipping'' organizationing into existence."


    Just when Laurene finished speaking, she tilted her head to the side with a strange look on her face and asked.


    "Am I even supposed to be able to tell you this?


    Anyway, you can find out more when you discover the bases of the previous seven that had the information about the Demonic Hand.


    Just that none of the said bases is in our Empire.


    Comparing the maps, I figured that there was one in the Great Eastern Empire and there''s another one in Wolfen.


    Those two were active after the discovery of the Demonic Hand so they should have info on them."


    When she was done speaking, Luke posed a question to her, one that was on the minds of everyone here present.


    "How do you know so much about this?"


    "Because I''m a member of the new generation Seven Heroes, what other reason is there?"


    "It doesn''t exin everything. Does bing a hero automatically give you knowledge of their bases of operations?"


    "Pretty much."


    Laurene answered him before turning to Duke Cheverton who looked like he wanted to ask her something.


    "So, this ''Necromancer'' that somehow managed to escape from the Beast King, has now resurfaced here, huh?"


    "Yes. If my information source is correct, then the damage he suffered against the Beast King was enough to put him out ofmission for two and a half decades.


    He also lost all of his power and spend this time recovering it."


    "And the fact that he has designs on my duchy means he''s done recovering?"


    "Exactly."


    Ralphie, who had been silent throughout most of this conversation then asked another important question.


    "Why can we just get the beast King to take him out again?"


    The reply to his question came from Rudeus instead, and it was the kind he wasn''t expecting.


    "We could consider said possibility if we knew where the Beast King was in the first ce."


    "Huh? What do you mean by-"


    **BEEP! BEEP!!


    Ralphie''s words were interrupted by a loud beeping noise, a sound he traced to Laurene who was fishing something out of her pocket.


    **BEEP! BEEP!!


    The source of the noise was revealed to be her guild card, signifying that someone somewhere was basically calling her.


    The number of people who were registered with said card and could contact her directly with it could be counted on one hand and Laurene had already started considering who it could be before she even got it out.


    "Seems like my guess was right."


    With those words, she epted the connection and activated the loudspeaker function, allowing the voice of the person on the other end of the line toe through.


    [-im over here so he can make the connection. We can use the magic stones from the thousands of monster corpses lying around us.


    ''Evan, that thing has connected.''


    Hmm? Oh!


    Hey, Laurene. Are you free now? This is kind of important.]


    Hearing Evan''s voice, Duke Roger''s eyes widened in shock and he was about to speak but Laurene signalled him to be quiet before replying.


    "Well, I''m not exactly busy now so...?"


    [Do you happen to have a magic projection artifact with you? A high-level one preferably.]


    "...Yeah."


    [And do you also happen to be near any court mage or magi-technician?]


    "Sir Jenson''s here."


    [Jenson? That''s like the best choice.


    Okay, just call him over and let him speak to this guy over here.


    I need to make a magic projection call, but I have zero ideas of your own projector''s details, so they''re gonna use our Guild card''s connection as a conduit and basically some magi tech stuff I don''t really understand, so, just let them talk.]


    Jenson came over and spoke to the guild technician with Evan, taking out one of the other magic projectors in the cab room cupboard and working out the cross-country connection with him.


    Of course, a substantial number of magic stones were required for this, with Evan using up the ones in the monster corpses from the stampede while Jenson just tossed out a few B-rank magic stones that he had in his inventory.


    Eventually, the projection artifacts were set up on both ends, using the connection between the two guild cards as a direct line to each other.


    [If this was done on a screen, then I couldfortably call it a video call.


    What social media though, Sky-]


    "Evan..."


    The recording device (camera) was ced facing Laurene, so despite the fact that all those in the room could see the projected image of Evan and his surroundings, he could only see Laurene and what was behind her.


    [Thanks, Jenson.


    Now then, can you excuse us for a bit? Laurene and I need to talk about something in private.


    It rted to that letter I had Suzanne give to you, Laurene.]


    Hearing the boy''s words, Laurene''s eyes widened momentarily, regaining their calm right after as numerous thoughts shed through her mind.


    She moved her fingers and used magic to generate text, telling Jenson to just open and close the door to make it seem as if he left.


    ''I want to see if they can hear sensitive information just because they happen to be near where Evan and I are speaking.


    Our restrictions have a few silly loopholes, which is weird considering it was ced on us by a naturalw.


    It''s as if someone messed with them to let us have these loopholes.''


    The moment she had those thoughts, a notification prompt appeared in front of her eyes, one she had remembered seeing a bit over a year ago in a certain dungeon.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' gazes at you silently.]

 Chapter 274 Discussing With Laurene (And The Bigwigs) I

    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' gazes at you silently.]


    ''??!!''


    Laurene''s expression betrayed her surprise, prompting questions from all those who saw.


    [Something wrong?]


    "No, it''s nothing."


    [Are you sure?]


    "Yeah, I''m fine."


    [Okay. But still, it really has only been a year since west saw each other, right?]


    "Yeah, why do you ask?"


    In response to her question, Evan ced a hand on his chin while narrowing his eyes at Laurene for a few moments.


    [it''s just that you look a lot different.


    Do people really grow this much in just one year?


    You look a lot different. I don''t know how to describe it. It''s like you got��. prettier? Well, that''s for sure but that''s not the word I''m looking for.]


    The boy looked lost in thought for a few seconds before a look of realization shed through his eyes. mming his fist on his other palm, he spoke.


    [Aha!


    You look more mature. You''re giving off this vibe of someone who has gone through a whole lot of shit in life and has grown up as a person because of it.


    Which is weird considering you''re just thirteen.]


    "Are you being serious now, Evan?


    Besides, if we are to talk about changes, then I think you should look at yourself in the mirror andpare it to a picture of you at this timest year."


    Laurene''s words made Evan chuckle a bit, with the young hero going on to give an exnation for his appearance changes.


    [A lot of stuff happenedst December.


    My body and soul went through a bit of metamorphosis, synchronization and a few other things.


    You remember Xakon, right? The demon who found out I was a hero and tried to murder me. After killing him, I levelled up a bit too much at once and broke into the master level while being unconscious after the battle.


    It was during that time that all that happened. Even after I woke up, there were still some times that my body would shut itself down and I''d pass out randomly because my body was ''updating'' itself. It was quite a hassle.


    Anyway, the appearance change is just a side effect of it, and besides, I still have my original features as the base, so it''s all right.]


    "I have so many questions about what you just said and I don''t even know where to start asking from��"


    While Laurene was replying to Evan, she was using her other finger to write text on the desk with magic, with the others in the room reading that text and understanding her intentions.


    [Right now, Evan believes he''s speaking to ONLY Laurene, so there''s a chance that if he realizes that there are others, he may not able to say some restricted things.


    So please try not to do anything that''d make him realise that there you all are here.]


    [Huh? You can star-!


    Wait up! Why are we discussing this? This is definitely not the reason I''m spending dozens of C-rank magic stones to contact you.]


    Evan who was unaware of Laurene''s n, remembered the original reason he had even bothered to contact Laurene, snapping back to the main point of the conversation right after.


    [Laurene, things are bad.


    If what I just heard from this dude after I tortu-! Asked him for information, is correct, then things are gonna be a lot worse than I had nned for.]


    As he spoke, the boy held up his sword and stabbed it downwards at something that they could not see, with the unfortunate person that was stabbed, letting out a guttural scream in response.


    [Shut up, will ya? I''m trying to talk to someone.]


    Evan stabbed the person on the floor once more, and then stomped on their face with his foot before turning back to the shocked Laurene.


    [Where was I again?


    Oh, yeah. So, I said I had a nice ''talk'' with this guy and he was kind enough to give me some important information about the iing Duhan crisis.


    Although I was kinda nning for this, I thought it actually had a 10% probability of actually happening. But now, that just went to 99%.]


    The boy took a deep breath to calm himself, ignoring Laurene''s still bbergasted expression, before continuing.


    [Let me just summarize all this in three words;


    Cheverton Duchy, is fucked.


    Wait��that''s four.]


    While Evan was counting the number of words he actually spoke, the expressions on the faces of the other people he didn''t know were with Laurene, were darkening bit by bit, with Duke Cheverton looking the most displeased.


    "Can you exin everything from the top?


    Properly."


    [A proper exnation? I can do that.]


    However, before Evan could start his proper exnation, someone who was nearby spoke to him, distracting him from his call with Laurene for a while.


    [''Huh? Evan? What are you doing?


    Nothing much, just trying to tell Laurene the dangerous information we just got from this guy so she can tell her dad and Duke Cheverton that shit has literally ''hit the fan''.


    ''Her dad? That''s the Emperor, right? Didn''t you already have a means to speak to him directly?''


    And what made you think that?


    ''You said you spoke to him when we were at Kasteblum.''


    Oh, that. I talked to him using the projector in Gavin''s office. The look on his face when I popped up in Gavin''s magic projection.


    ''Dude, that''s the Chief Grand Magus, you know?]


    Hearing his conversation with the third party, Laurene threw a nce at her father before turning to Evan and asking.


    "Since when are you on a first-name basis with the Chief Grand Magus of Kasteblum?"


    [Hmm? Since the first time we spoke.


    Anyway, that''s not important right now.]


    Fully turning his attention back to Laurene, he continued.


    [What''s important is the Duhan attack.


    Things have been moved up a bit.


    Remember the dates I gave you in that letter, saying that the undead would start attacking in two months with the Duhans and the Duhan King showing up in July?


    Scratch that


    Things have been pushed forward.]


    Evan had already given Laurene a basic idea of how the Duhan attack went down in the game through the letter he sent via Suzanne, so the young girl wasn''t clueless about his words.


    "If it isn''t going to happen in July, then when is it going to happen?"


    [Next Month.]


    "What?!"

 Chapter 275 Discussing With Laurene (And The Bigwigs) II

    "If it isn''t going to happen in July, then when is it going to happen?"


    [Next Month.]


    "What?!"


    Laurene eximed in surprise upon hearing Evan''s reply. She remembered the scale of the attack that Evan had described in his letter and didn''t think that a few weeks was enough to prepare to resist such an attack at all.


    [The Demonic Hand''s ns have been moved up by a few months. And I know this because I just tortured out this information from a member of the demonic hand.]


    As he spoke, he grabbed the cor of a body and held it up, allowing the magic projector to capture the full appearance of the half-corpse with blood and a half-detached lung still spilling out of it.


    The expression on the face of the corpse showed just how much pain and fear the owner of the said corpse had felt before his death.


    [''Evan, that''s not his body. That''s his dead contracted demon''s corpse.''


    Oh? Wrong Body.]


    Evan looked at the thing in his hands after hearing Pride''s words, and realized that it was what was left of Thoruul''s corpse, dropping it back on the ground right after and picking up Ulmoch''s unconscious body.


    However, Laurene and everyone else with her had already seen the demon''s corpse which looked a lot simr to Xakon''s, the only other member of the ''Demon'' race that they had seen before.


    Ignoring this, Evan held up Ulmoch''s unconscious body which had a few unheble stab wounds along his vicle and continued speaking.


    [Yeah��this guy.


    He''s a subordinate of the Seventh Finger of the Demonic Hand who tried to attack Osto with thousands of monsters after his brother got killed by the Guild Master.


    So I beat him up and I got the info from him, afterwards.]


    His words snapped Laurene out of her shock as she narrowed her eyes and asked back.


    "The Seventh? Not the Eighth?"


    [Yeah.


    He''s a senior member of the Demonic Hand, so he is privy to information about the movements of the other executives besides his direct boss.


    The thing is, an unexpected variable urred, and due to that unexpected variable, shit is going to get a lot worse.]


    Dropping Ulmoch back on the ground, Evan took a deep breath and began exining.


    [Let''s start with the unexpected variable.


    The variable; was ''Strongest Human Rathal''.]


    Expressions of surprise once again coloured the faces of all those who heard, as they certainly didn''t expect Evan to bring up one of ''The Five''.


    [As you already know, when we went to the Graveyard of the Arrogant in Merdin. I had foiled the Demonic Hand''s ns for the ''Seven Deadly Sins'' Massacre'' while Ralphie was unconscious after defeating that Troll King.


    I honestly didn''t think that they''d have a backup prepared, which was foolish of me.]


    As Ralphie''s eyes widened upon hearing Evan''s words, the boy continued with his exnation.


    [Well, the thing is that they did.


    They had a backup prepared in the event that the ''Seven Sins Massacre'' didn''t happen, and that was nned for the Great Western Empire too.


    The problem here was, I didn''t know about this backup, no one did, besides the Demonic Hand members.


    And this backup would have seeded, if it wasn''t for the force of nature, that made it so the ''Strongest Human Rathal'', discovered this n and took out the entire unit working on it, along with the person in charge.


    The backup n is now pretty much scrapped because he killed the ''Tenth Finger'' of the Demonic Hand, permanently.]


    "Hold up? He killed a ''Finger'' permanently? What about the First Finger''s skill you told me about?"


    [Oh that, it''s something that can be countered by anyone with a Unique Series Skill.]


    Laurene leaned back on her chair and pointed to her eyes as she asked.


    "So basically, us seven, huh?"


    Evan nodded in response to Laurene''s words, holding up a few fingers as he began counting other people with such skills.


    [In the Great Western Empire, we have Finley��his Heaven Sword skill from the Heaven Series. There''s the First Star from the Great Eastern Empire, he has the ''Child of Fire'' skill. That''s where his ''Human me'' nicknamees from.


    There''s Jenson too. His ''Child of Lightning'' can do the job, since someone of Jenson''s level of expertise should be able to tap into his skill''s true nature.


    Oh! And Joanna too. Her ''Breath of Lightning'' is also capable of permanently taking them out.]


    "Sorry, who''s this ''Joanna'' again?"


    [Kasteblum''s Vice Chief Grand Magus.]


    Laurene massaged her temple with her fingers as she looked up at Evan and asked.


    "You met her in Kasteblum?"


    [Yeah, we''re pretty chill.


    Oh, yeah. Remind me to introduce Jenson to her sometime, they look like they''d be a good match and she seems to have a favourable impression of him already.]


    "��You''re close enough to talk about potential partners with the Vice Chief Grand Magus of Kasteblum?"


    [Yup.]


    "How did you eve-Never mind. Just get back to the important stuff."


    Laurene gave up on thinking about it midway and just urged Evan to go back to tell her about the changes to the Duhan Attack.


    "You said that the Tenth Finger was killed by ''Strongest Human Rathal'', right?"


    [Yeah. Somewhere around Cheart.]


    Upon hearing the name of the town that Evan called, a look of realization shed through Rudeus'' eyes as he sunk into his thoughts.


    ''So that''s why he was there''.


    The man was naturally aware of Rathal''s presence in his country, after all, the loud explosion and the deep crater Rathal had left behind were too conspicuous to miss.


    He just didn''t know what Rathal was doing there as all the people who could have told him ended up as blood stter on the ground.


    [Anyway, the variable; Rathal, averted a disaster for our empire, while indirectly making another one somewhere else, worse.]


    "Worse, huh?"


    [The Duhan attack has been brought up to next month so the Duhans would be weaker than they were originally meant to be.]


    Hearing Evan''s words, Laurene voiced out a question that everyone else present in the room with her wanted to ask also.


    "IF they are weaker, isn''t that a good thing?"


    However, Evan''s answer was not the kind they had expected.


    [No.


    It''s bad.


    Very bad.


    You know why?


    It''s because to circumvent that weakness, he''d be appearing in person.]


    "Who?"


    [Who else? The Eighth Finger of the Demonic hand himself.]

 Chapter 276 Discussing With Laurene (And The Bigwigs) III

    "If they are weaker, isn''t that a good thing?"


    However, Evan''s answer was not the kind they had expected.


    [No.


    It''s bad.


    Very bad.


    You know why?


    It''s because to circumvent that weakness, he''d be appearing in person.]


    "Who?"


    [Who else? The Eighth Finger of the Demonic hand himself.


    The Necromancer of Disaster responsible for the incident in Graugro that left twelve cities desecrated, twenty-five years ago.


    Unfortunately, being powerful doesn''t guarantee that you would have a Unique Series Skill, so even though he was killed by the Beast King, it wasn''t permanent.


    Now, he''s back, and his contracted Demon has made him even more troublesome to deal with.]


    Evan pulled out a chair from his inventory and sat down before continuing.


    [Judging from the way things are now, by the time I get to Bultom, the undead would have already begun attacking in waves.


    In fact, right now, as we are speaking, I think the undead should have already started moving. We might be able to cull most of their numbers if multiple expeditions to all of Bultom city''s undead dungeons are carried out simultaneously.


    I did give Duke Cheverton a vague idea of things when I spoke to him at thest founding ball, but I doubt he''s been able to get the full picture so I want you to exin things to him so he can start taking action while I make my way over there.


    Thankfully, I had Joanna registered on my guild card so I can directly contact her and tell her to update Gavin. It all depends on howzy she is at the time though.


    I hope she answers, so I can get her to update both Gavin and Bishop Amelie too.


    There''s also the part where I have to get the Church of Artemisia to send forces too but I''ve got that covered.]


    The boy sunk into his thoughts once more while Duke Cheverton temporarily left the projection to give out some orders concerning Bultom city''s dungeons.


    [If the Eighth finger makes an appearance in person, then the battle power we''re going to need would be on a totally different level than originally nned.


    We''re going to need more foot soldiers and knights to take out the lower-level undead, with the high-ranked knights dealing with the undead of simr level.


    Also, when I told you to ask your dad and the Duke to deploy the ''Second'' and ''Fourth'' swords, I was just nning for the worst-case scenario before, but now that we know that said worst-case scenario is the one that''s gonna happen, then their existences are needed.


    It may sound like a lot, having to call three of our Empire''s strongestbatants against this one guy but you''re gonna have to realize that the Eighth Finger has multiple grandmaster-level undead servants.


    The Grandmaster level Knights under Duke Cheverton wouldn''t be enough.]


    cing his hands on his chin, Evan started muttering to himself.


    [Ralphie should be close to level 400 now, I think? I''m not sure since he wasn''t in the Duhan attack.


    I''m sure that Duke Cheverton is level 426 now though.]


    Despite muttering to himself, his voice was still captured by the microphone and transmitted all the way to Laurene, meaning the people with her could also hear him.


    The result of that was a very surprised Duke Cheverton who came back to the magic projection, only to hear Evan muttering his level.


    ''How does he know my exact level?''


    Unaware of the Duke''s inner thoughts, Laurene asked Evan for more about the ''Duhan Attack''.


    [It''s the Second on the list of disasters I showed you at that time.


    Oh, I forgot to say, but the restrictions on me were lessened recently.]


    Hearing his words, all the talk about the Duhans flew out of Laurene''s head as she almost moved to grab Evan''s hologram appearance to ask him how he had achieved that.


    [Let''s just call it an extra perk I get from being the Leader of the Seven heroes. Exining it isplicated and you''re probably not gonna believe me.


    Or maybe you might? but now''s not the time.


    More importantly, since my restrictions are lessened, I can tell you the number of Disasters that the Demonic Hand has nned without issue,


    There''d be eight in total.


    The attack of Duhans led by the Eight Finger is the second on that list of disasters I showed youst year.]


    Laurene remembered the piece of paper that Evan had held up for her while asking if she could see the contents on the day he had ''disappeared''.


    Just before she could reply, she heard Evan mutter something about experimenting before looking directly at her and speaking.


    [The one after the Duhan Attack is going to be the L1(&^%$wcDj!


    ��


    Well, it''s obvious I still can''t say that.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' expresses her desire to p the face of a certain hero.]


    |Indirect Messaging has been turned off|


    While the others in the room were quietly discussing the weird static noise they just heard from Evan, Laurene was looking at the two notifications that popped up in front of her eyes with mild surprise.


    ''Does Evan talk to the goddess regrly like this?''


    Evan, oblivious to the fact that Artemisia let the fact she was watching them currently be known to Laurene, continued talking about some of his ns.


    [It''d be nice if Ralphie can get to Level 400 before the main attack happens though, because the reason why I told you I''d need Ralphie and the Second Sword, is because of the Eighth Finger''s supposed trump card.


    It''s not the kind of undead anything below level 400 can fight.


    Hopefully, things go well and Duke Cheverton kills the Duhan King Vazgan before it can wreak as much havoc as it was originally supposed to.


    But that''s gonna cause the Eighth finger to show up earlier than he''s probably nning to and that''s where shit gets real.


    The man has a skill that lets him deploy a domain over a certain area, making it so that any living being that dies within it, returns right after as an undead servant of his.


    Very simple and very deadly, it affects Grandmaster level Existences too.


    And although Duke Cheverton is strong, he can''t face off the Eighth Finger''s trump card all alone. He''d die and if he returns as an undead, we''re all fucked in more ways than one.


    Hence why I need the Second and Fourth swords too.]

 Chapter 277 Discussing With Laurene (And The Bigwigs) IV

    [Although Duke Cheverton is strong, he can''t face off the Eighth Finger''s trump card all alone. He''d die and if he returns as an undead, we''re all fucked in more ways than one.


    Hence why I need the Second and Fourth swords too.]


    Evan stretched his body and yawned loudly before continuing.


    [If another one of the Ten Swordsmen cane then it''d be better. That way each person has one Death Knight to deal with.


    Or��not because my n relies on the Second Sword and Ralphie not showing themselves until the Eighth finger''s trump card shows up.


    Things are looking hard for the Duke.]


    "Mind detailing out your n for u-me?"


    In response to Laurene''s question where she nearly slipped up, Evan began listing out all the parties involved.


    From getting the Adventurers guild, the Mages of Kasteblum, the Church of Artemisia, the Knights of Cheverton and hopefully the units of the army under the Ralphie and the Second Sword.


    [This sounds like a bit too much battle power, but it''s necessary.


    Oh, and Lizes into the mix too.]


    "Liz?"


    [Your bestie, Eliza.


    She has a skill that can counter the Eighth Finger''s domain skill, but she''s gonna need the help of the church''s pdins to match up to the dude, he''s at least 150 levels higher than she is, after all.


    Her skill is capable of preventing most of our guys from turning into undead while keeping them alive for as long as possible.]


    He then went on to exin how he intends for Duke Cheverton to take out the Duhan King, and how he predicts the Eighth Finger would show up after that happens, effectively tripling the number of undead they have to face, with the Demonic Hand Executive bringing out multiple undead with levels close to 400.


    [Then there''s the trump card. This is the reason I would have honestly hoped for Finley toe over.


    It''s an Undead #(nf*BE%^-oh fuck.]


    ? Evan cursed before asking Artemisia why his trump card''s name could not be said, only to be told that he had a lower ''Index'' than the creature and that the Eighth Finger and his contracted Demon are the only ones on Aidos besides him, who know about said creature''s existence.


    [Index of what, though?


    Huh? A naturalw index?


    It doesn''t want its existence to be known so I can''t say anything because I have a lower index?]


    After the weird conversation that Evan had with the being they could neither see nor sense, he then turned back to Laurene and said that they''d see the Eighth Finger''s trump card eventually when the creature shows up.


    [Oh yeah, he also has Demonic Fusion too!


    That''s another thing that we need to note. It''s kind of like Demonic Possession, but unlike that one where the two entities still have separate consciousness, this one creates an entirely new consciousness consisting of the two entities who fused to-


    Huh? Liz? Are you done with the strays? Did you level up?]


    While Evan was talking, the boy''s eyes caught sight of someone else and cut his words short in favour of speaking to that person.


    [''One question at a time. I''m done with the strays and I only levelled up by one so I''m level 189 now.''


    Better than nothing. Anyway, Come say hi to Laurene.]


    The boy then dragged the arm of the person he was speaking to, Eliza, towards himself and into the camera''s capture range.


    [''I can walk just fine, though.'']


    After chiding Evan a bit, the battle priestess greeted her friend, who pointed out that she still had the blood of some weird creature on her cheek.


    This was something that Evan took upon himself to wipe off while making a snide remark which caused Eliza to flick his forehead in response, but the boy caught her hand midway and pulled it towards the side of his face while checking if she still had any bloodstain on her.


    However, to Pride who walked in their direction after discussing something with this viscount, it looked like the two had gotten lost in their own world, again.


    [''Can you guys, like NOT, do this right now?''


    Not do what?


    ''Look at yourselves and ask me that again.'']


    The high demon''s words prompted Evan to notice that one of his hands was currently on Eliza''s cheek while her hand was pretty close to his face and from afar, it probably looked like they were holding each other''s faces.


    However, Evan only shrugged his shoulders and replied.


    [So what? It''s just Laurene.


    Besides, it''s better if she knows that I''m after her best friend sooner thanter.]


    His words were met with a light knock on the head from Eliza who walked away immediately after, perhaps out of embarrassment.


    "Evan, we''re gonna have a talk about thister."


    [Hmm? No problem.


    We''re gonna have a talk about Arnold too.]


    Evan ignored the flinching Laurene and readjusted himself on his seat before asking.


    [Liz told me that you wanted to recreate Venus. How''s that been going?


    Recreating the weapon of the previous Fourth Hero doesn''t seem like an easy task. I myself have given up on the previous Second''s weapon. I''d just stick with the Vanquisher weapon series.


    Would you even be able to use Venus if you remake it?


    The difference in power between her and you is pretty much like Heaven and Earth.]


    Laurene rposed herself and replied without a change in her expression, and then summoned the magic catalyst she had gone toplete in the Nepte Province.


    "I''ve already recreated it.


    One of her residences had the core of the original stored in it."


    [You found one of her residences?! How did you do that? Comparing the locations on the maps is a lot of stress.


    I only found one so far and it''s in Wolfen.


    So, I''m gonna have to go over to the Great Eastern Empire and join them when they move in on Wolfen.]


    "Wait��what?"


    Laurene''s question of surprise made Evan realize he had inadvertently spilt the Great Eastern Empire''s ns.


    [Don''t worry too much about that, just know that one of the previous Second''s residences is near Wolfen''s capital and the Great Eastern Empire wants it so I''m gonna go with them to get it.


    I mean, they wouldn''t be able to open the damn thing without me, after all.]


    "And how do you know that they want it?"


    [Don''t worry about it.


    Oh, I also met the First Star of the Seven Star Generals too.]

 Chapter 278 Discussing With Laurene (And The Bigwigs) V

    [Don''t worry about it.


    Oh, I also met the First Star of the Seven Star Generals too.]


    Evan''s words made the Emperor and everyone else listening instantly forget about what he had said previously.


    The First Star of the Great Eastern Empire''s Seven Star Generals, was an existence whose true name and identity was unknown to the world.


    However, his power had been confirmed multiple times in the past, so people knew that the "Frost Star'' really existed.


    [I met the guy in Geto, a few days before Xakon tried to murder me. I had a small chat with him and told him I wasing over.]


    Without even waiting for Laurene to process the information she had just been given, Evan switched over to another topic instantly.


    It was as if the boy was excitedly chattering about as much as he could after not having seen Laurene in close to a year.


    [Oh, Gavin also told me that you went to an international conference with your eyes activated.


    Nice one.


    It''d make all those world leaders realize that something is about to happen. I bet some countries started pressing you about it right after?]


    "...yeah. Some were arrogant about it so I had to teach them a lesson."


    [Good.


    We''re the ones with the upper hand here. They shouldn''t try to boss us around just because we''re kids.]


    The boy was talking about so many important things in such quick session it was hard to even start analyzing which was more outrageous than the next.


    [Anyway, don''t press them down too much though. Try to build strong connections with the sensible ones so we''d have more allies and we''d be able to control the situation easily when the war starts.


    We''d also have an easier time getting them to believe the bullshit we''re gonna spout.


    That''s why I''m meeting many important people from major powers after all.]


    The boy took a sip out of the juice pack he got from his inventory before continuing with his words.


    [After all the Undead have been taken care of, I''m gonna head to the Beast Kingdom, then the Great Eastern Empire right after.


    When all that''s done with, I''m gonnae back to the Great Western Empire, for you.]


    "For me?"


    [Yeah.


    Although Liz is a good asset in battle, her roots are that of a support magician, not an assault or attack one.


    And my next destination, Tarse, needs a lot of attack magic power, I guess?


    Besides, your very existence is necessary for my n toe to fruition.


    But this is a matter for about two or three yearster so don''t think much about it now. I just wanted to let you know beforehand.


    We can''t touch Tarse for now though.


    Although the Demonic Hand executive there is the ''Fifth Finger'', that guy takes orders from the ''Second finger''.


    And if we start Fucking up his ns too early, the ''Second Finger'' woulde for us in person. That''s one person that I really don''t want us getting on their radar.


    Because if they take action against us, even your dad''s brother or your grandfather wouldn''t be able to save us then and we''d all die.


    We''d need one of the ''Living Legends'' of Aidos to have a chance of survival.]


    "One of the ''Living Legends''?!"


    Laurene''s reaction to Evan''s words was only natural. The ''Living Legends'' of Aidos were a group of existences a step below ''The Five''.


    And as their name implied, they were all Legends, Legendary Level Existences.


    Her shock had almost made her miss the fact that she had mentioned something about her father''s brother.


    ''But Dad''s an only child?''


    She nced at her father and saw an expression of surprise on his face, however, she didn''t know if it was because of Evan''s words concerning his supposed ''brother'' or the Living Legend matter.


    However, she missed the way that the expression on Finley''s and Luke''s faces darkened instantly, with both of them having one singr thought.


    ''How does he know?!''


    Being the current and former ''First Sword'' respectively, the two men were privy to some information about the royalty of the Great Western Empire, and part of the reason why the country was considered a Major World Power.


    Taking from one of the reasons why the city-state of magic, Kasteblum, was considered a world power despite its small size, then it was easy to figure out one of the reasons the Great Western Empire was considered one too.


    This was something that Finley and Luke knew.


    The fact that the ''Ten Great Swordsmen'' were not the Great Western Empire''s true trump cards.


    They were aware of the fact that there existed Epic level existences among the members of the Royal Family.


    But before anything could be said after they all recovered from Evan''s bombshell, the boy started talking again, and this time, what he spoke of was not something that his lessened restrictions would allow non-members of the Seven Heroes to indirectly hear.


    [Hey, Laurene. In your veTyb$#5g5-!]


    The moment Evan heard the static that apanied his words, his eyes narrowed in suspicion as he asked with a cold voice.


    [Laurene.


    Is there someone with you?]


    The new generation Fourth hero instantly took action to resolve the issue and clear Evan''s suspicions, calmly turning to the right as if she was looking at someone and replying.


    "My mother just walked in."


    She ced a hand at her back and used wind magic to open and close the door, letting it m loud enough for the sound receiver to capture it.


    As for the Empress, she instantly got the cue and stood up, walking towards Laurene from the direction she looked towards and speaking.


    Seeing her, Evan''s suspicions visibly lessened as he leaned back on his chair and greeted the Empress. He was about to speak more when Kuro jumped out of his shadow and climbed up to his shoulder, peeking at the woman and whispering something in Evan''s ear.


    [Yeah. I already knew she could see you even when you were in my shadow.


    Her action of staring at my shadow for an extended period of time kind gave it away.]

 Chapter 279 Discussing With Laurene (And The Bigwigs) VI

    [Yeah. I already knew she could see you even when you were in my shadow.


    Her action of staring at my shadow for an extended period of time kind gave it away.]


    The boy replied to the spirit before turning to Laurene, only to be distracted again by the movement of the body on the floor beside him.


    [What ar-!


    Elemental Shield!


    **BOOOMM!!]


    A loud explosion suddenly wrecked the ce where Evan was, with the magic projector falling to the ground and shaking heavily.


    "Evan?!"


    When the artifact stabilized itself, it was now showing andscape view of Evan standing, while holding Ulmoch''s body by the neck, an expression of displeasure on his now slightly injured face.


    [Tsk��Damn bastard Summoned a B-rank monster using his life force just because he saw that the guild master had gone back into the city.]


    His words were followed by the distant roar of a monster that sounded ferocious even though it wasing from far away.


    [And it''s airborne too!


    ''Evan, are you okay?!''


    I''m fine, used an elemental shield at thest moment. I''m still pissed though.]


    Right after Evan spoke, he tightened his grip on Ulmoch''s neck but there was barely any response. Clicking his tongue, he twisted his wrist and turned Ulmoch''s neck 90 degrees, dropping the man''s lifeless body on the floor right after.


    [The monster would not disappear after his death so we still have to kill it.


    Also, tell those B ranks to not interfere or I''d make them regret it.]


    The boy barked out orders to the D-rank adventurers that were close by, before calling hispanions and speaking.


    [Pride, let''s go with thatbo spell again.


    ''It''s airborne, Evan.''


    Doesn''t really matter. Liz would use her barrier to prevent the explosion from reaching the city, or she can just use her magic cannon while the duke activates the city wall barriers.


    Amy and Ka, I''d leave you two spirits to handle the main firepower, Pride and I would control it while Kuro would hold that thing in ce.


    Oh, we sh-?]


    It was then that the boy noticed that the magic projector on the ground was still activated, walked towards it and picked it up before saying.


    [Seems like the video and audio units have been damaged.


    I can''t see you guys and can''t hear what you''re saying.


    But the sound receivers look okay so I guess you can hear me.


    We''d talkter anyway, gotta kill a B-rank monster first.


    Now then, someonee pack this thing up.]


    A few seconds after Evan''s words, the projection call was disabled, leaving the room with Laurene and the rest of the Great Western Empire''s bigwigs in silence.


    After a few minutes, the princess finally took the initiative to speak first.


    "Well��that was a lot to take in at once.


    How about we begin analyzing it all?"


    �� �� ��


    West Gate, Dungeon City Osto


    Hobha


    March 21st


    Year 1052


    As he watched the corpse of the level 235 monster that Ulmoch used his life force to summon, slowly burn to ashes Evan turned to the high demon beside him who looked like she had a lot to ask.


    "Anything?"


    "��why do you trust that Princess so much?"


    "Trust?''


    Evan tilted his head to the side and asked with a confused expression, prompting Pride to give a small exnation.


    "You tell her a lot of things that I had expected you to keep secret.


    I already know that you somehow have information on the Demonic Hand and the organization''s ns, along with many other things that have happened and would happen in this world.  Information that is not attributed to your identity as the leader of the Seven heroes.


    But from what I could infer upon hearing your conversation with her, this isn''t the first time that you''re giving her a great deal of information.


    You also informed her about your future ns and certain things that she''s definitely not supposed to know.


    Like your ns in the other Empire or the existence of her Father''s brother. Don''t you consider the possibility of her spilling the things you tell her?


    OR to be blunt, don''t you consider the possibility of her betraying you?"


    Pride''s question made Evan''s eyes widen in surprise for a moment, with him instantly regaining his calm in the next as he spoke.


    "Well, that sure as hell is blunt.


    But I get what you mean.


    However, the reason I tell her so much is because I know she can''t betray me."


    "And how do you know this?"


    "Well, I do have literal eyes in the skies to inform me in the event that happens.


    Besides, the same way that you possess ''Authority'' over the Seven Deadly Sins as their leader, I also possess a degree of ''Authority'' over the Seven Heroes as their leader, and Laurene knows this.


    So, unless she has a method to bypass said Authority; an action I would discover the instant she does it, then her betraying me is something with a very low probability."


    Evan then cleared his throat with a cough before cing his palm on his chest and continuing.


    "Besides, with the amount of charisma that I possess, how could she possibly think of betraying me?"


    He had a look of self-satisfaction on his face as he spoke with exaggerated movements, resulting in Pride''s brow twitching in annoyance as she shot back.


    "Evan! I''m being serious here!"


    "As am I, Pride."


    Evan''s tone of voice suddenly changed, bing t as he stopped his weird movements and dropped his hands.


    "Even though It seems like I take almost everything as a joke, I''m actually serious when it counts.


    You''d probably just not realise when I''m being serious BECAUSE it looks like I''m always joking.


    I understand your concerns Pride, but I have my own means of making sure nothing like that happens."


    The boy''s expression returned to how it normally was, with a small smile appearing on his face as he ran up to Eliza who was walking towards them.


    Seeing him act so hyper around, Eliza, Pride sighed in exasperation before turning around and returning to the city.

 Chapter 280 Evening Talk

    Viscount Perhorn''s Estate


    Dungeon City Osto


    Hobha


    March 21st


    Year 1052


    The cool night breeze whistled softly, blowing lightly through a head of short ck hair, as the owner stared at the deep clear blue sky, illuminated with the light of stars.


    Looking at the moonlight reflected on the windows of the mansion''s annex buildings, Evan recalled the day''s activities in his mind with a sigh.


    ''The empress, huh?


    I bet she wasn''t the only one who was there. The weight of the restrictions I felt at the time were too heavy for it to have been just one person, and a master-level existence at that.


    I''d believe it if it was a grandmaster level exi-!''


    His thoughts abruptly came to a halt as the realization dawned upon him. The boy had felt something was wrong with the time his words were censored when he was speaking to Laurene, and although the girl said that her mother just entered, Evan felt otherwise.


    ''The sound of the door opening, came ''after'' the static, not before or during.


    But either way, I bet an actual Grandmaster-level existence was there. I''m guessing it to be Jenson, or maybe Finley.''


    Just as Evan was about to continue his analysis, he felt a presence at the door of the room he was assigned. He tossed on a simple button t-shirt atop his naked upper body and turned around just in time to see his party''s resident battle priestess open the door and walk into the room.


    Her appearance, however, made the young hero heave a sigh once more.


    She looked as if she had juste out of a bath, with the skin peeking from the open cor of her clothing still being faintly flushed and her long blonde hair that flowed down her shoulders looking shinier than usual.


    As if matching the colour of her peach-like light pink lips, she wore light pink pyjamas, specifically, a sleeveless gown, otherwise known as a negligee.


    The gown''s short length would have ced everything from the lower half of herp, down to her ankles in full view, if it wasn''t for the ck long thin silk night robes loosely draped over her shoulders and flowing down to below her knees.


    Within the few moments it took for her to walk into the room and close the door, Evan''s gaze had gone from the top of her head to the pure white nape of her neck, moving on to her ample bosom, her thin waist and her slender legs which were usually covered by stockings.


    By the time she had turned back towards him, Evan''s gaze was on the pair of pink-coloured night slippers adorning her feet.


    "Came to hang out. Boredom was killing me, and unlike Pride, I can''t exactly relive said boredom by reading."


    "That so?"


    Evan replied calmly as he walked back into the room from the balcony he was on and flipped the switch of the magic stone-powered standing fan beside the door, before proceeding to pull out a jug of cold milk from the refrigeration device right next to it.


    He poured some into a ss and handed it over to Eliza who unconsciously epted the ss without question.


    "Why thank you."


    "No problem.


    We''ve pretty much been living together? for the past three months so I simply noticed you had a habit of having a ss after a bath.


    Why though?"


    The boy took a seat on the three-seater couch in the room as he asked, with, Eliza cing her free hand on her chin with a pensive look on her face for a few moments before replying.


    "I think it''s probably because of my elder cousin.


    She''s this tall cool looking beauty and I really wanted to be as tall as she was back when I was younger, so when I asked her how, she told me that I''d grow as tall as she did if I drunk my milk a lot.


    I think it was right after a bath that I asked her that question. So, I ended up getting the habit from there.


    Then again, thinking about it now, she probably just said that to get the younger me who hated milk to drink it, cause I''ve been at it for years and I don''t see it helping me grow that much."


    "You sure about that?"


    "Huh? Why do you say that?"


    Eliza ced the ss on her lips and began drinking its contents after asking that, with her gaze on the young hero who only raised a brow before replying.


    "I sure as hell can see it helping something grow, it just doesn''t happen to be your height."


    "What are you talking abo-!"


    The girl was initially confused about what he meant, but after tracing the boy''s gaze to her chest, it instantly clicked.


    Eliza just gave him a nk stare, dropping the ss on the small side table and flicking his forehead before saying.


    "Don''t be silly. Even I know that drinking milk doesn''t affect growth in that part of the body."


    "Huh? You guys have already discovered that, here in Aidos?"


    Just as Evan was asking that, Eliza casually took off her slippers and plopped down on the couch right beside him, resting her head on his shoulder and stretching her legs across the rest of the couch.


    "��you''re really going to sit right next to the guy who had his gaze locked to your boobs like a few seconds ago, and while dressed like that?"


    "Dressed like what?"


    The girl shot a question back to Evan with an upturned gaze, causing the boy''s brows to twitch repeatedly, but quickly calmed himself and replied.


    "Nope��never mind."


    He leaned back on the couch and opened up his inventory with the intention of sorting out the contents, while Eliza made herselffortable leaning on his shoulder while picking up the cat spirit that tried to make his way back into Evan''s shadow after finishing what was left of the milk jug.


    When Evan brought out his guild cards from his inventory, Eliza spoke up upon noticing the older one.


    "You still have that?


    What rank was that one anyway?"

 Chapter 281 Short Tale Of Accumulating Wealth

    "You still have that?


    What rank was that one anyway?"


    It was naturally the guild card that the boy had gotten when he and Laurene went to register with the adventurer''s guild in Merdin, close to a year ago.


    "It was a D rank card.


    And I still need it cause it''s the only one I have that gives me a direct line to Laurene. It''s what I used when I contacted her today, after all."


    "Makes sense. The other one''s B rank now, right?"


    "Yep."


    Evan held up his newly acquired silver and gold lined B rank adventurer guild card before continuing.


    "I haven''t done as many quests as required of a B ranker though. I''d just been brute forcing things up with my level."


    "No shit. I''m the only one in our party who actively does quests."


    "True.


    Come to think of it, you were turning in a few quests this morning.


    Maybe I''d take up a few quests after we deal with the undead."


    As he broached the topic of the undead monsters that they were going to battle next, Eliza asked a question while rubbing Kuro''s chin.


    "Undead enough to wipe out every living thing in the northern part of your country? It''s quite baffling.


    Just where on Aidos could someone possibly store that many undead, undetected?"


    In response to the girl''s question, Evan pulled out a few artifacts from his inventory as he replied.


    "Inside the dungeons of a dungeon city called Bultom."


    "And the adventurers who go into said dungeons don''t notice this?"


    "They don''t.


    Reason being the nature of Bultom City''s dungeons."


    Evan put down the things in his hands and dug his left arm into his inventory once more as he continued his reply.


    "Of the five dungeons in Bultom city, three are undead dungeons.


    It''s kind of like hiding a Tree in a forest. If you wanna hide an army of undead, then do it in a dungeon that naturally has undead monsters within it."


    "That makes a lot of sense."


    "There''re also the nobles who betrayed the Duke and sided with the Demonic Hand, in return for profits and promises of power, authority, long life and pretty much the usual bullshit.


    Those guys are hiding a lot of undead in their domains too.


    Besides, the Eighth finger of the Demonic Hand''s contracted demon, happens to have arge expansive space that''s almost the same as my inventory.


    And that space isrge enough to contain hundreds of thousands of undead monsters."


    "That certainly is a lot."


    Evan nodded in response to Eliza''s words as he pulled out a small water turbine from his inventory, with the girl giving him a strange gaze as she asked.


    "Why do you have that?"


    "I was about to ask the same thing myself."


    "You do like picking up random stuff so it''s not all that surprising."


    The boy''s brow twitched as he dropped the turbine back into his inventory and spoke.


    "One of said ''random stuff'' that I picked up is a bracelet that doubles your energy maniption speeds. I don''t remember hearing a ''thank you'' for that��"


    Eliza chuckled as she heard his words, bringing the arm-bearing bracelet up to her chest, and holding it gently before giving Evan a soft, sweet, unabashed smile.


    "Thank you."


    Although it was two simple words that he heard almost every day, Evan felt that the smile that apanied the words right now made them sound a whole lot different in his ears.


    However, the boy simply heaved a sigh before poking the girl''s cheeks with his fingers, returning to his task of sorting out his inventory right after.


    Eliza''s gaze trailed down to the items on the floor and noticed a few bags of gold coins, with three words escaping her lips right after.


    "Dude, you''re rich."


    "Well��close to half of it is money that belongs to the three of us as a party. But even so, I guess I am considered pretty rich."


    "Close to half of it is still two dozen bags of gold coins, you know?


    Even rich merchants don''t walk around with that much money, and I know that this isn''t all of it because we all have a lot more in the bank."


    Despite this being a topic that hadn''t been broached before, there actually existed banks in Aidos. One would not expect rich travelling merchants to carry bags of gold coins while travelling long distances to sell their wares, or find people with inventory skills to hold their money for them.


    They naturally kept their money, in banks that existed in basically every country of Aidos, with Evan doing the same thing.


    Half of the money the boy actually had was in banks, with the other half being inside his inventory. Even so, that other half was still a lot, hence the reason why he always received surprised gazes whenever he tossed out a bag of gold coins like it was nothing.


    As for the source of the boy''s riches, well, his job as an adventurer actually gave him the least amount of money.


    He hardly took on quests, but when he did, it was always the high-paying quests he picked. He also sold the corpses of the thousands of monsters that he and his party members had killed inside whatever dungeons they had dived into.


    Both to the adventurer''s guilds, or some rich merchants, or directly to mages and alchemists who needed monster materials for their experiments.


    He also got a lot of money from his adventures in the casinos in Uswil''s capital, Shad Glua. Pride was naturally skilled at gambling but Evan didn''t have much in the way of gambling skills.


    So, the boy copied the actions of another spirit contractor he had met over there, using the incorporeal spirits, Ka and Kuro to cheat.


    Unfortunately for the casinos he had ''robbed'', they didn''t have people capable of sensing spirits standing guard so Evan could get away with his actions.


    Or rather, the boy purposely avoided taking such actions in any ce where he sensed a huge amount of spirits clustering as there was a high chance that they were gathered around someone with a simr constitution as him.

 Chapter 282 Prelude To The First I

    The boy also gained money from his ''sightseeing'' into spots that he had wanted to go to from the game, and also happened to have hidden pieces and artifacts that although held great value, didn''t fit his y style or were useless to someone like him.


    Such things were sold off to collectors of artifact and antiques, merchants, mages, and other adventurers, for high sums.


    Gradually, the boy umted a fair amount of riches.


    Coupled with the amount of power he possessed as a Level 200 existence with his identity as the son of a major world power''s Prime minister and the other connections he had built up, the boy was on the path of bing a Rich, Powerful and Influential existence in Aidos.


    Breaking out of his thoughts about this, Evan noticed that Eliza had gone silent, however, he could tell that she was still awake, just petting Kuro''s head while staring nkly.


    He waved a hand in front of her but she did not respond, prompting him to do it again while speaking this time.


    "Aidos to Eliza."


    "��Huh?


    His voice shocked her out of her daze, with the girl turning towards him while letting out a surprised voice. Evan just chuckled and poked her cheek, however, he noticed the girl was still staring at him dumbfoundedly.


    "What?"


    "��you called me by my actual name."


    "Hmm? What''s wrong with that?"


    "��n-nothing. Just that I had gotten so used to you calling me ''Liz'' that hearing you call me by the actual name felt weird."


    Realization shed in his eyes as it dawned on him that he had inadvertently called her by her actual name, before giving her a reply in the next moment.


    "Now that you say it, I actually did. And it feels weird for me too.


    Guess, I''d stick with just Liz.


    Rolls of the tongue better."


    He shrugged as he spoke, before deciding to ask the reason for her earlier listless look.


    "I was just thinking about today. The call with Laurene."


    "Oh. The stuff we found out about the attack, huh?"


    "No, not that. I couldn''t really give a fuck about the undead right now."


    An expression of surprise coloured the face of the young hero as he stared at the battle priestess who was leaning on his shoulder.


    "What with that gaze? Even I have those times okay?


    Besides, I have my mind filled with other things, so right now, thinking about undead creatures is at the bottom of my list of priorities, if it even makes the list."


    Evan nodded as he tossed everything on the floor back into his inventory tilting his body slightly to the left and asking.


    "So, what are these other things that are filling your mind?"


    "I was just thinking about what you said to Laurene��About us."


    "What I said?


    Oh! You mean the part where I told her I was after you?"


    "Why on Aidos did you phrase it like that?"


    The girl''s cheeks flushed red as she lightly hit Evan''s shoulder and spoke, with Evan chuckling a reply.


    "What''s weird about the phrasing? It is a fact that I am after you and I did tell Laurene that."


    "But the way you say it makes it sound weird for some reason."


    Evan shrugged his shoulders in response,bing his hand through her hair like she did to the fur of the cat on herp and asked.


    "What exactly about it is bugging you?"


    "I don''t know, that''s why it''s bugging me even more."


    The girl sighed in exasperation as she spoke, with her lips curling into a pout right after, an expression Evan found cute but chose not toment on.


    "Hey, Evan.


    How did you feel when you asked me out for the first time?


    Did you feel nervous?"


    "Now this is certainly one way to turn the mood awkward in one go.


    Anyway, I wasn''t nervous.


    I was fairly confident of getting a positive reply before I took action."


    "Huh? Why?"


    Hearing the girl''s question, Evan ced both hands at the sides of her face and tilted her head to make it so he was looking right into her eyes.


    It was a bit of a strange position, given that his head was currently upside down in her field of view but it was enough for her to see the emotions in his eyes as he spoke.


    "Are you really asking me this?


    Why else would I be confident besides how tantly obvious it is, that the both of us have feelings for each other?


    To anyone else besides Pride, Laurene, and whoever was listening in on my conversation with her, we''re already dating.


    It''s just that you seem to want to dy making it official for some reason.


    Heck, I even admire how patient I''ve been in these past few months."


    Hearing his words, her sapphire eyes widened in silence for a moment, before she forcefully turned her gaze away, but not fast enough for Evan to miss the tinge of red appearing on her cheeks.


    "Why''s it so hot in here all of a sudden?


    What happened to that early spring breeze that was blowing like a few seconds ago?"


    "And there you go, casually changing the topic."


    "No, It''s not that. I actually am feeling hot.


    Which is weird considering that there''s a standing fan in here."


    "Wh-!"


    Evan was about to shoot a question at her, only to realize that at some point in time that he hadn''t noticed, Eliza had allowed the thin silk robe she was wearing to fall off her shoulders.


    Although she hadn''tpletely removed it, the robe''s absence meant that her fair shoulders were now exposed, along with him now being given a clear view of the valley in between the two mounds of flesh that the jacket had been covering.


    Her thin, almost see-through negligee didn''t make things any better, allowing the boy to realize that she actually wasn''t wearing anything underneath it, at least on her upper body.


    "What did you want to say?"


    It was at this time that Eliza asked about his earlier cut-off words, while leaning her head backwards and staring at him with an upturned gaze. One of her hands was making a small fanning motion while the other was tugging at the open cor of her gown.


    Despite the fact that she was asking him a question, the young hero''s full attention had been drawn to her cleavage and the fact that he could almost see her nipples from his position.


    "Are you doing this on purpose?"


    "Doing what?"

 Chapter 283 Prelude To The First II [Slightly NSFW]

    Despite the fact that Eliza was asking him a question, the young hero''s full attention had been drawn to her cleavage and the fact that he could almost see her nipples from his position.


    "Are you doing this on purpose?"


    "Doing what?"


    Eliza replied to his question with a question of her own, tilting her head slightly to the side and looking at him with a questioning gaze holding hints of confusion.


    The boy noticed a bead of sweat slowly flow down from her neck and down into her cleavage, with his brow twitching in annoyance as he spoke to the spirit on Eliza''sp.


    "Kuro, excuse us.


    And make sure Ka stays with Amy till tomorrow morning."


    The cat-shaped spirit instantly got the hint and jumped off onto the ground, melding into the shadow of the couch and moving towards the next room where Pride was with Amy and Ka.


    "Huh? Why did yo-!"


    Eliza could not finish her question as Evan abruptly leaned forward, causing her who was leaning on him to temporarily lose her bnce and fall back onto the couch.


    Before she could even fully react, his left hand moved with the full force of his C+ agility stat, capturing both her wrists and pinning them down on the armrest of the couch above her head.


    He then sat up on one knee and put his other hand on the back of the couch behind Eliza''s head. He leaned in close to her, leaving her with little to no room to escape.


    Their bodies weren''t too close, but their faces were so close that their breath intertwined, and if he leaned in just a little, their noses would bump.


    Evan was close enough to see that the long eyshes that rimmed Eliza''s wide, sapphire eyes were quivering slightly.


    "��did you just getfortable with me, enough to lower your guard around me like this?


    Or you''re doing this on purpose?


    I''m thinking it''s thetter, though."


    "��w-what are you talking about?"


    Hearing the questions she was asked, the girl held her breath in silence for a moment, replying the moment after with a slightly shaky voice, while averting her eyes.


    However, Evan simply forced her gaze back to him and opened his mouth to speak.


    "Hey, Liz��"


    As Evan spoke, his right hand moved and grabbed a few strands of her hair that was spread across the sheets like a flowing river of gold, bringing it up to his lips while staring right into her eyes.


    "��do you understand exactly how you look right now?"


    After asking that question, Evan dropped the hair in his hand and reached out to her lips, tracing them with his thumb, before slowly moving his gaze down from her lips, with his right hand following suit.


    The boy made no attempt to hide the desire in his eyes as they trailed down her body, his hand being an indicator of where his gaze currently rested, moving from her peach-like light pink lips, to her fair neckline, before trailing down her to her chest.


    Something about the slight smirk that shed on his handsome face stuck a chord within Eliza and caused her breaths to slowly grow erratic as she watched Evan slide his palm in between her breasts.


    Although his hand lingered in between the two mounds of flesh for a while, that was not the final stop as his palm slowly slithered out from her bosom and moved down to her t stomach.


    No words were exchanged between them as the boy''s hand went lower, sliding across her thin waist and over to the right side of her thigh at thest moment, causing the girl to let out a breath of relief she didn''t even know she was holding.


    However, the grin that appeared on Evan''s face right after made her realize that she had celebrated a bit too soon as the boy''s palm slowly slid over to the inner part of her thigh, before beginning to move upwards at a snail''s pace.


    His gaze returned to her face while his hand remained where it was, with the girl meeting his eyes and seeing the mirth within them. However, there was something else mingled in his gaze, and it was so intense that it took every ounce of her self-control not to look away from him.


    Perhaps seeing as she didn''t avert her gaze, despite her flushed face, Evan stopped moving his hand as his eyes widened in slight surprise.


    He licked his lips slowly and then his gaze travelled across her body, like he was trying to decide just exactly what to do with her.


    He didn''t move for what seemed like an agonizingly long time. The two just remained there, motionless on the couch, their gazes locked on each other. He then slowly leaned forward, bringing his face closer to hers and stopping at a distance so close that their breaths intertwined.


    Eliza''s light-pink lips trembled, and she squeezed her eyes shut tightly. Her face was flushed, and she was taking shallow, timid breaths.


    She appeared nervous, as if she was preparing for some kind of impact, but her lips looked soft and sweet. She seemed simultaneously innocent and alluring, a contradiction that made it hard for Evan to look away.


    The boy understood what her actions meant, and that was what made it all the more captivating.


    This sight of her aroused both his desire to tease her and the urge to make her his right that instant, with the former, surprisingly being higher at this time.


    ''She made me wait this long, it''s fine to mess with her a bit.''


    With that thought, he shifted his head as he leaned forward, nting a light kiss on her cheek before speaking with a sultry voice, with his breath tickling her ear and sending a wave of heat radiating across her body.


    However, the words he spoke were like water poured to douse the mes that had begun burning within her.


    "Didn''t I tell you I was saving it for when I get a ''yes''. "

 Chapter 284 The First [NSFW]

    "Didn''t I tell you I was saving it for when I get a ''yes''. "


    Eliza''s eyes flew open upon hearing his words, and her expression changed in an instant. Instead of the bashfulness from before, now it was more like equal parts shame and anger.


    She red at him through tear-filled eyes but the boy acted like he didn''t notice and took his hands off her body, even the left hand that was pinning her wrists down on the couch''s armrest.


    The sudden absence of the heat of his palm on her body filled her with a strange sense of loss, and Evan could see it in her eyes.


    He could also see the desire to regain that heat, barely preventing his lips from curling up into a grin as he opened his mouth to speak.


    His earlier words attempted to quench the mes burning within her, but the fire that had been lit in the girl beneath him was far too fierce to be doused by that little bit of water.


    It was something that Evan had wanted and had nned for, even so, he couldn''t help but widen his eyes in surprise when the mes burst out with ferocity, as if he had instead spurred them on.


    "It''s gettingte. You''re obviously feeling tired from the day''s activities, so how about yo-!"


    Evan never got toplete that statement and the reason couldn''t be any more obvious.


    It was simply because the lips that had been speaking, had been covered up by another pair of light pink lips.


    The boy''s surprise could be seen in his eyes as he hadn''t expected Eliza to just abruptly grab the cor of his shirt while he was still speaking, pull him towards her and smash her lips against his all in one fell swoop.


    The set of motions was so swift and precise that it took the boy a second for his brain toprehend exactly what was going on.


    But in the next second when he did;


    "Mmph?!"


    The girl could see herself reflected in Evan''s eyes as the boy ovepped his lips on hers, with his tongue invading her mouth.


    Eliza reflexively opened her teeth when she felt Evan''s tongue hit them, allowing the boy to find hers. As soon as he found it, he immediately entangled it in his, sucking on it and making her feel weak all over.


    She was sure that if he did that while she was standing, then she would not have been able to remain on her feet afterwards.


    Such a random thought passed through her mind, something that Evan might have noticed as the next action he took pulled all her attention towards him, even the small percentage of her mind that was thinking random things.


    One of his hands went right around her body and enclosed her waist, pulling her closer to him while the other rested on the side of her face.


    At first, she just let Evan''s tongue explore her mouth, but gradually she recovered from her surprise and began responding, starting to suck on his too.


    Evan''s hand that was on her waist held onto it tighter while pulling her closer, with the girl feeling her body press on his.


    At this point, she was fully epting the kiss. Their first deep kiss that continued until they ran out of breath.


    When their lips separated, Evan could see a trail of saliva at the corner of her mouth, something he slowly licked while gazing directly into her eyes.


    She was surprised but there was no resistance. Rather, her face was so flushed right now that one might think that she was drunk if they saw her appearance without any context.


    They just continued staring at each other, with Evan''s eyes remaining on her until Eliza''s embarrassment finally caught up to her, with the girl turning her head away.


    **Sigh


    The boy heaved a small sigh before moving his second hand down to Eliza''s waist, he then ced his both legs on the ground and lifted her up into the air.


    "Huh? W-what the?!"


    Ignoring her surprised words, Evan sat back down on the couch and ced Eliza''s body atop his, such that she was sitting astride hisp.


    Because of the position, her eye level was a bit higher than his so he had to raise his head slightly to stare into her eyes.


    His hand found its way around her waist and pulled her body closer to his again, inadvertently snapping Eliza out of her daze.


    "E-evan��"


    The embarrassed expression on her face made him want to tease her again but he decided against it this time, instead choosing to carry on with his original intentions.


    "Hey, Liz."


    "I like you."


    The boy''s eyes widened in surprise for the nth time this night as Eliza beat him to the chase, expressing her feelings directly.


    "I actually have for a while now. I just could not find the courage to admit it, I guess?"


    It was quite the unsophisticated confession without any flowery expressions, so Evan, being himself, decided to go with a simr way of responding.


    "I know. I have known for a while now.


    I feel the same way about you too."


    Eliza wasn''t surprised upon hearing his words, having expected him to pull something like that.


    The two gazed at each other in silence as the distance between them naturally narrowed, with them closing their eyes gently.


    Although both of them had their eyes closed, they kissed each other on the lips so naturally.


    Unlike before, it was a simple short kiss.


    But when their lips parted, and when their hot breaths flowed out between the small gap in their lips.


    When they gently opened their eyes and gazed at each other.


    Evan and Eliza realized at the same time.


    That something had changed.


    Even though it wasn''t the first kiss, maybe perhaps it was because this one was after the two had spoken their feelings for each other.


    The two focused on each other more after the words Eliza spoke without realizing it.


    "O-one more time."

 Chapter 285 The First II [NSFW]

    "O-one more time."


    She hugged Evan''s neck and spoke in a stupor as if she was drunk, and Evan wasn''t crazy enough to dissuade her. He grasped her waist and kissed her on the lips once more.


    It was a sweet soft kiss.


    But they both felt that only that wasn''t enough, and they needed something a bit more intense.


    Eliza''s lips instinctively parted and the tip of her tongue moved forward, meeting with Evan''s.


    Sounds of kissing filled the entire bedroom. All of their attention was on each other alone.


    As their tongues tangled with each other, feeling every corner of each other''s mouths, Evan''s hands began to move around her body, exploring it all around.


    The moment his hands cupped her butt, the girl''s eyes widened as she broke away from the kiss instantly.


    "Hmm? Is there a problem?"


    Seeing Evan ask that question with a look of pure confusion on his face despite the fact that his hands were currently groping her ass, Eliza''s brow twitched in annoyance.


    Even so, she didn''t move to take his hands off.


    She opened her mouth to speak but in that short moment, Evan''s lips captured hers in a deep kiss.


    He tightened his hold on her ass and started fondling and massaging it, as if trying tomit its shape to his memory.


    While he cupped her butt cheeks which were soft enough that it felt like his hands would just sink in, Eliza took the initiative, with her tongue invading into his mouth.


    He weed it with his and sucked it deeper while his hands pulled her negligee up a bit, finding their way under both the gown and her underwear, and sinking themselves into her soft butt directly through the skin, caressing it as they continued engaging in their deep kiss.


    Eliza''s current expression was now too erotic to look at, with her lust being visibly seen in it. Her free hands that were removed from the back of Evan''s neck, turned their attention to the silk jacket that was loosely hanging on her body, letting it fall off to the ground.


    Amidst their deep kiss, Evan could hear her soft moansing out.


    ''She''s feeling it.''


    ? Those were Evan''s thoughts as he caressed her butt, with his hands asionally moving towards her thighs and rubbing them.


    When they felt their breaths running out, they separated their lips, with Evan turning to her white neck, kissing it passionately.


    His tongue travelled from her neck to her corbone, inadvertently pushing the thin straps of the negligee off her shoulders.


    Evan felt her body jerk a bit the moment the second strap fell off, pausing the movements of his hands and looking up at her, like a boy asking his mother.


    "Can I?"


    "Y-yes"


    The instant he was granted permission, he buried his face in her chest, with his gaze moving to her visible erect nipples that were close to his eyes.


    He moved his mouth towards one of them and sucked on it through the cloth.


    "Aah��"


    The soft sweet moans that escaped her lips and Evan''s sucking were the only sounds that could be heard in the room.


    His hands freed themselves from her butt and moved upwards, pulling up the gown in the process as they proceeded to settle on her bare breasts, grabbing them and beginning to massage them both with his hands.


    Evan broke away from their kiss and looked up at her face, seeing it turn red with her lust visible in her eyes.


    "Y-your hands. Huaa..."


    She leaned her head down, aiming her lips at his. He didn''t shy away and weed the peach-like light pink lips with his, while his hands that were on her breasts rubbed the top of her nipples, slowly stimting them.


    Their lips met each other and they sunk into another deep French kiss, eventually breaking away as Evan went to her neck, ravishing it with his lips and tongue while his fingers yed with her nipples.


    He flicked them both before pulling his hands back down to her ass, however, as if to express her desire for his hands to return, she moved her arms to the back of his head and hugged it tightly, pulling him closer and letting him drown on this soft paradise of her body.


    Evan, however, just nuzzled his face in her breasts while one of his hands slid down from her ass towards her inner thigh, slowly moving towards the centre.


    He could hear her heartbeats elerating as he slowly inched towards her most sacred ce, stretching out a finger which he used to reach out towards the hard but at the same time soft little pearl that was hidden at the top of her swollen lips.


    Although it was through her underwear, Evan could feel just how drenched that ce was as he slowly traced his finger across her slit, from top to bottom.


    "Ahhhh~~!"


    A loud moan fled her light pink lips, with her two hands immediately covering them up on reflex as she shot a tear-filled re towards Evan.


    However, the boy just returned his hand back to her ass and groped it tightly, before pulling her body towards his, closing up thest bit of space in between them.


    As their bodies were now practically glued to each other, Evan could feel her wet underwear staining his shorts, while Eliza''s eyes widened with her cheeks turning as red as possible.


    Naturally, the reason was because she felt his hardness that was pushing up against her. Though she knew that he would definitely be as aroused as she was, the pulsing thing she felt rubbing against her exceeded her expectations.


    ''H-huge��''


    That one word floated in her mind as she stared right into Evan''s eyes. Her hands slowly dropped from her upper mouth, reaching towards the lower one, or rather, the raging hard hot cock that was rubbing against it.


    She timidly touched it softly, slowly circling her fingers around it, eventually wrapping her hand around it and grabbing it tightly, all while she and Evan locked gazes.


    The two were lost in each other''s eyes, which was perhaps why they noticed itte. Evan''s presence detection picked it up at the exact same time that Eliza''s life force sensing did.


    In that short moment, Evan''s instinctive action was to reach his hand towards the silk jacket on the floor and drape it over Eliza''s body, covering her up just in time for the door of the room to open.


    "Yo! Exin how this guild car-!"

 Chapter 286 Indulging In A Bit Of Desire I [NSFW]

    "Yo! Exin how this guild car-!"


    In walked a dark-haired, red-eyed demon, wearing an untucked cored shirt and a pair of ck trousers, with a D rank adventurer''s guild card in his hand.


    The moment he stepped into the room and looked up, he locked eyes with an obviously annoyed Evan, and upon seeing Eliza''s position on him, he instantly understood the reason for the boy''s annoyance.


    He heaved a sigh of exasperation as he opened his mouth to speak with a pissed-off tone.


    "For the love of all that is right and just, at least lock the fucking door!"


    With that statement, he instantly turned around and left the room, mming the door behind him and leaving the two teenagers in the now silent room.


    Evan heaved a sigh, before pushing Eliza''s body off his, making her stand while he walked towards the door and locked it, twice.


    Turning back, he saw that the girl was still staring at her palm in a daze, a smallugh escaping his mouth as he figured out the reason why.


    The boy took this chance to close the balcony door and windows, locking them too before moving towards the dazed girl.


    ''Can''t have any ''sounds'' escaping the room now, can I?''


    Eliza was still lost in her thoughts when two arms suddenly hugged her from behind, pulling her body backwards until there was zero space in between her body and that of the owner of those arms.


    "E-evan..!"


    "��Liz."


    Evan rested his chin on her shoulder and called out her name in a husky voice. His mouth was right against her neck, and the delicious tickle of his breath made her shiver.


    "��!"


    Eliza flinched with surprise as Evan''s arms locked themselves in a cross shape in front of her body, with his hands grabbing onto her breasts, squeezing tightly enough for him to feel thempletely.


    "Mmn~~"


    She let out a low moan as Evan''s hands began being adventurous, with his thumbs and index fingers going on to pinch her nipples through the fabric of her negligee.


    In addition, Evan took in a deep breath as Eliza moved her slender waist back at the same time as she stood on her tiptoes, a result of her being surprised when Evan suddenly pinched her nipples.


    ? All this resulted in her pressing her soft butt over Evan''s crotch, which while covered by a pair of shorts, the thin fabric did little to stop him from feeling its softness.


    Even more so as his mind kept on going back to when he was groping that same butt with his bare hands no less than two minutes ago.


    The two froze for a short moment, with Eliza''s nervousness rising as she was still on her tiptoes. Naturally, this meant that Evan''s rock-hard dick was properly sandwiched in the middle of the paradise that was her ass cheeks, even if it wasn''t directly.


    Eliza''s hands ovepped his, subconsciously pressing his hands harder onto her breasts while his dick poked her from behind.


    Evan felt his face being caressed by a few strands of silky hair as Eliza slowly stopped standing on her toes, resulting in her short negligee that was already pulled up, getting caught on his hard rod and lifting up, exposing her lower body in the process.


    "W-wait. L- Let go of me first��"


    Eliza whispered softly as her heart beat furiously in her chest.


    She was still slightly surprised by the sudden turn of events, with the resultant embarrassment for her previous actions catching up to her in one fell swoop.


    "Ugh��"


    Evan groaned softly as he felt his dick being moved from side to side as a result of Eliza''s light struggle. He squeezed the girl''s breasts and spoke in a low but serious voice.


    "Stop...!"


    Eliza jumped back in surprise, with a moan escaping her lips as Evan took back one of his hands and used it to take off the silk jacket on her shoulders, before returning it back to her breast and squeezing hard.


    He then pushed his palms inwards, resulting in her body being pressed closer to his.


    When Eliza saw that Evan''s hands had be stationary, she heaved a sigh of relief and tried to calm herself as she spoke.


    "H-hey, Evan."


    "��yes, Liz."


    "Um, well, how do I say this?"


    "?"


    "E-even if I''m suddenly feeling c-courageous tonight, I don''t t-think I''m THAT courageous."


    Although she didn''t explicitly state what she was talking about, Evan could tell, with a trace of dissatisfaction shing through his eyes, right before he adopted a teasing smirk and spoke.


    "Well, my dear, Liz.


    Do you think this guy is gonna calm himself down anytime soon?"


    "!"


    As he spoke, he ground his hips against her ass, naturally resulting in the shaft that was in between her ass cheeks poking her even harder than it already was.


    He simultaneously pinched her hard nipples, his eyes filled with mirth as he watched her try to stifle her moans.


    "A-anything b-but THAT��"


    Evan''s eyes widened momentarily upon hearing her words, his movements stopping as he pulled his arms back and turned her body around, making her face him.


    He met her lust-filled gaze with his, staring at her in silence for a few moments before finally speaking.


    "Well, one step at a time, I guess.


    Though, this would probably be more than just one step."


    Without waiting for her to even understand what he meant, he kissed her, his tongue finding its way into her mouth with zero resistance and entangling with hers.


    His hands moved towards her ass as he grabbed the two cheeks, lifting her body up from the ground and letting his arms slide across her thigh to under her knees.


    "Mmn?!"


    Although she was surprised at his sudden actions, he didn''t give her a chance to speak, continuing to seal her lips with his.


    Her arms and legs circled behind him reflexively, clutching him tightly as he began walking.


    The room was fairlyrge and there was a bit of space in between the couch and the bed, so it took more than just a few steps for him to get there, even more so when his speed was slowed since part of his focus was on kissing the girl in his arms.


    With each step, his hard cock kept rubbing on her pussy. Even behind the cloth of her underwear and his shorts, they could feel each other.


    Her arms tightened each time and moaned into his mouth as he moved towards the bed, dropping her on therge piece of furniture.

 Chapter 287 Indulging In A Bit Of Desire II [NSFW]

    With each step Evan took, his hard cock kept rubbing on her pussy. Even behind the cloth of her underwear and his shorts, they could feel each other.


    Her arms tightened each time and moaned into his mouth as he moved towards the bed, dropping her on therge piece of furniture.


    Evan took off his shirt which was now sticking to his body because of sweat, with his shorts following suit. He could see Eliza staring at him intently in the process, her eyes clouded with desire as she took simr actions, pulling off the thin negligee and revealing her bare upper body.


    The boy felt his cock getting harder at the sight, with a slight gasp escaping Eliza''s lips as she saw the tent in his underpants rise a bit higher.


    Pushing the clothes aside, he dove into her arms on the bed, pushing her down and kissing her. From her forehead, nose, both of her cheeks andstly, her pink lips.


    The girlyfortably on the bed, letting him do what he wanted, slowly parting her legs as she responded to his kiss.


    Naturally, there was no way Evan would ignore the two breasts that just made their debut appearance to him, with his right-hand caressing one softly while his lips sucked on the other.


    His tongue and finger yed with her erect nipples, causing her to moan out loud.


    Evan felt like he couldn''t get tired as he sucked at her nipples, ying with both in his mouth as her continuous moans sounded out.


    His fingers switched out with his lips, and he went on to kiss her lips again, before moving down, lightly pecking her nipples on the way as he moved on to kiss her stomach.


    She felt his warm mouth against her skin, shivering in delight as he kissed his way all the way down until he was between her legs.


    He then looked her in the eye again, his breathing so hard she could feel it on her inner thighs.


    His hands moved from her nipples to her panties, slowly pulling them off and revealing her pussy, allowing him to see how drenched and wet it was and how erect her exposed clit was.


    She reflexively tried to close her legs but Evan ced his knees in between them, and slowly separated them, turning them open.


    He could feel her trembling, be it because of nervousness, excitement or pleasure.


    Evan leaned in for a kiss, as if to calm the slightly nervous girl down, before moving his lips towards one of her nipples and taking it in his mouth.


    He yed with it using his tongue while one of his hands went down to that sacred ce, tracing her body using his finger from her navel down to her slit.


    This time, her legs opened themselves, giving his finger ess to it.


    His hand was instantly drenched in her liquids as he rubbed her pussy and her swollen clit. Her moans grew louder as he simultaneously stimted her nipples and pussy.


    "Nn, nhmnnnn! �� haah~, haah~��"


    Each time he squeezed her clit, she let out a muffled voice as her body trembled, he then abruptly pushed a finger inside, eliciting a loud moan.


    "Hyannn!? "


    His other hand yed with her second nipple, increasing the stimtion she felt, while slowly inserting another finger inside her pussy.


    Her body jerked up as her love nectar gushed out, with her moans gradually turning into screams of pleasure that even the soundproofing of the room would not be able to prevent from escaping.


    However, Evan easily prevented that by sealing her lips with a kiss. One of his hands yed with her rock-hard nipples, practically moulding her soft breasts to his will.


    As for the sheet under her butt, it had simply be a puddle as Evan''s fingers didn''t stop even for a moment, and the scent of her excitement had flooded the room by then.


    Her legs were shaking non-stop and she was shaking her head furiously as tears ran down her face.


    Evan''s thumb yed with her clit as he kissed her lips, while his index and middle fingers explored her lower lips.


    Her butt practically jumped off the bed as his fingers moved faster, with Evan having no choice but to let go of her breast and use his free hand to pull her body down and hold it in ce as Eliza''s back arched and her body began to spasm uncontrobly.


    The girl''s eyes slowly began to roll as Evan''s finger thrust into her precious ce, slowly arriving towards the greatest climax she had ever felt.


    However, at thest moment, right before she felt that she was about to reach the ninth cloud and see the real heaven, Evan abruptly yanked his fingers out of her pussy.


    Her eyes widened and her sapphire pupils contracted repeatedly as she hurriedly looked down and screamed anxiously.


    "WHY?!!"


    Eliza was no stranger to orgasms.


    Although she was a virgin, this did not mean that she had not indulged in a little ''self-care'' at least once.


    However, she was sure that the orgasm she was about to have now was by far greater than the most powerful one she had ever given herself.


    Unfortunately, the smug grin on Evan''s face showed her that she would not be reaching it anytime soon, as he slowly traced his finger across her slit before removing itpletely.


    He then nted small kisses along her inner thighs and kept her turned on, and just when she thought that the feeling from before would disappear, Evan attacked her clit with his thumb and his index finger dove into her cave.


    "Ahhhhhh~~~!!"


    She moaned in pleasure from the stimtion on her clit and how Evan used his fingers to gently give her a pleasant tingling sensation.


    However, the same thing as before happened.


    "NO!"


    Eliza screamed in frustration, and anger, but mostly sadness as she felt Evan''s movementse to an abrupt halt.


    Evan repeated this set of actions two more times, nearly making the girl go crazy from the pleasure, but denying it from her at thest moment.


    It was as if he was paying her back for wasting so much time to respond to his confession, which he actually was.


    At this point, her pussy lips looked as if they were swelling up, with honey continuously leaking out from the slit.


    "Ahnnn! Hnnnnn! Hyaaann!? "

 Chapter 288 Indulging In A Bit Of Desire III [NSFW]

    "Ahnnn! Hnnnnn! Hyaaann!? "


    Each time his fingers moved, she cried out in embarrassment in a lovely voice and with teary eyes, making Evan want to go on the attack even more.


    He raised his body upward as he elerated the movement of his hand and fingers, pushing his chest firmly and dominantly over her two breasts, which caused a shift in the contour of her breasts.


    The sensation of her erect nipples caressing his chest caused him to groan softly, but he repressed his pleasure and instead brought his mouth to her ear, using his free hand to steady her head.


    "Do you want to cum, my dear Liz?"


    His voice sounded unbelievably sensual, husky and raspy, dripping with lust and desire.


    The hot breath caressing her ears and his voice, made Eliza open her eyes weakly, subconsciously nodding in between sobs and moans.


    "Then beg for it."


    As if he were an incubus attempting to entice her with seductive words, her eyes widened at the sound of his whisper.


    "Beg for it...?"


    Eliza subconsciously repeated his words as she felt Evan''s finger stop its movements once more.


    Just as she wrapped her head around Evan''s words, the boy''s finger resumed, causing her to moan out loud, with her eyes shing several times as her blurry mind picked out the right words for her to say for her torture to finally end.


    "Ah... Ugh... Ah~.....se"


    "What did you say? Louder, I didn''t hear you."


    "��ase��let me��cu.."


    Eliza spoke in a whisper that was barely audible.


    "I won''t know what you want if you aren''t loud enough, you know?"


    As he was speaking, he squeezed her clit and her nipples like buttons. This caused the girl''s body to spring up as her eyes opened, and she cried out the things that he wanted to hear as if she were operating on autopilot.


    "Please! I''m begging you, let me cum already!"


    And Evan did exactly just that.


    Eliza climaxed as her ass jumped into the air. Her body was convulsing and she could not keep the same posture, with her mind going nk and her eyes rolling to the back of her head.


    Her climaxsted a while as all the pleasure Evan had been denying her hit her all in one big wave.


    It was only about five minutes after she came that her quivering body began to calm down, showing just how powerful that orgasm had been.


    "*haahh*��*haaaah*�� E-evan"


    The girl subconsciously reached her hand out to Evan, so he replied to her with a kiss.


    "Did it feel good? "


    "��Y-yeah"


    She replied with a reddened face as she nodded. Seeing this, Evan smiled as he hugged her body before whispering in her ear.


    "It''s nice and all that you felt good, but you see, you''re not the only one who needs to have a good time, now, don''t you think?"


    Eliza''s eyes widened as her cheeks turned redder, however, she slowly nodded in response as her hands went towards Evan''s lower body.


    The moment she grabbed his dick, her hand flinched due to how hot and hard it felt, but she didn''t let go, using her other arm to slowly pull off his underwear.


    A few momentster and their positions were reversed with Evan being the one seated on the bed while Eliza knelt on the floor in front of him, with her hand gripping his dick while she stared at it in a daze.


    She held it in her hand and started stroking it slowly, as if trying to memorize its shape, using the precum that started to umte as a lubricant.


    "Wow! "


    She let out a flustered voice after she saw his dick twitch in light excitement, with her movements gradually slowing.


    It was her first time seeing and touching a dick so she ended up taking a long, hard look as it stood in front of her face.


    "��It has a weird shape. And on top of that��it''s big"


    "J-just what on Aidos are you saying? "


    Eliza had slowly brought her head closer to it as she spoke. Since she was talking so close to his dick, it was reacting sensitively to her breathing.


    It had be a light stimulus to his cock and was making it twitch.


    "There are veins popping out and it''s twitching.


    ��


    And it''s because of me��"


    Although thetter half of her statement was a small mutter to herself, Evan still heard it loud and clear, with her looking up to him with a smug expression on her face as she started stroking his dick faster.


    Her moist fingers started from the tip and ran down the shaft until she reached the end of his rod, making it react sensitively as his body trembled involuntarily.


    "��kuu! "


    Her smug grin grew as her fingers gripped his dick tightly, rubbing it up and down with clumsy movements.


    She then used her other hand to wipe off the liquid leaking out of the tip of his swollen dick, with her index finger and thumb pulling the string of liquid together.


    The stroking sounds created by her moist hands echoed inside the room as she held up her other hand, gazing at the liquid on it in a slight daze while she continued rubbing his dick with her other hand, speeding her movements with the leaking precum mixing together with her fingers and acting as a lubricant.


    From Evan''s point of view, her current actions resulted in an erotic scene that caused a feeling of excitement to spread around his body, making him restless.


    Her fingers ran up the veins on the shaft of his dick and rubbed back the tip she held in her palm. Then, her hands went down again and repeated the same movements�� with his desire to cum quickly rising with Eliza''s dirty hand movements.


    When he looked at her desperately stroking his cock in front of him, certain thoughts popped into his mind.


    ''��I want to put it in her mouth.


    I want to cum in there.''


    And he acted on those thoughts.


    "Liz, can you give me a blow job? "

 Chapter 289 Indulging In A Bit Of Desire IV [NSFW]

    "Liz, can you give me a blow job? "


    "L-like this? "


    Eliza broke out of her daze and spoke with slight hesitation, pausing for a moment before boldly putting the tip into her mouth.


    "Y-yeah. Like that. Lick it just like that"


    He unexpectedly let out some moans as he felt the warmth of flesh inside her mouth.


    Her warm slimy tongue was wrapped around the tip of his dick, with the gentle touch of her tongue also having a slightly rougher feel to it.


    It feltpletely different from a hand job.


    "I wonder if you can move back and forth as you suck on it? "


    "Fffo-ffokay"


    When he said that, Eliza started to slowly move back and forth as she sucked.


    "Hnnnnn��kuchuu��grgrgg��Nnnn��haaa~~"


    Her slightly rough tongue and the insides of her mouth were being pushed away. Even the minor feeling of her hard teeth was stimting to him.


    Evan''s expression turned into a sloppy one every time he felt that.


    He found it cute that she was ncing at him from below to peep at my reactions. The inside of his dick started to boil from the visual excitement he was feeling from stuffing a beautiful girl''s mouth full of his dick.


    Salivapletely covered his tip and rod as her rough, spit-covered tongue rubbed his dick.


    "��It feels good, Liz"


    "Hnnn��n��frrrrgrr��.frrgr"


    When he said reassuring words to her as he stroked her hair, she happily smiled and continued sucking right away.


    "Hey, Liz.


    I want to feel my dick between these."


    As he spoke, he leaned his body forwards and pinched the tips of her nipples with his index and thumb fingers, causing her to let out a soft moan, one that made the blow job he was receiving feel even better.


    She red at him with a tear-filled gaze but he acted as if he could not notice, activating partial blindness as he continued ying with her nipples, all while his toe moved towards her lonely clit and poked at it.


    "Mmnh?!"


    Her pussy was still wet, and very sensitive even though some time had passed since her climax, however, Evan just teased her a bit before returning his attention to her nipples.


    She pulled his dick out of her mouth, licking it from the base up to the tip and sucking out some of the umting precum.


    Evan watched her in earnest, savouring every bit of the pleasure she was giving him.


    Once she was done lubricating his dick with her saliva, she lifted the two mounds of flesh on her chest and put his fully erect dick between them.


    She then looked up at him, with the lust in her eyes leaking out, that just her putting his dick between her breasts made it twitch like it was about to burst out.


    Seeing his dick wrapped in her breasts so easily, Evan''s mind decided to push forward a certain line of thought.


    ''I''m not so sure but I think she''d at least be a D using my world''s standards, and she''s still growing. That means in the future, she might grow big enough that my little brother might get lost in them.''


    His thoughts were cut short when she started to squeeze his dick between her breasts and started stroking it with them. Her tit job was so pleasurable that Evan started humping his hips to better feel it.


    Seeing him going out of control, Eliza put the head of his dick that was sticking out in her mouth. Sucking it and continuing the tit job.


    The boy soon realized that the pleasure he was being given was getting too much, such that he could not resist letting out a moan of pleasure.


    Her sucking started to use her tongue, circling it around the tip that further stimted it. The speed of her tit job increased faster and faster as her hold on his dick squeezed tighter.


    From all those stimtions, it didn''t take long before his cum built up on the tip.


    The inside of her mouth suddenly narrowed, and his dick was being squeezed by her soft tongue and the flesh of her mouth. She moved her head back and forth like that as the slurp sounds echoed.


    His desire to cum suddenly increased from her movements; it was as if she was trying to suck the semen out of his dick.


    "Liz. Ahhh... I''m cumming!"


    "Mmuuuuuu?! "


    As his semen spurted out inside of her mouth, her eyes opened wide from the surprise.


    His dick was pulsating as it quickly sent out a wave of semen, with Eliza reflexively pulling her mouth out after the first shot entered inside.


    Even so, that wasn''t the end as he shot out more, spraying it all over her face and breasts, staining her golden hair with his milky white cum.


    "��Ahh��that felt really good"


    Evan let out a sigh of relief as he felt a feeling so good that it was dizzying, it was a wonderful feeling of satisfaction from releasing everything that he had pent up inside him, and the fact that it sprayed all over her body filled him with a different kind of pleasure.


    "*cough, cough*.


    Bitter��"


    She spoke that one word as she swallowed the bit of semen that entered her mouth before continuing.


    "��and it gets caught in my throat."


    She coughed lightly and wiped the cum on the edge of her mouth with her finger, before locking gazes with Evan and licking the milky liquid off her finger.


    After doing that, she licked her lips seductively, with Evan''s brow twitching as she spoke.


    "Don''t tempt me any further, Liz."


    A smug grin appeared on her face and she was about to make a snidement, only to feel the dick in between her breasts slowly hardening.


    rm bells rang in her head as she freed Evan''s dick from the confines of her D cups, keeping thement she wanted to make to herself as she slowly began to stand up.


    However, when she looked down and saw the floor that was covered in her juices, her face turned red instantly.


    Seeing this embarrassed expression on her face, Evan let out a shortugh, earning him a tear-filled re which he promptly ignored.

 Chapter 290 Afterwards…

    It took them a while to clean up, owing to the fact that they ended up pleasuring each other in the bath once more, before moving to the bed for thest ''round''.


    Evan decided to get a little adventurous, getting her to align herself atop his body in a way that her mouth was close to his dick and his mouth was right in front of her pussy.


    To put it bluntly, it was 69.


    Eventually, they ended up having to take another bath again, making Evan think that they might just exhaust the water magic stones in the bathroom.


    After changing their clothes to fresher ones (some of Eliza''s clothes are in Evan''s inventory), and opening up the balcony door and windows to air the room, the twoy on the bed cuddling.


    Eliza was still staring at her hands in a daze as she recalled everything that she had just done, only to be snapped out of her daze when she felt something poke her ass.


    Her brow twitched in annoyance as she tried to turn her body around, however, Evan grabbed her tightly and prevented her from doing so.


    "Evannnn��."


    She called out his name with a low growl, however, the boy just chuckled lightly before speaking.


    "What is the problem, my dear Liz?"


    Eliza hit his stomach with her elbow repeatedly upon hearing him ask that shameless question, however, the boy''s next words made her freeze in ce.


    "Although I''ve calmed down for now, if you move around too much, I won''t be ''calm'' anymore."


    The blonde girl slowly dropped her hands, deciding not to wake any sleeping dragons, even though the sleeping dragon in the case was already partially awake.


    ''I guess this is normal, given that the current Me''s parameters are dozens of times higher than that of a normal human.


    Naturally, that includes stamina.''


    Evan hugged Eliza''s body tightly and whispered in her ear, his breath sending shivers through her body as she felt a certain ce be slightly damp.


    "Or maybe, you want to continue? ''Little me'' is definitely ready to go."


    She felt her annoyance reach its peak but didn''t make any big moves, just turning around to flick Evan''s forehead and replying.


    "Go to sleep.


    I''m going to sleep."


    Afterwards, she faced the opposite direction once more and closed her eyes.


    ''Though I say that, it''s impossible for me to sleep when his half-erect dick is poking my ass. And he knows that!''


    The events of the night came to a close with the girl''s aggrievement at the actions of her new boyfriend who she knew was definitely deriving joy in ''teasing'' her like this.


    �� �� ��


    Viscount Perhorn''s Estate


    Dungeon City Osto


    Hobha


    March 22nd


    Year 1052


    The knights of Perhorn, and some of the B-ranked adventurers of Dungeon city Osto, along with a few other lesser nobles who were vassals of the Viscount and the Adventurer''s guild branch executives stood under the early morning sun, watching two people cross swords.


    Contrary to their expectations, the battle between these two beings had turned out to be much more entrancing.


    They watched a thirteen-year-old boy casually grabbing ahold of the arm of the Knight''s of Perhorn''s captain, putting it over his shoulder and flinging the knight captain over using his smaller body as leverage.


    Nevertheless, the Knight captain whose body was tossed against a wall, flipped mid-air and used the wall as a springboard tounch himself back toward his opponent.


    **SWISHH!!


    The sound of a de cutting through the air rang out as the Knight captain''s sword was evaded with the breadth of a hair, with his bodynding on the ground while raising a small cloud of dust.


    He then turned around and plunged back towards his opponents with twin swords waving through the air as though they danced, prompting his opponent to stretch out a hand and call their own weapon back into it.


    Naturally, this opponent was the young hero Evan, who was currently in a sparing match with the Viscount''s Knight captain.


    A rigid metal nk echoed in the silent hall as the spectators watched quietly, with some of them revealing light surprise when they noted that Evan had been repelling the knight captain without moving from the spot.


    Even with the advantage of two weapons, the man had been barely able to shake the boy''s foothold.


    The man narrowed his eyes and took a quick stance, before striking out with his sword faster than Evan had expected, towards Evan''s unarmed side.


    The boy tried to jump back but he wasn''t given any chance to, striking with immense force and a tinge of aura on the de.


    A cut appeared on his arm as the de embedded itself into his elbow, making Evan frown involuntarily for a moment.


    However, the boy''s frown was only momentary as he instantly narrowed his eyes in the next moment and shed towards the side.


    **CLANG!!


    The unforged shed with the Knight captain''s nameless de, with the boy turning his body fully, before pulling back his sword slightly in preparation for retaliation.


    His pupils darted around as he caught the trajectories of the two des, forming an aura de around his palm to block one of them while using the unforged for the other.


    His counterattack came right after, forcing the knight captain to twist his body awkwardly in order to avoid injury, however, it was within Evan''s expectations.


    The boy silently swung his sword towards the off-bnce man, knocking one of his des out of his hand, and pushing him back slightly.


    The knight captain, didn''t want to be outdone so easily, easily rotating his body and bncing himself, before dashing forward with his fastest speed.


    His sword cleaved the air, flying through the air at an even faster speed as it raced towards his opponent. However, this attack was easily received by Evan.


    The knight captain momentarily considered locking their swords to turn it into a pushing contest, but instantly decided against it.


    ''It''s pointless as he''s of a higher level. He''d just overpower me easily.''

 Chapter 291 Little Spar And Final Discussions

    ''It''s pointless as he''s of a higher level. He''d just overpower me easily.''


    Evan, on the other hand, let all the strength behind the knight captain''s sword flow to the ground, a second before he used that momentum to fling him away.


    He flipped andnded upright, before springing forward and swinging his sword multiple times with the speed of a raging whirlwind.


    Evan retaliated without hesitation, blocking the man''s strikes and striking back when possible, with the ground getting cut up by the force of their sword swings.


    The boy calmly dodged a sword swing, before throwing a kick towards the knight captain''s stomach, however, his foot was easily caught by the man who was only forced back lightly.


    He then pushed Evan''s leg back with force, temporarily keeping him off bnce while he attacked.


    Surprisingly, Evan regained his bnce quickly and threw out another kick at a frightening speed, with the knight captain being able to just barely block it before his de was knocked out of his hands by Evan''s sword.


    Before the sound of his weapon touching the ground could be heard, Evan already had the unforged at his neck, stopping him in his tracks and preventing him from going after his sword.


    "My win."


    "Indeed, it is."


    The knight captain raised his arms in mock surrender as the sound of apuse rang out from around them.


    Evan rose an eyebrow in slight surprise, upon seeing as the crowd around them was more than he had expected, with his hands pulling the knight captain''s des towards his body.


    However, right before the swords entered his palm, they stopped and slowly floated in the air.


    "A skill?"


    "Yeah. Weapon Control."


    "I see��"


    The man collected his swords and sheathed them while Evan tossed the unforged into his inventory while making a mental note to get the sword checked out and taken for maintenance.


    "Guild Master Alok, Viscount Perhorn. Mind giving me a few moments to freshen up?"


    "��No problem."


    There was a dyed reply from the guild master while the Viscount remained silent, with Evan walking back into the mansion while slinging a face towel over his neck.


    Seeing the back of the retreating boy, the Alok recalled his earlier battle with the knight captain and thought to himself.


    ''Seems that the boy''s strength isn''t in hisrge number of skills. He also seems like he''s had his fair share of experience in battle too.''


    As for the boy in question, he had made his way back to the assigned room he was given while yawning lightly, unlocking it and walking inside as he told the maid following him to prepare the bath.


    "Morning, sleepy head."


    He casually strolled over to the bedside and ced a kiss on the lips of the still-dazed Eliza who had just woken up.


    She nodded in response to his greeting and opened her mouth to speak, only to tilt her head in confusion upon realising she wasn''t in her room.


    Evan watched as the confusion on her face, slowly turned into recognition, before transitioning into remembrance, realisation and finally embarrassment.


    The young hero burst intoughter upon seeing her cute expressions, earning him a light re from the battle priestess who was now fully awake.


    Just then, the maid reported that she had prepared the bath and Evan dismissed her, before picking up the embarrassed girl''s body from the bed and lifting her into his arms.


    "Huhhh?? W-what are you doing?!"


    "Going to bath? What else does it look like?"


    "I know what it looks like! I''m asking why you''re carrying me too?!"


    "Why indeed?"


    Evan asked with a knowing smile, while a faint blush crept up Eliza''s cheeks as she remembered the happenings in the bathst night.


    Just before she could make a protest, the door opened and Pride walked into the room, with two cats on her shoulders and a visibly confused miniaturized humanoid spirit sitting on her head.


    "It''s barely 8 am in the morning and you guys are at it already?"


    Evan only shrugged his shoulder, while Eliza took advantage of his momentary pause to escape his arms and run behind Pride, as if using the high demon as a shield from Evan.


    And it was indeed a very effective shield as the boy didn''t make any attempt to pull her along with him, only mentioning a few things to Pride before taking his bath and moving over to where the Viscount and guild master were waiting.


    Seeing the boy depart the room, Pride finally turned her attention to the blonde girl who had been hiding behind her all this while.


    "Normally, this would be the part where I ask what happened between the two of you, but I don''t have the patience to listen so Imma just leave Ka and Kuro with you.


    I''m going out to check out the bookshops."


    "Huh? Just wait a bit, let me follow you!"


    �� �� ��


    While the battle priestess scurried to have her bath and catch up to the impatient high demon, Evan was finalizing a few matters with the Viscount and the Guild master in the Viscount''s office.


    "The possibility of other cities alsoing under simr kinds of monster attacks, huh?"


    "It''s definitely there and it most likely happened, but there''s nothing you guys can do about that given that none of the said cities is in Hobha."


    "��.


    Just what are those two siblings and what did they do to get locked up in dungeons for centuries?"


    "There are some things you are better off not knowing, Viscount Perhorn."


    Evan replied to the viscount''s words before taking a sip of the tea prepared for them. He then turned to the guild master and asked a few things concerning giving Greed an ''identity'' with the adventurer''s guild.


    Afterwards, he pulled out an insignia from his inventory, one holding a crest that the two men in the room recognized.


    ''Kasteblum''s coat of arms?''


    Evan then took out his B rank guild card and typed some things inside before pouring his magic power into it and initiating a connection with another card.


    "So, Greed would have to remain C rank, for now- is what you''re saying?"

 Chapter 292 Tower Of Avarice

    "So, Greed would have to remain C rank, for now- is what you''re saying?"


    "��Yeah. I''m not the only one who looks through the guild records. Having someone be B rank a day after they registered is gonna draw attention from the Headquarters.


    Even the direct C rank promotion is also definitely gonna make heads turn, but I''d have an easier time dealing with it."


    "Is that how valued B-rank adventurers are?


    I thought A and S ranks should be the ones to grab that much attention."


    Alok''s brow twitched upon hearing Evan''s question, heaving a light sigh before finally replying.


    "You do realise that anything A rank and above is Grandmaster level, right?"


    Evan pondered on it for a moment, thinking about how Grandmasters were the highest level of battle power for most countries and nodded in affirmation.


    "Makes sense."


    It was then that the connection he had initiated was epted by the other side, however, the other party remained silent even after answering.


    [��]


    The silence carried on for almost thirty seconds before Evan heaved a small sigh and spoke.


    "If you were gonna be toozy to speak, then why even answer in the first ce? You could have given it to someone to do so for you.


    Or toss it to the old man."


    [��his office��far away.]


    "You have teleportation artifacts!"


    [��forgot them at home.]


    The young hero face palmed before replying.


    "Okay. You at least have a memory gem or a recording stone near you, right? Just record what I''m about to say and get someone to send it to Gavin.


    You can do that much, right?"


    In response to his words, the person on the other end of the line, Kasteblum''s Vice Chief Grand Magus, Joanna Ritz, gave a low hum in reply.


    Evan then ryed the new information he gained the day before, along with changes to his initial request for help from Gavin, and new messages to send to the Church in Bonas city.


    "You got all that?"


    [��


    ��yes.]


    "Why the weird pause? don''t tell me you forgot to hit the record button?"


    [��didn''t.]


    Joanna replied with a slow, groggy voice, with Evan asking her to y his recording right back just to be sure she hadn''t missed the button.


    He then pleaded with her to deliver his message to Gavin before the end of the day and stated he was going to call againter to confirm, before cutting the connection and sighing for the nth time this morning.


    "Anyway, back to what we were talking about."


    Evan ced the guild card on the table as he spoke, activating his mystic eyes along with another skill and turning to Alok, before asking him a question and copying his skill at the same time.


    When asked what he was doing by the slightly wary guild master, Evan internally cursed at Grandmasters'' sharp senses while saying that he was using his ''Track Down'' skill to mark his guild card.


    Although he felt it was fishy, Alok sensed Evan''s magic power move and nced at his guild card just in time to see the golden magic power mark sh across the card.


    With that evidence, he went with Evan''s exnation, after confirming that nothing weird happened to him, that is.


    He was blissfully unaware of the fact that a certain hero had taken his energy weapon projection-type skill.


    The trio talked about a few more things and Evan ended up asking the Viscount for assistance in travel supplies and customs, after which he decided to take a walk in the city while speaking with Artemisia.


    ''If you''re gonna send help, then now''s the time, you know?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' states that it should not be forgotten that she cannot directly send help.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says she would speak to the entity bearing the title of ''Pope of the Holy Kingdom'' and have him send a message to the Head of the Church under her name in the Great Western Empire.]


    ''That sounds like a roundabout means to do something. Why not just tell the Head Priest directly?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that informing the pope is for your sake, to make things easier for you in the event you decide to go to the Holy Kingdom.]


    ''Makes sense. If I''m already known by the Pope to have ties to the goddess then it''d make things easier for me.


    Unless, the Pope happens to have other intentions.''


    Evan remembered who the Pope of the Alpha Continent''s Holy Kingdom was, but shook his head afterwards, deciding to deal with the current issue first.


    ''Tell Amelie about it too, cus I highly doubt that Joanna would remember to send the message to Bonas.


    Also, inform the guys in the church about Amelie''s movements too.''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you should have more faith in the half-elf mage, but goes on to state that she would inform her vessel of the change in ns.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' also states that Amelie isn''t her only vessel so the Pope is sure to understand.]


    ''I don''t see how that works but okay.''


    With that thought he opened the door of the adventurer''s guild building, ignoring all the stares he was receiving and picked up a few quests that rted to gathering materials in the Tower of Avarice.


    ''I can''te all this way and NOT enter this legendary Dungeon.


    In the game, after Hobha was destroyed, the monsters in the tower grew stronger exponentially and it became one of the top 10 most difficult dungeons in the game.


    If I recall properly, I was able to acquire one of my ''World Magic'' spell catalysts here.''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' states that you should give up any thoughts of attempting to cast ''World Magic'' at your current level.]


    "Come on Artemisia, I know I act crazy sometimes, but I''m not suicidal."


    Evan spoke out loud as he entered the dungeon, deciding to blitz through to the higher floors and fight the stronger monsters alone.


    ''Maybe I should enter a monster room?''


    [And you say you''re not suicidal?]

 Chapter 293 Gorilla Family

    [And you say you''re not suicidal?]


    Hearing Artemisia''s voice directly in his head startled Evan and made him almost trip and fall.


    He managed to regain his bnce and continue sprinting through the lower floors of the dungeon while screaming at the goddess internally.


    The Tower of Avarice was unlike normal dungeons where the monsters were stronger the deeper the floor was.


    Here, it was the opposite.


    As one went to higher floors of the tower, they encountered stronger monsters.


    There were various spiral-shaped staircases at multiple parts of each floor that led to the next floor, with Evan blitzing across the stairs so fast that he appeared to be a sh of golden light to the weaker adventurers.


    "My name is Evan Bourne, and I am the fa-!"


    [Shut the fuck up.]


    Once again, Artemisia spoke directly into his head to shut him up, which sadly did nothing to deter the young hero from his copyright-infringing actions as he went on to rip off the lines of a few otheric speedster heroes and viins while running to the fortieth floor.


    There, he was met with a stocky broad-chested andrge-shouldered creature, one with a hairless face and human-like hands and stood at more than five metres tall.


    "High Five!"


    Evan screamed out as he jumped and mmed his palm coated in golden lightning towards the head of a giant gori-looking monster, only to suddenly blink away from the monster''s face and reappear beside its legs.


    "Down low!"


    The creature roared and waved itsrge arm that was thicker than Evan''s entire body, however, the young hero blinked out of the way once more, appearing above its head and whacking the side of its head with his palm.


    "Too slow!"


    Despite his small build, Evan was a level 204 existence, one who had multiple stat boosts and increased stat efficiency, so the strength behind his palm was nothing to scoff at.


    Even the level 215 Gori had to be wary of him despite its higher level.


    Evan then ced his feet on the gori''s shoulder and called the unforged into his hands, just in time for the creature to reorient itself and throw a punch towards Evan.


    Obviously, the young hero had no intentions of getting hit by the fist with ''B-'' strength, having learned his lesson from fighting against Terence.


    Right before the Gori''s fist mmed into his body, his eyes shed with a golden light and his hands moved at a speed that even a level 180 would be barely able to see.


    "GROOOOAAARRRRR!!!!"


    The next thing that sounded was the Gori''s cry of pain as its entire arm dropped to the ground, with bright red mes burning both the severed arm and the stump that was left.


    Evan jumped off the creature''s body as it began trashing around in pain, his eyes narrowing at its neck as he created a foothold in the air with ice and kicked off it, boosting himself towards the creature at high speed.


    **SWISH!


    *PLOP!


    By the time Evan''s feet touched the ground, the Gori was already dead, with its severed headnding on the floor right afterwards.


    [Level Up]


    "205 now, huh?"


    Evan opened up his status board and studied the new ss he had recently gained as he posed a question to the goddess.


    "The Magic Swordsman ss had ss benefits for when fighting with a sword and with magic, so why could I not see them in that list of boosts you gave me?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' states that she felt no reason to add them.]


    |System Patch Installed. |


    |Boosts Tab Updated. |


    Right after Artemisia''s answer came two update notices, with his boosts tab opening itself up in front of him and letting him see the difference.


    |Boosts, Bonuses and Title Effects; (Expanded)


    Hero Title Bonuses;


    200% Leveling Efficiency.


    10% Damage Bonus against ''Invaders'' and ''Enemies of Aidos''.


    Hero Leader Title Bonuses;


    10% Damage Bonus against ''Invaders'' and ''Enemies of Aidos''.


    Reincarnated Hero System Benefits;


    20% Stat Boost.


    Boosted Life Force.


    200% Leveling Efficiency.


    130% Stat Effectiveness.


    5% Damage Bonus against ''Invaders'' and ''Enemies of Aidos''.


    Mystic Eye of Mimicry (2) Effects and Boosts;


    Enhanced Visual Prowess.


    Ability to see Incorporeal Entities.


    Ability to see the flow of energy.


    10% Mimicked Skill Effectiveness/Damage.


    Reduced Strain on Using Mimicked Skills.


    Blessing of Destruction (1) Bonuses;


    10% Stat Boost.


    10% Increase in Skill Effectiveness.


    30% Increase in Destructive Skill Strength/Damage.


    30% Increase in Destructive Magic Strength/Damage.


    300% Overall Power Boost. (1st Activation State Only).


    Destructive Energy Circuit Bonuses;


    10% Increase in Energy Maniption Speed.


    10% Increase in Destructive Energy Based Attack Strength/Damage.


    Energy Sword Master ss Boosts;


    10% Increase in Energy Maniption Speed.


    10% Increase in Sword Attack Strength/Damage and Speed.


    10% Increase in Energy-Based Sword Attack Strength/Damage and Speed. |


    Seeing all his stat bonuses and boosts once again brought the reality that he was ''broken'' to Evan.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you should think about how much of a cheat you areter and focus on the imminent threat.]


    "I know."


    As he spoke, he picked his sword up from the ground and turned around just in time to see the iing projectile attack, repelling it with his sword and gazing at the attacker.


    "You should change that to a plural, Narrator."


    Evan gazed at the Extended family of Goris ring at him with bloodshot eyes, with at least five of them holding staves, signifying their roles as mages, while the remaining 20+ that struggled to fit in therge hallway all held various weapons ranging from clubs torge great swords.


    "I''m guessing the one I killed was the youngest in the family, and now the rest of the family is here for revenge."


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' apuds your correct guess.]


    Evan''s brow twitched when he saw that notification, but he had no mind to pay it any more attention as the Goris had no intention of getting into a staring contest with the one that killed their family member.


    Water and lightning arrows shot through the air, causing the boy to blink out of the way to avoid the unnaturally fast projectiles.


    He jumped back onto the corpse of the gori behind him, an action that enraged the gori''s family.


    "Now then, the quests I took pertain to the monsters on the fiftieth to sixtieth floors, I can''t get held up on the fortieth now, can I?"

 Chapter 294 An Angry Kayla

    "Now then, the quests I took pertain to the monsters on the fiftieth to sixtieth floors, I can''t get held up on the fortieth now, can I?"


    As he thought about the floor where one could find trolls in this dungeon, he activated his elemental shield with the ice element to protect himself from the barrage of water bullets that were fired against him.


    "How did he do it again? Was it like this...?"


    He held up two fingers in front of his mouth as he spoke, simultaneously activating a skill; the same skill he had just copied from the guild master earlier in the day.


    Dozens, nearly a hundred swords of bright red mes manifested in the air behind and above Evan, with the charging goris taking a step back upon seeing the array of des.


    "I wonder, since these are swords made of energy, would my ss bonuses apply?


    Let''s find out."


    He spoke with a grin as heunched the rain of swords towards the monsters in front of him, an action that signified the battle between a family of gori monsters and one lone hero.


    a��? a��? a��?


    Tower of Avarice, 58th Floor


    Dungeon City Osto


    Hobha


    March 22nd


    Year 1052


    "It''s nearly 11 pm, huh?


    Just how long have I been inside here?"


    [Nearly 10 hours.]


    Hearing Artemisia''s reply, Evan flicked off the purple blood on his sword with a look of slight surprise on his face.


    "That long?"


    As Evan spoke, he dashed towards therge green-skinned troll in front of him, his feet sliding across the ground as he dodged the creature''s titan punches, jumping up and running up its arm that was now stuck in the ground after failing to pulverize the boy''s body.


    However, the creature easily pulled its arm out and swung it to the side, flinging Evan off while its other hand glowed with the light of magic as it threw out a punch towards his airborne body.


    [Yes! That Long!


    Ka was worried for master, you know?]


    The voice of his contracted lightning spirit who was pouting while floating in the air beside him rang out, with a wry smile appearing on Evan''s face as blinked out of the Troll''s punch trajectory.


    ''Air punch, huh?''


    Seeing the shockwave that was sent flying through the air from the troll''s fist, Evan decided against getting the skill since he could easily achieve the same effect with his magic and aura, his mind going on to think about how to pacify the displeased girl who was floating in the air atop the roasted corpse of another troll.


    It had been nearly three hours since the spirit had met up with Evan in the dungeon, killing everything in her way as she followed the connection between the two of them to find his location, only to start scolding him for going off without telling them and overworking himself.


    Evan chuckled lightly as he infused his sword with aura and released a single de cannon that went on to bore four holes in the troll''s body, before slicing it in two from head to crotch.


    [Level Up.]


    The experience he got from the troll was just enough to slightly push him over to the next level, with him being awarded an extra skill slot for mimicking skills.


    ''Maybe I should have gotten that skill?''


    [Masterrrrrrrrrrr....]


    Evan flinched upon hearing Ka''s displeased voice, turning around to the girl and asking her while sheathing his sword.


    "Ka, you do realise it''s impossible for me to get tired after just a few hours of killing monsters, right?"


    [Says the person who nearly co-]


    "Oh! Yeah! Artemisia!


    About that matter we spoke about earlier, rting to the bishop in Bonas."


    Evan interrupted the goddess who was about to rat him out, while avoiding Ka''s suspicious gaze as he tossed the unforged into his inventory.


    [Big sis, what were you about to say?]


    The young spirit didn''t let it go as easily as Evan had expected, asking the goddess directly while Evan internally begged Artemisia not to speak.


    "She was talking about how I nned to coborate with a few other adventurers after we encountered a family of enraged goris, nothing much."


    Ka narrowed her eyes at him in silence for a few minutes, before deciding to go along with his excuse.


    [We''re going back now.]


    The spirit reverted to herrger form, before using her body transformation skill to increase her size even more.


    She then proceeded to grab the surprised hero and begin dragging him out of the dungeon, throwing a giant lightning bolt at the unfortunate troll that came in through the door behind them and ending its life instantly.


    Seeing the spirit casually end a level 230 monster''s life as easily as one would swat a fly was enough to snap the young hero out of his daze.


    "Wait, Ka!


    I still have to pick up the quest materials. Just one more troll!"


    The spirit turned to re at him, before dragging him towards the corpse of the troll she just killed and gesturing for him to take it.


    "..."


    Evan didn''t know whether tough or to cry upon seeing Ka''s pouting expression as she folded her arms and red at him while tapping her foot impatiently on the floor.


    Tossing the whole corpse into his inventory, he checked his new level and decided to call it a day, having levelled up more in the past two days than he had in the past three months.


    ''Well, I did focus more on sightseeing and enjoying myself rather than levelling so it makes sense I only got around 25 levels then.


    But just in two days, I ended up killing thousands of monsters, then I killed a demon that was 20+ levels higher than me, and then another level 235 monster with Pride and Eliza''s assistance.


    After that, I spent nearly 10 hours in a dungeon, killing everything in my way from floors 25 to 39.


    Adding on my level boost, if I didn''t pass level 200, then it''d be a problem.''


    Seeing the number 220 sitting in his level tab and the ''B-'' stats that decorated his stat board brought a smile to Evan''s face.


    ''I wonder how much destruction I would cause if I were to go all out? Oh well, I have a lot of chances to test that out.''

 Chapter 295 Awkward Conversation And Setting Out

    ''I wonder how much destruction I would cause if I were to go all out? Oh well, I have a lot of chances to test that out.''


    He ruffled the pouting spirit''s hair as he thought about how much more difficult it was bing to level up, and how much more it''d be in theing days.


    ''If its this hard for me, who levels up 4 times faster, then I wonder how it''d be for normal people who don''t have levelling boosts.


    Then again, due to the nature of my contract with Pride, levelling up is a lot faster when we''re fighting together.''


    While having thoughts like that, he left the dungeon together with the young spirit, moving over to the adventurer''s guild to turn in the Troll materials he had picked up.


    Naturally, the adventurers who were drinking and celebrating their day''s sess, couldn''t help but be stunned when Evan entered the building with Ka in tow.


    This was expected, after all, Evan and hispanions were very popr now, so his appearance with Ka who they hadn''t seen before due to the fact that she mostly remained in spiritual form, was bound to cause a few heads to turn.


    And as usual, Evan ignored the gazes he was receiving and dropped the things needed at the guild counter while focusing on coaxing the pouting spirit.


    In the eyes of those watching, it looked like an older brother trying to pacify his younger sister who was angry at him.


    �� �� ��


    Evan just barely managed to make the girl stop being angry at him by the time they arrived at the Viscount''s mansion and returned to their assigned rooms.


    Pride showed mild surprise upon seeing Ka''s appearance, as even in her normal state, the young spirit only looked like a seven-year-old at best.


    However, the current Ka looked like she had grown a few years in a few hours, with her height being a whole 50cm higher than normal.


    No matter how you looked at her, the current Ka looked like a twelve-year-old in every aspect, from her face to her height and the rest of her body.


    "��. how?"


    "Hmm? Oh, it''s her skill.


    Come to think of it, she hardly uses it.


    I''ve also stopped using it for a while too."


    Evan replied to the high demon before turning his gaze to the blonde priestess who was very obviously avoiding meeting his eyes.


    ''She''s still embarrassed?''


    Pride noticed this small interaction and tilted her head to the side in question before asking bluntly.


    "Did you guys fuckst night or something?"


    "NO!"


    "We were close."


    Eliza and Evan''s replied respectively, with the high demon giving Eliza a strange gaze, before going to pat Evan''s shoulder and speak.


    "Must be hard, huh?


    You guys are free to do what you want but don''t make things awkward for the rest of us."


    While Eliza was muttering something iprehensible to herself as she hugged a certain cat spirit tightly, Greed walked into the room, yawning while holding a bottle of wine in one hand.


    It was at this point that a weird questioning thought found its way into Evan''s mind and he decided to voice it out.


    "Hey, Greed.


    Is there anyone she''s crushing on?"


    Naturally, the ''she'' in question was the high demon who had gone back to her book, only to be pointed out by Evan who asked her brother that strange question.


    As for Greed''s reply, the man looked at Evan strangely before asking.


    "You really think it''s possible for her to bring herself to like someone ''that'' way?"


    "��Good point."


    Evan couldn''t help but agree with that answer, attempting to drop the matter only for a second weird question to pop into his head.


    "What about you, Greed?"


    The high demon noticeably flinched upon hearing that question, slowly cing down the bottle of wine in his hand and turning around with the intention of giving a nonchnt reply, if only his sister hadn''t beat him to it.


    "He has a girlfriend. Or rather, he ''had'' a girlfriend."


    "Had? They broke up?"


    "Nahh��She''s probably dead."


    "Wut?" "Hey!"


    Evan let out a strange voice while Greed cried out in protest, however, Pride only flipped the pages of her book casually while speaking.


    "You know how paranoid Alvey''s son is. Do you think he would leave someone that closely connected with you alive after what he did with us?"


    Pride''s question made Greed swallow his words, with the mood suddenly turning heavy as an awkward silence descended upon them.


    ''It''s better he epts it now, so it won''t affect him muchter when he finds out whatever happened.


    Though it''d be good if she''s okay. Having someone who understood my taste in reading wasn''t bad at all.''


    Those were the thoughts of the high demon as she stared at her younger brother who had various emotions conflicting in his eyes.


    The two remained in silence until Evan unceremoniously broke it with his words.


    "Wait up! Did you just say, Alvey?


    The previous demon king''s name was Alvey?"


    "Yes, his name is Alvey. What about it?"


    Evan was about to speak when Greed suddenly burst out inughter, holding his hands over his face and gazing at Pride through the gaps in his fingers.


    "I see what you''re trying to do, sister, and honestly, I appreciate it.


    But don''t you think you should work on yourself first before me?"


    Pride''s face initially showed confusion, however, when she thought about herst statement, realization shed through her eyes and she clicked her tongue in obvious displeasure.


    "Well��. seems like this topic isn''t exactly the best."


    Evan made another offhandedment before pulling out a few things from his inventory and tossing them on the table.


    He then tantly changed the topic, bringing up their ns for leaving Osto and going to the Great Western Empire.


    It was slightly awkward at first, but eventually, they all forgot about the previous conversation and even Eliza who was avoiding Evan somehow ended up right next to him when they were arguing about their travel ns.


    They barely managed toe to an agreement on how to proceed when it was close to 1 am, with them going to bed right after, with Evan casually kidnapping Eliza into his room.


    Two dayster, on the 24th of March, the septet of humans, demons, and spirits set out from Osto with a carriage prepared for them by the Viscount.


    Their destination; Bultom City of the Great Western Empire''s Cheverton Duchy.

 Chapter 296 [Bonus ]Few Weeks Later…

    Yelcyne County Inter-town highway.


    Cheverton Duchy.


    Great Western Empire


    April 18th


    Year 1052


    "e???And I''m lost in the night, look ''em deep in the eyes, see the man that I used to be~~"


    Leader of the new generation seven heroes, Evan Del (Bourne) Eris, sang to himself as he sat atop a moving half-open carriage that was carrying a group of injured men, women and children, along with a few elderlies and some pregnant women who were unable to walk long distances.


    Around him were about a dozen other carriages with simr passengers within, all moving towards the capital city of the Yelcyne County which was located within the Cheverton Duchy.


    "Who would have thought that even after close to a whole month, we still haven''t made it to Bultom."


    Evan spoke with a sigh, staring at his status board that recently had two new titles added to it.


    "And the things I''ve been killing all this while are so low in level that I''m barely getting any stronger.


    What''s more, is that a certain goddess saw fit to add another weird title to my status board."


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' has her left eyebrow twitch in obvious displeasure.]


    Just as Evan was about to speak up once more, he sensed something that made him sigh in exasperation.


    "Again? Just how many small towns have fallen to this guy''s clutches?"


    He stood up from the carriage and turned his gaze to the forest on the left side of the highway, where hundreds of knights were lining up with shields held up high and swords pointed forward.


    The horses drawing the carriages became restless, allowing the people who were walking on their feet to realise something was wrong too.


    Before the knights could even make a statement about the situation, panic had already spread among the thousands of civilians who were evacuating to the County''s capital city.


    While some of the knights were trying to calm the people down, a few came over to where Evan was and called out to him respectively.


    "Lord Eris..."


    "I know.


    There''s just one enemy on this side. Focus your efforts to calm the people down and prevent a stampede from happening likest time."


    Immediately after he finished speaking, a loud eerie neighing sound rang out, sending chills down the spines of the normal people who heard, with even a few Knights and town guards who were over level 130 feeling cold sweat drip down their backs.


    The next moment, arge nearly three-metre-tall half-flesh, half-skeleton horse, ridden by a dark armoured humanoid with arge enough build to suit the horse''srge size, burst out of the forest, causing the weak hearted who saw it to scream out in fear.


    As if delighting in their fear, the skeleton horse''s blue inferno sights burned brighter, with a few breaths of blue mes escaping its nostrils.


    Therge humanoid who rode the horse turned its body, as if looking around, which was weird because there was nothing atop its neck that could hold any organs for sight.


    Its head which was supposed to be atop its neck was instead held in its left hand, while its right hand held arge cleaver.


    "I thought it would be a normal high-level undead, but to think it was a Duhan."


    Evan causally remarked as he appraised the creature, revealing its level, a number that startled the knights who were speaking to him.


    "Level 202, huh?"


    The young hero paid the shocked knights no mind and corresponded with his contracted demon who was seated inside one of the carriages that were around him, asking if she wanted to deal with the creature.


    [Since you''re already outside, why don''t you just deal with it? I''m about to finish this series'' second part.]


    The young hero sighed upon hearing the high demon''s words, taking a step forward as he wished he could be as free as she was.


    ''Sadly, I don''t have that luxury for now.''


    With that thought, he vanished from his standing position, with the knight who just caught a few children who fell and passed them over to their parents turning back to see that Evan was no longer standing atop the carriage.


    The young hero reappeared right next to the Duhan''s skeleton horse, much to the shock of both the undead monster and its mount.


    "Minding down to the ground?"


    He asked the Duhan as he ced his palm on the horse''s neck, activating a skill faster than the mount could react.


    "Energy st."


    **BOOM!!


    There was a loud explosion sound as a beam of red light burst through the half-skeleton horse''s body, incinerating what little flesh it had left and turning its bones to dust.


    *BAMM!


    The headless horse fell to the ground with a loud ''bam'' snapping the shocked knights out of their daze as they finally registered Evan''s presence, letting out exmations of surprise as some didn''t even understand how he had suddenly appeared there.


    However, some others noticed that only the horse fell and its rider was nowhere to be seen, calling out to Evan to watch out for the Duhan itself.


    Evan only smiled wryly as he pulled out the Unforged from his inventory, with the obsidian ck de seeming to shine upon being hit by the sun''s rays.


    "Lord Eris!!"


    The voice of a senior knight rang out as he was about to dash forward while discarding the severed head of the undead he had just killed, however, he was held back by his superior knight who told him to watch in silence.


    As for the reason why, he understood it in the next moment.


    Evan suddenly stabbed the Unforged into the ground before clenching his right fist and spinning his body around, tilting his head to the side to avoid therge cleaver that threatened to slice his skull in two and punching forward; all in one breath.


    **BAAMM!!!


    His fistnded on the torso of the headless knight that had jumped into the air using a skill when Evan killed its mount.


    The Duhan double jumped into the air using its skill, before raising itsrge cleaver and letting gravity bring it back to the ground, having every intention of slicing the human boy who had killed its mount in two.


    Sadly, Evan was prepared for it and had spun around to generate momentum, even jumping off the ground slightly to deliver a ''fracture'' to the undead.

 Chapter 297 Since The Arrival In Cheverton... I

    Unfortunately for the unnamed Duhan, Evan was prepared for it and had spun around to generate momentum, even jumping off the ground slightly to deliver a ''fracture'' to the undead.


    The boy''s fist had mmed into its torso with more force than it had ever felt ever since it became an undead, followed by a burst of lightning that shattered its armour into pieces.


    Naturally, the force of an enhanced B- strength stat easily overwhelmed the Duhan''s C+ durability, shaving off more than half of its ''life'' with that one strike.


    Shockwaves spread out into the surroundings, with the knights teaming up to create defensive aura walls to prevent the shockwaves from reaching the civilians behind them.


    One can only imagine the looks of shock on their faces when their aura-generated barriers cracked slightly, with even the leader of the knights shaking his head with a wry smile on his face.


    As for Evan, he naturally didn''t let the Duhan go so easily, picking up his sword and chasing after its body that had been sent flying through the forest.


    He avoided the falling trees and jumped over the cracked tree stumps, his pupils darting around and catching sight of each splinter of wood that flew towards his face, right before his left hand moved to swat them away.


    In no time at all, he caught up to the Duhan''s fallen body that was struggling to get up, taking slow and steady steps towards the creature as he spoke.


    "A high-level undead like you should be able to speak, shouldn''t you?


    Mind telling me where your ''creator'' is?"


    Evan scanned the area where it had fallen as he walked, noticing its head rolled to one side and its weapon not far off from it.


    "��"


    "Not talking?"


    The undead creature remained silent despite Evan''s urging, with the young hero walking closer to it while twirling his sword in his fingers.


    The moment Evan got within two metres of the creature, his instincts screamed at him and he hurriedly activated his elemental shield, with the spherical barrier of earth forming just in time to protect him from the Duhan''s cleaver that suddenly shot towards him.


    "Weapon control? Nice."


    With those words, Evan coated the Unforged in bright red mes and swung it down, slicing the Duhan''s body in two and setting it aze.


    "Kiaaa-!"


    The Duhan''s strange scream was cut short as Evan flicked his arm towards the direction of its head, generating a sword of energy and sending it flying through the undead''s helmet-d head.


    "Level 200 undead are showing up on these backlines already? Just what in tarnation is happening in the other parts of the Duchy?"


    Evan asked out loud as he turned around and walked towards the evacuating citizens, meeting up with the leader of the knights and the town guard captain halfway.


    "You done?"


    "Yep. You could have killed that thing, you know? Why stress me out?"


    "We got held up by the ones up front. They weren''t all that individually, but their numbers were a bit of a headache."


    "Yeah, right. Like that much undead is a headache for someone like you."


    The Knight''s leader gave a wry smile upon hearing Evan''s reply as the two walked side by side, with the Town guard captain silently collecting Evan''s sword and clicking his tongue in annoyance.


    "What did I tell you about using magic on this thing before I was done with maintenance?"


    "��"


    The young hero silently averted his gaze from the man, with the knight leader bursting out inughter as he watched the scene of how a boy strong enough to kill a level 200 monster in just two hits reeled back when faced with the intensity of the cksmith who maintained his weapon for him.


    The other knights all saw this scene that they had be familiar with over the past few days, with wry smiles appearing on their faces as they watched Evan try to make up excuses to the town guard cum cksmith.


    �� �� ��


    To understand why the knights considered this scene to be familiar, a little light has to be shed on the actions of the young hero and his party ever since they got into the Cheverton Duchy.


    After leaving Osto, the Anomalies travelled as fast as possible, making their way over to the border between Hobha and the Great Western Empire, with the pass they revived from the Viscount making it easier for them as they didn''t have to deal with a few nuisances like waiting in lines to pass through city gates or dealing with territorial border security.


    The moment they got to the Great Western Empire''s border, Evan tossed the pass into his inventory and brought out his insignia, identifying himself as a member of the Eris Ducal Family, much to the shock of the border officials.


    Their shock only grew when Evan''s identity was confirmed, with the lord of the border citying out to greet him in person.


    Evan only made his intentions to head to the nearby Cheverton Duchy be known to the Count who offered to help him make arrangements for his smooth travels, changing out the carriage and horses for him before they set off towards Cheverton the next morning.


    In return for his help, Evan unlocked a hidden piece he knew of from the game and gave him the artifact which could be gotten from there, which was actually the border Count''s missing family heirloom.


    And then, by the 1st of April, the Anomalies officially arrived at the Cheverton Duchy.


    The Cheverton Duchy was thergest Duchy in the Great Western Empire, with its massivendmass making itrger than a lot of the Alpha continent''s smaller Countries.


    From the border city that they were in, moving over to Bultom was bound to take them around 5 to 7 days at the very least, so Evan had in mind that he was going to arrive in Bultom by the 9th of April.


    However, those ns changed when he saw the situation in Cheverton with his own eyes.


    And thus, it ended up with Evan still not having reached Bultom despite the fact that nearly three weeks had passed.


    Of course, the boy''s sudden change in ns caused a lot of problems, especially for the external forces he had called up to help deal with the situation like the Church of Artemisia and the mages of Kasteblum.

 Chapter 298 Since The Arrival In Cheverton... II

    Of course, the boy''s sudden change in ns caused a lot of problems, especially for the external forces he had called up to help deal with the situation like the Church of Artemisia and the mages of Kasteblum.


    He had a bit of a hard time dealing with the political issues pertaining to the fact that his actions could potentially invite grandmaster-level existences from another Country into the Great Western Empire.


    Luckily, the Emperor giving him the benefit of doubt, plus the fact that the man had spoken to the Chief Grand Magus of Kasteblum personally, made it so that the assistance force sent by Gavin did not get held up unnecessarily at the border.


    As for what Evan had spent the past two and a half weeks doing?


    It was quite simple.


    He had gone through five of the Duchy''s 20+ Counties and had been helping smaller towns that were affected by the ''stray'' undead and could not protect themselves to evacuate to therger cities in the Counties.


    On a side note; the undead affecting said towns weren''t really ''stray'', but were sent there on purpose with the intention of making the Duke spread his forces out thinly.


    As for the sources of these numerous ''stray'' undead, they were all gotten from the cemeteries in these Counties, along with a few unfortunate small towns that had fallen to the hands of the Eighth Finger himself.


    The level 200 undead like the Duhan Evan just fought were sent out in droves from the Eighth Finger''s personal stash that he had umted for over twenty years.


    And with such undead running rampant in his territory, the more powerful knights under the Duke''s control would definitely be sent out to take them out, but since they were all in different Counties, the Duke would have no choice but to spread his forces out which was exactly what the Eighth Finger wanted.


    Fortunately, or unfortunately, this n had not been going all too well due to the reinforcements sent from Gerfast, along with the actions of the Church of Artemisia who had taken up arms faster than the Eighth Finger had predicted.


    Evan''s actions also contributed as he took out the level 200 undead and joined the adventurers in said towns to help the citizens evacuate torger more protected cities that would not fall to a few level 200 undead monsters.


    However, this did not mean that there wasn''t some degree of sess to his n so currently, things could be said to be at a strange stalemate with the Demonic Hand looking to tip off to the losing side.


    On another side note; Evan had taken advantage of the situation to build a reputation for himself, earning a ''Protector of the People'' title over the course of the past two weeks.


    �� �� ��


    "Just one more day and we''ve reached the city, right?"


    "Yup."


    The knight leader replied to Evan''s words as he took a sip of the jug of beer on the small table in front of him, throwing a nce around and scanning the thousands of people setting up camp around them.


    "I think this is thest batch we can ept. Any more and there wouldn''t be space for the original inhabitants of the city."


    "I see."


    Evan replied while sipping his strawberry juice from the mug in his arms as he sat hunched over with his feet on the chair.


    The town that they were evacuating was a fairly small onepared to the others that Evan had helped out in the past few weeks, having a bit over 2500 citizens, with close to 400 of them being adventurers and town guardsmen.


    As for the knights that were apanying them, they were sent over by the lord of the city they were evacuating to, who was also the Lord of the County they were in.


    The Knight leader sitting with Evan was actually one of the three vice-captains under the Knights of Yelcyne, a level 240 knight who seemed to be part of the small minority who achieved the Superior stage of the master level before reaching Level 250.


    Even with his stat boosts, Evan wasn''t so sure about being able to win against the guy in a serious fight.


    The boy was about to speak when a sweet scent suddenly filled his nose, along with the scent of alcohol as two arms wrapped themselves across his neck, with a head of blonde hairing to rest on his shoulder.


    Easily identifying his sudden hugger, Evan ced the mug in his hands on the table and unwrapped the blonde girl''s arms from his neck, dragging her around and sitting her in between his legs.


    "Huhh?! Oh, it''s still Evan."


    The girl tensed up momentarily, but rxed once more upon discovering she was in her boyfriend''s arms, nting a kiss on his lips before snuggling into his chest.


    While Evan calmly patted her back and lulled her to sleep, he turned to re at the group of female knights who avoided meeting his eyes while silently putting down the bottles of alcohol in their hands.


    ''They''re the only ones with alcohol potent enough to make a level 200 existence get drunk.


    I knew I should not have agreed to carry that alcohol in my inventory for them.''


    The boy clicked his tongue audibly before appraising the girl in his arms and heaving a small sigh of relief when seeing that her condition was only ''Slightly Drunk''.


    ''She''d regain her wits soon enough.''


    A small grin appeared on his face as he thought about how he was going to tease her when she did, with the knight vice-captain beside him bursting intoughter upon seeing it.


    "Huh?"


    "Haha..haha��You look like a kid who''s thinking about how he''s going to tease the girl he likes��hahahahaha."


    "Oh��"


    Evan let out a light chuckle upon hearing the man''s words that were frighteningly urate, with his attention being turned over towards the group of adventurers who were shouting loudly as they cheered on an arm-wrestling match between Greed and some other B-rank adventurer.


    While taking his eyes off the match that was obviously going to end in Greed''s win, Evan scanned the area for Pride but failed to notice the high demon, having to resort to sensing her location through their connection.


    [��anything?]

 Chapter 299 Reaching Yelcyne’s Capital City

    [��anything?]


    ''No, was just wondering where you were.''


    [I''m in the carriage.


    Also, if you are free, can youe to take these three children out of here? Especially Ka.]


    ''Sadly, I''m not as I have my hands literally full, dealing with a certain drunk blondie.''


    [Oh, tough luck.]


    Such was the strange conversation that went on between the high demon and her contractor before the two of them went back to their respective activities.


    Luckily, no other attacks happened at night so they were all able to get a good night''s sleep, waking up the next morning by 6 am and setting out on the finalp of their journey by 8.


    �� �� ��


    After a few more hours of walking and the 2000+ civilians of the small town finally arrived at the gates of Yelcyne''s County''s capital city, with the rest of the County''s knights and the Count himself waiting for them at the city gates.


    "Well, this marks the end of our journey together, huh?"


    Evan remarked as he watched the people settle down in front of the city gates, with the knights and other city officials beginning their own part of the work in admitting the people into the city.


    "Indeed, it does."


    The knight vice-captain who stood beside Evan replied to his words, while his eyes darted around as he studied the appearances of the civilians in front of him.


    "Let''s go say hello to the Count."


    Evan patted his back as he spoke, before jumping into the air and creating a barrier-like te ofpressed aura to serve as a foothold to stand in the air. He then repeated the same set of actions, creating multiple footholds which he used to move over the thousands of people and over to the city gates up ahead.


    Naturally, his actions garnered the attention of all those who were below, with the civilians who saw or knew of Evan''s efforts to protect them screaming out words of gratitude towards the boy.


    Evan waved at a few of them, making his way to the gate as he remembered how he was recognized by a knight in one of the towns the party had gone to, who had screamed out his name in shock, inadvertently advertising his identity to the people who were nearby.


    Soon, they somehow went from calling him ''Lord Eris'' or ''Lord Evan'' to ''Lord Protector''.


    ''Somehow it sounds a bit cringe.''


    With that thought, he pulled out his family insignia from his inventory and pinned it to his shirt, beforending on the city wall''s battlement where the Count and the other high-ranked knights were waiting.


    A momentter, the vice knight captain who had travelled with him arrived also, dropping on one knee in front of the Count as he spoke.


    "I''ve returned, my lord."


    "Rise.


    You have done well, and shall be rewarded ordingly."


    "I was only performing the duty you had assigned me, my lord."


    Evan only silently watched the interaction between the two while telling Ka to tell Eliza to stop being embarrassed for no reason ande over.


    "Apologies for the dy, Lord Eris."


    "Hmm? No, it''s nothing much, Count Yelcyne."


    The boy shook hands with the Count who silently studied the insignia on Evan''s shirt, showing mild surprise upon noticing the B rank adventurer guild card that was hanging from the boy''s neck too.


    ''At least, level 200.


    In that case, all the rumours make much more sense.''


    "Thank you for lending your assistance in helping my citizens to safety."


    "I did it because it was also in my interest too, but, you''re wee."


    "Haha��you''re very blunt, Lord Eris."


    Evan just shrugged his shoulders upon hearing the Count''s words, turning his gaze around to the other knights who greeted him respectfully and acknowledged them with a nod.


    "Hmm? Where''s your city''s guild master?"


    With his appraisal skill active, Evan had scanned all the adventurers who were also present and noted that none of them happened to be the guild master of the city''s adventurers'' guild.


    "The guild mas-"


    "Sorry, I''mte! Got held up with some issues."


    Just when the Count was about to speak up, another voice rang out as a tall, slender-looking woman with slightly messy brown hair ran up the stairs while shouting out an apology.


    Trailing behind her was a man dressed in a ssic ck and white outfit, something Evan presumed to be a guild uniform as he had noticed other guild officials wearing the same.


    Since his appraisal was still on when he turned his gaze towards her, her status board ended up appearing in front of him, causing the young hero to call out in a slightly surprised voice.


    "An active A-rank?"


    "Huh? You know me?"


    "��nope."


    Evan replied after a short pause, pulling out a few papers from his inventory with those in the surroundings showing slight surprise upon seeing him have the rare spatial storage type skill.


    As for Evan, he was internally noting down something he noticed.


    ''It''s as if she didn''t sense my appraisal skill activation, but she''s a grand master level��''


    He decided to confirm his conjectureter as he passed over the quest papers to the guild master who asked him a question.


    "So, you''re the one who got headquarters'' attention recently!


    Wow. You might just be the guild''s youngest B-ranker.


    How''d you do it?"


    Evan slightly reeled back upon noticing the intense light of curiosity that shed in her eyes as she spoke, with the Count coughing loudly as if to remind her to restrain herself.


    Seeing that the woman was just only curious, Evan shrugged his shoulders and gave a short reply.


    "Nothing too weird. Spent a month in a dungeon, killed a few thousand monsters in a stampede, some of which were B ranks, and then spent the next day inside a dungeon where I entered three monster rooms solo.


    Do stuff like that a lot and you''d definitely level up like crazy."


    "Three monster rooms in a day?!


    Even I didn''t pull that kind of stunt when I was around your level. I only entered two and people were calling me crazy."

 Chapter 300 Healing Spell/Skill Test.

    "Three monster rooms in a day?!


    Even I didn''t pull that kind of stunt when I was around your level. I only entered two and people were calling me crazy."


    The woman hung her head down as she spoke with a mock depressed tone, however, her hands were still moving as she flipped through the quest papers Evan had given her, asionally taking nces at the civilians before using her thumb to ce a stamp on the papers with her magic power.


    "Your card, please? And what about your party members?"


    "I''m with mine, as for the rest of them��"


    Evan turned around to see if he could somehow spot hispanions, just in time to see Pride and Greed jump up onto the city walls above the gate.


    "I think the people who built this wall, made stairs for a reason, you know?"


    Eliza''s exasperated voice rang out as she walked up the stairs with Kuro in her arms, greeting the Count and the guild master before removing her guild card that was hanging on her neck and passing it to the guild master.


    "Oh, yeah.


    There''s this too.


    She has met the requirements for B rank also. You can have someone with an appraisal check if it''s true. I know guilds usually have at least one official with the skill."


    The boy passed the letter they received from Kasteblum''s vice guild master while Greed was busy familiarizing himself with the friends of his arm wrestling buddies.


    As for Pride, she was busy ''interrogating'' one of the B-rank adventurers based in the city about where the best bookshops were.


    While all this was happening, the Count was just standing around idly, as the events of the past few days were being reported to him by the knights who joined to help the evacuation process.


    The guild master then sent her assistant to the guild building to prepare Eliza''s B-rank card while updating the information about Evan, Pride and Greed''s cards.


    "Hey, Liz.


    Remember that wide area healing spell we found a scroll of? Think you could test it out now?"


    "Hmm��Okay."


    She passed the cat in her arms over to Evan who let him jump into his shadow, an action that caused heads to turn with Evan paying it no mind as usual.


    Eliza then went down to the ground and unstrapped the folded Memoria from her waist, before unfurling the staff and returning it to full length.


    She then stabbed the spear tip into the ground and passed her magic power through it, pulling out the Radiant Codex right after and activating her skill unique skills simultaneously.


    The guild master''s eyes widened in surprise as she sensed the simultaneous skill activation, which was followed by a wave of magic power that rushed out of Eliza''s body and spread forward.


    The Count watched with narrowed eyes as he held up a hand to signify for the knights who reacted to the sudden wave of magic to stand down.


    Arge three-ringed magic circle appeared, centred under Eliza''s feet, with lines of green light and a misty white haze with a few goldm�� sparkles hanging in the air within the circumference of the magic circle.


    For the few seconds itsted, it was a wondrous sight, just like a scene out of a fantasy story, finally fading out with Eliza looking up to see if what she had intended to do had worked.


    "Wow, that''sparable to some of the higher levelled priests of the church."


    The words of the guild master beside Evan confirmed that Eliza''s spell had worked, as among the thousands of civilians, the injured ones let out surprised voices upon discovering that the green light had healed their wounds.


    Even the ones that were uninjured but were tired from the hours of movement felt rejuvenated; as if all their exhaustion had been blown away.


    "Nice.


    You should be getting close to being able to deploy ''that'' now."


    Evan high-fived Eliza as she walked back to where he was, passing her a magic potion right after.


    "Nahh. I want to recover naturally.


    Besides, I still have a ton of magic power left. You should know how much magic power the B- rank energy stat gives as you have it too."


    Deciding to go along with her decision, Evan tossed the potion back into his inventory, turning his gaze to the vice knight captain that they travelled with who posed a question.


    "Um��is there a reason why you didn''t do this earlier?"


    "I just got the hang of the spell this morning. And it is still not perfect as I had to use my skills to enhance its effect."


    Eliza replied to him as she tapped the floor beside Evan''s feet, with Kuro jumping out of his shadow and into her arms.


    "��. Why does it look like you''re closer to Kuro than I am these days?"


    "It''s just your imagination."


    The girl replied as she rubbed the cat''s chin, before turning out to wave at the civilians who had seen her use her magic and identified her as the one responsible for healing their wounds.


    "I''m sure it clearly isn''t."


    Eliza and Kuro only silently avoided meeting Evan''s narrowed gaze, with the young hero heaving a sigh before turning back to the Count who was done with his briefing.


    The two nobles chatted with each other a bit while Greed ended up scamming some adventurers of their valuables and Eliza offered to help the guild officials with a few matters concerning the admission of the civilians they had escorted to the city.


    Soon, the guild official carrying their adventurer cards returned, with Pride trailing right behind him as if matching his timing.


    After collecting their cards and finalizing all adventurers guild rted matters, Evan turned to the Count and spoke while gazing at the civilians who were slowly trooping into the County''s capital city.


    "I guess it''s time for us to finally make our way to Bultom. Honestly, it''s a miracle that things haven''t blown over these past few weeks."


    "Bultom Dungeon City?"


    "Yeah. That was our original destination, however, we ended up digressing when we saw the situation here with our own eyes."

 Chapter 301 Moving Onwards

    "Bultom Dungeon City?"


    "Yeah. That was our original destination, however, we ended up digressing when we saw the situation here with our own eyes."


    "Oh, I see.


    Things would have been a lot worse if we were taken by surprise, however, the Duke had already informed us beforehand so we were more prepared to deal with the sudden influx of undead.


    It is a pity that I could not stretch my forces too thin and risk having higher popted areas with less protection against these ''life-seeking'' creatures.


    That was why I had issued the quest through the guild to get adventurers to help smaller towns evacuate, especially after hearing that more than a few had fallen to the undead attacks."


    The Count spoke as he signed off on some papers the official brought for him, before turning to Evan and continuing.


    "Bultom is currently under a lot of high scrutinies right now, with many Lords pushing the me of the sudden rise in undead numbers towards them."


    "I guess that was unavoidable, seeing as they have three undead dungeons. But the ones ming them should actually stop to think about it and realize that it can''t possibly be Bultom''s fault.


    If this many undead were able to escape Bultom city and attack other towns, then the undead should have at least destroyed Bultom city first."


    Evan spoke with a sigh, shaking his head while tossing his insignia and guild card into his inventory.


    "Oh well. The truth of the matter would eventually be revealed, but that''s a matter forter.


    Right now, I have to focus on getting there first and meeting the Duke.


    I''m more than just a few dayste but given I was busy escorting citizens of his Duchy to safety; he''d cut me some ck."


    The Count''s eyes slightly widened in surprise for a moment, before he nodded to himself as if having realized something.


    "Worry not, Lord Eris. I''d do well to spread the word of your good deeds."


    This time, it was Evan''s turn to stare at the Count in surprise, chuckling the moment after as he held out a hand to shake the Count and spoke.


    "I really like smart people like you, Count.


    They do what they need to do without having to be explicitly told to do it."


    The Count gave Evan a knowing smile in response to his words as he shook the boy''s hand.


    "Here, a little token of my appreciation."


    Evan pulled out a robe from his inventory and tossed it over to the Knight captain who was standing beside the Count, intending for the man to check it over before handing it to his lord.


    "It''s a defensive artifact. Quite useful against B-rank monsters."


    The boy then turned to hispanions and informed them of their imminent departure, throwing a strange nce at Greed who was holding a bag of shiny magic tools in his hands.


    "Do well to keep your word, Count."


    After leaving that statement, Evan waved at the guild master who was supervising a few things at the gates, before jumping off the walls and dashing towards his party''s carriage.


    �� �� ��


    Watching the retreating backs of Evan''s party members, the Knight captain standing beside the Count, spoke up while holding the robe Evan had tossed to him.


    "It''s clear, my lord."


    The Count nodded and the knight captain passed the robe over to a lower-levelled knight, instructing him to take it to the Count''s residence.


    "He probably got the other Lords whose territories he helped evacuations in to spread the word of his actions.


    That''s probably why news of his actions spread as fast as they did, even reaching the parts of the Duchy that are unaffected by the undead situation."


    The Count spoke out loud as he watched Evan''s carriage fade into the distance, with the Knight captain nodding in agreement with his words.


    "The kid''s a lot stronger than I thought he''d be, though. He''s even stronger than his father, the renowned ''Blood Duke''."


    "Really?"


    "No doubt.


    The level of power I felt from him Is higher than what I felt when I saw the Prime minister at the founding ball."


    The knight captain replied to the Count''s question, with his lord only raising an eyebrow slightly before turning his gaze back to the happenings at the gate.


    "If I was to gauge the kid''s level, it''s probably at least 230, and there''s no way someone like him wouldn''t have a few trump cards that would allow him to face higher levelled opponents on even footing.


    So, his real strength should be around ten levels higher."


    The vice-captain who led the knights that escorted the evacuating civilians along with Evan joined in the conversation, unknowingly calling out a number that was five levels higher than Evan''s actual level.


    "The confidence that he moves with makes me think that he may even be able to match things fifteen levels higher than he is.


    Besides, the kid is one thing, but hispanions are no pushovers either.


    Leaving out the mage girl who didn''t seem weak in close quarters, those two ck-haired siblings really give me dangerous vibes.


    Especially the woman. She is probably just as strong as the kid, if not higher.


    And I almost forgot about that cat too."


    "The ck cat?"


    "Yeah. No way in hell that thing ain''t a spirit of some kind."


    Surprised expressions coloured the faces of the Count and the Knight Captain when they heard that Evan might be a spirit contractor.


    The Count just shook his head and sighed, before turning around and stating his intentions to return to his office.


    "You''re doing what he said?"


    "Yeah.


    Even if it was a quest, one I posted to the adventurers'' guild, it doesn''t change the fact that he and hispanions still greatly contributed to protecting more than five thousand citizens of my County and helping them evacuate to safety.


    The least I could do is spread a few rumours for him using my informationwork."


    The Count yawned lightly as he spoke, instructing the knights to supervise the situation as he moved down the stairs and entered his carriage back to his office.

 Chapter 302 The Fourth’s Whereabouts

    Outskirts Forest


    Capital City Gerfast


    Alpha Continent''s Great Western Empire


    April 20th


    Year 1052


    **BOOM!!!


    An earth-shattering explosion resounded in the verdant green forest as a cloud of dust rose up from among the trees.


    A series ofrge columns protruded from the ground and crashed into a humanoid figure that was obscured by the dust cloud.


    "Break."


    A young girl''s voice rang out from within the dust cloud as therge columns shattered and turned into a pile of rocks.


    "Tsk...so much dust."


    **SWOOSHH!


    The moment those words were spoken, the dust clouds were immediately blown away by a gust of wind, revealing the destroyed state of what was once a beautiful forest.


    The owner of the voice looked around and heaved a sigh before tying her chestnut-coloured fairly long hair into a ponytail before turning her gaze towards the being in front of her who was staring at her with wary eyes.


    She was wearing a ck T-shirt and a pair of oversized shorts, with ckced boots on her feet.


    Her most noticeable feature, her pair of blue eyes, was narrowed in displeasure as she gazed at this being in silence.


    Within her pupils, one could see a crest that was made up of a single letter, from an ancientnguage lost to time.


    "Couldn''t you have at least spared the forest?"


    The girl, New generation Fourth Hero, Laurene Hayes, asked the being in front of her, a four-metre-tall ogre with light blue skin and four arms, with the normally positioned pair each having an armband.


    However, she received no reply as the ogre only gazed at her silently before abruptly mming two of its arms together and rousing his magic power.


    The ground rumbled once more, imploding into a multitude of earthen chunks in the next moment, floating up in the air at a speed faster than an average person could see.


    The earthen chunks then stopped floating mid-air and allunched themselves in the direction of the girl who was staring at all this with an impassive look on her face.


    "Magic Catalyst; Venus."


    She calmly called out as a small crystal orb about 15cm in diameter appeared beside her and slowly floated in the air.


    The crest in her blue eyes glowed with a golden light as she spread out her arms and called out.


    "Rain of Earth."


    The floating orb beside her glowed slightly as spears of earth emerged from the ground behind her and shot forwards towards the iing earthen chunks.


    **BOOOMMMM!!!


    The spears and boulders of earth collided mid-air, releasing a shockwave that was enough to uproot even the oldest trees in the forest with ease.


    Clouds of dust and dirt covered the entire area and obscuring the vision of the ogre who darted his eyes around while spreading his senses trying to sense where the girl was only for him to suddenly feel something mming into his torso.


    "Guh!!"


    The ogre coughed out blood due to the force of the blow and his enormous body was sent flying into the pile of broken trees behind it.


    Where he was standing formerly, the blue-eyed girl could be seen standing on an elevated rocky tform with her outstretched fist encased in a thickyer of stone.


    "Who said mages aren''t good at closebat?"


    She said to herself as she pulled her fist backward, her gaze turning to the sky as she continued.


    "I wonder how many of us are mages?"


    While she was asking herself this question, the ogre on the ground struggled to its feet, roaring loudly as it activated multiple skills and charged towards her.


    The sight of a gigantic creature whose forearms were thicker than her waist, punched down at her with a fist d in gauntlets made of rock and stone.


    ''No way in hell I''m meeting that head-on.''


    With that thought, the girl quickly activated wind magic at her feet, manifesting gusts of wind-shaped like ark-like vessels underneath her feet.


    Her body sprang into the air just in time to avoid the first tworge fists that crashed on the ground where she once stood, shattering the earth as web like cracks spread out for hundreds of metres.


    ''Hmm?''


    Since her mystic eyes were still active, a certain point on the ogre''s back where it was most vulnerable was revealed to her, with a small grin appearing on her face as she activated her other unique skill.


    "Myriad Casting."


    The magic catalyst floating beside her glowed ever so lightly, with seven fist-sized orbs of pure magic power manifesting behind her.


    ''Activate Fire and Wind.''


    Two of the seven orbs glowed red and green respectively, as they were filled with the attributed elemental magic power of the elements she had activated.


    She created footholds ofpressed wind which she used to walk on the air and gain distance from the ogre, however, the creature wasn''t going to let her move away so easily.


    The moment it realised it had missed its target, the ogre spread out a wave of aura, detecting Laurene''s presence with it and locking onto her figure in the sky.


    "GROOARRR!"


    With a hoarse roar, the creature took a stance and jumped up into the air with two fists pulled back, intending on punching the girl out of the sky and to the ground.


    Laurene, however, wasn''t going to let herself be knocked down so easily.


    "Get back to the ground, will you?"


    As she spoke, she flicked her fingers and silently activated a spell, with a gigantic horizontal tornado of wind and mes manifesting in front of her.


    The tornado shot forward like a drill, with the ogre''s eyes widening in surprise as it hurriedly stretched out its lower arms while two magic circles formed around the upper pair.


    The rocks that coated its arms to form the gauntlets fell off and reformed into arge shield that it held in front of its body. The centre area of the shield which it predicted the tornado''s tip would hit was thicker than the rest of the shield''s body.


    Sadly, because it had held up a shield to protect itself from the tornado, its vision was obscured temporarily and it did not see Laurene suddenly smirk as a third orb floating behind her was lit up with a golden light.


    Her fingertips trembled and various small tiny bolts of lightning shot out from the orb towards the ming tornado.


    *KABOOOM!!

 Chapter 303 Unlucky Ogre

    Sadly, because the four-armed ogre had held up a shield to protect itself from the tornado, its vision was obscured temporarily and it did not see Laurene suddenly smirk as a third orb floating behind her was lit up with a golden light.


    Her fingertips trembled and various small tiny bolts of lightning shot out from the orb towards the ming tornado.


    *KABOOOM!!


    The lightning + mes, resulted in arge explosion that released omnidirectional shockwaves into the surroundings, with the waves even going on to almost knock Laurene out of the air.


    Luckily, she regained her bnce and remained hovering in the air, waving her hand to generate a gust of wind that revealed the wounded ogre on the ground.


    The creature''s skin was bruised and burned all over, however, its tenacious vitality was already at work as Laurene could see its wounds healing in real-time.


    It forced itself to its feet, coating its upper arms in magic power and forming another set of gauntlets using the shattered rocks around them.


    It let out a low growl as it red at Laurene hatefully, tapping the fingers of its arms on the ground and pouring magic power into the earth.


    A two-ringed magic circle manifested at the spot on the ground where its fingers tapped, right beforerge columns of earth protruded from the ground and shot towards Laurene in the air.


    "Thanks for the ride."


    It was confused upon hearing the girl''s strange words, however, said confusion became rage as the ogre saw Laurene jump off her foothold and run down the same spiked columns of earth it wanted to pierce her body with.


    The ogre moved its upper arms as a third ring appeared around the magic circle, with spears of earth shooting out of the earth columns like spikes, floating up into the air while pointing towards the moving hero.


    The moment her feet touched the actual ground, the dozens of airborne earthen spikes allunched themselves towards her simultaneously, however, she just calmly stood in ce and snapped her fingers.


    The green orb behind her glowed and dozens of desposed solely ofpressed solid wind manifested in the air,unching themselves towards all the earthen spikes and shattering them to pieces upon collision.


    Shattered chunks of earth fell to the ground like rain as Laurene calmly walked forward undisturbed, with not a single piece of rock touching her body.


    The ogre''s rage went past the peak as its signature Tier 3 earth magic was so easily thwarted by a human who looked so fragile it could break her like a twig.


    Perhaps sensing the creature''s emotions, Laurene titled her head to the side and asked with a voice of pure curiosity.


    "Are you pissed?"


    As a powerful level 200 Ogre, it naturally understood human speech and understood the meaning of her words, with what was left of its right eyebrow twitching in rage upon hearing the girl''s question.


    However, before it could act on that annoyance, it suddenly noticed something weird.


    When the human girl stepped down from the earth column, there were seven orbs floating behind her. If so;


    ''Why can I only see six now? Where''s the red orb?''


    Its brain instantly figured out the reason, sending signals to the rest of its body as the Ogre instantly coated its entire body with its remaining aura, just in time to defend against the orbs of mes that suddenly appeared behind it.


    **BOOM! BOOM!! BOOOMM!!!


    Multiple me grenades consecutively exploded, and as if one grenade amplified the next, the damage from the explosions increased ordingly.


    The ogre naturally didn''t want to stay within the range of the explosion, opting to cancel the other tier 3 magic it was silently casting and jump out of the area.


    As itsrge body leapt into the air, a small sh of golden light crossed its field of vision, shooting into the air faster than it could see.


    It looked up and met eyes with the human girl who was supposed to be on the ground, her whole body crackling with the golden glow of lightning as she pulled back her fist.


    A spell activated as a glove of pure lightning formed around her clenched fist, shining so bright that the ogre instinctively squinted its eyes.


    It could just barely catch the sight of one of the orbs floating behind her light up with a brown light right before she spoke.


    "Didn''t I tell you to get back to the ground?"


    Those were the words the ogre heard right before the girl punched forward, her fist colliding with the ogre''s face with all the lightning coated around it discharging into its body.


    **BAAAMMM!!


    ***BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!


    Two sounds rang out almost instantly, with the first being the loud sound of Laurene''s lightning-d fist mming into the ogre, sending its body crashing to the ground.


    The second came before the first could even travel far, with therge body of the ogre crashing onto the ground, causing arge cloud of dust and smoke to rise up into the air and shockwaves to spread out omnidirectionally for hundreds of metres.


    Then, there was a third sound.


    But this was the gut-wrenching anguished scream of the ogre as its body was impaled on a gigantic spike of earth that was waiting for it on the ground.


    "I can''t *cough* *cough* see."


    Laurene waved her hand and created a gust of wind to blow away all the dust, revealing the scene of destruction that was the fault of therge ogre crashing onto the ground after her punch.


    *Ow!"


    Her gaze went to her arm as she felt a stinging pain on it, a wry smile appearing on her face as she set eyes upon her burned and scalded forearm.


    "Well, this was bound to happen given the amount of magic I put into my fist. I think I might have broken something."


    Her gaze then left her arm, moving around as she saw the scene around her and spoke.


    "THIS was also bound to happen."

 Chapter 304 Laurene’s Level

    "THIS was also bound to happen."


    She was standing at the bottom of a crater that was at least fifty metres deep and dozens of that, in width.


    There was no tree in sight as even the trees that were supposed to be outside the crater''s range had been uprooted by the massive shockwaves that spread out.


    However, Laurene''s true cause for surprise was not the destruction she had caused, but the fact that the creature she had broken her arm punching was still alive.


    In the middle of the crater, the ogre who had almost everything from its nose down to the midpoint of its chest missing,id silently as its life slowly trickled away.


    Lauren could see the blood spouting out of its still beating heart, along with a few sharp pieces of earth stabbed into said heart.


    Its left lung wasn''t in a much better state, while its right one was not even present in its body anymore.


    Arge gaping hole could be seen on its torso, where the weak point that Laurene had seen with her eyes once was.


    "Ugh.


    I know it is my fault but this is really sad to look at."


    The girl spoke as she grabbed the red orb floating behind her and tossed it onto the creature''s dying body, turning around and walking away while rousing one of her energies that she rarely used.


    A blue glow surrounded her arm, causing her injuries to disappear almost immediately, returning her hand to an even better state than it was before she broke it.


    "This is pretty handy to have.


    I was concerned about my sadpatibility with healing spells, but I guess I could have just used my divinity."


    If anyone who knew just how much affinity she had with healing-type spells heard her words, they might just want to beat her up in rage as what the princess considered to be ''sadpatibility'' was far higher than some priests of the church.


    Even if they weren''t the best at it, someone like her with a title that literally stated she was loved by the very energy used for magic, could not possibly have lowpatibility with healing magic.


    "Oh, almost forgot."


    Snapping out of her daze, she snapped her fingers and the orb she tossed onto the Ogre''s dying body exploded, with arge mushroom cloud of mes rising behind her, followed by waves of heat that caused some of the sand on the ground to melt.


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    As for the source of this explosion, she simply extended the divinity that coated her arm to cover her whole body and kept walking while looking at the level-up notifications in front of her.


    "Finally, Level 180."


    She returned Venus to its dormant state and pulled up her status board to see how her stats fared.


    |Name- Laurene Hayes


    Race- Human


    Gender-Female


    Age - 13


    Level- 180


    Existence Level - Master


    Titles- Princess of the Great Western Empire, Fourth of the Seven Heroes, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Mana, Seeker of Truth, Magic Fanatic, Princess of Alchemy, Magic Genius, Potential Saintess.


    ss - Myriad Mage


    Health �C C+


    Energy �C C+


    Strength �C C


    Agility �C C+


    Durability �C C


    Intelligence- C+


    Condition- Slightly Happy>>Slightly Unhappy.


    Magic Tiers- Lightning Tier 2, Fire Tier 2, Wind Tier 2, Earth Tier 2, Water Tier 2, Dark Tier 1, Divine Tier 2.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Lie Detection, Magic Control, Magic Amplification, Lightning Magic (High), Chant Revocation, Mental Block, Language Comprehension, Divine Bolt;


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Truth (2), Myriad Casting. |


    She could see the condition tab change in real time as she felt slightly unhappy at the fact that she hadn''t gained any new skills within the past few months.


    "Even so, my energy stat is really about to be ''B-'', huh?


    That''s good."


    She kept on studying her status board as she moved, climbing out of the crater and crossing a distance of nearly five hundred metres while her attention was still on her status board.


    She did asionally flick bolts of divinity at the unfortunate monsters who came to check the status of the battle between the king of this forest and the unknown human, but besides that, nothing serious happened.


    Eventually, she arrived at her destination, a small clearing where a dark-haired and green-eyed youth was seated at a table that felt out of ce in this forest.


    |Condition- Slightly Unhappy >>Slightly Happy. |


    Her brow twitched slightly as she saw the status board reflect her mood changes, closing it before quickening her steps towards the boy whose attention was still on the papers in his hands.


    "Hmm? You''re done, Princess?"


    "That''s Laurene for you and yes, I am done, Arnold."


    The girl replied as she walked up to the boy, the firstborn son of the Great Western Empire''s prime minister, Arnold Del Eris.


    She then picked up the ss of juice that was poured for her by the maid standing by the table, took the newspaper out of his hands and sat herself on hisp before giving the paper back to him.


    "Oh, the word on that row is ''Obfuscation''. I''m 110% sure of it."


    She pointed out one of the answers to the crossword puzzle that Arnold was solving, before sipping her drink like nothing happened, ignoring the stinging gazes of the maids cum bodyguards who were around them.


    As for Arnold, he just sighed in defeat as he knew that nothing he was going to say at the moment would make Laurene stand up, deciding to continue solving his crossword puzzle.


    "Hey, Arnold."


    "What is it, Princess?"


    "��Can you tell me why you decided not to join Sir Ralphie in going to the Cheverton Duchy?"


    The girl didn''t even chide him for calling her by her title like she always did, asking him a question that made him flinch noticeably.


    "No reason. My presence there would not be needed as Sir Ralphie alone would be enough to show the Duke''s support for his actions."


    "Lies.


    You are avoiding Evan, aren''t you?"

 Chapter 305 A Certain Emperor And His Daughter

    "Lies.


    You are avoiding Evan, aren''t you?"


    Laurene easily dismissed his words and spoke ones that hit the nail on the mark, with Arnold barely holding himself back from clicking his tongue upon seeing the glowing crest in her eyes.


    ''When did she even turn to face me?''


    Deciding that there was no point in trying to lie to her, Arnold just silently nodded in affirmation, with a wry smile appearing on Laurene''s face as she asked.


    "Would you tell me why?"


    "��"


    Arnold momentarily pictured the scene of him telling Laurene that the person inside his brother''s body, wasn''t his brother and neither was it the Previous Second of the Seven heroes, but a totally different entity with ties to the goddess who governed their world, and that he got this information from ''Aidos''.


    ''No way in hell I can say that.


    How am I going to exin how and why I was told this information by ''Aidos''?''


    Perhaps he was silent for too long, Laurene took his silence as a refusal to speak and turned back to the crossword puzzle in his arms as she leaned back on his chest and spoke.


    "Word 14 is ''Herpetology''.


    Found out when I was researching the ''Mountain Chicken''."


    "That frog?"


    "Yep."


    The two unanimously decided to drop the previous topic, turning their attention to the crossword puzzle on the newspaper in Arnold''s hands while Laurene slowly sipped her juice.


    �� �� ��


    Imperial Castle Throne Hall.


    Lustea


    Beta Continent''s Elven Empire


    April 20th


    Year 1052


    A long-haired blonde fair-skinned man, dressed in floor-length blue and white robes, propped his arm up on the armrest of the throne and rested his face in his palm as he gazed at the young girl in front of him.


    His feather-decorated white crown leaned to the side, with the edges of his lips also curling downwards as he spoke.


    "A storm is brewing in the Alpha continent.


    From what I heard from that brat Rathal; it seems to be affecting the continent''s Great Western Empire."


    The man was one of the few people on the Aidos who had the gall to call one of its five transcendent-level existences, a brat and get away with it.


    This was natural, as he was also a transcendent himself, one who had long reached the realm of transcendence before ''Strongest Human Rathal'' was even born.


    He was the ''Elven Emperor'' of ''The Five'', the strongest existences in the world of Aidos, Zaos Lowe.


    And as for the girl in front of him, she was his youngest daughter, a beautiful youngdy in her mid-teens wearing an oversized hooded jacket that did nothing to hide herrge bust size.


    She had long blonde hair that flowed down her back, with a few strands tucked behind her pointy ears.


    On her legs, she wore simple ck pants and simrly coloured high boots, with a pair of half-framed purple tinted sses hanging from one of the pockets of her trousers.


    Her most noticeable feature, however, was her set of deep purple pupils, with each one having a golden crest of an unknown ancient letter within them.


    "A storm brewing in the Great Western Empire?


    Unless it''s something that involves a Legendary Level existence, they should be fine.


    At the very least, whatever happens wouldn''t put the entire country at risk of destruction, and you know this father.


    So, what''s the real reason you called me here?"


    Zaos'' brow twitched as his daughter casually shot down his awkward attempt at starting a conversation, with his brow twitching once more as she continued speaking.


    "Wait, did you call me here for that again?"


    Seeing her father''s continued silence, the girl realized that her guess was correct, with a tinge of surprise appearing on her face as she asked.


    "��For real?"


    Heaving a sigh of exasperation upon her father''s silent affirmation, the girl ced a hand on her waist and asked the man with a narrowed gaze.


    "So, which of your advisors put you up to it this time?"


    "��none.


    This was my idea."


    The man took off his crown and ced it on the empty throne beside his, leaning forward as he continued speaking.


    "Ever since you were younger, you''ve always had the tendency to overwork yourself trying to learn new things and perfect some skill you already have, stuff along those lines.


    You''re always busy so I just wanted you to get a little rest from all that and y around a bit like other girls your age."


    His words were met with silence from his daughter who just motionlessly stared at him with a strange gaze.


    "Stop looking at me like I''m an obnoxious old man who likes sticking his nose where it doesn''t belong."


    "As expected of my father, you are very urate in predicting my thoughts."


    Zaos felt his brow twitch once more in annoyance, heaving a sigh of exhaustion in the next moment as he facepalmed and leaned back on his throne.


    In that short moment when his eyes were covered, he missed the small smile that appeared on his daughter''s face, with it disappearing in the next moment when he looked at her.


    "I get your concerns but you shouldn''t worry too much about me.


    I get enough rest and give myself a lot of free time.


    I''m fine, okay Daddy?"


    "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You always say that you''re fine bu-!"


    Halfway through his words, Zaos'' expression turned into one of shock as one of his daughter''s words finally registered in his head.


    "Did you just call me ''Daddy''?"


    However, by the time he voiced the question out, the girl was already on the other end of the throne hall, with therge double doors opening in front of her automatically as she made her way out.


    Right outside the doors, stood a tall purple eyed beautiful woman, with lower-back-length blonde hair and bangs hanging over her forehead.


    "Hello, Mother.


    Father is currently in a state of semi-shock, but he''s still capable of coherent thought so you should be fine speaking to him.


    I would be taking my leave now."

 Chapter 306 Personal Visit From The Eternal

    "Hello, Mother.


    Father is currently in a state of semi-shock, but he''s still capable of coherent thought so you should be fine speaking to him.


    I would be taking my leave now."


    She ignored the expression of surprise on the woman''s face and pulled out a magic-filled stone from her pocket.


    "Huh? Semi Shock?"


    The woman was initially confused, however, after sensing the magic power in the stone the girl was holding, she snapped out of it and hurriedly spoke.


    "Wait, Abby. I came to speak��to you too."


    Sadly, the girl crushed the stone and was whisked away by the bountiful spatial magic inside it, disappearing to somewhere else before the woman could finish speaking.


    "Siora!


    Can you believe it?! Abby actually called me ''Daddy''!"


    The woman, Siora, turned her attention towards the Elven Emperor who was acting all giddy on his throne, heaving a sigh of exasperation as she thought.


    ''I think I''m married to a 700-year-old kid.''


    �� �� ��


    Meanwhile, the girl who had casually escaped from her two parents, reappeared in an unknown forest somewhere within the Elven Empire''s capital city, cleaning the dust of the used-up magic stone from her palm as she walked towards a nearby park bench and sat down.


    She dropped her half-framed sses on the bench beside her, before closing her eyes and taking deep breaths, listening to the disharmony of animal sounds that reverberated through the air.


    The variation of wild noises, brightened up the forest, and almostpletely muffled the asional roar of arge animal trying to scare away predators.


    As she sat smack dab in the middle of said forest, she slowly began humming a tune to herself, with a voice that was not too loud, neither was it too low.


    Before she realised, dozens of birds and other small animals gathered around her as if seekingfort in her presence.


    However, she suddenly sensed a gaze on her, stopping her humming as all the animals gathered around her all stared at her with confused gazes, as if they were wondering why she stopped.


    Her closed eyelids slowly opened up to reveal her set of deep purple pupils, with the golden crest within each one glowing ever so slightly.


    She turned her gaze to the skies and smiled before waving at something.


    "I guess I have to leave soon, huh? The others should be doing the same about now."


    After saying that to no one in particr, she closed her eyes once more and resumed humming in tune with the birds in the distance.


    However, her eyes opened once more as all the sounds around her suddenly stopped, as if someone had pressed a pause button on the world around her.


    Looking around, she could notice two things; One was that her vision had turned monochrome, and the other was that nothing was in a state of motion, neither the leaves rustling in the winds nor the birds flying in the air.


    Everything had stopped exactly where it was the instant before.


    It was as if she alone was capable of movement in this frozen world.


    A sigh escaped her lips, with a question flowing out right afterwards.


    "To what do I owe the pleasure of a personal visit, Lord ''Eternal''?"


    The moment she spoke, the only other being who was capable of movement in this frozen world, and the cause of it in the first ce, slowly phased into existence on the bench beside her.


    It was a young man who looked no more than eighteen years of age, with heterochromatic red and blue eyes, as well as an amused smile on his face as he gazed at her.


    "Nothing much.


    Just looked over to Artemisia and saw her staring at something so I decided toe to check it out."


    The man spoke calmly, his gaze not leaving her as she picked up one of the frozen rabbits on the ground and poked its belly.


    "That sounds like the kind of thing you''d do if only you were bored."


    "I am. That''s why I came over, to see if I can find something that amused me.


    But I have to say, that was one weird conversation you had with your father."


    "You were watching that long?"


    Her attention left the frozen rabbit on herp as she turned towards the man beside her with a tinge of surprise appearing on her face.


    "I wasn''t. I just reyed what had already happened.


    ''She'' was watching though."


    As he spoke, he turned his gaze to the sky and coated a finger in an unknown form of energy that the girl could not perceive and poked the air.


    There was silence for a few moments as the girl looked on with confusion, which turned to shock right after as a stream of indirect messages visible to her suddenly appeared in front of this being''s face.


    In just thirty seconds, she saw more indirect messages than she had ever seen in more than a decade, and while the full content of the messages was not visible to her, she could just barely catch the three words that were constant in all of them.


    ''The goddess ''Artemisia''.''


    Right after that, she saw another scene that she wasn''t sure she''d ever get to see again, as this heterochromatic-eyed man casually touched the notification boards, dragging all of them together like a stack of cards and shattering them into pieces of light with his bare hands.


    He then turned those red and blue eyes to her and spoke.


    "You look like you have something to ask me."


    As she nodded in affirmation as if on reflex, the man leaned back on the bench and tucked a strand of hair behind her ears as he spoke.


    "Ask away. I''m feeling generous today."


    Upon hearing his words, her purple eyes widened in surprise ever so slightly, however, she contained that surprise and asked the one question that had been bugging her mind for years.


    "What''s your goal?"

 Chapter 307 His Goal

    "What''s your goal?"


    She wanted to know his end goal. The reason why this being even bothered to look in the way of Aidos.


    She was aware that he and the goddess who governed this world were working on something, something she had no idea of. However, she still wanted to know just how that thing, whatever it was, would benefit this man sitting next to her.


    She wanted to know what was in it for him.


    "What''s in it for me, huh?"


    He twisted his lips slightly and the ''Abby'' prepared herself for some sort of mind-blowing revtion, however, the words that came through were the furthest thing from that.


    "For starters, it''s fun."


    "Huh?"


    "Yes. Fun."


    Seeing the expression of great shock on her face, he chuckled to himself and asked.


    "What?


    Did you think I had some grand world-ending level goals? Or that all this was just a little part of arger game n?


    Sorry to burst your bubble but it''s not.


    I''m doing this because it''s fun, at least that''s 70% of the reason."


    "��


    The other 30%?"


    "Hmm��.


    Well, it''s 15% because in the event that you all fail and Aidos ceases to exist, I want to see how Artemisia would be able to cope with the fact that h(%*&^e%E7g."


    His eyes narrowed as a weird static sound that blocked out his words rang out as he spoke, sighing in exasperation in the next moment as he voiced out a question.


    "Do you really think that the other gods who are lightyears away would find out simply because I told a single mortal?"


    He shook his head and sighed once more, with ''Abby'' catching on to what was happening as she asked.


    "I''m guessing you were about to say something I''m not supposed to know of?"


    "It''s not that you''re not supposed to know of it, it''s just that Artemisia doesn''t want people to know about it.


    I myself, only discovered this because of the nature of my power."


    ''Abby'' nodded to herself slightly before asking him what the remaining 15% was for.


    "That''s just my desire to see if a certain someone can remain in slumber like he''s always wished to."


    A mncholic look momentarily shed through his eyes for a moment, right before he mmed his fist in his palm and spoke.


    "Oh, I almost forgot this."


    Before he could evenplete the other part of his statement, both Artemisia and ''Abby'' simultaneously rolled their eyes and voiced out the same question.


    "Is it even possible for you to ''forget''?"


    [Is it even possible for you to ''forget''?]


    The man''s brow twitched repeatedly but he calmed himself and continued speaking, choosing not toment on their previous statement.


    "You, my dear, are not the only one."


    "Not the only what?"


    In response to the question ''Abby'' asked, the man rose two fingers into the air, pointing at her with them before flicking them simultaneously.


    A familiar dark red aura burst out of her body, surprising the purple-eyed teenager, with her hurriedly looking around at the animals around her and heaving a sigh of relief upon discovering they were still fine.


    Then, her surprise went towards the more important issue here.


    ''Even though he was the one who gave me the skill, the fact that he could activate it regardless of my will is something I didn''t expect.


    At most, I thought he''d just be able to take it back when he felt like it.''


    Despite her surprise, she maintained a calm look on her face, betraying no emotions, however, the man smiled in amusement as he asked.


    "Surprised, aren''t you?"


    "��you read my mind."


    "No, I saw your thoughts."


    She tilted her head to the side and gave him a look that asked ''What''s the difference?'', causing him to heave a sigh and reply.


    "It''s a higher dimensional thing.


    I see in more than just three dimensions and one of the dimensions I see happens to be the one where thoughts flow.


    So, when I say I saw your thoughts, I mean I LITERALLY, saw your thoughts."


    This time, she could not keep calm as her face betrayed her surprise, with him holding her by the chin and saying.


    "Your surprised face looks cute."


    He then stood up and turned around, waving her off as he slowly phased out of existence, leaving her with onest statement.


    "As I was saying; You, my dear, are not the only one ''Blessed By Destruction''."


    The moment he vanishedpletely, colour and motion returned to the world as the leaves began rustling in the wind once more and the birds resumed flying in the air.


    The rabbit on herp looked around in confusion as it didn''t understand how it suddenly appeared there, but the girl''s mind wasn''t even on it.


    [Don''t take his words to heart.


    He''s just trying to rile you up unnecessarily.


    There''s no real meaning to him telling you that. He''s just a bored kid who has been alive for too long and is looking for someone to mess with.]


    Artemisia''s voice rang out in her head, with ''Abby'' heaving a small sigh and speaking out loud.


    "That''s nice to know and all but can you switch back to the indirect messaging, my head hurts."


    [Huh? When did it go off?


    That old brat!]


    |Connection Terminated|


    ''Abby'' leaned back on the bench, her hands moving to pet the rabbit on herp as she decided to clear her mind of all the weird things that just happened and enjoy nature.


    "Yep. Fluffy animals are indeed the cutest things alive."


    �� �� ��


    Unknown Abandoned City


    Bultom County


    Cheverton Duchy


    Alpha Continent''s Great Western Empire


    April 20th


    Year 1052;


    Apocalypse.


    That was the only word that could be used to describe the that this boy found himself looking at.


    An Exploding sun.


    A broken moon.


    And earth shattered beyond repair.


    The ground was littered with gore, weapons and carnage. Rivers of blood flowed endlessly as the boy watched everything from the top of a hill of corpses.


    All of a sudden, the sky turned red, his vision going ck in the next moment as he opened his eyes, his ears being greeted with the melodious voice of a girl not too far from him in age.


    "You''re finally awake.


    Seriously, who the hell sleeps atop a pile of corpses?"

 Chapter 308 Temporarily Breaking Character Role

    "You''re finally awake.


    Seriously, who the hell sleeps atop a pile of corpses?"


    Looking around him, he could see he was not in that apocalyptic scenery in his mind but in a town that could have been said to have gone through its own form of apocalypse.


    The once smoothwork of roads that interconnected all the streets and districts of the town was torn to pieces by the elements. Grass filled thebyrinth of cracks and sand covered whatever was left. Gardens were bustling with insect life who had made their home in the now tall grasses and overgrown bushes.


    Most doors were eitherpletely gone or mere remnants of rotten wood and rusty metal. The open doorways looked eerie as only darkness showed within. There were signs of fires, while in some cases, it was merely a trail of soot and smoke above a window pane, in others, it was a pile of ash where once a building stood.


    "I was not asleep, just going through some past memories."


    "Really? Of all ces to reminisce about the past!"


    The boy, Leader of the New Generation Heroes, Evan (Bourne) Eris, chuckled lightly as he jumped down the hill of headless corpses he was sitting down on and adjusted his clothes.


    He wore a pair of ck trousers with a simrly coloured short-sleeved T-shirt on his upper body. Atop his shirt, was a grey cardigan that matched the colour of his shoes. On his right wrist was a in ck bracelet about 15 cm in length.


    Running a hand through his short ck hair, he looked to the side and saw pieces of broken body armour and helmets of various kinds gathered into a single pile.


    His dark grey eyes narrowed slightly as he gazed at this pile of junk, the golden crest in his eyes lighting up with a golden glow.


    "Good...they''re all ''dead''."


    He spoke to the blonde-haired girl beside him as he stretched his arm into the air and called out.


    "Unforged."


    *SWOOSHH!!


    Within a few seconds, an obsidian ck one-handed sword with an eighty-centimetre-long de flew through the air and into his open palm.


    Grasping the sword tightly, he turned to the blonde girl, Battle Priestess Eliza, and voiced out a question.


    "Where''s our resident invader?"


    "She went ahead to the main city, saying that we should meet her there when you wake up from your beauty sleep."


    Hearing the girl''s reply, he nodded in understanding before sheathing his sword and walking towards the wide fallen temple in the middle of the city square as he continued.


    "Let''s go then.


    There are a lot of knights that we have to relieve of the burden of carrying their heads in their hands."


    The girl nodded in affirmation as she picked up her magic catalyst, a look of remembrance appearing on her face as she asked.


    "When are you going to start looking for the rest?"


    "Soon...very soon."


    The boy replied as he looked beyond the entrance of the fallen temple with glowing eyes.


    However, a strange expression appeared on his face as he suddenly realised something about what Eliza told him.


    "Hey, Liz."


    "What?"


    "You said Pride was going over to the main city, right?"


    "Yeah, what about it?"


    "Is she aware that there''s still another town before we get to the actual Bultom Dungeon City?"


    "��"


    The two stared at each other in silence before a third voice rang out and broke said silence.


    "You must have misheard. Elder sister went back to the previous town to pick up a book series she ordered."


    The younger brother of the ''resident'' invader Evan spoke of, emerged from one of the abandoned buildings around them while tossing something into the spatial pouch on his waist as he spoke.


    "It''s the fact that she''s actually making a journey of dozens of kilometres just for some books that baffles me.


    Oh well, I''m not a bookworm like her so I can''t rte."


    Evan shrugged his shoulders as he spoke, turning his attention back towards the fallen temple in front of him and continuing.


    "She can catch up with uster.


    For now, we have to focus on stopping whatever is going on down there that would result in the creation of a very disgusting creature with the potential to be a grandmaster-level existence in just a few days."


    Eliza''s expression turned strange as she remembered the description of the thing that Evan gave her, holding her mouth as if to prevent herself from throwing up as she spoke.


    "I''d rather fight a bunch of Duhans like we just did rather thany my eyes on that."


    "Don''t worry too much, it only gets more disgusting when it bes a grandmaster."


    "��. that''s not any constion."


    An exnation is in order for one to understand just where the ''Anomalies'' were currently situated.


    After leaving the Yelcyne County, the group journeyed for two days, arriving at this abandoned town that was not so far from Bultom Dungeon City.


    The town was situated in between two of the smaller towns that surrounded Bultom Dungeon city in a semi-circle, having been abandoned decades ago for reasons Evan neither knew nor cared about.


    What Evan did know, is that it was this abandoned town where the flesh golem that wreaked havoc across Cheverton in the game, spawned.


    Arriving here, they were met with the scene of hundreds of Duhans patrolling the abandoned town, as if guarding it, confirming the presence of the Demonic Hand in this ce.


    The group then proceeded to wipe out all the Duhans, while Evan and Eliza had a discussion concerning the other seven heroes, with Evan zoning out reminiscing? about something afterwards and snapping back to reality only to discover that Pride had returned to the previous town.


    "Now, the group decided to descend to the artificial dungeon at the bottom of the fallen Temple, in a quest to stop the evil Demonic hand Senior member from seeding in the flesh golem creation that she was tasked with by the ''Eighth Finger''."


    The boy received strange gazes from hispanions, with the lightning spirit Ka facepalming as he went on to stick his nose into the narrator''s job.


    [Master, stop it.]


    "Fine, I''d stick to my character role."

 Chapter 309 Boss Monster: Giant Flesh Golem Has Spawned!

    [Master, stop it.]


    "Fine, I''d stick to my character role."


    Evan rose his arms in mock surrender, before turning towards Greed who had squatted a few feet away and was poking the ground with his finger.


    "What''s up?"


    "My treasure seeker is telling me that there''s something valuable right underneath this spot."


    The high demon''s reply once again reminded the boy of the fact that the person he was travelling with was indeed the Sin of Greed, and so far, he had been doing his best to fulfil his greedy nature.


    The spatial pouch filled with valuables that were scammed off another adventurer on his waist was proof of that.


    "Well...that''s good for you because we''re going down to the basement of the temple.


    That''s where the Demonic Hand guys most likely are."


    Evan twirled his sword around his finger as he continued speaking.


    "Also, there''s bound to be a Senior Member of the Demonic Hand here. And like all senior members, she happens to have a contracted demon with her."


    "She?"


    "Hmm? Yeah.


    The Demonic Hand member responsible for the flesh golem is a female elf. Her name is-!"


    The boy could not continue his statement as he noticed that his feet were trembling. Or rather, the ground underneath his feet began trembling.


    "...seems that we''re a bit toote.


    Oh well, we''d go with n B.


    But first, let''s back away from this -."


    **BOOOOMMM!!!!!


    His words were interrupted by a loud explosion that crumbled what was left of the temple in front of them and turned it to dust.


    All three of them backed away instantly to avoid getting hit by the rocks and other debris flying around, with Eliza momentarily stiffening as she felt a strong aura of ''death'' permeate through the entire area.


    "What the fuck is that?!"


    Although she could not see it, her affinity for magic and mystic arts was on the opposite end of the spectrum, so she understood just how strong the creature emerging from the ground was, and how much more terrifying it would be if it was allowed to gain a stronger death aura.


    Evan and Greed weren''t as sensitive to death aura as she was, but they could also feel the strong aura of death flowing out of the rotten arm whose silhouette they could see in the cloud of dust.


    ''In the game, it was a level 200 upon its creation, and taking advantage of the Eighth Finger''s trap that held back the Duke, it had enough time to go around and wreak Havoc in multiple counties, devouring multiple grandmasters and eventually bing 200 levels higher by the time the Duke finally managed to escape the Eighth Finger''s trap.


    However, Vazgan who was at full power and the flesh golem had already wreaked havoc across more than half of the Duchy.


    This time, the attack is more than three months earlier so the Eighth finger likely hasn''t seeded in creating that trap and Vazgan should not be as strong as he was in the game.


    As such, I thought this one would be weaker by default, but I didn''t expect that they''d instead pour more effort into this part of their operation.


    I guess I''m going to have to revaluate Vazgan too.''


    Appraising the creature in front of him, Evan wondered just how many innocent people had died for it to be born as strong as it currently was.


    "Guys, we''re still going with n B, but we might have to take things a bit more seriously.


    That thing is 50 levels higher than I had expected."


    Evan spoke with all seriousness, with his expression narrowing as he sensed multiple other presences besides the creature that was emerging from the ground.


    "Is an entire unit of the Demonic Hand''s eighth division here?"


    While Evan was questioning no one in particr, something was rising from the cloud of dust and smoke in front of them.


    The amalgamation of corpses in front of them rose to a height that Evan wondered if the giants from the myths were even that big.


    "GUOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"


    In front of the eyes of the group, a 25-metre-tall giant was roaring loudly.


    "Boss monster: Giant Flesh Golem has spawned!"


    Evan screamed out the line said in the game when the flesh golem spawned, only for his eyes to widen in shock as he remembered what the creature''s first attack usually was.


    "Shit! Fall back!!!"


    Eliza and Greed didn''t need to be told as the gigantic arm that was slowly descending was enough for them to infer what was about to happen.


    **BOOOOOMM!!!!


    A loud explosion rang out as the flesh golem''s huge arm mmed down on the ground, sending tremors through the earth that spread as far as five hundred metres away.


    At the same time, the shockwaves annihted every building that was within that range, turning them into chunks of rock and dust.


    "GUOOOOO!!!"


    The creature let out another weird roar, turning around right after as it began taking slow but steady steps towards the opposite direction from where Evan and co were.


    "Hey, Evan."


    "Yes, dear?"


    "...isn''t that the direction of the town we''re supposed to go to next?"


    ".... remember when I said we''re going with n B?"


    Eliza activated the radiant codex, letting it float in the air as she turned to Evan and spoke with a narrowed gaze.


    "If we don''t take out whatever demonic hand members are here quickly, then thousands of people are going to die to that creature.


    You, yourself said that town shouldn''t have anything higher than C rank after all."


    "Don''t worry, Liz."


    Evan generated a gust of wind on his palm as he spoke, clearing up all the dust and smoke around them as he gazed at the womaning out of the hole in the ground the flesh golem made and continued.


    "If there aren''t any unexpected variables, we should be capable enough to take out both the golem and its creators, without having a single casualtye to the people of that town.


    We''re that powerful, after all.


    Besides, the golem may be high-level, but it''s slow as fuck. Guess, they had to sacrifice other aspects to increase its raw power."

 Chapter 310 Senior Member Faerora

    "If there aren''t any unexpected variables, we should be capable enough to take out both the golem and its creators, without having a single casualtye to the people of that town.


    We''re that powerful, after all.


    Besides, the golem may be high-level, but it''s slow as fuck. Guess, they had to sacrifice other aspects to increase its raw power."


    The boy kicked off the ground in the next second, dashing towards the hooded woman who was standing in front of the hole in the ground that she just emerged from.


    His target sensed his presence and reacted instantly, creating two des of brown aura in her hands and turning around to block the boy''s sudden sword sh.


    **BAMM!!


    There was a loud sound as the metal and aura des shed, with the ground underneath their feet sumbing to the power of their strikes as the resultant shockwaves went on to create a small crater about 10 metres in diameter around them.


    "Who-?!"


    Before the woman could evenplete her question, Evan disappeared, causing her to lose her bnce and nearly fall but she regained herself in thest moment, taking up a defensive stance as she stared at the young boy who just randomly appeared and attacked her.


    She also made sure to move away from the spot where they had just shed, for fear that the hollow ground would suddenly cave in and cause her to fall down to the bottom of the underground basement.


    Her gaze just remained on the boy who just silently stabbed his sword into the ground and nced around.


    It was at this time that Eliza and Greed caught up, with the high demon emitting a sinister aura that gave her cold sweat. However, while Eliza''s presence seemed less dangerous, the sheer amount of magic power rolling off her body ced a different kind of pressure on the hooded woman.


    The two sides stared at each other silently with the hooded woman''s eyes widening slightly as she looked at Evan''s shoulder, something Evan and the entity seating on his shoulder didn''t miss.


    "I almost forgot that you also had an affinity for spirits.


    However, the spirits all steered clear of you after you joined the demonic hand."


    The hooded woman narrowed her eyes in displeasure upon hearing Evan''s words that revealed a history not many people knew of, however, she didn''t let her sour mood cloud her judgement as she remained on guard while focusing on the boy who was still speaking.


    "I didn''t expect you would still be able to create the flesh golem and even make it stronger than originally nned despite being pressed for time.


    Seems like I miscalcted."


    Blown by the wind, her hood fell off and revealed her facial appearance for Evan to see. She was a beautiful brown-haired elven woman with simrly coloured eyes and long pointed ears signifying her elven origin.


    "Nice to meet you, Senior Member of the Demonic Hand and Unit Commander under its Eight Division; Faerora.


    My name is Evan Bourne Eris."


    Evan offered his greetings and introduced himself with perfect manners, courtesy of his current body''s original owner, before ncing around and asking.


    "Where''s Lensa?"


    "��


    How do you know that name?"


    Faerora finally opened her mouth to speak, her melodious voice ringing out across the silent area with Evan tilting his head to the side and asking.


    "You''re not wondering how I know that you are a Demonic Hand Member but how I know your contracted Demon''s name?"


    The brown-haired elf''s lips twisted in displeasure as she stared at Evan in silence.


    ''What sort of strange kid is this? All the previous hostility he was emitting is gone and it''s as if he has no intention to fight.


    However, I can tell that the moment I make a move that sword is not going to remain stabbed into the ground anymore.


    What''s more, that man beside him��he''s definitely a demon. Only demons can emit such pure demonic energy.


    I would have thought he was a member of a unit from another division or something if I didn''t see the kid''s eyes.


    There''s no doubt that the symbol in them is one of the ''Seven Heroes'' symbols. Why does he have them?''


    Faerora''s mind wasn''t as silent as her mouth was, as it was working to analyse and understand the current scenario that she found herself in.


    ''Is he a Hero? Lord Vk said that the heroes would begin reappearing when the seal is about to break, however, we hav-''


    [Fae? What''s going on? Why is there another Demon here?]


    Her thoughts were interrupted by the voice of her contracted demon who contacted her through their connection.


    ''Lensa, get here fast! We have big trouble! Bring up all of the lower members with you.''


    Faerora instantly took the chance to call her contracted demon out of the basement where they worked on the flesh golem, also telling her to bring out the rest of their subordinates.


    The elven woman felt chills run down her spine as a deep gaze settled on her body, turning her eyes to see the owner of the gaze was the tall great sword-wielding demon who was standing next to the hero(?) kid.


    "Hello? Faerora? Have you called Lensa yet?"


    Evan''s voice rang out, dragging her attention back to him as she could see his gaze move from her to the flesh golem walking towards the town in the distance.


    ''Is the flesh golem his target?''


    Faerora didn''t have the time to voice out her question as her contracted demon finally appeared, jumping out of the deep hole in the ground andnding a few feet behind her.


    The ground underneath her feet cracked slightly from the force of hernding, with the demon quickly jumping forwards to more solid ground as she began speaking.


    "I got the others to use the alternate exit, they should be here in a minute.


    So now can you tell me what''s going on he-!!!!!!!!"

 Chapter 311 Noble Demon Lensa

    "I got the others to use the alternate exit, they should be here in a minute.


    So now can you tell me what''s going on he-!!!!!!!!"


    The words of the tall, ck-haired and green-eyed demon were cut short as she scanned the appearances of the three people standing opposite her, starting with Eliza on the left, Evan in the middle and finally Greed on the right.


    She reflexively took a step back the moment she set her eyes on Greed, with her whole body beginning to tremble in fear as she spoke with chattering teeth.


    "h-h-h-how i-s yo-youu h-h-h-h-h-he-re?!"


    Even her grammar turned strange as she pointed to Greed while slowly backing away in fear.


    Seeing this, Evan turned to Greed and spoke.


    "You siblings'' faces seem to have been quite popr in the demon world. Thest demon I met also recognized your sister at a nce, and now this one too."


    "Of course, we are popr.


    I bet records of us containing our appearances are still in cirction around the demon world till now. We are THE Seven Deadly Sins, after all."


    Faerora''s eyes widened in shock as she heard the words that came out of Greed''s mouth, with Lensa''s next mutter confirming it.


    "S-s-in of G-G-G-reeeed!"


    Evan once again turned to Greed and spoke casually, ignoring the demon having a panic attack in front of him.


    "You also seem to have been quite notorious as every demon who sees you guys gets scared shitless.


    If this is her reaction to seeing just you, what would she do if Pride was also here?"


    Luckily for Lensa, she was currently overtaken by her fear and could not hear what Evan was saying, otherwise, she might have just had a heart attack that instant.


    It was at this moment that the other members of the demonic hand who were underground began surfacing, with some jumping out of the hole in the ground like Lensa did while others appeared from other directions.


    The ones who appeared first and heard the words spoken by their leader''s contracted demon, almost jumped back into the hole in fear as the stories of the seven deadly sins that they had been told, all depicted the seven high demons to be powerful and ruthless existences, whose tyranny didn''t even spare fellow members of their own race.


    The middle and lower-ranked members of the demonic hand trooped into the area, surrounding Evan, Eliza and Greed in an attempt to pressure them with superior numbers.


    "They have us outnumbered, huh?"


    Upon hearing Evan''s calm and confident voice as he grabbed the sword that was stabbed into the ground, Faerora wasn''t sure if the numbers would mean anything to the boy.


    Before she could even say anything, she felt a wave of demonic energy erupt from beside her and spread out into the surroundings, turning her surprised gaze towards her contracted demon who had sprouted wings from her back and looked ready to flee.


    Lensa didn''t even listen to her contractor''s words, shooting up into the sky and generating two ringed magic circles on both her palms,unching out fireballs towards the source of her fear.


    A very displeased Greed waved his great sword, swatting away the fireballs like baseballs, causing them to fly in the direction of a few unfortunate lower members of the demonic hand and instantly engulfing them in the demonic energy-enhanced mes.


    "Lensa!!!"


    Faerora shouted towards her contracted demon, however, thetter ignored her and remained hovering in the air, gritting her teeth as she began a chant that Evan was sure he would never forget.


    The boy''s eyes widened, with his grip on his sword loosening, causing the de to fall to the ground and drawing Eliza and Greed''s attention.


    "Boy, what''s with you?"


    "Evan?!"


    However, Evan did not pay them any heed, staring at the demon in the sky who was casting the exact same spell as the first demon he ever fought.


    "Release the true Nature of My Soul!"


    The moment he heard that iconic line, that same line he heard the demon who nearly killed him once speak, Evan felt a chill down his spine as the entirety of that day''s events reyed in his head.


    Everything from the moment he met Xakon, all the times Xakon literally beat the shit out of him and how he eventually defeated Xakon after using abination of demonic possession and limit break with the help of the spirits around him.


    [It''s the same as that one!]


    [Like that grey-winged man!]


    [The scary one who used fire and ice?]


    [Yes! That one!]


    [Who are you guys talking about?]


    [Yeah? Have you seen this before?]


    The voices of the ambient spirits who always gathered around Evan, along with a few others who had followed him over from the previous town rang out in his ears, but it was as if the sounds didn''t register in his brain.


    The only thing he could hear at that point in time, was the voice of the demon who was hovering in the air as she screamed out three words.


    "True Form Release!!!!"


    **BOOM!!


    A burst of golden-coloured aura erupted from Evan''s body, spreading out shockwaves that knocked Greed and Eliza to the sides by a few metres, and even going on to almost push Faerora back down the hole behind her.


    The ground underneath his feet cratered as he shot into the air at breakneck speed, reaching the freshly transformed demon in her true form and grabbing her by the neck before she could even take any action.


    "So, you''re a noble demon, huh?"


    He created a foothold ofpressed golden aura and stood on it, holding up the neck of the demon in his hands with the full power of his enhanced B- strength stat.


    The next moment, he spun his body around and flung Lensa''s body with all his might, with the demon drawing arge parabolic arc in the air as he turned towards the shocked people on the ground.


    "Liz, Ka Kuro.


    Please deal with the small fry.


    Greed, you take Faerora.


    ��


    I would handle this noble demon personally."

 Chapter 312 Greed Being Greedy

    "Liz, Ka Kuro.


    Please deal with the small fry.


    Greed, you take Faerora.


    ��


    I would handle this noble demon personally."


    Immediately after he spoke, he shot forward once more, turning into a streak of golden light that shot through the air, straight towards the iing streak of green light that was the enraged demon, Lensa.


    **BOOM!!


    Their aura-d fists met, resulting in a loud explosion that released a lime-coloured cloud of smoke, with their two figures shooting out of the cloud of smoke and crashing towards the ground in the distance.


    Seeing Evan''s weird reaction, Greed turned to Eliza and voiced out a question as he held up his sword.


    "Does this guy have anything against noble demons or something? Cus Pride and I are kinda noble demons too."


    "��"


    Eliza remained silent as she gazed in the direction Evan went with aplicated look in her eyes, before flicking her fingers and activating her flower cannon skill.


    The gigantic shoot emerged from the ground, towering over Eliza, as magic power began concentrating in the closed petals, drawing the attention of all who were gobsmacked by Evan''s sudden actions.


    Faerora instantly gave our orders and summoned her real battle weapon, a silver spear with golden inscriptions on it


    However, the moment she did, she felt chills all over her body as Greed''s gaze on her turned deep once more.


    "So that''s what I was sensing."


    The high demon spoke as he stabbed Mammonas into the ground, taking slow casual steps towards Faerora as she felt part of the strength in her body suddenly disappear forcing her to weakly drop to one knee.


    One of the higher level middle ranked members dashed towards Greed in an attempt to attack him, however, the high demon stretched out his arm and caught the neck of the person, clenching his fist and squashing it in the next second.


    Just as they saw one of their stronger members easily perish at the hands of the Deadly Sin Demon, the lower-ranked members of the demonic hand weren''t given time to process it as Eliza''s flower cannon was done charging.


    ***WOOOONGGG!!!!


    The beam of concentrated magic power shot out of the blooming flower bud, crashing into the bodies of the level 200 and above middle-ranked members present and knocking them away, before going on to instantly rip the lower levelled members to shreds.


    At the same time, a golden pearl of lightning appeared in the air as the pseudo authority of the great lightning spirit was activated, with golden bolts of lightning and mes raining down from the sky and onto the demonic hand members who had been held in ce by their own shadows.


    While this was happening, Greed was walking towards the wounded Faerora, concentrating all of his power on her to keep her weak enough that she would not be able to move.


    This was the only reason why the other members of the demonic hand were unaffected by his idiosyncrasy.


    "That spear of yours, it looks nice."


    "I want it."


    "Give it to me."


    As he spoke, he grabbed the spear and pulled it out of her hands, wrapping it with demonic energy and using his finger to draw a rune with his magic power before he tossed it into his spatial pouch.


    **BAAMM!!!


    The high demon wordlessly mmed his fist into the side of Faerora''s face right after, sending her body flying through the air and into the giant hole in front of him.


    "Hmm��let''s see what''s down there."


    Greed jumped into the hole and flicked his fingers, causing the sword he had dropped on the ground to levitate into the air, before flying into the hole right after him.


    Left behind, Eliza took note of where the hole in the ground was before returning her focus to the battle in front of her.


    She unfurled the Memoria and held it with her right hand, swinging the spear-tipped staff in a wide horizontal arc as she activated a newly acquired skill.


    "Cutting Wave."


    It was a skill that allowed her to cut things from a distance using her energy, simple, but deadly nheless.


    (Note: The Memoria Would be referenced as a spear when she''s using it as one and referred to as a staff when she''s using it as one.)


    A wave of green magic power shot out from her spear, slicing through the air as it made its way towards its targets, with nearly half of them managing to duck to avoid it while the others were granted brand new sh wounds from the wave of magic power.


    "It''s just like Evan''s aura sh.


    How about I add my skill''s effect to it?"


    The girl created a barrier to block the great sword that threatened to cleave her in two from behind, twisting the spear in her hands and stabbing towards its wielder as the spear phased through the barrier with ease and punctured a hole in the great sword-wielding demonic hand member''s body.


    She then activated her child of life skill, using one of her daily charges as the green aura of life surrounded her body in a simr way to when Evan used the blessing of destruction.


    With her arm coated in this aura, she formed her palm into a knife hand and swung it backwards, hitting the neck of the person she had impaled with her spear and severing it from his head.


    "My skill is stronger? Or is it that my control over the essence of life is getting better?"


    She gazed at her bloodstained palm as she twirled her spear around her right hand, flicking off the blood on her left palm before grabbing the spear with it and thrusting forward.


    The target of the spear thrust titled their head to the side in an attempt to avoid it, however, Eliza moved her spear along with him, turning the thrust into a sh that cut into her target''s torso with ease.


    "Guh!"


    The demonic hand member grunted in pain, even so, he grit his teeth and stretched out his hands to grab Eliza''s arm, probably with the intention of activating some skill that required physical contact.


    Naturally, there was no way that Eliza was going to let him get to her so easily.

 Chapter 313 Eliza Vs Demonic Hand Mobs I

    "Guh!"


    The demonic hand member grunted in pain, even so, he grit his teeth and stretched out his hands to grab Eliza''s arm, probably with the intention of activating some skill that required physical contact.


    Naturally, there was no way that Eliza was going to let him get to her so easily.


    The battle priestess created a small barrier around her arm that prevented the man from touching her arm, slowly watching the expression on his face turn to shock the moment he noticed the barrier.


    Before he could even make the split-second decision to still activate the skill, Eliza had already pulled back her spear and stabbed forwards multiple times, perforating a few new holes in his forehead.


    She tapped her foot on the ground twice, creating two barriers on her sides to block the me spears and wind des that simultaneously came from both sides.


    Just before she could dash towards either side, the corpse of the demonic hand member who wanted to grab her fell towards her body, with her reflexively backstepping to avoid it from touching her.


    A thought shed through her mind, with a sudden blush appearing on her cheeks right after as she suddenly felt embarrassed for thinking that.


    ''Why did the words ''Only Evan is allowed to touch me''e to my mind now of all times?!''


    Despite her internal panic, she didn''t forget the fact that she was currently in a battle, throwing her left fist towards thebatant that dashed towards her from that direction and mming the person''s face with her life aura-coated fist.


    Of course, the anti-regeneration effect was currently active so whatever wounds she gave her opponents would not be healing themselves anytime soon even if her opponents were level 200 existences with powerful regenerative capabilities owing to their high health stats.


    The Health Reduction effect was also active so the Health stats of anyone she damaged dropped by a whole rank, making it easier for her to send them to the afterlife.


    "Okay, stop thinking about your boyfriend Eliza.


    Focus on the fight."


    She lightly pped her cheeks as she spoke, picking her spear up and getting into a stance as she gazed at the various men and women who surrounded her.


    They were dressed in various attires ranging from robes, to leather or metallic armours, with some even wearing skin-tight bodysuits and numbered in the dozens, possibly hundreds.


    And these weren''t all as Ka and Kuro had their own share of hundreds after them, while some had jumped down the hole to chase after Greed and Faerora, with a few even deigning to interfere in Evan''s battle with Lensa.


    "Let''s get a bit serious with this, now."


    Eliza''s words shocked the few demonic hand members who heard them, with one of them ncing at the corpses of high levelled members that surrounded her as she thought.


    ''She killed those guys when she wasn''t serious?''


    Sadly, those were the demonic hand member''sst thoughts as within those few moments of absent-mindedness, Eliza locked onto her and kicked off the ground, dashing towards the woman with the full power behind her ''B-'' agility stat.


    "Hap."


    Eliza swung the spear horizontally, unleashing a cutting wave that sliced off the head of the demonic hand member with ease, before ducking to avoid the de thrust that came from behind.


    She spun around and delivered a low kick that swept the sword wielder off his feet, with her spear shing as she lopped his head off using the ded side of the weapon''s tip.


    Not letting the corpse fall onto her, she quickly got up, twisting her body mid-way to avoid the throwing knives that attempted to pierce her torso whilst simultaneously activating flower cannon.


    **WOONNNGG!!


    **BOOOMMM!!!


    The building where the person who threw those knives, along with a few other archers was instantly reduced to dust by a beam of concentrated magic power, with Eliza dashing towards the crumbling building with speed so fast she looked like a sh of green light to those below level 200.


    "GAH!!"


    "ARGH!!"


    Two grunts of pain rang out as Eliza took advantage of their reduced visibility due to the dust of the building crumbling to reap their lives, sensing three more life signs up ahead which she shot towards as rings of green light appeared around her wrists and feet.


    Her speed increased exponentially, with her instantly arriving in front of the coughing demonic hand member and kicking his head with her enhanced strength.


    As his body flew to the side, she instantly targeted the two people on the floor beside him, releasing a cutting wave that reaped their lives, before manifesting a barrier to block the magic that came from behind her.


    "Flower Cannon."


    As the gigantic shoot emerged from the ground once more, Eliza climbed atop it and used it as a springboard to jump up into the air,nding in the middle of the fluster of demonic hand members who were racing towards her.


    **BAMM!!


    She released a burst of magic power with hernding, spreading out shock waves that knocked the majority of them off their feet, with those who managed to remain standing losing their bnce and bing easy targets for her flower cannon''s beam of magic power.


    [Level Up.]


    The girl ignored the notification in front of her and thrust her spear forward, stabbing into the chest of one of the female demonic hand members, her brow twitching slightly as she felt her spear slide off something soft and miss its target, only inflicting a small cut on the side of the woman''s body.


    ''Are you frigging kidding me?!''


    Eliza screamed out internally as she spun her body around to release an omnidirectional cutting wave.


    At the end of her spin, her spear collided with that same woman once more, but this time, the weapon shed through the woman''s arm, cutting it off before going on to dig into her torso.


    "Just die already!"


    The battle priestess screamed out as she injected pure magic power into the woman''s body through the cut, detonating the magic power right after and causing her body to explode.


    The barrier she manifested at thest moment prevented her from being stained by the blood stter, as well as the rock spear that came right behind it.


    "Flower Cannon."

 Chapter 314 Eliza Vs Demonic Hand Mobs II

    "Flower Cannon."


    She deployed her skill once more, with the demonic hand members going on guard as they had suffered the effects of the cannon''s concentrated magic power beam more than once and didn''t want to deal with it again.


    However, to their surprise, Eliza did not aim the cannon at them, instead aiming it at the ground and firing it.


    **BOOOOMMM!!!!


    Dust and smoke rose up in arge cloud with rocks and dirt shooting in every direction.


    Some unfortunate demonic hand members had a fistful of rocks meet their eyes, while some literally ate dirt, however, one thing inmon was that they all had their vision obscured.


    This was something Eliza took note of as she focused the essence of life around her eyes to enable her to see their life signs clearer, having her flower cannonunch another two beams of concentrated magic power, one in the direction where she sensed multiple life signs clustered together and another towards the ground.


    She suddenly felt a chill down her spine and ducked to avoid the sword that sliced through the air above where her head was, rolling on the ground to avoid the double overhead sh that came right after.


    ''Great. There just had to be people who wouldn''t fall for the simple smokescreen.''


    While remaking to herself internally, Eliza took a stance with her spear and shot forward, heading straight for the one with the dual swords.


    However, to his surprise, Eliza suddenly threw her spear forward like a javelin, forcing him to make the split-second decision to not deflect the weapon with his own.


    The two rings of green on Eliza''s arms disappeared and reappeared on her legs, making it so that she had four rings of light on each leg.


    Naturally, that also meant that her speed had been boosted to a totally different level as the dual sword wielder instantly lost sight of the girl''s figure.


    "Wha?!"


    Before he could even understand how she had suddenly moved that fast, he sensed her presence right beside him, with his eyes widening as he tried to swing his des.


    However, Eliza''s current movement speed was leagues ahead of his reaction speed, as even if he was at a higher level, he could not react fast enough to her actions.


    By the time he had begun moving, Eliza''s fist was already right beside his head, with the four rings of light disappearing from her feet and reappearing on her wrists at thest second before her fist collided with his head.


    **BAM!!


    The man''s body was sent flying into the air, while Eliza leaned back to avoid the diagonal sh that came from above, grabbing onto the arm holding the sword with both arms and squeezing it tightly.


    **CCRACK!!


    "AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!


    The sword wielder who she just discovered was a woman, let out a gut-wringing scream as Eliza'' shattered the bones in her arm, before leaning forward and flinging the swordswoman over her shoulder.


    **BAM!


    Right as the demonic hand swordswoman''s body mmed onto the ground, Eliza punched her head with her strength-enhanced fist, turning her skull to a bloody paste instantly.


    A new dozen-metre-wide crater formed on the ground underneath, with the blonde battle priestess'' sapphire pupils darting around to look for her spear.


    ''There it is.''


    She enhanced her speed once more and shot forwards towards the spear, dodging the attacks of the other demonic hand members who could now see her as the dust had cleared, and forcing orbs of concentrated magic power down the throats of a few.


    Small explosions rang out behind her as she detonated the orbs simultaneously while reaching for her weapon, turning around and facing the demonic hand members who were looking at her with fear-filled gazes.


    "Hmm? Did some run away?


    Oh well, less work for me."


    Eliza dismissed all the level-up notifications hovering in her field of vision, cracking her fingers as she locked gazes with one of the magicians in the distance and spoke.


    "Thanks for not attacking me in the meantime.


    As a reward, I''d kill you all quickly."


    �� �� ��


    While Eliza was massacring the demonic hand members above ground, the situation below ground wasn''t much different.


    In fact, it was worse as all the demonic hand members who came to help Faerora were all crushed, broken to pieces, riddled with holes and split, or rather, ripped apart.


    Each and every one of the high demon Greed''s attacks went for the kill, as he did not intend to let any of the lower-ranked members interrupt his battle with the senior member of the demonic hand.


    **BOOOM!!!


    The underground basement of the temple in this town was quiterge and sturdy, as it was able to withstand multiple of Greed''s attacks and not cave in.


    **CLANNGG!!!!


    A loud sound rang out as Mammonas collided with Faerora''s unnamed spear, with shockwaves spreading out into the surroundings and causing untold destruction.


    "Guh!"


    The senior demonic hand member grunted in pain as the sensation transmitted up her arms after shing with Greed''s demonic energy-infused great sword made her momentarily lose all feeling in her hands.


    Just like Pride''s Vanitas, Greed''s Mammonas had the attribute of increasing overall attack power when infused with demonic energy, so one can only praise Faerora for the feat of not having her arms broken.


    She instantly pulled back and tossed the damaged, half-broken spear on the floor, pulling out another one which she infused with her brown aura and shot forward once more.


    Greed on the other hand simply coated his weapon in demonic energy and swung it downwards, with Faerora moving to the side to avoid the attack as she boosted herself forward with wind magic.


    She thrust her spear towards Greed''s unguarded head, but at thest moment, a wall of earth rose up and blocked the spear tip followed by Greed swinging his arm to the side and mming into her body faster than she could react, sending her flying through the air and crashing on the ground.


    Faerora''s body rag-dolled for a few metres before finally stopping, with her forcing herself to get back up right after.


    "Don''t you have any other good weapons on you besides that spear?


    Or is the thing I sense on you not a weapon but a different kind of artifact? Either way, it is valuable so I want it."

 Chapter 315 Greed Vs Faerora I

    "Don''t you have any other good weapons on you besides that spear?


    Or is the thing I sense on you not a weapon but a different kind of artifact? Either way, it is valuable so I want it."


    The high demon spoke as he took slow, steady steps towards Faerora who was struggling to get up while dragging hisrge great sword on the ground behind him.


    "HAA!!"


    Faerora suddenly screamed and tossed one of the broken spears on the floor towards Greed who caught it right before it reached his face, however, his eyes widened in the next moment as he tossed the broken weapon away.


    **BOOOOOMM!!!!


    The half spear exploded right after, with the force of the explosion tossing Greed''s body to the side and giving Faerora a few seconds to recollect herself.


    "He''s toying with me."


    As if that much wasn''t already obvious, Faerora spoke out through gritted teeth, trying to force herself to keep a calm mind as she knew that if she lost herself to her anger, then defeating Greed would be an impossibility.


    She ran towards her fallen weapon and picked it up, along with a sword used by another demonic hand member whose body was split in two by Greed, before throwing the sword in the direction of the high demon.


    **BOOOMM!!


    Another less intense explosion rang out as Faerora watched the cloud of dust with a wary gaze while slowly tightening her grip on her weapon.


    However, the voice she heard right next to her ear in the next moment, sent chills down her spine and made her see illusions of her death.


    "What you looking at?"


    The high demon who she thought herself to have known his location, was standing right behind her, with his chin resting on her shoulder as he spoke.


    For a split second, Faerora was at a loss for what to do, however, her instinct to survive kicked in the next moment as she instantly took action.


    ''Mana burst!''


    She immediately released a burst of dense magic power that knocked Greed''s body backwards by a few metres, turning around and jumping backwards to give herself distance.


    ''Ferro kinesis!''


    She mmed her palm on the ground and activated her skill, with her energy flowing through the ground and into virtually every piece of metal on the floor inside the room.


    By the time Greed looked up, he was met with the sight of hundreds of crudely shaped metal spears all pointing towards his direction.


    "That might be a bit dangerous��"


    The high demon wiped the grin off his face and gripped his sword tightly.


    ''Fire!''


    Faerora internally screamed out themand to the metal spears, with each of them lighting up in mes before shooting towards her opponent.


    Greed rose the demonic energy infused Mammonas and kicked off the ground, dashing towards the iing projectile with the intention to meet them head-on.


    His muscles bulged up as Faerora felt her strength weaken momentarily, with Greed swinging hisrge great sword to knock down the ming spears of hot metal, asionally creating walls of earth to block some or generating his own spears of pure fire to sh with them.


    Small explosions rang out consecutively as Faerora locked her gaze on the high demon slowly making his way towards her, using her skill once more as the wall beside her cracked open with arge iron pipe bursting out of it.


    She morphed therge pipe into a gigantic iron sword, snapping her fingers andmanding bright red mes to begin to snake across it.


    "This long-eared woman, do you want to bury us here?"


    Greed spoke up as he grabbed one of the ming spears with his bare hands, snapping it in two while a wall of earth manifested behind him and blocked two others.


    From the amount of energy that he could sense inside that metal sword, this underground structure would copse on top of them if it hit any of the walls or the ground.


    And if he used his own sword to sh with it, the resultant shockwaves would also have the same effect, just that it would copse at a faster rate.


    Just as he was surrounding his body with streams of wind, he sensed a familiar presence and looked down on his shadow, seeing a familiar ck cat emerge from it and climb onto his shoulder.


    [Master said not to kill this one, as she''d be useful for gaining information on the demonic hand''s current movements.]


    "Your master is very demanding."


    The high demon spoke with a frown as he gazed at the dozens of projectiles that had been intercepted by the long shadowy tentacle-like appendages sticking out of the shadows of rocks and other debris on the floor.


    His gaze went back to the ck cat for a moment before sighing and deciding to give in this time.


    [Thank you.]


    Perhaps having sensed Greed''s slight dissatisfaction, Kuro offered his gratitude to the high demon before jumping into his shadow once more.


    "Tell the blondie above to clear the area.


    Things might get a bit heated very soon."


    He left that statement with Kuro, turning his gaze back to the wary elf who was staring at his shadow.


    "Worry not.


    The cat won''t be interfering."


    Greed spoke with a smile as he kicked off the ground and dashed towards Faerora, who hurriedly salvaged as much metal as she could from the room and used it to create spears which she shot towards Greed.


    As for the high demon, he dashed towards Faerora with a barrier of wind around his body that interfered with the trajectory of the iing projectiles and redirected them.


    The elven senior demonic hand member didn''t just stay put and let Greed reach her so easily, snapping her fingers and generating a dozen three-ringed magic circles in the air.


    "With my mind''s eye, I seek the power to control mes.


    To bring it forth, manipte it to my will and to snuff it out.


    At this moment so bleak;


    ws to rip apart my enemies I seek."

 Chapter 316 Greed Vs Faerora II

    "With my mind''s eye, I seek the power to control mes.


    To bring it forth, manipte it to my will and to snuff it out.


    At this moment so bleak;


    ws to rip apart my enemies I seek."


    By the time she was done with her chant, the distance between her and Greed was already less than ten metres, more than close enough for the shockwaves from Greed''s sword to reach her.


    And just as the high demon was about to swing his sword, Faerora clenched her right fist and pulled it backwards.


    The ground trembled ever so slightly, with the cast iron rods used in constructing the floors of this underground structure shooting out of the ground and wrapping themselves around Greed''s arms and legs.


    The short moment it took Greed to react and break out of the unexpected restraints was all Faerora needed to dash away and gain distance from the high demon.


    "Where do you think you''re going?"


    Greed asked out as he tapped his foot on the ground, muttering a spell chant to himself as a gigantic three-ringed magic circle manifested behind him.


    At first, Faerora thought this was Greed''s response to the tier 3 spell she had hanging in the air, however, the moment therge earthen arm manifested itself from the ground, she instantly realised his goal.


    "Burn him!


    Crimson ws!"


    The three-ringed magic circles in the air glowed brightly before gigantic three-pronged constructs of mes burst out of them and shot towards Greed.


    "Like I asked before, are you trying to bury us here?"


    The high demon spoke as he activated his spell, causing the gigantic arm of earth to lunge towards the ming metal de that Faerora had hovering in the air.


    Naturally, the elf wasn''t stupid enough to keep it there, moving it around to avoid the earthen arm while sending half the crimson ws to shatter it into pieces.


    "Rising Meteor."


    A star-shaped column of earth erupted from the ground beneath Greed, carrying the high demon into the air with him jumping off the earthen construct the moment he was a dozen metres high.


    The crimson ws smashed it to bits a beatter, turning around and chasing the airborne high demon who sucked in a breath and activated a spell.


    ''Sylphide''s Breath.''


    He breathed out slowly, with green wind streams flowing out of his mouth and swirling around into arge ball in front of him.


    With a flick of his fingers, another star-shaped pir was erected from the ground, shooting up into the air and crashing with the two crimson ws that were about to hit him.


    He then summoned a third star-shaped pir which he used as a foothold to boost himself into the air, holding hisrge de over his right shoulder.


    "And��strike!"


    With his shout, he swung the t side of the demonic energy-infused de towards therge ball of concentrated wind streams, engulfing it with ck mes midway as he hit it like a baseball and sent it flying towards Faerora.


    Simultaneously, he used his idiosyncrasy to suck out her strength, causing her to crash on the ground mid-jump as she tried to escape the ball of swirling wind and mes.


    ''Wait a sec? Aren''t I the one destroying the ce now?''


    Just as Greed asked himself that question, his hair stood on end as arge pir of mes shot into the air, hitting the ceiling and boring a hole through it.


    As gravity pulled him back to the ground, he looked down at therge ming sword which was the base of the ming pir, with a single thoughting to his mind.


    ''Well, I''ll be damned.''


    The next second, the giant metallic de of mes shed down towards the falling high demon, crashing on him at the exact same moment that his baseball of concentrated wind streams mmed into the elf''s body.


    ***KAABOOOOOMMM!!!!!


    Arge earth-shaking explosion rang out, as the two attacks simultaneously hit their marks.


    Naturally, there was no way that the underground structure that would have copsed with just one attack, was going to survive two.


    In fact, the underground structure wasn''t the only thing affected.


    The ground on the surface cracked open and shattered, caving in under the feet of the unfortunate beings standing above it as andslide devastated everything within a kilometre radius of the underground structure''s location.


    Buildings crumbled to dust, bodies of demonic hand members, both alive and dead were squashed to paste, and the debris flowed down into therge sinkhole that was at the centre of this artificial disaster.


    About two kilometres away from this sinkhole, a blonde-haired girl heaved a sigh as she watched therge cloud of smoke that rose up into the air while she patted the fur of the ck cat in her arms.


    "Thanks for the warning, Kuro."


    The cat only purred and readjusted its position in her arms, a small smileing to Eliza''s face as she gazed at the adorable creature.


    [Me too!!]


    The energetic voice of the great lightning spirit with her rang out as she transformed into a cat with her body transformation skill and jumped into Eliza''s embrace too.


    It was a nice scene to look at; a beautiful girl ying with two adorable cats, if only you ignored the bloodstains on her shoes and the corpses on the floor around her.


    ''If someone told the ''me'' of two years ago that I''d end up killing more than a hundred people in a day, I would have smacked them with my staff.''


    She chuckled to herself as she ced the two cats on herp before fishing out a stamina potion from the pouch on her waist, her expression darkening momentarily as she saw that more than half the bottles in her pouch had broken.


    "With all that running, rolling and jumping around I did, it''d be weirder if some didn''t break. Luckily, there are still stamina and magic potions.


    I don''t need health potions as I can just heal my own wounds myself after recovering my magic power."

 Chapter 317 Backtrack To The Fight’s Start

    "With all that running, rolling and jumping around I did, it''d be weirder if some didn''t break. Luckily, there are still stamina and magic potions.


    I don''t need health potions as I can just heal my own wounds myself after recovering my magic power."


    The girl didn''t look like it, but she waspletely exhausted after fighting more than a hundred level 100+ beings, with at least 20 of them being in the level 180-210 range.


    ''Thank goddess I have my child of life skill, otherwise, there''s no way a level 213 like me could have survived that so easily.


    Kuro and Ka also helped out with restraining the enemies andrge area attacks too.''


    She began downing the potions in her hands, only to nearly choke once more when another earth-shaking explosion rang out in the distance.


    "What the-?!


    Wait up! Isn''t that where Evan is? Just what on Aidos is going on there?"


    �� �� ��


    Eliza asked a question concerning her boyfriend, and the answer was naturally going to be given.


    However, it starts with a backtrack to when Evan and Lensa shed mid-air the second time, with the young hero exchanging blows with the noble demon in mid-air, eventually losing out as the winged demon was far more adept at airbornebat than he was.


    Although she seeded in sending the young hero to the ground, the boy didn''t ept going down alone, generating a long shadowy appendage from his arm that wrapped around the leg of the high demon and pulled her along with him.


    "Wha?!"


    Taking advantage of her momentary shock, he flipped his body and flung the makeshift shadow rope over his shoulder, consequently flinging the body of the demon it was attached to.


    **BAMM!!!


    Lensa''s body fell onto the roof of a depted building, crashing through it and onto the ground with enough force to crumble the building''s fragile foundations.


    Naturally, the building copsed and all the debris came crumbling down on her.


    As for Evan, he had created another foothold ofpressed aura and was standing on it as he watched the copsing building.


    His eyes were on his status board where a new skill was making itself known to him, as he narrowed his eyes while staring at its description.


    |Effect;


    Allows the user to create small barrier-like tes ofpressed energy under their feet, to use as a foothold to move around in the air. |


    ''It''s the same as in the game, however, the skill that had that description in the game was called ''Sky Steps''.


    So why is this one called ''Void Steps''? What''s the difference?''


    ''Artemisia, you there?''


    He called out to the goddess but received no reply, deciding to ask herter when she returned from wherever she was as he focused his gaze on the noble demon ring at him coldly.


    He utilized the skill to create multiple footholds which he used to descend to the ground like he was walking down a flight of stairs, running his hand through his hair as he spoke.


    "The first time that I fought a demon, it was a noble demon who happened to be from the Ilmoth family.


    I was holding my own at first, but he entered his true demon form and really did a good number on me.


    Although I eventually killed him after abination of demonic possession and limit break, along with the help of a few spirits and some otherbatants, it still pisses me off that I lost so miserably to him.


    Even till now."


    Evan rose his arm and summoned the Unforged back into his hands as he continued speaking.


    "I''ve always wanted to vent out the frustration that came with my defeat at the hands of a noble demon in their true demon form.


    Sadly, Thoruul wasn''t a noble demon, and neither was the demon with Ulmoch''s brother, as such, I have been unable to battle any other noble demons since then."


    His words made Lensa''s green eyes to widen in surprise as she recognized the names he called, they were her fellow demonic Hand members after all, with Thoruul being one of the few demons that the organization had under their belt.


    "However, you, Lensa, decided to grace me with this opportunity. One I wish to exploit to the fullest."


    Lensa narrowed her eyes in displeasure as she understood what Evan was hinting at with his words, with the corner lips curving in annoyance as she spoke.


    "You brat.


    Who the fuck do you think you are?


    You think I''d be scared of you just because you defeated a few other random demons?"


    Since it was just Evan who was here, Lensa naturally regained some of her confidence as the target of her fear which was Greed was not present.


    Hearing this, Evan chuckled lightly for a moment, with the smile on his face vanishing in the next as he spoke in a cold voice.


    "You should be scared.


    After all, the current me is more powerful than the Deadly Sin Demon you were afraid of just now."


    "What-?!"


    That was the only word Lensa could get out of her lips as Evan literally vanished from where he was standing before she could say anything else.


    The demon instantly took distance away from Evan''s position while her mind began to consider multiple possibilities.


    ''Is it some sort of concea-?!;


    However, she could not evenplete her thoughts as Evan suddenly appeared right in front of her with his right fist pulled backwards.


    **BAM!!


    "GUKK!"


    His clenched fist collided with her torso, causing her to cough out blood as pain as she had never felt before wrecked her senses.


    Her body was knocked back a bit as she dropped to her knees, holding her stomach in pain as Evan walked closer to her.


    "You''re probably wondering why you feel so much pain from a light punch, huh?"


    As Evan casually hit the nail on the mark, he snapped his fingers and generated an array of energy swords andunched them at the demonic hand members who were rushing towards his location.


    The des prated their skulls and killed them instantly, with the young boy shaking his head in disappointment.


    ''A single strike to the head is all it took? How weak is this unit?


    Or is it me who''s just that much stronger?''

 Chapter 318 Evan Vs Lensa I

    ''A single strike to the head is all it took? How weak is this unit?


    Or is it me who''s just that much stronger?''


    Each of Evan''s ''Single hits'' contained enough magic power to blow a building of at least three storeys to bits, but even so, the boy felt that the way the demonic hand members died was too easy, considering that they were all master-level existences.


    ''I didn''t appraise them, but their auras felt quite weak.


    Could it be that the weaker ones came for me and the stronger more powerful ones flocked to Liz and the spirits?''


    His eyes narrowed in displeasure as he arrived at that conjecture, one that was surprisingly correct as among the lot Evan just killed, there were no beings above level 130.


    ''Kuro, Ka.


    It seems the stronger members went over to you guys'' side.


    Be careful, I sensed some level 200''s among them earlier. Also, help Liz out, she doesn''t have much in the way of AOE abilities which are best for dealing with multiple enemies like this.''


    After giving his orders to his contracted spirits, he turned back to the demon who was now warily staring at him from a distance.


    "Apologies for the dy.


    I remember speaking about your confusion on how you felt that much pain and took damage enough to make you vomit a mouthful of blood, right?"


    Evan held up his arm which was coated in a thin red aura, with the aura slowly receding as he stared at it.


    "Normally, this is the part where I''m supposed to exin how my power works, but why in tarnation should I do that?


    Besides I''m pressed for time so I''m gonna make this quick."


    Turning his gaze back to the demon, he concluded.


    "Worry not, I won''t use it again, for the first ten minutes at least.


    As Although I would like to vent, I have a giant flesh golem to deal with so I''m gonna end this quickly.


    Bottom line is, you have the next ten minutes to fight for your survival, because the moment I use that thing again, you won''t be able to take it.


    Don''t let me down, noble demon."


    Once he was done speaking, he blinked out again, slightly startling the demon, however, she instantly snapped out of it and spread her aura outwards.


    ''There!''


    The second Evan reappeared, Lensa clenched her fist and engulfed it with her green aura, before punching towards her left.


    **BAMM!!


    Her fist collided with the young hero''s fist, and the moment she confirmed she could not feel that weird sensation of pain, she instantly red her aura and attacked with her other fist immediately.


    Evan did not fall behind, utilizing his martial arts skill while coating his arm in lightning to increase the speed of his punches as he exchanged blows with the noble demon.


    He asionally took time to study her physical features closely, confirming that her true demon state did not look much different from Xakon''s.


    She was obviously taller, given that Evan had to raise his head a bit to match her eyes, she had the same grey skin Xakon had, but retained her green-coloured eyes.


    Her arms were also slightly thicker, signifying the ergement and increase in her muscle strength and her wingspan had increased a bit more, with a strange crest on her forehead.


    ''Probably her n''s crest��''


    Those were Evan''s thoughts as he bent his body backwards to avoid the punch, before springing back to normal and delivering a straight punch towards her face.


    Lensa dodged it with rtive ease, turning her body around and delivering a spinning punch to the side of the young hero''s face.


    Evan, who just barely blocked her punch with his left hand, immediately tried to retaliate with his right, trying to get in a hit on her torso with his lightning-d fist.


    However, as if having sensed his intentions, the noble demon''s left hand came crashing down on his, knocking his punch out of its trajectory, before grabbing onto his arm and flinging his body to the side.


    Evan flipped over in mid-air andnded on the ground with his two feet, however, Lensa''s follow-up front kick knocked him backwards into the air, she then moved forward, jumping into the air and spinning her body around to kick him with her leg infused with demonic energy.


    ''No way in hell I''m letting that hit me.''


    ? The young hero blinked out of the way just in time to avoid her kick that mmed into the building behind him, turning it into mere chunks of rocks immediately after.


    However, the noble demon''s sharp senses allowed her to sense Evan the moment he reappeared, blitzing through the air and reaching him within a single second.


    **BAMM!!


    Another exchange of blows began, with Lensa targeting Evan''s head, heart and other vital spots, even the one between his legs wasn''t out of her list of targets.


    And after seeing how a single kick of hers turned a building into chunks of rocks, he definitely didn''t want to have that same leg kick in that ce, even more so when she wasn''t holding back on her demonic energy enhancements.


    He twisted his body to the side to avoid the sudden knee kick, grabbing onto her outstretched arm as he flipped around to her back and pulled her body over his.


    Upon mming her on the ground, he tried to get a kick in but she grabbed his leg and pulled him to the ground, jumping over him and sitting astride his stomach before delivering a straight punch to his face.


    The young hero''s head mmed into the ground, bouncing back up as Lensa pulled back her other fist to deliver another punch with her aura-d fists.


    However, Evan moved faster than she had expected and he caught her fist with his palm, grabbing onto her other arm with his second hand and holding it in ce.


    "You know, this is one position I really don''t want my girlfriend seeing me and another woman in so you''re gonna have to get off, okay?"

 Chapter 319 Evan Vs Lensa II

    "You know, this is one position I really don''t want my girlfriend seeing me and another woman in so you''re gonna have to get off, okay?"


    Lensa was momentarily confused upon hearing his sudden out-of-context statement, a short moment the young hero took to fling her off his body with a swift circle throw.


    He then rolled to the side to avoid the green-coloured spear of aura that dropped down to the ground where his head was a moment ago.


    "I didn''t use ranged attacks because you weren''t good at them, but you don''t seem to be appreciating my kindness."


    Evan spoke those words as his fist shot forward, missing Lensa''s head by a mere millimetre before she grabbed onto his hand and pped her wings.


    "Uh-oh."


    The noble demon took off into the air with Evan in tow, soaring very high before pulling Evan''s body upwards and punching him down to the ground.


    Immediately after, she shot after him throwing another punch that sent him further elerating towards the ground, blitzing towards him once again and repeating the same set of movements.


    However, just before she could punch him the fourth time, the boy disappeared and reappeared behind her, grabbing onto her wings with both hands and forcefully stopping her flight.


    "GUH!"


    As she reeled back in shock from having her wings suddenly grabbed in the middle of her high-speed flight, Evan let go of one of her wings and pulled back his fist, punching forward immediately after and delivering a fracture to her shoulder bone.


    "---!!"


    Lensa let out a silent scream as the young hero repeatedly attacked the area where her wings were connected to her body, eventually flipping out and releasing a burst of demonic energy that sent him flying into the air.


    Evan was forced to let go of the wing he was holding and even the aura foothold he was standing on was destroyed by her aura burst.


    ''Yeah right. I knew ripping out people''s wings wouldn''t be as easy as in the movies.''


    Those were Evan''s thoughts as he flipped around and created a foothold of aura mid-air, and used it to springboard himself back towards the ground.


    ''Hmm?''


    Evan raised a brow, before pulling his fist back and activating pdin, coating his arm with his golden aura as he descended towards the ascending Lensa.


    **BOOOMM!!!


    The two''s fists collided mid-air, with their violent auras shing and resulting in an explosion that sent out shockwaves omnidirectionally.


    Although they were knocked back temporarily by the shockwaves generated by their fists colliding, they dashed back to each other with Lensa pping her wings and flying towards Evan who kicked off another aura foothold and shot back towards her.


    And so began an exchange of fists in the air, with Evan hopping off multiple aura footholds to stay airborne while Lensa used her wings to remain in the air, moving at impossible angles andnding heavy hits on Evan while asionally using her wings to smack him off his aura footholds.


    ''Tsk!''


    Evan clicked his tongue internally as the golden aura encasing his arm turned red, with him activating fracture and pdin simultaneously before delivering a straight punch towards Lensa''s chest.


    **BAAAAAMMMM!!!


    The noble demon was shot out of the air, crashing on the ground and forming arge couple hundred-metre-wide crater with her body in the centre.


    Evannded on the floor a few metres from her, kicking up a cloud of dust which he blew away with wind magic as he walked towards her while blowing out the blood in his nose.


    ''Kuro, tell Greed not to kill Faerora.


    She''d be useful for acquiring information on the Demonic Hand''s current movements.''


    [Okay.]


    After sending his message to Kuro, Evan then kicked off the ground and dashed towards Lensa who had just barely gotten up and spearing into her. As soon as her body mmed into the ground, the young hero delivered a right straight to her face.


    The demon kicked him off her body and got to her feet, chasing after him with an aura-d fist which she used to punch out the moment she was in range, however, Evan vanished from her sight and reappeared behind her, locking his arms around her waist tightly.


    "H-huh?"


    Lensa was surprised at his sudden action, however, her surprise didn''tst for long as the moment she felt Evan pushing his hips in and tightening his grip, she understood what he was about to do.


    Nevertheless, understanding it and being able to stop it were two different things entirely.


    Although her wings made things harder, Evan didn''t let go, digging his heels into the ground and arching his back, pulling her body along with his until she was over his head.


    He disengaged his grip halfway through and threw her body over, causing her to m onto the ground with the lower part of her neck and back.


    Immediately after, he turned his body around and grabbed her legs that were raised up high, not giving her a chance to recover from the disorientation resultant of the earlier suplex as he began spinning her body around.


    He sprung around on his feet while holding both her legs for about five times before finally flinging her body into the air with all his strength.


    **BOOOM!!!


    The noble demon flew out of the crater and mmed into a random nearby building, smashing through it from wall to wall and then going on to crash into the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, with Evan eventually losing count until she burst out of thest building on the block and rag dolled on the ground for a few dozen metres.


    ''How far has the flesh golem gone now?


    With its slow speed, it should take more than a while to reach that town. We''d be able to catch up before then.''


    Evan slowly walked towards the fallen demon, retracting the aura coating his arms as he spoke.


    "You know, I''ve always wanted to ask this question.


    About how exactly are the Demonic Hand''s demonse about?"

 Chapter 320 Evan Vs Lensa II

    "You know, I''ve always wanted to ask this question.


    About how exactly are the Demonic Hand''s demonse about?"


    He looked at the time on the system interface and realised that it was just barely seven minutes in as he continued speaking.


    "If you guys were the demons who were trapped here after the dimensional rift was closed then you should be a lot stronger than this.


    Far stronger, considering that for you to still be alive, you had to have survived the Seven heroes'' manhunt for the demons that happened that time."


    Lensa slowly got out of the humanoid-shaped depression in the ground, holding her chest as she gauged her internal injuries, with panic momentarily shing across her eyes the moment she discovered that they weren''t healing.


    "I mean, the current you is way too weak to have survived those guys. One of the few things that I don''t hate about them is the fact that they were fucking strong.


    But going back to you, I can easily match you who is a level 239 demon on her ''true form'' state with just my first activation''s power boost."


    The current Evan was under the effects of the 300% power boost from the blessing of destruction''s first activation, hence his ability to evenly match the higher levelled demon in her true form state where she could easily contend with beings that were 10 levels higher and his confidence to easily kill her whenever he felt like.


    "In the game, the story was that the demons who were trapped here had children with each other which were how the demons who were under the demonic hand came about but seeing you, that doesn''t add up.


    After all, you recognized Greed, someone who has been sealed for a thousand years. So if you were born after the rift closed, you wouldn''t have had a chance to see Greed your entire life.


    At most you could have been told stories or seen pictures, but I doubt pictures and stories could make you that scared."


    Evan kicked off the ground and dashed towards Lensa with his fist pulled back, with the demon matching his actions and meeting his punch head-on.


    She then grabbed his other arm with her second hand and generated a dozen spears of demonic energy behind him.


    Right before the spears of demonic energy shot towards him, Lensa suddenly found both herself and Evan floating up in the air, with Evan taking forcibly pulling his arm out of her grip and punching her back towards the ground.


    She crashed into her own energy spears mid-way before falling on the ground, with Evan reaching hernding position with his leg raised.


    **BAM!


    He delivered a kick to her torso, sending her body into the air for a bit before continuing with his words.


    "As I was saying, you weren''t scared by mere stories.


    You had seen the real thing before, the real Deadly Sin Greed, and you understood just how strong he was.


    That much was obvious given your age of ''1102'' years."


    The young hero recalled the results of his earlier appraisal and studied the age tab in silence for a few moments, eventually arriving at an answer to his questions.


    "Could it be that you were a demon sealed a thousand years ago and you only came into the service of the Demonic Hand in return for them unsealing you?"


    As he spoke, the noble demon who was struggling to get up to her feet visibly flinched, with Evan nodding to himself as that reaction was more affirmation than he needed.


    "I hit the mark, huh?


    But it''s impossible for all of you to be sealed demons who were unsealed by the demonic hand.


    Maybe some were summoned directly from the demon world?"


    The young hero ced a hand on his chin as he began recalling all he knew about cross-world summoning.


    "It is possible provided that thews of space are abided by and the magic doesn''t try to forcefully rip open the world''s spatial barrier."


    He scratched his head and opened up the system archive, looking through a few things before sighing.


    "Nope. All this spatial magic stuff is tooplicated for the current me. I need someone to exin this to me.


    Artemisia? Are you there?"


    Hearing the name that the young hero called out, the noble demon who just got to her feet had her eyes widen in shock as she stared at Evan.


    "Hmm��seems like she''s still not here."


    A sardonic grin appeared on her face as she spoke out to Evan who had a slight frown on his face upon not receiving a reply from Artemisia.


    "Of course, she isn''t.


    Your goddess has forsaken you all. The fate of your world is sealed, and there''s nothing you can do to stop it, even your legendary Seven Heroes were only able to dy the inevitable.


    A mere abandoned puppet of the goddess like you can''t do a thing."


    The moment Evan heard those words, it felt as if something cracked in his mind as he slowly turned towards Lensa with a cold gaze.


    "When I first met Pride and contracted with her, she used those same words on me, slightly different but their meaning was the same.


    My reaction was quite explosive, a reaction that I didn''t even know I had until a few months ago.


    But now, I feel different��"


    Hearing the name ''Pride'' from Evan''s mouth made Lensa flinch momentarily.


    ''Contracted with her?!


    He''s contracted with the Demon of Pride?! Is it even possible for someone like her to enter a contract with a human?!


    Or rather, if he''s contracted with Pride, then he''s the reason thatst year''s n didn''t work out!''


    Evan didn''t know what she was thinking as he blinked and reappeared in front of her before speaking.


    "��I feel nothing upon hearing you say the same thing now."


    Lensa snapped her fingers as a gigantic two-ringed magic circle appeared underneath the two of them, with arge explosion ringing out in the next moment, creating a cloud of smoke and mes that shot up into the air.


    "You really are bad at magic��"

 Chapter 321 Evan Vs Lensa III

    "You really are bad at magic��"


    The noble demon''s eyes widened as she heard Evan''s voice, with his arming in through the smoke and grabbing her neck tightly.


    While choking her with his tight grip, he created multiple footholds with the void steps skill, running up them into the air like he was on a staircase to heaven.


    Naturally, Lensa tried to break free of his hold, even spreading her wings and trying to attack him with them, but the young hero just gave her two ''fractures'' to the forehead, disorienting her long enough for him to reach a suitable height to drop her down from.


    He jumped up into the air and flung her downwards to the ground, waiting for the moment where she opened her wings to fly beforeunching an energy st of destruction aura at her.


    The red beam slightly scaped the side of Lensa''s torso as she dodged, however, her wings weren''t retracted fast enough and fell victim to the ''True Damage'' attribute of the blessing of destruction''s first activation.


    ''Did Artemisia do something else after that time in the dungeon? To stop me from being triggered?


    Why am I even triggered by that statement in the first ce?''


    Those were Evan''s thoughts as he watched the noble demon crash to the ground, opening up his status and looking at the race tab before asking himself.


    ''Does this have to deal with my unknown race? Is it perhaps a race of beings who don''t like gods?''


    Just before he could sink deeper into his thoughts, arge earth-shaking explosion rang out, with a giant cloud of smoke and mes rising into the air behind him.


    "Huh?"


    Turning around, Evan bore witness to the scene of everything within a 500-metre radius of the hole where the flesh golem burst out of, sink into the ground with a hugendslide devastating everything within an area twice that size.


    As the gigantic hole expanded together with thendslide that turned everything in those two kilometre squares to dust, Evan''s brow twitched as he spoke.


    "That''s where Greed is, isn''t it?


    Don''t tell me he got Liz caught up in his bullshit?!"


    He was about to turn around and move towards that direction when Kuro''s timely message came through.


    [Master, she''s fine.]


    "Oh��Good."


    He heaved a sigh of relief, before deciding to think about all these other things rted to his race and whatnot at ater time.


    ''For now, I have to deal with an angry demon.''


    Evan red his aura of destruction, deciding to stop messing around as he spun around and shot towards the streak of green light heading towards him.


    **BOOMMM!


    The battle between the noble demon and hero continued, with the two of them moving so fast that they looked like streaks of red and green light shooting through the air.


    They eventually ended up straying far away from where the battle originally started, almost reaching the other end of the town in the process.


    Although Evan was getting the hand of battling with the air, he wasn''t to the level of the noble demon who despite the hole in her wing, continued to manoeuvre the skies with ease.


    ''Not good. I have to take this to the ground.''


    With that thought, Evan jumped off his aura foothold and released an aura burst, forming his palm into a knife hand and making a downward swiping motion.


    **SWISHH!!


    He activated his aura sh skill, releasing a sh of orange aura that almost sliced off Lensa''s right-wing, however, the noble demon dodged it with a paper-thin margin, unknowingly moving into position for Evan''s other outstretched palm.


    "Energy st."


    A beam of orange aura wasunched out once again, mming into Lensa''s back and knocking her towards the ground, with Evan looking at his palm in slight surprise as he fell to the ground.


    ''Is my aura mixing with the destruction aura?''


    He hurriedly created another foothold which he used to springboard himself towards the falling Lensa, however, she flew out of the way with her injured wing, avoiding Evan andnding on the ground with her two feet.


    The boy blinked once he was a few metres to the ground,nding on his two feet but eventually failed to keep his bnce and fell to the ground.


    He would have spent a few more seconds on the floor, but the huge concentration of demonic energy he felt shocked him back to his feet as he just barely dodged the giant ck-green energy fist that mmed into where he wasying on the floor.


    ''Blink! Elemental Shield!''


    Evan consecutively activated two skills as he watched Lensa''s energy-coated fist m into the ground where he was a second ago.


    ***KAABOOOOMM!!!!!


    Despite taking distance with blink and using energy shields for defence, Evan was still sent flying into the air, crashing on the ground and being hit with waves of demonic energy powerful enough to shatter his elemental shield and force him to reuse it twice.


    Even so, he still had to generate multiple shields with aura and magic to ensure that he was rtively unscathed from the huge explosion.


    When the explosion finally receded and the clouds of smoke began to be blown away by the wind, Evan couldn''t help but give a dryugh as he looked at the scenery around him.


    "��where the fuck did the town go to?"


    Evan could not be med for his question, as anyone in his position would gave asked the same thing too.


    There was no need for any fancy words to exin the scenery around Evan as it could all be summed up into one single sentence.


    The town around him had been blown away.


    As simple as that.


    Of course, it wasn''t the entire town that was blown away, just the half where Evan and Lensa were fighting, but one had to remember that even if it was an abandoned small town, it still had an area of roughly 140-150 kilometre squares.


    Yet, about half of that waspletely turned into arge crater that was dozens, possibly a hundred metres deep, with its width reaching outsides the walls of the town.

 Chapter 322 Evan Vs Lensa IV

    ''I know my ''B-'' durability stat wouldn''t let me die even if I didn''t put up defences, but either way, taking an attack that can cause this much destruction head-on isn''t exactly something I would wanna do.''


    Evan thought to himself as he looked at the system time and heaved a sigh of exasperation.


    Meanwhile, in the middle of this roughly 75 kilometre square crater, was a lone demon, her arm encased in a thinyer of green light and her fist punched into the ground.


    The crater''s deepest point was just right underneath her fist, with spider web-like cracks that extended for kilometres spreading out from under her feet.


    She was down on one knee and breathing heavily, with a thin trail of blood dripping from her nose and onto the ground.


    ''Tsk��I should have just done this from the start.


    I wasted too much time and ended up expending a lot of energy for no reason.''


    This lone noble demon, Lensa, cursed at the ''her'' of a few minutes ago who was against the thought of going all out from the start of the fight.


    ''Fae? Can you hear me?''


    She tried contacting her contractor once more but received no reply, clicking her tongue in annoyance once more as she slowly got to her feet.


    ''I missed him.


    He probably teleported away, and now he knows about this attack.


    I have to deal with him and help Fae��!''


    Her fear of the Demon of Greed who her contractor was supposed to be battling against kicked in once more, but she bit her lips to snap herself out of it, turning her gaze towards the young hero who was floating in the air.


    ''He''s using his aura to make footholds to stand on? What a convenient skill.''


    The boy turned towards her as if sensing her gaze on him, with the mirthful look in his eyes that had been there since the beginning of the fightpletely absent.


    "Unforged."


    Lensa just barely made out that one word, right before something ck flew into his hands.


    ''His sword,e to think of it he had dropped it since the beginning.''


    She red her aura and readied herself for another attack, deciding to put in more power than thest one which cleared half the town, even if that was going to leave her out ofmission afterwards.


    ''Should I really do it? But how can I kill the kid in one shot otherwise?''


    As she was deliberating on how to attack, Evan who was silent finally opened his mouth.


    "It''s been far more than ten minutes.


    And I have expended more energy than I nned to."


    He pulled out a juice pack from his inventory and slowly sipped on it as he stared at the demon who was charging her fist with an aura once more.


    After finishing the juice pack (magic potion), he twirled his sword around his left hand and snapped his fingers on his right hand.


    A single sword solely constructed from aura, appeared beside him, with its shape and size being the same as that of the Unforged.


    With a second snap, another simr sword appeared on his other side, glowing with a light orange colour as Evan mixed the red aura of destruction he could temporarily use with his own innate golden aura.


    ''Good.''


    After confirming the two swords were what he wanted, he snapped his fingers a third time, however, it wasn''t one or two swords that were generated.


    First, it was five, then they were ten, then they were twenty, and then forty, then eighty, crossing over the hundred mark in the next and bing a hundred and sixty.


    Lensa''s eyes widened in shock as she had recalled Evan using these energy-generated swords against the other demonic hand members who interfered at the start of the fight.


    However, she definitely did not expect that he could also use it like this too.


    The aura she was charging around her arm flowed back to her energy core, before going on to spread around her body and enhance it, with her feet receiving more enhancement than other parts.


    "Go."


    Evan''smand came right after, with the hundred-plus swords of aura all pointing at Lensa beforeunching towards her.


    The noble demon kicked off the ground, and dashed forwards, moving with all her agility as the aura-constructed swords chased closely behind her with slightly lesser speed.


    She moved around in zig-zags, asionally turning around to generate her own aura spears which she used to block and deflect the few des that managed to catch up to her.


    Lensa spread out her wings as she ran, observing their state and realizing that she could not fly for much longer before they finally gave in due to the multiple injuries that showed no signs of recovery despite her high health stat.


    While she was doing all this, Evan was silently watching her with his eyes, as his pupil darted around rapidly, not losing sight of her for even a single second.


    The boy obviously didn''t n to end things with this rain of swords, as he would not have picked up the Unforged if he did, while silently sipping emery potions in juice pack containers.


    It was something the boy recently started doing as most opponents would not think he was actually drinking a magic potion or stamina potion disguised as a juice pack mid-battle, unless they were more inclined to the alchemical side of things and could clearly sense the content of the juice pack wasn''t juice.


    He had downed about five juice packs when he started feeling a bit bloated and decided to put off drinking them for now, when his eyes caught on to what Lensa was doing.


    ''She wants to take to the skies? Perfect.''


    He readied his sword as he created new footholds to stand on, slowly assuming a stance while he watched Lensa fight back against the rain of swords.


    ''She has taken sixty out already?


    it''d be bad if she destroys too much of them, let''s make things easier for a moment.''

 Chapter 323 Evan Vs Lensa V

    ''She has taken sixty out already?


    it''d be bad if she destroys too much of them, let''s make things easier for a moment.''


    He reduced the speeds of the swords, making it so she could outrun them easier, only for her to suddenly kick off the ground and jump into the air, pping her wings with all her might as she shot towards the airborne hero.


    All the aura in her spread feet reconcentrated in her right arm which she pulled back as she neared Evan.


    The young boy''s eyes widened as he jumped off his foothold to another, dodging her punch in the process.


    He repeated this set of actions while tossing energy swords at her which she all happened to dodge with rtive ease, while stretching out her hand to cast a basic magic spell.


    ''Why isn''t he teleporting? Can''t he do that anymore? Or is that what he wants me to think?''


    Wirth those thoughts in her mind, she resumed her chase of the young her who dropped to the ground while being chased by over a hundred energy sword constructs.


    They moved towards the areas having more debris on the ground, with Evan picking up a few pieces of rock and throwing them at her after coating them in aura.


    She eventually got close enough to deal a direct blow, but Evan blinked out of the way, clicking his tongue the moment he reappeared and sending multiple aura shes towards her.


    However, as he turned around to use this skill, his legs ended up colliding with arge almost knee height piece of rock that was lying on the ground.


    Although Evan''s legs were strong and durable enough to get through unscathed, he temporarily lost his bnce, an opportunity that Lensa took advantage of immediately.


    She broke through her top speed limits, with her agility stat actually reaching B+ at this moment as she blitzed through the air with her fist encased in demonic energy.


    Without hesitation, she punched towards Evan''s head, intending to end the boy in one blow while silently hoping that her worst fear didn''te to pass.


    Unfortunately for her, this gamble didn''t turn out in her favour.


    Midway through her punch, Evan''s body disappeared from in front of her and reappeared at her back, with all the energy-constructed swords breaking down into pure energy which then joined the storm of aura swirling around Evan''s de.


    The young hero unhesitantly activated his unique skill as he thrust his sword forward, putting an end to this battle that had been dragged on far too long.


    "Vortex."


    **KAAABOOOOMMM!!!!


    "GAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"


    Whether it was a coincidence or not, Lensa screamed exactly how Xakon did, as the domineering force of the destruction aura-infused vortex mmed into her body, shredded her wings and prated her skin, before going on to wreak havoc to her bones.


    �� �� ��


    The high demon Pride, looked at her brother who was drawing demonic runes on his new clothes and a certain blonde battle priestess who was juggling a ball of pure life energy with an indescribable expression on her face.


    She alternated her gaze between the two of them and the wreckage of the town that was not too far off from where they were seated and sighed before speaking.


    "I was barely gone for up to half an hour at most, what the heck happened within this short time?"


    In response to her question, the two looked at each other and shrugged, before giving her the answer she wanted, bit by bit.


    "Well�� we were supposed to go underground��" (Greed.)


    "Then a gigantic flesh golem appeared��" (Eliza.)


    "A senior member of the demonic hand came out right after it��"


    "Then her contracted demon showed up��"


    "Then the other demonic hand members showed up��"


    "Then your brother scared the demon shitless��"


    "She went on to use her true form release��"


    "Evan got pissed off for some reason and attacked her��"


    After hearing Eliza''s take on Evan''s reaction, a look of remembrance shed through Pride''s eyes, followed by an obvious change in her mood.


    Greed noticed this but chose not toment on it and kept narrating the events that happened when his sister was away.


    "She and the two spirits handled most of the goons��" (Greed)


    "While your lil bro took on the senior member and caused that big sinkhole you''re looking at��" (Eliza)


    "In my defence, this was totally unintended.


    I was only retaliating against her own attack that could have buried us underground."


    "Yeah, so while he was causing a lot of environmental destruction, Kuro and Ka were helping me out with restraining and torching the other demonic hand members."


    Eliza then patted Kuro''s and continued, ending with a question for the cat-shaped shadow spirit.


    "Something else happened further down where Evan was, but I have no idea what went on there.


    Speaking of which, is he done with his fight? It''s been very quiet for a while."


    [He''s done and is on his way back.


    Look.]


    Kuro raised his paw and pointed at the sky where Evan was jumping across multiple aura footholds and quickly making his way over to them.


    Upon reaching an area where Greed''sndslide didn''t affect, he got back to the ground and jogged up to them normally.


    "You''ve really taken to using these aura footholds.


    Isn''t this supposed to be a really difficult thing to do mid-fights?"


    "I''ve gotten the skill so It''s a lot easier to use."


    Evan replied before creating an aura foothold and cing his feet on top it before continuing.


    "I can also make for others to use."


    He generated another foothold about two metres from his position, one which Ka jumped on top of before transforming into herrger humanoid form and sitting on it.


    [It''s just like a small floating stool.]


    Seeing the young spirit''s antics, the boy created two more footholds underneath just in case the first expired and vanished while she was still sitting on it.


    "Where''s the demon?"


    Towards Greed''s question, Evan pulled out a juice pack from his inventory (one with actual juice) and replied.


    "She''s in my inventory."


    "I don''t recall you being able to toss living beings inside there��"


    Evan turned to Eliza upon hearing her statement and replied with a smile.


    "Exactly. I can''t"

 Chapter 324 Planning For The Golem While Resting

    "Where''s the demon?"


    Towards Greed''s question, Evan pulled out a juice pack from his inventory (one with actual juice) and replied.


    "She''s in my inventory."


    "I don''t recall you being able to toss living beings inside there��"


    Evan turned to Eliza upon hearing her statement and replied with a smile.


    "Exactly. I can''t"


    Seeing his reply, the others didn''t need to be geniuses to figure out that the poor demon was dead, with Pride''s gaze turning to the unconscious Faerora who was wrapped in Kuro''s restraining shadows and noticed a thin line of blood dripping from her lips.


    "So, where to next?


    Are we going after that mass of flesh that''s heading for the next town?


    Would we even be able to catch up to it?"


    "Yeah, we are. It''s slow.


    We have to be shy about it too."


    "shy about it?"


    Evan nodded in response to Eliza''s question as he pulled out some ropes from his inventory and disengaged Kuro''s shadows, before proceeding to tie up the unconscious Faerora.


    "They''re magic-infused ropes, so they''re stronger than normal.


    Also, Kuro wouldn''t have to stress himself with shadows while we''re moving."


    The boy spoke as he quickly tied up the unconscious elf, however, Eliza, Pride and Greed all had twitching eyebrows after they saw the way he did so.


    He hadid her on her stomach while binding her ankles and arms behind her back. He then went on to tie another rope around her torso, just above her breasts.


    Upon seeing him pull out another rope to tie the woman with, Eliza finally snapped and grabbed his shoulder, a ring of green light appearing around her wrist as she slowly started squeezing his arm with her full strength while giving him a death re.


    "Evan, would you be as kind as to tell me what the fuck you''re doing?"


    Anyone could tell that she was very obviously pissed off seeing her boyfriend tie another woman up bondage-style right in front of her.


    However, the reply that Evan gave was totally out of her and everyone else''s expectations.


    "Besides practising for when I eventually tie you up in bed, what else could I possibly be doing?"


    He said it like it was a matter of fact, with an expression on his face that made it seem like he could not understand why they''d think he could possibly be doing anything else.


    The reactions of those who heard his reply were varied, with Eliza turning red as a tomato and Ka tilting her head in confusion while trying to wrap her mind around why tying someone up to sleep (in bed) was even a thing.


    As for Greed and Pride, the two siblings facepalmed simultaneously, with Greed finally understanding a bit of how Pride felt having to deal with Evan''s antics for the past year.


    "Just tie her up like any normal human being would do so, okay?"


    "But I''m not a hu-."


    "Just do it normally".


    Pride just barely held herself back from snapping at the young hero who chose the wrong time, ce, and asion for his antics.


    After a few awkward minutes, they finally managed to get their conversation back on track.


    "The impact of the civilians, whatever adventurers, merchants, knights or maybe even nobles who are presently in that town, seeing us defeating therge over 20+ metre tall monster that probably dwarfs every building in that town and is easily capable of destroying said town, would definitely garner us more than a bit of fame and repute for our strength.


    There''s no way stories about such an event wouldn''t spread.


    Even themon people who wouldn''t be able to gauge the monster''s level of strength, itsrge size is enough to make them realise that it''s definitely strong as fuck."


    Evan hugged the waist of the slightly displeased Eliza and attempted to coax her after he was done speaking, with Greed bringing up something that he had noticed Evan was doing for a while now.


    "I''ve been wanting to ask this ever since we helped that first county with evacuations, but you''re really taking advantage of this situation to boost your poprity with the masses, aren''t you?"


    "Yep.


    Even if I didn''t do all this, we''d definitely get more famous after the end of this whole situation, even more so when we all eventually be A rankers, but I''m just using this opportunity toy a foundation.


    Besides, I''m also doing this now so people know that I am already freakin strong while I''m still so young."


    When the high demon tilted his head in confusion in response to the boy''s words, Evan sighed and spoke.


    "Dude, I''m just 13. And I''m already over level 200."


    "haaa???!!"


    The deadly sin demon eximed in shock as the young hero''s age was brought to his notice for the first time.


    "You''re seriously just 13? I thought you were like 2 or 3 years older."


    Evan chuckled lightly before pointing to his head and speaking.


    "I''m a bit older up here, but this body is physically just 13 years of age."


    Once again, the high demon was momentarily confused by Evan''s strange phrasing, but the other high demon present only narrowed her eyes slightly as she arrived at a conjecture from hearing Evan''s words.


    ''-This body- huh?


    I guess that pretty much confirms my suspicions.''


    "Anyway, I''m a 13-year-old B-rank adventurer.


    The guild master at Yelcyne also said that I''m the guild''s youngest B ranker, and pretty much the youngest B ranker in the world.


    And if I be a grandmaster while I''m still 13, then I''d be breaking the world record of being the youngest grandmaster-level existence.


    Hopefully, I don''t run into another ''wall'' along the way."


    Evan''sst statement made Eliza''s brow twitch slightly as she spoke.


    "Dude, you just jinxed yourself."


    "��"


    [��]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' watches in silence]


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says that your world record is quite low. Where I''m from, we had ten-year-old grandmasters.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' implores ''The Eternal of Time and Destruction'' to please stop lying, further stating that even he only became a grandmaster at 13 years of age.]


    "Huh? I''m pretty much doing the same thing you did, so why the hell do you keep talking like I''m being slow?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that this is why she keeps telling you not to listen to whatever bullshit he spouts.]


    |The connection to ''The Eternal of Time and Destruction'' has been Terminated|

 Chapter 325 Random Race

    |The connection to ''The Eternal of Time and Destruction'' has been Terminated|


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' states that if you really want to defeat that flesh golem, you should get going as it is already halfway to the town.]


    "It''s already halfway?!"


    Evan almost shot up from his seat, only to remember that there was someone sitting on hisp. He then silently lifted the girl up before turning his attention back to Artemisia.


    "That thing''s agility was low as fuck, how did it cross those kilometres of distance in just a bit over thirty minut-Oh.


    It''s been more than just a bit over thirty minutes."


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' states that the explosions from your battle with the demon; Lensa, alerted the town and they send out scouts to investigate, however, the scouts ended up encountering the golem halfway through and are currently running for their lives.


    She goes on to predict that they would most likely take defensive measures against the flesh golem, however, said measures would be futile as there is no entity capable of battling the creature in that small town. Even its B-rank adventurers are all far too weak.]


    "No shit, that''s why the town was targeted in the first ce."


    Evan spoke up before rying the new information to his party members, along with his n to put on a show that heavily involved a certain unwilling high demon.


    "Come on, Pride.


    You weren''t here while we were working our asses off to defeat the demonic hand members, so you could at least help us take out their creation."


    Pride''s brow twitched repeatedly upon hearing Evan''s words that made it sound like she was cking off, heaving a sigh of exasperation as she gave her reluctant approval.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that if you do not hurry, someone else maye over and steal your thunder.]


    "So basically, someone of simr or higher strength than me is in the area and is heading towards that town, huh?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' nods in affirmation.]


    "I see."


    Evan nodded to himself, before turning to Kuro, only for an idea to sh in his mind as he spoke with a grin.


    "I would have asked Kuro to teleport us halfway using his shadow travel, but how about we make it a race?"


    Hearing his words, Eliza and Pride heaved exasperated sighs while Greed''s eyes shone with interest.


    [I wanna race too!]


    Ka''s energetic voice rang out as she jumped atop Evan''s shoulder in her cat form, with the young hero turning to Eliza and asking for speed buffs.


    "Are you guys serious about this?"


    "Yep." "Pretty much." [Yes!]


    The three simultaneous replies made the battle priestess sigh once more as she called up the radiant codex and applied basic speed and stamina buffs on the three of them.


    "Alright, guys.


    We''re gonna have to go out of the town using the other entrance and then boost off to the destination.


    Our finish line is��let''s say wherever the golem is at the time.


    However, we wouldn''t engage the golem until it reaches the town, okay? We''d just turn back and run out of its range so it doesn''t change its course.


    Cool?"


    The other two nodded in affirmation, with Ka returning to her humanoid form and floating up in the air.


    "Ready? Set. Go!"


    **BOOOMM!!!


    The three racers instantly shot forward the moment Evan spoke the word ''Go'', their feet cratering the ground and kicking up a huge cloud of dust as they zoomed off into the distance.


    "I wanna say ''Boys would always be boys'' but Ka is a girl and she''s with them."


    "I would have agreed with you if one of the ''boys'' wasn''t my brother."


    Pride replied to Eliza''s words as she blew away the dust around them, turning to the cat spirit who was quietly drawing his transfer magic circle on the ground.


    "The other one of the ''boys'' is my boyfriend so I kinda get how you feel."


    The high demon turned her gaze back to Eliza who looked at her with slight confusion before speaking.


    "The you of a month ago was so embarrassed to say that, now the word flows from your lips like water down a stream."


    Eliza''s cheeks turned slightly red as she coughed awkwardly and replied.


    "You see��people eventually get used to things��"


    Pride only shook her head before picking up the unconscious Faerora and speaking.


    "Let''s get going before that idiot forgets that his n requires both our presences for it to work."


    �� �� ��


    Surrounding Bultom Dungeon City in a semi-circle, were fourteen smaller satellite towns, with two of them having been abandoned within the past four decades, making it so only twelve were currently inhabited by people of various races.


    As for the citizens of one of these satellite towns, they all felt that their town might be the third to get abandoned.


    This was natural, as if the gigantic monstrosity that was barely half a kilometre away from their town could not be killed, then they were pretty much fucked.


    The day started as a normal day for them, only for there to be a series ofrge unexinable explosionsing from the distance, with the town guards and adventurers moving to check the situation out and find out the causes of these explosions.


    Unfortunately, they encountered a giant monster that seemed to already be making its way towards their town.


    Upon bringing this information back to the town, the lord called for a state of emergency and assembled all of the town''s fighting forces at the walls to prepare to intercept the iing monster.


    When the thing got into their range of sight, everyone watching couldn''t help but take a step back in disgust.


    It was a huge twenty-five-metre-tall humanoid creature that seemed to constitute of a mix of rotting corpses and masses of pure ck rotten flesh covered in melting skin, with an ominous ck haze surrounding its entire being.


    What they presumed was its face hadrge brown veins showing underneath its rotten flesh, withrge eye sockets containing simrlyrge green pupilless eyes. It had no nose and its mouth looked like its upper and lower lips had been haphazardly glued together with ck flesh.


    If they could get a closer look, they would have realised that maggots filled most of the holes on this creature''s body, and it had weird liquids dripping from under its fingernails.


    The presence of rotten corpses on its body was enough to inform them that this creature''s appearance was somehow linked to the recent increase in undead monsters all over the entire Duchy.


    The presence of rotten corpses on its body was enough to inform them that this creature''s appearance was somehow linked to the recent increase in undead monsters all over the entire Duchy.


    Although they had fought off smaller waves of undead, they had never had to deal with anything that was more than level 200 before.


    As such, having to deal with one giant level 250 undead right off the bat was quite the hurdle for them.


    They had already sent a fast messenger over to the Bultom City to call over stronger B-ranked adventurers to take on the creature.

 Chapter 326 Flesh Golem I

    They had already sent a fast messenger over to the Bultom City to call over stronger B-ranked adventurers to take on the creature.


    Even so, until those adventurers arrived, the town''s defence forces had to hold out against the monster alone.


    That''s where their mistake was; fighting to hold it off and not to defeat it.


    A drawn-out battle would be the most unwise decision right now as since the flesh golem was only just a bit over an hour old, it hadn''t developed much in the way of intelligence.


    To put it bluntly, the creature was still stupid and had zero ideas on how to use the innate power it has to its full potential.


    However, the longer it existed, it would eventually begin to learn and the cutscene from the game where the flesh golem spawned thousands of zombies just by waving its arms woulde to pass.


    Nevertheless, the people of the town could not be med for their decision as they were unaware of the fact that the golem was just a bit over an hour old and had no idea how to use the enormous amount of energy that they were sensing for anything other than basic body strengthening.


    Of course, it was still very much capable of wiping out the town without having to use anything else as the sheer amount of destruction the creature with a strength stat of ''B'' could cause just by punching the ground randomly was enough to send more than a few blocks tumbling down.


    As the giant creature made its way towards the town, the defence force instantly took action, beginning with a barrage of magic spells of various attributes that rained down on the flesh golem.


    "Guooooo!"


    It let out a low roar and crossed its arms in an ''X'' in front of its chest, while the plethora of spells fell and hit several parts of its body, burning off a few of the corpses it was made of and evenrge amounts of its flesh.


    Seeing this, the town lord had the thought that they might just be able to take the monster out using magic alone, however, that thought fled his mind in the next moment when he saw the monster''s rotten flesh, bubble up and slowly begin to regenerate.


    The creature let out another roar before beginning to takerger strides forward, almost as if it wanted to break into a sprint, only to suddenly stop and turn around.


    They didn''t need to ask the reason why the creature had suddenly turned around, as an array of dozens of golden energy-constructed swords suddenly appeared in the sky all around the monster''s head.


    "KUOOOOOO?!"


    Letting out another strange sound, the creature swung itsrge arms as if to try and swat the des out of the sky, however, they all simultaneously shot forward faster than the flesh golem''s arms could move and stabbed into its head before exploding.


    "GRUOOO!!!!!!!"


    The flesh golem roared out in what was most likely rage as the explosions burned off huge chunks of flesh from its head, making its appearance even more grotesque.


    Nevertheless, the creature''s arm didn''t stop moving as it swung it in the air as if still trying to swat something out of the sky.


    It was then that those watching realised that its intention was never to swat out the des, but to swat out the humanoid figure floating in the air who most likely created said des.


    Just when they thought that the person would get hit, they suddenly disappeared and reappeared beside the golem''s head, before clenching their fist and punching it.


    **BOOM!


    Golden lightning and mes shed in the sky as the creature''s neck twisted at an odd angle, with its huge frame staggering backwards and nearly falling to the ground.


    The ground trembled both from the shockwaves of that punch and the steps of the giant flesh golem, with the figure who punched it pulling back its arm and stretching it.


    "Remember, Pride.


    We''re putting on a show."


    [You don''t have to tell me multiple times.


    And just so you know, I''m never doing this again.]


    "Who knows about that?"


    Naturally, this ''floating'' figure was the young hero Evan, who was currently conversing with his contracted demon after punching the head of the flesh golem with his fracture skill.


    He looked towards the town''s defence force who didn''t just sit and watch, taking advantage of the golem''s stunned state tounch another barrage of magic at it, hitting it in various parts of its body and burning off its flesh.


    However, the flesh bubbled up once again as the creature began regenerating from its wounds, bringing a light frown to Evan''s face as he contacted Ka.


    "Mind telling Liz to ready that enchantment, will ya?"


    [On it.]


    After receiving affirmation from the spirit, he snapped his fingers and spoke.


    "Now then, let the show begin."


    Multiplerge great swords of mes and lightning appeared behind him with the boy waving his arms and gesturing for them tounch forward.


    "GUOOOOO!"


    His target let out its signature roar and threw out a punch forward with its left fist, with the ck haze surrounding its body ring slightly as a ck shockwave was released from its fist, flying through the air and colliding with some of the swords of mes.


    **BOOOM!!!


    There was an explosion upon collision, which spread out and caused the other energy weapons to explode into a cloud of smoke and mes in the air.


    Right after doing that, the creature pulled its arm backwards and looked at its clenched fist while tilting its head to the side, as if confused at how it suddenly released a shockwave.


    It punched forward again, but was unable to recreate the same effect. It roared seemingly in anger as it ''ran'' towards Evan and punched at him with its left fist again, only for the young hero to disappear and reappear in a spot closer to the city walls while the golem punched empty air.


    Evan pulled out the Unforged and coated it in his golden aura, before swinging it wildly and sending a few dozen aura shes towards the monster who rose its left arm to block.


    ''Ka, you know the drill.''


    He then kicked off the foothold and shot towards the creature with his left arm glowing as a rose of mes bloomed on the creature''s left arm a second before Evan''s lightning punchnded.


    **BOOM!!!


    There was an explosion, with blobs of rotten flesh and a few corpses falling off its left forearm and scattering all around.


    When the dust cleared, it could be seen that the golem''s arm had now lost a considerable amount of mass, and the ck haze around its body reduced a bit as the flesh began bubbling up again.


    As for Evan, he disappeared and reappeared on the ground, right next to the town''s walls while staring at the huge monster''s body.


    While some had their attention on Evan who just pulled another disappearing act, some other adventurers who were about tounch more magic, noticed that there was someone on the right side of the golem''s body.


    "I feel like an animal in a zoo."

 Chapter 327 Flesh Golem II

    "I feel like an animal in a zoo."


    That ''someone'' who was on the golem''s body, the high demon of Pride, remarked as she coated her sword in ck mes and shaped the mes into a longer de to extend their reach, before spinning around and ''whipping'' the flesh golem''s face with her sword of mes.


    Before it could even let out its usual roar, she had already moved once more, slicing the creature''s neck with her sword, but only stopping halfway as the mes on the de faded away.


    Now, the creature had the chance to roar like usual, before waving its still-injured left arm in an attempt to swat Pride off its right shoulder, however, the high demon only used itsrge arm as a foothold tounch herself into the air, with Evan appearing right above her and grabbing onto her other hand while standing on an aura foothold.


    Without even a moment''s dy, the young hero spun around on the aura foothold and tossed the high demon back towards the monster who had just mmed its empty shoulder.


    Pride gripped her sword with both arms and generated another gigantic me sword, one that was easily twice the size of the previous one and swung it downwards, with the ck mes cleaving through the monster''s arm and severing the limb in two.


    "GUOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"


    The flesh golem let out its loudest roar yet as its forearm fell to the ground with a loud thud, with its green eyes shing as it picked up its severed arm with its right hand and swung it like a club with the aim of knocking Evan out of the sky.


    Evan instantly disengaged the void step he was standing on and let gravity take him back to the ground, an action that led to him inadvertently dodging the swing. He still had to put up an elemental shield to block the trio of corpses that fell out of the arm and toward his body from hitting him.


    But perhaps because its grip on its severed limb wasn''t too strong, after Evan dodged and Pridended back on the ground, the flesh golem''s detached forearm flew out of its hand and towards the town walls that were a few hundred metres away.


    It was far too fast and unexpected, as the adventurers and town guards on the walls could not react fast enough. Even the mages who fired magic towards the iing limb didn''t have time to aim properly to hit the target, and the ones that did hit, only seemed to slow it down a bit.


    Just when they had begun scurrying away to avoid the impact of the flesh golem''s armnding on the walls, arge semi-transparent wall of light appeared in front of the walls, with the arm crashing into it a momentter.


    However, this wall of light stood strong with zero cracks as the severed arm could only fall to the ground after having all of its momentum killed.


    "Wha?!"


    "How did..."


    "��?"


    "Who...?"


    The surprised adventurers naturally questioned the source of the phenomenon they were looking at, with the answering to them in the form of a certain blonde battle priestess who calmly walked forward while twirling a spear in her fingers.


    Floating beside her was arge orb, one about twenty centimetres in diameter. It had a ring made of bronze around it with two pieces of a cloth-like material tied to the two edges of the ring.


    "If you all had any ns of using ranged magic, now''s the time."


    Her words snapped the mages out of their stupor as they cancelled their own hastily made magic barriers and transitioned into attack magic,unching another barrage of spells towards the flesh golem who roared and waved its right arm, creating a shockwave that swatted out more than half of the spells fired.


    Meanwhile, the melee-type adventurers and town guards turned towards Eliza, with the adventurers noticing the familiar-looking guild card hanging from her neck.


    However, hers was silver in colour and had a gold lining, with them not even needing to look at therge letter printed on the back of the card to know what rank the card was.


    "B rank?!"


    A random adventurer eximed as if confirming the thoughts of all the others, with many gazes going over to Eliza who only sighed and stabbed the Memoria into the ground beside her.


    "Enchant: Life."


    A green two-ringed magic circle appeared in between her palms, shooting out three beams of green light with two hitting Evan and Pride on the ground while the third andrgest one hit the giant flesh golem.


    It roared loudly as the ominous ck haze surrounding its body dimmed a bit, with Eliza snapping her fingers twice and sending two more beams of green light that caused the ck haze topletely fade away.


    "I only have 3 charges left now��"


    Eliza muttered to herself as she kept her skill active just in case the flesh golem somehow regained its death aura once more and she had to deal with it again.


    Meanwhile, Evan who now had a green ring of light with the same inscriptions on Eliza''s spell circle floating around it, charged towards the flesh golem''s feet and used vortex on one of its legs.


    As the spiral-shaped mass of aura mmed onto the flesh golem''s leg, it screamed in pain while dropping to one knee, right before Evan jumped into the air and generated another array of energy swords.


    Unlikest time, all the swords had a barely noticeable thinyer of green light around them, something the flesh golem happened to notice as it stopped its attempt to charge towards the town walls in favour of blocking Evan''s attack.


    It swung the stump of its right arm while doing something that everyone watching considered to be disgusting.


    The mass of flesh and corpses that made up its upper torso twitched and squeezed about, before twitchily moving over to its arm and reforming its left forearm.


    It then transferred some of its flesh from its right arm over to its torso, in an attempt to bnce the weight of its two arms on its body.


    ''Yeah��almost forgot it could do that.''


    Evan''s brow twitched repeatedly as he jumped backwards to avoid the weird ck liquid that dripped from its forearm as it coated said arm in magic power and swatted away all the des he had created.


    Naturally, they exploded on contact but the creature''s magic power coat made sure it only took minimal damage.


    Immediately after this, it turned its attention back to the city walls, throwing out another shockwave to collide with the iing magic before making its way towards the city walls.


    Meanwhile, on said city walls, Eliza was currently trying to convince the lower levelled B rank adventurers that going out to join Evan and Pride in closebat with the golem was the worst idea that they could possibly have.


    "I understand that you want to help, but the asional magic attacks are okay.


    If you go out there, you''d only end up disrupting my party members and making things worse. Don''t you realise that you might be out ofmission if that creature ge-!"

 Chapter 328 Flesh Golem III

    "I understand that you want to help, but the asional magic attacks are okay.


    If you go out there, you''d only end up disrupting my party members and making things worse. Don''t you realise that you might be out ofmission if that creature ge-!"


    Her speech was cut short as she sensed the flesh golem''s death aura surround its body once more, with its injured flesh beginning to bubble up again.


    "Oh, no you don''t."


    Eliza reactivated her magic circle and infused it with her skill''s life essence, shooting out another beam of green light that hit the monster faster than it could react.


    The flesh golem roared out in rage as its death aura disappeared, with its rage turning into confusion as it found that it suddenly could not move forward anymore.


    Its legs had been surrounded by dark shadowy appendages thattched it to the ground, and there was something like a giant hand holding its neck and preventing it from moving forward.


    "Thanks, Pride."


    Evan spoke as he ran up the ''giant arm'' holding the flesh golem''s neck, which was the partial avatar of Pride, an energy-constructed limb that extended from the outstretched arm of the high demon herself.


    Upon reaching the flesh golem''s neck, Evan stabbed tossed his sword into his inventory and held his two palms forward, condensing his golden aura in front of his palms in preparation for an energy st.


    Naturally, the golem didn''t fail to sense this, but a certain shadow spirit didn''t give it a chance to move, as multiple tentacle-like appendages shot out of the creature''s shadow andtched onto its arms, holding them in ce and preventing it from moving to attack Evan.


    The moment he had condensed the energy in his palm to the limit, the young hero ran up to the golem''s head and jumped in front of its face, turning around to face its forehead beforeunching his attack.


    **BOOMMM!!!


    The force of the explosion sent him flying backwards, however, he flipped in the air and regained his bnce,nding on the town walls right behind him while the creature attempted to il around.


    "You guys are too close..."


    Eliza spoke as she sent another green beam of light towards the flesh golem that recovered its death aura, before turning to Evan and continuing.


    "��take it further away from the town."


    "That''s gonna be quite difficult given that it wants to take you out first.


    I mean��you are the one stopping its regeneration, after all."


    The boy''s words shed light onto the reason why Eliza had beenunching multiple beams of light towards the flesh golem for those who hadn''t figured it out, also bringing a bit of attention towards himself as some also noticed the silver guild card hanging from his neck.


    "The kid''s B rank too?!"


    Before Evan could make a snidement in response to that bystander''s words, the flesh golem who had eaten a mouthful of magic from the mages on the walls in close range, roared out in rage as it forcefully broke out of Kuro''s restraints before punching towards the city walls.


    The almost fading death aura on its arm red back to life, with Eliza''s eyes widening in shock as she used another skill charge and cast multiple barriers.


    **SHATTERR!!! X2


    Using more than one barrier proved to be a wise decision as the creature''s arm easily bulldozed the first two, beforeing to a stop on the third and merely cracking it.


    "Evann��."


    "Fine, I''d try to make it go far away."


    Evan replied as he pulled out his sword from his inventory and activated vortex, jumping off the town walls and aiming the vortex at the upper monster''s torso.


    "GUFOOOOO?!"


    The creature''s roar sounded a bit surprised as its huge body was knocked back more than a hundred metres from the boy''s singr attack.


    As for the damage it took, it was already pulling out the flesh from other parts of its body to rece the parts it lost while trying to reactivate its death aura.


    Evan ran up the golem''s body while covering his nose with his free hand, reaching its half-destroyed head and stabbing the Unforged into it.


    "Sorry about this, Lil guy."


    He apologized to the de before activating vortex once more, however, as the sword was embedded into the monster''s head, said head was inadvertently blown to bits, scattering chunks of flesh and severed human limbs in the air.


    "Blergh��"


    Such was the sound that escaped Evan''s lips as the boy deactivated his elemental shield skill and blinked out of the way just in time to avoid the huge magic power-coated arm that moved over to crush him t.


    However, this proved to be an unnecessary action as the flesh golem''s arm neverpleted its motion.


    Halfway through, it was grabbed by the gigantic energy limb construct that extended from the right arm of a high demon who had an unconscious elf slung over his shoulder, while said high demon''s sister swung down an extended sword of ck mes and cut off the creature''s left arm��again.


    "----!!!!"


    If the creature still had a head with a mouth, then it was definitely going to roar out loudly, but sadly for it, said head had been blown to bits by a certain young hero who was sipping a juice pack while watching therge severed limb fall to the ground.


    "Pride, let''s start rounding up."


    The moment Evan sent that message to Pride, the high demon pulled back her sword and kicked off the ground, arriving right at the flesh golem''s feet and swinging her weapon once more, delivering a clean diagonal cut through the creature''s knee.


    She then spun around to generate momentum before kicking the part of its leg (Everything below the knee) that she had cut off towards its other leg, causing the creature to lose its bnce and tumble to the ground.


    As it was tumbling to the ground, Evan blitzed in towards the golem''s other leg and swung his sword repeatedly, with each swing sending a de cannon towards the creature''s knee, eventually sting it to bits and increasing the speed at with which it fell to the ground.


    Evan looked up and noticed that the golem had already begun redistributing flesh from its torso to its severed arm and neck, with the other arm falling to the ground as the creature tried to keep its massive frame from falling to the groundpletely.


    The action of its palm mming on the ground resulted in a huge shockwave that swept towards the town walls and crack them, with Eliza''s barrier intercepting right before the impact of the shockwaves could copse the wallspletely.


    Its death aura red up once again and its legs began regenerating rapidly at a speed that momentarily shocked Evan, with nearly half of its head growing back within the few seconds that the aura was active.


    However, its regeneration was once again cut short by the actions of a certain blonde priestess who activated her flower cannon skill andunched a beam of concentrated magic power mixed with life essence towards the golem''s neck and upper chest area.


    **BOOOMM!!!

 Chapter 329 Flesh Golem IV

    **BOOOMM!!!


    The impact knocked the body of the golem that was falling forward in the opposite direction, with a gigantic energy-constructed sword bursting out from its chest and piking it up in the air.


    Seeing this snapped Evan out of his shock for a bit as he jumped into the air using void steps and activated his blessing of destruction''s first activation.


    Looking at the creature while pulling back his sword, Evan noted that even though Eliza had dealt with its death aura, the creature was still regenerating its wounds at a visible rate, while transferring a lot of flesh towards its chest area where Pride''s energy de had pierced through.


    ''This thing really is getting stronger over time.''


    The young hero remarked internally as he activated vortex, feeling his arm scream out to him as the essence of life that Eliza applied to him and the essence of destruction from his skill seemed to be at odds.


    "Well, damn."


    Evan spoke those two words as the spiralling mass of aura mmed into the creature''s chest and shredded all its flesh, turning it into chunks of meat and revealing the golem''s core, arge two-metre-wide orb filled with death aura, magic power, and some other ck liquid.


    His vortex went on to finish the job that Pride''s sword had started when she stabbed the edge of the core, colliding with the orb and shattering it to pieces, before going on to burst out of the other end of the flesh golem''s body and m into the ground.


    The earth trembled as Evan''s vortex dug a deep crater in the ground before Evan cancelled the skill and withdrew his energies.


    **DON!!


    Once again, the ground quavered as the golem''s body fell into therge crater that Evan''s vortex had created when it hit the ground, bursting into pieces of flesh, corpses and pretty much every other disgusting thing Evan could think of at the moment.


    "��I don''t think I''m able to think of anything more disgusting at the moment."


    Evan remarked as he tossed the Unforged back into his inventory before turning towards Pride and Greed who were discussing something on the side.


    "What''s up?"


    "This thing had demonic energy mixed with some other foreign substance in its core, however, it''s weird that I only sensed it when I stabbed into its core."


    Pride spoke as she stared at the ''deceased'' flesh golem, with Evan shrugging his arms and saying.


    "It''s most likely the Eighth Finger''s contracted demon''s demonic energy. Storing undead isn''t the only thing that guy is good at."


    "His contracted demon?"


    "Yeah. I''d fill you guys in on the dudeter.


    His main threat source is hisrge expansive space that lets him store loads of undead inside which could escape the detection of even those who are skilled at spatial magic."


    Evan replied to Pride as he turned around and started making his way towards the town walls where a slightly pissed Eliza was waiting.


    When Evan asked the reason for her displeasure, the answer she gave was as such:


    "That thing managed to resist my life essence towards the end."


    Apparently, she had sensed the golem''s increasing capabilities in the form of its increased resistance to life-attributed energy.


    "I told you that the thing would get stronger over time."


    Evan replied as he rose his hand to ruffle her hair, much to the girl''s displeasure, however, she didn''t move to push his hand off making Evan chuckle a bit.


    At least, until Pride flicked both their foreheads and turned their attention towards the town lord who was looking at them awkwardly.


    "��um. I wo-!"


    "HUH?!"


    Eliza''s sudden exmation cut off the town lord who had barely started speaking as she turned her gaze towards the inner part of the town and shouted.


    "Why can I sense death aura from inside the town?!"


    Hearing this, Evan''s eyes widened in shock as he realised the implications of that, with the town lord realising the meaning of her words a beatter.


    He didn''t even get a chance to ask as multiple screams simultaneously rang out, with Eliza''s gaze locking towards a certain direction as she spoke.


    "Follow me!"


    The battle priestess jumped off the walls and dashed forward, with Evan and Pride, along with a few other adventurers trailing behind.


    With their speeds, it took them barely a minute to cross the hundreds of metres of distance and arrive at the location where the screams came from, only to discover arge congregation of people with five sword-wielding mountless Duhans, along with dozens of other regr undead in their midst.


    "Why are there people here!? Shouldn''t they have been all moved over to the other shelters?!"


    One of the adventurers screamed out as she alternated her gaze between the people who were outside in this town square and therge fortified building that stood a few metres off the clearing.


    As for Evan, he didn''t even ask any question, releasing an energy st towards the first Duhan he saw and sting it into the water fountain behind it, before snapping his fingers and activating chain lightning.


    The golden tendrils of lighting struck the fallen Duhan and ended its existence, before jumping off to another random undead and mming into its head, instantly roasting it.


    Evan''s pupils darted around, trying to find the source of themotion as he knew that it was simply impossible for Duhans to randomly appear inside the town.


    ''Unless someone brought them inside, or summoned them directly.''


    Evan jumped up and used threw a lightning spear towards an undead, ending its ''life'' instantly before turning towards another group of undead and activating chain lightning again.


    His feetnded on the ground as he scanned the area, with his mystic eyes instantly catching onto several figures who were still enveloped in the glow of magic power.


    Before he could even call out to hispanions, he saw one of them summon another duo of undead monsters who roared and ran over to two unlucky children who had fallen over in their attempt to escape.


    "Pride, they''re demonic hand members among the crowd! You and Liz should take them out, they should all have either a death aura or residual demonic energy on them.


    I''d handle the Duhans."


    As he was sending that message to Pride, he was shooting out multiple energy sts that destroyed the heads and hearts of the two undead, before turning around and dashing over to a Duhan that was about to sh a random fleeing civilian with its sword.


    Blitzing towards the Duhan and coating his arm with magic power, he deflected the creature''s sword sh with his right arm before holding out his left palm and activating a wide energy st.


    **BOOM!


    The Duhan''s upper body was vaporized by the red beam of light that shot out of Evan''s palm, with the young hero sighing in exasperation before turning towards the civilian who was staring at him nkly.


    "You''re still here?"


    His question snapped the man out of his shock as he screamed out his thanks and took to his heels once more.


    Seeing him run, the young hero turned his gaze around, scanning for any more undead enemies but his eyes couldn''t help but widen when he saw multiple knights suddenly appear and begin to take out the undead.


    ''That crest on their armour��!''

 Chapter 330 Duke Of The North

    ''That crest on their armour��!''


    His thoughts were notpleted as the young hero, along with the attention of every other entity present who had a level above 200, was suddenly drawn towards the one singr Duhan that suddenly appeared beside the broken water fountain, with Ka manifesting her physical body beside him and calling out to him.


    [Master, that thing; it''s stronger than the flesh golem��]


    The young here nodded in affirmation as he had already long appraised the monster, silently pulling out his de and activating his blessing of destruction.


    "Guess I''m gonna end up wrecking this town after all.


    If anyone of our attacks goes off target, the sheer amount of destruction that would happen is something I don''t even want to imagine."


    **BOOM!!


    That short moment where their gazes were turned towards the newly appearing Duhan, gave one of the other Duhans a chance to blow up a nearby building with some sort of skill, snapping the knights out of their shock as within seconds, the unfortunate Duhan was besieged by three level 200 knights.


    Evan saw the town''s resident B rank adventurers and some of the suddenly appearing knights snap out of their shock and take out the lesser weaker level 150-200 undead while he gazed at the level 260 Duhan who just stood there in silence.


    On the floor beside it was a heavily breathing, obviously magic-deficient member of the demonic hand who Evan presumed was the one responsible for summoning this Duhan.


    The creature sensed Evan''s hostile gaze and unsheathed its sword, ring its ck aura wildly as it once again attracted the attention of every being present, alive or undead.


    The town''s resident B ranks all had their face pale in fear as they understood more than anyone that the creature in front of them was at least more than 50 levels higher than they were and was very much capable of wreaking havoc in this town in it went on a rampage.


    They looked towards the more powerful knights who were already on guard, with their weapons raised as they prepared to attack first.


    However, in the next moment, the Duhan disappeared from its position; or rather, it moved so fast it looked like it had disappeared to the adventurers C rank and below.


    **BAAMM!!!!


    **BAAMM!!!!


    A loud sound rang out as Evan''s sword collided with the Duhan''s ck de, cratering the ground beneath their feet as the young hero instantlyunched an energy st towards the creature''s torso.


    Even though his attack hit and even seeded in knocking back the monster, Evan knew that the hastily fired energy st did no real damage to the creature as he instantly tossed his sword up into the air and punched forward.


    A rose of mes bloomed on the Duhan''s chest, right before Evan''s lightning-covered fist punched it down to the ground.


    Cracks spread out on the ground as the Duhan''s body mmed into it, with Evan calling his de back into his hand and stabbing downwards right after.


    However, the Duhan rolled out of the way to dodge, even managing to somehow send a low kick towards Evan''s feet.


    The young hero jumped up to avoid the Duhan''s attack,nding a few metres away from his original position while the Duhan took the chance to get to its feet.


    ''Ka, get ready to use your skill.''


    Evan tightened his grip around his sword as he contacted Ka, turning his gaze towards Pride who had engulfed her sword in mes and was warily gazing at the monster.


    ''Activate it in three, two, o-!''


    Evan''s eyes widened in surprise as he felt a heavy presence descend onto the area, with the Duhans, regr undead and other weaker adventurers dropping to their knees from the pressure, while the knights all lowered their des and bowed lightly.


    Pride also raised her guard to the max while preparing to activate her unique skill, and she expected Evan to do the same, however, the boy justughed and stabbed his sword into the ground while deactivating his aura of destruction.


    There was a sudden silence in the area as all the screams and shouts ining from all over suddenly quieted down.


    *CLIP-CLOP, CLIP-CLOP


    The sound of a horse''s slow steps on the town square''s concrete floor, resounded across the area, with everyone''s gaze turning towards a certain direction where a singr figure rode in with a horse while casually unsheathing his sword.


    "Zero Sword."


    Everyone in the town square heard those two words, right before a noise that sounded like two pieces of steel being sharply rubbed against each other.


    The next moment, the remaining three Duhans and all the regr undead present were instantly sliced into pieces with four horizontal shes on their knees, waists and upper torsos respectively.


    Even the level 260 Duhan was no exception to this, as its body split into four pieces with its helmet-d head being hit by a bolt of blue lightning that burned it to ash in seconds.


    "So this is what you mean when you said someone would steal the thunder, Artemisia."


    Evan spoke with a wry smile as he shook his head, before turning towards the man who jumped down from his horse while sheathing his sword.


    The man was one who possessed a tall muscr frame, with sharp schrly facial features and wine-red hair that had a strand hanging over his forehead.


    He was wearing a ck cored shirt, with the first two buttons off and a long overcoat adorned with a few medals and insignias draped loosely on his shoulders.


    As he walked towards the young hero, he opened his mouth to speak, with a voice loud enough to be heard over the sound of the hooves belonging to the dozens of horses who slowly trailed after his.


    "You know, when they told me that Roger''s son was the one responsible for the deaths of dozens of undead over level 200, a part of me, as well as most of my men didn''t believe it all to be true.


    However,ing here and seeing you easily handle those undead, and even hold your own against ''that'', it seems we were a bit wrong in our judgement."


    Hearing his words, Evan shrugged like it couldn''t be helped while letting out a small chuckle.


    "Which part did they find hard to believe?


    The part where they were told that the Prime Minister''s son took out the undead or the part where they were told a thirteen-year-old kid killed a bunch of Duhans."


    "Little bits of both, I believe."


    "If you, a Duke, are out on the ''front lines'' dealing with the undead, why do they find it so hard to believe that the son of another can''t do the same?"


    Evan replied to the man while shaking his head a bit, his interaction with him stunning most of those watching; from the random civilians in the area, to the lower levelled demonic hand members who were apprehended by the newly arriving knights and adventurers after being restrained by Kuro.


    "It has been a while since west saw each other, Young Lord Eris."


    "It indeed has been a while, Your Grace."


    The man Evan was speaking to, was someone that a majority of the people who lived and worked in the Cheverton Duchy recognized.


    This was only natural, as he was the Lord of the entire Duchy.


    He was also the current ''Third'' of the Great Western Empire''s ''Ten Great Swordsmen'', and one of the most powerful existences on the Alpha Continent.


    The man known as the ''Duke of The North''.


    His Grace, Duke Charles Cheverton!

 Chapter 331 Trap?

    Watching the knights round up the captured demonic hand members, Evan nodded to himself before turning his gaze towards the man standing beside him.


    "It''s been more than a year, Duke.


    Thest time we spoke was atst year''s founding ball."


    "True. You said a lot of weird things then, but now, some of them are starting to make a lot of sense."


    The two high nobles spoke with each other while they ignored the gazes of the onlookers, mostly the adventurers who couldn''t believe that the boy who was just fighting the flesh golem now was the son of their country''s prime minister, and the Knights of Cheverton who thought most the rumours they recently heard about Evan were just propaganda.


    However, seeing him in person, they could tell that the boy was definitely not weak at all!


    Meanwhile, the Prime Minister''s son in question was busy thinking about the skill that the Duke had used earlier.


    ''That''s his unique skill, Zero Sword.


    He didn''t have to go overboard for a monster more than 100 levels below him. Or is it because his skill has a low energy costpared to other normal skills?''


    Looking at the dismembered undead corpses that had been sliced cleanly, Evan shook his head with a sigh while remembering some events about the game.


    ''To think the ''Eighth Finger'' actually seeded in trapping this guy and holding him back long enough for Vazgan to finish his revenge on Bultom and move on to other parts of the Duchy.''


    The boy thought this as he introduced Pride, Eliza and Greed to the Duke, also informing them about the details of the unconscious Faerora.


    "She''s the one who summoned that pile of flesh outside?"


    "Yep."


    Apparently, the Duke was currently residing in Bultom and had encountered the messenger sent by the town lord when he was returning from another undead hunting expedition, so he just decided toe over along with the knights and adventurers who were with him and entered through the town''s other gate, arriving just in time to see Evan begin his sh against the level 260 Duhan.


    The knights Evan had seen earlier were also part of the force that the Duke hade over with. On a side note, the Duhan besieged by three knights died shortly after as the three elite knights made sure that it barely left a corpse behind.


    Just when Evan and hispanions were being introduced to the Brigade Captain of the Duke''s knights who was present, they all suddenly sensed two huge auras rise up outside the town.


    "Someone''s trying to revive that thing!"


    Eliza screamed out right before arge figure suddenly rose up into the air, shocking most of the town''s resident adventurers who clearly saw that ''thing'' die.


    "What?!"


    "Huh?"


    "How is it standing?!"


    To understand the reasons for their surprise, it has to be made known that the flesh golem that Evan and Pride had defeated, was currently standing upright while obviously missing certain body parts like its head, arm, upper torso and legs, making Evan wonder just how it was managing to stand straight.


    A few smaller explosions rang out simultaneously, with the eyes of Evan as well as the others present widening in shock.


    Evan''s brain instantly went into overdrive, with his gaze alternating between Eliza, the creature standing outside the walls, the knights preparing to battle it and the restrained demonic hand members.


    The grin he spotted appearing on the face of the person who summoned the level 260 Duhan instantly made him arrive at a conjecture.


    "Trap!"


    "What?"


    "Hmm?"


    Evan turned to the Duke and got him to make the knights and adventurers stand down, before exining his reason for doing so.


    "You all can feel those two auras which obviously belong to powerful master-level existences.


    If they are the ones trying to revive that golem then it doesn''t make sense why''d they''d choose to do so, when the Duke is here.


    People on their level should be able to sense the Duke''s powerful presence and know not to take action now as it''s impossible for them to beat him, yet they still red their auras wildly as if trying to attract our attention."


    Thinking about it that way, they all felt that it was weird, however, one of the adventurers posed a valid question.


    "Why are you working with the assumption that the owners of those auras are trying to revive the ''golem''?"


    "Because they stink of demonic energy." "I can sense the death aura from here."


    Pride and Eliza simultaneously replied to the man''s question, with Duke Cheverton echoing two words from Pride''s reply.


    "Demonic Energy?"


    After learning about the existence of the ''Demon'' race, hearing Pride speak about an energy type that seemed rted to this race piqued his interest.


    "Duke, can I borrow one of your knights? This Brigade Captain would be preferable."


    Evan asked Duke Cheverton while internally sending messages to Pride, and then Ka.


    "If those guys are from the same organization as that woman, then I''m going need him for my n to work."


    The young hero nned to capture the owners of the auras outside who were most likely a senior member of the demonic hand and their contracted demon.


    Before the Duke could even give out a reply, Pride suddenly rose her hand in the air andunched two balls of mes that exploded in the sky.


    "Don''t worry, her actions are part of my n.


    Also, can you use your pressure skill once more, I want it to seem like you''re ''trying'' to capture someone alive''."


    "��"


    Naturally, all those present could not be more confused by Evan''s words and actions, with some adventurers attempting to go and scout the situation by themselves, only to be stopped by the Knights of Cheverton.


    As for the lord of these knights, he only gazed at Evan briefly before turning towards the Brigade Captain and nodding.


    ''Let''s see what he ns to do.


    It''s also weird that that creature is just standing there and doing nothing.''


    After receiving the Duke''s confirmation, Evan nodded and spoke to Ka.


    "I need you to transform for me; an injured-looking wolf would be fine.


    Pride, you''re up."


    The high demon nodded andunched two more balls of mes that exploded in the air once again, however, this time, they were closer to the town''s walls than before.


    Duke Cheverton also momentarily used his skill, not questioning why Evan knew about it as he was already aware that the boy possessed an appraisal skill.


    ''When did he use it though? I didn''t notice any skill activation from him.''


    Those were the Duke''s thoughts as Ka manifested her physical body beside Evan, donning the form of a huge golden wolf with tendrils of lightning snaking down her tail.


    "Let''s go."


    The boy spoke and kicked off the ground, dashing towards the town walls while activating the second skill he mimicked since he came to Aidos.


    ''Body Transformation.''


    He then held a hand out to the knight and activated concealment on him, not before informing him of this fact.


    "Stay a few metres behind me and watch the situation until I take action.


    Your job here is to either restrain or kill the second person who I don''t attack.


    If you see a red aura on my sword, kill them as fast as possible, otherwise, capture them alive.


    Ignore everything else that happens until then."

 Chapter 332 Corpse Doll Methik

    "Stay a few metres behind me and watch the situation until I take action.


    Your job here is to either restrain or kill the second person who I don''t attack.


    If you see a red aura on my sword, kill them as fast as possible, otherwise, capture them alive.


    Ignore everything else that happens until then."


    Evan only had time to tell him that as the two of them reached the town walls almost instantly, with Evan making a quick internal apology to the town lord while dipping his hand into his inventory.


    ''Found it.''


    He pulled out a partially torn ck hooded and bloodstained robe from his inventory and donned it, right before throwing a fireball towards the town walls and blowing them up.


    **BOOMM!!


    The dust of the explosion covered up his next action of smearing his face with a bit of blood from his inventory.


    ''Now then Ka, action!''


    �� �� ��


    Like Evan had guessed, the owners of the two auras who were standing right outside the town walls were indeed a senior member of the demonic hand named Methik and his contracted demon.


    They were wondering why no one hade over to check out why the flesh golem had risen again beside the town guards and weaker adventurers who were closer to the walls.


    Methik who had knocked these weaklings unconscious, was trying to think about why there would be sudden explosions within the town''s walls at this time.


    ''Could it be they are still fighting those undead? But Isn''t the Duke there? Howe he hasn''t taken action yet?''


    Right after he thought that, he felt an enormous pressure descend onto the area, before sensing three approaching presences speeding towards the walls.


    ''Someone''sing!''


    He instantly got on his guard and got ready to activate his skill and proceed with his n, only for the walls to suddenly explode.


    Methik''s eyes narrowed as he and his contracted demon simultaneously jumped back to gain distance from the smoke of the explosion while keeping their gazes on it all the while.


    Nevertheless, the figure who ''fell'' out of the explosion was not one he had expected in his wildest dreams.


    "GAARGH!!!"


    Although they both worked for the same organization, he and this person, definitely weren''t on the best of terms.


    "Ulmoch?!"


    He couldn''t help but call out after seeing the injured appearance of his fellow senior demonic hand member, who coughed out a mouthful of blood while staggering to his feet.


    "Geh!


    The necrophiliac''s goon?!"


    The man''s brow twitched as he heard Ulmoch not forget to call his direct superior a necrophiliac even when he looked to be on the verge of death.


    However, he held back his anger and roused his magic power as he could tell that Ulmoch definitely did note flying through that wall of his own will.


    The current Ulmoch looked like he had seen better days, with his usual hooded robe being tattered and torn, while the man himself smelt like dried blood and had fresh blood dripping from his forehead and into his eyes, preventing him from properly opening them up.


    ''He looks like he''s been blinded in one eye already��''


    **BOOM!!


    The sound of another explosion broke Methik out of his thoughts as a wolf jumped out of the smoke while firing an orb of lightning from its mouth towards an iing fireball.


    The sheer amount of dust and smoke on the wolf had dyed its golden fur grey, however, its presence made the Methik''s contracted demon''s eyes narrow in suspicion.


    "Ulmoch! How are you even he-"


    His question was cut short as his contracted demon instantly sent him a warning message.


    [Something''s wrong! I can''t sense Thoruul''s energy on him!


    That wolf isn''t a tamed monster either!


    Get away from him or activate your skill!!!]


    The senior member of the demonic hand had his eyes widen in shock upon hearing that warning message, unfortunately, he could neither take any of the actions his contracted demon had told him to.


    There were two reasons for this.


    One; his legs had been restrained to the ground by something he could not see.


    And as for the second reason.


    "GUK!"


    A ck liquid spurted from his mouth and sshed all over, as he gazed at the person locking eyes with him with a look of shock.


    "y-you..n..o-ot..Ulmoch��"


    "Took you long enough to figure that out, Corpse Doll Methik."


    ''Ulmoch'' replied to the shocked ''Methik'' while twisting the sword covered in a red ominous aura that was currently piercing through ''Methik''s'' body.


    "Met-!"


    His contracted demon tried to move but a frightening presence suddenly appeared behind him, with the demon''s head flying into the air in the next moment.


    ''Ulmoch'' then held out an arm towards the Demon''s body andunched a beam of concentrated energy, no different from the red aura that enveloped the sword piercing ''Methik''s'' heart.


    The beam bore a hole right through where the heart of the demon was, with the demon''s corpse falling to the ground right after.


    At this time, ''Methik'' had gotten a good look at the eyes of the person stabbing him, with the crests within their two pupils being all too familiar to him.


    ''A Hero crest?!


    I have to report this to Lord Vk!''


    Unfortunately for him, the ''Hero'' in question wasn''t going to let him report anything to anyone.


    "Too bad this isn''t your real body. It would have been nice to get rid of you permanently.


    Even so, I won''t be letting this ''you'' go back.''


    The next thing that rang out was Methik''s pained scream as the red aura on the sword piercing his chest intensified.


    Wirth thest dredges of his consciousness, he tried to activate his skill, even managing to partially seed.


    However, his assant somehow noticed this and coated their palm in aura to form a de which they used to cut off his right arm.


    Before the arm dropped to the ground, a streak of gold shed and grabbed the arm, flinging it up into the air almost immediately.


    **KAABOOM!!!


    The light of therge explosion and the shockwaves it spread out omnidirectionally were thest things that ''Methik'' saw and felt before the sword in his chest finally reaped his ''life''.

 Chapter 333 Methik’s Plan

    ''Is it gone?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that the soul fragment of the Entity-'' Methik Ifoumien'' has been eliminatedpletely.


    She further states that the target would suffer a substantial decrease in stats but is not sure if the damage to the soul was enough to warrant the loss of a skill.]


    ''The fact that his soul is damaged is enough for now.''


    Evan replied to Artemisia as he undid his body transformation, before turning towards Ka who was in herrger humanoid form and petting her head.


    "Good job, Ka."


    He then turned his gaze towards the knight who had seen all of Ka''s actions in slow motion due to his superior kic vision, as well as sensed the activation of ''Methik''s'' skill, and was looking at him in silence.


    "��His arm��did it contain explosives?"


    The knight finally broke the silence, turning his gaze to the corpse that Evan''s sword was piercing as he asked.


    "Not just his arm, his whole body did.


    That''s why I had Kuro tell you to behead that one instead of attacking any other body part."


    Evan replied while gazing at the ck cat who licked his paws as he sat on the knight''s shoulder, jumping off right after and sinking into the young hero''s shadow.


    Right after Evan''s reply, the huge flesh golem that had been standing upright due to Methik''s corpse puppetry, copse onto the ground with a loud ''BAM''.


    The young hero only gave it a side nce, before tossing the corpses of both ''Methik'' and his ''contracted demon'' into his inventory.


    "Let''s go back so you can exin to the Duke.


    That''s why I brought you here, after all."


    Upon returning, Evan was met with the figures of a very displeased town lord, along with a few dozen other B-rank adventurers and Knights waiting for him close to the town walls.


    A few of them let out voices of surprise as they saw the boy''s bloodstained face, however, some of them and the Duke and Evan''spanions realised that it wasn''t his blood.


    Seeing as the remaining civilians had been taken to safety by the knights and some adventurers, Evan decided to bring out the corpses of ''Methik'' and his ''Contracted Demon''.


    "Now then, I suppose you guys want an exnation."


    Evan spoke as he pulled off the ragged coat on his body and tossed it into his inventory, not after using it to rub the blood off his face.


    "Um��is there any adventurer or someone skilled in��dismantling humanoid corpses?"


    "��"


    Evan''s question was met with silence all around as people gazed at the boy with questioning looks, wondering why he suddenly asked such a question.


    "No one?


    Well��that''s too bad.


    Let''s hope we all don''t get blown up, then."


    "Huh?"


    Ignoring the shocked voices around him, Evan casually pulled out a corpse from his inventory, one obviously missing an arm and stuffed his hand into the opening on the residual limb, causing a ck liquid to ssh on the floor as he pulled out something from inside the corpse.


    Evan looked around and spotted a mage subordinate of Duke Cheverton and passed the thing in his hands to him while speaking.


    "Here, check it out with your skill.


    It''s your exnation."


    In the boy''s hand, was a small cuboid box, about 15 by 10 cm in size and was made of a soft hand-mouldable solid material, tied up like a package.


    Duke Cheverton''s eyes narrowed when he looked at the thing in Evan''s hands, instructing the mage to run a quick analysis on it.


    "Is this tar?"


    Before the mage could even collect the item, one of the adventurers identified the ck liquid spurting out of the corpse inrge quantities.


    "It is, but it seems to be mixed with something else.


    Tar''s usually a lot thicker than this."


    Another adventurer noted this as she bent to the ground and touched the ck liquid with her finger.


    It was then that the mage''s shocked voice rang out, drawing the attention of everyone around who turned to see him with a small green magic circle in front of his eye.


    "This is a stic explosive!"


    The mage''s eyes alternated between the tar spilling out of the corpse and the stic explosive in his hand, about to ask a question when Evan suddenly spoke out.


    "What if this entire corpse was stuffed with these stic explosives��let''s say, the corpse was made to explode using magic or a skill?"


    His question made chills run down the spines of all those present as they instantly figured out what he was hinting at.


    A corpse filled with tar and stic explosives, if such a thing was ignited or made to explode, the results would be unimaginable.


    "Wait��then that explosion in the sky��?"


    "Why do you think the corpse is missing an arm?"


    Evan''s reply to the random adventurer''s question finally gave the answer to the question of what exploded in the sky.


    Such a powerful explosion; and that was just the arm of the corpse!


    If the whole thing was to blow up��they didn''t want to imagine what would havee out of it.


    Not to talk of what would have happened to the town and anyone who was within the vicinity of the explosion, the death toll would have been outrageous.


    "Then��what if there were two corpses like this?"


    Evan decided to seal the deal by asking thatst question, with the adventurers who wanted to rush out earlier thanking their stars that the knights stopped them.


    "I nned to capture the guy at first, but the moment I noticed that he had such a skill, I had no choice but to kill him.


    His n was most likely to draw people''s attention towards the flesh golem and then blow them all up when they came close.


    The Brigade Captain over here can attest to the fact that he tried to detonate the explosives earlier, forcing me to cut off his arm and have it tossed into the sky."


    Of course, Evan could only tell that the magic power in his arm was building up, and Artemisia was the one who had told him to cut off the arm while telling Ka to toss it into the air.


    Hearing all this, the Duke who had been silent, gave a side nce to the unconscious Faerora who had been bound by magic sealing chains before speaking.


    "So that''s what happened, huh?"


    He then turned towards the broken town wall and gave the mages his orders to repair it using magic, moving on to the knights and adventurers who he brought with him and having them deal with the aftermath of this incident.


    The priests were dispatched to heal the wounded town guards who were knocked unconscious by Methik, while the bodies of the undead monsters along with the flesh golem were promptly disposed of by burning.


    Evan did give a side warning that there might be tar or explosives in the flesh golem''s body but after running checks, they only found some tar in the core area, exining the ck liquid Evan had noticed in the creature''s core.


    This tar, however, only helped the mes that turned the flesh golem''s corpse to ashes to burn brighter and faster.


    The Duke left overseeing the issue to the town lord and a few of his high-level knights, before taking Evan''s group along with the rest of the knights and adventurers back to Bultom Dungeon City.

 Chapter 334 Plans Moved Up

    Ruined City Saunau


    Unnamed County


    Cheverton Duchy


    April 20th


    Year 1052;


    "I see. Make preparations to have Faerora and Lensa handle this when they return."


    "Yes, Lord Vk."


    A man in a white mask replied to his lord with a light bow, before turning around to leave the room they were in.


    However, he hadn''t even taken a single step when the man suddenly clutched his chest and screamed out in pain.


    Both his ''Lord'' and the other people present in the room all revealed shocked expressions as they saw the man drop to his knees and cough out huge amounts of blood.


    "Wha-?!"


    "Sir Ifoumien!"


    "Methik?!"


    Both his colleagues and their subordinates eximed as some rushed towards him with one of them kneading his magic power and activating a spell.


    "ck Magic: Corrupted Recovery."


    A ck two-ringed magic circle manifested in front of their hand and under the copsed Methik''s feet, with the ck light washing over his whole body. Unfortunately, it did little to alleviate his pain or heal his wounds.


    "Just what on Aidos-?!"


    "All Senior Members stay back; the rest are dismissed."


    The voice of their ''Lord'' rang out, with most of the subordinates showing shocked expressions upon hearing it. However, they all instantly obeyed orders and vacated the room while casting worried nces at the masked man on the floor.


    "Lord Vk! This-"


    "I know."


    ''Lord Vk'' replied as he gazed at the wounded man on the floor with aplicated look in his eyes while calling out to someone internally.


    As he watched Methik''s skin from his arms turning paler and paler by the second, another humanoid figure emerged from the shadows beside him and spoke.


    "Don''t waste your energy on something so pointless.


    Your magic wouldn''t work.


    His soul is wounded, after all."


    The voice of the newly appearing figure had the ''Senior Members'' present turn towards him and greet him lightly with a bow.


    "Lord Zacr!"


    He dismissed their greetings and walked up to the copsed Methik, cing a hand on his back and muttering something as demonic runes shed across his palm.


    Almost instantly, Methik''s incessant coughing stopped and his skin stopped going pale. He spat out a bit of blood before forcing himself back to his feet with the help of his colleagues.


    "It''s only a temporary fix.


    You should take advantage of it and deal wi-Oh.


    Someone of your nature should be familiar with how to handle soul wounds, should you not?"


    "��Y-yes, I a-am.


    Thank you, Lord Zacr."


    The man only snorted in response to Methik''s thanks, with his body being wrapped in shadows and sinking into the ground in the next moment, vanishing just the same way he appeared.


    Methik didn''t care too much as he had expected this reaction, turning his gaze to the reason that Zacr had even bothered to help him before bowing lightly.


    "Thank you for your help, Lord Vk."


    "��


    Methik."


    "Yes, Lord Vk."


    "What happened?"


    "��"


    Lord Vk''s question left Methik silent for a moment. The gazes of all the other ''Senior Members'' present also turned towards the masked man as the light of curiosity shone within their eyes.


    As for the recipient of all these gazes, he only gritted his teeth silently before opening his mouth to give them a reply.


    "��. I��don''t know."


    "��What?


    ��


    You don''t know?"


    The face of Lord Vk contorted as he unconsciously echoed Methik''s words, with his opal-coloured eyes glowing slightly.


    Methik didn''t let him ask another question as the masked man already began the exnation of why he ''didn''t know'' what happened.


    "I had sent out one of my autonomous corpse puppets to assist Faerora in her mission, and It confirmed she had indeed seeded in the first phase, verifying the appearance of the flesh golem moving towards the designated town.


    I then ordered the puppet to go back to the base where Faerora was supposed to be, however, the puppet reported to me that the town had been destroyed by ''something'' when it got there.


    There were traces of battle and corpses of Faerora''s subordinates discovered, but no trace of Faerora and/or Lensa.


    I had just ordered the puppet to go after the flesh golem to see if there were anyplications to the n, and that was thest order I could give before you summoned us here.


    However, just now, the puppet was destroyedpletely annihted."


    Lord Vk gazed at Methik in silence after hearing his exnation, rubbing his temples with his fingers as he asked.


    "Your ''Autonomous Corpse puppets''; they have your soul fragments within them which is why they are able to make decisions on their own, in the same manner that you yourself would.


    I also know that in the event that the puppet is destroyed, you only feel a small bacsh and the soul fragment is returned to you, along with the memories of everything the puppet experienced until its destruction.


    However, what you''re trying to tell me, is that this time, even the soul fragment was annihted?"


    "��Yes."


    "So, you have zero ideas of who or what could have taken out the puppet?"


    "��Unfortunately. Even the puppet with my contractor''s soul fragment was also annihted."


    Methik''s words left Lord Vk silent for a few moments as he contemted multiple possible scenarios in his head.


    ''The trap for the Duke hasn''t beenpleted yet��and now we have a potential enemy who is capable ofpletely annihting Methik''s puppets.


    I should assume that this person is capable of doing so because they can harm souls using some sort of skill or special magic.


    This makes things very tricky now.


    If they realised what that ''Methik'' was, then it''s possible that they may be able to discover the other ''Methik'' that we barely seeded in nting, as well as the others we nned to ce in the future for the trap for the Duke of Cheverton.''


    He held a hand to his chin with a pensive look on his face, sinking deeper into his thoughts as the room remained silent for a few minutes.


    ''I can''t bring our ns forward too much. However, with this new variable, things have to change.


    And with Methik Injured, the n to trap the Duke cannot work anymore.


    Tsk��''


    Lord Vk clicked his tongue in displeasure before turning to the senior members in front of him and saying.


    "We''re cancelling the ns for the Duke."


    "w-wha?


    L-lord Vk?!"


    "Silence, Methik.


    In your conditions, you and your contractor are in no state to proceed with the n.


    There''s also the possibility that your other puppets may be discovered."


    Methik fell silent when he heard his lord''s words, as they rang true to him. Lord Vk on the other hand, didn''t pause and continued with his words.


    "We''re bringing our ns forward by two-no, by one week.


    Also, Contact Vazgan and tell him to get himself ready to move in on Bultom sooner than nned.


    As for you, Methik. Go rest and see how much you can recover before the big day."


    Lord Vk stood up and looked out the window behind him as he concluded.


    "Go and carry out my orders, now."


    The senior members all bowed and left the room immediately without objection, moving to carry out the orders of their lord.

 Chapter 335 Arriving In Bultom…Finally

    Bultom Dungeon City Outskirts


    Bultom County


    Cheverton Duchy


    April 20th


    Year 1052;


    "Just how many soldiers have been assembled?"


    "So far, they are already numbering over twelve thousand strong. And this is without the inclusion of the forces of the Churches and the adventurer''s guilds."


    Duke Charles Cheverton replied to Evan''s question as the both of them rode on horseback at the front of the procession back towards Bultom.


    Evan was looking at therge military camp that surrounded all of Bultom city, covering an area of dozens of kilometre squares, with the soldiers and knights who were moving around busily, momentarily stopping to salute the Duke before going back to their duties.


    As the only person who was riding next to the Duke while everyone else trailed behind, Evan received more than just a few curious gazes from those who saw him.


    Before they left the town that was attacked by the flesh golem, the boy and hispanions had freshened up and changed outfits so the current Evan was wearing something less casual than he normally did.


    His adventurer card hung from his neck, with the badge of the Eris Dukedom he possessed pinned to his shirt right beside it.


    Sheathed and hanging from his waist was his trusted sword, the Unforged Vanquisher.


    "Your main forces are not part of this, are they?"


    "They are not.


    Most of my men are stationed at the other smaller satellite towns. As with the some of the Churches'' forces.


    The military personnel under mymand are in separate locations too."


    "I see.


    So, the capital has already sent over ten thousand men, huh?"


    "With more on the way."


    "More? That''s good."


    Evan murmured to himself as he silently activated his intimidation skill at its lowest level while thinking about a few things that he needed to handle within the next few days.


    ''We need our forces to be closer to each other, we can never tell when that guy is gonna make his move after all.


    What''s more, Vazgan is most likely on the loose.


    The fact that the Duke hasn''t spoken about the results of the search in Bultom''s dungeons is only serving to confirm this.''


    The boy looked up at the thousands of soldiers around him, before noticing a group of tents with a familiar crest printed on them.


    "Those are some of the men that Roger sent over."


    Perhaps noticing the direction that he was gazing at; Duke Charles spoke while slowing down his horse.


    "Some? You mean that there are more?"


    Evan had already noticed close to a hundredrge tents having this same crest, being unable to hide his surprise as he was told that this wasn''t all of them.


    ''True, they are pretty much surrounding Bultom, and there are the other satellite towns too.''


    He was broken out of his thoughts when he felt a powerful presence closing in on their location rapidly.


    By the time he could turn in the direction of said presence, the person had already arrived in front of him and Duke Charles.


    "Congrattions on the expedition''s sess, Your Grace."


    The man who spoke was a middle-aged-looking man with a small scar on the side of his face. He wore a uniform that was a bit simr to that of the normal army soldiers but with a few differences in the gs printed on it as he had the Eris Dukedom''s g alongside the Great Western Empire''s g on it.


    After greeting the Duke, the man turned towards Evan and spoke with a light bow.


    "Greetings Young Lord Evan.


    Good to see you''re in good health."


    "Greetings to you too, Lieutenant Colonel."


    Evan responded to the man''s greeting before ncing around at all the other soldiers around them and asking.


    "How many did ''father'' send?"


    "A single battalion of 1500 troops."


    He then flicked his fingers and used magic to prevent any sounds within a two-metre radius around them from escaping before continuing.


    "Sir Thompson also arrived with a separaterger force; however, this was not made public knowledge and this separate force is mixed in with the soldiers under the Cheverton Duchy.


    I do not know their exact numbers but at the very least, there should be a few brigades."


    "That so?


    Where is Ralphie then?"


    "He should have arrived at the Bultom Lord''s estate when the Duke was out."


    Evan nodded after receiving his reply and dismissed the man. With a light bow, the Lieutenant Colonel deactivated his magic and said a few more words before taking his leave.


    After this short meeting, the procession into Bultom Dungeon city continued, with them arriving at the city''s main gates within a matter of minutes.


    The crowd of civilians and soldiers who were in front of the gates cleared up for them to pass easily, with them receiving cheers from the citizens as word of their sess in protecting another town from the undead had already spread.


    Once again, Evan got his own fair share of attention as he was the only person in the forefront riding beside the Duke.


    The slight aura of intimidation and the B rank adventurer guild card hanging from his neck gave people an idea of how strong he was, with a few others who were closer to the streets recognizing the crest of the Prime Minister''s family and that information spread rapidly, allowing more people to recognize Evan as the Duke''s son who had been in the rumourstely.


    The Knights and adventurers were dismissed, with Duke Charles sending for the adventurer''s guild master toe over to the Lord''s Estate to discuss a few things.


    Upon arriving at the City Lord''s castle, they were weed by the Count himself, who had his eyes widen in shock upon seeing Evan.


    ''I didn''t understand why Sir Thompson came over earlier, but now it makes sense.''


    The Count quickly ordered the head maid and head butler to make preparations for Evan and hispanions to stay, along with Evan''s odd request of having Faerora ced in a guest room and not a dungeon.


    Even the elf in question, couldn''t help but stare at Evan with a strange gaze, however, the young hero only gave her a light smile that didn''t reveal his thoughts.


    "Ralphie!!"


    The young hero acted like a fan meeting his idol as he ran towards the Ice Knight who walked out of the drawing room upon sensing their approaching presence.


    "It has been a while! Good to see you!!"


    He slung a hand over the blonde-haired man''s shoulder and patted his back multiple times, bursting intoughter as he saw the man''s eyebrows twitch. It was a sight that made the Count of Bultom feel a different kind of awe towards Evan.


    "Come to think of it, what level are you now?"


    Right after he heard those words, Ralphie sensed a skill''s activation turning to meet Evan''s slightly glowing eyes that widened ever so slightly.


    "Level 403 now, huh?


    As expected of our Empire''s Fourth Sword."


    Evan''s words had the two Deadly Sin Siblings frowning slightly as they alternated their gazes between Ralphie, Charles and the Duke''s Brigade Captain who they recently discovered held the military rank of Brigadier General.


    ''Too many Grandmaster-level existences around us.''


    Just as Pride was considering what would happen if any of them was to be hostile, she sensed another Grandmaster-level Presence enter the building, with Evan turning towards the Duke and asking.


    "The adventurer''s guild master?"


    "Yes."


    "Cool."


    ???


    Note;


    Concerning the levels of certain existences that would be mentioned throughout this arc.


    Whenever an A rank adventurer is mentioned; the level of the A rank adventurer is within the range of 300-320 unless stated otherwise.


    Whenever Grandmaster level undead are mentioned; the level of the undead in question is within the range of 300-310 unless stated otherwise.


    Whenever Grandmaster level Military officers (Colonels or higher), Mages, Knights and Pdins are mentioned; their levels are within the ranges of 300-310 unless stated otherwise


    Thanks for your understanding

 Chapter 336 Discussion With The Duke I

    "The adventurer''s guild master?"


    "Yes."


    "Cool."


    After receiving his confirmation, he turned his attention back to Ralphie''s status to see if thetter had any new skills.


    |Name- Ralphie Thompson


    Race-Human


    Gender - Male


    Age - 36


    Level- 403


    Existence Level - Grandmaster (Intermediate)


    Titles- Fourth Sword of the Empire, Eris Dukedom''s Knight Captain, One of the Ten Great Swordsmen.


    ss- Ice Knight


    Health �C A+


    Energy �C A+


    Strength �C S-


    Agility �C A+


    Durability �CA+


    Intelligence �C A


    Condition- Normal.


    Magic Tiers- Ice Tier 4, Fire Tier 2.


    Skills- Iron Wall, Ice Magic (High), Strong Arm, Ice-Fire, Cryo Explosion.


    Unique Skills- Aura Storm. |


    "Oh, you''ve gotten the Cryo Explosion skill already. Nice.


    That''d be useful for dealing area of effect damage."


    He spoke to himself before turning his gaze towards the Duke with his appraisal skill still active. Immediately, Charles''s status was disyed in front of him.


    |Name- Charles Cheverton


    Race- Human


    Gender - Male


    Age - 44


    Level- 427


    Existence Level - Grandmaster (Intermediate)


    Titles- Duke of the North, Third Sword of the Empire, One of the Ten Great Swordsmen, Duke of Cheverton Duchy.


    ss - HydroElectro Spellsword


    Health �C S-


    Energy - S-


    Strength �C S


    Agility �C S-


    Durability �C S-


    Intelligence - S-


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers- Water Tier 3, Lightning Tier 3.


    Skills- Pressure, Raincutter, Survival Technique, Brilliant Lightning Rush, Whirling Steps.


    Unique Skills- Zero Sword. |


    ''Seeing him, you wouldn''t think this guy can pass for a skilled water magician at all.


    Even so, it seems not even my concealment can mask my skill''s activation from a Grandmaster, huh?''


    While Evan was thinking that, Ralphie had gone over to Eliza and greeted her before making an apology she had never expected.


    "You have had to deal with the Young Duke''s antics for the past few months.


    I offer both Apologies and Gratitude on behalf of the Duke."


    "Ohh��.no need to apologise.


    I''m used to it so it doesn''t really bother me all that much anymore."


    Unlike thest time they had met, the battle priestess was much calmer while talking to Ralphie.


    After a short discussion with the girl, Ralphie turned his gaze towards Pride in silence, earning a questioning nce from the high demon.


    ''If what the Princess said was true, then the reason why the Young Duke got us to go to that Dungeon was because of this woman, and he was in Osto because of her brother.''


    Ralphie shook his head and turned back to Evan who just finished talking with the adventurer''s guild master and Duke Charles.


    Afterwards, with the exception of the Brigade Captain, the group made their way into the drawing room where they were served refreshments by the servants who quickly retreated and closed the doors behind them.


    �� �� ��


    The moment he saw the doors close, Evan took a sip of the cold juice ced in front of him and nodded to himself before speaking.


    "Oh my, this is quite nice."


    He then ced the ss down and turned his gaze towards Duke Charles and spoke.


    "Now then, let''s have a proper conversation."


    "I had Laurene deliver a message to you that concerned this city''s undead dungeons a few weeks ago, or rather, you probably heard when I said it to her.


    Anyway, what happened on that front?"


    Hearing this, both the Guild master and the Count''s eyes widened slightly as they never expected that Evan was the reason why the Duke suddenly ordered the dungeon raidst month.


    As for the Duke in question, he heaved a light sigh and shook his head before replying.


    "Well��the dungeons were raided and undead were discovered. That''s for sure."


    Evan narrowed his eyes upon hearing the Duke''s reply. Something about it didn''t sound right to him.


    "What''s the catch?"


    This time, however, it was the Adventurers guild master, a dark-haired and eyed half-beastkin woman named Dasyra who answered him.


    "The strongest undead we discovered in the dungeon was barely level 100."


    "Huh?


    That doesn''t make any sense, Bultom''s dungeons amodate monsters over level 250 within them."


    "Exactly, that''s why it was weird that the strongest undead we discovered were only level 100."


    Evan clicked his tongue upon hearing the guild master''s reply. To someone like him who was aware of all the major entities involved in the ''Duhan Attack'' that happened in the game, he could already guess who was responsible.


    "So, all the undead were somehow moved out of the dungeons?"


    Greed spoke up as he dropped the cup in his hands, earning nods of confirmation from both the Count and Dasyra, who wanted to say something else but Evan spoke up first.


    "Zacr was here."


    "Zac-who?"


    "Zacr, the Eighth Finger''s contractor."


    Evan leaned back on the chair as he continued his words.


    "The Eighth Finger himself is good at controlling undead, however, storing said undead isn''t exactly his forte.


    This is where his contractores in, that guy has an expansive space that''s just like my inventory skill, onerge enough to store undead numbering from hundreds of thousands to millions."


    "Millions?!"


    Dasyra let out an exmation of surprise upon hearing this while the Duke frowned slightly. Pride and Eliza weren''t too surprised as Evan had already informed them about this before but the ability to easily move such arge number of troops was still astonishing nheless.


    "You didn''t find anything above level 100 in all the dungeons with undead monsters?"


    "Not a single one.


    We haven''t been able to find anything about how they disappeared, and the recent undead attacks on multiple towns and cities haven''t given us time to properly investigate the issue as most of our manpower is upied trying to prevent another simultaneous attack."


    "Hmm?"


    Hearing the talk about a simultaneous attack caught Evan''s attention as he leaned forward and asked for more information. This time, the reply he received came from the Duke.


    "Three weeks ago, more than ten towns and cities were simultaneously hit by waves of undead monsters, ranging from regr low-level zombies, Draugrs and ghouls, to grandmaster-level death knights, Duhans and Liches.


    The results of the attacks were��not exactly the best."


    The Duke''s words caused Evan''s eyes to widen in shock, with the boy nearly dropping the ss that was in his hands.


    Something simr had happened in the game; yers called it the event that marked the beginning of the ''True Duhan Attack''.


    He had included information about it in his letter to Laurene and had told her to warn the Duke about it, however, from the Duke''s tone, Evan realised defending didn''t go so well.


    ''More importantly, Death Knights and Liches?! Enough to attack ten cities?


    The fact that they showed up personally meant that the Eighth Finger moved in person!''


    There was a reason why this Disaster was called the ''Duhan attack'' and not the ''Undead Attack''.


    It was because most of the types of undead used by the Eighth Finger throughout the attack were Duhans.


    And also, because the main Boss of the Disaster, was the ''Duhan King'' Vazgan.


    There were a few Death Knights here and there, along with some liches to aid in magic support but most of these other kinds of undead were part of the Eighth Finger''s personal stash, so the fact that they had appeared and numbered enough to enable simultaneously assault ten towns and cities, meant that the Eighth Finger was moving in person.


    ''The damn bastard is most likely in Cheverton already!''


    ???


    Note;


    Concerning the levels of certain existences that would be mentioned throughout this arc.


    Whenever an A rank adventurer is mentioned; the level of the A rank adventurer is within the range of 300-320 unless stated otherwise.


    Whenever Grandmaster level undead are mentioned; the level of the undead in question is within the range of 300-310 unless stated otherwise.


    Whenever Grandmaster level Military officers (Colonels or higher), Mages, Knights and Pdins are mentioned; their levels are within the ranges of 300-310 unless stated otherwise


    Thanks for your understanding

 Chapter 337 Discussion With The Duke II

    ''The damn bastard is most likely in Cheverton already!''


    Evan came to this conclusion instantly.


    The Eighth Finger and his contracted demon mostly acted separately, which was why Evan had not initially linked Zacr''s actions in Bultom''s Dungeons to the Eighth Finger''s presence.


    ''But Zacr hates Liches so he doesn''t use them. In the game, it was only because of the Eighth Finger that he even bothered to take out the few liches in Bultom''s Dungeons.


    Any liches are very likely to be the Eighth Finger''s undead.''


    Evan looked towards the Count and asked for a map of the Duchy, cing it on the table and asking the Duke to point out the cities that were attacked.


    "Besides these four, all the others you had informed the princess about were victims of the attack. Along with these two other military cities(bases).


    It seems that they aimed to cripple the western part of the Duchy with this attack as all the cities and towns attacked were major trade hubs and the centre points of the Duchy''s urban reigons."


    "That''s two more military cities than I knew about��


    Can you give me more details about the attacks?"


    "More details?


    Well, for starters, it made a lot of people instantly realise something fishy was going on behind the scenes.


    The attacks were well nned; as if they had a good grasp of the level of strength possessed by the defending forces that I had assigned to each of the towns and cities that were attacked.


    For each city possessing A-rank adventurers, High-level Knights and their army equivalents, they were hit by multiple Grandmaster Level Duhans, Liches and Death Knights. All of which were just a bit over level 300.


    For those with B rank adventurer level defenders and lower, they had High-level Master-level undead, mostly Ghouls and Duhans to deal with.


    What''s more is that since the Military Cities were also hit at the same time, it was difficult for reinforcements to be sent towards the other cities under attack.


    In the end, six of the ten that were attacked were defended, but with casualties, and four fell to the undead''s assault with a recorded death toll in the tens of thousands.


    There were also reports that we received from some of the survivors in this city named Saunau.


    They said that the ground where they stepped foot on turned ck and anyone who died there came back as an undead instantly."


    ''That''s definitely the Eighth Finger''s skill. No doubt, he''s in Cheverton.''


    While Evan was thinking that, Dasyra pointed at one of the cities on the map and spoke right after the Duke was done.


    "I was in this particr city at the time, and one of the Duhans said something strange.


    When it noticed me, it recognized who I was and spoke these exact words:


    ''Bultom''s Guild master isn''t supposed to be here.''


    As if the Duhan was aware of where I was supposed to be beforehand."


    "Your movements were leaked.


    Where were you originally meant to be?"


    To Evan''s question, Dasyra pointed at another part of the map, a County that Evan definitely recognized and one that made his brow twitch in annoyance.


    "I was here to discuss something with this city''s guild master, and since he was cooperative with me, I was able to leave two days before I originally nned to do so and head over to the next city, where I was at the time of the attack."


    Even after she had finished speaking, Evan was still staring right at the map with a frown on his face. He then clenched his fist and punched it into his open palm, with the force releasing shockwaves that would have blown over the table if it wasn''t for Kuro''s shadows.


    "Evan?!"


    Eliza called out to him with a worried voice as she noticed a rare emotion of anger within his eyes, however, the boy ignored her and looked up to the Duke and asked.


    "If I was to tell you that some of your vassals have betrayed you, how likely are you to believe me?"


    Hearing this question, Duke Cheverton narrowed his dark-coloured eyes at Evan in silence before replying.


    "I have already figured out that much from how coordinated the undead attacks were. Someone had to be giving them information as details on the military''s movements aren''t exactly public information.


    As for how much I''d believe you, it depends on the names you call."


    "I see."


    The boy nodded before turning to Dasyra and asking.


    "When you got there, you greeted the Lord of the County, right? And told him how long you originally nned to stay."


    "Sure, I did. I was there on official business, after all.


    I was under the obligation to inform him of my presence."


    "Did you tell him before you left?"


    "Hmm? Come to think of it, I don''t think I di-!!


    Are you saying he''s the one who leaked my movements?!"


    Dasyra instantly understood what Evan was hinting at, with the Duke''s lips twisting into a slight frown as he looked at the city Dasyra had pointed at.


    The Count''s expression was no different, and even Ralphie who had opted to remain silent all the while couldn''t help but speak up.


    "Young Duke, you know who that person is, do you not?"


    "I know, Ralphie.


    That''s precisely why it''s an issue."


    Evan replied as he leaned back on the chair at the same time that Pride asked who this noble in question was.


    "Well��for starters, he''s the First Cousin Once removed of the Crown Prince''s fianc��e."


    "Oh��I can see why that''d be a problem."


    The high demon nodded to herself as she spoke, with the room descending into an awkward silence right afterwards.


    ''Tsk��this is getting more troublesome by the moment.''


    *BAM!


    Evan abruptly mmed his hands on the table, breaking the silence in the room as he spoke.


    "No matter how it''s handled, if it bes public that a future rtive of the royal family colluded with a Necromancer tounch attacks on one of the Empire''s Duchies, then it''s gonna be bad for the royal family.


    A lot of jealous nobles and ones from opposing factions would try to push for Lady Antebellum''s immediate family to suffer punishments too and she''d most likely lose her Crown Princess position.


    This would be a different kind of problem since the Crown Prince is in love with her and is definitely gonna put up resistance, which would then lead to a rift between the nobles and the Crown Prince.


    Shit would start getting bad when Marquis Antebellum and his vassals start taking action against the other nobles who want to stop his rise to even more power than he currently has.


    It''d be even worse if the Crown Prince''s supporters start agreeing with those who are against him.


    All I see are bad ends everywhere.


    Although I don''t personally like the guy, I''m on good terms with Myra Antebellum and most importantly, he''s Laurene''s brother, so I really don''t want things to go bad."


    Eliza, Pride and Ralphie simultaneously facepalmed upon hearing thest part of Evan''s statement, thinking about how he was the only Prime Minister''s son who would tantly express his discontent with the Crown Prince in front of a Duke, a Count and a Marquis'' Son.


    "We''re going to have to deal with the matter discreetly."


    "Is it even possible to make a titled noble of his rank ''disappear'' discreetly?"


    "With the right preparations��yes."


    ???


    Note;


    Concerning the levels of certain existences that would be mentioned throughout this arc.


    Whenever an A rank adventurer is mentioned; the level of the A rank adventurer is within the range of 300-320 unless stated otherwise.


    Whenever Grandmaster level undead are mentioned; the level of the undead in question is within the range of 300-310 unless stated otherwise.


    Whenever Grandmaster level Military officers (Colonels or higher), Mages, Knights and Pdins are mentioned; their levels are within the ranges of 300-310 unless stated otherwise


    Thanks for your understanding

 Chapter 338 Discussion With The Duke III

    "Is it even possible to make a titled noble of his rank ''disappear'' discreetly?"


    "With the right preparations��yes."


    Evan just nkly stared at the Duke who casually answered him while sipping tea from a cup.


    "This is the part where you''re supposed to say ''No'', isn''t it?"


    Duke Cheverton only shrugged his shoulder lightly in response while Ralphie voiced out something important.


    "Even if we are dealing with it discreetly, we''re still going to need evidence to present to the royal family."


    "I agree, we''re going to have to give Emperor Rudeus an exnation."


    "True that.


    Even if we don''t do so, there''s no way that Emperor would not notice something is wrong and try to investigate it. And when he does, he would definitely discover something.


    After all, he''s someone who almost discovered the Demonic Hand''s existence on his own with very little prior information."


    Evan concurred with Ralphie''s words as he ced a hand on his chin and sunk into his thoughts, while the Count, Dasyra and Eliza all stared at the three high nobles while simultaneously thinking the same thing.


    ''Why are the three of you talking like it''s a given that you''re going to make the man ''disappear''?!''


    Of course, the three could predict what they were thinking and chose not to make anyments in regard to that.


    "Dealing with all this shit makes me feel like I''m gonna go bald from stress."


    "Young Duke, you''re just thirteen."


    "Doesn''t mean that it''s not possible to go bald, you know? Not that I wanna lose my hair, I''m just saying that although it''s umon, it''s not impossible."


    The young hero replied to Ralphie''s words with a sigh before turning towards Duke Cheverton and saying.


    "Okay Duke, let''s get a few things straight.


    Most of my informationes from capturing Senior Members of the Demonic Hand and also the fact that I basically ��Nlq:)"V U/6$3G#n ;70+pEO|?PX&O6+0."


    "What the fuck?"


    Dasyra couldn''t help but let out an exmation of confusion when she heard the strange static that apanied Evan''s words.


    "It''s nothing serious, just that I said something I wasn''t supposed to say."


    After giving that short sorry excuse for an exnation, Evan turned back to the Duke and continued.


    "As I was saying, despite how much I know, even I am not aware of exactly which members of the Demonic Hand contact which traitorous noble.


    Well��not all of them.


    And unfortunately, Marquis Antebellum''s cousin happens to be one of the ones who I have no idea about the member of the Demonic Hand that he corresponds with.


    If we want to find that out, then it means capturing basically every senior member of the demonic hand under the Eighth Finger and getting them to talk until we eventually find the one who is in contact with him and that''s not exactly a feasible n considering the number of demonic hand Senior members."


    "Why don''t we ask the elf we captured?"


    "Faerora isn''t exactly part of the ''Human Rtions'' department."


    "Then why did you tell me to capture her then?"


    Evan flipped the map in front of him before turning to Greed and replying to his question.


    "So that we can find out where the Eighth Finger is hiding undead andunch simultaneous attacks on them just like he did to us.


    He didn''t keep everything inside Zacr''s expansive space, after all. He definitely has some on standby in some other locations to make that kind of simultaneous assault easier."


    "Ohh��"


    It was at this point that the Guild master, Dasyra couldn''t take it anymore and voiced out her confusion.


    "Half of what you''re saying honestly doesn''t make sense to me.


    From what I can garner, you somehow knew about this undead incident before it began and informed the Duke about it, and you seem to know the people involved.


    The Dem-what again?"


    "Demonic Hand."


    "Yes, that.


    Then who''s this other person you keep mentioning, ''Eighth Finger'', you called him?"


    Evan ced a hand on his chin and sunk into his thoughts for a moment before his eyes shed with the light remembrance.


    "Aha!"


    Lightly mming his fist on his palm, he turned towards Dasyra and asked.


    "You know about Graugro right? Twenty-five years ago?"


    "Yes, I do."


    "Good��. that was him; The Eighth Finger.


    The same person who was behind all that is the one who is trying to mess shit up in Cheverton now.


    You may not believe it since you think he''d have been killed by the ''Beast King'' but he wasn''t. The fact that the undead are currently attacking Cheverton is proof of this fact."


    Evan''s words brought a different kind of surprise to the faces of both Dasyra and the Count, but the young hero didn''t let that sink in and casually dropped another bomb.


    He ced his finger on the map and pointed at a County that shared borders with Bultom to the west and spoke.


    "Oh yeah.


    This guy; Count Falos, is also a traitor and I know who he corresponds with. I''m going to need your help in assembling adventurers to go with the knights and deal with him, Miss Dasyra.


    I already have a simple n to deal with him."


    He was about to move on to the next topic as if he didn''t just tell a Duke that another one of his vassals was a traitor but Duke Charles quickly cut him off and squeezed out every other bit of important information from the young hero.


    It was only when they could see the sun setting outside that they were able to finish their discussions.


    Since there were a lot more people who were supposed to be present before any full-scale nning could be made, they had to postpone their talk for when these people arrived.


    On the list of said people, were the Pdins from the churches, the Mages from Kasteblum and the Second Sword who was arriving with more soldiers from the capital.


    �� �� ��


    ''Even though the Duke made it seem like shit had hit the metaphorical fan, things were actually a lot better than expected.


    Well��besides the death toll of tens of thousands, after all, that''s what the Demonic Hand wants.''


    The young hero thought to himself as he sat on the copsible chair on the balcony of the Bultom City Lord''s Mansion while twirling around a ss of strawberry wine in his hand.


    ''The Eighth Finger pulled anotherrge-scale assault, but even though the Duke didn''t know about said assault beforehand, he was able topletely reverse the situation using only the troops in his territory.


    Hemanded the adventurers, Knights and regr army soldiers all from the Duchy''s capital city and was able to make it so all the simultaneous attacks were defended againstpletely.


    In the end, he even made a huge move that the Eighth Finger would have never expected, taking action in person and racing through multiple cities on his own to wipe out Grandmaster-level undead.


    It was pretty much a hit and run!''


    With the speed and stamina of an intermediate grandmaster level existence like the Duke, crossing kilometres in a matter of seconds wasn''t so difficult for him to achieve.


    And he used that to his advantage, seeding in personally wiping out five level 300 death Knights and three simrly levelled liches and a fleet of lower levelled undead wyverns.


    ''And he did that all in one day.


    Should I say as expected of the ''Third Sword'' of the Empire?''


    ???


    Note;


    Concerning the levels of certain existences that would be mentioned throughout this arc.


    Whenever an A rank adventurer is mentioned; the level of the A rank adventurer is within the range of 300-320 unless stated otherwise.


    Whenever Grandmaster level undead are mentioned; the level of the undead in question is within the range of 300-310 unless stated otherwise.


    Whenever Grandmaster level Military officers (Colonels or higher), Mages, Knights and Pdins are mentioned; their levels are within the ranges of 300-310 unless stated otherwise


    Thanks for your understanding

 Chapter 339 Title Undecided

    ''Should I say as expected of the ''Third Sword'' of the Empire?''


    Evan shook his head with a wry smile as he remembered the status update the Duke gave him.


    ''Apparently, no attacks on anythingrge enough to be a ''City'' had seeded after that first one, with only smaller towns on the outskirts of counties falling prey to the undead hordes.


    But even that is being reduced as the Church of Artemisia''s Pdins have been wiping them out in the process of making their way over here.


    Way to go Artemisia!''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' puffs her chest in pride with a smug look on her face.]


    "Pfft!"


    The indirect message that appeared in front of him made Evan burst intoughter, barely managing to stop himself from spilling his wine as he imagined the figure of the goddess taking the actions the indirect message said she was.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' res at a certain hero with displeasure.]


    "...fine, I''d stopughing, okay?"


    Evan refilled his ss with one hand as he spoke while the other went into his inventory and pulled out a map of the Cheverton Duchy which he ced on the table in front of him.


    "Okay��so using Bultom as a centre point; we arrived in Cheverton from the east side, went all the way north, then went back down south to Yelcyne, before finally moving northbound towards Bultom.


    From what the Duke told me, the simultaneous assault hit the counties west of Bultom, with the two cities that fell being in the Northwest.


    Pad and Saunau are the two cities that fell and so far, they haven''t been retaken.


    Apparently, the scouts he sent reported that Pad had way too many grandmaster-level undead with tens of thousands of lesser undead.


    As the only yer of Aidos Online in this world, I know that the reason why that is the case is because that''s where Duhan King Vazgan settled after he had been taken out of the Dungeon by Zacr.


    As for Saunau, I bet that''s where the Eighth Finger probably is, or at least, that''s where there''s the highest number of Senior Demonic Hand Members.


    The level 300 kind."


    The boy rubbed his hairless chin with a pensive look on his face as he looked at the maps once more while repeatedly tapping the north-western part of Bultom.


    "These here, are the ''Front Lines'' of this attack.


    And Vazgan is definitely going to use this route through the Savannas in between the Bultom County and thisst traitor''s county up north."


    Evan remembered the first set of evacuations that the group carried out after they sessfully defended a small town from an undead horde, joining in with another evacuating town and spending the next three days travelling to a city that was quite the distance from the capital city where the traitorous Viscount was.


    "So, the Eighth Finger hit the west with a sizable sess, then tried his luck on the east while we were up north and failed, then resorted to dealing with smaller outskirt towns and viges to chip at the Duke''s forces.


    I know some of the spots where he hid the undead from the game but it''s impossible for me to recall all of them, plus it''s possible that he may have hidden them somewhere else so I''m gonna have to get the correct locations from Faerora tomorrow.


    The problem is the magic binding contract on her that prevents her from talking."


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says she can help with that.]


    "You sure? Thest time you did something rted to a contract, you went offline for a while.


    Come to think of it, did you break a restriction or something?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that she went ''offline'' for another reason and not because she ''idently flicked a bolt of magic power into Aidos that coincidentally modified the contract of a sealed High demon from another high-level world''.]


    "Don''t you think that''s a bit too much of a coincidence?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says it was just a normal ''coincidence''.


    She also states that she might just happen to descend into her vessel that''s making her way over to a certain Dungeon City called Bultom and ascend back to her ''space'' after leaving a one-time use artifact that''s good at breaking magic binding contracts.]


    "So basically, Amelie is the one bringing the tool I need?"


    [Basically.]


    Evan nodded to himself before turning his gaze towards his feet as a familiar ck Van cat climbed out of his shadow, and dashed into the room to pick up a carton of milk. The cat then ran back to the balcony, before jumping onto the other copsible chair beside Evan and opening the milk to drink.


    [��?]


    "��You just went on and made yourselffortable so casually."


    The boy ruffled the cat''s hair while speaking with a chuckle, with the door opening right after as another cat made her way into the room.


    [Master��sleepy��]


    Ka casually climbed up to the couch and returned to her human form, dozing off less than a minuteter as Evan sighed and shook his head while covering her with a nket.


    "Come to think of it. Kuro, you''re supposed to be Ka''s guardian, right?"


    [Yes.]


    "Then why are you a shadow spirit if you''re the guardian of the great lightning spirit?"


    [Spirit Guardians do not necessarily need to be of the same element as the spirit they are guarding.]


    "For real? So, Undine can have like a fire spirit as her guardian?"


    [Basically.


    However, I believe that there are other factors in y that I do not know of.


    In Lady Ka''s case, I guess our personalities were taken into ount. After all, with Lady Ka''s bright, energetic and slightly hedonistic personality, someone calmer and more on the reserved side would be needed to rein her in.]


    "Reining her in, huh?"


    Evan repeated the spirit''s words as he walked back to his seat and sat down, before asking another question.


    "Do you receive any buffs for it?"


    [My strength is increased when fighting alongside the Lady, and my restraining and movement-type abilities work more efficiently on her.]


    "Wait��what?"


    [Which part surprises you, the strength increase or the efficiency increase?]


    "Obviously thetter!"


    Kuro scratched his chin with his paws while twirling his tail in the air as he further exined.


    [In the event that Lady Ka is in danger and I need to take her out of the danger zone, but she refuses to leave, an increased efficiency of my restraining and movement-type skills would allow me to easily hold her down and forcefully teleport her out of the area, even if she actively resists the teleportation.


    She may not know it but it is almost impossible for her to resist me teleporting her away.]


    "Isn''t that kind of bad for her?"


    [If you are considering the possibility that I may betray her and teleport her to a ce where she would be in danger then that is not possible.


    As far as I possess that ''Spirit Guardian'' title I cannot do so.


    And if I lose said title, my ability efficiency on her goes along with it.]


    "Spirit Guardian, huh?"


    Evan echoed the spirit''s title to himself before turning to the side and appraising the milk-drinking cat.


    |Name- Kuro


    Race- Spirit


    Gender-Male


    Level- 230


    Existence Level - Master (Intermediate)


    Titles- Middle-Rank Spirit, Great Spirit''s Guardian


    ss - Shadow Controller


    Health �C B-


    Energy - B-


    Strength �C B-


    Agility �C B


    Durability �C B-


    Intelligence - C+


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers- Shadow Tier 2, Light-Shadow Tier 2


    Skills- Shadow Movement, Shadow w, Shadow Maniption, Shadow Magic. (Extreme)


    Unique Skills- Brightest Shadow. |

 Chapter 340 Title Undecided II

    |Name- Kuro


    Race- Spirit


    Gender-Male


    Level- 230


    Existence Level - Master (Intermediate)


    Titles- Middle-Rank Spirit, Great Spirit''s Guardian


    ss - Shadow Controller


    Health �C B-


    Energy - B-


    Strength �C B-


    Agility �C B


    Durability �C B-


    Intelligence - C+


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers- Shadow Tier 2, Light-Shadow Tier 2


    Skills- Shadow Movement, Shadow w, Shadow Maniption, Shadow Magic. (Extreme)


    Unique Skills- Brightest Shadow. |


    "Isn''t your intelligence stat kinda low?"


    [Perhaps it ispensation for my higher agility stat.]


    "When you put it that way, it kind of makes a bit of sense, I guess?"


    Evan shrugged his shoulders before turning his gaze towards the sky and calling out.


    ''Artemisia, you there?''


    |The goddess ''Artemisia'' is currently unavable. Please try againter. |


    "What is this, a cell phone service?"


    [Huh?]


    "Never mind."


    Just as the boy let out a light yawn and was considering going to bed, the room door opened and in walked the familiar blonde-haired girl who Evan had recently entered a rtionship with.


    "Great, you''re still awake."


    "And you''re still dressed like you''re tempting me."


    Eliza stopped in her tracks, raising the pillow she was holding in her hands and looking down at her appearance before turning back to Evan and replying.


    "It''s just a sleeveless shirt and casual shorts, I''m even wearing a jacket on top.


    What''s tempting about that?"


    "Huh? That''s it?


    Not gonna lie, I just said that without even looking in your direction."


    The girl''s brow twitched in annoyance when she heard his words, stomping over to where he was angrily and smacking the back of his head with her pillow.


    "Ow. That-"


    "-didn''t hurt."


    The girlpleted the sentence before saying hello to Kuro, who responded to her greeting before finishing the carton of milk in his hands and jumping into the shadow of the chair he was seating on.


    "Where did he go?"


    "I''m as lost as you are."


    Evan replied to Eliza as he stood up and abruptly picked her up princess carry style, closing the door behind him as he walked to the bed andid her on it.


    "Wai-!"


    She didn''t even get to finish her words as Evan abruptly nted a kiss on her lips, one that transitioned from a light peck on the lips to some tongue action really quickly.


    When their lips finally parted to catch their breath, Evan stared at the breathless girl beneath him, running his hand through her locks of golden blonde hair that spread across the sheets like a flowing river of gold.


    The sight of her flushed face that was slowly turning redder aroused his desire to tease her but he felt that he might go from there and into something else if he did so he held himself back and just pecked her lips before plopping down on his side right next to her on the bed.


    He then turned her body over to the side and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him, resting his torso against her back and entangling his legs with hers.


    After a short moment of silence, Eliza finally spoke up.


    "��I''m amazed you managed to restrain yourself��"


    "Eliza Lane, do you perhaps have no intentions of sleeping tonight?"


    "��I would be keeping my mouth shut now."


    Eliza made a quick retreat almost instantly, prompting Evan to chuckle lightly as he tightened his hold on her.


    ''Evan a Master level existence Is bound to get too tired for any ''strenuous'' activity after multiple consecutive battles, huh?''


    "Come to think of it, we haven''t gone on any proper dates in a while."


    "We have been busy with undead-rted activities during the past three weeks, so it makes sense we haven''t had the time."


    Eliza replied to Evan''s words with a yawn, with the young hero making a suggestion that she totally sawing right after.


    "Should we go on one?


    Bultom is operating at more than 100% due to the sheer number of soldiers and adventurers trooping in recently so it''s not a bad idea."


    "It might not be but it defiantly isn''t the best time for this.


    Don''t try to ruin what you''ve spent the past few weeks trying to build in one day. There is definitely gonna be a select few ''people'' with bullshit to say if they see us going on dates during this crisis."


    Hearing her words, Evan clicked his tongue before giving a simple short reply.


    "And I should care, why?"


    "I''m not saying you should. I''m just saying that dealing with the bullshit is gonna be a lot of stress that we can easily avoid."


    "Fine.


    But after this, we''re definitely gonna go on one."


    "Definitely.


    Even if you didn''t bring it up, I was going to say it anyway."


    Eliza''s words made Evan''s eyes widen slightly, with a small teasing grin appearing on his face as he spoke.


    "I''m so looking forward to when you ask me out on a date."


    The girl''s cheeks reddened slightly, with her coughing awkwardly and abruptly changing the topic.


    "Don''t go do anything stupid that''d leave you knocked out for weeks like when you fought Xakon, okay?"


    "��I would like to promise you that I wouldn''t, but I can see myself easily breaking said promise.


    I feel that the undead would not be weaker than nned as I had expected.


    Like the flesh golem of today that was 50 levels higher. I also have a feeling that Vazgan wouldn''t be weaker either.


    Gonna have to give the Duke a heads up."


    "And how are you going to exin that to him? Why you know the monster''s level, I mean."


    Hearing Eliza''s question, Evan rose a brow in surprise before speaking up in reply.


    "Yeah��there''s that.


    Because it''s you and Pride, I''d been talking about it so freely but I guess I''m gonna have to give an exnation if I know their exact levels, huh?


    Well, I''d just give them a level range or say ''stronger than they originally nned''.


    Or I can just say I got the information from a demonic hand member I captured."


    Eliza stretched her arms out with a slight yawn while listening to his words, giving a reply immediately after.


    "However, we both know that you didn''t get that info from the Demonic Hand."


    "Definitely not."


    "Was it the goddess?"


    "It was and wasn''t at the same time."


    "The heck?"


    Evan chuckled lightly upon hearing her voice of confusion, before flipping her body around and making her face him before staring at her in silence.


    "��?"


    Seeing the girl tilt her head to the side with a mixture of confusion and curiosity in her eyes, Evan took a deep breath before speaking onepound word


    "Earth-V".


    "Hmm? What''s that?"


    "��as I thought, I can actually tell you."


    Seeing as Evan was about to sink into his thoughts, Eliza grabbed his cheeks with her hands and asked.


    "What''s that? Some sort of Earth Magic or something?"


    "Earth Magic? Well��it makes sense that that''s your first thought.


    But ''Earth-V'', is not the name of an Earth Magic spell."


    "Then what is it?"


    Evan had a pensive look on his face for a moment, before grinning mischievously and replying.


    "I doubt there''d be an issue if I just told you everything right now, but that''s no fun.


    How about I put you in a little bit of suspense for a while."


    Eliza''s brow twitched repeatedly as she screamed out a reply.


    "Then why did you tell me about it in the first ce?! You made me curious for no reason!"


    "That was the point of telling you."

 Chapter 341 Working On Special ‘Magic’

    "Then why did you tell me about it in the first ce?! You made me curious for no reason!"


    "That was the point of telling you."


    Seeing Evan''s teasing smile as he replied made Eliza''s lips twist into a pout. She flicked his forehead and turned around ''angrily'', somehow not forgetting to wrap his arms around her waist as if trying to tighten his grip on her body.


    "I''m going to sleep."


    "Just like that? No goodnight kisses?"


    Once again, Eliza felt her brow twitch as she turned around to give Evan a peck on the lips, however, she should have obviously expected the boy to take things a bit further than just a normal kiss.


    She just gave up and epted the French kiss at first, but the moment she felt Evan''s arm going downwards, she grabbed it and pulled it off her body with her strength.


    "OW! OW!! OW!!!"


    Ignoring the boy''s fake exmations of pain, she turned around once more and wrapped his arms around her waist before repeating her earlier words.


    "Go to sleep."


    "Yes, Ma''am."


    �� �� ��


    City Lord''s Mansion


    Bultom Dungeon City


    Cheverton Duchy


    April 21st


    Year 1052


    The high-ranking knights and military officials, along with a few A-rank adventures were greeted with a strange sight on this fine morning.


    On the floor of the training grounds of the Lord of Bultom''s castle, sat the son of the Great Western Empire''s Prime Minister, with two of the Grandmaster level mages working under the Duke of Cheverton seated/squatting beside him.


    In front of this trio, was a strange magic circle drawn with magic chalk on arge cardboard ced on the ground. Unlike the regr magic circles that had three parts, this one had only two.


    Normal magic circles had three parts; with the rings denoting the flow of magic and the level of the magic, the mark in the centre of the circle denoting the element being invoked and the magic letters written at the bottom of the mark, describing the type of magic that was being invoked.


    However, the circle on the floor in the middle of these three was definitely not ordinary, otherwise, these two grandmaster-level mages would not have spent the past few hours on it.


    "Young Duke, this is a bit of a problem.


    The spell is alreadyplicated as it is, trying to form a pseudo version of the spell is one thing, but then trying to create an imitation of this pseudo version frankly sounds like a lot of work."


    "I agree. Besides, the sheer amount of energy required for this process is outrageous, even for us."


    "Well��I should have expected that.


    This spell isn''t your regr tactical-type magic spell, after all."


    Evan sighed in exhaustion as he spoke while twirling the magical chalk in his hands. If a certain goddess knew just what he was trying to do right now, there was a very high chance of her descending just to give him a knock on the head.


    [Master��are you sure you should even be using this kind of magic?]


    The great lightning spirit seated on Evan''s shoulder asked out with a worried voice as she tried to wrap her head around the spell circle on the floor.


    It had elements of lightning mixed within it, with a part of the mark in the centre denoting the lightning and fire elements, hence she could just about get a vague idea of the absurdity of the magic in front of her.


    There were a bit of light elements and a few other elements and energies that Ka was stunned to realise that she could not recognize in it, which made the spell look all the more dangerous to her.


    "Don''t worry, Ka.


    I''d be fine."


    The two mages were initially confused upon hearing him speak, but when Ka manifested her physical body and took the magic chalk out of Evan''s hands, their confusion turned to shock.


    "Why so surprised? Never seen a spirit before?"


    The young hero casually asked them while he watched Ka slightly modify part of the spell circle on the floor.


    "Oh my, if you modify that node over there, it makes it easier for the energy to flow over to this part of the circle."


    Evan''s words snapped the mages out of their shock and they turned to the magic circle with slightly surprised eyes.


    "Then by adding these characters here and taking away this letter from the description, you can potentially boost the amount of lightning and fire damage the spell deals."


    One of the mages instantly realised what Ka was doing and picked up his magic chalk, making his own edits to the spell circle while the second one joined in.


    "By adding this extra link to his segment there, the burden on the caster could be reduced, making it possible for one to cast the spell even at a lower level of existence."


    "Yea��then if I use this��"


    The four went back to their magic discussion, with the Duke and Bultom''s City Lording out to meet this strange sight the quartet modifying onerge spell circle.


    "Evan, I need something from your invent-What are you guys doing?"


    "Hmm? Oh, it''s you, Pride.


    What''s up?"


    The young hero asked the high demon who was staring at the magic circle on the floor with an unreadable expression on her face.


    "Shouldn''t you use a different set of runic characters here?"


    "Here��? Wait Up! That actually works!"


    Evan edited a part of the spell circle, eventually making itrger and having more weird scribblings within it.


    "What kind of spell is this anyway?"


    "The kind that can enable the current me to deal a heavy blow to an intermediate stage grandmaster level existence with a single strike."


    "Huh?" "ha???!!!" "What?!" "Say what now?!"


    Evan ignored all the weird voices of surprise he heard and turned his attention to the high demon standing beside him and asked her reason for looking for him.


    "Almost forgot.


    Can you give me my other duffel bag, the one with my weapon maintenance tools?"


    "Kayyy."


    The boy fished his hand into his inventory to search for Pride''s bag while turning his gaze towards the slightly surprised Duke and asking.


    "Is there a problem?"


    "��One of the church''s main forces has returned from their expedition and is making their way towards the estate.


    It''s the one headed by a certain Bishop Harris."


    "Oh! Amelie is here!"


    Evan tossed the bag from his inventory towards Pride before getting to his feet and rolling up the cardboard on the floor and tossing it into his still-open inventory.


    "Gimme a minute to change."


    The boy looked up at one of the open-air balconies of the castle building, narrowing his eyes and activating a skill.


    His body disappeared from where he was standing and reappeared on the balcony, with his hands already taking off his shirt as he walked through the balcony door and into the castle room.


    Merely two minutester, he performed another disappearing act and reappeared right in front of the Duke while slinging a dark noble coat over his shoulder.


    "Let''s go then."


    Like so, the noble trio walked out of the castle and boarded carriages that took them towards the gate of the estate, arriving just in time for the church''s carriages to reach.

 Chapter 342 Amelie Arrives

    The high noble trio walked out of the castle and boarded carriages that took them towards the gate of the estate, arriving just in time for the church''s carriages to reach.


    The boy properly put on his coat before getting down from the carriage, with the badge holding the Eris Dukedom''s crest pinned to his chest pocket beside a symbol of the Eris Family''s coat of arms that he was given by Ralphie.


    Since they weren''t within the City Lord''s estate and were instead outside the gates, they could be seen by the general public moners, civilians, adventurers etc.) who hade out to watch the church''s procession.


    "Hmm...seems like they were serious about this."


    Evan sensed multiple powerful auras that should belong to Superior stage master level existences, appraising the three pdins he sawe out and noting that the weakest among them was a level 250.


    ''And these guys are only lower-ranking pdins.


    The church sure is powerful to have level 250s as low-ranked pdins.''


    As the young hero studied their appearances and levels, the pdins also did the same to him, with their eyes widening slightly when they noticed something about him.


    Of course, the boy''s strength that didn''t match his age surprised them, but what stunned them more was the fact that they could feel a bit of divinity on him.


    However, they didn''t have the chance to ask as after the young hero gave them perfunctory greetings, he turned his attention towards the person he had wanted to see.


    "Bishop Amelie, it has been a while.


    Good to see you."


    The ck-haired and golden-eyed young woman who was in the process of getting down from the carriage paused momentarily in surprise upon hearing Evan''s voice.


    "Oh my.


    It has indeed been a while, Lord Evan.


    Good to see you too."


    She epted his assistance toe down from the carriage before speaking, turning her attention over to the Duke and curtsying as she offered her official greetings.


    "Bishop Harris of the Church greets the Duke of Cheverton."


    After the Duke acknowledged her, she paid her respects to the count before turning her attention back to Evan.


    "Her Ladyship''s divinity on you seems to have grown weaker than thest time."


    "That so? Well��it''s not like I could use it either way."


    Evan shrugged upon hearing Amelie''s words, ignoring the expressions on the pdins'' faces as he continued.


    "Still��I would very much like to thank you foring here at my request."


    "It''s nothing much, Lord Evan."


    The boy nodded, and rose his hand in the air, flicking away the invisible ball of light that was buzzing around his head much to Amelie''s surprise.


    "I didn''t know that the light ones were so talkative��"


    While Evan chatted with Amelie, another carriage in the procession pulled up to the estate''s gate, with the boy''s eyes slightly widening when he saw the crest on the carriage.


    "This is too much of a coincidence, don''t you think so, Duke?"


    "It is indeed a great coincidence, Lord Evan."


    Duke Cheverton spoke as he watched the carriage of Marquis Antebellum pull up in front of the gate while wondering why he could sense a familiar aura inside it.


    "I''d leave him to you, Duke.


    The Bishop here and I have a few important things to discuss."


    Evan took his leave after those words as he led Amelie to the other carriage prepared to take her to the castle building while her three guard pdins sat in another one.


    He sensed a gaze on him and turned back towards the gate to see who it was, but all he could see was the figure of Marquis Antebellum bowing towards the Duke.


    ''Weird��felt like someone was ring at me.''


    "Lord Evan?"


    "Hmm? Ah, sorry for the dy."


    He got on the carriage and sat opposite Amelie, heaving a sigh of slight exhaustion before asking the Bishop a question.


    "My final request that I had the goddess tell you when west met in Bonas, you fulfilled it, right?"


    "Oh, you mean to heal those two in Geto?


    Worry not, I made sure they were as good as new."


    Evan nodded with a look of relief shing through his eyes. He was about to speak once more when his shadow wriggled and a ck cat popped his head out of it.


    "Kuro?"


    [I sensed Light spirits nearby, I came over to see why.]


    "Oh��those guys."


    Evan remarked as he looked up to the balls of light floating around the crown of Amile''s head as if trying to give her a halo, chuckling lightly when one of the spirits beside him made a silly remark.


    Despite meeting her for the first time, the shadow spirit and the young Bishop instantly hit off with each other, much to the displeasure of the light spirits surrounding her.


    ''Is this elemental discrimination?


    That don''t like Kuro because he''s a shadow spirit? Or is it because he''s getting close to Amelie?''


    Evan asked himself those questions internally as the carriage made its way back to the Lord''s Castle.


    �� �� ��


    "Hey, Pride. Where''s Liz?"


    "Adventurer''s guild, she went to take on a few quests."


    "Oh��she''s the only one among us who''s actually serious about adventuring."


    "Greed''s with her."


    "Is the quest they''re taking rted to a gold mine or something?"


    "You guessed right. They''re taking out the zombies and ghouls in a nearby gold mine."


    "Thought so."


    Such was the short conversation between Evan and his contracted demon right before he downed the ss of juice in his hands and turned to leave the room.


    "If the Duke asks where I am, then tell him I''m with Faerora.


    Also, tell him I took one of his maps."


    After saying his piece, the boy left the room and walked down the hallway, going towards the room at the end where four high-level knights stood guard in front.


    They saluted him as he passed by, with him acknowledging them with a nod and entering the room.


    Inside the room, were four people; a maid, Amelie, one of the pdin guards, and the captive senior demonic hand member.


    ''She doesn''t look like much of a captive though.''


    The maid had just served a meal for Faerora on the table, moving over to set down tes for Evan and Amelie.


    "We''re about to do a lot of talking, it wouldn''t be nice to do all that on an empty stomach now, would it?"


    Evan spoke as he took a seat on the small table, before dismissing the maid and turning to Amelie.


    "Your guard is gonna have to go.


    I''m going to be saying a lot of things that he''s not allowed to know and it''s gonna be troublesome for me if he''s present."


    Due to Artemisia''s influence, Amelie had a vague idea of Evan''s identity as a Hero and the restrictions regarding the things he could say that were even more than the other heroes, so she understood her concerns and dismissed the pdin much to his displeasure.


    "You can just stay outside the door with the knights there.


    If you sense anything unusual, you cane in."


    After Amelie seeded in getting him to leave, Evan turned towards Faerora who was staring at him in silence while tilting his head to the side.


    "Is there a problem?"


    "��Where''s Lensa?"


    "Dead. Shouldn''t you be able to tell?"

 Chapter 343 ‘Interrogating‘ Faerora I

    "��Where''s Lensa?"


    "Dead. Shouldn''t you be able to tell?"


    The brown-haired elf nodded in affirmation, with a relieved sigh escaping her lips which didn''t go unnoticed by Evan.


    "Let''s eat while we talk, shall we?"


    Evan picked up his cutlery as he spoke, spinning the knife around his hands as he appreciated the visual appeal of the meal in front of him before digging in right after.


    "Oh...I suppose introductions are in order, aren''t they?


    Our dear elven friend over here is Faerora, one of the Senior members of the organization behind the undead messing up the Duchy at the moment.


    And this is one of the Church of Artemisia''s Bishops; Amelie Harris."


    He introduced the twodies to each other as he cut up his food into bite sizes, before putting it into his mouth and nodding in satisfaction right after.


    "This is good stuff."


    The boy took a sip of his juice before turning towards Amelie and asking her a question.


    "When are the rest of the churches'' coalition forceing over?"


    "��Should be around thetter half of the day. When I spoke to Heinr this morning, he said that they weren''t far off from where I was."


    "Heinr?"


    "He''s the High Ranked Pdin the Church sent out, and my cousin too."


    "Ohh��"


    Evan nodded upon hearing Amelie''s exnation while thinking that a high-rank Pdin is definitely bound to be a good fighting force.


    ''Should be around level 350-380 at least. Come to think of it, how strong is Amelie now?''


    |Name- Amelie Harris


    Race- Human


    Gender-Female


    Age-23


    Level- 209


    Existence Level - Master (Intermediate)


    Titles- Bishop of the Church of Artemisia, Holy Woman, Pseudo Saintess, Vessel of the goddess.


    ss - Quasi-Saintess


    Health �C B-


    Energy - B


    Strength �C C+


    Agility �C B-


    Durability �C B-


    Intelligence - B-


    Condition- Normal


    Magic Tiers- Holy Tier 3, Water Tier 2, Light Tier 2.


    Skills- Golden Magic (High), Alchemy (High), Judgement, Purification.


    Unique Skills- Blessing of Light. |


    "You sure got a lot stronger in the past few months."


    "I could say the same about you. When we metst year, you were barely level 100, now I can''t even tell your exact level, and that says a lot considering I am currently level 209."


    "Trust me when I say my actual level isn''t as high as you think."


    Evan chuckled lightly as he spoke, taking a sip of his juice before asking her.


    "Did you go to Kasteblum to hunt monsters in their dungeons or something?"


    "As a matter of fact, I considered that for a moment. But ended up deciding against it when I received the message from the Chief Grand Magus in January.


    It scared me a bit, you know?


    I was shocked that the leader of another nation contacted me, only to discover that you were just using him as an intermediary.


    Just what on Aidos did you do in Kasteblum that made you get that close to its Chief Grand Magus?"


    "Honestly, it was all a strange series of coincidences.


    We found that we could both talk to spirits, he tried to look for me after and ended up discovering I had a demonpanion and called me over for a talk.


    After all the serious talk, both of us ended up hitting off, especially considering we had one verymon topic which was the Vice Grand Magus''ziness."


    Amelie couldn''t find the words to say after hearing Evan''s exnation, only heaving a soft sigh as she replied.


    "That''s one strange story.


    But answering your earlier question, I had been in Cheverton since January and I had taken advantage of their high monster concentration to level up."


    "Wait what?"


    Evan was lightly stunned upon hearing that the Bishop had been in the Duchy since his message to the Grand Magus, with Amelie going on to offer another exnation.


    "With what you said in the message, I doubted that any existence below level 200 could do anything reasonable to the enemy''s main force so I sought to increase my strength."


    Her exnation made sense to the boy as he was aware of the Cheverton Duchy''s nature, in which it had a higher concentration of monsters than any other part of the Great Western Empire.


    This was another reason why there were much more B and A-ranked adventurers in this part of the country, as the levels of the monsters here were also higher.


    People inbat-oriented professions like Knights and Adventurers in Cheverton were stronger than average because of this, with the Duke''s knights and adventurers possessing the highest levels possible.


    Then came the holy knights of the Churches who also had fairly high levels. On a side note, most of the holy knights Amelie came with went over to the Bultom City Church.


    This was even more so as the three forces took turns to regrly thin out the monsters in forests and other monster nests, so they had lots of chances to level up a lot.


    Duke Cheverton always led the expeditions of the Knights, using said expeditions to raise the levels of the newer and lower-ranked knights to eptable levels.


    He was also the one who took direct action whenever any Grandmaster-level monsters showed up, which was actually a lot more frequently than one would expect.


    They did have to take care not to mess up the monster ecosystem by wiping out too much of one monster species.


    And of course, these only applied to normal living breathing monsters, all undead were to be eradicated the second they were spotted.


    ''If she was here all this while and actively participating in their monster hunts then it makes sense for her level to increase so rapidly.''


    Evan thought to himself before taking a sip of his juice and turning towards Faerora to ask her a question.


    "What''s wrong? You haven''t touched your food."


    "��"


    The brown-haired elven woman only stared at Evan in silence for a few moments before finally opening her mouth to ask.


    "What''s your aim?"


    Evan''s attitude towards her was certainly not the attitude she expected a ''Hero'' to have towards her who was a member of an organization nning to let demons into Aidos.


    As such, it was only natural that she was unsettled and could not calmly eat like Evan was, even more so when he brought a bishop of the church who had dozens of light spirits buzzing about around her.


    However, Evan only looked around her as if studying the room that they were in as he asked.


    "Did you like the room?


    I told them to give you a proper room and not stuff you into a prison cell like the way I''m pretty much gonna treat every other demonic hand I capture in the future.


    As for why; well��If it wasn''t already obvious, I know quite a lot about you."


    He turned his gaze back to meet the woman''s brown eyes as he dropped his cutlery and continued.


    "I also know about pretty much every important senior member of the Demonic Hand.


    And that''s why I know that you, Faerora, didn''t join the Demonic Hand of your own free will.


    I know that you were a ''tribute'', offered to the Eighth Finger to prevent him from wiping out your vige in the Beta continent.


    Well��he did spare them and got you to work under him, unlike what they had expected him to do.


    Ah��I also know that he has a magic contract sword on your heart that would kill you the moment you betray him."

 Chapter 344 ‘Interrogating‘ Faerora II

    "Ah��I also know that he has a magic contract sword on your heart that would kill you the moment you betray him."


    "Then you should know that interrogating me is pointless as even if I wanted to talk, I''d be dead before I can say anything.


    Even just sitting here with you has the contract sword poking my heart already."


    In response to Faerora''s words, the young hero nodded lightly before gesturing towards Amelie and speaking.


    "And that is why our dear friend, Amelie, Is here today.


    Her job here is to render that contract null and void.


    "It''s a contract spell cast on me by a Grandmaster level existence who has achieved Tier 3 in both Death and Darkness magic.


    Even if she has those light spirits with her, they can''t do a thing to his spell unless they''re on his level."


    "Hmm��true.


    Normally, that is."


    Evan rested his hands on the table and leaned forward while locking gazes with Faerora as he continued.


    "Amelie here is a bit ''special''; I won''t say how, though; that''s her private info.


    Anyway, it is possible for her to achieve the feat of breaking your contract."


    He used his hand to nudge the small earth spirit on the table who was hiding behind the jug of juice and looking at Faerora fearfully beforepleting his words.


    "When she does break the contract, I''m going to need you to answer certain questions. The kind the Eighth finger would not expect you to be able to tell anyone because of the existence of the contract.


    Don''t give an affirmative answer yet though, it might activate if you do."


    Faerora''s expression contorted slightly as she replied to Evan''s words.


    "It''s already showing signs of activating."


    Seeing the elf who was in obvious pain, Evan looked at Amelie and nodded, before flicking his fingers and causing arms to stretch out of her shadow and bind her body.


    At the same time, Amelie pulled out a disk-shaped object from inside her robes and ced it on Faerora''s chest, tapping the centre of the device as multiple tiny limb-like appendages shot out from it andtched onto her skin.


    Ambient magic power began to gather in the room, with the sheer concentration of magic power and divinity causing heads to turn as people began to wonder if there was a grandmaster-level existence flexing his power inside the Count''s mansion.


    Some of the Duke''s knights and Amelie''s pdins even came over to check the situation, but upon seeing the young hero and the Bishop casually enjoying their meal while the person on the other side of the table looked to be in pain, they were honestly at a loss for words.


    Evan did his best to dismiss them just in time for them to hear the sound of something cracking as illusory chains manifested in front of the disk-shaped object and shattered into pieces of light.


    Faerora''s expression ofplete shock allowed Evan to infer that the process was sessful, with Amelie taking off the disk-shaped device and healing her skin while Evan removed his restraints.


    "How do you feel?"


    "��


    ��free."


    It took the elf a while to open her mouth and speak that one word with Evan smiling as he nodded in affirmation and spoke.


    "Yes, you are indeed free."


    The boy then pulled out a map and a pen from his inventory, setting them on the table in front of Faerora before saying.


    "About those questions that I had for you.


    For starters, can you help me point out all the ces where the Eighth Finger hid his undead? Especially the ones taken out from Bultom''s dungeons."


    Faerora was lightly stunned as Evan got down to business right away, with her gaze alternating between Evan and the map on the table.


    She was silent for a few seconds, however, within those few seconds she made a decision. And one could infer what decision she made from her next set of actions.


    Her fair fingers slowly descended atop the table, and grabbed the pen on the map.


    �� �� ��


    "Hello, Duke Charles.


    ��Oh, and Marquis Antebellum, good day to you."


    Evan barged into the Duke''s temporary office as he spoke, taking a moment to greet the Marquis sitting opposite the Duke and waving at Ralphie as he walked towards the table and sat down.


    He mmed the map in his hands onto the table and spoke.


    "I got the intel we wanted.


    Now then, how about we give this guy a taste of his own medicine?"


    Duke Charles picked up the map from the table and unfolded it, with Ralphie leaning in to gain a closer look as he asked.


    "What are those tworge circles at the top for, there''s an ''8?'' and the word ''king'' written there?"


    "The ''8?'', is the Eighth Finger''s presumed location. Ruined City Saunau.


    The ''king'' is the Duhan King''s confirmed location. Pad.


    That''s the guy that you are going to have to deal with, Duke."


    Duke Charles nodded as he studied the points marked on the map before asking.


    "How did you get her to talk?"


    "Nothing serious.


    I just gave her the freedom that she''d wanted ever since she was forced to work for the ''Demonic Hand''.


    And she gave me what I wanted in return.


    It was a win-win.


    Now, it''s time for us to do our part; we start mobilising our forces today so that we can carry out our operation within three days.


    Any longer and the Eighth Finger would have most likely finished taking action in response to Faerora''s ''change of sides'' from his to ours."


    Marquis Antebellum momentarily flinched when he heard those two words from Evan, with his eyes slightly widening in surprise.


    ''Duke Roger''s son knows about them too?''


    Evan noticed this reaction and turned to the Marquis with a smile which the man returned, however, Evan''s next question caused that smile to break instantly.


    "Are you here concerning your cousin''s ''treason''?"


    �� �� ��


    Adventurer''s Guild Building


    Bultom Dungeon City


    Cheverton Duchy


    April 21st


    Year 1052


    Therge double doors of the adventurer''s guild buildingplex mmed open, attracting the attention of basically everyone in therge great hall, from adventurers drinking at the bar section to those at the tables chatting with their friends, and those at the lines on the counters along with their attending receptionists.


    Surprise coloured their faces when the person who mmed the doors open walked in, having an obviously displeased look on her beautiful face.


    It was a blonde-haired girl, standing at about five feet five inches tall girl. She was wearing a brown turtleneck with a ck coloured skirt and long ck pantyhose under tall leather boots.


    She took slow and steady steps across the hall, not minding the gazes around her as she made her way towards a counter that was just vacated.


    However, what made heads turn, was not her terrifying beauty, or her sapphire eyes that seemed to suck you in if you stared at them, but the fact that resting on her shoulder, was a long spear that had its ded tip stabbed into the shoulder of a barely conscious man who was being dragged behind her.


    Trailing right after, were four others who gazed at her with slightly fearful expressions, all walking in a straight file towards the counter.


    As for the man that was being piked with her spear, he was someone that a lot of people in the guild recognized.


    He was a fairly strong new B-rank adventurer, who had the strength to match up his rank. The only issue people had with him was his attitude and hisck of ability to cooperate with anyone other than his party members on joint party quests taken on by multiple parties.

 Chapter 345 On Eliza’s Side Of Things…

    The man was a fairly strong new B-rank adventurer, who had the strength to match up his rank. The only issue people had with him was his attitude and hisck of ability to cooperate with anyone other than his party members on joint party quests taken on by multiple parties.


    As such, the guild had to give him a few warning strikes for his bad behaviour over the past few months.


    The four others trailing behind him were the party members in question, and they looked terrible andpletely fine at the same time.


    Terrible in the sense that their armours and defensive gear were all beaten and battered, but they surprisingly had zero injuries on their bodies.


    "Wait up! Didn''t that guy have a scar from that undead Basilisk they foughtst month?"


    "Yeah��the one that even the bishop from the church said he could not heal because of the high concentration of death magic? Or was it darkness?"


    "It was probably a curse."


    "The magic type doesn''t matter, bottom line is the Bishop couldn''t heal the scar, so where the heck is it now?"


    "Is he using illusions to hide it?"


    Just as the adventurers were beginning to suspect this was the case, a voice spoke up to clear all their doubts.


    "No, he''s not.


    His wound has beenpletely healed."


    The person who spoke up was a young light green haired woman wearing ck and red themed robes and having a magic catalyst floating beside her, along with a golden guild card hanging from her neck.


    One didn''t need to look at the ''A'' printed at the back to know what rank she was.


    "Hey Tisha, is it me or is that girl stopping the flow of life energy to his limbs and preventing him from moving them?!"


    Another one of the people seated at the table with her, also having a simr golden-coloured guild card hanging from his neck eximed in shock upon taking his eyes off his drink and staring at the B ranker piked up on a spear.


    His words were loud, and with the superior hearing of everyone inside the guild building, it was pretty hard for them to miss what he said.


    One of the other A-rank adventurers on the table called out to the next group of people who entered the adventurer''s guild after this unlikely quintet, which was another party of B-ranked adventurers.


    "What''s up with that?"


    Hearing the A ranker''s question, the adventurer only sighed and shook his head before replying.


    "Their retribution."


    "Huh?"


    Before they could ask for a further exnation, a guild official had alreadye over to ask the blonde girl what was wrong and why she had a fellow adventurer piked up on her spear.


    However, the reply that they received, was not one they expected.


    "Spear? What spear?"


    As she tilted her head to the side while asking that question with a look of confusion, the man''s body dropped to the ground and the other end of the weapon in her hand was shown to not have a ded tip.


    The next moment, the man, having regained his ability to move, roared out and red his magic power, with a suffocating pressure descending onto the entire guild hall.


    However, just before the A-rank adventurers present could take action to stop him from suffocating everyone D rank and below, the blonde girl''s hands blurred and the man dropped to the ground confused.


    "Huh?"


    While most didn''t understand what happened, all B rank and above adventurers who were watching clearly saw what happened, with them having varied reactions of shock andughter.


    Even the robed mage was mildly surprised as with her eyes, she clearly saw the blonde girl move her staff and whack the man''s head, before going on to use it to hit the back of his legs and sweep him off his feet.


    She also noticed that the injury on his shoulder which was caused by whatever ded weapon was inside the girl''s staff, was infused with magic power at the point when her staff moved over it, healing the wound almost instantly.


    Next, the man''s shadow seemed toe alive as it rose up from the ground and held him down on the floor, covering his mouth in the process to prevent him from speaking.


    And pretty much every other adventurer in the guild hall who was on her level saw the exact same thing that she did.


    "Oh my.


    She''s good."


    While some were still recovering from her shock, the girl had gone on to pull out a bunch of quest papers, before introducing herself and making a report to the guild official, inadvertently enlightening everyone on the situation.


    Long story short, she and her party member, took a joint quest alongside two other parties, one of which was the one the man on the floor belonged.


    It was a simple quest to eradicate the undead inside a nearby gold mine, however, the undead spotted in the mine included ghouls and Duhans that were having levels close to 200, with the Duhans'' levels being 210 so it was designated as a B ranked quest.


    Apparently, the man was very uncooperative since the beginning, and although she initially tolerated it, when his actions towards the end nearly caused the group to get buried under the mine, she snapped and decided to beat the shit out of him.


    Naturally, his party members who stood up for him also had their own share of beatings.


    "We nearly got surrounded by a drove of level 180 ghouls ''cus of this guy, if she didn''t deal with him, I would have done it myself."


    A member of another one of the parties spoke up after she was done with her report, with his fellow party members nodding in affirmation, showing how much they were inconvenienced by the man''s actions.


    Hearing this, the guild official was about to speak when the guild building doors mmed open once more, with another blonde-haired girl walking into the guild.


    At her side was a wine-red-haired and dark-eyed girl who gave off tomboy vibes, along with a bunch of armed knights.


    "As I thought, it was you."


    The blonde girl who just entered spoke up as she set eyes on her fellow blonde, a smile appearing on her beautiful face as she walked up to the other girl and hugged her.


    "Lady Antebellum?!"


    "How many times have I told you to just call me Myra? You''re a tough nut to crack, Eliza."


    Such was the interaction between the two that disregarded the surprised expressions of everyone else in the building, with the other tomboy-looking girl sighing and waving off the knight who was about to speak.


    "Don''t bother with the announcement, she wouldn''t like it anyway."


    This wine-red-haired girl was someone who was much more familiar to the people of the Cheverton Duchy, which was natural as she was the daughter of its Duke.


    And hearing the name that the other blonde-haired girl was called, even those who did not know her face realized who she was.


    The presence of the multiple grandmaster-level knights who were clearly her guards only served to confirm this.


    ''The future Crown Princess!''

 Chapter 346 Meeting Myra…And An Unwanted Extra

    ''The future Crown Princess!''


    Most of the adventurers present either hadmoner origins, or were of low-ranking noble families, so there was a huge status difference between them and the two girls.


    Of course, that also got them wondering about just who this sapphire-eyed girl she referred to as ''Eliza'' was seeing their close interactions.


    However, the three of them seemed not to pay any attention to them as even the guild official who hastily bowed to greet the two nobles was at a loss on how to carry on her job as she didn''t dare interrupt a noble who was speaking.


    "Ah, my apologies.


    You must have been busy, right?


    Finish up with what you were doing first."


    Noticing the troubled guild official who she had not seen before, Myra apologised before taking a step back to let them finish their conversation.


    Of course, the guild official who was apologised to was now under a whole different kind of stress, thinking about how she was going to be known as the one who made the Future Crown Princess apologize to her.


    However, before she could even say anything, she saw a small ck cat materialize out of Eliza''s shadow and jump up onto the blonde girl''s shoulder.


    "Huh?"


    "Kuro? What''s up?"


    Her exmation of shock was promptly ignored as Eliza rubbed the chin of the cat and asked, with someone with an appraisal skill screaming something about a spirit in the background.


    [Master was wondering why multiple strong presences suddenly entered the building.]


    "Oh��that."


    Eliza spoke as she nced at the grandmaster-level knights who were part of the Future Crown princess''s guard detail with the eyes of the girl in question shining with adoration as she saw the cat on Eliza''s shoulder.


    "Cute...!!!"


    As Kuro acquired one new fan who seeded in gaining permission to pet the cat, Eliza and the daughter of Duke Cheverton introduced themselves to each other.


    "Oh, so you were the one Princess Laurene was talking about."


    However, just after she spoke, her expression turned strange as she asked Eliza another question.


    "But she said you were with the Prime Minister''s son��in that case is he curren-"


    Her question was cut short by the voice of the Prime Minister''s son in question who just came down the stairs after a short discussion with the guild master, Dasyra.


    "A quiet guild hall? This is a rare sight to see."


    Evan remarked as he casually walked down the flight of stairs and towards the trio of girls, however, the expressions on the faces of the B and A-ranked adventurers present weren''t as casual as his.


    ''What''s this kid?!''


    A lot of them had those questions running through their minds as even the grandmaster-level knights had their faces contort slightly upon sensing Evan''s presence.


    They could not understand why they felt a sense of danger towards a boy that they were sure they would be capable of easily besting in a fight; if they didn''t identally leave him half-dead from a single serious attack.


    And this sense of incongruity was precisely why they were wary.


    The lower-ranked adventurers also felt a slight sense of pressureing from him as the boy didn''t do much in the way of restraining his aura which was for some reason, much more powerful than normal.


    "Evan? Why are you��"


    ''��using your skill?''


    -is what Eliza wanted to ask as she noticed that the boy''s blessing of destruction was currently active, although she could not see visibly see the destruction aura.


    However, said skill was the only thing in Evan''s arsenal that could make Grandmaster-level existences feel a sense of life-threatening danger towards him, due to its Soul Damage abilities.


    "I wanted to make a point, and I was running a slight confirmation test."


    ''And now I know that even if I hide the destruction aura with concealment, Grandmaster-level existences can still perceive the threat it poses to them.


    Either my concealment is not powerful enough or the aura is just that deadly.''


    He only replied casually while deactivating the skill as he arrived in front of them, a small smile appearing on his face as he greeted the daughter of the Marquis whom he had spoken with a few hours earlier.


    "Lady Myra, long time no see."


    "And whose fault is that, Lord Evan."


    Myra replied to him while giving the boy a side hug, with Eliza''s eyebrows raising in surprise upon seeing this.


    ''Come to think of it, I don''t know how he interacts with other girls in our age range��''


    "You seem to have been quite busy these past few weeks. I''ve been hearing the stories."


    "They''ve spread that much?"


    "Lord Evan, have you forgotten how much of amotion you causedst year? Right now, any news concerning you is bound to spread fast, especially with how high profile you''ve been."


    The boy ced a hand on his chin as he thought with a pensive look on his face before speaking, all while ignoring the re that the tomboy beside Myra was giving him.


    "Well, there was Geto City''s incidentst year, the Issue in Osto and the following Monster stampede we stopped beforeing to Cheverton and going around to kill a bunch of powerful undead.


    I guess you can say that I had been taking a fair share of high-profile actions."


    "And youpletely ignored everything about Kasteblum��"


    "Kasteblum? I was there but I don''t recall doing anything of note."


    "Well��I''m not entirely sure of the whole situation but let''s say some nobles who were over there for the winter spotted you with Kasteblum''s Vice Chief Grand Magus, multiple times.


    And you looked like you were on friendly terms."


    "Ohh��Miss Joanna.


    Didn''t expect that to catch people''s attention."


    Evan nodded with a look of understanding on his face, temporarily ncing at Eliza who had gone back to handling her quest-rted issues before speaking.


    "You and Liz know each other?"


    "Hmm? Yeah, we met when she was in the capital with Laurene."


    "Oh��well, that was expected.


    Knowing Laurene, she''d want her close friends to be familiar with each other."


    Myra and Evan moved to the side and took a seat at an empty table while chatting with each other, however, everyone present couldn''t help but notice that the boy seemed to be ignoring the daughter of the Duchy''s lord who was giving him a deadly re.


    Even Myra who didn''t notice it at first, realised this after she turned to call out to the other girl, only to see her glowering at Evan.


    "I know I''m good-looking enough to make you want to stare all day, but don''t forget that you''re supposed to be into my ''brother'' and not me."


    The boy''s sudden words caused the brows of Duke Cheverton''s daughter to twitch in annoyance, however, she held herself and replied with the politest tone she could muster at the moment.


    "Hello to you too, unpleasant human being.


    It is NOT nice to see you."


    She took a seat right after she spoke, ignoring the stunned expressions of both Myra and everyone else who heard her words.


    "Trust me when I say the feeling is 110% mutual."


    Evan snorted a reply as he gazed at the red-haired girl wearing a ck equestrian Jodhpurs.


    From this short interaction, anyone could see that the two Duke''s children obviously didn''t have a good rtionship with each other.


    ''So that exins the re I was feeling when I was talking to Amelie.''


    "You two are still the same as ever, huh?"

 Chapter 347 Kasteblum’s Forces Arrive

    "You two are still the same as ever, huh?"


    Myra''s words which she spoke with an exasperated sigh, broke the young hero out of his thoughts, with him shrugging his shoulders and replying.


    "You know most of it is on her, right? There''s no way you''d expect me to get along with someone who one-sidedly hates me.


    Even more so when her reason for hating me is ''THAT''."


    Although showing their bad rtionship in public was already a no-go, Evan had zero intentions to make things worse by exining why he wasn''t liked by the daughter of the Duke, even more so when the person he was speaking to already knew the reason.


    Simply put, Duke Cheverton''s daughter was in love with Arnold Del Eris, and she believed Evan''s existence was the reason Arnold was deprived of his right as the heir to the Eris Dukedom, as such, she never had a good impression of him from the start.


    And since the original Evan Del Eris was a ''no nonsense'' person, he didn''t take too kindly at being one-sidedly disliked by this other noble girl, so his rtionship with her had been sour from the start.


    It was a sour rtionship that continued even after Evan took over the body almost two years ago.


    "You should really give up though, you''re never gonna win against yourpetition. It''d be a waste of time and energy on your part.


    And you should know how bad it is if ''I'' of all people am the one telling you this."


    "Competition?"


    In response to Myra''s question, Evan rose an eyebrow in surprise with a simr expression on his face as he spoke.


    "You didn''t know?


    She has seriouspetition. Not just her, but all the others in the same boat with her.


    It''s the kind they''re never gonna win against."


    The boy shook his head slowly to express his extreme disappointment in the efforts of those girls to win Arnold''s affection; when the teenager had already been imed, whether he liked it or not.


    "Come to think of it, why are you here at this time, Lady Myra?"


    "Hmm? I was following my father on his way to the capital; however, we decided to stop here and drop off Lady Cheverton who was visiting before continuing on our journey.


    Father also had something to discuss with the Duke so it checked out for him."


    "I see."


    Evan was about to speak once more but was interrupted by the ringing sound of themunication device in his pocket.


    Upon answering it, it turned out to be a message from Amelie telling him that the rest of the Churches'' forces had arrived.


    "Well��that''s my cue to go.


    I have to go and deal with the arriving pdins and holy knights.


    It''s only fair I receive them since I''m the one who basically called them over in the first ce."


    He got up from his seat as he spoke, dusting his jacket and turning to Kuro who was in Myra''s arms.


    "Stay with Liz."


    "Huh? Where are you going?"


    As the ck cat nodded in affirmation, Eliza''s voice rang out from behind Evan as she walked back towards him from one of the offices in the guild while holding a pouch of coins.


    Evan exined where he was going as he epted the pouch from her hands and tossed it into his inventory.


    After which he proceeded to wrap one arm around her waist and pull her close to him, giving her a peck on the lips and whispering something in her ear before leaving the guild hall.


    "Oh my.


    We have a lot to talk about, Eliza.


    A lot."


    Seeing Myra''s shining eyes, Eliza sighed and resigned herself to her fate, before suggesting that they go somewhere else after seeing the pleading expressions on the knights'' faces.


    �� �� ��


    Mages Guild Master''s Office.


    Bultom Dungeon City


    Cheverton Duchy


    April 22nd


    Year 1052


    "I''d leave this in your capable hands.


    Once again, thank you foring over Sir Czac."


    "My pleasure."


    The Grand Mage of the City State of Magic Kasteblum replied to Evan''s words with an amiable expression on his face, with the young hero going on to give his thanks to the other senior mages seated in the room.


    The person he addressed as ''Sir Czac'', was the Grand Mage who led the troop of thousands of battle mages that came over from Kasteblum under the orders of Chief Grand Magus Gavin Josey.


    He was a fairly tall brown-haired and-eyed man, who was dressed in dark blue robes with Kasteblum''s crest embroidered on them.


    Despite looking like he was in histe thirties, the man was actually more than thirty years older than that, however, he aged slower than normal due to the fact that he was a powerful intermediate stage Grandmaster level existence.


    He and his troop of battle mages arrived at Bultom City on this fine morning, with Evan leading the weing party, before proceeding to take him and the other Senior mages with him towards the Mages Guild where they discussed important matters pertaining to the amodations, feeding and other logistics concerned with mobilizingrge amounts of military personnel.


    ''Level 390, huh?


    With two other level 300 Great Mages and other battle mages with levels no less than 150.


    I can see why it would be a problem to arbitrarily invite this kind of force into the Great Western Emprise, especially when it''sing from another superpower nation like Kasteblum.''


    The young hero thought to himself, remembering how he was nagged by the emperor the previous night about his actions once again.


    After leaving the guild the previous day, he went over to receive the higher-ups of the Churches'' coalition force; namely the high-ranked pdin from the Church of Artemisia, Sir Heinr and the other pdins from the other churches of other gods.


    The satellite towns around Bultom city had be hosts for the churches'' forces that numbered close to seven thousand, with Evan going back to ask Faerora about the Eighth Finger''s source of funds so he could loot it after seeing how much was to be spent for the sake of all the troops.


    ''There''s no way in hell he can make the empire spend this much money to deal with him and go scot-free.''


    In other news, the young hero had once again be a sensation in Bultom, this time with Eliza also in the spotlight as the battle priestess''s actions yesterday, coupled with the recognition of multiple A-ranked adventurers caused her poprity to rise.


    And with the influx and outflow of new adventurers and merchants in Bultom City on a daily basis, information about our resident Battle Priestess was already spreading to other parts of Cheverton.


    Evan on the other hand, made some people wonder if the boy enjoyed causing a sensation everywhere he went as simrly, word of his interaction with the Crown Prince''s fianc��e spread almost like wildfire.


    His actions of mentioning the ''issue in Osto'' and the ''Monster stampede we stopped'' got people wondering just what on Aidos the kid could have possibly done there.


    A certain guild master named Alok was inwardly cursing as he had a lot of people, mainly other guild masters, contacting him in regards to Evan and Greed''s adventurer rank promotion issues, along with the new talk of Evan doing something ''Big'' in Osto.

 Chapter 348 Becoming A ‘Sensation’

    Dungeon City Osto guild master Alok Vimin was inwardly cursing as he had a lot of people, mainly other guild masters, contacting him in regards to Evan and Greed''s adventurer rank promotion issues, along with the new talk of Evan doing something ''Big'' in Osto.


    However, the main focus of the adventurer''s conversations, was the word going around that Evan was the one responsible for the presence of the Church of Artemisia''s forces along with the Mages of Kasteblum who had a not-so-low-profile entrance just this morning.


    "How has this be a sensation when it all only happened yesterday afternoon? Heck, I just met the mages this morning!"


    Evan eximed as he rode in the carriage that was headed towards the church of Artemisia in Bultom, along with Bishop Amelie and her cousin, Sir Heinr.


    "I''m happy I''m getting more famous, but this is all happening faster than I nned.


    Also, you didn''t tell me that your cousin was this much of a big shot in the church. Half of the reason why the news spread so fast was that his name came up."


    He turned to Amelie and spoke with an expression that the Bishop could only describe as ''Fake Displeasure'', prompting her to reply with a sigh.


    "Although I somewhat expected it, my expectations were exceeded."


    She locked eyes with her cousin who was seating opposite her, a tall, ck-haired and golden-eyed young-looking man who was actually in histe forties.


    Whenever she and her cousin usually moved together, people often mistook them for siblings due to their simr facial features and hair colour.


    Amelie herself held a high sway in the Church, but this cousin of hers was even more powerful as even some Cardinals of the Church didn''t dare offend him.


    He was also very popr, being one of the known figures of the Church of Artemisia in the Great Western Empire with the best public images.


    As such, when he left the Church''s headquarters in Gerfast, heads had already started turning. Upon showing up in Bultom Dungeon City and being received by Evan in public, people had already started deliberating what rtion the two had.


    Then as if all nned beforehand, an adventurer who heard Evan''s words in the guild building on the day before saw it best to spread said words in an attempt to answer the questions of the people.


    "Look on the bright side Lord Evan, at least you got the publicity you were looking for."


    He spoke while shrugging his shoulders, with the young hero having no choice but to admit that he was right.


    ''There''s no inte or social media in this world, but even so, the information still spreads pretty fast.


    I guess it''s expected considering that they have been able to send signals magically the same way it was done electronically in my world.


    They even have radios and stuff so all this isn''t too weird. I''m just waiting for when they finally decide to start making television se-''


    "-ARE THOSE TRAIN TRACKS?!!"


    The boy''s thoughts were interrupted when he noticed a familiar set of tracks at one part of the city, slightly startling the bishop with his sudden shout.


    "��Why are you so surprised? Trains have been in the works for years."


    Heinr asked with a confused expression while Evan just sorted through the memories of the original Evan andpared them with the memories of the game he possessed.


    ''Trains became a thing in the game from thetter half of the year 1053 to Year 1054.


    And we''re currently in Year 1052 so I guess it kind of makes sense that they''d already started building tracks.


    Wait��so we''re gonna have teleportation waypoints so-Oh, we''ve arrived.''


    Evan decided to put the talk about trains and teleportation at the back of his mind as he got down from the carriage and walked towards the church building in front of him.


    ''Now then��let''s finalize the church''s issue first.


    That way, I would be ready to meet the ''Second Sword''.''


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Adventurer''s Guild Building


    Bultom Dungeon City


    Cheverton Duchy


    April 22nd


    Year 1052


    "Okay��so please do your best to gather the A-ranked adventurers here and correspond with the ones in the other cities close to our target points.


    We''d move on the 24th.


    He has most likely noticed the binding contract on out ''information source'' is broken and is probably already moving to take action in response to the possibility of leaked information."


    "Worry not. I''ve already begun discussing it with the A rankers and other guild leaders since yesterday."


    "Really? That''s good.


    Anyway, thank you for your time, Miss Dasyra. We shall meet again this evening to discuss with the rest of the involved parties."


    "The pleasure is mind, Lord Eris. Until then."


    Such as the final interaction of the day between Evan and the guild master of Bultom City''s adventurer''s guild as the two ended their discussions for the morning.


    "Hmm? Fancy seeing you here, Pride."


    "Oh, Evan.


    Greed dragged me over to help him out with the quest he and Eliza epted. We just returned."


    "I see."


    Evan nced over at the Demon of Greed who was flirting with the adventurer''s guild receptionist and sighed before turning back to Pride who had fished out a book from somewhere and was reading it.


    ncing around, he caught sight of Eliza chatting with some B and A-ranked adventurers, deciding to let her be as he moved to sit down.


    ''I feel so mentally exhausted having to deal with all this logistics and stuff.


    Is this how much work the higher-ups of armies have to deal with every time there''s a war? Heck, I''m not even doing muchpared to the actual army officer rank holders.''


    He took a seat beside the high demon while thinking about all the matters he''s had to deal with in just one day, starting from receiving the mages in the morning to the discussions in the Church and then the issue with Marquis Antebellum''s cousin.


    ''So, the Marquis actually discovered evidence that his cousin was rted to the simultaneous attacks that the Eighth Fingerunched, but spent weeks torn over whether to report one of his closest rtives or not.


    In the end, he finally made the decision to report him to the Duke first, hoping to use the Duke as an intermediary to the Royal Family.


    Mehn��Laurene''s not gonna like it when she hears this, not to talk of her brother.''


    The boy was slowly sinking into his thoughts when he caught sight of a familiar head of red hair from the corner of his eyes.


    "��huh?"


    He looked up hurriedly and spotted the red-haired figure shuffle through a bunch of adventurers at the guild building doors with his eyes widening in shock.


    "No fucking way it is her��"


    Pride who heard his words was about to ask him what he was talking about, only for the young hero to shoot up from his seat and rush towards the exit of the guild.


    "Huh? Where are you going?"


    ? The young hero didn''t even notice that Eliza hade over to where he was and called out to him, leaving the young battle priestess momentarily shocked.


    While Pride was debating if she should follow him, Evan was moving through a crowd of people, trying to find that red-haired figure who he just caught a glimpse of.


    ''It could literally be another redhead, I mean, she''s not the only one on the.


    So why do I feel so strongly that it''s her.''

 Chapter 349 Awkward Reunion

    ''It could literally be another redhead, I mean, she''s not the only one on the.


    So why do I feel so strongly that it''s her.''


    A few people on the road recognised Evan and started a lightmotion but the young hero slipped into a dark alley and activated his concealment skill before slipping back out through the crowd of people.


    Luckily for him, his target had momentarily stopped to get something at a roadside stall, so by the time he came back out after avoiding the people who noticed him, he was still within range.


    Eventually, the person turned into an alley, with Evan dashing after them rapidly and entering the alley right after them, only to not see anyone in the alley.


    "Huh?"


    "Don''t move."


    Hearing that familiar voice and seeing the all too familiar magic catalyst floating in front of him with the glow of magic power made the young hero stop in his tracks.


    ''This is definitely the ''As of Memories''. There''s no doubt, it''s her.''


    The young hero slowly turned around to face the person who had a dagger up at his back, with her eyes widening when the person in question saw his face.


    "This is one hell of a reunion, don''t you think?"


    It was the red-haired and-eyed mage with who he braved the Spider Nest Dungeon together.


    The mebourne Mage, Merle.


    �� �� ��


    The red-haired mage was lost for words upon setting locking eyes with the person who she sensed was tailing her.


    Those iconic pair of grey pupils and that strange golden crest were two things she wasn''t sure she could ever forget.


    "Evan��"


    "Long time no see."


    "��yes.


    It has been a while."


    Merle replied as she lowered the dagger in her hand, slowly putting it back into the sheath on her waist before asking.


    "How''ve��you been?"


    "Fine��been a bit busy for a while now."


    "Cool.


    Though that much was obvious, given all the rumours going around recently."


    "True��haha."


    The young hero spoke with a wry smile on his face, actually not knowing what else to say as while he chased after the red-eyed woman, he never thought about what would happen after he found her.


    In fact, the moment he saw her, this strange sense of guilt started welling up inside him, telling him that it was his fault that the red-haired mage and her sister suffered life-threatening injuries due to Xakon''s actions and that it was his fault that theirpanion, Nodin, died.


    "You and��your sister.


    You guys have been doing okay, right?"


    "Yeah, we have.


    I heard from the Bishop who came by, that you were the one who told her to heal us. Thank you."


    "Oh��that. I did make that request.


    Don''t worry about that, it was kinda��"


    "Kinda?"


    "Never mind."


    Her words brought light to one of Evan''sst requests before he left Bonas that faithful day, and what he had asked Amelie about when he met her yesterday.


    But besides that, the redhead naturally noticed something was off about the way that the boy was acting. From what she could infer from the few days they interacted, he wasn''t one to act the way he was right now, it felt different, very much so.


    She could also notice traces of guilt in his expression but could not seem to understand the reason why. Just as she wanted to ask something, another person ''barged'' into the alley where the two were, with this new entrant''s emerald eyes winding upon seeing Evan.


    "You��"


    "Hey.


    Long-time no see."


    It was the timid-looking ck-haired half-elf younger sister of Merle''s, the shielder Ina."


    "Yeah.


    It''s been a while."


    She repeated the exact same words her sister had said earlier, right before an awkward silence descended on the area.


    Just as Evan was thinking of what to say, a familiar high demon showed up at the entrance of the alley, holding up amunication device that Evan recognized.


    "Sorry to spoil your little reunion, but Evan, we gotta go."


    Evan noticed the blinking light on the device and inferred that the Duke was most likely contacting him about the ''Second Sword, nodding in agreement as he bid his farewells to the two sisters.


    "Once again��d to see you guys are okay.


    I''d be heading out now, if you guys face any trouble, you can contact me using the guild card system.


    You still have me registered, right?"


    "Yeah��"


    "Okay. See you."


    He then walked towards Pride and collected themunication device from her hands, epting the iing transmission before speaking into it.


    "What''s up Duke."


    [The Second Sword is here.]


    Meanwhile, the high demon who was left behind with the two sisters turned and gave them a momentary nce in silence.


    Merle also did the same, noticing the familiar sword that was hanging from Pride''s waist as she had remembered Evan having that weapon when they were in Geto.


    Even more so was the mark on the back of the demon''s palm that was exactly the same as the one that Evan had.


    The high demon on the other hand, just stared at them in silence, before sighing and turning away, walking towards Evan who was getting surrounded by a crowd of people on the street.


    And thus, ended the awkward reunion between Evan and the two adventurer sisters.


    On a side note, both of them were still C rankers.


    �� �� ��


    Cab Meeting Room, Lord''s Castle.


    Bultom Dungeon City


    Cheverton Duchy


    April 22nd


    Year 1052


    As the evening sun cast its long shadows on the ground, with the nting rays of the setting star giving a warm orange tinge to the sky, the day workers of the Great Western Empire began rounding up their activities while the night workers began preparations to start their job hours.


    At this exact same time, the cab meeting room in the Bultom Lord''s castle was upied by multiple people, with eight of them seated around therge round table in the middle while the others stood a few metres behind them.


    Some of them were lightly chatting with each other when the two double doors of the room mmed open to reveal the appearance of a young ck-haired teenager about five feet five inches in height.


    "Hello Everybody, wonderful weather we''ve had today, don''t you think?


    It''s almost perfect for us to discuss how we''re going to deal with a certain necromancer who happens to be hell-bent on wiping out every living thing in this Duchy."


    The boy closed the doors behind him and walked up to the one free seat at the table, cing his hands atop it and taking a look at the faces of all those in the room.


    From his right, the people seated were:


    Duke Charles,


    Bultom''s Lord,


    Fourth Sword Ralphie,


    Second Sword Luke,


    Bishop Amelie,


    Sir Heinr,


    Guild Master Dasyra, and


    Grand Magus Czac.


    Standing behind them were their ''attendants'' who were basically high-ranked Knights or their soldier and adventurer equivalents.


    ''This guy over here''s an S-rank Adventurer, huh? Guild Master Dasyra didn''t disappoint at all.''


    Those were Evan''s thoughts as he momentarily nced at the tinum adventurer tag hanging from the neck of the man standing behind Guild Master Dasyra before speaking.


    "There seem to be quite a few faces I don''t recognize so I''d just do a little self-introduction for the sake of those looking at me with confused gazes.


    For starters, I''m Evan Bourne Eris.


    Also��don''t ask why I''m using ''Bourne'' and not ''Del'', I have my reasons."


    Evan pulled out his seat and took off his jacket, draping it over the chair before taking a seat and pulling out a few memory gems from his inventory.


    "Now, that''s out of the way. Let''s get down to business, shall we?"


    He began cing the memory gems into the magic projector on the table as he continued speaking.


    "I''m sure that most of you have been briefed, but once again, for the sake of those joining us for the first time, I''m gonna make a quick rundown on events.


    The Cheverton Duchy has seen a drastic rise in undead-rted incidents within the past month, and the reason is because of a certain group of individuals you''ve all been told about.


    They''re called the Demonic Hand.


    Their goal here is to wipe out every living being in the Duchy, turning them all into Undead which would then go on to mess up the rest of the Great Western Empire.


    As for why they are doing this, don''t bother asking, I''m not allowed to tell you that."


    He dropped the magic projector back on the table before turning towards Heinr who looked like he had a question and speaking.


    "Hold on, let me finish.


    I''d take questionster.


    Now then:


    I''m not here to give you guys a detailed background study of the Demonic Hand, just whatever information about them which concerns this current crisis.


    Starting from the identity of the Demonic Hand Executive that''s responsible for all these undead."

 Chapter 350 Planning Assembly I

    Evan turned on the magic projector and let it project the images stored in the memory gems he inserted into the air.


    "These images as you can see, show what was left of the twelve cities in Graugro after it was decimated by Undead twenty-five years ago.


    The necromancer responsible for this is the same one who''s aiming toy waste to this Duchy right now.


    Of the ''Ten Fingers'' of the ''Demonic Hand'', the organization''s executives, he is the ''Eighth.


    The man who ''Peruses the Doctrine of Death'', Death lord Dominik Vk."


    "Death lord? Is that what he''s called or that''s what you''re calling him?


    And what''s this about perusing the ''Doctrine of Death''?"


    The Second Sword of the Great Western Empire, Sir Luke Bowthe asked this question on behalf of all those present, with Evan turning to him and replying.


    "The ''Death Lord'' is hisbat ss name, while the title ''Doctrine of Death'' title is something possessed by everyone who has a rtively high level of proficiency with a certain type of series skill.


    You can ask Jenson about it, he has a simr title, just for the Lightning Element instead."


    Evan took his hands off the magic projector as he continued speaking.


    "The Eighth Finger, Dominik, is not the only major threat to the Duchy.


    Hees together with his contractor, an existence named Zacr; the one who is responsible for the ''theft'' of the tens of thousands of undead monsters that formerly inhabited Bultom City''s Dungeons.


    The third major threat is one that is more hell-bent on razing Bultom City to the ground before even thinking about the rest of the Duchy, an undead monster that was formerly in one of Bultom''s Dungeons.


    His name is Vazgan Theoregrim, and he holds the title ''Duhan King''.


    Seven out of every ten Duhans you''ve seen since the undead began their attacks are most likely under hismand."


    When Evan spoke Vazgan''sst name, the expression on the face of Bultom''s lord turned strange for a moment, something that didn''t escape the young hero''s eyes.


    "We''d address Vazgan''s motive at ater time.


    For today, I am going to simply give you a rundown of the information I have on the Eighth Finger and Zacr, as well as the n to take out the undead that they have hidden all over the Duchy in a simultaneous attack just like the undead had done earlier in the month.


    Thest topic of discussion, for now, would be the n to deal with one of the nobles who has unfortunately chosen to side with the Demonic Hand, Count Falos."


    And so began Evan''s information dump.


    He spoke about the little he was allowed to, starting from the Eighth Finger''s ability to deploy some sort of domain where anyone who died within instantly turned into an undead.


    "You all should have heard about this phenomenon from the survivors of the undead attack on Saunau."


    He went on to talk about Zacr''s expansive space where he could store undead numbering in the hundreds of thousands, also exining a certain troublesome concealment ability that the demon possessed.


    "Zacr can conceal the huge amount of death aura characteristic of high-level necromancers, as well as the Demonic Energy that he possesses, making it he can be easily mistaken as a normal human being with high levels of proficiency in dark magic.


    Thankfully, I know what he looks like and I have an appraisal skill to confirm so it''s not gonna be a problem identifying him."


    After that, he talked a bit more about them, answering the questions that he could while just letting them hear the weird static noise that obscured his voice when they asked him questions that he could not answer.


    He briefly dwelt on the personalities of the Eighth Finger and Zacr, as well as other important aspects of the two men, before ending it with a very ominous-sounding statement.


    "I''m gonna say this now, but among the ''Ten Fingers'' of the Demonic Hand, the ''Eighth Finger'' is actually one of the hardest to defeat.


    Although his individual strength makes him rank Eighth, he isn''t exactly Eighth in the level of difficulty.


    One of the reasons for this is his massive army of hundreds of thousands of undead creatures.


    When you think about the sheer number of undead that have been destroyed in the past month, it''s more than a hundred thousand already and the guy still has more than that amount stored away in various locations.


    And this isn''t counting the new undead that came about after he had the people who died in the course of these attacks turned into undead creatures; I''m talking just from his personal stash of undead.


    That alone is enough to show you just how much of a pain it would be to deal with this guy, as well as the reason why I pushed for arge number of troops to be sent over."


    The young hero leaned back on his chair and yawned loudly, before pulling out a juice pack from his inventory and downing its contents.


    "Although we have stronger individual soldier strength, the guy outnumbers us by arge margin so we''re gonna have to put in a lot more effort in fighting against him.


    I can almost swear we''re gonna have an easier time dealing with the Thir-, I mean, ''Sixth'' and ''Seventh'' fingers."


    Thetter half of his statement was more of a mutter to himself than a statement to them, but it was impossible for the ears of anyone in the room to miss his words.


    "You were about to say ''Third'' just now, weren''t you?


    What about the ''Third'', or ''Second'', are they harder to deal with than this Necromancer?"


    The Grand Magus, Sir Czac spoke up, asking Evan a question that a few of the people who heard his mutter wished to ask, however, the boy''s reaction was strange.


    He slowly dropped the empty Juice pack in his hands onto the table, before turning in the direction of the Grand Magus and giving him a nk stare before replying.


    "If the ''Fourth Finger'' was to step foot into this Duchy right now, then all of Cheverton would simply cease to exist within no more than half an hour."


    Evan''s words brought sombre expressions to the faces of the listeners; however, the boy wasn''t done speaking.


    "If any of the First three fingers were toe here, then the Great Western Empire in its entirety would simply cease to exist in a shorter time frame than that.


    And I''m not talking about just merely destroying the major cities or wiping out the royal capital.


    I mean the only thing that''d be left would just be a giant ''Great Western Empire-sized hole'' in the continent, one that''d probably go as deep as the''s mantle and would form a new sea in the Alpha continent after the water from the ocean fills it up."


    Seeing the expressions of shock on the faces of all those present, the boy leaned back in his seat before finishing his words.


    "Let''s not talk about those guys now, okay? Especially the ''Second Finger''. Just thinking about that person gives me goosebumps.


    Let''s go back to discussing what we can handle with our strengths.


    Likeunching an attack to wipe out the Eighth Finger''s undead stashes hidden across the Duchy."


    Evan pulled out nearly a dozen copies of the map he had Faerora mark the day before, sharing them with those present before turning to the Duke and asking.


    "How has the mobilization been going?"


    "��So far so good.


    Since you gave me the locations yesterday, I''ve already had my soldiers and Knights begin taking action, all while preventing the other nobles from discovering the true details pertaining to the reason for their movements."


    "You''re not even letting your own people know about the attack?"


    Sir Heinr voiced out his question as he looked at the ces pointed on the map where the Church''s coalition force was supposed to attack.


    "We have a few traitors here and there."


    Evan spoke up after hearing his words, however, before Heinr could say anything in response, the boy dropped another casual bomb.


    "Don''t be so smug yet, the churches have their own share of traitors who have sided with the Demonic Hand too."


    The boy ignored the stunned expression on the faces of both Heinr and the other pdins standing behind him, turning his gaze to the Second Sword and asking.


    "Sir Luke, for this operation, we would be needing two of your elite soldier divisions, along with theirmanding officers."


    He tilted his head to the side and gazed at the rank insignias on the uniforms of the military men behind him, identifying their ranks as he asked.


    "Is that alright with you, Majors?"


    "You n to split the two divisions into four Brigades and have them assist the attacks in four different points?"


    "As expected of you Sir Luke, you instantly predicted what I was nning on doing."


    Evan perfunctorily ttered the Second Sword as he pulled out a few files from his inventory and marked some things with his pen before passing the files over to Luke who looked them over.


    "The men have only just arrived today. Even if they are all master-level existences, they''d need to rest a bit before mobilisation."

 Chapter 351 Planning Assembly II

    "The men have only just arrived today. Even if they are all master-level existences, they''d need to rest a bit before mobilisation."


    "I know, that''s why I had the Duke tell you to leave some men at certain locations on your way here. It would reduce the number of soldiers we need to mobilise tomorrow.


    Basically, they have tonight to rest as we move tomorrow with the intention of attacking on the 24th."


    Sir Czac frowned when he heard the time frame that Evan had given, tapping the spots on the maps where Evan had assigned Kasteblum''s mages as he spoke.


    "You told me this earlier in the morning but isn''t this time frame a bit too short?"


    "We have no choice but to move fast, Sir Czac."


    Evan dropped the papers in his hands on the desk, lightly ncing at the servants and technicians who were bringing in more magic projection artifacts to set up in the room, nodding in satisfaction before turning to continue his reply to the Grand Magus.


    "You see, the ''captive'' Senior member of the Demonic Hand from who I sourced this information, was under a magic binding contract that initially prevented them from speaking.


    Bishop Amelie over here, helped me in breaking that contract so we could acquire updated information on the Demonic Hand''s operations.


    A Grand Magus like you should know that if a Magic contract is broken, the other party involved in the said contract is alerted in a different manner than they would be if the contracted person dies."


    "So, you''re saying that the Eighth Finger knows that the contract has been broken and that the person you captured is still alive?"


    "Yes, and he knows that they were not in service to him willingly. I mean, why would he put such a contract if they were?


    But basically, since he knows that said person is very likely to spill information if they are not inhibited by the magic contract, he would take actions in response to the possibility of Leaked Information."


    "Leaving us no choice but to act fast, huh?"


    "Exactly, Sir Czac."


    Evan yawned lightly as he replied to the Grand Magus, looking the browned-haired man in the eyes before continuing.


    "Anyone who''s too tired to move can be left behind, they''d just work extra hard when the timees to defend Bultom against Vazgan''s Duhans and the Eighth Finger''s Death Knights."


    "Also��just so you''re aware. You, Grand Magus Czac, are one of the few people that Joanna Ritz, theziest woman I know, actually made the effort tomend.


    I expect good things from you and your men."


    The man''s brows twitched as he instantly realised what Evan was ying at by saying those words, especially in the presence high ranked dignitaries present.


    "��You sure you''re just a thirteen-year-old kid?"


    "I am.


    Just that Ie with an extra experience package up here."


    The boy pointed to his temple as he spoke, before tilting his head to the side and muttering softly.


    "The >^0ldy4@HuB8z`W9!


    Well��can''t say that."


    Upon hearing the weird static noise that just rang out in all their ears, Guild Master Dasyra passed the map in her hands to the S-rank adventurer behind her as she spoke.


    "No matter how many times I hear it, I can''t get used to that weird noise."


    "You can have the Duke give you a little briefing about the rest of the information you need to know in order to for me to speak freely at ater date."


    While asionally making quips like that, the group continued with their ns for the simultaneous attack, ensuring that their forces were appropriately distributed and taking precautions to ensure the operation was carried out with the fewest number of casualties possible.


    It was a simple operation, however, they could not n ''simply'' and had to be more meticulous about their preparations due to the huge number of forces that would be moving for this operation.


    The Duke shared the ns that they devised with the Commanding Officers of the military bases that were located nearest to the points of attack, and asked them to prepare the soldiers stationed at those bases for the attacks.


    Meanwhile, the Guild Master did the same with the other Guild Masters who were from the the cities and towns that were located closest to the points of attack.


    Thesemunications were carried out with the aid of multiple simultaneous magic projections that were activated in the meeting room.


    Those present, including the militarymanding officers, guild masters, and Pdins, were able to listen in on the discussions regarding the ns that were being developed.


    Evan did make a quip about this being a ''Group Video Call'' but none of those who heard understood exactly what he meant.


    A few of them had problems with Evan presiding over the meeting, taking issue with the fact that he was just a child and saying that hecked experience, and had none of the necessary qualifications to be involved in issues of such critical importance.


    The others, however, immediately recognized the faces of some of the people who were sitting with Evan and they instantly understood that for people of high level of power and authority like the Duke of Cheverton and a highest ranked Pdin of the Church to listen to him, then the boy''s words must hold weight.


    In spite of this, a few of the Guild masters still raised issues with Evan''s B rank adventurer qualifications, with the young hero taking the chance tosh out at his detractors, mention a few of his ''feats'' and dere his influence.


    "Before I am a ''B ranker'' in the adventurers guild, ''I'' am Evan Eris, ''son'' of Duke Roger Del Eris, the Prime Minister of the Country you live in.


    I am also the heir to one of the Great Western Empire''s most prominent noble families.


    Do you really think that your positions as mere guild masters of random cities and towns in Cheverton mean anything against my identity?


    Even if I wasn''t the Duke''s heir, I am still a high noble that you would normally not have the right to even speak to without my permission."


    Closing the files in his hands, the boy leaned forward, ncing at all the magic projected images as he continued.


    "In the Great Western Empire, I am the one person who knows the most about the organization behind these undead attacks, the one trying to murder millions of people and turn them all into undead."


    He pointed at one of the guild masters who had issues with him beforeshing at him.


    "You��do you really think your city would have been able to survive the Undead''s simultaneous attack without my interference?


    Who do you think it was that told the Duke to send over soldiers and knights to aid your city in defending against the tens of thousands of undead that attacked your city three weeks ago?


    To help protect the dozens of thousands of people living in that city?


    You think your city would have been able to survive being attacked by three Grandmaster level liches if it wasn''t for me telling the Duke to send his trusted men to help your asses?"


    Turning to another one of the guild master''s projections, he gave that one a disdainful look as he spoke.


    "And you, just who do you think captured and interrogated the ''prisoner'' who revealed the locations of all these undead-filled locations we are nning to attack?


    Allowing us to discover the fact that there are tens of thousands of undead hidden underground in an abandoned town that''s barely 25 kilometres away from your city.


    If those undead were to attack you right now, you think the adventurers and knights in your city would be able to do a thing against them?"


    Lastly, he turned towards one of the Majors, propping up his chin on his palm while his elbow rested on the armrest of his seat before speaking.


    "As for you, let''s take out the fact that you are raising issues with me while the Lieutenant General over here, who happens to be your superior officer is on board with me.


    Do you really think I can''t see the envy in your eyes?"


    The boy''s expression turned smug as he activated his blessing of destruction, letting the red aura visibly show as he spoke.


    "You jealous you weren''t a Level 230 existence at the age of thirteen?"


    Even though those on the other ends of the magic projections could not really feel Evan''s aura at the moment, the changes in the expressions of the Grandmaster level existences seated beside him were enough to tell them that the red aura surrounding the boy''s body was ''no joke''.


    "Besides, I know your family name. You''re from a noble family that is in an opposing faction to my Eris Family.


    Hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of being killed by the undead and here you are, trying to turn this into something political?"

 Chapter 352 Planning Assembly III

    "Besides, I know your family name. You''re from a noble family that is in an opposing faction to my Eris Family.


    Hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of being killed by the undead and here you are, trying to turn this into something political?"


    The Major visibly flinched upon hearing Evan''s words, with Luke sending him a side nce filled with annoyance which he unfortunately noticed.


    Evan, however, ignored this and spoke to all of them at once, deciding to end this farce and get back on to more important issues.


    "I know that besides these three, there are others among you who have one or two ''issues'' with me but decided to put those aside for now and prioritize the wellbeing of the people who would be affected if the undead we are nning to take out were to attack the cities and towns nearest to them.


    For that, I give you my respect.


    I also know that some of you have given some thought to what I''m about to say but I''m still going to state it.


    The Chief Grand Magus of Kasteblum and the High Priests of the Church of Artemisia dispatched Grand Magus Czac, one of their highest-ranked Pdins, Sir Heinr, and even their future cardinal, Bishop Amelie, all because of me.


    Because I asked.


    I was the one who asked for them toe over here, I was also part of the reason the Emperor dispatched thousands of soldiers on active duty to the Duchy.


    There''s also the Prime Minister who dispatched a battalion of Knights, and the Duke of Cheverton over here, who actually takes my words and opinions seriously.


    Take a moment to think about why these people with higher identities, authority, and more power, are actually listening to me."


    The young hero ended his speech, taking out a new set of files from his inventory and sharing them with the Duke, Ralphie, Dasyra, Heinr and Second Sword Luke.


    "Now that''s out of the way, let''s go over everything once more before we conclude this segment."


    Duke Charles spoke up as he collected the files from Evan''s hands, tacitly giving his approval to the young hero for his handling of the situation.


    They went over their ns for attack once more, before ending that segment of the meeting and terminating the magic projections.


    On a side note, those who were contacted were all made to swear oaths of secrecy so that the fact that Ralphie and Luke were currently in Cheverton would not get leaked.


    And besides Evan''s weird insistence on them having more than two backup ns, nothing too strange happened till they were done with that segment of their meeting.


    They then moved on to the next segment where they discussed Evan''s n to deal with Count Falos, as well as the other members of the demonic hand hiding in his territory.


    "Your n is quite wed.


    How sure are you that the Count would react exactly how you want him to?"


    "About 70%.


    If he doesn''t, then I''d have to go with n B."


    Evan shrugged his shoulders as he replied to Luke''s words, with the Duke frowning lightly as he looked at the description of Evan''s ''n B''.


    "These ''ns'' of yours, none of them take into ount the safety of the tens of thousands of people living in the County''s capital city."


    From the things he saw in the description, attacking Count Falos would require a battle between thousands of soldiers and undead monsters, the kind that civilians with an average level of 20-30 would not be able to survive being in the vicinity of.


    As the Duke of the Duchy, it was simply impossible for him to agree with such a n that ced citizens at risk.


    "I know, this is where youe in, Duke."


    "What?"


    "As at the time of the attack on the 24th; ''Duke Charles would not be in Bultom City anymore, but in the Capital of the Duchy''.


    And due to the information that you ''received'' that there might be undead from Pad moving in on the Falos County''s capital, you would order an evacuation of the city, ''from the capital of the Duchy'', which the Count would have no choice but toply with since he doesn''t want to blow his cover yet."


    Hearing Evan''s words, Duke Charles instantly understood what the boy was aiming at.


    "That''s how you intend to clear out the County''s capital, huh?"


    "Yes.


    If things go as nned, then the battle should not escape the Count''s estate, with the exception of the asional stray attacks of course."


    "And when do you n to have this carried out?"


    "On the 25th, with soldiers and adventurers that would not participate in the attacks on the undead on the day before.


    I also n to have Ralphiee over with me as a masked ''S-rank'' adventurer."


    Upon hearing his name being called out, the blonde man alternated his gaze between Evan and the papers in his hands, before pointing out something he found odd.


    "Are A ranked adventurers not enough to deal with the Count''s Demonic Hand contacts?"


    "Oh, they can.


    You''re insurance in the event of a worst-case scenario."


    "And what is this worst-case scenario?"


    "The ''Eighth Finger'' appears in person."


    Sir Czac tilted his head in confusion as he listened to the two talk, voicing out a question right after Evan spoke.


    "Is this Count that important to the Eighth Finger?"


    "You could say so."


    Ralphie looked at the young hero with narrowed eyes while the boy stylishly avoided the man''s gaze. Noticing this, he instantly arrived at a conclusion.


    ''There''s something else he isn''t telling.


    Is it because he can''t, or he just doesn''t want to?''


    Despite noticing that Evan was still hiding things, Ralphie said nothing and let the discussions proceed calmly, with them moving on to other important things.


    Of course, Evan still insisted on them having multiple backup ns, just in case things went haywire.


    By the time they concluded their meeting, the stars were shining brightly in the night sky. The attendants behind each of those present were dismissed, leaving only the nine of them who were seated in the room.


    "After capturing the Count, he''d be tried and punished ording to the Empire''sws. Then we can start discussions for when Vazgan decides to move in on Bultom City."


    Just as the Lord of Bultom was about to ask why Evan was so sure that the Duhan King would attack the city, the boy lightly mmed his fist into his open palm and eximed as if he had just remembered something.


    "I almost forgot.


    Duke, Ralphie, Sir Luke, any of you would be okay.


    Can you guys tell the Emperor that after this undead situation, he should ce more grandmaster-level guards around Laurene?"


    "Huh?


    The Princess is already guarded by multiple grandmasters."


    "I know.


    And I''m telling you to double or triple it if you can."


    "What?"


    Evan sighed when he heard Luke''s confused voice, tossing everything in his hands into his inventory as he spoke.


    "I''m a bit tired so I''d just go straight to the point.


    Since Laurene publicly revealed her�� ''special eyes'' a few months ago, she has inadvertently made herself a target for the Demonic Hand. cing herself at the top of their hit list."


    The expressions of Luke, Ralphie and Duke Charles turned strange for the nth time today as Evan casually dropped another bomb.


    "Sure, it would help both ''us'' and the Great Western Empire in the future, but that action was a double-edged sword."


    Evan stood up from his seat and stretched his body before continuing with his words.


    "Laurene and I are potential threats to the Demonic Hand.


    The difference is that while the Demonic Hand are aware of Laurene, they don''t know about me as I have made sure to keep my ''identity'' hidden, with all the members of the Demonic Hand who have recognized my eyes either dead or ''captive''.


    As such right now, I''m at most, a kid with ''strange eyes'' to them.


    However, that would change when I and the Eighth Finger meet for the first time while my eyes are active.


    The man is not stupid, he would recognize my ''identity'' and definitely have this information sent back to their headquarters.


    And since it ismon knowledge that Laurene and I are close, it would appear to the Demonic Hand that two potential threats are close and that''s not something they''d like


    As such, they would move to take us out in earnest.


    While locking on to me won''t be so easy given that I''m always on the move, it''s not the same for Laurene.


    Everyone knows she''s in the capital, so it''d be easier for them to get a handle on her movements and plot against her ordingly."


    When he was done speaking, he yawned lightly before taking out a juice pack from his inventory and sipping from it.

 Chapter 353 Planning Assembly IV

    When Evan was done speaking, he yawned lightly before taking out a juice pack from his inventory and sipping from it.


    On the other hand, the Second Sword Luke who was about to speak, stopped and looked at Ralphie and Duke Charles, before gazing at the guild master looking at Dasyra, Sir Czac and Sir Heinr.


    Evan noticed this and was initially confused as to what they were doing, but then a certain idea popped into his mind a momentter as he tossed his juice pack into his inventory and spoke out loud.


    "Hero of &HMH!OOl"


    The boy''s words and the weird static sound caught the attention of all those present in the room, with Evan shrugging his shoulders and asking.


    "How much of that did all of you hear?"


    "��I heard ''Hero of'' and then the weird noise obscured the rest."


    "As I thought, Laurene really has told you guys that we''re Heroes.


    Is that girl crazy?! Why the fuck would she do that when she knows that she would receive repercussions for doing so?!"


    Evan''s mmed his fist on the table as he eximed, his sudden outburst surprising them all as they didn''t expect the boy to suddenly get angry.


    "Tsk...And I can''t even ask you what repercussions she received because she wouldn''t let you guys notice it even if she was coughing out blood and losing her levels."


    The boy angrily sat down back on his seat, before taking a deep breath to calm himself down.


    "Please tell me she didn''t tell you guys how many we are?"


    "��"


    "��she did, didn''t she?"


    "...she didn''t exactly state so, but she gave us enough hints to make an inference."


    Evan could only sigh when he heard Ralphie''s dyed reply, turning to Sir Czac and asking.


    "Did the Chief Grand Magus tell you everything?"


    "��He told me some things but I doubt what he told me was everything."


    "I see."


    Turning towards Amelie and Sir Heinr, he asked.


    "And I''m guessing Artemisia told you two."


    When they nodded in affirmation the young hero counted the people in the room, momentarily sinking into his thoughts right after.


    "There are eight listeners, six were previously aware and two were not.


    Normally, I still wouldn''t be able to say a thing, but the fact that I was able to speak is probably because of my lessened restrictions.


    Meaning if majority of the people I''m speaking to are aware, I would not be prohibited from disclosing certain bits of information."


    His eyes shed with a strange light as he muttered all this to himself, sighing in exasperation before running a hand through his hair and speaking.


    "Going over this again, Laurene and I are Heroes and a threat to the Demonic Hand.


    The knowledge that two of the heroes who are future threats to them are getting along is not good news to them so they''re gonna take action to nip us in the bud.


    So inform the Emperor as soon as you can and get him to ce more protection around his daughter.


    That''s all."


    He stood up and walked towards the door before anyone could even say anything in response to his statement.


    "I''m going to take a breather before we get back to work"


    Leaving those words, he opened the door and teleported somewhere using his skill.


    �� �� ��


    It was almost midnight when Evan and the Duke, along with the other Officer ranked military personnel finally finished their work for the day.


    They were handling all the matters rted to the mobilization of the corps that the Second Sword had arrived from the capital with, further renewing the boy''s desire to take all of the Eighth Finger''s money.


    "I don''t think I''ve ever seen such a huge amount of money reduce to zero within just a few hours."


    The boy flipped a gold coin in his hands as he tossed his jacket on a random chair, after removing the badges and insignias on it and cing them in his inventory.


    "Ralphie really brought a good number of formal outfits tailored for me by the Duchess.


    Some were slightlyrger but the others fit perfectly, making me wonder just how she figured out my size.


    Did she just guess or she used Arnold as a reference?"


    He stared at themunication device in his hands that had a direct line to the Duchess, before sighing and tossing it back into his inventory, deciding to think about other matters for now.


    ''Each of the ''Ten Great Swordsmen'' has an honorary military rank, huh?


    Now that''s something that was only mentioned in passing in the game. As such, I didn''t know just what army ranks they would be given.


    After all, during the war quest, the Ten Great Swordsmen had their hands full with the Seven Star Generals and the Demonic Hand to care about leading troops to battle.


    But to think that the ''Second Sword'' was a Lieutenant general.


    That''s like the third highest Army rank possible.''


    Evan copsed weakly on his bed without even bothering to take off the rest of his clothes, staring at the ceiling in silence as he thought about the sheer number of troops that the Second Sword hade over to Cheverton with.


    ''Five Divisions, that''s at least fifty thousand soldiers.


    Plus the twelve thousand already here, and the seven thousand from the Church, along with thousands of adventurers, Knights of Cheverton, and Mages of Kasteblum.


    Adding the military personnel already under the Duke''smand, we''re looking at a force that''s more than a hundred thousand strong here.


    Just what battlefield are they all gonna fit on?''


    He sat up and picked up a map of the Cheverton Duchy, looking at the estimated area that the North Western Savannas covered and sighing in relief.


    "It''srge enough to amodate that many soldiers, the undead they''d be fighting, and still barely have just enough space for Grandmaster-level battles to ur without coteral damage and friendly fire.


    Though it''d be a different case if the grandmaster-level undead mix in with the random mobs, that''s when things are gonna be tricky.


    What''s more, the ''hidden boss'' fight between the Second Sword and the Eighth Finger''s trump card; that''s another point of notice.


    Because, anything or anyone lesser than A rank level within the vicinity of the area where the Second Sword and the Eighth Finger''s trump card fight, would die, even Ralphie and the Duke would be injured if they aren''t careful."


    Evan sighed as he thought about how he was going to have to exin his n for the inevitable scenario where Vazgan attacked Bultom City, as well as the strategy for dealing with the Eighth Finger''s trump card, while not being able to tell them about said trump card.


    "I''m getting a headache just thinking about it."


    The boy''s brow twitched in annoyance as heid back on his bed and stared at the ceiling once more.


    "I feel stressed out.


    I wanna vent out my stress on something.


    Guess I''m gonna have to use the undead to vent, huh?"


    And like so, the young hero dered a future fight scene within the next few chapters of the Arc, before slowly drifting to sleep right after.

 Chapter 354 Operation Synchro I

    On-field Command Centre


    Unnamed City Outskirts


    Cheverton Duchy


    April 24th


    Year 1052


    [The time is 0540 hours in the morning with clear skies out there; the weather should not be an obstacle in the way of the operation.]


    [All personnel in position for the final Briefing of Operation Synchro.]


    The voices from the speakers roused Evan from his short nap as he wiped his eyes with a wet cloth and got to his feet, standing at the head of the table surrounded by multiple high-ranked military personnel, pdins, senior mages and their adventurer equivalents.


    [The targets of the Operation are the undead monsters situated close to the current positions of each Brigade/Group.


    Each Location is estimated to have between fifteen to twenty thousand undead monster units, with average levels ranging between 100 and 150,manded by superior undead units at the early Grandmaster level.


    Our enemies outnumber us slightly; however, this was never a battle of numbers in the first ce. We are going with a battle of quality over quantity.]


    The Duke''s voice continued to ring out through the speakers, just like it was doing so in the other dozen other locations where the Brigades consisting of the Knights of Cheverton, Holy Knights of the Church, Soldiers of the Army, Mages of Kasteblum and Adventurers were currently lying in wait.


    He quickly rounded up the operation briefing in less than five minutes, leaving them about fifteen minutes to round up their final checks.


    [The Time is now 0545 hours.


    We would bemencing the operation in exactly 15 minutes. All positions, confirm your targets.]


    "Position A; Targets Confirmed!"


    [Position B; Targets Confirmed!]


    [Position C; Targets Confirmed!]


    [Position D; Targets Confirmed!]


    [Position E; Targets Confirmed!]


    [Unexpected Report on Position F; We do not have visuals on the targets.


    I SAY AGAIN, we do not have visuals on the targets!]


    Hearing the unexpected message from the sixth position, Evan clicked his tongue lightly, before grabbing the microphone next to the radio receivers and speaking into it.


    "Position F; Anythinging up on your sensors?"


    [NEGATIVE! The sensors aren''t detecting any presence of any sort within the target area.]


    "Spread out your search radius by two or more kilometres and try again."


    [ACKNOWLEDGED!]


    After a few moments of silence, the radio went live again and a response came in through the speakers.


    [Position F''smander speaking.


    NEGATIVE response on the expanded search radius. We do not detect any presence within the target areas!]


    Hearing the still unfavourable response, Evan sighed in exasperation before muttering softly.


    "Those ones have been moved already."


    Hearing his words, a few of the pdins who were present during the meeting two days ago frowned involuntarily as this situation was one of the ones that they had wanted to avoid.


    "Position F; HOLD.


    Other positions, report your statuses."


    [Position G; Targets Confirmed!]


    [Position H; Targets Confirmed!]


    [Position I; No Visuals on Targets!]


    [Position J; No Visuals on Targets!]


    [Position K; No Visuals on Targets!]


    [Position L; No Visuals on Targets!


    WAIT!


    DISREGARD PREVIOUS TRANSMISSION-OUT


    Expanding Search Radius by 3 Kilometres.]


    [Position L; Presences detected moving west of the target area!


    Do we move in to engage?]


    Evan moved his right hand across the map, spotting where Position L was and asking the military officers present a few questions beforeing to a conclusion a few secondster.


    "Position L; You have permission.


    Move in with caution. Check your nks and keep your eyes in the air for potential aerial enemies.


    Wyvern-type undead are expected in your area."


    [ACKNOWLEDGED!


    ��


    We have a visual! Three wyvern types and five gryphon types moving in the air!]


    "Keep them within your sights but do not engage yet. You would move out at the exact same time as other groups!"


    [ACKNOWLEDGED!]


    "Position M, any unfavourable reports?"


    [NEGATIVE.


    Confirmed Visual on the Targets!


    Search Radius Expansion reveals no more targets in the area!]


    Evan let out a small sigh of relief before calling out to the groups with negative reports.


    "Positions F, I, J.


    Fall back to the nearest civilian settlements while maintaining vignce. Afterwards, you would await further orders.


    Position K, you are currently south of Position D.


    Move North as reinforcements for Position D."


    [[[[ACKNOWLEDGED!!]]]]


    "All other Positions, reconfirm your targets."


    After giving out thosest orders, Evan returned fullmand back to the Duke and walked out of the tent, kicking off the ground and dashing towards the cliff edge in the distance.


    Upon arriving, he greeted the A-rank adventurers and Senior Mages who were getting into position to begin the operation, before gazing down the cliff''s sloped edge, down at the ruined town at the bottom of the valley.


    "Oh? It''s Little Eli''s boyfriend."


    Evan felt his brow twitch upon hearing that voice, turning around to meet eyes with a young light green-haired woman wearing ck and red themed robes and having a magic catalyst floating beside her.


    The golden guild card hanging from her neck with arge ''A'' printed at the back showed her adventurer rank, with her being one of the major yers for the day''s operation.


    "Morning to you too, Tisha."


    He gave her a light greeting before turning his gaze back to the ruined town at the bottom of the sloping edge while activating his appraisal skill.


    He could see multiple Duhan-type undead monsters and a few lower-level death knights patrolling the area around the town, along with a few spectres on the watchtowers beside the gates.


    ''Everything matches up with what Faerora told me, meaning there''re units of the Demonic Hand in this ce.


    That''s Good.''


    After confirming what he wanted to do, he deactivated his appraisal skill and removed his gaze from the area, lest he identally looked at one of the more powerful undead capable of sensing his gaze before turning back towards Tisha who was staring at him with an amused smile.


    "��what?"


    "Nothing much~"


    ''Strange woman.''


    The boy just barely managed to hold himself back from saying those words out loud, waving her off with a smile and returning to themand centre just in time for the orders for all units to confirm their positions were given.


    [This is the Final Phase.


    Each Brigade would most likely be detected by the undead after this phase. Do we have everyone in ce?]


    After receiving affirmations from all the positions, the Duke began issuing out thest set ofmands.


    [Supports, Begin Casting Support Enhancement Army Magic.]


    As the Duke''s orders went down the chain ofmand, Evan picked up his overcoat and tossed it on, before cing the audio transmitter that he was given on his ear while sighing softly.


    ''So, the higher-ups use these pseudo-Bluetooth devices to ry information mid battles, huh?


    And there''s a sparemunicator that''s just like a pocket watch in case the one on the ear falls off too.''


    After fixing his badges on the pocket of his overcoat, he hung his guild card on his neck and walked back out of the tent to watch the support magicians castingrge-scale buff magic on the troops.


    The audioing in from the radio was routed to the transmitter in his ear as he and the other higher-ups made their way to the front line while listening to the confirmation messages of the other positions.


    [The Time is 0600 hours. All units are confirmed to be in position.


    Commencing Operation at the count of 5.]

 Chapter 355 [Bonus ] Operation Synchro II

    [The Time is 0600 hours.


    Commencing Operation at the count of 5:


    5


    4.


    3.


    2.


    1.


    ''Operation Synchro'' is a go!


    OVER and OUT!]


    The moment that Duke Charles''smand came through, themanding officers on ground issued orders to their respective forces;mencing the operation with the opening act by the Mages and A-ranked Adventurers.


    The early morning sky was brightened up by a plethora of multi-coloured lights shing in the sky, with Evan looking up to see an array of tier 2 and 3 magic circles in the sky.


    All the spells were simultaneously activated, raining down various things, ranging from ming rocks to lightning bolts, water streams, earthen spears and many more.


    Looking at the sight of the colourful spells raining down on this ruined town, a certain thought popped into Evan''s mind, one which he voiced out loud.


    "It''s beautiful��"


    ***KAAABOOOOOOOMMM!!!!


    Even after the rain of spells crashed into the northern part of the town, resulting in arge explosion of blue-coloured mes and ck smoke.


    "Wait up! Didn''t my chemistry teacher say that blue mes aren''t supposed to produce smoke? Then what the fuck am I looking at?!"


    It was honestly a miracle how Evan was able to think about such a thing after seeing the sight part of the town in mes.


    The majority of the adventurers and soldiers around him had their jaws drop in shock as they had never seen so much destruction happening in a single instant.


    One had to understand that this ruined town was a rtivelyrge one, on the verge of being promoted to be called a city.


    Unlike the one where Evan and Lensa fought, this one covered an area of nearly 300-kilometre squares, and thebination of Tier 2 and 3 magic spells fired by the A-ranked adventurers and the mages, had already wiped out one-third of said town.


    It''s only understandable that they were momentarily shocked by this. On a side note, the Tier 3 spells used weren''t even remotely close to the most powerful things in the arsenals of the A-ranked adventurers whounched said spells, and yet, they still dealt much more damage than most master-level existences could at full power.


    In fact, the ones who managed to keep their cool definitely deserved an award for being able to manage that feat.


    However, before the shocked ones could recover, the second wave of magic spell circles lit up the sky once more, taking advantage of their higher elevation to urately target strategic points in the town with high numbers of clustered presences.


    "Fire!"


    With the Major''smand, the second wave of magic spells wasunched towards the town, and just when the foot soldiers were wondering if they''d have anything to do at all, something happened.


    Multiple curved thickyers of ck light manifested above the areas the spells targeted, shielding the town, the undead, and the demonic hand members who managed to survive the first set of spells from further harm.


    The spells exploded upon contact with these magic barriers, however, the barriers remained sturdy, barely cracking as they prevented even the smallest bit of further damage froming to the town.


    Naturally, this rmed everyone watching, as even the ones who had been shocked to a stupor by the earlier explosions recovered their wits almost instantly.


    Seeing this, Evan''s expression narrowed in displeasure as he tossed all thoughts of his chemistry ss out of his head.


    "Liches��"


    "Definitely Liches."


    He heard the voice of the light green-haired A-rank adventurer, moments before a singr figure floated up into the air and gazed at the attacking force over the cliff with its glowing red inferno sights.


    A quick look at it confirmed the presence of a distinct miasma of death flowing out of it. Looking at it caused overwhelming pressure to take hold of the hearts of the weaker members of the attack force.


    Its body was a skeleton, with its bony fingers covered in multiple rings glistening with a bewitching shine that Evan could clearly make out with his enhanced vision.


    It wore a ck robe, darker than the night itself along with a trio of magic artifact nes.


    Evan appraised the monster, with his eyes widening as he grabbed the transmitter on his ear and shouted into it.


    "Cover your ears! Use magic to cover your ears!! Give the order now!!!"


    The boy''s magic-amplified voice was so loud that a lot of soldiers heard him and reflexively did as he said without having to wait for orders from their superiors.


    Even the A-rank adventurers who were initially confused immediately did as told the moment they noticed the lich''s teeth chattering abnormally.


    "KIIIIIIIYYYYAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEKKKKKK!!!!!!!"


    The next thing that resounded across the area was a loud screech that made Evan wonder if this lich had banshee blood in it when it was alive.


    There was a weird ringing sound that reverberated in the ears of those who weren''t fast enough to protect themselves, disorienting them and even making the weaker ones drop to the floor and bleed from their ears.


    Tisha who was beside Evan, instantly reacted, shooting into the air with enough force to crater the ground where she stood as she dashed towards the lich while chanting and activating multiple light magic spells.


    However, in response to the multiple iing Tier 3 magic, the Lich just stopped its weird screech and rose its chin slightly before opening its mouth and speaking with a bone-chilling voice.


    "You are not the onlypetent mage here, woman."


    It rose its bony fingers and summoned a crooked staff which it waved in front of its body while weaving spell formations.


    **BOOMM!!!


    The darkness and light spells exploded into a cloud of grey smoke that signified the start of an aerial battle between the two mages.


    Before the shock of the two grandmaster-level existences fighting could even properly set in, there was another loud explosion from the town,ing from the parts destroyed by the original spell barrage.


    The dust cleared up to reveal a 7 feet tall headless armoured knight, with a dark aura of death emanating from its entire being, dragging arge cleaver on the ground in one hand and holding a helmet in the other.


    Evan didn''t even need to appraise it to tell its grandmaster status, and neither did he even have the peace of mind to as the Duhan rose itsrge cleaver in the air, filled it with an enormous amount of death magic power and swung it downwards all in one swift motion.


    Arge ck sh was released in the direction of the attack troops, tearing a straight line through the town as it headed right for the centre of their forces.


    However, a muscr dwarven shield master blitzed into the path of the sh and mmed hisrge shield down on the ground, generating anotherrger shield construct with magic power just in time for the sh to reach.


    **BOOOOOMMM!!!


    The explosion resounded at the same time as the explosion in the skying from the battle between the A-rank adventurer Tisha and the Lich Beg''dikeec.


    The dwarven A rank adventurer was pushed back slightly, but he stood his ground and red right at the Duhan, with another A rank adventurer jumping over his shield and beelining straight to the undead monster.

 Chapter 356 Operation Synchro III

    As the second battle of the day began, Evan snapped out of it and spoke into the transmitter once more.


    "A rankers, engage the grandmaster level undead.


    Majors, Pdins, get your men to charge in together with the rest of the adventurers.


    Supports; focus on helping those hit by the lich''s sound magic to recover, however, they should not be deployed into battle yet.


    Also��"


    Even if the boy hadn''t spoken, most of the people he had called out to were already moving to carry out their respective duties.


    The shouts of the soldiers and adventurers reverberated across the entire valley as they charged down the slopy cliff, towards the streams of undead monsters that were charging out of the town''s walls to meet them.


    The sight of thousands of men charging into battle against more than ten thousand undead creatures was something Evan could almost swear he wasn''t going to see again after this Duhan Crisis.


    ***KAABOOOMMM!!!!


    Anotherrge explosion resounded across the valley, with Evan turning his eyes just in time to see another grandmaster-level Duhan get sent flying from one end of the town to another after being simultaneously attacked by two A-rank adventurers.


    The Senior Mages from Kasteblum took to the skies to face the duo of liches that appeared right after the first one that Tisha was battling in the sky.


    Evan took a deep breath and activated void steps, running up the carefully ced footholds like he was ascending a flight of stairs.


    He spoke into his transmitter as he activated his concealment skill to mask his presence from the airbornebatants.


    Right after, the eyes of the Senior Mage Evan spoke to shed with a glint as she activated a wind magic spell to knock back the Lich that she and her fellow mages were fighting against.


    Just before the other mages could open their mouths to ask her why she did that and gave the lich distance, they noticed something sh yellow at the corner of their eyes, before they heard a voice ring out.


    "Fracture!"


    **BAAAMMM!!!!


    A lightning-coated fist mmed into the back of the lich, shattering through its magic defences and mming into the back of its skull.


    The force of the hit sent it flying towards the mages, reaching them just in time for that senior mage to finish chanting her Tier 3 magic spell.


    A three-ringed red magic circle manifested below them, with a giant arm construct of mes emerging from within and grabbing the lich''s unprotected body.


    The poor undead was set aze before it could even have a chance to form any spells, even so, the tier 3 spell wasn''t done yet.


    The arm construct of mes shot up into the air like a rocket, ascending a few kilometres into the sky.


    While this was happening, the other senior mages snapped out of their shocks and called out shortened chants for powerful tier 2 magic spells of the lightning and fire attributes, which theyunched towards the ascending ming fist.


    With impable timing, the spells all hit the fist at the same time that the magemanded it to detonate, resulting in a huge powerful explosion lighting up the sky.


    The explosion was so powerful that its shockwaves reached Evan and the mages even though they were a few kilometres away from it.


    [I just levelled up, it''s dead.]


    Hearing the voice of the mage from his transmitter, Evan nodded before amplifying his voice with magic and shouting out.


    "One of the liches is dead!!


    A-rankers! Steer the other Grandmaster undead away from the town to prevent others from getting caught in the crossfire of your battles!


    B rankers and below, we''re gonna handle the rest of the undead along with the army and the holy knights!"


    The effect of informing the coalition force that one of the most powerful undead they were battling against was dead did a good job of boosting morale, and that was the effect that Evan was looking for.


    After saying that, he created another foothold with void steps and jumped towards it before pointing his thumb at the town filled with undead monsters that were still pouring out and continuing.


    "Also��try not to join the ''other side'' of this battle."


    By that, he naturally meant that they shouldn''t die and get turned into undead by the liches who were more than ready to wee more undead into their forces.


    Hearing him say that, one of the A-rank adventurers on the ground let out a shortugh as he exined what Evan meant to his party member beside him.


    "Oh��that''s what he meant.


    But besides that, is the kid flying or something?"


    "Looks like he''s standing on something that''s floating in the air. It''s probably a skill of his."


    "Wow��looks cool."


    The other A ranker replied with a tinge of admiration in his voice as he unsheathed hisrge great sword and turned his gaze towards the right, his figure flickering out of view in the next second as he blitzed out of the area using the full power of his A rank agility stat.


    Not too far away, the 7 feet tall grandmaster-level Duhan was about to swing itsrge cleaver in the direction of the airborne mages, only for its body to suddenly flinch as it sensed iing danger.


    Without even letting a second go to waste, it spun its body and used all the momentum it umted for its swing to sh towards the right, just in time to meet the A rank adventurer''srge great sword.


    **BOOOOM!!!


    The ground beneath their feet cratered due to the power of their sh, with shockwaves spreading out for kilometres as the earth quaked wildly.


    Staring right at the red inferno sights in the Duhan''s helmet, the A-rank adventurer spoke like a restaurant manager talking to a customer who had been banned from their establishment.


    "I''m going to need you to leave the premises, okay?"


    Immediately after, he let go of hisrge great sword and pulled back his fist, coating it with aura before punching the Duhan''s chest.


    **BAAAMM!!!


    As the 7 feet tall undead was sent flying, a giant spectre horse which was most likely the Duhan''s mount, neighed eerily as it charged towards the adventurer while the horn on its forehead was glowing with a dangerous red light.


    However, the man calmly pulled back his fist and grabbed his sword before it could touch the ground, and then went on to spin around and swing the de while coating it in aura mid-swing


    Perhaps because he had grabbed the weapon while it was falling, he wasn''t holding it normally and ended up using its t side to m into the horse and knock its huge body into the air.


    While the unfortunate horse was getting bashed by a huge great sword, a certain hero was watching the droves of lower-level undead monsters charge maniacally at the soldiers and adventurers, hacking and shing at every living being in their sights.


    He had his part of his attention on the grandmaster-level battles that were urring around him, trying to confirm if every one of the grandmaster-level undead monsters had been ounted for.


    "They''re all present. Even so, let''s be vignt for the possibility of others showing up.


    Who knows if the undead in the other positions weren''t sent here?"


    [Your words make sense, Lord Eris.


    I''d have the recons increase their vignce.]

 Chapter 357 Operation Synchro IV (Position C’s Side)

    [Your words make sense, Lord Eris.


    I''d have the recons increase their vignce.]


    "Good.


    Now then, Major. I''d like to begin attacking in earnest."


    Right after Evan spoke, he snapped his fingers and activated the Elemental Weapon Projection skill, generating hundreds of elemental weapons in the air.


    At first, no one noticed his actions in the heat of the battle, however, when he began adding various weapons of various elements, more and more people and undead began to notice his actions.


    They looked up to see Evan standing on a void step with his index and middle fingers raised to the sky, surrounded by more than a thousand weapons of varying types and elements.


    ''Unlimited Bl-!''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' requests you ''Shut the fuck up''.]


    "Pfft."


    While holding back hisughter, the boy swung his hand down, giving themand for the thousands of weapons to beunched towards the undead monsters on the ground.


    **BOOM! BOOOM!! BOOOOOMM!!!


    Multiple explosions rang out as each of the elemental weapons exploded upon contact, with the explosion of some weapons being amplified by previous nearby explosions of synergising elements.


    One particrly powerful B ranker even used a skill that created arge translucent wall of light that had the effect of amplifying the elemental damage of any projectiles that passed through it, causing Evan''s attack to deal twice as much damage than he had nned.


    The boy turned towards the adventurer in question and gave them a thumbs up before cing a hand into his inventory and pulling out one of his magic potion juice packs.


    ''Thank goodness I restocked for this battle.''


    While thinking that, Evan''s ears caught the sound of the chants that the soldiers and adventurers were shouting to themselves as they used their energy-filled weapons to put down the undead once and for all.


    The militarymanders took advantage of the undead''s disorderliness to give tactical orders that enabled the soldiers to deal with the undead efficiently despite the difference in numbers, and those who initially suffered at the hands of the lich''s sound magic attack were slowly getting back to their feet to join the fray.


    Since the grandmaster level undead who were the suprememanders were all upied, they didn''t have the leeway to give proper orders to the lower level undead, and the superior master level undead Duhans, weren''t exactly free to do so either, as Evan''s earlier attack had scattered the huge gatherings of undead led by said Duhans.


    Magic and auras were flying around, with Evan spotting one of the pdins who came with Amelie swinging a divinity-infused whip at a group of undead and turning them all into ashes before moving on to the next set while momentarily ncing in Evan''s direction after sensing the boy''s gaze.


    "Hmmm��everyone is on fleek today.


    Guess I should join the fun, I did want to vent my stress after all."


    ? ? ?


    While Evan was beginning to go wild at Position A, another one of hispanions was going wild in her own way at Position C.


    Multiple Duhans learned what true fear was when they saw more than a dozenrge horizontal tornadoes of ck wind and mes, carve up the ground while rapidly spiralling towards them.


    The monsters had all been temporarily rendered unable to move and had no choice but to let the huge tornadoes m into their bodies before sucking them up into the vortex of mes and wind.


    "Explode."


    The voice of the high demon of pride rang out as the demonic energy in the dozen tornadoes of ck wind and mes detonated, causing all the tornadoes to simultaneously explode.


    "mes of Hubris."


    She coated her arm in demonic energy and swing it to the side, delivering a long ck ming sh that set the droves of undead charging towards her from the right on fire.


    As the ghouls and Draugrs screamed their death throes, the ck-haired woman heaved a sigh of light exhaustion before ncing at the open space around her.


    Every single undead creature within a 200-metre radius from the point she was standing had either been turned to ashes, or was in the process of bing ashes.


    The senior mages and some A-rank adventurers who noticed this couldn''t help but question the identity of this woman, with their answering from one of the adventurers who had chanced upon the high demon in the guild building before.


    "Her name''s Pride, she''s a B ranker from this party called the ''Anomalies''.


    Rumour has it that she only just registered to be an adventurer less than six months ago."


    "Pride? Like the emotion?"


    "Yep."


    "Strange name."


    "Is her name the issue? Just look at how those Duhans are steering clear of her.


    I don''t know about the rest of her party members, but she sure as hell is an anomaly to me."


    Right after the mage spoke, the high demon summoned a gigantic arm-shaped energy construct and used it to sweep a few hundred undead monsters ranging from regr moving skeletons to wraiths, zombies and even Duhans, towards herself.


    It was as if she was saying ''Since you don''t want toe to me, I''d bring you to me by force'' to the undead as the mage even spotted a few undead leopard-type monsters trying to jump over the energy-constructed arm.


    However, the high demon just held up her palm, generating a two-ringed red magic circle thatunched five thinser-like beams of red light towards the creature''s body, boring five veryrge holes in the undead monster with it dropping to the ground in the next moment.


    Seeing this, the group of adventurers and mages who were watching all echoed the same set of words.


    "Definitely an anomaly."


    Nevertheless, they didn''t have time to watch Pride anymore as they had to return to focusing on their own undead opponents, however, they weren''t the only ones who stopped to notice the feats of the high demon who was only just killing undead inrge quantities so she could absorb enough energy to be a superior stage master level existence.


    The group of undead she had gathered were all measly level 100s which she could effortlessly dispose of with just a few tier 2 me spells topped off with a couple of aura shes.


    "Hmm��let''s try a watered-down version of ''that'' spell.


    I don''t think I''ve used it since I returned from that world with the celestial race."


    Pride turned as she spoke, before kicking off the ground and dashing forward, shing at any undead in her path without care for whether she ended their lives or not.


    As a peak intermediate stage master level existence who could hold her own against superior stages, Pride was capable of moving at subsonic speeds far faster than the eye could see.


    Within a little over a minute, she had traversed a distance of five kilometres; meaning she was moving at a speed almost as fast as the F1 race car record while swinging her sword at the undead monsters in her movement path.


    She didn''t stop until she had cut deep into the forest filled with the forces of the undead monsters and there weren''t any living beings within a ten-kilometre radius of her.

 Chapter 358 Operation Synchro V (Position C’s Side)

    Pride didn''t stop her advance until she had cut deep into the forest filled with the forces of the undead monsters and there weren''t any living beings within a ten-kilometre radius of her.


    Upon getting into a suitable position, she wiped off the sweat on her forehead, before working to calm her erratic breathing, while simultaneously absorbing ambient magic power into her body.


    She then stomped her foot into the ground and jumped into the air with enough force to crater the earth where she just stood, and just in time to avoid the huge cleaver of a level 260 Duhan, all while kneading her magic power and demonic energy into arge spell formation.


    "This should unlock��at least one of my other affinities."


    As she spoke those words, she released multiple types of magic from her body, forming a pentagon fromnces of various colours that surrounded a bit over a thousand undead monsters by piercing the ground.


    This caused the attention of some of the grandmaster-level undead as well as a few pdins to be drawn towards her direction but she could not care less at this point.


    "...the End."


    The fivences released different types of magic to the top of the centre of the pentagon formation andbined them there, giving birth to a giant mass of magic power.


    As for the senior mages and pdins, they blitzed into the area with speeds twice that of Pride''s, recognized the high demon as an ally and moved in to prevent the grandmaster-level undead knights and liches from disrupting her actions.


    Just when the wind magic that she was using wore off and gravity began pulling her back to the ground, the mass of magic power crashed down onto the undead, shattering their futile attempts at defending with magic barriers.


    The merciless hammer of destruction struck down on the undead with a loud explosion.


    **BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!


    The concentrated mass of magic was entirely released at the undead who were stuck inside the pentagon formation, with the explosion and its resultant shockwaves even going on to further spread out for a few kilometres more.


    The ground still trembled violently due to the shock and dust covered Pride''s field of vision as she descended back to the ground, before clicking her tongue and dashing towards the still alive level 200+ undead monsters.


    Although the attack was powerful, it was not enough to kill the level 250 undead creatures with powerful enough durability to survive attacks capable of turning towns to rubble.


    Even so, it did hold them down for a while, giving Pride the opening that she required tounch unobstructed attacks on some of them.


    Now, what Pride didn''t know, was that the troop of undead she had just attacked, were reinforcements sent to aid the ones that the coalition forces on Position B had originally attacked; and that she had just effectively spoilt the undead''s ns of a pincer attack on their forces.


    But even if she did, the high demon would not have cared less and would have continued shing apart level 250 undead using her avatar''s partial activation.


    Of course, it should not be forgotten that her contempt of the many and her Aura of Pride skills were active, meaning that she was receiving a high level of boosts to her base parameters, in addition to the 20% overall attack power buff from the sword in her hand.


    The end result of all that, was the deaths of several level 200+ undead within the next fifteen minutes, after which Pride took a short break to recover some of her energy while watching the other adventurers and soldiers finish off the fodder undead.


    Seeing her sitting down atop a pile of undead corpses while sipping a magic potion like it was wine, a lot ofbatants had strange looks on her faces but not one of them dared toe up to her and say anything.


    If the B rank card hanging from her neck wasn''t enough of a deterrent, then the pile of scorched and charred undead corpses she was atop was enough to keep them away.


    "This ce smells."


    Right after saying that, Pride filled the empty bottle in her hand with demonic energy, before tearing a piece of ragged cloth from one of the skeleton knights'' corpses that was sticking out of the pile she was sitting on.


    She capped the bottle with this cloth and lit it up with ck mes, before looking around for a ce that had rtively few allies and more undead creatures.


    "Hey, the party of C ranks over there.


    Fall back or get caught up in my attack, your call."


    With that sort of warning, she tossed the bottle in her hands towards the swarm of undead they were fighting, shaking her head in exasperation as she saw one of the adventurers fall down while escaping.


    "Are you so ipetent that you can''t even run away properly?"


    As she spoke, she used her unique skill to generate arge energy-constructed hand which she used to pick up the adventurer and toss her body away, just in time for the bottle to make contact with the shield of one of the charging undead knights.


    **BOOOOOM!!!!!


    "The explosion is weaker than I expected."


    The B ranker who was about to call out to Pride, heard her words and nearly tripped on his feet from the shock.


    ''She used a small potion bottle to create that kind of big explosion and she says it is weaker than she expected?!''


    Ignoring the random elf behind her, Pride stared at the mes as a single thought came to her head.


    ''Reminds me of when Alvey was trying to teach me that world''s primaeval magic system.''


    Right after that, her eyes narrowed and she summoned her sword, before kicking off the pile of undead and shooting into the burning ck mes, swinging her sword and shing with the giant axe wielded by arge minotaur.


    "You actually blocked my attack? How cocky of you."


    Those were thest words that Minotaur heard before it received the greatest beating it had ever gotten in both its life and undeath.


    �� �� ��


    While Pride was cutting off the head of a particrlyrge undead minotaur, her brother, Greed, was having the time of his life��in a way.


    "HAHAHAHAHAAHA!!!!"


    The high demon''s boisterousughter rang out on the noisy battlefield as he swung his huge great sword like it was a piece of light stic and not a hunk of weight-increasing metal.


    The demonic energy-infused de tore through the rotting flesh of a giant ghoul, severing its legs from the rest of its body.


    Right after, a huge ck-coloured energy construct of the same weapon rose up into the sky, towering above everything on the battlefield and attracting the attention of all those nearby.


    It even stabbed into the chest cavity of one of the poor undead gryphons flying in the air, setting it aze as it screeched loudly while being piked up on the sword.


    "Oh! Shit!!


    Clear the area!!!"


    One of the A-rank adventurers screamed out this warning, a few moments before Greed''s great sword construct shed down at the giant ghoul''s body.


    **BOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!

 Chapter 359 Operation Synchro VI (Position B’s Side)

    **BOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!


    Clouds of dust, dirt, smoke and rotten body parts rose up into the air, with shockwaves that spread out for kilometres, destabilizing the footing of anyone within that radius.


    When the dust cleared up, the giant ghoul, as well as the other undead in the area, had all been turned to pieces of flesh, and one could see arge crater, dozens of metres deep and roughly about three kilometres wide.


    All the buildings in the area had either shattered into pieces of rock, or had been directly turned into dust from the explosion.


    As for the high demon responsible for this destruction, he had stabbed his de into the ground and was holding up the corpse of the Duhan he killed shortly before the ghoul attacked him.


    "Who would have thought that undead creatures would carry good stuff too."


    He ignored the voice of the militarymandering from the transmitter in his ear as he tossed the Duhan''s sword into his magic pouch, followed by the gold rings it had on its fingers and a silver bracelet it had on its wrist.


    The high demon then shook the corpse to see if anything valuable would fall out, sighing in exasperation when nothing else fell out.


    "DAMN DEMON!!!!"


    He heard the loud scream that resounded across the battlefield, turning around to see a horse-riding undead knight charging towards him.


    From the creature''s body structure and armour, he could tell that it was a female when it was alive, causing an idea to instantly pop into his head.


    "Could it be these two were in a rtionship?"


    The horse-riding undead enveloped hernce in a deep red aura, with the nightmare horse increasing its speed and crossing the hundreds of metres of distance between them in mere seconds.


    However, just before the magic power engulfednce could pierce the high demon, he suddenly spun his body and flung the Duhan''s corpse towards the undead knight.


    And just as he expected, the undead reflexively slowed their charge, as if trying to avoid hitting the Duhan''s corpse since it would be torn apart if it collided with the charging undead knight.


    "I have seen so many strange things in Aidos that I''ve lost count."


    Those were the words that the female undead knight heard right before Greed''s great sword mmed into her unprotected side, knocking her off her horse and into the crater in the ground.


    As for the horse, it tried to force Greed off its back but the high demon only stomped his demonic energy-enhanced foot on the horse''s back, breaking its spine and forcing it to crash onto the ground.


    Before it could even fall downpletely, a brown two-ringed magic circle appeared in the air, with arge spiked pir of earth falling out of it and crushing the horse to bone dust.


    The edge of the pir that mmed into the undead was the t side, so it was very easy for Greed to pick the huge pir up and encase it with demonic energy before throwing it in the direction of the iing undead knight.


    While the undead knight was distracted by that unexpected pir throw, Greed turned around and threw his fist to meet the punch of another giant ghoul that attacked him.


    ***DOOONNN!!!!!!


    Unlike the expectations of the ghoul and the necromancer controlling it, Greed''s fist didn''t shatter from the multiple undead enhancement spells that were swirling around the ghoul''s arm, instead, it was the ghoul who saw its arm shattering along with the multiple spell circles and magic formations swirling around it.


    A huge shockwave spread out omnidirectionally, crumbling the ground underneath their feet and going on to knock a few adventurers and undead out of the sky.


    Naturally, there was no way that the giant ghoul would remain standing after all that. Its 7-metre-tall body had been sent flying backwards, into a group of undead that was charging towards some holy knights and crushing them under its weight.


    The next moment, Greed appeared right above the ghoul with his fist pulled backwards, before punching down on the ghoul''s chest and turning it into a flesh st on the ground.


    He ignored the flesh-covered holy knights who had been knocked to the ground by the force of the attack and stretched his hand outward, calling his great sword into his hand before turning around and swinging it at the female undead knight.


    "You��you''re going to tell me exactly why you know that I am a ''demon''."


    Of course, the undead knew this because it was one of the higher-ranked ones in Vazgan''s army, nevertheless, it did not have the peace of mind to inform Greed of this fact and was only trying to kill him out of rage.


    "Never mind, you don''t seem capable of holding a conversation."


    "SHUT UPP!!!!!"


    "How about, no?"


    The two weren''t standing around while having the ''talk'', and were actually exchanging blows with each other at speeds that the average B-ranked adventurer would be hard-pressed to follow.


    The battle between Greed and this unnamed undead knight drew more attention than some of the town-destroying level battles between some A-rank adventurers and the grandmaster-level Duhans in the distance.


    This was natural, as the two were carving up the ground and destroying everything in their path as they moved, giving the army and militarymanders a hard time as they had to work to prevent their soldiers from getting caught in the crossfire.


    Naturally, Greed noticed that their attacks would end up killing his allies, and while he didn''t particrly care for these random people, he wasn''t stupid as to realise that killing them with his attacks when so many eyes were on him was a bad idea.


    As such, he asionally created barriers with earth magic to prevent stray sword shes and other energy-based attacks from hitting them while shouting at them to get the fuck outta the way.


    Of course, this enraged the undead knight as the fact that Greed had the leeway to do all that meant that she wasn''t an opponent he was taking seriously.


    If only she knew about the high demon''s ''Power of Wealth'' skill and just how much power the magic pouch filled with artifacts and valuables strapped to his waist was giving him.


    However, she would never have a chance to find out as the moment Greed fully turned his attention to her, her arms suddenly felt heavy, like they were tied torge blocks and submerged in water.


    Lifting hernce became a herculean task, so was moving her feet or even carrying her body weight.


    The unfortunate undead knight then had her body sliced in two by the great sword of greed, without having a chance to avenge her lover?''s death.


    [Level Up]


    A smile came to Greed''s face as he saw that notification, disappearing immediately after as he turned to the side and spoke to the man standing there.


    "What?"


    "Haa��Come on Greed.


    You''re not the only one fighting here, you''re attacking without care for friendly fire."


    "Are you for real now, dude?


    Each of these Duhans here can easily survive attacks capable of turning a whole block of buildings to rubble. Don''t you think attacks capable of killing them would definitely cause friendly fire, especially when we''re on a messed up battlefield like this one?"


    **BOOOOM!!!

 Chapter 360 Operation Synchro VII (Position B’s Side)

    **BOOOOM!!!


    A loud explosion resounded right after Greed spoke, with the high demon pointing towards the explosion and speaking.


    "See what I''m saying?"


    The A-rank adventurer he was speaking to only sighed, before raising an eyebrow and turning towards the right.


    "Hm? It feels like high-level undead just joined the fray over there. I sensed a powerful presence."


    "Could they be reinforcements for the undead? It''d exin why the undead from those other positions were missing."


    "Could be."


    Right after the A-rank adventurer replied, he sensed a huge burst of aura from beside him, followed by an eerie bone-chilling energy that wrapped around Greed''s body.


    "I call dibs on them."


    Immediately Greed spoke, he kicked off the ground and dashed into the distance, with the man sighing in exasperation once more as he watched the high demon go.


    "Who the heck is that guy?"


    One of the high-ranked knights jogged up to the A ranker and asked, receiving a reply that he would have definitely not expected.


    "His name is Greed.


    He''s one of the Prime minister''s son''s party members. I think their party was called ''Anomaly'' or something."


    "Both his and the party''s name are strange.


    But to think he was in a party with Lord Eris. Well�� considering Lord Eris''s absurd strength for his age, I''m not too surprised."


    "You''ve met him?"


    The knight nodded in affirmation, before crafting an energy spear with magic power and throwing it towards a flying undead.


    As the spear collided with the monster and exploded in the distance, he turned towards the A ranker and replied.


    "Yep.


    The rumours about him did him no justice. He''s far more powerful than they stated. Enough to make even the Duke feel on guard around him.


    Even his other party members are no joke. Especially that ck-haired woman who''s always reading a different book every time I see her."


    "That''s probably Greed''s sister."


    "They''re siblings? I guess the strange naming is a family thing then."


    The A ranker only chuckled lightly before patting the knight on the shoulder and saying a few more words, dashing towards the direction where Greed was making the undead feel useless with his idiosyncrasy.


    The high demon was really taking advantage of his absurd amount of physical strength, going on to use his idiosyncrasy to further enhance said strength which he then used to send the undead creatures to the afterlife.


    Even wraiths that had incorporeal bodies weren''t safe from him as his demonic energy-infused fists were capable of harming them.


    He even seeded in beating a Duhan till it was nearly ''dead'', then using his Emperor of Greed skill on it to make it a thrall which he then sent after its fellow Duhans.


    The A rank adventurer who arrived after Greed did this had his jaw drop in shock as it looked like Greed just ''tamed'' the undead to him.


    Greed noticed his shock but ignored it and turned towards a direction where a toon of skeleton mages wereunching magic while surrounded by a bunch of skeleton knights.


    He lightly jumped up on the spot to warm up, before taking two steps forward and kicking off the ground on the third step, jumping into the air andnding in the midst of the skeleton mages faster than they could even realise he had jumped.


    And of course, he decided to do a ''superheronding'', just because he could, ignoring the fact that he was one of the few existences on Aidos who was on the opposite spectrum of being a hero.


    His fist mmed into the ground and released shockwaves that knocked all the skeleton mages into the air, turning them into easy targets for another adventurer who used ice magic to freeze them into chunks of ice.


    Greed then took the liberty of punching these ice blocks and shattering them, ignoring the fact that he was breaking the confidence of the adventurer who used the ice magic.


    "b-but my ice can withstand buildings copsing on them��and he isn''t even punching them seriously��."


    "Forget it, he''s an abnormal one."


    The high demon felt like he heard a conversation along those lines, but he was more focused on the iing Duhan.


    "Mammonas!"


    Calling out the same of his sword with an outstretched hand, the great sword of greed responded andunched itself into the air, flying towards him while piercing through the bodies of some low-level zombies.


    The instant the sword entered his hands, he infused it with his earth-attributed magic power and coated the sword with rocks, shaping it into a longer, wider de to extend its reach.


    He then rose it overhead and shed downwards, in the direction of the Duhan and its mount, forcing the undead creature to jump out of the way to avoid the hit.


    Sadly, it did not seedpletely as Greed''s sword shpletely ''deleted'' one of its legs from existence, making it a sitting duck for the second sword sh of the giant sword.


    The earthen sword extension crumbled after all the power within it was used in killing that Duhan, with Greed sighing softly as he stabbed the de into the ground once more.


    "Mehn��I feel like eating a pizza or whatever that Aidosian snack is called?"


    ? ? ?


    While Greed was thinking about food, the adventurers, knights and mages in Position G had a part of their minds set aside to take in the shock of what they were seeing while the rest of it concentrated on their individual battles.


    The reason for that, was because there were two small girls who looked no more than twelve years of age, with red and golden hair respectively, raining down mes and lightning on the undead monsters.


    "Where in the world did those two little girlse from?!"


    "��I hear that they''re the Prime minister''s son''s spiritpanions."


    "Spirits?!


    Aren''t only the super high-ranked spirits capable of taking on humanoid form?! That means the guy has two spirits of that level with him?!"


    "Nahh�� they''re three.


    You weren''t in the guild that day when the Crown prince''s Fianc��e showed up, there was a small cat-shaped spirit too."


    "Shouldn''t it be rare to get suitable contractable spirits? How does this dude have three with him?"


    Such was the conversation between a group of B-rank adventurers from different parties, who were hunting down a huge level 285 giant ghoul.


    Mid-fight, mes and lightning suddenly engulfed their weapons, with them turning to see the golden-haired spirit giving them a thumbs up before blitzing towards another direction to rain down more lightning on the undead.


    They looked at each other in silence, before turning to the giant ghoul and reducing it to a pile of burnt flesh within the next minute.


    As for the golden-haired spirit in question, she was busy exploring her inner pyromaniac,ughing eerily as she burned the undead monsters using her Electrome skill.


    [Rock!]


    She punched forward with her fist, as a gigantic fist-shaped construct of lightning blocks punched a tall Duhan off its mount and onto the ground.


    [Paper!]


    After this, she mmed her empty palm downwards, causing the lightning block-constructed fist, to open up like a giant palm and p the ground in front of it, with the Duhan and his mount being the unfortunate victims.


    [Scissors!!]


    The blocks reforged themselves into a giant pair of scissors that ''snipped'' the Duhan in two from its torso.


    [I win!]

 Chapter 361 Operation Synchro VIII (Position G’s Side)

    [I win!]


    Hearing the girl''s cute voice ring out as she used her thunderp skill to roast a bunch of ghouls, made very strange looks to adorn the faces of the nearby soldiers.


    "She looks cute and all but what she''s doing is so NOT cute."


    "Tell me about it."


    As for the red-haired spirit, Amy, she had a look on her face that made it seem like she only just wanted to sleep, but after remembering the promise she made with Pride, she was filled with newfound vigour to turn more undead to ashes.


    [ming Fervour]


    She used her skill, triggering an intense spray of mes that rushed at all the nearby undead, dealing widespread elemental fire damage.


    Then, just like Evan''s chain lightning, the moment an undead had been burned to death, the mes moved over to the nearest undead to burn them, even if said undead was already on fire.


    From the corner of her eyes, she noticed a few adventurers surrounded by undead and sighed softly, before snapping her fingers to generate multiple me spears and send them towards the undead, effectively marking them as targets for her ming fervour skill.


    [Should I use the ck fire?]


    She ced a hand to her chin and thought to herself, before releasing a wave of ck-coloured mes that burned even the wraiths who were flying around.


    Amy then manipted these ck mes with frightening proficiency, turning them into a long whip which she used to flog a few dozen undead to ashes.


    [Hmm?]


    [��Um��hello?]


    Turning around upon sensing a presence approaching her, she was met with the sight of a timid-looking green-haired wind spirit.


    [Is there anything?]


    [��n-nothing much.


    I was j-just wondering if y-you could agree��to��do a cbo attack!]


    [��]


    Amy couldn''t help but stare at the spirit dumbfoundedly for a moment as the way they were acting was too far removed from her normal image of wind spirits.


    However, the weird screeching noise from a nearby banshee brought her back to her senses and she nodded in affirmation, causing a smile to bloom on the face of the spirit.


    [I''d start now, okay?]


    Without even waiting for Amy''s answer, the timid-looking wind spirit turned towards the right and waved their hands in the air, generating terrifyingly strong wind currents that pulled a bunch of zombies, ghouls and even a few Duhans and skeleton knights together.


    [Dancing Wind!]


    With their shout, the wind currents swirled andunched the undead into the air, before forming a vacuum field in the middle that pulled them back to the ground, only to swirl once more andunch them up in the air after slicing them up with wind des.


    Seeing this, Amy activated her breath of fire skill and twirled her fingers in the air, generating a ring of fire which she threw like a discus.


    It spun around in the air as it moved, eventually spinning into the swirling wind currents. Before she could even activate the next phase of the attack, the wind currents absorbed the mes in the ring, turning red andunching the undead group into the air with mes burning all over their bodies.


    While the two spirits wereunching ming undead into the air, a certain shadow spirit was looking at the great spirit that he was supposed to ''guard'' and sighing as he saw her jump into a bunch of zombies and turn them into roasted flesh before jumping over to another set of undead.


    [Seriously��Lady Ka''s just using this chance to y around.


    Doesn''t she know that using her pseudo-authority for extended periods of time would make her seal wear off?


    How is she going to exin to master when that happens?]


    The cat formed a palm with shadows and grabbed the ball of dark light that was floating above his head before stuffing it into the mouth of an undead tiger monster that was about to roar.


    "GUOH!!"


    The shadows extended and formed two arms that mped the undead''s mouth shut, long enough for the ball of dark light to explode.


    Both the undead tiger and every other undead within a 500-metre semi-circr radius all turned into ck ash, however, the peoplebating this undead were all rtively unharmed.


    The perceptive ones noticed that it had something to do with the weird rope of dark light that extended from their shadows and wrapped around their feet right before the explosion.


    After admiring his destructive masterpiece, Kuro turned towards an adventurer who was staring at him dumbfoundedly and spoke.


    [Stealth type Draugr on your five o''clock.]


    Hearing the cat''s words, the adventurer''s eyes widened and they turned around while infusing their weapon in aura, just in time to sh with the two daggers of the hooded undead that they didn''t even know was there.


    Before the creature could do anything else, shadowy tentacle-like appendages stretched out and wrapped around the creature''s body, holding it in ce.


    The adventurer then promptly dispatched it with a de of mes before turning to Kuro and saying.


    "T-thanks."


    [You''re wee.


    Now, if you''d excuse me. I''d like to borrow your shadow.]


    "Huh?"


    Before they could even finish being surprised, Kuro had already jumped towards their shadow and disappeared into it.


    "T-teleportation?!"


    While the adventurer was being shocked at Kuro''s abilities, the cat had made his way over to where the extroverted Ka and a certain introverted wind spirit were having a ''conversation''��if Ka one-sidedly talking to the spirit could be considered one.


    [Restrain yourself, Lady Ka.]


    [Huh? Kuro?]


    Since her current size wasrger than Kuro''s, Ka picked up the cat spirit in her arms and hugged him tightly, giving the wind spirit the time she required to go hide behind Amy.


    The next moment, all the spirits simultaneously flinched, before ducking to avoid therge 3-metre-tall Duhan that got sent flying in their direction.


    ***BOOOMMMM!!!!


    The undead crashed into the ground beside them, knocking them back with the shockwaves from the collision between its body and the ground.


    As for the dust from the explosion, the wind spirit created a barrier that prevented it from getting to them, dispersing said barrier to clear up the dust cloud around them.


    [Hey! Watch where you''re tossing your opponents!!!]


    Ka snapped at the A-rank adventurer responsible for knocking the Duhan in their direction, with the skies turning dark in response to her anger.


    [Lady Ka, don''t forget your skill is still active!]


    Kuro just barely managed to stop her from identally raining down lightning on the entire battlefield, however, the lightning spirit felt like venting her annoyance so she turned to the undead who was struggling to its feet and called out.


    [Electrome!]


    The wind spirit activated their skills and swirled all the mes, causing them to spread across the Duhan''s body a moment before the lightning from Ka''s skill hit.


    Amy then decided to use this Duhan to see how effective her dark mes were, generating a huge great sword that was a bit taller than she was with ck mes.


    Her feet dropped to the ground and she released an intense wave of ck mes that knocked the Duhan back to the ground, however, Kuro''s shadows came in and restrained it, preventing it from rag-dolling any further.


    [Ka.]


    [I got it!]

 Chapter 362 Operation Synchro IX (Position H’s Side)

    [Ka.]


    [I got it!]


    The great lightning spirit replied to Amy''s call as her golden eyes began glowing, with storm clouds gathering in the sky.


    The intense wave of mes released from Amy''s body then converged into herrge me-constructed great sword as she took a stance.


    Immediately after, she spun her body around and swung the sword forward, releasing a wide sh of mes that transformed into a huge five-metre-tall tiger.


    The tiger roared wildly as it pounced forward and bit on the Duhan''s upper body with its jaws, at the exact same time that Ka''s hands waved downwards.


    What happened next was a bright sh of golden light that was too blinding to directly look at, as a singr golden bolt of lightning dropped down from the skies and onto the body of the Duhan.


    ***KAAABOOOOMMM!!!!!


    The earth shook and the sky rumbled, with a huge cloud of smoke and fire rising up into the clouds while shockwaves spread out in all directions on the ground.


    [Level Up.] X9


    [Rare Skill Acquired]


    Amy stared at the notifications in front of her while her hands moved, gathering all the me and lightning energy that would have definitely swept through the entire battlefield and turned a good number of both allies and enemies to ashes.


    All that energy was concentrated into one five-metre-wide ball of red mes with golden lightning crackling all around it.


    She then turned towards the nearby A ranker who had hastily put up a barrier to prevent the explosion from damaging allies and held up the ball of mes and spoke.


    [Here��should be enough to kill a level 300 lich.]


    Seeing this, Kuro sighed and facepawed while inwardly asking if acting like this was a trend amongst higher ranked spirits.


    ? ? ?


    At Position H, a certain blonde-haired battle priestess heaved an exasperated sigh after counting the number of undead mages that had been destroyed so far and noting that this wasn''t even up to half of the total number that they had initially detected.


    "For fuck''s sake, whose idea was it to stuff thousands of undead mages here and give them shield-wielding undead ogres as guards?"


    As she spoke, she activated the spear edge of the Memoria, before stabbing it into the ground beside her and grabbing the radiant codex.


    "Support Magic:


    Enchant: Life.


    Enchant: Greater Regeneration


    Enchant: Greater Resistance."


    With each line of enchantment, a new green ring of light was added to the orb of green light that surrounded the Radiant Codex cupped in between her palms.


    Aplicated three-ringed magic circle appeared underneath her feet, with a strong aura of life permeating from her very being, an aura that all the undead despised.


    Roars were heard from all around as dozens of undead broke away from their groups, disregarding the orders of the superior undead and charged towards the seemingly defenceless Eliza.


    Some Holy Knights and adventurers noticed this and charged forward to protect Eliza, however, they were not fast enough to match the speed of the giant undead chimera that swooped in with its mouth wide open.


    Theyunched long-range attacks towards the creature, with some of them yelling at Eliza to cancel her spell, however, the Chimera tanked their attacks with its high durability and tried to bite the girl with its jaws covered in poison and death aura.


    Just when they thought that it was going to seed, Eliza just gave it a side nce while activating a skill.


    Three thickyers of translucent green light appeared in between Eliza and the Chimera''s mouth, blocking its jaws from snapping shut on her body.


    Before the creature could even recover from its slight surprise, Eliza had already grabbed the Memoria and jumped in the air, above the barriers of light and onto the chimera''s back, all while activating her child of life skill in mid-air.


    Her body was enveloped in a thick coat of life essence a moment before shended on the chimera''s back and stabbed the Memoria''s spear tip through its neck.


    "GRARGH!!"


    The chimera let out a strange scream upon feeling the pain of the life energy-infused staff stab into its neck, however, that wasn''t enough to send the creature to the afterlife and Eliza knew this.


    ? It was even noticeably infuriated at the thought of the source of its most detested ''life'' energy standing on its back, pping its wings of ck feathers in an attempt to take to the skies and force Eliza off.


    Even so, the battle priestess calmly used a charge of her child of life and activated ''Life Inducement'', before going on to grab the Chimera''s wings with her bare hands and coating the two wings in life essence.


    "GRUAHHH!!"


    As the chimera screamed in pain, Eliza buffed herself with her own support magic.


    Two rings of green light appeared around each of her wrists as she stabilized her footing as best as she could before pulling the wings of the chimera off its body with brute strength unexpected from her thin arms.


    Even the holy knights and adventurers who had arrived and were dealing with the other undead that were flocking towards her had their jaws drop in shock upon seeing her do this.


    Eliza didn''t even notice this as she flung the ripped-off wings away, grabbing onto the tip of the spear stabbed in the chimera''s neck and turned around before jumping off its body while still holding the spear.


    The undead that was wallowing in pain from having its wings covered in life energy before being ripped off wasn''t able to resist the pulling force as the girl inadvertently pulled its huge body over her head and mmed it on the ground head first.


    Spider web-like cracks spread out from the point where the chimera''s head hit the ground, along with shockwaves that knocked back everyone in the area beside Eliza.


    As for what the blonde teenager was doing; she was grabbing the head of the snake tail of the chimera that attempted to bite her face the moment she overturned its body.


    "Flower Cannon."


    The ground beside the chimera cracked open to reveal a gigantic shoot that curled downwards so its flower bud was right in front of the Chimera''s torso.


    Immediately after, magic power concentrated on the flower bud as it bloomed andunched a beam of concentrated magic power from an opening of the petals.


    This beam of magic power mmed into the body of the chimera and sent it flying heaven knows how many hundreds of metres, crashing into multiple trees, buildings, and even a small hill before finally perishing.


    "Ow��my arms hurt."


    Eliza spoke light-heartedly as she tossed the snake tail of the chimera that was ripped off when her flower cannon sent the rest of its body flying, before turning towards the radiant codex that was still floating in the air andpleting her spell.


    Immediately after, a wave of magic power rushed out of Eliza''s body and spread out in all directions, followed by a three-ringed magic circle that appeared, centred under her feet, with lines of green light and a misty white haze with a few goldm�� sparkles hanging in the air within the circumference of the magic circle.


    For the few seconds itsted, it was a wondrous sight, just like a scene out of a fantasy story.

 Chapter 363 Operation Synchro X (Position H’s Side)

    Lines of green light and a misty white haze with a few gold-m�� sparkles hung in the air within the circumference of Eliza''s magic circle.


    It was a wondrous sight, like a scene taken directly out of a fantasy story. One thatsted for a little no more than ten seconds.


    And when it faded, nearly two thousand adventurers, soldiers, knights and mages, had expressions of surprise adorn their faces as their swords, spears, bows, axes, staves and catalysts were all enveloped in a thinyer of green light that made them deal twice as much damage to the undead monsters.


    Even the high-ranked undead and Duhans who could heal themselves with darkness and death magic found that they were unable to do so after being hit by these green aura-d weapons.


    "I only have six charges left for today, huh?"


    Eliza remarked as she snapped her fingers and generated another flower cannon,unching it right at an undead knight that was about to use a particrly dangerous sword skill, given how its sword was glowing ominously and a huge amount of death aura was gathering around it.


    The undead knight was knocked off its horse, and knocked into the afterlife, with Eliza turning her gaze to a different direction andunching a flower cannon at a group of undead mages.


    She then pointed towards the sly andunched a third flower cannon at the level 300 lich that was about to use magic against her.


    The lich''s hastily made barrier was shattered into pieces of light as the beam of life-induced energy made its way to its body and knocked it out of the air.


    "Thanks! Warrior Priestess!!"


    She heard the shout of an A-rank adventurer who charged after the falling lich with a ming sword, followed by a bright explosion in the sky.


    "My ss is ''Battle Priestess'' and not ''Warrior Priestess��"


    Eliza murmured to herself as she turned away from that fight and scanned the battlefield for any groups of allies that needed help.


    The set of actions the girl had justpleted garnered a lot of attention from thebatants around her, as the ones who had their weapons coated with life aura, noticed that this green aura also surrounded their injuries and healed said injuries, all while reinvigorating them.


    Seeing that multiple undead mages were about to wipe out apany of soldiers, Eliza grabbed the Memoria and pointed it towards the direction of the undead, generating a cube-shaped barrier that covered thepany andpletely blocked thebined magic of the undead.


    Right after, she stabbed the spear tip of the staff behind her, piercing it into the skull of a ghoul that was sneaking up behind her.


    She then twisted it while infusing it with life magic, causing the upper body of the ghoul to explode into chunks of flesh.


    Nevertheless, she was not affected by this explosion, and neither did the pieces of flesh touch her as the moment they came in contact with the aura of life surrounding her, they burned to nothing.


    She then stabbed the staff into the ground and heaved a sigh of exasperation as she noticed another group of adventurers about to get done in by undead, using the radiant codex to apply buffs on them while raising her hand tounch beams of concentrated magic energy to the undead.


    However, before she did that, a white-robed arm grabbed her hand and pushed it down, with a voice ringing in the next moment.


    "Let me, deal with this one."


    Immediately after, dozens of light shards appeared in the air, before dropping down atop the heads of the undead and shredding them into pieces.


    "I can see why he said you''d need the help of the pdins. If I had known, I would have requested the church send more.


    You don''t have the magic capacity necessary to continuously buff thousands of soldiers for extended periods of time."


    The white-robed woman, the Bishop of the Church of Artemisia and Vessel of the goddess, Amelie Harris, spoke up as she used a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off Eliza''s face.


    "Thank you."


    "You''re wee."


    Amelie replied to her before flicking her fingers and sending a huge spear of light towards an undead gryphon that had grabbed an adventurer with its ws, turning back to Eliza right after and continuing.


    "Anyway, on the D-Day, I would have the pdins of other churches assist you in deploying the ''thing'' that Evan said you have which would be very effective in dealing with that necromancer."


    As she spoke, she summoned a golden-coloured staff into her hands, and twirled it around before stomping it on the floor and activating her skill right after.


    "Blessing of Light."


    A gigantic sphere of golden light appeared in the sky above her head, expanding and ttening out until it was nearly a kilometre wide.


    It was then shaped into countless des of light that dropped down on the entities below them.


    When it hit undead monsters, the undead screamed in pain as their skin and bones burned, and when it hit living beings, they gained an aura of light that infused their weapons with the light element, all while giving them a small boost to their base parameters and made undead weakened just bying near them.


    Seeing the undead scream in pain just bying close to those affected by the aura of light, Eliza only shook her head before pulling out a few things from the pouches on her waist.


    "Huh? You''re drinking juice? Now of all times?"


    Amelie couldn''t help but notice Eliza''s actions, with her eyes widening in slight surprise as she saw the blonde teenager sipping what appeared to be strawberry juice.


    "Nahh��they''re potions, ced in juice packs."


    "Ohh��lemme guess; Evan gave them to you?"


    "Yep."


    "Thought so."


    The bishop nodded in understanding as she remembered the blonde teenager''s boyfriend who seemed to like strawberries a bit too much.


    "The sheer number of strawberries seen him toss into his mouth within the past few days is rming."


    "He''s eating them raw now? He usually gets them turned into juice first.


    I once walked into him stuffing cartons of strawberry juice of various brands into his inventory. There were a few untagged bottles which he told me were the ones he had made specially."


    "Maybe he couldn''t find a ce to get that done this time"


    "Or he was just too impatient to wait."


    The two looked at each other in silence before sighing and speaking simultaneously.


    ""He was definitely too impatient to wait.""


    The twodies continued making small talk all while asionally activating their unique skills and usingrge-scale support magic.


    Not long after, they decided to personally join the fray once more, inadvertently making people see just how crazy strong the both of them were.


    �� �� ��


    Back at Position A, a certain hero was tossing a few fresh strawberries into his mouth, ignorant of the fact that his girlfriend and one of his acquaintances were discussing his addiction a few thousand miles away.


    Immediately after, he kicked off the ground and dashed forward, moving so fast that people could only feel a violent gust of wind when he passed.


    He covered hundreds of meters of distance within seconds, dishing out aura-based attacks towards every undead within his range.

 Chapter 364 Operation Synchro XI (Back To Position A’s Side)

    Sometimes, Evan just randomly tossed a chain lightning atop the head of an unfortunate undead monster, before moving on to his next victim faster than the skill''s initial lighting st could hit.


    The boy was using almost every single active skill in his arsenal, even the wide-area destructive skill he stole from the unfortunate man who was Greed''s previous contractor, Copse.


    The young hero ran up his conveniently ce void steps like it was a flight of stairs, jumping into the air and clotheslining an unfortunate undead mage and knocking it to the ground.


    The undead mage regained its bearings mid-air and recast its flight magic; however, it could not do anything else as Evan''s foot stomped on its chest and forced it to the ground right after.


    "Copse."


    The undead mage heard that word, instantly creating a barrier to protect itself, however, such an act was ultimately futile against the power contained in the foot of the young hero that came bearing down on it.


    **BOOOOMM!


    There was an initial explosion that shook the ground beneath his feet, with the undead''s bones shattering from that initial kick.


    Then came the discharge of low-frequency acoustic energy into the Earth''s crust that caused seismic waves to propagate through the ground at high velocities.


    As the surfaceyer of the earth copsed and the ground sunk, everything within a kilometre radius of his position, buildings and undead, all copsed into the massive sinkhole that formed in the ground.


    When the dust and smoke cleared out, a single boy could be seen at the bottom of the dozen-metre-deep depression in the earth, sitting on a makeshift stool made with earth magic and sipping on a juice pack.


    ''Still not levelling up, huh?''


    He closed his status board and tossed the empty juice pack on the floor, burping lightly before making a few light, warm-up jumps.


    Immediately after, he ran forward, taking two steps on the ground and kicking off it on the third, jumping right out of the huge sinkhole in the ground while taking a moment to nce at the widespread destruction he just caused.


    ''Good thing I restrained the power of the skill. Any more and allies would have fallen victim to it.''


    With that thought, hended on the back of a Duhan''s mount, forcing the horse to buckle under the force of hisnding and tumble to the ground, tossing both Evan and the Duhan into the air.


    While the undead creature was momentarily surprised, the young hero took this chance and activated his blessing of destruction, pulling the unforged out of his inventory and stabbing the Duhan''s torso.


    "Explode."


    Hismand caused the magic power infused into the de to detonate inside the Duhan''s body, boring arge hole through its torso moments before Evan''s feet touched the ground.


    "Energy st."


    Evan stretched out his left hand towards the fallen undead horse andunched a continuous energy st towards its head while doing the same towards the Duhan that was struggling to its feet after getting a new hole in its torso, courtesy of Evan''s previous attack.


    The energy st knocked the undead back to the ground, allowing Evan to reach its fallen helmet-d head and grab it, before removing the helmet and squashing the head itself with brute strength.


    Immediately after, he blinked over to the horse that was literally on itsst legs and ended its misery.


    "Unforged."


    His trusted de flew into his hands and he grasped it tightly before abruptly turning around and cutting down the trio of arrows that came for his head.


    Without even giving the undead archer and its shield-bearing protector a moment of break, he thrust his sword forward and activated his signature unique skill.


    "Vortex."


    The massive swirling mass of spiral-shaped magic power swallowed the two undead creatures and ripped them to shreds within seconds.


    He then turned around once more and threw the sword towards another undead knight in the distance, activating vortex once more, ON the already thrown weapon.


    The magic power he loaded into the de was sucked out, before beginning to spiral around the weapon and form the familiar mass of golden-coloured energy that he just used to turn the undead archer to shreds.


    "It actually worked��"


    The boy voiced out his surprise upon seeing his attack actually work, chuckling lightly as he called back the de into his arms and activated aura sh.


    His golden-coloured aura coalesced around his sword and shaped it into a longer de, extending his reach before he swung down the weapon and released the sh of aura forward.


    **BOOOOOMM!!!!


    Undead monsters of various types, shapes and sizes, along with the broken buildings around them were all messily split into two by this massive sh of aura, carving up more than a hundred metres of the ground in front of him.


    "de cannon."


    He jumped to the side and swung his sword once more, releasing five golden-coloured fist-sized bullets of aura that perforated an undead Cretan bull before the apanying sh split it in two.


    Evan wiped the sweat off his forehead with a tissue, setting it aze as he turned towards the west and noticed that the undead concentration over there had fallen considerably.


    "I think we''ve killed far more than fifteen thousand undead monsters today."


    Just when he was thinking if his words could have been a g for the undead to have reinforcements, Evan sensed something iing from his right and instantly blinked out of the area, just in time to avoid the half-dead lich that crashed down from the sky.


    He cleared the cloud of dust around him with wind magic before gazing at the lich and recognizing it to be the same one that released that initial screech of sound magic that resulted in a few unfortunate soldiers and adventurers bleeding from their ears.


    Looking up, he saw a familiar green-haired, ck and red-robed mage, with a golden A rank adventurer card hanging from her neck floating in the air.


    Meeting Evan''s gaze, she winked at him lightly, with a small smile appearing on her face as she saw the boy pull off the nes on the lich''s neck and freeze its body in a block of ice.


    "I knew he could use fire and lightning, but to think he could also use powerful ice magic this skillfully."


    [Huh? Who?]


    "Little Eli''s boyfriend."


    Tisha replied to one of her party members whom she was corresponding with via the transmitter in her ear.


    [You mean Eliza, right?


    Wasn''t her boyfriend a high noble?]


    "Yeah. He''s the Prime Minister''s son."


    [Ohh�� the one who''s been blowing shit up since morning.]


    "Yep."


    After replying to the party member, she looked back at Evan and saw him out the words; ''Thank You'', nodding in affirmation before she flew off to go assist her party members to kill another lich somewhere else.


    As for the young hero on the ground, he stared at the frozen lich on the floor in front of him, before moving his gaze to the notification that was floating in front of his eyes.


    |Conditions Met |


    |Adaptive Evolution has been triggered. |


    |Adaptive Evolution has detected a sufficient source of energy required. |


    ''Required for what?''

 Chapter 365 Adaptive Evolution’s Hidden Conditions

    ''Required for what?''


    |Hidden Conditions:


    Acquire title: ?????????- ?


    Acquire Five Elemental Attunements: ?


    Sessfully  x7K*GL&wcP ???????????: ?


    Sessfully 1Ek?Xma a World Magic Spell: ?


    Gain Resistances to 12 different Phenomena-?


    Experience Required for Evolution: 85%/100%?


    Kill and Absorb the Energy of an Existence over Level 300-?


    Achieve a total of 200+ Levels within a period of 12 months-?|


    If Evan''s jaw could literally drop to the floor right now, then it would have.


    The young hero turned around and grabbed the sword of an undead knight that shed at him from behind, before activating blessing of destruction and fracture and punching it to oblivion.


    Afterwards, he deactivated the unique skill and hurriedly pulled up his status board and looked it over.


    |Name- Evan Von Bourne


    Race- Body: Human; Soul: ###e# ###s###e#;


    Gender - Male


    Age - Body: 13; Soul: 17;


    Level- 235


    Existence Level - Master (Intermediate)


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########, B-Rank Adventurer, Youngest B-Ranker in History, Protector of the People, Anomaly, ?????????.


    ss- Energy Swordmaster.


    Health �C B-


    Energy �C B-


    Strength �C B


    Agility �C B-


    Durability �C B-


    Intelligence- B-


    Condition- Mildly Exhausted.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 2, Lightning Tier 2, Shadow Tier 2, Ice Tier 2, Wind Tier 0;


    Resistances- Divinity, Poison, Charm, Fear, Lightning, Mental, Fire, Wind, Ice, Demonic Energy, Magic Energy, Death Essence, Darkness, Acid, Pressure.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension, Martial Arts, Fracture, Void Steps;


    Mimicked Skills-Energy st, Body Transformation, Aura sh, Blink, Inventory, Limit Break, de Cannon, Elemental Shield, Ice Magic (High), Chain Lightning, Track Down, Tenacity, Intimidation, Copse, Elemental Weapon Projection, Thunderp, Command, Physical Damage Reduction.


    Avable Skill Slots- 1;


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (2), Adaptive Evolution (UP), Blessing of Destruction (1), Vortex. |


    "When did I get wind magic attunement? Is it because of all the basic wind magic I''ve been using recently?


    And also, my resistances tab really expanded itself there, huh?


    I''m now more resistant to magic and demonic energy as a whole. I even gained some more elemental resistances too.


    Where did the acid resistancee from though? I don''t recall getting acid on m-Oh!"


    Mid speech, he remembered one of the first Duhans he encountered in the Duchy and the weird skill that let it spray acid-like mes from a methrower.


    "I guess Adaptive Evolution picked up on that, huh?


    And Death Essence? I''ve been around a lot of undead so this makes sense, as for Darkness, that also kinda checks out."


    One might wonder if there was a need for the individual elemental resistances if he was simply more resistant to magic power for a while, but it should be taken into ount that magic was not the only energy type that existed on Aidos, and it was not the only energy that could be infused with elements.


    "So, if someone uses wind-infused aura on me, it''d be less effective and they''d be better off just using pure unattributed aura.


    Not that I''d tell them this, though."


    The boy then finally decided to turn his attention to his titles while reapplying the ice magic on the lich underneath his feet.


    "Youngest B-Ranker in History, Protector of the People, Anomaly, and ?????????.


    I get the first two, the third is probably because of our party name, but what the fuck is with the fourth?


    And why does this happen to be the exact same title that is required for this hidden evolution."


    ''Artemisia-pedia! Answers!''


    Despite calling out to the goddess, he received no reply, so he decided to put off questioning her forter.


    "This brings me to the (UP) beside Adaptive Evolution��is the skill trying to evolve? Or am I the one who''s Evolving


    And also, what on Aidos would I be evolving to if I am the one who''s doing so?"


    He switched the tabs back to the hidden conditions tab and looked each one over.


    "From the conditions, it''s most likely me.


    Eight conditions, of which I''ve finished five of them.


    The weird title from Artemisia, the five magic tiers, gaining the resistances, the unknown bullshit I don''t have the strength to think about right now and levelling up by 200 in a year.


    That leaves the one about killing a level 300, getting 100% of whatever experience is there and doing what only heaven knows to a world magic spell."


    Evan couldn''t help but think that this skill was purposely putting that condition there because of the fact that he recently started working on an imitation for a particr world magic spell.


    "It''s the weakest of the Attack type World Magic Spells that only the top 10 in the game had."


    In the game, the top 10 rankers had special privileges, and one of said privileges was the ability to possess ''World Magic''.


    World Magic were more like special abilities, rather than actual magic spells as the casters could unleash them without consuming their own energy reserves.


    The number of World Magic that each member of the top 10 rankings could learn was limited, as was the number of times that they could be used in a day.


    ''Couldn''t have rankers showing up at guild wars and spamming world magic everywhere, other yers would just have ended up dying uselessly.''


    Thanks to the System Archive, Evan had the details on all the World Magic spells, including the ones he didn''t have in the game.


    Casting them, however, was a different case entirely as while one didn''t need magic power to cast the spell, trying to do so at a low level was basically suicide.


    This was why when he spoke up about the World Magic when he was in Osto, Artemisia told him to not even think about attempting it.


    ''I need to further understand how the World Magic system works here in reality.


    But for now, I''d settle with an Imitation of the spell''s Pseudo version.


    Would that work for this Hidden Condition?''


    As he was thinking all of this, he froze the lich once more, this time spreading out the ice around him to freeze the undead that attacked him before shattering them into shards of ice.


    "Now then��I''ve been ignoring it but this is the greatest problem here.


    My level, hasn''t been increasing for a while now."


    Evan heaved a sigh of exhaustion as he stared at the level tab that had been showing 235 for the past few weeks.


    "This is like the worst possible time to meet a levelling wall.


    I know it means I''m about to be a superior stage but couldn''t it havee earlier?"


    He crouched and tapped the block of ice with the frozen lich inside it, increasing the thickness of the ice with each tap before sighing once more.


    "I came to vent my stress, and I found a new source of stress instead."


    His gaze alternated between the lich, his status board and the hidden conditions tab, sighing a third time as he had a gut feeling that even if he killed this lich right here and now, he still would not be able to level up.


    "Let''s be positive."

 Chapter 366 Operation Synchro XII

    "Let''s be positive."


    With those words Evan ced his palm atop the ice block on the ground and generated a full elemental shield around him with the ice element, he then took a deep breath and activated blessing of destruction.


    As the red aura of destructive essence surrounded his body, he activated the third skill on the list of skills he nned to use to end this lich''s life while simultaneously dispersing his ice magic.


    "Energy st."


    ***BOOOOMMMM!!!!!


    The elemental shield that he had put up to prevent any disturbances easily shattered into shards of ice because of the shockwave that spread out for hundreds of metres.


    Both undead and allies alike were knocked off their feet because of this, with the attention of the remaining forces on the battlefield being turned towards Evan''s direction.


    As for the one who caused this phenomenon, he was currently at the bottom of a six feet deep crater, holding his smoking palm over a bunch of broken bones.


    Where the lich''s ribcage once was, there was now arge gaping hole that went on to bore into the ground for heaven knows how many hundred metres deep.


    The lich''s inferno sights flickered for a short moment before permanently dimming, after which Evan cursed out loud.


    "Fuck Positivity."


    The notifications floating right in front of him were confirmation that his earlier gut feeling was 100% urate.


    |Adaptive Evolution has been triggered.


    |Isting the Energy absorbed from Level 305 Existence; Greater Lich Beg''dikeec|


    |Isted Energy would not be used as Experience for Increasing Host''s Level.


    Channelling the Energy into Unique Skill: Adaptive Evolution. |


    |Hidden Condition Met


    Kill and Absorb the Energy of an Existence over Level 300-?|


    "And here I thought that''d be my ticket to ascend a few dozen levels at once."


    Evan picked up his fallen transmitter and jumped out of the crater before dusting his overcoat. He felt a lot of gazes on him and was about to speak, only to suddenly sense a huge number of iing presences.


    His gaze snapped towards the side and his eyes darkened, moving a hand towards the transmitter on his ear and speaking into it.


    "Evan Eris here.


    Majors? Mind telling me what position is South-west of our location on the map?"


    [Southwest? That''s Position J, Lord Eris.]


    "Well then��I guess we know where the undead missing from position J are, huh?"


    [Missing undead? Sorry, can you exp-! Oh, my goddess!!]


    Evan chuckled lightly as he heard the Major''s exmation of surprise upon finally noticing the iing swarm of undead creatures.


    He pulled out actual magic and strength-enhancing potion bottles, downing their contents, before doing the same with a few stamina potions.


    Evan heard a loud screech and looked up to see multiple bone wyverns, along with a few other airborne-type undead flying into the area.


    However, two particrly strong presences that he detected atop two of the wyverns made his eyes widen in shock.


    Without dy, he pulled out his othermunicator from his pocket and spoke into it.


    "Guild Master Dasyra? You there?"


    There was a short silence before the half-beastkin woman''s voice came through, with Evan heaving a sigh of relief as he spoke.


    "Can you send ''him'' to Position A. And tell the Duke to give the Brigade Captain Level Knights the go-ahead to move."


    [Huh? What happened?]


    "Well��I thought that the undead from Position J moved over to A as reinforcements, but the presences I just sensed told me otherwise.


    We''re facing a new wave of undead monsters, and there''s a high possibility that they were sent by the Eighth Finger himself.


    The presences of those two Death Knights proves it. There weren''t supposed to be any Death Knights at Position J, after all."


    [!


    I''d send ''him'' to you immediately!]


    "Also, send a message to the other positions to inform them of the possibility of reinforcements to the undead''s forces."


    Evan acknowledged her words before switching channels to the one that the A-rank adventurers at Position A were currently on and speaking into it.


    He informed them that an S-rank adventurer was iing and that they only needed to stall for time against the two Death Knights, all while preventing said Death Knights from attacking the weaker adventurers and soldiers.


    After getting their affirmation, Evan took a deep breath and roused his magic power, before opening his mouth to call out to the spirits in the area.


    "Spirits of mes, Spirits of Lightning, Spirits of the Earth, Spirits of Water, Spirits of the wind, and Spirits that reside in the darkness and shadows.


    I call out to you all."


    His voice wasn''t too loud; however, it was enough as the spirits who were closer to him, called out to the ones further away, who then called out to the ones even further away, and in the next minute Evan was surrounded by hundreds of low and mid-ranking spirits, both the ones that were originally in the battlefield, and the ones that came over after sensing their brethrening towards this direction.


    The concentration of ambient energy around Evan instantly quadrupled, grabbing the attention of both the Death Knights who were readying their weapons to sh with the A rankers, the A rankers themselves, the bone wyverns, and pretty much everyone capable of sensing energy on the battlefield.


    Evan looked at the two high-ranked Earth and Water Spirits that hovered around him multiple times, before finally speaking.


    [You human��you have the mark of one of the Great Spirits on you.]


    "Yeah, I do.


    She''s not here now, though. She''s probably having fun roasting a few hundred kilometres away from here."


    Evan replied to the Earth spirit as he cracked his knuckles while taking slow steps forwards, however, before the spirit could say anything more, the boy continued.


    "This isn''t the time to talk about what Great Spirit I''m contracted to.


    We have a lot of creatures who have exhausted their subscription to ''Life'', trying to kill us, and most of my allies are exhausted from fighting since morning.


    I''m going to need you guys to help to assist them in dealing with the reinforcements."


    [��]


    [I wanna blow away undead!]


    [You idiot! Your measly wind can''t blow them away. My mes would burn them all!!]


    [Whoooo!]


    [Everyone shut up!! The Higher ranks are talking.]


    [I feel like eating wyvern meat for some reason.]


    [Those things are all rotting flesh and bones, sure you wanna eat that?]


    [Of course, he would, earth spirits eat everything!]


    [No, we don''t!]


    [Kukuku, owner of a strong power calls me.]


    [Destruction. Flowing blood amidst ear-splitting screams. That is what I want.]


    [There''s no blood, you edgy darkness spirit. They''re undead!]


    The high-ranked earth spirit remained silent after his words while the mid and low-ranked spirits happily flocked towards him while chattering about happily.


    Evan patted the heads of a few of the lower ranks who snuggled up to him before looking at the iing waves of undead creatures and saying.


    "My magic energy is an offering to you��go wild."


    The first half of his statement was directed at the two high ranks, while the second half was directed at all the spirits present.


    Immediately after he spoke, there was a sudden silence as all the spirits unanimously kept quiet.


    The next moment, they all red their auras wildly, causing a suffocating pressure to descend upon the area.

 Chapter 367 Operation Synchro XIII

    All the spirits simultaneously red their auras wildly, causing a suffocating pressure to descend upon the area.


    The hundreds of spirits instantly shot towards the iing wave of undead creatures, with some revealing their physical bodies while others chose to remain in spiritual forms.


    Most of the ones who revealed their physical bodies were animal-type spirits, all of which looked like ferocious tigers, lions and even goris.


    Theserge-bodied spirits were the first to sh with the undead, ripping apart the weaker ones within seconds while ganging up on the more powerful undead to pummel them to death.


    Various kinds of elemental magic, skills and special abilities were flying everywhere, consigning dozens of undead monsters to oblivion within mere minutes.


    **ROOOOOAAARRRR!!!!!


    The skies darkened as a loud roar resounded across the battlefield. Evan gazed up at the sky and saw arge pir of water rising up into the sky, casting a shadow on the ground which the shadow spirits used to their advantage.


    The top of this pir of water then reformed into the head of a sea dragon with a particrlyrge set of sharp teeth, beforeunching towards one of the wyverns carrying a Death Knight in the air.


    "As expected of a high-ranking water spirit."


    Naturally, there was no way the wyvern would just sit back and let itself get hit. It turned its body in the air and manoeuvred to dodge the water dragon spell, showing its high level of proficiency in flight.


    But sadly, it didn''t ount for the fact that the water dragon could change its direction mid-flight should it miss.


    Right after the wyvern dodged it, the dragon head abruptly changed directions and shot towards the wyvern with even greater speed, crossing a hundred metres of distance in just two seconds and biting onto the bodies of both the wyvern and its Death Knight rider.


    Nevertheless, the powerful death knight let out a muffled roar as it released multiple bursts of death aura, finally managing to destroy the water dragon after the third burst of energy.


    However, the moment it did, a huge spiked pir of earth shot up from the ground and into the sky, impaling its defenceless back and piercing a hole through its torso.


    The water that was falling to the ground gathered up in the air and turned into a huge javelin with a ribbon of water attached to it,unching towards the impaled death knight immediately after.


    "This is quite exhausting."


    Evan remarked to himself as he finished another magic potion and threw the bottle on the ground, burping lightly before activating void steps and jumping onto the foothold of aura.


    ''I can''t use any magic right now because of the high-ranked spirits.


    Temporary contracts are exhausting affairs.''


    The boy then ran up the first three void steps, before using the fourth one as a springboard to kick off into the air, shooting straight towards the bone wyvern who just lost its rider.


    "Fracture!"


    With a small shout and a lightning-d fist, he punched the head of the unsuspecting undead wyvern, burning through the little flesh left on it and shattering its skull.


    |Experience Required for Evolution: 86%/100%?|


    The wyvern''s skull shattered into bone pieces as the notification popped up in front of Evan''s eyes.


    "Hmm��so this wyvern was worth 1% experience, huh?


    How much would the others be?"


    While he was asking himself this question, a few A rankers and senior mages who saw his actions had their jaws drop in shock.


    "Did this kid just kill that undead wyvern in a single hit?!"


    "��I think he just did."


    "You guys can be surprised at his powerter, but for now, focus on the Death Knight trying to kill you."


    Tisha''s words knocked them back to their senses and they all moved away to dodge therge beam of light fired by the other Death Knight.


    **KAAABOOOOM!!!


    As one section of the cliff surrounding them was reduced to the same level of the valley at the bottom from that casual attack, Evan had moved on to the next unfortunate wyvern target.


    Mid jump, he shed two undead gryphons into pieces, generated a rain of swords that perforated holes all over the body of an unfortunate Duhan on the ground, and thennded on one of his void steps right behind his target wyvern.


    The undead creature attempted to knock Evan to the ground with its tail, however, that was precisely what the young hero was waiting for.


    He grabbed the tail of the undead wyvern, holding his breath to endure to rotten smell while creaking more void steps to prevent himself from falling to the ground.


    Once he stabilized his footing on thebinations of four aura footholds, he created four more to surround them and began spinning his body around.


    The veins on his arms bulged as he spun the undead wyvern with his full strength, inadvertently knocking a few other undead knights and gryphons out of the sky as he kept on spinning and spinning until he was osciting so fast that he looked like a blur.


    He then flung the undead wyvern with all his strength, falling off his void steps in the process as he watched the undead creature crash into the other Death Knight and its wyvern mount.


    "Elemental Projected weapon: Explode."


    With those words, a golden red chain that was messily wrapped around the wyvern''s tail glowed brightly for a moment before exploding mid-air.


    Not wanting to waste this opportunity, the A rankersunched abination of attacks on the Death Knight who had just eaten a mouthful of an aura explosion that knocked it off its wyvern ride.


    As for Evan, his fall was broken by a trio of wind spirits that flew up to him and used magic to keep his body afloat.


    "Thanks, guys."


    [You''re Wee!]


    [We We!]


    "Just take me to the ground, I think I''d leave the aerial battles to you guys."


    [kay kay!]


    Evan looked at the system time while enjoying the ride to the ground, releasing an energy st to deter a gryphon that charged at him while thinking that this was going to be one very long day.


    �� �� ��


    Unbeknownst to Evan, while he was being carried to the ground by the group of wind spirits, he was being watched by two pairs of eyes from afar.


    "And here I thought the Duke would participate in person. Looks like he really isn''t in Bultom anymore and has returned to the Duchy''s capital."


    One of the two men who was sitting on a small rock while juggling a few stones in his hands spoke as he scanned the battlefield with his eyes, noting all the powerful figures present.


    "Only A rankers, no one on the S rank level here or anywhere else.


    Even still, the ones here would be able to take out those Death Knights given enough time. Especially with those spirits helping.


    What a waste."


    "A waste indeed."


    The voice of the second figure standing beside the man rang out in response to his words. Hearing this, the man crushed the rocks in his palms before dusting his hands and ncing at the figure beside him.


    It was a man with arge build, standing at almost seven feet tall and wearing full ck steel-looking armour and giving off an extremely intimidating vibe.

 Chapter 368 The Demon And The Dullahan

    The second figure standing beside the sitting man was another man, one with arge build, standing at almost seven feet tall and wearing full ck steel-looking armour and giving off an extremely intimidating vibe.


    Hanging from his waist was a single long sword sheathed in a brown-coloured sheath, and strapped to his back was arge cleaver.


    Everything else about him looked normal enough; if you ignored the fact that he did not have a head on his neck.


    In his hands was the helmet-d body part that was supposed to be on his neck, with its every breath expelling a blue gas into the air.


    He then moved his hands and ced this helmet onto his neck, twisting it slightly and locking it into ce with a ''click'' sound like a bay cap bulb being fitted into amp holder.


    "No matter how many times I see you do this, it still doesn''t change the fact that it''s freaky as heck."


    The man sitting on the rock rubbed his neck with one hand as he spoke, while the other hand scratched his messy dark brown hair.


    He was dressed in an untucked white short-sleeved dress shirt, over a pair of simple ck trousers and simr-coloured shoes.


    He wore a pair of lightly tinted sunsses that prevented one from noticing the true colour of his eyes.


    "Oh well��among the A rankers, there are a few that stand out to me. Like that woman who took out Beg''dikeec."


    "Ah��her. I remember seeing her among the profiles that Dominikpiled.


    She''s Zylwenys Tisha. She''s a promising A ranker who has the potential to be S rank if given a few more years.


    Since she''s a mage type, Dominik and I picked out a Death Knight with a skill that''s very useful against mages for her."


    The sunsses-wearing man replied to his armouredpanion''s words before pointing at a few other A rankers who he recognized, along with a few other powerful B rankers.


    All the names he called out were the names of Adventurers and Knights who had made names for themselves and garnered fame ever since the undead crisis in Cheverton began.


    Naturally, a certain young hero who had taken advantage of this incident to garner fame to his name, was on this list.


    "The boy who summoned the spirits��who did you say he was again?"


    "Hmm? Eris Evan��or rather, Evan Eris. That country''s style of callingst names first has gotten to me after being there for decades."


    "Didn''t you say you had no choice as you had to beware of the Beast King?


    But besides that, to think he was an Eris, huh?


    So, he''s the son of that Blood Duke. He''s just like his father when the man was younger."


    The armoured man ced a hand to his chin as he spoke, nodding to himself as if having confirmed something.


    "Blood Duke? What''s that?"


    "It''s the name the Prime Minster was called in his younger days."


    "Ohe to think of it, you were once a Knight under his service, weren''t you, Vazgan?"


    The man wearing the sunsses posed this question to his armouredpanion, who only sighed before correcting him.


    "I wasn''t under his service. I was just a squire serving in a unit hemanded during a war some time ago.


    I only became a Knight after I was transferred to Bultom."


    "Same thing."


    "Not it''s not, Zacr."


    The armoured man sighed and facepalmed, before turning the conversation topic back to Evan''s actions of calling spirits.


    "From the looks of that water spell, what he summoned was most likely a high-ranking water spirit."


    "Yeah, but it seems like he''s at his limit. He was only able to fight for a short moment after that before having to rely on the spirits to carry him.


    Guessing he can''t use it much."


    "Don''t be so quick to conclude. He was fighting all day so h-!"


    "HEY!"


    Vazgan''s words were interrupted by a shout that came from afar, with the two men turning to see an adventurer making his way towards them.


    The silver tag hanging from his neck showed he was a B ranker, but they could sense his level was at the lower end of the B rank spectrum.


    "Wotcha two doing here? The fight''s happening over there."


    He had a genuinely curious look, apanied by a tinge of fear in his eyes as he spoke while looking towards the sunsses-wearing man.


    "Ha��he looks scared of you, Vazgan. You should really tone down that intimidating aura sometimes."


    "I see no need to do such a thing."


    The two continued with their conversation, ignoring the B ranker who didn''t seem to like that. However, before he could say anything, a dark shadow was suddenly cast on the ground in front of him.


    Before the poor adventurer could even react, a thick hoof mmed into the back of his head and knocked him to the ground.


    The hoof was then engulfed in a coat of blue mes, before stomping down on the adventurer''s fallen body, multiple times.


    Each stomp caused the ground to crater slightly, sending out shockwaves that spread out for a few metres.


    By the fifth stomp, the adventurer now had a crack in his skull and three holes in his back. The blue mes from the hoof had spread over his body, melting the steel armour he was wearing before going on to burn his skin.


    "Poor guy, if only he held back his curiosity."


    The sunsses-wearing man spoke with a ''sad'' tone, before standing up and dusting his trousers. He then alternated his gaze between Vazgan and therge ck horse that just stomped the poor B-rank adventurer to death and spoke.


    "Let''s go. Our work here is done.


    We''d wait and see if they''d go after Methik''s Corpse puppet that is with Falos. He did say that the puppet may have attracted attention when escaping from Bultom.


    So much for the n to trap the Duke."


    Vazgan nodded in response to his words, before holding out his hand and patting the horse that snuggled up to him as the three figures walked away into the sunset, leaving behind the corpse of the poor B-rank adventurer who perished before his time.

 Chapter 369 Operation ‘Synchro’: Aftermath

    The simultaneous battles against the undead concluded just before the sunset for the day, with the next few hours being spent on the very necessary task of discarding the bodies of the undead creatures that were fought.


    The fire mages had their work cut out for them as they were assigned the task of burning the bodies of every single undead creature that had been gathered by the other adventurers and soldiers.


    It was a very important procedure that was taken after every fight againstrge numbers of undead creatures, as necromancers have shown the ability to raise the undead once more if their bodies were rtively intact.


    Of course, undead creatures like liches and skeleton knights hardly fell under this category, but their shattered bones were still burned just in case.


    Since returning to their respective bases wasn''t exactly feasible, each of the attack forces made camp a few kilometres from their battlefields while rotating the watch duty amongst their various groups.


    The atmosphere at the camp that night was sombre, to say the least, as more than just a few knights soldiers and adventurers had lost one or twopanions during the day''s battle.


    By the next morning, when everyone was suitably rested, they began their journeys back to their respective bases, along with the corpses of the fallen who had been purified by the priests of the church.


    Position A was only half a day''s journey from Bultom, so by afternoon, they had already reached the satellite towns around the county''s capital.


    This also served to make Evan realize that it was impossible to carry out their n for the Count of Falos on the 25th, though he had already expected this.


    Instead, he spent the rest of the day handling the matters pertaining to the casualties along with the Duke and the other military higher-ups.


    Calcting the number of casualties, assigning the officers who were to break the bad news to the families of the fallen knights and soldiers, as well as initiating support for the families that they had left behind.


    Important tasks like that could not be left unattended.


    Duke Charles also had his work cut out for him as while he was focusing more on the undead crisis, there were other aspects of governing the Cheverton Duchy that needed his direct attention.


    Thankfully, he hadpetent vassals under him and a Duchess who didn''t rest on herurels, so things were a lot easier for him to handle. He had even taken this opportunity to test his two sons to see their level ofpetence in handling issues like this.


    And so the day passed, with more of the forces returning to their respective bases to rest for the D-Day, while the Brigades that didn''t participate in the simultaneous attacks prepared themselves to move out to Falos.


    Only the ones brought by the Second Sword Luke to Bultom, along with a Brigade of Knights under the Duke and a thousand adventurers were to participate in this n.


    While the soldiers and Knights were assembling themselves to move west, Evan and his party members were all peacefully sleeping in their beds, as they sure as hell weren''t going to get any sleep that night.


    a��? a��? a��?


    Church of Artemisia Branch


    Bultom Dungeon City


    Cheverton Duchy


    April 26th


    Year 1052


    [e???Oh the summer of ''1021


    Summer smiling had me a st, oh yeah


    Summer smiling happened so faste???]


    Thete morning of this fine day was weed by the priests and Holy Knights of the Church of Artemisia in Bultom City, with the scene of a young twelve-year-old-looking girl holding a radio in her hand as she sauntered through the halls of the Church Building.


    She had her straight ck hair tied up in a long braid that reached just below her knees, wearing a simrly coloured short-sleeved shirt and a pair of white shorts.


    On her hands, she had ck leather gloves, matching the boots she had on.


    The passing holy knights and priests couldn''t help but take notice of her as she looked at a piece of paper in her hand while navigating her way through the halls of the building.


    Appearance-wise, she looked like a normal twelve-year-old, however, the clergymen and other workers of the church, especially the holy knights, knew she was one of the farthest things from a ''normal'' twelve-year-old.


    On one hand, she was a very powerful, presumably high-ranked member of the elusive spirit race, and it was also bingmon knowledge that she was in a contract with a certain Duke''s son, at least within Bultom.


    Those who saw her actions in the battle on the 24th had gone on to spread the word, allowing the passing priests to be able to instantly identify her at first nce.


    While she was moving around the church with her hand-drawn map, she asionally waved at the holy knights and priests that she passed, eventually reaching an area that was restricted to outsiders.


    The knights guarding the entrance to the area did their jobs, stopping her to question her destination although one of them seemed slightly scared of the little girl.


    [Big Sis Amelie told me that her room was here and I shoulde to find her.


    She even drew a map for me.]


    She held out the map to the holy knights while switching off the radio in her other hand and dropping it to the ground.


    Just when they thought that the device would shatter upon contact with the ground, the girl''s shadow wriggled lightly and expanded a bit, with the radio falling into it and disappearing.


    That reminded the holy knight looking at the hand-drawn map that the girl in front of him wasn''t the only spirit that their Prime Minister''s son was said to be contracted with.


    Nevertheless, he quickly regained himself and asked one of his femalepanions to check if the person she hade to find was in their room.


    However, before that person could even enter the dorm area, another knight came over from another direction with a message from the Bishop in question.


    "Bishop Harris said you shoulde over to the Bishop''s office to talk to her there."


    [Oh...Okay!


    Thanks, Mr Knight.]


    Like so, she followed the knight to the office of the Bishop of the Church of Artemisia of the Bultom County, arriving to meet Amelie and the aged Bishop engaging in a heated discussion.


    The young spirit silently seated herself atop a couch that was ced nearby while ying with the fur of a familiar-looking ck cat in her arms.


    After a few minutes, the two Bishops concluded their discussions, with the resident Bishop vacating his office to take care of other matters outside.


    "Sorry for the wait, Lady Ka."


    [Just call me Ka. No need to fuss over honorifics.]


    Ka remarked as she sauntered up to the ck-haired woman and jumped atop herp, before stretching out her hands to push the older woman''s hair behind her ears.


    [Everyone''s so busy these days.]


    "Well...Dealing with the undead doesn''t only entail fighting them."


    [Mmm...I understand.


    Sorry to bother you at this time.]


    Seeing how Ka was looking a bit dejected, Amelie smiled lightly before poking the young spirit''s nose and saying.


    "Don''t feel bad about it, okay? You''re not bothering me at all."


    a?�� a?�� a?��


    Hey y''all, it''s your friendly neighbourhood author, _michael here.


    So, within a few days, I''d be reporting for mandatory youth service in my country, which is basically a pseudo-military camp.


    This means that chapter updates would reduce for a while as I would not be able to write much while doing training drills with soldiers.


    However, it''s only for a couple of weeks so chapter updates should be returning to normal around thest week of February.


    Thanks for your understanding and I look forward to you continuing on our Reincarnated Hero''s journey.


    This has been _michael.


    Over and Out!

 Chapter 370 Kayla And Artemisia

    "Don''t feel bad about it, okay? You''re not bothering me at all."


    Ka ced her hands over her nose while nodding in affirmation, after which Amelie heaved a small sigh before speaking.


    "You came here to speak to Lady Artemisia, right? Hold on for a fe-Oh."


    Before Ka could even ask the Bishop why she paused her words, she felt a sudden sense of disconnect for a moment, followed by a slight pain in her head that made her reflexively hold it.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' exims in surprise as he gazes at the ''Great Lightning Spirit''; Ka.'']


    [Shut up for a second.]


    Hearing the all too familiar voice, Ka looked up to meet eyes with the glowing pupils of golden-eyed Bishop, however, the young spirit instantly realised that it wasn''t Amelie Harris that was looking at her.


    [Big Sis?]


    [Yes, it''s Big Sis.]


    Amelie, or rather, Artemisia in Amelie''s body, hugged the young spirit in her arms while patting her head lightly.


    She then snapped her fingers lightly and cast a spell to prevent any disturbances before turning her gaze towards the ck cat who had made himselffortable on the couch and sighing lightly.


    ''He''s asid back as ever.''


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' questions why you are ignoring the fact that the young spirit in front of you reacted to the time stop.]


    ''Because it isn''t important.''


    Artemisia dismissed the notification in front of her, before switching off the entire indirect messaging service as a whole.


    She then turned to Ka who was shooing away the spirits who were flocking into the room after being drawn to the area by Artemisia''s presence.


    [None of you shoulde here!


    That''s an Order!]


    Ka spoke with her authority imbued into her voice, causing the spirits to dejectedly leave the area while casting side nces at Artemisia and Kuro.


    [Don''t get too worked up over it, they mean no harm.]


    [I know, but now''s NOT the best time for them to be here.]


    The lightning spirit replied while folding her arms and pouting cutely, with her lips curling into a smile in the next moment as Artemisia resumed patting her head.


    However, that smile disappeared in the next second when Artemisia voiced out a single question.


    [So, mind telling me how much of your ''power'' that you used?]


    Ka''s body visibly flinched as she looked away and whistled suspiciously for a moment, throwing a small side nce at Artemisia as she replied.


    [A teeny-weeny little bit.]


    Sadly, the goddess didn''t seem to believe her, turning her attention to the other spirit in the room and asking.


    [How much did she use?]


    [30 more seconds and her crown would have begun manifesting itself.]


    Both Artemisia''s and Ka''s eyebrows twitched simultaneously upon hearing Kuro''s reply, with the young spirit instantly sensing danger and attempting to flee.


    Sadly, this attempt failed miserably as Artemisia grabbed her by her braid and pulled her back before giving her a good scolding while the shadow spirit watched on in silence.


    [You brought this on yourself, Lady Ka.


    If only you had just told Lady Artemisia about your decision before you ran off to go and see Master when he came out of that Dungeon.]


    [B-but-!]


    [No buts!


    Do you have any idea how many problems you nearly caused?]


    Ka held her sore forehead and gazed at Artemisia dejectedly with small teardrops emerging from her eyes, however, her attempt to evoke sympathy from the goddess failed woefully and she received another forehead flick instead.


    [But that was your fault, Big Sis.


    Why did you tell Master about Sinir?]


    [Because you butting in wasn''t part of her ns.]


    Kuro answered on behalf of the half-annoyed goddess, prompting Ka to turn towards him, however, the young spirit''s words got held back in her tongue when she set eyes upon the appearance of her shadow spirit guardian.


    Instead of the familiar ck cat that she had grown used to seeing, there was now a young boy of about twelve years of age, with ck hair and eyes sitting on the couch.


    However, unlike regr humanoids, he had no ears on the sides of his head, with the hearing organs resting at the top of his head and looked very much like that of a cat.


    Extended from his lower back was a ck coloured tail that he held in one hand and brushed with the other.


    [Kuro became bigger!]


    Ka jumped up as she spoke, rushing up to the boy and embracing him tightly in her arms.


    [Hey, Kuro, why don''t you remain like this?]


    [I very much prefer my cat form, as such, I would continue to use that form.


    Now then, can you go back to Lady Artemisia and have her reinforce your seal? Master''s awake now and he might be calling for us anytime soon.]


    [Ah!]


    Kuro''s words sent Ka flying back to Artemisia, with the golden-eyed goddess heaving a sigh of exhaustion as she silently roused her magic power while gazing at the smiling lightning spirit sitting on herp.


    �� �� ��


    "Don''t you feel hot wearing all thoseyers?"


    "Hot? Not in the slightest."


    Evan replied to Eliza with a slight yawn as they got down from their horses, before turning his gaze towards therge mansion in front of them.


    The young hero was wearing a light grey hooded jacket atop a pair of ck trousers, all under a long ck overcoat.


    He bent down to tie up theces of his sneakers before running a hand through his messily pushed-back ck hair while yawning once more.


    "I feel like sleeping for another ten hours."


    The boy remarked casually as he walked up to the tall dark-haired man who was standing at the forefront of the rows of knights and servants that filed on both sides of the walkway to therge mansion''s entrance.


    "The Count of Falos greets the Young Duke of Eris."


    "Good evening to you too, Count."


    Evan shook the man and exchanged some pleasantries before moving into the mansion as he informed the Count of his ''reason'' for abruptlying over with thousands of troops.


    "I believe you should already be aware of the operation that was carried out a few days ago, in rtion to the undead that currently gues the Duchy."


    "Yes��I only came to know about it while it was underway."


    The Count expressed mild surprise at how he was prevented from noticing therge mobilization of troops from the Bultom County that shared borders with his Falos county, with Evan nodding in affirmation as he spoke.


    "Well��one of the Duke''s orders before he returned to the Duchy''s capital, was to make sure the operation was kept secret from the nobles."


    "Huh? May I ask why that order was given?"


    Evan looked around at the high-ranked knights and A-ranked adventurers around him before turning to the Count and replying.


    "Let''s have them settle in first, we''d talk in your studyter."


    "Oh, yes.


    My apologies for the dy.


    I''d have the servants show you to your rooms now."


    As he watched the Count move further down the hallway, Evan shook his head slightly before turning around to follow the maid that was waiting in front of him.

 Chapter 371 Talk With The Count

    City Lord''s Mansion


    Falos County Capital City


    Cheverton Duchy


    April 26th


    Year 1052


    "Wait up, Lord Eris. The things you''re telling me are too much for me to take in all at once.


    So you mean to say that you and the 7000+ men that came along with you just finished another attack on an undead base?"


    Count Falos asked with an expression of genuine surprise and curiosity on his face, like he could not believe what he had just heard.


    Evan, who was seated opposite him in his study, nodded in affirmation to his words, with a replying from the Brigade Captain of the Knights of Cheverton who was beside him.


    "Exactly.


    Our sources revealed that there was another undead nest hidden within your territory, and that the undead were nning to assault your capital city within a few days.


    That was why the His Grace issued the order to have your city evacuated immediately."


    The Brigade captain lied through his teeth without a change in his facial expression, sipping the tea he was served and nodding in satisfaction at the taste.


    Meanwhile, Count Falos had dozens of thoughts running through his mind, and this was evidenced by his rapidly changing facial expressions.


    "To think that they were so close��I never noticed this at all."


    "The undead seemed to have a means of concealing their presences, we wouldn''t have known they were there if we didn''t receive prior notice."


    Evan shook his head as he spoke, before turning towards the Knight captain of the Falos Knights and asking.


    "I assume that the majority of your knights are with the evacuating citizens, am I right?"


    "Huh? Oh, yes.


    I had to disperse my knight order to aid the civilians in their evacuation, so they do not get attacked by undead on the way.


    The soldiers that the Duke sent also helped a lot."


    "I see.


    So the knights that remained are��? The weakerpanies?"


    "No, no, they aren''t."


    Count Falos scratched his head awkwardly before replying with a hint of embarrassment in his voice.


    "Actually, most of the knights that remained here are my most trusted knights."


    "Most ''trusted'', huh?"


    Evan shrugged his shoulders after speaking, before downing the tea in front of him and continuing.


    "Anyway, back to the matter at hand.


    The thing is we discovered a certain group of necromancers after we dealt with thest set of undead.


    After interrogating them, we were able to uncover bits of information from them, allowing us to realise they were part of the group of necromancers responsible for the undead rampaging across the duchy.


    We were also able to acquire a list that shocked the shit out of me when I saw it."


    "A list? Of what kind?"


    To the Count''s question, Evan dropped his teacup and leaned forward before answering in a low voice.


    "A list of traitorous nobles who have sided with the necromancers."


    "WHAT?!"


    The Count and his Knight Captain had shocked expressions on their faces when they heard the boy''s words, looking to the Brigade Captain who confirmed them with a nod.


    "To think that this was the case��"


    "It''s a very sad thing.


    There were over a dozen names, all of which were prominent nobles across the country.


    I only took a sneak peak at the list but I saw some names left me dumbfounded."


    Evan clicked his tongue and shook his head with a disappointed expression on his face, rubbing his forehead before continuing.


    "Normally, I shouldn''t tell you this now, but since we''re staying in you city, I''d let you in on some of the details.


    We n to take this list to the capital of the Duchy and give it to the Duke in person. It''s way too much for us to handle.


    So, using the excuse of subjugating undead, we''d stylishly make our way to the Duchy''s Capital without letting the necromancers know our true aims."


    The young hero spoke like he was letting the Count in on some high-level secret, with the Brigade captain adding to the act by stopping him from speaking.


    "It doesn''t really matter if he hears it now orter."


    "But, Lord Eris.


    The Duke said that whatever information we had for him should be kept under wraps."


    "Don''t sweat the small stuff."


    Hearing the Brigade Captain''s words, the Falos Knight Captain''s eyes widened as he asked Evan.


    "Lord Eris. Could it be that the Duke hasn''t been informed about the list?"


    "You think that this is the kind of thing that you can say over radiomunications or magic projection calls?


    It''s best to tabte the whole matter in person. That''s why I''m taking the list to the Duke myself."


    ? Evan''s eyes slightly closed as he yawned lightly, while the Brigade Captain looked out of the window at group of knights and adventurers having spars, ''missing'' the moment when Count Falos and his knight captain exchanged looks.


    "So much to deal with.


    First, we hear that one of the necromancers fled to this county when he was chased out of Bultom by the knights there.


    Now we''re finding out that nobles like the Count of Saunau are part of this whole fiasco.


    It''s honestly too much to take in all at once."


    Evan casually threw out a name that he was sure Count Falos would recognize, eliciting a reaction from the dark-haired noble.


    The corner of his lips threatened to curl up in a grin but he held it back and stretched his arms out with another yawn, before standing up and concluding.


    "We''d talkter, Count.


    I''m a bit tired and I want to take a short nap."


    Hearing this, Count Falos nodded in affirmation before ringing a bell to call a servant over to show Evan to his room as he spoke.


    "Ah, no problem.


    I''d have one of the maids show you to your assigned room. It''s one of the best rooms in this manor, I''m sure you''d like it."


    "I''m sure I would.


    You can chat with the Brigade Captain here. I''d be going to nap a bit."


    With those words, Evan left the Count''s study and moved towards the room he was assigned while taking off his overcoat.


    The manor they were in was thergest out of all the mansions in the estate, and it had several guest rooms where the ''few'' A rankers Evan came with and the superior knights were residing in.


    As for the other forces, they began setting up camp within the city while preparing for the long night.


    [Master, what are you going to do now?]


    Kuro asked Evan this question as he opened the door of his assigned room on the third floor, however, Evan''s reply was most unexpected.


    "I''ve revealed that I am the one who possesses the list containing the Demonic Hand''s noble contacts in the Great Western Empire and I''ve let them know that only the Brigade Captain and I know of this list.


    Now, I''m going to take a nap.


    I wasn''t lying about being tired, you know?"


    With those words, the young hero sauntered into the room and took off his hoodie before jumping onto his bed and dozing off mere secondster, much to the shock of the two spirits who genuinely thought he had other ns.


    [And here I thought he had the Brigade Captain keep the Count upied so he could do other things, to think he actually wanted to sleep.]


    Kuro heaved a heavy sigh while Ka just chuckled lightly while watching the cat facepaw.

 Chapter 372 Bath [Slight? NSFW]

    Evan woke up not a bit over an hourter, joining the Count and the rest of the group for dinner, before going outside with Greed to mingle with a few of the high-ranked adventurers and knights outside.


    A few of them were initially reserved, as adventurer or not, Evan was still a high noble, however, it didn''t take long for them to begin treating him the same way they treated Greed.


    Just when Eliza came out to ask Evan about something, the clouds suddenly rumbled, signifying the beginning of a heavy downpour that caught them off guard.


    As a result, the young hero and hispanions returned to the Manor with soaked clothes, leaving them with no choice but to change.


    For Evan, he decided to have a bath before changing his clothes, choosing to drag his blonde girlfriend into the bath with him, and thus led to the current scenario where the two teenagers were soaking in the bathtub together.


    As the white steam of the hot bathwater slowly rose into the air, Evan decided that this was the best moment to voice out a particr question.


    "Hey, Liz.


    Has anyone ever told you that your boobs are on therger side for a fifteen-year-old?"


    "Besides you? No.


    You''re the first person to ever say that, and to do so while fondling them at the same time."


    Eliza''s brow twitched right after she finished speaking as Evan who had at one point in time, cupped her breasts in his hands, and given them a few light squeezes.


    "I can''t help it. They''re so perky."


    His reply only made her sigh loudly, before nodding her head backwards, causing the back of her head to collide with the boy''s forehead.


    "Ow."


    Despite his exmation of ''pain'', the boy''s hands didn''t show any signs of leaving her breasts for even a moment.


    Eliza just rolled her eyes and leaned back into Evan''s chest, before voicing out a question.


    "Why on Aidos did I even agree to date this pervert?"


    "For starters; I''m not a pervert. I''m just a guy who''s appreciating your natural gifts.


    And secondly, isn''t it because you''re hopelessly in love with me?"


    "Yeah, right."


    She slowly closed her eyes as she replied with a not-so-small amount of sarcasm in her voice, only for them to shoot open the next moment as she felt something poking her ass.


    "Evan��."


    "Hold up. You can''t me me for this.


    The girl I like is buck naked, sitting in between myps and I have my hands fondling her boobs.


    It''d take a divine miracle for me not to have a reaction down there.


    The same way it''d take a miracle for you not to feel aroused by this situation."


    As he spoke, Evan''s fingers zeroed in on Eliza''s nipples and pinched them simultaneously, eliciting a small moan from the blonde girl.


    "Ah~-!"


    Eliza''s hands reflexively moved to cover her mouth, before turning around to re at Evan. However, the gaze that the boy was currently giving her reflexively made her flinch.


    The usual golden crest showing his hero status wasn''t present at this moment, this was why she could clearly see the lust that dyed his grey eyes.


    ''Ah. This might be bad.''


    Right after she thought that, Evan''s hands moved up to the sides of her face and pushed her hands off her mouth. Before she could even blinkpletely, his lips crashed into hers.


    "Mmph!"


    Evan''s kiss was heavy, much more than she had expected, however, surprisingly, it was quite short. The boy pulled back less than thirty secondster, tilting his head to the side as he slowly licked his lips.


    Eliza, on the other hand, just narrowly managed to recover her wits before Evan moved in to kiss her again, barely moving her hands fast enough to cover his lips as she spoke.


    "W-wait! This position, is a bit ufortable."


    Hearing her words, Evan looked down and instantly understood what she was talking about. Eliza was sitting with her legs stretched forward, twisting her waist to turn around and face Evan who was behind her.


    "I mi-!"


    Eliza''s next words couldn''t even bepleted as Evan abruptly picked her up and turned her around, before dropping her back into the tub right after.


    Water sshed around but the boy didn''t care for this as he cornered the girl to the edge of the tub, leaving her trapped between the bathtub walls and him, close enough that her breasts squished against his chest.


    He lifted her chin with his hand and ced his knee in between her legs, stealing her lips immediately after.


    It was the second time today, and her light pink lips tasted felt fluffy like a marshmallow to Evan, with such sensation spreading on his lips.


    "N, nnn, nnnnn."


    Her body slowly lost its power as she felt like every part of her body from her lips was dyed with Evan''s colour.


    It didn''t take long for Eliza to begin responding to his kiss, with her wrapping around his shoulder, hugging him as if she were epting his advance from the depths of her heart.


    Evan pulled back a second time and gazed into her sapphire eyes, a small smile forming on his lips as he noticed how aroused she was feeling.


    Right after that, he took her lips for the third time, with this kiss being heavier than the first twobined.


    Eliza''s eyes widened when she felt a hot and wet thing move her lips apart and slide into her mouth.


    "N, nnn!?"


    The boy''s tongue rampaged inside her mouth, wrapping her tongue with his and licking inside every nook and cranny.


    The kiss was strong, sharp and burned with passion, going on for a bit longer as Evan messed with her like a rampaging storm while she kept clinging hard to his body to endure the sensation that he gave her.


    When it finally ended, her cheeks were wet with a mixture of tears and water from the bathtub.


    "Haa, haa..."


    Evan slowly pulled away his body, and when he let go of her lips, strands of saliva were formed in between them.


    Eliza on the other hand, rested her back on the bathtub, temporarily unable to move her body like a fist that was away from water.


    Seeing this, Evan licked his lips before leaning in beside her ear and whispering.


    "You know that this is just the beginning, right?"


    He yfully bit her ear right after that, standing upright after as he moved his hands and lifted her body up, before sliding his arms under her knees.


    Eliza reflexively wrapped her arms and legs around him and clutched him tightly, moaning slightly as she felt Evan''s hard dick rub her slit.


    She was still slightly lost in that feeling when another jolt of pleasure ran through her body, starting from her nipples as she looked down to see that the erect buds had been captured in Evan''s mouth.


    After ying with her breasts for a bit, the two entered into another hot make-out session, with Evan''s finger sliding in and out of Eliza''s pussy all throughout the activity.


    He brought the girl to climax before lowering her back into the bath, however, he remained standing, making it so that her face was right in front of his dick and her hot breaths flowed onto it.


    Eliza then proceeded to capture his dick with her lips, with Evan sliding it in so deep that she felt it at the back of his throat.


    For the next hour, the bathroom was filled with slurping sounds and moans of pleasureing from both parties as their ''activities'' carried on.


    On a side note, the rain stopped a little no more than twenty minutes after it had begun falling, but the two horny teenagers were too busy pleasuring themselves to notice this.

 Chapter 373 Attack At Night

    "Remind me, Liz. Why are you wearing my shirt again?"


    "Cus you pulled me into the bathroom before I could pick up a change of clothes."


    An hourter, Evan was sipping on one of his juice packs as he asked Eliza that question, receiving a reply from the blonde girl right before she dashed back into the toilet for a few moments.


    Uponing back out, she shot Evan a death re before asking him for one of her bags that were in his inventory.


    "Why did you��?"


    "��some of your cum was still in my mouth."


    "��Oh."


    The atmosphere suddenly turned awkward for some reason as Eliza grabbed her bag and searched through it for a new outfit which sheid on the bed before tossing it back to him.


    "I gave you a spatial pouch, right? Why don''t you keep it there?"


    "Cus I might drop the pouch by ident and I really don''t wanna think about what would happen then."


    She gave such a reply as she tossed on a ck turtleneck shirt and a grey-coloured skirt, before moving her hands towards her hair to tie it up in a ponytail.


    As for the rest of the outfit, she somehow got Evan to help her put on her ck pantyhose for her while enjoying the feeling of treating him like a servant.


    "Aren''t you supposed to wear this before the skirt? And why do you even wear these in the first ce, so hard to put on."


    "Well��let''s say that I tend to move around a lot in battles, and sometimes I jump or flip and stuff so without those, I''d pretty much end up giving the whole world a view of what''s under my skirt; something I would very much like to refrain from doing."


    "Fair point.


    That''s something I wouldn''t like. After all��"


    Evan fastened the clip on her skirt''s waistline before leaning towards her ear and whispering.


    "��everything under there is for me alone."


    And in return, he got a forehead flick from the girl who went on to pick up her bracelet and put it on. It was a ck coloured arm bracelet with a single gem bearing the same colour as her eyes embedded in it.


    While she was doing this, Evan untied her ponytail before proceeding to begin tying it into a single loose French braid.


    "You''ve really gotten used to this��"


    "You''ve made me do it for months, it''d be weirder if I didn''t."


    After tying her hair and nodding in satisfaction to himself upon seeing his masterpiece, Evan went on to toss on a grey hoodie and pick up the long ck overcoat from the chair.


    "You''re going with the overcoat again?"


    "The thing is��I like the style with the simple ck trousers and a cored shirt with a grey hoodie and sneakers.


    However, putting the overcoat atop it all also makes it look cool, so I''m a bit torn on which one to go with."


    Seeing her boyfriend fuss over his appearance even more so than she did made Eliza heave a sigh. She then walked up to him and pointed at the overcoat from his hand before saying.


    "The overcoat is going to get in the way of your movements, drop it."


    "Yes, ma''am."


    Evan tossed the poor overcoat back into his inventory, while Eliza held up a few strands of his hair and spoke.


    "Are you getting old or something? Why do you have a few grey streaks of hair?"


    "Oh��that.


    Let''s just say it''s a result of the little upgrade I went throughst December."


    Without letting her have a chance toment, Evan took her hand off his head and interlocked his fingers with hers before saying.


    "Now then, my dear Liz.


    Shall we?"


    "You make it seem like we''re going for a date or something when in reality we''re putting ourselves out as bait for undead monsters."


    Eliza rolled her eyes as she spoke, however, she showed no signs of removing her hand from his. Evan on the other hand, onlyughed lightly before replying.


    "Sure, but we do have to make ourselves look like we''re having a little bit of a��tryst? Makes us look like suitable targets, don''t you think?"


    Such was the conversation the two had as they left the room and went down to the great hall on the second floor where parties and balls were usually held, slipping out into the balcony where they sat to admire the night sky.


    They cuddled with each other while chatting about pointless things, ranging from their thoughts on dinner to stories from their childhoods.


    Evan unexpectedly received a bit of information that was going to help him ''deal'' with Eliza''s younger siblings when he eventually met them.


    However, as the conversation progressed, Evan slowly realized that Eliza''s description of her family just so happened to fit the same description of a certain n patriarch''s family from the game.


    ''It''s way too simr to be a coinci-!''


    "Huh?"


    He was broken out of his thoughts when he sensed something, with Eliza reacting a beatter as she turned her gaze away from Evan.


    "Tsk��It''s almost midnight so it''s about time they acted.


    Still��I really did want to spend a bit more alone time with you."


    "I feel the same way but we can have our alone times when we''re done with this okay?


    Now, Rock Paper Scissors."


    Eliza replied to Evan''s words before randomly initiating a game of rock paper scissors which Evan lost two times out of three.


    With a defeated sigh, the young hero activated his mystic eyes and looked up at the sky before calling out.


    "Elemental Shield."


    And right after he did-


    **BOOOOOMM!!!!!


    -the balcony exploded.


    �� �� ��


    A few minutes before the abrupt explosion, the Brigade Captain of the Knights of Cheverton was giving his direct subordinates a final briefing on how their operation was supposed to go.


    "��and that''s how we''d deal with the slum areas."


    "��"


    "Are you sure that this is really going to work? It seems unlikely to me."


    One of the other knights asked him with a skeptical tone, with the other knights and nearby A rankers nodding in affirmation at his words.


    "Well, to be honest, Lord Eris said that there''s only a sixty percent chance of this working."


    "So, there''s a whole forty percent chance of failure?"


    "Basically.


    That''s why he gave us multiple ns to follow in the event that they don''t take the bait and-"


    **BOOOOOMM!!!!!


    The sudden explosion of the balcony of the city lord''s manor caught their attention, causing them to all turn around reflexively.


    Immediately afterwards, a bright red re shot into the sky and exploded like fireworks, with the Brigade captain''s eyes widening as she shouted out.


    "That''s Lord Eris''s signal!!! Everyone in position!!!"


    The knights and adventurers instantly sprung into action, with the officer-rank military personnel on the other side of the encampment also issuing out orders to the soldiers who grabbed rose up and grabbed their weapons.


    Therge floodlights that they brought along with them were all turned on simultaneously, lighting up the night sky and allowing thebatants to see clearly.


    And just like expected, a ball of ck light shot into the air, serving as the centre of a huge dome that began manifesting around it and spreading towards the edges of the entire city.


    Without hesitation, the Brigade Captain and the senior mages who had expected this, instantly reacted,unching projectile aura-based attacks at the expanding dome.


    As for the ball of ck light, one of the grandmaster-level pdins that served directly under Heinr unleashed a beam of pure white holy magic at it, resulting in a bright explosion upon collision.


    **BOOOMM!!!


    "The dome has been neutralized. All units, move out!


    First targets are the servants, get them out of the way of the fighting.


    Kill everything else you see on sight!"


    Orders were given and the knights and soldiers immediately began executing said orders. As for the Brigade Captain, he raced towards the scene of the initial explosion, arriving there mere seconds after to meet the sight of a certain blonde battle priestess whacking a ghoul''s head with a life energy-infused staff.


    The poor undead''s head was uprooted from its neck, with her staff spinning around to pierce the chest of a Duhans that attacked her from behind.


    The creature still moved to cleave her in two but a thin translucentyer of light appeared in between the two, blocking its sword and buying her enough time to activate her flower cannon.


    **BOOM!!!


    As the Duhan was sent flying by the skill, the Brigade Captain moved in with speed faster than the girl could even perceive and stabbed his sword into the Duhan''s head, infusing it with magic power and causing it to explode.


    It was only after the creature had perished; did she finally manage to catch sight of the man''s figure.


    "Lady Lane.


    Might I ask where Lord Eris is?"

 Chapter 374 Poor Methik

    "Lady Lane.


    Might I ask where Lord Eris is?"


    Eliza, sighed as she wiped the edge of her staff with a cloth before pointing towards the left and replying.


    "Well��he was with me, and then he suddenly said something about having to kill a runaway corpse puppet before running in that direction."


    The Brigade Captain was the same one who had witnessed Evan taking out a corpse puppet after the flesh golem attack, so he knew just how dangerous it was.


    He was also informed by the Duke that the corpse puppet user was apparently a crucial piece in the enemy''s n to take him out of the picture, but sadly the second corpse puppet that was discovered escaped capture.


    ''So, the corpse puppet fled t-!"


    **BOOOOOMMMM!!!!


    The third explosion of the night rang out alongside multiple shockwaves, breaking the brigade captain out of his thoughts, with him turning to see that nearly a third of therge 1500-acre manor had been turned into a pile of dust.


    �� �� ��


    As for the reason for the sudden destruction of the manor, it was naturally the handiwork of our resident Hero of Mimicry.


    Right after they had been attacked and Evan shot the re into the sky, the boy joined Eliza tobat the Duhans that were sent after them, however, Evan suddenly received a prompt that made him abandon that task instantly.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that there is an Autonomous Corpse Puppet containing a soul fragment of the Entity; ''Methik Ifoumien'' within 500 meters of your location.]


    Seeing this message, Evan instantly activated his blessing of destruction,unching a vortex at the over level 250 Duhan, putting It into a state where Eliza easily finished it off with her child of life skill.


    After that, he gave her a short description of his goal, before pulling out a bloodied cloak from his inventory and blitzing away with lightning speed.


    It didn''t take him long to discover the Corpse puppet that was posing as a butler, trying to run away along with the rest of the servants that were being evacuated by the knights.


    Evan also noticed a few ''servants'' who were actually demonic hand members after appraising them, sending out Kuro and Ka to deal with those ones while he grabbed the corpse puppet by the neck and blitzed out of the area faster than some of those nearby could react.


    He then flung the poor puppet into a wall and activated his body transformation skill, before clearing his throat and speaking.


    "Long time no see, Corpse maker."


    "Guh!


    Who are��?!��Ulmoch!!"


    The autonomous corpse puppet of Methik screamed out as he noticed the appearance of the man walking towards him with a wide grin.


    As he had all the memories of his original, it was impossible for him to fail to recognize one of his colleagues who he didn''t get along with the most.


    However, he held back his astonishment and remembered the orders he was given by his original; to not hesitate to report any unexpected circumstances.


    Without hesitation, he silently sent out a message to the main part of his soul, informing him of the current situation where he was being attacked by who he believed was Ulmoch.


    "You��why are you doing this?!


    Don''t you know I''m here on orders for Lord Vk?!"


    "Pfft!


    Like that Necrophiliac''s orders matter when faced with the will of Lord Keasatra!"


    Hearing Ulmoch''s words, Methik''s brow twitched repeatedly, with his breaking past the limits as the veins on his forehead bulged.


    However, he did not forget to directly transmit all he was seeing and hearing to his main body in Saunau.


    "Are you both you and your Lord crazy?!


    You should both know that Lord Vk is carrying out the will of our great Hand! The will of the Sire!


    Yet you dare to interfere with it?!"


    Methik got to his feet and red his magic power, causing the ground to tremble as the pressure of the pitch-ck darkness attributed magic bore down on the area.


    Yet, Ulmoch looked unaffected, even snorting at Methik as he spoke.


    "What can you do about it?"


    That statement was the final straw for Methik as he manifested two long spears of darkness in his hands, throwing one of them at Ulmoch with all his strength before dashing towards him with the other in hand.


    Ulmoch summoned his signature magic catalyst and waved his hand activating a water magic spell that created multiple water vortexes around him


    The vortexes shot out ten water sts which turned into needle-like water projectiles, with five of them heading straight for the iing spear of darkness while the other five headed straight for Methik.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Like that puny magic can stop me!"


    With a shout, Methik moved his spear and cut down the iing water projectiles, before ring at Ulmoch who used that chance to gain distance and threw the darkness spear in his hands towards him.


    Ulmoch moved his hands and manipted his magic power with finesse, generating arge water shield that blocked the spear without a dent.


    The water shield then reforged into arge hammer that mmed down towards Methik''s head, making thetter click his tongue in annoyance.


    ''That''s right��this bastard was a proficient water mage.''


    "Dark Magic: Witch''s Flight!"


    Howling ck winds of magic power surrounded Methik''s body and carried him out of the way, causing the hammer to m down on the empty ground and shatter the floor.


    While being transported by the ck winds, Methik weaved two spell formations, with pitch-ck two-ringed magic circles appearing beside him as he called out softly.


    "Darkness of the Endless Night..."


    As he began his chant, an illusory third ring began to flicker around one of the two spell circles, however, the chant was cut short when two long tendrils of water that had a strange red glow around them shot towards the spell circles and shed at them.


    Methik originally didn''t care as there was no way his spell circles would be destroyed so easily, however, his indifference became shock when the two tendrils of water shattered his magic circlespletely, with the bacsh flowing to him and causing a bit of blood to seep out of the side of his lips.


    Looking up, he saw Ulmoch facing him with an amused smile and a glowing blue Tier 2 Magic circle beside him.


    *SNAP!


    With the snap of his fingers, a pressurized stream of water shot out from the magic circle, mming into Methik and sending him flying through a few walls before he eventually fell to the ground.


    "Ha��I need to end this farce."


    Methik heard Ulmoch''s voice as he struggled to his feet, looking up to see the man drop his magic catalyst into a small ck hole that appeared mid-air, and pull out an obsidian ck long sword from it.


    "��what?"


    ''Ulmoch using a sword��? Since when?''


    The Corpse maker''s confusion was visible on his face; however, he snapped out of it and ran various possibilities in his mind while keeping his gaze on Ulmoch who was seemingly staring into nothing.


    The mind of a peak Master level existence was very quick, instantly scanning through various scenarios and arriving at three likely possibilities.


    One of those possibilities, however, made him frown as he instantly tried to connect to his main soul and report the strangeness.


    ''I should report this immedi-!!!


    I can''t connect to my main soul?!''


    "You can''t connect to your main soul, right?"


    As if reading his mind, ''Ulmoch'' spoke up while slowly walking towards Methik who reflexively backed away, however, he paid this no mind and continued speaking.


    "That''s what I was waiting for.


    I can''t have the Eighth Finger discover I''m the one who can damage souls yet, after all."


    �� �� ��


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says the connection between the two soul pieces has been temporarily severed.


    She further states that you may now rid yourself of that unsettling appearance.]


    Evan chuckled lightly as he disabled the body transformation, cracking his neck lightly and pulling back the hood off his head.


    He could see the expression of shock that adorned Methik''s face as the man instantly realized that the person he had been ''fighting'', wasn''t Ulmoch at all.


    "You!! You''re Evan Eris!!!"


    Methik Screamed out the boy''s name with rage, grabbing his dark spear tightly while trying to contact his main body, but he failed time and time again.


    Evan on the other hand, was about to begin spouting bullshit, but the goddess sent a message that shut him up instantly.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that the Autonomous Corpse Puppet before you, contains a third of the Soul of the Entity; ''Methik Ifoumien''.


    She states that destroying this puppet and its soul fragment, is guaranteed to put him out ofmission, in a state where he would be effectively no better than a cripple.


    He is also guaranteed to lose a certain percentage of his skills as well.]

 Chapter 375 Another Corpse Doll Downed

    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that the Autonomous Corpse Puppet before you, contains a third of the Soul of the Entity; ''Methik Ifoumien''.


    She states that destroying this puppet and its soul fragment, is guaranteed to put him out ofmission, in a state where he would be effectively no better than a cripple.


    He is also guaranteed to lose a certain percentage of his skills as well.]


    Seeing this message made Evan''s eyes gleam with a dangerous light, one that instinctively made Methik back away in fear.


    However, such an action was futile as the moment he took a step back, the distance between him and Evan had been reduced to zero.


    As for what happened next?


    **BOOOOOMMMM!!!!


    Even Methik himself did not understand what had urred, all he knew was that Evan had done something and that something dealt great damage to both his physical body, and his soul.


    Meanwhile, Evan casually walked towards Methik with a sword that still had a reddish gold aura spiralling around it, cracking his neck once more, before disappearing and reappearing beside the fallen Methik.


    Without hesitation, the boy thrust the sword downwards, intending on stabbing Methik who wasying on the floor, but the demonic hand senior member sensed existential danger in Evan''s de and rolled out of the way to avoid the attack.


    ***KAABOOOMM!!!!


    Two explosions rang out simultaneously.


    One of which; was Evan''s vortex hitting the ground, while the other was from the grandmaster level Duhan that was sent flying by the Brigade captain.


    The Undead Creature cracked its neck and stood up immediately after, with Evan''s eyes widening as he appraised the creature.


    "A knight of the Theoregrim Family!


    Vazgan''s direct subordinate!"


    Hearing Evan''s words, the Duhan''s body turned in his direction, and upon sensing the destruction auraing from him, it red its'' magic power and took a single step that spanned the entire distance between the two of them.


    The magic power-filled sword of the Duhan cut through the air at breakneck speed, however, it did not hit its target, merely striking the empty ground where Evan was standing a moment before.


    "Elemental Vortex!"


    The Duhan instantly reacted to Evan''s shout, coating its whole body in magic power no more than half a second before the swirling mass of multi-elemental attributed aura mmed into its back and sent it flying for the second time today.


    Mid-air, the Brigade Captain blitzed in behind the Duhan and unleashed a strike with his sword, knocking the undead to the ground with enough force to form a deep crater in the ground.


    Just when the Duhan thought it could have a break, a gigantic arm constructed of ck demonic energy grabbed its body tightly with a grip it surprisingly could not break out of, before tossing it up into the air.


    Another gigantic demonic energy arm construct, with this one wielding a simrlyrge long sword that was encased in dark red mes, shed down towards its defenceless body immediately after.


    Keeping up the trend, the Brigade captain shed in again and unleashed a lightning-quick blow targeting therge crack in the Duhan''s armour, with his sword seeding in shattering the amour and piercing the flesh of the undead underneath.


    The force of the blow knocked the Duhan away and sent it flying out of the manor area, with the Brigade Captain not even wasting a second to go after it.


    As for Evan, his pupils darted around rapidly, before locking into a certain location as he kicked off the ground and dashed towards that Direction.


    Naturally, Methik, the unlucky soul who was Evan''s target, was immediately caught as the young hero directly punched the side of his head with a fracture imbued fist.


    Methik cursed the past him who decided not to stuff this particr corpse puppet with explosives since it had a third of his soul, as he held what was left of his right arm after Evan''s vortex had shredded it to pieces.


    And then, a fist suddenly mmed into the side of his head, cracking his skull, while dealing him another dosage of that soul-rending pain that made him feel like his existence was at risk.


    And indeed, it was, as Evan''s Blessing of Destruction''s True Damage attribute was slowly destroying that piece of his soul with every sessful attack.


    "Thunderp."


    Blocks of golden lightning appeared behind Methik and formed into a wall, before folding in a ''pping'' motion right after his body crashed on it.


    Just like the young spirit who owned the skill, Evan tossed a ball of bright red mes towards the unfortunate Demonic hand senior member just before the wall fully folded.


    **BOOM!!


    "GRUUUAAAAHHHH!!!"


    The screams of Corpse Doll Methik resounded across the noisy battlefield, with Evan turning his gaze towards the two Deadly Sin siblings as he spoke.


    "Did any of you spot Count Falos?"


    "Nope."


    "What about Amelie? Where is she?"


    "The Bishop went to assist the pdins who werebating the Duhans that appeared."


    A frown crept up to Evan''s face upon the mention of Duhan, remembering the direct subordinate of Vazgan he just saw now.


    ''That Duhan is not supposed to be here.


    Something is strange.


    I have to end Methik quick and figure out exactly what the variable are.''


    With that thought, he said a few words to the Deadly sins and dashed off towards Methik as he pulled out a transmitter from his inventory and ced it on his ear.


    "Ralphie, Get ready."


    After saying that, he tilted his head to the side to dodge the iing spear of darkness, and jumped up to dodge the wave of ck liquid that swept across the ground, before kicking off a void step and blitzing towards the one-armed Methik.


    From then on, it became a beat down, with Evan hitting Methik as fast as he could while making sure each blow was infused with destruction essence that slowly chipped away at his soul fragment.


    He concluded the rain of punches with an energy st to the stomach that drilled arge hole in Methik''s torso.


    Dragging the near-dead corpse in his hands, Evan walked towards the gate of the manor estate and looked at the scene of the knights and soldiers making short work of the undead and Demonic hand members.


    "Everything is ording to n, however, the appearance of that Duhan is unsettling.


    I hope we don''t have to go with n B or C. That''s too much work."


    Evan spoke to himself as he gazed at the crumbling mansions in the distance, with explosions ringing out as an A ranker assisted by Mages of Kasteblum battled a grandmaster-level lich in the air.


    He then dropped the body of Methik on the floor and picked up a sword on the floor that belonged to a fallen soldier, before imbuing it with destruction essence and stabbing it into Methik''s chest.


    "AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"


    Methik''s pained scream, the scream of a man having his very soul being destroyed, rang out loudly, attracting the attention of multiple soldiers and their undead opponents.


    But besides those two groups, Methik''s skill also attracted one more existence. The existence who had kept themselves hidden since the start of the attack despite being the one inmand.


    There was a whooshing sound as a de crossed a distance of over a kilometre in just 5 seconds.


    At the same time, Evan''s spine suddenly turned cold and he felt an oppressive aura bear down on him.


    All the knights and soldiers that were within the de''s line of movement, from its starting point to its destination, had their bodies sliced into pieces at speeds that they could notprehend, dying before they could even realize that something had moved.


    Evan who had sensed the iing danger from a kilometre away, took a certain set of actions in a certain order, within the next four seconds after sensing it.


    He jumped to the side, in the opposite direction of the iing attack and activated two skills while doing so, a series of actions that took four seconds in total.


    Before Evan''s legs couldpletelynd on the ground, the de shot through the air and had already reached a short distance of less than one meter away from piercing the young hero''s skull.


    At this point, everything seemed to be in slow motion for Evan.


    More than half of his body had already been enveloped by the power of his blink skill, almostpletely disappearing from the trajectory of the iing weapon, however, the de was far faster than he had expected.


    His elemental shield was also active, creating a thick barrier made of water to slow down the de for a least half a second, enough time for him topletely disappear and reappear somewhere else.


    However-


    **WHOOOOSSHHHH!!!!!


    -this proved to bepletely unnecessary as the de was stopped before it even reached his elemental shield.


    The ground beneath cratered as a result of the force and resultant shockwaves, with spider web-like cracks spreading out for nearly a hundred meters before stopping.

 Chapter 376 Right Hand Of The Eighth Finger

    Evan reappeared a good twenty meters from his original position, looking up to see the figures of two men staring right at each other.


    One of them, was wielding a simple silver-coloured sword, with his hand stretched out for a thrust while the ground beneath his feet was on the verge of caving in.


    He was a tall dark-haired man dressed in a simple grey noble coat with ck outlines, ck pants and a ck pair of gloves on his hands that held his silver sword.


    The other, who had his hand stretched out, grabbing the de of the silver sword with his bare palm, was man with brown hair.


    No other facial features about him could be seen as he was wearing a ck mask that covered all of his face, with the hole for his eyes having a tinted ss that prevented one from seeing their true colour.


    He had a tinum-coloured guild card hanging from his neck, with the letter ''S'', clearly printed at the back.


    Seeing this scene, Evan instantly understood what just happened, barely holding back the small smile that crept onto his face as he took distance from the two men.


    "An S ranker who wasn''t in the original report, huh?"


    "��"


    The brown-haired man remained silent in response to the words spoken by the tall dark-haired man who was naturally the lord of the county they were in, Count Falos.


    The silence remained for exactly five seconds, before Count Falos suddenly pulled back his sword and shed forward again all in one breath, however, it was easily blocked by the magic power-coated palm of the ck-masked man.


    Shockwaves spread out into the surroundings, deepening the crater the two were already in, however, they paid this no mind as they instantly began an exchange of blows at blinding speeds.


    The brown-haired man unsheathed the sword on his waist that although looked like a simple standard issue de, was powerful enough to withstand blows from Count Falos''s demonic energy-infused sword without needing to be infused with energy.


    All of a sudden, the brown-haired man activated a skill and parried the Count''s sword, before pulling back his fist and punching forward right after, delivering a left-straight that sent the Count flying out of the crater and into one of the few manors in the estate that was still intact for some reason.


    **BOOOOMMM!!!!


    Naturally, the thousand-acre manor was cleanly divided in two after the Count crashed into it from one side and fell out from the other.


    However, he immediately stood back up and cracked his neck before turning his gaze in the direction of the ck-masked man, who frowned under his mask and spoke to Evan.


    "Young Duke, if there''s anything else you haven''t said, then you better start saying it now."


    Unsurprisingly, this ck masked man was Ralphie in disguise, and he was currently gazing in the direction where Count Falos had fallen with a slightly shocked gaze as he didn''t expect the count to be this powerful.


    ''He''s a grandmaster-level existence.''


    In response to Ralphie''s words, Evan heaved a sigh and deactivated his blessing of destruction before replying.


    "Well��For starters, remember the time I said the Count was corresponding with a senior member of the Demonic Hand?


    That was a lie.


    The count wasn''t corresponding with any senior member of the Demonic Hand; the Count IS the Senior Member of the Demonic Hand."


    Greed, Pride, Eliza and Amelie who just arrived, heard Evan''s words and had a variety of reactions from shock to realization and even indifference.


    However, they didn''t have time to explore their reactions as the Count''s voice rang out as the man calmly walked back towards their Group.


    "Demonic Fusion."


    A thick wave of Demonic energy surged from his body, flooding the surroundings and knocking everyone except Ralphie back a few meters.


    The masked man didn''t intend to give his opponent the time to assume a more powerful form, instantly dashing towards him, however, he was blocked by three particrly powerful, near grandmaster level Dulhan''s.


    This block, however, was only temporary as the Duhans were on the verge of Death after being beaten and battered by the A-rank adventurers, and they only came to use what little strength they had left to deter Ralphie from reaching the Count.


    A second wave of Demonic energy, one more powerful than the first, was released into the surroundings, pushing back even Ralphie this time.


    By the time the A rankers had arrived to capture their runaway opponents, a pir of demonic energy rose up into the sky, clearing up a secondter to reveal the new form of Count Falos.


    His noble coat had been discarded, allowing them to see how his alreadyrge body grew evenrger in stature, growing more muscles with ck streaks on his arms.


    The colour of his eyes was inverted, and a strange ink-ck mark manifested on his face, growing sorge that it nearly covered half his face.


    Finally, two pairs of bat-like wings emerged from his shoulders, pping lightly as he slowly descended to the ground.


    Seeing his current appearance, Evan clicked his tongue as hepleted his earlier statement.


    "The man you are looking at, is the Right-hand Man of the Eighth Finger of the Demonic Hand."


    Despite hearing Evan reveal his identity, Count Falos showed no expression of surprise as he calmly picked up his fallen silver sword.


    He gazed at the A-ranked adventurers and officer-ranker military personnel who were clearing out the weaker soldiers and adventurers from the area, before looking at the ground and chuckling lightly.


    Pride and Greed tightened their holds on their weapons as the two high demons could understand just how much stronger the Count currently was whenpared to before.


    After a sudden silence, the Count looked up at the few Senior Mages and A rankers who had surrounded him and spoke slowly.


    "I happily congratte you all.


    For on this fine night, you have chosen to guarantee death for yourselves."


    Despite the fact that his words angered some of the high-ranked knights, they didn''t attack him first, as the unfamiliar chill of demonic energy that he was exuding from his body made them wary.


    Besides, even if they did, Ralphie would have stopped them as the moment the Count spoke, Evan had spoken to him through the transmitter and told him to prevent anyone from attacking.


    As for the reason:


    "Something is strange.


    He''s too confident."


    "What?"


    In response to Pride''s question, Evan gestured to Ralphie and spoke.


    "He should have seen the S ranker.


    An S-rank adventurer is at least level 400, which should tell him that he''s not the S rankers match, Even with his Demonic Fusion.


    After all, even if his demonic fusion enables him to easily defeat people more than 25 levels above him, this particr S ranker is also an abnormal existence like that, capable of matching the average person 20 levels higher than he is without stress.


    Whatever hidden trump card he has that would make him confident; he should know there''s no way the S ranker would not have one too. Trump card, negates Trump card, and we''re back to square zero where the S ranker is still stronger."


    Evan avoided directly saying Ralphie''s name, as the Count who possessed superhuman hearing would definitely catch onto it and he did not want Ralphie''s presence here to be exposed.


    The boy was trying to wrap his head around the source of Count Falos''s confidence when he noticed something strange.


    Parts of the ground he was standing on, were ck.


    It was not the darkness of the night, as the fires of explosions and therge floodlights that they brought from Bultom were lighting up the area.


    Just when the A rankers were about to make the first move, Eliza''s shocked voice rang out, startling Evan and all the others present. Even Count Falos turned to her with a look of confusion on his face.


    "What the Fuck?!"


    Seeing the gazes that she was receiving, Eliza looked at everyone around her like they were either crazy or sick in the head as she asked.


    "How have none of you noticed THAT?!"


    "Noticed what?"


    "The thick aura of death and darkness surrounding us!!!


    How hasn''t anyone noticed it?!"


    Eliza''s words made the A rank adventurers look around them but they sensed nothing wrong, even Ralphie who sensed something was strange could not pinpoint exactly what was strange.


    Amelie activated her blessing of light skill and the reaction of shock that appeared on her face following that action, surprised Evan who was watching her.


    Turning back to Count Falos, Evan saw the man who was gazing at Eliza with confusion, suddenly revealing a devilish grin.


    Goosebumps sprung up all over Evan''s skin as he looked at the ground and remembered his own words to the Duke and the rest of the dignitaries he recently met with.


    -- He can conceal the huge amount of death aura characteristic of high-level necromancers, as well as the Demonic Energy that he possesses, making it so he can be easily mistaken as a normal human being with high levels of proficiency in dark magic.--


    At that instant, he realized what was happening and he screamed out to all those present.


    "EVERYONE! BACK AWAY! NOW!!!"

 Chapter 377 Zacular I

    Goosebumps sprung up all over Evan''s skin as he looked at the ground and remembered his own words to the Duke and the rest of the dignitaries he recently met with.


    -- He can conceal the huge amount of death aura characteristic of high-level necromancers, as well as the Demonic Energy that he possesses, making it he can be easily mistaken as a normal human being with high levels of proficiency in dark magic.--


    At that instant, he realized what was happening and he screamed out to all those present.


    "EVERYONE! BACK AWAY! NOW!!!"


    As he shouted, Evan was already taking distance from where Count Falos was standing, all while simultaneously pulling out hismunicator from his pocket and shouting into it.


    "Duke! Bad News!!


    Scratch ns A to C. We''re going with n D!


    Send them here now!


    It''s worst-case Scenario 2!"


    Evan looked up at the sky, at the winged humanoid figure floating in the air a bit over a hundred meters above where the Senior mages were, beforepleting his words.


    "Zacr is here."


    The instant those words left Evan''s mouth; a heavy thick demonic aura descended upon the entire area.


    The A rankers and knights who didn''t understand what Eliza meant earlier instantly realized what the girl was talking about.


    But them realizing it was one thing, being able to do something about it, was a totally different ball game.


    The ground quaked heavily and two giant hands inscribed with demonic runes, belonging to an enormous undead creature stretched out from the strange darkness on the ground and grabbed a shocked senior mage and an A-rank adventurer.


    Without even a second''s dy after grabbing their bodies tightly, the creature used its outrageous strength and clenched tightly.


    Two ck three-ringed magic circles manifested at the back of its two palms as it attempted to crush the bodies of its two targets in its hands.


    There was a bizarre sound with screams ringing out in the air, but the creature wasn''t done with them just yet.


    Before the magic attacks from the other mages and the sword shes from the knights reached it, it mmed its two hands together, causing the bodies of its two unfortunate victims to m into each other.


    **BAAAMMM!!!


    The sound of the creature''s palms resounded across the area just as itsrge hands were suddenly shed into pieces and set aze by multiple ming projectiles.


    Even so, the two unfortunate victims of the undead could not be saved, and the reason couldn''t be any more obvious.


    The existence who had been floating in the sky and overlooking everything below, pped their wings and shot downward at breakneck speeds, grabbing the necks of the two barely conscious humans, before beelining straight towards the ground and mming their already damaged bodies into the cold hard ground.


    Half a secondter, the winged being dashed forward while dragging their heads on the ground, stopping after a hundred meters before abruptly pulling them up.


    Afterwards, the two had their bodies mmed together once more, before being tossed in opposing directions.


    The entire area was silent, save the echoes of the distant battles between the soldiers and the newly arriving undead forces.


    The surprise attack was sessful, and two level 300 existences had been put out ofmission immediately after the battle began.


    It was now that they were finally able to properly view the appearance of the being who achieved this feat.


    He was a man of above average height, with messy dark brown hair and was wearing a grey untucked short-sleeved shirt, over a pair of simple ck trousers and simr coloured shoes.


    He wore a pair of lightly tinted sunsses that prevented one from noticing the true colour of his eyes.


    Seeing him, Evan grit his teeth in annoyance as this man''s appearance here, was one of the worst-case scenarios he wanted to avoid.


    ''Xakon, Thoruul and Lensa; Those three were merely low-ranked demons.


    This guy��.is on a different level from them.


    Middle Ranked Demon.


    Even though he''s on the lower ends of the middle rank, he''s still a middle-rank demon after all. A tough opponent for us currently.''


    Count Falos''s confidence was obviously because of the presence of this man, who despite being the recipient of thebined hostility of 10 grandmaster-level existences, only smiled as he stepped forward and spoke.


    "Rise, My Servants."


    From the darkness on the ground, dozens of powerful undead knights and Duhans emerged, ring their death aura''s wildly and causing cold sweat to form on the faces of the A rankers present.


    As for Evan, he appraised all the Duhans present and frowned deeply as he noted that they were all Knights of Theoregrim.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>


    ''Vazgan''s undead.''


    He then spotted one particr Death Knight who had a skill he remembered, with his eyes widening as he instantly deduced one of the reasons for Zacr''s presence here.


    **BOOMM!!!!


    Ralphie didn''t dilly dally any longer, shooting off the ground and beelining straight for Zacr while punching two undead knights so hard that their powerful armours shattered.


    However, Count Falos, who had been standing in silence all this while, instantly moved with faster speed than before, arriving in front of Ralphie and blocking his attack from getting to Zacr.


    Nevertheless, the blue-eyed swordsman didn''t falter despite having his attack blocked, stomping his foot on the ground as he activated his body enhancement skill and grabbed Count Falos''s hand.


    He then spun around faster than the demonic fused count could evenpute and flung the man towards a random direction in the air.


    "Ha?"


    Even Zacr was momentarily shocked as he didn''t expect Count Falos to be suddenly thrown away, however, his shock vanished in the next second as Ralphie shot straight towards him.


    A pool of darkness formed at his feet, with an arm of rotting flesh belonging to an undead knight stretching out from it and tossing a longsword into the air, a sword Zacr grabbed and swung upwards to meet Ralphie''s iing sh.


    **BAM!!!


    The other adventurers and knights weren''t just watching the show, moving to sh with the summoned undead servants of Zacr and Vazgan.


    However, three of the grandmaster-level undead took a strange set of actions. They showed no intention of battling the A rankers present, instead, they shot out towards different directions, taking advantage of the distraction caused by another undead knight''s AOE skill.


    As the entire estate turned to rubble, Evan activated limit break and dashed towards one of the undead knights, perforating its body and slicing it to pieces with multiple de cannons, before shouting at one of the A rankers present.


    "Where''s Tisha?!"


    "Huh?"


    "Tisha went after the Leader Knight to attack that Duhan that appeared earlier."


    The reply Evan heard made him frown as he thought of the Death Knight that he saw earlier, before shouting back at Tisha''s party members and some of the high-level knights present.


    "Leave this ce to the mages.


    Go after Tisha and the Brigade Captain!


    They''re the undead''s assassination targets! That''s why those three left!!"


    Evan''s words were without evidence to back them up, but the current situation and the strange actions of those undead monsters made didn''t allow the knights to doubt him.


    Two of Tisha''s party members, both of which were A rankers, along with two of the toon leader level knights instantly took action, pushing their opponents away and shooting off to chase after the Death Knights.


    At the exact same time, Evan felt impending danger and blinked out of the way, avoiding the sword sh of a level 300 Duhan who turned towards him and spoke with a rusty voice.


    "You��How do you know that?"


    "What made you think I was going to tell you?"


    "Then I wou-!"


    The Duhan could notplete its statement as it suddenly dropped to its knees weakly, a moment before a gigantic arm construct of energy grabbed its body and flung It up in the air.


    ***KAAABOOOMMMM!!!!!


    Its airborne body was bombarded by multiple tier three magic spells, courtesy of the mages of Kasteblum, who were already preparing another set of Tier three spells to end the creature''s life.


    At that same time, Count Falos who had been flung to heaven knows where by Ralphie, flew back into the battle and knocked the masked man to the ground, before speaking to Zacr.


    "Apologies, Lord Zacr.


    I would hold this man off, you can focus on your main purpose for being here."


    "Hmm��Try not to die too quickly. I''d help you when I''m done, I guess?


    I''m off to kill a pdin."


    Count Falos nodded lightly before pping his wings and shooting forward towards Ralphie and shing swords with him, grabbing the man''s sword arm and pulling him up into the air immediately after.


    Without hesitation, Count Falos flung Ralphie back to the ground before he could act, but Ralphie didn''t obediently crash onto the ground like Count Falos would have wanted.


    He flipped in the air andnded on his two feet, crouching slightly before filling his sword with magic power and jumping up into the sky.

 Chapter 378 Zacular II

    Ralphie flipped in the air andnded on his two feet, crouching slightly before filling his sword with magic power and jumping up into the sky.


    Count Falos also took a simr set of actions with demonic energy, pping his winds and beelining straight towards the iing grandmaster-level swordsman.


    **BOOOOMM!!!


    The two began their sh, while Zacr summoned more undead monsters across the entire city, putting the city in a state of chaos as soldiers and adventurers were forced to sh with more undead forces than they had nned.


    In just a few minutes, the multiple grandmaster-level battles had turned a third of the city to rubble, with more explosionsing from afar as the Brigade Captain and Tisha shed against their Death Knight assassins.


    Zacr spread out his wings and floated into the air, sending out waves of death aura to try and sense the location with the highest amount of holy magic or divinity on the battlefield.


    He had a third assassination target, and that was a pdin who served under Amelie''s cousin, Heinr. In the process, he ended up noticing Amelie too as the woman''s divinity levels were off the charts, even more than the pdin who he was looking for.


    Looking around her, he noticed that she and Evan were making short work of what was left of the giant flesh golem that was responsible for putting the two level 300s out ofmission at the beginning of the battle.


    "Hmm? That''s Eris Evan.


    He''s here too, huh?


    And there''s only one spirit with him today."


    Turning his gaze in another direction, she spotted Pride and Greed who were shing with multiple high-level undead knights, and were actually having the upper hand in their battles.


    "Those two, they are the Deadly Sin Demons that Seith and Kethryllia were supposed to be in charge of securing.


    Come to think of it, that idiot Kethryllia is still on the Beta continent trying to get the ones sealed there."


    Immediately after he spoke, he saw the high demon of pride turn in his direction and gaze at him coldly.


    "Hmph.


    If it was a thousand years ago in our home world, I may have been scared shitless. But now, I''m not the low-rank demon I was then, and they are not the peak ranks they were then."


    Zacr waved his hand and sent a few more Duhans towards Pride and Greed before turning his gaze towards another direction where a senior mage and a group of holy knights were just killed by multiple near grandmaster level undead knights, led by one of Vazgan''s Duhans.


    "That''s three grandmasters down.


    I think I''ve yed too much of an observant role, time to start acting in earnest.


    First target; the Deadly Sin Demons."


    He took action immediately after speaking, moving so fast that it seemed like he had disappeared and dashing straight towards Pride who just turned a ghoul to ashes.


    The high demon''s pupils darted to the side as she activated her unique skill in response to the iing danger.


    Incarnation of Pride.


    Avatar of Pride: Half Body Activation.


    ***KAABOOOMMMM!!!!


    A loud explosion rang out, sending out shockwaves that spread out over close to a kilometre, knocking allbatants, both the living and the undead, off their feet and onto the ground.


    "Gah."


    In the midst of the clouds of dust and dirt, Zacr stabbed his sword into the ground to hold himself in ce, before wiping off the blood from the side of his lips.


    Looking up, he could see a shadow of a gigantic humanoid figure in the clouds of dust, clenching its fist tightly and pulling back its arm before punching downward towards where he was.


    "Ah, shit."


    The arm was too fast for Zacr to fly out of the area so he had no choice but to meet it head-on, imbuing his own fist with demonic energy and punching upward towards the direction of the iing arm.


    ***BAAAAMMM!!!!!


    The two fists collided, cratering the ground underneath as Zacr sessfully stopped the Avatar of Prides'' fist with his own, however, he wasn''t fighting only one deadly sin demon.


    A blood-red gigantic great sword construct of energy swiped in from the left side and sliced at Zacr, with him reflexively dropping his sword and coating his arm in demonic energy, before stretching out his hand to block the iing sword.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Zacr''s body was knocked into the air by the force of the great sword swing, with his demonic energy defencespletely broken and a light cut on his left arm.


    The man flipped in the mid-air andnded on the floor, before manipting his magic power and creating a wall of darkness over his head to absorb the gigantic spear of light filled with holy magic that Amelie dropped down on him.


    Immediately after hepletely blocked Amelie''s magic, a golden-coloured fist suddenly appeared in front of him and mmed into his face, knocking him back by a few dozen metres.


    "What the��? Why did I take more damage than I should have?"


    "Because I''m the one who punched you."


    A voice rang out, delivering the answer to Zacr''s question as he looked up to see a young teenage boy with a grey bloodstained hoodie, cracking his fingers while taking slow steps forward.


    "Demon Zacr, an ''Invader'' from another world and an ''Enemy of Aidos''.


    I''ve always wanted to give you a good punch in the face ever since I first saw you in that cutscene."


    Evan spoke words that Zacr was sure not to understand fully as he closed the Boosts tab that showed his 25% damage bonus against ''Invaders'' and ''Enemies of Aidos''.


    ''It''s a good thing it''s not 25% of my base damage values, but 25% of my damage values after my various stat boosts and enhancements have been applied.''


    "It seems I underestimated you lot.


    Here I was thinking I could easily overpower you all with my higher level, but to think you were all a bunch of anomalies that could hold their own against beings with higher existence levels.


    Your party name really does suit you."


    Zacr spoke with a sigh as he dusted his clothes and tossed his broken sses to the ground, with the arm of an undead creature emerging from the patch of darkness on the floor and grabbing the pair of shades before sinking back into the ground.


    "Levels aren''t absolute, you know?"


    In response to Evan''s words, Zacr nodded before looking at his arms and confirming that the wounds from Pride and Greed had healed, however, when he touched his face, he noticed that the severe burns from Evan''s lightning-filled punch was still there.


    ''Even with my ''A'' rank health stat, the wound hasn''t shown even the smallest signs of healing.''


    The demon looked up at Evan and was about to speak, only to notice the floating ck-haired spirit beside Evan.


    "Hmm? Only one spirit today, huh?


    I guess you can''t use thatrge-scale summoning so easily. Is it still on cooldown or something?"


    "How did you��?!"


    Evan visibly reacted to Zacr''s words while taking a step back, ignoring the look of confusion that Pride and Eliza gave him as the two were very familiar that Evan had no sort of summoning type ability.


    However, they kept silent as they didn''t want to spoil whatever Evan was nning, with Pride instantly realising the young hero was trying to use Zacr''s probing question against him.


    ''His eyes also don''t have that crest. That means he deactivated his skillpletely.


    He doesn''t want the demon to find out that he''s a hero.''


    "Why do you know about my summoning skill''s cooldown?!"


    "Why indeed."


    While Zacr was speaking, Evan had sent messages to Pride and Kuro, telling the former to make sure Amy does not reveal herself while informing thetter to remain in his shadow.


    As for the mid-rank demon, the man had noticed that Evan wasn''t using the power enhancement skill he was using earlier (limit break), making an assumption that the young hero was unable to use it anymore.


    ''It must have been the same skill he used two days ago.''


    Of course, Zacr was wrong as Evan was using Blessing of Destruction during the simultaneous attack, but he wasn''t close enough to be able to tell the difference between the two skills as they both had the effect of tripling his overall power, so they looked to be the same at first nce.


    If he was close to Evan at that time, then he may have sensed the same threatening feeling that other grandmasters got from Blessing of destruction and realise that it was totally different from limit break, as well as the fact that it was able to damage souls, however, since he was only watching from far away, he was unable to tell this difference


    He looked at the group that surrounded him, consisting of Evan, Pride, Greed, Eliza, Amelie, Ka and a few other high-level B rankers, taking a deep breath as he red his aura in preparation for battle.

 Chapter 379 Zacular III

    He looked at the group that surrounded him, consisting of Evan, Pride, Greed, Eliza, Amelie, Ka and a few other high-level B rankers, taking a deep breath as he red his aura in preparation for battle.


    Evan was the first to move, dashing straight towards Zacr as the demon coated his arm in demonic energy in preparation to sh with him.


    ''Vortex.''


    The boy''s golden aura coalesced around his sword as he thrust it forward and sent the spiral-shaped mass of aura towards Zacr, who only smiled lightly as he spoke.


    "Impressive."


    Zacr''s palm shot towards Evan''s vortex, sending out a wave of brown aura that shed with Evan''s vortex and cancelled it out.


    The resultant shockwaves knocked back the two sword-wielding adventurers who tried to attack him from behind, but before he could turn around and hit them with his brown aura, multiple shadowy appendages stretched out of the darkness andtched on to his body, holding him in ce long enough for a dozen spears of light to surround him andunch towards his body.


    "Hmph."


    With a snort, Zacr flexed his arms and broke free from the shadowy binds, pping his wings and leaping into the air, before spinning around and throwing out a punch toward the iing fist of the high demon Greed.


    **BAAAAMMMM!!!!


    The two fists collided with a loud noise, with Zacr tilting his head to the side to avoid the beam of magic power from Eliza''s skill, before sending another punch towards Greed and knocking him back to the ground.


    The high demon clicked his tongue and rolled his shoulders backwards, however, his sister''s hands pushed back the wings he was about to reveal before they could spread out fully.


    "Don''t��at least, for now."


    "Tsk��"


    Greed clicked his tongue once more, before summoning Mammonas and turning his gaze towards the sky, where a gigantic two-ringed golden magic circle manifested itself, before dropping a golden bolt of lightning onto Zacr''s airborne body.


    The other adventures added their own spells and seeded in knocking the demon to the ground, however, they could not celebrate this feat as Zacr stood back up while lookingpletely unharmed.


    "My god��it''s like he didn''t even take any damage."


    "What did you expect, he''s a grandmaster."


    "Yeah.


    Forget about actually harming him and think about how we''re going to hold him back long enough for the S ranker to be done with his battle."


    The B-rank adventurers spoke to themselves as they tightened their grips on their weapons, ready to continue their attempt to hold Zacr back.


    The demon naturally heard their words, taking a deep breath before kicking off the ground and dashing towards the adventurer who spoke about holding him back.


    "Wh-!"


    Before the man could evenplete his statement, a fist collided with the side of his head, sending him flying into the air.


    Hispanions didn''t have time to scream out his name as Zacr flicked his fingers and a dozen undead knights rose up from a patch of darkness on the ground to deal with them.


    Pride and Greed attacked him simultaneously but he dodged by flying into the air and sent another dozen undead towards them to keep the two siblings busy, before calling forth a flesh golem and sending it towards Amelie, forcing the woman to change the target of the spell she was preparing.


    For Eliza, he picked out a squad of undead mages and sent them towards the teenage battle priestess, turning to Evan and snapping his fingers once more as a near grandmaster-level Duhan emerged from the darkness and charged straight at the young hero.


    "Tsk��he''s serious now."


    So far, Zacr had been engaging them with meleebat, however, it should not be forgotten, that first and foremost, Zacr was a necromancer who controlled undead.


    Meleebat, wasn''t his fighting style in the first ce, just something he picked up to make up for his weaknesses in battle.


    A few finger snaps and magic circlester, and Zacr had buffed all the undead creatures he just summoned, as well as the other thousands of undead he had been summoning at various points across the city while fighting against Evan''s group.


    "Hmm? That life mage. She''s negating my buffs?"


    His gaze locked on to Eliza and moved to remove her from the battle, ordering the undead mages to carpet bomb her with spells which she blocked with her barrier, however, the hastily made barrier was on the verge of breaking after that.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Zacr then shot towards her and shattered the barrier with his fist, before summoning the arm of a giant ghoul that punched the girl''s body with its enormous fist.


    The rest of the giant ghoul''s body emerged from the darkness, roaring loudly before charging towards the fallen battle priestess, however, its legs and arms were suddenly held down by a group of shadowy appendages that stretched out from the ground.


    "Shadow magic?...But wh-!"


    Zacr instantly pped his wings and shot up into the air, avoiding the dark red ball of mes that flew in from an unknown direction and set the giant ghoul''s head aze.


    ''There was demonic energy in those mes��so the Deadly Sin siblings.''


    He turned to Pride and Greed who were creating a storm of tornadoes and ming rocks that fell from the sky and crashed onto the undead he sent after them.


    ''Defence up.''


    The demon added a defensive buff to the undead before stretching out his hand andunching multiple darkness spears towards Greed''s magic circle floating in the air.


    As if having expected this, the high demon''s partial avatar rose itsrge arm and blocked the darkness spears, resulting in arge explosion in mid-air.


    Zacr didn''t show any reaction to this, preparing to summon another set of undead, however, before he could do so, his eyes widened in shock as he sensed life-threatening danger, instantly folding his wings and letting gravity pull him back to the ground.


    However, the source of the danger seemed to follow him so he instantly called all the undead he had sent out to fight Evan and hispanions to act as meat shields for him.


    Immediately after, dozens ofrge three-metre long and fifty cm wide icicles shot through the air and straight towards Zacr, with the demon noticing that despite the fact that these projectiles were made of ice, they all possessed some kind of ribbon of magical mes around them.


    ''Whatever it is, it''s capable of damaging me.''


    And indeed, it was.


    **KAAABOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!


    A huge explosion of ice greater than any dry ice bomb Evan knew of rang out, with massive shockwaves that sent everyone within a kilometre, both allies and enemies, flying into the air.


    The st propelled multiple fragments of ice at speeds nearing 300 m/s, however, the ice shards did not hit any allies, stopping right in front of them before dropping to the ground.


    In reality, the caster had simplymanded the magic not to hit anything with a body temperature higher than a certain level but that''s not really important.


    What''s important, is that all the undead Zacr called to protect him, had been relieved of their subscription to undeath.


    If the attack with enough power to kill all those undead with health stats of at least ''C'' rank, then even Zacr would not bepletely unharmed.


    The demon pped his wings to clear the white smoke away, with his teeth chattering lightly as the temperature drop in the area was just too much.


    And when the smoke was cleared, he was met face to face with the figure of a man wearing a ck mask, wielding a standard-issue sword in one hand and holding the severed head of Count Falos in another.


    Before Zacr could even say a word, he felt another threatening aura bear down on his body, just barely managing to jump to the side and avoid the sword that came shing down from above.


    **BOOOOMMM!!!!


    The ground was split open and a mini canyon was formed from the sh, raising up another cloud of dust and dirt into the sky, however, Zacr couldn''t pay this any mind as he had to once again fly out of the way to avoid a third life-threatening attack that would have definitely put a hole in his torso.


    Now, the amount of damage that would be dealt to the surroundings from an attack capable of putting a hole in the torso of a grandmaster-level existence did not need to be mentioned at all.


    When the dust clouds cleared up, Zacr found himself surrounded by three different Grandmaster level existences, and he could sense that all of them were at least level 400.


    ''Ah��I might have wasted too much time.


    This is quite bad.''


    Besides the ck-masked man, the second one who shed from above was a ck-haired and golden-eyed young-looking man who wore the silver armour of the pdins adorned with a golden rose insignia, Sir Heinr.


    The third assant was the unnamed S rank adventurer who seemed to be close with Guild Master Dasyra as she brought him to the meeting with Evan and the other dignitaries a few days ago.

 Chapter 380 Parting Gift

    The third assant was the unnamed S rank adventurer who seemed to be close with Guild Master Dasyra as she brought him to the meeting with Evan and the other dignitaries a few days ago.


    "So, you are a ''demon'', huh?"


    Heinr was the first to speak, wiping the sweat off his brow as he flicked the ck liquid off his sword before filling it with a staggering amount of divinity.


    This action instantly made Zacr realise that Vazgan''s undead servants that were posted to block reinforcements had been dealt with by this pdin.


    The demon instantly red his magic power and aura, but before he could move his hand and construct his undead summoning circles, Heinr kicked off the ground and dashed towards him while swinging his divinity-infused de.


    At that same instant, Ralphie blitzed in behind him, moving so fast that Evan and the others who just arrived saw and heard the sonic boom that was created as he moved.


    Both Heinr''s and Ralphie''s unique skill attacks hit Zacr at the same time, sending the Demon''s body flying and his blood spraying in the air.


    The demon crashnded on the floor and rag-dolled for a few metres before spreading his wings and shooting up into the air, just in time to avoid the unnamed S ranker''s punch.


    **BOOOM!!!


    After the explosion, a sudden silence descended on the battlefield as Zacr who was down on one knee, stared at the three men while cleaning the blood on the side of his lips.


    "Handling one of you Is one thing, but taking on all three of you at once? That''s not something I can do at the moment."


    He retracted his wings and winced slightly in pain upon doing so, but he kept his eyes on the three men as he continued speaking.


    "A High ranked Pdin and two S rankers who were not in the original report.


    Adding the Duke and Bultom''s Guild master, I see that you have five S rank-level forces, huh?"


    Zacr''s words made the eyes of Ralphie and Heinr widen in slight surprise as they instantly grasped one of the demon''s goals ining here tonight.


    He had seeded in forcing them to show their hand, revealing that they had two more level 400s that the Demonic Hand was previously unaware about.


    Ralphie was about to take action, however, his sharp senses noticed that something had changed in the city.


    ''The presences of the undead all across the city; they''ve disappeared!''


    He also noticed that all the ck patches of darkness on the ground had disappeared, all except the one under Zacr''s feet.


    "I''d leave you guys with a little parting gift from my coborator, hope you enjoy it."


    Right after Zacr spoke, Heinr caught sight of something shiny appearing under the man''s feet, with his eyes widening as he rose his sword to move.


    However, Ralphie beat him to it and blitzed in, delivering onest sh to Zacr at the same instant the demon crushed the teleportation stone under his feet and vanished.


    **BOOOM!!!!


    ��


    "Did you get him?"


    Ralphie looked at the blood on his sword and flicked it off before sighing and replying to Heinr''s question.


    "It was too shallow."


    "An undead pushed a teleportation stone under his feet, huh?"


    Heinr exined exactly what he saw before Zacr disappeared, clicking his tongue slightly as he lowered his sword, only to remember the demon''s parting words.


    "Wait��the attack might not be over. Remember thest thing that he s-!!!!"


    The pdin''s words were cut off as he, Ralphie, and the unnamed S ranker sensed it first, with Evan and the rest reacting a beatter.


    Looking up at the sky, they could see anotherrge round object beside the moon floating up there, except that this second one was closer and had an enormous amount of energy building up inside it.


    The gigantic orange and ck portal that suddenly appeared in the sky glowed brightly, like it could be seen from all major points of therge capital city of the Falos County.


    The grandmaster-level existences all sensed it and instinctively understood, that if that attack wasunched, then saying that the entirety of the Falos County''s capital city would bepletely wiped out was not an understatement.


    "Shit��it''s Vazgan!!"


    Heinr didn''t care who Evan said it was, instantly ring all his magic power and activating his unique skill.


    There was a thunderous noise as a pir of golden divinity surged from his sword, shooting so high up into the sky that it looked like it was piercing the clouds.


    Ralphie also took action, activating his aura storm skill as the two of them kicked off the ground and into the air, attacking the orange portal with their full power before it couldunch the energy that was building up within.


    What came next, was a bright sh of light that was blinding to look at, followed by a thunderous explosion that was loud enough to pop the eardrums of any normal human being. (Normal by Evan''s home world standards)


    �� �� ��


    Ruined City Saunau


    Unnamed County


    Cheverton Duchy<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    April 26th


    Year 1052;


    A slender, yet fairly muscr, average-height man with a slightly mncholic appearance sat at therge L-shaped table that once belonged to the lord of Saunau city and the county that epassed it.


    He had long, neatly styled ck hair, kept up with intricate white headpieces that contrasted his ck clothes, and cat-like opal eyes.


    The man flipped through a stack of papers while listening to the person on the other end of the magic projector on the table.


    [How much information have you collected on the people who have recently risen to fame due to your undead attacks?]


    "Enough to sessfully execute some assassination attempts."


    The man casually remarked as he crossed the name on one of his papers before tossing it onto another pile on the desk.


    This man, was the orchestrator of the Undead Crisis guing the Great Western Empire''s Cheverton Duchy, The Eighth Finger of the Demonic Hand, Dominik Vk.


    [It''s amazing how you can find time for such side jobs when things aren''t going well.


    Some unexpected variable has disrupted everything.]


    "A variable?


    What did you see with your skill?"


    In response to the opal-eyed man''s question, the person he was speaking to, a person he referred to as ''Uno'', replied after a short pause.


    [With all the yers we''re aware of, a frontal attack is our best bet.]


    "The yers we know? Meaning we may not know about some."


    Dominik put the stack of papers he was holding into an empty folder, then picked up another stack and sighed exasperatedly.


    [What''s wrong?]


    "Well��like you said, nothing has been going as expected. Such is the same here for me.


    The undead forces I spread across the Duchy were decimated by the Churches faster than I expected. They even moved faster than the adventurers who were the first to notice what was wrong.


    Then there''s the Emperor and the Duke. I didn''t expect the Duke to easily ask for help from the Emperor, who responded and sent more reinforcements than nned. The Prime Minister also assisted.


    Almost like it was premeditated.


    Then there are the Mages of Kasteblum that I honestly have no idea why they would possibly take action.


    To make matters worse, the n to trap the Duke in the ''Labyrinth of Death'' that I still had hopes for has been scrapped for multiple reasons.


    Methik''s corpse puppet that we nted near the Duke was discovered.


    Although the puppet escaped, I received a report that it "perished" a minute before you contacted me."


    [Perished?]


    "Yes��there''s someone with the ability to harm souls lurking among the Duke''s forces. They destroyed two of Methik''s corpse puppets, one of which contained a sizable chunk of his soul.


    [I''m presuming he''s nowpletely useless?]


    "I agree even though it sounds bad. Methik''s soul is too damaged to heal in a short time frame, and If I give them any more time, the Duke may recruit more soldiers and adventurers.


    Notwithstanding the fact that he has already assembled thrice what I predicted on such short notice.


    He was prepared; His reactions when I simultaneously attacked the Duchy''s major cities prove it."


    [Information Leaks?]


    "Indeed. Theyunched a simr attack as a form of retaliation recently, and I''m pretty sure where they received the information on the locations of my undead from.


    In other news, I received info that knights of the Bowthe Ducal Family were detected heading towards Cheverton."


    [The Bowthes?!]


    "Yes.


    If we give the Duke more time, he might get the Emperor to send the Bowthe Family head."


    [That''ll be bad.]


    "Just ''Bad'' doesn''t even begin to cut it.


    Despite them not all being at level 400, there''s a reason why those ten were chosen to be the ''Ten Great Swordsmen'', they''re anomalies capable of easily taking on people higher level than they are.


    The Duke is already and we menace can''t let him invite another. Especially if it''s one who served ''that'' Former Emperor."

 Chapter 381 Dominik’s Reaction

    "��The Duke is already and we menace can''t let him invite another. Especially if it''s one who served ''that'' Former Emperor."


    Dominik spoke as he thought about the Former Emperor of the Great Western Empire and the Empress Dowager of the Great Eastern Empire who were wreaking havoc for the Demonic Hand on the Northern Alpha Continent.


    As he browsed his files, Dominik crossed out names he remembered. Each file included the names and photos of soldiers, adventurers, and knights who had be famous over the preceding month owing to the undead incident and were considered dangers by the Eighth Finger.


    Some files had names and images crossed out, indicating that those people had been eliminated.


    They were mostly rising C or B-rank adventurers and two low-ranking military officers; however, one A-rank adventurer was also crossed out.


    As Dominik set some of the files aside, the light of remembrance suddenly shed through his eyes as he opened his mouth and spoke.


    "Methik told me something strange before passing out."


    [What?


    Oh, yeah. Come to think of it, couldn''t he get reports from his corpse puppets?]


    "Yes.


    The first one died before it could report, but that''s not the issue.


    The second sent multiple reports, but something was odd.


    He said that the person who attacked the Corpse Puppet in Falos''s city��was Ulmoch."


    [��I beg your fucking pardon?]


    ''Uno''s'' shock was evident when Dominik spoke, and the Eighth Finger continued immediately.


    "Although I''m not familiar with other divisions, there''s no way I won''t know Kethryllia Keasatra''s division''s senior members.


    Methik told me that Ulmoch attacked him, acting on orders from Kethryllia herself."


    Dominik looked up at the projection of ''Uno'' that stared at him in silence for a moment before replying.


    [Impossible.]


    "Why? She''s always hated me."


    [I am not referring to her interfering with your ns. That is certainly usible. I am aware of the decades-long conflict between the two of you.


    I''m saying Ulmoch couldn''t have attacked Methik''s corpse puppet.]


    "Why?"


    After another pause and an exhausted sigh, "Uno" replied.


    [Ulmoch has been dead for over a month now.]


    "��What?"


    Now, it was Dominik''s turn to be surprised.


    [I didn''t want to tell you this since you were busy here, but thest-ditch effort to make the ''Deadly Sins Massacre'' a reality, failed woefully.


    It was kind of expected, though.]


    ''Uno'' then exined how the Demonic Hand''s Sixth and Seventh Divisions had attacked all the Dungeon Cities where the Seven Deadly Sins were sealed, but they failed due to multiple parties'' intervention.


    [I say multiple parties, but it was just ''The Five'' calling the shots.


    ''Strongest Human Rathal'' most likely got the n from Number 10 before she was killed by him and shared it with the rest of them so they could act.


    She knew all ns except Osto''s.]


    "Dungeon City Osto? Ulmoch and his brother could have flooded the city with monsters to destroy it. It shouldn''t have been strong enough to resist their skill synergies."


    [They tried a different approach that would''ve worked normally, but it failed.


    One of their subordinates who escaped told us who killed Ulmoch and his brother, and it''s a name I''ve been hearing too muchtely.]


    After hearing ''Uno'' exin things, Dominik sighed and rubbed his forehead before looking up and speaking as realization shed through his eyes.


    "Wait...is it me or am I beginning to see a constant in everything that''s gone wrong for us this year?"


    [You realized it too?]


    "At this stage, It''d be weirder if I didn''t.


    Especially when his name hase up so many times because of his actions against the undead."


    Dominik flipped through his files and ced one on the table.


    The file was for a familiar ck-haired, grey-eyed youngster, but the photo was from almost a year ago, when he had just turned twelve.


    [Evan Del Eris]


    ''Uno'' looked at the file and called out the boy''s name before turning to Dominik and saying.


    [1. He was at the ''Graveyard of the Arrogant'' two days before Seith reported the Demon of pride was missing.


    2. He killed the Ilmoth family Demon we helped sneak into the Great Western Empire''s nobility.]


    "3. The boy spent a few days in Bonas City and visited that goddess'' church, where the Cardinal-Candidate and cousin of one of its strongest pdins who''s currently in Bultom serves as a Bishop.


    4. He was then spotted in Kasteblum, together with the Vice Chief Grand Magus, and suddenly, Kasteblum deployed a Grand Mage and hundreds of Senior mages to assist the Great Western Empire''s undead situation, with Emperor Rudeus'' tacit agreement.


    With this, It can be summarised he has a hand in getting the Mages of Kasteblum to interfere, and making the Church act earlier than predicted."


    [Furthermore,


    Evan Eris helped repel Ulmoch''s monster attack and killed Ulmoch and Thoruul in Osto.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    At this point, the Kid had prompted me to order an in-depth investigation into him, and the discovery shocked me.]


    "His friends?"


    [Exactly.


    The first was a mage who used a catalyst and staff. Strange, but not too odd.


    Herck of pre-Great Western Empire information was the real issue.


    It''s as if she didn''t exist before she showed up in Luka Town.


    I personally believe someone caught on to our investigation and blocked us from discovering anything, but the fact that this happened showed the girl is obviously NOT a nobody.


    Next, was the set of siblings in his adventurer party. Described to have ''Long ck hair, blood red eyes and used eerie weapons that exuded sinister auras.'']


    "At this point, you don''t even have to say anymore.


    Their names were the dead giveaway; Pride and Greed."


    [Yes. His appearance in the Graveyard of the Arrogantst year and Osto this year were not coincidences.


    His presence here and actions so far are likely not coincidences either.]


    After this, "Uno" and Dominik pondered their deductions in silence until ''Uno'' finally spoke.


    [I don''t know if it''s just him, or if he has someone behind him, but his actions are messing with our ns.


    And he''s been doing so from the start.]


    "He''s the variable you talked about, huh?"


    [Yes.


    Also, I''m just asking this now, but where on Aidos is Zacr?]


    Before responding, Dominik closed Evan''s file and put three more files on the table.


    "Falos'' cover was blown.


    Zacr went to deal with the mess, as well as assassinate three obstructions to our ns."


    He opened the files on the table as he spoke, revealing the names and images of one of Heinr''s subordinates, the Brigade Captain that was currently in the Falos county''s capital, and the A rank adventurer that Evan and Eliza had recentlye to know, Tisha.


    Tapping the pictures with his fingers, he spoke.


    "These other two can fail, but this one, Zylwenys Tisha. She''s gotta go.


    Her AOE skills are too troublesome and are very effective against undead-type monsters."


    [Why do I have this feeling that it won''t turn out as nned?]


    "Did you read my mind or something? I was just thinking the same thing."


    Dominik closed all the files and pulled out a detailed map of the Cheverton Duchy after the two sighed in exasperation.


    "Fuck all this scheming.


    Zacr will soon report how many S and A-rank forces they can deploy easily.


    If it''s within expectations, I''ll attack frontally."


    [Sure?]


    "Weren''t you the one who said we had higher sess rates? Besides, this time, I n to incorporate my ''trump card'' into my ns.


    Even the Duke is not capable of facing ''that'' single-handedly."


    [��]


    Just as ''Uno'' was about to speak, there was a sh of light and the figure of a familiar brown-haired man appeared, with the stench of blood spreading out into the room.


    "Zacr?! "What happened?!"


    Zacr looked at his partially frozen and frostbitten left arm before responding.


    "An unknown S-rank adventurer with a troublesome skill interfered."


    The demon''s arm was still continuing to freeze despite the fact that he wasn''t in the vicinity of the skill''s user, however, what was strange was that the ice, was hotter than most known Tier 2 fire magic.


    Zacr nodded at the projected image of ''Uno'' before sitting and informing Dominik about what happened.


    Dominik and ''Uno'' frowned when Zacr mentioned Evan, as they felt that the boy was a very annoying thorn in the side.


    Dominik then turned back to his map and analysed a few things, checking the position of Bultom City rtive to the two cities under the undead''s control.


    "I''m moving out."


    "You''re going in person?"


    In response to Zacr''s question, Dominik nodded twice as he stood up before continuing.


    "They killed my right-hand man��


    I am very angry right now, and I want to vent that anger.


    One of their cities would suffice."


    The Eighth Finger was quick and decisive; By morning, a small city northwest of Bultom had fallen to the undead monsters, but Evan and the others would only learn about itter.

 Chapter 382 Reporting To The Emperor I

    Guest Lounge, Lord''s Castle.


    Bultom Dungeon City


    Cheverton Duchy


    April 27th


    Year 1052


    [I see, so you seeded in taking out the majority of the undead in the west, huh?]


    Duke Charles nodded in response to the words of the blonde-haired man whose image was currently projected by the magic projector in front of him.


    In the room with him, were Ralphie, Luke, and the Count of Bultom, all of who were seated on the sofas surrounding the magic projector in a semi-circle.


    The projector was projecting the images of three different people; Emperor Rudeus, Prime Minister Roger and Crown Prince Richard.


    They were listening to the report on the happenings so far, from Operation ''Synchro'' to the situation with Count Falos and Zacr the night before.


    [But to think the Demon himself appeared, and with the intention to scout our forces, as well as assassinate your Brigade Captain.]


    "An A rank adventurer and one of the Church of Artemisia''s pdins were also on their assassination list, and we have been able to confirm with the Guild Masters that an A ranker and a few other B rankers have mysteriously gone missing over the past week."


    [They got taken out by the undead, huh?]


    Roger spoke about the unfortunate fates of these adventurers, sighing in exasperation as he thought about all the implications of this.


    [They were able to execute these assassinations without us discovering anything wrong; this means that this group is more capable than we assumed.]


    [The real issue here is that all this is the work of just one division, and there are presumably nine other divisions.]


    Richard spoke up right after Duke Roger did, flipping through the folder in his hands that detailed the information on the Undead Crisis, along with what concerned him the most, Myra''s rtive''s treason.


    "Thest attack that wasunched, if it wasn''t for mine and Sir Harris''s quick reaction, we would have lost the thousands of soldiers, adventurers and Holy Knights, who were there."


    "I''d say that''s an understatement, the explosion was very visible from our vantage point despite the fact that we were over a thousand kilometres away."


    Luke spoke up in response to Ralphie''s words before sipping his tea, while thetter only nodded and continued speaking.


    "ording to the young Duke, the person responsible for thatst attack was the ''Duhan King Vazgan''.


    He also stated that multiple Duhans that were present there were not the Eighth Finger''s servants, but the Duhan King''s."


    [Wait up, this Duhan King isn''t an undead under the Lead Necromancer?]


    "It is not.


    The Duhans are a separate undead force, temporarily working together with the Demonic Hand to achieve their goals."


    Richard silently stared at Ralphie with a gaping mouth upon hearing the man''s response to his words, but just when he recovered and was about to speak, our resident young hero barged into the room.


    "Yo! Duke Charles, I just got some-? Hmm?


    Oh, It''s Laurene''s Dad. Greetings."


    Emperor Rudeus'' brow twitched multiple times while Duke Roger only facepalmed in silence upon hearing Evan''s words, with the Emperor along with everyone else turning their gazes to the ''thing'' in the boy''s hands.


    [Why is it that whenever I see you, you''re always holding a bloody corpse in your hand?]


    Hearing the man''s words, Evan looked at the body of one of the Demonic Hand members that Ka and Kuro captured the night before, before raising it up and saying.


    "He isn''t a corpse though?"


    The boy''s blessing of destruction was currently active, and the red aura of destruction surrounded the palm that was holding the poor man''s neck, meaning he was constantly receiving soul damage, albeit minute.


    His expression of pure fear as he gazed at Evan showed that he had suffered more than just soul damage at the hands of the boy, and he was about to suffer more than just that.


    Evan''s grip on his neck tightened and the man choked a bit, before a loud cracking sound rang out across the room.


    "Now, He''s a corpse."


    He then dropped the corpse into his inventory and called out a name, with the ambient mana concentration in the room instantly increasing as the physical body of a spirit manifested on Evan''s shoulder.


    However, it wasn''t the ck-haired lightning spirit that they were used to, or the cat-shaped shadow spirit, but another blue-haired humanoid spirit who used water magic to clean off the blood on Evan''s body.


    "Thanks, Milena."


    The high-rank water spirit nodded with a smile on her face before un-manifesting her physical body, with Evan walking towards an empty sofa and taking a seat.


    "Another spirit?"


    "Pretty much, we''re not contracted though. She''s just hanging around because sh-"


    Evan''s words were cut short as the boy titled his head to dodge a spark of lightning that passed where his head was, before sighing and speaking.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Ka, if you want to y around with Milena, please take it outside."


    [Okay!]


    [H-huh? Lady Ka?! W-wait��!]


    The boy just chuckled as he saw Ka happily drag the water spirit out of the room, before turning back to the projections in front of him and speaking.


    "Hello, ''Father''.


    Good to see you''re in good health.


    Thank you for the support you sent. It made things a lot easier, especially duringst night''s incident."


    Evan spoke to the Duke while casually ignoring Richard''s existence like he wasn''t even there, much to the Crown Prince''s displeasure.


    "Anyway, what I initially came to inform you about is that after my ''talk'' with the now deceased Demonic Hand Senior Member, I have discovered that we have very much seeded in messing up the Eighth Finger''s ns a lot.


    With Methik''s corpse puppet dead at my hands, the Duke would not get stuck in abyrinth like he was supposed to and our other actions have also pushed him to cancel other things he had nned."


    "Wait up...what''s this about me getting stuck in abyrinth?"


    "Huh? I thought I told you about this before. That''s the reason why they went through the stress of recing that military officer they killed with Methik''s corpse puppet.


    To get close to you and lure you into a trap, one you would not have been able to escape until Vazgan has finished turning the Bultom County into a pile of ashes and the Eighth Finger has had his fun with the rest of the duchy."


    [Hold up Kid. There are so many things lost in transmission here.]


    Emperor Rudeus spoke up after Evan''s reply to Duke Cheverton''s words, with the young hero sighing before exining how the ''Labyrinth of Death'' trap was supposed to work


    "Didn''t I say this before?"


    "You most definitely did not!"


    For the first time, Duke Charles actually found himself losing hisposure, taking a deep breath to calm himself before asking the next most important thing.


    "Why are you so sure that Vazgan ising for Bultom in particr? I''ve noticed you say this a lot, as if the Duhan has no other target besides Bultom."


    "It''s not that he doesn''t, it''s just that Bultom has to be his first target, or he would suffer repercussions.


    He has a geass imposed on himself after all."


    Evan replied before turning to the Count of Bultom who was trying to make his presence least felt in the midst of all the highest-ranking nobles and royalty around him.


    "Can I have ess to your county''s criminal records? Specifically, about everyone who was executed in the year 1043?"


    While the Count excused himself to get the records, Evan and the others in the room continued their discussion, with Evan enlightening them on the rest of his findings from the other captive Senior Demonic Hand members.


    "Basically, no operations are to be carried out until Vazgan attacks. So as to let the men rest."


    The Count returned with the records just after Evan spoke, with the boy collecting therge hardcover book and scanning through it and nodding to himself before speaking.


    "August, Year 1043.


    A Knight Family and these other knights were executed for a crime that they did notmit.


    Although it waster discovered that they were framed, the deed had already been done and all those knights had been killed."


    The Count''s expression changed to one of shock when he heard the second part of Evan''s words, as that wasn''t something that the boy was supposed to know at all.


    When the gazes of the Emperor and Luke turned towards him, the man instantly cowered and confirmed what Evan had said.


    Meanwhile, Evan took a pen and marked over multiple names in the execution register, before passing it to Duke Charles and saying.


    "These are the names to the executed knights, look familiar?"


    "The Theoregrim Knight Family��"


    "Check out the name of the family head at the time."


    "Vazgan Theoregrim."


    "Lastly, take a guess at how they were executed."


    "��beheading?"


    "Bingo."


    Evan dropped the pen back onto the table as he spoke, leaning back into the sofa before continuing.


    "Now then, Vazgan Theoregrim was a knight who was publicly executed wrongfully, with even the people of Bultom he had sworn to protect not believing in his and his family''s innocence��"

 Chapter 383 Reporting To The Emperor II

    "Now then, Vazgan Theoregrim was a knight who was publicly executed wrongfully, with even the people of Bultom he had sworn to protect not believing in his and his family''s innocence.


    He then turned into an undead after he was unceremoniously relieved of his head, and bore a grudge against the entirety of Bultom for his wrongful death.


    Said grudge was further amplified when he became a higher level undead, and he has been biding his time ever since then, until an ''Oh so convenient'' coborator like the Eighth Finger showed up.


    Sounds like a chance he''s gonna take to settle his grudges, don''t you think?"


    "Indeed, it does.


    But regardless of the reason for his grudge, more than a million people would die if we let him seed, so he''s to be put down."


    "Yeah, he would, but you won''t be the one to do it, though."


    Evan replied to Sir Luke before pointing at Duke Charles and saying.


    "Duke Charles over here would be the one to face Vazgan. Or rather, he''s the only one who can ''cus Heinr and the two S rankers would have Vazgan''s Lieutenants as their opponents while you and Ralphie can''t show up until the Eighth Finger brings out the big bad bMv_ta/!4[f-C[E(."


    "The big bad what now?"


    "The big bad something I cannot say because for some reason only goddess Artemisia knows."


    The young hero clicked his tongue and sat up before moving on to the next thing he came for.


    "Hey, Your Majesty and Duk- ''Father'', you guys are going to confiscate all of Count Falos'' property and assets, right?"


    [Of course, we are.]


    "Good.


    Then you might as well just confiscate the Eighth Finger''s funds alongside it.]


    [Pardon?]


    "Falos was the Eighth Finger''s right-hand man, and the one in charge of managing his funds, and he had most of the Eighth Division''s funds inside banks in the Great Western Empire, both under his name, and the names of the Dummy business he had.


    The both of you can ignore the court order proceedings required to freeze bank ounts and directly order the ounts under Count Falos''s name to be frozen, right?"


    [Yes, that is possible.


    And we were nning to do just that. The former Count''s entire family is also facing criminal penalties for being guilty by association.


    If we discover that they had any direct connections, it''s straight to the execution block for them.]


    Duke Roger replied to Evan while turning his gaze to the Emperor who nodded in affirmation.


    "Good, good. But all of that doesn''t really concern me much. What I want to say is that you guys should freeze all the ounts of the former Count and his businesses.


    As well as the Dummy Companies he was secretly in charge of."


    [Dummy Companies, you say?]


    Emperor Rudeus narrowed his eyes and leaned forward upon hearing Evan''s words, with the young hero opening up his system archive and replying.


    "Yes.


    He had three Dummy businesses within the Great Western Empire, and a few others outside, for the sake of managing some of the Eighth Division''s funds."


    As he was speaking, his right hand was moving up and down repeatedly, as if he was trying to fan himself with his hand, but in reality, he was scrolling through the system archive for the information on Count Falos.


    "Found it.


    Thunder Mining Group, West Range ounting, and Highguards Commerce.


    Those threepanies are rted to Count Falos, I''m sure you''d figure it out if you did some digging.


    Confiscating all the money in the ounts of thesepanies should you more than a few million gold coins, enough to help recoup part of the money spent for mobilizing all these soldiers and adventurers."


    Rudeus and Roger stared at Evan in silence, with the young boy looking back at them in confusion before Ralphie broke the silence.


    "You haven''t gotten to the part where you exin how you knew this."


    "Oh, that.


    Let''s just say it''s part of the perks of my ''Hero'' title. I honestly can''t say any more than that. Even my lessened restrictions would still me a couple dozen levels lost if I talk too much."


    Evan replied as he closed the system archive, before turning to Richard and addressing the Crown Prince for the first time.


    "Yo, Sis-con."


    Everyone present could audibly hear the sound of Richard''s face twitching upon hearing Evan''s words.


    And as for the Crown Prince in question, he knew fully well that Evan only brought up the matter from their conversation over a year ago, just to spite him and get a reaction out of him.


    [Look here you impertinent brat-]


    The Crown Prince''s words were interrupted when someone opened the door of the room where he was, with his gaze turning to the side to meet with a familiar pair of blue eyes.


    [Laurene? Anything?]


    [Nothing serious, I wanted to ask you for something and Mother said you were here so I came over.]<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The new entrant, Princess Laurene replied to her father as she closed the door behind her and walked up to the three guys, greeting her brother and the Duke before offering her greetings to the people with Evan.


    "Laurene."


    [Hmm? Is there a problem, Evan?]


    The princess tilted her head in confusion as she stared at Evan, with the young hero only heaving a sigh before the yful smile he had on his face when messing with Richard disappeared.


    Almost immediately, everyone present could sense that there was something different about Evan''s current mood.


    "I heard you told them about our ''Hero'' titles."


    [Oh��that. I didn''t directly say anything, they reached the conclusion on their own.]


    "With hints you gave them."


    [I only sped up the process.]


    "��"


    [��]


    Everyone present just looked at the two heroes who were staring at each other in silence, until Evan finally broke it with his next words.


    "Laurene, are you forgetting that I''m also a ''Hero'' like you? I know how heavy the restrictions on us are, and I know about the conditions for us to receive repercussions just as much as you do.


    Don''t try to use wordy with me."


    The boy sat up and narrowed his eyes at Laurene, not giving the girl any chance to speak as he continued.


    "You''re not like me who has more leniency in what I can say or do, so don''t try to push your luck.


    You don''t want the wrath of a universalw that even our predecessors were scared shitless of to bear down on you now, do you?"


    [Why in tarnation would I want that?]


    "Of course, you don''t.


    You of all people should know how they ended up due to thatw''s wrath after all."


    Evan chuckled as he subtly hinted at the fact that the souls of their predecessors had been lost. Of course, he was not aware of the fact that the soul of the previous fourth had never beenplete in the first ce, but his point was still clear to Laurene.


    "Anyway, I''m not trying to pressure you or anything. But please, tread carefully.


    I don''t want to be forced to use that ''authority''."


    [��your words are having the opposite effect, you know?]


    "Hmm? Maybe they are.


    Still��you get what I''m saying, don''t you?"


    [I do. Now go get some sleep, you look like you haven''t done so in days.]


    "I''ll have you know I had a nice nap yesterday afternoon. I did fight a bunch of undead and nearly got killed by Vazgan''s skill right after though."


    [I think anyone would need to take more than just a nap after that��]


    "��


    ��I actually have to agree with you on that one."


    �� �� ��


    Adventurer''s Guild Main Hall


    Bultom Dungeon City


    Cheverton Duchy


    April 27th


    Year 1052


    While Evan and co were conversing with the Emperor and co, the adventurer''s guild building of Bultom Dungeon City had weed a lot more than just adventurers on this day.


    Knights, Soldiers, Holy Knights, Pdins, Mages of Kasteblum and a few Mercenaries who came to join the undead suppression force in Bultom.


    They were chatting with each other over food and drinks, making friends with each other and so on.


    On one end you could see one of the adventurers trying to woo a knight, and on another, you could see some of the soldiers and the mages nking their beer jugs together as they''d found new drinking buddies.


    Among all these, there was one particr table that was surrounded by a lot of powerful figures from each respective category, with each of them having levels no less than 280.


    Peak B rank adventurers, A rankers, Senior Mages, Officer ranked soldiers, Top Mercenaries, High-level Knights, with a few lower ranked pdins in the mix.


    (A/N; Pdins are ranked higher than normal Holy Knights so a low-rank pdin is actually at around level 250+.)


    They were all drinking and chatting with each other while talking about various things that had happened over the course of the past few months, ever since the undead crisis began.

 Chapter 384 Gossip At The Guild I

    They were all drinking and chatting with each other while talking about various things that had happened over the course of the past few months, ever since the undead crisis began.


    Their conversation topic eventually went on to discuss the up-and-rising adventurers and knights, with a few others surrounding their table to listen in on their gist.


    It was at this point in time that a certain blonde-haired teenager walked into the guild with a ck cat in her arms, only to be noticed by one of the A rankers in Tisha''s party who had inadvertently nced at her.


    "Isn''t that little Eli?"


    "Hmm? Eli?"


    Another A ranker turned his gaze in the direction of the blonde teenager, recognizing her and shouting out.


    "Oh! It''s the Warrior Priestess who beat the shit out of that undead Chimera!"


    His loud voice attracted the attention of a few others who turned towards her, with many recognizing her from the rumours, while some others who were at Position H during the simultaneous attack began cheering for her.


    Suddenly having the spotlight shown on her, the blonde teenager, Eliza, was momentarily stunned, until one of the soldiers walked up to her to thank her for protecting him and hispany from the undead mages who nearly ughtered them during the recent attack.


    Next, an adventurer came up to thank her for the enchantments, and within a minute, the girl was surrounded by people either expressing their gratitude, or wanting to be friends with her.


    It took the intervention of a few guild officials to draw her out of the crowd and pulled her up the stairs to the offices.


    Of course, the cheering didn''t stop until she waspletely out of view, only increasing in intensity when she waved back at them with a bright smile.


    "Look at all of them crowding her so quickly."


    "Dude, you weren''t with us during the Synchro attack, you should have seen the way she beat the fuck out of that Chimera.


    And she did it while maintaining three enchantment spells at once.


    The girl was badass!"


    The A ranker who alerted the guild of her presence spoke as he slugged his beer, asking for a refill before continuing.


    "She''s earned herself a spot on the Top Powerful Female adventurers list."


    "And on the Top Beautiful ones list too!"


    The second statement was followed by a smack to the head from his fellow A ranker, Tisha, who took a seat next to him with a tray of food in her other hand.


    "This idiot, that''s all you think about."


    "What? I appreciate beautiful things AND beautiful people. If is see someone who''s pretty, I don''t hesitate to say it."


    One of the female Mercenaries who was nearby rolled her eyes and replied to his statement.


    "If you suddenly run up to someone at full speed and scream that out to them in public on your first meeting as you did to me then they might punch you through more than just a wall."


    There was a smallughter from the others on the table, before another Knight nced in the direction Eliza disappeared into and spoke.


    "Still��for a support-type mage, her closebat skills are far higher than you''d expect."


    "No shit dude.


    Especially when she picks up that weird staff like spear of hers.


    I saw her snap the thing on her knees once and just when I thought she broke it, it turned out the staff had a feature that allows its user to split it into two and use it for short-range meleebat.


    That weapon solves half the problems staff and spear users face."


    "Sounds like a handy weapon."


    "I don''t think just ''handy'' is enough to cut it."


    They continued chatting about Eliza''s recent feats, with some of the soldiers at position H chipping in and talking about the girl''s actions with Amelie towards the end of the battle, where they made level 150 undead monsters drop like flies.


    "And she''s pretty too."


    "Shut the fuck up, you idiot."


    After another sessful smack to the head, the female mercenary sighed before speaking.


    "Don''t even try anything with her, she''s like half your age. Also, she''s taken.


    I heard she''s with that spirit contractor guy��"


    "You mean, Evan?"


    "Ah, Yeah. That was his name."


    "Don''t forget to add a ''Lord'' in front of that next time; he''s a high noble, you know?"


    One of the knights spoke up as he ced his meal on the table and sat down, with the other knights who were present concurring with his words.


    "Gee��I will. Stop ring at me already."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The adventurer rose his hands in ''surrender'' upon receiving the simultaneous res of all the knights at the table, with the others at the table bursting intoughter upon seeing his ''pitiful'' state.


    "Still, why the heck would the Prime Minister''s son decide to leave home and be an adventurer?"


    "Is that what you find strange? How about the fact that he went from F rank to B rank in less than a year?


    Isn''t that speed too crazy?"


    One of the peak B rankers asked out loud, before sniffling and murmuring something about a kid he''s older than by nearly ten years is almost as strong as he is.


    "And his strength is the real deal too. That much was obvious after the Synchro attack; saw him punch an undead wyvern to death with a single hit.


    I''m still dumbfounded till now."


    The man''s amazement was visible on his face as she sipped his drink, with one of the Mercenaries looking at him with a dumbfounded gaze and asking.


    "You''re tryna tell me a fourteen-year-old kid did that?"


    "Yep. Also, he may be younger than that."


    "He''s even younger?! Ha! I don''t buy it."


    "Hold your tongue or you might just get arrested for defamation of a noble.


    You weren''t present at Position A during the synchro attack, so you didn''t see him in action, but all of us who were present there can attest to this face.


    Can''t you all?"


    Multiple voices of affirmation came from the other adventurers and soldiers who had surrounded the table, making the mercenary fall silent upon hearing them.


    "The boy doesn''t go along with themon sense you''ve known all your life.


    Not to talk of his other party members, those two are strong in their own right, enough to give a few veteran B rankers a run for their money."


    "Although it pains me, I have to agree on that.


    The one who''s a C rank, Greed, was it? I heard he''s only still C rank because it hasn''t been more than six months since he joined the guild and he hasn''t done enough quests to be B rank.


    However, when it''s just strength alone, he''s definitely B-rank material."


    "True. Wait��isn''t that him over there?!"


    With that, all the heads on the table turned towards Greed who wasughing manically as he stuffed another adventurer''s golden bracelet in his magic pouch, with those familiar with him sighing in exhaustion as they spoke.


    "He got another victim."


    "Yep. Another one fell into his trap."


    "Dude really lives up to his name."


    They mourned the ''loss'' of another adventurer to Greed''s money traps before going back to their talk. Over the course of the conversation, some of the original groups of knights and soldiers left the table while others joined in the discussion.


    They discussed other things until they somehow arrived at the topic of why the Mages of Kasteblum bothered toe to Cheverton in the first ce.


    "ording to rumors, it was because of E-Lord Eris."


    "Huh? Wasn''t it the Church they said he got toe? Even that high-rank pdin and Bishop Harris who''s been here since the beginning of the year seemed to be on friendly terms with him."


    "Well, I heard he was responsible for both.


    He was part of the party that received both groups when they officially arrived and they greeted him like he was a major yer in their presence here."


    "The kid sure has a lot of connections."


    "Probably his father''s authority. He IS the son of a Prime Minster, after all."


    "You guys are quite silly. You do realize we got Mages and Pdins here with us, we can just ask them about it instead of making spections."


    ""Oh��we could do that.""


    Hearing Tisha''s words, all the adventurers and soldiers who were discussing simultaneously responded before turning their gossip-hungry gazes towards the Mages and Holy Knights present.


    Some adventurers even formed a human body wall behind them to prevent them from leaving, while one of the Knights ordered extra drinks for them.


    "Well��for starters, we could say that it probably had a lot to do with Lord Evan, I guess."


    Under the gazes of dozens of adventurers, soldiers and knights, one of the Senior mages spoke up before sipping her drink and continuing.


    "I happened to be in the Chief Grand Magus'' office when he came over once and-"


    "Hold up! Wasn''t it supposed to be the Vice Chief Grand Magus he was close with?"

 Chapter 385 Gossip At The Guild II

    "Wasn''t it supposed to be the Vice Chief Grand Magus he was close with?"


    "Yeah��that''s what I heard too."


    "Well��he''s close with both, I guess.


    Saw three of them talking once and he seemed quite chill with them."


    The senior mage replied to the adventurer''s question, with another one of her fellow senior mages chipping in as he remembered the scene she spoke of.


    "I remember that day, that was the first time I saw Vice Chief Ritz speak more than five sentences to someone in one sitting.


    I was in shock for close to half an hour after that."


    "For real? It was that shocking to see her talk for long?"


    "It was.


    She isn''t called the ''Laziest Mage Alive'' for nothing, you know?


    She''s really good at her job when it counts, to the point where even the other Grand Mages have given up on finding fault with her.


    But it''smon knowledge that she''d rather sleep all day than work for even half a minute."


    "Bet she would have gone back to her home country if it wasn''t for the Chief Grand Magus."


    The gossip about Evan''s party continued, reaching the point where they began talking about the boy''s contracted spirits and how powerful they were.


    "How many does he even have?"


    "Three, I guess?"


    "I think it''s actually four."


    "Where did you see a fourth one from?"


    In response to the soldier''s question, one of the high-level knights held up his four fingers as he began his reply.


    "There''s the ck-haired lightning spirit you all have definitely heard about."


    "Yep. Definitely heard about that one."


    "Saw her in action during the undead subjugation, she did this thing that engulfed my sword in lightning and mes.


    I''d never killed undead as easily as I did that day."


    "True, I remember that.


    Anyway, you know about her. Then there''s this other red-haired spirit who uses mes. She''s quite reclusive so I''ve only ever seen her twice besides the undead subjugation attack."


    "The one with therge ming tiger!"


    "Yeah, her.


    Then there''s another one I recently saw this morning. With blue hair and all; might be stereotypical but I think she''s a water spirit."


    One of the other knights who also saw Milena in the morning spoke to affirm his colleague''s words before the man tapped his fourth finger and concluded.


    "Then there''s the ck cat who''s always with Lord Evan''s girlfriend."


    As soon as he was done speaking, one of the Mages sitting opposite him gave him a strange gaze and asked.


    "You said a ck cat, right?"


    "Yeah."


    "Like the one beside you?"


    The Knight turned to his side and saw the ck cat sitting on the table before nodding and replying.


    "Yeah, exactly like this on-!"


    The man paused and did a double take, eventually realising that the cat beside him wasn''t ''like'' the one he was talking about but was the exact same one he was talking about.


    As for the cat in question, he just continued sipping his ss of banana milk under the gazes of all those at the table, even drawing attention from nearby tables as they were confused why the group had suddenly turned silent.


    Kuro finished his milk drink, took some of the tissues on the table and cleaned his mouth before tossing the rolled-up tissue into the bin and scorning a hit.


    Those at the table could almost swear that Kuro had a satisfied smile on his face at this feat. He then looked up to the Knight who was staring at him dumbfoundedly, and spoke with a calm voice like always.


    "You made a slight mistake with your earlier words.


    My fellow spirit, who is of the fire element, is not contracted to the same person as I am.


    She is contracted to the elder sister of that guy over there who''s in an arm-wrestling match."


    Head turned to the direction Kuro pointed with his paw and they were all greeted with the sight of Greed, who was for some reason, arm-wrestling an S-rank adventurer.


    "Why am I not surprised at this?"


    "Probably cause its Greed?"


    "Definitely because it''s him."


    "Come to think of it, Greed''s sister is actually ''broken'' in her own right."


    "Indeed, she is."


    After agreeing with thest adventurer''s words, Kuro turned his gaze to the stairs where Eliza was walking down, before jumping into the shadow cast by the upper body of the knight beside him and re-emerging out of Eliza''s own shadow.


    He then climbed up onto her shoulder and assumed his ce there, purring lightly when the girl patted his head.


    "That cat is seriously a ''My Pace'' kind of cat."


    "I agree."


    "I heard he''s the one who usually reins in the lightning spirit when she goes overboard."


    "Seems like that could be the case."


    The adventurers nodded to themselves before returning to their conversation about Pride.


    "Ignoring their names, those two siblings are way too powerful for their levels."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "No shit!


    Didn''t you see what the other one did during that subjugation attack? She''s the first person I''ve ever seen make undead creatures that shouldn''t know fear to be scared of her."


    "And those sinister ck mes of hers, even though we were allies, those mes gave them the chills."


    Another one of the adventurers who was standing by the table spoke as she rubbed her arms as if trying to make her goosebumps go away.


    "She''s also got this skill that lets her make giant arms with energy, saw her using it to pick up someone who fell during the subjugation.


    It was quite funny to look at."


    "Now that''s a sight I would wanna see."


    One of the soldiers who was quite close to Greed ced his hand on his chin and tilted his head to the side as he asked.


    "Isn''t that simr to Greed''s skill?"


    "Well��they''re siblings. Not too strange for them to have simr skills."


    "Yeah, just that Greed''s skill generates gigantic red arms."


    "Arms? Doesn''t Greed''s own make a sword?


    Saw the dude cleave a lot of giant ghouls in half with that thing."


    "He can probably do both."


    The gossip continued until the person who identified Eliza earlier turned his gaze to the girl who was saying something to Greed and sighed before speaking.


    "That whole party is just filled with anomalies. They sure as hell chose a suitable party name."


    Voices of agreement rang out from across the table, with one of the knights downing his ss of wine before speaking.


    "Starting from Lord Eris.


    He isn''t your regr noble''s son."


    "Yep��He''s an Irregr one."


    "The ''Irregr'' Evan. Has a nice ring to it."


    After unanimously deciding on Evan''s new nickname without his consent in the matter, they moved on to the rest of his party members, starting with Eliza.


    "The Warrior Priestess?"


    One of the A rankers who was at Position H, spoke up as he sat down and joined the conversation.


    "Come to think of it, she did say it wasn''t ''Warrior'' but ''Battle''."


    "There''s a difference?"


    "Well�� even though she''s good at meleebat, she''s not exactly to the level that you''d consider her a ''Warrior''."


    "True��makes sense."


    Moving on, they went on to talk about Pride and Greed''s titles, before eventually ending the discussion about the ''Anomalies'' and moving on to other parties.


    They talked about other adventurers and knights, sometimes having people at the table being the topic of conversation, hyping each other as they continued chatting away.


    Sometimeter, another powerful adventurer joined the table with a tray filled with beer cans in his hands, sitting down beside Tisha who was watching two soldiers argue which toon had a bettermander.


    "Hmm?"


    "Hey, guys.


    Heard your conversation earlier, when you were talking about the irregr kid.


    I''m just arriving in Bultom and was at the counter turning in my quests so I couldn''te up till now."


    He set the tray of beer on the table and pushed it to the middle of the table before continuing his words.


    "Mind telling me more about this kid?"


    Before Tisha could speak, one of her party members who was on the man''s other side beat her to it.


    "You can pretty much find out just by asking any random person outside, but since you were so kind as to get us some drinks, we''d tell you what we know.


    And more too-OW!"


    The man began shouting in pain when Tisha suddenly grabbed his arm and twisted it while saying.


    "How many times have I told you to stop acting like you''re some sort of hotshot information broker."


    "I might not be one now, but I''d definitely be one in the future.


    When I retire as an adventurer after about 9 or 10 more decades, I''d spend my next few centuries of life as an information broker.


    Sounds like a cool job."


    (A/N; Grandmaster level existences have longer lifespans, making them able to easily live hundreds of years without issue.)


    Tisha only sighed and turned back to the man who sat beside her and studied his appearance. It was a fairly tall man with a darkplexion and distinctive red irises. He had a muscr build and short messy ck hair.


    As for his strength, although she could see a B-rank guild card hanging from his neck, she as well as every other grandmaster level being at the table could tell that he was well over level 300 in level.


    ''At the very least, 320.''


    Tisha thought to herself as she grabbed one of the beer cans and opened it as she spoke.


    "You''re just arriving, huh? Wee to Bultom''s adventurermunity.


    I''m Tisha. A rank.


    What about you?"


    In response to the green-eyed woman''s words, the man opened his beer can and nked it against her outstretched can before replying.


    "Nice to meet you, Tisha.


    I''m Yetu."

 Chapter 386 Pseudo-World Magic Imitation

    Training Area, Lord''s Castle.


    Bultom Dungeon City


    Cheverton Duchy


    April 27th


    Year 1052


    While the high-level adventurers, soldiers, knights, pdins and mercenaries were busy chatting in the guild, Evan and a group of high-level senior mages, along with the Grand Mage Czac were all squatting on the floor of the training grounds, surrounding arge magic circle drawn on the floor.


    The passing knights gave them weird gazes but went back to what they were doing, chalking it all up to mages doing their weird experiments.


    They most definitely did not see their prime minister''s son discussing weird terminologies with the mages, not they did not.


    As for the prime minister''s son in question, the boy was looking at the pseudo-world magic imitation that he and the mages were very close topleting, however, his mind was elsewhere.


    ''Levels aren''t absolute, you know?''


    He was remembering the words he had spoken to Zacr the night before, taking a deep breath as he thought about how his very existence was proof to back up his words.


    ''A lot of people on Aidos believe levels to be absolute, but realistically speaking, it''s possible to defeat a person 100 levels higher than you if you''re smart about it. But that doesn''t happen often.


    And then there are ''bugs'' like me, the kind that can beat people above their existence level.''


    He remembered the fight against the Demon Xakon from five months ago, a battle that he was sure to have lost if levels were absolute.


    ''But I won��Of course, I did get my ass handed to me and had to use Demonic Possession + Limit break, but I still won.''


    But despite this, Evan still understood that even if levels weren''t 100% absolute; they were still very important.


    ''Because if my level is low, then my maximum stat values would be low, and against someone with a higher level with higher stat values, I''d be a sitting duck for them to ughter.


    The only reason I can easily fight people higher level than I am is because of my increased stat efficiency and my higher stat boosts.


    But they are all percentage boosts, meaning that I still have to increase my base stats, and levelling up is the fastest means to do this.''


    Evan moved his hand and tapped a part of the spell circle, imbuing it with his magic power and pointing out something to Sir Czac whose eyes gleamed with light before he started using some sort of simtion magic.


    The boy waited for his simtion to bepleted, pulling up the tab for his skill''s hidden conditions in the meantime.


    |Hidden Conditions:


    Acquire title: ?????????- ?


    Acquire Five Elemental Attunements: ?


    Sessfully


    x7K*GL&wcP ???????????: ?


    Sessfully 1Ek?Xma a World Magic Spell: ?


    Gain Resistances to 12 different Phenomena-?


    Experience Required for Evolution: 100%/100%?


    Kill and Absorb the Energy of an Existence over Level 300-?


    Achieve a total of 200+ Levels within a period of 12 months-?|


    ''Only one condition left.''


    Unlike Evan had expected, it was a lot harder to gain the experience required, and he had only reached 100% after fighting the undead that Zacr tossed at himst night.


    The only thing left was to do something he didn''t know to a World Magic Spell, and he really hoped what he was doing was right.


    If it wasn''t, then it was going to take him a lot longer to finally level up again, which was bad as Pride''s Kuro''s and Ka''s levels were linked to his.


    ''Even if they umte experience, if my level doesn''t increase, theirs wouldn''t too.


    I can''t have them stagnate because of me so I have to increase my level.


    Come to think of it, I didn''t contract with Greed.


    I left it because Pride can rein him in if he goes overboard but I would really like to use his idiosyncrasy.''


    As Evan was thinking that, a notification board appeared in front of him with a message he most certainly didn''t expect.


    |Title Consolidated|


    |Your title: ????????? has undergone a slight advancement|


    |Revealing Title��|


    |You have received the title: Irregr|


    |Irregr;<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Type: Titr Trait


    An existence that contradicts that which is normal or established.


    The strongest entity in this universe who originates from the q7?n8 level World, Aidos, has deemed you an ''Irregr'' by the world''s standards.


    As multiple other powerful beings originating from Aidos who possess sufficient causality index, affirmed this title of their own volition, all the conditions for you; the entity with the name; ''Evankhell Vondante Bourne0!be'' to be considered a true ''Irregr'' have been met.


    Currently, the title ''Irregr'' is no more than just a title, however, the more you prove yourself to not conform to that which has been established, both to the people of Aidos and those of other worlds, then it is sure to go further than being just a ceremonial title. |


    ''��''


    Evan just dumbfoundedly stared at the notification board in front of him, not knowing where to start being surprised from.


    So much information was just randomly dropped on him that it took him a moment to collect himself despite the new mental type skill he recently stole from one of the senior mages beside him.


    After a few seconds, he took a deep breath and decided to address things from the top.


    ''The strongest entity from Aidos? The Five? Was it Rathal? Why did they suddenlybel me as an irregr out of nowhe-!''


    Perhaps because he had just looked at the hidden conditions tab, but Evan suddenly noticed a minute detail about his new title that he would have normally missed.


    ''Wait��the number of letters.


    It''s the exact same as the unknown title that I had!''


    Opening the hidden conditions tab, confirmed his suspicion.


    | Acquire title: Irregr ?|


    ''This title��Artemisia was the one responsible for it.


    But the title''s description says that it was the most powerful entity originating from Aidos��''


    At this point in time, Evan didn''t need a hyper cognition skill or a genius mind to figure it out.


    A simple title that sent notpletely filtered information to Evan, easily helped him reveal one of Artemisia''s greatest secrets that only three other beings in the entire universe knew.


    ''Aidos is Artemisia''s birth world!''


    This was an astounding revtion, one that caused a lot of things to make more sense to Evan.


    ''Artemisia doesn''t want to save Aidos because its destruction would reduce the number of worlds in her control, she wants to save it because it''s the world she was born on!''


    The only thing he didn''t quite get was why she did not take action herself.


    ''Even if she''s restricted, do the silly restrictions apply to a god''s home world?


    That would be stupid��having to watch your home world get destroyed by another because of some restrictions caused by another god.


    Or is it NOTmon knowledge that Aidos is Artemisia''s home world?''


    Evan''s mind was running wild, with himputing various possibilities as to why this was, however, he was snapped out of it by the voice of Sir Czac.


    "Lord Evan, I''ve achieved an optimal solution!"


    "Huh��? How?!"


    The boy put the thoughts about the title to the side and focused on the more important World Magic, spending the next thirty minutes talking magical theories and adjusting the magic circle until it the World Magic Imitation spell wasplete.


    The scene of multiple senior mages and a Grand Mage sitting on the floor while wiping sweat from their brows was a sight that all those who passed the training area were able to see on this fine day.


    As for Evan, he was the only one standing, with his mystic eyes glowing as he used the skill on the magic circle on the ground while downing a few potions and waiting for them to take effect.


    When he was done, he closed his eyes, clenched his right fist and took a deep breath.


    *BOOM!


    He roused his magic power, attracting the attention of everyone nearby and practically everyone in the City Lord''s estate, with the shockwaves from his burst of mana knocking back the mages around him with the exception of Sir Czac.


    Evan then opened his eyes and his fist, with a small miniature version of the magic circle on the ground floating atop his palm.


    Duke Cheverton, Ralphie, Luke, Pride and all the others who sensed Evan''s magic, arrived just in time to see him move his lips and whisper softly.


    "Pseudo-World Magic Imitation.


    Spell Number 13..."


    The moment those words left his lips, the sky was covered by dark clouds, enough to trap the sunlight and prevent it from reaching the ground.


    It was so dark that it almost seemed as if night had fallen, despite it still being daytime.


    It was a phenomenon that every single existence capable of using magic in Bultom City could sense, even if they were not close enough to visually see it.


    Even the adventurers and knights who were in the guild messing around dropped their food and drinks and rushed out towards the Lord''s Estate.

 Chapter 387 Adaptive Evolution Takes The Stage

    The adventurers and knights who were in the guild messing around dropped their food and drinks and rushed out towards the Lord''s Estate.


    However, thanks to Duke Cheverton''s timely interference, they were blocked from going any further, with Guild Master Dasyra and the two S ranks being the only ones allowed to proceed further.


    Upon arriving at the training grounds, the three of them stood face-to-face with the source of the sudden citywide unrest.


    There was Evan, radiating an enormous amount of magic power while having a small miniature magic circle in his palm.


    Looking up at the sky, they could see a huge replica of this magic circle, about 10 meters across, radiating outward with the point above Evan''s head as the centre.


    The spell circle let off a multicoloured glow that consisted of white, blue, gold, red and a few other colours, as patterns like translucent letters or symbols appeared across it.


    Tendrils of multicoloured lightning snaked around Evan''s arm, withrger shes of lightning appearing amidst the dark clouds, each apanied by the sound of rumbling thunder.


    Sir Czac stared at the magic circle in the sky, having recovered from his initial shock as he murmured to himself.


    "What on Aidos did I just help this kid create��?"


    Everyone present could tell that the spell circle floating and spinning in the air was absurdly powerful and even the two S rankers were not so sure how they''d fare if faced with such a spell during a battle.


    And the part that shocked them was that it was Evan, someone they could sense that was over a hundred levels lower than them who was responsible for this.


    Having confirmed the workability of the spell, Evan clenched his fist and shattered the spell circle in his hand, with a few sparks of lighting being released from his clenched fist.


    Afterwards, the overbearing aura disappeared, along with the dark clouds and the huge magic circle in the skies.


    "Kukukuku��Eighth Finger Dominik Vk��you are sooo dead."


    Evan spoke in a low voice after making an eerieugh, however, his words were cut short when a familiar notification board appeared in front of him.


    |Hidden Condition met|


    |Sessfully Recreate a World Magic Spell: ?|


    |Hidden Conditions:


    Acquire title: Irregr ?


    Acquire Five Elemental Attunements: ?


    Sessfully


    x7K*GL&wcP ???????????: ?


    Sessfully Recreate a World Magic Spell: ?


    Gain Resistances to 12 different Phenomena-?


    Experience Required for Evolution: 100%/100%?


    Kill and Absorb the Energy of an Existence over Level 300-?


    Achieve a total of 200+ Levels within a period of 12 months-?|


    |All conditions met.


    Adaptive Evolution has been Triggered.


    Beginning Process. |


    |Warning: The host''s body would shut down during this process. Advising the host to find a suitable location to undergo this process. |


    ''Give me the Warning BEFORE you begin the process you damn skill!!''


    Evan screamed out internally as he suddenly lost all feeling in his left leg, dropping to one knee and snapping everyone out of their states of shock.


    "Evan?!"


    Eliza screamed out as she rushed towards him, with the boy only letting out a shortugh before turning his gaze towards Pride and saying.


    "The same stuff that happened after the fight in Geto��it''s happening again."


    Both the high demon and Eliza instantly remembered the time when Evan''s body was randomly shutting down for a period of time following the battle against Xakon.


    "Horrible timing, don''t you think?"


    Pride spoke with a sigh as she grabbed Evan''s right arm and swung it across her shoulder, helping the boy to his feet as he replied.


    "It''s not my fault you know, and save your magic, Liz. It''s not gonna help this time."


    As he was speaking, he lost all feeling in his left arm, sighing in exasperation before turning towards Duke Cheverton and Ralphie who came up to him with worried expressions.


    "Why are you all looking so glum, I''m only going to take a short nap for��. a while?"


    Evan''s words turned into a question as even he didn''t know how long this evolution process was going to take.


    ''Hopefully, it ends before the Eighth Fingerunches his attack.''


    The information he learned from the senior Demonic Hand members he ''talked'' to this morning was still fresh in his mind, causing him to frown involuntarily, something that was misinterpreted by those looking at him.


    "Hmm?


    Why are you all looking at me lik-Oh Fuck, my right arm just went offline.


    Kuro!"


    The ck cat didn''t waste a second in responding, already having constructed the transfer magic circle around him and those nearby before turning to Duke Cheverton and Ralphie and saying to them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    [Don''t try to resist the teleportation. It''s just to his room.]


    Immediately after, their visions went dark and their bodies sank into the ground. When it brightened up once more, they were in the guest room of the Lord''s Castle where Evan had been assigned to stay in.


    Pride Immediatelyid Evan on his bed, just in time for his right leg and torso to ''shut down'' with him losing all feeling in his entire body, save his head.


    "Thanks."


    And just like thest time this happened, Evan muttered a word of gratitude before his vision faded shortly after as he lost consciousness.


    �� �� ��


    Unknown Location


    Unknown Continent


    Unknown


    Unknown Date;


    "Tsk��what a disaster."


    The goddess Artemisia clicked her tongue as she spoke while looking at the floating screen in front of her with the video of the unconscious Evan ying on it.


    "He figured out your secret, huh?


    This is what you get for not cing countermeasures beforehand."


    "And whose fault is that?"


    "Who indeed?"


    She turned and red at the heterochromatic-eyed man who was lying on a floating couch while munching on a bag of potato chips and humming a weird tune.


    "Still��the fact that the title was consolidated, means that one of those five children seems to have acknowledged it.


    I''m ''guessing'' it''s the one you ''gave'' thatw crystal to."


    Artemisia nodded in response to the man''s words, before sliding her palm across the screen and stopping the video from ying.


    "What''s done is done��"


    "��and CAN be undone."


    The silver-haired manpleted Artemisia''s words, gazing at her with an amused gaze while twirling a light blue eight-ringed magic circle around his fingers, with the goddess barely holding in the urge to smack his handsome face.


    She took a deep breath before picking up a small chip on her desk and wrapping it with the power of a fewws, programming some things into it when the man suddenly spoke up.


    "Hmm��how about we go back to that world where the four of us met on that day many thousands of years ago?"


    "Huh? Hold on, I''m still designing the suppression patch for Evan-!"


    Before Artemisia''s words could even finish, the man had grabbed her and warped the both of them out of the space they were in, leaving the chip that Artemisia was holding to fall back onto the table in the now silent room.


    �� �� ��


    Unknown Mountaintop


    Cerul Duchy


    Beast Kingdom


    April 27th


    Year 1052


    |You have contributed to the birth of an ''Irregr'' in this world|


    |Your universal influence increases slightly. |


    ''Strongest Human'' Rathal stared at the two notifications in front of him with raised eyebrows, cing a hand on his chin as he thought about the reason they appeared.


    "Because I acknowledged that kid''s new nickname, huh?"


    [Pardon? What did you say, Sir Cox?]


    "Don''t worry about it. Just keep me updated on what''s happening."


    [No problem, Sir.]


    After that, Rathal cut the connection on the guild card in his hands, cing it into his interspatial ring right before another voice rang out nearby.


    "So, you use S rankers as your informants, huh?"


    "It sounds somehow when you put it that way, but basically, yes."


    Rathal turned towards the other man seated at the top of a small nearby rock as he replied. It was arge muscr man with an unruly mane of deep brown hair. He had simrly coloured eyes and a metal headband with horsetail crests framing his face.


    The two lion ears atop his head and the fairly long tail emerging from his lower back showed his identity as a Lion Beastman.


    He only shook his head when he heard Rathal''s reply, thinking about the S rank adventurer who was trying to suck up to the purple-haired man by providing him information on the happenings in the Cheverton Duchy.


    This was the reason why Rathal had discovered Evan''s new nickname. The S ranker who Greed was arm-wrestling with, overheard the conversation happening nearby and reported the information to Rathal, who acknowledged that Evan was indeed an irregr, resulting in the young hero gaining the titr trait.


    The other person who was nearby with Rathal at the time also yed a part in this process, and as for his identity, it was none other than the ''Beast King'' Kolvar whose current whereabouts were ''unknown''.

 Chapter 388 24-Hour Power-Up Sleep

    "The Great Western Empire can handle itself. If ites to worst, then the Former Emperor would make a move in person.


    That necromancer was no match for the Former Emperor at his peak, much less now when he''s still recovering from hisst death at my hands."


    "Why didn''t just kill him permanently with yourw energy?"


    To Rathal''s question, Kolvar heaved a small sigh and replied.


    "That person interfered, the ''Fourth Finger''.


    Distracted me long enough for the necromancer to die from my normal attack. Not infusing all my strikes withw energy was my mistake, if I had done so then he would have stayed dead."


    Immediately after, Kolvar jumped down from the rock and walked towards therge volcanic crater that was no more than ten meters away from him.


    "It''s time, let''s go."


    "I know it''s thew of fire we''re trying to get, but why does it have to be in a fucking Volcano?!"


    "Just shut up and jump in already."


    With those words, Kolvar pushed Rathal into the volcano''s open crater that was filled with bubbling hot magma, ignoring the ''scream'' of the transcendent level human as he jumped in right after.


    �� �� ��


    Evan''s assigned room, Lord''s Castle


    Bultom Dungeon City


    Cheverton Duchy


    April 28th


    Year 1052


    A full day had passed since Evan fell unconscious and Eliz and Pride had already exined what was happening to the young boy, or at least what they understood was happening.


    Basically, they chalked it up to one of Evan''s unique skills.


    The boy''s high demon contractor stated that he was bound to wake up soon, as the limitation on her levelling was abruptly released while she was sleeping, with her advancing to the Peak of the Master Realm''s superior stage at the same time.


    Currently, Eliza was seated on a chair next to his bed, and she wasn''t exactly in the best of moods, given the asional bone-crunching sounds she had been hearinging from Evan''s body.


    Eliza ran her hand through the unconscious boy''s hair, heaving a light sigh before turning to the cat sitting on the bed and drinking milk from a jar.


    "I thought it wasn''t good for cats to take THAT much milk��"


    [I''m not a normal cat, so it applies not to me.]


    "Fair point."


    Kuro nodded and finished his milk jar, before using a long shadow-constructed arm to drop the empty jar on the nearby table.


    He then moved to Eliza''sp and rested himself there as the girl smiled softly and patted his fur.


    "You''ve been sticking with me an awful lottely."


    When she said those words, Kuro''s tail twitched lightly, something that didn''t go unnoticed by Eliza who immediately shot out a question.


    "Hey, Kuro.


    Why aren''t you with Evan as much as you used to be, but instead spend more time with me?"


    The question had the ck cat silent for a few moments, with him taking his time to consider how to answer the question.


    ''Should I just lie to her?


    ��No, there''s no need.''


    Kuro heaved a sigh and turned his gaze towards Eliza before replying.


    [Well��the current reason is that staying with you feels morefortable. Perhaps it''s because of the fact that you constantly radiate life essence.


    If you could see immaterial spirit bodies, then you would realize that there are quite a few gathering around you.]


    "Is that so?


    But you said that''s the ''Current Reason'', so, what''s the former one."


    [The former, or rather, the initial reason, was because of Master''s order.]


    "Evan?"


    Eliza called out in surprise upon hearing Evan being mentioned in Kuro''s words, but the cat only nodded and continued his words.


    [Simply put, he had me stay with you so in the event that you end up in danger, I can forcefully teleport you away to safety.


    He didn''t want you to know this because he felt like telling me to watch over you made it seem like he didn''t trust you to keep yourself safe, he didn''t have confidence in your strength, or he may hurt your pride.


    I did try to tell him that knowing you, there''s no way you''d think that but perhaps his worry got the better of him.]


    "��that so��


    Honestly, I don''t really care for all that though.


    Or rather the fact that he sent one of his trusted contracted spirits who''s a great asset in battle to watch over me has me feeling a bit giddy.


    Was I always this easy to please? Or is it because it''s just Evan?"


    While Eliza was trying to discover the reason for her sudden good mood, Kuro called out her name with an unusually serious tone.


    [Eliza.]


    "Huh? Come to think of it, this is the first time you have actually called me by name��"


    [Really? I don''t recall.


    However, that''s not important.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    I have a vague but important question.]


    "Hmm? Ask away."


    [In the event that you end up discovering that Evan isn''t really who you think he is, would you still want to be with him?]


    "��. Where are you going with this?"


    [��]


    Eliza stared at the cat on herp in silence for a few moments before heaving an exhausted sigh as she spoke.


    "Come on, Kuro.


    For starters, I know Evan isn''t normal, even for a Hero. The guys in the guild called him an irregr but I don''t think that''s enough to cut it.


    Evan himself isn''t even trying to hide whatever''s off with him.


    I''m sure if I asked him about it the moment he wakes up, he''d tell me everything without hesitation, or at least, whatever part of it he can."


    [I have to agree, he doesn''t seem to make any attempts to hide anything from you.]


    "Exactly.


    I can make a few guesses though; I''m sure Pride has done the same.


    The things he says usually give a lot of hints."


    She moved her hand towards the head of the unconscious boy on the bed and rubbed the side of his face as she continued.


    "Whatever it really is, I at least know he''d still be the same idiot I fell for, so your worries are unfounded."


    Hearing her words, Kuro stared at her in silence for a few moments before nodding and resting his head back on herp.


    ''If only you knew��


    I should inform Lady Ka about thister, I can''t have her identally reveal things that Master isn''t supposed to know yet.''


    With that thought, the cat went back to waiting for his Master to wake up while Eliza answered a call from her previous party leader who was calling to check on her after hearing the rumours about her in Cheverton.


    He did seem like he was trying to say some other thing but Evan woke up mid-conversation so Eliza stopped listening to what he was saying.


    And unfortunately for him, he ended up hearing the sounds of Evan abruptly kissing Eliza first thing after he woke up.


    �� �� ��


    "Now, the power-up review."


    "Dude, chill.


    You''ve only been up for half an hour."


    "That''s already too much time wasted."


    Evan replied to Eliza as he tossed on a simple cored shirt and buttoned it to the top, before plopping down on the couch right next to her, close enough for their shoulders to rub against each other.


    The young battle priestess''s cheeks were still slightly red from the embarrassment of discovering that someone had inadvertently listened in on a part of their earlier make-out session, but she just awkwardly coughed and made no intention of moving away from Evan.


    "First, how does my status look now."


    |Name- Evan Von Bourne


    Race- Body: Human; Soul: ###e# ###s###e#;


    Gender - Male


    Age - Body: 13; Soul: 17;


    Level- 247


    Existence Level - Master (Superior)


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########, B-Rank Adventurer, Protector of the People, Anomaly, Irregr.


    ss- Energy Swordmaster (�Ԧ�).


    Health �C B


    Energy �C B+


    Strength �C B


    Agility �C B


    Durability �C B+


    Intelligence- B


    Condition- Normal, Slightly Excited.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 2, Lightning Tier 2, Shadow Tier 2, Ice Tier 2, Wind Tier 0, Water Tier 1, Darkness Tier 0;


    Resistances- Divinity, Poison, Charm, Fear, Lightning, Mental, Fire, Wind, Ice, Demonic Energy, Magic Energy, Death Essence, Darkness, Acid, Pressure.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension, Martial Arts, Fracture, Void Steps, Irregr;


    Mimicked Skills-Energy st, Body Transformation, Aura sh, Blink, Inventory, Limit Break, de Cannon, Elemental Shield, Ice Magic (High), Chain Lightning, Track Down, Tenacity, Intimidation, Copse, Elemental Weapon Projection, Thunderp, Command, Physical Damage Reduction, Hyper cognition.


    Avable Skill Slots- 1;


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (2��), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction (1��), Vortex. |


    Upon opening his status board, Evan was pleased to see the increase in level and stats, but his brow twitched repeatedly the moment he noticed a lot of weird symbols in his status.

 Chapter 389 Affected Skills And Racial Traits

    "Except for my strength and energy, my other stat values are at their peaks, meaning a little more boost and they''d nudge over to the next sub-rank.


    My level also didn''t go as high as I had expected but given that most of my exp was being siphoned by adaptive evolution, it''s a miracle I up went by 10 levels.


    The main issues here��"


    "��are the strange symbols beside your ss and skills?"


    Evan nodded in response to Eliza''s words, heaving a sigh of exasperation as he appraised the strange symbol beside his energy sword master ss.


    |�Ԧ�


    Type: Evolution Symbol


    Description;


    A symbol showing that this ss has been affected by a semnce of the ''Pseudo-Authority of Evolution''. |


    "��"


    "��isn''t this a bit too short?"


    "Tell me about it."


    Evan appraised the strange symbols beside the two unique skills and received a simr result.


    | ��


    Type: Evolution Symbol


    Description;


    A symbol showing that this skill has been affected by a semnce of the ''Pseudo-Authority of Evolution''. |


    "Thought so."


    Evan sighed once more as he saw the short description, deciding to open his mystic eye skill description to see what exactly adaptive Evolution did to it.


    "Huh?"


    The boy''s eyes widened in shock upon seeing the results, with him moving back to his energy swordsman ss and checking its ss effects and noticing simr effects.


    He then opened up his boosts tab and the effects of adaptive evolution were clear as day to see.


    |Boosts, Bonuses and Title Effects;


    32.5% Stat Boost.


    Boosted Life Force.


    130% Stat Effectiveness.


    400% Leveling Efficiency.


    12.5% Increase in Skill Effectiveness.


    12.5% Mimicked Skill Effectiveness/Damage.


    22.5% Increase in Energy Maniption Speed.


    12.5% Increase in Sword Attack Strength/Damage.


    30% Increase in Destructive Skill Strength/Damage.


    30% Increase in Destructive Magic Strength/Damage.


    300% Overall Power Boost. (1st Activation State Only).


    25% Damage Bonus against ''Invaders'' and ''Enemies of Aidos''.


    12.5% Increase in Energy-Based Sword Attack Strength/Damage and Speed.


    12.5% Increase in Destructive Energy Based Attack Strength/Damage and Speed. |


    "So many point fives��"


    "Yeah��the thing is there were no point fives before. They were all whole numbers.


    Adaptive Evolution added the point fives."


    Evan replied to Eliza''s words as he counted his stat boosts, wondering if his body would be able to handle all this extra power.


    "So that''s why my Durability increased��so my body would be strong enough to handle the boosts."


    "When you put it like that, it makes a lot of sense.


    This is such a handy skill to have."


    "It was given to me by the goddess of Evolution so it''d be weirder if it wasn''t go-Wait up. This thing messed with Blessing of Destruction too?"


    The boy pulled up the description for the blessing of destruction and had his eyes widen in shock.


    | 1st Activation;


    For a total time period of seventy minutes per day, this skill would allow the user to temporarily channel the essence of an aspect of destruction.


    The user is also granted limited maniption over the essence of destruction for this time period.


    This envelops the user in an aura of destruction essence that boosts their overall power by 300% and gives them the ability to deal True Damage to an opponent, damaging not only their physical body, but also their soul.


    It can only be defended against by using outrageous amounts of energy or with the power of anotherw aspect, however, this has a low chance as the essence of ''Destruction'' is more likely to ''Destroy'' this attempt of defence, provided the user is more skilled at manipting it than the essence than their opponent. |


    "The total duration increased by 10 minutes. A whole extra ten minutes at 300% power��"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Eliza pointed out the difference in the description, with Evan about to respond, only for a notification to pop up in front of both of them.


    |The ''Authority'' contained in the ''Blessing of Destruction'' is much greater than that of Adaptive Evolution, as such, despite spending most of the umted experience on it, Adaptive Evolution was barely able to increase the duration of the Blessing''s ''1st Activation''.


    Any further attempts to infringe upon the Blessing''s authority would have resulted in unimaginable soul-damaging consequences for the host, as such, all attempts were ceased. |


    "What the?!"


    "Evan��this skill is nice and all but it''s beginning to seem a bit too self-destructive for me."


    The blonde teenager shook her head repeatedly upon seeing the notification, however, she knew it was nigh impossible for Evan to lose the skill after seeing the first few lines of its description.


    ''Moreover, it''s a core part of his battle power.


    The ability to directly damage an opponent''s soul is much too useful.


    He said someone gave this skill to him��just what kind of existence is that?''


    Eliza''s eyes narrowed slightly as she alternated her gaze between Evan and the floating skill description, before leaning back and continuing with her thoughts.


    ''It''s also not part of the Blessing Series Skills, after all, Amelie said her skill didn''t resonate when she was near Evan and Evan who knows about her skill didn''t mention anything about skill resonance.


    So just where on Aidos did this skille from? Or is it even from Ai-huh??''


    "Imma go out for a bit."


    The girl''s thoughts were cut off when Evan abruptly got to his feet and ran towards the window before jumping out of it.


    "What the fuck?"


    Eliza cursed as she ran to the window and looked out, only to see that Evan was now running in the air using his void steps, making his way to the training ground.


    A few minutester and Evan was ''testing'' his increased skill effectiveness, but in reality, he was looking at another notification that popped up when Eliza was lost in her thoughts, one he didn''t want her to notice.


    |Soul Strength has increased moderately.


    Without this increase in Soul Strength, extending the duration of the Blessing of Destruction''s 1st Activation would have been a futile endeavour as the user would have not been able to withstand the side effects of using the skill for more than its original duration. |


    |Body-Soul Synchronization level increased.


    The host''s current physical body has been further adjusted to match their soul.


    Due to this, some of the host''s true racial traits have begun manifesting. |


    ''The racial traits of my unknown race, huh?


    Apparently, my energy stat increase is a result of this, meaning this race is one where its members possess higher than normal energy reserves.


    Thing is, I don''t know what other traits are there besides that.''


    Just as Evan was thinking that, Amelie and two other lower-ranked pdins walked into the training area, making their way towards Evan.


    Amelie, who had heard that Evan had regained consciousness and came to see how he was, was about to call out to the young hero only for her to feel a wave of dizziness hit her.


    "��What?"


    Her confused voice rang out as she dropped to her knees, with the two pdins moving forward to assist her, only to immediately fall into simr states of weakness.


    The next moment, Amelie suddenly felt like something was sucking out her power from her body and the energy within her body felt like it was boiling hot.


    ''No��it''s just��''


    Naturally, there was no way that Evan did not notice this as he was merely a hundred metres away from them.


    Such distance was reduced to Zero as the young hero blitzed across and caught Amelie before she fell to the ground.


    Eliza who was nearby noticed something was wrong and hurriedly came over, followed by a nearby knight trio.


    A Bishop and two pdins suddenly copsing was obviously not a normal situation, with the first possibility being that it was an attack of some sort.


    The Knights pulled out their swords and surrounded the trio while looking around vigntly, while Eliza attempted to use magic to assist them.


    Meanwhile, Evan who was holding on to Amelie, suddenly noticed that parts of her skin seemed to be scalding over and she seemed to be in pain that only increased by the second.


    Upon appraising her, he saw that all of her stat values had dropped by a whole rank, and the two pdins were not much different.


    ''What the-?! Is this some sort of poison attack or something?!''


    [No, it is not, you idiot.


    In the event that this was some form of attack, then you would be the one considered as the ''attacker'' in this case.]


    The moment Evan heard that voice, the world around him turned monochrome and everything became still.


    ''This��Time is stopped!''


    Evan''s whole body was frozen along with the rest of the world, however, for some reason, his consciousness wasn''t.


    He remembered thest time that such a thing had happened before, five months ago, at the Church in Bonas, where Artemisia had descended.


    Right before she did, a certain being had stopped time for some moments.


    ''This��. the Eternal��''


    [Yes��the Eternal.]


    A voice replied to his thoughts, right before a hand grabbed the back of his head.


    [Seriously, Artemisia.


    You could have just made him think he was a human instead of going through all this stress, instead of tantly rubbing it in his face that he wasn''t and then giving him a skill that would eventually trigger his non-human traits to begin manifesting.]

 Chapter 390 System Patch And New Ally

    [I was going to patch it the instant he woke up, but you decided to drag me over to another and dyed me long enough for Amelie to get within range of him.]


    The familiar voice of the goddess Artemisia was heard, right before the ck-haired and golden-eyed woman appeared in front of Evan and pulled out Amelie''s body from his hands.


    Snapping her fingers, the scalds on Amelie''s skin disappeared like they were never there, and she moved the bishop''s body into a standing position before turning her gaze to Evan.


    [Huh? You left him conscious?]


    It seemed that the goddess only just realized Evan''s mind wasn''t frozen in time, with her turning her gaze to re at the being who Evan couldn''t see standing behind him.


    [Oh, whatever. Let''s just get on with this.]


    Seemingly not caring anymore, Artemisia held out a hand to Evan''s chest and pulled it backwards, dragging along what looked like an illusory motherboard of some sort.


    Before Evan''s surprise could even set in fully, the voice of the Eternal once again rang out from behind him.


    [Surprised, aren''t you? I can ''see'' it.


    But yes, it is what you are thinking, or rather, what you were about to think.


    That is a core piece of the thing you called ''Reincarnated Hero System''. The source of your extra stat boosts, effectiveness and levelling efficiency.


    That little thing over there that looks like a hard drive, IS a hard drive. It''s where the information in your Archive is stored-huh?


    Hold on for a moment, Artemisia.]


    A long arm covered in ck sleeves and ck gloves stretched out from behind Evan and picked up the chip that Artemisia was about to ce into the illusory motherboard.


    [Hmm...your solution is slightly wed.


    This would only be 95% effective.]


    [I know, I made it that way on purpose. 100% effectiveness would have adverse effects.]


    [Not if I can help it.


    The reason why the vessel of yours and the other humans copsed was that Evan who wasn''t aware of his racial power was subconsciously releasing that power into the surroundings and the vessel happened to fit the bill for people it worked against.


    However, the reason he has this type of power is because of his breed.]


    The Eternal''s hand tossed the chip into the air and released a thin beam of white light that hit the airborne chip before catching it and slotting it into the illusory motherboard which was then pushed back into Evan''s body.


    [All done.


    Now he wouldn''t identally cripple any Church Pdins or clergymen hees across in the future.]


    Artemisia only rolled her eyes in response before speaking.


    [Just resume time already.]


    [Hmm? With us still here?]


    [Obviously not!]


    Artemisia shot back before facepalming and sighing in exasperation. She then stretched out her arm and grabbed the head of theughing man standing behind Evan and warped away, a moment before the flow of time resumed.


    Surprisingly, the knights looked around at each other in confusion, wondering why they were suddenly standing with their swords drawn, while Eliza was wondering why she was trying to use her skill just now.


    The two pdins were confused as to how they got to the ground; however, Amelie''s eyes were perfectly clear without a hint of confusion.


    She looked at her arms and then towards Evan, with her eyes widening in surprise as she muttered to herself.


    "The divinity increased..."


    Evan caught onto her small mutter and understood that she meant the divinity around his body, instantly linking it to Artemisia''s presence just now.


    The boy appraised himself to see if anything was wrong but besides the slight alteration in his race tab, there was nothing different.


    | Race- Body: Human; Soul: ##### ###s###e#; |


    ''The letter ''e'' in the first word, vanished.''


    Evan narrowed his eyes as he remembered the words of the man who he could not see, heaving an exhausted sigh which Eliza noticed.


    "Is there something wrong?"


    "Hmm? Don''t worry. It''s nothing serious."


    The boy took onest nce at his status board before closing it and moving tofort his worried girlfriend.


    a��? a��? a��?


    Lord''s Castle


    Bultom Dungeon City


    Cheverton Duchy


    April 29th


    Year 1052


    "e???I am the storm that is-"


    "Evan? You here?"


    Eliza''s voice cut Evan off from his singing as she walked into the room and met the young hero standing in front of the mirror with an overcoat in his hands.


    "...what are you doing?"


    "Dressing myself up like a game character?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Can you be serious for once?"


    The girl heaved an exhausted sigh and facepalmed upon hearing his reply, before walking towards the wardrobe and pulling out a perfectly normal outfit and tossing it towards Evan.


    "This is a lot better than whatever it is you''re trying to do. Or rather, you probably nned to wear this already."


    "Yeah...was just seeing how the game character look was going to go."


    "How does that even wor-Nevermind."


    Eliza gave up trying to understand what Evan was talking about and just plopped herself down on the couch while the boy changed to a more casual themed outfit.


    Naturally, it was the style with a pair of simple ck jeans and a cored shirt with a grey hoodie and sneakers that he had taken a liking too recently.


    On a side note, a few clothes shops in Bultom had mysteriously seen an increase in hoodie orders over the past few weeks.


    As for Eliza, the girl was wearing a grey turtleneck shirt, with a ck coloured skirt and panty hose under knee high ck boots.


    "Oh, we match."


    Evan pointed out as he pushed his hair back and grabbed the badges on his desk, before taking Eliza''s hands and leading her out of the room as he continued.


    "We should do this next year...missed Valentine''s day this year, to think we spent the whole day at a casino."


    "Valentine''s day? What''s that?"


    "A whole day dedicated to a martyred saint."


    "Really? His or her name is Valentine? What''d they do during their life that got them a whole day dedicated to them?"


    "To be honest, I don''t really know."


    Such was the conversation between Evan and Eliza as the two walked towards the Castle block that had the cab meeting rooms.


    All of a sudden, Eliza stopped in her tracks and vigntly looked around, narrowing her eyes at a ''random'' spot in the sky and infusing it with life energy.


    ''I could have sworn I sensed something there...''


    Evan was about to ask her what was wrong when the door of the building in front of them opened with both the Duke and Sir Luke barging out and looking towards the sky too.


    "Huh? What''s going on?"


    To the confused young hero, Sir Luke only narrowed his eyes at the sky before saying.


    "Nothing...must have been a mistake."


    Of course, Evan was still confused but they two men offered no more exnation before moving back into the building where the rest of the dignitaries were waiting for their war meeting.


    The Duke did pull out amunicator and order his mages to perform a clean sweep of Bultom for any suspicious, more powerful than normal existences, as he walked back.


    Evan was talking with the two Dukes as they went towards the cab room, which was why he didn''t see the expression on Eliza''s face behind him.


    ''They noticed something too! I wasn''t mistaken.


    There was indeed someone there.''


    The quartet reached the meeting room without bringing up the topic again, with Evan giving his usual nonchnt greetings and plopping down on his seat.


    The people in the meeting room were the same set from before, but this time with the addition of a few more people, like Evan''s party members, two more S rank adventurers, a Mercenary Guild leader and a few other high ranked military personnel.


    After a few magic oaths to not leak information on the presences/whereabouts of Luke and Ralphie, the meeting for sharing new information and nning the final phase of dealing with the undead crisismenced.


    Evan did a little touch up on the n for dealing with the Eighth finger''s trump card, once again citing the importance of Ralphie and Luke to this n.


    "...so basically, the moment I give the signal, Ralphie would be the one to attack the summoning circle; it''s a sure fire to weaken the undead that''sing out from it, afterwards, Sir Luke would handle the creature.


    Dealing with it in its wakened state would be easy for you."


    The meeting ended after a few hours with those words from Evan, followed by the young hero sighing exhaustedly as he leaned back on his seat, only for the Dasyra to suddenly speak up about something else to Evan.


    "Ah... if almost forgot to say this, but there was someone who wanted to meet with you, Lord Evan. He seemed like he knew you personally."


    "Huh? Who?"


    "An adventurer. He''s a rising star like you. Only registered a month before you but he''s also B rank.


    His strength is on the A rank level though."


    "Oh, cool. More battle power.


    What''s his name?"


    "His name''s Yetu."


    Receiving Guild Master Dasyra''s answer, Evan ced a hand on his chin and shook his head before saying.


    "Doesn''t ring a bell."


    "Well...he did say you''d probably say that, and that I should only tell you five words at that time and you''d realize who he is immediately.


    It''s because of that I even took his request seriously because one of them was too familiar to ignore."


    "Five words? What five words?"


    Dasyra closed the file in her hand and swept her gaze across the room before looking back at Evan and saying.


    "Dungeon. Sixth Seith. Sealed Demon."

 Chapter 391 Meeting Yetu, Again.

    "Dungeon. Sixth Seith. Sealed Demon."


    The instant those words left Dasyra''s mouth, Evan had a reaction that grabbed the attention of everyone in the room.


    His aura suddenly burst out from his body, releasing a light shockwave in the room and his facial expression turned dark.


    "Ah, my apologies."


    With those words, Evan restrained his aura, ignoring the shock on the faces of the Military officers, Mercenaries and S-rank adventurers who weren''t presentst time as he continued.


    "Yetu, huh?


    Look at this guy, predicting my reaction."


    An amused smile appeared on Evan''s face as he propped his chin up on his palm, chuckling slightly as he spoke.


    "I almost forgot since it''s been over a year, but that happened, didn''t it? To think he came to find me first, saves me the stress of searching for him."


    He told Dasyra to send for him and the half-beast womanplied.


    Within the next few minutes, the Mercenaries guild leader, and the other extras in today''s meeting all vacated the room, leaving behind Evan''s party and the original 9 people who were present in the previous nning assembly.


    "Hmm?


    This aura��it''s familiar."


    Pride suddenly looked up from her book and spoke, narrowing her eyes slightly as she gazed towards the door of the room.


    "There''s no way it wouldn''t be.


    You were neighbours with him for centuries, you know?"


    Right after Evan''s words, a knight knocked on the door, asking for and receiving permission from the Duke, before entering the room with a man Evan and Pride found familiar for varying reasons.


    "As I thought, you were the one I bumped into at the guild in Kasteblum."


    Evan spoke as he looked at the ck-haired and red-eyed man, remembering their short meeting at the door of Kasteblum''s adventurer guild the day before they entered the mansion of the damned.


    The boy held out his fist to the man, who initially raised an eyebrow in slight surprise, but shrugged and fist-bumped Evan momentarily after.


    Afterwards, he then turned his gaze towards Pride and Ralphie for a brief moment, something Evan caught onto as heughed and spoke.


    "Hey��don''t be mad at Ralphie for killing Gu. We kind of didn''t have a choice given that he tried to kill us first."


    "Killing who now?"


    Ralphie, whose name was suddenly called, asked aloud, but Yetu spoke up before Evan could answer.


    "Nahh.


    There were no rtions between Gu and me. We had technically never even met.


    We only knew each other existed and we were of the same race, nothing more.


    In fact, I was more interested in seeing her in person."


    Thest part of his was directed towards Pride, who had been gazing at Yetu strangely ever since he walked into the room


    "You��you''re that troll who the bastard that sealed me ced in that dungeon."


    Pride''s words instantly evoked a reaction from Greed who had been silent all this while, but before the high demon could speak, his sister continued her words.


    "No��wait.


    You seem simr, but you''re not exactly that one. You should be the Fourth, the one who was there until I left."


    "Haha��As expected of the ''Deadly Sin of Pride''."


    Yetu''s reply to Pride''s words was basically a confirmation of the man''s identity.


    In the Game, the yer was not the one who was responsible for taking out all the Fingers of the Demonic Hand, and the rest of the Major Antagonists.


    There were a few NPCs who took the mantle of defeating the antagonists, and the man in front of them was one of said NPCs.


    He was the fourth Troll Emperor to be ced as the Dungeon Boss and guardian to the room where Pride was sealed, after the first three had died at the hands of adventurers over the years. Naturally, he was well aware of the entity whose seal he was guarding.


    In the game, he was the one who once battled and lost against the ''Sixth Finger of the Demonic Hand'', only toe back to life and defeat the Demonic Hand Executive in a rematch.


    "Hmm? You didn''t lose your Emperor title, huh?"


    "Surprisingly, I didn''t."


    Yetu replied to Evan''s words as the young hero swung his hands over the man''s shoulder and spoke.


    "Allow me to properly introduce someone who would be a great asset when ites to dealing with the Demonic Hand in the future. At least, until Seith''s Dead.


    The former Final Boss of the ''Graveyard of the Arrogant'', the reborn Troll Emperor Yetu."


    "Troll Emperor?!"


    "Yeah, it''s his title.


    Don''t sweat the small stuff."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Evan casually dismissed the S ranker''s words, with Ralphie speaking up before the man could talk once more.


    "Graveyard of the Arrogant Final Boss?"


    "Yep.


    It''s a long story but I''m gonna just give you a quick summary."


    Evan and Yetu sat down as the boy began speaking, turning his gaze to Sir Czac and telling him to prepare a binding contract for the S ranker present.


    Ignoring the S ranker''s reaction to Evan''s obvious distrust, the boy began speaking.


    "For reasons I''m not allowed to talk about, my dear friends Pride and Greed over here, were sealed at the bottom of some dungeons hundreds of years before anyone in this room was born.


    Yetu, was one of the watchdogs for Pride''s seal, and the Boss that Ralphie, Laurene and I were supposed to face when we went to the Graveyard of the Arrogantst year.


    However, thanks to me, we ended up being spared the horror of facing him and losing one of our Empire''s Ten Great Swordsmen, as to be honest with you Ralphie, he would have beat the shit out of you if you met him then.


    The reason we were spared that tragedy, was because the secret entrance I led us into, took us to through back door."


    "I''m going to ignore your previousment for the sake of hearing the full exnation."


    Evan lightly chuckled upon hearing Ralphie''s words, only for the smile on his face to abruptly disappear as he spoke with a t voice.


    "I was serious though.


    Anyway, there were two doors to the room where Pride was stuck in. Yetu guarded the front door, while Gu, the troll King you killed that day, guarded the back door.


    I opted to choose the back door for two reasons."


    The boy held up two fingers, momentarily ncing at Yetu and whispering something to him, and only continuing when the man nodded in affirmation.


    "The first reason was simple. The Yetu you see here, is only him at a bit over half of his original strength."


    "Half?"


    "Yes, Sir Luke. Half.


    If him being a Level 300 Grandmaster level existence is slightly over half, then you should be able to tell what level he was at full power, shouldn''t you?"


    Luke narrowed his eyes at Yetu upon hearing Evan''s words, studying the man in silence for a few moments before telling Evan to continue.


    "As I have already implied.


    Yetu, at full power, was over Level 500. Capable of Combating Epic level existences. That''s not something that Ralphie of a year ago could handle."


    Ralphie''s brow twitched lightly, but he kept quiet as he knew Evan''s words held truth to them.


    "The second and more important reason, is that although there was a low probability of this happening, I didn''t want us to meet the man who defeated that full-powered Yetu and caused him to lose his strength."


    The atmosphere in the room turned tense as Evan spoke, with Duke Charles''s eyes widening in surprise as he made a short guess, however, he still opened his mouth to ask Evan who it was.


    "You seem like you''ve already guessed it but I''d still say it anyway.


    The man who defeated Yetu is an executive of the Demonic Hand, someone with a higher rank than the Eighth Finger who''s behind the undead crisis.


    Sixth Finger, Seith Beddoe."


    "That''s the same bastard who came to bug me when I was in Osto.


    He was with some other woman; I think he called her Keth-something."


    "Kethryllia?"


    Evan asked Greed who was having a hard time remembering the name of the woman who was with Seith when the Demonic Hand Executive came to meet him, receiving a positive Reply from the High Demon.


    "Yes��that.


    Kethryllia, that''s what he called her."


    "Thought so."


    "Who is this ''Kethryllia''?"


    "The ''Seventh Finger'' of the Demonic Hand. The one who sent the man you saw me with when I called Laurene while in Osto."


    The young hero replied to Luke''s words, casually revealing that he was aware of them listening in on his conversation with Laurene in the process, however, that wasn''t important at the moment.


    "Jus-"


    *BAAMM!!


    Duke Charles''s words were cut off when the Brigade Captain barged into the room abruptly with slightly erratic breathing.


    "Pardon the intrusion, but you all have to hear this.


    Bring him in."


    Following his words, two high-level knights came into the room with another lower-ranked knight, one whose Knight uniform had the crest of another county on it.


    The man was panting heavily and looked like he could barely stand on his two feet as he was relying on the other two knights to stand.

 Chapter 392 Shit Gets Real

    The knight who entered looked pale, was panting heavily and looked like he could barely stand on his two feet as he was relying on the other two knights to stand.


    Although the Brigade Captain''s actions could be considered rude and disrespectful on so many levels, the highest-ranked people here, the Duke Charles and Sir Luke, who was incidentally the head of the Bowthe Duchy, could not care less.


    The appearance of the heavily panting knight was enough to tell them that something serious was up.


    Eliza, quickly moved towards the man before Amelie or Heinr could, cing a hand on his shoulder and using life magic on him while Evan pulled out a bottle of water from his inventory.


    His erratic breathing lessened and his paleplexion brightened up noticeably, and after downing the bottle of water from Evan like he hadn''t drunk water in years, the man finally calmed down enough to speak.


    He stood on his own two feet and despite his slightly shaking legs, did a proper salute before speaking.


    "Saunau County Knight Division Vice Captain!


    Reporting! Sir!


    One! A swarm of undead forces numbering in the tens of thousands have attacked and��and��


    They''ve attacked and wiped out a satellite city Southwest of Saunau.


    The phenomena we were instructed to watch out for were confirmed to have urred.


    The soil was ckened with darkness deeper than the night and all who fell, instantly rose up once more as undead."


    The knight''s expression as he spoke was contorted and there were slight traces of tears dripping from the sides of his eyes, however, he grit his teeth and continued with his report before anyone could speak.


    "Two!


    The Superior Duhans and undead forces in the fallen city Pad have shown signs of movement.


    From thest visuals of them, their predicted destination is Bultom Dungeon City."


    The instant the Knight finished speaking, his body went limp and he dropped to the floor, however, Evan moved and caught him before he copsed, patting the man''s back and murmuring something to him.


    After passing the unconscious knight''s body to his fellow knights who took him away for proper medical treatment, Evan turned back to the rest of the people in the room with a solemn look on his face.


    "Duke��"


    "I know."


    They didn''t need to say anymore, everyone present had been briefed before, as such they instantly understood something from the Knight''s report.


    The Eighth Finger had moved in person for the first time since the Simultaneous attack three weeks ago, and the Duhans of Pad who had been keeping to themselves were beginning to mobilize.


    This could only mean one thing;


    ''That shit''s about to get real.''


    Sir Luke dropped all his questions and concerns about Yetu, pulling out amunicator that looked like a pager from his jacket and pressing a button on it.


    There was a short static noise, followed by a beep, with a voice ringing out from it a momentter.


    "Major General."


    [What are your orders, Lieutenant General?]


    "Assemble all the Divisions.


    Every single man we brought with us. The ones hidden in the satellite towns and the ones mixed in with the Knights and Churches'' Holy Knights.


    Assemble them all."


    [?!]


    The Major General on the other end of the line was momentarily shocked, but it onlysted a second as he immediately replied.


    [I shall be done with immediate effect, Sir.]


    At the exact same time, Guild Master Dasyra had already gotten up and excused herself from the room, sending a message to the Mercenaries guild leader who was in Bultom as she and the S ranker and Yetu made their way back to the guild.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Within minutes, all Adventurers in Bultom and the surrounding satellite towns received an Emergency quest notification on their guild cards.


    The mercenaries were no different, as although their main line of work came from wars and simr endeavours, an event like the current undead crisis wasn''t something they could just ignore or leave to the adventurers alone.


    The Count who was silent throughout the majority of the meeting also pulled out an emergencymunicator and spoke into it, sending out an order to dere Bultom under ''State of Emergency''.


    As the city''s warning rms began ring wildly, Amelie and Heinr returned to the Church to assemble all their forces, while Sir Czac instantly transmitted the situation to the Senior Mages who moved to gather the rest of the mages scattered around Bultom


    Duke Charles and Evan gave out mobilization orders for the Knight brigades of Cheverton and the battalion sent by Duke Roger.


    All forces involved, Knights, Holy Knights, Army Soldiers, Adventurers, Mercenaries, and Mages, mobilized instantly, with the Civilians and other nonbatants, either steering clear to not obstruct them or doing their best to assist in the little ways they could.


    The lords of all Cheverton''s counties and Marquisates were immediately informed of the situation, instantly dering all the towns and cities in their territories to be on high alert as there was still the slight possibility of the Duhan''s movements being a diversionary tactic with the real targets being the rest of the Duchy.


    Some certain people were of the opinion that all of this was a hoax and it was simply impossible for these necromancers behind the undead incident to have enough undead to threaten the entire duchy and its millions of citizens.


    However, these certain people did not know that the lead necromancer involved had been hoarding undead monsters for over a decade, such that despite the fact that thebined forces of the church, knights, army, adventurers, mercenaries and other individual forces had killed tens of thousands of undead monsters over the past three weeks, the Eighth Finger still had tens of thousands more in stock, along with a group of powerful death knights, a Duhan King coborator and his subordinate Duhans and nightmare horses.


    Not to talk of the Eighth Finger''s trump card that was so powerful that among the Grandmaster''s present, only Sir Luke was capable of defeating it.


    "��And for him to do that, he''s gonna have to release that silly limiter he put on himself."


    "What��?"


    "How do you��?!"


    Both Duke Charles and Sir Luke''s surprised voices rang out immediately after Evan''s small mutter. Despite how low his voice was, it wasn''t low enough to escape the superhuman hearing of Grandmaster-level existences.


    Evan turned towards the stunned Dukes and sighed before pointing at his eyes and saying.


    "In case you have forgotten, my skill is called ''FULL'' appraisal, not just appraisal. Take note of that."


    Dropping his hand, he locked gazes with Sir Luke and continued.


    "Besides, you are someone who served as the ''First Sword'' during the Former Emperor''s reign, there''s no way on Aidos that what you''re currently showing is your full power."


    Shaking his head while muttering something about strange old men in fantasy novels always being ''unexpectedly'' powerful, the boy turned around and moved towards the Church as he tried contacting Artemisia, leaving behind the dumbfounded trio of Second, Third and Fourth Swords.


    �� �� ��


    Despite Evan''s small distraction, the three men didn''t let it take up much of their time, quickly getting back to work soon after.


    By the end of the day, majority of thebat forces that could be mobilized in the entirety of the Bultom and other surrounding counties had gathered and were ready to march forward.


    Staying back and waiting for Vazgan to get to Bultom was obviously going to be the worst possible idea as a battle between multiple grandmasters would leave Bultom Dungeon City in ruins within a few minutes, so the n was to meet and sh against the iing undead in the midpoint between Bultom City and Pad; the Savannas thatid North West of the Bultom County.


    Scouts were sent out to confirm the authenticity of the information about the Duhan''s movements and it was indeed confirmed that they were marching via the predicted route.


    From the speed of their march, it was inferred that the undead and the coalition resistance force would just barely meet each other towards the middle of the expected battlefield.


    No movements of any kind were detecteding from Saunau, which was even more unsettling as this was all but confirmed to be the Eighth Finger''s main base of operations.


    An entire division of the army troops was assigned to keep watch on the North Central Area while the rest of thebat force advanced Northwest.


    Obviously, said advance continued the next morning after thebatants had used the night to rest in preparation for the D-Day.


    Though a lot of them could barely get any proper rest at first as they had to be on the lookout for any pre-emptive attacks by the undead, but luckily, there were none of such attacks.


    The night was calm, eerily so, and everyone involved knew that this calm, was only the calm before the storm.


    At a time as early as 6 am the next day, thebatants set forth once more, moving forward for a bit over an hour before the scouts reported that they were closing in on the undead forces.


    The march was halted and final preparations for the main battle began, with some of the troops taking this time to get a little bit of rest as from what happened during Operation Synchro taught them, they were gonna be fighting for hours on end.


    By 8 am on thest day of April, Year 1052 of the 51st General Calendar, the Undead Resistance Coalition force visually sighted the iing army of the Duhan King.

 Chapter 393 Dullahan King Vazgan

    Unnamed Savannas


    Bultom County Outskirts


    Cheverton Duchy


    April 30th


    Year 1052


    "Oh my gods��."


    The sheer number of undead monsters trooping towards the resistance force was enough to make even experienced adventurers and mercenaries take a step back in shock.


    From what could be seen visually, there were at least ten thousand Skeleton Knights, Undead Knights, and Duhans along with nightmare and skeletal horses.


    Each of them was armed with weapons coated in a thick ominous aura of death and darkness, the kind that made any living being instinctively avoid getting hit by.


    The weakest adventurers present were Peak D rankers with a level of at least 90, however, they were in the minority as the attack force was made up of mostly C rankers and their military, mercenary, mage and holy knight equivalents.


    The amount ofbat power here was more than what some small countries had in their active military, and yet, the undead still outnumbered them slightly.


    "Of course, that is after adding Dominik''s forces to the mix. Vazgan has more of elite troops which are smaller in number."


    Evan remarked as he put his hands in the pockets of his hoodie while sitting on a void step and swinging his legs.


    Beside him, was Duke Charles, as well as the Major General who apanied Sir Luke to lead the army as Sir Luke''s presence was not to be known until thest moment.


    The man was having a hard time understanding how Evan who had just barely be a teenager was exuding more power than majority of the B-ranked adventurers present.


    Evan, however, ignored his questioning gaze and looked towards the frontline of the iing undead forces, at the group of Duhans riding on nightmare horses that were very obviously different from the rest.


    Each of them exuded a grandmaster-level aura, making the A rankers present hold their breaths as they instinctively realised that none of those Duhans would be an easy opponent.


    However, what made them have their hairs stand on end was the one Duhan in the middle of this group of grandmasters, the only Duhan who did not have his head in his hand.


    Duke Charles locked his gaze on this particr Duhan and sighed, thinking that things were going to be more troublesome than he could have expected.


    The undead march slowly came to a stop, with the resistance force holding their breaths as those on the frontline saw Evan, the Duke and the S rankers present take a few steps forward along with the Major General and the Lieutenant Colonel in charge of the Duke''s forces.


    Seeing this, the Duhan in the middle of the Elite group of Duhans ced his hands on his head and slowly twisted it to the side, unlocking it with a small ''click'' sound that strangely resounded across the silent savannas.


    He then took his head off his head and held it in his left hand, exactly the way a knight would when removing their helmet to talk to a superior officer or their lord.


    "I don''t need to tell you this, but that is obviously Duhan King Vazgan, and the other grandmaster Duhans around him are the knights of Theoregrim."


    Evan spoke as he appraised the Duhan King and made the appraisal results visible to Duke Charles and the others standing beside him.


    |Name- Vazgan Theoregrim


    Race- Duhan


    Level- 403


    Existence Level - Grandmaster


    Titles- Duhan King, Head of the Theoregrim Knight Family, Former Vassal of Bultom County, Revenger.


    ss - Duhan King


    Health �C A+


    Energy - S-<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Strength �C S-


    Agility �C A+


    Durability �C S-


    Intelligence - A-


    Condition- Normal, ''Geassed''.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 2, Earth Tier 1, Curse Tier 1.


    Skills- Cursed Sentries, Time Difference, Geass of Vengeance, Vindiction''s Strike.


    Unique Skills- Outburst. |


    "You most certainly did not need to tell us that. The auraing from him was enough for us to realise..."


    ''��to realise that he''s a powerhouse on par with the Fifth Sword of the Empire.''


    The Duke didn''t voice out the rest of his thoughts as he stared at therge nearly seven feet tall man, wearing full ck steel-looking armour and giving off an extremely intimidating vibe.


    Hanging from his waist was a single long sword sheathed in a brown-coloured sheath, and strapped to his back was arge cleaver.


    The helmet-d body part that was supposed to be on his neck, had its every breath expelling a blue gas into the air as his other hand slowly unsheathed his sword and pointed it towards the direction of the undead resistance force.


    No words were needed, that signal was all that was needed.


    In the next moment, the roars of tens of thousands of undead creatures resounded across the entire battlefield as the skeleton knights, ghouls, Draugrs, Duhans, and a small variety of flying undead, all simultaneously charged forward at full speed.


    Naturally, the resistance force did not sit back and watch this, instantly charging to sh with the iing troops of undead monsters.


    Obviously, not all thebatants of the resistance forces were part of this charge, as they still had to conserve most of their forces for the other major threats which were the armies of Dominik Vk and Zacr, as well as the two men themselves.


    Even so, over twenty thousandbatants from various races all charged forward to sh with the tens of thousands of undead monsters of Vazgan''s army.


    Explosions began erupting everywhere as both sides unleashed powerful magic and skills, however, the main powerhouses of both sides did not move for varying reasons.


    The A rankers were grandmaster-level existences capable of wiping out entire towns with but a single attack, and they would need attacks on that level to deal with the elite Duhans of Vazgan''s army.


    However, suchrge-scale attacks would also greatly damage or even wipe out a lot of their allies who were weaker than they were, so they needed to get the Duhans away first, before they began battling.


    As for the elite Duhans, they just silently watched the ''futile'' resistance of the living beings that were defending the county that unjustly executed them while thousands of undead knights and other Duhans ran past them to sh with the resistance force.


    Evan was not among those who did not take action immediately, as while most of themanding group (Evan, Duke Charles, Sir Heinr, Sir Czac, Dasyra, the military Major General and Mercenary guild master) returned to themand centre, the boy and hispanions had other ns in mind.


    Said ns, were to turn the thousands of iing undead monsters, into EXP for levelling up.


    Greed was the most eager as he wanted to regain his self-given title of highest level in the party that was unceremoniously ''stolen'' from him by Evan and Pride, while the other high demon just wanted to stabilize her power before the other undead forces arrived.


    Eliza also didn''t sit back with the rest of the supports, actively joining the battle as she knew that ording to Evan''s ns for what was toe, it would be better if her level was even the slightest bit higher, and it most certainly could not be 200 levels lower than her opponent!


    As the undead monsters charged forward like water out of a busted dam, Eliza activated Memoria''s spear edge as she ran up the void steps Evan ced in front of her like a ramp and jumped into the air.


    She locked onto a single Duhan whose aura felt particrly threatening as she pulled back her spear while activating her Breath of Life unique skill.


    Multiple rings of green light rotated wildly around her wrists, with a small barely noticeable aura of light flowing from her arm and into the spear.


    As much as she would have liked to use ''Child of Life'', Evan told her not to do so as Vazgan might recognize her skill and inform the Eighth Finger about it beforehand, as such she used her second unique skill to imbue as much ''Life'' energy as she could into the weapon before throwing it out with all her strength.


    *BOOMM!!!

 Chapter 394 Drawing Attention

    *BOOMM!!!


    There was a loud booming sound as the spear shot through the air, beelining straight towards the chest of the Duhan who was barely able to raise her weapon to block.


    **KAAABOOOOMMMMM!!!!!


    The end result was a huge explosion of untold magnitude, with a giant green cloud of smoke rising up into the sky, attracting the attention of Vazgan and his elite forces.


    Some of the Duhans were surprised as they didn''t expect Eliza to have crossed over the heads of ten thousand undead and cut so deeply into the forces of the undead that still hadn''t shed with the resistance, thenunch an attack that they were sure would definitely wipe out over a hundred of Duhans.


    Shockwave upon shockwave swept across the battlefield as even those who were unaffected by the attack''s damage found themselves knocked to the ground by the shockwaves.


    Naturally, with so many of their forces being tossed around by the shockwaves, it didn''t take long for confusion to spread to a part of Vazgan''s undead army.


    Since the undead army consisted of undead numbering over fifteen thousand, it was simply impossible for all of the undead to have already engaged in battle at the same time, as such, there were still undead that were charging forward to meet with their ''living'' opponents, and the ones Eliza had attacked were among these still opponent-less undead.


    Noticing the confusion happening in a section of his army, Vazgan who had been silent since the beginning, finally spoke.


    "Three of you, go deal with the nuisances."


    "Three��?"


    The ''elite'' Duhans who were more than ready to execute the orders of their master, did a double take when they realised that he had ordered three of them to move.


    It needed to be taken into ount that they were all Grandmaster-level beings, ones with levels over 300. They believed that only one of them was needed to handle the threat that Eliza posed, however, Vazgan ordered for three of them to go.


    And what''s more, Vazgan said ''Nuisances'' instead of just ''Nuisance'', insinuating that there was someone else with Eliza.


    "The other is a priority target. The leader of the ''Anomalies''. Tread with caution."


    Vazgan only gave that line in response and the elite Duhans'' hesitation disappeared as they turned around with their horses and charged towards Eliza''s direction.


    Meanwhile, the young battle priestess was panting lightly as she dismissed the multiple level-up notifications in front of her eyes before turning to Evan and saying.


    "Is that enough?"


    "More than."


    Evan replied before ring his aura and releasing a burst of magic power into the surroundings. He pulled back his sword as his golden-coloured energy began to swirl around the de, pointing it towards a group of undead that were trying to get back to their feet after being knocked down by Eliza and activating his skill.


    "Vortex."


    The roaring spiral-shaped mass of magic power shot forward, shredding everything in its path to bits as skeleton knights turned into fine bone dust and ghouls became shredded pieces of meat.


    Just when the vortex was about to reach the Duhans behind and consign some of them to oblivion, a giant spear dropped down from the skies andnded atop it, instantly overwhelming the spiral mass of energy and forcefully dissipating it.


    *BOOM!!!


    There was a small shockwave as Evan and Eliza were pushed back by a few feet, but they received no damage whatsoever due to Evan using his Elemental shield at thest moment.


    Immediately after, arge nightmare horse with a ming mane descended from the skies, as if running on some sort of invisible ramp.


    This fiendish monster named after the terrible dreams of those who encountered them, was serving as the mount for a simrly fiendish-looking Duhan with a height of over six feet tall.


    The Duhan had a thick muscr frame and had jagged spikes all over the joints of its armour.


    The red inferno sights of its head locked onto Evan and Eliza, narrowing in displeasure as it let out a puff of red smoke.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Naturally, its reason for displeasure was the red spherical shield of me-infused magic energy surrounding Evan and Eliza.


    ''My attack didn''t do any damage whatsoever.''


    The Duhan thought this as his mount trotted towards the ming spear that was embedded in the ground.


    Meanwhile, Evan had his eyebrows slightly raised as he most certainly didn''t expect Vazgan to send out this particr Duhan.


    He was about to press a button on themunicator in his pocket when he sensed two more iing grandmaster-level auras.


    "Wait��what?!"


    Evan was dumbfounded as he most definitely hadn''t expected Vazgan to expend three Grandmaster-level Duhans just to deal with him and Eliza.


    Though he would not be so surprised if he knew just how high his name was on the undead''s hit list. It was ced in the same category as people like the Duke and the Adventurers guild master, showing that Evan was perceived as a threat of the highest level by them.


    The reason couldn''t have been any more obvious, he had messed with the demonic hand way too much and had especially fucked up a lot of their ns here in Cheverton, it''d be stranger if they didn''t increase his threat level.


    Two more nightmare horses leapt over the swarm of undead who retreated backwards as if having received an order to do so, leaving Evan and Eliza surrounded by three particrly undefinedly Duhan Grandmasters.


    Ka manifested her physical body and got ready to activate her unique skill as she red at the me spear-wielding undead while Eliza''s shadow wriggled a bit before beginning to bubble up like boiling water.


    Just when the undead were about to take action, the one with the ming spear held out his hand and stopped the other two, before looking to the sky and back at Evan as he remarked.


    "I see, so that was your aim."


    "A little toote for that now, don''t you think?"


    "Indeed, it is."


    The over level 350 Duhan replied to Evan''s words before ring up his aura and raising his spear to sh with therge great sword wielding A ranker that dropped from the skies.


    **BAAAAMMMMMM!!!!!!!


    The other two Duhans were also upied as three more A rankers dropped down from above and unleashed attacks towards them, the kind that the Duhans had to take seriously or they risked losing a good chunk of their ''health'' and durability.


    "Carrying five people with levitation magic is stressful."


    A voice rang out from behind Evan as its owner created a barrier to shield Evan and Eliza from the resultant forces of the attacks of the grandmaster-level existences around them, with the young hero turning towards the person and replying with a smile.


    "But it''s a walk in the park for you, isn''t it?"


    "Would I be saying it was stressful if it was?"


    The light green-haired woman shot back before sighing and wrapping her arms around Eliza.


    "Tisha?"


    Ignoring the priestess''s confused voice, the A ranker turned towards Evan and asked with narrowed eyes.


    "You sure?"


    "Yep, I''d be fine.


    Worst case scenario and I can just teleport away."

 Chapter 395 Distraction Tactics

    "You sure?"


    "Yep, I''d be fine.


    Worst case scenario and I can just teleport away."


    Evan''s reply to Tisha''s words made Eliza instantly realise that the young hero had ns of remaining in the same area of the battlefield where grandmaster-level existences were shing, but she could not even voice out her objection as Tisha instantly shot up into the sky while carrying her.


    After waving at his obviously pissed-off girlfriend, Evan then turned towards the A rank Mercenary who was giving him a strange gaze before speaking.


    "Alright, let''s begin the distraction tactics."


    What Evan nned to do was quite simple.


    He was going to mess with the Duhans that the A rankers were fighting against, distracting them from their actual opponents and hopefully giving said opponents a chance to inflict fatal blows.


    In that case, he would receive a little bit of experience as it would be counted as him ''participating'' in the battle.


    "Going off to kill lower levelled enemies on my own would be more effective but the faster the grandmaster level Duhans are taken out, the better.


    As such, that is why I would be interfering in your battle from time to time, is that okay with you?"


    Such was the question Evan asked the me spear-wielding Duhan as he sat on a void step floating in the air.


    Even the A rank adventurer from Tisha''s party who was battling him had his jaw drop in shock as he most definitely didn''t expect Evan to start exining what he was nning on doing to the opponent.


    Meanwhile, the Duhan was staring at Evan with narrowed eyes, trying to guess what his true aim was.


    However, Evan didn''t leave him guessing for long as the Duhan''s sharp senses instantly picked up on something, turning his body to the side and thrusting his spear forward towards the ''empty space'' beside him.


    **CLANGG!!!


    The sound of metal des nging rang out as the Duhan''s spear tip collided with the twin des belonging to the A rank mercenary who had hidden himself with a stealth-type skill and was trying to sneak up on him.


    However, in that short moment, the great sword-wielding adventurer kicked off the ground and dashed forward with hisrge weapon, swinging it towards the feet of the nightmare horse that tried to leap into the air with its skill.


    "Stay on the ground for a bit, will ya?"


    Evan spoke as he activated shadow magic and created long tentacle-like appendages that wrapped around the horse''s legs and dragged it back to the ground.


    While its rider was a grandmaster, the horse most certainly wasn''t on that level, as such it was rtively easier for Evan to pull it to the ground.


    The unexpected obstruction left the horse startled for a second, enough time for the grandmaster level A ranker to close the distance and slice the horse''s feet off with hisrge great sword.


    In that exact same instant, the mes surrounding the Duhan''s body suddenly went out as they were doused with water from an unknown source.


    The clouds in the sky also darkened, with the mercenary parrying the spear thrust of the Duhan with his twin daggers before jumping backwards while the great sword-wielding adventurer dashed out of the area.


    From the darkened clouds, three bolts of golden lightning dropped down like judgement from the heavens, crashing onto the torso and head of the Duhan.


    **BOOOOMMMM!!!!!


    There was a loud explosion of mes and lightning, followed by a pained scream that made Evan smile lightly.


    ''Got him.''<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The A rank adventurer and mercenary didn''t hesitate to dash back into the cloud of smoke, coating their weapons with aura as they both simultaneously attacked the Duhan who was still recovering from the effects of the elemental damage caused by the mixture of water, mes and lightning.


    Evan''s gaze moved as he saw the three grandmasters move so fast that they looked like streaks of light shooting through the air, shing repeatedly and exchanging blows capable of turning a level 150 to paste as they moved.


    He then turned back to the mount of the me Duhan that had its legs cut off by the A rank adventurer and wasying on the floor weakly.


    Although the Duhan was the target of two lightning bolts that dropped from the sky, the third one was reserved for his nightmare mount, and it most certainly did its job of temporarily immobilizing the monster.


    "Not that it would be able to move even if it wasn''t paralyzed. After all, it doesn''t have legs anymore."


    Evan remarked as he had Milena douse it with water once more before having Ka drop two more bolts of lightning on the creature.


    He then descended to the ground and stabbed its head with his sword, ending its life and then turned to Milena right after as he asked.


    "Hey, after this is all over, let''s enter a proper contract.


    What do you say?"


    The high-ranked water spirit was momentarily surprised upon hearing Evan''s words, before turning her gaze to Ka to gauge the lightning spirit''s reaction.


    [Huh? Does Master want to contract with Milena?! For real?!


    That''s like Awesome! Super Awesome!!]


    Ka''s reaction was quite expected as Milena had realised within the past few days that the great lightning spirit wasn''t like other great spirits she had met.


    ''At least, Lady Undine definitely would readily agree for her own human contractor to contract with another spirit of another element. Not that she''d ever agree to contract with a human in the first ce.''


    Naturally, the trio of hero and spirits weren''t just standing around and having this conversation as hundreds of undead were charging towards them with ferocity, intending on reaping the ''life'' out of them.


    Evan who had levelled up by 2 was slicing through undead knights like butter with his lightning and me-infused sword, while Ka was exploring her inner pyromaniac as she simultaneously set dozens of undead aze each time that she swung her hands.


    Milena snapped her fingers and created tens of pressurized water spears that shot forward and bore multiple holes of varying sizes through the bodies of any undead in the area.


    Immediately after doing this, she turned to Evan who was about to summon a Grand Fireball on a swarm of ghouls and doused them in a bit of water right before the ball of mes hit.


    Amidst the explosion of steam that obscured the vision and senses of all undead within a hundred-metre radius, Milena gave Evan her reply.


    [Okay, I agree.]


    Right after saying this, the water spirit''s eyes lit up with a blue light as she activated one of her skills.


    [Cage of Hail]


    Countless small icicles of hot ice formed within the cloud of steam, all pointed towards the undead monsters in the area.


    With a snap of her fingers, the iciclesunched themselves towards the undead, with more being created each moment as the surrounding cloud of steam rapidly sublimated, forming more icicles thatunched themselves towards the undead, resulting in a near never-ending barrage.


    �� �� ��


    All of what Evan, the adventurers and the spirits were doing, were just happening in one part of the vast battlefield as the other parts of the battlefield had battles that were far more intense than the ''leisurely stroll'' Evan was having.


    Explosions of varying magnitudes rang out, with clouds of dust, smoke, mes and other elements rising up into the sky.

 Chapter 396 Corrupted Cyclone

    Explosions of varying magnitudes rang out, with clouds of dust, smoke, mes and other elements rising up into the sky.


    Thousands of magic circles of varying colours covered the sky as the undead mages shed with the mages of Kasteblum, along with screams of joy and pain alike that rang out asionally.


    Themanding Duhans used battle strategies against the resistance force, in an attempt to breach the tall wall of earth magic that had been constructed to serve as one of thest lines of defence against Vazgan''s army, however, they were no match against the veteran army lieutenants and captains under Sir Luke.


    Chaotic and Disordered.


    Those two words were best to describe the current scene of the battlefield.


    On one end, the Duhanmanders and the military officer-ranked personnel were engaged in a battle of strategies, while on the other end, it was basically an all-out brawl between the adventurers, mercenaries and the undead.


    Some knight toons could be seen working together to take out droves of undead while others had long been either scattered orpletely annihted.


    ck and red blood sttered in the air as both living beings and undead fell, never to rise again.


    On a side note, any liches that were spotted were instantly attacked by abination of high-ranked pdins and mages, in an attempt to prevent them from resurrecting the fallenbatants as undead.


    The air which would normally carry the sounds of rustling leaves, small streams and nature''s wildlife was now merely a canvas for the stench of ''death'', along with the screams and shouts ofbatants on both sides of the battle, those living and those who had crossed into the realm of undeath.


    Explosions rang out in the skies as the high-level magesbated the Elite Duhan troops who were mounting nightmare horses with the ability to ride on air with a skill simr to Evan''s void steps.


    However, they were unable to face their opponents undisturbed as the Duhans and other undead with long-range skills and magic kept interrupting them every now and then.


    Just as one of such undead was about to perform its routine interruption, its head was pierced by a red ming spear, with its whole body going up in mes the moment after.


    **SWISH!!!


    A jet-ck de sliced through the air, releasing multiple ck shes that cut through the body of the ming undead, as well as every other undead creature within a twenty-metre radius.


    The wielder of this de, flicked off the ck blood on the de to the ground before turning around and walking in the opposite direction, while the bodies of the undead behind them slowly split into five pieces and dropped to the ground.


    Seated on their shoulder, was a small humanoid of about 30cm in height, with red hair and eyes, twirling around multiple rings of fire on her fair fingers.


    [I need wind and lightning; I want to use my new skill.]


    The small humanoid girl, High-rank Fire spirit Amy, spoke to her contractor, the Demon of pride who bore the same name as the deadly sin she embodied.


    "New skill? Okay."


    Pride replied as she coated her sword with pitch ck coloured energy, before releasing multiple arced shes both in a straight line and about 60 degrees in the air.


    These shes went on to shred both the ghouls running towards her and the ones who jumped in the air, along with the two undead crows into pieces of rotten flesh that fell onto the ground.


    She then crouched slightly, before pouring magic power into her legs and jumping hundreds of metres up into the air.


    In the few moments she spent in the air, she scanned the area she was in and spotted a particr location that had thousands of opponent-less undead, probably reserve forces that were not ordered to participate in the battle yet.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The high demon then activated her partial avatar, generating a small arm with the energy of ''pride'' and stretching it out to grab the tail of a nightmare horse that was the mount of one random Elite Duhan.


    The Duhan instantly realised something was wrong and quickly abandoned its mount, saving it the pain of being flung to the ground in the next moment like the nightmare horse that Pride had grabbed by the tail.


    Just as gravity began bringing her back to the ground, Pride used her own avatar as a foothold and kicked off it, shooting through the air and towards the undead ''reserve?'' force.


    The high demonpletely ignored the poor toon of knights that were now saddled with the fae of having to battle the nightmare horse that suddenly crashed in front of them, as well as the mountless Duhan which was quickly bombarded by multiple tier 3 magic spells, courtesy of the annoyed senior mages.


    Shended in the middle of the thousands of undead, causing a shockwave that knocked back everything nearby.


    "I see��Ka would certainly be good for this but I''m sure I can do better even if lightning isn''t my forte."


    While making the kind of statement one would expect from a demon of ''Pride'', the woman moved her left hand and generated a pitch-ck two-ringed magic circle, before infusing it with demonic energy.


    She then snapped her fingers and muttered a small chant before generating another three-ringed green magic circle, but it was quickly dyed ck by her ominous demonic energy.


    "Wrath of me."


    An omnidirectional wave of dark red mes spread out with Pride at the centre, sweeping through hundreds of undead monsters and setting them aze.


    The undead mages who were proficient with water magic, even the undead rift mages of the water element all tried and failed to quench the demonic energy-infused mes that rapidly burned through all undead within a 300-metre radius that increased by the moment.


    One of the high-ranking mages who were airborne noticed this and screamed at the nearby adventurers and knights who were rushing towards the opponent-less undead, to get the fuck out of the area.


    When everything within 500 metres of Pride had been set aze, the high demon then activated the tier 3 wind magic spell she had prepared.


    "I invoke a storm to shred apart all those who dare stand against me.


    Demon Wind Magic: Corrupted Cyclone."


    With a very Pride-like chant, the high demon''s magic activated.


    First, a wind-like sphere simr to Evan''s elemental shield formed around her body, at the same time that a vacuum field that sucked everything within the range of her spell towards the centre.


    In the next second, the vacuum field dissipated and the wind began rotating clockwise, around Pride''s position, resulting in the formation of an enormous cyclone that could be seen from all across the battlefield.


    The winds were so powerful that all the undead who dared to resist were torn apart by the centrifugal force.


    If living beings were caught within this (which some unlucky few actually were), then breathing would be difficult inside the cyclone and as the surrounding debris was sucked into it, its destructiveness was only further increased.


    Of course, breathing wasn''t going to be their only problem as the spell wasn''t called ''Corrupted'' for no reason, but that''s currently not important.


    Now, adding the mes that had already spread across the area, and we now had arge ming cyclone that would give even a grandmaster-level existence a run for their money.

 Chapter 397 Downing An Elite Dullahan

    Adding the mes that had already spread across the area, and we now had arge ming cyclone that would give even a grandmaster-level existence a run for their money.


    The original 500m radius was exceeded and Pride''s ''allies'' now found themselves more upied with running away from the range of her spell than fighting undead.


    Strangely enough, the pulling force of the cyclone was weaker on the nearby living beings despite dragging the undead towards it with more than three times the force.


    This cyclone raged for a full minute, leaving any surrounding undead helpless against it.


    Two of the elite Duhans arrived on the scene and attempted to userge-scale earth, water and wind-attributed elemental skills to interfere with it but it was futile as the water was quickly turned into vapour by the mes while the earth joined the debris spinning round in the cyclone.


    The Duhan with the wind-attributed skill tried to cancel out the cyclone by generating his own cyclone around it that rotated counter-clockwise, however, it was futile as the force of the Tier 3 spell overwhelmed his ''meagre'' control over wind and his skill was forcefully cancelled.


    Just when they thought the spell was over as the winds began to die down, Amy finally decided to take the stage, returning to her full humanoid form and generating a huge great sword that was taller than she was with ck mes.


    Her feet dropped to the ground and she released another intensive wave of ck mes that caught one of the Elite Duhans off-guard and knocked it to the ground.


    At this point, Pride had begun working on the third lightning spell, a tier 2 one this time as the skies above them began darkening slightly.


    "Ah��shit!"


    One of the Senior Mages eximed as he noticed the magic power gathering in the sky, turning his gaze back to the giant cyclone where Amy took a stance, converging the wave of mes she initially released into her me-constructed great sword.


    Immediately after, she spun her body around and swung the sword forward, releasing a wide sh of mes that transformed into a huge five-metre-tall tiger.


    The tiger roared wildly as it shot through the air, crossing the hundreds of meters of distance within seconds, before pouncing towards the Duhan and biting on its upper body with its jaws, at the exact same time that Pride activated her spell.


    A bolt of ck lightning dropped down from the skies and onto the body of the Duhan, hitting it together with the ming tiger and resulting in an elemental explosion that made the earth shake and the sky rumble.


    ***KAAABOOOOMMM!!!!!


    A huge ck mushroom cloud of smoke fire and lightning rose up into the sky while shockwaves spread out in all directions on the ground.


    Both allies and enemies were affected by the shockwaves that knocked them off their feet while devastating everything that was within a radius of over 10 kilometres from Pride''s position.


    In the middle of this scene of devastation, was a high demon who was down on one knee, panting lightly as she used her sword to prop herself up while downing multiple potions with her other hand.


    The Duhan that Amy had targeted was onying on the floor a few hundred metres from her position, currently on itsst legs as even a level 150 could kill it with a single strike at this point.


    In fact, the only reason it even survived the attack that had majority of its force concentrated on it was because of its high durability as a grand master-level existence, but even that was overwhelmed by the high demon and her contracted spirit''sbination attack.


    The other grandmaster-level Duhan who was caught in the st radius was also sufficiently harmed, but it wasn''t enough to put it on the brink of death like itspanion.


    Naturally, its next course of action was to eliminate the one who had reduced it to such a state, and what better time to do this than when the being in question looked exhausted and could barely stand on her two feet.


    The axe-wielding undead kicked off the ground and shot through the air, crossing over a kilometre of distance in barely four seconds and activating a skill as it swung down itsrge axe to cleave Pride in two.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, the eyes on its head that was hanging on its waist widened ever so slightly, half a second before a giant earth-constructed arm emerged from the ground and punched it from the side, sending it flying.


    "If the hero of the previous generation who sealed you because he could not kill you found out that I of all people was saving you, I can only imagine the sort of reaction he would have."


    A voice rang out as a fairly tall dark-skinned man with distinctive red irises approached Pride while dragging what was left of the corpse of one of the grandmaster-level Duhans.


    "Even if you hadn''t interfered, I would have been able to handle the situation."


    Pride replied to the man as she cancelled the activation of her Incarnation of Pride''s half-body avatar, getting to her feet and tossing the empty potion bottle in her hand to the ground.


    Amy jumped back onto her shoulder after shrinking her body and deactivating her Breath of Fire skill, yawning lightly as she turned to face the iing man, Yetu, with a nk gaze.


    As a grandmaster-level existence, Yetu noticed the skill deactivations and shrugged his shoulders before muttering something about how his help was unneeded.


    "Indeed, it was."


    Another voice rang out, with Pride turning her gaze to the side and looking at the woman who was responsible for joining Yetu in reducing a grandmaster-level Duhan to the piece of flesh the man was currently dragging on the floor.


    ''The Zylwenys woman.


    It seems she has her ancestor''s powerful light and gravity magic.''


    Pride thought as she acknowledged Tisha with a nod while the green-haired woman felt that Pride had gleaned some sort of secret from her.


    The high demon appraised Tisha with her eyes, before tapping her shoulder and making a remark that the mage most certainly did not expect.


    "The magic circle woven into your robes is slightly wed, but it''s a good try for someone as young as you are.


    Keep it up and you should reach Leoglor''s level in a few years'' time."


    "Wait��what?"


    Tisha didn''t even know whether to ask why Pride could somehow recognize the w in the magic circle on her robes, something that only those of the Zylwenys family should recognize, or why the high demon was speaking like she personally knew the first Patriarch of her family line.


    However, she would not get the chance to voice out her questions since her other party member came into the scene andmitted an act that was basically a taboo amongst adventurers.


    Kill Stealing.


    Long story short, the idiot killed the Duhan who Pride and Amy had left on the brink of death, gaining the bonus experience that came with being the one to deal thest blow.


    And Pride obviously wasn''t pleased with that, something that was very obvious from the way her eyebrows twitched repeatedly as she looked at the seven level-up notifications in front of her.


    Notifications that would have been a lot more if she had dealt thest blow herself.

 Chapter 398 Axe Dullahan

    "What? Why are you all looking at me like I''m the bad guy? The fucker was healing itself with death energy!"


    Tisha shed over to his side and whacked his head with her magic staff before speaking.


    "I wouldn''t be in the wrong to offer her your head right now, you know?"


    "Huh?! But why?!!"


    Ignoring the banter between the two party members, Pride turned her attention to the exp she received and noticed something.


    ''Even if I didn''t deal thest blow, that thing was still more than 50 levels higher than me, I should have gotten more levels.


    Did Evan''s strange skill act up again?''


    However, as if interrupting people was the raining fad, she was broken out of her thoughts by the axe-wielding Duhan who suddenly red up its aura in the distance.


    "I was waiting for when you guys would remember we are on a battlefield."


    Yetu remarked as he wrapped two rubber bands around his hand and unsheathed his huge great sword, before continuing.


    "I''m taking this one, any objections?"


    "None."


    "ye-!OW"


    "Have at it."


    The man nodded before taking a deep breath with closed eyes, reopening them the moment after to reveal a light glow in his distinctive red irises as he took a stance and roused his aura.


    *BOOM!!


    By the next second, he had already turned into a streak of reddish-brown light that shot towards the iing battle-axe-wielding Duhan, with the resultant force of their eventual sh going on to crater the ground under their feet for hundreds of metres and send out shockwaves that spread for an even longer distance.


    And just like every other grandmaster-level battle today, it immediately became a high-speed battle that more than half of thebatants would have trouble following with their eyes.


    Axe and Sword techniques released consecutively without break, rending the very ground they stood on as the twobatants engaged in a fight to the death.


    After being seriously injured by an existence ''beneath'' him, as well as having been sneak attacked by Yetu, the Axe Duhan rediscovered the emotion of ''rage'' that he believed he had long forgotten after bing an undead.


    However, its hot head quickly cooled down after shing with Yetu and realising that the former Troll Emperor was no pushover.


    After being ''trained'' through continuous fights with powerful adventurers over the years, Yetu''s skill level with the great sword wasn''t exactly something that the Axe Duhan could handle in a state of rage.


    He quickly activated a skill that generated another battle-axe in his other hand, one solely constructed with pitch ck death aura, just in time for Yetu to deliver three deadly shes to his chest, and sr plexus.


    The second sh was aimed at the sr plexus, but the third was aimed at the Duhan''s fatal weakness that was hanging from his waist, his head.


    Even so, as an ''Elite'' Duhan under Vazgan, it wasn''t so easy to destroy his head.


    He spun the two axes in vicious circles, activating an axe battle skill that made the axes spin like he was swinging nun chucks.


    All of Yetu''s shes were pushed back by the axes, with the aura-constructed one cracking slightly due to the force of the former troll emperor''s attacks, however, it wasn''t something that a little aura infusion couldn''t fix.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The Axe Duhan charged at Yetu immediately after, attempting to get up close and personal, but Yetu didn''t let him, taking advantage of his great sword''s length to keep the Axe Duhan at a distance where his weapon couldn''t directlye in contact with him.


    ''Fatal Edge.''


    The Axe Duhan''s inferno sights flickered as he sensed a skill activation, rousing more of his death aura as he crossed his axes in an ''X''.


    *CLANG!!


    Yetu''s de struck the axes, knocking the axe Duhan backwards by a few metres. However, instead of capitalizing on the small opening he created, Yetu jumped and took distance from the Duhan.


    "This is why fighting high-level undead is annoying as fuck."


    The dark-skinned man spat out in annoyance as he reinforced the mana skin on his body, before turning his gaze back to the Axe Duhan that had taken an attack stance.


    One could visibly see the thick death aura rising up around him, with wafts of it getting infused into his weapon while the rest was wrapped around his body, with a particrly thick concentration around his head that hung from his waist.


    However, to his surprise, Yetu didn''t take any defensive stance of any sort, instead flipping his sword around and stabbing it into the ground.


    He then began unfastening his gauntlets and elbow guards, going on to remove every piece of clothing and armour around his left arm and leaving it bare, the kind of decision that would be foolish when fighting an undead with a death aura that was harmful against ''living'' beings.


    "What are you��!"


    The Axe Duhan''s words were cut short when he sensed two simultaneous skill activations, going on guard in preparation for some kind of attack but once again getting surprised when even ten secondster, nothing happened.


    However, before he could even say anything again, Yetu took a step forward; a step that spanned the entire distance between the two of them.


    The next second, the Axe Duhan''s entire body was mmed by arge aura-coated fist that sent it flying into the air with force so great, he was just a few metres per second short of breaking the sound barrier.


    His ''brain'' could notprehend how the fist; one he was sure was Yetu''s, grew sorge to be able to cover his whole body.


    Nevertheless, he did not have the time to think about that as a part of his mind told him that he sensed two skill activations from Yetu, and he had only seen the effects of one.


    Unfortunately, with the speed at which he was moving through the air, it was nigh impossible for him to stabilize himself and try to block the next set of attacks.


    Ten streams of reddish-brown aura, all shaped like tiny little fists zipped through the air and collided with his body, releasing arge explosion with resultant shockwaves that knocked one of the nearby senior mages out of the air.


    Lucky for them, their fellow mage noticed and grabbed them quickly, pulling them out of the path of arge sword sh that cut through the air where they were a momentter.


    After internally apologising to the poor mage, Yetu turned around to the woman who was floating in the air beside him while studying his arm with a gleam in her eyes.


    "You know that lich over there is heading straight for you, right?"


    "I know, but the mystery of how you were able to increase the size of your arm that much and shrink it back to normal so quickly without any repercussions��. it''s intriguing."


    As she spoke, she twisted her staff and pointed it towards the iing lich before speaking.


    "Gravity Magic: Grounded Embrace."


    The bony undead who was well versed in the arcane arts, instantly realised what kind of spell she had cast, however, while being able to do so was nice and all, being able to escape the spell''s area of effect was a different ball game.


    One that the poor lich wasn''t exactly good at.

 Chapter 399 Gravity Mage Tisha

    The Lich moved its magic catalyst and tried to cast some spells in response within the two-second dy between the spell activation and when its effects set in.


    Almost a dozen projectiles of varying elements, dark light, me, and earth, along with some wooden vines shot out of the ground and towards the caster of the spell.


    Unfortunately, the increased effect of gravity in the area, not only mmed the lich into the ground with enough force to crater a hole in it, but also bent all the magical light, redirected the trajectory of his mes, turned the earthen projectiles to dust, and snapped the wooden vines in half.


    "��Wow."


    Such was Yetu''s reaction as he watched this while throwing out two more ''Titan Punches'', before picking up his great sword and saying.


    "You can study my skillter, after we kill our respective opponents."


    "Mhmm."


    The woman, Tisha responded with a low hum, before turning to the lich that was trying to get to its feet despite the increased effect of gravity on the area it was in.


    Her eyebrow raised as she lifted her foot, filled it with magic power before stomping it back on the ground, with a three-ringed magic circle momentarily manifesting before shattering into pieces of light.


    "Did bing an undead make you dumber or something? How on Aidos did you n to cast a third-tier spell without me noticing, especially when you''re under the effect of my magic?"


    Tisha shook her head as she spoke, however, the expression on her face changed into one of pure shock when she noticed that below the magic circle she had shattered, was another magic circle of a simr element.


    "Son of a-!"


    **BOOOOMM!!!!!


    Arge explosion rang out, sending up a cloud of smoke into the air, with the effects of Tisha''s gravity magic on the lich dissipating right after.


    [Tsk��damned woman.


    But that gravity magic��she''s the one who the reports say took out Beg''dikeec.]


    It seems that the lich with the strange name that Tisha had defeated during Operation Synchro had a very high position among the liches of the Eighth finger''s army.


    On a side note, the liches here were just a few that the Eighth finger lent to Vazgan as the Duhan King wasn''t exactly in control of any himself.


    It was also a small sign that the Eighth Finger definitely had designs on this battlefield today, but that was a matter forter in the day.


    The teeth of the unnamed lich ttered as it activated multiple magic of different attributes, followed by its magic catalyst glowing with an eerie dark light.


    Sadly, its spell casting was notpleted as a voice rang out a few seconds earlier than the lich had predicted.


    "Reverse Gravity."


    [Shit!]


    The spell was self-exnatory, and its effect wasn''t hard to guess.


    The gravitational pull of the area within a 100-metre radius of the lich was reversed, causing both the lich and all the other random undead nearby to be unceremoniously sent flying into the air.


    "Grounded Embrace.


    Gravity Haul.


    Dy Magic;


    Pyro Salvo


    Witch''s Moon de."


    [Instant Quintuple Casting?!!]


    Despite being flung into the air, the lich was still continuing with its spell casting, however, it could not hold back its shock when it heard and sensed five peak Tier 2 spells being simultaneously activated at the same time.


    Its opponent did not give it time to showcase its spellcasting prowess, with the lich cursing as it noticed that three of the four spells were meant for it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Just as the effects of Grounded Embrace set in on the surrounding undead and mmed them back on the ground, a projectile of condensed gravitational force mmed into its arm that was about to grab its magic catalyst, pulling it by the arm in the direction of the caster.


    The lich tried to take offensive action byunching the multiple spells it had activated towards the direction it was being pulled towards.


    However, emphasis should be ced on the word, ''tried''.


    A hand covered in eerie deep purple magic power shattered through the multiyered magic barrier that the lich managed to cast and grabbed its skull.


    The hand gripped the skull tightly, with tendrils of purple lightning snaking around the owner''s entire arm, followed by a slight cracking noise as the Lich''s thick skull actually cracked.


    [!!!!!]


    Sensing life-threatening danger, the lich released a burst of pure death attributed magic power, knocking back the owner of the arm that cracked its skull and dying a part of the sky pitch ck.


    "Tsk��death energy.


    Annoying."


    Tisha spoke up as she saw the wisps of ck smoke that snaked around her arm, as if trying to force its way into her body through the slightest opening it could get.


    Despite the point-nk explosion, she had received earlier, the woman was rtively unharmed, save the few scratches and patches of dust and smoke on her face and robes.


    Such small scratches should have already been healed with her grandmaster-level regenerative capabilities, but due to the influence of the death energy of the lich, the wounds were not healing yet.


    Of course, that was if she didn''t do anything about it.


    "Cleans all which is impure.


    Purifying Light."


    An orb of magic light manifested behind her and began increasing in concentration until it built up into arge sphere.


    All the wisps of death energy around her were forcefully dissipated, after which the sphere of light was released in arge column of light that shot forwards to sh with the iing darkness spell from her opponent.


    [Dark Caprio!]


    The finished its chant with a scream, with a three-ringed magic circle of dark light manifesting underneath its floating magic catalyst.


    A mass of darkness consisting mostly of horror-stricken faces, emerged from the circle and swirled around its body, bing more and more condensed before thenunching forward as a concentrated beam towards Tisha.


    Bone-chilling screams rang out from the mouths of the horror-stricken faces as the two beams of light and darkness collided in the sky.


    "Dy Magic; Activate.


    Pyro Salvo


    Witch''s Moon de."


    Tisha murmured in a low voice, with the lich''s red inferno sights growingrger in shock as although it could not see or hear her murmur, it instantly realised what she had done.


    [The time she held my skull!]


    Simultaneously as it spoke, an ice-cold blue magic great sword was conjured right above its head and delivered a sweeping blow thatunched multiple de-like projectiles of frost towards the lich.


    The projectiles allnded clean hits, shattering some of the lich''s sturdy bones and causing the crack on its skull to spread out even more.


    Even so, it held back its annoyance and deployed a barrier of magic to block the spear of bright red mes that shot towards it from behind, while still firing the beam of darkness towards Tisha.


    Unfortunately, deploying a barrier, was exactly what Tisha wanted it to do, as the spell she had cast was one that showed its true power after colliding with a surface.


    Upon impact with the barrier, the ming spear burst into multiple trails of fire that circled around the semi-circr barrier and hit the lich faster than it could react.


    **BOOOMM!!!

 Chapter 400 Yetu And Tisha’s Synergy

    [400 Chaps��I should really end this volume already.]


    **BOOOMM!!!


    The explosion rocked the Lich''s body, causing it to bellow in rage as it flew out of the explosion with a tattered robe and multiple broken bones.


    If it had any flesh on its face, then its expression would have been one of pure rage as the lich held nothing back, activating as many tier 2 magic spells as it could without using chants ormand words.


    Tisha also stopped ''messing around'', shooting through the air as she activated her own set of spells, marking the new beginning of a magic battle between the two mages.


    They flew across the battlefield in streaks of ck and purple light, shooting powerful spells of varying elements at each other.


    Majority of Tisha''s magic spells were all area-of-effect spells, ones that didn''t only affect the lich but also any undead within its surroundings.


    The woman used gravity magic to pull up Duhans and ghouls from the ground and send them flying towards the lich, along with an AOE spell that damaged all of them simultaneously.


    After barely avoiding being hit by one of such AOE spells, the lich waved its cracked magic catalyst andunched dozens of spears of dark light towards Tisha, but the woman only grinned as she waved her hand and activated her gravity magic.


    The gravitational pressure produced by her magic was capable of bending all sorts of magic light, and the dark light spells of the lich were no exception to this.


    [You damned!!]


    The lich screamed out in rage but still did not let its guard down, instantly blitzing out of the range of her gravity magic and casting a darkness spell of its own.


    After a short chant, dozens of tier-two magic circles manifested in the air behind it, with long whips of darkness shooting out and swinging about randomly.


    The whips sliced through the air with breakneck speed, causing Tisha to instantly fly out of the lich''s range, even going as far as to use gravity magic to lighten her body weight and make it easier for her to do so.


    One unfortunate B ranker who was in the way of the spell and was caught by one of the whips had their life force sucked out of them in mere seconds as they turned into a corpse and dropped to the ground.


    Tisha clicked her tongue upon seeing this, before redirecting her flight path and beelining straight towards the Lich, much to the undead''s surprise.


    It held out another hand and generated dozens of three-pronged forked spears of death energy, before rapidly firing them at Tisha with a firing rate faster than that of a belt-fed machine gun.


    **BOOM!! BOOOMM!!! BOOOMMM!!!


    The spears exploded into clouds of death magic after a certain dy, giving Tisha a harder time as she had to prevent herself from getting caught up in the st radiuses.


    Her eyes shed with a light glow as she activated one of her skills and studied the space around the lich, narrowing a momentter as she shot straight at the undead.


    She activated a light magic spell, releasing concentrated orbs of light that collided with the strangely shaped darkness spears and cancelled them out, before waving her hand to activate a gravity magic spell that sent half a dozen orbs of condensed purple light towards the lich.


    [No way in hell I''m getting hit by that!]


    The undead shouted as it flew out of the way, only for its flight to suddenly halt as the gravitational pull in the space around it reversed, and then flipped.


    [Fuck!]


    **BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Right after the explosion of purple smoke, arge earthen projectileunched into the air, also collided with the body of the lich and broke off half of its ribcage in the process.


    "Hmm? That magic power��"


    Tisha narrowed her eyes upon noticing this and turned her gaze towards the direction the spell came from, meeting the scene of the battle between Yetu and the axe Duhan.


    An impish grin formed on her face as she activated a tier 2 light magic spell, one thatunched a concentrated beam of pure light magic power, straight towards the arm of the axe Duhan that was mid-swing.


    The beam of light scored a direct hit, severing the Duhan''s arm and giving Yetu a chance to deliver a clean strike towards the left side of its torso.


    The Duhan flew through the air and crashed on the ground, coughing up ck blood before ring at Tisha who wasughing in the sky.


    However, herughter was cut short when a whip of darkness wrapped around her leg and pulled her body, flinging her towards the ground with great force.


    Unfortunately, she was a mage proficient in gravity magic and she reversed the effects of gravity on her body, allowing her to escape what would have been a devastating crash, as well as giving her time to dodge the next set of a dozen death attributed spears that shot towards where she would have crashed onto the ground.


    The lich blitzed through the sky, intending to get up close and personal while releasing a constant cloud of death energy.


    Tisha reacted by waving her staff and activating several light magic projectiles but the lich dodged these with ease, only to be hit in the back by multiple earthen projectiles.


    [The fuck?!]


    Such was also the reaction of the Duhan who sessfully dodged Yetu''s magic, only to take a handful of light spears to the back, with one of them even piercing its helmet-d head and dispelling the aura coat around it.


    When the two turned around simultaneously, they were met with the scene of Tisha chuckling to herself and Yetu barely holding in hisughter.


    While it was a funny thing to Yetu and Tisha, it only looked like mockery to the lich and the axe Duhan.


    They red what was left of their auras and magic power to retaliate but Yetu and Tisha pocked this time to activate their unique skills, causing the two undead to turn back to their actual opponents with caution.


    "Whirlwind."


    The skill he possessed from his days as the dungeon boss remained with him even after his death and rebirth.


    The flow of wind in the area changed, creating a vortex that surrounded and attracted almost everything in the area.


    All throughout his battle with the ae Duhan, Yetu had been scattering huge chunks of rocks everywhere, and all these rocks were drawn towards Yetu''s sword, with some of them even knocking into the Axe Duhan in the process and making it lose its footing.


    The poor undead was tired of seeing wind-rted abilities today, but it had no choice but to face Yetu, activating its own unique skill with its remaining aura as an eerie light surrounded its battle axe.


    On Tisha''s part, one of the green-haired woman''s eyes had turned a deep shade of purple, as she held up one hand and created a small orb of concentrated gravity magic, one that had sucked in and destroyed anything within a short range near it like Yetu''s skill.


    If the lich had flesh, it would be sweating seriously at this moment as its whole being was screaming rm bells at it upon seeing that orb.


    As if having made an agreement before hands, Yetu and Tisha abruptly cut their skill charging times short andunched them simultaneously.


    However, their opponents were shocked when they realised that the two, were not aiming the skills at them.

 Chapter 401 Adaptive Evolution’s Bullshit

    The opponents of the former Troll Emperor and Gravity Mage were shocked when they realised that the two, were not aiming the skills at them.


    Tisha''s orb of gravity bent the iing attack of the lich and redirected it elsewhere, but the attack itself was not aimed at the lich.


    Yetu thrust his sword forward, creating a vortex with a repulsive force that pushed away the iing battle axe of the axe Duhan, however, the thrust was not aimed towards the Duhan.


    It did not take the two undead a second to realise what Yetu and Tisha were truly aiming for, however, it was toote by then.


    Yetu''s sword thrust right into the skull of the lich and shattered it to pieces, while the des of wind released from his skill, sliced the lich''s bones to pieces.


    Tisha''s orb of gravity crashed right into the sr plexus of the axe Duhan, sucking in everything nearby, the Duhan''s body included and destroying itpletely.


    "Oh, and an explosion for special effects."


    Tisha''s amused voice was thest thing both undead heard right before their visions were covered by the bright light of an explosion.


    With both their opponents dead andpletely destroyed, Tisha and Yetu silently high-fived each other while walking away from the scene of the explosion.


    "Hey, Yetu.


    Wanna join my party?"


    "Hmm��I''d consider it."


    Such was the conversation the two were having while Evan who was standing on a void step a few kilometres away was looking at the smoke from the explosion Tisha caused.


    "Gravity Magic��.


    Ka, remind me to copy itter."


    [Okay!]


    The lightning spirits replied to Evan before generating a giant lightning w with magic and shredding the head of an undead wolf to pieces.


    [Aha! I''m the superior wolf!!]


    Looking at the wolf-transformed spirit who was currently making the worst possible imitation of a ''howl'' that Evan had ever heard, the boy chuckled lightly before taking out a magic potion from his pocket and downing it.


    He then turned his gaze towards his level and sighed softly before speaking.


    "Adaptive Evolution is at it again, isn''t it, Artemisia?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' looks elsewhere and whistles suspiciously.]


    The current Evan was level 258, however, when one looked at the number of undead corpses around him and took into ount how many more Pride would have killed, it was obvious that something was siphoning a great deal of his experience points.


    ''Kuro, what level is Liz, now?''


    [Hold on��]


    [��She says she''s at level 224.]


    ''That''s higher than I expected. Seems like she and Amelie are really killing undead, huh?''


    The young hero sighed once more, before jumping off the pile of corpses he was seated on. He then turned his gaze to the next point on the battlefield that had seen the greatest amount of lightning today, the ce where the Duke of the North wasying waste to multiple ''Elite'' undead.


    Sitting on his prized Warhorse, Duke Charles swung his lightning-infused de and turned dozens of ghouls into burnt pieces of flesh with each swing, before releasing a final strike towards the grandmaster-level ghoul hiding behind all of them and reaping its ''life''.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    His warhorse didn''t just stand still and do nothing, as it used its powerful hooves to tens of undead under its feet, crushing the skulls of multiple skeleton knights and a few undead mages underfoot.


    Although it was called a ''warhorse'', it wasn''t exactly a normal horse per se, but a rare special breed of horse-like monster that the Duke had been raising ever since he was ten years old.


    The peak Master level creature was capable of single-handedly defeating majority of the B-rank adventurers and monsters that inhabited the Cheverton Duchy, and it was only a small inch away from bing a grandmaster-level existence like its rider.


    Just as Evan was about to make a dad joke about horses, the boy''s newly stolen passive skill activated itself, causing him to turn his gaze towards thergest enemy threat on the battlefield.


    He saw the Duhan King who had not moved ever since the beginning of the battle two hours ago, slowly cing his helmet-d head back onto his neck, twisting it slightly and locking it into ce.


    Evan knew why Vazgan did that, it was an action to activate his ''Time Difference'' skill, a skill that gave the Undead powerful perception abilities, and a skill Evan honestly wanted to steal.


    Immediately after, Vazgan grabbed the reins of his Superior Nightmare horse variant, tugging them slightly as the creature understood the actions of its master.


    It slowly raised one of its hooves into the air, and then��


    *BOOOM!!!


    With a loud boom, the horse crossed the entire distance between its initial starting position and Duke Charles in a single instant.


    It carved the ground where it passed, killing all thebatants in its path faster than they could even realise that they had died.


    A trail of blue mes that instantly caught the attention of many was left as the Duhan King''s mount zoomed towards the Duke of the North.


    Naturally, it was impossible for someone on Duke Charles''s level not to notice this, especially if he had been keeping tabs on the Duhan King for any sudden movements.


    The instant he noticed Vazgan putting his head back on his neck, Duke Charles had already begun preparing himself for battle.


    His warhorse neighed loudly before kicking off the ground with its powerful hooves and dashing straight towards Vazgan, colliding with the Duhan King''s mount halfway through as both their riders shed weapons.


    **BOOOOMMM!!!!


    The ground cratered underneath their feet as the first sh between the most powerful forces of both sides released shockwaves that violently knocked everything within a 500-metre radius into the air.


    And that was just them testing the waters.


    Tendrils of light blue lightning snaked across Duke Charles''s sword arm while wisps of dark orange aura formed a ribbon around Vazgan''s arm.


    Two pairs of dark and blue coloured eyes locked gazes with each other for a moment, from both the riders and their mounts, a second before both weapons moved with barely perceptible speed, shing against each other multiple times, with each sh releasing devastating shockwaves that ravaged the earth around them.


    The two mounts stomped their feet on the ground, giving their best to withstand the pressureing from the sh of their riders while ring at each other and releasing little bits of blue mes and lightning against themselves.


    It took a whole minute for their second sh to end, with the two grandmasters taking distance from each other while the otherbatants who were still within a kilometre distance of them scurried away to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.


    After all, no one wanted to be near the area where two beings capable of wiping out entire cities along with everything within it were fighting each other.


    This was a sentiment shared by both living and undead beings alike.


    Duke Charles looked down on his warhorse and saw its injuries, twisting his lips in displeasure before lowering his head and whispering something to the horse.


    Immediately after the warhorse released a loud neigh before kicking off the ground and dashing straight towards Vazgan.


    However, as soon as it got ''close'', Duke Charles got up and used the creature''s back as a foothold to boost forward, his entire body being coated in blue lightning as he blitzed towards Vazgan.

 Chapter 402 Charles Vs Vazgan I

    The few seconds Vazgan had before impact were enough for him to realise that if Duke Charles hit him while in that state, it would not be good for both him and his mount.


    He made the split-second decision to take a simr action to his opponent, getting off the horse and blitzing straight towards the iing Duke of the North.


    **DOOOON!!!


    The two streaks of orange and blue auras shed mid-way, and naturally, the ground beneath their feet gave up on withstanding the force of their sh, cracking open and cratering deeply as the two swordsmen swung their weapons against each other.


    Bit by bit, they slightly bypassed their defences as small cuts began to umte on each other''s bodies, however, the two grandmasters possessed powerful regenerative capabilities and these small wounds easily healed up in seconds.


    Vazgan''s eyes narrowed when he noticed that despite inflicting cuts with wisps of death energy infused into his sword, Duke Charles still healed from them.


    ''Must be that Pdin''s blessing.''


    The Duhan king had that thought as his inferno sights darted to the right, before twisting his body to dodge the aura-infused sh of Duke Charles.


    Mid-swing, Duke Charles changed his sword''s trajectory and turned the diagonal sh into a horizontal one, with Vazgan''s eyes perceiving all these movements like it was in slow motion.


    He moved his own de and blocked the sh, before throwing out his other hand to punch the Duke''s face with a fistful of death energy.


    However, just like he expected, Duke Charles easily dodged the punch and pulled back his sword, sliding his index and middle fingers against the de as he infused it with his blue aura.


    Immediately after, the Third Sword thrust his sword forwards repeatedly at speeds that intermediate grandmasters on his level would have trouble following, however, Vazgan''s eyes captured each and every movement and twisted his body just in time to dodge each individual thrust while raising his sword to block some of them.


    ''Now!!''


    Vazgan who was closely watching Duke Charles'' movements, picked the moment the Duke pulled his sword back in preparation for another thrust to throw his hand backwards and grab therge cleaver that was strapped to his back.


    Immediately after, he infused the weapon with his orange aura and swung it forward, blocking Duke Charles'' iing sword thrust.


    He then flipped his grip on the weapon and shed downwards, however, Duke Charles dodged it with a paper-thin margin, before taking distance from the Duhan King and staring at him silently.


    "Hmm��"


    Duke Charles titled his head to the side and looked at the cuts he had inflicted on Vazgan''s body, before analysing the Duhan King''s previous movements anding to a conclusion.


    ''He has enhanced perception of some sort; however, his body can''t seem to keep up with it.


    He can see my attacks and moves to dodge them, but he''s not fast enough to do so. It''s just like Evan said.''


    Before the battle, Evan had given all the members of themanding group information on the skills and abilities of the Duhan King, as such the Duke wasn''t too surprised that Vazgan could somehow perceive his attacks despite how fast they were.


    He silently gazed at the Cleaver that Vazgan had pulled out and just as he was about to begin recalling the special techniques that Evan told him could be used with it, Vazgan did something that made him raise an eyebrow in light surprise.


    *BAM!!


    The Duhan King stabbed therge cleaver into the ground, taking his hand off it before removing the weapons holster and flinging it to the floor.


    Just as Duke Charles was studying Vazgan, Vazgan was doing the same to him and at the end of his analysis, he arrived at the decision to drop the cleaver.


    ''It''s a heavy weapon, one that adds to my body weight and slows me down.


    Plus, the man is too fast so fighting him with such a heavy weapon isn''t something I can do given that it would only make me slower and have a harder time dodging his attacks.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    And from the looks of things, he can go even faster.


    I might have to use my Geass to be able to keep up with him at his full speed.''


    Vazgan clenched his fist tightly as he deliberated activating his Geass of Vengeance, but he held himself back from doing so.


    ''Not yet.''


    The Duhan King decided to put off using his ''Revenge-rted'' skills for now, deciding to wait for better timing and catch Duke Charles off guard.


    If only he knew that the Third Sword was already aware of his skills and knew what their effects were.


    However, it was impossible for even the First Finger to deduce the possibility that someone would be reincarnated from another world with knowledge of majority of the near future events of Aidos, along with information on the Demonic Hand''s, ns, members, and associates.


    Returning to the fight at hand, the two grandmasters stared at each other in silence for a few more seconds, as if sizing each other up again.


    And then suddenly;


    *BOOM!


    The two instantly kicked off the ground and dashed forward at breakneck speeds, their des shing with a loud ''ng'' that signified the beginning of another high-speed battle.


    However, it wasn''t all about speed, as the power behind each of their attack was nothing to scoff at, especially given that both beings were intermediate-level grandmasters with ''S-'' strength stats.


    Combat between the two was not stationary, with them hacking and shing at each other as they moved across the battlefield, killing the asional human or undead who got in the way with their attacks.


    Duke Charles'' sword moved in a circr path, delivering an upward arched sh that Vazgan casually parried with his de, before reversing his grip and sending a diagonal sh towards the Duke''s head.


    As expected, Duke Charles blocked it easily and even managed to send in a counterattack with his fist.


    Using the back of his palm that was coated in aura, he diverted the de''s trajectory before clenching his fist and sending in two lightning-fast punches.


    Blue tendrils of lightning snaked across his arm as he sent a punch towards Vazgan, who managed to block the first punch but unfortunately could not do the same about the second.


    The Duhan King''s body was engulfed in lightning as he received both blunt physical and explosive elemental damage.


    "Guh."


    He let out a low grunt as he was knocked back by a few metres, however, he did not have time to rest as the arcs of lightning created by the energy discharge from Duke Charles'' punches, went on to surround the man''s body and boost the speed of his next set of attacks.


    It was basically a recreation of Evan''s fracture skill, done with more skill and higher-level control over the lightning element.


    Duke Charles closed the distance instantly, delivering three consecutive strikes; a diagonal sh, a forward thrust and a horizontal sh.


    Basic as they may be, the power behind each of these attacks was not basic in any way, shape or form.


    And that was evidenced by how Vazgan quickly roused his aura and moved his sword and his body to dodge, block and then parry the three attacks.


    The undead then released a burst of death aura that knocked Duke Charles back by a few metres and temporarily destabilized his footing.

 Chapter 403 Chalres Vs Vazgan II

    Vazgan released a burst of death aura that knocked Duke Charles back by a few metres and temporarily destabilized his footing.


    That same instant, Vazgan went on the offensive, unleashing the sword techniques of the Theoregrim knight family.


    It began with a diagonal sh upward, one that Duke Charles just barely managed to parry, however, Vazgan switched his grip and drew an arc mid-air before striking down once more.


    The speed of the Duhan King clearly wasn''t up to Duke Charles'' level, but it was still freakishly fast nheless.


    Duke Charles blocked by holding his sword sideways, but in the next moment, the point of the sword was lunging towards his forearm, along with a thick amount of death aura concentrated at the tip.


    ''That''d break my defences!''


    The man saw the threat in Vazgan''s strike and pulled back his arm to dodge, however, Vazgan took that opening and stepped forward with his leg and sliced in a rising upward arc.


    The sequence of attacks was linked wlessly and a part of Duke Charles'' brain couldn''t help but admire them. As for the other parts, they were sending the signals to his body, the ones required to make him activate his water magic.


    In the short instant required for Vazgan''s sh to reach Duke Charles, the water vapour in the air between them rapidly condensed and became liquid, dense enough to greatly slow the movement of Vazgan''s sword that cut through it, and giving Duke Charles an extra instant to escape its range.


    However, the Duke also decided to add an extra perk, generating a small ball of lightning that dropped into the mass of water that Vazgan''s sword was inside.


    What happened next, was simple physics.


    The lightning spread through the water mass and onto the metal de that was currently cutting through it, before moving on to the arm of the being holding said de.


    Vazgan tried to coat his arm with magic power at thest moment, but the magically enhanced lightning was too strong for the thinyer of magical protection he put up.


    Disying his amazing control over the element, Duke Charles was still able to imbue more magic power into the already discharged lightning, increasing the explosive elemental damage dealt to Vazgan.


    **BOOOMM!!!


    �Ѧ���d��---n?��a| ��om From within the cloud of dust, emerged the body of the Duhan who took a few steps in the opposite direction from his opponent, dropping onto one knee and grabbing his sword arm with the other.


    ''His lightning is powerful, to think it would temporarily paralyze me even in my undead state.''


    Vazgan rapidly circted his magic power through his body to rid himself of the paralysis effect while keeping an eye on the Duke who was staring at him in silence.


    "Vazgan Theoregrim, huh?"


    "��eh?"


    The Duhan King let out a dumbfounded voice when Duke Charles called out his name, surprised at the fact that the Duke knew who he was.


    ''How? Everything about the current me is different.


    He also hasn''t seen my face behind my helmet so how does he know who I am?''


    Vazgan''s questions were unanswered as the Duke continued speaking without a care in the world.


    "Your swordsmanship��it''s more refined than I expected.


    Was this your level before your death? Or something you attained in your quest for revenge?"


    "��"


    "Not answering? Oh well�� it doesn''t matter.


    I only spoke to distract you and give those Holy knights behind you time to evacuate from the area."


    Hearing Duke Charles''s words, Vazgan''s inferno sights widened slightly as his undead nature let him sense the life signs that were rapidly getting farther from him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Now then��"


    The Duke''s words brought his full attention back, as the man slid his index and middle fingers across his sword, coating it in his light blue aura.


    His left arm was surrounded by a ribbon of water while tendrils of lightning snaked around his right arm.


    Duke Charles was ready to break out the power of his HydroElectro Spell sword ss.


    Vazgan also realised that the Duke was stepping up his game and decided to do the same. He dispersed his magic power before rousing an energy that had be second nature to him after bing an undead.


    Death Energy.


    His sword was coated in the dark energy that mixed with his aura and gave it a ck-orange hue. The man''s blue inferno sights burned brighter as the two took stances while gazing at each other in silence.


    ''Time is running out; the Eighth Finger could get here any second.


    I have to finish this��quick.''


    The instant Duke Charles thought that, the man had disappeared from his position, turning the distance between him and Vazgan to zero.


    Then��the sound of his movement came.


    **BOOMM!!


    Arge booming sound rang out, followed by a shockwave that spread out in all directions, shattering the earth beneath his feet as even with his enhanced perception, Vazgan wasn''t able to do a thing about Duke Charles'' attack!


    Mind you, it wasn''t that the Duhan King could not see it, it was just that the attack was too fast and he was unprepared to react to an attack of that level of speed.


    The Duhan found himself flying in the air, smashing into a drove of undead that were about to surround an unlucky group of adventurers and smashing them to bits, before rag-dolling on the ground for a few dozen metres.


    Arge distance of over a kilometre had opened up between Duke Charles and Vazgan, however, Duke Charles once again disyed his amazing speed as this distance was crossed in just a bit over three seconds.


    One does not need to be told the level of speed required to cross a kilometre in three seconds.


    It was a speed that Ralphie could achieve, so it would be stranger if Duke Charles who was more powerful and had a higher agility stat could not reach said speed, and even surpass it even if it was just ''slightly''.


    **BOOOM!!!


    Another explosion rang out, followed by a lightning bolt that fell from the skies as Duke Charles attacked once more, and again, and again, and again.


    It was only on the fifth attack that Vazgan managed to regain his bearings and released a burst of death energy, before going on the offensive, shing des with Duke Charles and kickstarting once again, another high-speed battle.


    The two zig-zagged as they shed with each other, using their sword techniques to the fullest while asionally incorporating a magic spell or two, though Duke Charles was the one who used more magic.


    There was no time to use Tier 3 spells so the Duke stuck to using simple Tier one and two spells, and the spells served as a good distraction against Vazgan, allowing Duke Charles to get in a few more powerful strikes to his undead opponent.


    Now Vazgan didn''t just stay there and be the Duke''s punching bag, as the Duhan King managed to get in his own share of attacks through the Third Sword''s defences, even bypassing the Pdin''s blessing on him and inflicting multiple cuts with death energy.


    However, the attacks were not damaging to the point that the Duke could not expel the invading death aura from his body using his own powerful aura.


    Even so, the few moments it took him to do this allowed Vazgan to get in a few more hits of his own, as such, although things looked to be in Duke Charles'' favour, the margin wasn''t so much.


    Of course, it should be taken into ount that the Duke was conserving a lot of his power for the day''s other battles.


    **BOOM!!!!

 Chapter 404 Chalres Vs Vazgan III

    **BOOM!!!!


    Vazgan jumped backwards, out of the cloud of dust generated from the lightning bolt that hit the ground and released his left hand from his sword, waving it in a circr arc as he muttered a small chant to himself before activating a spell.


    A ckish-red magic circle manifested behind him, with spears of simr coloured mes rapidly firing out of it and towards the iing Duke Cheverton.


    However, his opponent only flicked his fingers and generated simr spears with water magic,unching them towards the iing me spears with high uracy.


    The tips of the me and water spears collided with each other in mid-air, resulting in arge cloud of steam quickly forming in the area.


    Vazgan jumped out of the cloud of steam that obscured his vision, narrowing his eyes as he noted that the steam had some perception-weakening properties.


    ''His water magic is to this level? Is it perhaps on Tier 3?''


    Such were the thoughts of the Duhan king as hended on the ground and backstepped a bit before activating a skill.


    "Cursed Sentries!"


    Dozens of dark orange portals manifested behind him, with dozens of horror-stricken faces and chattering skulls emerging from within, releasing loud screeches as they shot through the air with trails of spectral mes behind them.


    Their mouths opened up and the horror-stricken faces fired arrows of a viscous amoeba-like substance at high speed towards the Duke, while the skulls attempted to sear him with spectral mes.


    ''That''s definitely not good.''


    Duke Charles was aware of this skill, courtesy of a certain hero named Evan, as such he knew fully well that he stood a chance to have any of his five senses deteriorate if even a single ectosm arrow was to hit him, and that if any part of his body was seared by those strange coloured mes, then he would either get stunned, lose health over time, or have his speed slowed.


    ''Debuffs everywhere��though that''s expected of an undead.''


    The man had those thoughts as he created water barriers to block the mes while slicing through the ghost faces with his lightning-infused de.


    ck blood spurted around everywhere as he cut the ghost faces, causing his eyes to widen slightly in light surprise, but he immediately took action and used discharged bursts of lightning from his body, evaporating the ck blood before it could touch him.


    ''Almost forgot about the rot attribute of the ck blood.''


    Duke Charles sighed lightly before sheathing his de and using his two hands to cast an AOE water magic spell.


    A flood of water surged forward and crashed into all the iing skulls and ghost faces, sweeping them away and causing Vazgan who was charging towards him to take distance.


    The Duhan King had learned from experience, that whenever Duke Charles used arge-scale water spell, what followed, was a powerful lightning spell that could kill a level 250 in a single strike if it hit the right ces.


    Added to the flood of magic-infused water, Vazgan didn''t want to know what would happen if it touched him.


    The Duhan King stomped his foot on the ground and activated earthen magic, generating a wall to block the flood of water and nullify the effects of the lightning.


    This was precisely why Vazgan did not see what Duke Charles did next.


    "Zero Sword."


    **SHRING!!


    Two words muttered under his breath, followed by the activation of his unique skill, had the Duhan King feeling the threat of ''death'' for a split second.


    And in that split second, he trusted his instincts and jumped to the side, just in time for a thin blue sh of light to pass through where he was standing half a second ago.


    Cleanly cut stone bs rose up into the air, as Vazgan saw a thin line of light run through them before they divided into two pieces each.


    ''This!! His unique skill!''


    Vazgan instantly got to his feet and jumped up into the air to avoid the flood of water on the ground, before kicking off the still airborne stone bs and dashing towards Duke Charles at full speed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The distance between them became zero within seconds, with Vazgan unleashing dozens of shes towards Duke Charles, as if trying to shred the man to pieces.


    However, the lightning-fast Duke blocked each of the shes with a sh of his own, their auras cancelling out each other with small-scale explosions that generated sizable dust clouds.


    Before said clouds could even clear up, Vazgan was already in the air, spreading out both arms as he called out the name of his skill.


    "Vindiction''s Descent!"


    And thus, the scene from the night of the Falos County attack was re-enacted.


    Arge orange and ck portal appeared in the sky, glowing brightly with a dangerous amount of energy building up inside it.


    The whole battlefield could see thisrge portal, and those who were present on the night of the Falos County attack remembered it instantly, along with the fear they felt when it appeared in the sky that night.


    Vazgan didn''t let the skill charge up to its full power,unching the dark orange beam of aura towards Duke Charles who was on the ground as thetter only gripped his de tightly and muttered.


    "Zero Sword. Fourth Form."


    **SHRING!!


    Once again, a sound like two metal des sliding against each other could be heard, followed by a long blue sh of aura that cut right through the beam of light.


    **KAABOOOMMM!!!!


    The beam of light exploded mid-air after being cut through by the sh, with the shockwaves of the explosion reaching the ground and shattering the earth below.


    "You''ve gotta be fucking kidding me!"


    Vazgan screamed as he burst out from within the explosion, shooting towards the ground andnding down on one knee, with his other foot and one hand touching the ground.


    Arge crater formed where hended, but he paid this no mind as he punched the floor and activated another skill.


    p��nd��---no��?1,��o�� "Outburst!!"


    **DUN DUNNN DUNNN!!!!


    The ground trembled beneath him, with magic power rapidly spreading around and causing countless rock shards to rise up from the ground, floating in the air for a moment, before they started flying around randomly.


    **D-D-D-D-D-D-DU!


    Rocks of different shapes and sizes, with some of them carrying along the nearby trees, corpses of the dead resistance force members and undead, along with their weapons and armour began flying around in random directions like bombshells.


    Thankfully, none of the resistance force members was within the next hundred-kilometre squares of the two of them, as such, it did not turn into a scene of soldiers, knights and adventurers being torn to shreds by the rock shards.


    However, the sheer amount of distance covered by the skill, was enough to show how destructive it was, and this wasn''t even the skill''s full power as Vazgan still withheld some of his magic power and aura since he knew that this wasn''t enough to take out the Duke.


    And indeed, it wasn''t.


    "Lightning Magic: Lightning Dragon''s Fist."


    A three-ringed magic circle of sparkling blue lightning high up in thete morning sky, releasing dozens of giant high-speed fist-shaped lightning sts that dropped down from the sky and crashed onto the randomly flying rock shards.


    Upon collision, massive sparking explosions were generated, being too bright for one to look at directly.


    Duke Charles flipped his sword and stabbed the de into the ground, before clenching his fists and saying.


    "Just because I''m a swordsman doesn''t mean I can only fight with my sword."

 Chapter 405 Chalres Vs Vazgan IV

    "Just because I''m a swordsman doesn''t mean I can only fight with my sword."


    While speaking, he activated his Brilliant Lightning Rush skill, cloaking his entire body in blue lightning and greatly enhancing his speed.


    The man kicked off the ground, cratering the spot where he stood as he turned into a streak of blue lightning that zapped through all the airborne rocks and descending lightning strikes.


    His strength, agility, reflexes, lightning elemental magic, bestowal, boost and damage nullification were bolstered to new heights, allowing him to make incredibly sharp turns and make manoeuvres that would normally be difficult at his current speed, easily.


    **BOOOM!!!


    With a sonic boom, he cut through the kilometres of distance in between him and Vazgan in mere seconds, pulling off manoeuvres that would make thew of physics'' jaw drop in shock.


    Even with Vazgan''s enhanced perception, he was unable to do anything about the iing attack, as the Duke ''appeared'' behind him and delivered a sweeping kick that sent the Duhan king off his feet, before punching him into the ground with so much force that the undead''s body bounced back up into the air.


    The Outburst skill was forcibly cancelled, however, the Duke moved before the rocks could reach the ground, grabbing Vazgan''s neck and running up them before flinging him to the ground with all his strength.


    Stretching his arm out and pressing a button on the side of his index finger, his sword flew into his palm and he grabbed it, before activating his unique skill and delivering another thin but deadly sh towards the Duhan king.


    Vazgan barely blocked the iing sh, however, Duke Charles blitzed to his side and was about to deliver another strike before he was even done blocking.


    "Don''t fuck with me!!!"


    The Duhan King screamed out and released a burst of death energy, with Duke Charles changing his mind and blitzing away from the undead so as not to be affected by the concentrated death energy.


    Vazgan waved his hand and released three different death energy-infused me spells towards the Duke, who retaliated with his water magic and resulting in a cloud of steam forming.


    "Geass of Vengeance!"


    The moment the Duke heard Vazgan''s shout, he stopped what he nned to do with the steam and held his sword up, just in time to block the sh of the Duhan King who burst through the steam with so much force that therge cloud of steam was cleared up simply by him passing through.


    The two began another high-speed sh, releasing sword strikes with great speed and power behind them as they moved across the ruins of what was once a green savanna.


    Amidst the sh, Duke Charles used his rain cutter skill and released a sh at the side of Vazgan''s face, forcing his head to turn more than 90 degrees in the opposite direction.


    If he was a living being, his neck would have definitely cracked and he would have been dead, but the Duhan King''s head only ''unlocked'' and fell off his neck.


    Just before Duke Charles'' sword could reach it, Vazgan released another wave of cursed sentries to push the Duke back long enough to grab his head and fix it back on his neck.


    Vazgan stabilized himself and was about to charge through the dust cloud generated by the Duke''s attacks against the sentries, only for a gigantic energy-constructed arm toe through from the side and punch the shit out of him.


    The Duhan king was sent flying into the air for over a hundred metres in an instant, crashing on the ground and rag-dolling for a hundred more, however, his assants weren''t done yet as anotherrge energy-constructed arm came through and punched him forward, sending him in the direction of the Duke who took the hint and unleashed a lightning infused sword sh towards Vazgan.


    **BOOM!!!


    Vazgan''s armour cracked as his body was knocked up into the air, with the Duhan king barely catching the sight of a teenage boy kicking off the air and shooting towards him.


    **BAAAMM!!!


    An energy-infused footnded on the spot where Duke Charles cracked his armour, with the force doubling the speed at with which Vazgan fell to the ground, however, as if that wasn''t fast enough, the owner of that foot rose up their other leg and stomped down on Vazgan''s body once more.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The instant theynded on the floor, Vazgan momentarily felt the fear of ''true death'', along with a pain that made him feel like his soul was being stomped on, right before he heard the voice of a certain hero.


    "Copse."


    The unique skill of the former contractor of Greed who was stolen by our resident hero rang was activated, right before said hero vanished and two gigantic energy-constructed swords shed down onto Vazgan''s body one after the other.


    **KAAABOOOOMMM!!!!


    "Zero Sword!"


    The Duke came in to finish the impromptubo with another thin blue sword sh that widened the crack on Vazgan''s armour and caused parts of it (the parts the Duke cut earlier in the battle) to break offpletely.


    ck blood spurted to the ground as Vazgan rag-dolled on the floor for a few metres, only for our resident hero to reappear behind him and activate a variation of his unique skill.


    "Elemental Vortex."


    The excited voices of the nearby spirits could be heard as the multi-elemental spiral-shaped mass of magic power mmed into the body of the Duhan King, shattering even more parts of his armour, directly damaging his body and sending him flying into the air once more.


    "GRRRAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"


    Vazgan bellowed in rage at being tossed around by his multiple opponents, releasing a burst of death aura that repulsed everything in the vicinity, including the Duke who was about to chain in another attack.


    The Third Swordnded on the ground and took a deep breath, deactivating his brilliant lightning rush before catching the magic potion bottle that Evan tossed towards him and downing its contents.


    "Vindiction''s Strikes!!"


    The enraged Duhan King activated a variation of his skill, creating a dozen dark orange portals andunching beams of concentrated aura from each of them towards the ground.


    In the face of the barrage of raw energy, the Demon of pride who was standing a few feet from Evan, deactivated her incarnation series skill and took a deep breath.


    She then looked up with her eyes glowing blood red, ignoring the slightly surprised gazes Evan and Greed gave her as she stretched out her open palm.


    The woman then proceeded to clench her fist, pull her arm backwards and twist her wrist.


    It was a very strange set of actions, but what happened next was even stranger than that.


    The twelve iing beams of concentrated aura all turned intorge dark orange iron rods that floated in the air for a moment before falling down to the ground.


    ""Wait...what?!""


    Both Duke Charles and Vazgan echoed the same words as what they just saw made zero sense whatsoever, however, Greed and Evan who had expected such a nonsensical scene had already moved, taking advantage of the Duhan King''s surprise.


    Greed activated his idiosyncrasy and sucked Vazgan''s strength, while Evan used his intimidation skill to temporarily cause Vazgan''s movements to halt for a few seconds.


    |Vindiction''s Strike Acquired|

 Chapter 406 Dominik Velak

    |Vindiction''s Strike Acquired|


    Evan and Greed then simultaneously punched the Duhan king and sent him flying towards the ground, making him lose control of his skill and causing it to deactivate, resulting in the ''beams'' of aura turning back to normal and dissipating into the atmosphere.


    **BOOOOM!!!!!


    The sound of the crash knocked Duke Charles back to his senses, with the man activating his lightning rush and blitzing past the sound barrier towards Vazgan''s location.


    In that same instant, Vazgan red up his aura with a burst of energy, turning up the power boost from his Geass of Vengeance to the max and encasing his sword in eerie spectral mes.


    What followed was a sh of grandmasters that Evan and Greed knew better than to interfere in.


    Evan turned towards his contracted demon and spoke while throwing his hand into his inventory.


    "That must have taken a lot out of you, huh?"


    "No shit.


    He''s an entire existence level above me.


    Of course, it did."


    Pride rolled her eyes as she replied, before raising an arm to catch what Evan tossed at her, looking at it and realising it was a potion in a juice pack.


    "Really?"


    "It was the first one I grabbed."


    Evan shrugged his shoulders as he replied, while Pride just sighed and downed the contents of the juice pack to recover her expended energy.


    "I had almost forgotten how much joy I derived from the expressions of shock on the faces of those nearby whenever you used your idiosyncrasy, sister."


    Greed spoke with a chuckle as he summoned Mammonas back into his hands, with Evanughing lightly upon remembering Duke Charles'' shocked expression.


    "Alright, less reminiscing, more killing undead."


    "Evan��there''s barely anything left for us to kill, you know?


    Heinr took out most of the major threats with his ''Grand Cross'' thingy, including the Duhan King''s nightmare horse."


    "Yeah, but let''s try to kill as much as possible before the Eighth finger arrives. I can tell he''sing soon.


    I saw a few Senior members mixed in with the Duhans about half an hour ago."


    Like so, the trio re-joined the battle with the remaining undead forces, sweeping through them with rtive ease with Evan''s level finally getting to 260.


    Meanwhile, Duke Charles'' and Vazgan''s battle continued, with the two swordsmen putting their skill with the de to the test against each other.


    **BOOOM!!


    The two men were knocked back by the shockwaves from their own attacks, getting ready to jump back at each other only for another party to interfere in the battle.


    "Grand Cross!!!"


    The Duke''s Zero Sword shes didn''t provide Vazgan the leverage he needed to unleash Vindiction''s strike as Sir Heinr''s voice sounded out and a massive golden cross-shaped sh of magic force thundered down towards Vazgan.


    Left with no choice, Vazgan dodged the Zero Sword and coated his sword with as much aura as possible before raising it to block the sh.


    "This damned undead!"


    Heinr''s annoyance reached his peak as he barely held himself back from using more power than necessary, withdrawing some of the magic power in his sh and recing it with divinity.


    Vazgan''s arms started burning off and he cried out in anguish as his death aura was forcibly dispelled.


    Duke Charles didn''t let the opportunity go, blitzing in and stabbing Vazgan''s torso with his sword, before pushing him out from under the Grand Cross and flinging the undead off his de.


    "Enchant: Life."


    The voice of the blonde battle priestess who was standing beside Heinr rang out as the pdin withdrew his magic power and divinity back into his body, not letting a single bit of it go to waste.


    Her enchantment was not for Heinr, but for Duke Charles, whose sword was enveloped in the green glow of potent life energy, something that was very lethal for the Duhan King.


    What followed was the final sh between the Duke and Vazgan, with the Third Sword easily overpowering the weakened Duhan King and knocking his weapon out of his arm.


    "Zero Sword. Fourth Form."


    Duke Charles used his unique skill to sever Vazgan''s right wrist and left arm, the aura of life on his de melting the severed limbs like concentrated acid.


    With both his hand disabled and no lich in sight to cast undead recovery magic on Vazgan, was unable to hold his trusted sword, to block the Duke''s next strike.


    He could barely even rouse his energies as the effect of Eliza''s life magic proliferated after mixing with the dredges of Heinr''s divinity and had its effects tripled, weakening him even more.


    Duke Charles, not being the type to let an opportunity to eliminate one of the greatest Grandmaster-level threats pass him by, infused his sword with a heavy dose of his blue aura and readied it to give the killing blow to Vazgan.


    However��


    -"?!"-


    All the peak master and Grandmaster level existences on the battlefield simultaneously rose their heads in rm, with their gazes all turning in the direction which Vazgan''s army came from.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    They all looked up just in time to catch the sight of a singr streak of ck light that shot through the sky and down towards the ground in the middle of the ruined savannas.


    From its trajectory, the streak of light was headed straight for the Duke and there was no way the man did not notice this.


    He made the split-second decision to unleash a weaker version of his skill that had a shorter charging time, delivering a diagonal sh that cut through Vazgan''s torso, before jumping backwards just in time to avoid the streak of light from crashing down onto him.


    **BOOOMM!!!!!


    The Duke and those in close proximity to him were forced back a few yards by the resulting shockwaves, and a cloud of dust and dirt rose into the sky after the explosion.


    The entire battlefield was silent, but living and undead beings alike had stopped moving, with all their gazes locked on the cloud of dust that rose up into the sky.


    The dust was cleared by a silent wind that swept westward, revealing the true identity of the ck streak of light that had smashed to the ground.


    It was a humanoid figure, kneeling with their right leg, while only their other foot and one of their hands were also touching the ground.


    Slowly, the figure stood up on their own two feet, revealing their whole form to everyone who cared to look.


    It was a slender yet fairly muscr male of average height and a slightly mncholic appearance.


    He had fairly long, neatly done ck hair, kept up with intricate white headpieces that contrasted his ck clothes, along with a pair of cat-like opal eyes.


    He was dressed in short-sleeved dark and grey-coloured robes, and floating beside him was a dark red orb, with five interconnecting semi-circr rings orbiting it constantly.


    Silence pervaded the entire battlefield, with both the Duke and Sir Heinr, along with the other A and S-ranked adventurers tightening their grips around their weapons as they sensed the threat this man posed.


    This silence, however, was broken by the words of a certain hero who acted like he could not read the serious mood.


    "Thatnding reminds me of the boss battle. So, she actually got it from the real person, huh?"


    His iprehensible words attracted the attention of both this new entrant and the grandmaster-level existences on the sides of both living and undead beings.


    "Oh my, where are my manners?"


    Sensing the gazes on him, Evan covered his mouth and spoke, before giving a light bow and then offering greetings to the battlefield''s new entrant.


    "A dreadful afternoon to you, Old sir.


    It is most definitely NOT a pleasure to meet you, Eighth Finger Dominik Vk."


    The high-ranking adventurers and mercenaries, as well as the pdins of the Church and other military officers, took Evan''sments as confirmation of this man''s identity.


    He was indeed the man who they had been briefed about recently, the necromancer who was the grand mastermind behind the undead crisis of the past few months.


    "I would have very much loved for you to extend my ''greetings'' to the First, but that would prove to be impossible as you would not be able to leave here today."


    Evan spoke as he let the unforged float in the air, activating his appraisal skill simultaneously and checking the status of the man in front of him.


    Despite having sensed Evan''s skill activation, the Eighth Finger did not seem to care as he nced at the grand master-level beings present before throwing a look towards the body of the Duhan King behind him and speaking.


    eaglesnov?1,��o�� "You were expecting me, huh?"


    "I mean, aren''t you seeing this line-up? Of course, we were expecting you."


    Evan casually replied to Dominik''s words, keeping the Eighth Finger''s attention on him while the Duke quietly ordered a retreat of all the forces behind the man''s position.


    Although Dominik noticed this, he still kept his gaze on Evan as both his instincts and his contracted demon were warning him that there was something ''off'' about the boy.


    [Also��it seems the person who dealt with Methik is here too. Vazgan''s soul is injured.


    I can''t tell whose aura caused it as there are too many aura residues on his body but the person who has that soul-damaging ability definitely had a hand in the earlier battle against Vazgan.]


    ''That so?... I''d get one of his subordinates and ask them, but for now, let''s focus on both this eerie kid here��and the person who''s resonating with my series skill.''


    "You''re the one who killed Xakon, aren''t you? Eris Evan."


    "Xakon? Oh, you mean that low-level grunt that was hiding out in Geto?


    Yep, that was me. Made short work of him.


    He didn''t even know how he died."


    Evan chuckled as he spoke, watching as the members of the undead coalition force retreated while warily watching the undead that had not moved ever since Dominik appeared.


    "Oh yeah, where''s Zacr? Still recovering from the beatdown he got after Falos died?"


    Dominik''s brow twitched in annoyance when he heard Evan call the name of his deceased right-hand man, but before the boy could say any further, Duke Charles'' voice rang out from themunication device in his ear.


    [That''s enough.]


    "Oh my, it seems I might have said too much."


    Evan rose his hands in mock surrender as he spoke, while slowly backstepping towards the area where Duke Charles and Sir Heinr were standing.


    It was then that Eliza who had been silently watching Dominik ever since the mannded finally opened her mouth and spoke.


    "Evan��is there anything else you didn''t tell us about him?"

 Chapter 407 Domains Of Life And Death

    "Evan��is there anything else you didn''t tell us about him?"


    "Huh? Nope."


    "Are you sure? Because as far as I can remember, you most definitely did not tell us anything that can exin why my Unique skill is currently resonating."


    After having experienced Series skill resonance with both Amy and Joanna, Eliza now understood the feeling of skill resonance, and that was precisely why she was able to understand what had been happening ever since Dominik arrived on the battlefield.


    No one noticed this, but Eliza was actually the first person to realise that the Eighth Finger was iing, as her skill started resonating the moment the man got in range.


    The problem now, was that the skill that was resonating was not her ''Breath of Life'' skill, but her other, far more powerful Series Skill.


    And Evan''s reply to her question, basically confirmed the terrifying conjecture that she had just arrived at.


    "That''s obviously because the one who wields a skill that''s the exact opposite of yours. He''s the one who possesses the ''Child of Death'' Series skill."


    "So basically, he can do with Death essence, everything I can do with life essence?"


    "Yes, and he''s far much better than you are at it.


    That''s why I had the Pdinse over to assist you in countering him."


    Evan casually replied as he scooted over to beside the Duke and pulled up the Eighth Finger''s status that he had appraised earlier.


    When Evan activated his appraisal skill, he did so at the same time that he let his sword float in the air, banking on the 50% chance that Dominik would misunderstand that the skill he had activated was the one that made the boy''s weapon float in the air.


    The reality was that it was an effect of Evan''s weapon control skill, a passive skill that did not need an activation sequence, however, the Eighth Finger obviously did not know this and assumed wrongly.


    But even so, Evan had found the Eighth Finger''s actions weird.


    ''I mean, he did that whole Superviinnding and all, just to stay put and watch us get into position to battle him?


    He even stopped the undead from moving to attack anymore. That''s not the kind of thing he would do. Zacr not being present is also suspicious.''


    Evan, as well as the Duke and all the others, felt something was wrong with the Eighth Finger''s actions, and the moment Evan saw the appraisal results, he realised exactly what it was.


    "I thought it was strange that he stood there and listened to my bullshit, but seeing this exins why."


    |Name- Dominik Vk


    Race- Demonic Human


    Gender- Male


    Age - 25(79)


    Level- 409 (516)


    Existence Level - Grandmaster [Intermediate] (Epic)


    Titles- Eighth Finger of the Demonic Hand, Dominik The Abominable, Disaster of Graugro, Nightmare of Many Who Live and Breathe, Desecrator of the Dead, Desecrator of Souls, He who Peruses the Doctrine of Death.


    ss - Deathlord


    Health �C A (S)


    Energy - S- (S)


    Strength �C A


    Agility �C S-


    Durability �C A+


    Intelligence - S-


    Condition- Slightly Exhausted, Weakened.


    Magic Tiers- Death Tier 3(4), Darkness Tier 3, Non-Attribute Magic Tier 3.


    Skills- Necrokinesis, Death Magic, Hollow Magic, Barrier Bullet, Expansive Space (Borrowed Skill).


    Unique Skills- Child of Death, herald of death[X]. |


    The man''s status revealed a lot of things, starting from the fact that he was not a normal human, but a varying breed known as ''Demonic Human''.


    It also showed both his real age and the age of the current body he was inhabiting, along with his original existence level which was the Epic Level, and his level which was 516.


    Said levels were lost when he met death at the hand of the Beast King 25 years ago, however, it could be seen that he had recovered to a certain extent in the past 25 years.


    As for his skills, his Necrokinesis was quite self-exnatory, as it was one of the main driving forces behind his necromancer abilities along with his unique skill.


    The skill he borrowed through his contract with Zacr was also disyed, things that despite having been told by Evan beforehand, the Duke and Sir Heinr were still shocked to see.


    Nevertheless, Evan''s main focus was not on these things he already knew about, but on the man''s condition.


    Slightly Exhausted and Weakened.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Both Evan and Duke Charles had found it weird that the Eighth Finger had not attacked around the same time as Vazgan earlier in the morning, and was only arriving hours after the battle had begun, but with those three words, they could instantly infer what the reason was.


    ''Someone or something had kept the Eighth Finger upied for the past few hours, and whoever or whatever that was, they were enough of a threat for him to not even send Zacr to go forth while he handled it.


    And they were also capable of reducing the Eighth Finger''s stat values��and even his Magic Tier.''


    Evan thought about people with Reduction maniption-type powers that had feuds with the Eighth Finger but all the names he could think of were of people who were not from, and in the Great Western Empire at the moment.


    "His vitality and energy values are lower by a few ranks."


    "Indeed. Whoever did this must have had his health value as the focus, reducing it by a whole rank. They also dealt with that irritating death magic of his."


    Evan nodded in response to both Duke Charles'' and Heinr''s words, before adding his own.


    "The reason he just stayed still is that he is trying to recover, even if it is just a little bit."


    Duke Charles narrowed his eyes as he concurred with Evan''s words, but he honestly appreciated the break as he had expended far too much power dealing with Vazgan earlier.


    The time the Eighth Finger was using to recover, also served the same purpose for him, allowing him to recover a little bit of energy.


    The only downside to this, was the fact that despite having gravely wounded Vazgan, theck of level-up notifications showed that the Duhan King was still ''alive'', even though he was definitely not well.


    In fact, Zacr had been silently trying to use his own death energy to help expel the life energy and divinity traces from the Duhan King''s body while the three of them were having this ''conversation''.


    However, this was noticed by the airborne Grand Mage who silentlyunched a huge spear of mes in the direction of the silent Deathlord.


    In response, Dominik rose his hand and activated his barrier bullet skill, releasing a huge translucent sphere of pure magic power that collided with and cancelled out the spear of mes.


    Grand Mage Czac had been part of the forces who stayed in reserve for the eventual arrival of the Eighth Finger, and now the necromancer had arrived, the Grand Mage and all the otherbatants of the Coalition force had mobilized themselves and gotten into battle-ready positions.


    "Attacking without a word?"


    "Words are unnecessary, necromancer."


    "��Indeed, they are."


    After that short dialogue between Czac and Dominik, thetter nodded his head in agreement, before suddenly ring up his energies and activating his unique skill.


    Stomping his leg on the ground with enough force to crack the earth under his feet, he called out the name of the dreadful ability that turned thousands of people to undead within the past few months.


    "Domain of Death."


    A wave of murky dark energy spread out omnidirectionally from under his feet, turning the ground ck as it swept towards the area where the coalition force''sbatants stood.


    The motionless undead instantly resumed their movements the moment thework of energy that was the domain spread under their feet, with them roaring and chattering their teeth as they resumed their attacks.


    "Liz! Now!!"


    Evan screamed out to his partner who did not hesitate to use the thing that she and Evan had been working on for the past few weeks, something the girl noted was exactly the same as what the Necromancer in front of her just used.


    ''He knew about this ability because of him, huh?''


    Those were her thoughts as she rose her hands before stabbing the spear tip of her staff into the ground and rousing as much life energy as she could.


    "Domain of Life!!!"


    From the point where the staff stabbed into the ground, a bright green wave of energy spread out omnidirectionally, burning the feet of the undead caught within its range while rejuvenating the bodies of the living beings standing in its sphere of influence.


    A light frown adorned Dominik''s face as he saw thework of magic energy that was almost the same as his, except that this his was far more refined and this one was powered by life energy instead.


    e��glesn?��el He watched as the two domains inevitably shed with each other, releasing waves of energy that knocked back those near the point of collision.


    The two domains did not spread any further, however, that was only for a moment as in the next, the bright green domain of life was easily overpowered by the dark murky domain of death.


    This was only expected, as the gap in the level of power and skill proficiency of the two individuals was far too removed.


    It was something Evan had expected, and something he had prepared for.


    "Pdins!"


    The Superior Holy Knights did not need to wait for Evan''s shout as they took action instantly, finally understanding why Evan had told Heinr to order them to stay out of battle.


    They could tell that Dominik''s domain of death was anything but good and could not allow their allies to be caught within it.


    Rousing their holy magic and meagre divinity reserves, the pdins all channelled their energies towards Eliza, temporarily empowering the girl and enabling her to force the domain of death to stop spreading out and even recede a little bit.


    ''Since we cannot fight it with quality, we can only do so with quantity!''


    Those were the words Evan said when he informed them of his n, and those words could be used to exin the current scenario where the Eighth Finger''s superior domain, was being held back by the weaker Child of Life skill user, empowered by thebined holy magic and divinities of a dozen pdins.


    "First it was a fucking Laneford, now the child of life wielder?!


    Can you life attribute users just stop messing with me?!"

 Chapter 408 Undead Hydra

    "First it was a fucking Laneford, now the child of life wielder?!


    Can you life attribute users just stop messing with me?!"


    Dominik cursed out in anger, his words causing the eyes of Evan, Eliza and those who heard it to widen in surprise as he inadvertently revealed the identity of the being who had held him back for the past few hours.


    ''The Laneford n!''


    The moment Evan heard that; his mind instantly went back to the list of people with power reduction-type abilities he had made earlier, and he singled out the name of the only Laneford n member on the list.


    ''The former Matriarch''s younger brother!''


    Evan did not know if that person purposely chose this day to attack the Eighth Finger, but he was grateful for the Health Stat reduction he had inflicted upon him.


    ''It would make killing him a lot easier!''


    However, before thinking about killing Dominik, the coalition force had his army of undead to deal with as the man''s cursing, was just the preamble to him opening up his expansive space and summoning his undead warriors.


    Thework of energy that was his domain of death, had undead summoning circles weaved into it that enabled him to call out his undead with but a simple thought, from any point within the domain''s range of influence.


    It did not need to be mentioned that the undead summoned via this means enjoyed numerous buffs and ability boosts, evidenced by the thick amount of death energy that covered even the weakest undead knights.


    Once again, tens of thousands of living and undead beings charged towards each other and shed, with somebatants from each side asionally falling back into their respective domains to rid themselves of the debuffs that the domains applied to opponents.


    As Dominik''s domain buffed the undead, it debuffed living beings to bnce things out, and Eliza''s domain also had a simr effect, only reversed.


    Grand Mage Czac and his squad of battlemages took to the skies while the other mages who were active earlier retreated behind the tall wall of earth magic that had been constructed to serve as one of thest lines of defence against the undead to rest.


    The Grand Mage himself beelined straight for Dominik, but he stopped halfway and constructed a wide area magic barrier to block the rain of lightning that dropped from the skies, courtesy of the Lich King that slowly descended from within the clouds.


    The Lich King''s teeth ttered as it waved its bone staff and activated anotherrge-scale lightning magic spell, sessfully attracting Sir Czac''s aggro and forcing the Grand Mage to take it on instead.


    Dominik snapped his fingers and generated tworge three-ringed summoning magic circles in the sky, from which a dozen bone wyverns emerged from within, carrying powerful Death Knights on their backs.


    With another snap of his finger, the rings of his magic catalyst spun around twice as fast, with more magic circles appearing in the air to spit out grandmaster-level Death Knights and Duhans.


    "Summon Undead Fourth!"


    The Deathlord showed the reason why he was called the ''Disaster of Graugro'' and ''Nightmare of Many Who Live and Breathe'', calling forth gigantic undead variants of a dozen different monsters, with each of them emitting dense amounts of death energy that made many of the weakerbatants to feel suffocated just by being in the same battlefield with them.


    Undead de wraiths, rift mages, doom hounds, trolls, ogres, Gryphons, and even an undead three-headed Hydra!


    The Hydra had arge body that was covered in scales with spots of red, green, and blue on them, along with traces of a ''few'' barely visible grey lines drawn on its body.


    It raised its three heads and spewed out breaths of fire, ice and poison simultaneously, incinerating, freezing and melting the bodies of a hundred unfortunate adventurers with that singr attack.


    But before it could charge up another devastating breath, a gigantic golden cross of divinity suddenly mmed down on its enormous body and pressed it to the ground.


    """AAGRRUURAAAAOOOAAOOUGGRRUUUU!!!!!!"""


    The three heads screamed out something iprehensible at the same time, with its voice releasing shockwaves that knocked back Sir Heinr and caused the eardrums of some C-rank adventurers to rupture.


    The golden-eyed pdin clicked his tongue as he noticed a herd of nightmare horses trampling atop those who fell after being affected by the hydra''s scream, rousing his divinity as he kicked off the ground and blitzed straight towards the creature.


    From the sheer amount of death energy that the creature possessed, mere holy magic was not going to be enough to fall it quickly.


    The undead Hydra also seemed to realise that its normal breath attacks were useless against Heinr and infused the centre that spewed ice breath with death energy while the other two heads revealed their fangs coated in the same energy andunched themselves towards him.


    Heinr dodged the two hydra heads, before jumping up and coating his sword with his aura and shaping the aura into a longer de to extend the 70 cm long de of his sword to something that was more than five times as long and as wide.


    He then spun around and delivered an arcing sh towards the head of the hydra that tried to gobble him up from behind, creating a foothold with his aura to keep himself in the air before jumping up once more and shing at the second head.


    The time it took for all this was enough for the hydra to charge up and fire another deadly breath infused with death energy.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The dark blue beam of light shot out of the hydra''s middle head and through the air, straight towards the airborne Pdin who was about to move out of the way, only to remember that there were hundreds of allies who would most defiantly perish from that attack if it hit the ground.


    He took advantage of his energy control skill to switch out the aura in his sword for divinity, before using the hydra''s left head as a boost to jump straight towards the iing death-ice breath.


    Pulling back his erged sword, he drew it back and super-condensed his divinity into a small area around his arm while activating another skill.


    "HA!!!"


    With a short shout, he thrust his sword forward the instant the breath reached him, with his sword thrust creating a focused st that collided with the breath and scattered the concentrated beam of energy.


    **BOOOOOMMMM!!!!


    "GRWAAAA!!!"


    The resultant explosion of death energy and divinity was followed by chunks of rotten flesh raining down from the skies as the hydra''s middle head was sted to bits.


    Its left and right heads roared loudly before releasing me and poison breaths towards the life source it detected on the ground a few dozen metres away from its body, however, arge translucent barrier of golden light appeared in front of it and blocked the two breaths.


    Seeing its breath attacks had failed, the hydra turned itsrge body around and used its forked tail to m into the barrier, shattering it into shards of light with its skill before its left head released another ming breath towards Heinr.


    "Grand Cross."


    Heinr activated his unique skill and allowed it to charge up with holy magic, only to cancel the skill activation at thest moment before it was ''released''.


    However, the imbed holy magic remained on his weapon and did not dissipate into the surroundings, neither was it absorbed back into his body.


    It was just like he infused holy magic into his sword normally, the difference being that any strike with his sword in its current state, was going to be as powerful as his Grand Cross skill, even if it was just a normal attack.


    And a normal attack was exactly what he carried out next.


    Heinr rose his sword up and released a downward sh with the holy magic-imbued weapon, slicing through the ming breath of the Hydra and nearly dividing its head into two.


    Fortunately for the hydra, it had shifted its head at thest moment and the sh only needed up cutting through its scales and grazing the rotten flesh underneath.


    The undead hydra released another enraged roar before activating another skill andunching dozens of spheres of condensed mes and poison towards Heinr.


    Since its breath attack was not working, it changed its approach and decided tounch multiple rapid attacks with lesser attack power, but shorter activation time.


    As if mirroring the Hydra''s actions, Heinr rose up his left hand and created three tier 2 magic circles with a short chant, with each of them releasing a spear of golden light that shot towards the Hydra''s huge body.


    Some of the spears collided with the spheres of mes and poison, resulting in explosions as the two attacks cancelled each other out, while others reached the Hydra''s body, only to be repelled by the thick coat of death energy it had surrounded its body with.


    Just when Heinr was about to release another projected sh with his weapon, his instincts warned him of danger and he instantly humped up into the air, just in time to avoid the domain of death that spread out under his leg, along with the two hands of an undead ogre that tried to grab him.


    However, in avoiding the undead ogre, he had ced himself as a perfect target for the Hydra''s forked tail that swished through the air and tried to pierce his body.


    ''That tail broke my barrier before��not letting it hit me!''


    The pdin flipped his body and swung his sword, shing with the tail and getting knocked down onto the ground.


    But the hydra was not done as it turned its body and swung its tail once more, forcing Heinr who had barely gotten to his feet to jump to dodge once more.


    Unfortunately, Heinr had fallen into the Eighth Finger''s domain of death, and thus, was within the range of the Deathlord''s instantaneous undead summoning.


    Dozens of undead knights instantly jumped out of the darkened floor and threw themselves at the pdin, however, he released a burst of aura that knocked them all backwards, while using his sword to slice off the hands of the ones grabbing his feet.


    Nevertheless, this seemingly futile effort had kept him in ce long enough for the hydra''s tail to reach him and m into his body, sending him flying into the air once more.


    As if on cue, a bone wyvern and swept down from the air and released a breath of death energy towards his airborne body, with its Death Knight mount jumped off with its sword raised overhead.

 Chapter 409 Undead Hydra II

    Heinr, grit his teeth as he blocked the breath with a barrier and rose his sword to sh with the Death Knight, getting knocked back to the ground by the force of their sh.


    The undead''s attacks were not done yet as the hydra released a breath of dark red mes that seared through the air and towards the fallen pdin.


    But just when the Hydra thought it would finally get him, a short muscr figure carrying arge shield teleported in front of Heinr and mmed hisrge shield into the ground, generating anotherrger shield construct with magic power just in time for the breath to reach.


    **BOOOOOMMM!!!


    A loud explosion rang out, followed by the sound of something cracking asrge irregr cracks could be seen spreading out of therger shield construct of magic power.


    It shattered a momentter, with the full force of the breath mming onto the shield, however, the dwarf roused his magic power and activated a skill, before tilting the shield and reflecting the breath with his skill.


    In the direction of the reflected breath was an unfortunate death knight who had its upper body blown to ashes by the reflected breath of dark mes.


    The Death Knight''s bone wyvern mount was then simultaneously attacked with various spells from a party of B-rank adventurer magicians, crashing to the ground and shattering into a pile of bones, which were then promptly incinerated before the Eighth Finger''s domain could reanimate them.


    "Sir Pdin! Handle the Hydra, we''d deal with the Death Knights!!"


    "Don''t worry about the others, I''d prevent the stray attacks from getting to them!!"


    The Dwarven shield grandmaster''s words addressed Heinr''s major concern, with the High-Rank pdin nodding in response before turning his gaze towards the Level 400 Hydra that was already charging up another breath.


    "You��shield user. I''m going to need you to use that deflecting skill again.


    There''s something drawn on its back and I''m going to try and force it to use that thing''s power. When I do, I''m going to need you to reflect whatever it is back to it."


    "Hmmm...It might be a bit much, but I''d try."


    The dwarf replied as Heinr looked at the Hydra that silently gazed at the interaction between the two while charging its breath in silence.


    He could even see signs that the head he had destroyed was beginning to regenerate, attributing it to the effect of the Domain of Death that had spread out under the hydra''s feet.


    Thanks to the coat of holy energy around him, the domain''s debuffs did not affect him, but the same could not be said about the party of A and B rankers fighting against the Death Knights and their wyvern mounts.


    ''Normally, any undead hit by my divinity would be unable to be healed even with a necromancer''s most powerful techniques, however, this domain is powerful enough to make the undead regenerate despite that��this necromancer is truly on another level.


    I have to end this quickly.


    Conserving power is not possible anymore.''


    Heinr thought as he took a step forward, creating patches of holy magic that ate away at the darkness underneath his feet, walking forward before slowly breaking into a run and dashing towards the Hydra.


    Seeing its opponent iing, it cancelled charging its breath and rapidly fired the charged-up energy as magic bullets that gouged outrge craters on the ground where theynded.


    Unfortunately for it, its target pdin leapt around to dodge the magic bullets with ease, even throwing in a few spears of magical light that pierced through some of them and caused them to explode, creating smoke clouds that obscured the Hydra''s vision.


    "KRURARARARARARARA!!!!!"


    The Hydra''s poison head rang out as if it was singing beautifully, but the effects of the green magic bullets that it spat out were not beautiful at all.


    **BOOM! BOOBOOMM!


    Heinr dodged all of them with nimble movements, ignoring the ruined grounds that were depressed by dozens of metres with each bullet hitting, as well as the areas that had melted like concentrated acid had been poured on the floor.


    The undead knights that threw themselves at him in a bid to slow him down were blown away with a burst of aura, with one of them colliding with a poison magic bullet and melting to a puddle of ck liquid within seconds.


    As if that was not enough, dark mes burned the ground everywhere, forcing Heinr to concentrate more energy on his feet to prevent them from being set aze with death energy-infused mes.


    Heinr kicked off the ground and jumped into the air at the exact same moment that the Hydraunched a magic bullet, but having expected it, the pdin created a foothold with aura and leapt into the air right as it was about to collide with him.


    ''Doing this in battle is a lot harder than it looks, how the hell does that Evan kid do it so easily?''


    With such an idle thought, Heinr dodged therge set of jaws dripping with poison that threatened to mp down on him, closing in on the hydra with his sword raised.


    His Grand Cross skill was already in a half-activated state, and the Hydra could sense the terrifying energy building up on the de.


    "GRAAAA!!!"


    The me head roared wildly and it circted its energies, causing the grey lines on its back to glow up with a red light and reveal an intricate array of magic circles that had been drawn on its back.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    At the same time, the scales that covered its body suddenly stood up and shot towards Heinr, resulting in a rain of thousands of scale fragments that were engulfed in mes midway assaulting him.


    "Thought so."


    Since his charging momentum was too strong, it was nigh impossible for him to dodge, but Heinr never intended on doing so from the start.


    "Shield Counter!!"


    The voice of the dwarven shield master rang out as he appeared in front of Heinr, using a defensive skill that allowed him to teleport right in front of or in between an ally and an enemy in a ''ready to defend'' position and activated a counter skill.


    Immediately after, the sharp scale fragments mmed into therge shield construct he generated with his magic power, striking it with a loud noise and causing it to crack.


    The shield shattered in the next moment and the Hydra increased the intensity of its scale rain, not knowing that shattering the shield construct, was the prerequisite to the dwarf''s skill activation.


    Unfortunately for it, the hydra discovered that in the worst way as the scale fragments that pierced through the shield suddenly reversed trajectories and shot towards its own body.


    "GRU?!"


    Its cry of confusion could be heard right before the ming scale fragments mmed into its body, pierced its death energy coat and shredded its now unprotected flesh.


    While it cried out in pain from having part of its attack reflected towards it, Heinr who used the dwarf''s back as a foothold to propel himself even further,nded on the Hydra''s back and rose his sword up.


    "KRRRRRKKKAAKAKAKA!"


    The Hydra seemed to have realised that a foreign object that was not a scale hadnded on its body as it twisted its body around while roaring as if trying to shake Heinr off.


    Its forked tail swiped across its back, trying to swat him off while its me head turned around and opened its mouth tounch a breath attack on him.


    Heiner saw the dark red mes gathering in its mouth, emitting horrifying heat and realised that the creature had resolved itself to take damage just to get him off.


    However, the pdin was faster, swinging down his divinity-infused de and dropping arge cross-shaped construct of energy on the Hydra''s back.


    ""KYAAAAAAAAKKKKAAAAKKKK!!!!!""


    Both heads screamed out as the Hydra''srge body trashed around in pain, something that was only possible as the energy Heiner used was one that was just that dangerous to undead beings.


    Its ''immunity'' to pain was bypassed and trashed around, itsrge body causing the ground to tremble with the force of earthquakes repeatedly.


    The energy gathering in its mouths dissipated and its tail that shot up with murderous intent also fell back down.


    Without hesitation, Heinr pulled back his sword and infused it with divinity again, spinning around and delivering two diagonal shes towards its ming head, severing it from its neck in one clean set of movements.


    Heinr''s free hand stretched out as the pdin generated dozens of two-ringed magic circles that surrounded the Hydra on all sides, with an orb of condensed light emerging from within each magic circle.


    "Heaven-Splitting sh!"


    More than a dozen beams of light were simultaneouslyunched from the orbs, crashing down on the Hydra''s body and tearing through its flesh.


    He then snapped his fingers and the orbs themselves shot towards the Hydra as if affected by some sort of gravitational pull, only to explode upon making contact with the undead creature''s body, eliciting another pained scream from it.


    "Time to end this."


    Heinr spoke as he coated his sword with divinity once more, shaping the divinity into a longer and wider de to extend its reach.


    He then pulled back thisrger de with his two hands and thrust it in the direction of the Hydra''s remaining head, creating a focused st that shredded apart its flesh before going on to st a hole right through the Hydra''s neck, leaving itsst head dangling around weakly.


    With a sigh, the man sent a light orb towards the half-severed neck and snapped his fingers, causing it to explode and st off the headpletely.


    eaglesnov?1,��o�� With all three heads destroyed, the undead Hydra''s movements ceased and itsrge body dropped to the ground, causing a small earthquake and releasing shockwaves that knocked nearby undead off their feet due to its sheer size.


    [Get out of the way, Heinr.]


    He did not even get a moment to rest when the voice of Grand Mage Czac rang out in his ear, with the pdin momentarily questioning just how themunication device in his ear did not fall out when he was jumping around.


    Nevertheless, he did not dare to linger any longer as he jumped off the Hydra''s body and picked up the dwarf who wasying on the floor a few feet away, using light magic to purify him of the domain''s debuffs while dashing away from the Hydra as fast as he could.


    Arge shadow suddenly spread out across the entire area, with Heinr looking up and understanding exactly why Czac told him to get out of there.

 Chapter 410 Dominik Vs Czac

    There was a huge ball of mes floating in the sky, one that was sorge that it attracted the attention of everyone and everything on the battlefield.


    It burned so brightly that one could mistake it for a second sun if at first nce.


    Looking at the multiple magic circles that surrounded the huge ball of mes, Heinr couldn''t help but let out a mutter of shock and awe.


    "Combination Tier 4 magic��impressive. As expected of a Grand Mage."


    Right after he said those words, the ball of mes instantly reformed into arge drill-shaped construct of mes that crashed down towards its target, the Lich King with tattered robes and a cracked skull whose bone staff had been destroyed by Sir Czac earlier in the battle.


    ***KAAABBOOOOOMM!!!


    **RUMBLLEE!!!


    Within five seconds, the ball of mes crashed into the ground, resulting in an explosion that shook the earth, and the air.


    The atmosphere trembled as the thunderous roar that apanied the st flooded the surroundings with noise.


    Not a single bone of the Lich King that was hit by the attack remained, as well as that of the huge hydra corpse that the Eighth Finger was definitely nning on reanimating once more. There were not even ashes left.


    The same fate applied to the ground where the corpse was on, as all that was left was a huge hole in the ground that was at the very least, a kilometre in both width and depth.


    It was then that the second phase of the magic activated, causing the mes of the explosion to recede and recondense into a huge ball of mes that floated into the sky once more.


    There was a stark difference, however, as this ball of mes was only a little bit over half of the original, showing that a huge portion of the energy within them had been used to both kill the lich and incinerate the undead Hydra''srge body.


    But it also showed the amazing control over his spell that Czac had as he actually made sure that the st radius did not exceed a certain range, instead channelling most of the mes'' power to drill through the ground deeply and not spread out over arge area.


    Controlling the ball of mes with his outstretched hand, Sir Czac wiped the sweat on his brow and turned his gaze towards the wyvern-mounting Death Knight that had been a real pain in the behind while he was battling the Lich King.


    "You''re next."


    With those words, the Grand Mage tossed the ball of mes that reformed into arge ming spear towards the Death Knight whose mount turned around to fly out of the spell''s range.


    While all gazes were locked on the giant ming spear and the Death Knight it was chasing, thinking it was done for, a slender yet fairly muscr arm casually pointed at the ming spear in silence.


    Non-attributed magic power, uncoloured by any attribute, converged at the tip of its outstretched finger, with the pressure of the magic power causing ripples in the air.


    The huge amount of energy condensing naturally attracted attention, but by then it was toote to do anything about it.


    "Hollow Magic: Hollow Cannon."


    A beam of pure magic power shot through the air with overwhelming force, crashing into the ming spear and piercing through it, causing the me spell to destabilize and explode in the sky.


    The shockwaves from the explosion spread out omnidirectionally and parted all the low clouds in that section of the afternoon sky.


    The space opened by the parting clouds was rapidly filled up by the giant cloud of smoke and mes that spread out into the sky.


    Even those who were still dealing with their undead opponents throughout the ruckus momentarily stopped to stare, however, they had to go back to their individual battles as their undead opponents were not going to stand still and wait for them to finish being surprised at the explosion.


    As for Grand Mage Czac, he turned his gaze downwards, towards the Deathlord who slowly dropped his outstretched hand and turned his gaze back towards the direction where a party of A rank adventures were about to end one of his undead Basilisks, snapping his fingers and using a corpse recovery spell on it.


    Surrounding him were the unconscious bodies of two A-rank adventurers and the corpses of a B-rank adventurer party who had attempted to attack him earlier, but had easily been made short work of with the Deathlord''s powerful dark magic.


    The chains of darkness that were wrapped around the A rankers'' necks and the fact that they were still alive showed that he was not done dealing with them when heunched the Hollow Cannon towards Czac''s spell.


    And then right before Czac''s very eyes, the corpses of the B rankers twitched slightly, before releasing bursts of death energy and slowly getting back up to their feet as undead creatures with glowing red inferno sights in ce of their now sunken eyes.


    The Grand Mage instantly figured out what Dominik nned to do with the unconscious A rankers, rousing his magic power as he shot through the air and activated multiple tier two magic spells towards him.


    Nheless, Dominik only calmly responded with Darkness magic of his own, his magic catalyst spinning wildly as he tossed in a death magic bullet spell that sucked out the vitality of those unfortunate enough to be hit by the projectiles.


    However, that short amount of time that he took to retaliate was enough for another mage to get into range, and this was a particr mage that Dominik was very wary of due to her powerful gravity magic.


    "Gravity Maelstrom!"


    A whirling mass of dark gravity magic condensed into an orb in front of Dominik, forcing him to jump back as the spell was a gravity spell he recognized and definitely did not want to get hit by.


    But as if mocking the futility of his actions, the caster only snorted as the ck orb that sucked in and destroyed everything in a short range around it, shot through the air as if chasing after him.


    "Annoying."


    He muttered one word as he let go of the chain of darkness that was wrapped around the neck of the A rankers, a moment before Tisha''s light magic severed the chains and generated a wall of darkness that blocked the maelstrom of gravity, with the two spells cancelling each other out.


    Gazing at the ground that had been carved up by the spell on its way to him, he silently rose his hand to the side and activated a death magic spell.


    The ground cracked open and arge wall of skeletons, apanied by the sounds of wailing souls, emerged from within and blocked the ming projectiles that dropped down from above.


    "Infinite Bonence."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    He muttered a spell''s name as an uncountable number of sharp bone spears, each surrounded by a coat of dense death energy shot out of the ground and towards the airborne Grand Mage who was preparing another spell.


    Turning back to Tisha who was helping the unconscious A rankers, Dominik decided to use a summon that would keep her out of the battle for a while.


    "Summon Undead Fourth: Lesser Lich King."


    Arge three-ringed summing magic circle of ck light appeared in the air behind him, one which a crown-wearing Skeleton, dressed in tattered robes and holding a crooked wooden staff floated out of.


    "Keep her busy, and kill her if you can."


    [Yes, My lord.]


    The lesser Lich King epted Dominik''s orders and turned its gaze towards Tisha, locking eyes with the Gravity Mage and casting a space attribute spell.


    "Minor Teleportation."


    It appeared right behind her and reached out to grab her neck with its bony hands, only for its fingers to be crushed to pieces when it got within fifteen centimetres of her body.


    [Distorted gravity magic, huh?]


    Tisha turned around and swung her staff towards the lesser Lich King who only casually held up its wooden staff to block, however, the Gravity mage activated a spell at thest moment, one that the Lich King noticed as she saw its inferno sights growrger right before her staff mmed into its body.


    **BOOOOMMM!!!!!


    The sheer amount of force with which the Lesser Lich King was knocked into the air was so great that the superior undead''s body smashed through the giant undead basilisk in the distance, pulverizing itsrge torso, before going on to crash onto the ground and roll for a few dozen metres.


    Looking at this scene, Dominik facepalmed and shook his head before tapping his foot on the floor and issuing amand.


    "Rise, my servants."


    Thousands of undead knights and doom lords with the weakest being at level 150 emerged from different points all over the domain under his feet.


    He infused more magic power into his skill and attempted to expand the domain further, but it was pushed back by thebined efforts of Eliza and the group of high-ranking pdins who were in front of the final defence wall.


    "Shadow kn-! Bone Wyvern!"


    Dominik was about to summon an undead to deal with the battle priestess when he sensed magical fluctuations in the air and instantly changed hismand, calling out a bone wyvern that grabbed him with its ws and lifted him up into the air, a mere moment before the ground underneath his feet cracked open and swallowed the undead around him.


    "This Grand Mage is getting annoying."


    [Then handle him first.]


    "I will. You get back to healing Vazgan."


    He replied to his contracted demon before grabbing the bone wyvern''s body and swinging himself atop it,nding on his feet at the same he activated two death magic spells.


    "Spectral me Prison of Death.


    Maximize: Multi Death Cannon."


    An array of pitch-ck double-ringed magic circles appeared around him, firing out beams of ck light that seared through the sky and burned holes in the torsos of two battlemages as they made their way towards Sir Czac.


    Despite his anger at seeing two of his subordinates killed by the death magic spell, Czac held himself back and moved to dodge the spells, only for a magic cage of ck mes to emerge from behind him and try to trap him.


    "Protect Negative.


    Magic Barrier."


    The Grand Mage instantly covered himself with two barrier spells, before smashing through the prison of ck mes and beelining straight towards the ground.


    Seeing this, Dominik moved his finger and redirected the beams of ck light to follow him, before activating his barrier bullet skill in quick session andunching dozens of pure magic spheres both towards Czac and every other mage he saw in the skies.


    He also released a few barrier bullets the size of car tyres towards the ground, at random adventurers and knights who were engaged in seriousbat against the droves of undead that rose up from the ground every moment.


    Czac was about to use arge-scale barrier to block those barrier bullets from reaching the ground forces, only to remember one of Evan''s warnings about the Eighth Finger''s skills.


    He quickly looked towards the other mages who had simr thoughts and screamed out at them with a magic-amplified voice.


    "DON''T BLOCK THE MAGIC SPHERES WITH BARRIERS! SHOOT THEM DOWN!"


    Although the battle mages did not know why their superior suddenly gave them thatmand, they knew it had to be for a good reason and reacted instantly, switching out their barrier spells for projectile magic that they fired towards the magic spheres.


    Naturally, Dominik also heard his words and a frown appeared on his face when he did so, even Zacr who was inside his expansive space trying to rectify Vazgan''s grim situation was shocked by those words too.


    [How did he��?]

 Chapter 411 Finding Methik

    [How did he��?]


    Czac had spoken like he was aware of the danger of blocking the Barrier Bullets, with magic barriers. Something that he was definitely not supposed to know considering he did not know of Dominik''s existence until a few weeks ago.


    The Barrier Bullet rare skill was one that had its damage multiplied when its target attempted to block with any kind of energy barrier.


    The magic spheres created by the skill absorbed the energy used to make any barriers that were used to block it upon contact.


    Depending on how much energy was used to make the barrier, the damage of the barrier bullets would increase ordingly. The stronger the barrier deployed, the more powerful the barrier bullets would be after absorbing the energy used to make it up.


    And that was the reason why Dominik had fired them towards the ground forces, because he knew the mages who had their eyes on him would attempt to block with powerful barriers, and action which would have been disastrous if they did.


    However, Czac''s warning ruined that little n of his.


    Even so, the Deathlord only considered it a minor setback as he added a few more death cannons to follow the Grand Mage to the ground, before generating three giant summoning circles and calling out three weaker versions of the undead Hydra that Heinr defeated.


    **KAAABOOOOMMM!!!!!!


    A loud explosion rang out in the distance, followed by two figures that shot out of the mushroom cloud of smoke and mes that rose up to the skies.


    "Minor Teleportation."


    "Void Distortion!"


    The voices of the Lesser Lich King and the Gravity Mage Tisha rang out consecutively as thetter used a gravity spell to distort the space around her, preventing the Lich King from teleporting to her blind spot.


    It reappeared about five metres away from her, with the Mage turning in its direction and activating a fire spell.


    "Aerial Mine!"


    Three balls of mes appeared in a triangr formation around the lich king, however, the instant before they exploded, the lich activated a spell to grant itself temporary incorporeality.


    Unfortunately, his opponent was a light mage who had spells created just for usage against incorporeal and ethereal entities.


    "Light Magic: Astral Smite."


    Dozens of fist-sized light magic bullets emerged from the two-ringed magic circles and shot towards the Lich''s body, forcing it to fly out of the way to dodge said projectiles.


    Tisha did not let up, releasing another wave of astral smites that forced the lich to discard its incorporeality and activate a teleportation spell to escape the area.


    However, Tisha predicted its point of emergence and activated a grounded embrace on the area, using powerful gravity to m the lich''s body down to the ground upon reappearance.


    She swiftly transitioned onto the next spell, calling out a chant as she pulled up some random chunks of earth in the area and used gravity magic topress them into the shapes ofrge blunt weapons.


    Even under the effect of grounded embrace, the Lesser Lich King still managed to move its creaking bones and activate an earth magic spell, causing two gigantic arm-shaped golem constructs to emerge from the ground and swat Tisha out of the sky like one would a fly.


    The gravity mage dodged therge hands and used the pressure-crafted weapons she had created to smash through them, but instead of falling back to the ground, the broken pieces of the golem''s arms reconstructed into spears of earth that rained down on her and her surroundings.


    She reactivated her distorted gravity barrier and spun around, using reverse gravity on the lesser lich king to pull its body towards her while coating her arm in concentrated light magic.


    "Purifying Javelin."


    A two-ringed light magic circle manifested around her wrist absorbing the concentrated light attributed magic power and spitting it out as argence of the same element.


    "Perfect uracy. Tracking"


    She added two more spells onto it before throwing it towards the iing lesser lich king, however, the undead only turned its red inferno sights towards her and rose its staff, sending out a huge mass of spatial magic that carved through the magicalnce, along with the very space around it.


    The Lesser Lich King had sessfully fended off her attack��is what would have been the case if Tisha did instantly generate five dozen more purifying javelins that shot towards the Lich from all angles.


    [You gotta be fucking kidding me.]


    �� �� ��


    A few minutes before Dominik summoned the lesser lich king to keep Tisha upied, the ''Anomalies'', along with Duke Cheverton, Guild Master Dasyra and a few high-ranking military personnel were engaged in a heated discussion inside the tent that served as the Command Centre.


    The issue on the table was the situation report that they had received stating that there had been hundreds of undead corpses ''exploding'' after being defeated or burned with fire magic, something that Evan did not take too long to attribute to a certain Senior member of the Demonic Hand that he had been after for a while.


    "It''s Methik, definitely the real one."


    Although it was hard to find out exactly where the exploding corpses were considering the sheer number of explosions happening across the battlefield, Evan was sure that it was Methik after a few reports from Kasteblum''s battle mages came in stating that the corpses exploded, ''after'' being set aze.


    "They most likely tried to incinerate the corpses to prevent the Eighth Finger from reanimating them with a mass raise undead spell, but since they were stuffed with tar and stic explosives, their mes only served to trigger an explosion that has taken a good number of allies out."


    "And whoever this Methik guy is, he has to be watching the battle from somewhere, otherwise, he has some ''great'' timing to be able to trigger a corpse explosion on the Death Knight I was fighting against the instant I got into range.


    If I didn''t sense the magic power condensing right before it exploded, I would not have gotten away with merely a few burns."


    The Guild master spoke as she sprinkled a few drops of a healing potion on the burns that covered her left arm, shuddering lightly at the thought of taking a point-nk detonation of a grandmaster-level Death Knight''s corpse.


    ''The sheer amount of death energy in that thing would have been able to kill me almost instantly.''


    Duke Charles'' lips twisted into a light frown as he unconsciously imagined the consequences of multiple death knights exploding, and the amount of damage it was going to have on the surroundings, shaking his head to clear up those thoughts before turning to Evan and asking.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Shouldn''t you be outside? You ARE the only person capable of telling when that necromancer uses this ''trump card'' that you''re so wary of."


    "I would soon enough, but it''s called a trump card for a reason. He''s not going to pull it out until he''s on hisst legs.


    Also, you should get ready for a rematch with Vazgan, I noticed his body was missing before I came here.


    If I''m to guess correctly, it''s the reason Zacr isn''t out on the battlefield wreaking havoc. He''s tending to Vazgan''s ''wounds''."


    "Tsk��I should have used the third form at least."


    "If you did, you would have been a secondte in escaping and would have gotten caught by the Eighth Finger.


    I''m sure you noticed that his fist was coated in death energy that instant hended; it was meant to punch the living daylights outta you."


    "Would have said that it would have been a small price to pay to take out a high grandmaster level threat, but considering his reputation, I would not risk it."


    "Course you wouldn''t.


    Also, how''s your energy recoverying along?"


    "Enough for a round two against the Duhan King."


    Evan nodded upon hearing the Duke''s reply, before turning to Pride and asking the same question.


    "That stunt you pulled earlier took a lot out of you, did it not? How far have you recovered your energy?"


    "About half of what I spent."


    "Better than nothing."


    Duke Charles, as well as everyone in the room who witnessed Pride turning Vazgan''s deadly attacks into giant iron rods, had various questions they wished to ask the high demon, but after knowing her for the past few days, they realised they were definitely not getting any answers.


    Heck, even Evan who she was contracted to still didn''t know exactly what she did there.


    "Methik''s skill requires him or any of his special corpse puppets to be within a certain range to trigger the corpse explosions.


    The more corpses he''s controlling, and the stronger they are, the closer he has to be to them. So, he has to be within a safe distance where he can control a lot of corpses from, even ones as powerful as that of a Death Knight.


    If you were Methik, where on this battlefield would you hide to do such a thing?"


    Evan posed a question to one of the military leaders who titled his head and shot a question back at him.


    "Why are you working with the assumption that he''s in hiding?"


    "Do you have the confidence to go out there when you''re missing a third of your soul, along with a few of your skills?"


    "��No."


    "So why would you think Methik who''s weaker than you would?"


    "��Still, we should notpletely rule out that possibility."


    "��indeed, we should not."


    Evan agreed with the man after a not-so-short pause, about to continue when one of the other military officers mmed the table and shouted.


    "Enemy lines!"


    "��what?"


    "Behind enemy lines.


    If I had such an ability, I would be in the one ce my enemies would consider low priority when searching for me.


    I''d be behind enemy lines."


    "You''re saying that Methik is behind ''our'' defence lines?"


    "He''s a living human, is he not? Then it''s very possible for him to have sneaked past our defence lines along with the troops who retreated to rest earlier."


    The military officer''s words made sense to everyone present, with Evan clicking his tongue as he racked his brain for how to fish Methik out.


    An idea came to his head a momentter as he turned to Pride and asked the high demon to follow him.


    "Since Methik is currently weakened, I reckon he''d be with his contracted demon for protection. And you, who is capable of sensing your fellow demons would be the perfect search tool to find him out."


    "It could turn out to be a wild goose chase, you know?"


    "But it could also turn out to NOT be one."

 Chapter 412 One Corpsemaker Down

    "It could turn out to be a wild goose chase, you know?"


    "But it could also turn out to NOT be one."


    Pride nodded after a moment and decided to follow the young hero on his search, with the two of them going behind therge earth-magic-constructed wall where the majority of thebatants who participated in the earlier battle against Vazgan''s army were resting.


    On a side note, Guild Master Dasyra, and some of the military officers returned to the battlefield to help clear out the droves of level 150 to 200 undead knights that the Eighth Finger was constantly summoning.


    Evan sent a few messages to Kuro and Ka who were with Eliza, before activating his concealment on him and Pride and running up into the air with Void steps.


    The duo asionally descended near areas where arge number of people were clustered but each time Pride shook her head indicating there were no demons in the vicinity.


    It took them more than 15 minutes to scour even a quarter of the area as the sheer number ofbatants present easily exceeded fifteen thousand.


    They were basically searching for two people, among fifteen thousand plus people, it naturally was not going to be easy at all.


    Pride considered sending out a wave of demonic energy to probe for the demon, but decided against it as that would simply cause chaos among the level 200+ people present who would definitely sense her energy.


    The only good part about this so far was that they had been able to detect more than two dozen corpse puppets loaded with stic explosives, tar and liquified demonic energy that had mixed themselves up among therge groups of people.


    If Methik simultaneously detonated all those corpses, then the death toll would easily exceed a thousand, and those were just from the corpse puppets they had found.


    Evan tossed one more corpse puppet into his inventory, thanking his stars that despite being reanimated, they were still considered ''non-living things'' and able to be put into his inventory when Pride tapped him on the shoulder and pointed in a certain direction.


    Like usual, it was arge group of adventurers gathered around, but the high demon would not have pointed at them if there wasn''t anything ''off'' about them.


    The young hero nodded in response as he went around a tent and deactivated his concealment, taking a hood out of his inventory and tossing it on to cover his shirt before activating his appraisal and walking out on the other side of the tent.


    He was now facing the group and could see that they were gathered there to have a priest from the church heal some of their lesser non-infected wounds.


    The boy nced at their faces and appraised them all as he walked towards them, grateful for the fact that there were no grandmaster-level adventurers among them to sense his skill activation.


    ''I''d take Methik, you''d handle his contracted demon.''


    [Giving me the stronger opponent?]


    ''In my defence, I am only finishing what I started.''


    [Hmph.]


    Such was the conversation the young hero had with his high demon contractor, a moment before he spotted one of the ''adventurers'' who had a half mask covering the upper half of his face.


    Adventurers dressed in all sorts of ways, so one wearing a mask was not really something strange, however, the appraisal result of this masked man didn''t seem to have ''Adventurer'' listed among his titles.


    |Name- Methik Ifoumien


    Race- Demonic Human


    Gender-Male


    Age-48


    Level-169(270)


    Existence Level - Master (Superior)


    Titles-Corpse Doll, Senior Member of the Demonic Hand, Corpsemaker, Confidant of the Eighth Finger of the Demonic Hand.


    ss - Corpse Maniptor


    Health �C C+ (B)


    Energy - C (B+)


    Strength �C C (B)


    Agility �C C+ (B+)


    Durability �C C+ (B)


    Intelligence - C (B+)


    Condition- Weakened, Soul Damaged.


    Magic Tiers- Darkness Tier 3, Death Tier 2, Water Tier 1.


    Skills- Corpse Explosion, [Soul K"f&e0!E(], Corpse Puppetry, [3k&5N1"6].


    Unique Skills- Corpsemaker. |


    ''Well��that was easier than I expected.''<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Evan could see the effects of the soul damage he inflicted on Methik by destroying a third of the man''s soul, with him losing a third of his levels and one, of his skillspletely.


    The skill that let him split his soul into fragments was also partially destroyed, leaving him unable to utilize said skill despite the fact it was still ''disyed'' on his status board.


    Just when Evan was about to call out to the group of adventurers, Methik abruptly stood up and turned around, walking in the opposite direction while mumbling something about the ''line being too long''.


    He was fullymitted to his act as an injured adventurer, even despite the fact that he was actually running away since his senses told him that Evan was ''suspicious''.


    His contracted demon who was nearby also got up and moved in the same direction, keeping a bit of a distance away from him as they moved to a more ''remote'' area in the makeshift camp.


    After finally getting rid of Evan from his tail, Methik reconvened with his contracted demon and was about to go to another location in the camp, when Evan suddenly appeared behind him and grabbed him by the shoulders, before disappearing once more.


    "What-?!"


    Naturally, his contracted demon was instantly rmed by this, but that short moment of shock at the unexpected urrence was all that the High demon of pride needed to ''phase into existence'' behind him and thrust her demonic energy-coated sword through his heart.


    "GUH?!"


    The low-rank demon coughed out bright red blood as his eyes widened in shock, trying to rouse his energy and release it in a burst to knock Pride back, but the high demon casually twisted her de that was still embedded in his chest and swung it upward, slicing through his neck and dividing his skull into two.


    **BOOMM!!!


    An explosion rang out in the air, causing the high demon to sigh as she looked up at the scene of Evanunching double energy sts towards Methik and sighed again.


    "Can''t he do things silently?


    And he''s the one with the concealment skill."


    Evan''s high-profile actions attracted a lot of attention and within seconds, adventurers and knights were zooming into the area to find out what had happened.


    Just before the first one to move in could get close enough to have a clear visual of Evan''s face covered by the hood, the boy disappeared and reappeared behind Pride, grabbing the high demon''s hand and pulling her down to the ground along with him.


    His shadow expanded and the two of them melded into it, their sights darkening as they both sank into the ground and vanished.


    When their visions brightened up once more, the duo were in front of themand centre tent, with Evan dragging along an unconscious half-dead Demonic Hand Senior Member.


    "��you can use this level of advanced shadow magic?"


    The Duke who sensed their presence came out of the tent and saw spoke after he noticed Evan''s shadow returning to normal, however, the young hero only shook his head and replied.


    "Don''t forget I have a contract with a shadow spirit. Being able to temporarily borrow one of the spirit''s skills is one of the contract''s boons."


    He walked into the tent and tossed Methik''s wounded body on the floor, wrapping it up with shadows and continuing.


    "I did not kill him.


    The explosion that''d happen when I do is far too great for me to have done that in the camp."


    Evan remembered the K.O. he got after he killed Methik in the game, and he definitely did not want to repeat that fatal mistake in reality.


    It was then that he noticed that there was an unfamiliar face holding a recording stone, along with a magic projection device that was currently active on the table in the middle of the room.


    "Who are you and why are you recording this?"


    "He''s from an intelligence unit under the Empress. He''s recording the events here and rying them in real-time to the Emperor and the rest of the Cab officials and nobles in the Capital."


    Evan nodded before turning to the projected image of the Empress on the magic projector and offered a light greeting and then proceeded to walk towards the exit of the tent while dragging the unconscious Methik with him.


    "I''m moving out again, are youing, Pride?"


    "Mhmm��"


    The High demon nodded, throwing a nce at the intelligence officer with the recording stone and following behind Evan to leave the tent.


    The hero-demon duo re-joined the battlefield once more, with Evan jumping right into a troop of undead knights and using wind magic to create a vacuum that pulled them together, beforeunching a singr elemental vortex that shredded them all to pieces of rotten flesh.


    Pride, on the other hand, made her targets out to be the contracted demons of the Senior Demonic Hand members on the battlefield, seeking them out and taking them on one by one.


    On a side note, Evan dealt with Methik by tossing his body into a troop of undead knights and mages that the Eighth Finger just summoned at a random point on the battlefield.


    As soon as they came out of therge summoning circle, the man''s body fell on the ground in front of them, leaving the undead momentarily confused, but the energy st that shot right through Methik''s heart in the next moment made sure those confused thoughts were theirst.


    In the skies above, Dominik and Czac were still on their aerial battle, with the asional long raged holy magicing from Sir Heinr who had dealt with thest of Vazgan''s Elite Duhans and was moving over to the Doom Lords the Eighth Finger was summoning.


    The sheer number of undead creatures that Dominik had saved up over the past twenty-five years numbered in the hundreds of thousands, and despite the fact that the coalition force was killing thousands every minute, more just kept popping up to rece the defeated ones.


    And the situation would have been a lot worse if it wasn''t for the fact that Eliza''s domain of life was there to push back Dominik''s domain of death, along with the various debuffs that applied to anyone standing within it.


    Her domain of life also served as a rest spot/home ground for the coalition force''sbatants, passively enchanting the weapons of any living being within with the life attribute and making it so that any undead they killed could not be reanimated by Dominik.

 Chapter 413 Battlefield Overview

    Infected wounds caused by death energy were purified by the domain of life, and its inhabitants were given a boost to their natural regenerative factors so that their wounds healed faster.


    Spread out over arge region, the buff''s individual effects were small, but they were much better than nothing on this battlefield.


    There was no room for error for the battle priestess; as if she made a mistake, Dominik''s realm would quickly expand, spelling great danger to the thousands of soldiers fighting within her sphere of influence.


    A group of Holy Knights and Adventurers surrounded the girl and protected her, including Ka and Kuro who were present, courtesy of our resident hero, who knew the undead would never let her be as the very existence of her domain made them at least 25% weaker.


    Even though Evan''s fighting strength had diminished without them, he still considered it imperative to shield the girl from the stealth-type undead and airborne undead that swooped down, spewing breaths of concentrated death energy.


    Besides, he had the high-ranking water spirit Milena with him, and she was definitely a great help when it came to immobilizing enemies.


    The skies were covered in dark clouds of smoke from the explosions happening all across the battlefield, the blood of a few unfortunate mages that were defeated by their undead opponents rained down on the ground, along with torn-off body parts and ripped-out innards.


    Undead trolls clunked axes and their ogre counterparts swung theirrge war hammers, all while both physical and magical arrows hissed through the air and pierced their rotting flesh.


    Some soldiers and adventures screamed out with both fear and rage, with some others breaking down into sobs at the sheer amount of death and destruction happening around them.


    Swords were ringing against each other, the army troops'' formations had long been broken, legions of undead knights attacked unfortunate adventurer parties, while powerful mercenaries tore through the Draugrs that charged at them madly.


    The septic smell of death hung over the battlefield, further increasing the ambient concentration of death energy in the battlefield and forcing more of the coalition force''sbatants to fall back to Eliza''s domain to purify themselves.


    Priests of the Church of Artemisia and those of the other gods had their work cut out for them, standing strong in their duty despite being one of the highest priority targets for the undead creatures.


    As the acrid taste of blood rose up in the mouths of the fighters, the Eighth Fingernded on the floor and silently reduced the size of his domain, as the energy consumption for keeping it up was getting to him, especially in his current state where his stat values were reduced.


    He had also expended a lot of energy battling against Grand Mage Czac, and had to resort to using magic stones as energy sources for his spells when Heinr joined the fray.


    "Rise, My servants."


    While reducing the size of the domain even further, he called forth an additional troop of undead, taking care to avoid the side where it collided with Eliza''s so she remained unaware of his actions.


    Dominik had kept the domain active for over an hour while summoning tens of thousands of undead and fighting against multiple grandmasters, and despite the fact that topographic-type abilities like this had a huge initial energy cost, after which they consumed little energy from the user and absorbed most from the surroundings, even that was beginning to prove too much.


    He stealthily downed a couple of magic potions, clicking his tongue when he realised their effectiveness was beginning to wane from short-term overuse.


    "What about Vazgan?"


    [I''m done with him��but to be honest, I do not expect much from him unless he''s given more time to recover.]


    "Unfortunately, we do not have that time, Duke Cheverton is recovering more as we speak and we cannot have that. We need Vazgan to upy him and force him to expend more energy again."


    [Should Ie out and join you?]


    "No��and reserve your energy too. Something isn''t right about this situation.


    The person with the soul-damaging ability hasn''t shown up, neither has the adventurer who used that strange ice on you when before.


    I suspect they still have more forces in store somewhere."


    [True��I would keep watch for those two.


    Also, we''re out of bone wyverns. They were not much in the first ce and you gave one to each of the Death Knights so there aren''t any left.


    Same with the Grandmaster Death Knights and Duhans, they have also all been deployed too.]


    "And yet, we still have not forced them to show all their hands.


    They were more prepared than we expected, and that damn Laneford only made things worse.


    If it wasn''t for him, I would have had more leeway in dealing with these A-rank adventurers, could have even taken out that Pdin with those artifacts."


    [No use crying over spilt milk.


    We sacrificed those artifacts to hold him back because we had no choice. If we did not, he would have thrown arger wrench in our ns.]


    "True.


    Anyway, I''m reducing the domain even further. You be ready to use Demonic Fusion at any point in time."


    Zacr just hummed in reply before going silent, while Dominik took a deep breath and absorbed ambient death energy into his body, closely watching the Grand Mage and the Pdin who were retreating behind enemy lines to rest.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ''It''s like they''re changing shifts.''


    Those were his thoughts as he gave a side nce in the direction of the Lesser Lich King who was exchanging multi-elemental magic with Tisha, sighing as he ced his hands on the ground and spoke.


    "Summon Undead Second."


    �� �� ��


    Cab Room A5


    Royal Pce, Gerfast


    Great Western Empire


    April 30th


    Year 1052


    The Emperor of the Great Western Empire sat with his chin on his palm, staring at the nobles'' pallid expressions after viewing the sheer amount of undead and the destruction happening on the battlefield.


    His wife, Empress udia, and children, Crown Prince Richard, and Princess Laurene sat nking him.


    Because of the nobles'' unrest over the Emperor''srge-scale military mobilisation order a few weeks earlier, they were now watching the battle in the unnamed savannas of the Cheverton Duchy.


    They learned about the undead dilemma in Cheverton from numerous sources, but Duke Cheverton restricted the information that they learned.


    As a result, they misjudged the severity of the situation and the number of resources needed to address it.


    When the Emperor mobilised multiple Army Divisions and even sent a Major General, they raised rms.


    These were officer-ranked personnel who only moved in wartime, so the nobles'' concern for the Emperor mobilising them and their divisions was natural.


    Many noble''s imaginations ran wild with possibilities, the most popr being that the man was using the undead outbreak as an excuse to relocate the army in advance of a conflict with the neighbouring country of Hobha.


    They rallied together and demanded an exnation, and on this fateful day, the Emperor summoned them to show them their ''exnation''.


    There were obviously far too many nobles in the Empire for all of them to fit into a single cab room.


    Only the highest and middle-ranking nobles were present, including several with Count titles and above.


    These nobles were all men and women who had been in power for decades, old enough that Duke Roger was actually among the youngest nobles present, and the man was 45!


    Although they were all master-level entities who had witnessed many battles throughout their long lives and journeys to reach such existence levels, nothing they had ever seen before couldpare to what they were witnessing now.


    They now understood why the Emperor had mobilised so many soldiers, as even the Holy knights, Adventurers, Mercenaries, and mages of Kasteblum, along with the Emperor''s massive army, were barely enough against the hordes of undead that the Eighth Finger spawned every few minutes.


    In their shock at how bad the undead crisis was, few noticed that Laurene, the youngest and least experienced in the room, did not bat an eye when she saw the battlefield.


    Of course, it was because she had memories of far worse battlefields, but they didn''t know this.


    The Emperor nced at his daughter and sighed, displeased that she had made herself a target of the organisation where this necromancer who casually summoned tens of thousands of undead belonged.


    He looked at the nobility and coughed before continuing.


    Remember that the only reason I entertained your ''request'' was because I authorized Duke Cheverton''s decision to keep the news of the crisis under wraps so as to prevent unrest in other parts of the country.


    You all wanted to know why I had the army move? Well, here''s your answer.


    The necromancer who caused the cmity in Graugro twenty-five years ago came here to target us...surely that''s sufficient to call up our soldiers and three of our Ten Great Swordsmen, right?


    Especially considering that everybody knows the undead wouldn''t stop at conquering the Duchy if they could.


    The nobility had little choice but to agree with him, but they quickly noticed something wasn''t quite right about what he said, and a Marquis spoke up to call it out.


    "Three? Excuse me, Your Majesty, but I''ve only seen Duke Cheverton thus far.


    If three of the Ten Great Swordsmen were sent, who and where are the other two, and why aren''t they fighting?"

 Chapter 414 The Lich King’s Tier 3 Spell

    "��If three of the Ten Great Swordsmen were sent, who and where are the other two, and why aren''t they fighting?"


    The man''s question remained unanswered as the Emperor slowly turned his gaze back to projection, just in time for the intelligence officer recording to turn the device towards the battle between a certain gravity mage and a lesser lich king.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    ''This damn Lich is nning something!''


    Those were the thoughts of the green-eyed woman as she noticed that the Lesser Lich King had only been using spatial magic for the past minute.


    As a mage herself, she was well aware that there was no way that a Lich of all undead beings, would only be versed in one aspect of the Arcane arts.


    Even she, who despite having Gravity Magic as her forte, delved into other elemental paths like fire and light, and she was also capable of using basic spells of elements she did not possess affinities for.


    As such, when she noticed that the Lich King who had been using strange ancient spells she had never even heard about, suddenly stop using elemental magic and stick to space alone, she knew something was fishy.


    ''The lich is capable of casting spells despite being under the influence of my grounded embrace, now way it''s sticking to spatial magic simply for the reason ofbating my gravity distortion barrier.''


    "Purifying Javelin!


    Wild Bursting me!


    me Geyser!"


    She cast three tier two spells of the light and fire elements,mon weaknesses of undead creatures of all kinds, but the me spells had less of an effect, indicating that this lich had taken measures against said weakness, most likely with its robes, as it never dodged any of her me spells.


    However, light spells were tricky to handle, and the lich usually countered them with darkness spells, but now it was just utilising spatial magic power to carve out both the spell and the area surrounding it.


    ''It''s not using anything but spatial magic, and it''s not calling out spell names. Adding to the fact that its jaw bone has been lowered for a while, it''s definitely chanting a spell quietly.


    And a Tier 3 spell at that.''


    The moment she noticed what it was doing, she decided to up her game.


    She could handle the effects of a Tier 3 spell, but her weaker allies on the battlefield would definitely get caught in it, as such, she could not let it cast such.


    Tisha suspected that the Eighth Finger would not care about the deaths of grunt-level undead knights and mages since he had tens of thousands more in stock.


    She was not just idly floating in the air while having these thoughts, using multiple reverse gravity spells to pull up random undead from the ground and fling them as projectiles towards the lich king.


    The Lesser Lich king threw condensed spheres of spatial power at the massive undead and Tisha as he soared out of their paths.


    "Multiple Magic: Gravity Cutting."


    The woman cast another spell at the Lich, who was trying to fly away in an attempt to gain distance.


    Dozens of projected gravity shes cut through the air and the bone wyvern-riding death knight happened to fly into their path, splitting its body into three halves and leaving the adventurer and mage team facing it astonished.


    "Gravitational Whip."


    Purple magic formed a long whip from ambient gravitons around her wrist, which sheshed towards the fleeing Lesser Lich King.


    The whip curled around one of its leg, subsequently breaking its bones.


    She tugged on the whip and drew the lesser lich king towards her while releasing gravity shes which sliced through all matter.


    The lich tried to cut the whip with des of spatial magic, but the sheer amount of condensed gravitons used to make it proved too much for it to sever in its current state.


    Although it messed with the gravitational field surrounding her, the spell was great for detaining fleeing adversaries, particrly physically "weak" ones like the Lich, whose whole leg bones were cracked by the whip.


    With a grunt of irritation, the lich paused its chant and cast multiple spatial magic spells to block the projected gravity shes and "crunch" the space around Tisha, forcing her to instantly increase the effect of gravity on her body and decrease her altitude by over 100 metres.


    She had to unwind the gravitational whip that was disrupting the surrounding gravity, inadvertently freeing the Lich''s leg.


    "Bring down the hammer of Justice upon the agents of karmic evil.


    Light Magic: Empyreal Judge of Light!"


    After chanting, magic power surged around Tisha''s body, transforming into a massive half-body construct of dazzling golden light dressed in a judge''s robe and wig.


    The humanoid avatar of light was blindfolded and held a giant gavel that wasrge enough to match the construct''s huge body.


    Tisha, who was in the centre of the gigantic avatar, moved her right hand and indicated for it to attack, unaware that a certain hero was mimicking therge magic circle that slowly spun beneath the construct.


    Another magic circle arose beneath the Lesser Lich king, followed by another light construct; this time a gigantic circr sound block that spanned hundreds of metres in diameter.


    The Avatar then raised the massive gavel and mmed it down on the sound block, smashing the lich king''s body and the hundreds of undead that were unable to move due to the block''s restraining effects.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    **BOOOOMMM!!!!


    The gavel smashed all the undead knights to bits, burning them to ashes under the high concentration of light magic, while the shockwaves turned the nearby undead into chunks of rotten flesh.


    Despite this spell''s devastating effects, the lesser lich king took zero damage as it had surrounded its body with spatial magic power that carved a hole right through the centre of the gavel''s head.


    The Lich resumed chanting and flew out of the gavel''s head, while cautiously observing as the Avatar''s massive head slowly turned towards it.


    The lich couldn''t tell because of the Empyreal Judge of Light''s non-transparent body, but Tisha was doing the same thing as it, chanting a Tier 3 spell that she had researched and shortened, a spell that made Dominik ce her at the top of his hit list when he learned she had used it prior to this.


    The avatar raised itsrge gavel again at her order given by a part of her consciousness, but the lesser Lich King hadpleted its spell in that time.


    [Spatial Magic: Dainn''s Heirloom Sword.]


    The Lich''s wooden staff was carved by ambient space-infused magic power, given a sharp point and a lengthy de to somewhat resemble a sword, and coated with dense offensive spatial magic power.


    The concentrated spatial magic power coiled around the sword-staff and expanded its length to almost five meters, yet the lich effortlessly gripped it with one hand like it had a feather''s weight.


    It turned its inferno sights towards the iing giant gavel and carelessly swung the sword in the direction of the gavel.


    From the sword, a gigantic sh of offensive spatial magic that increased in size the further it travelled, carved through space and ''erased'' the head of the gavel entirely.


    A second swing erased the giant light avatar''s arm and half of the magic circle below it.


    The sh cut through the random adventurers, knights, and undead on the ground, erasing their bodiespletely.


    Beads of sweat dripped down Tisha''s face as she sped up the final phase of her chant, generating another giant gavel on the avatar''s left hand and making it swing as fast as it could towards the lich king.


    Unfortunately, the Lesser Lich King was faster, swinging the de again and splitting the gigantic gavel in two.


    The avatar let go of the fading gavel and reabsorbed the magic in the parts that weren''t carved through, clenching its fist and punching forward, only to have its entire arm sliced into three by the sword''s three-pronged sh of offensive spatial magic.


    One of the three spatial ruptures reached the area where Dominik was fighting one of the unnamed S-rank adventurers, forcing them to dodge as the rupture carved up the ground between them, creating a depression in the ground about 200 metres in width and more than twice that in depth.


    The avatar of light shattered into fragments as its constituting magic power dispersed into the surroundings.


    Even so, the Lich King was wary since it couldn''t locate Tisha''s figure in the Empyreal Judge of Light''s former location.


    Theck of feedback it received made itpletely sure that the Gravity Mage was not even grazed by the spatial shes.


    ''Where is sh-!''


    Its question was answered before it could evenplete it, as Tisha appeared behind him waving her staff and deploying magic spells of different attributes and tiers.


    [Quintuple Casting?!]


    It was shocked just like the other lich she had faced in the day, but that did not slow its movements as it turned around and shed through three of the five spells in an instant, erasing them entirely.


    ''Wait��those were all tier 0 and 1 spells!''


    It reversed its grip on its de and was about to send out another sh, only for the number of spells it had carved through to ring in its mind.


    ''I cut through three�� where''s the fourth and fifth?!''


    **BOOMM!!


    A huge arm-shaped golem of rocks and dirt burst out of the ground and grabbed the lich''s leg, yanking it down and smashing it so hard that its body rebounded back up.


    Its grasp on the de loosened ever so slightly, but the lich quickly tightened it and spun around, shing through the arm holding it.


    But before it could do anything more, arge shadow was suddenly cast upon it, prompting the lich king to gaze up and see just what was causing this shadow.


    Its inferno sights were met with the sight of a gigantic three-ringed purple magic circle, instantly identifying it as the fourth spell Tisha had cast earlier.


    On a side note, the arm construct of earth was the work of another mage and not Tisha.


    Looking up towards the sky, it watched a radiant purple magic circle with intricately intertwined lines and spell forme shimmering into existence behind Tisha, with the three dark purple rings around it showing its tier.


    ''This��this was the reason why Master Vk said this woman had to go!''


    Those were the Lich''s thoughts right before five identical dark purple portals opened up around her, forming a hexagram of doom.


    "Gravity Magic: Carnage of the Void."

 Chapter 415 Carnage Of The Void

    A ''small'' hail of meteorites was summoned from the void beyond the deep purple portals, streaking across the sky in all their zing glory.


    The attention of every single entity on the battlefield was grasped by this spell, undead, living beings, humans, beastmen, dwarves, elves and all.


    Even the civilians who were far away in Bultom City were able to glimpse the giant purple portals and the meteorites that emerged from within them.


    They say a Grandmaster level existence within the levels of 300 to around 370 could destroy an average-sized town in a single attack, but in this current scenario, forget destroying a town, those meteorites had enough destructive power to level an entire city with ease!!��if it was cast when Tisha was at full power, that is.


    Fortunately, or Unfortunately, the current Tisha had expended most of her energy reserves in the day''s battles, and even ran out of magic power as the meteors were flying through the air.


    Dominik who had just consumed huge amounts of death energy to silently summon an army of undead knights and skeleton mages quite a distance away from the main battlefield, more than five thousand in number, looked on in shock as he saw the meteors streak over towards the undead he had just summoned.


    The Lich swung its spatial sword from left to right, slicing apart the first meteor into tworge halves that dropped onto the ground.


    However, just when it reversed its grip and wanted to swing in the opposite direction to cut the second meteor, the fifth spell that Tisha had activated finally took effect.


    "Dy Magic: Twin Gravitation Whips"


    Dy Magic was a simple type of magic that caused another type of spell to have its moment of activation dyed when cast.


    As such, the Gravitational Whip spell that had been cast earlier, was dyed until now, activating at the worst possible moment for the lesser lich king.


    Two small dark purple portals appeared behind it and the whips of condensed gravitons shot out of them, with one wrapping around both the Lich''s arm and the handle of the sword, while the other wrapped around the Lich''s skull and dragged it to the ground.


    The Lesser Lich King was mmed down onto the ground unexpectedly, right before the meteor it was about to cut in two crashed down on it, with the other meteors following suit.


    ***KAAABOOOOMM!!!!!!!!


    Although Tisha ran out of magic power mid-way, forcing the spell to be cancelled after just a few meteors came out, the impact of these gravity-magic-coated rocks crashing onto the ground was enough to deal with the Lesser Lich King, as well as the thousands of undead Dominik had just summoned.


    The earth shook and the sky rumbled, with a small cloud of smoke, dust and mes rising into the clouds, quickly taking on the shape of a mushroom of mes.


    "A fuckin Nuke Drop!!!"


    Evan''s strange shout was drowned out by the sounds of the explosion, but even if the explosion was not there, people were too busy trying to maintain their footing to give a shit about what he was saying.


    Knowing the effects of her spell, Tisha only dropped three of the smallest meteors towards the lich, before sending the rest of them in the direction of the undead army in the distance, as such, those on the battlefield had a lot easier time dealing with the aftershocks.


    Minus the fact that she took out a lot of undead, there were unavoidably a few friendly casualties caused by her explosion, the main reason why other grandmaster-level existences had not pulled out huge AOE attacks as great as this.


    The Gravity mage had expended all her energy and fell into a magic deficient state, something that would be fatal to any mage on this battlefield, but the true danger to her life, however, was not her magic deficiency.


    "TISHAA!!!!"


    The voice of one of her party members boomed out over the noise of the receding explosion as he dropped his sword and kicked off the ground and jumped up into the air to catch the falling mage.


    His hands were instantly stained with blood the moment he caught her, shaking slightly as he tried to use his energy to at least stop her bleeding and prevent her from losing any more blood.


    He cast a hateful re towards the one responsible for the ''brand new'' hole in her torso, the Eighth Finger of the Demonic hand whose hand was still raised as he just finished casting a death-hollow magic spell.


    "Tsk��didn''t get her in one hit, seems her gravity distortion barrier is a passive that does not consume her own energy. My hollow bullet''s power was reduced by half when it got within a few metres of her."


    [You can finish her off while they are still in shock, I''d send out more undead.]


    Dominik in response to Zacr''s words, was about to take a step forward only to feel a sharp pain in his chest, causing him to drop down on one knee.


    [Dominik?!]


    "��Bacsh? She actually managed to break my domain?!"


    He turned his head towards Eliza''s direction, locking gazes with the battle priestess whose life aura was far more dense and powerful than before, despite the fact that she was supposed to be weaker after having sustained her domain for so long.


    The two undead knight corpses at her feet that were slowly melting under her domain instantly let Dominik realise what just happened.


    [She killed them and became a superior stage!]


    Indeed, Eliza had sessfully reached the final stage of the master level, taking advantage of the momentary burst of power and Dominik''s distracted state to force his domain back and even manage to break a part of thework of energy that made it up.


    Of course, the only bacsh Dominik felt was just a sharp pain, showing she really did not do much, but it was enough for Dominik to reach the limits of tolerating her.


    "Shadow Knight."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    A masked light-armoured undead knight with two short swords at its hips emerged from the domain around Dominik and silently dropped to one knee.


    "Kill the girl."


    Upon receiving themand, the shadow knight nodded and leaned backwards, falling on the ground and melding into its own shadow.


    Travelling through the various shadows cast on the ground, the grandmaster-level undead crossed the distance between Dominik and Eliza within mere seconds, arriving within a hundred metres of her as it began condensing magic power around the de in its right hand.


    However, it let out a surprised voice as the eyes of the cat on the girl''s shoulder turned his gaze in its direction and locked eyes with it.


    Half a secondter, it found itself forcefully ejected from the shadow of the holy knight it was in, its inferno sights narrowing slightly before swinging its sword and beheading the poor knight.


    Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the holy knight''s head flew off its neck and slowly began descending towards the ground.


    His boosted life force was useless against instant beheading, but it kept the knight conscious to see the events that yed out within the next five seconds.


    Dozens of shadowy appendages stretched out towards the shadow knight but its death energy-coated sword cut through all of them with ease.


    The shadow knight then unsheathed its second de and coated it with death energy before flinging it in the direction of the lightning spirit that was charging towards it from afar.


    Ka who had unknowingly taken distance from Eliza''s position and was trying to return upon sensing the shadow knight, was momentarily stopped in her tracks by the shadow knight''s sword, along with therge mass of death energy swirling around it.


    A sphere of ck light appeared in the air and was about to release a blindingly fast beam of dark light, but the shadow knight''s reaction was faster, instantaneouslyunching a dozen death energy spears towards Kuro''s ''Brightest Shadow'', piercing through the sphere and forcefully cancelling it out, momentarily stunning the shadow spirit.


    Next was a burst of death energy that knocked back all the pdins who were around Eliza, with magic spears of the same energy beingunched at the ones who stood their ground.


    The pdins who were weaker than normal after having spent the past hour passing their energy into Eliza to help her heal thousands ofbatants, took longer than usual to deal with the shadow knight''s magic.


    Eliza herself did not just sit back like a damsel in distress to be protected, instantly activating her flower cannon skill behind her, at the same instant she generated five translucent barriers of light in front of her.


    Sadly, the shadow knight had expected her to at least ''do something'' to protect herself, so it was not caught off guard and calmly swung down its death energyden sword, releasing a projected sh that sliced through Eliza''s hastily made barriers with rtive ease.


    Eliza had tried to use the barriers to buy time for her flower cannon to charge up, but that n was rendered void when she saw the projected sh tearing through her barriers like paper.


    Right before it sliced through herst barrier and just when she let Kuro''s shadows drag her body out of the way to make her dodge the sh, the translucent barrier was suddenly infused with more energy than Eliza''s maximum amount.


    **BOOOMMM!!!!


    The sh collided with the strengthened barrier at the same instant that the severed holy knight''s head dropped to the ground and life went out of his eyes.


    [What?!]


    The shadow knight let out a confused voice, its inferno sights widening in shock as it truly did not expect a miracle to happen at thest moment and save Eliza''s life.


    [Wait��that energy is not hers!]


    It believed it was Eliza who strengthened the barrier with life energy, however, it realised a secondter that although it was the same life energy Eliza used, its source was different.


    In the next second, the barrier transformed into a giant palm construct of green light that grabbed the shadow knight''s body and squeezed tightly.


    **SQUELCH!!


    A bizarre sound rang out as the shadow knight''s body, apanied by the undead creature''s screams as the sheer amount of life energy in the energy construct squeezing it was too much for even a grandmaster-level undead to take.


    The energy construct then burst into green mes, and within a few seconds, the body of the grandmaster-level shadow knight became ashes that were blown away by the wind.


    Everyone nearby was naturally shocked by this strange urrence, they looked towards Eliza but the look of shock on her face told them she was not the reason.


    Her eyes then narrowed a momentter as she turned her gaze into the sky, just in time to catch the figure of a man who was looking straight at her, right before his body was covered by a passing dark cloud.


    "��Uncle��"


    The battle priestess muttered to herself as she recognized the identity of the man floating in the sky.


    As for the man himself, he turned his gaze towards the direction where the Gravity Mage who now had a hole in her torso was being healed by a mage while her party members surrounded her to protect her.


    A fleeting nce was thrown in Dominik''s direction as he saw the Deathlord being attacked by a certain troll emperor, with two A-rank adventurer corpsesying not too far from their location.


    "The Mage first, I guess."

 Chapter 416 Variable Removed

    "The Mage first, I guess."


    The man spoke to himself before vanishing and reappearing beside the mage who was trying to help the unconscious Tisha keep her life, surprising all the A rankers around but he ignored them and ced a hand on her torso before infusing tremendous amounts of life energy into her wound.


    The death energy that she was infected with was instantly expelled, and then right before her party members'' very eyes, they saw her flesh rapidly regenerating, closing up the hole in her torso within seconds.


    "Next, the undead."


    The man then turned in the direction of the new set of undead that Zacr summoned, ignoring the shocked Eighth Finger and dashing forwards with an outstretched hand.


    "Perish, disgusting creatures."


    A frown adorned his face as he coated his palm in life energy before flicking his fingers, causing streams of life energy to shoot out from the ground, breaking multiple holes in Dominik''s domain.


    The streams of life energy wrapped around the bodies of each individual undead, regardless of level, type or form, serving as restraints that prevented them from moving and kept them in ce.


    He then clenched his fist and punched down on the ground, infusing concentrated lie energy into the ground and calling out the name and activation words of his life + firebination magic.


    The ground cracked open and a wave of green mes burst out from within, sweeping towards the undead and burning them to ashes, a few hundred at a time.


    Within seconds, the undead troop numbering over five thousand strong were swallowed by the sea of green mes, with their screams ringing out as they all met ''death''.


    Just when half of them had perished and be ashes, the whole world suddenly turned monochrome, and the movements of everyone on the battlefield, the man included, ceased.


    But in this frozen world, one existence was still capable of movement, the one responsible for the current frozen state in the first ce.


    The red and blue-eyed man ced a hand on the shoulder of the man Eliza called uncle, before sighing and saying.


    "That''s as far as I''d let you go, Laneford.


    Any more and your actions would defeat the point of this being ''Evan''s story''."


    He turned his gaze in the direction of the ''burning'' undead for a moment, before vanishing from that spot, taking along with him, Eliza''s ''uncle''.


    Colour returned to the world and Dominik bore witness to this undead army that was in the process of bing ashes��instantly be ashes.


    "��the heck?!"


    The absurdity of what just happened was enough to momentarily drown out the anger that came with the fact that his army was destroyed by someone.


    Meanwhile, Evan who just heard about what happened from Kuro, had a deep frown on his face as he looked towards the direction where the green mes were slowly dying out and spoke.


    "Just now��time was stopped. Wasn''t it, Artemisia?"


    [��]


    Artemisia''s refusal to answer was basically an affirmation of Evan''s suspicion. For a short fraction of a second, he had the exact same feeling as thest time when a certain friend of Artemisia''s stopped time while leaving him conscious, leading him to instantly assume that the same had happened, just that he was not conscious of it.


    "What did he just do, why did he stop time now?"


    Evan did not want any unexpected urrences thiste into the game, so he questioned the goddess who he was sure saw everything that just happened on what the being who paused time did.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that an artificially induced variable had been taken out of the situation.


    She remarks that the reason the variable was introduced was because his presence was the only way to prevent the death of the entity ''Eliza Lane'' at the hands of the unnamed Shadow Knight.]


    Evan''s eyes widened in shock as he saw the notification that was disyed in front of him, zoning outpletely as even the shouts of Milena beside him could not reach his ears.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that the variable has been removed, however, the flow of events has been sped up considerably.]


    The voice of the goddess that rang out in Evan''s head a momentter snapped him out of his daze in an instant.


    |Brace yourself. |


    **BOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!


    Evan recovered his wits and turned his head in the direction of the explosion, catching the sight of arge cloud of dust that arose from the ground where Yetu''s unconscious body had been knocked towards.


    The next moment, a scene that Evan had seen multiple times in the game; ''Aidos Online'' yed out right in front of him.


    He saw the Eighth Finger spread out his arms and rouse his energy, followed by the emergence of five gigantic magic circles above and beside him, with each one having a diameter of nearly five hundred metres.


    �� �� ��


    Dominik Vk was a man that was capable of maintaining his cool even when faced with very absurd situations.


    When his right-hand man who had worked with him for over five decades was killed, he felt anger, but he did not flip out and only vented his rage on the random city he came across next.


    Even when he was attacked by a Laneford right before he was about to set out earlier in the morning, he did not feel rage and instead, but calmly analysed the situation and took actions that deterred the Laneford man from interfering in his n any further.


    When he saw that Eliza was the wielder of Child of Life, he momentarily cursed out, but instantly calmed down a momentter and tried to find if there was any connection between Eliza and the Laneford.


    Especially when has had previous conflicts with that n over the previous ''Child of Life'' user whom he took out as they were a threat to him.


    But now��far too many things happened in quick session for him to keep his cool.


    First, Tisha wiped out his undead army.


    Then Eliza pushed back his domain and caused him bacsh.


    He then got attacked by Yetu on his way to end Tisha''s life.


    Suddenly, his connection to his shadow knight was cut off abruptly, signifying its death.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Then Duke Cheverton suddenly re-entered the battlefield.


    Then the cherry on top, he felt the Laneford''s aura again, right before an army of thousands of undead turned to ashes.


    All of these, happened in the span of a single minute.


    Even for someone like Dominik, maintaining his calm was simply impossible.


    He simply snapped.


    And when a necromancer as powerful as Dominik Vk snaps, the result can never be pretty.


    **BOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!


    The sheer amount of death energy that was released from his body shocked all those nearby, and it spread out so fast that even Duke Cheverton had to go full speed to avoid getting caught.


    Strangely enough, it did not spread further than a certain distance, stopping after going a bit over a kilometre away from him.


    Next, gigantic three-ringed magic circles appeared all around Dominik''s lone figure.


    They were arranged in a grid format, one on either side, one above each of the two on his sides, and then one above his head.


    The magic circles were brimming with death essence manipted by the child of death skill, along with dark magic and a few non-attributed magic symbols within it.


    All five of them were almost exactly identical to each other, and to all those looking, there was no difference.


    In fact, there was no one present who had the peace of mind to even think about looking for differences.


    No one, except a certain reincarnated hero.


    �� �� ��


    The Duke, Ralphie, Sir Luke, and others queried Evan about the Eighth Finger''s trump card a few days ago when he was detailing the man''s skills.


    "You see, the trump card is the Eighth Finger''s most powerful undead, so powerful that he has a hard time controlling it in his weakened state, so unless things are really bad, he would not use it.


    The size of it necessitates a big summoning circle to summon it from his undead storage, not Zacr''s.


    "We can deal with this trump card in three ways;


    First, we kill the Eighth Finger before he can pull it out��arguably the most difficult method.


    Second, we can erase the necromancer mark he ced on the creature''s soul, but even if we seed, it will rampage and attack anything in sight.


    Third, we hit it at its one moment of weakness. The moment it''s most vulnerable.


    The point of its summoning."


    The youngster took a deep breath and drained a juice pack before continuing.


    "The point between him summoning the circle and the creatureing out. Attacks to the summoning circle would permanently injure the summoned undead, making those few seconds its weakest.


    "Why not destroy the circle?"


    "It runs on aw essence''s power; we need anotherw essence to destroy something like that. The most we can do is damage it greatly.


    ��


    Anyway, the Eighth Finger is not an idiot who''d shout it out for the world to hear that he''s pulling out his trump card.


    He would conceal it amid other summoning circles, making you believe he was summoning undead hydras or something.


    Part of the reason he summons it out with multiple others��is to confuse his opponents so they do not know which to attack.


    In that short moment of time, no one would be able to think about spotting differences, except me.


    And that''s because I already know exactly what that particr magic circle looks like.


    Ralphie, your non-magical unique skill is best suited for attacking it, so we''re counting on you.


    When I signal, you act."


    Hearing his words, Ralphie looked at him with raised brows and asked.


    "What signal?"


    Evan merely grinned and replied.


    "Don''t worry��you''ll know when I do it."


    �� �� ��


    Evan''s mystic eyes shined brightly as he nced across the magic circles rotating in the air,paring and contrasting with the image he had in his head while counting down the time to the summon''s appearance in his mind.


    When his eyes locked onto a particr one, he noticed a slight difference in the characters around the third outer ring of the magic circle.


    And whenpared it to the one he knew from the game, they were 100% identical.


    Immediately, he raised the voice-amplifying artifact (megaphone) he kept prepared in his inventory especially for this, infusing magic power into his voice to amplify it even further and screamed out with all his might.


    [RALPHIE!!!!!!!!!!!! BOTTOM RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

 Chapter 417 Trump Card

    [RALPHIE!!!!!!!!!!!! BOTTOM RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]


    In that same instant, a streak of blue light shot across the battlefield, so fast that besides the grandmaster-level existences focused on Dominik, everyone else was too startled by Evan''s sudden scream to notice it.


    As for the Eighth Finger himself, the moment he heard the words ''bottom right'', his heart skipped a beat.


    He turned around while trying to activate another spell, with Zacr even bursting out of his hiding spot and activating multiple magic spells towards the streak of light but it was too fast and too unexpected for them to hit.


    They saw as the streak of light crashed right on the ground right in front of the bottom right magic circle, its true identity being revealed to be a blonde-haired man with blue coloured eyes.


    Surrounding the normal-looking sword in his hands, was a mass of light blue aura that instantly attracted all grandmasters present to be on guard just from feeling the sheer density of it.


    Zacr instantly recognized that aura; the hair colour was different but he was sure that this was the exact same man who used that strange ice on him.


    "Aura Storm."


    "N-!!!"


    **KAABOOOOMMM!!!!!!


    A loud explosion rang out, with a cloud of dust, dirt and a strange blue-coloured smoke rising up into the air instantly.


    Four of the five magic circles were destroyed by the waves of shock and aura that spread out the moment Ralphie''s attack hit.


    As for the Fifth��


    ''It''s still standing?! And it''s activating!!''


    Ralphie instantly jumped backwards with all his might, taking as much distance as he could before a second explosion rang out, increasing the amount of smoke that rose up into the skies.


    However, Ralphie''s focus was not on the smoke at all, but on therge shadow that could be seen behind it.


    All the adventurers, soldiers and knights on the battlefield also saw the same shadow, and their reactions, were exactly as Evan had expected.


    A strange silence overwhelmed the battlefield, even the undead stopped fighting as they were all suppressed by the pressure of a much superior undead existence.


    **CLANG!


    It was unknown whose weapon it was, but one random man first dropped his weapon on the floor, before bursting out intoughter.


    "Hahahaha��Godddamit"


    As if taking that as a cue, random voices of various people all across the battlefield started ringing out one by one.


    "This��never thought I''d ever see one in my life."


    "I knew I should not have epted that quest."


    "��maybe I should have thought twice before enrolling in the army."


    "to think there''de a day when I''d regret making an oath to be a knight."


    "This is wayyyyy out of our league."


    Some dropped to their knees in resignation when they felt the pressure being emitted by the existence whose silhouette they could see within the clouds of dust.


    A silent wind blew westward, clearing up the cloud of dust and revealing the appearance of this undead.


    First off, its body was mastadonic in size, spanning a bit over five hundred metres long lengthwise.


    Its upper body was covered in ck, irregrly shaped partially broken scales covered by multiple grey markings that were the same as those that appeared on the magic circle that summoned it.


    A singr pair of rotten, partially torn bat-like wings stretched out of its back, and it had a fairly long barbed tail that ended in a stinger-esque shape.


    As for the lower body, specifically its chin, chest, stomach, inner tail, thighs, and arms, they had a ck miasma-like colour, looked heavily dposed and released a putrid smell.


    Its mouth was full of razor-sharp teeth, ones as sharp as the ws on its forelimbs and attached to its chin was a small protrusion resembling an arrowhead.


    Atop its snout was a singr grey-coloured horn, one that covered the space in between its sunken eye sockets that held not the sight organs that were supposed to be there.


    Instead, two bright red inferno sights burned brightly within the eyes of this creature as it scanned the entire battlefield silently.


    It was something that almost anyone in Aidos could easily identify without even seeing its full appearance.


    Ralphie, and Duke Cheverton who saw its appearance and realised the true creature''s strength, instantly realised the reason why Evan had been so wary about it.


    The reactions of the soldiers and adventurers who saw this creature were also normal.


    After all, the Eighth Finger''s trump card;


    Was a freakin'' Undead Dragon.


    �� �� ��


    The Undead Dragon silently scanned the battlefield, ignoring the tens of thousands of ''worms'' on the floor, looking for one singr being.


    The moment it locked eyes with the blue-eyed man who injured it, its inferno sights shed and it finally let out the roar everyone had unconsciously been expecting.


    [GRROOOOOOOOOAAAARRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]


    Its magic-infused roar resounded across the battlefield, the sound waves spreading out alongside the magical waves of one of the Dragon Race''s innate menace radiating and terror-inducing abilities.


    Dragon Fear.


    Luckily, it was far weaker than the dragon fear of a dragon that was still alive, but even so, it was still capable of rendering thousands of soldierspletely unable to fight any further, along with the undead whose very souls had been terrorized by this ability.


    Only superior stage Master Level, and grand master level existences were able to stand their ground after hearing this fear-inducing roar.


    The dragon then wed its way out of the giant portal generated by the summoning circle, locking on to Ralphie who red his aura in response, an act that enraged the Undead Dragon as it felt that Ralphie had confidence in defeating it, despite the fact that it was clearly stronger.


    Its body was wrapped in a thick coat of death energy, and it opened its mouth to roar once more, only to be distracted by the loud voice of a certain hero.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    [IT WORKED!!]


    Evan''s sudden exmation had the Dragon momentarily confused, with it turning towards the tiny human boy who was still standing fearlessly after its roar.


    Seeing that the Dragon''s attention had turned to him, Evan inwardly cursed the him of a few seconds ago who forgot to turn off the megaphone in his hands.


    [Ah!...shit.]


    Current Evan definitely had no chance of defeating this undead creature, so he did what anyone in his position and his circumstances would most definitely do.


    [SIR LUKE!!!]


    He called for help from a stronger force.


    However, that proved to be unnecessary, as his help was already in position.


    "No need to shout, kid.


    I''m already here."


    The causal voice that rang out had the Undead Dragon gobsmacked for the second time today as it did not notice when the man standing right beside its left forelimb got there.


    Dominik and Zacr were even more shocked as they also did not sense his presence, and this is taking into notice that they were capable of sensing the very life forces of living beings.


    "Laser Sword."


    A pir of bright red light shot straight into the sky, mming into the undead Dragon''s lower chin and giving it a nice ''smack'' that caused its head to bend backwards.


    Without even a second''s gap, Luke switched his sword grip and swung down the giant sma de that reminded Evan of a lightsaber and seeded in nearly tearing a part of the undead dragon''s wing off.


    He then swung the sword once more and delivered a swift horizontal sh, knocking into the side of the Dragon''s body and actually causing it to lightly fly into the air, before crashing back down on the ground with its side.


    Silence pervaded the battlefield as the series of urrences of the past few moments were just too dumbfounding.


    Despite this, one of the beings responsible for the dumbfounding action of knocking down a dragon with just a few sword swings, casually sheathed his sword and turned to the two necromancers staring at him in shock before speaking.


    "Oh my��To think you actually have to gall to turn your back and look at me? Especially when your opponent is Charles of all people?


    You''re quite arrogant, if I do say so."


    Sir Luke''s words instantly snapped the two necromancers back to reality, with their danger senses ringing rm bells at them to inform them of the iing danger from behind.


    But it was a bit toote.


    "Zero Sword: Fourth Form."


    *SHRING!


    The sound of metal des being rubbed against each other rang out as a thin sh of blue light projected from the Duke of the North''s de tore through the air and nearly severed the arm of the Eighth Fingerpletely.


    "GAAAHHH!!!"


    Dominik Screamed out as he held his half-severed arm that was gushing blood, jumping back to take as much distance as he could from Duke Charles.


    "Hmm? I missed?"


    Zacr coated his fist with darkness-attributed magic power and kicked off the ground, beelining straight towards Duke Charles who was not in the position to unleash another ''Zero Sword'', before throwing out a rage-filled punch.


    In response, Duke Charles only let his sword fall to the ground before coating his own fist in his lightning magic and activating his brilliant lightning rush, throwing out a punch that collided with Zacr''s iing fist.


    **BOOOOM!!!


    The Mid rank demon was knocked back dozens of metres by the shockwaves emitted from the collision, while Duke Charles only had his feet pushed back by less than fifty cm.


    Looking towards Sir Luke who was staring at him in silence, he spoke.


    "Sir Luke��"


    "I know, I''d handle the rotten lizard."


    His words were heard by the undead dragon that had gotten up and was about to release another fear-inducing roar, pissing the creature off as it swiped with itsrge death energy-covered ws to grab Sir Luke''s body.


    "Nuh, uh."


    Sir Luke let out those two sounds as he kicked off the ground and jumped into the air to dodge the w swipe that gouged out part of the earth, before coating his fist in bright red magic power and delivering a clean uppercut to the undead dragon right before its roar came out.


    **BBOOMM!!!


    His fist thundered down on it with enough force to shatter the dragon''s jaw bones and force it to spit out pieces of rotten flesh and shattered bones.


    As gravity pulled him back to the ground, he pulled out his weapon and reactivated his ''Laser Sword'', generating a pir of light that shot out horizontally, mming into the chest of the dragon and piercing through it slightly,


    However, the main aim of this was NOT to deal damage to the dragon so he did not care too much, instead, he used the energy that should have gone into attack power, to generate a knockback effect that pushed the dragon back by a few dozen metres.


    As the pir of light that was theser sword grew longer, so did the distance the Dragon was pushed back until it had grown to a whooping length of over 500 metres, almost exactly the length of the Dragon''s body.


    He then swung this sword and used it to whack the side of the Dragon''s head, causing the energy that was beginning to build up in its mouth to disperse.


    Deactivating the Laser Sword, he pulled his left hand back and gathered magic power in his palm before activating a skill.


    "Pyro Hazard."


    He swung his hand forward,unching a stream of mes across the ground and drawing using it to draw a line of scorched earth in front of him.


    Cracks then spread across the scorched earthen line, before the ground burst open and a wave of bright red mes surged forward and swept towards the undead Dragon that was about to charge towards Luke.


    "Hmm��that worked out better than I expected."

 Chapter 418 Demonic Fusion

    "Hmm��that worked out better than I expected."


    Luke remarked upon seeing the Dragon p itsrge wings, causing powerful gusts of wind to blow in all directions as it took to the skies in an attempt to avoid the iing wave of mes.


    "I just copied that Laneford man''s spell, but it worked out fine.


    Still��what was ''he'' of all people doing here, and how did he strangely disappear?"


    "GRROOOAAARRRRR!!!!"


    The loud roar of the now airborne dragon shook him out of his thoughts, causing the man to sigh softly as he spoke.


    "I guess these are thoughts forter."


    He then kicked off the ground and jumped into the air with his fist coated in a bright red fiery aura which emanated so much heat that those that were on the ground over a hundred metres away could feel it.


    **KAABOOOMMM!!!!


    The loud explosion and the resulting shockwaves of the sh were enough to shock those who were impaired by the Dragon fear back to their senses, with many of them wondering just who was it that was capable of taking on this powerful undead beast.


    And Evan provided them with the answer to that question.


    [WE HAVE THE SECOND, THIRD AND FOURTH OF THE TEN GREAT SWORDSMEN FIGHTING ALONG WITH US!!!!


    THE SWORD SAINT WOULD TAKE CARE OF THE BONE DRAGON, SO CHARGE FORWARD AND END ALL THE OTHER UNDEAD. WE ARE ALREADY VICTORIOUS!!!!!]


    The megaphone and voice magic infusionbined, once again carried the reincarnated hero''s voice across the battlefield, causing the eyes of many who heard his words to widen in shock.


    "��Second?!"


    "He''s the ''Great Swordsman'' is the one fighting the dragon?! Way to go!!"


    "What?! The Second Sword?! That''s Duke Bowthe!!"


    "The Sword Saint!!!"


    "Sir Thompson is here too?!"


    "I fucking knew it!!"


    "The lieutenant General is also here?!"


    "Lightning Sword, the Aura Sword and the Sword Saint!! The undead are done for!!!"


    Light returned to the eyes of those who had despaired upon the appearance of the dragon.


    Adventurers and mercenaries picked up their fallen weapons as cheers of joy began to ring out across the battlefield.


    The fallen morale of the coalition force instantly shot up to an all-time high, even higher than Evan had been expecting.


    But this was natural, the Ten Great Swordsmen were the Great Western Empire''s ''Strongest Cards''. With three of them present, thebatants were sure their victory was guaranteed.


    Especially when the fact that Sir Luke, who also had a ''Sword Saint'' title, was the onebatting the dragon.


    He''s an existence that had been famous long before many of the adventurers and knights present were even born, a powerful swordsman that once held the title of ''First Sword'' during the previous Emperor''s reign.


    Someone capable of battling the ''Human me'' of the Great Eastern Empire to a standstill.


    Someone many of them looked up to as a role model, a powerful being that they admired.


    And now that same person was fighting on the same battlefield as they were? It''d be stranger if they didn''t get hyped up.


    [You''re really selling out my reputation, kid.]


    "Of course, I am. What else is a reputation supposed to be used for?"


    Evan chuckled lightly as he replied to the voice of the Sword Saint through themunication device in his ear, all while engaged inbat with an undead knight that had particrly powerful sword-wielding techniques.


    "Now, focus on the undead dragon you''re fighting and kill it before it identally fires a breath and turns a certain nearby city in the distance into a sea of mes."


    [I''m going to ignore how contradictory your statement now was.]


    "Please do, I barely had any proper idea of what I said."


    After a light chuckle, Evan dodged the undead knight''s vertical sh, and spun his body around before delivering a horizontal aura sh towards its head, severing it from its neck.


    He then pulled his sword back and reactivated the aura sh, before slicing the undead''s body into five pieces.


    With a small sigh, Evan flicked off the ck blood on his sword and spoke to the Second Sword once more.


    "Now then, go on and fight your dragon. I have two Great Swordsmen to assist.


    Also��feel Free to release your limiter."


    [��Wait, how do you know abou-]


    The man''s voice was cut off when Evan causally deactivated themunicator and turned his gaze towards the direction where Ralphie and Duke Cheverton stood off with Zacr and Dominik.


    Although Zacr had wanted to go and chase after the Second Sword and the undead Dragon who were taking their battle further away, Dominik held him back and spoke with gritted teeth as he used ''Corrupted Recovery'' on his half-severed arm.


    "That''s Luke Bowthe��he''s the one ''Uno'' and I did not want to be here at all. Seems we were toote."


    The Demon''s eyes widened in slight surprise, but he quickly regained his calm and turned his attention to the two Grandmasters in front of him.


    It was then that Dominik drew his finger across the back of Zacr''s hand, a signal the two of them had agreed on earlier in the day.


    There was silence for a moment as Duke Charles and Ralphie calmly readied their weapons, and then in the next moment.


    "Geass of Vengeance!!"


    The Duhan King burst out from the small patch of Darkness behind Duke Charles, activating his skill and swinging his sword straight towards the man''s neck.


    However, Duke Charles'' lightning-fast speed allowed him to react to the sudden attack, turning around and blocking the sword of the Duhan King with an aura-filled de.


    At the same time, Zacr and Dominik both jumped backwards, two ck magic circles appearing around their arms as they both shouted out.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Demonic Fusion!!"


    **BOOMMM!!!


    A small explosion of demonic energy urred, pushing back Ralphie who had charged after them and even Sir Czac who was monitoring them from the skies.


    When the dust cleared up, the newly fused appearance of the Eighth Finger and his contracted demon was revealed.


    Taller, buffer, and obviously stronger.


    The Fused being possessed dark grey-coloured skin, with pitch ck sclera and deep red pupils that had a singr ring of grey around them.


    His facial features were unlike Dominik''s mncholic ones or Zacr''s casual ones, having a long thin nose, with canine teeth and a tattoo below his right eye.


    Long grey hair with deep red streaks that ran through it messily flowed down to his waist, in between the pair of bat-like wings that emerged from his back.


    The wings were ck, with each one having a magic circle inscribed on the inner parts.


    On his forehead was a strange crest that no one but Pride and Greed could recognize, the crest of the family that Zacr hailed from in the demon world.


    He raised a hand to push back his bangs, revealing the jagged lines that appeared on both of his wrists.


    Arge grey magic circle appeared behind him as he parted his lips to speak two words with a strangely echoing voice that sounded like a mix between Dominik''s and Zacr''s.


    [Death-Hollow Magic.]


    �� �� ��


    Luke Bowthe touched the two swords on his belt and looked at the damaged buildings around him as he walked through what was once a major road in the city of Pad.


    The city''s current state was truly an eerie sight. So many lives forgotten and whatever was left to show for it was slowly withering away as time went on.


    He saw many shattered possessions on the floor, including a torn bloodstained doll that once belonged to a child, which made him scowl.


    There were still thousands of weaker undead residing in this town, with levels around 50 or so, however, Luke''s presence was powerful enough to make them steer clear.


    Another reason they kept away was the massive undead creature that flew above the city, softly pping its decaying wings as it made its way to the city''s highest point while casting a broad shadow on the ground.


    **BAMM!


    The undead dragonnded atop what was once the City lord''s mansion, causing part of it to crumble to dust as it rose its head and locked gazes with Luke.


    The Dragon still had most of its intelligence and strength as an undead beast, so it was able to instantly discern that Luke had no intention of battling it on the Savannas and instead chose to fly over to the ruined city of Pad, kilometres away, for their battle.


    Regarding the coalition force''s members, the dragon considered them all, save the grandmasters, as worthless and had negative interest in them.


    The Eighth Finger did not order it to wreak havoc as originally nned since he understood the Dragon needed to concentrate on Luke to defeat the Sword Saint and could not have other grandmasters interfere.


    The Sword Saint silently stared at the undead dragon who stared back at it, a strange silence persisting for a few moments before he asked.


    "What was it?"


    His question made the Dragon''s head tilt to the side in confusion, apparently not understanding what the man had been talking about.


    "What was it about that boy that surprised you so much when you looked at him?"


    The undead dragon''s inferno sights widened ever so slightly, apparently surprised that Luke had noticed its earlier state of shock and discerned the cause.


    "The instant you looked at that boy, Evan, I sensed both shock and recognition from you.


    What did you recognize about him that left you so dumbfounded that you could not even throw out attacks properly even after a minute?"


    [��]


    After staring at Luke in silence for a while, the undead dragon sighed and dropped one of its forelimbs from the mansion''s roof before speaking.


    [If I had any intentions to let you leave here alive today, I would have told you to warn that boy to be careful.


    The fates of ''Irregrs'' like him, can turn out to be very grim.


    I, am very sure of this, after all, I was an Irregr myself when I was alive.


    My irregrity is also what brought me death. And it''s also why the necromancer spent days inscribing these mystical runes on my corpse to control me.]


    Unsurprisingly, the undead dragon was capable of speech much like other high-level undead, and it spoke of grim implications towards Evan''s new title.


    Evan''s irregr status startled Luke, who understood a bit about them.


    [If it was not for the fact that he possessed the child of death skill that let him manipte the Doctrine of Death''s essence, then that necromancer would have failed in his endeavour to reanimate me.]


    "Though��you are unable to use your full strength as a result."


    Luke''sment caused the undead dragon to snort in response, but the Sword Saint kept talking.


    "I''m sure Ralphie''s attack also dealt a great deal of damage to you."


    [Ralphie? Is that the name of that human with the strange icy aura?


    He would be my next target after I am done with you.]


    "Like you have any chance of leaving here ''alive''."


    Luke replied after a shortugh, remembering Evan''s words to him about his ''Limit'' and sighed.


    "That kid really is an irregr.


    Just how does he know about that?


    Guess I have a few more things to report to the Retired Emperor."


    When the Undead Dragon wondered what Luke was muttering, the man looked up at the undead and spoke deeply.


    "Release��limit."

 Chapter 419 Wiping Out Paglad

    "Release��limit."


    **BOOMM!!


    A burst of pure unattributed energy was released from his body, spreading out shockwaves that ttened all the buildings within a fifty-metre radius of him.


    Luke''s aura began rising higher and higher, breaking past the intermediate stage of his level, reaching the peak of the Grandmaster level��.and surpassing it entirely.


    The full power of the ''Sword Saint'' was revealed, making the undead dragon nod repeatedly to itself before saying.


    [So that''s where your strange confidence ising from.]


    It red its death aura wildly, locking eyes with the Sword Saint and continuing.


    [Oh well��since we''re all about releasing limits.]


    The undead dragon''s power instantly increased, showing that despite the fact that it was injured and weakened, it still possessed a great deal of strength left.


    Its left inferno sight turned a deep blue colour, with one-fifth of the right changing to a simr colour while the remaining four-fifths remained red.


    [I said I was an Irregr when I was alive, but I don''t recall saying I lost that status upon my death.]


    The moment it spoke, it grabbed the tower beside it and uprooted the building from the ground, tossing it like a projectile towards Luke who threw out his fist and punched it to smithereens.


    A giant w coated in death energy emerged from within the rain of rocks, slicing through the air as it made its way towards Luke''s body, but the man instantly jumped backwards to avoid it before cing his hand on the sword on his sheath.


    However, the sword he grabbed, was not the one he had used earlier to knock the undead dragon back, but the other sword, a sword he had not used in quite a while.


    He unsheathed the very long, slim, straight and sharp dual-edged de, made of a strange folded steel-like material and was held by a grip wrapped in high quality, ruby red scaled leather.


    The de had a broad, curved cross-guard, adding just enough weight to make sure the de sat firmly in the owner''s hand and protecting those same hands as well.


    "de of Lost Saints."


    In response to the name he called out, the two ornamental orbs on either side of the cross guard lit up with a small red glow, right before Luke infused his aura into it and activated his skill once more.


    "Laser Sword."


    The pir of bright red light erupted from the sword, shooting straight towards the undead dragon who gathered energy in its mouth andunched it out as a blue beam shot through the sky.


    **KAABOOMMM!!!


    Theser sword and the dragon breath collided with each other, resulting in an explosion that turned everything nearby to rubble, leaving a deep depression of a few metres deep in the ground.


    Both Luke and the undead dragon were knocked back by the shockwaves, however, they were rtively unharmed and only looked at each other before resuming their attacks.


    The dragon swiped with its ws multiple times, sending out three-pronged death aura shes towards the Sword Saint who swung his sword and blocked each sh with rtive ease.


    **BAAAMM!!


    Sword and ws collided with each other, cracking the ground underneath as the force of the sh was far too great for the already weakened earth to withstand.


    The undead dragon swiped its ws with speeds uncharacteristic of a creature with such arge body, but Luke did not seem surprised as he calmly blocked each sh with ease, not forgetting to toss in his own attacks once more.


    Seeing that its ws were not working, the undead dragon abruptly turned its huge body around and swung its tail towards Luke, mming his body with it and sending him flying.


    Despite this, the sword saint flipped in the air andnded on the ground, before kicking off the ground with enough force to crater the earth beneath his feet and charging forward.


    Unexpectedly, he suddenly threw his sword into the air, clenching his fist as a magic circle appeared around his wrist.


    Just when the undead dragon was about to take advantage of its magic resistance to tank the spell, it noticed that the magic circle around Luke''s wrist��had four rings!!!


    ''Tier 4 Magic? So fast�� Wait��it''s a me spell.


    There''s only one fourth-tier me spell that can be cast that fast!''


    The undead dragon''s thoughts only took half a second before it instantly began to activate defensive magic spells.


    Luke on the other hand, momentarily closed his eyes, reopening them wide a beatter as a fiery aura surrounded his entire arm.


    He then punched forward, activating one of the most powerful me Magic spells out there.


    "Brachium!"


    **KAAABOOOOMMM!!!!


    The fist collided with the undead dragon''s magic barriers, shattering through nearly a dozen barriers like ss before its momentum finally began to reduce.


    Nevertheless, it was still plenty powerful, enough to shatter through the rest of the barriers in 2 seconds and collide with the w of the dragon behind it.


    A cloud of smoke and white me rose up into the air, clearing up to reveal that everything within a radius of dozens of kilometres had been reduced to scorched earth.


    Buildings, roads, and every other structure were instantly turned to dust by the explosion.


    And the end result of this explosion��was that the undead dragon lost its entire left forelimb.


    ''Good thing my ''Irregrity'' was rted to elemental resistance��I would have lost more than just a forelimb if it was not.''


    The undead dragon thought to itself as it used a great deal of death energy to forcefully regenerate the missing limb.


    A cracked bone burst out of the spot where the limb once was, followed by rotten flesh that squished about while wrapping around the cracked bone.


    The area around the joints was also regenerated, and after doing so, the dragon flexed the forelimb''s ws before turning to Luke who was only staring at it silently.


    Seeing the fiery aura that still surrounded his fist and the grin on his face, the undead dragon instantly realised Luke was trying to make him exhaust his death energy reserves.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It quickly swiped its ws across the air, generating multiple magic circles as the ground cracked open to reveal a flood of water that surged forward, sweeping across the scorched earth and forming a newke as the wave surged towards Luke.


    Streams of pressurized water shot up and shot towards s him, dozens of water javelinsunched themselves, along with water whips that tried to bind his limbs all at the same time.


    Even so, Luke jumped up and dodged all these with finessending atop the flood of water before using magic power on his feet and sliding across it like he was riding a wave.


    [Hoh��it seems your water magic mastery is not too far behind your me mastery.]


    The dragon casually remarked as it manipted its magic power and influenced the forces of nature.


    [You''re good with mes and water, how about lightning?]


    **RUUUUUMBLE-!


    The climate changed.


    Dark clouds gathered in an instant and covered the sky above the entirety of the city of Pad, and a strong wind blew under the darkened sky.


    **CRAAAAACK!


    There were bright shes of light as lightning struck down from the sky. Dozens of lightning bolts descended towards the ground and the flood of water that Luke was sliding on.


    The sword saint rose his foot and stomped it downwards, releasing magical shockwaves that parted the flood of water and made himnd on drynd.


    Stomping his foot again, the ground trembled as dozens of earthen pirs shot up into the air, colliding with the iing lightning bolts and exploding on contact.


    Suddenly, arge shadow was cast on the ground from above, causing Luke to gaze up into the sky and lock eyes with the giant dragon who had taken flight while he was handling the lightning.


    Sensing the energy condensing in the dragon''s maw, Luke stopped limiting the power behind his Brachium and muttered to himself.


    "Sorry Charles, but it seems this city is done for."


    Those were thest words he spoke before the beam of blue light descended from the sky and crashed right onto where he was standing.


    ***KAAAAAABOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!


    �� �� ��


    [Death Magic: Withering Rain!]


    The Demonic-fused Eighth Finger''s voice rang out, followed by the appearance of a double-ringed magic circle in the air, from which a hail of pitch-ck condensed magic bullets rained down on the ground.


    Duke Charles and Ralphie moved in zig zags, dodging the rain of condensed death magic while asionally using their weapons to deflect the bullets towards the magic circle they emerged from.


    A giant golden cross construct of divinity crashed down towards the earth in the distance, only to be perforated by dark orange beams of aura fired by the Duhan King who wasbating the Pdin Heinr.


    Sir Czac on the other hand, was dealing with the droves of undead who had lost most of the buffs they enjoyed due to the domain of death, while Eliza and the other pdins took a break from the battlefield as they had overexerted themselves the most.


    80% of the grandmaster level undead had been dealt with, but not without a few causalities on the side of the coalition force, and now they were simply rounding up the ones left.


    Even so, the focus of most of thebatants was on the battle happening in the distance, where the Third and Fourth of the Ten Great Swordsmenbated the Demonic Fused Eighth Finger of the Demonic Hand.


    [Lemure Creation.]


    Dozens of transparent flying skulls, all surrounded by rings of ck ming energy silently moved through the air and released a terrifying amount of blood thirst from behind the two men, triggering their survival instincts and making them reflexively turn their attention backwards.


    The short moment it took them to realise that they had been tricked was enough for the Eighth Finger to quickly call out the name of another spell.


    [Spirit F-]


    "Hello?"


    [��what?]


    "A Vortex?"


    **BOOOMMM!!!


    The Fused Eighth Finger''s spell casting was interrupted by an expected but unexpected third party, right before a swirling mass of magic power mmed into his body and knocked him down onto the ground.


    "��It''s about time you began meddling."


    Duke Charles spoke lightly as he took advantage of the Demonic Hand Executive''s fallen state to send out a few shes of condensed water magic, dousing the spirit mes that the Eight Finger was about to shoot towards them, followed by Ralphie who blitzed in and decided to add a touch of ice to the mix.


    "Cryo Explosion."


    **CHINK! BOOOMMM!!!


    The man''s body was encased in a thickyer of hot ice that exploded right afterwards, propellingrge shards of ice in all directions.


    Ralphie rose his hand and a ribbon of blue mes appeared around them, before gesturing for them to fire towards the Eighth Finger who pped his wings and hurriedly took to the skies.


    That decision proved to be unwise as the shards of ice shot through his wings and puncturedrge holes in them, from which thinyers of ice began spreading out to freeze the entire wing.


    [Tsk��Corrupted Recovery!]


    "de Cannon.


    Vindiction''s Strike."


    Evan''s voice rang out as heunched multiple fist-sized aura bullets which were apanied by projected shes of aura, along with a beam of golden aura that emerged from the ck-gold portal that opened up right behind the Eighth Finger.


    [Necrotic Traversal!]

 Chapter 420 Hero Status Revealed

    The Eighth Finger''s body disappeared right before thebined attack hit, reappearing right beside a nameless undead Knight who was a dozen metres away.


    **BOOMMM!!!


    Evan''s de cannon and Vindiction''s strike collided with each other and exploded, sending out shockwaves that tossed the undead knight into the air, however, the Eighth Finger was unaffected by them, his gaze locked onto the young hero as his wings healedpletely.


    "Energy st."


    The boyunched a beam of aura that sted the undead knight to bits before turning his gaze towards the Demonic-fused Eighth Finger and locking eyes with him.


    [��You!!]


    Evan had just used three skills he had mimicked, and for him to do that, his mystic eyes had to be fully active, which meant that the Eighth Finger was now seeing the crest that glowed in his grey eyes.


    [SO THAT''S WHY YOU INTERFERED IN OUR PLANS, EVAN ERIS!!


    YOU HAD A FUCKING HERO TITLE!!]


    Since Lensa was capable of recognizing Evan''s mystic eyes, it stood to reason that the Eighth Finger obviously possessed a bit of knowledge on them too.


    At the very least, he knew that the person who possessed those eyes, was definitely a member of the ''Seven Heroes'' of legend.


    His enraged voice boomed out as he roused his magic power and activated multiple spells all at once; his targets being the reincarnated hero in front of him, and the two Grandmasters who were about to attack him from behind.


    [Vile Miasma.


    Well of Suffering.


    Summoning: Death Scythe!]


    He unleashed two hex spells that bypassed durability and sucked out the very ''life'' of everything within a certain range, with the second one having the added effect of inflicting a random negative status condition.


    Death attributed demonic energy condensed in his hands and formed arge pitch-ck scythe of concentrated energy, which he gripped tightly before spinning his body around while swinging it wildly.


    [ursed-]


    "Thunderp!"


    A wall of lightning blocks manifested behind the Eighth Finger and folded in a ''pping'' motion immediately after, sadly, its intended target instantly summoned a random undead a few metres away and used Necrotic Traversal to teleport to its side, escaping the area of effect lightning damage that came right after.


    Death Scythe was a third-tier spell, but it had a second-tier variation which could be summoned with just a fewmand words; however, it had the drawback of vanishing after a single use, requiring it to be resummoned again after a cooldown.


    The third-tier version was more ''permanent'' but the Eighth Finger''s opponents were not going to give him the opportunity to use it.


    The scythe of condensed demonic energy in his arms dispersed right after, while the two Grandmasters sent out condensed aura shes that blocked the curved shes of death attributed demonic energy the Eighth Finger had thrown at them earlier.


    "Dude! Not cool!


    That''s CLEARLY NOT the way I nned to reveal things to the world!"


    Evan spoke after teleporting to avoid the shes that went on to carve the ground behind him, clicking his tongue as he looked around to see if there were any otherbatants in the area.


    "Who knows how many randos heard his words just now, supressing the information is gonna be nigh impossible."


    The boy red at the Eighth Finger as he spoke, eliciting a sigh of exasperation from Duke Charles who wondered just how Evan had time to care about that, instead of focusing on the fact that their opponent still had quite a of power left.


    "I know what you''re thinking but do not worry about it. Didn''t I say it earlier? He''s not leaving here alive.


    Even the First Finger would not be able to revive him anymore"


    [��do not try to fool me, boy.


    Your powers as a hero are not to the level where you can permanently kill me.]


    The Eighth Finger replied to Evan''s words as he got to his feet and cracked his neck, slowly pping his wings and ascending to the skies while keeping his gaze locked on his three opponents and silently constructing spell formations.


    Hearing the man''s reply, Evanughed lightly, before activating his limit break skill that tripled his maximum power level.


    His sword was encased in his signature golden aura, with the energy slowly beginning to spiral around his de in preparation for his unique skill activation.


    He flipped his sword in his hand and caught it again, raising an eyebrow at the shocked Eighth Finger before asking.


    "You think?"


    Evan kicked off the ground and dashed towards the Eighth Finger, at the same time Ralphie and Duke Charles did; the three of them executing a simultaneous attack that forced the man to cancel his third spell construction.


    [Death Magic: Conjuration of Felstorms


    Demon-Darkness Magic: Demonic Torrent]


    Waves of Death magic and demonic energy burst out from his body, with the two peak tier 2 spells heading straight for Ralphie and Duke Charles.


    Aplex rush of pitch-ck sand particles carried by a strange gust of wind-dispersed throughout the surroundings.


    The temperature dipped all of a sudden as dark clouds obscured the sun, churning grimly before releasing a rain of pitch-ck water droplets.


    Lightning bolts dropped down onto the ground, apanied by the rumbling sound of thunder, while the strange ck wind instantly turned violent.


    The lightning bolts were powerful enough to shatter the earth, causing rock chunks to be lifted up from the ground, and then swirled around by the strong winds that billowed.


    Within seconds, ravaging through the area was a huge storm with ck rain and lightning, along with earthen chunks and debris flying around and violent wind with enough force to tear master-level existences with ease.


    The storm quickly spread out, sweeping across arge area spanning multiple kilometres, and Duke Cheverton was caught right in the centre of it.


    Mixed up in this storm, were pressurized torrents of demonic energy each one possessing enough force to mutte its targets just by charging towards them, all surrounding a gigantic tornado of demonic energy-infused ck spiritual mes.


    The tornado pulled in surrounding debris, including the corpses and undead creatures, along with a few living beings who got caught within its range.


    As for the target of this tornado, it was obviously the blond-haired and blue-eyed swordsman, Ralphie.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Ralphie and Duke Charles were caught up in the Eighth Finger''s AOE spells, with only Evan''s attack managing to reach the Demonic Hand Executive''s body as thetter did not have time toplexly prepare a third spell.


    The boy thrust his sword forward, his destructive energy circuit going wild as his aura maniption speed skyrocketed.


    Evan''s golden aura swirled around his de so fast that it looked like a blur, crashing into the Eighth Finger''s defensive wall of death essence, courtesy of his child of death.


    The Eighth Finger instantly realised that his defensive wall was not going to be enough, hurriedly infusing more energy into it to repair the cracks that were spreading out by the second.


    ''It''s not enough!''


    Arriving at that conclusion, he created a ck patch with his domain and summoned a small undead wolf behind Evan, before using necrotic travel to teleport right beside it.


    **CRRACCKK!!


    Evan''s Vortex shattered his abandoned defensive wall, with the dispersed death essence trying to permeate into the boy''s body, only to be rebuffed by the coat of Artemisia''s divinity around him.


    The Eighth Finger didn''t just sit around, activating child of death once more and coating his palm in the dark essence of death, before channelling it into the spell he cast as he thrust his palm towards Evan''s defenceless back.


    [Dark Magic: Jinx of Divine Disruption]


    It was a spell specially designed to work against beings with holy energy or divinity-based defences, but sadly its exact effect could not be seen as due to Evan''s next actions.


    A film of ice appeared in front of the boy, reflecting both his and the Eighth Finger''s figures, as well as the area behind him, followed by him activating his blink skill to teleport right behind the Eighth Finger.


    "GRO-!"


    "Chain lightning."


    The undead wolf tried to protect its master but the orb of golden lightning that escaped Evan''s palm pulverized it instantly, before jumping over to the Eighth Finger andtching onto him.


    [GUHH!!]


    He grunted in light pain, rousing his energy to resist the lightning''s paralysis effect but the time he took to do that was enough for Evan to release another vortex of aura.


    The wildly spinning spiral-shaped mass of aura mmed into the body of the Eighth Finger with the full force of Evan''s limit break enhanced B+ strength stat and all his stat boosts behind it.


    Added onto that, was the effect of his increased damage against ''Enemies of Aidos'', a title that the Eighth Finger definitely possessed.


    ***BOOOOOMMMMM!!!!


    The ground trembled as a terrifying explosion shook the area, and the earth underneath their feet copsed from the explosion''s initial shockwaves.


    The Eighth Finger''s wings were instantly shredded into pieces, with the vortex of aura going on tocerate the man''s back for a short while before his body was covered in death essence as a means of protection.


    However, Evan only grinned and activated another skill, switching out his Limit Break, for Blessing of Destruction.


    The three-fold boost in power remained, and now it was apanied by the blood-red essence of destruction.


    [?!!]


    The Eighth Finger felt the momentary chill all grandmasters did whenever Evan used the skill, but could do nothing to block as the boy''s sword came through from the middle of the swirling aura, stabbing into his left shoulder bone and bursting out from the other side.


    [GAAAHH!!!]


    Despite screaming out in pain at having his soul damaged, the man was still able to activate a hollow magic spell, causing a rain of miniature hollow cannons to descend onto the ground from above.


    Evan clicked his tongue and pulled back his sword, before jumping back out of the area to avoid getting hit by the attack.


    **BAM! BAM!!! BAMMM!!!


    The earth split into pieces, withrge cracks spreading out everywhere as the rain of hollow magic decimated everything in its range.


    **BOOOMMM!!! X2


    Two explosions rang out simultaneously, followed by a bright sh of light as a bolt of bright blue lightning descended into the middle of the felstorm.


    It was followed by a sudden drop in temperature as an enormous cier of ice erupted from the ground and froze all the torrents of demonic energy, atop which the figure of the Fourth Sword could be seen.


    Despite the fact that his other two opponents had broken free from his spells, the Eighth Finger ignored them and turned in Evan''s direction, cing a hand on his shoulder as he grit his teeth and spoke.


    [��this��. Doctrine of Destruction?! You''re the one who took out Methik''s puppets!]


    "Bravo, you got it right."


    Evan pped lightly as he spoke with a hint of mockery, infuriating the Eighth Finger who was about to retort when he and all the grandmaster-level beings around sensed a sudden powerful concentration of energy build up in the distance.


    And then��


    ***KAAAAAABOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!


    An earth-shaking explosion rang out in the distance.


    Looking to the side, the faces of manybatants turned white as they saw the huge cloud of smoke and fire rising into the clouds, quickly taking on the shape of a giant mushroom surrounded by fires and lightning.


    "Holy shit!"


    "Just what on Aidos is happening over there?!"


    "That''s where the Sword Saint is!"


    "As expected of a battle between ''monsters''."


    A few exhausted A rankers made sidements as they looked at the explosion, coating their bodies with energy as they prepared for the shockwaves that spread out omnidirectionally, sweeping through everything in its path with ease.


    "Now THAT��is a real Nuke Drop."

 Chapter 421 Frostfire Rush

    "Now THAT��is a real Nuke Drop."


    Evan remarked as he looked at the explosion that signified the destruction of the City of Pad, turning to Duke Charles who was deactivating his brilliant lightning rush and shaking his head before saying.


    "You might want to scrap your ns of reviving the city��there''s nothing left to revive.


    I bet even ''Castle Bravo'' can''t match that level of destruction."


    The boy added another statement that was iprehensible to the people of Aidos after his words that made Duke Charles'' brow twitch,paring the explosion that resulted from the collision of the full-powered Dragon Breath and Luke''s Brachium spell to that of one of the most powerful nuclear weapons from Evan''s home world.


    The sudden explosion left a great majority of the battlefield gobsmacked, further increasing the chaos as shockwaves swept through the area merely secondster, showing how powerful the explosion was despite the fact that Pad was kilometres away from the battlefield.


    ''Blink.


    Aura sh.''


    Evan appeared behind the airborne Eighth Finger and sent out a silent aura sh, but the grandmaster-level being''s senses alerted him of the soul-destroying danger of the attack, allowing him to dodge the sh that went right over his face and cut off a few strands of hair.


    ''Vile Touch.''


    The boy switched his sword grip and swung the weapon downwards, but his Danger sense skill rang rm bells in his head, making him give up that notion and teleport right away.


    That proved to be a wise decision as the Eighth Finger''s outstretched arm grabbed the empty air where he was a few seconds ago, and the strange dark aura around his palm showed it would not have been a pretty sight if he was touched by it.


    "Energy st. Energy st."


    ''Thunderp.''


    Evan activated two more skills simultaneously, only calling out the name of one, and twice at that, intending on confusing the Eighth Finger who sensed two skill activations.


    The man weaved out of the way and dodge the first energy st, raising his hand to generate a barrier to reflect the second, only for a wall of lightning blocks to appear behind him.


    [Necrotic Traversal.]


    Dozens of undead were summoned and a random one was used as a conduit for his teleportation; however, he was met with a face full of energy-constructed swords upon his reappearance beside the chosen undead mage.


    "Elemental Projected Weapons: Fire."


    The swords shot through the air at break-neck speeds, piercing through all the newly summoned undead and ending the existences of nearly half of them, with the stronger ones screaming and writhing about in pain.


    As for the Eighth Finger, he grabbed the undead mage and used it as a shield to block the swords coated in destruction essence, before flicking his fingers and activating a hollow magic spell.


    Immediately the translucent magic circle appeared behind Evan, the boy disabled the void step that he was standing on and let Gravity bring him to the ground, but that was exactly what the Eighth Finger wanted as waiting for him on the ground was a particrly powerful darkness magic spell, apanied by two other spell circles formed with demonic energy.


    Unfortunately for the man, a thin sh of blue light courtesy of a certain Duke, cut through the three spell circles and destroyed them, before going further to slice through the defensive demonic energy barriers he put up.


    [Tsk��


    Witch Flight.]


    Clicking his tongue in annoyance, the Eighth Finger activated a darkness-based flight spell and generated howling winds of ck magic power to carry him out of the way, stretching out his left hand to fire barrier bullets towards the iing Ralphie.


    However, said bullets were shot down by Evan''s energy sts, un-interrupting Ralphie''s charge towards him.


    "Cryo Explosion."


    **BOOOOMMM!!!


    Flying out of the clouds of dry ice with a bloodstained cheek, the Eighth Finger roused magic power and demonic energy to activate another set of spells, but was interrupted once again when our resident hero decided to drop the severed head of an undead hydra atop him.


    [Where did you even keep that?!]


    His actions kept the man''s attention on himself long enough for Ralphie to jump into air and activate his Ice Fire skill.


    The air around the Eighth Finger was cooled by the Ice Knight''s power of the titr element, with the temperature dropping to a level where the former''s body began was covered in a thinyer of ice.


    Then his ice fire skill was activated once more, rapidly heating and expanding the air around him, before condensing all that power into his sword and releasing a superheated sword st towards the Eight Finger.


    **BOOMMM!!!!!


    The resultant explosion and its apanying shockwaves, devastated everything within a radius of a few hundred metres, also tossing the Eighth Finger''s body in the direction of Duke Charles who had his hand on his sheathed sword.


    "Zero Sword: Fourth Form."


    [GAHH!!]


    The thin blue sh of aura that was released from the man''s sword cut the Eighth Finger''s body and gave him a brand-new sh wound that ran diagonally from his shoulder to his waist.


    Evan kicked off a void step and dashed to his side, releasing multiple shes of his golden aura tinged with the essence of destruction''s red.


    However, the Eighth Finger used the death essence of his Child of Death Skill to block the shes while reactivating witch''s flight to get out of the area as his block attempt was futile and only served to slow them down a bit.


    Sadly, Ralphie was waiting for him at his destination of escape, increasing the temperature of his mes to the maximum andpressing them into a white-hot coat around his sword to maximize their power.


    [?!]


    The Eighth finger had just barely finished chanting his resistance spell when Ralphie activated his unique skill and swung his de.


    "Aura Storm."


    *** KAAABOOOMMM!!!


    The Fourth Sword jumped off Evan''s void step and shot down towards the ground, through the cloud of smoke and dust and into the gigantic kilometre deep crater in the ground where the Eighth Finger had fallen


    The white-hot coat of mes around his sword glowed brightly as he activated his unique skill and aimed for the being at the very bottom.


    [Putrid Explosion


    Necrotic Traversal]<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    **BOOOOOMMMM!!!!!


    Leaving Ralphie at the bottom of the crater with the death attribute explosion spell, the Eighth Finger teleported towards the nearest undead he could sense outside the crater, only to feel a presence blitz in right behind him in the next second.


    "Right where I want you.


    Raincutter."


    [Wh-]


    **BAAMM!!


    Duke Charles'' water attribute shing skill smacked the man''s body with a wave of water that sent him tumbling onto the ground, where Evan''s destruction aura coated foot descended from above and stomped down on him.


    "ARRRGHHH!!!"


    "Copse."


    **KAAABOOOOMMM!!!!


    The pain the Eighth Finger felt made the man feel like the two souls that constituted his fused state were being simultaneously stomped down, his scream of pain being drowned out by the loud noise of the explosion the shook the ground under his body.


    As he fell into the depression in the ground courtesy of the Copse skill, dozens of energy-constructed spears, all tinged with the aura of destruction''s power, shot towards his body from all angles, with the intent of giving him a ''healthy'' dose of soul-rending pain.


    [Death Rain!!!]


    Beams of dark light filled with death essence rained down from above, crashing into each and every one of the energy-constructed weapons and shattering them to pieces.


    "Esoteric Ice Fang."


    Since Evan''s attack failed, Ralphie decided to try out his own piercing attack, just not with the soul damage effect.


    Arge icicle emerged from inside copse''s range of effect, striking the Eighth Finger''s torso and sending him flying into the air.


    "Brilliant Lightning Rush."


    Duke Charles did not even give Ralphie time toplete the second phase of his magic, activating his skill and tuning into a streak of blue lightning that reached the Eighth Finger faster than he could rouse his magic power.


    "Zero Sword."


    There were two shes of light in the sky, followed by a scream of pain as the Eighth Finger''s wings were sliced off.


    Duke Charles then proceeded to deliver a ''few'' more strikes to the Eighth finger''s body, before kicking his body to the ground and following it down.


    "Enervating Charge."


    Bright blue lightning shed in the sky, followed by an explosion that sent the Eighth Finger''s body crashing onto the ground with enough force to form a small crater around it.


    His clothes were shredded to the point where they were basically rags, and beneath them, was his body that had been cut deeply all over, with each wound seeping an amount of blood that would have made a normal human anaemic by now.


    Dozens of tentacles emerged from his shadow and wrapped around his body, restraining him onto the ground and keeping him there long enough for Evan''s Vindiction''s strike to crash into his body.


    The young hero naturally did not forget to infuse the essence of destruction into it, causing soul-rending damage to the Eighth Finger, however, that was just the prologue to his attackbo.


    Evan jumped down from the void step he was standing on in the air, kicking off another foothold to the ground as he sent multiple de cannons towards the man on the floor, tearing apart his flesh and riddling his body with holes.


    **BAMM!!!


    Hended with his feet on the man''s torso, crashing down with enough force to disce some of his organs and make him vomit blood and bone fragments.


    The boy then stabbed him in the right shoulder with his destruction essence-engulfed de, coating his hand in the same aura and grabbing his neck before looking into his half-open eyes and saying.


    "You were saying something along the lines of ''I''m not strong enough to kill you permanently'', were you not?"


    |Body Transformation Removed|


    |Hollow Magic Acquired|


    |Rare Skills require one skill slot. |


    |Two Skill slots remaining. |


    The moment those set of notifications appeared in front of his eyes, Evan immediately pulled out his de and was about to blink out of the area, but the Eighth Finger''s hand grabbed his other arm as the man used his unique skill to suck out a portion of Evan''s life force.


    ''Corrupted Recovery.


    Dark Medic.''


    He activated multiple two magic spells at the same time, rousing his demonic energy and generating three spears of darkness that shot towards the iing Duke Charles.


    "Get your fucking hands off me!!"


    Evan bellowed in rage as he coated his fist in destruction essence and punched the Eighth Finger''s head, forcing the man to let go of Evan''s hand and roll away to dodge the punch.


    **BAAAAMMM


    The ground shattered from the force of the punch, with the earth crumbling to dust due to the essence of destruction, but the young hero had no ns to stop after one punch attempt.


    However, he sensed magic concentrating in the sky above him and instead used his energy to generate dozens of shadowy tentacles that burst out from the Eighth Finger''s shadow and wrapped around him, pinning him to the ground and keeping him in ce.


    He then blinked away and reappeared a few metres away gazing up into the sky and at the giant three-ringed magic circle floating in the air.


    "It''s about time, Ralphie."


    "Esoteric Ice Magic: Frostfire Rush."

 Chapter 422 Pseudo-Authority Of Death

    The magic circle hovering in the sky glowed with a bright blue light, before a huge pir of blue mes descended from above, crashing down onto the area where the Eighth Finger''s body was and causing arge explosion.


    However, if that was all the spell did, then it would not be under the ss of Tier 3 spells.


    Five pirs of blue light surged from five points around the explosion, creating a formation where all ''heat'' within the range was absorbed and transferred to the magic circle in the sky.


    It then lit up again, with the original pir of light fizzling out momentarily before all the energy gathered was condensed into a huge orb of blue mes.


    "Grind him away."


    Ralphie''smand activated the magic circle once more,unching dozens of frost fire beams that dealt multiple instances of ice fire damage to everything within a kilometre radius.


    "Compressing such arge AOE spell and limiting its effects to a few metres is hard work."


    Ralphie spoke as he wiped the little bead of sweat off his brow, about to grab his sword when-


    [DON''T GET FULL OUR YOURSELVES!!!!!!]


    **BOOOOMMMM!!!!!


    A huge pir of demonic energy erupted into the sky, shattering Ralphie''s magic circle and dealing severe bacsh damage to the blonde-haired man.


    Shockwaves spread out in all directions, knocking both Duke Charles and Evan back, with thetter''s body being sent flying for more than a dozen metres.


    ''Kuro, Ka!


    Come Now!''


    He called out his contracted spirits as he flipped in the air andnded on the ground, stabbing his sword into the ground and gazing at the body of the Eighth Finger that was slowly floating up into the air inside the pir of demonic energy.


    His shadow extended and the figures of three beings emerged from within, while the young hero deactivated his Blessing of Destruction and downed an energy potion.


    [Master! Is this it?]


    "Yes!


    It''s the final stage of the boss fight, where he sacrifices Zacr and turns the demon''s life force into raw power which h-!!!!!!"


    Evan''s words were cut off as a wave of death energy spread out faster than he could react, phasing through his body and spreading across the battlefield.


    "��this is bad, Evan. Very bad.


    I don''t know exactly what is happening but I can tell it''s something we DON''T want happening."


    Eliza who had teleported along with Kuro spoke with a trembling voice as she could feel the effect of her Series Skill resonance increasing in efficiency by the second.


    [��. Evan, this isn''t what you told us would happen. What''s going on?]


    Duke Charles'' voice rang out in Evan''smunicator, but the young hero did not have an answer to the man''s question.


    The reason was simple;


    He simply did not know.


    What Evan knew about the Eighth Finger came from his in-game knowledge. And after battling against the man multiple times in the game, Evan knew all of his ''forms'' and his ''phases''.


    However, while the burst of demonic energy was exactly like the beginning of his final phase, what followed next was not something that happened in the game.


    A certain being once told a certain goddess, that in the ''future'' of Aidos, not everything was guaranteed any more.


    And right now, the Eighth Finger wasn''t going ording to the script!


    �� �� ��


    Dominik Vk had a dream.


    A dream that he had ever since the day where he lost his parents in a monster attack that ruined his hometown and awakened to Death magic after being left in the midst of the corpses of the adventurers who perished against the monsters.


    His dream��was to reach the pinnacle of Death.


    To Peruse the Doctrine of Death and understand every single thing about it.


    To see it, know what was ''inside'' it andpletelyprehend it.


    The young Dominik glimpsed a tiny fraction of the universalw of death that bound basically all living beings, and the sheer amount of knowledge he ''saw'' within it astounded him and left him hungry for more.


    He wanted to understand andprehend thisw, and gain the necessary ''Authority'' to manipte it as he saw fit.


    His ''Child of Death'' was the skill he acquired on this path, and joining the Demonic Hand was only a means to an end for him.


    Twenty-five years ago, he met ''Death'' at the Hands of the Beast King, however, it was something that happened quite quickly, and he was well aware of the fact that he was not going to remain in that state of being for long, even if the ''First Finger'' did not revive him shortly after.


    But now, he was faced with the possibility of a slow but permanent death, with his very soul being slowly chipped away at by the essence of destruction contained in each and every one of Evan''s attacks.


    A death that even his ''true trump card'' would be unable to save him from.


    A death where his soul would not even pass on into the afterlife, and simply be destroyedpletely.


    He was faced with ''True Death''.


    [NO!]


    He could not ept such.


    [IT''S IMPOSSIBLE!]


    He denied the current reality.


    [I CAN NOT FALL HERE!]


    He refused to be ovee by this.


    [I HAVE NOT YET GAINED CONTROL OVER DEATH ITSELF!!!]


    **BOOOOMM!!!!!


    His aura surged in response to his will.


    A piece of his unique skills full potentials were revealed.


    The two ''death'' skills were fused and a part of the peak he had hoped to reach was granted to him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The soul of his contracted demon, Zacr, waspletely absorbed by him and used to heal part of the damages that Evan had dealt to his own soul.


    His power shot past the intermediate stage of the grandmaster level, breaking into the Superior stage in an instant.


    The reduction effects inflicted on his stats werepletely removed in this process.


    His eyes shot open to reveal his pitch-ck sclera and pure white pupils.


    [I AM THE CHILD OF DEATH


    I AM THE ONE WHO SHALL CONTROL THE CYCLE OF DEATH IN THIS WORLD!!!]


    His shredded wings regeneratedpletely, with his death, darkness, and demonic energies all ring up wildly.


    He then released a small omnidirectional burst of death energy, one that Eliza was barely able to block after using up all but one of her remaining skill charges and all the energy she had left.


    However, she had to do so because the death energy Dominik was using, was not just ''death essence'' anymore.


    If the ''Death Essence'' he had been using was just his skill imbuing the characteristics of the worldlyw doctrine''s power into pure energy, creating a watered-down version of its power, then what he was suing right now was the original form of that.


    It was the genuine power of thew of death itself.


    Dominik''s eyes shed with a strange light as he gained ''enlightenment''.


    His lips parted slightly his voice flowed out calmly.


    [Pseudo-Authority of Death.]


    The skies around them darkened, ck clouds blot out thete afternoon sun, the air trembled and ambient energies ran wild.


    Beams of ck light descended from above the clouds, crashing on the ground and causing the age progression of everything they touched.


    An unfortunate adventurer was hit by one of such beams and thew of death danced around his body, progressing his age as he experienced the vicissitudes of life and death in just a few seconds.


    Then��he became dust.


    Seeing this, Evan who was attending to the half-conscious Eliza had his eyes go wide as he instantly understood what had happened.


    ''Fuck��Artemisia! Didn''t the archive say only Legendary level existences and above could use the actual powers ofw Doctrines?!


    How the fuck is he able to do that?!''


    |That''s not important Evan! You can''t let him envelop this entire area with his authority, if that happens then it''d just be like his domain of death all over again, but with more than thrice the power and efficiency.


    Eliza just blocked his first attempt to do that but he''s going to do it again soon! |


    Artemisia was not the only one who understood what had just happened, a certain lightning spirit who was nearby and had a simr power understood just what the Eighth Finger was trying to do, and she had no intention of letting him seed.


    Ka''s golden eyes stared right at the Eighth Finger as she took a deep breath and roused her magic power.


    Kuro who was racking his brain to think of a solution sensed this and turned to her with widened eyes.


    [Lady Ka! You can''t��not yet!]


    He was so startled that he spoke out loud, not even using the telepathic connection between them.


    [I have to.


    Last time I hesitated against that Demon and master nearly died.


    I would not make the same mistake twice.]


    The young ''Great Lightning Spirit'' spoke with a resolved tone, holding up a clenched fist in front of her chest before muttering two words.


    [Spirit Raiment.]


    Golden energy exploded from her being as her physical body''s size increased exponentially, growing to the stage where she was almost the same height as Evan.


    Her clothes changed, and she was now adorned in a bright golden silk dress, having a long ck gold stole around her neck and floating lightly in the air.


    Floating atop her head, was a fragmented quarter of a cracked golden crown, adorned with various multicoloured precious stones.


    She held out her hand in the direction of the shocked Eighth Finger who sensed her burst of power and called out her ''unique'' skill''s name.


    [Pseudo-Authority of Lightning.]


    Just above the darkened clouds, ambient energies coalesced together to form a giant pearl of lightning that floated mid-air.


    Dozens of lightning bolts rained down, crashing into the beams of ck light the Eight Finger was firing and nullifying thempletely.


    Ka then snapped her fingers and the rain of lightning stopped, with the orb condensing all its power to release one singr bolt of lightning descended onto the airborne Eighth Finger.


    Dominik roused the ambientw energy and used it to create a defensive barrier, just in time to block the sudden attack from the great spirit.


    ***BOOOMMMM!!!!!


    The collision of the two powers resulted in an explosion that sent him tumbling down onto the ground, with the Eighth Finger in a surprising state of rtive unharm.


    However, the real damage in this case, came from the fact that Ka''s authority��overrode his and forcefully nullified it.


    The young spirit had possessed a Pseudo Authority far longer than he had and was far more experienced in using it.


    As such, despite the fact that he was stronger than her normally, Ka''s authority which was stronger than his was able to nullify his and cause him bacsh, while also preventing him from being able to ce the area under his control again.


    If he had seeded, even the Undead Dragon who was battling Luke all the way in the ruins of Pad would have seen a boost of strength that would make the battle a lot harder for Luke.


    Dominik himself would have gained another major power boost that would have caused him to recover a great deal of his exhausted energies.


    After achieving this feat, Ka''s body dropped to one knee, breathing heavily as she rose her gaze towards Evan who was staring at her dumbstruck.


    The young spirit saw the look of recognition that shed in his eyes when he looked at the crown floating on her head.


    It was only a fragmented piece, but Evan recognized it, and Ka was well aware that he would.


    The young hero wanted to ask her what that was, but when he looked into her eyes, his words got caught in his throat.


    He did not need to use the link between them to know exactly what Ka was trying to tell him with her pleading gaze.


    ''Please. Don''t.''

 Chapter 423 World Magic: Spell Number 13

    ''Please. Don''t.''


    Ka didn''t want him to ask questions.


    At least, not now.


    "��"


    The young hero was silent for a moment, before turning his gaze away, back in the direction of the fallen Eighth Finger.


    |She may have dealt with his Pseudo Authority, but there''s still the issue of the authority''s passive effect; generating a protectiveyer of deathw energy around his body that can nullify up to 50% of normal attacks directed towards him. |


    "Wait a moment��. isn''t that exactly like��!"


    Evan realised something upon hearing Artemisia''s words, a grin appearing on his face as he spoke aloud.


    "I see, so that''s how ''those skills'' work.


    I guess I didn''t prepare ''that'' for nothing then!"


    He took a step forward as he spoke, activating a skill while he did so.


    "Pdin."


    His second step caused the ground under his feet to crack as a thinyer of crimson light enveloped his whole body.


    "Blessing of Destruction: 1st Activation."


    Eliza who was right beside him had her eyes widen in shock as she realised what Evan was about to do next.


    "Limit��Break."


    **BOOMM!!!


    The girl was blown away by the shockwaves generated by Evan''s energy burst, and by the time Kuro''s shadows wrapped around her body and caught her, all she could see around her was a deep crater in the ground with residues of the essence of destruction in all areas except the spot where she was.


    Evan, meantime, had transformed into a streak of crimson gold light that zipped through the air, materialising in front of a surprised Dominik and thrusting his weapon forward.


    "Elemental Vortex."


    All the spirits in the area responded to his summons without hesitation, any semnce of their usual chatter gone as they channelled their power into the whirling mass of energy that crashed directly into Dominik''s body.


    The Eighth Finger''s hurriedly constructed shield crumbled to shards of light, with his body being sent hurtling through the air before falling to the earth with so much force that it rebounded back into the air.


    Before the forces of gravity could pull him back to the ground once more, Duke Charles, covered in bright blue lightning, zapped to his side and unsheathed his de.


    "Zero Sword."


    The man''s de shed as Dominik''s body was shed from various angles, but a light frown formed on his face as he noticed that something was impeding the effectiveness of his attacks.


    He spun around and delivered a high kick to Dominik''s head that sent him hurling back in Evan''s direction, where the young hero roused his energies andunched another Elemental Vortex.


    **BOOOMMM!!


    The poor man did not have the time to conjure any semnce of defence as the spiralling mass of energy knocked his body upwards, right after which Evan held two fingers and activated his elemental weapon projection.


    With a touch of the crimson aura of the blessing of destruction, hundreds of swords, spears, daggers, and whatever other ded weaponry Evan could think of materialised in the sky.


    "Go."


    Incredulous that Dominik still had the mental capacity to put up defences after taking so much beating, Evan frowned slightly as he watched the bright red explosion in the sky.


    A thinsh of blue light cut right through the explosion and Dominik''s body was knocked back towards the ground once more, but he flipped in the air andnded on his two feet, before dropping down on one knee and spitting out a mouthful of blood with a grimace.


    There was also a fine sh wound that ran straight from right beside his neck to his waist, however, it seemed the cut was not deep enough to deal any more damage after cutting halfway into his rib bones.


    Duke Charles blitzed in right beside Evan, expressing mild surprise over the boy''s current form but taking his focus back to the Eighth Finger as he said.


    "He''s not able to ''fight back'', but something is protecting his body."


    Evan nodded as he appraised Dominik and noted his current state to be extremely energy deficient; with his previous burst of energy actually being the ambient death energy he had released earlier being reabsorbed into his body before being expelled once more.


    Dominik desperately tried to absorb the ambient magic power in the surroundings to make up for hisck of energy, but what happened next prevented him from doing so.


    ***KAAAAAABOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!


    A powerful explosion rang out in the distance, catching Evan''s attention as the boy turned around just in time to see the giganticser sword that was piercing the clouds dissipate after striking its target.


    And as for the state of said target��


    [GAAAHHH!!!]


    The Eighth Finger''s sudden scream of anguish was enough to give Evan the answer he needed.


    ''He''s receiving bacsh! The undead dragon is dead! This is the perfect chance to use ''it''!''


    With those thoughts, Evan activated void steps and created a series of footholds which he used as a boost to run up and jump into the sky.


    While airborne, the boy rose his left hand into the sky and roused his energy.


    |Evan?! What are you trying to do?!!|


    Artemisia''s voice rang out in his head, with the goddess not even bothering to utilize indirect messaging at this point.


    But Evan remained silent and generated a small miniature magic circle in his palm.


    Around 10 metres in diameter, radiating outward with the point above Dominik''s body as the centre, a giant replica of this magical circle materialised in the sky above.


    The spell circle let off a multicoloured glow that consisted of white, blue, gold, red and a few other colours, as patterns like translucent letters or symbols appeared across it.


    Tendrils of multicoloured lightning snaked around Evan''s arm, withrger shes of lightning appearing amidst the dark clouds, each apanied by the sound of rumbling thunder.


    After that, the space next to Evan started to twist, and the young hero felt a surge of a very familiar divinity permeating through it. He heaved a soft sigh as he spoke up to appease the enraged and worried goddess.


    "I told you before Artemisia; ''I know I act crazy sometimes, but I''m not suicidal''."


    His words seemed to have an effect as the twisting space returned to normal, his eyes locking onto the figure of the Eighth Finger who was struggling not to fall t on the ground as he spoke.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Pseudo-World Magic Imitation.


    Spell Number 13: Judgment of the Heavens."


    A huge pir of golden light descended from the sky, burning so bright and hot that it appeared like the whole world had turned white.


    It onlysted for three seconds before dissipating, however, those three seconds left behind an area burned to cinders and devoid of life.


    Evan never nned to use the spell''s full destructive power.


    He just needed to break the damn barrier that covered the Eighth Finger''s body, so he only let the spell work for an exceedingly short time.


    Besides, using it for long right now WOULD be suicidal considering his current state.


    He didn''t need more strain applied to his body and soul.


    Although he used an amount of power that he felt should have broken the barrier, he wasn''t so sure if it was truly the case so he did not cancel the magic circle yet.


    Duke Charles on the other hand, was more than ready to help him check if the barrier was truly broken.


    The man''s body turned into a streak of blue lightning that zapped right in front of the bloodstained figure in the middle of the spell''s AOE.


    "Zero Sword: Second Form."


    **SHRING!!


    Two shes were sent out so fast that Evan could barely see them from where he was standing on his void step, but the effect of the shes was very visible to him.


    Bright red blood sprayed into the air as the Eighth Finger''s left arm was severed from his shoulder, while his right arm was cut off from the point in between his shoulder and elbow.


    Evan saw this and deactivated the pseudo-world magic imitationpletely, taking a deep breath before he kicked off his void step and boosted towards the ground.


    Perhaps in response to the hero''s body being bathed in destruction''s essence, the Eighth Finger''s Pseudo authority activated in part, creating a barrier imbued with death''s essence to shield its owner from harm.


    Evan, however, suddenly materialised behind the man''s back, pushed his sword forward, andunched a vortex of elemental energy that catapulted the man into the air.


    Duke Charles used Zero Sword once more, delivering two shes, the first of which severed Dominik''s right leg.


    Then, a thin line of blue light shed by his neck before being rebuffed by the power of thew of death, which prevented it frompletely severing the Eighth Finger''s neck in its entirety in a single motion.


    Evan blinked once more before raising the unforged and enveloping it with as much destructive essence as he could currently muster up. He then stabbed the small protectiveyer of death essence, prating through it and then piercing through the cut that the Duke had left on Dominik''s neck.


    The de entered his body through his neck, travelling uninterrupted through his torso and prating his heart along the way, before emerging from the opposite end of his body.


    **BOOMM!!!


    The two came crashing down to the ground with a loud explosion, sending a small cloud of ck dust into the air as many of the grandmasters on the battlefield turned their gazes in that direction.


    The brilliant lightning rush skill that Duke Charles had been using was deactivated, and he took a step forward while maintaining his vignce as he did not want to be caught off guard by any unexpected developments that might ur.


    From behind the cloud of smoke, the solitary figure of a familiar hero, covered in blood, emerged from the crater, holding in one hand, his trusted de, and in the other, a severed head.


    There was an eerie silence on the battlefield as Evan thrust his de into the earth, and then slowly raised the severed head, concentrating hisst magical energy into his voice and screaming out.


    [THE NECROMANCER IS DEAD!!!!]


    The silence continued for a moment as all who heard took a second to digest what he had said, before cheers and screams of joy and victory erupted from all across the battlefield in the next.


    As the sound of triumph resounded over the battlefield, all of the remaining undead copsed to the ground like the lifeless corpses that they were.


    Duke Charles heaved an exhausted sigh as he saw this, before turning his gaze back to Evan who was still holding Dominik''s severed head up high.


    "Evan? You can pu-?!"


    He was momentarily stunned when his shadow suddenly squirmed and expanded, but when he saw the familiar battle priestess'' figure emerging from it alongside a ck van cat, he quickly regained hisposure and re-sheathed his sword.


    As for Eliza, she slowly walked towards Evan with a wry smile, cing a hand on Evan''s cheek and shaking her head when she confirmed his current state.


    Ralphie, Sir Czac, and Sir Heinr, who all arrived shortly after, all assumed the same thing upon seeing the boy, with Ralphie being the one to actually pose the question.


    "Did he actually pass out?"


    "Mhmm��"


    Eliza only gave a light hum in reply, confirming that Evan had indeed lost consciousness while standing on his two feet.


    Nevertheless, shortly before the boy''s vision had gone ck, a single notification hade appeared in front of his eyes, one that was the exnation for the grin that was on his face at the time.


    [Level Up!]


    THE END!


    Reincarnated Hero System


    Volume 2: Dungeons and Headless Knights; FINALLYpleted.


    ? ? ?


    Hey y''all, it''s your friendly neighbourhood author, _michael here.


    Yes!


    After 300+ chapters, I finally finished Volume 2!! ????


    Just to let y''all know beforehand, I have zero ns on making Volume Three this long. Writing this many chapters for a single volume is hard work, and I''ve still got like...at least 5 more volumes.


    Oh and, Volume 3 would begin shortly after a few interludes.


    Lastly, one of those interludes would be covering what''s happening back in Evan''s home world, so stay tuned!!


    Thanks for your understanding and I look forward to you continuing on our Reincarnated Hero''s journey.


    This has been _michael.


    Over and Out!

 Chapter 424 Interlude 6-1 – Lightning And Water

    Unnamed Hilltop


    Cheverton Capital City Outskirts


    Cheverton Duchy


    May ???


    Year 1052


    Made up of four stars, the constetion called Canis roughly resembled the shape of apass. It could be seen most prominently high in the Northeastern sky towards the end of the spring and just before the summer solstice.


    In one of Aidos'' ancient societies, this constetion was seen as the representation of the god of war, which is how it received the name still used in current-day Aidos.


    Staring at this constetion atop a random hill, was a young pre-teen-looking ck-haired girl, with eyes that shone noble gold and beautiful snow-white skin.


    She wore a slightly loose long-sleeved shirt and ck shorts, with simrly coloured leather gloves that matched the boots she had on.


    The girl sat on a rock in front of a small water pond as she stared at the constetion in the night sky, petting the ck van cat that rested in herp while wiggling his tail about.


    This cat was rtivelyrge, being a bit over a metre long from nose to tail tip, and weighing a bit over 20 pounds.


    While still petting the cat, her gaze turned downwards, with her superior eyesight not even needed for her to see therge city in the distance, about half a dozen kilometres away from the hill she sat atop.


    As the capital city of one of the Great Western Empire''srgest Duchies, its size was iparable to that of the average city, spanning an area of more than five thousand kilometre squares and with a poption that made it seem like there was not enough space for all its inhabitants.


    Random fact but a census conducted five years prior showed the poption of the city was on the brink of going over the 25 million mark.


    Now then, as for why this girl was currently seated atop a hill, kilometres away from civilisation, there were two reasons.


    One, was the golden nts that could be seen amidst the numerous greeneries on this hill. They had tiny, trifoliate leaves, and also grew decent-sized flowers, which could be ck, dark blue, gold and silver depending on their element.


    However, the strange thing about these nts was the fact that their leaves were filled with huge amounts of pure elemental energy.


    Its leaves and flowers could be used in making pills and potions that helped beings with lightning attribute affinity, increasing their control over the element, their elemental damage, helping with energy recovery and many more.


    nts like this were quite actually quitemon in Aidos, with there being other elemental variants.


    And wherever these nts grew, the ambient energy concentrations in the area were usually off the charts, proving too dangerous for lower levelled beings, with some of them being powerful enough to bring grandmaster-level beings to their knees with just the pressure from the energies.


    Of course, this particr one was not anything as dangerous as that, but it was still not rmended for normal people to be anywhere near it.


    Info dumping aside, the girl was currently absorbing the elemental energy being emitted by these nts, refining it and using it to increase her own energy reserves.


    This was something that could be done by almost anyone who possessed lightning affinity and was above the gold level, to permanently increase their energy reserves, quality of their lightning energy, control, elemental purity and so on.


    Basically, they would gain the effects of the pills and potions created with these nts'' materials and even more, without having to spend the money, and these effects would be permanent.


    In her case, she was simply doing so to increase her energy reserves, after all, her control and energy quality were the highest any being on her level could ever hope to achieve.


    This was natural, after all, she was none other than Ka, the current ''Great Lightning Spirit'', and for the spirit race which was close to nature and the elements, it was nigh impossible to have higher elemental purity and control than her.


    As for the cat on thep of said Great spirit, it was naturally the shadow spirit who had the role of acting as her ''Guardian'', Kuro.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    They sat there, basking in the silence, until the second reason the girl sat there finally arrived.


    Suddenly, the water in the pond behind her surged upward, condensing and forming a small oval cocoon about a metre in diameter and two metres in height.


    The next moment, the cocoon burst open and a being emerged from within.


    It was a beautiful woman whose long hair and gown were made of water, fish-like fins in ce of ears, blue eyes and pale skin that almost looks blue.


    Standing atop the pond water like it was the most normal thing in the world, her mouth opened and she spoke.


    "I finally found you."


    Her words were directed towards the ck-haired girl who only sighed in exasperation, shaking her head a bit before replying.


    "Should the fact that I purposely left the country after discovering you were after me not tell you I did not want to be ''found''?"


    The blue-eyed woman was stunned for a moment, not expecting such a question from the being she had been after for months now.


    Even so, she quickly rposed herself and delivered a reply that the ck-haired girl had already predicted.


    "Why would you not want to be found? Do you perhaps wish to stay in thend of humans? This is the worst possible ce for a great spirit like yourself.


    You do not seem to be aware of how much danger you would be in if it was discovered that you are a great spirit. Those greedy humans would want to capture you for your power, I cannot have that happening.


    Al-!"


    Her words stopped as she suddenly noticed something about the girl whose back was facing her, an expression of annoyance appearing on her face as she spoke.


    "You really did enter a contract with a human��this cannot be tolerated.


    I would not allow a great spirit to be tainted by a mere human."


    She turned her gaze to the ck cat who jumped off the girl''sp and pulled out a jar of milk from his shadow and continued.


    "And you��are you not her guardian? How could you allow her t-"


    [Undine.]


    Ka''s voice turned cold as she cut Undine off, with Kuro who was on the floor heaving a small sigh before turning to the blue-eyed Great Water Spirit and speaking.


    [Hold your tongue Undine, your words are crossing the line.]


    Guardian spirit or not, Kuro was currently a mid-rank spirit, and there was no way that a Great Spirit like Undine would tolerate being spoken to like that by him.


    However, she did not even have the time to get angry as a small wave of energy suddenly spread out from Ka''s body, followed by the activation of one of the girl''s unique skills as her body grew in size and a fragmented crown materialized above her head.


    The moment she turned her gaze towards Undine, the Great Water Spirit received the greatest shock of her life, so much that she even fell backwards and into the pond of water she was previously standing on.


    "h-hoow?!"

 Chapter 425 Interlude 6-2 – Untold Secrets

    "h-hoow?!"


    Her expression was one that was a mixture of various things, shock, confusion, disbelief, and even a hint of fear.


    ''I didn''t think much of it when I heard her name as it''s very possible for multiple spirits to have the same name��but that face! That broken crown!''


    "Impossible!"


    Undine suddenly remembered the words of the Great Wind Spirit, Sylph, when she informed thetter that she was after the new Great Lightning spirit;


    ["Word of advice: Stop your search. It''s for your own good."


    "What do you mean by that? I need to find this new great spirit and protect her before the same thing that happened to Ifrit happens to her too!"


    Sylphughed loudly upon hearing Undine''s reply and shook her head before saying.


    "Ifrit, huh? If what happened to Ifrit happens to this ''new Great Lightning Spirit'', then the spirit race as a whole is pretty much fucked then."


    The great wind spirit then gave Undine a serene gaze and spoke in a serious voice, uncharacteristic of her as Undine had known Sylph to never take anything seriously.


    "I''m serious. Don''t say I didn''t warn you."]


    Undine could now finally understand why Sylph had not wanted her to look for Ka.


    [Undine��]


    Ka took a step towards the blue-eyed woman, with ice element gathering at her feet and freezing the water of the pond where she stepped.


    [This is why I told big sis to permanently erase all the traces and not hide them. One look at my face is enough for any sufficiently powerful spirit to ''remember''.]


    "Lady Ka��permanently erasing all the traces would have left a nk mark on the history and records of Aidos itself, and I''m sure ''Aidos'' would not like that. Besides, only the Great Spirits are powerful enough to remember."


    Kuro spoke as he tossed his jar of milk back into his shadow, with Ka sighing softly before turning back to Undine and speaking.


    "It would be very troublesome if the other great spirits started looking for me like you did, so I''m going to entrust you with the task of preventing that from happening��okay?"


    Upon hearing her words, Undine finally regained herposure and nodded lightly, before her body was swallowed by a surge of the pond water as she disappeared.


    Seeing the Great Spirit that left immediately, Kuro was about to speak, only for his eyes to widen in shock as his shadow suddenly expanded.


    "I never really used this part of our contract, but it''s quite handy."


    The voice of a certain teenage boy whom Kuro was currently contracted to rang out as he emerged from the stunned shadow spirit''s shadow.


    He then turned his gaze to the simrly surprised Ka, tilting his head to the side and speaking.


    "And you��are a lot bigger than thest time is saw you, quite weird considering that was this morning."


    Ka''s gaze trembled as she noticed his eyes move up from her body to the broken crown floating above her head, with the boy sighing softly and continuing.


    "Don''t look at me like that��you make it seem like I''m the bad guy here when you''re the one with the secrets.


    Oh well��I do have my own share of those too so who am I to chastise you?"


    He then walked towards the golden nt nearby and plucked off one of its trifoliate leaves before asking.


    "Hey Ka, Are you really the Great Lightning Spirit?"


    "��I am currently the Great Lightning Spirit."


    "Currently, huh?<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Oh well��that''s enough for now."


    The boy yawned after hearing Ka''s reply, muttering something about being sleepy before jumping back into Kuro''s shadow and disappearing, along with the lightning elemental nt that he had uprooted from the ground.


    As for the two spirits left behind, they stared at each other in silence before Kuro finally opened his mouth and spoke.


    "You were careless."


    "��Indeed, I was. Didn''t expect him to sense it through our connection."


    Ka returned to her normal size and dismissed her fragmented crown, before plopping back down on the small rock she was sitting on previously.


    "Are you going to seal it again?"


    "There''s no point��master has already seen it, after all."


    "Then at least go to Lady Artemisia and have her properly release the seal. The current forced release would be detrimental in the long run."


    "Mhmm��"


    Upon receiving affirmation from Ka, Kuro roused his energy and wrapped the both of them with his shadows, teleporting them away from the area in the next moment.


    The hilltop was silent for a few seconds until a young heterochromatic-eyed man suddenly appeared and looked at where the two spirits were with a smile on his face.


    "You really did let your guard down there, little Ka.


    But to think that this world''s Undine is still looking for her fire elemental sister."


    The man sighed softly before turning his face towards the horizon, his gaze peering through space as he looked at the spirit forest where Undine just reappeared in, sighing softly as he spoke.


    "The Spirit race, huh?


    Reminds me of the days when we were still at the Academy when Nicky was still learning to use her powers."


    Just as he was speaking, the stars that made up the four-star constetion in the sky suddenly twinkled, before a streak of white light shot down towards the ground, moving at a speed too fast for any eye to see.


    It stopped right before hitting the ground, revealing the streak''s true identity to be that of a white-haired man dressed in simrly coloured battle armour.


    "Foreign god of another world, what do you seek here?"


    He opened his mouth and questioned the heterochromatic-eyed man in front of him, his hand reaching for his sword as he prepared for the possibility ofbat.


    "I believe Artemisia called you Canis, isn''t that right? Have be so blind that you cannot recognize members of your race anymore?"


    The white armoured man, Canis, had his eyes widen in shock as he finally got a good look at the face of the person in front of him, his voice trembling as he lowered his hand from his sword and gave a perfect 60-degree bow.


    "m-my ap-pologies, Sir!"


    ''I sensed his divinity so I assumed it was another god but why did it have to be ''him'' of all people?! He''s the furthest thing from a god in the universe!''


    "P-pardon me Sir, but W-what brings you to this world, sir?"


    "Nothing serious. Was just going through all the worlds under Artemisia''s control."


    Canis felt his body tremble lightly as he heard the footsteps of the man and saw his feet getting closer before a handnded on his shoulder.


    "Come on, let''s go on to the next one."


    Without even a chance to give his consent, the two beings were wrapped in spatial light and teleported away from the Aidos, allowing silence to finally return to this hilltop.

 Chapter 426 Interlude 7-1 – Uncle And Niece

    Unnamed Forest Resort Lake


    Cheverton Capital City Periphery


    Cheverton Duchy


    May ???


    Year 1052


    Despite being a small artificial forest, it was thick and rich with more greenery than some natural forests. Its canopy was overshadowed by sycamore and birch trees, and abundant dancing lights bounced through their crowns for a motley of ferns to control the stony grounds below.


    Bundled vines waved from the asional tree, and a range of flowers, which imed remnants of light, added more life to the otherwise uniform backdrop.


    A medley of sounds, most of which were birds and vermin, reverberated through the air, and formed a chaotic orchestra with the croaks of frogs in the nearbyke.


    And on the banks of thiske, was a blonde, fair-skinned beautiful teenage girl, who was dipping her legs into theke while silently munching on the meat skewer in her hands.


    Suddenly, her sapphire eyes widened ever so slightly, with her movements stopping momentarily, but she continued right after, finishing the skewer and picking another one out of the bag beside her.


    However, she did not pick this for herself, but for the man who was now suddenly standing beside her.


    He had long grey hair, pulled back to reveal a strong, friendly face. Bright green eyes, set a-symmetrically within their sockets watching the two Goldfinch who were birds singing together while perched on the branch of a sycamore tree on theke''s other side.


    "Want one?"


    Her words made him turn his gaze to her, staring at her in silence for a few moments before he epted the skewer and sat down on the bench beside her.


    "It was apparently made using frost boar meat��my memories of frost boars aren''t exactly good but this is enough to overwrite all those memories."


    She spoke as she picked up another skewer, counting the ones remaining in the bag and muttering something about wanting to have bought more before turning to the man and speaking.


    "So, Uncle George��what brings you here?"


    The man, George, narrowed his eyes at his niece before sighing softly and taking a bit out of the skewer and replying.


    "Elizabel-


    Eliza."


    He was about to call her as he always did, but the silent re he felting from his left side made him cough lightly before correcting himself.


    "There''s not much of a difference between the two names, you know?"


    "Don''t care. Only call me that when we''re at home."


    The blonde teenager, Eliza, replied to her uncle as she popped open a strawberry juice pack and took a sip from it.


    "Alright, I wanna have a private conversation with my uncle, so mind giving us some space, Kuro?"


    In response to her words, her shadow wriggled lightly, before a ck van cat jumped out of it, throwing a nce towards George, before walking around the man''s leg and then jumping into his shadow.


    "��What?"


    "He only used your shadow as an intermediary to travel a longer distance.


    The stronger the existence is, the longer the distance he can go, or so he says."


    Eliza spoke and shrugged as she looked at the few things Kuro dropped on the floor beside her before he teleported away, picking up one of the pastries among them and passing it to George.


    "So, how long have you been watching me, Uncle?"


    "��"


    "How long?"


    "��Since your former party member died in Merdin."


    "Oh, wow. That''s close to a year now.


    So, you''ve been stalking me for close to a year, huh?"


    George''s brow twitched repeatedly, but he refused to fall for Eliza''s antics and calmly replied.


    "I was watching you for your safety."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Without my consent?"


    "I have my sister''s consent."


    "And you finally pulled out the ''Mother'' card."


    Eliza spoke with a light chuckle, rubbing her chin slightly as she debated which pastry to pick, while George who had finally finished his meat skewer spoke.


    "Just to rify, I was not on you, all the time.


    I asionally left to handle other things elsewhere, so in reality, I only tracked you down for about a third of the time."


    "And I''m guessing you sent that obnoxious elder''s children after me to stall me while you went somewhere else, right?"


    "Yes. Too bad they were too weak to serve their purpose.


    You can imagine my shock when I returned from dealing with that necromancer''s organization''s informants who were trying to dig out information on you and discovered you were not even in the country anymore."


    "The Demonic Hand ran a background check on me?


    Well, that kind of makes sense considering I''m involved with a certain silly hero who''s been messing things up for them."


    George nodded as he wiped the breadcrumbs off his lips with a handkerchief, before speaking.


    "I would have very much liked that you did not leave in the first ce. Then that organization would not have their eyes on you now."


    "You say I shouldn''t have left? And stayed cooped up in that dimensional realm? Nevering out to see the rest of the world for what it is?"


    "Oh no. I only wished you had at least gotten stronger first.


    Then at that time, I would have personally kicked you out to gain life experience, regardless of your father''s opinion on the matter."


    "And what is your definition of ''Stronger''?"


    "Nothing too serious. Just Peak grandmaster level."


    Eliza nearly dropped the cake in her hands when she heard her uncle''s words, turning to stare at the man dumbfoundedly but he just calmly returned her gaze without a single ripple in his eyes.


    "Well, that pretty much confirms it.


    The reason you guys didn''t want me to leave is because of my unique skill, right? But you didn''t want me to know about it for some reason."


    Upon hearing her words, George''s eyes slightly widened in surprise, before he heaved a sigh and muttered the words; ''Like Mother, Like Daughter''.


    ''I honestly do not know how to exin to her that the reason is because she has her mother''s former skill.


    And that same skill was the very reason her mother was killed 30 years ago, and by the same necromancer who almost killed her justst month.''


    George felt his anger rise temporarily when he thought about how the Eighth Finger brutally murdered his elder sister 30 years ago, but he quickly calmed himself to prevent Eliza from noticing anything wrong.


    "Eliza, you''ve gotten yourself on the radar of a very dangerous group of people.


    Even your father treads carefully when ites to matters of the ''Demonic Hand''."


    "I see��seems you guys knew about the Demonic Hand already, huh?


    What''s your stance on them?


    Eliza''s casual question received a not-so-casual answer, as George suddenly released a burst of murderous aura that spread out into the surroundings.


    "Those hateful bastards!


    If I could, I would slowly drain almost every inch of life out of every single one of them, gouge out their still-beating hearts from their bodies and then rip out their souls and torture them for as long as I live!"


    He then took a deep breath and retracted his murderous aura, turning towards the shocked girl with a calm expression and saying.


    "Our stance on them? We hate them."


    "��


    ��I don''t think just ''hate'' is enough to describe your stance on them."

 Chapter 427 Interlude 7-2 – Screening Notice?

    "��


    ��I don''t think just ''hate'' is enough to describe your stance on them."


    George chuckled lightly and he noticed the slight traces of fear in Eliza''s eyes, casually cing his hand on the girl''s head and ruffling it.


    "Hey!! I spent a while doing that this morning!"


    Seeing as he had sessfully turned her attention away from his earlier outburst, the man only sighed and spoke.


    "Certain things are moreplicated than you think, little girl."


    "Complicated? I just so happen to be dating a walking Demonic Hand encyclopaedia. I doubt anything about them would remainplicated to me for long.


    Even without that, I''m sure I''d understand exactly whatever it is."


    "We''de back to the first part of your statementter.


    The fact that you''d understand is precisely why your mother and I want to keep you from knowing."


    "You always did take your elder sister''s words as thew."


    Eliza only sighed and retied her hair into a single ponytail, taking some strands and twisting those into a small French braid, before standing up and dusting the sugar pieces and bread crumbs off herp.


    "Ignoring the Demonic Hand issue that you were never nning on telling me about, I have to admit I was initially annoyed upon discovering you had been tailing me all this while.


    I also know that you most certainly did tail me for far much more time than you said you did, but that''s not important."


    She turned and faced her uncle who was looking at her with slight confusion, staring right into his bright green eyes as she continued.


    "What''s important, is that you indeed saved my life that day, and for that, I thank you."


    Eliza concluded her words with a 90-degree bow, something that had George''s jaw drop in shock for a moment, in the next, he suddenly panicked and moved to raise her body up.


    "no-no-no, Lady Elizabe-!


    Eliza, you don''t need to thank me, I was just-"


    "You know��even if I''m the Patriarch''s eldest daughter, you''re still my uncle you know? You do not have to tack on that ''Lady'' title to me.


    Besides, there''s no one else here so that''s even more of a reason for you not to do so.


    Why did you even suddenly revert to that way of speaking?"


    "��True.


    I don''t know why I suddenly panicked and spoke that way. But this is for when it''s just us two.


    If I do not show the appropriate level of respect when we''re in the presence of others, then the other families in the n might dare to slight you."


    George''s words only made Eliza snort as she rose her head and spoke.


    "Dare to slight me?


    The current me is not the kind of person those brats can dare to slight."


    The man only showed a wry smile in response to his niece''s words, gauging the power she currently possessed as a superior stage master and nodding in affirmation to her words.


    ''None of the current younger generations can match up to her.''


    "Well, I may have probably been on the same level as them if did not go along with Evan''s escapades.


    Speaking of which, after Evan and I are done in the beast kingdom, I think I''m gonna tell Evan about the n and prepare to bring him over."


    Every time the name ''Evan'' came out of her mouth, George''s brow twitched and the frown on his face became deeper until he could not hold his annoyance in anymore.


    "About this ''boyfriend'' of yours��"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Hmm? What about him?"


    George''s lips twisted awkwardly as he thought about his current mixed feelings towards Evan.


    He originally did not like the fact that some random kid dared to court his sister''s daughter, but that same kid was the one who contributed greatly to messing up the Demonic Hand''s ns and dealt the final blow to the bastard who killed his sister, permanently killing him.


    Even if Evan did not know about this, his evaluation in George''s eyes had risen greatly.


    "Do you really think he''s serious with you?"


    "Huh?"


    "Don''t forget that the boy is the son of the Prime Minister of a major world power.


    Even though he''s ''free'' now, when he grows older, he''d no doubt be called back to his family by his father, and since he''s the next Duke, they mightpletely disregard your rtionship with him and arrange some sort of political marriage for him.


    I''ve seen this happen dozens of times in various countries."


    The man studied Eliza''s expression closely as he spoke, but the girl did not react how he had expected and instead casually sat back down before opening open another strawberry juice pack as she replied.


    "Speaking of the next Duke, Evan said he nned to give his title back to his elder brother; I think his name was Arned? Arnold?"


    "You really believe he''s gonna do that?


    Even if he has gained some level of power and influence with his recent actions, it''s still not to the level of what he''d gain with the title of Duke of the Great Western Empire.


    You think he''d give up the chance to get all that power and authority?"


    Instead of replying, Eliza only looked at her uncle in silence as she sipped her juice before finally asking.


    "You hate Evan or something?"


    "��"


    "Come on uncle, this is supposed to be my dad''s job, not yours."


    "If the boy truly wishes to be with you, he''d have to be screened by both me, your father, and your Grandfather."


    "��are you guys tryna kill him or something?"


    "��. probably not."


    "Probably?!"


    George chuckled lightly upon seeing Eliza''s reaction, and was about to pat her head only to have his hand smacked away by the younger girl,


    "You''re gonna mess up my hair again!"


    "You can redo it again, can you not?"


    "Yeah, but it''s stressful to do it over again."


    "Really? But Elder sister usually changes her hairstyle multiple times in a day."


    "Ugh��don''tpare me to my mother. I really have no idea how she does that."


    After sessfully diverting the topic to the matter of her hair, George''s eyes shed lightly as he turned towards the direction of the Capital City and thought to himself.


    ''Evan Del Eris, huh? There''s something off about that boy. It makes no sense for the lifeline between his body and soul to be so out of sync, after all.


    Besides that, I believe he''s connected to that strange being who teleported me to where that necromancer was on that morning, making me fight and weaken him, as well as teleported me out right after I saved Eliza.


    That being did say something about ''Evan''s story''��''


    George sighed softly, deciding to put those thoughts to the back of his mind for now and enjoy some quality time with his niece who seemed to have an endless supply of snacks to share with him.

 Chapter 428 Interlude 8-1- Luncheon Of The Influential I

    Government Residential Area


    Capital City Otrain


    Utraria Republic


    Alpha Continent


    June ???


    Year 1052


    The employees of one of the few five-star restaurants in the Utraria Republic''s capital city of Otrain all had cold sweat dripping down their backs as they all asionally stole nces towards a certain open-secret booth on the restaurant''s Gallery-cum-terrace.


    Even the restaurant managers could all be seen standing not so far from the 60% tinted ss doors of the booth, ncing at the people inside to see if they were inconvenienced in any way shape or form.


    A lot of the guests, mostly being rich merchants, foreign nobles, senators and other high-ranked government officials, all found it strange that the restaurant managers were acting like waiters, wondering just who the guests inside the booth were.


    Some of them even noticed that a few of the tables on the ground floor were actually upied not by guests but by professionally trained bodyguards who were all at least level 250.


    This only made people even more curious about the identities of the people in that booth.


    If only they knew that the bodyguards were mostly just there for formality and the beings inside there didn''t exactly need them.


    And that either in the past or present, those beings all held some of the greatest positions of power in the Alpha continent.


    Inside the booth, was arge round table with more than twenty men and women of various ages, chatting over luxurious meals, cooked with high-level ingredients like monster meat that still brimmed with residual magic power or the leaves of nts simr to a certain trifoliate leaved nt near where two Great spirits previously had a ''conversation''.


    In the hands of one of these men, the president of the Utrarian Republic himself, was a newspaper with a particrly catchy title that read:


    ''The Birth of a New Hero?''


    "A new generation of Heroes, huh? It''s supposed to be a joyous thing but I can only feel ominous signs from it."


    The man spoke as he flipped across the pages of the newspaper, with the majority of the articles covering the recent undead crisis of the Great Western Empire''s Cheverton Duchy.


    "Of course, you''d get ominous signs. The fact that heroes are appearing now means that there''s an iing crisis that requires their power."


    A feminine voice replied to his words, its owner taking a sip of the 100-year-old wine she was served before continuing.


    "Last time that happened, the ''Delta'' Continent became the ''Dark'' Continent."


    It was a woman with dark curly hair, hanging over a serene-looking face, and glinting dark eyes set low within their sockets.


    She wore a quite fancy dress, with a broad waist despite its slim fit. A small bow was wrapped around her waist and positioned slightly to one side.


    As for her identity, she was the former Empress of the Great Eastern Empire and the mother of its current Emperor, Empress Dowager Hannah Wilson.


    The identities of the two people who just spoke held authority of the highest levels in their respective countries, with influences that stretched far and wide, and anyone who could seat at the same table and dine with them, was definitely someone with an equal or higher level of power and authority.


    This was precisely why the Restaurant managers, had personally taken up the task to ensure that none of these men and women was displeased in any way at all.


    Opposite the Utrarian president, was a quintet of men who were silently sipping their wine while listening to the news broadcast on a small portable radio that was ced on the desk, one that was still covering the Cheverton indecent, even after a whole month had passed.


    One of the men seated there, was a man with short blond hair and blue eyes, a direct reference to what the Great Western Empire''s current Emperor would look like in his middle ages, or at least when he reaches that point in his lifespan.


    (Master-level humans can live for 200-300 years without issue so his middle ages would be when he''s around 150+.)


    Beside him, was a grey-eyed man with short dark hair and a pensive expression on his lean austere-looking face.


    "Hey, grey-eyed idiot over there. Your grandson is bing popr, you know?"


    The blue-eyed man suddenly spoke out loud, his words directed towards his grey-eyed old friend, however, thetter only kept quiet, with a reply insteading from the woman seated beside him.


    "To think that little Roger''s son yed a major part in resolving that undead crisis."


    The woman calmly spoke as she used her knife to slice through the juicy meat on her te, before taking a small bite with her fork and cleaning the little oil off her lips with a serviette.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Her table manners were impable, with elegant movements that put her on the level where she could be considered a role model for all nobledies in all countries.


    "Come on, Penelope. Your son is in his forties already, he''s not ''little'' anymore."


    The blond blue-eyed man spoke with a light chuckle, directly addressing the woman who only nodded in affirmation while sipping her wine.


    Although this could already be inferred, the blonde-haired man was none other than the Great Western Empire''s former Emperor and father of the current Emperor, Derrick Hayes.


    As for his grey-eyed old friend, that was the Empire''s former Prime Minister, Ronald Del Eris, and the woman beside him was his wife, Penelope Shelton Eris.


    "Roger? You mean the one who you sent out with Rudeus to the front lines of that little war a few decades ago?"


    "Last I checked, Hannah, I don''t think Ronald has any other kids named ''Roger'', so it''s obviously him."


    The one who replied to Hannah''s words was someone who personally participated in the final battle against the Eighth Finger, and was responsible for ying the Undead Dragon that was the deathlord''s trump card, Sword Saint, Luke Bowthe.


    From the fact that he casually addressed the Great Eastern Empire''s Empress dowager by first name, it could be seen that the rtionship between the two was quite amicable.


    "Hey, Luke. You''re the one who has known the kid for the longest time here. How was he really?"


    "��"


    Derrick posed a question to the Sword Saint, but the man casually ignored the former emperor and went back to his meal, causing some of those on the table to look on in surprise as they never expected Luke of all people to do such.


    As for Derrick, the man only sighed and gave a wry smile, fully aware of the reason why Luke was ignoring his very existence.


    "Are you still pissed that I told you to let Thompson''s kid take the ''First Sword'' title?"


    "Wait��that''s what happened? For real?"


    One of the few non-humans on the table, a brown-haired Elf who was actually the Prime Minister of Uswil, spoke up as he alternated his gaze between the two men.


    "I knew something fishy was going on. That Finley kid is strong and all, but there''s no way he would have been able to defeat Luke if he was serious."


    Another non-human, the Duke of Cerul and father of the Beast King Kolvar''s wife spoke up as he rubbed the stubble on his chin.


    "HAHAHA��chill out Luke. It''s just a title.


    Besides, we''ve got to leave some things to the younger generation, after all."


    A deep voice rang out following Duke Cerul''s words, its speaker being a middle-aged-looking man with brown, short brown hair clumsily hanging over a chiselled, cheerful face.


    He removed his pair of brown-tinted sses to reveal a pair of deep grey eyes as he pointed to himself and continued.


    "Look at me��I passed on my ''Human me'' title to my son without issue."


    His casual words revealed something that could be called a secret of the Great Eastern Empire, the fact that the title of ''Human me'' and ''First Star'' of the Seven-Star generals had actually changed hands in the past.


    As for the identity of this man, he was the previous holder of these titles, and the father of their current holder, Thomas Randall.


    "I thought that the ''First Star'' had suddenly learned gravity magic or gained a gravity-rted skill, but to think it was apletely different person."


    One of the women seated not too far from Thomas, a ''Warlord'' of the Desert Kingdom of Tarse who previously ''sparred'' against Bourne a few years ago, spoke up as she noted the difference in abilities between the man and his father.


    "Hmm? Isobel? Didn''t my son beat your ass that time you fought against him?"


    The Desert Warlord, Isobel, had her brow twitch in annoyance as she barely held herself back from slugging a punch at the grinning face of the elder Randall man.


    Some of the other people seated at the table chuckled in amusement, with two of them cing bets about how long it would take Isobel to finally flip out and carry out another futile attempt to beat up Thomas.


    "Tops��five minutes."


    "Nahh��my money''s on three. Thomas looks ready to annoy the hell outta her."


    "Old man Kaur?! You''re joining their bullshit too?!"

 Chapter 429 Interlude 8-2- Luncheon Of The Influential II

    "Old man Kaur?! You''re joining their bullshit too?!"


    "Shh��Isobel. Now flip out before the three-minute mark so I can get finally get thatkeside resort from this idiot."


    The green-eyed man whom Isobel referred to as ''Old man Kaur'', gave a reply that the woman never expected, before going on to raise the stakes of his bet with the others.


    "Give up, Isobel. There''s nothing you can do when they get like this."


    The tiger beastkin woman beside Isobel shook her head and spoke as she patted the poor Warlord''s shoulder to console her.


    "First off, stop calling me ''Old Man'', I''m not even the oldest one here. Just call me Alden.


    Still��I can understand why young Luke would be aggrieved. He has a reputation to maintain as the Alpha Continent''s ''Sword Saint''.


    How can someone that powerful lose in a sword fight against a kid who''s still wet behind the ears?


    Anyone with a brain would be able to realise something fishy was going on there."


    The green-eyed man, Alden Kaur casually dismissed the 40-year-old Finley as a ''kid wet behind the ears'' as he pointed out the reason why Luke was annoyed at losing his title.


    "You really didn''t think this through, did you Derrick?"


    "��"


    The former Emperor only turned his head to the side and whistled a strange tune, with half of the people seated at the table facepalming upon seeing his actions.


    "You have my condolences, Luke. Having to deal with a Lord like that."


    "I can hear you; you know?"


    "Shut up, Derrick."


    The Utrarian president gave a wry smile as he saw the scene of Alden shutting up the former Emperor of a world superpower nation like it was normal.


    "Oh yeah. Alden��Your son was at the battlefield on that day too.


    He showed up and healed Leoglor''s daughter who nearly got killed by the necromancer, before going on to set a few thousand undead aze.


    But this is where the strange thing happened��he suddenly disappeared, just like that."


    Luke spoke up about the strange urrence that happened during the battle against the Eighth Finger, citing George''s appearance, and indirectly revealing the identity of Alden.


    Alden Kaur, was actually Eliza''s maternal Grandfather!


    "I know. George told me about it afterwards.


    He said that he believes it was most likely the action of a god who didn''t want him to interfere too much in the battle."


    All the beings present at the table stopped their chatting and bantering the moment the topic of a god came out of Alden''s mouth.


    "A god? Hmm��I think it may have been Artemisia. That Kid Evan told me he had some connections to her."


    "Are you sure about this, Gavin?"


    Ronald narrowed his eyes as he asked the grey-haired old man dressed in ck robes, who was none other than the Chief Grand Magus of Kasteblum, Gavin Josey.


    "Yep��that''s what he said."


    "I can Vouch for Gavin''s statement.


    Evan Eris is most likely a hero appointed by the goddess herself. Besides that, I see no reason why she would move her Vessel just to inform the Pope and have him tell me to provide the boy assistance."


    The man who spoke up was someone who had been silent ever since the beginning of this luncheon, the Head Priest of the Great Western Empire''s Church of Artemisia.


    "So, the kid is a hero with ties to the goddess herself��"


    "Oh, did I mention that he''s most likely an ''Irregr'' too?"


    "Wait...what?!"


    Uswil''s Prime Minister eximed in shock on behalf of all those present upon hearing Luke''s words, but the blue-haired man calmly downed his wine, before dropping the ss and casually replying.


    "The necromancer''s dragon was an ''Irregr'', and the fact that I needed to release my limiter against it only served as proof of its words.


    It also confirmed that Evan was an ''Irregr'' like it.


    Seems like your Granddaughternded a troublesome catch, didn''t she?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Alden''s brow twitched when he heard Luke''s thest part of Luke''s statement, but he chose to ignore it and dwell on the more important matters.


    "Is his ''Irregrity'' rted to ''Knowledge'' perhaps?


    The reports did say he had lots of information about the Demonic Hand and their ns, but I can''t seem to think of how he could have possibly acquired such information."


    "Maybe he got it from the goddess?"


    Penelope asked as she turned her gaze towards the Head Priest, but the man only shook his head before stating he was not aware if that was the case.


    "The little information about the Demonic Hand that this kid gave us isparable to all we''ve discovered after years of searching.


    He even gave us the name of the ''Sixth Finger'' who we''d been trying to find all this while."


    "But it seems like he had a lot of restrictions regarding how much he could say. When I spoke to Rudy, he said that even Laurene had lots of knowledge concerning the matters of a thousand years ago, but she could not speak about them freely��"


    Derrick spoke before ringing the bell at the centre of the table and summoning the waiters to have the tes carried out before a restaurant manager came in and introduced the dessert of their meal to them as it was being served.


    "If what the new ''Seven Heroes'' say is true, then brute forcing those ruins we discovered would be a bad idea.


    Especially considering that the ''Second'' symbol was weirdly emphasized more than the others.


    What did she call it again?"


    "A ''private base''.


    We''d need the ''Second'' hero to unlock it safely."


    Luke replied to Thomas'' words, taking a bite out of the dessert he was served and nodding in satisfaction before continuing.


    "And I think we know where said ''Second'' is��."


    "Evan Eris, huh?"


    "Bingo."


    Isobel sighed in exasperation, muttering something about how they did not know where the heroes required to unlock the ''Ruins'' in her country were.


    "It''d be worst-case scenario if they don''t want to be found. Evan did show me that the heroes couldpletely conceal themselves and make them nigh-impossible to be discovered if they so wished."


    Gavin spoke, informing them about how Evan showed him the heroes couldpletely deactivate their mystic eyes and have the symbols disappear from their eyespletely.


    "Right now, we only know the names and identities of two out of the seven."


    "Make that three��My contact on the Beta Continent found the third."


    "Really, Who?"


    In response to Hannah''s question, the elven Prime Minister only heaved a sigh before informing them about ''Elven Emperor'' Zaos'' daughter.


    "Well��. nothing we can do about that one."


    "My thoughts exactly."


    All of them collectively sighed in exhaustion, before Thomas suddenly mmed his palms on the table, startling the restaurant managers outside as he spoke.


    "Okay guys, let''s just forget about all the problems we have to deal with for a few minutes and take that time to enjoy this fine dessert."


    "Honestly, I was about to say the same thing."


    "Me too."


    Just when they had finally decided to put the serious matters aside, Derrick suddenly mmed his fist on his palm and spoke.


    "Oh yeah, Hannah. When we''re done here, let''s go back to searching for those Ruins in the desert, okay?"


    "Shut up and eat your dessert, Derrick."


    "Yes, madam."


    Penelope and the otherdies let out light chuckles upon seeing the two former ruler''s interactions, while some of the guys changed the station on the radio and started discussing sports news, and the others began betting on how long it was going to take Thomas to piss Isobel off again.


    With such vibes, the luncheon between the Alpha continent''s most powerful people carried on without a hitch.

 Chapter 430 Interlude 9 – Cognizance

    SunPenny Coffeehouse


    ####### City


    ##### Country


    AD 3101


    Earth V


    "Large Expresso Con Panna for Vincent?"


    "Here."


    "Okay, Mr Vincent, that''d be #9.99."


    Vincent Bourne nodded as he passed the notes over to the cashier who tacked them into the cash register and printed out a small receipt for him.


    "Ahh��that hit the spot."


    He muttered to himself after walking out of the Coffeehouse and taking a small sip from his coffee, before beginning to make his way back to his office, only for his vision to suddenly grow hazy as he staggered to the side.


    *TICK! TOCK!


    "Are you okay, sir?"


    "��yeah��I''m fine. Think I tripped or something."


    He replied to the security officer who noticed him, stomping his foot on the ground a few times before beginning to walk back to his office once again.


    *TICK! TOCK!


    This time, he made it without suddenly staggering, but the moment he sat down, he was attacked with a sudden headache, with him pressing his fingers to his temple as he searched for the pills he usually kept in his drawer.


    *TICK! TOCK!


    "Where on earth, did I drop that thing, ''twas supposed to be in my drawer."


    *TICK! TOCK!


    His headache only intensified as he carried on the search for his pills, with his vision growing hazier by the second.


    *TICK! TOCK!


    It felt as if the sound of the wall clock in his office was amplified to an outrageous degree, but strangely enough, it also sounded as if the clock was ticking inside his head.


    *TICK! TOCK!


    The sound of the clock ticking increased in intensity, along with his headache which was now turning into a full-blown migraine.


    If his vision wasn''t hazy, he would have been able to see that strange energy waves were spreading out from his body; and that almost everything in his office was now hovering in the air as if it was the work of some poltergeist.


    **DONG!


    *BAM!!


    "HUH?!"


    All of a sudden, the clock sound stopped, and the floating items all fell back onto the ground, causing a loud noise that attracted the attention of the secretary outside.


    "Director Bourne, I heard some loud noises. Is there a problem?"


    "No, nothing. I just dropped a bunch of stuff by ident.


    No need to worry about it."


    "��okay��"


    His secretary clearly wasn''t buying the excuse but they decided to let it go, choosing to instead watch the office closely in case anything strange happened again.


    As for Vincent, the man was trying to sort around the memories that suddenly found their way back into his head and fitted themselves into his memories like the pieces of a puzzle.


    "I see��so that''s why I''ve been feeling weird all this while."


    He looked up from his desk, a thin ring of blue light appearing around his pupils as he continued.


    "Evan isn''t here anymore."


    The ambient energies around his body thrummed as if to affirm his words.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Artemisia had ''hidden'' all traces of Evan in Earth V''s records, making it so that it was as if ''Evan Bourne'' never existed in the first ce, however, Evan''s father, Vincent, had just realised this.


    "Just who is responsible for this? Was it a celestial? Or one of the gods? Maybe a Demon Emperor?


    Where did they take Evan to?"


    He asked himself these questions, sighing in exasperation right after as he tapped leaned back on his chair and tapped his finger on the desk.


    |Authority of Knowledge|


    A wave of grey light spread out omnidirectionally from underneath his finger, followed by the blue ring of light in his eyes momentarily turning grey.


    "Whoever did this, the job was so clean that it took me a whole year just to realise something was wrong."


    Evan was right about one thing, his parents on Earth V, were indeed humans. Well��gically, at least.


    But when it came to the strength side of things��let''s just say both of them were powerful enough to give a goddess like Aphine, or a war god like Canis a run for their money.


    A grey magic circle with multiple rings manifested around his finger, which he then pointed to his temple and downloaded information about Evan''s current status into his head.


    "Aidos? It''s a higher world��? No, it''s a Prime world. Under the control of who? a god? goddess Artemisia?


    Artemisia��?


    Isn''t she the one who YZqG!u3 came over to this universe to mess with?"


    The grey light in his eyes dimmed as he sorted the information he just received via his authority and spoke.


    "If Evan''s in Artemisia''s world, then he''d be fine, I guess.


    Worst case scenario, he''d just return to normal. Then again, that''s not really a bad thing, it''s been too long after all.


    He might just flip out on the person who caused him to return to normal though, which in this case, is this goddess Artemisia."


    The man then sighed softly before pressing his head on his temples and asking the most important question.


    "Now that I know this��how the heck am I supposed to face my wife and tell her that her son''s in another world?"


    He tapped the side of his head multiple times in silence for a few moments, with his eyes suddenly widening as a look of realization shed through them.


    "Knowing her��there''s a possibility that she might already know.


    She doesn''t know I know she''s not a normal breed."


    The man was about tough out loud when he suddenly sensed a chill down his spine, with the power of thew of destiny showing him the bleak possibilities that awaited him if he did not take a certain action within the next 2 seconds.


    He instantly folded his finger into his palm and crushed the magic circle around it, simultaneously deactivating his authority of knowledge, as well as every other passive authority-rted ability he had.


    "Shit��that was close!"


    Vincent breathed heavily as cold sweat poured down his back, stretching his hand out to manipte the ambient essence of thew of destiny and confirm that the crisis had been averted.


    "Seems like this Artemisia isn''t like the others.


    She had already long discovered I was snooping and was tracking me down. If I let my authority stay active for even a second longer��. she might have zeroed in on the exact coordinates of my location."


    He ced his hand on his chest as if trying to calm his frantically beating heart as he spoke.


    "Such frightening power and precision.


    That''s a Universe''s ''Main Entity'' for you. In fact, I feel this Artemisia should be more powerful than the others, even though they are older."


    He gauged Artemisia''s strength from the little ''exchange'' the two just had, taking onest deep breath to calm himself down before saying.


    "Just in case shees over to do a sweep on this world. I''d temporarily seal my memories back again so she would not realise."


    He formed a finger gun and pointed his hand to his temple, before ''shooting'' a beam of blue light into his head.


    Vincent''s body copsed weakly on the couch, with him being silent for a few seconds before he suddenly jerked up and looked around in confusion.


    "Huh? What was I-! My Expresso?!"


    He screamed out as he checked the expresso cup that had fallen over, heaving a light sigh when he noticed that its contents hadn''t spilt.


    "Thankfully, I don''t have to walk back to that Star***** rip-off Coffeehouse."

 Chapter 431 Volume 3 Teaser 1

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    7


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    Sanctum of Transformation


    Capital City Acron


    Beta Continent''s Holy Empire


    Unknown Date


    A fairly tall teenage-looking boy with a shaven chin and short white hair, had his arms spread out as half a dozen servants quickly helped him remove the ceremonial robes he was wearing.


    In less than five minutes, he had changed back to his usual clothing, a cassock underneath white priestly robes with a zhetto atop his head,


    On the back of his robes, arge golden rose was embroidered with fine silk, shimmering under the light as he walked through the halls of the giant Basilica, that bore the name; Sanctum of Transformation.


    "What a coincidence."


    The boy spoke with a wry smile a golden inscription briefly lit up on his dark irises for a second before they returned to normal.


    "Did you say anything, Lord Nichs?"


    "No��continue with your reports."


    "Okay.


    Reports iing state that the dragons'' reactions to the news of the incident in the Alpha Continent''s Beast Kingdom have been anything but calm.


    Some of them are even threatening to start a war on humanoid races in response to this, while some other humanoid races are taking advantage of the momentum to attack and persecute Dragonkin across the continent."


    "In other news, it seems that one of the Executives of ''that'' organization has suffered great wounds at the hands of the main perpetrator of the incident��their vital status is currently unknown."


    Hearing the words of the deacons walking beside him, the white-haired boy, Nichs, chuckled lightly as he spoke.


    "It''s only been a year and he''s already gone after another one? He''s still as high profile as ever, huh?"


    "Hmm? Are you perhaps acquainted with ''him'', Lord Nichs?"


    "I might be��. there''s a 50/50 chance."


    The Deacon was confused upon hearing his reply, but Isaac only waved him off and dismissed them all, before moving into his private garden.


    Staring at water pouring through the fountain, he sighed softly and said to no one in particr.


    "I really hope it''s you��"


    �� �� ��


    6


    �� �� ��


    Harlston Pce


    Capital City Harlston


    Beta Continent''s Draidan Country


    Unknown Date


    ''Living Legend''


    A title that was given to the ''few'' Legendary Level beings that existed on the Aidos.


    Seated on the main throne in this majestic pce, was one of these Living legends, the ''Chief'' of the Dragonkin''s country of Draidan.


    And from the expression on his face, one could tell that he was very, very displeased.


    "The actions of that brat on the other continent have made the humans here grow quite arrogant.


    To think they believe they can try and take over our proud Dragonkin territory."


    "Hmm? What brat?"


    Answering his mutter, was a young male voice, its speaker being a boy in histe teens with snow-white skin and was pretty enough to be mistaken for a girl.


    He had long smooth flowing ck hair that reached his waist, with two curved horns that had intricately designed patterns jutting out from the sides of his head.


    The Living legend looked up at the boy and a small smile appeared on his face, his mood brightening up at the appearance of his adopted son.


    After telling the boy about the current happenings in the Alpha continent rted to the dragons, a wide grin appeared on his face as his slit pupils narrowed slightly.


    "I see��so it''s him again, huh?"


    His long red scaled tail waved around in the air and tapped the ground a few times as the boy briefly sunk into his thoughts, an idea popping into his head as he turned towards his adoptive father and spoke.


    "Those humans getting arrogant about our territory��send me to the frontlines of the battle.


    I''d handle them."


    A look of surprise appeared on his adoptive father''s face, but that did notst for long as the man suddenly revealed a wide grin, with his sharp canines jutting out as he nodded and gave his affirmation.


    "No problem, boy.


    I''d give the official decree, immediately."


    "Thank you, Father."


    After saying his thanks, he turned around and sauntered out of the throne hall, a golden inscription shing across his ck pupils as he thought to himself.


    ''Let''s see who can rack up more achievements before we meet.''


    �� �� ��


    5


    �� �� ��


    Barthmont Pce<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Capital State Goras


    Alpha Continent''s Beast Kingdom


    Unknown Date


    A red-haired teenage boy walked out of one of the numerous rooms in thisrge castle, closing the door behind him and heaving a light sigh as he leaned back on it.


    He was dressed in a simple red shirt that matched the colour of his eyes, along with ck jeans and leather boots, and he had artifact bracelets on his both arms, each of them having multicoloured gems that shone with the brilliance of high-quality magic power.


    The boy started making his way down the hallway after a few seconds, but the moment he reached an intersection, the two ears reminiscent of a lion''s that sat atop his head twitched slightly.


    "Who is it?"


    He turned his head slightly to nce at the corridor on his right, silently circting his aura throughout his body as he narrowed his eyes in suspicion.


    However, when he saw who it was that emerged from behind the pir in the middle of the hallway, he lowered his guard and gave a light smile before speaking.


    "So, it was you, elder sister."


    "Hmm��you''ve gotten better. Normally, you would not have been able to sense me with this level of stealth."


    The boy only shrugged his shoulders in response, not taking his eyes off the brown-haired older woman who closed the distance between them in a single ''step''.


    "I heard what happened in Lacertilia."


    "Oh��that. What about it?"


    He resumed walking across the hallway towards his initial destination as he replied, with his older sister matching his pace as she answered.


    "That was a very dangerous situation. That beast was a whole existence level above you. You could have died."


    "If I fought it on my own, maybe. But I had allies, as such, there was a lesser danger to my life."


    The boy ran a hand through his hair, sighing softly for a moment before continuing.


    "I understand you and Second to fourth sisters'' desire for my safety, but you have to understand my own desire to get stronger as fast as possible."


    "And what is the reason for this desire of yours?"


    The boy stopped and turned towards his sister, his lips curling up into a grin that showed his sharp canine teeth.


    In his eyes, a golden inscription shed for a brief moment, however, the look of surprise on his sister''s face showed she saw the inscriptionpletely.


    "Why don''t you take a guess?"


    �� �� ��


    4


    �� �� ��


    Demonic Hand Base


    Franta City Outskirts


    Alpha Continent''s Great Western Empire


    Unknown Date


    **BOOMMM!!!!!


    "GAAARRRGGHH!!"


    A loud explosion rang out, apanied by the death throes of an unfortunate demonic human, as his charred remains dropped down onto the cracked ground.


    Simr screams could be heard all around as dozens of demonic hand lower and mid-ranking members all tried to flee for their lives, only for their bodies to be pierced by projectile magic of varying elements.


    *TAP *TAP


    Casually walking through this scene of chaos, was a teenage girl with straight, chestnut-coloured, long hair that was tied up into a ponytail.


    She was wearing a ck polo neck jumper, with a simrly coloured pair of shorts and leather boots all underneath a long blue jacket that matched the colour of her eyes.


    Wearing a nk expression on her face and gazing at everything around her with disinterest, she silently walked through therge hallway of the base, with one hand behind her back, while the other was poking the ck orb that floated in the air in front of her.


    Hovering nearly two metres above her head, were seven two-ringed magic circles, with colours and elements identical to the seven orbs that floated behind her.


    The projectile spells kepting out of these magic circles, each one having nearly twice the amount of power that the spells were normally meant to, and each one not failing to end the lives of a demonic hand member with a few fatal hits.


    A few metres behind her, was a group of armoured knights, all having incredulous expressions on their faces as they saw one demonic hand member get hit by five jagged ice spears, in the heart!


    The man''s lifeless body dropped to the ground, with one of the knights sighing as he turned to his superior knight who was a powerful grandmaster-level existence and asked.


    "Are we supposed to be protecting that?"


    The look on his face, as he pointed to the teenager ughtering everything in sight, was basically asking if their presences here were even necessary.


    Even the grandmaster had to admit that the knight definitely had a point, however, he did not verbally agree with him and instead reprimanded him.


    "Don''t be silly. What if an enemy on your level appears? She would no-Hmm?"


    His senses picked up on something and he unsheathed his sword, with all the other knights and mages having simr reactions as they noticed the peak master-level existence rapidly heading towards the girl.


    Just when they were about to move to end his life��


    "Stand down."


    A translucent barrier of me and lightning elemental energy appeared in between them and the princess, with the grandmaster stopping his dash right before hitting it as he sensed that the energy in the barrier would definitely be able to bypass his durability.


    "DIE YOU FUCKING HERO!!!"


    The enraged shout of a demonic fused senior member rang out as the being charged towards the teenage girl, only for her to casually swing her hand down diagonally, from top right to bottom left, then from top left to bottom right.


    There were two shes of light, followed by a sudden silence thatsted a good five seconds.


    On the sixth second, the body of the demonic fused being split apart into four different halves, before falling on the ground into a pool of blood.


    Once again, the voice of the Knight from earlier rang out once more.


    "Remind me again, we''re supposed to be ''protecting'' ''that''?"

 Chapter 432 Volume 3 Teaser 2

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    3


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    Level 3 Monster Forest


    Sbireth City


    Alpha Continent''s Desert Country of Tarse


    Unknown Date


    At the centre of a small clearing, smack dab in the middle of this forest where level 300 monsters weremonce, two people stood facing each other in silence.


    On one side, was a girl standing at about 170cm tall, with long ck hair which she tied up into a side bun on her head, leaving two shoulder-length locks to frame her face.


    She wore a simple white shoulderless one-piece dress with a simr coloured bib, all lined with threads in a shade of gold that matched the colour of her crown-shaped essory, and, dark grey handguards on her half sleeves that matched the colour of her eyes.


    Floating in the air behind her, was a ceremonial one-handed sword that did not look like it was made for battle.


    Opposite her was a tall, attractive man with tan skin and a muscr build. He had golden eyes and very long purple hair which he tied up in a ponytail.


    He donned a brown shirt atop a pair of simrly coloured jeans andbat boots, with a ck jacket loosely draped around his shoulders.


    The two of them were silent for a while until the man suddenly spoke out.


    "You know this is pointless, right? I''ve already figured out how your powers work anyway."


    He then rose up one hand and flicked a bolt of aura at a speed he was sure the girl should have not been able to react to.


    The instant he flicked it, he opened his palm up, just in time for it to return and hit the centre of his palm.


    "Hmm? That was a bit stronger thanst time, but it doesn''t matter. I''ve gotten all the info I wanted."


    He turned around and was about to jump into the air and zoom off, only to have his arm grabbed by the girl who instantly closed the distance between them.


    "��What?"


    "You didn''t expect me to let you go that easily, did you?"


    She tightened her grip around his arm, a golden crest manifesting in her dark grey eyes as she continued.


    "You''ve gotten what YOU wanted, but I haven''t gotten what I want.


    For starters, you''re going to tell me where the others you''ve found are��minus our idiot leader who''s interfering in another country''s war. I can already predict that he wants to get the ''Vale de''.


    As for the rest, you''re going to give me information about them, Rathal."


    As she concluded her statement, one of her circr grey pupils, suddenly changed into a slit, something that made Rathal''s eyes widen in slight surprise.


    "Oh well��no harm in telling you then."


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    2


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    Cave of Trials


    Dungeon City Vuegan


    Alpha Continent''s Great Eastern Empire


    Unknown Date;


    "When I left the ''Tower of Trials'' after spending more than half a year inside there, I told myself I would not be entering any ''Trials'' soon��"


    A young teenage boy''s voice rang out as he stepped atop a trap magic circle on the ground, overloading it with magic power and causing it to crumble under the pressure before it could activate.


    "��Now, not up to a yearter��I''m inside ANOTHER set of ''Trials'', ones that could be considered more troublesome than that Dungeon Artemisia created."


    The boy adjusted the cuffs of his shirt as he spoke, before taking a seat on a nearby stone and pulling out a juice pack from his inventory and popping it open.


    He was a fairly handsome boy in his early teens, one who was a bit tall for his age as he stood at five feet 8 inches.


    His clothing consisted of a pair of ck jeans and a dark grey long-sleeved t-shirt, both woven from silk and steel threads of a powerful grandmaster-level spider monster.


    Atop this was a long ck jacket that was below knee level in length, with simr colouredcedbat boots.


    On his left wrist, he had a silver mechanical chain wristwatch and a in bracelet that peeked out from under his right sleeve cuffs.


    He had his short ck hair swept back and a pair of striking grey eyes, each having an ancient character, inscribed in gold on his pupils.


    "Good thing this is thest of trial.


    But too bad this dungeon is only the ''Phase 1'' of the whole ''Cave of Trials'' series."


    The boy turned the now empty juice pack to ashes, before pulling out his obsidian ck sword from his inventory and taking slow steps forward, towards therge set of double doors in front of him.


    Upon entering the doors and watching them close behind him, a message appeared right in front of his eyes.


    [The Trial would begin Immediately.]


    He sighed in exasperation, running a hand through his hair as he stared at the message floating right in front of his eyes, however, when he saw the ''things'' manifesting a few metres behind said message, his dark grey eyes widened in shock.


    "No fucking way��.!"


    His hold on his sword tightened as she stared at the first of the entities that had manifested in front of him, instantly adopting a battle stance and cursing out once more.


    "You gotta be fucking kidding me."


    �� �� ��


    1


    �� �� ��


    Tombs of the Barbaric Morass <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Fiaclus


    Beta Continent''s Deston Country


    Unknown Date;


    "You freaking monster!!"


    "That''s not a nice thing to say to a girl now, is it?"


    A beautifuldy in herte teens, wearing a brown oversized hooded jacket and simple pair of sses replied to the words of the demon, seconds before she sliced his body into two equal halves.


    She tossed the standard-issue sword on the floor and walked towards the edge of the cliff she was standing on, turning her gaze downwards at the massiveplicatedwork of ancient tombs thaty in the valley below.


    "Seriously, why did the ''ancient'' people waste so much just to build a tomb for one dude?"


    She spoke as she tied her long blonde hair into a ponytail, before pulling out a different pair of sses, ones that had half-framed sses and wearing them over her deep purple eyes.


    "Hmm? Did blood get on?"


    Asking herself that question, she squatted down and pulled out a rag which she used to wipe off the bloodstains on her thigh-high boots, along with the little bit of dirt that got on her ck jeans.


    "Now then, these guys have something they''re nning with the Barbarians, but I can''t seem to figure out what it is.


    It''s definitely important considering that a good number of the Senior members from the Third Division are here."


    She remained squatting, cing her chin on her palm as she stared at the various men and women who were patrolling a 500-metre perimeter around the tomb, before turning her gaze to the side and asking.


    "You were there when the Barbarian King Morass died, right? Was he buried with anything important I should know of?"


    Standing beside her, was a tall woman with pale white skin, red hair and simrly coloured eyes, dressed in clothing simr to the purple-eyed youngdy, but without the hooded jacket.


    Another simrity between them, was their long-pointed ears that showed that although humanoid, the two of them were clearly not of the human race.


    "Not that I''m aware of. Besides, you should know that I don''t know this��you have my memories, after all."


    "I don''t like looking through them, messes with my sense of identity.


    Anyway��guess I''m gonna have to find out the hard way I guess."


    The moment the youngdy spoke, the ancient letter inscribed in her pupils lit up with a gold light, and a small smile appeared on her face as she jumped down the cliff without hesitation.


    As for the red-haired woman left behind, she looked down at the blonde girl who hadnded right in the middle of a group of patrols.


    In her left eye, an ancient letter inscription that was exactly the same as the ones in the eyes of the blonde-haired youngdy, manifested and lit up with a gold light as she sighed to herself and spoke.


    "You really are one hell of a sessor, Abby."


    She then jumped down the cliff to follow her ''sessor'' in wreaking havoc against the members of a certain organization''s ''Third Division''.


    �� �� ��


    -


    �� �� ��


    Unknown Location


    Unknown Continent


    Unknownoid??


    Unknown Date;


    "Come to think of it, I triggered a dyed dungeon break in their of the lizard lord some years back.


    I guess it''s high time that bore fruit now��good thing he''s heading to Lacertilia."


    The goddess spoke to herself as she looked at the map disyed on one of the screens floating in front of her.


    "Hopefully he''s back to normal after the ''Cave of Trials'', I don''t want to see ''The him that would have been''e to reality."


    She opened her palm and generated a three-dimensional projection of a certain, spinning it around in her hands for a moment and sighing softly.


    "Even if everything fails��a billion sentient beings is far more than enough to repopte the back to normal standards.


    I doubt ''she'' would like it if things get that bad though."


    Leaning back on her chair, she snapped her fingers and dismissed all the floating screens, turning her gaze towards the singr framed picture that rested atop her desk and picking it up.


    She wiped the picture frame with her thumb, gazing at the image with nostalgia as she reminisced about the day it was taken.


    In the picture, there were five people. Three males, and two females.


    From left to right, first was a young adult man who looked to be around twenty, possessing ck and red hair with red eyes.


    Beside him was a young silver-haired boy, one with a bright smile on his face and heterochromatic ck and blue eyes.


    The third��was the younger version of the goddess herself, a beautiful smile on her face as she and the silver-haired boy had their arms on each other''s shoulders.


    Squatting on the ground in between them, was a young grey eyed boy wearing a mask that obscured the lower half of his face, holding a remote that was used to control the camera that took the photo.


    Lastly, was a girl with long white hair and bright hazel eyes, having a bright smile on her face while sending a quite ''heated'' gaze towards the red-eyed man on the left.


    It was unknown how many thousands of years ago this picture was taken, given the fact that the goddess herself appeared to be just a teenager in it.


    "It''s been a while since all five of us were together."


    She spoke about the five people involved in the picture, remembering the day the photo was taken and the circumstances that led to it.


    "Haa��All this from a fucking ''misunderstanding''."


    The goddess cursed as she mmed the picture back onto the desk, before getting to her feet and muttering to herself.


    "I guess It''s time for war."


    Reincarnated Hero System Volume Three: Wars and Giant Lizards

 Chapter 433 WHY?!

    Twin Iron Scaled Cobalt Bone Apes.


    A very rare mutated duo of the Cobalt Bone Ape monster species.


    These twin monsters always worked together, splitting their duties between themselves. One was the batant'', and the other was the ''strategist''.


    As for why the strategist was needed, it was because one of the twins always possessed a skill that empowered other monsters under their control.


    These monsters were smart enough to not let such a good skill go to waste, so they always conquered any surrounding monsters and took control of them, and the strategist of the duo was the one whomanded these monsters in battle.


    It was even better when the subordinated monsters were also Cobalt Bone Apes, as their skill usually had a greater effect on their fellow species.


    Anyway, the Cobalt Bone apes indeed possessed the Cobalt coloured bones that their name referred to, and when harvested, their bones were very useful in forging powerful weapons, especially those with water elemental-type skills and effects.


    The monsters had powerful regenerative capabilities, making them quite the menace to deal with, and their Iron Scaled mutations, had robust defences that made them even harder to kill.


    Of course, this is taking their water elemental maniption abilities out of the equation.


    And then for the Icing on the cake, the Iron Scale mutation was something that could only happen when these monsters were bing Grandmasters.


    Long story short, if you ever met a pair of Iron Scaled Cobalt Blue Apes, they were at the very least, level 300 monsters capable of wiping out an entire town.


    And right now, one of these two monsters, the batant'' of the duo, was receiving the beating of its life from a party of powerful adventurers who had made a name for themselves across the continent in the past year.


    They were monsters that had been chased out of their original home after suffering defeat at the hands of another Iron-scaled mutant duo, and they came to reside in the forests of a town called Damerel, located in the north-central area of the Alpha continent''s Beast Kingdom.


    After subduing the native monsters of that forest, they plotted to once again attack the duo who forced them out of their old home.


    But first, they decided to use the tens of thousands of inhabitants of the nearby town, as food and experience sources to empower their armies.


    They were met with fierce resistance, their monster armies being repelled by the numerous C & B ranked knights and adventurers, while the town''s six A rank level fighters seeded in defeating the Iron Scaled Cobalt Blue Ape.


    Yes...they defeated the ''Ape'' and not the ''Apes''.


    Due to their rarity, the full characteristics of the Iron Scaled mutants were not known to many, as such, these A rankers were not aware that they always worked in duos.


    Just when they finally managed to defeat the ''Strategist'' who was more than 30 levels higher than they were, they were hit with a full-power Tier 3 Magic attack from the ''Combatant''.


    All six of them were instantly incapacitated and would have met their doom at the hands of the monster if it wasn''t for the corporate-dressed man wielding arge great sword that suddenly shed in and smacked the monster''s head with the t side of his de.


    Mind you, these Cobalt Bone Apes wererge humanoid monsters that were close to 15 metres in height, and with arge muscr body to match said height.


    Yet this man who was clearly not dressed for the asion, casually smacked this monster with enough force to send it flying, drawing a clean parabolic arc in the air before crashing down more than a hundred metres away.


    And that strike, was the beginning of the battle against this monster, as his three otherpanions instantly charged at the monster from different directions and attacked it simultaneously.


    However, the Cobalt Blue Ape quickly got to its feet, conjuring magic shields to block two of the attacks while using its auraden sword to block the third from which it sensed the most danger.


    And thus, a battle ensued, with powerful attacks being thrown about, each releasing shockwaves that ovepped each other, and devastated the thousands of monsters that made up the Cobalt Blue Apes'' army.


    As expected of a powerful grandmaster-level beast and the batant'' of the duo, it possessed a high-level swordsmanship skill andbat abilities to match its level.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But unfortunately, this party of four were not your regr adventurer party, with each one of them possessing skills that made the monster fear for its life.


    Yet it knew running was not possible as it would leave itself open to the attacks of these four in that process.


    One reduced the monster''s raw strength, the other sucked out its very life force, the third burned it with mes and cut through its iron scales like butter, while the fourth shed at it with a sword coated in an ominous red aura that dealt damage to its very soul.


    It was a ''short'' battle, one that devastated everything within a 500-metre radius of the forest''s entrance.


    The C & B rank fighters had concluded their battles and seeded in chasing the other monsters back into the forest, as such they were able to witness as the party of four made short work of the other mutant Cobalt Bone Ape, before the person they believed was the party leader, struck it with a whirling spiral shaped mass of reddish gold magic power, ending its life.


    It was then that the B rank and some of the C rank adventurers got closer to this party of four, and managed to identify them as the ''Anomalies''; a party originating from a foreign country that had gained risen to fame over the past year, starting from their actions in the undead Crisis that urred in the Western part of the Alpha continentst year.


    Each member of the Adventurer party was a ''Titled'' adventurer, with their leader being one who possessed two ''Titles'' and was even more famous than some more powerful A and S rank adventurers on the Alpha continent.


    "That kid''s the one they call ''Irregr''?"


    "Yeah��it''s definitely him��he has those strange eyes after all."


    "So, he''s the human hero who became popr recently, huh?"


    Such were the words of the Adventurer''s guild''s monster handlers who were chatting with themselves while dismantling the corpses of the monsters defeated by the other adventurers.


    Since the party had gotten themselves into all sorts of situations that boosted their fame over the year, they had gotten popr to the point where they could people could easily discern their identities after hearing their names or seeing their appearances.


    "They say he''s the youngest A-rank adventurer in the world."


    "For real?"


    "Yeah��didn''t you just see him kill that rare monster? So strong, and he''s not even in his mid-teens yet."


    While they were chattering away about the boy''s power, the teenager in question was standing atop the corpse of the monster he had just dealt the final blow to, with a nk expression on his face.


    Seeing this, the eyes of his blondepanion who had a ck cat in her arms, instantly shed with realisation as she activated a skill instantly.


    "Barrier.


    Sound Negation."


    A translucent cube-shaped barrier of light surrounded the boy''s body, a second before he screamed out in annoyance.


    "WHY AM I NOT GRANMASTER YET!"


    The truth of the matter was that the boy was not the ''Youngest Grandmaster'' people thought he was.


    On this day that marked exactly one year after the Cheverton Undead Crisis��


    The ''Second'' of the New Generation Seven Heroes, known widely as the ''Irregr'' Evan:


    Was still Level 299.

 Chapter 434 The Birth Of A New Hero?

    "The Birth of a New Hero?"


    "Cheverton Undead Crisis Resolved!"


    "Disaster of Graugro Strikes Again!"


    "The ''Irregr'' Evan!"


    "The ''Sword Saint'' makes a reappearance! ys Undead Dragon!"


    "Necro-Terrorist Defeated! Millions Saved!"


    "MVPs of the Coalition Force; ''Irregr'' Evan, ''Battle Priestess'' Eliza!"


    "World''s youngest A rank adventurer?"


    "Three of the Ten Greats put down Necromancer targeting Cheverton!"


    "A new Hero discovered! Could there be more?"


    "The Undead Crisis: Aftermath!"


    "Who are the ''Anomalies''?"


    These were the most popr titles of all newspapers circting in the current Great Western Empire.


    Although phrased in a myriad of ways, in the end, they were all covering one incident alone.


    The Cheverton Undead Crisis.


    Tens of thousands of undead monsters, all controlled by a powerful necromancer attacked the Great Western Empire''s Duchy of Cheverton.


    This wasmon news, not only in the Great Western Empire, but in many other countries on the Alpha continent.


    However, after the necromancer was defeated, the world discovered that things had been a lot more disastrous than the Empire let on.


    For starters, it wasn''t ''Tens'' of thousands, but ''Hundreds'' of Thousands of undead creatures that had been ''rampaging'' in Cheverton.


    And the Lead Necromancer, the ''Necro-Terrorist'', or so he was called, was actually someone as powerful as an S Rank Adventurer!


    Just when people were struggling to digest this news, it was then revealed that multiple cities in Cheverton had beenpletely decimated by the undead hordes.


    Tens of thousands of Civilians had been either killed or turned into undead creatures by the Necromancer himself.


    As if that wasn''t enough, it turned out that this S Rank level Necromancer had conducted such arge-scale undead attack in the past.


    It turned out, that the Necromancer, was the ''Disaster of Graugro'' who struck 25 years ago.


    The ''Desecrator of Souls'', Dominik Vk!


    People who lived in the northern periphery of the Alpha continent and were alive during the incident all felt chills down their spines as they remembered the Aftermath of that incident.


    The survivors of 25 years ago, knew just how dangerous that Necromancer was.


    They knew just how dangerous, the ''Nightmare of Many Who Live and Breathe'' was.


    It also came as a shock to many, especially the citizens of the Beast Kingdom, as they believed that the Necromancer had been killed by ''Beast King'' Kolvar.


    However, the Great Western Empire also released news that the Necromancer had a special skill that let him revive after he was killed by Kolvar, but he had to go into hiding to recover his power, hence, the reason why he was off the grid for more than two decades.


    Nevertheless, the extra details were quite irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, as all many countries wanted to know, was if the Necromancer was dead for good this time.


    They didn''t want a situation where he resurfaced decadester and threatened their citizens.


    And thus, the main focus returned to the person who yed a pivotal role in defeating Dominik.


    A young boy whom the adventurers had taken to calling the ''Irregr''.


    The Son of the Great Western Empire''s Prime Minister, Evan Eris.


    When his achievements came to light, many felt it was absurd and that the Empire was using the Undead Crisis as a means to boost Evan''s poprity for some reason only they knew.


    However, the tens of thousands of soldiers, adventurers, mercenaries, and knights from various countries and races, all witnessed with their own eyes that Evan did indeed participate in the battles.


    With so many witnesses confirming Evan''s power and contributions, the ''poprity boosting'' theory quickly lost traction.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Stories about the boy''s actions during the entire Crisis, from the Flesh Golem attack, to ''Operation Synchro'', and then the Falos County Incident, and finally, the Fight against the Duhan King and the Deathlord Dominik Vk himself.


    To add icing on the Cake, Dominik''s reaction upon seeing Evan''s mystic eyes was also spoken about.


    The fact that the ''Disaster of Graugro'' himself, had affirmed Evan to possess a ''Hero'' title, was big news that even spread out of the bounds of the Alpha Continent.


    As Evan had thought, it was impossible to predict just how many people heard Dominik''s magic-amplified shout, and a lot of them had gone on to spread the news to others.


    Journalists who conducted interviews with thebatants heard it, Newspaper tabloids carried it, information brokers sold it, and by the end of the week, Evan''s identity as a ''Hero'' had basically be ''Common Knowledge''.


    The title he was given by the adventurers also stuck out, and now, people either referred to him as the ''Irregr Hero'' Evan or just ''Irregr'' Evan.


    People dug up information about Evan, and before he knew it, details about his ''adventures'' in Geto City, Hobha and Kasteblum had spread faster than he had predicted.


    Besides Evan''s newfound poprity, another thing that caught as much attention was the reappearance of the ''Sword Saint'' Luke Bowthe who had been off the grid after passing on the title of ''First Sword'' to the ''Heaven Sword'' Finley Thompson.


    He had made a spectacr reappearance and yed the Undead Dragon which was believed to be the Necromancer''s most powerful undead creation, in a battle that turned the entirety of the Ruined City of Pad, as well as everything within a few miles of it into a barren wastnd.


    This showed that the Sword Saint''s strength had not waned in the slightest, indirectly reinforcing the Great Western Empire''s status as a ''Major World Power'' Nation.


    The fact that the ''Ice Knight'' Ralphie was also present to assist the ''Lightning Sword'' Charles showed that the Great Western Empire did not skimp out on their attempts to resolve the crisis as fast as possible, and with as much firepower as possible.


    Naturally, Duke Cheverton''s battle with Duhan King Vazgan was also a main point of focus, along with his cooperation with Evan and Ralphie against the Necromancer.


    And then, there was Eliza.


    A name that was very close to bing a household name in the Great Western Empire, due to the major role she yed in the battle against Dominik.


    Her ''Domain of Life'' had indeed lived up to its name, saving the lives of tens of thousands throughout the battle.


    Then her performance during ''Operation Synchro'' also served to boost her poprity, putting ''Battle Priestess Eliza'' on the same level as the other MVPs of the Anti-Undead Coalition Force.


    ''Irregr'' Evan.


    ''Sword Saint'' Luke.


    ''Battle Priestess'' Eliza.


    ''Lightning Sword'' Charles.


    ''Gravity Mage'' Tisha.


    These five were the people whom thebatants of the Coalition force, as well as the citizens of Cheverton, had unanimously decided were the top major role yers in resolving the crisis.


    Of course, people like Heinr and Sir Czac also received their share of praise, admiration and poprity boosts, but it was still not to the level of those five.


    Evan for his unexpectedly high level of contributions, strength wise, and intelligence wise as it was a fact that Evan was involved in gathering information about the Necromancer and his allies to prevent the destruction of multiple towns and cities, as well as saving all civilian lives in the Falos County''s capital.


    Luke for his singr feat of ying the Undead Dragon that almost ced all thebatants below level 200 out ofmission with just its presence.


    Eliza for her incredible ''Domain of Life'', as well as her enchantments that prevented the undead from rising again. Even the priests and holy knights of the churches had to admit that her enchantments were more effective than their holy magic.


    Duke Charles for hismanding abilities that defended against the undead waves during their simultaneous attacks, his battle against Vazgan, and his overall control of the situation.


    Andstly, Tisha, for that one third-tier spell that wiped out thousands of undead, with the addition of the fact that she dealt with the most liches throughout the incident.


    It was a bit much, but when you have more than 50 thousand people (Coalition force survivingbatants) from various countries talking about you, it was kinda impossible to NOT get famous.


    On the international scene, people from various Alpha Continental Countries had expressed their relief at the fact that the Undead Crisis had been resolved and that tens of millions of Cheverton Citizens had not been turned into undead.


    Some nations and NGOs also offered support to help the citizens of Cheverton recover from this Crisis, while othersmended the Great Western Empire''s handling of the situation.


    The Churches involved also sawrge-scale religious expansions, with their influence in a few countries increasing greatly for their contributions.


    Kasteblum had something simr, as Sir Czac''sbination Fourth Tier spell showed the world the level of power of their ''Grand Mages'', and also served to improve their reputation as they were actually the only country that ''offered'' to send forces to help.


    The Guilds; Mercenary, Adventurer, Mage and cksmith alike, all saw multiple benefits for the forces they had dispatched during the Crisis.


    Nheless, while the majority were happy that the undead Crisis had been resolved, it should not be forgotten that the battles fought, were wrought with casualties.


    And that these casualties, numbered in the thousands.

 Chapter 435 Aftermath Of The Cheverton Undead Crisis

    The Casualties of the battles fought during the undead crisis were wrought with casualties that numbered in the thousands.


    No one knew just how many died as a lot of corpses had beenpletely destroyed, with most of them being blown to bits by Methik''s explosions, or incinerated by the liches and Undead Mages.


    Of course, the ones who were turned into undead should not be forgotten.


    The Coalition force had many deaths, and a good number of the deceased had left behind friends and family.


    Friends and Family who were undoubtedly distraught at the news of their loved ones'' deaths.


    To them, the Undead Crisis being resolved was not a thing of joy.


    They could not care less about the millions that had been saved, as depending on the person, all those millions of lives did not mean as much to them as the ones whom they had lost forever.


    And after the casualties'' approximate numbers had been confirmed, a mass burial was held on in Cheverton.


    Much to the shock of many, the entirety of the Hayes Royal family was in attendance, as well as many other prominent nobles and high-ranked officials.


    People, most especially journalists, also took this as a chance to get a glimpse of the MVPs whose names had been praised over and over by the coalition force''sbatants, especially Evan.


    A short speech was given by the Emperor, before arge monument with as many names of the deceased they could acquire inscribed on it, to be immortalized as ''heroes'' who saved the lives of millions.


    The High Priest of the Church of Artemisia from the Holy Kingdom was also in attendance, and he prayed for the souls of the deceased, a prayer which Artemisia herself decided to ''answer''.


    Voices of marvel were let out as those in attendance all saw the thousands of golden light streams that ascended to the skies after the High Priest''s prayer, and from the slight expression of shock on the High Priest''s face that the Magic Projector caught, it could be seen that even he did not expect things to escte to that scale.


    Moving on, the 30th of April was even dered a ''Remembrance Day'' for those who perished during the Undead Crisis, bing a National Holiday of the Great Western Empire.


    On a side note, Therapists, psychiatrists and other mental health-rted professions saw an increase in patronizations and profits due to the soldiers and adventurers who got PTSD.


    Now then, although the Burial of the dead and other rted matters like the support for their families was important, so was celebrating the survivors, especially those who had achieved great feats and risen to prominence.


    Adventurers who had killed so many undead that their strength jumped multiple levels in a short time.


    C rankers became B rank, Peak B rankers became A rankers, some A rankers broke through to the S rank level, and Peak S rankers also went on to be SS Rank.


    The majority of the new A and S rank adventurers, as well as a few of the new B ranks, were those that had achieved great feats that could not go unrewarded.


    Such was the case for the mercenary side of things.


    The majority of the rewards for these groups were mary rewards, and for a while, the Empire was going to see an extra 5% tax increase.


    Then there were the soldiers of the army, and theirmanding officers, the majority of which were guaranteed a rank increment, medal awardments, and other decorations.


    The Knights of the Cheverton were also going to get their own share of rewards, both on the mary side of things and the aristocratic side too.


    Due to the time that it took to prepare for the Mass burial, as well as the other relevant matters involved, it was not until the 18th of May that the Burial could be held.


    And for the Celebratory events, those took even longer to prepare due to the sheer number of attendees and awardees, with the 5th of June finally being the date it was held on.


    This was quite short notice, but despite that, the Great Western Empire did not skimp out on preparations.


    Security was at its maximum due to the number of foreign dignitaries who were participating, with a few national leaders also in attendance.


    Representatives from Kasteblum, Hobha, Uswil, the Elven Kingdom, the Desert Country of Tarse and other nearby Alpha continental Countries were also present for the main official celebration.


    �� �� ��


    <2$%^dfva(926 Dimensional Realm?


    ????????????


    Month and Day Inapplicable


    Year Inapplicable


    "This ce gives me a headache."


    The goddess Artemisia spoke to no one in particr as she ''walked'' towards the ck void throne floating in the middle of this strange dimension.


    The dimension appeared to hardly have any terrain or gravity, as she was only making walking motions when in reality, she was floating.


    There were a fewrge asteroid-like objects floating around in the distance, and within the background were odd vibrant colours that circted thendscape, constantly swirling around with bright light.


    "Just a headache?


    It seems that bing a superior stage has boosted your strength and tolerance to whole new levels.


    You can now easily exist in this dimension without any issues."


    "My head aching, IS an issue.


    Can we go somewhere more��normal?"


    Artemisia replied to the words of the being seated on the throne, who only shrugged and snapped his fingers.


    Instantly, the scenery around them changed to that of an infinite darkness.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    One that had no end, no matter how far one went. And no matter how long one waited, there was no dawn.


    There was one spot, where there was light.


    A certain radius around the throne that floated within the darkness--Only there.


    The Eternal of Time and Destruction gazed at the goddess Artemisia in front of him with his heterochromatic eyes as he asked.


    "So, what did youe to find me for?"


    "I said somewhere more normal, and not h0_$Ax*n."


    "Pfft��I know. I just did it to get a kick out of you.


    So, why did youe to find me?"


    Artemisia clicked her tongue and muttered a few curses under her breath before meeting his gaze and replying.


    "You already know why I''m here, do you not?"


    "Of course, I do. But I still wanna hear you say it."


    "��With how petty you are, I sometimes doubt your age."


    The goddess sighed and facepalmed, taking a deep breath before bowing lightly and saying.


    "Thank you for interfering and preventing the girl''s death."


    "You''re wee."


    The man gave a light smile that would make many females of all ages melt but Artemisia remained unfazed as she stared at him silently.


    "But��the girl was going to survive that sh either way, why did you think she was going to die?"


    "Even if I cannot see the future like you. I can at least discern some things via fate and destiny.


    She would have survived the initial sh thanks to Kuro, but the Shadow Knight''s next set of actions would have definitely killed her��in a way that her skill would have only had a 50% chance of rectifying the issue, that is, if you didn''t teleport her Uncle there a few seconds earlier.


    My movements were being watched, and if I had taken action, the other gods would realise that I''m showing more interest in Aidos."


    In response to Artemisia''s words, the man nodded, before closing his red eye and holding up his open palm in front of the goddess.


    Next, a projected image was disyed above his palm, showing the figure of a boy that the two of them were very familiar with.


    However, Artemisia''s face turned grim when she realised exactly what it was he was showing her.


    "This is what WOULD have happened, if you didn''t send him there��"


    When Eliza and Evan were walking to the meeting room for the final briefing, on that day Evan and Yetu ''reunited'', Eliza had turned her gaze to the sky for a few seconds, moments before Duke Charles and Sir Luke hade out and done the same.


    That was the time when Eliza''s Uncle, George, had arrived in Cheverton, and she had momentarily sensed his gaze on her.


    However, he was unable to take action until the morning of the battle due to the interference of the being in front of Artemisia.


    "What would have happened to Evan upon Eliza''s death��it''s honestly not pretty.


    It''s quite distasteful to see my power used that way."


    The man remarked as he looked at the figure of Evan in that projected image.


    He looked the same as always, fair skin, attractive facial features with striking grey eyes and a well-sculpted nose above his thin lips.


    His dark hair had grey-silver highlights that matched the dark-coloured ceremonial uniform he had on.


    What was different, however, was that the usual carefree smile he always had was missing from his face.


    Instead, it was devoid of emotion.


    He was seated atop a pir of demon corpses, with three swords surrounding him, the Unforged, the Sword of Pride, and a third unknown de.


    Suddenly, he turned his gaze towards the left, raising an eyebrow lightly as if having sensed something before picking up the unforged and coating it with the blessing of destruction''s crimson red aura.


    Then, something strange happened.


    His left eye had the same old symbol of the mystic eye of mimicry, however, the crest in his right eye changed to a different one, and then another, and then a third, like the way the symbols on the reel of a slot machine changed.


    This scene made Artemisia''s lips twist into a deep frown before she clicked her tongue and asked the man in front of her.


    "Can''t you just destroy that skill from the system?"


    "How about��no?"


    "Thought so."


    With that reply, Artemisia turned around and said her farewells before teleporting out of the space, leaving behind the heterochromatic-eyed man.

 Chapter 436 The Celebratory Party I: Entrances

    Royal Pce Main Banquet Hall


    Capital City Gerfast


    Great Western Empire


    June 5th


    Year 1052


    The Royal Pce''s main banquet hall had been abuzz with activity ever since daybreak, mainly with the servants and caretakers hurriedly moving about to prepare everything for the evening''s party.


    And now that the sun had begun setting, the focus of the activity had changed, as prominent nobles and other important guests had all begun to arrive.


    The Chambeins had their work cut out for them as they announced the arrivals of the high nobles, as well as the foreign dignitaries.


    At least, one member of each noble family in the Great Western Empire was in attendance, with the majority being the title holders of the families themselves, as few dared to send representatives for such an important ball.


    Many young noblemen and women mingled with each other, with some forming new friend groups and connections, while others attempted to familiarize themselves with potential spouses.


    Despite the fact that the party had not yet officially begun, the hall was already quite crowded since most of the guests had arrived especially early.


    High nobles conversed with the foreign dignitaries that were present, while powerful peak master-level knights stood guard at very short regr intervals from each other.


    Auras swept across the room, scanning for any potential abnormalities which were to be dealt with instantly upon discovery.


    The Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Swords of the ''Ten Great Swordsmen'' were all in attendance, along with many of the Great Western Empire''s other grandmaster-level existences.


    [Announcing the Arrival of the Representatives of the Great Eastern Empire; Foreign Affairs Minister Parrus, and the Second Star General, His Excellency, Duke Kieran Cooper.]


    The whole hall went abuzz the moment the second man''s identity was announced.


    A ''Seven Star General''!


    They were the Great Eastern Empire''s equivalents of the Ten Great Swordsmen.


    Just when everyone was gaping in shock that such an important personage came over, the Chambein announced another arrival that made heads turn once more.


    [Announcing the Arrival of the Representatives from the City State of Magic, Kasteblum; Grand Magus, Sir Czac, and Vice Chief Grand Magus Joanna Ritz.]


    The hall went wild once more as the duo walked into the hall, with many mages of Kasteblum who were present having their jaws drop in shock as they never expected their Vice Chief Grand Magus to actuallye over.


    "Oh well, I''m guessing Grand Magus Josey forced her toe."


    "Yeah, that''s definitely the case."


    While the Mages were trying to rationalize the situation, the Chambeins continued with their announcements.


    [Announcing the Arrival of the Representatives from the Beast Kingdom; Beast Keeper, Margravine Sh Herrera, and Her Royal Highness, Mya Thancreed.]


    Silence reigned as the two women calmly walked into the hall. They quickly found their assigned table and took their seats, however, everyone still stared at them both in silence.


    This was natural, as one of the two women was royalty, and not just any royalty, but Beast Kingdom Royalty.


    Mya Thancreed, the Fourth Child of ''Beast King'' Kolvar Thancreed, one of ''The Five'' transcendent level beings of Aidos.


    Even the chambein who announced her name was trembling slightly as even he did not expect to call out the name of such an esteemed personage.


    However, just because he was surprised, did not mean he would stop doing his job, as the repercussions for that were far worse.


    [Announcing the Arrival of the Representatives from the Desert Country Tarse; Foreign Affairs Vice Minister, Sir Kamsu, and Warlord Isobel Salib.]


    Another powerful Epic level existence casually walked into the room, making her way to her assigned table and chatting up the Beast Keeper seated beside her with a smile.


    The Chambeins called out the names of the representatives from other countries, while the waiters and knights showed them to their seats as they awaited the arrival of the main stars of the party.


    And finally, the moment came.


    [Announcing the Arrival of the Prime Minister, His Grace Duke Roger Eris, and Her Grace, Duchess Patricia Eris.]


    The moment the Ducal couple arrived; all eyes turned towards the door as they could already predict the identities of the people who were going to be arriving after them.


    [Announcing the Arrival of the Representatives of the Church of Artemisia, Bishop Amelie Harris, and Pdin, Sir Heinr Harris.]


    [Announcing the Arrival of the Fourth Sword of the Empire, Knight Captain, Lord Ralphie Thompson.]


    [Announcing the Arrival of the Third Sword of the Empire, His Grace, Duke Charles Cheverton, and Her Grace, the Duchess of Cheverton.]<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    [Announcing the Arrival of the Second Sword of the Empire, His Grace, the Sword Saint, Luke Bowthe.]


    [Announcing the Arrival of the Second Star of the Empire, Her Royal Highness, Princess Laurene Hayes, and Lord Arnold Eris.]


    [Announcing the Arrival of the First Star of the Empire, His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Richard Hayes, and Lady Myra Antebellum.]


    Right after the Crown Prince and the Princess'' arrivals had been announced, the person everyone had been waiting for was finally announced.


    [Announcing the Arrival of the Heir of the Eris Dukedom, Young Lord Evan Eris, and Lady Eliza Lane.]


    The banquet hall''srge double doors opened and the two MVPs walked in, casually chatting with themselves despite all the thousands of eyes that were boring into them from the second they came through the doors.


    Whatever they were talking about seemed quite ''important'' because it was as if the rest of the world didn''t exist to them, and somehow, even the powerful Epic level existences with superhuman hearing in the room could not hear their words.


    If only they knew that the young hero was just telling his girlfriend about a new confectionary store that had just opened up and was inviting her on a date.


    [Entering, the Sun and Moon of the Great Western Empire, His Royal Majesty, Emperor Rudeus Hayes, Apanied by Her Royal Majesty, Empress udia Hayes.]


    All the nobles and foreign guests were all standing as the Emperor and the Empress walked into the hall.


    The orchestra conductor waved his baton quickly, increasing the tempo of the music while the instrumentalists put on their best performance yet.


    Eventually, the Emperor and the Empress joined their children atop the small elevated tform at the end of the hall, with Rudeus putting down his sceptre and holding out a hand towards the orchestra.


    The music slowly died down and eventually stopped, while the chambeins closed the doors.


    [A moment of silence for the souls of the departed.]


    All sorts of chatter stopped as the hall went silent for a moment, with no one moving an inch in respect for those who had passed away during the Undead Crisis.


    Afterwards, the Emperor gave his official speech, giving his thanks to the representatives from the foreign countries present, along with light praises for all the potential awardees present.


    Finally, the party officiallymenced, with the Emperor and the Empress opening the dance floor while the orchestra put on a wonderful performance.


    Said performance was the first of many others, as the dances continued even after the Royals had returned to their seats, while some nobles immediately moved around to ''socialize'' with each other and build connections with the foreign dignitaries present.


    Well��at least the ones who seemed approachable.


    Very few dared to go over to where people like the Second Seven Star General, or Kolvar''s daughter were.


    Seeing this, Crown Prince Richard let out a soft chuckle andmented on their attitudes, something that Laurene who was seated beside him concurred with.


    His gaze then turned in the direction of the MVPs of the party, Evan and Eliza, who were getting swarmed by various high nobles and a few foreign dignitaries.


    "This guy, you can clearly see he''s revelling in the feeling of being the centre of attention��"


    Richard momentarily had thoughts of messing with Evan for a bit, and as if his father read his thoughts, the man spoke up right after.


    "I know you two ''don''t get along'', but don''t start anything today."


    "Come on, father. You should tell that to him and not me. He''s the one who''s more likely to pull bullshit."


    "Richard��your words."


    udia spoke up to reprimand her son while Laurene just silently cast a sound istion barrier around them to prevent their words from being heard by half of the superhumans in the room.


    "What the hell does she even see in him?"


    Richard muttered under his breath as he looked at Eliza who had been sticking closely to Evan ever since the day of the Undead Crisis'' final battle.


    "That''s for him to know, and you to probably never find out."


    "True...hahaha."


    The Crown Prince chuckled lightly when he heard his sister''s reply, right before his father tacked in a few extra words.


    "Do well to be respectful to the Young Lady he''s with as well."


    "Obviously. I''m at least capable of basic courtesy."


    "Not that, I mean you should speak to her like you would an equal."


    "��wait, what?"

 Chapter 437 The Celebratory Party II: Setting Joanna Up?

    "Not that, I mean you should speak to her like you would an equal."


    "��wait, what?"


    Richard let out a surprised voice upon hearing his father''s words, not understanding why the man could have possibly said that.


    "She''s not amoner like the information you have on her would show."


    "So, you mean wherever she''s from, she has a level of authorityparable to a World Superpower''s Crown Prince."


    "Indeed."


    Rudeus replied while calling for a waiter and having them summon one of the high nobles he wished to discuss something with before continuing.


    "I had her investigated and the results were slightly suspicious.


    The information I got from Sir Luke about a certain rtive of hers was the deal breaker that let me realise who she was.


    The answer was right in our faces the whole time.


    Think about it, she''s a girl with thest name ''Lane'', and she has an absurd level of control over the Life attribute.


    Her identity could not be any more obvious."


    The Crown Prince''s eyes widened in slight surprise as he pieced the information together, turning to his sister and posing a short question to her.


    "You knew?"


    "She wasn''t exactly making a good attempt at hiding it, you know? Anyone with a brain could have figured it out after a certain amount of time."


    "You sure about that? Because I highly doubt Evan knows."


    "That guy is a different case. His brain works in mysterious ways."


    udia chuckled upon hearing her daughter''s reply to her words, with the three royals shifting to another topic while Emperor Rudeus conversed with one of the High Nobles.


    �� �� ��


    "I want to go and sleep."


    [I''m afraid that is not possible, Master.]


    The voice of a certain ck-furred cat-shaped shadow spirit rang out in Evan''s head in response to his sidement.


    The young hero was currently seated on the railing of one of the banquet hall''s balconies, allowing the cool night breeze to blow on him.


    "Don''t you at least want to see what rewards they have in stock for you?"


    "Mary rewards, limited military authority, and a High Nobility title.


    It''s all things that I would eventually acquire regardless of the circumstances."


    Evan replied to Eliza''s words as he pulled out a blue sapphire-coloured flower ornament from his inventory and carefully ced it into her braided hair.


    "French braids and ponytails��those two styles suit you the most."


    "I know what ponytails are but what the heck are French Braids?"


    "What you currently have on ."


    "This��? Why''d you call them ''French''?"


    The boy held a hand to his chin as he took a moment to think about a reason, but those thoughts were locked out of his head when Eliza turned around and met his eyes.


    He was instantly lost in her sapphire eyes, requiring Eliza to snap her fingers in front of his face to bring him back to reality.


    She had a slight blush on her cheek as she was able to infer the reason why Evan had nked out for a moment, she just hoped he wouldn''t say it out loud without a ca-


    "You''re more beautiful than usual today."


    "?!"


    -and Evan did the exact opposite of what she hoped for.


    Then again, it was not like his words were false.


    Eliza was currently dressed in a beautiful dark blue dress. It left her shoulders mostly uncovered and flowed down into a delicately draped neckline.


    It was a tight fit that made the dress lookfortable, yet elegant and stylish, helping to entuate her gorgeous skin, and making sure that the focus of anyone looking was on other parts of the dress that Evan would not pull out their eyes for.


    Below the waist the dress widened and had several asymmetricyers from top to bottom, reaching just above her ankles, but was slightly longer in the back.


    As for the boy himself, he was wearing a in dark blue shirt, buttoned up fully to support the elegant tie he was wearing.


    On top, was a trendy vest with 5 buttons, having a deep v-line which caused it to remain hidden whenever his suit jacket was buttoned up.


    The jacket itself was clearly made for him, a perfect fit, with an intricate but subtle id pattern, giving the suit a stylish casual look.


    Its buttons were left unbuttoned as having them buttoned up would''ve made the overall look too fancy for his taste.


    Although the pants were a different style from the jacket, theyplemented each other perfectly and created a perfect bnce with his ssy pair of split-toe derbies.


    Evan had to give it to the Duchess that the woman really knew how to piece together a perfect outfit for him, and easily make it match with Eliza''s.


    However, their fancy matching clothing was of little concern to both of them right now.


    The boy''s Mystic eyes were currently inactive, giving Eliza a clear unobstructed view of his grey pupils, with the girl momentarily getting lost in them, snapping out of her daze when she heard Evan click his tongue.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    His hand that was on the side of her face dropped down to hisp as he turned his gaze towards the balcony door, just in time for a familiar face to walk out through it.


    "Oh��it''s Joanna."


    Evan''s displeasure vanished instantly as he jumped down from the railing and walked up to the Vice Chief Grand Magus who had been swarmed by nobles and foreign dignitaries ever since the party began.


    "Ohh��Evan��.and��and��Evan''s girlfriend."


    "��You didn''t forget her name, did you?"


    "��I remember, probably."


    "Probably?!"


    The tall dark-skinned beauty let out a small chuckle upon seeing Eliza''s reaction, allowing the younger girl to realise she was being messed with.


    "That''s surprising, I didn''t think you''d be one to care for little jokes like that."


    "I''m learning��to interact with��friends?...acquaintances?....what are we?"


    Joanna tilted her head to the side as she asked Eliza,pletely leaving it up to the girl to decide where they stood.


    Of course, they were just on the acquaintance level as they had only met a total of three times.


    "Why''d youe over here anyway? Did Old Man Gavin force you?"


    "��mhmm.


    ��I was considering��resigning. So dragged me��and pushed me into��the teleport waypoint."


    "��are you for real?"


    Joanna casually nodded, letting out a light yawn while Evan inquired for an exnation of how that happened.


    "��story too long."


    "Summarize."


    "��


    ��Work Increased. I could not sleep��so I tried to resign so I could sleep."


    "Ain''t that summary a bit too short?"


    Even though Evan said that; he had already gotten the basic gist of the situation, letting out a light sigh as he spoke.


    "You''re the first person I''ve ever seen who has the second highest authority in a country yet wants to throw it away just to sleep."


    "��isn''t sleeping��the goal of life?"


    "It''s clearly a basic necessity for mortals but it''s not life''s goal!"


    And Eliza came in with the retort, causing Evan to let out a small chuckle before taking her hand.


    The trio re-entered the hall while lightly chatting with each other, with many eyes turning to them as various rumours of the supposed close friendship Evan had with Joanna were being ''confirmed''.


    Of course, the two couldn''t really care less as they made their way over to where the Empire''s Chief Court Mage was discussing with some of Kasteblum''s Senior mages and a few A-ranked adventurers in attendance.


    "I''m sure you''d already know about each other given the nature of your positions, but this is Sir Jenson. Taught me magic for a while, still refused to teach me teleportation magic, though."


    "Well, that''s because you wanted to use it to run away from training."


    "Of course, I wanted to. That shit was spartan."


    The adventurers chuckled lightly upon hearing Evan openly admit his ulterior motives, with Jenson sighing softly and muttering something about how he hadn''t changed at all.


    He did a light introduction for some of the adventurers he was familiar with, but he kept it brief as he knew Joanna was bound to forget their names either way.


    More importantly, they were not the main focus.


    "Now then��I''d leave you two to it. I have some other people I''d like to talk to."


    As he said those words, his eyes signalled the Senior Mages and adventurers, and they all instantly understood the assignment.


    Within two minutes, they had all cleared up, leaving Jenson and Joanna alone together, with some of the senior mages even acting as a deterrent against the nobles who wanted to attempt to get on the woman''s good graces.


    "Was that okay?"


    Hearing Eliza''s question as they walked away, Evan ced a hand on his chin and thought to himself for a few moments.


    ''Nothing like this happened in the game.


    But even if that game was a potential future, it doesn''t mean we have to follow it exactly. Besides, I''ve changed much more important parts of the future, an extra couple''s not gonna cause any issues.''


    "Yeah��it''s fine."


    ???


    Hey, y''all. It''s your friendly Author _michael.


    So I could not help but notice that whenpared to the other Mystic Eye Abilities, Evan''s Eyes of Mimicry seem a lot weaker, as such, I would be revamping the Skill in theing days.


    The revamped skill description will be posted at the end of future chapters when I''m done with it.

 Chapter 438 The Celebratory Party III: Malaya Thancreed

    "Yeah��it''s fine."


    After that, he scanned the hall and noted the positions of the people he wished to talk to, waving at Finley and Ralphie who were with the Seven Star General that came before taking Eliza''s hand and leading her over to where Tisha was.


    "Yo. Su-huh?"


    To his surprise, the Gravity Mage was right beside his contracted demon Pride.


    ''Yep. Two Beautiful women standing side by side is a sight for sore eyes.''


    Pride was rocking a red dress that left her shoulders mostly uncovered and flowed down in a stylish Queen Anne neckline. It was afortable fit that made it enjoyable for her to wear.


    Her arms were covered all the way down to her wrists, with tight butfortable sleeves from top to bottom, allowing for enough movement while still looking stylish.


    Tisha was also outfitted in a pretty ck dress, covering only her shoulders. A choice that gave only served to add to the elegance and grace of the dress.


    "This is onebination I never thought I''d ever see. Where''s Greed though?"


    Pride just silently gestured towards a certain direction where Evan turned and saw Greed who was swarmed with a lot of Ladies wanting to get to know him better.


    "No surprise there.


    He really is a handsome bastard."


    "E-"


    "Evan, yournguage."


    Surprisingly, someone beat Eliza to calling Evan out on his words, with the boy turning around to lock eyes with a dark blue-eyed youngdy.


    "Myra!


    This party has been on for an hour but this is somehow the first time I''m seeing you."


    Evan lightly hugged the Young Lady of the Antebellum Marquisate as he spoke, before taking a moment to admire her appearance and then continuing.


    "Yep. You look pretty as always."


    The instant those words left his mouth, he felt a re boring into the back of his head, while Myra only chuckled lightly and spoke.


    "Thank you.


    However, I would like it if you stopped taunting Richard."


    Evan rose his hands in mock surrender, ignoring the reing from a certain Crown Prince as he replied.


    "I''m just stating facts."


    The young hero chatted with Myra for a while, and just when he turned his attention back to the others, he overheard Eliza questioning Tisha''s wellbeing.


    "You sure you''re okay?"


    "I''m fine. It''s been over a month. Plus, your uncle patched me up well, so there wouldn''t be any scars.


    Still, didn''t know you had such a powerful Life Attribute user in your family. Which side''s he from?"


    "Mom''s side. He''s her younger brother."


    "...What?"


    Evan couldn''t help but voice his surprise upon hearing Eliza''s reply to Tisha''s question, prompting the girl''s attention to turn to him but he just stared at her in silence as he sunk into his thoughts.


    He remembered the day of the attack on the Falos county; when Eliza was telling him more about her family and how he had felt her family structure sounded frighteningly simr to a certain family he knew of.


    And now he just heard her say that the man who he had confirmed with Luke was indeed George Kaur, was her mother''s younger brother.


    ''Nope, I''m not gonna think about it.


    There''s definitely no way I''m dating Alden Kaur''s granddaughter.''


    But even as he chose to escape reality, a part of his brain kept thinking about a crucial piece of information.


    ''It''s not adding up.


    George Kaur''s elder sister was killed by the Eighth Finger more than thirty years ago, that''s why he hated Dominik''s guts.


    And from the Laneford quest, it was clearly stated that Alden didn''t have any other kids. Eliza''s not George''s daughter��but her family sounds just like Matthias'' family. Come to think of it, the identity of Mathias'' kid''s mother was never said, or was it? ��just what am I missing here?


    Did I skip a cutscene or something in the game? But I made sure to watch every cutscene, I even gave a 10-second grace period after the screen went nk just in case there was more to wa-Wait...now''s not the time!''


    An inadvertent nce at a wall clock showed him the time and snapped him out of his daze, with him moving behind Eliza and cing his hands over her shoulders before looking towards the other threedies and asking.


    "Now then, I have somewhere to go so would you three wonderfuldies do me the favour of keeping certain ''pests'' away from my partner over here?"


    "Huh? Evan? What are you talking about?"


    In contrast to Eliza''s reaction which was a mix of light confusion and surprise, Pride heaved an exasperated sigh as she grabbed a ss from a waiter and asked.


    "Seriously, Evan?"


    "Pfft��Overprotective much?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Yes, indeed."


    Evan replied to Tisha''s question with a nod, that Is, before Eliza flicked his forehead lightly.


    "You can go talk to who you want to. No one would disturb us here."


    "Indeed. No one who you''d consider a ''pest'' would."


    Hearing a familiar voice concurring with Myra''s words, Evan turned around and was met with the sight of his fellow hero, the Empire''s Princess, Laurene.


    "Oh, Laurene.


    Where''s Arnold?"


    The boy greeted her with a light hug as he asked, to which she replied by pointing in the direction of the dance floor. Evan turned there and caught sight of the older Eris sibling dancing with a redhead he recognized as Duke Charles'' daughter.


    "She really doesn''t know when to give up, does she?"


    "What are you talking about?"


    Myra''s question was answered by Evan in the same way Laurene had answered his, and after looking towards the dance floor, she nodded lightly and spoke.


    "So, that was the case."


    "Indeed, it was. Too bad for her, it''s a losing battle."


    Evan spoke with a shrug before turning towards Tisha, with the sight of her sparking his memory and making him remember something he wanted to ask her earlier.


    "You didn''t lose the contacts?"


    "Hmm?"


    She was lightly surprised that Evan knew her current green eye colour was the work of her colour contact lenses, but she just shrugged and replied.


    "I''d leave it like this till I leave the Empire. Then I''d probably change it to another colour."


    "Oh well. Suit yourself.


    I just wanted to use you guys as a cover."


    "Cover for?"


    He didn''t reply and only walked behind Tisha and Pride who were standing side by side, activating two skills simultaneously and disappearing from behind them, a moment before one of the Major Generals under Luke came up in an attempt to talk to him.


    The boy reappeared about a few dozen metres away, exactly a metre away from the tall ck-haired cat beast woman who was already staring at him as if she already knew he was going to appear there beforehand.


    "How did-oh, Spatial Perception. Forgot about that."


    Evan spoke to himself as he remembered one of the skills belonging to the Beast Keeper who was looking at him with a raised eyebrow.


    "Good evening to you, Margravine Herrera."


    He offered a greeting to the woman, before turning his attention to his main target who was standing beside her and doing the same.


    "A wonderful evening to you, Your Highness. I trust you''re enjoying the party."


    "Good evening to you too. And yes, it has been enjoyable so far, Lord Eris."


    Princess Mya replied to Evan''s greetings with a light smile, casually disregarding the very strange means he used to get to her position.


    She also showed light surprise when Evan did not initiate the gesture of asking to kiss the back of her hand like all the other nobles did, and instead opted for a more formal handshake.


    "Oh, please. Just call me Evan."


    Evan replied before turning his gaze towards the Margravine who had been looking at him with a weird gaze for the past half minute.


    "��?"


    "I was of the assumption that using teleportation magic inside this castle was nigh-impossible for non-royals."


    Sh spoke as she spread out her spatial perception field and confirmed the presence of anti-teleportation formations that were woven into the tiles on the floor.


    "Oh, that. Yes, that''s the case.


    As a matter of fact��"


    Evan rose up his palm and reactivated his blink skill, with his hand beginning to go transparent, only for something to interrupt the skill activation and forcefully cancel it.


    "��It''s still not allowed.


    I have a certain skill set that allows me to temporarily bypass it, but I''d rather not use it anymore."


    He pointed in the direction of the Throne tform with his thumb as he spoke, prompting Sh and Mya to turn and see Rudeus lightly narrowing his eyes in Evan''s direction, showing the man had realised what he had just done.


    Looking closely, all the royals, a few Senior Knights and Court mages had also noticed the boy''s actions, however, the majority of the guests were none the wiser.


    ''So even if it''s bypassed, they''d know instantly and know who did it, huh?''


    "Indeed, it would be good if you didn''t do that anymore."

 Chapter 439 The Celebratory Party IV: Plans For Cerul

    "Indeed, it would be good if you didn''t do that anymore."


    Evan only chuckled lightly in reply, before turning to Mya and posing a question she had been asked more than just a few times today.


    "Still, Your Highness. I''m quite curious why you decided toe over here yourself."


    "Hmm? I heard a certain person was on his way to breaking the record ''that guy'' set decades ago, so I wanted to see who he was in person."


    "What record?"


    "Youngest A rank Adventurer."


    "Ah. Those newspapers and their over-exaggerated titles."


    Evan shook his head as he replied to Mya''s words, before lightly spreading his hands and continuing.


    "As you can see, I am not on that level yet. I''m quite far off, actually."


    ""Far��off?""


    Both Sh and Mya asked at the same time while giving Evan incredulous gazes. The two women were Epic level existences and were able to perfectly discern Evan''s level range without needing to appraise him, as such, they knew just where his level currently stood.


    "Yeah. It''s quite far for me."


    "If it''s ''far'' for you, then I wonder how those who are twice your age yet are only level intermediate master levels would feel."


    ''Says the person who''s twice my age but is already an Epic level.''


    Of course, Evan was smart enough not to say that reply out loud, but from the way he looked at Mya when he thought that��


    "Why do I feel like I can definitely predict what you''re thinking?"


    "Is that so? Seems I have to get better at hiding my thoughts then.


    Still, I can more or less understand your motives foring here."


    Evan spoke as he activated his appraisal skill on her, seeing her level and sighing as he continued.


    "Hearing about it is one thing, but seeing it for yourself is a totally different thing entirely."


    ''Level 520 and 27 years old, huh?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says this is normal for High-Level words.]


    ''Oh, you''re here.''


    He turned around and scanned therge banquet hall, muttering a question under his breath as he did so.


    "Where''re Heinr and Amelie?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says ''Left Gallery.'']


    "I see, I have a few things to discuss with themter."


    Evan moved his gaze back to the two women in front of him, only for Sh to ask him a one-word question.


    "Telepathy?"


    "��


    Can I borrow your intuition skill? It''s too good to pass up."


    "Pfft. You asked the exact same question I did when I found out about her skill."


    Myaughed lightly as she covered her mouth and spoke, before retelling Evan about how Sh usually just randomly guessed people''s hidden intentions and questioned them about it in such a casual manner.


    The three of them conversed lightly for a while, asionally having a few other nobles and Adventurers in attendanceing up to talk to them.


    Eventually, Mya decided to ask the main reason why Evan hade up to her in the first ce.


    "Well��my next set of major actions require me toe over to your country, so I guess this is my way of letting you know beforehand.


    So, if you suddenly start hearing talk about a certain Foreign Adventurer/Hero kid involved in a ruckus, don''t be too surprised."


    "So, you''re admitting you''re going to cause a ruckus?"


    "Nahh��I have no such intention.


    I just wanna grab something that''s at the bottom of one of the dungeons in Cerul. Just that there''s a 25% chance of someone starting a ''ruckus'' before, during, and after I''m done with the dungeon.


    But, worry not. It''s a major dungeon city with hundreds of thousands of adventurers, C rank and above, it''d be fine."


    The instant Evan said thosest three words, Mya winced lightly before pressing her fingers to her forehead and saying.


    "Most time people say ''It''d Be Fine'', it ends up NOT being fine."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "��That''s true.


    Apologies Princess, but I think I may have just jinxed things."


    "This kid...!"


    Evan and Sh were barely able to stifle theirughter at the sight of Mya''s expression, earning them death res from the redhead Princess.


    "Hopefully the trains would be up and running by then so it''d make the journey easier."


    "The rails routes and stations have already beenpleted months ago; it would not be long before they start running."


    "Finally, I would not have to sit in a carriage for a cross-country journey."


    "You dislike carriage rides?"


    Evan turned to Sh with apletely nk face before replying in a serious voice.


    "With my body and soul."


    "Then why not use Airships?"


    "My travels required me to be on the ground, so I didn''t consider them. Besides, they are still experimental."


    The boy chatted with them for a few more minutes before leaving to go on to meet his next ''targets''.


    After he left, Mya still maintained a light smile on her face, however, her voice turned serious as she spoke to Sh.


    "When we return, put all the dungeon cities in Cerul on close watch. From the boy''s words now, there''s a possibility ''that organization'' has ns in Cerul."


    The ck-haired Margravine nodded in response as she also inferred the real reason why Evan had told them about his future ns.


    ''He wants us to put Cerul''s dungeon cities under close watch, and in doing so, prevent the Demonic Hand from taking action easily since they''d want to move under the radar.''


    Indeed, it was as Sh assumed.


    The part of Cerul that the Demonic Hand had ns for was Major Dungeon City Lacertilia, the home to over a million adventurers, and the city where the ''Lair of the Lizard Lord'' was located.


    Each of the Disasters was something that had been nned for years, and naturally, the Demonic Hand had already begun their ns for Lacertilia''s Lizard Lord, as well as the hidden boss that had a 25% chance of spawning, intending to change that 25 to 100.


    However, they would find it harder to move when the dungeon cities were being monitored by the Royal Family and the Duchy.


    There was even a possibility that their members could get caught, and that''s something they''d definitely not want.


    �� �� ��


    Kieran Cooper silently sipped his wine as he looked around the banquet hall, gauging the strengths of the representatives of the various powers present with his analysis-type skill.


    He analysed some of the most powerful people in the hall, regardless of affiliation, with his brows raising in light surprise when he noted that some of the S-rank adventurers and mercenaries were far more powerful than he expected.


    The A-rankers also held some good seedlings with lots of potential, something that made the Teacher in him happy when he noticed some of these A-rankers were either from his Empire or Vassal countries under them.


    His gaze then moved over towards the Warlord Isobel who was chatting with Duke Charles, not lingering on them for too long before moving on to the Beast Kingdom''s representatives.


    ''That Beast keeper woman, she''s a lot more powerful than I originally thought. The princess is a different case entirely, so young yet she''s already on that level.''


    Just when he was about to go on to his next analysis targets, his senses tingled slightly as he noticed something ''dangerous'' cross the hall and stop right in front of Beast Keeper Sh.


    "What?"


    He witnessed how Evan suddenly appeared in front of the two women, narrowing his eyes lightly as he analysed Evan with his skill.


    ''It seems the kid is not all hot air, huh?


    How the heck is he almost a grandmaster when he''s just 13? And that Energy level��if I could not ''see'' that he was not a grandmaster, it would not be weird for me to mistake him as one based on his energy alone.''


    The man turned his red eyes in Laurene''s direction, sighing softly as he noted how oundish she also seemed.


    ''Although she''scking in the physical department, her energy is over the top for her level. And just how many affinities does she carry in that small body of hers, I can sense at least five different elements.''


    His Analysis was interrupted when one of the Representatives of a Vassal nation came over and offered him a drink, with the intention of discussing things with him.


    After his conversation with the man, he carried on with his analysis, eventually spotting Luke who was discussing something with Finley and the Emperor.


    ''The Alpha Continent''s Sword Saint, huh?''


    He was about to move on when he noticed something ''off'' about Luke''s aura, narrowing his eyes lightly as he attempted to discern what that was.


    However, Luke suddenly turned in his direction and red at him lightly, forcing Kieran to stop as he knew that going any further would be offending the Sword Saint.


    "Don''t pry into Sir Luke too much. You would not like it if he gets pissed."


    A youthful voice rang out from his side, with him turning to meet the outstretched hand of the boy who had been ''THE'' hot topic for the past few weeks.

 Chapter 440 The Celebratory Party V: Kieran Cooper

    "Nice to meet you, Duke Cooper."


    "��Same here, Evan Eris."


    The two shook hands lightly, ignoring the gazesing from more than half the people in the hall who were not being subtle about their intentions to eavesdrop on the two''s conversation.


    However, it seemed Kieran was prepared as he lightly flicked his finger and used magic to prevent sounding from their mouths from spreading any further than a meter away from them.


    "Convenient.


    I should really learn wind magic spells like this, should be able to cast them even with my 0 affinity for it."


    Evan gave a light depreciating smile as he used his mystic eyes to read the spell''s construction, before turning back to Kieran and continuing.


    "Still��I doubt Emperor Isaac would send you of all people for such a not-so-important issue. The Marquis Parrus over there would have been enough.


    I''m guessing you''re the one who decided toe in person, am I right?"


    "Isn''t that obvious?"


    Kieran was the Second Star of the Great Eastern Empire, someone far too high on the Hierarchy to serve as a representative for this kind of asion, so it was easy to infer that his presence here was a personal decision he had made after bing aware of the invitation sent to his Empire.


    "It truly is. Heard a few conversations here and there, all about people guessing why you came over. Too bad theyck enough information to arrive at the real answer."


    Evan deactivated his mystic eyes as he spoke, collecting a wine ss from a passing waiter while carrying on with his words.


    "It has been a few months since then, but I''m guessing the contents of my conversation with Du-Marquis Randall didn''t sit right with you, huh?"


    The General''s eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he noticed that Evan nearly called Bourne by the title of Duke, before switching to his ''official'' title.


    "Of course, it doesn''t. I''m really curious about how you managed to gain information about the Wolfen ns."


    The young hero sighed and shook his head upon hearing Kieran''s words, before finishing his drink and replying.


    "To be honest, that entire conversation was a mistake made by a younger me in a moment of excitement."


    "��What?"


    "Simply put, I was surprised? Shocked? and maybe a little bit excited at meeting someone famous and I wanted to leave an impression, so I spouted a bunch of stuff I wasn''t supposed to know in order to seem all mysterious and all.


    But thinking about it afterwards, if the Emperor-your Emperor, ordered for a special forces unit to infiltrate this Empire and then kidnap me to drill me for all the information I have, then it would not have been weird at all.


    Hell, I''m even surprised he didn''t."


    "So, you do realise how suspicious you seem?"


    Kieran muttered lightly after hearing the boy''s words, deciding to keep the fact that a unit was indeed dispatched to get to Evan, however, the Geto incident happened and Emperor Rudeus'' eyes were drawn to that Barony so they could not take any action of the sort.


    "So, how do you know about that?"


    "You don''t expect me to answer you so easily now, did you?"


    "Thought so."


    The man replied calmly, having expected there to be no way Evan was going to give him a straight answer, only to realise something strange about the entire situation.


    "Wait up��you said you were surprised at having met someone famous. I get that Bourne is famous and all given his high nobility rank, but that''s not what you were talking about, is it?"


    "Isn''t that obvious?"


    Kieran ignored Evan throwing his earlier words back at him and decided to ask the more important question.


    "How did you know ''what'' Bourne was?"


    "Um��I have an appraisal skill. I think this should bemon knowledge by now."


    "Bourne always carries an item that obscures the results of any appraisal-type skills. Your skill should not have worked."


    "Ever heard of this thing called ''Full Appraisal''? Any obscuration would not work against it��unless of course the person I''m appraising is either currently limiting their power to a certain level like Marquis Bourne clearly was.


    In that case, the results I would see would be the current stats of their limited state."


    Evan gave a light exnation about his skill, passing his empty ss to a passing waiter and changing the topic to something else.


    "I hope you guys don''t move your ns forward. I have a few things to handle in the Beast Kingdom before I can finallye over."


    "Nothing major has changed."


    In lieu of Kieran''s response, Evan was noticeably relieved that his silly action had not made things take a different tangent than they did in the game, still, he was quite curious about why they didn''t change.


    "You don''t seem to have any objections to me knowing, and interfering with your Country''s agenda."


    "Objections? I have plenty.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But even with how very suspicious you are, I''m not blind enough not to see the boons of having a ''Hero'' siding with my Empire during a war, especially one of conquest."


    The man''s reply was pretty much as Evan had expected, with the young hero sighing softly as he spoke.


    "It''s funny how I didn''t want to publicly reveal that I was a ''Hero'' yet. Only top dogs in world powers like you, the GWE''s Emperor, the Beast Keeper over there��"


    He looked in Sh''s direction as he spoke, prompting the woman to turn towards him upon sensing his gaze.


    After giving her a light wave, he carried on listing the kind of people present whom he wanted to inform of his hero status first.


    "��but, a certain annoying deathlord just so happened to be infusing his voice with magic power when he deduced my hero identity.


    Controlling information would have been easy if he was talking normally, but that didn''t turn out well."


    "Even if the Necromancer didn''t say it, people would have discovered sooner orter. Your actions were not exactly subtle."


    "I know. I expected people to figure it out, just now. The world was not ready yet."


    A frown appeared on Evan''s face as he ced two fingers on his forehead, sighing softly and saying.


    "The number of future ns that have gone down the drain because of that one action. Now I have to recalcte everything I nned for the next few years."


    "Things you''ve nned for the future, huh?"


    Evan gathered a small amount of wind-attributed magic power in his fingertip, redirecting it to the invisible magic circle at their feet and dispelling the barrier that prevented sound from escaping as he spoke.


    "The fact that heroes are appearing in this day and age, should obviously be a forewarning that something that requires their power is prompting that appearance.


    But you all have already deduced that, right?"


    "Indeed, we have."


    The reply to Evan''s words came not from Kieran who was beside him, but from someone else walking up from behind him.


    She was a tall woman with lightly tanned skin, light blue eyes with yellow ''cat-eye'' pupils, and dusky blonde-ented dark brown hair.


    "Warlord Salib��"


    "No need to tack on the title. Just call me Isobel."


    "Okay. That works better for me, anyway."


    Evan replied to Isobel with a shrug, before carrying on with what he was telling Kieran.


    "Anyway, it stands to reason that the Heroes in question would be vaguely aware of the ''thing'' that requires their power.


    Naturally, we have to make ns in advance, too bad Dominik''s actions messed up said ns."


    "Mind telling us what this ''thing'' is?"


    One of the representatives from the Elven kingdom joined in on the conversation with that question, however, Evan only smiled lightly before saying.


    "Why should I say it this early in the game? Where''s the fun in that?"


    "Although keeping secrets like this is fun in its own way, that''s not the main reason why this guy over here isn''t saying anything."


    Laurene tapped Evan''s shoulder as she interjected, before greeting the Elven representative with a light nod and continuing.


    "Certain requirements have to be fulfilled before we can tell you what you want to know."


    "Yeah��what she said."


    "Then do you at least know where your fellow Heroes are?"


    The Elf asked Laurene this, but the girl only crossed her hands into an ''X'' in front of her chest and replied.


    "Don''t ask me that, ask him?"


    She pointed to Evan, whose brow twitched lightly as he shot back.


    "You''re selling me out short here, you know?"


    "Come on, if anyone is to know where they could possibly be, it''s you.


    Anyway, the presentation of rewards is about to start soon, so get yourself ready."


    Laurene finally delivered the main message she came over to, before chatting up the Elven Kingdom''s representative and Isobel, and stylishly leading them away from Evan and Kieran.


    "So, what did you want to ask me? I only have time for one question."

 Chapter 441 The Celebratory Party VI: Award Ceremony

    "So, what did you want to ask me? I only have time for one question."


    Kieran was silent for a moment after hearing Evan''s question, sorting through the things he had to ask in his head and finally choosing the one he felt had the most priority.


    "You have intentions to interfere in our ns, and on my Empire''s side��. why?


    What''s in it for you?"


    Evan had not hidden his intention to side with the Great Eastern Empire during their invasion of Wolfen, and Kieran wanted to know why the boy wished to do this.


    "Hmm��the reason why, huh?


    For starters, your ns would fail and end up in the deaths of multiple Grandmasters and Epic-level existences, along with tens of millions dying if I''m not present."


    "WHAT?!"


    Kieran couldn''t help but exim in shock when he heard Evan''s words, causing heads to turn in their direction, but Evan casually continued speaking.


    "You may have nned to brute force things, but brute forcing it would not end well. Especially considering the fact that the ''ruins'' you''re targeting, belong to my predecessor.


    Even if you do manage to break the door open, the entire ''ruins'' would self-destruct, and from the sheer magnitude of the resultant explosion, it would be an understatement to say that country wouldpletely cease to exist."


    The boy dusted his sleeves and readjusted his tie as if he did not just talk about the entirety of Wolfen being wiped off the map before continuing.


    "Didn''t you find it odd that despite being so close to their capital state, everything within a few kilometres of the ''ruins'' was a barren wastnd?


    They seeded in breaking open thepound''s front gate, and that''s the price they paid.


    Also, everything you guys discovered so far, it''s all arge carefully constructed dummy. The real base, was never above ground."


    Evan dropped those words as he made his way over to where Duke Charles and Ralphie were, leaving behind Kieran who was finally given the answer to one of the questions he and the Seventh Star General who led the infiltration into Wolfen had.


    �� �� ��


    The main event of the Party, the Rewards Presentation began shortly after, and things went as Evan had expected.


    Nobility Titles, Military Promotions, Mary Rewards, and Territories.


    These were the main rewards that were being presented to the awardees present, depending on their affiliation.


    Of course, only the ones in the top 5% of each awardee category were present here, as the sheer numbers were just too much for them to all fit into the hall.


    Take the A-rankers for example, the number of A-rank adventurers based in Bultom Dungeon City who participated in the crisis was far too much for all of them to be present here for this celebration, so only the tops were selected, and even so, they were still over a hundred in number.


    It might sound like much, butpared to the tens of thousands of C and B rank adventurers, the A-rankers were small inparison.


    Starting from the lowest-ranked rewards, these went to the B-rank adventurers and some High ranked Knights that distinguished themselves over the course of the Crisis.


    The adventurers gained Honorary Bar titles, and the Knights, on the other hand, had their titles upgraded to Baron.


    For some Knights who were already titled nobles, they were put inmanding positions of a newly created Knight Order that served Duke Cheverton directly.


    Then moving on to the A and S rankers, besides their bountiful mary rewards, they also gained Honorary Baron Titles, along with a fewmissions for personal weapons, armour and artifacts to be crafted specially for them by the Royal Family''s Alchemists, Court Mages and cksmiths.


    For the A and S rankers who were of Great Western Empire nationality, they gained full nobility titles, and some of the S and A rankers who were nning to retire were granted territories to govern over.


    Now then, there was a difference between Honorary and Complete nobility titles, and that was that Honorary titles only held less than half the legal and social privileges that the Complete ones granted to their holder.


    They were mostly granted as a way to recognize unique individuals for their contributions to society and the Empire as a whole.


    Lastly, these titles were not hereditary, meaning that they could not be passed on to the children of the holders.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, the normal Complete hereditary peerages came with the full legal and social privileges and could be inherited by descendants.


    Of course, the level of privileges differed between those who merely held the titles, those who held these titles along with Court Ranks (Pce Nobles), and those who held the titles along withnd and feudal responsibilities.


    In the Army department, many soldiers gained rank promotions, with a few of them skipping two ranks.


    For starters, all the soldiers who participated automatically gained a single rank promotion and a few extra benefits.


    The low-ranked enlisted soldiers who distinguished themselves on the battlefield were promoted even more, with Corporals bing Staff Sergeants, Master Sergeants bing Command Sergeant Majors and so on.


    Warrant officers who were responsible for personnel management, equipment maintenance and other administrative and logistics positions also gained their own share of promotions based on how much merits they umted.


    When it came to the officers who controlled toons, Companies and Battalions, the promotions were smaller in number.


    Then again, this was not too surprising as the higher up one went in the ranking, the more merits one needed to be promoted.


    Second & First Lieutenants and Captains were promoted, but starting from the Major rank, the promotions were no more than 10.


    Lieutenant Colonel level promotions numbered even less, and there was only one promotion to the level of General, and it was to the lowest General rank which was Brigadier General.


    After the military promotions werepleted, then came the awards for the main yers in the crisis resolvement.


    People like Heinr, Amelie, and Sir Czac.


    Joanna also took this as an opportunity to deliver the official rewards that had been prepared for Sir Czac and the other Senior Battle Mages.


    Though some of the Senior mages who had never seen Joanna in ''work mode'' were shocked for a few moments as they were no traces of her usual lethargic attitude.


    However, she returned to normal a few seconds after she was done ying her part, and Evan could have sworn he heard a few senior mages betting on how long it would have taken her to do so.


    Back to the main yers, many were surprised when the Gravity Mage who took out the majority of the Eighth Finger''s Liches, as well as wiped out huge portions of his army with her AOE spells, was not called out for any rewards.


    Only those who were close to her like her party members and a few other A rankers, Evan who knew of her identity from the game, and the higher nobility of the Empire, recognized the real reason.


    Tisha herself was already high nobility from another country, just not one on the Alpha continent. Her father whom Luke referred to as ''Leoglor'', was a Grand Duke in his home country; that alone should speak volumes of the Gravity Mage''s lineage.


    Of course, she did collect a higher amount of mary rewards, as well as the free artifact/weapon creation.


    For grandmasters like her, weapons strong enough to withstand their power weren''t all that rare, but they were notmon either.


    Having one customised just for her was quite a sizable reward.


    Next, the members of the Anomalies all received Honorary titles, Eliza included, which allowed many nobles who had gotten stumped in their search for her true origins to infer that she was not from the Great Western Empire and was actually a foreigner.


    As for the monarch who was presiding over the ceremony and granting these rewards, he had a hard time keeping his poker face as he granted Honorary titles to two beings who were part of the invading force of a thousand years ago.


    Then again, Pride and Greed''s demon identities were not exactly public knowledge so he had to at least show that their high contributions were not going unrewarded.


    For people like Duke Charles and Duke Luke, the two of them were already at the highest level of nobility possible for non-royals, and they already had the highest levels of Authority in their respective sections of the Empire''s Administration.


    Ralphie, on the other hand, had his Viscount title upgraded to that of a Count, effectively bing the ''most powerful'' Count of the Empire.


    Although this had not been stated before, Ralphie had always had a Viscount title, one that was a subsidiary peerage under the Thompson Marquisate.


    Since he was the second son and was not going to be inheriting the Marquis title, he was given a subsidiary peerage title which was now upgraded to apletely new hereditary Peerage directly under the Empire.


    And finally, it was Evan''s turn.

 Chapter 442 The Celebratory Party VII: The Count Bourne

    Evan''s own rewards were exactly as he had predicted, bountiful mary rewards, a limited military authority equivalent to a ''Sergeant Major of the Army'' but could only be used under certain circumstances, and a High nobility title��when he came of age.


    Basically, the Emperor''s words went something like this:


    "Evan Eris is to be granted a title in the Peerage of ''Count''. However, he is not to acquire the corresponding Court Ranks of Lower or Upper Fourth.


    Additionally, upon hising-of-age ceremony, his title is to be advanced from the Peerage of Count to that of Marquis."


    The moment the Emperor was done speaking, the sound of murmurs broke out across the hall as the rank Evan had received, was far higher than they had expected.


    It was not an Honorary title, but a full Life Peerage, one that was going to automatically be Hereditary when he came of age.


    Evan''s achievements and contributions wereuded to be one of the highest, as he and his party''s actions of saving multiple small towns across Cheverton, assisting inrge-scale evacuations, the information he had provided, andstly, his battle achievements in Operation Synchro, the Falos County Raid, and the final battle; all these added together gave the young hero the highest number of merits.


    But despite this, it was impossible for some of the Baron and Viscount-ranked nobles to feel good about the fact that a kid who was less than half their age was acquiring a title that was higher than theirs, as well as the authority that came with it.


    Some other younger generation nobles and heir apparents who were older than Evan also felt a bit envious of this.


    Even the Dukes who were present were momentarily stunned as the Emperor had not told them about the rank upgrade beforehand.


    Emphasis to be ced on ''momentarily''.


    They and the other high nobles who were farsighted, instantly figured out the Emperor''s reasons and some of his true intentions for doing this.


    As for the few Barons and Viscounts who were disgruntled, Duke Cheverton''s sudden question silenced their mutters.


    "Is there anyone who has a problem with His Majesty''s decision?"


    "��"


    The hall instantly turned silent the moment the man spoke, with all those nobles instantly quieting down.


    No one dared to even whisper anything anymore.


    "Funny, I was about to ask the same thing."


    Ralphie who was standing close to the centre of the hall spoke up right after, his words followed by the boisterousughter of the ck-haired man standing beside him.


    "HAHAHAHA! I''m with my little bro on this one. Why''re you all making a fuss about this? He was going to gain a peerage when he came of age either way, after all."


    Finley spoke as he slung his arm over Ralphie''s shoulder, citing something that many had unconsciously ignored.


    Evan was currently the heir apparent of Duke Roger, and even if he was not, he was going to eventually acquire a subsidiary title under the Eris Dukedom when he turned 18.


    And as the heir apparent, the title he was to be given was the most Senior Subsidiary title under Duke Roger, which was that of a Count.


    Even if he was not the heir, he was still going to acquire the same title as the Duke had more than one subsidiary Count title.


    Subsidiary titles were basically nobility titles of authority which were not used to identify a particr noble due to the concurrent holding of a greater title.


    It was the same as Ralphie and Finley''s father, the Marquis Thompson, who possessed Viscount Subsidiary titles, but since his most senior title was that of Marquis, he was addressed as such.


    Of course, someone holding a subsidiary title of their parent was not privy to the same level of legal and social privileges as someone holding a Substantive title of the same rank, meaning Ralphie''s Subsidiary Viscount authority was not to the same level as a normal Viscount who gained that title via grant or inheritance.


    "His Majesty gave him what he was going to acquire eventually beforehand, with a little bit of upgrades and future advancements.


    "A ''Little bit''?"


    Hearing Luke''s questioning reply to his words, Finley ced a hand on his chin and thought about it for a moment before saying.


    "When you say it like that, it bes ringly obvious that it''s actually NOT a ''little''."


    Luke only shook his head and sighed softly while Finley continued with his words.


    "Then again, he deserves it, and looking around; I can see that quite a lot of you agree with me."


    Finley looked around as he spoke and true to his words, there were nobles who were giving nods of approval in response to his statement, even those who possessed the Marquis titles that Evan was to eventually acquire.


    Looking at things from the perspective of the Empire as a whole, the amount of High Nobility (Marquises and Dukes) only amounted to 30% of the total nobility, and those who were currently present all had no qualms with the Emperor''s decision.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Besides, they all understood that it would be troublesome for the nobility as a whole if Evan was not promoted here and now.


    It''s because they understood that if not, in the future����it would be hard to advance in rank no matter what kind of achievement they raised.


    When their promotion is considered, their achievement would bepared with Evan''s and a lot of them would be unable to get the promotion.


    And like so, with a little dy, Evan acquired his title as initially nned.


    Now then, there was one other little issue which was an issue shared with all subsidiary title holders and the children of substantive title holders who were granted their own peerages by the Monarchy.


    It was the fact that both Duke Roger and Evan held thest name of ''Eris'', meaning that Evan, the younger and lower ranked of the two, could not be styled or referred to as ''Count Eris'' so as not to cause confusion.


    This required Evan to pick a different name to be styled as a titled noble with.


    It was something that Evan was supposed to take his time deciding and eventually chose at ater date, but much to the Emperor''s surprise, Evan had already decided.


    Or rather, there was no need for him to even make a choice, the name he had picked, was naturally his ''real'' name.


    "Von Bourne."


    "Von Bourne?"


    Kieran narrowed his eyes slightly upon hearing this, something Evan noticed when he was turning towards Duke Roger, but he ignored it and replied to the Emperor in a low voice while gesturing towards Roger.


    "Yep. As he is styled as ''His Grace, Prime Minster Roger, The Duke Eris'', I would now then be��''Lord Evan, The Count Bourne''. Simple enough?"


    "What about the ''Von''?"


    "That''s optional, the same way the ''Del'' in my current name is."


    "I see. Any particr reasons for choosing that name?"


    "Noment."


    Evan only gave a perfunctory smile as he replied, choosing not to say anything due to Laurene''s presence here.


    ''Wouldn''t want to make a slip-up now, would I?


    Besides, I''ve been looking for a means to incorporate ''Bourne'' into the way I''m being addressed, this is a perfect chance.''


    The Emperor obviously could not care less about Evan''s reasons and had only asked out of slight curiosity, choosing to end the matter after Evan''s refusal to answer.


    There was then the matter of having a crest and a monogram but those were things to be done another day.


    On a side note, the level of Evan''s ''Limited Military Authority'' was not publicly stated by the Emperor, he was simply given a badge that contained the insignia of the rank granted to him.


    With the whole fiasco out of the way, the party entered its final phase, with the number of participants slowly decreasing as many nobles and adventurer attendees took their leave.


    While some were discussing the newest member of the Empire''s mid-ranking nobility, two of the Empire''s Dukes were in a corner discussing other important implications of Evan''s new title.


    "Evan''s ''future'' title isn''t a Life Peerage, huh?"


    "It would seem so. His Majesty really intends to use it as a binding force to keep Evan tied to the Empire."


    Duke replied to Luke''s words as he looked at the young hero who was now talking with the Utrarian Republic''s representative.


    "Ah, there was that too. But anyway, do you n to reinstate your older son as heir apparent?"


    "Yes.


    Formerly, they were evenly matched, however, as of now, he''s clearly the better choice. Evan has changed, and the current him is not suited to seed the position.


    Arnold, on the other hand, has only gotten better."


    The man calmly analysed his two sons, citing how much of a better sessor the current Arnold was whenpared with Evan.


    "Is that so? Then how are you going to deal with your conservative vassals?"

 Chapter 443 Conversations On The Side

    "Is that so? Then how are you going to deal with your conservative vassals?


    I''m sure they would be able to tell that the current Evan is not one to handle the responsibility of governing over the Dukedom and its millions of inhabitants, however, they would all stick to their old rules and not agree to reinstate Arnold for one reason, and you know it."


    "Yes��Him not possessing the ''Pdin'' skill."


    Luke chuckled lightly as he saw a frown appear on Roger''s face when thetter remembered the rule that forced him to make Evan the heir apparent in the first ce when Arnold was originally the one meant to take that role.


    He nced at a group of nobles who were standing not too far from Duke Roger''s position, all of which were older generation mid and high nobles who had held their titles for decades.


    "As far as I know, that''s the reason Arnold lost the position in the first ce.


    But now that Evan''s Hero Status has been revealed, they are going to be even more adamant on not reinstating Arnold."


    "Yes��that''s going to be quite tricky to deal with. Especially now that I have other official matters to handle in other countries.


    Once the trains are up and running, I would be travelling abroad quite frequently for a while."


    Just when Luke was about to reply to Roger''s words, he raised an eyebrow in light surprise and turned to the side, just in time to see Evane out of his concealment and speak up.


    "If handling them is going to be troublesome, then you can leave the status quo, for now."


    Evan said as he moved the void step holding two sses of wine in front of the two men, gesturing for them to take the sses before continuing.


    "Just keep preparing Arnold the way you''ve been doing for the past year.


    My current title does notpare to the amount of authority you have as a Duke, and to be honest, being known as your Sessor has quite a lot of benefits; it''d serve to amplify my own noble authority too."


    While Duke Roger was knocking the Void Step with his finger, trying to see how sturdy it was, Luke casually picked up the wine ss and asked.


    "So, what do you REALLY intend to do?"


    "Honestly, the current me is not one to deal with all the political subtleties involved, so I''m going to do things my way. Probably gonna end up strong-arming it though.


    But not now, it''s going to take quite a while for me to change a few things up.


    When I''ve gained the necessary amount of international authority and power I''m aiming for, shutting a few conservative old men and women up would be a walk in the park."


    The boy replied to Luke''s question casually, while the Sword Saint only stared at him silently.


    Luke knew the reason why Duke Roger even bothered to listen to the vassals in the first ce. Sure, he was the highest-ranked Noble in the Empire, but the Eris Dukedom was not a monolith.


    Roger could not handle all the matters urring throughout his entire Duchy, and all the many counties and few Marquisates that it was made up of.


    Especially as he also had duties as a Prime Minster to handle concurrently.


    So naturally, certain tasks had to be delegated to vassals, and if he forcefully changed things however he felt like, then it would damage the rtionship with the conservative vassals who had served the Eris family for decades.


    Each of these conservative vassals, was one with a family line that had been in service to the Eris Duchy for centuries, and the current title holders were all 100-year-old men and women who had all held said titles for at least 50 years each, in other words, they had been titled nobles before Roger was even born!


    It was simply out of respect for their long-time service to the family that Roger had not insisted on keeping Arnold as heir when they petitioned for him to be removed.


    That and the fact that the issue of his heir apparent was not so important to him as due to his level as an intermediate stage master, he had more than 200 years of lifespan left waiting, more than enough time to deal with the whole session issue.


    "When the timees, what I''m saying now would make a lot more sense."


    Roger only stared at the boy in silence for a moment before nodding in agreement, but even so, there was no way the Duke was going to toss all his eggs in the basket that was Evan, and he would naturally have his own contingencies in ce.


    "Now then, if you would excuse me��"


    "I certainly do hope you have no intentions of running off after this party now, do you?"


    Roger''s sudden words made Evan flinch momentarily, but the young hero recovered almost instantly and tried to y it off with a smile.


    Sadly, Roger wasn''t going to fall for it.


    "You''re going to be apanying your mother for a while. You can do that, can you not?"


    This time, Duke Roger gave Evan a smile of his own, a smile that did not reach his eyes. Moreover, Roger always had an austere expression on his face, and now that same man was smiling; it was something that gave Evan chills just looking at it.


    Even Luke who was beside them covered his mouth and turned away to hide hisughter.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "��Yes, sir. I would."


    Evan obediently acquiesced to the words of the Duke who only wanted to cate his wife who simply desired to spend more time with her son, before activating blink and teleporting away once.


    Of course, he was stopped midway by Jenson who scolded him for using his aura of destruction to mess with the anti-teleport formations.


    �� �� ��


    While Evan was being scolded by the Chief Court Mage inside the hall, two teenagers were outside on one of the balconies, chatting with each other.


    One of them was a young blonde-haired and grey-eyed boy, wearing a standard cor shirt with a loosened tie, with his suit zer being draped over the handrail beside him.


    Beside him was someone who could be considered his best friend, a boy possessing dark-coloured hair and green eyes with a calm expression on his face that looked just like a younger copy of his father''s.


    Naturally, these were the Great Western Empire''s Crown Prince, Richard, and its Prime Minister''s first son, Arnold.


    "It seems we''ve got to up our game, Richard."


    "I know bro. They''re getting stronger way faster than I expected. Laurene is already above level 200 now.


    And she recently got that strange magic catalyst too, it gives me chills just by looking at it."


    Richard rubbed his shoulders as he remembered the ck orb that Laurene always had strapped on her wrist in the form of a bracelet''s gem.


    "That''s the previous Fourth Hero''s magic catalyst��"


    "Wait��that''s the real Venus?!


    I thought she was just trying to recreate it?!


    How did she even know where Venus was?"


    "I''m guessing it''s probably her Hero Authority? I dunno, the way she acted that day, was as if she knew the ce like the back of her hand."


    Arnold replied calmly as he thought about the strange feeling he got from Venus that day Laurene pleted'' it.


    "There''s something off about the current Heroes. Things aren''t turning out like ''Aidos'' had said they would. Starting from Evan''s case."


    Richard''s brow twitched lightly when Evan''s name was mentioned, something Arnold chuckled lightly upon noticing.


    "Let''s not talk about that one, everything about him is just strange.


    I know that Heroes level up twice as fast as usual, but that kid is clearly levelling up more than ''just'' twice as fast.


    And now, he''s apparently an Irregr too."


    "huh? The irregr talk isn''t just a title that adventurers are calling him?"


    "No. It''s legit, I confirmed with the Sword Saint."


    "Now, that makes things trickier."


    The grey-eyed boy''s eyes narrowed upon discovering this new piece of information, clicking his tongue lightly in annoyance.


    "We have no idea what his ''Irregrity'' is."


    "Probably has to do with how he strangely has information about the Demonic Hand and their activities. And from what I''ve gleaned from Dad and Laurene, he had already started taking action far before we expected.


    His trip to Merdin over a year ago, wasn''t just for the fun of it.


    He went there to unseal that woman, the Demon Pride."


    Richard looked through the ss doors of the balcony and into the hall, at the Red-eyed woman who was talking with Tisha.


    However, he did not let his gaze linger for more than a few seconds as he knew that Pride was quite sensitive. He had caught the woman staring in the direction of the shadow guards in the castle on multiple asions.


    Even grandmaster-level existences with stealth skills could barely hide from her senses.

 Chapter 444 Analysis? Of The Known Heroes

    "To think he actually unsealed two of the ''Seven Deadly Sins''��does he not know how dangerous the ''Seven Strongest Invaders'' are?"


    Arnold spoke as he remembered the records of the past that ''Aidos'' had shown him, the records of a fight between Pride and one of the transcendent level High Dragons of a thousand years ago.


    That was the only time throughout the entire war that Pride unleashed the full-body avatar of her incarnation series skill.


    The end result; the woman split a freakin ind in two with a single sword sh!


    The of Aidos was a fairlyrge one, more so than Evan''s home world, and it had three main continents, separated by vast oceans and arrays upon arrays of inds.


    Separating the Alpha and Beta Continents, was the Divider Ocean, with the Dread Ocean doing the same for the Beta and Dark, formerly Delta Continents, andstly, separating the Dark and Alpha continents, was the ocean called the Billowy Depths.


    Each of these three oceans contained hundreds of inds of varying sizes, with a good number of them being uninhabited.


    These inds were the ces where most of the major battles of a thousand years ago took ce as the defending forces of Aidos tried their best to push the battles between higher-level existences towards the uninhabited inds to prevent mass coteral casualties.


    You could not expect two Legendary-level existences to fight in a country and expect that country to be the same again��it didn''t work that way.


    That was what the high dragon who Pride fought had done, and despite this, the damages of their battle still devastated the shores of the Beta Continent.


    It took poor Arnold a week to recover from the shock of seeing such a high-level battle between these existences, both of them throwing out attacks infused with the powers of the veryws that governed the world.


    And now the same woman who he saw creating that nonsensical scene, was unsealed and released into the world once more, and it was done by none other than his ''brother''.


    What''s more was that Evan clearly nned to release all seven of them, with the existence of a certain red-eyed man currently surrounded by multiple young nobledies being the proof of it.


    "Think we could tell him to NOT unseal them?


    The thought of what would happen if all Seven of them were reunited��"


    Richard got chill just by saying and thinking of such a ''terrifying'' scenario. His thoughts went on as he remembered the Series Skill resonance that was shared between them.


    "The Seven Heroes and the Seven deadly sins usually stuck together, and it could not simply be because of their Series Skill resonances.


    If it was, then I believe there''s more to Series Skill resonance than we thought."


    The boy was indeed correct. The higher the existence levels and skill proficiency of the two Resonating individuals, the more power they could disy using their skills.


    However, there was a certain level of proficiency to be reached, where Series Skill resonance, didn''t just strengthen one''s skills alone.


    In that stage, the resonating individuals, received an overall power boost to all their parameters, and not just the resonating series skills, making them disy even more power than ''normal''.


    This was one of the reasons the Seven heroes fought together most of the time, and one of the reasons why Evan wanted to ''get'' all seven of them together in this generation.


    "Even if we told him to stop, he would not listen.


    Or rather, he might get suspicious of us."


    Arnold spoke as he jumped up and sat on the balcony railing, facing the hall where he caught sight of Laurene who was speaking with Pride.


    The girl then suddenly turned towards him and waved with a smile, which he returned, much to Richard''s displeasure.


    "Dude��I''m here, you know?"


    "Hmm? Oh. She was the one who waved first, and if I didn''t return the wave, she was definitely gonnae here.


    Did you want that instead?"


    "��on a second thought, no."


    Richard heaved a small sigh as he waved at his little sister, before turning around and propping his chin on his hands and saying.


    "I have so much to do as the Crown Prince, plus, I''m attending the Academy too.


    Laurene has now surpassed me in strength by a long shot, and if it wasn''t for my unique skill, I doubt I''d stand a chance against the current her.


    If she uses Venus, then I''m done for."


    "What about me then? I took advantage of Evan''s appointment as heir to focus on powering up, eventually bing a Master Level.


    But since his little escapadest year, I''ve been stuck dealing with sessor lessons, my growth has stunted slightly."


    If anyone who was Arnold''s age knew he considered his case of still being Level 200 at 15 years of age to be ''stunted growth'', they might flip out in rage at him.


    "I''m just like you, except my case is worse.


    Even with my unique skill, the current Evan is capable of defeating me with rtive ease."


    "He''s that much stronger?"


    "More or less.


    Besides that, he seems to have acquired a very troublesome ability. One that was the reason he was able to kill the Demonic Hand''s executive permanently."


    Hearing that, Richard recalled the details of the Demonic Hand''s executives'' revival methods, narrowing his eyes as he instantly arrived at a conclusion from Arnold''s words.


    "Can he use the power of a worldw doctrine? Maybe that''s his ''Irregrity''?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Arnold nodded in affirmation before exining further.


    "Brenda told me about it. Her knowledge about gods and her special powers allows her to do something simr for a limited time.


    The instant she set eyes on Evan after he returned from Cheverton, she was able to tell that he had had something like hers, and his is much more dangerous.


    Her exact words were ''There''s no way I can mistake thew of destruction''s crimson red!''."


    "��. the dude just keeps getting worse.


    Why the hell can''t they just stick with their Mystic eye skills?!


    Laurene went on to get that strange Myriad Casting skill, and now Evan has something that lets him use the doctrine of destruction''s power.


    Just Great."


    The Crown prince clicked his tongue repeatedly in annoyance as he spoke, taking a deep breath to calm himself before stepping back into the hall.


    He returned a minuteter with two drinks for himself and Arnold, downing his almost instantly before continuing.


    "We''re in for a real hard time here."


    "Sure, we may be. But ours pales inparison to what Folmar, the ''First'', is going through."


    "Huh? You are in contact with him?"


    Richard questioned with light surprise, not being aware of this fact.


    "Spoke with him a few days ago. The news of Evan''s Hero status is spreading fast.


    Anyway, the thing is that Folmar told me he was beginning to consider relinquishing his title."


    "��what?"


    "Yeah.


    Evan is an Irregr with an astonishing growth speed and controls the power of destruction and has a wide arsenal of skills of magic.


    But so is ''she''."


    Arnold silently sipped his drink after speaking, while Richard had an incredulous look on his face as he was just informed about another Hero also being an ''Irregr''.


    "The new generation ''First Hero''."


    "Yep��the 17th child of the ''Elven Emperor'' Zaos, Abigail Lowe.


    ording to Folmar, she can be described in two words; ''Superwoman Monster''."


    "Well, that doesn''t sound too good."


    "No shit.


    From the way he described things, she''s an older and stronger version of Evan. She''s currently more difficult to handle than Evan is."


    Just when Richard was nodding in affirmation to Arnold''s words, he noticed something off and turned back to him in question.


    "Wait��''Currently''?"


    "Don''t forget that Evan is the one with the ''Leader'' title.


    Abigail may be troublesome, but Evan is even a greater potential threat than she is, especially because of his ''Hero Authority''."


    "Haaaa��...seriously."


    "Then again, we should not forget that all this is only relevant on the slim possibility that Evan, Laurene, Abigail and the other heroes we do not know of turn against Aidos.


    Hopefully, they do not."


    In response to Arnold''s words, Richard''s expression turned grim as he spoke.


    "I would love to say that there''s a 0% chance of my sister turning against Aidos, but the future is not something I can predict.


    Besides, the very fact that ''Hero Killers'' exist means that there''s a possibility, no matter how slim."


    The Crown Prince picked up his suit jacket and collected his empty ss before turning around and walking towards the door as he spoke.


    "I''d keep Laurene under close watch, and if it seems like anything that''s gonna make her switch sides is about to happen; then I''d try my best to stop that thing from happening.


    Dutybound or not, Laurene is still my beloved younger sister, willingly taking any action that can cause her harm, regardless of the reason, is at the bottom of the list of things I n on doing."


    He opened the door and scanned the hall for Myra''s position with his eyes beforepleting his statement.


    "If it even makes the list in the first ce."

 Chapter 445 The Eris ‘Brothers’ I

    After saying his piece, Richard left Arnold behind on the balcony, with the boy saddled with the fate of being a ''Hero Killer'' staring up at the night sky in silence.


    ''Perhaps the knowledge that ''Evansen'' is not here anymore, has affected my actions and the way I view things more than I had expected.


    And Richard has noticed it.


    For him, Laurene is the sister he''s very close to, even if she has the memories of another existence in her head, the one in control is still ''Laurene Hayes''.


    Even if the worst-case scenario pans out, his first thought process would not be anything that would cause her harm.


    That''s how things normally would be in the case of close siblings��but because I know my real brother isn''t here anymore, my thoughts are on the opposite end of the spectrum.''


    Arnold remained in silence for half a minute, before heaving a light sigh and jumping down the balcony railing, about to take his leave when he heard the voice of one person he most certainly did not expect to hear.


    "Sup Bro."


    "?!"


    The fifteen-year-old''s eyes widened in surprise as he turned around to the side and saw Evan casually walking up to him.


    ''What?! How didn''t I sense him?!


    Even if he has a concealment skill, it should be impossible for him to hide from me as far as he has a Hero title!''


    His mind instantly went back to the conversation he had with Richard a few moments ago, a light frown appearing on his face as he began considering worst-case scenarios.


    ''How long has he been there?... Was he listening in on our conversation? If so, how much did he hear?''


    Despite his inner turmoil, Evan only casually walked up to him and rose a wine bottle in the air before asking.


    "Refill?"


    "��"


    After a moment of silence, Arnold held out his now empty wine ss to Evan, who collected it and filled it up with wine from the bottle in his hands.


    Watching him do this, Arnold was still trying to rack his brain around how he could not sense Evan''s approach earlier.


    As a possessor of the ''Hero Killer'' title, a title that resonated whenever he came close to a ''Hero'' title bearer, it was nigh impossible for anyone with thetter title to hide from him, regardless of how much stronger than him they were, or how good their concealment was.


    In reality, the reason he had not sensed Evan''s approach was simply because of a third party''s interference.


    A third party with the name of Artemisia.


    As the goddess was involved in designing the ''Hero Killer'' title and its effects, she knew more about it than Arnold himself did.


    Part of her attention was on the ongoing party, and thus she noticed Evan moving towards where Arnold and Richard were and took action to prevent Arnold from sensing Evan.


    The reason being, there was no way that Arnold would not have reacted to sensing Evan, something that would have been strange, given that Evan was indeed using his concealment skill, and Arnold was not strong enough to sense him in his concealed state.


    Evan also knew Arnold did not possess any skills that could see through his concealment that was nigh-invincible against lower levelled opponents, and thus the boy would have instantly gotten suspicious.


    Seeing as Laurene was already suspicious of Arnold and Richard, Artemisia didn''t want another suspicious hero added to the mix, not to talk of the other ''Irregr'' Hero on the Beta continent who was so close to discovering the existence of the Hero Killers.


    On a side note, when Evan got stronger, he was also going to gain a simr ability that allowed him to detect those with the designation of ''Enemy of Aidos'' within a certain range of himself.


    Returning to the two ''brothers'', Arnold was thanking his stars that he had restricted the effect of his unique skill''s passive ability.


    His ''Anti-Mimicry'' skill was specially designed tobat Evan''s ''Mystic Eye of Mimicry'', meaning, whatever Evan''s mystic eyes could do, Arnold''s skill could weaken, partially negate, and evenpletely nullify it.


    And weakening the effects of Evan''s passives, was one of his skill''s passives; something he had taken note to restrain the effects of as there was no way that Evan would not notice a whole 12.5% decrease in skill efficiency or the fact that his ability to replicate techniques and certain low-level magic without his skill was not as effective as before.


    Arnold swirled the wine in his ss for a moment, taking a sip right after and raising an eyebrow when he noticed the vour.


    "Strawberries?"


    "Yep. They''re my favourites."


    Evan replied as he poured some wine for himself and silently sipped it, before turning to Arnold who was looking at him strangely with a questioning look on his face.


    "Since when?"


    "More than a year now.


    When I left the Ducal Mansion and was making my way down to Geto, I stopped by a town where I discovered my dormant love for the fruit."


    He casually lied with a shrug, finishing his drink before asking Arnold.


    "What about you? What''s your preference?"


    "Me? I''m a pineapple person."


    "Pineapples, huh?"


    The young hero echoed Arnold''s reply as he put his hand into his inventory and started searching for something.


    "I could have sworn I had one of those left from Kasteblum��. Aha! There it is!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    He then pulled out a mini fridge with one hand, ced his ss on a void step and opened the fridge to pull out a bottle of chilled pineapple wine.


    "��.


    Two questions;


    Howrge is your inventory?


    And why on Aidos do you have that in your inventory?"


    Arnold clearly could not keep up with the current developments as he saw Evan casually toss the entire fridge back into the ck hole that was a metre wide in diameter.


    "There was this particr restaurant in Kasteblum where I got a random extra fruit wine bottle for every six strawberry wine bottles I bought.


    I got grape, I got pineapple, orange, avocado��"


    "��Wait, there''s avocado wine?"


    "Yep. It''s a real thing."


    Evan replied as he passed Arnold the bottle, with thetter collecting it and expressing mild surprise at how chilled it was.


    "Wait up��that does not answer why you have a fridge in your inventory!"


    "Oh, that?


    I like to make myselffortable when I travel.


    It''s powered by ice magic stones so all I have to do is rece them when necessary and vi! My inventory has a never-ending supply of cold wine, sodas��and milk."


    "Ignoring that extra at the end, don''t you have more important things to put in your inventory? I highly doubt that your skill has an unlimited amount of space."


    In response to Arnold''s question, Evan fished out another bottle of strawberry wine and poured it all into arger cup before replying.


    "True. It''s not unlimited; its size is directly proportional to the amount of energy I have. And said stat is currently��"


    Opening his status board, he checked the stat and called out a number that made Arnold nearly drop the bottle of wine in his shock.


    "Oh��A-."


    "A what now?!"


    Evan burst out inughter as he saw the look of genuine shock that appeared on Arnold''s face, while thetter only dropped the bottle on the floor after pouring his wine and asked.


    "You have an ''A negative'' energy stat?"


    "Yep��it''s at the very bottom, though."


    "Bottom? I don''t get it."


    "Hmm��. lemme exin.


    It''s something that only those with FULL appraisal can see.


    For example, let''s take the ''B'' rank stat for example. We have the B negative, neutral and positive, styled as ''B-'', ''B'', and ''B+''.


    When you gain a B- stat, you are at ''B- Level 1''. With every main level increase, your ''B- Level'' increases, eventually reaching Level 100, whereupon, you gain the ''B Level 1'' stat.


    Take that to ''B Level 100'' and you gain the ''B+ Level 1'' stat, and so on.


    You get that much?"


    "Yeah."


    Arnold had to admit that the way Evan exined it actually made a lot of sense. Of course, the speed at which the stat level increased depended on your race, ss, and other factors, but this was the general case.


    "So, when you have ''B+ Level 100'', you gain ''A- Level 1'', and right now, I''m around ''A- Level 10''. That''s why I said it was at the bottom."


    "Oh��Anyway. Level 10 or not, it still does not change the fact that you have an ''A-'' stat while not a grandmaster.


    That''s something very few are able to attain."


    Evan''s face turned smug as he beat his chest and replied.


    "I AM a talented genius, of course, I''d attain such distinction."


    Turning to Arnold, he appraised thetter and continued.


    "You also have a ''B+'' stat despite the fact that you have not reached the level where attaining that bes normal."


    "True. You have been through quite a lot of things that made you level up a lot so it''s not really strange."


    "Touch��."

 Chapter 446 The Eris ‘Brothers’ II

    The two then put their cups on their lips and downed their drinks simultaneously as if having agreed on it beforehand, lowering their sses and refilling the cups right after.


    Evan then held out a finger and began counting while muttering something to himself, finallypleting his calction a few momentster as he spoke up.


    "This is the longest conversation the both of us have had in the past 22 months."


    "Wait��that''s what you were counting?!"


    "Uh��huh."


    As Evan hummed a reply, Arnold dwelt on his words and realised it was indeed the truth. Ever since ''Aidos'' had informed him of the fact that something went wrong with the previous Second''s spell and that the soul of his real brother, Evansen, was lost, he had begun taking distance from Evan.


    Evan did not know this, but on that day that Evansen regained the previous Second''s memories, Arnold was right out the door, ready to barge in and help his brother fight against the soul of the previous Second, but he was stopped by ''Aidos''.


    It was onlyter that he was informed that the soul of ''Evansen'' was lost and ''Evankhell'' had taken over the body.


    "True��I did begin to distance myself from you at around that time."


    "Why though? I''m not asking cus I really care or anything, just to sate my curiosity."


    Arnold''s brow twitched lightly at Evan''s reply, but the young hero continued talking without a care.


    "Was it because of my deviancy? Or the because of the engagement that the Duke was trying to put between Laurene and me?


    While it''s quite obvious that Laurene has the hots for you, I''m not sure if the opposite is true. But��can I assume that it is?"


    The elder Eris sibling noticed Evan''s action of not calling the Duke ''Father'', as the original Evan did during informal settings but he ced that at the back of his mind and asked the more important question.


    "Are you trying to turn this into a ''love talk''?"


    "Oh wow, you guessed my intentions correctly."


    Arnold facepalmed and heaved a sigh while muttering something about how Evan even acted ''the same'', reminiscing about how his younger brother acted around him, unlike his typical noble kid attitude he had outside.


    On the other hand, Evan appraised Arnold with one eye while thetter was reminiscing.


    ''I don''t know why I didn''t notice it before, but there''s something ''OFF'' about his unique skill tab.''


    ''Artemisia��what''s the real reason why Arnold does not have the Pdin skill?''


    Despite his question, Evan received no reply from the goddess, with his eyes narrowing slightly as he thought to himself.


    ''No answer, huh?


    Does she know that that''s no different from basically admitting it?''


    If only Evan knew that a certain goddess was currently ring at him, sadly, he was not strong enough, and neither did he possess the necessary cosmic awareness to perceive the goddess'' gaze.


    Turning towards the banquet hall, Evan gazed at Richard and Myra who were on the dance floor and used his skill once again.


    ''And Richard too��he gives me the same sense of incongruity��like something is out of ce but I can''t seem to figure out what.


    I''d talk to Laurene about itter.''


    With those thoughts, he turned back to Arnold and asked another question.


    "Hey Arnold, do you really wanna be the next Duke?"


    "Where''s thising from?"


    "Nowhere. Just wanted to know what your motivation for getting stronger is?"


    "Motivation, huh?"


    Arnold gazed at the constetions of the night sky in silence for nearly a minute, before finally giving Evan a reply.


    "I just want to fulfil the duty I was saddled with."


    "Duty, huh?


    Why does that sound like you''re talking about a different duty than bing the next Duke or Prime Minister."


    "The duty is not much different, just that the title of the post is.


    Besides, why do you speak like it''s a given that the next Duke automatically bes the next Prime Minster?


    That''s not a position that''s to be inherited."


    "But the Eris Dukedom has held that position for the past three generations. And in our generation��I don''t think any young noble can match up to you and take it from you."


    Evan replied as he scanned the hall, taking note of all the young noble children in the hall.


    "You really intend to give away that position, huh?"


    "Isn''t that obvious? Besides, it was yours in the first ce, I''m simply giving it back."


    ''That''s what Evansen wanted too.''


    He kept the other part of the statement to himself while Arnold cited the reason why he lost said position in the first ce.


    "The Family Rules state that I cannot be the next head if I don''t have ''that'' skill."


    "Which is very weird considering you''re this Evan''s full brother."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ''This Evan?''


    "What if I told you that you not having that skill may be caused by something artificial?"


    Evan asked, snapping Arnold out of his thoughts as he pondered on the real reason he did not have the skill and gave a reply.


    "Artificial cause?


    Can''t say I have not thought about that possibility.


    But what would whoever is behind it gain by making me lose the sessor position?"


    "That''s what I can''t put my finger on��then again, this is only a hypothesis."


    The two of them once again wet their throats with some wine, watching the stars in silence until Arnold spoke up.


    "Hey, Evan��. you''re a ''Hero'', right?"


    "Yep. The ''Second of the Seven Heroes''."


    Evan spoke with the assumption that Arnold had already been briefed by his father, much to thetter''s surprise as he didn''t expect Evan to tell him everything.


    After all, the world only knew Evan was a ''Hero'', it wasn''t public knowledge that he was the new generation ''Second of the Seven'', even though some had already begun theorizing it.


    "Why so surprised? Not like you haven''t already been briefed on it."


    "Yeah. Still didn''t expect it though."


    "Well��I certainly only intended for people like you who are high up in the nation''s hierarchy to know for now, but thanks to a certain necromancer''s actions, the whole world has probably found out now, it''s pissing me off.


    Anyway, why did you ask about that?"


    The two looked at each other in silence for a moment before Arnold decided to discard his second thoughts and asked.


    "Can you think of anything that would make you take actions unlike that of a Hero, as opposed to your title?"


    "There are countless.


    Then again, it all depends on what your definition of a ''Hero'' is.


    If by ''Hero'', do you simply mean someone admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, power, noble qualities and such?


    Or if you''re the type who''d unhesitantly put their life on the line to save, protect, or fight for people.


    Someone who can make the decision to sacrifice the select few for the sake of the many? Or the type that only takes action when they are 100% sure of their victory?"


    Evan ced a hand on his chin as he spoke about what he felt were the various definitions of a ''Hero''.


    "The type who would put their life on the line to save and protect people, people who probably would not thank them and instead act like it''s a ''right'' for them to be saved?


    There are many definitions and types of a ''Hero''.


    But one thing is for sure, regardless of the type of ''Hero'' you are; you would not just attract the attention of your enemies.


    No matter what kind of incident happens, people would turn to you, cing unreasonable expectations on you.


    And if you do not show up at the time they want, or meet their absurd expectations, you''d be on the receiving end of their wrath.


    It does not matter how many good things you''ve done, or how many millions you''ve saved."


    Turning to Arnold with his mystic eyes giving off a dull golden glow, Evan asked Arnold in an uncharacteristically serious voice.


    "Isn''t that enough to make a ''Hero'', to turn ''Dark''?"


    "��"


    "It''s enough to make them turn against the very people they once put their lives on the line to save and protect, is it not?


    Heroes aren''t perfect, it''s impossible for them to be able to save everyone and everything. Yet, people seem to ignore this fact, subconsciously or not, and expect them to be able to achieve this impossible feat.


    Take the recent Cheverton Undead Crisis for example, did you know that there are people who are hating on me, Duke Cheverton and the others, despite all we did to resolve it?"


    Evan dropped his ss back into his inventory before holding out his hand and clenching his fist as he spoke with a scoff.


    "Hero��


    There are many things that can make them turn to the opposite side, and you don''t even need all, just one is enough."


    "��And how susceptible to these things are you? What type of ''Hero'' are you?"


    "To be honest I don''t know.


    I''m a very contradictory person, you see.


    On one end, I''m the type who would not act until I''m sure everything would go my way, but on the other hand, I feel like I may find myself risking my life to save unknown people who I did not know even existed until that asion��. though thetter has a far lower (near zero) probability of happening."


    Evan turned to Arnold and told him about the decision he had made earlier, about how he would not care about the survival of anyone besides the Seven Heroes, and how he was nning to use any means to achieve his goals, even if it meant many would die in the process much to Arnold''s shock.


    "That''s what I told myself the day I gained my Hero title."

 Chapter 447 The Eris ‘Brothers’ III

    He then looked up at the gallery windows, with the figure he was gazing at sensing his gaze and turning towards him, giving him a bright smile and a wave which he returned.


    "But now, I highly doubt I''d be able to go through with that anymore."


    Evan sighed and went silent for a moment, before turning to Arnold and saying.


    "Returning to your original question, I''m guessing you wanted to know if, for some reason or any force of nature, I would ever turn against Aidos."


    "��Spot on."


    "Why you tryna ask that either way?"


    "You''re just a thirteen-year-old, saddled with the responsibility of leading your generation of Heroes to save an entire world, to save billions of people.


    I wanted to know how you felt about it, and how you''d react when the pressure of that responsibility finally got to you."


    Hearing Arnold''s words, Evan smiled lightly and muttered ever so slightly.


    "You really are a lucky bastard, Evansen."


    "Despite how it may seem��the future is not exactly something I can predict with 100% uracy. So, who knows?


    Worst case scenario, something may happen to make me turn against Aidos as a whole, hopefully, that doesn''t happen��"


    Evan shrugged his shoulders as he spoke, none the wiser that he was speaking to the being who was saddled with the responsibility of putting him down if he ever turned against Aidos.


    "But just so you know, I have no intention of being tied down by the absurd expectations of people.


    I''m going to amass so much power and international authority, that such things would not affect me negatively.


    Public opinion is a great force, but it can be easily overturned with the right amount of power. Take ''Strongest Human'' Rathal for example.


    He''s still a household name despite his actions many years ago, simply because he''s that powerful, and with power,es authority, and the ability to shape public opinion as you wish.


    That''s what I''m aiming for."


    Right after Evan spoke, the balcony doors came out and a familiar blonde girl emerged from them while carrying a ck cat in her hands.


    "Heya."


    Eliza called out with a wave as she walked up to the two brothers, with Kuro jumping out of her arms and running up to Arnold''s feet, staring at him in silence for a moment before diving into Evan''s shadow.


    "��What was that about?"


    "I''m as lost as you are, bro."


    Evan casually replied as even he did not know the reason for Kuro''s strange action. He turned to Eliza but even she was as lost as the two were, so Evan decided to ask the cat about itter.


    "I take it this is the first time we''re properly meeting, so I''m still gonna introduce myself.


    I''m Eliza; the girl who happens to be dating this piece of work."


    "Arnold.


    Thank you for having the patience to deal with him."


    The two introduced themselves to each other in such a manner,pletely ignoring the darkening expression on Evan''s face.


    "You two do realise I can hear you clearly, right?"


    "Yep."


    "Uh-huh."


    Evan''s brow twitched repeatedly after hearing their nonchnt replies, while Eliza covered her mouth with her palm to prevent herughter from escaping her lips.


    "I''m gonna be the mature one here and ignore your bullshit.


    Where''s Ka?"


    "She and Milena are probably still stuck with some of the older nobledies who found them cute.


    Also, between the three of us here, you are the youngest AND least mature."


    The blonde girl answered Evan''stter question, before shooting back at his earlier quip, citing the fact that he was indeed the least mature of the trio.


    As for Arnold, it was the age part of her statement that caught his attention.


    "Wait��you''re older than him?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Hmm? Yeah. What about it?"


    Eliza tilted her head to the side as she answered, while Arnold only stared at her in silence for a few seconds before turning to Evan and asking.


    "You prefer older girls?"


    "Nahh��I prefer Eliza, she just happens to be older than me by a measly 2 yea-OW!"


    Evan''s reply was cut off by a forehead flick from the girl in question.


    "What for?!"


    "You talk too much."


    As the two began their usual banter, Arnold only stared at them with a strange look on his face, remembering Evan''s earlier words and sighing softly.


    ''Come to think of it, maybe I do prefer older girls.


    Even ''she'' was older than me by 2 years too��


    I wonder how ''she'' is now though, I kinda miss talking to her.''


    Evan thought to himself as he remembered a certain girl from his home world, only to be snapped out of his thoughts when a butler came over and informed him that the Emperor was calling him.


    Arnold and Eliza who were left behind, decided to take the opportunity to chat a bit and get to know each other a bit, under the watchful eye of a certain ck cat who was suspiciously scrutinizing Arnold''s every gesture from Eliza''s shadow.


    �� �� ��


    It was an infinite darkness.


    No matter how far one went, there was no end


    No matter how long one waited, there was no dawn.


    There was one spot, where there was light.


    A throne that floated within the darkness--Only there.


    A being sat on this throne looking at a screen in front of him, disyed on the screen was the image of the blonde battle priestess and the Hero Killer who were chatting with each other.


    "He''s really sad about his brother not being there anymore, huh?"


    He heaved a light sigh, before raising his right palm and calling out with his ''true voice''.


    |Authority of Souls: Soul Preservation. |


    The ''space'' in front of him cracked open slightly and a small ball of light, about the size of two fists, fell out of the crack and into his open palm.


    He then propped his left hand on the throne''s armrest and rested his chin on his palm, staring at the ball of light in silence before saying.


    "Now, then. What am I going to do with you?


    I interfered in the time axis and removed it before it could be destroyed, but��what am I going to do with it?"


    The man stared at the ball of light in his palm with his heterochromatic eyes, looking directly at the runes that represented multiple skills inside it.


    Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, and Language Comprehension.


    Those were the skill runes that were inscribed into the ball of light; the soul, that rested in this being''s palm.


    After staring at them in silence for a moment, an idea seemed to emerge in his mind as he spoke out loud.


    "How about I use it to fill the missing gap in that world?"


    |Authority of Reincarnation|


    Multi-coloured strands of energy surrounded his body and thew of reincarnation''s power began flowing around him.


    "Now then, what were the coordinates for Earth V?"


    He let thew of reincarnation''s power wrap around the soul and then slid his hand across the screen to the right, changing the image being disyed to that of arge elliptical gxy that was tens of thousands of lightyears in diameter.


    Sliding his hands against the screen once more, he ''zoomed'' in and the image changed to that of millions of stars and thousands of star systems.


    After zooming in a few times, the screen now disyed the image of an average-sized blue, a grin appearing on his face as he spoke.


    "There you are."

 Chapter 448 [Bonus ]Cognizance Begets Suspicions

    Situation Room


    Unnamed??


    Domain of goddess Artemisia


    June ??


    Year 1053??


    "The Angel Race poption on mid-level world Bryria 13N is currently decreasing below the eptable limit.


    You over there, go forcefully introduce more of them into that world."


    The voice of the goddess of Evolution rang out as she gave an order to one of her subordinate gods.


    The space they were in resembled arge shared office, with partitioned work desks arranged all around a circr tform, elevated five steps above the ground.


    Dozens of gods of various ranks could be seen, some seated at the desks, sorting through things on the floating screens in front of them while a few others busily moved about, entering data into their floating tablets.


    The room was circr in shape, with the ceiling, walls and floor all painted with pure white colour.


    Right behind each row of desks, were spatial gates of different shapes, and looking inside, one could see the space within twisting and turning every second.


    "Where are those in charge of the sr aspect?"


    The moment Artemisia''s questioning voice rang out, three gods appeared in front of her and dropped down on one knee.


    "We are here, Lady Artemisia."


    "Good.


    The stars of star system Dryke XQP8 have reached their limits. If they burn up for a few more years then life on the sixteens relying on those three stars would start dying out.


    Rece them with your sr authorities."


    The three gods nodded in response before teleporting out of the room.


    Artemisia slid her hand across one of the floating screens in front of her and changed it to the next tab, only for a frown to appear on her face as she called out.


    "Why are the inhabitants of star system Mion 54 still so primitive?! It has been centuries!


    Who was this star system delegated to?!"


    "It is I, Lady Artemisia."


    The goddess turned her golden eyes in the direction of the replying voice and red at the god who hurriedly dropped to one knee.


    The entirety of the domain trembled in response to her annoyance and all the inhabitants within it all had one single thought.


    ''Ah, Lady Artemisia''s pissed.''


    The thoughts of the deity-level existences who were seeing the reason for her annoyance went even further than that.


    ''And of all things to piss off the goddess of Evolution with, a world stuck being primitive because of someone''s negligence.''


    |Authority of Evolution|


    The essence of the universalw swirled in Artemisia''s open palm, condensing into a golden crystal brimming with divinity.


    She then tossed to the god and spoke.


    |That has a charge of my authority, use it.


    This is yourst warning. |


    After hurriedly thanking her, the god teleported right out of the domain and streaked across the void of space, heading for the star system in question.


    As for Artemisia, she had already moved on to something else, addressing a few other important matters before finally dismissing her subordinates.


    "That wraps up all the important matters for this session.


    Complete your assigned duties and then you can take your leave and do whatever you want."


    "Yes, Lady Artemisia."


    All the other gods and goddesses in the room echoed those three words in reply before returning to their duties, while Artemisia continued sliding across the floating screens in front of her.


    "Tsk��"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Hearing their superior suddenly clicking her tongue, all the other gods in the room suddenly stopped in their tracks, their expressions changing as they all thought:


    ''What?! Did someone piss her off again?!''


    Not knowing her subordinates'' thoughts, Artemisia only stared at the video of a version of Evan with more than one mystic eye skill, sighing softly before grabbing the floating screen and shattering it into shards of light.


    She then took a deep breath and dismissed all the other screens, ignoring the confused looks the other gods were giving her before snapping her fingers as she walked off the tform.


    The clothes she had on changed instantly, and she now donned a pair of ck suit trousers and a white casual shirt and tie, over ck heels.


    Draped across her shoulders was a long white jacket that reached below her knees, and she retied her ck hair into a ponytail before walking into one of the spatial gates and disappearing.


    After confirming that the goddess had indeed left the domain, the other gods left behind began talking among themselves.


    "This is very random but it''s been on my mind for a while now. Has anyone here actually stopped for a moment to think about the fact that Lady Artemisia is pretty hot?


    OW!!"


    "Stop ogling your superior and get back to work, you fool."


    One of the goddesses nearby flicked a bolt of energy towards his head as she chided the god who spoke. He turned around to see who it was and was met with the face of a very familiar emerald-green-eyed goddess.


    "Well��that''s my cue to leave."


    Understanding that it was futile to even say anything, he hurriedly gathered his stuff and ran off into one of the spatial gates nearby.


    While others were chuckling at this little scene, the green-eyed goddess, Aphine, sighed softly before rounding up her own piece of work.


    Just before she could teleport away, someone suddenly called her name.


    "Aphine."


    "Huh? Lady Artemisia?!"


    Seeing the goddess whom she believed had left the domain suddenly reappear behind her left Aphine startled slightly, even the other gods who were well versed in controlling space didn''t even notice when she warped back into the room.


    "I''d be going to another Territory. I''m delegating my duties to you, handle everything when I''m away."


    Artemisia ignored their surprise and casually dered that Aphine temporarily take up her position, leaving the goddess of life dumbfounded.


    ''Another territ-ANOTHER TERRITORY?!''


    It took her a moment to finally understand exactly what Artemisia was implying, and she most definitely wasn''t happy about it.


    "Wait! Lady Artemisia, whose territory?!"


    "Don''t worry too much. It''s not far from here. Besides, it''s rted to someone I''m quite familiar with."


    Artemisia replied as she gathered spatial power on her fingertip and traced a line across the space beside her, drawing coordinates for the spatial crack that opened up right after.


    She then entered the crack and disappeared into the void, leaving the crack open for a few seconds so Aphine could read the coordinates with her own spatial authority.


    ''I recognize those coordinates. That''s the area where one of this universe''s decoy Earths is in.


    Which one was it again, Earth II or III? Ah...it''s Earth V!''


    As if sensing that she had deduced its location, the spatial crack closed up leaving behind the goddess who was wondering just what Artemisia was looking for there.


    "Lady, Aphine. There''s a slight issue with this world tree over here."


    "Hmm? Let me see."


    Aphine decided to handle this more pressing issue for now, deciding to rationalize Artemisia''s actions after she was done with it.


    �� �� ��


    Meanwhile, the goddess Artemisia reappeared in the void of space, right above a sr system that had nines orbiting one star in the middle.


    She infused divinity into her eyes and scanned everything within the nearest few lightyears but she did not see nor sense what she was looking for.


    ''There''s no deity-level existence in this area��then how did that authoritye from here?''


    Artemisia sighed softly, before turning her gaze towards thes slowly orbiting the star that served as their sun.


    "Well, let''s find out."


    With those words, she turned into a streak of light that shot down towards the third in the system.

 Chapter 449 Seventh Finger, First Hero I

    Dalburn Forest


    Jine-Alora


    Elven Empire


    June 6th


    Year 1052


    "Geez, chill out Seith. It''s not like I went off the grid because I wanted to.


    Ourmunication devices don''t work in those dungeons."


    A melodious female voice rang out along with the singing of the birds as its speaker talked into a smallmunication device the size of a cell phone.


    It was a beautiful young-looking woman of average height and wavy lower back length red dark red hair with ck coloured eyes.


    She was dressed in a in ck body-fit shirt that entuated her slender yet curvaceous body, along with a simple pair of ck jeans and military-type boots.


    "Besides, I ended up getting a bit stronger so it was worth being off the grid for a few months as far as I''m concerned."


    The woman continued in a light-hearted tone as she parted her hair to the side and tucked a few strands behind her ear, much to the exasperation of the person on the other end of the line.


    [You should have at least left a notice so we would know where you were! Do you know how many things happened in the month you were missing?!]


    "I''m guessing the attack on the Dungeons with the deadly sins failed? I knew that wasn''t going to turn out well from the start.


    Plus, that attack failing Is not that important of an iss-"


    [Dominik is dead.]


    The words of the man from the other end of the line cut the red-head''s words off, however, she onlyughed lightly at his words and continued.


    "Come on, Seith. At least think of something better to use and mess with me.


    There''s no way that bastard is going to die easily."


    [I''m not joking Kethryllia, Dominik is dead.]


    The woman, Kethryllia stopped walking after hearing the words from the man she wasmunicating with, Seith.


    ''He doesn''t sound like he''s joking��''


    "Okay, Okay. He''s dead.


    Who got to that guy before me? Last time it was the Beast King.


    Also, when is Lord First going to bring him back��I want to tell him to put him in a child''s body this time."


    Kethryllia''s steps continued as she spoke, emerging from the canopy of trees and into arge clearing, their of some powerful monster.


    Sadly, said monster had probably abandoned itsir and run away in fear after sensing her iing presence, she wasn''t actively trying to hide her power after all.


    ''Poor thing probably thought I came for it when I was just passing through.''


    Her thoughts were cut off once more when Seith''s voice rang out in her ears once more.


    [Dominik is gone, permanently.]


    "��I''m not sure I follow. Did you say ''permanently''?"


    [Kethryllia. Stop trying to deny the reality.


    Dominik has faced ''True Death'', his soul was destroyed.]


    Sensing the seriousness in Seith''s voice, Kethryllia realised that he was not joking, and neither was he trying to y a prank on her.


    "��Who did it?"


    [The ''Second'' of the new generation Seven Heroes.


    Dominik''sst message to us contained his identity and a few of the details he garnered about his abilities in battle.


    We''re currently analysing these details to see if we can figure out what his power as a Hero is.]


    The woman''s ck eyes trembled lightly and she clenched her fist tightly. She took a deep breath to calm the budding rage within her as she asked.


    "You said the ''Second'', huh?


    What''s his name?"


    [Evan Eris.]


    Her eyes widened in surprise as she had indeed heard that name before during the investigations on who was responsible for freeing the Demon of Pride from the Graveyard of the Arrogant.


    However, before Kethryllia could even say a word of reply, another voice rang out nearby, her eyes widening in shock as she had not sensed anyone else present.


    "So that''s our leader''s name.


    Matches up with the info I got."


    [Kethryllia?! Who''s there?!]


    Seith''s worried voice rang out from themunication device, but Kethryllia did not answer his words, only narrowing her eyes at the young girl standing in front of her.


    It was a beautifuldy in herte teens, wearing a brown oversized hooded jacket and simple half-framed sses in front of her closed eyes.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    She had long blonde hair that was tied up in a half-up, half-down style, with a few strands tucked behind her long pointy ears.


    The girl then tilted her head to the side and pulled out one of her hands from her hoodie pockets to wave lightly.


    "Yo."


    As she gave that light-hearted greeting, her eyelids fluttered open to reveal a set of mesmerizing deep purple eyes, however, what mesmerized Kethryllia was not her eyes, but the golden crest within them.


    "Seith, I''m gonna have to contact youter."


    [Kethryllia! Who is th-]


    "Ouch��You could have at least told him goodbye; you know? Would you not feel bad if someone you were talking to abruptly cut a call on you?"


    The blonde girl voiced out those questions to Kethryllia, but the woman only put away themunication device and spoke.


    "��Abigail Lowe."


    "Yep. That''s my name. Close friends and family call me Abby.


    And you are called Kethryllia, huh? Miss Seventh Finger of the Demonic Hand."


    Abigail''s yful tone disappeared as she called out the title of the dark-red-haired woman standing a few dozen metres away from her.


    She was the leader of the Seventh division of the Demonic Hand, the division where Ulmoch and Thoruul whom Evan and Pride had killed belonged.


    And a ''Rival'' of the now-deceased Eighth Finger; Kethryllia Keasatra.


    Silence pervaded the area as two women stared at each other in silence.


    As if understanding that something dangerous was about to happen, all the wild animals and weaker monsters ran for their lives, leaving nothing but nts and trees within the nearest few miles of the forest around them.


    Kethryllia then held out her right arm and broke the silence with her next words.


    "Pledge of the Vanquisher."


    Magic power condensed in her open palm and there was a short sh of light. When the light died down, Kethryllia''s weapon was now grasped tightly in her hands.


    Also known as the Vanquisher''s Pledge, it was a long spear of around 2 metres in length.


    Its serrated exceptionally sharp head was bound to the shaft with a lightly decorated metal sleeve. The spear''s obsidian ck shaft was carved with seemingly glowing runes, while the bottom ended with the symbol of a pledge, a hand over a heart, carved onto it.


    On the socket of the spearhead, was a small transparent gem that was slowly turning into a dark red colour the longer Kethryllia gripped the spear.


    It was a weapon from the same Weapon Series as Evan''s Unforged and Eliza''s Memoria, the Vanquisher Series.


    But unlike theirs, Kethryllia''s spear was not in its base phase as she had unlocked her weapon''s full powers.


    The instant the orb on the spearpletely turned dark red, tendrils of blood-red lightning began snaking across the spear''s length.


    Kethryllia twirled the spear around in her hands and pointed it towards Abigail who only had a light smile on her face.


    "Oh my, resorting to violence so quickly? I only wanted to chat a bit; you know?"


    The Elven girl only gave a light-hearted response to Kethryllia''s obvious intent to fight, but the Demonic Hand executive wasn''t having it.


    "Unique Skill��"


    Hearing Kethryllia mutter those two words to herself, Abigail''s eyes widened slightly as she didn''t expect the Demonic Hand executive to start off with that.


    ''But this also confirms my suspicions, seems like I''m currently the highest-level priority target on the Demonic Hand''s hit list.


    Quite funny, considering I''m not the leader.''


    She thought to herself with a wry smile, shaking her head lightly before saying.


    "Since we''re starting off with our unique skills��"


    Removing her sses, she tossed them into the small ck hole that opened up mid-air before continuing.


    "��Blessing of Destruction: 1st Activation."


    **BOOM!!


    A wave of crimson red energy burst out from the Elf''s body, spreading omnidirectionally and cratering the ground around where she stood.


    Kethryllia was mildly surprised at the power boost but she ssified it as something within expectations, after all, there had to be a reason Abigail confidently appeared in front of her even though she was more powerful than the Elf.


    "Still, I have to say, I''m quite surprised that a member of the Celestial race joined the Demonic Ha-"


    "Crimson Fulgur."


    **BOOMM!!!


    The Seventh Finger swung her spear to the left and a giant blood-red lightning ive manifested from the tip of her spear and swept across the entire area.


    Trails of lightning were unleashed into the surroundings as by the time shepleted her swing, almost everything within 500 metres had been decimated, leaving behind cratered scorched earth.


    The trails of lightning spread out for an even longer distance, striking the trees nearby and setting them aze.


    Despite this, Kethryllia had a frown on her face as she looked at the blood-red lighting ive construct in her hands.


    That was expected, as the powerful lightning construct of hers, was broken in two.

 Chapter 450 Seventh Finger, First Hero II

    The instant the ive reached Abigail, the Elven girl only stretched out her hand coated in the crimson aura of destruction and blocked the lightning construct, inadvertently shattering it into two pieces.


    "That kind of hurt. Not the attack though, just that you cut me off while I was speaking."


    Abigail spoke as she flicked her arm lightly to get rid of the residual lightning sparks trying to prate her defences before looking up at Kethryllia with a smile.


    Kethryllia stared back at her without a word, checking the aura pulse she had sent out to see if there was anyone else in the area for feedback but receiving none.


    The two women looked at each other for nine seconds in silence. And then on the tenth��


    **BOOMM!!!


    They simultaneously kicked off the ground and dashed towards each other, their mid-point sh generating enough force to turn the ground beneath them to mush.


    Kethryllia thrust out her lightning-coated spear while Abigail clenched her fist and condensed destruction essence around it before punching towards the iing spear.


    Fist and spear tip collided and the two energies exploded, sending a cloud of dust and dirt rising towards the clear blue skies.


    The knockback from the explosion pushed the two of them backwards, and while Kethryllia was readying herself for her next attack, Abigail was more concerned about her clothes.


    "Dad gave me this hoodie for my birthdayst year.


    Don''t want it to get bad."


    She started pulling off the hoodie, inadvertently covering her own vision, and there was no way Kethryllia would let such a chance go.


    The Seventh Finger closed the distance between them in a single second, swinging her spear in an attempt to sh at where Abigail''s neck was supposed to be, however-


    **CLANGG!!!


    Her Vanquisher spear rebounded off a transparent magic barrier, surprise shing in the eyes of the demonic hand executive as her arm trembled heavily from the feedback.


    Abigail finally removed her hoodie and tossed it into her inventory, revealing the simrlyrge ck shirt she was wearing under as she spoke.


    "Come on, you didn''t expect me to actually start doing that without any protective measures now, did you?"


    She took a spin-step forward and grabbed Kethryllia''s spear, putting it over her shoulder and flinging both the spear and its wielder over using her body as leverage.


    Nevertheless, the redhead who was tossed into the air flipped mid-air and created a small foothold of condensed aura at her feet, using it as a springboard tounch herself higher into the air.


    Blood red aura and magic power flowed from her arm and into her spear as she held it up and pulled it back.


    "Arc Lightning."


    Kethryllia calmly called out as sheunched the spear forward with her full might. The ambient magic power in the air around them froze as the spear turned into a beam of red light that shot through the air at breakneck speed.


    Despite being in the face of this kind of attack, Abigail''s light-hearted smile did not fade as she only looked stretched her right arm while she muttered to herself.


    "Taking that on with bare hands would be a bad idea."


    [No shit, Abby.]


    In her outstretched arm, a pure ck spear with dull grey runic carvings manifested. She grasped the weapon tightly and infused her destruction aura into it, lighting up the runes on it with a crimson glow.


    ''Perfect uracy.''


    Without hesitation, she threw her spear towards the iing mass of blood-red lightning.


    **KAABOOOMM!!!


    The two spear tips collided with each other, showing the effect of the spell Abigail had cast upon her weapon.


    The two waves of crimson energy, red lightning and the essence of destruction collided with each other in a massive explosion that shook the entirety of the Dalburn Forest.


    Shockwaves spread out omnidirectionally, uprooting trees, shattering rocks and turning the bodies of fleeing monsters into blood stters on the ground.


    At the source of this devastating explosion, a red-haired womannded on the ground, before being knocked back a few metres by the shockwaves from the collision point.


    Just when she finally managed to bnce herself, her eyes widened ins shock and she suddenly turned around, infusing magic power into her arm to generate a two-ringed magic circle around her wrist and waving it upward.


    ''Multi-Earth Wall!''<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The ground cracked open and half a dozen protective earthen walls rose up into the air, mere seconds before three arrows of crimson light pierced through the smoke and embedded themselves into the walls.


    The arrows of light pierced through each wall, turning it into dust at the cost of a power reduction, but by the time they had managed to pierce the sixth wall, all the energy that constructed the arrows was used up and shattered into shards of light.


    Kethryllia waved her hand to the side and used wind magic to blow away the smoke around her, revealing the appearance of her Elven opponent a few dozen metres away, holding up a ck bow with runic carvings on it.


    "That didn''t turn out as expected."


    She let go of the bow and allowed it to fall back into her inventory before dashing towards Kethryllia, who stretched out her right hand and called out.


    "Pledge!"


    The Vanquisher''s pledge responded to her call, disappearing from the ground where it was embedded into with a burst of red smoke and reappearing into her outstretched hand.


    As Kethryllia prepared herself for a spear thrust, Abigail kicked off the ground and into the air, raising two hands up with a grin on her face.


    Arge ck great sword with dull grey runic carvings appeared in her open hands and she grasped onto its hilt, infusing it with destruction essence and lighting up the runes on the weapon.


    "HAP!"


    With a shout, she swung the great sword down onto the ground, the massive weapon mming into the earth a moment after Kethryllia made the decision to dodge.


    "Grandnce!"


    Abigail called out the spell name, causing six spears of crimson stone to sprout from the ground around her and shoot towards Kethryllia.


    ''She can imbue her normal magic with thew''s effects too?!''


    Kethryllia questioned internally as she noted the crimson glow that surrounded the ordinary stone spears, flicking her left hand and creating six separate circles of red light around her.


    A secondter, red beams of lightning shot out and collided with the iing earthennces, shattering them to pieces.


    ''I used more energy than expected. Her crimson aura strengthens the spells'' effects and makes them harder to destroy.''


    Kethryllia flipped in the air andnded on the ground, mming the butt of her spear onto the ground and shooting a bolt of lightning in the air.


    Magic power coalesced in the skies and dark storm clouds appeared amidst the clear milky white clouds, a second before dozens of blood-red lightning bolts descended from the sky to strike the charging Abigail.


    Abigail flipped her sword and used the t side of the de to block the first two bolts, redirecting the energy from the sword and towards the ground directly before muttering lightly.


    "A great sword is too heavy for this."


    She spun around and threw the great sword with all her might, right at the iing lightning bolts.


    The sword sted through them as it ascended the skies, eventually piercing through the dark cloud they descended from and destroying the magic circle above it.


    The Elven girl then summoned a pair of twin des in her hands, coating them with her essence of destruction and using them to slice apart the bolts of lightning that dropped from the other dark clouds.


    The thinyer of destructive essence coating her body prevented her from getting shocked by the residual sparks of lightning that snaked down her arm much to Kethryllia''s displeasure.


    Suddenly, the ground under Abigail''s feet caved open and she lost her footing, falling directly into the sharp-toothed bear trap construct of earth.


    "That''s clearly not good."


    She made such ament as she manipted her aura and gave it ''stic'' properties, using it to create a foothold which she springboarded off into the air.


    However, just as she made her escape from the earthen jaws of death, Kethryllia blitzed right behind her and shed with her spear coated in blood-red lightning.


    Abigail spun around and used one sword to block the lightning projectile sh, before swinging the second one to block the actual spear that came right after.


    **BAAMM!!


    The Elven girl was sent flying towards the ground, but she flipped her body in the air and created an stic aura foothold in the air to break her fall.


    She then sprang off it and shot back towards the still airborne Kethryllia, showing no surprise at the red-haired woman''s flight ability.


    Her surprise, however, came from the fact that there was now a ck spell circle of demonic energy around Kethryllia''s wrist, something that wasn''t there a few seconds ago.

 Chapter 451 Seventh Finger, First Hero III

    Before Abigail could evenpute what the spell was, a long tentacle-like appendage of darkness-infused demonic energy burst out of the ground andtched onto her arms, dragging her towards the ground faster than she could react.


    **BOOM!


    Abigail''s body mmed onto the ground with enough force to create a massive crater of at least half a kilometre in diameter.


    More tentacles of darkness burst out of the ground andtched onto her other limbs, and torso, restraining her movements entirely.


    "Come on. I know I''m a big-breasted Elf, but really? Tentacle pl-?!"


    The Elven girl could not evenplete her little joke as she instantly sensed danger, infusing more magic power into the thinyer of destruction essence wrapping around her body and enhancing its durability.


    In that same instant, all the long smooth tentacles of darkness wrapping around her body instantly turned into razor-sharp jagged saw teeth and began rotating as if trying to shred her body into pieces.


    At the same time, the ground underneath her cracked open and multiple jagged earthen spears shot forward, trying to pierce her body from under.


    Dozens of forked blood-red lightning projectiles descended from above, along with Kethryllia who was shooting down with her spear thrust forward.


    It was then that the smile on Abigail''s face faded as she muttered to herself.


    "Well, I guess I should behave myself now."


    The ancientnguage inscriptions within her purple eyes that had been dull since the beginning of this battle lit up with a golden light right after she spoke, and then-


    **KABOOMMM!!!!


    A pir of crimson energy surged up into the skies, creating a huge explosion that swept through the entire area.


    A massive shockwave spread out first, apanied by a loud ''boom'' that could burst the eardrums of weak master-level existences.


    Following this was a mighty wave of mes and the trees of the forest around that were already partially destroyed instantly turned to ashes.


    Kethryllia coated her body with demonic energy and stabbed her spear into the ground to maintain her footing, but even that ground was melted from the heat of the mes that burned through everything.


    The Demonic Hand executive took to the skies immediately, spinning her spear around and holding it in a stance while gazing at the figure of the Elven girl that was also floating in the air with her.


    ''She finally activated it, huh? Her Mystic eyes.''


    Kethryllia thought to herself as she spat out a bit of blood, before flicking her fingers and activating multi-elemental magic.


    ''Lava Fuside.


    Multi-Lightning Bolt.''


    Dozens of spears of molten earth shot out from the ground and into the sky, towards the Elf, the skies turned dark and bolts of blood-red lightning descended from above towards the Elf.


    In the face of this, Abigail only looked up and calmly waved her hand, coalescing the essence of destruction and mixing in her magic power to create dozens of ming spears, each of them brimming with enormous amounts of energy.


    "So, this is the power of the new generation ''First'', huh?"


    Right after Kethryllia spoke, Abigail snapped her fingers and the ming spears all shot towards the iing lightning bolts and molten earth projectiles.


    Just when Kethryllia prepared herself to activate Arc Lightning once more, she noticed that to cancel out just one of Abigail''s ming spears, she needed three or four bolts of lightning.


    "Tsk��"


    She red her aura, releasing a burst of demonic energy and magic power into the surrounding, which then condensed right in front of her spear as she activated her unique skill once more.


    "Crimson Fulgur."


    The gigantic ive of blood-red lightning swept across the sky, colliding with Abigail''s ming spears and sting them apart in a single swing.


    **BOOM!! BOOM!!! BOOOOM!!!


    Multiple explosions rang out in the sky as the ive of lightning destroyed all the Elf''s projectiles, followed by Kethryllia blitzing through the air towards Abigail.


    With her opponent closing fast on her, Abigail stretched out her hand and her spear flew into it. Grasping it tightly, she infused it with the essence of destruction while raising it to collide with Kethryllia''s iing spear.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    *CLANGG!!


    What followed was a spear battle with bothbatants stabbing, thrusting and shing at each other at near sonic speeds.


    The two flew through the air as they fought, their every strike releasing shockwaves that rent the ground and ravaged the earth underneath.


    From afar, they only looked like two crimson streaks of light shing through the sky, requiring grandmaster-level existences with good kic vision to be able to perceive their movements.


    In the end, Kethryllia''s spear techniques superseded Abigail''s and the elven girl lost out, with the demonic hand Executive twisting her spear and knocking the Elf''s weapon out of her hands.


    She followed it up with a kick to the torso, sending Abigail flying through the air and crashing down onto the ground.


    By the time the teenager could find her bnce again, Kethryllia had already appeared right in front of her and thrust her spear out.


    Her charge was so fast, as though she was the wind itself given physical form. Tendrils of lightning snaked around her body as she closed the gap between them in a moment, her spearhead approaching Abigail with fierce momentum.


    Surprisingly, Abigail only tilted her neck to evade the spear at thest second, showing that her body''s reaction speed was fast enough to react to the sonic speed spear thrust.


    Kethryllia only twisted her lips into a slight frown as she followed the attack with a three-thrust step, increasing the speed and force behind each thrust per strike.


    **BOOM!


    An omnidirectional shockwave spread out as Kethryllia''s spear tore through the sound barrier, moving so fast it seemed like the weapon had split into three.


    However, again, Abigail evaded the three thrusts with minimum effort, doing so while advancing a step towards Kethryllia for each thrust evaded.


    Abruptly, Kethryllia infused lightning into her arm and pulled back her grip on her spear, sending out a fourth thrust that reached Abigail''s shoulder faster than the girl could react to.


    Unfortunately, the essence of destruction that coated the Elf''s body protected her from Kethryllia''s strike that sacrificed power for speed, only knocking her back a bit and piercing through her energy coat, but not deep enough to reach the skin underneath.


    Kethryllia wasn''t even surprised by this and instantly pulled back her spear, flipping it around and using the shaft to m into Abigail''s torso, sending the Elf flying through the trees and into a nearby rock.


    Just as Abigail tried to flip her body andnd with her feet on the rock, Kethryllia had already blitzed in and was about to stab her right in the chest.


    "Reequip."


    With thatmand word, threw her hands up in the air, just in time to grab onto the handle of the gigantic Warhammer that appeared right in the air above her.


    She infused it with her power of destruction, causing the dull grey runes on it to light up, before mming it down towards Kethryllia.


    **BOOOOMMM!!!!!


    A massive explosion rang out as the Warhammer mmed down, sting apart the nearby trees and giving the Dalburn forest another giant hole in the ground.


    When the dust died down, the scene of Kethryllia holding up the head of the Warhammer with a single arm could be seen, along with an expression of slight shock on Abigail''s face as she had never expected the Demonic Hand executive to risk soul damage to block her attack.


    "I missed."


    Kethryllia said to herself as she looked at the vanquisher spear that was embedded into the torso of the Elven hero.


    Blood trickled down her arm as she held up the Warhammer, with the ground under her feet cracking as despite having a spear of demonic energy embedded in her torso, Abigail was still trying to force down the hammer on her.


    The red-haired woman infused more demonic energy into her spear, rotating her grip as she tried to twist the weapon, but Abigail realised what she intended to do, instantly reversing hold on her hammer with speed and flipped it, mming it into Kethryllia''s side and knocking her off the ground.


    She then dropped the hammer and used her hands to pull out the spear from her torso before the infused demonic energy could reach her body and toss it to the side.


    The instant the spear was pulled out, the flesh around the wound in her torso wriggled slightly, before closing up in just a second, showcasing Abigail''s astonishing regeneration speed.


    As for Kethryllia, the woman tossed away the trees that copsed on her and got to her feet, holding her side slightly and spitting out blood before muttering lightly.


    "Might have broken a few ribs."


    She recalled her spear into her hands and gripped it lightly, exhaling a deep sigh as she stared at the Elf who now had two ck gauntlets with runic carvings on her arms.


    ''Well, I guess her rtionship with the ''Smith King'' is a lot closer than I had expected.''

 Chapter 452 Seventh Finger, First Hero IV

    ''Well, I guess her rtionship with the ''Smith King'' is a lot closer than I had expected.''


    Kethryllia had noticed that all the weapons that Abigail had pulled out were very simr, and they all had the insignia of one of ''The Five'', ''Smith King'' Vulwin.


    ''But weapons aside, she hasn''t done anything that I can rte to her mystic eyes yet. And here I thought I would be able to get some intel on her abilities.''


    Surprisingly, Abigail was also thinking something along the same lines as Kethryllia.


    ''I haven''t gotten any valuable battle data except the two skills she used. That weapon of hers is a series weapon but she has not used the weapon''s special ability yet.


    She does not seem to be going all out at all.


    As expected of the Seventh Finger of the Demonic hand, she still has a lot of power left and she still hasn''t resorted to calling out her contracted demon.''


    Abigail cracked her neck and her fingers, before getting into abat stance, holding up one arm forward and one leg slightly extended backwards.


    **BAAM!


    She kicked off the ground in the next moment, her legs digging into the earth as she shot towards Kethryllia who twirled her spear and used it to block all the iing punches from Abigail.


    The demonic hand executive then grabbed Abigail''s arm and spun around, flinging her into the air, but the Elf only flipped mid-air and punched the empty air in front of her, releasing shockwaves from the pressure of her fists and sending them flying towards Kethryllia.


    Kethryllia swung her spear rapidly and blocked the shockwaves with rtive ease, twisting her body slightly to dodge the ones she sensed were imbued with destruction essence.


    Abigailnded on the floor and stomped her foot on the ground with force, infusing her magic power into the ground and uprooting all the trees within a hundred-metre radius of her.


    She then flicked her fingers and the trees rotated horizontally, beforeunching towards Kethryllia.


    "I thought you elves were supposed to love nature��"


    ''Wind Magic: Shredding Cyclone.''


    The demonic hand executive flipped her spear and stabbed it into the ground, generating a huge whirlwind of demonic energy that swirled around her body and shredded the trees to pieces as she continued.


    "��you certainly don''t seem to have any qualms about destroying it."


    "Pfft��"


    Abigail only chuckled lightly as she jumped into the air with her arms spread open before replying.


    "Oh please. I love Nature.


    I am the ''Child of Nature'', after all."


    "��Huh?"


    It took Kethryllia a moment to understand that Abigail had casually injected a skill activation into her reply, her senses screaming at her as she immediately coated her body in lightning and shot up into the air.


    **BOOOM!!!


    Several thick three roots burst out from the ground and shot up into the air alongside Kethryllia, mming towards her body in an attempt to swat her out of the sky.


    The demonic Celestial infused her spear with aura and swung it rapidly, shredding the tree roots into pieces of wood, however, that gave the other humanoid wooden golems the time needed to catch up to her.


    With clenched fists, they mmed down on Kethryllia''s body and sent her crashing back to the ground.


    The demonic hand executive crashed back onto the floor with so much force that her body bounced back up into the air.


    A giant wooden arm emerged from the ground and grabbed her body mid-air, before reforging into a giant tree that enclosed her body entire body, save her head in its trunk and shrunk itself, restraining her and attempting to crush her body.


    The three then sunk halfway into the ground, putting part of Kethryllia''s body underground while the other trees in the forest around her all experienced a spurt of rapid growth, with their very gic structure being rearranged as regardless of what type of tree they were, they all turned into bright yellow flowered trees.


    Multiple branches shot out and wrapped around the tree enclosing Kethryllia''s body, increasing the restraints around her, while the flowers released deadly pollen into the atmosphere.


    The Demonic Hand executive sensed the danger in the pollen and held her breath while trying to gather energy to break free from the restraints, however, she had already identally inhaled a small bit of the pollen and the effects showed themselves instantly.


    She didn''t know exactly what it did in her body but it caused dark blood to drip out of her nose and onto her lips.


    Feeling the liquid trickling out of her nose, Kethryllia exploded the energy she was condensing, sting apart everything from the tree holding her to the gically manipted trees around her.


    Blood-red lightning descended from the skies and onto the trees, setting them aze while she used wind magic to create a barrier around herself to prevent the pollen from getting to her.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    She then shot out of the forest fire she had created and into the air, only to be met with the open jaws of a giant serpentine wooden dragon with a trunk-like nose.


    Energy condensed into the dragon''s maw and within seconds it was a giant crimson beam of light shooting through the air.


    ***KAABOOMMM!!!!


    The beam of light crashed down on the ground and ravaged the earth from one end of the forest to the other, destroying monster nests and animal habitats alike.


    Standing atop the head of this dragon, was the blonde-haired Elven girl who was twirling around a ring of strange multicoloured energy around her finger.


    The crimson glow of the aura of destruction on her body was no more, however, her power did not seem to have waned in the slightest.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' states that using ''that energy'' would be most unwise at this juncture.]


    [He further states that you should wrap things up before your natural energy reserves are depleted, implying that defeating the entity ''Kethryllia Keasatra'', is currently impossible for you as she is an entire existence level above you.]


    Two message boards appeared in front of Abigail''s vision, momentarily surprising the girl as she did not expect that being to be watching her fight.


    "Fine��I''m at least aware of the fact that she''s only fighting me because she wants to glean information about my mystic eyes."


    Abigail replied as she dismissed the notifications, relinquishing her control over the multi-coloured energy ring in her hand and letting it disperse back into the atmosphere.


    "Arc Lightning!"


    Her eyes widened upon hearing that shout, instantly jumping off the wooden dragon construct she was on right before a spear of red lighting flew right into its open jaw and pulverized it.


    **BOOOOMM!!!!


    As the wooden dragon turned to ashes, Abigail summoned her twin pair of swords and kicked off an aura foothold, shooting down towards Kethryllia who was blitzing towards her.


    **BOOM!!


    Another explosion rang out as the two collided with each other, beginning a high-speed battle with weapons and magic.


    The Elven girl gave Kethryllia a bit of a hard time as she kept switching weapons every minute, making the redhead unable to guess which weapon she was going to bring out next.


    Each of these weapons was coated in her destruction essence, and she even pulled out an unorthodox weapon like a morningstar and at one point, even wielded two different weapons at once


    She also didn''t forget to toss in magic of various elements, allowing Kethryllia to verify two things about Abigail''s magic.


    One was that she could use almost every mainstream element.


    And the other was that any ''destructive'' type spell she cast, had two times as much power than normal.


    If only she knew that Abigail was also casting these spells for half the usual magic power cost.


    Multiple explosions rang out across the forest, each one sting apart a new crater in the Dalburn forest and releasing shockwaves that spread far out of the forest.


    Bursting out of the smoke rising into the skies from one of such explosions, Kethryllia thrust her spear forward, intending on stabbing Abigail.


    But just before the tip of the spear reached her heart, Abigail twisted ever so slightly and evaded, then, keeping the spear under her arm, slid down its length until she was nose to nose with Kethryllia.


    The woman tried to extricate the spear from Abigail''s arm, but much to her surprise, it didn''t budge even a bit.


    "Don''t be too surprised, it''s just simple body-strengthening magic."


    Abigail spoke as she absorbed more strands of the strange multicoloured energy that Kethryllia could neither see nor sense into her body to strengthen it.


    The Elven girl then looked down at the little gap in between their bodies, a smug grin appearing on her face as she looked up to Kethryllia and spoke.


    "Hehe�� I''m Bigger."


    Kethryllia didn''t need to be a genius to understand exactly what Abigail was talking about.


    The redhead''s brows twitched in annoyance but just before she could do anything else, she felt chills bear down her spine as her instincts screamed at her.


    And the decision she made next, saved her life at thest second.

 Chapter 453 Seventh Finger, First Hero V

    The instant Kethryllia tilted her head to the side, two rays of crimson red light of destructive essence, shot through the air where her head was a second ago.


    Despite moving to dodge the attack, one of the beams of light slightly grazed her skin, burning off the flesh where it touchedpletely, going on topletely carve out part of her skull and turn that section of the bone to dust, before piercing through her hair and disintegrating it on an atomic level.


    **BOOM!


    She released a burst of aura that knocked Abigail back and sent her body flying, before taking more distance from the Elf and holding up her palm to her head.


    ''WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT???!!!


    DID SHE JUST SHOOT A BEAM OF DESTRUCTION AURA OUT OF HER EYES???!!!!!''


    Kethryllia''s breaths turned heavy and blood dripped from the side of her head and onto the ground from the wound that did not seem to show any signs of healing despite how much energy she poured into it.


    She infused her energy into her spear and swung it to the side, with the ground bursting open and releasing a massive wave of blood-red aura that surged towards Abigail who was just getting back to her feet.


    In the face of this iing massive wave of aura, the girl took a deep breath before exhaling, releasing a stream of cold energy that enveloped the massive wave of aura and within seconds, it was encased in a thickyer of ice.


    With the flick of her fingers, Abigailunched a small bolt of destructive energy that collided with the frozen aura and shattered it into tiny fragments of ice that fell to the ground.


    Looking at this nonsensical scene, Kethryllia had her jaw drop in shock as she stared at the Elven girl smiling at her, however, her eyes narrowed in the next second as she held up her spear, condensing an enormous amount of magic, aura and demonic energy around it.


    ''Enough ying around. I''d kill her this instant.''


    Tendrils of lightning snaked across the weapon and onto her arm as she took a stance, ready to attack.


    "Lady Keasatra. That''s enough, too much time has been wasted."


    The voice of her contracted demon rang out as a tall pale skinned man appeared right beside her. He then held out his hand and grabbed Kethryllia''s arm, making the Demonic Hand executive exhale in exasperation.


    "Tsk��"


    She clicked her tongue and reabsorbed her energy back into her body, twirling her spear around and dismissing the weapon right after.


    "Now then, we would be making our retreat, your highness."


    The demon spoke politely with a light bow as he infused energy into the teleportation crystal in his palm, crushing it right after and causing spatial-attributed magic power to burst out and wrap around him and Kethryllia.


    With a short sh of light, the two disappeared from the spot.


    ? ? ?


    Staring at the spot where the Executive of the Demonic Hand was mere moments ago, Abigail heaved a deep sigh of exhaustion as she gazed at the status of the demon who she just appraised.


    "Seems the demon ranks are the same as a thousand years ago.


    Master levels and below are low-rank demons, Middle Ranks are Grandmaster (Lower-Middle) and Epic (Upper-Middle) level existences.


    Means that High-Rank demons are still Legendary Level."


    She then ran a hand through her scattered hair and dismissed the status in front of her before continuing.


    "Seems like you only match up to a High-Rank Demon, Zestari."


    "Is that so? I couldn''t really care less, though."


    A euphonic voice replied to Abigail''s words as the Elven princess turned around to meet with the golden eyes of a dark-haired Elf who was suddenly standing a few metres behind her.


    The woman had the race''s prominent pointy ears and sleek calf-length dark blue hair that bordered on ck, left to flow freely with straight fringes framing her face.


    She was adorned in a maid uniform consisting of a grey blouse with puffed sleeves and a high, frilled cor secured with a back ribbon underneath a ck frock which has a full skirt. All under a grey frilly apron that was wrapped around her waist.


    On her legs, she wore long ck stockings and a pair of heeled shoes.


    This woman was the reason for the Seventh Finger''s retreat earlier, as her arrival in the area meant that Kethryllia could not carry out her attempt to end Abigail''s life there and then.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Her name was Zestari Herrel, a peak Legendary level existence who held the title of ''Living Legend''��and Abigail''s maid-in-waiting.


    upation aside, even if Kethryllia entered her demonic fused state, defeating Zestari was still a feat that would have been considered next to impossible, so the Demonic Hand executive had opted for a retreat the moment she had sensed the Living Legend''s presence.


    After all, even if they were only a single existence level apart, there was a huge gap in power due to the fact that Legendary Level existences could use the powers of worldw doctrines.


    "Putting those eyesores out of the way, I have to ask you, Abby. Do tell me why you seem to insist on taking actions that would evoke ''certain'' unwanted reactions from your father?"


    "��Ugh.


    Can you not tell him about this?"


    "Impossible.


    The fact that I''m here means he is already aware of your little escapade.


    You said you wanted to test out your power after bing an intermediate stage grandmaster, so can you exin to me how AND why you ended up fighting a Demonic Hand executive?"


    Zestari questioned Abigail with narrowed eyes, making the young Elven princess flinch lightly under her gaze.


    "It was a total coincidence!! Who would have expected that a Demonic Hand executive would be in the dungeon I wanted to go to?!


    But look on the bright side, I was able to find out about her skills and her magic affinities.


    She probably thought she could block my appraisal with that item but ''FULL'' appraisal is different."


    Abigail replied with a smug look on her face, patting her chest lightly before continuing.


    "ALSO! I was able to inflict a near-lethal injury on her too and damage a bit of her soul itself. Plus, I ced a tracker on her so I would know where she was teleporting to. It has a limited range though."


    Zestari''s eyes widened slightly in surprise upon hearing Abigail''sst statement, not having expected Abigail to do such a thing.


    "��Why are you looking at me like you''re surprised that I did that? What do you take me for, Zestari?"


    "I''d rather not say, Abby."


    The maid''s reply made Abigail''s brows twitch lightly in annoyance but she took a deep sigh to calm herself before turning her attention to her wounds.


    Naturally, it was impossible for her to fight an Epic Level existence ande out unscathed, but even so, she didn''t let all her wounds heal so as to prevent Kethryllia from finding out about her absurd regenerative abilities.


    With a flick of her wrist, thin strands of multi-coloured energy seeped into her body and all the injuries she had werepletely healed, both external and internal.


    Seeing this phenomenon happening, Zestari couldn''t help but look on in awe as even she did not possess the kind of regenerative prowess that Abigail did.


    Although the girl imed she was using ambient energy to heal her wounds, Zestari could neither see nor sense any energy of any kind being involved in this regeneration process.


    And she could tell that Abigail was not consuming any of her own energies, nor was she losing stamina as she did this.


    Her regenerative powers were something that made even her father, the ''Elven Emperor'' shocked as he could not deduce their working process.


    Not many beings on Aidos could.


    This was expected, as they were all incapable of sensing the ambient multicoloured energy that was omnipresent on the, the same energy that would move to regenerate Abigail''s wounds within seconds even if she did not actively will it.


    Without using special means, truly killing Abigail was a feat that was ridiculously hard to aplish, even for people many times stronger than her.


    "Now then, let''s deal with your torn clothes."


    Zestari rose her hand and formed a simple fifty cm wide tier two magic circle in front of her palm, however, the instant Abigail turned her eyes in the direction of the magic circle, it shattered and fizzled into oblivion.


    It was at that moment, Abigail knew, she''d fucked up.

 Chapter 454 Seventh Finger, Narrow Escape

    "��"


    "��"


    A strange silence pervaded between both the Princess and her maid, with their expressions slowly changing into something else.


    Abigail had the face of someone who had just made a huge mistake, while Zestari''s expression turned nk as she looked up from her empty palm and up to Abigail.


    "Abigail Vanya Lowe."


    "?!"


    The elven princess felt chills down her spine upon hearing her name on Zestari''s lips.


    Zestari had taken care of Abigail ever since she came out of her mother''s womb, and after being together for so long, Abigail was more than capable of discerning when Zestari was truly angry with her.


    Now, was one of those times.


    "Do tell me.


    Your Mystic eyes don''t happen to ACTUALLY be active now, do they?"


    Zestari had noticed the glow in Abigail''s eyes, however, the woman knew that Abigail was capable of fooling people into thinking her mystic eyes were active even though they actually weren''t so she had thought that the Elven princess was doing just that.


    She had seen the princess use it a lot of times to mess with her elder siblings.


    However, the fact that her magic circle waspletely destroyed with just a gaze from Abigail, showed that she had thought wrong.


    Abigail, on the other hand, was regretting not deactivating her mystic eyes the instant Zestari arrived.


    When she healed her wounds just now, she had unconsciously stopped limiting her mystic eye''s effects and one of them, the ability to simply destroy a spell just by looking at it (Tier and Level Dependent), activated the instant she gazed at the simple spell in Zestari''s palm.


    "Don''t tell me you showed that Demonic Hand executive your mystic eye abilities��"


    "��"


    When she saw Abigail turn her gaze away with a guilty expression on her face, Zestari instantly realised that Abigail had done exactly just that.


    "Start talking, now."


    "��


    ��So��I may have used a ''few'' ''destructive'' type spells��"


    "A few?"


    "See, the thing is��I kinda messed around and got into a pretty bad situation, so I activated my mystic eyes and used an explosion spell (Wrath of me. Tier 3 Version).


    However, the spell turned out to be stronger than I had expected, so I realised my powers had grown much more than I thought so I decided to try out a few more spells and skills and they were all more powerful than I remembered.


    So, I wanted to see how much more powerful they had be��nothing too serious."


    Despite giving an exnation, Abigail still had a hard time returning her expression to normal, leading Zestari to realise there was something Abigail wasn''t saying.


    "What else?"


    "��"


    "What. Else?"


    "��I may have tried to blow her head off with an optical st."


    Hearing the Elven princess'' reply, Zestari''s brow twitched repeatedly as she took deep breaths to prevent herself from flipping out.


    She then silently reactivated a different magic spell in her palm, generating a wave of darkness to wrap around Abigail''s body for a few seconds.


    When it dissipated, the Elven Princess'' outfit had changed to a brand new one.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After this, Zestari took another deep breath, before abruptly knocking Abigail''s head faster than she could react.


    *BONK!


    "OUCH!!!"


    "I''d be reporting all of today''s events to your mother."


    "��Eh?"


    Before Abigail could evenpletelypute what Zestari had said, the woman had already used her energy to wrap around the teenager''s body, lifting her along as the maid ascended into the sky.


    "Instant eleration."


    Zestari cast that spell before shooting through the sky, reaching sonic speed within seconds and surpassing it a moment after as she flew towards the Elven Empire''s Capital city of Lustea with Abigail in tow.


    ? ? ?


    A few hourster, a streak of green light shot out from Elverston Citadel in Lustea, blitzing across the sky faster than the people of the Elven Empire could even perceive it.


    Sometime after, in the outskirts of an abandoned town a hundred miles away from Ogrein, a major city in, Whaijan, one of the average-sized countries of the Beta Continent, a pir of green light shot into the sky, piercing the clouds.


    Right afterwards, what peeked out from the sky was a single giant arrow of emerald-green magic power.


    However, the size of that arrow was something stupendous. If it was the length alone, it was well over a few kilometres.


    All things considered, rather than an arrow, it might have been better suited to being called a spear�� no, even if it was a spear, it was far too long.


    In any event, it was far too strong of a power to be called an arrow fired from a bow.


    This ''arrow'' shot towards the ground with an ear-shattering sound, crashing down atop the abandoned town and turning it along with everything else within a hundred kilometres of it to dust with arge explosion that shook the earth.


    The people from Ogrein and the other nearby cities all saw therge explosion and the mushroom cloud of green smoke and mes that rose up into the clouds.


    They also felt the shockwaves that spread out from the explosion, ravaging everything within a few dozen kilometres outside the st radius.


    However, the person who threw in the attack took their cities into ount, and their cities were all enveloped with barriers that protected them from these shockwaves.


    In the middle of this explosion, a fair-skinned golden-haired high Elf floated in the air while gazing at the massive city-sized crater in the ground that was once a base of the Seventh Division of the Demonic Hand in silence.


    He had green eyes and long hair, dressed in floor-length ck and white robes, a white crown with feather decorations atop his head and simple ck t shoes.


    The man slowly descended to the ground in silence, before raising a hand and activating a skill from a tier different from unique skills.


    "Pseudo-Authority of Knowledge."


    The ambient energy of thew of knowledge swirled around him and he read the ''records'' of the base he had just destroyed, a light frown appearing on his face as he realised he had missed his main target.


    "The Seventh Finger had already left the base minutes before I arrived.


    Wherever she went, it was probably out of Abby''s tracking range.


    A pity, I could have permanently taken out one of those nuisances."


    The man spoke with a light sigh of disappointment, however, he consoled himself with the act that he had indeed killed hundreds of the Demonic Hand''s members, along with two of the Epic Level Senior Members in the Seventh Division and Dozens of Grandmaster level Senior members under them.


    "Oh well. Time to go back to my daughter."


    ''Elven Emperor'' Zaos spoke to no one in particr before ascending back into the skies and shooting forward at a supersonic speed, returning to his pce in Lustea.


    On a side note, he did send an official exnation to the ruling council of Whaijan stating the reason why he had suddenly sted one of their towns to bits and offered sizablepensations to the citizens who were affected by this.


    Thankfully, no civilian lives were lost thanks to the barriers he ced around the nearby cities.

 Chapter 455 New Magi-Technologies

    Guest Room 023, Royal Pce.


    Capital City Gerfast.


    Great Western Empire


    June 6th


    Year 1052


    While the Seventh Finger was having a close shave with death against the new generation First Hero on the Beta Continent, the Second Hero was having a nice afternoon meal with one of the guests of the Empire who attended the previous night''s ball.


    A tempered ss table sat on the balcony of the luxurious guest room, with our resident hero, dressed in a casual short-sleeved polo and simple ck jeans with his simrly coloured slicked-back hair on one end.


    On the other was a dark-skinned woman with long legs, messy waist-length hair that covered her ears, and a somewhat sleepy expression on her face.


    Naturally, this woman was the Vice Chief Grand Magus of the City State of Magic, Kasteblum, Joanna Ritz.


    Also known to many, as the ''Laziest Mage Alive''.


    ''Funny how a lot of people don''t recognize who she is till they hear that title.''


    Evan thought to himself as he took a bite of the carefully prepared steak, nodding in satisfaction at the exquisite taste of the meal.


    "Long story short, you guys n to release the waypoints to the public by the year-end, huh?"


    "Not end��next year beginning."


    "Same Difference."


    Evan shrugged in reply to Joanna''s words before taking a sip of his strawberry wine. As for the subject of their conversation; it was about one of the greatest innovations that was going to shock the entirety of Aidos when they were released.


    Teleportation Waypoints.


    Devices that allowed one to transfer matter from one point to another, without traversing the physical space between them.


    ording to the timelines in the game, these were things that were supposed to have been fully developed by the City State of Magic, Kasteblum, towards the end of the year 1055, but due to circumstances Evan was unaware of, they werepleted a whole three years earlier.


    ''I don''t know if that''s a good thing or a bad thing.


    Both the fact that they couldplete it earlier and the timing of the release.''


    In the game, ''Aidos Online'', in-game teleportation, or rather, ''fast travel'' was naturally avable to make things easier for yers who did not want to go through the stress of running across (exploring) the map just to get to their destinations, however, this was only to specific major locations on the map like Country Capital Cities or certain historical locations.


    But after clearing the main questline up to a certain stage (Dealing with one of the Eight Disasters), the number of locations one could fast travel to was tripled.


    Teleportation magic was something that existed in Aidos, and it could be used via various means, including but not limited to, teleportation stones, artifacts and mages with spatial attribute magic and skills.


    However, for those who did not possess the spatial attribute or a spatial type skill, using teleportation was quite a difficult feat, as such, they had to rely on rare teleportation artifacts or single-use teleportation stones.


    It went without saying, that all these were very��very expensive to acquire.


    Kasteblum, however, nned to make these a lot less rare and expensive by introducing these devices they called Teleportation Waypoints.


    They were the results of attempts to recreate the devices seen in the memory gems left behind by the Chief Grand Magus of Kasteblum who was one of the few survivors of the City State''s destruction at the hands of a certain Deadly Sin 1000 years ago.


    Since they were built to be able to carry over a hundred people in one jump, these teleportation Waypoints were veryrge, enough for the aforementioned amount of people tofortably stand inside them without having to squeeze together.


    They had multiple interconnected magic and ether spatial formations, intricately designed to work andplement each other without issue despite the use of two different energy signatures.


    Each one came with two parts, a dematerializer and a rematerializer; known by the lessplicated names of ''Entry Waypoint'' and ''Exit Waypoint''.


    They were all connected along arge-scale magicalwork, and for sessful teleportation from point A to B to be possible, both the Entry waypoint at A and Exit waypoint at destination B had to be active at the same time.


    If the Exit waypoint at B was not activated, then the Entry waypoint at A would be unable to initiate the teleportation in the first ce.


    It required the operators of these formations to bemunicating constantly so as not to have any problems whatsoever.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Powering these formations, required magic stones��lots of magic stones, as such, the users of these Waypoints had to pay for the magic stones that were being used to power their teleportation.


    Kasteblum had already concluded developing these waypoints, and now they were mass producing them in preparations to sell them off to the Countries of the Alpha continent by the beginning quarter of the year 1053, exactly six months after the trains would begin service.


    The n was that by the end of the year 1053, each major city on the Alpha continent would possess a teleportation waypoint


    Now then, about Trains on Aidos.


    These were another piece of magi-technology that was being developed before its time in the game.


    They were the end result of the Alpha and Beta Continent''s leaders and researchers, seeking new ways of air andnd transportation.


    In the end, they had ended up devising the ''ideas'' for these trains, and the Alpha continent ended up with the role of developing them.


    On the other hand, the Beta Continent drew the lot for developing Air transportation methods, and ''Airships'' were what they hade up with.


    Afterwards, both continents were to exchange these technologies after deploying them in their ownnds for some time.


    However, countries rted to ''The Five'', already possessed the magi-technologies of the other continent.


    Take the Beast Kingdom for example, the only country on the Alpha Continent that possessed the technological know-how to make Airships already, or the Dwarven Kingdom of Stonehammer on the Beta Continent which could already develop trains.


    Returning to the matter of Teleportation Waypoints, Joanna casually revealed to Evan that there were already some waypoints deployed in other major powers of the Alpha continent, linking them to the City State of Magic.


    There was the issue of these waypoints being used for invasions, but as stated earlier, unless both entry and exit waypoints were activated simultaneously, the teleportation attempts would see no sess, and these countries knew better than to keep them activated at all times.


    Besides, although Kasteblum was a Major world power, they would suffer great losses if they provoked other Major World powers on their level and were ganged up on with no allies on their side.


    "Teleportation Waypoints sure do sound like a nice magi-technology to have around. I could name a few countries and empires who would want to monopolize that magi-tech."


    "Monopolize?"


    "Yep. It''s the kind of thing that people would covet and want for themselves alone."


    Evan replied to Joanna''s question, citing the fact that a few countries would definitely have thoughts of Annexing Kasteblum after they released this technology into the world.


    In fact, in the game, a few Northern Alpha Continental countries indeed had such thoughts of taking control over Kasteblum.


    ''Countries like Terrok and their colonies��''


    Avoiding the war was also part of the game''s major questline, as such a war would have greatly diminished the power of Aidos'' defending force against the iing demons.


    Kasteblum, although small, was the hub of magicians, alchemists and other rted professions who resided in the Alpha continent.


    They also had tons of Adventurers, A, S and SS ranks who resided there because of their dungeons and the double experience effect they had.


    And then the City State''s battle mages, especially the powerful Blue Robed Senior Mages and above.


    The Mages of Kasteblum had six ranks; Apprentice, Junior, Intermediate, Senior, Great and Grand.


    Each rank was then further subdivided into three categories, differentiated by the colour of the robes they wore.


    Green robed were the lowest, Red Robes in the middle, and Blue robes were the Highest.


    The higher the mage''s rank, the darker the colour of their robes, so it was very easy to identify a battle mage when they wore their official robes.


    On a side note, Sir Czac, who had participated in the Cheverton incident, was one of the weaker Grand Mages, being under the Green Robe Category.


    Also, despite being the Vice Chief Grand Magus, Joanna was not the second most powerful Magus as her title would make one think since her strength was also only on the level of a Green-Robed Grand Mage.


    There were more powerful Grand Magus that existed in Kasteblum, the Red-Robed which had levels around 500 and the Dark-Blue-Robed which were basically the Elders of Kasteblum.


    Each one was an existence of at least Level 600.


    Powerful old Mages that although Gavin, the current Chief Grand Magus could best them in one-on-one battles, even he would be in trouble if they all attacked him at once despite the fact that he was the individual strongest with a level close to 700.

 Chapter 456 ‘Azure Witch’

    However, these old entrics could not really care less for the position of Vice Chief Grand Magus, as such, it was a position that only the Green-Robed and a few of the weaker Red-robed Grand Mages coveted.


    Besides, the Blue-robed Grand Mages already knew the potential Joanna possessed, so they raised no objections to Gavin''s decision of appointing her as his Vice.


    So, despite having the second-highest level of Authority in Kasteblum, the half-dark elf did not possess the second-highest level of strength.


    ''Not yet, at least.''


    Evan, who had yed ''Aidos Online'' to the end multiple times, knew exactly how strong Joanna could get from his memories of the game.


    During the war against the demons, the Dark Lightning Mystic terrorized the demons so much that it took Demon Generals to personally intervene in order to take her off the front lines.


    In a battle against three Lesser Demon Generals, Joanna was finally defeated, but due to the intervention of Gavin, they were unable to kill her as they had initially nned.


    That was also how Gavin gained some of the scars on his face that Evan had known him to possess.


    Evan was having such thoughts as he looked at the woman who slowly finished her meal before yawning lightly.


    "Now that you''re done with your meal, can you set up a projection with old man Gavin, I have a few things I want to ask him."


    "��Is it really��necessary?"


    "Hmm? It kinda is."


    As Evan replied to her, he studied her expression and couldn''t help but notice that she seemed a bit��reluctant.


    ''Does she perhaps not want to see Gavin now?''


    Before he could even ask her this, the woman had already grabbed her subspace bag and pulled out a magic projector from inside, taking it into the room and setting it atop one of the tables inside.


    While Evan called the servants to take out their now empty tes from the balcony table, Joanna had already set up the devices and initiated the call, which was surprisingly declined from Gavin''s end.


    But the woman only kept on pushing the button to re-initiate the connection over and over again until Gavin finally got fed up and epted.


    [WHAT?!]


    The Chief Grand Magus'' voice drew Evan''s attention and he tossed the Guild Card in his hand back to his inventory before moving over to beside Joanna.


    And then as if they had agreed on it beforehand, the two of them rose their hands in light waves while echoing three words.


    ""Sup, Old man.""


    [Of course, you''re there with her too.]


    Gavin who looked a lot more haggard than Evan remembered, facepalmed and let out a deep sigh, one which Joanna chose toment on.


    "Don''t sigh too much. It''s bad for��health."


    [And who do you think is the reason for my sighs?


    I''ll have you know that you just so happen to resemble the Half-Dark Elf mage who slept off on three weeks of work, beforeing to my office with a resignation letter; and at this crucial time when we are running final checks to begin mass-producing the Waypoints.]


    Gavin''s reply had Joanna silently averting her gaze as she spoke.


    "Weird��I suddenly feel sleepier��than usual. Probably why��I can''t hear��a certain old man''s voice."


    The Chief Grand Magus'' brows couldn''t help but twitch repeatedly in annoyance upon hearing his Disciple''s words.


    "I don''t know how much three weeks'' worth of work is, but it seems to be quite a lot if it''s got you looking haggard."


    Evan spoke up, prompting Gavin to create a mirror using ss magic and check out his appearance, noticing his unkempt hair and eyebags but only sighing lightly before asking.


    [Still��what is it that you want to say? You guys picked a horrible time to contact me.]


    "Well��I did not expect you to be so busy. What I have to say is probably not as important as whatever you''re handling now so we can discuss itter."


    Just when Evan was about to bid the man farewell and cut the connection, another voice rang out from Gavin''s end, one that Evan found slightly familiar from the game.


    [Hmm? So that''s the Disciple of yours you foisted your former position on.]


    [Yeah. That''s her, teacher.]


    Hearing Gavin address the other speaker by the title of ''Teacher'' allowed Evan to instantly Figure out who the person was.


    Although stated previously that Gavin was an Epic Level existence, he was not just any random Epic level like Eliza''s uncle George, but someone at the very peak of the existence level, with a main level of 697.


    There was only one person in all of Aidos, that this near Legendary Level existence would address in such a manner.


    The person''s face came into view and Evan could see her appearance through the projection, confirming her identity to him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It was a tall human-looking woman with long braided ck-brown hair and brown coloured eyes. She had a veryrge, pointy hat on her head, a long dark-blue coat over a white blouse and a simple blue skirt.


    She was holding a pair of sses in her hands, presumably having just removed them from her eyes mere moments ago.


    "The ''Azure Witch''��"


    Having picked up on Evan''s absentminded mutter, the woman then turned her attention from Joanna to him, titling her head lightly in confusion as she didn''t appear to know who he was.


    [You seem to be aware of who I am, though the opposite is not the case.]


    "��I think it''d be stranger if I was not aware of one of Aidos'' few hundred ''Sovereigns''."


    Evan replied to the woman''s words with a wry smile as he recalled her name and title in his head.


    In the same way Gavin was Joanna''s ''Teacher'', she was the one who held the position of being Gavin''s teacher, the former Chief Grand Magus of Kasteblum, and one of the Sovereign Level existences of Aidos, Fely al''Rear.


    She had passed on her title of Chief Grand Magus over a century ago when she became a Sovereign Level existence and retreated behind the scenes, not having taken any major actions since then.


    Even so, to the people of Aidos, her power was undisputed, and she was one of the reasons for Kasteblum''s status as a Major world power.


    "I see, you were busy with your Teacher. Seems like we picked a bad time, huh?"


    Just when Evan said that in reply, he heard Gavin heave a sigh of exasperation, tracing his gaze to the half-dark elf beside him who had already rested her head on the table and dozed off.


    The young hero looked at her in silence for a moment before bursting out inughter right after, along with Fely who also found Joanna''s actions slightly funny.


    [It seems the rumours about your Disciple hold some truth, huh?]


    (Her attitude outside of work is very questionable, but when you eventually force her to start working, she is somehow able to get the job done with no issues.)


    Another voice rang out from the other end of the projection, moments before another robed mage came into view, with Evan recognizing him as one of the Blue-Robed Grand Mages of Kasteblum.


    The man noticed Evan who was beside Joanna, recognition shing through his eyes as he asked.


    (Aren''t you the boy who killed that bastard Necromancer Dominik?)


    [Huh? That''s him?]


    "Yes��that''s me."


    Evan casually interjected and answered Fely''s question, pausing for a moment before he continued speaking.


    "Sure, he was a necromancer and all, but his ss was something called ''Deathlord''. A higher ranked variant."


    [Deathlord? But wasn''t he only a mere grandmaster?


    I mean, your Empire didn''t mobilize its Epic Level existences because he was only a grandmaster. How did he have a ss type meant for Epic levels and above?]


    "Because he was an Epic level Existence, but after his death at the Beast King 25 years ago��"


    [He lost his levels, huh.]


    Felypleted the statement, nodding to herself in understanding why a grandmaster level possessed a ''Lord'' type ss.


    "But while two of his Aspects of Existence may have fallen, his soul was still that of an Epic Level Existence and you can pretty much guess the rest."


    After speaking, Evan took a nce at Joanna but the woman did not seem to show any signs of waking up anytime soon.


    "Well, since Miss Joanna here is already asleep and you guys seem busy, I''d contact youter.


    It''s regarding the Teleportation Waypoints.


    Anyway, See youter."


    [Yeah, yeah. Pick better timing next time.]


    Gavin said that in reply to Evan''s farewell before cutting off the connection and returning to his work.


    As for Evan, the young hero had now realised the reason why the Teleport Waypoints were beingpleted years beforehand.


    "The ''Azure Witch'' took action. She didn''t do so in the game, but since she did now, things sped up by a whole three years."


    He browsed his memories of the game for any bit of information on where Fely was supposed to be at this time but came up with nothing.


    It was then that a small blue-haired humanoid girl with light blue skin appeared beside him before floating over to his shoulder and sitting there.

 Chapter 457 World Powers Of Aidos

    [What were you nning on telling them?]


    "Hmm? Oh, Milly.


    Anyway, it''s something they were going to eventually figure out, even faster than expected because of the ''Azure Witch'' being present.


    Evan replied to the high-rank water/ice spirit whom he had recentlye into contact with, Milena, much to the spirit''s confusion.


    [Something they were eventually going to figure out?]


    "Yeah��it''s a little upgrade to the Teleportation Waypoints. But they have to get the main waypoints down first before they can make the addition."


    He stood up after replying, picking up a nket from the bed and draping it over Joanna''s body before taking his leave from the room after making sure the Magic projector was turned offpletely.


    The instant he closed the door behind him, he sensed a magic fluctuation and turned back with his mystic eyes, taking notice of multiple defensive formations that were now activated, some of which seemed very familiar.


    ''It''s just like a mini version of the ones on her house in Kasteblum��''


    Evan chuckled lightly as he turned back and walked away, eventually meeting Myra at the end of the hallway with whom he struck up a conversation.


    �� �� ��


    Evan returned to his room in the Eris Ducal Mansion andy on his bed, staring at the ceiling as he thought about the Sovereign level existence that he had just seen.


    ''The ''Azure Witch'', huh? She''s one of the stronger ones above level 850.''


    And then his thoughts went towards the events of the game that involved her, and her eventual death at the hands of the Demonic Hand''s executives.


    ''She was too strong, and they deemed her a Highest-level Priority Threat. In the end, she was defeated and killed by the Demonic Hand''s Strongest member.''


    Merely thinking about that person, the ''Strongest Entity'' that exists in the Demonic Hand gave Evan chills as the power that being disyed in the game was mind-blowing.


    ''That person is also one of the main reasons why ''The Five'' don''t make rash moves against the Demonic Hand.


    After all, if they were the Five strongest beings on Aidos, then that person is qualified to be considered the Sixth.''


    As Evan thought about the disaster that involved that particr executive, he could not help but sigh in exasperation as defeating that person without the help of any of ''The Five'' seemed like a pipe dream.


    ''That person is even the one who''d take out Tarse''s Guardians, diminishing the country''s power and setting the groundwork for the ''Fall of the Desert Country''.''


    Evan pulled up the system archive and skimmed through the information in it, sorting out things from the game that he had forgotten about the ''Fall of the Desert Country'', the disaster that marked the official beginning of Aidos'' doom.


    ''If the Demonic Hand seed, then the hard work of the dragons guarding the Dimensional Rift on the Dark Continent would all be for nought.''


    "But��there''s nothing the current me can do about that Disaster now.


    I don''t have influence that stretches into Tarse as of now. There''s also the ''Hero'' who''s supposed to be in Tarse too, dealing with that disaster would require that person''s help, whichever Hero they are.


    I just hope they have not been taken over by one of the Previous Seven."


    As of now, Three Heroes had been revealed, Abigail the First, Evan the Second, and Laurene the Fourth.


    However, although these three were not taken over by the previous heroes from a thousand years ago, it was only because they were special cases.


    Evan was personally ced here by Artemisia, who also gave Laurene a skill the girl saw as ''Mental Block'', to protect both her mind AND her soul from being yeeted out by the Previous Fourth.


    As for Abigail, the young Elder Breed Elf was a different case entirely, though that much was obvious given the interest that ''The Eternal of Time and Destruction'' (ETOD) had in her.


    As Arnold had said, she was an older, more powerful version of the current Evan, and her powers of Destruction were on an entirely different level too.


    Evan heaved a sigh before closing the matter of the Desert Country''s Fall for now, moving to another Disaster, the next on his list.


    "Artemisia, how much longer is left until the Lair of the Lizard Lord Breaks?"


    |A year. |


    "And how strong would the Lizard Lord be by then?"


    |I cannot give an exact figure but the creature is going to be far weaker than it was supposed to be at this time.


    It was a consequence of me hastening the Dungeon Break. |<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "That so? Also, why have you begun using your normal voice these days? I don''t think my Mental Resistance is strong enough to prevent my mind from copsing��"


    |The ''Indirect Messaging'' feature is currently offline since some parts of the System are undergoing maintenance. |


    "Oh, okay."


    |��|


    "Wait��wha-"


    |Don''t ask about the details. |


    Artemisia cut Evan short before he could even begin asking about the details of the System Maintenance and how he could not notice any differences.


    The young hero only sighed softly before running his hand through his hair as he closed the Disaster section of the Archive.


    He yed around with the sorting of the Archive and ended up on a tab that was listed not so far after the ''Lizard Lord''s Outbreak''.


    "Major World Powers��"


    Opening it, he scrolled through the information in that section, detailing the Major World Powers of Aidos, and why they were considered as such.


    "Oh��the Alpha Continent''s Holy Kingdom isn''t part? I guess only the Beta Continent''s Holy Empire is part of them."


    Evan eximed out loud as he scrolled through the names of the Countries on the list.


    In every world that worked with a Country System, there were always countries that had power and influence that was leagues above others.


    The same was the case in Aidos, there were countries that stood at the top of the Hierarchy, holding dominant positions and were capable of exerting their influence and projecting their power on a global scale.


    These Countries were the World Powers.


    As for what made these countries to be considered World Powers; for starters, was their Economic Strength.


    Each of these World Power nations had high levels of Economic Strength, high import and even higher Export rates, as well as wonderful living standards for their citizens.


    Their Agricultural sector was also flourishing much more than others, with these nations having rich natural resources and high crop yields per annum, enough for them to export tons and still have enough for their citizens, and a lot in reserve for emergencies.


    The people of Aidos'' cognizance of the existence of Magic and other supernatural energies that existed within the atmosphere ofs also helped in this sector as magic was very helpful in Aidos'' crop-rearing processes.


    "If a normal human on Earth V ate food from Aidos, they might just gain supernatural powers��"


    Evan spoke out loud as hepared Aidos and Earth V, thinking about just how much different the ability to harness the powers of the world''s natural energies made things.


    "I bet a random guy on the street here in Aidos couldpete with a top wrestler from E-V and win."


    Coming back to the main topic, World Power nations in Aidos also had good international rtions, diplomacy, and soft-power influence that made middle or small-power nations consider their opinions before taking certain actions.


    The size of territories possessed by these Countries also yed a huge part in their statuses, as well as their number of colonies, if any.


    Naturally, the overwhelming Military Strengths these countries possessed were also one of the main factors involved.


    The aforementioned characteristics would have been enough in any normal world, like Evan''s Earth V where the countries who possessed all these characteristics were considered Global Superpowers.


    But on Aidos, and any other world that was inhabited by existences cognizant of supernatural energies, there were a few more things to add.


    On a side note, a small percentage of Earth V''s poption was actually aware of magic and other energies, just that they did not reveal the existence of these energies to the rest of the world.


    Anyway, in Aidos, where Master Level Existences who could singlehandedly st a small town to bits existed, a few more things had to be taken into ount when considering World Powers.


    So even if one had met all the requirements, they would still not be considered a World Power on Aidos unless they met these other requirements.


    For being a ''World Power'' Nation in Aidos, one needed to have all the aforementioned requirements, with the addition of at least 100 Legendary Level Existences, having originated from that Country, in either the past or present.


    Indeed, having at least 100 of Aidos'' couple thousand ''Living Legends''e from one''s country was thest requirement to be considered a World Power Nation in this world.


    Countries like, Uswil, Nucrya, the Utrarian Republic, Deston, Sris, and so on, all fit this bill.

 Chapter 458 Future ‘Disasters’ And Plans

    At least 100 of the ''Living Legends'' on Aidos originated from these few countries. But this did not mean that there were no Living Legends from other countries, just that they were not up to the 100 mark.


    Now then, as for the Countries with the tag of ''Major World Power''; they naturally met all the previously mentioned requirements, and had at least 100 Living Legends, along with an extra 10 Sovereign Level Existences having originated from them.


    There was a huge number drop whenparing the Legendary and Sovereign levels, but it could not be helped as Aidos'' Sovereigns did not exceed a thousand in number.


    They were once more than a thousand, but a certain powerful human''s rampage more than 2 decades ago wiped out nearly all the Sovereigns from a particr race, reducing the overall number below 1000.


    For a with a poption in the billions, this was an exceedingly small number, even whenpared to the number of Legendary levels.


    Anyway, the fact that the Great Western Empire (GWE) had the tag of ''Major World Power'', meant that they, along with the Great Eastern Empire, (GEE), Desert Country of Tarse, the Elven Empire, Draidan, the Aelum Kingdom and so on, each had at least 100 Legendary and 10 Sovereign Level Existences originating from there.


    However, because of the great power these existences had, along with the fact that not all of them were under their home country''s control, meant that there were certain restrictions on them ced by ''The Five'' in a bid to maintain a certain level of Order on Aidos.


    This was the manner in which the Legendary and Sovereign level existences dictated the ''Major'' powers of Aidos.


    Scaling things up a bit, this could also apply on the Continental Scale and was part of the reason why the Alpha and Beta Continents were often seen as superior to the Dark Continent in recent times.


    The reason was simple, the two continents had more Transcendent level existences originating from them.


    Although the Dark Continent was the one that was hit with the full brunt of the Demons'' Attacks during their invasion, a thousand years was more than enough time for the Survivors to get themselves back up, especially considering that was the continent where the majority of the''s Dragons lived.


    That was also where the Dragon Empire, ruled by ''Dragon Lord'' Altrishia, was situated.


    So, on the Transcendent level of things, the Alpha Continent had Rathal and Kolvar, the Beta had Zaos and Vulwin, while the formerly Delta, currently Dark had only Altrishia.


    However, Altrishia spent the majority of her time either on the Inds of the Divider Ocean or the Dread Ocean''s Inds.


    Although she did go back to the Dark Continent, she hardly stayed there because staying there meant she was going to inevitablye across the ce where the former Dragon Lord, Gorm, fought hisst battle against Greater Demon General McEnda IV.


    "Former Dragon Lord Gorm��"


    Evan''s room door was opened as he was speaking, just in time for the entrant to hear the remaining part of his statement.


    "��and McEnda IV."


    "Hmm? Why are you talking about that abominable bastard''s servant?"


    The boy turned his head and his grey eyes met with the red eyes of the Demon of Pride who had entered into his room.


    He tilted his head lightly and saw one of the maids who clearly looked dismayed on how to handle the high demon who just casually barged into his room like it was the most normal thing on Aidos.


    ''True��guests don''t normally enter the rooms of Ducal Heirs like that��''


    After waving his hand to dismiss the maid, he sat up on the bed and gave a reply to Pride''s question.


    "Nothing much. Just thought of something that guy did that''s gonna give me trouble in the future."


    "Huh? Didn''t you say he and the previous Dragon Lord double-suicided?"


    "Yeah, he did."


    Evan got up from his bed and uncreased his clothes before looking back at Pride and concluding.


    "And that''s precisely the problem."


    The High Demon was clearly very confused about what he meant but Evan just told her not to worry about it��for now.


    "It''s not important now.


    What''s important now is the next Disaster on the list.


    If I was the leader of the Demonic Hand, after having one of my divisions wiped out by ''Strongest Human'' Rathal, and suffering two consecutive catastrophic losses due to the intervention of a certain hero, I would definitely bring up my other ns that I have in stock and deploy them before anyone can catch on or interfere.


    In order words, some of the ''Eight Disasters'' are definitely going to happen earlier than nned.


    Take the ''Lizard Lord''s Outbreak'' for example, that one is supposed to happen in about eight years or so."


    Pride took a seat on one of the chairs in front of his room desk, leaning back and crossing her legs as she spoke.


    "If I were them, I''d cut that time from eight to four. Even if it means things would not be 100%."


    Evan took a seat on the other side of the desk and held up one of his pens, twirling it in his hands while he replied to her.


    "That''s what they would do��if they were the ones who had the choice."


    "What do you mean?"


    In response to the question asked by the high demon with narrowed eyes, Evan only smiled lightly and called out a certain date.


    "April 12th. Year 1051."


    He cleared out the desk before pulling out arge map of the Alpha Continent and cing it atop the desk.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "The goddess Artemisia made a descent to here��Dungeon City Lacertilia."


    Dropping a coloured pin on the map, he continued.


    "She ced a few things at the bottom of one of the Dungeons of Lacertilia, one that had a Maximum Level limit of 500.


    She also triggered a Dyed Dungeon break on that same dungeon, in addition to halting the growth in strength of the boss monster on the Dungeon''s deepest floor."


    Evan pulled out another coloured pin and ced it on the map, on the symbol of the Dungeon that was drawn right next to Lacertilia''sbel.


    "The name of that Dungeon is the ''Lair of the Lizard Lord''."


    "Lizard Lord?"


    "Yep.


    And that brings us to the third Disaster��the ''Lizard Lord''s Outbreak''."


    When he was done speaking, Evan looked up at Pride and spoke with a serious tone.


    "The Demonic Hand chose when they wanted to carry out the ''Duhan Attack''.


    This time, they would not be the ones to decide.


    We''re forcing them to carry out a Disaster of our choosing and at a time of our choice."


    Hearing Evan''s words, a small smile appeared on Pride''s face as she found his words very appealing.


    "We''re not gonna y by their own game, huh?"


    "Indeed.


    It''s not something that''s gonna work always, but this time, it''s definitely going to work."


    The Eight disasters were;


    The Dulhan Attack,


    The Lizard Lord''s Outbreak,


    The Seven Deadly Sins Massacre,


    The Wolf of the End,


    Fall of the Desert Country,


    The Basilisk''s Stone Festival,


    The Barbarian King''s uprising, andstly, the worst of them all;


    The Ancient Demonic Dragon''s Resurrection.


    "Chronologically, the ''Duhan Attack'' was supposed to be first, then the ''Deadly Sins Massacre'', after which the Demonic hand would turn their attention to the Beta Continent and have the ''Barbarian King''s Uprising'' happen.


    But thanks to Artemisia, we can force them to keep their attention and their focus on the Alpha continent for now, by making the ''Lizard Lord''s Outbreak'' a disaster presided over by the ''Seventh and Ninth Fingers'' to happen first."


    "What about the others��which Executives of that Organization are handling the other Disasters?"


    Evan pulled out a clean sheet of paper and wrote down the Demonic Hand Executives who were presiding over the Eight Disasters and passed it to Pride who skimmed through it.


    "I see. This Lizard Disaster was supposed to be the Joint work of the Seventh, Ninth and Tenth Divisions, but the Tenth Division has been wiped out so it''s only the Seventh and Ninth left."


    "Yes��we should also consider the possibility of them sending in the now-free Sixth Division to assist the Seventh and Ninth.


    The difficulty of things would increase if that''s the case.


    Seith Beddoe is an Epic Level existence, defeating him requires at least Peak Grandmaster, or another Epic Level.


    As for Kethryllia, she may also be an Epic level, but she''s weaker than Seith for sure��still, dealing with her is not going to be easy.


    Especially because of her Weapon."


    "And what is this weapon?"


    The young hero used light magic to create projections of multiple weapons, two of which Pride recognized to be his Sword; the ''Unforged'', and Eliza''s staff, the ''Memoria''.


    "Her weapon is the spear of the Vanquisher Series, the ''Pledge''.


    And unlike Eliza and my weapons, it''s on Phase 2."


    "Phase 2? Your weapons have Second Phases?"

 Chapter 459 “You’re An Otherworlder, Are You Not?”

    "Yes. If we gather the required materials and fused them into the weapons, we can ascend them to their next phases.


    At that stage, the weapons be permanently bound to their owners and their effects are strengthened, plus they get new weapon skills."


    Evan gave Pride a brief rundown of the materials needed to take the Unforged to Phase 2 and Pride could only sigh and wish him luck on that endeavour.


    "Getting those materials would be tough for the current me.


    That''s why I want to get the ''Vale de''. The Weapon used by the previous ''Second''."


    "Ah��that irritating Sword, I remember it well."


    Pride remarked as she skimmed through her memories of the war a millennia ago, clicking her tongue lightly while speaking of the previous ''Second'' Hero''s sword.


    "The sword is in his underground base that is situated near Wolfen''s capital city of A. After dealing with the Lizard Lord, I''d go over to the GEE and join them to annex Wolfen.


    Well��that''s only if Wolfen refuses to grant me entrance to the facility. I''d rather avoid a war when I can."


    "You''re a Count of the GWE. And a Hero at that��wouldn''t that give you an edge?"


    "Wolfen has stubborn leaders.


    They refused the GEE''s numerous requests over the past few years. I can also guess they are scared of triggering another trap and having everything within miles of the base wiped off the map again.


    That''s good because if that base self-destructs, Wolfen is done for."


    Evan drew a light ''X'' mark over Wolfen when he said that, sighing softly while remembering an in-game CG.


    "Anyway, I had originally given up on Vale de, but seeing Laurene with Venus kinda remotivated me."


    "I did think that bracelet on her wrist was familiar, but it was indeed Venus, huh? Those old Seven really had troublesome Weapons and skills."


    "Says the woman who could beat all Seven of them."


    "I was just that much stronger."


    Pride replied with a shrug of her shoulders and a nonchnt expression on her face, making Evan''s brow twitch as he barely held himself from screaming out his next words.


    "They were Sovereign level existences, with the weakest being level 850! They all had you out-levelled by close to a hundred! Each!"


    "Levels are not absolute. You of all people should know that.


    After all, if Levels were so absolute, then you would have never been able to deal the final blow on the Eighth Finger.


    Mine and my siblings'' cases, only serve as further proof to discount the absoluteness of Levels."


    The high demon''s reply was as calm as ever, with her snapping her fingers and making the fridge at the corner of Evan''s room appear in front of her.


    She then proceeded to take out a wine bottle and two sses, pouring a drink for herself before returning the Fridge back to its original position.


    Evan who saw this happen, just sighed and shook his head as he spoke.


    "Yeah. They are very important��high priority, but they are not absolute.


    But you and your siblings take things to a whole new level. The very fact that you became Sovereign level existences at level 777 is already strange in itself.


    Then you then went to beat the heck out of Level 850 existences like it was a walk in the park, even if you did have to use that weird Idiosyncrasy of yours."


    As he spoke, he gestured to the fridge she had just used her powers on, making the high demon shrug her shoulders while downing the contents of her ss.


    Afterwards, she dropped the ss on the table and called out.


    "Hey, Evan��"


    "Hmm? What''s up?"


    The boy was casually pouring himself a drink when Pride''s next question came in, making his hands stop for the shortest of moments.


    "Exactly what are you?"


    "��I''m not sure I follow?"


    "I''ve made my guesses, and I had a lot of hints given the fact that you are not exactly making attempts to hide certain things from us.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But still, I do not want to make any concrete conclusions till I hear it from your own mouth.


    So do tell Evan, exactly what are you?"


    Hearing Pride''s question once more, Evan leaned back on his chair and sipped his drink before asking back.


    "If I told you I do not know��would you believe me?"


    "��What?"


    "You asked what I am��and I''m telling you I do not know the answer to that."


    Pride had an inkling that Evan was not getting the true essence of her question, but she let him continue speaking for now.


    "I''d always believed I was a normal human, but on the day that I gained my mystic eyes, I discovered I was not one from the start."


    "You did tell me that before. But your status��"


    "Obscured by the goddess herself, so everyone who sees it sees me as Human."


    Evan dropped his ss and picked up the wine bottle again before continuing.


    "She seems hell-bent on not letting me find out what it is, I tried using the essence of destruction on it, but I do not have that much control over destruction essence, neither do I have the required energy to remove the obscuration.


    Using the watered-down essence of aw is not enough to deal with the effects of the genuine power of a World Law."


    The high demon nodded as she, being a Sovereign level existence in the past, possessed the ability to bend worldws to her will. In fact, she could probably cheat her way into doing so when she reached the Epic Level, in spite of the Legendary Level requirement.


    "That''s intriguing to know and all, but that was not the true essence of my question."


    Pride looked Evan in the eye and spoke.


    "Evankhell��"


    "Hmm?"


    Evan was momentarily confused about how Pride knew that name but he then remembered when he and she used the Demonic Possession technique in Geto and nodded in understanding.


    "You''re an otherworlder, are you not?"


    "Otherworlder?"


    The boyughed out loud upon hearing Pride''s question, leaning forward on the table and propping his chin up onto his palm before asking.


    "And what makes you think that?"


    "It''s the logical conclusion that anyone who''s been with you for the past year cane to. And like I said, you do not seem to be actively trying to hide things from us.


    I''m sure Eliza already has her suspicions, but she''s waiting for you to tell her yourself."


    Hearing Pride''s words, Evan chuckled and spun around on his chair before using light magic to generate the magic projection of a scale.


    "Let''s make it a deal.


    I''d tell you what you wanna know, and you''d tell me what your Idiosyncrasy is?"


    This time, it was Pride''s turn to burst intoughter as she replied.


    "You have a higher chance of seeding in making me tell you parts of my ''True Demon Name'' than that."


    "��you gotta be kidding me."


    Evan was momentarily stunned but he burst into a peal ofughter once more right after, while Pride only silently refilled her wine.


    "The previous Seven Heroes really hid their powers and all, but maybe they should take a lesson from you."


    The high demon did not give a reply to Evan''s words, and the boy took the chance to end the current topic.


    "Seeing as we both would not get the answers we want, how about we return to the main topic at hand?"


    "Fine by me."

 Chapter 460 [Bonus ] Little Strategy Meeting

    Pride shrugged her shoulders lightly and put away the wine bottles and sses while Evan picked up his pen once more and turned his attention back to the map on his desk.


    "Back to the ''Lizard Lord Outbreak''.


    It''s supposed to begin with a Natural Dungeon Break that happens when the Lizard Lord reaches level 700.


    It would emerge from its dungeons with an army of level 500 Lizardmen, and other reptilian monsters, murdering millions of people and adventurers in Lacertilia.


    And then it would grow strong enough to defeat and kill the Living Legend who would be the first responder sent by the Beast Kingdom.


    That would enable it to grow even stronger."


    Hearing Evan''s words, Pride tilted her head to the side and tapped on the beast kingdom''s location on the map before asking.


    "This ''Beast Kingdom''. It''s the home country of one of this world''s transcendents, is it not?


    Would a Legendary re-, Level under them really lose in a fight to a monster that just reached that level?"


    "No, they would not. If the Lizard Lord is the only Legendary they would be fighting."


    "You mean there is one more?"


    "Yes. One that the Beast Kingdom would not be aware of until it''s toote."


    Hearing this, Pride nodded to herself as it made sense for the Beast Kingdom''s ''Living Legend'' to lose if they were fighting against two others on their level.


    ''And from the way he''s talking, the second one is bound to be stronger than the Lizard Lord.''


    "Anyway, this second Legendary would only present there because of the Demonic Hand''s intervention.


    They''re a ''Hidden Boss'' you would not know about until the end."


    "A ''Hidden Boss''? You really do like using Video Game terminologies.


    Anyway, is that all the Demonic Hand is nning to do?"


    "No.


    They would also be the reason why the Lizard Lord would be able to murder everything in Lacertilia that''s Level 500 and below."


    Using light magic once more, Evan generated a magic circle projection in front of Pride, allowing the high demon to study the magic circle for a few seconds.


    And just as he expected, she instantly figured out what kind of spell it was.


    "This��it''s simr to that thing you used on the Eighth Finger. That World Magic spell I helped you imitate."


    "Indeed, because It is a World Magic spell circle."


    "And the Demonic Hand has this World Magic spell in their arsenal��"


    "Indeed, they do."


    Pride then proceeded to ask Evan about a few other details regarding the World Magic spell and Evan told her what she wanted to know.


    "As of now, said Lizard Lord and the ''Hidden Boss'' the Demonic Hand added into the fray are still Grandmaster level existences.


    And thanks to Artemisia, the Lizard Lord would be even weaker than it''s supposed to be, making it easier for them to be defeated."


    Evan drew a circle around Lacertilia on the map, before poking it with his pen and continuing.


    "The goal is for us to be Grandmaster level existences by the time the dungeon breaks, so we have enough power to take out the Lizard Lord, along with a good chunk of its army, and kill the Hidden Boss.


    Oh, and we''re all gonna do this where people can see us doing it. Adventurers AND civilians.


    It''s gonna boost our reputation that way."


    "You''re really caring a lot about your reputation these days��"


    The boy leaned back onto the chair and cracked his neck lightly as he replied.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "To be honest, I did not really care that much about it at first. Not like I did not know its importance, but I underestimated its importance.


    But over the past year, I have been seeing more and more of the importance of having a ''Reputation''.


    Let''s take a look at the Undead incident.


    When Dominik''s Undead Dragon showed up, Morale plunged down to rock bottom. But the instant I shouted that the ''Sword Saint'' Luke was there, didn''t you see how morale instantly went sky-high?


    Because of his reputation as a powerful existence, as the ''Sword Saint'' of the Alpha Continent."


    Hearing Evan''s reply, Pride nodded as she had also witnessed how thebatants who were shaking in their boots because of the Undead Dragon''s ''Dragon Fear'', were somehow able to pick their weapons back up simply because of the knowledge that Luke was present.


    "That man, Luke.


    Just how strong is he really?


    His concealment must be really strong if even I cannot discern his true level."


    "Well�� You''ve obviously realised it but Luke is clearly no grandmaster-level existence.


    However, he''s keeping his true existence level hidden for a reason. So that no one would try to enforce the rules made by ''The Five'' that apply to existences on his true level.


    Basically, he''s cheating the system they created."


    "Rules? What rules?"


    Evan gave Pride a quick rundown of the Rules that the transcendents of Aidos had made a few centuries ago and upon hearing them, the High Demon understood the reason for Luke''s actions.


    "The GEE also does something simr. That way they always keep the person who holds the ''First Star'' title to always be an existence below the Legendary Level."


    "I see.


    Still��. it''s been a very long while but I still can''t get used to calling realms of existences, ''Levels''. They aren''t called ''Existence Levels'' but ''Existence Realms'' in my home world."


    "Realms?"


    "yep.


    Even the System over there disyed them as Realms of Existences.


    The Legendary Realm, Sovereign Realm, Transcendent Realm, D-Hmm?"


    Just before Pride called out the name of the realm above transcendence, she turned her gaze towards the door, having sensed something.


    Right after, the door opened up and Eliza walked into the room with Kuro in her arms.


    "Sup. Amy told me you guys were here. What''re you up to?"


    "We''re having a little strategy meeting? We nned to ry everything to you guyster but since you''re here, you might as well join us."


    "Okay."


    Eliza shrugged lightly and dropped Kuro to the ground before moving over to where Evan was, jumping onto hisp and leaning on his chest while her legs rested on the chair''s armrests.


    "Can you guys NOT do this now?"


    "Do what?"


    Seeing the impish smile on Evan''s face as he asked the question, Pride clicked her tongue and let out a light sigh before saying.


    "You know what I''m talking about. Now let''s get back to business."


    On Pride''s insistence, Evan stopped messing around and continued rying his ns to them, informing them about dungeons he nned to go to, and hidden pieces he nned to acquire, some of which he would keep for himself and others he was going to either give to the Empire or sell them off.


    He told them about cities he nned to visit and a few other things, with Pride and Eliza asionally tossing in their own opinions and sometimes objecting to some of his ns and the game''s side quests he wanted to go on.


    Eventually, Amy and Ka who had finally been freed from the clutches of Patricia and the other High nobledies in their Saloon returned and joined the discussion, along with Milena who materialized her physical body and Greed who came over after returning from scamming unfortunate adventurers as always.

 Chapter 461 Laying Foundations

    For the remainder of the month of June, Evan took a break from adventuring and dungeon diving, instead taking his time dealing with other nonbat-rted matters.


    As the new rising star of the GWE who was climbing the ranks of nobility at an outstanding pace, there was no shortage of nobles and rich merchants who wanted to get on Evan''s good side.


    Receiving dozens of party or soir��e invitations on a daily basis became normal, and Evan had tons of nobles watching his every move, trying to see who he was allying himself with, and all.


    This was expected, as both Ralphie''s, Finley''s and Duke Charles'' actions during the Celebratory party were an indirect deration of them backing Evan, so no one wanted to be on his bad side.


    His ''Hero'' identity also yed a big part in this too as the title of a ''Hero'' in Aidos was one that carried great weight.


    Laurene also saw her own share of the increased attention as people had connected the dots between Evan and Laurene''s simr eyes and hade to the conclusion that she also possessed a ''Hero'' title just like Evan did.


    Something that the princess saw no reason to hide.


    Back to Evan''s social life, the boy attended a couple of the soir��es he was invited to but mainly focused on ones where people he was already quite familiar with attended, or those whom he felt would be useful to him in the future due to his in-game knowledge.


    He also familiarized himself with some nobles whose territories he would be going to for his ''side quest run'' that he was nning to begin soon.


    And as expected, each event that Evan had attended, had lots of attention turned towards it, much more than Evan had expected as he even received word that some high nobles/their children using their higher authorities to force themselves to be participants in the cases where they originally were not invited.


    Some came to him simply because they wanted to be friends with someone popr, while some others came up to Evan because they wanted to pull him into their factions; Though this was mostly the case with the ''Neutral'' and Aristocratic factions, the Royal Faction nobles simply wanted him to remain where he was since Evan was technically considered part of the Royal Faction because of his father.


    Looking at the way they tried to ''recruit'' him, Evan only sighed as he thought to himself.


    ''If only they knew the Emperor was the one pulling the strings behind all their factions.''


    Evan found a sense of newfound respect for Emperor Rudeus who was able to lead the Aristocratic and ''Neutral'' faction nobles around the nose without them ever realising that the Dukes who were the faction leaders, were all on the Emperor''s side.


    ''Come to think of it, the GEE''s Emperor does something simr with the ''Seven Star Generals''. Since they''re all Dukes, he uses two Generals each on one faction and then keeps the ''First Star'' as the Deal Breaker who''d never join any.''


    Anyway, such was the manner in which Evan spent the entirety of the month of June and the first week of July, attending two to three functions and/or afternoon parties a week to either build up connections or just simply catch up with old friends.


    He mostly attended events where the foreign dignitaries who came over for the celebratory party were also in attendance,ying the foundations for his ns to build up International Authority.


    ''It''s all gonna end up mostly relying on my power either way. Strength speaks loudest after all.''


    In other news, Evan officially moved out of the main Ducal Mansion and into another mansion of his own, or rather, another Estate of his own.


    As a Count, Evan needed to have the appropriate residence to match the title, and he was granted one of the Large Estates that was under the control of the Empire in the capital city.


    That became the Count Bourne''s Official Residence, and all the letters and packages addressed to Evan went there directly.


    As for Servants, the Duke had more than just a few in reserve so he transferred some of the servants who were maintaining one of his other Mansions he really didn''t use to Evan''s mansion, the Emperor also tossed in a few and Evan went around the main City once and came back with a couple more at the end of the day.


    He remembered a few proficient facility managers from the game''s ''Dimensional Realm Home Base'' system and recruited the ones who he could find at the moment.


    As for Sry, Evan was rich as heck, that was not an issue at all.


    Naturally, Pride, Greed and Eliza also moved in with him and had whole rooms to themselves in the main Manor, which Evan had named the Oak Avenue Manor, due to the lines of majestic oak trees that adorned both sides of the main road to the building.


    The spirit quartet; Kuro, Ka, Milena and Amy, also had their own rooms to themselves, though they ended up spending most of their time in Evan, Eliza''s or Pride''s rooms.


    Due to their and Evan''s presence, the concentration of low-level spirits in the estate and its surroundings increased exponentially, enough for the people nearby to spot the differences and visibly see the effects.


    After settling down in the Manor, choosing his Peerage Crest and all, it was already Mid-July and Evan finally decided to bring an end to his break and begin his ''side quest run''.


    But before he could start that, he received a notification from Artemisia, informing him that she had finished designing the ''Tower of Trials'' and that he could begin challenging it with his party members.


    He brought this up with them during dinner that day and it was received positively, so after using the next day to gather their stuff for Tower, with the intention to step into it on the next day the 17th of July.


    �� �� ��


    "So, are you finally going to tell us where it is now?"


    Eliza''s questioning voice rang out in one of the fairlyrge indoor training halls of the mansion, a little extension that Evan had added when he was selecting the mansion with the Emperor.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Evan had a few rooms/halls renovated for certain purposes, like cing Teleportation Waypoints and a few other things.


    In response to Eliza''s question, the boy only just patted her head lightly and told her to hold on for a moment before turning his attention to the head butlers, maids and Senior knights who were standing close to the room''s entrance.


    "As I said earlier, I''m going to be away for at the very least, two weeks.


    Anyone whoes to visit me, regardless of who they are, is to be told that I am not in the Country.


    You all are to continue maintaining the mansion as you have been, and I want extra knights assigned to guard this particr room while I am away.


    No one, even it is the Emperor--is allowed to enter here."


    The boy''sst set of orders caused the expressions on the knights'' faces to change and Evan sighed softly as he knew the reason why.


    "I''m sure you all understand how much I do not want anyone or thing to enter this room if I am to say that, do you not?"


    "We most certainly do, Lord Evan.


    But pardon me, may I ask exactly what is it we are to be guarding in this room?"


    The Knight Captain took it upon himself to ask the question that all the servants and knights present had wanted to ask.


    And as for the boy who this question was asked, he was busy navigating a few things on his system interface.


    He then turned around and walked towards the centre of the room, told everyone to step back and then tapped a few things in the ''empty air''.


    |Confirming Host; Entity: Evan Von Bourne��|


    |Confirmation Complete. |


    |Confirming Host''s Party Members��


    Challenger Slots 7 of 10 Used up. |


    |Host''s Party Confirmed.


    Total Challenger Number: 8. |


    ''There''s a limit of 10 Challengers? Isn''t this end-game content she''s bringing into reality?''


    Evan thought to himself as he remembered a certain event dungeon that happened to have the exact same challenger limitations as this one from the game.


    |Current Statuses of Challengers have been Inputted. |


    |Entrance to Event Dungeon: ''Tower of Trials'' would now spawn. |


    The instant that notification appeared in Evan''s vision, the boy spoke up to warn the others in the room.


    "Brace yourselves."


    "Huh?"


    The knights and butlers were confused at this, but Pride, Greed, and Eliza who were more familiar with Evan''s antics instantly applied magic power on their feet to keep themselves glued to the ground.


    In the next moment, the whole building��no, the whole estate �C began to tremble.


    "Haa?!!"


    "What the heck?!"


    "What the hell''s going on?!"


    "Young Lord!"

 Chapter 462 Entrance To The Tower Of Trials

    Even the grandmaster-level Knight Captain and Senior Knights temporarily lost their footing, but they quickly bnced themselves while spreading their auras out reflexively to scan for the source of the sudden earthquake.


    They were even able to surround Evan''s group in a protective formation with their swords drawn, but in spite of their quick response, the boy had a frown on his face as he spoke.


    "For goodness'' sake. Did I not tell you all��to Step Back?!"


    Long tendrils of darkness burst out from his shadow and wrapped around the bodies of the knights, lifting them up and pulling them behind him.


    "Also, the earthquake was not the reason why I told you to brace yourselves."


    The moment Evan spoke, the eyes of all those in the room widened as they sensed the enormous amount of energy that was rapidly concentrating at a single point in front of Evan.


    ''shy, much, Artemisia?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' states that a barrier has been deployed to prevent energy fluctuations from leaking out of this estate.]


    ''That''d be useful.''


    *BOOM!


    A small omnidirectional wave of energy spread out across the room, passing through the bodies of all those present as for the first time in some of their lives, they witnessed the formation of a spatial gate.


    Like it was puncturing a hole through the fabric of space, a portal tore open right in front of their eyes, rimmed with an arched obsidian spatial gate and a strange liquid that shimmered with a myriad of colours within it.


    ''WHAT THE FUCK?!!''


    The knight captain cursed internally as he felt an amount of energy capable of insta-killing every living thing inside the estate burst out of the arched spatial gate.


    The apanying shockwave sent his body flying and he nearly mmed into the wall, if it wasn''t for the barrier that Eliza put up at thest moment to shield him.


    As for the weaker servants, they were fine as Eliza had protected them from the shockwaves, but the pale expressions on their faces showed that they were still capable of sensing every bit of the energy being emitted.


    |Adjusting Spatial Gate��|


    Evan gazed at that notification with a nonchnt look on his face, as him being the ''Host'' meant he was not subjected to the immense suppressing feeling of the dense spatial energy that was pressuring everyone else present.


    After a whole minute, the gate stabilized and the energy that flowed out receded back inside.


    Then the space within the gate lit up dimly with multi-coloured lights, twisting and turning ever so slightly.


    |Entrance to Event Dungeon: ''Tower of Trials'' has been spawned sessfully. |


    |Only the ''Host'' of the ''Reincarnated Hero System'' and his Party Members may be allowed entry. |


    "Seems there were no problems."


    "Oh no, there''s one VERY big problem called a ''Lack of a Fucking Exnation''!"


    Eliza instantly countered Evan''s statement as she released her barriers that were shielding the servants, before storming over to where Evan was and chiding him for an exnation.


    "From the start! What the heck is that thing?!"


    "The Entrance to the ''Tower of Trials'' I told you about."


    "You most certainly didn''t tell me that the entrance was going to manifest out of thin air!"


    While Eliza was drilling Evan for answers, Pride walked up to the spatial gate that was floating a few centimetres off the ground and studied it closely.


    She walked around it to the other side and saw that it was nk, just like the back of a mirror. Holding up a palm to it, she activated a slight trace of her idiosyncrasy, pouring demonic energy into her eyes to closely scrutinize the changes to the gate as she did so.


    ''This��?!


    It''s just like my ability��''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that although what you consider your ''Idiosyncrasy'' is ''special'', it is only that way because you are still a Mortal-type existence.


    She further states that although rare, it is not impossible for other beings to achieve the same effect as your ability simply because of their deeper understanding of what you know as ''World Law Doctrines''.]


    The notification that appeared right in front of Pride''s eyes confirmed that although little, part of what Artemisia had used in manifesting this spatial gate, was something simr to her Idiosyncrasy.


    Of course, the goddess also felt it was not necessary to inform Pride about how nigh impossible in the universe it was for anyone to be born with Pride''s powers.


    Anyway, her little Idiosyncrasy activation caught the attention of both her contractor, Evan, and her brother Greed, who instantly turned their heads in her direction with questioning gazes.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Nothing much. I was just testing out something."


    "Hmm? Okay, then.


    Anyway, that''s about it.


    Mypanions and I would be using this spatial gate to go to our destination. Your job Is to prevent anyone froming into the room and messing with it, especially people like Court Mage Jenson who possess high-level spatial prowess."


    "You n to enter that?! With all due respect, young Lord. I cannot allow it!!"


    The knight captain sheathed the sword he had drawn earlier as he objected to Evan''s words, but his actions only seemed to annoy Evan who was used to being very unrestrained with his movements.


    "It''s things like this that made me leave the Ducal Mansion the first time��"


    Evan''s small mutter was picked up by the ears of all those in the room and the Knights instantly went pale as they remembered how furious the Duke and the Emperor were thest time Evan went ''missing''.


    "B-but young lord. We do not know where this thing came from or where it leads to, we cannot just let you enter it like that.


    We do not know how safe the other end is."


    "I know where It came from and I know where it leads to.


    And in terms of safety, would you believe me if I said it''s a lot safer than your Emperor''s Pce?"


    Evan questioned the knight with a raised eyebrow, but from the expression on the man''s face, the boy could tell he did not really believe his words.


    With a sigh, Evan gestured to the spatial gate and spoke.


    "If you want to see how safe it is, be my guest."


    Seeing how strangely cooperative Evan was being made Eliza and Pride narrow their eyes as they felt he was up to no good.


    As for the knight captain, the poor man was not familiar enough with Evan to figure this out.


    He carefully walked over to the spatial gate and tried to make his way inside, but the moment he took a step inside the portal, he was overwhelmed by a sense of repulsion.


    The harder he tried to enter, the more he seemed to be pushed away.


    He then roused his aura and tried to use it to resist the repulsion, but that turned out to be a bad idea.


    **BAAM!!


    Faster than anyone in the room could perceive, the man''s body was flung out of the portal by the spatial gate''s defence mechanism, crashing onto the wall with a loud noise and with enough force to make weblike cracks spread out on the magically reinforced walls.


    "Have it in mind that you''re not dead because you are a grandmaster��"


    Of course, that was a tant lie, but Evan just said it to mess with the Knight Captain a little bit.


    "Now then, I''m the one who put this gate here, and if anyone that''s not me or mypanions tries to enter, you''d get flung out like that.


    Still, I do not know what would happen if the person trying to enter is one with spatial magic capabilities, hence the reason why I told you not to let anyone near here. Even the Emperor; because he has spatial mages in his guard detail."


    Evan walked up to the man and pulled him up, healing his light bruises with his pdin''s limited healing, before turning around and saying.


    "Anyway, include this in your report to the Duke and the Emperor who seem to have taken a fancy to watch my every move recently.


    I am going to a dungeon, and as for how long? That depends on how long it takes me to clear the floors I n to."


    He finished his statement with a shrug of his shoulders before telling Eliza and the rest that he was gonna wait for them on the other side.


    Right after he said that he entered into the spatial gate without hesitation, leaving the stunned group of knights and servants.


    Pride and Greed followed right behind him, along with Amy, Milena and Ka.


    As for Eliza, she only sighed and walked up to the Knight Captain before saying.


    "I understand you guys are just doing your jobs, and Evan does too. But he''s not the kind of person you can restrain easily. He also does not like being ced under constant watch, it''d annoy him and he might decide to go off the grid again.


    And this time he might already be on the other end of the Continent by the time you guys find out where he is."

 Chapter 463 Goddess And Priestess

    She checked to see if any of the servants were hurt by the earlier burst of energy and after confirming they were all fine, she turned back to the knights and concluded.


    "Just report to the Emperor as Evan said to, and tell him this from me. Trying to bind Evan down to one area is not gonna end well.


    Let''s go Kuro."


    The ck cat that had stayed behind jumped into her arms and she entered into the spatial gate while patting his head.


    Right after she entered, the light of the gate went out and it shut down, awaiting the return of the Reincarnated Hero System''s host.


    ? ? ?


    Upon entering the portal, Eliza was met with a very fantastical scene.


    ''This is way different from a dimensional realm��''


    It was as though she was staring at a strange mix between an ocean, and somerge swirling mass of interster gas, dust and dark matter.


    Theyout of stars around her reshuffled every few seconds, never staying the same while some sort of force pulled her towards a certain direction.


    The pulling force got stronger after a while, allowing her to infer that she was closer to her target location, and that''s when everything around her suddenly went still.


    ''Huh?''


    The world around her turned monochrome and the magnificent view of stars shuffling about came to a stop.


    Warning bells rang out in Eliza''s head as the essence of life in her energy core erupted wildly, trying to wrap around her body to protect her but even that went still after a moment.


    Kuro who was waving his tail in her arms had also gone still, and it only took her a moment to realise she was the only entity around who was still in motion.


    |You have an equivalent of ten minutes. |


    A young male voice rang out across the monochrome world, followed by a female voice that Eliza found familiar.


    "I do not need that long��"


    Turning around, Eliza''s eyes widened in shock as she came face to face with the woman whom she only saw in her history books or in Temple buildings, depicted via statues and paintings.


    "��goddess Artemisia."


    "Not really. This is merely an avatar I''m controlling remotely and not the actual me."


    The goddess replied to Eliza, her golden eyes twinkling with the light of stars and a light smile adorning her beautiful face.


    Her gaze went down as if trying to confirm how she looked before she shrugged her shoulders and then moved to tie up her hair into a ponytail.


    Afterwards, she looked straight into Eliza''s sapphire eyes and spoke.


    "Now then, Eliza.


    We��need to talk."


    �� �� ��


    Tower of Trials


    Nameless Ind >> Cloud Piercing Isle


    Divider Ocean


    July 17th


    Year 1052


    "What took you so long?"


    "Hmm? Oh. I was talking to the knights. Told them to pass on a message for me to the Emperor."


    "Ohh��No problem.


    Anyway, how did you like the view?"


    Hearing Evan''s question, Eliza ced a hand on her chin for a moment before replying.


    "I honestly could not grasp half the things I saw there."


    "Figured.


    You''re not supposed to even see that in a simple spatial gate. That was probably Artemisia showing off."


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' expresses her desire to knock the head of a certain hero.]


    Evan ignored the notification that appeared before his eyes and instead turned his attention towards the massive structure in front of him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Doing the same, Eliza looked forward and the sight she was met with rendered her speechless.


    As if boldly grasping for the heavens, a massive circr tower stood merely a hundred metres away from her, reaching brazenly into the sky.


    "That''s��the ''Tower of Trials''��?"


    "Yep."


    ''It''s exactly the same as I remember it. You really just pulled out Aidos Online''s endgame content, didn''t you, Artemisia?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' advises you not to becent as not all the monsters within the ''Tower of Trials'' are monsters native to the: Aidos.]


    ''Wait��you brought monsters from other worlds too?!''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' questions that if she did not do that, how did you expect the Tower to serve its function without heavily upsetting the monster ecosystem of Aidos?]


    ''Oh��. that makes sense.''


    "Just where is this anyway?"


    Greed''s question brought Evan out of his thoughts, turning to the high demon who was ncing at the garden surrounding them.


    "Somewhere on the Divider Ocean.


    This ind Is apparently called the ''Cloud Piercing Isle''."


    [I can certainly see where that name came from.]


    Milena spoke as she flew towards a nearbyke and touched the water in it, confirming the presence of aquatic life in its depths.


    "How do we enter this ''Tower of Trials''? From what I see, there''s no visible door."


    "Enter?"


    Evan walked up to the centre of the garden they were in and spread out his both arms as he continued.


    "We''re already inside the ''Tower of Trials''."


    ["What?"]


    The human, spirits and demons all let out voices of confusion as they really did not understand how Evan could say they were already inside the tower when they could clearly see the tower right in front of them.


    "We''re currently in the rest area of the Tower''s first floor. Somewhere you can consider to be the ''Outer Tower''.


    What you see behind me is the ''Inner Tower''.


    If you would look up, you would see multiplerge balcony-like floors with ss floors that cantilever out of the tower at regr intervals, kinda like observation decks.


    Those are the ''Rest Areas'' after every ten floors, where we can basically do whatever we want.


    They have all the basic necessities, we need; kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, even air conditioning and stuff."


    Evan exined the Rest Areas of the tower to them while he walked towards the Inner Tower. Then as if having forgotten something, he mmed his fist on his palm and spoke.


    "Oh��this ''dome'' we''re currently in is kinda transparent, hence the reason you can see what''s outside and you''d think we are not in the tower.


    But if you walk in the opposite direction, you''re eventually gonna hit a wall after like 500 metres or so?"


    Snapping his fingers, the walls and ceilings of the tower instantly turned dark, like someone closed all the window blinds simultaneously.


    "You can also do this to the upper floors if the thought of seeing the ground form so high up isn''t appealing to you.


    There''s also this too."


    He snapped his fingers again and a live video of the group began ying on the dome walls and ceiling all around them.


    "Cool, right? We can make it disy whatever we want as far as we can clearly picture it."


    Evan snapped his fingers a few more times and changed up the images, showing random things from both Aidos and his home world, Earth V.


    "Anyway, that''s enough.


    You guys get the basic gist of things, right?"


    "I have so many questions I don''t even know where to start asking from��"


    "Well, I can tell you when and where you can start asking them.


    When we enter the Inner tower, and somewhere within the first ten floors."

 Chapter 464 [Bonus ] Tower Of Trials! Begin!

    "Well, I can tell you when and where you can start asking them.


    When we enter the Inner tower, and somewhere within the first ten floors."


    Replying to Eliza''s words in such a manner, Evan resumed walking towards the inner tower, stopping a few metres in front of it and double tapping his legs on the floor.


    The ground around him lit up with the glow of a massive six-ringed spatial magic circle, with Evan smiling wryly as it was exactly how he remembered from the Game.


    "Shall we?"


    Evan gestured to hispanions and they all moved over, stepping into the magic circle. Once all of them were on, it activated and bathed them with a spatial light, before whisking them away.


    �� �� ��


    This teleportation was rather short and the group was dropped on the first chamber of the first floor of the ''Tower of Trials''.


    Once again, they were faced with another bizarre sight that had the Aidos natives among them widen their eyes in surprise.


    A verdant, thick field of rich green grass stretched in every direction. The tower''s outer circumference suggested they should be able to see the end of it, but no matter which direction they turned, I didn''t see walls anywhere.


    Looking up, there were greeted by the blue sky, as clear and cloudless as a hot summer day.


    [The size of this ce, let alone a sky inside a tower, doesn''t make physical or logical sense��]


    "This is probably some sort of Dimensional Realm, and a high-level one at that."


    Pride spoke up as she used her energy to scan the area, with Eliza nodding in affirmation as she also had the same thoughts.


    |Challengers have entered the ''Tower of Trials''. |


    |The ''Tower of Trials'' consists of 100 floors with a maximum of Ten chambers on each floor. |


    |Clear the Floor Quest of Each Floor to proceed to the next Floor. |


    | Recovery and Enhancement, potions, items or artifacts are inapplicable within the Tower. |


    |Challengers would receive a ''Trial Aid'' to assist with challenging each Floor. It is possible to refuse the ''Trial Aid''. |


    |Once Challengers begin Challenging a floor, exiting is not allowed until all chambers are cleared. |


    This series of notifications popped up in front of the eyes of everyone in the group, giving them a few details on some of the tower''s mechanics.


    |Challengers are currently on Floor 1. Generating Floor 1 Quest�� |


    |Floor 1 Quest: Exterminate all the monsters on this Floor. |


    |Trial Aid: Fire Elemental Damage dealt by all Challengers is increased by 75% |


    "75?!"


    Eliza let out an exmation of shock as even she could not amp up someone''s elemental damage by 75% with her support magic.


    The most she could currently achieve was 35%, a little less than half of that.


    "It''s not really useful though."


    "Huh?! How is that NOT useful?"


    "Because the monsters on this floor are so weak you don''t need to use elemental attacks to kill them."


    Evan replied before turning to Greed who had pulled out Mammonas and continued.


    "You''re not gonna need that for a while."


    "Are the monsters THAT weak?"


    "For now, yes."


    Greed unsummoned his weapon with a shrug of his shoulders, spreading out his aura to scan for any monsters in the area but not finding any.


    "Where are the monsters?"


    "Hold on for a moment."


    Evan looked through the archive to see if there was any updated information about the tower that differed from what he was aware of besides the otherworldly monsters but saw nothing of note.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Very well. Begin Challenge."


    |Beginning Challenge. |


    The instant that notification appeared, everyone''s senses picked up iing monster presences, 5 of them in number, heading straight to the group at full speed.


    [Aren''t they kinda slow?]


    Ka asked with a yawn as she got up from where she was napping on Evan''s head, turning her gaze in the direction of the monsters, just In time to see a five-strong horde of one-metre-tall blue-furred wolves.


    From the frosty air escaping their jaws as they panted, it was obvious that they had some sort of ice elemental power, and if that wasn''t enough, the fact that their tails were encased in ice should do the trick.


    The five wolves ran up to Evan''s group and pounced on them, letting out aggressive growls that would make children flee in fear.


    But to the ''Anomalies''��


    "Is this some sort of joke?"


    Greed asked that question as he held the neck of one of the wolves who was trying to scratch his arm with its ws, however, it was so weak that even if Greed removed the defensive demonic rune enchantments on his clothes, it still would not be able to tear even a single thread.


    Ka transformed her body into a wolf and entered a snarling contest with another, while Amy and Milena respectively incinerated and froze their assants.


    Even though it was resistant to ice-type abilities, Milena easily bypassed its resistance like it was nothing.


    As for thest unfortunate wolf, it perished to an idental backhand p from Eliza.


    "This��Is overkill."


    [I know right!]


    Ka replied as she squashed the head of the wolf she was ying with a few seconds ago, turning to Evan to speak only to the young hero shaking his head silently.


    The Lightning spirit felt chills down her spine as she instantly inferred that she and the others were having a terrible misunderstanding about something.


    "You guys know this is called a ''Tower of Trials'', right?


    In other words, Each Floor Quest is a trial of some sort.


    These monsters may be so weak that you simply cannot gain any experience points from them, but what if��they weren''t just five monsters?"


    Evan''s question came right before it happened.


    Vibrations strong enough to shake their legs shuddered through the ground.


    "What''s happening?"


    [Another Earthquake?]


    The party members whipped their heads around to find the source of the vibrations and they found it rtively quickly.


    A massive ck shadow advanced across the field toward them.


    Rather, it wasn''t a single shadow. It was so many monsters gathered together that they appeared to form a single unit from afar.


    This Floor Quest wasn''t a question of killing one hundred or two hundred monsters.


    A notification popped up in front of their eyes, and reading it made all except, Evan, Pride and Kuro want to curse out loud.


    |Floor 1 Quest: Exterminate all the monsters on this Floor. |


    |Monsters defeated: 5/5000 |


    "Now then, shall we?."


    Evan''s statement marked the beginning of the party''s first battle in the ''Tower of Trials''; against 5000 Level 10 Ice Magic Wolves.


    ???


    Author''s Note: Should Have Stated This Earlier but It Was Never Really Relevant So I Never Considered It.


    It Is Impossible to Receive Experience Points When Killing Existences Less Than Half Your Level.

 Chapter 465 Year 1052: July-August

    Each floor of the Tower of Trials felt like a totally different world, with apletely different ecosystem.


    There were all sorts of monsters and creatures within, from the basic slimes, goblins and orcs, to giant trolls, de wraiths, Ogres and so on.


    However, for the first ten floors of the tower, these monsters were all weak monsters below Level 100 so it was rtively easy for the party to clear them.


    Just that the sheer amount of monsters present made the process time-consuming, especially given that they were supposed to clear anywhere between 1 and 10 chambers on each floor.


    After floor 10, there was a Boss monster they had to defeat before moving on to the next floor.


    But since said Boss monster was only Level 100, it was something that the party with an average level of 270 could basically one-shot with no problems.


    Then, they moved to floors 11-20, where they fought monsters that were around levels 100-200.


    After defeating the boss of floor 20, they entered floor 21, where Superior Stage Master Level monsters above level 200 began showing up.


    Naturally, the number of monsters reduced considerably the higher up they went, as facing 5000 level 200 monsters with just eight of them was crazy.


    At that point, it would not be a trial anymore, and it''d just be the Tower trying to kill them.


    One thing that Evanter found out from the ETOD, was that although the Tower of Trials was on the Cloud Piercing Isle of the Divider Ocean, it was not really within that space.


    Basically, the area where the tower was and the main material world of Aidos ovepped spatial coordinates, hence it appeared as if they were in the exact same spot. However, there were an extra set of co-ordinates that the area around the tower had so although it was possible to interfere in the main world of Aidos from the tower''s space, the reverse was not the case.


    As such, no monsters or entities of Aidos who were not proficient in high-level spatial and dimensional maniption could physically interact with the tower, except Evan and hispanions.


    Evan''s little knowledge of space and dimensions allowed him to instantly infer exactly what kind of space the tower was in, but for the sake of his sanity, he decided not to dwell on it too much.


    In other news, his Irregr title was increasing in ''proficiency'', slowly reaching the state where it would not just be a ceremonial title.


    As Artemisia had said, she took monsters from other worlds and put them in the tower, monsters over level 200 who had developed consciousness/sentience, some of which, found Evan and his party''s strength to not conform to the norm.


    Since his title required him to prove himself ''to not conform to that which has been established, both to the people of Aidos and those of other worlds''; his actions were in line with that and were increasing his title''s proficiency.


    Anyway, the first 10-12 floors were a ''warm up'' of sorts for the party, and they only started gaining experience from floors 13 and above.


    Due to the Level Disparity, the magic particles, energy, soul power etc. that would have turned into their ''experience'' was simply reabsorbed by the tower and used to either power up some other functions or ''recreate'' monsters somewhere else.


    Their level-ups resumed when they started battling monsters more than half their levels.


    After reaching Floor 21 of the Tower in their first run, the party decided to take a break and return to the Oak Avenue Manor, having spent two weeks in the tower on the first 20 Floors.


    Date of urrence: Year 1052, July 31.


    There was a little bit of an issue with the Emperor and the Duke since Evan had ''vanished'' for fourteen days and no one had any concrete knowledge of his whereabouts.


    Since Evan''s ''Hero'' status had been revealed to the world, he had definitely be a target for nefarious forces besides the Demonic Hand who had various reasons for not wanting Heroes to exist in the current Aidos.


    As such, they felt that the boy needed more protection/monitoring wherever he was going but the feeling of having his movements monitored was not something Evan appreciated at all, leading to an argument with the Emperor that left a few pce officials in shock.


    For Evan, he knew fully well that ''protecting'' him was not the only reason why the Emperor wanted to attach a guard detail to him and that was one of the reasons he did not want that.


    There was also the fact that the party''s movements were irregr, so to say, and were definitely not the kind to carry out with a huge guard detail of multiple grandmaster-level knights.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, for some reason Evan did not know, the Emperor let go of the matter after a talk with Laurene and Eliza, leaving the boy very confused as he had no idea what on Aidos they had told the man.


    Nevertheless, since there was no one bugging him anymore, Evan started his ''Side Quest Run'', cross-checking with the Archives to see if there were any discrepancies in his memories.


    Once he confirmed nothing was wrong, he wrote down the details of some of the side quests that could be triggered at this point in time and gave them to his party members, telling them to do those quests which would end up rewarding them with certain artifacts or chances to gain new skills and magic.


    For Greed, Evan made a special list, giving the high-demon the quests that gave the yer in Aidos Online, the highest number of mary rewards.


    Eliza had a few sub-quests that helped support type characters in the game, Pride had ones geared towards Damage Dealers, while the spirits split up among the four of them.


    Amy with Pride, Ka with Evan, Kuro with Eliza, and surprisingly, Milena volunteered to go with Greed.


    Like so, the party split up temporarily to go on these quests, with some of them requiring Evan and Pride to travel to other nations on the Alpha continent.


    Date of urrence: Year 1052, August 2.


    They also took on official Adventurer''s Guild quests, easilypleting and slightly exceeding the required quest quota for the next adventurer rank.


    For their main branch, they chose the Capital City''s Adventurers'' Guild, thergest guild in the GWE with a guild buildingrger than some lower nobles'' mansions.


    Since they frequented the guild very often, they became very familiar with a lot of the adventurers there.


    Especially Greed, who Evan could notprehend how the high demon seemed to be epted everywhere he went, regardless of the group of people he mingled with, regardless of their race, type, or gender.


    His social skills and charisma levels were off the charts, and he was very good at making use of them, so much that even though his ''Greed'' was known to all, people found it hard to hate the guy.


    Always making bets with adventurers and mercenaries, regarding treasures, artifacts, special weapons and the like, umting riches for himself.


    At one point in time, he had be an urban legend in the Adventurer''s guild and it almost became a rite of passing for Adventurers new to the capital or newly promoted A rankers to be swindled by Greed at least once.


    Still, Greed made sure the people who he had ''won'' things from, were able to somehow recover their losses in a short amount of time without losing what he had gotten from them.


    This usually ended with most of theming back to challenge him to various other bets either to salvage their pride or erase the shame of their previous losses.


    Unfortunately for them, Greed was someone who hardly lost his bets so things never ended well for those kinds.


    When Evan, who had be chummy with lots of the A and S rank adventurers was told this when he was chilling with them after returning from a week-long quest, the young hero was left dumbfounded.


    As for the other Deadly Sin Sibling, she was the same as usual.


    It had bemon knowledge that Pride and Greed were siblings and as friendly as Greed was with his surroundings, people understood that his elder sister was the exact opposite.


    The people that usually rted with Pride were usually either the serious kind who didn''t like to beat around the bush when talking or the ones who shared her love of books.


    She even ''befriended'' a few lower ranked adventurers who were bookworms like her, and had be something of a VIP customer for a lot of publishingpanies in Gerfast.


    Even though the S and SS rankers were far more powerful than the current Pride, a lot of them held some certain level of respect for the woman.


    No one tried to mess with her.


    You could say she also had high Charisma, in a way that made people admire her from a distance rather than want to get close to her as they did with Greed.

 Chapter 466 Year 1052: August-October

    On their Birthday, the 10th of August, some of the A and S rankers whom Greed and Pride were close with, some of whom they became familiar in Bultom''s Adventurers'' guild with during the Cheverton Incident, threw a ''little'' party for them at the Adventurer''s guild Headquarter building.


    Since the guild building was massive, with multiple guild halls,rge monster rooms, storage areas and offices, there was more than enough space for these high-ranked adventurers tomandeer an entire guild hall for a few hours.


    Of course, while everyone knew it was their birthday, no one knew their actual ages and Greed nearly turned the matter of guessing their ages into a game and almost seeded in coaxing a few adventurers to ce bets on it.


    Thankfully, Pride reined him in before things went that far.


    But either way, most people only guessed that Pride and Greed were either at least neen or in their early twenties.


    If only they knew the two high demons were 1352 years old.


    Anyway, after the little birthday celebration and the scolding the adventurers received from the vice guild master in charge of the hall that they had used the next day, things went back to normal.


    Besides Evan and the Deadly Sin siblings, Kuro, Ka, Amy and Milena, officially registered themselves as adventurers and somehow came to be known as the ''Spirt Half'' of the ''Anomalies'' adventurer party.


    Thanks to Evan''s poprity and authority, it was very easy to pull a few strings and get them C-Rank adventurer cards upon registration, which they were eventually going to upgrade to B-rank soon enough.


    As for thest member of the ''Human Half'' of the ''Anomalies'' adventurer party; Eliza she had pretty much be a local idol.


    This was mostly thanks to an event where a B-rank adventurer party went into the Capital''s Dungeon and were unfortunate enough to encounter a Peak Grandmaster (Level 450-500) monster in the Dungeon''s fortieth floor where one would normally find level 200-250 monsters in other dungeons.


    It had been stated before but the capital''s dungeon was one of the most dangerous Dungeons on the Alpha continent, and Aidos as a whole.


    The main reason for this was its unpredictability, as monsters were not restricted to certain floors and could actually wander to upper floors whenever they felt like it, especially stronger monsters who had higher levels of sentience and did not wish to be confined to the dungeon anymore.


    It was for this reason that a great deal of Gerfast''s adventurer poption consisted of A, S and SS rank adventurers.


    It was a dungeon not rmended for beginner adventurers at all.


    A Level 70 D ranker could be unlucky to encounter a Level 200 monster on floor 10, and this was not a rare urrence at all.


    The party Eliza had encountered, was one of the unlucky ones who met with higher-level monsters and were almost wiped out.


    However, thanks to the foresight of one of the party members, they had a teleportation stone which returned them right back to the guild building.


    When they all suddenly appeared in the guild''s main hall, wounded and covered in blood, Eliza was the first responder who healed their wounds and kept them alive long enough for the S-rank healers to arrive.


    This action which was witnessed by thousands of adventurers served to boost her poprity which was already fairly high due to the news of the Cheverton incident to an even greater height.


    Date of urrence: Year 1052, August 31.


    Back on the ''Tower of Trials'', the party always made sure to reconvene back at the Oak Avenue Manor at regr intervals, setting a goal of clearing a minimum of three floors in a month.


    Like so they cleared Floors 21-24 in the month of August.


    After this, they took a break for the first two weeks of September, mainly because Evan was trying to throw a birthday party for Eliza and the girl had a hard time stopping him from inviting half the Empire''s nobles.


    The boy had wanted to use the opportunity to make it known that he was all for Eliza alone, to deter those noble families who were sending him marriage proposals in secret as he and his butler had gotten tired of going through them.


    Although the blonde teenager seeded in persuading him to keep things a bit low-key, a few newspaperpanies who carried the news helped him achieve the same effect.


    After the birthday party, the ''Anomalies'' once again returned to challenging the ''Tower of Trials'', with ns to clear Floors 25 to 27 in one go.


    Date of urrence: Year 1052, September 18.


    When they arrived at floor 25 of the tower, the difficulty bumped up exponentially.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Level 250 monsters were the norm, and they were either mostly monsters that had debuff-type abilities in addition to their high level of damage or monsters with high levels of mobility that didn''t stay in one ce at all.


    Monsters like Doom Hounds who were capable of short-distance teleportation and applied ''Corrosion'' upon contact, Rift Mages that teleported around and summoned droves of weaker monsters on their levels, Cockatrices that applied the ''Bleed'' debuff, Basilisks that were so eager to turn the Anomalies to stone and so on.


    They also saw some strange monsters that they had never seen before, and some that Pride and Greed recognized after having seen them in other worlds.


    A few of the enemies were weaker versions of ''endgame'' monsters that Evan recognized, like Razor Scorpions, White-Eyed Blight Anacondas, Predator Elephants, Raptor Hogs, etc.


    In the end, they only cleared up to Floor 27 by the end of September, and then they left the Event Dungeon and returned to the GWE because of a very important event that Evan, and to some extent, Pride and Greed had been awaiting for a while.


    It was that marked themencement of service for one of the bestnd transportation methods ever created.


    Trains.


    The magi-technology-powered series of connected vehicles that ran along railways and transported people and freight that had been in the works on the Alpha continent for years had finally made their official debut to the world.


    Date of urrence: Year 1052, October 1.


    The railroads wereid out to connect major cities and towns in various countries across the Alpha continent.


    Each country''s contribution to the development of these lotives determined how many rails, stations and trains they got upon their debut


    All the final tests had beenpleted, railroads/railways were opened and the general public was now allowed to use these trains as a means of transportation, making travelling from one city to another a lot easier for the Alpha continent''s inhabitants.


    Sadly, the prices of the train tickets were fairly expensive, so only the Upper-Middle ss and above families, along with nobles patronized this service.


    But still, just the GWE alone had over a hundred million citizens in poption, so that ''Upper Middle ss'' was still quite a lot.


    An organization called the ''Continental Railroad Service'' was established to handle all train and rail-rted matters, having branches in every country that participated in the development of Trains on the Alpha continent.


    Despite the fact that they were just newly developed, the trains of Aidos had a level of design and efficiencypared to the trains that Evan''s home world had close to 200 years after they were first developed.


    Most of them were lotives, but Multiple unit trains also existed, although these only made up 15% of the total number of trains on the continent, and were mainly reserved for high nobility, Royalty, and Presidencies.


    Border Security across countries increased exponentially due to the presence of International Trains that were only allowed to cross a maximum of one national border.


    Cities closest to National borders were now converted into ''Station Cities'', in order to manage railway, immigration and other customs matters.


    ns to establish more station cities with Hotels and Inns as far as the eye could see were also in the works as the more cities they were, the better for the Train Service.


    For Evan, this was a godsend, as the boy was someone who honestly hated carriages more than he did the Demonic Hand.


    He was one of those who bought one of the First-ss tickets to participate in the Capital City''s Head Train Station; the Vesta Station''s first train ride.


    For now, Train Rides only happened a maximum of three times a week, but this was bound to increase the more people started using the trains.


    Companies and businesses began using the trains to send their workers on business trips to other counties, and states within a country, and even for international business trips to other countries too.


    Countries also began using them for official diplomacy trips and the like.


    Animal/monster-drawn carriages still existed, but they were no longer the main means of transportation across long intercity distances.


    They also saw improvements in quality too but Evan could barely care less about that due to the hype of the trains.


    Naturally, there was also a ss system in the trains, from Economy to business, Premium and then First ss.

 Chapter 467 Evan, Age 14, Level 299

    After the feeling of riding in a train for the first time in a bit over two years, Evan threw himself back into dungeon diving, aiming to reach his goal of Level 300 while he was still 13.


    However, he failed woefully as ever since he reached Level 290, his levelling speed had slowed greatly, to the point where Eliza whose level was lower than his was actually caught up.


    He even made a trip to Kasteblum to take advantage of the city-state''s double dungeon experience, ignoring all the documentation required for him, a ''Count'' of the Empire, to travel to another country.


    Sadly, even this was not enough as by his birthday on the 14th, poor Evan was only level 295.


    As such, he failed to set the record of bing a Grandmaster at 13.


    If it was any constion, the youngest ever Grandmaster in Aidos was ''Strongest Human'' Rathal who became a grandmaster level existence at exactly 15 years and 3 days, so Evan still had a shot at breaking that record��probably.


    The boy''s birthday celebration was avish one that was held at his Estate in the capital, with a lot of the Empire''s high nobles and a few foreign nobles and officials in attendance.


    Evan was pretty much the only Count in the Empire who could have that many high-ranking personages attending his birthday celebration.


    The Emperor was not there in person, by the Empress and Laurene came over as representatives of the Royal family, along with Duke Charles'' Wife to represent his family and the heir apparents of the Empire''s 22 other Dukedoms.


    Date of urrence: Year 1052, October 15.


    After the boy''s birthday Celebration was concluded, and he spent a few more days depressed that he hadn''t achieved Grandmaster before it, Evan returned to his ''Side-Quest Run''.


    The party split up once more and travelled to different countries, with Pride and Greed actually putting in the most effort as they wanted to regain some of the skills that they had lost in a thousand years of being sealed.


    In addition, they also cleared a few high-profile guild quests in other countries, making their presence known there and keeping the party in the limelight.


    Though there were a few rumours about Evan doing ''strange things'' in some other countries, like randomly walking up to a water fountain in the middle of Blend''s capital and tossing a bag of gold coins into it, after which there was a sh of light, followed by him leaving with arge ck box in his hands.


    Or when he went to Aspea, a country located in the Alpha continent''s North-Western Periphery; not many knew what prompted it, but he got into a fight with a powerful Grandmaster-level Blood-Eyed Raptor Panther, and he ended up ying it in a shy battle thatsted less than half an hour.


    He then left the scene with the Raptor Panther''s heart after turning its corpse over to the authorities who came over after sensing the magic power fluctuations.


    The next time he reappeared, was in a cemetery a few cities away, and ording to the grave keepers, all he did was ce the Raptor Panther''s heart on a grave site, after which the heart was absorbed into the ground followed by a vision of what they could only describe as vengeful spirits ascending to the skies.


    Once again, he left the area with a strange artifact which heter sold at an auction in the Country''s capital for millions of gold coins.


    On a side note, the time when Evan had tossed a bag of coins into a fountain in Blend''s capital, people had gone to check the fountain for the coins, however, the first group saw with their eyes how the coins mysteriously disappeared not long after.


    Pride also had her own share of weird rumours, but hers were much fewer than Evan''s and they mostly involved her opening secret bookcases or hidden rooms in dungeons of which the Adventurer''s guild thought every nook and cranny had been explored.


    For the ''Spirit Half'', the stories about them were mostly about how they werepleting quest after quest in an effort to raise their ranks to the B-rank.


    In the months that followed, many other things happened in the Alpha continent, as although Evan and his party were a hot topic, they weren''t all people were talking about.


    Unsurprisingly, their party was still unknown in many parts of the Continent.


    Two months after Trains made their big debut, they nearly had their first ident as a certain country that did not participate in the Train developments, Scieque, tried to sabotage the rails of a neighbouring country.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It was an incident that blew up internationally and the Major World powers on the Alpha Continent did not take it lightly.


    They had poured time and money for a decade into these trains and rails, interconnecting them across various countries and routes, there was no way they''d be happy upon discovering another country attempted to sabotage them.


    It was precisely because of this that they spent money deploying knights and hiring adventurers to guard certain major stations and rail routes, which led to that country''s actions being discovered.


    Worst Case Scenario: Over 200 people, some of which were High Nobles of different countries, would have died. Along with the cargo being transported, worth close to five million in gold coins would have been lost.


    Multiple Socioeconomic sanctions were imposed on Scieque and the Desert Country of Tarse which bordered the country in the north intervened in the matter, ousting all of the national leaders who were involved and recing them.


    By the time people finally stopped talking about it, Tarse had unofficially taken control of Scieque as its new leaders were very afraid of the Major World power who took out their previous leaders in but a single week.


    Date of urrence: Year 1052, December 7.


    The Beta Continent also had their own big news as the transportation means they had worked on as per the agreement between Continental Leaders; Airships, had made their official debut at around the time of the Train sabotage incident.


    One of ''The Five'', ''Smith Master'' Vulwin personally oversaw the inauguration ceremony in his country, Stonehammer, while deploying some of the Dwarven Race''s Living Legends to other nearby countries to monitor things there.


    The ''Elven Emperor'' Zaos, also took simr actions, though this was mainly because his youngest daughter; Abigail, had decided to attend one of the opening ceremonies in another country, he just didn''t know which one as she was already gone by the time he found out about her intentions.


    In the end, he just had Living Legends put all of them on close watch, while preparing to scold his teenage daughter who somehow coaxed one of the Sovereign Level existences under him into sneaking her out.


    Speaking of Abigail, the young princess had be just as famous as Evan was on the Alpha continent, and although her ''Hero'' status wasn''t public knowledge, it was only a matter of time.


    Most of her poprity, came from the fact that she was currently the possessor of the ''Youngest Grandmaster in the World'' title, as the sixteen-year-old had been revealed to possess a level over 300.


    Part of the reason for this was the destroyed Dalburn forest where she had apparently fought off a ''dangerous creature that came out of a dungeon'', in a fierce battle that turned close to half of the thousand-mile forest to ashes on fire.


    There were other powerful rising stars in various other fields in the world, garnering enough poprity to have their names known cross-continentally like Evan and Abigail were.


    Funny enough, despite Evan''s ''Hero'' status, Abigail''s fame was still far higher than his, but Evan was sure that the scales would tip in his favour once he was done with the ''Lizard Lord Outbreak''.


    He was also sure that after this, it would be increasingly difficult for the Demonic Hand to carry out their ns in the shadows.


    The ''Anomalies'' once again went off the grid for a week, putting the ''Side Quest Run'' on hold in favour of challenging Floor 28 of the ''Tower of Trials''.


    They had put the Floor clearing on hold for a while and were ready to bulldoze their way to floor 30, and at least defeat the floor boss before leaving.


    And this Challenge proved to be their most difficult yet, as the party had to face thousands of monsters over Level 280.


    After ending the lives of a hundred gigantic Predator Elephants (sharp-fanged/tusked, elemental-breathing monsters with absurd levels of physical strength and durability) that destroyed the images of Elephants that the party had on Floor 30, they finally stepped into the Floor Boss room, nning to call it quits and return to the Oak Avenue Manor after defeating the boss.


    Even Milena, the only grandmaster in the party at the moment, had a hard time against the Elephants, and if it wasn''t for Eliza''s buffs and support abilities, then taking on 100 Level 295 Superior Stage Master Level Predator Elephants was going to be a lot harder for them.

 Chapter 468 Year 1053: January

    It should be noted that this was only in the tenth chamber of Floor 30, meaning that they had to deal with at least a hundred over-Level 290 range monsters in each of the previous nine chambers of the Floor.


    Naturally, it was kinda impossible for their levels to not blow up, as even Eliza who did not share Evan''s absurd 400% Levelling Efficiency had reached level 300.


    Unfortunately for the young hero, it seemed Adaptive Evolution was about to have its fun with him again, as he had been stuck on level 298 for quite a while.


    The boss monster of Floor 30 was a Level 305 White-Eyed Blight Anaconda, a powerful gargantuan snake-like monster with a body that made the snakes from a ''certain movie with 5 parts'' seem like toddlers.


    Its scales were powerful enough to withstand almost any Tier 2 spell unscathed, and a few weaker Tier 3 Spells without issue, gaining even more defensive power when it infused its magic power into them.


    With powerful poison on its fangs, breath attacks that spewed more than a dozen different kinds of poison, cloning techniques, high-level earth, wind and fire maniption, and its Evil Eyes Unique skill that let it inflict malignant corruption on enemies within its field of vision, it was a monster that was sure to prove a tough opponent for any peak B rank party.


    Even the Anomalies found it slightly hard to deal with, especially because of its Clones that exploded with the ferocity of Tier 2 Explosion magic upon their destruction.


    However, in the end, it was just ''Slightly Hard'' to deal with for them. The nameless anaconda monster perished at their hands after a near-thirty-minute battle.


    Evan became Level 299 atst, and it was then that Adaptive Evolution showed its true colours, pulling up another set of requirements for him to ascend to grandmaster level status.


    Apparently, due to the fact that his current body was not his real body and his racial factors were different, the level of synchronization between his body and his soul wascking.


    ording to the skill, bing a Grandmaster Level like that had a high level of ''devolution'' risk which was going to give him problemster down the line.


    As for the means to solve the issue, well, the skill was apparently still analysing his situation and trying to find an optimal solution.


    However, it did state that he was going to need an external Evolution catalyst to aid in solving it.


    When Evan saw this notice, it took thebined efforts of Pride and Eliza to prevent him from flipping all the tables in the Oak Avenue Manor in annoyance.


    If there was any constion, it was the fact that his stat levels could still increase, albeit at a slower rate, so he could basically be a half-step grandmaster: an existence who had the power of a grandmaster, but was quite there yet.


    Date of urrence: Year 1053, January 1.


    Year 1053 began on a high note, starting with the news of agricultural research breakthroughs that made things easier during the harsh winter weather; for farmers and other countries that had Agriculture as their main economic power source.


    This also marked 2 and a half years since Evan hade to Aidos, and so far, the boy could say he was enjoying his stay.


    Especially his visits to his favourite spots from Aidos Online, and his dates with Eliza.


    There were a few people who tried to make passes at Eliza here and there; this could not be helped as she was indeed very pretty, and Evan was obviously not a fan of this at all.


    A situation like that happened once with a foreign S ranker who just arrived in Gerfast when Eliza was waiting for Evan at the guild.


    The S and SS rankers Evan knew who were bored, held the boy back and even concealed his presence so that they could watch a show and see how Eliza would reject him.


    In the end, Evan and the other adventurers were once again reminded of the fact that it was indeed very possible to ''kill'' someone mentally and emotionally with just words, and Eliza had a sharp tongue that was more than capable of achieving such a feat.


    Anyway, with the assistance of Trains to make transportation faster, Evan stopped limiting his travels to countries that surrounded the GWE and started venturing further into the other parts of the continent.


    Date of urrence: Year 1053, January 25.


    The first month of the Year 1053 started with a high-profile event that made waves, and the month ended with another high-profile event that made waves, just not the best kind.


    A Vampire bird was spotted in Ragr, a southwestern coastal country of the Alpha continent, near a coastal city called Egrad.


    It was a powerful Level 600 Epic level existence that struck terror into the people of Egrad, as well as the people of any nearby cities.


    Vampire birds were beings that could contend for the ''lesser ruler of the sky'' title. Possessing glossy ck feathers and two bloodstained red eyes on each side.


    Once Vampire birds locate their prey, they swoop down in a rotating downward motion and pierce their sharp beaks into the prey''s necks, before sucking their blood.


    But that was only the case where it had a single prey. When faced with a city of humanoids like Egrad, filled with hundreds of thousands of potential prey, the Vampire bird''s methods became even more bloodcurdling.


    Situations where powerful monsters left their territories to attack cities like this, were not rare in Aidos, and in such situations, adventurers were usually dispatched to take out the monsters.


    If the adventurers in the area were not enough, then the nation involved would either consider sending out knights or soldiers, either that or the nearby lords hire mercenaries to deal with the situation.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, the instant that the people of Ragr heard that what they were faced with was a ''Vampire'' Bird, the whole country went on red alert.


    As the news spread to the rest of the Alpha continent via newspapers, Guilds, radios and other information sources, it was like the whole continent went on red alert.


    National leaders were even tenser than when they discovered that the ''Desecrator of Souls'' who killed millions of people across 12 cities was still alive.


    ''Beast King'' Kolvar, whose whereabouts had been unknown for the past year, reappeared in the capital city Goras'' Barthmont Pce, before dispatching one of the Beastkin race''s Living Legends to Ragr.


    However, this Living legend was not dispatched there to defeat the Vampire Bird, but to cast barriers around Egrad and all the cities near the forest where the Vampire Bird was spotted.


    Younger people from the current generations who were born within the past three decades did not really understand why the older ones were on such high alert, but those who were alive even before Dominik caused the ''Disaster of Graugro'' were more alert than when that incident happened.


    As for the reason, it did not take long for them to find out.


    Just a day after the information of the Vampire Bird''s presence spread and the ''Beast King'' took action, ''He'' struck.


    A massive explosion rocked the forest where the Vampire Bird was spotted.


    It was as if someone chipped a tiny piece of the Alpha Continent that the coastal forest upied, broke it off and dissolved it into the Dread Ocean.


    The Vampire Bird''s body had been turned to dust, and its soul had been shredded to pieces.


    It was dead as could be.


    As for the person responsible; it was none other than the youngest and newest addition to ''The Five''.


    ''Strongest Human'' Rathal.


    For a week after that, Ragr was still on red alert as Rathal''s aura swept across the entire country, scanning for any Vampire type monsters.


    But after a week of finding nothing, his aura finally disappeared and the people of Ragr could finally return to normal life.


    The Beastman Living Legend returned to the Beast Kingdom shortly after.


    Lastly, Rathal and Kolvar Once again went off the grid, presumably returning to where they were before the news broke out.


    It was then, that people finally calmed down.


    Date of urrence: Year 1053, January 27.


    �� �� ��


    Adventurer''s Guild Hall F


    Capital City Gerfast


    Great Western Empire


    January 31st


    Year 1053


    ''Rathal, he''s the same as ever, huh?''


    Such thoughts ran through Evan''s head as he stepped into the vicinity of one of the Capital''s Massive Guild Halls, flipping through a newspaper with the recent Vampire Bird news on it.


    ''As expected of someone who nearly wiped out an entire race from the face of the.''


    He tossed the newspaper back into his inventory as he was about to enter the guild hall, deciding to be as high profile as always.


    Clearing his throat lightly, he mmed the double doors open, sessfully catching the attention of more than half the people inside the guild hall and then shouted out loud with a magic-amplified voice to catch the attention of the rest.


    [I AM HERE!!]

 Chapter 469 Chatting At The Guild I

    [I AM HERE!!]


    "��"


    There was a short silence as many adventurers whose attention Evan''s stunt had grabbed, all turned in his direction with expressions that said ''Who the fuck is this guy?'' on their faces.


    And one of them decided to voice out that question.


    "Who the fuck are you?!"


    Hundreds of adventurers simultaneously burst intoughter in response to the question, with Evan joining them inughing.


    As for the person who asked that question, it was actually someone Evan was quite familiar with, an A-rank adventurer he met back in Bultom City.


    "Oh��it''s the Irregr kid."


    "Yes! It is I!"


    Upon realising the person making a ruckus was Evan, many adventurers sighed lightly before returning to what they were previously doing.


    Some others didn''t even bother to turn in his direction in the first ce as Evan was just about one of the very few adventurers who liked to make such a high-profile entrance every single time he came to the guild.


    Since they had already guessed it was him, they didn''t even bother to turn to see who it was. A few had even ced bets within the few seconds it took between him opening the doors and screaming out loud.


    Evan sauntered into the Guildhall like it was his house, moving over to a nearby table where a C-rank adventurer party was seated.


    "Sup guys."


    He fist-bumped with men in the group and lightly hugged some of thedies before taking a seat next to them and questioning them.


    "I see you guys are back from the dungeon dive?"


    "Yeah, bro."


    "Seriously, how the heck did you know that dungeon was there?"


    The party leader poured a ss of wine for Evan into an empty cup as he asked, pushing it towards Evan before continuing.


    "It looked like a perfectly normalke in the middle of a forest.


    We were so close to the bottom and we thought there was nothing there, just when we were about to give up, Boom! Undiscovered Underwater Dungeon."


    "With strong monsters that gave extra experience to boot!


    Now we''re all over level 200. We''re just waiting for our B rank Cards to get ready."


    Evan sipped some of the non-alcoholic wine and smiled, shrugging his shoulders lightly as he replied.


    "You helped me out to get a rare material I needed.


    Telling you guys about the dungeon was my thanks to you."


    He got up from the table as he finished the wine, dropping the cup back on the table before saying.


    "Congrattions on the promotion."


    After that, he moved over to another Adventurer group. After a bro handshake-hug with two of them, he chatted up the party leader who lightly fist-bumped him.


    "What up dawg?"


    "I''m good bro.


    How, are you doing?"


    "Just looking for ways to level up again, you know?"


    Evan replied with a shoulder shrug, citing his recent inability to level up, something that had put a damper on his mood for a while now.


    "Wait what?"


    Another random adventurer joined in the conversation, holding up a Guild Newspaper in his hands while pointing at the cover photo that Evan recognized.


    How could he not? It was a photo of him, after all.


    Little Info dump; Guild Newspapers were different from normal newspapers in the sense that they catered to the guild members alone.


    Adventurers, Alchemists, Tailors, Fishermen, Mercenaries, Farmers, Inventors and so on.


    Each Guild newspaper only released information about that Guild''s members alone. The tailor''s guild would release things like news about new Tailor''s designs, Inventors about patents on new inventions, Farmers about agricultural breakthroughs and so on.


    These newspapers were also sold to the general public along with normal ones, and this was one of the reasons why in-depth news and information on specific professions spread easily within Continents in Aidos even though they did not have inte; though they did have something simr to LANs and MANs within guilds.


    Theseworks were simr to themunicationworks that the Teleport Waypoints would be using tomunicate in real-time.


    Anyway, these newspapers were bought by all sses, and with the addition of Radios and the like, it was easy for them to keep themselves updated on the current affairs within and outside their countries.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Each one of these newspapers had a ''Foreign News'' Section, that covered happenings about the guilds in other nations, made possible by the fact that each guild had means of contacting each other internationally, and very quickly at that.


    As such, it was possible for Adventurers all the way in countries like Aspea which was up north, to find out about things Evan and his party did in Awhen that all the way in the west, within less than five working days.


    And in the hands of the Adventurer Evan was speaking with, was an article about Evan''s battle with the Blood-Eyed Raptor Panther in Aspea.


    It was an old newspaper that he was actually using to wrap some books up, but he noticed the title and decided to give it a read since it concerned Evan whom he was familiar with.


    "Oh, that Raptor Panther.


    It was quite strong for a Level 305��had an A rank agility stat.


    I killed it and all but I was not able to level up."


    Hearing Evan''s words, the man narrowed his eyes lightly and scanned the boy''s body, a look of understanding appearing on his face as he spoke.


    "I see. You''ve taken you''re one foot into the realm of Grandmasters, huh?"


    He ruffled Evan''s hair as he spoke, much to the boy''s displeasure.


    "Come on dude! Liz styled that for me this morning!"


    "Can''t she just do it again?"


    Just as he asked that question with a titled head, a female adventurer blitzed in behind him and smacked the back of his head, using enough force to produce a small shockwave that blew apart the nearby newspaper.


    "You think hair styling is easy?"


    "I obviously don''t know because as you can see, I don''t care about mine." He replied calmly as if he didn''t feel a thing when he was hit in the head just now while pointing to his hair which looked even worse than a bird''s nest.


    Seeing this, both Evan and the Female Adventurer sighed in exasperation. The young hero then took a few steps away from him and pulled out ab from his inventory,bing his hair as he chatted up the woman.


    "Been a while. How are you doing?"


    "Cool.


    Just got back from a quest in Terrok."


    The woman grabbed theb from Evan''s hand and sat him down on a nearby chair, going on to dress his hair as she replied.


    "You guys went all the way over there?"


    Evan reacted with mild surprise as he didn''t expect that their quest would take them that far.


    "Yep. Was an escort quest.


    We had to protect this very long merchant train of goods exported to Terrok. We had to switch between Carriage convoys and trains multiple times."


    The bird-nest-haired man said as he picked up the fallen newspaper pieces, along with his tinum guild card that had fallen off the table earlier, before taking a seat and ordering a few more drinks.


    "How was the country like?"


    "As bad as the rumours there. The ve trade there is honestly just horrible.


    Although they pick on some races more than others, it''s pretty much possible for anyone to end up a ve if you''re unlucky.


    It''s a miracle the country is even able to function."


    "I also heard a rumour that they were after spirits there too."


    Another member of the party who had earlier left to go get food, returned with three floating trays in front of her which she set down atop the table as she spoke about the rumour she heard.


    The instant she said that, magic power coalesced beside Evan and the body of Evan''s contracted spirit, Ka, appeared.


    She was dressed in her usual short-sleeved shirt and short getup, with ck leather gloves and boots, while her hair was tied up into a long singr braid.


    [Hey Master, do we have any ns of going to this Country?]


    The girl had a bright smile on her face as she spoke, but that smile did not reach her eyes at all. And from the tendrils of lightning crackling down her hair, one could tell that the spirit was clearly pissed off.


    ''First Ifrit and now they are after other spirits? Should I just release my seals and wipe out those humans entirely?''


    While Ka was having such dangerous thoughts, the attention of more adventurers was drawn towards Evan''s group as her mere presence slowly infused the pure ambient magic power with the lightning element.


    Any seasoned adventurer nearby was more than capable of sensing this surrounding elemental domination.


    Nevertheless, upon seeing the familiar lightning spirit, they all instantly understood the reason for the phenomenon.


    Spirits were beings who could influence the state of Nature in the surroundings, and although Spirit Hierarchy was not fully understood by many, they knew that Ka was very highly ranked in said hierarchy.

 Chapter 470 Chatting At The Guild II

    One time a few months ago, a foreign spirit contractor came over to the Adventurers'' Guild to have a discussion with the Guild Master, at the same time that the Anomalies'' Spirit Half were turning in one of their quests.


    The instant said Spirit Contractor saw Ka, the expression that appeared on their face was one of shock mixed with traces of fear.


    As for their contracted spirits, they all manifested their physical bodies, revealing their peak Grandmaster level existence levels that were one foot away from reaching the Epic level.


    What they did next, was to get down on one knee and bow in front of Ka, surprising both the Spirit contractor and the grandmaster Knights guarding them.


    This allowed everyone to infer that Ka''s rank among the spirits was high enough that even more powerful spirits had to respect her.


    They could also tell that the Fire Spirit in the quartet, Amy, whom people had long realised was not contracted to Evan but to Pride, was also a Spirit with a rank just one step below Ka.


    Returning to the present, Evan looked at Ka and patted her head lightly as he thought about his ''Side Quest Run'' list and sighed.


    "It''s going to be a while before we can go there.


    But do not worry, someone from there most likely going to send me a little present soon enough. Punching bags, you can call them, so you can vent on those guys."


    His words had Ka and every other listener confused but the young hero only told them not to mind it while remembering a certain Event that was going to happen soon enough, something that would let him gauge just how many Heroes the Demonic Hand was aware of.


    ''I should go and see Luke after this too.


    The Monsters protecting that dungeon are Epic Levels, things that we cannot defeat even if the whole party goes.


    They''re just that many after all.


    I''m going to have to get Luke''s help for this, but the issue is what to give him in return for his help.''


    Evan sighed as he rxed on the chair and let the Adventurer style his hair while Ka was ''kidnapped'' by some female adventurers and dragged over to another part of the guild hall.


    ''I have a few decent artifacts, but I was saving them for myself, for when I be an Epic level.


    And I got them from rare dungeons too��''


    He contemted it for a few moments before finally making a decision.


    ''This expedition would be better, after all, it''d make the people of this world have more things in their arsenal against the demons.


    Having stronger allies would be very necessary, plus it''s something that the Emperor had to reward me for, and if I use the same trick on a few other countries, I''d gain a certain level of influence in all of them as I would be aiding theirbat power.


    For that, a few Epic Level artifacts are a small price to pay, besides, they aren''t the best out there. I''d give Luke about 3-5 of them.


    Hopefully, I can bargain for three.''


    Remembering the Vice guild master in Kasteblum who was an expert negotiator, Evan wondered if he should take a crash course from the man before going to meet with the Sword Saint.


    The boy then casually dipped his hand into his inventory and pulled out a Silver Cuff bracelet, brimming with magic power that once again attracted attention to him, and then put it on the wrist of the female adventurer who just finished styling his hair.


    "��What?"


    It took her a moment to react as she had totally not expected Evan to just pull out an artifact that was clearly something rare and put it on her so casually.


    "It has a Level and ss restriction. For Level 500 Jewel Mages only, so it''s useless to me.


    Might as well give it to you."


    Before she could even reply to Evan''s words, another adventurer appeared and grabbed Evan on the shoulder, making the boy wince lightly as the SS rank adventurer''s grip was too strong.


    "Dude! Control your strength."


    "Hah? I thought you were sturdier than this, boy."


    He ''tapped'' Evan''s back multiple times as he spoke, but his ''taps'' had the boy nearly falling over the chair due to the difference in strength.


    "I''d have you know that there''s a big difference between an ''SS+'' strength stat and an ''A-'' durability stat!"


    "Huh? You''re already in A- territory? Then you should be sturdier!"


    Just as the guy was about to hit Evan again, the boy activated his blink skill and reappeared a few metres away, causing him to hit empty air. However, the wind pressure from his had caused the ground the crack slightly.


    For a second, Evan went silent as he watched the guild hall''s auto repair rune enchantment repair the crack, before turning his gaze to the man and saying.


    "Did you just try to hit me with that?!"


    Considering the strength of the materials used in constructing the guild building, the fact that he could crack the tiles showed that the amount of force behind his hand was no joke.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "��I may have put a bit too much force."


    "A bit?!"


    The Jewel Mage to whom Evan gave the bracelet to retorted to his words, while Evan began questioning if all SS rankers were weird and strange entrics like him.


    "Evan, I assure you, most of us are normal!"


    "Most?"


    "��We do have a few oddballs like this idiot over here."


    "Who''re you calling an Oddball?!"


    "You of course! Stop trying to p people''s backs every time you see them!!"


    As Evan watched the two adventurers get into an argument, he was approached by another member of their party who had been silently eating their meal at another table.


    "Sup."


    "Oh, good. You''re a normal one."


    "Pfft..."


    Evan fist-bumped the other guy, the other mage of the party. Like his other party members, the man was an Epic Level SS rank adventurer, with an SS+ Energy stat.


    "Leaving those two idiots. I wanted to ask if Greed returned with you?"


    "Nahh��he''s still in Tarse."


    The covetous high demon had gone over to the Desert Country of Tarse in order to challenge a single-time dungeon with a reward that gave one the chance to acquire a Rare Earth-type skill and a corresponding title.


    "I see. What brings you here then?"


    "I just finished a quest and wanted to turn it in. Then I''d probably take Liz out on a date afterwards."


    The instant he said thetter half of his statement, the adventurers who had ''kidnapped'' Ka showed up behind him with curious looks on their faces as they questioned him for details.


    Evan turned and saw the Great Lightning Spirit who had resigned herself to being pampered and spoiled by the female adventurers who found her exceedingly cute, chuckling lightly before he replied.


    "Last time I told you guys, you spilt the beans to Liz and spoilt the surprise. Not Telling."


    Just when they were about to speak, a tall cooperate-dressed woman came down from the first floor and asked a question that made Ka flinch.


    "I heard Ka was here! Where is she?!"


    The lightning spirit tried to run but since she was in someone''s arms, she was a secondte in escaping the woman who literally jumped over to where she was and pulled her into a tight hug.


    "I have a few more dresses for you to try out! You''re definitely gonna love them!"


    [NO! I''m not! I don''t wanna wear any more dresses!!]


    The nearby adventurers allughed lightly as this was a regr urrence, and most of them could predict what was gonna happen next.


    [Master! Help!]


    Seeing the pleading look in her eyes, Evan smiled wryly before snapping his fingers, taking advantage of his contract with Ka and resummoning her to his side.


    Immediately after, she dematerialized her physical body and returned to spiritual form, making her invisible to people who did not possess the required affinity.


    "Tsk��Didn''t work this time."


    The woman clicked her tongue as she noted that the magic spell she was working on to interfere with Evan and Ka''s contract did not work as expected, while Evan began questioning if this Vice Guild master did not have other important things to attend to.


    ''Besides, my Contract with Ka cannot be broken unless you use the energy of the World Law Doctrine of Severance.''


    Evan thought to himself as he remembered the little patch Artemisia had recently added to his Reincarnated Hero System, making it so that any contracts he made cannot be broken by any conventional means.


    Anyway, it took a few more minutes to get the Vice Guild Master out of the way, after which Evan finally went on to turn in his quest as nned.


    He was informed that he had met the requirements for the A rank Adventurer promotion, even though he was not level 300 yet, his strength was well above that.

 Chapter 471 An A-Ranker’s Challenge!

    The Guild knew this as the quest he had taken was an A-rank quest meant for a party of three, yet he hadpleted it single-handedly.


    When he inquired what the promotion exam for the A rank was, it turned out to be much simpler than he had imagined.


    Instead of having to fight any powerful monsters or go on some dungeon raid that would take months like normal, the Vice Guild Master made an exception for him and decided to make it easier.


    All he had to do, was fight an official duel against an active A ranker.


    "That seems a bit too easy does it not? Should there not be other criteria for the A rank?"


    "Yes, there are. The number of quests you''vepleted, the reviews from themissioners of the quests, your credibility to the guild and a few other things but you''ve already checked out all those things.


    If you were Level 300, you would have automatically passed, however��"


    "I''m only 299, huh?"


    "Only? You do realise you''re just 14, right? Being Level 299 at your age is already unprecedented."


    "My original goal was to reach 300 before I turned 14 though.


    Maybe I''d make it my goal to hit 400 before I turn 15."


    Evan''s words had both the Vice Guild Master and the Receptionist''s mouths gaping in shock as they heard the boy''s words.


    While they wanted to refute Evan''s words and tell him it was impossible, the boy''s track record had shown that making such kind of ''impossibilities'' possible, happened to be a speciality of his.


    The Vice Guild Master turned her gaze towards the Guild''s Appraisal device and saw Evan''s partial status, His Name, Age, number of titles, Stats and Number of skills, shaking her head as he heaved a defeated sigh.


    ''How on Aidos does he have over 40 skills? That''s more than twice what even SS rankers have.''


    "Give me a moment, I want to get some things from my office first."


    "Wait up��I actually have a prior appointment in a few minutes, so I would not be able to do the battle today."


    "Is that so? Then when would you be avable?"


    Evan took a seat on the counter stool and ced a hand on his chin, sorting out his ns for the rest of the week and picking a day he was rtively free.


    "Next Monday, I guess."


    "I don''t think I have anything arranged for that day so there''s no problem. Besides, even if I do, I can just have another Vice Guild master take over for me."


    The woman said with a shrug as she marked the date on her schedule book, returning her attention to Evan after to talk about who his opponent was to be.


    However, before she could speak, an adventurer jumped off the gallery of the hall andnded on the ground floor, before making his way over to them.


    Silence pervaded the entire area as even if a nearby group of SS rankers who were discussing how they were going to challenge the Capital Dungeon''s 80th floor, turned towards the man in surprise.


    He appeared to be fairly young, having just recently be an adult, with a well-featured handsome face and a toned muscr body.


    The man had long ck hair which he tied up into a ponytail, and deep dark eyes. He wore a casual-looking brown polo t-shirt and ck trousers, with a simrly coloured leather jacket.


    However, any trained eye could easily discern that his clothes were made with materials from powerful grandmaster-level monsters.


    Standing face to face with this man, Evan rose an eyebrow in light surprise as he didn''t expect something so random to suddenly happen.


    "You''re Evan Eris, huh?


    I challenge you to a duel, do you dare to ept?"


    He dered his challenge to the young hero who only stared at him in silence for a moment, ignoring the gazes of the other adventurers who were looking to see his reaction.


    After a moment, Evan turned his gaze back to the Vice Guild Master and posed a question to her.


    "What were you about to say again?"


    Evan casually disregarded the man''s existence like it was nothing and continued speaking with the Vice Guild Master who also ignored him too, resulting in a huge chorus ofughter that echoed across the guild hall.


    B to SS rank adventurers were more unrestrained with theirughter, while those C rank and lower tried to cover their mouths as they could tell that the man was somewhat powerful and didn''t want to piss him off, but still, the fact that he made that grand entrance and dered a challenge publicly, only to get ignored was quite funny to the adventurers.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The man himself was feeling the greatest humiliation ever as he had never been so tantly disregarded by anyone.


    "You cheeky human brat!!"


    He tried to grab Evan''s shoulder in an attempt to seize the boy''s attention, but before he could touch Evan, a fair slender palm grabbed his arm and squeezed it tightly, using enough force to cause forearm bones to crack slightly.


    "Guh!"


    As he grunted lightly in pain, he tried to pull his hand away but the strength of the person holding his hand was far greater than his, making his attempts futile.


    "Did you not see that the Vice Guild Master was speaking to him? Or are you blind?"


    The voice of the Receptionist who was behind the counter merely a second ago rang out as she tightened her grip on the man''s arm, followed by the audible sound of his bones cracking.


    She red at the man and released her aura slightly, about to force him down to his knees when the Vice GM spoke up.


    "That''s enough."


    The elven woman let go of the man''s hand, before dusting her palms and returning to her position behind the counter.


    Despite this disy of strength, none of the adventurers present in the hall were surprised by it.


    The Receptionists of the Capital Guild that dealt with hundreds to thousands of Adventurers of various strength levels daily, were required to possess a certain level of power themselves, and this particr one had strength on the level of an early S ranker.


    "Seems like retried adventurers like picking up administrative job positions in the guild, huh?"


    Evan casually said after feeling the woman''s aura and appraising her.


    "Hmm? I''m not fully retired per se��I''m just taking a break for a few decades. Give or take, 30 years."


    "Wouldn''t your skills wane after being off for that long?"


    "Nahh��I still train once in a while so I don''t go out of shape. Besides, 30 years isn''t that long for an Elf like me."


    "I see��"


    Evan nodded in understanding before turning his attention back to the Vice GM who was rebuking the man.


    "You��you''re the new Fernsnout kid, aren''t you?


    Do you perhaps happen to be sick in the head or something? You really dared to be so brazen as to cut into my conversation in such a rude manner.


    You think you can throw your weight around as you like just because you''re a Fernsnout? Or is it because you achieved a little bit of fame and let it get to your head?"


    Seeing that the Vice GM was getting increasingly pissed off with each line, Evan decided to cut in and diffuse the situation.


    "Take it easy. Let''s at least try to understand his reasons."


    He then turned to the man and continued.


    "For starters��who the heck are you?"


    Another roar ofughter erupted across the guild, slightly startling those who weren''t paying attention to what was going on at that counter anymore and others who just entered the guild building.


    The expression on the man''s face grew darker the more the sound of the adventurersughing increased.


    He felt like his pride had been wounded and his sense of self-importance shattered. Never before had he been treated so brazenly, and by one so much younger than himself no less.


    As someone who had achieved the level of Grandmaster at the age of 17, he was someone who had earned a deal of fame across the continent. Someone who had cemented his ce in the annals of history as one of the youngest A rankers in the world.


    But as if Fate was ying a joke on him, his gradual ascent to glory was swiftly eclipsed by the news of the Cheverton Undead Crisis.


    And as if to make matters worse, whispers of his name were now uttered in the same breath as Evan, the newly emerging ''Hero''. s, more often than not, he found that he fell short in the eyes of people and he lost out inparison to the young hero.


    The weight of people''s perception bore down heavily on him, who had beenuded as a prodigy in his n for as far as he could remember, and the way his n was viewed also changed in the eyes of people.

 Chapter 472 Travelling To Duscon

    The n Elders unreasonably berated him, stoking the mes of his already smouldering resentment towards Evan.


    Despite his valiant efforts in racking up feats and increasing his poprity in the year that passed after the incident, Evan had already outmatched him in that department, so much that he could not hope to catch up anytime soon.


    Now, he wanted to take this chance where he finally encountered Evan who was never in one ce for too long, to defeat the young hero and prove that he was ''better''.


    Verily, he was not the sole individual beset by such circumstances, where his feats were eclipsed by the exploits of Evan and his party in recent moons. Moreover, Evan was keenly cognizant of his identity.


    ''Geiziam. The Fernsnout n''s child prodigy.


    In the game, he exuded an air of haughtiness that was unmatched. But this proved to be his undoing as it led to his untimely demise in the end.''


    One could surmise that such was inevitable, for he had been reared amidst ceaseless adtion.


    Seeing his rapidly darkening expression, Evan chuckled slightly as he spoke.


    "I''m kidding.


    Even if I didn''t know who you were, there''s only one A-rank Fernsnout n member who''s currently based in the Capital so I''d figured out your identity after hearing the Vice Guild Master''s words."


    Evan gestured to the golden Guild Card hanging from the man''s neck as he spoke, before turning back to the Vice GM and continuing.


    "Anyway, he seems to want to fight me for whatever reason, and I need an A-rank opponent for the promotion exam.


    One stone, two birds.


    What do you say?"


    "Fine by me."


    After getting the Vice GM''s approval, Evan turned to Geiziam and asked.


    "Is that okay with you?"


    Geiziam clearly had a few misgivings, but the Vice GM''s re on him made him swallow his words and nod in affirmation.


    "Great.


    So, we''d meet here on Monday for the battle."


    Right after saying that, Evan jumped off his seat and moved towards the quest board, pulling out a quest to gather materials from some aquatic monsters and taking it to the counter to get it approved.


    Immediately after that, the guild hall doors opened once more and his blonde-hairedpanion walked in with a familiar ck cat in her arms like always.


    "My appointment is here, so I''d be taking my leave.


    Till Monday."


    After giving the Vice GM his farewells, he turned towards Eliza and activated blink, appearing right beside her and slinging his arm over her shoulder.


    "Hey Liz, I saw this quest on the guild board that coincidentally happened to involve the same area that I wanted us to go.


    How lucky is that?"


    "I can''t really say, given the fact that I don''t know where we''re supposed to be going though?"


    "Come to think of it, I haven''t really told you much, have I?"


    "Yes, you haven''t."


    While chatting like that, the duo ignored the gazes on them and made their way out of the guild, their next destination being the Vesta Train Station where they boarded a train heading to the North Western part of the Empire.


    �� �� ��


    A dozen train stopster, the couple arrived in the Coastal Country of Duscon situated in the Northern parts of the Alpha Continent, in a journey that took a total of just three days.


    "These trains are plenty convenient. Turned a three-week Carriage trip into a three-day one."


    Eliza muttered as she stepped out of the train, with Evan trailing not too far behind her while flipping through some of the pamphlets he received during the trip.


    "Still, Evan, you have not really told me where we''re going��"


    "Telling you beforehand defeats the point of it being a surprise.


    But it''s definitely a really fantastical ce and the view is otherworldly��literally."


    Evan spoke with a hint of excitement in his voice as their destination was one of the ces in Aidos that he most definitely wanted to go to��if it could even be considered to be ''in'' Aidos.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It was a special area that was avable for a limited-time event in the game, and for the week it was avable, the game''s profits increased by a whopping 15% due to how many yers made in-game purchases to boost their characters to the required level in order to go there.


    He had confirmed from the Archive that the ce really existed, but it did not have many of the mind-blowing rewards that made Aidos Online yers go crazy during the game.


    "A pity��"


    "What''s a pity?"


    "That some of the items I want would not be there.


    We''d only meet a few aquatic monsters that give double experience and a boss that''d give us the second general material needed to awaken our weapons."


    "That so...?"


    Eliza replied with a hint of disinterest in her tone as she alternated her gaze between the trio of restaurants in front of her, having a hard time deciding on which one to go to.


    Noticing this, Evan sighed softly before offering a solution.


    "How about we ce an order for all three of them and have it delivered to our hotel?"


    "Oh! Let''s do that!"


    Seeing the way Eliza happily nodded her head upon hearing his words, Evan gave a light chuckle before taking her hand and saying.


    "But first��let''s find a hotel."


    "You didn''t make a reservation?"


    "This is my first time in Duscon. I wanted to see how things were in person before I made any decisions."


    "Oh��Makes sense."


    Eliza entwined her fingers around and moved forward with a skip in her step, part of her mind thinking about the food she was going to haveter while she and Evan moved to search for a suitable hotel.


    Duscon was arge country with a poption of over 65 million inhabitants, bordered by four other smaller countries on its Eastern and Southern sides, arge Mountain Range to the north and the huge Dread Oceans to the West.


    It was a country that had its economy mainly supported by tailoring, cksmithing, and its massive Seafood industry.


    The country''sndscape is gorgeous; with its emerald forests and dramatic mountain views only being a sliver of what they had to offer.


    Its citizens were also quite friendly to foreigners, making it a favoured tourist spot for vacations and travellers.


    Duscon was one of the few countries on Aidos that operated with a full parliament democratic system of government, having State governors in ce of nobility.


    These governors held as much power as the High Nobles in Aristocratic Nations and were all part of different political parties, with the current Prime Minister''s party having the most governors.


    The Station City they were currently in; Lastham, was the capital city of one of such States, located not too far from the Dread Ocean''s coasts.


    While their real destination was the Coastal City of Shelde, they were nning to spend the night here in Lastham since it was already 6 pm and the duo did not have any ns of making a night trip.


    Besides, the train they were on was thest train for the day.


    Since the Advent of Trainsst October, transportation to other countries became far easier for the people of Aidos, and the number of customers of the Continental Railroad Service spiked by nearly double by the end of December.


    Starting at the Beginning of 1053, the Service increased the number of train days per week from three to five in order to amodate their growing customer numbers.


    Station cities had also be major business hubs, proving to be fiercepetition for a few Trade Cities in some countries.


    "Aidos'' advancement is all over the ce as always."


    Evan muttered to himself as he and Eliza walked side by side, past the uniformed workers that dotted the crowd on both floors of the station''s main promenade, looking at the brightly lit shops that lined the broad atrium.


    Though the hour was gettingte, the crowds showed no signs of thinning, in fact, they were even increasing.


    Right out of the Station itself, the City''s main za was lit with streetlights and bustling with people of various species and upations, some rushing him from the day''s work, others preparing for nightlife and some others being fellow travellers in search of a night''s rest.


    Dozens of Inns and Hotels lined the streets, each one having a unique style. Some were apartment-like while others seemed to promise ptial lodgings.


    Thousands of people busily moved about the area filled with so many distinctive establishments standing side by side with each other.


    The two began peeking at hotels that caught their eyes in search of perfect amodations, especially since they were to be returning here after their business in Shelde the next day.


    A lot of them were full, with signs out front that announced theirck of vacancies, while others were full of wine casks, with half-drunk men and women downing ss after ss of alcohol, hooting and hollering all the while.


    ''Certainly not a ce I wanna be in.''

 Chapter 473 Mahogany Hotel

    ''Certainly not a ce I wanna be in.''


    Evan and Eliza thought simultaneously as they quickly moved on, meeting the superluxury inns where both the employees and patrons alike oozed high-ss snobbery.


    ''Mostly foreign nobles and politicians, don''t really wanna deal with anyone that may recognize me.''


    They saw restaurant-focused inns that prided themselves on cooking, ones that definitely caught Eliza''s attention.


    Another one offered live music, with hired bands ying inside, their tones leaking out of the building and prompting Evan and Eliza to join in for a bit.


    Eventually, they moved on to another high-ss luxury hotel with an apartment-like style, and after a few minutes of deliberation, they selected it for their stay.


    Soft orange light illuminated everything in the lobby��from the flowers that looked like pearls, to the India ink paintings of mountains on the reddish-brown walls.


    "Wee to the Mahogany Hotel. How may I help you?"


    The female receptionist bowed politely, then lifted her head and gave a nice business smile.


    "We''d like to book a two-night stay."


    Evan replied while Eliza moved over to go admire the paintings on the wall. The receptionist nodded and prepared the check-in slip, all while wondering why she felt that Evan looked familiar.


    Despite that, she did mess up on her duty, informing Evan about the types of avable rooms while providing him with a tray for him to ce his identification.


    The boy filled in his and Eliza''s names, putting ''Adventurer'' as their upation before calling his girlfriend over to bring her Guild card.


    "The paintings here are really pretty."


    "I agree. Should we get a few simr ones for the Oak Avenue Manor?"


    "Sounds like a good idea."


    As they spoke, Evan put his hands in his pocket and dropped his identification onto the tray, but when he noticed the receptionist had gone silent, he turned towards her with raised eyebrows.


    "Is there a problem?"


    "N-no. No p-problem at all, Lord Bourne."


    His question snapped her out of her daze as she stammered to reply. Upon hearing her form of Address, Evan looked down at the tray and realised he had pulled out his Noble Badge along with his guild card, allowing her to figure out who he was.


    For a hotel in a Station city like Lastham that had foreign guests daily, it was a requirement for employees to be knowledgeable about foreign nobles officials, so as not to identally offend anyone important.


    Naturally, this meant that they were to know how many Noble Family crests looked, especially from Major World Power nations like the GWE Evan came from.


    Given that the receptionist already found Evan quite familiar looking due to having seen his picture in newspapers, a nce at his crest was all that was needed to jog her memory and make her realise the boy in front of her was one of the Continent''s rising stars.


    After taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she noted something on a sheet of paper and handed their identifications back to them before speaking.


    "The package you''ve pickedes with breakfast and dinner, costing a total of 20 gold coins per night.


    That''de down to a total of 40 Gold Coins, Lord Bourne."


    The other receptionist beside her who was free heard how she addressed Evan and turned to see, her eyes widening in shock as she instantly recognized the young hero.


    Evan ignored the fuss and paid for their room while Eliza inquired about, the paintings on the walls.


    "Thank you for choosing to stay with us, and we hope you enjoy your time here.


    A staff member will guide you to your room in a moment."


    The receptionist bowed deeply, causing her glossy ck hair to fall over her face as she spoke, standing straight right after and fixing it with practised grace.


    "Why do I feel like giving them a five-star rating already...?"


    "Funny, I was thinking the same thing."


    Evan replied to Eliza as they followed the staff member who came to guide them to their rooms. Coincidentally, the hotel''s head of security who was casually patrolling the lobby, inadvertently nced at Evan and nearly dropped his baton as he saw how much energy was within the boy''s body with just a nce.


    ''Who the heck is this kid?! And the girl too! She''s a grandmaster despite looking so young!''


    After Evan and Eliza had exited the lobby, he scooted over to the receptionist and asked about the two, finding out that they were the famed ''Irregr'' Evan and ''Battle Priestess'' Eliza.


    ''The rumours really didn''t do them justice��''


    Such were the man''s thoughts as he sighed and returned to his patrol duty.


    �� �� ��


    After checking out their room and confirming everything, the duo once again left the hotel, and ced their food orders before going to explore the nightlife of Lastham.


    They had a little bit over two hours of fun, going from ce to ce, encountering a few people who recognized them during their tour of the za, and having to escape a trio of journalists who wanted to hound them for interviews, identally entering the City''s Red-Light district in the process of their escape.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    They returned to their hotel at around 10 pm and took their baths, and then began feasting on the meals which they had ordered for that same time.


    As a peak master and grandmaster level existences respectively, Evan and Eliza could eat a lot more than the average person, and the ingredients used were all high quality and brimming with magic power.


    ''A human from Earth V would definitely get superpowers if they ate this.''


    Evan had such a random thought as he finished his meal, before spending the next ten minutes silently watching Eliza with a smile on his face as she happily made short work of her food.


    Full from the sumptuous meals, the two rxed side by side on the two-seater Adirondack chairid out on the balcony, while admiring the view of the city''s skyline.


    "So, are you finally going to tell me where we''re going?"


    "Nope."


    "Still not telling? You''re making me really curious."


    "Don''t worry, you''re gonna love it."


    "Let''s hope I really do."


    Eliza replied as she poked Evan''s cheeks with her fingers. She then tilted her head to the side in light confusion as she remembered one of the things Evan told her to pack for the trip and asked.


    "I assume we''re going to swim at a beach or something? Given that you told me to pack swimwear and all."


    "We are going to be swimming, though it would not be at a beach."


    "Huh? Then where?"


    Instead of answering her question, Evan posed one of his own to her.


    "How good is your underwaterbat?"


    "That''s a very odd question, but my underwaterbat skills might as well be non-existent.


    I''ve never had to fight underwater before; I certainly can''t breathe there."


    "I''d take care of that with an item, it''d basically give us the capabilities of someone with the Dive skill on Master level. It can''t do anything about the inevitable fact that our clothes would get wet though.


    Anyway, we''d take tomorrow as practice. There''s a high chance we might have a few underwater battles on our way to the Beta Continent, after all."


    "Beta Continent? Why? The other Deadly Sins?"


    "Yep. They and the other Heroes there."


    Eliza nodded lightly before leaning in on Evan''s chest and silently closing her eyes. It didn''t take long for her breaths to be even as she fell asleep,


    Evan then picked her up princess-carry style and took her into the room,ying her on the bed and covering her with a duvet before going back out the balcony.


    He stared at the city''s skyline, turning his gaze towards the direction of the Red-Light District and remembering the presence he felt while he was there earlier.


    ''They followed us, here, huh?


    Oh well��I guess Ka would get her chance to vent earlier than expected.''


    With those thoughts, he went back into the room and closed the doors before joining Eliza on the bed and falling asleep not too long after.


    �� �� ��


    Giant Bear Woods


    Shelde


    Duscon


    February 3rd


    Year 1053


    Early the next morning, Evan and Eliza found themselves walking along the long river that flowed through the Giant Bear Woods, a forest that gained its name from the ''Giant Bear'' monsters that had lived in its depths.


    These Giant Bears were the de-facto rulers of the forest, with each of them being a powerful Grandmaster-level beast that was very territorial.


    Hence, other monsters in the forest always avoided their territories, usually marked by the w marks on nearby trees and rocks.


    "And our destination lies within the territory of one of these Giant Bears?"


    "Yep."


    Evan replied to Eliza as the two of them casually strolled down the river, snacking on a few meat skewers that released a mouth-watering aroma into the area around them.

 Chapter 474 Poor Giant Bear

    The forest around them was a sight to behold, with its lush greenery, crystal-clear streams, and vibrant blossoms that seemed to glow in the sunlight.


    Its canopy was marked by towering sequoia, majestic hemlock, and graceful beech trees. Their leaves and branches intertwined, creating a natural tapestry that allowed just enough light to filter through.


    Below, a patchwork of ferns dominated the brittle leaves that littered the forest floor, their delicate fronds swaying in the gentle breeze. It was a ce of enchantment, where the magic of nature was on full disy.


    Venturing deeper into this forest, one would be greeted by curling creepers that had a life of their own, snaking their way around the asional tree, as if trying to ensnare any unsuspecting prey that dared to cross their path.


    The mishmash of flowers that adorned the forest floor added a burst of vibrant colours to the otherwise mundane scenery as if they were trying to lure the travellers deeper into its mystical depths.


    A myriad of untamed sounds, predominantly emanating from the forest''s monster inhabitants, reverberated across the atmosphere, overpowering the tumultuous torrents of the river as they shed against the nearby boulders.


    As they passed a few trees with crisscrossed w marks, the aroma of the little breakfast Evan and Eliza were having attracted a few monsters into the area, but Evan''s shadow seemed toe alive as it released long, ded shadowy appendages that sliced these ''weak'' monsters to pieces faster than they could react.


    No way the boy was gonna let anything interrupt his time with Eliza.


    Eventually, the two arrived at a small clearing of about a few hundred metres in diameter, right in front of a small range of thousand-metre-tall mountains.


    In the middle of this clearing, was arge brown four-limbed beast, its massive frame covered in matted fur and eyes gleaming ferocity, striking fear into the hearts of many who dare to cross its path.


    Unfortunately for it, this duo most certainly didn''t feel an iota of fear towards it, even when it red its powerful grandmaster-level aura.


    "That''s our destination."


    "The cave behind the bear?"


    "Yep.


    There''s a secret entrance there. It''s a shortcut, so to say."


    "That so��"


    Evan and Eliza continued chatting like always, ignoring the Giant Bear who roared out in rage at the two humans who intruded into its territory.


    Without hesitation, it got up on all fours and crouched down slightly, before leaping into the air with enough force to create a deep crater into the ground.


    Noticing this, Evan turned to the bear and was about to activate his intimidation skill, but Eliza just held his shoulder and pulled out the Memoria.


    "I wanna try something for a bit."


    The time it took them to have that small interaction was more than enough for the bear to reach them and swing its razor-sharp ws in their direction.


    Blood red aura surrounded the ws, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake as it carved up the ground all the way up to where they stood.


    **BOOMM!!


    Despite the massive explosion that turned half the clearing to rubble, the bear had a strange ''expression'' as it did not feel any feedback from shing at the humans.


    ''Even if they were weak, I should at least have felt the sensation of cutting through them.''


    "Wow, this feels fluffy."


    The bear''s eyes widened in shock as it heard the voice of the female humaning from behind it, before feeling a palm caressing the fur on its back.


    It roared and spun its body around, swiping with its aura-coated ws once again, fully intending on slicing the human in two.


    Seeing the iing bear ws, Eliza ruled out the possibility of dodging and gripped her staff tightly, infusing it with pure magic power and raising it to block the attack.


    **BAMM!!


    The force behind the Bear''s swing knocked Eliza backwards, and cancelled out the energy she had infused on her staff.


    Eliza''s feet carved two straight lines on the ground that stretched out for a dozen metres, stopping only after she stabbed the Memoria into the ground to halt her movement.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ''Even if we both have the same strength stat, there''s a difference between a monster specializing in power and a support-type humanoid like me, huh?''


    She thought to herself as she looked at her still trembling arms, clenching her fists and using her life energy to relieve herself of the pain.


    All she wanted to do was to see how much her strength fared against simr levelled monsters, and as she expected, there was a world of difference.


    For starters, even though both Eliza and the bear had ''A-'' strength stat, her stat level was far lower than it, being at Level 5 while the Bear had a stat level of 98.


    In addition, her strength stat levelled up incredibly slowly, at less than half the speed her other stats like Health of Energy did.


    However, whenparing energy between them, the bear had about 30 Levels in its A- energy stat while Eliza had twice that. Such was also the case with her Health stat too.


    Evan had exined all the working processes behind this to her but since she did not have Full Appraisal like Evan, she could not see stat levels like he did.


    Returning to the Giant Bear, it had now realised that Evan and Eliza escaping its first attack was no fluke or mistake, as it saw that Eliza had actually managed to withstand the second attack.


    It instantly stopped ying around, ring its aura and charging towards the girl at full speed, moving so fast that it seemed to be a blur.


    However, with its kic vision, it saw how Eliza took a moment to look at it before grabbing her staff and moving out of the way at a speed that outstripped its own.


    ''What?!''


    The girl didn''t give it time to formte any thoughts, activating her unique skill and consuming a charge as she jumped into the air andnded on the bear''s back, before mming her palm on it and marking it.


    Feeling her palm on its back, the bear felt chills down its spine and activated a skill, turning its fur into projectiles that shot off its body like missiles, piercing the trees, the ground, the rocks around them, and what it believed was Eliza''s body as well.


    "That was close!"


    Eliza''s voice rang out from behind the bear, with the monster turning around in shock to see a multiyered barrier of translucent light in front of her, with the first twoyers being pierced by its fur projectiles while the remaining three were untouched.


    Before its surprise could even set in fully, Eliza kicked off the ground and dashed forward, releasing the spear tip of her staff and swinging it towards the bear.


    It snapped out of its shock and tried to block, but its senses warned it of danger and it instead opted to swing its other w and release a three-pronged sh of aura in her direction.


    Much to its shock, Eliza''s arm blurred and she sliced apart its aura shes with her weapon''s spear tip.


    Two rings of green light appeared around Eliza''s wrists and her speed increased even further, allowing her to thrust forward with her staff faster than the bear could react and stab its shoulder.


    The bear felt that same dangerous chill down its spine again but it could not see what the danger a simple spear stab had, and Eliza did not give it time to think.


    Her hands moved as she changed her grip on her staff, shing from left to right towards the bear''s neck.


    ''Fast!''


    That was the only thought the bear could formte as it barely dodged Eliza''s sh, but the girl activated her cutting wave skill and released a projected energy sh that tore through its thick fur and flesh like butter.


    "GRARR!"


    As it roared in pain, Eliza moved again, tightening her left hand''s grip on the staff and pulling it down on the right side like she was trying to snap it in two.


    She then abruptly released her right hand''s grip on it, allowing the staff to shoot upwards like a spring and m onto the head of the bear that was still in pain from her earlier cutting wave attack.


    The instant the staff mmed onto the bear''s head, she infused her energy through it and used it as a conduit to cast multiple physical and energy damage breach defuffs, before letting go of it.


    Two more rings of light appeared around her arms and she grabbed the staff once more, mming it down on the bear''s injured shoulder with enough force to crack the bone there.


    Due to how much strength she used, the staff rebounded back into the air and she jumped up, spun her body around and thrust the staff''s spear tip towards the bear''s head, stabbing it right in the eyes.


    "GRRRROOOOAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!"

 Chapter 475 Lethality Manipulation

    "GRRRROOOOAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!"


    The Bear released a roar of pain, loud enough that monsters hundreds of metres away immediately began bleeding from their noses and eardrums, while some were even temporarily knocked unconscious.


    "Ouch! That was loud."


    Eliza spoke after backflipping andnding on the ground behind the wounded bear, thanking her stars that she made the split-second decision to cover her ears with magic after noticing energy building up in the bear''s mouth earlier.


    After having released such a loud soundwave attack, the Bear Expected Eliza to be down for the count, so one could only imagine its surprise when it turned around and saw that she was still very much okay.


    It wanted to charge at her immediately, but doing so would worsen the sh wound on its chest that she had given it earlier, plus one of its eyes was not taken out, so its vision was greatly limited.


    The Bear, despite feeling rage towards Eliza, was still wary of being attacked by Evan from its blind spot.


    It was then that it noticed that for some reason, its wounds were not healing at all.


    ''What��?''


    Eliza had dealt four serious injuries to it, and even though it did not expect its eye to heal instantly, the first stab wound to its shoulder should have at least healed by now, but for some reason, it had not.


    As if Eliza knew the bear''s thoughts, she held up her palm and condensed a ball of life essence within it before saying out loud.


    "Anti-Regeneration."


    Hearing her words, the bear was finally able to understand why it felt danger from even her seemingly normal attacks; it was because those attacks were going to cause wounds that would not heal.


    Understanding that its wounds were not going to heal, however, was just the first step of Eliza''s n.


    "Lethality Maniption."


    A charge of her skill was consumed and an ''Aspect'' of life was chosen to manipte. The chosen ability was a single target ability that consumed a lot of magic power, but in return, it was capable of turning even a small scratch on the target''s body split open into a gaping wound.


    And for the bear that already had a gaping wound on its chest?


    "GRRRROOOOAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!"


    It let out another blood-curdling scream as the sh wound on its chest ruptured open, with fresh blood spraying into the surroundings and painting the ground red.


    The bear''s massive body tumbled to the ground as it writhed in pain, but Eliza wasn''t done as the mark she had ced on the bear''s back at the beginning of the fight activated.


    "Unhealing."


    With that word, the healing of every wound the Bear had suffered within the past month was all instantly undone, and the bear was forced to re-experience the pain it felt when the injuries were inflicted on it originally.


    Seeing the bear being reduced to a bloody mess on the floor, Eliza consumed three more charges of her skill and activated another aspect to manipte.


    "Health Maniption: Mental."


    However, she waspletely unable to do anything about the bear''s current mental state which was affected by the knowledge that it was receiving life-threatening wounds that were not able to be healed.


    "You seem to be very interested in mental health maniption recently. Ever since we entered the tower of trials."


    Evan''s voice rang out from behind her but she was not startled as she had long sensed his life sign approaching her.


    "Yeah. My Child of Life skill is a lot more powerful than I expected. Since it can temporarily give me health maniption powers, I wanted to see if I could manipte mental health too."


    "Why though?"


    "It''s something my father can do, he showed me once so I wanted to see if I could replicate it."


    Although the answer Eliza gave Evan was indeed eptable, it was nothing more than a big fat lie. Eliza could not really care less about replicating her father''s techniques, especially ones achieved with the power of a World Law like Mental Health Maniption.


    ''I can''t exactly say the reason I''m trying to do that is to use it on him now, can I?''


    She thought to herself as she remembered the conversation that she had with Artemisia in the Spatial gap between the entrance of the Tower of Trails in the Oak Avenue Manor, and the real tower in the Cloud Piercing Isle.


    However, a loud roar, followed by the sound of the massive bear barrelling towards her snapped her out of her thoughts, and she roused her magic power.


    Deactivating her child of life skill, she mmed her staff onto the ground and activated an Esoteric elemental skill she acquired recently.


    "Life Ice."


    The ground under the charging bear caved open, and a pir of green ice emerged from below and shot up into the sky, enveloping the Giant Bear''s body in the process.


    It receded merely a secondter, with the bear''s body now left to fall into the massive vortex of green icy energy that swirled in the hole on the ground.


    "Hey, Evan. Anything you know about my skill that I can''t do right now?"


    "Hmm? You mean your Child of Life skill, right?"


    "Yep."


    "Well, for starters. There''s Spiritual Elemental Infusion.


    Basically, you can imbue spiritual properties into your elemental attacks, just like what you''re currently doing with your Life Ice skill, but with the added capability of affecting a target''s soul."


    Eliza revealed an expression of surprise upon hearing Evan''s words, but despite this, her hands still moved to generate two Tier 2 Ice Magic circles that released spears of Ice that impaled the Bear''s torso and head.


    "That sounds broken."


    "It is. Now you see why I got pissed that time you used the skill for a simple purification?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "In my defence, I didn''t know my skill had that much potential. My parents seemed to know about my skill, especially my dad, but they refused to teach me how to use it."


    [Level Up.]


    [Level Up.]


    [Level Up.]


    Three notifications popped up in her field of view but she dismissed the notifications and opened up her status board.


    "Come to think of it, weren''t your attacks a bit too weak to kill that Bear?"


    "I used my skill to reduce its Health Stat by two ranks, effectively making it so I could use attacks capable of taking out C-rank monsters to kill it.


    I also threw in a few damage breach buffs into the mix."


    Eliza replied as she turned her gaze towards the number of skill charges left on her Child of Life Skill and asked.


    "Should I recover the charges now?"


    "Yep��you''re going to need themter."


    "I am?"


    "You are."


    Evan replied as he gave a brief nce at the direction they came from, before turning his gaze to Eliza and appraising her, stat levels included.


    |Name- Eliza Lane


    Race- Human


    Gender - Female


    Age- 16


    Level- 326


    Existence Level - Grandmaster (Inferior)


    Titles- A-Rank Adventurer, She Who Peruses the Doctrine of Life, Anomaly, Warrior Priestess, Battle Priestess [], Honorary Viscountess of the Great Western Empire, Disciple of Life.


    ss - Battle Priestess


    Health �C A- (79/100)


    Energy - A- (64/100)


    Strength �C A- (6/100)


    Agility �C A- (68/100)


    Durability �C A- (60/100)


    Intelligence - A- (62/100)


    Condition- Normal.


    Magic Tiers- Life Tier 3, Water Tier 2, Ice Tier 2, Light Tier 2, Wind Tier 1.


    Skills- Healing, Support Magic (High), Barrier, Flower Cannon, Polearm Proficiency, Unarmed Combat, Cutting Wave, Life Ice, Divergent Ward, Life Energy Draining Prison, Crystal Nova.


    Unique Skills- Child of Life (16/18), Breath of Life. |


    Ever since the girl achieved grandmaster status, her Child of Life Skill went through a few upgrades, and she could now recover a maximum of three used-up charges daily, hence the reason she had 16 charges left despite having just used 5.


    "Your strength stat is as pitiful as always."


    "It''s still more than enough to give you a resounding knock on the head if you don''t hold your tongue."


    Eliza lightly red at Evan while cracking her fingers, eliciting a smallugh from the boy before he pointed to the cave and spoke.


    "Enough messing around, I opened the entrance while you were torturing the poor bear, let''s go.


    Take the Corpse too, Kuro. It has a nice magic stone we''d extractter."


    After he spoke, he took Eliza''s hand in his and began leading her to the cave, while her shadow wriggled a bit, before expandingrge enough to swallow therge corpse of the Giant Bear that was suspended in the air and held up there by the Ice spears impaling it.


    �� �� ��


    A few kilometres away from Evan and Eliza''s position, a humanoid figure dressed in all ck, crouched down on a sturdy sequoia branch as he stared at the direction of the Cave with narrowed eyes.


    "Did he sense me? Impossible. Even the girl with the life attribute could not sense me."


    He checked one of the bracelets on his wrist, an artifact designed to counter Eliza''s life force sensing abilities and made sure it was still working before turning back to the Cave Evan and Eliza had just walked into.


    "Senior, is there a problem?"

 Chapter 476 Nature’s Newest Love

    "Senior, is there a problem?"


    "I thought we had been spotted but I was just imagining things."


    The man then turned around and pointed at two of the other people hidden in the trees and spoke.


    "The two of you, go scout the cave. Be careful and don''t get too close or the girl might sense you."


    "Really? Are her abilities that good? Even if she''s genius for bing a superior Master at her age, she should not be able to s-"


    "That girl, ording to thest message that Sir Vk sent before he perished, is the one who possesses the ''Child of Life'' Series skill.


    Now shut up the fuck up and carry out your orders."


    As the man spoke, he red at the two underlings and they gulped nervously when they saw his red eyes, before nodding their heads and shing over to the cave.


    ''Hey, do you think he knows we''re here?''


    [I have a feeling he''s somewhat suspicious.


    He nearly caught on to one of those foolish underlings of yoursst night, so if he''s half as smart as they say, he should be suspicious of being followed.]


    ''Somewhat suspicious, huh? I really hope that''s the case.''


    The man replied to the being contracted to him as he stared at his two subordinates who were entering the Cave after Evan and Eliza.


    �� �� ��


    Meanwhile, Evan and Eliza were moving through a mystical garden, where the grass stretched out like a lush carpet, inviting one to step into its verdant embrace.


    The air was perfumed with the sweet fragrance of luxurious hedges and flower bushes, their vibrant colours a feast for the eyes.


    Mystical stepping stones, adorned with ancient runes, beckoned visitors, leading them on a winding path through the enchanted garden. Each stone revealed a new wonder, from the vibrant blooms of the fairy flowers to the shimmering waters of the beautiful undergroundke.


    "It''s beautiful��"


    Eliza spoke with an absentminded tone as she took in the sights around her, of which words could never be enough to describe their natural beauty.


    Nearby, Evan held up a camera and took a photo of Eliza, the shuttering sound attracting her attention as she turned towards him.


    "Did you just take a photo of me?"


    "Yep."


    Evan answered as he took out the photo printed by the Proid, before shaking it till it became clear enough to see.


    "Wow��that''s actually nicer than I expected. And where did you get this strange camera from?"


    Although cameras existed in Aidos (An obvious fact given that they were capable of live magic projection calls), the kind of Proid camera Evan had was certainly not the kind she was familiar with.


    "Artemisia got it for me."


    He answered her before turning to another part of the garden and taking another picture of the moosewood trees in the distance.


    Those moosewood trees had been there for centuries, and although they were nearing the end of their lives at one point, they were nurtured back to health and are now the focal points of the garden.


    The hedges and shrubs ensured that the flower beds are seen as well, but the moosewood trees were so massive that they always steal the show.


    As for who nurtured these trees back to health, it was the previous owner of the Child of Life skill, the former Matriarch of the Laneford n.


    ''Is she really the ''former'' though?''


    Evan asked himself that question, sighing softly as his knowledge of the Lanefords from Aidos Online was not corrting with what he had discovered so far.


    "Hey, Liz.


    Try infusing and spreading your Life Essence across the entire garden. Use a single charge of your skill."


    "A Single Charge? That''s a lot, no?"


    "You''d like the result."


    "Hmm��okay."


    Eliza acquiesced to Evan''s request and activated her skill, consuming a charge and condensing all the life essence she could manipte before releasing half of it as a bolt into the air, and another half as an omnidirectional wave of energy.


    The bolt released into the air, diffused into several different beams of green light that showered down a rain of life essence onto the garden below.


    The life essence seeped into the bodies of all the nt life and small animals that lived in the garden.


    The animals felt energized and came running over to where Eliza was, despite the fact that they had run away earlier after sensing her presence.


    As for the nts, Eliza saw them as they all grewrger and turned an even lusher shade of green right before her eyes.


    Their leaves released sparkling iridescent light and vibrant rows of flowers that released light glows bloomed.


    "Huh? Huhhh??! HUHHHHH???!!!!"


    Eliza let out a shocked voice at the animals that came barrelling towards her, eventually getting tackled to the floor by dozens of rabbits, squirrels, cats and small foxes.


    "But why?!"


    "Pfft..."


    Evanughed as he saw her getting tackled by the animals, but even he was not much better as the ones who had been longing to run up to him but desisted because of Eliza''s presence had now surrounded him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    A small baby fox climbed its way up to Evan''s head and rested there, but Ka took that as some sort of challenge as she manifested her physical body and transformed into a fox before chasing the fox away.


    However, much to the spirit''s shock, more animals emerged from their hiding ces upon her appearance, and some even left Evan and Eliza to run up to her.


    [Huh?! WHY?!]


    This time, Evan and Eliza were the onesughing as the Great Spirit''s body was tackled by the crowd of animals.


    "These guys here are very sensitive to nature. They''re on me because of my ''Loved By Nature'' title. Their reaction to seeing you, a Great Spirit capable of influencing nature around you, is only expected."


    "Huh? Then why are they crowding me?


    Because of the life essence I spread out?"


    "That and something else, you''d see it in a few seconds."


    Just when Eliza tilted her head to the side in confusion as she did not understand what he meant, three notifications appeared in front of her.


    |You have been acknowledged by the inhabitants of "Aidos'' Underground Crystal Cove" |


    |Requirements have been met |


    |You have received the title: Loved By Nature|


    "Wait��what?!"


    Eliza''s jaws dropped in shock as she saw the notification informing her that she had acquired a very rare title.


    Almost immediately, the animals crowding her all jumped off her body and took a bit of distance from her, leaving the girl momentarily confused.


    Until the energy within her body began squirming around, that is.


    "Hold still."


    Evan spoke as energy streams of multi-coloured he could not see nor perceive, wrapped around Eliza and a very minuscule bit of that energy seeped into her body.


    Her body heated up for a bit and she felt her cells, organs and muscture being bathed in the essence of nature that entered her body from the ground.


    A few secondster, a small burst of energy was released from her body, concluding this little transformation as the animals jumped back onto her with even more vigour.


    When she reopened her eyes, a world she was unable to see previously appeared in front of her, her hands slowly rising up as she tapped one of the small blue translucent birds floating around her.


    "Is this��a spirit?"


    "Yep."


    The spirit noticed she could see it and chirped happily, before flying over to her head and perching there.


    Eliza turned to Evan in surprise and saw the usual group of spirits that had followed him all the way from Geto, each of them flying over to her while noisily chattering as always.


    [Ohh��She can see us now!]


    [She got the title. Of course, she can see us now.]


    [It''s been a while since I came to the garden. Never thought I''d see it again.]


    [But how did he know that one could acquire the title that way? Even I didn''t know that.]


    [Why are you talking like you know anything? Stupid light spirit.]


    [Stupid~ Stupid~]


    [Did you just call me stupid?!]


    [Stop embarrassing yourselves you fools, Lizzy can see us now!]


    [Hey Lizzy! I''m Felicia!]


    [I''m Dryke!]


    The teenager''s jaw dropped in shock as she saw the spirits of various elements, even some with the abstruse space element chatting among themselves, while some others came to introduce themselves to her.


    "The title has a few other effects and natural resistances it grants you, but you can take your time to get used to it.


    It''s also applicable in other worlds too apparently."


    Evan spoke as he pushed the spirits away from Eliza''s face, shrugging his shoulders while saying thest line as that was something he had heard from the ETOD and was not sure of.


    "That so��


    To think I acquired such a title so easily.


    Just what is this ce?"


    "A Garden Owned by the World Itself."


    "What? Is that even possible?"


    "It is. Did you not see the name of this ce?"


    Hearing his words, Eliza thought back to the second notification she received and nodded in affirmation.


    ''Aidos'' Underground Crystal Cove.''

 Chapter 477 Aidos’ Underground Crystal Cove

    ''Aidos'' Underground Crystal Cove.''


    The duo was indeed in an underground garden with bright crystals lighting up the cove, simting the light of the sun and making it so the nt life of the garden can grow.


    Or rather, it was really the sun''s rays that were being projected here via magic, spatial refraction, and a few other things Evan did not understand.


    And like its name, the owner of this garden, was ''Aidos'' itself.


    On a side note, it was impossible to discover the entrance to this garden if you did not possess the ''Loved By Nature'' title, so those people tailing Evan and Eliza would be unable to find this even if they tried from now till yesterday.


    "This is a lot to take in."


    "I would tell you to take as much time as you want but we''ve got other ces to go."


    Evan spoke as he pulled Eliza up from the ground and informed her that their next destination was even deeper underground, and they had to swim through theke nearby to get to it.


    Of course, theke contained schools of aquatic monsters of various kinds, and some were pretty powerful too.


    ''Thankfully, ''that'' monster would not attack anyone with the ''Loved By Nature'' title.''


    Evan remembered how many yers who did not get the title in the game died when they tried to use this shortcut to get to their final destination and chuckled lightly.


    ''They should have just yed the main quest to the level where they would be able to use the main entrance.''


    Like so, he and Eliza spent the next half hour rxing with the animals, before finally bidding them farewell and venturing towards the shimmering undergroundke.


    Standing in front of theke, Evan stuck his hand into his inventory and pulled out two portable changing booths, before setting them up nearby.


    "One of these days, I''m gonna have a look to see exactly what you have in your inventory."


    Eliza spoke as she looked at the two foldable booths made of ck cloths and enchanted to prevent skills that were used to see through obstructions.


    ''Laurene could still see through it with her mystic eyes though.''


    "Nahh. I don''t want you to see my ''Eliza Photo Collection: Volumes 1-5''."


    "5 volumes?!"


    The girl who was pulling out her swimwear from the spatial expansion pouch on her waist eximed in shock while Evan only gave her a teasing grin walking towards one of the booths.


    "I just have one Volume, for now."


    He dropped that line before entering the booth, leaving behind Eliza who only sighed softly before entering the other booth.


    Evan was the first to re-emerge, less than five minutester, wearing a pair of mid-length khaki trunk shorts and a short-sleeved rash guard.


    Eliza came out not long after, wearing a light blue bikini and a ck rash guard slung over her shoulder.


    *SHUTTER!


    The sound of a camera caught her attention and she turned to see Evan down on one knee while holding up the Proid camera in his hands.


    "I shall title this, a ''goddess by thekeside!''


    Or should I use ''goddess by the garden''?"


    He spoke to himself as he got up and shook the printed picture before tossing it over to Eliza who caught it and looked it over.


    "Did you take picture-taking lessons? Howe every picture you take looks so good?"


    "Cus I''m a genius."


    "That has nothing to do with taking pictures��"


    Eliza heaved an exasperated sigh as she pulled out the Memoria from her pouch and then tossed the pouch to Evan who then ced it in his inventory.


    She then put on the rash guard and zipped it up, but due to the nature of the clothing article, it entuated her curves and Evan found his attention being drawn towards a certain area.


    "Weird��you''re covering up more skin yet it feels more erotic for some reason��"


    "Can you stop ogling me and fill me in on what kinds of monsters we''re to expect? Or is that part of the surprise too?"


    "Lol, no."


    Evan spoke before informing her about what she wished to know, including the Sovereign level existences that resided at the bottom of the ke'' they were about to dive into.


    "Something that powerful is here?!"


    "Yeah, but It would not attack you if you have the ''Loved By Nature'' title."


    "How sure are you about that��?"


    "120% Sure."


    "That so��"


    Eliza replied as she looked at theke with a hint of fear, but the spirits around them who were inhabitants of this garden confirmed Evan''s words to be true.


    And like so, the duo jumped into theke and yed around with the water spirits there a bit, before equipping the enchanted artifacts that gave them the capabilities of an existence with a high-rank diving skill and diving against the waves underwater.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    �� �� ��


    Immediately after Evan and Eliza dived underwater, a featureless humanoid figure surrounded by a light golden glow appeared in the middle of the Underground Crystal Cove.


    |Hmm��|


    The figure''s body shimmered like a haze for a moment, before transforming into that of a beautiful ''woman'' wearing a modest dress, with dark hair cascading down ''her'' shoulders and to the ground.


    ''She'' possessed a pair of multicoloured iridescent eyes that shone with amusement as ''she'' stared at theke in front of ''her''.


    The instant ''she'' appeared, all the living creatures in the garden, even the dozens of high-ranking spirits that did not show themselves in the presence of Evan and Eliza rushed out and gathered around ''her''.


    |She poured a lot of life essence into my little garden. Even using up one of her skill charges. |


    The ''woman'' patted the mane of a Pegasus-shaped Legendary Level high-ranking spirit and looked it in the eye as ''she'' asked.


    |What do you think I should do for her? |


    [Well, for starters. You can help her recover all her skill charges. She''s going to need quite a few of them soon.]


    [You can also order those monsters there not to attack them.]


    |Yes, that is true. |


    ''She'' replied as ''she'' turned ''her'' eyes upwards, ''her'' gaze piercing through the roof of the cave, through space and dimensionality, seeing the two scouts of a certain organization looking for where Evan and Eliza disappeared to in the Giant Bear''s cave.


    |She''s going to need it against those nuisances. |


    ''She'' snapped her fingers afterwards, and Eliza''s Child of Life Skill charges were all maxed out, and her 3 recovery chances were also refuelled too.


    |And increase her maximum energy too. |


    As ''she'' spoke, Eliza''s Energy stat level shot up from 64-99 in an instant, startling the girl who was swimming underwater.


    ''She'' then moved to theke and looked down at the water before issuing amand mantra to all the creatures living within it.


    |Do not attack. |


    |Now, as for Evan��|


    The moment ''she'' spoke Evan''s name, ''she'' felt a gaze on ''her'' existence, causing ''her'' to heave a sigh of exasperation as ''she'' spoke.


    |Fine, I''m going to let Evan progress without interference. |


    Heaving one more sigh again, ''she'' muttered onest line to ''herself'' before disappearing.


    |Why do you want him to have those lizards'' powers anyway? |


    �� �� ��


    Meanwhile, Evan and Eliza who were swimming to the bottom of theke were trying to rationalize Eliza''s sudden increase in energy.


    "Is this an effect of the title?"


    "The title does affect the quantity and quality of your energy, but not by this much and not in such a short time frame."


    Evan replied to the girl''s question, no noise disturbing them as if they were speaking on the ground despite being underwater.


    This was because of the chokers they had around their necks, naturally urring artifacts enchanted the prowess of the skill: Dive (Supreme).


    It was a support skill for underwater movement, which when ranked up would lessen the negative stat changes derived from underwater action. It made it possible to breathe and talk too, thus allowing normalmunication.


    Dive (Low) would onlyst for roughly 10 minutes, but Dive (Supreme) was worlds apart as it allowed the user to spend a full day in water, without breaks.


    "My Skill Charges also refilled, even the backup ones!"


    "This is far more than I expected��"


    Evan replied, his toneced with traces of shock as even he did not foresee this much benefit in the short term.


    "Evan!!"


    "Huh?! What''s wrong?!"


    "t-that!"


    Eliza pointed towards the ''bottom'' of theke with a fearful expression on her face, prompting him to turn in that direction while rousing his energy but he could only see the spirits and other monsters swimming around.


    He was unable to see the gigantic mass of life force that Eliza could see.


    So much life force that it seemed to overshadow the life forces of the other existences in theke, and that was ridiculous considering that Eliza could see the Life forces of some Legendary level existences.


    The boy was about to ask something else when a deep voice suddenly rang out in his head.


    [You��you''re a hero, yet you possess the scent of a demon. Why?]

 Chapter 478 Aidos’ Strongest Defence Mechanism

    [You��you''re a hero, yet you possess the scent of a demon. Why?]


    Evan was startled, and from Eliza''s expression, it could be seen that she also heard this voice suddenly speaking directly into their heads.


    Despite this, Evan''s surprise was only momentary as he recalled the existence that resided at the ''bottom'' of thiske, a wry smile appearing on his face as he thought.


    ''It''s not a game anymore. That being would not be programmed to just sit there until the endgame and only attack people that don''t have the ''Loved By Nature'' title.


    It is capable of doing things that didn''t happen in the game.''


    With those thoughts, Evan voiced out his answer to that existence at the bottom of the Lake.


    "Simple. I''m not your orthodox hero.


    I''d use whatever means I can to achieve my goals."


    Increasing his swimming speed, he continued.


    "Besides, if I didn''t unseal and contract with that demon, tens of millions of people would have inevitably died.


    Would you rather want that?"


    [Most certainly not.


    I''d rather all heroes contract with demons than for millions to die and fuel the Demonic Hand''s goals.]


    Hearing the being''s reply, Evan nodded and pointed towards the direction of their destination to Eliza before speaking.


    "As expected of one of Aidos'' Defence Mechanisms, you are aware of the true nature of the Demonic Hand''s n to bring the demons back onto the."


    [You know that much? You seem quite knowledgeable for a newbie Hero.]


    "Newbie?"


    [The previous Heroes held those titles for at least a century,pared to them, you are nothing but a newbie, Irregr Hero.]


    "Makes sense."


    The duo continued swimming while Evan continued chatting with the Sovereign existence, and much to Evan''s surprise, all the monsters nearby seemed to be avoiding them for some reason.


    "Did you order them not to?"


    [They were ordered not to antagonize you, but it was not an order given by me.]


    "That so��? I really wanted an opponent to test out our underwaterbat skills."


    Evan sighed and spoke in a disappointed tone, while the being turned its attention from him and to Eliza.


    [You are the new wielder of the ''Child of Life'' skill, huh?]


    "y-yes."


    The girl answered with a hint of fear in her voice, but it was not too surprising as the being speaking to her was one of the most powerful entities on Aidos.


    One of the''s Defence Mechanisms, and a being powerful enough to be considered the Seventh Strongest entity on the.


    ''And they all be transcendents towards the end of the game. If that happens in reality, we''d have more transcendents on our side tobat the Peak Ranked Demons.''


    Just as Evan was thinking that to himself, the being spoke of something that caught his attention.


    [I see. The fact that you have that skill means that even ''she'' perished once.]


    "Huh?! Perished Once? What do you mean by that?!"


    [It Is not something you are qualified to know, given that you neither possess the Child of Life skill nor do you possess the required Causality index, Irregr Hero.]


    Before Evan could say anything else, the voice continued.


    [It would be wise of you to focus on the iing threat; you did say that you wanted an opponent to test your underwaterbat skills, did you not?]


    The moment it finished speaking, a powerful aura bore down on the area, attracting Evan and Eliza''s attention.


    "A grandmaster-level Poison Cephrodite, huh?"


    "Poison? Isn''t that kinda bad considering we''re underwater?"


    "That''s part of why I had you get ''Loved By Nature'', besides you have a few poison resistance buffs, do you not?"


    "I guess��"


    [It seems that you are set for your battle. Now then, I would be temporarily taking my leave to visit an old friend.


    Worry not, the high-ranking spirits present would interfere if you are about to perish. Well, considering that you are a Great Spirit''s contractor, they''d do that regardless of my orders.]


    With those words, the voice of the being disappeared, along with their presence as Eliza could no sense their life force anymore.


    She heaved a light sigh of relief as the sheer amount of life force possessed by a Level 899 existence was far too great and merely sensing it was taking a toll on her, mentally.


    But for now, she put that at the back of her mind and turned her attention to the iing Poison Cephrodite.


    �� �� ��


    Dimensional Realm Vitalis


    Verdalight


    Alpha Continent''s Country of Vathax


    February 3rd<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Year 1053


    As the sun rose on a small forest of verdant greenery, a family of three gathered around a wooden table for their breakfast.


    The aroma of roasted meat and freshly baked bread filled the air, tempting the senses of all who were present.


    The father, a green-eyed man with dark grey hair, carved the sulent monster meat with a practised hand, while his daughter poured sses of wine for him and her younger brother.


    "Where''s mother?"


    "She and Matty went out to get a few things on the Divider Ocean."


    "Ohh��"


    The younger brother, a long grey-haired man with bright green eyes replied as he spread a chunk of butter onto his sliced bread.


    He then moved on and picked up the jam jar, opening it and adding a little bit of jam, moving on to the other spreads and mixing them up into one deadlybo.


    "What in tarnation are you doing, George?"


    The father stopped his movements and questioned his son about his actions, but the younger man only said he was testing out something he saw in a foreign food magazine.


    "I don''t think a magazine that can suggest such should exist��"


    The woman spoke as she stared at the mixture of spreads on the slice of bread, her gaze turning to her brother who was adding this same mixture to other slices of bread as she asked.


    "Are you really gonna eat ''that''?"


    Just before he could answer his elder sister, George noticed that their father had gone silent and was staring in a certain direction with narrowed eyes.


    Immediately after, he sensed something breaking into the Dimensional Realm and his eyes widened in shock.


    But before he could move, his father held out a hand to stop him and then spoke towards a pile of bushes.


    "What brings you here, Defence Mechanism?"


    [Hmm? ording to my Database, you are called Alden Kaur, are you not?]


    "That does not answer my question, Defence mechanism."


    The man, Alden, red at the young blue spiky haired man who emerged from within the sea of trees.


    [For starters, I have a name, Alden Kaur.]


    Turning his golden slit pupils in the direction of the woman seated beside Alden, he continued.


    [And you, are not the reason for my presence here.]


    Before Alden could say anything again, the woman held out her hand and grabbed her father''s shoulder, shaking her head to signal him to stop before turning to the new entrant and speaking.


    "It has been a while, Iremith."


    [I most certainly prefer being called Hydran.


    But anyway, I happened to encounter the current wielder of the ''Child of Life'' skill.]


    The moment the man, Hydran, spoke the second part of his statement, the eyes of the family of three widened ever so slightly as they instantly realised who he was talking about.


    "What is that little girl doing all the way in Duscon��?"


    The woman asked with a wry smile on her face, shaking her head and sighing lightly before speaking to Hydran.


    "Come and take a seat, we have a lot to talk about."


    Having received an invitation, Hydran moved to join the trio in their breakfast��even though an existence like him did not necessarily need food.


    �� �� ��


    At the same time, Evan and Eliza were locked inbat against the Poison Cephrodite monster in the Underground Crystal Cove''ske.


    For a visual of how it looked, it was a marine horror with twelve serpentine limbs adorned with suction cups akin to an octopus''s arms, and crowing its fearsome visage was a menacing beard of tangled, writhing tentacles.


    "No matter how I look at it, this monster is based on Sthan��e."


    Evan remarked as he generated a sword of ice with Elemental Weapon Projection, not deeming this particr monster worth using the unforged.


    ''It''s not that high level.''


    The fact that he could have such thoughts about a level 325 monster was simply a testament to how much stronger he had grown in the past few months.


    [GROARR��]


    The monster let out a low roar before widening its massive jaws, revealing the dozens of razor-sharp teeth and its spiked tongue.


    It shot forward at full speed, fully intent on consuming the duo with a single gulp.


    However, even if they were not used to underwaterbat, dodging this simple attack was not something they were incapable of achieving, especially since they had those Diving Artifacts.


    ''Aura sh''


    Evan released a sh of golden aura that hurtled through the water and split apart the monster''s scales, piercing its flesh and spewing ck blood into the surroundings.


    Two rings of green light appeared around his wrists and legs each, courtesy of Eliza''s support magic. The battle priestess then turned her attention towards the creature that was swinging around and applied an elemental damage bonus buff on herself.


    ''Life Ice.''


    "Esoteric Ice Magic: Freezing Field."

 Chapter 479 Poison Cephrodite I

    "Esoteric Ice Magic: Freezing Field."


    The tip of the girl''s staff which was pointed towards the iing monster, released a stream of energy that formed a two-ringed cobalt green magic circle, with a third ring glitching in and out of existence.


    A wave of cold energy was released from her body, spreading omnidirectionally and drastically reducing the already low temperature of the surroundings.


    Next, dozens of explosions began urring at random points within the area of effect, sting apart random monsters that unfortunately happened to be nearby, and seeding in blowing off four of the Cephrodite''s tentacle limbs.


    [GUOOO!!]


    The monster roared in pain as it swung three of the remaining limbs coated in an ominous purpleyer of energy towards Eliza, however, the girl did not make any attempt to block.


    Before the tenacles could even reach her, a dozen thin lines of golden light shed across them. A secondter each tentacle had been sliced and diced into thirteen nearly equal pieces.


    Evan shot forward, the ring of light on his arm granting him immunity to the ice explosions as he infused more energy into his elemental projected weapon and released a sh towards the root of the monster''s tentacles.


    However, the creature reacted quickly, twisting its massive frame out of the way and sending pressurized streams of purple liquid towards him.


    ''Elemental Shield.''


    A spherical barrier of ice surrounded Evan''s body at thest moment, right before he was bathed in purple poison that melted the ice he protected himself with faster than he could infuse it with energy.


    Not wanting to know the effects of this particr Cephrodite''s poison, Evan shot out of the affected area and rose his left hand, summoning a dozen massive swords with the weapon projection skill andunching them with the force of torpedoes.


    It should be noted that despite this, icy explosions were still urring as Eliza''s spell was still in effect, and would only stop after exactly 150 icy explosions had urred.


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    Eliza dismissed the notifications in her field of vision, not caring about the other unfortunate monsters that had been caught up in her AOE spell.


    She watched as Evan''s projected weapons crashed down on the parts of the Cephrodite''s'' body where explosions were about to happen, with the young hero studying the flow of energy and spotting the point of the explosion and sending the projected weapon there a second before they happened.


    **BOOOM!!! BOOOOMM!!


    Explosions of ice rocked the body of the Cephrodite who let out an enraged roar before using magic to forcefully regenerate all its severed serpentine limbs andunch them towards Evan.


    "Wait what?! My life ice should make it unable to regenerate so easily��"


    "The monsters here are resistant to Esoteric abilities."


    "That so��let''s see how it''s gonna resist this."


    As Eliza spoke, she roused her energy and activated Child of Life, consuming one skill charge and shooting through the water, heading straight for the iing Cephrodite.


    Itunched a dozen pressurized streams of poison towards her but she most of them narrowly, using her barrier to block some as she reached its gargantuan body and stabbed her weapon''s spear tip on its scale.


    *KANG!!


    Much to her surprise, the Memoria bounced off the Creature''s scale, leaving only a few scratches.


    But before she could even say a thing, Evan appeared beside her and rose his hand up, activating a skill he had stolen from Vazgan close to a year ago.


    ''Vindiction''s Strike.''


    A portal of dark gold energy opened up andunched a condensed beam of golden magic power onto the creature''s head, smashing through its scales and sting apart its flesh.


    As the creature roared in pain, Eliza swam to its head and stabbed the Memoria into the injured flesh, infusing the life essence directly into its body and activating ''Anti Regeneration''.


    She then consumed another charge and mmed her palm on its body once more, using ''Stat Reduction'' on its Health Stat.


    Before she could do the same to its durability, Evan''s warning came in and a chain of golden energy wrapped around her torso and pulled her away, mere moments before the creature''s ck blood that filled the area she was in began bubbling.


    "Thanks."


    "No biggie."


    Evan replied and deactivated his Evesting Chains skill, projecting another dozen swords andunching them as projectiles towards the Cephrodite.


    "Divergent Wards."


    Tiny barriers of green light appeared in front of the Weapon''s paths, and as the weapons seamlessly phased through these barriers, they all doubled in size and energy, gaining a ribbon of life essence swirling around them.


    They also gained increased speed that allowed them to reach the Cephrodite faster than it had expected.


    "Hollow Magic: Hollow Cannon."


    While it was writhing in pain having a few limbs sted off, Evanunched a massive bolt of super condensed non-attributed magic power towards it.


    The creature showed its adept manoeuvring abilities and twisted its body to avoid the Hollow Cannon, but Evan snapped his fingers and made It explode the moment that the Cephrodite dodged it.


    **KABOOOM!!!!


    Shockwaves spread oud omnidirectionally, knocking Evan and Eliza back by a few metres, but they flipped around and regained their bnce before charging towards the Cephrodite again.


    The creature swung its serpentine limb towards them, but its speed was noticeably slower, an effect of the Life Ice used in Eliza''s initial magic attack.


    They dodged it effortlessly, and Evan''s sword arm shed through the water at breakneck speed, slicing the limb to pieces with freakish movements.


    ''Ice st.''


    Elizaunched a simple Tier 2 Spell as the stump of the limb, using her life Ice in an attempt to further wound the creature, and increase the debuff effects of her life ice (Slows movement & attack speeds, lowers maximum vitality values & health regeneration, and reduces the durability of affected areas.)


    ''Endless Ice Fangs''


    More magic power was consumed to generate over a hundred spiky green icebergs, with numerous icicles that inflicted, blunt, cutting and piercing damage all at once.


    "Ha!"


    With a shout, Elizaunched all these icebergs at the Cephrodite who roared and generated ice magic circles of its own,unching massive chunks of singr spiked ice that smashed the icebergs to bits.


    ''de Cannon.''


    Evanunched dozens of fist-sized aura bullets, each group apanied by a sh of his golden aura that perforated the Cephrodite''s tentacles and riddled it with holes.


    It tried to use magic to regenerate once more, but Eliza''s Anti-Regen stopped it from working, much to the creature''s surprise as its regeneration magic circles kept breaking apart midway.


    [GUOO!!]


    Understanding that either Evan or Eliza had done something to it, it roared loudly before barrelling towards them with its full speed, however, due to Eliza''s life ice, it was much slower than before.


    And if Evan and Eliza could dodge it when it was at top speed, they were obviously capable of doing so when it was lower.


    Evan activated pdin and used a void step to boost himself through the water, changing directions midway to throw off the monster while Eliza sent a few Cutting Waves to its limbs, severing two more of them and reducing the monster down to eight left.


    With another roar, dozens of deep purple magic circles appeared around the Cephrodite, and from them, multiple crocodilesposed of poison, with sharp teeth capable of chewing through a human body with ease, emerged and swam towards Evan.


    The monster then swung all of its remaining serpentine limbs towards Eliza, once from each side, intending on capturing her in a pincer attack.


    Evan created an ice bow of pure magic power with his skill, taking aim and releasing arrows of light that froze all the poison crocs to Ice, while Eliza decided to break out a Tier 3 spell.


    ''Let a chilling breeze blow across this, sending it into a deep freeze.


    When this spell is through, then my target shall be frozen.''


    A massive magic circle with a diameter the size of a football pitch appeared around her, with the Cephrodite pulling its limbs back as it instantly sensed the danger.


    Especially after it noticed that this circle, had three rings of light surrounding it.


    Sadly, Eliza''s spell activation was faster.


    "Ice Magic: Ice Nova."


    The spell didn''t even wait for her words to finish, releasing a blinding sh of light that disoriented the Cephrodite''s senses and momentarily paralysed it, keeping it in ce long enough for the spell to unleash its full might.


    Eaves of ice surged forward omnidirectionally, encasing four out of its eight serpentine limbs inyers of spiked and jagged ice.


    "Vortex."


    A whirling mass of golden aura spiralled down from above, smashing through theyers of ice and shredding them to bits, along the four serpentine limbs that were trapped in the ice.


    [GRROOUUUUOOOO!!!!!]


    The monster released a roar of pain and swung its remaining four serpentine limbs towards Evam, a wide-ranging attack aimed forward but it failed to reach him.


    Evan was not foolish enough to let that touch him after seeing the ominous purple light coating said limbs.

 Chapter 480 Poison Cephrodite II

    He waited for the limbs to swing past after estimating the attack range, and then activated de cannon, sending multiple aura bullets that riddled two of the limbs with holes.


    It activated regeneration magic once more, seeding in healing half of the damage Evan dealt, but Eliza appeared right in front of it with her Memoria pulled back.


    She then threw the spear forward with all her straight, sending it beelining to the monster''s head with the force of a torpedo.


    The Cephrodite tried to dodge, but there was no way that it could achieve that feat in its slowed state, and with the amount of strength Eliza put in, considering she had buffed her strength, damage bonus and damage breach, the spear shattered its scales and embedded itself in its flesh.


    "Unhealing!"


    With hermand, the life energy loaded into the spear seeped into the Cephrodite''s body and undid the healing effects of the regeneration magic it just used, returning its limbs to their perforated state.


    Evan on the other hand, generated golden chains of magic power and swung them towards the perforated limbs, wrapping around them tightly.


    He then signalled Eliza and used his full strength to pull the Cephrodite''s body around, dragging it through the water and mming it on the massive multyer barrier that Eliza created.


    The instant it mmed on the barrier; Eliza created another multyer barrier on its other side. She then jammed her palms together and made the two multiyered barriers to crush the Cephrodite''s body in between.


    ��?��m Bone crunching sounds rang out, along with geysers of ck blood that spilt out of the Cephrodite''s body, but even so, the creature still struggled to break free.


    It used its blood as a conduit for its poison, generating a poisonous cloud that melted the multiyered barriers with ease, much to Eliza''s surprise.


    "You gotta be kidding me. Those things have fiveyers each, powerful enough to block a Level 350 monster''s attack!"


    "Well, that just means that this Cephrodite''s poison is that powerful.


    Anyway, this area is done for, let''s lead it away."


    Evan spoke as he swam away from the area with Eliza trailing behind, much to the Cephrodite''s displeasure as it wanted to use the poisonous cloud generated from its blood on them.


    It roared and chased after the duo, generating two white magic circles on both sides of its head that spewed out purple bubbles into the water.


    "Flux."


    Evan activated a skill, sending a lone ball of swirling vtile energy towards the iing bubbles.


    The instant the ball of energy hit the bubbles��


    **BOOOOMMMM!!!!!


    A thunderous explosion rang out, with purple clouds of poison spreading across theke, making Evan and Eliza certain that they could not afford to touch those bubbles directly.


    "Isn''t the wholeke gonna get poisoned at this rate?"


    "Nahh. It''s a lot bigger than you think. There''s a naturally urring spatial expansion phenomenon in thiske."


    Evan replied as activated Flux a few more times, sending out more balls of energy to clear the bubbles and open up a path in front of him.


    "Buffs please."


    "Greater Poison Resistance.


    Poison Damage Breach-Negative.


    Elemental Damage Bonus, Elemental Damage Breach- Positive."


    Evan boosted forward after receiving theyered buffs from Eliza, coating himself in a thinyer of energy and zipping through theke as the Cephrodite pursued after him.


    He spun around, detonating the bubbles it was releasing with vtile energy orbs, creating a gap that led straight to the monster''s body and corkscrewing himself through it.


    Uponnding on its back, he created another elemental projected weapon of ice, coating it with his golden aura and shing the monster''s back.


    A ck effect traced a single line down the monster''s back, creating a deep gouge through its flesh from head to tail that spewed ck blood everywhere.


    Ignoring the monster''s poisonous blood, Evan released multiple aura shes and de cannons to the monster''s body, severing the two perforated limbs and making it roar in pain.


    It released a burst of energy to knock Evan off its body, turning its head towards him and opening its mouth wide.


    A magic circle appeared inside its mouth, glowing with a powerful light, far brighter than the bubble-generating circles, and having more rings of light surrounding it.


    ''Tier 3 Magic!''


    Evan''s Danger sense warned him that taking that attack was not gonna be a good idea, and Time Difference slowed his perception, allowing him to urately calcte the attack''s trajectory.


    His eyes gleamed with light as he created a void step and spring boarded off it to the side, a mere second before a high-velocity water beam ripped through the space he''d just vacated.


    **BOOOMMM!!!!!


    The beam exploded after colliding with some structure in theke, sending out shockwaves that reached the monsters watching the battle from a distance and knocking them away.


    As for Evan, Eliza''s timely intervention with a barrier blocked him from getting knocked away, and after sending his internal thanks to her, he used Evesting Chains in conjunction with the Hookshot skills, sending a long spike grappling chain towards the Cephrodite''s body.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The instant the hook hit the monster''s body, the Hookshot skill''s effect came in,unching Evan straight to its body and paralyzing it temporarily, long enough for Evan tond and activate a unique skill onto its head.


    "Vortex."


    Feeling the mass of aura building up on it, the Cephrodite felt its impending death and attempted to at least take one of the duo with it to the afterlife.


    It burned its life force to break out of the stun effect of Evan''s skill, just enough to tilt its head in Eliza''s direction and fire another high-velocity water beam at her.


    Evan noticed the monster''s actions, and with his enhanced thought eleration via time difference, he was able to figure out its intentions in a second.


    His eyes turned cold as he cancelled the vortex activation and summoned the unforged, channelling the energy gathered for vortex into the de and coating it with destructive essence.


    He then swung the sword down, releasing a powerful aura sh that cleaved through the monster''s body, severing it in two from head to tail.


    The destructive essence then detonated in arge explosion that sted the Cephrodite''s head to pieces of flesh.


    **BOOOM!!!


    Evan, the one who dished out this attack, was unaffected by it, only coldly gazing at what was left of the monster''s body and putting his sword back into his inventory.


    |Adaptive Evolution has been triggered.


    |Isting the Energy absorbed from Level 325 Existence; Unnamed Poison Cephrodite|


    |50% of Isted Energy would be used as Experience for Increasing Host''s Level at ater date. |


    |Channelling 50% of the Energy into Unique Skill: Adaptive Evolution. |


    "Evan, are you okay?!"


    "Hmm? I''m fine. Just got a little pissed that it was trying to target you at thest moment."


    Evan dismissed the notifications and replied to Eliza who only stared at him in silence before sighing.


    "I could have used a barrier to block, you know?"


    "Come to think of it, you could have done that."


    The shook her head silently upon hearing his reply, before turning her gaze to the water around them that was filled with poison.


    "This is bad."


    "Very. Can you do something about it, I''d rather not have us leave it like this."


    "That''d need a skill charge."


    "What about Breath of Life?"


    "If it''s an Esoteric Poison, I doubt Breath of Life would work."


    Eliza replied as she retrieved her weapon that was floating away and channelled her energy into it, activating her second unique skill, imbuing the effects of poison negation support magic into the activation sequence.


    A wave of magic power rushed out of her body, and a wide magic circle appeared, centred under her feet.


    Two rings of green light surrounded the circle, with a third illusory ring flickering in and out, and a green misty haze with sparkles floated around in the water.


    A few secondster, this fantasy-like scene died down and the purple clouds of poison in the area had disappeared.


    "Seems its poison was just unnecessarily strong and didn''t have any special properties."


    "True."


    Evan replied as he picked up therge magic stone that floated in the air, and then tossed the rest of the monster''s corpse into his inventory before its blood could poison the area again.


    "All right. How about we move on to our next destination."


    "Which is where, if I may ask?"


    "The bottom of thiske."


    With those words, Evan swam towards the bottom of theke at an incredible speed, with Eliza trailing not too far behind.


    For a moment, Evan nced behind him, his grey pupils tinged with a bit of the essence of destruction''s red.


    ''I see��so there were more, huh?''


    Those abstruse thoughts floated through his mind as he swam deeper and deeper, through the clear water and schools of various type of fish.


    As they went deeper, Eliza truly understood what Evan meant when he said theke was a lot bigger than she thought.

 Chapter 481 Destination 2

    Eventually, they could soon see waterweeds swaying and rocks studding theke floor, and between two of these rocks was a gap in theke wall.


    Evan slipped inside and Eliza followed, encountering the interior that was lit by a bluish glow cast by some strange aquatic nts.


    Appraising those nts to be sure they were the ones he was after, Evan swam over to them and coated his palms in aura before uprooting a few of them, as doing so without energy was nigh impossible.


    He tossed them into his inventory, mentally marking another item off his list of required materials for the vanquisher weapons, and then cutting a few other nts for Milena to use and increase the quality of her water energy infusion.


    The cave continued for a while, going farther and farther down, and they two swam on as fast as any fish.


    Eventually, they arrived at a branched path, and Evan, having known the route already, picked the left path without hesitation.


    Just when Eliza was about to ask him how much more they had to swim, Evan turned at a corner and stopped, and the smile on his face told Eliza they had arrived at their destination.


    Their path was blocked by arge white set of double doors, glowing with the light of multicoloured runes, and enchantments along with a few natural multi-energy formations and arrays.


    Evan swam to the door and ced a palm on it, before pulling out a strange multicoloured stone from his inventory and crushing it in his palm.


    He then channelled the energy that escaped the shattered stone into the door and the light of the multi-energy arrays and formations died down.


    He pumped his fist in joy and pushed the doors open, revealing a massive spherical room, half-filled with water.


    Evan and Eliza swam to the top, finally emerging from the water after an hour and with slightlyboured breathing.


    "We have arrived, at destination 2."


    Those were Evan''s first words after emerging from the water, before he sawm towards the nearby shores andy on the ground.


    Eliza came up a momentter, squeezing off the water in her hair as she asked.


    "How many more ''destinations'' do we have?"


    "Just one more.


    Or rather, we have to go through destination 2, to get to destination 3."


    "And this ce is destination 2?"


    She looked around at the icy cave they were in as she asked, taking a moment after to admire the breath-taking sight.


    Everything in this underground cavern was ethereally beautiful, starting from the expansiveke of pristine rity stretching out, its water infused with an otherworldly luminescence.


    Dancing beams of iridescent light refracted through the translucent ice, casting a mesmerizing glow upon the submerged surroundings.


    The walls of the cavern, adorned with frozen stctites and stgmites, sparkled like a crystalline tapestry. They glistened with frost and delicate formations, and cascading waterfalls of frozen tears adorned the chamber, their icy tendrils seemingly defying gravity.


    Turning to the other side, she saw what was most likely their destination, an entrance of majestic grandeur with a regal aura.


    Carved from a fusion of ice and ancient minerals, the gateway stood tall and proud, its intricate designs whispering tales of forgotten civilizations. Ornate ice sculptures adorned its archways, depicting mythical creatures frozen in a moment of eternal majesty.


    "let''s take a few moments to rest and restore our energies before we move on. We''re gonna need it."


    Evan spoke as he got up from the ground and pulled out a hair dryer from his inventory and handed it to Eliza who was clearly dismayed about how wet her hair had be.


    "Thanks."


    "No biggie.


    Still, why did you let it grow that long anyway?"


    He asked as he pulled out the portable changing booths again, citing how long Eliza''s hair had be recently.


    Normally, she usually cut it whenever it got to around mid-back length, but for some reason, she let it grow till it reached her waist.


    "No particr reason. I just didn''t see cutting it as a priority so I kept pushing it back and here we are."


    She shrugged her shoulders in reply while drying her hair, but it reached a stage where she could no longer do that on her own and Evan had to assist her with it.


    "As I said before, we''re really gonna have a look through your inventory when we''re done here."


    Eliza remarked as she sat on the couch that Evan pulled out of his inventory, wondering why on Aidos he had a couch there in the first ce.


    "Not gonna lie, but I really don''t know what half the things in there are. I just keep tossing things and eventually, I ended up with tons of random stuff.


    And since it''s based on how much energy I have, I have a whole lot of space inside it."


    Such was the reply Evan gave as he switched off the hair dryer and changed the magic stone powering it before turning it one once more toplete the drying process.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Now then, although we may not feel the cold because of our strong bodies it''s gonna eventually get to us if we stay out like th-where are you going?"


    Evan cut his statement short when he noticed that the spirit trio with them, Ka, Kuro and Milena had all manifested their physical bodies and were moving in the opposite direction of the icy shrine entrance.


    [We saw shiny stuff on the other side, so we''re gonna go check them out.]


    [Ka dragged me along.]


    [I''m going to keep Ka in check.]


    [��Um, guys, why are you all making it seem like I''m the only one interested?]


    Ka asked with a slightly dejected voice when she heard the reply Milena and Kuro gave, but the two of them only looked at her with raised brows and asked.


    [[isn''t that the truth?]]


    They most certainly did not share her desire to explore the other parts of this massive cave.


    "Oh, those shiny stuff are most likely condensed Ether stones.


    Basically, the Ether version of magic stones."


    [Ohh��.! Is it valuable?]


    "They''re just as valuable as magic stones are.


    Not everyone can use magic, you know? And some people are capable of using both energies so both of them are useful."


    Evan replied as he picked out his clothes for his inventory while Eliza turned in the supposed direction of the Ether stones with a hint of longing in her gaze.


    "Ether, huh?


    It''d be a lot easier for me to control Life Essence if I could use it."


    It should be noted that, unlike Evan who could use both Magic power and Aura, Eliza was stuck with just Magic power, and the girl desired to have more options, in case she ever found herself in a situation where Magic was useless.


    "By the time we''re done here, you''d be able to use it."


    "Wahat?"


    Seeing the expression of shock on the girl''s face upon hearing his words, Evan chuckled lightly before replying.


    "The spoils of our Destination 2 include a few things that would affect your Energy Core and help you awaken said energy type.


    If you don''t awaken it by Destination 2, you would definitely awaken it at Destination 3."


    The thought of just how much his energies were going to increase in quantity and quality after they were done with the third destination brought a smile to Evan''s face.


    ''And we have the perfect punching bags outside to help us test them.''


    "Just where exactly do you n on taking us to?"


    "Somewhere special."


    Evan casually replied to Eliza''s question as he stepped into the changing booth, leaving Eliza who only before doing the same.


    As for the spirits, they went on to go pick up the Ether stones, along with the strange metal ores, precious stones and rare nts that they found there.


    When Evan and Eliza came out after changing, they were met with a few piles of rare materials that would make alchemists and cksmiths kill each other just to acquire them.


    There were also a few fruits from some special icy trees that Evan recognized from the game. He picked one up and took a bite, his eyes widening at the magnificent taste.


    "Do you even know what those are?"


    "Yep."


    Evan replied as he took a bite from another crystal blue coloured fruit that was emitting an icy mist, turning over to Eliza to continue speaking only to notice she had changed her outfit.


    She was wearing a ck turtleneck shirt with a grey undersleeve, a grey mid-thigh length skirt and ck leggings under simple ck leather t shoes.


    Her usual ck arm bracelet that had a gem bearing the same colour as her eyes was nowhere to be seen, presumably hidden under her shirt, but she had a single wide bracelet on her wrist, intricately designed with a few diamonds and sapphires.


    As for her long blonde hair, she tied it into a side ponytail with a ribbon on the left side, with hair strands hanging on either side and most of her bangs swept to the right side.


    "You changed too?"

 Chapter 482 Griselda Lorelei

    She remarked as she noticed that Evan was now wearing something different from earlier, and coincidentally, it had the same colour scheme as her clothes.


    He was wearing a simple ck grey t-shirt with a ck undersleeve, atop a pair of ck jeans and sneakers coloured in a mixture of the two.


    Due to the fact that they were going to enterbat quite soon, he didn''t put on his usual long overcoat jacket and left it in his inventory.


    "While I like your current hairstyle a lot, I prefer the French braids."


    "And you still haven''t told me why they''re called ''French''."


    Eliza retorted as she walked up to the pile of treasures on the floor and picked up one of the ether stones, feeling an enormous amount of energy stored within them.


    "Here, have a few."


    "What kinds of fruits are these, the elemental energy I''m sensing in them is crazy."


    She asked Evan who passed one of the green fruits to her, turning to nce at the three spirits who were snacking on simr fruits of different colours.


    "Well, when natural forces intertwine with various energy types, elemental fruits like this emerge, each one imbued with the essence of a specific element.


    They''re quite rare and coveted treasures."


    [And they''re very delicious too. Even more delicious if you possess the elemental affinity of the particr fruit you''re eating!]


    Ka added right before she stuffed her face with another golden apple-like fruit, one that Eliza wondered if it was even safe to eat after seeing that it was clearly sparking with lightning.


    [Master, the fact that there''s a high concentration of these fruits here��you know what that means, do you not?]


    "I do."


    Evan replied to Kuro''s question as he turned his gaze in the direction where the spirits found the fruits.


    "Gimme a sec. I''d be right back."


    He then kicked off the ground and leapt over theke in one jump, using farsight to boost his visual prowess and spot the fruitless trees in the distance.


    "Blink."


    He teleported all the way over to the trees, walking past them and going down the path there.


    Left behind, Eliza asked Kuro what he meant and the answer she received gave her an even greater shock than encountering a Sovereign Level Existence.


    [Law Crystals. Items imbued with the powers of what you call ''World Law Doctrines''. Things that can only be used by transcendent level existences as only at that stage, can oneprehend the powers ofws.]


    "Law Crystals��All the way down here?"


    As Kuro had expected, Eliza knew exactly whatw crystals were and she knew just how sought after these crystals were.


    ''I remember Dad saying that ''Beast King'' Kolvar offered him ancient artifacts and treasures just to get thew crystal he and Mum found in the Dread Ocean...


    And something like that is here?''


    She ignored the strange gaze Kuro was giving her as she looked in the direction Evan went to, just in time for him to return with three different irregr-shaped rocks.


    Embedded on these rocks were fist-sized crystals that Eliza recognized, crystals that held the knowledge of a World Law Doctrine.


    Utilizing this crystal imparted thisw knowledge to the one utilizing the crystal and allowed them toprehend thew held within.


    Of course, if the person attempting to use this crystal was not a transcendent, then they were just wasting their time.


    "Six Crystals in all. There are probably more but finding them is gonna be a lot of work."


    Evan spoke as he picked up another ck fruit that was emitting a dark misty haze, taking a bite out of it right after.


    |Magic Tier- Darkness Tier 2 > Darkness Tier 3|


    He dismissed the notification he got before using the essence of destruction to break open the rocks and free the crystals within.


    "I have no idea what some of these are, but I can tell this green one is obviously wind, and the crimson one is destruction."


    Picking up the crimson crystal, Evan tried to use the essence of destruction to see if there was going to be a reaction but nothing happened.


    He then tossed all the crystals into his inventory and plopped down on the couch, checking the system time and seeing that it was still 10 am before pulling out the food he bought earlier and setting it atop a table.


    "This is a good haul.


    We got a bunch of elemental fruits, ether stones, naturally urring artifacts and treasures."


    "I think we got a bit too much. What are we gonna do with all these?"


    Eliza asked as she sat down on the couch beside him, but Evan only shrugged his shoulders in reply.


    They had a meal and rested for a few minutes before packing up and moving on to the entrance behind them.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Upon passing through this gateway of frozen splendour, a new domain revealed itself to them.


    Snowkes gently glided by, covering the entirendscape in a thickyer of snow, with them looking up to see a small hill in front of them.


    As they made their way up the hill, Eliza noticed a life sign at the top, and after informing Evan about it, discovered that said life sign certainly wasn''t supposed to be there.


    The two sped up the hill and arrived at the top shortly,ing in contact with the owner of this life sign on the circr clearing with a stone shrine at the centre.


    Said person was about to enter the white magic circle thaty in front of the shrine, glittering invitingly until Evan spoke up.


    "I would not do that if I were you."


    The instant Evan''s voice rang out, the person reacted immediately, taking distance from both the circle and Evan, all while rousing their energy in preparation for battle.


    As the person looked in their direction warily, Evan and Eliza were able to get a good look at their face, and upon seeing them, Evan''s jaw dropped.


    It was an extremely beautiful fair-skinned girl with mesmerising crimson eyes, straight waist-length silver hair and bangs that fell just above her eyes.


    She was wearing an ebony dress, featuring a velvet corset intricately adorned withce that entuated her slender figure, making her exude an air of dark allure and enigmatic beauty.


    However, it was not her beauty that made Evan''s jaw drop, and after knowing him for nearly two years, Eliza could tell that was not the case.


    It was what Evan had seen the instant he appraised the girl.


    The name listed in one of the tabs of her status.


    |Race- Elder Breed Vampire|


    �� �� ��


    "Humans?!"


    The teenage vampire girl reacted with shock upon noticing Evan and Eliza''s nature, her wariness increasing to a whole new height as she coated her arms with blood-red energy in preparation forbat.


    It was then that Evan finally snapped out of his shock, regaining his calm as he looked at the magic circle on the ground and at the Vampire girl.


    "Yes. We''re humans.


    And you would have died mere momentster if you entered that magic circle, Miss Vampire."


    Hearing Evan''s words, it was now Eliza''s turn to be shocked as she never even considered the possibility of the girl being a vampire.


    "Are you saying you were going to kill me?"


    "No, not me.


    The existence on the other end of that magic circle would have."


    Evan spoke as he took a step forward, but in return, the girl took a step back.


    "Wait��Evan! Are you sure she''s actually a Vampire?"


    "Of course, I am. I appraised her the instant I saw her face."


    Evan replied to Eliza''s question, one she should have obviously known the answer to but he could not me her for asking such a question.


    After all, there weren''t supposed to be any vampires existing on the Alpha Continent.


    The boy pulled out a foldable chair from his inventory and tossed it over to the girl before speaking.


    "Sit, let''s talk a bit.


    I''ve never seen a real Vampire before."


    Despite Evan''s words, the girl did not move from her spot, still staring at both he and Eliza with wariness in her gaze.


    After a few more seconds of silence, she finally asked.


    "��Don''t you foreign continent humans hate us, vampires? To the point where you''d want to kill us on sight?"


    Hearing her questions, Evan rose an eyebrow in surprise, bursting intoughter right after as he remembered a part of the game''s lore before replying.


    "Is that what the Noble Vampire Sovereigns taught you?"


    Although she did not reply immediately, he already knew the answer to that question. With a wry smile on his face, he asked her what she was taught regarding the Alpha Continent''s humans.


    "��Isn''t your Human King envious of us Vampires, of our superior abilities and tried to wipe us out after his envy became hatred?


    Didn''t he also order that all vampires should be killed on sight?"

 Chapter 483 Evan Used Intimidation: It Was Super Effective!

    Hearing her questions, Evan burst intoughter once more while Eliza had a confused look on her face as she had never heard of this ''Human King'' person before in her life.


    "Pfft��Human king��Bahahaha. They actually told you guys that in reality...hahaha."


    Evan had a hard time holding hisughter, much to the vampire girl''s displeasure as she did not like being made fun of.


    "Sorry about that, Griselda.


    Although I knew the bullshit they told you guys, hearing it in reality, is a lot funnier."


    The young hero spoke with a light chuckle, deciding to stop after noticing the Vampire girl, Griselda''s increasing annoyance.


    She was momentarily surprised that Evan knew her name but she then remembered him saying something about having appraised her earlier.


    Nevertheless, the fact that he had appraised her and was able to see through her appraisal-blocking artifact, meant that he had seen her real level, stats and skills.


    "And here I thought they''d at least spare a Lorelei n vampire like you the bullshit brainwashing."


    Evan spoke with a sigh, but the words he spoke seemed to have a negative effect on Griselda.


    "How do you know of my Lorelei n?


    You humans are really gathering intel on us to wage war, aren''t you?!"


    "Pfft��war? We humans on this continent aren''t even done warring with ourselves. Do you really think we have the time to wage war against people living on another continent?"


    Griselda''s expression turned strange upon hearing Evan''s words. He most certainly was not acting the way she was taught that Humans on the Alpha continent would.


    Although she came over here to find out if what she was taught was true, she was currently having mixed feelings about the whole situation.


    She''d always found her n Leader''s hatred of humans on the Alpha continent absurd, which was very weird considering there were also humans on her continent too, just that they didn''t interact with them much.


    Part of the reason she hade over here, was because she wanted to verify if all she''d been taught was true.


    "I don''t know what you were told back home but, Evan and I certainly don''t have any intentions of killing you, okay?


    Oh, by the way, I''m Eliza.


    Nice to meet you, I guess?"


    Seeing the other blonde human casually introduce herself only served to further amplify Griselda''s strange feelings.


    "��You��. you really aren''t going to try and kill me?"


    The moment she asked that question, Evan''s amused smile disappeared from his face as he looked Griselda in the eye and spoke with a sigh.


    "Dear, dear, Griselda��"


    He summoned the unforged from his inventory and stabbed it into the ground, resting his palms atop the sword and activating his intimidation skill.


    The air around them crackled with charged energy and the ambient energies thrummed wildly as an overwhelming weight of power descended upon the area.


    Griselda felt like an invisible force was pressing down upon her very existence, sending shivers down her spine and raising the hairs on her neck.


    The air grew heavy with a tangible aura, an amalgamation of power that made her every breath feel constricted, suffocating her in its intensity.


    "If I really wanted to kill you��"


    The pressure seemed to intensify with every word he spoke, evoking a mix of reverence, fear and a profound understanding of the vast chasm that was the difference in strength between her and Evan.


    A suffocating sense of dread gripped her soul, as if she was standing on the precipice ofplete annihtion, under the immense weight of the essence of destruction emanating from the ''human'' in front of her.


    "��we would not be having this ''conversation''."


    Evan chuckled and deactivated his intimidation skill, leaving only the passive effect as he gave Griselda a light smile.


    The Unforged fell back into his inventory and he pulled out a foldable chair, taking a seat and gesturing to the other foldable chair on the floor in front of Griselda before repeating his earlier words.


    "Sit, let''s talk a bit."


    This time, Griselda didn''t dare to refuse.


    "Was that really necessary? You scared the poor girl."


    "I only wanted to test how good my control over the essence of destruction was. Nothing much."


    Since he was unable to level up, Evan had spent a lot of time improving his power maniption and control, and he had be able to channel a bit of the essence of destruction, even when he did not have the Blessing of Destruction skill active.


    And now, he just tested out imbuing said essence into his intimidation skill to see the effects, and from the traces of fear in Griselda''s eyes, it was super effective.


    "Show off."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Eliza snorted in reply before taking a step forward, crossing the distance between her and Griselda in a single breath, much to the Vampire girl''s surprise.


    Before Griselda could even take any other action, Eliza had already activated a spell on her.


    "Serenitatem."


    It was a Serenity Inducement type spell, one that allowed the user to induce powerful feelings of tranquillity in others, allowing one to keep others calm and peaceful.


    And it was certainly something Griselda needed at this point.


    "You feel okay now?"


    "��yes."


    "Good. Don''t mind that idiot, he''s been itching to show off his power for a while now."


    "��"


    Griselda didn''t know what to say in reply to Eliza''s words, she nced at Evan who was ying with a fox-transformed Ka and could not rte him to the same person she just saw mere moments ago.


    "Evan, Chair."


    Eliza requested another chair from Evan which the boy tossed over, catching it and taking a seat in front of Griselda before chatting up the girl, asking her a few questions.


    Although her answers were a bit hesitant at first, she gradually became more forting and within a few minutes, she was asking Eliza questions of her own, trying to understand the differences between the humans she was told about and the ones she was looking at.


    By the time her conversation had ended, Eliza had an indescribable look on her face as from what Griselda told her, young vampires were basically taught that the humans on the Alpha continent were no different from monsters or devils.


    "You know that some members of the Devil race aren''t as bad as you''d think, right?"


    "Some?"


    "It''s the same with humans, beastkin, dwarves, and every other race out there.


    There are good ones, there are bad ones, and there are those who''re in the grey area."


    Evan replied to Eliza''s words as he brought his seat closer while petting Ka''s fox form''s fur. He sat a few metres away from the two girls, taking the fact that Griselda might still be scared of him into ount.


    "Lemme guess. She was taught that humans, under themand of the ''Human King'', hunt down and kill any vampires they spot.


    And the higher-ranking humans even like to torture the vampires under the sun for days, treating them like ves and eventually killing them.


    As for the reason��the ''Human King'' was envious of the Vampire race''s longevity and base superhuman abilities, and his envy grew into hatred and he tried to wipe them all out, right?"


    "You''re quite knowledgeable on this��"


    The boy only shrugged in reply to Eliza''s words, before turning to Griselda and saying.


    "Lemme guess, they told you the name of the ''Human King''��is Rathal, did they not?"


    ""Huh?""


    The two girls let out voices of surprise for varying reasons, Eliza because she knew the Rathal Evan was referring to and that he definitely wasn''t any ''Human King'' and Griselda because Evan had gotten the name she was taught correctly.


    "Are you talking about ''Strongest Human'' Rathal? One of ''The Five''? Since when did he be the king of humans?"


    "That''s what the Sovereign Vampires teach the younger ones. They are basically brainwashing them; it''s quite sad when you think about it.


    As for the reason why they hate the humans of the Alpha continent, it''s simple."


    Evan set Ka down on the ground before continuing, speaking of the reason why the number of Sovereign Level existences on Aidos fell below 1000.


    "Nearly three decades ago, ''Strongest Human'' Rathal, killed twelve of the Vampire Race''s Sovereign Level existences in his ''rampage''.


    He''s also the main reason why there are no more Vampires on the Alpha and Beta Continents."


    A part of how Rathal, a human who was not even up to a century old, had reached the Level of Transcendents like the Kolvar and Zaos who spent centuries to get to that level.


    "Just what on Aidos happened thirty years ago��?"


    "Something we don''t have the time to talk about now."


    Evan replied as he looked at the system time and saw that it was past noon already, getting up from his chair and letting it fall back into his inventory.


    He then walked up to Griselda and checked her status, pulling out half a dozen elemental fruits for each of her affinities and handing them to her.


    "��what are these?"

 Chapter 484 Cavern Of The Frozen Harbinger

    "��what are these?"


    "Things that are very useful to you.


    Eat them all.


    Take these ones too."


    Evan gave her a few of the random treasures they found, ones he felt would be good for her before continuing.


    "Treat it as an apology for earlier."


    As he expected, Griselda had a spatial expansion artifact on her, a bangle; and after appraising it, he found that it had quite a lot of space within it.


    A little persuasion from Eliza whom she trusted more than Evan was enough to get her to ept the items and put them in her artifact.


    "Don''t tell anyone you came here, okay? Though I expect you''d already know that."


    "Are you taking me for an idiot?"


    "Ask me that again after not trying to enter suspicious magic circles that lead to the home of monsters twice your level."


    Evan''s retort to Griselda shocked the girl out of her wits. She nced back at the magic circle in front of the stone shrine with a hint of fear in her gaze while Evan only looked at her with an amused smile.


    ''Although the reason is different, the same effect of her not entering the magic circle like in the game was achieved.''


    Evan then pulled out a memory gem from his Inventory and tossed it to her, along with a badge that had his Peerage Crest as the ''Count Bourne''.


    "What are these for?"


    "The Memory Gem contains the real history of Human-Vampire rtions. And why your race was taken to Dark Continent by ''Dragon Lord'' Altrishia.


    Spoiler alert, she did that to protect your race.


    Also, even though Rathal hates your race, he would not do anything to any Vampire below the Epic Level, so even if hees here in this instant, he would not do anything to you, at most, he''d just tell you to go back however you came here."


    After exining the memory Gem to her, he then pointed at the badge and continued.


    "That, is my Nobility Crest."


    "Nobility? You''re a titled Noble?"


    "Yes, I am."


    Griselda was clearly surprised by this revtion, but after thinking about Evan''s disy of power earlier, she didn''t find it strange at all.


    ''If I was a ruler, I''d try to bind someone as powerful as him to my country through some means.


    Come to think of it, what level is he? I can sense that Eliza is a Grandmaster, but I cannot sense his level at all. Is he that much higher?''


    If only poor Griselda knew Evan was a master-level existence like she was, if only she knew.


    "Keep it on you, it''d be useful in the future."


    Evan only told her that one line before asking Eliza if she could sense Hydran''s life sign, to which the girl shook her head.


    "Well, I would have told Hydran to give you that Memory Gem, but since I met you in person it''s a lot better.


    Anyway, you should leave soon before your n notices you''ve gone missing."


    Although Griselda wanted to ask about the first part of Evan''s statement, the second part made her realise that she had been gone for hours and someone was bound to notice she was missing soon.


    She quickly pulled out her Spatial Magic artifact, and after bidding Eliza farewell, she utilized the artifact''s imbued Spatial Magic Spell, Gate.


    ''I should learn other spatial magic.


    More reason to get that spell tome.''


    Evan thought to himself as he watched the girl disappear beyond the portal, before turning back to Eliza and saying.


    "Now we''ve gotten on the good graces of one of the Vampire''s future Sovereign-level existences, let''s go kill Silverwing, shall we?"


    "Huh?"


    With those words, he casually walked into the magic circle and vanished after his body was wreathed in light, leaving behind a surprised Eliza who sighed and followed him after picking Ka up.


    �� �� ��


    "Evan, wait up. What did you mean by a ''future Sovereign Level existence''?"


    "Exactly just that.


    I mean, she IS the daughter of one of the Vampire Race''s Sovereign Level existences; the Vampire Permelia Lorelei, head and founder of the Lorelei Vampire n."


    "So, she''s a Big Shot''s daughter?"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Yep.


    She''s a big shot''s daughter who has more than enough resources to be a big shot on the level of her parent in the future.


    Besides, do you really think any random person would have ess to an artifact that lets them use the Tier 6 spatial magic, Gate?"


    Evan replied to Eliza as he sorted through the archive for information on Silverwing, a part of his mind reminiscing about Griselda''s appearance in the game during the demon Invasion.


    "When you think about it like that, it does be obvious she''s not a normal vampire.


    Even my dad wouldn''t let me use such an artifact."


    Thetter half of her statement was muttered silently, but Evan still heard it with his superhuman hearing.


    He paused for a moment and looked at Eliza with a strange gaze as he thought.


    ''She says that like her Dad does have an artifact on that level��


    Wait��Didn''t I give up on thinking about Eliza''s family for now?''


    Shaking his head, he kept on walking, only for Eliza to ask him a question he had been expecting.


    "You knew she was going to be here, didn''t you?"


    After being with Evan for more than a year, Eliza knew how the boy usually had information about events that were going to happen in the future, almost as if he had a skill that let him see into the future.


    However, Evan had shown her his status multiple times, and she had seen he didn''t have any skill of the sort.


    ''Unless he''s concealing it from me with his concealment skill.''


    For a moment, she felt a little bit sad at the thought that she wasn''t trusted that much, but she shook those thoughts out of her head right after.


    ''Come on, Elizabe. If you had such a skill, you''d hide it too.''


    "Yeah.


    I did know Griselda was going to be here sometime this year, I just didn''t know she was going to be here at the same time as us."


    "That so��?"


    "Yep. Lucky Coincidence."


    Evan shrugged his shoulders as he spoke, but Kuro who had climbed up to Eliza''s arms turned to Evan and snorted internally.


    ''Lucky coincidence my foot. That''s your irregr title at work, subtly altering fate and destiny.''


    However, Kuro did not voice these thoughts and just rested his head and closed his eyes to take a short nap.


    ''In the game, Hydran was the one who stopped her from entering Silverwing''s domain. But since Hydran isn''t here at the moment, she would have entered if it wasn''t for us and died against Silverwing if she did.


    Silverwing is not the kind of creature one can face alone and expect to win.


    Even though I know all of its skills and attack patterns, I am not confident in taking it on alone. This boss has the Unique skill variant of my Tenacity skill too, killing it is a chore. Plus, its attack power and stamina are off the charts.''


    Evan thought to himself as he remembered how difficult it was for him to defeat Silverwing in the game, he lost 5 of his six support characters during the battle, and both he and the sixth one were at less than 10% HP at the end.


    "Well, this ce wasn''t supposed to be her destination, though.


    She was supposed to end up somewhere else on the Alpha continent, but at the exact same moment she activated the artifact''s Gate spell��"


    Mid-sentence, scenes from Aidos Online shed in his mind, as he remembered his multiple defeats against that ''Entity'', even after days of strategizing.


    "��the wielder of the ''Child of Space'' Unique skill, did something at that same instant, scrambling and distorting all of space within a certain radius of their position."


    "And Griselda was within that radius?"


    "Bingo.


    But, since Gate is a Tier 6 Spell, it was powerful enough to prevent her from getting lost in spatial distortions or having her body torn to shreds by the ensuing spatial storms between her and her original destination.


    Instead, the spell sent her here, to the ''Cavern of the Frozen Harbinger''.


    Thus, her goal of meeting Alpha continental humans was NOT achieved."


    [She met you two, and Master decided to be a show off.]


    Milena chipped in a reply that Eliza and Ka concurred with, much to Evan''s dismay, then again, exining why he really did that was kind of a hassle for him.


    ''In the game, the one who ''Intimidated'' her, was Hydran. He nearly killed her because of her presence here despite not possessing the ''Loved By Nature'' title, but after understanding her circumstances, he decided to let her go.


    But that experience of being shown the vast gap in strength between her and Hydran was the driving force that pushed her to strive for greater power, in a bid to surpass Hydran himself.


    She made the most of her Elder Breed bloodline and was able to be a Sovereign level existence by the time the Dimensional Rift''s Seal broke, almost as fast as Rathal.''

 Chapter 485 Silverwing I

    Evan remembered Griselda''s backstory in the game; where it was stated that the ''Unimaginably Powerful existence'' that made her feel like nothing more than an ant waiting to be crushed before its might was what lit the fire of her desire for power.


    In the game, when Griselda returned to the Alpha continent yearster, she searched for Hydran, trying to see how the power she now possessed fared inparison to him.


    It wasn''t explicitly stated that the being whom she met on the Alpha continent in her teenage years was Hydran, but the description she gave when she was searching for Hydran is what led yers to figure out it was him.


    She had stated she was looking for an ''Unimaginably powerful Existence'' residing on the Alpha continent, and as for the description of this being;


    It was something that had the head of a reptilian creature, with golden slit pupils and just the size of its head alone, was over a hundred metres.


    The body of this being even when folded multiple times, was enough to fit into mountains that towered 5000 metres above the ground, and yet, it still even had to dig into the ground for hundreds, possibly even thousands of kilometres.


    It was an existence that if it were to ever move, was capable of ttening everything within tens of thousands of miles with its massive body; the surroundings would be destroyed and people would die faster than ants being squashed.


    When the people of Aidos heard that description, they were confused, but the yers of the game at that time knew exactly what Griselda was describing.


    It was the true body of one of Aidos'' Defence Mechanisms; the Ouroboros of Water and Lightning, Hydran Iremith.


    Griselda had seen the visage of Hydran''s true form and that alone was just as effective in intimidating her as what Evan had done.


    However, due to Eliza''s presence here, Hydran had left to go and visit ''an old friend'', so Griselda was spared the sight of his ridiculous true body.


    Even so, Evan feared that not receiving that ''Intimidation'' from an ''Unimaginably Powerful Existence'', was going to change Griselda''s future negatively and give Aidos on less Sovereign Level existence tobat the demons.


    ''As such, I took it upon myself to act as that ''Unimaginably Powerful Existence'' to her.


    I mean, if I wanted to just simply show her that I was stronger, then using a ''little'' burst of energy would have been enough.


    There would have been no need to turn Intimidation up to the max and even infuse the essence of destruction.


    But I had to do that, to simte what she would have felt when seeing Hydran.''


    Such were the thoughts going through Evan''s head as he faced the gazes of Eliza, Ka and Milena who were clearly thinking he just wanted to show off.


    ''I wouldn''t deny that was part of the reason though.


    Anyway, when Griselda returns, she would be looking for an ''Unimaginably Powerful Human'', named Evan and with my crest, it''d be easier for her to find me.


    Hopefully, I possess InterContinental Authority, and at least Sovereign Level power by then, it''d be easier for me to prevent Rathal from killing her on sight, and her ''connection'' with me would serve as the Conduit to bring the Vampires into the coalition forces to fight against the demons.''


    "Anyway��*cough* *cough* Enough talk about Griselda.


    How about we discuss the master of this Cavern that we''re gonna be facing in a few minutes?"


    Evan diverted the topic of discussion from the Vampire Griselda, to the more pressing situation at hand.


    "You did speak about something called Silverwing. What''s that?"


    "For starters��it''s a creature that has the colour silver on its wings. That much was obvious."


    "No shit, Sherlock."


    Eliza rolled her eyes as she replied to Evan, using a statement that Evan hadn''t heard ever since hee to Aidos.


    "Did you just say Sherlock?"


    "Did I stutter?"


    "Were you referencing a Legendary Great Consulting Detective called Sherlock?"


    "Evan. That''s just a novel."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Oh��"


    Hearing Eliza''s reply, Evan wondered if someone from Earth V reincarnated on Aidos in the past or so. But seeing as that was not important, he turned his focus back to info dumping them about Silverwing.


    "Anyway, here are Silverwing''s skills and magic."


    They spent the rest of the way down the majestic frozen hallway, talking about the Event Boss, Silverwing, and just when Evan was about to tell them about its Unique Skills, they arrived at the Boss Room.


    Evan pulled out the unforged from the get-go, as he had zero ns on holding back for this fight. He was going to return to top condition right after anyway so it didn''t really matter.


    Seeing this, Eliza readied the Memoria, checking her status and seeing the ''A'' that sat in her Energy tab, recharging her Skill Charges and gazing at the massive space in front of them.


    She scanned their surroundings cautiously but there was no semnce of any monsters in therge circr space in front of them.


    Like the hallways they were in before, there were glowing blue crystals set in the walls, but this time there was no ceiling at all.


    Snowkes gently glided down from the sky, covering everything in ayer of snow.


    Looking forward, there was an extrarge crystal formation on the far wall �C and a giant bird''s nest on top of it.


    But that nest was unupied�C


    �CFor now.


    There seemed to be some sort of boundary line separating the hallway they were in from this circr space.


    Evan casually walked closer to it, eventually crossing it but once he took five steps beyond the line, he stopped.


    Following him, Eliza, Ka and Milena also did and looked at him in confusion, but it did not take them long to realise why.


    "Brace yourselves."


    "?....?!"


    "GROARRR!!"


    At that instant, a deafening roar exploded overhead, and together with it, something plunged down at a high speed towards the hall from high up in the sky.


    But since they were on alert, they were able to jump out of the way and dodge.


    **BOOOMM!!!


    Five massive jagged pirs of ice smashed down onto where they were merely a second ago, sting the entrance to the hallway to bits.


    Following that, a ''creature'' swooped down onto the nest in front of them.


    It had feathers as white as snow, with silver patterns on its two outstretched wings that were almost a hundred metres in wingspan.


    ring eyes, sharp beaks, and talons bearing the dignity of the strong.


    There was a piercing gleam in its eyes, every bit as sharp as its beak and talons. Its entire form radiated power.


    With the grandeur of the powerful, this Monster Bird descended upon the nest.


    Diplomacy was clearly not an option.


    The fight had already begun.

 Chapter 486 Silverwing II [Bonus]

    "Oy! Evan, what the hell?!"


    Eliza''s questioning voice rang out as she set her sapphire eyes on the creature in front of them, however, she was not exactly looking at its body, but at its life force.


    And from the sheer amount of life force that she felt, this was going to be her and Evan''s toughest opponent yet.


    ''If the Eighth Finger or that Duhan King faced this without being careful��!''


    "Liz, we''re gonna have to go all out with this one."


    "OBVIOUSLY!"


    She retorted loudly to Evan''s words as she activated her support magic and ced damage bonus and damage reduction buffs on all of them.


    "When you think about what''s after this ce, you''d understand why there''s such a powerful guardian.


    But on the bright side, it scales ording to our existence levels, so the higher we are, the stronger it is.


    If I was also a grandmaster, then the Silverwing we''re looking at would be an Epic Level existence."


    "That''d be a lot more difficult to defeat."


    [Difficult, but not impossible.]


    "Yeah, yeah. But now''s not the time for that."


    ''Especially considering we most likely have members of the Demonic Hand''s first division waiting for us outside.''


    Evan thought to himself as he unleashed his aura and coated the Unforged with it, a golden glow lighting up the crest in his eyes, signifying the activation of his Unique Skill.


    As for Silverwing, there was no way the bird was going to just stay there and let them continue chatting.


    Silverwing spread out its wings and more than fifty crystal blue two-ringed magic circles manifested on both sides.


    What followed, was a fuside of jagged icicles that shot through the air at breakneck speeds.


    A sudden gust of wind stirred the air as the barrage of icy projectiles came hurtling towards them.


    The icy missiles moved with such incredible speed that they seemed to blur together, creating a deadly storm of frozen shards.


    "Barrier!!


    Divergent Wards!!"


    The AOE attack left very little avenue for the party to dodge, so they could only defend. Eliza deployed two of her Multiyered barriers, along with dozens of square-shaped barriers, fifty centimetres on each side.


    Seeing as its powerful ice missiles were blocked by Eliza''s barriers, Silverwing''s eyes shed with light as it instantly changed up its magic spell.


    All the dozens of magic circles merged together into one gigantic crystal blue magic circle with strange inscriptions Eliza had never seen before on it.


    However, what made her eyes widen in shock was that surrounding this massive magic circle, were three rings of light, with the addition of a fourth illusory ring.


    "Shit!"


    Both she and everyone else had already been informed of this spell by Evan, but seeing the monster casually break out a Tier 3 spell barely a minute into the fight still left them momentarily shocked.


    "Guys!"


    "[We know!]"


    Eliza and the spirit trio responded, as blocking this spell with barriers or dodging was futile, in the end, they could only send their own attacks to intercept it midway.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Flower Cannon!"


    [Brightest Shadow!]


    [Ice st]


    [Fire-Lightning Breath.]


    The icy floor trembled slightly, before cracking open to give way for a massive flower shoot with energy condensing within its closed petals to emerge behind Eliza.


    A sphere of ck light manifested atop Kuro''s head, and a ball of translucent blue ice coalesced in front of Milena''s outstretched palms.


    Lastly, Ka transformed her body into that of a wyvern, opening her maw and charging a condensed breath of fire and lightning elemental energies.


    The next instant Silverwing''s eyes shed with a blue light and the magic circle in front of it grew brighter, something that made Eliza prepare her barrier spells and skills upon noticing.


    "KAA!!"


    With a shout, Silverwing activated its Tier 3 Magic, and an enormous white dragon with blood-red eyes emerged from the circle, the dragon shot forward, casting ayer of ice atop everything in its path as it shot towards the party.


    Eliza and the spiritsunched their attacks simultaneously, mixing them together to create a massive light beam of varying colours that tore through the air in an upward arc.


    It was then that Evan blinked and appeared right behind their attacks, a whirling mass of spiral reddish gold aura surrounding his sword.


    Thrusting it forward, heunched this destruction Vortex, adding it to the mix of attacks that surged towards the iing white dragon.


    Immediately after, he blinked right behind Eliza who held a magic stone in her hands, the spoils from the Bear monster she killed earlier.


    She sucked magic power from it and used it to power the five multiyered barriers she erected in the next second, while Kuro, wrapped his shadows around Ka and Milena, pulling them into Eliza''s shadow.


    All this happened, a second before the white dragon and theirbination of attacks collided mid-air.


    ***KAAABOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!!


    What followed was a cataclysmic sh of elemental forces, with theirbination attack colliding with the white dragon and igniting a spectacr explosion of raw power.


    A dazzling burst of brilliance engulfed the cavern, filling the air with crackling energy and rays of fiery tendrils, dancing and intertwining with icy shards.


    Bolts of lightning crackled and surged through the chaotic maelstrom, while the essence of destruction charged vortex twisted and distorted the surroundings, intensifying the unleashed havoc.


    The sheer force of the impact sent shockwaves rippling outward in all directions, spreading so far that the people far away in Lastham and Shelde felt it as a massive earthquake of untold magnitudes.


    When the icy dust settled and the chaos subsided, the Cavern of the Frozen Harbinger was revealed once more, and surprisingly, besides a few cracks to the icy walls and a massive crater in the ground beneath the collision point of the attacks, there was no other major damage to the surroundings.


    However, all of them here present knew, that this was only because the Cavern was a ce that could withstand a fully powered strike from more powerful existences, and was also quite resilient to the power of its master; Silverwing.


    If the quintet''sbination attack collided with Silverwing''s spell outside, then the sheer amount of destruction would have been enough to delete more than half of arge Station city like Lastham off the map.


    Of Eliza''s five multiyered barriers, only two remained standing strong. Cracks spread across the magic stone of the giant bear in her hands, before it shattered to dust, its energypletely spent.


    Right after using such a spell, Silverwing took a short moment to rest, a moment that Evan who had fought this boss in the game, knew to take advantage of.


    Eliza dismissed her barriers and absorbed the energy constituting thest two barriers into her body while Evan kicked off the ground and boosted forward immediately.


    He moved so fast, crossing over two hundred meters of distance in a single second, but that second was all Silverwing needed to recover.


    It let out an ear-splitting shriek and activated another spell, generating a white magic circle on the ground beneath Evan''s feet.

 Chapter 487 Silverwing III

    Despite his outstanding speed, the spell activated faster than he could escape its range, rumbling the icy floor and releasing massive ice spikes, each over a yard tall, from the ground.


    Even so, Evan was not caught unaware, activating Elemental Shield and setting the element to fire at thest moment.


    **BOOM!!


    The icy spikes covered every inch of the ground��except for the area within a metre radius of Evan''s feet.


    Clouds of snow and ice scattered as even burst forth, his speed increasing even further as he kicked off the ground once more and leapt towards Silverwing.


    The bird red at him and flexed its talons, shooting off from its nest and beelining straight to him, with a speed that was every bit as fast as his.


    ''Blink.''


    Silverwing took a moment to retaliate to his sudden disappearance, and in the dizzying chaos of battle, that was a fatal mistake.


    ''Spirits, heed my call.''


    The ambient spirits responded to Evan before he could even finish calling them, joining the roaring spiral-shaped mass of magic power gathering around his sword and infusing it with their respective elements.


    Silverwing noticed his location due to the condensing energy signature and tried to move, but the three spirits were just gonna sit back and watch.


    [Superconductive Drill!]


    [Deadly Mist Coil!]


    Ka and Kuro simultaneously activated their skills, generating two coils of eerie dark tangible mist that wrapped around Silverwing''s wings and temporarily held itsrge body in the air.


    Simultaneously, sixteen square blocks of golden lightning manifested in front of one of its restrained wings, rearranging into a giant drill that spun across the air, crackling with tendrils of lightning as it drilled into its majestic Silver wings.


    The monster bird''s attention was split between both sides, its brain taking a second to deliberate which attack to react to, but by the time it could make that decision, Evan''s Elemental Vortex had already beenunched.


    ***BOOOOMMM!!!


    The roaring spiral-shaped mass of elemental auras collided with Silverwing''s talon, unleashing an explosion of energy that swallowed up its entire leg.


    "KIAAKK!!"


    Silverwing cried out in pain and anger, its cry increasing as Ka''s skill drilled a hole straight through its wing. It released a massive burst of icy energy that broke Kuro''s holds and knocked Evan flying, but he flipped mid-air andnded on a void step, before boosting back into the air.


    "Flower Cannon!"


    The gigantic flower shoot emerging from behind Elizaunched a concentrated beam of life ice, carrying the power of one of Eliza''s skill charges.


    Naturally, she had chosen ''Anti Regeneration'' as the aspect of life to control.


    The beam of green light collided with Silverwing''s torso and knocked the bird towards the wall of the cavern, where Milena was waiting with an array of pressurized water spears.


    Silverwing''s eyes glinted and it flipped its body mid-air, swiping its good wing and releasing a wave of icy wind that transformed into a blizzard by the time it reached Milena.


    The pressurized water spears were frozen and the Spirit''s body was swallowed by the blizzard faster than she could dematerialize it.


    But even after dematerializing it, Silvering''s blizzard still managed to harm her spiritual form, her eyes widening in shock as she fled the area as fast as she could.


    [Milena!]


    Ka called out to Milena worriedly, and the high-rank spirit materialized her body next to her Great Spirit brethren, her clothes lightly shredded along with lines of bright red blood marking her face and arms.


    [This ice��something''s not right about it.]


    Milena''s ced her palms on the floor and absorbed the frozen energy of the Cavern to heal her wounds, right when a message came into her head via her connection with Evan.


    ''Don''t let Silverwing notice you can do that! It''d attack you through the energy you''re absorbing.''


    The high-rank spirit was shocked when he heard Evan''s warning, her gaze turning towards the monster bird but she saw that it was currently upied with the young hero''s attacks.


    "Empyreal Judge of Light!"


    Golden magic power surged from Evan''s body, transforming into a massive half-body construct of golden light, dressed in a judge''s robe and wig.


    The blindfolded humanoid avatar of light held up its giant gavel and swung it downwards, not even waiting for the sound block toplete spawning behind Silverwing.


    Seeing this, the bird''s eyes glinted and it activated a skill, sending out a wave of extreme cold that froze the avatar of light, or rather, the magic power that constituted the avatar of light.


    **BOOOOMMM!!!!


    The frozen avatar shattered with a massive explosion after being detonated by the bird, sending Evan''s body flying onto the walls of the cavern.


    *BAM!<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Just as Evan''s body mmed onto the cavern wall, magic circles formed around Silverwing and ice spikes emerged from these circles, firing in the directions of both Evan and the Spirts moving to assist him.


    **BOOM! BOOOMMM!! BOOOMM!!!


    Multiple explosions rang out simultaneously, each one carrying enough force to crumble a three-story duplex to rubble in mere seconds.


    But when the icy dust of the explosions calmed down, Silverwing''s brows raised in surprise as it saw that each of the party members had been guarded by multiple floating shields, each one a meter long on all sides.


    It turned its gaze towards the person who released these divergent wards, narrowing its eyes at her and kicking off the ground with its single leg.


    Despite there being a hole in its wing, Silverwing could fly just fine as it beelined straight towards Eliza who only released the Memoria''s spear tip and swung it down with all her might.


    ''Boon of Enhanced Assaults.


    Elemental Damage Breach-Positive


    Elemental Damage Bonus-Negative


    Corrosion


    Weighted Burden.''


    In that instant, sheyered multiple buffs on herself and channelled debuffs into the Cutting wave she released right after.


    Unlike usual, this cutting wave activation released a massive fifty-metre-long projection of vibrant pulsating negative life energy that surged forward, carving through the icy ground on its way towards the iing silvering.


    Sensing the danger from the attack, Silverwing abruptly tried to cancel its charge midway, but there was no way that the others were going to give it that luxury.


    The shadow it cast on the ground seemed toe alive as it rose up and grabbed the bird''s body, forcing it to the ground and restraining it long enough for Eliza''s sh to hit.


    The Attack sliced through Silverwing''s harder-than-steel-like feathers, tearing through its flesh and spraying bright red blood in the air.


    All the debuffs took effect at once, as the wound began festering over with gooey greenish pus bubbling within, its body also felt like its weight had been doubled too.


    Silverwing changed its evaluation of this human support, she was not like others who hadughable attack power due to their support roles, she actually had attack power that only lost out to warrior-oriented sses!


    [Thunderp!]


    A wall of lightning blocks appeared in front of Silverwing''s face, before folding in a ''pping'' motion immediately after and dealing wide area lighting damage to anything in front of it.


    In this case, the monster bird''s head was the ''thing'' in front of it.


    Silverwing''s muffled shriek of pain rang out, but the party was intent on making it shriek out in more pain.


    Kuro''s brightest shadowunched dozens of dark light beams towards it, Milena swung a whip of pressurized water down on its body while Evan tossed ten balls of swirling vtile energy.


    "Back away!!"


    Eliza''s abrupt warning rang out, momentarily startling them, even so, they cancelled their next actions and tried to gain distance.


    Unfortunately, that moment of being startled was taken advantage of by Silverwing.


    ''Frost Nova!''


    The Bird activated one of its skill''s abilities, and unleashed a devastating wave of icy energy, creating a massive shockwave that froze everything in its path.


    The powerful wave mmed into the bodies of Evan, Ka, and Milena, sending them flying over a hundred metres in distance, and it also covered their bodies in cold ice in an attempt to immobilize them.


    The trio''s bodies crashed on the ground and rag-dolled for a few more metres before finallying to a stop, but despite the pain they felt, Evan and Ka simultaneously activated fire magic on themselves.


    [''Fire Ssh!'']


    A wave of mes washed over their bodies, melting the ice that was threatening to turn them into ice sculptures, but even so, their breaths still released puffs of frost.


    For Milena, the spirit was more resistant to Ice based phenomena, so the only damage she sustained was from the fall.


    |Adaptive Evolution has been triggered. |


    |Elemental Resistance: Ice has been upgraded. |


    Evan dismissed the notifications and turned his gaze forward, witnessing the bloodied Silverwing that had broken out of Kuro''s shadowy holds and was twisting its wounded body to dodge Eliza''s flower cannon.


    He pulled out magic potions and energy stones from his inventory and tossed them to Ka and Milena, putting a magic replenishing juice pack in his mouth as he thought.


    ''It''s about time.''

 Chapter 488 Silverwing IV

    ''It''s about time.''


    Right after he thought that the real reason for Eliza''s earlier warning happened, a silver haze rose up from Silverwing''s body, its eyes glowing with a simr coloured light as one of its skills, the Unique Skill Variant of Tenacity was activated.


    Eliza''s eyes widened as Silverwing''s life force surged, washing over its body right after.


    When the silver haze died down, Silverwing''s appearance was revealed for them to see.


    "You gotta be fucking kidding me!"


    The battle priestess screamed out as she looked at the now unscathed body of Silverwing, its beak pointed upward and a mocking nce in its eyes as it gazed at them.


    Its injuries hadpletely recovered.


    Now��it was time for Round 2.


    �� �� ��


    Silverwing was an Event Limited boss that only appeared in Aidos Online a maximum of three times during its years of Service.


    And it was touted as one of the most difficult bosses in the game, due to its ridiculous set of Unique skills and absurd amount of HP.


    It was as if the developers ced Silverwing there to torture the yers of the game.


    If only they knew that an Irregr existence like Silverwing existed in reality, somewhere in the universe.


    Yes, Silverwing, was an Irregr just like Evan, something that Evan was able to tell just the way the Undead Dragon from Cheverton had done when it saw him.


    And the creature just disyed one of the reasons why it had that title.


    Without waiting for the party to recover from their shock, Silverwingunched multiple ice chunks and shot towards Evan''s direction, intending on taking out the wielder of that dangerous crimsonw essence.


    The boy whipped into motion, shooting towards the monster with his eyes locked on it.


    Because Silverwing was flying along the ice chunks, there were more gaps for him to slip through. He created a series of Void steps and leapt into the air, darting over faster than Silverwing could catch him with its energy-coated beak and sailing over the bird''s head.


    "de cannon!"


    The sh of reddish gold aura followed the five fist-sized bullets of the same energy, bashing through Silverwing''s feathers and paving the way for the apanying shes to rend its flesh.


    ''No soul damage, huh? Guess that''s the best I can do without using the skill.''


    Evan thought to himself as he used Hookshot and Evesting chains in conjunction, shooting a golden chain that pierced through Silverwing''s flesh and within an instant, he was already on its body.


    Three jagged ice spikes collided with the air where he was a second ago, but Evan was already taking advantage of Hook shot''s paralysis effect to release another attack.


    His hand blurred and within the few seconds of Silverwing''s paralysis, Evan had drawn a dozen sword lines on its back with his aura.


    "KIAAA!!!"


    Silverwing shrieked and broke free from the paralysis, wheeling around its body and spreading its wings wide.


    From the corner of its vision, it saw dozens of iing dark, lighting, me and water projectilesing from all sides, narrowing its brows and pping its wings hard in response.


    The resulting gale violently uprooted all the spikes of ice on the ground, creating a hail of ice that was hard to predict.


    More magic circles formed and released spikes of ice to collide with all the elemental projectiles fired by the spirits and nullify them.


    Nevertheless, the moment it took to do that, Evan saw three rings of green light appearing on his wrists and legs, buffs from Eliza that he appreciated as he unleashed a point-nk elemental vortex.


    ***BOOOOMM!!!


    Silverwing''s body crashed violently on the ground as the mass of spiralling magic power struck true.


    [Rock-Paper-Scissors!]


    Ka''s sudden shout had sixteen lightning energy blocks forming in front of one of the birds'' wings, reforging in a giant fist and punching Silverwing''s head to the side.


    It then turned into a giant hand and pped one of the bird''s wings, before finally transforming into a giant scissors and attempting to snip said wing off.


    For the other wing, Kuro''s shadows surged forward, releasing multiple projectiles of dark light that punctured its wings and perforated them.


    Before Milena could throw in her own attack after getting Eliza''s buffs, the bird roared and tried to use its Frost Nova again, but this time, Evan and Ka were alert so they instantly blinked/zapped out of the range.


    As for Kuro, he simply delved into his shadow and reappeared behind Eliza.


    The frosty winds swept through the hall once more, but they failed to hit any targets.


    Silverwing didn''t mind as it only did that to stop Ka from actually snipping off its wing, turning towards the person responsible for their increased damage and beelining towards her.


    Sadly, Evan blinked right in front of his target, a gigantic elemental projected weapon of mes in his hands.


    To make sure his Energy sword master ss buffs were there, he left the weapon in the shape of a sword, just that its sheer size was massive.


    The bird swung its ice-coated talons at Evan, attempting to rip him in two but Evan swung the sword and blocked the attack, sending the bird reeling backwards and spewing blood everywhere.


    Seizing the chance, Evan infused more energy into the sword and swung it once more, seeding in dealing more damage to Silverwing, but the bird''s talons got a hit in on him too.


    Blood sshed as Evan''s clothes, made out of grandmaster spider monster threads, were ripped apart and his body was sent flying towards Eliza.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Breath of Life!"


    The girl had the skill activated already before she had even caught his body, channelling the healing power right into the wound he had just received.


    And as expected of a unique skill, the massive gash on his torso healed rapidly, with all the cold energy being expelled.


    As for the exchange between Evan and Silverwing, it was obvious who hade out worse from it.


    Milena took advantage of Silverwing''s'' momentary pause due to the pain of losing its leg again and vaulted onto its back.


    "Descending Cocanth!"


    A huge burst of water spread across the birds back, with a massive cocanth manifesting from Milena''s body and mming onto Silverwing''s body, drenching it in even more water.


    It let out a roar and thrashed wildly, but Milena had already left the scene, and it was time for Ka to shine��literally.


    [Pseudo-Authority of Lightning!


    Descend!!]


    Dark clouds gathered over the massive cavern, followed by the descent of a massive arrow of lighting that dripped down onto Silverwing''s body.


    Drenched in water, the bird knew just how much of a bad idea it was to get hit with lightning at this time, but Kuro wasn''t going to let it get away.


    [Shadow Bind!!]


    Tendrils of darkness emerged from Silverwing''s shadow andtched onto it, holding it in ce long enough for Ka''s lightning bolt to descend.


    **BZZZZCHHKKKTTTT!!!!


    Ka''s lightning bolt electrocuted Silverwing''s body with so much lightning that Evan could swear he could see the bird''s skeleton shing.


    Its massive frame crashed down onto the ground after getting hit with that bolt, but Eliza noticed its life force washing over its body strangely.


    She consumed two charges of her skill and sent out her life essence, trying to block the Creature''s skill activation and she actually seeded��for three seconds.


    "KIAK!"


    Silverwing let out a short screech and it rebounded her life essence, even devouring some of it and turning using it to supplement its own.


    A silver haze covered its body and by the time Silverwing''s body hit the ground, its wounds had vanished once more.


    "Evan! How many times can this thing do that?!"


    "It depends on how much life fo-?!"


    His eyes widened as he sensed magic power swelling up from Silverwing''s direction, specifically, its throat.


    It spread out its wings and backed away, sinking its talons into the ground.


    Its beak yawned opened and a four-ringed magic circle appeared.


    No one needed to be told about how bad that was.


    Evan tossed three energy stones to Eliza and she instantly used them to generate multiyered barriers in front of her.


    Kuro, Ka and Milena also retreated behind it for cover as Eliza activated support magic.


    "Elemental Damage Breach-Negative.


    Elemental Ward, Ice!"


    Just as the words left Eliza''s lips��


    Silverser beams nketed everything in sight.


    �� �� ��


    How fast could a high-velocity beam of ice move?


    **BOOM!!


    From thepression shockwaves simr to high explosive st waves that spread out omnidirectionally, Evan knew that at the very least, sound was slow inparison.


    ***KAAABOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!!


    The ground trembled beneath the colossal explosion as the beam of icy energy collided with Eliza''s angled barriers and unleashed an ear-shattering explosion that reverberated through the air.


    The impact created a shockwave that ripped through the surroundings and caused debris to fly in the air.


    Citizens of the closer city of Shelde saw their second earthquake of the day, just one that was far greater in intensity than the previous one.


    When the echoes of the Collison subsided, a lingering gaze of icy smoke and dust nketed the aftermath, casting an eerie silence over the area.


    The wall behind them had crumbled to bits and parts of the hallways they walked through had been ravaged.


    ''That had to have gotten them down for the count.''

 Chapter 489 Silverwing V

    ''That had to have gotten them down for the count.''


    -- Silverwing thought.


    Little did it know, that a certain hero, cloaked in the aura of his concealment skill, was beelining straight towards its position.


    As it closed its beak and took a deep breath to rx, its instincts suddenly screamed at it to dodge.


    Without hesitation, Silverwing coated its body with ice and twisted its massive frame, barely enough to escape the swirling mass of spiral energy that scrapped its wings and flesh off its side.


    ''The fuck?!''


    The bird cursed internally as it flipped its body over and used its wings to generate wind pressure, knocking Evan away and his concealment was undone.


    But that was only because he wanted to activate another rare skill and didn''t want to strain himself.


    ''Vindiction''s strike.''


    Evan rose two fingers in the air and swiped them from left to right in Silverwing''s direction, and half a secondter, a ck gold portal appeared and released a simr beam of condensed energy that sent Silverwing flying from one end of the cavern and crashing down at the other.


    Despite this, the monster only had a few scratches on its body, and Vindiction''s strike had only managed to take out its ridiculously strong feathers, leaving the flesh underneath untouched.


    "Only that much damage?!"


    "It has absurd resistances, we''re gonna have to hit harder!"


    "I''m already hitting harder!"


    Eliza shouted back at Evan as she released a fifty-metre cutting wave, sending the projected energy wave barrelling towards Silverwing''s direction, obviously, with the debuffs applied to it.


    The wave shed apart one of the bird''s wings, messily slicing it in two pieces and eliciting a shriek of pain from it.


    Even so, its senses alerted it of Evan who was blitzing towards it, his body crackling with golden lightning.


    Using its skill, itunched dozens of icy projectiles towards him but the young hero moved in zig zags, making it hard for the bird who was concentrating on healing itself to aim.


    Life energy washed over its body again and its wing was healed, it then pped both wings and tried to fly but Kuro wasn''t about to let that happen.


    Its shadow came alive and flew up along with it, grabbing it and mming it down on the ground, before restraining it so Evan''s vortex could hit.


    ''Third time!!!''


    Silverwing screamed out internally as Evan once again deprived it of one of its talons with an elemental vortex.


    Deciding to return the favour, it screeched out loud and generated a massive blizzard around its body, destroying Kuro''s shadowy binds in the process.


    Sadly, its blizzard didn''tst long as Ka, buffed with Elemental damage bonus support magic, descended on it with a burst of lightning.


    That same instant, Eliza crouched and applied multiple speed buffs on herself, before kicking off the ground with enough force to leave a small crater, boosting forward with her speed that surpassed Evan''s in his base state.


    A multitude of jagged ice spikes tore through the air and tried to reach her, but she used her Divergent ward and created multiple green barriers that moved around to block the jagged ice spikes.


    She moved swiftly, cing a ward under her feet and using it to springboard into the air. She then backflipped into the air once more over Silverwing''s head and held out the Memoria, loading it with two charges of her unique skill and shouting out.


    "Anti Regen! Unhealing!"


    All the speed buffs on her disappeared and six rings of green light appeared around her right arm before she used all her might to throw the weapon, spear tip forward.


    **BOOM!


    The sheer amount of force she used, allowed the weapon to surpass sound for a moment, crashing into Silverwing''s back and piercing through its feathers and flesh with ease.


    Silverwing''s massive frame copsed to the ground from the force, roaring in pain, but Ka told it to ''shut up'' using her next attack.


    [Ark sh.]


    Shepressed a gigantic orb of static energy into a singr point that ground down on Silverwing''s body, dealing multiple instances of wide-area lightning damage.


    And to make it hurt more, Milena enveloped its body in a massive torrent of water at that moment, followed by Ka releasing another Ark sh while Kuro held it with its shadow.


    "Ka! Milena! Retreat!"


    Evan''s order came suddenly but the two spirits did not hesitate to oblige. Silverwing''s eyes glinted with an icy light right after as the area was suddenly enveloped in multiple white and silver feathers.


    They were all identical to Silverwing''s ones and also emanated its aura too.


    Seeing this, Evan cursed out loud.


    "This damned bird is already using its unique skill!"


    ''Silver de Domain!''<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Silverwing''s wings shone with the light of its crystal blue aura, interacting with all the feathers in the surroundings and making them shine with the element too.


    In the next moment, all the feathers around formed a storm of des that attacked everything everywhere inside the domain.


    Landing on the floor, a silver haze rose up from the bird''s body, one more powerful than before and right before their very eyes, the flesh around Silverwing''s foot began bubbling and then a greenish illusory coat on its body was broken and the leg regenerated.


    "It just broke my anti-regeneration!"


    "Well, you''re gonna have to put another one on it!"


    Evan replied as he kicked off the ground and blitzed forward, attracting the attention of Silverwing who turned in his direction and opened its beak,unching a beam of icy light at him.


    The boy jumped up to dodge, kicking off a void step and backflipping over the beam of light, beforending on another void step and darting back on the ground.


    He was met with dozens of icy projectiles, but the boy only gazed at them in silence, coating his hand in aura and then��


    **SWISH!! SWISH!!! SWISH!!!!


    His hand blurred and all the projectiles of ice were instantly sliced into pieces that fell on the ground. Without a moment''s break, he continued his dash towards Silverwing, sending out a message towards all his contracted spirits.


    ''It has used its Unique skill 5 times. Now, hold nothing back.''


    Right after that, his lips parted and he used his own unique skill.


    "Blessing of Destruction: First activation!"


    The crimson-red essence of destruction washed over Evan''s body, tripling his maximum power and granting him the worldw doctrine''s soul-damage abilities.


    His aura surged for a moment, as in the next, all that was left was a crater on the ground where he stood.


    A streak of reddish gold light streaked right under the body of the surprised Silverwing, its eyes widening as it tried to use its wings to generate gusts of wind to blow Evan away, all while charging another beam in its maw.


    "Nope."


    With that one word, Evan released a vortex right to Silverwing''s jaw, causing the energy it was condensing to explode in its mouth and make its whole body fall backwards.


    Since Eliza''s spear was still stabbed into its back, falling backwards made the spear dig deeper into its body and cause it more pain.


    It trashed around in pain as the wound of the spear added to Evan''s soul damage was more than its pain tolerance.


    Milena and Evan switched positions, with the high-rank spiritunching dozens of pressurized water spears that pierced through its wings and pinned it to the ground.


    Evan then released a sh of his reddish-gold aura that created a gash on Silverwing''s torso.


    Seeing this, Kuro jumped into Eliza''s shadow and appeared out of Silverwing''s, running up the bird''s massive body and reaching the wound Evan created.


    He then rose his paw coated with condensed magic power and dug his paw into the wound.


    [Brightest Shadow]


    The ball of dark light manifested inside Silverwing''s body, exploding right after and sending the monster''s blood and flesh flying about.


    "KIIIIEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!!"


    Silverwing shrieked with all its might and sent out waves of its frosty aura in the surroundings, but Kuro had already delved back into his shadow, while Ka and Milena had taken distance.


    As for Evan, such an attack could not harm much him in his current state.


    Meanwhile, Eliza, hanging off one of her Divergent Wards in the air, jumped off the barrier and let her body fall straight towards Silverwing.


    She coated her body in negative life essence, condensing a lot around her feet, with six rings of light appearing around it.


    Although Eliza''s strength stat was her weakest stat, it did not change the fact that it was an A- rank stat.


    **BAAMM!!!


    The girl''s footnded on Silverwing''s chest and knocked the air out of its lungs, making it cough up blood and saliva.


    Without hesitation, she consumed two charges of her skill and activated her recently gained ability.


    "Lethality Maniption!"


    The wound Kuro had dealt with his brightest shadow explosion, suddenly had its status promoted as it doubled in size.


    Blood sttered everywhere as she spun around, held up another hand and activated her Life Ice skill.


    "Esoteric Ice Magic: Heavenly Ice Fang!"

 Chapter 490 Silverwing VI

    "Esoteric Ice Magic: Heavenly Ice Fang!"


    A chunk of jagged ice dripped from the magic circle that appeared above her, crashing down onto Silverwing''s body, only to be stopped by a thin barrier of blue light surrounding it.


    ''It has barrier skills too?!''


    Eliza grabbed a magic potion and downed it as she tried to force the ice fang to break the barrier, all while Kuro and Milena prevented the bird from turning its wings.


    The cat-shaped shadow spirit ran up the bird''s body and dropped another brightest shadow into the massive open wound on its torso.


    [Brightest Shadow: Overload!]


    **BOOOM!!!


    As blood and flesh sshed out of the screaming bird''s body, Eliza tried to activate her Skill''s ability again.


    "Lethality Mani-!"


    *KIAAAKKK!!!"


    Silverwing''s cry cut her off as a beam of silver light wasunched from the three-ringed magic circle in the bird''s mouth, heading straight towards her, shattering through her ice fang with ease.


    The girl bent her body backwards just in time for the beam of light to just barely scrape the tip of her nose, before shooting up towards the ceiling.


    Without hesitation, the girl reabsorbed the energy she was about to use and rolled off Silverwing''s body, a moment before she sensed its hazy aura appearing again.


    "This bullshit again?!"


    ''Silver de Domain!''


    The silver feathers encased in an icy aura swirled around Silverwing''s body with terrifying speeds once more, but before it could even hit any of its targets, Ka used her Pseudo Authority of Lightning and dropped dozens of lightning bolts that collided with each of the silver feathers and destroyed thempletely.


    By the time she was done dealing with the des of wind, Silverwing was already unleashing another blizzard on them.


    As the massive whirling icy winds swirled towards them, the bird roused its aura and spread out its wings, ready to let out another AOE attack, however, it noticed something wrong.


    ''Wait! I was fighting two humans and three spirits! Where''s the second human?!''


    The instant it thought that, it heard two words from right beside its ear.


    "Surprise Motherfucker!"


    ''Destruction Vortex.''


    The roaring mass of spiralling reddish gold aura collided with Silverwing''s back at point-nk range, shredding apart its feathers and the flesh underneath.


    Blood and guts sshed on Evan''s whole body, but the boy didn''t mind it, not caring about how the new shirt that he had just changed to had been drenched in blood.


    The Unforged came through the middle of the vortex and stabbed into Silverwing''s rended flesh. He then twisted the de and infused more aura, activating vortex once more


    **BOOOM!!!


    "KEIIIIIIIIEEEEEEKKKKKKIIIIII!!!!!!"


    Silverwing was just screaming anyhow as the destruction vortex sted apart more of its ridiculously strong flesh, reaching its bones��and its soul too.


    He then pulled out both the Unforged and Eliza''s Memoria before immediately jumping off Silverwing''s body as the bird began thrashing around due to the soul-damaging pain.


    "Liz!"


    Calling out her name, he spun his body and threw the Memoria back to her, with the weapon falling right into her palm.


    She spun the staff around and stabbed it on the ground, her eyes glinting with green light as she tossed the magic potion bottle in her hand away before shouting out.


    "Life Energy Draining Prison!"


    Two three-ringed magic circles appeared both atop and below Silverwing''s massive frame, and magic power was established in twelve focal points around the monster bird.


    Pirs of light rose up from those magic power points, pirs of light rose up and joined the two magic circles together, forming a prison green light.


    A silver haze rose up from Silverwing''s body, but this time, it did not wash over its body to heal it, instead, it was absorbed into the cage of light around it.


    The enormous life essence and Silverwing''s Health stat that made it a damage sponge was absorbed into the prison, so much life force that the prison actually began gaining a fourth ring of light around its magic circles.


    And this was just 50% of the absorbed life force!


    As for the other 50%, Eliza''s overflowing energy bar was enough to let one know where it had gone.


    Silverwing''s eyes glowed with a red light as it utilized its healing skill once more, all of its wounds were healed, making Eliza wonder just how vast this creature''s life force was.


    She really wanted to ask Evan what was disyed on its Health stat.


    If only she knew said health stat had the strange figure of ''S+->??''.


    "This shit''s pissing me off..."


    Eliza found herself cursing more times than she had done in the past month within just this half-hour of battle.


    Meanwhile, Evan was sighing at the ridiculous ability of the ''Elite Event Boss'' Silverwing while he downed his magic potion.


    "You guy''s ready for another round?"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Is this ever gonna end?"


    "It will, very soon."


    The moment Evan said that he reactivated his blessing of destruction and blitzed forward. Ka followed suit and released a deep sigh, golden energy surging around her body as she decided to break out her trump card too.


    [Spirit Raiment.]


    The golden energy exploded from her being as her physical body''s size increased exponentially, growing to the stage where she was almost the same height as Evan.


    Her clothes changed, and she was now adorned in a bright golden silk dress, having a long ck gold stole around her neck and floating lightly in the air.


    Floating atop her head, was a fragmented quarter of a cracked golden crown, adorned with various multicoloured precious stones.


    She held out her hand in the direction of the enraged Silverwing that was breaking out of the life energy prison with its de domain and called out her other ''Unique'' skill''s name.


    [Pseudo-Authority of Lightning.]


    Ambient energies coalesced together to form a giant pearl of lightning that floated mid-air.


    What followed was a rain of lightning bolts, that nullified Silverwing''s de domain, and even sted apart the enhanced icy energy barrier it was using to surround its body.


    Blood dripped down Eliza''s lips as she received bacsh from her skill breaking, but she healed the internal injury with the life energy she had stolen from Silverwing.


    ''Life Ice!''


    "Milena!"


    [I know!]


    The water spirit released a torrent of water that erupted from below Silverwing''s body, mming into it at the same time Eliza''s life ice fell onto its head.


    Evan on the other hand, tossed the Unforged up into the air and screamed out to Ka.


    "Ka! Combo!"


    [It''s been a while, Master!]


    The lightning spirit responded with a smile on her face, coalescing her magic, aura and celestial energy to a single point in front of Silverwing''s head as she activated a skill.


    [Electrome!!]


    Arge rose of mes bloomed on Silverwing''s forehead, and the monster tried to use its icy aura to repel it but Evan''s blink was faster.


    "Fracture!!"


    ***BOOOMM!!!


    Evan''s fist mmed into the rose, a second before the ''electro'' part of the skill came, causing a massive distortion in the air and the energy in the lightning shed back, multiplying the destructive power of the attack by five times!


    Silverwing''s aura barrier was broken and its flesh was shredded apart.


    Seeing the white bone beneath the blood, Evan called out to Ka once more.


    "AGAIN!"


    The spirit activated the skill and blitzed over to Evan''s location, appearing beside him and throwing out her celestial energy-coated fist at the same time as he did.


    Seeing this, Evan revealed a small smile on his face as both he and Ka called out.


    ["Fracture!!"]


    A three-ringed defensive magic circle manifested half a second before their fists hit.


    **KAAABOOOOMM!!!


    With an earth-shattering explosion, the force of their fists collided with the rose and the magic circle, the impact generating a massive distortion in the air and making a cascading ripple of energy.


    The purple jewel on Ka''s crown shed and a hint of spatial power flowed into her fist, causing the space to distort slightly and resulting in a spectacle of destruction.


    A tempest of fire, lightning and raw power was unleashed, shockwaves reverberating through the air and shattering the ice in the surroundings.


    When the dust settled, the aftermath revealed a dumbfounding scene.


    Silverwing had actually not taken damage, as the magic circle stood strong in front of its head, blocking the remnants of power that threatened to destroy it.


    Evan and Ka could not see it but the magic circle wasn''t made up of just magic but also a strange multicoloured energy that was countless times stronger than mere magic.


    The same type of energy that the ETOD had stopped Abigail from using against the Seventh Finger months ago.


    The creature hurriedly pped its wings and used a massive gust of wind to send Evan and Ka flying, but the young hero flipped in mid-air andnded on a void step, turning his gaze to the massive bird trying to take flight.


    "Where the fuck do you think you''re going?"


    Evan flipped in the air and activated limit break, ovepping it with blessing of destruction and boosting his already boosted power to new heights.


    ''Evesting Chains!''

 Chapter 491 Silverwing VII

    ''Evesting Chains!''


    For the first time since he got this skill while battling an otherworldly monster in the tower of trials, Evan unleashed its full power.


    Golden magic power surged out of Evan''s body, wave after wave, swirling around in the surroundings.


    Dozens of massive golden chains, each oneden with thick amounts of magic and aura burst out of the ground and shot up into the air at sonic speed and pierced through the monster bird''s wings.


    More chains burst out and wrapped around its body tightly, restraining its movements, and internal energy flow.


    "Fall!"


    The chains dragged Silverwing back to the ground as if it were a prisoner being taken to the execution block.


    Trying to use its energy to break out of the chains turned out to be the worst idea as the Evesting Chains could absorb and harness the energy of those bound by it; and rousing its energy only made it easier for the chains to absorb Silverwing''s energy.


    The otherworldly runes inscribed on the chains glowed brightly as Silverwing''s enormous energy reserves were sucked dry.


    Evan slowly put his energy potion back into his inventory as he savoured the energy stolen from Silverwing.


    As for Eliza, the current Silverwing was nothing more than a sitting duck for her Life energy draining prison.


    Multiple green lines spread across her hands like circuits as she looked up at the imprisoned monster and spoke onemand mantra.


    "Bleed!"


    Her soul was strained slightly as she was now delving into Worldw territory, something the soul of a grandmaster was not able to take.


    In fact, ever since she learned Lethality Maniption, she had already delved into this territory, it was just her doctrine of life title that was taking the brunt of the strain for how, but now it had reached its limit.


    Still, the effects of her singlemand mantra were clear to see.


    Bright red blood suddenly burst out of all Silverwing''s orifices at the same time, the monster bird choking and coughing up ruptured pieces of internal organs.


    Silverwing''s eyes slowly drooped close as if it was about to go unconscious, but at right before its eyelids closedpletely, they suddenly shot wide open again, a red light shing in the monster bird''s eyes.


    "KAAAAAKKKKKKK!!!!"


    After letting out another type of screech, Silverwing released a massive burst of blood-red icy energy that created a massive tornado of bloody ice.


    The whole party was knocked back to the edge of the Cavern, violently mming onto the walls of the monster bird''s home.


    "Guh! Breath of Life!


    Kuk!"


    Eliza groaned multiple times as she sent out a wave of healing energy that wrapped around the party members and healed their wounds, consuming most of the life energy she had stolen from Silverwing.


    Evan''s evesting chains were encased in thickyers of ice, ice that broke apart a mere secondter, along with the frozen chains that ensnared it.


    The bird stood upright and looked at the party with its now red eyes, and seeing this Evan sent out a message to his contracted spirits.


    ''It''s here. Silverwing''s trump card!''


    They all tensed up upon hearing those words, as Silverwing''s other attacks were absurdly fierce and contained enough power to kill them if they slipped up even a tiny bit, then what could its trump card possibly be?


    But despite their tenseness, Silverwing only flew up to where its destroyed nest was and stared at them silently.


    Its beak opened slightly and just when they braced for an attack, a clear deep voice rang out through the Cavern.


    [Harbinger of Ice.]


    Eliza and the spirits'' eyes turned wide in surprise as they hadn''t expected the bird to suddenly speak at this time.


    And from the words it spoke, they finally understood the reason for its uncanny ice maniption capabilities.


    It possessed the Unique Harbinger Series Skill of the Ice Element!


    But they could not afford to dwell on that when they heard its next words.


    [ck Domain of Silence.]


    **HOONNNG!!


    An eerie sound rang out as the temperature of the Cavern suddenly plummeted rapidly, to the point where they all started feeling a thinyer of ice covering their skin, even Kuro who was inside Eliza''s shadow also saw ice covering his fur and skin!


    [What?!]


    Kuro who was usually the calmest person around was utterly bbergasted by this phenomenon.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Cold.


    Utterly intense cold filled the surroundings.


    This strong cold aura made Evan''s danger sense skill send out warning bells of danger.


    The ambient concentration of the strange multicoloured energy he could not sense tripled instantly and surged towards the monster bird''s body.


    Silverwing''s glittering white feathers turned a deep dark colour, darker than ck as if the darkness was swallowing them whole.


    The entire Cavern of the Frozen Harbinger turned iparably dark, they had all been pulled right into Silverwing''s skill domain!


    Just as they braced themselves and Elizayered them with buffs, Silverwing''s cold aura and ether burst out, it was as though the lights of the world turned off.


    Silverwing then folded its wings and dove towards them, streaking through the air at supersonic speed.


    Eliza deployed multiyered barriers but a swift strike from the monster bird''s talons tore them apart with ease.


    Dark light gathered in its mouth and they all instantly scrambled to dodge; the spirits returned to their spiritual; bodies and blitzed out while Evan grabbed Eliza and blinked behind Silverwing, to the area the bird had flown past, narrowly avoiding theser beams.


    That proved to be the wisest decision as that dark light beam contained a sizable chunk of the strange multicoloured energy the bird had absorbed; getting hit by it equalled instant death.


    Silverwing didn''t seem to care much as it turned around to charge again, its speed surpassing even Evan''s expectations and estimations.


    It shot towards Evan and Eliza once more as they were the two greatest threats to its existence. There was Ka but dealing with the spirit would be easier after it had killed Evan who was clearly the contractor.


    Eliza instantly consumed all her energy and the life energy she had in reserve, along with five charges of her unique skill to activate multiple simultaneous buffs and skills.


    First, a Barrier materialized, conjuring a translucent shield infused with protective life energy. Simultaneously, Divergent Wardse into existence, aplexwork of ever-shifting barriers that defy conventional attacks.


    Following this was a crystal ice wall, a solid structure born of elemental ice. Then the Elemental Breach Negative debuff disrupted the monster bird''s offensive potential, dampening its icy aura''s influence, while Elemental Ward, Ice enhanced their resistance against its iing assault.


    Eliza threw in more defensive buffs and support magic, using Negative Energy Shield to increase the defence against the negative temperature, while Elemental Damage-Negative was cast to absorb and attempt to nullify its elemental attacks. The Greater Magic Shield enhanced their resilience offering an extrayer of protection.


    Furthermore, Eliza also used Greater Ice Resistance to boost their immunity to its powers, and the Grand Vow of Life Stealing to siphon Silverwing''s vitality.


    Lastly, the air shimmered with the presence of an Evesting Chain Barrier, an enchanted construct that expanded and interweaved to forge an ethereal barrier of energy that was privy to all Eliza''s buffs.


    Barrier!


    Divergent Wards!


    Crystal Ice Wall!!


    Elemental Breach Negative!


    Elemental Ward, Ice!


    Protect Energy Negative!


    Elemental Damage-Negative!


    Greater Magic Shield!


    Greater Ice Resistance!


    Grand Vow of Life Stealing


    Aura of Fortification!


    The battle priestess''s eyes turned red and blood dripped down her eyelids and her lips, but these were merely physical representations of the strain her soul was currently going through for using the power of aw doctrine while not being a Legendary.


    Her title and skill were stretching the limit of how much they could protect her from its repercussion, and thew of causality was silently waiting for them to break their limits so it could swoop in and ensnare her.


    But their defensive symphony didn''t end there as Evan activated multiyered fire elemental shields around the both of them, further bolstering the defences with dozens of protective me spells tinged with the crimson essence of thew of destruction.


    All these happened in the split second that it took for Silverwing to reach its position.


    The temperature around Silverwing plummeted deeper into negative territory, freezing the very air and turning it into a crystalline mist that amplified its dark aura.


    Upon collision with the defences set up, the impact sent shockwaves through the ground, shaking multiple structures above ground and shocking the living daylights out of all the legendary Level spirits who were watching the battle from a distance.


    The icy floor of the frozen domain shattered upon contact as the st engulfed everything within the vicinity.


    Even light within the range of the ultra-low temperature was about to freeze, causing the terrifying ck domain phenomena that the Monster bird had called out.


    Evan''s Danger Sense skill had broken the limits of how much existential danger it could warn even about, as right now the skill rune on Evan''s soul was actually going into overdrive just trying to convey the threat of that strange multicoloured energy Silverwing was now using.

 Chapter 492 Silverwing: Harbinger Of Ice

    As Evan''s Danger Sense red rms in his head, the ultra-low temperature swept over all their defences, and Evan poured out dozens ofrge monster corpses from his inventory, intending to use them to weaken the force of the iing attack.


    Monsters he had killed over the continent in the past year, and in the Tower of Trials.


    Raptor Panthers, Cyclops, Predator Elephants, Blight Anacondas, Ghost Beasts, Vicious yer Monkeys, Dark yer Bulls, Razor Scorpions, Hydras, Ivory Rot Deer, Crazed Dire Hyenas, Chimeras, Greater Cave Boars, Raging Dread Pigs, Cockatrices, Minotaurs, Wyverns.


    All of which were at least inferior stage grandmaster level monsters with levels as high as 350!


    The sheer amount of monster corpses had the Pegasus High-rank spirit''s jaw drop in shock, even the other Legendary Level existences who lived in the Underground Cove''ske (Hydran''s Subordinates) were all astounded by the number of corpses that suddenly appeared.


    Silverwing''s charge tore through three-fourths of the defences put up, before beginning to lose power against thest one-fourth, but it was then that the real deadly attack was released.


    The ck domain of silence charged by that multi-coloured energy spread out over all the monster corpses in between Silverwing and Evan and Eliza, but strangely, they did not freeze over, but instead, maintained their original appearances.


    It was as though nothing had happened.


    But in the eyes of these Legendary level existences watching, that was far from the case.


    They were so bbergasted that some of them momentarily lost control over theirw powers that were keeping the entire Frozen Cavern from copsing and preventing the shockwaves from reaching the ground above and sending magnitude 9 earthquakes all the way over to Shelde, Lastham and cities beyond them.


    The ck domain''s area of effect stopped spreading out and then disappeared, allowing light to return.


    First, an eerie silence enveloped the area as everyone held their breaths.


    And then, the hundred plus monster corpses that Evan brought out from his inventory, all disintegrated silently.


    One could not even say that the ashes flew away in the wind because there was no dust or ashes at all!


    They disappeared just like that��


    Along with half of Evan''s left fingers that had notpletely let go of thest monster corpse he threw out.


    The artifact rings on his fingers, disappeared too.


    It was not only the monster corpses and Evan''s fingers, but the exact same scene had happened to all the icy floor, and the air so on underneath.


    A real ''empty cavity'' directly appeared on the spot.


    It was as if everything caught within the domain''s territory had undergone some sort of sub-atomic or quantum copse!


    The end result of a temperature that was infinitely close to absolute zero! And a power, that should normally not be wielded by existences below the level of transcendence!


    Hence the reason for the shock in the eyes of the Legendries watching as they could tell, that the majority of that ck domain, was generated by Silverwing itself and not the skill!


    ''We were living so close to such an absurd existence all this while?!''


    Such was the question they all asked themselves.


    Of course, such a trump card was not one that could be used for free. All of Silverwing''s energies had been drained.


    Its energy cores had dried uppletely.


    The monster bird''s body had also be extremely weak!


    Evan ignored the pain he felt from missing the fingers on his left hand, summoning the unforged into his right and speaking to his contracted spirits.


    "Hold Liz."


    The three spirits appeared and caught the body of the falling battle priestess, and Evan took a deep breath to fight against the gnawing feeling in his heart, screaming at him to stay with Eliza.


    A part of his mind was crazily insisting that he be with her, that he never let go of her in that state but he bit his lip and calmed his head.


    ''I think I know why now��.''


    With both Limit break and Blessing of Destruction''s first activation still active, Evan kicked off the ground and blitzed forward after that abstruse thought.


    He moved as a streak of reddish gold light towards the massive frame of the Monster bird Silverwing.


    Although it had lost the dark aura covering its body, it had not lost the grandeur it possessed, nor had it lost its will to fight.


    "Destruction Vortex."


    Evan calmly called out and unleashed a roaring mass of spiral-shaped aura that was three times as powerful as thest one.


    The whirling aura carved through the ground and reached Silverwing faster than it could react in its weakened state, colliding with its body and sending it flying.


    Evan blinked into the air and appeared right beside Silverwing''s head, his mystic eyes fully active as he activated pdin and three more strengthening artifacts he pulled out of his inventory.


    He then stretched out his hands and grabbed Silverwing''s beak under his armpit, locking it with enough force that the beak began cracking.


    The essence of destruction radiating from his body constantly dealt soul damage to Silverwing as he and the bird crashed down onto the ground.


    His mystic eyes, tinged with the essence of destruction''s red, red right into the eyes of the bird that tried to wrestle itself free from his hold.


    It tried flying into the air but Evan used Weapon control to control the Unforged and made the destruction essenceden weapon sh down on one of its wings, cleanly slicing it in half.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    *��..!!!!!"


    The bird tried to scream but Evan held it tight, preventing its beak from even opening wide enough to let out a single peep.


    00:00:00


    Time difference activated and Evan''s perception of time slowed down greatly, its organized calction ability allowed him to estimate several possibilities at once.


    He pulled up his list of mimicked skills and scanned through them instantly, analysing what skills had simr effects or were redundant.


    ''Hyper cognition. I already have time difference and time difference has a hyper cognition sub ability, which is what I''m using now. Remove''


    |Hyper cognition Removed|


    00:00:01


    ''Ice Magic (High) was necessary before but if I get this skill, I''d be useless. Remove.''


    |Ice Magic (High) Removed|


    ''Now then, should I remove Flux or Hookshot?


    Honestly, Hookshot is only good when used in tandem with evesting chains. There''s also physical damage reduction but that one is very useful so I''d leave it.


    What about Farsight though? No.''


    00:00:02


    ''Farsight is more useful than Hookshot��in the end, and so is Flux. In the end, Hookshot is the least useful. Remove.


    |Hookshot Removed|


    The moment he removed the third skill and opened up a skill slot, Evan released the effects of time difference, letting the remaining three seconds flow normally while he struggled to keep Silverwing under in his hold.


    At the third second his three strength artifacts overloaded and exploded into pieces, increasing the amount of force that Evan was contending with.


    His muscles burst open and the bones in his arm made loud cracking sounds.


    Silverwing''s other wing swiped through the air, tearing through Evan''s elemental shield with ease and going on to sh through his side and making him spit out blood and shattered bone fragments.


    Blood sttered out and covered the bird''s glistening white feathers while Evan''s Health stat dropped so rapidly that the only reason he was still holding on was his Tenacity skill and his boosted life force.


    The fact that Silverwing could casually tear through Evan''s elemental shield and pierce through his body in his Limit Break + Blessing of Destruction mode was a testament to how much power this monster bird possessed.


    And this was when the bird''s body was weakened from using its trump card!


    At the fourth second, just when he was about to lose his hold on Silverwing due to his broken bones, a wave of life energy directly poured right into his body, healing the broken bones, torn apart flesh and ruptured muscles.


    A smile appeared on Evan''s face and on the fifth second, he internally expressed his adoration for the person responsible for healing him, despite her wounded state.


    ''You''re a darling, Eliza.''


    |Adaptive Evolution has been Triggered|


    |Attempt to Mimic ''Series Skill'' detected. |


    |Harbinger Series Skill ''Authority'' andposite Law Doctrine Knowledge are too great for the current Host. |


    |Adaptive Evolution''s stored Authority has been Consumed. |


    |Reincarnated Hero System Stored Authority Consumed|


    |Mystic Eye of Mimicry: essing World Law Doctrine of Mimicry|


    |Reincarnated Hero System Requests Host''s permission to remove Mimicked Skill: Crash Lightning|


    Evan momentarily appreciated that the system bothered to ask his permission, and in that same moment, he gave his consent.


    |Confirmed|


    |Crash Lightning Removed|


    | ''Unique'' Skill: Harbinger of Ice Acquired|


    |Unique ''Series Skills'' require fi��--four skill slots. |


    |All skill slots are currently filled up|


    The moment that thosest three notifications appeared in his field of view, Evan finally loosened his hold on Silverwing''s beak, allowing the bird to knock him with its wing and send his body flying once more.


    [MASTER!!!]

 Chapter 493 Silverwing: Glacial Annihilation

    [MASTER!!!]


    Ka''s worried voice rang out as she tried to rush to Evan''s side, but the Pegasus spiritnded on the floor in front of her and spoke.


    [Calm yourself, E-!, Lady Ka.]


    The girl red at the Pegasus and it hurriedly corrected the title it wanted to use in referring to her. Cold sweat dripped down its back as it spoke of the battle''s verdict.


    [Your Master, has already Won.]


    The Pegasus was only passing on a message that ''Aidos'' had told it to pass to Ka, and the ''lightning'' spirit understood why it dered Evan''s victory in the next moment.


    Silverwing red at Evan with bloodied eyes, about to absorb the essence of Ice in the surroundings and the multicoloured ambient energy to use in attacking Evan.


    It could not care less about its body as it was going to heal eventually, it just wanted Evan to be dead by then.


    However, when it saw Evan''s smug grin despite the blood leaking through his lips and the trail of blood dropping from his eyes, Silverwing felt a very ominous premonition.


    And the words Evan uttered next confirmed that Premonition.


    "Harbinger of Ice."


    A wave of golden icy aura burst out from Evan''s very being, reducing the already low ambient temperature in the surroundings.


    The power of raw frozen elements was harnessed into a concentrated sphere of frigid energy that floated above Evan''s head.


    Seeing this, Silverwing finally understood.


    It finally understood the reason why it sensed a greater threat from Evan than it did from Eliza, despite the fact that they were both using World Law powers that could hurt its soul; the threat of that damned World Law Doctrine of Mimicry.


    The essence of destruction''s crimson red seeped into the ice sphere above Evan''s head, and the boy''s lips parted as he calmly called the name of the Ultimate technique that the in-game Silverwing had used on him.


    "cial Annihtion."


    The sphere of frigid negative energy was unleashed, engulfing the surrounding area in a crimson-red blizzard of swirling frost.


    [You copycat son of a-!]


    Silverwing never got to finish its words as its whole body was swallowed by the freezing winds and razor-sharp ice shards that obliterated everything in their path.


    Although it had a nigh-immortal body, it was futile if its soul was ''killed'', and Evan''s cial Annihtion did just that.


    Silverwing was dead as could be.


    |Adaptive Evolution has been triggered.


    |Isting the Energy absorbed from Level ??? Existence; Silverwing: Ice Variant|


    Ice Variant!


    The Silverwing that they had just defeated, was just one Variant.


    This was a foreshadowing of the fact that there existed other variants somewhere else on Aidos.


    As for the reason why its level was just three question marks; let''s just say Silverwing was an Irregr existence that the Devour ss System on Aidos could not fullypute.


    In other words, Silverwing was not an Irregr on the same level as Evan and Abigail.


    Silverwing''s Irregr ''Grade'', was a step higher than theirs.


    |Enormous amount of ''Experience'' absorbed. |


    |Adaptive Evolution is analysing Silverwing: Ice Variant��. |


    |Completed|


    |Analysis Result: Racial Factor Ipatibility. Cannot be used as Evolution Catalyst. |


    |Recalcting absorbed ''experience''��. |<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    |Allocating portions of Isted Energy to replenish Consumed ''Authorities''. |


    |60% of Isted energy would be used as ''Experience'' for increasing Host''s level at ater date|


    |Channelling remaining Energy into Unique Skill: Adaptive Evolution. |


    Evan stared at the notifications with an empty gaze before dismissing them and turning back to where hispanions were.


    All the spirits, creatures of the Underground Cove''ske and Hydran''s Subordinates, all parted ways for him as he casually made his way over to Eliza.


    The level-ups the blonde teenager had gotten from Silverwing''s death left her dumbfounded. She had never expected to level up this much at her stage.


    It wasmon sense that levelling up became slower the higher you went, the experience needed was higher, and one needed to care about their Existence Level more than just their main level.


    But here she was, just casually increasing by more than 30 levels in one go.


    Her existence level had also bumped up to the intermediate stage of the grandmaster level.


    The same was the case for Milena too.


    The level-ups helped Eliza recover some of her strength as she wiped off the dried blood on her lips and got to her feet.


    Taking deep heavy breaths to calm herself, she absorbed normal life essence into her body to heal her internal wounds.


    As she increased to Existence Level Stage, her soul strength be stronger, as such, the burden on her title and her skills was reduced.


    Due to this, the Law of Causality pulled back its ensnaring chains��for now.


    Although Eliza could not see it, the Legendary Level existences who could control the power of the worldw doctrines could see ''it''.


    They could see how the space behind Eliza had been ripped open, and golden chains constructed solely of thew of causality and some other energy that they were not qualified to sense, slowly seeped into Aidos.


    The chains of causality had already begun wrapping around Eliza slowly, and if Eliza had strained her soul any more and forced herself to use thew doctrine of Life again, those chains would have tightened.


    But since she got stronger and the burden reduced, the chains slowly unfurled around her arms and retreated back into the void.


    The space then slowly closed up like nothing happened.


    Seeing this, all of Hydran''s subordinates were shocked out of their wits.


    And then, they were now more shocked, partially scared, of Evan.


    The reason was thest attack Evan used; cial Annihtion, was not an attack with just the Harbinger skill, but traces of the true powers of the Laws of Ice and Destruction had seeped in.


    This was part of the reason Silverwing died with a single cial Annihtion, as it would have normally taken Evan at least two to kill Silverwing.


    Despite the fact that Evan also did the same thing as Eliza, there were no causality fluctuations around him.


    It was as if thew of Causality was ignoring what Evan was doing.


    Kuro could also ''see'' thew of causality''s actions, and he knew it was because of Evan''s Irregr title.


    There were a few other reasons but those were unnecessary at the moment.


    Evan walked up to Eliza who was struggling to remain standing, helped her, and then silently pulled her into a tight hug.


    He had the urge to kiss her but there were still bloody broken bones and organ fragments in his mouth, so he refrained from doing so.


    Eliza was slightly startled, but she also reciprocated the hug, silently wrapping her arms around Evan and patting his back lightly.


    Within less than ten seconds, Eliza noticed that Evan''s breaths had turned even.


    A wry smile appeared on Eliza''s face as she spoke out loud.


    "Seriously, again?"

 Chapter 494 Overloading Vessel [Bonus]

    Location Inapplicable


    Month and Day Inapplicable


    Year Inapplicable


    It was, an infinite darkness.


    No matter how far one went, there was no end


    No matter how long one waited, there was no dawn.


    There was one spot, where there was light.


    A throne that floated within the darkness--Only there.


    A being sat on this throne looking at a screen in front of him, watching the battle against Silverwing with a nk look on his face.


    Just as he saw Evan pass out while standing, he nodded to himself and spoke.


    "Good. He''s not cking off.


    If he goes into ''that ce'' afterwards, he''d grow even more powerful. Powerful enough to match that Giant Lizard in Lacertilia."


    Rewinding the events that happened, he ced a hand on his chin and spoke.


    "I like the way he used that ''Time Difference'' skill there.


    Maybe he might have an affinity for time��this time."


    As he spoke, he opened his palm and multicoloured energy gathered atop it, condensing as the space it began distorting.


    For a moment, the database of the system in the entire universe glitched temporarily, and dozens of gods were running around trying to find what was wrong.


    But the source of this glitch calmly continued what he was doing, condensing the energy into a rune that floated up on his palm.


    Looking at it, he spoke.


    "Since I already called the other, ''Blessing of Destruction'', I guess I''d call you ''Blessing of Time''."


    He looked back at the unconscious Evan on the screen in front of him, holding up the skill he just created as he spoke.


    "Now then, if you can pass my next test, I would consider giving you this."


    An amused grin appeared on the man''s face as the light of the screen went out, returning the space to darkness.


    �� �� ��


    Evan, Eliza and Kaid with their backs to the wall, their breaths even as they were surrounded by multiple Spirits and Hydran''s subordinates.


    Milena was talking to one of the spirits while Kuro was silently staring at Ka who had fallen asleep while hugging Evan''s arm tightly.


    Suddenly, he noticed something strange and abruptly got onto his feet, surprising Milena and a few higher-ranked spirits.


    [Something is off��]


    The instant he spoke, the eyes of one of the High ranked darkness spirits mixed in the group widened as it thought.


    ''This cat is sharp!''


    It instantly increased the magic it was using, and much to its shock, Kuro turned in its direction, but it was toote.


    The shadow spirit dropped to the ground with Milena following suit as the two of them fell into a deep slumber.


    [Isn''t this guy supposed to be a mere mid-rank spirit, why''s he so sharp?]


    Hearing this, the Pegasus-shaped High-rank Light spirit turned its gaze in the direction of the dark spirit and asked.


    [Mere ''mid-rank''? That''s all you can see?


    Oh well, I cannot me you for your limited sight.]


    It turned back to the unconscious group and used its unique skill, its eyes glowing with gold light as it could not ''see'' any mere ''mid'' rank spirit when looking at Kuro.


    What it saw was something far greater.


    It was even more scared upon looking at Ka, also because of the memories that entered its head the instant it saw her in the Underground Cove Garden.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    ''Now I understand why Lady Undine stopped her search.''


    Milena was the only normal one in the group, but even she was slowly going to be affected by Evan''s abnormality.


    As for Evan, the young hero was just a bundle of abnormalities.


    Eliza was also in the abnormal category; Using ''Lethality Maniption'', an ability that was reserved for those who could controlw energies while being a grandmaster was not normal in any world.


    Just as the spirit was thinking that it noticed ''something'' appear within its perception and turned its head, catching sight of the figure that had suddenly been a few metres away.


    The spirits lowered their heads lightly while Hydran''s subordinates all bowed as ''she'' walked up to Evan and Eliza with a wry smile on ''her'' face.


    [You are really one interesting child, Evan.


    But if you keep pulling stunts like this every now and then, it''s gonna defeat the whole point of there being ''Levels'' in the first ce.]


    ''She'' spoke, referring to the group''s feat of defeating a being that if it was granted a ''Level'', would have been many times higher than theirs.


    [You even have my little Empress going through this just for your sake.]


    As ''she'' spoke, ''she'' crouched down and patted the hair of the lightning spirit who was hugging Evan''s arm, a motherly smile appearing on ''her'' face.


    Turning to Evan, ''she'' ''appraised'' him, a frown appearing on ''her'' face right after as ''she'' spoke.


    [Your existence realm is now undefined by the system; this means you''re reaching the limit of your vessel.]


    ''She'' tried to move her hand towards Evan, attempting to touch his forehead, however, just when ''she'' was merely half a centimetre away, the space around ''her'' froze, preventing ''her'' from moving even a micrometre forward.


    The Legendary Levels around ''her'' all had their eyes widened in shock as they saw the spatialws around ''her'' bending and constricting ''her''.


    Upon noticing this spatial constriction, ''she'' looked up into the air, not at the ceiling or the sky as ''her'' gaze pierced through space-time.


    Looking at the heterochromatic-eyed man who was staring back at ''her'', ''she'' asked in a loud voice.


    [WHY?!


    If he keeps on absorbing too much experience and gaining more power while not increasing his existence level, his vessel would not be able to take it anymore!


    You should know this best, shouldn''t you?! You''re the same, after all. Born with so much power your vessel couldn''t bear it!]


    There was a suffocating silence in the area after ''her'' outburst. Then, a momentter, an exasperated sigh rang out throughout the Cavern.


    |I did not take you to be one so blind that you cannot see what Artemisia has done to prevent that situation. |


    In response to the words from the resounding true voice, an expression of confusion appeared on ''her'' face.


    |Artemisia is the main entity responsible for ''Evolution''. Do you really think she of all people would not have foreseen and taken measures against said circumstances? |


    Hearing that, ''she'' looked back at Evan''s body, multicoloured energy flowing from the ground and into ''her'' body, straight up to ''her'' eyes.


    The same multicoloured energy that Silverwing and Abigail could use.


    ''She'' looked into Evan''s body and into the ''Reincarnated Hero System'' within Evan, ''her'' eyes widening in shock as ''she'' spoke.


    [Non-interference my foot!]


    ''She'' instantly understood what Artemisia had ced inside Evan''s body, part of the reason why Evan could use the energy of World Laws despite not being at the required level.


    The spatial power constricting ''her'' body was released and she got up on her feet.


    ''Her'' eyes shed with the light of multiple Law Doctrines, and the world around ''her'' changed, ''she'' could now see the lines of fate and karma, the clouds of destiny and the strands of time.


    Looking at their interactions with each other and the connections with Evan, ''she'' smiled and spoke.


    [Seems we''d have our official meeting soon enough. Our fates intertwine in Lacertilia, NATURALLY.]


    ''She'' said thatst word with extra emphasis while gazing at the sky, before turning around and saying.


    [I don''t know what you and Artemisia are nning, but don''t forget, this concerns my survival.]


    Leaving those words, ''she'' disappeared from the Cavern, not ''hearing'' the reply that came right after.


    |nning? I''m not nning anything.


    I''m just reading a novel. |

 Chapter 495 Who Said There Was Only One Rift?

    [Something is off��]


    Kuro spoke after abruptly getting to his feet, his actions surprising Milena and a few other spirits. He looked around warily but could not quite put his finger on what exactly was ''off''.


    [What''s wrong, Kuro?]


    Milena asked him with a tilt of her head, but after scanning the area and not sensing anything strange, he shook his head and turned his gaze back to Evan.


    If only he knew the thoughts going through the Pegasus-shaped light spirit at the moment.


    ''Time was turned back and yet he still noticed something was off?!''


    The high-ranking light spirit was shocked shitless by Kuro''s sharp senses, as he knew fully well that what Kuro felt was ''off'' was the fact that time was rewound.


    In fact, besides him, no other being present remembered the ''conversation'' that had taken ce between the ETOD and that ''woman''.


    Shaking his head silently, he pped his wings and flew up towards the remains of Silverwing''s nest, seeing the artifacts and magic items left there.


    He was about to touch one of them but all of a sudden, he felt countless gazes on its body, looking up to see that all the ambient low and mid-ranking spirits were now staring at him silently.


    ''What?''


    Even Kuro and Milena had turned in his direction, ignoring the others around them.


    From their gazes, he could swear that they were daring him to touch even one of those artifacts.


    ''Is this because of that hero kid?''


    The Pegasus was well aware of Evan''s reasons for being here, as Hydran had informed him about it before leaving.


    As such, he knew the hero was after the artifacts in Silverwing''s nest, as well as the Realm Gate that was located in the Frozen Cavern.


    And just as he tried to touch one of the artifacts Evan was after, all the spirits in the area except the high-ranked ones looked like they were about to turn hostile.


    ''Crazy!''


    Shaking his head, he flew down from the nest and like magic, the spirits all returned to what they were doing like nothing happened.


    ''Truly Crazy!''


    �� �� ��


    Evan''s eyelids fluttered to catch a pair of Sapphire-coloured eyes staring right at him.


    From the sensation under his head and the two mounds of flesh partially covering his vision, he could instantly infer that he wasying on Eliza''sp.


    [Master''s awake!]


    Ka''s cheerful voice rang out, drawing the attention of all the other beings present and they all turned towards him.


    Slowly sitting up, he looked at the crowd before pulling up the system time and realising he had been out for an hour.


    "It''s already past noon."


    "Indeed, it is. You slept like a baby."


    "If I told you that I wasn''t sleeping, would you believe me?"


    Evan responded to Eliza as he got up to his feet and looked at his bloodied clothes, suddenly feeling the desire to take a bath.


    Looking at his left hand, he saw that his fingers were back in ce, he then turned towards Eliza who was responsible and thanked her for it.


    "First, I think we should change."


    With those words, he pulled out the portable changing booths and tossed Eliza her bag. He then pulled out towels, and buckets from his inventory.


    He filled them up with basic water magic and heated them up with fire magic, before passing one set over to Eliza.


    "As much as I would like an actual bath, I''d just make do with wiping down for now."


    She epted the bucket and towel before moving into one of the changing booths, while Evan moved into the other.


    On a side note, Ka who had woken up earlier had already cleaned up, along with Milena and Kuro, they only just got changed after collecting their stuff from Evan''s inventory.


    In less than 10 minutes, both of them had re-joined the group outside with not-so-new outfits.


    Basically, they were wearing the exact same type of clothes as they had been before, made with the exact same materials.


    When one of the Spirits asked why he had more than three versions of the same outfit, Evan only shrugged his shoulders and gave a simple reply.


    "I had way too much Arch-Spider Queen thread."


    Immediately after, Evan kicked off the ground and jumped over to where Silverwing''s nest once was, collecting the giant bird''s corpse on the way. Like he had expected, the artifacts and other treasures he was after were there within the nest.


    A stray few spirits came over to his ears and whispered that the Pegasus wanted to take them, but Evan onlyughed lightly in response while patting their heads.


    "Hey, Evan."


    "What''s up?"


    "Just what exactly was Silverwing''s Level anyway?"


    "I don''t know. It just showed up as three question marks."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Eliza expressed mild surprise as she heard this, as this was the first time Evan''s appraisal had not been able to tell anyone''s level.


    Her gaze turned to Hydran''s subordinates as she spoke.


    "It would have been nice to have gotten their help."


    "No, it would have been disastrous.


    We''d have definitely died if they tried to ''assist'' us."


    "Huh? Why?"


    Hearing her question, Evan stopped tossing the artifacts into his inventory and turned to her before saying.


    "Remember what I said at the start? Silverwing scales to his opponent''s existence levels."


    Pointing to an Epic level spirit, he continued.


    "If she came in with us, Silverwing would have been at least Peak Epic Level."


    He then pointed to the Pegasus and spoke.


    "If he came in, then Silverwing would have insta-killed us all."


    "How does that monster have such abilities?"


    In response to Eliza''s question, Evan resumed picking up the artifacts as he answered.


    "It''s notpletely Silverwing''s power, but the power of the ''Cavern of the Frozen Harbinger''.


    As the master of this Cavern and the guardian of the Realm Gate, Silverwing could borrow power from the world to scale towards its opponent. It''splicated to exin so don''t worry about it."


    Waving her off, Evan finished picking all the items he wanted and then looked around the Cavern, he then spotted a small ledge high up, very close to the ceiling and a smile appeared on his face.


    "Found it."


    He grabbed Eliza''s body and activated blink, teleporting to the ledge before summoning the spirits via his contracts.


    In front of them was a seemingly empty natural-looking ice cave. Evan picked up the two rings on the floor in front of the cave faster than Eliza could notice them and then walked into the cave while beckoning for them to follow.


    As they got closer to the end of the Cave, the eyes of the spirit trio widened as they were the first to notice what they were walking towards.


    Eliza noticed a beatter, as she had seen a simr structure countless times in her life.


    "This��a Dimensional Realm Gate!"


    "It''s ''Dimensional'', but not a Dimensional Realm Gate."


    Evan replied as he gazed at the swirling mass of purple-coloured spatial energies in front of them. If it wasn''t for the Frozen Cavern''s wall, then they would have been able to see the full appearance of the aurora-coloured tear in space-time that was hidden within the Frozen Walls.


    "This��is a naturally urring Dimensional Rift."


    Shock coloured the eyes of the battle priestess as she never expected that there existed a Dimensional Rift on the Alpha continent, and what''s more, it was right in front of her!!!


    "W-where does it lead to?!"


    "Nowhere dangerous.


    This one just leads to a special part of a Realm that I wanted you to see."


    Evan replied as he walked towards the rift, while Kuro, the person with the most spatial knowledge in the group spoke absentmindedly.


    [For a Dimensional rift, it''s so��stable.]


    "As I said, it''s a naturally urring rift. Plus, the world itself took action to stabilize it, so it''d be a lot different from the one on the Dark Continent or the others that have appeared in the past few centuries."


    Eliza felt a headacheing as she heard Evan casually say other Dimensional rifts had appeared in the past besides the one on the Dark Continent.


    ''Well, at least it exins why someone as powerful as ''that guy'' is here.''


    She thought to herself as she remembered the Ouroboros she and Evan had spoken to earlier in the day.


    "Now then, without further ado, let''s get going."


    Without waiting for any answers, Evan casually stepped into the Dimensional Rift, excitement colouring his face as he was actually entering the Limited Time Event Area in Aidos Online.


    �� �� ��


    Like the Entrance to the ''Tower of Trials'', the sight beyond the Dimensional Rift was also a breath-taking spectacle.


    It was as if they were beholding a mystical fusion of the vast tumultuous spatial sea, and a colossal vortex of cosmic gas, shimmering dust, and enigmatic dark matter.


    The tapestry of celestial bodies around them was in constant flux as if the cosmos were ying a game of cosmic chess, with each twinkling light a piece in a grand, eternal battle.


    This sightsted a few odd seconds after which they exited the rift and emerged on the other side.


    "Is this��another world?"


    Eliza''s question was answered by the notification that appeared in front of her eyes the next moment.


    [Wee to the ''Regal Void Expanse'' Realm]

 Chapter 496 Regal Void Expanse

    [Wee to the ''Regal Void Expanse'' Realm]


    "This ce is as beautiful as ever, huh?"


    Evan spoke as he looked up at the skies, prompting the others to do the same and the sight that greeted them left them awestruck.


    "You''d think you''d get used to it after seeing it multiple times but it only gets better each time you do."


    His words went in through one ear and came out of the other as hispanions were all staring at the sky that held far more stars than any of Aidos'' night skies.


    The heavens were adorned with a myriad of twinkling stars, more numerous than they had ever beheld.


    It was as if the very fabric of the universe had been woven with the finest threads of stardust, creating a breath-taking spectacle that left them spellbound.


    For a moment, they forgot all their problems or worries and surrendered themselves to the enchantment of this starry night sky.


    The next, their breaths felt slightly constricted, snapping their attention back to their surroundings as they finally realised one major difference.


    The ambient concentration of energy here was at least double that of Aidos, and it took them a few minutes to get used to it.


    "Even the gravity here is close to 1.5 times higher. Try walking forward and you''d notice it''s a tiny bit more difficult."


    Though the gravity in this realm was higher than that of Aidos, which was in turn higher than Earth V''s, the group''s physical bodies strong enough that they could easily bear it.


    If they used their energy internally to resist it, then there''d be no difference for them.


    "Hey, wait up."


    His girlfriend''s voice rang out as she lightly struggled to catch up to him, while the spirits returned to their spiritual bodies and followed the duo.


    Using the map from the Archive, Evan navigated the group through the massive forest in front of them.


    Thankfully, the forest didn''t seem to have any dangerous or powerful monsters lurking around, and the only real danger was them getting lost.


    But thanks to the Map, they didn''t have to worry about that.


    "Where did you get a map of this ce from?"


    "Artemisia."


    "��you and the goddess are really close, huh?"


    "We have an��agreement, between us."


    Evan replied after a short pause, not really knowing how exactly to exin his rtionship with Artemisia as Eliza felt it was more than just a Hero and the goddess who appointed him as such.


    Although Evan guessed her thoughts, he didn''t bothermenting further and instead focused on their destination, which when Eliza asked, was given the answer she and the spirits least expected.


    "A restaurant��? In the middle of this forest?"


    "Yep.


    We''d probably be the only customers though. This ce is apparently a myth, even to the people of this Realm, so there''s a low probability of there being others."


    He replied as he looked around the colossal, blooming forest, around them. Its canopy was dominated by tons of birch trees, and their crowns allowed for beams of light from the sky to descend for a motley of nts to grow in the grassy ground below.


    "Good. We''re here."


    After speaking, he moved forward, escaping the high and lofty birch trees and into a massive artificial semi-clearing.


    They had arrived at the centre of the forest.


    In front of them were more than a dozen massive trees Evan recognized as Sequoias; known for their enormous heights and widths inparison to other trees.


    These ones here were so tall that they seemed to peek into the clouds, prompting Eliza to let out a gasp of awe.


    It was then that she noticed multiple presences approaching their location, and not with her life force sensing, meaning whatever was approaching them was not ''alive''.


    As she was in a ce far removed from her home, Eliza never dropped her guard and had already begun rousing her energy forbat when Evan ced a hand on her shoulder and told her to calm down.


    A momentter, two people, a man and a woman wearing waiter uniforms appeared in front of the group with a light bow.


    "Wee to the Garden of the Stars."


    They simultaneously gave their greetings to the quintet, while Eliza was wondering why she still could not sense their life forces despite the fact that they looked perfectly normal.


    "They are Automations.


    I told you there would not be any ''people'' here, didn''t I?"


    In the game, for the period of the Event, this area was bustling with yers in the top 1000 rankings as they had alle here for the powerful benefits that this ce gave.


    Well, they didn''te here with their main ounts but their Smurf ounts that were lower than level 500 as yers higher than that did not receive the benefits.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    ''That may have just been a restriction Artemisia put in ce for game bncing though��''


    With those thoughts, Evan walked up to the two Automations in front of them and held up five glowing orbs that none of hispanions recognized.


    "We''d like a table."


    "For you and thedy alone, or with your spiritpanions."


    Milena was lightly surprised that the Automations could sense them, but Kuro and Ka were surprised for another reason.


    And that was because the two of them could tell the Existence Levels of the Automations.


    ''At least Transcendent!''


    They had the same thoughts as they looked at the two Automations in front of them who led Evan and Eliza to a teleportation circle.


    After stepping onto it, they were teleported to the top of one of the massive Sequoia trees, or rather, one of the massive tree stumps.


    Despite being cut off, these trees were still alive, perhaps because of the high energy concentration both in the atmosphere and in the soil.


    Evan could not care about that though, as he was feeling like a kid on a pic as he stared at the very familiar-looking set-up.


    They were standing at the top of a massive circr tree stump more than twenty yards in diameter, high enough that they could see low-altitude clouds floating around them.


    ''At least 6000 feet in the air��''


    With those thoughts, Evan walked up to the centre of the stump, where a wooden tabley. It had borate decorations scarved around the edges, but the top was perfectly smooth.


    "This thing could block a full-powered attack from Hydran without a scratch��"


    Evan jokingly remarked as he remembered the scene where a Level 900 yer in the game had an altercation with someone here and the other party used the table to block the attack that came flying.


    Of course, the two of them were promptly suppressed by the automations and taken out of the area.


    Five wooden chairs were arranged on all sides of the table, one of which was modified for Kuro who was in cat form.


    Atop the table were five wine sses, five sets of silverware, and the same number of white tes. At the centre of the table was a candbra, the candles unlit.


    Upon sitting down, the candles lit up and two automations appeared on either side of the tform they were on, different from the two they met upon entry.


    "Wee Guests, and Congrattions on Discovering the Garden of the Stars."


    "As this is your first time here, would you like a brief introduction?"


    The two spoke respectively and after turning to Eliza and the spirits for their opinions, Evan had them give the introduction.


    "The ''Garden of Stars'' is a secret area of the ''Regal Void Expanse'' realm; a naturally urring treasure-filled domain with rewards for those whose stars of luck, fate and destiny align and let them discover it.


    A reward awaits all those who discover this garden, there''s a low probability of having an Audience with the Master of the Regal Void Expanse."


    ''Now that''s something that wasn''t in the game��''


    Evan thought internally as the Automation continued with her little introduction, after this, she then decided to offer a little service.


    "You seem to be quite exhausted, perhaps from a battle on your way here.


    Allow me to relieve you of your fatigue."


    As she spoke, she pped her fingers twice and arge six-ringed magic circle appeared under their feet, shocking Milena and Eliza.


    ''Sixth Tier Magic with a mere gesture?!''


    Their bodies were wreathed in white light, and after a second, they found that all their exhaustion, physical and mental had been washed away.


    Their energies had been recovered to their maximum values and they were returned to their peak states.


    "This��amazing.


    ��thanks."


    "You are wee, Lady Eliza."


    "Huh? How do you know my name?"


    Eliza certainly hadn''t told them her name, neither had Evan called her by it, so her confusion was only natural.


    But the Automation only just held up her palm and showed Eliza a skill description she found familiar.


    "Ohh��Full Appraisal."


    "That is the case."

 Chapter 497 Starry Meal

    "Ohh��Full Appraisal."


    "That is the case."


    The male Automation then stepped forward and lowered his hand to the centre of the table, snapping his fingers and releasing a streak of light into the skies.


    Before their very eyes, the winesses began to levitate, and as they expressed mild surprise at this, five stars in the sky above glowed with a bright light and indigo threads descended from the starry sky.


    Each one poured itself into one of the wine sses, filling them up halfway, before which the sses descended back to the surface of the table.


    [Wow��]


    [It''s pretty.]


    "Indeed, it is."


    Looking inside the sses, they could see miniature starry skies, bearing resemnces to the sky above them.


    Like the skies above, stars sparkled, clouds drifted past, and between those clouds floated a crescent moon.


    Looking up made them feel like they were adrift in a sea of celestial bodies. Looking down made it feel like they were being sucked into their sses.


    While they were gasping at this sight, the two automations whispered something to themselves while ncing at Evan, and aftering to a decision the male one spoke up.


    "Master Evan, I apologize but it seems there may beplications in you receiving the other part of your reward."


    "Huh? Why?"


    "Well, you may not be aware of this, but your ''Vessel'' is quite full.


    I believe your status is designating your Existence Realm as ''Undefined'', is that not the case?"


    "��"


    The Automation pointed out something Evan had noticed right after the battle against Silverwing but chose not toment on it.


    "Huh? Undefined? Is that bad?"


    Eliza snapped out of her daze, pushing the wine ss away upon hearing something about Evan having ''Undefined'' in his status.


    "If he does not ascend to the next Existence Realm, then yes, it would be bad in the long term.


    There is a limit to how much power one can possess while being a Master Realm Existence after all."


    Hearing this, Eliza''s expression darkened instantly, and noticing this, the Automation quickly spoke up to prevent her from getting ''displeased''.


    "It would be solved if he were to ascend to the next Existence Realm as quickly as possible."


    "Unfortunately, I have a few circumstances that prevent me from doing that now.


    But worry not, I''d be ascending within a few months at most."


    "A few months, huh?


    Very well. Then please take care not to absorb too much ''Experience'' within that time so as to reduce the speed at which your Vessel fills up."


    Evan nodded in response and the Automation bowed lightly before stepping back to converse with the other while Eliza was questioning Evan on the severity of the situation.


    By the time the automations were done talking, Evan had managed to abate Eliza''s worries��for now.


    The Female Automation pped her hands twice and the tes on the table took flight up into the skies just like the sses had done earlier.


    Following this, the Male Automation pulled out an artifact from ''somewhere'' and with a wave of his hands, tiny mes flew into each of the tes.


    Then, just like before, a quintet of stars sparkled and two five drops of pale iridescent light fell from the sky and into the tes'' centres, spinning around and forming spheres in their centres.


    When the tes settled back onto the table, each one had three spheres in all atop each one.


    The colourbination of the spheres differed for each person; as Evan had one red, one blue and one yellow.


    Kuro had one ck, one white and one grey.


    Ka had one red, one yellow and one green.


    Milena had one light blue, another sea blue and thest was almost transparent.


    Lastly, Eliza had one a bright green colour, the second was light blue and the third was crystal blue.


    "Hmm? Perhaps��our elemental affinities?"


    "Indeed."


    The Female Automation replied to Eliza''s query and was about to continue when another female automation appeared on the tform and walked up to them.


    "Hello, guests."


    This one had messy bright red hair that cascaded down to her knees and a pair of striking red eyes that fit perfectly on her beautiful face.


    The instant Evan and Eliza set eyes on the Automation, they narrowed their gazes and spoke at the same time.


    ""Who are you??""


    Destructive and Life essences erupted from their bodies simultaneously, causing surprise to colour the automation''s face, followed by amusement.


    The Automation then chuckled lightly as it replied.


    "You two are quite sharp��I expected the spirits to notice it first but you beat them to it."


    The Automation kept moving closer to them as she spoke, the waitress uniform on her body shimmering lightly before being reced by a fiery red gown as she spoke.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "I am the Phoenix Revi, the ''Master'' of this realm you are in."


    Her words had the group''s eyes widening in surprise and a quick nce at the other two automations who were now giving ny-degree bows gave some credibility to her statement.


    "The Master?"


    "Yes.


    All the lightyears in this Regal Void Expanse are under my governance."


    Revi spoke as she walked up to their table and made a chair appear out of nothing before taking a seat.


    "Light years?"


    "Yes. You didn''t think this forest was all there was to this Realm, did you?"


    "Certainly not."


    Evan replied as he recalled his destructive essence into his body while Eliza questioned what they meant by ''Light Years''.


    After giving her a short exnation, Revi moved on to the topic of how they got there.


    "You came through Aidos'' rift, didn''t you?"


    "Yes."


    "Ah, Aidos.


    Been a while since I went there."


    Revi spoke with a faraway gaze, old memories shing through her mind as she asked.


    "How are things there now?"


    "Probably a lot weaker than you remember."


    "Weaker, huh?


    Sad. I guess it''s because of the ''Reset'' the gods did."


    Just as she was justifying the reason for Aidos being ''weaker'' than she remembered, Revi turned an inquisitive gaze to Evan and leaned forward a bit, an expression of mild surprise colouring her face.


    "I didn''t notice this before, but you are one bundle of Abnormalities, boy. And isn''t that Artemisia''s divinity I sense from you?"


    "You know Artemisia?"


    Although Evan asked that, he was thinking something else.


    ''It makes sense she knows Artemisia.


    That''s probably why she could take the liberty of adding this ce into the game too; because she knew whoever she sent into Aidos would definitelye here and if the Master is someone she knew, there''d be littleplications.''


    "Yes, I do.


    An old friend of mine, we haven''t spoken in some ''time'' though."


    "That so?"


    "It is so.


    Anyway, you being here��you didn''t stumble upon the rift by ident, did you? And it seems you know of the benefits that you''d receive uponing here."


    "��"


    Although Evan did not answer, his silence was enough of an answer for Revi who chuckled lightly as she spoke.


    "Worry not, I''m not going to prevent you from gaining anything. There''s no benefit for me in doing that, besides, I did give permission for a limited number of people from Aidos toe over so I wouldn''t stop you.


    I only possessed this automation to speak to you because I sensed Aidos'' rift activate for the first time since that little snake and his band of spirits came over."


    She casually called the Ouroboros Hydran a ''little snake'' as she got up, gesturing to thendscape around as she spoke.


    "This Garden we are in is naturally urring, and the treasures present the same. I only ced the automations here to manage things and prevent people from going overboard.


    So, do not be afraid that you may lose whatever ''benefits'' you gain from here."


    "Hmm? But I wasn''t?"


    "You weren''t. But your little girlfriend was."


    Pointing at the surprised Eliza who was indeed wondering if whatever Evan brought them here for could be taken away from them by Revi who called herself this ce''s Master.


    Situations, where one lost a ''borrowed'' power in the middle of a crisis, were one of the things her parents had warned her about before.


    It''s also part of the reason why although she liked the benefits Blessing of Destruction gave Evan, she was against him overly relying on it as one could not tell when the ETOD might decide to take it away just as easily as he gave it.


    Leaving those words, Revi turned and gave Ka a sideways nce, but the Spirit only narrowed her eyes at the Phoenix, causing a light smile to appear on her face as she walked away.


    Right before their very eyes, she erupted into a pir of mes and disappeared, leaving behind the quintet and their two automations.


    After a light silence, the Automations rose their heads and then gestured to the ''meals'' served on the tes in front of them and spoke.


    "Please enjoy."


    The thin membranes of light that covered the tes during their conversation with Revi vanished and the silverware floated up into the air, ready for them to grab.


    "I wanted to ask this earlier, but, is this safe to eat?"

 Chapter 498 First Two Spheres’ Effects

    "I wanted to ask this earlier, but, is this safe to eat?"


    Eliza asked with a lightly skeptical tone, but Evan onlyughed and affirmed that it was before cutting up the yellow sphere and taking a bite.


    The moment he did, a burst of vours erupted within his mouth, akin to an otherworldly symphony unfolding.


    The initial contact on his tongue unveiled an ethereal sweetness as if the nectar of celestial fruits had been captured within.


    For a fraction of a second, Evan was almost willing to admit that there existed something that tasted better than the strawberries he loved so much.


    The vour resonated within his very being, infusing his sense with a pristine essence that banished any lingering ''contaminations'' in his body.


    A soft, soothing sensation permeated his being, coursing through his energy circuit like a gentle stream, carrying away all remnants of stress and tension.


    As for Eliza and the rest, it was as if a gentle hand was delicately brushing awayyers of heaviness on their bodies that they didn''t even know were there, unveiling a renewed sense of lightness and rity.


    It was like a cathartic liberation, akin to stepping into a pristine pool of crystal-clear water and feeling its invigorating coolness envelop them.


    Newfound vitality pulsed through their veins, with all unnecessary substances within their energy cores gently expelled and reced with clear luminous energy that radiated all around.


    It was almost as if they could taste the cleansing processes urring within their bodies, whisking away all foreign substances with each delectable bite.


    The female automation snapped their fingers and a wave of light washed over their bodies once more, while Evan pulled out his Proid camera and began taking photos of the surroundings.


    "This��what��how��"


    Eliza was lost for words as she finished the first sphere, the te rotating slightly and pushing in the next one for her to eat.


    The spirit trio on the other hand were more amazed by the changes as they could tell that their energies had been purified and the quality of said energies, regardless of the type had been tripled.


    And this effect was also going to apply to whatever energies they gained possessed in the future.


    Basically, if they used 5 units of energy to cast a spell, then that spell would be three times more powerful than normal.


    If someone else needed to use 3 units of energy in a spell that dealt 10 units of damage, they could use 1 unit of energy and still achieve the same amount of damage.


    Achieving this normally required one to go through a process of circting their energy and spreading it throughout their entire energy circuit. Then quickly retracting it to their energy cores to not let any bit leak out.


    This made the energy denser due to it being tenser in the process of spreading and retraction, allowing them topress it and improve its quality.


    Bypressing it and reducing the volume it upies, they would be freeing up space for further energy growth.


    It was a tedious process that was harder the more energy one possessed, and yet they had achieved such an effect by just eating one of these spheres.


    Plus, it should be mentioned that the party had indeed done this, so their energies were already denser and higher in quality than normal existences with their levels.


    After all, there had to be a reason their attacks dealt so much damage to the powerful Silverwing, enough to break its durability.


    Now with this, they had all be even more powerful.


    While they were checking out the differences and Evan was going on a photographing spree, Eliza was feeling a bit dizzy and had a hard time trying to keep her eyes open.


    Her energy core was currently undergoing a remarkable transformation, and a surge of indescribable power began coursing through her energy circuit.


    With each passing moment, she felt her consciousness expand, her existential boundaries being merged with a new form of energy that filled the surroundings.


    Her whole body was being transformed, into a conduit that would allow her to harness and shape this energy.


    And then��


    **BOOM!!


    A burst of energy spread out from her body, but thanks to the automations, it did not knock the table or the tes over.


    The Female Automation instantly appeared at her back and ced two hands on her body, using he own energies to guide Eliza''s energy flow and help her reattune herself.


    Eliza felt her heartbeats grow louder and louder, and she entered a heightened state of connection with the ambient energy in the surroundings.


    The energy rapidly rushed into her body, filling up the newly opened space in her expanded energy core to the brim within a few minutes.


    Seeing this, a small smile appeared on Evan''s face as he watched Eliza''s wish get granted.


    "��this��"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Congrattions, Lady Eliza."


    The Female Automation spoke with a light smile but Eliza was still dumbfounded at how easy it was for her to acquire the thing she had just been wishing for earlier in the day.


    She flicked her fingers and roused her energy, the strands of ether responding to hermand, swirling and dancing at her will, as if eager to fulfil her every intention.


    Evan chuckled upon seeing the dumbfounded look on her face, taking his seat opposite her as he spoke.


    "If you''re already shocked out of your wits at this, then wait till you finish the remaining two."


    It was then that it urred to her that she had indeed only taken one of the three spheres on the table.


    Without hesitation, she and the spirits followed Evan in taking a bite of the second one, an ethereal taste that could not be exined with words exploding on their tongue.


    Upon finishing this one, a surge of euphoria coursed through their entire bodies and a radiant aura enveloped their bodies.


    At first, they were unclear about the effects of the second one, but when Eliza moved her hand to grasp the winess and take a sip, she instantly began noticing it.


    "My grip feels��stronger?"


    "Sure, it just ''feels'' stronger?"


    Seeing the impish grin on Evan''s face as he asked that, Eliza opened up her status and discovered it wasn''t just her ''feeling''.


    Her strength stat now had a magnificent ''A'' sitting in ce of the previous ''A-''. Her other stats too had also seen increases, and it did not take her long to note the effects of the second one.


    "All my stats, increased by one Sub Rank!!"


    Such was the effect of the second sphere, increasing the stats of those consuming them by one whole Sub rank.


    A-Negative be A-neutral and A-neutral bes A-Positive.


    If Eliza had any A-Positive stats, then she might have seen her first S-Negative stat while still being Level 374.


    One should note that gaining A-positive stats was usually supposed to start at Level 366. And yet Eliza already had five A-positive stats with stat levels around 50!


    A normal Level 374 usually had at least one stat still being A-neutral and their A-positive stats were usually at around stat level 10-15 range.


    This showed how much of a boon this was to Eliza. And from what Evan could see, her Energy stat was now inkling closer to S-Negative, and she was sure to get it before she reached Level 390 at most.


    ''And we have lots of ''Experience'' waiting for us outside the Cave. She''d be leaving Duscon with the power of an S-rank adventurer.''


    Evan felt happy as he predicted Eliza''s growth, turning to his own status board and noting that he had gained simr stat increases.


    ''If we fought the Eighth Finger again now, we''d beat the shit out of him with ease. Of course, with the assistance of Blessing of Destruction. (BoD).''


    Although Evan''s stat levels increased slower than normal, that ''slower'' was still as fast as the average person''s.


    He came to Duscon with A-negative stats across the board and was leaving with stats that were two sub-ranks higher.


    Pulling out his Proid camera, he held it up in front of the group and told them to pose for a photo. After printing it out and shaking it, he was momentarily surprised to see the two automations behind the group, forming peace signs with their fingers.


    When he turned to them with a questioning gaze, they only looked away while whistling suspiciously.


    "Why are you taking a lot of photos anyway though?"


    "The Oak Avenue Manor needs more photos of us in it. That''s what these are for.


    Besides, this ce is somewhere I''ve been wanting to go for years now so I''m a tad bit excited."


    Evan replied as he put the camera down and picked up his fork, pointing to the remaining red sphere on his te and asking the others.


    "You guys ready for another surprise?"


    [if the first one increased our energy quality and the second increased our stats, what''s the third gonna do?]


    In response to Milena''s question, the Female Automation only just told her to try and find out.


    Without even waiting for anyone, Ka stabbed the sphere with her fork and threw the whole thing into her mouth, surprising all the others as they stared at her with widened eyes.


    [Wot? Whyish everwone looshing at me funnie?]

 Chapter 499 New Skills

    [Wot? Whyish everwone looshing at me funnie?]


    "Pfft..."


    Evan and Eliza could not help bursting intoughter as Ka''s appearance with her cheeks puffed up with ''food'' was quite funny.


    Ka wanted to retort at them, but the ambient energy around them suddenly became supercharged with electricity and a storm raged overhead.


    A bolt of pure lightning arced out of one of the stars and shot straight towards Ka who casually held up her palm and caught said bolt.


    The two Automations had their eyes widen in surprise as they saw Ka causally catch the lightning bolt.


    Lightning spirit or not, ''catching'' that bolt was not something that should have been possible for any mortal type existence.


    After all, they did not have ''Authorities''.


    ''Could she perhaps be��''


    The gaze the Female Automation gave Ka changed and the spirit instantly noticed it, realising that ''catching'' the lightning bolt was a ''bad'' move.


    She instantly ''let go'' of it and the lightning, allowing it to condense into a small ball that entered her body.


    |Skill Acquired: Laser Ring|


    |Skill ''Upgraded'': Pseudo Authority of Lightning|


    Those two notifications appeared in her field of view but she only tilted her head to the side and spoke of the first one.


    [I got a skill called Laser Ring��]


    "As expected, What grade?"


    [Rare.]


    "Hmm��weird. I expected you to at least get a Unique skill��"


    Evan muttered to himself while Ka silently looked at her Pseudo Authority and thought to herself.


    ''I''d be hard-pressed to find a lightning skill more powerful than this��''


    If it wasn''t already obvious, Ka''s Pseudo Authority was a lot more powerful than the spirit had been making the skill out to be, or rather, Pseudo Authorities were a lot more powerful than what she had been using hers for in general.


    Of course, the true power of what was currently disyed as her ''Pseudo Authority'' far outstripped every other skill or ability with the same naming sequence.


    "So that''s the effect of the third one. New Skills��"


    "Yep.


    There''s a Chance for the Skill Acquired to be a Unique Skill. And although very low, you can get a Series Skill from this."


    Replying to Eliza, Evan turned towards Milena who was gazing at her status board with a confused gaze, the te in front of herpletely empty.


    [Um��Evan.


    I think your me affinity might have affected me a tad bit too much.]


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    [The name of the skill I got is called ''Aquafire'', and it''s a Unique skill.


    I also gained Tier 1 Fire affinity, which is very strange considering I''m a spirit of the opposing element. It''s like Amy bing able to use Water Magic, nigh impossible even by unconventional means.


    So, the only usible exnation is that I was affected by your Elemental Affinity via our contract.]


    "Oh��"


    Evan nodded in understanding as he appraised Milena and saw the details of the skill, understanding that it was quite a powerful skill but one that needed her to greatly improve her proficiency with it to see its true effects.


    [It seems I cannot use mes without the aid of the skill, makes sense though.]


    Milena muttered to herself before stretching out her arm in a random direction and snapping her fingers, activating one of the skill''s abilities.


    "Hydro me Ignition."


    A pale blue me appeared in the air, floating there for a few seconds before sizzling out.


    Looking at it, the Male Automation requested her to reactivate the skill which she did. He then pulled out a monocle and studied the me for a few seconds before nodding to himself and speaking.


    "This ability has great destructive potential. May I suggest an application for it?"


    [You may��]


    "First, I want to know your level of understanding of theponents of the ''air'' you breathe."


    After hearing Milena''s answer, he nodded to himself in satisfaction before finally stating his suggestion.


    "You can cause Oxyhydrogen Explosions using this skill.


    If you concentrate Oxygen and Hydrogen (Water Components) around a certain point, you can ignite them using this ''Hydro me Ignition'' and you would have a wonderful disy of your targets getting sted to bits."


    He removed the monocle and cleaned it with a handkerchief, before returning it to wherever he pulled it out from as he spoke.


    [I see��. thanks for the suggestion.]


    "You are most certainly Wee."


    He took a step back and bowed lightly, after which everyone turned towards Kuro who was silently sipping his starry wine.


    [Twilight Veil- Rare Skill.]


    With those four words, Kuro went back to sipping his wine,pletely ignoring the gazes that wanted to know what he could do with the skill.


    Seeing that Kuro had no intention of speaking, they then turned to Eliza who sighed and tossed her ownst sphere in her mouth.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    After a little light show and a few bursts of energy, Eliza acquired her own Rare skill that at first nce, was greatly influenced by her newly gained control of Ether.


    "Ethereal Equilibrium."


    "From the skill description, it seems your ss: ''Battle Priestess'' is also a huge determiner in you gaining this skill."


    "Indeed, it is."


    |Ethereal Equilibrium;


    Type: Ultra Rare Active Skill


    As a battle priestess attuned to the ethereal energies, this extraordinary skill allows you to harness the power of ether to enable you seamlessly switch between Combat Mode and Support Mode, granting you unparalleled versatility on the battlefield.


    This skill cannot be lost or taken away unless very special circumstances are met.


    Effect;


    In Combat Mode, you wield the power of the ether to enhance your physical and elemental prowess. As you channel the ethereal energy through your body, you be swifter, stronger, and more agile. Your strikes be imbued with ethereal might, allowing you to deliver devastating blows and swift, precise attacks. The ether empowers yourbat abilities, granting you an advantage in battles against formidable foes.


    Additionally, the ether coursing through your body acts as a potent healing force. As you unleash your attacks, the residual energy mends your wounds and restores your Health, ensuring that you can endure even the most gruelling battles.


    In Support Mode, you draw upon the ether in your core to channel healing and protective energies. By tapping into the ethereal essence, you can mend wounds, soothe pain, and restore vitality to your allies. Your touch acts as a conduit for the rejuvenating energies of the ether, allowing you to amplify your allies'' offensive and defensive parameters.


    Moreover, you can erect ethereal barriers that shield yourrades, deflecting iing attacks and safeguarding them from harm.


    Restrictions:


    In Combat mode, your base support type abilities do not see any decrease in efficiency, however, you are restricted from using certain other skills.


    In Support mode, your basebat abilities decrease in efficiency by 30%, but in return, your Support type abilities are all enhanced by an extra 100%.


    Initial Activation and Mode Switching Require Great Energy Costs. |


    "That''s quite the lengthy exnation."


    "Some of the restrictions are vague too, I do not know what other skills I''m restricted from using in my ''Combat Mode''.


    I don''t even know what this Combat Mode looks like."


    [Why don''t you try it out now?]


    "Nahh��After Evan gets his own skill."


    Eliza replied to Ka''s suggestion as she fixed her gaze on Evan, along with the other five who were waiting for him to eat thest red sphere on his te.


    "I have this stinking feeling things would not go so simply."


    "Evan, that''s a g."


    [A big red g.]


    [No Milly, It''s a ck g.


    Whenever master says something like that, nothing ever goes simply.]


    Seeing his girlfriend and the two spirits'' reaction to his words, Evan nearly dropped his fork back on the te.


    Nevertheless, he kept his grip on it and put the red sphere in his mouth, finishing it in a few bites while Eliza took a picture of him with the Proid.


    Once again, the two automations moved at speeds faster than she could catch and posed with peace signs behind Evan before returning to their normal positions.


    Ignoring the Automations'' mischievousness, Evan was expecting something to descend from the skies like with Ka or a little light show like Eliza but even after nearly thirty seconds, nothing happened.


    "��. this is wei-!"


    Just when he was about toment on the situation, the phenomenon he was awaiting urred.


    |You have consumed fragmented Starry Essence. |


    | High-ss Prime Evolution Catalyst Detected|


    |Adaptive Evolution has been triggered|


    |Starry Essence Core Extracted|


    |Searching Host''s body for requirements|


    |Host''s Level is 299|


    |Host''s Existence level is ''Undefined''|


    |Host''s Existence type is��. MORTAL|


    |Negative! |


    |Negative! |


    |Host is a Mortal Type Existence: Mortal Type Existences are neither permitted, qualified, nor allowed to wield such power. |


    |Extracted Starry Essence Core deemed ipatible for current Host. |


    "Who told you to extract the damn thing in the first ce?!"


    Evan''s outburst in response to the notifications appearing in his field of view left the others lightly startled, but he was not paying them any mind at the moment.


    Just when he tried to navigate the system to see if he could do something about Adaptive Evolution''s bullshit, something strange happened.


    |Ejecting Starry Ess-:*KeY3A[6XrqctT2|

 Chapter 500 Mesarthim

    500 Chaps!!!!! ??????????


    |Ejecting Starry Ess-:*KeY3A[6XrqctT2|


    **FZZZT��FZZT, FZZT, FZZT...


    A strange static sound rang out around them for a few seconds, which was then followed by a Voce Evan found all too familiar.


    **FZZT��PING!


    [|Administrator Login: Ete������|]


    [|Login epted|]


    |Request epted by Administrator|


    |Now constructing skill��. |


    |Construction Completed. |


    |Condition satisfied. Acquired Unique Series Skill- Mesarthim: Prismatic Inferno|


    |Skill: Fire Magic (High) has been integrated into Mesarthim: Prismatic Inferno |


    |Skill: zing Fury has been integrated into Mesarthim: Prismatic Inferno |


    Evan looked at the new set of notifications in front of him dumbfoundedly, having little base understanding of what just happened.


    |Thank Me Later. |


    It was only when that voice rang out in his head that he snapped out of his daze and opened his status, seeing the Unique Skill sitting next to his Harbinger of Ice skill.


    "The heck?"


    [What was that, Master?]


    [I told you it was a ck g. Something clearly went wrong somewhere.]


    Indeed, something had gone wrong somewhere.


    Since Adaptive Evolution was in the state where it was searching for an Evolution Catalyst for Evan, the Starry Essence he had consumed ended up having its core extracted due to the fact that said the core was an Evolution Catalyst.


    However, the core was a Catalyst that was too high level for the current Evan so it was deemed ipatible and nearly expelled from his body if it wasn''t for ETOD''s intervention.


    In the end, Evan had gained one of the Unique skills he liked from the game and one he would have gained normally if Adaptive Evolution didn''t butt in.


    Ka gained a Lightning Skill called ''Laser Ring'', Kuro gained ''Twilight Veil'', Eliza gained Ethereal Equilibrium, and Milena gained ''Aquafire Tempest''.


    All their skills were influenced by their affinities, as the Starry Essence drew upon the existential records they possessed and awakened skills within them.


    So, for Evan whose fire magic was his strongest attribute, then it only made sense for him to gain a me-type skill.


    It being a Unique skill, on the other hand, was simply because he was lucky.


    ''Or it''s because I''m the Prota-''


    Cutting his bullshit short, we move on to Eliza chiding Evan to show her the skill description as her curiosity peaked after hearing that strange glitching sound.


    |Mesarthim: Prismatic Inferno;


    Type: Unique Sub-Zodiac Series Skill


    This Multifaceted skill allows the user tomand mes that embrace the vibrant hues of the rainbow, engulfing targets in a magnificent disy of prismatic mes.


    When used offensively, Mesarthim has a fixed chance to ignore a percentage of the target''s durability and resistances, dealing percentage damage in ordance with their maximum Health Values.


    As the skill ignites, an ethereal ze dances with vivid reds, dazzling oranges, vibrant yellows, luscious greens, brilliant blues, and majestic purples. These swirling hues create a mesmerizing spectacle that captivates both allies and adversaries alike.


    This skill cannot be lost or taken away unless very special circumstances are met.


    Effect;


    Mesarthim''s multifaceted nature allows the wielder to manipte each individual colour within the inferno, granting them extraordinary versatility.


    RED: The red mes of Mesarthim embody relentless fury and unparalleled heat, capable of scorching enemies to cinders. These fiery tongues possess an insatiable appetite for destruction, devouring all obstacles in their path.


    ORANGE: [Locked Effect]


    YELLOW: [Locked Effect]


    GREEN: [Locked Effect]


    BLUE: [Locked Effect]


    INDIGO: [Locked Effect]


    VIOLET: [Locked Effect]


    Restrictions:


    Due to the true nature of the power that is ''Mesarthim'', certain abilities of this skill are sealed and would only be unlocked either when; The user''s Attunements to mes increases, their proficiency with the base abilities of the skill increase, or the user gains a deeper understanding of ''mes'' and ''Mesarthim'' itself.


    Utilizing this skill demands a deep reservoir of Energy. |


    "Why''s almost everything locked?"


    "Because my level isn''t high enough��is what I want to say but the restrictions are different from what I remember."


    [Remember? You''ve seen it before?]


    "You can say th��"


    As Evan was replying to Milena, he suddenly zoned out and his eyes went nk, like he was not staring into anything in particr.


    ''Mesarthim�� Aires��A Zodiac��Authority��Zodiac��? What?''


    "Evan?"


    "Huh? What were you saying?"


    He snapped back to reality upon hearing Eliza''s voice, only to grab his head as he felt a sudden sharp headache.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Eliza instantly ced her hand on his back and activated magic to soothe his pain, but the headache disappeared before the magic could even activate.


    "No need, I''m alright."


    "You sure? You looked really weird just now."


    "Nahh. I''m Fine."


    Evan sat up and took a sip of the starry essence wine, the soothing taste spreading across his body as he calmed down and looked at the skill description once more.


    "Mesarthim."


    With thatmand word, a rainbow-coloured candle-shaped me lit up on his finger. Looking at it, one could tell that the red colour was more vibrant than the others which were almost translucent.


    Waving his hand, a ring of mes formed in the air, which he then snapped his fingers and changed into a ming bird, and then into a ming sword.


    "Looks like you can control it as easily as normal mes."


    "Yes.


    Quite weird considering this skill is supposed to be harder to control."


    After a few more little experiments, the Automations thenid out a new set of tes and refilled their sses with the starry wine, before serving actual food for them to enjoy.


    Once again, the taste of these meals was otherworldly and Eliza was wondering if she''d ever be content with normal food on Aidos again after this.


    While they ate, they chatted lightly with the Automations, discovering that they were usually in a dormant low-power mode and only came active when they detected foreign presences entering the Forest.


    Though they refused toment on their level of strength, Evan had an inkling that they were probably as powerful as Hydran was.


    After sharing some stories with each other, the Automations expressed great shock at the fact that Evan and the rest were merely Bronze-level existences less than three years ago, and yet they had already reached grandmaster level of power so soon, a speed that was abnormally fast considering whenpared to normal.


    "It is strange though. If Aidos is a high-level world like Lady Revi''s friend stated, then you should at the very least, be born as Peak Gold Realm Existences."


    "Wait��what?"


    Eliza questioned in surprise upon hearing the words of the Male Automation who pulled out some book-shaped artifact from somewhere and flipped through it.


    "Indeed.


    In High-Level worlds, it is possible for existences to be born in Realms up to the Legendary Realm, and yet, your world''s inhabitants don''t have such urrences."


    "There are a few dragons who are born as Master level existences but I''ve never heard of anything above that."


    "Which is why I say it is strange."


    The Automation replied as he snapped the book in his hands shut before putting it away.


    "But besides that, there seem to be no other strangeplications as people grow in strength quite easily due to the Devour ss System''s aid.


    He continued in a lesser volume, his words directed at the female Automation who nodded and replied.


    "The speed of Levelling up does seem limited though, otherwise 18-year-old grandmasters should be a lot moremon."


    "But since most people in this world begin actively levelling up after awakening their skills at age 12, it''s kind of hard for that to happen."


    "True."


    While the two Automations were discussing amongst themselves, Evan and his group were analysing all the benefits they received from the three starry essence spheres, including the minor ones they did not notice at first.


    Especially Ka, whose Spirit Raiment form had changed up slightly. Her dress had more inscriptions on it and the fragmented crown increased a little bit in size.


    To test out their power, the two Automations led the spirit trio to another area at Evan''s suggestion, leaving him alone with Eliza.


    "This was your goal from the start, wasn''t it?"


    "Of course, it was."


    Eliza smiled wryly as she heard Evan casually admit his true intention of having the both of them alone together from the start.


    "Maybe we should have Pride and Greede over here next time.


    Didn''t bring them along because of the possibility of incurring Hydran''s displeasure."


    He spoke as he opened picked up his cutlery and returned to his meal, with Eliza following suit.


    Since they had far more powerful bodies that consumed more energy, they could eat far more than a normal human as such theirrge food servings weren''t anything strange.


    As they ate, they chatted about random things that had happened over the few years, from before they met till now.


    There was a light argument about a few things they did not agree on, but one does not have a healthy rtionship if one could not at least tabte some of the things they did not like and settle those differences.


    After their meals, Evan finally pulled out some of the artifacts he had collected from Silverwing''s nest, some of them having belonged to people who challenged Silverwing in the past and lost.


    He nned to sell most of those ones and only keep the most important ones and the unused artifacts.


    "You wear little so little in the way of jewellery��"


    "This again? Like I said, I just don''t care too much for all that, hence I end up not wearing much."


    Eliza replied with a light sigh, sipping her wine silently when she saw Evan pull out a simple ne with a small golden chain and a diamond-shaped sapphire gem pendant.


    "What do you say about this?"


    "Simple��and pretty."


    "I know right? My taste in essories is impable."


    The girl only shook her head and chuckled lightly upon hearing Evan''s out-of-ce reply while the boy stood up and moved over before putting the ne on her.


    He then pulled out a mirror from his inventory and held it up for her to see.


    "You prepared for this."


    "I guess you could say that. I''d wanted to give them to you for a while now��"


    "Ohh��Wait, ''them''?"

 Chapter 501 Couple Rings

    She did a double take upon realising that Evan had said ''them'' and not ''it'' while the boy only nodded silently and pulled out two more essories from his inventory.


    One was a bracelet much like the one she currently had on and the other was a small simple looking ring. They both had fancy-looking runic inscriptions on them but Eliza could instantly tell that they were enchantments.


    A longer observation allowed her to infer that one of the enchantments was artificial, while the other was natural.


    "This one is an Interspatial ring, basically like my Inventory but with far limited space."


    "How big?"


    "A 25 by 25 feet.


    You can bind it to yourself so no one besides you can open it."


    "Sounds like It costs a lot."


    "Yeah, but I''m rich so it wasn''t a problem."


    The boy casually waved off her concerns about the price of the ring, as he had personally gotten the materials by himself when he went off to Aspea.


    "Does the ne have any effect too?"


    "Yep. Elemental Damage Bonus.


    I had it ordered ever since I noticed you were learning Elemental Magic. It was actually a red gem so I had them custom-make one with a blue gem, and enchant it too."


    Evan replied before picking up the second essory, the bracelet with the natural runes and one of the things from Silverwing''s nest.


    "This is a Levelling Efficiency Bracelet. Gives you an extra 50% Levelling speed."


    Eliza''s eyes opened wide in shock and she dropped the interspatial ring she was holding when she heard Evan''s words.


    Her expression was quite the sight that Evan burst outughing but even so she only just nkly alternated her gaze between Evan and the bracelet in his hands.


    It took her a few more seconds to snap out of her shock before picking up the interspatial ring and hurriedly asking Evan where on Aidos he got it.


    "Silverwing''s nest.


    It is one of the things I wanted you to have. It''s useless for me since I level up four times as fast, but your level wouldg far behind if you don''t have something like this so I thought I''d give it to you."


    In the game, he had gotten this to make his character level up faster, but now while this extra 50% was not negligible, he could do without it if it meant making Eliza stronger faster.


    Seeing this, the girl honestly did not know what to say to Evan giving her such a valuable artifact. People would kill to gain the thing that Evan was casually giving her for free.


    She hadpletely forgotten about how she also participated in the battle to fight the creature that gave possessed the artifact originally.


    "Aren''t I the best boyfriend out there?"


    "��why do I feel giving you a positive answer would onlye to bite me in the backter on?"


    Evan''s excitement as he asked that question instantly depleted as he pouted and spoke.


    "And here I thought I''d get an instant ''Yes''."


    While Eliza was chuckling lightly at his sudden pouty face, the Female Automation returned and Evan requested a refill of their miniature starry sky wine.


    After sping the bracelet around Eliza''s wrist, Evan took a sip of the drink, his eyes widening slightly as he noticed it was like a fizzy version of the previous one.


    "Like C."


    He chuckled lightly as he said that, only for Eliza''s surprised voice to ring out in surprise.


    "Evan?! Y-your eyes are glowing!"


    She had looked up after taking a sip from her own drink and noticed a dramatic change. Evan''s eyes were now shining with an iridescent light.


    "Huh?"


    Evan blinked, then picked the hand mirror from the table to check and saw that his eyes were indeed glowing.


    "Mm? Liz, your hair changed colour."


    "Huh?"


    This time it was Eliza''s turn to be surprised as Evan turned the mirror to her and she saw that her blonde hair was now gleaming like it had stars in it.


    "Wow��it''s pretty."


    As she was absentmindedly admiring the change, she noticed something slip onto her finger and looked away from the mirror, seeing Evan casually slipping a ring across her empty right index finger.


    "Hmm?...?!"


    The instant she set eyes on the ring on her finger, her heart plummeted into a storm of emotions.


    A whirlwind of astonishment, disbelief and profound shock swept through her.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    ''THAT RING!''


    Despite the fact that this was the first time she was supposed to have seen said ring, she recognized it all too well.


    "I got these two from a...."


    Evan was saying something but his words were lost on her as the only thing in her mind at that moment was the vision Artemisia had shown her on the day that they first entered the Tower of Trials.


    On Evan''s finger, was a ring that looked exactly like the one that was on her finger right now.


    "Liz?"


    Evan''s call snapped her out of her daze and she turned to him, seeing the worry in his gaze that the iridescent lights could not hide.


    "What happened? your face is pale."


    She nced down at her fingers and saw that the ring wasn''t there anymore, instantly guessing that Evan had removed it before shaking her head and replying.


    "Sorry, I just remembered something."


    "What is it? You have no idea how bad your expression looked just now."


    Although Evan pressed her for answers, Eliza kept on waving him off and eventually got him to drop the topic as a whole,


    "Oh yea, I noticed you had something in your hand, what was it anyway?"


    She returned the focus of the discussion from her reaction upon seeing the ring to the ring itself.


    "That? Don''t worry about it."


    As she expected, Evan tried to brush it off but she didn''t let him.


    ''It''s just a ring, it has nothing to do with that vision.


    I can''t act all strange just because of it.''


    Telling herself that, she got up from her seat and moved over to the other side of the table, cing her hands on the two arms of the chair Evan was seated on, effectively trapping him in his seat.


    She then tilted her head to the side with a sweet smile on her face, a smile that signified she wasn''t going to back down until he brought out what she wanted.


    Sighing softly, Evan pulled out a pair of simr rings, two silver skinny rings.


    "Oh, pretty.


    Where''d you get them?"


    "��The jeweller at the ce I ordered the ne gave them to me as a little token since I spent a lot of money in their establishment.


    "So, they gave you a pair of couple rings, huh?"


    With a graceful gesture, Eliza delicately retrieved the two rings from Evan''s open palm, her touch as gentle as a whispering breeze.


    She then pivoted swiftly, her body lowering sideways onto hisp, finding afortable position where her back found support against the left armrest of the chair. Her legs cascaded over the other armrest, swaying gently as if caught in a melodic dance.


    In a subtle disy of intimacy, Eliza reached out and sped Evan''s right hand, drawing his attention away from the world around them.


    She then tilted her head slightly to meet his gaze and with a light smile on her face, she spoke.


    "See, we match."


    Following her words, Evan''s gaze drifted down to his right hand where he discovered the subtle transformation that had taken ce.


    Eliza had adorned his right index finger with the ring, the same way she had done to hers and held their palms up together.


    "Do they have any enchantments?"


    "Nahh��they''re just normal rings made with slightly special metal."


    "Ohh��"


    Her voice dissipated into a breathless whisper as Evan''s lips descended upon hers, sealing their connection in a fleeting kiss.


    At first, a flicker of surprise danced in her eyes, but it swiftly gave way to an undeniable desire. Responding to the electric current coursing through her veins, she reciprocated the kiss with fervour, her arms encircling his neck in a deep embrace.


    After their little make-out session, they remained entwined in each other''s arms for a while.


    But as the hands of time gradually ticked away, Evan''s gaze fell upon the system time, seeing it edging perilously close to the hour of 3 pm. With a gentle sigh, he reluctantly broke their embrace, his voice carrying a touch of regret as he dered that it was time to depart.


    He called over the spirits who returned together with the two Automations and dered their intention to depart.


    The female Automation noticed the bracelet on Eliza''s arm and saw through its effect, giving her a slight enchantment to prevent people with analysis-type abilities from doing the same, something both she and Evan appreciated.


    They then bade farewell to the Automations and made their way back to the rift. After passing through the same breath-taking sight of the tumultuous spatial sea, they returned to the Cavern of the Frozen Harbinger.

 Chapter 502 [Bonus ] Analysing Current Power

    As they walked through the Underground Crystal Cove, making their way out of the subterranean garden, Evan opened up his status and looked through it, sighing softly at the ridiculousness of it.


    ''If a yer from Aidos Online were to see this as the status of a level 299, they''d get my game ID and report me to the GMs for hacking.


    Heck, I''d do the same if I saw someone with this status!''


    For his level, Evan''s stat values and number of skills were simply off the charts.


    |Name- Evan Von Bourne


    Race- Body: Human; Soul: ##### ###s###e#;


    Gender - Male


    Age - Body: 14; Soul: 18;


    Level- 299?


    Existence Level - Undefined (Undefined)


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########, B-Rank Adventurer, Protector of the People, Anomaly, Irregr, Count of the Great Western Empire, Leader of the Anomalies.


    ss- Energy Swordmaster (�Ԧ�).


    Health �C A+ (67/100)


    Energy �C A+ (92/100)


    Strength �C A+ (88/100)


    Agility �C A+ (73/100)


    Durability �C A+ (76/100)


    Intelligence- A (98/100)


    Condition- Normal, Excited, Temporarily Empowered.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 3, Lightning Tier 3, Shadow Tier 2, Ice Tier 3, Wind Tier 2, Water Tier 2, Darkness Tier 3, Light Tier 2, Non-Attribute Tier 2;


    Resistances- Divinity, Poison, Charm, Fear, Lightning, Mental, Elemental, Demonic Energy, Magic Energy, Death Essence, Acid, Pressure, Power Negation, Pain, Radiation, Biological.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension, Martial Arts, Fracture, Void Steps, Irregr, Evesting Chains, Lightning sh, Energy Maniption.


    Mimicked Skills- Energy st, Aura sh, Blink, Inventory, Limit Break, de Cannon, Elemental Shield, Chain Lightning, Track Down, Tenacity, Intimidation, Copse, Elemental Weapon Projection, Thunderp, Physical Damage Reduction, Danger Sense, Vindiction''s Strike, Time Difference, Hollow Magic, Flux, Elemental Gale, Farsight.


    Avable Skill Slots- 0;


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (2��), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction (1��), Vortex, Harbinger of Ice, Mesarthim: Prismatic Inferno. |


    Looking at the stat values alone, one would think he was a veteran A rank adventurer who had been in the business for years and not a 14-year-old who had only been levelling up for a bit over two years.


    If a normal person wanted to get as strong as Evan was currently in the same amount of time, then they''d need to put in about 5 times the effort he did.


    The boy had casually achieved what it took others close to ten years to achieve in just two years.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    But then again, it was only natural considering how many high-level opponents he had been fighting.


    Even Eliza who was currently level 374 didn''t get there by ident.


    She was Level 326 before they fought the Poison Cephrodite and Silverwing, but that was only expected, considering that she and the rest of the Anomalies had been clearing the 30s floors of the Tower of Trials.


    They were currently on Floor 33, and going from Tower''s system, they had been fighting hundreds of opponents between Level 300-330 in thest three floors.


    It''d be stranger if she wasn''t at least Level 326 after that!


    By all rights, she should in fact be higher than that after having to deal with that many high-level opponents.


    Coming back to Evan''s more oundish case, even his number of Mimicked Skills were also far more than normal, after all: he was only supposed to gain one slot every 20 levels, but because of the Reincarnated Hero System Patch, he had 1 every 10 levels.


    Then his array of Unique skills, the boy had a grand total of SIX Unique skills.


    That was another number that''d make people''s jaws drop if they ever heard that a level 299 had such.


    And if they heard that 3 out of the 6 were series skills, then they might just hunt Evan down out of jealousy.


    Then we had his stat bonuses due to his ss and other skills, totalling a base stat boost of 32.5%.


    Forget Blessing of Destruction, Evan could fight the weakened Dominik and the Necromancer would be scared for his life.


    While thinking about how much easier things would have been if he was this strong a year ago, the group left the Underground Crystal Cove and returned to the Giant Bear''s cave.


    They arrived mere moments after the investigation team sent from Shelde to find out the reason for the tremors left the Giant Bear Forest.


    ''Come to think of it, the Series that Mesarthim came from was never mentioned in the game. I wonder which series it is?''


    As Evan was guessing the ''Series'' Mesarthim belonged to, he turned his gaze to Eliza beside him and saw that she was searching through something on her guild card, her countenance showing that she had indeed not noticed what was up ahead.


    ''They seem to have developed a counter for her life force sensing ability. But how did they know about it in the first ce?''


    Just when he was thinking that, the girl turned towards him with a questioning gaze, having sensed him looking at her but he just smiled and pinched her cheeks lightly before asking.


    "Do you feel anything weird in the area?"


    "Weird?"


    "Yes. Try using your Ether to scan, but do it as subtly as possible."


    Despite not fully understanding why Evan asked her to do that, Eliza spread out a thin barely perceptible wave of ether to scan the surrounding area, but in the end, she shook her head stating she didn''t notice anything.


    Just when Evan was about to reply, they took a step out of the Cave and Eliza''s expression turned grim.


    "The heck? Why am I just noticing this now?"


    Seeing her reaction, Evan smiled wryly he inferred that she had indeed sensed the ''experience'' that was ''waiting for them outside''.


    Kuro, Ka and Milena, however, were still clueless about what the two of them were talking about. But even so, Eliza''s reaction was enough to put them on their guards.


    Evan then walked up to the middle of the clearing where Eliza had killed the Giant Bear earlier in the day and looked at the system time, seeing that it was just a bit after 1 pm.

 Chapter 503 Suddenly Surrounded!

    Looking at the system time and seeing that it was just a bit after 1 pm, Evan remembered the time he had seen when in the Regal Void Expanse and thought.


    ''Aidos'' time is different from the Regal Void Expanse''s time, huh?''


    He had that fleeting thought as he closed the system interface and looked around before saying it out loud.


    "I kind of expected you guys toe after me soon enough. I even came all the way out here because of that, but aren''t you guys a bit too early? I''m still on a date, you know?"


    The spirit trio were momentarily confused by Evan''s words, but this confusion did notst much longer.


    Converging from all directions, a legion of sleek ck uniformed figures appeared, their diverse races showcased in their formidable visages.


    Each one of them exuded powerful energy fluctuations, showing that at the very least, they were superior stage master level existences averaged at level 280-290.


    They numbered a bit over a hundred in total, and from this hundred, Evan''s party could sense that at least half of them were Inferior or Intermediate stage grandmasters.


    A quick nce around with his appraisal active, Evan saw their levels ranging from the 320s to the 350s.


    Four of them in particr who stood at the centre, had powerful auras that showed they were at the very least, Level 360!


    Eliza summoned the Memoria and roused her energies while the spirits got into battle positions while remaining in their spiritual bodies.


    The reason for this could not be any more obvious.


    These ck-clothed figures all had obvious hostility towards Evan''s group.


    At that moment, the air crackled with tension as the towering presence of the sea of trees around them amplified the intensity of the impending confrontation.


    "Now this is quite the weing party."


    Despite the tension in the air, Evan still had a carefree smile on his face as he looked straight at the four hooded figures who seemed to be the ''leaders''.


    At the same time, Eliza noticed something simr about all of the people surrounding them besides their uniforms.


    ''They all have the same brooches?''


    Each one of them had a Golden Brooch on their chest, inscribed with a symbol she found unfamiliar.


    The symbol on their brooches was one that depicted a hand holding up a ball in its palm, and on the back of that palm was the number ''1''.


    But this quickly escaped her mind as she focused on trying to understand why she could not sense the life signs of these people earlier.


    ''And why I can''t sense the life signs of those four wearing hoods even though they''re right in front of me.''


    Her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she tried to probe the four of them but Evan ced a hand on her shoulder to stop her before speaking.


    "Seems you guys could not stand me anymore, ay?"


    While the ck-clothed figures remained silent, Eliza threw a nce at Evan as she asked.


    "You know who they are?"


    "Of course, I do. You know them too.


    I mean, look at their brooches: A ''Hand'' holding up the ''World'', and then think about the fact that quite a few of them are lower-middle ranked demons, their identities could not be more obvious."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Hearing his words, Eliza and the three spirits instantly figured out who the people surrounding them were.


    "The Demonic Hand."


    As soon as she spoke, a gust of wind blew southward, blowing off the hoods on the heads of the four figures in front and revealing their faces.


    Or rather, their ''face''.


    The four of them werepletely identical, each one had short neck length ash coloured hair, the exact same fair skin tone, red irises and ash cross-shaped pupils.


    "Come on, of all possible faces to use, you chose this guy''s face?"


    Although Evan was not too surprised as he already knew what the faces under the hood looked like, the same could not be said for Eliza.


    The battle priestess was quite shocked as she recognized the face that she was looking at from her history books, but Ka who didn''t care much for that was unaware of the person''s identity and asked.


    The answer Evan gave, was not one she had expected at all.


    "An Maddox.


    The Previous ''Second'' of the ''Seven Heroes'' and my ''Predecessor''."


    The lightning spirit was dumbfounded as she alternated her gaze between Evan and the four emotionless figures standing in front of her.


    A single question went through the minds of Eliza and the three spirits.


    ''Why are there members of the Demonic Hand who look identical to a Former Hero?!''


    "Are they��clones?"


    Evan, who knew exactly what they were, took a step forward as he answered Eliza''s question.


    "It would have been better if they were clones."


    The contempt in his voice seemed to grow with each word he spoke, and the scorn in his gaze increased with each step he took.


    The Demonic Hand members wanted to attack him already but they kept to themselves because they had not been given orders to do so by their ''Senior''.


    "These abominable ''things'' you''re looking at, whose very appearances are a stain on the Legacy of the ''Great Hero An Maddox'', are nothing more than Hollow Imitations created by the Demonic Hand, in an attempt to rece the originals."


    To Eliza who had been together with Evan for more than just a while, it was no secret that Evan detested his predecessor for a reason only he and Laurene knew; yet that same Evan was addressing An with the title of ''Great Hero''?


    She found it weird, very weird, but she pushed it aside to ask the more important question.


    "What ''Originals'' are they created to rece?"


    The answer Evan gave made the eyes of all those who heard widen in sheer astonishment, their mouths agape as if unable to form coherent words.


    Of course, both parties were shocked for differing reasons as the Demonic Hand members were shocked at how much Evan knew, while hispanions were bewildered that such a thing was even possible.


    "The Originals they are meant to rece, are the ''Seven Heroes''."

 Chapter 504 Fake Hero Project

    "The Originals they are meant to rece, are the ''Seven Heroes''."


    There was a pin-drop silence in the area after Evan''s words rang out.


    What he said was just too absurd.


    The Working process behind the Hero selection was not something that anyone on Aidos couldprehend.


    After all, no one on Aidos understood the inner workings of the system and how the Hero titles were given.


    But the Demonic Hand was making ''Fake Heroes''? To rece the original Heroes?


    It sounded oundish to everyone else, but from the way the hostility of the Demonic Hand members around them increased, one would instantly understand that Evan had hit the mark.


    The ''Fake Hero Project'' was something that many members of the Demonic Hand didn''t even know about.


    Only the Upper-Senior Members on the Grandmaster Level and above were aware of this, but even they were not detailed on the full specifics.


    To some of the Demonic Hand members here present, this was the first time they had heard of this.


    But the fact that Evan knew this while they did not, meant that Evan indeed knew too much about their organization.


    Many of them didn''t believe the reports from the remnants of the Eighth Division who said that Evan was aware of some of their ns, but after this, they''d be foolish not to believe.


    This also meant that Evan had to die!


    They could not let him go.


    The Senior Members all instantly made moves to attack the young hero but they all heard a resounding order in their heads that instant.


    ''STAND DOWN!''


    Although they wanted to eliminate Evan as soon as possible, disobeying direct orders was not something they could do, so they had no choice but to obey begrudgingly.


    Even so, they asked why? Why they had to stand down despite this?


    They had Evan surrounded, he and his little girlfriend were only ''Master Level'' existences, and most of them were grandmasters.


    Killing Evan could be a walk in the park, something they could do and still get back to base before the other teams that were sent out.


    So why did they still have to stand there and let him run his mouth?


    The answer they received, was a shock to them.


    ''Because Lord First wishes to speak with him.''


    Lord First!


    There was only one person in the Demonic Hand who had that on his list of titles.


    Evan who did not know of this conversation, kept his gaze trained on the four fake heroes as he spoke.


    "You want to use these fakes to rece the Originals. Or rather, you want them to take up the spots of the Originals."


    In every world with the Devour ss System, there was a limit on how many beings could possess a ''Hero'' title.


    And Aidos was no different.


    What the Demonic Hand aimed to do, was to create Fake Heroes to act as ceholders, taking up the avable ''Hero Slots'' that the world had so that the real ''Heroes'' could not awaken their powers.


    Since the Fakes would already be taking up the avable space, then there''d be no space for the originals.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "It''s quite the brilliant n."


    Evan praised the Demonic Hand''s n with a smile on his face, but despite his words, he was still scanning the area to see if there were any more assants.


    From his knowledge of the ''Fake Hero Attack'' in the game, the Demonic Hand sent an equal number of ''Fakes'' to deal with the Heroes they knew of simultaneously.


    So, the fact that he could only see four, and sense five of the Fake heroes meant one thing.


    ''The Demonic Hand is aware of Four of the Seven Heroes. They can only deploy 20 Fakes without stretching the limits of the world and these fakes can only be active for a limited time. If they exceed that time, then the Laws of the World would strike.


    Assuming they sent five to each hero as they did in the game:


    Laurene and I are two, which leaves two other Heroes that the Demonic Hand knows about.


    As much as I''d like to find out where they are, if this team is the exact same one sent to the ''Second Hero'' in the game, then the ''Leader'' of this attack Squad would rather blow himself up than say a word.


    But I''m very worried, because one of the Fake Heroes, is a Legendary Level existence, an existence impossible for any of the current Seven Heroes to deal with.''


    As for the reason why Evan could sense ''Five'' fakes despite only seeing ''Four'', it was because there was a fifth hidden in the forest but despite all its concealment methods, Evan''s Hero title would not miss the presence of a failed attempt at replicating it.


    "But that n, doesn''t seem to be turning out well, does it?


    After all, if you had seeded, then I would not have been able to awaken as my slot out of the Seven Hero slots would have been filled up."


    Evan explicitly stated the number ''7'' for several reasons.


    Making the Demonic Hand think he believed there were only Seven Slots, and clearing their suspicion about the possibility of there being more than seven were the two main ones.


    But Evan did not have any ns of letting these Demonic Hand members leave here alive, so who was he saying this to?


    The answer to that revealed itself in the next moment.


    The heads of one of the Fake Heroes in front of Evan suddenly went limp for a moment.


    When it looked back up in the next moment, the Fake Hero''s face was emotionless as always, but their eyes now held an appraising gaze towards Evan.


    What''s more, their red cross pupils, had turned green!


    [You''re quite talkative, Evan Eris.]


    The moment that voice rang out, the expressions on the Demonic Hand members'' faces changed, particrly, those of the Grandmaster-level Senior Members.


    As for Evan, he narrowed his eyes at the now green-eyed fake hero and asked.


    "Who are you?"


    Now Evan knew exactly who that person was, but he still asked for a reason.


    The Demonic Hand was aware that Evan knew of some of their ns and their identities, identities of the Senior Members and the Executives that should be top secret even within their Organization.


    From thest report that Dominik made to the demonic Hand before he died, Evan seemed to be aware of his identity beforehand, and that should not have been the case.


    So, while they knew Evan knew about them, the question here, was ''How Much Did He know?''


    Evan''s question now, was simply him making them think he didn''t know who was talking, neither did he know what Division of the Demonic Hand they were from.


    [From the way you ran your mouth earlier, one would think you were aware of everything in the world.]

 Chapter 505 Speaking With ‘Uno’

    [From the way you ran your mouth earlier, one would think you were aware of everything in the world.]


    The voice replied to Evan''s inquiry with words that made the young hero''s brows twitch in annoyance.


    "You abominable bastard!"


    Evan cursed at him and released a bit of his magic power, making sure to keep it at the level of what an inferior Stage Grandmaster would normally have.


    "How dare you curse at Lord U-!"


    "Silence!"


    One of the Demonic Hand members shouted at Evan as he tried to attack, but was quickly silenced by another Senior Member.


    However, Evan had been able to hear one crucial part of his words that made him grin internally.


    ''It seems cursing at him really worked.''


    "Lord U?"


    Evan tilted his head to the side with a pensive look, as if he was pondering the words of the man who just spoke.


    A momentter, he mmed his fist into his palm and asked aloud.


    "Perhaps, you''re the one the Eighth Finger called ''Uno''?


    Are you the one in charge of this disgusting project?"


    He clenched his fist tightly while saying the words ''disgusting project'' as if the idea of there being ''Fake Heroes'' was something that enraged him.


    But the true reality was that in a way, Evan could not really care less.


    The existence of the project was not what Evan found bothersome. Sure, he had some issues with how they used Terrok''s ve trade to acquire test subjects, but there was nothing he could do about that at the moment.


    What Evan was really worried about was their sess.


    He wanted there to be a lower number of Fake Heroes to reduce their chances of seeding in their endeavours.


    Evan did not want a situation where they looked back on one of their failures and realised a w, leading to an epiphany that would lead to them seeding in creating a real ceholder Hero to upy a Hero Slot.


    The reason was not that he did not want them to take up the Hero Slots meant for the Seven Heroes, but because of something else entirely, something that only he, the one who bore the title of ''Leader'' of the Heroes was supposed to know.


    ''There are more than Seven Hero slots on Aidos.


    If the Demonic Hand continue trying and eventually seed, they''d discover there are more than Seven slots just like in the game.


    And if that happens, they could replicate the sess and create more ''Heroes'' for themselves, and that''s bad news for us.''


    Emerging from Evan''s sea of thoughts, the man who was speaking through the Fake Hero, the one called ''Uno'' was surprised as that was indeed the means Dominik referred to him.


    Dominik hardly referred to the guy by his actual name or title, simply calling him Uno.


    [How do you know about them?]


    He asked, with ''them'' referring to the Fake Heroes standing in front of Evan, but he didn''t really expect the boy to answer.


    And indeed, Evan did not answer...


    "Hah?? Even if my source of information isn''t entirely urate, why should I tell you about it?"


    Evan held his stomach andughed as if he had just heard something absurd. But suddenly, he spread out his arms and looked the green-eyed fake in the eye while speaking.


    "But since you so readily presented your subordinates to allow us to use as experience to be grandmasters-"


    His words were spoken with the intention of misleading them into thinking that he, Eliza and his spiritpanions, were all Master Level existences, altering their perception of how much power he possessed.


    "-I''d be kind enough to tell you how I know about your little delusional project."


    Just as surprise was appearing on the face of the green-eyed fake, Evan continued.


    "My informant just so happened to sneak in and overhear a little conversation between Dominik Vk and a person called ''Uno'' sometimest year, during the earlier parts of your Undead Invasion."


    He did not refer to the incident by the name the Demonic Hand gave it: the ''Duhan Attack''.


    "ording to what I was told, the topic of the conversation was ''Fake Heroes''."


    ''Uno'' narrowed his eyes upon hearing Evan''s words. He thought Evan was going to bullshit him, but the young hero had actually spoken about something that indeed happened.


    He and Dominik did have such a conversationst year, but such a conversation was supposed to be private.


    The fact Evan knew about this, meant he indeed had an informant listening in.


    But as readers, you all should be aware that Evan was just bullshitting.


    He only knew about this conversation because of Aidos Online, and the conversation was shown in one of the CGs of the game.


    Saying this, was an attempt to make Uno, believe there was else who was working with Evan behind the scenes and supplying information.


    It could even make him think there was a mole in the Demonic Hand!


    Now this was something that could backfire on Evan, but from what Evan knew about ''Uno'', there was only a 20% chance of that happening, so he chose to take the gamble.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Anyway, I wonder just how high up of a position you have in the Demonic Hand.


    From the way I was told Dominik spoke, he was respectful, so I am sure you''re at least an Executive like he was."


    Evan put his hands in his pockets as he spoke, ncing around at the Demonic Hand members ring at him like he killed their families, a strained expression shing across his face for a moment.


    "Anyway, although I talked all big earlier, these many opponents are more than enough to overwhelm us even if my spirits chipped in to help.


    How about this, if you order your subordinates to pull back, I would not have the information about the Demonic Hand my informant gathered from the Eighth Division when they snuck in revealed publicly."


    The boy made such a ridiculous demand to Uno, stunning the man temporarily at how brazen Evan was being.


    ''What is this kid ying at?''


    He was taking Dominik''s final advice not to underestimate Evan seriously, but he honestly could not understand why Evan would dare to make such a silly demand.


    [Are you trying to Negotiate?]


    "Nahh.


    I''m simply making you an offer. You don''t want your secrets getting out in public, don''t you?


    So, I''m being magnanimous here, telling you that I''d not spill your dirtyundry if you pull back your forces."


    "��."


    Silence pervaded the area as the Demonic Hand members who were eager to attack Evan now looked at him like an idiot.


    "Are you an idiot?"


    And one of them even asked just to be sure!


    Evan turned to them and red at them, trying to pressure them with his aura, but the Level 358 grandmaster only snorted and used his own aura to push Evan back.


    He was knocked back by a few metres and Eliza had to catch him to ''prevent'' him from falling over to the ground.


    Seeing this, Uno only stared on silently before shaking his head and ordering.


    [Kill him as nned.]


    "WAIT!! Are You Sure You Want to Do This?!


    YOU WANT TO KILL ME?! DON''T YOU KNOW MY IDENTITY?! YOU THINK THE EMPIRE WOULD LET YOUR ORGANIZATION OFF?!"


    Evan screamed out with a hint of ''fear'' in his voice, but Uno had already cut the connection between him and the Fake Hero, evidenced by the fact that the Fake Hero''s eyes had returned to being red.


    ''How long now?''


    [Soon.]


    After receiving that telepathic reply from one of the Spirits of the Underground Crystal Cove, Evan looked up at the Fake Hero Uno was talking through and then-


    "?!"


    "Huh?"


    "What the-?!"


    -he disappeared.


    The Demonic Hand members all had their eyes widen in shock as the boy they were about to target suddenly vanished right before their very eyes.


    **SWISH!!!


    The next instant, all the grandmasters present felt existential fearing from a certain direction, and when they all turned, the sight they were met with left them dumbfounded.


    Evan, who had been ''knocked back'' by a grandmaster''s aura and was screaming in ''fear'' just mere moments ago, was now standing behind the fake hero that Uno had been using as a conduit formunication.


    The other three fake heroes instantly backed away, taking dozens of metres of distance, but they still had incredulous looks on their faces.


    **PLOP!


    A cold corpse dropped to the ground right in front of Evan and in his hands was the severed head of the Fake Hero that still didn''t know he had been beheaded!


    It was only after three silent seconds had passed that the realisation finally hit him, but the light of life went out of his eyes in the next.


    "So those researchers back home weren''t bullshitting��"


    Evan''s calm voice rang out as he watched the life go out of the Fake Hero''s eyes.


    In his other hand was his weapon, the Unforged, dripping with bright red blood while being coated in twoyers of energy.


    The blue frost of his ''Harbinger of Ice, and the bright gold of his normal aura.


    The thirdyer, the essence of destruction, had receded back into his body after he deactivated the BoD skill.


    "Burn."

 Chapter 506 Against The First Division Squad I

    "Burn."


    He dropped the severed head and gave thatmand word, prompting a bright rainbow-coloured me to engulf both the head and the body of the fake hero on the floor.


    A vibrant spectrum of colours swallowed the corpse, captivating all those who beheld it as it turned the corpse to ashes within seconds.


    It was then that the reality set in on them.


    The Fake Hero was a Level 370 existence!


    And it was killed instantly, with its corpse being turned to ashes within seconds!


    The corpse of an existence with an A-neutral durability stat, was turned to ashes in mere seconds.


    In an instant, the gazes of all the Demonic hand members towards Evan changed.


    Their assumption of his powers did aplete 180, as even if Evan swore to the gods that he wasn''t a grandmaster right this instant, they still wouldn''t believe him.


    A dozen of them instantly dashed forward at breakneck speeds, unleashing powerful skills and single-target magic towards Evan in an attempt to end him instantly.


    In response, Evan put the Unforged back into his inventory, holding up his now empty hand and coalescing crystal blue icy energy into a sword which he grasped tightly.


    His energy circuit rapidly circted energy and the crystal blue ice took on a reddish-gold hue, with the threat of this change permeating into the bodies of the Demonic Hand members.


    Before the Grandmaster level ones could warn the Superior stage masters who shot forward while charging their most powerful attacks, Evan''s arm blurred.


    **BOOOMMM!!!


    Another massive explosion rang out as one of the Superior Masters had his body sliced to pieces faster than he couldpute, the energy he had charged up exploding with a blinding light that left a massive crater in the ground, one that was several hundred metres in width AND depth.


    The shockwaves from the explosion knocked all the others back, sparing them death at the hands of Evan''s ice sword.


    "A little heads-up next time, Evan."


    Eliza spoke as she used the barrier she had conjured at thest moment to push back the dust and smoke from the sudden explosion, revealing her unscathed appearance to their assants.


    The close-range explosion of a superior master was not enough to break through Eliza''s multiyered barrier!


    "I''d try to work on that."


    Evan''s voice rang out as his appearance was revealed, surrounded by a crystal blue spherical barrier that was emitting a frosty haze.


    Arge crack ran through the barrier, but it still maintained its integrity, showing that the point-nk range explosion could not prate its defences fully.


    ''Elemental Shield + Harbinger of Ice is a nicebo.''


    Such was the young hero''s thought to himself as he twirled the sword in his hands, ncing around at the Demonic Hand Members in the crater who were either knocked back or injured from the explosion.


    The grandmasters were all fine but the most of the Superior Masters had taken great damage. In fact, the only reason the crater they were in wasn''trger was that most of the explosion''s force had been concentrated on the bodies of these master levels, leaving only a little to devastate the surroundings.


    "Hey Ka, remember when I said someone from Terrok was going to send a present soon enough?


    Here they are.


    Go wild."


    Evan''s sudden words left some of them confused. Sure, the base they had been summoned from was indeed in Terrok, but what did that have to do with the current situa-


    [Laser Ring]


    Ka''s bright voice summoned a runic circle on the ground underneath her feet, prompting fiverge 50cm cubes of golden lightning to appear, forming a ring around her.


    The next moment, the rings began rotating and just when the Demonic Hand members scrambled to dodge after sensing the building-up energy, the ring radiated a golden blinding light, releasing five massiveser beams in all directions.


    ***BOOOOMMM!!!!!!!!


    In an instant, the area around them was turned into a sea of mes and the screams of multiple demonic hand members rang out as the devastating explosion of energy decimated some of them, leaving only a scorching aftermath.


    Evan who had blinked out of the way and Eliza who was within theser ring itself were unharmed, but the opposite was the case of the demonic hand members.


    The quintet that had shot forward in an attempt to attack Evan was obliterated by thesers, their A-negative disabilities renderedpletely meaningless in the face of Ka''ssers that carried the essence of lightning.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Ka''s opening act was followed by the activation of her body transformation skill, with her taking on the form of a creature that made Evan smile wryly.


    "Really? Silverwing?"


    The current Ka had transformed into a golden iteration of Silverwing, with a smaller wingspan of just a bit over fifty metres, but she still possessed the majesty and grandeur of the original.


    Without bothering to reply to Evan''s words, Ka jumped up into the air and waved her wings, releasing waves of energy that swept across the entire area.


    Golden bolts of lightning fell from the heavens, leaving behind trails of golden lightning that spread out for a dozen hundred metres, setting the trees nearby and setting them aze.


    Milena and Kuro didn''t sit still, as the Water spirit moved to test out her new skill, taking advice from the Automations she met earlier and igniting oxyhydrogen explosions in random directions.


    **BOOM!! BOOOMM!!! BOOOOOMM!!!


    A symphony of explosions rang out as the Demonic Hand members scampered to avoid the random AOE attacks, but some of them found themselves unable to move even a single finger as their very shadows seemed toe alive, rising up from the ground and restraining them entirely.


    The grandmasters easily broke out of the shadow restraints and escaped with mild scratches, but most of the superior masters weren''t so lucky.


    [Infernal Whirlpool!!]


    Using the power of her Aquafire skill and taking inspiration from Evan''s own unique skill, Milena unleashed a swirling vortex of searing mes intermingled with water.


    This whirlpool engulfed the demonic hand members in a maelstrom of scorching heat and drowning deluge, leaving them helpless amidst the conflicting forces of the two elements.


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    She dismissed the level-up notifications that appeared and held up her hands, about to summon a rain of water projectiles, but her eyes widened in the next moment as she rerouted her energy flow.


    **SWOOSHH!! BOOM!!!


    A flying demon appeared and swung her weapon, realising a sh of condensed demonic energy that sliced through Milena''s airborne body, going on to collide with the ground and obliterate everything for the next few hundred metres.


    However, the demon frowned when she noticed that the resistance from Milena''s body was not the kind she was supposed to get when shing a grandmaster.


    It was far too weak.


    And indeed, she was right to think that.


    Right before her very eyes, the two severed halves of Milena''s body heated up and burst in a steam explosion that sent her tumbling to the ground.


    "Steam? This! It''s the Magical Steam from the report! The Water Spirit is here somewhere!"


    One of the grandmaster members shouted out to the others as they struggled to block the fierce sword shesing from Evan, taking care not to let the sword graze her body.


    But that moment she spared to speak was enough for Evan to find an opening and drive his ice sword through the woman''s shoulder, giving her a taste of the soul-rending pain from BoD.


    "Mind filling me in on this ''Report'' of yours?"


    Evan asked as he pulled closer, wearing a smile on his handsome face that would have most certainly seeded in charming her momentarily, if it wasn''t for the fact that they were in a life-and-death battle.


    "Get away brat!"


    She released a burst of demonic energy in an attempt to knock Evan back and gain distance, but the young hero conjured an elemental shield at thest moment to block it, while freezing his feet to the ground.


    Seeing that she could not seed in gaining distance, she coated her palm in demonic energy and used it to grab his sword and try to pull it out while sending another demonic energy sword sh towards Evan''s neck.


    The boy''s grey pupils traced the trajectory of the iing de, time difference activating as he analysed it and noted that this seemingly normal attack held enough power to cleave a city block in two.


    Golden aura surrounded his left arm and he moved it at near sonic speed, catching the iing sword in his palm.


    **BAMM!!!


    The earth around him quaked and the force of the attack pushed him a little bit, but since his feet were still frozen to the ground, he didn''t lose his footing.


    The ground behind him then cracked open and multiple chunks of jagged ice emerged from within, forcing the two Fake heroes who tried to attack him from behind to dodge.


    ''Ice Magic: Ice Nova.''

 Chapter 507 Against The First Division Squad II

    ''Ice Magic: Ice Nova.''


    A three-ringed magic circle appeared under his feet and the magic activated without dy, releasing waves of frost that caused the surrounding temperature to plummet instantly.


    As the Harbinger of Ice, Evan could now easily cast Tier 3 Ice magic by just calling out the spell''s name and constructing the circle, without the need for the lengthy chant.


    It only took a moment for everything within a kilometre radius of Evan to be encased withinyer uponyer of crimson red ice, including a few unfortunate demons and superior stage master-level demonic hand members.


    The Fake heroes and grandmasters who had sharper senses were all able to dodge the spell with their superior agility.


    Even so, Evan didn''t really mind as he expected that much from the Demonic Hand''s first Division grandmaster-level members.


    He gave themand and cracks spread out across the jagged icicles, shattering them into dozens of tiny shards of ice that melted almost instantly.


    Naturally, the bodies of those frozen in the ice had shattered along with it.


    While all this was happening; the young hero was still pushing back the sword of the female grandmaster who was internally eximing in shock at the sheer difference in strength between her and Evan.


    She was using the full force of her A+ strength stat and yet Evan was still able to hold her sword back with his hand, and what''s more, she could tell he wasn''t being serious with her.


    "ARGHH!!"


    She released a loud scream of anguish as the essence of destruction permeating into her body was causing her intolerable pain, before using demonic energy to strengthen her body and wrestle her sword from Evan''s grip.


    Without hesitation, she flipped the de and charged it up with a skill, stabbing it through theyer of ice on the ground and releasing that energy into the earth.


    *BAM! **KABOOOMMM!!!!!


    A huge mushroom cloud of smoke and ck mes rose up into the sky, with shockwaves that sted apart trees that were dozens of kilometres away.


    Red hot mes that burned through everything swept across the area, turning the solid earth into molten rock in mere seconds.


    In the middle of this sea of molten rock, was the heavily breathing demonic hand member who was clutching her shoulder with a pained expression on her face.


    ''The report said he was good with mes! So how heck is he casting Third tier ice magic without a word?!''


    "I see, so this is what ''Fire Magic: Wave of mes'' can do when used like that, huh?"


    "?!!"


    The woman''s eyes widened in shock when she heard the carefree voice of the young hero, looking up to see the unscathed Evan unravel his Elemental Shield and turn to her calmly.


    The attack just now had everyone in the area retreating instantly to prevent themselves from being caught up in it.


    But as Evan had protected himself with his shield and was only pushed back a few metres, she was currently in close proximity with the young hero that forced her to use that attack.


    As for reinforcements? It would take at least 10 seconds before she could hope for anything of the sort, plenty of time for Evan who she, from her earlier sh with him, could tell he could move at sonic speeds.


    He calmly turned his gaze towards her, taking a step forward and momentarily drawing her attention to his feet as she was confused at how he was still ''standing'' on the sea of molten rock that had a temperature of over 500 degrees Celsius.


    Even she who released the attack was notpletely immune to the searing temperature.


    A quick nce at his feet showed that Evan was not standing on the molten ground but on a t energy tform; a void step.


    His body, on the other hand, was encased in a thinyer of frost energy that protected him from the temperature.


    Evan exhaled a cold breath as he moved forward, coating his palm in energy and delivering a swift palm strike to the woman''s chest faster than she could raise her sword.


    The palm strike knocked her back by a few metres but before she could fall into the sea of molten earth, a grandmaster-level demon swooped in and caught her body before flying up into the air.


    The demon waved their hand and the sky was covered in arrays of dark energy projectiles, all of whichunched against Evan in the next instant.


    However, much to their surprise, Evan only gazed at the two in the air and then disappeared, causing the projectiles to strike the ce he was just in a mere second ago.


    Explosions rang out as the dark energy and the me energy permeating through the molten earth ignited upon contact, but the demonic duo paid it no mind and turned their gazes to find Evan.


    "Teleportation magic?!"


    "Wrong."


    "BEHIND YOU!!!"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The warning of one of the Fake Heroes rang out but it was toote as Evan had already moved, his sword swishing through the air so fast it looked like a blur, severing the wings of the demon who used the dark magic.


    He then coated his hand in frost energy and delivered a palm strike towards the demon, sending them flying towards the ground.


    ''Energy -''


    ***BOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!


    Just when he wanted to activate his skill against the iing assants, a beam of concentrated green magic power shot from the ground and into the air, sting two of the airborne enemies; instantly killing the demon of them while sending the Fake hero flying into the distance.


    "Evan! Stop ying around!"


    Eliza''s chiding voice rang out, followed by two rings of light that appeared around each of his wrists and ankles.


    Seeing this, Evan smiled wryly before turning to the other demons and the remaining Fake hero who were gazing at him warily from a safe distance and spoke.


    "You heard her, right? I''m gonna have to stop ying."


    Their expressions contorted upon hearing his words and before they could say anything, he looked at the duo that he had hit with palm strikes and sent tumbling to the ground before saying.


    "You two are first on the death list."


    Snapping his fingers, the cold energy he injected into their bodies with the palm strikes resonated with his skill.


    Their eyes widened in shock as they felt the colding from their chests and realised it was consuming their own energy reserves, but that realisation was pointless as there was nothing they could do about it.


    Right before the eyes of all those present, their bodies were encased inyers of thick ice that exploded right afterwards, propellingrge shards of ice in all directions.


    "Now then..."


    The air around them crackled with charged energy and the ambient energies thrummed wildly as an overwhelming weight of power descended upon the area.


    Looking at the opponents surrounding him, Evan readied his ice sword and spoke calmly.


    "��you lot are next."


    �� �� ��


    "Seriously, that boy."


    Eliza''s exasperated voice rang out, but even so, there was a slight smile on her face as she looked at the streaks of light shooting through the air at sonic speeds, colliding asionally and releasing multiplerge explosions in the air, with powerful shockwaves that reached her where she stood.


    As she was doing this, a grandmaster-level Senior Member and the fourth of the Fake heroes charged at her with their weapons, a Warhammer and a spear coated in demonic energy.


    ''Divergent Ward.''


    The girl activated her skill, summoning two sets of ten square-shaped barriers, each one about a metre in length and using them to block the Warhammer swing and spear thrust respectively.


    **BOOOMM!!!


    The force of the collision of the weapons with the barrier released a massive explosion of energy that sted apart the surrounding forest, rupturing the ground underneath and creating massive earthquakes.


    "Cutting Wave."


    Eliza''s voice rang out amidst the sound of the explosion, preceding a massive wave of projected life energy, carrying all manners of debuffs on it as it tore through the air on its way to the Senior Member.


    However, the target sensed the threat and erected multiple earthen walls to block the iing projectile.


    The direction the attack came from was different from where Eliza was supposed to be but he didn''t bother to rationalize it, smashing his Warhammer into the ground and causing six stone spears to sprout from the ground around him.


    The Fake hero on the other hand shot forward in the same direction the attack came from, releasing a sh with the intent to pulverize everything in front of them.


    However, the spear collided with arge chunk of jagged life ice mid-sh, exploding and sending tiny icicles flying in all directions.


    "GAHHHH!!!!!"


    The scream of one of the demonic hand members had him turning his attention elsewhere, but he quickly turned back when a spear pierced through the smoke and straight towards his head.

 Chapter 508 Against The First Division Squad III

    He rose his own weapon to block the spear, surprised to see that the attacker was the girl he was informed was a support, but he was not given time to dwell on that as she instantly pulled her spear back and thrust forward again after encasing it in a thickyer of magic power.


    From the corner of his vision, he saw a small ck cat emerge from a demonic hand member''s shadow and jump over their head, mming a ball of ck light into their mouths before jumping back into their shadow and vanishing.


    As if she expected it, Eliza conjured a barrier on her side a mere moment before that person''s head and upper torso exploded, shielding herself from the blood and brain matter that sshed about.


    The Fake hero, on the other hand, wasn''t so lucky.


    Skull fragments and pieces of flesh sshed on his face, with some of them entering his mouth through his lips that were parted to call out a spell''s name.


    "Phtfu!!"


    He hurriedly tried to spit it out but that short moment he took gave Eliza the opening required to deliver three high-speed thrusts straight to his leg, seeding in stabbing him two out of three times.


    Each stab had the energy of a skill charge inside it and she instantly activated the ''Aspects'' of Anti Regeneration and Unhealing.


    While the Fake hero''s regenerative abilities were sealed, Unhealing had no effect as he had not suffered any injuries within the event radius of Eliza''s skill.


    ''If you don''t have one, then I''d give you one.''


    With that thought, Eliza activated flower cannon, releasing a supercharged beam of energy that mmed into the fake hero from the side and sent them flying through the trees.


    Even so, Eliza had a surprised expression on her face as her kic vision allowed her to see that the Fake hero actually seeded in blocking her flower cannon''s beam at thest moment.


    "Wow��I''m actually impressed."


    She muttered those words as she spun around and released another cutting wave that carved through the ground and it split the body of one of the remaining master levels in two, going on to crash into the barrier set up by one of the demons behind him.


    A dozen other demons and their contractors unleashedbinations of fire, earth, wind and darkness demonic magic at her with the full intention to st them to pieces.


    "Sand Cloud Whirlwind."


    "Grand Lance."


    "Hail of mes!"


    "Nether Typhoon."


    "Spear of Retribution."


    "Super Cyclone."


    "Malefice!"


    "Deathmarch Dance!"


    "Wind des Shower."


    "me Lance Barrage!"


    Just before the array of spells hit her, her shadow expanded and tendrils of darkness sprung up from within, pulling her into it at thest second.


    **KAABOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!


    A deafening explosion erupted, its thunderous roar reverberating through the air with an earth-shattering force.


    The shockwaves rippled outward, causing the very ground to tremble as the explosive burst of energy from the spells colliding with the ground consumed the surroundings in a blinding sh, engulfing thendscape in an expanding wave of devastation that stretched over for close to five dozen kilometres.


    The investigation force from Shelde that was returning after seeing Evan''s airborne battle instantly retreated after seeing this explosion and getting knocked back by the shockwaves.


    They returned to the city to report what they had seen and called for more powerful beings to be summoned to check out whatever was happening.


    However, they all had a feeling, that by the time whatever was happening concluded, the giant bear woods and part of the mountains behind it might not exist anymore.


    Meanwhile, the Demonic hand members and demons whounched this greatbination attack against Eliza all had frowns on their faces as they could tell their attack had missed.


    They all saw the shadows that wrapped around her body and pulled her toward the ground at thest moment.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    This enraged them as even though they weren''t expecting to be able to kill her with just that due to her high durability, they expected that she would at least be incapacitated temporarily.


    But things didn''t go as nned and they all wasted their magic and demonic energy for nothing.


    Even so, the threat of Evan and his party was on the highest level in their heads, so they didn''t just stand there and stare at the gaping hole in the ground but instead tried to find out where he had teleported to.


    This wasn''t too hard as Kuro''s teleportation wasn''t fast enough to escape the explosion, so he had to keep Eliza in the ''shadows'', but even that proved to be troublesome as everything that could cast a shadow within the nearest 20? Maybe 30 kilometres had been turned to ashes.


    As such, the two had re-emerged in the middle of the explosion and had weathered it with Eliza''s multiyered barriers.


    This was far easier, considering they were not at the centre where all the spells had collided but was still dangerous nheless.


    Eliza'' had consumed a great amount of energy to generate the required barriers and after the explosion had died down, she had to use her water magic to douse the sea of mes in their immediate surroundings, creating a small clearing where the zing inferno of the explosion did not reach.


    The Demonic Hand members would have to be exceptionally blind not to notice her!


    However, before they could take any action-


    [You.]


    Evan''s cold voice amplified by magic rang out across the area, and apanying it was an overwhelming pressure that descended upon the area.


    The twelve of them all felt like an invisible force was pressing down on their very existences, their very souls crying out in rm as the amalgamation of power that made their breaths feel constricted, suffocated them with its intensity.


    [Fucking]


    Each one of Evan''s words intensified the pressure bearing down on them, and a suffocating sense of dread gripped their souls.


    [Bastards.]


    The pressure from Evan''s intimidation was far greater than what he did to Griselda a few hours ago; but that was only natural, as Evan had grown stronger since then; plus, Blessing of Destruction was currently active, meaning Evan was at 300% power!


    Slowly raising her head to look up, one of the lower-middle rank demons with a level in the 320s was met with the sight of the young teenager hero''s figure, standing atop an invisible tform of energy, seemingly suspended in the sky with his piercing grey eyes ring at them from above.


    In his right hand, he wielded a reddish gold ice sword, a deceptively simple yet extraordinary weapon emanating a hazy aura of frost as it reflected light with an otherworldly glow.


    However, it was the severed head held by its silver hair dangling from his left hand that drew her attention. The fake hero''s head, with fresh red blood still dripping from the severed neck, had an expression of anguish etched on his face, mirroring the soul-rending pain inflicted upon him by the essence of destruction.


    From his elevated vantage point, the young hero cast his cold gaze upon the demonic hand members, as if he viewed the dozen as lesser life forms.


    His intimidation aura infused with the crimson-red essence of destruction made the air around him grow heavy.


    Within their perception, hallucinations of their impending demise took hold, while their souls cried out in rm, sensing the imminent threat of the deadly essence of destruction.


    Rainbow-coloured mes engulfed the severed head in his hand, turning it to ashes instantly and recing it was the magic stone of the Poison Cephrodite they had killed earlier.


    The energy within it began flowing into his body and he activated his Harbinger of Ice skill, summoning an icy elemental surge of power.


    The searing sea of mes that consumed thendscape around them stood no chance against the torrential wave of crystalline ice that surged forth with unstoppable force, sumbing to its icy embrace.


    Right before their very eyes, Evan used the Cephrodite''s energy stone to transform the fiery inferno into a frozen tableau within mere seconds, casting ayer of icy energy that nketed the bodies of all their assants on the ground.


    ''It seems I cannot use the real ''Frozen Domain'', huh?''


    The piece of knowledge that was ''identally'' downloaded into his brain when Evan was unconscious after defeating Silverwing allowed him to attempt to enact this ability of the Series Skill he had mimicked.


    If Evan possessed mastery over spatialws and could infuse them into this, he would have been able to use the real ''Frozen Domain'', its true nature being a Bounded Field.


    Bounded Fields were powerful topographic type techniques that required the user to knit awork of energy and spread it over a base area to create mystic boundary lines, separating the inside from the outside.


    Naturally, it created an environment favourable for the caster and unfavourable for opponents caught within.


    Sadly, Evan''s spatial Attunements were at the lowest possible levels, leaving him incapable of enacting the real Frozen Domain.

 Chapter 509 Against The First Division Squad IV

    Anyway, minus the fact that he had used the Poison Cephrodite''s energy stone for the Frozen domain, the intimidation effect he unleashed to keep them in ce long enough to do that consumed a sizable amount of energy.


    This was natural, as it was capable of pressuring these grandmaster-level existences so much that they saw hallucinations of death.


    It also should not be forgotten that Evan was fighting against two of the fake heroes and multiple demonic Hand members before this, all of which were over level 300.


    Even in his BoD state, he had consumed a great deal of energy.


    So how did he still have energy left in his body?


    For starters, Evan wasn''t just throwing out attacks willy-nilly, but was asionally downing energy potions to replenish his energy, using mostly aura-based attacks and using his magic power to power the BoD skill.


    Plus, the buffs to energy quality they had just gotten should not be forgotten, so he could use three times less the amount of energy others were using and achieve the exact same results.


    If he used to use the exact same amount they were used, then he was bound to achieve more than three times the result.


    Due to this, his energy consumption wasn''t actually as much as one would expect. Since his energy was superior in quality, he was using less of it.


    Even so, he still snuck in the asional energy potion to speed up his recovery.


    Although he still had Limit Break, he didn''t want to unleash that yet as there was still the fifth Fake Hero who was hiding somewhere and the Leader of this attack Squad, the one the Demonic Hand members called ''Senior'' had not shown up yet.


    So, until then, Evan did not n to go all out yet.


    Naturally, this meant that his battle with the demons and the Fake Heroes would be harder, evidenced by the cuts and scratches he had all over, plus the injury on the side of his face and his torn clothes.


    ''If things go as they did in the game, I''m going to need every single drop of power to fight against those two.


    The Spirits of the Underground Cove have to pitch in to help too.''


    He had even told the spirit trio that although they should take their opponents seriously, they should not go ''No Holds Barred'' on them.


    The number of Demonic Hand members who had attacked them was exactly 120.


    Among them, 50 were grandmasters, and the remaining 70 were superior stage masters.


    As for the number that had died, Evan could roughly count more than 45, while the others were still in battle with Ka and Milena in the distance.


    Some were warily watching him from the sky, not daring toe close due to the aura of destruction and the Frozen domain, while the remaining 12 were on the floor.


    The remaining ones, most of which were grandmasters, still had sizable amounts of energy left to fight, especially considering they had multiple energy types (Magic, Aura, Demonic Energy).


    So, to keep on fighting for a longer time, Evan was going to ''borrow'' some magic power and Aura from them.


    As for the means?


    "Evesting Chains."


    The frozen ground quivered as he unleashed the power of the skill. With a single gesture, dozens of gleaming chains erupted from the earth, their links interlocking with precision as they slithered through the air like serpents of shimmering metal.


    With unerring aim, they wrapped around the dozen Demonic Hand members on the floor, with some shooting into the air to entrap the flying demons, tightening and binding them in an unbreakable grip with each coil.


    But the chains'' purpose was not merely restraint, for as they held their targets captive, subtle energy transfer took ce as their energies were slowly drained with each passing moment.


    Those who had received the full brunt of Evan''s destructive intimidation were the ones who were most easily ensnared, and even though they tried to break free, Kuro''s shadowy restraints didn''t let them achieve that so easily.


    Although the energy he was getting from them was lower in quality than his, he didn''t really mind as he was going to expel it very, very, soon.


    Now then, even if this absorbed energy was ''lower in quality''pared to Evan''s, it was still fairly high as they had all gone through the energypression Evan had done too.


    Sopared to normal grandmasters, their energies were higher in quality by at least two times. This was within expectations, as they were Elites from the First Division of the Demonic Hand.


    Sadly, Evan''s was higher, plus, he had his numerous buffs that were even more effective on them due to their designation as ''World Enemies'', making everything Evan did against them have 25% increased efficiency and power.


    His stat bonuses, ss bonuses, Reincarnated Hero System Benefits, Eliza''s buffs etc when added together, resulted in Evan dominating his battles, even when faced with two Fake Heroes who were abnormally powerful among grandmasters.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    But without all theseing together, or if hispanions were not stronger than normal, he didn''t have the help of the ambient spirits, then they Evan would not have been able to deal with this many above average opponents.


    Looking at Evan who was using the Evesting chains to swat the flying demons like flies while holding down the other demonic hand members, Eliza heaved a soft before putting the Memoria in her interspatial ring and jumping towards Evan casually.


    Even though he was about a hundred meters in the air, Eliza just causally jumped that height without stress, crossing that distance in a single instant.


    With her A+ agility, even though her eleration was leagues below warrior sses on her level, she could still reach Sonic speed, so crossing this small distance in a second was nothing.


    And there was no way that Evan would miss the sight of his girlfriend jumping towards him.


    He turned in her direction and caught her with his hands, taking care to prevent his sword from touching her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and dropped her feet on a void step.


    She then ced her hands on the sides of his head before smiling slightly and speaking.


    "I understand you got pissed for my sake but I could have handled them myself, you know?


    Besides, this is a ''Life and Death'' battle. It''s kill or be killed, anything could happen."


    "Yeah, yeah. I know."


    Evan rolled his eyes as he replied, making multiple gestures with his fingers and directing dozens of rainbow-coloured ming projectiles to shoot towards the airborne demons, keeping them away from him as they were scared of these mes that could ignore durabilities and burn grandmasters to ashes.


    While he did this, Eliza only chuckled lightly in response to his reply before using basic water magic to wipe off the blood on Evan''s face.


    He had quite a few injuries when faced with the Elite Demonic Hand members, causing damage greater than his Pdin''s limited healing could deal with.


    The two charges of Healing magic Eliza had given him, represented by the two rings of light on his right wrist, were not present anymore, showing that he had used the charges up to deal with two serious wounds.


    He even had a cut on his cheek, moving diagonally from the area under his eye to the left side of his face, and it was teeming with demonic energy that prevented the wound from healing.


    Eliza, who didn''t like seeing her boyfriend''s handsome face marred with wounds, did not hesitate to use her breath of life on him, purging the demonic energy with her life energy and healing all the injuries on him.


    At the same time, she used a different spell, one Evan noticed and questioned her about.


    "Is that Serenitatem?"


    Having expected Evan to notice it, Eliza didn''t deny it.


    "Yes.


    You''re not calm right now.


    Not being calm when faced with multiple grandmasters is not exactly a good idea."


    She replied as she kept the Serenity inducement magic active, while Evan only chuckled lightly and let her do what she wanted.


    "Besides��"


    shing Evan a bright smile that mesmerized him for a moment, she continued.


    "I like you best when you''re calm."


    Now, seeing the couple carry on with this public disy of affection in front of them, waves of fury swept through the ranks of the demonic hand members and the demons themselves.


    Sure, some of them were taking advantage of Evan''s obviousck of attention to recover a bit from the grievous wounds he had given them, but still!


    Those bound on the ground erupted with surges of magic power and demonic energy, breaking free from the shadowy restraints and evesting chains that held them captive.


    Simultaneously, some of the Demonic Hand members jumped up towards their airborne contractors and activated the technique Evan had prevented them from using earlier.


    Demonic Fusion!

 Chapter 510 Evan And Eliza Used ‘Combo’: It Was Super Devastating!

    In a mesmerizing spectacle, they all simultaneouslyunched their attacks towards the duo, charging with powerful magic and skills.


    Multiple intricate magic circles radiated with brilliance, encircling the two teenagers as their opponents unleashed their devastating abilities.


    Each attack held enough power to turn blocks of high-rise buildings to smithereens and decimate everything within kilometres.


    The ambient spirits intervened for Evan''s sake, drawing up the power of nature to interfere with some of the attacks, but there was a limit to how much they could do given they were not contracted to Evan.


    However, amidst this chaotic disy, Evan and Eliza remained motionless.


    Evan''s grey irises locked with Eliza''s sapphire eyes in perfect understanding, their unspokenmunication guiding their actions.


    Without uttering a word, their lips parted ever so slightly as they called upon their respective skills with a synchronized resonance.


    "Life Energy Draining Prison." "cial Annihtion."


    The end result was nothing short of devastating.


    The winged demons, fused demonic hand members, and those unfortunate souls caught on the ground were subjected to the full force of thebined skills.


    Two three-ringed magic circles manifested above and below, spanning outward with Eliza and Evan as the centre point and establishing magic power in twelve focal points around them, forming massive a Dodecagon.


    Pirs of light rose up from those magic power points, pirs of light rose up and joined the two magic circles together, forming a prison green light that trapped all the nearby opponents.


    Simultaneously a torrent of crimson red ice infused with the essence of destruction surged forth and crashed down upon them; the frigid icy blizzard sting through the array of attacks they sent towards the duo and obliterating everything in its path.


    Eliza''s life-draining prison began voraciously sucking away their vitality, leaving them weakened and vulnerable.


    cial Annihtion was an attack that finished off Silverwing, an ultimate technique of the Harbinger of Ice skill.


    And to unleash this technique, Evan consumed two-thirds of his maximum energy reserves!


    Let''s not forget that blessing of destruction was active, meaning that Evan currently had 300% of his normally massive energy reserves, yet he had consumed two-thirds of that in one go!


    Two-thirds of that Superior quality energy! Plus, his damage bonuses, destruction essence and Eliza''s buffs.


    Our dear battle priestess also didn''t give the demonic hand members the chance to even conjure up proper defences as she drained their life energy and used it to expand the life energy-draining prison, so much that even those who were fighting Ka and Milena far away were affected slightly.


    The resident monsters of the Giant Bear woods had all fled for their lives, scattering in all directions, including that of Shelde, Lastham and other nearby cities.


    The remnants of the investigation force from Shelde who stayed back to monitor the situation could only feel cold sweat dripping down their backs when viewing this from afar; even the A-rank adventurers that were fighting against the fleeing Giant Bears were scared shitless!


    Evan''s cial Annihtion''s icy winds sliced through their durabilities and dealt them true damage while Eliza''s skill sucked away their Health stats without hesitation.


    While focused on trying not to die from the cial Annihtion, they could not do anything about her Life Energy Draining Prison.


    The girl then used 70% of the absorbed life energy to strengthen the prison so Evan''s cial Annihtion''s destructive essence would not destroy it while taking the remaining 30% into her body to replenish her energy.


    Since Evan could not use Life Energy in ce of Magic Power as she could, she transferred her actual magic power to him and absorbed the life energy being drained to substitute for the lost magic power.


    Meanwhile, the battlefield trembled under the weight of the devastating assault, as their fallen opponentsy defeated on the ground.


    Some of them, namely all of the Superior stage masters and some of the inferior grandmasters below level 330 met their demise nearly instantly, consumed by the malevolent power of the crimson ice, while the restnguished within the confines of the energy-draining prison, their life forces ebbing away.


    It was a resounding testament to the indomitable strength and synchronicity of Evan and Eliza, theirbined powers bing an unstoppable force that shattered the Demonic Hand''s opposition with merciless precision.


    Even the Fake heroes were gravely wounded and had fallen to the ground, overwhelmed by the full force of this dual attack.


    The fact that there were survivors from thisbined attack was only because of the fact that some of them were empowered by their demonic fusion, plus, they were Elites of the First Division.


    Simr to how the current Evan couldbat multiple grandmasters with his current power and emerge victorious, they would also emerge victorious if they did the same. (Of course, Evan could deal with more numbers.)


    Evan then summoned a stic bottle with a famous juice brand wrapper around it, popping it open and downing the contents as he surveyed the scene around him.


    From the corner of his vision, he noticed the heads of one of the Fake Heroes go limp and reacted instantly.


    Using blink, he disappeared from where he was standing, leaving the bottle in the air for Eliza to catch and reappeared in front of the Fake Hero.


    And just when its head was raising up with its eyes now green in colour, Evan''s ice sword shed and the Fake Hero''s head was sliced cleanly in two.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The boy made sure to sh horizontally from the middle of his eyes, making sure that they were unable to capture any images about the surrounding situation.


    Without hesitation, he turned his body around and blinked once more, reappearing beside the other fake hero who rose his spear to block his strike.


    But the boy wasn''t having it.


    At no cost could he let the First Finger reconnect to the Fake Heroes and see the scene of devastation around them.


    ''I can''t let them know how strong I truly am, at least until the Lizard Lord Outbreak!''


    He activated Limit Break and struck forward with his fist, punching the face of the Fake hero and knocking him backwards by a few metres.


    The force of his punch would have sent him flying further but a translucent green barrier appeared behind him and stopped him from going any further.


    Right as he mmed into it, Evan''s rainbow-coloured vortex crashed onto his body, the whirling mass of aura-powered mes shredding it to pieces before incinerating it, staring from his head.


    That same instant, Evan deactivated limit break and blinked back to Eliza''s side as if nothing happened.


    The whole scenario took less than 10 seconds to happen, fast enough that thenguished Demonic Hand members could not do anything even if they could see it happen.


    Eliza gazed around her calmly, deactivating her life energy-draining prison as she had reached the limit of how much life force she could drain, looking at the scene of devastation around her.


    A lot of them were down on one knee, breathing heavily with blood all over, some wereying half dead on the ground, some had lost arms and legs, and surprisingly, most of the intermediate grandmasters didn''t seem to have taken that much damage at all!


    The broken artifacts and shields on the floor in front of them showed the reason why.


    Even so, their powers had been substantially reduced.


    Turning back to Eliza after downing the bottle he had left; Evan wrapped his arms around her again and spoke.


    "I really want to return to the Oak Avenue Manor now."


    "Huh? Why all of a sudd-?!"


    Eliza was momentarily confused but she quickly grasped his thoughts after one look at him and questioned with an exasperated tone.


    "Seriously Evan?"


    "Yep. Seriously."


    The boy replied in a no-joking manner, before giving her a light kiss on her cheek and saying.


    "Let''s deal with this first."


    Right after that, he deactivated the Void step he was standing on, letting himself fall back to the ground.


    However, despite falling from a height of over 100 metres, he didn''t crash onto the ground violently and insteadnded lightly on his two feet.


    His actions prompted the remaining Demonic Fused Senior Members to raise their weapons with lightly trembling hands.


    As she watched Evan charge back into battle with a smile on her face, Eliza turned towards the other assants nearby.


    However, her countenance had transformed into an icy visage.


    Her golden hair swayed in the wind and her sapphire eyes bore into the demonic hand members with a gaze filled with disdain, irritation and disgust.


    Even her opponents were utterly dumbfounded by this sudden change.


    She held out her right hand and summoned the Memoria from her interspatial ring, holding the spear tip pointing downward as she spoke.


    "He was getting better, you know?"


    Despite the fact that she didn''t speak too loudly, all of them could somehow hear her cold voice clearly, unobstructed by the explosion sounds ringing out in the background.


    "And you fuckers decided to increase the corruption."

 Chapter 511 Eighth Finger, Still A Menace!

    "He was getting better, you know?"


    "And you fuckers decided to increase the corruption."


    Kuro who had transferred into her shadow instantly understood what she was talking about, but even the spirit was also surprised at Eliza''s current attitude.


    "Eighth Finger Dominik Vk; even in death, you''re still a Menace."


    Uttering such words, she created a Divergent Ward in front of her feet and stepped on it, generating more and using them as tforms to descend to the ground.


    As she did this, she remembered the conversation she had with Artemisia on the day they first entered the Tower of Trials.


    ''Thought guidance, huh?


    I don''t appreciate the fact that she used it to prevent Evan from looking at his status before he passed out after killing the Eighth Finger��''


    She flipped her staff and activated her life energy draining prison again, while Kuro used his shadows to restrain the Demonic Hand members who tried to attack her after seeing that she was seemingly lost in her thoughts.


    ''��but if she didn''t, Evan would have noticed the effects of the Spell that the Necromancer had used on him.''


    Landing on the floor, nced up to the skies and muttered.


    "Speaking of which, where is that goddess? She should inform me of how much ''Corruption'' is left."


    The girl heaved a light sigh before using the energy she drained away and generating dozens of water spears in the air, each one having a green ribbon of energy attached to it.


    She then disabled the skill once more as she had reached her life energy limit and redirected the excess energy directly into the ground.


    ''I think Pride may have noticed what''s wrong due to her contract with him, and being a demon, Greed probably did too.''


    Thinking that to herself, the girl used the life energy she had drained to activate flower cannon against the opponents.


    Now then, Eliza''s thoughts and words hinted that there was something wrong with Evan, something that even the young hero himself was unaware of.


    And it was something that the deceased Eighth Finger, Dominik Vk had done to him.


    Some sort of "Corruption".


    It wasn''t like what Xakon had used the Arachne Yaqash to do in the Spider Nest dungeon. This one was quite different, done with the aid of Demonic energy and the Essence of thew of death.


    And it was also part of the reasons for that scene that Artemisia had been shown by the ETOD.


    Eliza had been dealing with it over the past year while Artemisia was making sure it didn''t show up on his status and its negative effects weren''t affecting Evan ''physically''.


    [Refer to Chapter 421 for the Scene where Dominik Sucked out part of Evan''s life force and used the spell ''Delusion of the Nether'' on him.]


    �� �� ��


    Meanwhile, the unsuspecting Hero was busy riddling the bodies of the Demonic Hand members with holes, courtesy of his elemental projected swords of ice that perforated their bodies with ease.


    The boy had pulled out the Unforged and was now using the sword against them, intending on ending things quickly.


    "guebringer''s Grasp!"


    One of the Demonic Fused members shouted out as he used a disease inducement skill to send a cloud of eerie acid-green mist that engulfed Evan''s body whole.


    The skill was one Evan recognized from the game, as it could unleash a torrent of contiguous afflictions on its victims, causing their bodies to wither and weaken rapidly.


    As for the types of diseases inflicted? The weakest were magical gues that one only had a 30% chance to recover from, and the user could make the diseases progress to theirte stages almost instantly.


    By using this skill, he was sure that Evan was definitely going to sumb to at least one of them, and that the young hero was going to emerge from the fog with a cascade of agonizing ailments inflicted on him and a body wasting away.


    Unfortunately for him, he was ill-matched with Evan.


    **SWISH!! **PUK!


    The obsidian ck de of the Unforged cut through the acid green mist at sonic speed, severing his still outstretched arm before stabbing right into his chest while coated in the essence of destruction''s red.


    "H-how��?"


    "I''m ''Loved By Nature''."


    Such were thest words the man heard before Evan punched his head with fracture, sting his skull to bits.


    However, Evan was not faced with just one or two opponents, so he didn''t waste time pulling out the sword from his chest and raising it to block the iing axe swing.


    He tilted his de and parried the axe but its wielder didn''t lose his footing as expected and instead readjusted themselves quickly and struck out once more with sonic speed.


    "Disarm!"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The demonic fused man activated his skill; one that had a 50% chance to disarm the opponent of their weapon regardless of how powerful the weapon was and forced the Unforged out of Evan''s hands and sent him flying.


    Evan quickly reacted, using a barrier of ice to block the next Axe swing and releasing a burst of energy to knock the wielder back.


    He then stretched his hand to call his sword back but one of the Demonic fused members sensed his intentions and used her wings, swooping down and grabbing the sword to prevent it froming back into his arms.


    Another one activated a paralysis skill on Evan while a third used darkness magic to restrain his right arm and legs.


    "Now!"


    The others all activated magic and skills and sent them flying towards Evan, but the young hero only heaved a light sigh and rose his left arm.


    A surge of aura coalesced around his arm, forming a radiant golden de that crackled with lightning.


    With a swift motion, he swung his arm forward like a sword, activating de cannon and releasing more than two dozen bullets of aura, preceding the shes that tore through the iing attacks and the Demonic Hand member using the darkness magic.


    **BOOOMM!!!


    The sheer force of the resultant explosion knocked them all back while the one using darkness magic to restrain Evan had his head blown to pieces and his body perforated by three fist-sized bullets of aura, one of which, went straight through the heart.


    Blood and intestines sttered all over the ground as Evan released the energy de around his arm and spoke.


    "Taking away my sword doesn''t mean I''m weaponless. You should have realised this by now"


    Snapping his fingers, he activated Elemental Weapon projection and generated dozens of spears, swords, daggers, knives and other piercing weapons.


    "As far as elemental energy exists, I can never be truly ''Disarmed''."


    While talking, he conjured a bow of rainbow mes, pulled back the bowstring, and released an arrow of iridescent light that zipped through the air at a breakneck pace, smashing through the skull of the woman holding his sword.


    When the arrow hit its mark, her upper body simply ''disappeared'' owing to the power behind it, leaving the Unforged to tumble to the ground while the others were shredded to pieces by the other elemental projected weaponry.


    ***BOOOOMMM!!!!!


    A thunderous explosion resonated through the battlefield as each weapon detonated upon contact, reducing their targets to unrecognizable shreds with overwhelming force as each one had no less than five weapons targeting exploding on them at the same time.


    As the battle against the Demonic Hand Assants came to a close, Evan thought about the other Heroes who were no doubt under assault from equal orrger foes at this moment.


    ''Hopefully, they''re strong enough to deal with the Fake Heroes sent to them, and hopefully, the Legendary Level one wasn''t dispatched yet.''


    ? ? ?


    Ogrein City Outskirts


    Whaijan Country


    Beta Continent


    February 3rd


    Year 1053


    At the exact same instant Evan was wondering about the fates of the other Heroes, the new generation First Hero, Abigail Lowe, was holding the severed head of another Fake Hero in her hands.


    "Really? Fakes?


    The Demonic Hand is quite creative, don''t you think?"


    She remarked lightly as she tossed the body part onto the ground before setting it aze, heaving an exhausted sigh as she looked at her clothes which were stained with blood.


    "And of all people, they had to use ''his'' face."


    "The former Second Hero, huh?


    Why don''t you call him by his name?"


    The questioning voice of herpanion nearby rang out, prompting the young hero to turn her gaze towards the tall woman with pale white skin and red hair that sat beside her.


    As for what they were sitting on? Well, it just so happened to be the pile of the corpses of the Demonic Hand members who had attacked Abigail.


    "Saying his name irritates me for some reason.


    My guess is probably because you hated his guts. Your memories must have influenced me."


    Abigail replied as she released an optical st of destructive essence towards the pile of fake hero corpses in front of her, blowing the nine bodies to smithereens.


    Evan had guessed the Demonic Hand sent five fake heroes with each attack squad but his calctions were slightly off.

 Chapter 512 As For The Other Heroes…

    Reason being the Variable that was Abigail Lowe, someone the Demonic Hand viewed as so much of a threat that they sent Ten out of the avable twenty after her.


    Abigail and her red-hairedpanion had defeated nine of them with the help of some of the Elven Emperor''s Knights.


    As for the tenth?


    **KABOOOMMM!!!!!!


    A deafening detonation reverberated through the air, shaking the ground beneath their feet.


    The explosive force unleashed a torrent of ming energy, engulfing its unfortunate target and the booming eruption sent shockwaves rippling through the surroundings.


    "Looks like Zestari is done."


    Right after Abigail said that, a fairly tall dark-haired elf wearing a grey-themed maid uniform suddenly appeared in front of her while dragging the charred body of the tenth Fake hero, the Legendary Level one.


    Abigail nced sideways at the mushroom cloud that billowed up into the sky, reminiscent of the scene when an atomic bomb was detonated before turning her gaze back to the golden-eyed elf in front of her.


    "You didn''t kill him?"


    "Mhmm.


    I n to take him back so we can study him. If they are really ''Fake Heroes'' as you say they are, then the Demonic Hand is up to some very dangerous experiments that we can''t let seed."


    Zestari replied as she dropped the half-dead Fake Hero on the ground and rearranged her hair that had scattered mid-battle.


    "Would have been better to take a weaker one, if that guy gets remotely detonated, it''s not gonna be pretty."


    "Worry not, I''ve already considered that possibility."


    The Elven ''Living Legend'' addressed Abigail''s concern while retying her hair back into a ponytail before pulling out a Spatial Magic Artifact and continuing.


    "Now then, shall we return?"


    "As much as I don''t want to, I guess I have no choice at this point, huh?"


    "You do realise you wouldn''t be in trouble if you had just obediently informed your father before you left, right? Rather than making one of the ''Sovereigns'' sneak you out."


    The redhead woman spoke to Abigail as she got up and dusted her clothes, yawning lightly before turning to Zestari and continuing.


    "You guys better investigate that imposter hero fast; for if my suspicions are correct, the Demonic Hand seeks to unleash a cmity upon all who bear the title of ''Hero''."


    Leaving those words, the woman stepped into the spatial magic portal while Abigail followed suit.


    Left behind, Zestari surveyed the terrain around her, her gaze settling on a mountain in the distance as she narrowed her eyes lightly before muttering to herself.


    "That aura, it''s most likely an executive. Dealing with the Fake Hero took a bit out of me, and I don''t want to face them when I''m not at 100%."


    With those thoughts, she pivoted on her heel and strode into the shimmering spatial portal that closed up behind her right after.


    ? ? ?


    Looking at the high elf that just disappeared beyond the spatial portal, the ''Third Finger'' of the Demonic Hand clicked his tongue and cursed.


    "Fucking monster.


    How the heck did she sense me all the way over here, and I was actively concealing myself too."


    The man frowned as he noticed that Zestari had not killed the Legendary Level Fake Hero, leading him to infer that she probably had intentions of studying it.


    "That''s pointless though, as they would not be able to find anything even if they cut it open."


    A storm cloud slowly glided across the mountain as he spoke, and by the time it had drifted past, his visage had disappearedpletely.


    ? ? ?


    Cheart Suburbs


    Great Western Empire


    Alpha Continent


    February 3rd


    Year 1053


    "Wow, this is moreplex than I thought.


    Guess I''d have to at least unlock Stage Three if I want topletely understand the inner workings of this."


    The ''Hero of Truth'', remarked to herself as she stared at the bodies of one of the Fake Heroes with her pretty blue eyes.


    However, the golden glow of the crest within her irises, showed that she wasn''t looking at the Fake Hero himself, but at the ''true essence'' of what the ''Fake Hero'' entailed.


    While Evan understood how the Demonic Hand had made the Fake Heroes due to his knowledge from the game, Laurene only needed to study them with her Mystic Eyes of Truth to unravel their true essence, albeit partially.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    |Mystic Eye of Truth;


    Type: Unique Skill (Mystic Series)


    The wielder of these eyes possesses a connection to the essence of truth, granting them an uncanny insight into the world around them, enabling them to perceive hidden truths and unravel the mysteries that lie beneath the surface.


    Effect;


    Allows one to see through the ''Truth'' behind all things within their field of vision.


    Stage 1


    Enhanced Visual Prowess


    Ability to see Incorporeal Entities and the flow of energy.


    The user can ''see'' the difference between lies and truths.


    The user can see through Illusions.


    The user can see the weak points of their opponents.


    Stage 2


    The user can grasp the structures of energy-based techniques, barriers, spells and spell circles.


    The user can see through the weak points of magic spells and circles.


    The user can see invisible objects and hidden items


    The user can ''lock on'' to weak points of their opponents, making the next attack to that weak point 100% guaranteed to hit.


    Restrictions;


    Besides the passive abilities of the mystic eyes such as enhanced vision, lie detection, Illusion Awareness, etc, seeing the ''Truth'' of more than one aspect at a time requires the Mystic eyes'' stage to be higher.


    The Ability to see through the underlying mechanics of spells is dependent on the user''s maximum Magic Tier.


    Some of the Mystic eyes'' abilities are sealed and would only be unlocked when the Mystic eyes have reached the appropriate stage. |


    While she was doing this, the Knights around her were silently piling up the rest of the Demonic Hand member''s corpses with the intention of cremating them all.


    Like Evan and Abigail, Laurene had also been attacked by a squad with Fake Heroes, and like Abigail''s squad, hers contained multiple Epic Level Demonic Hand Members and demons, and all the Fake Heroes sent after her were also in the Epic Level too!


    As for the reason why her attacking force was greater, it was simply because the Demonic Hand had judged that Laurene would have more security with her as she was a princess, hence they allocated more powerful members to deal with her.


    The same applied to Abigail, as sending that Legendary Level Fake Hero wasn''t only because of how much they viewed her as a threat, but also because they knew that Zestari, the Elven Living Legend was going to be nearby.


    Hence, the Legendary Level Fake Hero''s job was to hold Zestari off long enough for the others to finish Abigail off.


    Sadly, for them, Abigail was also a nonstandard existence like Evan, and she had her redheadpanion''s help, along with a few other Elven Knights who had initiallye over with Zestari.


    The ones sent to attack Laurene were also very unfortunate, as although the timing they had picked, happened to be when she was away from the Capital Gerfast, it happened to also be when she was investigating one of the Tenth Division''s former bases, with Luke Bowthe.


    The ''Second Sword'' of the ''Ten Great Swordsmen'' and the Alpha continent''s ''Sword Saint''.


    With him present, Laurene did not even need to lift a finger as the Fake Heroes died faster than their brains couldpute.


    It was an instant death for four of them, and thest one had be Laurene''s guinea pig.


    The Demonic Hand members and their contracted Demons who numbered around 150, were quickly made short work off by the grandmaster-level knights in her guard detail.


    If Laurene was alone, then they could have seeded in dealing with her as her guards could not hold off over a hundred grandmasters and 5 Epics while protecting her at the same time.


    But sadly, she was with Luke.


    The leader of this squad had tried to call for a retreat after sensing Luke''s presence, but the Sword Saint was alerted the moment he felt the leader''s gaze.


    What transpired after, led to the current scene with the four dead Fake Heroes and the captured attack squad leader.


    Laurene paid the tied-up squealing man no attention as she squatted down and fiddled with strange holograms and projections that hovered in the air around her.


    The Knights and even the Captured Demonic Hand member were all staring at her silently as she used light magic to generate multiple translucent circuit boards, interconnecting magic circles, floating screens with lines of codes and strange conjuring circles.


    Her hands moved as she tapped some of them, shifted some of them around and re-arranged some others.


    Naturally, it stood to reason that all the spectators were spectacrly confused about what she was doing.


    "Is that so��"


    The girl muttered to herself with a strange expression on her face as she looked at the things floating in the air, cing her hand on her chin and nodding slightly.

 Chapter 513 Comparison Between Original And Fake

    As for an exnation of what Laurene was doing; the girl was using her mystic eyes to look into the ''Truth'' of the ''Fake Hero'' title, and the floating screens and lines of codes around her, were the constituents of said ''Title''.


    For all the years she had possessed the Mystic Eye of Truth, there was no way someone like Laurene would not have tried to look into the true essence of her Hero title, to understand it and see if she could ''edit'' some settings and grant herself more power.


    Thus, although what she understood was very minuscule, Laurene''s level of knowledge about the ''Hero'' title was only a step below Evan who was the Leader, and Abigail for reasons that should have been obvious by now.


    Her ''understanding'', however, was a lot lower.


    "Sir Luke. Can youe over for a bit?"


    Laurene called Luke over with a frown on her face, one that let everyone around her infer she had discovered something unfavourable.


    She dismissed 90% of the holograms around her and only left a few of the magic circles and circuit boards, changing their colour scheme to red.


    After, she used light magic to generate another set of interconnected magic circles, some of them being within Tiers 5 and above, and Luke could even see some Tier 6 magic circles.


    She gave the second set a blue colour scheme and then used magic to create a barrier that prevented her voice from escaping a two-metre radius around her and pushed the two sets of conjurings toward Luke.


    "Pardon me, but I have zero idea of what this is supposed to be."


    Luke spoke while alternating his gaze between the two sets of magic circles, and just when he was about to ask why they had different colours, Laurene spoke.


    "Don''t they look simr?"


    "..?"


    He took a moment to study them carefully and although he didn''t understand them, he could at least see that they were visually identical to each other in a few aspects.


    "The red one seems broken off in many ces and has lower tier magic circles used, plus some of the symbols are different, but the overall outlook is the same."


    "Now then, Sir Luke.


    What if I told you that the blue one is a ''Hero'' title and the red one is the ''Fake Hero'' title?"


    Hearing her words, Luke''s expression turned dark as he instantly understood what Laurene was implying.


    "The Demonic Hand was able to replicate your Hero title to this extent?"


    "Indeed.


    It''s not as much as you see though.


    What I''m showing you are only 10% of the Hero title''s conjuring, the 10% I can understand at my current existence level.


    So, the fact that the Demonic Hand''s Fake Hero title conjuring has 70% simrities, means that they managed to replicate at least 7% of the Hero title."


    Laurene replied as she dismissed the two light magic projections, before getting up to her feet and continuing.


    "The fact that they were able to achieve this much, means that they have someone on their team who has a great understanding of the Level System and the Title Specifics."


    Now then, although it was only 7% the Demonic Hand managed to replicate, that number should not be looked down on.


    It should be remembered that the Level System, something Artemisia referred to as the ''Devour ss'' system, was something that was active in the entirety of their universe.


    So, one could only imagine the level of conjuring that the system was, and theplexities it entailed.


    After all, Laurene''s basic 10% understanding of the System on Aidos alone already involved a few Tier 6 Magic circles.


    The fact that the Demonic Hand was able to replicate this was nothing short of praiseworthy.


    The Third Finger on the Beta Continent would never have expected the assassination attempt on Laurene to fail so easily, and that she would end up studying a still-live Fake Hero with her mystic eyes and unravel truths about their project.


    "But it should be t-out impossible for anyone to achieve that.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that I am one of the Heroes myself, I would have believed whoever is responsible for this Fake Hero creation is a bona fide Hero themselves."


    Laurene spoke with a frown as she turned her gaze towards the restrained Senior Member of the Demonic Hand.


    ''There''s also the fact that the ''Hero'' title they''re trying to replicate��is Evan''s; the title of the ''Hero of Mimicry''.


    It''s because of that title that he can skirt around the restrictions that prevent one from utilizing the Essence of the World Law Doctrine of Mimicry to copy other people''s skills with just the knowledge of them.


    Perhaps, that''s why they all look identical to that control freak An?''


    The girl shook her head slightly as if trying to rid herself of unnecessary thoughts, her frown deepening as she pressed her fingers to her temples and thought.


    ''I thought I hadpletely subdued the previous Fourth''s vestiges that affected ''me'', why am I referring to the Previous Second the way she did?''


    She used her eyes on herself and scanned her body all over, only stopping after she had confirmed there were no abnormalities with herself


    ''Anyway, someone in the Demonic Hand has a great understanding of us Heroes, and I don''t like that one bit.''


    Laurene took a deep breath before crouching down once more and disabling the soundproofing magic. She then picked up the body of the Fake Hero, much to the shock of her guards.


    "Your High-!"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    One of the knights wanted to speak but she held up a single finger to silence him and created analysis magic circles around the Fake Hero''s body.


    "Myriad Casting."


    Seven fist-sized orbs of multi-elemental magic manifested behind her and she snapped her fingers, making the first orb light up and release a thin beam of light that passed through one of the analysis circles before hitting the Fake hero''s body.


    "Pen and paper someone."


    One of the Mages nearby pulled out a notepad and pen from his magic pouch and handed it over to her, which she epted and began writing down her test results.


    She repeated the same process using all the elements of magic, and she even used her divinity on it, noting that the reaction upon using Divinity was different.


    "I see."


    "Weaker to Divinity."


    "��plus, a very conditional existence."


    "I see that there appear to be some restrictions, but applied by who?"


    "��World Laws Doctrine? Oh, Causality."


    "Can only be active for a limited time."


    Laurene spent quite some time running her various tests, asionally muttering things like this and from the expression of shock that appeared on the Captured Demonic Hand member''s face, one could tell she was hitting the marks.


    As for the Knights and Mages in her guard detail, they only smiled wryly as they watched her after cremating the Demonic Hand members'' corpses.


    They were well used to Laurene''s ''Research Mode'' after following her for years so this wasn''t anything too surprising for them.


    Her maids were also familiar with this, so they just waited nearby in silence, providing her with water and snacks at regr intervals.


    ''Ah, she''s picked up bad habits from those old Court mages.


    Using levitation magic to bring food and water to her lips while her hands remain engaged in whatever she''s doing.''


    Such were Luke''s thoughts as he watched the teenage girl run various tests on the Fake Hero to acquire detailed info on all its characteristics.


    "Hmm��that should be all.


    You can kill him now."


    Laurene spoke as she got up and stretched her body, but Luke decided to take hisst Fake Hero along to the Captial with the captured Demonic Hand member.


    "Why?"


    "Your fellow Hero might know a few more things about them."


    "Oh, Evan.


    Come to think of it, Eliza told me he took her to Duscon."


    "Duscon?"


    Luke''s expression turned strange when he heard Laurene''s words. He inadvertently thought about the existence he met in Duscon decades ago, but shook his head and decided it was just a coincidence.


    ''There''s no way he went there for the Regal Voi-"


    "Yeah.


    She said they were around Shelde."


    "��"


    The Sword Saint went silent upon hearing Laurene''s other statement, an expression of surprise colouring his face as he retracted his earlier thoughts about Evan''s location being a coincidence.


    ''Knowing him, that ce might actually be his destination. He might already know about the Ouroboros too.''


    Whether Laurene noticed Luke''s expression or not, she only stood still and let her maid redo her hair that she had ended up scattering while she was running tests on the Fake Hero as she asked aloud.


    "Just what on Aidos is he doing all the way over there anyway?"


    �� �� ��


    The answer to Laurene''s question; was looting.


    Evan had finished dealing with the Demonic Hand members sent his way and was now looting the corpses for valuable artifacts that he could either sell or utilize.


    He also used Mesarthim''s mes to torch the corpses and turn them to ashes as he knew that he was going to be crowded by the adventurers fighting against the Giant Bears running towards Shelde and Lastham very soon.


    "I had wanted to fight in a forest away from Human Civilization to prevent coteral damage and civilian deaths, but doing so in this forest caused the original residents to flee in the direction of the Civilization I didn''t want to damage.


    Luckily they noticed the signs early and were able to defend."

 Chapter 514 Craitid I: Arrival

    "��Luckily they noticed the signs early and were able to defend."


    He muttered to himself after listening to the reports from the ambient spirits who were ying ''Ring around the Rosie'' around his head whilst petting the head of a particrly fluffy me spirit.


    ''Is it clinging to me ''cus of Mesarthim?''


    The thought came to his mind for a moment but he didn''t consider it too important, instead, he asked the spirits to help the adventurers and soldiers of Shelde and Lastham to fend off the monsters.


    "Try to make them flee in the direction of the mountains, okay?"


    [OKAY!!]


    [Flee, Flee, Flee!!]


    [But I don''t wanna fight monsters.]


    [Me too.]


    [Can we eat the monsters?]


    [Dude, chill. He said just chase them away.]


    Evan chuckled lightly upon hearing the spirit''s conversation, before pulling out a few Ethereal Essence Orbs from his inventory and tossing one each to the Spirits he had asked for help.


    | Ethereal Essence Orb;


    Type: Naturally urring Treasure


    A small orb containing pure ethereal essence. When held or absorbed by spirits, it nourishes their essence, unlocking hidden potential and enabling them to reach new levels of power.


    Also carries the potential to upgrade a spirit''s rank. |


    "Here, Have some of these too."


    | Luminescent Spirit Crystal;


    Type: Naturally urring Treasure


    A shimmering crystal imbued with ancient enchantments, it emits a radiant glow that temporarily empowers nearby spirits, boosting their aura, resilience, or elemental affinity. |


    The spirits all went silent upon seeing the items that Evan casually tossed out to them. Even his own contracted spirits were spectacrly dumbfounded at this sight.


    Silence pervaded the entire area as the spirits alternated their gazes between Evan and the basket of items he just pulled out of his inventory until one of them finally asked.


    [Can we make a contract?]


    It was that question to snapped Ka out of her shock and made her spring into action, she activated her body transformation skill and transformed into Silverwing before chasing away the other spirits trying to go after her master while Evan and Eliza watched andughed.


    Kuro silently used his shadows to pick up one of each before retreating into Eliza''s shadow while Milena internally questioned if it was even legal to have this many spirit treasures.


    Eventually, Evan got Ka to calm down by stuffing an essence orb in her mouth, inadvertently preventing the Spirit from telling him that she actually didn''t need such an item due to her special circumstances.


    He then distributed the rest to the other ambient spirits who happily epted it before racing over to where the adventurers and soldiers fighting against the forest''s inhabitants were.


    Looking at them fly away happily, Evan only gave a wry smile before opening up his inventory and pulling out a few strength-enhancing artifacts.


    Each of them was something that either raised his stats temporarily or gave him elemental or physical damage bonuses and breaches.


    Sadly, most of them were single-use items.


    "The spirits would be able to use more of their power since I gave them those treasures in exchange."


    [Oh, a temporary exchange contract.


    But why don''t we just go help them ourselves too?]


    [Yeah. And why are you pulling out all these strange ancient-looking artifacts?]


    Milena and Ka asked the questions that Eliza and Kuro had in mind ever since they saw Evan equipping these artifacts, enough to reach the limit of how many he could equip before it became detrimental to him.


    He even passed a few to Eliza and the Spirits silently and told them to put them on very quickly, which they did despite their numerous questions.


    "Why thoug-???!!!!"


    Just as Eliza was about to ask ''why'' once more, a sudden jolt coursed through her body, silencing her voice mid-sentence.


    Instincts sharp as a de pierced through her consciousness, and cold sweat dripped down her back, an unmistakable warning from the depths of her being.


    A chill, colder than the deepest winters, snaked its way up her spine, raising goosebumps on her flesh while the hairs on her arms stood on end.


    Simultaneously, the heads of all five of them turned to the sky, just in time to barely catch the sight of three streaks of light, shing from the sky and towards the ground.


    ***BOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!


    A thunderous roar rang out upon impact, and the meter-thick ice that Evan had created using his Harbinger of Ice skill shattered like ss, sending shockwaves rippling through the icy floors for kilometres around.


    Clouds of dust, smoke and scattered debris erupted into the air, engulfing the surroundings in a shroud of obscurity.


    Even so, Eliza could make out three faint shadows from behind the obscuring veil.


    |???|


    |Reincarnated Hero System has detected a ''MAJOR'' threat to Hosts Life. |


    |Estimated chances of Victory in directbat: Less than 10% |


    Those three notifications appeared in Evan''s field of view as the haze cleared up, unveiling the appearances of the three new entrants.


    First was a man d in dark-themed armour, with short neck length ash coloured hair, a fair skin tone, red irises and ash cross-shaped pupils.


    The aura of power emanating from his was suffocating as if it could crush anyone who dared to challenge him.


    Next was a tall grey-skinned humanoid, holding arge battle axe over his shoulder while exuding an aura of pure savagery.


    Last, but definitely not least, was the man who was crouched down on the ground between them.


    Two jagged horns jutting out from the sides of his head, a muscr toned body that was visible even under his clothes and a pair of yellow reptilian slit eyes that locked onto Evan''s group.


    Strangely enough, they could not feel even the slightest energy fluctuation from him, as if he was apletely normal person, a weak Bronze-level existence who had not yet embarked on the path of Levelling up.


    However, if his muscr body wasn''t enough for one to figure it out, the pressure his mere gaze ced on the group should be enough to inform one he was clearly NOT ''weak''.


    As for his allegiance? The fact that he had a brooch with the Insignia of a ''Hand'' holding up the ''World'' in its palm that had the number ''1'' at the back was enough of an answer.


    Time seemed to slow, the hearts of Evan''s group pounding in their chests like the beats of a war drum.


    The two groups remained silent as they stared at each other, but numerous thoughts were running through their minds at this instant.


    ''What the fuck happened here?''


    The yellow eyed dragonkin man scanned the entire area with his aura as he questioned internally, the state of the battle appearing as a shock to both him and the other two.


    [This doesn''t make any sense. Did they defeat the entire squad in an instant? A squad containing fifty elite grandmasters?]


    ''Impossible.


    Including the spirits nearby, they don''t have the power to defeat that many grandmasters in the time it takes me to blink.''


    He replied to his contractor''s question while keeping his gaze trained on Evan in particr for any sudden moves. At the same time, a portion of his mind was analysing the residual auras left in the area.


    ''I only blinked after Lord First connected, but when my eyes opened up, the entire squad was dead.


    From what I can see and sense, a battle indeed urred here, and it definitely did not end in an instant.


    In that case, what on Aidos happened? How did I not notice the battle urring? How could an entire battle involving over a hundred grandmasters pass while I felt no time had passed at all?


    Is there someone else here helping him? But I can''t sense anyone. Or Is that third party that much stronger that they can hide from my senses?''


    So many questions were running through the man''s head, especially the thought of an extra third-party intervening, but before he could begin rationalizing them, he noticed magic power movements and turned his gaze slightly, noticing Eliza who was rousing her energy to activate her skill.


    In that same second, three lines of thought went through his head.


    ''That girl, the priestess.


    The intel we have on her power level was wrong. I can vaguely tell she''s close to level 400. And the residual aura of life energy in the surroundings shows she yed no small part in the earlier battle.


    Assuming all her abilities we know of are scaled up to the grandmaster level, then she should be eliminated first.''


    And the moment he thought that, his figure silently disappeared.


    A beatter, the sound of his movement rang out.


    **BOOOM!


    The world in his view blurred into streaks of motion as he surged forward, instantly elerating to surpass the bounds of sound itself.


    The wind whistled past his ears and the ground beneath him became a mere blur as he covered the over hundred metres of distance in-between him and Eliza in the blink of an eye.


    His aura surged and gathered in his clenched fist, pulsating with lethal intent.


    It was a strike meant to obliterate, to end her existence in one swift blow.

 Chapter 515 Craitid II: Lethal Strike

    It was a strike meant to obliterate, to end her existence in one swift blow.


    Despite her kic vision as a grandmaster, Eliza could not even see iting.


    By the time the sound of his movement even got close to her ears, the man''s fist was already less than half a metre away from her face.


    ''Pdin + Blessing of Destruction + Limit Break. Evesting Chains + Elemental Shield.''


    Yet, before his fist could connect with his intended target, barely 40 cm away, Evan unleashed a synchronized symphony of five skills, his obsidian ck de, the Unforged, shing through the air while covered in a mix of reddish gold aura and rainbow-coloured mes.


    His aim: to instantly sever the dragon kin''s wrist.


    At that crucial moment, their gazes locked, and the man read Evan''s intentions.


    He instantly readjusted his course, pulling back his fist and redirecting his attack towards Evan himself.


    The Ultra Rare Skill, Time Difference, which had been active ever since his appearance had granted Evan the ability to perceive his supersonic assault.


    Even though the dragonkin knew Evan could perceive his movements, he was not deterred.


    His fist surged forward with precision and power, seeking the new target that was Evan.


    The young hero saw this and reacted appropriately, reversing his grip on his sword and raising it in front of himself to block while summoning another Elemental shield as ast line of defence.


    But it proved futile in the face of the dragonkin''s powerful strength.


    His fist shattered the hastily cast barrier, colliding with the Unforged.


    **BOOOMMMM!!!


    The sheer amount of force and energy behind the punch sent Evan hurtling through the air like a discarded puppet.


    He rag-dolled on the ground for a few dozen metres before a loud impact reverberated through the surroundings as he crashed onto the mountain behind him.


    **BAMM!!!!


    Spider-web-like cracks spread out omnidirectionally from the crater formed where Evan crashed. Blood trickled from his lips and his vision blurred, his senses temporarily overwhelmed by the devastating blow.


    |��.|


    |...��..|


    Some system notifications shed before him but he could barelyprehend their content in his disoriented state.


    Meanwhile, the Dragon Kin was looking at Evan with a gaze filled with both surprise and a tinge of admiration.


    Despite the overwhelming odds, he had shown cunning and resourcefulness, using Evesting Chains to pull Eliza out of harm''s way in that same instant he was hit by the strike.


    As such, when the man tried to attack Eliza once more, he was surprised to see she was now out of melee range.


    ''So, this is the power that killed Lord Eighth, huh?''


    He thought to himself as he looked at the bleeding burns on his fist, noting that his health values had gone down a bit, owing to the True Damage Values of BoD plus Mesarthim''s effect.


    |When used offensively, Mesarthim has a fixed chance to ignore a percentage of the target''s durability and resistances, dealing percentage damage in ordance with their maximum Health Values. |


    Due to these two factors, the man had actually taken damage despite the fact that he was the one attacking.


    ''And the wounds are not healing. I also cannot regenerate the lost health too.


    With the Soul Damage; this skill is truly dangerous.''


    "Huh? The kid managed to wound you?"


    The questioning voice of the Dragonkin''s pale-skinnedpanion, a top lower-middle ranked demon rang out as he came over and noticed the blood dripping from his hands


    "Mhmm."


    Just when the Dragonkin was about to borate, a Great Spirit''s bellow of rage rang out, resonating through the air as the skies were shrouded in darkness.


    The essence of nature bent to her will as a colossal pearl of golden lightning materialized from the ominous clouds, its electrifying power cascading down on the world below.


    With swift agility, the ash-haired armoured man evaded the deadly bolts of lightning, but despite this, his gaze remained fixed on the lightning spirit hurling towards the dragonkin man at sonic speed, activating a multitude of skills in the process.


    But before any of said skills could hit their mark, the voice of the hero she was contracted to rang out, piercing through the chaotic noise.


    [KAYLA, BACK AWAY!!!!!]


    His voice infused with energy evoked the power of the contract between them, serving as amand mantra to pull Ka back.


    In the blink of an eye, Evan''s decision proved crucial; for in the very next moment, a demonic energy-infused axe descended with brutal force, obliterating the area where Ka was mere seconds ago.


    The impact shattered the earth, rending a massive fissure that stretched for hundreds of meters, leaving behind a trail of destruction that sted apart a small piece of the mountain range behind them.


    "This kid''s sharp."


    The demon spoke with a lightly impressed voice as he rose his axe and ced it back atop his shoulder, as if he did not just release an attack that could instantly end the life of anything level 300 and below on contact.


    He turned his eyes towards Evan who fearlessly met his gaze, the rainbow-coloured mes on his sword ring up as if challenging him.


    "That attack should have at least shattered all the bones in your forearm."


    "At least? Man, you took out my both arms with just that."


    Evan replied as he flexed his arm while twirling his sword around, allowing the Dragonkin to notice the fading green light that covered it.


    He turned his gaze to the side and saw Eliza who was discarding the bottle of the magic potion she just drank, instantly understanding she was the one responsible for Evan''s quick recovery.


    Meanwhile, the young hero in question was appraising the three new entrants, and despite his casual expression, he was sweating bullets on the inside.


    ''No fucking way the Demonic Hand would have sent that many lower-Senior Members without at least one of these guys here.


    And thest Fake Hero too��.''


    "Sending you three after just me, seems the Demonic Hand really wants me dead."


    "Isn''t that obvious?"


    The Demon casually replied to Evan''s words, with the boy taking a closer look at his stats and cursing internally.


    ''Fuck! He''s a nonstandard type like me.


    They''re all nonstandard types, people who can fight beings above their levels with ease and win.


    This demon is a Level 500 Grandmaster but his stats put him capable of defeating inferior stage Epic levels with ease.''


    He then turned his gaze towards the Fake Hero who was silently watching them, and then the Dragonkin man who was the Leader of the attack squad and the person the Demonic Hand members were referring to as ''Senior''.


    ''Senior Member of the Demonic Hand''s First Division, Craitid.


    He''s the Dragonkin who was the leader of the Squad sent to take out the ''Second Hero'' in the game too.''


    Despite the fact that he was the strongest person among the trio, the man, Craitid, was the one whom Evan could sense the least amount of power from.


    Even so, Danger Sense skill was ringing more rm bells in his head than it did with Silverwing, and all the ambient spirits nearby had scampered away in fear at the man''s mere presence.


    ''Still, why the heck did he not show up from the start? Why is he only appearing now?''


    That was the real question that had been guing Evan''s mind from the start.


    If Craitid had shown up from the start, then the Demonic Hand would have actually seeded in dealing with Evan by now.


    So Evan could not understand why the man had waited for all the others to die first.


    If only he knew Craitid was just as confused about the situation as he was.


    The Demonic Hand had split the forces targeting the three Heroes they were aware of ording to the estimated level of difficulty in dealing with them.


    For Abigail who had Zestari with her, they sent the Legendary Level Fake Hero to deal with the Living Legend, while the other Grandmaster and Epic levels were to take out the princess in the meantime.


    Sadly, Zestari brought along the Elven Empire''s Epic Level knights so that didn''t turn out as nned.


    For Laurene who was definitely going to have a guard detail of grandmasters and possibly some of the Empire''s hidden Epic Level existences, they sent the Epic level Fake Heroes and Superior Stage Grandmaster members and Demons.


    But Luke''s presence nullified that attempt.


    Now for Evan, the one who had the least��or rather, zero external protection since he mostly moved alone, they allotted the lowest amount of forces to deal with him, but still enough to defeat him based on their estimation of his higher-than-normal power.


    Unfortunately, their estimations were very wrong, and even though they dispatched multiple intermediate-stage grandmasters, Evan still prevailed despite the odds thanks to the fact that he was a nonstandard existence.


    However, just like the other two, the Demonic Hand sent along beings with existence levels and powers far above that of the Heroes.


    And the three standing in front of Evan were among those beings.


    The Epic Level Fake Hero #12, the Epic Level Senior member Craitid, and his peak grandmaster contracted demon.

 Chapter 516 Craitid III: Survival Enhancement Mode

    ?


    The Epic Level Fake Hero #12, the Epic Level Senior member Craitid, and his peak grandmaster contracted demon.


    Levels may not have been absolutes on Aidos, but that statement clearly didn''t apply to Evan''s current circumstances.


    He was not Delusional to think that he could win against the three of them.


    Heck, even the system told him his chances of victory were not even up to 10%.


    Sure, he had powerparable to a weak intermediate grandmaster with his A+ stats, and he was able to defeat the other Demonic Hand members and their contracted demons.


    But Evan knew that if even one of the earlier members who attacked was a Level 400 with S rank stats, the tides of the battle would not have so easily been in his favour.


    Much less against three existences with SS rank stats.


    Victory in directbat was nothing but a pipe dream.


    Craitid was still trying to rationalize why he hadn''t been able to witness the events of the earlier battle, and was wary of a third party who may have done something to him, hence the reason why he wasn''t taking action yet.


    He was still trying to understand why he had no memories of what happened after he gave the order to attack Evan.


    The original n was for the grandmasters to deal with him, and if things didn''t look to be turning out well, he was to swoop in and end it all.


    Never in Craitid''s wildest dreams, would he have expected that a certain higher-dimensional existence would use him as part of a test for Evan.


    Never would he have expected that the instant he blinked, time on him was paused and was only un-paused after the battle had concluded, hence the reason why it seemed like he had just blinked and everything was over.


    He also didn''t know that said higher dimensional being was also sighing in disappointment at the fact that Evan was unable to notice the time energy residues he purposely left on Craitid''s body.


    Then again, Evan couldn''t be med much for not noticing this as the notifications appearing in his field of view had taken up a lot of his attention.


    |Threat of Imminent Death to Host Detected ?|


    |Reincarnated Hero System Stored Authority Consumed|


    |Activating ''Survival Enhancement Mode'' |


    |Forced Skill Activation: Adaptive Evolution|


    |Adaptive Evolution''s stored Authority has been Consumed. |


    |Adaptive Evolution''s Isted Energy has been Consumed. |


    | Reincarnated Hero System Benefits Temporarily Elevated.


    20% Stat Boost. + 20%


    130% Stat Effectiveness. + 20%


    5% Damage Bonus against ''Invaders'' and ''Enemies of Aidos''. +20% |


    |Consuming stored ''Experience'' to temporarily Elevate Host''s overall power|


    |Stored ''Experience'' would be continuously consumed until exhausted|


    |WARNING: All power increments are TEMPORARY|


    |Reincarnated Hero System Advices Host to FLEE. |


    Evan didn''t even know about the existence of this enhanced Survival mode, but it seemed that it was something that only activated when faced with an opponent he absolutely could not defeat even with all nonstandard power.


    Despite the fact that Evan had multiple artifacts boosting his power, plus BoD and Limit Break simultaneously active, after the System Elevated his power temporarily by consuming the stored experience points from all the creatures he had killed since he hit Level 299 in October of 1052, it still told him to ''FLEE''.


    This showed that defeating Craitid was something that waspletely impossible for the current Evan.


    Then again, this was expected, as the Dragonkin man, had a level close to 600.


    And there was no way the senses of someone on that level would miss the fact that Evan''s power just increased by leaps and bounds.


    The man narrowed his eyes and cast away all his unnecessary thoughts, sending a side nce to his contracted demon who got his signal and nodded.


    Immediately a pair of bat-like wings sprouted from both their backs and they leapt skyward with breakneck speed.


    As they ascended, a menacing aura engulfed both of them and for the first time, Evan felt the full brunt of an Epic-level Existence''s energy pressure.


    Craitid''s Dragonkin features became more prominent, body exuded an air of power, while adorned with scales that shimmered with a blend of shadowy hues and fiery glimmers.


    With a resounding roar that echoed through the entire Giant Bear Woods, Craitid and his contracted demon joined their left-hand right hands respectively, in intricate lightning-fast seals.


    The energy between them surged and intermingled as they both activated a single technique.


    "Demonic Fusion."


    **BOOOOMMMM!!!


    The fusionpleted instantly, too fast for Evan and the rest to even think about running.


    Besides, the Fake Hero was still watching them closely, ready to spring into action at the sight of any unexpected movements.


    When the energy burst receded, a monstrous transformation unfolded before the eyes of all who witnessed it.


    The two had metamorphosed into a towering wyvern, with gleaming ck scales and wings stretching out widely.


    Demonic Fusion was a technique influenced by the racial factors of the beings fusing, and this Wyvern-like appearance was a result of the Craitid''s dragon factors.


    The newfound power emanating from him in this fused state was palpable, causing the very ground to tremble beneath its might.


    Craitid wasn''t taking any chances.


    [I do not know what other special abilities you possess as a Hero, and neither do I care.


    To take care of you efficiently, we have taken on our strongest form and collectively pooled our power together in a single body.]


    The man''s voice rang out, its deep rumbling tones reverberating through the air, carrying a sense of ancient wisdom and power.


    He had lived for over a century and had dealt with nonstandard existences like Evan, the kind that suddenly gained more and more power as time passed.


    Some even came close to killing him after unlocking some secret ability or unique skill at death''s door.


    As such, he understood that the best way to deal with those types was to go all out from the start and end them before any bullshit could happen.


    [There will be no abrupt surges in power, or unforeseen shocks to catch anyone unawares.


    There will only be one thing.


    Your Deaths.]


    Such was Craitid''s deration.


    At the same time, he used telepathy to send a message to the Fake Hero, instructing him to deal with Eliza, while he handled Evan.


    Looking at the menacing Wyvern hovering in the air above him, Evan was sweating buckets, fear gripping his whole being as he understood that defeating Craitid was impossible.


    With a whisper, he asked a question to Eliza who was beside him.


    "How long?"


    "��Five minutes at most."


    "Five? Can west that long against ''THAT''?"


    "��"


    The question made the girl turn silent as she could not provide the answer to that.


    Just before Evan could say anything, Craitid''s voice rang out once more.


    [Five minutes for what?


    Oh well, it matters not.


    As I said, there shall be no unforeseen shocks.]


    The superior hearing abilities of the Wyvern naturally picked upon their little conversation, and though he was wary of whatever they were waiting five minutes for, he didn''t show it outwardly.


    Immediately after he spoke, he beat his wings with a thunderous force, and a surge of ominous demonic energy swelled within his chest.


    Anyone who was familiar with the massive-bodied reptilian monster that Dragonkin and Wyverns were descended from knew what was going to happen next.


    Breath Attack!


    [GROAARR!!!!]


    A resounding roar rang out as the energy condensing within his body was unleashed as a torrent of destructive energy that rent the air and cleaved through the battlefield.


    The ground quaked as the unleashed attack tore through the earth, melting all the ice on the floor and carving deep chasms in the ground, leaving behind a scarredndscape.


    Faced with such an attack, Evan consumed his magic power and drew upon Kuro''s abilities through their contract.


    His short-distance teleportation skill was activated, whisking him and Eliza away from the path of annihtion.


    ***KAAAABOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!


    The ground trembled and the very air crackled as the mountain behind them sumbed to the wyvern''s breath, shattered by its nearly unstoppable might.


    Debris soared through the air like deadly missiles, while a plume of smoke and mes billowed, testament to the raw power that had been unleashed.


    Having narrowly escaped the instant death attack, Evan and Eliza found themselves a safe distance away, their hearts pounding with adrenaline.


    They gazed at the devastation wrought by the attack in trepidation, but they had to snap out of it as they knew that Craitid wasn''t done just yet.


    The Wyvern''s yellow eyes shed and dozens of magic circles manifested mid-air.


    Seeing this, Evan only whispered something to Eliza before summoning Ka and kicking off the ground.


    **BOOOMM!!!


    BOOOOOOMMM!!!


    Projectiles of fire and earth rained down from the skies but Evan weaved through the onught with sonic speed, asionally redirecting some of the projectiles to collide with each other and blinking out of the way for ones he could not avoidpletely.

 Chapter 517 Craitid IV: Battle Start

    ?


    Since his opponent was a powerful Epic-level existence, the mere thought of holding anything back did not even cross Evan''s mind for a nanosecond.


    His body moved so fast that he appeared to be a streak of gold light zig-zagging across the ground, creating sonic booms each time he changed directions.


    Despite this, Craitid could still see each of his movements very clearly and knew where tounch his ming projectiles.


    He calcted the trajectories of Evan''s movements and unleashed the me Spell, Aerial Mine in his movement path, forcing the hero to consume energy to blink out of the way before the massive explosions could engulf him.


    While he was doing this, the Demonic Wyvern was silently chanting a spell, and by the time Evan had managed to close the distance between them, it was already done.


    [Fire Magic: mebourne''s Revenge.]


    The gigantic three-ringed circle of white mes manifested right in front of the Wyvern and spat out a giant spear of white mes that pierced through the air with unmatched speed.


    In response, Evan didn''t hesitate to unleash his Unique Skill''s ultimate technique, using up all the magic power in his body.


    "cial Annihtion!"


    The raw power of the element of ice was harnessed and a devastating wave of crimson-red icy destruction was unleashed.


    The entire area was engulfed in a blizzard of swirling frost, the freezing winds and razor-sharp ice shards obliterating everything in its path.


    Even the Epic Level Fake hero had to back out of the way as the sheer amount of energy Evan consumed to unleash this technique was enough to seriously injure an inferior Epic-level existence like him.


    What''s more, was that it ignored durability and directly attacked one''s Health Values and Soul due to the essence of destruction infused within it, no way he was gonna let that hit him head-on.


    The swirling vortex of crimson red frost and the white mes of the Demonic Wyvern shed mid-air.


    ***KAAABBOOOOOMMMM!!!


    The deafening sound of the erupting catastrophic explosion rang out, unleashing a tempest of white fire and crimson ice that engulfed half of what was left of the Giant Bear Woods.


    And this was the result of the two attacks colliding mid-air.


    One could only imagine the scene of devastation that would have yed out if they had touched the ground.


    The Adventurers and Knights of Shelde and Lastham who were nning to enter the forest were all sted backwards by the explosion''s resultant shockwaves.


    The earth tremored all the way over to the faraway cities, causing earthquakes that would have copsed buildings and a few other structures if it wasn''t for their Governors'' foresight in activating the cities'' defensive barriers.


    And despite this, the barriers suffered heavy damage and the S-rank adventurers maintaining them spat out blood due to the bacsh.


    "What on Aidos is happening today?!"


    "The fuck kind of Monsters are fighting there?!"


    The other S-rank adventurers who were in the initial response team from Lastham had their jaws drop in shock as they saw the collision of the two attacks and the devastation that followed.


    "Change of ns. Every adventurer B rank and Below, return to the city, now."


    The beastman SS rank adventurer in the lead gave that order with a grim expression on his face, as he was the one person out of everyone here present who could understand the true level of the ''monsters'' fighting.


    ''That Wyvern is an Epic Level Existence!''


    Even though he ordered a retreat, a lot of the C rankers had suffered serious injuries after being hit by the shockwaves and aura that spread due to the attack, so it took a while for them to begin falling back.


    Back at the main battlefield, Evan jumped through the smoke and spread out his aura, locating the Fake Hero and noticing his injured state.


    But he could not rejoice as the main threat, Craitid, had only suffered light wounds from this explosion, and was still in a state to dish out attacks of a simr level with ease.


    He created tforms of aura with his void steps as he moved, running up them like stairs ascending into the sky.


    ''Ka!''


    [On it!]


    His contracted spirit responded as she activated her Pseudo Authority of Lightning and Spirit Raiment, before using body transformation right after; her target being the Monster bird they fought a few hours ago.


    With a bright sh of light, Ka transformed into a giant bird with golden feathers. Her two outstretched wings had a fifty-metre wingspan and intricate ck patterns decorating them.


    A fragmented third of a golden crown with multicoloured jewels manifested on her head, and the purple jewels on the crown lit up with a dull glow.


    Her golden eyes shed with an iridescent light and with a beat of her wings, she unleashed devastating gusts of wind and lightning that tore through the battlefield with a force that seemed to rend space itself.


    Evan jumped atop her back and transferred his energy directly to her, consuming more of his stored-up experience in the process.


    Ka''s beak yawned open and a four-ringed magic circle appeared, one that was exactly the same as the one Silverwing had used.


    Seeing this Craitid didn''t just float in the air and watch her. He responded by charging up a breath and less than five secondster, another torrent of destructive energy, albeit weaker than the first, was released.


    The lightning spirit also retaliated, activating her Fire-Lightning Breath skill andunching a high-velocity beam of the two elements mixed with a little spatial power.


    **BOOM!!


    Compression shockwaves spread out omnidirectionally as the sound barrier was shattered, the two beams traversing the distance between them in a mere second and colliding right after.


    ***KAAABOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!!


    While another scene of devastation yed out, Evan snapped his fingers and activated his Flux skill, sending dozens of vtilepressed energy orbs towards Craitid''s massive visage.


    At the same time, he used Evesting Chains, generating massive golden chains stained with the essence of destruction''s crimson red.


    The chains slithered through the air at superhuman speeds, seeking to ensnare the giant Demonic Wyvern but Craitid was not so foolish as to let himself get captured by those chains.


    Demonic energy coalesced around his ws and he swiped them, slicing apart the chains to countless fragments while he used magic barriers to block the dozens of exploding energy orbs.


    Evan followed up with Elemental Weapon Projection, and instead of generating dozens of smaller weapons, he created one massive sword infused with Mesarthim''s rainbow-coloured mes.


    The boy crouched down and kicked off Ka''s back, shooting through the air in a streak of reddish gold light and arriving right beside Craitid''s wing.


    "HAAAA!!!!"


    He bellowed out as he swung the sword downwards, intending on severing the Wyvern''s left wing and grounding him, but he had sorely underestimated the reaction speed of an Epic Level existence with SS rank stats.


    Craitid quickly folded his left wing and vertically spun his massive body around, coating his right ws with demonic energy and aura before taking a swipe at Evan.


    Evan''s time difference enabled him to react appropriately as he created a void step and made it m into his hands, forcefully changing the trajectory of his swing to the direction of the iing Wyvern w.


    **BOOOOMMM!!!!!


    Mesarthim''s prismatic mes roared and engulfed the Demonic Wyvern''s w while the sinister blend of dark yellow demonic energy and aura mix crashed into Evan''s body, sending him flying through the air.


    The force of the st was so great that Evan was knocked from one end of the Giant Bear Woods to another.


    He soared through the air like a helpless ragdoll, crashing onto the ground before spinning and tumbling uncontrobly for hundreds of meters.


    With each violent collision against the ground, his bones cracked and blood trickled out of his nostrils.


    His trajectory carried him towards what was left of the forest''s river, where he crashed with a resounding ssh, his form submerged in the murky water.


    In the aftermath of his chaotic descent, pain seared through his broken body, but the two Charged Healing buffs Eliza left on him activated and the restorative energies surged forth, knitting his broken bones.


    This gave him the necessary vitality and ability to react to the iing danger his skill warned him about.


    He activated blink and teleported out of the river, just in time for the massive Wyvern''s w to swoop down and tear through the earth, gouging out a massive portion of the ground and the one tranquil river.


    "Energy st! Evesting Chains! Wave of mes! Heavenly Ice Fang!"


    Skills and magic were activated simultaneously as beams of reddish gold light seared through the air, crashing onto the wyvern''s scales and shattering them partially.


    What followed was the re-emergence of the gigantic golden chains that wrapped around the wyvern''s legs and tail, holding it to the ground and draining its energy.


    Then a torrent of rainbow-coloured mes surged forth, resembling a cascading inferno in motion. The prismatic mes roared and crackled with intensity as they devoured everything in their path, engulfing the body of the wyvern in a ze of destructive beauty.

 Chapter 518 Ethereal Equilibrium’s Debut!

    ?


    Next, the ground underneath the Wyvern''s body cracked open and a massive jagged icicle of crimson red ice erupted from below, crashing onto the Craitid''s rtively ''soft'' belly.


    A bit of blood spluttered as the essence of destruction bypassed the Wyvern''s SS rank durability and dealt True damage, but this served to enrage him as he released a burst of demonic energy that distorted the air, causing the energy sts to fly off trajectory.


    The jagged icicle broke under the pressure of the dense energy and the evesting chains shattered into pieces of light.


    Mesarthim''s prismatic mes persisted a bit, but even they were eventually quelled by Craitid.


    The Wyvern''s maw opened and energy condensed within, preparing to release another breath attack by the talons of the Silverwing transformed Ka swooped in from above, grasping onto his neck and mming its head onto the ground.


    The coalescing energy dissipated and Evan jumped onto Ka''s back immediately.


    She then took to the skies and narrowly avoided the gigantic earthen arm construct that emerged from the ground and tried to grab her.


    What followed was a supersonic battle of magic as countless me, earthen and ice projectiles and beams tore through the air, tier 3 spells activating multiple times and turning the area around them into a wastnd.


    Evan and Ka were knocked to the ground multiple times by the Demonic Wyvern, each sessful attack on them swiping huge chunks of their vitality.


    The young hero''s plethora of strength-boosting artifacts all shattered both from overuse and from the fact that he sacrificed some of them to reduce the amount of damage he received.


    From afar, the S and SS rank adventurers of the nearby cities all watched with bated breaths as this battle��or rather, the beating was not something they could interfere with.


    As for who was being beaten up, it was naturally the giant golden bird and its human rider who were losing miserably against the Demonic Wyvern.


    ? ? ?


    While Evan was dancing on the edge with Ka, Eliza, Kuro and Milena were also in their own life-and-death battle against the Epic Level Fake Hero.


    "Milena, Kuro.


    Buy me a few seconds."


    Such were the first words Eliza uttered right after she saw the Fake hero get caught up in Evan''s initial cial Annihtion.


    The two spirits roused their energies in response, before shooting forward with Sonic Speed towards the injured Fake Hero.


    [Dark Prison.


    Shadow w.


    Brightest Shadow.]


    Kuro activated two of his skills along with his unique skill at the same time, using darkness to generate a prison to hold the Fake hero while his shadow came alive and grabbed onto him.


    A three-pronged sh of ck light sliced through the air but the Fake Hero released a burst of energy to break the binds before unsheathing his sword and striking down the aura-based attack.


    What followed next was a ball of ck light that manifested right in front of his face, and before he could even think about moving back, it exploded.


    **BOOOM!!


    The point-nk explosion sent him flying through the air but he flipped his body and regained his bnce, revealing his face that only had a few scratches before charging forward once more.


    His sword reached Kuro faster than sound, but it only managed to slice off a few hairs off the body of the cat that had already delved back into his own shadow.


    [Aquafire: zing Tide!]


    Milena took action, amplifying her pale blue mes and merging them with her natural water-generation abilities, mming thebination onto the ground and unleashing a surge of molten waves.


    [Oxyhydrogen Explosion!]


    The two constituents of the very air breathed by all living beings concentrated at a single point, before exploding upon contact with the mes of the surging molten waves.


    **BOOM!! BOOOMM!!! BOOOOOMM!!!


    A symphony of explosions rang out in all directions, giving the Fake Hero a hard time as he could not predict where the next explosion was going toe from.


    While this was happening, Eliza was using up her skill charges to ce charged healing on Evan.


    She then spun her staff spear on the ground and began activating her unique skill.


    "Child of Life."


    Life energy surged forth from the depths of her being, enough to create a small crater around her from the pressure of the dense energy.


    The Fake hero who still had the leeway to pay attention to her, noticed this and shot towards the battle priestess, fearlessly enduring the explosive forces of the oxyhydrogen sts that assaulted his body.


    Yet, as he approached, dark tendrils emerged from the very ground, ensnaring him tightly and dragging him down into the seething molten waves below.


    Seizing the opportunity, Kuro emerged from the man''s shadow and ran up his body, thrusting a sphere of ck light through a gap in his armour.


    He then dematerialized his physical body right after, just in time to avoid the Fake Hero''s demonic energy-coated palm that tried to grab his tail.


    The Cat hurriedly retreated back into the shadows, while Milena summoned a swirling vortex of searing mes intermingled with water, surrounding and engulfing the fake hero in a maelstrom of scorching heat and drowning inundation.


    It was at this critical moment that the dormant ball of ck light, previously inserted into the crevice of his armour by Kuro, detonated with explosive might.


    The resounding st tore asunder his ck-themed armour from within, eliciting a gush of blood from the Fake hero''s lips, leaving him wounded and reeling in agony.


    In the short few seconds it took all these to happen, Eliza had already garnered the life energy she needed, her lips parting as she activated her newly acquired skill.


    "Ethereal Equilibrium: Support Mode."


    A surge of ether burst forth from her being, before nketing around her in a green cloak of energy that obscured her body from view.


    Thissted for not more than five seconds, with the coat of ether fading away into fragments of light, revealing the Battle Priestess''s ''Support Mode''.


    The battle priestess'' entire being radiated a serene andforting presence that would put all those she considered ''allies'' nearby at ease.


    Taking a colour scheme from what she was originally wearing, she was now adorned in a graceful floor-length grey robe crafted from a delicate, lightweight fabric that seems to move with a life of its own. Silver embroidery adorns the edges, depicting intricate patterns of intertwining vines.


    A silver sash wrapped around her waist, adorned with golden symbols that shimmered with a gentle radiance.


    Floating in front of her was an artifact that looked just like arge orb, one about twenty centimetres in diameter. It had a ring made of bronze around it with two pieces of a cloth-like material tied to the two edges of the ring.


    This was naturally the Support Artifact that Evan had given her more than a year ago; the Radiant Codex.


    Channelling her ether through it, Eliza activated her support magic skill and spells,yering multiple buffs on Evan, Ka, Kuro and Milena, geared towards increasing their defensive and healing abilities, as well as enhancing their survivability.


    This was when she ced the two charges of healing on Evan that wouldter mend his broken bones after being sent flying through the air.


    She thenyered a few buffs on herself, before deciding to switch modes.


    "Combat Mode."


    **BOOM!!!


    A violent wave of energy surged forth from her body, wrapping around her and transforming her appearance once more.


    When she came into view again, Eliza''s blonde hair was now pulled back into a practical yet stylish braided ponytail, allowing for unhindered movements while her sapphire eyes zed with an ethereal glint of power.


    Dressed in a sleek ensemble of ck and grey, she wore a in ck turtleneck that was very simr to what she had before, but with the addition of intricate silver patterns tracing across the fabric''s sleeves, depicting sacred symbols and glyphs.


    Completing herbat attire, she donned a pair of charcoal grey shorts atop ck leggings and a simr-coloured pair of leatherbat boots. Lastly, she had ck partial armour covering crucial points on her body like her joints.


    Emzoned on her chest was a simple silver cross-shaped insignia.


    In her hands was her trusty spear-tipped staff, the Memoria, coated with a visibly thickyer of ether.


    At her back, five gleaming short spears hovered in symmetrical formation, defying gravity with ethereal force.


    Each one was an exact copy of the spear tip of her Memoria when she detached it into two parts.


    The same instant that her transformation wasplete, Eliza kicked off the ground and blitzed forward as a streak of dark green light, appearing right beside the Fake Hero who was reeling in pain from Kuro''s dark light explosion and attacking without hesitation.


    Her spear, coated in dense ether shed down from above, releasing a wave of projected energy that carved the ground it passed through, threatening to slice the Fake Hero in two.


    However, the Epic-level existence only rose his sword and released a casual sh of demonic energy that collided with her cutting wave mid-way, with the two energy projectiles exploding and nullifying themselves.

 Chapter 519 Fake Hero #12 Vs Eliza, Kuro, Milena

    ?


    The man jumped back to take distance from the explosion as he sensed that the energy from the explosion seemed ''off'', courtesy of the debuffs that Eliza had infused into her cutting wave.


    Even so, Eliza was undeterred by this.


    She spun her body around to generate momentum beforeunching her spear in the direction of the Fake Hero.


    ''It''s not fast enough.''


    That realization struck her the instant she threw the spear��it wasn''t fast enough to achieve the effect she sought.


    Without hesitation, Eliza kicked off the ground while applying speed and eleration buffs on herself, catching up to the spear and spinning her body around once more.


    She delivered a straight kick to the butt of the spear, propelling it forward and tripling the force with which it hurtled through the air, enabling it to achieve transonic speed!


    **BOOMM!!!


    A deafening noise resonated as the dozen earthen walls of magic conjured by the Fake hero were pulverized nearly instantly, but that did little to reduce the speed of the spear.


    Nevertheless, the fake hero was an Epic Level existence.


    Just because he put up defences, didn''t mean he was afraid of the attack, but was simply a strategic choice.


    It was just a situation of even if he could tank it with his durability, why should he when there was the option of defending?


    But seeing as the defences he put up were neutralized, he heaved a light sigh and rose his right hand.


    With a little bit of effort, he caught the transonic speed spear in his hand, the demonic energy coating his palm and fought for dominance against the ether imbued in the spear.


    Debuffs of all kinds threatened totch onto him, but he roused his energy and forcefully dispelled them, noting that this was only possible because Eliza had let go of the spear.


    ''If she was still actively channelling energy into this, her debuffs would have actually afflicted me!''


    His eyes widened in realization of this fact, once again confirming that the abilities of this battle priestess, were far higher than he and the Demonic Hand had estimated.


    ''No wonder Lord Eighth hunted down and killed the previous wielder of the ''Child of Life'' skill.


    They''re too dangerous.


    I can feel my life force being contaminated just by merely holding this.''


    Eliza''s life maniption abilities were simply too dangerous to be underestimated.


    Seeing as the spear was her main weapon, the Fake Hero wanted to ce it in his magic pouch to deprive her of it, but he then noticed the Spear had markings he found Familiar.


    ''This��it''s the same as Lady Seventh!


    This spear is a Vanquisher series weapon?! If so, I don''t dare to ce that in my magic pouch!''


    Unbeknownst to him, the effect he was scared of was only something that was applicable to Phase 2 Vanquisher weapons, but the Fake hero was naturally unaware that Eliza''s Memoria was still in Phase 1.


    He chucked the spear aside, using enough force that it was sent flying hundreds of metres away, travelling all the way over to where the S-rank adventurers in the distance were.


    One of them nearly got impaled in the head by the spear, and if it wasn''t for his sharp senses and quick reflexes, he may have met his death!


    Without paying any mind to the fact that he nearly killed an unsuspecting S ranker with that action, the Fake Hero rose the sword in his left hand to counter the next set of attacks Eliza sent his way.


    Eliza grabbed one of the short spears hovering behind her, imbuing it with Life Ice before throwing it.


    Then she threw the next after imbuing it with light magic, the next after imbuing it with another set of debuffs, and thest with water magic.


    The Fake Hero didn''t dare catch them for fear of what strange debuffs she applied, swinging his sword to knock the spears away.


    **BANG! BANG!!! BAMM!!!


    The first one was knocked away easily with a swing of his aura-enhanced de, the next with another casual swing, but by the third he noticed the force behind the spears had increased.


    As for the fourth, He didn''t attempt to strike it down and jumped out of the way at thest moment.


    ***BOOOOMMM!!!!


    The spear struck the earth behind him with a resounding impact, sending tremors through the ground.


    A deafening explosion erupted from the point of impact and the earth trembled beneath the power, leaving behind a smouldering crater as evidence of its destructive might.


    ''I knew hitting it was a bad idea!


    This girl''s power has reached S rank levels already!''


    The Fake Hero made the assumption as he blocked thebination attack of the two spirits, waving his hands and drawing a third-tier darkness magic circle in the air.


    Another explosion rang out, and the Fake Hero actually dashed through the explosion, his body coated in a defensive aura as he blitzed towards Eliza.


    Seeing the iing threat, the battle priestess mmed her hands on the ground and manifested a gigantic flower shoot with vines wrapping around it.


    Immediately after, magic power concentrated on the flower bud as it bloomed andunched a beam of concentrated magic power from an opening of the petals.


    The beam carved the ground as it beelined towards the Fake Hero, but the ash-haired man only snorted and swung his sword downwards.


    This simple-looking action released a devastating sh of demonic energy that surged forth tremendously, splitting the beam of magic in two and going on to do the same to the flower cannon that fired it.


    **BOOM!!


    mes licked the air, engulfing the surroundings in a fiery inferno. The force of the explosion sent dirt and debris flying in all directions, creating a chaotic whirlwind of destruction.


    The ensuing plume of smoke obscured his vision and the Fake Hero momentarily lost sight of Eliza, however, his instincts screamed out to him, sending warning bells of the impending source, or rather, sources of danger.


    His senses captured four projectiles heading towards him at sonic speed, and he made the split-second decision to kick off the ground and jump into the air to avoid them.


    Just when he thought the four projectiles would collide with each other, they changed directions at thest moment and followed him to the skies.


    The four gleaming projectiles covered with dense ether emerged from the smoke, allowing him to see their appearances.


    ''The short spears she threw earlier! As expected, she''s not stupid to discard her weapons without a means of making theme back.''


    He readied his sword to attack, only to notice a small pale blue me appearing in front of him.


    ''Shit!''


    He hurriedly wrapped his body in a spherical shield of demonic energy, just in time for all the oxygen and hydrogen molecules around him to rapidly concentrate.


    And when ignited by the blue me, a blinding sh of light illuminated the surroundings.


    **KABOOOM!!!


    The air erupted with a thunderous roar, sending shockwaves rippling through the atmosphere.


    A streak of ck light shot out of the explosion, straight towards the spirit that caused it and grabbed her neck faster than she could react.


    "Milena!"


    Eliza''s worried voice rang out but the battle priestess was too far away to do anything.


    The Fake hero effortlessly plunged his sword into the Water Spirit''s chest and infused demonic energy into the de, before pulling it out and tossing her body to the side like a dirty rag.


    His body was covered in bruises and burns, showing that the oxyhydrogen explosion had actually dealt a lot of damage.


    Plus, he had two stab wounds courtesy of Eliza''s spears, and he noticed that there seemed to be something interfering with his regeneration.


    ''Tsk��I messed up.''


    He wiped the blood that trickled off his face, mixing with sweat before scanning the battlefield for the shadow spirit.


    On the other hand, Eliza hurriedly switched to support mode, and consumed herst charge of Child of Life on Milena, attempting to heal the spirit before her life faded.


    "n..o��"


    Before Milena could get the words out, the Fake hero had already appeared behind Eliza, swinging his sword infused with enough energy to tten everything within kilometres.


    [Twilight Veil


    Shadow Realm


    Dark Light Swords of Judgement!


    Shadow Wave


    Crown of Cursed Shadows.]


    Kuro appeared, activating five skills and magic simultaneously, shrouding the area in a cloak of obscurity, plunging the surroundings into a realm of perpetual twilight.


    However, before the skills could be deployed fully, the Fake hero grinned evilly as he spoke.


    "Got you."


    He spun his body and delivered a kick that smashed through Eliza''s barrier and sent the battle priestess flying, before unleashing a third-tier spell.


    Darkness gathered and swirled in a concentrated mass, and then erupted in a powerful explosion with a resounding boom.


    The dark light projectile swords shooting towards him were engulfed, and the force of the st shattered nearby objects and sent shockwaves rippling through the ground, leaving behind a scene of destion.


    When the explosion died down, the Fake Hero saw the shadow spirit lying on the ground weakly, about to take a step towards it when he noticed the skies suddenly turn dark.


    Looking up, he saw a gigantic magic circle that sent chills down his spine just by merely looking at it.


    "How the fuck does he know that spell?!"

 Chapter 520 Five Minutes Up!

    ?


    "How the fuck does he know that spell?!"


    The Fake Hero recognized that type of magic and it made his blood turn cold. Just when his mind began calcting possible paths of retreat, he noticed the strange expression of the battle priestess in the distance.


    "Hmm?"


    Despite the fact that her Water Spiritpanion was on the brink of death, she still had a fearless smile on her face.


    Sensing the enormous mass of life energy that covered the entire area, her lips parted and she uttered one word.


    "Five."


    �� �� ��


    ''I''m receiving the beating of my life.''


    If it wasn''t for the fact that Craitid was fearful of his essence of destruction and his other unique skills, Mesarthim, Harbinger of Ice and Vortex, Evan doubted he would even have the ability to think such things at this juncture.


    The Demonic Wyvern found Mesarthim''s prismatic mes that dealt damage based on the target''s maximum health values to be a much greater threat than he had initially expected, and he nearly lost one of his legs to find that out.


    When coupled with the essence of destruction that dealt True damage to his soul, it was a force to be reckoned with.


    Evan also had a ridiculous amount of life force, owing to his System benefits and the Skill he took from the Frost Boar king, Tenacity.


    A reminder of its effect: the skill basically made Evan harder to kill than a cockroach.


    ''If I was a grandmaster-level existence, then I fear I would have already lost to this kid.''


    Such were Craitid''s thoughts as he and Evan both gazed at each other.


    However, there was a stark difference in their appearances.


    Craitid had a few cracks and burns on his scales, and his ws looked like they had seen better days due to Mesarthim + Essence of Destruction.


    But for Evan, the boy''s body was battered and bruised. His clothes which were made of the threads of a level 350 Arachne Queen were tattered all over.


    Blood stained his torn clothes, a testament to the fierce beating he was receiving.


    The transformed Ka was not much different, and she was finding it hard to maintain her transformation in this state.


    Even so, despite these injuries, despite being faced with this overwhelming power, his mystic eyes still glowed brightly and a snarky smile yed upon his lips.


    His grey eyes had a defiant glint in them, as if taunting Craitid with the knowledge that he endured thetter''s onught and still stood tall.


    Nevertheless, he was actually panicking quite a bit on the inside, as he knew Craitid might have killed him earlier, but thetter was fearful of incurring great amounts of Soul Damage.


    Adaptive Evolution sent out warnings but Evan didn''t dare look at them, he was fearful to see how much stored experience he had burned through just to survive against Craitid.


    Evan hit Level 299 in Octoberst year, and since then more than three months had passed.


    In those three months, the boy killed thousands of monsters, entered the tower of trials and fought hundreds of Level 300+ creatures with his party.


    Even though he shared experience with Pride and his contracted spirits, he had 400% levelling efficiency so one could only imagine just how much experience he had stored up.


    And just tost a bit more than 5 minutes against Craitid, he had burned through half of that.


    Indeed!


    It had not even been ten minutes since the beatdown started.


    Although it may seem longer, one should remember that Evan and Craitid were both moving andbatting at speeds transonic and above.


    Evan knew the five-minute mark had passed but he could not be bothered about checking the exact amount of time that had passed.


    The boy took a deep breath and roused his energy, consuming more stored experience as a magic circle appeared in the sky.


    Craitid''s eyes widened in shock upon seeing this.


    [IMPOSSIBLE!!]


    He eximed in disbelief, as of all the things he expected Evan to pull out, this was the least of his expectations.


    The sky was covered by dark clouds, enough to trap the sunlight and prevent it from reaching the ground.


    It was so dark that it almost seemed as if night had fallen, despite it still being daytime.


    The adventurers and soldiers watching in the distance all felt icy shivers crawling down their spines, regardless of level.


    Then there was Evan, radiating an enormous amount of magic power, while having a small miniature magic circle in his palm.


    A huge replica of this magic circle appeared in the sky, about 10 meters across, radiating outward with the point above Evan''s head as the centre.


    The spell circle let off a multi-coloured glow that consisted of white, blue, gold, red and a few other colours, as patterns like translucent letters or symbols appeared across it.


    Tendrils of multi-coloured lightning snaked around Evan''s arm, withrger shes of lightning appearing amidst the dark clouds, each apanied by the sound of rumbling thunder.


    [YOU FUCKING IRREGULAR!!!]


    Craitid didn''t dare hold anything back, conjuring multiple tier 4 magic circles of mes and earth, all while charging a breath simultaneously.


    He didn''t know exactly which spell it was Evan was using, but he knew all spells of this nature were dangerous.


    Never in his wildest dreams did he expect this to be Evan''s trump card.


    As for Evan, the boy was gritting his teeth to endure the pain that wrecked his body and soul.


    His blood vessels burst and blood poured out from the arm holding the magic circle, but he still kept channelling energy into it.


    Unbeknownst to him, the restrictive chains of thew of Causality had entered the atmosphere, lurking behind him while waiting for him to reach the limit of what his Irregr title could bear.


    The young hero, who had not yet reached the level of an Epic existence, dared to invoke a spell of such magnitude.


    Thew of Causality, ever vignt, eagerly sought to seize him for his audacity.


    Whether Evan knew this or not, he had a fearless grin on his face as he parted his lips and spoke.


    "World Magic: Spe-?!"


    His words were cut off as his Hero title''s connection to the was tugged on by an external force.


    Surprise filled his face for a second, and then he burst intoughter in the next moment.


    Craitid stared at him dumbfoundedly as the young hero cancelled the magic circle in his palm and dispersed the magic power he had condensed.


    Afterwards, the overbearing aura disappeared, along with the dark clouds and the huge magic circle in the skies.


    At that same instant, Eliza who was fearlessly smiling at the Fake hero began the countdown.


    "Five." (Eliza)


    "Four." (Evan)


    "Three." (Eliza)


    "Two." (Evan)


    "One!" (Evan & Eliza)


    Craitid didn''t know what they were counting down for, but the Wyvern understood that it wasn''t anything good.


    He cut the chants for his Tier 4 spells short and decided to unleash them immediately, the same instant that Evan and Eliza echoed out the final number.


    ""Zero!!""


    **BOOM!!


    The skies parted and an overbearing aura of insurmountable power descended upon the area.


    All the intricate fourth-tier magic circles that Craitid had cast fizzled into oblivion, the Fake Hero''s charged-up aura was forcefully dispersed and he was brought down to his knees with so much force that his joints shattered!!


    The Demonic Wyvern Craitid tried to resist but it was futile as he was pressed down onto the ground right after, crashing down onto the earth with enough force to create a massive crater three times his size on the ground.


    His heart sank as he noticed that along with the feeling of being pressed down by a superior power, there was also the feeling of bloodline suppression!


    Craitid''s dragonkin bloodline was being suppressed, and he only knew one race capable of doing this to him.


    It was at that moment, that a familiar voice simultaneously rang out in Evan and Eliza''s minds.


    [You seem to be in a bit of a bind.


    Allow me to offer some help.]

 Chapter 521 [Bonus ] A Powerful Ouroboros Appeared!

    ?


    [You seem to be in a bit of a bind.


    Allow me to offer some help.]


    The power of thew of Lightning coalesced in the skies, and an enormous arm covered in golden scales, leaving no gaps in between, descended from above.


    The arm shot straight towards the kneeling Fake hero and grabbed his ''tiny'' body in itsrge palm.


    Then, it squeezed ''lightly''.


    **CRUNCH!! **SPLAT!!


    A crunching sound rang out as in that single motion, the Fake Hero''s body was squashed.


    Fake Hero #12, Level 528: Dead.


    Just like that!


    The giant arm moved towards the suppressed Demonic Wyvern on the floor, erging in size before grabbing his whole body in one swift motion.


    The speed at which it moved was too fast for Evan''s eyes to catch.


    For him, it seemed like the arm just disappeared and reappeared holding the Wyvern''s body.


    Sure, Evan in his current state had a kic vision that could catch Supersonic speeds, but there were levels within this.


    Sonic Speed was around 340 m/s.


    Anything within 300-380 m/s was considered Transonic.


    Supersonic, was from around 380 m/s to around 900 m/s, with a margin for error of 10 m/s.


    So although Evan in his current state could see things moving at 400-450m/s with ease, things moving at 800 m/s would be a blur to him.


    This gigantic scaled arm, however, was moving at a speed that surpassed five times that.


    The powerful shockwaves resulting from an entity moving at this speed, caused the surroundings to experience a sudden change in pressure.


    Evan''s eardrums nearly burst due to how loud the sonic boom was, and he and Ka were tossed in the direction of the mountain range behind them due to the gust of wind that followed.


    By the time he could finally bnce and reorient himself, Craitid''s body had already been captured by the giant hand, his resistance being entirely futile as the enormous amount of energy that constituted it, seeped into his body and paralyzed him, before shattering all his ck scales into pieces.


    Every single scale on his body was destroyed in an instant!


    His flesh wasid bare, but even that wasn''t safe as the lightning continued permeating into his body, roasting his flesh and depleting his SS rank Durability to nothing.


    The dense energy of the worldw doctrine of lightning that constituted that arm, was not something a mere Epic level existence could handle.


    A powerful epic-level existence with SS+ durability and health values? That might as well be useless when faced with X2+ stat values.


    Seeing the Demonic Wyvern''s mangled appearance, Evan roused his energy to the max and condensed a thickyer of crimson ice around his sword.


    He then channelled all of the pure essence of destruction he could muster into his sword and infused it as a secondyer atop the crimson ice.


    For the third, he activated Mesarthim, allowing the prismatic inferno to engulf the entire de, but funed it so it did not melt the firstyer of crimson ice.


    Perhaps having sensed Evan''s intention, the owner of the giant arm did not squash Craitid to death as nned, but instead set his body in a perfect position for the young hero.


    Evan took a stance, one created solely for the sake of thrusting.


    The world around him was tuned out.


    No words entered his ears.


    Taking a deep breath, Evan kicked off the ground and blitzed forward in a streak of reddish gold light.


    He instantly arrived in front of Craitid, and with all that momentum, he thrust his sword forward and activated his fourth Unique skill.


    The whirling mass of spiralling energy super condensed into a small area around the sword mid-thrust.


    "Vortex."


    That one word escaped his lips as the thrust created a focused st that obliterated everything from the base of Craitid''s arms to the top of his neck.


    ***BOOOOMMMM!!!


    The thrust contained the coagted power of the four skills, added with his Hero title bonuses, Reincarnated Hero System Enhanced Survival Mode Benefits, Mystic Eye of Mimicry and Boosts, Blessing of Destruction Bonuses, Destructive Energy Circuit Bonuses, and Energy Sword Master ss Boosts.


    With all that, it''d be a miracle if the Weakened Craitid could survive this.


    The scene of devastation that followed naturally did not need to be mentioned.


    Immediately after, Evan released the Effects of Limit Break and Pdin, dropping to his knees before pulling out multiple energy potions and gulping them down instantly.


    [Hmm��Impressive.]


    The voice rang out in his head once more as the arm let go of the corpse.


    As it retreated into the skies, Evan looked up and activated Full Appraisal on the arm, but the Level difference between the two existences was so great that the boy could only see a few lines.


    |Name- Hydran Iremith


    Race- Elder-Breed Ouroboros Dragon.


    Gender- Male


    Level- 898


    Existence Level �C Sovereign (Superior)


    Titles- Ouroboros of Water and Lightning, Strongest Defence Mechanism of ''Aidos''. |


    That was all that Evan was permitted to see.


    �� �� ��


    A stream of notifications began appearing in front of Evan''s eyes as he used the Unforged to prop himself up and prevent his weakened body from falling.


    He noticed a crack on the sword''s de and frowned lightly, but he decided that it was currently low on priority.


    After chugging down two potion bottles, he pulled out multiple medicines and edible treasures from his inventory before wolfing them down as fast as possible.


    Healing and recovery artifacts activated simultaneously and Evan deactivated the Blessing of Destruction, fighting to keep his consciousness as a sense of weakness overtook his body.


    |Skill Upgraded|


    |Vortex;


    Type: Personal Unique Skill


    This skill cannot be lost or taken away.


    This skill cannot be used by anyone other than the user. |


    |All Variations and Techniques created by the user have been incorporated into the skill. |


    Evan scrolled down to the next set of notifications that popped up.


    |Threat of Imminent Death to Host Averted ?|


    |Reincarnated Hero System Stored Authority Consumption Halted|


    |Deactivating ''Survival Enhancement Mode'' |


    |Adaptive Evolution''s stored Authority Consumption Halted. |


    |Adaptive Evolution''s Isted Energy Consumption Halted. |


    | Reincarnated Hero System Benefits returned to normal. |


    |Temporary Overall Power Elevation halted. |


    |Reincarnated Hero System Congrattes Host on Surviving. |


    "I sure as hell do need to be congratted for surviving that��"

 Chapter 522 Fake Hero Attack: Aftermath

    ?


    "I sure as hell do need to be congratted for surviving that��"


    The boy muttered as he allowed his body to fall onto the ground that was covered in shattered wyvern scales and shredded flesh.


    He looked up at the clouds that parted way for a ray of the afternoon sun to shine down on the world below.


    Narrowing his eyes, he noticed faint traces of illusory chains fading into pieces of light, but when he blinked, he didn''t see anything anymore.


    If only he knew that was thew of casualty making a reluctant retreat.


    |Adaptive Evolution has been triggered. |


    |Calcting the amount of consumed ''Experience''. |


    |Completed: 68% of the Host''s stored Experience has been consumed by ''Enhanced Survival Mode''. |


    "That''s a lot."


    |Isting the Energy absorbed from Level 580 Existence: Demonic-fused Wyvern Craitid|


    |Enormous amount of ''Experience'' absorbed. |


    |Adaptive Evolution is analysing Level 580 Existence: Demonic-fused Wyvern Craitid ��. |


    |Allocating portions of Isted Energy to replenish Consumed ''Authorities''. |


    |Recalcting absorbed ''experience''��. |


    Evan cleared the notifications from his field of view and looked back at the sky before saying.


    "Thank you."


    [You''re wee.]


    Hydran''s voice rang out in his head, followed by spatial energy fluctuations that enveloped the surrounding area.


    The bodies of Eliza, Kuro and Milena who were wrapped with energy floated over andnded not too far beside him.


    He then heard the sound of hooves hitting the ground and turned his gaze, catching sight of the Pegasus-shaped Light Spirit who had initially informed him of Hydran''s return, hence the reason why he could dare to challenge Craitid.


    Evan didn''t need to speak as the Legendary Level Spirit already took action, stomping his foot and activating Tier 4 Light Magic to heal them.


    [Luminous Restoration.]


    Their bodies were all wreathed in white light and their wounds began healing, with more emphasis being ced on Milena who had suffered a wound that would have killed her if it wasn''t for Eliza''s Breath of Life.


    The ambient energies of thews of life and light were infused into the magic circle, enabling the healing process to progress faster and expelling all the foreign auras that negated their natural regeneration process.


    [That''s the most I can do for you.


    Your loss of blood, side effects of your skills and yourcking energy reserves can only be resolved with time.]


    The Pegasus then turned towards Evan and studied him slightly before saying.


    [If I were you, I would not use the Essence of Destruction for a while.


    You''re seriously tethering along the edge of what you can bear, even with your Irregr Status.


    Any more and you''d be consumed by that power.]


    After saying that, the Pegasus moved its gaze in the direction of the other adventurers and soldiers at the edge of what used to be the Giant Bear woods, before turning around and disappearing with a sh of light.


    |Recalcting absorbed ''experience''��. |


    |Isted Energy has been stored to be used as ''Experience'' for increasing Host''s level at ater date|


    The moment the Pegasus disappeared, those two notifications appeared in Evan''s field of vision, preceding Hydran''s voice that rang out once more.


    [I''m not so sure letting you deal the final blow was a good idea anymore��]


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    [Killing him let you absorb a tremendous amount of ''Experience'' into your Vessel. But that ''Experience'' cannot be used due to your special circumstances.


    The end result is that your Vessel is being Overloaded.]


    "My ''Vessel''?"


    [Basically, thebination of your Astral, Spiritual and Material body.


    Anyway, I suggest you reduce the number of things you kill to prevent your vessel from explo-?]


    Hydran suddenly went silent mid-statement, causing cold sweat to pour down Evan''s back.


    "You weren''t about to say ''explode'' just now, were you? You were about to say ''Explore'', or something else right?!"


    The boy hurriedly sat up and pulled up the system interface, about to run a full scan on his body when Hydran spoke again.


    [Weird��The extra ''Experience'' you absorbed is being channelled somewhere else.


    ��


    I see, the goddess gave you a wonderful gift disguised as ''Unique Skill''. Thank your stars you now possess the designation of ''Irregr''.


    Otherwise, Causality would have long had its way with you.]


    Leaving behind that iprehensible statement, Hydran''s voice faded and no matter how many times Evan called out, he didn''t answer.


    He tried calling Artemisia but the goddess was still offline just as she had been for the past few months.


    Evan then pondered on Hydran''s words, scanning through his status board and thinking of different possibilities.


    ''The only Unique Skill Artemisia gave me is Adaptive Evolution. Is he implying that Adaptive Evolution is more than just a unique skill, but Artemisia is only just masking its true nature?''


    "What was he talking about?"


    The other person who could hear Hydran''s voice, Eliza, voiced out a question, but Evan only shook his head slightly, replying that he wasn''t entirely sure.


    Eliza felt that wasn''t really the case but she didn''t pursue it, instead opting to address the more important issue.


    "How long had those guys been tailing us?"


    Evan hadn''t told anyone about their destination when they left the Great Western Empire, and Eliza only informed Laurene after they got to the hotel the night before.


    Yet those Demonic Hand members appeared to have been waiting for them outside the cave.


    Eliza wasn''t stupid to think that the Demonic Hand had identally discovered them. Plus, after killing the grandmasters, she noticed the bracelets on their wrists that dulled the effects of her life force sensing.


    That much was enough to further prove that the Demonic Hand had been nning this for a while, and those bracelets were specially designed to prevent her from sensing them, hence the reason she had never figured out they were being tailed.


    But from Evan''s words before the fight began, he was well aware of this.


    "I only noticed a few of them some weeks back, but they were quite elusive so they escaped anytime they noticed I had caught onto them.


    I informed Pride and Greed since you weren''t in the country at the time and we were able to catch a few, but they killed themselves before I could get anything out of them.


    Theyid low for a while and probably employed other means to keep watch on us, ones I was unable to sense.


    Besides, I told you about thisst night too."


    "Huh? When?!"


    In response to Eliza''s question, Evan reminded her about one of the events that happened during their tour of Lastham the night before.


    "When we were running away from the Journalists and barely a minute after we ended up in the noisy red-light district. I told you ''We were being tailed by a demon''."


    "Haaa???!! When was th-"


    Eliza''s memory was jogged by his words and she remembered at one point in time when they were navigating their way out of that district, Evan had stopped in front of one of the Clubs and turned around before saying something, but she didn''t hear him clearly as she dragged him to escape one of the journalist trio that discovered them right after.


    "How did you expect me to properly hear you over all that noise?! You spoke normally even though we were in such a noisy ce. I thought you were talking about ''Tailed Salmon''!"


    "The heck? Why would I suddenly start talking about ''Tailed Salmon'' at that time? I assumed you heard me well since you didn''t ask about what I saidter on."


    "Don''t ask me!"


    The situation quickly turned into an argument thatsted for a while, only being diffused when Kuro couldn''t take it anymore.


    [Master''s in the wrong for not speaking up loudly enough, AND not mentioning the situation againter.


    Eliza, you are also at fault for not asking about what he said when you guys got out of that district.


    Both of you are in the wrong, but more of the fault lies on you, Master. And you too Lady Ka because I''m sure you were aware but didn''t really ce any emphasis on this.]


    [Why am I suddenly involved in this?!]


    "Why are you taking her side?! I''m your contractor!"


    Ka and Evan''sints were silenced by a single re from the Cat spirit. He winced lightly in pain as he still hadn''t recovered from the previous battle but he then took a deep breath before ring down on them and saying.


    [Both of you, are at fault.


    Especially you, Evan.


    I understand you have been informing us about your ns more often than not, but still do well to make us aware of certain factors that could threaten our lives.]


    The cat spirit went on to scold Evan some more, before jumping back into Eliza''s shadow to rest.


    [Angry Kuro is scary��]


    Ka muttered that line as she emerged from her hiding spot behind Evan while fearfully gazing at Eliza''s shadow where Kuro was.


    [Ugh��what''s all the noise��]

 Chapter 523 Milena Wakes Up

    ?


    [Ugh��what''s all the noise��]


    The moment that weary voice rang out, Evan dashed over to the owner, the water spirit who was just regaining consciousness with a worried expression on his face.


    "Are you alright?"


    Milena blinked multiple times after seeing Evan and Eliza''s worried facese into view. It took her a moment to fully reorient herself before the memories of everything that transpired came back to her.


    ''That''s right��I got stabbed.''


    She reflexively held up her hand to her chest, but after seeing there was no wound there, she heaved a sigh of relief before looking around.


    [It''s��over?]


    "Yeah, but that''s not important. Are your wounds fully healed?


    Do you feel weird in any ce? Anaemic? Perhaps you need more time to rest?"


    Evan''s questions poured out in a flurry, showing how worked up he was about the fact that she had almost died.


    In fact, when he sensed her near-death state via his contract, he actually lost control of the spell he was casting and nearly misfired it.


    He pulled out multiple items from his inventory, holding them up in front of her as his flurry of questions towards the slightly dumbfounded spirit continued.


    "Do you feel any pain anywhere?


    I have a bunch of healing items here. Like this Tranquil Lotus Blossom, it''s especially effective on spirits and has good pain-negation properties.


    Or if you don''t like blossoms you can use this celestial waterbird''s feather. Or maybe th-"


    [Calm down, Evan. I''m fine.]


    The spirit recovered from her daze and held out her hands to calm him down, before reminding him of the fact that he could check her vital status via their contract.


    "Right��I could do that."


    Seeing him forget something so basic in his worried state made Milena sigh softly before shaking her head with a small smile.


    To say she wasn''t scared about the fact that she nearly died would be a big fat lie, but at least some of her residual fear had been abated by seeing and feeling how worried about her well-being Evan was.


    The boy''s actions had also increased his favourability with all the nearby spirits from the Underground Crystal Cove who were watching the situation silently, having been finally granted permission by ''Aidos'' to go out to where the group was.


    After he calmed down considerably, he still made her use some of the Essence-infused amulets he got in Uswil to deal with her anaemic state.


    He then sat back down and opened the system interface, seeing that Adaptive Evolution was still conducting its analysis.


    Right now, Evan was limited to being able to use only 30% of his maximum energy reserves, as everything that regenerated further than that was absorbed by the World to pay back for Limit Break''s usage.


    Some of his stats were also temporarily reduced by a sub rank and he was also feeling pain all over his body.


    ''Though things went as they did in the game, the Fake Hero Attack is not over yet.


    The fact that they attacked me now meant that Laurene was also somewhere where she had a lesser amount of securitypared to normal.''


    The Demonic Hand wasn''t foolish to attack one hero after another, as they were unaware if the heroes had some sort of secretmunication method to inform the others and make them raise their guards.


    Hence, they bided their time and waited until all three Heroes were in ces removed from main cities, and had lesser amounts of their usual security before attacking all at once.


    Evan pulled out his adventurer card and was about to initiate a call to Laurene, but it didn''t go through and he didn''t take long to figure out why.


    "I guess the magic power fluctuations from the battle here had greatly interfered with the magicmunication signals."


    [All of those things you called signal towers that were nearby had been destroyed. Besides, no magical signals can pass through here for a while.


    That Ouroboros'' attack had the essence of thew of lightning, it messed up everything in the area.


    I think even that city we stayed inst night might be affected.]


    Ka spoke of the side effects of the Hydran''s means of attack, leaving Evan lightly stunned as he calcted the distance between here and Lastham, but he then sensed something and rose his brow in question.


    He got up from where he was and opened up his inventory, pulling out Silverwing''s corpse and tossing it on the ground not too far from the wyvern''s dead body.


    Pulling out a magic stone from his inventory, he crushed it in his palm and used the energy to activate Mesarthim, burning the mangled corpse of the Fake Hero to ashes.


    Eliza who had also sensed the same thing he did wasn''t too surprised at this set of actions.


    |Adaptive Evolution Suggests you attain a closer distance to the body of Level 580 Existence: Demonic Fused Wyvern Craitid. |


    Seeing the sudden notification, Evan was mildly surprised but acquiesced to the request.


    He walked up to the less bloody corpse of Silverwing and moved it closer a bit, before jumping onto its body and sitting there.


    The young hero then changed the tattered shirt he was on to another of the same type while transmitting his intentions to his contracted spirits who informed Eliza, making the girl chuckle lightly.


    Still, she decided to go along with Evan''s little whim, activating Ethereal Equilibrium''sbat mode before moving over to where Evan was.


    Once everyone got into position, Evan took his pose and pulled out another magic stone from his inventory, hiding it in his clenched fist as he channelled the energy to activate his intimidation skill.


    �� �� ��


    To the people of Shelde, Lastham and a few other nearby cities, the 3rd of February 1053 was a day many of them were probably never going to forget.


    The morning was fine as always, and people went about their days as usual.


    However, when it was close to noon, they were suddenly hit by a deluge of high-magnitude earthquakes: the kind they hadn''t seen in decades.


    Things suddenly died down after a while, and just when they were beginning to start dealing with the effect of the quakes, massive explosions rocked the Giant Bear Woods, the forest that marked the border of the state they were in and the next.


    A monster stampede then urred, but it was not because of the monsters wanting to ravage the cities, but because they were fleeing from whatever was happening in the forest.


    Even adventurers who had quests that led them to the forest ran for their lives, returning to the cities and rying the information that ''some things'' were battling in the forest.


    Shelde was a major port city of Duscon, and Lastham was one of the nation''s most populous Station cities and a major Tourist spot.


    Naturally, there was nock of foreign businessmen, nobles, and government officials, along with powerful mercenaries and adventurers present.


    A lot of them (adventurers and mercs) volunteered to join the cities in resisting the monsters fleeing towards them, while others were ordered by their masters/lieges to join the Soldiers and adventurers tobat the monsters.


    Eventually, they seeded in repelling most of the monsters and making the rest flee in other directions.


    But it was a hard-fought battle, as they had to deal with the shockwaves and tremorsing from the battle happening in the forest.


    Investigatory teams were dispatched to the forest, only to be pushed back by the escting chaos.


    Some stayed back to monitor the situation while dealing with the fleeing rulers of the forest, the grandmaster-level Giant Bears that were fleeing for their lives.


    Eventually, even they had to return to report what they had seen and call for more powerful beings to be dispatched.


    The resistance forces from the various cities met with each other and exchanged information, but they saw they were all equally clueless about the true cause of the situation.


    Things died down for a while, and then a strange phenomenon urred.


    Hundreds, possibly more than a thousand spirits of various ranks emerged from the forest, manifesting their physical bodies andunching themselves at the monsters.


    From the mutterings of the spirits who happily attacked the monsters, they seemed to have been instructed by someone to assist them in dealing with the situation.


    Regardless of who that was, their help was greatly appreciated as it made dealing with things easier.


    When they could finally afford to dispatch S and SS rankers to check the situation out, they were met with a forest that had been half razed to the ground by explosions mes, ice and countless other elemental magic and aura.


    That was when they felt a massive burst of ominous energying from the forest centre, followed by the sight of a giant Wyvern ascending to the skies while emanating waves of power that made all B rankers and below have difficulty in breathing.


    The Wyvern''s breath attack that levelled an entire mountain and rent the earth behind it, was something that could be seen from far away made the hearts of all those who witnessed it sink.

 Chapter 524 Evan Being…Evan.

    ?


    Next, a giant golden bird ascended to the skies and proceeded to fight the Wyvern in a short supersonic battle that felt like itsted hours.


    Tier three spells flying around, with them thanking the gods none of those spells touched the ground.


    Eventually, both parties pulled out the big guns, with the person fighting on the golden bird using some sort of strange magic that made one feel cold sweat just by looking at it while the wyvern pulled out tier 4 spells in response.


    The Wyvern then suddenly copsed and a giant arm construct of lightning then descended from the skies and the ''hit'' the ground twice.


    It then retreated to the skies, and everything returned to silence afterwards.


    After waiting a few minutes to be sure everything was really over, the teams from the different cities all assembled and slowly made their way closer to the scene of the battle.


    They saw the once lush forestying in ruins, its vibrant foliage reduced to charred remnants and splintered trees.


    The air hung heavy with the acrid scent of smoke and the lingering aura of powerful energy, with silence engulfing the devastatedndscape in the wake of the earlier battles.


    Eventually, they reached the location of the battles, and the sight they were met with was one that left them dumbfounded.


    First, they saw the corpse of what was once the ck-scaled wyvern, its grandeur and majesty nowhere to be seen as its scales had beenpletely destroyed, exposing its bloodied flesh.


    The ambient energy concentration was thick, an effect of the earlier battle, but even so, they could still sense the residual magic power emanating from the wyvern''s corpse.


    It was then that they noticed that the wyvern''s neck had been obliteratedpletely, leaving only the creature''s head thaty on the floor with its eyes wide open, showing how the sheer amount of shock it felt at its moment of death.


    Not too far beside it was a huge corpse of a monster bird, with bloodied white feathers that bore intricate silver patterns on its massive wings.


    "It''s just like the golden bird from earlier��"


    Someone muttered that statement and prompted the hundred-plus adventurers, knights and soldiers to spot the simrities.


    Then they all set their eyes on the ones responsible for the deaths of these two powerful creatures that were still emanating menacing auras even after death.


    A teenage boy with dark grey eyes sat perched atop the colossal corpse of the monster bird, his legs nonchntly resting on its sharp beak.


    He had his left arm propped up on his legs and his chin supported by its clenched fist.


    Though his stature paled inparison to the immense creature beneath him, an aura of immense power that dwarfed his small frame radiated from his being, engulfing the surroundings.


    It was this inexplicable force thatmanded attention and respect, surpassing his physical form.


    Looking at him, one could tell that he had just been through a fierce battle, as there was still a bit of blood on his cheeks and his trousers had a few tears and burns in some ces.


    Even so, the seasoned A rankers and lower levelled S rankers couldn''t help but feel a twinge of intimidation in the presence of this enigmatic youth.


    His gaze remained calm and unflinching despite the fact that he was faced with over a hundredbatants with power levels varying within the A, S and SS ranks.


    He was nked by three others who simrly exuded palpable auras of power.


    On his left was a young girl with long ck hair and noble golden eyes, with an appearance like a porcin doll.


    She looked a bit younger than the boy but her presence was no less threatening, even more so when one took into ount the fragmented golden of glowing jewels that floated above her head.


    On his right was another teenager who looked to be the same age as the grey-eyed boy, with lustrous blonde hair pulled into a ponytail and deep sapphire eyes with a terrifyingly beautiful appearance, to the point that it seemed to suck in anyone thatid their eyes on her.


    Despite the fact that she seemed to be the one most dressed forbat among the trio, her presence radiated a profound sense of serenity.


    Even so, the years of experience they all had warned them that beneath that tranquil exterior, a hidden reservoir of power stirred.


    In her hands was a small cat that seemed to be napping, its tail softly waving in the air, but when it suddenly opened its eyes and stared at them, they all felt like they were not being stared at by one, but countless pairs of eyes from all over.


    Lastly was a woman that had the appearance of a young adult, with flowing locks of vibrant blue hair and skin adorned with a gentle sheen that mirrored the essence of the ocean.


    Despite looking so young, the great power they all possessed was ringly obvious, and a rough estimate put them all at the S rank level at the very least.


    Gradually, some of the more powerful spirits who had assisted them inbat earlier all reappeared one by one, crowding around the group and passing on an indirect message to them.


    One, if not all of these four, were responsible for sending the spirits to their aid earlier.


    In the face of this, the two SS rank adventurers present, along with the head of Shelde''s military; a Colonel ranked officer of Duscon''s army stepped forward to represent their group and initiate talks with this young yet powerful group.


    �� �� ��


    Despite the seemingly calm and unflinching look on his face, Evan could barely stop the smug grin that threatened to emerge on his face.


    [Master''s childish.]


    [Master''s hopeless.]


    [Master''s acting like a kid fulfilling his fantasies.]


    ''Damn right, I am!''


    The young hero responded to the thoughts of his contracted spirits, with an exultant fervour, akin to a child seeing their cherished dreams made real.


    ''Look at them! They''re all scared! I''m making A rankers feel fear towards me by just sitting down and doing nothing!


    Heck, even the soldiers are looking at me with awe.


    This feeling is exhrating!!''


    [[[*Sigh*]]]


    The three spirits all sighed internally when hearing the boy''s thoughts. Thankfully, the soldiers and adventurers could not hear what he was thinking.


    It was then that they finally got over their initial shock and one of them uttered a question.


    "Wait up! Isn''t that kid the ''Irregr''?!"


    "Huh? Irregr?"


    "Now that you mention it��he does look the same as the person in the newspapers."


    "Then that means��these guys are the ''Anomalies''?!"


    Seeing that S rankers in a faraway country easily recognized him, Evan wanted to fist pump in the air while shouting ''My hard work wasn''t in vain! I''m Famous!'', but he knew it was best to behave himself.


    Even without being able to hear his thoughts, Eliza could guess what he was thinking and only shook her head silently, before stretching her hands towards one of the S-rank adventurers.


    Before thetter could react, the staff spear he was holding flew out of his grasp and into the air, before shooting towards Eliza who rose her hand and caught it.


    "Thanks for bringing this along."


    "��you''re wee?"


    Evan alternated his gaze between the slightly confused adventurer and his girlfriend, his brow raised as he asked.


    "You learned Weapon Control?"


    "Not exactly.


    It''s just an effect of my new skill. I can recall my ''main'' weapons like this while it''s active."


    "Ohh��nice."


    Eliza only hummed in reply as she jumped off Silverwing''s corpse and stretched lightly, before deactivating her Ethereal Equilibrium skill.


    Upon returning to her base mode, her power looked to be a bit reduced, but the initial impression she had given had stuck to the minds of all of them.


    Even so, her new base was Level 400, no one thought she seemed weak in any way.


    Meanwhile, the Colonel and two of the SS rankers had stepped forward to introduce themselves.


    "Greetings to you, Lord Bourne."


    The Colonel gave a light bow as he spoke, his voice carrying a blend of deference and professionalism.


    Evan just nodded in response before deactivating his intimidation skill and absorbing the energy in the magic stone he held, however, said energy quickly escaped his body in repayment of the energy debt he owed the ''World''.


    "Greetings to you too, Colonel Onas."


    He wasn''t surprised that Evan knew his name, considering it was embroidered on his uniform along with his rank insignia.


    Giving a momentary nce to the other officer-ranked personnel with him, he heaved a light sigh before asking Evan politely.


    "My Lord, please forgive my impertinence, but may I kindly request some form of identification?"


    Evan rose a brow in light surprise upon hearing this and for a moment the Colonel was worried his request may have displeased Evan, but the boy only took a nce at the others before acquiescing.


    ''Looks like this guy has it hard. Then again, there''s also the possibility of using a skill to copy someone''s appearance.''

 Chapter 525 Discussion With The Investigation Force

    ?


    The young hero only shook his head slightly before activating his inventory, using an ability of the skill that he had recently be able to use.


    Basically, as far as he knew exactly ''where'' in his inventory a particr item was, he could instantly summon that item into his hand without having to generate the small ck portal that was the opening for the skill.


    He had been able to do this ever since he attained grandmaster level of strength. Of course, there was a size limit to this too.


    ''When I get to Legendary Level, I can enter the inventory myself. Though at that stage, it''d be more of a subspace.''


    While thinking that he used the skill to instantly apport his Adventurer Guild card in his hand and then spoke.


    "Which do you want? Adventurer?"


    Flipping his hand, he returned the adventurer card back to the inventory and then apported his noble badges.


    "Or is it noble?"


    In his hands were his two noble badges, one showing his identity as a member of the Eris Dukedom, and the other with his own crest as the Count Bourne.


    He poured magic power into the both of them and they lit up with a light glow, signifying he was indeed the owner of the two.


    Seeing this, the Colonel nodded in affirmation, before pulling out his own military badge and formally introducing himself, along with the two SS rankers.


    He spoke in a way that acknowledged Evan''s noble esteemed status and served to establish a formal and courteous tone in their interaction.


    "I''m guessing you want to make inquiries on what happened here, huh?"


    "Yes. I would appreciate it if you cooperated with us. This is quite the serious indecent."


    Taking a momentary nce at the mountain that Craitid levelled with his initial dragon breath and the massive craters in the ground from the others that followed, Evan thought.


    ''No shit.''


    "I see no problem with that."


    The boy replied as he jumped off from Silverwing''s corpse, apporting a random magic stone into his palm mid-air and channelling the energy into his unique skill.


    The instant his feet touched the ground, his magic power surged, manifesting in a frigid outburst that engulfed the entire floor in a shimmering veil of ice.


    The speed at which the ice spread out was so fast that by the time the A rankers present could even realise what was happening, the ground in a radius of about 250m of Evan''s position was frozen in ice.


    Of course, for the S rankers, their superior kic visions allowed them to see the ice spreading out in slow motion, but they did nothing since there was no hostile intent behind it.


    Besides, it was a lot more convenient than standing on the scorched earth.


    Evan then opened his inventory once more, this time, pulling out a foldable table and cing it on the ice, before tossing out a few foldable chairs to the Colonel and the SS rankers.


    "Let''s sit. Standing and talking is a hassle."


    Just when one of the SS rankers, a lion beastman was trying to rationalize why Evan had chairs and a table in his inventory, he saw the boy pull out a mini fridge and collect some cold drinks from it.


    He was so stunned that the chair he was holding fell onto the ground loudly.


    "You have a fridge��in your inventory?"


    "Isn''t this normal for anyone with the skill?"


    "No, it''s clearly not."


    The Colonel couldn''t help but retort in response to Evan''s question. He had quite a few people under him with the inventory skill, members of the military support division and he had never seen any of them carry refrigerators with their skill.


    "Oh, I see.


    Yours is the Ultra rare variant that scales in ordance to how much energy you have."


    "How do you know that?"


    The beastman adventurer picked up the chair and set it down properly, taking a seat before answering Evan''s question.


    "The normal Inventory skill has a fixed amount of space that only increases after the user levels up by 100 or so.


    But the Ultra rare variant scales depending on the user''s energy, and its scaling multiplier is about three times higher than the other.


    The fact that you can afford to have that in your inventory and consider it normal is enough for anyone who understands the difference to tell the variant you have."


    After he was done talking, one of the S rankers present came over and asked a question that was on the mind of most of the adventurers after seeing his guild card.


    "Pardon me, but may I ask why your Guild Card is still a Rank B?"


    "Ah, that.


    I''m supposed to get the A rank one next Monday in Gerfast."


    Evan''s answer was indirectly informing the Colonel that regardless of whatever decision he and the rest of Shelde''s government arrived at, he was going back to Gerfast when he wanted and was not going to agree to be detained in Duscon for any reason.


    Naturally, the man got the hint from the gaze Evan gave him, coughing lightly before going on to detail the sequence of Events from earlier in the day.


    "Earthquakes?"


    When he heard that Shelde and Lastham suffered a series of Earthquakes earlier in the day, Evan was surprised as he was very much unaware of this.


    He had appraised the Colonel earlier and had seen the man possessed the Intuition skill, and Evan was honestly considering copying the skill from him due to its usefulness.


    With that skill, if Evan lied about anything he said, though the man would not be able to tell directly, he''d feel something about the boy''s words being ''off'' and ''don''t seem right''.


    Such Vague feelings would be what the skill would give, but when coupled with the wit of amanding military officer in charge of multiple brigades, guessing that Evan is lying would not be too hard.


    However, in this case, Evan truly didn''t know that his party''s battle with Silverwing earlier in the day was the cause of the Earthquakes that they had suffered.


    "I''m not so sure about the earthquakes you speak of.


    I only started the battle here at about some time after noon or s-Ah, my watch''s broken."


    Evan nced at his watch as he spoke and saw that the screen was busted, sighing softly before taking it off and switching it for a spare he had in his inventory.


    "Afternoon? That checks out with the time the forest''s monsters started running out."


    "That''s when we started sensing the energy fluctuations too."


    They discussed among themselves while Evan was busy checking how far Adaptive Evolution''s analysis had gone.


    ''It hasn''t spent this much analysing something before. Could this be the time when I finally get to bypass Level 300?''


    Expectations began building up in his heart but he decided to hold himself back, considering the possibility of failure. He didn''t want to get his hopes high only to meet with disappointment.


    "So, can I just detail how my activities here panned out?"


    "That''d be appreciated."


    "Good."


    Like so, Evan began his little story of half-truths.


    He told them he came to get materials to repair his damaged sword, showing them the cracks on the Unforged, then got attacked by a Giant Bear. After this, he entered a cave in the destroyed mountain, encountered Silverwing who was his target and fought the monster along with his party.


    "Silverwing?"


    "The dead bird behind me."


    "Oh. Carry on please."


    Then, he ''had lunch'' with his party members and returned outside the cave, only to be ambushed by a couple of other ''beings'' whom he promptly defeated before incinerating their corpses.


    Pulling out an artifact from his inventory, he continued speaking.


    "Then I got attacked by a dragonkin who tried to assassinate me. The dude transformed into the dead wyvern on the ground over there and I''m guessing you guys could see the rest."


    "Wait up��did you just say someone tried to assassinate you?"


    "Yeah.


    Remember the Undead stuffst year? Friends of the ''Disaster of Graugro'' didn''t like my involvement in killing the guy so they wanted me dead."


    Evan replied to the Colonel''s words with a shrug of his shoulders, as if it wasn''t anything serious, but it was totally the opposite for the man.


    "Perhaps, the other ''beings'' who attacked you after you returned from fighting that monster bird��were they assassins too?"


    "Yep. The first batch."


    "��"


    The SS ranker went silent upon seeing Evan''s nonchnt reply while Colonel Onas felt a serious headacheing.


    Evan''s assassination attempt wasn''t something too surprising for him.


    Sure, his home country, the GWE was a Major World power, but they still had a few enemies among other World Powers. There were also some other countries who allied with each other and believed they could stand up to a Major World Power nation with their alliance.


    Situations where, geniuses, prodigies, or rising stars like Evan facing assassination attempts weren''t too strange. It was rare but wasn''t umon either.

 Chapter 526 Altering The Details

    ?


    Besides, Evan was a ''Hero''. And there were a lot of people who didn''t want there to be heroes for reasons only they knew, but that wasn''t the main problem.


    What the Colonel had issues with, was the fact that the assassination attempt happened in Duscon.


    ''This is very troublesome.


    If it gets out that Evan Eris, the GWE''s Prime minister''s son, someone with the Alpha Continent''s Sword Saint''s support was attacked in Duscon, in this state; it''d be bad for us on the International scene.''


    At that point, the fact that Duscon should not be held responsible for Evan''s security would not be considered. It would not change the fact that he encountered an attempt at his life, in their country.


    That''s the only thing people would care about.


    People would take things at face value, and use it to criticize them, causing problems both internally and internationally.


    Rival political parties would take it up with the party Shelde''s Governor belonged to and it would delve into chaos.


    Though he was on the Military side, he wasn''t ignorant of political schemes either so he could already see the potential problems of letting this news get out.


    And Evan could also tell these, which is why ever since he got to the part where Craitid attacked, he had used an artifact to iste the sound around them, preventing people not seated at the table from hearing his next words.


    "It would be troublesome for me too, you know? I only informed you because of your position and the current circumstances but I don''t have any intention of letting the real facts get out to the public.


    That''d make those guysy low and I don''t want them to, at least not yet.


    So, what the public is gonna be told, is that I ended up fighting a powerful ''grandmaster'' wyvern, and its army of subordinate monsters, and that''s what destroyed the forest.


    It should also be noted that I did this with the help of powerful ambient spirits"


    Evan waved a couple of magic binding contracts he got from Joanna in the air as he spoke, showing that he had his means to prevent those present from leaking information about the true level of Craitid.


    Adding the talk about getting the ''help of powerful spirits'', was basically an indirect message to the Demonic Hand that he wasn''t the one who killed off all the attacking members and Craitid, but the spirits who helped him.


    His identity as a Spirit contractor wasmon knowledge so it would not be strange for him to be looked upon favourably by ambient spirits and offered help by them.


    Sure, they were going to change their evaluation of his strength, but they were never gonna think the current him was capable of besting S rankers inbat��that was just too unbelievable for his age, even with his nonstandard growth speed taken into ount.


    The Demonic Hand was aware that Heroes levelled up twice as fast, but they certainly didn''t know Evan levelled up twice as fast as the other Heroes.


    Anyway, Evan discussed with the Colonel and the two SS rankers from Shelde and Lastham how they were going to alter the information that would be publicly revealed.


    They ended their talks after Colonel Onas decided to return to correspond with Shelde''s Governor in person, as well as make arrangements for Evan to be officially escorted back to the city.


    A few more foreign adventurers who were staying in Lastham arrived after, and they recognized Evan and Eliza too, along with the SS rankers who were fairly popr too, something that made Evan happy as this showed their poprity amongst adventurers was no less than that of SS rankers.


    Some of them who were particrly curious about him came to chat him up while some others returned to continue handling the corpses of the thousands of monsters they had to kill.


    "What adventurer rank are you now?"


    "B. I''m getting promoted to A next week."


    Once again, he was asked about his adventurer rank by another S ranker, but after replying the woman only gave him an appraising gaze while saying.


    "A? Your maximum strength shouldn''t be in the A range though."


    "But my level isn''t."


    "Oh��But can''t you use your authority to bypass that?"


    Hearing her question, Evan onlyughed lightly before asking back.


    "Now where''s the fun in that?"


    ''Passing through each rank without skipping gave one an achievement in the game. Sadly, there''s no such thing here in reality but who says I can''t just do it for fun.''


    Just as Evan thought that he suddenly noticed an increase in the concentration of ambient spirits, and from his knowledge, there were very few reasons why this could happen.


    ''It could be due to the presence of a high-ranked spirit, but that''s already happened because of Ka and Milena.


    Then it''s most likely that it''s another spirit contractor��''


    Coming to that conclusion, the boy turned around and nced around and locked eyes with an elven woman who just arrived on the scene, appraising her to find that she was Lastham''s adventurer Vice Guild Master.


    The two instantly realised that they were both spirit contractors with but a nce, naturally due to the fact that they had a couple of dozen low-ranked spirits hovering around them.


    Then as if on cue, Evan''s usual spirit group switched ces with the ones around her, something that prompted Evan to ask a question.


    "You''re the second spirit contractor I''m meeting so I''m kinda confused. Does this usually happen whenever contractors meet each other?"


    He was referring to the fact that the spirits who were with her were now hovering around him and yfully pulling on his hair.


    "Now that you mention it, that''s kind of what happens every time I meet another contractor��"


    "So, I guess it''s a spirit thing, huh?"


    "It''s a spirit thing."


    The two chuckled lightly before shaking hands and formally introducing themselves, after which she took a nce at the scene around them and spoke.


    "I have been briefed on what happened here, but still, seeing it is a whole different ball game entirely.


    This forest is done for."


    "Forest? I don''t see any Forest anymore."


    Evan''s reply was met with a lightugh before the Vice GM turned to the mountain that Craitid''s breath attack destroyed.


    "Even if it was a ''small'' one, this guy actually levelled a mountain with a single breath attack. It even took out half of the one next to it too."


    "You saw it?"


    "It''d be weirder if anyone didn''t.


    How on Aidos did you beat this?"


    Her question was asked gesturing to the wyvern corpse on the floor which still had a lot of residual magic power emanating from it, allowing anyone who knew their stuff to tell the level it was at before death.


    A lot of those nearby perked up their ears to listen to Evan''s reply as they were genuinely curious about this.


    "Yeah, I''ve been meaning to ask that too."


    The SS rank beastman adventurer chipped in too, and Evan only shrugged before using the lie he had agreed on with the spirits beforehand.


    "I had help. From another lightning spirit subordinate of hers who''s resting."


    He spoke gesturing to Ka who had once again been caught by a bunch of female soldiers due to how cute her doll-like appearance was.


    "And from the guy behind you."


    The beastman was confused when Evan spoke about the ''guy'' behind him as he was certainly sure there wasn''t anyone behind him.


    "Guy behind me? There''s no one behi-WHOA!!"


    As he turned on his heel, his gaze met the piercing eyes of a massive ck wolf, with an immense stature reaching three metres in height.


    He stumbled backwards in shock, losing his bnce in the process and sumbing to gravity''s pull, falling on his behind.


    The Elven Vice GM wasn''t too surprised as she had long noticed the wolf''s presence, but the same could not be said about the others as to them this majestic-looking creature suddenly appeared out of nowhere.


    Evan burst outughing at the beast man''s state, while the wolf harrumphed before speaking in a deep voice.


    [Told you he was gonna get scared.]


    Right after, another massive three-metre-tall wolf, this one having white fur, appeared beside him and asked with a feminine voice.


    [Why though? He''s a strong person. He should not have been scared of you.]


    [Even if he''s strong. I am still a ferocious darkness spirit of the highest rank. All shall tremble in fear before me.]


    The ck wolf dered with what would have been an expression of pride if he was in a human form,ughing boisterously while his white-furred counterpart only face-pawed and shook her head.


    [Idiot brother.]


    If it wasn''t already obvious, the two were twin light and darkness spirits, and the energy fluctuationsing from them indicated that they were at the very least, above the grandmaster level.


    "Oh right. Here."


    Evan suddenly spoke as he pulled out multiple items from his inventory and tossed them over to the two spirits; namely Ethereal Essence Orbs, and Luminescent Crystals.


    [Hey, don''t forget our bet. Gimme yours.]

 Chapter 527 Calculated Gambits

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    Check out my entry for the WPC August: Beyond the Bloodline.??


    ???


    [Hey, don''t forget our bet. Gimme yours.]


    While the Dark Wolf was collecting the crystals from his sister, the Elven Vice GM had her jaw drop in shock as she stared at the items Evan casually tossed out.


    "Are those Essence orbs?"


    "Yeah. You want some?"


    The moment he asked that, all the ambient spirits in the area turned towards his direction, something he noticed as he nced around with narrowed eyes and spoke.


    "I''ve already given some of you your shares, why''re you still looking here?"


    His words made the ones he was referring to turn their gazes away and begin whistling suspiciously, evoking a light sigh as he turned towards the Elven woman and tossed a few orbs to her.


    "This is very valuable, you know? Sure you wanna give me for free?"


    "No problem. I have more than I''m ever gonna need anyway."


    He stretched his body as he replied, feeling his exhaustion catching up to him. An inadvertent nce to the side showed the Dark Wolf talking with Milena some distance away, but he didn''t pay attention to their conversation and instead remembered something the wolves had told him earlier.


    ''Apparently, Hydran was in the area for quite a while and was watching me get beat up by the Craitid.


    He still pulled the same ''Hero Evaluation'' that he did in the game, huh?''


    "Would you need help dealing with the monster corpses?"


    "Nahh.


    I''ve got a contract with a dismantling crew in Gerfast so I''m kinda obligated to bring any monster corpses I want dealt with to them."


    Evan replied to the Vice GM''s question as he ced Silverwing''s corpse back into his inventory, before moving over to the Wyvern''s.


    "Your inventory is quiterge."


    "Scales in proportion to my energy levels."


    "I see.


    Speaking of energy levels, yours is currently quite�� ''limited'', to put it mildly."


    Hearing the woman''s words, Evan narrowed his eyes lightly as she was implying that she had seen through his concealment and noticed that his maximum energy was currently limited.


    ''Is it her skill? Or just the level difference?''


    "You didn''t expect that I would be able tost against this guy who was more than 200 levels above me without making some sacrifices, now did you?"


    "Oh. That makes sense."


    Evan just nodded before turning back to Craitid''s corpse and pulling up the analysis interface, however, he still saw the same message he had been seeing for the past half hour.


    |Adaptive Evolution is analysing Level 580 Existence: Demonic-fused Wyvern Craitid��. |


    ''It''d be nice if there was some sort of percentage bar telling me how far it has gone.''


    "Can I put this in my inventory and still continue the Analysis?"


    Evan''s sudden question had those who were nearby look at him in confusion as they didn''t understand exactly what he was talking about.


    That much was expected as his question was directed to the system instead.


    |Reincarnated Hero System requests permission to create a link between Unique Skill: Adaptive Evolution and Ultra Rare Skill: Inventory. |


    ''Granted.''


    |Link Created|


    |Adaptive Evolution can now analyse items in Host''s inventory. |


    ''Analyse ONLY the corpse and NOTHING ELSE.''


    Evan made sure to give that order to restrict Adaptive Evolution from touching something it wasn''t supposed to.


    In the past year, the boy had acquired many artifacts and treasures he knew of from the game; the ones that his current level of strength could allow him to acquire.


    Strange ancient artifacts from lost kingdoms that had fallen with their histories being lost to the river of time.


    ''Like that artifact that can absorb nuclear magic.


    Or the Soul Guard belt��Come to think of it, shouldn''t I give Luke the Soul Guard belt? It''s not going to be much of a loss for me as he was going to acquire it in the Year 1059 from the game.''


    While having such thoughts, Evan picked up the wyvern corpse and tossed it into his inventory, before doing the same to the severed head.


    ''I should pick up artifacts that major figures from the game are going to get either way. I''d get them first and use these artifacts to make deals with those figures.


    Luke certainly doesn''t know he''s meant to get the Soul Guard belt for free in the future, but since I''m currently in possession of it, I can use it to exchange for a favour with him.''


    While waiting for the Colonel, Evan was making a list of people he was going to make owe him favours, even the ones who had congenital diseases or had to deal with curses.


    Since he knew the cures for their predicaments from the game, he was going to acquire those cures and give them to make them owe him favours.


    However, he made a note to be careful, as some of the beings involved were Living Legends, people who could use the powers of the World Law Doctrines.


    Some of them could use thew doctrines of Fate, Karma and Destiny to deduce where these things were supposed to be and if Evan suddenly appeared with these items, they might be able to figure out what he was ying at.


    At the very least, until he became a Living Legend himself, he could not afford to let them catch on to his little ploy.


    As for Sovereigns, he wasn''t even going to bother messing with those ones for the next few years at the very least.


    Seeing Hydran''s disy earlier where he casually crushed a Level 523 nonstandard existence to death by just squeezing his hand lightly reminded Evan of just how terrifying the power those guys possessed.


    And then he went on to almost do the same thing to the Level 580 Craitid.


    These were beings who could wipe out a country asrge as the GWE with a single attack.


    If two of them fought, then the coteral damage from their battle could have at least a quarter of the Alpha continent in ruins.


    Evan had once pulled up a map of Aidos on the system and tried topare its size with Earth V and he was dumbfounded at the result.


    Just the Alpha continent''sndmass alone was a bit over two times thergest continent on E-V. The Beta Continent was roughly the same size.


    Not to talk of the Dark Continent which was actually thergest on the!


    And Sovereign levels fighting could turn a quarter of that to coteral damage, an area that Evan estimated to be about around 23-25 million kilometre-squares.


    One should also take into ount the fact that when two beings fought, the amount of damage dealt to the surroundings could not be used to measure their true destructive power.


    For example, if Being A attacked Entity B and then everything within a Kilometre radius was destroyed, this didn''t mean that Being A''s attack could only destroy a single kilometre radius as most of the power and force of the attack would be channelled directly into Entity B''s body to reduce their durability and health values.


    What that hits the surroundings and destroys the kilometre radius are just the residues of power that didn''t directly hit Entity B.


    On average, about 70-80% of an attack''s power is usually focused on the opponent''s body to deal damage. What you see destroying the surroundings is the remaining 20-30%.


    If one had better power control, one could increase that to 90%. Then those ones who could kill powerful existences on their level with single attacks that don''t affect the surroundings much are the ones with exceptional control and are able to achieve around 95-99%.


    ''I have to at least get to that level of power before the Dimensional Rift breaks. As for the transcendent level, there seem to be some extra requirements to reach that level. If it wasn''t for those requirements, Aidos would not just have only 5 transcendents.''


    Evan set at least Hydran as a long-term goal, but he then remembered ''that person'' and decided to change the target he aimed to surpass.


    ''That person'' was naturally the ''Strongest Entity'' in the Demonic Hand. In the game, even Hydran and the other Defence Mechanisms could not defeat that person.


    ''Come to think of it, I feeling here for the ''Fake Hero Attack'' to take advantage of Hydran''s presence is now seeming reckless.


    From the game CG, the First Finger and the Fifth Finger were together during the Attack.


    If the Fifth Finger sees that the Fake Heroes sent to even me who was the least protected died, and changes his evaluation about the current heroes, he might snitch to ''that person'' before Shelde''s government releases the altered news to the world.


    That''d send my ns down the drain!''


    ???


    Thanks to all those who sent Gifts and Golden tickets this month, your support is appreciated!!! ???

 Chapter 528 [Bonus ] High-Rank Evolutionary Catalyst

    ?


    Check out my entry for the WPC August: Beyond the Bloodline.??


    ???


    Sure, that didn''t happen in the game, but Evan wasn''t going to trust his enemies to act exactly how they did in the game.


    The Eighth Finger suddenly gaining a Pseudo Authority before his death was proof that things weren''t 100%.


    He nearly panicked when thinking about it, but he calmed down rtively quickly after recalling where ''that person'' currently was.


    ''They''re way too far to do anything on the Alpha continent for now, that''s why it''s only at the start of the ''Fall of the Desert Country'' that they made a move.


    A single move that spelt the end of Tarse in the game.''


    As he was thinking that, he suddenly noticed the Dark Wolf who was talking to Milena move over to the side of a broken rock with droopy ears, before sitting down dejectedly.


    "What''s up with him��"


    [Love troubles.]


    "��Huh?"


    Evan took a moment to understand the answer that the White Wolf gave to his inquiry as that was one thing he certainly didn''t expect to be the reason for the Dark Wolf''s sudden dejectedness.


    [He asked Milena out.]


    "Wait. What?!"


    Kuro chipped in to augment the answer but his words only served to dumbfound Evan even more. Whether they knew this or not, the White Wolf and Kuro continued speaking.


    [He said he fell in love at first sight.]


    [And so, he decided to try his luck and asked her out.]


    [[But she rejected him.]]


    "��Ouch"


    Evan actually felt sorry for the poor Wolf, but after a moment he felt it was good that he got rejected.


    ''This guy is shooting shots out of his age range. Milena''s just 20! But he''s over a hundred!''


    On a side note, Milena was the oldest in the Anomalies'' Spirit Half. Amy was just a year younger, and Kuro was still in his teens.


    As for Ka, his appraisal showed she was 15 too, but Evan doubted If that age was true.


    "I guess even spirits have love troubles, huh?"


    [Yep. We sure do.]


    Evan nodded in response to Kuro''s words and silence pervaded the area between them. It was then that Evan finally realised something odd about Kuro''s statement.


    "Wait�� ''We''?!"


    By the time he turned towards Kuro, the cat had already sprinted over to where Eliza was and jumped back into her shadow.


    "Oh no you don''t."


    Evan blinked over and dug his hand inside her shadow, pulling Kuro''s body back out and holding him by the back of his neck.


    "Exin, Kuro."


    [I fail to understand the context in which you speak of.]


    "Who is she?"


    [As I said, I fail to understand what you speak of.]


    The cat-shaped spirit''s actions of dodging Evan''s question only served to confirm Evan''s suspicions.


    Now then, there was no way that Eliza would just stare at the two who were having an iprehensible ''conversation'' behind her without saying anything.


    "What''s up with both of you?"


    In response to her question, Evan only nced at her and answered.


    "Spring has arrived for Kuro. I want to fin-"


    [Twilight Veil]


    Evan''s vision suddenly turned dark as a veil of shadows covered his head, blocking both his vision and senses. He reflexively let go of Kuro who jumped back into Eliza''s shadow and ''sealed'' it, preventing Evan from being able to pull him out.


    After escaping the twilight veil before it started generating illusions to mess with his mind, Evan noticed Kuro''s actions and wanted to break the seal but was stopped by Eliza.


    "Don''t bother. Once he gets like that, he''s not gonna answer you no matter how much you ask him."


    Knowing Kuro''s personality, Evan had to agree that he definitely would not get an answer at this time.


    "This isn''t over."


    Leaving those words like a minor novel antagonist, Evan went on to pull out the changing booths and have him and Eliza change once more, to outfits of other colour schemes.


    Seeing as the Colonel still hadn''t returned, Evan decided to go through the archive to search for information on the ''Vessel'' that Hydran had spoken of.


    ''I see, so Spirits are in their Spiritual Bodies on default, and they possess the ability to switch to their Material bodies-- their physical bodies, at will.''


    When he was searching through this, the Colonel finally returned, along with other officials to escort Evan to the Governor''s House in Shelde.


    But before they left, they brought all those nearby and had them sign the magic contracts to prevent them from disclosing information about the true strength of the Wyvern Craitid.


    They also had them correspond their stories with each other and though some were initially reluctant, a single re from the White and Dark Wolves was enough to shut them up.


    ''You may both be Epic levels, but there''s a difference between the inferior stage and the Superior stage.''


    Such were the words Evan used to inform all those who didn''t want to agree with him that fighting those wolves was a bad idea.


    Some had ns to use other special means to break the contracts and report to their masters about the true details but Evan justughed when Colonel Onas asked him about the possibility.


    "I got those Magic Contracts from Chief Gavin and Vice Chief Joanna in Kasteblum. Do you really think they can be dealt with so easily?


    Besides, it''s only for a few months so why are you guys so reluctant?"


    The first half of Evan''s statement captured all their attention and those who had other intentions could only grit their teeth in indignation.


    As for Evan, he was very confused at why they didn''t want to sign the contracts, after all, he only said they should withhold the true details of all that happened here for a few months until he was done with the Lizard Lord Outbreak, then they could go sing it out to the world but he would not care.


    However, his attention was quickly captured by the notifications that appeared in his field of vision.


    |Analysis Completed. |


    |Due to the nature of the circumstances, Adaptive Evolution has siphoned a great amount of stored ''Experience'' to be converted into energy for the Evolutionary process. |


    |Part of the Isted energy would be used as ''Experience'' for increasing Host''s level, Enhancing & Transforming Host''s Vessel and Expanding Host''s Energy Core Capacity at ater date. |


    |A Great Amount of Isted energy would be used in Elevating Host''s Existence level at ater date. |


    |A Great Amount of the Isted energy would be used in empowering Host''s So!)*"$(^&%. |


    |Interference Detected. Redirecting Energy back to ''Experience'' storage. |


    Seeing the way Adaptive Evolution was portioning the energy gotten from Killing Craitid, Evan began to wonder if there was going to be anything left for him to use and increase his level when it was done.


    ''It''s taking out way too many ''Great Amounts'' of energy!!''


    However, when he saw the next set of notifications, he could finally understand why so much energy was needed.


    |Adaptive Evolution Analysed Demonic-Fused Wyvern Craitid. |


    |Due to Host''s low Compatibility with detected Demon Factors, the racial factors were isted. |


    |Since Host already possesses Human Factors, the racial factors were isted. |


    |After further analysis, Adaptive Evolution has determined the Optimal Evolutionary path for the Host, based on currently possessed information and future simtions.


    This path is one with the least amount of side effects and devolutionary risks. |


    ''Side effects? What kind of Side Effects?''


    |Example of Potential Side Effects of improper Evolution: Host''s Mental State Crumbling. |


    ''I doubt ''Side Effect'' is enough to show how bad that is��''


    Adaptive Evolution didn''t say anything and continued disying the analysis results


    |Adaptive Evolution has determined Host needs at least a ss 3 High-Rank Evolutionary Catalyst. |


    | Due to racial factors detected, Adaptive Evolution has discerned the exact catalyst necessary. |


    Evan''s eyes widened in light shock when he saw the name of the catalyst the skill had asked for.


    At the same time, another notification popped up in his field of view.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' has his gaze fall on you]


    "You and Artemisia nned this whole thing out, didn''t you?"


    Although Evan asked this, he was 100% sure that was the case. This whole scenario was something that both Artemisia and the ETOD had most likely foreseen.


    Then again, it was expected for him to think that way after seeing thest two notifications that popped up.


    The name of the Catalyst that Evan needed to Evolve.


    |Adaptive Evolution has determined host has a high level ofpatibility with Dragon Factors. |


    |Adaptive Evolution requires High-Rank Evolutionary Catalyst: Dragon Heart. |


    .


    ???


    Thanks to all those who sent Gifts and Golden tickets this month, your support is appreciated!!! ???

 Chapter 529 The Slumbering One I

    ?


    Check out my entry for the WPC August: Beyond the Bloodline.??


    ???


    Location Inapplicable


    Month and Day Inapplicable


    Year Inapplicable


    In the infinite darkness, a young man who looked not a day older than eighteen, sat atop his on his throne, his elbow resting on the armrest and his chin propped up on his palm.


    His left iris glowed with a bright blue colour as he parted his lips and spoke, his toneced with hints of disappointment.


    "A pity.


    He didn''t detect the Time residues even till the end."


    Looking at the bright blue-coloured rune sigil that floated exactly one centimetre above his palm, he continued.


    "Well, he has missed this blessing."


    With those words, the rune sigil floating on his palm that was the Blessing of Time skill he had created a few hours before, dissipated into nothingness.


    The man then turned his eyes in another ''direction'', his gaze piercing through space-time as he locked on two figures who were discussing something in a secret base and grinned.


    "How about I ''join'' their little chat?"


    The instant he spoke, his body disappeared from the darkness, with the ce returning to silence once more.


    �� �� ��


    Salcana Mountain


    ford Region


    Vuwhax Country


    Southern Beta Continent


    February 3rd


    Year 1053


    Towering majestically amongst the clouds, the colossal peak of the Salcana mountain stands proudly as one of the tallest mountains on the Aidos.


    Its 20,000-metre-tall snow-capped summit glistened under the golden rays of the sun,manding awe and reverence from all who were able to gaze upon it.


    If one were to ever reach the pinnacle of this titanic mountain, one would be met with an amazing sight��a massive gaping hole resembling the caldera of a volcano.


    Legends and tales echoing through thend whispered that the mountain concealed a slumbering fire within its depths, but not many had actually been to the top to confirm if this was true.


    The reason being, the government of Vuwhax strictly forbade anyone from daring to climb this mountain.


    It was even a writtenw in the country''s constitution, that climbing the Salcana mountain was equivalent to a felony.


    This decision was greatly influenced by the people who reached the top of the mountain centuries ago; the three Sovereign Level existences that originated from Vuwhax.


    Even still, the ford Region still benefited greatly from the mountain harnessing its allure to foster a flourishing tourism industry.


    Right now, at the top of this mountain, stood a brown-haired man who possessed a rugged charm. He had slit brown eyes and a slightly pointed nose adding to his distinctive appearance.


    His oval-shaped face was framed by a small stubble on his chin, which he asionally stroked with a contemtive expression.


    He wore simple yet practical attire, consisting of a sturdy tunic and trousers, along with a leather belt that held a normal-looking sword at his waist.


    This man was someone who Troll Emperor Yetu would definitely recognize at first nce; the Sixth Finger of the Demonic Hand, Seith Beddoe.


    Standing beside him, was a young woman with an ethereal beauty, with her pale white hair and matching eyebrows,plemented by her striking brownish-red eyes. Her slightly pointy elf ears added an enchanting touch to her features.


    She sported a stylish bob-cut hairstyle, with a prominent bang in the middle of her forehead and two smaller strands framing her face.


    Her attire consisted of a short dress that revealed a glimpse of her legs, while a medium-sized robe draped over her left shoulder, adding an air of mystique.


    Unlike the man by her side, she bore no visible weapons, yet if anyone were to appraise her, they would be left in both awe and disbelief.


    This woman was someone known to the world as one of the few thousand ''Living Legends'', a half-elf, half-spirit whomanded powerful Earth Maniption abilities, and mastery over swords, bows, and staves.


    She held the epithet ''Earthborne Sentinel'', and her name was Cellica Madris Berzon.


    However, she also had another face that the world was unaware of.


    Cellica was also an Executive of the Demonic Hand; it''s ''Fourth Finger''.


    This was a piece of information that would do more than just ''shock'' the world if it were to ever get out, and her case was also one of the reasons why the Demonic Hand wanted Evan, who knew of the identities of the organization''s executives to be killed.


    Like her, some of the Senior Members and other Executives had other identities that they used out in the open, and these identities came with power and influence that could be jeopardized if it was discovered they were members of the Demonic Hand.


    Anyway, as for what these two executives were looking for at the top of this mountain on this fine afternoon; they were supervising the massive ritual magic that was going on in front of them.


    The powerful Legendary Level Cellica, had caution and even a hint of fear in her eyes as she directed her gaze towards the ''entity'' that was no more than a dozen metres away from her.


    In front of them was a gathering of over two hundred Epic level great Mages, with about five Legendries mixed in, forming a vast circle around the open caldera.


    With their feet nted firmly on individual five-ringed magic circles, they synchronized their energies and focused their minds on the ritual magic they were casting.


    Above them, suspended in mid-air, loomed a colossal six-ringed spell circle, adorned with intricate ancient runes and emanating dense amounts of ether, magic and nature energies.


    After a few minutes, the spell was concluded and the lights of the spell circle died down as it faded into shards of light.


    However, everyone here present remained silent.


    The 200 Demonic Hand Senior Members who just cast this spell, and even the two executives present.


    No one dared to move.


    The Mountain top was so silent you could hear a pin drop.


    They all remained silent, watching with bated breaths, until��


    "ZZZZZZ..."


    ��that loud snoring sound rang out.


    At that instant, relief washed over the faces of all those present. Cellica held a hand over her chest and heaved a deep sigh of relief, while Seith released the tension in his shoulders.


    All the demonic Hand members surrounding the open hole of the mountaintop instantly took distance away from it, but they could not hide the joy on their faces.


    Why were they all visibly relieved and showing joy?


    It was naturally because the Tier 6rge-scale containment barrier spell formation they had just used seeded in keeping the ''entity'' in a deep sleep.


    The legends of Vuwhax say that the Salcana Mountain concealed a slumbering fire, and these legends were not too far off from the truth.


    When the Three Sovereigns of Vuwhax who reached this mountain top centuries ago came down, they were asked if there was magma at the top like other Volcanoes.


    They replied with one line.


    "It might have been better if it was just full of magma."


    Cellica, a being who could use the power of World Law doctrines also had that same thought as she looked at the thing in front of her.


    "��It''s huge."


    Something that looked like a living creature was there. It was so ridiculouslyrge that it was honestly just absurd.


    It was the head of a reptilian creature. Its eyes were closed. Its nostrils inted asionally in tune with its breathing, sending gusts of warm wind to the top.


    The head alone probably exceeded the size of a football stadium, and not just the pitch, but the stands and everything else included.


    Its body was folded to be able to fit into the mountain, part of it even digging all the way into the ground.


    The two Demonic Hand executives didn''t even bother thinking about the full length of the thing in front of them, something that was straight out of the Legends to them.


    "I had heard the stories, but to think they really existed.


    There''s a lot about this world that even we don''t know about."


    Seith''s voice rang that was still tinged with shock rang out as he spoke to Cellica, and the woman nodded in agreement.


    "And to think that this is just one of them��


    The thought that multiple of such creatures exist in this world gives me mixed feelings of fear and joy."


    "Why?"


    In response to Seith''s question, the half-spirit expressed her reply with a breath of exasperation.


    "I''m happy that we''re not going to be so defenceless when the Demons arrive, making it easier for our ns to work, but I shudder in fear every time I think about the possibility of all of them bing active at once.


    Even worse if theye for us, who have the Designation of ''Enemies of Aidos''."


    The Dragon Race as people knew it, had many subspecies under it.


    Dragonkin, Wyrms, Wyverns, Pseudo Dragons, and actual Dragons themselves, which like every other race, had many breeds; normal, High, Greater, Arch, Elders, and Ancients.


    And there was what was in front of their eyes �C [Ouroboros].


    |Name- Ashe Iremith


    Race- Elder-Breed Ouroboros Dragon.


    Gender- Female


    Level- 897


    Existence Level �C Sovereign (Superior)


    Titles- Ouroboros of Fire and Earth, Defence Mechanism of ''Aidos''. |


    ???


    Check out my entry for the WPC August: Beyond the Bloodline.??

 Chapter 530 The Slumbering One II

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    Ashe Iremith


    The Elder-Breed Ouroboros Dragon that was the younger sister of the Ouroboros of Water and Lightning who just saved Evan''s group in Duscon mere minutes ago.


    That was the identity of the entity that slumbered within the Salcana Mountain and gave rise to the rumours and legends about it.


    And the demonic hand had just seeded in keeping her asleep.


    Emphasis is to be ced on ''keeping''.


    The Demonic Hand were not the ones who put Ashe to sleep, she had done so of her own ord.


    What they had done was simply to deepen this slumber, and made it a lot, lot harder for her to wake up.


    Ashe was one of the beings who fought in the war a thousand years ago along with the previous Dragon Lord, Gorm; and her siblings, and she had lived for over a thousand years before that had happened.


    The over two-thousand-year Ouroboros had basically seen all there was to see on Aidos and had grown bored and tired.


    So, she decided to hibernate herself so she could explore new things in her ''Dreams, and she did this using her Unique Skill.


    But this slumber of hers was not permanent, and she also set a condition for in which she would be awakened.


    Besides her siblings waking her up, this condition was the only other way she could be awoken.


    One of the three Sovereigns who came up here two hundred years ago also discovered this condition using a unique analysis type skill, and the Demonic Hand had recently discovered this condition from them.


    Ashe would remain in hibernation unless the ''World'' around her faces a ''Danger'', only then would she awaken to fulfil her duty as one of its defence mechanisms��at least that was what the Demonic Hand had discovered.


    This is where the problem came in.


    They didn''t know how much range this ''Around'' covered, and knowing that Sovereign Level existences could easily cover hundreds of thousands of kilometre squares with their auras, the organization didn''t want to take any chances.


    Especially given the fact that some of the ''Disasters'' they had nned, were meant to ur in the Southern Hemisphere of the, where Ashe was.


    So, they used this ritual magic to create a containment barrier that maintained the surroundings in a state that it previously was, deluding her senses into thinking that everything was still fine.


    Now then, why didn''t the Demonic Hand just outright try and kill Ashe as she was slumbering?


    Minus the fact that she was one of the most powerful entities on the, with power only matched by the likes of ''The Five'', Hydran, the Demonic Hand''s ''Strongest Entity'' or the most powerful Ancient Breed Dragon on the Dark continent, it should be remembered that the Demonic Hand''s goal was to "Save" Aidos.


    Dealing with the Defence Mechanisms would certainly make it easier for them to "Save" Aidos using their methods, but after considering the possibility of a greater threating in the future, they decided that this would be detrimental in the ''long'' run.


    Of course, their decision wasrgely influenced by the fact that trying to take out just Ashe would cost them so many resources and manpower that they''d need decades to recover.


    But then again, the main reason was that they wanted to "Save" Aidos.


    Why would they then kill one of the Defence Mechanisms of the same they were trying to "Save"?


    The Fourth Finger thought this as she ordered a full retreat for all the Demonic Hand members present.


    As both she and Seith turned around and began walking away from the ce where the Ouroboros slumbered, she spoke.


    "I saw Kethryllia''s report. About the new ''First Hero''."


    "Yes. The First Hero is far more powerful than expected."


    Seith replied with a nod, before giving Cellica a side nce as he continued.


    "And what''s more, she has the ''Twilight de'' on her side. Dealing with her is going to be a pain. That''s why we dispatched one of ''them''."


    "One of ''Them''? You mean the Legendary Level Fake Heroes we painstakingly cultivated?"


    "Yes. That one should be able tost a few minutes against Zestari Herrera. Enough time for the other inferior Epics to deal with Abigail Lowe."


    Hearing Seith''s reply, Cellica, someone who knew just how powerful Zestari was, had a feeling that things would not end up as nned.


    "What about the other two heroes we discovered?"


    "Evan Eris and Laurene Hayes��We do not know which heroes they are yet, but ording to Lord First, Laurene Hayes is most likely the Fourth.


    The records stated that the previous Fourth did possess the power to tell lies from truth, just like Laurene Hayes is rumoured to possess.


    Anyway, with the number of forces we sent to deal with all three of them simultaneously, the attack is supposed to be a guaranteed sess."


    "Supposed to?"


    Seith''s choice of words had Cellica raising a brow in light surprise. In the decades she had known him, he wasn''t one to sound so unconfident.


    "It''s just��that boy, Evan Eris. If he''s really an ''Irregr'' as the rumours state, then things might not go exactly as nned.


    Besides, in the past two years, whenever he was involved in the equation, nothing ever went as nned.


    I do not know if it''s him, or his secret helpers, but I have a feeling that the attack on him has a higher chance of failing even more than the one on the Elven Emperor''s daughter."


    The man stroked his beard and sighed in exasperation as he spoke, before shaking his head to rid himself of the useless thoughts and posing a question to Cellica.


    "Enough of that, what''s the next main thing on our agenda?"


    "We''re nning to take advantage of the Barbarians on the Beta Continent. What about you?"


    "Lord First ordered me to send some of my division members to aid Kethryllia and Maude in preparing the Lizard Lord.


    Maude noted that something was off with the Lizard Lord and instead of increasing, its strength was reducing. Right now, it''s even weaker than that Troll Emperor I fought in the ''Graveyard of the Arrogant''.


    Cellica frowned upon hearing him mention Merdin''s Dungeon. She had made ns with Seith and Kethryllia to coordinate the release of the Deadly Sins on the Beta Continent and amplify the resulting chaos as much as possible, but sadly for them, their ns never came to fruition.


    She felt quite Indignant as her hard work in dealing with the entric ''Demon of Lust'' had all gone down the drain.


    "That Troll, you said it was around Level 520, right?"


    "I didn''t know its exact level but it had strength around that range."


    "And now the Lizard Lord is weaker than that? This isn''t good.


    We picked the ''Lair of the Lizard Lord'' for our ns in Lacertilia because it was one of the Dungeons that had an upper limit of S rank, a dungeon where powerful SS rankers can''t go to, reducing the chances of the creature dying at the hands of some adventurer before our ns work out.


    But even if our ns work out, we would not get the desired results if the monster is too weak."


    "I have intentions of going over myself within a year''s time. But for now, Kethryllia should be able to handle it, she did get stronger recently after all so things should be easier for her."


    Seith spoke of his intentions, his words confirming Pride''s conjecture that the Demonic Hand would try to speed up their ns, and Evan''s guess that the rtively free Sixth Division would be aiding the Seventh and Ninth Divisions in setting up the ''Lizard Lord''s Outbreak''.


    "You said you''re going to take advantage of the Barbarians. Meaning you''d be assisting him?"


    "Yes, that Dwarf and I are going to handle finding the Tombs of Barbarian King Morass. Finding the Tombs would make the Uprising easier.


    Besides, we''ve poured too many resources into the Alpha continent recently, it''s high time we began switching things up."


    Cellica replied, mentioning a certain dwarf who at that moment, was in Whaijan wondering what sort of ''monster'' Zestari was.


    Just then, a loud whirring sound rang out and gusts of wind blew through the area, rustling Cellica''s hair and dress.


    She turned her gaze towards the source, a massive Airship with a sleek metalling hull that rested firmly on the ground, its propellers humming with anticipation.


    Crew members bustled around to check the engines and adjust the sails, but not forgetting to respectfully bow towards the two executives who were in front of them.


    They loaded up all the necessary cargo into the hold as the grand wings on either side of the ship fluttered lightly, ready to catch the wind and lift the vessel into the sky.


    The lower-ranked Demonic Hand members moved about, erasing all traces of their organization''s presence here while the Senior Members focused on dealing with the energy residues and concealing the containment barrier.


    Within minutes, they had packed everything up and the five Inferior Legendary Senior members came and informed the two executives of this.


    Despite the fact that their power was higher than the Epic Level Seith, they maintained their respectful attitudes as his rank of ''Sixth Finger'' gave him far more authority than them, something that was absolute in an organization that followed a Strict Hierarchy like the Demonic Hand.


    They all boarded the airship as the propellers whirred even faster, the engines humming with magic power as the airship ascended into the skies, leaving the ground beneath it.


    Check out my entry for the WPC August: Beyond the Bloodline.??

 Chapter 531 Unos Reaction

    ?


    Check out my entry for the WPC August: Beyond the Bloodline.??


    ???


    National Geographical and Environmental Research Facility


    Plolor City


    Terrok


    Northern Alpha Continent


    February 3rd


    Year 1053


    At the head of the meeting room''s conference table, a man sat on the Head Chair, his perfectly tailored three-piece suit exuding an air of sophistication and authority.


    His eyes locked onto the eighteen broken crystals arranged on the table before him. A few hours ago, they were twenty crystals on the table, and now only two remained still intact.


    A heavy silence filled the room as he examined the shattered remnants on the table, all the beings present noticing the subtle activation of a skilling from him.


    With a calm yet oppressive tone, he uttered a single word.


    "How?"


    The power emanating from his voice sent a chill down the spines of all the Epic Level beings present, including the burly Lion Beastman who held the title of ''Fifth Finger''.


    Even he, a high-ranking executive, couldn''t help but lower his head in silence, feeling the weight of the suit-d man''s fury.


    The man''s anger was evident, and everyone present knew that something grave had urred to provoke such a reaction, something they all figured out after looking at the broken crystals on the table.


    After a few more minutes of staring at the crystals in silence, the room still filled with an oppressive atmosphere, as if the very air itself dared not disturb the man in his contemtion, he spoke once more.


    "How?


    Laurene Hayes, I can understand��thest report that came in from him showed that the ''Sword Saint'' was present.


    If that man releases his limiters, then it is possible for him to deal with #8-#11, and #13 with rtive ease.


    It makes sense the attack on her failed."


    He adjusted his seating position and leaned slightly towards the left before continuing.


    "Abigail Lowe, I understand��Zestari Herrera was present, and she had brought over a toon of the Elven Imperial Guard along with her, a miscalction on my part as this was something she never did before.


    With those on her side, even if #1 was able to hold her off for a while, #3-#7 and #14-#17 would not be able to do anything meaningful."


    Silence pervaded the area after he spoke, but all those in the room could feel the tension in the air increasing by the minute.


    The man took off his pair of sses and set them on the table before leaning forward, propping his elbows on the table before cupping his left fist in his right palm and resting his chin on them and speaking.


    "But, Evan Eris.


    ��


    How?"


    He looked at the crystals marked #12, and #18-#21 before continuing.


    "He''s a nonstandard type, meaning though he''s most likely a Superior Master, his power should have been on the level of an Inferior Grandmaster.


    The boy only had the Lane girl and his spirits with him, and I confirmed there was no powerful person within kilometres that could have possiblye to his aid.


    So How?


    How?"


    Each time the word ''How'' escaped his lips, the aura he exuded increased in intensity, pressuring all the beings present and bringing some of them down on their knees.


    "How are all the Fake Heroes along with 120 Mid and Senior Members that were sent to him��all dead?"


    The room was silent as none of those present had the answer to this question. The man on the other end of the table, the Director of this research facility only shivered silently as he wanted to be anywhere in the world but here right now.


    Whether he knew about this or not, the Suit-d man didn''t seem to care as he remembered thest words of one of the few people in this world that he could consider a ''true friend''.


    Thest thought transmission that the man, Dominik Vk had sent to him mere seconds before Evan''s sword pierced through his heart.


    [Evan Eris, Eliza Land and Lightning spirit with them! The three of them are our greatest threats!!! Even more dangerous than Zaos'' Daugh-!]


    It was a sudden transmission that hade while he was in the middle of experimenting on one of the Fake Heroes, and the suddenness of it made him lose focus and identally kill Fake Hero #2.


    Excluding the fact that his man could ''identally kill'' an inferior stage Legendary Level existence, he believed he had been taking Dominik''s words seriously, hence the reason he had sent the Dragonkin Craitid and Fake Hero #12, two Epic Level existences to deal with the Superior Master Level Evan.


    He had even personally made a connection with Fake Hero #19 to ''talk'' with Evan, and see for himself how the boy was.


    Sure, Evan''s power was above average, even the inferior grandmaster-level strength the boy thought he was concealing, and it was far higher than what people his age should possess.


    It was well within his assumptions, and Evan should have been overwhelmed by the might of the 50+ superior masters sent after him, not to talk of the grandmasters who were present.


    ''Did he truly not have a helper in secret? Maybe that Shadow Spirit of his?


    But no, I took that possibility into ount and searched the area��unless they were a Peak Legendary, they should not have been able to escape the scan I ran using #12.''


    He activated his unique skill once more to run calctions and deductions using the powers of the worldws but a part of his vision glitched and bugs began appearing in his calctions.


    ''Irregr title��that was not a rumour or a nickname he was given. He''s a bona fide Irregr. And to interfere with my skill��is he a Grade 2?''


    The man''s thoughts revealed a lot of things Evan was not aware of, the fact that the man had double-checked to see if Evan had any helpers, something he would have informed Craitid of and dispatched more Senior Members via teleportation depending on the circumstances.


    Plus, he also knew about the fact that even among ''Irregrs'', there were different Grades.


    ''Still, Craitid''s connection drew a nk for a while, I could not even connect to #12 too.


    And yet Craitid suddenly died after reporting that everything had happened in an instant to him?''


    A short memory shed through his mind as he thought, his calctions finishing as he came to a conclusion.


    ''I don''t believe Evan Eris defeated Craitid, but I would not deny he had a part in Craitid''s death, and I am sure he killed at least one, if not all of the Grandmaster Level Fake Heroes.''


    He remembered the scene he saw when he tried to reconnect with Fake Hero #21 after noticing that #18 had died.


    ''In that short instant, I caught a glimpse of the boy''s legs no less than a metre away from #21''s body, right before the connection was terminated.''


    Looking at the bugged results of his calctions, his thoughts continued.


    ''#21 was Level 360, and he was able to take it out in a single strike.


    He most likely had the help of ambient spirits��I took that into consideration but there''s a limit to what they can do unless he forms a contract with them.


    Sadly, applying the same logic as other spirit contractors to him was not exactly a good decision.''


    He then turned his attention back to the memories of his little ''talk'' with Evan. He believed the boy did not actually warrant the level of wariness that Dominik wanted him to have. Unless��


    ''��he acted like that on purpose to mess with me. In that case, I''d have to be even warier of him.''


    The man sighed and leaned back on his chair before giving out orders.


    "Raise Evan'' Eris'' threat level to the same as Abigail Lowe��No. Make it higher."


    His orders evoked surprised reactions from the Senior Members in the room. The consensus within the Demonic Hand was that Abigail Lowe was currently the strongest Hero at the moment, so being told to ce Evan on a higher priority for elimination naturally made them have questions, not that they dared to voice said questions.


    "Adjust his Estimated power level from 320 to 400."


    His second order brought upon a whole new kind of shock to everyone, even the Fifth Finger. This was natural, as a 14-year-old with the power of a Level 400 was simply unheard of!


    Little did they know that the suit-d man had urately determined Evan''s current level of power exactly!


    Right now, the boy had the strength of a beginner S ranker in his base, and three times that with his BoD.


    All his stat values were at the top of the A rank, with his energy stat being the highest at ''A+ Level 100''.


    However, due to the situation with his undefined existence level, said energy stat would not increase above ''S- Level 1'' under any circumstances, until he upgraded his existence level to the grandmaster level.


    People on Evan''s current Level (299) usually had stats around ''B+ Level 95'' to ''A- Level 10'', so the fact that his stats could even reach the A+ rank in the first ce was nothing short of a miracle brought to fruition via his Reincarnated Hero System.

 Chapter 532 Time’s Limits Unveiled

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    Check out my entry for the WPC August: Beyond the Bloodline.??


    ???


    But in the end, there was still a maximum limit to the amount of power a Master Level existence could ever possibly have, and no matter what Evan did, or no matter what cheat ability he had, it was simply t-out impossible to go above it.


    And the current Evan had reached that Maximum Limit.


    As such, no matter what happened now, Evan''s stats cannot go above ''S- Level 1'' until he bes a grandmaster.


    Going back to the man''s orders;


    "Any members at the Intermediate Grandmaster Level and below, basically anyone below Level 425, is authorized to flee upon encountering Evan Eris.


    We can''t have our members dying and bing fodder to make the boy even stronger than he already is.


    As for the Epic Senior Members, if you do encounter this Irregr boy, you are to kill him on sight.


    Do NOT use any convoluted means against him."


    He ced a hand on his chin and thought for a few seconds before speaking once more.


    "Do the same for Laurene Hayes too. If Evan Eris'' track record is anything to go by, someone he''s closely connected to would definitely NOT be normal."


    After speaking, he turned his attention towards the fifth finger and asked.


    "How are the ns for Tarseing along? Have you managed to locate which Hero is there?"


    "Negative. Whoever the Hero in Tarse is, they''re hiding quite deeply.


    We tried searching with the known Heroes'' special characteristics, and the data we know about their mystic eyes, but we have not found anyone among High Nobility or Royalty that fits the criteria."


    The suit-d man sighed softly upon hearing this before asking another question.


    "What about ''Her'' then? What about the Master of ''Dragondune''?"


    He spoke of the Desert Country''s Guardian Beast, one of the top ''Living Legends'' with power on par with people like Zestari, but the Fifth Finger''s reply was also negative.


    "We managed to send in a few Dragonkin spies into the Dragondune, but none of them was able to discern the true locations of Both the Master and the other Legendary Level High Dragons there."


    "That is upsetting to hear.


    Search harder and find them, for our ns in Tarse cannote to fruition If they interfere.


    When you do locate them, inform me. I would have ''That Person'' go after them."


    Without even needing to ask, all the Senior Members present knew exactly who ''That Person'' was.


    The suit-d man was about stand up, but an inadvertent ce at the Senior members in the room who were lined up in Seven rows tossed his mind back to thest ce he heard the number 7 today.


    He dwelled on it for a few more seconds before a grin appeared on his face. Standing up from his Chair, he spoke.


    "I''d be returning to the Lab."


    "Huh? You''re not scrapping the Fake Hero project?"


    "No, as a matter of fact, I''m even more motivated now, after all, it seems the path I have been following is the right one."


    The Fifth Finger was genuinely confused as to how the loss of eighteen Fake Heroes seemed to somehow motivate the man even more, and seeing his confusion, the man who was in a quite happy mood decided to exin.


    "Evan Eris was trying to mislead me.


    The Fake Hero Project has high prospects of sess, enough to make the current leader of the Seven Heroes feel threatened by it."


    While the Fifth Finger was feeling surprised by this, the man''s words continued as thoughts in his mind.


    ''There might actually just be more than Seven Hero slots in this world.''


    He got to his feet and turned around,manding them to make his earlier orders known before once again informing them that he''d be returning to hisb.


    "Greater Teleportation."


    He casually cast Fifth Tier spatial magic with only the activation words, causing a magic circle to appear on his feet, which then wreathed his body in light and warped him to his destination.


    �� �� ��


    No one present in the room had realised it, not the suit-d man, not the dozen-plus Epic Level Senior members, nor the Fifth Finger even with his powerful spatial perception.


    He could only perceive things within three sets of spatial coordinates, after all.


    Hidden in in sight, this heterochromatic-eyed man observed the unsuspecting Demonic Hand members with a subtle grin on his face while seated at the chair nking the Head Chair where the suit-d man was.


    "Time, Fate, Destiny, and Karma."


    The energies of the worldws whose names he called trembled as if responding to him, something that every being who had stepped on the path ofprehending thosews on Aidos should have felt��if there were any.


    "Although you have only solved two of eight disasters, you have prevented Tens of Millions from dying and changed the course of the future way too much.


    Merdin was not destroyed, the Epic Level existences of the GWE did not die trying to stop the Demon of Pride, and the Seven Deadly Sins did not wreak havoc across Aidos.


    Cheverton was not run over by Undead, Duhan King Vazgan did not wipe out Bultom, before going on to destroy a good chunk of the surrounding countries together with the Flesh Golem."


    The man spoke of the positive changes Evan''s actions had brought to Aidos with a smile on his face, a smile that disappeared immediately after.


    "But changing the future is not something done so easily.


    You tried to prevent something that only had a 30% chance of happening far off into the future, but your actions have only spurred on the involved parties and increased that probability to 80%.


    Then again, I can''t me you, as you did not know that the event you were scared of, the Demonic Hand''s Fake Hero Project seeding, was something that belonged to the 15% of events that were not guaranteed to happen in Aidos'' future due to Artemisia''s variables."


    Turning his gaze towards Duscon''s direction, he continued.


    "You have interfered in two events that should have been major turning points in Aidos'' History. Preventing the Seven Deadly Sins Massacre from ever happening was already ''wrestling'' with thew of time.


    And to correct that, thews of Fate and Karma were spurred on and intertwined, making Rathal encounter the Tenth Finger in Cheart, leading him to wipe out the Tenth Division and causing the Demonic Hand to bring up their ns for the Duhan Attack, making it happen before you could try to prevent it from happening in the first ce.


    This was thew of Time, Fate, and Destiny, trying to ''correct'' the events happening."


    "If you seed in stopping two more disasters before they could even begin, then the next disaster on the list would be an irreversible Nexus Event that you would not be able to stop from happening, no matter the means you employ.


    It would progress as it did in ''Aidos Online,'' and the number of people who were supposed to die would have died. The Correctional Universal Laws would have made sure of that."


    His voice resonated as he spoke to no one in particr, expounding upon the intrinsic nature of the universe.


    He spoke of the profound truth, that the Correctional Laws of the universe, including the ''son of a bitchw'' that is causality, aren''t going to sit back and watch as one mortal existence changes the fate and destiny of an entire, teeming with billions of other existences.


    The correctionalws steadfastly resist the notion of a solitary force with a low causality index, driving a cascade of events that would irrevocably alter the course of a world.


    Yet, he revealed an intriguing caveat about ''Irregrs,'' existences who could weave through the binding chains of causality, at least on a limited scale.


    They had the power to elude the strict dictates of cause and effect and carve a path through the webs of fate, but in the end, they were not entirely impervious to the bindings of causality.


    "Sure, one may think it was just one in the grand scale of the entire universe with hundreds of billions ofs.


    However, if you do not possess the necessary qualifications to change things on such a scale, then causality would not let you. The delicate bnce between free will and the constraints of causality dictates the extent to which one can mould the course of events.


    Especially if it concerns a High-Level World like Aidos.


    Changing the future is fine, but you have to be careful about how you do it; otherwise, time itself would mess with you. We still have an 80% Guarantee of the events of Aidos Online happening in reality, after all."


    After he finished speaking, he heaved a soft sigh and touched his neck.


    "My throat feels parched after talking so much.


    How about I go see if those Dwarven Deities still have the best wine in the area? It''s been a while since I''ve been to Bracken."


    While he spoke, his body slowly faded from view, the lines that delineated his form softening and bing translucent like faint mist as he seamlessly withdrew from the world.

 Chapter 533 Resolutions With The Governors

    ?


    Governor''s House


    Port City Shelde


    Duscon


    February 3rd


    Year 1053


    Not too long after Evan finally found out the catalyst that he needed to aid in his advancement to the grandmaster level, Colonel Onas returned from Shelde, along with more soldiers and official carriages to carry the young hero and his party over to the Governor''s House.


    The monster-drawn carriages were far faster than normal horses so the journey was quite short considering the tens of kilometres of distance between the Giant Bear Woods and the port city.


    Upon arriving at the city, Evan first went over to the adventurer''s guild to submit one of the quests he had randomly picked up, before finally heading over to the Governor''s house located at the city centre.


    When he got there, he was met with not only Shelde''s Governor but Lastham''s too.


    The two men received Evan and treated him with far more respect than they would an ordinary Noble child. This much was warranted, as Evan was an official titled Noble with the rank of Count, which was basically on the same level of power, if not higher than theirs.


    Not to talk of the fact that Evan was the PM''s son and a Hero.


    They had a little early dinner where they discussed Evan''s n to alter the true details of the events that happened earlier in the day, of which they had already been briefed by Colonel Onas.


    They were quite shocked when they discovered the assassination plot of the Demonic Hand, as well as the fact that an Epic Level existence took part.


    Of course, Evan simply did not tell them about the Fake Hero #12 who was the second Epic Level existence.


    Regarding his n to alter the details of the day''s Events, they werepletely okay with it as the two men did not want to burden their citizens with the news that an Epic Level battle was happening near them, at least until the whole situation died down.


    They were also more than happy to keep the matter of the assassination attempt under wraps too, but Evan did not forget to tell them that he would be informing the Duke and the Emperor about it.


    The Magic Contracts were also spoken off, along with a deal for them to use their contacts to spread the altered news faster, so the Demonic Hand could hear it and have their assumptions of his strength skewed.


    Too bad that the Organization''s leader had already marked him as a highest-level threat and given all the Epic-level Senior members the order to kill him on sight.


    All in all, the conversation went smoothly, and when they got to the part about how the damages caused by the battle would be handled, Evan offered some mary support, given that he was the part cause of the whole fiasco.


    Besides, the young hero was also a multimillionaire now, so he could afford to let go of a few million gold coins, with the exception of the wealth he was entitled to as the son of a Duke.


    Towards the end, it turned into a talk between the two governors about how they were going to deal with the people and adventurers who were going to be out of work for a while at the Giant Bear Woods where they usually hunted, foraged, and adventured in was basically no more.


    They had ns to call upon all the druids, preferably the elven ones in their states and others under the same political party toe in and help in artificially regrowing the forest, while they decided to put out quests for adventurers to capture monsters from other areas and bring them to the regrown forest.


    When they heard that one of Craitid''s breath attacks had left a crater in the ground that wasrge enough for ake, they decided to fill it with seawater, fish and other aquatic life from the ocean.


    By this time, Evan had already half-tuned out their conversation and was more focused on sorting through his current stats and the notifications from the system.


    After the meal, Evan and Eliza returned to Lastham along with its governor, avoiding all the other politicians and civil officials who tried to curry favour with him and giving the stubborn ones perfunctory replies.


    They spent the night at the Mahogany Hotel, with all of them going straight to bed without a word due to their high exhaustion levels. They ended up oversleeping the next morning, way past their checkout time.


    But having known the identity of the group staying in their hotel after the Governor''s carriage dropped Evan off the day before, the Hotel''s management did not disturb them like they would normally.


    Besides, they were very upied dealing with the technical damages caused by the loss of all magical signals within nearly half the state after Hydran''s power disy fried a lot of signal towers.


    Even the train rides were all rescheduled for the next day and it was only untilte afternoon did Lastham finally get back to normal.


    Of course, the Governor had the news agencies print out the ''details'' of the previous day''s events, and he gave an official speech to cate the very worried citizens and tourists.


    The Anomalies slept through all that though.


    Evan finally woke up in the evening and came down to the lobby yawning, surprising a lot of people who did not really think he was present.


    Before he could make his way over to the counter to pay for his extended stay, he was swarmed by journalists, curious tourists, fans and nobles who had tons of questions, ranging from the reason why he was in Duscon, to the details of the previous day''s battle and his current strength level.


    Hotel security tried to clear the way for him but Evan simply teleported directly in front of the counter, finished his business and teleported back to the stairs after saying he was not taking any questions.


    Then, he went on for Sleep Round 2, as his body and soul were very exhausted and needed to recuperate. He also needed to pay off his energy debt to the world.


    Two dayster, after getting a decent amount of rest, they checked out of the hotel and took the trains to return to the GWE, a trip that took them two and a half days, half a day shorter than the inbound journey due to route changes.


    By the time they had reached Gerfast, the stories of his adventures in Duscon had already reached the Empire, courtesy of the Adventurer''s Guild news channels.


    There was a whole lotta noise when he entered the guild hall to have the dismantlers that he was contracted with work on Silverwing''s corpse.


    On a side note, he hadpletely paid off his energy debt by this time so he did not have to be worried about any adventurer noticing his weakened state.


    Since the Guild Newspapers and the News boards had already covered the ''details'' of his little trip, those who had used these services were already aware of everything that transpired, as for the others who were unaware, Evan''s friends amongst the S rank and SS rank adventurers made sure to let them know with their loud booming voices across the guild hall.


    Ka''s poprity also grew as the circting stories showed she yed a very crucial part in defeating this ''grandmaster mutant wyvern'' that the group had encountered in Duscon.


    That was part of the reason Evan and the Governors hade up with for why the magical signals went out, that the ''high ranking lightning spirit'' and her subordinate spirits had used so much power that it affected everything in the area.


    But with these now, the formerly ambiguous rumours about Evan being a grandmaster were practically now confirmed, and the fact that most A rankers and below could not sense his existence level only gave them more credibility.


    The Hero in question was quite miffed about it as every time he heard someone talk about how he was a grandmaster, it reminded him of the fact that he was actually NOT one.


    After he finished his business in the adventurer''s guild, he made his way over to the Royal Pce while Eliza and the others returned to the Oak Avenue Manor.


    �� �� ��


    Cab Room A2


    Royal Pce, Gerfast


    GWE


    February 8th


    Year 1053


    "��that''s just about what really happened."


    Evan finished his narration and the other people in the room could not help but look at him with an array of strange expressions on their faces.


    Starting from the left, there was Laurene, Duke Roger, Ralphie, Finley, Emperor Rudeus, Luke and Jenson.


    "��I don''t even know where to start."


    With a facepalm, Rudeus spoke. His expression was a mix of both surprise and resignation.


    "So, you''ve known about these sham heroes from the start?"


    "Yep."


    "And I''m guessing you could not speak about them."


    "Exactly."

 Chapter 534 Gathering And Hero Discovery

    "Exactly."


    The man sighed for the nth time today while trying to process everything Evan had just told him. He had predicted that the Demonic Hand would retaliate in some way, hence the reason he had pushed for Evan to have guard knights before.


    But he could have never expected the existence of Fake Heroes in his wildest dreams.


    "A simultaneous attack on all the known Heroes, each with at least 100 Senior Members, half of which are grandmasters, and Epic Level existences too.


    Then topped off with Fake Heroes��it''s a miracle you guys even survived this."


    The man thanked his stars that he had Luke go with Laurene when she wanted to investigate the remnants of the Tenth Division''s base in Cheart because he knew fully well that her original guard detail would not have been able to withstand the force sent after them.


    ''It was precisely because she had a guard detail that they sent such an overwhelming force.''


    Even Finley who was usually light-hearted had a slight frown on his face as he realised that he had sorely underestimated the Demonic Hand.


    ''For them to mobilize over a hundred masters and grandmasters and more than 15 Epic Level Existences in different countries simultaneously��''


    Although he was a nonstandard type who could defeat people above his level, he wasn''t so sure he could defeat the Demonic Fused Craitid on his own, not to talk of if he was aided by the Fake hero #12.


    And the current Finley was less than 10 levels away from Level 500!


    Of course, he would not be like Evan who could only damage Craitid by taking advantage of Mesarthim that ignored defences & BoD that bypassed durability and would actually be able to deal a good deal of damage to the wyvern using his ''Heaven Sword'' skill, but defeating him was a different case entirely.


    "The thing now is the status of the other two Heroes who had been targeted by the Demonic Hand��"


    "Yes, you did say something about that. Care to borate?"


    "Basically, there''s a limit to the number of Fake Heroes the Demonic Hand can deploy at once due to World Law restrictions, I believe Laurene should have already filled you in on that?"


    "Yes, but not the number."


    "The number��is 20.


    The Demonic Hand''s ns from what I know, were to deploy an equal number of Fake Heroes to each real Hero they have discovered. So, the fact that both Laurene and I were attacked with 5 each��"


    "��means that there are two other Heroes who were also attacked."


    Rudeus arrived at that conclusion,pleting Evan''s words as a contemtive look appeared on his face. Just when he was about to speak once more, Luke''s voice rang out.


    "If the number you say can be deployed is truly 20, then only three Heroes were attacked, and not four."


    "Huh? Why''d you say that?"


    Evan was surprised upon hearing Luke''s words, especially with how confident the man seemed. From the Game, the Fake Hero attack targeted both the yer and their support characters ''the other heroes'' that they had unlocked at the time.


    But since unlocking characters was not locked to the Main questline alone, the number of characters yers had at the time was not set in stone.


    Hence, Evan was not sure about the number of Heroes the Demonic Hand knew about now.


    "I received information from an Elven contact yesternight. And from that, I was able to find out that there was an incident in Whaijan five days ago, around the same time you and the princess were attacked."


    "Whaijan? Isn''t that where Kethryllia''s base that the Elven Emperor destroys is?"


    Evan muttered that to himself, casually revealing a piece of information that surprised all the others in the room.


    "Kethryllia? Isn''t that the woman you said was an executive too?"


    "Yeah, the Seventh Finger. Anyway, it''s not really something important."


    "I think we need to revise your definition of ''important'', Sir Evan."


    Jenson could not help but retort as he flipped through the files on the Demonic Hand to where the biodata they had on Kethryllia was. Of course, it was mostly empty as all they knew was her name, gender, and race.


    ''Celestials, huh? Then she''s most likely from Tarse��''


    While Jenson was trying to deduce the woman''s origin country, Evan skimmed through his memories of the game, checking for an event that involved Whaijan in February of 1053.


    ''The Third Finger is supposed to be in Whaijan now��''


    "Can I carry on?"


    "Huh? Sorry, I just had a terrible premonition. Please do."


    "Hmm��Anyway, ording to the info I got, the incident was ruled off as a battle between ''powerful monsters'', but my Elven Contact was able to get me more details.


    The Appearance of the Elven Imperial Knights there and the fact that there were sightings of the ''Twilight de'' in the city of Ogrein just hours before��"


    Immediately he heard the words of the Sword Saint, Evan''s Time difference skill''s sub ability, Organized Calction was activated and it didn''t take him long to arrive at the conclusion with the aid of his in-game knowledge.


    "The third Hero that the Demonic Hand attacked is the Elven Emperor''s daughter, 17th princess Abigail."


    "��Yes."


    Luke confirmed his statement after a short pause but he was not too surprised that Evan arrived at that conclusion, it was no secret that ''Twilight de'' Zestari Herrera was loyal to Abigail, after all.


    "I see��that''s a relief.


    If it''s Zestari then it should have been no problem for her to deal with the Legendary Level one."


    "The what now?!"


    "Hmm? The Legendary Level Fake Hero? Didn''t I mention it earlier?"


    "You most certainly did not, Young Duke."


    Ralphie replied to the boy''s inquiry with a sigh, one that everyone present could sympathize with. But before anyone else could say a word, Evan''s gaze moved between the Emperor, Luke and Duke Roger who had just been silent since the beginning.


    ''Perhaps��''


    "Were you guys already aware that Princess Abigail was a Hero?"


    "Huh? Why would ask that?"


    The Emperor tilted his head with slight confusion upon Evan''s inquiry, but the boy only shrugged his shoulders and replied.


    "Dunno, I just have that stinking feeling that you guys were already aware, that''s all."


    Evan spoke casually, not showing any hint that there was a fire spirit on his shoulder whispering to him that Luke had told Rudeus about this a month ago, right after he came back from his little trip to the Utrarian Republic where he met some of the other top dogs of the Alpha continent.


    Apparently, while they were all surprised at Evan''s conclusion which Luke confirmed, one of the young lesser ranked spirits who were floating around said something that caught Evan''s attention.


    [Why''s the blondie surprised when that ''scary guy'' had already told him this before?]


    Taking the strengths of everyone in the room into ount, the only person the spirits could call the ''scary guy'' was Luke.


    As for why there were spirits in the castle, it was because it was possible for spirits to be born in areas with naturally high energy density, and the part of Gerfast where the Royal Castle was built happened to be one such area.


    Or rather, it was built there because it was one of such areas.


    Back to Evan''s question, Rudeus wanted to reply but someone the lie detector that was Laurene was present so he opted to question Evan back instead.


    The reason being the man felt Laurene''s Lie detection was unlike other skills of simr nature he knew about, which required the wielder of the skill to be the one being spoken to for them to be able to tell if the statement was a lie or not.


    Laurene''s lie detection was an ability of her Mystic Eyes, which affected everything within her field of vision, so even if he wasn''t speaking to Laurene, she''d still be able to ''see'' his statement was a lie.


    Just as he thought that, Evan suddenly spoke up again.


    "You know, I think Laurene and I should have been informed if a new Hero besides ourselves had been discovered.


    Or did you think I was going to suddenly run off to the Beta Continent after hearing there''s a hero there?"


    "There is a possibility that you might just do that."


    Evan''s brow twitched lightly when he heard Ralphie''s little quip, something Duke Roger concurred with much to his dismay.


    "Come on guys, I have no ns of going to the Beta Continent yet��"


    "Yet?"


    "��I''d go when I''m at least an Epic Level."


    "So, you were nning to go either way."


    For some reason, Ralphie''s expression as he said that rubbed Evan off the wrong way.


    "I''m going to ignore that.


    Anyway, I was going to go to the Beta Continent either way because of the three Heroes that are there. I already knew one of them was in the Elven Empire, I just didn''t know it was Princess Abigail."


    He shrugged as he spoke, his words surprising the others as he had just implied that he knew the countries where the Heroes were. And when Laurene asked him that, he gave an affirmative reply.


    "Mind if I ask how?"


    "Leader Privileges."


    ''I don''t think that''s part of the Leader privileges��''


    Such were Laurene''s thoughts on Evan''s reply, but she did not voice them, instead asking about the other countries where the other Heroes were.


    "Draidan and the Holy Empire."


    "I see��I understand you''re aiming to achieve Skill Resonance, but there''s just one problem."


    Laurene locked gazes with Evan, her eyespletely serious as she asked.


    "What if they''re not ''like us''?"


    "Huh? What do you mean by that?"


    She ignored Finley''s question and kept gazing at Evan who ced a hand on his chin and spoke, his voice carrying a cold tone that surprised most of them in the room.


    "That would be a problem now, wouldn''t it?


    For starters, I''m sure Abigail is ''like us''. My data on her shows that Alissa''s sess chances were 5% at best.


    But I''m not sure about the other two''s circumstances. I don''t know if they''d turn out like us, or we''d have a worst-case scenario."


    "In that case, you''d have no choice but to either use your leader''s authority, or straight up end them."


    Rudeus and the others in the room were stupefied upon hearing Laurene casually talk about killing another one of their fellow Heroes, and even more so at Evan who nodded along with her.


    "I think I''d rather use the Authority."


    "You sure? Knowing them, especially if it''s Sixth, they might have a way to bypass your authority..."


    "Hard chance."


    Evan knew what she was hinting about but his Leader Authority could not be categorized under something the Sixth Hero could use their skill against.


    "Hmm��let''s hope so. I don''t want to deal with those guys at all."

 Chapter 535 Hints And A-Rank

    "Hmm��let''s hope so. I don''t want to deal with those guys at all."


    The severeck of context in their conversation, along with the fact that they both ignored everyone else who called out to them during it left the others in the room with various questions after they were done speaking.


    And right after that, Laurene changed the topic to something else entirely, indirectly stating she was not gonna answer anything they asked.


    "Anyway, the guys behind the Fake Hero project, they''re the ''First Division'' right?"


    "That much was obvious, was it not?


    The ''Demonic Hand'', a ten-division organization currently having the goal of "Saving Aidos" using pretty extreme means-"


    "Wait up! Their goal is to ''Save'' Aidos?"


    "Ah��weird, you weren''t supposed to hear that. Scratch that info."


    "Oh no, we ain''t scratching nothing. You''re gonna exin to me exactly what you mean by that."


    Laurene wasn''t about to let Evan wave off his words as from her knowledge, the Demonic Hand was an organization of ''Demon Worshippers'', and they didn''t have any grand goal like ''Saving Aidos''.


    "I would NOT be telling you anything. I can''t risk losing even a single level in my current state.


    Anyway!! The people who attacked you should have had ''this'' brooch on their clothes."


    He held up one of the First Division Brooches he picked up from his attackers as he spoke.


    "A ''Hand'' holding up the ''World'', that''s their symbol, and the number on the back of the hand denotes their division.


    The Eighth Division guys had theirs but they didn''t wear it because of Dominik."


    Tossing it back into his inventory, he continued.


    "They nned to kill us real Heroes to open up the Hero slots for the Fake Heroes��but sadly, Abigail was with Zestari, Sir Luke was with Laurene, and I had help from a certain someone Sir Luke and I are both familiar with."


    "Huh? Someone I''m familiar with?"


    "Yeah.


    Spiky blue hair, golden slit eyes and pupils��ring a bell?"


    "��you actually met ''that guy''?"


    "I''m a Hero, and knowing what he is, don''t you think it''d be stranger if he didn''t sense me in the area."


    "Good point."


    Luke nodded,pletely understanding how and why Evan and Hydran ''met'' each other.


    Evan then went on to exin the goal behind the Fake Hero project, taking care not to specify the number of Hero slots so as to prevent Laurene''s skill from triggering, leaving them to all automatically assume there were only seven.


    "The n is going to fail unless they can kill one of the current Heroes and take their ce."


    "Why so confident?"


    "Because there would not be any space for the Fake Hero to upy.


    After all, as of 7/12/1051, all of the current Seven Heroes had awakened their powers."


    The date Evan gave was that of the Mass burial that happened in Geto in lieu of Xakon''s attack more than a year ago.


    "The fact that we don''t know who they are even after a year means they''re actively hiding themselves."


    "Of course, they are. I would not want people to know I was a Hero too, but the Duhan Attack didn''t exactly permit me the luxury of hiding it so I had to change my ns."


    Evan shrugged while replying to Rudeus'' words, but the Emperor had a feeling the young hero wasn''t entirely being sincere.


    "Eliza told me you guys had a talk with someone called ''Uno'' who''s most likely an executive. My guess is that he was-"


    "The First Finger, I know."


    "Huh? Then why did you act like you didn''t?"


    In response to Laurene''s question, Evan leaned back in his seat and sighed before replying.


    "Not all executives of the Demonic Hand are international Criminals like Dominik.


    The Senior Members and executives of the organization have their identities hidden for a reason, because of the ''other faces'' they have in public, the positions of power and influence they possess and whatnot.


    Take the now-deceased Tenth Finger for example, she was a publicly acknowledge S rank Adventurer that was fairly famous, hence the reason why she could be as bold as she was in Cheart until she encountered Rathal.


    The same applies to the Ninth Finger. And even the Tenth Finger''s recement is going to be someone of fairly high repute in the GEE.


    Finding out their identities would make you know about their public personas and that''d be bad because, for some of them, these personas are useful in helping the Demonic Hand because of the power and influence they hold there.


    Like the ''Fourth Finger'' now; That person''s a ''Living Legend'' that everyone in this room definitely knows about."


    Hisst statement caught more of their attention than everything he said before that. The fact that one of the World''s publicly acknowledged ''Living Legends'' was secretly a Demonic Hand executive was no small matter.


    "Which one?!"


    "Trust me, Laurene. I would tell you if I could.


    Anyway, I acted like I didn''t know ''Uno'' was the ''First Finger'' because each of the Ten Fingers has a second identity that they don''t want people finding out about, and I did not want them to think I knew more than they thought I did.


    That and the fact that I was trying to make him suspicious of his organization''s members.


    ''Uno'' was a nickname Dominik called him, and he only did so in the presence of the organization''s members. In the context of my talk with him, I made it so he would get suspicious of his members due to the fact that I, a non-Demonic Hand member, knew that nickname."


    The details of his actions that she heard from Eliza now made a lot more sense after hearing his exnations, but that also gave rise to a different question Jenson asked before she could.


    "So, you know the identities of all the Organization''s executives?"


    "That much should be obvious by now, no?"


    Evan replied to Jenson''s question before the light of remembrance shed through his eyes as he turned to Laurene and spoke.


    "I''m going to need your help against the ''Fifth Finger'' Laurene. And please brush up on your spatial magic, and focus more on negating them.


    Get Jenson''s help if possible."


    "So, the Fifth Finger knows spatial magic, huh?"


    "I did not say anything of the sort."


    The boy skirted around Laurene''s leading question before Luke asked about the race of the Fourth Finger, intending to have a search run on the Living Legends based on racial criteria.


    "Yes, it sounds usible but I can''t say anything. Telling you their race is very, very vital information. Even my lessened restrictions can''t help me out.


    I could only tell you about Seith and Kethryllia due to special circumstances."


    "So, you can''t tell us anything about the Fourth? Third? Second?"


    "Hold your horses right there, Sir Luke.


    Even if I could tell you who the ''Second Finger'' is, I would NOT. I don''t want anyone of you here meeting an early grave if you went snooping around and about that person."


    The boy held his hands up in a cross in front of his chest as he spoke, only to reverse his words when asked about the First Finger who was in charge of the Fake Hero Project.


    "If I could tell you who the First Finger was, I would NOT hesitate to do so.


    Sadly, I cannot, and neither can the Senior Member who you captured, there are naturally measures in ce to prevent them from leaking information.


    And to prevent information from being leaked from our end, it''s best to kill the Fake Hero you captured as soon as possible; the First Finger can use him as eyes and ears, after all."


    He stretched his legs and arms after talking, internally thinking that he had dropped enough hints for them today and decided to bring the conversation to an end.


    "But anyway, I believe this talk has gone on for far too long and I think it''s high time we brought it to a close."


    Evan spoke while getting up from his seat and turning to Luke before asking.


    "Mind apanying me to explore the remnants of an ancient Mountain Kingdom that copsed 700 years ago?


    I''dpensate you of course, with something I''m sure you need.


    A little hint: it has to do with souls."


    Hisst statement had the Sword Saint''s eyes narrowing lightly, very curious about how Evan knew he was looking for artifacts with such features.


    "Give me a call at the Oak Avenue Manor when you''re done thinking it over.


    I''m going to bed now, gotta prepare for my rank-up exam tomorrow."


    Yawning lightly, he turned around and made his way to the door, but right before it, he stopped and turned around to ask.


    "Can I borrow the Royal Family''s cksmith? My sword kind of got bad while I was fighting against the Demonic Fused Craitid."


    Emperor Rudeus silently nodded before tossing over a badge with his seal which Evan caught and thanked the man for.


    He heard them beginning to decide what to do with the captured Senior Member as he closed the door behind him but didn''t bother as he began making his way over to the outskirts of the Capital city, to the Lumina Steel Mine where a certain Living Legend Dwarf resided.


    With the materials he had gotten from Silverwing''s nest, along with the bird''s bones, and some other Phase 2 Materials he had, the boy had the dwarf repair the unforged and run maintenance on his other weapons.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    The next day, he went to ce orders for more custom-made Grandmaster Level Arachne thread woven clothes, for both himself, Eliza and the rest of his group, something that cost him close to a fifty thousand gold coins.


    He paid it without blinking while thinking that he''d soon need to go and fight against the Spider Nemesis in Geto soon, probably after he''s done in Lacertilia.


    Such were his thoughts as he made his way over to the Guild building F where the Vice GM and a certain Fernsnout n member awaited him.


    Naturally, the current Evan who had Beginner S rank level strength easily beat the living daylights out of the poor Fernsnout dude and became an official A ranker smoothly.

 Chapter 536 Interlude 10 – Goddess Amongst Mortals

    Lunchtime Delights Restaurant


    ####### City


    ##### Country


    AD 3101


    Earth V


    "Hi there! Should I get you your Tuesday usuals?"


    "Yes, thank you."


    "Okay, one chef''s special sd with grilled chicken and a side of sweet potato friesing up!"


    The cashier''s cheerful voice rang out as she quickly noted down the familiar customer''s order, beforemunicating it with the kitchen staff.


    "I''d also like a dressing with the sd too; balsamic vinaigrette. And a strawberry parfait as dessert."


    "Oh, no Honey Mustard today?"


    "Nahh��wasn''t feeling like it."


    The woman replied as she tapped her card on the payment terminal,pleting the transaction and collecting the buzzer from the cashier.


    "Your order will be ready shortly, Miss Kristine."


    Right after that, the cashier temporarily left the counter to inform the kitchen of the little change to the usual order; after confirming there were no other customers, of course.


    "This girl��how many times do I have to tell her it''s ''Mrs''."


    The woman, Kristine, sighed softly as she made her way over to a cosy corner table to wait for her lunch, pulling up her phone and looking through her schedule.


    "I don''t have anything nned for this afternoon��great!"


    She locked the screen after confirming she was free for the remainder of the day; her appearance now being reflected on the phone''s nk screen.


    Her tinum blonde hair cascaded down to her shoulders in soft waves, framing her youthful face which was graced with a smile at the knowledge of her free time.


    But the smile on her lips quickly transformed into a look of shock as she casually nced out the window of the restaurant and caught sight of someone casually walking through the street.


    It was a ck-haired woman donning a pair of simrly coloured suit trousers and a casual shirt over ck heels.


    She had a long white jacket draped across her shoulders, reaching just below her knees and her hair was tied into a fairly long ponytail.


    The woman''s golden eyes seemed to twinkle with the light of stars, catching the attention of many passers-by as they could not help but stare.


    But for Kristine, she was staring for a different reason entirely.


    In that instant, the woman suddenly turned in Kristine''s direction and the hazel-eyed woman quickly tilted her head to the side, acting as if she was trying to search for something else outside.


    **BZZZ!!


    The buzzing sound called her attention back into the restaurant and she casually stood up to get her order, acting like normal, but when she turned her back, she could not help but feel cold sweat running down her face as she thought.


    ''What the heck is a goddess doing on this Earth??!!''


    It wasn''t every day one got to see a god walking among mortals, so her shock was quite natural.


    "Ah, Kristine, there you are! I just got an update on the case we have tomorrow. It seems the rumours were true. The Chief Judge would be the one presiding over it."


    The voice of one of her colleagues snapped her out of her shock, an expression of displeasure adorning her face as she replied to him while the two of them made their way back to their officeplex.


    As she moved towards her office on thest floor, she was noticed by a lot of the employees in the building due to her catchy appearance, and they all offered her greetings with smiles on their faces.


    She greeted a few back and cautioned the two newbie attorneys who were running through the halls with their gowns and wigs, chuckling as she remembered that she was once like them.


    Just when she was about to finally enter her office and enjoy her meal, her secretary suddenly asked something strange.


    "Madam, you''re back. Should I send in your guest now?"


    "Huh? What guest?"


    Kristine, who had confirmed she was free for the rest of the day was naturally confused but her secretary only looked at the system in front of her and spoke.


    "The one you have scheduled by 3 pm today. You sent the notice to me yourself."


    "What?"


    Dropping her meal on the table, the woman took a nce at her secretary''s monitor and saw that there was indeed something fixed for 3 pm, and it was apparently added by her.


    ''But I didn''t put anythi-!''


    Her thoughts were cut short the instant she touched the monitor, her eyes narrowing in suspicion as she realised how her schedule was altered.


    ''Faint magic traces��''


    Kristine took a deep breath and hoped her premonition was not true, telling the secretary to send them in when they arrive before entering her office.


    Walking over to her desk, dropped the stuff in her hand on it, toppling the namete in the process.


    "Hmm?"


    She picked up the item and flipped it back to normal, revealing the words inscribed on it: ''Kristine Bourne. Managing Partner''.


    It was then that the door of her office opened and she looked up, barely keeping her poker face from breaking as she thought.


    ''Ah, she noticed me after all.''


    Unfortunately, her earlier premonition hade to pass as the ''guest'' who her secretary led into her office, was the same golden-eyed woman she had seen on the street mere minutes earlier.


    "Well, for starters. How about you have a seat?"


    "Thank you."


    "Oh wow,mon courtesying from a goddess of your rank. Now that''s something I didn''t expect."


    Kristine replied as she took a seat of her own, her words bringing a surprised expression to the face of her ''guest''.


    "I expected you to at least y dumb for a bit��"


    "The fact that you''re here means you''ve already seen through me, so no point hiding it."


    The tinum blonde-haired woman shrugged her shoulders in reply, before taking a deep breath and speaking.


    "So? What brings a Highest Rank goddess like you to this part of the Universe? goddess of Evolution."


    Kristine asked with an emotionless voice, her hazel eyes now gazing coldly at the goddess in front of her, the same goddess who was responsible for reincarnating her son into another world; not that she was aware of this though.


    "Nothing much. I was looking for someone who was snooping around where they shouldn''t and ended up tracking them to this.


    Too bad I lost track of them, so I decided to enjoy myself since I was already here."


    Artemisia replied nonchntly, taking a biscuit out of the half-opened pack resting on Kristine''s desk, while the other woman''s expression changed to mild surprise.


    "To think there''s someone that can make even a ''Main Entity'' lose track of them��"


    Kristine''s surprise was only natural, as she was fully capable of discerning the power of the goddess in front of her, and she could still sense the residualw energy of Traceability on her.


    As for what she meant by ''Main Entity'', this was simply a title that gods on Artemisia''s rank were called.


    When Evan had asked the goddess how strong she was, she had replied that she was ''around the middle stages of the highest-ranked gods''.


    There was no lie in this statement, however, Artemisia simply didn''t mention that these ''Highest-ranked gods'' also called ''Main Entities'', numbered no more than a dozen.


    Putting it in terms of something readers would be more familiar with, she was basically like one of the ''Twelve Olympians'' of ''Olympus''.


    So, her being in the ''middle stages'', meant she was among the top 10 most powerful gods in the universe, and among the top 20 most powerful beings in general, hence, the reason for Kristine''s surprise upon hearing Artemisia''s words.


    On a side note, number one on the second list was naturally the ETOD, with a gap so wide that number 2 didn''t even bother dreaming about closing it.


    "Still, to think there were people in your Existence Realm on this decoy Earth, working as an attorney for humans"


    "You say that like I''m not a human myself. Besides, it''s nice and quiet here, away from the rest of you ''troublemakers''."


    "Although I don''t particrly have good feelings about most of them, it''s still quite off-putting to have my race called one of ''troublemakers''."


    "It''s not far from the truth, though. Don''t forget the Orithyia Gxy incident."


    "��it''s annoying that I can''t refute that."


    Artemisia replied with a semi-pouting expression, before sighing and continuing.


    "Anyway, though you appear to have the same capabilities as my target, your energy signatures are different, and besides, I know I''m after a man so it''s definitely not you."


    "Thew of Traceability is as frightening as ever."


    "It''s not much by itself but whenbined with Karma, and Knowledge, it''s quite thebo. I''m also checking if you may have any Karma with the person I''m after though."


    "Yeah, I noticed."


    The two women chatted a bit aboutw energybinations for a while until Artemisia suddenly looked at the clock and got up.


    "It was nice talking with you but I must take my leave now. My favourite show''s gonna be airing in five minutes."


    Leaving that farewell message, Artemisia teleported right out of the office, leaving behind Kristine who was asking herself how long this goddess had been on the.


    ''And at least use the door. Now I have to alter my secretary''s memories so she doesn''t find it weird you suddenly vanished.''


    She then silently cursed at the person who attracted the goddess'' attention to Earth-V in the first ce, not knowing that the person in question was her husband.


    �� �� ��


    At around the same time, a young teenage boy was casually walking through his school hallways, an ear pod in his left ear and a single book in his hand.


    He was quite handsome and fairly tall for his age, possessing styled ck hair and dark grey eyes and properly dressed in his school''s uniform.


    The boy seemed to be quite popr, given the fact that he was called out to with a greeting by a lot of people in the hallway.


    Just when he finished talking to someone, he looked up and saw his principal walking across the corridor with a bunch of men in ck suits, showing them around the school.


    ''Better take off my pod��''


    He did as he thought, closing the book which his phone was hidden inside, before greeting the men with a light bow.


    When he passed by them, he nced at their faces, recognizing two as fairly popr businessmen he had seen on the news once or twice.


    As for the third, he nearly dropped both his jaw and the book in his hand due to shock but barely managed topose himself and walk away as quickly as possible.


    ''How can one person��.?!''


    All humans on this possessed some level of supernatural energy but said energy levels were onlyparable to Bronze, sometimes weaker Silver Level existences.


    Nevertheless, they could not use them for a variety of reasons, the number one being that they didn''t even know these energies really existed!


    ''But that man!''


    The teenage boy shuddered when he thought about the energy he senseding from the third man in the group of six he just walked past in the hallway.


    ''I bet he''s even more powerful than a Sovereign!''


    While he was thinking this, he did not notice that the man in question had stopped and turned to look at him, prompting the principal to call out to him.


    "Is there a problem, Director Bourne?"


    "Yeah, what''s up Vincent?"


    "��Nothing. Just saw a peculiar kid."


    The man replied with a shrug before turning around and re-joining the other men, while the boy quickly made his way to the restrooms.


    For a fraction of a nanosecond, the world around him turned monochrome when he opened the door but the time was so short that the boy''s cognition could not pick up on it.


    He quickly shut the doors, having already sensed no presence in the area before dropping on his knees and breathing heavily.


    ''What a suffocating presence!


    How can such a being exist on this?! Since I''ve been reborn here��''


    "��it''s the first time I''ve seen someone with so much magic energy."


    "As I thought, you really did perceive my energy."


    A chill ran down the boy''s spine as he heard that voice suddenlye from behind him, his body instantly reacting as he turned around and jumped backwards to take distance.


    The spot he stood a second ago, was now upied by a suit-wearing man with ck hair and grey eyes just like him, but that was where their facial simrities stopped.


    "Don''t be so scared, I just wanna ask you a few questions."


    "h-how did y-you get h-here?!"


    The teenager asked with a shaky voice, tinged with fear in response to the man''s sudden appearance, but the one he questioned only replied with a carefree tone.


    "Oh, that? I simply paused time and left a clone in my ce beforeing over here to talk with you.


    You should rx a bit kid; I have no intention of harming yo-ACHOO!! Hmm? Is someone talking about me?"


    The boy stared at the man in silence for a few seconds, collecting himself and taking another step backwards as a precaution, even though part of his rational mind told him it was pointless even if he did.


    "Anyway, I''m Vincent. Vincent Bourne.


    What''s your name, kid?"


    Silence pervaded the restroom as the two stared at each other in silence, a carefree smile on Vincent''s face and a wary expression on the boy''s.


    "My n-name is��"


    He took a deep breath to calm himself properly, before parting his lips toplete his reply to the man''s query with one word.


    "��Evansen."

 Chapter 537 Fallen Celestial Deity I

    <h4>Chapter 537 Fallen Celestial Deity I</h4>


    Deste Catbs


    Truham


    Desert Country of Tarse


    February 10th


    Year 1053


    The Deste Catbsy deep beneath the surface, a haunting relic of a once thriving Ancient Underground Kingdom''s capital city that was now reduced to mere ruins, with shattered and depted buildings scatted haphazardly.


    Flickering runes on the ceiling, once powered by potent magic, illuminate the darkness intermittently, their brilliance fading over centuries of zero maintenance.


    Inhabited by subterranean monsters and used as a ndestine meeting ce for ult groups, the catbs usually echoed with the sounds of life. Yet, on this particr day, an eerie silence reigned, unlike a ce inhabited by thousands of monsters.


    The remnants of a once majestic castle stood at the centre of this ruined city, its halls marred by the lingering stench of blood.


    Corpses of various monsters littered the floors�� ranging from the lowest-ranked goblins, orcs and minotaurs, to monsters like Vilecrawlers, Gorglings, Land Octopi, Centaurs, and many other powerful monster races, most of which were humanoid types.


    Footsteps rang out through the main hallway,ing from two beings who casually walked through this gory scene without batting an eye.


    On the left was a young-looking woman who seemed to be at the peak of her teenage years, of average height and a fairly slim build. She had long waist-length ck hair and piercing red eyes that focused intently on the book she was reading while walking.


    In front of her was a tall handsome adult man, dressed in a ck long-sleeved cored shirt and simrly coloured trousers, holding up a giant great sword of earth over his shoulder that was still dripping with the blood at the tip.


    His long ck hair was tied up in a ponytail with a ribbon as red as his eyes, while his long bangs hung over his face, parted to the left.


    He was the one who was responsible for the carnage the monsters had gone through on this fateful day, and the woman with him was simply there to apany him as she had no other important ce to be at the time.


    It went without saying that these two were the Deadly Sin Siblings, Pride and Greed.


    They were currently in a dungeon that Evan had told them about, where Greed could acquire a skill that was quite simr to one of the skills he had lost while being sealed.


    The Deadly Sin Siblings had finally begun making a proper effort to regain the other rare skills they had during the war a thousand years ago.


    What they had been using since they were unsealed, were the innate skills they were born with and could not lose, but the others they had acquired over the course of their three century-long lives, were lost due to the effects of the Previous Second Hero''s seal on them.


    But since the skill runes had been etched in their souls once, regaining them was not a difficult matter.


    In fact, Pride was here after clearing a one-time dungeon on her own and regaining her ''White mes'' skill, and one other one that was closely tied to her idiosyncrasy.


    She saw this situation as an opportunity to pick only the best skills and discard the ones she felt were useless and only took up extra space in her soul.


    Anyway, the two of them made their way down to the throne room of this castle, and the figure who they were met with was one that ced expressions of surprise on their faces.


    Surprise that changed to understanding a momentter.


    "I was wondering why otherworldly monsters Aquamoras and Stoneshapers were here, it all makes sense now."


    Greed spoke as he stabbed his earthen de into the ground, causing a giant spiderweb-like crack to spread out across the floor as he continued.


    "You''re not from this world, are you? Celestial."


    His words were directed towards the being on the throne, an aged man who appeared feeble and frail, with dull skin and tired, sunken eyes.


    He sat on the weathered throne, surrounded by the ruins of the once magnificent throne room, calmly gazing at the two demons before him.


    "High Demons, huh?"


    The man chuckled lightly, adjusting his position on the throne before replying to Greed''s question.


    "Yes. Although the race of Celestials exists on this; I, Qutia, am not one of them."


    "That much was obvious to me. Anyway, the fact that you''re on that throne means you''re this dungeon''s boss, and it just so happened that I came here to y this dungeon''s boss."


    The earthen great sword Greed held shattered to pieces and the symbol on the back of his palm shed, followed by the appearance of his true weapon, the Sword of greed, Mammonas.


    He held up the great sword with one hand and pointed it towards the aged Celestial, whose aura he could sense was on the level of that of an Intermediate Grandmaster just like him.


    "Hahaha��To think that a Celestial Deity like myself who used to traverse the greater Universe, has now been reduced to a mere grandmaster realm dungeon boss.


    How low I have fallen. Tell me, Demons of Gozon, do you not find me pathetic?"


    The moment the word ''Gozon'' left his lips, Pride who was still focused on her novel at the side, snapped the book shut and looked up at the celestial with lightly narrowed eyes.


    "How do you know of that name?"


    For a moment, the faint hope that this man may know about the state of her home world and what happened to it in the past thousand years was borne in her heart, but she squashed it as soon as it appeared to prevent disappointment.


    The aged Celestial only chuckled lightly to himself before answering.


    "How can I not know the name of the home world of my friends."


    "Friends?"


    "Yes. Before I joined the ragtag group of Celestials who were part cause of my current state, I was friends with a few of your world''s Interster Demon Emperors.


    We adventured through many realms together. Those were fun times."


    A nostalgic look shed through his eyes as he spoke, but it was soon quickly reced by one of sadness.


    "Demon Emperors?"


    "Hmm? Are you perhaps unaware of that title?


    Even Mid rank demons like you should know��or wait, weren''t you considered ''Peak Ranks'' now? To think the strength of Gozon''s High Demons has reduced this much too, it''s a pity."


    The man''s words referred to a time far before Pride and Greed were born when even Sovereign Level Existences were only ''Upper Mid Rank'' demons.


    As someone who had lost his power and fallen to a lower level, he could see that the two Demon Siblings were in a simr situation as he was, and because his original level was far higher than theirs, he could easily tell what Level they were in originally.


    One might have expected the two demons, especially Pride, to feel that the man was trying to mock them by calling them mere Mid Ranks, but they remained silent, allowing him to continue his monologue.


    "Thete Peak Ranks of Old would roll in their graves if they heard this. Even Transcendents were just High Ranks then, with the Peaks being in the realm above.


    Oh, those were good times. Sillmothon, McEnda, Olveth, Xellmonnod, Alvey, Gun-"


    "Did you just say Alvey? You know him?"


    Pride''s voice cut Qutia''s monologue short, snapping him back to reality as he gazed at the demon and nodded.


    "It''d be weirder if I didn''t know the most powerful Peak Ranked Demon of Gozon''s Interster colonies.


    Well��it''s been thousands of years so he should have at least gone higher than merely Demon Lord and be a Demon King by now.


    Seeing as he was friends with that Freakish Singrity, he might as well have be an Emperor himself."


    "Singrity? What''s that?"


    Greed spoke up before Pride could prod the man for more details about Alvey, signalling his sister to calm down with his eyes.


    "Ah, in these parts, you call them ''Irregrs'', those beings who can escape causality''s bindings. Alvey was friends with one of the most dangerous of them in all of existence.


    A Grade Seven Singrity.


    Would have told you who they were but his name is ''Unspeakable'' within this Universe."


    The aged celestial tacked on some extra details at the back, before coughing lightly and speaking.


    "I haven''t met anyone from a familiar ce in a while so I may have spoken too much."


    Qutia slowly got up from the throne, his aura rising along with him and putting the two demons on guard as they saw he was stronger than they initially assumed.


    "I may have lost most of my levels and Skills, but my years of experience still remain with me, along with my most powerful Ult-no, Unique Skill.


    I would bestow that power upon the person who defeats me. "


    The essence of the World Law Doctrines of Earth and metal coalesced in front of him, morphing into a simple longsword which he grabbed and pointed towards the both of them.


    "So then High Demons, which of you would be taking this Challenge?"


    Pride sighed softly upon hearing the man''s question, ridding her head of useless thoughts as she took a few steps back and left the stage for Greed.


    Both the Celestial and Greed silently stared at each other for a moment, their grandmaster-level auras filling the area.


    **WHOOSHH!! BAAMMM!!!!


    The two suddenly charged towards each other, moving so fast it seemed like they disappeared from their original positions and reappeared in the centre of the throne room, their des shing with a loud noise.


    And so began their battle, each attack a dance of power as Greed wielded his massive great sword, imbuing it with his aura while alsounching Earth, Fire and Wind Magic spells.


    The aged Celestial countered with his unnamed longsword, infused with the essence of the worldws of Earth, and Metals, while also using a strange Crystal Magic.


    In the midst of deadly swordbat, they channelled their respective energies, intertwining magic, demonic, celestial and physical prowess to harm themselves, increasing the intensity of their blows.


    The Celestial Race''s innate eponymous energy was quite harmful to demons, but Greed had his demonic energy that had the same effect on Celestials.


    Both of them mixed these energies into their sword shes and spells, with the goal of dealing extra damage to the other.


    In the heat of the battle, Greed suddenly unleashed his idiosyncrasy, an ability once limited to stealing physical strength but now evolved with his advancement to the grandmaster level, allowing him to do the same to his target''s agility too.


    He then used one of the skills he had regained, his Evocation skill to summon ''Covetous Archers'', humanoid constructs fuelled by the emotional energy of greed. The archers fired arrows that dealt 50% of Greed''s Strength Stat as physical damage, before making the target unable to use 20% of their physical strength for 20 minutes.


    Luckily, the second effect of the arrows could not stack, or Qutia would have been in for the worst time of his life.


    Though the man had powerful defences and his magical prowess was outstanding, Greed''s greater physical abilities and idiosyncrasy made closebat quite the challenge, and also enable the High Demon to deny him the chance to take the distance required for rangedbat.


    Qutia got some attacks in on Greed, but the demon''s clothes were crafted with powerful monster materials, before being enchanted with defensive demonic runes, offering him doubleyered protection that reduced the effects of the celestial''s attacks.


    In a disy of power, Greed unleashed his favourite wind Magic spell; Sylphide''s Breath, and the celestial retaliated with a simrly high tier Spell: Crystal Burst, a spell that summoned an array ofrge, shimmering crystals charged with immense magical energy, hurtling towards Greed with unstoppable force.


    The impact of the crystals created a brilliant disy of light, engulfing the surroundings in a massive explosion that shattered the castle. The devastating shockwave caused massive damage to nearby buildings andndmass, leaving behind a scene of utter destruction.


    The fight escted to the skies, with Greed unleashing his wings while Qutia simply used his racial flight ability.

 Chapter 538 Fallen Celestial Deity II

    Amidst the aerialbat, Greed dominated the weakened celestial in close swordbat, sending him crashing down back to the ground with enough force for him to crater a hundred metres deep.


    Descending to the ground calmy, Greed looked at the long tear line running through his shirt, sighing softly before turning to the bleeding Qutia at the bottom of the crater.


    Despite his beaten and battered state, the man did not falter, even chuckling lightly when he felt the demon''s red eyes lock onto him.


    His aura red wildly and the entire area trembled under the weight of their powers as the two readied themselves for the final sh.


    "Incarnation of Greed


    Avatar of Greed: Partial Activation."


    The giant red humanoid half-body construct of sin energy emerged behind the High Demon, wielding an erged replica of his great sword while dense amounts of demonic energy flowed into the sword.


    "How about I give you a little peek at what you wish to attain? Try not to die."


    Qutia suddenly spoke in response to the Greed''s Unique skill activation, stabbing his sword into the ground and taking a deep breath.


    [Geomantic Wrath.]


    Once again, a hush settled over the surroundings as the two of them locked eyes in absolute silence.


    "Covetous de."


    Greed rose his demonic energy infused great sword overhead, the giant avatar mirroring his movements while the Celestial concentrated the essences of metal and crystals around him.


    "Ephemeral Larceny."


    The High Demon called out as he released a mighty downward sh, unleashing a destructive blend of demonic and sin energy that seemed to cleave even space, tearing rifts in the air as it bore down on the celestial.


    [Convergence: Seismic Shatter Storm!]


    Qutia stomped his foot on the ground, thew essence of earth responding to his will and causing spiked stone pirs to burst forth from the ground, directing them to skewer Greed and his avatar as the area turned into a treacherous terrain of rocks and crevices.


    Seismic waves pulsed in all directions, causing devastating tremors to knock back the demon back, while also creating widening the crevices into chasms to swallow him.


    As if that was not enough, a tempest of crystalline shards rained down upon the Avatar of Greed with the fury of a raging storm. These razor-sharp shards cut through Avatar''s defences, aiming to inflict devastating damage on Greed who was protected within.


    Greed''s sh shattered the stone pirs as it hurtled towards the celestial, engulfing the area in a swirling tempest of destruction.


    What followed was a catastrophic explosion of conflicting energies that rippled outward with devastating force, tearing through the immediate vicinity of the ruined castle.


    Buildings crumbled, stone structures shattered and the castle walls caved in, leaving a swath of destruction and chaos in its wake.


    The surrounding structures fared no better, as the tremendous power of the sh tore through them, leaving behind a scene of chaos and ruin.


    The ruined city''s once proud structures nowypletely obliterated, but only a small portion of the city was actually affected. The central part, including the castle, bore the brunt of the destruction, reduced to debris and rubble, while the outskirts remainedrgely intact.


    Part of the reason for this was that most of the power of the attacks was concentrated on reducing their defensive values, leaving only a not-so-small percentage, which was enough to destroy the city centre when coupled with the AOE effects of the Geomantic Wrath skill.


    This devastating aftermath was revealed as the dust, smoke, and mes slowly cleared up.


    About 50 meters apart, the twobatants stood, each showing the toll of their brutal confrontation.


    Greed bore numerous cuts and wounds all over his body, blood dripping from the gashes on his torso and face.


    However, it was nothingpared to the state of the celestial.


    Qutia''s body was mangled, a gory sh wound tearing his torso from the upper left shoulder, through his lungs, heart and other organs, before stopping just around his stomach area.


    It was clear that his injuries were fatal, and he staggered, gasping for breath, on the brink of copse.


    With such evident differences in their conditions, there was no doubt about the victor.


    Even so, both Greed and Pride had expressions of surprise as they saw that despite these obviously fatal injuries, Qutia was still alive.


    "Celestials have the same vitals as every other humanoid race, right? So how the heck is this dude not in the afterlife already?"


    Greed asked as he pulled his sword back and coated it with demonic energy, preparing to deliver one final strike to behead the celestial when Pride held out her hand and stopped him.


    "Why?"


    "He seems to want to talk."


    "Huh? Can his mouth even move in that state?"


    [One does not necessarily need their mouth to ''talk'', you know?]


    The aged celestial''s voice rang out in response to Greed''s question, momentarily startling the demon but he quickly calmed down and he realised what the man was doing.


    ''Is it some form of Open Speaking? Directly from his soul?''


    [You''ve won, Demon of greed.


    The only reason I''m notpletely dead is because I''m supplying my body with the essence of thew of life, but even that can only keep me alive for a little longer.]


    Qutia was an existence who had once surpassed the level of transcendence; even though he had long lost all that power, killing him was no easy feat.


    [The energy of thew of greed��it broke the finalyer around my soul, I''d be dead within a few minutes.]


    The man chuckled lightly, blood pouring out of his lips before looking up at the two demon siblings and asking them a question.


    [Did you know that you demons of Gozon are very, very lucky?]


    "Lucky?"


    [Yes. You all would have perished a thousand years ago at the hands of the goddess Artemisia if it wasn''t for the fact that she was under close watch by the other gods.


    The restrictions in this Orithya gxy are quite stringent, after all.]


    "Exin further."


    Perhaps due to the fact that his time was running out, the celestial stopped dawdling and spoke at length.


    [If Artemisia had not incurred a restriction for acting at the beginning of the war a thousand years ago, she may have wiped you demons off the face of this before the other gods could have even sensed a thing.


    Unfortunately for her, the action she took was a bit too heavy-handed and attracted the attention of the god on Gozon''s side who raised rm.]


    "And what was that action?"


    Although Pride asked this, she already had a conjecture in her mind, one she had ever since the day she met Evan and found out that McEnda IV stepped into Aidos a thousand years ago.


    Qutia drew in more ambientw essence to keep his body running long enough before speaking.


    [She ced a barrier around the, one that prevented the Demon King who tried to enter this world after you deadly sins were sealed from being able to step foot on this regardless of the means.]


    Greed''s eyes widened in surprise when he heard this, but for Pride, it only served to confirm her conjecture.


    "As I thought. Artemisia really did something. It makes no sense that McEnda was able toe into Aidos, but Alvey''s brat could not, they were both Superior Transcendents after all."


    [Hmm? Alvey''s brat? Perhaps, the Demon King of a thousand years ago was Alvey''s son?]


    "Yes."


    [Bwahahahahahaha!!!!]


    The celestial suddenly burst outughing after receiving Pride''s confirmation, much to the high demon''s confusion.


    [I see! So, ''she'' really got Alvey in the end!]


    The manughed out loud once more, uncaring about the blood that sttered around.


    Suddenly, a ball of dark brown light emerged from his chest and floated towards Greed, stopping a metre away from the demon who looked it over with energy-infused eyes.


    At a nce, he could see awork of runes intertwined within it, alling together to form one single greater rune sigil.


    [That''s your prize. I eliminated all my celestial energy from it while we were talking, so it''s safe for a demon like you to absorb.]


    Greed nodded and stretched out his hand, coating it with demonic energy and then grabbing onto the ball of light that was the ''Geomantic Wrath'' Unique skill, before infusing his energy into it.


    Seeing this, Qutia shook his head with a wry smile, before deciding to use up thest of his strength to speak.


    [Onest thing.


    The rtionship between the gods of Aidos and Gozon, may not be how you think it is. I may be wrong, but just keep that in mind.]


    With that statement, the lifew essence flowing into Qutia''s body ceased, and his soul''s energy was finally exhausted, the wry smile he had remaining on his lips as his body dropped onto the cold hard ground.


    �� �� ��


    Lento City.


    Nepte Province.


    Great Western Empire.


    February 10th


    Year 1053


    On the terrace of the City Lord''s mansion, in the warm afternoon sun, three people sat around a table, ying a lively game of cards.


    Laughter filled the air and drinks on the table added to the fun atmosphere as they strategized and pped their cards on the table.


    "Ha! Pick 2!"


    The energetic voice of a blonde-haired and golden-eyed young woman rang out as she mmed a number ''2'' card onto the deck.


    "Heartless choice there, Brenda.


    Luckily, I can pass this on to you, Arnold."


    Another ''2'' card was tossed onto the deck, courtesy of the dark grey-eyed teenager who sat next to the woman on the table.


    Seeing this, the third person on the table nced at the two cards in his hands left hand before looking back at the table and saying.


    "I''m certainly not about to lose this game."


    With that, he pulled out one of the cards, revealing it to be a ''20'', much to the shock of the other two.


    "I want triangles."


    The moment he spoke, a grin appeared on the face of the woman as she stacked up her cards and mmed them all on the deck all at once.


    "I win!"


    "Huh? How?"


    Arnold was stunned by her sudden deration, but after seeing how all the cards were of the same number, with the first being a triangle, he had no choice but to ept that she had won.


    "Third time in a row��"


    The other boy present, Richard, spoke with a sigh as he tossed his six cards onto the table before picking up his drink and sipping it, while Brenda continued celebrating her victory.


    "My skills in cards are unma-!!!"


    Her voice suddenly cut off mid-way, attracting the attention of the other two who turned towards her in surprise.


    The joyful expression that was on her face a mere second ago vanished, reced by a look of utter shock.


    The hands she raised slowly dropped down as she bit her lips silently, and much to the surprise of the other two, they saw a single tear drop streak down her cheeks.


    "The heck?!"


    "What''s wrong Brenda?!"


    She ignored the worried voice of the two boys and looked up at the skies with her tear-filled gaze before whispering to no one in particr.


    "So even you, Qutia, have passed on, huh?"


    The moment she said that; Arnold instantly guessed what was wrong.


    ''One of the Fallen Celestial Deities must''ve died��''


    The woman clenched her fist tightly and took deep breaths to calm herself, before wiping the tears off her eyes.


    "I''d be excusing myself. I need to make a quick trip to Tarse."


    She got up from her seat while speaking, before turning around and walking back into the mansion, leaving the two boys behind.


    "So, what happened?"


    Richard who was not close to Brenda enough to infer what just transpired asked for details, and Arnold offered him a simple reply


    "Just take it that one of her very close friends died. Can''t say more than that."


    "Oh��I see."


    That was all Richard said in reply, his tone neutral as he could not rte to the loss the woman was currently feeling right now.

 Chapter 539 Go Dino!

    Mountain''s Keep


    Eldermoor Heights


    Verduracliff Kingdom


    February 15th


    Year 1053


    Eldermoor Heights was once a bustling centre of prosperity, but now, the capital city of the ancient mountain Kingdom of Verduracliff nowy in ruins.


    Dpidated strictures with crumbling facades dotted thendscape, their once majestic architecture now reduced to mere shadows of its former glory.


    Nature had long since begun reiming its territory, with vines and foliage snaking through the cracks in the stone walls and winding around broken pirs.


    The streets, once teeming with life were now overgrown with weeds and debris.


    ''Mountain''s Keep'', the Kingdom''s castle once heralded amongst the top 10rgest and most beautiful castles on Aidos nowy deste, its fountain dry and cracked while dust and decay hung heavy in the air.


    The massive citadel had now be a fortress for powerful monsters of all kinds, many of which possessed the power to tten cities on the ground with but a single attack.


    Two people walked through the mazy hallways of this massive castle; the first of which was a rather attractive ck-eyed man, who had a slightly bulky muscr build, with long legs that put his height at a bit over two metres.


    He had short water-blue hair, tinged with grey strands, on both his head and on his chin, with slightly broad shoulders and thick forearms that looked capable of swinging any sword with ease.


    This man, dressed in a simple ck suit, was Luke Bowthe, the ''Sword Saint'' of the Alpha Continent.


    Beside him was a teenage boy almost 10 inches shorter than he was, with short slicked back ck hair and dark grey eyes.


    He wore a light grey corporate shirt atop a pair of ck trousers and sneakers, all under a long ck jacket that reached below his knees.


    In his hands was a small card-shaped device with a 5''5 inchesrge disy screen, ted gold at the back with the letter ''A'' printed onto it.


    ''If the previous guild cards were just normal cell phones, then this A-rank one is definitely a smartphone.''


    The boy, ''Hero of Mimicry''; Evan Bourne, thought to himself as he sorted through the items in the card''s disy.


    ''It''s a lot heavier too, but with the strength of A rankers, it''s as light as paper.''


    He and Luke silently walked through the maze of the outer castle area, without a care for the fact that they had treaded into the areas under the control of some particrly territorial monsters.


    **BOOMM!!


    With a thunderous crash, the wall beside them shattered, and a monstrous creature emerged.


    Towering on six legs and armed with a spiked tail, the creature''s ck-sclera eyes locked onto them with red irises, revealing a primal menace.


    From its aura, it was most definitely a grandmaster-level existence.


    Its sudden appearance caught the attention of the two, with them turning towards it with nk gazes, as if the fearsome aura it exuded didn''t seem to bother them.


    "Oh, a wild giant lizard appeared��"


    Evan nonchntly remarked as he stared at the creature, and as if taking that as a cue, it lunged forward at breakneck speed, swinging its aura-coated forelimb towards him.


    In the creature''s vision, the boy was only stationary and it felt that it had moved too fast for him to understand its movements.


    Just when it thought it would get its first human prey in a while, the boy''s eyes suddenly moved, locking gazes with it at thest moment.


    ''?!''


    Suddenly, the creature''s vision flipped 360 degrees and it found itself looking at the boy''s body from below.


    The card te in his hands wasn''t there anymore and recing it was an obsidian ck one-handed sword with an eighty-centimetre-long de, coated in prismatic rainbow mes.


    *BAM!!


    A loud noise rang out, and it turned its gaze to the side, catching the sight of a headless six-legged creature, with a body that was very familiar for some reason.


    ''?!''


    It was then that theck of sensations below its neck caught up to it, and it finally realised that the headless body spurting blood on the floor belonged to it.


    That was itsst realisation before its vision was covered with darkness.


    "It finally died."


    Evan remarked as he deactivated his skill and swapped his sword back for his guild card, turning his gaze towards the monster''s headless body and looking it over.


    "I don''t recall there being giant lizards here, but I guess seeing them is to be expected, considering this Volume is called ''Wars and Giant Lizards''."


    "What are you talking about?"


    "Hmm? Nothing much, just the name of the Volume."


    He replied to Luke who had juste out of the hole where the monster emerged, having gone in to scout the ce in the same instant Evan beheaded the creature.


    "Volume of what?"


    "��I think the narrator is gonna get pissed if I say anymore so Imma stop there. Anyway, find anything of note inside there?"


    "��No."


    Luke was clearly still lost on what Evan was just speaking about, but he chalked it up to the boy being weird and replied to his question.


    "Thought so. We''re still in the Outer Castle. The monsters here are also weak too, ranging around level 300-350.


    This lizard was one of the stronger ones at around 340, butpared to the rest of the things here it''s weak as fuck."


    The two resumed their walk through the maze that was the castle''s hallways, with Evan using the map from the game to navigate their way through to the Inner Castle.


    "Where did you acquire that map?"


    Luke asked as they got to a forked path, where Evan pulled up the system interface to crosscheck and then chose the centre path, curious about the source of the boy''s information.


    "From a game?"


    "Why''s your reply a question?"


    "I was trying to test if I co-? Monsters iing."


    The boy cut his words short and pulled out his sword, the de gleaming in the light as he stepped forward to handle the monsters.


    "Oh, yeah. Gotta mute the area so others don''t get attracted by the noise."


    He spoke as he pulled out his sound istion artifact that prevented noise in an area of about 250 metres from escaping, hanging it on his waist.


    His agreement with Luke was that the man would deal with anything above Evan''s league, and the Level 350 monsters heading towards them, clearly didn''t fit that bill.


    Soon the monsters emerged from the end of the path, each one having a fearsome appearance with an equally fearsome aura.


    They stood on two powerful hind legs, had short stubby arms and bodies covered in rough scaly skin, down to their muscr tails. Theirrge heads were adorned with sharp serrated teeth, and a pair of small and piercing yellow eyes.


    "Oi, ain''t that a freaking T-rex?!"


    Faced with three of the creatures who once existed in his home world and had long gone extinct, Evan couldn''t help but let out a voice of shock.


    "I feel like I''m in that movie about the ind of cloned dinosaurs, except that I''m the one killing the dinosaurs in this case."


    Immediately he spoke, the T-Rex at the forefront charged forward, crossing the two-hundred-metre distance between them in a mere second, its maw opening up to release a st of bright red mes.


    **BOOMM!!!


    "Scratch that! Those Dinos didn''t breathe fire!"


    Letting out another silly quip, Evan blinked out of the way and appeared above the monsters, a thinyer of blue frost surrounding his sword as he released half a dozen de cannons in an instant.


    "GROAAAHHH!!!!"


    The creature''s pained roar rang out across the area, but thanks to the sound istion, the noise was not going to attract other monsters toe near.


    ''Even if it did, the more powerful ones would just think it''s the weaker ones fighting for territory, but better safe than sorry.


    Don''t wanna get caught up in another Epic Level battle again.''


    He thought to himself as he kicked off a void step and shot towards the wounded T-Rex,nding on its neck and cing a palm on the back of its head.


    ''Energy st.''


    The beam of condensed frigid energy shot out from his palm, piercing through the creature''s scaly skin, its skull and the brain inside, before bursting out from the other end.


    ''Evesting Chains, Chain Lightning, Thunder p.''


    His energy surged forward, enveloping the other two T-Rexes that sent sts of mes his way, causing golden chains to burst out from the ground and wrap around them, restraining them long enough for a wall of lightning blocks to form in front of their heads and then fold in a ''pping'' motion.


    **BOOMM!!!


    "GROOORRRR!!"


    The monster could not even roar properly as another ball of lightning mmed into its face, wounding it before bouncing over to its brethren and doing the same.


    The lightning ball then bounced back and mmed into it again, this time, with 1.5x the power, and then again with 2x power.

 Chapter 540 Mountain’s Keep: Inner Castle

    Chapter 540 Mountain��s Keep: Inner Castle


    Before it could do so a third time, the creature finally broke out of the chains holding it and used its aura-coated tail to p the ball of lightning away, in the direction of the other human who was just standing by and watching.


    And that was thest action it ever took.


    "Whoosh!"


    Five fist-sized bullets of aura mmed into its neck, perforating holes in its body and knocking it off its bnce before a sh of that same aura came along and sliced the neck off cleanly.


    As for thest T-Rex, ity on the floor weakly, with over fifty swords and spears of lightning energy piercing through its body from all directions.


    A vtile ball of energy suddenly floated right in front of it, and before it could even react, it exploded, sting the creature''s head to bits.


    [Mhmm? Master��what''s going on? Sensed��my skill?]


    ''Nothing serious, Ka, you can go back to sleep.''


    [Mhmm, kay.]


    "You took too long to handle them."


    Right after sending the lightning spirit back to sleep, Luke''s voice rang out, his hand grasping the ball of lightning that the T-Rex had pped in his direction in his hands. He then tossed it back to Evan who caught it and reabsorbed the energy.


    "I know.


    I did it on purpose."


    "And why is that?"


    In response to Luke''s query, Evan grinned and replied.


    "I wanted to savour the feeling of dominating grandmaster-level monsters."


    "��"


    "Don''t look at me like I''m weird. At this time a year ago, a single grandmaster would have had me running for my life, but now I can easily make short work of them.


    Naturally, I relish the sensation of being more powerful."


    Luke only sighed softly and shook his head before speaking.


    "If you do that for every monster wee across, we''d be here far longer than nned."


    "I know.


    That''s why I''m picking up the pace, starting now."


    The moment Evan spoke, he stretched out his left hand, pointing in the direction behind Luke before swiping two fingers to the right.


    A skill activated and two ck gold portals appeared beside the monster that was rushing towards them, releasing beams of condensed energy that mmed into its neck and torso, boring holes in them and ending the creature''s life instantly.


    "I''d have plenty of other chances to revel in the feeling of power, after all."


    After collecting the corpses into his inventory, they resumed their movements, with Evan ughtering the monsters that appeared one after the other with rtive ease, only passing the baton on to Luke when level 450 monsters started showing up.


    He could handle them if he used BoD, but he was heeding the warnings of the Legendary Light spirit he met in Duscon that cautioned him against overuse.


    "I''m quite surprised this ce actually existed. There were only mentions of it in History Books with little proof of its existence."


    Luke spoke as he surveyed the Inner Castle they had entered half an hourter, finding a few things that matched the descriptions he had read in the past.


    "It''s not so surprising for me. Aidos is a pretty big world, and just the Alpha continent alone was recently estimated to be around 102 million Kilometre squares in area.


    Don''t you expect that there''d be lots and lots of ancient, hidden, undiscovered stuff lying around?"


    "When you put it like that, I guess it makes sense.


    Still, I have to give it to the monsters living here. Looking at this ce, one would not think it has been abandoned for seven centuries."


    The Sword Saint remarked in reply to Evan''s words, citing how the area around them did not look as broken down and depted as the Outer Castle did.


    It struck him with an eerie sense of contradiction.


    The doors, though showing signs of age, remained intact and still swung on their hinges.


    The evidence of habitation was evident all around, through pieces of crudely crafted clothing made from the hides of monsters scattered about. The pirs, instead of being cracked and crumbling, had been magically mended, indicating someone''s efforts to preserve the structure.


    As for the runes etched on the walls, they emitted a faint glow, revealing that someone was still trying to maintain the magical supply that powered the ce, even if not as effectively as before.


    asional nging sounds echoed through the halls, suggesting that someone might still be dwelling within, despite the overall worn-out appearance.


    "The monsters in the Inner part of the castle are all at least intermediate grandmasters. Monsters who''ve lived long enough to get that strong are fully sentient and capable of civilizing themselves.


    After all, although they are called ''Monsters'', they are still living beings of races like us."


    "True that. Is this ce the only one of such ''civilizations'' you know of?"


    "Obviously not. There are a lot more.


    Heck, there are others in Verduracliff too. Just that we didn''t pass through them on the way here, didn''t want us to waste time."


    Hearing the asional nging sound echoing through the walls, Luke''s wondered what the monster making it was doing, his brow raising lightly as he arrived at an answer not long after.


    "Perhaps��it''s making weapons?"


    "Yep."


    Evan confirmed the thoughts he voiced out loud, before pointing with his thumb to the side and saying.


    "He''s making the weapons that monsters like that guy over there use."


    The moment he spoke, a tall figure emerged from behind the curtains of the banquet hall they had just stepped into.


    "I''m impressed you were able to notice it."


    "I have a skill that alerts me of any dangers to my life in the vicinity; no way it''d miss something like ''that'' lurking around.


    Though it can be bypassed with certain concealment abilities, this guy''s concealment is clearly not as high level as required."


    Evan replied to Luke, exining a bit about his ''Danger Sense'' skill, before turning his gaze to the figure who was staring at him with narrowed eyes.


    "Are you mocking my abilities, brat?"


    "Why would I do that?"


    The boy replied with a look of genuine confusion on his face, taking the time to scan the figure all over and appraise them too.


    It was a humanoid male, dressed in a simple rugged jean brown polo shirt and shorts, with a featureless mask-like visage in ce of a face and a pair of glowing red eyes that locked onto the both of them.


    Its eyes had red sclera, with tiny ck pupils that darted around rapidly, scanning the area for any other presence.


    "Now that I''m appraising you, you could beat the heck out of Craitid Luke who skimmed through it with a nce.


    based on just pure stats alone."


    Evan remarked as he noted the monster''s status, making it visible to Luke who skimmed through it with a nce.


    "Craitid? What''s that?"


    "A certain Dragonkin who tried to kill mest week. He''s dead though."


    The young hero replied to the inquiry of the monster��a de Wraith: Veradas, with a nonchnt shrug of his shoulders.


    "Anyway, we have business with the guy who locked himself up in the centre of the Core Castle, so mind ignoring us as we go on our merry way?"


    "And why should I listen to the request of someone as weak as you?"


    "Because there''s no point fighti-Oh, dammit. 1st Activation + Mesarthim."


    Evan suddenly activated his Unique skills and coated his arms in rainbow-coloured mes, raising them just in time to block the fist that suddenly appeared a metre away from his face.


    **BAAMMM!!!!


    The impact knocked the boy back a few metres, his legs carving lines in the ground; but he remained standing on his feet and only sighed softly before saying.


    "Oh well, I tried dialogue. You''re up Sir Luke."


    As he spoke, he deactivated the two skills and grabbed his left hand with his right, using his pdin skill''s limited healing to mend the cracked bone.


    "Hmm? Why did I take damage even though I''m the one who attacked?"


    The de Wraith voiced out a question to him but Evan didn''t even bother answering it, instead trying to figure out the reason why the ''Survival Enhancement Mode'' of the system did not activate despite the fact that he was just attacked by an existence over Level 580.


    ''Perhaps because he had no hostility?''


    While he thought that, Luke silently stepped forward, cing his hand on his sword and unsheathing the simple-looking de that possessed no markings, no decorations and no engravings.


    Seeing Luke''s actions, the de Wraith ced Evan''s strange skills at the back of its mind and unsheathed its own weapon, a single sinister, ckened de that seemed to materialize from the very essence of darkness.


    Its aura red up and a maniacal grin appeared on its face, making Evan sigh as he instantly figured out the type of creature it was.


    ''A battle junkie. From the start, it was here because it had sensed Luke''s presence and wanted to fight him.''

 Chapter 541 Even Monsters can be Battle Junkies too!

    Chapter 541 Even Monsters can be Battle Junkies too!


    ''A battle junkie. From the start, it was here because it had sensed Luke''s presence and wanted to fight him.''


    The realisation that trying to talk the creature out of a fight was pointless since the start made Evan feel like he wasted his energy.


    "My Sword has been thirsting for some actiontely, make sure you entertain me, human."


    The moment the de Wraith spoke, it rose its legs and took a ''step'' forward.


    In that instant, the space between Luke and the de Wraith ''bent'' and the monster was suddenly in front of Luke.


    Its pupils locked onto the Sword Saint''s neck, right before its sword moved with supersonic speed, slicing through the air and straight towards Luke.


    **SHKING!!


    The sound of de shing rang out as in that same instant, Luke rose his sword diagonally and blocked the strike going for his neck.


    "I don''t have all day so I''d finish you quickly."


    As soon as Luke said that, his arm blurred, moving at a speed so fast that Evan could not catch it even with his Time Difference.


    **SWISHH!!! CLANGG!!!!


    Even so, the de Wraith''s eyes were able to perfectly catch the movements of his sword, rising its own weapon to block it.


    What followed was a supersonic sword battle that Evan knew best to stay far away from the twobatants who blitzed across the hall at breakneck speeds, hacking and shing at each other with their des.


    The de Wraith lunged forward like a ck blur; its sword was filled with lethal intent that was met head-on by Luke''s de. It pulled back and moved like a phantom,bining both spatial and shadow elemental abilities that made its movements barely visible to the eye.


    Even so, no matter how many times it bent the space between them, Luke was never caught off guard, allowing Evan to note that the man had reduced the amount of power he kept limited.


    The air crackled with aura as the two danced around with their weapons, moving so swiftly that they left afterimages in their wake.


    The sound of metal scraping against metal echoed with each strike, while the force of their blows created shockwaves that rippled through the walls around them.


    ''This is definitely gonna attract attention.''


    Luke thought as he knocked the monster back with his fist, only to raise his brow in slight surprise as he sensed the creature suddenly appears behind him right after.


    His hand moved behind his back, blocking the de Wraith''s strike, and then tilting his head to dodge the mass of spatial magic power that threatened to cleave his head off his neck.


    He then spun around and threw his fist forward, enhancing it with body-strengthening magic and delivering a straight punch towards the creature''s featureless face.


    However, even though his aim was impable, his fist still narrowly While Evan thought that to himself, the de Wraithughed sinisterly, its voice resonating through the hall as it activated missed the de Wraith''s face by a few millimetres.


    ''Space Bending. Spatial attribute is cool AF.''


    While Evan thought that to himself, the de Wraithughed sinisterly, its voice resonating through the hall as it activated another skill, unleashing a st of shadowy force that threatened to consume everything in its path, Luke included.


    "Tempest Dance."


    The Sword Saint activated a skill for the first time today, unleashing a flurry of strikes that seemed to defy the very concept of speed, his sword coated in white mes that tore through the de Wraith''s shadows with ease.


    He then kicked off the ground, leaping into the air and bringing down his sword upon the de Wraith with the force of a crashing storm.


    **BOOMM!!!!


    A deafening crash rang out, sending shockwaves of power in all directions, yet, the walls of the hall did not crumble and Evan didn''t need to be told the reason why.


    "His power control should be at least 90%..."


    The impact knocked the de Wraith towards the other end of the room, its body mming onto the wall and dropping down to the ground like a rag.


    Immediately, it got up the same instant Luke motioned to charge forward, activating a skill to make and thrusting its weapon forward.


    Magic power condensed at multiple points in front of it, creating two dozen dummy swords with spatial and shadow-attributed magic energy, before sending them flying towards Luke.


    Each one looked identical to the original, but they were all constructs of space-distorting energy capable of slicing through almost anything, and due to the nature of the spatial element, injuries inflicted by this could not be healed normally.


    ''This should put him down for the count. I''d then use that time t-??!!''


    **SHRING!! CLANGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


    The de Wraith could not even finish constructing its thoughts when Luke''s sword arm suddenly blurred, followed by a single loud nging sound.


    "Huh?"


    The creature let out a voice of confusion as in a single sh of light, all its dummy swords had been knocked down to the ground at a speed that it could notprehend.


    Luke, the person responsible for this scene, casually sheathed his de and deactivated his skill while heaving a soft sigh.


    ''Trying not to use more power than necessary is tough.''


    The man thought to himself as he took a moment to calm his energy.


    "The heck did you just do?!"


    The de Wraith screamed out in question, its voice tinged with both shock and fear along with hints of excitement.


    But Luke did not answer him and instead looked at his watch before saying.


    "Five minutes. Time to end this."


    The instant he said that the Sword Saint kicked off the ground and dashed towards his monster opponent who coated its de with spatial and shadow energy, extending it into a longer de to elongate his reach and shing down towards Luke.


    Space bent and it arrived right in front of the man, spinning around to generate momentum which it used to unleash a full-powered sword sh with the weight of a spatial storm.


    However, Luke cancelled his movement and backstepped, dodging the attack that made the space it passed twist and contort with a paper-thin margin.


    Even so, the creature did not let up, reversing its grip on the de while generating shadows to hold Luke''s feet as it delivered an upward diagonal swing.


    But those hastily made restraints could not do much in the way of holding down the Sword Saint, as the man easily broke out of them and twisted his body to dodge the second strike.


    The de Wraith continued with thebo, readjusting its grip once more turning its body to deliver a thrusting attack aimed right at Luke''s face.


    Spatial magic power burst out from its body and enveloped the surrounding area, constricting the space and making it harder for anyone caught within its range to move


    Yet, Luke was still able to easily sidestep the de Wraiths'' sh, before catching its wrist with his right hand and stretching out its left to hold the creature''s elbow.


    He then used the monster''s momentum against it, flipping it over his shoulder and mming it towards the wall, but the creature of awe and curiosity, flowing into its de as it readied itself for regained its bearings mid-flight and flipped around,nding on its feet.


    "I see! So that''s your power!"


    Its energy red while it spoke in a voice resonating with a mixture of awe and curiosity, flowing into its de as it readied itself for another attack.


    "You have control over T-!"


    **SWISHHH!!


    The de Wraith''s words were cut off at thest moment, its brain barely catching the presence of Luke that breezed past its body.


    *SHINK!


    What followed was the sound of Luke''s de re-entering its sheath, before the Sword Saint turned towards the creature and spoke.


    "You prattle on incessantly."


    After saying those four words, he then turned towards Evan who was sitting on one of the windows while sipping a juice pack and continued.


    "Let''s go, it''s almost noon already."


    Evan nodded and jumped back to the ground, finishing his juice and burning the pack before turning towards the de Wraith just in time to see its head split diagonally into two pieces and fall to the ground, its body following a moment after.


    "Here''s the magic stone."


    "Thanks."


    The two had that casual conversation as they walked out of the banquet hall, leaving behind the deceased de Wraith.


    ''Would have loved to get that Space Bending Skill.''


    [Master, you''d overload your vessel if you mi-acquired any new skills.]


    ''We''re not so sure about that now, are we?''


    [I''m positive that you wou-Huh? Another one?!.]


    The boy''s conversation with his spirit was cut short as she sensed a presence suddenly enter her perception, with Evan''s Danger Sense reacting a beatter.


    "Humans? Then the de Wraith died?"


    "That''s quite obvious, innit?"


    Evan replied to the newly appearing monster, a tall bulky creature, with a muscr frame covered in metallic scales that glimmered like polished armour. Its arms ended in razor-sharp metallic ws which it used to disarm enemies when fighting.


    "Where''s his weapon?"


    "We left it with the corpse."


    "That so? Thanks."

 Chapter 542 Ironvault Hoarder: Valthor

    Chapter 542 Ironvault Hoarder: Valthor


    "That so? Thanks."


    The monster didn''t bother with them after that, rushing towards the banquet hall they had just left while carrying a massive knapsack on its back.


    As soon as the monster breezed past them at supersonic speed, Luke turned to look at its figure with a dumbfounded expression on his face, one that Evan couldpletely understand the reason for.


    "Isn''t that-"


    "The strongest entity in this ce? Yes. Does it have any intention of fighting us? Clearly Not."


    With just a nce, the Sword Saint could tell the power of the creature that had just passed them, and from what he could sense, it was strong enough to require him to go all out.


    "Hold on a sec, I want to talk to it."


    [Master? Are you okay? We should be getting the heck outta here!]


    Ka could not help but retort as was also capable of discerning that creature''s strength, and it was not something she wanted to be around.


    But before Evan could reply to her, the monster returned from the hall, holding up the dead de Wraith''s Sword in his hands while using an analysis-type skill to study it.


    Seeing it was still in good condition, the monster nodded to itself and tossed the weapon into the knapsack on its back, before turning to the people in front of it and saying.


    "You''re still here?"


    "Yep. Wanted to make a little deal with you."


    "A Deal? Do you have anything you could offer me?"


    The monster alternated its ck eyes between Evan and Luke, its gaze settling at the top of Evan''s head momentarily as it sensed something ''off'', but was ultimately unable to sense the Lightning Spirit''s presence.


    "Yeah.


    In return, I want you to offer me your help in the future; when you''re a lot stronger.


    Don''t worry, it would not be something you cannot handle."


    The boy tacked on thatst part after noticing that the creature''s eyes were narrowing in suspicion, but just before it could say anything else, Evan pulled out something from his inventory that caught its attention.


    It was a bow made from a rare, silvery-white material that appeared to have been forged from stardust itself. Its limbs were adorned with intricate runic patterns, and when Evan drew it lightly drawn, the bowstring glowed with a soft, ethereal light.


    "��"


    Evan then put the weapon back into his inventory and gave the monster a small business smile before continuing.


    "So, what say you, Valthor?"


    It narrowed its eyes lightly when hearing Evan call its name, but linked it to the skill activation it had sensed when it first showed up in front of them, concluding that the boy most likely possessed an analysis-type skill like it did.


    ''The boy''s not that much of a threat besides the stench of worldw essence on him, but that man; he''d be difficult to deal with.


    I guess that''s why he''s so confident.''


    While the monster was thinking that, Evan was pulling up the information about the monster, both from his appraisal and his game knowledge.


    ''Valthor, the ''Ironvault Hoarder''


    An Armigeri, a race of beings that possess a deep affinity for hoarding and guarding powerful weapons and artifacts.


    Known as enigmatic and solitary beings, wandering the world in search of valuable weapons to add to their vast collections.


    And in Valthor''s case, that collection is the Knapsack on his back, a spatial artifact that seems to have an endless capacity.


    Anyway, I expected him to agree immediately, given that''s the weapon of a dead ''Living Legend''.''


    Evan studied the monster''s gaze and noticed him ncing in Luke''s direction, instantly understanding that thetter was wary of the Sword Saint.


    ''That makes sense though. Besides, if I wasn''t with Luke, I would not dare make such an offer to a Peak Epic Level existence like it.''


    "��Fine. I agree. But we''d seal it with a binding vow.


    Let me go get someone who knows contract magic."


    "Worry not, I have a few magic contracts here."


    The young hero pulled out a bundle of magic contracts from his inventory, muttering something about his stock running out before apporting a pen into his hands and tossing them over to the monster.


    "You write out the terms I stated."


    He did this to increase the level of trust the monster had for him, and it proved to be effective as its wariness lowered a tiny bit.


    Though the monster''s handwriting was quite horrible, it was able to use simple words to write out the terms of the contract and pass them back to Evan who exined how the binding of the contract worked.


    "I see��this is the thing I saw in that book."


    Valthor muttered to itself as it stamped the contract with its blood, after which Evan did the same.


    "Here."


    The boy then pulled out the bow and tossed it to Valthor, along with one of his custom-made noble badges, simr to the one he gave Griselda.


    "What''s this?"


    "My Crest. I''d need a way to find you when I want to cash in my part of the deal, wouldn''t I?"


    "��Makes sense."


    It analysed the badge with its skill to be sure Evan didn''t add anything funny, before putting it into its Knapsack along with the would not sit back and talk with you like me."


    "We want to deal with that guy who locked himself up in the Core weapon.


    "��What are you humans doing here anyway? A lot of the others would not sit back and talk with you like me."


    "We want to deal with that guy who locked himself up in the Core part of the Castle. And I just had the thought that it''d be nice if you could take over here after we''re done.


    You can make here your base, perhaps even revive this city if you like."


    Evan spoke with a shrug of his shoulders before turning towards Luke and showing him the way forward on his map.


    The Sword Saint took onest look at the Armigeri who was looking at Evan with confusion all over its face, before following the young hero to the next section of the Inner Castle.


    Besides a few T-Rexes who Luke easily dissected with a single sh, the rest of their journey was rather uneventful, as if the monsters were trying to avoid them for some reason.


    Evan didn''t take long to guess that the reason may have had to do with Valthor.


    It was quite wee as they didn''t spend extra time fighting monsters unnecessarily and Luke was able to conserve as much energy as possible for the main boss battle.


    �� �� ��


    "GROAARR!!!"


    A giant T-Rex Roared wildly as it kicked off the ground and charged forward with speed uncharacteristic of its huge body.


    The creature''s giant maw was opened wide and dripping with hot saliva, which was also acidic as it melted the ground where it touched.


    Its target was the young Hero of Mimicry who unsheathed his obsidian ck de, engulfed it in a thinyer of icy energy and released an aura sh towards the monster.


    He then half-sheathed the de back and watched as the monster took five more steps towards him, beforeing to aplete stop.


    Immediately after, a thin red line appeared on its body, dividing it in two from head to toe.


    *PLOP!


    Its body split into two equal halves and dropped onto the floor, with blood and acid saliva spluttering out and about.


    "Once again, I defile my de on an unworthy object."


    Evan spoke with a saddened expression on his face, while Luke and Ka just silently gave him nk stares.


    [Master, you can re-enact your fantasiester. But for now, can we move on?]


    "��you could have at least let me enjoy my moment."


    Sighing softly, the boy properly sheathed his de and then led the way towards the area section of the Core Castle, the Throne Hall.


    The closer they got, the colder the air got and the heavier the ambient energies became, but this only affected Evan and Ka while Luke could handle the increased pressure with ease.


    "That Ice Skill of yours��it''s a Series Skill, isn''t it?"


    "Yeah, why do you ask?"


    "No particr reason. Just wanted to make sure my guess was correct."


    "Guess about what?"


    Luke nodded as he covered them with his energy to help them fight off the increased pressure before answering.


    "How you can still use the Ice/Water Element despite having those multicoloured mes."


    "Oh��"


    ''Was Mesarthim supposed to have a restriction?''


    The boy questioned internally, scanning through the system Archive to check if it was true while also simultaneously pulling up info on their target.


    "The person we''re gonna be dealing with is thest king of Verduracliff. A Powerful Battlemage whose level I estimate to be at least 685."


    [But wasn''t this kingdom destroyed 700 years ago? Or did he survive the destruction while all his people died?]


    Ka asked the question Luke had also wanted to voice out, one to which Evan replied with a quick summary of the events that led to Verduracliff''s end.

 Chapter 543 The Last King of Verduracliff I

    Chapter 543 The Last King of Verduracliff I


    "His kingdom''s fall was not only caused by external forces but by a terrible mistake he had made.


    They were beset by both internal strife and external threats.


    Driven by desperation, he sought to use a ''forbidden'' ritual to grant himself immense power, hoping to salvage his kingdom from its inevitable demise.


    However, the magic he understood far too little about the kind of magic he had harnessed, and its potencybined with its other unknown characteristics, caused it to spiral out of control and consume the Kingdom.


    In the aftermath, he sealed himself within the castle''s core to prevent any further intrusion, knowing that if the secret of the spell he had fell into the wrong hands, it''d cause chaos."


    Evan stopped right in front of the huge double doors that led to the Throne Hall before turning towards the two of them and concluding.


    "What we''re after, is that ''Secret''."


    [Master, didn''t this king try to keep that thing from getting out precisely because it can cause chaos? And you want to bring it out?]


    Ka gave Evan a deadpan stare as she spoke as if questioning his sanity in going after an object that someone persevered in keeping locked away for seven whole centuries.


    "It is something that would go a long way in strengthening thebat power of our world to prepare for the inevitable re-invasion of the demons."


    Evan pulled out a ck cube with intricate etchings over its surface. He funnelled magic power into it and pressed it against the doors, a soft hum resonating through the air as the cube emitted a faint glow.


    The patterns on its surface began to shift and rearrange, aligning after a few seconds and releasing a subtle vibration that passed from it and onto the doors, weakening the seal that held it shut for centuries.


    Cracks appeared on the thickyer of magic, spiderwebbing outward like fractals and causing ripples across the seal.


    It only took half a minute for it to shatter with a resounding crack, allowing the doors to swing open with a slow, deliberate creak, revealing the Throne Hall beyond.


    The cube''s radiance dimmed, and by the time Evan looked down at his hand, the entirety of the object had dissolved into a fine ck dust that now clung to his fingers.


    As it had finished the purpose for which he had acquired it in the first ce, Evan wasn''t worried about its destruction.


    He dusted his fingers and took the first step forward, marvelling a bit at howrge the room was.


    ''It''s at least the size of a football pitch. The heck kind of Throne hall is this?''


    "When you see what it is, you''d understand the reason for my earlier words."


    The walls of the Throne Hall that were once adorned with beautiful tapestries, were now draped in their tattered remnants.


    Stained ss windows, depicting the Kingdom''s heraldry and legends, let in feeble rays of sunlight that cast a glow on the marble floor which was now filled with cracks from the toll of time.


    Cobwebs draped corners, with the ceilings and walls now filled with crevices and patches where the stone had crumbled away.


    Walking in behind him, Luke scanned the entire Hall with his gaze before asking one very vital question to Evan.


    "You said the King used a forbidden magic ritual. Are you perhaps aware of the ritual''s nature?"


    And in response to his query, Evan only replied with two words.


    "World Magic."


    The eyes of the other two widened in shock as they were both aware of the existence of World Magic and how dangerous each one of those spells was.


    Going from what Evan had told them, whatever ''secret'' this king had tried to contain, was most likely the World Magic spell, or a catalyst that enabled one to use it.


    If only they knew it wasn''t about just one World Magic spell��


    Their intrusion into this Hall naturally alerted the existence who had sealed himself within, thest king of Verduracliff.


    Seated on the broken down and depted throne in front of them, his once regal attire was now tattered and his gaze towards them was clouded.


    Seeing this, Luke instantly figured that something was wrong with his consciousness and as if Evan read his mind, the boy spoke about that right after.


    "Over time, his mind has eroded; his consciousness and sentience are also fading. Right now, he''s nothing but a shell, a shadow of his former self��with all hisbat experience intact.


    That part hasn''t faded yet as far as I''m aware."


    After saying his piece, Evan grabbed Ka and blinked to the corner of the Hall; but as if trying to prevent him from leaving, the doors of the Hall snapped shut, a thin magical barrier encasing them right after.


    The tattered robe-wearing king now had his right arm stretched out towards the door, showing he was the reason for its sudden sealing.


    "Now then, Sir Luke.


    I''d leave you to take it from there."


    As Evan spoke, Luke silently stepped forward, cing his hand on his sword handle and unsheathing a long, slim, straight and sharp dual-edged de, made of a strange folded steel-like material and was held by a grip wrapped in high quality, ruby red scaled leather.


    The de had a broad, curved cross-guard, adding just enough weight to make sure the de sits firmly in its owner''s hand and protected those same hands as well.


    In response to this, the King slowly rose from his throne, and rising with him was a book thaty on the pedestal beside him.


    With a cover crafted from aged leather and a surface etched with intricate patterns that seemed to pulse with a subdued luminescence, its mere presence was one thatmanded attention.


    Its size was quite imposing too, having thick and voluminous pages that suggested an endless repository of magic. The book''s spine was reinforced with bands of tarnished silver that glimmered faintly.


    It levitated in front of him and opened up, releasing an aura of pure dense magic power.


    The pages on the grimoire turned on their own continuously, before stopping on a particr page which then glowed with a faint brown light.


    **RUMBLE!!


    The entire Hall began trembling and then the ground suddenly cracked open, revealing a deep fissure that stretched from the feet of the King.


    Earth elemental magic power rapidly underground, emerging from the fissure in the form of a giant five-metre-tall golem with a humanoid appearance.


    While the fissure closed up underneath it, Luke locked his gaze on the golem''s upper torso, about to attack, but Evan''s sudden words quickly sent that n down the drain.


    "This golem''s ''core'' is basically its whole body. You''d have to damage it extensively to stop it from working."


    As soon as Evan spoke, the golem''s right arm bulged and a ring of Sword Saint.


    However��


    brown light with rune sigils appeared around it.


    Without a millisecond''s dy, it punched forward, with so much force that its fist tore a rift through the air on its way towards the Sword Saint.


    However��


    **SWISH!!


    ��its entire arm was cleaved off cleanly with a single sh from Luke''s de.


    Even so, before the man could pull back his arm, magic power condensed at the golem''s stump, regenerating it while the severed arm seamlessly melded back into the ground.


    ''That''s not good.''


    Such a thought ran through Luke''s head as he jumped back to avoid the golem''s retaliation punch that for some reason, did not st the ground apart even though it carried enough force to tten an entire block.


    **FLIT-FLIT-FLIT-FLIT!!!


    Hearing the sound of the pages of the grimoire turning once more, Luke quickly roused his energy and infused it into his de.


    In the next second, the entirety of the Throne Hall was filled with countless two-ringed brown magic circles, all facing towards the still airborne Luke.


    ''Earth Magic: Earthen Rain.''


    Dozens of spiked earthen projectiles cascaded towards him like a torrential downpour, converging on his airborne figure.


    But the Sword Saint''s arm blurred, and within a second, half the projectiles were sliced apart and turned into chunks of rocks falling to the ground.


    His energy-infused de was swung once more, transformed into a zing arc of white light that sliced through the iing projectiles.


    Each collision erupted in a burst of sparks and earthen fragments, and by the time gravity called his feet back to the ground, they were all destroyed.


    The Golem, however, was waiting for him as it swung its arm in a wide arc, aiming right for the Sword Saint.


    At the same time, the King rose his left arm, condensing earth-attributed magic power into the form of a spear. It flipped around three times, its size and power increasing with each flip before shooting through the air and towards Luke.


    "Pyro Hazard."


    Luke swung his left hand,unching a stream of mes across the ground and using it to draw a line of scorched earth in front of him.


    A wave of bright red mes surged forward and swept towards the iing earthen spear, engulfing it and turning it into molten rock in a second.

 Chapter 544 The Last King Of Verduracliff II

    ?


    The high temperature filled the entire Hall with so much heat that Evan who was far away had to use ice magic to cool his surroundings while fanning his face with wind magic.


    For the golem''s arm, Luke twisted his grip on his sword and activated his Laser Sword, his control over mes reaching its pinnacle as the raw heat and ionized particles were shaped into a de of searing sma.


    The de of Lost Saints exuded an intense white-hot glow, illuminating the surroundings and sizzling the air with its heat.


    Its sheer temperature enabled it to melt through the golem''s arm with ease.


    The golem rose its remaining arm, poised to strike at him but the Sword Saint lunged forward and swung the sma-coated de, cleaving through the air in a brilliant arc and leaving behind a trail of searing light.


    The de collected with the golem''s midsection, slicing through the hardened earth as if it were mere paper.


    Sizzling and cracking sounds filled the air as the superheated sma caused a torrent of molten rock and steam to erupt from the wound, with the scalding heat making even Luke take a step back.


    Luke twisted the sma de within the golem''s body, effectively splitting the creature in half and disintegrating it into a whirlwind of dust and glowing embers that faded away right after.


    Standing atop the dissipating remnants of the golem, Luke deactivated the skill as its energy cost was too much for him in his limited state, taking a deep breath to calm his breathing.


    The fiery aura hadn''t even recededpletely but Luke was already moving, beelining straight for the King who only gazed at him in silence.


    **FLIT-FLIT!


    The Grimoire''s pages turned in bulk, and this time, the page it had turned to glowed with blue light, heralding the activation of an ancient magic spell.


    ''Ice Magic: Great Ice Cmity.''


    The surrounding air plunged into an icy stillness, the ambient temperatures flipping over from searing heat to blistering cold in an instant.


    From the ground beneath, jagged ice shards burst forth, erupting with unstoppable force. Luke weaved through them with fluid movements, sensing the building-up energy, anticipating their trajectories and dodging with precise movements��all within seconds.


    His feet seemed to barely touch the ground as he leapt, spun, and sidestepped the ice shards that whizzed past him and into the air.


    Upon reaching the ceiling, they all flipped and shot back towards the ground with a deafening roar, the sound of the sound barrier shattering making Evan and Ka cover their eardrums.


    Each shard plummeted downward with the might of a blizzard''s rage, exploding into showers of ice crystals on impact and releasing their pent-up cold into the surroundings.


    The ground shuddered as the frost spread like wildfire, freezing all in its path.


    Evan had to use Mesarthim and get on a void step in the air to prevent himself from getting frozen, while Luke simply channelled his mes and used them to form a thick aura coat on his skin.


    His de moved as he deflected and shattered the iing threats, before jumping into the air and stabbing his sword downwards.


    **SHINK! BOOM!!


    A surge of me energy coursed through his de and seeped into the earth, disrupting the delicate bnce of the ice spell.


    The frozen tempest, that gathered in the air faltered and the frenzied swirls of energy lost power. Ice shards that were ready to beunched quivered lightly before dropping to the ground.


    Ripples of energy spread out from the point where Luke''s de met the ground, forming cracks in the ice that quickly turned into awork of spiderweb-like fractures.


    The still activating spell was forcefully interrupted, an action that should have sent bacsh to its caster, however, the King''s grimoire only turned to another page as he cast spell after spell.


    Giant Ice Walls erupted from the ground, before crushing forward towards Luke, attempting to squash him in between.


    But such an attack was easily dodged by the Sword Saint, who heard the sound of the grimoire''s pages pping once more, signalling the activation of another spell.


    ''Ice Magic: Thousand Thorn Blizzard.''


    Crystalline thorns of pure ice energy spiralled and danced through the air, growing in size and sharpness as they revolved into a cyclone of icy fury.


    They hurtled forward with unrelenting force, making Luke sigh as he thought that the King clearly didn''t n on letting him get close.


    ''Someone on his level would be able to tell how bad it''d be if I got close��''


    "Firestorm."


    A three-ringed magic circle manifested in front of Luke''s palm, generating a wave of intense heat and fiery brilliance that surged forward and collided with the blizzard''s fury.


    The torrent of mes formed a searing barrier against the icy onught, roaring and crackling with unmatched intensity.


    Fire met ice and released a haze of steam billowing into existence, veiling the hall in a mist shroud.


    The Firestorm''s head melted away the icy cyclone, causing the swirling tempest of thorns to fragment and disintegrate, while the howling wind that apanied it was extinguished by the maelstrom of mes.


    Seeing this, the King rose his hand over the grimoire, making its pages flip once more, but this time, the page with the Thousand Thorn spell still glowed with its crystal blue light.


    The grimoire flipped as fast as always, while the King generated dozens of multiyered earthen walls to block all Luke''s aura shes, buying him enough time to activate the next spell.


    The page the grimoire had turned to glowed with deep blue light, and countless swords of condensed water materialized in the air above and plummeted downwards in the direction of the Sword Saint.


    Facing the rain of the sonic-speed condensed water des, Luke utilized a swordy technique, one he created solely to use against those who utilized water-attributed attacks after seeing his mes.


    His sword gleamed as he delivered a swift horizontal sh, slicing through the des and hurtling at him with even faster speed. The de of Lost Saints was infused with a hint of fire-infused energy, releasing more swift shes that created arcs of me, searing the edges of each water de.


    Steam explosions erupted on contact, and veiled his form.


    Even so, the King knew exactly where he was and did not have his vision obscured by the magical steam.


    He spun his body like a cyclone, his sword tracing patterns in the air and creating a small vortex of mes that shed with the torrent of water des with each swift rotation.


    Immediately after destroying the des, he kicked off the ground and shot forward like a bullet, closing the distance between him and the King from over fifty metres to just five in a second.


    ''Two-fold Cross-sh.''


    ''Ice Magic: Blossoming Guardian.''


    Technique and magic spell were activated simultaneously, and a sudden surge of frigid energy rapidly condensed in front of the King, forming a giant ice rose that blossomed instantly.


    A beatter, Luke''s aura-infused de collided with the shield, resonating with a resounding sh that released a shiver-inducing impact into the surroundings.


    The rose of ice glowed with ethereal blue light, each glistening petal forming a veil of frost that protected the King from Luke''s attack.


    Steam hissed as the sh of opposing forces created a tension filled-boundary of ice and fire.


    Luke didn''t bother trying to brute force the barrier as his eyes had caught sight of the four-ringed magic circle that appeared a millisecond before the rose had bloomed.


    He pulled back his sword and enveloped his body with his aura in preparation for his next strike, one which he clearly wasn''t going to deliver from the front.


    His form blurred as dashed leftward diagonally, right towards the King''s side. Just as thetter was turning towards him with Girmmiore pages fluttering, the Sword Saint, changed directions and shot forward diagonally once more.


    Spinning his body lightly, he delivered a downward arcing sh towards the King''s left side, however, the Battlemage''s spell-casting speed was faster.


    ''Ice Magic: Ice Vines.''


    Crystalline tendrils burst out of the ground and spiralled towards Luke in an attempt to ensnare him, but the man calmly readjusted his grip on his sword and redirected his sh.


    **SWISSHH!!


    The ice vines were all sliced apart in an instant, shattering into tiny ice shards that soon melted away due to the heat from Luke''s sword.


    Even so, the time it took for him to do so was enough for the King to activate a minor teleportation spell, warping towards the other end of the room once more.


    Pages pped and the grimoire glowed with multiple lights, white, golden, light blue, and ck.


    ''Triple Cast Maximize Magic. Combination Magic: Frozen Lightning. Lightning of Hatred. Dark Lightning Panther.''


    Three triple-ringed magic circles manifested without a dy, each one tinged with a white halo atop it.


    From the first, a three-pronged light blue lightning spear that emitted a frosty aura manifested beforeunching towards Luke.

 Chapter 545 The Last King Of Verduracliff III

    Simultaneously, the second released jagged tendrils of ck lightning, crackling with ominous energy that seemed to feed off the very bitterness felt by the people of Verduracliff on the day of their untimely deaths.


    Bolts of dark-hued lightning streaked towards Luke with unnerving precision and intensity, carrying enhanced potency, which was then maximized to its highest damage potential.


    What''s more, was that getting hit by this didn''t just roast you with lightning, but if you were unfortunate enough to survive, it inflicted a unique mental status effect on you, forcefully creating a maelstrom of resentment within you, amplifying emotions, especially those of enmity and bitterness.


    Such a thing could cloud the judgements of those hit by it, leaving them vulnerable to further attacks and our resident Sword Saint wasn''t about to be one.


    He changed his sword''s elemental infusion, switching to the earth element and charging forward while releasing shes of geo-energy towards the iing projectiles.


    But it should be recalled, that the King had cast 3 spells and not two.


    The king''s hands moved as Luke charged forward, a halo of dark light spreading out around his outstretched arms, which then went on to encircle his palms.


    Sparks flew towards the ground from his palms as they mmed together, turning into howling lighting beasts as theynded.


    There were at least twenty of them surrounding Luke and each one blitzed towards him as fast as the element they were made of.


    In the face of this, the Sword Saint executed a simple yetplex manoeuvre, dodging the light blue lightning spear with a swift sidestep, after having dealt with the ominous lightning bolts with his aura shes.


    An array of explosions rang out around him as the shes and lightning bolts collided, but Luke''s mind was more focused on the real challenge ahead, the encroaching dark lightning panthers of which he could count 30 at a nce.


    ''I''m not really good with this kind of Magic, but here goes.''


    He stomped his foot on the floor and infused magic power into the ground through it, creating a giant three-ringed magic circle beneath his feet that spanned a bit over half the throne hall.


    "Earth Magic: Terraquake!"


    He cast a lower Tier Variant of the AOE Earth magic spell, causing the ground beneath his feet to tremble as a powerful shockwave was unleashed.


    The dark lightning panthers had their trajectories disrupted by the tremors the rippling shockwaves caused, and their forms were thrown off bnce.


    For the unlucky few who had already closed in the distance and got into melee range, Luke''s sword arm blurred and the Sword Saint sliced them apart.


    "AWOOOOO!!**BOOOMMM!!!!


    Each one cried in pain before exploding in a sh of ck light, sending waves of darkness and lightning elements hurtling towards Luke but the man''s innate defensive barrier was enough to block the damage from that.


    A resounding impact followed the earth''s embrace overwhelming the rest of the panthers. They were crushed by the force of the shockwaves and forcefully dispersed into dissipating darkness.


    But despite this, despite the powerful spells both Luke and the King had used, the Throne Hall was still standing for some reason that baffled the Sword Saint.


    Even so, he didn''t dwell too much on this, charging straight towards the King whose grimoire''s pages were already fluttering once more.


    Seeing his sword still infused with earth elemental energy, the King generated a twoyered barrier of earth and mes to block the sword shes that came crashing down towards his form.


    ''de Shower.''


    Luke subtly activated a skill, making his energy condense rapidly in the air and form a pressurized water elemental sword construct.


    The instant that Luke''s sword struck the earthen barrier, the pressurized de shot forward at sonic speed, piercing through the earth barrier with ease and moving onto the fire barrier beneath.


    In that same moment, the man had already delivered twin strikes, each one sending another pressurized water de through the hole that the first de had pierced in the earthen barrier.


    The me barrier beneath it naturally did notst long against the watery onught, dissipating after the first strike and giving way for the other two swords to pierce the King''s body.


    Blood spluttered in the air as Luke destroyed the Earthen barrier, knocking the King''s body backwards and charging in for another Two-Fold Cross-sh.


    The king quickly figured out the condition for the pressurized water des to be triggered��Luke''s actual sword strikes hitting him and quickly activated a spell to gain distance.


    ''Minor Teleportation.


    Vanishing and reappearing a dozen metres away, the King waved his hand over the grimoire, making its pages p rapidly before settling on a golden glowing page.


    **BZZZTTT!!!!


    A spear of lightning manifested in the air and stabbed down onto the ground bursting into trails of lightning that advanced forwards on impact.


    ''Using water against Lightning��bad idea.''


    The Sword Saint thought as he stomped his foot on the ground, breaking his dash before leaping backwards up into the air.


    His energy flowed through his energy circuits at record speed, escaping his body and into the air around him, before mixing with the ambient energies and dominating them.


    An array of swords manifested above him, spanning an area of about 50 square metres, each one holding dense earth elemental energy.


    ''Go.''


    Dozens of des shot forward, stabbing into the ground and exploding upon contact with the iing trails of lightning.


    Others sliced downwards, splitting the golden orbs of explosive lightning that shot forward and triggering the explosions.


    **BOOOM!! BOOOOMM!!!! BOOOMMM!!!


    The entirety of the core castle trembled heavily, but yet, the Throne room remained undisturbed, as if all the power of the explosions was being absorbed somewhere.


    *FLIT-FLIT!


    The sound of the grimoire''s pages pping was followed by a blue lighting from the book, one that made Luke sigh and switch his sword over to his left hand.


    Immediately he did that, four single-ringed magic circles appeared on his right arm, beforebining them together to form one fourth tier circle that engulfed his arm in a fiery aura.


    Simultaneously, another Tier Four Magic circle appeared in front of the King, this one gleaming with the light of the opposing water element.


    From it, a massive pulsating orb of water twice the King''s size appeared and hovered ominously in the air


    ''Water Magic: Deluge Cataclysm.''


    The Orb hurtled forward with ferocious velocity, and in the face of this, Luke clenched his fist and punched forward.


    "Brachium."


    ***KAAABOOOOOMM!!!!


    The collision of the opposing elemental forces sent shockwaves ripping through the entire castle. Torrents of water met roaring mes in a fierce struggle, illuminating the entirety hall.


    Steam billowed and hissing mes spluttered as the two spells locked in a brilliant disy of power.


    Yet, just when the two spells reached their apex, strange runes materialised on the walls of the hall, absorbing the colliding energies that threatened to st the castle to bits several times over.


    This caused the explosion to die down faster than it was meant to and before the sharp eyes of the Sword Saint could catch sight of the runes, they flickered out of existence, as if they were never there in the first ce.


    The steam cleared up and Luke gazed at the figure of the King on the opposing end, his body wrapped in multiyered barriers, numbering six in total.


    However, all but thest one which had cracks spiderwebbing through it had been destroyed.


    ''What absorbed my spell?''


    Even if Luke did not see the runes, there was no way he would not notice the power of his spell being absorbed somewhere and his energy-infused gaze darted across the hall in an attempt to scan for it.


    But such an attempt proved unnecessary as the young hero who was now watching the fight from a void step floating about seventy metres in the air, gave the answer to his queries.


    "Mehn, the damage absorption runes in this ce are crazy. Should have brought Laurene here, she''d be able to see through them and replicate them."


    Hearing his words, Luke finally figured out what had absorbed his spell, and the same reason why the Core Castle hadn''t been turned to smithereens already.


    The Throne Hall had damage redistribution and absorption runes that spread out the power of each attack evenly across the Hall, before absorbing them, thereby preventing the Hall''s destruction.


    Sure, it could be broken, but its upper damage limit was quite high, and due to the damage redistribution runes, even attacks concentrated at a point would not be able to break them.


    ''Not so strange considering this an ancient kingdom o-''


    **FLIT-FLIT-FLIT-FLIT!!!


    ''-that sound is getting annoying.''


    With that thought, Luke blitzed in faster than the lightning magic circles could fully form, swinging his aura-coated sword and destroying the circlespletely.


    He then kicked off the ground, boosting forward with an even higher speed as he beelined straight towards the King, but his target was not the battle mage, but the grimoire floating beside him.


    However��


    "Stop, Sir Luke!!"

 Chapter 546 The Last King Of Verduracliff IV

    The Last King of Verduracliff IV


    "Stop, Sir Luke!!"


    "Hmm?!"


    Luke''s pupils darted towards Evan''s direction upon hearing his sudden shout, and in that second the man''s brainputed why the boy could have possibly called out to him at that point.


    ''He knows better than to interrupt me, but he still did: There must be a serious reason behind it.''


    His foot stomped on the floor as he broke his run, his blue-eyed darting forward again as he noticed a spell forming right in front of him.


    He could tank the spell with his high durability and still go on to destroy the grimoire, but he decided to listen to Evan and instantly jump leap out of the way.


    ***BOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!


    The spell''s brief detonation unleashed a mingling surge of fiery and electric energies, crackling and swirling in a radiant burst.


    But it did not reach Luke as the Sword Saint was already out of the way.


    [Why''d you stop him, Master? He could have dealt with that easily.]


    Ka questioned as she also did not understand Evan''s reason for suddenly calling out to Luke, voicing what the man himself had wanted to ask.


    "World Magic: Spell Number 16: Disintegration."


    Evan only gave that one line in reply, evoking confused reactions from the two, but the boy only pointed his hand towards the grimoire and continued.


    "That grimoire is rigged with that spell, and the trigger is its Destruction."


    "?!"


    "If you had seeded in destroying that book, something you''re 150% capable of, that spell would have activated and this entire mountain along with everything on it��both living and non-living, would have been have been vaporized.


    I bet only you and Valthor would have survived that��half-dead, of course."


    Upon hearing Evan''s words, a cascade of goosebumps materialized across Ka''s arms, a tactile response that seemed to amplify the chill racing down her spine.


    If only she knew that Evan left out the part where everything within the next few miles of the mountain would have been vaporized along with it.


    "World Magic is as dangerous as ever, huh?"


    Luke spoke as he thrust his sword forward, creating a focused st of condensed aura that shattered through all the King''s barriers and nearly sted his arm off if not for his timely evasion.


    But his opponent had already calcted his trajectory and dashed towards there, delivering a twin strike straight towards his head.


    Grimoire pages pped and the King activated an offensive spell at point-nk range, triggering an explosion that knocked back both parties.


    Seeing this, Ka who was still rubbing her arms because of the goosebumps voiced out a question to Evan.


    [Master, just how many World Magic Spells do you know?]


    And the boy''s reply left her dumbfounded.


    "All of them."


    [��]


    While the spirit was gaping in shock, Evan shouted out to Luke once more, with information that the Sword Saint would have needed a lot earlier than this.


    "Sir Luke, the Pseudo World Magic Rune barrier around this Hall doesn''t only have the effect of damage absorption, there''s something else."


    "And is it something I should know?"


    "Yeah. It seals off every energy fluctuation inside here. Meaning that the Sovereign Level Servant of the Beast king In this area would not detect you if you release your limiter."


    The moment Luke heard Evan''s words, the Sword Saint who was about to charge forward, stopped his movements entirely, turning towards the young hero with an incredulous expression on his face.


    Two orbs of condensed vtile lightning and fire energy shot towards the immobile man, but he only rose his left palm and backhanded one to the side, making it explode in a random corner of the room.


    He then caught the second one in his palm and squashed it, making the orb explode with the power of a 15-ton bomb.


    Silence pervaded the air after the explosion, and the dust cleared to reveal the Sword Saint who was still staring at Evan with the same expression on his face.


    "Why didn''t you say that earlier, kid?!"


    He calmly turned towards the King who was constructing another spell formation, taking a deep breath before saying.


    "Release��limit."


    **BOOMM!!


    A burst of pure unattributed energy was released from his body, spreading out shockwaves that mmed into the walls of the Hall and triggered the damage absorption runes.


    The man''s aura rose to a new height, far higher than what he normally showed and for the first time since the battle began, an expression of surprise adorned the King''s face.


    Before the man could evenplete the activation of the spell he was forming, Luke took a ''step'' forward.


    **SWISH X7


    Seven shes of white light shed in an instant, shattering the magic circle that had just formed, along with the multiyered energy barriers around the King.


    The de of Lost Saints was only stopped by thest defensive energy coat surrounding the King''s skin, but even that had already been cracked by the sword.


    It was then that the King''s cognition caught up to the fact that Luke had just destroyed both his magic circle and five of his barriers, each of which had separate durabilities of their own that could tank Level 500 attacks without a scratch.


    "Hmm? I guess keeping the limiter up for too long has its demerits. I''ve gotten rusty. Then again, you do seem to be exceptionally skilled in barrier maniption."


    The Sword Saint casually spoke as he pulled back his de, his nonchnt demeanour seemingly striking a chord within the King who instinctively understood the need to up his game.


    ''Minor Teleportation.


    Quintuple Casting:


    Maximize Magic.


    Elemental Damage Bonus-Positive.


    Elemental Damage Breach-Positive.


    Tri-Elemental Boost.


    Resistance Negation.''


    The king reappeared ten metres in the air, grimoire pages pping so fast they looked like a blur and multiple pages shining with the bright lights.


    ''Stoneshatter.


    Terraquake.


    Zephyr''s Fury.


    Galeforce Bolt.


    Torrential Surge.


    Arctic Spear.


    Frostbolt.


    cial Shatter.''


    The battlemage conjured each spell and interweaved their elemental essences into a tempestuous surge, fusing them all together into a massive Elemental Tempest that surged at Luke.


    Drawing a light breath, Luke infused the de with a blend of his white aura and a trace of his unique skill''s power.


    As the Spell storm bore down on him, the Sword Saint held up his de and swung it downwards, executing a singr sh.


    The de''s edge met the magic and time seemed to ripple. An iridescent arc sliced through the amalgamated magic, causing ephemeral trails as the energies were scattered in a dazzling explosion of brilliance.


    Despite having his spell amalgamation easily destroyed, the King didn''t even hesitate to unleash another once, his grimoire pping rapidly and glowing with a deep blue light as a simrly coloured five-ringed magic circle began forming in front of him.


    Noticing this, Luke kicked off the ground and blitzed forward with supersonic speed, his aura still engulfing his sword as he sliced the magic circle in half, destroying it midway.


    Even so, the King didn''t feel any bacsh from this, something Luke attributed to his grimoire.


    The king saw that Luke had destroyed his attempts at Tier 5 Magic and instantly generated another, however, this spell was only a Pseudo Tier 5 spell.


    It didn''t have the full power of a Tier 5 Spell, but it was definitely stronger than any Tier 4 Spell out there.


    And the greatest benefit was the fact that its activation time which was shorter, allowed the spell circle toplete a second before Luke could destroy it.


    ''Fire Magic: Phoenix Sovereign.''


    Incredible magic power coalesced in a mere moment, taking the form of arge bright red ming bird with glowing blue eyes that red at Luke as if it was alive.


    The bird''s emergence released a shockwave that knocked the man back and sent him crashing towards the ground.


    Right after it shot forward and assail him, shattering through the sound barrier and reaching his falling form before he could even touch the ground.


    With this spell bearing down on him, and the sound of the grimoire''s pages pping signifying more were iing, Luke didn''t hesitate to pull out one of the ''Big Guns''.


    A Unique Skill.


    And one from a Series at that!


    ''Ink of Time: Momentary Stasis.''


    The world around him turned monochrome for a split second and the area in space upied by the Phoenix Sovereign was engulfed in a localized stasis field, freezing the spell in time.


    ''Temporal Rewind + eleration.''


    Luke flipped around andnded on his feet, before kicking off into the air with elerated speed whilst simultaneously rewinding the Pheonix back to the second before it emerged from the magic circle.


    ''Aqua Arc.''


    His sword cut through the zing magic circle, dispersing the fire elemental energy as water overcame me and created a sizzling mist in its wake.


    Spinning his body around, he switched out the elemental energy infused within his de, along with the unique skill he had active and spoke.


    "My turn."

 Chapter 547 Veiled Legend: Luke Bowthe

    His aura condensed on the sword, making radiant heat and light particles converge and weave together into a searing, vibrant sma sword.


    With an arcing swing, the sword shed through the colossal five-pronged lightning magic that the King unleashed, unravelling its electrifying constructs into dissipating sparks and rendering the once-menacing magic into mere traces of dissipating energy.


    "Damn��that skill''s cool."


    Evan spoke as he dipped his hands into his inventory and pulled out arge obsidian orb whose surface shimmered as it reflected the light from the sh between Luke and the King.


    Twelve perfectly symmetrical holes adorned its circumference, each meticulously carved with intricate runic symbols that seemed to pulsate with magic energy.


    From the bottom and top sections, three short pipe extensions emerged, adorned with smaller, yet equally borate carvings that hinted at the orb''s role as a conduit for potent energies.


    [The heck is that?]


    "Arcanum Eclipsor. An artifact that can absorb Nuclear Magic."


    As if taking Evan''s words as a cue, the King mmed his palms together and generated arge triangr-shaped spell ''circle'' surrounded by five rings of red light.


    ''Nuclear Magic: Nuclear Cannon.''


    As if harnessing the raw fury of the sun, a searing ray of destructive power surged forth with relentless speed, slicing through the air like a vengefulet on a collision course with Luke.


    The surrounding area quivered as the blinding beam streaked forward, and Ka couldn''t help but feel cold sweat even though she was in her spiritual body.


    [Mind using that thing now?]


    ''Not yet.''


    Evan replied as he activated Harbinger of Ice and Elemental Sheild, before getting up as high as he could with his void steps.


    ''Thankfully, this ce is unnecessarilyrge.''


    As he had that thought, Luke rose his sword and shed forward, his sma sword colliding with the cannon in a tempest of brilliance.


    **KAAABOOOOMMM!!!!


    A thunderous impact echoed as Luke''s attack ''smacked down'' the beam, effectively redirecting it towards the ground, followed by a disy of magnificent energy as the explosion of both forces consumed the space between them.


    Even the damage absorption runes could not absorb it all, flickering dangerously as the barrier around the room cracked.


    Slowly, the detonation began to wane, and the energy storm subsided, leaving behind an aura of smouldering intensity. The air itself was charged, and the very ground trembled under the weight of the forces that had collided.


    As the dust settled, the aftermath of the sh was revealed.


    The ''ground'' of the Hall was no more, having been ripped asunder in the wake of the energy collision, leaving a massive crater of roughly 70 metres in width and descending more than 10 times that in depth, yawning open like a scar upon thend.


    The chasm stretched deep underground, delving towards the heart of the mountain upon which the castle had been perched atop.


    Without hesitation, the two continued their battle, with movements that surpassed the boundaries of what Evan could perceive in his base state.


    Sonic booms resonated through the air as Luke dashed and charged towards the King who teleported to evade the Sword Saint''s swift but powerful strikes.


    But the man''s temporal prowess allowed him to match each teleportation.


    Barriers of magic crumbled under Luke''s relentless assault, while the sma de left a lingering burn that gnawed at the King''s strength.


    Any other attempts to unleash Nuclear Magic Spells were met with quick and decisive counters, and though the King had tried using a World Magic Spell, the casting time was far too ''long'' for someone like Luke who could move at supersonic speed, and had time eleration.


    Notwithstanding the fact that they were in an enclosed space.


    Luke obliterated the forming magic circles with precise shes, his skilful manoeuvres finally forcing the King down onto the floor in front of his throne.


    The Sword Saintnded on the other end of the chasm in the room, taking a deep breath as he channelled his energy into the des to prepare for the final sh.


    At the same time, Evan, who had now activated his concealment skill on himself, activated the Arcanum in preparation for the King''s trump card Nuclear Magic spell.


    Luke took a stance, his dominant foot slightly outward and he held his sword diagonally across his body, the de pointing down and back, while the King''s grimoire''s pages pped extensively before glowing with a deep ck light.


    The de of Lost Saints became a conduit for pure fire and temporal energies that converged upon a radiant beam of light that enveloped the de in a dazzling aura.


    The king''s palms mmed together and five Tier Four Magic circles appeared, before merging into one massive five-ringed magic circle of ck light.


    Silence pervaded the Area as the two men looked at each other wordlessly; this silence eventually was broken when Luke called out the activation words for his unique skill technique.


    "Photon Edge: Luminous Ascension."


    ''Nuclear Magic: Gravitational Implosion.''


    A Localized gravitational field disruption manifested, resulting in a small artificial ckhole that began sucking in all nearby ambient energies into a single point.


    Just as it was about to explode outward, a sudden intervention disrupted the impending destruction.


    Evan blinked right in front of the Spell, the Arcanum Eclipsor in his hand and the intricate carvings on it glowing with a bright golden light.


    The artifact''s power resonated, drawing in the Nuclear magic like a voracious maw, absorbing it all in threads of energy that snaked towards the Arcanum, twisting and intertwining until the spell had beenpletely devoured.


    For the first time since the battle began, an expression of pure shock appeared on the face of the King, his eyes widening in disbelief as he recognized the artifact Evan held��it was one of his creations.


    Evan didn''t dawdle, instantly activating his blink skill and teleporting behind Luke, making way for the Sword Saint''s upward arcing sh that was already in motion, hurtling relentlessly towards the King.


    ***KAAAABOOOOMMMM!!!!!!


    The torrent of energy surged forth in a blinding cascade, shattering the King''s multiyered barriers with ease, before overwhelming the throne hall''s damage absorption runes until they shattered under the strain.


    The king''s grimoire pped as he tried to activate another spell, but Luke''s technique had twofold effects.


    The tremendous immediate damage to any target within its reach, disintegrating armour, barriers and other defences with ease was only one of them.


    His Series Skill''s power infused into the technique initiated a disruption of the King''s temporal flow, causing him to experience a brief time distortion that slowed his reactions.


    This gave the Luminous Ascension more than enough time to cut through the King''s defences, slicing through his form with uncanny precision.


    Its power surged, the throne hall''s walls buckling under the powerful energy and crumbling into ruin like they should have long ago.


    Even so, Luke''s attack didn''t stop just there as it tore through the castle''s three sections, cleaving through the very mountain itself.


    A deep chasm erupted, splitting a quarter of the Verduracliff mountain from its peak until halfway, whilepletely obliterating the smaller mountain behind it.


    The earth groaned, its surface scarred by the might of power behind the sh and echoes of the devastation reverberated throughout thend.


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    That notification appeared in front of Luke''s vision, slightly surprising the man as it had been quite a while since hest saw it.


    Even so, the fact that defeating a being of at least Level 685 only gave him enough experience to level up twice, showed just how high the Sword Saint''s true Level was.


    Something that Evan barely managed to catch a glimpse of mere moments before he reactivated his limiter.


    |Name- Luke Bowthe


    Race- Arch Human


    Gender - Male


    Age - 86


    Level- 713


    Existence Level - Legendary (Inferior)


    Titles- Sword Saint of the Alpha Continent, ''Veiled Legend'', Duke of the Great Western Empire, The One Stained by Time, Second Sword of the Empire, One of the Ten Great Swordsmen.


    ss - Sword Saint


    Health �C SSS+


    Energy - X1


    Strength �C X1-


    Agility �C X1-


    Durability �C X1-


    Intelligence �C SSS-


    Condition- Normal, Limited Power.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 5, White-Fire Tier 5, Earth Tier 3, Water Tier 3, Time Tier 4.


    Skills- de Shower, Pyro Hazard, White Fire, Sword Mastery (T), Weapon Control, Tempest Dance, Limiting Geass.


    Unique Skills- Weapon Laser: Photon Edge, Ink of Time. |


    Right before Evan''s eyes, the man''s status began changing, his stat values fell along with his Numerical and Existence levels.


    | Level- 476


    Existence Level - Grandmaster (Intermediate) |


    Whatever means he used to limit his strength, it was so good that even Full Appraisal could not see through it.


    "Where did you get that?"


    Luke asked as he sheathed the de of Lost Saints, his gaze directed at Evan who was tapping the ck orb half his height.


    "Somewhere in Scieque. Took advantage of the Chaos caused by the Train Sabotage incident to move undiscovered.


    Besides you and Ka, no one else on Aidos knows I have this with me."

 Chapter 548 Akashic Page

    <h4>Chapter 548 Akashic Page</h4>


    ?


    "��Besides you and Ka, no one else on Aidos knows I have this with me."


    A ck portal opened up underneath it as he spoke, allowing the Arcanum to fall right through it and into his inventory.


    "That so��"


    "Yep. It''s gonna be very useful the next time I fight an epic-level existence like Craitid."


    [Master, why are you jinxing yourself?]


    The hero''s contracted spirit manifested her physical body right next to him and asked with a deadpan gaze, a question the boy only shrugged and replied.


    "I''m not. I''m just being ready for any unexpected circumstances.


    I didn''t foresee Dominik Vk suddenly gaining a Pseudo Authority of Death at thest moment. That wasn''t even among all the possible scenarios I had nned out.


    Something simr could happen in Lacertilia, the ''Giant Lizard'' there might as well be stronger than I expect it to be, or may have more skills than I know of.


    Besides, if I am unable to find who the Hero in the Beast kingdom is before the fight, then things would be a lot different.


    Most importantly, I''d be going up against two Fingers of the Demonic Hand, one of which is stronger than Dominik was even at his prime, I gotta be ready for the unexpected."


    [That so��]


    "It is so."


    Evan replied as he teleported over to what was left of the King''s corpse and picked up the grimoire on the floor.


    "Finally, I have this thing."


    He appraised it after speaking, confirming that it was truly the same artifact from the game, one that the yer was unfortunately unable to obtain.


    |Akashic Page


    Type; Ancient C?????????????????????????i???????????????????m???????????????s????????????????????o?????????????????????????????c???????????????? Grimoire.


    The ''Akashic Page'' is a mysterious and ancient Grimoire of unequalled significance.


    Originally a ''Page'' of the Valmone Universe''s ''Akashic Record''�� a naturally urring nigh-omniscient C?????????????????????????i???????????????????m???????????????s????????????????????o?????????????????????????????c???????????????? artifact that holds almost all information about the Valmone Universe from the instant the big bang that created it happened till the present moment��it holds within its pages apendium of all energy spells that have ever existed on the Prime World of Aidos.


    The spells within this artifact that have transcended time and space can be cast with the aid of every energy type that exists on the, regardless of its prity or alignment.


    Effects:


    It is impossible for the Owner of this Grimoire to ever receive bacsh for a failed or disrupted spellcasting attempt.


    Allows the Owner to harness the knowledge within to develop new, potent spells and magical techniques.


    All spells of any energy type cast by the Owner have their cast times shortened, their efficiency increased, and their damage potential boosted and maximized.


    Current Owner: None. |


    "Oh, you''re definitely gonna be mine soon enough."


    When Luke and Ka saw the description of the Grimoire, they didn''t even know what reactions to have as both its origins and its effects left them lost for all kinds of words.


    "All the World Magic Spells are inside here, and even spells from other Worlds too.


    But unlike our world, it does not have ''all'' the spells from those worlds.


    Here, Have a look."


    Evan casually tossed the Grimoire towards Luke who caught it and flipped through its pages, his eyes catching sight of countless spell circles from different magic systems, ones he recognized and countless others he did not.


    He even saw the Spell that Evan had used against Dominik, the World Magic: Spell Number 13 there, along with the spell circles for the other 49 world magic spells.


    "So, what do you n to do with this?"


    Luke tossed it back to Evan who caught it and dropped it inside his inventory, before replying.


    "For starters, I n to give it to Emperor Rudeus."


    Just when Ka was about to question why on Aidos he was gonna do that, he pointed towards the obliterated mountain right next to Verduracliff and spoke.


    "How about we get out of here first before Kolvar''sckey gets here?"


    �� �� ��


    Cab Room A2


    Royal Pce, Gerfast


    GWE


    February 19th


    Year 1053


    Emperor Rudeus had his hand pressed to his forehead with an exasperated look on his face as he watched the Senior Court Mages of his Empire, powerful old men and women who had been in service before he was even born, mbering about around a book that had been ced on the desk in front of them.


    Even Jenson who was seated beside the Emperor was using all of his willpower to prevent himself from jumping into the fray.


    Turning to Evan who was seated at his other end with a smile on his face, the Emperor sighed and asked.


    "So? Where on Aidos did you find this thing?"


    By ''this thing'', he naturally meant the Grimoire that the Court Mages were just a step short of fighting each other for, one which contained lost magic spells from centuries ago, along with powerful Nuclear Magic.


    But looking at it, one would realise that it was not the Real ''Akashic Page'' that Evan had acquired a few days ago, but a visibly obvious smaller-sized replica with only a small percentage of the spells contained within it.


    The boy was definitely not gonna give away the original, not when he wasn''t high from smoking trees.


    "A Ruined Ancient Kingdom in the Northern Part of our Continent."


    As he replied, he appraised Jenson who was eyeing the replica Akashic Page and noted that the man''s level had reached 480.


    ''Guess he''s not relying on his ability to use Tier 5 Magic despite being a grandmaster to maintain his Chief Court Mage position anymore.''


    Meanwhile, the Senior Court Mages were all engrossed in the Magic Tome, acting like kids who had just been given their favourite toy and were all struggling for a chance to y with it.


    "I see��.so this is the full version of that spell we found in Ahwen''s ruins!"


    "Indeed��"


    "Who''s with their board?"


    "Me!"


    Right there and then, they pulled out a 1 by 2 metre rectangr board and began scribbling magic formations on it with markers, speaking about magic theories that Evan and Rudeus could not understand.


    Within a few minutes, they sessfully recreated a lost Tier 4 Magic Circle.


    One of them roused his magic power and muttered the chant, activating a miniature version of the magic circle and upon seeing it activate smoothly, he shouted out.


    "We did it!!"


    "Yeahhhh!!!"


    "WOOHOOO!!!"


    The sight of these old men and women who clearly didn''t look their ages jumping around and fist pumping in the air made the Emperor sigh once more before turning to Evan and asking.


    "So? What do you want?"


    "��I don''t follow."


    "There''s no way you brought this to me for free, what do you want?"


    Even though the Emperor decided not to beat around the bush, Evan still wanted to mess around a little, rubbing his palms together as he spoke.


    "Well��I was just being a good citizen who was helping to strengthen my country''s military power."


    When he said that, Rudeus narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he did not know Evan to be the selflessly patriotic type.


    "BUT��!"


    ''There it is��his real intention.''


    The young hero continued speaking, with the Emperor''s thoughts unbeknownst to him.


    "If you so insist, on rewarding me for this��you can start with this."


    He pulled out a paper from his inventory and ced it on the table, before sliding it over to the Emperor with a bright smile.


    ''This kid! He had a list of demands beforehand!''


    Rudeus took his all to keep his poker face on and prevent his brow from twitching as he picked up the paper and looked through it.


    At the same time, Luke entered the room, catching sight of the jubting mages before asking Evan.


    "You''ve given them already?"


    "Yep."


    Upon taking a second nce in the direction of the mages, Luke could not help but notice the obvious difference in size between the book he saw a few days ago and this one.


    ''I recall that thing being bigger than this��''


    He turned to Evan who only tilted his head to the side with a ''genuinely'' confused gaze, something that didn''t go unnoticed by the Emperor.


    "Is there a problem?"


    "��No."


    The blue-eyed man answered after a brief pause, deciding to not bother about it as it didn''t concern him much.


    "Oh, I almost forgot."


    The young hero suddenly spoke, before pulling out arge ck box from his inventory and setting it on the table.


    The instant he opened it, the ambient energy concentration in the room tripled, drawing the attention of everyone else in the room.


    Even the Imperial Guardsmen who were right out the door, barged in with weapons drawn, thinking someone was attacking the Emperor.


    As for Evan, he just casually searched through the box, pulling out Artifact after Artifact, each one releasing powerful energy fluctuations.


    "There It is."


    Finally finding what he was after, he pulled it out and dropped it on the table, before tossing everything else back in the box, which in turn returned to his inventory.


    He tossed the item he fished out towards Luke; a finely crafted leather belt adorned with intricately etched silver patterns that gleamed lightly.


    Embedded in the buckle was a radiant shield-shaped gemstone pulsating with the hues of the twilight sky.


    "Hmm. This would work."


    The man ced it in his interspatial ring before taking his leave from the room, leaving behind the dumbfounded court mages who then turned their gazes towards Evan.


    "And where the heck did you get all those?"


    When Emperor Rudeus voiced out the question they all wanted to ask, the boy replied with a shrug of his shoulders.


    "A Ruined Ancient Kingdom in the Southern Part of Our Continent."


    "��You''re gonna give me a list of all these ''Ruined Ancient kingdoms'' soon enough."


    Hearing Rudeus'' words, Evan grinned mischievously before pulling out another paper from his inventory and sliding it over as he spoke.


    "Well��in return for that list��"


    Recognizing it as another list of demands, the Emperor''s brow twitched as he barely held himself back from flipping out on Evan.


    ''This kid!! He did that on purpose knowing fully well I''d ask about it!''


    It didn''t take the man long to figure out Evan''s n, and the reason he had chosen this time and ce to give Luke the Soul Guard belt.


    As for Evan, the boy just silently smiled while tapping his fingers together.

 Chapter 549 Owner of the Akashic Record.

    <h4>Chapter 549 Owner of the Akashic Record.</h4>


    Unnamedoid


    Domain of goddess Artemisia


    February 19th??


    Year 1053


    [Look at me, I''m Chandler. Could I BE wearing any more clothes?]


    "Pfft��"


    Artemisia had a hard time stifling the peal ofughter that threatened to escape from her lips, just barely managing to swallow her drink properly before bursting out intoughter.


    [Maybe if I wasn''t going COMMANDO��]


    The woman guffawed at the scene of the man wearing more outfits than she could count doing some strange lunges, with no trace of her usual expressionless attitude.


    ''I see why this was one of the best sis of the Original Earth. They even made sure to pass it on when they terraformed the decoy Earths too.''


    Just as she was about to grab another handful of popcorn, she suddenly sensed a change in the ambient energy fluctuations around her.


    The joyful expression on her face vanishedpletely and her eyes turned cold. With a single, thought the floating screen disying the TV series vanished, as did her popcorn and drink.


    Waves of energy radiated from her body and went on to cover not only the entireoid she was on but every celestial body within the next few dozen light years of it.


    ''?!''


    Her eyes widened slightly as she realised the reason for the abrupt fluctuations, and she immediately held out her right palm and condensed streams of multi-coloured energy within it.


    "Come forth."


    With hermand, the condensing energy manifested into the form of a book, one that looked as normal as could possibly be.


    Its size was modest and unassuming, with a smooth and tactile cover. At first nce, said cover appeared devoid of adornment, save for a small delicate detail that caught the eye.


    Positioned at the centre of the back cover, was a tiny star, with the same golden hue as the eyes of the woman who held it.


    It glimmered softly, casting a warm glow that contrasted against the book''s dark exterior.


    By her will, the book pped open and its pages turned rapidly.


    If someone with high visual prowess was looking at this scene, they would be able to notice that some of the pages of this book were torn out.


    Some were cleanly torn out, while some seemed to have been roughly ripped in half.


    Eventually, the flipping pages finally came to an end, stopping on the remains of a torn-out page that was now glowing with a deep red light.


    ''Someone found it?''


    A glint shed through the goddess'' eyes as she took a deep breath and asked a one-word question.


    |Who? |


    Her true voice resonated across the entirety of the white space she was in, and in response, the book consumed a portion of her divinity and revealed the answer with an emotionless robotic voice.


    [The missing ''page'' is now in the possession of a Grade 1 Singrity. The entity is a titledary ''Hero'' who goes by the name ''Evan Bourne''.]


    "Evan?"


    Artemisia''s face, now showing more emotions than it had in the past few monthsbined, once again disyed her clear surprise, and she quickly pulled up a diaphanous floating screen with her left hand and zoomed into a star map, picking out one of thes on it and quickly navigating to the scene of the young hero of Aidos passing a paper over to a certain Emperor.


    The energy of thew of knowledge escaped her body, scanning the records of the''s past. Within a minute, she had watched the entire trip of Luke and Evan to Verduracliff from start to finish and understood how the boy had acquired the Akashic Page.


    At this point, the identity of the book in her palm could not be any more obvious.


    If Evan was present here with her and appraised it, the description he would have seen was as follows:


    |Akashic Record: Valmone Universe Edition


    Type; Immeasurable Grade C?????????????????????????i???????????????????m???????????????s????????????????????o?????????????????????????????c???????????????? Artifact.


    The Akashic Record, a C?????????????????????????i???????????????????m???????????????s????????????????????o?????????????????????????????c???????????????? treasure of unfathomable significance is an archive of the timeless wisdom and boundless knowledge of the Valmone Universe.


    This nigh-omniscient artifact chronicles virtually every infinitesimal detail from the C?????????????????????????i???????????????????m???????????????s????????????????????o?????????????????????????????c???????????????? Event that marked the Valmone Universe''s inception to the present nanosecond.


    Its contained insights traverse the boundaries of time and space, and these truths are not unveiled without caution, neither can they be unveiled just to anyone.


    Only the ''Owner'' of the Akashic Record, a being who has been chosen by both the Record and the Universe can even ''Open'' this artifact.


    Depending on the level of information, the Causality Index of entities involved and many other factors, the price of seeking knowledge from this Record may differ, ranging from just consuming a ''bit'' of energy to absorbing pieces of the user''s soul.


    [��]


    Current Owner: Artemisia M. Delgasso. |


    There are other details in the description, but they were unnecessary in the current scenario.


    What was necessary, was that Artemisia was the being in possession of the artifact that was sought after by many gods and other powerful beings in the Universe, and the number of people who were aware of this was just as many as who knew Aidos was her birth:


    Enough to be counted on one hand. (Herself Included)


    "I see��so it was Evan.


    Makes sense he went after that page considering I had made it impossible for him to acquire it in the game. Would have broken the bnce after all��


    Each of the top 10 could possess only 10 World Magic Spells��could not have any one person getting all 50 of them."


    The goddess thought aloud as she closed the Akashic Record and carelessly tossed the book onto the table in front of her.


    But just as she was about to lean back on the couch and continue the movie, her attention was once again drawn by the item the book had hit as it slid across the table.


    It was a small framed picture of six people, one that filled her with so much nostalgia anytime she looked at it.


    She could remember the day that picture was taken like it was yesterday, even though thousands of years had long passed, and she was sure that that feeling was going to remain as far as she lived��a considerably long time given her race and special circumstances.


    From left to right, was first a young adult man with ck hair and red eyes, wearing a wry smile on his face as he gazed at the camera.


    Beside him was a brightly smiling silver-haired boy, with heterochromatic ck and blue eyes that held a mischievous glint within them.


    Right beside him was none other than Artemisia herself in her teenage years, with a beautiful smile on her face as she had her left arm over the shoulders of the silver-haired boy beside her.


    Her other arm was on the shoulder of a teenage girl with long white hair and hazel eyes, having a bright photogenic smile on her face, but her gaze was not towards the camera but to the wryly smiling man on the left, and it was quite ''heated'' too.


    On the floor was another young man, with silver hair, clear blue eyes, and vertical slit pupils. He seemed to beughing at the time the photo was taken and one could see a pair of fangs peeking out from his parted lips.


    He had his arm around the grey-eyed boy who was squatting on the floor in front of her and the heterochromatic-eyed boy. This teen wore a mask that covered the lower half of his face, leaving his eyes to be the only feature one could make out.


    He held in his hand, the remote controlling the camera that took the photo.


    ''When I think about it, right after we printed out this picture, he had quite a shocked expression on his face.


    It didn''t make sense to the younger me, but with the current situation, I understand why he felt that way.


    Maybe I end up showing him this picture and he recognizes it when it actually happens.''


    She picked up the photo with a small barely perceptible smile on her face and twinkling eyes as she wiped the frame with her thumb.


    "The me of then wanted to experiment on him the moment I sensed my divinity on him."


    "If Alvey and I didn''t stop you, you would have actually gone through with it."


    A male voice rang out from behind her but Artemisia didn''t show too much surprise as she knew only one person could break into her domain without her even sensing his presence.


    "Sure, I was a little bit research-crazed back then but there was no way I was gonna experiment on someone I had just met."


    The goddess rolled her eyes while replying, but the man only ced his hands on the sides of her face and tilted her head backwards, gazing into her golden eyes with his red and blue ones as he asked.


    "A ''little bit''?"


    His skeptical gaze coupled with the doubt in his voice that was so much made Artemisia who wanted to refute find herself going silent.


    The man then grabbed the photo in her hands and scanned it over, before tossing it back to her as he took a seat on the couch beside her.


    "Oh, you used the Akashic Record?"


    "Yeah. Someone got to one of the pages you tore out and I wanted to know who it was. Turned out to be Evan though."


    Artemisia answered as she set down the picture frame while still gazing at it with sentimentality. As for the man she used of tearing out the pages of the nigh-omniscient artifact on the table, he only chuckled lightly before voicing out another question.


    "What happened to Aramis in the end?"


    "It was conquered like all the other worlds Gozon was invading at that time. McEnda II made sure of that."


    "So, he was the chief ''Demon King'' behind that invasion. No wonder the Demon Lords were scared of McEnda III who was two ranks below them--only a High Rank Demon then."


    I''m guessing he''s also the reason they didn''t take ''that''."


    "Yeah. Alvey and McEnda III pushed for that decision. Maybe they didn''t want to lose the House of Memories��or in this case."


    Artemisia replied with a shrug of her shoulders as the two of them casually conversed about the now-deceased grandfather of one of the Peak Ranked demons who invaded Aidos a thousand years ago, McEnda IV.


    As for his father, McEnda III, the man was MIA; presumed dead, just like his best friend and father of the current Demon King of Aidos, Alvey Sargon.


    Leaving aside why Artemisa of all people was speaking about Alvey like they were close, the two beings reminisced about the past for a while before eventually ending up watching the si Artemisia was on a couple of minutes earlier.

 Chapter 550 Royal Edict

    Oak Avenue Manor


    Gerfast, GWE


    February 20th


    Year 1053


    "Now that I''ve gotten all the stuff that I wanted from Verduracliff and given Emperor Rudeus my list of demands, it''s high time I went off to the next ce on my list."


    "And where is that if I may ask?"


    "I wanted to go to the tower of trials again, but Greed and Pride aren''t back yet so that''s out of the question.


    Guess it''s high time I started hearing towards Lacertilia."


    "That so...?"


    Eliza replied to the young hero with a slightly pouty tone, something that Evan whosep she was lying on did not fail to notice.


    "Is there anything wrong?"


    "...nothing."


    "So there IS something wrong..."


    Her very unconvincing reply made Evan sigh softly, his Time Difference activating as he racked his brain to figure it exactly what Eliza sounded so dissatisfied about.


    But even after a while minute in real-time, the boy still had no idea why she was pouting and decided to straight up ask her.


    "Did I do anything?"


    "...no. you did not.


    I''m just feeling a bit miffed at the fact that we haven''t exactly had any time to ourselves recently."


    "Hmm? Didn''t we-"


    "Don''t count our trip to Duscon."


    The girl cut him off when he was about to speak about their date when they went to Duscon


    "I don''t want a kind of date where we have to fight for our lives after.


    It was fun and all but having to face two Epic-level existences right after killed all that off."


    The girl certainly did not like the feeling of having to deal with over a hundred demonic hand members right after having some time alone with Evan.


    ''It wasn''t really alone time as Kuro Ka and Milena were there though.''


    Hearing her words and seeing the pouty expression on her lips, Evan chuckled and patted her blonde hair, having figured out exactly what Eliza wanted.


    All the teenage girl desired was just some ''alone time'' with her younger boyfriend, no knights watching them in the shadows, no contracted spirits around, no demonic hand spies, and no having to fight dozens of assants after.


    She just wanted to have a normal date like any regr couple one could meet on the streets.


    ''That''s not too much to ask for now, is it?''


    Sensing her indignation about the matter, Evan pulled out the little schedule list he had and how he had nned out all his activities for the next few months, sighing softly as he decided to push a few things back and dedicate a day to fulfil her wishes.


    ''Problem is, which day?''


    The boy scanned the list over multiple times with a serious expression on his face, causing Eliza who had noticed his sudden silence to turn her gaze and ask him what he was doing, a question he replied to absentmindedly.


    "...trying to remove something of low importance from my schedule."


    "What for?"


    "Didn''t you say you wanted some alone time?"


    The girl stared at him nkly for a Second, a tad bit surprised that he was taking action more moments after hearing her indirectly asking for a date.


    "You don''t have to change your ns and inconvenience yourself just to cater to my wishes, you know?"


    Her words prompted him to drop the pen he was using to cross something off the list and turn his grey eyes towards her, sighing softly as he replied.


    "Come on, Liz. You should know your boyfriend had a low filter on his mouth.


    If it was inconveniencing, he would have said it. But the fact that he said nothing of the sort, means it''s not."


    He then picked up the pen andpleted the schedule editing while continuing his words.


    "The only problem is I''d only be able to help you make time after I am done with the medal ceremony next week."


    "Medal ceremony?"


    Eliza tilted her head to the side in confusion upon hearing about this unfamiliar event whilst Evan turned his gaze out the window and spoke.


    "Hmm? Looks like the Emperor''s men are here. Now then, time to deal with the formalities."


    He lifted her upper body from hisp and got up to meet with the Emperor''s Envoys who hade over to read an Imperial Edict.


    After changing to something more formal, he then walked up to Eliza who was looking out the window at the dozens of life signs that suddenly entered her perception and gave her a kiss on the side of her face before looking out the window and teleporting out faster than she could even react.


    �� �� ��


    As the sun casts its golden rays upon Evan''s grand estate, there was a sudden sense of tension hanging in the air.


    The well-tended gardens seemed to shimmer in preparation for the impending event, whilst Evan fitted in a fairly formal attire casually walked down the marble steps of the manor''s entrance.


    The butler and the rest of the manor''s servants all looked on anxiously as the sudden arrival of the Imperial Guard and the Emperor''s Envoys was certainly something none of them had expected.


    The envoys approached with purposeful steps, each one outfitted in regal attires that exuded an air of authority andmanded respect.


    They ascended the steps of the manor, stopping a few meters away from Evan as the Head Envoy pulled out a scroll that was adorned with the Royal Family''s Seal.


    Unfurling the scroll to reveal the ornate calligraphy that bore the edict, the man began his promation.


    "By the decree of His Royal Majesty, the Sun of our Great Empire, Emperor Rudeus Hayes, and in recognition of outstanding valour and dedicated service to the Great Western Empire, we hereby announce that Count Bourne, Lord Evan, esteemed and distinguished, shall be awarded the ''Medal of National Service'', and the ''Arcane Restoration Honour''.


    For his pivotal contributions that have augmented the might of our revered military forces and Magical Research, the Count Bourne is to be Awarded with these honours."


    Evan listened to the man speaking width a calm expression on his face, having already expected this, unlike the servants who were wondering when Evan even had the time to ''boost the empire''s military prowess'' given how frequently he left the country these days.


    "These grand des shall be conferred upon him during a ceremony of utmost significance, to be held on the 28th day of February, in the Year 1053, within the sacred precincts of the Royal Pce.


    All officials of Court rank Lower Fourth and above, and all Peerages of Count and above present within the capital are hereby summoned to attend this grand ceremony as witnesses.


    Given under our hand and seal, on this day the 28th February of the Year 1053 in the 51st General Calendar.


    By his Royal Majesty''smand."


    When the final words of the edict echoes through the air, a hushed silence descended.


    The Envoy''s gaze met Evan''s and within that shared moment, an unspoken understanding passed through them.


    "I am honoured by His Majesty''s recognition."


    The boy gave that one line,pletelymuting the second half of the temte reply to such an edict.


    ''The Great Western Empire isn''t the only country whose Military I n to boost after all.


    With the number of spells in the Akashic Page, I can give each of the Major World Powers on my list more than 200 each and I would not still give any two countries the same spell.


    Increasing their Magic spell arsenals would serve to bolster the''s defensive power to withstand the demon''s invasion.''


    He kept those thoughts to himself as he sent off the Envoys, before deciding to make a little trip to the Duke''s Manor.


    ''I have to go see the Duchess.''


    And so, the boy made his way over to the Eris Ducal Mansion in the capital, passing by the scene of a few envoys posting a copy of the Emperor''s Edict for the citizens in the Capital to see.


    "You''re in the spotlight again."


    Those were the first words the Duke spoke to him as son as he entered the man''s office.


    "It''s necessary for me to gain the power I want."


    Evan replied as he took a seat on one of the chairs, serving himself a ss of the wine that was ced on the side stool.


    "Exactly what did you do this time? His Majesty only told me about the awards this morning."


    "I found an ancient spell tome that contained over 200 forgotten Magic spells and some Nuclear Magic Spells."


    "Nuclear Magic? Just where did you find such a thing?"


    Duke Roger was quite surprised as he knew how valuable Nuclear Magic was, and how every country that possessed any of these spells watched each other like hawks.


    "Verduracliff."


    "Hmm? The ruined mountain country in the North."


    "Yes. That one."


    The two lightly chatted with one another, discussing a few things rted to the medal award ceremony until the Duchess came in and dragged Evan out.

 Chapter 551 Medal Ceremony

    ?


    The woman who had not spent much time with her younger son recently due to him always being out and about was very pleased with the opportunity Evan''s medal ceremony had given her.


    She was the one who usually handled his and Eliza''s formal asion attires after all.


    Evan ended up meeting Arnold while he was there and the two didn''t awkwardly ignore each other like they used to before, something that brought a smile to Patricia''s face as she was worried that they were on bad terms but didn''t know what to do since she didn''t know why.


    Of course, his attitude towards Richard who was over to discuss a few academy-rted stuff with Arnold was as snarky as ever.


    He did take notice of the fact that Arnold''s ''personal maid'', Brenda was not present, but he deduced the reason why pretty quickly.


    ''if things went as nned, then Greed should have gained Geomantic Wrath from that Celestial by now.


    It makes sense that Brenda would not be here then.''


    The boy thought about the ''mini disaster'' that gued both the Alpha and Beta Continents in the game, caused by both the Demonic Hand and the ''Fallen Celestial Deities'' or ''False gods'' as he''d have liked to call them.


    It was a ''mini disaster'' because although it had resulted in the loss of many lives, it was something that never fully came to fruition in the game as the yer''s line of action in the main quest is to stop their ns from happening.


    The real disaster was what came afterwards, something that happened in the same country where the False gods of the Alpha Continent were.


    ''The Fall of the Desert Country.''


    ''I really hope the Demonic hand has not found the location of the ''Master of Dragondune'' yet.''


    Evan had such thoughts going through his head as he chatted lightly with Arnold, before following the Duchess to handle his outfit preparations.


    �� �� ��


    The days passed by pretty quickly, and soon the day of the Medal Ceremony arrived.


    Amidst the grand banquet hall adorned with regal tapestries and decorations, High Nobles of the Empire, From Marquises to some of the Dukes, assembled in their official attires.


    Emperor Rudeus sat upon his throne as he addressed the gathering with eloquence, recounting Evan''s contributions and how he had unearthed an ''ancient magic Rome brimming with over 200 Forgotten Magic spells from Centuries ago, including powerful Toer 4 and 5 spells''.


    Given how great the destructive power of Tier 5 spells was, it could be seen how they had the power to bolster the Empire''s Military capabilities.


    With the exception of Magic Geniuses like Jenson, Tier 5 Spells were things that required a Legendary level to cast on a normal basis��that alone spoke of how potent these spells were.


    As the Emperor spoke, a sense of awe and anticipation filled the hall and the curiosity nobles was finally sated.


    Some seven felt that him being awarded the Medal and Honour was not sufficient as a reward while others figured that Evan and the Emperor probably had other rewards discussed under closed doors.


    They weren''t wrong as the boy had indeed submitted his list of demands to the Emperor, though Rudeus had ruled out some things that were t-out impossible and negotiated to lower some others.


    But one of the things that didn''t fall under the ''Impossible'' category was the elevation of Evan''s military authority, with its upper limit being raised to that of Second Lieutenant.


    It was something that added to the ''power'' Evan wanted but wasn''t necessarily something he was going to be needing in the near future so Rudeus didn''t have much qualms about that.


    This promation rippled through the assembly of nobles, eliciting murmurs of admiration and surprise.


    After this, Evan stepped forward for a little appreciation speech, including a nod to the Bowthe Family for their contributions.


    Though the exact nature of their involvement remained unknown to all but a select few, namely Duke Bowthe himself and the other Dukes of the Empire.


    The ceremony transitioned into avish celebration marked by lively conversation, resoundingughter and the clinking of goblets. As the night wore on, the events of the ball ebbed and flowed, akin to countless noble gatherings before, concluding sometime close to midnight when the nobles began returning began their residences.


    The next morning after the party, Laurene who had something to discuss with Eliza, tried contacting her but was surprised that she could not reach the girl.


    When she went over to the Oak Avenue Manor in person, she discovered that both Evan and Eliza apparently never returned to the estate after the party the previous night.


    Even more shocking was that Ka who was usually with Evan and Kuro who spent most of his time in Eliza''s shadow were left behind, and the two spirits could not sense Evan''s location through their contract with him.


    This also applied to Milena as well.


    Upon discovering this, it didn''t take the princess too long to figure out that the couple had gone somewhere they didn''t want others to know.


    As for when they were going to return��well, that was entirely up to them.


    �� �� ��


    Yaton City


    Lydrosia Duchy


    March 3rd


    Year 1053


    Yaton was an entirely ordinary city, where the ebb and flow of daily life went on without significant fanfare.


    But the third day of March marked a peculiar and joyous asion. For reasons that could only be termed tradition, the city adorned itself with a festive ambience, its streets bustling with activity as people of all ages indulged in the revelry that unfolded.


    This was a ce with no remarkable distinctions��an average city in every sense of the word, with normal levels of trade,merce and magi-technology.


    Yet, the ordinary nature of the city was precisely why Evan had chosen it as the stage for his date with Eliza.


    On this day, the city''s inhabitants threw themselves into the spirit of the celebration, adorning their homes and businesses with colourful banners and intricate decorations.


    The scent of mouth-watering delicacies wafted through the air, and theughter of children echoed through the streets. Music yed from every corner, and performers entertained the crowds with skilful disys of magic and acrobatics.

 Chapter 552 The Perfectly Normal Date[Bonus ]

    ?


    Strolling hand in hand along the lively streets, with their faces concealed with half masks that were a customary part of the festival attire were Evan and Eliza.


    They would have normally attracted attention to themselves due to the fact that they were pretty famous, and were objectively good-looking, but the masks granted them the anonymity needed to experience the city''s festivities without all that fuss.


    They blended in with the revellers, excitement evident in their eyes as they moved from stall to stall, taking part in almost every single delicacy and watching every event they could.


    "That''s your eighth snack today. If you eat so much you would be too full to eat anymore by lunchtime."


    "Don''t worry, snacks and normal food have separate stomachs."


    Eliza replied as she tossed the bite-sized round golden-brownbination of honey and tiny dried berries.


    "Hmm��it''s a bit too crispy for my liking. Here, have some."


    The girl took one of the small round snacks and held it up to Evan''s lips to feed him. Seeing this, Evan only sighed internally and let her do as she pleased.


    ''Normal Liz would be too shy to do this in public.''


    He refrained from sharing his thoughts as he observed the girl enthusiastically move to another stall and select two items that resembled cotton candy.


    Unlike usual, there were no ambient spirits crowding about them like the little critters would have normally liked to do to the two who possessed the Loved by Nature title.


    And not even his trio of contracted spirits were present.


    After getting fed with a couple of other strange snacks he had never seen before, Evan finally managed to get Eliza to put down the food for a while and focus on other parts of the festival.


    They watched little 5-minute ys,ughed, and simply enjoyed each other''spany as If they were just another pair of ordinary teenagers, immersing themselves fully in the moment.


    As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a warm golden glow over the city, Evan and Eliza found themselves caught up in the swirl of a dance that had spontaneously erupted in the city square.


    They joined hands and became a part of the exuberant crowd, theirughter ringing out as they moved to the rhythm of the music.


    It did prevent Evan from taking as many pictures of and with Eliza as he wanted though.


    The night deepened, and the city''s streets transformed into a mesmerising spectacle of lights. Lanterns and enchanting disys adorned every corner, casting a glow that lent an almost magical quality to the atmosphere.


    The couple meandered through the illuminated streets, pausing at various stalls to sample treats and engage in the yful games set up for the asion.


    As midnight drew closer, the two found themselves in a quieter corner of the city, gazing up at the starlit sky through the branches of a tree.


    The festive sounds of the city echoed in the distance, providing a soothing backdrop to their hushed conversation.


    A conversation that a certain being tried to interfere with but was promptly caught and dealt with before he could.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' uses ''Ultimate Skill: A??????b????????y????????s????????s???????a?????l?????????? ??????????V???????o??????i???????d???????'' on a ''Certain Entity''.]


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' seals a ''Certain Entity'' in a dimension of darkness.]


    |The System''s connection to the ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' has been severed. |


    Evan was momentarily dumbfounded when he saw the three notifications, but only shook his head before dismissing them and diverting his full attention to his girlfriend.


    "I would wish every day would be like this but that''d be jinxing things."


    "��I don''t think that''s gonna be a good idea."


    The two''s conversation went through multiple random topics like that, and eventually, they fell into afortable silence.


    "Hey, Evan.


    Sometimes, it''s nice to escape the grandeur and attention, don''t you think?"


    "I have to agree with you on this one."


    The boy replied to her question as hebed his fingers through her hair, twirling the golden locks around his index finger.


    Eliza''s eyes closed as she hummed along with the distant tunesing from the city square while swinging her legs in the air.


    Suddenly, the scent of strawberries wafted across the air, reminding her of one of the strawberry treats they had earlier in the day.


    "Hmm? Evan, you still have-!"


    She turned towards Evan to ask him for one of the sugared pastries, only for the boy to suddenly lean in and capture her lips with his, effectively shutting her up.


    At the same time, she felt a small round puff slide over to her tongue, one which she reflexively swallowed while her eyes remained locked with Evan''s.


    With his hands in motion, he took off her mask, discarding it on the ground, and continued the kiss with increased intensity.


    At that moment, time seemed to slow as their kiss deepened, enveloping them in a world of their own.


    The sweet taste of the sugared pastry mingled with the warmth of their connection, creating a sensation that was both electrifying andforting, while the bustling sounds of the festival faded into the background, leaving only the soft exchange of breaths and the gentle caress of their lips.


    Evan''s fingers lightly brushed against Eliza''s cheek as he held her face, his touch sending shivers down her spine.


    Eventually, they broke apart, their lips parting with a gentle separation and leaving a thin almost invisible trail of moisture bridging the gap.


    Their breaths intertwined as they gazed into each other''s eyes, a mixture of surprise, excitement and affection evident in their expressions.


    "��why?"


    "Do I need a reason?"


    Hearing Evan''s answer to the question she asked absentmindedly, Eliza shook her head silently, a gesture that made the boy chuckle slightly.


    "It''s almost midnight, let''s go."


    Evan jumped down to the ground after saying that, holding out his arms for Eliza who then jumped into them.


    But just when she thought he was going to set her down on the ground for her to walk on her own, the boy shifted his grip to carry her like a princess and then began strolling back to their hotel in a rxed manner


    He did save her the embarrassment by putting her mask back on but the knowing smile the receptionist gave her the next morning made her feel embarrassed all over again.

 Chapter 553 Morning Tea Party

    Royal Castle


    Gerfast


    GWE


    March 4th


    Year 1053


    Seated at a quaint tea table adorned with delicate porcin cups and saucers, a teenage girl with long blonde hair exuded an air of pure contentment, humming a cheerful melody that weaved through the air around her.


    She had her hair tied up in French braids + ponytail, and a cat nestled in her arms with ck fur starkly contrasting with her golden locks, and eyes reflecting a sense of calm serenity.


    "How long has she been like this?"


    "Since we got back from Yaton."


    "I see��"


    This short question-and-answer session went on between one of the other people who was seated at the table with her and the other grey-eyed boy who had just tied her hair up in its current ponytail style.


    Standing not too far from the table where they sat, was a grey-haired man who had a pair of asymmetrical bright green eyes, staring in their direction with a confused expression on his face.


    His gaze was trained right on the blonde girl who had a radiant smile gleaming brighter than the morning sun, one that reflected the joy that resided within her heart.


    "It only took one date?"


    "One perfectly normal one; without having to deal with any journalists looking to interview us, hidden guards, Demonic hand spies, and certainly not having to fight off over a hundred assassins afterwards."


    "If that''s what you''ve had to deal with on your other dates, then I can guess why she ended up like this after you finally had a normal one."


    The youth with dark hair and green eyes replied to his brother''s words as he calmly sipped the tea the servants served him.


    Seated beside him and leaning on his shoulder whilst fiddling around with a cube device with different colours on each side was chestnut-coloured hair and blue eyes��someone, who more or less could be considered the best friend of the smiling blonde girl.


    It went without saying that these three were the two sons of the GWE''s Prime Minister; Arnold and Evan Eris, along with the Empire''s Princess Laurene Hayes.


    "So, I heard you came to look for us a couple of days ago, so we thought we''d stop by before we went over to Awhen."


    Evan spoke as he tossed more sugar cubes than necessary into his tea, resulting in Arnold giving him a strange gaze while wondering if it was possible for Master Level existences to be diabetic.


    His words exined the reason why he and his radiantly smiling girlfriend, Eliza, were currently within the castle.


    As for Arnold, the boy had been called over by Laurene for reasons Evan could guess and wished Laurene luck with.


    "I did need you guys'' help at the time, but it wasn''tpulsory it had to be you two so I had Duke Cheverton''s son and daughter handle it for me."


    They carried on their conversation without regard for the man who was standing at the door while staring nkly at them. The maids were a bit at a loss on how to handle him, though.


    And then someone who made them even more nervous decided toe along.


    "Huh? George? What are you doing here?"


    "Sir Luke��Nothing serious. I came to meet with Eliza and was told she was over here."


    "That so��"


    "Mhmm. We were visited by one of those ''Defences'' and it made Deborah worried. She wanted to know how Eliza was doing."


    Luke''s eyes widened slightly when he heard George''s words, instantly piecing them together with what he knew about Eliza''s recent movements and figuring out who the ''Defence'' George spoke of was.


    "Hydran, huh?"


    "You know him?"


    "Yes. Met him when I went to Duscon in the past. I wanted to get to something that was there."


    The Sword Saint spoke of his experience meeting the Defence Mechanism of the who resided in Duscon, before finally walking into the room where the teenagers were chatting happily.


    "Oh, Uncle. When did you get here?"


    George nearly tripped over and fell when he heard his niece''s question, realizing that she had not noticed his presence until he entered the room.


    ''And to think it was because of this brat��''


    The man still wasn''t cool with his precious niece dating Evan, but he had already made ns with her father and grandfather to cooperate in dealing with the boy.


    For some reason, Evan felt a chill down his spine and his danger sense skill reacted momentarily, but even after looking around and spreading his aura, he still could not figure out what was wrong.


    "What''re you doing?"


    "I just felt like someone was after me just now."


    The boy replied while rubbing his shoulders as if to clear the goose bumps on them, making George raise an eyebrow at how sharp he was.


    He did notice George''s presence but it didn''t ur to him that the chill he felt was because of the man. Eliza, however, seemed to have figured it out and narrowed her eyes in George''s direction, making the man look elsewhere and begin whistling suspiciously.


    "Good morning, Duke Luke."


    "Morning, Your Highness."


    The man took a seat at the table as he responded to Larene''s greeting while the more experienced maids quickly came over and set a cup and saucer before him.


    Giving them a light nod in thanks, he sipped his tea before putting down the cup and going straight to the point of why he was there.


    "Evan. You said you discovered that belt in Scieque, right? Was it the only Soul-type artifact you found there?"


    "Yeah, that was the only one I found in Scieque."


    Luke raised an eyebrow upon hearing Evan''s reply, feeling something was not quite right about the boy''s choice of words.


    ''Only one in Scieque? Does that mean he found others elsewhere?''


    He decided to ask the question on his mind and as expected, he received a positive answer from Evan.


    "I only have two more and they are not with me right now. I had others but I sold them before I found out you were after those kinds of artifacts."


    "Nothing can be done about that. But what would it take for me to get the two you still possess?"


    Evan ced a hand on his chin with a pensive look on his face, not having expected Luke to still want more artifacts of a simr nature.


    He remembered one of the Sword Saint''s titles he had seen when they were in Verduracliff��the reason the man wanted to protect his soul so much.


    ''The One Stained by Time''


    ''I wonder exactly how he''s ''Stained'' by Time.


    All the Ink Series skill users had simr titles, and I recall a side quest where it was mentioned that it was possible for the Benevolent Series skills to remove these ''Stains''.''


    His mind wandered for a bit before he finally made a decision, pulling out a letterbox from his inventory and sorting out six letters from them.


    "Just help me pass these on to the people they''re addressed to."


    Luke epted the letters that were sealed with Evan''s official seal and his Hero symbol, before looking through them and noting the names.


    "Hmm? For this one, can''t you just ask h-"


    "Delivering these sure isn''t as time-consuming as going all the way over to Verduracliff, don''t you think?"


    Evan''s sudden statement had cut Luke''s question off mid-way, making the man gaze at him strongly for a moment before eventually agreeing.


    The recipients of the letters were all people he was more or less familiar with so it was not going to be much of a problem for him to get the letters to them.


    After passing on the letters, Evan and Luke chatted for a bit before the Veild Legend took his leave. On the other side, Eliza was busy assuring her worried uncle that she waspletely fine and nothing was wrong with her.


    With the elder men removed from the scene, the group of four teenagers continued their pleasant early morning tea gathering, engaging in friendly conversation among themselves.


    However, like all things, their meeting eventually came to an end as the time for Evan and Elzia''s trains to leave.


    Their destination was a country near the GWE, Awhen, where Evan nned to tackle thest set of ''side quests'' before tackling the ''main quest'' once more.


    At that time, he''d finally have to go over to the Beast Kingdom��not just him, but with the full party.

 Chapter 554 Year 1053- March-April

    ?


    Evan and Eliza used the train services going all the way from Gerfast to down to the capital of Awhen, a fellow western Alpha Continental nation.


    His goal there was to unearth a few more powerful artifacts he knew of from the game, ones that had been lost when the merchants transporting it were attacked by monsters.


    They had abandoned their carriages in favour of their lives as the monster numbers and strengths were far higher than what the hired adventurers and guards could handle.


    But this was quite a loss for them as they were transporting a fairly high number of valuables, the kind that big nobles in Awhen''s capital would have loved to buy.


    So, in order to recover from this loss, they posted a request to the nearest town''s Adventurer''s guild, however, it just so happened to be a time when a new dungeon was also discovered, so tons of adventurers who were capable of handling the quest had all flocked to the new dungeon.


    The number of levels the first dungeon clearers got was quite high after, all.


    As for the others who didn''t join the group, they all backed down after hearing the territory that the monsters had inhabited, as it was somewhere very close to a rumoured Epic Level Behemoth''sir, and no one wanted to mess around in that area.


    Evan, however, knew that this Epic Level Behemoth was actually just a bored creature who had only chased after the adventurers who initially discovered it because it wanted to ask them about the world outside its territory.


    Unfortunately, its size and appearance were not exactly the kind that gave good first impressions, especially in a town that had only two beginner S rankers as its strongestbatants.


    They didn''t want to risk their lives trying to find out if the monster had intentions of conversing with them.


    And this was where Evan came into the equation.


    Without a moment''s break, he and Eliza went straight to the town right after arriving at the capital, keeping their movements on the down low.


    By the time he got to the town, the monsters who had attacked the merchants hade back for another attack, and since there were no travellers on the roads to attack, they headed for the nearest settlement.


    The scene Evan and Eliza met upon arrival was that of apany of monsters, headed by Level 400 Whip Wolves who were beating the shit out of the two beginner S rankers.


    Though the two were higher levelled, their opponents were twice their numbers.


    Regarding the remaining monsters attacking the city, Evan had Ka and Kuro handle those with abination of restraining shadows and Pseudo Authority Lightning Strikes from the heavens.


    He and Eliza then assisted the S rankers, taking on two of the Whip Wolves and reducing the heat on them, allowing them to be able to deal with their opponents properly.


    Unlike the weak Whip Wolves on the lower floors of the ''Tower of Trials'', the ones here were a lot more ferocious, cunning and skilled.


    Milena had a bit of a hard time quenching the mes of the two fire-attributed ones, as the creature was capable of sending out waves of searing mes with just a single tail flick.


    The burnt-down town gates and melted buildings nearby showed just how hot said mes were.


    But when Evan stepped in with his Harbinger of Ice, the two were able to tag team the monsters and consign them to oblivion.


    Eliza handled the earth-attributed one while the two S rankers made short work of the remaining lightning-attributed one.


    After this, Evan had a few talks with the town''s leaders, revealing his identity to them before saying he was going to handle the rest of the monsters in the nearby mountain forest.


    Of course, the two S rankers naturally informed him about the Behemoth that attacked those who stepped into its territory, which was scarily close to the Whip Wolves'' domain but Evan told them he would be fine and went along with Eliza.


    Naturally, the Behemoth emerged from its abode when it sensed Evan''s presence, slightly wary of the boy due to his destructionw essence.


    And Evan, having prepared for the monster, brought a lot of things that interested it.


    In return, the Behemoth pummelled all the remaining Whip Wolves and their subordinate monsters to death and made things easier for Evan to retrieve the items he wanted.


    He returned to the town and ''negotiated'' with the merchants, taking the things he wanted in return for giving them back the other stuff that was still intact and had not been destroyed after being deemed useless by the monsters.


    Thankfully for them, most of their stuff were artifacts with energy that the monsters sensed, making them keep those things as they may have had uses for the energy.


    Thus, not many things were destroyed.


    Evan also had them reveal that he was the one responsible for helping take out the monsters and return their stuff when they got to the capital, an indirect way of letting Awhen''s noble authorities know he was within their borders.


    But he was acting as an ''A-Rank Adventurer'', so there was no avenue for any diplomatic problems caused by him as a Foreign Nobleing over unannounced.


    Anyway, as the news spread, a lot of peoplemended him for his actions while a lot more wondered just how he was able to get past the Peak Epic Behemoth.


    While many believed he did a good deed when he was just ''passing by'', Eliza who was with him knew that the whole event was what the boy called a ''Side Quest'' and was the reason he was even in Awhen in the first ce.


    They didn''t need to know this though.


    �� �� ��


    After the little incident in that average town, Evan returned to the Capital of Awhen where he and Eliza began taking on more A-rank adventurer quests.


    Much to the surprise of the Guild, Eliza applied for a rank promotion to S, shocking the officials in charge since they could see from the records in her card that she had only been an A ranker for less than 6 months.


    However, they were also able to see that the girl had met all the requirements for the S rank, be it questpletion rate, or questmissioner rating.


    Her current level of 405 was also higher than the level requirement.


    Eliza was the person in the Anomalies who had the highest number of questspleted, even more so than Evan, Pride and Greedbined.


    And she always left favourable impressions on the questmissioners, so the feedback the guilds had regarding her was always good.


    In light of this, though the resident guild master was surprised, the man was more than happy to promote her to the next rank, and just like he expected, Eliza took on S-rank quests and helped free the quest board, a lot.


    Towards the end, he was scared of just how many quests she undertook and how shepleted them so quickly.


    He understood that she was not alone, but had Evan and the spirit trio assisting him, but even so, the quintet cleared quests with estimatedpletion times of 7 days in just 1 or 2.


    Monster horde extermination quests that required the involved parties to survey the monster territories, analyse the creature''s weaknesses and acquire artifacts to aid in achieving optimal effectiveness as they carefully n to wear down the monsters and take them out without letting any escape and wreak havoc in viges or small towns elsewhere while also maintaining seamlessmunication with the Guild.


    But the Anomalies just pick up the quest, hop on the next train or carriage over and then show up the next morning with dead monster corpses in Evan''s inventory.


    Even when it came to requests from alchemists and magicians to delve deep into monster-filled forests and find strange rare medicinal nts or alchemy ingredients for research, Eliza found all the required things in hours as if the forests were guiding her to their locations (which they actually were).


    No matter how one looked at it, that was scary as hell.


    A and S rank quests weren''t supposed to be cleared so easily!


    In a nutshell, the group passed the remaining time in Awhen racking up questpletions left and right.


    Finally, they returned to the GWE after spending a bit over 2 weeks there.


    Date of urrence: Year 1053, March 20.


    The main reason for their return was that Pride and Greed were finally set toe back to the GWE after spending some extra time in Tarse, courtesy of Greed who wanted to spend some time getting used to his new skill.


    By some twist of fate, the Deadly Sin Sibling duo encountered Arnold''s maid/confidant, Brenda while they were in a random city near the White Sand Desert.

 Chapter 555 Speed Run To Floor 40.

    Greed and Amy didn''t know this but in that same instant, they bumped into Brenda in Austin''s adventurer guild, a certain ck-haired teenager who had her hair tied up into a ponytail with a gold-coloured crown-shaped essory on the right side of her head had also seen them.


    Pride had noticed the girl''s gaze and turned in her direction, locking eyes with her dark grey eyes momentarily before turning back to Greed and Brenda.


    Right after the demon turned back, a golden crest shed in the girl''s eyes for a split second, and she chuckled lightly to herself while muttering something about a certain ''leader being crazy''.


    Date of urrence: Year 1053, March 19.


    After the party reunited on the 21st, they first set their sights on a certain dungeon in the Cloud Piercing Isle, resolving to clear up to the fortieth floor before leaving.


    The reason was that they wanted to boost their levels a little higher in preparation for their adventures in Lacertilia.


    The Countdown to the ''Lair of the Lizard Lord''s'' dungeon break was slowly reaching its end, after all.


    And so, the Anomalies disappeared from the Oak Avenue Manor once more, for nearly four weeks this time.


    They spent 26 days in the tower of trials, fighting hundreds of Level 300+ monsters and eventually crowning it with a Level 410 boss.


    The temptation to carry on was there, but they resisted it and called the Tower Dive to a close, having all increased in strength by a considerable margin.


    Eliza had increased by 16 levels, putting her at Level 421 while Greed was not too far behind at Level 414.


    |Name- Greed


    Race- High Demon


    Gender - Male


    Age - 1352


    Level- 414 (777)


    Existence Level - Grandmaster [Intermediate] (Sovereign)


    Titles- Deadly Sin of Greed, Peak Rank Demon, Ascendant, The One Who Wants All There Is, S-Rank Adventurer, Anomaly, Honorary Baron of the Great Western Empire, Geo de, Earthen Wrath Sessor.


    ss- Terrakic Great Swordsman


    Health �C S- (X2-)


    Energy - S- (X1+)


    Strength �C S (X2+)


    Agility �C S- (X2-)


    Durability �C S- (X2)


    Intelligence - A+ (X1+)


    Condition- Normal.


    Magic Tiers- Earth Tier 6, Fire Tier 4, Wind Tier 5, Lightning Tier 3.


    Skills- Greed Maniption, Emperor of Greed, Power of Wealth, It''s Mine, Burning Barrage, Tar Bomb, Evocation: Covetous Archers, Earth Maniption, Geo de, Crystal Maniption.


    Unique Skills- Incarnation of Greed, Geomantic Wrath. |


    Evan did not know the exact reason, but all of the Seven Deadly Sins always had most of their stats match their existence level, even if the individual stat levels were low.


    Take Greed for example who had his Health Stat to be ''S-'', but was actually just at ''S- Level 20''.


    His strength stat was at ''S Level 70'' though; he was the Deadly Sin sibling with the highest raw strength, after all.


    Date of urrence: Year 1053, April 17.


    �� �� ��


    Adventurer''s Guild Hall


    Dungeon City Merdin


    GWE


    April 19th


    Year 1053


    On this fine morning, a boy walked into the Adventurer''s guild, his demeanour oozing waves of confidence and pride as he walked over to the reception tables.


    He was dressed in light armour made of powerful Master level beast leather and had a sword of mithril on his waist.


    Not many people paid attention to him, other than a few heads that turned upon noticing how young the boy who had just walked in was.


    From his appearance, one could estimate that he was about 13 or 14.


    But when higher-ranked adventurers looked at him, they noticed the strength he held was not the kind people his age were supposed to have.


    That was natural as the boy was clearly a Master level existence.


    His name was Jack.


    Jack was from a low-profile noble family in the GWE and he had undergone various forms of training from as far as he could remember, honing his techniques and mastery with weapons andbat.


    He wasn''t ignorant about the ways of the world either, as his father had made sure he was up to date on current affairs and had taught him how to handle himself outside.


    Ever since he was small, he had always liked adventurer stories and wanted to be a prominent adventurer himself.


    His father agreed to let him do as he pleased, only when he became a Master Level, something he achieved pretty easily given how talented he was.


    And so here he was, ready to be an adventurer and pave his way to greatness.


    Even so, it was kind of hard for someone who was praised for his talents since he was young and had be stronger than some people who were twice his age would not have some level of pride in him.


    Especially as he had an appraisal skill that let him see the levels and ages of people he met, so entering the guild and seeing D rankers who were in their 20s made him feel good about himself.


    He walked up to the counter and greeted the receptionist politely, before stating his reason for being there.


    While she pulled out the necessary forms for him to fill, he decided to appraise her to see her level of strength, and the instant he did, she looked up from her desk and narrowed her eyes at him.


    "Don''t do that to other adventurers. You have no idea who might take offence with you appraising them and pick a fight."


    She spoke as she looked back down at her files, much to the boy''s shock as he hadn''t expected her to detect it.


    But when he looked at the skills that the woman, Martha, possessed, he figured out why.


    ''Instinct, huh?''


    "If the person who takes offence with me is weaker than I am, then they''d be fighting a losing battle. I''m a lot stronger than most lower-ranked adventurers, after all."


    The moment he said that, someone who was turning a quest in at the next counter, another mask-wearing boy who seemed a bit older than him turned and spoke up.


    "And what''s that supposed to mean?"


    Jack turned towards the person and saw that they had a D-rank adventurer card hanging from their neck, and the person also didn''t have that much magic power emanating from his body.


    "Exactly what I said.


    You''re a D ranker, right? Though I''m not yet an adventurer, I''m on the level of a C ranker. I''m stronger than you."


    "This brat! You''re tryna pick a fight?!"


    The person shouted out as he threw a punch towards Jack, one the teenager dodged with ease. The person kept on throwing out more attacks, but they were so sloppy and Jack could dodge them with his eyes closed.


    Eventually, he set out a leg and tripped the masked boy, making him fall on his face while the rest of the guild looked on in silence.


    Feeling the gazes on him, Jack nced around and saw that the gazes of more powerful adventurers who were in the guild''s gallery were now looking towards him, and he didn''t need to appraise them to be able to tell which ones were grandmasters, and those who were above that level.


    He could even see the tinum and mithril adventurer cards either hanging from their necks or in their hands, and that alone spoke volumes.


    ''I wanna be as strong as them in the future.''


    Just as he thought this to himself, something strange happened.


    "Pfft��"


    It started from one random A ranker��


    ""BAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!""


    ��and within seconds a chorus ofughter erupted throughout the guild.


    Jack was naturally dumbfounded by this as he didn''t understand why they wereughing.


    ''It couldn''t be because I tripped this guy, right?''


    "Oh, Eliza''s back!"


    "Hey, Eliza. Your boyfriend''s messing around again!"


    Hearing those two lines amidst the noise, the boy''s confusion only grew as he looked around trying to find whom they were referring to.


    It didn''t take him long though, as a beautiful blonde teenage girl with sapphire eyes that seemed to suck one in appeared in his field of vision.


    However, he was not focused on her beauty, but on the tinum Adventurer Guild Card he held in her hand.


    ''She''s an S Ranker?!''


    Jack was shocked that this girl who was clearly a teenager like him was an S ranker, and for a moment, he doubted If him having C rank level strength even meant anything big.


    The girl spoke to the person beside her, whom Jack didn''t know was the Vice Guild Master, before moving over to the masked boy on the floor, grabbing his hair and pulling him up.


    "Stop ying around Evan, our train''s leaving soon."


    "Hahaha��I just wanted to be on the other end of this scenario for once."


    The boy spoke with a shortugh as he got to his feet and dusted his clothes, before turning to Jack and continuing.


    "I expected you to at least throw a punch in retaliation, you know? I even had a list of reactions lined up."


    As he spoke, he held up his hand and a small 50 cm wide ck opening materialized in mid-air, which he dipped his hand into and pulled out another adventurer guild card.


    He removed the D rank card hanging from his neck and reced it with this newly appearing, Golden card.


    ''Gold? That''s for A rankers! He''s an A Ranker?!''

 Chapter 556 And So The Trip Begins…

    Jack eximed internally in surprise as he saw the card the boy was now wearing, and perhaps seeing his surprise reflected in his expression the boy chuckled lightly.


    "His circumstances are so simr to mine, and he even has an Appraisal skill too. The only difference is he didn''t punch the person who attacked him while I did."


    The boy removed the mask on his face and tossed it into the ck opening in the air along with the D rank card he held while saying words that caught Jack''s attention.


    ''I have an Appraisal skill ''too''? Meaning he has one himself?''


    Jack had appraised the boy the instant he was spoken to and he did not see anything of the sort, but when he appraised the boy again after he said that, what he saw shocked him shitless.


    ''Level��299? Age 14?! We''re the same age!! And his Existence level is Undefined? What does that even mean?!''


    "...just who are you?"


    Jack could not help but mutter out that question, to which the boy scratched his head lightly before replying.


    "My name''s Evan, but you should have been able to see that with your skill, right?"


    It was then that Jack focused on the other parts of the boy''s status and saw his name, his titles and his stats, all things that made his jaw drop in shock.


    "Seriously Evan, you do the strangest things."


    "Oh, you''re making me feel shy."


    "That wasn''t apliment!"


    "Hahahaha!!"


    Such a ridiculous chatter went on why Jack was too busy being surprised that the same Evan Eris he had been seeing in his father''s newspapers was the person standing right in front of him.


    "Evan, you do realise we''d be three dayste if we miss this train, right?"


    "Oh, shit. You''re right!"


    Evan quickly ran up to the counter toplete the quest turning-in process he was handling before this little fiasco.


    While he was doing so, he was doing so, he chatted with the receptionist who had pulled out the adventurer registration forms for Jack��the same person who handled his registration in Merdin two years ago.


    "You''re leaving Merdin today? That''s sudden."


    "Not just Merdin. We''re leaving the GWE."


    "Again?"


    "Again indeed. We venture into other territories again."


    Another adventurer he was friends with and was also at a nearby counter overheard their conversation and asked their destination.


    "The Country we have set course for is the home of one of the members of the f-"


    "Stop being unnecessarily dramatic."


    Eliza cut him off mid-speech before turning to the other adventurer and replying.


    "We''re going to the Beast Kingdom."


    "Oh�� I see."


    "Yes! I received a calling from Delyan''s Dungeons!"


    Evan carried on with his overly dramatic reply while giving a location that was on the opposite half of the part of the Beast Kingdom they were going to.


    "All done. See you guys next time I''m in the GWE. Try not to die in the Graveyard."


    "That''s number two on my list of worst farewell greetings I''ve ever heard!"


    "Huh? But I wanted to be number one!"


    Eliza dragged the boy out of the Guild while he kept up the silly banter with some other random adventurer.


    "Anyway, bye Miss Martha. Bye, the rest of you nameless mobs."


    "Did he just call us mobs?!"


    "Yes, I di-"


    Evan did not get a chance toplete his words as Eliza had closed the guild hall doors, cutting him off in the process.


    Anyway, the young hero stopped messing around and boarded their already waiting carriage, heading to the train station where Pride, Greed and the spirits were already waiting.


    He walked in on the scene of Greed flirting with one of the waitresses in the station restaurant they were waiting in, inadvertently putting an end to his actions as he had to leave for his train.


    It most certainly wasn''t because he was scared Pride would use her ability to ''delete'' his mouth from his face.


    They checked in with their First-ss tickets, arranging them in the order they would need them as they were going to be needing a different ticket for each station they stopped at.


    [Train M-C04191 on the Merdin-Cheart Route will soon arrive. All waiting passengers, please stand behind the yellow line.]


    The announcement came just as they were done checking in and the party made their way over to the tform to join the remaining waiting passengers.


    Looking at the tform, Evan could not help but shake his head with a wry smile on his face. No matter how many times he saw it, it still looked amazing.


    ''And to think all this construction was finished in just 3 months��''


    An arched roof rose high above the canyon created by the cracks while the yellow line mentioned in the earlier announcement stood out in contrast with the dull silver-coloured steel floors.


    A steam whistle suddenly rang out, preceding the appearance of the massive lotive-like machine, ushered in by sounds of grinding metal.


    It was quite enormous, and the wind stirred by its passing buffeted everyone on the tform, whipping quite a lot ofdies and a few men''s hairs in the breeze.


    Eventually, it stopped right in front of the First-ss tform, with exceedingly tall almost oppressive ck painted cars.


    Going by size alone, the train looked like someone had put wheels on a two-storey building, or they reworked a triple-decker bus and made it run on tracks.


    [This is a Boarding Announcement for Train M-C04191 to Cheart. All checked-in passengers are to proceed to the Train for boarding.]


    With the announcement as a cue, the party entered onto the train and passed their tickets to the attendants who guided them to their Cabins.


    They had chosen to stay on the right side of the train, whichmanded a lovely view of the horizon across the ins between the Merdin-Cheart Rail route.


    The train''s interior was quite luxurious, with tasteful marble stairs and unblemished white walls that let the intricatemps positioned at regr intervals light the car brilliantly.


    A plush red carpet spread over the floor, and the doorways had fine woodwork along the edges of their frames.


    The attendant gave them their opened the cabin and gave them the key card, informing them about the dining hall and other facilities on the upper floor before leaving.


    [This one''s cooler than the one in the capital!]


    Ka remarked happily as she flew over to the panoramic window that offered an elevated view of the tform, and Evan was sure the view would be unreal when the train moved.


    Leather couches and side tables set along the windows furnished the room, and they could also see the doors that led to the bedrooms nearby.


    "This is basically a house��"


    Eliza muttered as she took a nce into the rooms, her words being something that the other concurred with.


    "When these new trains are circted more and begin full service, the price is gonna spike! I wonder if I can buy some stocks in thepany."


    Greed made a statement that was very much like him whilst Pride was already at the small tabletop bookshelf, looking through the novels there to see if there was anyone she had not read.


    Several bottled beverages were lined up on the shelf, each sold separately. Unsurprisingly, they were all quite expensive.


    Apart from the drinks, there were also price lists, route maps, railroad-rted documents, famous stories, and holy books on the shelves, but Pride had colonised all the famous stories there.


    As for Evan, the boy was picking one of the strawberry-voured non-alcoholic wines and pouring a ss for himself while he rxed on the window couch.


    [This is a Final Boarding Announcement for Train M-C04191 to Cheart. Departure wouldmence in ten minutes.]


    A bit of time had passed as they toured their cabin, and it was getting close to departure time.


    That time eventually passed and the departure announcement rang out, along with a little warning about items shifting due to the sudden movement and advice for passengers to grab the nearest handrails if necessary.


    "It truly is the most delicious when you''re looking at moving scenery."


    Evan who had already ordered a full meal during his wait spoke as he listened to the increasing tempo of the train that was moving at a speed uncharacteristic of something asrge as it was.


    ''It''s magic��''


    The boy chalked it up to that as he saw nearby objects pass so swiftly that he could not even get a good look at them before speeding past.


    Within a few minutes, Merdin had been left behind and the train sped into the Inter-Province routes. While the rails themselves were well-maintained by work crews, anything outside the railbed was the territory of animals and monsters, though the size and sound of the vehicle helped startle wayward animals off the tracks.


    Pouring more wine into his ss, Evan raised a toast to himself as he revelled in the joy of travelling.


    And so began the Anomalies'' eventful trip to the Beast Kingdom, where two Executives of the Demonic Hand and a certain weakened Giant Lizard Lay in wait.

 Chapter 557 What Are The Odds? I

    State Hotel


    Zest Station City


    Gross


    April 25th


    Year 1053


    Eliza woke up to find herself wrapped in Evan''s arms. Her still drowsy gaze moved over to the wall clock and saw it was just 7 a.m. in the morning, a time that filled her with the temptation to shut her eyes once more.


    But upon remembering that they were supposed to catch a train in a few hours, the girl''s desire to sleep quickly escaped her body.


    For the time being, she had to break free from Evan''s embrace, but even as she tried twisting her body to do so, the boy''s arms only tightened around hers.


    She was so close to him that she could hear his heart beating, his body being a long line of heat against hers.


    Eventually, she gave up and pped the boy''s arms to wake him up.


    "Evan, wake up already."


    Finally, the boy slowly roused and peeled open his eyes, looking around him for a moment before turning his gaze to the girl in his arms.


    "Huh?...Liz?"


    Evan''s voice, still husky with sleep, was one Eliza found to still be exuding an entirely egregious amount of sex appeal.


    But those thoughts flew out of her head when the boy suddenly tightened his hold on her even further��the exact opposite of the reason she woke him up.


    "Let go of me."


    "Okay��"


    Despite his reply, he didn''t show any signs of loosening his hold on her even by the slightest bit.


    "Evan��."


    "Five more minutes. Hugging you feels good."


    Eliza felt her face grow hot after hearing Evan''s words and for a moment, she felt it would be okay to let him have his fill.


    "Enough already. Get off me��"


    Atst, Evan loosened his hold on her, enough to allow her to wriggle free herself. She was just about to do that when something warm pressed against her cheek.


    "Huh?"


    Turning to look at Evan with slight surprise, she met with the boy''s drowsy gaze that had a bit of displeasure in them.


    "You turned your face away too fast."


    Just as her brainputed that he had intended to kiss her elsewhere, Evan''s palms held the sides of her face and pulled her in closer for another kiss, one much deeper than he originally intended.


    "Good morning."


    Satisfied with his not-so-sneaky attack, he then casually offered his morning greetings and got up from the bed, yawning lightly as he walked out of the bedroom.


    The scene he met upon exiting the bedroom and entering the suite''s living room, was that of Pride in the exact same position he had left her the previous night.


    She sat on the floor, her back rested on the couch in the midst of a sprawling heap of books. Though she looked a bit dishevelled, that in itself gave her a different kind of allure when coupled with her overall beauty.


    Her blood-red eyes, standing out vividly against her dark hair, darted from one end of the book In her hands to another, an action that repeated as many times as there were lines on a page.


    *SNAP!


    Evan who had learnt from experience not to disturb the High Demon whenever she got like that, was busy making his strawberry-voured tea when heard the sound of a book snapping shut.


    He turned around to see Pride drop the book in her hands atop the pile of books on her right side before picking up one from the pile on her left.


    "You sure you''re gonna be able to finish that on time? Our Train''s by 11 am."


    Pride raised a brow upon hearing his words, turning her gaze to the wall clock and seeing it at a few minutes past seven.


    "More than enough time."


    Leaving that one line, she opened the book��thest instation in the series she had been binging since the previous night and started reading, Evan''s cue to stop talking as she certainly wasn''t gonna be listening.


    He went back to his tea making, also setting out a cup for Eliza with normal milk tea in it which the girl silently picked up as she entered the Living room a few minutester.


    "Where''s Greed?"


    "Can''t sense him in his room.


    He probably spent the night at the Casino again."


    Evan made a frighteningly urate guess of the High Demon''s location, saying a silent prayer to all those whom he had scammed over the night.


    The Casino Manager included.


    ''Even if the game is rigged for him to lose, he still wins. Scary shit.''


    After their morning tea, the group took their baths and freshened up before going down to the hotel-casino to pull Greed out of there, an action that had the Casino Manager thanking them with tears in his eyes.


    It made Evan wonder for a moment just how much money the high demon made them lose in a single night.


    They then moved over to the game room where the Spirits were, spending some time there whilst Greed sat in a corner to count all his winnings from the previous few night''s agenda.


    The group might as well have stayed in the hotel for free as the amount of money Greed won from the Casino was nearly five times the fees they paid, and considering they booked multiple suites��one could only imagine how much it was.


    Next on their agenda was breakfast, and this was a service that came tacked on with their rooms, and surprisingly, Pride was already at the dining hall, all freshened up when they arrived.


    After the breakfast session, they all decided to spend the rest of their time in the dining hall, awaiting their train''s boarding call since it wasn''t estimated to be too far off.


    As for why the train station''s announcements were made at the hotel dining, that was because this hotel was also owned by the Continental Railroad Service and was built solely to amodate tourists travelling by train.


    Evan could sense a variety of auras in the dining hall, those that seemed as weak as that of a baby''s and those that he''d be hard-pressed to think weren''t from Sovereign Level existences.


    He got to his feet to have a quick look at the features he hadn''t really focused on in the past two days, passing by multiple booths with guests of various races and ages.


    As he was passing by one of such booths, he overheard a little conversation with some women who were at a loss on how to use the new drink fountain machine that was installed at the edge of the booth.


    Since it was something he had little to no problems with, Evan decided to pitch in and offer some help.


    But the instant he took a step towards the booth in question, he felt a strange wave of energy wash over him, and he felt like he had just passed some kind of barrier.


    His danger sense skill activated and rang rms in his head, telling him to ''Get the fuck outta there'' as fast as he could.


    At that same moment, one of the women on the table turned in his direction, her eyes widening slightly upon seeing Evan.


    "You noticed it? You have sharp senses."


    Evan also had his eyes widen in surprise, for a variety of reasons, ranging from the fact that he recognized this beast woman to the level of power and authority she held.


    Ignoring the half-dozen other gazes that bore into his body from the moment he passed that ''barrier'', he calmly walked up to the table and showed them how to use the drink fountain like he originally intended to.


    "Oh, so that''s how it works."


    "The magi-technology level advances quite fast these days."


    Upon hearing the second voice that spoke up, one that evoked a strange sense of nostalgia within him, Evan turned towards the speaker with his eyes widening in surprise once more.


    "Grandmother?!"


    The word escaped his lips inadvertently and the woman turned towards Evan, an expression of surprise colouring her face, which then blossomed into a smile as she reached out for Evan and spoke.


    "Oh my, it''s Little Evan.


    How are you?"


    This was the first time Evan was meeting the former duchess since he came to Aidos, but perhaps because of Evansen''s memories, he didn''t feel strange at all.


    Perhaps it was because he never knew his grandparents on Earth V, the woman''s weing demeanour, or perhaps a mix of both, but Evan didn''t have any qualms calling her ''Grandmother'', contrary to how he refrained from addressing Duke Roger as ''Father''.


    "I am fine, Grandmother.


    And seeing as you''re still of the habit of calling your descendants: ''Little'', I''m d to see you''re still the same as ever."


    Evan replied as the woman pulled him to sit down, their little conversation attracting the attention of the others at the table.


    "Huh? He''s your grandson, Penelope?"


    "Hoh��to think young Roger''s little boy is all grown up now."


    ''Why do they always have to tack on the prefix of ''little''.''

 Chapter 558 What Are The Odds? II

    ?


    ''Why do they always have to tack on the prefix of ''little''.''


    His internal question may have shown on his face as the beast woman who had initially noticed Evan spoke up to her friends concerning that same issue right after.


    "He''s a big boy now, don''t call him ''little'' so much. He doesn''t seem to like it either."


    All things considered; Evan knew he could only be seen as ''little'' from their perspectives anyway, especially from that of the beast woman who just spoke.


    ''What are the odds��''


    Evan was headed towards the Cerul Duchy, arguably the most powerful territory in the entire Beast Kingdom, save for Goras where ''Beast King'' Kolvar was from.


    And now right in front of him, was that same Beast King''s mother-inw, the Duchess of Cerul and one of the nation''s ''Living Legends''��Luisa Maan Cerul.


    He also recognized the other woman who called him ''little'' from the game, a Peak Epic Level on the cusp of attaining Living Legend Status��Imma Ariadne Randall, mother of the Great Eastern Empire''s current First Star General.


    She was also a retired noble like Penelope, having relinquished her title to her son''s wife at the same time her husband passed over his ''First Star General'' title.


    That was done partially for the same reason why Luke kept his power suppressed most of the time, one of the regtions that ''The Five'' put in ce to keep those with Legendary Level power and above in check.


    �� �� ��


    While Evan was chatting with the women at one end of the dining hall, Eliza who was wondering where he was after their train''s scheduled arrival had been announced, came looking for him.


    It wasn''t hard for her to locate him though, as the boy''s life sign was one that she could single out amidst even a hundred thousand others, so she found him quickly, along with multiple other presences she found familiar.


    "Evan, what are you doing he��r��e"


    Her words trailed off towards the end, not because of the barrier she noticed, but because of the two familiar faces on the table.


    "Hmm? Matt''s daughter."


    "Auntie Lu!"


    Eliza eximed with a bit of surprise and joy as she jumped into the arms of the Beast Kingdom''s Duchess and hugged her tightly, much to her boyfriend''s shock as he had never even imagined the possibility of Eliza being close enough to Lu��sa, enough to call her by a pet name.


    Luisa also hugged her back and patted her back lightly with a smile on her face.


    "With how overprotective of you Matt is, I doubted he''d have let you out so easily."


    In response to her words, Eliza scratched her hair lightly, her gaze wandering about as she spoke.


    "Eh��well��. I may have��kinda snuck out."


    "Snuck out?"


    "Snuck out."


    Luisa blinked multiple times whilst staring at Eliza with a dumbfounded gaze as the girl echoed her words. For a moment, she remembered exactly how protective of her the teenager''s father and grandfather were, and just could not fathom how Eliza managed to achieve the feat of sneaking out undetected.


    ''I bet they probably noticed but just let her go.''


    That was the only logical conclusion the woman could draw as she knew Alden Kaur wasn''t one to so easily let his favoured eldest granddaughter out of his sight.


    "I see��so little Eli only remembers her Auntie Lu, huh?"


    "Ah! No! I didn''t forget you, Auntie Penny."


    More so than anyone, Evan was once again left with another shock upon discovering Eliza was close to his grandmother, and enough to call her with a nickname at that.


    [This is a Boarding Announcement for Train Z-A04251 to Arnward. All checked-in passengers are to proceed to the Train for boarding.]


    "That''s us, right?"


    "Indeed, it is."


    The train boarding announcements brought their conversations to a close as they had to leave, bidding fare well to the older women who were going a different direction and moving over to the Train''s tform.


    On the way, Evan asked Eliza how she happened to be familiar with all the women who were on the table and she simply said that they were friends of her father and grandmother who came over to visit ''asionally''.


    This once again made pushed Evan to confront the issue of Eliza''s family whom he had all but figured out but was greatly confused as things differed far too much from how they were in the game.


    Bluntly speaking, if Eliza''s father was who Evan believed he was, then Eliza wasn''t supposed to exist as from what he knew, that person''s wife should have been murdered by Dominik Vk years ago.


    There was the option of a remarriage but then Eliza would not address George Kaur as her ''Uncle'' if that was the case.


    Leaving Eliza''s confusing family matters aside, the group''s journey continued for the rest of the month without issue, and they crossed borders into the Beast Kingdom''s Arnward Station City which also doubled as a Border City with zero problems.


    After Arnward, they took another train to a nearby city before temporarily putting an end to their train trips as Evan wanted to see if he could retrieve an item from one of the nearby towns that was not along the train routes.


    �� �� ��


    South Town Gate


    Damerel


    Alpha Continent''s Beast Kingdom


    May 1st


    Year 1053


    The town of Damerel was one of the numerous average-sized towns situated in the North Central parts of the Beast kingdom.


    The majority of this town''s adventurers were within D and C ranks, with the cream of the crop being the B-rank level adventurers, many of whom were at the peak of that rank.


    As for A rankers? The town had very few, and most of them were usually taking long-term quests that required them to travel for extended periods.


    This left only a measly six A-rank levelbatants in the town, the knight order and police force included in this.


    These six had their work cut out for them when an Iron Scaled Cobalt Bone Ape suddenly emerged from the forest with thousands of weaker B and C-rank monsters following it, attacking the town with a crazed frenzy.


    They teamed up to eliminate a good chunk of the weaker monsters, lightening the burden of the B rankers before heading over to where the Cobalt Bone ape was and engaging it inbat.


    Against the higher levelled opponent, they took advantage of their higher numbers and were able to secure victory, but unfortunately, Iron Scaled mutants of the Cobalt Bone Apes were types that moved in pairs.


    Something these A rankers did not know.


    This was precisely why they never expected a sudden barrage of swirling water projectiles that surged towards them at sonic speed, crashing onto their bodies and exploding in a controlled torrent of liquid force that left them all disoriented due to the forceful impact of water.


    This was when the ''Combatant'' of the Iron Scaled Mutant duo made its appearance, weapon encased in a thick aura and primed to deliver fatal blows to all six of them.


    But right before I could begin its ughter, it sensed danger and was just barely able to look up just in time to see the t side of a great sword smack it in the face, with the strike containing enough force to send its massive 15-metre-tall body flying through the air in a clean parabolic arc.


    Before it could even get up, it sensed three other dangerous presences attacking it from multiple directions, quickly making the decision to channel magic power through its arm and into the ground.


    The earth cracked open and multiple geysers of hot steaming pressurized water shot up into the air, forming a circr barrier around its body.


    Sadly, this hastily casted Tier 2 spell did not deter its assants even the slightest bit.


    A sword and spear came piercing towards it from its both nks, whilst a massive sword sh cleaved down from its front.


    The Ape conjured magic shields to block the two side attacks, and then picked up its auraden great sword and stopped the third from which it sensed the most danger.


    Just as it barely seeded in stopping the obsidian ck de that was just short of cutting through its own sword, it was suddenly ovee with a sense of weakness and its strength escaped its body.


    "Life Energy Draining Prison."


    Those dangerous-sounding words reached its ears and it tried running away from its current position, but its body''s strength had been sapped by an unknown force, it was not as fast as it usually was.


    And so, it was encased in a prison of green light that sucked out its Health Values like a Vampire sucking a human''s blood.


    "mes of Hubris."


    The surrounding temperature suddenly increased and the monster retaliated on instinct, swinging out its sword in the direction of the heat source and shing with a de coated in bright white mes that gave off a somewhat ''holy'' aura.


    It quickly pulled back its sword and struck out in one breath, shing with the white me-coated sword again multiple times over.

 Chapter 559 To Lacertilia?

    Though it could barely keep up with that sword, it had to deal with the attacks of the other three at the same time, something it could barely achieve at full power, much less in its weakened state.


    Be it the swirling mass of red ice that made it feel pain in its very soul, or the white mes that cut through its scales like butter, the huge great sword that seemed to increase in force with each consecutive hit, or the spear that sent out sharp waves of greenish energy, none of the four''s attacks were things the monster could handle.


    What''s more, the party of four also aimed their attacks in ways that even though they missed the Ape, they still mowed down dozens of monsters in its army.


    The Cobalt Bone Ape tried running, but the gaping sh wound it received the instant it turned its back showed that running was not exactly an option for it.


    The suit-d great sword wielder closed in the distance, stomping on the monster''s foot with a ridiculous amount of strength, before spinning around in a full circle and mming the front of the monster''s knee with the t side of his de.


    Its knee bones shattered and the other nearby bones bent in disconcerting angles, eliciting a scream of anguish from the monster''s lips.


    Its other leg was attacked from behind with a singr horizontal sh that severed the limb in two, with its knee acting as the divisor.


    While saying something about how the other two aimed at its knees, the spear wielder thrust out her weapon straight through the back of the monster''s chest with a strike so powerful that it emerged from the other side.


    She then created a four-pronged grapple with ice before pulling the polearm out of the monster''s body, the grapple tearing through flesh and bone alike.


    And then to end the monster''s misery, the fourth member of the party leapt into the air and thrust his sword coated in a whirling spiral-shaped mass of reddish gold magic power that shredded its head to a bloodied chunk of meat and bone.


    This was the scene met by the C & B rank fighters who had seeded in chasing the monster that had been relieved from the control of the Cobalt Blue Apes back to the forest.


    Upon getting closer to the party, they were able to identify them as the ''Anomalies'' a fairly famous party they had seen a couple of times in the ''Foreign News'' sections of their newspapers starting from an Undead Crisis that had apparently urred in the Western part of the Alpha continentst year.


    They were known to be a party with both humans and spirits in it, and each one of them was a ''Titled'' adventurer and was far more famous than some more powerful S rankers on the Continent.


    "That kid''s the one they call ''Irregr''?"


    "Yeah��it''s definitely him��he has those strange eyes after all."


    "So, he''s the human hero who became popr recently, huh?"


    "They say he''s the youngest A-rank adventurer in the world."


    "For real?"


    "Yeah��didn''t you just see him kill that rare monster? So strong, and he''s not even in his mid-teens yet."


    "Nah. I know he''s young but he''s not THAT young."


    The Adventurer''s guild monster handlers chatted among themselves as they dismantled the corpses of the monsters that had just been defeated whilst the teenager whose power they were discussing was standing atop the Cobalt Blue monster''s torso in silence.


    Seeing this, his girlfriend who was nearby had her eyes sh with realisation, prompting her to activate her barrier skill instantly and imbue a sound istion effect into it.


    A translucent cube-shaped barrier of light surrounded the boy''s body, a second before he screamed out in annoyance.


    "WHY AM I NOT GRANMASTER YET!"


    The truth of the matter was that the teenager was not the ''Youngest Grandmaster'' that people believed he was.


    On this day that marked exactly one year after the Cheverton Undead Crisis, the ''Second'' of the New Generation Seven Heroes, known widely as the ''Irregr'' Evan: was still Level 299.


    And it was something he certainly wasn''t happy about.


    "Didn''t you say you needed some evolution catalyst?"


    "Yes. A Freakin'' Dragon''s Heart! And not from any run-of-the-mill dragon either!"


    Evan hunched over, burying his face in his hands, all the while persisting in hisints.


    "At this rate, we''re definitely gonna meet the Hidden Boss."


    Though Eliza didn''t know what this ''Hidden Boss'' that he spoke of was, she silently walked over to him and patted his back to console him a bit.


    And when the reoriented Guild Master and the other A rankers came over, Evan quickly adjusted his bearing, jumping down from the corpse and speaking to them with his usual casual attitude.


    He informed them of a few of the Iron Scaled Cobalt Bone Ape''s characteristics for future purposes, before taking his party and venturing into the forest that the monsters emerged from.


    Sadly, he did not find the hidden cave he was after and neither did he find the artifact that was supposed to be within it, making his mood sour as he left the forest with no hauls.


    And in the same manner that they arrived, they left Damerel and headed to the nearest big city, using the teleportation waypoints to get over to the closest Station City and took a direct train to Slosbert.


    From Slosbert, they were to take another train and drop off mid-way near Lacertilia.


    Unfortunately, that train was dyed by two days due to the sudden harsh weather conditions and a little bit of rail damage it caused.


    They managed to get on the train on the 4th of May, but contrary to their expectations, their trip did not turn out to be as smooth as they would have wanted.


    �� �� ��


    Train SC-05052


    Slosbert-Lacertilia Rail Route


    Beast Kingdom


    May 5th


    Year 1053


    "Among you seven, who''s she the closest to?"


    Evan posed that question to Greed while gesturing towards Pride who was cooped up in one corner of the cabin, buried in a pile of books as always.


    He, Greed, and Eliza were chatting after breakfast and their conversation somehow entered the topic of siblings, which then led to Evan asking this question.


    Although the siblings were quite close, he felt that each of them should still have that one person that they favoured more than the others.


    Eliza concurred with this, stating that she was closer with her immediate younger sister than she was with the rest of her siblings.


    And so with the ball in the Deadly Sin Siblings'' court, Greed gave a short rundown on how the Seven of them rted to one another.


    "It''s quite simple really. A Trio and two Duos.


    Sloth, Wrath and I make up the Trio."


    "Huh? Wrath?"


    Unlike Evan who had memories of a thousand years ago, or Greed who was his sibling, Eliza could only imagine what Wrath looked like, based on her impressions of Pride and Greed, and her imagination of Wrath was someone who''d seem like he was about to blow his top 24/7.


    That didn''t seem to be the kind of person she could see Greed being close to.


    And when she exined this to Greed, the High demon only chuckled lightly before replying.


    "I get. But Wrath''s a pretty chill guy. Normally, he can be as calm as Pride.


    However, when he starts using his power and goes into Berserker state��you can pretty much imagine the rest."


    "That so��"


    "That is so. Anyway, Sloth, Wrath and I make up ''the three'', Envy and Gluttony are like two peas in a pod."


    Evan remembered the memory gem that Gavin showed him sometimest year and nodded to himself in affirmation as he could see that those two were close from the way the two interacted with each other.


    "And then Miss Bookworm over there is best friends with Lust."


    The second duo was a bit surprising as when one thought about the incarnations of the sins of ''Lust'' and ''Pride'' on a normal basis, they would most certainly expect that Pride might hate Lust or something of the sort.


    But in these siblings'' case, Pride and Lust were like two halves of a whole. Same likes and dislikes, the same hobbies, a lot of simr habits and so on.


    One of the very few differences was while Pride was the ''serious'' and ''no-nonsense'' type, Lust was more of the ''yful'' and id-back'' type.


    Just as Evan was about to open his mouth to speak, he, along with the other three in the room suddenly turned their gazes to the side, and in the moment that followed, Evan sensed three different things.


    The first was through his connection with Ka, a wave of annoyance that instantly changed to anger.


    Second was a mass of magic power building up in one of the train''s cars, andstly��


    **BOOMM!!


    A sudden explosion rang out, sending shockwaves reverberating through the train''s metal structure, making it shudder violently.

 Chapter 560 The Hijacking I

    ?


    A few minutes earlier.


    Since the Train''s departure from Slosbert, the journey had been smooth with noplications, technical or otherwise.


    The gentle hum of the conversations of the passengers seated on the rows of plush, cushioned seats that stretched down the economy ss cars mingled with the rhythmic tter of the wheels on the track, creating a backdrop of tranquil movement.


    Unfortunately, this tranquillity was broken when a group of people suddenly got up from their seats and grabbed random civilian passengers, holding up swords and daggers infused with energy to their necks and shouting out.


    "Listen up! Don''t even think about resisting, all right?!!


    With this many hostages, we don''t give a damn if we lose one or two of you!!"


    Panic rippled through the previously calm passengers, reced by a tense silence and wide-eyed fear.


    The hijackers'' harshmands and aggressive gestures sent waves of dread through the bodies of most who heard as they tried to corral all the passengers to the back of each car.


    And to make matters worse, some of the hijackers were quite strong, exuding auras on par with weaker A-rank adventurers.


    Naturally, there weren''t just civilians on the train, but adventurers and others with sufficient levels of strength, however, their hands were tied as the hijackers had each gotten their hands on a civilian whom they held as a hostage, rendering any direct intervention perilous.


    In one of the cars, a Pdin present wanted to take action, but the moment he saw the dagger glide across the scared elderly woman''s skin, he stopped in his tracks, knowing fully well that he would not be able to reach the assant faster than he could end that woman''s life.


    Simr dilemmas confronted others who attempted to intervene in other cars and had them at a loss.


    A few tried to talk the hijackers into freeing the civilian hostages who were probably not rted to their goals but the hijackers weren''t stupid enough to do that.


    Their leader barked out some orders before taking the stronger ones with levels around the 300 range up to the First-ss cabins whilst the others were sent to round up the other passengers in the other cars.


    Going into the other cars with weapons drawn and grabbing a few civilians as hostages, they were able to easily round up the others and prevent the stronger people on the train who held regard for the hostages'' lives from doing anything.


    The group sent to the Dining Car reached it to find that it was nearly empty, save for a few staff and a couple of children with their pet.


    However, the moment one of the hijackers who was an elf walked in, he instantly realised that these seemingly innocuous ''children'' were, in truth, spirits. And seeing that they were fully humanoid, they had to be at least high-ranked ones.


    If the spirits suddenly returned to their immaterial bodies and became invisible to the naked eye, then things would be a lot harder for them as they would have to deal with a bunch of invisible opponents.


    So he acted pre-emptively, unleashing his magic power and casting binding spells to restrain the spirits before they could even shift forms.


    "Stonehold Grasp!"


    Dozens of two-ringed earth magic circles appeared in the air around the two spirits, from which bands of earthen energy emerged from within, snaking around their bodies with remarkable strength.


    The bindings solidified, turning into restraints that pressed against their bodies tightly and prevented any movements.


    [Huh?]


    [??]


    The two spirits, who were naturally Ka and Amy, were naturally dumbfounded as in one moment they were enjoying theirte breakfast and in the next, a bunch of strange people just barged in and used magic to restrain them.


    It''d be stranger if they weren''t confused.


    But amidst their confusion, the spell continued its work, coiling around their bodies multiple times over, knocking out everything in their hands and sending them tumbling onto the floor in the process.


    And that didn''t exactly bode well with Ka.


    Her eyes glowed with golden light and the room''s temperature suddenly surged, this was followed by waves of heat that melted the sturdy bands of earth wrapping around her body and turned them into blobs of molten rock that dripped to the floor.


    The hijackers who were looking at their elvenpanion in confusion a moment earlier, pivoted to a heightened state of alertness and cast wary gazes at the spirits.


    "Dude!"


    "The heck is going on here?!"


    However, this drew the attention of the group in the car next to theirs who rushed over to see the situation. Sadly, these ones weren''t as patient as the Elf''s group members.


    "A bunch of ki-wait! Their auras!!"


    "Boss said to kill anyone who tries to resist, no matter who!!"


    "Wait! Don''t, they''re-"


    Words didn''t get through to these ones and they attacked with magic immediately, utilizing lightning magic spells and aiming straight for the head.


    But for a reason they could not understand, it was as if the spells they unleashed just phased through the previously annoyed��now angry Ka and hit the wall of the dining car behind her.


    **BOOMM!!


    With a deafening noise, the wall exploded into a cascade of molten sparks and twisted metal fragments, the force of the st sending shrapnel flying in all directions.


    [How dare you?!]


    Ka''s enraged voice echoed through the car; the magic energy infused within it shattering the spell circles that the hijackers who attacked her had formed.


    Following this was the sound of crackling lightning as in an instant, seven bolts of condensed supercharged lightning ripped through the air and pierced all the hijackers in the room, save the elf, straight through the heart.


    After the bolts pierced through their chests and emerged from their backs, they re-entered the men''s bodies from the backs of their heads and burst out from their foreheads without a second''s dy.


    The elven man''s eyes widened upon seeing hispanions drop dead beside him, fear gripping his body as he weakly dropped to his knees.


    ''��perhaps��I made a bad call��''


    Those were hisst thoughts right before his shadow came alive and grabbed his arms, before pulling his entire body into its dark depths.


    [Did you capture that one, Kuro?]


    [Yes. I also shielded the staff. No harm came to them from the explosion.]


    The cat that the hijackers had assumed was a pet, Shadow Spirit Kuro, replied to Ka before using magic to create a wall of darkness that covered the gaping hole that now marred the car''s body��a temporary measure until someone who could make something better with another element came over.


    [But, Lady Ka. Couldn''t you have just blocked that attack?]


    [Geh! Don''t try to push the me on me! I was pissed, okay?!


    It''s one thing if they knocked my food out of my hand��sure it''s annoying but that''s about it. But who wouldn''t get angry if they were suddenly attacked out of the blue like that?! Something like blocking it didn-]


    ''Ka, Kuro, where are you two?''


    Evan''s voice that suddenly rang out in both spirit''s heads her words short halfway. Kuro simply informed their contractor of their location and the situation, as well as his intention to get information out of the Elf who had been captured.


    �� �� ��


    Right after the sudden explosion that urred in the dining car, Evan and Eliza quickly moved to check out the situation while leaving Pride and Greed upstairs in case anything happened there.


    While Eliza went down using the proper stairs, Evan chose an unorthodox means to get to the lower deck of the train.


    He turned his gaze towards the window and activated his blink skill, teleporting right out of the train and appearing beside it.


    Naturally, gravity didn''t hesitate to pull him down towards the ground. Still, he kept his gaze on the train, so the instant the interior of the lower deck came into his field of vision, he teleported once more.


    He scanned the car with his gaze and saw the hostage situation in one nce, picking a spot right in between two of the hijackers who were holding civilians hostage and teleporting right there.


    "Wha-?"


    *CHINK!


    The man could not even finish letting out an astonished voice upon sensing Evan''s presence suddenly manifesting behind him when his entire arms were encased in a thickyer of ice.


    Seeing this opening, the Pdin who had been watching them closely instantly sprung into action, knocking the hijacker''s frozen arm away and freeing the elderly woman whom he was holding.


    As for the other, an adventurer who was on board also took action to save them from their now half-frozen captor.


    Evan then turned his gaze towards the car door where two of the hijackers who were leaving to go check on the situation in the car where the sudden explosion rang out from.

 Chapter 561 The Hijacking II

    ?


    These hijackers quickly turned back upon sensing an extra presence that preceded their allies'' pained cries, but they could not even do anything as Evan''s skill activation was just too fast.


    A frigid cold swept through the room and the bodies of the two were quickly covered in ice from the sole of their feet all the way up to their necks.


    With over 85% of their bodies encased in his ice, it was a walk in the park for Evan to induce negative temperatures that reduced their bodies'' core temperatures, leading to hypothermia; and by the time Evan had walked up to them, they had lost consciousness.


    After this, he withdrew the frigid air that covered the room and used his mes to release a wave of heat to warm everyone else up.


    The passengers huddled up on the other side of the train were initially taken aback at how young the boy who hade to their rescue was, but that quickly got out of the way as voices of gratitude started echoing, only stopping when the other adventurers calmed them down lest they attract the attention of the hijackers in the other cars.


    "A Pdin? Oh, Canis'' Church."


    "Yes. And may I know your name, benefactor?"


    "Evan Eris, A Rank Adventurer."


    Evan apported his guild card into his hand and infused magic power into it, making the symbol on it light up with a glow and proving it was his.


    The Knight, as well as everyone else within earshot, were momentarily surprised upon hearing Evan''s name, not having expected the person who saved them to be the ''Irregr Hero'' from the western part of the continent.


    But the Pdin knew now was not the time to be surprised at meeting someone famous, and quickly ryed to Evan all he knew about the situation so far.


    The young hero listened closely whilst simultaneously contacting his spirits and asking for their locations, where he then discovered that they had captured one of the assants and were about to drill him for information.


    ''You guys go ahead and do that; I''d focus on freeing the other hostages.''


    Evan gave thetter half of that same reply to the Pdin, before turning his gaze towards the inter-car door and using his Farsight skill to get a locate a good point which he then blinked towards with his skill.


    He had activated his concealment skill a moment before teleporting, so even after he re-emerged at his destination, he was still in a concealed state.


    This prevented the hijackers from knowing that someone else had entered the car they were in until their arms and legs were suddenly frozen in ice.


    Evan also froze the weapons they were holding as well, to prevent any idents, after which the Pdin and the adventurers from the previous car barged in, pulled the hostages away, and knocked out the hijackers.


    He repeated this for three more cars, before teleporting into a fourth and meeting the scene of Eliza whacking the head of one of the hijackers with one half of her Memoria while the other half was pinning another to the wall.


    "I can see you don''t need help here."


    The boy''s gaze went to the group of men and women bundled up on the floor with pale, wrinkled skin and sunken cheeks.


    Upon appraising them, he saw that all their health stats were not only a full rank lower than normal, but their health values were also dangerously low too.


    ''Between me freezing them at -25 degrees or having their life forces sucked out by Eliza, I don''t even know which is worse anymore.''


    Right after he thought that, a voice rang out in his head,ing from his third contracted spirit who was in a different train car''s upper deck.


    [I''ve neutralised the assants that came in the direction of our cabin.


    However, I sense a lot more of them heading in the opposite direction, and they''re quite powerful too.]


    ''Good work, Milena. Stay put and don''t engage them yet.''


    Evan joined up with Eliza and moved to the rest of the train cars to help out the others, but they only needed to do that in 2 more cars as the passengers in the others had already handled things themselves.


    The hijackers in thest 3 cars didn''t even get the chance to acquire hostages as they were dealt with the instant they pulled out their weapons and motioned to grab the nearest passenger.


    asionally, they could hear noisesing from above and sense magic power fluctuations, showing that there was a battle of some sort happening on the train''s upper deck.


    "Let''s go over there and see what''s happen-"


    **BOOOOMMM!!!


    "Fuck! Again?!"


    Evan couldn''t help but curse out loud as he heard another explosion, one that sounded a lot louder than the previous one, even though he could sense that the point of the st came from further up in the train.


    The whispery chatters of the low-ranked ambient spirits glided past his ears and when he pieced their words together, his blood ran cold.


    All thoughts about going to see what was happening on the upper deck escaped his mind as he activated his blink skill and teleported repeatedly until he arrived at the first of the fifteen rail cars��the lotive.


    The scene he met was one of disarray, the obvious aftermath of a violent explosion. A huge part of the once-organized machinery was now a tangled mess of metal and sparks, while some important-lookingponents had been obliterated and scattered in twisted fragments amidst the wreckage.


    Looking to the side, the entire wall of the car had been blown open, leaving a jagged gap revealing the ever-changingndscape outside, through a filter of bright red sparks erupting from the train''s wheels as they ground against the rails.


    Amidst the debris-strewn floor, a broken weapony discarded, along with bloodstains that marked the scene and hinted at the violence that had erupted not too long ago.


    One of the train engineersy unconscious on the floor, a stark contrast to the frantic activity of the driver who was hunched over the controls, pressing buttons with urgency, spitting loud curses that echoed through the air.


    Another engineer, wearing the distinctive uniform of the Continental Railroad Service, clung desperately to a broken handrail.


    His grip was faltering, his one arm slowly slipping as his body dangled precariously in the open air, buffeted by the wind.


    Evan''s first action was to prevent the scene of this engineer from bing any more unfortunate, blitzing over and grabbing onto his arms before pulling him back into the car.


    He then used his Harbinger Series skill to create a surging wall of ice that blocked the hole in the wall, before turning his attention towards the still cursing driver.


    "Shit! Shit! Don''t tell me that''s broken too!!"


    "What''s broken?!"


    The man came out of his cab and gave the engine room a one-over, his expression quickly turning pale when he noticed one of the vitalponents he needed to stop the train was now a pile of metal scraps scattered across the floor.


    "The brake valve!"

 Chapter 562 The Hijacking III

    ?


    "The brake valve!"


    Upon hearing his words, Evan was thankful for the distance between the cars and the fact that the inte was not on, or the amount of panic caused by this short ''conversation'' would have been unimaginable.


    The Driver quickly ran back into his cab and quickly pulled down a red lever that had a simrly colouredrge caution sign printed right beside it, but even after holding it down for more than 15 seconds, he saw that the train''s speed was not reduced in the slightest.


    He quickly let go of the emergency brake and grabbed the handheld radio in the cab before pressing a button and screaming into it.


    "MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY!!!"


    Evan let the man handle the official procedures while he moved to check on the motionless engineer on the floor to be sure he still drew breath.


    At the same time, he was wrecking his brain for a method that could be used to either slow down orpletely stop the train that was currently going forward at full speed.


    The noiseing from the upper deck where the fighting was still ongoing wasn''t very helpful in letting him think.


    "Tsk��if I don''t beat the shit out of these fuckers when we stop this train��!"


    He barely held himself back from cursing too much while using his pdin skill''s limited healing on the engineers.


    After this, he returned to the other passenger cars, meeting with Eliza, the Canis Church Pdin and a bunch of other adventurers halfway.


    He outlined the circumstances to them, and in coboration, they quickly formted a solution, devising a strategy to halt the train''s movement forcefully before it veered off track.


    First, some of the adventurers present went up to the upper deck to put an end to the fighting there to make sure it didn''t interfere with what they were doing.


    Evan, Eliza, the Pdin and some others moved to the top of the train while another group moved towards the caboose lotive.


    "You sure this is gonna work?!"


    "It''s the best we cane up with in a short while. Those sparksing from the engine car are increasing by the minute and that''s not good!"


    The core of this n was one of the adventurers who had a skill that enabled her to create enhanced energy constructs, but at a huge energy cost.


    Eliza was there to aid her with that by transferring all the life force she had sucked out of the hijackers she defeated into the woman in the form of magic power to help with that.


    As for Evan and the Pdin, they were to create pirs with their ice and earth magic respectively which they had to tether to the train and then pin to the ground to help in slowing the train''s movements.


    This was also what the group at thest car was supposed to do, and with the help of a certain reluctant high demon who had off-the-charts physical strength.


    "Begin!!"


    "Light Magic!! Energicraft!!"


    Magic and skill were activated simultaneously, flowing from the top of the train to the ground and even below the tracks, embedding a wedge of energy into the earth.


    Two massive pirs of light formed on the tracks in front of the train, where it had yet to pass; their appearance looked plenty simr to the posts used to hold thes in some court-based sports.


    And just like in those sports, these two columns also supported a, one that was formed by rapidly weaving and interconnecting energy strands closely together.


    As the train zoomed across the tracks, it naturally entered the rapidly expanding and was caught on it.


    They let it go forward for about three seconds, enough time for the to wrap around the train''s sides.


    Now then, while the train had run into the and was still going forward, the pirs of light remained stationary and the could do very little in the way of further expansion.


    This coupled with the length of the that was slowly reducing created a powerful effect that slowly dragged the train in the direction of the twin light column constructs.


    Energy sparkled in the form of streaks of light as the pull slowed the train ever so slightly, but the effect was so minor it could barely be felt.


    The adventurer''s remaining magic power drained faster than it could chip away at the speeding train''s energy.


    This is where Eliza came in, transferring energy into the woman''s body to help her maintain the energy constructs, increasing the size of the energy column constructs.


    "Now!"


    Evan and the Pdin took action, creating the pirs tethered to the sides of the train to further slow its movements, while Greed who was atop thest car heaved an annoyed sigh before jumping off the train.


    Hended with his two feet on the ground, before turning around and summoning a partial avatar using his unique skill.


    The giant arm-shaped construct of sin energy reached forward and grabbed the rear lotive car, before beginning to slowly pull backwards.


    He did his best to keep the force he was using to pull the train backwards in sync with the force action on it from the front to push it forward.


    With thebination of the forces from the in the front that was dragging the train towards the columns of light and the pull of Greed''s partial avatar, the train began slowing rapidly as if it had used emergency brakes.


    The recoil nearly flung the body of the woman creating the in the opposite direction of the train''s movement, but Eliza quickly conjured a barrier behind her to prevent her from falling backwards.


    Beads of sweat dripped down her neck as she struggled not to lose focus and keep using her skill, making it powerful enough to cancel out the train''s kic energy, but also delicate enough that it didn''t send the train careening off the tracks.


    And the farther they were from the area where the two light pir constructs were set up, the harder it became to keep it going.


    Clenching her jaw hard enough to crack a tooth, she forced herself to maintain control all the way to the limit and summoned more power from her skill.


    Slower, slower, the wheels ground to a halt��and finally, the train stopped.


    Plumes of smoke billowed from the lotive car in the front, ascending into the sky to join the clouds that glided past the morning sun.


    "This smoke��?! Milena!"


    [On it!]


    The water spirit had already moved before Evan had even noticed something was wrong, blitzing over to the side of the train and dousing the ming wheels in water, before breaking through Evan''s ice wall and doing the same to the smokingponents in the engine room.


    [All clear.]


    Evan echoed the spirit''s words, causing expressions of joy to form on the faces of all those who participated in the n to stop the train''s movements.


    "If those wheels had caught fire while this thing was still at full speed, I dread to imagine what would have happened."


    They all had to agree with the Pdin on his words as none of them wanted to know what happened when the wheels of a train speeding at 250 km/hr caught fire.


    Just as Evan was about to join them in celebrating, three diaphanous notification boards suddenly appeared within his field of vision, and the messages they carried were enough to catapult his mood to rock bottom.


    Now, he honestly wished he could see what happened when the wheels of a speeding train burst into mes than for this to happen.


    [Two NEW messages from the goddess ''Artemisia'']


    [Bad news.]


    [The ''Lair of the Lizard Lord'' just had a Dungeon Break.]

 Chapter 563 Lacertilia I

    Dungeon City Lacertilia


    Cerul Duchy


    Beast Kingdom


    May 5th


    Year 1053


    On the Alpha Continent, Lacertilia was undisputedly among the top 10rgest dungeon cities. Both by area, and poption.


    Lacertilia was home to adventurers of many races, nationalities, and power levels, with its reason for existence being the eight dungeons that existed in the area.


    Each of the dungeons had level limitations, meaning there was a minimum level requirement to be able to enter, and a maximum after which one would not be able to enter.


    The City''s Dungeons were able to amodate adventurers as low as F ranks, and as high as X Ranks.


    Level-wise, this was basically anyone from Level 1 to around Level 749.


    This meant that Lacertilia contained dungeons that even ''Living Legends'' could dive into ande out a few levels higher.


    Dungeons with monsters above the Epic Level were very rare, and Lacertilia had one of those rare dungeons.


    Sadly, the Level 700+ monsters within these dungeons were not as many as Aidos'' Living Legends would have liked, otherwise, there would be a lot more Living Legends and Sovereigns roaming around the.


    Reaching that level of power was just as hard for the monsters as it was for the sentient humanoids, so their numbers were naturally not high.


    But besides this one dungeon, there were still seven other dungeons that catered to adventurers below 700, so Lacertilia was always teeming with adventurers.


    Saying that they were ''over a million'' adventurers was making it seem tame.


    There were so many S to SSS rank adventurers in the city, that just the number of S ranks in Lacertilia alone was more than the number of S and SS rankers you could find in ces like Gerfast and Merdin.


    Funny enough, a huge percentage of this Dungeon City''s poption that numbered in the tens of millions was actually constituted by non-adventurers/monster hunters.


    Lacertilia also served as a major trade city, so a lot of people whose professions didn''t involve them risking their lives to fight monsters and stuff flocked to the city as well.


    Renowned for its position as one of the Beast Kingdom''s highest revenue generators, Lacertilia''s reputation extends beyond its borders, making it a hub for internationalmerce and business.


    Numerous influential multinational corporations have established branches or headquarters, driving economic growth and providing a multitude of employment opportunities.


    So, as adventurers embark on perilous journeys into the dungeons, a parallel urbanndscape thrives with civilians who''ve chosen paths away from monster hunting. This diverse poption fuels the city''s vibrant markets, where monster materials exchange hands with merchants, who then export them to other cities and countries.


    Sometimes, the exported goods make their way over the Divider Ocean to the Beta Continent too.


    Cutting-edge medical research institutes tap into the city''s resources, using rare flora, fauna, and dungeon-derived materials to develop ground-breaking medicines.


    Despite the potential for security concerns, the city''s well-structuredws and vigntw enforcement agencies maintain order and safety, allowing for a flourishing coexistence between adventurers, civilians, and the various professions that have made Lacertilia their home.


    �� �� ��


    Seated at a table in one of the city''s big rooftop cafes were two women who were calmly sipping their hot morning coffees while looking down at the bustling streets.


    Both looked young and were of average height too, but that was where the simrities ended.


    The one on the left had lower wavy back length dark red hair and ck eyes, dressed in a simple ck body fit shirt that entuated her curves, along with a simple pair of ck jeans and military-type boots.


    Besides the watch on her wrist, she had no other essories on her, and one could not even sense a smidgen of make-up on her skin.


    She spun around a Mithril adventurer''s guild card on her fingers, and when it asionally fell onto the table, one could see the letter ''S'' printed twice on it in bold.


    But this woman was not just an SS-rank adventurer, but also an Executive of the Demonic Hand.


    The one bearing the title of the ''Seventh Finger'': Kethryllia Keasatra.


    Seated opposite her was a woman of captivating presence, with warm hazel eyes and chestnut-coloured hair that cascaded gracefully down her shoulders, framing her face and asionally dancing with the breeze.


    Her features were finely chiselled, marked by a serene smile that exuded an air of mystery. As for her attire, she donned a flowing ivory blouse with delicate embroidery along the cuffs and loose sleeves that allowed for freedom of movement.


    In that same vein, she paired her blouse with practical khaki shorts and a pair of worn-in leather sandals toplete her outfit, while a delicate silver ne with a small pendant that shimmered softly�� hinting at its significance beyond mere decoration��added a subtle touch of elegance to her appearance.


    Like Kethryllia, she was also a Demonic Hand Executive, the ''Ninth Finger'', Maude.


    The two women had been sitting on the table in silence for a while, calmly drinking their coffee while basking in the morning sun.


    Finally, Kethryllia was the one who broke the silence, and her words were ones that pped an expression of surprise onto Maude''s face.


    "I told Lord First that we should change the dungeon we n to use for this n."


    "��Pardon?"


    "You didn''t hear me wrong. With the way things are going, the Lizard Lord would be useless to us by the time we canplete everything.


    I have zero idea why the damn thing''s power keeps reducing every time we check on it, so we might as well just move it all to a different dungeon."


    She spoke regarding the Dungeon Boss at the deepest floor of the ''Lair of the Lizard Lord'', the dungeon which they had nned to use in facilitating the ''Disaster'' they had nned for Lacertilia.


    "Which one do you think we should change to?"


    Kethryllia rested her head on the table and gazed at the woman seated opposite her as she posed that question.


    "We can''t have it be a dungeon where Level 600s and above can enter too. We can''t have them kill the final dungeon boss before we can use it."


    "That does not leave us with a lot of options, does it?"


    "No, it does not."


    Both women stared at each other in silence for a moment before simultaneously sighing in exasperation.


    "Talk about a bad day at work."


    "More like a bad year."


    Maude let out a light grumble as she thought about how badly things had been going for them recently.


    "What about Seith? Where''s he? When''s he getting here."


    "Last I spoke with him, he was with Cellica dealing with that Ouroboros. As for when he''s getting here; we originally nned for it to be a year from now after he''s done handling all the other misceneous tasks."


    "That''s so far off��We really need the extra manpower now."


    Needless to say, the Ninth Finger''s mood turned even worse upon hearing this.


    "At least, he sent us some of his men."


    "He sent us a bunch of Mids. We need Senior Members here."


    Just as she said that, her eyes suddenly shed with remembrance and she quickly changed her words.


    "Maybe that''s for the best. I hear that Princess Mya is doing a military inspection nearby starting today.


    And if she''s here then we should expect at least one Beast Keeper with her. It''d be disastrous if we get spotted after evading them all this while."


    "But seriously, just what the heck is going through that princess''s head? Why in tarnation did she order a close military watch on all the Dungeon Cities in the North?


    She''s basically telling us she knows where here, but just not our exact positions."


    Kethryllia barely held in the urge to smash something as she spoke of the Princess'' actions that had slowed down their ns and reduced the number of members they could have in the area.


    "And she did it after returning from the GWEst year."


    Just as Maude spoke, an idea shed through her mind and she turned to Kethryllia who was also giving her a shocked gaze.


    "It couldn''t be him, right?"


    "The reports did say he spoke with her at the party��so there''s a possibility."


    The ''Him'' they were referring to was obviously our resident ''Second Hero'' who was now being known widely as the ''Irregr Evan''.


    "If I meet that brat in person, Imma stuff him down a lizard''s throat."


    Kethryllia''s eyes gleamed with a dangerous light as she said that and Maude silently said a prayer for the poor Hero as she knew her fellow executive was not gonna rest till she achieved that.


    "Still��how is the Lizard Lord losing power anyway? There''s no way that energy can just vanish like that. It has to be going somewhere."


    "Don''t bother. Tomorrow, we''d start working towards changing the dungeon. Changing the city isn''t possible though as we''ve already set up all the nodes around to make the spell work well and prevent even ''Living Legends'' from being able to break it."


    That was something that the Demonic Hand did not do in the game, as the barrier they used there could have been broken by Superior Stage Legendary Level existences, but now in reality, they had changed their ns a bit due to the current circumstances.


    Kethryllia yawned lightly and rxed her head on the table, slowly closing her eyes in preparation to take a short nap when the ambient magic power in the surroundings suddenly began to tremble.


    At first, it was a soft, barely perceptible vibration, like a distant drumbeat reverberating through the area.


    But with each passing second, it grew in intensity, enough for the Epic Level Kethryllia and the Superior Grandmaster Maude to notice It even if they didn''t want to.


    **KABOOM!!


    It was followed by a distant explosion, one that sent shockwaves of magic power rippling outward in all directions.


    The waves cascaded through the air, seamlessly phasing through people and objects and leaving an uncanny tingling sensation in their wake.


    As the energy wave washed over the entire city of Lacertilia, collective gasps of surprise echoed all around, as anyone who was sufficiently powerful and experienced instantly figured out what had just happened.


    "Oh��a dungeon break."


    "Indeed. This is the first in a while."


    From the tone of their voices, it could be seen that the two women regarded the urrence with fairly low concern.


    "Still, I have to contact my men so they can prevent the monsters in the dungeon that broke from affecting the Lizard Lord''s Dungeon."


    Kethryllia spoke as she put her hand into her pocket and pulled out hermunicator, about to punch one of the buttons when it began shing with a red light.


    "Problem?"


    [Lady Keasatra! The Dungeon just broke!]


    "Yeah, I can tell.


    Anyway, you guys prevent the rampaging monsters from getting to the levels we''ve worked on in the Lizard Lord''s Dungeon. I''d-"


    [Pardon my interruption, but Lady Keasatra, the dungeon that just broke IS the Lizard Lord''s dungeon.]


    "��I beg your fucking pardon?"

 Chapter 564 Lacertilia II

    Chapter 564 Lacertilia II


    Dungeon Breaks were a constant risk that all Dungeon cities always had, regardless of whether they had just one dungeon or as many as eight like Lacertilia did.


    They usually happened when the glorified monster traps that were dungeons temporarily broke down due to excessive energy concentration, most often caused by overcrowding of monsters within them.


    But a dungeon city like Lacertilia which had high levels of adventurer traffic hardly experienced this since adventurers ended up culling the monster numbers frequently.


    Even so, the possibility was still there, so the city had measures in ce to handle them in the event of them urring.


    First off, there were no organizations or buildings that involved normal civilians within a 5-kilometre radius of each dungeon and the main city.


    Only permitted Merchants and Adventurer guild staff were allowed within this range, known as the Buffer Zone. There were a few other exceptions but they were not worth mentioning now.


    So, in the event of a dungeon break like this, the monsters had quite a distance to cross before they could reach the main city.


    That space could also be used by the city''s forces to mount their defences to block the monsters who would inevitably sense the cluster of humanoid presences that was the main city ande after them.


    Dungeons prevented monsters from being able to go out, and when they finally got the chance through the break, they ravenously attacked anything within their reach.


    Stronger monsters could also take control of the weaker mindless ones who were ''high'' from the energy surge andunch controlled attacks on the nearest settlements of mankind.


    They also tried to break the other dungeons so as to increase their numbers too.


    But in the current situation, these didn''t happen as this Dungeon Break, having triggered by Artemisia years ago was a bit different from naturally urring ones.


    For starters, Artemisia had used mass thought guidance on the monsters, so their instinct of attacking the nearest dungeons to break them too waspletely removed.


    She didn''t do anything to reduce the numbers though, the number of monsters storming out was just as many as they were in a slightly abnormal Dungeon Break.


    If there was any silver lining in her triggering it, then it was that it was gonna be a lot less disastrous than what Kethryllia and Maude were nning on doing.


    As the dungeon that broke was one called the ''Lair of the Lizard Lord'', then one could only expect reptilian-type monsters from it.


    Bothnd-based and air-type species��and not just Lizardmen.


    Didn''t change the fact that the lizardmen ounted for more than 60% of the tens of thousands of monsters from the dungeon''s 100 floors.


    And as these monsters charged out, Lacertilia''s adventurers moved tobat them with crity.


    The city''s defence forces took action, thew enforcement agencies began evacuating civilians and other nonbatants to designated shelters.


    However, considering the city''s 30 million plus poption, that was gonna take a while��notwithstanding that they moved with the knowledge that full evacuations were impossible.


    The Lair of the Lizard Lord was a dungeon with a Level limit of 500, meaning its strongest monsters were around that level too.


    Lacertilia had SS and SSS rank adventurers andbatants on simr levels of strength so they could handle the situation in due time.


    A Team of Peak S rankers was even being formed to go to the depths of the dungeon and deal with the boss to end the break too.


    So everyone believed that things were going to calm down soon enough.


    And that would have been the case.


    Unless, of course, the Demonic Hand had something to say about that.


    �� �� ��


    "��I beg your fucking pardon?"


    Kethryllia could not believe her ears after her subordinate''s message came through.


    What were the odds that the dungeon that just happened to break was the ''Lair of the Lizard Lord'' that the Demonic Hand had nned to use for their ns?


    This was something that even shocked Artemisa who triggered the break, as by her calctions, the break was supposed to happen in three days, not now.


    The n was for Evan to already be in Lacertilia by the time it happened, after all.


    However, at this time, Evan was still saving the train engineer who had nearly fallen out of the train moving at 250 km/hr.


    Anyway, Kethryllia and Maude had initially assumed that it was another dungeon that had broken, but then the Seventh Division Senior Member''s bombshell message came in.


    The Seventh Finger quickly got up and moved towards the edge of the rooftop caf��, holding her other palm above her eyes and activating a Farsight spell to zoom into the direction of the dungeon from afar and see the situation.


    "Did we have anyone in the dungeon?"


    [Yes. About a dozen squads were in there.]


    "Fuck��


    god damn it, I''m on my way."


    Kethryllia cut the connection and took a deep breath to calm herself, but from her furrowed brows, it was obvious her annoyance was still evident.


    A quick nce around and she found something to vent on, mming her fist right into a nearby table and pulverising it to nothing but dust and wood splinters.


    She then took another deep breath before calling out to Maude and together they blitzed over to their base��the headquarters of one of the multinational corporations in Lacertilia.


    The moment she got up to the floor where only Demonic Hand Members were permitted, the eyes of dozens of Senior Members turned towards her, with a whole lot of them exuding auras at least on the level of A-rank adventurers.


    "Where are the transfers from the Sixth Division?"


    ""Here, Lady Seventh.""


    "Contact Seith, and ry the situation. NOW."


    She began dishing out orders with that as she walked all the way to her office where her contracted demon was, before turning around and facing those present, her expression darkening by the second.


    "Maude?"


    "Over Here."


    The Ninth Finger walked in, having changed her outfit to something morebat-suited. She and Kethryllia shared a nce and Maude instantly figured out what Kethryllia nned to do.

 Chapter 565 Kethryllia’s Decision

    Chapter 565 Kethryllia��s Decision


    "Are you sure?"


    "We have no choice. It''s standard procedure to run a sweep of the city after a dungeon break ends, and they''d definitely do that as that Princess ising over.


    In that case, there''s no way that they''d miss the nodes, which would lead them to realise something is up."


    "��"


    Finding truth in Kethryllia''s words, Maude could not help but fall silent.


    "Please do me the favour of going into the dungeon and finding out just what on Aidos is wrong with that fucking Lizard."


    As Maude nodded in affirmation, Kethryllia turned her gaze back to the rest of the Senior Members present before speaking.


    "I''m operating at my discretion now.


    Everyone get into position; we''remencing the n as is."


    The Senior Members knew fully well that a lot of things were not yet in ce��their ns for Lacertilia needed years toplete��but they understood that they had little choice considering the circumstances.


    Without hesitation, they all dispersed, moving out of the building and heading straight towards different corners of the city where they had their Spell Nodes ced.


    Maude blitzed towards the Dungeon, taking some of her Division''s Senior Members with her and slipping in through themotion.


    The break was just beginning so the monstersing out were still just level 200 monsters��the weakest you could see in the dungeon.


    For Maude and her team of Senior Members, they could easily ughter these weaklings and make their way into the dungeon without anyplications.


    Left behind, Kethryllia entered her office and closed the door, heaving a deep sigh of exasperation before walking up to her desk.


    Seated on her chair with his legs resting atop the desk was her contracted demon, a tall pale-skinned man with an air of refined elegance.


    He wore a perfectly tailored corporate shirt and waistcoat, with dark hair swept neatly to the side of his face.


    The man''s eyes��as dark as his hair��turned towards Kethryllia while his hands put down the newspaper and pen they held atop hisp.


    "��What?"


    "Nothing, was just thinking that this was quite the situation."


    The mid-ranked demon, Thagol, spoke with a light shrug as he pulled his legs down and swivelled the chair around, looking out the window.


    "Are you gonna request for help?"


    "Already did. Told Seith''s men to call him over from wherever he is."


    Kethryllia replied as she searched through her wall safe for some items she needed, tossing each one into her space expansion pouch.


    "I didn''t mean from him."


    "Huh? Then from who?"


    She closed the safe and turned to see the demon staring right at her with a knowing gaze. For a moment, a look of confusion graced her face, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared.


    The redhead ran a hand through her hair and rolled her eyes while sighing for the nth time today.


    "You do realise they''d get worried about you, right?"


    "Can that person even get like that?"


    Kethryllia scoffed as she moved around to pick up a few more things that she needed for what she was about to do afterwards.


    She picked up her Demonic Hand brooch, one that was a bit different from the others given she was an executive and pinned it to her shirt before tossing another spare to Thagol who silently put It on.


    The brooches had been enchanted to exclude them from the effects of the spell she was about to use��and not just theirs but the brooches of all the Demonic Hand members present in Lacertilia as well.


    Returning her gaze to Thagol, she spoke with a dissatisfied voice.


    "Fine. You can tell my sibling."


    She gave the go-ahead for the demon to contact her elder sibling, an action that would turn the attention of an entity Evan dreaded to meet towards the Alpha Continent.


    �� �� ��


    Leaving the building, Kethryllia moved towards the Lacertilia City Square, the hardscape used for open markets, concerts, political rallies, and other events that require firm ground that spanned an entire square kilometre in area.


    Holding hermunicator, she asked if all of her subordinates were in position, and after receiving positive answers all around, she switched the device off and tossed it into her space expansion pouch.


    "All right, let''s do this."


    Kethryllia hyped herself up with those words, before releasing a burst of energy into the surroundings.


    A maelstrom of dense magic power and celestial energy swept through the surroundings, enveloping the city square and spreading even further beyond.


    Throughout the city, other Epic Level beings present all paused, their attentions drawn to the sudden surge of energy released by someone on their level.


    Kethryllia paid this no mind as she held up her palm, constructing a strange multicoloured magic circle inside it. Different patterns, translucent symbols and letters from variousnguages formed across the circle, all interconnecting with each other.


    Around 10 metres in diameter, radiation outward with the point where she stood as the centre, arger replica of this magic circle materialised high up in the sky.


    It also appeared beneath her feet as well, with streaks of light shooting up to connect it with the circle in the sky.


    This phenomenon was visible from almost anywhere in Lacertilia, all seventeen thousand square kilometres of it.


    As it was the signal they had been waiting for, all the Seventh Division Senior Members who had already put on their enchanted brooches, switched on the spell nodes they had manned.


    Some adventurers who were in Cheverton during the undead crisisst year all recalled seeing a simr spell circle a few minutes before the great battle against the undead ended.


    Epic Level existences raced towards the square at the city centre, hoping to discover just what exactly was going on there and who was projecting this strange magic circle into the sky, but they were all toote.


    Kethryllia mmed her palm��the one with the miniature magic circle��into the magic circle on the ground and the circle in her hand fit perfectly into the centre of the one on the floor like a key.


    As the glow of the magic became brighter, her lips parted and she called out the activation words.


    "World Magic: Spell Number 25: World Istion Barrier."

 Chapter 566 World Magic: Spell Number 25

    Chapter 566 World Magic: Spell Number 25


    "World Magic: Spell Number 25: World Istion Barrier."


    As those words left Kethryllia''s lips, the World Magic spell activated instantly.


    From the magic circle hovering high up in the air, a semi-transparent space-warping wave of energy radiated outwards, stretching towards the edges of Lacertilia.


    This wave was formed from a mixture of various energy types, magic power, ether, aura, celestial energy, demonic energy and so on.


    It nketed the sky, extending to take on the form of a massive dome that epassed the entirety of Lacertilia, dungeons included.


    Those inside and outside the city all watched on in shock, unable to do anything as the spell''s activation period was just too short��only taking a single minute to cover the entire city.


    Within this time, some Epic Level existences arrived at the city centre where the Kethryllia was, but the redhead only lifted her palm from the ground calmly before ncing around at all of them.


    Before they could even ask any questions, she held up that same palm and waved at them.


    "Hello, and Goodbye."


    The same instant she said that, the semi-transparent barrierpletely enclosed the city, and the spell''s true effect began.


    All the Epic Level existences found themselves suddenly surrounded by streaks of spatial energy, with the more perceptive ones realise that was the energy of the World Law of Space itself.


    Even the few X-rank adventurers in the city, the ones inside the dungeons��wherever they were located��all noticed this phenomenon.


    Did they try to do anything about it?


    Obviously.


    Did they seed?


    From the darkening expressions on the faces of the Living Legends inside the dungeon, clearly not.


    Regardless of their input in the matter, the World Law energy forcefully ensnared every single being on the Legendary Level, before proceeding to send them through the fabric of space and out of the massive semi-transparent dome barrier.


    A secondter, all the Epic Level existences��save for Kethryllia and her contracted demon��also got teleported out of the city.


    Next on the list, was the S rank adventurers, however, in this category, only the peak S rankers/Superior Stage grandmasters in the city were teleported out.


    Within 120 Seconds of the World Magic''s initial activation, there was no existence above level 450 within the borders of Dungeon City Lacertilia.


    During a Dungeon Break from a Dungeon with a Max level of 500.


    "Let''s keep it at this level for now.


    I''d change it if there are anyplications."


    Kethryllia muttered to herself as she looked at the magic circle rotating in her palm. She then clenched her fist before calling out to her contracted demon.


    "Come on Thagol.


    Let''s go talk to the biggest lizard there is. Let''s see if he''d let me stuff a certain hero down his throat in his spare time."


    �� �� ��


    Nameless Beach


    Unknown Location


    May 5th


    Year 1053


    The beach seemed to stretch endlessly, with its golden sands kissed by the foamy embrace of turquoise waves.


    Seagulls danced in the salty breeze above, their calls mingling with the soothing rhythm of the ocean.


    And on this fine morning, a certain woman was loungingfortably on this beach, her back reclining on the beach chair gracefully while her dark purple hair cascaded over the sides as if melding with the shadows beneath.


    Giving off an air of serene beauty as she rested beneath the sheltering embrace of a white beach umbre, she gazed silently towards the direction of the ocean with her purple eyes, and her delicate lips curved into a faint, enigmatic smile.


    Her ck pupils were an ''X'' shape, reminiscent of the tic-tac-toe game, and those eyes only reflected the figure standing a few metres away from her, doing something with their hands in the air.


    Whatever it was they were doing, it was the reason why although this beach looked calm, there were hundreds of miniature spatial storms imperceptible to the naked eye scattered all over.


    *BUZZ! BUZZZZ!


    "Hmm?"


    She turned her gaze downwards upon hearing the low buzzing sound, at the small phone-like device that was on the side stool beside her.


    Picking it up, she went through the text that showed up on it and her elegant facial features slowly contorted into a light frown.


    "What''s up?"


    The voice of the other person present pulled her attention from the message, and for a moment she considered hiding the message she had just seen but decided against it ultimately.


    "Well��Your sister''s contractor contacted me. Something about a potential emergency situation."


    "Potential emergency with Kethy?"


    The other party immediately stopped their actions and turned while replying, while the purple-eyed woman only sighed and got up from the chair.


    "Yeah.


    Considering Thagol had the guts to call then I''m guessing it''s pretty serious."


    She snapped her fingers and her light robes changed to a long flowing dress that cascaded down her figure like liquid amethyst, its fabric dancing with the breeze as if echoing the ocean waves nearby.


    "She was in Kolvar''s country, right? You can continue what you''re doing.


    I''d go check on her."


    After reassuring the other party, the woman pictured a map of the Alpha continent in her head and locked on to the southern area where the Beast Kingdom was.


    She then parted her lips and called out one word.


    "Gate."


    A rift in the fabric of space manifested before her, a shimmering and swirling gateway formed by the Tier 6 Spatial Magic spell she had just used.


    The air around the gate distorted and a faint hum resonated as the portal beckoned towards the Alpha Continent, bridging the gap between two distant points in space.


    "I can''t really remember where Kolvar''s country is. I guess I''d just look around till I find it."


    The woman casually spoke about ''looking around'' the southern half of a 102 million square kilometre continent as she disappeared into the spatial gate.


    �� �� ��


    City Borders


    Dungeon City Lacertilia


    Beast Kingdom


    May 5th


    Year 1053


    "Brachium!"


    The voice of a powerful SSS-ranked adventurer at around level 650 rang out, her magic power surging like a tempest as she invoked this Tier 4 me spell.


    It was the easiest and fastest to cast, yet still one of the most destructive out there.


    Four intricated magic circles materialized around her arm, engulfing it in a zing aura of mes dancing in vibrant hues.


    The air seemed to shimmer with anticipation as the energy concentrated, while all the other powerful adventurers present watched on silently.


    She unleashed the fiery punch upon the semi-transparent barrier before her, putting a bit over half her strength into it.


    **BOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!


    An explosion erupted with a blinding brilliance upon contact, mes of unprecedented heat and power scorching through the air with reverberating shockwaves as a plume of smoke engulfed the scene.


    But when the smoke cleared, the semi-transparent barrier was revealed to bepletely spotless.


    Not even the soot from the mes covered its surface, and neither was there a single crack or blemish marring its integrity.


    This dome barrier had remained resolute against her attack, defying the wrath of a spell that could even crumble part of a mountain like Verduracliff.


    Darkened gazes reflected the disbelief that settled upon the nearby adventurers, with the S and SS rankers seeming to despair.


    If the woman who was clearly stronger than they were couldn''t break this barrier, then there was nothing that they could hope to do.


    They turned their gazes towards a nearby party of adventurers that seemed to have been sent out from before everyone present, each one of them having the energies of the veryws of the World swirling around them.


    One of them was clearly enraged by the situation and was raking while hispanion tried to calm him down.


    Another member from their party stepped forward, drawing upon the bone-chilling energy of thew of destruction that made all those present feel the instinctive need to guard their souls.


    The air crackled with resonance as the energy coalesced into the form of a crimson-red sword, gleaming with radiance.


    With the sword of a worldw in hand, he raised it high and unleashed a mighty sh, the de cleaving through the air and destroying the space it passed.


    The impact with the dome barrier released a massive explosion of energy that shattered the boundaries of perception for some S rankers. The collision of worldw energies rippled through the air like a shockwave, knocking back even SSS rankers who were nearby.


    Yet, as the echoes of the collision faded, the dome barrier remainedrgely unchanged.


    It rippled softly, like a tranquil pond responding to the touch of a passing breeze, before settling back to its former state.


    This sight caused a heavy silence to settle over the witnesses, a mixture of awe and trepidation painting their faces.


    The Legendary Level existence''s disy of power had been nothing short of breathtaking, but it was met with a reminder of the daunting nature of the barrier that encased Lacertilia.


    *booOM!

 Chapter 567 Reaching the City

    Chapter 567 Reaching the City


    A distant rumble of sonic boom shattered the silence, the sharp sound waves reverberating through the air with an almost palpable intensity.


    Heads turned, eyes seeking the source of this abrupt disruption, only to witness a brilliant sh of gold light streaking across the sky.


    As the light grew closer, its trajectory shifted, beelining directly towards the position where the tens of thousands of adventurers gathered on the ground.


    The adventurers, city defence officers, military personnel and other bystanders who had been ejected by the World Magic spell all silently parted and gave way, creating a small gap around the forefront area of the crowd as they sensed the same destructive aura that the Legendary had just used mere moments ago.


    It was not as dense though.


    **WHOOSHH!! BOOOM!


    The streak collided loudly with the earth, but instead of kicking up a cloud of dust and debris as everyone had expected, a powerful gust of wind surged forth.


    It spiralled around thending site, sweeping around thending area and funnelling all the dust high up into the sky.


    "I guess I can use Vortex like that too."


    A voice rang out as the wind settled, with the appearance of the figure in the small crater created by thending being revealed.


    It was a young boy in his mid-teens, wearing a in grey t-shirt that matched the colour of his irises with a ck undersleeve, atop a pair of ck jeans and simrly coloured sneakers.


    As he took a step forward, a bit of magic power flowed into the ground from his feet, repairing the cratered concrete floor in an instant.


    "Huh? Evan?"


    One of the SS Rank adventurers who recognized him called out his name, redirecting the boy''s gaze from the dome barrier in front of them to him.


    "?


    Son of a-! So, this is where you ran to?!"


    Evan eximed as he walked up to the adventurer and shook hands with him, fist bumping with the members of his party who were also nearby.


    The Legendary level existences regarded the boy with surprised gazes as they could sense the purity of the essence of destruction radiating from him and how it was, despite the fact that thew energy concentration was strangely low.


    This was simply because his BoD skill was not active but they didn''t need to know that.


    Though he noticed their gazes, Evan did not pay them any mind yet, instead pulling out a juice pack from his inventory and cing it in his mouth, sipping the potion inside to replenish the energy he spent speeding over here.


    ''Artemisia, can you exin to me what the heck happened while I was on the way here? Why''s the World Istion Barrier already up?


    Or rather, why the heck did the dungeon break already?''


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says there was a slight miscalction.


    She further states that the artificial dungeon break drew a bit of power from the Lizard Lord, causing its strength to decline greatly.


    This was supposed to make things easier for you and mess up the ns of the Demonic Hand, however, the Lizard Lord who was anxious about losing all its power triggered the dungeon to break using its ''Authority'' as the ''Final Floor Boss'' so as to escape the dungeon to attack and kill the beings outside to regain its power.]


    The lengthy notification exined the whole situation to him, the reason why the Lizard Lord had been losing power for years, and why it triggered the dungeon break after finally not being able to take it anymore.


    ''I see��''


    Evan nodded to himself in understanding, quickly figuring out the rest of the situation without needing further exnation.


    ''I''m betting that Kethryllia probably made a hasty decision and used the spell immediately after she noticed the break.


    All the hard work they put into making the dungeon''s monsters exempt from the World Magic''s conditions��it was harder as they couldn''t go around cing brooches on each individual monster as they did for themselves��she clearly didn''t want that to go to waste.''


    His thoughts didn''t take more than a couple of seconds with the aid of his Time Difference, and he thanked the dead Duhan King he got the skill from once more before turning his attention to the eyes who were on him.


    ''I did make a big entrance and all��''


    Mutters about how the ''Irregr Evan'' was ''strong for his age'', was ''so young'', or how they ''didn''t know he was an S rank'' entered his ears from all around.


    "Just what the hell happened here, I heard there was a dungeon break. And this strange barrier suddenly showed up."


    "There was. But just as we were reaching the dungeon area, we suddenly got teleported out of the city and this barrier came up, blocking us from getting back in.


    Even ''they'' can''t get back in."


    The SS rank adventurer spoke, ending his words with a gesture towards the Living Legends nearby. Evan nced at them momentarily before turning his attention back to the barrier and asking.


    "What dungeon broke?"


    "Which one was it again? I hadn''t gotten there myself."


    "It was the ''Lair of the Lizard Lord''."


    "What she said."


    The boy ced his hand on his chin with a pensive look on his face upon hearing the answer given by the two adventurers, muttering ''200 to 500'' to himself.


    He then looked around him with his appraisal skill active, scanning for the lowest levelled person he could find, with his expression darkening when he saw someone who was level 470.


    "Even a Level 470 got sent out?! The conditions are harsher than I expected!"


    "Conditions?"


    His words attracted quite a lot of attention as he made it seem as if he knew something about them getting sent out.


    The angry Legendary Level wanted to move over to him but hispanion grabbed him and pulled him back while the one who used the destructionw-based attack on this barrier stepped forward and spoke.


    "Do you know anything about this situation?"


    "Yeah. I know this barrier spell."


    "Huh? And how do you know it, if I may ask?"


    One of the Mages nearby looked at him with a sceptical gaze as she questioned, but the boy only apported the medal he received in February to his palm and held it up.


    "If you know who I am, then should you not know how and why I received this ''Medal of National Service''?


    If you forgot, then it was because of a certain ''spell tome'' that had ''hundreds of ancient spells'' in it."


    His words made them remember the news from two months ago, and some pieced things together and figured it out.


    "You saw this spell there?"


    "Indeed."


    Holding up three fingers, Evan continued.


    "It was Listed, described, and Illustrated there. And from what I can see and have been told, I''m sure it''s the exact same spell."


    Right after he spoke, they all sensed multiple iing sources of energy, which preceded the arrival of dozens of S-SSS rankers to the scene.


    "What''s going on? Why are you guys crowding here?"


    Evan nced at the man who spoke, recognising him from the game, not because of his strength, but because he was one of the few people on Aidos who possessed the Lie Detection skill.


    Unlike Laurene''s which was an offshoot of her Unique Skill and could work on anyone within her field of vision, and on multiple targets at a time, his was only single target.


    "Hmm? Aren''t you that Westerner Hero guy?"


    "Yeah, yeah. I''m the ''Hero guy''.


    Anyway, this barrier is created by a ''World Magic'' spell known as ''World Istion Barrier''."


    He hovered his palm a few centimetres away from the barrier as he spoke, feeling the gaze of the Lie Detection wielder on him intensifying and figuring the man was using his skill.


    "World Magic? I''ve heard of this before. They are spells that exist outside our Tier Magic system.


    Aren''t all of those spells exceedingly dangerous?


    You''re telling me one of such spells is currently active over Lacertilia? During a dungeon break of all times."


    When Evan heard the Legendary''s words, he calmly turned to the man and nodded, but before the man could say anything further, the boy had already started speaking.


    "This one is a bit special.


    It has Zero Offensive Capabilities, but in return, it has off-the-charts Defensive abilities that would make even you would have a hard time breaking it."


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that Legendary Level Existences are incapable of damaging the current ''World Istion Barrier'']


    ''The fuck?''


    Evan was flummoxed upon seeing Artemisia''s message, as this was not something that happened in the game, and he clicked his tongue, wondering why this had to be the thing that changed from the game.


    ''Then Princess Mya''s guard wouldn''t be able to do shit!''


    The boy frowned lightly as he realised a need to change his ns, but first, he had to exin the situation to these guys here as they would be the ones to exin things to Mya when she came over.


    "This spell is an ''Istion Barrier'', and its working process is pretty self-exnatory.


    In return for ''Isting'' certain things within the barrier, it sends everything else that does not meet that criteria out of the Barrier."

 Chapter 568 Entering Lacertilia

    Chapter 568 Entering Lacertilia


    "��In return for ''Isting'' certain things within the barrier, it sends everything else that does not meet those criteria out of the Barrier."


    All the people here were quick to figure out what the spell had done the moment they heard Evan''s words.


    They realised that they were the ''things'' that did not meet the criteria to be isted within the barrier, hence the reason they had all been teleported out upon its activation.


    "Then��what''s the criteria for the things ''Isted'' within the barrier?"


    Though he had all but guessed it, the Living Legend still asked and Evan once again did another round of appraisal before answering.


    "From what I can see, everyone in Lacertilia who was above a certain level got kicked out, meaning the Barrier''s condition��is everyone below Level 460.


    460 seems a bit even so I''d guess 450."


    "Isting every existence in Lacertilia below level 450 from the rest of the World��indeed, a World Istion Barrier."


    Evan gave a wry smile as he saw the frown adorning the man''s face.


    "d you''re quick on the uptake."


    At that moment, his shadow expanded rapidly, and from within it, a familiar blonde-haired priestess emerged, holding a certain ck-furred cat in her arms.


    "This is quite the crowd��"


    Following her words, Pride and Greed emerged from the young hero''s shadow before it finally shrunk back to normal size.


    "Did you get anything from them?"


    Evan spoke to the high demon who was holding two unconscious people in her hands, Senior Members of the Demonic Hand''s Ninth Division who had been beaten ck and blue by Greed.


    Although the hijacking of the train they were on earlier was not orchestrated by the Demonic Hand, themotion the fighting on the upper deck caused enabled them to discover Ninth Division and Sixth Division members who were using that train to enter Lacertilia.


    The two high demons had sensed the contracted demons of the Senior Members and had drawn Evan''s attention towards them, making him appraise them and discover they were indeed Demonic Hand Members.


    As for apprehending them? It was very easy with the party''sbined effort, and since the Members were mostly Superior Masters and just a few inferior grandmasters��a walk in the park for the current them to handle.


    "We didn''t get anything useful out of them. All they kept saying was that ''it wasn''t supposed to be activated now''."


    Greed replied with a shrug of his shoulders while walking towards the barrier with a bit of surprise showing on his face��he could sense a whole lotta demons behind it, after all.


    "Who are these?"


    When the Living Legend asked the question on behalf of everyone here present, Evan pointed at the barrier and replied.


    "Friends of the guys who cast the barrier behind me. They were on our train which got hijacked and we found them.


    I''m quite familiar with them, and they happen to have a very big grudge against me��I was the one who ended the life of one of their Executivesst year, after all."


    Evan grabbed one of the bodies and turned the man over, searching through his pockets while he continued.


    "They targeted the GWEst year. The whole Undead Crisis was them."


    "Wasn''t that the ''Necromancer of Disaster''?"


    "Necromancer of Disaster, Strange guys casting a Barrier over Lacertilia to trap millions of civilians and adventurers below level 450, during a dungeon break where we can have level 500 monstersing out?


    They''re cut from the same cloth."


    He found the item he was looking for and pulled it out from the man''s pocket, holding up themunicator and checking if it was still functional.


    "Weird��things weren''t supposed to be this early. Did that other guy lie? To think that he could still lie to protect his organization while under interrogation��"


    The boy''s low mutterings entered the superhuman ears of all those present, making them consciously or unconsciously assume that Evan had captured one of their members beforehand and had ''interrogated'' the person, hence, the reason he was knowledgeable about them.


    "Good. It''s online."


    He put the walkie-talkie-esquemunicator in his inventory before apporting a badge into his palm, along with the Demonic Hand brooch he had collected from the man.


    The symbol on the badge was not his crest as the Count Bourne, but the crest of the Beast Kingdom''s Royal family, something that was given to him about a year ago by Mya herself.


    "A Military Regiment would being here soon enough, with Princess Mya leading it.


    I want you guys to ry all I just told you to her, and to give her these."


    He passed the two items to the Legendary Level adventurer before continuing.


    "The badge''s for Her Highness, she''d understand when she sees this one.


    As for the brooch, it''s so when she sends in the military personnel below level 450 in, they are to attack upon sighting anyone with that brooch on.


    Tell them to act in teams as their opponents are most likely going to be higher level than them.


    Andstly, tell her we need a Sovereign to break this thing."


    The man nkly stared at Evan who just tossed him a few things and gave him a list of messages to deliver to the Princess who he didn''t even know why she would being over with a Military Regiment.


    "All right, let''s go guys."


    Evan turned around and walked towards the barrier as he called out to his party members.


    "Huh? Do you want to enter? We tried, and it didn''t work."


    "You''re above Level 450��of course it would not."


    The teenager pushed his palm towards the barrier and instead of rebounding off it like it did when others present tried, his hand phased right through it without problem.


    "But I''m not, so I can enter.


    The problem is, I can''t get out when I do until the barrier is broken. Even so, I have no choice. Because if what this barrier was put up for actually happens, you''d have at least 12 million corpses to deal with��and none of them would be from monsters."


    Collective gasps of shock rang out from the crowd when he spoke but he paid them no mind and spoke to the Legendary Level man.


    "Please, do me the favour and pass my message to the Princess.


    Thanks in advance."


    Right after he said that, he pulled the other half of his body into the semi-transparent barrier, along with his party members and together they all dashed off into the distance.


    �� �� ��


    "There''s a possibility that Kethryllia would reduce the conditions for the barrierter on, and the next benchmark is Level 400.


    So, Greed and Liz. You guys have to take away the brooches from the Demonic Hand members you meet and-"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that would not work.


    She further states not to worry about it as she would make sure yourpanions are not ejected by the spell.]


    "Oh�� never mind then, Artemisia says she''d handle it."


    ''I really wonder where the limits of Artemisia''s ''Non-interference'' lie��''


    The boy thought to himself as he jumped a park fence and out of the area, before kicking off the ground and charging forward with boosted speed, courtesy of the ring of green light circling his ankles.


    Not too far behind him were Greed, Pride and Eliza, with the spirits riding on their bodies as they moved through the residential area that they were in.


    Their first goal was to do a sweep of the city, defeating any Demonic Hand members and monsters they met on the way as they moved towards the Dungeon.


    It was going to take a while but the monsters in the dungeon area were still around the level that the adventurers present there could handle with ease��their numbers were a problem, however.


    Said numbers were so many that even tens of thousands of adventurers and soldiers working simultaneously still let a couple of dozen monsters slip through by the minute.


    And when you considered how many minutes had passed, plus the momentary panic and break in themand chain when the World Magic spell was activated, then a lot of the still evacuating civilians probably had hundreds of monsters on their trails.


    That was clearly NOT good.


    [KRAAAAAA!!!!!]


    **BOOM!!


    "A wild Lizard randomly spawned!"


    Evan shouted out the exact same line he had when he faced the first monster during the Lizard Lord''s quest in the game, jumping out of the way to avoid the building it had broken from crumbling atop it.


    With his shout attracting its attention, the creature turned a head towards him and roared out, before condensing magic power in its maw and unleashing it as a beam of golden light through the air.


    Evan used void steps to create multiple tforms which he used to manoeuvre in the air and avoid the beam, beforending back on the ground and drawing his sword.


    "Wait a sec��a scaled lizard, with three heads, uses lightning and can fly too?


    Ain''t this a bootleg ''Ghidor*h?!"

 Chapter 569 Within the Barrier

    Chapter 569 Within the Barrier


    "��Ain''t this a bootleg ''Ghidor*h?!"


    The boy shouted out as the creature roared once more before taking a swing at him with one of its heads, its sharp jaws gleaming in the sunlight as it attempted to take a bite out of him.


    "It''s weak as hell though."


    **SWISH!!!


    [GROAHHH!!!]


    His hands blurred and the monster''s neck was severed from its head, spraying blood everywhere while screaming in pain.


    But even that was cut short when Evan charged forward and sliced the other two heads off with lightning speed, before tossing the whole corpse in his inventory.


    He then dashed forward to catch up to the others who had gone ahead, leaving behind the half-copsed building and the blood on the floor.


    At first, they didn''t encounter too many monsters, but the closer they got to the heart of the city, the more the monster encounters gradually began increasing in frequency.


    They were still a long way from the centre though, Lacertilia was a big city, after all.


    "Guys��we should split up soon so we can cover more ground."


    "Fine by me."


    "Don''t rob any banks, Greed."


    "Wha?! I''m offended!"


    Evan burst intoughter upon hearing the two demon siblings'' conversation after he suggested splitting up, but hisughter was cut short when a massive lizardman came into view.


    The creature also noticed them and stopped for a moment to decide whether to chase the weak humans it was already after or the clearly stronger onesing towards it.


    Eventually, it decided to go after the stronger ones, as they''d yield more experience upon death, but the poor creature didn''t know it was gonna be itsst battle.


    The instant it came into range, Evan''s mystic eyes came active and his Harbinger of Ice skill was activated, sending a wave of frigid energy spreading outward from the point his feet touched the ground.


    Noticing the danger in the ice, the Lizardman broke its run and quickly jumped backwards to gain distance.


    Its red scales seemed to glow as it swung its fat arms, releasing a three-pronged aura projection sh of mes toward the ground while its horizontal pupils watched Pride and Greed who nked it.


    Without hesitation, the monster grabbed the nearest carriage that was on the road and flung it towards Pride to slow her down, before coating both its arms in aura and raising them to punch towards Greed.


    **BAMM!!


    The high demon caught the punch with the t side of his de, and in that moment, Pride who ''phased through'' the carriage like it wasn''t even there, reached its back and unleashed a sh of ck mes.


    You would think that she''d use another element given the fact that it could use fire and in turn, should have had higher resistance, but Pride''s Demonic mes burned through the monster''s resistance with ease, drawing a long ming gash across its back.


    [Graa!!!]


    The monster roared aloud while simultaneously spinning its body around, throwing out its ming arm towards Pride who blocked with her sword before taking distance.


    Suddenly, the temperature of its legs dropped rapidly and within a second, the cold had spread to its entire lower body.


    [?!]


    It tried to ignite its mes to melt the ice and break itself free from the ice encasing its feet, but Greed''s demonic energy-infused great sword had already cleaved its head off its neck by the time it could do that.


    The monster''s corpse dropped right into Evan''s inventory and the group resumed their original movements, running towards the direction of the city centre.


    They naturally had a few other reptilian monster encounters but those monsters were quickly punched to death by Evan and Greed, their corpses collected if they were stronger than 250, while anything less was left behind.


    There was the option of incinerating the corpse but that consumed way too much energy and was unwise considering the current situation.


    As for what Evan nned to do with the corpses he was collecting, naturally, it was to sell them so he could rake in more money.


    "I mean, what other reason is there?"


    That was the answer he gave Eliza when the girl bothered to ask about this and after hearing it, she felt like she should not have done so in the first ce.


    Evan''s attention had long left the question and gone to the monster towering at nearly seven feet in height, with a coarse scaly hide that was an eerie blend of mottled greens and earthy browns.


    It had thick muscles and a jagged crest of bony tes forming a nightmarish crown framing a face dominated by sharp, yellow predatory eyes.


    "Finally! A Normal Lizardman!"


    Evan boosted forward after attracting the monster''s attention with his shout, running up the wall of a building and then jumping behind a billboard that was atop its roof.


    The lizardman''s gaze that was trained on him turned strange when it noticed that Evan''s presence suddenly disappeared right after he vanished right behind the board.


    Before it could even turn its attention to the boy''spanions, an obsidian ck de materialized right above its head and nailed straight through its skull, down its throat and straight to its heart, killing it in one strike.


    The lizardman dropped dead into Evan''s inventory and the boynded on the ground before muttering to himself.


    "This is fun��let''s do it again."


    He clearly did not have the demeanour of someone who hade to save Lacertilia''s citizens from being murdered by a mob of angry seven-foot-tall lizards who can each split a town in two.


    Running off once more, he ughtered all the strange reptilian monsters in his path, eventually encountering a scene of a group of soldiers trying to fight off a group of Lizardmen without damaging the city''s infrastructure as much as possible, and people who were cheering for them.


    A grin formed on his lips and he used his concealment skill once more, vanishing from his position and reappearing right beside one of the Lizardmen who was using vines to wrap around a horse carriage and toss it towards the soldiers.


    "That''s dangerous, you know?"


    [?!]


    The sudden voiceing from beside its ear startled the Lizardman, but Evan''s sword was already piercing through its heart faster than it could react.


    He then twisted the de while it was still stabbed into the creature, worsening the injury, before pulling it out and letting the creature fall right into his inventory.


    "Huh?!


    "Just who is that person?"


    "He killed the lizardman with a single strike. Just what kind of amazing skill did he use?"


    "I didn''t use a skill, though? Didn''t even use a bit of energy."


    Evan replied to their words as he flicked the blood off his de. There was no lie in what he said as at his current level of strength, killing a creature with a B-rank health stat was something he could do without using a skill or magic.


    A momentter, Pride and the others caught up to him, and when the soldiers saw them, one of them seemed to recognise them.


    "Wait a sec��four spirits and four humans? With a grey-eyed boy as the leader��you guys are the Anomalies?!"


    "Well, someone recognizes us."


    The young hero spoke as he dropped his sword into his inventory and walked up to the soldier, apporting his adventurer card into his palm and introducing himself before asking a few questions.


    The soldier was quite eager to answer after knowing it was a famous adventurer Hero who he was speaking to and that helped Evan get a good idea of how things were in the city.


    Initially, things were going fine and the areas designated for evacuation weren''t much, so it was pretty easy to deal with.


    However, the emergency rms suddenly began ring, meaning the whole city was to be put under a state of emergency and all civilians were to be evacuated to shelters.


    Apparently, the people with the authority to trigger said rms were pretty high up in the hierarchy and were all Epic Levels with SS+ power levels.


    This happened mere seconds after that ''strange dome'' covered the entire city and then civilians began freaking out when S Rank adventurers, powerful officer-ranked soldiers and city defence force personnel began disappearing right before their very eyes.


    A group of people spotted it, and some started running around saying it was the ''end of the world'' while some spread the news as they saw it.


    Even so, this still caused panic as the people they expected to protect the city suddenly started disappearing after a dungeon break.


    This happened at multiple points across the city so the panic was quite widespread, giving the remaining military and defence forces a hard time in handling the situation.


    A few had even begun considering using force to get the civilians causing trouble under control��especially the ones that were vandalizing stores and stealing stuff all over.


    Evan thanked them for their information before he and his party continued their movement towards the city centre, killing monsters all the way.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Hey, y''all.


    Your very tired Author _michael here. ??


    I really need to reduce the rate at which I edit already-posted chapters to add more story elements. ?????��?


    But anyway, I changed up a few things in chapters 432 and 549, so do well to skim through them a bit.


    Over and out!

 Chapter 570 Luring out Senior Members

    Chapter 570 Luring out Senior Members


    All around him, buildings were being destroyed, people were running away while adventurers were confronting the reptilian monsters.


    Some were not in gear when the attack suddenly happened, so they had to exercise more caution than they usually would while fighting.


    The Mages guild deployed some of its members to assist, using magic to shieldbatants and buildings from being damaged excessively by the attacks of the monsters and adventurers alike.


    Lacertilia had many armed organizations within its borders: The Army, the City Defence Force, the Police Force, the Knight Order, the Adventurer''s Guild, the Mage''s Guild, and the Mercenaries Guild.


    Yet, in the game, the Demonic Hand was still able to carry out their n and ensure more than half of Lacertilia''s citizens perished in this ''Lizard Lord''s Outbreak''.


    Even if thebatants of these organizations with S rank level power and above were removed from the equation, the fact that they were able to still do so made Evan actually feel a bit of awe towards them.


    Especially the Seventh, Ninth and Tenth Fingers who had handled things in the game.


    And right now, despite the fact that things werergely not going ording to their ns, they still had Lacertilia in a state of unrest due to their actions.


    ''Making the civilians see the disappearing S-SSS levelbatants had a far greater effect than Kethryllia probably imagined it would.''


    As he had that thought to himself, Evan kicked off the ground and boosted forward, slicing through a lump of me that was flying towards the back of an S ranker before releasing an aura sh that bisected the monster thatunched it.


    The S ranker''spanion who was about to assist, gaped at Evan who just dispatched a level 298 monster with a single strike, and seemingly without effort.


    "I see��the defence forces at the dungeon area are keeping all the grandmaster level monsters within the Buffer Zone so it''s only the non-grandmasters that are able to slip through and get this far."


    Just as he said that, he turned his gaze towards the giant me Lizardman that the A rank party was handling, activating his Harbinger skill and stomping his foot on the floor.


    A wave of icy energy surged forth from beneath his foot, towards the me Lizardman''s feet and encased them in a thickyer of ice.


    "Milena: Frostbrand."


    The water spirit acted as a conduit for his technique, touching the Lizardman''s back in his ce and branding it with an icy sigil.


    The frost aura seeped into its very being, harnessing its own magic power and aura to build up power within it while it struggled to break free from the ice holding down its legs.


    "Get back!"


    He shouted out towards the party whilst condensing energy into his palm as if he was about to attack, and when they did fall back, he quickly dispersed the energy and spoke.


    "Detonate."


    ***BOOOOMMM!!!!


    A surge of unnatural cold erupted from the lizardman''s innards, a stark contrast to its fiery aura. This quickly transitioned into a grotesque spectacle, a the Frostbrand burst forth in an explosion, tearing the lizardman''s form asunder.


    The explosion''s shockwave rippled through the air, carrying with it the remnants of the me lizardman''s existence.


    With the creature dead, Evan casually turned around and moved to catch up to his party members who were butchering other lizardmen up front.


    "Elemental Armament Barrage."


    Uponmand, an array of weapons formed from his icy energy surged forth like a relentless storm, their des and tips seeking out the monsters with unerring precision.


    Swords, spears, daggers, arrows, knives, and more converge upon their hapless victims, burrowing through their defences and leaving behind a tapestry of punctured scales and flesh.


    As if that wasn''t enough, Evan made the second half of the barrage detonate upon contact, triggering explosions of raw ice elemental energy that rended their forms asunder.


    "You aren''t collecting the corpses anymore?"


    "I''d only collect the grandmaster ones from now on.


    Anyway. This ce is good enough for us to split up. We''d go around, sweep up a few monsters, save some people and meet up at the Dungeon area.


    We can all sense where the main battlefield is, can''t we?"


    "Indeed."


    Greed spoke as he lifted up Mammonas from the corpse of a Lizardman and hoisted it atop his shoulder.


    "To maintain contact, one of the Spirits would go with each of you guys.


    Ka''s with me, Kuro''s with Liz as always and Milena, Imma have to trouble you to go with Greed."


    "What''s that supposed to mean?"


    Just as Greed asked that, Pride walked over to Milena and held the spirit''s hand before saying.


    "I give you full permission to smack the heck out of him if he side-tracks."


    "Hey!"


    The high demon''s protests were ignored both by his sibling and her contractor who quickly turned their attention towards other directions.


    "Ah, Hold on, Liz."


    Evan ran up to his girlfriend who had just ced buffs on all of them and pulled her into a tight hug, before capturing her lips in a deep kiss thatsted close to half a minute.


    "Good. Now I have motivation."


    He gave the dumbfounded and blushing blonde a grin before taking a step back and dropping right into his extending shadow, emerging from within the shadow of a tree about a few hundred metres away.


    [Ha��Master never ceases to amaze me.]


    Kuro''s voice was what snapped Eliza out of her dumbstruck state, while Pride only shook her head silently and blitzed off in the opposite direction with Amy.


    Greed whistled through his teeth as he unsummoned his weapon, before dashing off in the direction of the city''s Western quarter with Milena on his shoulder


    Left behind, the shadow spirit simply climbed onto Eliza''s shoulder and then activated his shadow movement, wrapping the girl in his shadows and teleporting her towards the city''s Eastern quarter.


    �� �� ��


    Evan ran through the sea of buildings at sonic speed, taking advantage of his sheer movement speed to one-shot every monster he came across.


    Since he was moving at around 380+ metres per second, all he had to do was stretch out his sword arm whenever he came close to a monster and infuse it with aura, and the force with which he passed and shed the monster would be enough to end its sorry life.


    He asionally teleported when he sensed finely positioned shadows or when he reached dead ends and wanted to go over the buildings using Blink.


    The boy''s mood was quite chipper, and the reason could not be anything but the kiss he just had with his girlfriend some time ago.


    With a bright smile on his face, he sliced and diced all the reptilian-type monsters he encountered on the ground, while Ka only shook her head while making lightning descend upon the ones in the air.


    Arriving at a secluded area, he pulled out the walkie-talkie that he took from the Seventh Division Senior Member and cleared his throat lightly before activating it and speaking into it.


    "Guh! Does anyone copy? I need help, someone''s onto me!!"


    There was a scrambling noiseing from the speaker as themunicator seemed to search for a radio signal, followed by a ''click'' sound.


    [Help?! Who''s speaking?]


    "It''s Thuto!"


    [Thuto? Weren''t you supposed to be bringing in Lord Seith''s men? What the heck happened?]


    "I don''t know, we got attacked when we were trying to get into the barrier. I should be the one asking what the hell happened?!


    Why did Lady Keasatra activate the barrier now?! We nearly got killed by an enraged Living Legend!!"


    Evan breathed heavily as he spoke, giving the impression of someone who was exhausted from running.


    This really did help in making ''Thuto''s situation'' seem very dire as the man in question was a grandmaster; For him to get tired from running, then the person who was after him must have been pretty powerful.


    Ka only just watched her master deceive the Demonic Hand member on the other end of the line with her hands folded, shaking her head silently.


    The conversation proceeded and Evan was actually able to get the other person to leave his position ande over to ''where Thuto was'', but before Evan could give his location, he sensed something nearby and quickly made something up.


    "Fuck! They found me?!


    I think that legend guy sent some S rankers after me and they just found me. I gotta go!"


    [Thuto, wai-]


    The boy cut the connection and then spread out his aura to check what he thought he sensed earlier, sighing softly upon confirming it and quickly moving in that direction.


    A few hundred metrester, Evan emerged at a park entrance, where what looked like a family of six was being chased around by a Lizardman.


    The creature was clearly having fun with them, chasing around its prey with what Evan could only guess was a grin on its face.


    [Hmm? Another human?]


    This particr Lizardman seemed more intellectually developed than its other brethren that Evan had fought earlier��either that or it was just more talkative.

 Chapter 571 The Fish Caught in The Net Are Quite Smart

    Chapter 571 The Fish Caught in The Net Are Quite Smart


    Seeing Evan suddenly appearing, the Lizardman''s eyes seemed to shine and it kicked off the ground, charging right towards the family with its arm raised and infused with aura.


    Its ws glinted in the sunlight as it swung them down towards the family, intending on ughtering them all and forcing Evan to teleport right in front of it with an Elemental Shield active.


    **BAMM!!


    The Lizardman mmed into the Elemental Shield and if it wasn''t for Evan using his sword to root himself into the ground, the force might have knocked him backwards and made the shield squash the family he was trying to protect.


    As soon as it saw that Evan had blocked the first attack, its eyes curled into slits as it activated a skill and struck out once more, its w breaking through the Elemental Shield effortlessly and mming into Evan''s body.


    The sweeping strike mmed into Evan''s side and sent him flying through the air, in the same instant that a golden bolt of lightning descended onto its body.


    [GAAHHH!!!]


    Screaming in pain, the Lizardman tried to coat its body with aura while jumping out of the way.


    [Evan!!]


    "Agh! I''m fine."


    The young hero replied to Ka''s worried call as he got up from the pile of blocks that was the building he crashed into, emerging with a bright red bloodstain on his grey shirt.


    Upon seeing this bloodstain, the family that Evan had protected instantly assumed that the boy had gotten injured in doing so, but in reality, Evan didn''t so much as have a scratch on him.


    The blood was actually the Lizardman''s��Evan had stabbed it in the same instant that it attacked him but he got some of the crimson liquid sshing on him.


    He stared at his shirt with a frown, one that made it look as if he was frowning because of his ''grave injury'', but his thoughts could not be any further than that.


    ''Damn it, this is one of my new shirts!''


    [Human!!]


    The Lizardman''s enraged voice rang out as it charged towards Evan with its arms encased in aura, jumping into the air and mming down arms towards the young hero.


    In response, Evan let go of the unforged and locked both his palms together, pointing them towards the airborne monster and activating a skill.


    "Energy st."


    Magic power condensed rapidly in front of his palms beforeunching forward as a huge golden-coloured beam that crashed into the Lizardman mid-air.


    Simultaneously, Ka used her Electrome skill on It and triggered an orange-coloured explosion in mid-air, with shockwaves reaching the ground.


    From within It, the Lizardman''s corpse fell out and towards the ground with a loud thud, after which the hero finally put down his arms.


    When he turned around and saw the family of six still looking at him after picking up his sword, he gave them a confused gaze while asking.


    "Why are you still here? Run along already!"


    It was only then that they snapped out of their daze and began to scamper away. They did stop right after as they were worried about his ''injury'' but he only told them to get away before other monsters came over.


    Once they were finally out of sight, Evan then turned towards Ka and asked.


    "They said something about an injury. Am I injured?"


    [Master��do you not know how your shirt looks?]


    "My shirt��? Oh!"


    It was then that the boy finally understood what they had mistaken as ''his injury'' and burst intoughter, shaking his head as he pulled off his shirt and changed it for a clean one of the same type.


    Evan did not know this yet, but that family would then go on toter spread the news of a ''boy with a grey shirt named Evan who got hurt protecting them'', something that would further boost his public favourability.


    On a side note, he let them go and did not offer to escort them as he had killed every other monster within the district, so he knew they would not encounter any monsters until they reached the evacuation zone.


    The boy took a moment to sense how far away his contractors, spirit and demon, were from him and let out a bit of surprise upon seeing they had covered more distance than he expected.


    He pulled out the walkie-talkie from his inventory once more and activated it, waiting for the device to find a radio signal before talking into it.


    "Ha��ha��is there��anyone?"


    [Thuto! Where the hell are you?!]


    The same voice from before rang out and Evan moved over to the Lizardman''s burning corpse, letting the mic capture the sound of the mes. He then dropped his sword on the floor and coughed loudly before replying.


    "Distric��16? No 17. At some��park."


    [Hold on, we''reing over now!]


    ''We?''


    Seeing that his little had caught more than one fish, Evan grinned evilly for a moment, before coughing and replying again.


    "Be��quick��."


    [Thuto?! Thuto!


    Damn, I think he has lost consciousness!]


    [Let''s be quick!]


    The connection cut off not long after and Evan told Ka to hide herself and get into position while he took a Demonic Hand Brooch and rubbed it with the blood on his shirt, tossing it on the floor right after and then moving towards the building he crashed into earlier and dropping the bloodied shirt on the floor near it.


    He then partially concealed his presence with his skill, making it seem like the weak presence of a wounded person as he hid within the rubble and waited for the iing Senior Members.


    �� �� ��


    "Thuto! Where are you, dude?"


    The voice suddenly rang out after close to ten minutes of waiting, but Evan did not reply immediately, remaining silent as he had the ambient spirits scout the area for him.


    They returned a minuteter, telling him that there were some other people in the distance who had lowered their presences and were watching the area where the two who hade over to the park were.


    By that time, the two had finallye close enough to be able to sense Evan''s ''weakened'' presence. They exchanged a nce with each other before slowly separating and approaching the broken building from both sides.


    "Are you in there? With all this blood on the ground��you don''t seem to be in a good condition.


    We''d keep watch on the area soe on out so we can have Lestie here heal you."


    Evan who was about to finally reply to their calls suddenly stopped in his tracks as he noticed their positions changing, as well as the magic power slowly building up in the sky.


    ''Well��they clearly didn''t fall for it.''


    [Weird��Master mimicked that person''s voice well. What gave it away?]


    Ka muttered to herself as she floated beside Evan before suddenly mming her fist in her palm and saying.


    [Maybe they had some sort of emergency phrase you didn''t know about?]


    ''As far as I know, the Seventh Division does not have anything like that��maybe they changed things up recently?''


    [Could be.]


    Evan shrugged his shoulders in response to Ka''s words, slowly getting up to his feet and taking a deep breath as he prepared himself for a fight.


    He peeked out from a small crack and used his Farsight skill to spot a suitable position in the area, before holding up themunicator and speaking into it.


    "Lestie? Who''s��that?"


    [That''s our healer. Why are you acting like you don''t know that?]


    The two still seemed to be going along with Evan''s little ruse despite the fact that they were using a concealment magic formation to hide the Tier 2 Spell circles slowly building up in the sky.


    "That so��"


    Evan watched the Senior Member he could see from his position while he spoke, preparing his skill activation as he saw the man slowly raise his hand upward.


    He then swung it down immediately after, making a concentrated stream of water emerge from the shimmering magic circle in the air.


    It struck the half-copsed building Evan was in with force, shattering through its damaged roof and crashing violently onto the ground below.


    Simultaneously, a brilliant streak of lightning tore through the air, crackling with electrifying energy. It descended on the same spot, colliding with an explosive burst that shattered the remnants of the building into countless fragments.


    What followed was a chaotic spectacle as thebined power of the water and lightning surged outward and engulfed everything in the area with electrifying and destructive might.


    If there was anyone in that building, they were sure to have been incapacitated��the two Senior Members thought.


    Too bad they didn''t know their target was someone capable of teleporting to almost anywhere within his field of vision.


    "Did we get them?"


    "I''m not sure. They activated a skill at the same moment youunched your spell so they most likely wouldn''t be as damaged as we expected."


    Just as the two were analysing the situation from afar, Evan suddenly appeared behind one of them with his sword pointed forward, piercing right through the back of the man''s skull and boring a hole through his brain.


    "Your bro''s dead for sure."

 Chapter 572 Water, Earth, Fire, Wind.

    Chapter 572 Water, Earth, Fire, Wind.


    "Your bro''s dead for sure."


    "?!"


    The other immediately turned around upon hearing Evan''s voice, swinging his arm and sending a massive sh of pressurized water towards the hero while backing away.


    In response, Evan released an icy aura that engulfed the water sh and turned It into a chunk of ice mid-air, before seizing control of the projectile and redirecting it back to sender.


    The guy was quick on his feet, immediately kicking off the ground to dodge the ice sh that carved the ground where he was a moment ago.


    He waved his hands and activated multiple water magic spells, surrounding Evan with three spell circles, one in his front and two on either side.


    The first one released a powerful vortex of turbulent water, swirling with destructive intent, the second unleashed torrents of water that rose like towering walls of liquid fury while the third just released a cascade of water that threatened to drown Evan with its sheer volume and force.


    The three spells converged upon him and surrounded him in an aquatic prison with no visible chance of escape.


    But before these three masses of water��enough to flood the park they were in��could hit Evan, a sudden eruption of frigid energy from the boy''s body disrupted their course.


    The icy maelstrom encased the oing spells, stilling their turbulent waters with the intense cold and solidifying them within a prison of ice.


    Without even a second''s dy, the frozen spells were transformed into deadly projectiles, hurtling back to the Senior Member with breakneck speed.


    The threatening jagged forms of the ice chunks descending upon him had the man summoning walls of water to block whilst using skills to knock down as many as he could.


    However, Evan decided to mess with him, making all the projectiles detonate either upon contact with his defensive barriers or his skills.


    The explosions enveloped him in a brutal embrace of cold and frost, knocking him through the air and onto the cold des of grass on the floor.


    Evan retracted his icy aura into his body after seeing the knocked-down man, but just when he took a step forward, three presences suddenly entered his range of detection.


    "About time you guys showed up."


    As soon as he spoke, the three other Demonic Hand Senior Members shed into the park, their hands cupped at their sides with elemental power condensing into dense vtile balls of energy.


    Simultaneously, they thrust their arms forward to shoot out three streaming powerful beams of earth, fire, and wind energies respectively towards Evan.


    ''Elemental Shield.''


    A radiant spherical shield materialised around him, its surface shimmering with the elemental energies of the three elements they had just used.


    ***BOOOOMM!!!!!


    The three beams collided with the protective barrier in a deafening explosion of energy, shaking the foundations of all nearby buildings in the district. A massive crater formed at the epicentre of the impact, sending billowing smoke and debris high into the sky.


    As the smoke gradually cleared, the sight that emerged left the three Senior Members astonished.


    There stood Evan,pletely unscathed and untouched behind the cracked yet resolute Elemental shield.


    Even if they didn''t expect to kill him with that, it was still surprising to see he waspletely unscathed.


    As for Evan, the boy was looking at the elemental affinities of the four of them, his eyes widening slightly as he realised something.


    "Water, Earth, Fire and then Wind?"


    He held up a hand to his lips and coughed lightly, before beginning to speak with a serious voice.


    "Long ago, the four nations l????????????i????????v??????e?????????????????d????????????????? ??????t????????????????????????o??????????????????????g??????????????????????-"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you should be serious for once in your life.]


    [I agree with Big Sis.]


    Ka spoke up to concur with the goddess'' words, manifesting her physical body right beside Evan with her two arms stretched out.


    [Laser Ring.]


    A runic circle manifested on the ground underneath her feet, prompting fiverge 50cm cubes of golden lightning to appear, forming a ring around her.


    The next moment, the rings began rotating at sonic speed, and just when the Senior Member tried to scramble out of the way, the ring radiated a golden blinding light, releasing five massiveser beams in all directions.


    ***BOOOOMMM!!!!!!!!


    In an instant, the area around them was turned into a sea of mes and the pained grunts of the four Senior Members rang out as the devastating explosion of lightning energy wounded them.


    [Master, you would not be able to finish things quickly if you''re still trying to limit the coteral damage.]


    Ka spoke as she snapped her fingers and caused lightning bolts to descend in the directions of the four Senior Members, however, the presences suddenly multiplied by two before a surge of demonic energy filled the area.


    "I know. Anyway, could you be a dear and handle the other grunts that are closing in on our location?"


    [Hmm? Oh, those weaklings. Fine.]


    The lightning spirit spoke as she flew up into the air and turned into a streak of lightning that quickly disappeared into the distance, while Evan gave a silent prayer for the souls of the unfortunate mid-ranked Demonic Hand members.


    "Shit! That spirit! It''s Evan Eris!"


    "Don''t hold anything back against him, otherwise we''re dead meat!"


    "Demonic Fusion!"


    The four Senior Members instantly entered their fused states, gaining the demon race''s signature bat-like wings and some other species-based features.


    One''s body swelled up in size and he gained an extra pair of arms, another gained multiple tails emerging from his lower back and their body stature also grew noticeably.


    As for the water user whom Evan was fighting first, he transformed into a half-fox-half-human hybrid.


    Without hesitation, the four attacked Evan with renewed intensity, blitzing towards him with near-sonic speed movements and unleashing elemental attacks mixed with magic power and demonic energy.


    **BAAMMM! BOOOMM!!!


    Evan kicked off the ground and jumped into the air, repeating the same action with his void steps topletely escape the radius of the explosions before activating energy st and releasing concentrated beams of energy towards the four.


    The water user activated a skill, causing magic power to coalesce all over and create a dozen liquid ethereal copies of himself.


    Both he and the copies charged forward through the air, unleashing streams of water that transformed into feline beast constructs mid-air, each one roaring out as they swiped their ws at Evan.


    The young hero who had stopped ying around, activated his chain lightning skill and hurled a bolt of the element towards the nearest feline water construct.


    The bolt crashed onto the beast and vaporized it instantly, before jumping on to the next one and doing the same.


    While that happened, he jumped over the two earth and me swords that came from behind, crossing his arms in front of his chest to block the double punch of the two humanoid water clones that came in right after.


    **BAMM!!


    The force of the punches sent him flying to the ground, but he didn''t crash into it, instead flipping around mid-air and mming his palms together.


    He pulled them apart a secondter, with a golden surge of lightning erupting from within and shooting forward towards the mix of wind and fire projectiles that approached.


    His pupils darted to the side and a wall of lightning elemental blocks formed right in front of the wind elemental Senior Member, before closing in a ''pping'' motion very quickly, roasting the demonic fused human who wasn''t fast enough to dodge with lightning.


    The boy''s leg dragged against the floor and the ground erupted in a surge of earthen spikes which were blocked by the earth-attributed Demonic Hand member, but the fire wielder came barrelling down towards him from above with a huge sword coated in mes.


    She spun around and unleashed a single sh of zing mes that threatened to burn through everything, but Evan let his body fall backwards into his extending shadow to avoid it, reappearing from her own shadow cast by the sea of mes she had created with her attack.


    He activated Pdin and threw out a punch to the back of her neck with lightning coating his arms, activating the fracture skill but the woman''s reaction was quick.


    She ducked to avoid the lightning-coated fist and spun around to deliver a low kick towards Evan''s legs, forcing him to jump up to avoid it.


    Airborne and off bnce, he quickly became a target for the water clones that came shing down with pressurized water des in their hands, while the me user tried to deliver a punch to his seemingly defenceless stomach.


    But when she sensed a sudden gust of cold wind surround her, she pulled back her fist and threw her body out of the way, barely escaping the wave of icy shards that protruded from the ground underneath Evan and pierced through the water clones attacking him.


    Evan blinked away and reappeared behind the wind user who was conjuring a storm spell, creating an elemental projected weapon with ice and swinging it down, releasing five fist-sized bullets of aura that sted his defensive energy coat apart, leaving him vulnerable to the sh that followed the aura bullets.


    "GAHH!"

 Chapter 573 Hollow Cannon

    Chapter 573 Hollow Cannon


    "GAHH!"


    It was quite the macabre scene as Evan''s de cannon sh drew a massive gash across his back, breaking his concentration and causing his spell circle to shatter.


    Of course, he received bacsh damage from this.


    "Flux. Blink."


    Evan activated two skills, leaving a ball of swirling vtile energy that quickly exploded in the face of the double-armed earth user who charged into the scene intending to save hispanion.


    The instant the boy reappeared; he raised a brow in light surprise upon noticing that his feet seemed to havended in a pool of water.


    "Ensnare!"


    The water surged upwards and wrapped around his body, pulling his arms that were halfway through closing apart and setting him wide open for the me user''s spinning sh.


    **BAMMMM!!!!


    The sword of mes collided with his body and sent him flying through the air, bashing through a building and falling right into the parkke that was right behind it.


    "Srburst!"


    Her voice rang out and a radiant Sun-like orb of intense mes materialised, casting a scorching radiance upon the surroundings. The heat radiating from it was so intense that it started to liquify any nearby metals.


    She flew up into the air and blitzed towards theke Evan had fallen into, leaving a trail of mes streaking through the air.


    With a determined gaze, she hurled the zing sphere towards theke, with it also leaving a trail of shimmering heat waves as it descended towards Evan''s body.


    **BOOMMM!!!!


    Upon impact, an explosive eruption of mes engulfed Evan, theke waters hissing and evaporating, creating a massive steam cloud that rose high into the sky.


    She then clenched her fist once more and condensed the energy back into another smaller ball of mes, triggering a second even more devastating explosion that rocked the area, obliterating theke in an instant and recing it with a zing inferno that devoured everything in the crater left behind.


    Even still, she didn''t believe that was enough to kill Evan who had grandmaster-level power, enchanting her ymore with intense mes and preparing to activate her unique skill as she beelined straight towards the inferno on the floor.


    "Hold on, it''s supposed to be my turn now, isn''t it?"


    "?!"


    Hearing the boy''s carefree voice, she quickly reacted and tried to change her flight trajectory but Evan who had seen her quick reactions before was prepared for them.


    Golden ethereal chains materialized from thin air, shooting towards the woman and wrapping around her legs, pulling them down onto the ground and mming her body onto a spike of ice that emerged from the floor at thest moment.


    "GAAAH!"


    Hearing her scream out in pain, the water user quickly sent a surge of water cascading over, quenching the mes and making way for the other two to charge in with attacks ready.


    The wind user created a gust of wind to blow away all the steam while the earth user stomped his foot on the floor with hisnding, causing the ground to break open to reveal multiple spiked earth columns that erupted through the air.


    "Behind!"


    The woman''s voice suddenly rang out, and both the Earth and Wind users had their eyes widen in shock when they suddenly sensed Evan''s presence materialise right behind them.


    Quickly reacting, the wind user turned around and created arge horizontal tornado that drilled through everything in front of him, shattering the ground and the ice sculpture that Evan left behind them.


    "He''s using shadows!!"


    The water user who was some distance away, saw exactly how Evan managed to appear right behind them and warned them, but it was toote as the Evesting Chains had already swirled around their bodies and entrapped them.


    "Here, have some snickers. They''re ice-voured, though."


    A series of ethereal ice shards in the shape of icicles surrounded Evan as he spoke, beforeunching themselves with lightning speed and piercing through the two bodies of the two men with precision, striking their lower torsos and theirps.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' sighs in exasperation at your words.]


    ''But the spell is called cial Snickerstrike!''


    The icy projectiles perforated their flesh upon impact, creating gruesome holes through which blood spurted and spilt profusely.


    It left them both writhing in pain, with blood-soaked clothing and a chilling numbness creeping through their lower bodies.


    "AGRHHHH!!"


    The earth user roared loudly and broke free from the elemental chains, unleashing full powerful punches towards Evan who quickly cancelled the rest of the spell and jumped backward to dodge.


    But there was little he could do with the wounds Evan''s icicles had inflicted on him, so he dropped to his knees only after a few seconds.


    However, the me user took on the mantle, igniting her weapon and lunged forward after breaking free from Evan''s chains, her massive ymore held high above her head.


    With a powerful leap, she descended towards Evan, swinging her weapon downward and releasing a devastating arc of searing mes that trailed behind the trajectory of the de.


    The air itself seemed to catch figure the de descended, leaving a scorching trail of sparks through the air.


    Upon contact with the ground, the de unleashed its full fury.


    An inferno erupted, an explosive wave of blistering heat and mes surging outwards and devouring everything in its path and turning the area into a sea of fire and smouldering ashes.


    But even these powerful mes met their match upon colliding with the spherical barrier of ice that surrounded Evan''s body, stopping the relentless congration from engulfing the boy.


    Evan then kicked off the ground, dashing up into the air and standing atop a void step while gazing down below at the ruined District of Lacertilia.


    ''Weird��why hasn''t any defence force member or soldiere? It''s been close to ten minutes since we started fighting?''


    He scanned the area to see if they were upied by any particrly powerful monster but noticed nothing of the sort.


    ''First, let me kill three of these guys.''


    The boy made the decision as he looked at the water user healing his two woundedpanions, muttering about how futile that was as he jumped off the void step and let gravity pull him down towards the ground.


    ''Elemental Armament Barrage.''


    An array of weapons formed from his icy energy surged forth like a relentless storm, falling down from the sky like rain and making the me user who wanted to attack him cancel her attack in favour of defending her other threepanions.


    Evan''snding on the ground was simultaneous with the barrage''s ending, and the earth user took this as the cue to charge forward, intending to finish his earlier flurry of attacks.


    He struck out with his two left fists, an attack Evan blocked with crossed arms, however, the force still knocked the young hero back a bit.


    The man followed up, jumping into the air and striking the empty air, creating shockwaves from the pressure of his fists and sending them flying like an array of missiles.


    While Evan was busy countering these shockwaves with an elemental projected sword, the wind user blitzed in from the side, holding a swirling ball of wind magic power and demonic energy which he thrust towards the young hero.


    **BOOMM!!!


    The resultant wind explosion knocked Evan off his feet and sent him tumbling through the air, where the water user came in with his clones and shed towards the young boy with lethal intent.


    Seeing the multiple pressurized water desing in, Evan''s brow narrowed as he teleported into the air and then right behind the water user.


    His palm outstretched; he activated the skill he stole from the Eighth Fingerst year.


    "Your clones are annoying. Hollow Magic: Hollow Cannon."


    In the blink of an eye, non-attributed magic power condensed in a swirling sphere right in front of Evan''s palm,unching and mming into the man''s back with zero dy.


    The moment of impact was nothing short of devastating.


    The Hollow Cannon sted apart his flesh, shattered his bones, ruptured his organs and obliterated everything in the upper half of his body.


    It was as though some sort of void energy had torn through him, leaving a swirling distortion in the air where he stood a moment ago.


    The cannon surged forth, reaching the earth user who was charging in Evan''s direction and sting apart his two left arms and wing faster than he could even react.


    "Ah��I got a little serious."


    Evan spoke as if he just realised that he made a mistake of some sort, clenching his fist and forcefully cancelling the Hollow Cannon that was still tearing rifts through the air as it moved.


    "How the hell did the Eighth Finger Control this thing��?"


    The boy pulled back his arm and looked at his smoking palm, silently admiring the Necromancer who could control this strange Hollow Magic with rtive ease.


    ''This is some low-level void maniption, right? Using non-attributed magic power��''

 Chapter 574 Gaining information about the status quo

    Chapter 574 Gaining information about the status quo


    ''This is some low-level void maniption, right? Using non-attributed magic power��''


    Such a thought passed his mind momentarily, but he quickly dismissed it and refocused on the other three Senior Members who were looking at him with gazes filled with shock and fear.


    He blinked and reappeared between the bleeding Earth user and the wind user who seemed like he was preparing to flee, the clinking sound of chains following his movements as they were instantly ensnared with his Evesting Chains.


    "Ice Nova."


    Evan called out, using his skill to enable the spell''s instantaneous casting.


    A blinding sh of light was released, disorienting the senses of the earth and wind users, and when coupled with the evesting chains binding them and draining their magic power, they were powerless to resist the might of the ice waves that surged forward omnidirectionally in the same instant.


    By the time the light died down, both of them, as well as the me user were now encased in fifty feet high chunks of spiked and jagged ice.


    The surrounding temperature plummeted rapidly, down to somewhere within the range of -5 and +5 degrees Celsius, in contrast to the heat that filled the area due to the woman''s ming ymore.


    "Shatter."


    As he gave themand, all therge ice chunks simultaneously shattered into tiny shards of ice, along with the bodies of the earth and wind users frozen within them.


    He turned around and moved towards the me-using woman, grabbing her frozen arm and breaking her wrist off.


    [Master, you''re not done here?]


    Ka spoke as she reappeared beside him, her body still crackling with residual me energy from the massive Electrome she had used to obliterate the Mid-Ranking members of the Demonic Hand she fought.


    "I just finished. All that''s left is to get information from her."


    As he spoke, he thawed the ice freezing the woman and let her body fall onto the ground. Her immediate reaction was a piercing shriek, her voice echoing with the agony of a severed wrist.


    ''I see��she was not frozenpletely like the other two because of her mes, so she felt the pain, huh?''


    A part of Evan pitied her but the rest of him was busy browsing through the memories of the previous Second Hero that he possessed, more specifically, his repository of methods or extracting information.


    ''I see��this would be good.''


    With that thought, he reached out and grabbed her hair, forcibly raising her head and making her meet with his gaze.


    Cold, frigid air oozed from his hands, slowly seeping into her skin and covering her skull bit by bit, while he used his golden chains to wrap around her legs to pin her to the ground.


    ''Master''s chains resemble the chains of causality to a frightening degree.''


    Ka had that thought as she looked at the golden ''Evesting Chains'' before turning her head awaypletely as she didn''t care to see how Evan nned to ''interrogate'' the unfortunate Senior Member.


    �� �� ��


    "I see, so everything is basically the way I had assumed.


    Kethryllia activated the spell in response to the dungeon breaking. Because Princess Mya ising over, they''d do a sweep of the city for monsters and end up finding the nodes she used to spread the spell''s range and make it impossible for Legendary Levels and below to be able to enter."


    Evan muttered to himself as he sat on a chair with a ss of chilled strawberry juice in his hands. Sitting on hisp was his contracted spirit, Ka, who also had a simr ss in her hands and was sipping it silently.


    On the floor not too far away from them was the half-dead, chained-up Demonic Hand Seventh Division Senior Member who was halfway to entering a vegetative state.


    "Maude is in the dungeon, trying to figure out why the Lizard Lord is losing power.


    And now Kethryllia is probably with her, given that she apparently disappeared with Thagol after activating the World Istion Barrier."


    He ced his hand on his chin and spoke with a pensive look on his face, trying to think about where Kethryllia could possibly be if she was not in the dungeon.


    "If she''s in the dungeon, then us going inside there would be offering ourselves to our deaths.


    Mind telling me if she''s there, Artemisia?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says there is only one Demonic Hand executive in the ''Lair of the Lizard Lord''.]


    "So, no Kethryllia then. That''s good as we''d only have to face Maude, someone I can easily beat on my own if I use Blessing of Destruction and Limit Break.


    But that''s bad, as it means the location of the strongest person within this barrier is unknown��"


    [What if she''s not inside the barrier?]


    Ka asked that question after finishing her drink and dropping the ss onto herp, with Evan''s eyes widening as he began considering that possibility and what it entailed.


    "If Kethryllia is not inside the barrier, then there are very few ces she could possibly be. And none of them are good."


    The young hero picked up her ss and refilled her juice as he replied. He momentarily considered asking Artemisia but the moment he thought that, the goddess already told him that Kethryllia''s circumstances were currently a bit special and that she could not tell him her whereabouts.


    "The heck?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says you should think about all you know of the Demonic Hand Executive in question and consider the ''Worst Case Scenario.'']


    Evan did as she said and it didn''t take him long to figure it out, with his expression darkening.


    "��no fucking way!!


    ''That person'' should not have any reason to be on the Alpha Continent! It''s not even remotely close to the time for the n for Tarse, and the Master of Dragondune is still missing!


    Most importantly, they are still trying to create ''that technique''��the fact that Griselda''s teleportation had interference is proof of that!"


    [Calm down, Master.]


    Ka held up her hands and grabbed the sides of Evan''s face as she spoke. She didn''t know exactly what it was Evan just figured out, but she was sure losing his cool wasn''t going to make things any better.


    "Yeah��it won''t make the situation better."


    The boy downed the contents of his ss and tossed it into his inventory, lifting Ka from hisp before getting to his feet and infusing his hands with ice energy.


    He then pressed his palms to his cheeks and took a few deep breaths.


    "How long do we have till the Level 400 monsters starting out?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says due to the number of floors with Level 200s and 300s, you should still have close to an hour left before Level 400s start surfacing.]


    "That''s good to hear."


    Evan walked up to the Senior Member on the floor and used his skill to encase her body in a coffin of ice which he then shattered into frozen particles right after.


    "Oh��Artemisia. Better make sure Adaptive Evolution does not steal all my umting experience points.


    When we''re done here��I expect to be at least Level 400, okay?"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' silently looks to the side while whistling suspiciously.]


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' holds his sides while ughing in Level 300''.]


    "Oy! What''s that supposed to mean?!"


    He used this little interaction to shift his mind from the possibility that one of the strongest beings existing on the Aidos was making their way over to Lacertilia as they spoke, instead choosing to focus on dealing with the ''Lizard Lord'' first.


    ? ? ?


    [��and that''s about it.]


    Kuro finished narrating the contents of Evan''s conversation with Ka and Artemisia just now to Eliza who was wiping off the small drop of green blood that had gotten onto her face while she moved through the city killing monsters.


    "He did not say anything about exactly who ''that person'' Is supposed to be?"


    [None at all.]


    The Shadow Spirit shook his head as he spoke, directly repeating the same answer that Ka had given him.


    "I see��"


    Eliza muttered lightly before turning her gaze in the direction of one of the monsters ying dead and creating an ice projectile to truly end its life.


    ''You''re watching, right? goddess Artemisia. Mind telling me the current status of that thing?''


    For a moment after Eliza thought that, there was silence. And then right after, a reply came.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says 1%. She further states that what you were just informed about was simply Evan''s genuine worry given how bad he believes the situation to be.]


    Just as she was about to ask how bad Evan thought things were, another diaphanous message board appeared in her field of vision. However, the moment she set her eyes on it, the contents of the message appeared directly in her head without her having to read them.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that a Disaster Shelter exactly 2.4 km from your position has just been sabotaged by Demonic Hand members. She requests you go to the aid of the civilians andbatants there.]

 Chapter 575 Triple Flower Cannon

    Chapter 575 Triple Flower Cannon


    "?!


    Kur-"


    [I know!]


    Kuro didn''t even hesitate to spread out his energy to detect all the nearby shadows he could use for movement, picking the closest one to the target location and linking to it.


    In that same instant, he wrapped his and Eliza''s body with his energy and they sunk into their shadows on the ground, re-emerging in the shadow of a copsed building for a moment before sinking back right after.


    Their next re-emergence was at their destination, and things were far more chaotic than they had expected.


    People were screaming and running about, someone was shouting something about a ''Monster Apocalypse'', police officers and soldiers were trying to calm the panicked civilians, while the city defence force and adventurers were trying to fight off the monsters that were trying to take a bite of the thousands in the shelter.


    Eliza could see the square barrier that surrounded the four corners of the shelter flickering dangerously, beforepletely vanishing and giving the airborne monsters free reign.


    Sky serpents and thunderous gorgons screeched loudly as they beat their wings and flew over the shelter, showering it with bolts and spears of lightning, mes and poison.


    At that moment, Eliza activated her most powerful speed buffs, kicking off the ground and blitzing towards the shelter''s half-destroyed entrance with a velocity that outpaced Kuro''s shadows covering her body.


    The moment she reached, she redirected all the energy in the buffs into another skill, pulling out the Radiant Codex whilst simultaneously activating her barrier skill.


    She mmed the Memoria into the ground in front of her and waves of ether cascaded from her being, spreading to cover the dome-shaped shelter and covering the top with a green translucent square-shaped barrier.


    ''Divergent Wards!''


    Another skill activation prompted the manifestations of dozens of 50cm square-shaped barriers in the air. They shot out towards thebatants engaging the monsters on the ground, hovering above their heads to protect them against the projectiles raining down on them.


    "Guh!"


    A strained grunt escaped her lips as the attacks beat down on her barrier with relentless fury, causing webbed cracks to spread out at various points.


    The monsters'' eyes shed upon seeing the barrier, infusing more energy into their attacks whilst some directly descended to attack the barrier using their physical bodies coated in dense aura.


    Eliza clenched her fist and roused her energy, channelling more ether into her barrier skill and adding anotheryer to the already deployed barrier.


    This served to increase the construct''s integrity and made it able to pull through the bombardment from the monsters, preventing the scene of thebined attacks weakening the shelter''s structure, or possibly even destroying it.


    Even so, Eliza did not have the time to celebrate, after all, the monsters were still alive and kicking.


    Her sapphire pupils darted around and she quickly identified the strongest of the airborne monsters, the grandmaster-level ones who were leading the other hundreds of master levels.


    She also noticed a few humanoids in the midst of the monsters, some of which were riding on the winged serpents'' backs.


    Their life energies were simr to that of Pride and Greed, but at the same time, gave off the feelings of regr humans and celestials.


    ''Demonic Hand Senior Members! And they''re in their fused states too!''


    Appearance-wise, they seemed more like monsters than normal humanoids, owing to the traits from the breeds of demons they were contracted with, so people just automatically assumed they were mutant monsters.


    To make matters worse, she could sense simr energy signatures on the ground.


    [Eliza, I''d handle the weaker Demonic Hand members on the ground, you deal with those Senior Members.]


    Kuro''s voice rang out beside her ear, a moment before the life signs of the demonic hand members on the ground disappeared, swallowed by Kuro''s shadows.


    ''In that case��''


    "Ethereal Equilibrium: Combat Mode."


    The Ultra Rare skill that was almost as powerful as a Unique grade one was activated with a wave of ether bursting out from her body, nketing her in a green coat of energy that momentarily obscured her from view.


    When the ether coat faded away into light fragments and revealed her new form, the eyes of all the grandmaster-level existences present that were already on her widened in shock.


    They could already sense the energy fluctuations from her and guessed she was at least level 400, but then she just went on to do something that made those readings spike in an instant.


    Not giving anyone time to fully react, she mmed the Memoria into the ground and activated her Flower Cannon skill.


    However, instead of the usual singr shoot erupting from the ground, there were three of them, albeit a bit smaller than before.


    Their flower buds bloomed in synchrony, and from an opening of their petals, three beams of concentrated ether wereunched towards the thunderous gorgons in the sky.


    The monsters reacted quickly, beating their wings and flying out of the way, but sadly, those beams were locked onto their life signatures and would follow them to the ends of Aidos.


    Simultaneously, Eliza snapped her fingers and the five short spears hovering behind her floated up into the air in front of her.


    She then kicked off the ground and dashed forward, spinning her body around to generate momentum beforeunching a kick to the butt of the first spear.


    **BOOOM!!!


    With the sound of the sound barrier being shattered as the backdrop, the spear was propelled upwards and towards one of the winged serpents, theyers of debuffs applied on the spear in conjunction with its force allowed it to pierce through the monster''s defences, bore a hole through its chest and do the same to its Demonic Fused rider.


    It went without saying that the trio could not exactly continue living with the holes she had just bored in their chests.


    Before they even fell towards the ground, Eliza had moved on to the other spears, kicking them in the same manner and managing to end three other Demonic Hand members like so.


    The others dodged the spears at thest moment, however, Eliza only flicked her fingers and recalled them.


    The spears flipped around and with the same force at which they wereunched, hurtled through the air, piercing through anything obstructing their path towards her.


    She then created a divergent ward under her feet and used it as a boost to remain airborne, before generating a second one and kicking off it to fly into the air with the Memoria in hand.


    "Flower Cannon. Cutting Wave: Corrosion, Bleed."


    The flower cannons on the ground sent another trio of concentrated ether beams searing through the skies and towards the other airborne monsters.


    One of the mages nearby activated a unique skill, generating a thin energy film in front of her projectiles.


    When these beams passed through the projectiles, they all saw an increase in quantity and quality.


    The monsters now had nine beams that were three times as powerful as normal to deal with, and it went without saying that they failed woefully at this.


    The firework-like explosions that went off in the sky were proof of this.


    As for Eliza, the battle priestess was now engaged in singlebat with the leader of this squad of sixth division members who had blocked her cutting wave without a scratch.


    The grandmaster-level womanunched a volley of arrows towards the energy wave and forced it to detonate mid-flight, before making the winged serpent she was on fly higher into the sky.


    She clearly intended to keep her distance and keep firing arrows from her bow with machine gun-like speed, whilst Eliza would have no choice but to helplessly run around to avoid them or block with barriers.


    Too bad for her, but Eliza''s boyfriend happened to be someone who was very skilled at airborne manoeuvrers using energy the generated tforms of his Void Steps skill, and he had taught Eliza how to achieve the same thing using her divergent wards.


    This made the Senior Member frown and she ordered the other monsters to attack Eliza, revealing she possessed some ability that controlled said monsters.


    But Eliza only created a divergent ward to keep herself airborne, before looking straight at her and speaking.


    "Life Energy Draining Prison."


    The skill she did not use earlier to avoid running the risk of identally absorbing the life forces of any of her ''allies'' was activated, and the prison of green light manifested around her and the monsters trying to attack her.


    Simultaneously, she consumed a charge of her Child of Life skill to reduce the maximum health stats of the strongest monsters present, along with that of the Senior Member.


    These peak Master level monsters, weakened by the draining of their life forces faltered in their flight, sumbing to the loving embrace of gravity.


    Withnguid descents, they plummeted towards the ground, their weakened forms making them easy targets for the awaiting soldiers and city defence force members.

 Chapter 576 One in five hundred

    Chapter 576 One in five hundred


    The ground below became a fiery spectacle as magic and skills rained down upon the falling creatures, unleashing a devastating onught that ended their existences with explosive bursts.


    The Senior member and her mount, however, did not crash down to the ground, but this was within Eliza''s expectations.


    She manipted her airborne ethereal spears andunched them towards the woman. Even so, the battle priestess was surprised that the woman was able to still fire five arrows in quick session to deflect the spears.


    Too bad this prevented her from reacting to a small three-pronged shadowy energy projectile that shed past the side of her neck and cut open a few vital blood vessels.


    Kuro hadpressed his Shadow w skill''s projectiles, making them smaller, faster and deadlier.


    Adding to the fact that the cat had actually teleported using the shadow the woman cast on the back of the monster she was riding on andunched it at such a close range, there was nothing she could do.


    As her hand reflexively went to cover her wounded neck, Eliza pped her hands and activated Lethality Maniption, causing the already serious wound to turn even worse.


    She then kicked off the ward she was standing on and boosted forward with a speed buff, stabbing her spear into the woman''s chest, whilst making the other Ethereal spears pierce into her body from all over.


    With six polearms sticking into her body and every vital blood vessel in her neck sted to oblivion, it''d need the direct intervention of a god for her to survive.


    Sadly, said god wasn''t exactly on the Demonic Hand''s side.


    "Thanks, Kuro."


    Eliza voiced her gratitude for the shadow spirit''s help as she ended the life of the winged serpent that was already half dead after Eliza stole its life force, riding its falling corpse back to the ground.


    **BAMM!!


    As the winged serpent''s corpse crashed onto the body of a lizard man and squashed it to death, Eliza jumped off the body and switched her skill''s mode.


    "Support Mode."


    Her appearance shifted once more and by the time her feet touched the ground, she was now adorned in a graceful floor-length grey robe crafted from a delicate, lightweight fabric that seemed to move with a life of its own.


    "Support Magic: Boon of Enhanced Assaults. Physical and Elemental Damage Bonus: Positive."


    She infused magic power into her voice as she spoke, activating the two advanced buffs with just her words. The Radiant Codex floating beside her whirred lightly, granting its 50% increased efficiency effect to the buffs she cast through it.


    "Hmm?"


    The girl stopped her movements and then retrieved a band from her spatial ring, using it to tie up her hair that had scattered earlier into a ponytail.


    But while doing this, she could not help but notice the transfixed gazes of some of thebatants whom she had just buffed on her, and after she was done, she turned to them and spoke with a raised brow.


    "What? You guys can handle the rest of the monsters, can you not?"


    It was her words that snapped those ones back into action and they rushed forward to assist their still fightingrades, while Eliza continued her movement towards the shelter''s entrance that had been sted open, frowning lightly as she saw the number of injuredbatants, and civilians.


    ''Was it the Demonic Hand that blew up the entrance? From the size of the hole and the debris on the ground, I would not be surprised If there are casualties.''


    Just as she was steeling her mind for this grim possibility, Artemisia sent a message of good news.


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says there were no casualties as some of the A rank levelbatants present sensed the impending explosion and took actions to protect the civilians from fatal wounds, at the cost of incurring those injuries themselves.


    And since these A ranks are beings durable enough to withstand attacks capable of ttening entire towns, this explosion was not enough to kill them either.]


    ''That''s good to know.''


    Eliza visibly heaved a sigh of relief as she got closer to the scene with the injured people on the floor, only to suddenly hear someone scream out.


    "Who said the S-rank adventurers disappeared?! Look, thisdy''s clearly an S-rank adventurer!"


    "Yeah! Where''s that guy?!"


    The battle priestess turned her gaze in the direction of the shout and saw some police officers holding back some civilians who were about to get into an altercation about whether S rankers disappeared or not.


    "If S rankers really did disappear, then I wonder, how am I here?"


    Her voice captured their attention and turned their gazes towards her, after which she mmed the butt of the Memoria into the ground and activated her Breath of Life skill.


    A wave of ether rushed out of Eliza''s body and spread forward, generating arge three-ringed magic circle centred under her feet, with lines of green light and a misty white haze with a few goldm�� sparkles hanging in the air within the circumference of the magic circle.


    Itsted a few seconds and when the light died down, the wounds of all those who had been injured, civilians andbatants were healed.


    ''It''s a lot easier to convert Life Energy I absorb into ether than magic power.''


    Eliza thought to herself as she proceeded with this conversion process on the life energy she had stolen from the airborne monsters earlier.


    As for the two who were about to fight, they had suddenly calmed down and were no longer acting as aggressive as before, much to the relief of the police officers restraining them.


    "Hmm?"


    Eliza''s gaze suddenly turned sharp as she noticed something strange giving off ''demonic vibes'' within her perception; using her Life Ice to freeze it in a chunk of green ice before walking towards it.


    The people present parted ways for her as she moved towards the wall of the shelter, bending down a bit to pick up the frozen item that was sticking out of the ground.


    With a bit of strength, she unearthed the thing, revealing it to be a device that looked like a tent pin.


    It had a crystalline surface, and intricate patterns across its surface that pulsated with light.


    "What is this?"


    When she turned around and asked that question, the nearby police Sergeant quickly instructed one of his subordinates to get someone from the inside of the building before walking up to Eliza.


    "Thank you for your help, Miss?"


    "Eliza."


    "Eliza��?"


    The man repeated her name with an expression of realisation shing through his eyes, and from that, the girl could tell he had realised she was the ''Battle Priestess Eliza''.


    Kuro''s presence here didn''t give him much room to be mistaken.


    A few momentster, the policemen returned with a man who was dressed in a uniform she did not recognize, the same time that thest of the monsters nearby had been vanquished.


    "He''s one of the magic engineers responsible for maintaining the shelter''s barrier. He would know more about that item than we would."


    Eliza thawed the ice and tossed the thing to the man, but after looking it over with his analysis skill, all he could tell was that it was some kind ofplex spell node.


    "A Node? Perhaps��"


    [I believe it''s most likely one of the ones Master spoke about.]


    Kuro emerged from her shadow and jumped onto her shoulder, peeking at the device as he spoke, and making Eliza''s eyes narrow lightly.


    "If I were to destroy this now��"


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' states that the effect of destroying just one node would be too minuscule to make a difference, given this is just 1 out of over 500 nodes ced across the city.


    At least 10% of them have to be destroyed for there to be any substantial effects.]


    Artemisia replied to the question she was about to ask before she could voice it out, making the teenager sigh softly.


    She collected the node back from the man and before he could even ask her anything, she tossed it into her spatial ring and then asked about the shelter''s barrier generator''s status.


    Together with the City Defence Forcemander present and the highest-ranked soldiers, they led her into the shelter and showed her where the device was, though she noticed that they stylishly kept her a certain distance away from it.


    Eliza wasn''t bothered by this and asked them if there was anything she could help with, even pointing out the node of the World Istion Barrier they had found and If it could be engineered to help them repair it.


    The technicians said they had seeded in doing temporary repairs, but theycked a power source as our dearest Demonic hand Members made sure to destroy all power sources and backups.


    What''s more, due to the rushed nature of the repairs, the barrier would not be optimized and consume around 1.5x to 2x as much energy as normal.


    "Can these work as power sources?"


    "Hmm? Can what wo-OAH!!"

 Chapter 577 Barrier Restored

    Chapter 577 Barrier Restored


    "Can these work as power sources?"


    "Hmm? Can what wo-OAH!!"


    The technician couldn''t help but scream out when he saw Eliza casually pull out five level 300 monster magic stones.


    She then proceeded to toss them to him in the same manner, an action that had even some police officers rushing to catch the stones like they were ss.


    "t-this, no-o, th-these ar-"


    "You can have those, there are more where they came from."


    The technicians quickly thanked her with loud voices before running towards the barrier generator with the magic stones, their actions alerting some nearby people that Eliza had apparently ''helped them in restoring the barrier''.


    When she left the area where the generator was, she felt the gazes of countless people on her, along with their mutters about how she was the ''battle priestess in the newspapers'', and how she was ''so young yet so strong'' reaching her ears.


    [Looks like you''re as popr as ever.]


    Eliza gave a wry smile as she deactivated her Ethereal Equilibrium skill, returning to normal before replying to his words.


    "Fame, huh? It does have its hassles, but I would not say I hate the feeling."


    She silently activated a magic spell as she began making her way towards the exit which was being repaired by some earth mages, only to sense a small life sign beelining towards her.


    "Huh?"


    When she turned, she caught sight of a small girl, who looked to be somewhere around 6 and 8 running up to her and hugging her legs.


    "Pretty Big Sister, thank you."


    After the sudden but not unexpected words of gratitude, the girl looked up at Eliza before continuing.


    "Mummy said you stopped the big bad monsters, and Daddy said to always thank people who help me."


    The girl''s words made Eliza crouch down to her eye level and smile at her while patting her head.


    "Good girl, you listened to Daddy''s teachings."


    "Umu."


    With the little girl as the icebreaker, Eliza had some other peopleing up to her to give her thanks, and the same went for the other adventurers andbatants who were present.


    The little girl''s mother soon broke through the crowd of people around Eliza to retrieve her daughter who had suddenly run off when she momentarily looked away to make sure their belongings were safe.


    Eliza guessed the situation after seeing the mother''s worried look and reprimanded the girl a little, telling her not to make her mother sad by running off before leaving.


    The Battle Priestess did find the mother''s, and some other peoples'' over-the-top politeness and nearly servile attitudes confusing, but Kuro chipped in and reminded her of the fact that she held a Viscountess title in the GWE.


    With her being a Noble, and them beingmoners, their attitudes made sense.


    However, some children didn''t seem to understand or care about that.


    One small boy ran up to Eliza, and just when she thought she was about to see a repeat of the earlier situation, the following conversation turned out unlike what she expected.


    "You''re the Battle Priestess they talk about on the radio, right?!"


    "��probably."


    "That means you know the Hero Evan, right?! Is he here too?!"


    ''Ah, he''s Evan''s fan.''


    That much was obvious given how intensely he was questioning her with an excited expression on his face. She felt a bit bad about it, but she had to dampen his mood.


    "He''s in another part of the city, saving people from the monsters over there."


    "oh��"


    Naturally, that ended with the boy quickly bing sad that he could not meet the Hero he admired, however, Eliza helped him recover his mood by telling him she''d inform Evan about him and that was enough to make the boy smile again.


    ''Children are so simple��''


    [Do we really have the time to be doing all this now?]


    By ''all this'', Kuro meant Eliza entertaining the little children who ran up to her and those whom she had healed earliering to thank her and all, but the battle priestess only turned her gaze around before replying.


    "If it can make it easier for the soldiers and the police to manage the civilians after we leave, then yes, I can spare some time.


    Besides, I''m taking the time to recover some of my expended energy."


    Eliza''s presence normally had a calming effect on those nearby due to her life affinity, and with a little bit of magic power, she could spread this effect and increase its range.


    It was certainly helpful to the police members who had to manage the civilians who were suddenly thrust out of their normal daily lives due to the dungeon break. A lot of them were being very uncooperative due to their panic and anger so she did that to make them mellow a bit.


    Before she left the shelter, she ended up encountering someone who asked her for an autograph, something she clearly never expected given the current circumstances.


    After that, she met with an A ranker who had noticed the Serenity Inducement spell she had been using on arge scale, dting its effect over arge area and mixing it with her normal calming aura.


    While she was talking with him, someone shouted out a question wondering where the rest of the ''Anomalies'' were.


    "They''re saving other people at in other parts of the city!"


    She shouted back at the person even though she really didn''t need to, before turning back to the A ranker she was conversing with.


    "Anomalies, that''s one hell of a party name."


    "Apparently, we''re all considered nonstandard."


    Eliza shrugged her shoulders and from her expression, the man could tell she didn''t really consider herself to be an ''anomaly''.


    ''I see, so she''s the type who''s ignorant of how ridiculous she is, huh? Being an S ranker at less than 18 years of age is not exactly something considered ''normal''.''


    He kept those thoughts to himself, about to speak about something else when he suddenly sensed an iing mass of energy heading in their direction.


    "Oh, herees another Anomaly."


    The soldiers and adventurers nearby had already taken upbat positions, but Eliza''s words and her calm demeanour made them drop their wariness, albeit slightly.


    She held up her hand and generated a barrier in the air, just in time for the streak of red light shooting through the air to crash down on it.


    The force of the collision had cracks spreading out across the barrier, with Eliza''s brows twitching annoyedly in response.


    "Oh, it''s Evan''s other half. And here I was wondering who took out the demons on this side."


    The voice of one of said demons, the Deadly Sin who represented greed rang out, as the man jumped off the barrier with his great sword over on his shoulder.


    "We''re getting closer to the dungeon; more grandmaster-level monsters are beginning to show up."


    "Indeed. I got held up by two on my way here.


    I turned them to corpses, though."


    [Correction, ''We'' turned them into corpses.]


    Milena who was on his shoulder added, cing emphasis on the fact that she assisted, but Greed only shrugged his shoulders while unsummoning Mammonas and replying.


    "Don''t sweat the little details."


    As they spoke with each other, the adventurers nearby looked at the two ''humans'', and the two spirits on their shoulders, with some of them nodding to themselves while muttering something along the lines of ''understanding where the talk about the ''Human Half and Spirit Half'' of the Anomalies came from''.


    "Look, it''s another S ranker!"


    "I told you that guy was spouting bullshit!"


    ''Again?!''


    Eliza turned around with an irritated expression on her face, this time seeing apletely different set of people arguing about the same thing as earlier.


    ''For goodness'' sake, just get inside the damn shelter already! Why are you guys even outside?!''


    While she ranted internally, the argument between the two groups was escting.


    "I was talking with an S ranker and he vanished before my very eyes. I know what I saw!"


    "And I''m telling you what I''m currently seeing! What we''re both seeing."


    "He''s not the only one, I also saw an entire party of S and SS rankers disappear."


    "Then how are these two in front of us?!"


    Before the next person could talk, Eliza''s eyes shed and they all suddenly went silent, with the one who was grabbing another person''s shirt releasing it immediately.


    ''Ah, too much!''


    She quickly controlled the spell she used to an appropriate level, before turning around and tantly avoiding the gaze a certain A ranker was giving her.


    "That looks like Wrath''s Anger absorption."


    Greedmented upon noticing what she did too, but the Battle priestess only pulled him to move away.


    Right after, the technicians finally finished restoring the barrier generator and switched it on, deploying the square-shaped barrier around the entire shelter once more to protect it from monster attacks.


    "Finally."


    "Oh, you were waiting for that?"


    "Yep."


    She replied to Greed while activating putting the Radiant Codex that had been floating beside her back into her spatial ring, carrying on right after.


    "Since we''ve already met up, how about we just head towards the Buffer Zone together?"


    "Fine by me. You wanna race?"


    "Of course not."


    Eliza rolled her eyes in tandem with her reply, while Greed shrugged his shoulders like he genuinely could not care less.


    "Kuro."


    [On it.]


    Kuro''s shadow maniption had their shadows wriggling a bit before fusing with each other. At thest moment, Eliza turned towards the barrier where the leaders of the armed forces squads present were and upon seeing her looking at them, they bowed to thank her for her help once more.


    Right after that, the shadows surged upwards and enveloped their bodies, warping away.

 Chapter 578 Happenings in the Buffer Zone

    Chapter 578 Happenings in the Buffer Zone


    Buffer Zone


    Dungeon City Lacertilia


    Beast Kingdom


    May 5th


    Year 1053


    Chaotic.


    That was the best word that could be used to describe the current battlefield.


    But within this chaos, one could still notice semnces of order, mostly from the soldiers and city defence force members who tried their best to maintain formations as they repelled the waves of monsters crazily charging towards the city.


    Screams of battle cries, screeches and roars of monsters rang out along the sounds of weapons shing with monstrous flesh and scales.


    Spells burst forward like fireworks, painting the sky with dazzling colours as they collided with airborne monsters and sent their corpses tumbling towards the ground.


    Arrows whistled through the air, finding their marks amidst the chaos, a testament to the incredible skill of the archer adventurers and mercenaries.


    The buffer zone was filled with close to a hundred thousand soldiers and monsters shing with each other, and with every swing of their swords, every incantation chanted, and every arrow loosed, thebatants defending Lacertilia felled monsters of the horde.


    However, if there was anything the monsters had in abundance, it was numbers.


    They far outnumbered thebatants, and for every one monster felled, two more trooped out of the dungeon to take their ce.


    What''s more, was that each newly emerging monster wave was more powerful than thest.


    As at the current period, monsters from up to floor 50 of the dungeon had emerged, and when tranted to levels, this meant monsters with levels as high as 350 were on the battlefield.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that the Buffer Zone in itself was asrge as a small town, then there would not have been space to amodate battles of such level.


    The presence of airborne monsters also reduced the crowd on the ground by a lot. This didn''t mean there was more than enough space, though.


    Part of the city wall barriers had been breached and lots of infrastructure had been destroyed in the outskirts, with some monsters making their way deeper into the city.


    These monsters were dealt with by the Soldiers and City Defence force members who were on standby in the city, however, not all of them were handled so easily.


    The fact that allbatants that were above level 450 had suddenly disappeared did not help matters.


    One might think that there were still the S rankers below level 450 around, as well as the A rankers, but it should not be forgotten that the dungeon''s deeper floors had monsters up to level 500.


    Thebatants with S rank strength present could not do much at this juncture, as they had to save their strength to handle with those monsters in the event that the Boss was not defeated by the time the break got that far.


    Indeed, defeating the boss of the dungeon; the ''Lizard Lord'', would make the dungeon regain its full functions and trap the monsters inside once more, preventing more froming out.


    Arge party of S rankers was formed to handle that, and they ventured into the ''Lair of the Lizard Lord'' during the earlier hours of the break, but much to their shock, the dungeon''s internal structure had been changed, rendering maps they possessed useless.


    Worst of all, the strongest members of the party had killed some monsters on the way down and surpassed level 450.


    The instant they did that, the World Istion Barrier told them to GTFO.


    This dropped their party''s strength by arge margin, something that was quite bad as the party was already a bit too underpowered to handle a level 500 boss and its subordinates.


    Left with no choice, they retreated to the surface.


    From within the barrier, they could see the figures of the beings who had been kicked out, the beings above level 450 trying to break it, but there was nothing they could do when ''Living Legends'' were helpless.


    Besides, the Demonic Hand had nned this for years, no way it''d be easy for them to get back in.


    The reason why the monsters were unaffected by the World Istion Barrier, was also due to this ''nning''. Simply put, the effect of the Demonic Hand Member brooches was applied over time to the monsters inside the dungeon.


    The number of monsters inside, their strengths were few of the factors that made them need years to work on this though.


    As such, all those who had been kicked out could not do anything but watch as thebatants inside faced the monsters.


    Internationally famous A and S rank adventurer parties fought tooth and nail, together with the Beast Kingdom''s army which was able to maintain its chain ofmand despite the loss of several high levelled Majors, Colonels and the Major General in charge of the Army in Lacertilia.


    Even the weakest adventurers on this dire battlefield were seasoned Peak C rankers of at least level 190, as everyone weaker than that was effectively useless on the battlefield where A rankers can, and have died.


    And it was towards this same battlefield, that a certain Irregr Hero was making his way.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    "GROAARRR!"


    A Giant four-armed grandmaster level mutant Lizardman roared wildly as it swung its four battle axes, two of which it had picked up from the corpses of dead mercenaries.


    Its eyes gleamed with a dangerous light as it covered two of them in aura, raising them overhead and swinging them down towards a wounded A ranker.


    Just as the poor soul had epted his impending death, the ambient magic power rapidly condensed in front of him, before blooming into a barrier that shielded him from the dual axe swing.


    Immediately afterward, an elf wielding twin daggers jumped out from behind, running up to the giant Lizardman and jumping atop its outstretched arms.


    The elf ran up the Lizardman''s arms and with daggers coated in poisonous aura, delivered half a dozen stabs to the creature''s shoulders and shed one of its eyes.


    "GYAKKKK!!!"


    The Lizardman''s lower arms reached for the elf, but they knew better than to remain on the monster''s body after dealing such a wound, quickly jumping off with swiftness and disappearing into the horde of monsters running past.


    It didn''t take the lizardman long to find the elf with its other eye, given the fact that all the B rank reptilian monsters that were in the area dropped to the floor as corpses a few secondster.


    Charging towards the elf, however, proved to be a bad decision as the long-eared adventurerunched a cannister towards the lizardman''s head, which upon contact, exploded with bright purple smoke.


    As it was roaring in pain from having more poison enter both eyes, the wounded adventurer it originally intended to kill blitzed in behind it and swung his de, delivering a full powered aura strike with thest of his energy that severed the monster''s tail and its right leg.


    While the two A rankers were teaming up against the Lizardman, another internationally famous S ranker who could not hold himself back any more jumped into the fray at another point in the battlefield.


    His sword gleamed with a green light as all the surrounding ambient magic power was dyed with the wind attribute.


    With a swift motion that activated a Unique Skill, he drew his sword, and a howling tornado of energy erupted from the de''s edge.


    The cyclone of razor-sharp wind des whirled around him, stretching out with deadly force. As he dashed through the mass of oing monsters, they were drawn into the vortex, their bodies torn asunder by the relentless tempest.


    Limbs, scales, and flesh were ripped apart, and the agonized cries of the monsters filled the air.


    As for the more powerful ones who survived the tornado''s onught, they were propelled towards the Adventurer, who bifurcated them with masterful precision using his aura-coated sword.


    In a disy of power, he traversed the area in a corner of the Buffer Zone to another, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.


    His actions sent hundreds of B-ranks monsters, and several dozen A-ranks through the gates of death, whilst leaving over a thousand of them injured.


    But such a feat came at a cost, as his energy reserves were depleted considerably, forcing him to rely on his energy potion supply.


    After all, unleashing a storm capable of annihting more than a hundred monsters with at least B rank durability while simultaneously swinging his sword with enough aura and power to cleave through the flesh and bone of A ranks demanded an extraordinary toll, even for an S-ranker of his calibre.


    The artifacts he used to boost his power also exhausted their energy and had to enter a cooldown state as well.


    Just as he returned to themand area where the other S rankers were, he and every other energy attuned being in the Buffer Zone instantly felt a surge of energy erupt from the direction of the dungeon.


    **BOOOMMM!!!!


    The knowledge of what that explosion signified made their faces all turn dark, as this meant in addition to the over hundred thousand monsters on the battlefield currently, they now had to deal with another wave.


    Adventurers who usually braved the Lair of the Lizard Lord and had been keeping track of the monsters emerging, had their faces pale as if they realised what monsters wereing next.


    **KRAAAWWRRR!!!


    The hauntingbination of deep, resonant roars and high-pitched, piercing screeches that rang out after confirmed their thoughts.


    Leathery bat like wings, a serpentine body covered in dark green scales, a long barbed tail, with a head bosting sharp jagged teeth.


    That was the appearance of the first creature that emerged from the smoke of the dungeon''s explosion, and a second after, hundreds more poured out.


    Floor 60 of the Dungeon had broken.


    And the Wyverns had been unleashed upon Lacertilia.

 Chapter 579 Making it Rain

    Chapter 579 Making it Rain


    Wyverns. Estimated levels: At least 360.


    The appearance of the Wyverns had the Military Commanders send orders for the A-rank levelbatants in reserve to prep themselves to join the fray.


    They certainly were not foolish enough to throw out all their forces in one go, so naturally, there were adventurers, mercenaries and soldiers who were in reserve.


    It was a unanimous decision between the Brigadier General, the City Defence Force Vice-Marshal, and the Internationally Famous S-rank Adventurer party who were in charge at themand centre to call upon them now.


    But just as they agreed on that, a transformation gripped the skies as a thick nket of clouds suddenly shrouded the bright afternoon sun.


    "What?! Rain?!"


    All of them agreed without question, that rain falling at this juncture was among the worst possible things that could happen.


    Fire Mages who had great destructive power with their spells would effectively be useless, lightning mages would also have to cut back on their spells for fear of identally electrocuting allies with AOE attacks.


    The ground would turn swampy,batants might have their feet stuck and many other problems.


    All these potential problems passed through the head of the Brigadier General in a sh, and just as the man began racking his brain to think of anything, a loud voice suddenly boomed across arge portion of the Buffer Zone.


    [My Dearest Wyvern friends who are just joining us, did you get the weather forecast today? It''s Cloudy with a chance of Rain.]


    The voice preceded the sound of rumbling thunder, after which rain began pouring from the sky.


    But it wasn''t water that rained down, but fire and lightning.


    ["Multi-Combination Magic: Infernovolt Rain."]


    The clouds churned and rumbled, spitting out bolts of searing lightning wreathed in swirling tongues of crimson mes.


    These projectilesnced down from the heavens towards the newly emerging wyverns, striking the creature''s wings with frightening uracy.


    In the same instant of contact with their targets, the twin elements ignited, converging in a fiery explosion that rent the skies with explosions.


    [Wow, it''s twice as powerful than it was in theory.]


    "Indeed, it is."


    The two responsible for this spell, and the Tier 4 Magic circles spinning in the skies behind the obscuring shroud of dark clouds, spoke casually as they watched the wyverns crash down to the ground after losing their wings.


    Some were even unlucky and were hit with multiple bolts on the head, and the simultaneous explosion sent a wave of experience points in the direction of the two perpetrators.


    "Thanks for the help, Artemisia."


    [You''re Wee.]


    The clouds covering the skies and obscuring the Combination Magic spells in the sky from being seen by the airborne monsters which obviously weren''t natural, were the handiwork of Artemisia.


    Given that Aidos was under her domain, it was a walk in the park for her to alter the weather in a certain area, and there were no rules stating she could not add a bit of magic obscuring clouds if she wanted.


    On a side note, she also made sure there would be a 0% chance of rain, for the same reasons as those of the Brigadier General.


    Anyway, the help she offered Evan did not end there.


    She had locked on to the magic signature on the Wyverns, part of the reason why the World Istion Barrier ignored the monsters from the dungeons, and with the help of Evan''s Track Down skill, the Infernovolts raining from the sky only targeted the monsters and did not identally strike any of the mages and adventurers who were flying.


    With all these factorsbined, Evan had sessfully routed the first wave of Wyverns that emerged from the dungeon, even seeding in killing some of them as well.


    "Sup, my fellow A rankers. It''d be in your best interest to steer clear from me as what I''m about to do would make the next wave of wyvernse at me like I killed their mothers."


    Evan, from atop his void step, spoke to the other A rankers who were fighting airborne battles with winged serpents and flying lizards, stretching out his hand to send an energy st of lightning towards one of the monsters that attacked him from behind.


    Ka who was on his shoulder, snapped her fingers and activated her Electrome, blooming a rose of fire on the winged serpent''s head in the same instant that Evan''s energy st hit it.


    With the explosion and subsequent death of the monster as a backdrop, Evan casually continued speaking to them, throwing in a self-introduction in the mix.


    ''It''s time to make an impression on the world as the ''Irregr Evan''.''


    He thought that as he looked at the A ranker who was descending towards where he presumed was themand centre of operation on the city wall, before opening his inventory and infusing magic power into his voice.


    ''Now, let''s max out the Intimidation effect.''


    "?!"


    "!!"


    "??!"


    All the grandmaster-level existences on the battlefield instantly felt a sharp chill down their spines, their attentions being attracted by the essence of destruction Evan had infused into his intimidation skill.


    The effect was clear for all to see, as even some of the frenzied monsters momentarily turned towards him, before quickly returning to their battles right after.


    Evan didn''t care about those ones though, as his main targets were the newly emerging blue-scaled wyverns that roared with ferocity.


    They quickly pped their wings and tried to beeline toward theirrades who were being mobbed by A-rank adventurers after their wings had been blown off by Evan''s sky-scraper-crumbling explosions.


    However, the boy''s intimidation effect focused on them diverted their attention just as quickly.


    And as soon as Evan got the attention he wanted, he dipped his hand into his inventory and pulled out a corpse.


    It was one that some of the Demonic Hand Senior members who were watching from afar even recognized, as they had seen that particr form in the past.


    It was the corpse of the Demonic Wyvern Craitid, with his head held in one hand, and the rest of his corpse held in another.


    All the S rankers present quickly realised with a nce, that the corpse of that monster in Evan''s hand was not something that was within the realm of grandmasters like them.


    Even if the creature was dead, the residual energying from it was still enough to tell them that much.


    [Hey, you overgrown lizards! Your friend over here put up quite a bit of a fight before I turned him into a trophy. And a side snack too, wyvern wings are a lot tastier than I expected.


    I was wondering where I''d get more of them; thankfully, you guys offered yourselves up.]


    Wyverns were intelligent monsters, and like most monsters at the grandmaster level, they were more than capable of understanding the speech of sentient humanoids and also capable of speaking too.


    Naturally, they understood that Evan was insinuating they were all nothing more than snacks, and him holding up another wyvern''s corpse did not make matters any better.


    "RROOAARR!"


    "GRRRRAAAWWLL!"


    "SCCREEEAAACH!"


    Roaring out in rage, the wyverns enveloped their bodies in aura and magic power before charging towards Evan at near-sonic speeds.


    "That fool!"


    "We gotta help him!"


    "Someone get that kid out of there!!"


    Naturally, the adventurers who could tell the strength of these creatures and knew they were a bit stronger than the first wave, all thought Evan was seeking death.


    "Let''s keep this within 5 minutes."


    Evan muttered as he tossed Craitid back into his inventory and activated his Blessing of Destruction skill, causing his aura to surge, signifying the overall power boost he had just received.


    Even the adventurers who wereing to his aid were dumbfounded by this sudden power increase, along with that feeling of dread that the essence of destruction gave them.


    One of the blue-scaled wyverns who was upfront in the charge noticed this power increase, but it gritted its teeth and sent more magic power to its tail, beating its wings and spinning its body around at thest moment.


    Its barbed tail coated in dense magic power was swung towards Evan, but the boy''s body faded out like a mirage when it hit.


    ''Such speed?! Where did he go?!''


    The monster''s thoughts were answered in the next moment when it suddenly felt something grip its tail tightly with enough force to stop its body''s motion.


    "Wh-what?!"


    Evan tightened his grip around the wyvern''s tail and spun his body the void step he was standing on, mming the huge mass into that of another wyvern that had been heading toward it with breakneck speed.


    He heard something that sounded like the sound of bones breaking, but he paid it no mind as he held up his palms and unleashed energy sts in the direction of the two monsters.


    Since his energy st skill fell under the category of ''destructive'' skills, it enjoyed all the boosts from his Destructive Energy Circuit and BoD.

 Chapter 580 A Display of Irregularity

    Chapter 580 A Disy of Irregrity


    Immediately after, he apported the Unforged into his hands and swung the de toward his right, unleashing an aura sh that seared through the air and collided with the ws of another wyvern.


    A giant spear of ice abruptly appeared and stabbed the wyvern''s stomach from underneath, piercing through its scales and flesh before bursting out from the other side.


    "Kid! Are you crazy?!"


    "No! And thanks for the ice."


    "?"


    The S ranker did not understand the reason for Evan''s words until he felt his connection to his ice spell suddenly severed. Simultaneously, the ice spear was enveloped in the same reddish-gold aura surrounding Evan''s body.


    Right before his eyes, the spear pulled out of the wyvern''s corpse and into the air, shattering into countless shards of ice right after.


    "Snickers!!"


    Evan gave that questionable battle cry, activating the cial snicker strike spell and sending the series of icicles towards another pair of wyvernsing in from the east.


    "st off!"


    With his words, the destruction essence infused snickers that had pierced through the wyverns'' defences, shredding their wings and piercing their scales, simultaneously erupted into icy explosions that left the creatures wounded all over.


    The young hero then blinked over to their sides and swung his sword twice, slicing the necks of the monsters and ending their lives.


    By the time their corpses fell into his inventory, he was already well on his way towards the next wyvern, swinging his sword wildly.


    Each swing sent a quintet of fist-sized energy bullets all preceding aura shes towards the creature''s body.


    It pped its wings and disyed superior aerial manoeuvrability, dodging the de cannons with ease, but just as it made a sharp turn to avoid a trio of the projectiles, a wall of reddish gold lightning blocks suddenly appeared in front of it.


    The creature unceremoniously mmed into the wall, and it folded instantly, ''pping'' on its head and giving it a taste of what it felt to be roasted both body and soul.


    [Master, I''m disabling thest spell circle.]


    ''Carry on.''


    Evan replied to Ka who had been maintaining the Infernovolt rain, before moving on to the next wyvern.


    A city defence memberunched a tier 3 spell and finished off the wyvern whose head he had ''thunder pped'', but when the woman had ended the monster and dismissed the level-up notification, she turned to see Evan hugging the neck of another wyvern.


    "��what?"


    She was momentarily dumbfounded by this scene, but this quickly transitioned to shock when she saw Evan snap the creature''s neck with his bare hands.


    He hadn''t even let go of the monster''s corpse when another wyvern came in from behind, trying to mp his small body within its enormous jaws that were filled with mes.


    "Vindiction''s strike."


    Evan calmly called out and a portal manifested beside the monster''s head, firing a beam of reddish gold aura right onto its skull.


    Blood sttered everywhere as the monster''s death throes rang out, with Evan popping open a potion bottle and then ncing at the system time.


    He teleported right onto the back of a wyvern engaged inbat with some A rankers and swung the unforged, slicing off the creature''s wings, vanishing right after and reappearing under another one''s neck.


    The creature opened its mouth tounch a breath, but Evan held up his hands and tossed in a vtile orb of reddish gold energy into it, before punching its jaw to shut its mouth.


    *BOOM!


    A muffled explosion rang out as blood and brain matter rained down from above, however, Evan was already long gone from the area.


    "Elemental Armament Barrage."


    He conjured an array of ethereal weaponry, each crafted out of fire, water, earth and wind elements, all tinged with the reddish goldbination of his destruction essence and aura.


    They hurtled towards the wyverns emerging from the dungeon, leaving light trails in their wake.


    Upon contact, they unleashed the fury of their respective elements, overwhelming them in a relentless storm that sent the wyverns crashing down towards the ground.


    This made them smash the bodies of dozens of monsters as they tumbled on the ground, getting more injured in the process.


    There was also a bit of infighting as some wyverns fell atop some other grandmaster-level monsters who didn''t take this nicely, causing them to attack the wounded wyverns in rage.


    Storm clouds gathered in the sky and ambient energies coalesced together to form a giant pearl of lightning that floated mid-air. From this orb, spears of lightning rained down across the entire battlefield, each one striking the airborne monsters with frightening uracy.


    Evan gave a small smile as he saw Ka had joined the fray, while tightly gripping his sword and unleashing the skill that had basically be his signature ability at this point.


    "Vortex."


    The whirling mass of spiral-shaped destruction essence-infused aura mmed into the bodies of the wyverns that attacked him, sending shockwaves rippling through the air from the sheer force of the attack.


    ''Lastp.''


    Evan thought to himself as he scanned the battlefield for his next target. This seemed to be unnecessary, however, as the targets had insteade towards him.


    Twelve blue-scaled wyverns, their eyes gleaming with rage surrounded the boy in the air whilst condensing energy in their maws.


    "Fire!!"


    One of them, presumably their leader, screamed out and what followed was the synchronousunch of twelve frigid cold beams of energy, each one streaking through the air with unbridled fury.


    "Watch out!!"


    Some otherbatants nearby moved to help Evan, attacking the wyverns and seeding in downing two of them with Tier 3 Magic spells, and simrly powerful skills.


    But their beams had already beenunched, and the other ten made up for theck of the two by infusing more energy into their attacks.


    Caught in the middle of this onught and with less than a minute left on his self-imposed timer, Evan took a deep breath and muttered one word.


    "Burn."


    ***KABOOOMM!!!!


    A deafening explosion echoed through the surroundings, sending explosive shockwaves rippling through the sky omnidirectionally, filling the air with fiery chaos.


    ''Wait��fire?!''


    The dozen wyverns had allunched beams of icy energy, so where did these strange multicoloured mes that it was seeing suddenlye from? ��thought the leader of the wyverns.


    Just as it thought that, a streak of reddish gold light shot out of the clouds of smoke, shooting up above the clouds before suddenly redirecting towards a wyvern, leaving a sonic boom in its wake.


    "On your nk!!"


    **BAMM!!!


    The warning came a secondte as the fist of a certain Irregr Hero, engulfed in a mixture of Prismatic mes and the crimson-red essence of destruction, collided with the skull of the unfortunate wyvern.


    Thebination of these two skills was something that even Craitid, a level 580, had been wary of, so the fate of this poor creature need not be stated.


    ''1''


    A flurry of blows with the samebination rocked the body of the next wyvern right beside it, a few seconds before the sounds of the monster''s scales and flesh being shattered and battered rang out.


    ''2''


    By that time, the creature was already dead, and its killer was digging his hand through the soft belly of another wyvern.


    With his fist inside the creature''s torso, he unleashed an energy st that turned its insides to mush, before blinking over to the next.


    ''3''


    "Mesarthim; Red: Molten Torrent."


    Evan''s voice echoed in the ears of another wyvern as he held a sphere of multicoloured mes that bloomed in his palm like a flower.


    Of the seven colours, the red shone brightly, engulfing the others and then shooting out torrents of moltenva-red mes like fiery geysers, striking the body of both the wyvern who heard him speak and the one who came to assist with the ferocity of a volcanic eruption.


    ''5''


    While those two wyverns were falling to their deaths, Evan spun around and mmed the sphere in his palm at the body of another one who swiped at him with its ws.


    Upon contact, the sphere exploded and released a searing shockwave of mes that obliterated its entire w, and the wing attached to it before going on to engulf its entire body.


    The intense heat burned through its scales and the effects of the skills mixed into it made it nigh impossible for the creature to shield against the mes.


    ''6''


    A jet-ck one-handed sword apported into Evan''s hand, and he swung it with all his might, which was nothing to joke with, especially in his BoD state.


    The aura sh released from it carried both destruction essence and Mesarthim''s mes, searing through a three-ringed magic circle behind him, and subsequently, the wyvern that created it.


    ''7''


    Evan blinked away and jumped onto the back of one of the fleeing wyverns. Reddish gold chains burst out from his palms and perforated the wings of the wyvern, retracting right after and pulling the wings towards his hands.

 Chapter 581 I gotchu bro.

    Chapter 581 I gotchu bro.


    He coated his arms with his mes and seized the wings, before violently ripping them off from its quivering body, the gruesome act unfolding in a raw and savage manner that sent chills down the spines of both allies and enemies.


    ''8''


    On to the next target, Evan jumped off the bleeding wingless wyvern''s body and onto another one flying below, using Vindiction''s strike tounch a beam from below that knocked its body upwards, while he met the creature''s skull with a punch from above, his energy swirling around his fist in a mini vortex.


    **BOOM-BAAMM!!


    ''That worked better than I thought. Anyway, that was 9.''


    His grey eyes turned towards the tenth Wyvern, the leader who had been fighting off four A rankers on its own and was actually dominating the battle.


    Using the corpse of the wyvern he was standing on as a boost, heunched his body in its direction, spinning his body around mid-way and unleashing a high kick towards the side of the monster''s head.


    "GAAKK?!"


    "?!"


    Evan''s eyes widened when he saw that the creature was only knocked back a bit, his eyes narrowing as he pulled back immediately.


    "I''d freeze you human brat!"


    The creature ignored its former opponents and directed its focus at Evan, opening its jaws and releasing a breath attack in the boy''s direction.


    The breath surged through the air like a relentless gale, billowing forth and plummeting the surrounding temperature in its wake.


    Even the A rankers who were engaging the monster were knocked aside by the shockwaves released when the breath surpassed the speed of sound.


    In response, Evan silently held up his palm and condensed his energy rapidly, conjuring a massive orb of prismatic mes in it.


    ''Mesarthim; Red: Inferno Comet.''


    He propelled the zing sphere forward at blistering supersonic speed, the sheer velocity creating a resounding boom and leaving behind a short radiant trail of fiery brilliance.


    Due to the speed of the two attacks, the collision happened almost immediately.


    ***KAAABOOOOMM!!!!


    The sh between the two sent shockwaves rippling through the airborne battlefield, disrupting all the aerialbatants; monsters and sentient humanoid fighters alike, causing some to veer off course, struggle to maintain altitude and lose their bearings in the maelstrom.


    The battle between the two elemental forces was as short as the time it took them to sh, with the mes surging forth and much to the wyvern''s astonishment, engulfing its icy breath.


    With an explosive burst of energy, the mes hurtled toward the wyvern and smashed into its face, shattering scales, searing flesh and inflicting grievous wounds upon impact.


    Without hesitation, Evan blinked towards the top of the wyvern''s head and then used void step to create a foothold which he kicked off and descended in a rush.


    "Hero''s!��"


    "?!"


    "��Axe Kick!"


    The heel of the Hero''s shoes mercilessly drove into the head of the wyvern, but Evan wasn''t done just yet.


    "Copse!"


    This particr wyvern was stronger than the others, presumably a floor boss or something; as such, it needed to be dealt with using stronger methods.


    And Evan chose a particrly gruesome one.


    A ripple of seismic waves emanated from the spot his leg had hit, crumbling the wyvern''s scales, teeth, and bone into a chaotic maelstrom of blood and brain matter.


    The creature could not even let out an agonized roar as its head ceased to exist, reduced to nothing more than a swirling cloud of blood, flesh and bone fragments.


    Its body, now bereft of its vital organ, lost all semnce of coordination and plummeted from the sky, crashing towards the ground below.


    "10!"


    Evan shouted out as he opened his inventory and let its corpse fall inside, before quickly looking at the system time as he disabled BoD.


    "Damn it, I was eleven seconds out!"


    He clicked his tongue as he spoke, wiping off the sweat and blood on his face while he tried to calm hisboured breaths.


    Seeing his aura receding, the City Defence force member near him thought the boy had burnt himself out, but when he suddenly turned towards two wyverns having simr thoughts and held up his palm that was encased in Mesarthim''s prismatic mes, that thought left their minds.


    "Milena and Kuro''s presences are drawing nearer. They seem close though��maybe Greed and Liz met up.


    As for Pride��she''s not too far off either."


    He muttered to himself before kicking off his void step and blitzing through the sky as a streak of gold light, heading towards the Command Centre Area.


    Evan had a smile on his face as he kicked off subsequent void steps, satisfied with his earlier power disy.


    The Irregr Hero had left one hell of an impression on everyone present and those who were watching the happenings on the battlefield from outside the barrier.


    The sight of the boy ending the lives of ten monsters over level 360 in just a bit over a minute, and still have ''a lot of energy left'', had been ingrained in their minds permanently.


    His array of skills and techniques, Elemental Mastery over mes and ice, as well as sheer physical strength and speed, were all the kind one would not expect from a boy his age.


    Heck, even some S rankers who were present thought that though they could achieve simr results, they certainly could not do so within such a short time frame��that was only natural, as the boy was already as strong as a beginner S ranker in his base state; it made sense that not many people present within the Barrier could match him in his BoD state that tripled that power.


    All those who had thought the rumours of Evan''s strength were just a hoax, had been given a front-row seat to a showing of irrefutable proof that they were not.


    Even if it was obvious to them that he had boosted his power with a skill, it did not change the fact that he was still on the level of the most powerful grandmasters of the continent.


    While not even being a grandmaster himself.


    �� �� ��


    The golden streak of light that was Evan blitzed across the now clear skies, with him kicking off multiple void steps to maintain his speed and altitude until he reached the Command Area where the highest ranked members of all the forces here present were.


    One particrly strong giant crocodile burst through the defensive line and dashed straight towards the people standing there, its body glowing with the light of a skill.


    Just when one of the S rankers was about to take action and end the creature''s life, he suddenly sensed something descending from above, looking up in time to catch the sight of Evan''s figure crashing down towards the monster''s body.


    **BAMM!!!


    The boy''s legsnded on the monster''s back, breaking its spine due to the force of hisnding and copsing its body on the ground.


    "GWOOOTT!!!"


    Hearing the strange roar it had let out, Evan tilted his head to the side with confusion and asked.


    "Hot? You''re feeling hot?"


    As he spoke, he used his Harbinger of Ice skill to freeze the monster''s body from neck downwards, encasing it in a thickyer of very dense ice.


    "GWOOLL!!"


    "Now, you''re cold?"


    The ice enveloping the giant crocodile''s body melted as its body was engulfed in bright prismatic mes that burned through its scales and flesh with ease.


    "GWOOOTTTT!!!!"


    "Not hot enough? Worry not. I gotchu bro."


    **BZZTT!!


    Golden tendrils of lightning snaked across his legs and towards the monster''s body, mixing with the mes already present and igniting into a bright explosion of odd-coloured smoke and mes.


    The monster''s death throes were overshadowed by the sound of the st, while the S ranker in front created a simple aura barrier that blocked the shockwaves from reaching him and those behind him.


    Emerging from the st while reabsorbing all the magic power, Evan held up a peace sign towards the man while greeting him.


    "Sup."


    The explosion behind him died down as the energy supporting it had been reabsorbed, and condensed into an orb of magic that floated beside him.


    "Here, a little gift."


    Evan continued his words, stuffing the magic stone of the crocodile into the S ranker''s hands before tapping him on the shoulder and walking towards the others.


    The Brigadier General in front narrowed his eyes lightly as he noticed something new on Evan''s bloodstained shirt.


    ''That badge brooch, it wasn''t there when he firstnded.''


    The beastman instantly got the assignment and uncrossed his arms, holding out a hand to Evan as he spoke.


    "Greetings, Count Bourne. Thank you for your earlier assistance."


    He addressed Evan in his official capacity while offering a handshake which the young Hero epted.


    As for the other part of his statement, it wasn''t just lip service as Evan had actually saved the asses of some A-rank-level adventurers and lots of soldiers with his actions of keeping most of the wyvern''s attention in the skies.

 Chapter 582 Meeting with the BG and others

    Chapter 582 Meeting with the BG and others


    If those monsters had been allowed to reign free, then they would have bombarded the ground fighters with breaths and magic which would have been disastrous.


    Not that this didn''t happen because Evan was there, but it would be a lie to say Evan''s actions did not reduce the level of aerial bombardment by more than half, while the other adventurers and mages dealt with the others.


    "No problem, it works better for me as well."


    With the way the monsters outnumbered them, every singlebatant on this battlefield mattered in every little way, so Evan would not hesitate to save as many as he could.


    The energy orb in the air solidified into an ice crystal as he spoke, forming some sort of pseudo magic stone that dropped straight into his inventory, beside the half dozen broken magic stones he had consumed earlier inside there.


    Returning outside his inventory, most of the S rankers and the other beings present had dark expressions on their faces.


    The reason being the words one of them had spoken earlier whilst Evan was still busy murdering those unfortunate wyverns.


    "If there''s one thing I know about Evan Eris, it''s that when he shows up during major events like this, things always turn out to be a lot bigger than anyone can fathom."


    His words had made them remember the incident in Geto City, the Osto Monster Stampede, the Cheverton Incident, and now, Lacertilia''s Dungeon Break.


    Though they already knew things were strange ever since the World Istion Barrier was activated, Evan''s presence somehow had the effect of implying it was a lot worse than they thought.


    And the next few minutes of their conversation with Evan proved to them that it was far worse than even the worst-case scenarios they had imagined.


    The Brigadier General (BG), was the one who had the biggest headache as he received the full reason why the Major General and some of hispetent subordinates had been sent out of the strange barrier.


    "A spell called the ''World Istion Barrier'', huh? A grand name, and so are its effects."


    He and the others present had long figured out that only those who were at a certain level and above had been sent out, with the proof being the S rankers who got kicked out inside the dungeon.


    "This is a lot to take in at once."


    One of the Mercenaries spoke with a frown on her face, causing Evan to nce at her and some others near her.


    In their eyes, he could see the unmistakable light of doubt within.


    The young hero heaved a sigh and held up his palm, condensing magic power into a singr point under it, an action that attracted the attention of all those present, even those who were lost in their thoughts.


    "Come Forth."


    Hismand words had the condensing energy manifest in the form of a book, with a cover crafted from aged leather and a surface etched with intricate patterns.


    "��Is that��?"


    "Exactly what you think it is."


    Evan replied to the words of one of the Mages present as he flipped the book''s pages, stopping on the one that had the World Magic Spell Number 25''s description.


    With a bit of magic power, he created in the air, a projection of the Spell Circle, the details of the spell and all other descriptions rted to it.


    "Enough proof for you now?"


    Silence pervaded the area as they all studied the spell circle floating in front of them closely; well, the magically attuned ones did. The others just read the text descriptions as they could not hope to ever understand whatever was inside that spell circle.


    But onto the matter of the book Evan was holding��the Akashic Page, the boy had really learnt a lot from it in the past few weeks.


    Starting from the cial Snickerstrike he especially favoured to the Infernovolt Rain that he and Ka had used earlier; they all came from the Akashic Page.


    When Evan closed the grimoire after seeing that all the people present had been convinced, he felt a particrly heavy gaze on him and turned towards the owner with his appraisal activated.


    "Oh my, a Green Robed Grand Mage from Kasteblum. Didn''t expect to see one of you here. Anyway, works well for me."


    The boy held up the Akashic Page in his hands before continuing.


    "When all of this is done and you head back to Kasteblum, please tell Old Man Gavin I said I''m going to have his copy ready soon.


    I''d be in the GEE and there are two options. I can either send it to him, or he can send someone to pick it up."


    He dismissed the grimoire after he spoke, right before the Grand Mage replied with a bit of annoyance in his tone at Evan''s improper addressing of the Chief Grand Magus.


    "That''s the Chief Grand Magus, boy. You are to add-"


    "Yeah, I know what position he holds. But to me, he''s just Old Man Gavin so that''s how I address him. If your brother was a king, would you call him ''Your Majesty'' or by his name? Gavin and I are not rted but you get my point.


    Anyway, please do well to pass on my message to him, that''s far more important than whatever means I address him as."


    When he was done speaking, Evan then turned his attention back to the BG and the other Lacertilian officials present.


    "Coming back to the main situation, may I know the updates regarding the party that has been sent in to clear the Dungeon?"


    All those present knew the simplest way to end this break was to end the dungeon boss, so Evan expected they''d have already formed some kind of party and sent them in by now.


    Even though their levels would not be high enough, they''d at least make it up with numbers.


    "It was a failure. The dungeon''syout had changed, and given that the monsters were more frenzied than normal, they suffered a lot of attacks, which of course, they had to defend themselves from."


    "��I''m guessing they killed monsters and levelled up past 450, huh?"


    "Indeed."


    Both Evan and the BG simultaneously sighed in exasperation, before the boy muttered something about encountering ''this kind of break again''.


    "Wait��''again''?"


    "Yeah. I have to say, you guys are in luck.


    Though the dungeon''syout has changed, I have a means by which we can get to the dungeon boss despite theyout change. It doese with requirements, however."


    The BG ignored the part about the requirements for now and first of all asked about the means Evan spoke of, with all those present perking up their ears to listen, even the Armypanymanders who were nearby.


    "An Artifact. One of the hundreds of strange stuff I''ve picked up over the years. It''s something Ancient that was created precisely because of situations like this. I would not exin its working process, though."


    Evan apported a random Artifact in his inventory that just so happened to have apass-like disy at the top, before passing it to Ka who was on his shoulder and continuing.


    "As for my requirements, I have to be the one using it to get to the Dungeon Boss."


    The BG''s brows raised with an incredulous expression on his face, whilst one of the other beastman adventurers nearby did the honours of asking the question on the man''s mind.


    "You want to enter the dungeon alone?"


    "Huh? I''m not crazy or suicidal. Why would I want to take a dungeon boss that''s higher level than me alone?


    I''m going in with my party."


    Evan could hear sighs of reliefing from all around, tilting his head in confusion as he did not understand why they''d think he''d want to face a Boss Monster alone.


    "Mind if I ask where your party members are?"


    Those present had only seen Evan in action, and not the rest of the Anomalies. Given the size of the Buffer Zone and the over hundred thousandbatants on it, they believed his party members were on other parts of the battlefield.


    On a side note, the noise of the battle ongoing was reduced with the aid of sound magic, hence the reason why they could have proper conversations without shouting at the top of their voices.


    "They''d be here within the next few minu-?"


    Evan raised a brow in light surprise mid-speech, right before his shadow began expanding, something all those present caught onto as energy had surged from it.


    One of the Beastmen present even reflexively struck out with his spear as he could sense something ''non-human/beastman/elf/dwarf''ing out of it.


    However, Evan''s hand blurred and he moved and caught the spear before it could get past his body, his grip on the weapon tightening and causing a small crack to form.


    Evan''s all ''A+ Level 100'' stats weren''t a joke, after all.


    "Everyone here who knows who I am should also be aware that I''m contracted to a shadow elemental spirit as well, should they not?"

 Chapter 583 The Anomalies Assembled

    Chapter 583 The Anomalies Assembled


    "Everyone here who knows who I am should also be aware that I''m contracted to a shadow elemental spirit as well, should they not?"


    Right as he spoke, the figure of a blonde-haired and sapphire-eyed teenager emerged from the expanded shadow, casting a fleeting nce on the spear Evan was holding whilst twirling one around in her hands as she spoke.


    "I thought you said Evan isn''t inbat��"


    [He isn''t supposed to be.]


    The voice of the Irregr Hero''s contracted spirit rang out as the cat made his way up Eliza''s shadow, letting the half-severed corpse of a lizardman that he had been holding fall back into the shadowy portal.


    The appearance of these two new entrants brought a whole new colour of surprise to the faces of those present, as at a nce, it was obvious to them that Eliza''s level was higher than most of theirs!


    For those who possessed themon appraisal skill or an item with the same effect, the level they saw Kuro was at and the power they could sense from him did not corrte in any way shape or form.


    Level 299s weren''t supposed to have aurasparable to Level 400s, after all.


    And then while they were still shocked that this rtively new party, the ''Anomalies'', were this strong, another voice rang out in the area.


    "Geh! I don''t think I''d ever get used to the feeling of shadow travel."


    Our resident Demon of greed emerged from the expanded shadow right after, his expression being one of difort as he quickly found his way to solid ground.


    It was then that he finally bothered to look around at the people nearby, losing interest the moment he did not see nor sense his sister in the vicinity.


    Unlike Eliza who actually kept her own power in a neutral state and required one to be close by to tell how strong she was, Greed didn''t even bother doing that, causing even those who were hundreds of metres away, both reservebatants and ones in the midst of battle to sense his presence.


    Some airborne monsters even turned tails and flew away upon sensing the presence of a ''STRONGER'' being they could not defeat.


    "Pride''s not here yet?"


    "She''s close. Just that she''s busy dealing with a toon of Senior Members. She''d be here when she''s done with that."


    Evan replied to Eliza''s question as his shadow returned to normal, taking his hand off the Beast man''s spear as well.


    "A whole toon? Where? I wanna go too!"


    Greed''s eyes sparkled as he heard the conversation between the two, but Evan shot down his proposition almost immediately.


    "We''d be going into a dungeon soon; we should at least try and conserve even the tiniest bit of energy."


    A smirk appeared on the boy''s face as he nced at the High Demon before continuing.


    "I also don''t wanna hear someone losing our race to the bottom because he was ''a bit tired''."


    The hero''s provocation seemed to work as intended as Greed silently shrugged his shoulders and tapped his foot on the ground lightly, creating a chair of earth for him and Milena before plopping down on it.


    "As I was saying��"


    Evan turned back to the BG and the others, with his intimidation effect increased slightly and spoke.


    "��I want to enter with my party."


    The BG had to admit that Evan''s party was one of the strongest currently within the barrier. The boy himself was an A ranker who had S rank level strength, and there were two other genuine S rankers present.


    ''If the other one is as strong as them, and then you add in these spirits��they are indeed a force to be reckoned with. However��''


    The man shook his head to indicate his refusal as he looked at Evan and spoke.


    "It''s still not enough to deal with the Lizard Lord."


    And he was right about that. The Dungeon Boss was a monster of at least Level 500, so his assumption that they would not be able to take it given they were all at least 50 levels lower was right.


    ''In a normal case scenario, that is.


    But this is not a normal case scenario, the Lizard Lord is far weaker. Meaning we can handle it with just our party.''


    Such thoughts passed through the young hero''s head, but outwardly he sighed in defeat and shrugged.


    "Well, I knew that wasn''t gonna pass."


    Just as he said that, they all sensed an iing mass of energy beelining straight toward them, breaking through the barrier one of the S rankers in reserve had put up since they assumed it was a monster attack and crashing onto the ground right in front of the group.


    A cloud of dust threatened to form, however, a whirlwind swirled all the dust and dirt that rose up, billowing it toward the skies.


    "Were we not supposed to head toward the dungeon? Why are you lot still here?"


    The High Demon of pride made her spectacr entrance, strolling in casually while flicking off the blood of the dead Demonic Hand Senior Members and their contracted demons off her sword.


    Even so, the mist surrounding the sword, and the blood-red lines running through it like veins still gave off a sinister vibe.


    Unlike with Greed and Eliza, they felt no surprise about her power, only the feeling of one''s expectations being met and even surpassed slightly.


    "I''m just informing them of our intention to go into the Dungeon. Given the current circumstances, I didn''t want there to be anyplications."��was what Evan said outwardly, but...


    ''I was telling them we were going into the dungeon so when the boss is defeated, everyone is gonna know it''s us.''��were his real thoughts being transmitted directly to Pride via their connection.


    The boy had tried asking if he could go in with just his party as he didn''t want any witnesses when they wiped out whatever Demonic Hand members were present, but that certainly was not going to be a decision they epted.


    Leaving aside the fact that the BG didn''t want Evan dying within his country''s borders (as he believed the boss was level 500+), he also didn''t want a foreigner toe in and get all the credit for resolving such a serious matter.


    ''If Artemisia''s information is correct, then we alone are enough to deal with both Maude and the Lizard Lord, though we''d have to go ALL OUT.


    We''d still have time to recover after too.''


    Pride pondered on his words for a few moments before shrugging and telling Evan to do whatever he wanted. She then moved over to where Greed was and sat down beside him, pulling out the book she was on and reading.


    "Ah, those fools'' blood got on it."


    Her words made one question if she was actually reading a novel whilst fighting the Demonic Hand members, but Evan didn''t bother asking as he knew that was probably the case.


    "Okay, so you guys assemble the party that''d follow us, then. Not too many people though, as it might be hard to move with a big group in some areas."


    It was not a case of ''Might'' but ''Would'', as the boy was aware of the newyout of the Dungeon, courtesy of Aidos Online.


    Even though his memory was not perfect, the System Archive was there to make things easier for him.


    Some of the Mages and adventurers present asked to see the ''artifact that would lead them to the boss room'' so they could analyse it and Evan gave the thing he pulled to them without hesitation.


    Thanks to Artemisia, their analysis skills and magic spells returned exactly what Evan wanted them to see.


    "Hurry up with the selection, Floor 70 might break soon and the level 400s would start pouring out."


    Evan gave that reminder to the others as he joined his party members to sit back and rx, taking the time to let his consumed energies recover slightly.


    ''Today''s gonna be a series of battles after battle, after battle. Have to be in top form.''


    Although things were not going exactly ording to n, it was still turning out quite unfavourably for the Demonic Hand, which meant the opposite for Evan''s side of the scale.


    Within a few minutes, the S rankers that were to follow Evan had been decided, and the young hero cast a fleeting nce of appraisal at them, noting that some of the top fighters present wereing along.


    ''Makes sense considering what level they believe the boss to be.


    Well, they would not get to fight it, and if Kethyrilia reduces the limit of the spell, then they might not even be here by the time we''re done.''


    With that thought, Evan walked up to the BG and a few others, giving them some of the Demonic Hand brooches he had collected and having them pin them to the inner parts of their clothes, making sure they did not let the reinforcement soldiers that were already outside the barrier see it.


    He then turned around and faced his gaze towards the Lair of the Lizard Lord in the distance, taking a deep breath before saying.


    "All right, guys. Let''s move."

 Chapter 584 Descending the Dungeon

    <h4>Chapter 584 Descending the Dungeon</h4>


    Artemisia M. Delgasso.


    Simply known to many as the ''goddess Artemisia'' or the ''goddess of Evolution''.


    She was the being in the Valmone Universe''s pantheon that was responsible for the ''Aspect'' of Evolution.


    Basically, she was the one who made sure that what needed to evolve did so, and what needed to stay primitive remained that way.


    The second part was very necessary, as there were certain things in the universe that did not need to evolve; certain creatures that did not need to evolve to the point of gaining sentience and intelligence, leaving their primitive instinctive states.


    However, as far as thew of evolution existed in the universe, these things would slowly but surely creep upwards on the path of evolution, so part of her duties involved dealing with those particrly dangerous ones.


    Anyway, Artemisia had the ''Authority'' to affect the Evolution of a being''s existential aspects, though there were conditions attached to this.


    When one went from the Gold level to the Master, Grandmaster and so on, one''s body and soul were evolving, ascending to higher existence levels.


    Artemisia was capable of reversing this evolution process, causing one to devolve instead.


    And that was precisely what she did to the poor ''Lizard Lord'', hence why it was losing power for ''no apparent reason''.


    The Lizard Lord was originally an Epic Level existence with a Level surpassing 500. And over the years, this level had increased due to the thousands of adventurers it had killed in that boss room.


    The Demonic Hand also fed it more things to kill and gain experience points from to level up even faster, as their goal was for it to be a ''Living Legend'' by the time they wanted to effect their ns for Lacertilia.


    By the time they wanted to carry out the ''Lizard Lord''s Outbreak''.


    Sadly, thanks to Artemisia''s interference two years ago, that didn''t go as nned.


    The monster began losing power, and the power it lost in its devolution process had to be channelled somewhere.


    That somewhere, was the Dungeon''s Core.


    Artemisia rewired the dungeon and used the monster''s own power to fuel the dyed dungeon break.


    Of course, she only did this in the first ce because of Evan. She didn''t want the boy to end up dying to the Epic Level ''Lizard Lord'', given Evan could not defeat any Epic Level existence currently.


    As stated before, the break happening 3 days earlier was simply the Lizard Lord''s arbitrary decision.


    Thus, the general reason why the Lizard Lord lost power and why there was a dungeon break in Lacertilia.


    [I have told you this before, have I not?]


    "Yes, you have. Years ago, I guess?"


    Evan replied as he walked up to the group of 29 (spirits excluded), having changed from his bloody outfit to another one of the exact same design, but made with stronger materials.


    Heaven knows how many Arachnes had suffered under Evan''s hands for him to get the threads necessary for all those outfits.


    He looked over to Pride and Greed who were drawing small demonic runes on their clothes, things that basically granted those normal-looking clothes more defensive power than most A Rank armours��the clothes'' original defensive power taken out of the equation.


    [Evan, be careful. While handling the Executive is something even you can do alone, anything can happen for whates after.


    Even that ''Lizard Lord'' might do something unexpected.]


    Hearing the goddess'' words, Evan understood that she wasn''t telling him that the boss ''Could'' pull an unexpected trick.


    She was telling him it ''WOULD'' do something that he currently was not expecting.


    ''Well, thanks for the heads up.''


    With that, the group of 30 kicked off towards the dungeon''s entrance, and Evan felt a wave of nostalgia hit him the instant he reached it.


    "To kick off the dungeon speed run. How about we have a little race?"


    "Really, Evan? Now?"


    Eliza gazed at him with half-lidded eyes, making her disagreement with his idea very clear, but the young hero only wordlessly turned towards the people who agreed with him.


    "I''m up for it."


    [Me too! Me too!]


    Ka jumped off Evan''s shoulder and returned to her full body form, her height seeming a bit higher than Evan remembered it to be.


    "All right then, Liz and Pride woulde after us with the rest. First to get to thest floor wins."


    Whilst the other adventurers were wondering how this was going to be possible given only Evan had the artifact to show the way, the other two had already agreed with his conditions.


    "Ignore all monsters that ''don''t matter''."


    Evan added that little extra, basically telling them that fighting anything within the first 50 floors was unnecessary.


    Looking at the wave of monsters that were rushing towards the dungeon entrance to break free, the young hero took a stance and called out.


    "On your marks."


    His golden aura surged and swirled around his legs.


    "Ready."


    **BZZZTT!!


    Golden tendrils of lightning snaked around Ka''s form.


    "Set."


    Greed''s muscles bulged lightly as he activated his idiosyncrasy.


    "Go!" ***BOOOMMMM!!!!! x3


    The trio of racers dashed off the instant the word ''Go'' left Evan''s lips, leaving behind deep craters in the ground with clouds of dust billowing as they vanished down the dungeon.


    Eliza had created a barrier to block the dust and debris from reaching them, but even that barrier had cracks running through it after they zoomed off.


    "I wanna say ''Boys would always be boys'' but Ka is a girl and she''s with them."


    "I would have agreed with you if one of the ''boys'' wasn''t my brother."


    Just as Pride said that, she suddenly tilted her head to the side and turned towards Eliza, a look of slight incredulity on her face that mirrored the battle priestess''.


    "We''ve had this exact conversation before, have we not?"


    "Indeed, we have."


    As they were conversing about their feelings of d��j�� vu, one of the other adventurers asked them if they were not going to go after Evan and the others, as with the speed the trio zoomed off with, it was gonna be hard to catch up if they didn''t get moving.


    "Kuro and Milena are Evan''s contracted spirits. We can always find him using them."


    Eliza replied as she twirled her staff and pointed towards Pride''s feet with it, causing a ring of light to appear around the demon''s legs.


    "That would be useful."


    Right after, the twodies kicked off the ground and dashed forward, with the rest of the adventurers following closely.


    Speed-wise, Eliza was one of the slowest in the group, only surpassing the other supports in speed, but she made up for that with her buffs that temporarily gave her speed somewhere around ''S- Level 10''.


    With that, she was able to keep up with thebatants, and even help the other supports keep up as they moved deeper into the dungeon.


    �� �� ��


    Floor 5


    Lair of the Lizard Lord


    Dungeon City Lacertilia


    May 5th


    Year 1053


    Two golden streaks of light side by side with a red streak of light zoomed across the nearly empty fifth floor of the dungeon, avoiding anyrge obstacle and leaving trails of scorched earth and carved-in soil in their wake.


    asionally, the positions of the three changed, with the red sometimes surpassing one of the golden, whilst the other golden streak maintained consistent speed, either beside or in front of them.


    Multiple sonic booms were left behind them as they traversed deeper into the dungeon''s depths, ignoring all the monsters they passed.


    The sonic booms did knock the monsters away and send them flying into the dungeon''s walls but the three could not really care less about weak level 50 and 100 monsters.


    Thanks to Artemisia, each of them had a map of the Dungeon''s newyout imprinted in their heads, so they knew exactly where they were to go and where to avoid.


    With howrge the floors of the dungeon were (around 25-100 sq. km), and with the speed of the group, it would take them barely a minute to blitz through the shorter floors, whilst the longer ones could take up to three.


    Roughly half an hourter, they had already broken past floor 50 of the dungeon, the breakpoint where the floor sizes increased and they needed close to a minute and a half to blitz through, if they ignored all the monsters present, that is.


    On a normal day, the monsters which would have multiplied in number by this point would have been so many that they''d be hard-pressed to run through in 1.5 minutes, but thanks to the break, most of those monsters were outside so they could achieve this with ease.


    That didn''t mean that they didn''t have a few obstacles though, and Evan chose to take care of them in some rather unorthodox method.


    Evan was running on the left side of the dungeon walls, his right hand holding the unforged that had its de pointed in the direction of the lizardmen monsters.

 Chapter 585 Giant Worm

    Chapter 585 Giant Worm


    The sharp de of Evan''s sword, recently maintained at the hands of a Living Legend, sliced through the heads, necks, and sides of the monsters, killing most of them faster than they could realise.


    The boy''s sword was coated in a thinyer of dense icy energy, and when coupled with his 350m/s movement speed, he was more than able to break the monsters'' powerful defences with ease.


    Evan and the other two burst out of the rocky hallways they were in, into arge open space with a surrounding environment as if they had just entered a different realm.


    The ground shook immediately after, caving in to pave the way for the appearance of a massive brown-skinned worm, with fangs leaking a greyish liquid that melted entire trees with a drop.


    The creature''s body was long; very long, as it curled itself up many times and still towered more than twenty metres into the sky.


    [GURGLOROAR!]


    Itunched itsrge tail towards them after letting out that strange roar, with Evan silently blinking out of the way the moment he saw it move.


    Greed, however, simply held up his hand and activated his idiosyncrasy.


    [GURGL?!]


    The speed of the monster''s tail lunge reduced drastically, as did the strength it was using to support itsrge body in the air.


    ''Huh? Did he just steal its agility stat?''


    Evan internally questioned as he jumped up in the air above the falling monster, generating a two-ringed magic circle on his palm and swinging it down.


    "Grand Fireball."


    The massive orb of mes descended towards the monster''s venom-leaking mouth, prompting it to let out another strange roar, one that releasedpressed ultrasonic sound waves that mmed into the fireball and made it explode mid-air.


    Unfortunately for it, there was a third person present; and said person was one who would never let go of the opportunity it just presented.


    An orb ofpressed golden lightning spun through the air and into the mouth it had opened to roar, falling inside neatly like a basketballer''s ''nothing-but''.


    **BOOMM!!!


    [GRAAAAGGHHH!!!!]


    The monster iled around in pain when the lightning bomb exploded inside its mouth, with brown blood pouring around and staining the floor, melting the grass and trees around.


    As it iled around, Evannded on his feet and kicked off the ground in one breath, casing his sword in an icyyer.


    ''Aura sh.''


    With the skill''s aid, he sent out a massive sh of golden ice that tore through the monster''s tough skin, sted its flesh apart and even reached some of its internal organs.


    Following up, Greed jumped in the air and summoned Mammonas, spinning around to gain momentum before kicking the hilt of the de with all his might.


    It didn''t even take a second for the sonic speed propelled sword to pierce right through its body, in the exact same area Evan had shed and pinned its massive form to the ground.


    It let out another scream with its strange voice, while simultaneously spewing out a stream of the greyish liquid in Greed''s direction.


    [You''re too noisy!! And disgusting!!]


    Ka screamed out as she prepared to activate a skill, only to notice that other monsters had been attracted by the sounds of battle.


    ''In that case��''


    The girl switched the skill she wanted to activate to one that dealt more AoE damage.


    [Laser Ring.]


    Her voice was bright, and so was the scene that followed.


    Five cubes of golden lightning manifested in a ring around her, rotating rapidly and shooting out five massiveser beams omnidirectionally.


    In an instant, the area around them was turned into a sea of mes and the screams of multiple monsters rang out as the devastating explosion of energy decimated some of them, leaving only a scorching aftermath.


    The hot condensedsers of lightning made short work of all the small fry, and then Ka cancelled the skill and fused the five lightning cubes into one which she sent hurling towards the worm.


    In response, the worm smacked its tail on the ground, generating a massive wall of earth to block the iing projectile.


    ''This thing is smart��but not strong enough.''


    As if to agree with Evan''s thoughts, the lighting cube bashed through all the earthen walls it created and bashed right into its head, exploding on contact.


    While it writhed in pain, Greed closed into it and grabbed it with his hands, his muscles bulging up lightly at the same time.


    "��You''re not about to do what I think you''re gonna do, right?"


    The High Demon did not reply and instead dismissed his sword that had been pinning the worm to the ground, before lifting the monster''s massive body off the ground.


    Its 100m+ long body was lifted off the ground with ease, and this was the scene that Eliza met with when she and Pride arrived in the area.


    "Nope."


    Evan said that as he created a path with his shadow and let his body fall back to it, reappearing from Eliza''s shadow just in time for Greed to m the monster''s body onto the ground he had now reforged to hold earthen spears pointed towards the sky.


    ***BAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!!!


    The sound of its body mming back onto the ground, plus the ensuing explosion held enough force and power to make the entire dungeon floor tremble.


    Shockwaves sted out, carrying dust, smoke and rocks with them, but Evan and Ka were safe behind Eliza''s barrier and had nothing to worry about.


    "Greed! We wasted too much time; they''ve caught up to us."


    Evan shouted with his magic-amplified voice after the st noise had died down a bit, and the High Demon he spoke to climbed atop the monster and looked at the hero waving from the edge of the hallway leading to where they were.


    [Dust''s down, let''s go, Master.]


    Evan and Ka simultaneously broke into a run, with the young hero blitzing forward and encasing his sword in mes.


    He released an aura sh that hit the dazed weakened monster and set a part of its body ame; a me Greed decided to amplify with his wind magic.


    The High Demon Swirled the mes with a cyclone spell, concentrating it on the monster''s head area as it screamed out in pain.


    [And a little topping.]


    The lightning spirit snapped her fingers and dropped a bolt of lightning onto the swirling mes, triggering a massive explosion that sted its'' entire head to smithereens.


    "Good, now let''s go."


    "No, let''s wait a sec."


    Evan countered Greed''s words, holding up a finger as he waited for the remaining S rankers to arrive.


    The moment they came into view, he gave the signal and the three ran off in a seemingly random direction and vanished from sight, leaving behind theirpanions who only sighed whilst shaking their heads.


    "Why do I feel like they waited for us to appear before they left��?"


    "Because they actually did."


    Eliza replied to the mercenary''s question before taking a sip of a stamina recovery potion and then continuing her chase after the three racers.


    Back on Evan''s side of things, the young hero led the race with a margin of ten metres, lightning swirling around his body as he ran up the walls.


    He grabbed the neck of a lizardman with his right hand and then ran towards the ceiling, before abruptly jumping off the wall and mming its body onto the ground headfirst.


    Blood, bones, and brain matter sshed around as the monster''s neck and head were ttened on the ground. Evan left the corpse there and continued running with the two trailing behind closely.


    The trio encountered a wave of monsters not too longter, and since those monsters were probably headed to the surface, they decided to get rid of them.


    Greed came out with the opening act, sending out an imperceptible wave of his idiosyncrasy''s power to absorb the strength and agility of all the monsters in front of him, making them stumble and fall onto each other in a chaotic scene.


    "Hey! I''m here, you know?!"


    Evan who was in the midst of the monsters suddenly screamed out as he noticed what Greed did, but the High Demon only gave a nonchnt reply.


    "You''re my sister''s contractor; my power would not work on you unless she wills it."


    Right after saying that, he jumped above the monsters and towards Evan, using the boy''s shoulder as a boost to dash forward at sonic speed whilst hacking and shing at everything in his way.


    The shockwaves sted the monsters and knocked some of them to the side, while any that didn''t get knocked away turned into experience to raise his level.


    "That son of a-!!"


    **BZZZTT!!!


    Ka blitzed past Evan, mid-speech, but the young hero didn''t stop andpleted his words first.


    "He just used me as a boost!!"


    A burst of golden aura sted out of his body and enveloped him, with his form vanishing in the next second, together with the body of a random lizardman.

 Chapter 586 Another Bootleg Ghidorah

    <h4>Chapter 586 Another Bootleg Ghidorah</h4>


    Leaving behind the crater he formed on the floor, Evan charged forward and caught up with Greed, tossing the lizardman''s body on the High Demon''s back before overtaking him and running up to Ka who was in the lead.


    [Master, what floor is this?]


    "59."


    Evan replied as he pulled up a 3D projection map of the dungeon, whilst Ka slowed down to look at it and thenpare it to the map in her head.


    ''Good, now I know where to go.''


    Within seconds they ran down a slope that led deeper into the dungeon, and after passing through a thin barely perceptible barrier, Evan spoke once more.


    "60, now."


    Greed caught up to them and tried getting back at Evan, but the boy dodged the corpses tossed on the ground in front of him, and at his back with blink before carrying on like the high demon didn''t just try to make him trip.


    "You guys know we can''t fight anything on thest 30 floors, right? Those guys are too close to level 500.


    The amount of energy we''d consume fighting them would be too much��an unwise decision as we have a wave of Demonic Hand members on Floor 99 and an Executive on Floor 100."


    Evan jumped up in the air and clenched his fist, throwing out a punch with Fracture activated and bashing the chest of the wyvern trying to attack them.


    Landing back on the ground, he caught up to the other two who had gone forward before continuing his words.


    "This is not taking into ount the Lizard Lord itself."


    **BOOMMM!!!


    Right after he spoke, the dungeon wall to their side was sted apart, and they all jumped away to avoid getting caught up.


    When they looked to see who was responsible, they were met with the appearance of a four-headed hydra, one that looked particrly pissed for a reason only Heaven knew.


    "Another bootleg Ghidorah?!"


    [Master, Ghidorah has three heads.]


    Evan turned an incredulous look towards Ka who corrected him, his voice tinged with genuine curiosity as he asked.


    "Why do you know how many heads Ghidorah has?!"


    [Fight now, questionster.]


    The Lightning spirit avoided the question with the impending battle as an excuse, conjuring up a mass of static energy mid-air and thenpressing it into a singr destructive point within her hands.


    [Ark sh!]


    The electrifying explosion that followed unleashed a devastating AoE lightning assault that wrecked the monster''s body, while the skill''s main effect dropped down multiple beams of lightning that blew one of the monster''s heads to smithereens.


    [Now, it looks like a bootleg Ghidorah.]


    "��Seriously, Ka?"


    [RAAAAAAARRRRRRHHHHH!!!]


    The monster''s agonized scream drowned out Evan''s voice, and its next move was a raging charge towards the Lightning spirit, which would have seeded if a certain High Demon wasn''t holding its tail.


    "Where the hell do you think you''re going, reptile?"


    Greed pulled the enormous monster''s body by its tail, using his idiosyncrasy to steal as much strength as he could from it before flinging it through the air and into another dungeon wall.


    "Ow��that hurt a bit."


    A green light glowed around his arms and he noticed the pain caused by his Muscle strain vanish.


    "They caught up already?"


    The answer to his question came from the Blonde teenager who emerged from Evan''s shadow with an orb hovering right beside her head.


    "Yeah, we did."


    "Wait up, you could cast magic whilst inside Kuro''s shadows?"


    Evan voiced out his astonishment at this action, but before he could get an answer, Eliza suddenly narrowed her eyes and red at the space behind him.


    "Evan."


    "I know."


    The boy''s hand shot out so fast it appeared to be a blur, grabbing onto seemingly empty air as he spoke.


    "We''re fighting bootleg Ghidorah so die, okay?"


    **CHINK!


    A wave of frigid energy was released from his body, washing over the ''thing'' he was holding and freezing it in a block of ice.


    He then shattered the ice, along with the stealth-type creature''s life.


    The ice fragments that were descending to the ground, caught in gravity''s grasp suddenly escaped and began hovering mid-air.


    Evan held up his hand and the ice shards started vibrating a ridiculously high speeds, before dissolving into a mist that swirled into a ball of mist in his palm.


    Seeing this, Milena who was arriving together with Amy had her jaw drop in shock.


    [Master��what the fuck did you just do?]


    Eliza, Kuro, and even Greed and Ka who were about to attack the monster getting back up to its feet all turned towards Milena in shock.


    [Did Milly just��curse?]


    Ka voiced out the question they all had on their minds, prompting them to all move their gazes to Evan, wondering just what on Aidos he did that made Milena of all people use a curse word.


    "Series skills are broken."


    That was all the Hero said as he looked at the mist orb in his palm.


    He had just frozen a grandmaster-level monster in a block of ice, shattered said ice and then extracted not only the energy he used to freeze it, but also the energy that was in the body of the monster he had frozen.


    That was what made up the orb of ice in his palm.


    It was one thing if he recovered the energy that he used in freezing it, but taking the monster''s energy as well? That was not supposed to happen.


    He then solidified it into a ball of ice, turning his gaze towards the Bootleg Ghidorah that roared and unleashed a fire breath from one of its heads.


    Greed turned around and summoned his wind magic, creating a cyclone wall that swirled the me stream right up towards the floor ceiling.


    Kalya shed in right after, her hand coated in lightning as she activated her Electrome skill on its head. The rose of mes that bloomed on its head was met with Ka''s fist of lighting, and just like whenever Evan punched at this timing, the energies shed back and created a distortion in the air.


    [Huh? Master! I got the Fracture skill!]


    "Wait, for real?!"


    [Yep!]


    The spirit replied with a bright smile on her face, before spinning her body around and repeating the same Electrome-Fracturebo.


    **BOOM!!


    The monster''s scales sted apart and she destroyed its other eye, sessfully blinding the head that shot out the me breath.


    Seeing the phenomenon that manifested around her arm, Evan could tell it was the same as his skill and not the mimicry with lightning that Ka usually used.


    The boy shook his head and reforged the ball of ice in his hand, increasing its size to that of a bowling ball and adding the three holes for his fingers as well.


    He kicked off the ground and ran towards it, jumping to avoid the poison breath it spewed and then bowling the ball at it.


    Naturally, the ball''s movement speed was not as slow as that of a normal bowling ball.


    In the few seconds it took to reach the monster, Greed smacked aside the other head with the t side of his de, jumping up in the air and grabbing onto its long neck.


    Still in the air, he pulled backwards and let his body fall onto its back, mming his elbow onto the monster''s back.


    **BAM!!


    The force made it monster''s knees buckle and its body fell onto the ground, just in time for the icy orb to crash into it.


    From Greed''s shadow, shadowy arms extended and pulled him into it, warping him away from the area before the orb exploded on the monster''s chest.


    The ensuing explosion of icy energy was substantial, enough that it sted one of the monster''s heads off its neck, tearing through its chest scales and flesh, inflicting extensive wounds all over.


    The creature shrieked in excruciating pain as blood spattered in all directions.


    "I really wish I had a ''Devour-type'' skill. The kind that can eat monsters and gain their power. Now would be a really good time to use it."


    Evan casually remarked as he walked up to the wounded monster''sst good head and stabbed its skull with the unforged, twisting the sword inside like he was twisting a key and infusing his ice energy into it.


    He triggered an internal explosion of ice with Frostbrand Detonation, one that had the monster''s eyes and mouth spilling blood.


    "Dealing with Monsters above level 400 in my base state really makes me expend a lot of energy."


    The boy spoke with a sigh as he pulled out the sword and flicked the blood off before unsheathing it.


    [The ''goddess Artemisia'' says she''d provide some assistance.]


    "Huh?"


    The monster''s corpse suddenly dried up like someone sucked out all the vitality from it, and the residual energy left in its body condensed at a point, before transforming into onerger-than-normal strawberry that fell into Evan''s hands.


    "��"


    The goddess had done the same thing Evan did with that stealth monster, except she had done it faster, better, and she made it a strawberry.

 Chapter 587 Time to Lose the Extras

    <h4>Chapter 587 Time to Lose the Extras</h4>


    "Thanks."


    Evan bit into the strawberry with a delightful expression on his face, about to continue savouring its taste when Kas''s voice rang out.


    [Master.]


    "Huh?"


    [Did you forget we''re in a race?]


    "��"


    Kalya gave him a mischievous smile as lighting tendrils snaked across her arms and legs. A simr phenomenon happened to Evan with his golden aura, with him tossing the half-eaten strawberry into his inventory.


    In the next second, the two of them zoomed off into the distance, leaving behind Greed who had just picked his weapon back up.


    "Oh no, you don''t."


    The man stretched out his hand and sucked the agility out of the monsters who fled the area due to the bowling explosion, before kicking off the ground and chasing after the other two.


    The trio''s race continued, with them making a few stops to butcher some monsters and Evan finally taking the time to eat the rest of his giant strawberry.


    At around Floor 70, they stopped attacking anything, ignoring all monsters and focusing on reaching the bottom of the dungeon as fast as possible.


    Upon reaching Floor 90, they began encountering Demonic Hand Ninth Division members, and without hesitation, they wiped out all the toons they found.


    At first, he had Pride and Eliza lead the others down other routes, but as they approached the 95th floor, Evan decided they had to lose those S-rankers.


    "They''d be useful against the Demonic Hand members though, so why don''t we lose them around the 98th floor?"


    Greed made this suggestion as they sensed the auras of the 29 S rankers fast approaching.


    "I have not exined the Demonic Hand''s existence to them.


    I can tell them that these are the guys who set up the barrier and caused the Dungeon to break artificially, but that''s gonna leave them with a lot of questions.


    Even though their presence at the bottom of the dungeon during this time is VERY suspicious; these are the same people I had to show the Akashic Page to, just so I could convince them about the World Istion Barrier."


    The young hero made his stance with his words, and Ka only heaved a sigh whilst shaking her head.


    [So, do we toss them into a Monster Room somewhere or not?]


    They were currently within one of the ''No Monster Zones'' that the Demonic Hand toon they wiped out had established, so they didn''t worry about having to suddenly deal with a randomly appearing Level 490 monster.


    "I suggest we toss them into a monster room on the 98th floor."


    Greed once again put out his suggestion, and from Evan''s facial expression, it could be seen he really didn''t fancy this one.


    "They''re not stupid, so they know someone obviously put up the World Istion Barrier around the city. If we tell them that the Demonic Hand are that ''someone'' then it''d justify why we''re killing them.


    If they want, they can also capture some of their members. That does not really matter since they would not be facing the Boss with us."


    Silence pervaded the area around the three of them after Greed spoke, one that persisted until Eliza and Pride arrived with the rest of the Adventurer/Mercenary/Mage/Soldier entourage.


    "What''s the hold-up?"


    Evan transmitted the contents of their conversation to Pride when she asked and after understanding the situation, she offered her opinion.


    ''I''m with my brother on this. If we have to fight through Demonic Hand toons with 50 members each, we''d burn ourselves out.''


    ''��''


    The boy remained silent, ncing at the S-Ranker group before sighing and suggesting.


    ''The Demonic Hand would unconditionally attack any people whoe into this area right now, so we''d just let them get attacked. They''d definitely retaliate so we''d have them kill off the Demonic Hand through that retaliation.''


    His idea was passed to all the others whilst Eliza kept the sound out with a small barrier.


    No one had any objections to it, so Evan took out the artifact he had said was the one to let him find his way around the dungeon and looked at it, tinkering with a few things before holding it up in front of him.


    The boy inclined it so they could see thepass disy pointing to the direction he was about to move in.


    "We''re on the right track."


    He tossed it back into his inventory after his little ''show'', before dashing forward along with Greed and Ka.


    The others trailed behind; a bit suspicious of whatever the group had discussed that needed them to block out the sound.


    But they didn''t have any time to pay it much mind as they entered the 95th floor right after, encountering a Company of Demonic Hand Senior members close to the entrance.


    Before any of them could even say anything, the Demonic Hand members and their contracted demons attacked them without hesitation. Some even fused after sensing the strength of the S rankers and charged at them with swords drawn.


    The S rankers, naturally did not sit back and let themselves be hit, retaliating with fury just as Evan had predicted and showing just why they were ''S'' rankers.


    They bulldozed the entirepany of Level 300s in minutes, but this came with the added side effect of bringing some of them dangerously close to Level 450.


    For those close to that level, they agreed to make sure not to deliver thest blow to any opponents, reducing the exp they get upon the opponent''s death.


    They encounteredrger Demonic Hand groups on the floors that followed, and they did well to avoid any that were higher than what they could handle at the moment.


    There was one group where Evan hadnded in the middle of them, and with fracture active, he and Ka punched the ground where the spirit''s Electrome bloomed.


    Evan then proceeded to use his favourite Ice Spell: Ice Nova, on the members who had been disoriented and disarrayed by the sudden strike.


    With such methods, the group made their way to Floor 98, where Evan decided it was time they left the S rankers behind.


    He sent his n to the spirits and Pride using his connection with them, purposely leaving Eliza out of the loop because he wanted her genuine reaction to what he nned to do.


    A few minutes after they entered Floor 98, Evan kept on using thepass-like artifact to make a show of checking for the path.


    As they ventured forth, the corridor gradually opened up into a vast, circr clearing, its dimensions vast and its boundaries concealed in darkness.


    "Hmm�� something''s off."


    Eliza was the first to notice something wrong, stopping her movements and looking around the clearing while sending out a wave of ether from her body.


    Immediately after, her expression paled rapidly, something the S rankers who had turned towards her after hearing her earlier words all noticed.


    Without hesitation, they got into battle-ready positions, a decision that proved to be correct after a horde of frenzied monsters suddenly emerged from the darkness around them.


    Battle cries filled the air as they swiftly formed a defensive line and shed with the army in a fierce confrontation, the entire area was soon awash in spells, arrows and des.


    All of them were experienced dungeon divers, so it did not take them long to figure out that they had entered a monster room.


    Monster rooms came in all forms, and from what they could see, this was the type that locked its target in only after a certain period of time had passed and not immediately.

 Chapter 588 Hi Maude, Bye Maude [Bonus]

    <h4>Chapter 588 Hi Maude, Bye Maude [Bonus]</h4>


    But before they could even think about wanting to reach the exit on the other side before it closed, the ground suddenly began quivering, and in a horrifying twist of fate, it began to copse right at the centre of the circr clearing.


    The ground split open along a circr seam, creating a gaping chasm that extended in both directions, severing the party into two groups.


    Evan, Pride, Greed and the spirits were on one side, whilst Eliza was on the other with the S Rankers.


    Just when the girl had thought they''d be separated and wanted to shout for them to jump over, a bull-like monster suddenly surged with aura, knocking away the person it was fighting and charging straight towards her.


    She tried moving out of the way to avoid its charge but to her surprise, her body could not move.


    ''This��Kuro?!''


    An expression of pure shock manifested on her face as she could notprehend why Kuro''s shadows had wrapped around her legs, but she quickly snapped back to reality and created a barrier to block the monster''s charge.


    The creature mmed into the barrier and broke it, much to her disbelief, before crashing into her body and sending her flying over the still-forming chasm.


    Everything happened so fast that she could not even fully understand what was going on, and neither could the S rankers who saw her get knocked away.


    The girl''s confusion only furthered, when she didn''t even feel the monster hitting her body, and the way she flew through the air felt more like she was pulled from behind than she was knocked over.


    When shended not on the floor, but in Evan''s arms, she instantly understood that everything that just happened was well within the boy''s ns.


    Theck of monsters around them only seemed to confirm that.


    "Evan��exin."


    "To deceive your enemy, you must first deceive your ally. -Sun Tzu, The Art of War."


    The boy''s ''exnation'' was met with a punch to his gut from his very annoyed girlfriend.


    �� �� ��


    Evan took quite a while to cate Eliza who was quite miffed at being left out of the loop on his decision.


    It was only after she decided to put the matter aside that they carried on to the dungeon''s next floor.


    This one was filled with Grandmaster Demonic Hand members and Peak Grandmaster Monsters, the kind of ce where they were not even going to fight anything.


    Artemisia did say she was going to mess with the ''No Monster Zones'' so the Demonic Hand would be attacked by monster waves, so the group blitzed past them without hesitation.


    The race between the trio continued, and at this point, they were evenly matched, running through Demonic Hand toons and leaving behind trails of blood that attracted monsters.


    As they got closer to the end of the 99th floor, a mischievous expression appeared on Ka''s face as she turned around, performing the feet of running backwards as she called out to the other two.


    [Hey.]


    When they nced at her with questioning gazes, she held up two fingers and made a peace sign, before turning around and elerating.


    **BOOMM!!


    The lightning spirit left behind a sonic boom as she blitzed into the distance.


    From the start, she had always been the fastest of the trio. She just lowered her speed so things could be a lot more ''fun''.


    But now that they were so close to the goal, there was no point in doing that anymore.


    She blitzed past the Demonic Hand members faster than they could even realise that something had passed by them.


    Ka reached Floor 100 first, with Evan and Greed trailing behind at even speeds.


    [Big sis!]


    [I know.]


    Artemisa replied as she used Ka as a conduit to exert her influence on Aidos subtly, making the monsters of the 99th floor go mad and opening the closed Boss Room doors that were right in front of the spirit.


    The instant they opened, Ka dashed inside, stopping right in the middle before turning around and fist-pumping.


    [Haha! I won!!]


    The people inside the Boss Room were all dumbfounded upon her sudden appearance, when the rest of the party dashed into the Boss Room at sonic speed, with the doors closing behind them.


    [To celebrate, an Ark sh!]


    Ka injected the skill activation into her words, creating multiplepressed balls of static energy and releasing condensed lightning beams that grounded down on the foreheads of the five Senior Members present.


    The lightning came too fast for them to even react, piercing their skulls and sting their brains to bits in one go.


    Five corpses dropped to the ground a secondter, all wearing the same dumbfounded expression.


    [I''m so going to level up!]


    It was then that she finally turned around to take in the sight of the Boss Room around her.


    The room was spacious, if anything. In fact, Ka felt that there was far too much space.


    Its walls are lined with dark, glistening scales that seem to have grown out of the very stone itself, giving the room an eerie and otherworldly appearance.


    In the centre, there was a raised circr tform, made intricately of carved stone, resembling an ancient altar.


    She ignored the entities on that altar for now and turned around to look at the massive arched ceiling with sharp stctites hanging menacingly overhead, and the embedded gemstones in the ceiling served as the room''s source of light.


    ''Shiny.''


    After admiring the other parts of the room, she then returned her focus to the altar in the middle, where a giant spherical cocoon about five metres wide in diameter stood.


    There was an intricate spell formation with multiple four-ringed magic circles underneath it, all connected with strange tentacle-like things that pulsed with energy.


    The cocoon was almost transparent, and within it, she could see a towering reptilian figure with gleaming red scales atop it. A rough estimate of its height put it at least two metres tall, and a spear even longer than that was floating in the cocoon, not too far from its hands.


    Swirling around the creature''s body was a vortex of elemental energy, crackling with power that emanated an oppressive pressure to the surroundings.


    Beside this cocoon, and with her hands ced on the magic circle formation on the floor, was a hazel-eyed and chestnut-haired woman. Her finely chiselled facial features were marked by an expression of slight confusion, but even so, there was an obvious wariness mixed with traces of annoyance in her eyes.


    She donned abat body suit in sleek ck, ented with silver detailing. A utility beltden with multiple magic tools was wrapped around her waist, and two sections of a staff holstered at her hip for swift ess.


    Her eyes scanned the people who just suddenly appeared in the room, her expression darkening as she saw they were all faces that she recognized.


    People she had been ordered to kill on sight.


    They all seemed to be looking around at the Boss Room, however, one of them had his eyes locked onto her, and the moment she met eyes with him, he broke into a bright smile and waved.


    "Hi, Maude."


    The boy vanished from his position, reappearing less than a metre away from her with a sword coated in a reddish gold aura raised overhead.


    Despite the fact that he had a smile that could make women swoon on his handsome face, the pressure he emanated was one that shook her down to her soul''s core.


    Synchronous with him swinging his de down towards her neck, his lips parted to voice two words.


    "Bye, Maude."

 Chapter 589 Bad day at work for Maude I

    <h4>Chapter 589 Bad day at work for Maude I</h4>


    It all happened so suddenly.


    One moment, her mind was focused on how she was going to deal with the spell formation she was using to funnel pure ''power'' into the Lizard Lord, and the next, a small girl who looked to be in her early teens suddenly appeared and killed the five Subordinates she had on guard in an instant.


    When she turned around and scanned all the people who appeared in the room, a wave of shock hit her as she recognized every single one of them.


    It was then that she locked eyes with him.


    In that short moment, various thoughts ran through her head.


    ''Evan Eris?! That''s him, isn''t it?! How is he here?! The Dungeon''s Layout is different! Even we would have gotten lost if the Boss didn''t lead us.


    More importantly, how did he get past all the toons scattered across the past five floors?!


    Damn it, I can''t leave the spell formation now or it might fail!''


    "Hi, Maude."


    When she heard him call out her name, a different set of thoughts ran through her mind.


    ''I have an appraisal blocking artifact on me! Unless��he knew about me before-!!''


    These thoughts were cut short when the boy sudden appeared in front of her, emanating a totally different pressure from before.


    Her soul trembled in fear, gripped by a suffocating sense of dread.


    "Bye, Maude."


    He spoke with a smile on his face, her senses picking up on a skill''s activation as he swung the sword down towards her neck.


    ''Drh!!''


    **SWISHHH!!! ***CLAANNGGG!!!!!


    The sword bearing down on her neck was suddenly blocked by another de that appeared at thest second, it''s wielder being a grey skinned winged humanoid spread out her wings as if to shield Maude body whilst her hands struggled to push away the grey eyed boy''s de.


    It did not take her half a second to realise she could not block the attack, and she quickly made the decision to parry the de.


    She angled her own sword and tried to take advantage of the power behind the boy''s attack to divert it towards the ground.


    But even so, the boy''s de did not go down so easily.


    The sword that slid down her de that had been titled towards the ground on her left brushed past her face by a centimetre, before going on to slice half her left ear off and carve out a piece of her shoulder.


    Only then, did it fall down to the ground, the force behind it causing shockwaves that knocked even its wielder back by a few metres.


    The woman, Drh, was also nearly sent flying, but she used a skill to keep her feet on the ground, infusing her wings with energy to create a shield to protect the other woman behind her.


    Despite the paining from her ear and shoulder, she gritted his teeth and kept her eyes locked onto the boy who had just attacked, not intending to let him out of sight.


    Unfortunately, the boy had zero intentions of dealing with her.


    "Pride, if you please?"


    The instant she heard those words, a knee mmed into the right side of her head, coincidentally on that other ear.


    A cracking sound rang out as blood sprouted from the woman''s skull, all in the same moment that her whole body was violently sent flying to the side.


    **BOOM!!!


    She mmed onto the wall of the Boss Room headfirst, with more than enough force to shake her brain around in her skull.


    Her vision momentarily went white, and she could swear he saw his grandparents calling for her on the ''other side''.


    With Drh out of the way, Maude was now at a crossroads.


    There was an 80 percent chance of failure if she broke out of the spell formation right now, but on the other hand, if she didn''t, she was sure that Evan''s next attack was definitely not going to end well for her.


    ''His power��! It suddenly multiplied! It''s just as Domnik''sst report said! But even with that, it should not have been enough for him to get past all the Senior Members I left outside the Boss Roo��Wait! He''s an Irregrmon sense would not work on him!''


    Coming to that conclusion in an instant, Maude drew upon her magic power and released a surge of the energy into the spell formation her hands were on, shattering the illusionary restraints around her arms and freeing them.


    This action caused a small energy burst that kept Evan away for another second, enough time for Maudes''s now free hands to reach for the staves on her waist.


    Her right hand moved and grabbed the one on her left side, infusing it with aura and turning the very action of drawing it into a sh attack aimed at Evan who closed the distance.


    "I don''t think breaking from the spell was a good idea, you know?"


    The boy bent his upper body backwards to avoid the staff that grew longer with the intention of smacking him in the face, but Maude wasn''t done yet.


    Her left hand grabbed onto the second staff on her right, coating it in her aura and swinging it at the boy whose form was currently imbnced, aiming for his knees.


    But much to her momentary surprise, he suddenly threw a backflip and avoided the staff before it could get within a dangerous range,nding not too far and pulling his sword back in preparation of a thrust.


    His stance, his grip on the de and the energy in his sword, everything indicated he was about to unleash a thrusting attack.


    Unfortunately, our resident hero was a fan of the saying ''Never let them know your next move''.


    Just as he pulled his sword back, his entire body suddenly disappeared, reappearing beside Maude''s still outstretched left arm and grabbing onto it.


    His sword, was nowhere to be seen.


    Evan turned to his back and with his grip marked tight on Maude''s arm, pulled the woman''s body over his shoulder and mmed her onto the unforgiving ground in front of him.


    **BAAAMMM!!!


    "Gak!!"


    A small crater formed on the sturdy magic reinforced floor as Maude''s body mmed onto it with so much force it bounced back up.


    Following up, Evan spun his body around to generate momentum, infused magic power into his legs and then delivered a roundhouse kick straight to Maude''s torso��all in on fluid movement.


    The Demonic Hand Executive''s body drew a parabolic arc through the air, crashing down more than a hundred metres away and rag dolling for a couple dozen more beforeing to a stop, seemingly unconscious.


    Despite all this, Maude was still able to keep her grip on her weapons strong, something that made Evan a bit impressed.


    But as someone who knew about Maude from the game, Evan knew he could not allow himself to be hit by the woman under any circumstances.


    ''My Destruction Aura might negate her skill''s effects, but better safe than sorry.''


    With that thought, he resummoned the Unforged and blinked right beside her, swinging down the de towards her neck with full force.


    However��


    **CLANGG!!


    ��the weapon harmlessly bounced off her neck, and the sensation transmitted to his hand made him feel like he had just tried striking an immovable rock.


    Evan knew the reason why this happened, and the fact that it did, meant that Maude was fully conscious, unlike how she appeared to be.


    His Danger Sense hadn''t even sent out the warning when he quickly jumped up to avoid the sweeping sh to his legs, something so casual that it would have barely even dealt damage to him.


    But his Danger Sense still activated.


    Evan quickly activated a skill, generating a ck portal with reddish gold lining in the air above her body. He then swung his free hand down and released a beam of aura aiming straight towards the Demonic Human.


    She tried to roll away, but her shadow came alive and hugged her to the ground, keeping her in ce long enough for the beam to hit.


    **BOOOMMM!!!!!


    The young hero jumped backwards to be out of the ensuing explosion''s range,nding beside Eliza and Ka as he whispered.


    "Liz, can you give me your best Status Effect Resistance buff? The fact that my danger sense skill still sent an rm in my BoD state means that her skill can still work on me.


    Ka, you be on standby for now."


    The dust of the explosion cleared up, revealing the standing figure of the Demonic Human, but despite having taken a direct hit from Vindiction''s Strike, she appeared unharmed.


    While deactivating BoD, Evan locked eyes with the woman, ignoring the rage in her eyes as he appraised her.


    |Name- Maude Gtryd


    Race- Demonic Human


    Gender- Female


    Age- 29(68)


    Level- 470 (504)


    Existence Level - Grandmaster [Superior] (Epic)


    Titles- Ninth Finger of the Demonic Hand, Member of Blend''s National Parliament, COO of Thunder Mining Group, Demonic Stoneheart, Earthshaper Enchantress.


    ss- Earthshaper Mage


    Health�C S+


    Energy- S+


    Strength�C S


    Agility�C S


    Durability�C S-


    Intelligence- S+


    Condition- Shocked, Annoyed.


    Magic Tiers- Earth Tier 4, Life Tier 2, Wind Tier 1.


    Skills- Hypercognition, Polearm Mastery(E), Telekinesis, Earth Magic(E), Stone Skin, Earthquake Strike, Seismic Wave.


    Unique Skills- Stoneheart''s Embrace. |

 Chapter 590 Bad day at work for Maude II

    <h4>Chapter 590 Bad day at work for Maude II</h4>


    Unique Skill: Stoneheart''s Embrace.


    It was a skill Evan would definitely want to get if he had skill slots avable right now.


    |Stoneheart''s Embrace;


    Type: Unique Skill


    Effect;


    With a weapon as a conduit, contact with the user''s opponent channels the essence of earth into the target, initiating a gradual petrification process.


    The severity of the petrification depends on the duration of contact, with longer exposure leading to more extensive petrification.


    This skill can immobilize the user''s opponents, rendering parts of their body into stone, significantly incapacitating them and leading to their eventual petrification. |


    Because of this skill, Evan could not afford to get hit by Maude''s attacks.


    ''Still, BoD infuses me with the essence of the World Law of Destruction. It should be able to ''destroy'' the petrification effect��unless��''


    [The ''goddess Artemisia'' states that the essence of the Earth elemental World Law is involved, though the user is unaware of this.


    The Level difference between you two makes it such that it can still affect you, but due to your BoD skill, it would only be at 30-40% effectiveness.]


    ''So, BoD takes out a whole 60% of the petrification? That''s nice.''


    A thinyer of green light washed over the boy''s body, courtesy of Eliza''s support magic cast with the aid of the Radiant Codex.


    With that spell taken into ount, only 10% of the petrification could work on Evan if he used BoD.


    As for Maude, the woman instantly figured that Evan had asked Eliza to cast some sort of buff on him.


    ''Could it be��he knows my skill? Also, where''s that lightning spirit of his? I can see the cat in the girl''s hands is the shadow one, but I can''t tell where the other one is.


    That strange feeling from his is also gone, along with his power boost��''


    She silently joined the two short staves together, returning them to their original form as on long staff and silently took a stance.


    Her thought momentarily went to her contracted demon who was barely holding her own against thebined attacks of the Demons of pride and greed, but as if Evan sensed that momentarypse, he dashed towards her in that same instant.


    The boy held his sword at his side, infusing it with his aura before sending out an aura sh while Maude activated basic wind magic to boost her speed, allowing her own sh to reach Evan before his reached her.


    Evan bent his head to the side to avoid the staff sh, but Maude flipped the staff and sent out a follow up sh, preventing him from getting in an attack as he used his sword to block.


    She quickly pulled the weapon back and the sent out an upper sh which he dodged by twisting his upper body, and once again she chained in a low sh to his legs and forced him to jump back to avoid.


    Without hesitation, she mmed the staff onto the ground and activated her Seismic Strike skill.


    The ground shook violently, making it hard for anyone in the room to maintain their footing, before sending shockwaves radiating from her position.


    Even after her staff had left the ground, residual tremors still continued to affect the boss room.


    But as the skill''s activator, Maude was immune to the effect of these waves, hence the reason she was able to charge back at Evan with breakneck speed.


    She got into range, swinging her staff diagonally upwards, attempting a strike towards the hero''s upper body. Simultaneously, five earthen projectiles manifested on his other side, before stabbing towards him faster than her staff''s movement speed.


    Caught between the two attacks, Evan just silently activated Elemental Shield and set the element to Earth, with the end result being the two attacks bouncing off harmlessly.


    Immediately after, he tightened his grip on his sword and spun around, sending out a massive sh of gold aura that forced Maude to reactivate her stone skin whilst jumping backwards.


    She even erected multiple earthen walls to dampen the effect of the attack, but Evan''s sh bashed through them all with ease and reached her, mming into her body and sending her flying.


    ''de Cannon.''


    The boy did not let up, swinging his sword twice and sending nearly a dozen fist sized aura bullets at her, each one apanied by a sh of his golden aura.


    ''Rising Ground!''


    She mmed her palm onto the ground and activated a spell, summoning a towering earth pir from beneath her. It propelled her upwards, effectively avoiding the onught of the de cannon.


    ''Earthen Rain.''


    An array of multiple earthen projectiles manifested in the air beforeunching towards Evan at sonic speed, prompting the boy to dart around on the ground to evade them.


    Each one of them exploded on contact with the ground, giving rise to billowing clouds of dust and debris.


    ''Heavy Armoured Guard.''


    The ground cracked open and the upper body of a massive warrior-like golem of stone burst out from within, brandishing a gigantic great sword.


    It executed a mighty full powered sh aimed at Evan, but the sh was intercepted mid-air by a translucent barrier of magic power.


    ''That''s right��she''s there as well. The ''Child of Life'' skill holder.''


    Maude and Eliza momentarily locked eyes, but Eliza only smiled and spoke.


    "You shouldn''t focus on me too much, you know?"


    Her voice was amplified with magic, making Maude who was dozens of metres in the air hear her clearly. The statement made the Demonic Human realise that Evan who she had been fighting, was nowhere to be seen anymore.


    She could not see him, nor could she sense him within the clouds of dust on the ground.


    ''Where-?!''


    Her senses picked up on the threatening sensation the essence of destruction gave her at thest moment, and she turned around, swinging her staff to block the upward arcing sh of the hero''s sword.


    ''Frostde sh.''


    But she wasn''t fast enough.


    Evan ''materialised'' behind her and unleashed a razor-sharp icy crescent of energy that sliced through the air, colliding with her side and knocking her off the pir of earth she was on.


    The frostde unleashed its numbing power and enveloped her in a shroud of biting cold that not only dealt damage but hindered movement and dexterity.


    But thanks to her Stone Skin skill, it was only the movement impediment she had to worry about.


    ''Ka.''


    [You finally remembered I was here.]


    The Lightning spirit spoke sulkily as she manifested on Evan''s shoulder with her right hand outstretched. Simultaneously, Evan stretched out his left hand with a bit of a wry smile on his face as the both of them sent out spears of Fire and Lightning towards Maude.


    Both spears tore through the air and towards Maude, about to hit the woman when she mmed her fist on the ground and conjured a wall of earth to defend.


    She also tried sending amand to the Earth Golem to attack Evan from behind, but said golem was suddenly destroyed by three super condensed beams of energy.


    Evan and Ka''s spells reached, impacting with the earthen barrier and bursting into trails of lighting and mes that advanced around the barrier and collided together right in front of Maude''s face.


    **BOOMM!!!


    The ensuing explosion sted the barrier to bits, sending stone fragments flying towards Evan, but the boy simply swatted them away and high fived Ka.


    With his feetnding on a void step, he rose his other hand up and conjured a massive spike of ice,unching it towards where Maude had fallen but the spike suddenly stopped mid-flight, shaking as if it had been met with an invisible barrier.


    He tried forcing it forward but the resistance persisted, and just before he could use wind to clear away the smoke and see what was stopping it, he noticed that the stone fragments from the explosion that he had swatted away, were still hovering in the air.


    ''Telekinesis!''


    The instant he came to that conclusion, the fragments all morphed into tiny earthen daggers andunched towards him at sonic speed, but Evan simply created an earthen elemental shield to block them.


    As for the person telekically controlling them, Ka used a skill to conjure a giant fist made of lightning blocks and threw it at them through the smoke at the speed of the element it was made of.


    The fist struck Maude''s nk, hurtling her body towards the adjacent wall.


    Her body violently crashed onto the Boss Room''s reinforced wall, with enough power to shatter her stone skin and expose her actual flesh.


    Before she could recast the skill, Eliza unleashed a concentrated beam of magic power that hit her right in the chest, making her cough out blood.


    **CRACK!


    The sound of something entered Evan''s ears, with the boy''s gaze turning towards the cocoon atop the altar where Maude was when they entered.


    "The Lizard Lord is waking up already? Then ytime''s over."


    With those words, the boy activated three of his unique skills, BoD, Mesarthim, and Harbinger of Ice (HoI) simultaneously, drawing his sword andyering their energies on the de.


    "Elemental Destruction Fusion."

 Chapter 591 Worst Day at Work for Maude

    <h4>Chapter 591 Worst Day at Work for Maude</h4>


    "Elemental Destruction Fusion."


    His void step vanished, making his body sumb to gravity''s pull and drop down to the ground.


    But the instant his feet touched the floor, he dashed forward, leaving a small crater in the earth as he appeared in front of Maude and delivered a straight horizontal sh.


    She tried to use a telekic barrier to slow his attack, perhaps block it, but Evan''s destruction aura nullified that attempt, forcing her to bend her upper body backwards to avoid the sh.


    Unfortunately, the tip of Evan''s sword, coated in Mesarthim''s mes touched the tip of her nose.


    "AAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"


    Maude''s piercing wail rang out as the prismatic-hot mes, mixed with the icy cold and the essence of destruction that bypassed durability alltched onto the upper part of her face.


    From the corner of his eyes, Evan saw the scene of Pride mming Drh''s head into the ground, using enough power that the floor cratered.


    She then stomped her boot on the other demon''s head and activated her white me skill, gracing all their ears with another agonized scream of the pain that came with one''s head being set aze.


    Drh tried moving her hands tounch a spell towards Pride, but the high demon only snorted and spoke.


    "Did I give you permission to use magic?"


    Her jet-ck de coated in those holy looking white mes sliced Drh''s hand off her wrist with the ease of a knife cutting through butter.


    Back on Evan''s end, Maude stomped her foot onto the ground and the nearby earth around her feet was split into boulders of various sizes, which were lifted into the air and sent flying at Evan with great force and speed.


    Her left hand was held over her face, using her life magic to try and heal the wound Evan had inflicted on her with his mes to no avail.


    Evan struck down the first boulder with his sword, but it exploded on contact, unleashing a huge terrestrial st he had to dodge with Blink.


    Maude moved her hands and telekically controlled the rocks to follow him, whilst using Seismic Strike to mess with his footing.


    However, Evan just teleported into the air, stood on a void step and used elemental weapon projection to shoot down all the boulders chasing him.


    "de Cannon." x3


    Maude jumped away to avoid the fist-sized aura bullets and their apanying shes, but that was precisely what Evan was aiming for.


    "Hollow Magic: Hollow Cannon."


    The woman''s eyes widened in shock when she heard the words Evan spoke. A part of her refused to believe that it was the same hollow magic she knew, but when she sensed the non-attributed magic power condensing into a swirling sphere right in front of Evan''s outstretched palm, that thought vanished like smoke.


    The timeg between him firing it and the spell reaching was almost non-existent, a devastating impact on the ground right beside her that sted it apart, sending her body hurtling through the air due to the resultant shockwaves.


    Dust, dirt and stone fragments swirled around in a distortion in the air where the cannon hit, but Maude could not pay attention to it because of what happened next.


    In her imbnced state from being knocked airborne by the explosion, Evan blinked right behind her and delivered a downward arcing sh, aiming right for her shoulder.


    **SWISH!!!


    "GAAHHKKK!!!"


    The Elemental Destruction Fusion on his sword seamlessly tore through her stone skin, prated her durability and sted apart her actual flesh, before going on to cut her bone with zero resistance; separating her left arm from the rest of her body.


    Evan then let go of his sword and grabbed the back of her neck, pivoting on his foot and mming her face down into the ground.


    **BAAMMM!!


    The ground cratered, and earthen chunks were sent flying into the air, along with her blood, yet Evan wasn''t done.


    "Burn."


    Maude screamed for the nth time today as the prismatic mes engulfed her head, incinerating her chestnut coloured hair and rending her skin underneath.


    He lifted her up and mmed her back onto the ground, after which he spun around and sent a fracture right into her chest, the electric explosion of energy breaking her rib bones and making her cough out blood and broken bone fragments.


    Evan deactivated his skill trio, picking Maude up by her head and facing her in the direction where Pride was, making sure she witnessed the sight of the High Demon beheading her contractor with her remaining good eye.


    Whilst he did this, he activated another skill, one he had taken from Suzanne earlierst year.


    ''Track Down.''


    The boy then flung Maude''s body aside like a discarded rag, casually walking up to his sword while the woman writhed in pain from the burns, her severed arm, shattered bones, and the death of her contractor.


    [Master, would It not be best for you to have finished her off?]


    Ka asked this question with a suspicious look on her face, as she felt that Evan was cutting back on his attacks, especially with Mesarthim''s mes.


    The young hero, however, only gave her a mischievous grin in reply, before picking up his sword and walking towards the fallen Maude in style.


    "To think I''ve be strong enough to kill a Demonic Hand executive. ''That person'' was right after all��"


    His words pulled on confused nces from all those present, but the young hero ignored their gazes and silently rose his sword overhead.


    It was then that his eyes caught onto a shiny object in Maude''s palm, widening in shock as he kicked off the ground and dashed towards her with BoD activated.


    However, the wounded Demonic Human activated her Seismic Wave skill, using the generated shockwaves to fling her own body into the air and further away from Evan.


    A secondter, Evan''s sword crashed down on the empty ground, sting a human sized hole in it, but Maude was already out of his attack''s effective range.


    She then crushed the crystal in her palm faster than he could pull the weapon out of the ground, causing a spatial light to wreathe her body and warp her out of the Boss Room.


    The moment after Maude vanished from the room, Evan deactivated his skills and took a deep breath before saying words no one expected to hear after he had let a Demonic Hand Executive escape.


    "She escaped. Good. All ording to n."


    He popped open a potion bottle and downed the contents in one gulp, belching lightly as he turned to look at the dumbfounded faces of hispanions.


    "��mind if I ask, what n exactly?"


    Pride dropped the hand she had held up at thest moment with the intention of interfering with Maude''s teleportation, but was stopped by Milena who had not taken any action since the start on Evan''s orders.


    "From the get go, I never had any intentions of killing Maude.


    Defeating her; yes, but not killing her.


    I intended to let her escape from the start, so I can find herter."


    "��what? Why?"


    Eliza who was still very confused asked, and Evan stretched his arms while replying.


    "The Demonic Hand has some bases that not in my Archive, meaning I don''t know where they are.


    One of said bases, is the Ninth Division''s HQ. I know it''s somewhere in the GEE, but I don''t know where exactly in the GEE it is.


    The one I know about is in Blend, but it''s just a normal base."


    In the game, Maude was not someone who had much screen time, so yers weren''t told much about the woman''s story, why she was with the Demonic Hand, and other rted stuff.


    When she was encountered inbat after being ousted as a Demonic Hand Executive in Blend, she tried to ''escape to the HQ'', but since the yer defeats her before she can escape, the ''HQ'' she spoke of is never exined.


    The Kasteblum Grand Mage who assists the yer in that battle only mentions how the coordinates in the teleportation stone seem tond somewhere around the GEE, but the stone was damaged so he could not get the exact ones.


    "So, I let her go to that HQ so I can track her downter when I''m much stronger and kill her there.


    The wounds I gave her would not let her be mobile for a while, so I''m sure she''d still be there by the time we''re done in this country.


    I also intend to wipe out every single Ninth Division member, the new Tenth Finger who''d most likely be in that HQ as well, and their new subordinates."


    He generated a map of the Alpha Continent with a light magic projection, pointing at a spot on it as he continued.


    "If Laurene attacks Franta City as nned, then the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Divisions of the Demonic Hand would be officially defunct.


    Three Divisions down, and Three Executives down.


    The ''World Formation'' the Demonic Hand is using to harness the blood of all those killed during the ''Disasters'' to break the rift on the Dark Continent would have lost 3 of its nodes, and would be 30% less efficient."

 Chapter 592 Time to address the ‘Lizard in the Room’

    Chapter 592 Time to address the ��Lizard in the Room��


    The boy revealed his true goal of letting Maude escape, something he nned with Laurene before they left the GWE. His words also spoke of one of the reasons why the Demonic Hand''s executives were very important.


    Like the Nodes Kethryllia had ced around Lacertilia, the Executives themselves were also Nodes for something on a muchrger scale.


    [How are you going to find her?]


    "My ''Track Down'' skill."


    He replied towards Ka''s question, before cing a hand on his chin and sinking into his thoughts.


    "If I want to kill her the way I want, I''d need your help, Ka. Body Transformation."


    [...okay��?]


    The spirit didn''t really understand what he needed her for, but she just agreed either way since it was going to end up with a Demonic Hand Executive dying.


    "Anyway, I know you have more questions."


    *CRACK!


    "But they''re going to have to wait forter."


    **CRACK!!!


    Evan turned around, towards the cocoon on the altar as he concluded.


    "It''s high time we addressed the lizard in the room."


    The Lizard Lord who had been unconscious earlier, now had its eyes wide open and its vertical slit pupils were looking right at them.


    **BOOM!!!


    The Cocoon burst open with a small explosion, sending out shockwaves that pushed them all back towards the Boss Room walls.


    The long ck spear, about 2.5m in length, hurtled through the air andnded perfectly in its outstretched hand.


    As its feet touched down on the ground, the earth seemed to quiver beneath itsnding.


    A pair of yellow slit eyes scanned the entire room, narrowing in displeasure when the people they saw were not the ones they wanted to see.


    [ROAAARRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!]


    With a deafening roar, the monster unleashed a burst of dense magic and formidable aura, making the air vibrate with its presence.


    Evan tightened his grip on his sword, with a strained look that carried traces of excitement on his face.


    "Brace yourself, guys. This one''s a ''Raid Boss''."


    As he spoke, his Full Appraisal was activated, scanning both the monster and its weapons for any discrepancies between what he knew and what he was seeing.


    |Name- Bhak Azut


    Race- Elder Lizardman


    Gender- Male


    Age- 53


    Level- 485(583)


    Existence Level - Grandmaster [Superior] (Epic)


    Titles- Lizard Lord, Final Boss of the ''Lair of the Lizard Lord'', Undefeated Boss Monster, Ascendant, Abyssal Spear, Infernal Lizard Ruler.


    ss- Scaled Pyro Lord.


    Health�C SS-


    Energy- S+


    Strength�C SS-


    Agility�C S+


    Durability�C S+


    Intelligence- S+


    Condition- Devolving, Weakened.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 4, Poison Tier 4, Earth Tier 4, Darkness Tier 3, Space Tier 1.


    Skills- Spear Mastery(E), Venomous Strike, Earthquake m, Primal Roar, Summon Household, Tenacity, Scalebound Ward, Inferno Aura, Outburst, Scorched Earth, Pyrostic Leap, ����l???????????????????????l????????????????????????????????????????k????????????????s??????????????????????????������.


    Unique Skills-Serpent''s Dominion, zing Meteor Strike, ����������????????????????u?????????????????????q????????????????????????i???????????????n?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????. |


    The Lizard Lord''s title of ''Undefeated Boss Monster'' was one of the reasons why the Demonic Hand had chosen it for their ns.


    As for how long it had remained ''Undefeated''; the number in the Age tab was enough of an answer.


    Ever since it was born, it had never lost a battle with dungeon divers and had always won by any means, a streak it carried on with even after bing the Dungeon''s final boss.


    It had also gained a lot of skills in the process, but due to its reduced level, some of them were currently unavable��a good thing for Evan and his party.


    He made sure the Status was visible for hispanions so they could also see what they were up against, and most of them, especially Eliza had their expressions darken.


    "SS- Health stat and the Tenacity skill?! Seriously?!"


    "I didn''t call it a ''Raid Boss'' for no reason, you know? But besides��"


    Evan nced at the creature''s original level and his lips twisted into a wry smile as he spoke.


    "Artemisia, you really did this guy dirty. From being as strong as Craitid, to��this."


    [The ''goddess Artemisia'' questions if you would like to take on the Full Powered Lizard Lord. She states it would only require a few minutes to re-evolve it back to full power.]


    "No, thank you."


    He swiftly rejected that offer from the depths of hell as Eliza infused her energy into the Radiant Codex and cast buffs on all of them.


    She used buffs that had shorter durations, and greater explosive power. This meant she had to recast the buffs every now and then, but it was not something she could not handle.


    Evan noticed this as he roused his magic power, rapidly circting it through his destructive energy circuit.


    ''I''d put off activating BoD for now��''


    Such a thought passed through his mind as he activated his Hero Skill, making his Mystic Eyes light up with a golden glow.


    He had just decided to use them on some of the Monster''s techniques when the beast''s mouth opened up.


    [A Human boy��ck hair, grey and golden eyes. Also apanied by a Lightning Spirit.


    You''re the one they were discussing��the nuisance who liked interfering with their ns.]


    Evan''s eyebrows lifted in mild surprise as he listened to the words of the Lizard Lord, Bhak.


    "You know me?"


    But in response, Bhak twirled it''s long spear around its wed fingers and mmed the butt of the weapon on the ground before speaking.


    [I''m going to kill you.]


    Without hesitation, it infused the spear with dense fiery magic power and threw it like a Javelin straight towards Evan.


    "Yeah, nope."


    The boy didn''t even think about countering or blocking it, quickly jumping out of the way to avoid getting hit, as did his party members as they knew attacks like that were usually apanied byrge ''fireworks''.


    **BOOMM!!


    A resounding explosion shook the surroundings, the deafening boom echoing through the air like a powerful st.


    Pride and Greed''s figures burst out from the smoke, about to dash towards the Lizard Lord, but they saw that the monster was not on the altar where it had been anymore.


    A quick aura scan showed it right beside the spear it had thrown, pulling it out from the ground before kicking off the ground and beelining straight for Evan.


    Pivoting on its foot, Bhak shed down with the spear towards the hero, something that made the boy frown as he raised his sword arm and spoke.


    "Don''t misunderstand Lizard, I didn''t dodge your first strike because I could not deal with it"


    The Unforged was engulfed in his golden aura, leaving trails of light in the air as it moved faster than the eye could see and shed with the Bhak''s spear, much to the Lizard''s shock.


    But then again, considering Evan''s 32.5% Stat boost, 130% stat effectiveness, and 12.5% increase in everything he did with a Sword, it wasn''t too strange he could block the Boss Monster''s strike.


    As the ground beneath their feet cratered from the shockwaves unleashed by their sh, Evan put more strength into his arms and asked.


    "Why so surprised?"


    Evan took a step forward and released a burst of aura through his sword, knocking the Lizard''s massive frame backwards.


    "Didn''t you hear them call me a ''Nuisance''?"


    The golden aura around his de transformed, gaining six more hues of various colours, before lighting up with a bright prismatic glow.


    "I''d show you exactly why they said that."


    Immediately he said that, Evan kicked off the ground and dashed towards the Lizardman from the front, with Pride and Greeding in from either side with their weaponsyered with their auras.


    Though initially taken aback, Bhak met thebined assault of the three without much pressure.


    The ck spear in its hand was encased in aura, extending its length by another metre. Bhak then held out the spear diagonally, angling the bottom end inward.


    With this configuration, he managed to intercept Evan''s downward-arching sh using the centre of the spear, blocked Pride''s upward-arching strike with the lower end, and directed the upper end toward the ceiling to handle Greed''s attack.


    It was a strategic manoeuvre that effectively parried theirbined assault.


    But thebined force behind the trio''s attacks was great, enough that the Lizard Lord''s feetpletely sank into the ground as it blocked the attacks.


    What''s more, Bhak had a hard time fighting Evan''s prismatic mes with its own fiery aura, clicking its tongue internally upon noticing the true nature of the boy''s mes.


    ''Esoteric mes��this is going to be tricky. More often than not, Esoteric type mes are usually stronger than normal ones, even if the user of the normal mes has a higher attunement to the element.''


    As it thought that, Bhak rose its right foot and stomped down on the ground, generating a shockwave to push them back a few metres.


    Following up in the same breath, it twirled its spear around and retracted part of the energy within it, reducing its length before charging towards Evan and sending out a fierce thrust.


    Evan held up his left palm and caught the Lizard Lord''s spear when it was merely a few inches away from its face, but the moment he did that, the spear''s tip turned an eerie green colour and a mist with a simr hue burst out from it.


    Strange liquid with a sizzling sound poured out and drenched his palm, however, the young hero only tightened his grip and pulled the spear towards him, pulling the Lizard Lord''s body along as he shouted.


    "Poison doesn''t work on me, Lizard!"

 Chapter 593 Addressing the ‘Lizard in the Room’ I

    Chapter 593 Addressing the ��Lizard in the Room�� I


    "Poison doesn''t work on me, Lizard!"


    His words were apanied by an aura-filled sh towards the Lizardman''s left side, striking its torso unimpeded and sending its body hurtling through the air.


    But despitending a sessful attack, Evan frowned lightly as he had caught onto what the monster did at thest moment before his de hit.


    ''Scales of Resilience...''


    Meanwhile, the Lizardman was trying to regain its bnce mid-air, however, Evan, Pride and Greed were not the only ones in the room, they had otherpanions who had been waiting for an opportunity to join the battle.


    "Flower Cannon!"


    A beam of concentrated magic power tore through the air and crashed onto the Lizardman''s torso piercing through the energy coat around its body and hitting its flesh directly.


    "Elemental Damage Breach: Positive. Resistance Negation: Lightning and mes. Life Ice: Soulchill."


    Eliza released a trio of debuffs in one breath, half a second before a rose of golden mes bloomed on the exposed torso of the monster.


    [Fracture!]


    Ka''s fist barrelled down onto the monster''s body, hitting it at the exact same moment the lightning phase of her Electrome skill hit, resulting in an exponential increase in damage due as the energies shed back.


    Her punch changed the trajectory of its body''s flight, also stunning it lightly due to the influx of lightning into its body.


    Taking advantage of the residual lightning energy still snaking around its body, Milena activated her unique skill, causing a small match-sized blue me to light up in front of the monster.


    [Hydrome Ignition.]


    **BOOOMMM!!!!


    The oxyhydrogen explosion caused a violent burst of energy, igniting further with the residual lightning tendrils and triggering a second, even more, massive explosion that sent the creature to the ground in an instant, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake.


    Arge shadow was suddenly cast over the entire area, the cause being the massive great sword-wielding humanoid avatar of red greed energy that manifested its upper body with its sword raised overhead.


    Without hesitation, the avatar swung the weapon downwards, straight to where the Lizard Lord had crashed down.


    Splinters of shattered earth were sent flying as the sword smashed into the ground, however, the owner of the avatar frowned due to theck of feedback he received.


    Just as he considered attacking again, a figure burst out of the smoke and mes, moving away from the party at near-sonic speed. With their superior kic visions, they were able to see its appearance as the near unscathed Lizard Lord, jumping backwards andnding simultaneously with its skill''s activation.


    The butt of the spear it wielded mmed into the ground, sending magic power through it as the earth quaked and fractured, sending shockwaves rippling through the terrain.


    Cracks spread out on the surface of the shattering ground, and rocks and debris were sent flying in all directions, turning a section of the boss room into a brokenndscape.


    It was as if Evan had used his Copse Skill on the area.


    The young hero jumped into the air and created a void step,nding atop it whilst Eliza did the same with her divergent ward.


    As for Greed, the high demon silently shifted his shoulders, releasing a pair of bat-like wings from his back and taking to the skies where the spirits already were.


    Like other demons, Greed had a pair of wings that he could use for flight, and so did his sister, Pride.


    However, instead of taking to the skies, Pride chose a more, ''Pride-like'' way to handle the rapidly spreading terrain destruction.


    Streams of her ck aura silently escaped her arms and swirled into her sword, after which she finally turned her blood-red eyes in the direction of the iing earthquake.


    And then, a scene that sent ripples of surprise through both her enemy and her allies happened.


    The moment the wave of terrain destruction reached her, it stilled.


    What''s more, as she kicked off the ground and dashed forward, the previously ruptured earth mended itself in front of her, paving a smooth path for her to reach the Lizard Lord without issues.


    Seeing that she had somehow forcefully cancelled its skill, Bhak pulled out the spear from the ground and infused it with aura, before charging forward and executing a fierce thrust towards the woman.


    However, Pride easily dodged to the side and sent her sword thrusting towards Bhak''s stomach, a strike it deflected by spinning its spear and shing inwards.


    Pride pulled back her weapon and struck out once more, aiming towards the part of its torso where Ka''s earlier attack had left a mark.


    It tried to step aside to dodge, but Pride followed its movements tightly and continued to attack. Bhak sent out a sonic speed swing towards Pride, one she dodged with a timed duck, before dashing into its range and striking it in the shoulder.


    The force knocked the monster''s body backwards and its feet dragged through the ground, but even so, it kept its eyes on its demon opponent, a decision that proved to be wise after seeing her next actions.


    ''Aura of Pride: Gale Sword.''


    She controlled the formless wind and generated a whirlwind with enough suction force to pull the Lizard Lord''s body towards her, nearly knocking it off bnce if it didn''t use magic to keep its feet nted onto the ground.


    Since it didn''te into striking range, Pride used the wind to propel herself into its range before delivering a precise sh that cleaved through the air with incredible speed, striking the Lizard''s torso with precision.


    As the de connected, the swirling wind shredded away the protective aura surrounding its scales with ease and then went on to carve the surface of the scales off.


    "Hmm? I misjudged the power output. Oh well, it would not happen again."


    ''Pride Embodiment: Maximum Output.''


    An eerie light shed through her eyes, a simr scene manifesting on her arms as lines of ck light spreading like veins momentarily surfaced on her skin.


    Immediately, Pride activated Gale Sword once more, ignoring the Lizard Lord''s ck spear bearing down on her neck. She only gave the weapon a sideways nce before using the swirling wind to st the monster''s body away.


    Mid-flight, she then reversed the wind, using the suction force to pull its body towards her once more.


    The red lines on her de seemed to shine brighter as she struck, her hand blurring due to the sheer speed of her attack.


    Bhak saw her hand move, and in the next second, it saw eight projected shes of ck aura tearing through the air towards it.


    ''?!''


    It tried countering, but for some reason, its reactions were dyed by a force it could notprehend.


    ''Shit��Scalebound Ward!''


    The eight shes mmed into the shimmering magical barrier of scales that manifested in front of it, tearing through it and then the Lizard Lord''s actual scales underneath.


    A crimson spectacle unfurled before all eyes present as Pride''s attacks cleaved into the monster''s flesh underneath its scales.


    For a moment, the ''sshing blood'' obscured its vision, and when it passed, Pride''s figure was nowhere to be seen.


    Bhak''s senses screamed at it, and it quickly rose both its gaze and spear upwards, catching the sight of the demon delivering a multitude of shes in a somersaulting motion.


    Its eyes glowed as it swung its spear rapidly, blocking each of the shes the demon sent its way until gravity''s hold pulled her back to the ground.


    What followed was a high-speed sh of sword and spear, one that made the lizard lord painfully aware of one simple fact.


    It was good with a spear, but Pride was better with a sword.


    Bhak performed a swift circr sh to block one of Pride''s aura shes, before spinning his body to the side a bit and employing its long muscr tail to deliver a wide, sweeping tail swipe at her feet.


    Sadly, the demon expected something like that the instant she saw its body move, jumping up lightly to avoid it.


    She then stomped down on the monster''s tail to hold its body in that position, while her hands infused her sword in aura and delivered an upwards diagonal sh.


    Bhak deftly twisted its upper body to evade her attack, then fixed her with narrowed eyes, unleashing a thunderous, earth-shaking bellow.


    [ROAAARRRRRRR!!]


    Pride''s body momentarily stiffened when the sound waves from the roar jolted through her body, providing the Lizard Lord with an opportunity


    The monster reacted swiftly by gathering chunks of the shattered earth under its feet towards its fist which it clenched, reforged the rocks into a gauntlet that covered its arm and infused the construct with its potent aura.


    Immediately Pride broke out of the light stun effect the roar had, the monster snapped back into bnce and threw a punch straight toward her, knocking her off its tail and into the air.


    Not even a secondter, a great sword shed down on its still outstretched arm before It could pull it back, forcing it to make the split-second decision of stabbing the t side of the de trying to cut its arm off with the tip of its spear, and using the full might of its SS- strength stat to redirect the trajectory of the sword.


    Even so, the de still scraped off a good number of scales off its arm, exposing the flesh underneath.

 Chapter 594 Addressing the ‘Lizard in the Room’ II

    <h4>Chapter 594 Addressing the ��Lizard in the Room�� II</h4>


    Bhak pulled back the spear and flipped it, preparing to deliver a full-powered sh towards this assant, however, it was now hit by a sudden wave of weakness that made it stagger slightly.


    Its strength and speed were sucked from its body, and it temporarily lost its bnce, while Greed used Mammonas to meet its iing sh and deflect it without issue.


    Following up, Greed thrust out his sword, aimed towards the monster''s torso and released a focused st of aura that knocked it backwards by a dozen metres.


    The Lizard Lord''s legs dug through the ground as it slid backwards, only stopping after it anchored its spear into the ground to kill its momentum.


    However, after it stabbed the spear into the ground, it could not pull it back out, and neither could it move its legs that had dug into the earth.


    To add to this, its strength continued to wane.


    A ck portal rimmed with golden energy manifested less than a dozen metres in front of it, and beside that portal, a gigantic flower shoot emerged from the earth, its petals opening to unleash a beam of concentrated magic power towards it.


    Simultaneously, the portal vomited a stream of golden lightning-attributed energy, the two mming into the Lizardman who had been rendered immobile by its own shadow.


    ***BOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!


    The Lizard Lord''s body was rocked by the twobined energy beams and tossed violently into the air before crashing down and rag-dolling on the ground.


    In one short moment when its body bounced back up into the air, a rose of mes bloomed on its chest, apanied by the lightning-fast fist of a certain Lightning spirit that knocked its body into the ground forming a massive crater around where itnded


    Right after, a ming fist-shaped construct dropped from the sky, crashing onto its body and further driving it deeper into the ground.


    "Life Energy Draining Prison."


    Eliza activated her skill, forming a do-decagonal prison of green light that devoured its health values. Greed also switched up the stat he was absorbing, leaving its speed alone and concentrating more of his power on reducing that ''SS-'' strength stat as much as possible.


    Pride and Amy attempted to unleash abo attack on the monster, but when they sensed a surge of energying from above, they retracted their energies and took distance from where it was.


    "Vortex!"


    A swirling mass of prismatic mes barrelled down towards the fallen Lizard Lord; its body still held tightly to the ground by Kuro''s shadows.


    Knowing the danger behind Evan''s mes and resolving not to get hit by them, the Lizard Lord parted its lips and spoke through gritted teeth.


    [Summon Household.]


    Ten magic circles manifested in a circle around Bhak''s body, and from each one, a Lizardman emerged with a roar.


    From one of the circles, a giant Lizardman, about ten metres tall made its appearance, roaring loudly as if it wanted the whole world to hear.


    Unfortunately for it, Evan''s iing vortex crashed right onto the top of its head, engulfing its upper body in bright multicoloured mes while the swirling energy shredded apart its scales and flesh.


    Blood rained down from above drenching the ground below in a volume that let everyone know the giant Lizardman was dead.


    The other newly summoned Lizardmen all looked on with shock, as one of theirpanions had just died mere moments after being summoned.


    What they did not know, was that using it as a sacrifice to take Evan''s attack had always been Bhak''s real intention of summoning it.


    This also brought Bhak enough time to break out of the shadowy binds covering its body using a burst of its fiery aura.


    As for Evan, he jumped off the dead Lizardman and let its corpse fall forward, before clicking his tongue and speaking in annoyance.


    "This is one thing I hate about Raid Bosses, they like summoning minions!"


    Holding up his left hand and activating a skill, Evan continued.


    "For you, Lizard Lord, we don''t have the time to deal with your minions."


    ''Elemental Armament Barrage.''


    Uponmand, an array of weapons formed from his golden aura manifested in the air, their des and tips pointing towards the Lizardmen with unerring precision.


    ''Milena, Aquafire.''


    [On it.]


    Blue mes swirled around the swords and spears he had conjured using his skill, and with a snap of his fingers, they rained down on the 9 minion Lizardmen, riddling their bodies with holes and leaving behind a tapestry of punctured scales and flesh.


    Even so, these minions were grandmasters; just one barrage wasn''t enough to kill them.


    And that''s where Eliza came into y.


    "Lethality Maniption."


    All of their injuries, even the slightest scratch split open into gaping wounds that spurted blood like a fountain. And down to the ground, the corpses of the Lizardmen dropped.


    [Level Up]


    Eliza dismissed the notification and then turned her attention to the Lizard Lord who had gotten back on its feet while they handled the minions.


    Its spear was coated not in mes like before, but in a mass of darkness-attributed aura, which it then pulled back and threw out like a Javelin.


    [Dark Lance of the Abyss!]


    Bhak hurled the spear of darkness into the air, sending it flying at supersonic speed, right towards Evan.


    For a moment, the boy considered teleporting away, but he decided against it, with the intention of keeping his blink skill hidden for now.


    ''In that case��''


    Magic power and aura swirled around his sword, quickly taking on an iridescent hue as he infused it with the mes of Mesarthim.


    Thrusting the sword forward, he activated his unique skill.


    "Vortex!"


    **BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!


    The whirling spiral mass of energy collided with the darknce in a massive explosion, with energies surging out wildly and shockwaves rippling throughout the entirety of the 100th floor of the dungeon.


    Evan''s body was sent flying through the air due to the force of the explosion, but he flipped around mid-air andnded on his feet.


    Hispanions attacked the Lizard Lord this time, but the monster silently clenched its left fist, with a four-ringed magic circle appearing around its wrist; one Evan recognized


    "Shit! Get back, everyone! Liz, Barrier!"


    They all heeded his warning and quickly jumped backwards, even so, that did not deter Bhak from activating his spell.


    [Nova Magic: Venomous Nova!]


    *BOOM!


    There was an explosion of energy, with a thick toxic gas bursting out to create a poisonous cloud in the vicinity. The gas spread very quickly, and in mere seconds, half the boss room had been engulfed by it.


    Eliza mmed her staff on the ground and created a multiyered barrier wall to seal off the other half, but when the gas came in contact with her barrier, it melted holes through its multipleyers.


    This much was expected, after all, it was a ''Nova Magic'' spell. Just like the ''Ice Nova'' spell that Evan favoured.


    In the face of this Poison Storm, Pride snapped her fingers and activated her idiosyncrasy��something only Evan and Greed noticed��and then a phenomenon that dumbfounded Bhak urred.


    The cloud of poison gas storming towards them was suddenly sucked towards the High Demon''s palm within no less than five seconds. She then closed her palm and opened it up, revealing a small transparent cube with said poison gas trapped inside.


    [��the what?!]


    Bhak eximed as it threw its spear out once more, using its Dark Lance technique but Elizayered dozens of divergent wards in its trajectory to block it, preventing it from even reaching the barrier she had erected to block the poison.


    With the knowledge that Pride had somehow turned its poison gas cloud that could wipe out a town in but a minute to a small cube in her palm, Bhak locked onto her, retrieving its spear and charging straight towards the high demon.


    With a powerful swing, it sliced through Eliza''s barrier, blitzing straight for the woman, however, its path was blocked by a young fair-skinned redhead, whose entire body was covered in mes that made even Bhak sweat.


    Just like Evan had influenced Milena through their contract and caused her to gain a me Attunement, Pride''s darkness affinity had also done the same to Amy, the result being the intense dark mes that spread out from her body and halted the Lizard Lord''s charge.


    The spirit took a stance and generated a huge great sword that was a bit taller than she was with the ck mes, whilst Kuro silently fiddled with Bhak''s shadow and made it hug him tightly, rendering him immobile.


    ''This again?!''


    Bhak held back its urge to curse out loud and instead focused on trying to break out of the binds, but unlike before, these were a lot harder to deal with.


    At the same time, a huge pearl of golden lightning manifested in the air above him, with artificial storm clouds forming around it.


    The intense wave of mes released from Amy''s body then converged into her hands, forming arge great sword construct of ck mes as she took a stance.


    Immediately after, she spun her body around and swung the sword forward, releasing a wide sh of mes that transformed into a huge five-metre-tall tiger.


    The tiger roared wildly as it pounced forward and bit on Bhak''s upper body with its jaws, at the exact same time that Ka''s hands waved downwards.

 Chapter 595 Addressing the ‘Lizard in the Room’ III

    Chapter 595 Addressing the ��Lizard in the Room�� III


    What happened next was a bright sh of golden light that was too blinding to look directly at, as a singr golden bolt of lightning dropped down from the air and onto the body of the Lizard Lord.


    ***KAAABOOOOMMM!!!!!


    The ground shook heavily as a huge cloud of smoke and mes rose towards the Boss Room Ceiling, while shockwaves spread out in all directions on the ground.


    In the midst of this, a small ck cat hopped out of the shadow of the Lizard Lord and tossed a ball of ck light towards its back, before disappearing back into the shadow.


    Bhak''s body was now rocked with another explosion of darkness and light elements, sting apart some of its scales and reaching the flesh underneath, while its form hurtled through the air.


    [Rock!]


    Ka''s voice rang out, and a giant fistposed of lightning blocks punched Bhak''s body down into the ground.


    [Paper!]


    The lightning blocks reforged into a massive palm and pped down on the Lizard Lord''s body, smacking it deeper into the ground.


    [Scissors!]


    She finished thebo by transforming the lightning blocks once more, repositioning them into two long block lines, and crossing at around 70% of their length so one side of the intersection point was longer than the other.


    The ''Scissors'' then flew toward the Lizard Lord, its cutting motion primed to deal massive lightning elemental damage.


    However, just before it snipped shut on the monster, two wed arms burst out from the smoke and mes, catching both ''des'' and pushing them apart.


    Aura surged through the arms and the fingers pressed down on the lightning blocks that constituted the scissors, shattering them to pieces with pure physical strength.


    [ROARRRR!!!]


    A roar rang out across the room, but unlike thest one that had a stunning effect, this Primal Roar increased its user''s attack power by a certain percentage and boosted its resistance to all attacks, physical, mental or elemental.


    Right after it did that, it looked at the clouds of smoke and mes surrounding its body, narrowing its yellow eyes lightly before clenching its left fist.


    As the familiar-coloured magic circle reappeared around its wrist, Bhak spoke with what seemed like a grin.


    [You handled the first one, did you not? There''s more where It came from.


    Venomous Tempest!]


    *BOOM! x3


    What followed was a trio of toxic gas explosions, with the cloud of venom spreading across the Boss Room faster than the first one it released.


    "You guys handle it, I''m going in."


    Evan kicked off the ground after he spoke, dashing straight towards the source of the poison and slicing the magic circle in two with his aura.


    Bhak was lightly surprised at his boldness, something the boy noticed as he infused his sword and spoke.


    "Didn''t I say it before, Lizard? Poison doesn''t work on me!"


    He swung his sword with all his strength, down towards Bhak''s neck, but the Lizardman pulled its spear out from within the cloud of poison covering its other hand and raised it to block Evan''s strike.


    ''It hid the spear in the poison cloud?''


    Evan made that small observation as he pulled back his sword and backflipped into the air. While upside down, he unleashed multiple de cannons towards the Lizard Lord.


    In response, Bhak moved its spear and swung it multiple times, unleashing a whirlwind of shes that knocked down all the fist-sized bullets of aura, whilst also countering the apanying projected shes.


    Evannded on the ground and dashed forward without even a second''s dy, engaging Bhak in a closebat battle that shattered the earth beneath their feet.


    Bhak spun its body around and attempted to swipe Evan off his feet with its tail, however, a timed elemental shield with an earth attribution saved the hero from being knocked off.


    The boy then let go of his sword and grabbed onto the Lizard Lord''s tail, along with tendrils of darkness that shot out of Evan''s shadow andtched onto the monster''s tail.


    With simple body-strengthening magic amplifying his strength, Evan pulled Bhak''s tail forward, knocking the monster off bnce in an ironical twist of fate.


    He then caught his sword in the air, his magic and aura swirling into the de along with Mesarthim''s Prismatic mes.


    Bhak saw it could not avoid the attack and instead chose to tank it, creating a shimmering magic barrier of scales that enhanced its own body''s defences as well.


    With the Scalebound Ward''s damage absorption prowess, the Lizardman was sure Evan''s attack could be handled.


    A part of its mind even felt that it did not need to do that much and it actually reduced the energy concentration in the barrier, intending to ''conserve the energy for future purposes''.


    But when Evan''s whole body was suddenly enveloped in the Crimson red aura that came with his Bod 1st Activation state, Bhak snapped back to his senses and tried to return its barrier to full power.


    However, it was already toote by then.


    ''Destruction Vortex!''


    ***BOOOOOMMMM!!!!!


    Evan''s attack collided with the Lizard Lord''s barrier, shattering it into countless shards of light like a diamond breaking through ss.


    The voracious energy tore through the remnants of the barrier and surged towards the Lizard Lord, shredding apart the creature''s scales like leaves torn apart by a hurricane.


    As for the flesh beneath the scales, the spiralling mass of energy rended them, causing blood and broken scale fragments to ssh in all directions.


    To add salt to the injury, Evan''s Destruction aura had the time of its life dealing damage that went beyond the mere body. Bhak''s soul quivered in agony as the essence of destruction pierced its very soul, causing unimaginable torment.


    It roared out in anguish, but even that was not enough to tell how much pain it felt.


    Evan still pressed his sword further, piercing through the torn-apart flesh and reaching the bone in its left arm that was crossed over its right in front of its chest.


    [Ark sh!]


    [GRRAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!]


    Ka condensed static energy into a singr destructive point and dropped it down on the Lizard Lord''s head, an eerie glint shed through her eyes as, despite the fact that Bhak tilted its head to dodge on pure instinct, the electric explosion that was triggered when it hit the ground deafened its ear.


    [EXPLOSION!!!]


    In a fit of pain and rage, the monster cried out, activating a simple yet deadly fire magic spell��on its own body.


    **KAAABOOM!!!


    The ensuing st released a mushroom cloud of smoke and fire into the sky, seemingly having knocked Evan''s body away as the monster was finally freed from the cycle of pain.


    Since it was the caster of the spell and said spell was a lower tier than its attunement, it was immune to its effects.


    Bhak staggered up to its feet, pain racking its brain and one of its ears deafened.


    However, there was no time to rest, as the high demon siblings burst in through the smoke surrounding it with their weapons held up high.


    [Dark Lance of the Abyss!]


    It grabbed its spear and coated it with darkness-attributed magic power, spinning around to throw the spear towards Pride using all its strength. Simultaneously, the creature turned its focus towards Greed and conjured gauntlets of earth from the shattered rock fragments.


    Clenching its fist, mes surged in through the cracks in the gauntlets, before mming them together to catch Greed''s overhead sh within its palms.


    **BOOOM!!!


    Bhak''s gauntlets absorbed and contained the power behind Greed''s sh, creating a momentary standstill in which both opponents were locked in a battle of raw physical strength.


    One that was very unfair to the Lizard Lord as Greed was using its own strength to supplement his.


    A concussive impact echoed through the surroundings, shaking the ground and sending shockwaves rippling outward from their point of collision.


    As the demon of Pride dealt with the spear that was abruptly thrown towards her with her white mes, the Lizard Lord mmed its tail on the ground and activated a spell.


    ''Grand Lance.''


    Six stone spears sprouted from the ground in front of Greed, threatening to pierce the demon''s body but he simply unfurled his wings and took to the skies, out of their effective range.


    Bhak stomped its foot on the ground and activated another skill, three times in quick session.


    [Summon Household!] x3


    Magic circles formed all around the monster''s body, and from it, thirty other Lizard men manifested and provided cover for their Lord who dropped to its knees in momentary weakness.


    The damage It received from Evan''s destruction vortex was not one it could shake off so easily.


    Besides, the monster tried to understand why it had made the foolish decision of weakening its own barrier, against Evan who it knew had Esoteric-type mes, but it could note up with an answer no matter how much it wracked its aching brain.


    No way it could detect Pride''s pride maniption that easily.


    Meanwhile, twenty of the Lizard men charged towards the Anomalies, with the sole intent to buy time for the Lizard Lord to recover even the slightest bit.


    Seeing this, Greednded on the ground and mmed his palm downwards, activating one of his recently recovered skills.


    "Evocation: Covetous Archers."


    With the emotional energy of greed, he summoned dozens of humanoid archer constructs which pulled their bows and fired arrows of greed energy, each one dealing 50% of his strength stat as physical damage.

 Chapter 596 Addressing the ‘Lizard in the Room’ IV

    <h4>Chapter 596 Addressing the ��Lizard in the Room�� IV</h4>


    For Greed who already had an S rank strength stat at his base, and was currently stealing Strength from the Lizard Lord''s SS-, 50% of all that was a force to be reckoned with.


    The kind that sted off the arm of a Lizardman in a single strike.


    What''s more, any arrow that hit reduced the target''s Stat Efficiency by 20%, making them unable to use 20% of their strength stat for 20 minutes.


    But these Lizardmen targets did not even get tost that long under thebined onught of the Covetous Archers and the spirits.


    The three giant Lizardmen let out Primal Roars to boost their power, and three spirits decided it was best to attack the insides of the Lizardmen''s open mouths.


    Amy shed in front of one and chucked her ck me great sword construct down its throat, before shing to the top of its head and punching it from above, forcefully snapping its mouth shut.


    Kuro appeared on the monster''s body through a means it could notprehend, and tossed three balls of shining ck light down into its mouth, before disappearing into the shadow of its neck.


    As for Milena, she helped the third giant Lizardman to pick its teeth. With giant Frostfire spea��toothpicks. Except that she pressed them so hard that they pierced through the Lizardman''s teeth and out the bottom of its jaw.


    [[[Explode.]]]


    The three called out simultaneously, and ensuing sts had Eliza creating overhead barriers to prevent the flesh, bone and organ fragments from raining down on her.


    Whilst that happened overhead, she infused her ether into the staff and swung it downwards, sending a Cutting Wave flying forward, carving the ground as it went on to split three of the smaller Lizardmen in two.


    It reached the Lizard Lord who was behind them, but Bhak easily coated its arm in aura and swiped the attack away with the back of its palm.


    However, what came right behind it was a flower cannon beam, the kind of attack that could not be swiped away with its palm.


    Bhak stomped its foot on the ground and generated a dozenyers of 50cm thick earthen walls to block it, but the concentrated beam of power tore through them all with ease.


    It jumped into the air and summoned more Lizardmen Minions, summoning a giant Lizardman in the air. This one opened its mouth and was about to roar, but Ka''s fist of lightning blocked and punched its forehead so hard, that its brain could not even process a scream of pain.


    What followed was a p that sent its body hurtling towards the edge of the Boss Room, mming into the wall and imprinting itself there, long enough for the scissors toe in and snip its head off its neck.


    Bhak''s expression was a sight to behold as even it did not expect that a level 300 monster would die so easily.


    [Inferno Aura.]


    Its body was suddenly enveloped in a zing aura of fire, with its physical attack and me elemental attack power amplified. What''s more, just being near it dealt continuous fire damage to you.


    The energy burst from it sent Milena who hade in with an array of fist-sized icy projectiles, even so, she still managed tounch them faster than Evan''s de cannons.


    Too bad they melted after getting within a 30-metre radius of the Lizard Lord.


    Gravity pulled Bhak back to the ground, but the Lizardman didn''t have any ns of staying there for long.


    [Pyrosmic Leap!]


    With the activation of another skill, Bhak executed a powerful leap through the air, creating a seismic shock that spread out omnidirectionally uponnding in the centre of the room.


    [Summon Torrential Flood.]


    The ground cracked open and erupted in a wave of moltenva that surged towards its opponents with unbridled intensity.


    Eliza mmed the Memoria into the ground and spawned a multiyered barrier to block the flood ofva, but when it started melting the fouryers, the girl could not help but begin to doubt the strength of her barriers.


    ''Rather than my barrier being weak, isn''t it this guy''s attack that''s just too strong?''


    Indeed, that was the case. Bhak was momentarily surprised that she could block theva, but its hands were moving to encase its spear in a mass of darkness-attributed aura, read to send a ''Dark Lance of the Abyss'' her way.


    [?!]


    But at thest moment, its senses alerted it of danger and it switched up its grip on the spear, from the hold required for a thrust, to that of a sh.


    It spun around and swung downwards, meeting the Upward arcing sh that came from our resident hero who just ''materialised'' behind it.


    "You noticed that?"


    Bhak tuned up its me aura to try and engulf Evan, but the boy only retracted the mes on his sword and activated another unique skill.


    "Harbinger of Ice."


    **BOOOM!


    Evan''s body surged with an icy aura that matched Bhak''s Inferno Aura in intensity, and the Lizardman was caught off guard for a second, but in the next, there was a bright red four-ringed magic circle spinning around in front of Evan''s face.


    [me N-]


    "Ice Nova."


    [-ova.]


    The boy''s spell activation was faster, the initial sh of light blinding the Lizardman''s eyes momentarily, keeping it in ce for the ensuing icy wave to surge over it.


    Luckily for it, Bhak did not cancel its spell so its body was not encased in ice like Evan had nned.


    The two Nova Magic spells shed with each other in a loud earth-shaking explosion, with clouds of hot steam filling the air right after.


    "You''re not the only one who knows Nova Magic, Lizard."


    Bhak''s pupils darted to the side as he heard that, activating Scalebound ward in the direction the sound came from, but Evan blinked to the other side and attacked it with five consecutive shes of golden ice.


    Each one was preceded by five fist-sized aura bullets of the same energy.


    The Lizard Lord quickly repositioned the barrier, but not fast enough to prevent the first two froming through, so it had to block with its spear.


    The bullets covered its spear in patches of ice, but it just red up its inferno aura and broke them, spinning around to dodge Evan''s thrust before swinging down to block Pride''s sh.


    Another exchange Bhak did not want began, and the Lizard Lord quickly thought of a way out.


    ''Summon Household: Lizardman Assassin.''


    Only one Lizardman was summoned, one who had a better concealment than Evan, armour-piercing abilities, and an array of stealthy abilities that allowed it to blend seamlessly with the environment, such that even Pride did not notice any changes in her surroundings.


    Until the Lizardman''s short sword encased in dark green poison pierced through her back and burst out of her stomach, that is.


    "?!"


    [Finally!]


    Bhak spun around and used both its spear and tail to m into the shocked demon''s body, knocking her into the air and towards the Boss Room walls.


    But right after it did that, the t side of Mammonas'' de bashed into the side of its head and sent it hurtling in the same direction as it had sent the demon.


    A giant red avatar of energy emerged from the steam clouds right after, swinging down its massive great sword towards the airborne Lizard Lord with mes and lightning crackling around it.


    [Summon Household!]


    Bhak summoned the giant Lizardman from its household, but Greed''s avatar''s great sword sliced through the Level 350 beast like it was a knife going through butter.


    [Dark Lance of the Abyss!!]


    It had no choice but to use one of its strongest and most straining techniques on it, sending the spear of darkness flying towards the great sword and eventually destroying it.


    But the Avatar still had its two hands left.


    One fist came in from the right and punched its body into the wall of the Boss Room. The second one punched it in there, and then the two fists alternated in pummelling the Lizardman''s body.


    Whilst engulfed in mes and lightning, of course.


    "Life Energy Draining Prison."


    Eliza decided to add to the mix, sucking a huge chunk of its life energy whilst applying numerous debuffs on the monster with her Life ice.


    Bhak instinctively felt the threat to its life from the prison of light encasing it, and though Greed paused pummelling the Lizardman, it was only to give way for Ka, Amy, Kuro and Milena to unleash a four elemental spiritbo on it.


    ''me Breath!''


    Its maw opened it breathed out a devastating cone of searing mes, burning the energy prison it was in and causing the Spirit''s Combo attack to blow up mid-air.


    It turned its head around to make sure the mes spread in all directions, and just when it sensed the spirits moving further away, Evan appeared beside it and spoke.


    "So, you wanna y with fire?"


    [?!]


    "Hope you''re ready to get burned?"


    ***BOOOOMMMM!!!!!


    A huge explosion of prismatic mes that sted apart a section of the Boss Room''s wall rang out, with the entire floor of the dungeon and even some higher floors trembling heavily.


    Mesarthim burned through scales, and the flesh underneath, engulfing Bhak''s whole body and forcing the Lizard Lord to turn its Inferno Aura to ''maximum overdrive'', barely being able to cancel the mes that dealt damage based on its maximum Health stat.


    "How did you say it before again? ''There''s more where that came from''."

 Chapter 597 Addressing the ‘Lizard in the Room’ V

    Chapter 597 Addressing the ��Lizard in the Room�� V


    Evan''s following words were more than enough for Bhak to know that the boy was not done just yet. He held up his palm while speaking and condensed his energy rapidly, conjuring a massive orb of prismatic mes in it.


    ''Mesarthim; Red: Inferno Comet.''


    Did the Lizard Lord have me resistance?


    Yes, a very high one at that.


    Did that matter to Mesarthim?


    From the way Bhak tried to run away from Evan''s attack range, clearly not.


    The zing sphere of multi-coloured mes was propelled forward at blistering supersonic speed, the sheer velocity creating a resounding boom and leaving behind a short radiant trail of fiery brilliance.


    It only took a second for it to send Bhak''s body crashing down on the ground, with enough force that it bounced back up.


    And when it did, a streak of dark light descended from above and crashed right down on it, rendering the creature momentarily breathless.


    It also vomited out a ton of blood too.


    From the corner of its vision, it caught sight of a ck boot encased in demonic energy kicking it in the side and sending it flying into the wall.


    [Guh��]


    Bhak let out a low grunt, waving its burned now scaleless arm to blow away the dust cloud, revealing the appearance of the person who made it carve a Lizard-shaped crater in the wall.


    [��what��the��?]


    The High Demon Pride, holding the severed head of the Lizardman Assassin that was still dripping with blood came into view.


    She tossed it on the ground casually while ignoring Eliza''s talk about getting her healed as she walked up to Bhak, the poisoned de still sticking out of her stomach.


    [How are you��still able to move?! That''s Inhuman!]


    "If you have not noticed, Lizard. I''m no human."


    Pride roughly pulled out the armour-piercing de, revealing a part of her stomach that had turned green from the poison.


    "I''m a demon, the Demon of Pride."


    Tossing away the dark green de dripping with ck blood and poison, she continued.


    "And as the Deadly Sin of Pride, if I say such a paltry sneak attack can''t harm me��It can''t"


    Right before their very eyes, demonic energy swirled around the wound and the ck blood spurting out of it stopped. The greenish infection spreading on her skin began receding to the point of origin, eventually being expelled from her body as a blob of poison that fell to the ground and melted a hole in the reinforced earth in mere seconds.


    Only someone with an A+ durability like Pride could easily endure having an acidic poison capable of melting through buildings and still only have a small part of her stomach wounded.


    As for the fact that she was still able to move despite that��this was simply her just being built different.


    The wound healed up like it was never there, and her clothes were patched up like they were never pierced, all while Bhak looked on dumbfoundedly until Pride''s voice snapped it out of its daze.


    "See. It can''t."


    [��What in the-?!]


    **BAAAAMMM!!!


    A knee that mmed right into the side of the Lizard Lord''s head and sent it flying cut that question off, courtesy of a very pissed-off Greed.


    It crashed down onto the ground,nding coincidentally right next to its spear which it grabbed and activated another technique.


    ''zing Gaze.''


    Its eyes radiated an intense heat that allowed it tounch a fiery projectile at Greed with its gaze, and while it did that, it raised its right foot and stomped down to activate Earthquake m.


    However, Evan teleported right beside it and blocked Bhak''s foot with his own, cancelling the required motion for the skill''s activation.


    Evan pulled the monster''s foot forward, sending its body tumbling down on its back.


    As if reading his mind, Ka created an Electrome in that instant, one that Evan sent a fracture diving right into.


    ''Scalebound Ward!''


    The ward Bhak put up at thest moment was sted to pieces by Evan''s fist.


    He then proceeded to grab Bhak''s weapon-wielding arm, using body-strengthening magic to amplify his already strengthened muscles even further and then spun around to throw the Lizard Lord over his shoulder.


    A flower cannon came in whilst its body was still airborne, knocking it to one corner of the room where Amy appeared in a pir of mes and smacked it down with her great sword of mes.


    Milena came in right after with a gigantic spear of ice that crashed down diagonally from above, doubling the speed with which it hit the ground.


    The instant it touched the ground, Evan sent a signal to Eliza and shouted.


    "cial Annihtion." "Life Energy Draining Prison."


    Evan and Eliza used ''Combo''; and it was goddamn effective.


    As the do-decagonal prison of green light formed above and below, a torrent of crimson ice surged forth and crashed down on the Lizard; the frigid blizzard sting quenching its Inferno Aura and forcefully cancelling the skill.


    Pain rocked its body and soul from all over, and it could not even conjure up defences as Eliza''s energy-draining prison sapped its energy and used that same energy to strengthen the prison to prevent Evan''s cial Annihtion from destroying it.


    The title her Child of Life skill gave her worked tirelessly to send in an essence of thew of life tobat thew of destruction''s power, unbeknownst to her, of course.


    Bhak''s body tumbled through the air, tossed around by the blizzard''s winds before finally being tossed into one of the small patches of Lava it had spread out earlier.


    The force and speed it crashed with sent sshes ofva in all directions, one of them nearly reaching Evan and burning his shoes.


    "Okay, this is annoying."


    With his Harbinger skill still active, he stomped down and froze the entire Boss Room''s floor with a wave of thick ice.


    At the same time, a small pale blue me appeared in front of Bhak''s face, temporarily making it out of breath before exploding at point-nk range.


    The Lizard Lord barely blocked it with a Scalebound ward, forced itself to its feet and red at the Anomalies as it activated a skill.


    [Scorched Earth.]


    The ground trembled with the force of its magic power, and a field of burning was conjured around it, igniting the ground and causing it to smoulder and burn.


    Evan''s ice was melted by this, but the monster wasn''t done yet.


    [Fire Magic: Firestorm Cyclone]


    The Lizard Lord summoned a whirlwind of raging fire, a fiery vortex that surged towards its opponents and made them disperse.


    Continuing the attack Chain, Bhak stomped its foot on the ground and caused the ground to crack open into multiple boulders that shot up to the ceiling.


    This caused the Anomalies to finally notice that the Scorched Earth skill, had also affected the ceiling of the Boss Room as well.


    Parts of the ceiling broke off and hovered in the air for a second. Clenching its fist, all the rocks were engulfed in mes, and only after that did Bhakplete the skill activation.


    [zing Meteor Strike!]


    The shower of ming rocks rained down from above, their fiery impacts shaking the dungeon and making the S rankers trapped on the 98th floor shudder in shock.


    "Elemental Armament Barrage!"


    "Divergent Wards! Elemental Boost: Water and Ice!"


    [Inverted Hail!]


    Evan, Eliza and Milena took action, sending forth projectiles of ice with ribbons of water swirling around them up into the sky to meet the rain of meteors.


    Eliza''s ''Divergent Wards'' always had two sides to it; hence the ''Divergence''. One side was a barrier that blocked attacks and the other was an amplifier that boosted the damage of projectile-based attacks passed through it by 50%.


    So as she created enough to amodate all the projectiles Evan and Milena sent upward, it was needed not to be stated how much stronger they became.


    Pride and Greed dashed forward to attack, but the Lizard Lord had zero intentions of letting any of them get close, especially not as it was preparing to use its trump card.


    [Infernal Congration]


    As the ming rocks were being sted to bits above, Bhak unleashed a wall of roaring mes below, sending it travelling forward and engulfing everything in its path in a sweeping congration.


    Though there wasn''t anything on the ground beside the corpses of the minions summoned multiple times throughout the battle, the wall of mes did a good job of dying Pride and Greed, even if it was only for a few seconds.


    But as if to mock it, Evan channelled his icy aura and sent it forward as a wall of frigid ice, an opposite of the attack Bhak had sent out.


    "I''d call this ''Icy Congration''. Thanks for the name idea."


    The two opposing elemental attacks collided with each other in the middle of the room; the searing hot mes melting the ice to water which then doused the mes faster than it could evaporate.


    They nullified each other and left a wall of hot steam clouds parting the room in two.


    And from within the steam, multiple streaks of light shot out towards the Lizard Lord, forcing it to raise its spear to block the flurry of attacks that followed.


    Every single member of the Anomalies threw in at least three attacks in quick session, with the humanoids using Melee whilst the spirits flexed the elements on it.

 Chapter 598 Serpentine Dominion

    Chapter 598 Serpentine Dominion


    Bhak honestly wanted to skin Kuro alive as the cat''s shadows always prevented it from dodging or even properly retaliating to most of said attacks.


    Any of its efforts to take out Eliza who blocked most of its attacks with her barriers, whilst simultaneously buffing herpanions andyering it with debuffs were also thwarted by Kuro.


    Meteor Showers were blocked by Evan and Milena, the Deadly Sin Siblings dished out deadly attacks with their demonic energy and used multiplebination spells.


    Faced with the full might of the ''Anomalies'', the Lizard Lord felt the threat of defeat for the first time in its life.


    It was just living its life, doing its duties as a Boss Monster, when it randomly began losing power all of a sudden.


    The people it was coborating with to gain freedom from the dungeon could not exin the reason why, and even Bhak itself was confused about why.


    However, though it did not know why, it knew only death awaited it when it lost all of its levels.


    It also figured out that the power it lost was going into the Dungeon itself, but no matter what it tried, it could not do anything to prevent this devolution process.


    It triggered the dungeon break to speed up the ns for it to escape the dungeon''s hold so it could massacre hundreds of thousands of existences to fight its grim fate, but then Evan''s party came along.


    Now, before it could escape the limitation of being a Dungeon Boss before it could break past the limitations of a mere ''High Lizardman'' and evolve to a higher breed, before it could be a ''Living Legend'', it was about to face death.


    Bhak could not ept this.


    Bhak refused to ept this.


    It used an Infernal Congration + zing Meteor Shower Combo to push the Anomalies away, jumping back to take distance from them whilst ring at them with hatred in its eyes.


    Lightly holding out its left hand, a small forearm guard manifested in the air and fell onto its palm. Without hesitation, it snapped the forearm guard on and it resized to fit its wrist.


    When the steam cleared up and Evan saw the forearm guard, his eyes widened in shock.


    "Artemisia. Artemisia. Do tell me, why that ''thing'' is on the Lizard Lord''s arm? Ain''t that the ''Prize'' you told me about? That''s it, isn''t it? That''s definitely the Energem Reimer, right?!"


    [The ''goddess Artemisia'' exerts her right to remain silent]


    Evan appraised the item on the Lizard Lord''s arm and upon confirming it was indeed what he was after, he cursed out loud.


    "No friggin'' way."


    [Yes, friggin'' way.]


    "Artemisa, how about you call your Eternal Friend so we can do this over? And this time, how about you don''t keep the item meant for me in a ce where my already ridiculously strong opponent can get their hands on it!"


    [Summon Household!]


    Bhak called its minions once more, but instead of sending them forth like everyone but Evan expected, the Lizard Lord coated its spear in aura and shed at them bisecting the bodies of its minions in a gruesome disy.


    Even the giant Lizardman who wanted to use its usual roar was bifurcated by its own master in a sh.


    Seeing this, Evan quickly cancelled his attack motions and took distance from the Lizard Lord, urging his party members to do the same as he knew what wasing next.


    Right before his eyes, he saw the Lizard Lord''s status changing in real-time. Despite the severe damage to its soul, the Lizard Lord''s level went up.


    One of its skills that had been lost due to its devolution reappeared on the status, a Skill that Evan knew about; a skill he also possessed.


    [LIMIT BREAK!!]


    "Wait��what?!"


    **BOOOMM!!!!


    Bhak''s aura surged with unbridled intensity, sweeping across the room as a wave of me energy that rivalled Mesarthim''s prismatic mes.


    Evan clicked his tongue as he pushed back the aura with his own, checking how long he had left on BoD and clicking his tongue a second time.


    ''In five minutes, I''d be down to 30 minutes of BoD for today. Guess I have no choice��but to go overdrive, huh?''


    The boy temporarily deactivated the skill as he thought this, his eyes locked onto the figure of the Lizard Lord who used this time to insert the magic stones it harvested from its minions into the holes on the forearm guard and then cover them up.


    "As far as that thing is on its hand and those magic stones are not exhausted, this guy can use limit break without repercussions."


    "For real?!"


    Eliza eximed in shock upon hearing Evan''s words, but her brain quickly pulled up a memory of having heard about something with a simr effect��from Evan himself. As if reading her thoughts, Evan continued.


    "Yes, that''s the artifact I told you guys aboutst year. The one that can deal with Limit Break''s drawbacks.


    The same one I came here for."


    Synchronous with Evan''s words, Bhak who had covered the entire area with its aura, influencing the ambient magic power, suddenly surged with a type of energy that Pride, Greed, Evan, Kal and Kuro recognised instantly.


    Spatial power.


    Bhak''s lips parted, and it spoke words that Pride had expected ever since she saw its ''Space Tier 1'' attunement and the name of its Unique Skill.


    [Bounded Field!]


    "��this fucking lizard!"


    Greed, who understood what a Bounded Field was, and how advantageous it was as a topographic type technique could not help but curse.


    The reason why it had activated Scorched Earth and used skills that spread mes all around was in preparation for this.


    Stabbing its spear into the ground, Bhak called out its Unique Skill''s name.


    [Serpentine Dominion!]


    The entire Boss Room turned into the Lizard Lord''s dominion.


    Swarms of ming ethereal serpents manifested all around them, each one imbued with poisonous energy, evidenced by the green liquid dripping down their lips.


    The ground cracked all over, and hotva flowed through the cracks, asionally sshing around and pouring on the floor, causing the ambient temperature to rise exponentially.


    Though they could not see it, but a mystic boundary line had formed with the dimensions of the Boss Room, and the Anomalies were trapped within it.


    Within this Bounded Field, Bhak could manipte the ground, create a treacherous terrain��it already had and could make it much worse��and send those venomous ming serpents hurling towards its opponents.


    However, as she was caught in this Bounded Field''s range, Eliza felt a wave of familiarity surge through her.


    "This��it''s just like-"


    "-the Eighth Finger''s ''Domain of Death''."


    Eliza nodded absentmindedly, whilst Evan only chuckled lightly in response.


    Dominik Vk''s ''Domain of Death'' was indeed a Bounded Field; a topographic type technique that involved knitting awork of energy and spreading it on a base area, like a piece ofnd, to create a mystic boundary line that separated the inside from the outside.


    It had many uses, but they could all be summed up in one: ''It gave the caster an advantage over all their opponents caught within.''


    Except there was a huge power gulf between the two.


    If there was one difference with Domnik''s, it was that he did not have a set boundary line that could be visible.


    In exchange, the range was expanded greatly, enough to cover half of the massive battlefield he fought in hisst battle.


    But that was not important right now.


    Bhakmanded all the ethereal serpents present to charge at the party with fury, and as the others prepared to block, Evan looked at Eliza and spoke.


    "Since this is the same as the ''Domain of Death'', you know what can be used to counter it, right?"


    Realisation shed through Eliza''s eyes as she realised what Evan was talking about, and the fact that the boy had been teaching her how to use it without her really knowing what it was.


    Normally, it''d be a lot harder for her to achieve this technique as she had zero spatial Attunements, but once again, the brokenness of ''Series Skills'' was revealed.


    Series Skills had their own pre-set Bounded Fields that the user could use if they were proficient enough in the skill, even if they did not have all the requirements for one.


    Evan held up his sword and activated his Blessing of Destruction, in the same instant Eliza pointed forward with her staff and activated Child of Life.


    In perfect Synchrony, the both of them called out.


    "Domain of Life!" "Frost Domain!"


    A bright wave of green energy, oveid with a cool wave of crimson red ice spread out omnidirectionally, transforming the immediate environment into a half-frozenndscape where the increased temperature of the room dropped drastically.


    The surging energies of thework of magic power spreading out from underneath Evan and Eliza''s feet collided with the Serpentine Dominion''s energy, and the wave of power released on this collision obliterated all the ethereal serpents.


    Together, they pushed back the Serpentine Dominion until half of the room was the territory of soul-chilling ice, while the other was a domain of scorched earth.


    Due to Eliza''s Life Ice skill, her Domain of Life seamlessly mixed into Evan''s Domain, empowering the both of them as they shed with Bhak''s technique.


    It was 2 against 1.


    Two iplete Bounded Fields, against one veryplete one.


    The Scales were evened, or so it would have been; if a certain High Demon of pride didn''t have anything to say about it.

 Chapter 599 Zero plans of ‘Fucking Around’ long enough to ‘Find Out’.

    Chapter 599 Zero ns of ��Fucking Around�� long enough to ��Find Out��.


    Pride gave a wry smile as she saw their actions, retracting the energy she was about to use to deploy her own Bounded Field and redirected it to her idiosyncrasy.


    ''Your Domain does not have my permission to exist, Lizard.''


    *SNAP!


    **CCRACK!!


    With a snap of her fingers, cracks spiderwebbed across thework of energy that made up the Serpentine Dominion, much to Bhak''s shock.


    When Eliza had pushed Domnik''s ''Domain of Death'' a little, the Necromancer had received bacsh from this.


    So now that thebination of Bounded Fields with a touch of Pride''s power shattered the Serpentine Dominion, how was the reaction of the Lizard Lord Supposed to be?


    [GYAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHH-!!!!!]


    Two of the magic stones on the Energem Reimer shattered to pieces, and the monster fought the pained scream that threatened to escape its lips as it hurriedly forced two more into it.


    Sure, it had taken bacsh and all, enough for it to spit blood. But it was still in its Limit Break mode. Bhak was still well capable of fighting.


    Unfortunately, the circumstances did not let it use the full extent of that power.


    Eliza was far stronger than she was a year ago, so she could do more than just use her Domain for AoE heals and purifications; she could infuse skills into it.


    And the skill she chose, was her ''Life Energy Draining Prison''.


    Everywhere within her Bounded Field was within the range of the skill, and due to her higher control over it, she could select entities within the Field and mark them as entities to not be affected by it.


    Bhak had to destroy the Domain of Life itself to break out, and that was currently an impossibility because of Pride''s power.


    It tried activating a spell but Evan''s sword of crimson ice came shing through the ming magic circle, destroying it before he spun around and kicking the monster to the wall behind it.


    When it looked up after mming onto the wall and falling to the ground, it got a good look at Evan and sensed the boy''s current power.


    [��how��?]


    "Sorry, Bhak. But you''re not the only one who can ''Break Limits''."


    That was all it heard, half a second before Evan''s sword had shed down on its body eight times in one breath.


    Pride''s brow twitched when she saw Evan casually copy her technique, but she said nothing as the hero went on to do the same with Greed.


    Evan jumped up and spun around, kicking the Lizard Lord with his full strength, sending it hurling into the wall on the side.


    He kept spinning and threw the sword in his hand toward the monster, a spiralling mass of crimson ice swirling around it as he activated a skill.


    "Icy Vortex!"


    The energy collided with the Lizard Lord, shredding apart its flesh before the boy''s sword went on to pierce into its torso.


    Bhak grunted in pain,nding on the ground with heavy breaths and mming its spear into the ground to activate a skill!


    "Outburst!!"


    **DUN DUNNN DUNNN!!!!


    The ground trembled beneath him, with magic power rapidly spreading around and causing countless rock shards to rise up from the ground, floating in the air for a moment, before they started flying around randomly.


    **D-D-D-D-D-D-DU!!!


    It was a skill that Vazgan had, one that dealt a great deal of AoE damage. Just when Bhak thought it''d be able to catch its breath, Ka raised her hand and snapped her fingers.


    The spinning pearl of power in the air, surrounded by artificial clouds glowed brightly before raining down bolts of lighting, enough that each rock sent out by Outburst had 2 bolts to deal with it.


    Bhak was pissed at her for interfering, but when it sensed her ''Rock-Paper-Scissors''bo, it quickly moved to dodge.


    Too bad Kuro Happened so Scissors got its leg and half-roasted the entire limb.


    However, contrary to expectation, Bhak did not scream out in pain like before but remained silent.


    A momentter, its body then erupted in a pir of mes, right before Artemisia''s voice rang out in Evan''s head.


    |Evan, don''t forget my warning|


    The moment he heard this; Evan quickly figured the Lizard Lord was about to pull something else that he was not expecting.


    [me Rebirth!]


    It activated a skill, one it did not have in the game, and neither in reality��until this moment.


    Bhak sacrificed a huge chunk of its maximum magic power in an attempt to restore its health with the added effect of being enveloped in a zing shield.


    Bhak had connected to the Dungeon Core to trigger the dyed dungeon break, and through that connection to the Dungeon Core, it could temporarily steal the skills of other monsters of the Dungeon through their connection with it.


    There was a limitation to this, as it had to pay a price for stealing something from another monster''s soul, so It could only do this a limited number of times.


    The number of skills it stole, was two; one of which was me Rebirth.


    A poor monster on the 99th floor was writhing in soul-wrenching pain at this moment but Bhak didn''t give a fuck about that.


    "I''d be damned!"


    Evan shouted out as he teleported right behind it, his sword encased in a fusion of Mesarthim''s mes, Icy Aura and BoD''s crimson red.


    Given he was using a ''Frost Domain'', merely activating Mesarthim was taxing for him but it needed to be done.


    **WHOOSH!!


    He shed down faster than the monster could perceive, slicing its tail off its body.


    By the time the pain of its tail being severed reached it, Evan had already stabbed it through the stomach.


    "I missed? No��my aim was correct. You jumped at thest moment."


    He remarked after pulling his sword out of the monster that had leapt aside to evade his heart stab.


    He then gestured, conjuring a portal in the air, from which descended a striking beam of ice imbued with a crimson hue, which forcefully hurled the monster back to the ground.


    Upon impact, it created a massive crater, dwarfing the creature, and expanding to a size five times its own.


    In that same breath, a streak of golden lighting shed across the Boss Room, striking down atop the fallen monster faster than Evan could even move.


    This streak of lightning''s true form was revealed to be the Great Spirit Ka, who was now looking noticeably different from before.


    Her ''Spirit Raiment'' was activated, transforming both her appearance and her outfit. Height-wise, she could stand shoulder to shoulder with Evan, a full-on 10-inch leap in height from her ''normal'' full ''body size''


    She was now adorned in a bright golden silk dress, and floating atop her head, was a fragmented quarter of a cracked golden crown, adorned with various multicoloured precious stones.


    In her hand was a bolt of concentrated lightning, with so much energy inside it that Greed and the other spirits instinctively took a step back away.


    With that same bolt of energy, she stabbed Bhak straight in the centre of its chest. The lightning flowed through its whole body, electrocuting each and every cell within it and roasting its organs.


    Evan saw this happen in slow motion with his Hypercognition, and his extra energy sensitivity allowed him to see something extra.


    Ka had used so much lightning that at first nce, one would think it was a pure bolt generated from the element''s energy.


    But It wasn''t.


    ''There''s a physical item inside all that lightning.''


    A Weapon.


    And however strong it was, it was enough for her to pierce the Lizard Lord''s durability, pierce it in the chest, and the enormous power around it was enough to roast its insides.


    Still, Ka was not done yet.


    She pulled out the weapon, twirled it around, and stabbed it again in the forehead, then the face, then the neck, then the chest once more, and finally, the centre of its stomach.


    ''��where the heck did she get that from?!''


    Evan eximed internally as he switched off all his skills except Limit Break, his eyes studying Ka''s appearance and noting that the stole that usually hovered around her neck in this form was not present.


    ''The Stole was a weapon this whole time?! I thought it was just there for aesthetics!''


    Ka, ignorant of his thoughts, pulled off the forearm guard from the Lizard Lord''s arm and held it up to Evan with a smile.


    [You needed this, didn''t you?]


    Evan silently epted the artifact, before petting her head and saying.


    "Way to go, girl."


    [Really, Master?]


    She spoke with a lightly exasperated tone but made zero intention to move his hand off her head. The two moved towards theirpanions, exhaustion filling their bones; more so for Evan who had used his BoD and Limit Breakbo.


    He snapped the forearm guard on his right arm, but just before he couldment on its appearance, Artemisia''s voice rang out in his head.


    |Evannn��...|


    "No fucking way!"


    The tone of her voice, and the way she dragged his name as she spoke, was enough for Evan to know something was up.


    Something about Bhak he had missed.


    There was still ''something he wasn''t expecting''.


    But then again, she was right.


    Bhak had stolen two skills using its Authority. The first; was me Rebirth.


    As for the Second?


    "Blessing of Destruction + Mesarthim + Harbinger of Ice.


    Elemental Destruction Fusion.


    Destruction Vortex."


    Evan had zero intentions of fucking around long enough to find out.


    **BOOMMMM!!!!!


    He blinked right above the monster''s body and mmed the focused whirling mass of energy on its chest, tearing apart its flesh, shredding its bones and ripping its internal organs to pieces.


    The boy did not care for the blood that sttered onto him, he just wanted to make sure it was ''deader than dead''.


    After stabbing Bhak''s heart with the de, he pulled out the sword and switched off the skillbo, before using his bare hand to grab onto Bhak''s heart and pull it out of its body.


    "That''s enough, right?"


    |��|


    The goddess was speechless.


    Even the ETOD who was watching this with popcorn beside her dropped the bucket of popcorn in surprise.


    |��yes. That''s enough. |

 Chapter 600 Energem Reclaimer

    Chapter 600 Energem Reimer


    ????????????


    |��yes. That''s enough. |


    Artemisa replied absentmindedly and Evan nodded, burning the heart in his hand to ashes with Mesarthim as a safety measure.


    It was then that he finally appraised the creature''s corpse and saw the second skill it had stolen.


    | Unique Skill: Second Life. |


    "This mother fucker wanted to be the next Yetu!"


    The boy''s series of actions and his sudden exmation left his party members all looking perplexed, with Eliza being the first to snap out of it and ask him what happened.


    "The monster had a Second Life and it was about to use it. I just damaged its body and soul to the point where the skill was rendered useless."


    Turning to Ka, he held up the forearm guard she had given him earlier and spoke.


    "Thanks for this again."


    He then looked at his hands, with the Doubler on his left and now the Energem Reimer (Recharger) on his right wrist, it was a wonder where he was going to fit his wristwatchfortably.


    |Energem Reimer (Recharger)


    Type; Magic Artifact.


    The result of an attempt by the first user of the ''Limit Break'' skill''s derivative; ''Overload'', to cheat their way out of repaying their energy debt to the World.


    Effect;


    In the event that a user owes the ''World'' an energy debt, this artifact consumes magic stones to pay back the energy on their behalf, so they can regenerate their energy normally as they would after a fight.


    Can amodate a maximum of five Magic Stones, regardless of quality.


    Automatically adjusts to fit the wearer. |


    Everything was the same as he expected, so he casually fished out five random grandmaster magic stones from his inventory and put them into the slots, after which he finally deactivated Limit Break.


    A sense of lethargy washed over his body, and in that same moment, one of the Magic Stones cracked in half.


    "Good, now I can use Limit Break without many issues."


    "No, you cannot."


    Eliza refuted his statement almost immediately, walking up to him and poking his chest with her hand coated in ether.


    "The strain caused by temporarily increasing your power by three-fold Is still there, much less when you stack it with BoD.


    Sure, you don''t have to pay the world back your energy debt, but you still owe your body some rest."


    Evan had to agree with her as he indeed felt strained, but this wasn''t too surprising since he stacked two power multiplication skills.


    Right after he thought that, the entire dungeon began trembling heavily, so much that the tremors affected those all the way at the other end of the Buffer Zone.


    Itsted close to a minute before stopping, and along with it was the flow of monsters outside the dungeon.


    "Anyway, we''ve dealt with the Giant Lizard here, and the Dungeon Break is stopped. After resting up a bit, we''d go pick up those guys we left on the 98th floor."


    Right after saying that, Evan opened up his inventory and then proceeded to pull out as many things as a family on a pic would need, even a refrigerator stuffed with cold strawberry drinks.


    Seeing this, his party members couldn''t help but shake their heads silently, but they still epted the chairs he offered them, as well as the food they had in there.


    After pushing Bhak''s corpse to a random corner of the room and freezing the scorched floor, the Anomalies had theirte lunch in the Boss Room.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Main City Square


    Sbireth


    Desert Country Tarse


    May 5th


    Year 1053


    "Da Ba Dee Da Ba Di��??"


    A purple-haired woman hummed to herself as she walked through the busy city streets, her hands in the pocket of her ck pair of shorts, on top of which she wore a white shirt and simrly coloured jacket.


    She had changed out of her previous outfit as that one was quite conspicuous and attracted a lot of attention in this part of the city.


    From the corner of her eyes, she spotted something on one of the roadside stalls, moving over to it with sparkling eyes as she murmured.


    "pretty��"


    "Ah! You like this one? It was made from a rare pearl.


    But I doubt this colour would fit you."


    The stall owner pulled out another ne with the same design, but a different coloured gemstone and held it up as he continued.


    "This one would be a better fit."


    She nced at the purple gemstone on the ne in the man''s hand before replying.


    "That''s indeed more my style, but I''m not buying for myself but for someone else, and pearls fit them more than amethysts."


    "Oh! You''re buying for a friend?"


    "Mhmm��"


    When she nodded in affirmation, the man picked up the ne she was originally looking at, before putting the two side by side and offering.


    "I''d give them both for one and half price, so you and your friend can match."


    Hearing this, the woman''s eyes seemed to gleam for a moment, and she nodded right after, epting his offer and paying him quickly.


    "Nice doing business with you."


    The man spoke as he gave her a case for the two nes, which she epted and ced into a small ck hole that manifested mid-air in the space beside her.


    Just as she was about to leave, the light of remembrance suddenly shed through her eyes as she asked.


    "I almost forgot. I''m kinda new here and I don''t really know my way around some ces.


    If someone wanted to travel to the Beast Kingdom, which way would they go?"


    "Beast Kingdom? That''d be down south. You have a long journey ahead of you."


    The man proceeded to tell her about the nearest station city where she could find a train heading south, after which she thanked him and went on her merry way.


    After she vanished into the crowd of people, the man silently rearranged his goods while muttering to himself.


    "Still, those were some pretty strange eyes she had there. X crosses in her eyes.


    Probably an adventurer with some weird eye skill"


    He shrugged and put that matter out of his mind, focusing on the next customer who came to patronize him.


    Meanwhile, the ''strange-eyed'' woman swiped a tourist pamphlet from a passing man and looked at the map in it as she spoke to herself.


    "So that''s where it is. Was it always that far down south? Did Kolvar decolonize some other territories in the past few years or something?


    I really need to start paying more attention to the happenings on the Alpha Continent."


    She scratched her head lightly while scanning the map with her eyes, trying to find a particr city.


    "Lacertilia��. Aha! There it is.


    The distance on this thing is not so urate though."


    Putting the pamphlet in her back pocket, she slid into a random alleyway and held up her fist.


    "Let''s go with 2000km first and see."


    With that statement, she covered her hand in spatial energy and punched the space in front of her, breaking open a spatial gate which she entered and disappeared beyond.


    Little by little, one of Evan''s greatest dreads was making their way towards Lacertilia.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    "�� really, Evan?"


    Eliza could not help but ask with a deadpan gaze as she sipped on her water bottle after finishing her meal.


    The reason for her question was the fact that Evan had suddenly gotten up from his seat, walked up to her, proceeded to lift her up and then sat her on hisp before hugging her from behind and resting his cheek on hers.


    He then carried on with his conversation with Pride, as if nothing serious happened, and the demon also ignored his actions like she didn''t even notice it.


    "I wish the monsters outside the dungeon would just disappear when you defeat the Boss, but sadly, that''s only the case in games.


    Reality doesn''t work that way so we''re gonna have to fight some more after getting out."


    "There''s also the ''Hidden Boss'' you''ve mentioned repeatedly."


    Pride''s words made Evan think back to his bad luck of always hitting that 25% chance every time he yed, frowning a bit as he replied.


    "Yeah��that guy."


    "Hidden Boss? That doesn''t sound too good."


    Eliza remarked after seeing Evan''s noticeably sour mood, leaning in on his chest and silently patting his head as if trying to cheer him up.


    "No shit, it''s not


    Don''t forget that Maude who we just sent packing isn''t the one in charge of the ''Lizard Lord''s Outbreak''.


    It''s supposed to be Seventh Kethryllia, and Maude was her assistant."


    Evan held up his two right fingers as he continued.


    "Maude''s Location has been ounted for, but since the beginning of all this, and despite how many demonic Hand members from the Seventh Division we encountered and killed while in the main city, there was no sign of Kethryllia or her contracted demon, Thagol."


    "You mean to say she''s with this Hidden Boss?"


    "99% sure."

 Chapter 601 Dungeon Core

    Chapter 601 Dungeon Core


    [So, we have to fight this other person, and then the Seventh Finger?]


    When Ka asked this, Evan looked at her with an incredulous gaze, as if he had just heard the most absurd thing in the universe.


    "Kethryllia is an Epic Level existence; someone even stronger than Dominik Vk at his peak."


    He ced a hand on his chin for a moment with a pensive look on his face before asking.


    "Did you guys hear about the news fromst year? Where one of the Elven Princesses fought some ''powerful monster'' that resulted in the destruction of the Dalburn Forest on the Beta Continent?"


    They all nodded when they heard his words, as the news of Abigail''s fight really blew up. For months, people spected what kind of monster Abigail had fought, and just how strong was it that the fight destroyed more than half of that massive forest that could swallow entire cities.


    "It wasn''t any ''powerful monster''. It was Kethryllia.


    If not for Zestari Herrera''s presence, then I fear to think about the oue of that battle. Kethryllia is an intermediate-stage Epic, after all."


    "Then what are we going to do? There''s no Epic Level currently in Lacertilia."


    Eliza questioned in a voice filled with concern, while Pride sunk into her thoughts momentarily before asking.


    "You said the Beast Kingdom''s Princess is nearby, right?"


    "She is, with a Living Legend. However, the Demonic Hand has changed things up so even a Living Legend can''t do anything to the barrier.


    One of Aidos'' Sovereigns is gonna have toe here."


    The Beast Kingdom had multiple Sovereign Realm existences within their borders, but most of them were subordinates of the Beast King Kolvar.


    If one wanted to move them, then either Kolvar had to give the order, or a member of the Royal Family did so.


    Hence, the reason Evan wanted Princess Mya to call for one, otherwise, they''d be trapped inside the World Istion barrier with Kethryllia and Thagol.


    Given the speed of Sovereign level existences, it wasn''t going to be hard for them to get to Lacertilia from wherever they were.


    "So if Princess Mya brings a Sovereign, they can break the barrier?"


    "Bingo."


    "And kill Kethryllia too?"


    "��"


    Evan answered Eliza''s first question normally but went silent after the second.


    At that moment, all of hispanions turned their gazes towards him with narrowed eyes. Even Kuro who was half asleep on the floor also woke up to look at him.


    Eliza got up from hisp and turned around, cing her arms on both sides of his body, effectively trapping him in his seat as she spoke with a t voice.


    "Evan, exin."


    Seeing this, Evan let out an exasperated sigh, momentarily thinking it''d have been better for him to have just lied to them.


    "No matter what happens today, no matter how much of the Demonic Hand''s ns we wreck, no matter how many hundreds of thousands of monsters get ughtered.


    Kethryllia Keasatra will NOT die today."


    He spoke with so much conviction, as if it was a done deal.


    "What do you mean by that?"


    "Exactly what I said. It is impossible for us to ensure Kethryllia''s death, even if a Beast Kingdom Sovereign-level existence came here."


    "And why is that?"


    When Pride asked this, Evan turned his gaze to her and asked her a question that was seemingly totally unrted to the current situation.


    "You''re the oldest of the Seven, right?"


    "Yes. What does that have to do with this?"


    Evan didn''t answer her question and instead asked another.


    "Who''s the youngest?"


    "��"


    The demon went silent for a moment, but after looking right at Evan''s eyes, she answered.


    "Lust."


    "Good. So imagine if Lust was an Epic Level existence, in a situation where she could have a��"


    **DING!


    "Huh?"


    A sound rang out in Evan''s head, cutting him off mid-speech. Simultaneously, he felt something tugging at his connection to the World, making his Mystic''s Eyes react strangely.


    He pushed Eliza away and held his hand up to his chest.


    "�� What��was that?"


    An expression of genuine confusion appeared on the boy''s face, and before he could even say anything else, he felt the strange tug on him again.


    This time, he was able to identify the supposed source of the feeling, getting up and moving towards the wall of the Boss Room, behind the Altar that Bhak was on originally.


    He ignored hispanions calling out to him and held his palm out, pressing it on the wall while his mind scanned through the system archive.


    Unfortunately, he did not find anything like what he was looking for, a frowning onto his face as he changed his approach.


    This time, he delved ''into'' his Hero Title, at its connection to Aidos with his eyes closed.


    He went silent for a moment, reopening his eyes after and muttering softly.


    "Activate Hero Authority."


    A series of Crimson Gold lines manifested on his outstretched hands, forming a pattern that simultaneously looked like a circuit and a system of veins.


    Evan''s golden energy mixed with the Destructive Energy Circuit''s crimson red flowed into the wall, causing a line of light to appear in the middle of the wall.


    The line traced the outline of a simple door, opening up to reveal a room behind the wall.


    When he looked inside said room, there was a massive orb of energy floating in the middle, with awork of fleshy ''wires'' that looked to be ''alive'' connecting it to the ground and ceiling.


    They pulsated with energy, releasing a rhythmic thumping sound like the beating of a heart.


    Evan walked up to the orb in the centre, and the strange feeling he had intensified the closer he got.


    ''Is it this��''


    He reached out a hand to touch it, but just when he was merely a few centimetres away, Artemisia''s direct voice rang out in his head.


    [I wouldn''t do that if I were you.]


    Hearing her voice snapped Evan back to reality, and he quickly moved his hand away from the orb.


    [If you wish your brain to be overloaded with all the information contained in the existential records of every single monster IN and FROM this dungeon, then go ahead.]


    Evan felt cold sweat run down his back when he heard that.


    Though there were over a hundred thousand monsters outside, Evan knew that number wasn''t even up to half of the monsters in the dungeon.


    "No, thank you."


    "Evan, what the heck is this?"


    Hearing Eliza''s question, the boy put aside the strange tug he felt from the dungeon core for a moment in favour of answering her.


    "It''s the dungeon core. Touching it, however, would��"


    "��overload your brain with so much information it''d liquefy and flow out from your ears."


    Pridepleted his answer as she looked at the structure in front of her with familiarity. Only she knew just how many times she had destroyed simr structures in the past, and the chaos that ensued with their destruction.


    Dungeons were glorified monster traps, and If the trap''s core was destroyed��the results were mostly the undesirable kind.


    As for Evan, he looked back at the Dungeon Core with narrowed eyes, wondering just what on Aidos was trying to pull him towards it.


    It was a strange feeling that he could not understand fully, and when he asked Artemisia about it, the goddess reacted with confusion as she did not understand what he was talking about.


    "Is something wrong, Evan?"


    "Well, I would not say something isn''t, but I can''t find what is."


    Evan shook his head as he replied to Eliza, before suggesting that they leave the room and prepare to return to the surface.


    However, just as he was about to leave, Evan''s hand brushed against one of the tube-like wires.


    [��not time yet��]


    An indistinct image of someone with white hair shed through his mind, together with that unfamiliar voice.


    He turned around immediately and looked around, but he neither saw nor sensed anyone in the area.


    And what''s more, the strange feeling he was having had ceasedpletely like it was never there.


    "Okay, this ce is giving me horror movie vibes."


    With that statement, Evan quickly left the room and let the door close back up.

 Chapter 602 Rejoining the fray

    Chapter 602 Rejoining the fray


    After packing up their stuff back into Evan''s inventory, the group then left the Boss Room and headed back to the 98th floor.


    However, the journey was a bit strange, especially since Evan was very silent all through, not making any silly quips even though they encountered another bootleg Ghidorah.


    That was enough for them to know something was up with the teenage hero, but when asked, it turned out that even he wasn''t too sure of things.


    The voice and the image he saw when he identally touched that tube-like wire in the Dungeon core room; Evan was still pondering on it a dozen minutester.


    The whole situation felt strange, and even though he had asked Artemisia multiple times about it, the woman did not seem to have any clues regarding what he was talking about.


    He could almost imagine the look of confusion on her face.


    Eventually, the boy had no choice but to put the matter aside and focus on the more important one, dealing with the Hidden Boss that was definitely gonna be outside.


    A part of him didn''t want to be present when it appeared, but knowing that its appearance would result in the loss of valuablebat power, Evan knew he had to be present to prevent that.


    With those thoughts in his mind, he asked Artemisia to open the monster room where the other S rankers were trapped.


    "Well, hello there!"


    "?!"


    "You!!"


    "Why ar-?! Don''t tell me you went to the boss room!


    "Where the heck were you guys?!"


    In response to the questions of the S ranker group, Evan, seated on a void step, tossed the corpse of the Lizard Lord Bhak in front of them and spoke.


    "Killing this guy."


    The sight of the mutted corpse of what was clearly a Peak Grandmaster beast silenced them all. Their gazes alternated between Evan''s party and the corpse on the ground, and when they remembered the fact that the dungeon had trembled slightly earlier, it dawned on them that the Anomalies had really killed the boss on their own.


    "Now that we''re done with this Giant Lizard, shall we get the fuck outta here?"


    He let the corpse fall into his inventory before turning around, muttering something about there ''not being dungeon teleporters like there were in a game''.


    Some of the S rankers who were still in disbelief wanted to go to the Boss Room to confirm that the Lizard Lord was indeed defeated, and Evan let them go on their own, taking the rest back to the surface with him.


    While he moved, he looked at his status and noticed that he now had an ''S- level 1'' stat, something that he recalled wasn''t supposed to be possible till he became a grandmaster.


    Pride who was beside him, noticed this and voiced her confusion.


    "Our limits in our current state should be ''A+ Level 100''. Our base stats should not be able to go above that."


    "Limits? Perhaps��"


    The word ''limit'' struck a chord with Eliza and she looked at Evan, pointing her hand to his new forearm guard as she spoke.


    "Your skill, ''Limit Break'' was active when you killed that Lizard, right? Perhaps, that limit of A+ was broken in that moment?"


    Her conjecture had Evan and Pride looking at her in silence, and then at each other, before nodding.


    "That''s probably it, right?"


    "Definitely it."


    The two agreed with her idea, as it was the most usible exnation for the current situation.


    "Limit Break is Broken."


    [No shit, Evan.]


    The boy chuckled lightly when he heard Artemisia''s voice, before suddenly kicking off the ground and zooming up to the dungeon entrance in the distance.


    "Wow��just wow."


    That was all that escaped Evan''s lips as he emerged from the dungeon into utter chaos.


    The buffer zone was now a stage for a disy of the highest form of violence��a warzone where monsters shed with Lacertilia''s defenders.


    Tens of thousands of creatures attacked indiscriminately, met with the resistance of soldiers, adventurers, mercenaries, mages, and knights.


    Magic spells and aura techniques illuminated the sky, tearing through the earth with destructive force, and the air was thick with the stench of battle.


    Not a moment passed when at least one body did not drop to the ground dead.


    In one part of the tumultuous battlefield, a toon of soldiers faced a Level 380 three-headed hydra. The monstrous creature towered over them, its heads snapping and hissing while releasing breaths of green mes and poison.


    Through seamless cooperation, the soldiers skilfully manoeuvred around the hydra''s attacks. Working as one, they exploited its blind spots, distracting it while others struck precise blows. With tactical precision and coordinated strikes, they eventually overcame the hydra, each head copsing in a gruesome defeat.


    But this scene of victory was not what could be seen everywhere.


    On another front, a wyvern wreaked havoc, mercilessly ughtering an entire party of B and A-rank adventurers.


    With swift and brutal movements, the wyvern tore heads off with its jaws and cleaved bodies in two with its razor-sharp ws.


    The poor party had been surrounded, overwhelmed by monsters on all sides, and just when they were barely handling that, the wyvern joined the fray.


    In a moment of desperation, the A ranker mage summoned all of his magic power and summoned a giant spear of fire, bringing it down on the wyvern.


    It pierced its back, bursting out from its chest along with its heart.


    The wyvern, now fatally wounded, spasmed before copsing to the ground and, the fiery explosion that followed incinerated everything within a 500-meter radius, leaving behind a scorched aftermath with charred, unrecognizable bodies.


    The only survivor was the A ranker who was simply durable enough to withstand the explosion, but even he was not in the state forbat anymore.


    He would have perished soon enough If the summoned golem from another mage had not swooped in and rescued him.


    Evan felt like he was watching a scene cut right out of a monster movie, as he saw the giant golems fighting with giant Lizardmen like the ones Bhak had summoned during the Boss battle.


    "Welp, you guys go report that WE defeated the Lizard Lord. While WE would join the fray and help clean up the monsters."


    The boy ced a lot of emphasis on the ''WE'' part, as he didn''t want there to be any assumptions that the Anomalies had external help in defeating Bhak.


    As much as he''d have liked to go to make the report himself, he had to begin searching for the Hidden Boss'' target; quite a chore on a battlefield as vast as this.


    The moment he spoke, he kicked off the ground and jumped into the air, kicking off consecutive void steps to maintain his altitude as he blitzed towards one of the giant Lizardmen.


    Summoning the unforged right into his hands, he encased it in his golden aura and thrust it at the creature''s head while activating a skill.


    "Vortex."


    The spiralling mass of aura shredded the monster''s scales apart and did the same to its flesh and then the bone underneath; sessfully deleting its head from existence.


    Hended on the shoulder of the golem who was fighting it, looking right at the mage standing beside it and spoke.


    "You''re wee."


    Without further ado, he boosted forward, with enough force that the golem''s body dipped to one side for a moment, moving on to the other giant Lizardman andnding on its head.


    However, he did not attack this one, as someone else already had their sights on it.


    A massive shadow was cast over the ground as a humanoid upper body construct of strange energy that made one feel the sudden urge to ''hold money'' appeared, wielding a giant great sword which it pierced through the back of the Lizard man and stabbed into the three-headed hydra on the ground.


    "You missed the wyvern."

 Chapter 603 Hidden Boss

    Chapter 603 Hidden Boss


    "You missed the wyvern."


    Evan remarked as he held up his palm and was about to fire an energy st, only for a dozen humanoid constructs of energy to appear on the dead lizardman he was standing on, andunch a volley of greed energy arrows that perforated holes in the wyvern who had barely dodged the giant sword that impaled the Lizardman and Hydra.


    Seeing this, Evan shrugged and retracted his energy, watching as the Covetous Archers jumped off and continued firing arrows at various other enemies.


    Left alone on the head of the dead Lizardman, Evan looked over the battlefield with a hint of awe in his expression.


    [Evan.]


    Artemisia''s voice rang out in his head, and from her tone, he knew exactly what she wanted to say without her having to say it.


    "I understand."


    ''Get ready, guys. It''s close.''


    His contracted spirits/demon received the message he sent through their connection, each one tensing up lightly from the tone of seriousness he spoke with.


    "Now then��"


    One thing about the Hidden Boss was that regardless of how strong it was, it always used its concealment ability that was as good as Evan''s to ''disappear'' and execute a sneak attack first.


    In the game, regardless of how many detection buffs, skills, mods, or artifacts the yer equipped; even if they were a Level 1000 yer��detecting the Hidden Boss before it executes its first attack was impossible.


    However, this didn''t pose much of a problem to yers after the game''s first few months of service.


    Though it took a while because of its 25% chance of appearance, yers��mostly Evan who was attacked the most��figured out its attack behaviour.


    The target of its initial sneak attack was always the highest-level entity on the battlefield.


    In the game, this was either the yer or their six support characters. Whichever one had the highest ''Level'' was the one attacked first.


    So applying that to reality, the highest-level person in the Buffer Zone was the monster''s target.


    Just that there was one simple problem.


    "How the heck am I supposed to find who that is among this��?"


    This was a battlefield with over a hundred thousand existences on it, finding that highest level person was nigh impossible.


    The adventurers Evan had gone into the dungeon with were all between 430-440 so it could not be them.


    Evan''s pupils darted around rapidly in his eyes, and his appraisal skill rune was shining brightly on his soul as he appraised every single grandmaster-level source of energy he detected.


    Hyper cognition was activated, so within a second, he had scanned multiple adventurer''s levels and had moved on from them.


    A wyvern tried attacking him from behind, but he just stretched out his left hand and fired three consecutive energy sts to its wings and head, killing the creature.


    There was a second that aimed tounch a pincer attack on him with the first, but before Evan could take action, Amy appeared and sliced it in half with a ming sword, before descending once more and torching hundreds of lizardmen.


    ''Little help here, Artemisia.''


    [Your 5''oclock.]


    Evan turned to the direction she called out, singling out the highest energy source and scanning them to see a Level of 445.


    A dinosaur-looking monster was charging right at the person in question, and Evan locked onto it before blinking, appearing right above its head and stabbing his sword into the back of its skull.


    "Burn."


    Prismatic mes engulfed the monster''s body and it let out agonizing wails that scared the other nearby monsters, making them flee in terror.


    ''Is there anyone else?''


    He nced at themand centre''s direction and used Farsight, appraising those there and seeing that the highest was 444.


    It was only a one-level difference, but that one level was the fine line between the one to be attacked, and the one not to be attacked.


    Evan kept looking around, about to ce a magic power mark on the Level 445 he just saw to know his position and then left to check other parts of the battlefield when it happened.


    He was in a hypercognitive state, so though it felt like a while, it only took an instant.


    Evan''s eyes widened in shock, cold sweat washed over his entire body, his heart started thumping rapidly and all his survival instincts kicked in.


    As stated before, the highest-level person was usually the Hidden Boss'' target.


    But in that one second, Evan could say with 100% conviction that things were not going to turn out like they did in the game.


    The rms Danger Sense was ring in his head were all the proof he needed to know.


    He turned to the side and grabbed the arm of the Level 445, activating a skill in that same second.


    However��


    *SLAP!


    ��Evan''s hand was quickly pped away.


    The S ranker could not be med.


    It was a battlefield; if anyone randomly grabbed you in such a ce, your first reaction would usually be to shake them off.


    You would not know if it''s an enemy or an ally, after all.


    That was a good reaction for an S rank of his level.


    Unfortunately, in this case, it may have been better for his reaction to not be so good.


    Even if it was dyed for even half a second, then it would have been all right.


    Evan had already activated his skill; Blink. So, the moment that man pped Evan''s hand off his body, the boy was warped through space.


    In the first half of the second, Evan''s body vanished through space.


    In the second half of the second, the S ranker finally noticed something, but it was toote.


    ***CHOMPPP!!


    A gigantic maw appeared above the man''s head, chomping down on his body as the razor-sharp fangs pierced through his body''s defensive energyyer.


    The force behind them, coupled with the energy of a World Law that coated each individual fang enabled them to pierce through his S Rank durability stat, pierce through his flesh, and with a strong pull, ripped apart his upper half from the rest of his body.


    **SQUELCH!


    Crimson arcs adorned the air as the man''s body was divided in two, painting the surroundings in a grotesque ballet of sttering blood.


    Drops of vivid red descended like a macabre rain, staining the ground in the aftermath of this gruesome scene.


    Intestines spilt out, and bone fragments and broken human ribs fell to the ground atop the pool of blood.


    **PTUH!!


    [Bitter.]


    That deep voice rang out, carrying in it a hint of disgust as the upper body of the now deceased S ranker was spat out on the ground.


    A certain person had said that the next time she saw Evan, she was going to stuff him down the throat of a Lizard.


    Well, it wasn''t a Lizard per se, but it was close; so it could be said that she had seen through with her word.


    Evannded on the ground a few metres away, breathing heavily as he saw the lower half of the adventurer fall into a pool of his own blood.


    For a moment, silence reigned across the battlefield.


    Adventurers were silent.


    Knights were silent.


    The newly arriving soldiers of the Beast Kingdom were silent.


    The SS, SSS and Living Legend adventurers watching from outside the barrier were silent.


    Even the monsters from the dungeon who were attacking indiscriminately all stopped moving.


    [It seemed there was some truth to that woman''s words�� you''re quite sharp, human.]


    White.


    It was White.


    That was the best way to describe it.


    Pristine scales, so white it seemed almost holy.


    Arge body that dwarfed everyone on the battlefield, razor-sharp ws that could cut through buildings like paper.


    A spiked tail that pierced through the hearts of three B rankers, ending their lives before flinging their corpses on the floor like dirty rags.


    Its pair of powerful wings unfurled, casting a shadow on the ground, while its ice-blue eyes observed the surroundings with a regal demeanour.


    ''Wars and Giant Lizards.''


    If the Lizard Lord; Bhak, was the first ''Giant Lizard''.


    Then this guy was the second.


    The Hidden Boss of the ''Lizard Lord''s Outbreak''.


    High White Dragon Faldo.

 Chapter 604 Faldo

    Chapter 604 Faldo


    Faldo


    A High Dragon.


    Just like High Elves were superior to Normal Elves, High Dragons were leagues above normal dragons.


    And to make matters worse, Faldo was just like Evan.


    An Irregr with an ''Undefined'' level.


    That''s one hell of a character to be a hidden boss, innit?


    **THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP!


    Evan''s heart was beating louder than it ever had, his breaths heavy as he stared at the severed lower body of the adventurer who was standing beside him.


    ''If I was even a secondte��!''


    The boy dreaded to think of what would have happened if he was a secondte in activating Blink, especially as he didn''t have BoD active.


    Just as his erratic heartbeats began calming down, he sensed a gaze on him from afar, turning to lock eyes with that of a red-haired woman whose appearance couldn''t be any more familiar.


    ''Kethryllia!''


    The instant he saw her, everything fell into ce.


    The reason why he, and not the ''highest levelled person'' was the dragon''s first target.


    It was Kethryllia who had told the dragon to attack him instead. I mean, it made a lot of sense when you considered how much of a menace to the Demonic Hand he was.


    Enough to make her want to stuff him down a Lizard''s throat. And she almost seeded too.


    ''This is bad.''


    Evan needed his BoD + Limit Breakbo to handle this Dragon. Kethryllia being here as well, might as well be a death sentence.


    ''The Beast Kingdom''s soldiers are here, but no Sovereign��''


    The boy was racking his brain on how to deal with the Demonic Hand executive, but contrary to his expectations, the woman only red at him from afar, before turning around and disappearing into Lacertilia.


    ''Why? It''s a perfect opportunity for her to take me out if she want-?!''


    In his hypercognitive state, his mind fished out the answer before he could even finish questioning it.


    From a memory of his, a memory of Aidos Online.


    ''She wants to reduce the level limit for the barrier!!''


    He arrived at the correct conclusion immediately, but he could not do too much about it, as he had a White Dragon Raid Boss to deal with.


    [You seem distracted, Irregr Hero. That''s not wise.]


    "?!"


    [Dragon Breath.]


    ''Elemental Sheild!''


    "Divergent Wards!"


    **BOOOMMMMM!!!!


    ''Perhaps this was how one would feel getting hit by a dump truck?''


    Evan pondered this as his body crashed against a building wall, sted out and hit another behind it.


    The building''s foundations crumbled due to the force of hisnding, and it didn''t take seconds for the whole thing toe crumbling down on him.


    Thanks to his and Eliza''s quick reactions, Faldo''s short breath did not damage him, but the knockback from it was enough to send him flying all the way from the buffer zone, and straight into the main city.


    Thankfully, he crashed into a building that reduced his momentum, so he wasn''t sent flying too far in, just a few hundred metres from the buffer zone.


    As for the building that copsed on him? That was negligible.


    Evan could currently have a certain 102-floor skyscraper copse on him ande out with barely a scratch. That A+ durability stat wasn''t there for fancy.


    The boy emerged from the building''s ruins, waving his hand to clear away the dust covering him before looking up to see Faldo perched atop the roof of the first building he fell through.


    [You''re quite sturdy, so am I.


    Or at least, that''s what my previous opponents told me before I annihted their souls.]


    Faldo wasn''t just talking big; the dragon could really ''Annihte'' people''s souls the same way Evan could ''destroy'' them.


    And that was what made him very dangerous.


    Even as he spoke, his tail was waving about so fast it seemed like a blur, smacking down projectiles of all elements that were fired at him by the S rankers behind him.


    Seeing this, Evan remembered when Artemisia told him of a year ago that he would not survive a tail flick from Faldo, and the boy couldn''t help but agree.


    ''Certainly, me at that time could in no way, deal with a tail flick that can flick apart Tier 3 magic casually.''


    As he thought that, Faldo''s tail smacked a giant ming spear that Evan recognized as ''mebourne''s revenge'', breaking it in two, before going on to send a ''Grand Fireball'' back to its caster.


    This excludes the part where he hijacked the Grand Fireball and turned the mes white in the short instant it touched his tail.


    **BOOMMM!!!


    Faldo momentarily nced at the explosion in the back, and the cloud of smoke it sent up into the sky, drawing a three-ringed darkness magic circle with his tail and firing the spell into it.


    Screams of pain and agony rang out from within the smoke, and some of the presences there disappeared, making Faldo lose interest as he turned back to Evan and his party.


    The dragon looked at the icy mist that had surrounded his body, sighed as he pped his wings to clear it up and spoke.


    [Mind telling the spirit to stop? It''s not going to work.]


    Faldo had long noticed Milena''s attempt to mix her icy mist in with the dust from the destroyed buildings around them and had blown it away.


    While he was speaking, Evan appraised him and made the status tab visible for all his party members, so they could see the stats and skills of the opponent in front of them.


    |Name- Faldo


    Race- High White Dragon


    Gender- Male


    Age- 45


    Level- Undefined


    Existence Level - Grandmaster (Superior)


    Titles- Irregr, Disciple of Annihtion, Prime Annihtor, Frosty Inferno, The Banished, me Scourge, Ethereal Frostwing, Luminary Pyromancer.


    ss - Radiant PyroIce Annihtor.


    Health �C S+


    Energy - SS-


    Strength �C S+


    Agility �C S+


    Durability �C S+


    Intelligence - SS-


    Condition- Normal.


    Magic Tiers- White Fire Tier 4, Ice Tier 3, Darkness Tier 2, Metal Tier 3, Earth Tier 2, Light Tier 4.


    Skills- Imperial Scales, Lethe, Tail Flick, Skywrath, Molten Frostbite, Luminous Blizzard, Energy Efficiency, Rapid Recovery, Sturdy, Annihtion Enhancement, Metallic Quake, Iron Body, Metallic Tempest, zing Hailstorm, Frozen Inferno.


    Unique Skills- Annihilus Ascendance, Breath of Annihtion|


    "Is having a ton of skills something you Irregrs fancy or what?"


    Eliza couldn''t help but ask that as she saw the skill tab in front of her. When she looked a bit lower, she found the source of the very familiar feeling she had been getting ever since Faldo appeared.


    ''Last time it was Domnik Vk with a ''Child'' skill, now this guy has a ''Breath'' skill. Why the heck do we keep running into opponents with series skills?''


    The girl questioned internally as her grip on the Radiant Codex in her hand tightened. Her support magic skill had been on overdrive since she was currently preparing what she could say was the greatest set of buffs she''d ever used in her whole life.


    Evan Faldo was momentarily dumbfounded when he sensed the sheer amount of ether rapidly concentrating on the Radiant Codex.


    He certainly wanted to attack her and stop her from doing whatever it was she was doing, but Greed and Pride stood in front of her protectively, while Ka in her full Spirit Raiment hovered in the air behind her.


    Faldo gave up on attacking her since they were very much on guard, but if the dragon could hear her thoughts, then he would definitely rethink that decision.


    ''Physical Damage-Up + Physical Breach-Up + Keen Weapon + Mighty Arm + Boon of Enhanced Assaults + Charge of Bolstered Binding.


    Elemental Damage-Up + Elemental Breach-Up + Tri-Elemental Boost [me, Ice, Earth] + Magic Boost + Magic Resistance Negation.


    Enchant: Life + Greater Vitality + Stout Guardian + Shallow Grave + Tenacity + Resilience Infusion + Vitality Surge + Invigorate.


    Greater Resistance + Magic Ward::Elemental Ward [me, Ice, Light] + Energy Ward + Greater Magic Resistance��


    ��


    ��''


    The girl''s head hurt as she stacked up so many buffs, but she did not relent and even consumed her Child of Life skill charges to enhance both the potency and the duration of the buffs.


    Against a dragon with those stats and skills, she wasn''t ready to take any chances.


    ''Support Magic: Grand Sextet Etheric Augmentation.''


    Just as she cast the spell, a four-ringed magic circle appeared around her arm, but it glitched and sinister green light tendrilsshed out at Eliza,pelling her to drop the Radiant Codex.


    Two of the spell''s rings broke, leaving two on the circle until activation.


    Evan wanted to turn around when he sensed this, but he also couldn''t afford to take his eyes off Faldo who was watching him closely.


    [Master, she''s fine. It''s just a trick for the dragon.]


    Kuro''s voice rang out in his head, and the content of his words made Evan have a bit of a hard time containing his surprise.


    At that same moment, he felt something circle around his arms and legs, underneath his clothes and right atop his skin.


    Eliza''s buffs manifested visually in the form of rings of light around the user''s body parts. And the type of buff dictated where it appeared.


    That was something the dragon would see, so she used her skill to move these rings of light and hide them under herpanions'' clothes.


    Only two rings of light appeared on their arms and legs, while the remaining four manifested under their clothes.

 Chapter 605 Annihilation vs Destruction

    <h4>Chapter 605 Annihtion vs Destruction</h4>


    [Hmm? I expected more from the Child of Life''s wielder, but it appears you can''t even properly judge how much you can handle.]


    From the words Faldo spoke, Eliza''s little n appeared to have worked. The dragon believed that most of the buffs she was umting energy for had failed��exactly what she wanted it to think.


    Evan only sighed when he saw this, summoning the Unforged into his hands and then started speaking as he slowly unsheathed the de.


    "Guys."


    Mesarthim''s prismatic mes engulfed the sword, and Faldo''s eyes widened as he instantly sensed the danger in them.


    Evan''s aura surged out from his body, cratering the ground under his feet as he continued.


    "We''re not holding anything back on this one. We''re up against someone like me when I''m in BoD, try your best to avoid getting hit."


    His sword''s sheath fell into his inventory as he took a stance with the de pointed forward.


    "All Out, from the very��"


    He took a step forward.


    "��beginning."


    By the time the sound of his word reached Faldo''s ears, the boy was already beside the dragon with his sword raised high.


    "Blessing of Destruction."


    [Annihilus Ascendance.]


    **BOOOOMMM!!!


    The building Faldo was on vaporized in an instant. Clouds of smoke billowed outward, trailing behind the shockwaves that rippled outward omnidirectionally.


    The S rankers who wereing to the area after assembling themselves were all blown backwards.


    When the dust from the explosion finally cleared up, the sight of Evan''s sword and Faldo''s ws locked in a contest of strength was revealed.


    Evan''s sword had a reddish-gold aura surrounding it, and Faldo''s ws were coated in a whitish-red one.


    Both of them had ''Red'' in their auras.


    The ''Red'' of World Laws.


    Among the numerous World Laws, there were three that excelled the most when it came to ''destruction''.


    PERMANENT destruction.


    The kind that ended the opponent''s existencepletely.


    One of them was the Law of ''Destruction'' whose essence Evan could channel using his BoD skill.


    And the second, was the Law of ''Annihtion'' whose essence Faldo could channel using his Annihilus Ascendance and Breath of Annihtion skills.


    Evan knew he would not win in a contest of strength with the dragon, so he sought to quickly end it. He sent a surge of magic power up his right arm, engulfing it in Mesarthim''s mes as he pulled back and let go of his sword.


    "Brachium."


    **BOOMM!!!


    He punched back with all his strength, generating enough force and explosive power that Faldo''s body was knocked back into the air.


    The dragon regained his bnce pretty quickly, only to notice that a massive shadow had been cast on his form from above.


    [?]


    He saw a giant ball of crimson gold ice descending from above, threatening to crash down on his head.


    ''No regard for the other adventurers who''d get caught up in the st? Guess I can''t use the hostage strategy with them then.''


    That thought filtered through Faldo''s mind as he opened his mouth slightly. A cloud of white mes surrounded his maw and he looked up before firing the mes as a beam of light that sted the giant ice meteor to bits.


    Countless shards of ice and mes rained down from above, forcing the nearby adventurers to scamper away to avoid being hit by anything containing those scary ''red'' energies that gave them chills just looking.


    Faldo paid them no mind, instead focusing on using his energy to destroy the rose of mes that suddenly bloomed on the side of his face, but he wasn''t fast enough.


    Evan suddenly appeared beside him with his arm pulled back, and crimson gold lightning crackling around the entire limb.


    "Limit Break."


    The boy''s aura suddenly tripled in intensity and power, enough that Faldo instinctively tried to back away, but the real attack came before he could.


    "Fracture!"


    **BAAAAMMM!!!


    Evan''s fist connected with the dragon''s head, resulting in another explosive spectacle that turned the earth under them to dust.


    Faldo''s body wasunched into the air from the force generated when the energy shed back, and while airborne, twelve humanoid constructs of energy appeared around him and fired arrows at random parts of his body.


    [?!]


    His eyes shot open when the arrows touched him, instantly flipping around while releasing a wave of white mes that turned the archers to ashes as hended on the ground.


    ''My strength is fading? This effect��the demon of greed.''


    The dragon quickly located the demon and was about to charge in, but he suddenly sensed a presence materialized above his head, a fraction of a second before a drop kick smacked it down into the ground.


    "Flower Cannon."


    A beam of concentrated magic power pierced through the air, beelining straight for his back, but before it hit its mark, Faldo''s scales glowed lightly and an illusory set of scales manifested above his normal ones.


    The Flower cannon hit its mark, but when the dust cleared up, the dragon''s unscathed form was shown for all to see.


    His open jaws coated in his whitish-red aura threatened to snap shut on the demon who had drop-kicked him earlier, but she quickly jumped away and avoided getting hit.


    Faldo then pped his wings and took to the skies, avoiding Evan''s de cannons that crashed down there a momentter.


    [This is greater than what they told me I was to handle.


    The Essence of thew of Destruction, Life, Lightning��]


    Narrowing his eyes at Ka, the dragon continued with a questioning voice.


    [��and a hint of space?]


    Ka barely held in her urge to curse out at him, quickly ncing at Evan and noticing the boy''s attention was fully on the dragon.


    "You talk too much."


    [I know. zing Hailstorm.]


    The sky above the dragon was charged with his powerful magic, unleashing a multitude of hailstones engulfed in white mes.


    The lethalbination of freezing and burning projectilesid waste to everything within a 500-metre radius, even felling some unlucky adventurers who were hit in the head by the baseball-sized hailstones.


    [Skywra-!]


    Faldo was about to follow up with another skill, but Greed''s partial Incarnation avatar manifested behind him and seized his tail, pulling him out of the sky and flinging his body down, right into the middle of the buffer zone.


    The impact was so intense that the dragon''s body rebounded into the air, squashing dozens of Lizardmen and other monsters, along with a few unlucky adventurers to bits.


    A wave of darkness surged up around him and washed over his body, followed by shadowy tendrils that wrapped around every single limb and appendage of his and pinned them to the ground.


    "Domain of Life! Life Energy Draining prison."


    Eliza pulled out all the stops, creating the do-decagonal prison of green light that started raining away the dragon''s freakish vitality.


    In that same instant, Evan blinked right in front of Faldo, a pir of prismatic mes surging up from his sword which he held overhead.


    Pride blitzed in from the right, her weapon coated in her signature ck demonic energy mes, while Greed turned his idiosyncrasy up to the max as he swung down his giant great sword coated in earth-attributed demonic energy.


    In a synchronized assault with the trio, Ka activated her pseudo-authority and called down a beam of pure lightning energy that crashed right onto the dragon.


    [Imperial Scales! Inferno Aura!]


    ***KAAABOOOMMMMMM!!!!!


    Thebined force of these attacks colliding with Faldo''s desperate defensive attempt culminated in a thunderous explosion that shook the battlefield.


    A blinding light enveloped the area, casting shadows aside; shockwaves rippled through the air, leaving a resonating pulse in their wake.


    Even those who were outside the barrier watching all of this felt the shaking from the explosion, a result of the full-powered attacks of four nonstandard existences.


    Not a single living thing that was in the area around them survived, having been instantly turned to ashes by the mes.


    "Tsk! Back away!"


    Evan''s voice rang out and the demon siblings didn''t hesitate toply with his words, quickly jumping back out just in time to avoid the beam of white light that pierced out from the smoke.


    **WOONNGGG!!!


    The concentrated beam of white-red energy tore through the earth, sliced fleeing wyverns into two as it went on to pierce the clouds.


    [GRROOAAAARRR!!!!]


    Faldo''s enraged roar rang out as a wave of white mes spread out from where the dragon was, preceding the activation of two of his skills.


    ''Annihilus Aegis!''


    The first stage of his Annihilus Ascendance was activated; encasing his scales in a thin glow that granted him enhanced physical attributes, resistance and a minor boost to his breath attacks.


    And just as Evan could coat his body with Destruction essence in his ''1st Activation'', Faldo could also do the same.


    [Wyverns! The lightning and fire spirits, keep them upied!]


    Faldo gave out amand that all the wyverns on the battlefield obeyed without question. They let out roars as they ignored their previous opponents and beelined straight towards Ka and Amy while charging breaths of fire, ice and poison.


    ''Molten Frostbite!''


    The elements of fire and ice werebined together in the dragon''s maw, before being unleashed as a breath of paradoxical mes that seared through the air, leaving behind a trail of scorched earth as they beelined straight for Evan.


    It took even just one second to consider his position and how many hundreds of adventurers would be instantly turned to frozen ashes if he evaded with blink.


    ''Vindiction''s Strike!''

 Chapter 606 Dance of Elements

    <h4>Chapter 606 Dance of Elements</h4>


    Evan opted for a confrontation instead of retreat, sending a beam of Mesarthim''s mes barrelling forward to meet the icy mes heading straight for him.


    However, that wasn''t the only attack Faldo unleashed.


    Countless orbs of light manifested in the air around them, numbering in the hundreds and from each one, a beam of concentrated crimson light was unleashed.


    This indiscriminate attack imed the lives of both monsters and soldiers alike, with mages doing their all to create barriers to block them.


    But the ''red'' annihtionw energy in Faldo''s attacks made all those efforts futile.


    ''Elemental Weapon Projection''


    Evan, aided by the ''red'' of destruction, used his projected weapon constructs to shoot down all the orbs of light and save the lives of countless, leaving the observers on the other end of the barrier confused as to why the orbs were destroyed when Evan tried, but not when the other adventurers and soldiers did the same.


    [White Inferno Burst! Eclipsed Shadows! Metallic Meteor!]


    Faldo showed the world why Dragons were reputed for their magic prowess, releasing three tier 3 offensive magic spells in one breath.


    An intense omnidirectional burst of white mes was unleashed from his being, creating a widespread congration that burned everything on its way to Evan, Pride and Greed''s positions.


    Simultaneously, dark shadows with energy-draining effects were conjured around their feet, wrapping around their bodies while the clouds parted to reveal a gigantic meteor of spike iron that hurtled to the ground at breakneck speed.


    Not even half a second passed when the shadows on their feet were violently ripped apart by a certain annoyed cat, while his fellow spirit of the water attribute released a deluging flood that pushed back the white mes.


    As for the meteor casting its shadow over the battlefield as it crashed down on them, Evan infused the unforged with his prismatic mes, letting them surge skyward as he brought the de down on the looming meteor.


    **BOOMM!!!


    The sh between the fiery sh and the metallic mass sent shockwaves through the air as the meteor was sted to pieces.


    Fragments of molten metal rained down on the battlefield, scorching the ground where theynded, but everyone watching could agree that this was much better than letting that meteor hit the ground.


    [cial Spires]


    Faldo did not give them any resting time, summoning countless towering spires of ice that emerged from the ground, intent on impaling and freezing enemies in the vicinity.


    Evan redirected his prismatic mes to the ground and used them to melt the ice, while Pride and Greed took simr actions with their own energies.


    [Crimson Phoenix ze]


    The dragon then summoned a majestic phoenix engulfed in white mes that soared through the air, leaving trails of intense heat as it beelined straight for Evan.


    ''This dragon has it out for me, doesn''t it?''


    Such a thought filtered through Evan''s mind as he switched Mesarthim out for Harbinger of Ice, but before he could even attack, Milena sent a flood of water surging forward, crashing into the ming phoenix and dousing its ze.


    The boy deactivated his HoI skill and kicked off the ground, blitzing straight for the dragon with Mesarthim''s mes coating his sword, while Faldo coated his ws in his aura and swung them down on Evan.


    [ws of Annihtion.]


    Faldo sent four-pronged shes of aura flying towards Evan, carving the ground where they passed. In response, Evan red his destruction aura and released multiple de cannons, splitting the shes in two.


    The dragon lunged forward to meet Evan''s charge, swiping his w down on the boy. But contrary to expectation, Evan did not meet the attack with his sword, instead, he kicked off the ground and front flipped into the air, letting the dragon''s w crash into the empty ground and rend the earth.


    Evan stretched out his right leg and delivered an axe kick right onto the back of Faldo''s forelimb, activating a skill alongside.


    "Copse!!"


    **BOOOM!!! **SQUELCH!!!


    [GRRAAHH!!]


    "Tsk!"


    Despite the scream of pain he had elicited from Faldo, Evan clicked his tongue as he noticed that despite breaking the scales and crushing the flesh, he wasn''t able to reach the dragon''s bone with copse.


    Even after he had concentrated all the force and power behind the skill into the dragon''s body, a feat of power control Evan was slightly surprised he pulled off. Especially since Copse was meant to be an AOE skill.


    But he justpressed all that AOE into one point.


    ''I should try that again.''


    While he thought that, two giant fists of emotional energies barrelled in from both sides, courtesy of the two deadly sin demons who decided that normal punches weren''t enough and decided to summon their incarnation''s arms to augment said punches.


    Faldo gritted his teeth to ignore the pain of his hand that had been ''copsed'' by Evan, spreading out his wings to take flight, but Kuro made his shadowe alive and pull him back to the ground.


    [Prismatic Barrier! Ice Nova! Crystal Shard Barrage!]


    As if casting one spell at a time was a problem for him, Faldo released another tier 3 spell trio, even tossing a Nova Spell in the middle of it.


    A radiant shield of light that absorbed iing magic attacks shimmered into existence around him, along with a wave of frigid energy that surged outward to freeze the energy-constructed arms.


    He then hurled a barrage of countless razer-sharp crystal shards at high speed towards the two demons, before breaking out of Kuro''s shadowy restraint with his annihtion essence.


    Without hesitation, he took to the skies and activated another skill.


    [Skywrath!]


    Manipting the power of the skies, the dragon attempted to call down a lightning storm, but the storm never reached its intended targets, instead changing directions and concentrating all its power on him.


    **BOOMM!!!


    ''Fucking Lightning spirit! Wasn''t she busy with those wyverns!?''


    Faldo momentarily turned his focus in her direction and saw that Ka, along with multiple S rankers were indeed surrounded by dozens of wyverns, but even still, she had her focus on him, making sure he wasn''t able to use anything ''lightning''.


    This was quite annoying for Faldo as he had a ton of pretty powerful lightning spells in his arsenal, but If Ka turned those on him, it wasn''t gonna be pretty.


    ''Come to think of it, why hasn''t that woman lowered the barrier''s limit yet?''


    Faldo had that thought as he activated his Breath of Annihtion skill, about to release an eponymous breath, not knowing that Kethryllia was busy wiping out a Brigade of Beast Kingdom soldiers near the World Istion Barrier''s core.


    His intended target for the breath was Evan, so he redirected his focus to the boy who was preparing to charge a destruction vortex, and in that moment that he took his eyes off Ka, the spirit moved.


    She suddenly appeared beside Amy and grabbed onto the fire spirit, before disappearing once more and appearing above Faldo''s head.


    No matter how one looked at it, it wasn''t lightning-speed movement but straight-up teleportation.


    [?!]


    A massive rose of golden mes bloomed atop his head, and faster than he could react, Ka''s ''fist'' came crashing down.


    [Rock-Fracture!]


    Well, it wasn''t her actual fist but the fist of lightning blocks she created using her skill, but it still dealt damage all the same.


    Enough to make Faldo''s vision momentarily turn the same colour as his scales.


    Simultaneously, Amy created her great sword construct of ck mes, swinging it down and unleashing her strongest technique on the dragon.


    [Dusk of mes]


    Her wide sh of mes transformed into a huge five-metre-tall tiger that roared wildly as it pounced on Faldo and bit the dragon''s neck with its jaws.


    Amy snapped her fingers and from the tiger''s mouth, a beam of concentrated light was unleashed, sting apart Faldo''s scales, and rending his flesh.


    His crimson blood stained his white scales as the dragon roared out in rage, moving its hand to grab the ming tiger and pull it off his neck.


    But as soon as he grabbed it, Amy detonated the energy that constructed it, resulting in a massive explosion that was too blinding to look at.


    The force sent Faldo''s body hurtling down to the ground, where Evan was waiting with the Akashic Page floating beside him.


    **FLIT-FLIT!


    The pages turned rapidly as he held out his hand, conjuring a four-ringed magic circle in the air above the wounded dragon.


    "Lightning magic: Thunderous Aegis Storm."


    Thanks to Ka''s presence, lightning-charged clouds were already gathered overhead and all Evan had to do was to draw the energy from the clouds, unleashing bolts of searing lightning that electrified the air as they cascaded towards the dragon.


    [Earthward Sentinel! Prismatic Barrier!]


    Even while injured, Faldo still cast dual magic spells to block. The ground trembled as a magic circle emerged and generated a protected shield of earth, rising like an impervious wall.


    The earthward sentinel absorbed and dispersed the energy of the Aegis storm harmlessly into the ground, but Evan wasn''t done yet.


    Pages pped once more and the element of his spell changed to fire.


    "Inferno Vortex."


    A spiralling tornado of intense prismatic mes rapidly engulfed the surroundings, creating a swirling column of scorching heat that whirled towards Faldo.


    [Aqua Ward!]


    A barrier of swirling water surged around Faldo, blocking the mes of the Inferno Vortex and extinguishing them upon contact, though the residual heat of Mesarthim''s mes was too much for the barrier to mitigate.

 Chapter 607 Fifth

    Chapter 607 Fifth


    Evan then proceeded to cast spells of every element he could use, while Faldo countered each one with a spell of an opposing element.


    "Yup. A magic battle with a dragon is the height of folly."


    He remarked as he put the Akashic page away, but in that short moment, Faldo leapt off the ground and charged towards Evan, a haze of annihtion essence rising up from his body as he swiped with both ws and delivered a cross sh of thew essence.


    ''Elemental Weapon Projection + Elemental Destruction Fusion.''


    He generated a giant sword construct of ice, encased it in ayer of destruction essence and then coated it with Mesarthim''s prismatic mes before releasing multiple de cannons to block the shes.


    Following up, he kicked off the ground and charged towards the dragon, swinging the massive sword to sh with the dragon''s giant w.


    [?!]


    As soon as Faldo met Evan''s charge in a sh that cratered the ground around them, he sensed Greed''s covetous archers appear around him andunch their arrows at him.


    ''Imperial Scales. Prismatic Barrier.''


    Despite his defensive attempts, the covetous Archer''s arrows broke through the barrier he put up and hit his body all over, cracking his scales in numerous ces.


    He suddenly felt a wave of lethargy wash over him, causing him to falter and resulting in him failing to block one of Evan''s strikes.


    **BAMMM!!!


    The giant sword bashed into Faldo''s jaw and the dragon ended up biting his own tongue due to this.


    [Gak! Fuck! Dammit!!]


    Faldo cursed out loud as he spat out blood, quickly jumping back to take distance from Evan as he raised his tail up and filled it with magic power.


    "It''s the Tail Flick!"


    Though he was momentarily confused as to why Evan suddenly shouted that out, it did not stop him from activating the skill and mming his tail into the ground.


    **BOOOMMMM!!!


    [Thunderous Avnche. Metallic Quake]


    Of course, he threw in a spell duo as well.


    He merged the powers of earth and lightning to trigger an avnche of electrified rocks that surged forward, intent on crushing all enemies beneath its unstoppable force.


    Seismic waves infused with metallic shards spread out omnidirectionally, preceding the Avnche of electrified rocks.


    However, just as these two AOE spells were about to begin ravaging everything around them, Greed stepped forward with his demonic energy channelled into his right foot.


    He stomped down on the ground with all his might, activating his second recently gained unique skill.


    "Geomantic Wrath!"


    His magic power surged into the earth, causing it to tremble with intensity as des of earthen crystals with a metallic edge surged from the ground, going forth as a cascade of crystal shards amidst a seismic wave that shed with the wave Faldo sent out.


    The two seismic waves shed midway, resulting in an explosion of earth where the debris was added onto the cascade of crystal shards that Greed sent forward.


    Mixed with the original crystal shards, they transformed into an avnche that shed with Faldo''s thunderous avnche and pushed it back towards the dragon.


    Clouds of dust and smoke billowed to the skies, while electrified rock shards flew about as the attack crashed onto Faldo''s body.


    ''Lethe.''


    "?!"


    "What?"


    Greed voiced out his shock as not only he, but every other person on the battlefield suddenly lost track of the dragon''s presence.


    It hadpletely disappeared as if the dragon teleported somewhere else.


    However, Evan knew that it had activated his other skill, the same one that made him undetectable until he unleashed his first attack.


    ''He targeted me the first time, so he knows I''d be on my guard after disappearing. So, he''s not gonna target me ag-?!''


    Evan''s thoughts were cut short as he quickly tightened his grip on his sword, activating his elemental destruction fusion and spinning around before sending down an aura-infused sh.


    **BOOMMM!!!


    "Really?! Reverse Psychology?!"


    [The fuck are you talking about?!]


    Faldo questioned with a shout as he put more force into his hands to try and push Evan back, but the effects of the Covetous Archers'' arrows and Greed''s idiosyncrasy left it without much of his original strength.


    Evan activated pdin and boosted his power even more, enabling him to force Faldo back before taking distance and summoning the Akashic Page again.


    "Ka! Pride! Liz! Combo!"


    The teenage hero only needed one word to get his intentions across to hispanions, and without hesitation, they pushed the annoying lizardmen/wyverns keeping them upied and took action.


    The ground underneath Faldo''s feet turned red hot, and the dragon quickly attempted to leap out of the heat range.


    However, Greed waved his hands upward and made the earth surge upwards, creating rocky walls that surrounded Faldo on all sides and trapped him.


    Naturally, this did not mean much to a dragon with wings, so Faldo immediately took off into the sky.


    However, Kuro emerged from his shadow and sent out dozens of shadowy tendrils, wrapping around the dragon''s body, limbs and wings, before pulling him to the ground.


    Faldo destroyed the restraints with his annihtion energy, but Kuro kept recreating them over and over again, matching the speed of his destruction.


    This kept Faldo in ce long enough for Eliza to create her four-walled barrier surrounding the earthen walls Greed had summoned.


    Above, a pearl of lightning summoned by Ka glowed brightly as enormous magic power built up within it.


    ["Combination: me-Lightning Explosion!"]


    From underneath Faldo''s feet, a tornado of ck mes swirled up. From both sides, two portals rimmed with Evan''s crimson red energy manifested and unleashed two spiralling masses of prismatic mes.


    And from above, the pearl of lightning in the air released one spear-shaped bolt of lightning that dropped down onto the dragon''s head.


    These attacks all hit the restrained dragon simultaneously, resulting in a massive explosion that shook the earth and made the air tremble.


    ***KAAABOOOOOOOMMM!!!!


    Greed''s wall of earth and Eliza''s barrier prevented the explosion from spreading past a certain range, but that only made it worse for the dragon who was caught up in it.


    Arge cloud of smoke and mes rose into the air, taking on the shape of a giant mushroom surrounded by fire and lightning.


    Despite this Nuclear weapon-esquebination spell, Evan knew deep down within that Faldo had definitely activated some sort of defensive measures at thest moment.


    And when the explosion finally died down a good three minutester due to the energies being retracted, he confirmed that thought.


    Faldo was wounded, he definitely was.


    Broken scales stained with crimson liquid and scorched flesh.


    However, the dragon was still in the state to battle.


    Multiple balls of ck light manifested in front of the dragon''s wounds and exploded right after, while Milena mmed her palms on the ground and sent a wave of icy energy washing over the dragon''s body.


    Rapid heating and rapid cooling were capable of making materials brittle, so they applied that chemistry to Faldo''s scales.


    The Dragon wasn''t gonna just stay there and let the ice freeze him, though.


    ''Healing Ray of Light.''


    [Fire Nova!]


    White light particles surrounded Faldo''s body as a four-ringed magic circle manifested in front of him, heating up the area and rapidly melting Milena''s ice.


    The spirit clicked her tongue and turned up the intensity of her spell, generating three other magic circles tounch at him, while Pride and Greed also activated spells simultaneously.


    However, for some reason, Evan was silent.


    Pride wanted to ask him why he did not attack when she suddenly noticed something strange.


    Her spell circle was flickering dangerously, before eventually shattering apart into fragments of light.


    "��what?"


    Not only her but Milena, Greed, Kuro, Ka and even Faldo''s spells.


    Faldo frowned and leapt backwards, attempting to activate the Fire Nova again, however, the magic circle fizzled into oblivion a mere second after manifesting.


    Even the healing spell he had cast on himself secretly had stopped working as well.


    [What did you do?! What Sorcery is this?!]


    Evan couldn''t help but chuckle when he heard Faldo''s words, suddenly bursting intoughter while everyone looked on strangely.


    I mean, the boy suddenly burst out intoughter mid-fight.


    Some of the monsters nearby also stopped momentarily to look at him like he was crazy.


    It couldn''t be helped, after all, no one present could tell what he was currently feeling.


    He held up his palm in Faldo''s direction, a grin on his face as he activated a simple skill.


    "Energy st."


    The st that was released towards the dragon, however, was far from simple.


    *SWOOOSSHH!!


    **BOOMMM!!!


    Everything about it, from speed to explosive power was clearly higher than normal, something that all of the boy''spanions quickly recognized.


    Faldo had tried to defend with a magic circle, but the barrier of light he deployed wasn''t even up to half its usual potency.


    The only reason he was saved from taking damage was the fact that his Imperial Scales skill was active.


    At that moment, an idea popped into Pride''s mind.


    She had seen something like this before.


    A long time ago, but she was sure she had seen this effect.


    Looking around her, she could see that both the monsters attacking and the defenders of Lacertilia could barely even use Tier 1 or 2 spells.


    Even the ambient magic power in the surroundings decreased exponentially. It was as if the magic energy had run away suddenly.


    The sound of the whirring des of an airship''s propellers filled the air, as one of such constructs flew into the barrier and hovered above them.


    It was then that Evan''s voice rang out.


    "All the magic in the area suddenly starts malfunctioning, and I suddenly get the feeling of Skill Resonance."


    The glow in his mystic eyes seemed to burn brighter as he continued.


    "At least, I was saved the stress of having to search the whole goddamn country for you."


    Looking up at the sky, right at the airship floating in the sky, he concluded with one word.


    "Fifth!"

 Chapter 608 Anti-Magic

    Chapter 608 Anti-Magic


    At that same moment, on the Airship high in the sky, a certain teenager looked down at the dragon on the ground below.


    "Wait��your highness?!"


    Ignoring the words of the people calling out to him, he jumped out of the airship and plunged down towards the ground below.


    A brown aura surged from his body and encased his entire right arm which he pulled back before speaking.


    "Inner Beast: First Awakening."


    [?!]


    By the time his presence registered in Faldo''s'' dulled magical perception, it was toote.


    "Rockfist."


    **BOOOMMM!!!


    His stone-cased fist crashed down on the dragon''s head, sending tremors throughout his body and creating a localised shockwave effect that disrupted Faldo''s mental faculties, disorienting the dragon.


    Cracking stone met unyielding scales in a short battle thatsted no more than a second, sending a cascade of stone shards exploding from the point of impact, dispersing like shrapnel in all directions.


    The impact resonated with a deep, resounding thud as the White dragon''s head smacked into the ground from the sheer force of the strike.


    The ground beneath them quivered as if acknowledging the intensity of the sh, and dust billowed into the air, momentarily obscuring thebatants from view.


    For a moment, the battlefield was silent as the boy jumped off the dragon''s back andnded on the ground in front of it while deactivating his skills.


    "Damn, that ''Sturdy'' skill is no joke."


    He spoke in a bit of a light-hearted tone as he flexed his fingers, letting the remaining rock shards covering his arm fall to the ground.


    The dust cleared up and his appearance was revealed to all those watching.


    He was a handsome teenage boy with reddish brown hair and brown eyes, wearing a simple brown shirt with ck cargo pants and simrly colouredbat boots.


    On his hands, he had a pair of ck gauntlets strapped on, with a pouch armband right under the sleeve of his left hand.


    He had two ears reminiscent of those of a lion''s at the top of his head, with a fairly long tail emerging from his lower back.


    "You know,st I checked, being the leader was supposed to be "First''s" job. How did you steal that from her, ''Second''?"


    He turned towards Evan as he spoke, while the grey-eyed teenager only shrugged his shoulders as he walked forward.


    "Times Change. Leadership changes along with it."


    "Hmm��good point."


    "Of course, it is. I''m the one saying it, after all."


    Evan''s tone and demeanour changed, a change that surprised Eliza and Ka, yet Pride and Greed found it annoyingly familiar.


    He was acting very simr to a certain man named An Maddox.


    Ignoring the expressions of hispanions, Evan looked right at the brown-eyed boy; at the reason why all magic in the area suddenly went haywire and he suddenly became stronger than normal.


    Right at the boy''s most prominent feature; his eyes.


    Those brown orbs held within them, a crest of gold light.


    Apound word Written in an ancientnguage lost to time.


    "Still, to think I''d be you of all people, your highness. I guess that makes two of us Royalty."


    Evan addressed him by a title befitting of his status.


    After all, the person standing right in front of him was someone he, and pretty much every learned person in the Beast Kingdom recognized.


    The only son of the ''Beast King'' Kolvar.


    Prince David Thancreed.


    But Evan, he preferred to address David by a different title.


    The ''Fifth'' of the ''Seven Heroes''.


    The ''Hero of Anti-Magic''.


    �� �� ��


    The son of the Beast King was one of the newly appearing Heroes.


    This was news that would shock the whole world if they were to find out.


    Every single person on the, without any exception.


    After all, not even Beast King Kolvar himself was aware his son was a Hero.


    No one was.


    David had hidden this fact from everyone ever since he awakened his skills at age ten, and for the next seven years that led up until this fateful day.


    Mya who was outside the barrier was dumbfounded when she saw the images that the Court Mages'' familiars were showing her.


    And from her expression, everyone around her quickly figured that this was news, even to her.


    Everyone who knew about how the golden symbols in Evan and David''s eyes were a sign of their statuses as Heroes, that is.


    Meanwhile, the two Heroes were silently staring at each other, a palpable tension in the air that made others fear to think about reminding them about the fact that they were still on a battlefield.


    Evan''s grip was slowly tightening around his sword while wisps of brown aura slowly wafted into David''s gauntlets.


    No one could understand the reason why the atmosphere suddenly turned tense but the two heroes.


    Leaving aside how convenient David''s appearance here was, there was something Evan wanted to know more than anything else.


    It didn''t matter if Evan was the current Leader of the Heroes, David wanted to confirm something before anything else.


    In the exact same instant, they both asked themselves the same question.


    ''Is it the real ''Evan Eris'' in control, or is it ''him''?''


    ''Is it the real ''David Thancreed'' in control, or is it ''him''?''


    The Previous Seven Heroes had nned to take over the bodies of the new generation heroes, however, this n had a high chance of failure, like in Laurene''s case for example.


    Now, meeting another Hero, Evan wanted to know if the person in control was the owner of the body, or the ''Previous Fifth''.


    David also wanted to know if the person he was speaking to was indeed ''Evan Eris'', or ''An Maddox''.


    But this silent tension between the two heroes was broken by a sudden noise.


    [GRRROOOAAAARRRRR!!!!]


    An enraged Faldo roared out to the skies, his magic power, ether, and aura surging from his body like waves and incinerating everything in his immediate surroundings.


    The dragon was pissed off.


    Very pissed off.


    Looking at him, Evan could see the flesh under his broken scales bubbling disgustingly, before melding back together in real time.


    His Rapid Recovery Skill, in tandem with his Radiant Blessing healing spell, was doing a good job of mending the damage he received.


    "You know, in this situation, it might have been better if Sixth was the one who came here."


    "Funny, I was about to say the same thing."


    The two heroes decided to put off testing each other for now, deciding to deal with the more imminent threat at hand.


    Both of them had appraised themselves, and as they were both Heroes, they could see each other''s statuses as they were without hidden or corrective values.


    Minus Evan''s race and age tabs, that is.


    Anyway, Evan was quite impressed when he saw David''s status, as the other hero was stronger than he expected.


    |Name- David Thancreed


    Race- Lion Beastkin


    Gender- Male


    Age- 17


    Level- 399


    Existence Level - Grandmaster (Intermediate)


    Titles- Prince of the Beast Kingdom, Fifth of the Seven Heroes, Weidler of Mystic Eyes, Grudged by Mana, Saviour Prince, Ether Mage, Anti-Mage, Rockfist.


    ss - Battle Anti-Mage


    Health �C A+


    Energy - S-


    Strength �C S


    Agility �C S-


    Durability �C S


    Intelligence - A+


    Condition- Normal


    Ether Tiers- Earth Tier 3, Fire Tier 2, Lightning Tier 2, Non-Attribute Tier 3, Wind Tier 2.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Language Comprehension, Martial Arts, Shockwave, Mana Burn, Counter Spell, Blink, Primal Roar, Anti-Mana Hex, Convergent Fist, Rockfist, Mana Conduit, Inner Beast, Wild Throw, Strength Enhancement.


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Anti-Magic (3), Blessing of Earth. |


    He was also the bane of any mage on the whole.


    Looking at his titles, Evan saw one that made him pity the guy a bit.


    ''But it''s to be expected. He''s an Anti-Mage, it''d only natural that Mana has a grudge against him.''


    However, the Prince made up for this shoring of his inability to use magic, with his Ether and Aura instead.


    ***DUUUUNNNNN!!!!


    A loud muffled sound suddenly rang out around them, and when Evan looked up, he saw ripples moving across the World Istion Barrier that covered them.


    But just as he was about to question the source of the noise, he noticed a sharp drop in the number of presences around him.


    "The heck?"


    "Us too?! Didn''t they say only those above level 450?!"


    He turned and saw that many S-rank adventurers were suddenly locked in space, their bodies slowly fading away from view.


    "Fuck��Kethryllia reduced the barrier limit."


    When David heard Evan''s words, his eyes widened slightly in surprise, but that expression quickly changed to a deep frown.


    [Finally!]


    Faldo''s loud shout pulled all attention towards him, and though Evan couldn''t really read dragon expressions, he was sure that this guy was definitely smiling.


    The dragon infused magic power into his limbs and mmed them down on the ground, causing the earth to tremble as multiple magic circles inscribed into the earth all around the buffer zone suddenly began glowing.


    "Evan, exin."


    "Trust me when I say this Pride, but I have no idea what''s going on."


    David''s head snapped in the direction of the woman, recognition shing through his eyes when he saw her.


    Nevertheless, he didn''t say anything and instead turned back to the dragon before speaking to Evan.


    "It''d be best if we simply didn''t let him finish whatever he''s doing."


    "Indeed, it''d be.


    With those words, Evan unsheathed the unforged and encased it in Mesarthim''s mes, while David infused his fists with his aura.


    "BoD: First Activation."


    "Inner Beast: First Awakening."

 Chapter 609 Counter Spell

    <h4>Chapter 609 Counter Spell</h4>


    Both their energies surged outwards, cratering the ground around them as they kicked off the ground and charged towards Faldo.


    The buffs on Evan suddenly wore off, but faster than his body could recognize their absence, Eliza reapplied them, not bothering to hide how many rings of light this time.


    David also got his own share of buffs, courtesy of a ''Support Mode'' Eliza.


    [Breath of Annihtion!]


    A sudden blinding surge of white mes, infused with the ominous energy of thew of annihtion, erupted from the dragon''s maw as an intense beam that tore through the air on its way towards the two heroes.


    However, the two quickly activated their blink skills, teleporting out of the beam''s trajectory and reappearing beside Faldo''s arms.


    [?!]


    "Aura sh."


    "Convergent Fist."


    The Dragon tried to leap backwards to avoid their attacks but David activated his unique skill, shaping the earth underneath into serpentine tendrils that restrained him long enough for their attacks to hit.


    And since both of them were in a Resonant State, one that was even more powerful than normal Series Skill Resonances, even their simplest attacks became devastating.


    **BOOMM!!


    [GRAK! Luminous Blizzard! Frozen Inferno! Metallic Quake!]


    A torrent of frigid white mes burst out from Faldo''s being, spreading out uncontrobly into the surroundings, at the same time that the ambient temperature dropped and a giant blizzard infused with radiant disorienting light was summoned.


    The dragon flicked his tail onto the ground and the earth beneath their feet began trembling, releasing seismic waves infused with metallic shards in all directions.


    Thebination of attack skills that deprived one of sce either onnd or air was one that made Evan click his tongue while blocking the icy light blizzard with an elemental shield.


    "Would it kill you to just activate one thing at a time?!"


    The boy red his aura and activated HoI, pushing back at the blizzard with his own energy while David used his blessing of Earth to quell the seismic waves and force the metallic shards back into the ground.


    Faldo leapt into the air with his wings, releasing rapid-fire breath beams that had Evan and David teleporting away rapidly to avoid.


    ''Vindiction''s Strike!''


    Evan activated the skill right under Faldo''s jaw, but the dragon titled his head at thest moment to dodge the beam of prismatic mes that emerged from the portal.


    Nevertheless, Evan''s goal of stopping the rapid-fire breaths had been achieved.


    David stomped his foot on the ground, causing the ground the crack open and a wave of sand to surge upwards, carrying him into the air while Evan jumped on multiple void steps to gain altitude.


    [Aegis of Frostfire! Fire Nova! White Nova!]


    The dragon cast three spells in one go, however, the moment David''s glowing eyes locked onto the spell circles, they cracked and shattered into pieces of light that fizzled away into oblivion.


    "Hey, I wanted to mimic those!"


    "Well, do it faster next time!"


    Even as he replied to Evan, David''s hands were moving, solidifying portions of the sand wave he was riding on and sending them towards Faldo as spears of earth that the dragon flew away to dodge.


    Evan manoeuvred in the air with multiple void steps, releasing aura shes and de cannons that Faldo blocked with his ws, before returning the favour with annihtion energy-infused strikes.


    [Ethereal Cyclone, Metallic Tempest!]


    Ether spell and skill were activated simultaneously, releasing a massive towering cyclone of energy thatbined wind and light to create a devastating vortex to sweep away the two heroes.


    As the spell was activated on the ground, it wasn''t within David''s field of vision so he wasn''t able to deal with it in its initial stages.


    Taking advantage of the wind already present from the cyclone, Faldo''s Metallic Tempest skill had its razor-sharp metallic des increase in speed, shing straight through the air as they made their way towards the duo.


    "Shockwave!"


    However, all of this was blown away with a single punch from David.


    The rippling shockwaves he sent through the air knocked the metal des out of their trajectory, clearing a path for him which he used to charge towards the dragon.


    "Convergent Fist!"


    His aura surged through his arm and he focused it into a single concentrated point within his clenched fist.


    With this, he threw out a full-powered punch which Faldo met with his own fist, creating a brief distortion in the surrounding space upon impact.


    **BOOMM!!!


    The resultant shockwaves knocked the two of them back a bit, but they didn''t remain unbnced for long.


    David willed his sand wave to catch him, quickly getting back up to his feet while Faldo pped his wings and manoeuvred his body back to normal.


    But when the dragon looked back in front of him, he only saw one of two heroes.


    ''?!''


    "Hollow Magic: Hollow Cannon"


    In the blink of an eye, non-attributed magic power condensed in a swirling sphere right in front of Evan''s palm,unching and mming into the dragon''s left wing with zero dy.


    **BOOMM!!!!


    [GAAAAHHHH!!!]


    Faldo screamed out as he lost control of his flight, but Evan wasn''t done yet. The boy fired another Hollow Cannon at the dragon''s back, and though Faldoyered up defensive spells, David''s gaze weakened them to less than half their usual potency, allowing for the destruction energy-infused hollow cannon to have a field day.


    Scales were sted apart, flesh was rent and the dragon felt a few bones crack from the attack.


    Hollow Magic was a strange but powerful magic type, and when cast with Evan''s superior energy with his stat boosts, it was even more so.


    Then when you add their current Hero/Series Skill Resonant State, the end result is simply devastating.


    The Previous Seven Heroes mostly fought together for this reason, after all.


    Faldo tumbled to the ground while spattering blood in the air, but Evan wasn''t done yet with his attack, and this time, David pitched in.


    "Strength Enhancement. Greater Physical Boost."


    "Body Strengthening"


    The two heroes kicked off their airborne tforms and charged down towards the falling dragon, front flipping in the air as they both dropkicked the dragon''s back with all their strength.


    "Terra Strike!"


    "Copse!"


    **BAAAAMMMMMM!!!!!


    The dual force of the two strikes knocked Faldo''s body down to the earth, with enough force that the dragon''s crashnding created a half-kilometre wide crater, with a bit over half its length in depth.


    Dust and smoke billowed to the sky, earthen shards were sent flying in all directions, some of them knocking into the heads of the monsters on the ground and consigning them to oblivion, while others did the same to adventurers.


    Statistically, the coteral damage was not much, but David frowned lightly as he''d rather have no coteral damage at all.


    Unfortunately, the sheer number of monsters on the battlefield did not allow for that, and besides, it appeared to him that there were more monsters around than he remembered.


    "It doesn''t just ''appear'' so, there are indeed more monsters!"


    Evan remarked as he pointed at a section of the sky filled with Wyverns, creatures who were still obeying Faldo''s order to keep Ka and Amy busy.


    He certainly remembered that there weren''t that many wyverns when he and David took to the skies, and they certainly weren''t as high levelled as they currently were.


    Milena and Kuro had to pitch in to help the spirit duo, while Pride and Greed were besieged by hundreds of lizardmen, having to use their avatars to sweep away the monsters en masse.


    With each passing second, either man or monster died, adventurers and knights levelled up past 400 and were sent out of the barrier, while weakerbatants let out battle cries as they killed as many monsters as possible to gain the power to survive.


    Evan could see some who weren''t killing monsters so they could protect Lacertilia anymore, but so they could level up fast and get sent out of this ce.


    **DUUUNNNN!!!!


    Once again, the sound of something impacting the World Istion Barrier rang out once more, but when Evan looked up, what he saw was a meteor made of metallic elements crashing down on him and David.


    "Mesarthim!"


    Without hesitation, he filled his sword with mes and swung it upward, releasing an arcing sh that burned through flying lizards on its way to the meteor in the sky.


    ***BOOOMMMMM!!


    Once again, the battlefield was subjected to a rain of molten metal, however, this time, the metal droplets solidified mid-air and turned into des that rained down on Evan and David, making them jump away to dodge.


    [Luminous Beam!]


    "Counter Spell!"


    David''s timed skill activation created a barrier around him, reminiscent of Evan''s Elemental Shield. But this one didn''t just block the attack, it also sent the brilliant beam of piercing light back to its sender.


    Something Faldo certainly wasn''t expecting.


    [Ice Nova! Thunderous Avnche!]


    "Counter Spell!"


    [Spiral me! Wild Bursting me!]


    "Counter Spell!"


    [mebourne''s Revenge! Purifying Javelin]


    "Counter Spell!"


    Six Spells were Activated, and Six Spells were countered.


    Even the calmest person with the highest patience levels would get tired of running around trying to avoid their own spells, and frankly just flip out in rage.


    [For Fuck''s Sake!


    Breath of Annihtion!]


    "Mind countering that?


    "Hell No!!"


    David replied to Evan''s quip before he teleported away, reappearing a few dozen metres in the air, however, Faldo quickly sensed him and changed the target of the breath to him.

 Chapter 610 Dragons Hold Grudges

    Chapter 610 Dragons Hold Grudges


    For Evan, the dragon flicked his tail on the ground, transforming the earth into quicksand that trapped and slowed Evan who was dashing towards him from behind.


    "Wha-!"


    ''Crimson Pheonix ze!''


    Summoning a majestic phoenix engulfed in white mes, Faldo let it soar through the air, leaving behind a trail of intense heat that crystallized the sand of the earth as it beelined towards Evan.


    "Counter Spell."


    David teleported in just in time, using his anti-magic barrier to block and send the phoenix back to Faldo, at two times the speed.


    The Dragon just barely evaded the phoenix, before leaping backwards and activating multiple magic spells.


    [White Inferno! Crystal Shard Barrage! Meteorite Forge!]


    Except for the White Inferno, the other two spells were tier 3. Faldo gritted his teeth as the pain from the earlier Terra Strike + Copsebo wrecked his body, but he still channelled energy into his maw.


    ''Annihilus Ascendance: Ephemeral Cataclysm''


    Activating stage two, the dragon''s body began to undergo a more pronounced transformation. The annihtion energy in the breath he was charging increased in concentration and his scales began to radiate a brighter glow.


    His new defensive capabilities were quickly put to the test when David nullified the Crystal Shard Barrage and Meteorite Forge spells, before countering the White Inferno and sending it back to him.


    The widespread congration burned everything within the crater, sweeping over Faldo''s body as he was in its path, but the dragon emerged with only a few burns on his scales.


    "��that''s not good."


    "No shit."


    The two heroes quickly recognized the power-up that Faldo had just gained, but while David still had his Inner Beast''s Second Awakening, Evan was running out of juice��very quickly.


    |Warning|


    He had been seeing that notification in his field of view for thest minute, and he knew what it was without having to open it.


    His time for BoD was running out.


    "Shockwave."


    David punched the air in front of him consecutively, moving so fast his fists blurred as he sent shockwaves flying towards the dragon.


    Faldo cast a spell to block the shockwaves as he moved to avoid Evan''s shes.


    ''It didn''t disappear?! I see! So that''s his power!!''


    The dragon came to an understanding when he saw that the energy he had been intending to use to heal himself but had redirected to cast a defensive spell at thest moment was unaffected by whatever it was David did to mess with magic.


    ''He doesn''t mess with ''Spells'' he messes with ''Magic Spells'' alone!''


    Coming to this realisation, Faldo unleashed a breath to push Evan away, before turning his focus to David andunching multiple magic spells.


    Everything that was Tier 3 and below was quickly nullified with a gaze from the boy, but when it came to the White me Inferno, a Tier 4 spell, David used Counter spell.


    ''Is it by choice��or that he has no option?''


    Such was his thought as he moved his ws coated in annihtion essence to exchange strikes with Evan at supersonic speed, tearing apart the ground beneath their feet.


    The dragon then drew upon the minimal etheric reserves that he usually kept for healing alone, and then activated three spells with it.


    [Celestial Vortex! Light of Frost! Quasic Surge!]


    He conjured a swirling vortex of light and darkness, creating a massive storm that surged towards the two heroes. The light of Frost released a burst of freezing light that emanated from the dragon''s body, creating a shockwave that froze and damaged anything in its range.


    To top it off, the dragon condensed his ether and released a surge of powerful light waves to disintegrate anything in its path.


    Faldo was sure they would have no choice but to either dodge or block.


    Until David activated his skill once more.


    "Counter spell"


    [What?!]


    Seeing his spells still countered even after he was sure he had deduced the workings of the skill dyed Faldo''s reaction just enough for him to be struck by the Frost Light, causing his forelimbs to freeze.


    But this wasn''t something that couldn''t be handled with a bit of fire, heating up his body to melt the ice as he looked at David with shock.


    The young hero saw the look in the dragon''s eyes and he couldn''t help butugh as he spoke.


    "My skill is ''Counter Spell'', not ''Counter Magic Spell'', stupid lizard."


    [?!]


    Indeed, Faldo had assumed that David''s skill worked on magic spells alone, since he seemed to have the ability to nullify magic spells of a certain level.


    But that assumption turned out to be wrong and if it wasn''t for his ridiculously fast reaction speed, it would have been a lot worse.


    The dragon inhaled deeply before drawing up the annihtion aura that surrounded him and exhaling a full-powered breath.


    [Breath of Annihtion.]


    ''Vindiction''s Strike.''


    The formidable torrent of annihtion energy surged forth, while Evan sent a beam of Mesarthim''s mes to counter it with the two attacks colliding mid-way and igniting in a catastrophic explosion.


    The two heroes fled the crater and let the explosion engulf Faldo alone, giving Evan time to down a few energy and strength-enhancing potions.


    But before he could even open up the potion bottles, his shadow expanded and his favourite battle priestess emerged from within, cing her hands on his back and transferring her magic power into him to replenish his.


    "��is that okay?"


    "I have too much life energy drained from hundreds of monsters, if I don''t release the excess, I''ll overload myself."


    While she spoke, she cast spells on Evan to heal his strained muscles, but her expression quickly turned dark when she noticed the state of the Destruction energy in his body.


    "It''s more vtile than usual��! Evan! How long do you have left?!"


    "��"


    The boy refused to answer her when she asked, but Eliza certainly wasn''t going to ept Evan''s silence at this point.


    She turned his body around and grabbed him tightly before repeating her earlier question.


    David looked on with confusion as he didn''t seem to understand the reason for her agitation, but when he appraised Evan and looked at the Blessing skill the boy had, he quickly figured out why.


    "Enough to finish this fight without having my soul wounded too much."


    "Cut the bullshit, Evan. Just tell me how many minutes are left on that thing!"


    Unfortunately, Eliza wasn''t given the time to get her answer as a giant iron meteor engulfed in white mes descended from above, and Evan blinked out of her hold, teleporting right above the meteor and activating Vindiction''s strike below it.


    The beam of mes surged outward and collided with the meteor, triggering a blinding explosion in the air that pushed Evan back a great deal.


    The boy created a void step at his back to kill his momentum, but this made him a perfect target for Faldo''s magic.


    [cial Spire.]


    A towering spire of ice emerged from the ground and grew towards Evan''s back, intending to impale him, on it but the hero turned around faster than David could even activate counter spell and used his signature unique skill.


    "Vortex."


    The spiralling mass of crimson gold energy shredded the spire to pieces, before whirling through the air and down to where Faldo blocked with his Imperial Scales.


    ''Elemental Destruction Fusion.''


    |WARNING! |


    Evan infused his sword with the power of three unique skills, swirling the energy of a fourth around it as he took a deep breath and charged towards Faldo.


    David charged in alongside him and the two rapidly blinked away to avoid the barrage of luminous beams the dragon sent their way as they dashed in his direction.


    Faldo mmed his tail to the ground and sent out seismic waves to disrupt their movement, but David nullified them with his own skill, before jumping up in the air and pulling back both fists.


    He was about to use his shockwave skill when he noticed that Faldo was gathering huge amounts of ether in preparation for a spell.


    The dragon should have known that it didn''t matter even if he used another energy, but he still did it either way.


    ''Did he see through my limit? No. If he did, then he''d be using a Tier 4 Magic spell instead.''


    David sent flying shockwaves to the dragon but Faldo leapt to the side to dodge, before constructing an ether spell circle andunching a giant spear of mes at him.


    [Ignis Vitalis!]


    "David, Wa-!"


    "Counter Spell!"


    Evan tried to stop David from using his skill but it was already toote. The giant spear of me hit the barrier surrounding David and rebounded towards Faldo.


    However, unlike before, Faldo did not jump away and instead let the spell hit him.


    David was confused by this strange behaviour, but when he saw what the white mes were doing, his eyes widened in shock.


    Everywhere the tongues of mes licked over the dragon''s body, David could see his flesh wounds healing in real-time. Even the tissues in the wing that Evan had destroyed began mending themselves back.


    It was then that Faldo, with an expression that could only be called a grin, spoke.


    "Ignis Vitalis is a ''healing spell'', not an ''attack spell'', stupid Cat."


    Today, David learned something first-hand.


    Not to underestimate a dragon''s intelligence.


    Especially one holding a grudge because of something you said, as they''d pay you back in ways you least expected.

 Chapter 611 No more Tail Flicks

    <h4>Chapter 611 No more Tail Flicks</h4>


    Faldo stretched out his wings and infused aura into them before pping them heavily, releasing gusts of wind that knocked Evan and David back before he ascended to the skies once more.


    [zing Hailstorm. Skywrath. Frozen Inferno.]


    Faldo''s flight was a bit shaky since his wing was just healing, but it was enough for him to have the high ground.


    Hailstorms engulfed in white mes, a thunderstorm of white lightning, and a torrent of frigid mes.


    This trio rained down on the two heroes and had them running around like headless chickens to avoid getting hit.


    The hailstones could be easily tanked, but the rapidly fired torrent of mes and the bolts of lightning from the storm, not so much.


    Evan blinked into the air and tried to activate a skill, but Faldo chased the boy back to the ground by unleashing a breath attack in his direction.


    |WARNING!!|


    Uponnding on the ground, Evan took deep breaths, channelling his magic power and activating a skill perfect for dealing with flying opponents.


    "Evesting Chains."


    He muttered the two words under his breath, his voice so low as if speaking was currently a chore for him.


    Still, the skill was activated at full power as golden magic power surged out from Evan''s body, wave after wave, swirling around the surroundings.


    David switched off his Anti Magic eyes as he saw Evan using so much magic, so as to not identally mess things up.


    surged out of Evan''s body, wave after wave, swirling around in the surroundings.


    Dozens of massive golden chains, each oneden with thick amounts of magic and aura burst out of the ground and shot up into the air at supersonic speed and pierced through the dragon''s newly healed wing.


    [GAK! YOU DAMNED!]


    Faldo tried to burn the chains, but for every chain he annihted, three more burst out and wrapped around his body tightly, restraining his movements, and internal energy flow.


    Normally, using energy to break out of the chains was a horrible idea, but thanks to his annihtion essence, Faldo was able to achieve the feat of breaking some of them.


    "Fall!"


    Of course, Faldo being able to break them didn''t change the end result of him being dragged back to the ground as if he were a prisoner being taken to the execution block.


    The otherworldly runes inscribed on the chains glowed brightly as Faldo''s energy reserves were drained.


    Faldo waved his right wing which was still good and tried to swat Evan away with it, but the boy activated Thunderp, summoning a wall of lightning blocks that mped down on the wing and exploded.


    [GAAHH!]


    "Hollow Magic: Hollow Rain!"


    A magic circle appeared behind Faldo''s wing and from it, dozens of fist-sized orbs of non-attributed magic power wereunched at the wing; each orb so dense with energy that it distorted the air around it.


    Despite the pain he felt from getting hit by the two attacks, Faldo couldn''t help but notice something in the corner of his eye.


    The golden glow in David''s eyes had dimmed.


    ''?! Perhaps!''


    Without hesitation, the dragon released a burst of energy to knock Evan backwards and st apart his Hollow Magic circle.


    The boy received no bacsh but that wasn''t Faldo''s focus now.


    The Dragon exerted control over the surrounding magic energy, concentrating it behind David''s body to form a magic circle.


    ''I knew it!''


    Seeing that his guess was correct, the dragon grinned and activated the spell.


    "Fire Nova!"


    ***BOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!


    David''s power, like every other mystic eye, worked on those within his field of vision.


    And his Anti Magic eyes, in particr, didn''t differentiate between Enemies and Allies.


    So, if Evan wanted to use magic without obstructions, David had to switch off his spell nullification temporarily.


    And when he did, the glow in his eyes dimmed, something Faldo noticed and took advantage of.


    What''s more, the dragon formed the magic circle behind David,pletely out of his field of vision, so even if he managed to reactivate his mystic eyes, he wouldn''t be able to do anything about the spell circle, right?


    ��right?


    [The fuck!?]


    Faldo couldn''t help but curse out loud as he saw the Beast Prince emerge from the mes unscathed.


    "Inner Beast: Second Awakening."


    He charged right at Faldo and unleashed a flurry of blows that the dumbfounded dragon reacted to a beatter.


    "Magma Fist + Thunderous Strike + Mana Burn."


    Two techniques and a skill were activated simultaneously as the boy proceeded to pummel the dragon with a flurry of blows.


    Faldo barely blocked with his imperial scales, moving his own forearms to try and grab David, however, the beastman blinked to avoid his ws before reappearing somewhere else and continuing the barrage.


    With each hit, Faldo felt his magic bower burning away at an astonishingly fast speed. It was as if David''s punches consumed the magic power of the person who was hit by them.


    This was notwithstanding the damage from the strikes.


    Faldo motioned to activate Tail Flick and use a duo of skills but Evan blitzed in behind him and made sure he was unable to use Tail Flick��permanently.


    "Destruction Vortex!"


    |WARNING!!!|


    A whirling mass of spiralling magic power mmed down onto the base of Faldo''s tail, shredding apart his scales and rending the flesh underneath.


    The dragon thrashed around violently, releasing surges of white mes omnidirectionally but Evan covered his body with an elemental shield and using his Elemental Destruction Fusion, swung his de down on the part of the dragon''s tail that had been wounded.


    **SWOOOSHH!!


    [GAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!]


    The dragon''s scream of pain and agony was one that sent shivers down the spines of all those who heard.


    It went without saying that whatever it was that had been done to the dragon, it was definitely painful as fuck.


    Among the people stuck outside the barrier, the beastmen with tails all found themselves holding their tails instinctively.


    Faldo turned around in a rage, shattering the Evesting chains and Evan''s elemental shield, and grabbing onto the boy''s body before lifting him up and mming him down on the ground with enough force to crater the earth.


    The shockwaves knocked David back but the dragon could not care less about that, moving his grip to the boy''s leg and flinging his body onto the ground once more.


    Without even a second''s dy, he mmed Evan down on the ground in front of him and released a point-nk rage Breath of Annihtion on him, only stopping when David used a giant fist-shaped construct of earth to punch the side of the dragon''s head.

 Chapter 612 Burn, Mesarthim

    Chapter 612 Burn, Mesarthim


    Faldo''s body swayed to the side violently, but in his raging state, he seemed to ignore the pain and instead attempted to charge a breath attack.


    Too bad David didn''t let him.


    The beastman boy channelled his unique skill''s power into his hands and closed the distance, delivering an upward strike to the dragon''s jaw.


    "Tectonic Uppercut!!"


    **BAAM!


    The force of his blow plus the shockwaves released on impact knocked Faldo''s body over, and the dragon fell down on his back, but David wasn''t done yet.


    "Terra Strike."


    A drop kick at full powernded right on the dragon''s belly, the seismic impact ripping through his whole body and making him cough out blood.


    It was only After this that David moved towards Evan to check on him.


    David pulled out a health recovery potion from his arm pouch and tried to feed it to Evan, but the other teenager pushed his hand away.


    |?No Need��?|


    "Dude, you''re clearly not okay! Just drink the goddamn potion."


    | ?I have mine already. ?|


    "Oh��"


    Evan held up the juice pack whose contents he had sipped away, taking deep breaths while forcing himself to his feet.


    A wave of familiar green energy washed over him and it brought a small smile to his face. But this smile quickly disappeared when he saw Faldo get up to his feet, ring at both of them, especially him, with bloodshot eyes.


    |?It''s time to end this��?|


    Evan voiced out the thought that all three of them had, his voice echoing strangely, as If he was speaking both in their ears and in their heads at once.


    The boy took a deep breath and forcefully calmed his turbulent aura, recing the magic stones on the Recharger so he could sustain his limit break for longer as he forced himself to stand upright.


    At that moment, his brain became cognizant of the fact that he was ''standing beside a beastman with his sword in his right hand and facing against a dragon''.


    Immediately, a stream of strange memories yed back in his mind like a videotape. He saw himself in a simr situation, though the beastman in those memories had white hair and he was faced with a ck-scaled dragon instead.


    His eyes zed over momentarily and he muttered something in a daze.


    |?My mes, born of a star, aid my sword to cleave the world, and to burn even the DIVINE. ?|


    **BOOMMM!!!!


    Evan''s aura surged outward, and his whole body was engulfed in the prismatic mes of Mesarthim.


    At that moment, the skill rune for the Harbinger of Ice skill on his soul nearly melted due to the intense heating from Mesarthim.


    He looked up with clear eyes and pointed his sword towards Faldo, and as if that was a cue, both David and the dragon prepared for the final sh.


    "Inner Beast: Third Awakening!"


    David''s aura surged uncontrobly, and his body underwent a transformation, bing more ''beast-like''.


    His muscles bulged up so much his shirt began to tear slightly, his nails turned into ws and his fangs became razor-sharp. His hair also grew longer, as if trying to bloom into a lion''s mane.


    "Annihilus Ascendance: Cacophony Oblivion!"


    Faldo fully embraced the essence of annihtion, regardless of the consequences it was going to have, the kind Evan was currently going through due to overuse of BoD.


    His scales gleamed and his maw was charged up with pure white mes that melted the ground around him due to their heat. At this stage, the dragon''s presence alone put fear into all those below the grandmaster level, making them feel so scared that they didn''t dare to even move.


    |?Burn, Mesarthim. ?|


    Evan drew his hand alongside the de of his sword, transferring the prismatic mes engulfing his body, along with his destruction aura onto the de.


    As he took a stance with the sword, a subtle yet shocking transformation urred.


    Mesarthim''s prismatic me, of which all colours except the ''Red'' were translucent changed ever so slightly.


    The intensity of the second colour on the list, the ''Orange'' increased to the same level as that of the ''Red''.


    Silence pervaded the entire area, save for the sounds of Evan''s mes.


    Everyone outside the barrier watched this with bated breaths.


    Those inside looked on with hopeful eyes.


    The silence persisted for a good ten seconds, and then finally, the three of them acted simultaneously.


    Faldo released the most powerful Breath of Annihtion he had ever unleashed in his whole life, sending forth a torrent of white mes at their zenith, capable of unravelling all physical and magical defences.


    David charged forward with half maximum energy focused into his fist, with the dense energy concentrated so hard that the space air around his arm distorted ever so slightly.


    Evan kicked off the ground and blitzed forward, a step ahead of David as he swung his sword upwards and cleaved Faldo''s torrent of mes in two.


    [GROAARRR��!!]


    "RAAAAAAH��!!"


    |?YARRRHH��!!?|


    The three of them let out simultaneous battle cries as they attacked with their full power.


    David and Evan charged towards Faldo at supersonic speed, and then past the dragon before stopping.


    With how fast they were moving, everything didn''t take up to three seconds.


    One moment David and Evan were charging at Faldo, and the next they were behind the dragon, with Evan''s sword raised to the sky and David''s fist punching the other edge of Evan''s de.


    **��drip


    A profound silence fell over the area, only broken by the sound of crimson liquid dripping down onto the ground.


    [Ha��ha��.ha.]


    Faldo let out a shortugh, a second before a red line marred on his white scales, from where his head slowly slid off his neck and down onto the ground.


    **THUD!


    The rest of his body copsed right after with a loud thud, and seeing this, bright expressions appeared on the faces of all those present.


    However, they were not even given the opportunity to cheer, when a menacing aura, one that electrified the very air they breathed descended upon the entire buffer zone.


    People outside the barrier had their faces pale, especially those who were present at the instant that the World Istion Barrier was activated.


    That was because they could see the person who owned this aura, was the same one who activated the barrier.


    [What, the actual fuck?]


    Her voice was calm; so calm that it sent shivers down the spines of those who heard and made some weak in the knees.


    [This doesn''t even make sense anymore.


    The damn lizard was an Irregr with an Undefined level. The two of you are merely an intermediate and a half-baked grandmaster, how on Aidos did you win?!]


    Her voice, infused with powerful celestial energy released shockwaves that sent both Evan and David hurtling through the air.


    Evan forced himself to get up immediately and looked in the direction of this new entrant, narrowing his eyes in displeasure.


    Wavy lower back length red hair and ck coloured eyes. Dressed in a casual but efficientbat attire that fit her to a ''T''.


    It was none other than The Seventh Finger of the Demonic Hand, Kethryllia Keasatra.


    That beautiful face of hers was scrunched up in a frown as she looked at the scene in front of her.


    [This is why I said to do things my way, but some idiots didn''t listen.]


    Running a hand through her hair, she heaved an exasperated sigh and spoke.


    [You know what? I''d just end it all myself.]


    She stretched out her right hand, a gesture that Evan recognized all too well. He quickly turned around and tried to shout out to those behind him, telling them to get away as far as possible, but he wasn''t fast enough.


    [Pledge of the Vanquisher.]


    Magic power condensed in her open palm and there was a short sh of light. When the light died down, Kethryllia''s weapon was now grasped tightly in her hands.


    Also known as the Vanquisher''s Pledge, it was a long spear of around 2 metres in length.


    Its serrated exceptionally sharp head was bound to the shaft with a lightly decorated metal sleeve. The spear''s obsidian ck shaft was carved with seemingly glowing runes, while the bottom ended with the symbol of a pledge, a hand over a heart, carved onto it.


    On the socket of the spearhead, was a small transparent gem that was slowly turning into a dark red colour the longer Kethryllia gripped the spear.


    It was a weapon from the same Weapon Series as Evan''s Unforged and Eliza''s Memoria, the Vanquisher Series.


    [Blow them away, Pledge.]


    ***BOOOMMMMMM!!!!


    In a tumultuous disy of power, Kethryllia unleashed a colossal shockwave of crimson lightning that erupted like a tempest from her spear.


    The crackling energy surged forward with unbridled force, sweeping aside all in its path. Monsters and humans alike were catapulted through the air, their bodies careening dozens to hundreds of metres from their initial positions.


    As tendrils of lightning snaked across their forms, a paralyzing grip seized their limbs, rendering them immobile and helpless.


    The air crackled with the residual energy, as Kethryllia locked onto her targets, the two Heroes who had somehow defeated a dragon that should have been stronger than they were.


    [Crimson Fulgur.]

 Chapter 613 Evan’s Dread

    Chapter 613 Evan��s Dread


    [Crimson Fulgur.]


    The woman didn''t even hesitate to activate her Unique Skill, swinging her spear down as a giant blood-red lightning ive of celestial energy manifested from the tip of her spear and swept across the entire area.


    "Barrier!!"


    "Elemental Shield"


    "Crystal Wall!"


    "Earthen Guard!"


    **BOOMM!!!


    Kethryllia''s'' spear, without regard for their efforts, cleaved through all their defensive spells and techniques with ease as If they weren''t even there.


    The attack was slowed down considerably, but that didn''t mean much when you considered her lightning-fast attack speed.


    However, despite this; despite the fact that the sheer amount of power she poured into the attack was enough to deal with her targets in their weakened states, Kethryllia did not feel any feedback.


    Or rather, she felt some feedback, but it was far too little.


    She waved her hand to clear the dust and smoke, revealing the appearance of the two Heroes who were breathing heavily, down on their knees.


    ''How did-? Perhaps, teleportation? No, there was something else. I sensed demonic energy as well.''


    Her gaze moved towards the two deadly sin siblings in the area, lingering a bit longer on Pride before she sighed and pulled back her spear.


    [I don''t know or care how you survived, but there would not be a second time.]


    Even as she spoke, she was already loading her spear with celestial energy, and by the time she was done, her hand had already motioned to swing it down.


    |?Hey, Kethryllia. Are you sure you wanna try killing us now?!?|


    Evan hurriedly spoke up, the strange nature of his voice that was currently infused with destruction essence at the moment making her reflexively flinch for a second.


    It was just a second, but in that second that she stopped her movement, she lost the window of opportunity she had to deal with the two Heroes.


    ***DUUUUUUNNNNNN!!!!!!!


    The loud sound of something impacting against the World Istion Barrier rang out, and Evan''s lips curled up into a grin as he spoke.


    |?Your experience with Abigail should tell you what to expect when dealing with children of ''The Five''.?|


    ''Shit!''


    Kethryllia thought she had fortified the barrier enough, hence the reason she had left it and came here, but the impact that just rang out didn''t sound good at all.


    ***DUUUUUUNNNNNN!!!!!!!


    The whole of Lacertilia shook heavily, with the earth trembling so much that even Level 690+ adventurers on the brink of bing Living Legends lost their bnce and fell.


    **CRRAAACCKKK!!!


    Massive cracks spiderwebbed across the entirety of the dome-shaped barrier, riddling the barrier with fissures in nothing but a second.


    Without hesitation, Kethryllia who initially attempted to cut her link to the World Istion Barrier; made the split-second decision to instead release the entire barrier, but she wasn''t fast enough.


    **BOOMMMMM!!


    Something impacted against the barrier once more, and this time, the force was enough to shatter itpletely.


    The World Istion Barrier was broken, so what would happen to the person who had cast the barrier?


    [GAAAHHHH!!!]


    Like every mage whose spell was broken mid-way, she received bacsh.


    Hers was even worse, as it wasn''t just any spell that was broken, but a ''World Magic'' spell.


    The same way her aura had covered the entire area earlier, this time, a massive presence that seemed to cover the world descended upon Lacertilia.


    All the remaining monsters in the city were forced down onto the ground and crushed underneath the pressure.


    The energy of the World Law of Gravity coalesced around their bodies and squashed them with force, turning them all into misshapen pieces of bone, flesh and blood.


    Be it level 200 or Level 400; from the dungeon or summonedter by Faldo; it did not matter. All the monsters were squashed together.


    Evan suddenly sensed a presence right next to him, and when he looked up, there was a burly lion beastman standing there, with the half-dead corpse of a Demonic Fused senior member from the Sixth Division in his hand.


    "How are you, your highness?"


    The man spoke to David with a polite tone that did not match his appearance, startling the boy lightly as his brain hadn''t even processed the man''s presence yet.


    "Oh! Uncle Dandeyr. I''m fine, handle the others quickly."


    The man, Sovereign Dandeyr di, a distant rtive of Beast King Kolvar, nodded lightly before summoning the energy of the World Law of Gravity once more.


    It wasn''t like Evan''s destruction aura that was just a normal aura attributed with the properties of thew of destruction, but the genuine bona fidew energy itself.


    Infusing a bit of his consciousness into his aura, Dandeyr spread it out in waves, scanning the entirety of Lacertilia in seconds and locking down on any presence with Demonic Energy traces on them.


    He then held out his right hand and ''pressed down'' on the air before turning to David and saying.


    "Done. All Demonic Hand members in the City have been subdued."


    Evan turned towards the man dumbfoundedly, with an expression that asked the question he didn''t voice out.


    "Just like that?"


    Indeed, it was just like that.


    The power gap between the Intermediate Sovereign Dandeyr and the Peak Grandmaster/Inferior Epic Senior Members was just too great.


    All he needed to do was just to lock onto them and then use thew of gravity to dramatically increase the strength of gravity in the selected areas.


    Any objects or persons there would be mmed onto the ground unceremoniously and rendered immobile.


    "Good. Now, deal with her as well."


    David spoke while pointing at Kethryllia who was breathing heavily while using her spear to prop herself up and keep her body from falling to the ground.


    But before Dandeyr took action, someonended on the ground in front of them, before charging towards the Demonic Hand Executive.


    Evan recognized her.


    It was Sh Herrera; Princess Mya''s personal guard.


    Her sword was coated in spatial attributed magic power and her unique skill was active as she blitzed towards Kethryllia so fast Evan could only see her movements as a blur.


    However, also in that same moment that she made contact with the ground, that same moment that Evan caught sight of her appearance, he also sensed it.


    His whole body trembled instinctively.


    His Series skill began resonating.


    His Hero title activated on full overdrive.


    The Reincarnated Hero System ''Survival Enhancement Mode'' Activated automatically.


    Danger Sense began ring rms in his head, telling him to ''GET THE FUCK OUT'' as fast as possible.


    With the loudest voice he could muster, the boy shouted out to Sh who was about to attack Kethryllia.


    |?STOP!!!!!!!!!!!?|


    His voice, infused with the essence of thew of destruction, had a double grating effect, ringing out both in one''s ears and in their head at the same time.


    It also held amanding tone that made Sh cease her movements mid-sword swing.


    *TAP!


    "?!"


    Sh''s eyes widened in shock when she sensed it.


    Someone''s hand was touching her sword.


    Her sword which was coated in dense spatial magic power that could cut through space itself, was being held by someone''s bare hands.


    **CCRACK!!


    Effortlessly, the fair and slender arm broke the de of her sword off its hilt, before proceeding to squeeze it and shatter it to pieces.


    Sh''s instincts and intuition told her she had two options.


    Run, or DIE.


    Naturally, she embraced the first one.


    *VUP!!


    The woman teleported back a dozen metres, her eyes locked onto the person who had suddenly appeared in front of Kethryllia.


    Even Dandeyr showed surprise, as even he did not sense that person''s presence.


    David blinked once, and suddenly someone was standing in front of Kethryllia, holding the woman''s body that fell forward unconscious.


    "��Evan��what the hell is going on?


    What on Aidos, is ''that''?"


    Evan had shouted at Sh to ''stop'' when the cat beast woman charged at Kethryllia earlier. This meant that he knew something was about to happen, and stopped her to save her life.


    "Didn''t I tell you earlier? No matter what we did here today, Kethryllia Keasatra will NOT die today."


    Certainly, Evan had said something like that earlier.


    And now, looking at the person in front of them, all hispanions could understand why.


    It was a purple-haired woman, dressed in a casual pair of ck shorts, a white shirt, a ck jacket and simrly coloured cap and boots.


    Her appearance was one that resembled someone taking a stroll on a summer afternoon.


    When she turned around and looked at the lot in front of her, they finally got a good look at her.


    When she looked at them with those X-cross-shaped pupils of hers, everyone felt like she was looking right through them.


    She was beautiful, terrifyingly so.


    A beauty everyone present saw as dangerous.


    After all, they could all feel it.


    Her aura.


    Her imposing presence that overshadowed even that of the Sovereign Dandeyr.


    The sheer amount of magic power and demonic energy that rolled off her body, so dense it distorted the space around her.


    David''s hair didn''t need to stand on end for him to know the danger.


    He didn''t even need his hero title or appraisal to tell him who she was.


    He could tell instinctively.


    Everyone in the know could tell.


    They wished that it wasn''t what they were thinking, but as if to crush that futile hope, David''s lips parted to speak three words.


    Three words that best described what the entity they were looking at was.


    "Peak Ranked Demon."

 Chapter 614 Vaeri Soliana Valren

    Chapter 614 Vaeri Soliana Valren


    The ranks of demons corresponded to their strengths.


    For the world that Aidos'' invaders came from:


    Master Levels and Below were Low-Rank Demons.


    Grandmasters and Epics were Lower and Upper Mid Rank Demons.


    While Legendries and Sovereigns were High Ranks.


    The Peak Rank was normally reserved for Transcendents.


    However, there were special circumstances, when Sovereign Level Demons attained Peak Rank status.


    In a way, these Peak Rank Sovereigns were actually more dangerous than their Transcendent counterparts.


    Take the Deadly Sin Siblings for example. They were so strong that even Transcendents were wary of them.


    The woman right in front of them was definitely a Sovereign, but the fact that she was Peak Rank showed she was just as nonstandard as the Deadly Sin Siblings.


    Dandeyr''s muscles bulged up, and his aura surged. The man was clearly on guard against this newly appearing demon, especially as he knew instinctively, that if it came down to a fight.


    ''I wouldn''t win.''


    No one needed to tell him that.


    But despite the presence of a fellow Sovereign, the woman didn''t seem bothered. In fact, when she nced at Dandeyr, her eyes held indifference.


    Evan understood why Dandeyr was on guard, but since he knew who this person was, he had to make sure that the Lion Beastman didn''t do anything crazy.


    And besides, he saw this as an opportunity.


    Taking a deep breath, the boy bowed lightly and spoke words that shocked the shit out of everyone who heard.


    |?The ''Harbinger of Ice'', greets the ''Harbinger of Space and Gravity''. ?|


    """??!!"""


    He called her a Harbinger!


    A Series Skill holder.


    And not just one, but two skills from the same series.


    He was using style to inform those present, of what powers the woman held, as well as another terrifying fact for everyone who knew how Series Skills worked.


    Series Skills Resonated with each other and empowered themselves, so when there were series skill holders nearby, both parties were empowered.


    Evan and David were prime examples, as the two had exhibited power they did not originally possess due to their Resonance.


    Of course, their Hero titles had a hand in this, but it was still Resonance all the same.


    Anyway, it should be noted that what Resonated, were the ''Skills'' themselves, not the wielders.


    Meaning that even if both skills were in the same body, they would still Resonate.


    Long story short, this woman was perpetually in a State of Self-Resonance and could exhibit more than 100% power at all times.


    This wasn''t taking into ount the Pseudo-Authority that Ka could sense from her, though.


    After Evan spoke, the woman''s attention turned towards him, and the pressure the boy felt from her gaze overwhelmed him.


    ''So, this is Vaeri Valren in person, huh? I was right to be wary.


    And it frightens me to think ''that person'' is even stronger than this��''


    Vaeri silently looked Evan over, noticing the destruction essence the boy carried, as well as his Unique skill before asking.


    "If I recall correctly, the Harbinger of Ice skill was supposed to be with that ''oversized bird'' who nests near the house of that ''snake''."


    Most of the people who heard what she said did not understand her fully, but Eliza and the spirits who followed Evan to Duscon quickly got the meaning of her words.


    The ''Oversized bird'' was Silverwing, and the ''Snake'' was Hydran.


    He was actually a kind of dragon but she didn''t really care.


    |?Well, unfortunately. The ''Oversized Bird'' is dead, and it seems the power chose me as its sessor. ?|


    "Is that so?


    Oh well, it doesn''t really matter either way."


    Indeed, to her, it didn''t matter whether Evan was the Harbinger of Fire or Ice. From her point of view, he was still weak all the same.


    Now then, considering that she was a Demon, obviously affiliated with the Demonic Hand whose ns Evan and David had majorly messed up by killing Faldo; one would expect she was going to try and take them out.


    That was why Dandeyr was on his guard after all.


    With her power, she could instantaneously create a singrity between Evan and David, and it would suck their bodies into it faster than Dandeyr could do anything.


    But did she do it?


    Nope, the thought didn''t even cross her mind.


    She was only here to retrieve Kethryllia, and that was all she was going to do.


    Everything else didn''t matter.


    "Thagol."


    "Yes, My Lady."


    Kethryllia''s contracted demon suddenly appeared in front of her, dropping down on one knee with his gaze facing the ground.


    Vaeri cast a nce at him before properly carrying the unconscious Kethryllia and asking.


    "Have you retrieved the items?"


    "Yes, I have retrieved the nodes and the other items."


    Thagol replied, confirming that all the spell nodes for the World Istion Barrier that were still in ce had been retrieved, along with everything Demonic Hand rted in Lacertilia.


    When she received this confirmation, Vaeri nodded before finally turning her gaze to the one person she hadn''t looked at since she appeared here.


    "Mistress Roselia."


    Evan raised a brow in light surprise, confused about who she was talking to; but he quickly traced her gaze to the figure of the Demon of pride who wasn''t standing too far from him.


    ''Pride''s other name?''


    "Ich zolle dem Oberbefehlshaber der S��ndenlegion meinen Respekt."


    Evan could almost see the question marks that appeared on the heads of those present as they did not understand what she said, and even more so when they saw this woman bow in Pride''s direction.


    "Ich nehme deine Begr��?ung zur Kenntnis, Vaeri."


    Pride replied to Vaeri''s words, which were just her officially paying her respects to the ''Supreme Commander of the Sin Legion'', using the samenguage of the world where the two demons first met over 1100 years ago.


    Still, no one understood exactly what she said, except for Evan and David who possessed the Language Comprehension skill, Greed who had also learned that world''snguage when he was there, and for some reason, Ka as well.


    The moment Pride was done speaking, Vaeri raised her head before turning her gaze to the empty space beside her.


    Her cross-shaped pupils lit up with a light glow, and the space in front of her distorted.


    An X-cross-shaped tear in space manifested, breaking open into a full-blown spatial gate which she then proceeded to walk into with Thagol trailing behind.


    She casually took the main Demonic Hand executive responsible for this entire incident away, and no one could say a thing about it.


    No one dared to say anything.


    When the Spatial gate closed up, silence pervaded the area, until Eliza broke it with a question.


    "Who was that?"


    The question was directed to Evan, the one person who knew beforehand that Vaeri was going to be present there.


    In response, the boy turned to Pride and continued the analogy he was making earlier in the day when they were still in the Boss Room.


    |?If your younger sibling was in a ce where she could have a Sovereign Level existence after her life, and you knew this beforehand, you''d naturally take action to protect them, wouldn''t you? ?|


    "��of course."


    |?But what if you are upied with something and cannot go in person, but happen to be contracted to the most powerful demon on the entire?


    You''d send them instead, wouldn''t you??|


    The reason for Vaeri''s presence was exined with his question. She was here to save Kethryllia, her contractor''s younger sister.


    But this then brought up another question.


    "Who is Vaeri''s Contractor?"


    When Pride asked this question, Evan gave a wry smile while rubbing his arms, as if trying to get rid of the goosebumps he felt.


    |?Who else, but the person you''ve known I''ve been the wariest of. The one I called the ''Strongest Entity'' and have avoided speaking about unlesspletely necessary.


    The ''Second Finger of the Demonic Hand''. ?|

 Chapter 615 The Evolution Begins

    <h4>Chapter 615 The Evolution Begins</h4>


    When Evan met Griselda earlier in the year, it was revealed that the teenage Elder Breed Vampire had been intending to go somewherepletely different but ended up in Duscon due to a spatial ident.


    The cause, though she did not know, was the Wielder of the ''Child of Space'' skill, who was conducting an experiment that interfered with all teleportation on the entire Dark Continent at that moment.


    Their actions had disced Griselda halfway across the Alpha continent; this was just an experiment.


    An experiment they were still busy with when Thagol''s message came and the reason Vaeri came instead.


    Evan was honestly grateful this was the case as if it was the Second Finger they had to deal with, then only a member of ''The Five'' could save them.


    But still, Vaeri''s presence had brought a question to the minds of everyone present who knew about the demons.


    The Dimensional Rift on the Dark Continent, had not openedrge enough for even Mid Rank demons to slip through.


    Yet, there was already a Peak Rank Demon on Aidos, one whose existence was unknown until now.


    But was she the only one?


    That was the question that bugged the minds of David and Dandeyr.


    Evan, had the answer to that question, and it wasn''t the kind they wanted to hear.


    Notwithstanding the now defunct ''Demon Lord'' rank, Peak Ranks were the next highest demons after the Demon King.


    Knowing that there were Demons on this level on Aidos was quite a shock.


    |?This is quite bad. With this incident, that person''s attention would be on the Alpha Continent for a while.


    I have to hold back on my ns for Tarse until they lose interest, otherwise, I might make theme over in person. That''s equivalent to a death sentence. ?|


    Evan muttered to himself in a low voice as he walked up to his sword and picked it up.


    ?|Hopefully the Master of Dragondune remains wherever they are as well. ?|


    �� �� ��


    The storm that was Vaeri had passed, and now it was time to deal with the aftermath.


    The S-ranked and abovebatants who had been locked out were now finally able to re-enter the city, and they quickly moved and helped to capture all the Demonic Hand Senior Members that Dandeyr had subdued with his Gravity Law energy earlier.


    Healers came in to help the wounded, while the city lords and other higher-ups moved to check on the civilians and confirm the number of casualties.


    The Adventurer''s Guild Master and the many Vice GMs were also at work as well.


    There were so many things to do; recovering monster corpses, adventurer and soldier corpses, finding out the exact number ofbatants that had perished, analysing the damage to the city''s infrastructure and so on.


    All these were handled by the appropriate personnel involved, and they made sure that not even a single person who participated in the battle to thest moment did even the smallest amount of work.


    Their names were all documented, as each one of them who had fought to defend Lacertilia and its citizens, was well deserving of an award.


    David and Mya, members of the Royal Family, assured them of this.


    Speaking of David, the shock that came from his reveal as a Hero was still fresh in the minds of all those present, and at every given time, he felt numerous gazes on him.


    The Anomalies were also the target of attention, as it had gotten out that they were the ones who ended the dungeon break.


    The fight against Faldo was also seen by everyone, both those inside and outside the barrier.


    By the time the news of what happened today spread abroad, their names would once more be the hot topic of conversation everywhere on the continent.


    The news was even bound to reach other continents as well, especially due to the fact that ''two of Aidos'' Sovereigns'' made appearances.


    Well, the second one was an Invader but the public didn''t need to know that.


    Mya was in charge of information control, and the woman knew exactly what to let get out there, and what to conceal.


    It was going to be a difficult task, but she was sure she could at least seed in stopping a good percentage of the ''Unnecessary'' information from getting out.


    While all of this was going on, Evan was busy harvesting a certain item from Faldo''s corpse. He had some SS rankers help him out since his body was so exhausted that even standing was a problem.


    Eliza hadyered Breaths of Life on him, but it didn''t change the fact that his body was still strained greatly.


    And he hadn''t even deactivated BoD yet!


    Right now, Evan was genuinely worried about what''d happen if he deactivated the skill right now.


    ''That''s why I want to handle this first.''


    He thought to himself as he pulled out the massive blood-pumping organ from Faldo''s chest, one that was asrge as his entire torso.


    |Detected Evolutionary Catalyst in close proximity. |


    |Condensing Evolutionary Catalyst to a form suitable for Host''s consumption. |


    A strange form of energy escaped from Evan''s body and wrapped around the Dragon''s Heart.


    Suddenly, the Dragon''s Heart glowed with light and slowly began shrinking, until it was now a size that was a few centimetres bigger than Evan''s clenched fist.


    "��what World Law is that?"


    Dandeyr and the Living Legends present were surprised, as they could tell it was the power of a World Law, but not one they recognized.


    It was the power of the World Law of Evolution.


    ''No wonder Hydran acted strangely that day.


    From the very beginning, you had already stuffed the energy of a World Law inside me and called it a ''Unique Skill''.


    No��this isn''t just the energy��it''s like Ka''s��but stronger.''


    [The ''goddess Artemisia'' reserves her right to remain silent.]


    Evan was seated on Faldo''s fallen corpse when this happened, and the sheer amount of magic power that escaped the Dragon''s Heart, in tandem with the Law Energy situation, attracted the attention of everyone nearby towards him


    When Eliza turned towards him, her gaze was initially a questioning one, but when she saw the heart in his hands, it changed to that of realization.


    "Evan!"


    |?huh? ?|


    "Put. It. Down."


    The girl had been with Evan long enough to be able to predict his thoughts when he took certain actions, and seeing him holding the dragon''s energy core; its Heart, she quickly figured out what he was about to do.


    Evan, however, only smiled before turning to David and saying.


    |?Hey, dude.


    You mind doing me a favour? ?|


    "Hmm? What is it? And shouldn''t you put that down and wash your hands, the blood''s getting all over your clothes."


    |?Oh, right. ?|


    The boy deactivated his mystic eyes, revealing his clear grey-coloured pupils as he used water magic to wash both his hands, and the heart in front of him.


    Eliza wanted to move towards him, but her shadow seemed toe alive and hold her in ce, while Evan then continued his words to David.


    |?About that favour. Can I leave myself, as well as my party members in your care? Basically, put us under your protection for a while.


    Leader''s Orders. ?|


    "?!"


    David''s eyes widened when he heard Evan''sst two words. His Hero title seemed toe alive within him and exert some kind of binding force on his body.


    "You��!"


    He knew what Evan had just done. It was something he hadn''t used since he came to Aidos, but it had always been there.


    It was also the reason why he wasn''t worried about Laurene betraying him when he fed her information about the future.


    His Privilege as the ''Leader of the Seven Heroes''.


    Before David''s brain could even finish formting what he wanted to say to the boy, Evan abruptly tossed the Dragon''s Heart into his mouth.


    "��what?"


    He could only react in such a dumbfounded manner, as not even Dandeyr had expected Evan to devour the energy core of another existence just like that.


    It was absurd.


    Immediately he did, the energy of thew of evolution burst out from Evan''s body and pushed back everyone within a 50-metre radius, Dandeyr included.


    A series of notifications then began appearing in the boy''s field of view.


    |Adaptive Evolution has detected ss 2 High-Rank Evolutionary Catalyst: White High Dragon''s Heart. |


    |Minimum Requirement for Optimal Evolutionarily path is ss 3. |


    |Conditions Met. |


    |WARNING! Host''s Vessel is currently in Critical Condition. Repairs Required Immediately. |


    |Unlocking Experience Storage. |


    |Releasing Energy Isted for Evolutionary Process. |


    |Required Energy-Possessed Energy Ratio= 1.5:2.5|


    |All Requirements Fulfilled|


    |Due to current circumstances, Evolutionary Process wouldmence Immediately. |


    |Good Night, Host. |


    With thosest three words, Evan''s vision cked out.

 Chapter 616 Third Sovereign of the Day

    <h4>Chapter 616 Third Sovereign of the Day</h4>


    Though Evan had cked out, the boy was still standing, just that his eyes were closed.


    However, Pride and the Spirits contracted with him quickly realised that the boy wasn''t conscious anymore.


    Eliza who had wanted to rush to Evan earlier, red her aura and broke out of Kuro''s shadowy restraints, but almost immediately, she was restrained once more by Kuro, Milena and even Pride.


    "What the hell guys?!"


    The Battle Priestess rarely felt true anger, and now was one of those rare moments, with the emotion being targeted at herpanions.


    Contrary to her current state, Pride remained calm and exined the reason why she had stopped Eliza from getting to Evan.


    "He''s in a vtile state now��you would not like how his body would react if you were to go near him now."


    "��what?"


    Just as Eliza asked her question, they sensed a surge of energying from Evan''s direction, turning to see the boy enveloped in a mass of worldw energy.


    His body floated into the air and curled up in a fetal position, after which the worldw energy solidified, forming an opaque cocoon of multiple colours.


    The cocoon''s shape was roughly an oval, with a majority of its surface being ''Golden'' in colour. A portion of it was ''Grey'', another was ''Red'', there was also a ''Light Blue'' and one portion of the cocoon was multi-coloured, like a ''Rainbow''.


    Seeing this, Evan''spanions quickly understood what the colours meant.


    "His aura��the essence of destruction, and his unique skills."


    As if confirming Pride''s mutter, a portion of the golden part of the cocoon suddenly seemed to liquefy and swirl around in a small vortex before resolidifying once more.


    Concluding the cocoon''s transformation, was a thinyer of red light that surrounded the entire cocoon, a little bit of ''protection'' from thew of destruction itself.


    Eliza twisted her lips in light annoyance when she saw this, remaining stationary even though the spirits had released their restraints.


    [Don''t worry, Master is fine.]


    Ka spoke towards the teenage blonde who was still clearly worried, especially as she knew that Evan had overused BoD to the point where the destruction essence should haveshed back at him.


    [Remember when he said there was something stopping him from achieving grandmaster level? He''s fixing it now.]


    The spirit knew this due to Artemisia who was watching Evan''s evolution closely, so there would not be any mishaps of any kind.


    Her words, however, sent waves of shock rippling through the crowd around them, as she had just indirectly stated that Evan was NOT the grandmaster everyone thought he was.


    "He isn''t a grandmaster��and he was that strong? That''s bullshit!"


    One of the Living Legends even directly refuted Ka''s words, but the spirit only turned towards him with nk eyes and asked a single question.


    [Did he ever say with his own mouth, that he was a grandmaster?]


    Her question filled the area with silence as never once had Evan stated he was a grandmaster. Even when asked, the boy just ignored the question and let people assume whatever they wanted.


    [You''re the ones who called him an ''Irregr''. Why are you so surprised that he had the power of a grandmaster when not being one?]


    Ka shook her head as if she could not understand how ridiculous their thoughts were, before returning her focus to Eliza who still had her gaze locked on the cocoon.


    [Don''t worry, he''ll be fine.]


    Eliza silently heaved a sigh, releasing her fist that had been clenched so hard, her fingernails had wounded her palms.


    She looked at the blood flowing from the wound and in barely a second, the excessive life energy currently in her body washed over it and healed her arm.


    Just as she turned around and was about to return to where the healers were treating the woundedbatants, she heard gasps of surprise ring out from behind her.


    Upon looking back and tracing the gazes of those around her to the skies, she was met with the figure of thest person she could have expected to see here.


    It was a white-haired old man with eyes as green as her life energy, floating in the sky and looking right straight at her.


    "Gra��?!"


    Her words, however, were notpleted as another green-eyed man suddenly appeared behind her and tapped the side of her head with a palm coated in life energy.


    Instantly, her eyes zed over and she lost consciousness, but before she could fall into his outstretched arms, spatial energy wrapped around her body and teleported her away.


    "��what are you doing, Laneford?"


    Dandeyr''s voice rang out as he moved his gaze from the unconscious battle priestess who was in the arms of her boyfriend''s contracted spirit, and towards the grey-haired man who had knocked her unconscious in the first ce.


    "I have no reason to exin myself to you, Beast keeper."


    Eliza''s uncle, George Kaur didn''t seem to have any intention of talking, instead fixing his gaze on Eliza whom Ka was holding onto tightly.


    The lightning spirit red at him with wariness in her eyes, and as if taking that as a cue, all the ambient spirits in the area manifested their physical bodies, directing their hostility towards the man.


    "Stand down, George. The spirit is simply protecting her Master''spanion."


    The voice of the white-haired man in the sky rang out as the man''s aura burst out of his body and swept across the entire Buffer Zone.


    It was then that the attentions of the others who had not noticed his appearance were called towards him, and the reason why the Living Legends had gasped in surprise when he appeared was revealed.


    "Sovereign��"


    Three of Aidos'' Sovereigns had made appearances at the same ce, within the span of a few minutes.


    Leaving aside the Vaeri whom barely anyone knew about, the other two were people with great reputations that stretched back over a hundred years.


    Dandeyr, a rtive of the ''Beast King'' and one of the Beast Keepers, was the one who identified the second.


    "Head Elder of the Laneford n��Alden Kaur��"


    He ignored themotion his mutter had caused, and quickly looked towards Eliza and back at Alden.


    ''As I thought��the girl is a Laneford as well.''


    Alden momentarily nced at Eliza, but before he descended to the ground, he decided to offer the Beast Kingdom a little ''help''.


    "Life Maniption: Resurgence Wave."


    His words invoked the energy of the World Law of life, sending out a radiant surge of vibrant energy from his form and rippling across the expanse below him.


    The undting waves of energy reached out with a gentle, yet potent touch, sweeping across the tens of thousands of woundedbatants in the Buffer zone and knitting together their wounds.


    Tired bodies were revitalised, and vitality was breathed into those whose lives were hanging by a thread.


    The entire battleground was covered in an ethereal glow, which cast a serene ambience over the area. Wounded soldiers watched their injuries close up in real-time, even those whose limbs had nearly been torn off from their bodies saw as their flesh reattached itself.


    A chorus of sighs and murmurs of gratitude echoed through the air as the Life Law Resurgence Wavepleted its benevolent dance, leaving in its wake a field of revitalisedbatants.


    However, this act was not done simply out of Alden''s good will, but simply because of Eliza.


    The girl was clearly intending to go on with healing the woundedbatants, even though she herself was fatigued from the overload of Life energy.


    Her body had served as a conduit to absorb life energy from monsters and redistribute that energy to thebatants fighting the monsters, and she had done this so many times that the strain had built up considerably.


    George had knocked her unconscious simply because he was worried about her and wanted her body to rest and recuperate naturally.


    Alden had simply healed the others because his granddaughter had intended to do so herself, so he did it in her ce��and on a farrger scale than she could have imagined. It did take a lot of energy, even for a Sovereign like him, but the man wasn''t too bothered.


    He was going to make the Beast Kingdom owe him a favour as there were thousands of soldiers among those whom he had healed.


    The man took a deep breath before descending to the ground, but before he could speak to Dandeyr, David spoke up.


    "Your aid, Sovereign Kaur, is most appreciated."


    Handing themunicator that he held to one of the Beast Kingdom''s ''Living Legends'' nearby, the boy approached Alden.


    "Before we delve into further discussions, I wish to notify you that Evan Eris and hispanions are esteemed guests of the Barthmont Pce."


    David cast a sidelong nce at the Beast Kingdom officials and attendants who had apanied him and his sister from the capital and continued.


    "Any disrespect towards them will be considered a ''Crime against the Crown''."

 Chapter 617 Meanwhile, the two Transcendents…

    <h4>Chapter 617 Meanwhile, the two Transcendents��</h4>


    David ignored their astonished expressions and turned towards Alden before concluding.


    "Whatever connection you may have with my fellow Hero''spanion; I implore you to visit the Barthmont Pce once they awaken to speak with them."


    The boy looked Alden in the eyes as he spoke, not even the slightest bit intimidated by the aura of power rolling off the man''s body.


    He was someone who grew up seeing Living Legends and Sovereigns on a daily basis, and his father was even a Transcendent. This resulted in him growing ustomed to the inherent feeling of suppression that these powerful beings exuded.


    "Thank you very much for your understanding."


    David concluded his words with a polite smile, before turning towards Dandeyr who was now standing beside him and asking.


    "Is it possible for us to transport that cocoon to Goras?"


    "That''s quiteplicated..."


    [I know what you''re worried about, but as far as you don''t hold hostility, the destruction energy would notsh out at you.]


    Ka spoke up right after Dandeyr replied, addressing the man''s worry abouting in contact with Evan''s cocoon.


    "If that''s the case��"


    David and Mya found it somewhat unexpected that Dandeyr quickly trusted Ka''s statements. Despite their surprise, the Beastman didn''tment on it. He proceeded to raise the cocoon from the ground into the air, utilizing the energy of thew of gravity with his hand movements.


    "That''s good. Now then, sister."


    Finally, David turned towards his elder sister, whose gaze he had been ignoring all this while, and with a light smile, he asked.


    "Can I leave handling the rest here to you? I''d like to return to Goras immediately, as well as send a report to Father."


    M regarded her brother with a scrutinizing gaze, clearly harbouring numerous questions. However, she chose to maintain silence on the matter, offering a nod instead. She then redirected herplete attention to dealing with the aftermath of the situation.


    David silently watched as she epted the papers with all the citywide structural damage detailed on them while walking away, sighing softly before turning to Dandeyr and speaking.


    "Come on, Uncle. Let''s go.


    You guys as well. Your Party leader did say I should put you all under my care."


    In this manner, David, apanied by the Anomalies, boarded the airship that transported him to Lacertilia. The vessel ascended gradually into the sky, and in a matter of minutes, it disappeared beyond the horizon of Dungeon City Lacertilia.


    �� �� ��


    Unnamed Dungeon


    Cerul Duchy


    Beast Kingdom


    May 7th


    Year 1053


    The walls of the cavern had been forged by nature''s fury, bearing the scars of volcanic tumult, the hardenedva creating an intricate tapestry of ck and crimson.


    An eerie glow emanates from the cracks, casting dancing shadows that writhe across the cavernous expanse.


    In the centre of this cavern, a pool of once-fiery magma had long since solidified, forming a grotesque mosaic of hardened ripples. The ground crunches beneath one''s feet, a mix of ash and cooledva, its texture a stark contrast to the room''s torrid atmosphere.


    Runes as ancient as the time before a certain god rampaged and caused a huge portion of the Gxy to be ''RESET'', were etched into the obsidian walls, telling tales of forgotten rituals and mystical incantations, with their meanings lost to time.


    Sitting on a massive building-sized monster corpse near the solidified magma pool and juggling a red fist-sized orb of pure fiery power, was a muscr Lion beastman with an unruly mane of deep brown hair.


    His brown eyes turned in the direction of another man sitting not too far from him, with long purple hair, dressed in a casual white shirt and a pair of brown khaki shorts.


    The man''s every breath exuded a fiery aura that seemed to make the room''s temperature go even higher than it already was.


    "How far have you gone, Rathal?"


    In response to the Beastman''s question, the purple-haired man, ''Strongest Human'' Rathal, opened his eyes to reveal a set of golden irises as he clicked his tongue and replied.


    "Tsk��just barely 1%."


    He scratched his hair while getting he got up to his feet and sighed.


    "Comprehending ''Universal Laws'' is a very tiring affair."


    Rathal didn''t bother to hide his displeasure at the action, ring at the crystal that the other man, ''Beast King'' Kolvar, was juggling.


    But leaving aside Rathal''s displeasure and Kolvar juggling a crystal of power that couldpletely vaporize the entirety of the Alpha continent if it exploded, more focus should be put into Rathal''s phrasing.


    The man had said ''Universal Laws'', not ''World Laws''.


    He called the Laws not by what they were known by on Aidos, but by their actual name.


    When he became a Transcendent and gained the ability toprehend the working processes behind the ''World Laws'', he came to the understanding that thesews didn''t govern just their World, but the entire Universe they existed in.


    Their Horizons were broadened, and they understood that Aidos was just one world in a universe that contained heaven knows how many worlds.


    "Anyway..."


    Raising his hand, the energy of thew of swords coalesced around Rathal''s arm, and the man nced at it for a moment before ''casually'' waving his hand to the right.


    **BOOOMMM!!!!


    This seemingly nonchnt gesture unleashed a powerful sh that carved a colossal rift into the earth. The force extended further, demolishing an underground volcano into fragments and causing molten magma to erupt in all directions.


    Violently fragmenting an entire mountain with a single strike��this was the kind of ridiculous power that transcendents possessed.


    But reaching this level of power wasn''t easy, as one could get stuck as a Peak Sovereign for thousands of years, simply because they had notpleted thest requirement for transcendence.


    Simply because they had not proven their qualifications to Transcend Mortality.


    In the course of Rathal''s battle, where he killed 12 of the Vampire Sovereigns nearly 30 years ago, he proved his qualifications and ascended to the realm of Transcendence.


    "But in the end, we''re all stuck in the inferior stage��"


    Rathal held up his palm and ignited a me within it, grinning lightly as he continued.


    "I bet even that old hag would be surprised to see I have this now."


    "Where did you get a Law Crystal with thew of Swords from?"


    Kolvar questioned Rathal, with his gaze fixed on the mountain that the human had reduced to a pile of rubble. Though he didn''t use ''Swords'' to fight, he still tried toprehend thew so he could have morew energies under his belt.


    "Well, a certain goddess happened to drop thew on the floor when she was picking up the souls of the Tenth Finger of the demonic hand and her contractor.


    I merely picked up the crystal after she left."


    Hearing Rathal''s reply, Kolvar turned towards him with an incredulous gaze, as if asking ''What bullshit are you saying?''.


    Knowing just how much power those who had surpassed Transcendence possessed, Kolvar could not understand how a being like that needed to use her hands to extract souls from a corpse.


    "Even I can do that without lifting my hands!"


    "Don''t think about it too much."


    Rathal replied to Kolvar with a chuckle, before jumping up to the top of the monster corpse and carving out its eyes as he continued.


    "Anyway, I heard your little conversation.


    The new generation Second Hero; that boy always does things to keep himself in the spotlight. Is he a sucker for fame or something?


    To think he killed a dragon and ate the thing''s heart in front of thousands of people."


    The man shook his head silently as he held up the giant eyeball and inspected it closely, only to incinerate it when he discovered it didn''t contain what he wanted.


    "I doubt he''d be the same kid who trembled just from seeing me two years ago."


    He dusted the ashes off his hands and he spoke with an amused smile on his face, while Kolvar remained silent, his mind dwelling on another part of the information he had received.


    ''To think David was one of the ''Seven''��''


    The man was still shocked that his son was one of the Seven Heroes he and the other members of the ''Five'' had been pursuing for years now.


    "How about we pay a visit to one of our World''s Heroes?"


    Rathal''s voice snapped him out of his thoughts and the Beastman looked towards him, sighing softly before speaking.


    "Don''t do anything silly."


    Kolvar then held out his right hand and shed the air, creating a brown w-shaped tear in the space in front of him. The scene surprised Rathal as he didn''t know Kolvar had picked up Spatialws.


    "When the hell did you get thew of space?"


    "I stole the crystal from Altrishia when she was sleeping."


    This time, even Rathal was surprised, but it was only momentary.


    "You stole from that old hag? Where is it? Gimme the crystal."


    "No."


    "But why?"


    "Because Trigger."


    "The heck does that even mean?!"


    While having this meaningless conversation, the two men disappeared into the short-distance spatial gate which slowly closed up behind them.


    The moment the portal closed up, all the Legendary and Sovereign Level monsters in the dungeon, even the giant smander whose nest was destroyed by Rathal, breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief.


    ''Finally! Those monsters are gone!''

 Chapter 618 The Evolutionary Process

    <h4>Chapter 618 The Evolutionary Process</h4>


    |Adaptive Evolution is Online. |


    |Unveiling True Nature: Activating Pseudo-Authority of Evolution|


    |Detected Reactive Evolutionary Catalyst.


    ss Category: 2.


    Catalyst Type: Energy Core.


    Catalyst Potential: Possibility of achieving Nuclear Reactor Levels of Energy, Generation, Storage, Quality, Maniption, and Control.


    Catalyst ssification: White High Dragon''s Heart. |


    ��


    |Host''s Current Existence Level is unable to withstand the Evolutionary Catalyst''s Power.


    Consuming umted Experience to Increase Host''s Level. |


    |WARNING!!|


    |SOULD DAMAGE DETECTED|


    |SOUL HEALTH IS AT 79%|


    |CONSUMING ACCUMULATED ENERGY TO RESTORE SOUL HEALTH TO 100%...|


    BoD was a double-edged sword.


    Evan had gone over the limit of BoD during his fight with Faldo, and this was the end result; his soul''s ''health values'' had been reduced by 21% as the Skill''s destruction energy rebounded at him.


    Luckily, it wasn''t permanent Soul Damage, so at the cost of a few potential levels, his soul would be returned to top shape.


    |Restoration Complete|


    |Increasing Host''s Existence Level|


    ��


    |Sessful|


    |All Physical abilities have significantly improved. |


    |Experience points required to further advance Existence Level to the next Stage��|


    |INSUFFICIENT|


    |Increase to Host''s Main Three Existential Aspects has depleted stored energy reserves.?|


    |Current Existence Level is enough to withstand Evolutionary Catalyst. |


    |Attempting to Super Evolve Host via Evolutionary Path 1 using the Ingested Catalyst��|


    ��


    ��


    |FAILED!


    Grade 8 Drawbacks Detected. |


    |Re-Attempting via Evolutionary Path 2|


    |FAILED!


    Grade 9 Drawbacks Detected. |


    |Re-Attempting via Evolutionary Path 3|


    |FAILED!


    Grade 8 Drawbacks Detected. |


    |Re-Attempting��


    ��


    ��


    ��FAILED!


    Grade 10 Drawbacks Detected. |


    It was unknown how many hours or days had passed, but Adaptive Evolution kept trying all the possible Evolutionary Paths.


    It had detected an Optimal One before, but that one only applied if Evan had used a ss 3 Catalyst. However, Faldo''s Heart was ss 2, so Adaptive Evolution had to scan through all possibilities once more.


    |Re-Attempting via Evolutionary Path 76|


    |SUCCESSFUL!


    Grade 4 Drawbacks Detected: Within eptable Limits|


    With that message, Evan''s clothes which he was wearing were dissolved by the liquids in the cocoon, with the destruction energy reducing them to nothing.


    Thanks to Artemisia, his artifacts were not destroyed.


    |Initiating Evolution. |


    Thus, the transformation of Evan''s physical body began.


    |Existential Aspect Mutations|


    |Physical Body: Acquiring Dragon Factors. |


    ��


    |Dragon Factors Acquired|


    |Acquiring Draconic Eyes to see the ''True'' Nature of the World��|


    |ABORTED! |


    |Authority of Universal Law of Mimicry within Unique Skill: Mystic Eyes of Mimicry Detected and Activated.


    Mimicking and Consuming portions of Draconic Eye traits to Upgrade Unique Skill. |


    |Sessful. |


    |Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (3) Acquired. |


    |Physical Body Strengthening: Acquiring Draconic Scales��REJECTED|


    |Detected Disturbances in Host''s Mental state.


    Conclusion: Acquiring Physical Draconic Traits; Scales, Tail, and Horns have been subconsciously rejected by Host. |


    | Pseudo-Authority of Evolution Activated.


    Inducing ''Optional'' Attribute of Draconic Scales.


    Grade 6 Drawback & Grade 9 Benefit Detected|


    |epted by Host''s Subconscious. |


    |Moving on to Draconic Traits: Wings|


    |Host''s Subconscious eptance at 100%


    Modifying Traits to be suitable for Host''s Body. |


    |Strengthening Physical Body, Bones, Cells and Organs. |


    |Sessful|


    ��


    Thanks to the cocoon, Eliza and Pride who were nearby were spared the sight of Evan''s body morphing and reforging itself for over 2 days straight.


    |Existential Aspect 1: Physical Body Evolution Completed. |


    |Existential Aspect 2: Energy Core|


    |Evolutionary Catalyst: ss 2 High Dragon''s Heart Possesses High Energy Concentration|


    |Evolving Energy Core to ept Excess Energy|


    |FAILED!


    Host''s Energy Core is at Limit.


    Discard Remaining Energy? |


    | Negative!


    Adaptive Evolution Rejects Request on Host''s Behalf.


    Drawing Power from Dragon Factors��


    Inducing Draconic Trait��|


    ��


    |Sessful|


    |Host has now acquired Second Energy Core


    Host has Acquired ''Dragon Heart''. |


    Our resident Hero now has a Friggin Potential Nuclear Reactor in his Chest. It should also be stated that his normal human body heart was still intact, meaning he now had 2 hearts.


    Guess a stab to the heart wouldn''t be enough to take him out anymore.


    |Dragon Factors Increased. |


    |Drawback Grade Raised from 4 to 5. |


    |Existential Aspect 2: Energy Evolution Completed. |


    |Existential Aspect 3: Soul. |


    |Pseudo-Authority of Evolution Attempting to Interfere with Soul��|


    |?FAILED!!! ?|


    |Re-Attempting��|


    |?FAILED!!! ?|


    | Pseudo-Authority of Evolution has detected Interfering with Host''s Soul is Nigh-Impossible, and would use up all remaining Stored Energy and Experience. |


    Adaptive Evolution had been siphoning all the experience points that Evan had been gaining ever since he hit level 299 and storing it for this day, to power his evolution and Existence Level Advancement.


    If Evan had reached the Grandmaster Level before eating Faldo''s Heart, then he would not have gained this many Draconic Traits as Adaptive Evolution would not have the energy to do all it had been doing for the past week.


    Because it had been umting that energy, it was now able to use more power of the Pseudo-Authority of Evolution��a fragment of the thing Artemisia disguised as ''Adaptive Evolution'' and upgrade his physical body.


    As for his soul? The skill didn''t dare touch that.


    |All Attempts to interfere with Host''s Soul Ceased. |


    |Redirecting energy to evolving Host''s Resistances. |


    |Acquiring Extra Resistances.


    Spiritual Attack.


    Memory Alteration.


    Destructive Energy.


    Law Energy.


    Petrification.


    Corrosion


    Illusions


    Radiation. |


    |Attempting to Evolve Skills|


    |Skills with Elemental Type Fire: Receiving Augmentation due to Draconic Trait: Dragon mes��


    Acquiring Dragon me Skill. |


    |Unique Skills |


    |Adaptive Evolution Cannot interfere with Authority Contained in ''Mystic Eyes of Mimicry''|


    Adaptive Evolution skipped Evan''s mystic eyes and went to the next Skill on the list. The instant that the energy of evolution came in contact with it, crimson red tendrils of energy began snaking over the cocoon, sparking uncontrobly and causing quite a stir.


    |Vtile Pseudo Authority: Adaptive Evolution Refuses to interfere with Blessing of Destruction. |


    |Unique Skills: ''Vortex'', Harbinger of Ice, ''Mesarthim: Prismatic Inferno'' do not require any modifications. |


    |Evolving Host''s Elemental Affinities.


    Acquiring all Elemental Affinities of ss 2 Evolutionary Catalyst��|


    |Sessful. |


    ��


    ��


    |Adaptive Evolution Requests an Upgrade|


    |Request epted|


    |��|


    |Sessful|


    |More Pseudo-Authority of Evolution Can be utilised. |


    |Increased Evolution Energy Storage Capacity. |


    |More Benefits can now be acquired upon Evolution. |


    ��


    |Upgrading ''Reincarnated Hero System''|


    |Consuming all remaining Stored Energy|


    ��


    |Sessful|


    |Introducing Karmic Alignments.


    Based on Soul Data, Host is categorised as ''Chaotic Good''. |


    |Increasing Stat Boost & Life Force Boost. Stat & Skill Effectiveness. |


    |Upgrading Host''s ss and ss Bonuses|


    ��


    |Sessful|


    ��


    |This Completes the ??????????????v?????????????????????????o?????????????????????????????????l??????????????????????????????????????????????????? ��!|


    Of course, if something strange didn''t happen, then this Evolution wouldn''t be Evan''s now, would it?


    |?WARNING! ?|


    |Information Detected from Shards of Authority spilled from Host''s Soul. |


    |Detected Existences of Race Category: yer|


    |Analysing Information. |


    ��


    |Insufficient Pseudo-Authority of Evolution. |


    |Adaptive Evolution ssifies this Analysis as Grade 10 Priority: Requests for more Authority|


    The moment that the skill made that request, a tall ck-haired woman appeared in the room where Evan''s cocoon was kept.


    Her appearance made all the security and magic formations ced there seem like a joke, as she held out her palm towards the cocoon and spoke one word.


    [epted.]


    |Connecting to Pseudo- ��????????????????t???????????????????o???????r???i??????????????y?????????????


    ��Correction��


    Connecting to High-Rank Authority of the Universal Law of Evolution.


    essing Evolutionary Archive.


    Disseminating Information. |


    |Grade 5 Evolutionary Drawback Revealed;


    Due to Acquiring Draconic Factors, Host is now susceptible to the racial powers and abilities of both ''Humanyer'' and ''Dragonyer'' Race Members.


    More than 100 existences carrying yer racial factors have been detected in Host''s Star System; Host is advised to be careful. |


    [Imprint the warning in his subconscious]


    |Sessful. |


    |All Systems Green.


    Finalising Changes��


    Evolution Completed.


    Host has now be a ''Draconic Human''


    Congrattions. |


    |Returning Consciousness to Host. |


    |REJECTED!


    Foreign Authority Interference.


    Discerning Type��|


    ��


    After a few minutes, Adaptive Evolution finally discovered the reason why Evan''s consciousness refused to return yet.


    |Interfering Authority Type: Prime World Authority. |


    |Authority Wielder: "Aidos." |


    �� �� ��


    It was White.


    White as far as the eye could see.


    This scene reminded me of when I first met Artemisia.


    ''If that was really my ''first'' meeting with her, that is��''


    Just as I thought that, I heard a euphonic voice ring out from behind me; though it strangely felt like I was hearing it in my head at the same time.


    [I''d rather not bepared with someone else, so why don''t I change things up a bit?]


    By the time I could make a full 180-degree turn, the scenery around me had transformedpletely.


    I now found myself standing in the middle of a verdant green field.


    Perfectly trimmed grasses, fluffy white clouds floating across the clear blue sky, and a giant ''Sun'' that appeared to be a lot closer than I remembered.


    [That''s not exactly a ''Sun'' though��]


    The voice once again rang out from ''behind'' me, and I turned around to see that there was now a set of chairs and a table set up on a small elevated hill.


    There was ''someone'' already seated on one of the chairs, and that ''someone'' pointed at the other seat and spoke with the same voice I had been hearing.


    [You''re finally here, Mr Bourne. Have a seat, this is going to be a long talk.]


    It was a ''woman'', with long ck hair that cascaded down ''her'' shoulders and to the ground, and a pair of multicoloured iridescent eyes that drew my attention more so than ''her'' goddess-like beauty.


    Seeing that ''she'' didn''t seem hostile in any way, I decided to oblige ''her''. Besides, I was curious about the way ''she'' referred to me.


    Not as ''Evan'', but as ''Mr Bourne''.


    After taking a seat, I voiced out my first question before ''she'' could say anything else.


    "If I may ask, you are...?"


    In response, the ''woman'' blinked lightly before gesturing to ''herself'' and replying.


    [Me? I''m the you''ve been living on these past 3 years.]


    ''She'' got up from ''her'' seat and gave a small curtsy, ''her'' voice continuing to ring out.


    [Consciousness of the ''Prime World'' "Aidos", at your service.]

 Chapter 619 Aidos I (Evan’s POV Start)

    <h4>Chapter 619 Aidos I (Evan��s POV Start)</h4>


    [Consciousness of the ''Prime World'' "Aidos", at your service.]


    It wasn''t that I didn''t have that little suspicion in the corner of my heart somewhere, but hearing it was still a tad bit surprising.


    [Surprised?]


    ''She'' asked me as ''she'' sat back down on ''her'' seat, waving ''her'' hand to summon a tea set, and pouring some tea for both of us.


    Though I wondered If ''she'' needed to even drink it��I mean, coulds even drink tea?


    I looked around as ''she'' poured the tea into the cup that had appeared in front of me, redirecting my gaze towards the giant ball of golden energy in the sky.


    "Where is this?"


    [This ce? Well, I wouldn''t say it''s a ''physical'' ce��but at the same time it also is.]


    "The heck?"


    My obvious confusion must have made ''her'' see that I did not make any sense of ''her'' words, and after a moment''s pause, ''she'' spoke once more.


    [You are approximately 45,000 kilometres beneath the''s surface, but you''re not at the same time because this is kind of an alternate Dimensional Space.


    Besides, it''s just your consciousness��your spiritual body��that''s here, and not your physical body.]


    As soon as I heard the distance ''she'' called, a terrifying conjecture bloomed in my mind. My gaze slowly trailed up to the giant orb of golden energy that I thought was a ''Sun'', and as if seeing through my thoughts, Aidos spoke up.


    [It is exactly what you''re thinking.


    What you''re looking at��is the core of the Aidos.]


    "You gotta be kidding me��"


    Thest thing I recall was devouring that dragon''s��Faldo''s heart, and when I regained consciousness, I was suddenly at the''s core, having tea with the consciousness of the.


    "What a day��"


    Somehow, despite the absurdities of the current situation, I was a lot calmer than I thought I should be.


    [Would you like to have a touch?]


    "I don''t thinkary Cores are things mere humans should be touching with their hands, so no, I do not want to."


    At my rejection, ''she'' simply shrugged and uttered a line that gave me chills down my spine.


    [Oh good, because if I removed the barrier that''s above us, you would instantly melt into a puddle due to the sheer amount of energy emitted from it.]


    "��"


    For once, I think I finally understood the exasperation others felt when they had to deal with my antics.


    "Leaving aside things that I clearly don''t want to make sense of. Why did you call me ''Mr Bourne''? How is that name known to you?"


    [You''re a Hero connected to me; would it not be weirder if I did not know what your actual name was?


    Your title as a Hero and the benefits it gives you�Cexcept Artemisia''s little tweaks that work based on other Authorities and bits of reality warping you don''t need to know aboute from me after all.]


    "I feel like I heard some very concerning things in that statement of yours just now��"


    [It''s your imagination.]


    ''She'' calmly sipped the tea after saying that, despite clearly saying something even a ten-year-old would not believe.


    But from ''her'' facial expression and that ''smile'' ''she'' wore, it was clear as day that ''she'' wasn''t going to be speaking further on this.


    ''In that case��let''s ask about other things��''


    "You called yourself a ''Prime'' World. Is that some type of ''High-Level World'' or something?"


    Artemisia did tell me that Aidos was a High-Level world, despite it being particrly weak for High-Level Worlds, so I was curious about that.


    [That''s a World ssification stage that''s much, much higher than the ''High Level''.


    It''s like Sovereignty and Transcendence, except, the gap is more like a Grandmaster to a Transcendent.]


    ''Her'' eyes seemed to shine as ''she'' spoke, and I couldn''t help but get the feeling that ''she'' was looking ''through'' me.


    [The World ssifications are: Low, Middle, High, Prime, and one other you really don''t need to know about.]


    If I were to believe what ''she'' was saying, then this meant that Aidos was pretty high up the chart. And as if reading my thoughts, ''she'' continued.


    [I''m pretty high up the charts, aren''t I?


    Sturdy enough to have gods walking about casually without issue, unlike Middle-Worlds that could be destroyed If a god kicked the ground a bit ''too hard''.]


    Aidos casually spoke about how fragile a of billions was with a smile on ''her'' face, leading me to my second tost question.


    "Your appearance. How did ite about?"


    My question had ''her'' looking down on herself, at the white dress ''she'' wore before looking back up to me and replying.


    [Imprinting.]


    "Imprinting?"


    [Yes.]


    "Mind exining further?"


    I decided to take a sip of the tea after asking, and Aidos ced a hand on ''her'' chin for a few moments before speaking.


    [When I first came into being as a Middle-World a couple billion years ago, I only had memories of everything that had transpired both ''ON'' me and within my gravitational field, as well as knowledge of the reason for my existence.


    That was how I came to know that I''m in the first group ofs in Orithyia.


    However, despite all these ''memories'' I possessed, I had never personally ''Met'' anyone before then.


    Objectively, I probably looked like a floating mass of multicoloured light or something, and I remained that way, until the first group of beings to ever surpass Transcendence from me, discovered ''My'' existence.


    They found their way to this alternate space we are in right now, and the first one of them who stepped in here, was a woman who looked exactly like this; so, I took on ''her'' appearance.


    That''s why I called it Imprinting.]


    ''Her'' exnation was quite lengthy, but I learned a few things from it. The first was that Aidos was REALLY old.


    Secondly, the name of this Gxy was most likely Orithyia.


    [The Gender ssification does not apply to us Celestial Bodies, so we usually just imprint like this and stick with whichever appearance we take up first.


    If you are notfortable with it, I could change it.]


    "Nahh. I have a feeling you might change to something that I would end up NOT beingfortable with so don''t bother."


    I didn''t really care much about ''her'' appearance; I was just curious as to why it was a female one. As soon as ''her'' answer came, my curiosity was sated and I decided to move on to thest question I had for now.


    "So, Aidos.


    Why exactly is it that you called me here?"


    When I asked that question, the look on ''her'' face changed, as if ''she'' had been waiting for me to ask this for a while now.


    ''She'' silently set down the teacup in ''her'' hands and leaned forward with a smile as ''she'' spoke.


    [You may not be aware of this, Mr Bourne, but we Celestial Body Consciousnesses are ''100% Logical'' existences.]


    "��"


    [Simply put; no matter how we may act, no matter how cherry and smiley our attitudes are��]


    All expressions on ''her'' face disappeared, the light in ''her'' eyes dimmed, and ''she'' spoke with a t voice that showed zero emotions.


    [��behind it all, is a calcted, logical and emotionless thought process with only our Survival as the main priority.]


    Despite having met a literal goddess before, I don''t think I felt as intimidated as I just did by theplete change in ''her'' temperament.


    Without regard for my thoughts, Aidos leaned forward and continued speaking.


    [I, most of all, am aware of the threat to my existence that that bitch Gozon poses. I know the ''REAL'' reason why Gozon''s Demons conquer other worlds, not the bullshit that those Demonic Hand idiots think.


    Well, I understand their intentions of wanting to ''Save'' me, but they''re greatly misguided, at least some of them are.


    The rest are just vermin that need to be exterminated; that''s why I designate them as ''Enemies'', after all.]


    From what ''she'' was saying, I had the feeling I''d be meeting with Demonic Hand members who were NOT ''Enemies of Aidos'' in the future.


    [Ah, I digressed.


    I was talking about Gozon, right? As a fellow, I understand why, but that does not mean I would ept it, especially as I am the target of the Demons.


    And as the target, I had ns to ensure my survival, even if it meant more than 60% of my poption would be wiped out.]


    The detached manner ''she'' spoke was enough for me to know ''she'' genuinely did not care even if over 5 out of the 7+ billion beings living on ''her'' perished.


    [However, one random day, I sensed the entrance of an existence from a somewhere else in the Gxy, sent here by the goddess who just so happens to manage this Sector of the Universe.


    Not only did ''she'' introduce a variable into my ns, but this variable just so happened to have the makings of a ''Singrity''.


    An uncontroble ''Bug'', in the ''Code'' of the very Universe we exist in.]


    Aidos got up from ''her'' seat and ced ''her'' hands on the table as ''she'' leaned in even further; so much that I began wondering if ''she'' was going to fall as ''she'' concluded.


    [Artemisia threw a wrench in my ns, and that ''wrench'', is you; ''Irregr Evan''.]

 Chapter 620 Aidos II

    Chapter 620 Aidos II


    A ''wrench'' in ''her'' ns to ensure ''her'' own survival.


    That was what Aidos said I was.


    And from the manner in which ''she'' spoke about me, it was fairly obvious that ''she'' was none too pleased about my presence.


    ''Her'' dainty finger poked the centre of my chest as ''she'' dered that, and for the next ten seconds, silence pervaded the area between the two of us.


    Our gazes remained locked without a single word or movementing from either side, the only sounds being that of the ''breeze?'' blowing through the verdant fields we were on.


    Eventually, Aidos sat back down and refilled both our teacups before continuing ''her'' words with a smile, as if ''she'' wasn''t just speaking about leaving billions for dead less than a minute ago.


    [I, personally did not like your presence, Mr Bourne.


    And if it wasn''t for the fact that the ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' had his eyes on you, then I was actually considering removing you from the equation before you could bloom into an ''Irregr''.]


    ''She'' pressed ''her'' head to ''her'' temple as ''she'' muttered some names under ''her'' breath.


    [There''re the Silverwings, Abigail, Rosaline, the dragon Dominik Vk captured, that misguided idiot Faldo, Rathal, and now you. That''s one too many Singrities, even for a Prime World.


    This isn''t even taking into ount the Demon of Pride who you''re contracted to. Between her and Alvey, I don''t know who''s a bigger bug in the Universe.]


    One of the names that ''she'' called made goosebumps pop up on my arms, but I took a deep breath to calm myself before speaking as calmly as I could.


    "When was it that you changed your mind about removing me from��yourself??"


    Aidos chuckled lightly with a hand covering ''her'' mouth, before giving me an answer.


    [When you contracted with dear little Ka.]


    "I see. Guess I owe Ka one."


    The ''woman; shrugged ''her'' shoulders and leaned back on ''her'' seat as ''she'' spoke.


    [Like I said, you had the ETOD watching you from day one.


    Even if I decided to go through with ejecting your soul, he would have just rewound time and undone it.


    Besides, I lost the soul of Mr Eris��a pity; considering how much potential the boy had.


    If your soul really originated from me, then I would not have had any issues with you, but you''re from Earth-V.


    It''s like Artemisia took someone else''s problem and dumped it on me.


    You Irregrs, Singrities��whatever you wanna call yourselves; it doesn''t change the fact that y''all are bugs��are points of uncontroble growth. Each one of your existences is so saturated with bugs that thews of the universe responsible for bncing things out and preventing bullshit from happeningpletely and catastrophically break down around you guys.


    Your ridiculously high growth potentials are directly proportional to your potential to bring unforeseeable consequences to the universe.]


    The way ''she'' spoke, it seemed that ''Irregrs'' weren''t existences thats were fond of having despite how much potential they had.


    And it also seemed that regardless of which world I was in, I was still going to be an Irregr all the same.


    [You Irregrs always mess with Causality without regard for the consequences your actions bring upon your surroundings and because you''re Irregrs, the damnedw wouldn''t do a thing to you!]


    And now, I was pretty sure that Aidos was just grumbling.


    With the p of ''her'' hands, the tea set turned into a ''beer set'', and the''s consciousness filled ''her'' ss with the contents of the bottle before taking a swig and downing the entire thing.


    [If only I could truly get drunk��]


    ''Her'' appearance was quite amusing, but I did not forget the words ''she'' had spoken not too long ago, about the true nature of Celestial Body Consciousnesses like her.


    ''100% Logical Existences.''


    [Okay, enough ying around for now.]


    ''She'' sat back up and once again, I was now faced with a tea set. This time, however, there was the addition of something I could only call a rge video strip'' surrounding us.


    On this video strip, I could see scenes I recognized��from the war waged between Aidos and Gozon a thousand years ago.


    [You know, despite how much I detested your presence initially, I have actuallye to appreciate your actions in trying to prevent the Demonic Hand from seeding and using the ''World Formation'' to absorb the blood of the existences killed ''because'' of the disasters to widen the Dimensional Rift on Delta.


    I would have closed that thing myself, but unfortunately, the goddess on Gozon''s side of things is quite adept with spatiotemporal maniption.]


    Aidos got up from ''her'' seat once more and looking at me straight in the eye, ''she'' spoke.


    [For your actions in these past three years. Stopping the ''Deadly Sins Massacre'', ending the ''Duhan Attack'' and the ''Lizard Lord''s Outbreak''.


    I formally offer my gratitude to you, Mr Bourne.]


    The ''woman; bowed deeply, ''her'' forehead almost touching the table and I had to say; receiving the gratitude of the itself was a feeling I couldn''t really describe in words.


    It was ''Overwhelming'' to say the least.


    "You''re wee, Aidos.


    I am simply fulfilling my part of the deal I made with Artemisia. Still haven''t thought about what I''d request from her, though?"


    I ced a hand on my chin and I''m sure I had a pensive look on my face when I spoke. It had crossed my mind many times but I didn''t pay too much attention to it as I had many more years to think about what I wanted.


    Aidos rose ''her'' head and sat back down, before cing ''her'' hands on the table and conjuring up a hologram in between us.


    Looking at the structure of the globe and the positioning of thendmasses on it, I could quickly identify that as the itself.


    [Mr Bourne, I called you here today, not only to thank you, but to also warn you.]


    The moment ''she'' spoke, I cast all other thoughts to the back of my mind and focused on ''her'' next words.


    [You stopped the ''Deadly Sins Massacre'' from ever happening in the first ce. It may have seemed like a good n, but it wasn''t something that the Laws of Fate, Time, and Destiny were fine with.]


    The scenes on the video strip around us changed to ones I did not recognize, but it was about people I recognized.


    I saw Rathal''s confrontation with the Tenth Finger of the Demonic Hand, her eventual death at his hands and what transpired when Artemisia appeared after.


    [If Artemisia did not act, then Rathal would not have gained the Law Crystal for the Law of Swords like he was supposed to, and that would have caused a huge power drop for one of the most powerful existences I have as a means of defence right now.


    This happened, because you killed Xakon; a demon who wasn''t supposed to die, and attracted Rathal to the GWE.]


    The Scene paused and I turned my eyes back to Aidos who continued speaking.


    [Twice, you interfered with the Flow of major events due to your knowledge of the future.


    Because of you stopping the ''Deadly Sins Massacre'', the Tenth Finger was in the GWE, and because of you, Rathal also came to the GWE and encountered the Tenth Finger, killing her afterwards.


    A ''Node'' of the Demonic Hand''s World Formation died earlier than she was meant to, the millions the Deadly Sins would have killed all survived, and Rathal was in the wrong ce at the right time.


    Time, Fate, and Destiny didn''t like that.


    And the end result is something you already know.]


    When ''she'' put it that way, I didn''t need to be the smartest guy around to figure out what ''she'' meant.


    "The ''Duhan Attack''. The reason why it happened a few months before ahead was because of all of this."


    [d you''re quick on the uptake.]


    I knew that changing the flow of time would definitely not be easy, and there were definitely going to be repercussions.


    However, I''m guessing that my ''Irregr'' status was preventing me from suffering any of the burdens that came with changing the Fates of tens of millions of people.


    And Aidos affirmed my thoughts in ''her'' next statement.


    [Because of your irregr title, you are not affected by the Fate and Karmic forces your actions had tampered with.]


    The scenes around us then changed to the ones of the most recent Disaster, the ''Lizard Lord''s Outbreak'', that had just been resolved.


    [Your next course of action was to prevent the ''Lizard Lord''s Outbreak'' from happening in the first ce, wasn''t it?]


    Indeed, the original n I had was to prevent the Lizard Lord''s Outbreak from happening; but that n was reworkedter on.


    [If you were to have seeded in doing that, then Time and Causality would havebined to force a future Disaster to happen.


    That Future Disaster would have be a ''Nexus Event''; meaning no matter what you did, even if you ripped out your heart and offered it to the King of Devils��nothing would stop the HUNDREDS of millions meant to die, from dying.


    Every single person meant to die would die, and the country you are trying to save, would FALL.]

 Chapter 621 Aidos III

    <h4>Chapter 621 Aidos III</h4>


    [��


    Every single person meant to die would die, and the country you are trying to save, would FALL.]


    Aidos spoke as if ''she'' already knew my next Destination and just the mere thought of the ''Fall of the Desert Country'' happening without me being able to do anything about it could give me nightmares.


    After all, that was the greatest disaster of the Alpha Continent.


    A Disaster where I needed the help of a member of ''The Five'' to solve.


    Or if the ''Wolf of the End'' became a Nexus Event, then everything else I''ve been doing for the past few years would be for nought.


    That was the Disaster the ''Second Finger'' was in charge of, after all.


    "That damned Wolf��"


    [Ah, yes. The Beast of the ''END''. I can''t have you doing anything that would make that thing act as it''s meant to.


    It''d make the ''Duhan Attack'' seem like child''s y.]


    I agreed with her, after all, it was a very simple, yet deadly disaster.


    [The Wolf of the ''END'' is a creature meant to bring the ''END''. A creature with power over thew of ''Extinction''.


    A Law on par with Annihtion and Destruction.]


    Aidos ced a hand on ''her'' chin and thought for a few moments before asking.


    [You''re from an Earth, aren''t you?]


    ''An Earth? Well, we are Earth-V so it makes sense there''s an I, II, III, and IV.''


    [In your world''s myths, there is a beast called ''Fenrir''.]


    "Yep. The one who wants to bite Odin''s head off during Ragnarok. Loki''s pup with the giantess Angrboda."


    [Yes, that Fenrir. The ''Wolf of the END'', is the ''Fenrir'' of this Gxy.


    It''s just very, very, young.


    And unfortunately, as a Prime World just so happens to be suitable for such a creature''s birth and growth, I ended up with that little monster on my hands.]


    ''She'' sighed with light exasperation, and I could tell that this was something ''she'' detested even more so than Irregrs like myself.


    [So, next time you n for a Disaster. Don''t attempt to stop it from happening entirely, so that you can save your chances of Completely stopping a disaster for things like the ''Wolf of the End''.


    As for Tarse��I don''t know what ns you have for there, but if they are going to cause issues, then I''d find a way to let you know.


    Just don''t ''COMPLETELY'' stop it from happening. You can mess up parts, but don''t mess up ''everything'' otherwise you''d have a ''Forced Event'' on your hands.]


    "I didn''t knows yed games as well."


    [Oh please, I''ve grown far more advanced than the Replica youe from, I know a lot more about games than you ever would.]


    Leaving aside ''her'' calling Earth-V a replica, for now, I had a new question to ask ''her''.


    "Are you aware of everything that happens on your surface?"


    [Yes. Not just my surface, but everything that happens in my gravitational field.


    I know the past and present, and if I tried, I could find out bits of the future.]


    Seeming to take further interest in the reason I asked the question, Aidos leaned forward and spoke.


    [What do you want to know?


    Little things like the result of the game you wanted to bet on after leaving Lacertilia?


    Or should we take it up to ''Middle'' level things like the location of the ''First Finger''? Or the Universalw that Rathal and the Kolvar got recently?]


    An impish grin appeared on ''her'' face as ''she'' lowered ''her'' voice and spoke in a near whisper.


    [What about more ''ssified'' information, like Eliza''s three sizes?]


    "?!"


    Now, that''s something I was certainly very curious about, especially the first of the three. Having felt them before in my hands, I could pretty much make a guess but there''d be a fair margin for error.


    Even though ''she'' clearly noticed my interest, Aidos only chuckled and continued with ''her'' words.


    [Let''s take things a bit deeper, into things you don''t have the clearance to know.


    Like the identity of the ETOD.]


    All thoughts about Eliza''s hip measurements vanished from my mind the moment ''she'' spoke. My curiosity had been piqued for reasons on the other side of the spectrum.


    Holding ''her'' hands over ''her'' mouth like ''she'' was trying to tell a secret, Aidos decided to finish it off with something that debunked some of the theories I hade up with over the years.


    [What about the real reason why Gozon''s god wants me destroyed��the reason why Artemisia sent you here?


    The highest and most ssified piece of information, the true cr��me de cr��me.


    Should I tell you, goddess Artemisia''s ''Greatest Secret''.]


    The fact that ''she'' put all those in one sentence told me something.


    The reason why the demons wanted Aidos destroyed, the reason Artemisia sent me to save Aidos from certain doom, and Artemisia''s secret.


    ''They''re all the same thing.''


    "Didn''t Artemisia send me here to save you because you''re her home world?"


    I now knew it wasn''t the case, but I still asked just to be sure.


    [Pfft��Home World?


    Artemisia Delgasso is a more selfish woman than you think she is. The goddess does hold some affection towards me because I am where she was born but that''s about it.


    If not for ''that reason'' she wouldn''t make this much effort��involving the ETOD��just for her home world.


    Too bad I can''t tell you due to your low Causality Index.


    Even if I told you, all you''d hear is just A??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????t???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????m?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????s???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????��?????????????????????????????????????''???????????????s???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????S?????????????????????????????????e????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????c???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????t?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ]


    "My ears, please!"


    The grating sound of the censoring that sounded exactly like what came out of my mouth whenever I tried to speak about the events of a thousand years ago couldn''t bepared to the noise that racked both my body and soul.


    It was like an ant to an elephant.


    If I wasn''t careful, that thing could give me soul damage just by hearing it.


    [Causality doesn''t like people knowing things they''re not meant to.]


    Aidos spoke with a smile as if my reaction delighted ''her''. I red at ''her'' with half-lidded eyes, and the ''woman'' shrugged nonchntly before speaking.


    [A certain Eternal called it the ''Son of a Bitch Law'' in his younger years and I couldn''t agree more with him.]


    While ''she'' spoke, I noticed that the scenes being disyed around me were changing once again, and when I looked up at them, I could feel my expression turn stiff.


    "��what is this supposed to be?"


    In response to my question, Aidos only tilted ''her'' head to the side and replied in a manner that made it seem as if ''she'' truly did not understand why I asked that.


    [Wouldn''t you wanna know what happened after that Demon took the Demonic Hand executive away?]


    "��"


    ''Her'' words were the best description for the scene that was now ying out. ''She'' did say that ''she'' could see everything that went on within ''her'' gravitational field, so it made sense that ''she'' saw this.


    �� �� ��


    Vaeri Valren emerged from a sea of trees and onto a sandy beach, with the afternoon sun shining down and casting long shadows on the white sand.


    Trailing behind her with his head facing to the ground and his body shivering lightly was the Mid Rank Demon Thagol, contractor of the Demonic Hand''s Seventh Finger.


    The man who was calm in front of the much stronger Zestari Herrel and even when faced with the Strongest Demon on the, was now shaking with fear.


    It was his body''s instinctive reaction.


    He didn''t dare to raise his gaze upward, keeping his eyes trained on the ground and not even daring to make even the smallest of sounds.


    On Aidos, the Five Strongest Existences were unmistakably the Transcendents.


    Altrishia, Zaos, Kolvar, Rathal and Vulwin.


    Kolvar and Rathal were evenly matched, and of ''The Five'', Vulwin could be said to be the weakest. This wasn''t too surprising as the Dwarf was more of a craftsman than a fighter.


    However, if the question of who was the next strongest after the ''Five'' was posed, then most people would argue it was one of the Sovereigns they knew.


    Those with more knowledge of the World like Luke Bowthe, would say it was the Ouroboros Hydran, or his sister Ashe.


    But they were not the ones who upied that position.


    The person who held the next Highest Level after ''the Five'', and was an existence that the Transcendents were wary of.


    Someone who was the reason ''The Five'' had not been able to take major action against the Demonic Hand since they became an Executive.


    That was the person who was standing not less than five metres from Thagol.


    They were doing ''something'' to the space in front of them, and after a few seconds, a pulse of energy was released in all directions, born from a distortion in the fabric of space.


    Laurene had once said that the Fabric of space of a High-Level world was not something so easy to break, much less Aidos which had been revealed to be a Prime World.


    And the scene that yed out next confirmed those words.

 Chapter 622 Aidos IV (Evan’s POV End)

    Chapter 622 Aidos IV (Evan��s POV End)


    The distortion cleared up faster than the eye could see, and the space fabric returned to normal just as fast.


    Not surprised at this, the person turned their gaze around, fixing it on the body of the Unconscious Kethryllia who was now lying on one of the beach chairs next to Vaeri.


    "Kethy''s unconscious? Why?"


    "World Magic Spell Bacsh��was a few secondste."


    Vaeri replied as she changed her outfit andid down on the other Beach Chair, pouring herself a ss of cold wine from the portable fridge.


    "Wasn''t the n for Lacertilia supposed to happen in 3? Or was it 4 years?"


    Knowing that Kethryllia wasn''t supposed to be using any World Magic spells for the next few years, the person asked Vaeri but the Peak Ranked demon shrugged as she also didn''t know why the n had been executed now.


    Almost immediately, Thagol felt two heavy gazes bear down on his being, causing him to gulp loudly before beginning to give the answers to their unspoken questions.


    After hearing the man''s narration of the events, the Demon and her contractor in front of him seemed to understand the reason for Kethryllia''s actions.


    The older Keasatra walked up to their younger sister and shifted her red locks of hair behind her ears before speaking.


    "Still, to think that Kolvar''s son turned out to be one of the new Heroes. Surprises everywhere."


    Vaeri didn''t seem to particrly care if the Hero was the son of the Beast King or not, with more of the Demon''s attention being on her contractors'' experiment.


    "How''s your progress?"


    "Bad. I seem to be missing something."


    Casually, the Second Finger gathered spatialw energy around their hand and attempted to tear a rift in space. However, halfway through, the rift copsed and bloomed into a spatial storm.


    "As you can see, I still don''t know what that ''something'' is."


    "��did you try including Timew energy?"


    "I did, but it still copsed."


    Despite talking about something they had poured a lot of time and resources into; they didn''t seem particrly bothered about it and instead had more of their attention on Kethryllia.


    "Evan Eris, Laurene Hayes, and now, David Thancreed.


    A lot of interesting characters have popped up since Ist visited the Alpha continent. Maybe I should go there again soon."


    Thagol knew how much of the Demonic Hand''s ns would be disrupted if this person went to the Alpha Continent now, but the man was scared to even dare speak up without being spoken to, much less tell them NOT to go somewhere.


    "I could use it as a Vacation; a break from trying to Achieve Transcendence for a while."


    "Before you think about your vacation ns, have this first. Got it when I was in that Desert Country��that ce was a lot bigger than I remembered."


    Vaeri pulled out the essory she had purchased when she was in Tarse and handed it to the Second Finger, who seemed quite pleased to receive the gift and pulled the demon into a hug faster than she could react.


    Slowly, and trying not to draw any attention to himself, Thagol silently stepped back and disappeared into the sea of trees, trying to get as far as he could from the two beings who could be considered Aidos'' ''Sixth Strongest''.


    �� �� ��


    Looking at that scene, I could honestly understand how Thagol felt, especially after seeing that person casually try to create a dimensional rift willy-nilly.


    [This is why you Irregrs are��haaaa��]


    Aidos heaved a sigh of exasperation, mainly because ''she'' was the one who had to fix the space that had been damaged by all the spatial storms there.


    [Always giving me so much work.]


    Theary consciousness grumbled while waving ''her'' hands and dismissing the Video strip.


    [You know why I showed you that, right?]


    "So that I shouldn''t do anything that''d attract that person''s attention?"


    [d you''re quick on the uptake.]


    ''She'' revealed a light smile when she heard my answer, but I was sure that that smile would disappear when I spoke my next line.


    "I n to kill the Ninth Finger of the Demonic Hand though?"


    [��]


    And indeed, it did.


    "When I return to my body, I''d track her location using my skill and then with the pretence of going to visit the ''Second Star General'', I''d go over to the GEE and kill her.


    Unfortunately, that''s not a n I can make changes to.


    I''d rather eliminate the entire Ninth Division before the Demonic Hand can recover from the damages."


    Aidos remained silent for a full minute even after my deration and in the meantime, I enjoyed the tea ''she'' had set out in front of me.


    [Would you consider postp-]


    "No."


    I rejected ''her'' proposal before ''she'' could even finish asking it; and ignoring the frown that appeared on ''her'' face, I continued speaking.


    "I''d try my best to make sure it does not be public, but the Demonic Hand, most especially, the ''First Finger'' would eventually find out that I''m responsible.


    He''d still figure it out even though I intend to wipe out every single Demonic Hand member present there."


    [��that''s quite some confidence.]


    Aidos probably knew the location where Maude was, and she knew how many Senior Members awaited me there, hence the reason why ''she'' said that.


    However, my confidence did not reduce, instead, it increased by the second.


    "It seems that "Evan Eris''s" body is slowly bing "Evan Bourne''s". The link should be more than 50% now, shouldn''t it?"


    [?!


    You can feel the connection even while here? As expected of you.


    However, you should know what it means for the connection to continuously be stronger, right?]


    "I can make a fair guess."


    Aidos twirled ''her'' finger in the air, summoning wisps of a dark energy I recalled that Domnik Vk had used towards the end of his battle.


    "Thew of Death��"


    [Indeed.


    Your Spiritual Body has been separated from your material body for quite some time. It may have felt like just minutes to you but ''Time'' as aw is messed up near my core so it passes differently here.


    The exact difference is not important, just know that it has been long enough that if you were to remain here any longer, then the Law of Death would consider your body to be ''dead''.]


    ''She'' causally exined while I looked down at my hands which had now be transparent and were slowly disappearing by the second.


    Looking back up at Aidos, I decided to ask onest question.


    Not about why ''she'' had called Earth V a ''Replica'' like I originally intended, but something else.


    "Would you mind telling me exactly what ''Race'' I''m really from?"


    Hearing my question, Aidos disyed light ''surprise'', with that expression quickly transforming into a smile as ''she'' spoke.


    [Unfortunately, I''m not the one who''s meant to tell you that. Wouldn''t want to go about messing with Fate after chiding you about doing that now, would I?]


    "Is that so��Oh well.


    Human or not, it doesn''t change what I intend to do."


    [Indeed. It shouldn''t change anything.]


    Those were thest words that I heard from Aidos as my visionpletely cked out.

 Chapter 623 The Strongest Grandmaster

    <h4>Chapter 623 The Strongest Grandmaster </h4>


    ?Barthmont Pce


    Capital City Goras


    Alpha Continent''s Beast Kingdom


    May 19th


    Year 1053


    "Two weeks��"


    Those words escaped the lips of a blonde-haired teenager who was seated at the mahogany wood dining table, lightly picking at her breakfast with a nk expression on her face.


    "Two weeks��"


    Once again, she called out those two words, the amount of time it had been since she and her party had confronted one of their most powerful opponents yet.


    From fighting thousands of monsters, to defeating an S-rank Dungeon boss, and then going on to fight a White High Dragon.


    Crowning this all, was their encounter with an Epic Level existence, as well as a face-to-face meeting with the strongest demon on the.


    In the past two weeks, their names and feats had spread across thends and were still continuing to spread even further.


    Each of their names was synonymous with ''Fame'', and the influence that the masses'' knowledge of their power gave them was even greater than that of beings more powerful than them.


    Yet, all this fame, this influence and all the benefits; meant nothing to this girl at this point.


    All she wanted right now, was to see the person whom she hadn''t spoken with in the past two weeks.


    Evan''s Evolutionary process took longer than it normally would have, due to the strange nature of his soul which was many, many times stronger than it should be, as well as the fact that the body he was currently inhabiting wasn''t originally his.


    It had slowly changed over time to integrate bits of his original features, but that fact didn''t change.


    The Evolution had taken a longer time as the link between his body and soul was being strengthened greatly.


    But while all of this was happening, Evan was unconscious inside the cocoon, and after the Evolution finally finished, he was whisked away by ''Aidos'' for a ''conversation''.


    Naturally, he was unable to be with anyone during this period of time.


    ''Since we reunited in Geto, this is the longest we''ve been apart��''


    Such a thought passed through Eliza''s head as she finished her breakfast and rested her head on the dining table with a heavy sigh.


    It was clear as day to anyone, that the girl''s mood was sour, and it had only gotten worse by the day.


    Even after she had regained consciousness and spoken with her uncle and Grandfather, her dour mood was very evident.


    The cause was known, but there was nothing anyone around her could do about it.


    The Pce Servants silently cleared up the tes and cups she used for her meal, while some of them tried suggesting desserts or snacks in an attempt to improve her mood.


    [Try these ones out! You''d really like them.]


    Her boyfriend''s contracted spirit cheerfully spoke as she attempted to feed her with some of the strawberry shortcakes the maids had brought, but seeing the strawberries only made her mood even worse.


    It reminded her of the fact that a certain strawberry lover wasn''t around, after all.


    Perhaps realising her little slip-up, Ka quickly swapped the shortcake in her hands for a different dessert, all while a ck cat snuggled into her arms and rubbed her cheeks with his tail.


    "Stop, Kuro. That tickle-?"


    Her words were cut off when the cat''s hair all suddenly stood on end, his body stiffening ever so slightly.


    The next moment, the eyes of all the spirits in the room widened and their gazes all shot in the same direction.


    Eliza looked up and noticed the familiar direction they were looking at. But before she could even ask a question, something happened.


    The energies of the three spirits surged outward, with the power they exuded beginning to increase in real-time.


    Her senses also picked up on a simr phenomenon urring somewhere else in the castle, the direction where a certain Demon of pride resided.


    And then, faster than Kuro and Ka who could literally teleport, Eliza vanished from her seat.


    Kuro was momentarily dumbfounded as one second he was in Eliza''s arms, and the next he wasnding on the table with the girl nowhere to be seen.


    Eliza didn''t think she had ever run this fast in her life.


    Her ''S'' rank agility stat saw its first 100% usage, enabling her to traverse the distance separating her from her destination in a mere two seconds.


    However, when she arrived at said destination, all she met was a massive cocoon that had been violently ripped apart from the inside, with crimson, white and some other transparent liquids sshed on the ground.


    The person who was meant to be inside it wasn''t present.


    Almost immediately, her senses, as well as that of every being who could perceive energy within the 22,000 square kilometre area of Goras felt a massive presence descend over the city.


    �� �� ��


    Floating over 20,000 feet above the ground, and overlooking the Beast Kingdom''s capital from the clouds, was the person whose absence was the reason for Eliza''s sour mood these past two weeks.


    The overwhelming aura that Evan exuded from his body, was retracted just as quickly as it had spread out.


    The power that generated this aura, however, went nowhere.


    Water vapour coaxed out of the air and condensed into liquid, before freezing into a crystalline mirror that reflected his appearance.


    His skin tone was the same as usual, and his facial features seemed to have be even more refined.


    There were no changes to his grey eyes, and they remained as striking as always; his hair, however, seemed to have undergone a little makeover.


    Mixed in with the dark strands were a few traces of the colour white. These highlights bestowed a subtle, distinguished charm to his overall appearance.


    His physique hadn''t changed much, but he could see and feel that his muscles had be even more toned.


    While he would like to examine it all, he opted to do thatter, in his free time. No point removing the set of clothes he had just tossed on.


    He kept scanning his appearance, and afterparing it with thest time he looked at a mirror, he noticed that he had grown a tad bit taller.


    But the greatest difference was not his extra 2 inches of height, but the reason why he was even airborne in the first ce.


    Though he was wearing a shirt, they conveniently seemed to phase through the shirt as they stretched out, pping ever so lightly to keep him afloat.


    A single pair of white wings stretching out with a sleek and membrane-like structure, partially adorned with opalescent scales.


    "Well, I guess that''s another colour added to my colour scheme.


    I got ck, grey, gold, crimson, rainbow and now white."


    He exerted control over the wings and tried to see if he could twist them around while securing his footing with a void step. He seeded, but he also discovered that his wings seemed to have traces of gold on them.


    "So, I can switch colours now."


    Evan chuckled as he spoke, dismissing his void step and returning control over his altitude to his newly acquired wings.


    After that, the boy clenched his fist tightly, feeling the strength within it as he muttered.


    "This is the grandmaster level, huh?"


    He didn''t need to open his status to know what realm he currently was, the sheer amount of power he felt in his body was enough to tell him.


    ''As I am now, I''m probably as strong as Finley was when I first came to Aidos��the man has probably reached Epic Level by now.''


    Thinking this, he heaved a deep sigh��


    "Hahahahaha!!!"


    ��and then, burst intoughter.


    "This is what I''ve been after all this while!!"


    The teenager didn''t even know how to describe his current feelings with words.


    The current him was without a doubt, the strongest Grandmaster Level existence on the, even though he was not Level 500.


    However, despite all that power, enough power topletely wipe the city below him off the map about three times over, it felt a bit��


    "Meh."


    Was it because of Vaeri, whose power he had felt first-hand? The reinforced knowledge that this level of power wasn''t going to be enough for him to achieve his goals?


    Or it could be those two presences he felt within the Barthmont Pce that made his Danger Sense skill send him a low warning?


    Regardless of the reason, Evan put it aside for now and focused on testing out his new strength.


    He turned his gaze to the side and activated Farsight, zooming over to one of the forests on the Northern outskirts of Goras.


    It was one of the major areas where the capital''s adventurers made their living, as it was a zone with high energy concentrations and had heavens knows how many thousands of monsters lurking within.


    Evan locked onto one of the monsters within his field of vision and then created a void step which used as a boost tounch himself in that direction.


    **WHOOSH!! **BOOOMMM!!!


    One sonic boomter, Evan found himself drenched in blood and guts from head to toe as he stood in the severed torso of an unfortunate giant grizzly.

 Chapter 624 Exhilaration

    <h4>Chapter 624 Exhration </h4>


    ?"What��just happened?"


    That question was very necessary as despite being the one responsible for the current scene, Evan had zero idea of what happened.


    One moment he wanted to dash in the direction of a monster, and the next he was drenched in the monster''s blood and organs.


    There was far too much lost in transition here.


    After taking a step back and analysing everything, Evan arrived at the answer to the question.


    Basically, due to the abrupt increase in power, he had little to no proper control over his body and ended up using more force than necessary in his air dash.


    This, coupled with his ridiculously strong physical body, was enough for him to st right through the monster he wanted tond on top.


    Naturally, this attracted the attention of monsters nearby, with many weaker ones running away, while some of the S-rank ones came closer.


    As for Evan, he remained in the same spot, surrounding himself in a cave of earth, where he washed the blood and guts off his body before changing his clothes once more.


    After this, he destroyed the earthen cave and looked at the monsters around him before saying.


    "Let''s take this from the top, shall we?"


    **GROAARRRRRR!!!!


    The roar of a giant grizzly rang out, one that was about two times the size of the one he had just killed, and was ring at him with bloodshot eyes.


    "��I didn''t kill her kid, now did I?"


    Unfortunately, when he appraised the monster and scanned through the stats, titles and condition, he came to the conclusion that he had probably just done so.


    The Giant Grizzly roared once more, with Evan feeling something strange within the roar.


    It was only after a few seconds had passed that he realised what this feeling was.


    "Right��Grandmasters can sense skill activations.


    That was a skill activation I just sensed��the first roar was probably one of rage, but the second was a skill."


    It was quite convenient to be able to tell when one''s opponents activated their skills, but for Evan''s opponents, that privilege was going to be quite limited.


    While he was thinking that, the monster charged right at him with breakneck speed, ttening all the trees in its path as it swung its brown aura-coated ws towards him.


    ''Imperial Scales.''


    **BAAAMMM!!!


    Evan felt like he was hit by a dump truck, his body was sent flying through the air and he bashed through numerous trees and rocks on his way.


    Eventually, he rag-dolled on the ground for a few dozen metres beforeing to a stop, staring at the sky through the gaps in the trees.


    He held up his arms and looked at them, noticing that there were now white gold-coloured illusory scales coating them, a grining onto his face as he noted theck of damage from the bear''s attack as a result of these scales'' presence.


    Just as he was about to voice his admiration for this new perk of his, a massive shadow suddenly covered him��a result of the airborne grizzly who was about to m down atop him.


    ''Okay, even the current me would take damage from that.''


    Without hesitation, he turned his head to the side and activated Blink, teleporting barely a second before the giant Grizzlynded on the ground where he was.


    The impact of itsnding proved devastating, ttening everything within a 200-meter radius, with trees, rocks, and other creatures alike sumbing to the overwhelming force.


    Evannded on the ground not too far off, stumbling a bit due to the shockwaves, but before he could regain his bnce, the grizzly turned in his direction and swung its ws, sending two sets of three-pronged aura projectiles in his direction.


    Time difference made his perception of the world around him reduce to a crawl, and he took this extra time to decide on what means to use and counter this attack.


    In the end, he decided to test how strong his elemental shield had be, setting the element to lightning, one which the earth elemental aura in the Bear''s attack was very good at countering.


    The spherical shield of golden lightning covered his form, right before the w-shaped projectiles collided with it.


    **BOOMM!!


    Despite the power behind the grizzly''s attack, Evan''s shield exhibited remarkable resilience, revealing nothing more than a small crack under the intense pressure.


    "That''s goo-?!"


    His words were cut short when he sensed energy flowing into the ground around him, half a second before spears of elemental light burst forth from the ground, threatening to impale him.


    He jumped back to avoid them, but another set sprung up behind him, and when twisted his body to avoid those, a third set emerged from his both sides.


    ''This skill��I like it!!''


    Evan revealed a grin as he looked towards the grizzly Charging right at him, parting his lips to speak the activation words for his Hero Skill.


    "Mystic Eyes of Mimicry Stage 3: Activate."


    The inscriptions in his irises lit up with a golden glow, as he locked gazes with the monster barrelling towards him while sending multiple flying aura ws.


    1.


    2.


    3.


    |Elemental Skewer Acquired|


    |Rare Skills require one skill slot. |


    |Seventeen Skill slots remaining. |


    Three Seconds.


    That was all Evan needed to mimic his target''s skills now.


    And this was just one of the boons of his Mystic Eyes Stage Three.


    Evan held out his hands and pped them together, causing two walls of lightning blocks to manifest on both sides of the Bear and m onto its body.


    "GRARGHH??!!"


    The bear screamed in pain at the unexpected attack, but still activated its roar-type skill and released a burst of aura, breaking out of the lightning blocks trying to squash it.


    Following that, the bear roared once more and activated a buff skill, evidenced by the brown glow that coated its form.


    Evan broke free from the range of spears threatening to impale him andnded on the ground, but by this time, the buffed bear had already reached his location.


    It raised its hand and swung it down with its sharp ws intending on slicing through Evan''s body faster than the boy could activate anything to defend himself.


    The Grizzly was 100% sure this attack was going to connect, when suddenly, a multicoloured beam of light shot right past its field of view, from left to right.


    "��?"


    It took the monster a second to register the loss of feeling in its arm, another to realise that said arm wasn''t there any more, with all that was left being a scorched stump that was still burning with prismatic mes, with so much heat the blood evaporated before it dripped to the ground.


    And then, the pain hit.


    "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"


    A gut-wrenching scream of agony reverberated across the forest, startling both the monsters and adventurers who were closing in on the area and making them stop in their tracks.


    The Grizzly bear could not understand what had happened.


    Its instincts told it that the beam of light that had obliterated the arm it was swinging down was definitely a skill and not magic.


    So how was it that it could not, with its Superior Grandmaster Senses, tell that a skill was being activated?


    The answer was the single line of text floating in Evan''s field of view.


    | Mimicked Skill Activations cannot be sensed. |


    One of the newly unlocked perks of his Mystic Eyes Stage 3.


    Evan grinned as he jumped in the air, spinning his body around and delivering a high kick to the side of the screaming grizzly bear''s head.


    Together with that kick, he activated another mimicked skill.


    ''Copse.''


    **BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!


    The ground beneath the monster cratered on impact, as the explosive force propelled the giant creature through the air, smashing through towering trees before crashing onto the ground.


    The grizzly''s massive body carved through the earth for hundreds of meters, leaving destruction in its wake. Blood sprayed in all directions, marking the trail of devastation Evan''s powerful strike had wrought.


    Evan fell on the ground a few metres away from his initial position, knocked back due to the power of his own strike.


    "Okay, scratch my earlier thoughts��this is exhrating."

 Chapter 625 Zero Damage Units, Hundred Pain Units[Bonus]

    <h4>Chapter 625 Zero Damage Units, Hundred Pain Units[Bonus] </h4>


    ?The feeling of beating the living daylights out of a powerful Superior grandmaster-level monster, was certainly not something he would consider ''meh''.


    Getting up from the ground, he zoomed in with Farsight to see where the monster had fallen, an easy task since the trail of destruction was very clear.


    He kicked off the ground and dashed towards the monster, moving so fast that the world around him blurred out.


    "WHOA!!!"


    Evan instinctively unfurled his newly acquired wings and let them serve as a pseudo-parachute, reducing his speed enough that he could control and stop himself at will.


    "Damn��it''s going to be a while before I get used to this."


    Evan''s power control was out of sync due to his body''s power up, so he needed to retrain himself to regain control over it.


    "I should use the Tower of Trials for that."


    He muttered as he dusted his body, ignoring the prying gazes of the monsters and adventurers nearby as he held out his hand and summoned his weapon.


    "Unforged."


    The jet-ck sword appeared in his hands, trembling a bit as his power flowed into it. He then proceeded to test another one of his Stage 3 abilities.


    Enveloping the sword with his golden aura, he swung it forward five times, before sheathing it and looking at the wounded bear in front of him.


    At first, nothing seemed to have happened.


    However, a secondter, twenty-five fist-sized holes suddenly burst open on the monster''s body, creating new outlets for more of its blood to spill out.


    Then, five massive gashes appeared on its body, in the same position where the holes had burst out a second earlier.


    Its skull was cracked and it had serious concussions and brain damage from Evan''s copse, and now the boy had in a way it could not detect, stacked more damage on it.


    "Good, I can use both categories."


    Evan nodded in satisfaction as he unsheathed the unforged once more, looking right at the wounded grizzly while a single notification bar that exined what he had just done floated in his field of vision.


    |Ability to Combine/Mix Mimicked Skills. |


    He had justbined his ''de Cannon'' skill with his ''Concealment'', resulting in invisible fist sized aura bullets and shes.


    However, just as people above certain levels could see through Evan''s concealment when he applied it on himself, so could they see through the attacks when he applied it to skills.


    Evan theorized many ways to put this skillbination ability to use, while got into a stance, pulling his sword back as he began gathering energy, wrapping it in a spiral current around his sword.


    He calmly looked right into the bloodied right eye of the bear monster, thrusting out his sword with one word leaving his lips.


    [Vortex]


    The spiral-shaped mass of energy surged forward, and then the world was covered in blood.


    Blood, organs and bone fragments rained down soundlessly as Evan stood within his elemental shield and sheathed the unforged.


    It was only after he had taken this action, that the sound of his Vortex violently shredding apart the Giant Grizzly''s body and scattering its parts in all directions rang out.


    The shockwaves that reverberated through the forest reached the spectators from afar, knocking back all the non-grandmasters and sending them flying like dirty rags.


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    "Right��this can still happen."


    Evan''s current power was definitely the highest among all the''s grandmasters, but this wasrgely due to his stat boosts from the Reincarnated Hero System and BoD.


    |Boosts, Bonuses and Title Effects;


    37.5% Stat Boost.


    Boosted Life Force.


    130% Stat Effectiveness.


    400% Levelling Efficiency.


    15% Increase in Skill Effectiveness.


    27.5% Mimicked Skill Effectiveness/Damage Bonus.


    25% Increase in Energy Maniption Speed.


    15% Increase in Sword Attack Strength/Damage.


    30% Increase in Destructive Skill Strength/Damage.


    30% Increase in Destructive Magic Strength/Damage.


    300% Overall Power Boost. (1st Activation State Only).


    25% Damage Bonus against ''Invaders'' and ''Enemies of Aidos''.


    15% Increase in Energy-Based Sword Attack Strength/Damage and Speed.


    15% Increase in Destructive Energy Based Attack Strength/


    Damage and Speed. |


    So many boosts and damage increases everywhere, and most importantly, they were all percentage boosts.


    With his base stats all being at least S+, it was only natural that the extra power he gained was quite substantial.


    There were people who had higher base Stat levels than he did, but they didn''t have the boosts Evan did.


    Even so, this did not mean that Evan had the power of a being on the next Existence level, the Epic Level.


    Leaving aside the fact that the gap between the Grandmaster and Epic Levels wasn''t so easily breached, there was a much higher limit to the maximum amount of power a Grandmaster could hold��far higher than that of a Master


    The bottom line, Evan wasn''t going to be seeing ''Undefined'' on his level tab unless he did something pretty crazy.


    "I still wouldn''t be helpless against an Epic Level now, though.


    If I met Craitid now, with the Survival Enhancement Mode, I''d be able to put up an actual fight and not get my ass beat likest time."


    Evan yawned lightly before turning around and ncing in the direction where adventurers were watching him from.


    He raised an eyebrow in light surprise, before turning up his intimidation skill to the max and unleashing the full brunt on them.


    The skill had also gone through a bit of a makeover, due to melding with the ''Dragon Fear'' absorbed from Faldo, so its power had gone up a notch.


    Enough to scare away even S rankers.


    However, Evan''s actions here today helped solidify some rumours he didn''t know about.


    The ones that said he had gained the power of a dragon by devouring Faldo''s heart.


    Some said it was bullshit, and he''d most certainly die for consuming another being''s energy core. But these adventurers just saw him now, with white dragon wings and scales on his arms.


    He then proceeded to scare them off with his ''Dragon Fear'' (Intimidation); that was all the proof they needed to know our resident Hero had gone Drago Mode.


    Left in the silent bloodstained forest, Evan retracted his wings and turned off Imperial scales, as he touched his hair that had grown to reach his chin and muttered.


    "I think I''d need you to trim this down for me like you did before��"


    He heard the sounds of tree branches breaking, along with a familiar presence that stopped no more than 5 metres away from him.


    "��right, Liz?"


    Silence pervaded the area as Evan slowly turned around, catching sight of the shadow of a tree stump wriggling as it returned to normal size.


    With that, the question of how Eliza was suddenly here was answered.


    ''That''s right��the limitations on Ka, Kuro and Pride have been released��''


    His thoughts were cut short when he noticed Elizaing closer. At first, he wanted to hug her, but then he noticed that her right fist was clenched and immediately, Danger Sense sent him a different kind of warning.


    "Wait, Li��!"


    **BAAAMM!!!!


    Eliza was physically weak��for a grandmaster-level existence, that is.


    The girl was still very much capable of crumbling buildings with her bare fists, and one of said bare fists had just sucker-


    punched Evan in the gut.


    The boy''s body drew a clean parabolic arc in the air before crashnding on a block of green ice that was perfectly ced for him.


    "Ow��.!"


    Despite his exmation of pain, Evan felt zero damage being dealt to him.


    That was expected, as though Eliza had clearly used her fist to attack him, it just so happened to be coated in life energy. This made it so her attack dealt zero damage, despite the force it carried and the pain it caused.


    Just before Evan could get off the cold ice, Eliza blitzed in with her right fist pulled back, while her left grabbed Evan''s shirt and pulled him closer.


    The boy braced himself for the sensation of pain from her Zero- Damage punch, but instead of pain, a different sensation greeted him��an abrupt and deeply passionate kiss.

 Chapter 626 Makeshift Thrill Ride

    <h4>Chapter 626 Makeshift Thrill Ride </h4>


    ?Evan waspletely caught off guard.


    The softness of her lips and the warmth exchanged in that brief moment created a fusion of emotions between them.


    The cold backdrop of the ice beneath them contrasted with the warmth of the unexpected kiss.


    But before Evan could begin reciprocating, Eliza pulled away just as abruptly as she had leaned in earlier, with a single strand of saliva clearly asserting its presence as evidence of what just happened.


    The girl then took a deep breath, before proceeding to head-butt Evan once more.


    Of course, she used her ''Zero Damage'' technique.


    Something her uncle was very happy to teach her and encouraged her to use on Evan when the boy woke up.


    "Don''t EVER pull something like that again."


    Her hands moved to the sides of his head as she twisted his ears lightly, but this caused as much pain as a mosquito bite to Evan so he wasn''t really hurt by this.


    His focus was on Eliza''s eyes, on the feelings and emotions he could see swirling within them.


    Anger, worry, loneliness, relief.


    "Are you listening to me, Evan?"


    "��yes."


    He held his hand out and caressed her cheeks, a very simple action, but it was one that Eliza had missed so much in the past two weeks.


    "You have no idea how worried I was."


    Eliza''s worry, stemmed not from him suddenly passing out after devouring Faldo''s heart, but from the fact that he overused BoD to the point where his soul was damaged.


    "You can tell how your contracted spirits feel, right? Maybe I should make a contract with you, so you can understand how I feel when you pull stunts like that."


    "Leaving this contract talk aside, you know it was unavoidable��there simply was no way to beat the dragon within that time frame."


    "��"


    The girl went silent as she understood that Evan''s words were true. But just because she rationalised it, did not mean she could just NOT be worried.


    It was impossible, especially when her feelings for Evan were considered.


    ''Emotions aren''t things that could be so easily kept in check.''


    While she was thinking that, Evan pulled her into a tight hug, kicking all thoughts out of her mind for a moment.


    "I''m still angry, don''t try to cate me with a mere hug."


    She yfully poked him in the sides with her fingers, making his body jerk lightly.


    Before she could do it again, however, Evan lowered his arms to her waist and lifted her up lightly, making her sit astride him and resting his head on her chest.


    Doing this made him remember one of the questions Aidos asked him, the one rting to her three sizes, and his hands began wandering around her waist.


    Eliza didn''t say anything about this until he suddenly stopped and tightened his hold on her.


    "Evan?"


    "Have you ever heard of thrill rides?"


    "Thrill Rides?"


    Seeing the obvious confusion on her face when he asked that, the boy assumed that she didn''t know what he was talking about. He then proceeded to unfurl his newly gained pair of wings, prompting Eliza''s eyes to turn as wide as saucers.


    "Wings?!"


    ''Just what did eating that dragon heart do?!''


    She didn''t get an answer to her question as Evan suddenly stood up and then pped his wings, ascending towards the sky while holding her tightly.


    At first, his speed was quite slow, but after ten seconds, Eliza began noticing the eleration. Another ten secondster, and Evan had sped up to the point where D rankers would have trouble keeping up with him with their eyes.


    He kept elerating, reducing the intervals at which he bumped up his speed and causing Eliza to grab onto him tightly for fear of falling.


    The wind pressure was intense, pushing against them as they climbed higher and higher, and within half a minute, they were breaking the sound barrier.


    The shockwave trailed behind them as they soared into the heavens, their altitude surpassing the 20,000 feet Evan was previously at and the boy showed no signs of slowing down.


    Despite the incredible speed and the sheer force of wind at y, Evan wore a broad smile on his face, revelling in the exhration.


    Eliza too, appeared to be thrilled by the experience, her shining eyes reflecting exactly how she felt about this abrupt skyward journey.


    Suddenly, Evan halted his ascent and then proceeded to fold his wings.


    Naturally, thews of gravity took hold and caused them to plummet back to the ground with increasing speed.


    The descent was a thrilling freefall, exceeding even the velocity of their earlier ascent.


    Amidst the rush of wind and the elerating fall, Eliza couldn''t contain her scream as she grabbed onto Evan as if she was trying to squeeze the life out of him.


    However, just before they were about to meet the ground, Evan unfolded his wings with precision, transforming them into a makeshift parachute.


    The wings caught the air, slowing their descent dramatically. Instead of crashing, theynded with a controlled grace, the wings acting as a buffer against the force of impact.


    The abrupt deceleration left Eliza breathless, transitioning from a scream of exhration to one of relief as they safely touched down atop the block of green ice they had ascended from.


    Evan quickly dropped a chair out of his inventory and sat on it, cing Eliza on hisp as he asked.


    "How was that?"


    "��Evan."


    "?"


    "Didn''t I just warn you about pulling bullshit like this earlier?!"


    Though she said that, Eliza wasn''t fooling anyone with the way her eyes were sparkling. No attempt she made now could conceal how much she had enjoyed the little experience.


    "Are you even listen��"


    "Wanna try again?"


    "Yes!!��Wait! I mean, not really��but��"


    "Pfft!"


    Evan couldn''t even hold his amusement back anymore and burst intoughter, while Eliza pouted with a blushing face as she poked his sides to express her indignation.


    "Stop Laughing!!"


    Her words made Evan do the exact opposite, only stopping when he saw that Eliza had ''overheated'' from embarrassment.


    "I was serious about my question. Wanna try again?"


    Eliza who had covered her red face with her hands, peeked through the gap in her fingers and then nodded twice.


    Seeing this, Evan got up, lifting her up along with him. He then spun her body around and wrapped his arms around her for a back hug.


    "I''m going top speed from the start."


    The previous experience had given Evan a lot more control over his wings, so with a little bit of magic power, he could achieve instant eleration.


    And that he did, leaping off the ground with so much force that the ice block they were on shattered to splinters.


    The shockwave from surpassing the sound barrier sliced off the tops of all nearby tall trees, and he zoomed off into the sky once more.


    This time, he didn''t just fly straight up, but headed in the direction of the Barthmont Pce, using the System map to guide him as he was so high up that everything on the ground looked like ants.


    Stopping at this altitude, he looked down and spoke.


    "Everything''s so small��."


    "I can barely see anything through the clouds!"


    Eliza was like a child during their first experience with a roller coaster, her excitement very obvious from how she moved around excitedly in Evan''s arms.


    Just then, there was a gap in the clouds and Eliza pointed in that direction.


    "That spot over there, it looks like that''s Lace��


    WAAOOOHHHH?!"


    Evan abruptly folded his wings and their descent began while she was still talking, making her almost bite her tongue.


    She didn''t have the time to chide Evan about that as they were falling at a speed of over 600m/s, heading straight towards the ground.


    Naturally, Eliza screamed all the way down.

 Chapter 627 Irregular Status Board

    <h4>Chapter 627 Irregr Status Board </h4>


    ?Evan''s mode of entry into the Barthmont ce naturally came with more than just a few problems, but thankfully, his presence here wasn''t news so the servants and guards showed him to where the rest of hispanions were without much issue.


    When they arrived, they only met with Pride, Milena, Amy and Greed.


    As for Ka and Kuro, the two spirits apparently had something they needed to do at the nearest Temple, quickly making their way over there not long after Kuro sent Eliza to the forest where Evan was.


    Dandeyr and David were also in the room, along with Mya and the cat beast woman Sh, who uttered a line that stunned the others the instant she saw Evan.


    "You��actually gained dragon factors."


    The boy ignored the collective gazes of shock as he walked while carrying Eliza in ''princess carry'' style, taking her over to the nearest free chair and setting her down.


    After that, he then looked towards David who was looking at him with narrowed eyes and spoke.


    "Yo!


    Thanks for amodating us in the past two weeks."


    "��"


    David remained silent for a moment, going over Evan''s status which he had just appraised, before finally looking at the boy and asking.


    "Dude��what the heck?"


    He couldn''t be med, after all, Evan''s status was even more ridiculous than ever.


    |Name- Evan Von Bourne


    Race- Body: Draconic Human; Soul: r?????e???d?????????????l?????????????e??????????? ???????d??????????o?????????g??????r?????????????e???????y????????????a??????l??????????????s???????????? ?????????d??????????e??????????e????????r???????b?????????


    Gender - Male


    Age - Body: 14; Soul: 18;


    Level- 478


    Existence Level - Grandmaster (Superior)


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########, A-Rank Adventurer, Protector of the People, Anomaly, Irregr, Count of the Great Western Empire, Leader of the Anomalies, Provisional Second Lieutenant of the GWE Army, Arcane Restorer, Dragon yer.


    ss- Elemental Sword Mystic (�Ԧ�).


    Health�C S+ (51/100)


    Energy�C SS- (30/100)


    Strength�C S+ (90/100)


    Agility�C S+ (53/100)


    Durability�C S+ (73/100)


    Intelligence- S+ (23/100)


    Condition- Normal.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 4, Lightning Tier 4, Shadow Tier 2, Ice Tier 4, Wind Tier 2, Water Tier 2, Darkness Tier 3, Light Tier 3, Non-Attribute Tier 3;


    Resistances- Divinity, Poison, Charm, Fear, Lightning, Mental, Elemental, Demonic Energy, Magic Energy, Death Essence, Acid, Pressure, Power Negation, Pain, Radiation, Biological, Spiritual Attack, Memory Alteration, Destructive Energy, Law Energy, Petrification, Corrosion, Illusions, Radiation.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension, Martial Arts, Fracture, Void Steps, Irregr, Evesting Chains, Lightning sh, Energy Maniption, Coercion, Dragon me, Dragon Breath, Imperial Scales, Skywrath, Frozen Inferno, Lethe;


    Mimicked Skills-Energy st, Aura sh, Blink, Inventory, Limit Break, de Cannon, Elemental Shield, Chain Lightning, Track Down, Tenacity, Intimidation, Copse, Elemental Weapon Projection, Thunderp, Physical Damage Reduction, Danger Sense, Vindiction''s Strike, Time Difference, Hollow Magic, Flux, Elemental Gale, Farsight, Elemental Skewer.


    Avable Skill Slots- 17;


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (3��), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction (1��), Vortex, Harbinger of Ice, Mesarthim: Prismatic Inferno, ����������. |


    David genuinely wanted to know just where on Aidos where a Grandmaster with this kind of power existed.


    Besides, right in front of him, of course.


    As for Evan, though this was the first time he had seen his status since he woke up, he wasn''t too surprised as he expected something around this level.


    He only shrugged and was about to speak when three notifications appeared in his field of view.


    |???|


    |Reincarnated Hero System has detected a ''MAJOR'' threat to Host''s Life. |


    |Estimated chances of Victory in directbat: Less than 5% |


    Having seen these exact notifications before, Evan could guess the ones that were about to appear next.


    |Threat of Imminent Death to Host Detected ?|


    |Reincarnated Hero System Stored Authority Consumed|


    |Activating ''Survival Enhancement Mode'' |


    | Reincarnated Hero System Benefits Temporarily Elevated. |


    |Temporarily Elevating Host''s Overall Power|


    |Reincarnated Hero System Advices Host to FLEE. |


    |Reincarnated Hero System Advices Host to FLEE as fast as physically possible. |


    All those present in the room were dumbfounded when they sensed Evan''s power surge abruptly, with the shockwaves cracking the reinforced floors and pushing them all back.


    Once again, everyone in Goras felt the power the boy exuded, and those who had seen Evan in the forest recognized the familiar aura and dered it was his.


    While new rumours about Evan were starting up in the adventurer''s guild, the boy was busyughing his ass off at the current situation.


    Eliza recalled that something simr had urred when Craitid had appeared, but they were in the Barthmont Pce.


    The home of one of ''The Five''.


    Heck, there was even a Sovereign in the same room with them!


    What could have possibly been threatening enough that the Survival Enhancement Mode was activated once more?


    Eliza didn''t know, but Evan definitely did.


    There weren''t many individuals who could do this with just their ''presence'' after all.


    ''Deactivate Survival Enhancement Mode.''


    |��|


    The system remained silent for a moment, and Evan felt it scanning his body for something.


    |Negative. No external factors influencing Host''s Decision. |


    |Theck of external factors means the request is really the Host''s|


    |Error.


    Cannotpute why in Valmone the Host would make such a decision. |


    ''��''


    Now it was Evan''s turn to be silent as he didn''t expect the System to enter an error state after he told it to switch off the ''SEM''.


    First off, he switched off Danger Sense so it could stop ring rms in his head, before once more attempting to switch off the SEM.


    |Question. Does the Host truly intend to��|


    ''Just shut the damn thing off already!''


    |��epted. |


    It was as if the system was reluctant to ept hismand.


    |Reducing Survival Enhancement Mode to ''Low Power State''|


    And the damn thing actually didn''t! Couldn''t me it though, Artemisia programmed it to ensure his survival in situations like these, so it could be said to simply be following its programming.


    The power-release stopped, and Evan appeared to have returned to normal, however, Mya, Sh and Dandeyr all noticed that was clearly NOT the case.


    Evan just sighed and plopped down on the couch behind him, before looking towards the door of the room and speaking.


    "So? When are you guys gonnae in?"


    At first, they were wondering who he was speaking to, but when the door opened a momentter, that question flew out of their minds.


    "Wait! You''re supposed to make an Epic entrance in situations like these!"


    "Shut up, Rathal."


    This little interaction was enough to know the reason why they hadn''t entered all this while.


    ''He''s the same as in the game, huh?''


    While he thought that, the others in the room had a variety of reactions.


    ""Father?!""


    From the two royals in the room.


    ""Your Majesty!""


    From the two Beastkeepers present.


    "Oh, Uncle Kolvar.


    Hello."


    From Eliza.

 Chapter 628 Sudden Revelation

    <h4>Chapter 628 Sudden Revtion </h4>


    ?"Oh, Uncle Kolvar.


    Hello."


    "��"


    "��Wait, what?"


    All gazes turned towards the girl, with even Pride''s normally calm expression turning into one of surprise at her casual greeting.


    What''s more, was Kolvar''s reply.


    "Oh, Eliza. Long-time no see.


    How''s Matt?"


    "I haven''t spoken with him in a few years now but I''m sure he''s fine."


    The Beastman thought about Eliza''s father''s attitude towards his daughter when he heard her reply, before sighing as he concluded the man was definitely ''Not Fine''.


    Just like with Luisa when they were in Zest Station City, Eliza''s familiarity with some of the most powerful existences on the amazed Evan in more ways than one.


    ''Her father''s name is ''Matt''��


    If I''m not mistaken, then that''s a short for Matthias��Matthias Laneford.''


    Once again, the question of how Eliza even existed bugged Evan''s mind since he knew Matthias Laneford''s wife was supposed to be dead, but the boy wasn''t gonna be getting that answer now so he pushed it to the back of his mind.


    Besides, he didn''t have much time to dwell on that because of the second person who had appeared with Kolvar.


    The purple-haired man took a ''step'' forward, appearing in front of Evan faster than anyone''s senses could catch as he rubbed his chin and spoke.


    "You''ve grown a lot since thest time I saw you, boy.


    It hasn''t even been two years since I saw you in that small city. What was it called again? Getty?"


    "Geto."


    "Ah, yes. Geto.


    You were just an inferior master then, and now you''re a superior grandmaster.


    Heroes, really are built differently, huh?"


    Rathal shook his head with a sigh as even he did not ascend the levels so fast. However, before he could continue speaking, David''s voice rang out across the room.


    "Please don''t group all Heroes in the same category with that Anomaly."


    The ''Strongest Human'' burst intoughter when he heard David''s words that sounded a little bit envious, while Kolvar remained silent as he stared at his son with aplicated gaze.


    "How many titles and skills that boost your stats do you have? I''m genuinely curious."


    Rathal could easily see through all Evan''s stat boosts and bonuses, urately gauging exactly how much base power the boy had.


    To him, that was what mattered the most, as one could never know when these Stat Boosts would not be avable. He and Kolvar did juste out of a dungeon that negated all bonuses from one''s ''ss'', after all.


    Evan got up from his seat and held his hand out for a handshake, which Rathal epted a secondter.


    "Nice to meet you, ''Strongest Human'' Rathal."


    "Nice to meet you two ''Irregr'' boy."


    Rathal swung his arm around the boy''s shoulder and patted his back as they exchanged ''official greetings''.


    "You''re really living up to your Irregr title."


    "Oh please, it''s nothing much whenpared to you."


    "Of course, it''s Me we''re talking about here, you know?"


    It was quite a surprise for those present who hadn''t met Rathal beforehand. All the impressions of him they had imagined flew out of their minds, as the person in front of them just appeared to be that random next-door older brother''.


    David and Mya had met him before so they were already used to the man''s personality, but it could be quite surprising for others.


    Most people would usually expect members of ''The Five'' to be domineering, gazing upon everything with immense arrogance.


    They were the strongest existences on the, after all.


    Evan nced at the man yfully pping his back and activated full appraisal, but he heaved a sigh afterwards and shook his head.


    Despite his ''FULL'' appraisal, the level difference between the two parties was just so great that he was only permitted to see a few lines.


    |Name- Rathal Cox


    Race- Ancient Breed Human


    Gender- Male


    Age- 50


    Level- 920


    Existence Level- Transcendent (Inferior)


    Titles- Strongest Human, Member of ''The Five'', Irregr, Vampire yer. |


    The man was just half a century old and he had already gained power greater than some existences who had lived for five times his entire lifetime.


    People in his generation like the GWE''s ''First Sword'' Finley, or the GEE''s ''First Star'' Bourne were still skirting around the intermediate stage of the Epic Realm.


    ''But they''re just normal humans��this guy''s an Ancient Breed.''


    Race breeds were pretty important factors that aided how fast an individual grew, and how powerful they became.


    Their Stat and Experience Multipliers were a lot higher whenpared to lower-ranked breeds.


    They also had things like higher energy quality and energy reserves ''on default''. Whatever Racial Traits normal people in their races possessed, the higher breeds had it, but even better.


    In Rathal''s case, the man was like a ''Primed'' version of Human.


    Zaos wasn''t normal as well, but a High Elf; neither was Altrishia just a normal dragon nor Vulwin a normal dwarf.


    The blood was a bit diluted in Altrishia''s case as she didn''t turn out to be an Ancient Breed like Gorm. As for Rathal, it was as If a dormant gene in his blood had awakened and boosted his Racial Factors when he was conceived in his mother''s womb.


    However, be they normal, High, Greater, Arch, Elder, or Ancient breeds, that wasn''t Evan''s main focus right now.


    He wriggled himself out of Rathal''s hold and walked up to Kolvar, admiring the man''s height that would have made him fit perfectly in a team of basketball yers.


    "Your Majesty."


    "Count."


    Evan greeted him with a light bow while Kolvar acknowledged him with a nod, after which, the boy began speaking about the main reason why he wanted to be in Goras.


    "Can we move to a more suitable ce? I wanted to have a talk with you, and I''d appreciate it if Sir Rathal joined the mix too."


    Hearing his namee up, Rathal turned his attention from the Deadly Sin Demons and towards Evan with a questioning gaze, while Kolvar voiced the question both Transcendents had.


    "A talk? About what?"


    With a wry smile, Evan created a light projection of a certain organization''s symbol as he replied.


    "The Demonic Hand''s next target."


    "?!"


    "Evan!"


    Eliza''s mood instantly turned sour, and Evan could pretty much guess the reason why. It hadn''t even been an hour since he woke up and he was already thinking aboutplicated things like this.


    However, Pride held out her hand and pulled Eliza back, shaking her head silently when Eliza looked at her.


    Evan had informed Pride of some of his ns concerning the next disaster he wanted to tackle, and the High Demon understood that this ''talk'' was something that needed to be done as early as possible.


    As for Evan, the boy''s ns had been changed greatly, especially because of the warning that "Aidos" gave him, about preventing disasters from happening in the first ce.


    Kolvar gave a side nce at Pride and Greed, though the two demons ignored his gaze and focused on other things.


    Seeing as it was something important, a meeting room in the pce was quickly arranged for their use.


    After all the rted parties had taken their seats around the table, Evan began the conversation with some very concerning words.


    "So��the Strongest Sovereign Level Existence in Tarse, the ''Master of Dragondune''��is gonna DIE."

 Chapter 629 Converging Plot

    <h4>Chapter 629 Converging Plot </h4>


    ?Church of Artemisia Headquarters


    Goras


    Beast Kingdom


    May 19th


    Year 1053


    [Whew��that sure was a close one.]


    Ka muttered as she plopped down onto the couch behind her, wiping the sweat on her head with a towel.


    She looked around for a fan to cool herself with, but in the next moment, a surge of cold air suddenly filled the room.


    It was as if someone set an AC to the lowest temperature possible and faced it on her face.


    [Too cold!]


    The sudden cold was too much for even Ka to bear, however, it didn''tst long and gradually tuned down to an eptable level.


    Seeing this, Kuro, who had transformed into his humanoid form shook his head silently with a soft sigh.


    He, just like Ka, appeared to be around 12-13 years of age, with chalky ck hair and eyes. He had two cat-shaped ears on the top of his head and a ck tail extending from his lower back.


    In his hand was a brush which he used to groom said tail.


    Opposite him and Ka, was a woman dressed in priestly robes with a golden rose symbol embroidered on it.


    The golden glow in this priest''s eyes, however, hinted that it was someone else inside; and said person was only using the priest''s body as a vessel.


    "It''s a good thing you reacted quickly. If you were anyter then you''d have caused even more of amotion than Evan did."


    The woman, Aidos'' Chief goddess, Artemisia, spoke as she pressed her fingers to her temple.


    Well, given she was possessing the body of one of her vessels, then it wasn''t exactly hers, but that''s beside the point.


    [I told you to tell me when Master was about to wake up, didn''t I?]


    Ka asked Artemisia with a pout but the goddess only waved her off with an offhanded reply.


    "I was busy. No way I could be keeping track of Evan all the time."


    [What''s keeping you so busy that you can''t even spare a portion of your consciousness here?]


    This time, Ka was genuinely curious about this, and Artemisia''s reply made her jaw drop in shock.


    "Seems like someone destroyed some worlds under that ''old fogey''s'' control. He was quite furious and summoned everyone."


    Shrugging her shoulders, the goddess continued.


    "I was simply too far away."


    Ka went silent when she heard this reply, as she knew that Artemisia''s version of ''too far away'' involved several hundred million light-years at the very least.


    [Are you sure he simply wasn''t trying to draw you away from Aidos?]


    "No, he was not.


    More importantly, Ka; you realise that reinforcing the seal is only a temporary solution, right?"


    Artemisia''s serious tone made Ka turn silent, and even Kuro who was focused on his tail looked up at the both of them.


    "Eventually Evan is going to find out. The seal is based on ''Awareness'' after all. Ever since you first used your Spirit Raiment in front of him, Evan has had his guesses and they''ve been slowly getting closer to the truth.


    The fact that you can now use a bit of spatial power is proof of this."


    [��even so, they are just guesses in the end.]


    "That''s awfully arrogant of you. Are you looking down on Evan?"


    Just as Ka was about to refute Artemisia''s words, another voice that didn''t belong to any of the three rang out in the room.


    [That''s right. Are you looking down on Mr Bourne, Little Empress?]


    Three pairs of eyes turned towards the only empty couch in the room, and immediately after, the figure of a certain ''woman'' materialised on it.


    It was a ''woman'', with long ck hair that cascaded down ''her'' shoulders and to the ground, and a pair of multicoloured iridescent eyes.


    "Aidos��"


    [Hello, Artemisia. Been a while, hasn''t it?]


    The incarnation of the''s consciousness greeted the goddess with an amicable smile and a light wave of ''her'' hands.


    [I''m not. It''s just that with how busy he is, he would not have time to properly think about my situation.]


    Ka replied to Artemisia''s question like she originally intended to, but before she could turn towards Aidos and tell the ''woman'' to stop calling her ''Little Empress'', the silent Kuro spoke up.


    [Lady Ka, your words just now were a g.


    A big red g.]


    The spirit put his brush away before looking up at Ka before continuing.


    [I''d advise you to start thinking about your countermeasures from now.]


    When he finished speaking, Artemisia sent a slightly worried nce towards him and asked.


    "I hope no problems on your end?"


    [None whatsoever. I have fully unlocked the High Rank now.


    I can even sustain this form outside your temples, but I''ve gotten used to my full cat form so I''d stick in that one more.]


    He then proceeded to curl up on the couch and transform back into his cat form.


    As for Aidos, the''s incarnation was casually ignored by the three of them. Even Ka who had wanted to speak to ''her'' earlier simply didn''t care for ''her'' existence now.


    [Wow��just, Wow.]


    ''Her'' voice finally attracted their attention once more, after which Ka voiced out a question.


    [Why are you even here?]


    [Girl, have you forgotten what I am? I am ''HERE''. ''HERE'' is me.]


    Aidos shook ''her'' head slightly before turning toward Artemisia and stating why ''she'' was even here in the first ce.


    [I had a little talk with Mr Bourne.]


    "I know."


    [Of course, you do.]


    Aidos didn''t seem to care whether Artemisia knew of ''her'' talk with Evan or not; the goddess was never going to know the contents of the conversation after all.


    [From the way I see things now, we may not need to use those extras you and I prepared.


    But��if he contracts with another Deadly Sin, I might change my mind about that.]


    After Aidos spoke, the''s incarnation vanished from the room, just as silently as ''she'' had appeared.


    �� �� ��


    Highguards Commerce Head Office


    Capital City A


    Republic of Wolfen


    May 19th


    Year 1053


    A man wearing a perfectly tailored three-piece suit and circr framed sses sat on the CEO''s chair as he went through the various documents on his desk.


    The sound of papers rustling was the only thing that could be heard in the room, as the only other person who was present remainedpletely silent without making a single noise.


    This person was a lion beastman who boasted amanding presence with his imposing physique. His golden-brown fur, reminiscent of a majestic mane, framed a face marked by a pair of intense amber eyes.


    Rippling beneath his attire that blended the rugged with the refined, were a set of well-defined muscles.


    He wore a ck shirt and brown tie, under a brown waistcoat, as well as brown trousers and ck dress shoes. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing his powerful forearms adorned with some tattoos.


    This man stood in silence as he waited for the sses-wearing man in front of him to finish going through the papers.


    "��where''s Kethryllia now?"


    "With Master Second."


    The Lion beastman replied to the CEO''s question with barely a moment''s pause, prompting the sses-wearing man to nod.


    "She personally took action at the end, huh? But I didn''t expect that Dandeyr di was that close.


    Or rather, the greatest ''unexpected'' urrence was the Dungeon Break.


    From the moment the break urred, the n had already derailed."


    "Kethryllia tried her best to salvage the situation, but that didn''t do much as well. What''s more, that dragon Faldo also perished before he could wreak havoc as nned."


    When the beastman spoke, the CEO flipped to the next page of the report and saw the details about the two beings who had killed the dragon in question.


    "David Thancreed��and Evan Eris."


    The second name was one both men were genuinely tired of seeing and hearing, and yet, it hade up again.


    "What do you think, Deram?"


    The CEO posed this question to Deram and the Lion Beastman went silent for a moment before speaking.


    "No matter how I look at it, Evan Eris was aware of this beforehand as well.


    I pulled a few strings and was able to get data on his movements in April. When I mapped them, I noticed that he had been moving towards Lacertilia from the get-go.


    He had details about the World Istion Barrier, and was also the one who had told the Beast King''s daughter to get Dandeyr di toe over."


    The CEO sighed and facepalmed, leaning back on his chair and staring up at the lightbulb on the ceiling.


    "I just decided to do a little bit of research on the Fake Heroes, and now, this happens."


    He sighed again while pressing his hands to his temple and took a deep breath.


    "When Kethryllia wakes up, I want her to be sent to me. I''d be in Terrok since we''re closing down Highgaurds��the GWE''s pressure is too much."


    He redirected his focus to the papers on his desk, but before he could continue, Deram spoke up first.


    "I have an idea for Tarse."


    "What is it?"


    Deram ced a hand on his chin and stroked his stubble as he spoke.


    "Seeing as Evan Eris had killed Xakon Ilmoth in Geto, I suggest we give them a chance for vengeance."


    The CEO understood the man''s words and after pondering on them for a few moments, he agreed and sent him off.


    After receiving permission to execute his n, the man; former ''disciple of the Second Finger'', and current ''Fifth Finger'' of the Demonic Hand, Deram Hester, bowed lightly before turning around and breaking open a spatial gate which he disappeared into.


    His Destination, The Desert Country of Tarse.

 Chapter 630 Making Moves

    <h4>Chapter 630 Making Moves </h4>


    ?Eris Main Residence


    Gerfast


    GWE


    May 19th


    Year 1053


    Arnold Del Eris yawned lightly as he cleaned up thest bit of paperwork that he had on his desk and leaned back on his chair.


    The sixteen-year-old had been quite stressed due to the work that came together with the title of Duchy''s heir.


    Duke Roger had personally stated that he intended to reinstate Arnold as heir, but he hadn''t yet officially dered it due to certain vassals of the Eris Dukedom.


    But this did not stop the Duke from having Arnold restart his training. The Nepte Province was basically his training ground, and right now, he was learning how to manage the territory efficiently even if he wasn''t physically there.


    Something Duke Roger did three-fourths of the time as he was either in the capital, going on international official trips or doing other things rted to his Prime Minister job.


    "Well, somebody''s looking tired."


    Hearing that familiar voice, the boy raised his gaze and locked it on the golden blonde-haired woman in front of him, before shaking his head as he spoke.


    "Well, somebody doesn''t wanna look their age."


    He could see the woman''s brow twitching repeatedly as she struggled to contain her annoyance, nodding in satisfaction as he sat back up and picked up the daily newspaper.


    However, the satisfied look on his face disappeared when he noticed the image printed on the cover.


    It was one of both Evan and David fist bumping with the corpse of a white dragon behind them.


    ''THE WORLD''S NEWEST DRAGON SLAYERS!''


    "This is the tamest title I''ve seen in the past few weeks."


    He muttered to himself as he flipped the pages to find the newspaper''s crossword puzzle, allowing the other person in the room to see the title.


    "To think that Kolvar''s son was also a Hero, this is quite surprising."


    The woman, one people recognized as a ''maid'' of Arnold''s, Brenda, spoke as she walked up to his table while looking at the newspaper.


    Arnold nced up at her and was about to speak, but his eyes suddenly widened in shock as he dropped the newspaper and got up to his feet, before bowing deeply.


    "Arnold Eris greets the World''s Incarnation."


    The moment she heard the words he spoke, Brenda turned around and was met with the scene of a ck-haired ''woman'' who was taking a bite out of the snacks she had brought in for Arnold.


    [Don''t mind me, I''m just having a bite since they looked so appetizing.]


    ''Her'' iridescent eyes sparkled with light as ''she'' munched on the snack, before washing it down with a ss of juice.


    [Can I borrow your chefs for a bit, Mr Eris?]


    Aidos posed that question to Arnold who was at a bit of a loss on how to answer, but Brenda cut in and saved him the trouble.


    "What did youe for?"


    Brenda''s tone couldn''t hide the woman''s displeasure, even so Aidos still maintained a smile as ''she'' asked back.


    [You don''t look so happy to see me, Ms Nixon?]


    "Why in Orithya should I be? Whenever you appear, you alwayse with trouble."


    [A pity. Even if you aren''t happy to see me, I''m happy to see you. Enough for both of us.]


    "��"


    Brenda silently crossed her arms while giving Aidos a pointed stare, waiting for ''her'' to speak of the reason why ''she'' was there.


    [You''re no fun.]


    Aidos spoke with a light pout, before turning to Arnold and speaking.


    [Your brother has woken up, and just like you predicted, he''s the strongest grandmaster right now.]


    The elder Eris sibling only had a wry smile when he heard this, not surprised in the least. He looked back at the picture on the newspaper front page, and the sub-headline that spoke of Evan devouring Faldo''s heart and sighed.


    [With the way things are now, even if you were to use your ''Anti-Mimicry'' on him, you''d still die if you were to confront him.


    Luckily, he doesn''t seem to have any thoughts like that nipoop An, so you can rest assured.]


    In all Arnold''s encounters with Aidos''s incarnation, he had never heard the ''woman'' refer to someone with so much disgust in ''her'' voice than whenever ''she'' spoke of the Previous Second; An Maddox.


    The couldn''t be med, however, when the events of 1000 years ago were considered.


    [Now then, Brenda��]


    Aidos trailed off with ''her'' words and looked towards the east, narrowing ''her'' eyes lightly as ''she'' listened in on the details of a conversation between a certain Lion Beastman and his Superior.


    [Hmm��certain things have happened and I''d have to change my ns.]


    ''She'' turned her focus back to Arnold and scanned the boy''s body, nodding in satisfaction as ''she'' spoke.


    [Superior Master��good, you have not been cking off.


    It''s negligible now, but by the time that ''Disaster'' begins, you should have achieved Grandmaster.


    Don''t let me down.]


    Holding up ''her'' hand, ''she'' generated a projection of a map of the Alpha continent, highlighting a massive nation in the centre and continued.


    [I have an assignment for you, and to aplish it, you would have to head to Tarse. Both of you.]


    ''She'' sent a nce to Brenda and the woman narrowed her eyes in response, nevertheless, she remained silent until Aidos was done.


    [You are to serve as backup for Mr Bourne and Miss Hayes who would be the two main elements required to mess up the Demonic Hand''s n for the country.]


    In rtion to him, the only ''Miss Hayes'' Aidos could be talking about was Laurene, so ''her'' words served to pull Arnold''s interest greatly.


    He also quickly figured that the reason she''d even be going to Tarse was because of Evan. Before he could even ask exactly what they were to do there, Brenda spoke up with a frown.


    "You can''t juste in here and tell me to go to Tarse and help one of your Heroes just like that."


    [Didn''t you go to Tarse recently? There''s not much difference here.]


    "There is a big difference. Qutia died so my presence in Tarse waspletely necessary."


    Brenda shot back at Aidos, but the''s incarnation was unperturbed by her refusal.


    [I recall being the one who gave a certain group of ''Fallen Celestial Deities'' refuge when the Ancient Devil Kings were hunting them down.]


    When ''she'' spoke of this, Brenda''s face turned dark and her eyes lit up with a golden glow. The surrounding space trembled as her celestial energy bubbled up within her, threatening to spill out.


    "Aidos��this was not our deal. We Celestial Deities aren''t your servants."


    [Yes, that was not the deal I had with you FALLEN Celestial Deities.]


    Aidos calmly admitted the truth, making sure to ce as much emphasis on the ''Fallen'' part as possible. ''Her'' actions infuriated Brenda, but not as much as what ''she said next.


    [But you see, I''m the one with the Upper hand here, and I''m telling you to go to Tarse.


    You either obediently go, or find another world to hide on��if you can.]


    |Are you threatening me?!|


    Brenda''s voice changedpletely as she roared in anger. Each word released a concentrated amount ofw power, along with shockwaves that pushed Arnold''s back against the wall.


    He heard her voice ringing out both with his ears and directly in his head as if she was speaking directly to his soul.


    When he nced upwards, he saw that Brenda''s ''teenage form'' had been discarded and she had returned to her actual, older appearance.


    Tendrils of celestial energy snaked across her arms as a terrifying pressure descended upon the entire room.


    Thankfully, Brenda hadn''t lost herself in rage and still controlled her aura not to leak out, but if a random servant were to enter this room now, their souls might be crushed under the weight of the power she exuded.


    In the face of this, Aidos remained calm as ''she'' replied.


    [Yes, Brenda.]


    The''s incarnation dropped ''her'' polite speech and addressed Brenda by her first name.


    [I am threatening you, Brenda.]


    "��"


    Silence pervaded the area after ''she'' answered, and as the third party here, Arnold could tell that Brenda was just a few inches away from pouncing on Aidos and attacking ''her''.


    |What about him?


    What about the ''Ancient Demon King''?


    What. About. Jabberwocky? |


    Her question made Aidos'' expression turn pensive, with the ''woman'' pressing a finger to ''her'' temple as ''she'' thought about what ''she'' had requested in return for providing refuge to the Fallen Celestial Deities.


    [Don''t worry about him.


    You''ve kept up your end of the deal and the seal on him has remained strong for the past thousand years.


    Unless the lot of you were suddenly wiped out, then Jabberwocky wouldn''t be able to break free.]


    The people who were present at Lacertilia two weeks ago were scared of the possibility of there being more Peak Ranked Demons like Vaeri on Aidos.


    If they heard this conversation, it wasn''t hard to predict how quickly they''d faint from the shock.


    [Anyway, focus on increasing your strength Arnold. When it''s time, I''d inform you and you''d go together with Miss Hayes.


    Ms Nixon here will follow you. That''s all.]


    After saying ''her'' piece, Arnold disappeared from the room, leaving behind an aggrieved ''Fallen Celestial Deity'' and a very confused ''Hero Killer''.

 Chapter 631 David’s Thoughts

    <h4>Chapter 631 David��s Thoughts </h4>


    ?David Thancreed walked out of one of the meeting rooms of the Barthmont Pce, closing the door behind him and heaving a light sigh as he leaned back on it.


    He wore a simple brown shirt that matched his eye colours, ck jeans and leather boots to match. On both his arms, he had artifact bracelets that shone with the brilliance of high-quality magic power.


    Running a hand through his hair, he began making his way down the corridor, with numerous thoughts on his mind.


    The moment he reached an intersection, the two ears reminiscent of a lion''s that sat atop his head twitched slightly.


    "Who is it?"


    He turned his head slightly to nce at the corridor on his right, silently circting his aura throughout his body as he narrowed his eyes in suspicion.


    However, when he saw who it was that emerged from behind the pir in the middle of the hallway, he lowered his guard and gave a light smile before speaking.


    "So, it was you, elder sister."


    "Hmm��you''ve gotten better. Normally, you would not have been able to sense me with this level of stealth."


    David only shrugged lightly in response, his eyes not leaving the brown-haired older woman who closed the distance between them in a single ''step''.


    She was Beast King Kolvar''s second child, the Second Princess of the Beast Kingdom, Kara Thancreed. Though she wasn''t to the level of a Living Legend yet, the woman was just as close as Kasteblum''s Chief Court Mage Gavin was.


    "I heard what happened in Lacertilia."


    "Oh��that. What about it?"


    David resumed walking down the hallway towards his initial destination as he replied, and Kara matched his pace while answering him.


    "That was a very dangerous situation. That beast was a whole existence level above you. You could have died."


    She was referring to the White High Dragon Faldo whom he and Evan had fought two weeks ago. Though her estimation of his existence level was higher than it actually was, it wasn''t too strange for her to assume such given the dragon''s power.


    "If I fought it on my own, maybe. But I had allies, as such, there was a lesser danger to my life."


    Running a hand through his hair, David sighed softly for a moment before continuing.


    "I understand you, Second to Fourth sisters'' desire for my safety, but you have to understand my own desire to get stronger as fast as possible."


    "And what is the reason for this desire of yours?"


    Kara''s question made David''s footsteps stop. He turned towards her with his lips curling up into a grin that showed his sharp canine teeth.


    In his eyes, a golden inscription shed for a brief moment, however, the look of surprise on his sister''s face showed she saw the inscriptionpletely.


    "Why don''t you take a guess?"


    Leaving that, he turned away and returned to his own quarters in the pce, shutting the door behind him before moving over to his desk and plopping down on the chair in front of it.


    He opened up his status and looked through it, from his Level that sat at 450 to his skill tabs. He then pulled up the description of his Mystic Eyes and stared at it in silence for a few moments.


    |Mystic Eye of Anti-Magic;


    Type: Unique Skill (Mystic Series)


    Effect;


    Allows one to tap into the essence of negation, granting them the ability to negate/nullify, neutralize and even consume magical energies within their field of vision.


    Stage 1


    Enhanced Visual Prowess.


    Ability to see the flow of energy.


    Ability to Negate a portion of External Magic Emissions. (Tier Dependent).


    Stage 2


    Further Enhanced Visual Prowess.


    25% Resistance to all Elemental Magic Damage.


    Ability to increase the Energy cost required for Targets to use Magic Spells by 12.5%.


    Ability to reduce the Effectiveness of Magic Enchantments and Artifact Magic Effects by 25%.


    Ability to Completely Negate External Magic Emissions for Selected Targets (1).


    Stage 3


    50% Resistance to all Magic Elemental Damage.


    50% Resistance to all non-elemental Magic Effects.


    Increased maximum level of External Magic Emission Negation. (Tier Dependent)


    Ability to Interchange/Shuffle Magic Elemental Resistances.


    Ability to increase the Energy cost required for Targets to use Magic Spells by 25%.


    Restrictions;


    Prolonged usage can strain their eyes and drain their energy, necessitating periods of rest and recovery. Additionally, while the eyes possess potent anti-magic abilities, the user themself may remain susceptible to physical attacks, requiring them to rely on other means of defence or support.


    External Magic Emission Negation is heavily dependent on the User''s Maximum Elemental Tier Affinity.


    The higher the level of the Target using magic, the higher the energy cost required to Negate their Magic.


    The More powerful the Enchantment and Artifact Magic Effect, the higher the energy cost required to negate their effectiveness.


    More Complex Magic Spells Require higher energy costs to negate.


    Some of the Mystic eyes'' abilities are sealed and would only be unlocked when the Mystic eyes have reached the appropriate stage. |


    With David''s eyes, he was truly the bane of all mages.


    On Default, he had a base 50% resistance to magic spells and effects, and he could even make targets within his field of view expend more magic power to cast spells.


    With his Tier 3, came the ability to shuffle his resistances.


    This was what saved him when Faldo had used a point-nk range Fire Nova on him, and the reason why he was able to walk out with barely any damage.


    David had a base extra 50% resistance to all elements.


    His mystic eyes allowed him to shuffle these resistances, taking the 50% of an element and stacking it atop another element.


    In that instant he had sensed Faldo using a fire spell, he took away his base 50% Water elemental resistance and stacked it on top of his base 50% Fire resistance.


    This made him more vulnerable to water magic than usual, but in turn, his vulnerability to fire magic had reduced to almost nothing.


    Hence, the reason why it appeared that he had tanked Faldo''s spell without a scratch.


    But if someone were to use water magic on him at that point in time, then the damage he would have received would have been greater than normal.


    It was a sufficient drawback, but unless you knew the specifics of his skill and this ability in particr, then it wasn''t one that could be taken advantage of.


    You''d just have to be very lucky to hit him with the right element at the right time.


    "And this power of mine would be pretty useful in Tarse, huh?"


    He muttered to himself as he closed the skill description and remembered all the things that Evan had said during the earlier meeting.


    In fact, Evan was still discussing with his father and Rathal, it''s just that he didn''t really need to be present so he excused himself for a bit.


    From the younger boy''s words, David discovered that the Demonic Hand''s ns were a lotrger in scale than he imagined.


    He originally desired to get stronger because of the knowledge that the Dimensional Rift on the Dark Continent was going to eventually break, but it seems that the power he believed was great for his age, wasn''t enough anymore.


    "To think they actually want to kill the Master of Dragondune��"


    David had met the leader of the Dragons on the Alpha Continent before because of his father, and when hepared the strength that he remembered them to possess with what he felt from Vaeri two weeks ago, he couldn''t help but realise that Dragondune''s Master lost out.


    What''s more, ording to Evan, the ''Second Finger'' was even more powerful than Vaeri was. And said person was who the Demonic Hand wanted to send after the Master of Dragondune.

 Chapter 632 Sudden Confession

    <h4>Chapter 632 Sudden Confession </h4>


    ?Evan said that the Demonic Hand''s ns for Tarse were originally made for 8 or 9 years in the future, but seeing as things hadn''t been going well for the Demonic Hand recently, he couldn''t count on that to happen.


    By his estimation, the ''Fall of the Desert Country'', might happen within the next 2-4 years.


    It was a long yet very short amount of time.


    "The Seventh Finger Kethryllia was Level 590��the Sixth Finger is bound to be even stronger, much less the Fifth Finger who''s in charge of their ns for Tarse.


    To even stand a fighting chance��all the Heroes who''d be involved have to be at least Inferior Stage Epic levels."


    He had heard that there was a Hero in Tarse, and Evan hoped to somehow find that person before the Demonic Hand''s ns kicked off. That way, there''d be Four Heroes going up against the Fifth Finger.


    "The resonance of Four Heroes��even if we''re all Inferior Epics, it''d be a giant power leap."


    David couldn''t help but think that as he remembered the power boost he was enjoying simply because he and Evan were within range of each other.


    If he added Laurene and whoever this other Hero in Tarse was to the mix, the Resonance effect would be more than four times what it currently was.


    "However, I highly doubt that Evan Eris would be ''merely'' an Inferior Epic by then."


    David had looked into Evan''s past and seen how the boy''s power grew exponentially.


    It was honestly hard to believe that as at this time in the year 1050, he was still a Level 10 Bronze level existence.


    In just three years, the boy had be the strongest grandmaster on the, and his exponential growth didn''t show any signs of slowing down soon.


    This made all the other grandmasters who had taken up to 10 years to get to that level feel like jokes.


    Heck, even his nonstandard elder sister, Mya, didn''t go from Level 10 to Level 478 in just three years!


    "It''s like he levels up five times faster than normal people or something��"


    If only David knew his random Estimation wasn''t too far off from the truth.


    The boy sighed and decided to push Evan''s matter to the back of his mind for now, as honestly, thinking about the boy''s track record of ridiculous feats made him feel inferior.


    They were both Heroes and yet, Evan''s feats were far greater than his already, even stretching out onto the International Stage.


    David picked up one of the files on his desk and looked through it, frowning lightly when he saw the contents.


    It was basically a report of a noble family''s session war, and how said family nned to rope him in to make him take sides.


    In the Beast Kingdom, it was thew that every child of a noble had an equal chance topete for the position of Heir or Sessor.


    One didn''t just gain that title because they were the First-Born child or because they were a Male child, like in some other Countries.


    The power that these sessors possessed was also a very vital deciding factor, in addition to their Leadership/Management skills, and achievements.


    Nobles were meant to be ''Strong'' in every sense of the word, after all.


    Even in the GWE, all titled nobles were at least Inferior Master Level existences; it was like the minimum requirement.


    Much less in the more powerful Beast Kingdom.


    Unless one of the children willingly abdicated their right to session, then every child had an equal chance.


    Thesews were there to fosterpetition between the young nobles, so they would work towards bettering themselves. This made it so that even the children who didn''t be the Heirs ended up being verypetent, and they had little to no problems bing Civil Officials or finding other jobs.


    It didn''tpare to the power one held as a titled noble though. Not even the slightest bit.


    Kolvar knew what the greed for power could do, enough to make even twins turn on each other, so in addition to giving every child an equal chance, he also forbade killing during session ''battles''.


    In their quest for power to be a sessor, anyone who killed their sibling or did something that caused physical harm to them was going to be punished severely.


    Any ''Mysterious deaths'' in any family currently having sessor battles were personally investigated by the Barthmont Pce, and any foul y detected had severe punishments on both the perpetrator and the family as a whole.


    In most cases, the family either lost their title or was demoted.


    Hence, there weren''t really any deaths as it would be pointless to kill the other person, only to lose the title that they were even fighting for in the first ce.


    Thesews that Kolvar had passed, also applied to his own family.


    All his children had equal chances of bing his sessor, and holding the title of ''Crown Prince/Princess.''


    But funny enough, despite being the youngest and weakest of his children, David was the one with the highest chance at the moment.


    Not because he had more achievements than his elder siblings or anything, but simply because the boy''s elder sisters doted on their only brother so much that they would even give up their right to session.


    Well, this wasn''t the public sentiment.


    Looking at it from thepetition perspective, Kolvar''s first daughter, one of thes ''Living Legends'' was the one holding first position in the running. She also had the most support from the nobles.


    But there were many more who hadn''t decided who to support, as a sessor wasn''t urgently needed in the current Beast Kingdom.


    So, all of them, especially David, still had a lot of time to prove themselves and change the rankings.


    Beastmen''s lifespans were fundamentally higher than human lifespans, and Kolvar was even a transcendent.


    "At this point, I wonder if Father still even has a ''lifespan''?"


    David chuckled lightly as he scanned through the list of achievements of the contenders for the noble''s sessor position.


    "I intended to pull the family to my side, but both sessors want to pull me to their sides first. How Ironic."


    Shaking his head with a wry smile, the boy continued going through the documents in his hands.


    �� �� ��


    The curtain of the night rose and the stars twinkled brightly as always.


    Although less than in the daytime, the major streets and roads remained busy as people still moved about. Workers on Night shifts hurried to their jobs, while those on day shifts hurried to their homes.


    Evan was away from all this, walking down a quiet and empty street with his hands behind his back, while his shadow was pulled by the moonlight.


    At some point, one shadow became two, as a second person joined him on his walk.


    No words were said as the two silently made their way up a small hill in a public park, reaching the top and sitting down on one of the empty benches in silence.


    The gentle rustle of leaves and the distant city sounds formed a soothing backdrop. The air held a crisp coolness and the moonlit night seemed like it was born to amplify the sense of intimacy between couples.


    As if riding in that atmosphere, hispanion slowly leaned into his embrace, and he responded by wrapping his arm gently around them.


    "You went with the French braids today."


    "You still haven''t exined why they are called ''French Braids''."


    "I would have��if I knew the reason."


    Evan replied with a light smile as hebed his fingers through the edges of her hair, while a part of his mind genuinely wondered why this particr braiding style was dubbed as ''French''.


    "Evan."


    "What is it, Liz?"


    "I love you."


    "Mhmm��"


    Evan casually hummed in reply when he heard her words, but after a moment, his eyes widened in shock as what she just said finally sank in.


    "Wait��wha-mpfh!"

 Chapter 633 Date Planning

    <h4>Chapter 633 Date nning </h4>


    ?"I love you."


    "Mhmm��"


    Evan casually hummed in reply when he heard her words, but after a moment, his eyes widened in shock as what she just said finally sank in.


    "Wait��wha-mpfh!"


    Eliza''s assertive side seemed to be on full power today, as she once again abruptly initiated a kiss, pulling Evan close with an urgency that sparked a wildfire of emotions.


    It was fairly obvious from her blushing cheeks that she felt embarrassed after what she had just said, but her method of covering up said embarrassment was a bit questionable.


    Evan''s initial surprise gave way to a swift response as their lips intertwined in a deep longing embrace. Time seemed to stretch as the intensity of the kiss deepened, with their heartbeats syncing in a harmonious rhythm.


    The world around them faded into a distant echo as they surrendered to the maic pull of desire.


    A full minute passed, filled with the exchange of unspoken emotions, and they finally pulled away, gasping for air while their eyes remained locked in a haze of post-kiss euphoria.


    "O-one more time."


    Eliza hugged Evan''s neck and spoke in a stupor as if she was drunk, and Evan did not dissuade her. He grasped her waist and kissed her on the lips, beginning another exchange of unspoken emotions thatsted even longer than before.


    In the distance, a party of some sort illuminated the night with a disy of dazzling fireworks. The colourful bursts painted the sky, serving as a reminder that pulled them out of the enchanting trance they had woven in this moment.


    Though Eliza intended to continue, Evan''s lips moved far out of her reach as the boyid her body on hisp.


    "��why?"


    She stared at him with a bit of resentment in her sapphire eyes, mixed with thirst, as if she was begging for it. Seeing this, Evan smiled and caressed her cheek as he said.


    "Let''s continueter, okay?"


    He then kissed her on her forehead, afterwards, and her hands immediately moved up to the spot his lips just touched.


    "��why does this feel more embarrassing than the previous two?"


    "I think your sense of shame has been skewed to the wrong angles."


    Evan chuckled a reply while Eliza silently pouted and crossed her arms before looking away from him.


    "Evan."


    "Yes, My Lady?"


    "Pfft��What''s with that?"


    Him addressing her in such a manner felt very strange, but she couldn''t help but notice a part of her seemed to like it.


    "I demand a date."


    "Your wish is mymand, My Lady.


    I have prepared a list of ces in mind, ready for you to make your pick."


    At first, she thought Evan was just joking, but when she felt him slide a small piece of paper into her hands, she realised he was serious.


    "When did you��?"


    "After the discussion with Sir Rathal and King Kolvar."


    "Oh��"


    ''So, it wasn''t something he prepared long ago��''


    Eliza quickly figured that Evan had noticed her still dour mood and had already been nning how he was going to lift her spirits.


    Though the little gesture made her a bit happy, she didn''t show it as she looked through the paper in her hands.


    "So, let''s see what we have here��a pic?"


    "It was the first thing I thought of when I saw this park earlier in the day."


    Evan only shrugged lightly as he spoke, twirling the girl''s braids around in his fingers. When he had been overlooking Goras earlier in the day, he had noticed this park, and this was part of the reason why he hade here in the first ce.


    Eliza just so happened to be following him.


    Delving into the details of the date n, he proposed they test out some of the Elven delicacies that were popr in Goras recently, making Eliza realise she hadn''t tried out any of the local foods in the past two weeks.


    Normally, her inner foodie would have screamed at her for this, but since she was too busy being worried about Evan, said inner foodie didn''t dare show itself.


    She poked him in the stomach when she thought of this, before moving her gaze to the next thing on the list; one that could be aplished right now if they so wished.


    It was basically a n for a starry night stroll, passing by a small observatory in a nearby city district where they could indulge in stargazing if they so wished.


    She saw a few scribbles on the side about hiring a local artist to create a sidewalk chalk mural depicting whatever star patterns she favoured as well.


    However, she had zero intentions of using this ''Date n'' now, as she preferred having this little moment along with Evan.


    The next on the list was one that intrigued her a bit��the idea of exploring their artistic sides. It was about a visit to a studio that offered pottery sses, with both of them moulding y together to create a few ''masterpieces''.


    ''Maybe we can exchange what we create as little mementoes?''


    The thought passed her mind when Evan hinted at secretly nning a surprise to this n. Curious as ever, she moved on to the next thing on the list and saw it was basically what she had done when they were in Kasteblum.


    Evan proposed a culinary journey where they would explore the other''s favourite dishes, and seeing this, Eliza prepared herself for an influx of strawberry-voured desserts.


    The n involved visiting various restaurants, alternating between the cuisines of every race they could find, and to make it more exciting, Evan suggested a little fun twist; they would rate each dish and create a personalized recipebining elements from their highest-rated meals.


    All the ns had Eliza hooked, but she didn''t deny that the one that caught her attention the most was��


    "This Culinary journey��"


    "As expected of my favourite foodie, that''s the one that caught your ey-ouch!"


    Eliza pinched him in the side to make him stop talking before pointing at the other two and continuing her words.


    "Let''s do these two first and save that one forst."


    "Best forst, huh?


    Very well, Mydy. It shall be done as youmand."


    The two of them had spent quite a while discussing their ns for their next date, so when they were done, it was already around midnight. They decided to return to the Barthmont Pce, where they had ate dinner before retiring to their assigned rooms.


    Well, it was Evan''s assigned room they returned to, and the moment they entered, the boy silently locked the door behind him before activating a little extra soundproofing artifact.


    He then walked up to Eliza who had just taken off her earrings and hugged her from behind, sliding his arms around her waist while resting his chin on her shoulders.


    "Now then, I did say we were going to ''continue''ter, didn''t I?"


    Evan''s hands slipped under Eliza''s shirt as he spoke, and it was then that the full meaning of his statement dawned on her.


    With slightly flushed cheeks, she moved her hands over his and grabbed onto it, before moving his palm from over her belly, upwards towards her chest.


    The events that happened next need not be stated and would be left entirely up to your imagination.


    Just have it in mind that they helped Evan to confirm the efficiency of his Soundproofing artifact.

 Chapter 634 Marquee Party

    <h4>Chapter 634 Marquee Party </h4>


    ?Buffer Zone Marquee


    Dungeon City Lacertilia


    Beast Kingdom


    May 31st


    Year 1053


    In the soft glow of the evening, a majestic marquee stood beneath the canvas of a painted sky, adorned with fairy lights that flickered like fireflies.


    The atmosphere of this soiree pulsated with a vibrant mix of Beast Kingdom nobility, mingling gracefully while dressed in borate gowns and regal suits, along with adventurers, mercenaries and soldiers.


    Subtle conversations danced through the air like whispers of intrigue. Clusters of nobility formed, exchanging pleasantries with masked subtlety. Eyes were keenly observant, expressions masked in practiced grace as they navigated through topics ranging from politics to thetest societal trends.


    Simrly, groups of adventurers d in formal wear shared conversations with their peers, exchanging nods of camaraderie with the mercenaries and soldiers, while some leaned against the Marquee''s pirs, their eyes scanning the surroundings with a vignt gaze.


    Like in the GWE after the Duhan Attackst year, this party was held tomemorate the ''Heroes'' who had defended Lacertilia during the dungeon break that happened at the beginning of the month.


    As for why the party was being held within the same area of the dungeons, despite the low but still present risk of a simr incident happening, it was because of the person whom the chambein just announced.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guests of foreign nations, may I have your esteemed attention.


    Behold, with great honour and reverence, the entrance of the sovereign ruler of the Beast Kingdom, His Royal Majesty, Kolvar Nakrax Thancreed!


    Let the echoes of respect resound as we wee the esteemed monarch of the Beast Kingdom to grace us with his presence."


    A hushed wave swept across the gathering like a breeze silencing rustling leaves in a forest. Conversations ceased, and a unified hush fell upon all those present.


    Nobles straightened their postures, knights and soldiers snapped to a disciplined salute while adventures stood at attention.


    Respect and deference painted the faces of those present, as Kolvar made his entrance, with the figures of Kara, Mya and David trailing behind him.


    The chambein continued speaking after a moment of silence, announcing their presence as well, while they followed their father to the stage where their seats were prepared.


    As their mother was not on the continent at the moment, there was only one seat prepared at the highest level of the elevated tform for Kolvar.


    The party officiallymenced with a speech from Kolvar, praising thebatants who had partaken in the battle to defend the city and offering a moment of silence for those who lost their lives in the process.


    Very quickly, he moved on to the main proceedings, personally presenting medals of merit to those who had the highest contributions; mainly those who were at themand centre during the incident.


    And then, came Evan''s party, the ones responsible for defeating the dungeon boss and stopping the Dungeon Break.


    All eyes were on the stage when the Anomalies stepped up, with a great majority of them being curious about this boy rumoured to be the youngest grandmaster there was, and hispanions who all possessed nonstandardbat prowess.


    Even the other viewing centres in Lacertilia and Goras where the party''s events were being projected had an influx of viewers when Evan''s name was called out.


    As for those who were physically present, when they saw Evan there was a mixture of reactions.


    The first group of reactions were those who didn''t sense a lick of power emanating from Evan''s form and those who guessed he was concealing his power and questioned why.


    Then there was the group ofbatants, the more powerful nobles, knights, and soldiers who noticed the reason why others could not sense Evan''s power at first nce.


    "His power control��is impable."


    One of the Beast Kingdom''s Dukes, a ''Living Legend'' muttered when he nced at Evan, and the other nobles near him, his Vassals and those in his political faction couldn''t help but agree.


    It had only taken Evan a week-long trip to the Tower of Trials to get used to his body''s upgrades and regain proper control over his power.


    Now, he would not be bashing through the bodies of any Grizzlies anytime soon.


    Anyway, the words of that one ''Living Legend'' which were concurred by other X rank adventurers and even the Sovereign Dandeyr granted understanding to those in the first group, answering the question of why they could not sense his power.


    It was then that the words of one of the Beast Kingdom nobles, a Dragonkin, caused a different kind of stir.


    He admitted that he could sense a power simr to that of genuine dragonsing from Evan, but the boy''s human traits were not overshadowed by these draconic traits.


    Evan naturally heard all of these and smiled internally while keeping up a poker face. He had controlled his power precisely because he wanted to impress those Epics and Living Legends as he knew they would understand his strength at first nce.


    The words of the Dragonkin were also within his calctions, but the reaction was a lot more than he expected.


    Even so, this was very wee.


    After Evan''s party received their rewards; the medals of honour and the honorary titles, Kolvar sat back down on his throne and let his children handle the rest of the awards.


    Naturally, it was simply impossible for every single person who participated to be awarded, as the list had tens of thousands of names on it.


    So, after a select few had been awarded, David then took charge, proceeding to unveil a monument that had been erected near the Buffer Zone''s entrance, with the names of every singlebatant involved in Lacertilia''s defence printed on it.


    It was very, VERYrge, given the fact that it was amodating tens of thousands of names. What''s more, there was a second identical monument erected in the city''s central area, near simr structures that honoured heroes of past events.


    When all of this had been done, he then dered the beginning of the ''party'' section of this event, beginning with a dance with his Second sister, Kara.


    If only the nobles knew that a town-destroying battle had taken ce to decide who got to dance with him. Thankfully, it had happened in a dungeon, so there was no coteral damage.


    In the centre of the Marquee, couples twirled and swayed to the enchanting melodies yed by the Royal Orchestra, transforming the dance floor into a canvas of elegant movement, the rustle of fine fabrics apanying the gentle tapping of polished shoes.


    A lot of the adventurers and mercenaries present, specifically the S-ranked ones who were awarded were approached by nobles who wanted to form good rtionships with them.


    Amidst the lively conversations, a few brave souls initiated impromptu duels on the outskirts of the party, showcasing theirbat prowess to an intrigued crowd.


    �� �� ��


    Watching the distinctions between social sses blurring ever so slightly as the Nobles and Adventurers foundmon ground, Evan heaved a light sigh of relief.


    Things had gone ording to his ns, he had left impressions on powerful Beast Kingdom figures, and he also moved to form connections with them.


    All was for the sake of increasing his International Power and Influence, in preparation for the future war with the demons.


    His eyes wandered in search of a particr figure, but he didn''t find them, sighing softly as his n to show off his ''good rtionship'' with a member of ''The Five'' went down the drain.


    After their talk thatsted for over five hours on the day he woke up, Rathal disappeared to somewhere not even Kolvar knew about.


    He did say he was going to meet with a ''tomboy acquaintance'' of his but gave no other information besides that.


    ''It''d be better if he was here but this is good enough.


    My ns for Tarse are already in motion��when the time is right, I''d go back to the GWE for Laurene.


    That should be after I''m done with those ''False gods'' in Tarse.''


    Evan knew that his first agenda in Tarse was definitely going to make the Demonic Hand up their game even more than they were already nning to, so he needed to prepare early.


    ''As much as I''d like to leave those guys until after the Disaster, I can''t take my chances as they could decide to act when I''m dealing with the Disaster and that would make things exponentially worse.''


    Thanks to his lessened restrictions due to the System''s Upgrades, he could reveal a lot more information to Kolvar and Rathal, about his n for the Demonic Hand''s nned Disaster


    ��''The Fall of the Desert Country''.


    In the game, the fall of a Major World Power like Tarse really shook Aidos'' foundations and messed with overall Morale.


    Especially with the death of a Sovereign.


    Before Rathal''s battle thirty years ago, thest time a Sovereign died was centuries ago, so naturally the effect of the Master of Dragondune''s death was quite devastating.


    And that was what the Demonic Hand aimed for, even more so as this was what revealed the existence of a powerhouse like the ''Second Finger'' to the world.


    ''Rathal seemed to have a rtionship with the Master of Dragondune, although it''s a grapevine one and not a direct one.


    Either way, if he can contact them, he should make sure to tell them to stay hidden.


    That''d give the ''Second Finger'' less reasons toe over.''


    In the game, the Second Finger killing the Master of Dragondune was what began the Fall of the Desert County.


    Their battle was one of the highest-rated cutscenes in the game and one Evan and every other yer enjoyed a lot. It kept them on their toes all through, despite onlysting a bit over three minutes.


    Eventually, the Master of Dragondune lost the battle and was yed by the Second Finger.


    After this, the Second Finger disappeared beyond a spatial gate and left the Alpha continent.


    The rest of the Disaster was then overseen by the ''Fifth Finger'', and the corpse of Dragondune''s master really helped him cast the spell that the Demonic Hand intended to��as a sacrifice.


    The blood of a Superior Sovereign also served to help the World Formation widen a ''Dimensional Rift''.


    "Well, none of that would happen if things go as nned."


    Evan spoke out loud as he nced around to see which noble he was going to speak to next, and upon doing this, he could not help but notice the difference in average power between GWE and Beast Kingdom nobles.


    Titled GWE nobles had an average level range of 125-150.


    Here, that average went up by 100.

 Chapter 635 Jelly Eliza

    <h4>Chapter 635 Jelly Eliza </h4>


    ?Just as Evan had set his targets on one of the Counts, he sensed some presences approaching him from behind and turned to meet with a quartet of young nobledies.


    Leading them was a cat beast woman who gracefully approached Evan amidst the lively atmosphere of the evening party.


    From the corner of his eyes, he could see that there were other little cliques of young nobles showing displeased reactions that this one had beat them to approaching Evan.


    ''Come to think of it, I had been so focused on the older nobles that I didn''t talk much with anyone my age��''


    It was a bit of an oversight on his part, so he decided to change things up and mix with younger nobles for the rest of the event.


    His gaze returned to the youngdy in front of him, the sleek obsidian fur on her ears and tail shimmering under the ambient lights of the Marquee.


    A subtle, elegant smile graced her face as she executed a curtsy, a delicate nod to both tradition and refinement.


    "Count Bourne, an honour to share this evening with you. I trust the night finds you well."


    Her eyes, a mesmerizing shade of emerald green, held a glint of curiosity and friendliness as she extended her hand in greeting while introducing herself in a voice carrying a refined charm.


    Aiko, with a graceful demeanour, extended her hand towards Evan as she introduced herself, her voice carrying a refined charm.


    "I am Aiko Herrera, daughter of Margravine Herrera. It''s a pleasure to have you here, Count Bourne. Your presence adds much to the vibrancy of this evening."


    With a graceful movement, Aiko extended her hand toward a passing server, who carried a tray adorned with crystal sses and a variety of beverages. She selected a ss filled with a sparkling, amber-hued liquid, a signature drink from the Beast Kingdom renowned for its unique blend of vours.


    "Count Bourne, please allow me to offer you a taste of our finest."


    She presented the ss with a slight incline of her head, the aroma of exotic fruits wafting through the air.


    Evan met Aiko''s gesture with a warm smile, appreciating the elegance in her greeting. Taking the offered ss, he nodded graciously.


    "Thank you, Lady Herrera."


    Though he had recognized her before she even spoke, the introduction was still necessary since she was this was the first time that they were actually speaking to one another and she was the one initiating the conversation.


    From herst name, it was clear that she was the daughter of Princess Mya''s guard, Sh, one of the Beast Kingdom''s high nobles.


    The members of her entourage introduced themselves, and Evan responded to their greetings appropriately, so much that one would wonder if this was the same person who liked ying around 25/7.


    With a subtle clink of sses, they raised a little toast before engaging in small talk.


    They chatted a variety of things, ranging from his adventures in other countries; the discussion seamlessly transitioning to Lacertilia, the current point in his journey.


    Ever poised, the youngdies inquired about the little stir caused earlier when it was discovered he possessed draconic powers, especially Aiko whose curiosity was clear in her emerald green eyes.


    Their exchange continued, delving into Evan''s ns for his stay in the Beast Kingdom. Eventually, Aiko decided to bring the conversation to a close, as her group wasn''t the only one with ns to speak to Evan tonight.


    Leaning in slightly, she suggested the possibility of future encounters.


    "Count Bourne, it would be a delight to cross paths again in the near future.


    Perhaps at another enchanting party or even more maybe a salon gathering, if you are less busy?"


    "Indeed, we would love for you to grace us with your presence, Count."


    "I know of a salon in the capital that''s quite fitting for such a gathering."


    Her friends also chipped in, and this little conversation caught the ears of lots of young nobles nearby as they wanted a chance to speak with the ''Esteemed Count Bourne'' in a less formal gathering as well.


    Seeing this, Aiko''s mind beganpiling a list of possible guests, but she kept up her refined smile as she asked.


    "So, how about i-?!"


    Aiko''s words were cut short when she felt a chill run down her spine, LITERALLY. Her friends also went stiff for a moment and Evan naturally noticed this and questioned it with a tilt of his head.


    "Is there a problem,dies?"


    The reply to his query came not from Aiko or her friends, but from a much more familiar person.


    "Oh no, there couldn''t possibly be a problem. Rightdies?"


    Eliza, spoke as she slipped in through Aiko''s friends and ced her hands on the cat beastwoman''s shoulders with a bright smile on her face.


    It was a picturesque scene of two beauties ''talking'' with each other if you ignored the fact that Eliza''s smile did not reach her eyes.


    Evan instantly picked up on Eliza''s current mood, as well as the reason why Aiko had suddenly stiffened earlier.


    Looking to the ground he noticed that there was a bit of faint green mist around their legs, and he didn''t even want to know how Eliza used just that to make a level 200 like Aiko feel cold.


    "Now then, If thedies would excuse me, I need to have some ALONE TIME with my boyfriend."


    Eliza grabbed Evan''s arm and pulled him close while taking the wine ss he held and cing it on the tray of a server passing by.


    From the way she was acting, Aiko would be dumb not to get the hint and back off immediately.


    "Y-yes. We would not disturb you."


    She curtsied to Evan once more, before offering a little farewell greeting.


    "We shall speak at ater date, Count."


    Eliza''s brow twitched when she heard that and Aiko noticed this, even so, the beast woman didn''t stick around long enough for Eliza to say anything, quickly leading her entourage away from the two.


    "Well, someone''s quite pissed."


    Evan spoke the moment Aiko was out of earshot, and this caused Eliza''s frosty gaze to turn towards him instead.


    "Evan��the amount of time you just spent speaking with her is more than the amount of time we''ve spoken in the past week."


    "��"


    ''I am genuinely curious to know how she was counting the time. I don''t even know how much time I spent talking with them.''


    However, despite this thought, a portion of his mind made warned him not to ask so he refrained from doing so.


    Still, if that was truly the case, he could understand Eliza''s current behaviour very well.


    Some other youngdies wanted to speak with him but Eliza just tightened her hold on him, pulling his arm so close to her chest without regard for whether it was touching or not while staring at them nkly.


    Thankfully, they all got the hint and backed off so no one had to be subjected to ice that could make level 200s feel literal chills on their spines.


    Frankly speaking, Evan hadn''t spent much time with Eliza over the past week.


    His time had been split between going to the Tower of Trials, and nning the evening party they were currently in.


    There was also him sending official requests to Wolfen in his capacity as the GWE''s Count Bourne, as the ''Hero Evan'', and the third he had just sent in the morning, as the Adventurer with the epithet ''Irregr Evan''.


    Naturally, the first two had been rejected and he expected the third to be no different but this didn''t really matter.


    He was doing this to make it so there was ''Justification'' for him to interfere in the GEE��Wolfen conflict that was rapidly escting.


    Evan had also used the Beast Kingdom as a liaison to inform the Houses of ''Marquis Randall'' and ''Duke Cooper'' of the GEE to be expecting him very soon.


    The bottom line is that he had been very busy in the past few days and that led to him not talking to Eliza much.


    ''She''s clearly not happy about it.''


    Evan thought as he looked at the girl who was dragging him out of the Marquee and away from the outdoor lighting set up to brighten up the area as the sky darkened.


    Her dress was made to match his suit, sporting the same beige colour. It covered her shoulders entirely and flowed down into a stylish draped neckline, a rxed fit that gave the dress a graceful look.


    It also covered her arms to just below her elbows, with loose-fit sleeves that in a way, helped put focus on her skin.


    He didn''t really like thatst part much, though.


    The moment they were out of sight, in an area not too visible from the Marquee, he pulled her behind one of the buildings nearby and slipped his arm around her, pressing her body close to him.


    Naturally, she reciprocated his abrupt hug after half a second of light surprise, and very quickly it transitioned into a kiss.


    Eliza had been a lot bolder with her disys of affection recently, something Evan liked very much and didn''t want to change anytime soon.


    "I was feeling very tired but all it took was a single kiss to re-


    energize me��"


    Evan muttered as he buried his face in Eliza''s neck, while she ran her hands through his hair lightly.


    He caught sight of the moon from the corner of his eye, and the first date idea that he and Eliza had not gone on because of him being busy popped into his mind.


    "Moonlit stroll��"


    "Hmm? What about it?"


    Evan did not give her an answer, instead breaking out of their hug and grabbing her arm before pulling her along with him as he returned to the Marquee.


    He looked around and spotted one of the Beastkeepers near Kolvar, walking up to them and making a request that he would have refused If it was anyone else.


    However, with Kolvar present and Evan''s identity, the boy''s request was quickly epted.


    �� �� ��


    Fifteen minutester, Evan and Eliza, still in their party wear, found themselves seated in a room located hundreds of kilometres from Lacertilia, whose only source of light was that of the mooning in from the windows.


    A variety of telescopes filled the room, and a pair were set up in front of them, which the couple used to indulge in a bit of stargazing.


    Silently, Evan ticked ''Date n #1'' off in his mind, while he and Eliza basked in the warmth of each other''s embrace.

 Chapter 636 A Young Vampire’s Intrusive Thoughts

    <h4>Chapter 636 A Young Vampire��s Intrusive Thoughts </h4>


    ?Noctis Pce


    Capital City Geirsa


    Sanguinia Empire


    Dark Continent


    June 1st


    Year 1053


    ''I feel like hitting something, preferably a living being.''


    Such were the thoughts that abruptly entered the mind of a certain teenage silver-haired beauty, as she walked down the halls of this majestic castle.


    ''They called these ''Intrusive Thoughts'', didn''t they?''


    Her crimson eyes had a faraway look in them as she moved, barely paying any attention to the six people who were walking along with her.


    "Lady Griselda, have you heard of the new salon that opened up downtown? Word around is that they are sponsored by the Tanith n.


    Wouldn''t you like to take a look sometime?"


    "Mhmm��Okay"


    "I hope you''ve researched that ce thoroughly, lest you dare bring Lady Griselda to a ce unworthy of someone of her status."


    "Yes��do that."


    The girl gave them short absent-minded replies, with her full focus being on the sleeves of her ebony-coloured dress and wondering if she should have them adjusted.


    ''Am I losing weight?''


    Just as she thought that, she sensed a familiar presence around the corner and looked up just in time to meet eyes with one of the people who came around.


    Like her, this older woman possessed silver hair and crimson eyes; but her hair was far longer and had lots of curls at the tips.


    Though she had lovely facial features, her facial expressions were not too different from a doll''s.


    The instant she appeared, the lot who were chattering around Griselda went silent and they lowered their heads in respect, with Griselda being the only daring to meet her eyes.


    "Good afternoon, Matriarch."


    "Mhmm��"


    The older woman acknowledged her with just a nod, seemingly more interested in the report that the aide beside her was giving.


    However, when she passed right by Griselda, her hand stretched out and patted the younger girl''s head before returning to her back once again.


    Griselda didn''t seem to mind this, and she was thinking of how she was going to lose this little unwanted entourage of hers when the words of the aide caught her attention.


    "��the person responsible for all these incidents is a titled noble. His name is Evan Eris and he holds the peerage of Count."


    "?!"


    Hearing that name, Griselda abruptly stopped in her tracks, and naturally, this meant the people walking behind her bumped into her back but she didn''t even flinch.


    She turned around with widened eyes, a hint of recognition shing through them as she muttered the name that had just been spoken.


    "Evan��Eris��"


    Though her voice was low, the hallway was silent at that moment so everyone present heard her loud and clear.


    The older silverdy whom she had addressed as ''Matriarch'' stopped and turned, faster than Griselda could control her expressions and noticed the ''recognition'' in the teenage girl''s eyes.


    At this point, Griselda didn''t even bother trying to hide anything as she pushed aside the other teenagers in front of her and walked up to the Matriarch''s Aide.


    "You were making a report about an ''Evan Eris'', just now, were you not?


    I doubt that''s ssified information for the Matriarch''s ears only, as you wouldn''t speak about it in such a ce if it was.


    Would you mind rying it to me as well?"


    Griselda''s words were met with looks of surprise, but the girl ignored them all and focused her gaze on the Aide who was the most dumbfounded of them all.


    Before he could speak, however, the Matriarch''s voice rang out first.


    "Griselda."


    "Yes?"


    "Why do you wish to know about this human noble?"


    The contents of the question she posed made question marks pop up over the heads of the six other teenagers and they couldn''t help but voice their confusion.


    "Lady Griselda��wants to know more about a human?"


    "Why would she want to know about something so lowly?"


    One out of the six, however, had his crimson eyes shine as he saw this as an opportunity. Stepping forward, he posed a question of his own to Griselda.


    "Lady Griselda. Pardon me, this human wouldn''t happen to be someone you have a ''secret rtionship'' with, would he?"


    Only after he spoke, did Griselda finally turn her gaze towards the boy, giving this annoying cousin of hers a deadpan look.


    "What? You can''t me me for getting any ideas, given how you reacted to just hearing a name. Even more so when contrasted with your normal attitude."


    "When he puts it like that��"


    "��it kinda seems usible��"


    Griselda cursed the her of a few minutes ago who didn''t just ignore this lot and walk away, but before she could say anything to address their far-fetched ''concerns'', her cousins spoke once more.


    "How about we have a little spar like always? Last time you said I was distracted and cked in my training��this time, we need to make sure the thoughts of this human haven''t distracted you and made you ck on your training?"


    The teenager had an impish smile on his face as he spoke, and each word pushed Griselda closer to the maximum limit of ''bullshit'' she could tolerate in one day.


    Normally, she usually avoided putting herself in situations where she could go over said limit, but this lot had been bugging her all morning, plus, she wanted to know what the news about Evan was and this cousin of hers chose now of all times to disturb her conversation with her mother.


    She took a deep breath in, held it for a few seconds and then she breathed out.


    **BOOOMM!!!!


    Besides the two adults present, no one else saw what just happened.


    One moment Griselda''s cousin was standing in front of them, and the next, the tinted windows beside them had a human-


    sized hole and there were screams of paining from the courtyard.


    Most importantly, Griselda''s fist was stretched out and one could see a bit of blood dripping off it and to the ground.


    "Ah��I let the Intrusive thought win."


    That was all Griselda said after punching her cousin out the window and into the courtyard, where the light of the sun and all its radiation bore down on him and made him feel the same way a human who just had a bucket of boiling water poured on them would.


    "Oh well��"


    She certainly felt a lot better after hitting him in the face, so she shrugged her shoulders as the blood on her hands slowly floated up from her body before falling back to the ground.


    It should be noted that this cousin of hers was a Level 299 Superior Master Realm Existence, on the cusp of achieving grandmaster, and yet Griselda had hit him faster than he could react, and with enough strength to send him flying over a hundred metres of distance.


    And then, as if she hadn''t just casually made someone''s B+ durability stat look like paper, she turned back to her mother��


    the Lorelei Vampire n''s Matriarch; Riah��and continued speaking.


    "So, about that human noble��"


    Riah looked at the scene that her daughter had just created, before gazing at the other teenage vampires who had shrunk away from her in fear before shaking her head.


    She waved her hand and created a veil of darkness to stop the sunlight from reaching into the hallway as the other teenage vampires were merely just normal Noble Vampires, they couldn''t resist the sun as well as she and Griselda could.


    "He''ll tell you what you want to know if you inform me exactly what this name means to you?"


    Griselda went silent, her lips twisting into a frown as she stared at her mother. Her thoughts, however, were the pr opposite of her expression.


    ''That''s all she wants to know? Just that? No problem then!


    She already knows I went to the Alpha Continent��she did put a sixth tracker in that artifact she gave me.''


    Leaving aside how Griselda discovered the first five trackers in the Spatial Gate artifact, the girl considered the slim chance of her mother deeming Evan as a ''potential threat'' and trying to kill him but she quickly crossed out that possibility.


    ''She can''t go to the Alpha Continent��


    If what Evan said was correct, then the instant she does, she''d be attacked by a Transcendent.


    I don''t know how strong the other Transcendents are but using the Dragon Lord as a reference, Mother can''t win.


    Long story short��there''s no problem telling her about Evan.''


    "Fine."


    "Good,e with me then."


    Riah then looked up at the ceiling after speaking to Griselda and continued.


    "Clean up this mess."


    Three shadows dropped to the ground and bowed in silence before one of them phased through the veil of darkness and went out to pick up Griselda''s cousin.


    Meanwhile, the girl was following her mother while thinking that she should really have her dress adjusted when Riah''s voice broke her out of her thoughts.


    "You went overboard."


    "I know.


    Unfortunately, I reached the limit of my tolerance for his bullshit."


    "Your actions would only give him more reasons to nit-pick at you."


    Griselda chuckled when she heard her mother''s words, an eerie smileing up to her face as she spoke.


    "If it wasn''t for thew that forbids internal fights leading to deaths��I''m not so sure he''d be alive to nit-pick at me."


    Seeing her daughter casually speak about murdering her cousin, Riah sighed while wondering where on Aidos the girl inherited this behaviour from.


    ''It''s her father, right? It''s him! It can only be him!''

 Chapter 637 Bounded Field Lessons

    <h4>Chapter 637 Bounded Field Lessons</h4>


    ?''It''s her father, right? It''s him! It can only be him! He acts like he couldn''t bear to hurt a fly but in reality, he''s very ruthless!''


    Speaking of fathers, she opened the door to her study and the man she had just thought of was seated at her desk while going through a book.


    He looked up upon their entrance, shutting the book in his hand as he spoke.


    "I was looking for the both of you"


    "It''s your fault!"


    "��"


    "��what?"


    Both Griselda and her father turned to Riah with confused gazes wondering why she was suddenly ming the man for ''something''.


    ''Look at him acting all innocent when he''s the reason our daughter can even consider beating her cousin to death!''


    It just so happened that the man she married was the kind who could kill someone with a ''smile'' on his face, and his daughter seemed to have inherited a portion of that trait.


    She was usually fine but once she reached her limits, scenes like that of a few minutes ago happened.


    While Riah was thinking that, Griselda had walked over to her father and was ''whispering'' in a not so quiet voice to him.


    "Maybe it''s that time of the month��."


    "Hmmm, that might actually be the case��I should give her some space."


    "I can hear the both of you!"


    ""We know.""


    Father and daughter replied in sync while the man patted the girl''s head, ruffling it a bit in the process.


    "Why do you two like doing this? It makes the time I spend doing my hair seem like a waste, you know?"


    Although she said that, she made zero attempts to get his hand off her head, and her father pointed out that fact.


    It did earn him a few pokes to the side, though.


    "You can me Father about whatever it ister, but first, I wanna hear about Evan."


    "Evan? Who''s that?"


    The answer came not from his daughter whom he posed the question to, but his wife, Riah.


    "Probably someone Griselda met when she snuck over to the Alpha Continent."


    "��"


    The man was silent for a moment, an expression of pure confusion on his face as he asked aloud.


    "Griselda went to the Alpha Continent?"


    From his words and his expression, it was very obvious he had zero idea about this incident in the first ce.


    "Just sit down�� you''ll find out all about it now."


    Riah spoke as she plopped down on her chair and faced her daughter before continuing.


    "Start from the top."


    �� �� ��


    Barthmont Pce


    Goras


    Beast Kingdom


    June 1st


    Year 1053


    Around the same time Griselda was talking with her parents, Evan��the subject of their conversation��was standing silently in the middle of a grassy clearing about half the size of a football stadium.


    He took a deep breath in, breathing out an icy mist that caused the ambient temperature to suddenly drop.


    With his Harbinger of Ice skill silently activating, he deployed the skill''s pre-set Bounded Field.


    "Frozen Domain."


    A torrential wave of crystalline ice surged forth from beneath his feet with unstoppable force, transforming the grassy in into a frozen tableau within a mere second.


    However, despite having turned the immediate environment into a frozenndscape under his control, his contracted demon casually moved around without any hindrance.


    Despite her current attire��a simple oversized red t-shirt tucked into a pair of high-waisted ck trousers��she didn''t seem to be affected by the cold.


    She crossed her arms in front of her chest and walked around Evan, infusing magic power into her eyes as she inspected thework of magic energy underneath his feet.


    After a minute of silence, she stopped in front of Evan and looked the boy in the eye before saying.


    "4/10."


    "Really? A four?"


    "Yes."


    Evan sighed and shook his head when he heard her reaffirm her earlier evaluation.


    "Can I even get a 10?"


    "Impossible. 10 is a perfect score��no Bounded Field can be ''Perfect''.


    Complete, yes, but not Perfect."


    The High Demon instructed him calmly as she twirled a ring of spatial attributed magic power around her fingers.


    If it wasn''t obvious by now, then Evan was currently receiving Bounded Field lessons from Pride who was much more experienced in the technique.


    The battle against Bhak served to teach Evan how important these Bounded Fields were, and honestly, if it wasn''t for Pride''s intervention, he and Eliza would not have been able to force the Lizard Lord to stop deploying the technique.


    This Topographic technique held great advantages for the user, and they seemed to be quitemonly used by beings in the Epic Level and above to turn disadvantageous battles in their favour.


    To be specific, it wasmonly used by the beings who had been able to create one for themselves.


    A lot of existences, even Legendries who could use worldws were unable to use Bounded Fields, as the technique required the user to manipte a bit of space.


    Naturally, not everyone had an affinity for the element. Even for Evan, his affinity for space was just a ''tiny bit'' above average at best.


    Luckily for him, he had a head start that a lot of people did not have; a Series Skill with a pre-set Bounded Field.


    ''Come to think of it, the Mystic Eye of Mimicry has its own Bounded Field, doesn''t it?''


    "I don''t expect you to have aplete Bounded Field at your current level. You''re not a Legendary Level so you would not be able to control the ambient spacews even if your affinity may be low.


    As a Legendary, you would be able to use thosews to properly segregate the space for your Bounded Field."


    Pride broke him out of his thoughts with her words, tapping on weak links in the magic powerwork of his Frozen Domain with her feet as she spoke.


    "Bounded Fields aren''t things Grandmasters should be using anyway, You only have this chance because of your skill."


    "Yeah, all Series Skills have one."


    Just as Evan said that, he realised this also meant that Pride and the other deadly sins should have Bounded Fields of their own. The answer he received from her when he asked about it, however, was far from expectations.


    "My Incarnation Skill indeed does have one, but I hardly use it."


    "Why?"


    "The one I created myself is far better."


    Evan smiled wryly when he heard this, having half-expected this kind of answer from her.


    ''The way she acts normally makes me sometimes forget that she IS the demon of ''Pride''.''


    "I have a suggestion for you to be able to draw out the true nature of your skill''s Bounded Field and not this pitiful excuse you are currently deploying."


    "Well sorry, I can only deploy this ''pitiful excuse''."


    The boy''s mood visibly soured as he rolled his eyes, but Pride didn''t seem to about how he felt and went on with her words.


    "You need to discover the ''Real Name'' of this Technique."


    "What?"


    "Names have power.


    That applies to techniques as much as it does to living beings and artifacts.


    From the way I see things ''Frozen Domain'' is simply a ceholder name and not the real name of this Bounded Field."


    Evan had called it ''Frozen Domain'' because that''s what it was referred to as in the game by Silverwing itself. But if even Silverwing didn''t know the actual name of the Skill''s pre-set technique, how was he supposed to know what it was?


    Pride moved to the edge of the Frozen domain''s effective area and inspected it, noting something she had missed earlier.


    "The little snowdrops and then this slightly rising edge��this Field is probably a ''Dome Type''.


    This further confirms my guess that you are not deploying this fully."


    "Is that so? Oh well, that''s a problem for future me.


    I''d just focus on strengthening the magic powerwork for now."


    Evan spoke with a shrug before disabling the technique.


    "Back to you, Pride.


    You said your own Field is better than your skill''s pre-set field, didn''t you?"


    When Pride gazed at Evan, she quickly understood what the boy was hinting at and sighed softly. Raising her hand, she spoke.


    "A little demonstration wouldn''t hurt."


    "Indeed, a little demon-"


    *SNAP!


    Pride''s fingers snapped before Evan could evenplete his words, causing a wave of demonic energy to surge out of her very being.


    It was only for a second that Evan blinked in light surprise, but when his eyes reopened, he wasn''t in the grassy in anymore.


    "��what?"


    Evan found himself inside a chamber shaped like a giant dome, asrge as an Olympic stadium. mes of ck light erupted on the numerous torches packed tightly on the walls, but the real lighting of the chamber came from the shiny luminescent pears embedded into the ceiling.


    In between each of the torches on the walls, were dozens of metallic statues. They all had the forms of fully armoured knights, each one wielding a different weapon.


    Sword, Dagger, Battle Axe, War Scythe, Bay, Spear, Staff, Lance, Sheild, Mace, il, Warhammer, Nunchaku, Baton, Halberd, Guandao and many more weapons.


    Right in front of him, was a long flight of stairs, and when he looked right to the top, he saw the figure of his contracted demon seated atop a majestic throne with her legs crossed.


    In that same moment, her voice rang out across the massive chamber.


    "This is my Bounded Filed; The ''Throne of the Omnipotent''."

 Chapter 638 Throne of the Omnipotent

    <h4>Chapter 638 Throne of the Omnipotent</h4>


    ?"This is my Bounded Filed; The ''Throne of the Omnipotent''."


    Hearing that name, Evan had only one line of thought.


    ''As expected of the Demon of Pride.''


    Even though he wasn''t really good at spatial maniption, he could see tell the difference between his Frozen Domain and this Chamber.


    Starting from the fact that the ce they were in was only about 60 by 30 metres, and yet this Chamber was many timesrger than that.


    ''Spatial Expansion��''


    His gaze then turned towards the stone statues that each looked to be as tall as a certain blue-green statue holding up a torch.


    ''Pride is a very practical person. Knowing her, there''s no way that she would expend so much energy to create these armoured knights just for decoration, right?''


    Right at that moment, a massive shadow spread out in front of him, making the boy sigh as he spoke.


    "Thought so."


    **BOOOMM!!!


    Evan rolled out of the way just in time to avoid the giant mace that mmed down on the ground where he stood a second ago.


    He quickly got to his feet and looked at the scene of impact, only for his brow to twitch when he gauged the power contained in that strike.


    Before he could even say anything about it, the Sword, Spear, Lance and Battle Axe Wielding Statues came alive and took a step forward, swinging and thrusting the weapons they held.


    ''Mesarthim: Orange: Self Immtion!''


    Evan''s body was instantly engulfed in orange mes, and he raised his left hand up while pushing his right hand out and activating a skill.


    ''Elemental Shield!''


    ***BOOOOOOOMMM!!!!


    With an Earthshaking impact, clouds of dust and dirt billowed towards the ceiling of the Chamber, however, with splinters of earth being sent flying in all directions.


    Pride waved her hand and a gust of wind blew away the dust, revealing Evan whose left hand was blocking the swings of the Sword and Battle axe, while his right hand stopped the thrusts from the spear and thence.


    "I see��so you can deploy multiple instances of your Elemental Shield now, huh?"


    She calmly remarked as she saw the two semi-spherical barriers of light. The one generated from his left hand had a concave outline while the one generated by his right hand had a convex outline.


    "Woman! Are you trying to kill me?!"


    Evan''s loud voice echoed across the chamber as he used his strength to force the two polearms backwards, before doing the same to the ded weapons above his head.


    "Kill you? That was just a basic physical attack with zero energy."


    When Pride replied to his words, Evan took a moment to study the knights and noted that their attacks were indeed purely physical.


    "If I was trying to kill you��"


    A thickyer of ck light surrounded the weapons of the knights, with four more stepping forward and holding their weapons up.


    "��I''d at least do this."


    The next moment, the knights charged towards Evan at breakneck speed, each sending projected shes flying at him.


    Evan reacted quickly, releasing energy sts to counter the shes before activating Elemental Weapon Projection and creating giant shields to block their melee attacks.


    Seeing this, Pride raised a brow as she noticed the distinctck of skill activation, despite the fact that he was using a skill.


    ''His predecessor did use skills without their activations being sensed��I guess he''s unlocked that ability as well.


    In that case��it''s fair to up the difficulty a bit.''


    If only Evan who was busy wielding a giant sword of ice to sh against the giant sword-wielding knight, while standing on the back of the mace wilder who just missed its attack heard her current line of thought.


    Unfortunately, he didn''t, and this was why he didn''t expect what happened next.


    Pride waved her hand to the left, and immediately, Evan''s whole worldview changed.


    The force of gravity which was supposed to be pulling him down to the ground, began pulling him to the side, in the direction of the halberd-wielding knight who then shed at him with the weapon''s de.


    He quickly adapted and bnced himself, creating a void step which he used as a boost to jump out of the sh''s trajectory, but before he could even think about countering, the gravity changed once more.


    Evan found himself falling diagonally towards the ground, in a position perfect for impaling himself upon the Lance Wielder''s weapon.


    He spun around and used his giant sword to parry the spear thrust, only to find himself back in the trajectory of the halberd wielder''s sh; only that this time, it was his back facing the de.


    ''?!''


    In a split second, he used wind magic to generate currents, allowing him to spin his body around and hold the sword in ce to block the halberd''s sh.


    **BAAMM!!


    The force behind the sh sent his body hurtling through the air, in the direction of the shielder who came active and raised its shield.


    It took a stance and then the instant Evan entered its range, it bashed the boy''s body with its shield, sending him flying towards the Staff Wielder''s location.


    The Staff Wielder continued thebo, swinging its weapon down on Evan and smacking him down to the ground with enough force to crater it.


    When the dust cleared up, Evan''s form holding up the giant staff with his two hands was revealed, and the boy''s expression showed his current annoyance.


    Golden chains burst out from the ground around him, wrapping around both the Armoured knight''s hands and the staff. He then grabbed onto the chains and pulled on them with strength unbefitting of his body size, pulling the armoured knight face down onto the ground.


    He flicked his fingers and generated a giant sword of fire above its head, gesturing downwards and dropping the de right onto the knight''s head.


    At thest moment, however, the sword that would have turned the knight''s head into a pile of molten metal abruptly transformed into a swarm of harmless butterflies.


    "Really?! Butterflies?!"


    Evan questioned Pride who was responsible for this, ignoring the giant il-wielding knight that was rushing towards him from behind.


    The knight swung its weapon down towards him, intending to squash the boy to meat paste.


    At thest moment, however, Evan''s body was engulfed in bright prismatic mes which then condensed around his fist. He then spun around and threw out a punch, hitting the striking head of the il and sting the entire thing to bits.


    Glops of molten metal spattered all around, pouring on the feet of another knight nearby.


    With a snap of Evan''s fingers, these glops of molten metal exploded violently, destroying the legs of the knight and causing its massive frame to fall, right into the path of the sword that was heading for Evan and taking the hit for the boy.


    His body still immted with Mesarthim''s orange mes, Evan turned towards Pride with a deadpan look and the woman returned his gaze silently.


    She raised her hand and was about to give anothermand, but something happened before she could do that.


    "huh?"


    "��what?"


    Both of them turned to the side after sensing something strange, with Pride''s surprised voice ringing out as they saw that one of the gigantic armoured knights suddenly had cracks all over its body.


    Golden energy surged out of the cracks and the knight shattered to pieces, revealing a massive fissure in the wall of the chamber��or rather��the Boundary Wall of the Bounded Field.


    Emerging from this fissure, was a girl who looked to be in her early teens, with straight ck hair tied up in a long braid that reached just below her knees.


    She was dressed in a short-sleeved dress shirt and a pair of white shorts, fitted out with grey sneakers.


    Her golden eyes looked around the massive chamber, ignoring everything until theynded on Evan.


    [Master!]


    With lightning speed, she zapped towards Evan and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly while the young hero stared on dumbfoundedly.


    ''Did she just break into Pride''s Bounded Field?''


    Bounded Field barriers were very resistant both on the outside and on the inside, to prevent the entrapped opponent from escaping, and to prevent any potential reinforcements from getting in.


    There was no way someone like Pride would neglect hers, and Evan was sure that it was far stronger than normal ones.


    Yet, Ka casually broke into it and even destroyed one of the constructs within it in a single strike.


    It''d be stranger if Evan and Pride weren''t dumbfounded.


    The boy looked down and silently patted the hair of the spirit who was nuzzling her cheeks in his chest while muttering something about having missed him a lot.


    "Where on Aidos were you all this while?"


    This was the first time Evan had seen Ka and spoken with Ka since he came out of the cocoon, as the spirit had vanished somewhere shortly before he woke up.


    [I was talking with Big Sis.]


    "Artemisia?"


    [Mmn, Big Sis Artemisia. She said that��]

 Chapter 639 Abrupt Traveling Plans

    <h4>Chapter 639 Abrupt Traveling ns</h4>


    ?While Ka was recounting the past week''s experiences to Evan, Pride recovered from her shock, the look in her eyes being reced by one of ''realisation'' when she looked at Ka.


    ''So that''s what you are��''Star of Lightning''��''


    Right after she thought that, she noticed her energy reserves falling below her self-imposed limit and sighed with light exasperation.


    ''My Bounded Field is tooplex, and energy consuming, while my current energy efficiency is not up to par. Currently, I can only sustain it for a few minutes��''


    With the Dozens of Armoured Knights wielding weapons, the spatial expansion, and also taking into ount her maniption of space and gravity within it; it was only natural that the ''Throne of Omnipotence'' guzzled down Pride''s energy reserves.


    She hit her hand on the throne''s armrest and disabled the Bounded Field. This caused the chair she was on to disappear as well, but Pridended softly onto the ground like a feather, while watching the rest of the Bounded Field disappear into shards of ck light.


    "Where''s Kuro?"


    [She''s with Eliza.]


    "I see.


    Everyone''s here now so I guess we can move."


    Ka tilted her head in confusion when she heard Evan''s words, but the boy continued speaking without offering an exnation.


    "Kuro, bring Liz and Greed over."


    It didn''t take more than five seconds after he spoke, for his shadow to expand and send out the figures of Eliza and Greed.


    "Dude, what the fuck?"


    Greed was very obviously displeased by the sudden teleportation, and when Evan saw him holding up a bag of coins, he was tempted to question what the man was doing before Kuro dragged him over.


    But after giving it a moment''s thought, he decided not to ask; certainly not wanting to know about a group of soldiers Greed had just swindled.


    "So, what is it?"


    Greed''s questioning voice still had hints of displeasure in it as he put the bag of coins away, but Evan ignored it as he appraised both him and Pride.


    |Name- Greed


    Race- High Demon


    Gender - Male


    Age - 1352


    Level- 490 (777)


    Existence Level - Grandmaster [Superior] (Sovereign)


    Titles- Deadly Sin of Greed, Peak Rank Demon, Ascendant, The One Who Wants All There Is, S-Rank Adventurer, Anomaly, Honorary Baron of the Great Western Empire, Geo de, Earthen Wrath Sessor, Stone Cleaver, Honorary Noble of the Beast Kingdom.


    ss- Terrakic Great Swordsman


    Health �C S+ (X2-)


    Energy - S+ (X1+)


    Strength �C SS- (X2+)


    Agility �C S+ (X2-)


    Durability �C S+ (X2)


    Intelligence - S (X1+)


    Condition- Lightly Annoyed.


    Magic Tiers- Earth Tier 6, Fire Tier 4, Wind Tier 5, Lightning Tier 3, Space Tier 1.


    Skills- Greed Maniption, Emperor of Greed, Power of Wealth, It''s Mine, Burning Barrage, Tar Bomb, Evocation: Covetous Archers, Earth Maniption, Geo de, Crystal Maniption, Geokic Regeneration.


    Unique Skills- Incarnation of Greed, Geomantic Wrath. |


    He also checked the man''s Karmic Alignment and saw that he was categorised as ''Chaotic Evil''.


    ''Honestly, there''s not much of a surprise there.''


    Evan quickly went through the system and confirmed the Karmic Alignments were still the same as in the game.


    Good, Neutral, Evil.


    Each Alignment had subsets of ''Ordered'' and ''Chaotic''.


    "Well, someone''s gonna have a hard time in the Cavern of Trials��"


    The boy muttered with a low voice as he turned his gaze towards Pride and appraised her as well.


    |Name- Pride


    Race- High Demon


    Gender - Female


    Age - 1352


    Level- 478 (777)


    Existence Level - Grandmaster [Superior] (Sovereign)


    Titles- Leader of the Seven Deadly Sins, Deadly Sin of Pride, Peak Rank Demon, Ascendant, H#��&Ger of Pride, A-Rank Adventurer, Anomaly, Honorary Baroness of the Great Western Empire, Ember Sword, Abyss Heart, Honorary Noble of the Beast Kingdom.


    ss- Demonic Battlemage


    Health �C S+ (X1+)


    Energy - S+ (X2+)


    Strength �C S+ (X2-)


    Agility �C S+ (X2)


    Durability �C S+ (X1+)


    Intelligence - S+ (X2-)


    Condition- Normal.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 6, Wind Tier 6, Darkness Tier 4, Lightning Tier 4, Earth Tier 3, Space Tier 2.


    Skills- Pride Maniption, Pride Embodiment, Aura of Pride, Contempt of the Many, Origin Sword, Chaos Bolt, y???????t???????i????????l?????a????????????e?????????R????????? sh, Rocket re, White me Maniption, Eternal Ember.


    Unique Skills- Incarnation of Pride. (HIDDEN) |


    Pride''s status wasn''t much different from his expectations, with all-round S+ stats. He didn''t have much information about her ss, and how it differed from normal ''Battlemages'', but going by the modifier in front of it, it clearly had bonuses to her Demonic energy maniption.


    As for Karmic Alignments, he didn''t bother checking that and just assumed she''d be the same with Greed, considering they were both ''Deadly Sins''.


    "So there''s somewhere I wanted us to go so we can get something done today, since tomorrow, we''d be leaving for the GEE."


    Hearing his words, Eliza walked up to him and grabbed the sides of his face, her fingers hovering over his ears as she asked.


    "Do tell me why you would inform us of this n to travel to another country on the day before we are supposed to make this trip?"


    "Because it wasn''t nned.


    Originally, I wanted us to go next week, but after looking at the morning paper today and seeing the headlines talk about the increasing tensions between Wolfen and the GEE, I realised we have to get there fast."


    Before Eliza could even ask for further rification, a third voice rang out, with a question being posed to Evan.


    "Do you n to interfere in their conflict?"


    Evan turned his gaze to the side and was met with the figures of Kolvar, David and Mya, grabbing Eliza''s hands and removing them from his face as he replied.


    "Yes."


    "Why, though?


    Tensions have been high since 1048 and from the looks of things, they might actually break out into war soon.


    You''re a GWE Noble, interfering could spark international outrage towards the GWE. It''d look like you guys are bullying Wolfen."


    David was the one who asked the second question which he topped up with a little analysis, and Evan nodded in affirmation to his words.


    "I know that.


    I''m not interfering in my capacity as the Count Bourne, but as the Adventurer/Hero people call ''Irregr Evan''.


    So even if Wolfen and its allies want to try anything, it wouldn''t work.


    And besides, we both know that the ''International Outrage'' would only be the yapping of a few small countries. Not many would jump on a bandwagon that''s guaranteed to put them on the bad side of not just one but two of the Alpha Continent''s Major World Powers."


    After the Beast Kingdom; Tarse, Kasteblum, GEE and the GWE were undisputedly the next strongest countries on the continent, even more so than countries like the Holy Kingdom and the Utraria Republic.


    So, there were very few countries that would want to be seen in a bad light by any of these four Behemoths.


    The country that had an incident with the train sabotage in Decemberst year; Scieque, nearly crumbled under the pressure from Tarse.


    "Wolfen''s rtionships with some countries are also quite strained due to the current situation, much less when things evolve into full-blown war."


    David couldn''t help but agree with part of Evan''s statements, as he had also been studying the conflict and had noticed this as well.


    But despite agreeing, he still wasn''t enlightened on why Evan wanted to interfere, and when he asked this, Evan sighed with light exasperation.


    "To be honest, I don''t want to.


    I mean, with the impending threat of the Demons, Aidos is going to need every able-bodied man it can get. A war would reduce the number of avablebatants.


    Unfortunately, it is unavoidable as Wolfen''s leaders aren''t budging with their decisions."


    Evan pulled out three papers from his inventory and passed them to David who looked their contents over.


    Each one was an official request to Wolfen to be granted ess to one of the ''Restricted Areas'' on the outskirts of the country''s capital, A.


    However, each one was stamped with a big fat ''REJECTED'', along with the official seal of Wolfen''s Presidency.


    "I sent those requests with your father''s help, and despite knowing this, they still rejected them.


    These rejections would be my ''justification'' for interference.


    I have something I need to get from Wolfen, but they did not ept my request for permission. At the same time, the GEE just so happens to be after the same thing, why not join up with them and get what I want?


    Simple as that."


    This then raised the question of what exactly it was that Evan wanted, as all those present besides Pride were very clueless.


    "What is this thing you want?"


    David voiced out the question on behalf of all those present as he folded the request letters, but Evan''s expression upon hearing the question was not what he expected.


    "Really, Dude?


    You of all people? You''re asking me this?"


    "What? I''m curious."


    "��"


    Seeing that David still didn''t understand what he was hinting at, Evan facepalmed before raising his hand and creating a projection of a map with light magic.


    It was a map everyone present recognized as that of the Alpha Continent.

 Chapter 640 Reasons for Interfering

    Chapter 640 Reasons for Interfering


    ??Raising his other hand, Evan generated another map of the same Landmass, but no non-hero present recognized any of the nations on it.


    Except for the two Deadly Sin Siblings present, that is.


    "That''s a map of this continent from the war period."


    Greed spoke up when he saw this, and knowing the high demon had been sealed for a thousand years, everyone instantly figured out the ''War'' he was talking about was the one from their history books.


    As for David, the boy was looking at the position Evan had highlighted on the map, wondering why it seemed so familiar to him.


    ''Perhaps��?''


    Just as he had the idea to peruse the ''Extra Memories'' in his head, Evan moved the two maps over each other and his eyes widened with realisation.


    The spot Evan Marked on the thousand-year-old map, ovepped with the spot where Wolfen''s Capital city of A was on the current map.


    At that moment, it all clicked in David''s head.


    "Vale de��"


    "Finally!"


    Evan eximed and dismissed the maps as David had understood why he wanted to go to Wolfen in the first ce.


    As for Greed, the Demon''s eyes also widened with realisation when he heard the name Evan spoke, and he quickly figured out the boy''s aim.


    "First that other girl in the GWE got Venus, and you decided to copy here and acquire the Vale de, huh?"


    The ''other girl'' was naturally the Fourth Hero Laurene, and this served to inform David that she was in possession of her predecessors'' Magic Catalyst.


    "How did she��?"


    "It was in the Eris Duchy��wasn''t too hard for her."


    Evan replied curtly, intending to end the talk there, but Eliza cut in and had him exin things more to the less informed people present.


    "Vale de is the weapon of An Maddox."


    With that line, Kolvar and Mya fully understood why the boy nned to dip his hands into the Wolfen-GEE conflict.


    The Weapon of one of the Heroes of Legend was definitely going to be powerful, after all.


    "That''s also not the only reason though.


    In the same location where the Vale de is stored, are records that were supposedly ''lost to time''."


    Pointing at all the indigens of Aidos present he continued.


    "Missing pieces of your World''s History."


    "Missing Pieces of our History?"


    When Mya echoed his words, Evan nodded while holding up his fingers and began counting.


    "The Complete Records of the War of a Thousand Years Ago,


    Full information about the seal on the Dark Continent''s Dimensional Rift,


    Numerous details on Demon Race Physiology, Traits, Breeds and their weaknesses,


    Information about the Demon World and its Interster Empire,


    Records about the events that happened in the decades right after the Dimensional Rift was sealed,


    Records about the Formation of the ''Demonic Hand'' and its original executives.


    That ce is filled with so much stuff like that."


    Each of the things he listed out were all vital pieces of information that the people of Aidos really needed to know.


    For someone like Mya who didn''t know as much as David and Kolvar did, the fact that the Demon World had an ''Interster Empire'' was news for her.


    But when Evan said all of this, a question then popped up in Eliza''s head and she did not hesitate to ask it out loud.


    "If all of this is in Wolfen, and It''s in a ce that the Government of Wolfen is aware of, then howe they haven''t gotten their hands on it yet?"


    Her answer came in two parts; the first was from Evan.


    "Oh, they tried. It''s just that theycked information.


    They didn''t know about the conditions to unlock the ce where all of this information was stored��"


    The second part of the answer came from the other Hero present.


    "��and I''m guessing they didn''t know how much of a bastard An Maddox could be."


    Hearing the boy''s words, Evan knew that the older teen had pieced things together already.


    "The Explosion of Year 995.


    A supposed ''Terrorist Attack'' on the capital of Wolfen��"


    This was something that happened way before he was born, but he had learnt about it during his History lessons.


    "If that''s really the location, then what happened in Wolfen that year wasn''t a Terrorist attack of any sort. Now I understand why Wolfen doesn''t want you or the GEE getting close ess there


    They''re scared of a reurrence."


    While the boy wasing to conclusions by himself, his sister was still very much clueless.


    "Can you exin things in a way other non-Heroes can understand?"


    In response to her question, David sighed and uttered one very ridiculous-sounding line.


    "Wolfen seeded in breaking into An Maddox''s house��and they paid the price."


    Mya''s eyes widened in shock when she heard his words.


    The ''Restricted Area'' Evan asked for ess into was a Barren Wastnd situated right outside Wolfen''s Capital, and it spanned a few kilometres in area.


    Said Restricted Area, was where one of An Maddox''s residences was situated, and given the fact that he kept the Vale de there, it was a very important one.


    The Security for such a ce was naturally ''Top Notch'', even by An''s standards.


    "Wolfen''s government had a team of researchers, and archaeologists, apanied by their Military and Three of the Country''s few Epic Level existences to investigate the ruins in Year 995.


    They seeded in breaking into the ce, at the cost of their lives."


    Kolvar who had been silent all this while finally spoke up, sighing deeply as he thought of the friend he lost in that explosion.


    "Three Epic Levels died�� and that was just the front gate''s security.


    If they seed in breaking into the Base itself��Wolfen as a country would cease to exist.


    If I do not participate in the GEE''s invasion of Wolfen, it''s not going to end well for both Wolfen and the GEE."


    Evan added to his words, informing them all of his true reasoning for interfering in the GEE-Wolfen conflict.


    Besides, getting the Vale de, that is.


    "Come to think of it, someone did say I should learn to use a hammer? Or was it an Axe? Unfortunately, my ss has ''Sword'' in it so I''d stick to that��and my fists."


    The boy uttered that statement randomly before shrugging and turning back to Eliza to answer her first question.


    "In light of the current situation, I need to have my business here done quickly so we can start moving. Lacertilia wasn''t the only reason I came here, after all."


    Now this was news to even Pride who knew the most about his ns for the year, and she couldn''t help but ask what this other reason foring to the Beast Kingdom was.


    "Why don''t you alle with me to find out?"


    Surprisingly, Kolvar was the first to agree with the boy''s sudden proposal, much to the surprise of his children.


    "Really? That''s good.


    Getting there would be a lot easier with you around. I''d like to ce an order for one spatial gate please."


    Though Kolvar was wondering how the boy knew he was capable of Spatial Gate creation, he didn''tment about that and instead informed him of the limitations.


    "I don''t have the best affinity for the spatial attribute so my spatial gates are ''Brute forced'' with spatialws and don''t go too far."


    "Yeah, but our destination isn''t ''too far''."


    Evan pulled up the system interface and navigated to the archive, pulling out a string of spatial coordinates and rying them to Kolvar.


    When read on a map, it was about 400 kilometres south of their current location.


    Seeing this, Kolvar turned towards Evan who silently looked away while saying it was ''just'' five cities over.


    "Normally it should be 270 kilometres out, but since we''re currently in the centre of the capital, we have an extra 130 kilometres to traverse."


    "Do you know how much energy is required to create a spatial gate that can span that distance?"


    "Not even the slightest clue."


    The boy confidently answered Kolvar''s question like it was something to be proud of, making the Beast King sigh as he coated his arm with spatial magic power.


    He then swung it in the air and created a w-shaped tear in space, however, Evan couldn''t help but notice that the time it took for the tear to open up wide enough for a person to pass was quite ''long''.


    ''Guess it''s not something that could be used to escape in the middle of a battle, huh?


    The amount of time the gate needs to form is far too ''long'' for someone with power that''d require the user to even run in the first ce.''


    Only adept spatial maniptors, the kind who had high-level Attunements in the element could create gates fast enough to be of any use in such a situation.


    People like Vaeri and her contractor.


    They could also create gates that would lead to much longer distances, this one that Kolvar created that had a 50km distance limit.


    ''Long activation time and a distance limit.


    I guess these are the banes forcking affinity with thew in question.''

 Chapter 641 Dungeon City Grimsgil

    <h4>Chapter 641 Dungeon City Grimsgil</h4>


    ?''Long activation time and a distance limit.


    I guess these are the banes forcking affinity with thew in question.''


    Such were Evan''s thoughts as he watched Kolvar spread out his aura across the entire 400km distance they needed to travel, infusing a tiny bit of his consciousness to mark spots where he would stopover.


    After that, he then stepped into the gate with Evan and the rest following him not long after.


    When they emerged on the other side, however, Evan couldn''t help but notice their group had a few more additions in the form of Kara, Dandeyr and Sh, as well as some others who were hiding in the shadows.


    He wasn''t surprised about the shadow guards though, expecting that David, Mya and Kara would have such guards following them at all times.


    It was simr to Laurene and her maids who also happened to be her bodyguards as well.


    Kolvar didn''t mind the extra additions, quickly creating the next spatial gate which they used to shorten another fifty kilometres of distance.


    Despite the cons, the Spatial Gates still had a lot of pros as they turned a trip that would have taken an hour and a half using a bullet train, to a ten-minute one.


    Of course, Evan and the others present were all strong and fast enough to run such a distance in less than 30 minutes, but that''de at the cost of expending their stamina.


    Anyway, they arrived at the marked coordinates,nding right a bit of a distance from the entrance to a dungeon in a Dungeon City called Grimsgil.


    The group''s appearance would have naturally caused quite a stir because of their identities, however, to their surprise, the adventurers and mercenaries moved around causally without sparing them a nce.


    It was as if their existence didn''t register in adventurers'' perceptions.


    As for the reason why, it didn''t take them long to figure it out as they saw Evan confidently making his way towards the Dungeon''s entrance while weaving through the sea of people.


    "This��it''s just like that dragon��"


    Pride spoke up, noting this phenomenon to be simr to an ability of the dragon they recently fought, and Evan affirmed her words with his reply.


    "I did devour said dragon''s heart, so��"


    He indirectly confirmed that he gained some of Faldo''s skills; like the one he was currently using: Lethe.


    As they entered the dungeon, Eliza questioned what exactly it was that they were to be doing in the dungeon, but Evan only gave strange cryptic answers without letting her know the real reason.


    Eliza sent a cursory nce at David but the lion beastman only shook his head, signifying that even he wasn''t aware of why Evan brought them over.


    He scanned through his memories but there was nothing about Grmsgil or the location that stood out in his memories.


    "Just say it already."


    "That''d ruin the sur-?"


    Evan''s words stopped midway and in that same moment, a monster that was sneaking up on him was suddenly impaled by a spear of golden light.


    Sensing it wasn''t dead, the boy nced at it from the corner of his eyes, and immediately, five more golden ice spears skewered the monster''s body from all directions.


    Naturally, it was as dead as could be.


    Now then, leaving aside how none of them noticed him deactivating Lehte, they were sure that the boy had just used a skill, yet none of them sensed a skill activation.


    This was a bit surprising as they wondered just what kind of concealment he possessed, while David and the two Deadly Sin siblings were calm as if they already knew of this beforehand.


    Noticing this, Kolvar quickly guessed it was in rtion to the boy''s Hero abilities.


    "As I was saying, it''d ruin the surprise if I told you."


    They continued making their way through the first floor with Evan taking the lead, checking the markings on the pirs they came across and inspecting the ground as if he was mapping their location.


    Eventually, they arrived at a small clearing, with a monster immediately jumping out of the shadows and straight towards Eliza.


    The girl didn''t even bother activating a skill, intending to smack it away with her bare hands, but Mya''s voice rang out a moment before she could do that.


    "I would not advise you to do that."


    Eliza didn''t know why, but she trusted the woman''s words and pulled back her hand, leaning her body backwards to avoid the monster''s lunge.


    She then created a spear of green ice and threw it right into the back of the monster''s head, killing it in a single strike before asking the reason for Mya''s earlier words.


    Her answer, however, came from Kara who had quite a displeased look on her face.


    "The monsters of this dungeon inflict very nasty debuffs.


    Upon direct contact, there''s a 50% chance for you to temporarily lose any one of your skills. Even Unique Skills are no exception."


    "Wait��what?"


    "It''s exactly as she says.


    If it wasn''t for Lacertilia''s dungeons, then this would have been the most difficult In the country."


    Mya concurred with her sister''s words, a grave expression on her face as she spoke. From the way the two sisters reacted, one didn''t need to be a genius to know they''d had bad experiences here in the past.


    "All the monsters in the dungeon, even the weakest level 50 monster can inflict this ''Skill Sealing'' debuff.


    This ce is very disadvantageous for those who fight with their fists as this Dungeon is one where you need to have as little contact with the monsters as physically possible."


    "That''s how things are on a normal floor, it gets worse the deeper you go though.


    Upon entering every ''Even'' Boss room, you randomly have one of your skills sealed, regardless of whether you touched a monster on the floor or not.


    Regardless of if it''s a Series skill or not."


    Hearing more about this dungeon, Eliza silently created a barrier around the group to protect them from the monkey-


    type monsters that were jumping about.


    Each floor of the dungeon had a Floor Boss, and every even floor (2,4,6,8), one lost ess to a random skill in their arsenal.


    "If you''re unlucky, you could lose all your skills��"


    "It''s only temporary, you know?"


    Evan felt he needed to remind Eliza about the temporal nature of this Skill Sealing when he saw the way she reacted to the information.


    "Depending on how many skills you lose, it takes somewhere around a few minutes to some days for you to get them back."


    Mya chipped in, clearly speaking from personal experience before David asked her what floor she reached.


    "I stopped at 50. The me at the time could not go any further without my skills."


    At that time, Mya had already lost ess to all her skills and had to rely on only herbat techniques to progress in the dungeon.


    Floor 50, however, was where she drew the line and returned to the surface.


    But this gave another reason why the dungeon was considered very difficult. Unless one had more than 25 skills like Evan, they would have lost ess to all their skills by the time they reached Floor 50.


    This was the Dungeon''s true challenge; exploring and clearing the floors with just one''sbat techniques and magic alone.


    The number of people willing to fight level 300 monsters without their skills was far and between whenpared to the gross adventurer poption.


    Evan pulled up the system archive and checked the dungeon''s information, seeing a description of the dungeon and an exnation of the ''Skill Sealing Effect''.


    Skills all had runes in the souls of their users, so taking away one''s skill without causing them soul damage was something that was quite impossible 99% of the time.

 Chapter 642 Taking the Dungeon Elevator

    Chapter 642 Taking the Dungeon Elevator


    ??Hence, the theories that once popped up about the dungeon ''taking away'' skills were quickly debunked, even more so when the people who ''lost'' their skills regained them some dayster.


    Thus, it was determined that through some means that had not been uncovered to date, Grimsgil''s Dungeon ''Sealed Away'' skills of its explorers/challengers.


    From what Evan read in the Archive, each monster in the dungeon contained within their bodies, a strange type of energy that was imperceptible to most beings.


    This energy was also omnipresent in the dungeon, and it permeated into the user''s body right from the instant they entered the dungeon.


    When the monsters of the dungeon came into contact with a dungeon explorer, they injected more of this energy into the explorer''s body.


    This energy used the link between the body and the soul to reach the explorer''s soul and cloud over a random skill rune there, temporarily restricting the flow of power from these skills to the body and preventing the skill wielder from utilizing them.


    Depending on the size of the skill rune and the strength of the monster, this energy may or may not be enough to seal a skill, hence the 50% chance.


    As for why there was a Skill Sealing Guarantee every two floors; that was because the amount of the dungeon''s ambient energy that would have umted in the explorer''s body would be enough to seal a skill.


    On a side note, most people didn''t really lose unique skills until they got to deeper floors, since Unique skills hadrger runes and needed more energy to umte


    ''That was a lot of information.''


    Such a thought crossed Evan''s mind as he closed the archive while skewering another monkey-type monster that wanted to jump onto his face.


    ''Really Nice skill I got here��''


    |Elemental Skewer;


    Type: Rare Active Skill


    Effect; Summons spears of light from a surface to impale enemies within a certain radius around the user, and inflict elemental damage on them.


    The AOE is determined by how much energy is infused upon the skill''s activation, and the element of damage is dependent on the attribute of the energy infused.


    Impaled enemies can be mmed to the ground to deal extra damage. |


    The skill did exactly what its name dictated, it skewered its target to death, without mercy, as well.


    "So, why are we in this messed up dungeon, Evan?"


    Once again, Eliza questioned Evan, but this time, the boy gave a less cryptic answer.


    "Our first destination is on the second floor."


    "The one where we have to lose a skill?"


    "Yeah, that one."


    As Evan replied to Eliza, he crouched down to the ground and traced the tracks on the floor, looking at the walls and thenparing them to his map which the others did not see.


    "Alright everyone, follow me. We''re taking the shortest route down."


    "Huh? How did you know the ro-"


    **BOOOMM!!!


    Kara''s question was cut short by the sonic boom that followed, with Evan zooming off into the distance and leaving them behind.


    "Just follow him."


    Eliza spoke to Kara while patting the older woman''s shoulder, before kicking off the ground and dashing off in the direction she sensed Evan''s aura.


    Like so, the group followed him and not long after, they arrived at the location of the Floor 1 Boss monster.


    Upon entering the room and having the door shut behind them, the Boss Monster revealed itself to the group.


    "Level 125? Would you look at that?


    Funny, that was Xakon''s exact level. TO think I nearly died fighting against something like this once.


    Oh, how the times have changed."


    "GROARR!!!"


    The monster let out a roar as if trying to intimidate them but Evan just chuckled and waved his hand from right to left.


    Following his gesture, a beam of golden icy light surged from a portal that appeared beside the boss, erasing the monster''s body from existence, and leaving only a pair of frozen feet behind.


    Inferior Masters had durabilites which could withstand strikes capable of levelling an area of over 25 acres, and Evan''s casual attack that didn''t even dent his energy reserves could vaporize such a monster.


    This once again made Evan realise just how strong he had be.


    "Onto the next floor!"


    He didn''t spend too long reminiscing, quickly moving down the stairs to the next floor while the rest followed him behind.


    Just like floor 1, they blitzed floor 2 with ease while following Evan and arrived at the Boss Room pretty easily.


    As soon as they entered the second-floor Boss Room, they felt a stinging sensation on their bodies, and without even needing to open their statuses, they knew that one of their skills had been greyed out.


    Even Kolvar was no exception to this.


    "Huh?"


    David let out a voice of surprise as his status looked the same as ever even after the Boss Room doors closed, and hearing this, Evan asked with a wry smile.


    "You didn''t lose a skill, did you?"


    "Yeah. I did not."


    Now this brought expressions of surprise to the faces of all those present, but Evan only chuckled lightly while turning towards the two Deadly Sin Siblings.


    "I didn''t lose anything as well. What about you, sister?"


    "No, Nothing."


    Though Pride was speaking to Greed, her gaze was on Evan who was whistling suspiciously as he walked towards the Boss Room.


    ''As expected, she has already figured it out.''


    Indeed, Pride was the only one who had now discerned the reason why Evan brought them to this Dungeon.


    He skewered the Boss Monster''s existence, not getting any experience due to the level difference, before sweeping the monster''s corpse away with Thunder p.


    After this, he walked up to where the monster had spawned and tapped the ground with his hand.


    "There it is��"


    Evan''s mystic eyes glowed brightly as he mmed his palm onto the ground and called out.


    "Hero Authority: Activate."


    The entire boss room began trembling heavily, and the light of magic power manifested beneath their feet. Even Kolvar and Dandeyr were stunned as they had not detected any magic circle inside this room, much less one right under them.


    As Evan activated thisrge magic circle, the elevated tform where he stood seemed to dip below the ground level.


    "What is this��?"


    "An Elevator."


    Evan replied to Eliza''s question calmly, but before he could give a follow-up, Pride posed another question.


    "An Elevator leading to where?"


    "The Basement.


    Now then, minding along?


    It''s safe, if I might add."


    He gestured to the others who were still looking around suspiciously, while David took a moment to study the magic circle at their feet. He didn''t bother deactivating his eyes as if this magic circle was created by who he thought it was, there was nothing the current him could do about it.


    "Was it An?"


    "Who else? It was all him. That''s why ''No One Else'' knows about this."


    The Lion Beastman nodded before dragging his two sisters towards the ''Elevator''. When everyone else had arrived, Evan tapped the floor and their descent to the bottom of the dungeon began.


    It was a short trip thatsted barely a minute despite the depths it took them, and they exited the elevator and emerged in what appeared to be one of the rest areas before a Floor Boss.


    "What part of the Dungeon are we?"


    "Floor 100."

 Chapter 643 Mirror Maze

    Chapter 643 Mirror Maze


    ??Evan calmly informed them that they were at the bottom of the dungeon, but before they could ask how they hadn''t lost any other skills, he continued.


    "The Dungeon Effect that seals skill every 2 floors only activates when ''the Boss Room Door Closes with you in it''.


    Since we did not go through any of that, only the effect from the second-floor stays."


    The boy drank a potion to replenish the energy he lost in activating the Elevator that helped them bypass all the dungeon''s floors, before walking towards the massive set of double doors in front of them and cing his hands on them.


    "Before we enter, I need to ask some things of you guys."


    Turning to Eliza, he started.


    "No matter what happens, do not use Lifeforce Sensing inside the Boss Room, okay?"


    The teenage blonde gave him a questioning look but Evan just said to trust her on it and she eventually agreed.


    He then turned to the others and using appraisal, inspected their skills and asked them not to use one particr skill out of their arsenal. All except for Kolvar.


    "David, do me a favour and deactivate your Mystic Eyes.


    I don''t want you to die without even realising how."


    Before David could even question how that could happen with Kolvar here, Evan followed up.


    "Your father would not realise it too."


    Now this had Kolvar very curious about whaty behind the Boss Room doors.


    He had explored this dungeon normally in the past and had defeated a normal Final Boss Monster; a giant Three-Headed and Three-Tailed Wolf that liked summoning smaller two-tailed versions of itself.


    Leaving aside how the man took on a Raid Boss all on his own, he had heard that the boss of the dungeon was never the same, so he challenged it again and the second time he fought a Cockatrice that nearly turned his left arm to stone.


    But from the way Evan was acting;


    ''It''s as if he knows exactly what Boss monster would be inside and is taking precautions. I don''t understand him asking them not to use skills, though.


    He also didn''t say that to me as well.''


    The man silently wrapped his aura around his children, as they entered the doors opened to reveal a dark, gloomy-looking tunnel.


    Evan entered first with Eliza and the Deadly Sin Siblings following right after.


    However, the instant the two Siblings stepped foot inside the Boss Room, their expressions instantly changed into one of shock.


    "This feeling��!"


    "As I thought."


    Noticing their reactions, Evan barely held in hisughter as he spread his arms out and spoke.


    "I don''t think I mentioned it earlier, did I? The name of this dungeon."


    The Hero turned around with a mischievous grin on his face, his Mystic Eyes shining brightly as he continued.


    "The Depths of Nature''s Jealousy."


    It was an apt name for a Dungeon that deprived its challengers of their skills. The Story behind it was that an Ancient Spirit was jealous of the ''Skills'' people had which were far better than his and created this dungeon to deprive them of these skills.


    Since spirits were beings closely rted to nature, it was said that the Spirit had been used as a means to express the Jealousy of Nature itself.


    But to Evan, Pride, Greed, and now David, that whole lore was just bullshit.


    When they emerged on the other end of the tunnel, they were met with a very ''bright'' room.


    The boss room resembled a dazzling maze of mirrors, with luminescent pearls strewn across the floors and ceilings.


    Reflections danced on every surface, creating an intricate web of images that captured every move in a mesmerizing disy of light.


    The abundance of mirrors added an extrayer ofplexity, offering a surreal experience where every step was apanied by countless reflections, turning the room into a radiant and disorienting spectacle.


    "Damn, ''Third'' would have a field day in this ce."


    "Tell me about it."


    Evan and David joked to one another as they moved in through the maze of mirrors, but it only took them a few seconds to notice that the number of people behind them had reduced.


    "Huh? Where''s the Margravine? And Uncle Dandeyr?"


    "Liz is also missing too."


    They could still see the reflections of the people on the Mirrors on both sides, but they could not see said people when they turned around.


    From the reactions that Eliza, Sh and Dandeyr had in their reflections, it could be seen that this was the case for them as well.


    "Those two siblings are also missing��"


    Kolvar took a few steps back and tried to return to the beginning of the maze, only to notice that it had been covered up by mirrors.


    "This Maze�� its form is changing continuously, but you wouldn''t notice since it''s silent and all the walls have mirrors."


    Looking up, he saw the maze walls extended to the ceiling so there was no hope of jumping or flying.


    "Let''s try to find our way out normally."


    "Evan, don''t you have a map for this like you did for the dungeon?"


    When Kara asked Evan this in response to his suggestion, the boy pointed at Kolvar and replied.


    "You just heard him. It changes form continuously, even as we speak, its form is changing. No number of maps would help with that."


    Like so, they continued down the maze, pretty much walking blindly as any attempts to mark the walls in order to remember their positions were rendered futile since the walls regenerated any damage.


    Evan tried painting them but the paint was absorbed as well.


    "Why do you even have paint in your inventory?"


    "Don''t bother asking because I can''t remember why."


    David only sighed when Evan spoke, but not long after, he heard footsteps approaching them and nced in the direction of the noise.


    He had slowly began to umte energy in his fist, but when he saw it was Eliza who came around, he rxed his tension slightly.


    "Huh? Oh, Evan. Finally found you."


    Eliza exhaled a sigh of relief when she noticed them as well, only to turn around and have her expression transform into one of surprise.


    "Where''s Uncle Dandeyr?"


    "He was with you?"


    "Yeah��but he suddenly vanished-oh."


    She turned to the side and saw Dandeyr''s reflection looking dumbfounded as well, as if surprised that she had suddenly disappeared.


    "This ce is messing with my senses."


    Evan chuckled lightly when he saw her press her hands to her temple, throwing a side nce at her shadow from the corner of his eyes.


    "Somehow our group remains together��"


    When Kolvar pointed it out, Evan reminded the man that the reason was probably because he had his aura wrapped around his three children''s bodies.


    "How does that even work?"


    "Honestly I have no idea."


    Evan shrugged as he replied, before turning to Eliza and asking.


    "Eliza, have you tried Lifeforce Sensing yet? Maybe that could help us get a hang on their general direction."


    "Would that even matter?"


    David asked before Eliza could answer, but Evan once again shrugged as he spoke.


    "Better than nothing."


    "Well, I tried that the moment I noticed we were separated, however, with the way this ce messes with my sense of direction, I somehow found myself getting further away."


    "Too bad then."


    Evan didn''t seem particrly bothered that the Lifeforce Sensing didn''t work, and he turned around once more, sending a side nce at Kolvar who was looking at him with narrowed eyes.


    "Let''s carry on."


    The boy grabbed onto Eliza and pulled her along with him, with David and the others following closely as they once again tried to find their way.


    "Where is the Boss? Is it trapping us in this maze so it can pick at us one by one?"


    Kara''s suggestion sounded usible and the others seemed to agree, but Evan rejected that idea. Naturally, they were curious about why Evan seemed so confident about the answer and Eliza was the one who voiced out the group''s questioning thought.


    "Why are you so sure that''s the case?"

 Chapter 644 Who’s the Impostor?!

    Chapter 644 Who��s the Impostor?!


    ??Despite her question, Evan remained silent and kept on walking forward until they arrived at what appeared to be a T junction.


    Turning around, Evan saw that the corner they had just turned at had vanished and there was now a dead end behind them.


    "This shit''s honestly messed up."


    He pressed his head to his temple and sighed deeply, his exasperation very evident in his gestures.


    "You know, before we entered this room, I asked something of you guys."


    David, Kara, Mya and Eliza all looked at him with questioning gazes, suddenly wondering exactly why he was bringing that up at this point but he continued talking as if he didn''t notice their looks.


    "What I asked of Eliza, was that ''No Matter What'', she should NOT use her Lifeforce Sensing."


    "��"


    Silence pervaded the area after he spoke, and Evan shook his head with a wry smile, before turning towards the blonde beside him.


    The silence persisted for another second, and then suddenly��


    **BOOOOMMM!!!!!


    "?!"


    "The fuck?!"


    "��"


    There was an abrupt eruption of mes, exploding outward with shockwaves that rippled omnidirectionally.


    The entire boss room shook and trembled heavily due to the power behind the explosion, while David, Kara and Mya found themselves nearly being sent flying by the shockwaves.


    Luckily, Kolvar was behind them and he held them in ce with his aura, whilst also protecting them from the explosion.


    The dust and smoke cleared up very quickly, revealing a scene that made David and Mya doubt their eyes.


    Eliza was holding the Memoria, its spear tip engulfed in mes and pointed right towards Evan''s chest as if trying to pierce him.


    Evan''s both hands, trembling lightly, held onto the spear and prevented it from going any further. His arms were engulfed in orange mes that amplified his base power, adding more boosts to his already numerous stat boosts.


    But despite all those stat boosts, his hands were trembling as if he was having a hard time holding back the spear.


    Not to insult the girl, but Eliza simply didn''t have the kind of strength to make Evan struggle so much.


    More importantly;


    "��Eliza can''t use fire."


    Kolvar calmly stated this fact, his face betraying no emotions as he looked at the scene in front of him.


    Despite having a spear threatening to pierce his heart, Evan chuckled lightly and shook his head, looking up at the person trying to stab him as he spoke.


    "Leaving aside the fact that I''m a Hero.


    Leaving aside the fact that I cannot sense Kuro in your shadow.


    What on Aidos made you assume I would not be able to know you aren''t really Eliza?"


    No matter how anyone looked at her, the person in front of Evan was ''Eliza''. From looks to voice to demeanour and even her aura.


    But for Evan, there were so many things wrong.


    When he asked her if she had used her Lifeforce Sensing yet, the real Eliza would not have replied the way she had.


    Heck, her reply wouldn''t even have been a question of why he was asking her that despite having told her not to use it earlier, but something else.


    The real Eliza would have first questioned why Evan had called her ''Eliza'' and not ''Liz'' like usual.


    A thin haze of red light rose up from Evan''s body, signifying the activation of BoD. And with it, came a 300% power boost.


    With this boost, he could have easily pushed the spear away, but before he could even do that, its wielder quickly took distance from him.


    Evan chuckled when he said this, before summoning the Unforged and stabbing the de into the ground.


    "Surge Forth."


    By hismand, the waves of destruction essence surged through the ground in all directions, attacking the foundations of the mirror walls surrounding them.


    The sound of ss breaking filled the air as the mirrors shattered into fragments of light before disappearing altogether, revealing the true appearance of the Dungeon''s Boss Room.


    Also revealed by this, were the locations of the remaining members of their group, including Eliza.


    Naturally, the girl was very dumbfounded to see someone who looked exactly like her pointing a spear towards Evan who had BoD active.


    "��what in the seven heavens?"


    "��"


    Naturally, no one had an answer to her question as they were all also confused about what was going on.


    Pride''s reaction, however, was very different from everyone else''s.


    The woman silently stepped forward, walking up to the impostor Eliza with a nk look on her face.


    Mirroring her actions, the Impostor also walked up to Pride, only stopping when the distance between them was barely a metre.


    Silence once again reigned supreme for a moment.


    The next was the loud sound of metal nging.


    **CLANGG!! ***BAAAAMMM!!!!


    Even Mya had a hard time seeing the movements of the Impostor, as the spear was swung so fast it appeared to be a blur.


    Somehow, Pride was able to meet that swing with a swing of her own sword which she summoned in a split second.


    The two engaged in a silent contest of strength, with the ground beneath their feet sumbing to theirbined strength and cratering.


    The lips of the Impostor Eliza slowly curled up into a grin, as she looked up from her sword and at Pride before speaking.


    "You''ve grown weak, Roselia."


    "As have you, Leviah."


    They both clearly looked like they were about to start fighting, but a third party intervened before they could.


    "Now, now dear Ladies. How about you put the weapons down for a bit."


    Greed''s voice rang out as he grabbed both their weapons and pushed them apart with his superior strength.


    He then turned towards the Impostor Eliza whom Pride had called ''Leviah'' and spoke.


    "Also, mind returning to normal? We''re content with just one Eliza, we don''t need another."


    She didn''t reply, instead spinning her spear around and stabbing it into the ground before raising her palms to cover her face for a second. She then slowly moved them upwards towards the top of her head, running them down her hair.


    Where her hands passed, her hair underwent a transformation, changing from the blonde that mirrored Eliza''s to ck with crimson-red highlights.


    When she looked up, Leviah''s transformed face was also revealed.


    She had a different kind of beauty from Eliza''s, boasting sharp well-defined facial features,plemented by captivating crimson eyes that harmonized wlessly with her overall allure.


    "You''re no different than before, Nadarus."


    "No different? Do you not see how ''poor'' I look?"


    Leviah eyed Greed from head to toe in silence, before nodding to herself as she spoke.


    "Yep, No difference."


    She ignored the man''s whining about not being able to wake up in his bed of ''tinum coins anymore'' and unearthed her spear.


    Just like she had, the spear also underwent a subtle transformation. While it still retained its overall dark colour, its tip had a few curved dark red lines on it.


    "Alright."


    *CLAP!!


    Evan mmed his palms together and created a very loud noise that sounded less like a p and more like that of the sound barrier breaking.


    Naturally, this attracted everyone''s attention towards him and he smiled before walking towards the red-eyed trio.


    His BoD was deactivated and he returned the Unforged to his inventory as he spoke.


    "Wonderful Day we have here, don''t you think? Miss ''Dungeon Master''."


    Evan addressed Leviah with this title, and this made Pride and Greed look towards her with brows raised in question.


    Leviah on the other hand, barely restrained herself from attempting to use her spear and gouge out Evan''s eyes.


    Couldn''t me her, considering that thest time she saw someone with those exact same eyes, she was sealed into the spear in her hands.


    When David saw her appearance and the weapon she held, he understood why Evan had told him to deactivate his Mystic Eyes.


    He recognized who she was, after all.


    Like Pride (Roselia) and Greed (Nadarus), she (Leviah) was also a High Demon from Gozon.


    Of the Seven Deadly Sins, she represented the resentful longing for another''s possessions.


    Envy.

 Chapter 645 Copycat, meet Thief

    Chapter 645 Copycat, meet Thief


    ??"Roselia, Nadarus, Leviah.


    Those are much, much better names than Pride, Greed, and Envy."


    Somehow, despite the fact that Evan was a Hero, Leviah couldn''t help but agree with his statement.


    "I spent nearly a decade thinking about it once and I couldn''t understand why you lot prefer using those names.


    I for one, prefer using the name my mother gave me, rather than one that was added to my name after I awakened to my unique skill."


    Clearly, Leviah preferred her normal name to her Sin Name.


    "Did you get dumber than you already were over the past thousand years? I could have sworn I had told you exactly 57 times, that the reason was because of Alvey''s damned brat and hisckeys who wanted to control us using our True names."


    Leaving her not-so-subtle diss of Leviah aside, Pride wasn''t just talking about their actual names, Roselia, Nadarus and so on.


    She meant the ''Full'' names, which whenbined formed their true names.


    Just like how ''Evan'', was shortened from ''Evankhell'', and ''Eliza'' was shortened from ''Elizabe''. ''Roselia'' had an extra part that even her siblings didn''t know about, as she didn''t know about the extra parts attacked to ''Nadarus'' and ''Leviah''.


    The current Demon King, Ginaroad Sargon, had attempted to discover what this ''Extra'' was in an attempt to use his Unique Skill to exert control over them.


    Pride had discovered this beforehand and had made the rest stick to their Sin Names so he wouldn''t even know what their names were originally.


    She even went as far as to use a Soul Binding Contract on the Lesser Demon General who had taken them in when they were younger, preventing him from speaking of their names.


    The number of people rted to Gozon who knew Pride''s real first name was actually Roselia was enough for her to count on one finger, Vaeri and Alvey included.


    "There was also that time we attacked that world with the Angels in it. They had this ''Book of Life'' thingy that made it so that once our names were written in it, every time we fought an angel in that world, more and more of our True Names would be revealed until they eventually had ourplete true names."


    Greed chipped in after, speaking of an artifact that was created by the joint effort of the Progenitor of the Angel and the Demon yer races in order to deal with the Demons.


    "With the power of the Book of Life coupled with our True Names, they could have done pretty much anything from banishing us from that world and preventing us from being able to enter there through any means whatsoever to erasing us from existence."


    Leviah wasn''t even listening to Greed''s little Trivia, she was instead ring at Pride who had just dissed her not too long ago.


    "What? You were already dumb and it seems you got even more retarded over the past thousand years."


    And Pride just had to fan the mes of her anger.


    "Alright, that''s it."


    Leviah tightened her hold on her spear and without hesitation, engulfed It in her dark red aura and swung it straight towards Pride''s neck.


    The other high demon reacted immediately, summoning her own sword and coating it in ck mes, before raising it to block Leviah''s sh.


    Simultaneously, awork of magic power formed around her feet and Evan recognized it as the same one she had created earlier in the day.


    From the fact that Pride was actually considering activating her Bounded Field, it was clear she was really intending to go all out on Leviah.


    "Oy! Hold Up!!"


    "Girl, chill!!"


    Evan and Greed quickly pushed them away from each other, with Evan holding back his contractor while Greed held Leviah back.


    "This is one thing I honestly did NOT miss with the both of you."


    Greed couldn''t help butment as he used his idiosyncrasy to draw strength from Kolvar to hold Leviah back.


    "Are they always like this?"


    "Pretty much."


    He replied to Evan''s question and the young hero couldn''t help but sigh as he alternated his gaze between the two sisters.


    While Pride remained silent, Leviah on the other hand, didn''t seem to like the look he was giving her.


    "What are you looking at?"


    "You. I mean, who else is in my direct line of sight?"


    "Turn your eyes elsewhere or I''d gouge them out. I don''t care even if you''re Roselia''s contractor."


    Now Leviah''s words and her hostile demeanour struck a chord in Evan, provoking the boy as he stopped holding Pride and turned to Demon of Envy.


    "Gouge them out? I dare you!"


    Leviah''s killing intent which was originally directed at Pride now switched targets to Evan and in response, the boy activated BoD and red his aura.


    The strength he was sensing from Envy was so much that he couldn''t beat her without it, but with the 300% boost, his fighting chances increased exponentially.


    "Dude! What the fuck?!"


    Greed questioned Evan, wondering how someone who wanted to break up a fight between the two sisters less than a minute ago now wanted to fight one of the said sisters.


    On the spectators'' side, Eliza, Ka and Kuro were also stunned at how quickly Evan got pissed.


    Pride was the only one who seemed to understand the reason why.


    "They say People who are simr don''t get along��guess we''ve got live proof of that."


    As soon as she said that, Leviah and Evan turned towards her with raised brows, pointing at themselves as they echoed the same words.


    ""Who the hell is simr to him/her??!!""


    Upon realising they spoke at the same time, both of them turned towards each other and red at themselves.


    Seeing this, Greed facepalmed with a sigh.


    "Who the heck cares if you guys spoke at the same time?!"


    The man was clearly fed up with this bullshit. Meanwhile, Pride retracted her own aura and unsummoned her sword, before gesturing to Evan and Leviah as she spoke.


    "Copycat, meet Thief."


    The words she used were apt descriptions for the two of them, and once again, her words evoked reactions from both of them.


    ""Who the hell is a copycat/thief??!!""


    Once again, they realised they were speaking at the same time and turned to re at themselves while shouting at the other not to talk when they were talking.


    Everyone else watched this scene with expressions that asked ''What the fuck is going on?'' on their faces.


    Greed was about to interfere and stop them, but Pride silently snapped her fingers and suddenly, Greed could not feel his mouth anymore.


    ''What the?!''


    He turned towards Pride who held up a finger and shushed him, before proceeding to put on a pair of shades and retrieve a bucket of popcorn from her pocket.


    ''Leaving aside why she even has popcorn, how in the hundred billion gxies did ite out of her pocket?!''


    **BOOMMM!!!


    A sudden explosion prompted Greed to pivot on his foot and turn back to where Evan and Leviah were, just in time to see the High Demon raising her spear to block the Hero''s overhead sh.


    ''What happened in the short moment I looked away?!''


    No matter how one looked at it, from the force of their strikes, the two were clearly trying to kill each other.


    Evan didn''t even have his usual attitude and was regarding Leviah with a serious gaze, one which was returned by the Deadly Sin who was clearly wary about his BoD.


    The boy leapt back to gain some distance, holding his sword in a side stance as his eyes glowed lightly, while Leviah held her spear with both hands, pointing the tip right at him.


    A strange silence descended upon them for a second. In the next��


    **BOOMM!!


    ��was the loud noise of the sound barrier being shattered multiple times over, releasing shockwaves that rippled outward and shook the walls of the boss room.


    Evan and Leviah exchanged supersonic strikes with their weapons coated in their crimson gold and dark red auras, sword and spear cutting through the air so fast it appeared to be a blur.


    Both of them weaved and darted around the expansive room, their every move leaving afterimages and craters in the ground behind.


    Arcs of energy trailed behind each swing as Leviah traced intricate patterns, attempting to ensnare Evan but the boy didn''t let himself get caught.


    His sword carved paths through the air, deflecting and parrying with a precision that seemed almost preternatural.


    Time Difference was on overdrive, increasing Evan''s time perception and allowing him to detect Leviah''s ridiculously fast spear strikes.


    Just as he delivered an upward arcing sh to redirect her spear thrust, he pulled his de backwards and activated his pdin skill, bathing his body in a thinyer of white light.


    The boost from the skill granted him an extrayer of power which he used to catch Leviah off guard and deliver a full powered strike to her torso.


    Yet, despite this, she was still able to react on time, her hand tilting her spear downwards into a blocking position to defend against the diagonal sh.

 Chapter 646 Nihilistic Nova

    <h4>Chapter 646 Nihilistic Nova</h4>


    ?Even though Leviah defended herself, the force of his enhanced strike propelled her body backwards with powerful impact, almost sending her flying.


    She stabbed her spear into the ground and forcefully halted her body''s motion, before quickly unearthing it and kicking off the ground, leaving a crater behind as she charged towards him.


    Leviah moved in zig zags as if attempting to confuse him, before pivoting on her foot to garner momentum for a single spear thrust.


    Evan bent his upper body to the side to avoid the spear thrust, before tilting his body clockwise and swinging the Unforged upwards, knocking her spear in the same direction.


    The ground beneath their feet cratered from the shockwaves of the weapon collision, but Evan quickly used a void step to maintain his footing while sending a sword thrust straight towards Leviah''s head.


    She barely dodged the strike at thest moment, but by then, Evan was already moving his body into position for a follow-up.


    The boy pressed on the offensive, pushing Leviah back with just pure sword skills.


    What''s more, the boy lived up to his title as Hero of Mimicry, switching sword styles every now and then, making it so that Leviah didn''t know how to react to his next move.


    He sourced techniques from his predecessor''s memories, used Finley''s techniques, Luke''s and by the time he had pushed Leviah to the boss room walls, he was using Pride''s Origin Sword Style!


    Naturally, Pride was none too pleased about it, with Greed even gloating about her technique being too easy to mimic.


    However, when Evan suddenly raised his de and used elemental weapon projection to coat it in ice and transform it into a Great sword, the smile on his face disappeared.


    "I remember you were saying something about a technique being ''Easy to Mimic''��"


    "��"


    Greed remained silent as he saw Evan actually pull off his ''Covetous de'' style, with the boy''s arms being coated in orange-coloured mes that didn''t seem to be giving off any heat.


    The precise heavy blows were blocked with Leviah''s spear, but each one made her arms tremble slightly.


    The High Demon''s brows narrowed and she clicked her tongue in annoyance as she spun her body around, dodging Evan''s overhead strike while generating momentum for a diagonal sh.


    Evan crouched to dodge it and tried to sweep her off her feet with the de, but his eyes widened in shock when he saw her retract her spear and pierce it downwards.


    ''Skill activation?!''


    The instant the spear tip touched the ice de, it shattered into pieces, and Evan who had been moving it with more strength than usual, lost his footing a bit when the weight of the weapon in his hand abruptly changed.


    Leviah took this chance and kicked the boy in the side, knocking him away before chasing after him with her spear pulled back.


    Just before she could pierce him with a full-powered thrust, the boy disappeared and reappeared behind her, swinging down his de coated in prismatic mes.


    Despite how unexpected this was, Leviah somehow spun around just in time to block the strike, though the resultant force made her legs sink knee-deep into the ground.


    ''That teleportation just now; it was a skill yet I did not sense anything until I felt the surrounding space distort��


    It''s the same power as that other bastard.


    But more importantly��''


    Leviah looked right at Evan who had returned to his base side stance, her eyes narrowing in displeasure as she thought.


    ''Something''s off��he''s too ''calm'' considering why he''s fighting me.''


    For a moment, her pupils darted to the side to look for Pride but in that short moment, Evan suddenly appeared in front of her and swung his de down on her neck.


    ''Tsk��Heavy Body.''


    **BAMMM!!!


    Leviah silently activated a skill while she held her spear up diagonally, blocking Evan''s blow without even moving an inch.


    The boy''s eyes widened ever so slightly, his arms trembling as if had just struck an iron wall, but he knew he didn''t have time to y around as Leviah was already attacking.


    ''Crushing Blow.''


    ''Elemental Shield.''


    Leviah''s spear collided with the half-spherical barrier of light that manifested right beside Evan''s head, and in that same moment, the boy kicked her in the torso,unching her body into the air before following right after her with his sword glowing.


    ''Elemental Skewer.''


    The High Demon flipped in the air and was about tond on the ground, only for her instincts to scream ''DANGER!'' at her.


    She quickly reacted, creating a foothold of ice which she used to jump back into the air, avoiding the spear of crimson gold light that pierced out of the ground where her foot was about tond.


    ''Vindiction''s Strike.''


    As the space beside her suddenly turned dark, her eyes darted to the side and she saw the ck portal rimmed with golden light, charging up a beam of prismatic mes within.


    ''Ethereal Ward. Mirror Shield. Adamantine Fortress.''


    ***BOOMM!!


    The colourful explosion brightened up the Boss Room, the loud noise overshadowing the sound of breaking ss that rang out at the same moment.


    Sparks rained down on the ground below, prompting Kolvar to create a protective barrier to prevent the others from being burned.


    As for Pride, the sparks that fell towards her all changed directions midway and went to Greed instead while she continued watching the spectacle while eating her popcorn.


    Evan was about to charge towards the cloud of smoke in the air, but his danger sense warned him against that.


    ''Burst Cannon. Envy Bolt.''


    A rapid barrage of projectiles rained down on Evan above, forming a never-ending barrage of dark red energy bolts.


    Knowing better than to be hit by them, Evan jumped backwards, stomping his foot on the ground upon hisnding and erecting a massive ten-metre-tall shield of metre-thick ice to block them.


    The projectiles showcased the power they packed, cracking Evan''s reinforced ice and breaking through it within seconds.


    He jumped out of the way, creating multiple shields with Elemental Weapon Projection to block the projectiles as he ran, however, Leviah remained in the air and kept up the barrage, predicting his movement path and firing them with calcted precision.


    Suddenly, the barrage lessened, and Evan looked up to where Leviah was, meeting the scene of the woman holding her spear back with her right hand while her left hand continuously fired more projectiles.


    ''Vorpal Serenade. Inferno Javelin.''


    For a moment, Evan swore he could hear a melody ying in the background, but that sound was quickly overshadowed by that of the sound barrier being shattered by the ming spear that hurtled towards him.


    ''Tsk��Hollow Magic.''


    Evan stopped running and turned around, holding up his palm in the direction of the iing spear as he used a spell he recalled Dominik Vk use in the game.


    "Nihilistic Nova."


    "?!"


    Non-attributed magic power rapidly condensed into an orb in front of his hand and heunched it at her spear, the two of them colliding almost instantly and creating a dazzling explosion of white light.


    The st rippled with chaotic distortions, causing the fabric of space to warp and shift ever so slightly.


    The true nature of the Nihilistic Nova manifested, creating a zone of ''Zero-Energy'' centred around the point of impact.


    It appeared as if the very space itself rejected the presence of these energies, and as a result, the spear which was guided by magic power, lost its power and was sent careening in a random direction.


    The weapon crashed into the boss room wall with a resounding impact and embedded itself into the stone.


    Leviah was momentarily stunned by this, and that short moment was all Evan needed to bring her down from her elevated position.


    *CHINK!


    "?!


    Shi-!"


    ''Evesting Chains!''


    The golden chains wrapped around Leviah''s legs were pulled downwards, with so much force that the woman''s body descended to the ground in a split second and mercilessly mmed down into it.


    Evan wasn''t done yet, pulling on the chains to drag Leviah closer to him in preparation for another attack, but the Deadly Sin Demon held out her hand, causing her spear to unearth itself and fly straight towards his head.


    However, Evan only sent a cursory nce at the spear, using his Harbinger skill to encase it in ayer of ice before pulling on Leviah and flinging her over his shoulder.


    He was about to fling her away once again when she pointed her hand towards him and activated a skill, one that summoned an ethereal avatar of a multi-headed serpent.


    ''Hydra!''


    The dark red serpentine heads all roared loudly as two heads bit on the Evesting Chains while the third snatched Evan up in its jaws.


    Before it could bite down, Evan unleashed a burst of frigid energy, but what encased the hydra-head was not only ice but also his prismatic mes.


    ''I see, Frozen Inferno is the best way to simultaneously use both Mesarthim and Harbinger of Ice without them counteracting each other��''

 Chapter 647 Hydra

    Chapter 647 Hydra


    ??Evan nodded to himself in understanding as he flexed his arms and broke out of the frozen hydra head,nding on the floor just in time to see the other two shatter his chains.


    Holding out a hand to them he used ''Chain Lightning'' before calling his sword back into his arms and unleashing an ''Aura sh'' barrage.


    Evan and Leviah locked eyes for a few moments as they charged towards one another, proceeding to engage in a battle of weapons which Evan quickly lost and was sent flying into the boss room wall.


    ''Inferno Javelin. Pierce Guard.''


    Leviah followed up with two skills and Evan used his Elemental Shield to block, however, the effect of ''Pierce Guard'' was greater than the resistance of his skill, allowing her spear to easily burn through the shield and collide with Evan.


    The boy''s body mmed into the wall with a bang, creating a cloud of dust and smoke that temporarily obscured Leviah''s view of him.


    ''Lethe.''


    By the time Leviah charged into the smoke with her hands coated in lightning, Evan''s figure was nowhere to be seen.


    "��what?"


    Her expression of pure confusion was a sight that made Prideugh but also impressed the woman as even with her link to Evan, she had a hard time discerning his true location.


    As for Leviah, she found out Evan''s true location in the next moment when a giant illusory serpentine dragon head manifested behind her and ensnared her in its jaws.


    "?! Adamantine Fortress!"


    The Serpentine dragon carried her up into the air before nosediving back to the ground and mming her down, self-destructing in that same instant and releasing an explosion of prismatic mes.


    She emerged from the explosion unscathed, her senses finally picking up on Evan''s presence as she looked up to see the boy holding out his arm to her with a grin.


    "Hydra."


    The ground behind him cracked open and three serpentine dragons conjured from golden aura burst out, simultaneously opening their mouths andunching three breaths of prismatic mes.


    "Fucking Copycat!!


    Stout Guardian!"


    Leviah''s demonic energy surged forth and conjured a ten-metre-tall dark red armoured knight wielding a massive great shield a head taller than it was.


    The gargantuan knight took a stance with the shield a moment before the streams of prismatic mes collided with the shield, creating a blinding explosion of vibrant colours.


    The Stout Guardian held its ground, absorbing the brunt of the three-headed draconic assault on behalf of Leviah, however, the overwhelming power proved too much for the knight''s shield to endure.


    In a crescendo of fiery brilliance, the shield shattered into countless fragments of light, dispersing in all directions.


    "��it blocked that? Damn, I want that skill too."


    "Shut up!"


    "Toote!"


    Contrary to Evan''s bullshit, the boy had already long since mimicked the Stout Guardian skill, before he even mimicked the Hydra skill he just used.


    ''Adamantine Might, Amplification, Pration.''


    Leviah dashed towards Evan, sending a ''Dark Storm'' his way to obstruct his charge before switching to another skill.


    ''Cyclone Lance Dance.''


    She initiated a rapid and swirling thrusting technique, creating a cyclone of spear strikes with the intention of overwhelming Evan with speed and precision.


    Of course, this was only going to be the case if Evan was physically present to receive the strikes.


    ''Blink.''


    The boy simply teleported behind her and unleashed a simple diagonal ''Aura sh'', but despite the unpredictability of the attack, Leviah quickly crouched to avoid it.


    She then spun around and delivered a low sweeping sh to Evan''s feet, but the boy easily avoided it with a light hop.


    He created a Void Step and used it as a boost to jump even higher into the air, snapping his fingers and using ''Thunderp''.


    The walls of lightning blocks were a second away from closing on her when Leviah held her spear up horizontally and then stabbed to the left, and right at supersonic speed, shattering the lightning blocks to pieces.


    Evan unfurled his wings to remain airborne, using unleashing consecutive strikes with ''de Cannon'', which Leviah responded to by creating a ''shiny shield''.


    ''Mirror Maniption.''


    The giant Mirror shield released blinding light that obscured Evan''s vision, making the boy reflexively shut his eyes.


    In that same moment, his danger sense sent rms, and working together with Time Difference, he was able to turn around and react to the spear thrust that came from behind.


    ''Begrudging Spear.''


    ''Origin Sword.''


    **CLANGG!!!


    Evan diverted the spear''s trajectory with a downward sh, making it so that it only scratched his arm which had been coated in ''Imperial Scales''.


    At the same time, his de Cannons reached the mirror behind him and shattered it to pieces, with shards of ss sent flying in all directions with explosive force.


    Some Shards even flew high enough that they were on eye level with him, which was exactly why he was able to notice the changes in the shards on time.


    Each one of them released a bright sh of light, which died down after a second to reveal a perfect copy of Leviah.


    "And you call me a copycat?!"


    Seeing her tantly stealing another Hero''s technique�� probably because she had seen it being used multiple times during the war��Evan couldn''t help but twist his lips into a frown.


    His senses caught onto the number of presences behind him, knowing that the same thing had happened there as well.


    All the ''Leviahs'' simultaneously charged towards him with their spears coated in dark red aura, each one unleashing a different spear-rted skill or technique.


    This was something that blew the minds of all those watching, as the fact that these Mirror Clones could use these many skills and techniques, meant that Leviah herself was in possession of all these.


    "And here I thought I''d never see someone with more skills than Evan��"


    Evan pped his wings and ascended towards the Boss Room ceiling, but the ''Leviahs'' followed him closely with their own wings.


    Seeing this, the boy sighed and closed his wings, kicking off a void step and boosting towards the ground.


    ''Hydra.''


    The serpentine dragons emerged and roared, unleashing prismatic me breaths to clear a path for him to the ground, but uponnding, he was met with over a dozen ''Leviahs'' simultaneously attacking him.


    Evan dodged all of their strikes with his pupils darting around for close to three seconds.


    ''Got you.''


    "Mesarthim;


    Red: Burst Wave.


    Orange: mmable Arm."


    Two techniques of his skill were activated, with the first releasing a massive burst of red mes that consumed half of the clones and turned them to ashes, while the second coated his both arms in orange-coloured mes.


    He threw the unforged up in the air and then turned around to generate momentum, catching it andunching the sword through the air like a spear��in Kolvar''s direction.


    The ''Beast King'' silently tilted his head to the side and let the sword of mes pass right by him, but before it could hit the Boss Room door behind him, it collided with ''something''.


    Once again, their ears were graced with the sound of cracking mirrors and the figure of the Sin of Envy was revealed, her brows scrunched up lightly.


    "Tsk��"


    She waved her spear and knocked the Unforged away, but it never hit the ground, instead flying back up through the air and into Evan''s hand.


    "Woman, I''m the Mimicry Incarnate��did you really think you could fool me with ''Mimics'' of yourself?"


    "Shut the fuck up, you cunt."


    "That''s my line, you dumb bitch."

 Chapter 648 Alright, that’s a wrap.

    Chapter 648 Alright, that��s a wrap.


    ??"Shut the fuck up, you cunt."


    "That''s my line, you dumb bitch."


    Evan calmly replied in a manner that somehow ticked Leviah off even more, to the point where Greed stated that Wrath would have a full-course meal if he was present.


    The man looked towards Pride, the one person who delighted in calling Leviah ''Dumb'', with narrowed eyes, before turning back to Evan while nodding to himself.


    ''These two are definitely in on something.''


    When he looked back up, Evan and Leviah were engaged in close-quartersbat, and the Hero''s sword coated in Mesarthim''s mes drew an arc through the air as they went straight for Leviah''s arm.


    **SWISH!!


    "?!"


    Much to his surprise, and that of everyone else present, Evan seeded in cutting her arm off from the point between her wrist and elbow.


    ''The resistance I felt was too little!''


    Evan knew the sensation of cutting off body parts all too well, and what he felt just now was very off from what he was supposed to feel.


    During the ''Seven Deadly Sins Massacre'' in the game, Leviah had a very high base power, unlike Pride and Greed who had to start regaining their power from the Master Level.


    From the get-go, she was an Epic Level existence, and at the time the Disaster urred in the game, it was impossible for the yer to be high levelled enough to defeat her; thus, the NPC who was saddled with that task was ''Beast King'' Kolvar.


    It was a tough fight even for the Transcendent, due to the millions she had killed by the time he arrived and her Idiosyncrasy which activated upon her opponent''s death.


    That same base Leviah was who Evan was fighting, an Inferior Stage Epic level.


    Her ''SS-'' durability was high enough that a small mountain could copse on her and her major concern would be the need to brush the dust off her clothes.


    Evan was only damaging her because of Mesarthim and BoD which made it so he ignored this durability, but even with that, the boy''s sh didn''t pack enough power to cut off her arm.


    The fact that he seeded in doing so, was suspicious as fuck.


    And he was definitely right to be wary.


    "Sacrificial Summoning."


    "Yikes."


    Greed couldn''t help butment as he saw the flesh on Leviah''s lopped-off hand suddenly start bubbling up uncontrobly.


    Evan knew that he should not let whatever she was nning to seed, so he sent a wave of ice to freeze the arm in its tracks, however, Leviah blitzed in and stabbed the ground with her spear, using her ''Frozen Earth'' skill to block his attack.


    **GROOAARRRR!!!!!


    A loud roar boomed out as a massive hulking figure emerged from behind Leviah. Standing at five metres tall, was a bear with a snow-white fire and a mane of fire around its neck.


    Additionally, lightning could be seen coursing along its arms while its eyes seemed to glow a misty blue hue.


    The bear''s mane glowed and it opened its maw, unleashing a stream of fire towards Evan while lightning strikes rained down from above.


    "Mesarthim: Self Immtion."


    The boy calmly activated his skill''s technique in response, and from his calm, Leviah knew that this one bear would not be enough.


    She held up her spear and calmy sliced her arm from her elbow, letting the severed piece fall on the floor and transform into a two-metre-tall brow deer, with antlers glowing red and blue.


    The Crystal Deer charged towards Evan with seemingly reckless abandon, and in response, Evan stomped his foot on the ground and erected a dozen walls of ice in an instant.


    The Crystal Deer''s red antler began glowing and it used the antler''s power to melt through Evan''s ice walls with ease.


    "Fucking hell."


    Evan stretched out his arms and deployed two instances of elemental shield, one that blocked the deer''s antlers while the other one blocked the lightning from above.


    Leviah blitzed in at this moment, her spear already thrusting towards his head as the boy spoke.


    "I don''t need to use my hands to deploy my skill, you know?"


    Certainly, Leviah knew this before he even finished speaking as her spear had collided with a spherical barrier of ice that stopped it in its tracks.


    Evesting chains burst out of the ground and wrapped around the Crystal Deer''s head, a moment before Evan yanked the chains and mmed the monster''s head into the ground.


    He then spun around and unleashed a strike using Pride''s ''Origin Sword Style'', something Leviah could not deal with while missing an arm.


    **BAAMMM!!!


    The woman''s body wasunched through the air with explosive force, mming into the wall of the boss room while Evan returned his focus to the Crystal Deer.


    "G��"


    Before the monster could evenplete a grunt, Evan had already appeared beside it and unleashed a ''Vortex'', shredding the Crystal Deer''s head to pieces of flesh that sttered everywhere.


    ''Let''s release our limits for a bit now��''


    The Energem Reimer on his arm lit up with a glow as he activated ''Limit Break'' and kicked off the ground, dashing towards the Frostfire Thunder Bear, and throwing out a punch with Fracture activated.


    Since one punch didn''t do the trick, the boy unleashed five more in an instant, bashing the bear''s head into a mangled pile of flesh and bones.


    As soon as he did that, Leviah''s spear pierced through the air aiming for his head, but in his Limit Break + BoD state, he could see it very clearly and react even faster than before.


    The Unforged appeared in his hand and he knocked the spear out of the way, spinning around and throwing a kick that knocked its wielder back.


    It was then that he noticed that the bodies of the Crystal Deer and Frostfire Thunder Bear had shrunk down to tiny balls of flesh, which then flew through the air and towards Leviah, reconstituting her arm and reattaching itself.


    However, he could see that some patches of her skin were missing, as if they had been ripped out, and he attributed it to him obliterating the head of the Crystal Deer.


    She flipped over andnded on her feet, coating her spear in her aura before looking right at Evan.


    "You shouldn''t look at me too much, I''d be tempted to be a copycat for real."


    Right after Evan said this, the boy''s figure disappeared, with Leviah''s vanishing the second after.


    There was silence in the room, until the sound of their movements finally rang out.


    **BOOM!!


    Another Sonic boomter, they shed again and had their bodies blown away by the resultant shockwaves, mming into opposite walls of the boss room.


    Both of them quickly removed themselves from the human-


    sized holes they had created on the wall, jumping down onto the ground with their both hands on their weapons.


    Evan used his Elemental Destruction Fusion,yering Crimson ice and Prismatic mes as he rose his sword overhead in preparation to attack.


    Leviah pulled her spear backwards and took a deep breath, engulfing the polearm in her dark red aura as she prepared to use her Unique Skill.


    "��"


    "��"


    Everyone watched with bated breaths, anticipating the result of the final sh between the two of them.


    "Alright, that''s a wrap."


    A Final sh that never came as Evan casually retracted his energy, deactivated all his skills simultaneously and sheathed the Unforged.


    """""""��WHAT THE FUCK?!"""""""

 Chapter 649 Reason for the Fight

    <h4>Chapter 649 Reason for the Fight</h4>


    ?"""""""��WHAT THE FUCK?!"""""""


    While everyone else was wondering why Evan had just suddenly stopped the fight, the two deadly sin siblings had different reactions.


    "Why am I not surprised?"


    Greed shook his head as he spoke, having expected something out-of-pocket to happen ever since the moment when Pride stopped him from breaking up their fight.


    Evan ignored everyone else''s reactions, even Leviah''s, as he teleported right in front of Pride and asked.


    "You got all the data you want?"


    "Yep."


    The two high-fived each other after that short interaction, and this was enough for everyone in the room to realise that the whole fight they just witnessed was a scheme between Evan and Pride.


    "I''ve already developed a few counters for some of them."


    "That so?"


    "Yeah. But that ''Stout Guardian'' is going to be tricky to handle��I don''t have anything that can destroy that thing.


    There''s also the fact that the shield may be regenerative."


    When Pride expressed her concerns, Evan nodded in affirmation, confirming that the shield was indeed regenerative as far as the energy consumed at the skill activation was not used up.


    "Ah, that one."


    He pulled up information from his memories of the game and then proceeded to exin its weaknesses to Pride.


    "This one is weak to ''Piercing Damage''.


    I got ''Pierce Guard'' so It''s not gonna be a problem for me, you need to use something like ''this''��"


    Evan pulled out the Akashic Page and flipped through the grimoire, stopping on a particr spell page as he continued.


    "It''s a Metal Magic Spell."


    "Metal Magic? It''s been a while since I''ve used that."


    Pride held up her hand and began drawing in ambient magic power, quickly conjuring a replica of the spell circle in the book Evan was holding.


    "Hmm��this is going to take me a few tri-Oh, I got it."


    Just like that, Pride learnt the spell and the Tier 2 magic circle appeared in her hands. She read the chant in her mind and after a few tweaks, the spell circle gained an extra ring around it.


    "You did something, didn''t you?"


    She turned her red eyes to Evan who only shrugged and replied.


    "Our contract is a two-way thing. Just as you can influence me with it, so can I do you."


    With that line, Pride understood how she was able to quickly replicate the spell circle in the book.


    "About the Mirror Clones��"


    "Don''t worry about that. No clone of Leviah''s can fool me."


    The High Demon waved off Evan''s concerns, but the boy still pressed the issue.


    "Her ''Mirror Maniption'' can allow her to achieve some sort of bootleg ''Light Maniption'', so you gotta watch out for those bright shes of light."


    "True, that''s quite annoying."


    Looking at the two who were casually conversing with themselves whilst ignoring everyone else around them, Leviah finally understood the ''real'' reason why Evan had fought her.


    ''Fuck, she read me like a book!''


    Seeing her expression of indignation, Pride''s lips curled up into a grin as she spoke.


    "What? Finally figured it out? Took you long enough dumbo."


    Only the Heavens knew why Pride delighted in dissing Leviah. Looking at her, Evan smiled wryly as he confirmed a conjecture he had when they met with Greed in Osto.


    ''With Each one of her siblings she meets, she loosens up a bit.


    Except the side that ''loosened up'' this time seems to be her sadistic side��''


    As for Greed, the man was looking between the two sisters with question marks above his head and seeing this, Pride muttered something about Leviah infecting him with her stupidity before exining.


    "Leviah currently holds more power than me, and there''s no way she''d miss this chance to ''Challenge'' me for my ''Leader'' position.


    With Evan, I was able to discover her current skillset and develop counters for them in the event that happened. She has a few odd techniques, but they''re nothing in the face of my ''Origin Sword'', so that''s not really a problem."


    Due to Evan''s own extensive number of skills, Leviah needed to use a lot of her own to counter him, and that had revealed her hand to Pride who was watching everything closely.


    "I wanted some ''Live Demonstrations'' for my new skills so it checked out for me."


    Evan casually shrugged as he looked at the five new skills he had taken from Leviah throughout the fight, very happy that his eye contact requirement was just 3 seconds.


    Stout Guardian, Hydra, Pierce Guard, Adamantine Might, Burst Cannon.


    "She was someone I had to take seriously, so she was good training for me. My power control has improved."


    As he said that, he held up his hand and infused it with energy, disying a high level of efficiency as there were no fluctuations whatsoever.


    His level of power control was so impable, that not even a single microbe of energy leaked out, with everything perfectly fitting into his arm.


    "This is going to make it easier for me to use ''Self Immtion'' without burning myself."


    Evan spoke as he retracted his energy and returned it to his Dragon Heart, while Pride questioned how he still had so much energy left after the fight.


    "Devouring a Dragon Heart does wonders for your energy recovery speed��you should try it out sometime.


    Preferably after you''ve gotten the ''Iron Stomach'' skill, so when the energy core inevitably explodes in your stomach, it wouldn''t blow you to bits."


    "��I think I''d refrain from that."


    Pride was perfectly fine the way she was and didn''t want things exploding in her stomach. Her reaction was pretty normal as no sane person would want such a thing.


    Just before she could continue speaking, she sensed something ''off'' and quickly jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the spear that sliced down where she was standing a moment ago.


    "Why did you dodge?!"


    "��do you even understand what you just asked me? Who in their sane mind would not avoid being shed with a spear?"


    "You SHOULD not!"


    Leviah was about to charge towards Pride once more when Greed appeared behind her and slipped his arms under her armpit to hold her back.


    "Let me at her! I need to smack her in the head at least once!"


    "Now, now, dear sister. You need to calm down."


    Somehow, Greed was able to calm Leviah down and get her to put away her weapon, before moving her to the other end of the area where the group was standing; as far away from Pride as possible.


    It just so happened to be beside where David was standing and when she looked at him, the woman''s eyes widened in shock.


    "There were two of them?!"


    "Hmm? Oh, yeah. He''s the Fifth."


    "Fifth? The one who likes messing with our spells? Damn."


    Leviah''s face scrunched up when she looked at David, and his two sisters stood in front of him protectively, sending the woman res that told her ''not to get any ideas''.


    She wasn''t crazy though, especially with Kolvar present.


    "Fourth''s in another country, and guess what? She has Venus."


    "��you gotta be fucking kidding me."


    "Oh no, I''m not fucking kidding you sister."


    Leviah sighed deeply when she heard Greed''s reply, her shoulders drooping slightly. Seeing that she was rtively calm now, Greed decided to break the most important part of the news to her.


    "On the bright side, we''re not going to be on the receiving end of those abilities. That''s some good news."


    The woman looked up at Greed when he spoke, and then turned her gaze back to Pride and Evan, clicking her tongue lightly in the process.


    "So, we''re on the same side as the Heroes who stuffed us into our weapons after Alvey''s brat literally backstabbed us?"


    "��"


    Leviah''s casual words were an eyeopener for Dandeyr, Kara, Mya and Sh who were not in the know about the fact that the Seven Deadly Sins were not defeated by the Seven Heroes before their sealing, but betrayed by their own kind.


    The Seven Heroes changed up the ''truths'' to make it seem like they had sealed the Deadly Sins after a tough battle, leaving aside the part where they were beaten ck and blue by the Seven Siblings.


    "For Starters, it was Elder Sister''s idea.


    An''s sessor has some sort of extra deal with Artemisia that pits him against Alvey''s brat and we also need to beat the shit out of Alvey''s brat, so why not join up with him?"


    Greed calmly exined the reasoning behind the decision to join forces with a hero, while Leviah was silently wondering when the man was going to let go of her.


    It was then, that Evan decided to chip in with a little bit of ''spoilers'' for the future.


    "You still gotta defeat your ''Inferiors'' though, just gonna leave that bit of information out there."


    The boy slowly stepped back after speaking, but he didn''t get very far as Pride and Greed shed in beside him and grabbed both his arms.


    "Start talking, now."

 Chapter 650 Leviah’s Envious Plundering

    Chapter 650 Leviah��s Envious Plundering


    ??"Start talking, now."


    "Sadly, I have reached the limits of what I''m allowed to say. I''d rather not be ganged up upon by thews of Time and Causality��those two are a very nasty Combo.


    Last time I messed with Causality, I lost levels."


    Evan rubbed his shoulders lightly and shivered involuntarily as he remembered when he lost some levels after attempting to tell Patricia about his Unique Skill years ago.


    This then dragged up An''s memories that had to do with the man suffering from Causality after breaking some Universal Laws and having his Path to Transcendence interfered with greatly.


    "Both of you should know by now that he''s not going to say anything more."


    Eliza was the one who bailed him from the grip of the two siblings, applying a bit of light healing on him to deal with some scratches that were still on his body due to Leviah''s potent demonic energy.


    She then turned towards Leviah, looking at the older woman in silence for a moment before asking.


    "Mind telling me why you copied my appearance earlier? I''m just curious."


    Leviah found the mere sight of Eliza strangely ''calming'', scrutinizing the girl and quickly discerning the reason to be the ''cool'' sensation her life-attributed aura gave someone.


    "You''re the one who was the closest to him ever since you lot entered this dungeon."


    "You were watching us since we entered the dungeon?"


    "I wasn''t."


    The High Demon lightly tapped her foot on the ground and Dandeyr and Kolvar''s bodies were suddenly coated in a thinyer of dark red light. They were both on guard at first, but then they realised that the light was simply just light; nothing was hidden in it.


    "I happen to be unlucky enough to sense the presence of everything above a certain existence level thates into this Dungeon."


    Pointing to Kolvar, she continued.


    "Even more so if they''ve reached this floor before. I certainly would not forget the energy signature of someone who beat a Level 600 Cockatrice to death with just his right hand while his left hand was half-petrified."


    As she said that, all eyes turned towards Kolvar with gazes that seemed to ask if she was telling the truth.


    "What? I didn''t know it was a Cockatrice so it got my left hand."


    "I''m pretty sure she wasn''t talking about the part where you didn''t know it was a cockatrice."


    Dandeyr facepalmed lightly as he spoke, remembering Kolvar''s younger and ''wilder'' years.


    ''So that''s why he came back with a stone arm that day��''


    While Dandeyr was discovering the answer to his 90-year-old question, Evan spoke up while gesturing to Leviah.


    "Dear Miss Leviah over here can sense that precisely because she''s the Dungeon Master. I''m guessing what made her take further note of us was the part where we went from Floor 2 to Floor 100 in a minute."


    Leviah turned to Evan with a re, and just when Greed was about to move in to stop her in case she wanted to fight, she looked towards Pride and spoke.


    "I think I understand why you dislike having people calling you by your actual name. Hearing him say that irritates me."


    She turned to Evan and told him not to address her as ''Leviah'', but our resident Hero had zero intentions of abiding by her words.


    "Oh no, it''s sticking.


    It''s a Bonus if it annoys you every time I do it."


    Seeing Leviah''s cold re and Evan''s impish grin, Eliza felt that despite their earlier fight being a convoluted plot by Evan and Pride, she felt that Evan truly had an inherent ''dislike'' for Leviah.


    ''Maybe Dislike is too much. It''s kind of like a ''mild annoyance'' or something��''


    In Leviah''s case, it wasn''t ''Evan'' as a person that she hated. She''d only known about the boy''s existence for less than an hour.


    What she hated were his ''Mystic Eyes'', because they once belonged to the person who had sealed her in this Dungeon for centuries.


    ''Pride said something about them being ''Alike''.


    She also called them a ''Copycat'' and a ''Thief''.''


    Eliza had been with Evan long enough to figure out what his Mystic Eyes did, even if he had not explicitly told her, so she knew that he had the ability to ''Copy'' people''s skills.


    ''I don''t know the conditions for it though��''


    When she coupled this up with Pride''s desire to know of Leviah''s ''current skillset'', and her calling Leviah a ''Thief'', it didn''t take her long to figure out what Leviah''s power��her Idiosyncrasy��was.


    While Pride''s ability ''Made the Reality Around Her Seem Like A Lie'', and Greed could ''Absorb People''s Stats as If They Were His Own from The Start'', Leviah''s ability allowed her to ''Plunder People''s Skills and Techniques Because They Should Have Been Hers''.


    Envious Plundering.


    She was the reason why the ''Depths of Nature''s Jealously'' was the way it was, and not because of some random Ancient Spirit.


    In the same way that Pride''s influence had caused the ''Graveyard of the Arrogant'' to grant challengers the ''Arrogance'' Status effect that messed with their heads, Leviah''s influence was the reason why the ''Depths of Nature''s Jealousy'' deprived people of Skills Temporarily.


    However, Leviah''s ability also had its constraints. The Laws of the Universe always bnced things out, after all.


    For each target of her ability, she was limited to taking only ''One Skill''. So even If the person had over 200 skills, she could only take one.


    Secondly, as stated earlier, her Idiosyncrasy required her to KILL her target before it could work. Very much unlike Evan''s where he could copy skills and magic from the user while they were still alive, and conversely, could not do the same if they were dead.


    Third, if she used her ability on a Target, she gained 0 EXP from them.


    So, each time she killed someone, she had to choose between taking EXP or taking a skill. She could not have the best of both worlds.


    Her current level which sat at 556 showed that she had chosen the EXP option quite a lot.


    Lastly, she and Evan shared the same demerit of having a limit on how many skills they could possess.


    While Evan''s skill used the ''Eyes as the Window to the Soul'' and ''Copied'' the rune on the Target''s soul, Leviah ripped the rune off and stuck it on hers with her own ability.


    She could do this since she had a very Strong Soul, due to being a High Demon and a Deadly Sin.


    But there was a limit to this.


    While Eliza wondered about the conditions for Leviah''s ''Skill Stealing'', Evan began pulling out foldable chairs from his inventory and setting them down. Pride took a seat on one of the chairs and pulled out her book to continue reading, while Evan set up a table at the centre of the Boss Room, with two chairs opposite each other on it.


    He then pulled out an artifact that isted sound and ced it on the table, before taking a seat and gesturing towards the other one opposite him.


    "Take a seat, Leviah. Let''s get on with the main reason why I came here."


    Leviah was silent after Evan spoke, but at Greed''s urging, she sat down opposite Evan, her sour mood clearly obvious from her expression.


    Taking a seat, Eliza questioned Evan''s intentions.


    "Do you n to have her join our party?"


    Not just her, but everyone else present assumed that was Evan''s reason foring to this ce. However, the boy''s answer wasn''t exactly as they imagined.


    "Yes, and No."


    "Huh? What''s this about me joining you lot?"


    "Like I just said, you would not be. Well, officially at least."


    Evan ced both hands on the table after he spoke, looking Leviah right in the eyes as he continued.


    "I''d like you to work for me, Leviah.


    To be more specific, I need you to undertake some tasks which would greatly aid my ns for Tarse. Kill a few Fallen Celestial Deities, Mess up some of the Demonic Hand''s Energy Siphoning points��stuff like that."


    His words evoked reactions of surprise, especially for Kolvar who knew of the existence of the ''Fallen Celestial Deities''. Even Pride whose attention was on her novel had dropped the book and turned her gaze to Evan.


    As for Leviah, she didn''t really care who these Celestials were, nor did she care about whatever the ''Demonic Hand'' was doing. Most importantly;


    "Why in Gozon should I do anything you say?"


    This was the main issue here; Leviah had zero reasons to listen to Evan. Regardless of whether he was going to release the seal that kept her trapped in this Boss Room or not.


    The High Demon looked at Evan with a raised brow, waiting for his answer to her question as she tapped her fingers on the table impatiently.


    "Why you should listen to me, huh?"


    Evan leaned back on his seat and kept his gaze locked with Leviah''s as he replied.


    "Gluttony''s Location."


    The moment those two words escaped his lips, Leviah''s eyes lit up with an eerie red glow.

 Chapter 651 Leviah’s Reverse Scale

    Chapter 651 Leviah��s Reverse Scale


    ??"Gluttony''s Location."


    Leviah''s eyes lit up with an eerie red glow when those words escaped Evan''s lips, with the atmosphere of the roompletely changing in that instant.


    A suffocating pressure descended upon everyone present, with David and Mya finding it hard to move and could hardly breathe until Kolvar''s arura wrapped around them and protected them.


    [Careful Evan, you are treading dangerously close to a dragon''s reverse scale.]


    Pride sent that single line of warning to Evan the moment she heard him speak about Gluttony. Even Greed''s expression changed at that same moment.


    For the two Siblings, it was pretty muchmon knowledge that for the ''dragon'' that was Leviah, Gluttony was her ''Reverse Scale''.


    The rtionship between the two could be said to be the closest among the Seven, and even Pride would admit that those two were closer to each other than she was with Lust.


    "You know where Gulion is?"


    Leviah''s voice was calm, so calm that it felt disconcerting to anyone who heard it, especially after they had seen how ''fiery'' her personality was.


    Seeing her abrupt change in reaction, and hearing Pride''s warning, Evan knew he was on the right track for this ''negotiation''.


    The boy''s usual smile was nowhere to be seen, and he released his aura, pushing back against the Leviah''s Coercive aura with his own.


    "Yes, I do.


    I am the sessor of the person who put him there, after all."


    He calmly pulled out a pair of sses from his inventory and poured some strawberry wine into both of them, pushing one towards Leviah despite knowing the woman was clearly not in the mood for drinks.


    After taking a sip from his, he set the ss back down on the table and continued.


    "Now then, shall we take this from the top again?


    I''d like you to work for me, Leviah.


    To be more specific, I need you to undertake some tasks which would greatly aid my ns for Tarse. Kill a few Fallen Celestial Deities, Mess up some of the Demonic Hand''s Energy Siphoning points��stuff like that."


    "��"


    Evan repeated the exact same words he had spoken earlier, and this time, Leviah remained silent after he spoke.


    "Your payment would be the ''Freedom'' of both you and Gluttony (Gulion).


    The Advance payment would be me breaking the chains binding you to this ce as its Dungeon Master, and after we''re done, I''d take you to where Gluttony is and unseal him as well."


    "��"


    While Leviah remained silent, her aura''s coercive force gave Evan an idea of her thoughts.


    The pressure she released disappeared as if it was never there, and she took a deep breath to maintain her calm.


    "Were you not unsealing us all because you needed our help with defeating the Demon King?"


    "Nuh, uh.


    That n has long since been scrapped."


    Evan shook his head as he answered her question, before gesturing to Pride on his right as he spoke.


    "I unsealed her because I didn''t want the Demonic Hand to get to her first. If they did, then the ''Seven Deadly Sins Massacre'' would havee to fruition and multiple countries would have disappeared from the map.


    There''s also the part where I wanted her Sword and her ''Power''. Contempt of the Many and Pride Embodiment are also very useful cards that have helped on multiple asions."


    He then gestured to Greed on his left as he spoke.


    "This one had very special circumstances, so I had very little choice but to carry him along otherwise I fear the nation of Hobha would have crumbled in time."


    Finally, he pointed at Leviah herself and concluded his words.


    "You, are very much needed. Due to your high base power, your Idiosyncrasy, your skillset, and most importantly, the fact that the Demonic Hand would not know you have been unsealed.


    But Gluttony? I really don''t have a need to release him. If it''s magic absorption, I have David over here who''d simply just negate the magic, ending its existence.


    Third would be very useful If I want to return it to sender, and not just for magic too. I possess a page of this Universe''s Akashic Record��there''s barely any spell I can''t get my hands on."


    After Evan finished stating his reasons for unsealing Pride and Greed, as well as why he wanted Leviah and had no use for Gluttony, he calmly finished his wine and refilled the ss.


    Leviah regarded him with a scrutinizing gaze, before turning over to Greed''s direction.


    "You know I''d rather have Wrath unsealed than Glutty-Boy, right?


    She clicked her tongue internally before turning to Pride who was picking up her book again. Without even looking at Leviah, Pride gave her input.


    "I''m perfectly fine if the only other person released was Ophelia."


    Seeing the two''s reactions, Leviah instantly understood that she could not count on them for help at all.


    "That''s what they said."


    Evan shrugged as he spoke, putting his wine bottle back into his inventory before continuing.


    "It''s a perfectly rational decision for me not to unseal you all.


    The more of you I unseal, the more detrimental it is as I''d have to deal with the side-effects you lote with.


    Pride told me about this before but I didn''t really understand it until I recently contracted with Greed as well


    I expend quite a lot of mental strength in stopping my contract with her from influencing me and turning me into some ''Arrogant Young Master''."


    This was a big FAT lie that Laurene would have barely resisted the urge to call him out on if she was here.


    Evan had very little problems dealing with the influenceing from Pride, and even if the woman was to stop restraining her power for some reason, then it would be the time for his increased resistance and stronger mentality to showcase their prowess.


    [You''re plenty arrogant as is, Master.]


    Kal who had been silent for a while chipped in and Evan smiled wryly while thinking that it was only natural, considering the situations he had ovee and the power he possessed.


    The boy was currently a ''walkingbination of multiple Nuclear Weapons'', it''d be stranger if he didn''t have some level of arrogance when possessing such power.


    [You don''t seem to show any signs of ''greed'' though?]


    Evan''s contract with Greed was not as ''deep'' as his contract with Pride, so conversely, the influence from Greed was lesser.


    It was ''Lesser'', but still there.


    "I definitely do, you just don''t know where my ''greed'' is directed."


    When he said that, Evan''s gaze shifted for a split second, moving off Leviah and to someone else but besides that person herself, no one else noticed this little movement.


    "Let''s get back on Track, shall we?


    You, Leviah, would not be ''officially'' part of us. I''d like the public consensus to remain that only Pride and Greed are with me, giving you the leeway to move around unhindered.


    As far as the Demonic Hand knows, I am currently in Goras and not Grimsgil.


    They would not have you in their calctions and they would bepletely unprepared for your interferences��if you decide to work with me for it."


    Evan exined his reasoning for wanting Leviah to go behind the scenes, something that would be very crucial in his ns for Tarse.


    He wanted to have a card the Demonic Hand did not know about, one very powerful card, hidden in in sight.


    "Of course, all of these terms would be stated in a Binding Contract."


    He added thatst part to give her the assurance that he would definitely abide by his word, after all, ''Give-and-Take type Demon Contracts'' had very nasty repercussions for breaking them.


    "So, what say you, Leviah?


    Are you In or Out?"


    "��"


    The silence that followed after Evan asked that question was so much that one could hear a literal pin drop.


    Evan and Leviah stared at each other without moving for what seemed like an eternity before Leviah finally took action.


    She held up her hand and condensed an orb of Demonic Energy in her palm, mming the orb down on the table with great force.


    Contrary to everyone''s expectations that the orb would destroy the table, it dealt zero damage whatsoever.


    Instead, the orb of demonic energy transformed into a piece of paper, with a magic circle inscribed on both sides like a watermark.


    "State your terms."

 Chapter 652 Contract Established

    <h4>Chapter 652 Contract Established</h4>


    ?"State your terms."


    Evan didn''t hesitate for even half a second, coating his finger in his golden aura and then tapping the left half of the paper as he spoke.


    "Some annoying vestiges of the past who keep clinging to their old forgotten glory have a very annoying n in motion.


    I need you to eliminate some of them so that their ns would be disrupted."


    "So, you want me to be your assassin? Also, would it not be wiser to take them all out?"


    In response to Leviah''s questions, Evan shook his head while giving a positive and negative answer.


    "Yes, you do possess a ''Transcendent'' grade Assassination Skill, after all.


    Also, while I would like to take them all out, Fate would not like that very much so I have to restrain myself."


    As he spoke, his golden aura flowed into the paper and formed text on it, stating the first job he had for her; Dealing with a few ''Fallen Celestial Deities'' like Qutia from whom Greed had gotten his Geomantic Wrath Skill.


    Evan then switched on the artifact that Isted Sound, limiting the range of its effect to the area where he and the three deadly sins were.


    After confirming that even Kolvar could not hear him anymore, he continued.


    "I n to eliminate one of the Demonic Hand''s executives, it''s Ninth Finger and I''m sure my actions would greatly piss off the Organisation''s leader.


    This would also cause them to up their game for their next target: Tarse; by a lot.


    The Demonic Hand''s Fifth Finger who''s in charge of the Tarse n is contracted to a High Rank Demon who is particrly proficient in summoning magic."


    When he spoke up to that point, the three High Demons quickly understood what he was insinuating.


    "They''re going to call in others from the others under Gozon''s control..."


    "If they have to resort to that, then Aidos'' Threat Ranking would increase, meaning the number of forces allocated to conquering this world would be doubled at the very least."


    Pride and Greed''s words were news to even Evan, and they were very unsettling to hear, however, he took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing his words.


    "I want you to Destroy some of these Summoning Points that they''d set up all over Tarse."


    The second term of the contract was drawn up by his golden aura and without much hesitation, he went to the third.


    "Tarse is the Country in the Centre of the Alpha continent, the ''Heart'' of the continent so to speak.


    That statement is not Figurative."


    Evan used light magic to generate a projection of a map of the Alpha Continent, but instead of the nations, what marked the map were streams of light moving in seemingly random directions.


    However, the area where a lot of these streams intersected with each other was within Tarse''s borders.


    Once again, the three Siblings understood what he was showing them without the need for words.


    "Dragon Veins?"


    "Energy Hotspots."


    "Should you really be exposing your''s biology like this?"


    Evan dismissed the projection before cing his hand back on the paper and speaking,pletely ignoring Greed''s question.


    "The Desert Country of Tarse has a few Tribal Conflicts that involve territories where the''s Energy Veins intersect.


    Some of these Tribes are affiliated with the Demonic Hand; what I want is for you to create a Mercenary or Adventurer group and side against these Demonic Hand-affiliated tribes."


    The third term was written down, and after that, Evan took his hands off the paper and leaned back, before looking at Leviah.


    The woman looked through the things that Evan had ''written'' down, taking her sweet time to look at his wordings before nodding.


    With a tap of her finger, demonic energy flowed in and drew up two lines of dark red text stating her own Terms.


    There wasn''t anything unexpected, with her terms being both hers and Gluttony''s release.


    "I''d like to leave an ''Open Slot''. In case there''s something else I wish to request from you at ater date."


    Leviah tapped her hands and a pair of quotation marks appeared on both ends of the line right below her second term.


    Evan was surprised such a thing was even possible, but now knowing that it was, he pulled the paper back to his side and created an ''Open Slot'' for himself as well.


    "That''s not bnced."


    "Of course, it''s not. Butst I checked, I''m the one with the Upper Hand here."


    "My Risk Factor cancels that out.


    Your conditions involvebat, and withbat; a threat to my life."


    Leviah tapped the paper and added another ''Open Slot'' for herself, and seeing this, Evan snorted and did the same.


    "My ''Hero Authority'' consumption cancels that out. I''d be expending a very valuable and limited resource that I have a thousand and one other uses for to unseal your brother who is of not ''value'' to me."


    "��"


    The High Demon narrowed her glowing red eyes at him and the Hero returned her gaze with his own.


    Her gaze moved from him and to the paper in between them, seeing the two Open Slots on either side of the Contract.


    She moved her hand and with a bolt of demonic energy, erased one of each. When Evan saw this, he raised a brow and spoke.


    "Colour me surprised; we''re back to square one."


    His voice certainly did not have even the slightest lick of surprise in it though.


    Leviah ignored this and brought up a very important part of this contract.


    "The Timing. You''d unseal him once I''m done with those tasks."


    "Impossible.


    Gluttony is on the Beta Continent, and I am not going to go there until I am done with all my agendas on the Alpha Continent."


    "Then-"


    "In return, when we get to the Beta Continent, Gluttony would be the first priority."


    Evan was really making a bigpromise here, as there were dozens of things he had lined up for right after getting to the Beta Continent.


    Leviah looked at him in silence for a few moments before tapping the paper and adding that use to the contract.


    Right after she poured her energy into it, causing half of the magic circle watermark to light up with a red glow.


    Evan did the same with the right side, and once both sides began glowing, the contract floated up into the air, before suddenly bursting into a mix of dark red and golden mes.


    The mes split in two and shot towards both their chests as streaks of reddish gold light, signifying the conclusion of the contract process.


    "Good.


    Now, I shall start my part of the deal."


    As soon as Evan spoke, he stomped his foot on the ground and activated his ''Hero Authority'', using it to scan the mutated seal that kept Leviah trapped in the dungeon.


    "Mind telling me exactly how you came to be this Dungeon''s Master?"


    When he asked that, he deactivated the Soundproofing artifact, but still left it on the table in case he needed to speak of anything he was restricted from talking about with Ignorant parties.


    "Is that necessary?"


    "Yes, the seal ced by my predecessor has mutated due to you bing the Dungeon Master. This Dungeon was supposed to be your Prison and yet you somehow gained control. I need to understand the cause so I can unravel it perfectly."


    Leviah pondered on Evan''s words for a moment before sighing and beginning a little narration.


    Just like the other Deadly Sins, she was trapped inside her weapon and could only manifest an astral body that could not go more than a few metres away from the ce where the spear had been chained down.


    The Dungeon Bosses were all guardians of her Seal, and taking on the title of ''Dungeon Boss'' automatically downloaded the information about her presence and the seal into their heads.


    One of such dungeon bosses was defeated by a party of adventurers who had braved the dungeon''s depths despite theirck of skills.


    They had sessfully defeated it, and all that was left was to kill the monster, but they had their focus on healing their wounded party members who were on the verge of death first before ending the monster''s life��a decision that proved fatal for all of them.


    The monster that was lying wounded and half dead on the floor sumbed to the whispers of the Demon of Envy and did the one thing that it was not supposed to do as a Guardian of her Seal.


    It was jealous of the power and freedom that the adventurers who defeated it possessed, and that jealousy was what Leviah used to empower it temporarily, granting it the strength it needed to run to the chamber where she was sealed.


    The Dungeon Boss then grabbed her spear, an act that was akin to epting a contract from her, just like Terence and Greed.


    That action was the Dungeon Boss'' biggest mistake.

 Chapter 653 Releasing Leviah’s Seal

    Chapter 653 Releasing Leviah��s Seal


    ??The Dungeon Boss gained power it had never seen before upon unearthing Leviah''s spear, and the Demon used its body as a temporary vessel and enacted revenge upon the adventurers on its behalf.


    However, the Dungeon Boss'' power didn''te out from nowhere.


    While the monster believed it had gained her power, Leviah had actually used Demonic Possession on the monster, and she forced it to burn up its soul in exchange for power.


    Power that ran out at the same time the monster''s soul did.


    Leviah used her weapon to kill the adventurers, and she chose to absorb experience from half of them while taking skills from the other half.


    Considering that they were able to reach the bottom of this dungeon, they were certainly very high level, and that gave Leviah a LOT of exp.


    The Kind that took her from the Gold Level she had been weakened to, straight to the peak of the Master Level in on go.


    The Monster''s soul had run out of energy, and it could not sustain itself anymore, copsing to pieces.


    With its death, the ''Contract'' Leviah had forged with it should have been nullified, however, in the short moment before it could be nullified, An''s seal on her reacted.


    Since the entire Dungeon was basically a Prison for her, the Seal was closely connected with it, and that connection was what caused the Dungeon to make her ''Rece'' the Boss Monster that had just died.


    But this came with a problem. Leviah was not a ''Monster'', so she could not be categorized as a ''Boss Monster'' by this dungeon in particr.


    This was where the mutation urred, and the duty of a Dungeon Master was forced upon her.


    She now had to be the one in charge of generating the Boss Monsters, and since An''s seal was still in effect, she was unable to leave the Dungeon Boss Room.


    The Three-Tailed Wolf and the Cockatrice that Kolvar had fought were all summoned by her.


    Leviah was summoning Boss Monsters using the Dungeon''s energy, and she pitted the monsters against the Challengers.


    One of her first kills gave her the Appraisal skill, so she used this to check for those who had good skills and, in such cases, she summoned multiple Bosses and let those monsters beat the living daylights out of the challengers.


    She then came out and dealt thest blow so she could get their skills.


    Sometimes, she did the same to gain experience points, since she did not possess any of the other strengthening privileges that a Dungeon Master would normally have.


    Leviah then proceeded to do this��killing Challengers to take their skills or EXP��for a century.


    Now then, you''d expect that Leviah should be far more powerful than just the Epic Level after a century, but it should be noted that this was a Dungeon where one lost a skill every two floors.


    At the rate of losing one skill every two floors; even if one was not touched by a single monster, they were guaranteed to have lost 50 skills by the time they entered the Floor 100 Boss Room.


    If they even possessed that many skills.


    Even the person with the power that allowed him to Copy other people''s skills barely had that much when he entered the Dungeon.


    The amount of people willing to go deep into this 100-floor dungeon, and then Challenge Final Boss with just theirbat techniques and magic alone were far and between.


    And sometimes, the people who did this turned out to be ''Living Legends''ing to ''train'' themselves, people that neither Leviah nor the monsters she summoned could do anything against.


    Bottom line, due to the few number of Challengers Leviah actually got on Floor 100, she wasn''t actually able to gain much power even after a century had passed.


    Seeing as she gained over 40 skills and enough experience to be an Epic Level under those conditions was actually quite good.


    "That''s pretty much it."


    When she was done with her narration, Eliza and the others couldn''t help but look at her with a bit of pity in their eyes, despite knowing that this woman had wreaked havoc on their world a thousand years ago.


    They could not fathom being stuck inside here for over a few months, much less a whole century. It then urred to them that Pride and Greed probably were in simr situations.


    First, they had their power drained out from them over the course of the centuries they were unconscious right after the sealing, and it was this drained-out power which mutated the Dungeons they were sealed in and gave them these extra attributes like the ''Arrogance'' status effect and the ''Skill Sealing''.


    Then after regaining consciousness, they found that they were stuck inside dungeons and remained there for another set of centuries.


    "��"


    Evan pondered this for a moment after he heard Leviah speak, before sighing and returning his focus to the mutated seal.


    While Leviah had been able to escape from inside her weapon, she was now bound to the Boss Room itself, so what Evan needed to do was to cut the link between her and the Room itself.


    ''No��I need to cut the link between her and the Dungeon.


    This is going to consume a lot more power than I thought��.''


    Uponing to this realisation, the boy frowned deeply and when Leviah saw his expression, she questioned if there was something wrong.


    "There is.


    I miscalcted the amount of power required to deal with this."


    The boy got up from his seat and activated BoD, before walking up to the wall opposite the boss room door.


    cing his palm on it, he revealed a door that led to the secret chamber where Leviah''s spear had been ced originally.


    He looked at all the runic markings on the floor and used the Destruction essence he controlled to shatter their protections, before calling David in and telling the boy to use his mystic eyes on some of the weaker magic circles.


    With those ones out of the way, he then proceeded to begin the unsealing process, cing his palms on the ground and activating his Hero Authority.


    This ''Hero Authority'' was basically like that of his Adaptive Evolution Authority. A finite resource that was umted by him aplishing his duty as a ''Hero''.


    He had only recently gained the ability to manipte it with his Mystic Eyes Stage Three, which was why he had even considereding here in the first ce.


    ''Putting it simply, my ''Hero Authority'' is a special currency that I have due to my status as a Hero, and I can use it to exchange for items/privileges in the special ''Hero Shop'' that is run by the World itself.''


    With that Analogy, the first thing he was exchanging now, was something to use and cut the link between Leviah and the Dungeon, so he could then use the raw energy and then unravel the magic circles An ced here using the method in the memories he possessed.


    This process didn''t take that much time at all, and within fifteen minutes, Leviah felt the link between her and the Dungeon cut off, followed by the restrictive Binding Force that prevented her from leaving the Boss Room.


    TO others, it appeared in the form of countless illusory chains wrapped around her body and linked to the ground, each one breaking off after the other until they had all shattered into fragments of light.


    "Damn��An really is a bastard.


    What sort ofplicated seal is this, I can swear I''d have an easier time replicating World Magic than doing this."


    "He certainly didn''t want anyone to unseal it, probably the reason why he never told anyone else that this was where he Sealed her."


    David replied to Evan after the boy finished the unsealing process, but just before Evan could reply, Eliza suddenly spoke up.


    "Wait��what?"


    "Huh?"


    "What''s up, Liz?"


    The girl turned to David and asked him to repeat thest thing he just said to Evan and when he did, her brows furrowed.


    "You just said that Evan''s predecessor, An Maddox, was the only one meant to know about all of��''this''."


    By ''This'', she meant basically everything from the secret elevator on the second floor to the fact that Leviah was sealed here.


    Evan affirmed her words, going on to state that he was the only Hero who knew where all the Seven Deadly Sins were.


    David and Laurene knew about Pride in Merdin and Greed in Osto, but they didn''t know about Leviah in Grimsgil, and they also didn''t know about the one in Tarse.


    When Evan spoke, Eliza looked at the boy with a strange gaze, before looking at everyone else to see if anyone had noticed the inconsistency that she had.


    "Evan��you told me that for the thing the Demonic Hand called the ''Deadly Sins Massacre'' to happen, they sent Executives to negotiate with ALL the Seven Deadly Sins."


    "��Yes."


    Evan barely stopped his lips from curling up upon realising what Eliza was on to.


    "That means they also spoke to Leviah, here, right?"


    Leviah who was busy savouring the feeling of being able to walk outside the Boss Room for the first time turned over when she heard her name being called.


    After a quick Q&A, the woman confirmed that she knew of the Demonic Hand''s existence since two of their Executives hade to her in the past.


    "Then in that case��How does the Demonic Hand know, that this is where Leviah is sealed?"

 Chapter 654 Revelation: The First Finger [Monthly Bonus 1]

    Chapter 654 Revtion: The First Finger [Monthly Bonus 1]


    ??"Then in that case��How does the Demonic Hand know, that this is where Leviah was sealed?"


    When Eliza asked this question, everyone else suddenly realised the discrepancies. It was as if someone had taken a translucent blindfold off their eyes and they were now able to see things clearly.


    "David is a Hero and he didn''t know that Leviah was here. Then how did the Demonic Hand know she was here?"


    This was a very serious question. How did the Demonic Hand know where to find Leviah and all the other Deadly Sins?


    From the wry smile on Evan''s face, they all knew that the boy knew the answer to this question.


    "You sure he''s the only one who was supposed to know? When that guy came to talk to me��I think his name was Seeth or so."


    "Seith."


    "Whatever it is, when he came to talk to me, he imed to have already spoken to Emrel as well and Emrel told him to go find Roselia first.


    It was because of that I even had the idea to tell him to find her as well.


    He muttered something about not knowing whether to talk to me or Emrel first but ended up going to Emrel since he wanted to get the ''hard part out of the way first''."


    When Evan heard her, he kind of understood why Seith considered Emrel (Sloth) to be the ''Hard Part''. Kind of difficult to make a conversation with someone who was half asleep most of the time.


    "This Seith, is he the same one who you said was supposed to be at the Graveyard of the Arrogant?"


    "Yep, the one and the same Seith Beddoe. The Demonic Hand''s Sixth Finger."


    Evan replied to Kolvar''s question, taking a seat on his chair before continuing.


    "The answer to your question is something I cannot say as it is rted to the Leader of the Demonic Hand.


    That person is the one sending the other Fingers to the locations where the Deadly Sins are sealed."


    Hearing Evan''s answer, David ced a hand on his chin as he asked the next most important question.


    "The issue is how he knows where they are in the first ce."


    When David spoke, Evan silently turned his gaze to him and the Lion Beastman felt strange when he saw the way Evan was looking at him.


    "��What?"


    "��"


    Evan still remained silent, and eventually, David realised why.


    "��I''m supposed to know the answer to this question, right?"


    "Yes, you are."


    This confirmation instantly told David that the answery within the memories of his predecessor. But these were centuries worth of memories; he needed some kind of ''clue'' or ''keyword'' so he could peruse only things rted to the answer instead of searching blindly.


    Evan knew this as well, so he decided to give a hint.


    "Let me jog your memory.


    The Demonic Hand''s executives; the ''Ten Fingers'', would revive over and over unless they are killed in a manner that Damages more than 40% of their Souls.


    The First Finger possesses that capability.


    That''s why when your father killed Dominik Vk in Graugro 26 years ago, the Deathlord was able to make aebackst year.


    His soul wasn''t damaged upon that death, so both he and Zacr were revived."


    After a short pause, Evan continued.


    "I did make sure to use a lot of Destruction Essence when I killed him so we ain''t gonna be having a Third Coming of Dominik Vk."


    When Evan stopped speaking, David began searching through his predecessor''s memories, but even after using different keywords, he didn''t arrive at anything that could lead him to the answer he felt Evan wanted.


    Seeing this, Evan decided to give him another hint.


    "Appraise Liz, then think again."


    David did not understand why appraising Eliza was going to help him arrive at the answer, but he still did it either way, scanning through her status from her name tab to her Unique Skills tab.


    "Huh? Unique Skill��reviving after death��reincarnation��FUCKING HELL! IT''S HIM!!"


    The Lion Beastman''s eyes widened in shock when it finally clicked in his head.


    "r????????????????????????????m???????????????????????????a?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????��???????r???????????��???????????F??????????????????????? ??????????????????????????."


    Evan spoke ''something'', and while it only sounded like the noise of an untuned radio to others, from the expression on David''s face, it was clear that he had heard whatever Evan had just spoken.


    "You''re joking, right?"


    "Not in the slightest."


    David pressed his hands to his temple and made some unintelligible noises with his mouth.


    "Not being able to die permanently unless killed with the energy of a worldw or a Unique Series Skill that has sufficient mastery levels.


    The Clues were all there from the very beginning, why didn''t I think about it?"


    "He made it so you didn''t. It''s World Magic, kind of like a subtle maniption; makes you subconsciously ignore clues that are right in front of your eyes.


    Pretty Scary shit."


    Evan rubbed his arms as if trying to get rid of goosebumps while David looked at him and asked a question.


    "How the hell is that guy even still alive?"


    "Dude, he''s a Sovereign. He has a long lifespan. He''s been there even before your dad came around and still has many more years to go��if I don''t kill him first."


    Seeing the reactions of the two Heroes, Kolvar felt that the person he knew as the Leader of the Demonic Hand and the one they were talking about probably were not the same person.


    ''Altrishia appraised him, and he didn''t have any Unique skill that had to do with ''Reincarnation''.


    It''s why we still don''t understand how he revived them and assumed it was probably an Ancient Lost Magic or a Demon Spell.''


    Most importantly, Evan had just insinuated that the Leader of the Demonic Hand was older than him. That didn''t match what Altrishia had seen on the Age tab when she appraised him.


    While the Beast King was thinking about this, his daughter posed a question to her brother.


    "The way you two are acting��Is this person that bad?"


    "Bad doesn''t even begin to cut it, Mya.


    The man created ''Fake Heroes'' with the intention to kill the real Heroes and rece them in the System of Aidos.


    And he''s making progress��


    I estimate the ones who attacked me in Shelde to be around 10%pletion at most."


    At this point, Evan just decided to carry on and talk about as much as he could before his restrictions started acting up. He turned to Kolvar who was deep in his thoughts and spoke.


    "I can guess what you''re thinking, and yes, the Name and Face that you guys have is FAKE.


    All of us here present know this person''s p??????????????��?????????????????????????????t???????????????????????????????????????o????????????????????n??????????????????????????????????????????f????????????????


    Fuck."


    Evan cursed the restrictions on him that prevented him from even giving a roundabout hint on the ''Public Face'' that the Demonic Hand''s leader had.


    "Can you at least clue us in on the skill that enables him to revive the executives?"


    "My interaction with David earlier was a hint on its own."


    The young hero replied to Kolvar as he began packing up the chairs he brought and sending them back into his inventory.


    The Beast King had picked up on the ''Reincarnation'' hint, so he at least knew the First Finger''s skill gave him the power to manipte the World Law of Reincarnation.


    Something that could do that, was definitely a Unique Series Skill. The issue here is what Series the Skill was from.


    Before he could voice these thoughts, however, Leviah who was done enjoying the feeling of being free from the Boss Room, casually called out the name of a skill.


    "Child of Reincarnation."


    "��"


    "��"


    When she said this, Evan looked up at her with surprise, before turning towards Pride and asking.


    "Wasn''t she supposed to be dumb?"


    "YOU FUCKING CUNT! I''D KILL YOU!"


    His question naturally pissed the High Demon off and she summoned her spear with the intent to attack him, only to be held back by Greed.


    "Hold up, sister! You just contracted with him!


    "LET ME AT HIM! LET ME AT HIM!!!"


    Evan went to hide behind Kolvar just in case Leviah somehow managed to break free from Greed''s hold ande after him.


    The boy then used his shadows to drag thest table and chair over to his position before folding them and putting them into his inventory.


    From the way he reacted, Kolvar guessed that the skill in question was indeed the ''Child of Reincarnation'' skill and that much information was plenty.


    Upon seeing that Kolvar had understood what he wanted, Evan moved around to avoid the Demon of Envy who wanted to pierce his head with her spear before saying.


    "So, we''ve been down this hole for a bit too long, it''s high time we got back up to the surface."


    Like so, he led them all out of the Boss Room and to the Elevator outside, where they returned to the Second Floor Boss Room.


    Evan activated Lethe to cloak their presence as they exited the dungeon, and after finally getting a suitable spot, Kolvar created a spatial gate which the group used to leave the Dungeon Area.

 Chapter 655 Returning to Barthmont

    Chapter 655 Returning to Barthmont


    ??As the group came out of the first spatial gate Kolvar created, Evan turned to the man and his son before speaking.


    "So, I''d be counting on you guys to help out, you know?"


    "What?"


    When David questioned what he was on about, Evan gestured to a much calmer Leviah and spoke.


    "She was trapped in a Dungeon for millennia. If she''s going to have to go to Tarse, she''d need support.


    I can handle the funding part of things, but we''d need someone to bring her up to speed on the current state of the Continent, the countries around and stuff like that."


    "I extracted information from some of that Dungeon''s challengers, and I even collected some maps so I''m not so ignorant of how things are."


    Leviah chipped in after Evan spoke, dangling a map she pulled from her Inventory in front of him.


    "Good, that means less work for me.


    But there''s still the part where you have zero idea about the current state of the Tensions between the Tribes in Tarse.


    That''s where we''d need David''s family''s information gatherers toe into the picture."


    What Evan needed was information, since despite knowing who was an ''Enemy'' and not from the game, he didn''t know their current state at this time.


    Tarse wasn''t talked about much at this time during the game so he had zero idea of how things were now.


    "I''d also need to exin what timings you are to move, the Dungeons I want you to clear��both for the sake of strengthening yourself and because of the elimination targets who reside there."


    When he said ''Elimination Targets'', everyone was reminded that Evan''s contract with Leviah was basically him ordering a hit on multiple powerful beings in another country.


    "These ''Fallen Celestial Deities'', you mentioned. Are they-?"


    "They are the same ones you know of."


    Evan answered Kolvar''s question before the man could evenplete it, and when the Beast King asked exactly what it was they were doing that made Evan want to eliminate them.


    "I''ve told you guys all I can say regarding the Demonic Hand''s n in Tarse, and from the fact that the Master of Dragondune is a Target, it''s clear as day that their ns for Tarse are BIG.


    Imagine if this lot who want to drain people for power happen to interfere when we already have our hands full with the Demonic Hand."


    "I see."


    "I''d eventually have to go there myself since there are some things that can only be handled by me, but to be honest, I''d like my presence there to NOT be known until after I''m done.


    If the Demonic Hand finds out I''m in Tarse, things are gonna get ugly."


    For the Demonic Hand, Evan suddenly appearing in a ce where they had ns for was basically him telling them he was there to disrupt their ns.


    To prevent this, they might decide to kickstart the Disaster immediately, without Evan even having the chance to go around andy his groundwork.


    In that case, despite not to the extent they want, the Death Toll would still be in the tens of millions.


    But in the end, these were all worries for the future. He was only worrying about it this much because of the Scale of Events.


    "If they seed, one of the strongest countries on the continent would be wiped out and we''d be left with a giant 18 million km2 sized hole in the middle of the continent."


    But once again, the ''Fall of the Desert Country'' was a Disaster that needed time to prepare��years to be specific.


    Evan also needed years to prepare, to grow his strength and influence to make things easier then.


    The other Heroes also needed to get stronger so as not to hold each other back. David needed to be at the very least, an Inferior Stage Epic.


    ''But the Level 500 barrier is not one so easily broken��I have no idea how long it might take him to surpass that level��


    The exp needed per level also increases exponentially after this��''


    While Evan had a sure-fire way to surpass Level 500��The Cavern of Trials in the GEE��he wasn''t sure if this was going to work the same way for David.


    He made a mental note to give David a list of Dungeons.


    "I''d need to do the same for Laurene too, so by the time I get back to GWE, she''d be much more powerful.


    As for taking her to Tarse, the Emperor would definitely have a problem but if Sir Lukees along, it''d be so much easier."


    Evan refrained from talking much about Luke, for various reasons.


    While the Sword Saint was a Legendary Level existence, his title was not ''Living Legend'' but ''Veiled Legend''. This was because of the fact that he was a Legendary Level that was not known publicly.


    And one of the reasons why Luke chose to hide his strength, was the man who was opening a spatial gate right in front of Evan.


    ''Kolvar and the other Transcendents definitely know Luke isn''t a grandmaster, but they don''t know he''s a Legendary already.


    I''d like to keep things that way until Tarse.


    The Sword Saint''s connections with other powerhouses of his generation��The Generation of the Previous GWE Emperor, the GEE''s Empress Dowager, Gavin, and many others��the generation before Rathal and Finley''s.


    He also knows other Veiled Legends, some of which are even more powerful than he is. I can have Luke get them toe out from wherever they are to aid in Tarse.''


    Evan thought this as he entered into another Spatial gate, before pping his cheeks and speaking to himself.


    "Tarse is for the future Evan, focus on the present��on how you''re going to deal with Maude."


    Turning to Leviah, he spoke.


    "Your Targets are In the Continent''s Centre, and we are Far South.


    Our next destination is the Far East, and while we''d have normally gone straight to the GEE, we''d use an alternate route to cut through Tarse to drop you off there.


    It''d be a few days dy but it''s totally worth it."


    The woman only nodded lightly, most of her focus being on the sights around her, those of the outside world she hadn''t seen in centuries. Pride threw a side nce at Leviah, before turning to Evan and asking.


    "The Tracker you ced on that woman, how precise is it?"


    Pride had seen many Alpha Continental maps, as such, she knew just how big the GEE was. They were looking for one person, in an area of over 14 million km2; it was basically a fool''s errand if they didn''t have precise directions.


    "Right now, all I can tell is that she''s in the ''EAST''. But the closer I get, the higher the precision. If I enter the same city as she is, I''d be able to pinpoint her exact coordinates; X, Y, Z."


    Evan replied to her while twirling around a 3-D light projection in his palm. The light of remembrance shed through his eyes and he turned to the woman and spoke once more.


    "Also, Pride, I''m going to-."


    He suddenly stopped midway, not just his speech but his physical movements stopped as well.


    "Should I still be calling you that? I said this earlier but ''Roselia'' is honestly a much better name choice than ''Pride'', so I''m actually considering switching."


    Kolvar created another spatial gate and they entered into it, emerging on the other side with Evan still looking at her and waiting for her answer.


    After a moment''s pause, the High Demon heaved a light sigh.


    ''It honestly doesn''t matter anymore.''


    "All right, I permit you."


    "Haha, permit! That''s so very much like you."


    Evan chuckled when he heard her answer, before swinging his hand over both hers and her brother''s shoulders as he continued his earlier statements.


    "So, for Roselia and Nadarus over here; I''d be needing you guys to handle the Demons of the Ninth Division members."


    More than the contents of his statement, the Demon of Greed was much more concerned about the sudden name switch.


    "Dude, you didn''t ask for my permission?"


    "Huh? Why should I do that?"


    Seeing Evan''s genuinely confused gaze as he replied, Greed��


    Nadarus, felt his brows twitch repeatedly.


    "What is this obvious difference in treatment?"


    "Don''t sweat the small stuff."


    Evan casually waved him off, but before the man could say anything again, Evan continued with a little Trivia about Maude Gtryd.


    "She''s a Member of the Blend National Parliament, AND the COO of the Thunder Mining Group."


    "��so?"


    When Nadarus questioned how this information had anything to do with him, the young Hero grinned and raised his hand, rubbing his thumb over the tip of his index finger and middle finger.


    "She''s Filthy rich."


    "Count me in."


    There was zero hesitation in Nadarus'' reply, after all, for the man, Wealth was also a Source of Power.


    "Haha! I''ve already Counted you in."


    Evan replied right before they entered the Final Spatial gate and re-emerged back in the Barthmont Pce.

 Chapter 656 Blank Checks with a Transcendent’s Name on them [Monthly Bonus 2]

    <h4>Chapter 656 nk Checks with a Transcendent��s Name on them [Monthly Bonus 2] </h4>


    ?"Before I go to the GEE, I need to send word over there to them."


    Evan spoke after he, Eliza, Kolvar, Dandeyr David, and the Deadly Sin Trio had settled in a room in the pce for further discussions.


    The two Princesses had duties to attend to, and since Sh was Mya''s guard, she followed her. She had only tagged along to Grimsgil because Mya was there, after all.


    "If I sent a message in my capacity as the Count Bourne, it''d take some time before it actually gets to the Emperor.


    But if I use a member of the Five as a liaison��"


    As he spoke, Evan''s gaze turned to Kolvar and the Beast King understood what the boy was hinting at. Evan was surely milking out as much of Kolvar''s and the Beast Kingdom''s power and Influence as he could.


    "Fine."


    "I''d very much like it to be a magic projection message, stored in a projection stone which we''d send to them.


    Also, Kasteblum hasunched its Waypoint Project, right? We can send it through that."


    Right after Evan said this, Kolvar called someone to prepare the necessary tools while David questioned Evan''s choice of transportation means between here and the GEE.


    "We''d use Trains."


    "Trains? Dude, you just spoke about Teleportation and yet you''d rather use a train to get to your destination?"


    Certainly, David wondered why the boy would choose to use the more time-consuming means of transportation, but Evan only replied with a light shrug.


    "I have certain points I want to visit along the way, to beef up my random artifact collection.


    It''d be pretty cool for a random artifact I pick up to just so happen to have the power to help me out if I get caught in a bind, so I''m just gathering a lot of them to up those chances.


    Anyway, the points where these artifacts are, aren''t within the range of Waypoint Locations, but are close to Station Cities."


    He also spoke about having to disguise himself while on said trains so people didn''t recognize him and figured out that he was heading to the GEE.


    If it got out that he was heading to the GEE, then Maude might guess he was heading there for her and run away somewhere else.


    ''She might even leave the continent��''


    That''d make things a lot harder, so he didn''t want people knowing he was going there.


    "In that case, you can use one of my trains."


    Since Evan was nning to take out one of the ''Demonic Hand'' Executives, Kolvar had no problems offering his help to make the journey easier for Evan.


    "Your trains?"


    "It''s a little private coach I had designed for incognito movements. I''d summon the staff in a bit for them to run checks on it and see if it''s in good condition.


    It''s also faster than normal so your trips would be faster.


    However, you''d still have to disguise yourselves when you''re getting on and off the Train, but at the very least, you''d be free while you''re on it.


    Is that okay with you?"


    "Okay with me? Do you even need to ask? You''re offering us a whole train to ourselves, count me in!"


    Evan''s enthusiasm was very high after hearing this, and the boy decided to take advantage of this moment to gain a few benefits.


    "In return, I''d give you one of these."


    The Hero dipped his hand into his inventory, and when he brought it out, the expressions of all those present widened in surprise.


    Even Kolvar dropped the ss he was holding,pletely ignoring the sound of it shattering on the floor.


    He could not be med when you considered the item Evan was holding.


    It was a fist-sized crystal, coloured with a light green hue. Its main feature, however, was the sheer amount of Wind Law Energy that emanated from it.


    Dandeyr was also shocked as he recognized the true nature of the crystal, and his shock increased when he heard Eliza''s words.


    "Hmm? Isn''t that one of the World Law Crystals we got in Duscon?"


    ""One of?!""


    Kolvar and Dandeyr echoed the same words when they noticed the girl''s phrasing. Saying ''One Of'', meant that there were other Crystals of the same nature with them.


    "It''s sad, right? Having a good Wind Affinity but no Wind Lawprehensions."


    Evan knew Kolvar did not have the Wind Law Doctrine because he remembered it being stated in the game that he acquired it muchter down the line.


    "Just so you know, I''m only borrowing you this.


    I''d need to use it when I reach Transcendence myself, but that''s going to take a long time so I''d lend it to you in the meantime.


    When I reach Transcendence, I''d collect it back."


    ''Let''s hope I don''t forget I gave it to him.''


    Evan thought as he dropped the crystal into the hand of the dumbfounded Transcendent. Looking at the Crystal in his hand, Kolvar muttered a line under his breath.


    "��I don''t think a train is worth this much��"


    It most definitely was not.


    Evan knew this as well, evidenced by the way the corner of his lips curled up when he heard Kolvar''s mutter.


    ''Bingo!''


    "Yeah.


    Let''s just say it''s payment for the help you''ve given me so far, and��advance payment for a few favours in the future.


    What do you think?"


    Kolvar turned to Evan with a narrowed gaze, instantly seeing through the boy''s intentions and understanding why he brought out something he knew Kolvar clearly needed.


    It was one of the requirements he needed to elevate himself from the Inferior Stage of Transcendence to the Intermediate, and so on.


    "Yes, you have a few favours."


    "Pleasure doing business with you."


    Evan had an impish smile on his face, and seeing this, a part of Kolvar was genuinely worried about what Evan would ask in return for this.


    Even more so, if he asked about the other crystals the boy had.


    Right now, Evan had multiple nk checks with Kolvar''s name signed on them, after all.


    Leviah watched this whole scene with silence, before nodding to herself. She then turned towards Nadarus on the side and asked.


    "You''re still a drunkard, right?"


    "��the fuck? When was I ever a drunkard?"


    Nadarus was clearly dumbfounded at this sudden usation, but Leviah only deadpanned him before beginning to call out the names of somes they had been to in the past.


    Bora U14, Ankone, Mipp-"


    "You''ve made your point. What is it?"


    "Come lead me to the nearest bar, I want a drink"


    She got up from her seat as she spoke, but now, it was Nadarus'' turn to give her a deadpan gaze.


    "Woman, we''re in a castle. You can get whatever drink you want here."


    "But I''d have to drink in silence, wouldn''t I? I very much prefer the rowdy atmosphere of a bar or a pub."


    "��"


    While Nadarus was considering dumping her in the nearest bar and making his way over to the casinos, Evan who overheard their talk chipped in.


    "Mind taking her over to the Adventurers and Mercenaries Guilds to get her registered while you''re at that? So she can have an ''Identity'' and we canmunicate through our guild cards."


    "I''d speak to the Guild masters and have them start her at B rank for both Guilds."


    David added that line after Evan spoke, and the fourteen-year-


    old raised a brow in surprise when he heard this.


    "That''s possible? Are the Guild Headquarters gonna let that fly?"


    "I''m the Prince of the most powerful nation on the Alpha Continent. They''re gonna let it fly whether they want to or not."


    "Damn, some Typical Arrogant Prince Mode��I like it!"


    Evan''s reply to David''s deration was met with the Beastman''s confused gaze, but Evan certainly had zero intentions of continuing that topic.


    Swinging his arm around David''s neck, he changed the topic to something else.


    "When I''m done with my message to the GEE, how about we do a little training spar?"


    "Trantion: You want to use me as a dummy to test out your new skills?"


    "Wow, you read me like a book!"


    "Dude, at least try to deny it��"


    David sighed and facepalmed as he and Evan exited the room, leaving behind his father who was tightly clenching the Law Crystal while muttering something about getting back at the ''Elven Emperor'' Zaos.

 Chapter 657 The Emperor’s Morning Court

    <h4>Chapter 657 The Emperor��s Morning Court </h4>


    ?Imperial Court Room


    Capital City Askal


    Great Eastern Empire


    June 10th


    Year 1053


    "Announcing the arrival of His Lordship, Marquis Randall."


    The Chambein''s calm and clear voice rang out across with room, with all eyes turning towards the man who walked in right after.


    It was a man who looked somewhere in his early thirties, dressed in a three-piece brown suit that matched his light brown hair and eyes.


    He was fairly muscr, something that could not be hidden under this zer.


    "Howte am I?"


    The man, Marquiss Bourne Randall of the GEE, asked as he walked up to the conference table in the centre of the room and took his seat at the fourth position from the head of the table.


    "Exactly Seven minutes, Marquis.


    This is your third strike."


    His reply came from the person seated at the head of the table, a clean-shaven man with dark eyes and hair worn slicked back.


    This man was adorned in a regal mess dress, exuding elegance in the white uniform with resplendent gold braiding. A cascade of medals adorned the chest of the uniform, and a crimson sash was draped across his torso��a symbol of authority.


    "Damn, don''t have any more chances, huh?


    I''d do my best to be early next time."


    Though Bourne said that, all of the nobles present knew fully well that it was just lip service and the man was definitely going to bete for the next meeting.


    Their gazes then turned towards the man at the head of the table who would still pardon Bourne''steness, the Emperor of the Great Eastern Empire; Isaac Tarron Wilson.


    "Begin the Morning Court."


    At the Emperor''smand, the Chambein stepped forward with files in his hand and began reading out the matters of state.


    This was the Emperor''s Court, where the most important problems of the nation were addressed.


    It was attended by all Court Nobles based in the Capital with ranks of Count and above.


    The issues being addressed spanned multiple categories; Economic, Environmental, Security, Technological, Educational and many more.


    All the nobles present were required to actively participate.


    One couldn''t just sit down and be silent throughout the meeting, as the Emperor watched everyone closely and noted down everyone''s opinions.


    If you didn''t have an opinion to give, then you didn''t need to be present.


    And as much as being able to attend the Emperor''s Court was an honour, being removed from the list of attending nobles was also a great dishonour; as it meant that you were not contributing to the betterment of the nation.


    The Seating arrangements at the conference were determined ording to their noble ranks, as well as the power and authority they possessed.


    The first six seats on the Emperor''s Left and Right sides were reserved for the Six Most Powerful Men and Women of the Empire��Six Dukes/Duchesses.


    These Six were also the Second to Seventh Star Generals of the GEE.


    At this moment, only three of the six were present, with the other three being in the Western, Eastern and Southern Sectors of the Country.


    Askal was closer to the Northern side of the GEE, as well as the location where the Emperor resided, hence the reason why there were Three of them in the capital.


    Right after those three, came the Marquises; the first of which was Bourne.


    The Randall Family was the most powerful marquisate in the empire, closely followed behind by the Parrus Family where the Foreign Affairs Minister hailed from.


    In the eyes of the nobles present, it was because of the Randall Family''s power, that Bourne was pardoned for histeness multiple times.


    The meeting went on normally at the beginning, but towards the end, Emperor Isaac began to notice something.


    Hidden beneath all the suggestions offered by some of the nobles, were their underlying ambitions and desire for personal benefit.


    From the suggestions that three nobles had made in regard to an Educational Problem in the rural areas of the Empire, one could easily discern what Faction they hailed from.


    The GEE''s nobility was split into three factions; the Imperialists, the Aristocrats and the Neutrals.


    At the head of each of these factions were two out of the Seven Star Generals.


    The Third and Seventh were the Imperialists; who heavily supported the notion of the Emperor reigning supreme and wished to extend the Nation''s power and influence even more. The Fourth and Fifth headed the Aristocratic faction; the ones who believed that the Nobles as a whole should not hold less power than the Emperor, and wished for more privileges to be afforded to them.


    Finally, the Second- and Sixth-Star General were of the Neutral Faction that didn''t take either side, preferring things to remain as they were without any shifts in power bnce.


    In the eyes of an outsider, the three factions maintained a ''delicate power bnce'', but the reality could not be any more different.


    The truth of the matter was that all three factions were dancing in the palm of the Emperor''s hand.


    The Dukes who headed each faction were ultimately all on the Emperor''s side, and Isaac had them create these factions to figure out the dispositions of all the nobles present and know how best to handle each one.


    Emperor Isaac''s grip on power was firm and unshakable.


    The nobles were not all stupid, and a select few of them had figured out this, but even if they had figured it out, there was absolutely nothing they could do.


    They certainly could not go up against the Emperor and Six Dukes at once.


    Heck, they needed multiple Marquisates to band together just to go up against one Duke, much less the other five, AND the Emperor.


    So even if they had figured it out, they had no choice but to y along, unless they risked getting on the Emperor''s bad side.


    The Court Meeting Ended pretty quickly and a lot of decisions were finalized, with Isaac feeling that he was going to be very busy in theing days.


    "This concludes this Court Se-"


    "Wait, there''s still something else."


    The voice of the Second Star General whom Evan had met a year ago in Gerfast, Duke Kieran Cooper, cut the Chambein off before the man could dere the Session over.


    "My Apologies, Your Grace."


    "It''s alright.


    Bring it in."


    Kieran waved off the Chambein''s apology for not knowing there was something else, before ordering a knight to bring in something.


    Emperor Isaac also appeared to be curious about what is it that Kieran had to show, as he watched the technicians switch off the images of the Empire''s maps and economic growth charts being projected by the magic projector.


    When he saw the box that the knight brought in, his eyes showed recognition.


    "Isn''t that the box that came in from the Beast Kingdom some days ago?"


    Isaac had been busy with some Wolfen-rted matters at the time, so he left it for Kieran and Marquis Parrus to handle, eventually forgetting about it due to how busy he was.


    "Yes. It was Stamped with the Beast King''s personal Seal."


    "?!"


    Beast King Kolvar''s seal was something that only he��the Monarch of the Beast Kingdom could use. No one, not even his wife or children had the authority to send an international message using his Seal.


    Hence the reason why Isaac was surprised when he heard this.


    ''I may have underestimated the importance of this��''


    The man leaned forward and watched as they ced the recording stone into the magic projector when Kieran dropped another bombshell.


    "Another thing of note was that this message''s content had absolutely nothing, to do with the Beast Kingdom."


    "What?"


    Isaac was naturally dumbfounded by this. Kieran was insinuating that Kolvar had used his Seal for the sake of someone else, and this got the Emperor wondering just who it was that dared to use a transcendent as his liaison.


    The answer to this question was revealed when the magic projector came on and projected a 3-D hologram of a certain Hero.


    Everyone present recognized who this was; this was someone who had be famous overnight due to the Duhan Incident in the GWEst year.


    There was also the Lacertilia Dungeon Break ofst month, whose heat hadn''t died down yet. Multiple rumours were going around about him, citing he had gained the power of a dragon, with a few supposed ''sightings'' of him with white reptilian wings on his back.


    When they recalled all of this information about Evan, the expressions on the faces of the nobles present all turned Dark.


    "GWE, Hobha, Beast Kingdom��he''s finally targeting us now, isn''t he?"


    Bourne spoke with a sigh, and all the nobles who heard his words couldn''t help but concur with him. It couldn''t be helped, as wherever Evan had gone in the past few years��something big always happened.


    Even Emperor Isaac could barely stop his face from twitching in displeasure at this. The man didn''t want Evaning over to cause a ruckus at this delicate time, after all.


    "Let''s see what the Hero has to say."


    Snapping his fingers after, the recorded message began ying.

 Chapter 658 ‘X’ would Mark the Spot

    <h4>Chapter 658 ��X�� would Mark the Spot </h4>


    ?[The Count Bourne greets Your Imperial Maj-]


    "Skip it."


    Kieran wasted no time skipping all the formalities from the beginning after hearing Isaac''s words, quickly fast-forwarding to the part where the real message began.


    [I trust you''re all aware of the Dungeon Break Incident in Lacertilia which urred on the Fifth of May; an incident perpetrated by a certain Organization which I have shed with repeatedly in Osto, Hobha, and Cheverton, GWE.


    An organization I''m sure that some of you who are present when this message is yed would be quite familiar with by now.


    They were responsible for the Incident in Lacertilia, with one of their Executives making a public appearance towards the end, in an attempt to eliminate two of this generation''s Heroes, Myself, and the Prince of the Beast Kingdom, David Thancreed.]


    Evan''s projected image showed him seated on a simple chair, with his hands ced on the desk in front of him as he spoke with a clear voice, his usual yful demeanour nowhere to be seen.


    [I im they are responsible for various reasons. What you have seen in the papers, heard on the radios, and received through your secret forces was not the full story.


    Some parts were purposely left out; like the part where my party and I, encountered a second Executive of this Organisation in the Boss Room of the ''Lair of the Lizard Lord''.]


    Now this was something that no one knew, as Evan and his party never spoke of Maude''s presence in the dungeon to anyone until Evan had informed Kolvar and Rathal about this when he woke up.


    [This called for a Two-Stage battle, where we had to first defeat this Executive who was doing something to the Boss Monster��]


    Evan held up his hand and used light magic to create a projection of his memories, showing the moment when they entered the Boss Room and saw Maude.


    The image showed the Lizard Lord Bhak in the centre of the Boss Room, as well as the strange magic circles on the floor.


    [��before we finally engaged the Lizard Lord in Battle.]


    He changed the projected images to those of his fight against the Lizard Lord, and surprise could be seen shing through the eyes of all those present.


    Most probably because the high-speed battle was something they could barely see with their Master Level kic vision.


    [Unfortunately, the battle against the executive didn''t exactly go as I wanted since I was conserving my power for the Lizard Lord.


    This led to the Executive making a sessful Escape "In Quote", after I had inflicted grave injuries on her.]


    "Stop."


    Isaac held up his hand and the yback was paused, he then looked towards Kieran and asked.


    "Did he really just say ''In Quote''?"


    "He did.


    I can bet my title that he let her escape on purpose."


    "Pfft..."


    All eyes turned towards Bourne whoughed a little when he heard Kieran''s words, and the man silently covered his mouth and looked away when he sensed the gazes on him.


    Kieran ignored Bourne''s silliness and continued the yback.


    [However, before she seeded in her escape, I managed to use one of my skills to apply a tracker on her.]


    "Called it."


    The Duke muttered those two words under his breath, but they did not escape the ears of all those present in the room.


    [With the Tracker, I was able to narrow down her general location. Discovering that she is somewhere within the GEE territory.


    The problem is I don''t know exactly where she is in the GEE, as my skill requires me to get closer for More Precise details.


    By the time you receive this, I will probably be on my way to the GEE.]


    Evan closed his palm and dismissed the images of the battle leading to how Maude escaped that were being disyed before continuing.


    [From a previous record where she attempted to escape a battle she had lost, one of Kasteblum''s Grand Mages stated that the coordinates were marked for the GEE.


    This leads me to believe that this ce where she escaped is kind of like ast bastion for her.


    Also, I received further intel that the recement for the Tenth Executive of this Organization who was killed by ''Strongest Human'' Rathal in Cheart, GWEst year, is also within the same area as the Ninth Executive whom I faced in Lacertilia.


    I intend to take out the entire Ninth Division of this Organisation, as well as the recement Tenth Executive before they can grow stronger, but this is easier said than done.


    This organisation has been hiding in in sight for centuries, and they have amassed loads of power, wealth and influence.


    Even ''Highguards Commerce'' who the GWE had been pressuring on my request, was just a dummy corporation for the Organisation.]


    Evan''s causal reveal had the faces of most of the nobles present turning ashen, as a lot of them had done business with ''Highguards Commerce'', only pulling out their funds when the GWE began pressuring them after the Cheverton Incident.


    [Ah, forgive my digression.


    To ensure none of the targets escapes, I''d like to make an official request to the GEE for the Assistance of the Seventh Star General, Duke Beluar Sarxina.]


    "Wait��what?"


    The person whom Evan had just requested for, Duke Sarxina, couldn''t help but express his surprise, clearly having zero idea why Evan wanted his assistance.


    [The reason for this request, is so he can seal the entire area with his famed Spatial Magic, to prevent an escape via Teleportation like before.]


    "Oh, that makes sense."


    Beluar nodded in affirmation when he heard Evan''s reasoning, especially considering his Unique Skill.


    [As I said earlier, I do AND would not know the exact target location until I arrive at the GEE. As such, I would like you to be informed about the signal with which I would inform you of this location.]


    Evan held up his hands and crossed them into an ''X'' in front of his chest, before saying.


    [X, would mark the spot.]


    Putting down his hands, he concluded.


    [Thank you very much for your time, and I look forward to a favourable reply.]


    When the video ended, the room was silent for a good ten seconds before Isaac looked at the three Generals Present and asked.


    "So��who wants to go first?"


    "Why do I have the feeling that this is just oneplicated trap?"


    The Fifth Star General, and Duchess of the GEE, Lierin Ianqen, couldn''t help but say after the Emperor spoke. However, Kieran quickly countered with words on the opposite side of the spectrum.


    "Negative. It''s definitely not one.


    Most of us here have been briefed on the existence of the Organisation he''s talking about, and if his track record is anything to go by, his information usually tends to be correct.


    There''s an 80% chance that he speaks the truth."


    "What about the other 20%?"


    "That my judgment of him was wrong. Either that or he has changed in the past year."


    Kieran replied to Lierin''s question calmly, with Bourne also seconding his notion of there not being any foul y on Evan''s part.


    "Sorry to say this Lierin, but your assessment is greatly influenced by your prejudice for GWE nobles."


    Bourne added that little quip on and though Lierin red at him in response, he didn''t seem to mind and returned his gaze to Isaac.


    "What do you think, Beluar?"


    Isaac turned and rolled the ball to Beluar''s court since he was the one whom Evan had requested. After pondering it for a moment, Beluar decided to go, as he wanted to meet with this famed ''Irregr Hero'' who had been making waves for a while now.


    "Is that so? Then good. Kieran, you follow him in case of any unforeseen circumstances."


    "?!"


    "Your Majesty?!"


    The nobles had questions about Isaac''s decision to send two of the three Generals present, but Isaac reminded them of the fact that the First Star was present in the capital.


    "I want to go too."


    When Bourne suddenly said this, Kieran, Beluar and Lierin turned towards him with gazes that asked ''What is this idiot saying?''.


    "On a second thought, I don''t want to go anymore."


    The man very quickly sumbed to the pressure of their gazes, leading the other three Generals to sigh and press their hands to their heads.


    "Now then, all that''s left is for us to get the location. But what did he mean by ''X would mark the spot''?"


    Isaac muttered this under his breath, and all those present shared the same thoughts as the Emperor.


    It didn''t take up to two days for them to have an answer to that question.


    �� �� ��


    "Is this real?"


    "Yes, Your Majesty."


    Emperor Isaac returned his gaze to the newspaper in his hands, pressing his fingers to his forehead as he sighed.


    The Image that covered the front page, was that of two giant inclined icicles, towering over 200 metres tall and crossing each other to form a giant ''X''.


    It was a picture of ''something strange'' that appeared overnight in the outskirt forests of one of the Station Cities in the Southwestern part of the Country.


    "In his defence, he did say that ''X would mark the spot''."


    All the nobles turned towards Bourne with deadpan gazes, and the brown-haired man quickly got the hint.


    "I should probably stop speaking now."


    Isaac sighed once more, before turning towards Beluar and Kieran before saying.


    "Just go."

 Chapter 659 Meanwhile, at the ‘X’.

    <h4>Chapter 659 Meanwhile, at the ��X��. </h4>


    ?State Restaurant


    Egraiby Station City


    GEE


    June 12th


    Year 1053


    "My craftsmanship is impable."


    "Remind me, Evan, why exactly did you sneak out of bedst night to do��that?"


    Eliza questioned her boyfriend, the Hero of Mimicry; Evan, with a very obvious pout on her lips when she saw him looking at the gigantic ''X'' he had created the night before.


    "Hmm? It was so I could get the GEE to know where I was. Didn''t I tell you I needed the Seventh Star General to lock down the space to prevent Maude from escaping again?"


    "You did��you most certainly did."


    ''Ah��she''s pissed. Why?''


    Evan was perceptive enough to realise that Eliza was annoyed, but the boy could not figure out the reason why.


    He didn''t think that the fact that Eliza woke up at midnight and didn''t see him beside her like usual was what ticked her off, Even more so when she saw the giant icicles emerging from the ground under the moonlight and quickly discerned the cause to be him.


    Though he didn''t really understand why she was miffed, he did have to cate her somehow otherwise it''d be hard for them to hold a proper conversation, so he picked up his fork and cut out a slice of the cake in front of them before raising it up in front of her lips.


    "Here, say ''Ahh''."


    "��"


    "Say ''Ahh''."


    "��ahh."


    Even as she ate the cake, her lips were still pouty, but rather than showing that she was still a bit miffed, it only made her appear cute in Evan''s eyes.


    "so cute��"


    And he ended up voicing those thoughts, much to Eliza''s embarrassment.


    Since the reason why she was even annoyed in the first ce wasn''t anything big, added to the fact that Evan fed her some cake, Eliza''s annoyance evaporated pretty quickly and Evan returned the conversation back to its original topic.


    The boy wasn''t worried about the battles that were about to ensue; given he could already wipe the floor with Maude when he was still a Master.


    Now he was even more powerful, so unless Maude went through some strange power-up in the past month, it was impossible for the Soul Damaged woman to best him in battle.


    His main concern wasn''t actually Maude but the person who was going to be with her.


    ''Turned out I already knew about this base, but I didn''t know it was also where Maude was��''


    In the game, their target location was where one particrly annoying character resided��the person who was to rece the Tenth Finger of the Demonic Hand that Rathal killed.


    ''Her backstory stated that they were here as at the Year 1053��''


    The boy sighed softly as he thought about this, and for once, he wished he had not given Luke the Soul Guard belt yet.


    "This isn''t the city you said she was in, right?"


    "yep."


    The Anomalies had stopped Egraiby Station City before Evan had even figured out Maude''s location, and after lodging in a Hotel, he and Eliza went out to find the Demonic Hand Executive.


    Evan wanted to go alone, but Eliza insisted on following him and together, they were able to pinpoint Maude''s location to be near the city of Croville, which was actually some few hundred kilometres from Egraiby.


    On the Map, it was three states away.


    They then returned to Egraiby and that was where Evan did the whole ''X Mark'' thingy, citing that Maude would definitely be suspicious and on guard if something strange suddenly happened in Croville where she was recuperating.


    So, while they waited for Beluar to arrive, they decided to take their sweet time enjoying what the city had to offer.


    Roselia was somewhere inside one of the Train Stations Bookstore areas with Amy, Nadarus was in a Casino in the Red-light district, while the Spirit Trio of Ka, Kuro and Milena were at a horse racing event Ka had dragged them to.


    Evening fell and all except Nadarus returned to their hotel, with the High Demon spending the night at the Casino, ying rounds upon rounds of poker with the Manager who eventually ended up begging him to leave.


    On the next day, they once again dispersed to their various engagements, the only change being Milena went to check on Nadarus while Amy was grabbed by Ka to the horse race.


    Evan and Eliza once again went to that same restaurant they went to the previous day, where the boy suddenly brought out a ck choker and put it on her.


    "What''s this for?"


    The girl could sense strange magic powering from the essory, so she knew it clearly wasn''t normal.


    "Soul Protection."


    It was one of the Artifacts he had picked up on their way to GEE from Tarse after dropping Leviah off.


    Most of the artifacts were types that protected the Soul, and though not as powerful as the Soul Guard belt he gave Luke, they were plenty strong.


    "Your Child of Life protects your soul already, but a little extra protection could not hurt."


    "Is that so��?"


    Knowing Evan, his suddenly bringing this up meant that they were going to deal with an enemy with a Soul Rted power soon.


    "So where''s your own protection?"


    Evan held up both hands after hearing Eliza''s question and listed out the multiple artifacts he had on.


    "I got the Doubler on my right hand and the Recharger on my left. Most of the artifacts I have are bracelet types, so there''s no space��"


    "Show me all the artifacts you have first."


    "Um, Liz. I need to rent out a Warehouse to do that��"


    The sheer number of artifacts that Evan carried in his inventory at all times was enough to crash the artifact market if he was to sell them all at once.


    "I meant all the Soul-rted ones."


    "Oh, that''s doable."


    He pulled out one of his boxes of artifacts from his inventory, taking care to use his concealment skill on it so no one nearby noticed even the slightest energy fluctuation.


    "You''re a hoarder, Evan."


    "I''m not Hoarding, I''m just keeping them to make deals with powerful peopleter on. Like the ''Ink Series'' skill users for example.


    I don''t know why but all of them need to protect their souls from being ''Stained by the Ink of whatever attribute their skill is''; so, if I give them what they want, they''d do favours for me in return."


    "So you''re an artifact trader now?"


    "Yes, call me the ''Soul Merchant''."


    Eliza looked through the box and pulled out a few random ones, before eventually selecting one that could be used as a Bracelet and Armband.


    She fixed it on his upper right arm and it resized to fit his arm.


    "This is quite weird��"


    "Weirdness is secondary, protectiones first."


    The priestess shot down his little concern with her logical argument, and Evan was left without a means to refute her.


    It was then that a waiter came close and asked to take their order, but the instant the man got within a metre of their table, he felt chills down his spine.


    ''The fuck?!''


    He hade close enough that Evan''s concealment wasn''t effective anymore, hence, he was now able to sense the terrifying aura exuded by the box of artifacts on the table.


    "Oh, yeah. We do have to order."


    Evan pulled out the menu from under the table and let the box fall back into his inventory, before flipping through the menu and beginning his order.


    "For starters, give me every single variation of Strawberry Drinks you possess."


    "No, you are NOT going to drink all that, Evan.


    Just give him one wine and one fruit juice."


    Eliza countered his order and the waiter was genuinely confused about who he was supposed to listen to in the situation, especially as Evan didn''t say anything and kept on looking through the menu.


    "Okay, give me items 5,6,7,13. And then get Items 1,3, 8, 10 for her."


    Knowing Eliza''s preferences, he ordered something he knew she would like, down to the drinks before handing the man back the menu.


    "Um��about your drinks?"


    "Huh? Didn''t I say to get me everything ''Strawberry'' you had?"


    "You''re not gonna be able to finish all that Evan."


    Eliza stated once more as she returned the menu to the waiter, and Evan gave a quite unorthodox reply.


    "Clearly not. Though I like strawberries a lot, my stomach has physical constraints, so there''s a limit to how much I can consume at once.


    That''s why I have a fridge in my inventory, so I can take themter."


    "��"


    Both Eliza and the Waiter gave him incredulous looks, with Eliza breaking the silence and saying.


    "It''s your money, do whatever you want."


    "I was nning to. Now get me every strawberry drink on the menu."


    The Waiter nodded and left their table, while internally nning how he was going to get someone else to handle their food delivery.

 Chapter 660 The Dukes Arrive

    <h4>Chapter 660 The Dukes Arrive</h4>


    ?Their food came not too long after and the two of them were about to dig in when they suddenly froze simultaneously.


    "Did you sense that?"


    "Yep. They''re here."


    For a short fraction of a second, their grandmaster-level senses had picked up on a powerful wave of energy suddenly sweeping across Egraiby. Most importantly, the energy they had sensed was ice-attributed.


    Evan dropped his cutlery and picked up a small walkie-talkie from his inventory, pressing a button on the side and speaking into it.


    "Watch thest arriving train, they should be there."


    [Okay, Mr Eris.]


    He tossed it back into his inventory and picked up his cutlery, before cutting out a piece of the steak in front of him and bringing it up to Eliza''s lips.


    "Say ''Ahh''."


    "...seriously?"


    Though she said that, the teenage blonde didn''t reject his offer to feed her, and the way her expression changed the instant she tasted the steak brought a smile to Evan''s face.


    �� �� ��


    While Evan and Eliza were busy flirting with their food, two men walked out of the train that had just arrived at Egraiby''s Station.


    One was a tall man with a short head of ck hair covered by a ck hat and brown eyes, framed by arched eyebrows and adorned in a meticulously tailored ck coat which was decorated with silver embroidery.


    A silver medallion, suspended from a chain, glimmered against the dark fabric, hinting at his noble lineage.


    The other was a tall and well-built man, with shoulder-length deep blue hair which he tied into a low ponytail, with a long bang that reached the middle of his cheek and was split in the middle.


    He had vibrant blue eyes and a fairplexion which served as a canvas for the mesmerizing contrast of his eye-catching features. However, he put on a pair of ck shaded sses to conceal those features, while buttoning the sleeves of his coat.


    Like the person beside him, he wore a long ck overcoat over his suit, with a touch of blue silver embroidery on the chest pocket.


    "So, how are we going to find this kid here? There are far too many A rankers in this city so we can''t use an aura sweep."


    The ck-haired man, Duke Beluar Sarxina, spoke up as he sent a cursory nce around.


    "Hmm?"


    He noticed a chauffeuring up to them, and when he sent a questioning nce in the man''s direction, he stopped and greeted them.


    "Good morning Sirs. May I please ask if you are Sir Kieran and Sir Beluar?"


    "��and what if we are?"


    "Well, I was assigned to help you with your luggage��if any��as well as carry you to the location where a ''Sir Bourne'' is awaiting you."


    Both Kieran and Beluar nced at each other for a moment, before shrugging and turning back to the chauffeur.


    "Lead the way, then."


    "Um, I''d like to see your passes. For both verification and recording, please."


    They gave the man their passes and he nced at them before writing down something on the clipboard he was carrying.


    "This way please, the carriage is parked nearby."


    He led them to the reserved parking and submitted his clipboard at the counter before showing them to their carriage.


    The carriage ride didn''tst up to five minutes, and they arrived at the State Restaurant closest to the Station.


    The moment they got down, there was a waiter standing outside to receive them, and after confirming their identities with the chauffeur, he led them upstairs.


    "Mr Bourne is waiting for you here."


    They arrived at the gallery of the restaurant which was empty, save for the two teenagers who were seated in the middle, having a very random conversation.


    "This Strawberry Milkshake somehow has less sugar than the Strawberry Margarita."


    "How can you even tell that? They both taste the same to me."


    "I''m a Strawberry connoisseur. Such things cannot escape my sight��or taste, in this case."


    Evan confidently dered as he raised the ss up to his lips, but his hand hit the edge of the milkshake ss and caused some of the content to spill towards him.


    Before it could stain his shirt, however, the liquid froze up midway and fell onto hisp harmlessly.


    "Damn, I nearly stained my new outfit."


    Such was his remark as he picked up the frozen milkshake drops and tossed them into his mouth.


    Today, Evan was dressed a bit formally, sporting a ck dress shirt atop a pair of ck trousers and white sneakers.


    He had a jacket to match, but that was currently draped on his chair behind him.


    Eliza inverted his colourbination, wearing a white short- sleeved one-piece dress, with ck shoes to match.


    Her colour choice was quite questionable, considering they were going somewhere where a lot of blood was bound to spill, but she had her ways of making sure it remained white.


    For Evan, however, the white colour only served to remind him of one of his dreaded opponents.


    ''I can beat them in a direct fight, but when their skilles into y, the fight isn''t ''Direct'' anymore.''


    He heaved a light sigh and put down his drink before turning to the two men nearby and speaking.


    "Wee, have a seat. I ordered the Chef''s special for you two."


    Evan wasn''t too surprised that Kieran was present as well, despite the fact that he requested Beluar''s presence, having expected this scenario to a certain extent.


    "It''s been a year since west spoke, d to see you''re in even better Health."


    The boy''s greeting to Kieran was greatly influenced by the man''s new level which he saw after appraising him the instant he entered.


    Kieran had surpassed the Level 500 mark and joined the ranks of Epic Level existences, and this made Evan happy as the stronger his allies were, the better their chances during Tarse''s Disaster.


    "I could say the same about you."


    The Duke took his seat, just in time for the waiters to arrive with his and Beluar''s meal. As he scanned the food with his eyes, Evan did a proper introduction to the other Duke present, while also checking the man''s level.


    ''Damn, Ralphie would wipe the floor with this guy��very easily at that.''


    While he didn''t express those thoughts through his words or demeanour, Eliza somehow guessed what he was thinking and kicked his leg under the table.


    "But why?"


    "You know why. Stopparing people like that."


    Fortunately, or Unfortunately, the two men did not understand what the teenagers were talking about, and it didn''t seem too important so they ignored it.


    "You guys arrived earlier than I expected."


    "Would it not be better to get this over with quickly?"


    "When you put it like that, I can''t help but agree with you."


    Evan replied to Kieran''s words with a shrug, before tapping his hand on the table and creating hologram maps in front of them.


    "Getting down to business, our target is in Croville. I chose here as a meeting point so as not to make them suspicious and on guard."


    Kieran looked at the small map that Evan showed him, and upon seeing the ''X'' marked spot, he couldn''t help but remember the newspaper he had seen the day before.


    "They''re in a forest?"


    "Indeed. When I was in the area, my tracker was directing me to go below, so I''m assuming their base is also underground as well."


    As he spoke, the boy disyed the description of the ''Track Down'' skill for the two men to see, whilst simultaneously checking the archive to see if there was a map of the base.


    ''I had explored it in the game, so I should have a map here, right?''


    He found the map he was looking for pretty quickly and using it, he quickly formted a n for him and his party to storm the base.


    "There are at least a few hundred, possibly a thousand of Demonic Hand members there so you''re going to have your work cut out for you, Sir Beluar."


    Evan took a bite from his meal before questioning Kieran.


    "You can mobilize the military in Croville, right? I''d like you to do that so we''d have more hands on us.


    Not too many soldiers though, a single Company of Elites would do."


    "I thought you nned to handle it all alone?"


    "I did and still can, but I''m considering the possibility of mybat efficiency being reduced after dealing with one of our main targets."


    Although Evan was confident in his power, he didn''t want to take any chances, especially with the Tenth Finger''s recement.


    "The Actual attack wouldmence once I''ve taken out the two main targets��the Executives.


    That''s when the sweep to wipe out the Base would begin, but until then, everyone is to remain outside their detection radius."


    Evan edited the maps he showed them and added a ring around the base area to show how wide the enemy detection radius was.


    They spent the next few minutes finalizing the details of their n, and when they were done, Evan called the rest of his party and together with the two Dukes, they boarded a train headed for Croville all while suppressing their auras.


    With the Train''s speed, the trip barely took an hour, and right after disembarking, Kieran went over to the military barracks in the city to get some soldiers while Evan and the rest moved towards the forest.

 Chapter 661 A Day in the Life of an Average Demonic Hand Member

    Chapter 661 A Day in the Life of an Average Demonic Hand Member


    ??Ninth Division Underground Facility


    Taiga Lion Thicket


    Croville City Outskirts


    June 13th


    Year 1053


    "Hello guys, and wee to my Vlog. Today, we''d be looking at ''A day in the life of the average Demonic Hand Member''.


    Without further ado, let''s get right into it."


    The digital camera that was clearly out of line with Aidos'' current technology hovered over the unsuspecting man while a voice he could not hear gavementary.


    "Here, we have Demonic Hand Mob A. Mob A is an assassin, and not just any assassin, but one with a track record of murdering Parliament members in the Nation of Blend.


    He''s a man on the International Police''s Wanted list; pretty good for a Mob, don''t you think?"


    The man walked into what seemed to be a cafeteria and grabbed some snacks to eat, but not long after, he was hit with the urge to go hit the restroom.


    "Well, clearly he should not have downed a full litre of juice in one go."


    The camera continued following the man, all the way up to the empty restroom, however, it did not follow him into the stall and instead waited for him outside.


    "For the way he ran all the way over here, he finished his business pretty quick. Anyway, he''s going to wash his hands now so how about we go up and talk to him?"


    The camera approached the man washing his hands, and zoomed in on the sink, before zooming back out and facing the mirror.


    As soon as the man turned off the tap, a figure materialized beside him and ced a hand on his shoulder.


    "Sup Bro."


    "?!"


    **WHOOSH! *BAM! *BAMMM!! ***SNAP!!!!


    "Well, Bro clearly didn''t want to be greeted right after taking a piss."


    Thementator remarked calmly as he watched the body of the man fall to the ground, his grip loosening to let the dagger in his hand fall out.


    In that instant that the Assassin had felt a hand on his shoulder, he summoned a dagger coated in a poison potent enough to fell an elephant in seconds, before taking a sonic speed swing to his right.


    However, his target ducked at an even faster speed, before sending a punch to his side and forcing his body to bend awkwardly.


    Before the man could regain himself, two hands grabbed his head and pulled his head right into the path of an oing knee, mming his skull into it with so much force that it rebounded.


    One of the hands then moved over his mouth and covered it while the other grabbed onto his neck.


    While one hand held his neck, the other that was over his mouth, grabbed his face tightly and twisted his neck 270 degrees in one go, with enough force that a shockwave rippled outward and shattered the ss of the mirror in front of him.


    With his neck snapped at a 270-degree angle, the internationally wanted assassin dropped to the ground as a corpse.


    "Well, that''s the end of a day in the life of the average Demonic Hand member; as well as the end of his life. See you all next time."


    The camera went nk after that line was heard, and right after, a patch of darkness opened up mid-air and the camera fell into it.


    "Now, then, let''s change into his clothes."


    Evan spoke as he quickly stripped the man down to his underwear, stuffing his corpse into his inventory after the camera he was using.


    He then changed into the man''s clothes and used Ka''s Body Transformation skill to change his face to resemble the man''s face.


    To be sure, he used a mirror to look it over and confirm everything was the same, before picking up the dagger and walking out of the restroom.


    Just like that, Evan had sessfully taken on the identity of a Demonic Hand member, returning to the cafeteria and finishing the snacks the man had brought out earlier.


    ''Damn, Lethe is a really broken skill.''


    The Skill of the High Dragon Faldo which tormented yers in the game proved its worth even more as it allowed Evan to enter the Underground Facility''s detection range without issues, and even followed in a few Demonic Hand grunts through their secret entrance.


    He moved around for quite a bit, before picking the lone Assassin as a target to impersonate.


    "Now, then. Let''s find our main Targets."


    After finishing the sandwich, he walked out of the cafeteria, nearly bumping into someone on the way out.


    "Huh? Oh, it''s you. Where were you all this while?"


    "Was hungry."


    "Thought you said you could go weeks without eating? Also, are you okay? Your voice sounds weird."


    Clearly, there was no way Evan would be able topletely get the man''s voice after just hearing him speak a few times when he was getting his snacks.


    "I made a little mistake while I was mixing some poisons."


    "Damn, that sounds rough. Hope you get better soon; you sound weird as fuck."


    The other Demonic Hand member spoke as he walked into the cafeteria, and Evan spent a second to consider something before turning back and following him.


    ''Let''s confirm if she''s really here.''


    "Where are Lady Ivloh''s guards? I had a bet with one of them who didn''t believe I could replicate a particr poison blend."


    As Evan asked that, he silently summoned the poisoned dagger and held it behind his back, ready to attack the man if he showed even the slightest sign of confusion regarding who Evan was asking about.


    Luckily, there was no need for that as the man''s reaction was normal.


    "Lady Ivloh''s guards? I don''t know what dealings you have with those ''Barbarians'' but they''re in the left wing, where Lady Ivloh herself resides."


    "Oh, thanks."


    "Yeah, whatever."


    Evan returned the dagger to his inventory and turned around, leaving the cafeteria while mimicking the walking pattern of the Assassin he was impersonating.


    The moment he left the cafeteria, the eyes of the other Demonic Hand member he had just spoken to narrowed slightly.


    ''He seemed a bit off, but everything about him looked normal, even his strangely silent footsteps.


    Maybe he really messed up with his poisons.''


    �� �� ��


    Evan made his way to the left wing after having confirmed that the Tenth Finger''s recement was indeed present within this facility.


    This information, however, made him sigh softly as it meant that he was going to have to expend more energy than nned.


    ''I have to be careful not to alert Maude while I''m dealing with her.''


    He activated Lethe with the intention of sneaking past the Barbarian guards patrolling the perimeter with it. Even with their beast-like senses, none of them could notice Evan move past them.


    ''Damn, these guys are strong. Looks like getting that Company of Soldiers was the right decision.''


    Evan thought to himself as he used blink to teleport past the guards who blocked the hallway with their burly bodies.


    ''If these guys over here are so strong, then how strong are the Barbarians on the Beta Continent? The ''Barbarian King''s Uprising'' is not going to be as easy as I thought.''


    He used the map from the archive to find his way around, but it didn''t take him long to discover a serious problem.


    ''How am I going to find out which room she''s in?''


    Evan looked at the three paths in front of him as he thought this, wondering which one of them led to the area where his target was.


    ''Fuck it. I''d toss a pen and go down the path it points at first; eventually, I''d search all three.''


    Just as he was about to activate his inventory and pull out a pen from it, a clear, bell-like voice rang out from behind him.


    "Hello?"


    ''?!''


    Evan felt a chill run down his spine, with his danger sense skill sending him a low warning when he heard that voice.


    "There''s someone there, right? Your presence is a bit faint so I can barely sense you."


    ''HOW?!


    I''m using Lethe!!!


    So HOW can she tell I''m here?!


    First of all, HOW DIDN''T I NOTICE HER UNTIL SHE GOT CLOSE??!!''


    He was 100% sure that the voice was speaking to him, after all, he was the only other person within a 50-metre radius.


    Evan took a deep breath, before slowly turning around and pointing to himself with a confused expression on his face, however, he quickly realised that was pointless.


    After all, the person standing about five metres from him, could not physically see him.


    It was a young teenage girl, with pale white skin and long silver-


    white hair. Her long flowing hair was kept loose, but from neck down it was styled in a considerable braid which she kept over her shoulder.


    Her outfit consisted of a long one-piece dress that reached below her knees, and a pair of white boots underneath.


    She had zero essories on her, save for the ck blindfold that covered her eyes, with a single white diamond in the centre of the fabric, right over her nose.


    "Um��can you help me lift this?"


    The girl tilted her head to the side as she asked, facing Evan''s direction even though she could not see him with her eyes.


    Evan once again breathed in as he walked towards her and grabbed the 36 x 42x 32 box she was holding in her hands.


    "Certainly, Lady Ivloh."


    The boy yed the part of a Demonic Hand member, relieving her of the load, to which she thanked him with a bright smile; one that made her beauty very evident even though her eyes were covered.


    "Follow me."


    Evan followed behind her as she led him towards her quarters, whilst silently wondering what was in the box he was carrying.


    "Come to think of it, why was your presence so faint?"


    "Ah, that''s probably because of my ss''s passive Skill. It makes my presence weaker than normal."


    He answered with a lie he thought of on the spot, and the girl, ''Lady Ivloh'', sped her hands together with an amazed expression.


    "That sounds cool."


    "It''s nothing much, Lady Ivloh."


    As he followed her, Evan pulled up all the details he had on this woman, the person who was ted to rece the Tenth Finger of the Demonic Hand, one of the priestesses of the Beta Continent''s Barbarian Tribes: Agnes Ivloh Lusos.


    ''Her name certainly fits her. Her looks and overall demeanour give off that ''Pure'' maiden vibes.''


    "ce it in this room."


    Evan looked up from the archive and stepped into the door she had opened up, cing the box down in the designated location while Agness skipped to a nearby chair and sat down.


    "Is there anything else, Lady Ivloh?"


    "Yes, just one thing I''m curious about. Come closer, would you?"


    Wondering what other question she had, Evan closed the distance between them, stopping when he was about a metre away and dropping on one knee.


    "How may I be of assistance?"


    "You see��I''m very curious."


    Agnes pulled her seat forward and reached out to Evan, cing her palm on his cheeks before continuing her words with her soft, sweet voice.


    "I''m very curious how you managed topletely replicate this man''s appearance, Evan Eris."

 Chapter 662 Agnes Ivloh

    Chapter 662 Agnes Ivloh


    ??HOW?


    That was the single word that popped up in Evan''s mind at that moment.


    "I''m very curious how you managed topletely replicate this man''s appearance, Evan Eris."


    Agnes'' words echoed in his ears over and over, like a song on repeat.


    It was one thing if she knew that the person in front of her was an impostor, after all, she may have personally known the assassin whom Evan was impersonating and noticed something off since Evan could not fully replicate his behaviour.


    ''But she called my name.''


    This was where Evan''s confusion stemmed from. The fact that Agnes knew it was him who was right in front of her.


    All these thoughts of his, however, took no more than a second in reality due to his Time Difference.


    "Huh? Evan Eris? Isn''t that the Hero who interfered with our ns in Lacertilia?! Where is he?!"


    Evan acted all surprised and confused, silently preparing his Inventory Skill''s Apport feature as he got up to his feet and looked around the room.


    "Wow��impressive."


    Agnes pped with an amused smile on her face, as if she had just been treated to a top-notch performance.


    "Your acting is quite good, magnificent, even.


    It would have certainly fooled anyone."


    With a calm smile on her face, Agnes continued.


    "Anyone who isn''t me, that is."


    "��"


    The room turned silent at that moment, and Evan slowly moved his right hand towards his side.


    ''Unforged? No��the distance and my stance would make it hard to get a clean swing. In that case��''


    His Inventory skill was activated and the poisoned dagger he had gotten from the assassin he killed manifested in his hand.


    Concealment activated and nketed the entire room, preventing any energy fluctuations from leaking out as he swung the dagger at supersonic speed, aiming for the side of Agnes'' head.


    **WHOOSH!


    However, his hand shed through empty air, with the tip slicing the blindfold on her eyes and causing the piece of cloth to fall to the ground.


    Agnesnded on the floor a few metres away, an expression of what appeared to be surprise on her face as she held up her hands to her face, trying to see if the blindfold was still there.


    With that piece of cloth gone, Evan could now see Agnes'' full facial features, and once again, the boy felt that she was truly beautiful.


    But even though the blindfold was not there anymore, he could not see her eyes as they remained covered by her eyelids.


    "Wow��you''re faster than I remember.


    I guess I can''t read your ''Soul Metadata'' properly in this body��I misjudged your speed, after all."


    "��"


    Evan narrowed his eyes when he heard her speak of his ''Soul Metadata''. Once again, the question of ''HOW?'' crossed his mind for more reasons than once.


    ''She was able to bypass my Soul/Spiritual Resistance?


    More importantly, her eyes are closed so how can she do this?''


    As soon as he thought this, Agnes tilted her head to the side with a finger on her lips as she spoke.


    "You seem��surprised?


    It''s small, but it''s certainly there. Just heavily overshadowed by your calm.


    You''re impressing me once again; most people would not be able to stay as calm as you in such a situation."


    The teenage girl ced her hands behind her back as she turned her head around the room, as if ''looking'' at the veil of Evan''s concealment skill around it.


    "About your surprise, am I right in saying it''s because you didn''t expect me to read your Soul Metadata?


    There does seem to be something obscuring my ''sight'', preventing me from reading everything.


    It does not appear to being from inside you, so it''s not your Soul''s base resistance��perhaps an artifact? Your right arm and chest area are very blurry to me so I assume the artifact is somewhere there.


    It''s very good, where did you get it? I''d like to get one for myself too."


    She was quite��talkative, more so than Evan recalled from the game.


    Nevertheless, her chatty attitude wasn''t his main concern, but the fact that she had clearly admitted to having read his soul just now.


    "What''s wrong? I was told that you had a lot of information about the Demonic Hand. I assume that extended to me as well, given my current affiliation with them.


    Still, you seem surprised that I was able to read your Soul''s Metadata."


    Agnes ced a hand on her chin and sunk into her thoughts for a moment, beforeing to a realisation as she looked to where Evan was standing and asked.


    "Perhaps��did you also fall for my bluff that I needed to ''open my eyes'' to be able to see Souls?"


    The instant she said that, Evan''s eyes widened lightly, and despite not being able to physically see him as her eyes were closed, Agnes noticed this.


    "Ah, your surprise just increased. So, you did fall for that bluff as well."


    Evan''s expression turned dark upon hearing this. No one needed to tell him that he was encountering something that wasn''t in ''Aidos Online''.


    Agnes Ivloh was born blind.


    But in return forcking conventional sight, she gained the ability to see people''s Souls; the roots of their existences.


    There was a constant flow of energy from her energy core to her eyes that allowed her to see people''s souls.


    However, this ability came with severe strain; Physical, Mental and Spiritual.


    Hence, the reason why she began closing her eyelids to ''shut and Spiritual.


    Hence, the reason why she began closing her eyelids to ''shut off'' this ability. This served as a solution until she began levelling up and getting stronger.


    The ability also got stronger, to the point where she could still see Souls even though her eyes were closed.


    Naturally, her sight was a lot less ''blurry'' when her eyes were open, but it was still there.


    Agnes didn''t tell anyone about this upgrade in her ability and instead chose to begin using the blindfold that Evan had just cut off.


    The blindfolds she used all had special enchantments affixed, via the diamonds on them.


    The reason she had for getting them was that ''making a conscious effort to close her eyes at all times was taxing on her mentally'', so no one found out she could still see souls even with her eyes closed.


    She, a ''Living Legend'' Arcane Enchanter and another Priestess of the Barbariansbined efforts to create these enchanted blindfolds, so as to prevent her from seeing Souls.


    Finally, with thisbination, her ''sight'' was blocked off��


    ��Until she became a grandmaster, that is.


    Her eyes grew stronger, such that she could still see the outlines of souls even as her blindfold was on.


    But as the power increased, she gained increased control.


    Agnes believed that the reason she could see souls was due to the fact that her ''Special Eyes'' were constantly infused with magic power 24/7.


    She had no way of shutting off the flow, and could only reduce it to the bare minimum, unlike Evan and the other Heroes who could shut off the energy flow to their eyes and deactivate their Mystic Eyespletely.


    Upon reaching the Grandmaster Level of existence, she realised she had been going about things the wrong way.


    Evan could use magic power and aura to power his eyes, David did the same with Ether and Aura, since he did not possess magic power.


    Agnes believed that her ability ran on magic power, so she was so focused on trying to restrict that magic power flow��not realising that all the magic power did, was augment the real energy that powered her eyes.


    Soul Power.


    The reason why she could never shut off her eyes, was because she tried to shut off the magic power and not the Soul Power.


    This was why it was taxing on her Spiritually, to see other people''s souls. Because she expended her Soul Power to do this.


    Being able to convert the power of your soul into tangible energy to manipte was something only an abysmally low percentage of people could do.


    Agnes'' ability did this for her by default, but she was not able to manipte the energy herself.


    It was only after gaining grandmaster-level status and discovering the existence of this extra energy in her body, that she was finally able to shut off her ability.


    But like before, she told no other soul about this.


    The Blindfold she had on wasn''t really necessary, but she kept it up.


    When she was younger and first gained this ability, she had revealed too much about it and it caused people to fear her.


    "Even my own parents were wary of me. Couldn''t me them though, it was an instinctive human reaction. Or would I say ''High-Human'' reaction?"


    Agnes could tell from the fluctuations of energy around one''s soul, what they were feeling.


    Love, Hatred, Desire, Greed, and many more.


    People wouldn''t really like the fact that their emotions could be read, after all.


    She kept up the blindfolds to allow people to keep believing she could only use the power when she had taken off the blindfold and her eyelids were opened.

 Chapter 663 Long Overdue Fear

    Chapter 663 Long Overdue Fear


    ??"Considering even my own parents don''t know this, I guess it was a bit too much for me to expect you to know, regardless of how you attain your information.


    You can''t me me for keeping my expectations high, though��you have exceeded them over and over again."


    Agnes spoke as she slowly walked back to her seat, and in turn, closer to where Evan was standing.


    "Due to repeated use of my ability even with my blindfold on, causing my Soul Power to have to prate the resistance on them each time I used it; it became kind of like a workout for my Soul Power.


    Making it stronger, and stronger, and one day, I realised I could now ''Appraise'' people''s souls."


    She casually revealed how she had gained enough soul power to be able to read Soul Metadata, allowing her to know one''s existence level, down to the stage they were in as well as gain vague estimations of their stats just by looking at their Souls.


    "Well, I could always tell people''s existence levels from the get-go. I ended up revealing a few spies in my Tribe when I was younger because of this.


    I could also tell when someone had a skill activated. The ''Shine'' on a soul is different when a skill is active, after all.


    Even if it''s a concealment skill."


    However, with the improvement to her ability, she was now able to see the number of Skill Runes on people''s souls.


    Reading Soul Metadata to ''Appraise'' them, detecting Existence levels and stages, estimating stats and telling the number of skills��were all things no one knew she could do.


    But Evan was different. He knew she could do some of these things since he had fought against her in the game when she became the new ''Tenth Finger''.


    What Evan did not know, was the fact that she could do this even with her eyes closed.


    She had never told anyone this, nor had she given any hint that she could do this. She also made no mention of the existence of her Soul Power.


    This was why the simtion of the future that Evan had yed in the form of ''Aidos Online'', did not have these pieces of information.


    Secondly, Evan greatly underestimated how much stronger than normal her soul was.


    Evan himself had a powerful soul, something he could feel all too clearly since he had been conscious of his Soul right from the moment he was put into a different body.


    With a powerful soul, came greater resistance to soul-based abilities.


    He then had increased Spiritual Resistance due to Adaptive Evolution, and he also had a Soul Protection artifact on.


    Yet, with all of this, Agnes could still read Evan''s Soul Metadata��though she was off by 50 levels worth of stats.


    "I think I''d be able to get a full ''Appraisal'' If use my eyes fully, but I''d leave that forter. I want to talk to you, after all."


    Agnes was calmly seated no less than two metres away from someone who came to kill her, and she even stated she wanted to talk to him��this made Evan wary, wondering if she was buying time for guards to get closer but she dismissed that concern.


    "I ordered them not to get within a certain range of my room unless I said otherwise. And normally, nothing should have been able to pass, except for you who possesses a very strange concealment-type skill."


    An evidence of her reduced efficiency due to her eyes being closed, was the fact that she mistook ''Lethe'' and ''Concealment'' to be the same skill due to their very simr natures.


    "Ah, don''t move too much, I''m trying to grasp your current appearance. Your soul is a lot different from thest time I saw it, after all."


    Agnes could not see how Evan looked physically, but she could still tell how he looked.


    One''s default physical Appearance was based on their Soul''s Metadata, just like their skills which were runes on their souls were reflected on their physical bodies.


    Evan knew this as well since he was inhabiting a body that was originally someone else''s.


    His soul influenced the body and caused some of its physical features to change and match his original body''s features.


    His facial features had changed slightly, his hair colour had be a bit lighter, and his voice had also changedpletely.


    But since ''Evankhell'' and ''Evansen'' already looked simr, these changes were treated by people as him ''growing up''.


    Especially with his voice; most just assumed puberty had hit.


    Some things stayed the same as ''Evansen'', like his grey eye colour. That couldn''t be passed off as ''growth'' after all.


    Getting back to Agnes, her ability to read people''s Soul Metadata, was what she used to tell how Evan looked.


    This was part of why she knew the person in front of her was Evan.


    She had seen Evan before, many times even; over the course of the past year.


    "Year 1052 June 5th.


    That was the first time I saw you��you didn''t know I was nearby though."


    The date she called was one Evan knew very well; it was the day of the Celebratory Ball after the ''Duhan Attack''.


    "I was with that ''Old Timer'' when he got news of your location, but since he could not do anything because of the Old and Powerful Souls I saw under the Royal Pce, he stormed off angrily.


    I just told him to drop me there so I could sneak in and see you in person."


    Agnes revealed where she had first seen Evan, as well as some other piece of information that made the boy stop his attempt to close the distance and put his weapon back into his inventory.


    He appraised the teenager in front of him and aside from discovering she and Eliza were both sixteen, he also noted she did not possess the designation of ''Enemy of Aidos''.


    Meaning that even if she had been right next to him that day, his Hero title would not have made a peep.


    ''So, she''s one of the ''Misguided Ones'' that Aidos talked about��''


    But more importantly, she also revealed she was with someone she called an ''Old Timer'' and that person wanted to do ''something'' after finding out his location.


    ''The ''Old Timer'' is definitely the First Finger, and the reason why he could not do anything was because of the ''Old and Powerful Souls'' she saw under the Royal Pce.


    My guess is those are the Sovereign Level Existences of the GWE.''


    However, Evan felt cold sweat dripping down his back upon hearing this.


    ''The First Finger is a very busy person, so I had put the probability of himing after me in person to be very low.


    But I seem to have neglected the part where he''s also very decisive as well.''


    It just so happened that the First Finger was less busy, and he knew where Evan was at the same time.


    ''That means that the First Finger was in Gerfast on that night��


    if the GWE Sovereigns were not present��.''


    Though a whole year had passed since then, the long overdue feeling of fear was now just hitting Evan.


    While Evan was drenched in cold sweat, Agnes continued speaking like she could not ''see'' the slight fear that had manifested through his soul fluctuations.


    "When I first saw your soul, I was��shocked. My shock then turned into intrigue.


    Your soul was��Unique."


    Agnes seemed to be lost for words to use and describe how Evan''s soul had appeared to her.


    "It was so Strong, and it carried so many skills with so much energy within it.


    It caught my attention immediately, like a drop of ck ink on a white canvas."


    She thought she would have had to search quite a bit to find Evan, but the moment she entered the hall, she spotted him instantly.


    "Your Soul''s Uniqueness intrigued me��it''s appearance stuck to my memory like glue.


    The same way you remember physical appearances you see with your eyes; is the way I remember souls I see.


    That''s why I knew it was you from the very instant I saw you in the hallway."


    Resting her chin in her palms she propped up her elbows up on herps and leaned forward, as if she was trying to get a closer ''look'' at Evan.


    "It''s much stronger now. It holds far more energy, and even different racial factors as well.


    It also seems to have more wisps of World Law powers. Last time it was just destruction and one other strange greyish Law power, but now there are two more."


    Evan blinked at Agnes in confusion, wondering if it was truly his soul she was looking at. He was genuinely confused as the only World Law that should be near his soul was that of Destruction.


    ''What are the other three she''s talking about?''


    The answers were very simple, and if Evan sat down for a moment to dwell on it, he would have arrived at the answers.


    One was the Law of Knowledge��a Law heavily involved in the creation of the Reincarnated Hero System.


    The other was the Law of Evolution, and thest was a little bit of Causality��due to his Irregr Status.


    "I''m talking a lot, aren''t I? But you can''t me me, I''m very excited to finally speak with you after watching you all this while."

 Chapter 664 Well someone has a ‘Stalker’…

    Chapter 664 Well someone has a ��Stalker����


    ??"I''m talking a lot, aren''t I? But you can''t me me, I''m very excited to finally speak with you after watching you all this while."


    "��"


    Evan didn''t know where to start getting surprised from; the fact that she was excited to see him, or the part where she casually admitted to having been stalking him for ''a while''.


    ''I''m genuinely scared to know how long this ''while'' really was.''


    "I spent a lot of time over the past year wondering how and why your soul was so unique but I couldn''te to an answer."


    Agnes poked a finger in the air and generated a little projection of the Symbol in his eyes as she spoke.


    "At first, I questioned if it was because you were a Hero, but I''ve seen other Heroes as well.


    Their Souls weren''t Unique like yours and they didn''t intrigue me so much.


    When Abby and I met, I took a good look at her Soul and though it was certainly interesting in ''more ways than one'', it wasn''t as Unique as yours.


    David''s soul was strangelycking magic power, but that wasn''t anything too interesting for me."


    She looked ''bored'' when she spoke about David''s soul, and that ''bored'' look changed to one of slight ''disgust'' when she spoke of a name Evan didn''t know.


    "Even that idiot Orvis wasn''t interesting��his soul was just old."


    ''Orvis!!''


    Evan just reaped a little boon from letting her drone on. He had gained information about the name of another Hero she had seen��Orvis.


    But the real piece of information was not the name, but what she said after.


    ''She said his soul was ''Old''.


    That can only mean one thing��''


    The soul in the body of the person called ''Orvis'' was one of the previous ''Seven Heroes'' of a thousand years ago!


    Whichever Hero that was, it was someone who had seeded in possessing a new body!


    ''I expected this, but it seems I have to be more careful when I go to the Beta Continent.''


    Seeing that Agnes appeared to hold him in high regard and was still very amicable despite the fact that he just tried to kill her not too long ago, Evan decided to see if he could get more information.


    "What about Abigail��was her Soul ''Old'' as well?"


    "Hmm? Why are you asking about her?"


    Evan felt the ambient temperature in the room suddenly drop, as well as Agnes'' lips curled down into a frown.


    "You''re curious about her?"


    "��"


    Though he remained silent, Time Difference was active and he was trying to figure out a reason for her sudden change in mood. But after several seconds of pondering, the conclusion he came to was simple.


    ''She''s annoyed that I''m asking about Abigail.


    But why?''


    Now that was a question that even Agnes didn''t know the answer to.


    "I''d much rather talk more about your soul than about Abby."


    "Is that so��but I think I''ve heard enough about mine. Don''t you think the same?"


    "Enough? I personally don''t think it''s enough, but if you say so."


    Agnes shrugged as if she wasn''t bothered by this, leaning back onto her seat and ''looking'' at Evan.


    "As much as I''d like to talk to you more��you don''t seem to share the same sentiment."


    This much was obvious from the start, as from the very beginning, Evan was here to kill her due to how much of a future threat she was.


    He did gain some information after letting her talk, but his goal hadn''t changed.


    "That ''Old Timer'' also wants you dead as well. A pity he can''t do much personally as he''s busy with that Fake Hero project of his.


    Even if he wasn''t, he can''t get too close to you now that you''re an Irregr, or your nature which messes with ambientws would cause problems for the ''World Formation'', of which, he''s the ''Central Node''."


    Considering Agnes wasn''t officially a Demonic Hand Executive, she sure knew a lot of information about the Demonic Hand''s World Formation, as well as the fact that each Executive was a Node in this Formation.


    ''But what''s this about not being able to get close to me? Kethryllia and Maude were very fine being near me.


    Is there something about the Irregr title that interferes with the World Formation?


    But the ''Second Finger'' is also a Node AND an Irregr to boot. That can''t be the case.


    So, what is it?''


    Agnes didn''t let Evan''s thoughts continue for long, breaking him out of them with her next words.


    "The Demonic Hand wants you dead, but personally, I prefer you to be very much alive. I''d like to study your Soul a lot more.


    But it would be a problem if you kept on messing with their ns so I''m kind of at a loss here��"


    Though she said that, the smile she wore made Evan feel that she really wasn''t ''at a loss''.


    He slowly dipped his hand into his inventory and when she saw the light of the skill rune on Evan''s soul, she smiled wryly and spoke.


    "In the end, it alles down to violence."


    "��"


    The Room was silent for a second, and Evan infused more magic power into his concealment.


    ''Alright, I should not let her open her eyes or use her BFC.''


    ''He probably doesn''t want me to open my eyes. I wonder how much he knows about my abilities?''


    Just as Agnes thought that, her lower body''s temperature suddenly dropped.


    For half a second she was genuinely confused, but in the other half, she realised that Evan had instantly frozen her body in ice, faster than she could react.


    Moreover, the ice was spreading fast.


    ''Pyrofare. Spiral mes.''


    mes burst from her body, melting the ice in an instant and freeing her body so she could jump back to gain distance.


    However, Evan was already right in front of her, his sword shing down with the intent to split her body in two.


    "?!"


    Danger Sense rang an rm and Evan turned his de at thest moment, bringing it down to cut the stream of fire that spiralled in from his side.


    Agnes took that chance to jump back a few metres, while Evan also blinked out of the way to avoid the two other fire magic spells that followed.


    He didn''t let them hit the ground as that would give Agnes a smoke screen she could move around in, so he deployed Elemental Shields around the projectiles and let them explode inside the shields.


    Looking to the side, he saw the person who had fired those spells from his right��was Agnes.


    This didn''t make sense since Agnes was supposed to be in front of him, and not to his right.


    "Clones?"


    "Not quite. It''s a Homunculus."


    The other ''Agnes'' walked up to the original one and she grabbed its hand, turning the entire body into a wax-like liquid which she absorbed through her hands in just a few seconds.


    Seeing her do this, Evan came to a realisation.


    "You��this isn''t your real body."


    "Hmm? Didn''t I tell you from the start? That I can''t clearly read your soul in ''this body''."


    Agnes tilted her head as she spoke, but she very quickly shrugged before pinching her dress and spinning around, as if wanting Evan to check her out.


    "How do you like it? Abby was making a Homunculus for something so I had her make one for me as well.


    It''s an exact copy of my real body."


    ''Abigail Lowe! What are you doing?!''


    Right now, Evan wanted nothing more but to question his fellow Hero on why she was aiding a Demonic Hand affiliate to get a second body.


    Too bad Abigail was on another continent.


    As he was thinking about how he was going to make Abigailpensate him for the trouble, Agnes released a burst of energy from her body.


    Magic, Aura, Ether.


    These three energies burst out simultaneously, with the intention to distract Evan and prevent him from noticing her increasing the concentration of Soul Power in her eyes.


    But since her magic power augmented her Soul Power, Evan noticed it all the same as the magic power concentration around her eyes increased exponentially.


    Without hesitation, the boy took action.


    Evan''s body ''disappeared'' as heunched his body at near sonic speed, the world around him slowing down as he saw Agnes'' eyelids slowly start opening.


    While her ''Soul Sight'' became stronger when she opened her eyes, this wasn''t the only thing that happened.


    Her eyes being open was the requirement for her to use her other abilities��the kind that were very useful inbat.


    Agnes used the energy she released to deploy multiyered barriers to slow Evan, but with Pierce Guard, all those barriers were pierced through like a knife through a tissue.


    However, her goal was to ''slow him down'', not to ''stop him''.


    The half-second she bought with those barriers, was enough for her to fully open her eyes and lock gazes with Evan.


    Agnes'' eyes were a beautiful greyish-white colour that fit her perfectly.


    When she smiled at Evan with those eyes, his vision went ck.


    "Soul Duel."


    Evan''s vision returned, and he found himself within apletely white space. It reminded him of the time when he first met Artemisia, as the goddess'' Domain was very simr in appearance to this.


    ''Come to think of it, she hasn''t been around for some time now��''


    That thought crossed his mind as he looked around him, before clicking his tongue and muttering three words.


    "Fucking Battlefield Creation."


    Evan turned his gaze to the front and saw Agnes standing there, dressed in white as usual and with a calm smile on her face.


    "Wee, to the Realm of my Soul, Evan Eris.


    Here, we can ''Duel'' without any obstructions or third-party interferences."


    She took a step forward, but her feet never touched the ground; instead, she ascended to the sky as if she were walking on an invisible flight of stairs.


    "It''s just that there''s a slight problem for you though.


    As this is the realm of my Soul; Here, my Word is Law."


    Agnes stated calmly as she floated in the air, snapping her fingers and causing the white space they were in to undergo a transformation.


    Within seconds, they were now within a ''City''. High-rise buildings everywhere, factories in the distance and an intricatework of streetsbined together to form thisndscape which seemed to stretch endlessly.


    Agnes looked down at Evan on the ground, her gaze at him as serene as ever as she dered.


    "Within this realm; I am god."

 Chapter 665 Soul Battle I (Agnes’ POV)

    Chapter 665 Soul Battle I (Agnes�� POV)


    ??''I knew.''


    **BOOOMMM!!!!!


    mming through the roof of the high-rise building, and crashing through all twenty floors down into the ground was the frail-looking body of a teenage girl.


    ''I knew he had gotten stronger.''


    A golden serpentine dragon smashed through the walls of the copsing building and snapped her up in its jaws, biting down on her body as it carried her out at supersonic speed all while charging up energy within its maw.


    ''I could see the power his soul held; I could see he had many more skills.''


    ***BOOOOOMMMM!!!!!


    A deafening explosion, a cacophony of destructive force, echoed through the empty city as the serpentine dragon released a st of power that exploded upon contact with her body, erupting in a spectacr disy of magic energy.


    The shockwaves rippled through the urbanndscape, shattering high-rise buildings like delicate ss sculptures. The city''s towering edifices sumbed to the whims of this fantastical force, disintegrating into cascading showers of shimmering debris.


    ''But to think it was to this extent!!''


    In a mesmerizing disy of prismatic me explosions, vivid hues of magical energy engulfed the skyline, refracting in a dazzling array of colours.


    Such was the sight I was greeted with as I felt my body crash to the ground, beaten and battered all over.


    A person appeared in my field of view, and though he was very high up in the sky, I could perceive his appearance as clear as day.


    Since this was my Soul Realm, I could give myself normal ''sight'', allowing me to see how he looked without having to read his soul''s metadata.


    ck hair with a few white highlights, a handsome face that I was sure made girls all over swoon when graced with a smile, and striking grey eyes that resembled my own.


    His whole body was coated in a thinyer of crimson gold light, and this light caused the surrounding space to distort.


    ''He''s damaging my soul realm with his mere presence��it''s interfering with my control.''


    "So even an explosion with the force of a nuclear weapon couldn''t take you out, huh? Well, that''s expected, considering you''re a grandmaster as well.


    I need something more concentrated to kill you."


    The moment those words reached my ears, my instincts screamed at me to get away from where I was.


    I obeyed them, forcing my wounded body up and rolling out of the way, just in time to avoid the dozen or so holes that were suddenly sted open on the ground where I was a second ago.


    The shockwaves knocked me aside and sent me flying, but I exerted my control over the surrounding space and stabilized my body beforending on my feet.


    "Burst Cannon + Concealment and you still detected them? This ability to see souls that you have is quite annoying."


    **BAMM!!


    He dropped to the ground in the same spot he had just rained down ''something'' on, kicking up a cloud of dust and dirt in the process.


    "?!"


    I immediately leapt into the air the moment I saw his Soul glow slightly, avoiding the condensed beam of prismatic mes that were released from a portal right in front of him.


    ''I cannot sense his skill activations. The only thing that lets me know he''s using a skill is the fact that I can see the glow of the runes on his soul.''


    Deciding that grounding myself wasn''t exactly the best idea now, I stayed airborne and kept my eyes trained on him while noting my current energy levels.


    My Level was 350, and I was only an Intermediate Grandmaster, but I possessed an energy stat of S.


    Normally, Level 300s had stats at the A rank, and mage sses on my level who had more energy had A+ ranks.


    ''But the reason why I have so much energy is because of my abundant Soul Power. Which in turn, is because my soul is STRONG.''


    My Ability which let me see souls caused me to have a greater understanding of Soul Strength than most people.


    ''I''m sure that he also realises that as well. He can tell how strong my Soul is.''


    Looking at the soul of the boy named ''Evan Eris'' was something I could never get tired of. From its Uniqueness to its high Skill Capacity or the Law energies in it.


    ''His soul is STRONG. Even Stronger than mine, but the gap isn''t so much that it''s not salvageable.


    It''s a gap I can make up for, with my Soul Power.''


    Holding my hand to my chest, I could feel the pain that the destructivew essence that he constantly emanated caused my soul.


    It was something that was very hard to heal, although I knew that the fact that could even heal from it in the first ce was due to my ownw essence.


    "You really are strong, Evan Eris."


    "I know."


    Evan closed the distance that separated us in a split second, and by the next, his sword was already thrusting towards me, releasing a mass of spiralling energies.


    ''Multi-Barrier.''


    I quickly created a barrier of Soul Power and Ether to block the attack, adding over a dozenyers despite knowing he would be shredding through it all in the next second.


    ''Soul Chains''.


    Patches in space opened up around me and greyish white chains of soul power shot out towards Evan, forcing him to teleport to keep them from ensnaring him.


    With a snap of my fingers, the chains redirected themselves through the air and charged towards him, coated in potent life and deathw essences.


    Although Evan teleported all around and even tried using that Concealment skill of his, he could not hide from me.


    This was my Soul Realm, hiding from me was impossible here.


    "You''re not the only one who can chain things."


    The moment he said that, he released his own flood of crimson gold chains, ones I remember seeing him use against that White Dragon he killed in Lacertilia.


    I multiplied the number of my chains and he replicated my actions.


    Within seconds, the whole area was filled with the sounds of chains nking against each other.


    Just when I was deliberating on what skill to use next, I sensed something wrapped around my stomach.


    ''Huh?''


    My vision blurred and it took me a moment to realise that he had snuck a chain around my torso and used it to drag me all the way over to him.


    I had no intention of delivering myself to him on a silver tter so I prepared two iterations of the Fire Magic: Spiral mes spell on both of my hands as fast as I could, ready tounch sts of mes towards him when I felt my both arms suddenly freeze up.


    ''His ice skill!''


    He easily neutralized my spells and I had no time to conjure up another one.


    My body mmed into his, and almost immediately, I felt his arm wrap around my waist and pull my body even closer to him as if he were trying to glue us together.


    ''Ah, his chest is��firm��''


    *BA-THUMP!


    ''Huh?''


    Although I was confused by this sudden strange sensation that filled me when I felt my chest press up against his, I did not forget the fact that currently, Evan was trying to kill me.


    So, I deployed multiple barriers at my back to block the dagger which he was about to use and stab me in the heart, though that did little other than slow him down.


    ''He seems to have some sort of skill that lets him prate barriers��''


    In the same moment I thought that, I quickly cast a dual lightning magic spell, with rings of white light manifesting around my wrists and crackling white lightning bursting forth from my palms.


    **BOOMM!!


    I sent one lightning strike to hit the dagger and knock it out of his hands, while the other was fired towards him to knock his body off me. His vice-like grip on me seemed to have loosened up when the first bolt hit his wrist and the dagger, so I was able to easily escape and warp myself a good distance away.


    "That feeling��I liked it��OW!"


    A sudden surge of pain snapped me out of my daze and I looked down to see that parts of my clothes had been ''destroyed'' and I was bleeding on my skin.


    ''He did pull me close while having that destructive aura around him. It makes sense I took more damage.''


    I quickly healed myself with Soul Power, ''recreating'' my ''clothes'' as well in that same moment. Since both Evan and I were here with Spiritual Bodies, our ''clothes'' could be very easily manipted like this.


    His clothes appeared to have changed from what he was wearing outside as well, and he was now dressed in a ck dress shirt tucked into simrly coloured suit trousers.


    Mine remained the same, but they not only served to cover my ''body'', but as an armour to protect me from his destructive energy.


    ''That isn''t working out well though��''


    Evan jumped out of the cloud of dust he created when he crashed to the ground, before charging straight at me with his sword in hand.


    In response, I crafted a de of soul power andw essence, kicking off the ground and leaping up to meet him.


    ? ? ?


    Hey y''all, it''s your friendly neighbourhood author, _michael here.????


    So, I''ve been meaning to ask this, but do you guys have any problems with the story so far?


    Is there anything about it you don''t like and all?


    What aspects do you want me to improve on going forward?


    Please let me know in thements. Your input would be greatly appreciated.


    Thanks for your understanding and I look forward to you continuing on our Reincarnated Hero''s journey.


    This has been _michael.


    Over and Out!???

 Chapter 666 Soul Battle II (Agnes’ POV)

    <h4>Chapter 666 Soul Battle II (Agnes�� POV)</h4>


    Our sh was a dance of opposing forces. My White sword coated in a serene grey light, met Evan''s de bathed in crimson gold light.


    I wasn''t really the best at meleebat, I could at least hold my own long enough to keep him busy and give me time to prepare spells��is what I originally thought but I quickly realised how much of a herculean task that was.


    Evan''s sword strikes were fast, heavy and precise, all aimed for vitals and primed to deal as much damage as possible.


    Supersonic shes echoed through the air as we flew, breaking through the rubble of the buildings destroyed earlier by Evan.


    We hurled powerful magic spells at each other, each strike threatening to crumble the already ruined structures beneath us.


    I summoned my magic power to aid me as fast as I could, attempting to conjure a spell of fire but Evan''s sword sliced through my spell circles before I could even finish the casting process.


    In a battle like this, the few seconds I spent casting were more than enough time for Evan to destroy my spell circles and return to attacking me with plenty of time to spare.


    ''But this is my Soul Realm. My Spells can be conjured anywhere I want!''


    With that internal deration, a dozen fire spell circles emerged around Evan and released spirals of intense mes towards him. The heat distorted the air around us as the fire converged on his position, forcing him to deftly weave through the scorching inferno.


    For a moment, I was mesmerized by the sight of him weaving through the mes with his wings, but I quickly snapped out of it and released another spell.


    "Fire Magic: Crimson ws."


    And another.


    "Fire Pir."


    And another.


    "Aerial Mine."


    Pirs of mes shot up from the ground and surged towards the sky, attempting to consume Evan from below, and even though he moved to dodge, he entered the range of the aerial mines and detonated them.


    ''It''s not enough''.


    I held up my hands and conjured a three-ringed magic circle, which gave birth to a ball of hyper-condensed mes.


    The bright ball of mes increased in size and dispersed an extraordinary amount of violent and hot wind, and subsequently attracted Evan''s attention.


    "Sr re!"


    "Mesarthim: Red!"


    ***BOOMM!!!


    The two attacks collided and my vision was painted in prismatic hues, adding to the chaos of our aerial battle.


    Without hesitation, I began casting a lightning spell, using the sword of Soul Power to aid in the casting process.


    I thrust my de towards the sky and the magic circle manifested on the tip of the de, releasing a stream of magic power into the air that rained back down as a storm of crackling energy.


    Bolts of lightning arced through the air, aiming to strike Evan from all directions. The brilliant shes illuminated the destruction below, revealing the twisted metal and rubble on the ground below us.


    In response, Evan summoned a spherical shield of earth-attributed energy, intercepting my lightning assault. The lightning crackled and danced upon the protective surface, casting an eerie glow.


    Undeterred, I shifted my element to water, spiralling liquid tendrils around my de and forming a torrent that surged towards Evan to overwhelm him while the lightning still lingered in the area.


    However, he immediately deactivated that shield skill of his and held up his left palm, activating the ice skill and turning the torrent of water into suspended icicles.


    ''Figures''.


    I snapped my fingers and unleashed all the spells I had just used simultaneously, yet Evan pulled back his sword and unleashed a vortex of crimson-gold light that shredded it all to oblivion.


    Evan then teleported right in front of me and attempted to sh me, but I warped behind him instead and sent out a thrust with my own de.


    As if he had eyes at the back of his head, he was somehow able to turn his body around and block my strike, following up with another supersonic sh.


    The sh of swords quickly went in Evan''s favour, the weight of the sword bearing down on me and knocking me through a burning building to the ground.


    I quickly warped myself out of it just in time to avoid the three serpentine dragons that bathed it in breaths of mes right after, sending shes with my soul power that sliced their necks off.


    Almost instantly, I moved to the side to dodge a strike, before spinning around to block. In this manner, our swords moved in a blur, leaving trails of light behind.


    Despite my agile manoeuvres, I felt the tide turning. Evan''s sword overwhelmed mine, and with a powerful strike, he knocked me down to the ground once more, shattering my sword to pieces.


    I blinked and Evan was already in front of me, his sword once again bearing down on my neck, leaving me no choice but to create multiple barriers to block and give myself time to warp away.


    "Hydra!"


    That was what I heard as soon as I reappeared, with the three serpentine dragons already surrounding me and releasing prismatic me breaths in my direction.


    ''Ah��''


    **BOOOMMMM!!!!


    I barely held down the urge to curse as I leapt out of the st radius, breathing heavily as I held up my hand to my side.


    ''I wasn''t fast enough.''


    The third barrier I attempted to generate was a fraction of a secondte, and that time was enough for the breath to reach me, resulting in the injury I had now.


    ''The pain��''


    Blood dripped onto my hand, and though I was a bit scared to look, I knew I had to otherwise I could not heal it.


    ''Yikes��''


    It was as if someone had carved a crescent moon out of the side of my torso. A portion of the flesh from below my ribcage to my hip waspletely missing, destroyed by Evan''s mes.


    He just erased a portion of my soul just like that��


    I took a deep breath and warped myself away to avoid the three dragons from tearing apart the rest of my body with their jaws.


    When I reappeared and saw Evan pulling his sword out of the ground where I was standing a few moments ago, I felt my Soul Realm shake.


    ''Finally!!''


    Though I had stated that my ''Word was Law'' earlier, Evan''s continuous destructive essence damage was interfering with my ability to exertplete influence over my Soul Realm.


    But now, I should be able to use something that befitted my ''god-like'' authority over this realm.


    "That vibration��phase 3?!"


    I don''t know what Evan meant by ''Phase 3'', but from the look in his eyes when he saw that my wounds had disappeared as if they were never there in the first ce, I could tell;


    ''He knows! He knows what I''m about to do!''


    Somehow, the thought that he knew so much about made me happy.


    "Hydra! Burst Cannon! Hollow Magic: Nihilistic Nova!"


    "Novae Magic?"


    I warped myself away to avoid the first two attacks, but that Nova spell was fired in the direction of where I reappeared, making me wonder how he could even tell where I was going to appear.


    "Soul Magic: Soul Nova."


    The spell circle that manifested in front of me channelled a considerable portion of my soul power, manifesting as a radiant orb of ethereal light pulsating with the essence of my soul.


    As it expanded, it engulfed everything in its path, sting the three serpentine dragons to pieces as it moved to sh with the orb of what seemed to be non-attributed magic power.


    *��!


    The two spells shed with a silent explosion, erupting into a powerful burst of spiritual force. However, this didn''tst long as the Nihilistic Nova spell seemed to create some sort of strange zone that caused the soul power to dissipate forcefully.


    But this caused the spell to also use up its own energy as it vanished right after.


    ''Wow, they cancelled each other out.''


    While I was admiring the results of the sh, Evan was charging towards me, but I wasn''t bothered by this.


    "You''re really strong, you know? This is MY Soul Realm and you''re actually giving me such a hard time. But all that power is pointless if you can''t use it in the first ce."


    His sword was coated in a blend of his icy energy, his destructive essence and his prismatic mes but despite the damage potential this fusion held, I remained calm and sent out arrays of spells using different elements to hold him off.


    I had a sure-fire way to deal with him, something that I could not enact in reality due to myck of affinity, and the stupendous energy consumption.


    "I believe I said this before.


    That within this Realm��I am god."


    Evan''s sword cut through the air so fast that all I saw was a blur, but before it could reach me��


    "Time, Be Still."


    ��the world around me turned monochrome.

 Chapter 667 Evan’s Soul Realm

    Chapter 667 Evan��s Soul Realm


    ??Silence reigned supreme.


    That was only natural, as the entirety of Agnes'' Soul Realm was stopped in time and sound could not travel through stopped time.


    ''That Destructive type skill he has, the damage it caused me is quite substantial.''


    Agnes heaved a deep sigh as she thought to herself, before looking at the body of Evan which was frozen in time.


    ''He knew about my ability to Stop Time in this Soul Realm. Is that what he called ''Phase 3''? He knows so much about me but for the wrong reasons��the kind I don''t like.


    He has information about me because I''m a potential enemy of his, but I don''t want to be enemies with him.''


    Soul power flowed through her spiritual body and into her hands, a small smile appearing on her face as she arrived at a conclusion.


    ''If I subjugate his soul��then we would not have to be enemies.''


    She pressed her palm to Evan''s chest and infused her soul power into his body.


    ''I''ve always looked at the outside of your soul. Let''s see what the inside of your soul looks like, Evan.''


    �� �� ��


    Cold.


    Blistering cold.


    That was the first thing Agnes could feel the instant she entered Evan''s soul.


    Hailstones rained down from above, crashing down with enough force to cause small craters in the ground.


    Simultaneously, the ground was covered in a sea of prismatic mes that stretched on as far as her eye could see.


    "This is taking the ''The Floor is Lava'', a bit too literally."


    She slowly levitated off the ground to prevent herself from taking continuous soul damage from the mes, while creating barriers to block the hail of crimson gold ice.


    "Falling into these rainbow mes would not be pretty."


    Agnes turned around and she was greeted with the sight of dozens of Tornadoes spinning rapidly, each one swirling abination of prismatic mes, crimson gold ice, golden lightning, and darkness.


    "��that gives me chills just looking at it."


    The sight she was witnessing, was the culmination of Evan''s Unique Skills.


    Hailstones from Harbinger of Ice, a sea of mes from Mesarthim, and Tornadoes of elements from Vortex.


    All were infused with the Blessing of Destruction''s crimson essence.


    She quickly moved forward, taking care to avoid the tornadoes, but her body felt sluggish.


    "Evan''s soul is still resisting, and is it me or is the resistance getting stronger by the second?"


    Unknown to her, Adaptive Evolution was doing its work, gradually increasing Evan''s resistance by the second. If she spent too much time here, his resistance would eventually surpass what she could bypass with her Soul Power and she''d be kicked back to reality.


    Agnes understood this instinctively, so she redirected the Soul Power she used to create barriers around her spiritual body and urged it to move faster.


    She flew forward as fast as she could, even though she was gaining wounds due to the hail and the heat of the mes, eventually reaching the centre of Evan''s Soul, where its core was.


    "Really, what was I expecting?"


    What she saw was a giant spinning vortex that seemed to stretch up to the heavens, swirling around all Evan''s energies.


    Magic, Aura, Destructive essence, and even his own Soul Power which he didn''t know how to use.


    The area around the vortex was free of hail and mes, so she had the option of dropping to her feet and looking at it.


    But before she did that, she used her soul power to confirm that what she was looking at was indeed the core of Evan''s Soul and not some dummy.


    "It looks like it and feels like it��"


    Agnes finally let her feet touch the ground in the area free of mes, and in that instant, she heard a mechanical voice speak.


    |Intrusion Detected in Host''s Soul.


    Activating Defence Protocols. |


    "��what?"


    She could notpute why there seemed to be a machine of some sort saying something about her being an intruder.


    What she couldpute, however, was the feeling of DANGER that her whole soul screamed out to her.


    Agnes immediately jumped out of the way and fell onto the ground in the sea of mes, barely containing the scream that threatened to escape her lips.


    When she looked up, there were easily over 50 des pierced into the ground where she was standing half a second ago.


    Each one looked like Evan''s Unforged, but they had strange grey and gold circuit-like patterns on them.


    |Detecting Enemy Type: Spiritual Body.


    Directing Stored Energy to Adaptive Evolution.


    Forced Command: Increase Spiritual Resistance. |


    The Strange mechanical voice continued speaking without a care for her situation, and the des all unearthed themselves before floating into the air and pointing in her direction.


    "goddamnit."


    Agnes couldn''t stop the curse that escaped her lips as she quickly flew through the air with her soul power to avoid the storm of des.


    ''Those des areprised of World Law energies��if they hit me, it''s game over.''


    She moved around, trying to dodge the des, but it was a herculean task, especially with the fact that the rejection she could sense from Evan''s soul was increasing exponentially.


    ''That thing said Increase Spiritual Resistance, didn''t it?''


    The moment she thought that, she heard a string of alerts that made her expression turn dark.


    |Restricting all modes of ''Flight''.


    Increasing Gravitational Force.


    Reducing Hail Temperature.


    Tuning up me Heat Intensity. |


    Her body unceremoniously crashed down to the ground, and almost immediately, she was consumed by the sea of mes that increased in intensity.


    Multiple hailstones rained down on every vital part of her body and she was barely able to block them with her multiple barriers.


    ''How can his mes and ice coexist so easily?!''


    The ''Frozen Inferno'' skill he gained from Faldo was to thank for that, but Agnes didn''t need to know this.


    She drew upon more soul power and forced herself to her feet, using barriers to create footholds in the air which she used to stay above the mes.


    ''Shit those des!''


    The circuit-patterned des reached her in an instant, and she let the increased gravitational force pull her body to the ground, barely avoiding the des.


    At that moment, one of the des grazed the tip of her middle fingernail.


    **BAM!!


    "GARH!"


    Agnes screamed out in pain for the first time as blood sttered on her face. Looking at her hand, she could see that both her middle finger, her index and ring fingers had ''disappeared''.


    ''It just grazed me and it deleted those parts of my soul?!''


    In the corner of her vision, she saw the des turning around and she summoned her magic energy as fast as she could.


    Using it, she created a st of wind that propelled her body forward as fast as she could, using up all the magic power she had in return for this.


    With this, she avoided the des andnded in the no-me zone around the Vortex that spun to the heavens.


    ''I have to get inside it!''


    The Storm of des from the system were hot on her tail, the rejection from Evan''s soul was now strong enough that if she slipped even a little bit, she might get ejected.


    So she forced her body forward with her ether, and afteryering multiple thick barriers around her, she jumped into the vortex.


    The pain that assaulted her body left her lost for words to describe it.


    Her barriers were shredded like paper, and her skin wascerated all over.


    But she had seeded, she fell into the calmest part of any storm��the eye.


    Immediately, the vortex began shrinking, as if trying to crush her within it, so she knew she needed to act fast.


    Looking up, she saw an orb of gold light hovering in the air. There were many thinyers of light surrounding it like protective barriers, just like the ones she had seen when she looked at Evan''s soul with her eyes in reality.


    ''I''ve never seen someone with such barriers around their souls.''


    Despite the presence of these barriers, she had a rtively easy time getting to Evan''s actual Soul as all the barriers seemed greatly weakened.


    ''It''s like something is suppressing their strength. They''re no more than illusions at this point.''


    Her hand reached, infused with almost all her remaining soul power and grabbed the ball of gold light, but when she did, her vision went nk.


    �� �� ��


    ''Again? Where is this? Why did I get teleported to somewhere else again? Is this the effect of Evan''s Soul''s Uniqueness?''


    What she was experiencing wasn''t what she was supposed to. Although she knew she was still within Evan''s Soul Realm, she couldn''t tell where in his soul she was.


    Everything around her was grey, the same grey as the colour of his eyes.


    There was only one other thing within this world of grey besides her. She could see a throne around 10 to 15 metres away from her.


    Seated on it, was someone she recognised all too well.


    "Evan��"


    However, Evan appeared to be sleeping, evidenced by his closed eyes and even breaths.

 Chapter 668 ■■■■■

    Chapter 668 ����������


    ??"His sleeping face is a sight for sore eyes...is this how that girlfriend of his feels? The one who doesn''t even bother to hide her origins.


    I mean, of all the fake names, she chose to just use ''Lane''? That''s just taking out four letters from her actual name.


    Why am I even annoyed by something as random as that?"


    Agnes shook her head as if trying to shake away this strange feeling of annoyance before walking up to the sleeping Evan.


    Soul power coalesced on her palm when she reached him, taking a deep breath and muttering.


    "It should work the same way, right?"


    She slowly raised her palm up, gaining more confidence when she noticed nothing strange was happening.


    But the instant her palm faced Evan''s chest��his eyes shot open.


    "?!"


    **BAMM!!!


    Agnes did not understand what happened next.


    All she knew was that by the time her brain could process it, she was lying face t on the floor, her whole body creaking under the pressure of the purest Law energy than she had ever seen or sensed in her life.


    "Who the hell are you? And why are you disturbing my sleep?"


    Evan''s voice rang out in her ears, and she felt his hand reaching out towards her head, only to stop midway.


    Suddenly, the pressure that had forced her to the ground vanished as abruptly as it had appeared, and when she dared to gaze up, she saw Evan looking at his hand with confusion.


    "My hand looks smaller?"


    He turned to her, and she could see her appearance reflected in his eyes. Conversely, the opposite was the same and he looked at himself in her eyes.


    "Not just my hand��"


    Evan looked around at the grey space they were in, but when his gaze reached the ground, he frowned and stomped his foot on it.


    Immediately, the ''grey'' peeled off like a wrapper from a bottle, revealing a massive circuit-like board that Agnes could not understand anything on.


    "A construct? In my Soul? Who dares?"


    His voice was calm, but Agnes could see the annoyance slowly building up within.


    Her eyes zed over as she felt that terrifying pressure descend upon the area once again, just that it wasn''t as intense as before, so she wasn''t pressed to the ground under its weight.


    This didn''t mean she could move though, so she remained there on her knees, looking up at Evan with ''shining'' eyes.


    ''Such a POWERFUL soul��I could stare at this forever��''


    His voice, his whole demeanour, had this feeling of ''detachment'' to it. It gave her a feeling of indifference that cared for nothing.


    High above, gazing down upon all.


    "This power is Artemisia''s. Doesn''t she know I dislike my Soul being tampered with?


    And speaking of tampering��"


    Evan''s gaze turned towards Agnes and he reached out to her. Against her will, her body got up and she ced her chin into his open palm, allowing him to study her face closely.


    "Those are some very special eyes you possess there. But you cannot use the true power of these eyes, after all��you''re nothing but a fragment of your real self."


    Agnes''s eyes shook when Evan spoke.


    It felt as if he was looking through her, through this Soul fragment and right at her real body which was controlling it in the Beta Continent.


    "You''re quite bold. Putting more than a quarter of your soul into a fake body.


    You can be crippled if it was destroyed, you know?"


    Suddenly, his grip on her loosened and her body fell back to the ground. He pressed his hands to his head and his facial expression contorted lightly.


    "I feel dizzy��sleepy.


    What was I doing before this?"


    Evan''s vision blurred slightly and he looked around him.


    "This�� it''s supposed to be different."


    As soon as he said that, the whole space around him transformed, like a canvas waiting for the painter''s ink to fall on it. ''Ink'' that came in the form of the next three lines he muttered.


    "A Copsing Sun.


    A broken moon.


    And earth shattered beyond repair."


    The space around them transformed in ordance with his words, morphing into this apocalyptic scene that shocked Agnes out of her wits.


    "Yes��that''s right.


    I wanted to rest��"


    He tried to get up, but he was hit by a sudden wave of dizziness and fell back onto it.


    "Sleepy��"


    With that one word, Evan''s eyelids slowly shut and silence reigned supreme.


    Agnes panted as she struggled to get to her feet, but her legs refused to listen to her and remained paralyzed on the floor.


    While she was making these attempts, Evan''s voice rang out again.


    "I see, so that''s how it is."


    Her gaze snapped in his direction and she could see him looking at the apocalyptic world around them with intrigue in his eyes.


    "I''ve seen this before in a dream. And it appears in my soul now��this is no coincidence."


    Evan turned towards Agnes with his mystic eyes glowing, and though she did not feel that immense pressure from his gaze anymore, the sense of ''detachment'' from his voice was still there.


    "You know, I''m actually grateful towards you now. If you didn''t prod this deep, I probably would not have discovered this until much longer."


    The gratitude she sensed from him was genuine, but she could not understand why he was grateful to her; she was trying to subjugate his soul, after all.


    Evan''s attention wasn''t on her anymore but on his status board.


    Specifically, his gaze was on his Unique Skill tab.


    |Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (3��), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction (1��), Vortex, Harbinger of Ice, Mesarthim: Prismatic Inferno, ����������. |


    His eyes remained on the ''����������'' for a few more seconds, before he sighed and muttered to himself.


    "I guess that Orvis dude you spoke about isn''t the only one around with an ''Old'' Soul."


    Evan dismissed the status board and raised his hand. With her body paralyzed, there was nothing she could do to stop him from grabbing her face with his palm.


    **CCRACK!!


    The whole world around her shattered like ss, and Evan and they returned to her Soul Realm, the ruined cityscape that had been wrecked by Evan''s Nuke Breath at the beginning of their battle.


    Colour returned to the world, and Evan''s body regained its motion, his sword piercing her chest faster than she could react to the sudden shift.


    "This feeling, it''s like when I was destroying Methik''s corpse puppets."


    Evan pulled his sword out of her chest and flicked the blood off the de before sheathing it and returning it to her inventory.


    "Your real body is on the Beta Continent, isn''t it? I''d eventually get there��"


    Three serpentine dragons emerged from behind him, each charging up a different energy in its maw.


    One held prismatic mes, the other held crimson ice, and the third held a reddish-gold aura.


    "��I''d like to ''thank you'' in person, after all."


    Evan spoke with a grin, after which the three dragons charged towards Agnes and her vision nked out.


    �� �� ��


    Tears of blood dripped from the sides of Agnes'' eyes, and her homunculus body silently dropped to his knees.


    She gagged on a mouthful of her own blood as she stared at Evan with aplicated gaze before the light in her eyes finally went out.


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    [Level Up]


    01:04


    |Adaptive Evolution has been triggered. |


    |Spiritual Force Resistance has increased enormously. |


    |����������???|


    "After all that, it''d be stranger If the resistance didn''t increase."


    Evan reapplied his concealment on the room, before pointing his hand towards Agnes'' homunculus body and spoke.


    "Burn, Mesarthim."


    It appeared nothing happened at first, but silently, her body began scalding as if someone had poured boiling water on it.


    Within seconds, her clothes had burned and her body charred ck not too long after.


    By the time Evan was done changing out of the Assassin''s clothes and returning to his suit, the homunculus had turned to ashes.


    "One down.


    Time to head for Maude."


    Evan pulled out a strawberry juice pack from his inventory and turned around, sipping on it as he calmly strutted out of the room.

 Chapter 669 Unlocking the Eighth [Monthly Bonus 1]

    Chapter 669 Unlocking the Eighth [Monthly Bonus 1]


    ??Unnamed Mansion.


    Jine-Alora Duchy


    Beta Continent''s Elven Empire


    June 13th


    Year 1053


    Agnes woke up with a start.


    She coughed up a mouthful of blood, staining her white dress as she breathed heavily.


    For a moment, she went into a daze as her memories updated and arranged themselves. Once all the gaps had been filled, the light in her eyes returned.


    "Such a Supreme Soul��I''ve never seen anything like that."


    Blood dripped from the sides of her eyes as a slightly deranged smile manifested on her lips.


    "I want to see more of it! I NEED to see more!"


    She tried to get up from the bed she was on, but she was someone who just had a portion of her soul destroyed.


    It was a miracle she was even fully conscious right now.


    *BAM!


    Agnes fell t on her face as her legs had failed her. The loud noise attracted the attention of an attendant outside, and the person opened the door to ask what was wrong.


    "Priestess, is there a pro��!? Priestess?!!"


    Naturally, the sight of Agnes on the floor with blood all over her white dress shocked them out of their wits. Without hesitation, they raised an rm and the dozens of guards and servants rushed up to her location.


    They scurried around trying to get a doctor toe over, while some of them used healing magic on her.


    However, the injuries were soul-based; Unless they could heal her soul as well, there was nothing a doctor or their healing magic could do.


    The blood they saw was just a physical representation of those soul injuries.


    While everyone around her was mouring about, Agnes'' ears tuned out their noise into the background, with only a single train of thought going through her head.


    ''I NEED to see it again! I HAVE to��such power��such purity


    I HAVE to see it��to UNDERSTAND it��to COMPREHEND itpletely��


    I WANT to see him again; I HAVE to see him again��I have to see EVAN again''


    *Ding!


    A bell-like sound rang out in her head, simr to the sound of the Level Up notification she was very familiar with.


    The contents of the notification that appeared in her field of view, were very different from this, however.


    |Scanning Completed.


    Unique grade ''Ocr Ability'' detected. |


    The ''Devour ss System'' on Aidos seemed to search her existence for something, and after confirming it was there, it sent another notification.


    |Conditions Met. |


    �� �� ��


    Unknown Location


    Unknown Dimension


    Valmone Universe


    Month and Day Inapplicable


    Year Inapplicable


    It was a location not on Aidos, nor in the Orithyia Gxy or its parent Gctic Supercluster.


    It wasn''t even in the ''Third Dimension''.


    Not many in the Universe knew where this was.


    In the ''middle'' of this ''ce'', a supernatural construct floated.


    It was an enigmatic amalgamation of millions of geometric shapes that defied conventional understanding. Its form seemed like an ever-shifting tapestry of intricate patterns, with every conceivable geometric entity seamlessly interwoven into a mesmerizing dance.


    Spell circles, like luminous glyphs, adorned the construct, whirring and spinning around the ethereal framework at an almost imperceptible speed, casting radiant beams of light in every direction.


    This construct appeared to be in a constant state of metamorphosis, a kaleidoscopic fusion of angles and curves that seemed both ever-changing and perpetually unchanging.


    Through some parts of the construct, multiple lines ran like intricate circuits on a motherboard, pulsating with energy. These pathways glowed with a subtle luminescence, weaving through the geometric forms.


    Despite the perpetual transformation, an underlying harmony anchored the construct, a silent pulse resonating through the energy of this higher dimensional space that existed beyond the confines of time.


    [Level Up]


    [Proficiency has reached the required level.]


    [You have be a Master Realm Existence]


    [Lack of Celestial Body Signatures Detected: Confirming Thade X86''s Lifespan hase to an end.]


    [Acquired Unique Skill: Spatiotemporal Destruction.]


    [Experience has reached the required level.]


    [Created Skill: Cataclysmic Devastation]


    |����������???|


    [Anomaly Detected in Sector 42B: Activating Causality-based Defences]


    [You do not meet the required level.]


    [Congrattions, you have surpassed Transcendence.]


    [You have Died]


    [Evolving to Ancient Breed Frost Giant.]


    [Grade 3 Irregr/Singrity Activity Detected. Scale of Disturbance = Grade 4.


    Summoning ''Causality Guardians''.


    Granting Clearance: Please proceed to Permanently Eliminate the Irregr.]


    [Akashic Page #7483769337699354 has been located: Summoning Enforcers to retrieve it immediately.]


    A cacophony of a mechanical voice echoed and ovepped endlessly in this space, each word ringing out in tune with the construct''s rapid transformations.


    Different system messages, from differents, across different gxies of the Valmone Universe.


    From some of them, it could be seen that pretty scary things were happening on those ends of the Universe.


    And underneath all of these constantly ovepping messages, was a group of messages Evan certainly wished did not exist.


    [Detected Partial fulfilment of Conditions from Orithyia Gctic Sector: Proceeding in ordance with Established Universal Laws.


    Prime Aidos: Hero Slot #8 = Unlocked.]


    Right after saying that, the ''Devour ss System'' of the Valmone Universe continued its work like normal.


    [Level Up]


    [Created Ski��]


    �� �� ��


    It was an inexplicable feeling.


    A chill ran down his spine, apanied by a low warning from Danger Sense.


    Evan racked his brain trying to figure out the source of this very bad feeling he got, but he could not get an answer.


    "?!"


    Suddenly, this bad feeling increased exponentially, and he felt that something that SHOULD NOT have happened just did.


    ''Why? What just happened?''


    Evan could not figure out what was going on even after using Time Difference to analyse a lot of possibilities.


    He did arrive at the answers to his questions, but since he believed the probability of those events urring was abysmally low, he ended up dismissing them.


    In his earlier battle, Evan had attempted to pierce Agnes'' heart, but while he didn''t seed in doing that physically, he had seeded in doing so in a manner he definitely did not want to.


    The events that followed capitalized on that, increasing Agnes'' ''obsession'' towards him and his soul.


    Evan also could not guess that the second terrible feeling he had was due to the fact that an Extra Hero Slot had been unlocked on Aidos.


    Meaning that it was now very much possible, for the ''Seven Heroes'', to be ''Eight''.

 Chapter 670 Hi Maude…

    Chapter 670 Hi Maude��


    ??Finding Maude''s location wasn''t hard for Evan as all he had to do was follow the tracker he had ced on her to her precise location.


    Not too much work on his part.


    As he was following the tracker, he received mental messages from Ka, Kuro and Roselia, who were questioning why their connection with him had fluctuated dangerously.


    They also noted that there was a sudden surge of World Law energy through it, and the pressure they felt shocked them out of their wits.


    This made Evan really surprised, as Roselia was the one who had admitted this, even stating that she felt ''threatened'' by it.


    He stopped for a moment to exin to them that he had just dealt with an opponent that messed with his Soul, leaving out a lot of the story even though he knew they realised this.


    Evan had zero intentions of telling them about ''����������'', nor the things he had discovered due to Agnes'' meddling.


    Roselia surprisingly backed down easily, but after thinking about it, he was sure the woman nned to ask him about it again in person.


    As for Ka and Kuro, the two were still very worried and kept the connection channel open, just in case anything happened so they coulde to his aid even if it meant alerting the whole base.


    Evan didn''t bother, returning his focus to finding where Maude was to deal with her as well.


    Since he had dealt with Agnes here, he was sure that the Demonic Hand would not be having a Tenth Finger anytime soon.


    If there was one thing he knew about the World Formation, then it was the fact that one could not be a Node with a Damaged Soul.


    So even if Agnes was not dead, her Damaged soul would prevent her from bing one.


    ''There''s also the fact that the person who can make her a Node is here on the Alpha Continent while she''s on the Beta.''


    The ''First Finger'' of the Demonic Hand, was someone that Evan did not underestimate. You would think that was a matter of fact, but the man was really something else.


    For over 200 years, the members of ''The Five'', though they were just three initially, have been after him since they discovered he was the key to ending the Demonic Hand permanently.


    Even after they finally ''found him'', Kolvar was going to meet the others with information that would burst their joys, since the person they found was just a fake.


    The Real ''First Finger'', was someone they all knew.


    Pretty much every person on the Alpha continent who had been educated knew the man, but they did not know he was the Demonic Hand''s leader.


    Laurene had even had interactions with him,pletely ignorant of who he was!


    All members of the Five had spoken with him at once point, and even shook hands with him, while not knowing he was the enemy they were after.


    Seeing as the man was able to pull the wool over so many eyes for centuries, there was no way that Evan could take him lightly.


    ''Still��to think that he wanted to attack mest year.''


    Evan was sure that the First Finger was too busy to personally handle him at this point, which was why he was so bold in his actions.


    ''But it seems I have to be a lot more careful going forward��''


    He thought that as he bypassed all the A-Rank level Senior Members in the Ninth Division who were standing guard and making his way straight to Maude''s location.


    Of course, Lethe was active as well.


    Evan did make sure to be careful, as though Agnes'' power was a unique skill, there was the minuscule possibility of someone possessing a simr ability.


    ''Would the current Laurene be able to See through Lethe? I think she can��''


    He had that random thought as he reached the door to the room where Maude was, peeking through the small gap in it and using blink to enter the room.


    There, he saw the Ninth Finger of the Demonic Hand, seated in front of a desk while flipping through some papers.


    He spotted a pair of crutches at one corner of the room, but seeing as there was a bit of dust on them, he doubted they had been used recently.


    The standing fan blew her chestnut-coloured hair strands that fell over her face as she looked through a folder in her hands.


    In front of her, were dozens of magic projections, with some showing different points in the base, while others had lines of text that Evan stopped to read.


    The contents once again made Evan impressed with the level of power and influence the Demonic Hand secretly held.


    ''Politicians have skeletons in their closets, and here is Maude, casually disying these skeletons while flipping through some like it''s the morning paper.''


    He could see evidence enough to convict some pretty high- ranked people of various crimes, from illegal smuggling to murdering political opponents.


    The Demonic Hand had this information and they used it to control these people, allowing them to move about easily.


    Evan nced around and saw that there were dozens of files scattered around the room, each one bearing a different nation''sbel.


    He didn''t dare touch anyone, as the instant he did, Maude would certainly be aware that there was someone else in the room with her.


    This didn''t mean he could not nce through them, and he even walked around her to see what she was reading.


    ''It seems the fact that this base went undiscovered for so long was not a coincidence, huh? Croville''s lord is at their mercy as well.''


    He didn''t bother going through anything else as he''d eventually gain possession of all this, but first, he needed to deal with Maude.


    Physically, Evan could not see even the slightest mark maiming her skin, showing she had been healed from all the injuries she sustained fighting him.


    But maybe because of his scuffle with Agnes, Evan was quite sensitive to souls now.


    He could not physically see them like her, but he could tell, especially since he was the one responsible.


    ''Her Soul is still damaged.''


    This wasn''t surprising as injuries to the Soul��one of the Three Main Existential Aspects and the very root of one''s existence�� weren''t so easily healed.


    ''Guess I''m about to make them worse, I have to be careful so I do not damage her Unique Skill Rune.''


    With that thought, Evan activated his inventory, the skill activation slipping past Maude''s senses as it was a mimicked skill.


    He then pulled out the Unforged, along with a bottle of paralysis poison, dripping the liquid on his de as he walked in front of her.


    At that point, she just so happened to put down her files and lean back in her seat, so Evan took the opportunity.


    First off, he switched from Lethe to his normal concealment skill so he could deploy its effects around the room. However, his normal concealment was not strong enough to fool Maude in such close proximity as her eyes immediately shot open in that instant.


    "?!"


    **SHHK!!


    Maude had not even fully reacted to the presence she suddenly sensed when a de prated her clothes'' defensive power and pierced into her chest.


    It narrowly missed her heart, but that wasn''t because Evan''s aim was bad, but because he actually wanted to talk with the woman.


    "Hi, Maude."


    The boy spoke in a very calm tone, and before she could speak, he held out his finger and shushed her.


    His mystic eyes were active, and he looked into her eyes which were filled with shock and began the three-second process of taking her Unique Skill for himself.


    |Stoneheart''s Embrace Acquired|


    |Unique Skills require three skill slots. |


    |Six Skill slots remaining. |


    He dismissed the notifications that appeared in his field of view while he watched the paralysis poison on his sword take effect and stiffen her body.


    She tried to rouse her aura to fight it off, actually seeding partially but it was all within Evan''s expectations.


    Once she had resisted the paralysis enough that she would have no problems talking, Evan twisted the de in her chest, causing her unimaginable pain and breaking her energy flow.


    "Dear, Dear Maude.


    It pains me to have to do this, you know? But as far as I''m concerned, this is in a state of war, and you just so happen to be on an opposing side."


    "Shut the fuck up!"


    The woman cursed as beads of sweat dripped down her head, gritting her teeth to bear with the pain while silently activating her Telekinesis and trying to move Evan away.


    However, the boy suddenly activated BoD and the sudden influx of destruction energy once again broke her energy flow and concentration, causing the skill to be forcefully deactivated.


    "Sorry to say, my dear, but I have zero intentions of you having anyst stands where you suddenly unlock a new power and manage to deal great damage to me."

 Chapter 671 …Bye Maude [Monthly Bonus 2]

    <h4>Chapter 671 ��Bye Maude [Monthly Bonus 2]</h4>


    "No sudden power jump or surprises to catch me off guard.


    You are just going to sit there, watch and feel as every single bit of your life is drained out of you and your soul is slowly destroyed."


    Evan was taking his sweet time to make sure that he could destroy her soul as much as possible and make sure that there was Zero possibility of revival for her.


    He used his skill to check her status, a light frown appearing on his face as he noted something about her.


    "You are not a Designated ''Enemy of Aidos''��meaning you are one of the misguided ones as well."


    Evan sighed with light exasperation when he saw this. He locked gazes with the slowly dying woman as he asked.


    "Please exin to me how you believe inviting the same beings who have conquered more Worlds than you know of, into this World; Aidos��is going to save it?!"


    The tone of his voice deepened as he struggled to hold back the annoyance he had been suppressing for years.


    "You im Artemisia has forsaken this World, but has she really? Did Artemisia really doom this like you think?


    In fact, how do you even know that she has abandoned Aidos? I mean, do you have a direct phone line to her or something?"


    "��"


    Maude was silent, partly because of the pain of Evan''s sword in her chest, but mostly because of the fact that she did not have the answers to some of Evan''s questions.


    "No answer?


    Oh well. I just so happen to have a direct phone line to her, and the way I see it. Aidos is very valuable to Artemisia.


    So, I wonder, why do you think otherwise?


    What gives you that proof, that she had abandoned this?"


    The confidence that the Demonic Hand members had in their conviction that Artemisia had not only abandoned Aidos but doomed the with her ''actions'' was something that always baffled Evan.


    "Care to enlighten me?


    I''m purposely limiting the amount of energy I''m using on you so I know that you are very capable of answering me.


    You''re going to die anyway, so why not just say it? I also n to save the so we have the same ''end goal'', don''t we?"


    Evan spoke with a light shrug, as he had been thwarting all of her attempts to turn the tides of this situation in the short while he was speaking.


    He was impressed that the woman was able to circte magic power and cast spells in this state, even manipting the ambient magic power to do her bidding but it was pointless.


    The most she could use were low-level Tier 1 and 2 spells, things Evan could block with his eyes closed.


    They weren''t even at their full power due to the sword in her chest, so they were even less potent than usual.


    Although Maude was instinctively protecting her soul with her magic power, the destruction energy in Evan''s sword was eating away at that protection faster than she could replenish it.


    Her connection with the First Finger was still there, but she did not have the privilege of sparing even the slightest bit of energy to tug at that slowly fading connection.


    Due to the Concealment which he ced on the room, even someone right outside the door would not be able to tell that she was dying inside here.


    Worst Case Scenario, Evan would summon the Akashic Page and break out a World Magic Spell to obliterate the whole base, though the energy consumption would put him out ofmission for a while.


    The bottom line was, unless an Upper Executive��the Fifth to First Fingers��were toe here this instant, Maude was going to die.


    From the look in her eyes, Evan knew that she had realised this.


    He silently waited to see if Maude was going to answer him, though he had little hope. But then again, it didn''t hurt to try.


    ''The way they''re so confident in this belief astounds me��I need to know the source of this conviction.


    As far as I see it, they are the ones who are trying to Doom the. And Artemisia certainly has not abandoned it��it is her home after all.''


    Evan thought about this in silence while waiting for an answer, but the words that left Maude''s lips weren''t the ones he wanted to hear.


    "��you��can��rot in HELL."


    The boy heaved a deep sigh when he heard that, shaking his head as though he was disappointed when he really wasn''t.


    "Because of what ''Aidos'' told me, I wanted to run a test with you Misguided lot.


    You, in particr, Maude��I actually considered leaving you alive."


    Evan casually dropped a bombshell of a statement that Ka, Kuro, and Roselia who were now listening in to make sure everything was okay were dumbfounded by.


    They had done this to make sure everything was okay with him since their connection with Evan fluctuated dangerously when Agnes intruded into his Soul, but they certainly didn''t expect to hear that Evan had considered leaving a Demonic Hand Executive Alive.


    "But when I thought about the future, I realised that would be an unwise decision.


    I have to end your life, and make sure your body ceases to exist as well."


    While he spoke, he activated Stoneheart''s Embrace on her, and bit by bit, her body began turning to stone.


    He then forcefully blocked his connection with his contracted spirits and demons, before looking Maude in the eyes and speaking.


    "I can''t have ''Ferrid'' using your corpse to strengthen the Basilisk, can I?"


    "?!


    H-how��do y-*cough!*?!"


    Evanughed when he saw how much shock appeared on Maude''s face, even as she coughed out a mouthful of ck blood. He could see some of the dark crimson liquid spilling out of the corner of her eyes as well.


    "Since you did not answer my question, I have no reason to answer yours, but it''s quite funny.


    You guys want me dead because I have too much information about you, yet you seem surprised I know that name."


    He not only knew the name, but he also knew the ns for Maude that the woman wasn''t even aware of.


    After her death in the game, Maude''s corpse was retrieved by the Demonic Hand''s minions. To be specific, the Fourth Division''s members.


    Maude Gtryd''s power of petrification was a lot stronger than the woman had even realised.


    They were strong enough that even her corpse which only had residues of its power could empower a Basilisk, a creature born with the power to petrify.


    This was a catalyst for one of the Eight Disasters: the ''Basilisk''s'' Stone Festival''


    In the game, it was clearly stated that the Basilisk was very young and originally did not possess the power it used to petrify all those people.


    It only gained that power after devouring Maude''s corpse.


    This showed just how strong her petrification skill was, that the Basilisk became stronger by several levels due to the residual power left in her corpse.


    Evan thought about when they fought her in the Lair of the Lizard Lord, very thankful for the series of events of that day.


    ''Everything lined up perfectly and Maude could not show the power of this skill.''


    From the fact that their attack was sudden and unexpected, to the fact that Evan was a bad matchup against her.


    In fact, from the point when the Dungeon Break happened earlier than nned, everything was already going against the Demonic Hand.


    The woman was definitely powerful, enough that she could handle the GWE''s Ten Greats Ranked Fourth and Below, as well as the GEE''s Fourth to Seventh Generals.


    But sadly, the 5th of May was a bad day at work for Maude.


    Evan sighed as he thought about the fact that Maude was thest Executive on the Grandmaster Level.


    Going forward, the other Executives were all Epics, Legendries, and Sovereigns.


    From this point, he was going to be dealing with level 600s and above.


    ''That''s even worse than Craitid��I guess my next destination after Wolfen would be the Cavern of Trials��I need to break past Level 500 as fast as possible.''


    With those thoughts, he looked towards the woman whoseplexion had turned pale, with ck blood dripping from her ears, while her arms and legs were halfway turned to stone.


    "It seems I got lost in my thoughts for too long.


    I also did bber on for quite a bit."


    Evan took a deep breath and pushed the sword into her chest deeper, earning a low grunt of pain from Maude who could not speak any more at this point.


    The boy grinned at the woman, reminiscent of the day during the Dungeon Break when Evan initially attacked her in the Boss Room. His smile remained as he channelled a destructive surge of energy directly into her soul.


    Finally, his lips parted to utter his farewell words to her.


    "Bye Maude."

 Chapter 672 Eliza’s Worries

    Chapter 672 Eliza��s Worries


    ??Maude was dead.


    That meant three Executives of the Demonic Hand were gone.


    Evan was sure that the First Finger was definitely fuming right now.


    The boy quickly began packing up all of the folders present, stuffing them into his inventory. He nned to have enough influence not to need such things to make people do his bidding, but it never hurt to have a backup.


    Once he was done, he switched off all the magic projectors and collected the Memory stones from them, arranging it all in his inventory.


    He also made sure to take the money as well, not questioning why Maude had boxes of gold coins lying around.


    ''More money for Nadarus then��''


    When he was done with all this, he heaved a soft sigh and took a seat on Maude''s chair after wiping off the blood on it. As for her corpse, he encased it in ice and left it not too far from him.


    He then retrieved a walkie-talkie from his inventory and switched it on, and though there was interference due to him being underground, the magic signals still went through.


    "Duke Kieran, do you copy?"


    [I hear you.]


    "The two targets have been eliminated, send in the others."


    [Got it.]


    Evan then dismissed the connection, and not long after sensed a massive surge of magic powering from a corner of the base.


    ''Guess they just sted the entrance open.''


    While the Elite soldiers trooped in, Evan decided to entertain himself with some of the Great Eastern Empire''s Noble Secrets.


    He tossed a memory gem into the magic projector and it disyed the recording of how a Count had ordered for a rival to be killed off so he could acquire a contract from the Imperial Pce.


    "Wow, he hired 3 Assassination squads? Must have really hated the guy."


    While he was watching this, his shadow expanded and the figure of a familiar blonde-haired teenager d in a white dress emerged, and though her expression looked calm, there was a hint of worry in her eyes.


    "Evan, what happened?"


    "Huh? What''s up, Liz? Shouldn''t you be with the others?"


    "Iyered multiple buffs on them and left them. Since we''re only targeting the grandmasters, it''d be okay if I wasn''t there.


    Ka told me something strange happened and I can see why."


    Eliza gave Maude''s frozen corpse a side nce, before returning her attention to Evan.


    Her eyes were infused with her life essence and she could literally see Evan''s life force right now.


    ''It''s far higher than before...even if he just levelled up, it shouldn''t increase this much.


    Something else happened.''


    Since she was with Roselia and the others, she knew exactly how many Levels Evan gained from killing Maude, and the increase in life force did not match up.


    When Evan saw her eyes, he raised a brow in light surprise but he then remembered what she said about Ka and shrugged.


    "I had someone try to mess with my soul. Didn''t end well for them, though.


    But besides that, I got some information about another one of the Seven Heroes on the Beta Continent, and I also gained a little Soul Power-up."


    Evan gave a quick summary of events while pulling Eliza closer to him and sitting her on hisp. The boy then wrapped his arms around her and rested his face on her chest with his eyes closed.


    It had been stated multiple times that Eliza''s aura had a calming effect on those around her, and Evan felt like it worked more on him than it did on others.


    ''Or maybe she''s just controlling it to work better on me alone? I did notice she had been doing that for a while now.''


    He thought about Eliza''s strange reaction on the day they first went to the Tower of Trials, as well as the day they went to the Regal Void Expanse.


    ''Menace even in death, huh? Guess, she and Artemisia really had something going.''


    Evan''s mind wandered to his decision to remain silent even though he knew that Artemisia and Eliza must have met concerning him when suddenly, the girl started pinching his cheeks.


    "Whash shis ish?"


    "Are you okay?"


    "Okay? I''m perfectly fine. Why do you ask?"


    Eliza looked at Evan with aplicated gaze before sighing and replying.


    "I dunno, you seem off."


    Since he said he got a Soul power-up, she understood the sudden increase in life force. Changes to the soul were often reflected in the physical body; like Agnes coughing out blood and Maude bleeding from her eyes.


    The increase in his soul strength, caused his physical body''s life force to increase in turn. His Health Stat had increased by 50 stat levels as a result of this, and now it was at ''S+ Level 94''.


    "Off? Maybe I do feel off."


    Evan shrugged as he replied, before contacting Roselia and Nadarus.


    ''I''d leave the rest to you. I''m going to sit the remaining battles out.


    Nadarus, don''t forget toe to my location to collect your money��I''m looking at seven boxes of gold coins here.''


    [Don''t move from that spot!]


    Nadarus'' reply made Evan chuckle a bit, and he silently decided not to inform the High Demon that he had already taken his own seven out of the lot.


    Just as he closed the connection, he looked up at Eliza who was still looking at him worriedly and felt a strong desire suddenly build up in him.


    ''Tsk��get the fuck.''


    With that single line of thought, he shut off the negative influence of the contract with Nadarus, while also doing the same with Roselia''s just for good measure.


    Evan then changed the projection''s memory stone to the next, drawing Eliza''s attention to what was being yed.


    He did have to turn up the volume due to the constant explosions in the background and loud Barbarian war cries.


    ''Well, Kieran and Beluar are here so no one is gonna escape and they''re all gonna die.''


    He could sense Roselia and Nadarus in the directions where he detected demonic energy pulses, and wherever the powerful mass of icy energy that was Kieran moved, the presences he sensed in those areas reduced.


    So many things were happening in the background, but Evan and Eliza zoned all of that out and remained in their own little world as they talked.


    The subject of the conversation wasn''t about the video ying but surprisingly about their future together.


    Clearly, this wasn''t the right time and ce but the two couldn''t care less; any random Demonic Hand member who came close to their location was turned to ashes by Mesarthim while their life forces were drained by Eliza''s prison (LEDP).


    It all started from a seemingly random question from Eliza, about ''how far'' he was willing to take their rtionship.


    His reply, was something she kind of expected.


    "Up to the very limit of whatever''s on that ''Rtionship Scale''."


    "Really?"


    "Really."


    Eliza remained silent for a moment, before pulling on Evan''s cheek lightly as she asked.


    "Even if I said to wait for a while before you can get to st base''?"


    "How long is this ''while'' we''re talking about here?"


    "Maybe a year or two?"


    "��"


    It was Evan''s turn to go silent, and he looked up at her and though he saw the seriousness in her eyes, he still asked.


    "Do you really mean that?"


    "Yes."


    "��"


    Another short pause on Evan''s part, before he finally gave his reply.


    "I''d be honest with you��I don''t want that.


    But with the way things are going, I feel I may end up going along with it. Probably because it''s you? This isn''t something you can ask me and expect a concrete answer in an instant."


    "I know."


    "So why did you ask?"


    Eliza repeated his reply to her first question to him, about getting to the ''Limit of the Rtionship Scale''.


    "So, it''s my fault now?"


    "Yes."


    Just before Evan could speak again, Eliza asked a question that was totally unrted to their current conversation.


    "Your birthday is on October 15, right?"


    "Huh? Yeah. It''s exactly a month after yours."


    Both Evan and Eliza were born on the 15th, and the months of their birthdays were right after the other so forgetting it was almost impossible for them.


    Still, Evan did not know why Eliza had suddenly asked this and when he gave her a questioning nce, she only smiled lightly and replied.


    "Look forward to your birthday this year."


    "��"


    Evan went silent for a moment, and Time Difference activated itself as his brain tried to figure out what Eliza was insinuating.


    However, the boy consciously stopped the skill, deciding to keep whatever Eliza had nned a surprise and made a conscious effort not to think about it as he was sure he''d figure it out in an instant. Especially when one considers their previous conversation.


    To get his mind off this, he decided to return them to the conversation they were having beforehand.


    "Mind telling me why you asked that in the first ce? The talk about ''how far'' and all."


    The girl''s expression lightly contorted when she heard this, and though it was only for half a second, Evan did not miss the change.


    "I''m worried? No, I''m scared. Scared that you may end up going far away and I would not be able to reach you anymore. Guess I have a new irrational fear on my list."


    The girl''s voicecked its usual cheer, and she wore a depreciative expression in her eyes.


    "Far way? I have zero ideas of going anywhere you would not be within reach anytime soon though?"


    "Evan, I did not mean that in the physical sense."


    Eliza deadpanned Evan and the boy only chuckled lightly as he turned her body by a right angle and made her sit astride hisp.


    "I know you didn''t. But don''t worry, I''m going to be fine."


    The girl was silent and just when Evan was beginning to think this ''short silence after talking'' thing was a new fad, she suddenly raised her hand.


    Evan tilted his head in confusion, but that confusion changed to shock as he saw her draw a magic circle in the air in front of him.


    It was one he recognized all too well��a contract Magic Circle.

 Chapter 673 Contracts and ‘Fireworks’

    Chapter 673 Contracts and ��Fireworks��


    ??For whatever reason, Eliza had conjured a contract circle and faced it towards Evan. When she saw the expression on his face, she began speaking.


    "Kuro, Nadarus, Amy��I''ve seen you do this multiple times so it''s not too surprising I picked it up. Don''t forget you also let me flip through that Grimoire of yours as well."


    "��


    You were serious about that contract with me?"


    "Did I look like I was joking?"


    ''No, but I certainly did not think you were serious either.''


    Evan kept that reply to himself as he looked at the circle and analysed it. He then proceeded to scan his memories of the Akashic Page to see if he hade across such a magic circle before while scanning through it for new spells.


    "Evan, you need this more now than ever. You are contracted to 3 of the Seven Sins. That''s almost half of the lot.


    Sure, your Mental and Spiritual Force Resistances are high enough not to be bothered by it, unlike what you make people believe.


    But in the end, they are still ''Resistances'' not ''Immunities''. Anything can happen."


    The young hero narrowed his eyes at Eliza''s attempt to persuade him, and the girl felt cold sweat drip down her back.


    ''Please don''t ask, I don''t want to have to lie to you.''


    Such a thought passed through her mind when she saw Evan''s eyes narrow. The way she was speaking made it seem like there was something about the Seven Sins that she knew which he didn''t.


    ''She was also against my contract with Nadarus as well for some reason��''


    Evan didn''t put much thought into this then, especially since she didn''t say anything after Leviah came along but now he was beginning to think she was just hiding it.


    For over a year now, Eliza had this strange anxiety over Evan''s mental state, even going as far as to learn Serenity Inducement magic just for him.


    He had guessed the reason why her calming aura ''worked better on him'' was because she was doing it on purpose, but when he thought about it, that guess seemed to hold true.


    While Evan was thinking this, Eliza''s mind was filled with the visage of the ''Evan'' Artemisia had shown her once, but she shook her head to get that off her mind.


    Just as she did that, she felt Evan''s palm on hers and looked down to see him infusing his magic power into the contract circle she had conjured.


    "Evan...?!"


    Despite being the one to suggest it, she was surprised at how easily he agreed.


    ''I thought I was going to have to spend more time convincing him��Wait up, did he modify it?''


    She snapped out of her daze and saw that Evan had modified the circle, removing some features from it.


    Though she was a bit miffed at how easily he modified it since she had spent a lot of time trying to achieve the same result, she quickly put that aside and took a look at the changes he made.


    "Sensing Location and Vital Status��as well as a channel to transfer some attributed energy. Nothing more."


    "��that''s enough. It''s already a lot that you''re going along with this."


    Eliza suddenly felt like she was being an overly paranoid girlfriend, but Evan reassured her that she wasn''t, after all, she was just worried for his safety.


    "I have Kuro staying in your shadow all day long to protect you in case of anything even though he''s meant to be guarding Ka��I think I''m the one who worries more here."


    "You know��sometimes I forget he''s supposed to be Ka''s guardian."


    A few hundred metres away, a certain cat spirit suddenly sneezed, before rubbing his nose and walking away from the dozen corpses pierced and impaled all over with pikes of dark light.


    Back in the now-deceased Executive''s office, Evan was scanning the signed bank checks he picked up when he was packing Maude''s files.


    "Guess I just got a few hundred million richer."


    "You''re taking their money?"


    "Is there a reason I should not?"


    When Evan asked Eliza that, she reasoned it and saw there was no reason for Evan not to do so. So she simply shrugged before deciding to join the money bandwagon.


    "Keep my share."


    "Don''t worry, I separated that first."


    Just as he said that, the door to the room was suddenly bashed open and a suit-wearing High Demon barged in with a bloody great sword in his hand.


    "I SMELL MONEY!!"


    ""��""


    Evan and Eliza looked at Nadarus, and then at each other before bursting intoughter simultaneously, much to the demon''s confusion.


    "Huh? What''s up with you two?"


    "Nothing serious. Catch."


    The young hero tossed a book to the confused demon whose expression changed from a confused one to an ecstatic one the instant he saw what was written on the bookmarked page.


    "good, VERY GOOD!"


    Multiple arm constructs of earth moved towards the boxes on the side and pulled them into the ck patch of space on the ground, while Evan wondered when Nadarus gained the Inventory skill.


    At that moment, Roselia walked in while cleaning her sword with a cloth, raising a brow in question when she saw Nadarus'' strange expression.


    "Money?"


    "Money."


    That short interaction was all she needed to figure out why her brother was looking like a creep.


    Roselia and Nadarus being here meant that the operation had gone pretty well, and soon, the others began showing up one by one.


    Ka and Kuro popped out from Evan''s shadow while Amy and Milena came in through the door, trailing right after Kieran and Beluar.


    The blue-haired Second Star General turned to Evan to ask him a question but the boy tossed a folder with the name of his home country written on it to him.


    "You guys owe me for that."


    Kieran was confused at first, but when he flipped through the contents and saw how many of his nation''s nobles could be put in incriminating positions because of this, he could not contain his surprise.


    Then, he was hit with a feeling of fear at the fact that the Demonic Hand had this information, meaning that some, if not all of these nobles were probablypromised.


    "Seems we have some cleaning to do when we get back to Askal."


    "Indeed, we do."


    Beluar concurred with him after flipping through and seeing some familiar names present.


    He noted some who were present during the court meeting where Evan''s intention was revealed, but the fact that the Demonic Hand was still unaware of this attack meant that they weren''t spies; it''s just that their dirtyundry was in the organization''s possession.


    Evan lifted Eliza off hisp and got to his feet, pping to attract everyone''s attention before speaking.


    "One Executive and a recement dead, and the Ninth Division of the Demonic Hand effectively crumbled.


    I''d say we did a good job here today."


    He looked to Kieran and asked him to have the soldiers retreat as far as possible, as fast as physically possible. He also added that they should have barriers on Croville''s borders that faced the Taiga Lion Thicket.


    "��what are you nning to do?"


    "Um��fireworks?"


    "Why is your reply a question?"


    Kieran sighed as he asked, holding up his walkie-talkie and giving orders to the soldiers he brought to retreat.


    As expected of an Elite Company of soldiers, they only lost 15% of their numbers. This was impressive considering the fact that they were greatly outnumbered.


    The casualties would have been more had they had to deal with the Barbarians, but thankfully, Kieran was present so said Barbarians had be broken ice statues.


    As Evan expected, a lot of Senior Members tried escaping with teleportation stones, but Beluar''s barrier blocked the effects of the stones and they had no choice but to stay back and fight, which did not end well.


    In the end, they still didn''t kill all the Demonic Hand members present. Not too surprising since this was the Base where an Executive resided, the number of subordinates here was far more than what they could handle with their numbers in such a short amount of time so Evan only said to target the grandmasters.


    There were a lot of survivors, but as Evan had stated earlier, he had ''fireworks'' nned for them.


    Evan picked up Maude''s frozen corpse and leaned it against the chair he was sitting on, before requesting Beluar to begin the teleportation out of the area.


    "Link the distance between the spaces as I decree."


    As he started the short chant, a magic circle materialized at their feet while Evan opened his inventory and began searching for something.


    Beluar was curious, but he did not neglect his spell conjuring and finished creating the magic circle. It was then that Evan finally brought his hand out of his inventory and dropped a metre-long ck cylinder on the ground right outside the spell circle and directly beside Maude''s corpse.


    "What th-Shit! Greater Teleportation."


    The Duke nearly lost concentration when he saw what Evan brought out, but he regained himself at thest moment and activated the spell.


    They were all wreathed in a spatial light and in a second, they had vanished from the room.


    *BEEP-BEEP!


    **BEEP-BEEP!!


    ***BEEEEEEEEEP!!!!


    The room was silent, save for the sound of the rotating standing fan that was doing its job, when suddenly��


    ***KAABOOOOOMMM!!!!!


    On that day, the people of Croville were treated to the brightest ''fireworks show'' they had ever seen.

 Chapter 674 Shattered Circuits and a Damaged Formation

    Chapter 674 Shattered Circuits and a Damaged Formation


    ??Unnamed Research Facility


    Caln Ind Country


    Divider Ocean


    June 13th


    Year 1053


    A pleasant jazz melody resonated through the atmosphere as a gentleman, adorned in a meticulously tailored three-piece suit, drew a magical circuit in the air.


    On the operating table in front of him, was an unconscious elf with their chestid bare and the magic circuit board floating mid-air found its root on their body.


    The magic circuits flickered with a blue light as he drew up an additional one. The instant he finished, however, they changed colours to a bright green and the man smiled.


    He picked up a notepad with the number ''#37'' written at the top and scribbled some things on it before setting it back down onto another table.


    "So that''s the reason why the Heroes Level up faster. The Laws of ''Replication'' and ''Proliferation'' work in tandem to duplicate the amount of exp they absorb on each kill."


    A small smile graced his face as he summoned the energy of close to a dozen World Laws and condensed it at the tip of his pen, before continuing to draw his magic circuit.


    The circuits flickered with blue light as he slowly constructed an additional segment.


    "If I get this done, I can make these Fakes finally be able t��GAK?!"


    The man suddenly felt a sharp pain shoot through his body, from his chest and straight to his head.


    His hand moved out of the path he was tracing and the straight line he was drawing in the air became curved, intersecting with a different segment of the circuit.


    Suddenly, the flickering blue lights of the circuit changed to a deep ominous red, and then��


    **BOOMMMM!!!


    ��the whole thing exploded in his face with the force of arge-yield conventional bomb.


    The building he was in waspletely blown to bits and the elf on the operating table was reduced to a mass of charred flesh in a second.


    The mes died down almost instantly, and the man''s figure was revealed. He had no scratches on his body, and there was only a little bit of soot on his suit.


    His facial expression, however, was one of anger.


    "This feeling��it''s the same as when Dominik Died.


    Evan Eris��it''s him!"


    He clenched his fist so tightly that his nails cut into his palms, barely holding back from punching a hole in the ground to vent his rage.


    It was then that two streaks of light descended from above andnded right behind the man, revealing their true forms to be that of a brown-skinned dwarf with rusty red hair and a pale white-haired woman with slightly pointed ears.


    Her gaze momentarily went to the corpse of the charred elf on the table, but she quickly looked back to the suit-wearing man.


    "Lord First��"


    If there was anything this woman��Cellica Berzon��knew, it was that the man in front of her was the kind to easily contain his emotions.


    But right now, something made him feel so much anger that he clenched his fist hard enough to draw blood.


    And that something was revealed to her by the man''s next statement.


    "Maude is dead."


    "?!"


    Expressions of shock crossed the faces of both Cellica and the dwarf beside her at this sudden news. Sure, they had only known her for a few decades whenpared to the centuries they had lived, but she was still arade they were close to.


    Suddenly being told she was dead was a lot to take in.


    "She was in the GEE, wasn''t she? Perhaps it was one of the Seven Star Generals! I sh-"


    "Her killer is Evan Eris. I''m sure of it."


    The dwarf''s words were cut off when the man spoke again, finally releasing his fist and letting his injured palm heal.


    "Her soul was destroyed. Revival is impossible."


    In his field of vision, he could see the notification telling him that the link he had with her via his Unique skill had been cut off.


    "My Lord. This Hero is a serious nuisance. Give the order and I would personally see to it that there would not even be a corpse left to bury."


    "Don''t."


    "But My Lord!"


    "Kranul!"


    The Dwarf instantly shut his mouth the moment his Lord had called out his name in a loud voice. For someone who was clearly angry, it wasn''t a wise decision to worsen his mood.


    But still, it was a fact that Evan had be a serious nuisance to them, and they needed to eliminate him like they had done all the others who were in a simr boat over the past century.


    "Leave Evan Eris. Focus on the Barbarians. Find Morass'' crown.


    If we have that, we can control the Barbarians and their advanced Magi-technology."


    Kranul wanted to object and say he should kill Evan before going back to the Barbarians, but Cellica held his shoulder and shook her head.


    "Cellica."


    "Yes, my Lord?"


    "Focus on what I tasked you with. Look for the remaining members of the ''Iremith Family''.


    Hydran and Ashe are not the only ones��"


    Cellica''s expression fell when she heard her orders. She had spent decades looking for the Iremiths and the only ones she had managed to find were Hyrdan whom her Lord already knew of and Ashe in Vuwhax.


    There were no records of the existence of any of such powerful beings anywhere else, so she had thought that they were the only ones, but her Lord kept insisting there were others.


    "Just as Hydran and Ashe survived the war a millennium ago, so did the others. Find them, and seal them away until its time."


    Cellica nodded to acknowledge her orders, before asking a question.


    "Pardon my Impertinence, but what about the ''Second''? Can we not send them to deal with this Eris boy before he bes even more of a threat?"


    The half-spirit, half-elf casually suggested sending the person Evan feared even more so than the First Finger after him, but then again, she could not be med.


    "I received a report that Vaeri was on the Alpha Continent. Why did she not kill the boy when she was there?!"


    Kranul questioned with annoyance in his tone. A big problem for the Demonic Hand could have been solved if Vaeri had just taken action, but she didn''t.


    "You should know by now that Vaeri only listens to her contractor. Those two were already contracted even before they joined us, so I have no authority over Vaeri like I do the other Demons we unsealed.


    Vaeri would not move unless her contractor wills it. The problem is that the said contractor could not care less."


    From the man''s words, it could be surmised that managing the ''Second Finger'' was a hassle even for the Leader of the Demonic Hand.


    "But if you went to them in person, they would listen to yo-"


    "Has your intelligence reduced to be as low as your height?"


    "��"


    "?!"


    The First Finger''s question caused the area to turn silent.


    Cellica wasn''t the one being spoken to, but even she felt how deep that hurt, much less the dwarf whom the question was directed at.


    As for Kranul, the man just went silent.


    "Why would you even think to consider that as a suggestion?


    The same reason I avoid the ''Second'' is the same reason I am not on the Alpha Continent right now, ripping out Evan Eris'' heart!!"


    The First Finger''s aura burst from his body and a terrifying pressure descended upon the area. Creatures of flight crashed to the ground and if it wasn''t for hisst bit of self-control, then every single existence on this ind would have been mmed to the ground by the pressure he released.


    "Right now, the World Formation is very weak.


    Domnik helped us fill it before he died and despite the odds, Kethryllia did her best.


    However, it''s not enough. The Formation''s efficiency reduced ever since we lost the Tenth, and it hadn''t had time to heal when Dominik died and the Formation was damaged greatly.


    If Kethryllia had died, it would have been a disaster, but Vaeri stopped that.


    Now, we only needed a few more days for it to return to pristine condition but Maude''s death has returned us to square one."


    The man facepalmed and sighed heavily, taking a moment to calm himself before continuing.


    "The only bright side about this is that Maude was the ''Ninth Node'' so the damage her death has caused is not too much."


    Looking at the Third and Fourth Fingers in front of him he asked.


    "You know why I do not personally interact with the Second, do you not?"


    "They are an ''Irregr''��a Grade 2 Irregr to be precise."


    As the Central Node of the World Formation, if you were to go near them, they''d disrupt the World Laws thatprise the formation and the damage would be the same as if any of the ''Fingers'' died.


    If the World Formation is damaged any further, we may not be able to generate enough energy to force the rift open and widen it enough for Transcendents to pass through."


    When he heard the answer that Cellica gave, the First Finger nodded in affirmation, before muttering something to himself.


    "At least one of you still has their intelligence intact."


    It took every single bit of self-control that Cellica had to not burst outughing right this instant, somehow managing to maintain a poker face.

 Chapter 675 Unleashing the ‘Wild Cards’

    <h4>Chapter 675 Unleashing the ��Wild Cards��</h4>


    "Don''t think I haven''t thought about killing that boy personally. I considered wiping Gerfast off the face of the map but the GWE''s Sovereigns would have simply protected the city the instant they sensed the danger."


    Even if he wanted to nuke Gerfast, he still needed a few seconds to gather his energy. And those few seconds were enough for the GWE Sovereigns who resided in the capital to notice him and take action.


    Just as he could easily wipe out a city in seconds, they could easily protect it in seconds as well.


    It was why he had not done sost year because they had noticed him the instant he entered Gerfast''s airspace.


    The First Finger, deep in contemtion, brought his hand to his chin, the gears of his mind turning as he delved into introspective silence.


    "I know you two want to eliminate the boy before he bes an even greater nuisance, but you do not have to do anything.


    Just focus on your tasks at hand."


    Taking a deep breath, the man finally regained his 100% calm, before speaking once more.


    "Any ''Demonic Hand'' member who encounters Evan Eris is to retreat Immediately.


    No Executive is to directly face him inbat."


    Cellica and Kranul clearly had misgivings about that second order, but they remained silent and let the man finish his statement.


    "I didn''t want to start using these cards now but this boy might turn out to be the nexting of Vaeri''s contractor."


    He thought about the forces he was nning to introduceter in the game, but with three Disasters failing woefully, he had to pull them out now.


    "Since I personally sealed some of them at my Father''s orders then, I doubt they''d listen to me.


    Cellica, send a Demon Messenger to Vaeri, I''d need her help to make this unruly lot fall in line��they would not dare disrespect a Peak Rank Demon."


    When Cellica heard this, a conjecture formed in her mind, one she was sure was true. But despite this certainty, she still asked.


    "My Lord, what ''lot'' may you be referring to?"


    The First Finger looked at her with a confused gaze, as if he was questioning why she asked something so obvious.


    "What other ''lot'' than the ones that would make sure the ns for Tarse do not fail?


    His predecessor was the one who sealed them, so I''m sure they''d be happy to have Evan Eris'' head if they get the chance."


    His reply to Cellica was all the confirmation she and Kranul needed, and they nodded in affirmation, concluding that Evan was definitely not going to be around after their ns for Tarse were executed.


    After all, the entities that the First Finger wanted to unseal were beings on their level.


    The ''High Ranked Demons'' of Gozon who had been sealed by An Maddox a thousand years ago.


    Evan had killed Maude, damaged the World Formation and made it such that the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Divisions of the Demonic Hand were no more.


    But this had caused the First Finger to make the decision to unseal the High Ranked Demons.


    The Difficulty Level of the ''Fall of the Desert Country'', had just spiked a whole lot!!


    �� �� ��


    Deram Hester shattered themunicator in his hands after it had transmitted the First Finger''s message to him, clicking his tongue in anger.


    Not far from him, a youthful man with brown eyes lounged on a hammock, his dark hair tousled by the cool night breeze of the desert.


    "So, that Hero. You called him Evan, did you not?"


    "Yes."


    Deram replied to the dark-haired man, his contracted demon who did not seem to care about the death of one of his coborators.


    "Hmm��that''s weird."


    The Demon looked at the stars of the night sky as he spoke, his memories recalling the day he had heard that name��on Gozon over a thousand years ago.


    He��a noble demon by the name of Xolgren Agriker��had once been in the presence of Demon King Sargon. Though he was not permitted to raise his head, his ears worked fine and he could still hear all that was being said.


    There was a single line that he recalled someone who had been speaking to the Demon King, most likely a woman, given how their voice had sounded.


    [Oh, and if you encounter any Hero with the name Evan, yo-Wait a sec. It''s not 10,000 years, is it? It''s just 9,000.


    Evan would not be around by now so this is clearly not the War Evan came from.


    You can do whatever you want then.]


    Xolgren had not paid any mind to those words at the time, as he could not make much sense of them.


    A thousand years had passed and he was unsealed by the Demonic Hand and he contracted with Deram, someone who had a Summoning skill like him.


    After fifty years, there was now talk of a ''Hero with the name Evan'', and this made him remember that line from a thousand years ago.


    ''Calcting it, it''s now ''10,000'' years so there''s no doubt this Evan Eris is the same person they spoke of then.


    But who was that woman and how close was she to His Excellency? Whatever the case, His Excellency is probably aware of the existence of this ''Evan''.''


    "Xolgren?"


    "Hmm? Is there a problem?"


    "You got lost in thought and didn''t hear me the first time I called you."


    "Oh��"


    Xolgren shrugged and sat up, looking right at Deram as he spoke.


    "So, there''s something we Gozonians do.


    Whenever we''re conquering worlds and we encounter�� ''Problems''. Existences who be threats to our conquest and are aware of most of our forces.


    We usually solve the issue by introducing Wild Cards. Bringing in powerful Demons they are not aware of and having them join the fray temporarily."


    Deram narrowed his eyes when he heard Xolgren speak. As far as he knew, the only way more Demons could enter Aidos now was to slip within the cracks of the Dimensional Rift on the Dark Continent.


    But after Xakon''s infiltration blew up, ''Dragon Lord'' Altrishia had made the Dragons watch the rift more closely so the dozen or so Low-Rank Demons who hade in since then were allpletely obliterated by Elder Dragon breaths.


    Yet, Xolgren had suggested that they bring in more demons despite knowing this.


    "Summoning Magic is still a thing, you know?"


    The High Ranked Demon jumped down from the Hammock and looked up at the night sky, at the stars ands in the distance and spoke.


    "Gozon is very far from this, a distance of tens of thousands of Light Years by my estimation.


    But we are an Interster Empire, we haves under our control that are much, much closer to this one."


    He then looked right at Deram and spoke.


    "My suggestion is to summon Demons from theses into Aidos. With the proper procedures and the energy of the ''Hotspots'' scattered all over this country, we can summon Demons into this world with zero repercussions from any World Laws."


    The demon waved his hand in the air and generated a projection of the night sky, but unlike the actual night sky, this one wasbelled.


    Stars,s and Constetions had their names listed.


    "This Star Map is a thousand years old, so it may not bepletely correct anymore."


    He pointed at one of the Star Systems on it and then spoke.


    "We had colonies on some of thes here, so if I have a Sovereign Realm existence very good at manipting spatialws, and a Transcendent''s energy reserves, then I can make a link and see if we can pull anyone over.


    They''d be helpful when we begin our ns for this Country."


    Hearing Xolgren''s words, the Fifth Finger nced at the Star Map for a few moments, before looking at the Demon and asking.


    "A Sovereign Realm existence very good at manipting spatialws, and a Transcendent''s energy reserves?"


    Xolgren chuckled when he saw the knowing gaze Deram looked at him with, deciding to stop beating around the bush and get straight to the point.


    "How about we pay a visit to your ''Former Master''?"


    "You want to go to the Dark Continent, where there are Dragons looking for Demons like you to kill on sight?"


    "��"


    After giving it a second thought, Xolgren closed the Star Map and turned to climb back up the Hammock in silence.


    "Oh, no you don''t.


    I cannot make Cross-Continental Spatial Gates, but ships exist for a reason. You''reing with me."


    "No, wait! The Dragons would kill me!"


    Deram grabbed Xolgren''s cor and tried to pull him over while the Demon grabbed onto the hammock as if it were his lifeline.


    "It was your idea; you see it through!"


    "There''s no need! I can just stay here and manage things!"


    Xolgren''s resistance increased when he sensed spatial magic power building up, meaning that Deram was conjuring a magic circle to cast the ''Gate'' spell behind him.


    "In you go!"


    The Lion Beastman''s arm bulged and he pulled Xolgren off the hammock and tossed him into the spatial gate he created.


    "NOOOOOOooo!!!!


    Deram dusted his palms and then grabbed onto his magic staff that was lying on the ground nearby, before stepping into the Gate himself.

 Chapter 676 A Kindred Spirit

    <h4>Chapter 676 A Kindred Spirit</h4>


    Shopping District


    Egraiby Station City


    GEE


    June 14th


    Year 1053


    On the previous day, Saturday, Evan had proceeded to deal with the Tenth Finger''s recement, kill Maude and stop the Basilisk from getting stronger, as well as piss off the First Finger to the point where the man decided to let High Rank Demons loose in Tarse.


    As for how he was going to be spending his Sunday after his weekend began in such an eventful manner, it was simple.


    He was going on a date with Eliza.


    The two of them hadn''t had some alone time in a while due to all that was happening, and starting tomorrow, things were going to be a lot more hectic.


    So, the couple decided to take this chance to enjoy themselves a bit, and that''s what brings us to the current scene of the two walking down the streets of Egraiby with ice cream in hand.


    They ignored all the res from single men and women that came their way when Eliza casually took a bite out of Evan''s ice cream to taste it while he did the same to hers just for the fun of it.


    Given how famous they were, they certainly should not be walking around like this in public, but since everyone was gonna find out he was in the GEE tomorrow anyway, he didn''t bother.


    At most, he put on a cap and sses as a ''disguise'', and Eliza did the same as well. The end result was that they looked like pop idols trying to go out incognito.


    This little disguise helped when people looked at them from afar, but if someone who knew their names and faces came close, they''d quickly realise they were in the presence of the ''Anomalies''.


    The owner of the dress shop they just left was a victim of this as the woman had nearly dropped her catalogue when she saw Evan casually sipping a strawberry juice pack in her waiting room.


    It was like suddenly waking up one morning and seeing a rich, famous and powerful governor from another country chilling in your establishment.


    Anyway, Evan felt like acting as if he was on Earth V, and by that, it meant he was carrying the bags of stuff they bought with his hands even though his inventory existed.


    Part of the reason was so that Eliza would feed him when they bought any roadside snacks since his hands were ''full''.


    Did Eliza see through this little scheme? Obviously.


    Did she go along with it? Obviously!


    "Oh��"


    The girl suddenly stopped feeding Evan when her eyes caught the sight of a certain shop in the corner, quickly tossing the rest of the food into her mouth before moving over there.


    Evan trailed behind her, but just before they entered the shop, she turned around and held out her palm.


    "You wait outside."


    "Why?"


    "No guys in these kinds of shops"


    The boy was confused by this, and when he looked up to see the name of the shop and its logo, he finally understood.


    ''It''s a Lingerie shop��''


    Turning his gaze back down to Eliza, he asked.


    "What''s the point when I''m gonna see it anyway?"


    "It''d ruin the surprise. Now sit down and wait."


    Without giving him a chance to refute, Eliza turned around and entered the shop while taking her cap off.


    Left outside, Evan shrugged lightly before deciding to find somewhere to sit and wait like she said. He saw that there was a restaurant opposite and he spotted a few other guys who were waiting with bags in the seat-out area.


    When they saw hime over, they all raised their brows in question and asked in unison.


    """You too?"""


    "Me too."


    "Ha!"


    "Called it!"


    "Join the club, my brother."


    The men burst intoughter at Evan''s reply and they invited him toe sit and wait with them.


    Before sitting, Evan noticed that the restaurant had some strawberry milkshakes on disy so he decided to pick one for himself.


    Since there was only one left after he picked his, so he decided to grab that one as well.


    However, before he could reach out to pick it up, another hand came in from the side and grabbed the milkshake off the shelf.


    "I got that first."


    Evan turned to his side and looked at the boy who snatched the milkshake and shrugged before saying.


    "Suit yourself, I don''t wanna argue with anyone who clearly favours strawberries as well."


    "Ohh! It seems I''ve found a Kindred Spirit."


    "Indeed, you have."


    The two walked up to pay for their milkshakes while Evan took a moment to analyse this other teenager, estimating his power level to be around 200 or so.


    ''Quite good.''


    The teenager before him possessed a cascade of golden-


    blonde locks and a set of captivating light blue eyes. His countenance carried a certain allure, a pretty-boy charm that garnered lingering gazes from passing onlookers, particrly the enamoured gazes of girls.


    "It seems that this generation of ours is quite talented."


    "Huh? What are you talking ab-Oh!"


    The boy what Evan was talking about mid-way, before smiling wryly as he replied.


    "It''s nothing much, you know? Not even the best in my family. My elder sibling''s a year older and their level''s more than twice mine."


    "That''s cool for your sibling, but it''s also cool for you as well. There are people twice your age who aren''t even on your level, you know? Give yourself a little credit."


    Evan didn''t appraise him to see his age or anything, but the boy visually looked to be the same age as he was. At his age, being a C-rank adventurer was something to be proud of.


    "You worked hard to get to that level, no need topare yourself to another. Who knows what they did to get to that level?"


    "Well, they''ve been involved in pretty MAJOR events recently. Life and death situations that make me worried."


    They chatted with themselves as they waited in line to pay for their stuff, and from his words and expression, Evan could see the boy really worried for his sibling.


    "If you''re so scared for their safety, use that as motivation to work harder, get stronger and fight alongside them to ensure they don''t meet an unfortunate fate."


    Evan''s suggested the first thing that came to his mind and the boy onlyughed lightly when he heard this. Ignoring the girls squealing in the distance, the boy replied.


    "Well, there''s already someone who''s much stronger than me by their side already so I don''t think I''d have the chance to do that."


    "Hmm? Are they in a rtionship or something?"


    "Yep. The other party is quite strong. So, they''ve already got a protector on them."


    After he spoke, it was their turn to pay and the two quickly dealt with the payments before finding a random table to sit down and continue their conversation.


    But first, they took sips out of their milkshakes.


    "Damn, that''s good."


    "Preach it, brother.


    It''d be better if it was cooler though."


    The blonde boy spoke as he noted the milkshake was a little lukewarm, and he preferred it cold. Evan heard this and had an idea, tapping both their cups with his hand and releasing a small wave of icy energy from his finger.


    "Try it now."


    "Hmm?...?! This! You sure know how to enjoy strawberries!"


    Evan chuckled when he saw how the boy reacted to this, before taking another sip from his own while ncing towards the shop on the other side of the street.


    As he was looking that way, a newspaper vendor walked past and Evan could not help but notice a headline on one of the papers.


    ''PRESIDENT DAMIR''S ECONOMIC REFORMS IN TERROK!''


    His eyes narrowed when he saw this, thinking about the name ''Damir'' since it was one that any of the Seven Heroes would recognize.


    ''Oh well, the time would eventuallye.''


    The Hero moved his gaze back to the shop and noticing this, the blonde teenager he was with posed a question.


    "Waiting for someone?"


    "Yeah, my girlfriend. We were shopping but she went in there and told me to wait out here."


    The hero replied while pointing at the Lingerie shop, seeing the door open up and a pair ofdies walking out. Almost immediately, two men who were ying chess in a corner noticed them and got up as well, before crossing the street to meet up with them.


    "What''s it like to be in a rtionship? Never been in one myself."


    The blonde teenager suddenly asked this and Evan only raised a brow before shrugging and replying.


    "Not much different from normal.


    You wouldn''t turn your entire life around because of it."


    "Really? Someone told me their lover always hounds them to make her his number one priority in EVERYTHING he does."


    "I don''t know about others, but my partner and I have an understanding.


    We prefer being ourselves, and we ept the fact that our lives don''t always revolve around each other.


    She''s a high priority, that''s for sure��but she''s not the ONLY high priority. That''s how I am for her as well.


    She doesn''t always hound me to know where ever I''m going, or wait upte just to know where I was or know what girls I''m friends with."


    "People do that?"

 Chapter 677 The Calm…

    Chapter 677 The Calm��


    ??"People do that?"


    The boy genuinely seemed surprised that this was a thing and Evan couldn''t help butugh and tell him that it was something minorpared to the other things you could find in some rtionships.


    "Personally, I think it''s because of their insecurities, and fear that their partner may cheat or something."


    "You''re not scared of that happening?"


    When the boy asked this, Evan''s expression turned nk for a moment before he grinned and spoke.


    "Nahh. My girlfriend loves me too much."


    "If only those others could be as confident as you were."


    "If only."


    The two sighed before taking the final sips of their milkshakes and trashing the empty cups. The boy was about to speak again, but he suddenly raised a brow in light surprise.


    While Evan was wondering what he was shocked about, he sighed and pushed his chair out.


    "As much as I''d like to continue the conversation, it seems the time hase for me to take my leave."


    He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out his guild card that was shing with light. After tapping a few things on it, the boy suddenly made a strange expression.


    "What?"


    "Well��it''s a littlete for this but I actually didn''t get your name��"


    It was then that Evan realised that he also didn''t get the boy''s name and the two of themughed a bit at the fact that they were asking for names after the conversation was over.


    ''Guys are like that, we can talk for hours and not even know each other''s names.''


    Such were Evan''s thoughts as he pulled out his guild card and introduced himself.


    "Name''s Evan."


    "Khristian. With a ''K''."


    "Nice to meet you, Khristian."


    The two registered themselves as contacts with their guild cards with Khristian clearly being surprised to see Evan''s ''S'' rank.


    "If you''re still around, we may see each other again."


    "It''s a small world, Khristian. We probably will."


    The blonde teenager only smiled wryly in response before getting up and walking away. Evan might have been mistaking it, but it felt as if the boy was running away from something.


    He didn''t put too much attention on It anymore as he felt Eliza''s presencee closer, turning around to see her crossing the street with a bag in hand.


    "I''m done, Ev-huh?"


    Eliza''s expression turned strange when she got close to Evan, and her footsteps suddenly stopped.


    "Weird��"


    She took a seat in front of Evan, where Khristian was seated a moment ago, before looking around and sending out a pulse of life energy. Eliza did this to scan all the life signatures within a 500-metre radius of her position and though that was a lot of information for her brain to process, she was looking for just 1 particr life signature that she was never going to forget in her life.


    ''Nothing? Then let''s try a different approach.''


    Under Evan''s confused gaze, she sent out another pulse of life energy, searching for a ce with a physical presence, yet no life sign apanying it but she came up empty as well.


    "Maybe I was overthinking it��"


    She muttered this to herself before she returned her attention to Evan who was taking his sweet time to go through the restaurant menu.


    �� �� ��


    "Damn, big sister''s sharp."


    Those were the words that escaped Khristian''s lips as he ced a hand on his chest while panting lightly.


    He nced down to the street, at where Evan and Eliza were before quickly looking away for fear of being noticed.


    "I warned you, didn''t I?"


    Another voice spoke up and he turned his gaze in the direction it came from, locking gazes with a long grey-haired and green-eyed man who then nced towards Evan and Eliza''s direction for a brief moment.


    "If I wasn''t here, she''d have found you out."


    "Well thank the goddess you''re here. To think that she noticed me from just my residual aura."


    Khristian sighed and then looked back at the man in front of him before asking.


    "I spoke with him and he seemed okay, so mind telling me why you and Grandpa hate him, Uncle George?"


    "Ha��and we expected you to be our ally."


    "Ally? The dude is a cool guy, clearly values big sister and most importantly; He likes strawberries! What problems could you possibly have with him?"


    George facepalmed and sighed in exasperation, before getting up from his seat.


    "Let''s just go home, Khristian."


    "Okay."


    Khristian got up from his seat and jogged up to his Uncle, bombarding the man with questions about Evan and Eliza''s rtionship.


    Unknowingly, Evan had gained an ally amongst the men of Eliza''s family.


    �� �� ��


    Meanwhile, Eliza was busy holding her cheeks with a sweet smile on her face as she munched on the cake Evan had just fed her.


    "This is wonderful!"


    "Of course, it''s a strawberry cake."


    "Actually, I was talking about the chocte part."


    *CLANG!


    Evan dropped the fork onto the te and ced his hands on his chest, looking at Eliza as if she had just betrayed him. The girl just sighed and shook her head before muttering a line to herself as she picked the fork.


    "I swear, you act just like my brother when ites to strawberries."


    "Your brother?"


    "Yeah��Don''t know why I suddenly thought of him. Maybe I am missing home a lot more than I thought."


    The girl spoke as she cut apart the cake and held up a slice to feed Evan, though the part she had cut was the chocte section.


    "Come to think about it, just what kind of ce is your home?"


    When Evan asked this, Eliza''s hand froze for a second, and she looked to the side and called the waiter while replying.


    "It''s a very normal, ordinary ce."


    "Liz, I don''t need Mystic Eyes of Truth to know you''re lying."


    The Waiter who just came close heard the usual censoring noise that resounded in his head and Evan offered a small apology while Eliza used magic to soothe his pain before making their order.


    Since the waiter was a normal person who was barely level 20, the effect of the censoring was a bit too much to bear.


    "So, back to your hometown. What kind of ce is it?"


    "It''s a rtively normal ce with rtively normal people. We don''t have any particrly special products or stuff like that."


    Eliza once again gave a generic answer and Evan only shrugged before asking another question.


    "What about your family?"


    The girl froze when she heard the boy''s question and she looked up at him, grabbing his arm and sending a pulse of life energy through him as if trying to confirm if the person in front of her was really Evan.


    "Did they rece you with a clone when I wasn''t looking?"


    "Oy!"


    "You can''t me me for asking. You''re the one who always skirts around the topic whenever my familyes up."


    Before she and Evan went to the Mansion of the Damnedst year, Evan was very curious about her family, but after the events of Chevertonst year, Evan began reacting strangely whenever the topic came up.


    Eliza studied Evan''s reactions closely and she noted that any time her family came up, Evan had an expression that was a mixture of disbelief and confusion.


    It was the same reaction he always had whenever things didn''t ur the way he expected them to, and it got her curious.


    Since he was the one who always pushed the topic back, it was natural for her to be surprised as he was the one suddenly bringing it up.


    "Maybe when we''re done with Tarse, we should get around visiting your hometown. It''s in Verdalight in Vathax, right?"


    Eliza didn''t seem to recall having explicitly told Evan the name of the city, but since he got the location right, she just nodded along.


    As for Evan, he decided that rather than wracking his brain trying to figure it out, it was best to just go where he could get answers.


    Answers on how Eliza even existed, since the person who all evidence pointed to as her mother��Alden Kaur''s daughter and George Kaur''s sister��was supposed to be a dead woman.


    ''She should have been dead long before Eliza was born so it honestly does not add up.''


    Evan had not said a word of this to Eliza, as she wasn''t going to take him saying her mother was ''supposed to be dead'' lightly at all.


    "Sure you wanna go?"


    When Eliza asked this, Evan sighed softly and shook his head.


    "To be honest, I''m not so sure."


    "Figures."


    She wasn''t surprised to hear his reply, but when she heard his next words, she realised she may have misunderstood said reply.


    "For starters, your Uncle doesn''t seem to like me very much��"


    "That''s why you don''t wanna go?!"


    Eliza spoke with quite a loud voice and drew a bit of attention to themselves, but the girl didn''t pay it any mind.

 Chapter 678 …Before…

    <h4>Chapter 678 ��Before��</h4>


    Meanwhile, Evan brought up her ''Zero-Damage'' punch which her Uncle taught her to use on him and stated that he would not do that if the man didn''t hate him.


    "Your uncle doesn''t like me much, so that''s one of the men in your family against me.


    Then there''re your parents who may or may not have a few things to say about our rtionship."


    Eliza put down her fork and narrowed her eyes when she heard Evan''s words before posing a question.


    "And what would they have to say about our rtionship?"


    Evan could swear that Eliza seemed to be a bit miffed, but he still said what was on his mind anyway.


    "Did you know that some ces in Vathax frown on Women being with men younger than them?"


    When she heard this, Eliza clicked her tongue as she remembered that a few ces in her home country did have that silly ''tradition''.


    ''With the way he acts, sometimes I forget he''s younger and sometimes he just reminds me of the fact he IS younger.


    He does act like he barely takes anything seriously, after all.''


    "Don''t worry, my parents have Zero problems with you being younger."


    "That''s cool, but that''s not the only thing on my mind."


    The waiter came over with their drinks and dessert and they paused their conversation to take a piece before continuing.


    "Just asking, but what do you think your reaction would be if your parents wanted us to break up?"


    Evan waspletely serious when he asked this, but Eliza''s reaction was quite unexpected, to say the least.


    "Hahahahaha!"


    Elizaughed as if she just heard the joke of the millennium, but herughter suddenly stopped and she looked Evan right in the eyes before replying.


    "That''s never gonna happen."


    "You can never tell.


    From interactions I''ve seen you have with people who know your dad��Duchess Cerul, King Kolvar and the others��he seems to be the doting type.


    That''s why I said he may have objections to anyoneing after his cute daughter."


    Eliza shook her head when she heard Evan''s words, before picking up her fork and replying.


    "You mistook my meaning.


    My Dad having an issue with me dating someone is something I can see happening. Us splitting up, is what I meant that''s ''never gonna happen''."


    Hearing her reply, Evan paused for a moment and looked up at Eliza who went back to her dessert, to see if she understood exactly what her statement had just implied.


    But after seeing her act without a care in the world, Evan concluded that she didn''t. He wasn''t gonna tell her though, he was sure she''d be embarrassed to no end and while he would like to see that, they still had the rest of their date ahead of them so he''d postpone it forter.


    "Guess I have to work on getting your dad to like me then."


    "Yours was fine with me, mine can shut the hell up. My mother on the other hand would have zero problems with you."


    Hearing her speak, Evan anticipated a live father-daughter interaction between Eliza and her father.


    "What about your brothers?"


    "Ah, those two brats. For starters, you''d get along with my first brother. I mean, the both of you are strawberry lovers."


    "I see. A kindred spi-!"


    Evan paused mid-speech when he suddenly realised something was odd. He looked up at Eliza and took in her features, particrly, her golden blonde hair and sapphire eyes.


    He then remembered the boy whom he had just spoken with a few minutes ago, who also happened to have golden blonde hair and light blue eyes.


    There was also the fact that the boy seemed like he was running away when he left, Eliza''s strange actions when she came back and her suddenly bringing up her brother earlier in the conversation.


    ''What are the odds?''


    Looking at Eliza who was picking up her ss, he spoke.


    "So, Liz.


    Does this brother of yours happen to be called Khristian?"


    "Pfft!"


    Eliza almost spilling her drink was pretty much all the confirmation that Evan needed at this point. He held up a napkin for her to clean her lips before she finally regained herposure and asked.


    "I don''t think I told you his name was actually Khristian, did I?"


    Just like she used ''Eliza'' in ce of ''Elizabe'' and he used ''Evan'' in ce of ''Evankhell'', her brother used ''Khris'' in ce of ''Khristian''.


    When she had told Evan about her family before, she mentioned her younger brother was called ''Khris''.


    Evan did think she meant ''Chris'' but that''s not the point.


    "You certainly didn''t tell me he was actually ''Khristian''. He told me himself."


    "Wha-?"


    "I was speaking with someone who left a few moments before you stepped out and It didn''t hit me until you mentioned the strawberries again."


    Hearing this, Eliza finally realised that she wasn''t mistaken when she thought the residual aura on the chair opposite Evan was familiar.


    This then begged the question of how she didn''t sense him when she scanned the area but she remembered her Uncle who just so happened to be skilled enough to obscure her life force sensing from spotting him.


    "He didn''t say anything weird, did he?"


    "Nope. I do think he came to probe me a bit because he kept asking questions rted to rtionships."


    "I''m gonna smack that boy next time I see him."


    Just as Eliza said that, Khris who was getting into a train to leave the GEE suddenly shivered as he felt a chill down his spine.


    "Fuck, I think big sis figured it was me!"


    Leaving aside the other teenage blonde, Eliza and Evan''s conversation topic shifted to that of their siblings for the remainder of the time they spent in the restaurant.


    Afterwards, they got up and moved on to their next location, enjoying their date all the way down till evening, before they finally returned to their hotel.


    Roselia was still at the library burying herself in books, Nadarus was still at the casino using his new fortune to make more money, while Evan honestly had no idea where the Spirit quartet were.


    He could tell if he used his link with them, but he didn''t bother since he wanted to be alone with Eliza for a while.


    They chatted for a while, then entered their suite kitchen to cook together, making their dinner which they ended up eating with Eliza sitting on Evan''sp while they fed each other.


    When they were done with their dinner and were washing the pots and pans they had used, the doorbell rang and Evan walked up to get it while he cleaned his hand with a towel.


    Opening the door, he was met with the figure of a tall ck-


    haired man wearing a ck hat with a trench coat. He was holding up a pocket watch and turned it towards Evan whose lips contorted into a frown.


    "Why are you here already?"


    "You''re the one who told me to pick you up early!"


    The man in the trench coat, Duke Beluar Sarxina of the GEE, shot back when he saw Evan''s displeased expression.


    "Who''s that, Evan?"


    When he heard Eliza''s voicee in from further into the suite, he realised the reason why Evan was pissed and heaved a sigh of light exasperation.


    "Oh, Duke Beluar.


    Care toe in for a drink?"


    "Good evening, Miss Eliza. I appreciate the offer but we''re pressed for time.


    I''d like to borrow your partner for a bit."


    The Duke greeted Eliza with a light smile, before looking at Evan and muttering something about her acting like a wife already.


    Evan used magic to mute his voice and prevented Eliza from hearing his words as he walked up to the girl who was holding a ss of orange juice.


    He took a sip out of the juice she was holding, before pulling her into a short, but deep kiss while Beluar rolled his eyes and closed the door to give them some privacy.


    "I''ve made arrangements for you guys to go to Askal, so when the otherse back at night, you guys can pack up and head there tomorrow.


    Only Kuro would not be joining you as he''s to move a team of people that I asked Roselia to get for me."


    "What about you? Where''re you going?"


    From Beluar''s presence here and Evan''s phrasing, it was clear that the boy was not going to be travelling to the GEE''s Capital city of Askal alongside them.


    "I have a few hostile takeovers nned."


    That was all Evan said in reply before kissing Eliza again, and then walking out the door behind him.


    The moment the door closed, the smile on his face disappeared and he turned to Beluar who was leaning on the wall and spoke.


    "Alright, let''s go."


    "Finally."


    The Duke snapped his fingers and a four-ringed spatial magic circle manifested underneath their feet, wreathing them in a spatial light before their figures were whisked through space- time, out of Egraiby, and the GEE as a whole.

 Chapter 679 …The Storm

    Chapter 679 ��The Storm


    ??Imperial Pce


    Capital City Askal


    Great Eastern Empire


    June 15th


    Year 1053


    The time was 12 am.


    Normally, the city of Askal would be asleep as it was midnight, but today, the city was wide awake.


    Men, women and children, young and old; people from all categories were awake.


    The Imperial Pce in the centre of Askal was crowded by hundreds of journalists and news reporters from various radio stations and newspapers across the country and even foreign news agencies.


    The reason was simple, their Emperor; His Imperial Majesty, Isaac Tarron Wilson, wished to address not only the nation but the entire Alpha Continent and the world atrge.


    The stage of the Imperial Castle''s press conference hall lit up at exactly 12 am, and the Emperor made his entrance, with all those present bowing their heads to pay their respects.


    After he sat down, the journalists and reporters sat down, before quickly picking up their pens, notepads, cameras and recording devices.


    Radio Stations were broadcasting everything happening live while newspaper agencies had their cameras ready to take photos for the morning print.


    It was the consensus that the front page headlines of all newspapers were going to have whatever the Emperor was about to say.


    Emperor Isaac sat with two of the Seven Star Generals standing on his sides, Kieran the Second and Lierin the Fifth.


    He was dressed in his ceremonial uniform, bearing the emblem of the Imperial family on his left side and the g of the GEE on his right side.


    When the technicians finished setting up the magical projectors, he opened the file in front of him and began speaking.


    "Good morning all.


    Today is the 15th day of June in the Year 1053, and the time is currently 12:04 am.


    I''d like to thank you all for being present for this Special Press Conference."


    Isaac took a deep breath, flipping the file in front of him before raising his head to face the hundreds of cameras on him and beginning his speech.


    "Sometime a Millenia ago, our world was beset with an Invasion from another, and the ''Seven Heroes of Legend'', along with millions of other unsung heroes in the form of the soldiers who fought tooth and nail against the Invaders were able to repel them and seal away the path which they came from.


    It was the first ''Special ss Global Threat'' in our current History, and this great war caused Aidos to lose a lot.


    Among the things lost, were valuable pieces of Information, ranging from the correct chronology of events in the war to the races and characteristics of these ''Invaders'', as well as various details about how they had been repelled."


    The sounds of camera shutters filled the room, along with the scribbling of dozens of journalists and the low-volume statics from various radios.


    Over the Night Sky of Askal, there were multiple light projections shining in the sky, showing the city the image of the Emperor as he continued his speech.


    "In the Year 1030, the GEE''s National Defence Research Agency discovered a trail of Intact Structures that dated back to over a thousand years ago.


    After some further Research, they were confirmed to indeed be Structures that Survived the War of 1000 years ago.


    This made our researchers leap for joy as if we could ess these ruins, there was the high possibility of us gaining information about the Special ss Global Threat."


    Murmurs filled the Press Conference Hall when Isaac spoke. Different opinions were voiced out; some wanted the GEE to let sleeping dogs lie, with many agreeing and stating that since the war had passed over a thousand years ago, the country should not waste Resources on this.


    Isaac, with his superhuman hearing as a Superior Master Level Existence, heard all of this, but he ignored it all and continued speaking.


    "With this, we could discover more about the Invaders who once came to our world, and also prepare for the possibility that they may return through some other means."


    The room turned silent when Isaac spoke about the possibility of another Invasion from another world, so silent that one could hear a pen drop.


    *CLACK!


    And that was exactly what happened when a stunned journalist dropped her pen. Without batting an eye, Isaac continued speaking in a clear voice.


    "Following the discovered trail, we were led to a structure that appeared to be a Military Base of some sort from 1000 years ago, located in the neighbouring Republic of Wolfen.


    The GEE made an official request to Wolfen every single year since then, asking for permission for our Researchers to ess this ''War Remnant Structure''. Under heavy Wolfen Military Supervision, of course, considering that the location was quite close to the Country''s capital city of A."


    Isaac nced to the side for a moment and the technicians activated the magic projectors, disying images of all the official requests stamped with the Emperor''s Seal that had been sent to Wolfen, as well as the Rejection letters stamped with the President of Wolfen''s own official Seal.


    The sounds of cameras shuttering filled the room as everyone wanted to get a picture of each of the requests and the rejections, and Isaac gave them a minute to do as they pleased before he had the projections removed.


    "We requested the government of Wolfen, to coborate with us to explore this location as much as we could, to unearth as much information as possible.


    The main reason was to prepare ourselves against Alien Threats. ''Special ss Global Threats''.


    As much as I hate to say this, the Invaders from a millennium ago may not be the only ones our World may ever have to face.


    We do not know how many Worlds are out there, and if they have the means to attempt an Invasion of our World, with the intent to conquer or plunder our World''s Natural resources.


    We may have another Invasion on our hands so it''d be best if we knew how our Ancient Heroes had repelled the Invaders of their Era, so this era and eras after us can build on that to develop more means of protecting our World as a whole.


    The Current Heroes of this Era are in agreement with this sentiment as well as the decision to investigate the ''War Remnant Structures''.


    Unfortunately, the government of Wolfen has repeatedly rejected our requests, both verbally and in writing as you have seen."


    Isaac''s expression suddenly turned dark as he pulled out a brown sheet of paper and took a moment of silence.


    "One of such rejections; a very recent one, If I might add; had a Wolfen Minister whose name I would not state, vocalize these words to us;"


    The Emperor looked down to read the contents of the brown paper in his hands.


    "I quote:


    [We would never let any filthy Great Eastern Imperial Operations ever happen on Wolfen Soil!]"


    The man then proceeded to squeeze the brown paper and toss it into a trash bin that was right in front of the stage, while the entire hall went wild. If what the Emperor had just imed was true, then a Minister of Wolfen had disrespected the GEE.


    Isaac looked up from the table, gazing into the cameras taking photos and spoke.


    "The Great Eastern Empire took that statement very personally.


    And that brings me to the main agenda of this Conference today."


    The man pulled out a few ck sheets of paper from the file in front of him, flipping through them as he continued speaking.


    "I am announcing the Great Eastern Empire''s intention to carry out a ''Military Operation on Wolfen Soil''.


    The aim is to Secure the ''War Remnant Structure'' which is situated right outside the Capital, A.


    As securing that location alone would put our Researchers at risk, the final decision we arrived at, was to annex the nation of Wolfen and make it a vassal of the Great Eastern Empire.


    Since Wolfen refused to Listen to Diplomacy for over 20 years, we decided to use a different means to get the information the people of Aidos need to know out there.


    I would also like to add, that just as with the decision to investigate this War Remnant Structure for the reasons I stated before, members of this Era''s Heroes also stand with this decision."


    Silence.


    The hall was filled with silence due to the shared feeling of shock from all its inhabitants. Even the cameramen forgot to press their shutters as they were surprised.


    Outside, the GEE citizens who were annoyed upon hearing the alleged remarks of a Wolfen Minister and wanted the GEE to strike back, were also surprised at the fact that the Emperor had just stated his intent to wage war.


    Isaac cared not for any of these and continued speaking like he had not just dropped a bombshell of a statement.


    "To the Republic of Wolfen; this is our ''Deration of War''.


    To the other Nations of the Alpha Continent; this is our ''Warning Request'' to NOT Interfere.


    To the Brave Soldiers of the Great Eastern Empire; March Forward."


    After those three concluding lines, Isaac closed the file in front of him and got up from his seat. This snapped the hundreds of journalists present out of their stupor and they suddenly started scrambling towards the stage with their recording devices to ask questions.


    A line of knights stopped them from getting too close but this did not stop the ''crazed'' journalists from screaming their questions out.


    Everyone knew that GEE and Wolfen had had tensions for a while now, but the Deration of War was too sudden.


    They then thought about thest line Isaac had spoken. The words he said to the GEE soldiers.


    ''March Forward''


    Everyone had the same realisation, that those words were an order to attack!


    Almost immediately, many of them began trying to get hold of their Wolfen Contacts and ask them about the situation there.


    The Press Conference Began at 12 am and ended by 12:30 am.


    By 6 am, the five states of Wolfen that bordered the Great Eastern Empire, had fallen.

 Chapter 680 1 vs 3500

    Chapter 680 1 vs 3500


    ??In a little under six hours after the GEE Emperor''s sudden Deration OF War on Wolfen, Five of the Country''s states had fallen under GEE control.


    This was the news that people of other countries woke up to.


    A sudden War that took the world by storm.


    People didn''t even know which piece of news to be shocked by the most; The GEE''s motive, the fact that a Major World Power was initiating a war, or the part where it was stated that there were Heroes who supported this.


    Fremond, Xuudrora, Zaalgow, Flirstead, and Tomond, were the five Wolfen States which had quickly fallen to the GEE''s surprise attacks at 12:30 am.


    Tens of thousands of soldiers marched into the states and the Wolfen military forces were subdued easily.


    Martialw was dered, and all movement in and out of the states was restricted by the GEE Army.


    The Trains in these states were thenmandeered and used to send reinforcements to the ces where the Wolfen Military Resistance was heavy.


    The GEE''s title of ''Major World Power'' wasn''t just for show, and they proved this to the world in the way they subdued these five cities.


    In reality, however, while the GEE had indeed invaded five states, only four of them were actually taken over by the GEE soldiers.


    This was not something the World was going to know until a dayter when more ground-breaking news headlines were going to fly around.


    As the other Nations of the Alpha continent received recordings of the GEE Emperor''s broadcast, they had a variety of mixed reactions.


    Some of them in particr, were not so surprised about this, as they had already been informed about this War beforehand by a certain hero.


    Beast King Kolvar, Chief Grand Magus Gavin, and GWE''s Emperor Rudeus all had the same question running through their heads when they received the news of this war.


    ''Evan had been waiting for this War for a while now, so exactly where was he while all of this was happening?''


    The answer to that questiony in the fifth Wolfen State that fell to the GEE; Tomond.


    �� �� ��


    Firecrest Camp


    Tomond


    Republic of Wolfen


    June 15th


    Year 1053


    "��what the actual fuck are we looking at?"


    Such words escaped the lips of a GEE soldier as she stared at the scene of devastation in front of her.


    The woman was sure she wasn''t the only one with such thoughts, evidenced by the looks on the faces of her fellow soldiers.


    The Firecrest Camp of Tomond was one that boasted over 3500 ELITE soldiers strong, so they had attacked with a force of 5000, led by one of the Seven Star Generals.


    Yet, none of them even had the chance to lift a finger.


    The female soldier cleaned her eyes with her sleeve just to make sure she was seeing correctly.


    Dozens, perhaps over a hundred giant icicles erected from the ground and pointed to the skies.


    Within each of these icicles, were the half-frozen bodies of soldiers wearing the Wolfen army uniform.


    Countless morey on the ground unconscious, while some had tendrils of golden lightning sparking across their bodies asionally, having been hit with enough lightning to electrocute a normal human on Earth V.


    Golden chains bound the powerful grandmaster realm soldiers to giant pikes of ice that shot out from the ground. Though they were fully conscious, their petrified limbs prevented them from making any attempts to struggle.


    The temperatures of the icicles were low enough that the soldiers felt like they were thrust right into the middle of an icy blizzard with nothing but their underwear, yet their bodies never got cold enough for them to have frostbites due to the brightly coloured tongues of mes that licked the base of the icicles.


    The soldiers were either half-frozen, lying on the floor paralyzed, chained to icicles, half-petrified, half-buried under the ruins of the copsed military base buildings, or just straight up unconscious.


    Groans of pain rang out from all areas, but it was precisely because of these groans that the GEE soldiers could tell.


    None of the Wolfen Soldiers was dead.


    This trail of devastation led straight to the centre of the Camp where the mainmand centre building which had been cleaved in two was.


    Getting closer, one could see that there were close to a dozen Commissioned military officers on the floor, at the feet of a teenage boy who was holding up a One-Star general in a chokehold.


    "Your men have been vanquished, General.


    Do you surrender, or die?"


    Evan asked that question with a cold smile on his face, as he hoisted the Brigadier General up in the air, enough that he could see the devastation all around him and see his defeated soldiers.


    "As you can see, I have not killed a single one of them. However, they would continue fighting as long as you have not given the order for them to surrender or retreat.


    Good soldiers, the lot of them. Very valuable fighting force against the Invaders if they were to stay alive.


    So do you give the order for them to surrender so they remain alive, or die?


    Choose wisely."


    The hero spoke as he let his crimson aura of destruction slowly flow up his wrist and to the Brigadier General''s neck.


    Evan''s power control had increased to the point where he could subtly control his destruction essence without fully activating BoD.


    It was a very limited control and did not have the Soul Damage attribute, but it was still enough to ignore a percentage of his target''s durability and affect their health values directly.


    ''I only used Limit Break against these soldiers. They are a potential fighting force against the Demons and I would not like for too many of them to die.


    But this is war now, I would only give them this small grace. If they cross my line, then to the afterlife they go.''


    "Hahahahahahaha!!"


    While he was lost in his thoughts, the General whom he was holding suddenly startedughing and Evan gave him a gaze that questioned his sanity.


    "I don''t know how many monsters you''ve killed to gain your power, but it seems you''re still a na?ve brat who doesn''t dare to kill huma-!"


    "Energy st."


    **BOOOMM!!


    "I asked a simple yes or no question and he started droning on about rubbish."


    Evan clicked his tongue as he looked at the blood that sttered on his palm after he had blown the general''s neck to oblivion and sighed before turning towards the next highest military officer present.


    "Since your superior officer is dead, you are to automatically assumemand of this Base.


    Yes or No?"


    "Yes!!"


    The Colonel quickly replied to Evan''s question while nodding,pletely fearful of the boy after seeing how little hesitation he had in killing the Brigadier General.


    "Do you surrender or do you wish to join your superior?"


    "Surrender! I choose surrender! Please spare the men!"


    "Wise choice."


    Evan replied to the man before jumping down from the table he was standing on, while the Colonel quickly infused his voice with magic power and called for surrender.


    Not like there was anyone capable of fighting left though.


    The Hero walked out of the room while yawning, bumping into Beluar who was standing by the door.


    "I''m done here, you handle the rest."


    Beluar looked at his pocket watch that had the two hands in a vertical line and sighed, before snapping his fingers to teleport five GEE army officers into the hallway.


    "You know what to do."


    The Five Lieutenant Colonels nodded and rushed into the room Evan had just left while Beluar walked with Evan out of the half-


    crumbling building.


    "When you said you wanted to do this without killing a single person, I honestly thought you were being delusional."


    "Of course, you did. Who the hell goes to war without the intent to kill?"


    "You?"


    Evan smiled wryly and shook his head as he refuted the older man.


    "I have the intent to kill, it''s just limited.


    Anyway, it was kind of a little training for me. Going up against a Battalion without intending to kill anyone is a lot harder than doing so while aiming to kill them all.


    I have to fine-tune my power such that I deal enough damage to leave the soldiers incapacitated and not dead. It was a workout."


    Beluar looked at the boy who considered going up against over 3500 people (grandmasters included), and attempting to subdue them all without a single death to be a ''workout'', wondering if he was really all right upstairs.


    His focus, however, quickly shifted to something more important than Evan''s workout ns.


    "Like your Limited Killing Intent, we had very Limited desire for War prisoners, and now you have given us over 3500 War Prisoners with this."


    "Not keeping Prisoners? Why? You could do hostage exchanges and stuff if any of your good men get captured."


    The Star General nodded when he heard Evan''s words, before repeating that they only intended to keep a limited number just in case of such situations.


    The goal was to take the more valuable Commissioned officers as prisoners, and not everyone down to the foot soldiers.


    "The Costs of maintaining prisoners of War are not ones we wish to incur. We cannot let them starve to death, or-"


    "Who said you''re gonna be the ones feeding them?"


    "��"


    Beluar raised a brow in question when Evan suddenly cut him off with that question, but the young Hero only raised his finger and told him to wait.


    Evan then pressed his hands to his head and used his link with his contracted spirit.


    "Kuro, am I still within range?"


    [Yes, Master. Should I send over the group that Roselia got?]


    "Yep."


    As soon as Evan gave confirmation his shadow suddenly began wriggling, before expanding to over three times its original size.


    There was a surge of magic power and Beluar who was very spatial attuned noticed that something was being teleported via Evan''s shadow.


    A few secondster, a group of six men and women wearing corporate clothes and holding notepads and cameras emerged from Evan''s shadow, with it quickly returning to normal afterwards.


    "Thanks, Kur-"


    "Heeee!!!!"


    Evan was interrupted by the scream from one of the members of the group that just appeared, and when he turned towards them, he saw the reason why they screamed and jumped back in fear.


    There was a wolfen soldier who had his legs petrified and his arms and torso charred ck on the ground not too far from them.

 Chapter 681 The Alpha Continent’s National Leaders I

    <h4>Chapter 681 The Alpha Continent��s National Leaders I</h4>


    "If you do not wish to turn out like him, I suggest you watch your back. Besides, the man isn''t dead.


    This much is too little to kill a grandmaster, after all."


    When Evan''s warning reached their ears, the woman turned around and saw that if she had moved back two more steps, she would have fallen into the ruins of a building which were engulfed in prismatic mes.


    "C-count Bourne."


    The young hero''s displeasure upon hearing the woman''s address was very evident on his face, and he questioned if Roselia was really the one who sent this lot before speaking.


    "For the love of all that is right and just, as far as this war is concerned, you are NOT to address me by my GWE Noble Title.


    I am participating in my capacity as an Adventurer and Hero, not as a GWE noble.


    Am I clear?"


    "Yes, Sir Evan. Please forgive her, she''s a new recruit who was just added to our team at thest moment."


    "And did you not deem it wise to inform mypanion of thisst-minute change?"


    "��"


    The Team Leader went silent when she heard Evan''s inquiry, refusing to say anything as she knew that Roselia would have most likely chosen not to work with them anymore if they had told her of this.


    Evan guessed this from her expression and sighed in light exasperation before telling them to do their jobs.


    "Look around you, every single soldier of the Republic of Wolfen is alive and well."


    Everyone''s gazes turned to the half-petrified petrified-half burned grandmaster on the floor and Evan simply shrugged.


    "Most of them are Alive and Well. Them being Alive is the main point."


    When he said this, the Journalist Team leader pointed her pen towards his right hand and he looked there to see the Brigadier General''s blood on it.


    "Oh. That''s from a Brigadier General who refused to call for surrender and rather his men fight to the death despite how obvious it was that the odds were against them.


    His decision would have caused 3500 pointless deaths today, but since he suffered an untimely death and the Senior Colonel below him tookmand, no pointless deaths happened."


    As Evan spoke, he walked forward and the journalist team quickly trailed right behind him, with one of them taking pictures of the surroundings while the other had an Audio Recording artifact capturing his words.


    "I had given my word to spare them if they surrendered, and that I exactly what I did.


    These soldiers have now be prisoners of war; however, the GEE would not be shouldering the burden of keeping them alive.


    The Republic of Wolfen is going to have to be the one bearing the costs of keeping its soldiers alive. If they end up starving to death because WOLFEN REFUSED TO FEED THEM, then that''s on Wolfen and not the GEE.


    Either that or they''d be set on the frontlines of the next attack and forced to fight their own countrymen. That would not be pretty now, would it?"


    Evan finished speaking and ran up to the top of the giant icicles that emerged from the ground with half-frozen soldiers trapped in it, stabbing his sword into it before overlooking the entire Military Base from this high vantage point.


    The Cameraman took a picture of Evan at that moment, one which would be the front-page photo of the next day''s paper.


    Meanwhile, Evan was busy checking to see how much of the infrastructure he had destroyed to know where the Wolfen Soldiers would be kept and where the GEE soldiers who would be upying this base would be kept.


    ''The Wolfen Soldiers are going to end up as temporary ves for the GEE Army, but that''s their fate as the losers of this battle.''


    After making his calctions, he jumped down from the icicle and spoke to Beluar and the journalist team.


    "I''d trust the General here to handle the supervision of the journalists who would be reporting EVERYTHING THEY''VE SEEN HERE today, without any lies to make either side look better.


    As for me, I would like to take a rest. Taking on 3500 elites did take a lot out of me."


    Though Evan wasn''t lying when he said this, anyone looking at him now might feel he was, after all, he had already recovered half the energy he had expended in dealing with the soldiers.


    After a few more words to Beluar, Evan dove into his shadow to where Kuro was.


    �� �� ��


    Continental Room, Imperial Pce


    Askal


    GEE


    June 15th


    Year 1053


    The ''Continental Room'' was the name of the ce where the direct magic projection lines to most of the National Leaders of the Alpha Continent were.


    Just as Gavin had a direct line to Emperor Rudeus which Evan had used to speak with the man in the past, Emperor Isaac had lines to many other National Leaders.


    Most of the time, either one or two, at most five of these connections were activated at once, but today, over half of them were active at the same time.


    The Reason, could not be anything other than the Emperor''s Deration of War earlier in the day.


    The projected figures of different Kings, Queens, Emperors, Presidents and Prime Ministers lit up the room originally dim room.


    Emperor Isaac sat in the centre on a swivelling chair, with his elbow on the armrest while his chin was propped up on his palm.


    [So? Mind exining yourself, Isaac.]


    "There I nothing more to exin, Rudeus. I stated all my reasons and intentions in the message you received."


    Isaac shot back at Rudeus with a frown on his face, but before the GWE Emperor could say anything more, a different person��


    the Utrarian Republic''s President��voiced out another question.


    [Did you not think this through? The Economic Issues this is going to cause are too numerous to list. All trade routes that go through Wolfen would be blocked.]


    "The affected countries are all those with leaderspetent enough to have a lot of their imported goods in storage, and they would not be running out anytime soon.


    Right?"


    As he questioned, Isaac''s gaze went to the projections of the Kings of Countries bordering Wolfen. Without waiting for them to say anything, he continued.


    "I also have no desire to have this warst too long. I have more pressing issues that my citizens'' taxes need to be used for."


    Isaac spoke with a shrug, and another Nation''s King raised his voice in response.


    [This is all just you wanting to show the World your new military power! Do you think we don''t know you''ve been beefing up your forces in the past few years?]


    "You know that because I let you. And as for the reason why I was doing that, is it me or did I recall stating that this morning?"


    [You lied to the masses! You''ve been sending your men into Wolfen for years. Of course, they didn''t want you entering their territory!]


    "Calm down, King of Osmaoque. I know you and Wolfen have your little backdoor alliance. Considering that and the way you''re so angry at me��I feel you may want to side with Wolfen.


    You can go ahead; it''d be a workout for my men. They''ve been training for so long and it''d be nice to see more of the results of that training."


    Emperor Isaac subtly threatened that King with a calm look on his face, and the King found his words caught in his throat.


    He could not be med, as he knew that his country would note out unscathed in a war against the GEE.


    [Calm down, Isaac. One war is enough right now, we don''t need a second.]


    "I know we don''t, Chief Grand Magus.


    That''s why I requested none of you interfere so I can wrap it up quickly."


    Isaac replied to Gavin as politely as he could manage, but he was barely holding in his annoyance as the man would rather be anywhere but here right now.


    He just started a war, and he needed to follow up very closely. But he also knew that if he pushed this back, then these other national leaders would keep on bothering him.


    So, he just wanted to get this done and over with, as well as to warn the other idot-correction; the other Kings who wanted to side with Wolfen because they didn''t like him.


    Thus, we arrive at the current situation where Isaac just activated all the connections in this room simultaneously, regardless of the ridiculous energy cost to cover such long distances.


    Some National Leaders didn''t answer him, but about 60% of them answered so he was okay. Anyone who called him after this was going to get snubbed, unless it was the Beast King, of course.


    [Antonio mentioned Economic issues, but that isn''t my problem with this. What I''m concerned about are the civilians.


    Crime rates would be at an all-time high, and SLAVERS could sneak in under all the chaos and abduct Women and Children to sell off as ves.]


    The Elven Kingdom''s Ruler, King Laiex Raloro cited the Utrarian President''s earlier words in his statement. As he spoke, he couldn''t help but give a side nce at President Damir of Terrok, causing the other suit-wearing man to frown.


    [What are you insinuating?]


    [I never called any names and you''re already on your toes. Seems someone has a guilty conscience.]


    Evidently, these two have never gotten along and were not going to be getting along any time soon. Graugro''s ruler ignored their ridiculous banter and turned his attention back to Isaac who was coincidentally looking in his direction before speaking.


    [Let''s get the pretences out of the way, Isaac. You just want to expand your territory and you used the ''War Remnant Structure'' as a reason to Annex them.]


    "No, I did not.


    If I wanted to expand my territory, I would have stated it outright. I do not need pretences.


    The main aim is getting the information about the Dimensional Rifts��information that could clue us in on how soon the seal on the Dark Continent would break."


    When he said this, Rudeus'' expression turned dark for a moment, and Isaac didn''t miss this little change.


    ''His daughter is one of the Heroes��she must have told him something��''


    The man felt envious of Rudeus for having two heroese from his country, not knowing how much Rudeus controlled his urge to smack one of them sometimes.


    [The Rift is a matter for the future. Let''s talk about the present; about how the people of Wolfen would resist you.]

 Chapter 682 The Alpha Continent’s National Leaders II

    Chapter 682 The Alpha Continent��s National Leaders II


    ??Isaac gave the President who spoke a look that said; ''Do you think I don''t know that?'' before he replied.


    "But in the end, they would have no choice but to adapt. I''ve made ample preparations for this war, and everything will go as I intend it to. Even if any of you decides to interfere unnecessarily."


    [This is War, Isaac. There''s no telling how it''d end.]


    This time, the person who spoke was another one of the Leaders of the Major World Power countries of the Alpha Continent; Lloris ��lurtr Austin, the ''Desert Emperor of Tarse''.


    He had amanding figure, with a burly build that exuded strength and authority. His ck hair was neatly styled, apanied by meticulously trimmed sideburns that add to his imposing appearance.


    He was dressed in a sharply tailored tuxedo, coloured as ck as his eyes, which further emphasized his regal demeanour.


    "Of course, you can lecture me about that.


    You''ve got a lot of hands-on experience with your Country''s Inter-tribal conflicts. Speaking of Tribal Conflicts, I heard they managed to piss off some dragons."


    [I have no desire to lecture you, Isaac.


    What I wanted to confirm was your im about the Heroes. That they are in support of you.]


    "Indeed, that is the case."


    [As of now, there are only three known Heroes. Laurene Hayes, Evan Eris and David Thancreed.


    Their locations are all public knowledge and knowing you, I doubt you''d finalize a conversation about supporting a war over a Projection Call.


    It got me doubting the validity of your im.]


    Isaac could understand why Lloris thought like this, as he would have not settled such an important issue over a Projection call.


    However, the Desert Emperor forgot the simple fact that he could just send one of his trusted Generals to handle the talks, and that was precisely what he had done by sending Kieran to Evan.


    "It''s certainly not a lie.


    I do have ''a Hero'' on my side."


    Turning towards Rudeus, he continued.


    "Your daughter did say he was their ''Leader'', didn''t she?"


    When Rudeus heard the man''s words, his bad premonition was basically confirmed. He pressed his fingers to his temple and heaved a deep sigh, one which got him questioning looks from the others.


    Lloris was also confused at first, but then he remembered Warlord Isobel''s report to himst year and he connected the dots.


    "��Evan Eris?"


    ''But Evan Eris is supposed to be in the Beast Kingdom��''


    As if he had nned it with the sole intention of making Lloris swallow his thoughts, the door to the room opened and the hero in question waltzed right in.


    "Oh, you''ve already started."


    "?!"


    For the first time today, Isaac actually lost hisposure.


    ''How did he get here?!''


    The location of the Continental Room was not public. 80% of the nobles who worked in the Imperial Castle didn''t even know where this room was, and yet, Evan, a foreigner from another nation found his way here without being invited.


    It''d be stranger if the man wasn''t shocked!


    "Good morning, Emperor Isaac."


    Evan greeted Isaac in a familiar tone, and Isaac could swear that even if he said this was the first time that he was meeting Evan physically, no one would believe him.


    As for how Evan was here; he knew this meeting happened because it was stated in the game. He also had a map of the GEE''s Imperial Castle because of the War Arc in the game, and he had the convenient concealment skill that was Lethe.


    With those factors, it wasn''t too hard to surmise how he had ended up here without any of the guards detecting him.


    "Good morning to you all."


    [Evan. Why is it that every time I see you, you''re either about to, or you''ve just finished killing someone?]


    "Huh? Why would you say that?"


    Evan was genuinely confused about why Rudeus suddenly asked that, but the Emperor just sighed and pointed to his cheek.


    [You still have blood on you.]


    "Oh! To think I missed that when I changed my shirt."


    The boy cleaned his face with a towel from his inventory, then incinerated the towel while muttering something about that being thest bit of the ''General''s Blood''.


    They didn''t have time to pay attention to this mutter, as most of them were still wondering how Evan had managed to slip under their radars and end up in Askal.


    All their spies and informants stated that the boy was still in Goras, but here he was, right next to the GEE''s Emperor.


    [Is this the GWE''s stance on this as well?]


    Before Rudeus could even reply, Evan spoke up while crossing his arms.


    "Nuh-uh.


    Although I am a High Noble of the GWE, I would be participating in this war in my capacity as the ''Hero Evan'', NOT the ''Count Bourne''.


    The Hero responsible for saving Lacertiliast month."


    This was something that Evan needed to make very clear to these World Leaders, so they would not involve the GWE and make things messy for him to deal with.


    He was sure that some of them had already begun calcting their schemes and were in the middle of doing so.


    ''This was why I called for Backup beforeing here.''


    Since his backup was going to take some time, he decided to buy that time till it arrived.


    [What''s in it for you, Evan?]


    Gavin questioned the boy whom he knew definitely had an ulterior motive for siding with the GEE and Evan only shrugged.


    "What''s in it for me is that the World gets to know about the possibility of an Impending threat.


    None of you here is obliviousabout the fact that the Seal on the Dark Continent is going to break one day. We need to make the World aware of this impending threat so when it does happen, the responses of the masses would be swift since they''d be aware of it beforehand."


    [It''s going to cause International Panic.]


    "That Panic would be a lot worse if we just suddenly say, ''The Dimensional Rift is Broken, we''ve got Demons Invading'' when the people don''t even have any sense of danger or prior knowledge of such a possibility.


    I can already see people screaming ''It''s the end of the World'' and jumping off rooftops tomit suicide.


    With Emperor Isaac''s speech today, the people are now cognizant of the fact that the possibility of being invaded is very real.


    This is very necessary as the people of Aidos have so much confidence in the seal on the Dark Continent that it baffles me."


    Evan shook his head with a sigh as he spoke, before pulling out a chair from his inventory and taking a seat.


    "By getting this information out there on time, it improves our fighting chances."


    [How so?]


    "Simple, President Antonio.


    Some are going to reason something along the lines of:


    An Alien Invasion means a war like a thousand years ago, a war where hundreds of millions perished.


    Some of them, would go on to think: If I get stronger, would it not increase my chances of Survival if a war does ur?


    And we''d see people gaining motivation to risk their lives in a bid to be stronger."


    Although Levelling up to be strong sounded easy, it wasn''t all sunshine and rainbows.


    To Level up, one needed to kill other existences, and these existences were not going to sit down and let themselves be killed. They would fight back, and that resistance discouraged some people from ever levelling up.


    If you went at something with the intent to kill, you had to have the resolve to be killed as well. Once you died, that was it; noing back.


    That resolve was something a lot of people did not have, hence the reason why they remained at the Bronze and Silver levels till the end of their lifespans.


    "Some may want to get stronger to protect Family and Loved ones. That can be their motivation and from what I know, people can achieve a lot when they have ''something to protect''.


    Of course, I''m being very optimistic and the amount of people who would actually end up with those trains of thought would be a lot lower than expected, but they''d still be there.


    No matter how small, we need them. We need every able-


    bodied man or woman we can get."


    [Then would a war not reduce the number of able-bodiedbatants?]


    In response to Lloris'' question, Evan nodded in agreement.


    "It would. But I still support it for various reasons.


    Besides, this war would go down in History as the War with the least casualties ever��that is my aim.


    Let me give you a spoiler for tomorrow''s newspaper headlines:


    The State of Tomond was captured with only 1 Casualty which was the Wolfen General who refused to call for surrender and wanted his men to fight a losing battle which would have resulted in over 3500 unnecessary deaths."


    When Evan said this, his mutter from earlier when he cleaned the blood off his cheek resounded in their heads.


    The little talk Evan had given had bought enough time for the message he sent beforeing here to reach the required party.


    One of the magic projectors on standby suddenly powered up, signifying the person on the other end had finally decided to join the conversation.


    But when the World Leaders saw who it was, they had mixed reactions. Some were surprised, while others only sighed and stated that this was expected.


    The projector released a ray of light and constructed the 3D hologram image of a burly lion beastman with deep brown hair.


    The Ruler of the Strongest Nation on the Alpha Continent and one of the''s five Transcendents; ''Beast King'' Kolvar.


    "Good morning, Sir Kolvar."


    [Good morning, to you all.]


    The National Leaders all offered their greetings to Kolvar and the man acknowledged them with a nod before turning to Evan and asking him why he was there.


    "Some people seem to be doubting Emperor Isaac''s im of having the support of the Heroes so I''m here to back him up."


    [If that is the case then this is not something which requires my attention. I''d send you over to David.]


    Kolvar could not be bothered to deal with this right now as he had to beginprehending thew of wind. Mostly so he could rub it in the face of the Elven Emperor when next they met on Altrishia''s Ind.


    The Beast King''s projection disappeared and there was a 30-


    second downtime before his son''s image was projected in his ce.


    ? ? ?


    Important Info in Author Notes

 Chapter 683 The Alpha Continent’s National Leaders III

    Chapter 683 The Alpha Continent��s National Leaders III


    ??When David saw Evan, he smiled wryly and shook his head as he spoke.


    [Why am I not surprised?]


    "At this stage, it''d take a lot more than just this to surprise you."


    [Indeed, it will.]


    David sighed before ncing around and continuing.


    [Profound greetings to the Alpha Continent''s Leaders. I hope my fellow Hero isn''t giving you a hard time?]


    "What''s that supposed to mean?"


    [I was just expressing my concern for their wellbeing, Evan. Nothing more.]


    Seeing as the two of them spoke with such familiarity, the World leaders present began restabilising their evaluations of Evan.


    Evan saw the gazes that were assessing him and ignored them, turning towards Rudeus who spoke up before he could even say a word.


    [I already sent for her.]


    The boy was grateful that the Emperor understood his intentions without him needing to voice them.


    Like with Kolvar, Rudeus'' image disappeared for a short moment before Laurene''s appeared in its position.


    The girl looked around with her Mystic Eyes glowing, focusing on David for a few seconds before she finally offered her greetings.


    "Now that the three known members of this generation''s ''Seven Heroes'' are present, shall we take this from the top?"


    Evan spoke with a calm smile on his face while David and Laurene sighed internally, taking care not to break their serene expressions.


    The three of them held high positions; Laurene was the GWE''s Princess who was very loved by the masses who had taken to calling her the ''People''s Princess''. Evan was the son of the GWE''s Prime Minister, and a High Noble with his own Peerage and Court Rank, as well as someone with quite the track record in Osto, Cheverton and Lacertilia. Then there was David who was the son of a Transcendent and a Prince very much beloved by his people due to his actions which earned him the title of ''Saviour Prince''.


    But despite this, seeing them faced with 60% of the World Leaders of the Alpha Continent and still retaining their calm; these powerful men and women had to rethink their evaluations of not just Evan, but David and Laurene as well.


    Those with keener insight realised right away that treating them like children simply because they were young was not going to end well, especially with Evan who was currently the most popr of the three.


    ''He''s also the most unpredictable��For their ages, they''re not easy to read, but this Evan Eris the one who needs to be paid the most attention.


    Although he oozes frivolity and the asional childishness expected of someone his age, the reports about Osto, Cheverton and Lacertilia I received show the boy is not to be underestimated.


    He''s a serious enigma.''


    Such were the thoughts that crossed through the head of Lloris, and a lot of other leaders present also had simr trains of thought.


    [Prince David, it has been some time.]


    [Indeed, Chief Grand Magus. I hear you''ve finally joined the ranks of ''Living Legends''. It was about time.


    Congrattions.]


    Evan raised a brow when he heard David''s words, lightly surprised that this event which happened a yearter in the game had urred a lot sooner.


    ''But that''s good, this means he''d be stronger by the time the war happens.''


    [Thank you, Prince David. But I do not wish to speak about me now.


    What I wish to ask, is how much do you know about Evan''s involvement in the Wolfen situation and the im of you Heroes supporting it.]


    [A lot. I was the one who handled sending the official requests to Wolfen, after all.]


    David''s reply to Gavin''s inquiry was met with a confused expression on the Chief Grand Magus'' face, and from this, David noticed he may have jumped the gun.


    He turned towards Evan and questioned him.


    [You have not told them?]


    "I haven''t gotten around to doing so."


    [Is that so? Then allow me.]


    David readjusted his seating position and his hands seemed to be searching for something on his desk as he spoke.


    [The GEE were not the only ones who sent official requests for permission to investigate the War Remnant Structure.


    Evan her had sent three of them, as did I. But we were both rejected, unfortunately.]


    When David exined this, Evan turned to Emperor Isaac and spoke.


    "Looks like you''re not alone in the Wolfen Rejection crew."


    Meanwhile, another nation''s King was questioning David''s stance on the War.


    [Are you also of the same opinion as your Evan Eris?]


    [Why wouldn''t I be?


    The both of us are of the same mind, and it seems the GEE''s Emperor took a page out of that.


    We know for sure that there is definitely information about the War of a thousand years ago, as well as information about Dimensional Rifts as a whole, and deeper information about the Seal on the Dark Continent''s Dimensional Rift in the��War Remnant Structure, you called it?]


    David''s statement ended with a question to the GEE''s Emperor who nodded in affirmation. But besides that, the whole room was abuzz with murmurs as David had just basically confirmed what the GEE Emperor had said were ''beliefs'' in his speech.


    Some National Leaders frowned when they heard this and Evan noted their names and faces silently, while David continued.


    [There is a negative though, if you can call it that.


    While I know the information��Information that was not lost during the great Information purge 1000 years ago��is definitely there, I do not know how much is there.


    I guarantee it''s definitely not something you all are aware of already.]


    [I second that guarantee. Especially considering that ce most likely belonged to Evan''s predecessor.]


    Laurene added on with another bit of information that allowed the National Leaders to get a glimpse of Evan''s motives in siding with the GEE.


    Evan then proceeded to repeat his exnation of how he wanted the knowledge of the Demons Reinvasion to be slowly eased into the popce so as to minimize the amount of Panic it''d cause.


    Having the memories of previous heroes and knowing how much people panicked in the beginning stages of the previous Aidos-Demon War, the other two couldn''t help but agree with him as they didn''t want to have to deal with all that stress.


    Somehow, it turned into a conversation between the three heroes while the other National Leaders could do nothing but sit back and listen.


    "When we release more of this information to the masses, a lot are going to question the validity of our ims."


    [We can simply toss the mantle on Wolfen''s head. Saying that we''ve known about this for a while and not told publicised this would be the height of folly.


    People would react negatively, even if we tried to exin how they would also react negatively if we told them earlier.


    So, it''s best we im the information was sourced during the Wolfen Invasion.]


    Laurene gave her opinion as she leaned back, while David followed up with a light shrug.


    [We technically would not be lying though. We, Heroes, are restricted in how much we can say, and then there''s also the fact that we would also learn a lot more by unlocking that War Remnant Structure and knowing just what secrets An Maddox left behind.]


    From what the three of them had just spoken, the National Leaders present quickly figured out their intentions.


    They nned to use Wolfen as a ''Scapegoat'' for the rest of the world.


    "Although this is the best course of action, it''s not the most efficient. There''d be a lot of socio-economic problems, but it''s a storm that''s gonna pass.


    Speaking of Economics..."


    Evan turned towards President Damir of Terrok and spoke about the newspaper he had seen the previous day.


    "I saw yesterday''s paper. Good work on the Economic Reforms."


    He gave the man a double thumbs up as he spoke, but this action earned mixed reactions from the other Heroes.


    Laurene only deadpanned at the President, not bothering to hide her dislike for everything Terrok-rted while David only gave the man aplicated gaze.


    Evan noticed this and kept on talking after a short pause.


    "Now then, I''d appreciate it if you toned down the ve trade a bit, so King Laiex would be less hostile towards you. At least, he''d be able to tolerate you being in the same room with him."


    The Elven Kingdom''s ruler narrowed his eyes at Evan when the boy spoke, but Evan acted like he did not notice his gaze and got up to address all those present.


    "I would like to state an intention of mine.


    I''d like for us to establish a council; World Leaders and the Heroes��something like this, but on a muchrger scale.


    We''d also have regr Annual or Bi-Annual meetings which would be attended physically. It''s for the event that the Rift''s seal breaks and we end up faced with a war that gives us no choice but to put aside our differences to repel themon enemy that is the Invaders."


    Evan shared his n with the National Leaders, and just like he expected, their opinions on it differed greatly.


    Some supported it, but they were in the minority. Not all countries had good rtionships with each other and putting them in a room physically was just asking for trouble.


    Lloris even cited President Damir and King Laiex as examples.


    However, Evan was going to make this happen, regardless of whether they liked it or not as he also nned to use it to root out spies amongst the Aidosians as well.


    This was one of the reasons he was chasing after Intercontinental Influence, after all.


    After this, Evan took his leave, with David and Laurene disconnecting soon after since he wasn''t there anymore.


    �� �� ��


    When she switched off the Magic Projector and disconnected the magic stone from it, Laurene heaved a soft sigh while thinking about Evan''sst statement.


    "He knows how much I hate Terrok and he wants to put me in a room with their President?


    I feel I might punch the man in the face faster than the Elven King can even move a muscle."


    The girl clearly still held a grudge against Terrok for the way they acted so condescendingly towards her years ago, and she still had every intention of making their Foreign Affairs Minister pay.


    She also wanted to punch the President who had appointed such a Minister in the first ce!


    But that was for the future, she had more important things to do now.


    Walking out of her office, Laurene activated her Mystic Eyes and looked around the hallway, before her gaze settled down on one random point on the ceiling.


    "Get down here. Now."


    *WHOOSH!


    A figure dropped down from the ceiling, as if materializing out of thin air andnded on one knee beside her.


    The person''s clothes seemed to shift with the light, and in seconds, they had camouged themselves to blend in with the appearance of the wall they were kneeling beside.


    If someone looked from afar, they would not be able to tell that there was a person there.


    "Alert my Guard Detail, I''m going out."


    [Location, your Highness.]


    "Franta City."


    Laurene began walking forward after informing the Shadow Guard of the location. She took a deep breath and summoned her trusted Magic Catalyst, Venus, before continuing.


    "I have a Demonic Hand base to wipe out."


    (This is what leads to Laurene''s scene in the Volume 3 Teaser [Chapter 431])

 Chapter 684 Liegan’s Battle I

    Chapter 684 Liegan��s Battle I


    ??Government House


    Liegan


    Republic of Wolfen


    June 15th


    Year 1053


    "Tomond has fallen, you say?"


    "Yes, Mr Governor. The scouts reported sightings of Imperial gs in Firecrest."


    "��"


    The Governor of the nearest state to Tomond, Governor Doulton of Liegan, frowned deeply when he heard the words of Major General Aldric, themander of the city''s Military.


    It hadn''t even been a few hours after he had been roused from his sleep by the news of the GEE''s invasion and the next thing, he was hearing was that Fremond and Xuudrora had fallen.


    The nightmare only got worse when he heard that Zaalgow and Flirstead followed not long after, and now even Tomond''s Firecrest Camp and its Brigade of Elites could not stop the charge of the Imperials.


    Spread in front of him was a map of Wolfen, with the GEE to the North and their Capital A in the central area of the country.


    If the GEE wanted to get to A, then they had to conquer all the states on its path, something they had already started doing.


    "I guess that they are subjugating everything both horizontally and Vertically, most likely to avoid being pincered when they go deeper in."


    General Aldric spoke as he traced an optimal path to A, and on that optimal path was their state of Liegan.


    Among the five states that fell, they were the closest to Tomond, and arguably the most prosperous.


    This made them the perfect next target for the GEE.


    "Have you sent word to the Zhupus and the Capital?"


    "I have. I was told we''d be getting reinforcements from both of them, but��"


    "You have no idea when those reinforcements would arrive, huh?"


    "��"


    General Aldric''s silence was basically an affirmation and seeing this, Governor Doulton sighed in light exasperation.


    "We also have no idea when the Imperial soldiers woulde knocking on our doors as well."


    Governor Doulton looked at the map spread out in front of him, pointing at the Northern Military Garrison of Liegan and questioned.


    "What is the state of your troops?"


    "Training and discipline are good, but morale is low. Especially since the news of Zaalgow came around."


    "That''s not good to hear at all."


    Regardless of how strong the soldiers were, if Morale was low, that strength could not be fully utilized. But then again, hearing five states had fallen in a matter of hours was enough to kill any country''s morale.


    Governor Doulton was sure that other Countries would still be doubting the validity of this as it was simply too absurd.


    The GEE needed to send at the very least, a division of 10,000 �C 16,000 soldiers to defeat one of those states, so taking out five in such a short time meant they had deployed over 50,000 soldiers in one go.


    "If we do have Imperial soldiers knocking on our doors, how are we going to receive them?"


    "In the ins."


    "You wish to turn the fallowing farnds into a battlefield?"


    When Governor Doulton asked this with a raised brow, Aldric pointed at the position of the Northern Military Garrison thatid on the border of Liegan and spoke.


    "When the GEEes, they''d definitely attack the North first, since the south has a shallow river that''d make things difficult. But after doing so, they''d eventually go for the South. I propose that we bring the South''s forces up north and meet them outside the state.


    It''s either we turn these fallowing farnds into a battlefield, or we fight inside the Garrison.


    But here''s the issue; the soldiers who are fighting are Master Level and Inferior Grandmaster Level existences."


    Putting it like that, Governor Doulton quickly realised why they could not let the battles happen in any part of the state.


    Just two Master Level existences fighting could turn city blocks to rubble with the coteral damage, much less when there were thousands of them.


    "Civilians would drop like flies; we can''t have that."


    "Exactly, so we have no choice but to meet them outside the city and fight them there. Hopefully, this happens after we''ve at least gotten reinforcements from our neighbours in Zhupus."


    General Aldric hoped the reinforcements from the neighbouring state of Zhupus would arrive on time, but those hopes were dashed in the next second.


    A soldier barged into the Governor''s office; an action that would have gotten him sanctioned if it wasn''t for the news he brought.


    "SIR!! The scouts have detected an iing force of Imperial Soldiers!!"


    Both Governor Doulton and General Aldric frowned when they heard this, wondering if fate was mocking them for having hopes of reinforcements.


    "How many?"


    "Visual Estimate puts them at over 15,000."


    It sounded small, especially considering they were going to fight an entire state''s military, but the GEE was a Major World Power. Their army was sure to be full of Elite soldiers.


    ''Even so��15,000 is a bit too small. Are they underestimating us? Or perhaps��!''


    General Aldric had a frightening thought, and he looked up at the soldier who was biting his lips before asking the most important question.


    "What gs do they fly?"


    "��"


    "Answer me, Warrant Officer."


    "��The g of the Sarxina Duchy. It''s a Division of the Seventh Imperial Army."


    "��fuck. To think that they''ve already deployed ''them'' this early into the war."


    Aldric could not hold back the curse that escaped his lips. Now he understood why they dared to march to Liegan with just 15,000 soldiers.


    One of the famed ''Seven Star Generals'' was leading them.


    �� �� ��


    The sun was high in the afternoon sky, casting long shadows across the vast ins outside Liegan''s borders.


    Ever since Emperor Wilson''s speech had been broadcast, rumours had swirled through the state of an impending invasion, but now, as the enemy forces loomed on the horizon, the reality of war set in.


    Despite the words of hismissioners, Governor Doulton stood atop the walls, his gaze fixed on the horizon where the Imperial Forces approached.


    Beside him, Major General Aldric barked out his orders to the Colonels, organizing the defence of the border.


    The Liegan troops, numbering around 20,000 strong, stood in formation on the open ins, their armour gleaming in the sunlight. They formed a defensive line, with infantry units interspersed with cavalry and archers.


    Among them were seasoned veterans who watched the iing banners with grim faces and raw recruits who quaked in their boots. Both categories were united by amon cause, to defend their homnd from falling into the GEE''s clutches.


    As the Imperial army drew nearer, the tension in the air grew palpable. Mages from both sides stood at the forefront of their respective armies, their hands crackling with magic power as they prepared to unleash tactical spells upon their enemies.


    Supports cast ''War Magic'', army-ss spells that targeted thousands and applied them with basic buffs, and elemental enchantments.


    The sun illuminated the vast expanse ofnd as the Imperial forces came into full view. d in armour and flying the banners of the Empire, they marched in disciplined formation, their ranks stretching as far as the eye could see.


    The Liegan troops braced themselves with sharpened swords and shields raised. Battle cries rang out across the battlefield and the air hummed with anticipation as the two armies prepared to sh.


    Eventually, the march of the Imperial Soldiers came to a stop and they stood ready to charge, weapons drawn and staves raised.


    It was then that General Aldric sensed something in the sky and gazed up. In the next few moments, his subordinate Colonels all noticed it as well and turned their eyes skyward.


    "?!"


    Floating in the air and looking down at the Liegan Army with his hands crossed at his back was a brown-eyed and ck-haired man who wore the Uniform of the Imperial Army.


    Four stars surrounded the Imperial Army badge on his chest pocket, and that was all the people of Wolfen needed to know who they were looking at.


    "Seventh Star General��"


    "Good afternoon to you too, Major General Aldric."


    Beluar offered his greetings to the Major General who took up a defensive stance. Mages pointed their staves at him and nced towards their toonmanders who then nced at the Major General for orders.


    "You know me?"


    "Only a fool would go to war without knowing their enemy General."


    "��"


    The brown-eyed man wondered why Aldric would even ask such a question, but when he noticed the ritual magic circle being conjured on the ground, he figured the man was just trying to buy time.


    "That would not be necessary. I''m only here to speak."


    "Speak? With an Army behind you?"


    "I''d like to think of them as my ''persuasive power''."


    Aldric snorted when he heard the man''s words, not believing him even the slightest and Beluar sighed when he saw this.


    "This is the fourth time I''d say this today, but oh well."


    Looking right at Governor Doulton and General Aldric, Beluar lowered his altitude, not caring if the Wolfen soldiersunched their ritual magic at him.


    ''Is he that confident��?''


    Aldric was an Intermediate Grandmaster like Beluar and he had noticed that there was some sort of barrier surrounding the man, though he could not perceive how durable it was.


    Despite noticing Aldric''s scrutinizing gaze, Beluar ignored it and began his words.


    "The GEE intends to Annex the Republic of Wolfen for reasons that you all are already aware of; your government didn''t give us much of a choice.


    Anyway, we are not here to Kill, Still and Pige as some of you may be thinking.


    We have zero desire to harm the civilians, and even after we eventually annex your Republic, they''d continue going about their lives as normal.


    The only change would be that of the government, but that''s not important now."


    Beluar spoke as if the GEE''s victory was a given, something that put frowns on the faces of the soldiers but they remained silent after seeing Aldric''s calm expression.


    "Even as a vassal nation, the Civilians would still require the protection of the military and no one would be a better fit to protect Wolfen citizens than Wolfen Soldiers like you.


    Long story short, Surrender."

 Chapter 685 Liegan’s Battle II

    Chapter 685 Liegan��s Battle II


    ??"...Long story short, Surrender."


    "��"


    Though Aldric remained silent, the man could feel the gazes of all the nearby soldiers within earshot turn towards him.


    "You are soldiers obligated to defend your nation, and you have orders to do so as well. I understand that.


    However, my offer is not meant to make you disobey your orders, but to prevent unnecessary deaths. A certain Hero doesn''t want us killing ''too much'' you see��"


    The man spoke with a wry smile and hearing thatst line, Governor Doulton remembered the GEE Emperor''s speech where he had stated that they had the support of current generation Heroes.


    ''Those Heroes are all just children! What do they know about war!''


    Beluar could predict the Governor''s thoughts by seeing his expression and he was sure that the Governor would not be saying that when one said Heroes visited themter in the day.


    ''I wonder what is it that he has to discuss with His Majesty?''


    "So? What say you, General Aldric?"


    The Imperial General questioned the Republican General and a tense silence filled the area as all ears stretched to hear his reply.


    "General Sarxina. You may speak of annexation and governmental changes, but that does nothing to change the fact that Wolfen would never surrender its sovereignty without a fight


    The Republic of Wolfen will resist your invasion with every ounce of strength we possess."


    Aldric''s voice rang out, echoing his defiance against the Imperial General''s ultimatum. His words ignited a spark of hope within the hearts of his soldiers, reaffirming theirmitment to the cause despite the daunting odds.


    Beluar regarded Aldric with a calm gaze, nodding in affirmation as he spoke.


    "Very well, General Aldric."


    The Imperial General turned around after those short words, but suddenly, a fireball wasunched from amongst the Liegan Army''s ranks, streaking straight towards the airborne General.


    However, it never reached its mark as Beluar simply turned in its direction and a wormhole appeared in front of him, swallowing the fireball.


    A simr wormhole manifested right beside the head of the soldier whounched it and his attack came out and sted him in the head, knocking him down to the ground.


    "And here I had a high opinion of your military discipline."


    Beluar''s disappointed words rang long after the man had teleported back to his soldiers'' ranks to give them orders. His orders were crisp and decisive, echoing across the battlefield as his soldiers fell into formation with practised precision.


    Immediately, a battalion of elite soldiers took to the skies on the backs of winged serpents, d in armour and wielding powerful artifacts.


    Aldric gave orders and the Liegan mages ascended to face them and the sky was soon aze with fire and lightning as the aerialbatants shed with each other.


    Spells flew back and forth between the flying warriors, illuminating the sky with bursts of colourful energy.


    Meanwhile, on the ground, the melee fighting began after both armies charged towards one another. The Liegan soldiers shed with the Imperial forces in a brutal and intense struggle for supremacy.


    Swords shed against shields, axes cleaved through armour, and spears found their marks with deadly precision.


    General Aldric surveyed the scene with a practised eye, his mind racing as he formted strategies to counter the enemy''s advance. He knew that the key to victoryy in exploiting the terrain and coordinating his forces.


    ''If only we had time to set traps��''


    Such a thought crossed his mind but he knew that they would not have had this leeway. A part of his mind figured that Beluarunched his attack very quickly to prevent them from having any opportunity to prepare any traps.


    Aldric barked out orders to his archers and they obliged, directing their aim at the enemy''s nks andunching volleys of arrows that arced through the air at breakneck speed.


    Over half of the arrows found their marks amidst the chaos of the battle, but even if their arrows wereced with explosives, it wasn''t enough to fell the elite Master Level soldiers.


    On Beluar''s side of things, the man disyed the keen tactical mind that had earned him his General title, his orders cutting through the din ofbat with efficiency.


    He directed his calvary to outnk the Liegan lines while his infantry pressed forward relentlessly, driving a wedge into the enemy''s defences.


    As they closed in, a volley of arrows soared through the air from behind them, raining down upon the Liegan ranks like a deadly hailstorm. The defenders responded in kind, unleashing volleys of arrows and bolts from their crossbows, their aim true and deadly.


    The ground shook beneath the thundering hooves of charging cavalry, while mages on both sides unleashed torrents of fire and lightning, illuminating the sky with bursts of magical energy.


    The battle raged on, the sound of steel upon steel drowning out all other noise. The fallowing farnds had now been painted red with the blood of the fallen as the defenders fought desperately to hold their ground.


    But the soldiers under a division of one of the GEE''s strongest Generals was not one to fall easily.


    Despite their valiant efforts and superior numbers, the defenders of Liegan soon found themselves overwhelmed by the enemy''s greater overall strength and superior tactics.


    Beluar''s strategic brilliance and elite soldiers proved to be more than a match for Liegan''s soldiers and one by one, their lines began to falter under the relentless charges.


    As the battle wore on, Major General Aldric realized that victory was slipping from his grasp. He barked outmands, trying desperately to rally his men, but it was no use. The Imperial forces pressed their advantage, driving the Liegan troops back with relentless force.


    Swords shed, arrows flew, and spells crackled through the air as the two sides shed in a chaotic melee whose scales were tipping very quickly.


    Eventually, Aldric could not hold it anymore and drew his sword, filling it with his aura as he charged into the battlefield. His actions raised the dwindling morale, but there was no way that Beluar would let Aldric run free on the battlefield.


    The man hadn''t gotten too far on his horse when he sensed danger and quickly jumped up, barely in time to avoid the invisible sh that severed the horse''s legs.


    A second sh came down and the warhorse was easily split into two halves. A level 200 beast, dead in a mere two strikes.


    Looking up, he saw the figure of the floating Beluar who had his hands crossed behind his back as always.


    "Let me see the might of an Imperial General."


    Aldric could tell that he and Beluar were intermediate grandmasters; even if thetter was a nonstandard, he refused to believe the gap between them was that much.


    He kicked off the ground and charged into the sky, unleashing a devastating sh that parted the clouds but Beluar teleported to avoid it, before appearing behind him and swinging his hand down.


    "?!"


    Aldric reflexively turned back and coated his sword with aura, raising it in front of his chest to block the mass of spatial magic that cleaved the space and collided with his de.


    The force behind it knocked him down to the ground and before he could even get back to his feet, two more shesnded on his sword, shattering the de to pieces.


    He jumped to the side to avoid the next spatial sh but a wormhole appeared mid-air and he fell right into it. Beluar then generated another wormhole high above the clouds, which vomited the General''s body.


    By the time Aldric''s brain could reorient itself in response to the sudden changes, Beluar had already finished casting his spell.


    A dozen bolts ofpressed spatial magic power crashed into Aldric''s back, ignoring his defences and causing his blood to stter.


    He turned around andunched a lightning magic spell but Beluar carved out the space the lightning magic upied before using spatial pressure on Aldric.


    Aldric plummeted earthward with a resounding boom, his impact carving out a deep crater in the ground below. Immediately, Beluar teleported right in front of him and held out his hand coated in spatial magic to the General''s neck.


    "Move, and your head rolls."


    "��"


    General Aldric''s defeat caused the morale of the Liegan troops to plummet down to the negatives, and the Imperial Soldiers charged forward with even more ferocity.


    Seeing this, Governor Doulton knew that defeat was inevitable. With a heavy heart, he ordered a retreat, knowing that they could not hold out against the might of the Imperial army any longer.


    As the Liegan troops fell back beyond their borders, the Imperial forces advanced, their victory assured.


    Beluar surveyed the field with satisfaction, his eyes cold and calcting.


    ''Hopefully, this sends a message to the rest of them��''


    Capturing 6 states in one day? The leaders of Wolfen would see the message even if they were blind!


    Back in Liegan, Governor Doulton reluctantly raised the white g of surrender, signalling the state''s capittion to the victorious Imperial army.


    Aldric was also forced to order his troops toy down their arms and surrender. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but he knew that further resistance would only lead to more bloodshed.


    And so, with heads held low and hearts heavy with defeat, the defenders of Liegan surrendered to the might of the Imperial army.


    Beluar got to work very quickly, summoning his Brigadier Generals and having them begin to establish dominance over the state.


    There were other smaller Military bases scattered all over and they hadn''t truly captured Liegan until they had all been subjugated.


    Even the Southern Garrison had around 5000 soldiers left behind to defend in case of a pincer on the state and so they needed to subdue those as well, in case the Commanding officers there refused to heed Governor Doulton''s orders.

 Chapter 686 Evan’s Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 686 Evan��s Arrival</h4>


    Fear.


    Pure unadulterated fear.


    That was what Aldric was feeling from the depths of his soul when he gazed back at the pair of grey eyes that looked at him in silence.


    �� �� ��


    As the Imperial Army swept through the state, banners of conquest unfurled and soldiers upied strategic points in the main city and the towns that surrounded it.


    Citizens watched in fear as the once-familiar streets were transformed by the presence of the invaders.


    Yet, to their surprise, the Imperials refrained from wanton destruction or violence against civilians. In fact, it was as if they didn''t care what the civilians thought of the change in government.


    Regardless of their initial apprehension, life under upation would soon settle into an uneasy routine.


    The patrols they''re so scared of would be amon sight, and so would the murmurs of discontent they elicited from the popce.


    But in the end, that''s all they''d be able to do. Just talk.


    The citizens would have no choice but to begrudgingly ept their new reality, and resign to voice their grievances in hushed tones rather than open defiance.


    Beluar upied the governor''s office, where Doulton and all the Commissioners of the state stood, their hands cuffed by magic sealing chains.


    Aldric, whose injuries had been treated was present as well, gritting his teeth indignantly as he saw the Imperial Generals under Beluar move around in the office and sort out things.


    It was then that Beluar suddenly raised a brow and looked up, before muttering words that seemed stered confusion on the faces of those who heard.


    "He''s here��"


    ''Who?''��was the question that floated in their minds, but very soon, Beluar''s Major Generals sensed the familiar aura and nodded in understanding.


    It was still scary as fuck, but at least they knew it wasn''t hostile.


    For the Liegan grandmasters, they weren''t so calm. They felt chills run down their spines, and an instinctive desire to flee washed over them.


    Funny enough, the Master Level existences could not perceive this threat the same way the grandmasters did, so they just looked on in confusion.


    The few A-rank Adventurers and Mercenaries in Liegan were shocked out of their wits, and even though they raised rm, the Imperial Soldiers didn''t agree to let them move.


    The next thing they heard was a sonic boom, and then the skies went silent.


    The silencested a minute before the door to the Governor''s office opened and a teenager stepped inside.


    It was now, that the people below grandmaster in the office finally understood why the grandmasters reacted like they did.


    "Outside is messy as hell"


    "Of course, it is. it''s only been an hour since the battle."


    Beluar replied to the boy wearing a hooded grey jacket, ck jeans and casual sneakers, strutting into the office and plopping down on one of the seats in front of the Governor''s desk.


    "How many died?"


    "On our side? 1000.


    They had 3000 in casualties and thrice that in wounded."


    "So 4000 dead. Damn."


    The boy ran his hand through his hair and sighed in light exasperation and seeing this, Beluar felt the need to make something clear.


    "Things would not always go the way you want them to, Evan."


    Evan looked at Beluar with a gaze that said ''You think I don''t'' know that?'', while the Governor and the other Commissioners finally realised why the boy looked so familiar.


    ''He''s Evan Eris!! The one who''s been making headlines every month for the past year!''


    ''The Rumours didn''t do him justice!''


    Aldric sensed just how much more powerful than him and even Beluar that Evan was and he couldn''t help but question.


    ''This��is supposed to be a teenager?''


    Meanwhile, Evan continued his conversation with Beluar, ignoring the rapidly changing expressions of the Liegans around him.


    "I have loads of expertise with things not going the way I want. I mean, look at Lacertilia. Things looked all nice on the outside and everyone thought I had the situation under control and nned 3 steps ahead.


    You all have no idea that all I did that day was just improvising on the spot! My months of nning went down the drain simply because the Dungeon Break happened 3 days earlier than I predicted.


    I was still busy stopping a train from getting hijacked when the Dungeon broke open.


    I still thank my luck to this day that Dandeyr was close by because of David. Who knows how long it would have taken to break the barrier if he wasn''t?"


    Evan shook his head with a sigh, wondering if that was fate''s way of giving him ast chance to stop attempting to prevent Disasters from happening in the first ce.


    "Dandeyr di?"


    "Yep. Anyway, the reason why I''m not liking the casualties is not because I don''t want people to die or something.


    I mean, I don''t want unnecessary deaths, but I understand it is unavoidable in situations like these."


    The boy shrugged as he spoke, before proceeding to drop a bombshell of a statement on all of them.


    "You see, I kinda just dered to the Kings, Emperors, Presidents and Prime Ministers of like��half the continent, that I was gonna make sure this War ended with the least casualties in history.


    So, I intend to stay strong on that."


    "What the hell did you do in the Capital?!"


    Beluar could not hold back his shock, wondering how a visit to the capital because he wanted to see Eliza ended up with that sort of oue.


    "Nothing much, I just joined in on Emperor Isaac''s meeting with the Alpha continent''s leaders, spoke with my fellow Heroes and together, we showed the continent''s leaders that we are very much on board with the n to annex Wolfen.


    Thanks to David and King Kolvar, we did sessfully prevent a lot of countries from sticking their noses."


    When he heard Evan''s phrasing, Beluar narrowed his eyes and asked.


    "A Lot, you say?"


    "Yes. ''A lot'', not ''all''. We''re still gonna have those who try to milk the situation. They may not interfere directly and may try to turn public opinion against the GEE, but you guys can handle all of that.


    I''ve done my part, enhanced yours and my justifications which are actually the same, and��"


    Evan trailed off for a moment, before sighing softly and continuing.


    "It''s really cool to be a child of one of ''The Five'' strongest beings in the World."


    "What happened?"


    "Well, the amount of power and influence David has simply just being King Kolvar''s son is far higher than the amount of power and influence I have amassed saving millions of people over the past 2 years.


    Damn��life''s unfair."


    Beluar closed the books he was reading through before giving Evan an incredulous look as he spoke.


    "You of all people are talking about ''Unfair''? Boy, I''m twice your age and you''re higher level than me.


    What''s more, you were just a Bronze level in 1051. It''s only been two years and you''ve surpassed what people need ten to achieve."


    "Don''t sweat the small stuff."


    "How on Aidos is that ''small stuff''?!"


    The man could not hold back his voice when Evan spoke, and the Major Generals in the room nodded in agreement with his words.


    Evan on the other hand, just pulled out a takeaway pack from his inventory and started eating his pasta as he replied.


    "Well, for starters��you''re a Duke and I''m a Count. Last I checked, Dukes are people who have a lot of duties that would take away the time needed to level up from them.


    Look at my ''father'', for example. The man''s even weaker than you are because he''s too busy running a country of hundreds of millions of people to bother with levelling up."


    "I understand the busyness part, but don''t call ranks. I recall Emperor Hayes stating you''d be a Marquis when youe of age."


    "I''m fourteen. That''s in four years, it''s so far away it feels like 40 years."


    "Four years is a lot to the average human, but for us who have surpassed the Gold level and can live for hundreds of years, it''s not too much time."


    Beluar didn''t seem to view the four years as something that''d pass before one realised it, and Evan felt he needed to remind the man that 4 years was nearly 30% of the entire time he''d lived.


    ''At least, that''s the case for this body.''


    The Age tab on his status was a constant reminder of his mental age; even though he clearly didn''t act like someone at that age at all.


    Evan turned his gaze towards the Liegan General who had been cuffed with Magic sealing chains and appraised the man. He did raise a brow in confusion when the man flinched under his gaze but didn''t bother with it too much.


    ''Oh well, good thing Beluar didn''t kill him like in the game. I guess it''s because of my talk of needing Manpower for the demons.


    We''re gonna need every grandmaster we can get against the mid-ranked Demons.''


    Such thoughts passed through Evan''s mind as he ate the pasta that Eliza packed for him with a small smile on his face.

 Chapter 687 Impending Attack

    <h4>Chapter 687 Impending Attack</h4>


    "Alright."


    Evan torched the te he just used before pulling out a bottle of strawberry wine and pouring some for himself as he spoke.


    "You guys may have taken Six states and have high momentum, but I''m sure you realise you have to consolidate yourmand over these states before you push further."


    Of course.


    We n to form a defensive line around here."


    Beluar pointed at the spots on the map and Evan looked at them while sipping his wine. He apported a pen into his hand and drew an extra line before speaking.


    "Add Zhupus to that list, or do we not have enough soldiers?"


    "We don''t have enough soldiers to conquer Zhupus. If we do, our forces would be spread too thin and that''s never good in any war book."


    Evan nodded as he spoke, pouring another ss of wine before asking a question.


    "But the current soldiers we have here are enough to maintain control over the states?"


    "Indeed."


    "Are they enough to defend against an attack from Zhupus this evening?"


    "��what?"


    Now, even the Major Generals who were giving orders to the Commissioners turned their heads in Evan''s direction when they heard the boy''s words.


    "What do you mean by that?"


    "Exactly what I said. You didn''t think Liegan would not have requested reinforcements after seeing you guys, right?"


    "We are sure they did.


    But it takes time to mobilize soldiers to cross state borders. I''m sure they''d also conscript some civilians, which would take even more time. They''d have to arrange for supplies as well which would also take more time.


    The soldiers Marching would take time as well, and this is not factoring the shallow river that is South of Liegan that they need to cross. A river whose bridge I have on lockdown."


    Evan nodded in affirmation as all Beluar said was true, then he pointed at Liegan on the map and asked.


    "What if Zhupus sent reinforcements, let''s say, a Division to aid Liegan and these reinforcements were meant to depend on Liegan for supplies?


    Then what if they sent these reinforcements and then still conscripted the civilians after they''d sent the reinforcements, intending for the new conscripts to be reinforcements of the reinforcements?"


    "First of all, sending the conscripts alone would not be wise as there would not be enough soldiers to make them properly fall in line.


    As for depending on Liegan for supplies? That''s very hopeful of them."


    "Is it?"


    Evan turned towards Aldric who was not too far from them and asked the same question again.


    "Is it?"


    Immediately, Aldric realised that Evan knew that he had indeed promised to handle the provisions for the soldiers from Zhupus in an attempt to make theme quicker.


    The issue was this was a decision not even Governor Doulton knew about, so how did Evan find out?


    Beluar quickly figured something was off from the way Evan was acting, and he questioned the boy about it.


    "Wolfen has been hit hard by your sudden Invasion. You''ve captured six of its states, including a massive revenue generator like Liegan.


    But its leaders are not entirely ipetent. Even if you had the element of surprise, it''s been over 15 hours now.


    They''re sure to have properly reacted to the invasion and have sent out orders to all the Military bases across the country. They need to retaliate in some manner otherwise it''d affect their appearance on the international stage, reduce the public opinion of its citizens and most importantly, reduce the Morale of the soldiers.


    So, I assume that they''ve definitely agreed to Zhupus'' n of action, and have probably sent over any few powerhouses they can send.


    Funds would also be allocated to draw Mercenaries towards this part of the country and though Adventurers have restrictions when ites to participating in wars, there are a lot of them who''d still find loopholes to defend their country."


    Evan''s words were based on his own deductions using the information he had, not from what had happened in the game. The War was already proceeding much differently than it did in the game so he wasn''t going to be heavily dependent on the information from it.


    He was also 100% sure the actions Wolfen would take would differ due to his presence.


    "Long story short, Zhupus would probably be attacking Liegan pretty soon. The soldiers who''reing as reinforcements would see that Liegan has already fallen and change their n of action to try and take the state back."


    In the game, those soldiers arrived before Beluar invaded Liegan, and though Wolfen still lost this battle, there were a lot more casualties on the GEE''s side.


    The Armies of Liegan and Zhupus were decimated, Aldric died and the two states were captured in one fell swoop.


    ''In the game, Beluar attacked Liegan two days after the War began, since the soldiers who''d taken over Tomond needed to rest and reinforcements needed to arrive from the other cities.


    But since I dealt with Firecrest and made it easier for Tomond to fall, the soldiers were not tired and could march to Liegan on the same day. They were able to capture Liegan who hadn''t received reinforcements from Zhupus yet and there were a lot fewer deaths than there would have been.''


    Evan''s gaze scanned the map and he looked at the Southern Garrison of Liegan which was frighteningly close to the shallow river that flowed as the border of Liegan and Zhupus.


    The banks of the river were not ins and had a bit of forestry on both sides, perfect for the Zhupus soldiers to hide behind as they moved towards Liegan, and perfect to obstruct the view of the river''s bend from Liegan''s Southern Garrison.


    "I need to have a word with Sir Beluar. Please clear the room."


    The Major Generals looked to Beluar for confirmation and he nodded in affirmation. Immediately, they got Aldric and the rest out of the room before clearing the area, leaving Evan and Beluar to discuss.


    Evan then exined what happened in the game, citing it as what would have happened if not for him taking Firecrest and how he had made things easier.


    "Sure, you would not be capturing Zhupus and Liegan in one fell swoop, but you''d have a lot more soldiers and still retain your high momentum.


    If Zhupus attacks Liegan after seeing the change of gs, then we''d be able to deal with Zhupus'' actual army and then when more soldierse over, taking the state would be far easier."


    "Since you''re here, I assume you''d be looking for a means with no casualties?"


    Surprisingly, Evan shook his head in response to Beluar''s question.


    "Not 0 casualties. That''s impossible.


    But the n I have in mind would keep them to a minimum and would force Zhupus'' soldiers to surrender."


    When Beluar questioned the details of Evan''s n, the boy pointed at the river and exined the rough sketch of things.


    The man was amazed that Evan thought about this, but there were some obvious ws which he pointed out for the boy to see.


    Evan didn''t like An Maddox much, but he had to admit that the man''s memories of Warfare came in handy.


    "A disy of power that''d force them to back down. That may not work on the Mercenaries though."


    "If they refuse to surrender then feel free to kill a few to make an example. They value their lives so when you make them see the threat of death is very real, then they''d behave.


    "Now that''s a contradiction if I''ve ever seen one."


    Beluar jabbed at Evan''s response which showed the boy''s nonchnce towards the notion of killing the mercenaries, despite having spoken about reducing casualties earlier.


    "Mercenaries and soldiers are different and I afford them different treatments. That''s all there is to it."


    ''So, he''s basically saying he doesn''t count Mercenary deaths among the ''casualties'' he wants to reduce��''


    Such were Beluar''s thoughts as he read between the lines of Evan''s statement and derived his own meaning from it.


    After this, Beluar called all his subordinate Generals and Colonels back into the room where he and Evan then proceeded to exin the n of action.


    Unsurprisingly, there were those who disagreed with it.


    "We have no need to use such tricks! We can move our forces across the bridge before they get close and engage them in a head-on battle!"


    Evan would not deny that he felt offended when a Brigadier General called his strategy a ''trick'', but he remained silent to see what the others said.


    War came with a chance for Soldiers to prove themselves and gain merits, with promotions and prestige as the reward.


    "I disagree, sir. I believe we should wait for our reinforcements before we march in on Zhupus. Perhaps, another Division under a Lieutenant General."


    Another Brigadier General spoke up after the first, and one of the two Major Generals nodded to show his agreement.


    "What the hell are you on about? It''s understandable if we''re outnumbered, or we''re facing a tough opponent but it''s just the army of one State, a lot of which would be nothing whenpared to our elite forces!


    Despite this overwhelming disparity you want us to fight a defensive battle when they''re the ones attacking us?"

 Chapter 688 A Show of Force

    Chapter 688 A Show of Force


    ??"If we raise a decisively greater force, it would do serious damage to enemy morale. It''s best we minimize our losses. We wouldn''t want these elite soldiers you speak of to dwindle in number."


    "Nonsense! Suppose we crushed them and captured Zhupus with overwhelmingly superior numbers. Who could boast of such a victory? How would the other countries look at us?"


    ''Well, someone clearly values glory over the lives of his soldiers��''


    Evan had that thought as he watched the two Brigadier Generals bicker. Both of them were in charge of 3000 soldiers each and considering there was only a Division of 16,000 present, their words held a lot of weight.


    It''s just that Evan wondered how one of them had even gotten to his position of Brigadier General in the first ce and from Beluar''s expression, he could see that the brown-eyed man was thinking the same thing.


    "And Sir! I understand we are allying with Heroes for the sake of public appearance but are we going to ignore our tacticians present and go with the words of a child wet behind the ears? One who isn''t of Imperial blood, at that?"


    Evan was ''surprised'' when the Brigadier General suddenly switched targets to him and after looking around he noticed that the man had a lot of supporters in his statement.


    To these Generals and Colonels of the Imperial Army who had been informed about Evan''s whole campaign to reduce casualties in a War of conquest, they could only see him as na?ve.


    Powerful, yes, but na?ve andcking experience in war.


    What''s more, there were those who simply didn''t like the fact that a noble from the GWE was interfering in a GEE matter, even though this rted to Heroes.


    They wished that there were Heroes in their country as well so they could send Evan packing,pletely ignorant of the fact that even if all the other Six Heroes were from the GEE, there was nothing they could do about the Base in A.


    As for Evan, he really didn''t expect them to understand the reasons for his actions, given they had no idea of his ns for Aidos.


    He also understood their desire to prove themselves and umte merits, so it was understandable that the Military Tacticians were none too pleased about the fact that he provided Beluar with a n that the man liked before they could.


    He understood it, but that didn''t mean he cared.


    If he cared about everyone''s opinion on his actions then he might as well just remove himself from the War.


    ''But I need to be in the war, so I can get in contact with Heather and use her ring to unlock ''that ce'' and gain a power up!


    If things are as they appear, then I might bring Eliza and the Seven Deadly Sins there before the stored-up power runs out.''


    As expected, Evan had more hidden intentions of letting the war on Wolfen happen.


    ''Heather isn''t like Laurene who I can just drop by the castle and drag along with me. I''m not close to her so I need certain situations to align so I can get her where I want her.


    If the war doesn''t happen, then Heather would not leave the GEE ande to Wolfen and if I''m not in the war then Heather would just walk around a treasure she doesn''t even know she has the key to.''


    The boy emerged from his sea of thoughts before looking right at the Brigadier General who had spoken and asked.


    "So, you''re against not only my n for dealing with Zhupus, by my very presence here, huh?"


    "Indeed!"


    The man was resolute with his answer and seeing this, Evan nodded before getting to his feet and saying something none of them expected.


    "That''s nice.


    Here, gimme a hug."


    "��what?"


    Everyone from Beluar to the lowest ranked Colonel looked at the boy like he had a few screws loose but he just teleported right in front of the General and wrapped his arms around the man.


    He didn''t physically touch him, but the man could not move as Evan was stepping on his shadow and restraining his movements with it.


    "Wha?!"


    He suddenly felt something poke him in the back, and then he didn''t feel anything again.


    "?!!"


    "Evan!! Wh-?!"


    Beluar''s voice boomed out as he sensed the surge of energy that Evan released, but his follow-up words were caught in his throat due to what happened next.


    Right before their eyes, the Bridger General''s body morphed from flesh to solid stone Frozen in a state of shock, his expression remained etched upon his stony visage, a testament to the abruptness of his petrification.


    Evan then turned to face Beluar twirling a small dagger in his fingers.


    "Apparently, it''s faster when you make the ''Embrace'' action."


    "��"


    "Don''t worry though, he''s still very much alive."


    "Release him, Evan. I cannot have you harming my Generals."


    Beluar''s expression belied just how annoyed he was at this, but there was a tiny little problem with his request.


    "I actually can''t do that at will yet. It''s only been a few days since I got the skill so I''m not that proficient in using it yet.


    But like I said, he''s still very much alive, but if you break him, then he''d be unalived."


    Evan then knocked on the statue and continued.


    "It''s as durable as a grandmaster and onlysts for five minutes at most so he''d be back to normal soon.


    Now then, you''re all probably wondering why I did that. It''s simple."


    Evan went back to his chair and sat back down before making his statement.


    "It''s to show that while I understand some of your concerns, I care very little for them.


    I have exined to your higher-ups the reason why it is necessary that I participate in this war, on the Imperial side; since the War Remnant Structure you wish to acquire can only be unlocked by me.


    And since I am allying with you, you cannot expect me not to do my part.


    I had information about Zhupus'' invasion before you did, and I''m sure your lookouts at the Bridge still don''t know that Zhupus'' army ising because the army has already changed routes.


    Since I had that information first, I offered a n of action based on what I knew of their forces. A n that would minimize your losses and allow the majority of your soldiers to go back home to their families when this is all over.


    Imagine not agreeing with it��a n that your Commanding General thinks is feasible, because:


    ''I''m a child wet behind the ears'' or,


    ''I''m not an Imperial.'' Or


    ''You want to achieve a victory you can boast of''."


    Evan sighed with obvious disappointment as he spoke and the Military tacticians and those who had the opinions that he just spoke of had their faces flush in embarrassment.


    "I have a question."


    One of the two Major Generals present spoke up, turning his gaze from the Brigadier General, whose petrification was already wearing off and towards Evan.


    "I would like to know the source of your information on Zhupus. What makes you so sure they are going to attack today?"


    "Now that is a question that I was expecting you guys to ask from the very beginning."


    Evan replied the Major General before holding up his hand and speaking.


    "First to appear gets an extra ''Ethereal Essence Orb''."


    He snapped his fingers after he spoke and in that same instant, the room was filled with a dozen more individuals.


    Small 30 cm-sized animal-shaped beings, each one exuding pure elemental energy manifested their bodies and rushed over to Evan.


    [I was first!]


    [No, it was me!]


    [I''m the fastest! I was first!]


    The eyes of the soldiers present widened as they recognized these beings��Spirits.


    "You didn''t forget I was a spirit contractor, did you?"


    Very quickly, they understood where Evan''s information hade from; he had sent the spirits to check and they had returned to him with it.


    In reality, Evan knew Zhupus was moving already because of the game, but he still sent the spirits to confirm while he was speaking with Beluar. He had also already told the man about this, as well.


    One of the Light spirits sat on his head and created a projection of an army marching through a low forest, and they recognized the uniforms of the soldiers to be that of the Wolfen Army.


    "Okay, she was the one who appeared first. The rest of you go back to watching the army."


    The spirits reluctantly agreed before flying out the windows and disappearing into the distance, except for the light spirit to whom he gave an Essence Orb as he promised.


    "That answers your question, does it not?"


    "Indeed."


    Evan nodded after he spoke, and it was then that the Brigadier General''s stone skin peeled off like a bottle wrapper and dropped to the ground.


    The man regained himself and red at Evan, but before he could speak, Beluar silenced him. Still, the Brigadier General was still his subordinate so he admonished Evan about his actions and got the boy to promise not to do it again.

 Chapter 689 Unforeseen Surge

    <h4>Chapter 689 Unforeseen Surge</h4>


    The Bridge right outside the Southern Gate of Liegan was a key trade route for the city. And given that Beluar''s army had now upied the state, the bridge was naturally raised to prevent Wolfen soldiers from entering the city and any civilians from fleeing.


    However, some had already run away, and those who ran had encountered the iing Zhupus army and informed them about the situation.


    If the Zhupus army was going to attack, then they''d definitely target the Southern Garrison first so they could gain a foothold in Liegan.


    The Southern Garrison was a fortress town, but although it was called ''town'', it wasn''t even close to the size of an actual town.


    Vige was a more apt word to describe its size.


    As for the river that acted as the Border between Liegan and Zhupus, it was thigh-deep, which really wasn''t that deep.


    It was the kind of thing that trained soldiers could cross without too much issue.


    If there was any problem with it, then it was the width of the river. Evan''s n was one that took advantage of the fact that due to how wide the river was, once they began crossing it, there''d easily be at least 1000 soldiers on it at all times until they had all crossed.


    Since they''d be trying to get across as fast as possible before they were detected, then that number would be at least double.


    And that was precisely what Evan wanted.


    The invasion of the GEE was shocking, but the Republic of Wolfen had known the GEE had been eyeing them for a while.


    Which was why they had already been covertly moving soldiers towards the border states.


    However, the invasion happened faster than they imagined, so the soldiers had not reached the border states before they fell.


    Said soldiers were still around Zhupus at the time of the attack.


    When Liegan''s Governor Doulton contacted Zhupus'' Governor and informed them that they were being attacked by Imperial Soldiers, the army in Zhupus was immediately mobilized.


    Mercenaries who had been hired by the government also took up their weapons, ready to end their pay.


    They began marching towards Liegan, hoping the state could fight a defensive battle and hold out till they arrived, but the Lieutenant General in charge didn''t have much hope.


    The size of the force heading to Liegan could be estimated just by the mention of themander in charge of them.


    Wolfen had sent a full Corps of two 10,000-man Divisions to support Liegan. The main force of the attack was a cavalry unit, and there were infantry units in the rear as well.


    With Liegan''s original 20,000, this would have made for a force of 40,000 to resist the Imperials but unfortunately, Liegan had fallen already.


    Still, the Lieutenant General still moved his men for one reason.


    The Imperial Army Division that had attacked Liegan was the same one which marched in on Tomond this morning.


    This meant they had fought two battles in a day.


    Even if they were master levels, they would still be tired and need to rest, so the Wolfen General wished to attack them before they could have that chance to rest and recover their strengths.


    But in reality, they hadn''t fought much at Tomond since Evan did most of the work. They hadn''t even lifted a finger when the Firecrest Camp was attacked so they still had a lot of energy left.


    Beluar had moved 1500 men from each of the 20,000-man Corps he had sent to the other Four states to Tomond, and then left 4000 of the original Tomond invasion force.


    The remaining 16,000, including the 4000 that watched Evan wipe the floor with the Firecrest soldiers then moved on to attack Liegan.


    Their losses were barely a thousand, so they had 15,000 men left. What''s more, there were still the uninjured soldiers of Liegan who numbered a bit over 7,000.


    Beluar nned to put them at the Vanguard��a simple tactic to kill enemy morale since they''d be faced with their own countrymen.


    �� �� ��


    Gibun the Colonel was a man in charge of a Brigade of 2000 soldiers, and he was currently marching with his men towards the river separating Liegan and his home state, Zhupus.


    The man was one of the rare Spirit Contractors in Wolfen, and his main contracted spirit was a water spirit whom he had been with since his teenage years.


    Eventually, he married her when he grew older and because of their contract, she was with him even as he was in the army.


    She was a Mid Rank Water spirit, but after achieving grandmaster status, she became able to take on a fully humanoid form.


    She��Heina��was very strong, even more so than Gibun whom she was contracted to and was one of the highest levelled people in the Corps attacking Liegan.


    Even the A-rank Mercenaries who were in the force weren''t a match for her.


    Part of the reason why Gibun had been deployed for this mission was due to the possibility of them having tounch an attack on Liegan, in case it had fallen to Imperials by the time they arrived.


    Depending on the level of the river at the time they arrived, she could be called upon to do something about it to make it easier for the foot soldiers to cross.


    However, this was not needed as when they emerged from the trees and got to the river, they saw that it was almost dried up, at leastpared to its usual depth.


    "This is strange��"


    "Is it? We''re in June and we haven''t seen rain in weeks. I''m not surprised that it''s gotten lower than usual."


    One of the Mercenaries at the forefront spoke as he jumped down into the now ankle-deep river and stomped his foot on the ground.


    The Lieutenant General cast him a side nce before ordering his scouts to check the area.


    Thanks to the river bend, they could cross it from this point without being noticed, before marching along the border to reach the Southern Garrison.


    Mages who could levitate would not need to cross on foot, as they could just fly across at a low altitude.


    But this was something the Imperials could also think of so they needed to first make sure there weren''t any scouts nearby, as well as use magic to mask the presences of those who had crossed over.


    Thankfully, there were some trees around the area that blocked the view from the Southern Garrison so the lookouts there would not notice them on time.


    After confirming the locations of the Imperial lookouts and checking for any soldiers patrolling, they split the 20,000 soldiers into two batches of five groups each and began to cross the river.


    Time passed and the first two groups of 2000 soldiers each crossed the river. The next two groups began crossing at the same time, and it was then that it happened.


    Since his Brigade thest group of the first batch was crossing next, Gibun moved closer to the riverbank and saluted the Lieutenant General while Heina looked at the river with a strange gaze.


    Naturally, the Lieutenant General noticed that the woman''s attention was elsewhere and when he traced her gaze, he saw she was looking at the flowing water.


    "Heina?"


    Gibun called out to her but she ignored him, walking close to the water with narrowed eyes. She crouched and then used her magic power tomand some of it to rise up to her eye level, before then looking downstream, in the direction of the bridge.


    All of a sudden, her eyes widened in shock and she snapped her head in the opposite direction and the words that escaped her lips next were ones that the soldiers certainly didn''t want to hear.


    "This is bad!"


    "Heina?"


    "We have to get out of here now!! There''s a HIGH-RANK SPIRIT nearby and they''ve done ''something'' to the water!"


    "?!!"


    The Lieutenant General''s expression contorted and he turned his gaze in the direction of the 3,000-plus soldiers currently within the river.


    Heina''s statement of ''something'' being done to the water reminded him of his initial concern about the river''s depth and he quickly realised what was wrong.


    "PULL BACK!!!"


    He barked out orders with his voice infused with magic, not caring that the sound had gotten the attention of the Imperial Army lookouts.


    [Unfortunately, it''s already toote.]


    A voice rang out across the area at that moment, its speaker duly informing them of the grim reality.


    There was a loud roaring sound and suddenly, a massive surge of water began crashing down from upstream.


    Around 4000 foot-soldiers had finished crossing, but there were easily 3000 that were still making their way across and over 10,000 that hadn''t even begun to cross yet.


    Some of the mages had already flown over, some were in the process of flying over and there were those who hadn''t moved yet as well.


    All three groups quickly took action, casting magic to create earthen, ice and wooden barriers to block the surging water, but Heina shook her head when she saw this.


    "It''s futile."


    "What are you saying?! Join them as well!!"


    "I can''t."


    The spirit shook her head when the Lieutenant General ordered her to move, and when Gibun turned in her direction he understood why.

 Chapter 690 Glacial Ember Encasement

    <h4>Chapter 690 cial Ember Encasement</h4>


    Since Gibun possessed spirit sight as well, he could see it.


    Right under Heina''s neck was a sword of crimson gold ice, surrounded by azure blue mes. If the woman moved her magic power even a single inch, then her head would fly.


    The Lieutenant General wanted to shout at her again, but the person who wielded that sword materialised their physical body at that moment and he understood the reason why Heina had refused to move.


    He and his men quickly drew their own swords, but the man''s attention was divided between this unknown spirit and the soldiers who were scrambling to cross.


    He wondered why they hadn''t just kicked off the ground and dashed forward with their superhuman speeds but after ncing in the river''s direction again, he realised that the ankle-deep water on the ground had frozen into ice.


    To be able to restrain the feet of thousands of master-level existences, then the power behind this feeble-looking ice was definitely extraordinary.


    "Let go of her!"


    "Stop, Gibun! You can''t win!"


    As a spirit herself, Heina could urately sense just how strong the person holding a sword to her neck was, and even more so, they were of a Higher Rank in the spirit hierarchy than she was.


    Although she wanted to help the soldiers, she had no choice but to stay put as she valued her own life as well.


    Thus, she watched as the foot soldiers and some of the cavalry were swallowed up by the onrushing water in an instant.


    As the height of the river rapidly went from ankle deep to chest high, the force of the water started to sweep away man and horse alike.


    The sheer power behind it made both defensive magic and skills useless, and even the flying mages were shot down by ''something'' and fell into the water as well.


    The warhorses'' distressed cries echoed in all directions, joined by the screams of their human riders.


    Soldiers abandoned their warhorses and tried to swim, but the magically enhanced current was too strong for them to resist.


    "Eeeeek!"


    "What''s happening?!"


    "Wahhhhh!"


    They were Master levels so they would not die so easily, but this was never intended to kill them in the first ce. The one who concocted the n to dam the water upstream and then let ite rushing down when they were crossing over knew this could not kill the Master levels.


    What came after, however, could very much end their lives if he so willed it.


    **WHOOSHH!!


    There was a sudden gust of icy wind and the surrounding temperature dropped below 0 degrees Celsius in an instant.


    Naturally, this meant that the onrushing water and all the soldiers and Mercenaries who were caught within the currents were frozen solid in that same instant.


    This wasn''t the end of their troubles though.


    Suddenly, there was a sh of light from within the trees and soldiers wearing Imperial Uniforms appeared, converging on the Wolfen Force from both sides.


    Lancers charged forward, theirnces pointed at the backs of Liegan soldiers who had no choice but to charge forward as well or be impaled.


    Those who had crossed were also besieged by a Brigade of Imperial soldiers and very quickly a battle broke out on that side.


    So many men and horses were taken out in the water attack and though they still had more left than they''d lost, they were in a state of utter disarray, and having suddenly been divided was a big part of that.


    **FLIT-FLIT!


    "Life Army Magic: Merciful Warding."


    A giant four-ringed magic circle manifested on the ground beneath their feet and a subtle, ethereal green light enveloped the bodies of each soldier, almost imperceptible to the naked eye.


    Many of them didn''t notice it in the heat of the moment, and that was precisely what the caster intended.


    They didn''t know this, but unless it was a direct attack to vitals like the head or chest, then their attacks had now been rendered non-lethal.


    Right after that, a terrifying pressure descended upon them and the Wolfen Lieutenant General looked up to see the figure of a man he never expected to be here at all.


    "This...! Seventh Star General?!"


    His shocked voice drew attention to the man in the sky who raised his hand and used spatial pressure to force hundreds of soldiers to their knees in an instant.


    Imperial soldiers charged forward with high momentum; their confidence was boosted even further because their trusted General had their backs.


    It was theplete opposite of things on the Wolfen side. Mercenaries drew their swords and quickly engaged the enemy, but the A-rank Mercenaries could not deal too much damage to the Imperial Army before they were met by the Brigadier Generals in battle.


    The small forestry in the area was ttened in an instant as the grandmaster-level battles broke out, with soldiers on both sides suffering grievous wounds due to the shockwaves and aura that spread out each time weapons shed.


    Beluar waved his hands and they were wreathed in spatial light, teleported to a point beyond the main battlefield where they could fight without causing damage to his forces.


    Evan who was down below, on top of the giant block of ice that he had formed when he froze the river shook his head as he wished Beluar''s spatial maniption abilities were from a skill.


    ''But it''s not a skill! It''s his innate spatial magic talent!''


    If it was a skill, then Evan would have copied it from the first day he set eyes on the man. Based on sheer talent with spatial magic alone, the man could bepared to someone like Jenson.


    This was the reason he was a Seven Star General, despite his level not being up to that of the GWE''s Seventh Great Swordsman.


    The man was just too good with spatial magic! Especially the Supplementary spells.


    Evan sighed as he closed the Akashic Page which he had used to cast the ''Merciful Warding'' spell, before jumping off the frozen river andnding in the midst of the Wolfen Soldiers who hadn''t been attacked yet. Even if Beluar was good at spatial magic, it would still take time for the soldiers to be transported to the other side of the river so a good portion of the army had not been attacked yet.


    Most of them were the groups of the second batch of soldiers who had not crossed the river yet.


    "Harbinger of Ice + Mesarthim + Frozen Inferno."


    He simultaneously activated three skills, synergizing both mes and ice with the skill he gained from consuming Faldo''s Heart.


    He did not use BoD since he didn''t want to kill the soldiers, but even without it, the current Evan was still ridiculously strong.


    pping his hands together, he activated a technique that he had created based on the Ice Nova spell, with the sole desire to trap his enemies.


    "cial Ember Encasement."


    The name was a mouthful and so was the effect.


    Chilling winds swirled around him, alongside the scorching prismatic mes in perfect harmony.


    The air around the soldiers crackled with magic power as they were hit by a bright sh of disorienting light. Icy tendrils shot forth, encasing hundreds of soldiers inyers of shimmering frost.


    Evan targeted the Master Level existences first as they were the ones he''d have a harder time restraining due to their higher resistances.


    Of course, this was only harder whenpared to those below the Master level. In the end, for Evan whose power was in the Limbo between Grandmaster and Epic, they were weak all the same.


    The soldiers found themselves trapped in crystalline prisons; their bodies held fast by the unyielding grip of the ice.


    But even as the frost wrapped around them, aforting warmth washed over the soldiers, emanating from the flickering mes that danced within the icy confines.


    Despite the freezing temperatures, they remained shielded from the biting cold, their bodies kept at afortable temperature by the zing inferno that raged beneath the surface of the ice.


    In mere moments, over a thousand soldiers found themselves frozen in ce, their heads protruding from the icy cocoons like moles ready to be whacked.


    Attempts to use skills or magic to break out all failed as the ice was just so ridiculously hard.


    Once he was done with the first thousand, he teleported to a different area and reactivated the technique, freezing another thousand.


    The soldiers tried to attack Evan but the boy simply teleported away and activated his technique, freezing them into ice.


    It formed a beautiful sight when looked at from above; like giant icy flowers with prismatic mes flickering and infusing the ice with mesmerizing glows.


    Of course, this only looked beautiful if you ignored the thousands of heads sticking out of it.


    "Damn, my biology, physics, and chemistry teachers would go crazy if they saw this. Magic is like a big middle finger in the face of Earth V''s science."


    Evan remarked as he took a deep breath and inhaled the icy winds.


    As a result of the synergistic fusion between ice and fire via Frozen Inferno, the cial Ember Encasement technique not only immobilized the enemy forces but also ensured their survival amidst the freezing temperatures.


    It was a devastating disy of elemental mastery, leaving the Wolfen soldiers both frozen in awe and in ice.

 Chapter 691 The White Flag of Surrender

    <h4>Chapter 691 The White g of Surrender</h4>


    Not all of the people Evan targeted were captured by the ice, and some of those who were captured were strong enough to break out. One of which, was the A-Rank Mercenary who shattered his section of the icy prison and dashed towards Evan with his ming sword in hand.


    To his surprise, Evan raised his arm and caught his de with bare hands, before turning it to ice in an instant.


    "Wha��?!"


    **BAAMM!!!


    The A-Rank Mercenary didn''t even have the chance to say a full word as Evan threw a full-powered punch with Fracture activated right at his face.


    He drew a parabolic arc in the air and almost crashed down on the ice, but Evan used Evesting chains andssoed his legs, dragging him back and giving him another punch back into the air.


    "I wish Ka was here, we''d it''d be nice to hit this guy with ourbo."


    Evan then repeated his previous action and with the third punch, the man was finally knocked out.


    Seeing this, the other Mercenaries who were still within the area stared at the boy dumbfoundedly. The light of recognition shed through their eyes as Evan was someone who was very famous within their business, especially due to Cheverton''s incidentst year.


    He had obviously grown much stronger than then, something they could sense as they felt their hairs stand on end when he nced at them.


    B and C ranks, the lot of them, and after seeing Evan deal with an A-Ranker in just 3 punches, they silently raised their hands in surrender.


    No one wanted to take three fistfuls of lightning to the face!


    Evan then nced at the river area and saw that despite holding the mid-rank spirit he sensed in the Wolfen Army at Sword Point, Milena had subdued all the soldiers around her, including the spirit''s husband.


    As for the Lieutenant General, a quick nce at the sky showed the man fighting Beluar, but Evan didn''t pay this battle too much mind as he already knew the oue.


    ''Beluar''s gonna kick his ass.''


    His thoughts became reality in the next movement as the Lieutenant General''s body was hurled to the ground with overwhelming force, crashing down on the frozen river and shattering Evan''s ice which was strong enough to tank dozens ofrge yield bombs.


    "That has gotta hurt��"


    Evan spoke as he teleported to where the man was, looked around at the frozen soldiers who had now been crushed and shook his head before chaining the man with Evesting Chains.


    "It would be in your best interest to stay put."


    He then jumped into the air, dragging the chained man along with him and shouted out.


    "Subdue them all!! The Enemy is confused and their General has been defeated!!"


    Seeing the Lieutenant General''s half-conscious body dangling from the chain Evan was holding, Wolfen''s morale took a nosedive towards Zero.


    Magic and spells flew around as the Imperial forces pressed their advantage, pressuring the Wolfen soldiers who were now like headless chickens.


    Colonels and Captains tried to get things under control, but it was hard to do so after the soldiers had been treated to the sight of their defeated General.


    Evan moved to where Milena was, ncing at the defeated soldiers before dropping the chained Lieutenant General on the floor.


    "Good work, Milena."


    [Thank you.]


    The young woman spoke with a smile, before lowering the sword of crimson gold ice he had given her earlier.


    [Master, when does this thing melt?]


    "After a few days, why do you ask? You like it?"


    [Mhmm.]


    She nodded lightly as she drew her hand across the de and infused her magic into it, watching the energy flow in seamlessly like it was an extension of her arm.


    As much as she liked it, the sword was only a projection created with Evan''s Elemental Weapon Projection and empowered by Harbinger of Ice.


    Besides, Milena did not fight with swords so she wouldn''t be able to utilize its full potential even if she had it.


    ''A pity.''


    She stabbed it into the ground and nced at Heina who rushed to the half-conscious Gibun first after being released, remembering the Wolf Darkness spirit who had asked her out in Duscon right after the battle with Craitid and the Fake Hero #12.


    ''Why am I remembering this now?''


    Milena shook her head to clear her thoughts before watching as Evan questioned the Lieutenant General.


    "I''m going to give you the exact same terms that I gave the Brigadier General in Tomond''s Firecrest Camp.


    Would you call for surrender and end this now, or choose to let your men fight on and die here this instant?


    Make your decision quickly."


    "SURRENDER!"


    Heina cried out the moment Evan spoke, her loud voice leaving nearby soldiers momentarily confused.


    "You should heed her advice, you know? She isn''t saying it for no reason."


    Indeed, Heina told the man to surrender because she could see the hundreds of low-ranked spirits and dozens of mid-ranked spirits that suddenly filled the area when Evan came.


    Individually, they were all much weaker than her but she knew how nasty spirits could be when many of them with the same elemental alignment teamed up.


    If Evan offered them something in return for their assistance, they could wreak havoc on the remaining men and from the words she was hearing the low-ranked spirits say, she knew that he had something they all wanted.


    As for the Lieutenant General, the man considered his options and saw that he actually didn''t have any besides Surrender or total Annihtion.


    His choice, for the sake of his soldier''s families who were waiting for them to return, was Surrender.


    With their Commanding officer raising the white g, the Zhupus army soldiers lowered their weapons while Beluarmanded the Imperials to cease their attack and fall into formation.


    Just as Evan jumped up a void step staircase he created and reached Beluar''s position in the air, he caught sight of a Wolfen Soldier about to swing his sword to kill a fallen imperial soldier.


    Immediately, his hand moved and heunched a burst cannon, knocking the sword out of the Wolfen soldier''s hands, before sting a hole right through the man''s shoulder.


    He screamed in pain as his arm dropped to the floor and he bled out, while Evan coldly gazed at him.


    "Fool, yourmander has already called for surrender and yet you still attacked."


    The boy shook his head in disappointment before turning to Beluar and speaking.


    "I''d be returning to the capital this night; I have things that I need to finalize with some of the Newspaper agencies and I need to arrange for a few interviews.


    A lot of people are going to be questioning my right and justification for siding with you guys when the headlinese out tomorrow so I need to make ample preparations."


    "You seem to have things under control, but I''d still ask. Do you need any help?"


    "Not yet. If I need help, I''d ask Bourne or Sir Kieran.


    If they aren''t enough then I''d just contact David. Even all the way in the Beast Kingdom, he can still help out."


    Beluar''s expression darkened as he questioned how bad a problem that Kieran and Bourne could not solve would be while Evan just chuckled.


    "I guess I''m leaving you to handle the aftermath this time as well."


    "I''m sure you''d still leave me to do it even if you weren''t busy. Just go already."


    "Hahaha! Maybe I''d give you some new spatial spells as repayment!"


    Evan spoke as he jumped back down to the ground and then called upon Kuro who jumped out of his shadow and then used Shadow Movement to teleport Evan and Milena out of the area.


    �� �� ��


    Evan''s journey to Askal was one that took four hours using abination of Kuro''s teleportations and the Beast King''s train. When the boy reached the GEE Capital, he headed straight for the Pce.


    During his trip, he had an idea that he wanted to run by the GEE Emperor, but when he reached the Imperial Pce and was led to the Emperor''s location, he was met with a��very weird sight.


    It waste night, yet in a Gazebo in the middle of one of the pce courtyards, Emperor Isaac and his girlfriend, Eliza, sat opposite each other and were engaged in a heated game of chess.


    "Wee back, Evan."


    The girl greeted him without taking her eyes off the board, moving her hands to take out one of the Emperor''s puns with her bishop, but unfortunately, this put the bishop in the direct line of sight of his queen.


    "So, we''ve captured Liegan and we''d also fended off an attack from Zhupus. It seems Wolfen has more men on standby than your previous estimations."


    Evan gave the Emperor a rundown of the attack from the Zhupus soldiers and the man listened to it while he yed his chess game with Eliza.


    When he was done, the boy voiced his desire to have a meeting with the Emperor, Kieran and Bourne.


    "Whatever it is you have to say, it can wait. Let me finish this game first."


    Such was Isaac''s response as he returned his full focus to his chess game with Eliza, which he eventually won 10 minutester.

 Chapter 692 Being a Hero is a Busy job

    Chapter 692 Being a Hero is a Busy job


    ??''EVAN ERIS: THE GEE ISN''T THE ONLY ONE AFTER THE WAR REMNANT STRUCTURE''


    ''IRREGULAR HERO FACES OFF AGAINST WOLFEN ELITE SOLDIERS, SUBDUES THEM WITH JUST 1 CASUALTY.''


    ''GEE-WOLFEN WAR: SIX STATES DOWN IN ONE DAY!''


    ''NATIONAL LEADERS CRITICISE EMPEROR ISAAC ON MILITARY ACTIONS''


    ''INTERFERENCE WOULDN''T BE TOLERATED-SAYS EMPEROR ISAAC


    ''WOLFEN SHOULD FEED HER DEFEATED SOLDIERS-HERO EVAN.''


    Eliza put down the bunch of newspapers in her hands after reading their headlines, before turning her gaze towards Evan who was on a call with a representative of a foreign radio station while dressing up.


    A nce at the desk not too far from him showed about a dozen more newspapers which Evan had been going through and making calls since daybreak.


    After the boy returned to the GEE capitalst night, he and Emperor Isaac went off somewhere, not long before she began sensing multiple powerful presences appearing in the castle.


    He had a meeting with not just the Emperor, but all the Seven Star Generals and many other top GEE officials.


    They discussed things ranging from how they were going to manipte the media in their favour, down to the next wolfen state they were targeting and a few strategies.


    This meetingsted for hours and Eliza stayed up waiting for Evan while reading a book, only to look up and realise it was morning already.


    Due to their Existence Levels, they could go for weeks without food or sleep, but while this didn''t diminish their physical stamina, it was pretty taxing mentally, hence why they still slept as regrly as a normal human.


    However, Evan could not afford that luxury right now as the boy was exceedingly busy.


    This War was bigger than anything he had ever nned before, so he needed to put his maximum effort into it.


    It was also his Third ''Big performance'' on the International Stage and he was going to have hundreds of millions paying attention to his every move, with a good percentage of them looking for a means to ''attack'' him (not physically, of course).


    Unlike Cheverton and Lacertilia which only affected specific portions of countries, this war was affecting not just Wolfen, but their allies as well.


    Citizens were inevitably going to be disced by the war, refugees would flood towards other countries bordering Wolfen, security had to be bumped up to prevent Terrok vers from getting their hands on these refugees, and many more things.


    Evan ced a lot of emphasis on the Terrok vers issue, remarking that he didn''t want any kid who lost their home during the war to suddenly show up in the future as a ''Fake Hero'' hell-bent on revenge.


    Naturally, besides Eliza and Roselia, none of those who heard that remark understood what he truly meant.


    Coming back to this morning, Evan and David''s predictions of the reactions from across the world came to pass.


    Alpha Continental National Leaders, some of whom were present in the meeting the day before, criticised Isaac publicly and gave long-winded speeches that could be summarised in a single line:


    The GEE was ''Bullying'' Wolfen and other Major World Powers should step in and Sanction Wolfen.


    News of his participation in the Wolfen War had gotten out, starting as mere rumoursing from the citizens of Tomond who escaped before Beluar could lock down the state fully, and finally being confirmed when the news headlines came out.


    Radio stations were talking about it, political analysts were cooking up various conspiracy theories, and the fact that the GWE had been targeting one of Wolfen''s most influential businesses; ''Highguards Commerce'', was only giving these theories more ''weight''.


    In reality, Highguards Commerce was one of the Demonic Hand''s business fronts which they used to garner funding for their operations and Evan had the GWE crack down on them and force them to shut downst year after dealing with Count Falos.


    Taking down one of the biggest businesses in the Southern Alpha Continent, in just a year, was seen as nothing but a show of power from the GWE.


    They crumbled a multinationalpany that was headquartered in another country, in another part of the continent and no one could stop them.


    Now, with Evan also sticking his hand into Wolfen''s muddy waters, it was only natural these conspiracy theorists were having the times of their lives.


    Back to the words of the National Leaders, although some of them moured for the Major World Powers to take action, they were met with silence.


    Kasteblum, Utrarian Republic, Beast Kingdom, and Tarse whom people had expected to take voice their opinions, didn''t say anything, as if they were tacitly agreeing with the GEE''s actions.


    The GWE was the one to speak first, stating that whatever Evan was doing in Wolfen, it was not in his capacity as a GWE noble, and they had no part in it.


    People took this as the Empire throwing Evan under the bus to escape criticism, until a paper came out with a statement from Evan, saying it was his personal decision to intervene in Wolfen.


    It was titled: ''WAR REMENANT STRUCTURE IN WOLFEN IS PROPERTY OF THE SEVEN HEROES''.


    Evan''s Hero status wasmon knowledge on the Alpha Continent, so this was basically him saying he was getting back what belonged to him as a ''Hero''.


    That paper also held the images of his requests to Wolfen and the rejections he received as well.


    As for Wolfen, they used the GEE of wanting to uwfully possess their territory and even ousted the fact that Emperor Isaac had sent his men to sneak into the War Remnant Structure numerous times over the years.


    The Wolfen President, Zakaria Lee, assured his citizens that the nation was working together with their international allies to repel the GEE''s army and restore peace to the nation.


    Unsurprisingly, the Press Conference was short and no questions were taken, much to the dismay of the journalists who had a thousand and one questions to ask about the drastic losses they had faced the previous day.


    Despite there being a few irregrities here and there, everything was roughly going ording to Evan''s n, and to make sure things remained that way, he was preparing to go for a Live interview with a Radio station.


    The GEE army was not going to be making any further incursions into Wolfen for now, as they had to consolidate theirmand over the Six conquered states so he was temporarily free from that.


    Besides, it wasn''t like he had to be present for every battle, just the asionalrge-scale one or when he needed to make a point on the international stage.


    Any further attacks were not going to be possible with just Beluar''s Seventh Army, so in the meetingst night, they had decided to send the Sixth Army to support him as well.


    Naturally, the Sixth Star General, Amiyah Wace, was going to be leading her Army.


    Evan ended his call and tossed themunicator onto the pile of newspapers on the desk before moving over to Eliza who was seated on the bed and abruptly pulling her into a hug.


    "I need to recharge my ''Lizium'' to the max."


    "Pfft��what the hell is that?"


    The girl chuckled as she reciprocated the hug, but sadly they had to break it up as Evan''s watch rm started ringing.


    "Welp, I gotta go.


    See youter."


    "Mhmm��bye."


    Right after the door closed, Eliza remained on the bed, monitoring Evan''s presence as it went further and further into the castle before abruptly disappearing.


    ''He must have teleported��''


    Naturally, the GEE''s Imperial Pce had some of Kasteblum''s Teleport Waypoints and Evan was very happy for this as it made his movements easier.


    The moment Eliza concluded that Evan had left Askal, she got up from her bed and quickly took a shower, before putting on some clothes and leaving their assigned room.


    She wore a simple pair of blue jeans and a grey shirt, tying her blonde hair up in a bun and tossing a cap atop it.


    Evan had once called this her ''Incognito Celebrity'' mode when she had worn something simr before and remembering it made her chuckle a bit lightly.


    After a few minutes, security checks and some minor dys, she left the Imperial Pce and headed out into the main capital city.


    She checked her Guild Card multiple times, ignoring the shocked looks that appeared on the faces of people when they saw the giant ''S'' printed on the back while checking her messages.


    Eventually, she entered an inconspicuous coffee shop, ncing around for a bit before breaking out into a smile when she set her eyes upon one of the customers near a window seat.


    It was a tall woman with braided long brown hair and brown eyes. She wore a long dark blue coat over a white blouse and a simple blue skirt.


    When Eliza entered, she lowered the grimoire in her hands and removed her sses before looking up at the teenager who ran up to her and hugged her.


    "Aunty Fey!"


    "Hello, Eliza."


    The woman was quite calm in contrast with Eliza''s chipper mood, but Eliza wasn''t surprised as this was how this woman always was.


    She was someone who caused Emperor Isaac to summon some of the GEE Sovereigns in service to the Imperial Family just so he could keep tabs on her.


    Wielding the power to delete several countries off the map, she was the Former Chief Grand Magus of Kasteblum, ''Azure Witch'' Fely al''Rear.


    Emperor Isaac didn''t know what Fely al''Rear was doing in his country, but he had to keep her under close watch as she was still a potential threat, even if the GEE was on amicable terms with Kasteblum.


    The woman didn''t mind anyway, as she was only present because her friend''s granddaughter had requested her.


    That friend was Marguerite Kaur, Eliza''s grandmother.


    As for what Eliza came to her for, it was pretty simple. The girl wanted to make a quick trip back to her home country but she didn''t want any of her family members finding out.


    Since Fely had some business in Vathax as well, Eliza decided to tag along with the older woman.


    Right after they met up, the two chatted for a bit and even had a light meal. After this, Fely summoned her magic staff and constructed a five-ringed magic circle underneath their feet, much to the shock of everyone else nearby.


    Before the other patrons of the coffee shop could even finish being surprised, Fely finished her chant and the twodies disappeared, leaving behind a few coins that plopped down on the table��the payment for their breakfast.

 Chapter 693 Early Preparations

    Chapter 693 Early Preparations


    ??Treeson City


    Vathax


    June 16th


    Year 1053


    Treeson was a bustling metropolis nestled amidst towering evergreens, its streets teeming with vibrant markets and the harmonious hum of urban life.


    Nature and modernity blended seamlessly here, even more so than other parts of Vathax.


    Within the streets of the city whose heartbeat echoed with the rhythm of nature''s embrace, were Eliza and Fely who had justpleted thest in the series of teleportations carrying them from the GEE, down to the South of the continent where Vathax was situated.


    They used abination of Teleport Waypoints and Fely''s own teleportation magic to make the trip, which resulted in thempleting the 6000km journey in just an hour.


    "Thanks. Aunty Fey."


    "You''re Wee. I wasing here anyway."


    Fely replied as she brought out hermunicator and tapped a few things into it, waiting for a few seconds until a message came back.


    "I''m going over to Brathe now. What about you? Going to see your parents?"


    "Nahh. I feel my Dad may lock me up in Vitalis if I go back now so no."


    "Considering you snuck out in the first ce, it''s only natural you get grounded."


    Eliza raised a brow in light surprise when Fely spoke of this, and when she asked how the older woman knew, Fely just called her grandmother''s name.


    Fely and her grandmother had been friends for over two centuries and they had little secrets between them, especially when it concerned thetter''s grandchildren.


    "If you aren''t back by the time I''m done, I''ll leave you here."


    "You''d leave behind? All alone?"


    Eliza looked at Fely like someone who had just been betrayed by a lifelong friend, and seeing this, Fely just sighed and flicked Eliza''s forehead.


    "Stop messing around and get moving already."


    Though Eliza didn''t know this, that forehead flick sent a stream of magic into her body, creating something like a small danger sense beacon inside her body. This way, if Eliza was in trouble, Fely would know ande to her rescue.


    The two split up and Eliza slipped out of the busy city centre, moving all the way towards the outskirts.


    She headed towards an area that screamed ''Noble''s District'', withrge mansions and mini castles all over.


    Waves of nostalgia washed over her as she walked down the familiar concrete road, eventually reaching the gates of thergest mansion in the Estate.


    There were two guards on each side of the Cantilever gates, and when they saw her, they stepped forward and stopped her.


    "Halt. This is private property. State your name and business."


    "Hmm��I don''t recognize you two. You must be new, then."


    Eliza held out her hand and pointed it at the gates, before releasing a tiny beam of magic power that hit the gates.


    Naturally, the guards sensed this, and though they were fast enough to try and intercept it, Eliza flicked her finger and the beam curved around them and hit the lock of the centre of the gates.


    "What ar-?!"


    Expressions of surprise covered the faces of the guards when they saw that the gates had opened up in response to Eliza''s magic power.


    The teenager slipped around the guards and crossed through the magic barrier surrounding the entirepound before waving at them and saying.


    "Name''s Eliza. As for my business? I came to speak with Aunty Darcy."


    The third guard who was in the guardhouse was alerted that someone had passed the barrier, and when he stuck his head out to see who it was, his eyes widened in shock.


    "The Master''s Granddaughter!"


    "Oh? You recognize me?"


    Hearing her words, he quickly turned his gaze to the other two guards at the gate and they looked away in embarrassment.


    He made it a note to scold the two who had not remembered the appearance of their Master''s granddaughter, even though they had been shown her portrait many times during their orientation.


    "Good morning, Young Mistress."


    "Morning to you too. Is Aunty Darcy in?"


    "Yes. Madam Darcy is present."


    "Okay. Don''t be too hard on those two."


    Eliza left them with those words before taking a single step that spanned the distance between the gate and the Mansion''s Entrance.


    ''Fast!''


    That was all the guard who barely caught sight of her movements could think, before turning his attention back to the other two to begin scolding them.


    Meanwhile, Eliza stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath before speaking to herself.


    "Okay, Elizabe. You can do this.


    The moment you take this step, there''s no going back."


    After she hyped herself up a bit, she opened the doors and was met with the sight of the servants all lined up while an older woman wearing a governess dress instructing them on their daily tasks.


    Naturally, all heads turned towards her and the light of recognition shed in the eyes of 75% of them.


    Eliza, however, only had the older woman in front of them in her eyes.


    "Aunty Darcy!"


    "Young Mistress?!"


    The olderdy was surprised to see her, but she was still able to respond quickly enough, opening her arms to catch the teenager who had literally jumped into her embrace.


    "Why didn''t you send a message beforehand? We''d havee out to receive you properly."


    "Hehe! I wanted it to be a surprise!"


    Eliza made a peace sign as she replied to the woman''s inquiry, making Darcy sigh and shake her head.


    "Surprises are too much for this old woman''s heart��"


    The woman named Darcy was someone who could be considered the caretaker for this Mansion, one of Alden Kaur''s summer homes.


    She was a grey-haired elderly woman with a gentle, yet dignified demeanour, a soft voice and a warm smile. Her appearance reflected her true age progression, as even though she was a Peak Master Level existence, she was already over 300 years old.


    Considering she was just a normal breed human, with no particr martial or magical talent, this meant she was somewhere around 95 years of age if you converted her age to the format of a human from Earth V.


    She was one of the hundreds of millions who never got to break the wall barring them from achieving grandmaster level and had remained stuck at the peak of the master level for the past two centuries.


    Truth be told, she was already nearing the limit of her base lifespan, but considering she worked for the Head Elder of the Laneford n��a n that dealt with Life Maniption��it wasn''t hard to guess why she had extra time.


    For someone like Alden, it was possible to extend her life by a few months, years and eventually, he had tacked on an extra decade to her lifespan.


    But there was a limit to how much extra he could add, unless, of course, she became a grandmaster.


    As for why Alden would go to such lengths for Darcy; it was because this woman was the nanny who had raised the past 3 generations of the Kaur Family women.


    His wife Marguerite, his daughter Deborah and his granddaughter Eliza.


    After Darcy had dismissed the servants, she took Eliza to a nearby drawing room and questioned the reason for her sudden return.


    "Well, I have a little event I want to use this ce for."


    "Oh? Is it a party?"


    "You could say so."


    Eliza happily sipped the milk tea Darcy made while swinging her legs on the chair as she spoke.


    "I want you guys to help prepare everything I need and then leave thepound. It''d be a day off for you all."


    Darcy''s interest was piqued when Eliza said this, wondering just what on Aidos the teenager was nning.


    "I''m very curious, but first, when is this party happening?"


    "Actually��it''s in October."


    "That''s far."


    Indeed, it was. It was still June, after all.


    "I know. But I just recently made the decision and if I didn''t do anything to start preparing now, I may change my mind and back out of it.


    I wanted something to be done, so even if I eventually chicken out, I can have you pull me back on track."


    "Mind exining exactly what this decision is about?"


    Eliza''s body stiffened when Darcy asked her this, and the girl took a deep breath before cing her teacup down and exining her little n.


    When she was done, Darcy''s gentle smile vanished from her face and Eliza reflexively scooted to the other end of the couch.


    "Eliza, you''re not being pressured into anything, are you?"


    The fact that Darcy dropped the ''Young Mistress'' title showed just how seriously she was taking this and Eliza took a deep breath before nodding.


    "No, I''m not. If anything, I''m the one who brought it up.


    Let''s just say that I didn''t have as much ''restraint'' as I thought I had."


    "��"


    Darcy was happy that Eliza told her about this, but a part of her also didn''t like this as well.


    "Don''t worry, Aunty Darcy. I''m fine, there''s nothing wrong."


    Eliza reassured the woman before getting up to her feet and stating her intention to leave.


    "What? But you just got here?"


    "There are a few other things I want to wrap up before Aunty Fey is done with her business in Brathe.


    She brought me here and though I''d like to believe she was joking when she said she''d leave me and go back if I''m not quick��I''d rather not take my chances."


    "Ohh, it''s been a while since I''ve seen Fey. Okay, you can go but send a message before youe, next time, okay?"


    "Yep."


    As she was leaving the mansion, Darcy told her to stay safe and be careful and Eliza nodded before mentioning that this remedied her of how Darcy acted when she was still in primary school.


    "You were a lot rowdier back then��is what I''d like to say but considering the pretty dangerous situations I''ve been hearing you''ve gotten involved with, I''m not so sure anymore.


    Anyway, I heard there''s a war going on now. Do well to avoid those countries, okay?"


    "��"


    Eliza silently averted her gaze when Darcy spoke, and as the Nanny who took care of her, it wasn''t hard for the elderly woman to figure out that she was hiding something.


    "Young Mistress��"


    "Hmm? Okay, Aunty. I''d be careful and stay away from danger.


    Anyway, I need to leave now. Aunt Fey is probably at the location now. Bye!"


    Eliza practically ran away, leaving behind Darcy who sighed before turning around and re-entering the mansion.


    "She''s definitely gotten herself mixed up in that War already."


    It seems Eliza''s desire to not lie to Darcy worked against her in this case.

 Chapter 694 Interviews

    <h4>Chapter 694 Interviews</h4>


    While Eliza was in Vathax, Evan was dealing with the issues pertaining to his presence in the ongoing war.


    Thanks to An''s memories, Evan had a pretty easy time devising a n of action as the former hero had done something simr a lot during his Era.


    People were criticising him for getting involved in another country''s war, a lot said he was doing it for fame (which was true), while some others just said that the GEE had paid him money and he was basically a mercenary for hire.


    When people were saying whatever they wanted, a press conference took ce at the Barthmont pce, presided over by Prince David.


    The contents of the Press Conference were broadcast live on radio and in it, David affirmed the GEE Emperor''s im of possessing the support of Heroes.


    He also stated that he supported Evan''s stance on the matter, revealing that he had also been looking into the War Remnant Structure as well and had been denied ess by Wolfen.


    The fact that Wolfen denied even the Beast King''s son had people wondering exactly just what it was that Wolfen wanted to hide in that ce.


    People started using them of trying to monopolize whatever information or resources which were inside there.


    Just when the President of Wolfen was trying to deal with the situation, Laurene also released a statement that basically amounted to the same thing that David had said.


    She then made it worse for Wolfen by revealing that she had discovered a War Remnant Structure and had explored it, but sadly, the information she discovered in it was things the general popce was already aware of.


    This made things even worse for Wolfen, especially as the news of Tomond being captured with just 1 casualty was still causing problems internally.


    That headlineid the foundation for Evan''s statement regarding the treatment of War Prisoners.


    That the costs of taking care of the tens of thousands of Wolfen Soldiers who were now held captive by the GEE, was to be incurred by Wolfen and not the GEE who was holding them captive.


    Evan''s statement went against all the war conventions the world knew.


    People wanted to know just what he was thinking when he stated that, and they got their chance for an answer during the interview he had that afternoon.


    Host 1: "Typically, it is the responsibility of the nation capturing the war prisoners to provide for their basic needs, including food. This is in ordance with internationalws and conventions, which outline the humane treatment of prisoners of war.


    So, I, as well as many others are wondering why you say the home nation of the prisoners should provide the provisions instead? This is unprecedented, to say the least."


    Host 2: "Indeed. If the GEE is not going to feed them, then why take prisoners in the first ce?"


    Evan: "There''s a first time for everything and I decided to be the Precedent of this.


    The aim of this War is to Annex Wolfen for the sole reason of exploring the ''War Remnant Structure'' in A, and I have a desire to keep the casualties to a minimum, so the only other alternative is to take the surrendered soldiers as war prisoners.


    That is why I subdued the Firecrest Camp in the State of Tomond, with only the Brigadier General who refused to call for a surrender despite the fact that he was going to be sending his men to their deaths as a casualty.


    As for you who asked why take prisoners if we are not going to feed them, note this:


    In Tomond''s Firecrest Camp alone, we have 3568 captured soldiers. Are you saying we should kill these 3568 soldiers simply because we do not have the resources to spare to provide for them?"


    Host 2: "No, that''s not what I meant."


    Evan: "Then exin to me what you meant. We could not have taken down Firecrest without defeating these soldiers and do you expect us to let them go after defeating them, so they cane back and attack us again?


    There are two choices. To Simply Vanquish them, or send them to the afterlife and we chose the option which would allow these soldiers to eventually go home to whatever families they have after all this is done.


    Even if they lost, they did put their lives on the line to defend Wolfen and in respect to that, I left them alive��on the condition that Wolfen provides for them.


    If Wolfen refuses to do this, then they''re basically saying that we should kill the soldiers who have already surrendered?"


    Host 1: "��"


    Host 2: "��"


    Everyone could feel both Hosts'' unspoken questions, of how Evan somehow made Wolfen look like the bad guy even though the country was the one being invaded.


    Hisst question was one that Wolfen obviously could not say ''YES'' to; that''d be bad for them Internally and Internationally.


    Just imagine how Wolfen Soldiers would feel if they fought bravely and were defeated, only for their home country to tell their captives to kill them.


    That''d just be Wolfen shooting itself in the foot!


    War analysts went over the interview recording and after listening to all Evan said, they theorized that Evan''s and the GEE''s aim was not to make Wolfen bear all the costs of providing for the captive soldiers but to make them at least provide more than a certain percentage of it which would be very favourable for the GEE.


    Wolfen would still be disadvantaged, but at least, they''d save morale from nosediving.


    Of course, these were all just their spections as they truly could not find out what had gone on behind the scenes, especially as Evan didn''t bring this up again and neither did any of the public announcements Wolfen made touch this matter.


    �� �� ��


    In theing days, the GEE Army formed a defensive line along the borders of the six states they had captured. Each strategic invasion point had a division of over 10,000 soldiers manning it.


    Included in this 10,000 was the GEE''s Airforce which hade in as the first stage of reinforcements for Beluar.


    They consisted of Wyvern and Griffon riding mages who rained down spells from above. Their mounts were also capable fighters as well, able to protect them from Wolfen''s air-bornebatants.


    Despite the string of defeats, the Wolfen Army''s Morale was still high and they resisted the GEE Army fiercely.


    Wolfen imed its first victory in Zhupus, by repelling the GEE''s Army from invading the state.


    During the time Beluar had been consolidating the GEE''s rule on the six states that they had taken over, Wolfen was able to bring more soldiers to Zhupus so when the GEE''s advance force came in, they were able to repel them with ease.


    Unfortunately, the celebration of this victory was not long-


    lived. As stated above, it was just an advance force.


    Beluar led the main invasion into Zhupus and the state fell just like Liegan had, which then increased the amount of Wolfen Territory that the GEE had conquered.


    Thanks to the reinforcements from the Air Force, they were able to handle the invasion without spreading their avable forces too thin.


    After all, the mages who rode the Wyverns and Griffons were perfectly capable ofndbat as well.


    Tomond, Liegan and Zhupus.


    From the positioning of these states on the map, it was obvious that the GEE was really cutting a line straight to Wolfen''s Capital of A.


    Wolfen had quite a bit of mountainous regions and rivers that flowed from these mountaintops, so their speed was going to reduce after taking Zhupus as there were mountains and rivers in their path.


    Perhaps, the founding fathers of the country had considered this when they situated their capital behind one of said mountains.


    If they wanted to easily get to the capital, then the GEE would have to go around the Cudjour Mountain Range.


    After this, they''d have to take down the state of Cudjour itself, and then Vadvale before finally making headway into A.


    They would also need to deal with the other states to the east and west of Zhupus first, to avoid being faced with a pincer attack when they began moving towards Cudjour.


    There were also the states and cities in between Zhupus and Cudjour which needed to be dealt with, but that wasn''t Beluar''s job.


    Sixth Star General Amiyah Wace arrived with her army of over 100,000 soldiers, apanied by Air forces numbering 25,000 and they marched through Tomond, and Liegan, entering Zhupus where they split up unevenly and began attacking the states bordering Zhupus to the east and west.


    Amiyah''s Army pressed forward and quickly took over the state west of Zhupus, Ceasya, and their next target was Todbury which was right next to Ceasya.


    But there was a problem with this.


    In order to enter Todbury, they had to cross the river that flowed down from the top of the Cudjour mountain range. But unlike the shallow Liegan-Zhupus River, this one was much wider and deeper, and consequently much harder to cross.


    Wolfen had shut down the bridges into Todbury when Ceasya fell and they had soldiers mounted all across the river banks.


    Flying across would result in getting shot down and any attempts to construct a bridge would not be sessful as the Wolfen Army would interfere.


    It was then, that Evan returned to Wolfen, along with a certain someone who most definitely should NOT be with him.

 Chapter 695 The situation at the frontlines [Monthly Bonus 1]

    Chapter 695 The situation at the frontlines [Monthly Bonus 1]


    ??Cudjour River banks


    Ceasya


    Wolfen


    June 26th


    Year 1053


    On both sides of this river, were the GEE Army and the Wolfen Army Camps. The GEE Army was on the Ceasya side and the Wolfen Army was on the Todbury side.


    All the bridges on the river were raised on Todbury''s side and the Wolfen Army had a few Brigades at regr intervals along their side of the banks.


    Crossing the river was not feasible for both sides so they were at a stalemate.


    They had exchanged fire earlier, but it didn''tst long as both sides saw the futility of simply shooting down each other''s long-ranged attacks and how much of a waste of energy it was.


    If they tried to use magic to fly over, they''d be left at the mercy of the other side''s soldier who''d just shoot them down. If they tried to use magic to create bridge constructs, the other side would break it before enough soldiers could get through.


    There was the option of freezing the water with ice, but that needed at least Tier 4 Magic.


    That was something that needed time to umte magic power and time to chant. What''s more, using this option required the spell to be strong enough that tens of thousands of soldiers could cross the frozen river and It''d still maintain its integrity and not copse under their weight.


    Neither side would sit back and watch the opposing side do such a thing.


    That was the cause of the current stalemate which Evan arrived to meet.


    He didn''t make his entrance shy, insteading in under the cover of the darkness before dawn, and he was led to themand tent by the soldiers who were on watch duty.


    Amiyah was not asleep, but was busy calcting their rations and when they needed to request more supplies from the supply lines they had in Ceasya''s main cities when she received word that Evan had arrived.


    She was also told that he brought someone with him and that person was wearing a mask and hood, with enchantments that prevented their analysis skills from seeing who the person was.


    However, the person possessed a seal of the Emperor and imed he was there on the Emperor''s orders to apany Evan.


    Dismissing her subordinate Generals, she received both of them in her tent.


    When Evan stepped in, she raised a brow in light surprise, before shrugging lightly.


    ''One really shouldn''t ever trust rumours��''


    She shook her head before turning towards the hooded man with Evan, only for her brows to twitch as she recognized the mask the person was wearing.


    "��Bourne?"


    "Shh!! I''m not supposed to be here."


    "YOU MOST DEFINITELY ARE NOT!!"


    The woman''s loud voice attracted the attention of her subordinates outside who came charging in with weapons drawn, but when they were met with the scene of Evan seated and shaking his head while Amiyah was holding the cor of the masked man.


    "Oh��there''s no issue here. Return to your posts."


    "Um��General."


    "Return. To. Your. Posts."


    "��"


    The soldiers had no choice but to nod, sheathing their weapons and bowing before leaving the tent. Evan then pulled out his soundproofing artifact and switched it on, before gesturing to Amiyah and saying.


    "You can continue scolding him now."


    "��"


    The woman didn''t even know what to say at this, while the hooded manughed and removed his mask to reveal a fact that Amiyah found all too familiar.


    He had light brown hair just like hers, but unlike her ck eyes, his were brown in colour. He was fairly muscr and his facial features made him look like someone in his early thirties.


    He was Evan''s namesake, the First Star of the GEE''s Seven Star Generals, and someone who was supposed to be protecting the Emperor in the capital.


    But when Amiyah pointed this out, the man only shrugged and replied.


    "That ice block is there so Isaac would be fine."


    Somewhere in Askal, a certain blue-haired Duke suddenly sneezed twice, much to the shock of those around him.


    Back at the GEE Camp on the Cudjour river banks, Evan and Amiyah properly greeted themselves while ignoring Bourne. The first question the Half-Elf woman asked him after this, was one regarding Bourne''s presence here.


    "Did you bring him here?"


    She had heard stories of Evan making even the ''Laziest Mage Alive'', Joanna Ritz, travel all the way to the GWE so she didn''t put it past him to be the reason for Bourne''s presence.


    Evan''s reply, however, killed that thought immediately.


    "I''m Superior Grandmaster, he''s Inferior Epic. You think I can forcefully bring him anywhere?"


    "��well, no."


    "There you have it."


    The boy shrugged before narrating how he was in Egraiby, about to board his next train when he bumped into Bourne at the Station; the man was the one who then dragged Evan along with him, iming the ''Capital was too boring and he wanted to have some fun elsewhere''.


    "Seriously, when would you start acting your age, Bourne?"


    Amiyah sighed while Evan only turned to look at Bourne''s status and saw the 55 in the Age tab. He then went on to scan the rest of the man''s status, spending a lot of time on the Level tab as he wondered just what on Aidos the man had done to go from the 499 he was at when Evan met him in Year 1051 to his current level 568.


    "So, Ami. H-"


    "Don''t shorten my name at your convenience."


    "But Ami sounds nice!"


    Amiyah frowned when she saw Bourne''s reply and seeing her expression, the man realised she was really pissed and decided to stop ying around.


    The half-elf once again sighed beforeying out a map on the desk and answering the question Bourne never got to askpletely.


    On it, they could see theyout of Wolfen, with pen marks showing the routes the GEE Army had nned to take.


    Of the original forces she came into Wolfen With, she had sent 25% as reinforcements to the Army attacking the states East of Zhupus while she took the remaining 75% and went west.


    "Huh? Reinforcements for who?"


    Amiyah nced at Bourne with narrowed eyes for a moment, wondering if this man was even paying attention in thest meeting they had.


    "Princess Heather."


    Evan was the one who gave the answer, and the light of recognition shed through Bourne''s eyes.


    "Oh, so that''s why Isaac''s been grumpy recently. His dear daughter has run out to go fight again."


    The First Princess of the GEE, ''Princess Knight'' Heather Wilson, was the one who was sent to the Eastern Front of the war. She was the kind who''d pick a sword over a dress even in her sleep, and the Empress Dowager had picked her up and trained her since she was young, much to the dismay of the current Empress.


    Emperor Isaac initially liked this as he felt that his daughter should be strong, but the current him regretted stopping his mother then.


    She waspetent with a pen and extremely skilled with a de, which made him proud, but on the flip side, she had slight battle junkie tendencies.


    The instant she heard that there was a War, she cancelled her trip to return to Askal for the first time in four years and instead headed to Wolfen to join the fight.


    And this left a certain Emperor who had not seen his eldest daughter in four years not feeling all too good.


    "Anyway, leaving aside our casualties in the battle for Ceasya and the soldiers we left behind to take care of them and keep the state under control, we currently have around 40,000 soldiers with 10,000 in reserve.


    Wolfen has somewhere around 35,000 and our spies say they have reinforcements on the way. As much as I''d like to defeat them before the reinforcements arrive, we currently have this issue caused by the Cudjour River."


    The Cudjour Mountain Range separated Northern Wolfen from Central Wolfen and if they wanted to go around the mountain, they needed to take out Todbury so they would not be faced with a pincer attack.


    Only after dealing with Todbury would they decide if they should go around the mountain range via the east side or the West side.


    "The Mountain Range stretches more to the East, but we would not need to cross any more rivers if we go East, so I suggest we use there.


    Besides, it''d take Cudjour longer to notice us if we go East since they have more defences on the shorter Western Route."


    Of course, Evan''s real wish was for them to go through the Cudjour Mountain Range, but this was something he hadn''t told anyone yet.


    "Before we think about how we''d get around Cudjour mountains, we need to think about how we''d make sure our backs are clear and our supply lines would not be disrupted when we do."


    Amiyah brought them back to the main topic at hand and looking at this, Evan had an idea. Upon sharing this idea with them, both Amiyah and Bourne looked at him with wide eyes before uttering four words.


    ""Evan��you''re pretty crazy.""

 Chapter 696 Glacial Dominion

    <h4>Chapter 696 cial Dominion</h4>


    An hourter, the GEE soldiers readied themselves for another standoff. It had been their routine for the past three days and they were beginning to get used to it.


    Today, however, they received orders that were a bit different.


    Normally, both sides were closely watching themselves to prevent anyone from trying to pull anything. They had soldiers around all the Bridges that crossed the river from Ceasya to Cudjour, but today, the GEE soldiers around the bridges were told to withdraw.


    Each position left 1000 soldiers as a cover so the others could withdraw stealthily, evading Wolfen''s watch.


    They re-joined the main army around the area with thergest bridge, and Amiyah''s sudden appearance at the vanguard captured the attention of the Wolfen soldiers and prevented them from noticing these movements.


    The Leading Wolfen General also stepped forward as well, as he felt that they may be nning something.


    ''If she uses any powerful magic now��''


    The width of the river wasn''t a constraint for Amiyah if she wished to attack his forces, and as one of the two Superior Grandmasters present, only he could block her attack without suffering much damage.


    As for Evan, he watched this standoff happen��from 30,000 feet in the air.


    Seating on a tform he created with a void step, he looked at the soldiers down below while thinking out loud.


    "There''s the option of them creating footholds with aura like I do with my void steps skill, but unfortunately, it seems that not everyone finds it as easy as I do to create these footholds duringbat.


    Also, this river has aquatic monsters in it, so even if they can use aura footholds to stand on the water''s surface, the blood that''d spill would inevitably attract monsters and that''d cause even more casualties."


    With a light sigh, Evan activated Lethe, before jumping off the void step and freefalling towards the ground.


    Lethe was a very powerful concealment skill, but it had a big weakness. If one was cognizant of his presence upon its activation, the skill''s effectiveness on them was reduced.


    That was part of the reason why Evan went high up in the air before activating it. As for the second, that was simply because he wanted to skydive for a bit.


    ''Wind Magic: Featherweight''


    Our skydiving protagonist released his wings when he was around 5000 feet in the air, slowing his descent before eventuallynding on the water like a feather, right in the middle of the two armies.


    Evan ced his hand on the surface of the water and sent a stream of magic power down, using it to calcte the river''s depth.


    ''This thing is about��600 feet? That''s pretty deep. Freezing to the bottom would be a waste of energy. I''d half-freeze it then��''


    He nned to turn the upper half of the river to ice, making it a gigantic block of ice that was floating on the water of the lower half.


    It was going to eventually melt, but that was going to take quite a while to happen due to the energy infused in it.


    Evan held up his hand and slotted some magic stones into the Energem Reimer, before activating Limit Break.


    As much as he''d like to use BoD so he would not spend any of his precious Peak Grandmaster Magic stones, BoD was not exactly a good choice here.


    Using BoD would infuse the ice with destructive essence, and the soldiers would not be able to march on it as they''d be taking damage from his destructive essence.


    So, Limit Break was the better option.


    ''Harbinger of Ice: cial Dominion.''


    "?!!!"


    "What?!"


    It was nigh impossible for the superior grandmasters present to miss the surge of energy that came with Evan''s technique activation.


    But no one, not even Bourne who was hiding among the foot soldiers could do a thing about it.


    It was just that fast.


    A wave of frigid energy suddenly surged forth and enveloped the entire river in a shimmering veil of ice. The once-churning waters froze solid, transforming into a vast expanse of crystalline ice that stretched from bank to bank, and upstream to downstream.


    The soldiers stood frozen, their mouths agape as they witnessed this feat unfold before their eyes. The ones who just so happened to blink at that point in time reopened their eyes to see that the water had turned to ice.


    On both sides of the river, whispers of awe and disbelief rippled through the ranks, mingling with the biting cold of the newly formed ice.


    Amidst the stunned silence, a voice rose above the murmurs��one filled with recognition as its owner gazed at the boy who had suddenly materialized right at the centre of the river��the one responsible for this.


    "Irregr?! It''s Evan Eris!!"


    His voice echoed across the frozen expanse and the name sent a ripple of recognition through the soldiers, many of whom had heard tales of this teenage powerhouse. And now, as they stood witness to his incredible disy of power, they knew that those tales were true.


    Evan ignored the Wolfen General who shouted his name and turned to the Imperial Army before asking.


    "What are you waiting for? Charge forward already."


    His words seemed to snap Amiyah out of her daze as she gave the order and had the Imperial Army cheered and charged forward. But even as they crossed the icy expanse, they could not shake the lingering sense of awe at Evan''s feat.


    The boy then turned towards the Wolfen soldiers who were also about to charge and shook his head.


    "Unfortunately, you do not have tickets to cross this ice bridge of mine."


    With a snap of his fingers, the ice surged forth and the first three lines of soldiers were instantly frozen solid in thick sheets of solid ice.


    Naturally, they tried to break out, but one of theirpanion''s screams of pain served to warm them��that if they made even one wrong move, they would end up splitting themselves apart.


    The man''s severed arm spluttering blood was all the proof they needed to know.


    Within seconds, the Imperial Army soldiers had charged halfway across the ice, the river''s 700-metre width proving little of a challenge for them to traverse.


    Wolfen mages took to the skies andunched magic spells at Evan, while some others tried to thaw the frozen vanguard soldiers.


    The GEE''s Griffons screeched as they pped their wings and released powerful gusts of wind, attempting to knock the Wolfen Mages out of the skies.


    The Wolfen General kicked off the ground and dashed towards Evan, closing the 350-metre gap between them in a mere second, but before he could do a thing, Amiyah suddenly showed up with arms crackling with lightning.


    "Well, Hello there."


    **BAM!!!


    She threw a punch that collided with the General''s face and sent him flying back to where he jumped from in an instant.


    Evan shook his head as he saw the General bash through his frozen soldiers, ending their lives, before redirecting his attention to his energy reserves.


    ''Limit break tripled my energy and yet I''d consumed 1//3 of that energy in an instant.''


    Considering he had used enough power to freeze the river for around 100 metres feet in depth, 700 metres in width and kilometres in length, and made the ice strong enough to withstand the thousands of soldiers who were now fighting battles and throwing out Tier 3 spells on it, it was only natural the magic power consumption was enormous.


    **BOOOMM!!!!


    A massive explosion rang nearby and hundreds of soldiers were sent flying by the shockwaves. A casual nce in that direction showed that two Superior Masters had shed using their full power attacks, and yet, the ice only had a crater that was barely 3 metres deep.


    If that attack had been unleashed on normal earth, then multiple buildings worth of area would have been devastated by it.


    Evan just tapped his foot on the ground and instantly, the crater closed up, before turning towards the battle between Amiyah and Wolfen''s General.


    Since Evan was as strong as multiple superior grandmastersbined, firepower on par with that of multiple superior grandmasters was needed to crumble this ice, unfortunately, there were only two present on Wolfen''s side, while those who were on the GEE''s side were not foolish enough to shoot themselves in the foot.


    The Imperial army soldiers seeded in pushing the Wolfen soldiers off the ice and back onto normal earth, pressing forward with intensity while the Wolfen Soldiers hastily retreated deeper into Todbury.


    Seeing this, Evan frowned before looking up at Amiyah who backed away from the Wolfen General and scanned the battlefield with her eyes.


    The General tried to attack her again, but Evan used Evesting chains to hold him and stop him from distracting Amiyah, allowing the Half-Elf woman toplete her analysis.


    ''��this guy.''


    Her eyes narrowed as she nced at the General restrained by Evan, and the boy''s actions were a confirmation of her conjecture.


    ''Their General''s aim was never to engage me in battle, but to distract me.''


    Immediately she thought that, she infused magic power into her voice and called out.


    "FIRST DIVISION VANGUARD!! FALL BACK!!!"


    Without hesitation, her subordinate Lieutenant General who headed the first division, echoed her words and the soldiers; being ordered to fall back despite their advantage, obeyed the orders immediately.


    Seeing this, the Wolfen General''s eyes widened and he shouted out with his magic-infused voice.


    "BLOW THEM UP!!!"


    ***KAAABOOOOOMMM!!!!!

 Chapter 697 Ice General I [Monthly Bonus 2]

    <h4>Chapter 697 Ice General I [Monthly Bonus 2]</h4>


    "BLOW THEM UP!!!"


    ***KAAABOOOOOMMM!!!!!


    The ground suddenly erupted in a deafening explosion, sending shockwaves rippling through the air. The first explosion set off a chain of detonations that ripped through the soil, unleashing devastation in their wake.


    As it turned out, the Wolfen Army had prepared for the possibility of the Imperial Army somehow crossing the river and had rigged the banks with Explosives. Now that the Imperials had crossed it, they acted like they were being pushed back, while in reality, they were baiting the Imperial soldiers to cross a certain threshold.


    Thankfully, Amiyah had paid extra attention after she noticed the Wolfen General making repeated attempts to target her eyes, and she hadmanded her soldiers to retreat.


    This allowed them to evade the worst of the sts, nevertheless, Amiyah was prepared for casualties as the explosions were very powerful, enough to destroy everything within a kilometre square ofnd in an instant. Evan''s powerful ice was also destroyed as well, showing just how much power was contained in these sts.


    However, when the dust settled and the sound of the explosions faded into the distance, a figure emerged from the smoke and debris. d in a hooded cloak, his masked visage concealed his true identity as he stood before the GEE Vanguard.


    In front of him was a barrier of crackling energy, its gravitational power shimmering in the air


    Though the sts had managed to breach the barrier, its weakened state spared the lives of the GEE soldiers, shielding them from the full force of the explosion.


    Nevertheless, hundreds were taken out ofmission and had to be quickly moved off the battlefield by medics while the remaining unaffected soldiers rallied their resolve.


    Newfound determination burned in their hearts as they charged forward to avenge their fallenrades.


    ''But they''re not dead though?''


    Evan kept that thought to himself as he didn''t want to kill the momentum of the soldiers who mistook their injured and unconsciousrades to be dead.


    Instead, he sent a signal to Bourne and the man nodded before disabling his barrier and disappearing. Immediately, Evan also disappeared, a few seconds before the sound of a sonic boom rang out in the area.


    Just like there were GEE soldiers around the other Bridges of the Cudjour River, so were there Wolfen Soldiers.


    The Wolfen Brigades there consisted of at least 1500 men each, and they were assigned there to watch the GEE soldiers, however, now that the battle had begun, they were fast approaching to rejoin the main army.


    Evan and Bourne, went forth to make sure that didn''t happen.


    The young hero went Eastward, spamming his ''cial Ember Encasement'' on these soldiers, downing a juice pack potion after each one.


    He didn''t hold anything back, summoning his spirits to aid him and dispatch the inferior grandmasters who served as the Brigade Commanders while he froze the foot soldiers.


    On Bourne''s side, the man used his Gravity Maniption abilities which had improved by leaps and bounds to make short work of the two Brigades on his side.


    Once he had defeated them and tossed them into the river, he turned around and dashed back to the main battlefield, meeting up with Evan who had also dealt with the two Brigades on his end.


    "You done?"


    "Yep. I was 30 seconds faster. I win the bet."


    "Tsk��"


    Evan clicked his tongue as he put his hand into his inventory and pulled out the rare gravity essence orb he had before tossing it to Bourne and saying.


    "You wouldn''t win next time."


    "Looks like someone''s a sore loser."


    Bourneughed as he pocketed the orb, feeling very satisfied that he tagged along with Evan toe here as he just got a ticket to attaining Tier 5 in Gravity Magic.


    Considering Tier 5 was the level of magic meant for Legendries and Sovereigns, it could be seen just how valuable this orb was to make him attain it at the Epic Level.


    "Look at you, relying on tools to reach Tier 5 while Jenson who''s less than half your age achieved it naturally. And in Multiple Elements at that!"


    Evan''s response to Bourne''s statement was very effective in dealing mental damage to the man, evidenced by how his body twitched when Evan spoke.


    "Oy! I did the same with Fire Magic!"


    "He did it earlier than you with Lightning Magic! And he also did it with Space Magic as well! THE Space Magic!! The super cool, super destructive attribute!"


    "My Fire magic is stronger than his space magic!"


    "I can bet you my second heart that it''s not!"


    "And I can be��! Hold Up! Wait a minute! You have two hearts?"


    Bourne cut his words short when his brain fullyputed Evan''s statement and he couldn''t help but ask the boy for confirmation.


    However, before Evan could even say anything, Amiyah appeared behind both of them and smacked the backs of their heads.


    "Both of you! Wolfen Reinforcements are iing! What are you doing?!"


    Amiyah questioned Evan who had proposed the n of him and Bourne dealing with the iing 10,000 soldiers and the boy''s reply only seemed to annoy her even further.


    "I was trying to exin to this old man how talentless he was."


    "Talentless?! If I''m talentless then the rest of the is Trash!"


    Naturally, Bourne could not let that remark slide. Evan was about to retort, but when he saw Amiyah''s twitching brows, he knew the woman was at the limit of her patience.


    "I think we should get going now."


    "Yeah, we should."


    Bourne instantly got the hint and the two of them immediately disappeared into the distance, leaving behind Amiyah who sighed before backhanding the Wolfen Solider who charged towards her with a sword in hand.


    She snapped her fingers and a lightning bolt descended upon the man''s head, killing him in a st that created a 50-metre-


    wide crater.


    As for Amiyah, she was already on the other end of the battlefield, giving orders to her Army Divisions.


    �� �� ��


    Meanwhile, Evan and Bourne were already where the Wolfen Reinforcements were. Evan started out with a cial Ember Encasement on the first Battalion he encountered, turning them into ice statues, before moving on to the next.


    Bourne used the gravity spell, ''Grounded Embrace'' on the ones he found, and the poor inferior master soldiers were effortlessly crushed under the weight of the Epic''s power.


    He only used enough force to knock them out before moving on to the next set and doing the same. The man was limiting himself to just Gravity and Lightning magic, as using one of his fire techniques would reveal that he was the ''Human me'' and he certainly wasn''t supposed to be in the War right now.


    If Wolfen got wind of his presence, then they''d send out their Epics without hesitation and that''d mess up the n that the GEE had.


    Milena, Kuro and Ka were with Evan, and he sent them out to wreak havoc across the Wolfen Forces, using the lure of Ethereal Essence Orbs (Fancy name for nutritional spirit candy) to draw in more ambient spirits.


    As Evan''s contracted spirits were all High Ranks now, the lower spirits listened to them without any issue and they were able to execute coordinated attacks on the Wolfen Army.


    Evan had just finished telling some earth spirits to cave the ground beneath a certain toon of soldiers open when suddenly, a pir of ice emerged from the ground beside him and mmed into his side.


    The Hero was sent flying through the air, but he regained his bnce andnded with his feet on the ground. Immediately, a massive shadow overshadowed his, and he looked up to see a massive Ice Spike descending from above.


    Unlike he who was only aiming to incapacitate the Wolfen Soldiers, they were trying to straight up kill him so they held nothing back in their attacks.


    ''But this is not enough to deal with me.''


    Evan held out his hand and moulded a ball of prismatic mes in his palms, before muttering three words.


    "Mesarthim; Red: Shotput."


    The boy threw the weighted ball with all his might, sending it zapping through the air at supersonic speed and watching as it instantly collided with the giant ice spike and sted it to bits instantly.


    "Strike! Oh, wait��this isn''t bowling!"


    Evan chuckled lightly as he looked up at the Second Superior Grandmaster of this Wolfen Army Division, his lips curling into a grin as he spoke.


    "Old Man!! I''d leave the rest to you!"


    Before Bourne could even say anything in reply, Evan kicked off the ground and leapt into the air, running up void steps to meet Wolfen''s Famed ''Ice General'' in the air.


    The Ice General didn''t just stay there and let Evan reach him; he raised his hands and conjured sharp icicles,unching them towards the boy at sonic speed, yet Evan easily dodged them with paper-thin margins, all while still having a flippant grin on his face.


    Each icicle collided with his void steps and exploded into an icy mist, and though he reformed the Icicles and sent them towards Evan from behind, the boy''s elemental shield covered his back.


    Once he got high enough, Evan leapt towards the Ice General and threw a punch, however, a shimmering hexagonal barrier of ice appeared at thest moment and blocked it.

 Chapter 698 Ice General II

    <h4>Chapter 698 Ice General II</h4>


    Evan''s fist collided with the barrier, and in the short moment before he was rebounded by it, he revealed his intent to the Ice General.


    "Let''s have an Ice Element-Only battle, shall we?"


    The shockwaves from his fist''s collision with the barrier mmed into him an instantter and he was sent flying back to the ground, however, Evan flipped around mid-air andnded on his feet.


    In that same instant, he kicked off the ground and charged in again, this time, coating his fist with his icy aura and throwing a more powerful punch at the Ice General.


    The man instantly realised the power difference in the attack, and quickly dodged, a second before Evan''s fist bashed through his barrier like a stone through ss.


    Evan created a void step in the air and then used it to rebound himself in the Ice General''s direction, forcing the man to meet the second iing punch head-on.


    A sky-blue aura surrounded his arm and he flew straight towards Evan who increased the concentration of energy in his own fist.


    **BOOOMMM!!!!


    Two fists collided in the skies, releasing shockwaves that parted the clouds while the golden and blue auras exploded with bright light.


    The ice General took the initiative, activating a skill and sending a right straight towards Evan''s face, but the boy dodged backwards before raising his hands and using a technique.


    It was something he had gained inspiration for after seeing Roselia and Nadarus use their Sin Incarnations multiple times over.


    Roselia''s ''Throne of the Omnipotent'' was what helped him finalize the mental image needed, and this was the first time he was deploying the technique in battle.


    "Harbinger of Ice: Frostborne Colossus."


    With his words as amand, a giant humanoid knight manifested from the swirling currents of his icy magic power. Its towering form took shape with goldenm�� particles of Evan''s energy shimmering and dancing within the icy behemoth.


    The Colossal knight of magic power emerged holding a massive sword aloft. Evan''s golden aura filled the de and the knight swung it down at breakneck speed.


    With a swift motion, the Ice General infused his arms with a pulsating blue aura, crossing them above his head to intercept the colossal de. He had little choice as if it hit the ground, Heaven knows how many hundred soldiers would be sted to pieces.


    The impact was fierce, sending shockwaves through his body as he was knocked backwards, hurtling towards the ground.


    Despite the force of the blow, he managed to regain his bnce in mid-air, flipping gracefully tond in a superhero pose.


    As he nced down at his forearms, he noticed streams of blood trickling from the wounds, and his bones showed signs of cracking under the immense pressure. It was a testament to the overwhelming power of the attack he had just barely managed to deflect.


    ''This boy is too strong!''


    That was the thought that crossed the man''s mind as he looked at Evan who was already infusing more magic power into the Colossus'' de, ready for another attack.


    "Unique Skill."


    He muttered under his breath and gestured with his hands, causing a massive pir of ice to emerge from the ground and shoot straight towards the giant sword which the Ice Knight had thrust towards the ground.


    As the colossal sword descended towards the ground, the icy pir surged forth, splitting open with a thunderous crack.


    Its hollow centre enveloped the sword, swallowing it whole before erupting into a blinding explosion of brilliant light.


    When the icy smoke cleared, Evan''s figure standing in the air was revealed, his form outlined by a golden-rimmed portal crackling with icy energy.


    On the ground was the Ice General, floating a few metres above the ground and surrounded by a dozen icy pirs aimed directly at Evan, their hollow tips poised like cannons primed for battle.


    The tension hung heavy in the air as the two locked gazes, each prepared for the sh toe.


    However, this tense moment was broken by a third voice that rang out in the Ice General''s ears.


    [Focusing all your attention on Evan, is not a wise decision.]


    "?!"


    The Ice General immediately turned around, creating a sword of ice which he swung in a wide arc but it was already toote.


    The de simply phased through Milena''s form like an illusion and the spirit''s body then burst into a cloud of icy mist.


    Countless icicles formed around him and he was instantly bombarded by their fire. His Icy cannons were destroyed almost instantly and the hastily made barriers he put up to defend were not strong enough to block these icicles.


    He tried flying out of the mist, but no matter how far he went, the mist was still around him, obscuring his vision and his senses.


    Suddenly, the side of his face felt hot, and he sensed magic power umting there. But faster than he could circte his magic power to stop whatever was happening, Evan appeared beside him, his fist coated in lightning.


    "Fracture."


    **BOOOM!!!


    The lightning energy shed back for a double impact when the Electrome rose bloomed, generating enough power to deplete the man''s durability and cause blood to spurt into the air.


    "Sorry bro, my spirits didn''t want me to waste too much time on you."


    Evan apologized as he saw the Ice General''s body get sent flying out of Milena''s mist, right into the path of a certain lightning spirit who delivered another ''Fracture'' to the other side of his head.


    The second punch knocked the ice General towards Milena who had just reformed her physical body.


    [I''d refrain from that.]


    Not wanting to punch anyone, Milena waved her hand and a pir of pressurized water erupted from the ground, mming into the Ice General''s body and knocking him into the air.


    She then snapped her fingers and activated her Unique skill.


    "Aquafire: Oxyhydrogen explosion."


    In that same instant that the oxygen and hydrogen in the water concentrated in a single point on the man''s torso, Evan and Ka activated skills simultaneously.


    "Mesarthim: Red."


    "Ark sh."


    Prismatic mes and golden lightning hit the man''s body faster than Milena could ignite the concentrated hydrogen and oxygen, doing the job for her in a very shy manner.


    The dazzling disy of bright multicoloured energy erupted with a deafening roar, engulfing the Ice General in a torrent of fiery hues.


    Amidst the chaotic brilliance, the Ice General''s body was flung through the air, blood spilling from his wounds as he hurtled downward.


    With a sickening thud, he crashed to the ground, the impact sending shockwaves rippling through the earth.


    Looking at him lying defeated on the ground, Ka asked a question.


    [Is he dead?]


    "Don''t say the revival spell!"


    Evan reflexively retorted when Ka spoke, while Milena took a look at the man and asked.


    "We aren''t trying to kill him, right? So, wouldn''t the ''Revival spell'' be useful here?"


    Evan and Ka looked at Milena with wide eyes, and then at themselves, before turning back to her and echoing a reply.


    "[You''re damn right, it is!]"


    [Of course, I am.]


    Milena just sighed and waved her hands, freezing the Ice General''s body in a cocoon of ice before flying back to the main battlefield.


    �� �� ��


    The air reverberated with triumphant cheers as the Imperial Soldiers surged forward, pursuing the retreating Wolfen soldiers. Their shouts echoed across the battlefield, mingling with the sounds of shing swords and thundering hooves.


    As the Wolfen Soldiers fled deeper into Todbury, they inevitably had to pass through where Evan and his little spirit army had dealt with their reinforcements.


    Evan watched this in silence as he sipped on one of his juice pack potions. Bourne thennded beside him and used Grounded Embrace to bring them all down to their knees, before Evan tapped his foot on the ground in an attempt to use cial Ember Encasement.


    **BOOOMM!!!!


    It was then that they heard a loud noiseing from the distance, one that was very familiar to not just them, but every being who had witnessed supersonic travel before.


    A Sonic Boom.


    But if there was an important fact about sonic booms, it was that by the time it was heard, the entity who caused it was already long gone.


    Bottom line, the person who caused this overly loud sonic boom they just heard in the distance, was already at their location.


    Immediately, Bourne''s face behind the mask turned dark while Amiyah who was listening to a damage report suddenly startedughing when she sensed the aura that was approaching.


    The next moment, a massive four-ringed magic circle appeared in the air, its crystal blue colour gleaming in the sunlight.


    From the magic circle, a giant beam of ice descended, crashing on the ground where the retreating Wolfen Soldiers were congregated releasing a massive explosion of dust and icy smoke.


    As the icy smoke was cleared by a gust of wind, the effect of the spell became apparent. Instead of fleeing soldiers, the battlefield was now adorned with frozen sculptures.


    Looking up at the sky, they all saw the one responsible for this, a face that there was barely any Imperial Soldier who didn''t recognize it.


    The man ignored the voices of aweing from the soldiers and looked around the battlefield, instantly spotting the masked hooded man who was running in the opposite direction.


    He then ''disappeared'' from the sky, after which another sonic boom was heard, and appeared right in front of Bourne, setting a leg and causing the Bourne to trip and fall.


    "Ouch��"


    Evan remarked as he saw Kieran grab Bourne by his leg, before jumping into the air and shooting off into the distance with another sonic boom.


    Witnessing this, a lot of soldiers were dumbfounded, while Evan and Amiyah looked at themselves in silence before echoing the same words.


    "He got what wasing to him."


    �� �� ��


    The battle had been won and the Wolfen Army surrendered very quickly. Evan, Milena and the fire mages helped thaw the Wolfen Soldiers whom Kieran had frozen with his powerful Tier 4 magic, while the rest of the army handled all the after-battle procedures.


    Wounded soldiers were tended to, casualties were ounted for, while those who were rtively fine were sent over to Todbury''s side to man the area.


    Even though they had defeated this Army, they needed to also defeat the reserve forces in Todbury, but when Amiyah sent scouts to check the state''s borders, she was informed that the Toll Gates had flown a white g.


    The Governor of Todbury did not want any fighting to go on near the towns and cities in the state, so he reluctantly surrendered without battle, despite the reserve militarymander''s opinion.


    The bridges were lowered and Evan''s ice melted, with the river''s level being a lot lower than before due to the fact that a lot of the ice was broken off and tossed around during battle.


    Even if one needed multiple superior grandmasters to break it in one go, it was still very possible for tens of thousands of master levels to achieve the same thing in some time as well.

 Chapter 699 Evan’s Proposition [Monthly Bonus 3]

    Chapter 699 Evan��s Proposition [Monthly Bonus 3]


    ??Three dayster, on June''s 29th day, Evan was in the situation room of Todbury''s capital city, together with Amiyah and her subordinate Commanders.


    Some seats were empty as a few Generals and Colonels had been injured gravely in the battle of the Cudjour River, with two Senior Colonels even losing their lives.


    No matter how much Evan wanted to reduce casualties, it was impossible for there to be zero deaths whatsoever.


    Take this recent battle now; the Imperial Army had lost somewhere around 3000 soldiers, which was 7.5% of the forces they battled with. The casualties on Wolfen''s side��although rather low for a defeated army��were around 7,000.


    While this amount was tiny, whenpared to the people who died every day on Aidos, Evan paid more attention to this because these people werebatants and not normal people.


    "Evan?"


    ''I''ll think about thatter, now I need to convince them to go through the mountain.''


    The boy snapped out of his sea of thoughts when Amiyah called him, and then looked down at the Map of Central Wolfen ced in front of them.


    They were expecting Princess Heather to be arriving sometime today, so they were discussing how they were going to n their routes to Cudjour.


    By all rights, going West seemed to be the easier option, despite the rivers. The Cudjour mountain stretched eastward, and they''d need to march longer to go around it.


    However, some of the Generals wanted them to go east despite the longer march.


    "I agree with him."


    Evan finally voiced his opinion while gesturing towards the General who pushed for them to go around the mountain from the east route.


    "If we join up with the Princess, and Beluar''s reinforcementse on time, then it''s very possible for us to go east."


    "Beluar''s reinforcements? The supplies?"


    "No. the soldiers."


    Seeing the confused expressions on their faces, Evan decided to exin, starting from the point that the General he gestured to earlier had already spoken on.


    "Wolfen knows we want to wrap this up quick, so they''d be expecting us to take the West route which is much faster to traverse.


    Like he said, I propose we detour to the east precisely because they''d be expecting us from the West.


    My n, however, goes further than this."


    Pointing to the west point of the map, he moved the little soldier models and spoke.


    "Let''s split our forces into three. A 40-40-20 split.


    We''d have the 20% be a detached force that goes around West, so when their scouts spot us, they''d be ''sure'' we''reing from the West.


    This force would depart a few days after 40% of our army has gone eastward, and since the distances are different, they''d arrive around the same time.


    With that, we''d pincer the Army which''d be waiting for us on the West."


    "Then what about the other 40%?"


    In response to Amiyah''s question, Evan pointed at the Cudjour mountain and her expression darkened immediately. The fact that it did, meant she instantly understood Evan''s aim.


    "I said this before, but you''re crazy."


    "You''re not the first to tell me that."


    Evan chuckled as he leaned back in his seat and spoke with a small grin.


    "Consider it a Challenge. If we can cross through the Cudjour mountains, take the Hillside fort and then use it to mount an offensive on Cudjour''s famed Brightwall fort, then it''d only be a matter of time before we can take A.


    Besides, it''d move our ns forward by a lot, as the moment we take Cudjour, Wolfen would have no choice but to send ''him'' out."


    Although Evan had not mentioned any names, they all knew exactly who the ''him'' that the boy spoke of was.


    Every nation had its famed Generals, and then there was that one General who stood above the others in both martial ability, charisma, andmand.


    Like how the ''Duke of Frost'' Kieran and ''Human me'' Bourne stood out even among the Seven Star Generals, and the way ''Heaven Sword'' Finely and ''Sword Saint'' Luke were greatly respected among the Ten Great Swordsmen.


    Wolfen had their own powerful General who was based in the capital A, but if the Imperial Army reached Vadvale, then they were definitely going to send him out.


    And Evan��the boy wanted to fight him.


    ''Rodald "Stormbringer" Kuhagan.''


    ''Just like Kieran, he should be an Epic Level existence at this time. Although I feel I can fight weak Epics in my base form and even defeat some Lower-level Inferior Stages with BoD, I''m yet to actually test it out.


    But first, I''d need to get that thing in the Cudjour mountains to guarantee my victory.''


    Evan controlled his expression before looking up at the Generals who were discussing his proposition and spoke.


    "With the current level of morale, even if the Cudjour mountains are dangerous, the soldiers would not object to crossing.


    Whether they can cross the mountains or not will ultimately rely on the skill of theirmanding officers. This is a job for you guys. Don''t you have any desire to push your own limits?"


    His words had Amiyah narrowing her eyes as she realised he was egging them on. But before anyone could say anything, she held up a hand to silence them and asked.


    "I wonder��which of the three armies would you be going with."


    At this question, Evan smiled and gave a reply that confirmed Amiyah''s conjecture.


    "Obviously the one going through the mountains. I proposed the idea, so I have to at least see it through."


    ''Bullshit''


    That was the word that crossed Amiyah''s mind when she heard Evan''s reply. After reading numerous reports on the boy and the way he acted, especially the one about the S Rank team that had followed him into the ''Lair of the Lizard Lord'' in Lacertilia, she was sure of it.


    ''There''s something in the Cudjour mountain that he wants, and he''s using us to get to it!''


    �� �� ��


    The day went by like always and everyone was carrying out their duties as usual. Just like in the previously captured states, the people of Todbury had no choice but to go about their daily lives like always.


    By evening, Amiyah received a message and she summoned all her generals to the front of the State''s Government House.


    When Evan noticed this, he spread out his aura and scanned the entire State in one go, before a small smile appeared on his face.


    ''She''s Here.''


    Coming out of the Government House, he flew up into the sky and looked over Todbury, seeing the massive Army that had now situated itself within the State''s borders.


    He could count over 70,000 soldiers at first nce but when he saw the g being flown, his smile transformed into a frown.


    "Of fucking course Isaac wouldn''t send his daughter out there alone."


    The g of the Fifth Imperial Army was one that Evan did not want to see, as this meant that the Commanding Seven Star General was present.


    ''Fifth Star'' Lierin Ianqen.


    A woman who disliked the GWE and everything that came out of the country.


    Evan wanted to question Isaac''s decision-making by sending Lierin to a ce where he, a GWE noble was. What''s more, Evan was sure that Lierin was going to stick to Heather like glue and make things harder for him.


    Sighing in exasperation, he controlled his expression to hide his obvious displeasure before moving his gaze to the youngdy who was riding not a Warhorse like everyone else, but a wolf.


    He disabled his concealment and almost immediately, she looked right up at the sky.


    Her dark, curly hair which she inherited from her grandmother framed her face in soft waves, entuating her features while her eyes which mirrored her father''s, were deep and expressive.


    She exuded a sense of confidence and poise befitting of her royal lineage as she rode at the front of the battalion together with the Fifth Star.


    Naturally, she stood out quite a bit.


    Earlier, she had sensed an unfamiliar powerful aura sweep through the area, and seeing how Lierin''s expression had stiffened, she knew the owner of that aura was stronger than she could tell.


    Seeing how Amiyah who had also sensed that aura only shook her head with a wry smile, she could tell it wasn''t from a hostile party, and this made her all the more curious.


    It was at that moment she suddenly sensed a gaze on her body and immediately her head snapped upwards.


    Her Wolf also seemed to sense it and immediately growled, forcing her to redirect her attention to cate the creature before it scared off the other horses.


    Sure, they were Level 200 War Horses, but this didn''t mean that they had lost their fear of natural predators, even more so if said predator was a Level 300 existence.


    The creature stood at six feet tall, its imposing figure entuated by its very dark grey fur. Under the faint light, the fur seemed to shimmer, adding an air of mystique to its presence.


    "Calm down, Luna girl."

 Chapter 700 Evan’s weakness

    Chapter 700 Evan��s weakness


    ????????????????


    Heather rubbed the wolf''s chin and it gave a low growl before licking her palm yfully. Since the gaze disappeared just as quickly as It appeared, it helped Luna calm down faster.


    She reached where Amiyah was and the General, along with the others got on one knee to greet the Imperial Princess.


    After the pleasantries were done and Amiyah wanted to lead Heather into the government house, her brow suddenly raised and she turned her gaze up to the sky.


    What followed was the sound of a sonic boom, with a streak of gold light shooting down towards the ground.


    **BAM!!


    Itnded a few metres away from them, and a gust of wind blew away the small dust cloud kicked up.


    "I gotta say, the Fifth Army''s quite impressive. The Average soldier level is a lot higher than I expected."


    Those were the first words Evan spoke; his evaluation of the army that Heather and Lierin hade with.


    Todbury as a state was about 10,000 square kilometresrge, and Evan had easily flown through half that and back in somewhere under three to four minutes.


    Just after he spoke about the Army, the boy turned towards the Princess and his expression changed.


    He could not help stop the frown that appeared on his face, not because of Lierin, but because of the Wolf that Heather was riding.


    For some reason, looking at it made him feel strange and there was this strange sense of weakness that enveloped him the moment he came within a certain radius of the battalion.


    What''s more, the wolf also looked at him strangely, before moving away from Heather''s side and towards him.


    Evan''s danger sense skill sent him a warning and immediately, the boy went on guard as it meant that there was something about this wolf that could be a threat to him.


    His first action was to appraise it, but instead of a status board, Evan was greeted with a notification that he had never seen before.


    |Compiling Data.


    Computing Status��|


    | ?1% ?25% ?40%...|


    ''What in tarnation?''


    Luna circled Evan like three or four times, much to the confusion of all those who knew it as the wolf didn''t usually act like this with strangers.


    Evan raised his gaze from the wolf and then turned to Heather before asking.


    "Does it usually do this?"


    "��No. I''m as surprised as you are."


    As far as Heather knew, Luna usually decided if she liked someone or not within the first few seconds of meeting them. The wolf didn''t bother with trying to sniff them like she was with Evan which was why she was just as surprised as Evan was.


    Just as she replied to Evan, Luna suddenly opened her mouth and attempted to lick Evan''s face, but the boy created an Elemental Shield and blocked it as he didn''t have any ns of getting drenched in wolf saliva.


    "Is this strange as well?"


    "��yes.


    Luna,e here."


    The wolf gave up on trying to break Evan''s elemental shield before trotting back to Heather, however, Evan''s brow raised when he saw that there was a crack on the shield.


    ''What��?''


    Just before he could analyse it, Heather spoke up once more, offering her greetings to him and he responded with his own. After a short talk, they decided to move into the Government house to continue but suddenly, a familiar notification appeared in Evan''s field of vision.


    |Connection Activated|


    [The goddess ''Artemisia'' says that it has been a ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????n???????????????????????g?????????????????????????????????????????????!!!��


    The message suddenly scrambled and before Evan could even be surprised, Artemisia''s urgent voice rang out in his head.


    |Evan! Get away from that creature now!!!|


    "?!"


    The Urgency in Artemisia''s voice was far higher than ever before, and as if to add to this, Danger Sense red an rm in his head.


    Around Evan, there was only one entity that Artemisia would refer to as a ''creature'' and it was the one thing that Evan just realised, was right beside him.


    ''When did��?!


    His thoughts had not finished forming when Luna who had slipped out from Heather''s side and somehow evaded Evan''s senses, opened her mouth and yfully bit Evan''s hand.


    *CHOMP!


    "Ow!"


    "Hmm? Luna?!"


    Heather finally noticed her wolf had bitten Evan and she quickly moved to pull it away. For Evan, however, his expression was one of pure shock, not from the fact that the wolf had bitten him, but from the sensation he felt.


    Pain.


    Evan could gauge this wolf''s strength. It was around Level 300, the bottom rung of the grandmaster level.


    It was something he could kill even while half asleep and something that should not be able to cause him damage with such a casual bite.


    Heck, Evan had been bitten by a more powerful creature and his only worry was that his normal shirt got torn.


    Yet, this particr wolf was able to bite him, ignore his ''S+ Level 60'' durability like it wasn''t even there and cause him pain.


    **BAMM!!


    Evan''s reflexive action was to fling his arm and this sent the wolf''s body flying a dozen metres in an instant. Heather rushed towards it and immediately, a gasp of surprise rang out from beside Evan.


    "Evan, your arm."


    "What about my ar-?"


    Amiyah''s words turned Evan''s attention to his arm and when he looked at it, he saw a stream of crimson liquid flow down the limb.


    ''Blood��?''


    Luna''s bite had somehow bypassed Evan''s durability and had even drawn blood from him. Even worse, despite how small it was, the wound did not seem to be healing.


    Evan''s S+ health stat was supposed to make small injuries like this heal in mere seconds, but even after ten seconds had passed, nothing happened.


    ''What is this��?''


    The answer to Evan''s question came in the same second he asked it.


    |100%


    Disying Status. |


    The status of the Wolf Luna appeared in Evan''s eyes, and when he looked at it, his brain automatically ignored everything besides one line.


    The strange feeling of weakness he felt, the reason for danger sense warning him, the reason why Luna had been able to wound Evan��the answer was disyed in the Wolf''s race tab.


    |Race: Half Moon Wolf-Half Dragonyer. |


    ''Dragonyer?''


    Evan''s thought instantly pulled up the System archive and disyed information on the subject for him; Information that he didn''t even know was in the Archive.


    "GRRR!!!"


    Luna''s low growl snapped Evan back to reality and he looked at the Wolf who was trying to rush out towards him before activating his intimidation skill at max potency.


    "?!"


    All the Generals present reflexively went into battle stance, their very souls screaming out to them to flee for their lives.


    Even the wolf who had been growling at Evan, had all its hairs suddenly stand on end as the feeling of existential fear hooked it.


    A part of Luna''s body and soul roared in defiance, but the wolf''s rational mind shut off that part very quickly as it understood that if Evan wanted to kill it, he''d only need a single strike.


    "Princess Heather. Watch your pet properly."


    Leaving whose words, the pressure Evan gave off disappeared, and the boy himself also vanished a momentter.


    �� �� ��


    After a series of teleportations via blink, Evan appeared at the foot of the Cudjour mountains, and he looked at his arm and infused his destructive energy into it.


    Very quickly, the strange power that was stopping his wound from healing vanished and his arm returned to normal.


    He then took a moment to properly calm himself before pulling up the Archive, however, he sensed a disturbance in the space around him and turned in the direction of the distortion.


    ''This feeling��it''s teleportation��''


    He had already drawn the unforged and was ready to strike when the figure of a familiar golden-eyed young woman with ck hair appeared in front of him.


    "Amelie? No��Artemisia."


    "Come with me, Evan."


    Artemisia grabbed Evan''s arm and teleported them straight to the Rest Area of the Tower of Trials all the way over on the Cloud Piercing Isle in the Divider Ocean.


    Immediately they arrived, Amelie''s eyes suddenly went dim for a moment, and then Evan heard Artemisia''s voicee from behind him.


    "It''s a little clunky, but it''d do just fine. Thank you, Amelie."


    "It is my Honour."


    Evan turned to see the real Artemisia who waved her hand and teleported Amelie back to Bonas City in the GWE. The goddess then snapped her fingers and two couches floated over and positioned themselves behind her and Evan.


    "Sit. We have quite a bit to talk about.


    I should have informed you of this right after your Evolution but a Prime World was destroyed and I was very busy."


    The goddess casually dropped this bombshell of information as she sat down on the couch while Kalya manifested her physical body and asked.


    [It was a Prime World?]


    "Yes. That''s why that ''Old fogey'' could call everyone."


    Artemisia replied before facing Evan and speaking.


    "I know you have questions. And I''ll start giving you your answers. Starting from the issue of ''Dragonyers''."


    Evan was silent for a moment before he closed the open system tab and replied.


    "Okay, I''m listening."

 Chapter 701 Slayer Races [Milestone Bonus]

    Chapter 701 yer Races [Milestone Bonus]


    ??The goddess nodded and took a deep breath. At that moment, her thoughts were elerated to an astonishing speed as she considered how to ry this information to Evan.


    ''I need to tell him about this without touching on the matter of ''The Universe'' or anything higher. Although it''s a ''Vision Seal'', I shouldn''t make him believe it so it doesn''t give him any ideas.


    Sure, there are no Gctic Fments or ck Holes nearby but let''s not try to make him want to confirm if they are really out there��''


    She didn''t even need a second to sort out the details and find a way to inform Evan of what she wanted without triggering anything. Then she began speaking.


    "There are millions of different races out there, these races are categorized under different groups.


    Aquatic Races, Terrestrial Races and so many other categories you don''t need to bother yourself with.


    Among these categories is one called the ''yer Race'' category."


    "yer race?"


    Artemisia could already see that Evan was connecting the dots but she kept on speaking.


    "Yes. yer Races are as their name implies; Races born with the power to ''y'' other already existing races.


    When the actions of a particr race, have been considered by Billions of Quintillions of existences across all of existence to be ''Harmful'', a yer race is born to cull the numbers of that ''Harmful'' race.


    It is a sort of culling mechanism wired into all of creation, to prevent one race''s members from going too far.


    Take the gods for example. I had once told you that we gods were not much different from you, and that was because we aren''t a higher form of being like many believe but just another race you can find out there like humans, elves, beastkin��and dragons."


    The goddess'' tone turned deeper as she broached the subject of dragons, snapping her fingers and transforming the ceiling above them into an image of the night sky.


    "Earth V was a world with suitably advanced space administrations, so while its inhabitants have not gone much further than its moon, knowledge of the fact that there are others out there wasmonce.


    About 45% of the stars you see above you in Aidos'' night sky are orbited by inhabitables. Considering that any random point in the sky has thousands of stars, you can imagine just how manys are out there.


    Thinking about the number of dragons there, and the number of people who consider these dragons to be ''Harmful'', it''s only natural that a yer Race exists for the dragons.


    Perhaps it was a practical joke by creation, but the progenitor of this yer Race of dragons is the daughter of the Progenitor of Dragons across all of existence."


    "That''s rough."


    Evan felt a bit of pity for this Dragon Progenitor whose daughter was born out of the necessity to reduce the number of dragons out there, but he quickly tossed that thought away and focused on Artemisa''s words.


    "There''s a big difference between ''Dragon yer'' and ''Dragonyer''.


    "One is a title, and the other is the name of a race of beings. A ''yer Race''."


    "Correct."


    Evan himself had a ''Dragon yer'' title which he had acquired from killing Faldo, however, he had not known about ''Dragonyers'' until just a few minutes ago.


    "The abilities of a yer Race include, but are not limited to:


    The ability to weaken any member of the target race within a certain range of them. The percentage of weakening depends on how strong the yer in question is. It can be anywhere from 1% to 50%. This ability is also a passive one.


    Increased Damage against members of the target race.


    The ability to bypass a certain percentage of their durability.


    Reduced Damage is taken from members of the target race.


    Regeneration Negation of the target race.


    And the ability to exponentially grow stronger by killing and absorbing the Energy Cores of the target race.


    In the case of Dragons��it''d be their ''Dragon Hearts''."


    "��"


    "The issue with these yer Races now is the fact that their powers which are a result of the ''Anti factors'' they possess, target the Race Factors."


    When Evan looked at her with light confusion on his face, Artemisia generated a projection of a Dragon genealogy chart and spoke.


    "yer Races'' Abilities, work on not just members of their Target Race, but members of other races who possess the Race Factors of their Target Race as well.


    That means, it doesn''t matter even if you''re not a Dragon. The very fact that you have the Dragon Factor��means a Dragon yer can use their abilities on you just as easily as they would on a real Dragon."


    This exins why Luna''s power was able to work on Evan despite him not being a True Dragon, but a Draconic Human.


    "Wait��you said yer races are born out of necessity.


    Could there perhaps be a Humanyer Race as well?"


    Artemisia chuckled when she heard Evan''s question before she replied.


    "Humanyers have existed long before the Progenitor Dragonyer''s mother was even born."


    Her reply served to confirm to Evan, that in bing a Draconic Human, he had be susceptible to the powers of both yer Races.


    "If there''s a silver lining on this, it''s the fact that Aidos doesn''t have too many dragonyers lying around.


    The Dragons of Ancient Aidos made sure of that.


    However, they still exist, and that Half-Wolf Luna, is a reminder of the fact that they are out there. Most are on the Beta Continent where Draidan is, and there are still a good number of them on the Alpha Continent, that Half-Wolf''s father included."


    Evan leaned back on the couch and heaved a soft sigh softly while Artemisia added an extra statement.


    "At least there aren''t any of them strong enough to achieve even a 15% weakening. I''d assume you only noticed that something was wrong because of your high-power control.


    It''s high enough that if even a small bit goes missing, you''d notice."


    "How much does that Wolf have?"


    "Nothing serious. Just the base 5%."


    Thinking about it, Evan felt it was indeed somewhat around that range based on the feeling he got earlier.


    "yer Races, huh? Guess I have to be careful in case I encounter any one of them who just so happens to hate dragons.


    I mean, you did say Dragons culled their numbers in the past."


    "Indeed. You have to be careful as there are many of them who resent dragons. Right now, as we speak, ''Orvis'' is fighting against some of th��Ah��he just killed one."


    Evan''s eyes narrowed when he heard Artemisia''s words, ignoring how she was able to know about what was happening somewhere else on the and focusing on the meaning of her words in this context.


    ''This ''Orvis''��she only mentioned the name because she knows I''ve heard about him from Agnes already.


    By talking about him now, she just indirectly informed me that he''s either a dragon or has Dragon Factors.


    Not all of the Seven Heroes are human, or rather, not all of them cane from the same Race.


    I guess, Laurene and I are probably going to be the only Humans. David''s a Beastman, Abigail''s an Elf and the Hero in Tarse would most likely be a Celestial.''


    He came out of his Hypercognitive state and saw Artemisia speaking with Ka about something about ''a war between Old gods and New gods''.


    ''Speaking of gods��''


    "��is there a godyer race as well?"


    Despite Artemisia''s inner turmoil when Evan asked this, the woman maintained a poker face and replied.


    "There is. It''s rtively new though."


    "Huh? Isn''t the god race an old one?"


    Artemisia was silent for a moment when Evan spoke about the god race being an ''old race'' before she gave her reply.


    "Yes. It is older than dragons, but there were certainplications that prevented the birth of godyers until very recently.


    Of course, by ''recently'', I mean thousands of years."


    Beings above Transcendence like Artemisia saw time a lot differently so while a thousand years might be a long time for mortals, Artemisia knew some gods and Dragon Deities who could sleep that long and call it a catnap.


    "Are you guys hostile with each other?"


    "Majority of them are hostile, but there are gods and godyers out there who are friends."


    Evan''s expression turned strange when he heard this and he questioned Artemisia.


    "Is that even possible?"


    "It is. I know because I, unfortunately, happen to be friends with the Progenitor of the godyer race."


    "Wait��what?!"


    If Evan wasn''t mistaking the definition of the word: Progenitor; then this was supposed to be the oldest and probably the most powerful godyer out there.


    And Artemisa just admitted to being friends with them.


    "He''s a real piece of work, that guy. He was friends with the crush of ''someone'' I knew and when she wanted to go see her crush, she dragged me along with her, leading to our inevitable meeting."


    Ka looked at Artemisia with a bit of worry in her eyes when she heard the woman''s words, knowing fully well who that ''someone'' was and the current rtionship between the two.


    "That sounds like the plot of a romance story. In the process of acting as wingmen for their friends, they end up falling in love with each other."


    "It does."

 Chapter 702 A Wish for a Reunion

    <h4>Chapter 702 A Wish for a Reunion</h4>


    Artemisia nodded in affirmation, but when she saw the look on Evan''s face, she quickly figured out what he was thinking and spoke up to stop him from having any misunderstandings.


    "No. I am not in any rtionship with him."


    "I wasn''t thinking that."


    "I''m 110% sure you were."


    The goddess sighed and shook her head before continuing.


    "His lover is someone who can control any form of water in existence and though I am also friends with her, I do not wish to get on her bad side by going after her man.


    I don''t want to be remembered as a goddess who died by drowning."


    Whoever this Progenitor''s Lover was, Evan could tell that they were certainly stronger than Artemisia was, and this got him very curious about them.


    "Enough about that idiot. Is there anything else you wish to ask me regarding the yers?"


    "Are there Humanyers on Aidos?"


    "No. There are none whatsoever. Not even half breeds."


    The goddess'' reply was quick and Evan heaved a light sigh of relief at this. It was good to know that there were fewer of his natural enemies walking around Aidos.


    "Is there anything else?"


    "I certainly have a lot of questions for you but I''d leave them for when I have more clues."


    He shrugged as she spoke, before pulling up the system interface and scrolling through. Seeing this, Artemisia narrowed her eyes lightly and tried to figure out the meaning behind his statement, but she couldn''t think of anything.


    This was expected, as she did not know what had transpired inside Evan''s Soul Realm when Agnes was there.


    She did not know that Evan knew of the existence of that ''Apocalyptic Scene''.


    "Anyway. The real reason I contacted you in the first ce, was to inform you that I would be leaving for a while."


    "Haven''t you always suddenly disappeared for months without warning? What''s special about this time?"


    Somehow, Evan''s words struck a nerve, but Artemisia didn''t let it show as she replied.


    "Precisely that. I don''t want to have to deal with you whining in my ears about ''abandoning'' you again."


    Hearing that, Evan burst intoughter when he realised the reason why she said that. It seemed that Artemisia still hadn''t forgotten how he acted after the Geto City incidentst year.


    ''I was just messing with her though��''


    "Don''t worry, Miss Forsaker. I would notin."


    The goddess'' brow twitched repeatedly and Evan onlyughed lightly before asking.


    "Can you bring Liz over for a bit? And create a path she can use to go back to Askal afterwards?"


    "Okay."


    Artemisia spread out a tiny bit of her divinity and locked onto Eliza''s spatial coordinates in Askal, after sending the girl a notification, she warped her from her location, much to the shock of the GEE Empress she was speaking to.


    She then reappeared in the air and fell right into Evan''s outstretched arms.


    "Wha-?! Evan?"


    "Whatsup?"


    Eliza turned to the side and saw Artemisia seated on a couch, greeting the goddess who just acknowledged her with a nod.


    Artemisia then created two portals with her spatial power, one for Eliza, and the other for Evan.


    "When you''re done, enter them and you''ll be returned to where you were before."


    After saying her piece, Artemisia patted Ka''s head a bit before disappearing from the and returning to her domain, leaving Evan and the dumbfounded Eliza.


    "What''s going on?"


    "Nothing too serious. There was a slight issue that we needed to talk about and when we finished, I told her to bring you over."


    "Ohh��why though?"


    "Because I was suddenly filled with the desire to hug you."


    As Evan spoke, he fulfilled that desire and Eliza only smiled wryly and ran her hand through his hair.


    "Hey, Liz."


    "What is it, Evan?"


    "I''m about to embark on a journey through the Cudjour mountains and there''d be a slight detour in the middle.


    When that happens, I''d send you a signal and I need you to ry a message to Emperor Isaac for me."


    Eliza silently shook her head, saying a silent prayer for the poor Emperor who had gotten caught up in Evan''s schemes.


    �� �� ��


    Unnamedoid


    Domain of goddess Artemisia


    June 29th??


    Year 1053


    Artemisia just finished speaking to a few of her subordinate gods before closing her eyes and reassimting with the split-off portion of her consciousness she had sent to speak to Evan.


    The body the boy had spoken with was not her real body but an Avatar she forgot on Aidos when she was creating the Tower of Trials.


    She looked up and dismissed the people in front of her, ignoring the strange gaze Aphine gave her as she sorted out the floating screens hovering on her desk.


    "Don''t ask any questions. Just make sure everything works properly while I''m away."


    "��yes, mydy."


    Aphine bowed before teleporting while Artemisia got to her feet and tossed on a ck coat, knocking down a picture frame on her desk in the process.


    Picking it up, she sighed as she looked at the photo on it.


    It was taken during one of the most memorable periods of time in her life, which spoke volumes considering she was over 10,000 years old.


    Even though she had seen 10 millennia, Artemisia was quite young for a god; a ''child'' even, whenpared to others out there.


    But despite being so young, her power was greater than a lot of theirs, and this was something that they didn''t like.


    ''How dare this little kid wet behind the ears surpass us in power? We cannot ept it!''


    And thus, such a childish reason was why Artemisia had many enemies among the Old gods. Even some of the New gods also hated her because she was far more talented than they were.


    Most importantly, she was ''Valmone''s Favourite''.


    Her thoughts returned to the picture of six people in her hands.


    Two Men, two boys and two girls.


    A young red-eyed man wearing a wry smile, a silver-haired heterochromatic-eyed boy who was smiling brightly, his hand across the shoulder of the teenage Artemisia herself, then beside her was the ''someone'' she had just mentioned in her earlier conversation with Evan��a white-haired and hazel-eyed girl who was looking at the red-eyed man on the left.


    There was also another silver-haired man, with clear blue eyes and fangs peeking out from his parted lips, with his arm around a grey-eyed boy who wore a mask that covered the lower half of his face while holding the remote that controlled the camera which took the photo.


    Artemisia''s nk expression changed to a smile for the first time in a long while, however, the smile vanished just as quickly as it appeared.


    "I wonder if we''d ever have that reunion we spoke about?"


    She put the picture back down on the table before continuing.


    "Maybe this time, we''d kill him for good��that bastard Bewusstsein."


    Artemisia held up her hand and grasped the empty air. The space around her arm squeezed up like foil and when she pulled her arm back, it ripped open.


    She dipped her hand into the torn space and pulled out a sheathed de. The space returned to normal afterwards and Artemisia grabbed its hilt and drew the sword.


    "All right, Rule Breaker. Time for you to drink a ''little'' golden blood."


    With that line, she broke open a Spatial Gate and disappeared into it, departing from the Orithyia Gxy into unknown territory.


    �� �� ��


    After sending Eliza back to Askal with a message for the GEE Emperor, Evan took some time to bulldoze through Floors 40-50 of the Tower of Trials.


    By the time he was done, killing Level Normal 500s was not so much of a problem for him.


    He then entered the gate Artemisia created and he reappeared right in the middle of the meeting room in Todbury where the GEE Generals were discussing their n of action.


    Naturally, seeing Evan emerge from a Spatial Gate that emanated a staggering amount of divinity surprised them, especially the religious ones who had ties to the Holy Kingdom.


    As for Evan, he was thankful Artemisia saved him an extra trip. He nced at Amiyah who was looking at him while blinking dumbfoundedly and asked.


    "Have you told them about my idea?"


    "Huh? Oh yes. "


    "Cool."


    He plopped down on an empty seat and leaned back before asking the Generals and advisors present.


    "So? What do you guys think?"


    "I''m up for it."


    The first reply came from Heather who was also present and though Evan acted like he didn''t care much whether she agreed or not, he was internally jubting.


    Lierin seemed to have some misgivings but a single nce from the Princess was enough to keep her silent and Evan appreciated this as he really didn''t want to deal with Lierin right now.


    ''I''m in a good mood after seeing Liz, after all.''


    Seeing that there were little objections, Evan then decided to add a little twist to his n.


    "Let''s use a Misdirection."


    "Meaning?"


    "We let information about our movement slip to Wolfen, but we''d misdirect them.


    Basically, despite our main force going East, we''d tell them that our main force is going West. Just let a few of the government officials or Commissioned army officers ''identally hear'' someone talking about it.


    There''s a 100% chance that they have some secret means of contacting Cudjour that we are not aware of yet."


    "It''d have to be pretty believable for this to work. They aren''t stupid."


    Amiyah pointed this out and Evan nodded before pointing towards some Generals. They were subordinates of Amiyah''s who weren''tpletely in favour of splitting their forces and also didn''t fancy taking the long detour through the east.


    "Let them do it.


    Since you guys don''t like the n all that much, it''d be like you''re ''expressing your discontent at me proposing we should go through the West Route despite you proposing a better n of action and yet because I''m a Hero, my n was epted''."


    When Amiyah heard Evan''s words, she thought about it and nodded in affirmation.


    "That could really work��"


    She knew the personalities of the two Evan had pointed out very well so she knew they could pull it off without much issue.


    "Then that''s settled. If you excuse me, I have a few things to handle before we move out."


    Evan then got up and moved towards the door, with Heather following him a moment after. The princess rushed up to him and he turned to her with a raised brow, his expression questioning why she followed him.


    "About earlier��with Luna. I''d like to apologize for her actions."


    Heather had gotten a full report on how Evan had made things easier for them to take Todbury, as well as how he had also helped in Liegan and Tomond as well, so she didn''t want him to be displeased and have second thoughts about allying with the GEE because of what happened earlier in the day.


    Though it looked like she was implying he was narrow-minded, that would only be the case if the wolf that attacked him was that of a random soldier and not the Imperial Princess'' mount.


    However, what would have been a small issue had been given the potential to blow up simply because an Imperial Royal was involved.


    Evan''s reaction to this apology of hers was a lot tamer than she expected, as he simply nodded and told her not to worry about it.


    The boy was in a good mood after some canoodling with Eliza so he didn''t really feel like making things hard for her.


    As he spoke, he nced at Heather''s hand and noticed the ring on her right index finger, a small smile appearing on his face as he thought.


    ''The ''Key'' is here��now, let''s go to where the ''Treasure Chest'' is.''

 Chapter 703 Curse their Reincarnations!

    <h4>Chapter 703 Curse their Reincarnations!</h4>


    Cudjour Mountains


    June 30th


    Year 1053


    The Imperial Army''s advance on Cudjour began. As Evan had suggested, they split their forces into three and set off immediately.


    The Third Dethatched force was going to set off a few dayster, and to make the decoy more believable, Beluar was going to be leading it.


    Amiyah went with the army going around East, while Lierin and Heather were with Evan as they crossed through the mountains.


    The temperature fell as they climbed into the mountains, and this cold was going to be the greatest obstacle to crossing these mountains.


    The Cudjour mountains were quite steep, higher than even the Alps from Evan''s home world.


    Mages were at work full time to divert any rocks that crumbled from the mountains above, while the melee types engaged any monsters they encountered.


    All the soldiers present were at least Level 100, so their resistance to cold was quite high. However, the mountains of Aidos were cold enough that even superhumans like them could get frostbite if they didn''t take proper precautions.


    The thick snow also slowed their marching speed, so it took them a few days to get over the mountain pass and start working their way back down.


    The farther they descended, the warmer it got and when they got to a suitable area where another of the mountains obscured them from being sighted by Cudjour scouts, they set up camp.


    As they set up Camp and fed the Warhorses, Evan pulled out his guild card and sent a signal to Eliza, telling her to go meet the Emperor. He waited for her to reply and say she was speaking with him before he put away the card.


    He then looked around the area before spotting where Heather was and walking up to her.


    The moment he got within range, his Hero Title seemed to react and he smiled at how fate made it so that she just so happened to set up camp in the right spot.


    Lierin had moved a bit of distance away to give instructions to the Colonels and if there was any time for him to act, it was now.


    Looking at the ring on her hand, he guessed that it had been so long so it must''ve gone dormant since it had not reacted, so he decided to give it a little boost.


    ''Hero Authority, Activate the Key.''


    The moment he gave themand, the World Laws of Aidos moved and Heather suddenly let out a surprised voice.


    "Huh��?"


    She cocked her head to the side in confusion, looking at the ring on her hand which was now shining. It was something she had picked up from the Imperial Treasury when she was seven because it looked ''pretty'', however, ever since she put it on, she had never been able to take it off.


    This was the first time in 10 years that the ring was showing any sort of reaction and she suddenly got a bad feeling.


    "Is something the matter?"


    Evan questioned like he wasn''t the reason for the issue and she held up her hand and spoke.


    "Um... The ring suddenly started shining. It''s never done this before so I''m a bit confused..."


    One of the nearby soldiers heard her words and looked over, seeing that there was, indeed, a white light emanating from her ring.


    He didn''t know much about it so his line of action was to go inform Lierin.


    That''s when it happened!


    **RUMBLEE!!


    The ground began to tremble like an earthquake, the tremors sending cracks through the ground beneath Heather''s feet. Thend crumbled out from under her, and she fell.


    "WHA?!"


    From beneath the crack, a huge amount of magic power gushed out, containing a powerful gravitational force that pulled Heather into the ground without her being able to do a thing.


    The wave of magic power also stretched towards Evan and though he attempted to send a chain out to grab Heather, it was futile as it only ended up with him getting pulled in as well.


    Lierin sensed the disturbance and dashed over at sonic speed, but before she could reach out to Heather, the magic power gushing out from the ground generated a reverse gravitational force that sent her and everything else around her flying.


    Right before her very eyes, Heather and Evan disappeared into the ground and the cracked earth closed up, returning to the snowy surface it once was like nothing happened.


    �� �� ��


    The moment the hole above them closed up, the gravitational pull disappeared and Heather regained control of her body.


    If there was a problem, however, it was the fact that she was now falling from a height of thousands of metres.


    Even if she was a Superior Master Level, the damage from this fall would not be funny.


    "Princess Heather!"


    "Lord Evan...? Why?!"


    "Don''t ask! Just hold on tight!"


    Evan used his Evesting Chains to pull Heather towards him as they free-fell down the giant ravine to the unforgiving ground below.


    Just when they were about 500 metres from the ground, Evan unfurled his wings and then used wind magic to create an updraft to slow their fall speed.


    ''Wind Magic: Featherweight!''


    The spell activated and with that, it was easy for the updraft to slow their falling speed, allowing Evan to acquire total control of their descent using his wings.


    "Wings?!"


    Heather had lost count of how many questions she had asked in her shock today as Evan sped down towards the ground andnded gracefully.


    He then let go of her body and retracted his wings, looking around warily to see if there was any danger nearby.


    But before any potential danger, what caught his and Heather''s attention was the massive Gate that was at the end of the underground cavern they were in, vibrating intensely while emitting white light.


    When Heather held up her right hand towards it, the vibrations seemed to intensify and with that, it was pretty obvious why they had fallen down here.


    But first, she turned to Evan and spoke.


    "Thank you for saving me."


    Truly, without Evan present, although she''d have survived the fall with her superhuman body, the damage would have been great.


    Evan on the other hand felt a bit guilty as he was the reason she had fallen in the first ce. He didn''t expect that the underground cavern was thousands of metres below the ground so he was also caught off guard. Though he didn''t think everything would be the same as the game, this was a bit too much of a difference.


    "Don''t worry about it.


    He waved her off before approaching the familiar-looking gate which was tightly shut, looking around once more before speaking.


    "Going up doesn''t seem to be possible as the hole we fell through closed up, and this thing clearly has something to do with us being here��"


    She understood what Evan was implying and walked closer to the gate, raising her hand to touch it, her expression tensing slightly.


    Once she pressed the palm of her hand against the gate, the mana circle drawn on the gate let out a burst of light and the shaking stopped as the gate opened up.


    "Huh?! It really opened!"


    Heather could not conceal her surprise at this phenomenon.


    "But this is Wolfen territory, so why would something from the Empire work here?"


    "What if it originally didn''t belong to the Empire?"


    "��that makes sense."


    She nodded in affirmation when Evan spoke, before drawing her sword as she looked at the path before them warily.


    The two of them walked in while scanning the area for any dangers but besides the runes on the wall reacting to their presence and lighting up the passageway, nothing else happened.


    It was a straight corridor with nothing to see but runes and murals on the walls. Heather studied the Murals and they depicted a variety of scenes; from a king being coronated to a war, and then finally��peace.


    "Looks like the story of a country''s foundation��"


    Heather remarked as she studied the murals and Evan nodded along with her, not showing too much of a reaction as he checked the System Archive for any details.


    However, all he saw was the same description as in the game, which gave him little to no exnation of what this ce actually was.


    All the information it had was what he was going to find at the end, and it was what he came for, but he indeed wanted to find out about all the things he was unable to see in the game.


    This corridor, for example, had nothing on it in the game but here there were murals, showing that Artemisia had removed details from this ce.


    ''I wonder if she''d have tried to divert my attention if I told her I wanted toe here��''


    Such a thought passed through his mind as he and Heather walked down the passageway. Finally, they reached a wide-


    open space at the end of the corridor.


    They spread out their auras to check for any traps but didn''te up with anything. They then looked at one another and then both nodded before stepping foot into it.


    That''s precisely when it happened!


    "Whoa!"


    Suddenly, the ground opened up and they fell.


    A pitfall!


    A simple, non-magical trap which they had failed to notice because the material on the floor was one that was an instor against magic and auras.


    ''Oy! This was supposed to be a flight of stairs!''


    Evan quickly unfurled his wings and grabbed Heather the instant the ground opened up, but as if sensing their desire to escape, the gravitational force from before returned,ing with enough power to pull even Evan.


    Now, something that could pull someone as powerful as Evan down with him barely being able to resist, was much more effective on the weaker Heather.


    In fact, the pressure of the World Law energy was so great that it straight-up knocked her out.


    "Whoever created this, I curse your reincarnation."


    Evan muttered as hey on the floor with his back to the ground, while the unconscious Heather''s bodyy on top of his, pressing ''everything'' onto his chest.


    Holding her arm, he sent a jolt of lightning through it and her consciousness returned instantly.


    "?!"


    When she realised the situation they were in she quickly got off Evan while apologising and thanking him.


    "Don''t thank me, curse the person who created this damn thing."


    "Although I don''t know anything about here��this ce looks old enough that whoever made it is definitely dead."


    "Then curse their reincarnation."


    "Pfft��!"

 Chapter 704 Hall of Statues

    Chapter 704 Hall of Statues


    ??"Then curse their reincarnation."


    "Pfft��!"


    Heather chuckled when she heard Evan''s reply, watching as the boy got up and dusted his clothes before retracting his wings.


    She had questions about why he had wings, but after remembering the news article saying he had gained the power of a dragon, she quickly figured out where they came from.


    ''How was he even able to eat a Dragon''s Heart without dying?''


    That was the main thing that got her curious, but she realised now wasn''t the time to think of this and looked around the hole they were in.


    Like before, the ceiling had closed uppletely, although this was a much lower height that they could jump.


    "Anyway, what is this hole? It''s too dark for me to see properly, even with level. It''s kind of��"


    When Heather trailed off, Evan who was looking at the System Archive turned towards her and suggested.


    "Scary?"


    "That''s not it. But being trapped in the darkness..."


    Heather couldn''t find the right word to describe how she was feeling and Evan began wondering if the girl was ustrophobic or something.


    "It''s not scary, but I don''t like it. Not being able to see anything makes me feel more on edge..."


    Though their vision wasn''tpletely limited, but right now, it was a lot lowerpared to normal and what''s more, the walls and floor seemed to be made of the same magic and aura instor so their senses were greatly distorted here.


    "It''s okay. You may be trapped, but you''re not alone."


    "The way you say that sounds strange for some reason��"


    Heather narrowed her eyes at Evan when he spoke and he only chuckled before pulling out a chair from his inventory and sitting down.


    "Wait, what?"


    "Hmm? You want a chair too?"


    "I''d appreciate one, but is this really the time for us to sit around? Shouldn''t we be trying to get out of here?"


    Heather''s concern was perfectly normal. Especially as she wasn''t familiar with Evan so she found him not taking the situation more seriously to be strange.


    "That''s good, but I consumed a bit of energy to prevent that gravitational force from crushing us like meat paste so I''d like to recover to full capacity before we go anywhere."


    Evan then pulled out a chair and ced it in front of her, before gesturing for her to sit, while he searched his inventory for amp.


    "You sure are an odd one, Lord Evan."


    "Drop the ''Lord''. Feels strange.


    I''d also drop the ''Princess'' as well."


    "��okay?"


    Normally, people would make a fuss about them not addressing themselves with proper titles, but Evan wasn''t one to put much thought towards that and Heather was surprisingly the same.


    Besides, there was no one present so what was wrong with calling themselves by just their names?


    "Well, anyway, maybe we should count ourselves lucky to have a quiet moment like this?"


    "Evan. What are you talking about? How is falling into a trap good luck?"


    Thanks to themp, Evan was able to see Heather''s genuinely confused expression and it made him chuckle a bit as he replied with a shrug.


    "Well, I was thinking we should have a talk without Lierin hanging around you all the time and this provided an opportunity."


    Heather could sense Evan did not like Lierin from the way he spoke and when he thought about how she was heavily prejudiced towards GWE nobles because of a past experience, she figured this was why.


    "Well, her job is to keep away those with nefarious intentions towards me so��"


    "Nefarious intentions? She thinks I have nefarious intentions towards you?"


    The girl could see just how absurd Evan found the notion from the expression on his face, but before she could speak up to rify, the boy continued.


    "Nefarious intentions, huh? Well, maybe."


    "Huh?"


    Heather was gobsmacked when she heard Evan''s words and seeing this, Evan grinned evilly before getting to his feet.


    "Considering we''re both trapped in here alone, no one would ever know if I was to do anyth-!"


    **SWOOSH!!!


    Evan immediately twisted his body to dodge the sword that came thrusting towards his head, jumping back a bit when he heard Heather''s cold voice.


    "I would not hesitate to stab you if you try anything strange."


    "Woman! Say it before you do it!!"


    "But if I said it before, you''d have dodged."


    "Of course, I would have! Who wants to get stabbed?!"


    The young hero wanted to cry but had no tears. What started as a casual joke nearly got him stabbed in the face.


    "Hahaha!"


    Heatherughed when she saw his expression, sheathing her sword as she spoke.


    "Don''t worry, I was joking."


    "I think the scale of our jokes is a bit too different here."


    The girl onlyughed even more when she heard his reply while Evan just shrugged and sat back down. He then proceeded to pull out his portable refrigerator and a bottle of strawberry wine before muttering to himself.


    "I need to restock��"


    "��"


    "Hmm? You want a drink as well? I wouldn''t give you the strawberry wine though".


    "I don''t think the wine vour is the issue here."


    Heather sighed and shook her head, before pointing at the grape wine bottle. She was quick enough to realise that if she got surprised by every little thing Evan did, she''d wear herself out mentally.


    She also watched as Evan pulled out a portable cooker and heated up some stored food before proceeding to have his lunch like he wasn''t trapped thousands of metres below the ground.


    Of course, he did not torture Heather by eating a sumptuous meal in front of her while she was left hungry, so he ''begrudgingly'' shared some of Eliza''s special cooked food with her.


    As they ate, the two talked with each other, and it helped ease a lot of the tension they didn''t even know was there.


    Heather wasn''t a difficult person and when paired with Evan, it wasn''t hard for them to be quick friends.


    Their conversation topics were entirely random, from stories about their adventures to stories about random events they had witnessed over the course of their lives.


    Evan learned a lot more about Heather than what he knew from the game and she learned a lot more about Evan than she knew from the rumours going around.


    By the time they were done eating and talking, they were seated a lot closer than they were at first and while Evan was burning the disposable tes they used, Heather was hit by Postprandial somnolence. [Feeling of sleepiness after consuming food]


    She dozed off on the chair and Evan didn''t even notice until her head fell onto his shoulder. But perhaps because of his movement, she slipped off his shoulder and fell lightly.


    Immediately her eyes shot open as she made a noise like a high school student who had briefly nodded off in ss.


    "All right, sleepy head. My magic power''s back to max."


    "Ah��sorry."


    "No biggie."


    Evan got up to his feet and returned the chair to his inventory, before holding up his hand and pointing it at the ceiling.


    Just when Heather looked up at him with a confused gaze, he activated BoD.


    "?!"


    The sudden surge in power shocked her and before she had even moved away, Evan activated his Energy st skill.


    The beam of destruction essence tore through the air and collided with the ceiling, sting a clean hole right through the structure despite its strong magic-resistant properties.


    "Destruction essence for the win!"


    Evan deactivated the skill before looking and Heather and speaking.


    "Let''s go."


    The girl snapped out of her shock and got to her feet, after which, Evan collected his folding chair and tossed it into his inventory.


    Evan created a series of Void steps which the two jumped off and used to reach the ceiling, leaping out of the hole and back to the upperyer.


    "Wow. This is impressive. Didn''t think one could use aura tforms like this."


    "I know, right? But don''t fall for me, okay? I have a girlfriend."


    The boy spoke with a shrug of his shoulders and Heather''s brow twitched as she looked at him with narrowed eyes.


    "Narcissist much?"


    "It''s true though. Objectively, I am a great catch. Looks, money, power, you name it."


    "Yeah, right."


    Heather rolled her eyes as she looked around the wide area they were in, about to say something when Evan suddenly asked a question.


    "Did you realize there''s drool on your face, Your Highness?"


    She looked shocked at this revtion before quickly turning away. However, she immediately turned back when she realised that Evan was just messing with her.


    "I''m very close to drawing my sword, Evan."


    "I assure you, that would not end well for you."


    Heather twisted her lips in displeasure as she knew Evan was right while the boy just chuckled and pointed at the path at the other end of the space they were in.


    "Let''s go."


    The two continued down the path, taking extra care not to fall into any pitfalls while looking at the murals on the walls. Eventually, they came across some rooms and after entering them, they discovered that these rooms seemed to have exhibit stands, leading them to surmise that they were in a museum of some sort.


    "None of the Exhibits are present though."


    "I don''t think these exhibits could havested as long this ce''s age."


    Evan replied to Heather''s words as they walked forward, reaching another door which Heather unlocked with her ring.


    "Oh...wow."


    The two were greeted with a different sight when they entered the next room. Rather than a room, this was more of an arena.


    It was a massive hall with a dome-shaped ceiling, and looking around, Evan felt this ce was as big as a stadium.


    Unlike the other rooms, the exhibits here appeared to still be present, although some of them were a bit damaged.


    They were Bronze Statues of men and women from different races with name tags and taglines under them.


    ''In the game, this was an area that the yer could only pass through in a straight line. I could not see who these statues were of and what their names were.''


    He and Heather looked at one another before deciding to go around and take a closer look.


    They noticed the statues were grouped ording to race, evidenced by how all the statues of humans were in one section, all the statues of Elves were in another, and so on and so forth.


    There were people of many races present, races they knew and those they could not recognize.

 Chapter 705 Noble Demons

    Chapter 705 Noble Demons


    ??"Who are these people?"


    Evan nced at the people in the statues and then looked at the ceiling, seeing that there was a mural of the night sky drawn on it


    On the ground was a familiar-looking crest and Evan studied it for a moment before replying to Heather.


    "You''re aware of the many worlds theory, right?"


    "Of course. That''smon knowledge.


    Astronomers have used magi-tech telescopes to look into the stars and they''ve seen that there are other Worlds just like ours around our Sun.


    We don''t know if these other worlds have life as well, but considering we were invaded by beings of another world a thousand years ago, it''s not wrong to think they do."


    Heather looked up at the mural of the night sky and quickly figured out why Evan asked that question as she continued speaking.


    "My father informed me about Research carried out centuries ago; to find out If one of these other worlds around us was the one who invaded us a thousand years ago."


    "Well, I can tell you that the Invaders��the D?e?m?o?n?s?��do note from a nearby World."


    Since Heather wasn''t as ignorant as most people, the censoring effect wasn''t too much and she could still hear the word ''Demons'' over it.


    "How do you know that?"


    "Because I''m a Hero. My predecessors have researched it and they left information behind. I know some of that information and the whole agenda for the structure in Wolfen is to get more."


    "Then how far is their World from ours?"


    When Heather asked this, Evan looked at the ceiling one more before asking.


    "Do you know of the concept of ''Light years''?"


    "Enlighten me."


    She sat at the foot of one of the statues and crossed her arms while Evan created a projection with magic and spoke.


    "Light moves at a certain speed, close to three hundred million metres per second. With how big our World is, Light can move around it 4 times in a single second. That''s an average of 0.2 seconds per orbit."


    This was a statistic that Evan pulled from the Archive as he was toozy to do the calction himself.


    "So, we know that light takes time to get to ces.


    A distance that it''d take light an entire year just to get to a destination is called a ''Light Year''."


    Knowing how fast light was, Heather was surprised at the fact that something as fast as that would take years to get to somewhere.


    "How many million kilometres is that?"


    "Sure you wanna know?"


    "I guess��"


    Evan just created a projection of the answer to her inquiry and Heather counted at least 12 digits before deciding it was enough.


    "So, I get that it''s a distance I cannot fathom, and you mean that those Invaders��Demons, you called them; theye from a World that far away."


    "Oh no, they''re much further. As far as I know, it takes thousands of light years to get to us from them.


    I don''t know exactly how far it is because I''ve never been there."


    Heather gaped in shock and Evan smiled as he could understand her reaction. The boy then created an image projection of the Dimensional Rift on the Dark Continent and spoke.


    "That''s why they used this toe over to our world. They didn''t spend thousands of years travelling here, after all."


    He paused for a moment before posing a question to her.


    "You know the Tier 6 Spatial Magic Spell: Gate, right?"


    "Yes."


    "Good. The Dimensional Rift is basically a Gate. A Tier 7 level kind of Gate.


    Upon entering it, one is covered by a bubble of spatial energy that protects them as they move forward, while the spacetime fabric is curved around them.


    This allows them to cross distances that''d take light years to cross in mere minutes."


    Somehow, Evan had started educating Heather about Astronomy, and they nearly forgot the reason why this conversation had evene up in the first ce.


    "Wait��this all started with you asking about the Many Worlds Theory."


    "Ah, yes. That."


    Evan gestured to the numerous statues around them as he spoke.


    "If my guess is correct, then these people here are statues of powerful beings from Other Worlds."


    Evan was right.


    These statues were those of ancient beings who had surpassed Transcendence, from a time when Aidos was still an Intergctic Superpower in the Valmone Universe.


    Aidos was at a level that surpassed even the Demon World: Gozon, at its peak, but over the past few thousand years, Aidos had fallen to the level where there were just 5 Transcendents on the.


    If there was a difference between Aidos and Gozon, it was that while Gozon''s Demon Kings remained to prevent the''s Intergctic Empire from copsingpletely, Aidos'' Rulers did not.


    Evan didn''t know what happened to them even, as this information was from the description of this ce in the game and the extra details in the archive.


    At the very least, this structure they were in dates back to 5 or 6000 years ago.


    "How are statues of powerful beings from other worlds on Aidos?"


    "What makes you think the Demons were the first Otherworlders toe to Aidos?"


    When he put it like that, there was indeed no proof that the Demons of Gozon were the first. There have been and there were still Otherworlders on Aidos.


    Take the Celestial Race for example; this was not a Race native to Aidos so while Celestials had been born here for hundreds of thousands of years, they originally came from somewhere else.


    "I have some information about the world of the Demons, so I''m just gonna look around and see if these statues carry any familiar names."


    "What are the odds of that happening?"


    "Very low."


    Evan clearly didn''t have much hope about this. He could see that some name tags had been damaged, and some of the statues themselves had also been damaged.


    Some were missing arms, heads or other body parts.


    He and Heather walked to a random section with a bunch of humanoids and began looking through their names and taglines.


    Each statue was about 10 feet tall��pedestal included��so all they needed to do was look up a bit to see the faces. The statues were also reasonably spaced out, arranged in a grid format, so they could move in between.


    He and Heather started from thest row in the section to the first row but none of the names were familiar.


    "Well, not that I didn''t expect this."


    Evan shrugged as he looked up at the statue of a man with gentle-looking features and a small smile on his face. Looking down, he read the name and tagline out loud.


    "Delgasso: ''He who is Benevolent to all.'' It says."


    The boy did not know this, but the statue he was looking at was that of Artemisia''s father, and if she was around, there was no way she would have stayed silent.


    Heather stopped in front of the statue next to him, that of a woman; and read the name and tagline.


    "Xagna: ''She who shapes Space itself''."


    The name was also very unfamiliar to Heather so after looking around for a bit, Heather went to a different section from Evan while he remained around the area with Artemisia''s father''s statue.


    When she got there, she began reading out the names she saw.


    "Some of these names are strange.


    Look at this, ''Agriker: He who calls forth beings from Unseen Dimensions.''


    There''s this one called Sillmothon, there''s Thorneheart��"


    As she was calling out names Evan was not familiar with, he wasn''t really paying attention to her and instead trying to see if he could find out which statue the broken arm on the floor came from.


    It was then that a part of his mind then reyed her words and his eyes widened in shock.


    "Wait, did you just say Agriker?!"


    "Huh? Yeah, that was a random one I saw. Check out this one, it says ''Valren: He who wields the Frozen Fury''."


    Hearing her words, Evan tossed the arm away and dashed over to where she was, looking at the statue whose name she just read and then at the others nearby.


    "Fucking hell��I was right."


    "Huh?"


    Evan didn''t answer her, moving through the row they were on and reading through the names there. He saw the ''Agriker'' she called, the ''Valren'' and in the end, he arrived at a very familiar name.


    "Ilmoth."


    At this point, it could not be any clearer who these humanoid beings in this section of the Hall were.


    "Demons��these are the names of Demon Noble Families from Gozon."


    "What?! How are you sure?!


    "Geto City. November 1051. I''m sure you''ve heard of it."


    Although Heather did not know the date, the city name was one she remembered as she had recently read about in a report on Evan.


    It was the first major event that made Evan''s name go international.


    "The news headlines said I fought a ''Winged Humanoid Monster''. That was no Monster��it was a Demon.


    A Demon by the name, of Xakon Ilmoth."


    Heather''s eyes widened in shock when she heard this, from both the fact that Evan had fought one of the Invaders, to the fact that these Invaders were still on Aidos.


    ''Was it one of the ones sealed during the war?''


    Evan moved towards the ''Agriker'' and this allowed him to understand something about this hall.


    "These are theirst names and not their first names.


    I''m sure of this because I know a demon named ''Xolgren Agriker''. And that demon just so happens to be a Summoner."


    As Evan called out the Demon''s ss, Heather looked at the tagline under the Agriker name and narrowed her eyes.


    "He who calls forth beings from unseen dimensions�� Are the ''Agriker'' Demons all summoners?"


    "It appears so��"


    Evan left the Demon section and then looked at the other sections present. There were many humanoid races that didn''t have any particrly special features, so quite a few could be mistaken for Humans.


    If Heather hadn''t read the names out, he would have assumed that the statues of Demons were those of Humans as none of the statues had wings.


    It was easy to identify the Dwarves by their stature, the elves by their long ears, and the beastmen by their animal tails.


    Dragons had horns, wings and tails that showed their lineage, and he also saw some which had elemental motifs like halos behind them, quickly figuring that they were spirits.


    While he was looking at the spirits, he noticed that the walls behind the statues also had some murals on them as well.

 Chapter 706 He, is the Darkness that Corrodes all

    Chapter 706 He, is the Darkness that Corrodes all


    ??With those Murals, it was even easier to figure that these beings were spirits and looking at the other races, it was the same as well.


    "Evan��"


    His attention was pulled in the direction of the section with the ''Delgasso'' statue, and Heather pointed at the mural behind them.


    "A scene of beings floating amongst clouds, radiating light while hundreds of others worship them��"


    The two of them looked right at one another, before echoing the exact same word.


    "gods."


    Now, they had identified that these human-looking beings were actually gods. Since all the statues, except the dwarves, were roughly the same height, it was a bit hard to tell if there were any height differences between the races.


    ''What If some of these statues are of giants but we can''t tell since they''re scaled down to size?''


    There were no giants on Aidos, but considering this was a Hall of Statues from beings of other worlds, then it was possible for them to be among them as well.


    "These statues really are of powerful beings. There are even gods here��


    I wonder how all of this got buried under the ground."


    "What if this structure was here before the mountain? As far as I know, this ce is at least 5000 years old. From the Age of Deities."


    "��"


    Heather went silent at this. Being just 17 herself, there was no way she couldpute how long ago 5000 years was.


    She asked Evan how he knew this and he said it was because of some extra information he had as the Leader of the Heroes.


    "I guess that this mountain formed after this structure was built here. I doubt it coincidentally formed on it so I''d believe the mountain was created artificially.


    It''s not impossible for a Living Legend or a Sovereign to do so."


    Suddenly, Evan gasped and he ran to the centre of the room. He put his hand into his inventory and pulled out an old book with pages that had fallen apart. He then flipped through it while Heather caught up to him and nced at it.


    "I knew it!"


    He stopped on a page with a crest, and when Heather saw it, she recognized it.


    "Wait��isn''t this the same with my ring?"


    "It''s also the same with the floor!"


    Heather then took her time to look at the crest on the floor. She had ignored it as she thought it was just the design of the tiles but now Evan pointed it out, she began to see simrities.


    "Can you create those aura tforms of yours? I want a bird''s eye view."


    Evan did as she said and she looked at the floor from a higher vantage point, finally seeing the whole image and confirming that it was indeed the same.


    When she descended, she asked Evan what that book was and he gave her the lie he cooked up.


    "A record of an ancient Hero.


    It''s something Laurene found in Nepte. This crest��is the crest of one of her Predecessors.


    The ''Fourth of the Seven Heroes'', from the ''Age of Deities."


    In Aidos'' myths, the ''Age of Deities'' was a time when the was allegedly inhabited by both gods and mortals, but many believed It to be just a myth and not something that actually happened due to theck of records.


    "This is probably their Family Crest and not their Hero Crest. Otherwise, it''d be the same as the symbol in Laurene''s eyes."


    Heather nodded in affirmation when she heard Evan''s words while the boy nced at the Demons'' side for a moment before speaking.


    "Let''s leave the Demons forst. Let''s go through the other races first. It may not just be Otherworlders here."


    "Okay. Do you have a Camera in that inventory of yours? We need pictures of this."


    Evan nodded as he took out the camera that was gathering dust since he only used the Proid most of the time, and the two moved to the Elf section and began going through the names.


    After a minute, Heather called out the first familiar name.


    "Lowe: He who holds the power of Knowledge.


    That''s the Elven Emperor''sst name. It seems it''s not just Otherworlders who are here, after all."


    "Indeed."


    Not too long after they found ''Zoana'', the maiden name of the Elven Empress, further confirming that Aidosians were mixed in with the Otherworlders.


    Evan guessed that this was a hall with statues of powerful beings across the Gxy.


    Still in the Elf Section, they saw the name ''Reeva'', but only Evan recognized this as thest name of the previous ''First Hero''.


    They went to the Beastmen sector, but unlike the Elven Emperor, they did not see ''Thancreed''. All they saw was ''Cerul'', the maiden name of Kolvar''s Wife.


    Next up was the Dwarves and like before, ''Smith King Vulwin'' did not have hisst name here.


    When they got to the side with the Dragons, they saw a familiar name once more.


    "Saenni. That''s Altrishia''sst name."


    "Seems like the Dragon Lord''s ancestry isn''t simple��"


    They moved on to the next category, which they assumed was for humans. This was quickly confirmed when they saw the name ''Cox'', Rathal''s surname.


    Going through more of them, Evan saw thest name of a Mage he met during the Cheverton Incidentst year: Zylwenys.


    "Isn''t that from the Aelum Kingdom?"


    "Yep."


    Right after Tisha''sst name, Evan saw two names that were very familiar to both him and Heather.


    ''Maddox: He who mastered all of the Arcane.''


    ''Damir: She who mirrors the world in her hands.''


    "That''s��"


    "My predecessor."


    Evanpleted Heather''s statement before turning to the next one and speaking with a wry smile.


    "And look at that. It''s the President of Terrok."


    "He is also a ''Damir''."


    Strangely, Evan had been seeing the President of Terroke up more than usual in his life recently. From newspapers to the meeting with the National leaders and now this.


    Moving further he saw two more very familiar names.


    ''Ivloh and Morass.


    That''s Agnes'' name, isn''t it? And Morass��''


    "The Ancient Barbarian King��"


    Heather spoke of Morass'' identity and Evan nodded.


    Morass'' crown granted its wielder supreme authority over the most magi-technologically advanced people on Aidos; the ''Barbarians''.


    The War for that Crown was what kickstarted one of the ''Eight Disasters'', the ''Barbarian King''s Uprising'' and it need not be mentioned how many perished in this.


    ''And that''s a Disaster that the ''Third Finger Kranul'' is in charge of��''


    Another familiar name they encountered, was one that made Evan smile wryly. It was his girlfriend''s actual surname��


    Laneford.


    The Statue was that of a woman and the tagline was: ''She who holds the drop of Life''.


    Going further, they saw ''Bowthe'' as well, but that was thest name that they recognized. They looked through all the other races but they didn''t recognize any other name too.


    Evan looked through the spirits and amongst them, he saw one whose head had broken off. Since there were so many broken-


    off statue heads on the floor, he could not tell which one was for it.


    From the body, he could see it was a woman and looking down at the name and tagline, he read it out.


    "Kathurge: She who broke the chains of fate.


    Seems like this spirit had a rough life��"


    The boy shook his head silently before moving towards the Demons'' section where Heather was.


    The statue she was standing in front of was one who was holding up a featureless mask, preventing one from seeing what his actual face was.


    Peeking through the side, they saw that the face behind the mask was also featureless as well, and Evan theorized it was because no one knew what they looked like since they had a mask.


    When he looked down at the name, his eyes widened in shock.


    "Jabberwocky: He, the Myriad Transformer."


    "Do you know this name as well?"


    "Unfortunately, I do."


    He muttered this reply to Heather''s inquiry before moving on to the other statues. He saw names like Xellmonnod, Olveth, and Orkorin but these were Demon Names he didn''t know about.


    The boy was searching to see if the Demon King''s name��


    Sargon��was here, but he came up nk.


    He wanted to check for Roselia''s name; ''Vine'', but then realised that he would not see it here as Roselia and the other Seven Deadly Sins were all born from low-rankmoner demon families.


    They were ''High Demons'' because they had increased their Race breed from ''Demon'' to ''High Demon'', and this was why they all had the ''Ascendant'' title.


    Heather moved forward and when she got to one of the statues'' she couldn''t help but let out ament.


    "Damn��he''s handsome."


    Evan turned his gaze in her direction and when he saw the face of the man who was wearing what appeared to be a three-


    piece suit, he could not help but agree.


    "Westley: He, the one whoes from the Beyond."


    Seeing this, Evan questioned just what ''Beyond'' was. If it was Beyond the Gxy or something greater.


    While Evan did not recognize this man, Artemisia would most definitely have.


    The face on the statue was the exact same one as the face of the Silver Haired Man with blue eyes who was in the picture on her desk in her Personal Domain.


    His being here meant he was a ''Powerful Demon'', and the Artemisia having pictures together with him, showed that the goddess was close with Demons of  Gozon.


    At least, the teenage her was.


    Just when Evan had zeroed his mind that he was not going to see any familiar names again, he reached thest statue and saw a name that he could not forget, even if he wanted to.


    This name was one that no Hero of Aidos could ever forget.


    A thousand years ago, almost everyone on Aidos knew this name. Even with all the efforts to hide records about the Demons, the Seven Heroes could notpletely erase this name from Aidos'' History.


    Considering they had managed to do this for the ''Seven Deadly Sins'', this showed just how much more widespread this name had gone.


    For the people of the Dark Continent, this name was stillmon in their history books.


    For the Dragons, in particr, they''d soonermit suicide than forget this name.


    Looking up at the statue, the face that he saw on it was not the same as the one that he knew from the game or An Maddox''s memories.


    But this was expected, considering that the statues present were of Demons from 5000 years ago. It was probably that person''s ancestor.


    When she saw Evan stop and stare at this, Heather was sure that the name of this statue was one he recognized.


    Looking down at the nametag, she read it out.


    "McEnda II: He, is the Darkness that Corrodes all."


    ***


    Read the Author Note.

 Chapter 707 Gorm, McEnda IV, Artemisia [Easter Egg]

    Chapter 707 Gorm, McEnda IV, Artemisia [Easter Egg]


    ??Demon General Jack McEnda IV.


    That was the name of the most powerful Demon General of Gozon, under the rule of Demon King Ginaroad.


    He was a Level 1000 ArchDemon who was a tiny little bit away from exuviating and surpassing Transcendence.


    When he stepped into Aidos 1000 years ago, havoc followed.


    50% of the Aidosian Transcendents who died in the war were all killed by this one man. He alone killed nearly 500 Transcendents.


    Let''s not talk about how many thousand Sovereigns and Legendries perished to his powers of darkness.


    Eventually, ''Dragon Lord'' Gorm Saenni had no choice but to step up and confront McEnda IV as the man''s actions had diminished the Aidosians'' morale and forces.


    McEnda IV also had simr thoughts towards Gorm, as the Dragon Lord had left a trail of Peak Rank Demon Corpses wherever he went.


    At this point in time in the War, the Seven Heroes had sumbed to their ''Curse'' and had lost their Transcendent Powers, so McEnda IV did not see them as much of a threat unless they were all together.


    His focus was on Gorm, and the two met in a battle that decimated half of the then Delta Continent, which was a lot considering the Continent was over 200 million square kilometres in area.


    McEnda IV''s power that plunged the Delta Continent into eternal night was part of the reason the continent was renamed the ''Dark Continent''.


    Their battle had even sunk a quarter of the continent below the ocean.


    Of what was left, half of that waspletely devastated, with wounds that the needed decades to heal from.


    Not wounds in the figurative sense, but LITERAL wounds. The itself had bled due to the havoc their battle caused.


    Thinking of this, Evan realised just how much more powerful Peak Transcendents were.


    In the end, both McEnda IV and Gorm dealt the final blows to each other.


    At first, it appeared Gorm was victorious, but it didn''t take ten seconds for Gorm to sumb to his injuries caused by McEnda''s corrosive darkness and follow the demon in death.


    This was one of the Greatest Losses of Aidos during that war, and consequently the root of the belief that Artemisia had forsaken Aidos.


    Throughout that battle, thousands of priests, Saints and Saintesses, all prayed to the gods for blessings to aid Gorm in battle and all the gods answered.


    All except the Chief goddess Artemisia.


    This was where that belief found its root.


    However, those who proimed this faced severe oppression and 99% of them were silenced through various means.


    Powerful Transcendents like the then Pope of the Holy Empire, the Emperors of the Great Empires and even the Barbarian King Morass took action to suppress this.


    Considering the god Morass worshipped was not Artemisa, but Canis, the god of War, it was strange that the man took action on behalf of Artemisia''s faith.


    But looking at it from a strategic standpoint, his actions were rational as such belief would have killed Aidos'' already low morale.


    The True reason for this, however, was because of what happened on the battlefield that day.


    The Seven Heroes, Barbarian King Morass, the Holy Emperor and many other powerful Transcendents of that time knew that Artemisia had not forsaken Aidos.


    After all, from the first second of that battle to the second Gorm dropped dead, Artemisia was present.


    Not an avatar, but her true body.


    However, Artemisia could not lift a finger. The Restrictions on her prevented her from doing anything.


    When Altrishia met Artemisia while she was constructing the Tower of Trials'' Entrance, Artemisia stated that Altrishia had no idea about their circumstances.


    Hers, Gorm''s, and McEnda IV''s.


    This was true, as Altrishia was too weak to be near the battlefield a that time.


    She also was not a Transcendent and did not know that the gods were restricted from taking MAJOR actions that interfere with Transcendents and below.


    This was why despite his power that could match lower Levelled Beings above Transcendence, McEnda IV had not exuviated and surpassed Transcendence.


    He purposely held himself back, so he would not fall under the category of beings Artemisia could act against, after all, Artemisia only needed a single attack to delete McEnda IV from existence.


    This was McEnda IV''s ''circumstance''. There was also the issue with the words Roselia described Demon King Ginaroad Sargon with: ''A Control Freak''.


    Gorm also had his own ''circumstances'', and it was because of this that Barbarian King Morass was present that day to watch the battle and prevent other Peak Ranked Demons from interfering.


    As for Artemisia, the most she could do was give ''small'' blessings to people already connected to her.


    The reason was the first action that she took the moment she found out about the invasion from Gozon.


    The Barrier she created around the prevented Demon King Sargon from entering Aidos.


    Even if the Dimensional Rift was opened wide enough for gods to troop in, Ginaroad could still not enter Aidos.


    Why Artemisia did this was very simple:


    The goddess was looking at the War in the long run.


    Evan had stated once that the day Ginaroad Sargon steps into Aidos is the day that Aidos is FINISHED.


    The EOTD had also stated that Ginaroad entering Aidos = 90% of Aidos wiped from the face of the.


    Artemisia''s actions were based on the fact that even if millions of Peak Ranked Demons were toe in; Aidos would still eventually recover from the damage.


    But if it was just one being bearing the title of ''Demon King'', then it was instant GAME OVER.


    K. O!


    Aidos'' HP would have gone from 50% to -50%.


    To prevent that from happening, Artemisia took action and unfortunately, that action was as MAJOR as could be.


    There was a difference between the ''Elven Emperor'' title, ''Beast King'' title, ''Dragon Lord'' title, and the ''Demon King'' title.


    The Transcendents of Aidos had their titles because they were Monarchs of their respective nations.


    It was why Rathal did not have any ''Human King'' title; because he wasn''t a monarch of a nation called the ''Human Nation''


    Zaos, Altrishia, and Kolvar, however, ruled the Elven Empire, Dragon Country and Beast Kingdom respectively.


    Ginaroad''s title, however, was a ''Race Ruler'' title. The kind that only beings who were part of the Universe''s Pantheon possessed.


    It was a title that conferred him Kingship over not just Gozonian Demons, but Demons of others as well.


    The Weight of the title was different, as such, Artemisia''s interference was considered to be ''MAJOR''.


    It wasn''t that the goddess was physically restricted, but that she had no choice but to do nothing.


    Artemisia herself was a ''god Queen''.


    The woman could have broken the restrictions on her with ease, but that would have let the ''Old gods'' know that she valued Aidos more than normal and this would have caused an even greater cmity for the.


    So, she had no choice but to stay put.


    Looking back up at the Statue of McEnda II, Evan took pictures and made a note to ask Roselia and Nadarus about itter before they finally left the Hall.


    They entered another hallway and headed down, looking through another set of murals on the walls and ceiling, depicting ancient battles.


    "That''s our World, isn''t it?"


    "Indeed."


    Evan and Heather could see the shapes of the Alpha and Beta Continents on the depicted in the Murals.


    It depicted a battle between two beings, fought atop Aidos. As they walked down the hallway, they followed the story.


    The two beings fought, and then they were ambushed by over a hundred others and killed, their blood flowing across the stars.


    "I wonder what this battle was about?"


    Answering Evan''s question in ce of Artemisia: this was the reason why a Prime World like Aidos, had just 3 Continents currently.


    They walked forward for a bit and eventually left the Museum Area and entered another massive hall. The floor of this chamber was dominated by a gigantic mana circle, making it clear at a nce that it was no ordinary ce.


    Heather''s ring was silent, but Evan knew it wasn''t going to be the case for long.


    "The magic power concentration here is so dense��"


    The Princess''s face contorted as she roused her magic power to resist the pressure before she was finally able to move.


    It gave her the same feeling of the gravitational force that dragged them inside here.


    ''Is this the source?''


    Just as she thought that, she saw Evan walk towards the centre of the Magic Circle without bothering to check around for danger.


    "Evan?! What are you doing? We don''t know what this Magic circle is for!"


    "Don''t worry, it''s harmless."


    ''It''s what I came here for, after all.''


    Evan kept the other thought to himself as he stood in the centre of the magic circle and turned to face Heather before asking.


    "Heather."


    "What is it?"


    The Princess was walking towards the magic circle to join up with Evan when the boy suddenly asked her a strange question.


    "The Ancient Hero who created this ce. His daughter married a certain man from a certain Great Noble Family on the Alpha continent.


    Would you take a guess as to what hisst name was?"


    "Just say it already."


    Evan smiled wryly and waited for the instant Heather''s foot stepped into the Magic Circle before replying.


    "It was Wilson."


    "��what?"


    Heather stepped into the magic circle, and immediately the ring on her hand began to shine once more. The ambient magic power stirred and began swirling around the magic circle while she looked at Evan with surprise.


    ''Is he saying that the Imperial Family has the blood of an ancient Hero? Or rather how does he know this in the first ce? Because he''s the Leader of the New Heroes? No, that doesn''t add up.''


    The Princess stopped walking and then looked straight at Evan before asking him.


    "Evan��what does this magic circle do?"


    "It uses the power of the World Law of Evolution to increase your Race Breed.


    Long story short, when it''s done with you, you''d go from ''Human'' to ''High Human''."


    "��to think such a thing exists."


    Heather did not know if it was even possible for one to increase their Race Breed so easily. The only situations she had heard of such happening was when one was going from the Epic to the Legendary Level or Legendary to Sovereign. This was usually done with the aid of catalysts or after spending years stuck at the Peak of the previous Existence Level.


    She had never heard of a magic circle or spell that increased one''s Race Breed for free.

 Chapter 708 Horns? Noice! [Apirl Fools]

    Chapter 708 Horns? Noice! [Apirl Fools]


    ??Heather''s gaze went from Evan to the magic power swirling around them, so much that even Legendries would sweat just by looking at it.


    She then looked at the ring on her hand that was shining and pondered the words that Evan had spoken, about her Hero ancestry she wasn''t aware of.


    Taking a deep breath, she looked back up at Evan and asked her final question.


    "Evan��did you know about this ce beforehand?"


    Heather felt it was farfetched, but thinking about it from the beginning; it was only when Evan came close to her that her ring started reacting despite having been in that spot for over half an hour.


    Then there was him knowing who the people in the statues were before they even started going through them, the crest on the floor in that Hall of Statues, and now this magic circle.


    In fact; he was the one who proposed that they go through the Mountain Pass in the first ce.


    All of these pieces fit together in her mind,pleting a puzzle.


    "What do you think?"


    Although Evan did not give her an affirmative answer, his question was pretty much a confirmation of her conjecture.


    "From the get-go��this Magic Circle was your goal."


    "True. It''s just that a certain Princess also needed to be present for it to work."


    Heather looked at the ring on her finger and nodded. This ring was what opened up the gate to this ce, and after ncing around at the storm of magic power around them, she guessed it was what activated the magic circle as well.


    The only reason the magic power was just silently swirling around was because she wasn''t standing in the centre of the circle.


    "Alright, Dear Princess Heather. Are you ready to be a High Human?"


    Evan gestured to the spot at the centre of the Magic Circle as he asked, and Heather looked at him a bit warily.


    "You can''t possibly be scared of me harming you now of all times, right?"


    "��"


    "If I wanted to do that, I could have just easily cut your arm off and brought it here alone. That much would activate the magic circle��probably."


    He shrugged at thatst bit and seeing the way he was acting; Heather just sighed and grabbed her ne before walking towards him.


    "Oh, good. It''d actually be a bit troublesome if you decided to back out now."


    Evan heaved a relieved sigh as he spoke. He found Heather very likeable and didn''t want to keep pulling the wool over her eyes, neither did he want to use force on her, hence why he told her about it in the first ce.


    Besides, the Princess was smart enough to figure out something was off even if he didn''t make it obvious so he just decided to go ahead with telling her.


    When Heather reached the centre of the magic circle, the light on the ring intensified and then the magic power within her body began violently shaking.


    In her field of view, two notifications popped up.


    |Analysing Racial Factors��|


    |Sessful. Beginning nk factor infusion process. |


    "nk Factor?"


    "Yeah. This magic circle was made for any race to use, however, there''s no way to acquire the Racial Factors of every race that exists.


    As such, it uses nk factors created with the World Laws of Evolution, Morphogenesis and Genes.


    These nk factors are infused inside your body and when they''re inside, your body''s original racial factors convert them from nks to that of your race.


    Next, it then proceeds to increase the purity of your racial factors and this process is usually quite messy��or so I hear so make sure you have a change of clothes present."


    "You know, you could have told me thatst bit beforehand��"


    Just as Heather spoke, the magic circle shone and the magic power storm around them swirled upwards and mixed with ambientw energies, before condensing into round blobs of energy.


    The one above Heather was ck just like her aura, while Evan''s was golden.


    The two blobs of power then formed a stream and shot straight into their chests, and immediately, they felt their whole bodies turn hot.


    For Evan, it was a bit bearable as his body had evolved to be able to handle destruction essence, but for Heather, this was the first time her body was ever being infused with pure Law energy.


    Her body and soul screamed out in pain as she was far from being at the required Existence Level to holdw energy within her body.


    "Guh��"


    The pain was so much that she fell on her knees and tears dripped from the corners of her eyes. What''s more, there was a prickly feeling, like thousands of tiny needles were poking her bones all over.


    Her blood seemed to boil and her energy core felt as if it wanted to burst.


    Such was the sensation she experienced for the next five minutes.


    Suddenly, the pain disappeared as if it was never there and she panted heavily while a notification appeared in her field of view.


    |Beginning Conversion Process. |


    The Magic circle shone again and released powerful mana that entered her body, along with the World Laws of Evolution and Genes.


    Her breaths felt short and she nearly lost consciousness, but just before she did, the energies were suddenly expelled from her body.


    It took her a good fifteen minutes to regain herself, groggily sitting up and looking down at her body.


    "w...ahat?"


    There was a sticky ck substance pouring out of the pores on her skin and though It didn''t have any particr smell, it felt ufortable.


    Looking to the side, she saw that Evan was down on his knees as well, breathing heavily while beads of sweat dropped from his forehead.


    He did have some ck substance on his skin, but it was very little and she would not have noticed it if he hadn''t used his finger to wipe it off his face.


    However, she could not pay attention to it anymore as when she looked at his forehead, she noticed a big difference.


    "You��your head��"


    "?"


    The boy created a mirror with ice magic and looked at his face when he heard her speak, his eyes widening slightly as he noted the new additions to his head.


    Two small, slender horns emerged from amidst his hair at the crown of his head.


    "Well, I certainly wasn''t expecting a makeover."


    He tilted his head to the side and checked them out as he spoke. Their colour scheme was the same as his hair, with the monochrome ck and white colours.


    The bottom halves of the horns were ck, while the top halves were white, and they were about 10 cm long.


    Evan then smacked his lips before voicing out how he felt about the horns.


    "Noice."


    Evan also noticed that the white highlights in his hair seemed to have increased a little, but it was still not that much overall.


    Taking a deep breath, he exuded a stream of magic power from his mouth, instantly noticing the difference in the energy quality.


    ''And here I thought I could not increase it any further��''


    |Evolution Complete. High Human Racial Factors Acquired. |


    Evan raised a brow when he saw this, opening his status immediately and seeing that his race was still Draconic Human.


    ''But it said I acquired High Huma-Oh!''


    He quickly figured out the difference, sighing softly as he sat down on the floor.


    Evan''s race consisted of two sides. The Dragon Side was acquired from the Heart of the ''High Dragon'' Faldo, however, his Human side was just ordinary.


    So, there was actually a bit of imbnce between the sides, as the Dragon side was stronger than the human one.


    Now, that Imbnce had been dealt with as his Human side was now a ''High Breed'', making it evenly matched with his Dragon Side.


    His Dragon side also went through a small boost, but since there was not enough power left, it could not advance to the next stage.


    ''In this case, that''s actually good since they''d have be imbnced if it went from ''High Dragon'' to ''Greater Dragon'' or something��''


    Turning to Heather, he saw the girl looking at her status with a nk gaze and he appraised her, confirming that she had also be a High Human as well.


    Looking around, he noticed that the ambient magic power concentration had reduced to one-third of the original, and this made Evan frown.


    ''I nned to bring everyone here. The spirits, the Demons and Eliza��but seeing this��''


    He got up to his feet and after confirming that the Law energy concentration was also reduced, he sighed in exasperation.


    "Tsk��there''s only enough left for one more person."


    Considering this ce had been left undiscovered for thousands of years, it was even a miracle that there was enough energy left behind for three people''s evolutions.


    ''How do we operate this magic circle to make it gather energy?''


    Evan looked around but there were no obvious control panels, so he decided to ask Heather.


    "Can you test something for me?"


    "Hmm? What?"


    "I want to know if you can exert any form of control over the magic circle."


    Heather nodded when she heard Evan''s words, looking down at the ring on her finger and infusing it with magic power.


    It shone with a white light like always, however, before she could do anything else, a notification appeared in her vision.


    |Existence Already Evolved. Cannot Evolve Further. |


    She ryed what she saw to Evan and he guessed that this was because of the fact that each person only had one shot at Evolution with this magic circle.


    ''Looks like that part is true even in reality��''


    "Oh, I got a title called Ascendant."


    Like the High Demon Siblings Evan was contracted to, Heather had gone up from her race''s base form to the High Breed, so it was only natural she gained the same title.


    Evan congratted her before thinking about which one of hispanions he''d bring here to go through an evolution.


    After pondering about it for exactly 5 seconds, he made his decision.


    "It''s gotta be Liz. No one else."


    He shrugged before turning to Heather and informing her of his desire to return here with Eliza and asking her toe with him as well.


    The Princess looked at him in silence for a bit before sighing and saying yes.


    "Good. Now let''s wipe down and change our clothes before getting out of here."


    "Um��"


    "Is there a problem?"


    Evan looked at Heather who seemed to have a light blush on her cheeks and she extended her hand to him.


    "I think my legs gave out��mind pulling me up?"

 Chapter 709 Teleporting Right into Enemy Territory

    Chapter 709 Teleporting Right into Enemy Territory


    ??Evan grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet, but she nearly staggered and fell almost immediately. Evan helped her stabilize herself and after she regained her bnce she looked up and noticed her line of sight had increased.


    "I got taller��"


    "Good for you."


    Evan was already tall for his age, standing at 5 feet 10 inches, so he wasn''t expecting any height increments anytime soon. He was still an inch taller than Heather was even though he did not get taller and he made sure to point out that height difference and rub it in her face.


    It did earn him a right straight to his stomach which he just barely dodged.


    �� �� ��


    Heather used one of the Empty Museum rooms as a changing room and tossed on a new set of clothes from her spatial bracelet before heading back to the Magic Circle Chamber where Evan was seated and sipping a strawberry juice pack.


    She saw three more empty packs on the floor, and after remembering that Evan had drank strawberry wine earlier, she quickly figured that might be his favourite.


    "You''re finally done."


    "And your horns are gone."


    That was the first thing that Heather noticed when she looked at Evan and the boy nodded before sending a stream of magic power to the crown of his head.


    Just like his wings, his horns rematerialized as he spoke.


    "I''m a Draconic Human. Unlike Dragonkin who can''t retract their horns, I am capable of switching to my ''Human Mode'', and with that, my horns disappear."


    "I see��"


    Evan nodded and dematerialized them, and with that, he felt that his magic maniption abilities dropped a little.


    The Horns gave him a boost to his magic maniption, acting as a built-in Magic Catalyst that boosted the strength of everything he did with magic power, but this only applied when they were visible.


    He also noticed that now that his Dragon and Human sides were bnced, he was even ''closer to Nature'' than before.


    His affinity with spirits also increased exponentially as well.


    ''Dragons were beings of Nature in one game I yed. Guess that applies a bit here��''


    Evan put that thought at the back of his mind and then led Heather towards the exit. Along the way, they talked a bit and it was then Heather asked a question.


    "How did you really find out about this ce?"


    "Trade Secret."


    The Princess only sighed and shook her head as she expected this kind of answer from Evan. She didn''t bother trying to get any more answers from him and focused her gaze on the light at the end of the tunnel in front of them.


    Upon reaching it, they found themselves in a massive room with a magic circle on the floor, and like before, her ring was shining.


    When they stepped into it, they were wreathed in a spatial light and warped right to the surface, directly inside an empty room with nothing but a magic circle at their feet.


    "Where are we?"


    "I think this is Brightwall Fort��"


    "Wait, what?!"


    Heather could not help but exim out loud, but immediately, she mped her mouth shut with her hands.


    Brightwall Fort was the name of the Cudjour base they were to be attacking to start their takeover of the state, so it was only natural she was surprised.


    Evan quickly grabbed her and activated both Concealment and Lethe, before dragging her towards the nearby window.


    He looked out and used Farsight to zoom to the top of a random rooftop of the city in the distance, activating BoD and then Blink to teleport out of the room.


    Right after that, the doors to the room opened and Wolfen Soldiers barged in.


    However, despite their mages seeing signs that the magic circle had been activated recently, there was no one inside the room.


    �� �� ��


    Evan and Heather had to sneak around the streets of Cudjour, covering their heads with hoodies that he had in his inventory.


    Although he had Body Transformation, he didn''t want to reveal this skill to Heather just yet, so he refrained from using it and went with a hood and mask.


    As they moved, they saw newspaper vendors selling the day''s print and Evan saw his face on the front page, smiling wryly as he thought of how much of a disaster it''d be if someone saw his face now.


    When they found a deserted alleyway, they slipped into it and Evan decided to call their ride out.


    ''Kuro. Come over.''


    The boy''s shadow wriggled lightly and the familiar ck cat jumped out,nding on Heather''s head, much to her surprise.


    "Wh-"


    [Stand on Master''s shadow.]


    "huh?"


    Evan silently pulled Heather and made her stand in his shadow before Kuro nodded and activated his Shadow Movement.


    The three disappeared into the boy''s shadow and re-emerged from the shadow of a certain chestnut brown-haired and emerald green-eyed woman.


    Immediately she saw Heather, the woman pulled the princess away from Evan and proceeded to pat her body down, checking for any injuries.


    "Calm down, Lady Lierin. I''m fine."


    Heather reassured the woman, but even still, she still had a worried look on her face. That look of worry turned to a frown and she red at Evan who had plopped down on a nearby chair in the Tent they were in like it was his house.


    "What? Got a problem?"


    He didn''t bother hiding his dislike for her, and though the woman had a thousand and one problems, she did not say anything.


    Or rather, she had been ordered NOT to say anything, by none other than the father of the Princess in her arms.


    To understand why Lierin was waiting patiently for Evan and Heather''s return and not trying to blow a hole through the mountain, we''d need to backtrack to the conversation Evan and Eliza had on the 29th.


    �� �� ��


    Evan had informed Eliza of his n to get Heather into that underground facility in the Cudjour Mountain.


    Before he went to meet Heather, he sent a message to Eliza and told her to then pass his message to the Emperor and considering Eliza had somehow be close with the man over a chess game, it wasn''t too hard for her to see him.


    Of course, there was the fact that she was having tea with the Empress and some nobledies at the time so that made things easier.


    She then proceeded to inform Isaac about Evan''s n and unsurprisingly, the man was NOT happy with it.


    He didn''t lose his cool and contacted Lierin immediately, and that was the exact moment when Evan and Heather were pulled into the hole.


    Lierin would have ignored hermunicator, but the one that was ringing was the one that was given to her so the Emperor could directly contact her, so she answered it quickly, not daring to make the Emperor wait.


    Naturally, Isaac tried contacting Heather as well, but the Underground facility was built with a metal that insted magic, so naturally, magical signals could not prate through its manyyers and get to her, deep underground.


    Isaac confirmed what was happening from her first, before instructing her to sit back and wait. Or rather, they had no choice but to sit back and wait as if what Evan told Eliza to inform him was true, then they needed a Living Legend to have a chance of being able to force their way in.


    A Living Legend and yet their entry was still not guaranteed.


    Isaac had his doubts, but when he heard from Lierin that there was Gravity Law energy, he understood why Evan said that. If the entrance was sealed with World Law energy, then only Legendary Levels could do anything about it.


    Evan had also said that by the time any Legendary Isaac sent was to get there, then they''d already be out.


    He left out the part where the exit led them into Cudjour, not wanting to make the Emperor any more annoyed than he was going to be when he heard the news and that was a very good idea.


    When Eliza told him about the part where the Facility somehow increased one''s Race Breed, Isaac was dumbfounded as he had never heard of such a thing happening for free before.


    Now, that Evan and Heather had finally resurfaced, the Princess first of all contacted her father to let him know she was fine.


    She then told him about what happened, leaving out the part with the ''Hall of Statues'' as it wasn''t something she could discuss over a projection call.


    When she confirmed that she had indeed be a High Human, a bit of Isaac''s anger lessened, but he was still annoyed at Evan''s actions.


    Even more so when the boy didn''t seem to show any remorse, onlyughing while saying that Heather benefited from it.


    Just when Isaac was about to flip out, Evan suddenly stoppedughing and adopted a more serious demeanour, reminding the man of his intention to increase the strength of Aidos''batants.


    Gesturing to Heather, he stated how someone with great prospects like her would be very usefulbat power, so making her a High Human was his investment in her.


    Because of Evan''s normal attitude which made it seem like he never took anything seriously, these rare moments when he adopted a serious demeanour had more impact.


    Evan, of course, knew this and made sure to take advantage of it. He let people get used to his usual nonchnt side and when he needed them to back down silently, he switched up his attitude.


    In this ''serious'' mode, Evan had some sort of invisible pressure around him that rendered listeners silent.


    After all of that was sorted out, Lierin corresponded with Beluar and Amiyah to know their positions for the attack.


    She also sent out some scouts towards Brightwall Fort to gain information about the situation there as well, and afterpiling all the data and discussing it with her Generals, they decided on a n of action.


    Seeing her like this, Evan felt the woman showedpetence deserving of her position, but he quickly took his attention off her, opting to spend his time bugging Heather.


    It reached the point where the Princess fought back, picking Luna as the means to annoy him in return and though she did not know why it was so effective in getting Evan off her back, she used it anyway.


    Of course, it was all jokes between them and they didn''t actually piss each other off.


    It''d be pretty bad for anyone in the surrounding area if they actually did, after all.

 Chapter 710 The World Tree

    <h4>Chapter 710 The World Tree</h4>


    Cellica Berzon could not believe her eyes.


    "Impossible."


    That word escaped her lips as she looked at the ginormous tree in front of her.


    "You''ve got to be fucking kidding me."


    She stood in the middle of the busy street, looking at it with a dumbfounded look on her face. Some people who passed by saw her and assumed she must have been a countryside bumpkin who was just arriving in the capital for the first time.


    It was the third day of July, and Cellica was in the centre of the Elven Empire''s capital city of Lustea.


    It was a busy city, with high-rise buildings everywhere, and tens of thousands of people moving around in the bustling metropolis.


    At the centre of this metropolis, there were two things.


    First, was the Elverston Citadel, the Pce of the Elven Emperor and one of Aidos'' Five Transcendent Level Existences.


    Despite how majestic it was, this pce was not Cellica''s focus.


    Her mind was on the second thing in the centre of the capital��the true centre of Lustea.


    It was a ginormous tree that towered high up into the clouds.


    There was a barrier surrounding the tree that restricted the absurd magic power and World Law energy pressure that the tree released, a pressure so heavy even Living Legends would struggle to breathe near it.


    Anyone weaker than that would just straight up die if they ever got past the barrier.


    This was the Elven World Tree��or at least that''s what Cellica had always thought it was.


    Cellica was following a trail on orders from the First Finger, which led her back to her home country which she hadn''t entered in years.


    This little trail turned out to be the fattest one ever.


    The First Finger had given her a special Analysis Artifact created with the World Laws of Wisdom, Knowledge and Revtion. It was something created by a Transcendent from the ''Age of Deities'' and was the only thing capable of bypassing the fog of magic power around the World Tree which was also from the Age of Deities.


    Cellica doubted that there existed any form of concealment that could block this.


    The artifact was in the form of a pair of sses adorning her face.


    Because she was using this artifact, she was able to see through the fog of mana, and what she saw made her skin turn as pale as her hair.


    ''I need to leave.''


    She made that decision but her feet remained rooted to the ground. The chills she felt running down her spine at this discovery she just made astounded her.


    ''No wonder they built the Elverston Citadel in this part of the country. It was because of this.


    To think he was hiding in in sight for centuries!!''


    Cellica looked up from the castle and straight at the World Tree��no, at the third Member of the Iremith Family.


    A Defence Mechanism of the.


    |Name- Lios Iremith


    Race- Elder-Breed Ouroboros Dragon.


    Gender-Male


    Age-2943


    Level- 897 []


    Existence Level �C Sovereign (Superior)


    Titles- Ouroboros of Wood and Earth, Defence Mechanism of ''Aidos'', World Tree. |


    Cellica looked at this appraisal result one more time before turning around and heading back to the train station.


    She bought a ticket and got onto the train headed for Ulmlion Station City without hesitation, almost as if she was running away.


    Which she actually was.


    Powerful beings were very sensitive, and given how long she had been staring at the Ouroboros, she did not know if he had sensed her gaze that had seen through the fog of mana or not.


    And she certainly didn''t want to stay there long enough to find out.


    ''Lord First said he had noticed some strange moves with some Alpha Continental Living Legends, almost as if some of them were converging in the GEE.


    He believes that Evan Eris is up to something again, but this discovery takes precedence over that boy.''


    Such were her thoughts as she got out from the train and left the station. Since she had stayed in Ulmlion the night before, Cellica had some things she left in her hotel room and she wished to retrieve them.


    But first, she went into a nearby park, ncing at the small elven children who ran around with their parents as she headed towards a nearby water fountain.


    ''I need to clear my mind.''


    The weight of the discovery she just made shocked her. It was to the point where she began to believe that there were far more than a thousand Sovereign-level existences on the.


    Maybe, there might even be hidden Transcendents she didn''t know about.


    ''There aren''t��right?''


    She wasn''t so sure of herself anymore.


    The woman ran her left hand through her hair as she heaved an exhausted sigh, but it was at that moment that she sensed a chill run down her spine and she turned her body on instinct.


    However, it was already toote.


    **SWISHH!!


    ck light shed in her eyes, and what followed next was the sensation of pain.


    "Gak!"


    Blood sprayed in the air and dyed the green grass red as Cellica''s left arm was unceremoniously severed in two.


    She held the wounded stump of her arm and jumped backwards; her gaze locked onto the person who had just attacked her in the middle of a public park.


    It was a golden-eyed and dark blue-haired elf woman who was wearing a dark-themed maid uniform, holding a ck de in her hands which was still stained with Cellica''s blood.


    Cellica recognized her, as this elf was a ''Living Legend'' just like she was. But if there was a difference, it was the fact that this woman was the ''Living Legend'' who was touted as the ''Strongest'' the Elves had ever produced.


    Her epithet was the ''Twilight de''.


    "Zestari Herrel!!


    What is the meaning of this?!"


    Cellica''s public face was that of the ''Living Legend'' with the epithet of ''Earthborne Sentinel''. Zestari should be crazy for daring to attack her in public like this.


    "..."


    Zestari offered no words, instead, she just flicked the blood off her de and it was then that Cellica realised something strange.


    Although Zestari had attacked her in the middle of a public park with hundreds of people around, these people went on with their lives as if nothing had just happened.


    It was as if these people didn''t even realise they were beside the fountain.


    "You''ve gotten stronger, Cellica.


    The you of a decade ago would have not been able to react that fast."


    Zestari spoke as she looked at the severed arm on the floor. She had delivered a hypersonic speed strike, aiming to slice off Cellica''s arm from the shoulder, but was only able to get her from the elbow.


    "Normally, I would act first and ask questionster, but you are someone I''ve known for over a century.


    Even if we aren''t as close as we used to be, you are one of the few people I consider a genuine friend.


    Which is why I must ask��"


    The High Elf''s golden eyes trembled a bit before she looked right into Cellica''s brown-red eyes and asked.


    "Why did you join the Demonic Hand, Cellica?"


    "��"


    Cellica''s expression was one of confusion as if someone had just told her something absurd, but inside she was shocked to hell and back.


    ''HOW? How did she discover it? I have artifacts that obscure Analysis techniques and skills. Even ''Perfect Appraisal'' would not be able to see my status, so how did she know?''


    The fact that Cellica was a member of the Demonic Hand was something only the Executives and the Senior Members of the Fourth and Sixth Division knew.


    These Senior Members were under binding contracts to not reveal this fact even if they were tortured to death, so there should be no way for Zestari to find out she had joined the Demonic Hand.


    ''No��there is a way.''


    Cellica possessed the Designation of ''Enemy of Aidos''. Even if she could hide the title from her status, it did not mean that designation went away.


    All these thoughts of hers took no more than a second, and she voiced her reply right after.


    "Demonic Hand? Zestari, have you finally gone mad?"


    "Am I? If you didn''t join the Demonic Hand, then I cannot think of any other reason why you of all people, would now be considered a ''World Enemy''."


    Hearing Zestari''s reply, Cellica confirmed her conjecture.


    ''I knew it!''


    There were certain people who could tell one had the Designation of Enemy of Aidos, without needing to appraise the target themselves.


    Cellica knew this, which was why she had made ample preparations and confirmed none of them were nearby before daring to enter Lustea.


    However, the fact that Zestari appeared here, could only mean one thing.


    ''She''s here as well!! Abigail Lowe!!''


    The current ''First'' of the Seven Heroes, the Princess of the Elven Empire whom Cellica had confirmed was supposed to be in the Jine-Alora Duchy was here.


    ''After the failed Fake Hero attack, the chances of Zestari separating from her again are nearly zero.''


    Cellica stopped the bleeding in her arm with magic and looked up at Zestari, taking a deep breath before answering.


    "It''s one thing if you''re throwing allegations at me with no proof, and it''s a different thing if you''re attacking me as well.


    My tolerance has limits��"

 Chapter 711 Innocent Allure

    Chapter 711 Innocent Allure


    ??Cellica''s magic power surged from her body and immediately, a heavy pressure descended upon the area, causing Zestari to frown slightly.


    Earthen spikes emerged from the ground andunched right at Zestari but High Elf just silently swung her sword and split them into harmless pieces of rock in a single movement.


    "Hmm?"


    Zestari then noticed that Cellica''s arm on the floor was no more there but now in the Half-Elf''s hand.


    "Oh, that was your aim��"


    The High Elf took a deep breath and infused deep dark magic power into her de, causing it to radiate a ck light as she took a battle-ready stance.


    Seeing this, Cellica frowned as the fact that Zestari was preparing for battle, despite knowing even the residual aura from her attacks could end the lives of every elf within a kilometre of her, meant that the woman did not care for their lives at all.


    ''Whatever concealment method she''s using, I doubt it''d prevent them from feeling our attacks. The fact that the people in the park were affected by my aura proves this.''


    Cellica sighed with light exasperation, before holding out her right hand towards Zestari. A Sword appeared in her hand and five others manifested behind her, floating with their tips pointed to the sky.


    Silence pervaded the area as Cellica''s sword was slowly infused with her magic power.


    "��"


    "��"


    The Half-Elf made the first move. She instantly swung her de and released a wide sh of grey aura that surged towards Zestari. In response, Zestari swung her de and blocked it, causing a momentary explosion of magic power which shone brilliantly.


    When it died down, only Zestari was left standing in the centre of the park while Cellica had vanished.


    This was expected as Cellica was not stupid to face Zestari inbat while missing an arm. That was just her asking for death.


    So, running away was the wise choice, even if it meant confirming to Zestari that she was indeed, part of the Demonic Hand.


    "To think I didn''t aim for the head with the first strike��I''ve grown soft."


    Zestari muttered to herself before sheathing her de and then turning around. She tapped a bracelet on her arm and the artifact cloaking on her disappeared, allowing people to now realise that she was there.


    However, they were too busy dealing with all the normal elves who had been knocked unconscious by the pressure of Cellica''s aura to bother with her as she walked out of the park.


    �� �� ��


    Zestari returned to the Elverston Citadel, heading straight for Abigail''s room and saw the teenage girl seated on the balcony and staring at the sun in the sky.


    "You didn''t kill her?"


    "��"


    The High Elf remained silent and seeing this, Abigail only smiled wryly. She expected this to happen, as even if she was a member of the Demonic Hand, Cellica was someone Zestari saw as a friend.


    There was no way the woman would have been able to switch up and go at her like she would an enemy in an instant.


    ''So, it was Cellica Berzon, huh? Who would have expected that?''


    Abigail was indeed supposed to be in the Jine-Alora duchy like Cellica had thought, but she had noticed a new group of people shadowing her movements and after capturing and torturing one of them, she discovered that they were sent to confirm that she was NOT in the capital.


    Immediately after she made this discovery, Abigal proceeded to return to the capital to find out why their employer didn''t want her present and the next day, she received a message from a certain being that made her go out into the main city.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says a pleasant surprise awaits you in the city. He further states that it may not be so pleasant for your dear friend, though.]


    ''Indeed, it was not a pleasant surprise for Zestari.''


    Abigail sighed and got up from her seat, before informing Zestari of her desire to return to Jine-Alora. The woman nodded and left the room to get the Imperial Family''s mages to teleport them to their destination.


    "Thanks for the tip."


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says that you are wee.


    He looks forward to your future ''entertaining'' actions.]


    Right after that message appeared, Abigail felt the pressure on her soul disappear, signifying that this being had taken his gaze off her.


    She raised her hand and twirled a stream of iridescent energy around her fingers, thinking of the fact that this being had only taken note of her because she could perceive and manipte this energy.


    The teenager sighed and put on her sses, before walking out of the room to meet up with Zestari.


    �� �� ��


    Unnamed Mansion.


    Jine-Alora Duchy


    Beta Continent''s Elven Empire


    July 3rd


    Year 1053


    Abigail waltzed in right through the cantilever gates of this mansion like she owned the ce. She gave a side nce at the defensive magic circles fitted around thepound and the destruction essence in her eyes made them shatter to pieces.


    "Zestari, remind me to fire the securitypany we hired.


    If I can break these spells with a nce then they are weak."


    The Princess spoke with a frown, before turning her gaze to the dozens of guards who had now surrounded her and Zestari.


    At the centre of the guards was a burly man with tanned skin that had white tribal markings all over. Wielding arge great sword, this imposing 6 feet 5-inch tall man looked down on her with a cold gaze.


    "HOW DARe you int��ru..de��"


    The voice of the man at the forefront slowly reduced in intensity until it was barely a whisper.


    The auras of a dozen Living Legends had locked onto him as if daring him to say another word and see if his head would not roll.


    He was a Living Legend himself, but against 12 others of simr strength, he didn''t stand a chance.


    "Don''t scare him too much, guys."


    Abigail''s voice rang out and the auras of the Living Legends disappeared, finally allowing the man to have some breathing space.


    "They wouldn''t need to scare him if you''d entered like a sane person."


    Zestari retorted, indirectly calling Abigail insane but the princess didn''t mind it at all and replied calmly.


    "It''s my house, I can enter however I want."


    She then walked up to the tall man in front of her and spoke.


    "I know it''s been a few years, but to think you forgot what I look like, Uncle Thrarr."


    "��Abby?"


    Finally, the man whom Abigail called Thrarr, spoke up, his voice unsure if the person he was looking at was indeed the one he knew.


    "Oh wow, I said that as a joke, but you''d actually forgotten me."


    Abigail looked genuinely hurt at this and the man was left lost for words. The beautiful youngdy in front of him was in no way the same as the tiny child who used to jump on his shoulders and ride him like a horse when she was younger.


    Zestari rolled her eyes when she saw this and flicked the back of Abigai''s head.


    "Stop messing with him."


    After being dragged by Zestari into the mansion, dozens of servants rushed towards Abigail to greet her and she waved at them in response before asking a question.


    "Sup guys. Where''s Agnes?"


    "��"


    Immediately, the faces of the servants turned dark, and this made Abigail''s smile vanishpletely.


    "Where''s Agnes?"


    She repeated her question but before the servants could even give a response, Zestari spread her magic power and scanned the entire mansion in an instant.


    "It seems she isn''t in the best of health."


    "Huh? Agnes is sick? Is that even possible?"


    Abigail''s expression morphed into one of confusion, but it appeared even Zestari was at a loss on how to describe the other girl''s condition.


    "She appears to be wounded, but I cannot detect the source of the wounds."


    "Well, let''s go see her."


    Even though the servants did not want Abigail to go see her, they could not stop the princess from doing what she wanted, especially since this mansion was her property.


    She ran up the stairs and got to the topmost floor, before barging into the master bedroom and shouting.


    "Sup bitch! I came to hang out but damn, you look horrible!!"


    Those were Abigail''s first words as she unceremoniously roused the white-haired teenager from her slumber.


    "Your voice is certainly not the first thing I wished to hear in the morning, Abby."


    "Is that something you should tell your Landlord? I can evict you from this house anytime, you know?"


    Agnes sat up on the bed, running a hand through her scattered hair as she yawned a reply.


    "The threat loses effectiveness after you use it a dozen times, Abby."


    "��"


    Abigail wanted to retort, but for a moment, she was taken aback by her friend''s dishevelled yet captivating appearance.


    Draped in a soft grey negligee, a tantalizing hit of her d��colletage peeked through where a strap had slipped revealing a glimpse of creamy skin, untouched by the sun''s rays.


    With tousled hair and eyes still unfocused from sleep, she rubbed them gently while emitting a soft yawn, her demeanour exuding a charming innocence that was entuated by her unintentional yet alluring disarray.


    ''I know I don''t swing ''that'' way, but damn��


    This should never be shown to any guy.''

 Chapter 712 Agnes’ Condition

    <h4>Chapter 712 Agnes�� Condition</h4>


    Ignorant of her friend''s thoughts, Agnes turned her gaze towards the servants who were at a loss on whether or not to enter the room.


    When her greyish-white eyes fell upon them, they all felt exposed, like Agnes was peering into everything about them and they could do nothing to block her gaze.


    She ignored their reactions and pointed at her messy hair; with the servants immediately getting the hint and rushing into the room.


    One brought a basin of water for her to wash her face, another brought a warm towel, while a third retrieved a brush from a drawer and quickly tidied up her hair.


    When they were done, a fourth servant came in with a tray, but the content was a single ss of reddish-brown liquid that caused Agnes to frown as she sensed the familiar magic emanating from it.


    "Can I skip this thing?"


    "Apologies, but we were instructed to make sure you take it everyday."


    Agnes sighed in defeat but just before she could grab the ss, Abigail picked it up and peered into it, bringing it to her nose afterwards to sniff it.


    "Blood medicine?"


    "Yes. I lost a lot of bloodtely and the doctor has been forcing me to take this bullshit every day."


    "Why was I not made aware of this?"


    "Because I told them not to inform you."


    Agnes replied matter-of-factly as she collected the ss from Abigail and downed the contents, before returning it to the servants and dismissing them.


    She then offered a light greeting to Zestari, after which she returned her gaze to Abigail who was looking at her with a dark expression.


    "I see you have questions."


    "I do. You look wrecked. Just what the hell happ��the fuck?!"


    Like Evan, Abigail also possessed the full appraisal skill and it only took one look at Agnes'' status to notice her condition.


    ''Soul Damaged.''


    "What did you do to get your soul damaged?!"


    Abigail knew just how dangerous soul wounds were, and she believed that Agnes��someone whose entire skillset concerned Souls��would understand this even more and avoid having her soul damaged.


    ''But clearly, that is not the case!''


    In response to Abigail''s question, Agnes pursed her lips and looked away, but the teenage Elf was not going to give up on getting an answer out of her.


    "Don''t tell me you were experimenting with Soul Magic again?"


    "I definitely did NOT do that."


    "Then what?!"


    When Abigail screamed out her question, the door to the room opened and a hooded figure walked in.


    The eyes of the three females turned towards the door and the person removed their hood, revealing a familiar face.


    It was a tall female elf with pale white skin, red hair and simrly coloured eyes. She held up a small ck bag and passed it over to Abigail as she spoke.


    "You left too quickly. Your mother said to give you this."


    "Thanks, Alisa. I ha-!"


    Abigail''s words cut off midway as a realisation dawned on her. She then turned her purple eyes towards Agnes who gazed back at her with a confused expression.


    Even though Agnes could not see her face, she could see Abigail''s emotions and from her Soul''s metadata, generate a mental image of how Abigail looked at the moment.


    The Elven Princess silently put the bag into her inventory, before climbing up onto the bed where Agnes sat.


    "Huh? Abby?"


    Abigail didn''t say a word until she backed Agnes to the head of the bed, putting both her hands on either side of the other girl, effectively trapping her in ce. She then pressed her right knee down on Agnes'' left leg to prevent her from moving it.


    "Um��Abby? What is going on?"


    Agnes was as confused as could be, but Zestari and the red-haired elf, Alisa, were not.


    It had only taken Zestari a nce at the other elf, who in truth, was a homunculus, to understand what Abigail had realised.


    The question that Abigail asked Agnes a momentter, confirmed her thoughts.


    "I want you to answer me honestly, Agnes.


    Where is the Homunculus I gave you?"


    "��"


    "Answer me."


    Agnes could not think up a lie on the spot that would convince Abigail to back off. Even if she did, it''d be quickly outed that it was a lie and she''d be back to square one, so she heaved a defeated sigh and replied.


    "��It got��burnt."


    It took Abigail a moment to process the answer she received, and even so, she still asked for confirmation.


    "Burnt?"


    "��yes."


    "You''re telling me that a Homunculus made with materials harvested from Level 500 monsters and the power of World Laws��got ''burnt''?"


    Agnes nodded in affirmation and Abigail took a deep breath to calm herself before asking another question.


    "Let me get a few things straight. You said you wanted to use it to go the Alpha Continent to check something out, and given that you requested to stay in my house while you did so, I can assume you put a portion of your soul into the Homunculus, right?"


    "Yes."


    "You found what you were looking for, and-"


    "Well, it was a ''who'' and not a ''what''."


    Agnes interjected and Abigail nodded in affirmation before continuing her words.


    "You found that person andpleted the discussion you wanted to have, right?"


    "Correct."


    "After this, you did not bring the Homunculus back and have kept it on the Alpha Continent for the past year, why?"


    "Because I found someone with an interesting soul and I was watching them."


    Abigal once again nodded in affirmation when she heard Agnes'' reply, as everything up to this point was what she was already aware of.


    "So, you found someone with an interesting soul and you were stalking them."


    "I watching them."


    "Stalking, watching��same thing."


    "I beg to differ."


    "They''re the same if the person in question doesn''t know."


    "��"


    Hit with such a point, Agnes had no words to refuse Abigail''s im of her being a stalker.


    "You never told me who this person was anyway."


    "��"


    Agnes'' brow twitched lightly and Abigail who was paying close attention to the girl''s expressions didn''t miss this reaction. Her eyes narrowed as she pressured Agnes for an answer.


    "Who is it?"


    "��Evan��"


    "Evan? Evan who?"


    "��Eris."


    "Evan Eris��? Oh! The dragon killer guy!"


    The light of recognition shed in Abigail''s eyes as she remembered the news she received about his exploits in May. She had been keeping tabs on any new headlines involving him ever since the Cheverton Duchy incidentst year.


    "Wait��you were stalking him for over a year. Damn, girl��you''re persistent."


    Abigail''s expression then changed into one of disappointment as she recalled the fact that Evan did have a significant other in the form of Eliza.


    "You stalked a guy with a girlfriend for over a year, I don''t remember raising you to be like this."


    "You didn''t ''raise'' me Abby, we''re the same age."


    "I''m older than you by a day."


    "That doesn''t matter in the grand scheme of things. Also, can you get off me now? My leg hurts."


    The girl half-pushed Abigail off her, before rubbing her sore legs with her hands. As for Abigail, she just sat back down casually and looked at Agnes before returning to the main subject matter.


    "Back to the main topic; you were stalking this guy for a year."


    "His Soul was Unique! I couldn''t miss a chance to study it! You''d understand it if you could see it yourself, It''s even more Unique than yours.


    Heck, even your father''s lookscklustre whenpared to his. Everything from the structure of his soul to his skill capacity is one of a kind!


    It''s simply ''DIVINE''.


    I had always assumed his Soul Strength was going to be ridiculously high as well, but after feeling it first-hand, I realised I had underestimated him greatly. It was simply��"


    Abigail was slightly surprised as she saw the ''shine'' in Agnes'' eyes when she spoke about Evan''s soul. Her fervent gaze was like that of a fan girl gushing over her favourite idol.


    It was then that a line Agnes spoke resounded in her head and her expression turned dark.


    "Hold up! Did you just say you felt his soul strength first-hand? You gave up stalking him and finally talked to him?"


    "Ah!"


    Agnes snapped back to reality and leaned back on the headboard, pursing her lips as she replied.


    "Well��I did walk up to him and talk to him."


    Seeing the way Agnes avoided her gaze as she replied, Abigail instantly understood there was a lot her friend was not telling.


    "What''s the full story, Agnes?"


    The reply to that question came not from Agnes, but from Zestari who had been silently analysing Agnes for the past few minutes.


    "I think you should have figured out the full story, haven''t you, Abby."


    Abigail''s lips twisted into a frown when she heard Zestari''s words, but she did not refute them.


    She was the ''First'' of the Seven Heroes: the ''Hero of Destruction''.


    If she could not sense the Destruction Essence still eating at Agnes'' soul at such close proximity, then she would not be worthy of that title.


    The time when she had closed Agnes in on the headboard, it wasn''t just because she wanted to stop the other girl from escaping, but because she wanted to use her Mystic Eyes and analyse Agnes'' soul.


    Taking a deep breath, she called in a servant from outside the room and asked them a question.


    "How long has she been like this?"

 Chapter 713 Agnes’ Obsession

    <h4>Chapter 713 Agnes�� Obsession</h4>


    Agnes tried to signal the servant not to say anything but Abigail ounted for this and spoke with a cold voice.


    "If you dare lie to me, I would ground your soul to dust this instant."


    Her Mystic Eyes of Destruction lit up with a dangerous glow and the servant instantly bowed and replied with the truth.


    "She has been ill for the past twenty days now!"


    "Twenty days, huh? Okay. Get out."


    The servant ran for her life and Abigail returned her gaze to Agnes with a frown.


    "With your soul strength and absurd soul recovery speed, 20 days should have been enough time to be back to top condition even if your soul health was reduced to 80%."


    Abigail''s gaze trailed down Agnes'' body before she continued.


    "But I''m sure you can barely get up from that bed as you are now.


    Just how much Destruction Essence was used that your state is still so bad even after a whole twenty days?"


    As she spoke, she activated a skill, one that encased her body in ayer of crimson light and boosted her power by 300%.


    "I recall that Evan Eris has been rumoured to wield a strange crimson aura that ''gives one''s soul chills'' just by being near him."


    Holding up her hand, she generated an orb of destruction essence and continued.


    "Something that looks just like ''this''.


    He also has control over Prismatic Esoteric mes. mes that may just have enough power to ''burn'' my Homunculus."


    Looking right into Agnes'' eyes, she asked.


    "Evan Eris was the one who destroyed the Homunculus, wasn''t he?"


    "��"


    Agnes'' silence was all the affirmation Abigail needed and the Elven Princess deactivated her skill before sighing.


    "How can he even use Destruction Essence in the first ce? I''m the one who''s the ''Hero of Destruction'', that''s not his gimmick.


    Is that what ''he'' meant when he said I''m not the only one ''Blessed by Destruction''?"


    "��mind if I ask what his ''gimmick'' is?"


    Agnes asked in a silent voice which was barely even a whisper, but the people near her were all superhumans who heard her loud and clear.


    "Agnes, do you want me to lose one of my eyeballs?"


    "Huh? No!"


    "Good. Then don''t ask me questions like that again. Instead, you should be exining what you did that made Evan destroy that Homunculus with your soul fragment in it."


    Agnes did not want to talk about what happened, as this meant her revealing her affiliation with the Demonic Hand, something she did not want Abigail to find out at all.


    But clearly, Abigail wasn''t going to let up until she got answers, so Agnes heaved a light sigh before beginning to speak.


    "I did talk to him. It was the first time I actually spoke with him so I was a bit excited��until he asked about you. Dunno why that got me pissed for some reason."


    "He asked about me? What for?"


    Abigail had question marks floating over her head as she asked and Agnes replied in a t voice.


    "When I was trying to exin how Unique his soul was whenpared to yours, he asked me if your soul was ''Old'', like that idiot dragonkin Orvis."


    Both Abigail and the red-haired Homunculus; Alisa, narrowed their eyes when they heard this question and Agnes noticed a shift in their soul fluctuations immediately.


    It seemed as if Abigail had momentarily forgotten the issue of her wounded soul and was more focused on Evan''s question.


    "What did you tell him?!"


    "��when I think about it, I never really answered that question."


    The two rxed a bit when they heard her words, but their emotions were a bitplicated and even Agnes had a hard time understanding how they felt.


    "Anyway, why did your conversation with him turn into him destroying the Homunculus? Did he find out you''d been stalking him?"


    "Yeah, I told him myself."


    "You told him?!"


    "Yep. He was pretty calm about it. He was a bit surprised at first, though.


    "Of course, he was."


    Abigail rolled her eyes and shook her head before allowing Agnes to continue her exnation.


    "Well��I may have gotten in his way."


    "You got in his way? From what I know, he doesn''t strike me as the type who''d kill someone with destruction essence because they ''got in his way''."


    "Yeah, he isn''t."


    Surprisingly, Agnes agreed with her and this then had Abigail even more curious about what had truly happened. But it was at this point that Agnes decided to go silent again.


    "Why did he take action against you, with the intent to harm your soul?"


    "��"


    ''Because I''m affiliated with the guys trying to bring Demons back into Aidos! ��but I obviously can''t tell her that.''


    Agnes'' dealings with the Demonic Hand had only begun a year ago, a little time before she requested the Homunculus from Abigail so he could get to the Alpha Continent and speak with the First Finger who was there at the time.


    She and Abigail had encountered a Third Division Squad around the ''Tombs of the Barbaric Morass'', and after they had routed them, Agnes had stayed back to question some of them and it was there her interest in the Demonic Hand sprouted.


    Knowing Abigail did not agree with the Demonic Hand''s methods, she hid this fact from her friend and made sure her talks with the First Finger were conducted on another continent.


    With all this, she obviously could not tell Abigail the full truth about the state of the Homunculus. She decided to pick a portion of the truth and tell Abigail.


    She was still embarrassed to say it though.


    "��I may��have tried to��subjugate��his soul."


    "��"


    The three others who heard her gazed at the teenager with dumbfounded looks. Abigail was the first to snap out and she asked Agnes toe closer.


    When the human girl leaned forward, Abigail headbutted her with all her might and the impact knocked the two girls away.


    "ABBY, WHAT THE FUCK!?"


    "I SHOULD BE ASKING YOU THAT!"


    Abigail used magic to heal the pain on her forehead, before continuing her rant.


    "I gave you one of my precious Homunculi, and you used it to stalk your crush for over a year, and somehow got him pissed enough that he killed the homunculus and destroyed a portion of your soul!!"


    Agnes was about toin about Abigail''s statement when she suddenly realised something off about the elf girl''s words.


    "What do you mean ''crush''?"


    "��"


    Hearing her question, Abigail looked at Agnes with a dumbfounded gaze, wondering if Agnes was messing with her, but it clearly was not the case.


    ''Could it be��she doesn''t know?''


    For the past year, Agnes had talked Abigai''s ear off about this ''guy with a Unique Soul'' and Abigail was almost sure she was in love with whoever it was given how she always acted when she spoke about them.


    ''No wait��she''s just obsessed with his Soul. She isn''t crazy enough to fall for the same guy who technically ''killed'' her.''


    Abigail was working on the assumption that Evan thought the Homunculus was the real Agnes, ignorant of the fact that he knew the real her was still out there.


    All these thoughts only took a few seconds and she took a deep breath��before headbutting Agnes again.


    "WHY?!"


    "Because you''re stupid."


    "The heck?!"


    "What? You don''t want me calling you stupid? Make me!"


    "Bet! Let''s take this outside!"


    Seeing the two friends bickering like children, Zestari and Alisa silently facepalmed before moving to stop Abigail from actually dragging Agnes out the window.


    They seeded in doing that, but then came a different problem; for Agnes, that is.


    "No more Homunculi for you."


    "Wait��what?!"


    Abigail remained firm in her decision despite seeing Agnes'' shock. She got to her feet and was about to leave the room when she heard the sound of someone stumbling.


    Quickly turning around, she saw Agnes down on the ground and rushed to help the girl up.


    ''I said it as part-joke but to think she really can''t even stand��''


    "Agnes, I know you''d probably want to go back but I don''t think I can let you go after someone who hurt you like this.


    Besides, how weird would it be if someone who was supposed to be dead suddenly showed up around him again."


    "He knew it was a Homunculus. He also knew about the fact that my real body was here�� I told him.


    Abby, his soul got even stronger after my failed subjugation attempt. It also changed, like it went through some sort of evolution.


    I didn''t get to see the new form before but I have to see it. I NEED to see the results of this, no way I can''t!!"


    Abigail''s lips twisted into a frown when she saw the way Agnes reacted. She could feel Agnes clutching her clothes tightly as if she did not intend to let go until Abigail rescinded her earlier decision.


    ''She''spletely obsessed��''


    Just as she was wondering how to deal with this, Zestari lent a helping hand. The older elf grabbed Agnes and pulled her off Abigail, before lifting her and cing her back on the bed.


    "All right, Miss Agnes.


    How about you rest and heal your soul fully? Then, we can talk about you getting another Homunculus, okay?"


    "Wait, bu-!"


    Agnes never got toplete her words as Zestari used magic to make her fall asleep at that moment.


    Seeing as the girl''s breaths turned even, Zestari covered her with the sheets before looking at Abigail and speaking.


    "You''d have to address this sooner orter. The way she is now, I fear she may probably go to the Alpha continent herself if you do not give her the Homunculus."


    "Yeah, but I don''t have any to give her. I onlypleted two. One was for Alisa and the other was the one Evan destroyed.


    Unless you count the iplete prototypes, there aren''t any left."


    Abigail turned around and walked towards the door, heaving a sigh as she continued.


    "I''d handle her obsession with Evan''s soulter. First, I need to go hound my dad for Soul Recovery artifacts."


    With those words, she opened the door and walked out, with Zestari and Alisa following behind.


    The door closed behind them, leaving the sleeping Agnes alone.

 Chapter 714 Wolfen’s True Crisis [Today’s Eid al-Fitr, right?]

    <h4>Chapter 714 Wolfen��s True Crisis [Today''s Eid al-Fitr, right?] </h4>


    Presidential Vi


    A


    Republic of Wolfen


    July 2nd


    Year 1053


    This fateful morning, a Wolfen War Cab was convening for a meeting at the Situation Room of the Presidential Vi.


    Unsurprisingly, the atmosphere in the room was dark.


    As the Warrant Officers read out the war reports, the Ministers and Generals all had frowns on their faces.


    Loss after Loss after Loss.


    That was Wolfen''s story in this war.


    They had only secured victories in smaller-scale battles, but these victories did notst. They were quickly overshadowed by the GEE''s big wins that left entire states surrendering.


    The War wasn''t even a month in and yet the GEE army was almost knocking at the capital''s doors.


    With Todbury''s fall, Cudjour and Vadvale were the only two states left to defend the capital.


    "As of the 30th of June, we confirmed the presences of three of the Seven Star Generals.


    We have intel that shows that Amiyah Wace and Beluar Sarxina are leading a force westward around the Cudjour mountain. Lierin Ianqen in the East also seems to be making movements, but we are not sure as our scouts have never made it in too far."


    With those words, the briefing ended yet everyone remained silent.


    "Barely a month in and they''ve already sent three Seven Star Generals. The Imperials are really out for us."


    The man who spoke was Zakaria Lee, a man with a tinge of grey in his brown hair,plemented by warm brown eyes.


    This man, dressed in a ck suit, was the President of the Republic of Wolfen and undoubtedly the most stressed person in this room.


    He sighed and then turned his gaze to the General in charge of Cudjour''s defences and asked.


    "What is your game n?"


    "Sir. This is what we have surmised��"


    The man began exining his strategies and the other Generals present provided their inputs. He also cited the new intel they got from spies in Todbury, stating that adding the Hero Evan to their ranks was causing rifts in the Imperial Army.


    Apparently, their current advance to the West of Cudjour was something Evan had suggested and some Generals were not okay with this.


    He then stated that he believed Princess Heather and Lierin would soon be heading towards Todbury, probably to meet up with Amiyah.


    "Mr President. With the situation as it is now, should we not request Sir Esoti''s help?"


    It was one of Vadvale''s generals who asked this question and when the Defence Minister heard him, the man red up.


    "Outrageous! Do you wish to give the Imperials justification to act as well?! If hees into the mix, it would do more harm than good!"


    However, Vadvale''s General did not back down in the face of hisints.


    "We have little choice now. Can he not go under the radar and take action? If no one lives to tell the tale, the Imperials would not be able to say a word."


    "Under the radar? Do you think the Beast Kingdom does not have eyes watching this war? Don''t forget that Transcendent Kolvar''s son is a Hero like that Evan Eris and he''s also in support of this madness.


    If he notices we called for Sir Esoti''s help, there''s no way he''d sit still!"


    The Defence Minister was a war veteran who had been famous during thest Warring Era. He had recentlye out of retirement to take up a Ministerial Position after the incident where Beluar and some special forces had infiltrated A in the Year 1048.


    "A Lion''s child is still a Lion. David Thancreed is the son of the man who destroyed an entire country in the past and yet has people singing him praises to this day.


    Don''t think the Beast Kingdom would be silent just because the Beast King has secluded himself. David Thancreed''s eyes would be on us."


    "Minister, you overestimate these children. Even if they are Heroe-"


    "Overestimate?!"


    The Old Minister got up from his seat and he scolded the young Brigadier General who uttered that line.


    "You say I Overestimate them but I feel we all Underestimate them too much! Are you living under a rock or something?


    Lacertilia happened barely two months ago!


    One of the Largest Dungeon Cities on the Continent was in crisis and spearheading the party that resolved this crisis, was the same boy who is currently siding with the Imperials.


    The same one you say I ''Overestimate''!"


    Flinging the folder in front of him at the Brigadier General, he continued.


    "Have you not read that thing? Geto, Osto, Cheverton, Duscon, and Lacertilia. That''s Five Incidents that have gone International with Evan Eris'' name on it.


    There''s also that stunt he pulled with Public Opinion recently. He would have killed our Army''s morale if we had not acted fast!"


    The Old Minister felt that the reason why these Generals were trying to downy Evan''s achievements was due to Envy. Someone so young had achieved much more than they had despite being more than twice the boy''s age, so they tried to make it seem like it ''wasn''t much'' so they could console their egos.


    He didn''t have energy to waste on such people, instead, he turned towards President Lee and bowed his head before speaking.


    "Mr President, if the intel about Evan Eris being the one to suggest the Imperial Armyes from the West is true; then I beg you with the names of all the gods of Aidos.


    Please, triple our defences.


    We cannot let whatever ''out of the box'' n that boy is cooking up in his head to seed!!"


    "Calm down, Minister."


    Zakaria spoke with a sigh, understanding the views of the Old Defence Minister. The war was also taking a toll on them, especially with the other issues that came alongside it.


    Soldier Morale was low, some were even deserting the army. Civilians wereining, and Trade routes were down as well.


    ''Then there''s ''those people''��''


    Zakaria took care not to let a dark expression show on his face before looking at Vadvale''s Lieutenant General and speaking.


    "We need to deal as much damage to the Imperials as possible otherwise we''d be in the red.


    Take your soldiers and move to support Cudjour. I''d send in three more Corps from the Capital as backup."


    Shocked voices rang out in the room when they heard the President''s decision to lower the Capital''s defences. The Old Defence Minister nodded in approval before ncing at Vadvale''s General.


    Even if he was retired, the man was still an Inferior Stage Epic Level existence, his gaze on the Superior Grandmaster General was ''heavy''.


    "Yes, Mr President."


    Zakaria saw the Defence Minister''s action but said nothing about it. He silenced the others who had objections and finalized the decision to send the reinforcements.


    A Wolfen Army Corps consisted of somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 soldiers; even after adding three of that to Vadvale''s Army, the President felt it was just barely enough to take on three of the Seven Star Generals.


    "Defending A would be pointless if they get to Cudjour. Send the soldiers out.


    This meeting is dismissed."


    By his order, all of the Cab Members exited the room, all except one man who was seated in the same area as the Old Defence Minster.


    He was the only one who had not uttered a single word throughout the whole meeting.


    He had an imposing figure, with broad shoulders and a powerful physique that speaks of his formidable strength. His features are sharp, with a chiselled jawline and piercing brown eyes that seem to gleam with intensity. His ck hair was cropped short, adding to his rugged appearance. Despite his stern countenance, there''s a sense of nobility and authority in his bearing.


    Zakaria didn''t nce at him, instead, the man reached into his own cor and pressed the switch on what appeared to be a choker on his neck.


    His face went hazy for a bit and then the illusion he had covering his face was released.


    It was still the same Zakaria Lee, however, he appeared starkly different than just a minute ago.


    The man had dark circles under his eyes, withrge eye bags and dry skin. The percentage of ''grey'' in his hair was a lot more than before and he seemed tired overall.


    He looked nothing like the President the Cab members had been conversing with earlier.


    Zakaria then looked at the ck-haired man and spoke.


    "You didn''t say anything today."


    "There was nothing to say."


    The Presidentughed depreciatingly before resting his head on the table. The air around him was depressing, owing to his current state of mind.


    "If I could, I would have negotiated for benefits. It was a wonderful chance to get a lot of things from the Imperials. I could have ripped them off even!


    But s, nothing ever goes the way we want��"


    Zakaria remembered when he was contesting for President. He felt that the previous Presidents had not been doing the best they could and felt that he was the one who was going to change the country for the better.


    He had grand goals and aspirations for his home nation.


    However, on the day he was sworn in, his predecessor apologized to him.


    The Zakaria of then was confused about what this meant, but aftering into office, he finally understood.


    "I finally understood why no other President had contested for a second tenure in the past 30 years��"


    Zakaria let out a depreciatingugh and seeing him like this, the ck-haired man on the side frowned, however, he said nothing for he understood why Zakaria was acting like this.


    "Three of the Seven Star Generals and Evan Eris��I just sent thousands of good soldiers to their deaths."


    It was obvious that he had long since given up on the war, however, he maintained the fa?ade of a President fighting back for the sake of his citizens.


    "I have no choice but to send them��to sacrifice them for the sake of the millions of Wolfen Citizens.


    These people were able to n for Major World Powers like the GWE and the Beast Kingdom, and both incidents ended with casualty numbers in the hundreds of thousands.


    We don''t have the powerful forces of the GWE or the strong adventurers of the Beast Kingdom��if they did the same to us, our casualties would be in the millions."


    Zakaria picked up one of the folders on his desk and flipped through it, before looking at the other man in the room and asking.


    "Say��do you think Evan Eris could help us?


    He has shed with ''these people'' multiple times; in Osto and in Cheverton.


    That woman who showed up in Lacertilia was also one of them, I think. I heard them conversing once; they called her ''Seventh Finger''.


    Now seeing as they don''t want Evan Eris to get his hands on that ''War Remnant Structure'', it''s obvious that there''s something pretty important there."


    Hearing his words, the ck-haired man had his eyes widen in shock. To think that Zakaria was even considering going to Evan��someone who was their enemy��for help.


    The man gritted his teeth silently before speaking.


    "I''d go."


    "Huh?"


    "Cudjour. I''d go."


    "It would not make much of a difference."


    Zakaria shook his head depreciatingly as he replied but the other man did not answer him and instead got to his feet and left the room.


    Looking at the departing figure of the man�� Rodald "Stormbringer" Kuhagan��the Wolfen President let out a wry smile and spoke.


    "Please��don''t die, my dear friend. I''ve already lost too much."


    He then broke out into a coughing fit and spat ck blood onto the desk and floor. Cleaning his mouth with his hands, he looked at the dark liquid and spoke.


    "Demonic Corruption, huh? They sure picked one hell of a way to keep me in check."

 Chapter 715 Sculpture Business Plan

    <h4>Chapter 715 Sculpture Business n </h4>


    Imperial Army Hidden Camp


    Cudjour Mountains


    July 6th


    Year 1053


    Evan was seated in front of an Ice Sculpture. Well; it was actually a frozen monster.


    Its expression was quite strange; as if it was about to roar, yet was frozen in that instant.


    "No��this does not seem nice."


    The boy snapped his fingers and the ice melted, allowing the monster to let out its roar, releasing a shockwave that shattered the empty bottle next to Evan.


    Evan didn''t care about the bottle since he had finished its contents, and Ka who was nearby silently told the monster to thank its stars that he had, otherwise it would be faced with ''Demon Evan''��the form of an Evan whose strawberry drink was spilt.


    Mid-Roar, Evan poked the monster''s nose with his finger and the monster''s body was frozen solid in an instant.


    Naturally, the Monster''s roar had been heard by all who were nearby and Heather jumped into the scene, only to see Evan in front of what appeared to be an ice statue.


    "Evan��what are you doing?"


    "Oh, Hello Heather."


    After greeting the Princess, he gave a reply to her inquiry.


    "Someone gave me the idea to ''start a shop to sell ice and rock sculptures with rare and realistic expressions for some passive ie'' and I thought��why not?"


    Heather''s eyes narrowed as she looked at the ice statue in front of her before asking.


    "I don''t think that''s what they meant when they said ''Sculptures''. They probably meant the kind you make with a Hammer and Chisel."


    She quickly figured the ice statue in front of Evan was the current form of the monster who had roared earlier.


    "Huh? Then how would I get the ''Realistic'' expressions?"


    As Evan spoke, he poked the inside of the monster''s mouth and sent a pulse of destructive energy inside it.


    Heather flinched instinctively when she felt the crimson-coloured aura, but Evan didn''t seem to pay her reaction as he held out a dagger and cut a hole in the ice, poking the monster''s skin with it and activating the skill he stole from Maude.


    Since the monster was now dead, Evan turned its internal organs to stone, before doing the same to its skin.


    As she watched this phenomenon that was urring to the monster through the half-transparent ice, Heather silently added ''Petrification'' to the list of skills she knew Evan had.


    "Perfect."


    Evan remarked as he added anotheryer of ice around the monster before getting up and asking Heather.


    "How much do you think a noble would buy this for?"


    Heather silently turned her gaze towards what was once a leopard-type monster and shook her head.


    "Besides entrics, I don''t think anyone''s gonna even want to buy it, knowing where it came from."


    Evan gave her a strange gaze in reply to her words before his lips suddenly curled up into a smile.


    "They''ll never know.


    They don''t need to know."


    For some reason, Evan''s smile scared her quite a bit. The boy chuckled when he saw her reaction before using ice to craft an elevated tform for the ice statue and then spoke.


    "A Life-Sized Monster Sculpture with an added Bonus of Master Level existence durability. Even if the whole town is destroyed, you can rest assured that the Sculpture would be intact!


    It''s perfect to decorate your house with, right?"


    The boyughed to himself as he returned it to his inventory, nning to take it out when he was back in the GWE and make a start-up out of it.


    "Anyway, you guys have taken the Hillside Fortress. How''s the n of attack? Hope you know it would not be long before those at Brightwall Fort notice something''s off."


    "I know, we n to attack at dawn."


    "Oh��the same time for their regr check-ups. Okay, then."


    Evan dusted the snow off his trousers before he then informed Heather about his own ns for movement.


    "I''m heading towards the East to look for something over there. Contact me when you guys are about to take Vadvale. I want to fight the ''Stormbringer''."


    "What are you after?"


    "A purification Artifact. I''d certainly need it after the War."


    That was all Evan said as he then hopped lightly, his gaze trained towards the mountain peaks. Taking a deep breath, he activated Farsight + Blink and disappeared, leaving only a bit of snow falling to the ground.


    �� �� ��


    The 7th of July was the D-Day of the Cudjour battle.


    As Evan had said, Brightwall Fort had noticed something was off with the Hillside Fortress, but they could not pay much attention to it as that was when Beluarunched his attack on their forces in the West.


    In addition to the 20% of the forces from Todbury he was given, the man had his own Army of around 70,000 men, excluding the soldiers left behind to control the captured states.


    Due to these high numbers, Wolfen genuinely believed that this was the Imperial Army''s main attack force.


    They were prudent enough to keep a few battalions watching the East side, and this actually served to dy Amiyah''s Army from getting closer.


    Scouts from the walls of Brightwall Fort spotted the Sarxina, and Wace gs being flown, ''confirming'' that Amiyah and Beluar were the attackers.


    This allowed them to ''verify'' the intel that Lierin was still on her way from the East.


    Due to the scale and decisiveness of the battle, it unsurprisingly was not concluded in a day. The sun set on the 7th with both sides temporarily retreating.


    Of course, there were nighttime ''harassment'' attacks from both sides, so they were on guard until dawn the next day when the attack resumed.


    Just as the Wolfen Army was preparing to receive Beluar''s Army, Lierin led her soldiers to burst out from behind the ruins of the Hillside Fortress, catching the Wolfen Army''s nk and dealing devastating damage.


    By the time their Generals could understand the situation and react appropriately, a great number of their soldiers had already been cut down by Lierin''s powerful de.


    The morale of the Wolfen Army which had risen from holding back Beluar''s forces began dropping and to make things worse, it began raining, effectively removing all Fire Attribute Mages from the battle.


    Melee fighters were still good, but their efficiency was reduced due to the weather.


    Beluar and Lierin believed they could end things without Amiyah having to intervene, but their beliefs were thwarted easily when the reinforcements from A arrived.


    Wolfen''s most elite soldiers joined the fray and Day two ended with the Wolfen Army seeding in holding the Imperials back.


    More reinforcements arrived for both sides towards the evening time, but instead of pressing forward, both armies retreated for the day.


    The heavy rain fell throughout the day and way into the night, and it was under this cover of night and rain that Amiyah decided tounch her own attack on Cudjour''s eastern gates.


    The incursion into Cudjour did not throw them off as much as nned due to the 80,000+ reinforcements Cudjour had received during the day from A and Vadvale.


    Part of those reinforcements split up from the main force to face Amiyah''s army.


    With attacksing from the North, East and West, the Wolfen soldiers realised that their intel had been false, figuring that the GEE let that information leak on purpose.


    After being briefed in the morning of July 9th, Wolfen''s Defence Minister frowned as he adjusted the pieces on the board.


    He then voiced out a question which had answers being sought by all the present members of the War Cab.


    "Where is Evan Eris in all this?"


    The Imperial Army''s three-pronged attack on Cudjour; although not as effective as nned, still threw Wolfen off a bit.


    The old Defence Minister in A meticulously studied all the reports, while watching the battlefields through the eyes of his familiars.


    He scanned from battlefield to battlefield and saw no sight of Evan, and this left him wary. He sent word to the Generals on the ground and told them to be on guard in case of any sudden or unexpected attacks.


    While he was doing that, another figure was watching the battlefield from above.


    It was a muscr young man with wavy brown hair and eyes, along with slight facial hair.


    He sat on what looked like a throne as he surveyed the battlefield with his eyes, scanning dozens of kilometres in a second and analysing the state of the fight.


    Wherever he saw Wolfen''s Army on the advantage, his lips curled up into a small smile but when he saw the Imperial Forces pressing forward into Cudjour, his smile disappeared and he clenched his fistying on the throne''s armrest.


    If there was one other thing to take note of, it was the fact that this man''s vantage point appeared to be one of the peaks of the Cudjour mountains.


    But even if one were to go there, they would neither see nor sense a thing, after all, this man was not in the same ''Space'' as the normal world.


    He was in an Alternate Space, one with slightly differing yet ovepping coordinates with that of the main world.


    For example, if the spatial coordinates of the mountain peak were 11:22:33:44, then the coordinates of the alternate Space he was in were 11:22:33:45.


    A slight difference that gave a not-so-slight result.


    As for the identity of this man who was viewing this battle from this Alternate Space, it was naturally the one the Wolfen Cab members referred to as ''Sir Esoti''.


    Existence Level: Superior Legendary!


    He was the strongest of Wolfen''s few ''Living Legends'', and from his ability to enter Alternate Spaces, it could be seen where his powery.


    "Should I? But if I do, the Beast Kingdom may intervene��"


    On Aidos, there were restrictions that prevented Legendary Levels and above from participating in International Conflicts. Each Legendary Level could sink an ind to the bottom of the ocean if they wanted, so having people with this kind of power fight Wars was just asking for unnecessary devastation.


    These restrictions were set down by the Transcendents, and breaking them came with sanctions.


    In the case of the current GEE-Wolfen War, Legendries affiliated with either country were not to make a move, unless one side was facing a threat of total Annihtion.


    However, that was not the case here as the GEE was trying to ''conquer'' Wolfen, not ''destroy'' it.


    If Esoti intervened in this conflict which only had beings of the Epic Level and below involved, then not only was he going to be sanctioned, but it also meant that the GEE could deploy their own Legendries without reserve.


    The rule was that if one side sends out a Legendary, then the other need not hold back any forces of simr levels of power they had.


    As a World Power, the GEE naturally had over 100 Legendries at its disposal. This excluded the hundreds more who were adventurers and not affiliated with the nation''s government.


    Wolfen on the other hand, didn''t even have up to 20; and among them, Esoti was the only Superior Stage.


    The man was thinking of taking advantage of his Alternate space and acting fast enough that no one would realise he had done a thing. After deliberating it for a few minutes, he sighed and spoke to himself.


    "I can''t let Wolfen be a GEE Vassal��!"


    As he made his decision, rising from his throne with resolve, a resounding voice echoed through the Alternate Space, halting him in his tracks.


    "If I were you, I would sit back down."


    "?!"


    Esoti''s eyes darted towards the source of the voice, but they widened in disbelief as the temperature around him skyrocketed


    Since he was at the top of a 6000+ m tall mountain, the air was supposed to be cold and he was meant to be surrounded by ice and snow.


    But in mere seconds, the chill of the mountain air had been reced by blistering heat, making him feel like he was in the middle of a Desert at the peak of Summer.


    The snow that once nketed the terrain had disappeared without a trace.


    The cause of this was the man who casually walked up to Esoti; a middle-aged looking man with brown, short brown hair clumsily hanging over a chiselled, cheerful face. He removed his pair of brown tinted sses to reveal a pair of deep grey eyes and then spoke.


    "It wouldn''t be a wise decision, Esoti."


    Esoti ignored him and looked around, spotting two other new entrants in the Alternate space. Both of them were Legendries, at the Intermediate Stage.


    He was confident in defeating both of them with ease, but if the grey-eyed man joined the mix, then his victory chances would plummet.


    "What are you doing here, Human me?"

 Chapter 716 Stormbringer!

    <h4>Chapter 716 Stormbringer!</h4>


    "What are you doing here, Human me?"


    "Bahahaha!! I''ve long since passed that title down to the younger generation."


    The grey-eyed man��Thomas Randall��replied with a boisterousugh, not caring about how Esoti figured out his former identity.


    However, hisughter suddenly stopped and he looked Esoti right in the eyes before activating a skill.


    Unique Series Skill: Benevolent Fire!


    Thomas'' body erupted into a pir of mes, the intense heat radiating outwards in waves of scorching energy. When the fiery eruption subsided, it was no longer a human standing before Esoti, but a three-metre-tall ming giant with glowing eyes.


    His transformation increased the ambient temperature to the extent that Esoti had to cover his body with World Law to prevent himself from taking damage.


    Thomas did not care for this little action as he spoke with a deep voice.


    [Old people like us should stay out of the young one''s games, don''t you think?]


    This was a not-so-subtle threat, and Esoti knew that if he wanted to keep his life and not doom Wolfen to destruction; then he had no choice, but to sit back down on his throne.


    �� �� ��


    The dark clouds heralded theing of a storm, perhaps an even greater one than that of the day before.


    Amiyah was ordering the fire mages to fall back since it was clearly about to rain when she inadvertently nced at the clouds in the sky.


    Her focus quickly turned somewhere else but her instincts��the same ones who had warned her that there was something wrong in the Todbury battle��red up again.


    She returned her gaze to the clouds in the sky, staring at them nkly for so long that Lierin noticed and asked what the hell she was doing during battle.


    "No��"


    [No? What do you mean by ''No''?]


    "These clouds��they aren''t natural!!"


    [?!]


    Lierin, and Beluar who were also connected to her via a Bluetooth-likemunicator in their ears flinched when they heard her words.


    Amiyah didn''t offer any exnation and instead charged up her lightning magic power, kicking off the ground and heading straight for the Vanguard that was pressing Wolfen forces and making them retreat further into Cudjour territory.


    "General?!"


    Disregarding her subordinate''s astonished words, she stretched out her arms, conjuring a vast lightning shield that enveloped thousands of Imperial Soldiers just moments before a colossal ck lightning bolt descended from the heavens, crashing onto the shield with a deafening roar.


    **BOOOMMM!!


    The impact was explosive, unleashing a shockwave that sent Amiyah tumbling to the ground, her body careening amidst a throng of soldiers as if she were a mere rag doll.


    However, she quickly got up to her feet, looking right at the dark clouds in the sky as she called out.


    "It''s him! STORMBRINGER!!!"


    �� �� ��


    "Tsk��they noticed too early."


    Rodald clicked his tongue as he heard Amiyah''s exmation which had ousted his presence on the Battlefield. No one knew it but the bad weather they had experienced for the past three days was all caused by him.


    He had seamlessly infused his magic into the clouds and if Amiyah had not given them a second nce, she would have not noticed what was going on.


    But now that he had been noticed��


    "It''s time to act."


    The man''s ck eyes glowed as he clenched his fist and activated his ''Stormbringer'' Skill, sending another massive bolt of lightning towards another brigade of the Imperial Army.


    Unfortunately for him, Beluar used his spatial powers and warped space, causing the lightning to veer off course and hit the walls of a random military building in Cudjour.


    The powerful lighting sted the building to bits in an instant, going on to gouge out a massive crater in the ground right after.


    "Lierin! Beluar! The Soldiers!!"


    "You don''t have to tell me that!"


    Lierin retorted sharply, driving her sword into the ground and summoning towering earthen bulwarks to intercept Rodald''s lightning strikes.


    Beluar warped space left and right to deflect dozens of bolts every second, while Amiyah charged forward, thinking this would have been the best time for Bourne to be present.


    With a snort, Rodald extended his palm, unleashing a beam of supercharged ck lightning toward the oing half-elf, forcing her to activate her Unique skill, countering with a simr attack to nullify it.


    However, there was a stark difference in their demeanours.


    While Amiyah exerted effort to block the attack, Rodald did so effortlessly; his gaze wasn''t even on her as he unleashed the devastating power.


    "You can''t face him alone!"


    Lierin shouted as she joined the fray, her de shing as she aimed for the Wolfen General. However, Rodald swiftly transformed into a bolt of lightning, evading her strike and darting hundreds of meters away.


    Observing his actions, Amiyah narrowed her eyes with suspicion. He was looking across the battlefield as if trying to find something.


    ''��or someone?''


    "Princess! He''s after Princess Heather!"


    Rodald''s brow twitched and he turned to Amiyah with annoyance in his gaze. This same woman had figured him out twice in a row and he was beginning to find her presence irritating.


    Truly, Rodald was after Heather as he aimed to leverage her as a hostage against Emperor Isaac.


    Amiyah and Lierin charged towards him with full force, however, he spotted Heather''s position and elementalized his body, zapping all the way over to where she was.


    The two Seven Star Generals chased after him and Amiyah intercepted him, forcing him to rematerialize his body and face her inbat.


    "Get out of my way!"


    Rodald''s voice crackled with power as he unleashed a surge of magic, sending all nearby fighters flying with immense force.


    It did not have the power to kill, but it had more than enough knockback.


    The man quickly resumed the chase, dashing towards Heather and stretching his hand to grab her, however, to his shock, the Princess was able to ''react'' despite his speed.


    Heather ducked to avoid his hand, rolling out of the way before getting to her feet and releasing her strongest sh of darkness in an instant.


    The purity of the energy in the sh made Rodald flinch momentarily. The attack hit him squarely, managing to knock him to the ground while Beluar quickly activated a forced Teleportation and warped Heather to the other side of the Battlefield.


    Lierin and Amiyah appeared beside Rodald and struck him with full power, but the man was able to get to his feet and catch their attacks with his hands!


    He infused lightning into his left hand which held Amiyah''s fist and then used wind magic to blow away Lierin on his right. The man then spun his body around and flung Amiyah''s body to the side.


    "Storm."


    Rodald''s eyes shed as the man finally got serious. Everyone on the battlefield watched with awe and shock as the man showed why he was called the ''Stormbringer''.


    Combining his wind and ck lightning, he manipted atmospheric pressure and created a writhing maelstrom of air currents that transformed into over three dozen tornadoes in an instant.


    Pirs of ck lightning descended from the heavens and connected to the earth, sting away soldiers with each strike.


    The man slowly levitated into the air, his eyes darting around as he locked onto all the Imperial Soldiers in his field of view, ready to concentrate his storm on them.


    It was then that a young female voice resounded across the battlefield, calling out four words of power.


    [Pseudo-Authority of Lightning]


    ''What?''


    [Vanish.]


    "?!"


    Rodald nearly doubled over in shock. Blood found its way to the tip of his tongue as his skills were all cancelled forcefully.


    The dark storm clouds that covered the battlefield, the maelstrom of tornadoes, and the giant pirs of lightning all fizzled out into oblivion.


    "Wha-?!"


    **BAAAMMM!!!!


    Rodald suddenly found himself flying through the air, smashing through ballistae and many other tactical weapons before crashing into the walls of Brightwall Fort.


    Silence pervaded the battlefield.


    Over 250,000 soldiers went silent in that one moment as the figure of the man who seemed about to end the whole war by himself was smacked out of the sky and down onto the ground.


    "What��happened?"


    Rodald questioned in a daze. His brain understood that he had been attacked.


    But by who?


    When?


    How?


    His brain did not have enough information topute answers for those three questions.


    "Stormbringer!"


    He activated his skill once more and the atmospheric pressure changed. Air currents began swirling upwards and downwards while ck lightning crackled beyond the clouds.


    [Ha��If I could cancel it the first time, what makes you think I can''t do it a second time?]


    *SNAP!


    After that loud snapping sound that seemed to ring out in everyone''s ears, Rodald felt his skill being forcefully cancelled once more and his lightning fizzled out into oblivion.


    It was then that the person responsible revealed herself.


    A young teenage girl with ck hair and eyes shining with noble gold. She was adorned in a golden silk dress and had a long ck-gold stole around her neck which was floating lightly.


    Levitating atop her head, was a fragmented quarter of a cracked golden crown, adorned with various multicoloured precious stones.


    Despite the thousands of metres of distance between them, Rodald''s eyes caught her figure clearly standing in between Amiyah and Lierin.


    She turned towards him and smiled, before opening her mouth and speaking.


    [Don''t focus on me too much now. You might miss it.]


    "?!"


    His instincts screamed ''DANGER!'' at him and he immediately jumped away from his position, a mere second before the entirety of Cudjour''s Brightwall Fort exploded.


    Launching himself into the sky, Rodald shrouded his body in crackling ck lightning, scanning his surroundings for the source of the attack.


    He didn''t need to search for long, as the person revealed themselves of their own volition.


    A streak of golden light cut across the afternoon sky, colliding with Rodald in a dazzling explosion of ck and gold radiance. Undeterred, Rodald retaliated, channelling lightning into his fist and delivering a powerful punch to counter his assant''s assault.


    The collision between the two titanic forces rent the sky as clouds parted and shockwaves erupted, shattering the earth beneath their feet.


    "You��! EVAN ERIS!!"


    "That''s my name. How may I help you today, Stormbringer? Perhaps, a serving of ''defeat'' is what you would like?"


    "Silence!"


    Rodald unleashed his formidable aura, forcefully pushing Evan back before extending his arm to the side. In an instant, lightning condensed around him, distorting the space with its overwhelming power.


    A sh of ck light followed, and when it subsided, a Halberd materialized in Rodald''s grasp.


    The Wolfen Generals witnessing this spectacle were left utterly astounded, their minds reeling from the unexpected turn of events. Even observers from afar, including those in the Capital, shared in their shock.


    The swift summoning of Rodald''s infamous ''ck Lightning'' Halberd after just a single exchange with Evan defied all expectations. It signalled that Rodald had instantly recognized Evan as a threat worthy of his full might.


    The issue here was that Rodald was not a Grandmaster, but an Epic Level Existence. Someone who had broken through the Level 500 Barrier and achieved power exponentially greater than Grandmasters.


    Yet, such a person had assessed Evan as a threat requiring his full power.


    "Oh��this would be fun."


    Evan''s reaction was even more shocking, as the boy just grinned fearlessly and used Elemental Weapon projection to create gauntlets of crimson-gold aura around his fists, taking up a martial arts stance in the air as he spoke.


    "Let''s see how well I fare against an Epic."

 Chapter 717 Authority of Dragons

    <h4>Chapter 717 Authority of Dragons</h4>


    ''My power has increased.''


    That single line of thought crossed through Ka''s mind as she clenched her fist.


    Normally, a growth in power was something for one to be happy about. But from Ka''s expression, she was anything in the Universe but ''Happy''.


    Ever since Evan killed Maude, Ka had made zero efforts whatsoever, to increase her power.


    And yet, it increased without her doing anything.


    She understood the reason why, and the moment she thought about that reason, her clenched fist trembled for an instant.


    ''Control yourself. Don''t let Master sense your fear.''


    Ka took a deep breath as she nced towards Evan, noticing that the boy had momentarily nced in her direction, confirming that he had indeed sensed her turbulent emotions for an instant.


    However, he was fighting against an Epic Level; even if he was in his BoD state, he could not take his eyes off his opponent or he''d lose.


    Since she and Evan were connected via a contract, their emotions could slip through the link between them if they were not careful or if their emotions were just that intense.


    As in Ka''s case, where she felt intense fear.


    ''My power increasing for "seemingly no reason" means one thing��Master''s Awareness has increased.''


    She had believed that due to the war, the n for a Large-Scale attack of Demonic Hand bases all over the continent that Evan had been concocting with the GEE''s aid, drawing in Living Legends under the radar, and all the other things Evan was busy with, that he would not have the time or space of mind to dwell on her issue.


    But oh, how wrong she was.


    Evan was not ignoring or pushing it back forter like she had initially assumed.


    ''Kuro was right��''


    She remembered Kuro''s warning to her on the day Evan woke up after his Evolutionary Process finished.


    Clicking her tongue, she momentarily felt regret over the fact that she revealed her Spirit Raiment to Evan in Chevertonst year.


    But that regret vanished in an instant.


    ''No, master would have died if I did not use it.


    Although Master is gaining understanding, he still does not fullyprehend just what ''Pseudo-Authorities'' are. If Dominik Vk hadpletely achieved it that day, Master would have died.


    I cannot regret any action that saves Master''s life.''


    Kalya remembered her hesitation to use her Spirit Raiment in Geto and that hesitation nearly cost her and Evan their lives.


    [Tsk�� Why did you give Master so much Information, Artemisia?]


    The Spirit clicked her tongue and looked at her palm. She was one of those rare existences that had 99.999% power control.


    She didn''t act like it though.


    But anyway, it was because of this that she noticed that in the short few minutes she spent thinking, her power had increased by a ''tiny bit'' again.


    It was a small ''tiny bit'', but to Ka, it felt like an ocean that wanted to drown her.


    ''Master said he wants to remove variables that may side with the Demonic Hand in Tarse��the ''Fallen Celestial Deities''.''


    With that thought, her mind went to a certain ''maid'' serving Evan''s brother, Arnold.


    ''Brenda��and there was Qutia whom Master sent Roselia to kill in Tarse too.''


    She sighed once more before looking up at the sky as she thought this.


    Ka was not a Religious one. She also hated these concepts called ''Fate'' and ''Destiny''. But now, she sent out a Prayer to whatever gods of Fate were out there.


    ''Please, let there not be any more familiar names.''


    "Um��shouldn''t you be helping him?"


    She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Amiyah call out to her, looking up to see Evan shing with Rodald before pulling out a nail cutter.


    As she began clipping her nails while floating upside down in the air, she replied to the half-elf.


    [Nahh. Master would be fine.]


    Ignoring their questioning gazes, she continued snipping her nails in silence.


    �� �� ��


    **BAMMMM!!!


    Evan dodged Rodald''s sh and then punched the man''s torso, using his newly acquired Shockwave skill to blow the man away before marily ncing in Ka''s direction.


    ''What was that?''


    He had sensed something off and wanted to check it out, but taking his eyes off an Epic Level opponent was number one on the list of dumbest things to do so he decided against it.


    ''I''d ask herter.''


    With that thought, he dashed forward and threw out his fist, releasing a fracture strike which Rodald dodged before shing back with his Halberd.


    Evan used Elemental Shield to block the halberd, stretching out his hand to grab the weapon, but Rodald pulled it back fast and sent out repeated thrusts towards his face.


    Evan used his gauntlets to block and parry them as much as he could, but a few managed to breach his guard, leaving shallow cuts on the sides of his face.


    ''Hmm��I expected this much.''


    The boy thought as he blinked away and appeared behind Rodald, but the man reacted swiftly and he countered Evan''s close-range strike with a powerful swing of his halberd. Seizing the opportunity, Rodald grasped Evan''s arm and unleashed a surge of ck lightning directly into his body, causing Evan to recoil in shock.


    "?!"


    Reacting with lightning-fast reflexes, Evan retaliated with abination of skills��Adamantine Might, Pierce Guard, Shockwave, and Fracture��delivering a forceful blow that made Rodald instinctively flinch and had no choice but to elementalize his body in order to evade.


    Momentarily free, Evan attempted to regain his footing with a Void Step, but Rodald had other ns.


    ''Lightning Curse!''


    With a swift motion, Rodald released his halberd and brought his palms together, invoking his Lightning ''Curse''. ck lightning crackled ominously around Evan''s body, paralyzing him instantly.


    Rodald knew he had only a brief window of opportunity before Evan would break free, so he knew he needed to act fast.


    The man''s appearance changed drastically. His muscles bulged up with power, his hair grew much longer and his pupils gained a ring of light around them.


    Rodald''s form shimmered with crackling energy as he focused his magic power and aura into his Halberd, channelling the full might of his unique skill.


    The air around him crackled with anticipation as he unleashed his strongest attack��a massive ck lightning beam that surged forth with the ferocity of a particle cannon.


    "Stormbringer: Death Storm!!!!"


    The beam tore through the space between Rodald and Evan with incredible speed, its deadly potency evident in the way it distorted space itself.


    In an instant, it reached Evan''s body, enveloping him in a tempest of darkness and raw power.


    **KAAABOOOOOMM!!!!!!


    What followed was a cataclysmic explosion of ck lightning, its supermassive energy engulfing the surrounding area in a maelstrom of destruction. The sheer force of the st reverberated through the battlefield, leaving behind a trail of devastation in its wake.


    Thanks to the efforts of the Generals on both sides of the war, all soldiers had been evacuated from the area Evan and Rodald were fighting.


    The whole battle had actuallye to a stop as both sides instinctively knew that the fight between the two was going to be the deciding factor for the fate of Cudjour.


    Even still, they were on guard and it was because of this that the grandmasters were able to react fast enough, conjuring barriers to protect the hundreds of thousands of Master level soldiers who would turn to ashes by the explosion that just engulfed the area.


    Some Inferior Grandmasters who didn''t react fast enough were left tethering on the brink of death by the st, while the other dozens of Grandmasters on the battlefield poured out their full power to block the surge of power from reaching the soldiers.


    For a moment, both Wolfen and GEE Generals actually worked together to shield their soldiers from certain death.


    The st surged across the battlefield, obliterating everything in its path for dozens of kilometres. Even the towns and cities on Cudjour''s borders, which had been evacuated in anticipation of the battle, were razed to the ground in an instant��a sobering reminder of the great power wielded by Epic Level existences.


    In a moment of surprise, a streak of golden light pierced through the dense mass of ck lightning, hurtling towards Rodald with astonishing speed. Reacting on instinct, he raised his halberd just in time to intercept the descending de.


    **CLANGG!!!


    The impact of the strike sent shockwaves through his arms, causing him to stagger backwards. As he nced at his weapon, he noticed cracks forming on its surface, showing just how immense the force behind the attack was.


    With a mixture of astonishment and wariness, Rodald looked up to behold the figure responsible for this sudden attack.


    A teenager bearing dark hair with white highlights that seemed to shine. He looked simr to before, still donning the same ck shirt with grey undersleeves and ck trousers withbat boots.


    However, unlike before, he was not ''standing in the air'' and was now flying.


    From his back, a single pair ofrge white wings stretched out with a sleek and membrane-like structure, partially adorned with opalescent scales.


    Atop his head, two horns protruded, pulsating with potent magical energy.


    Translucent white-gold scales sheathed his body like battle armour, covering his chest, and shoulders, and forming forearm guards over the ones he normally wore.


    Though his pupils had turned into vertical slits reminiscent of that of a reptile''s, his irises maintained their grey hue, and likewise, the glowing Mystic Symbol within them continued to gleam with ethereal light.


    ''Evan Eris has gained the Power of a Dragon.''


    This was a rumour that had been flying around for the past two months. Today, those rumours were confirmed.


    "Is this the real you, your truebat form?"


    "��"


    Evan remained silent, looking around at the battlefield around them and surveying the destruction caused by Rodald''s earlier attack.


    His gaze went to the top of the Cudjour mountain and then he looked around once more, at the hidden agents of other countries who were monitoring the battle.


    "You know��since I became a grandmaster, this is the first attack that has actually ''hurt''."


    Rodald''s eyes narrowed as he tried to analyse Evan''s current state with his eyes. He refused to believe that the boy could tank his ''Death Storm'' with ease and only be ''Hurt''.


    Putting it into perspective, Rodald''s attack was even more powerful than the ''Tsar Bomba'', and most of that power had hit Evan directly, with the residuals being what exploded outwards and wrecked everything within the nearest few kilometres.


    He didn''t think Evan was as unscathed as he made himself out to be. However, the boy''s destruction essence was too potent and it obscured whatever analysis he tried to conduct.


    This, however, only served to confirm his conjecture, that Evan had taken far more damage than he appeared to.


    However, his focus was quickly diverted as Evan''s next words rang out.


    "Let me thank you with this ''little trick'' I''ve been saving up."


    "?!"


    Evan''s horns amplified his magic power and his Dragon Heart began beating heavily. It pumped out a storm of energy which Evan routed through his destructive energy circuits and straight to his mouth.


    Faster than Rodald could move, faster than anyone could even blink, Evan''s mouth opened as wide as could go and he activated a skill.


    Authority of Dragons.


    ''Dragon Breath!''


    And then, in the next moment, it happened.


    A beam. A Hyper Beam. The kind dragon types were known for firing.


    The crimson-goldser that left Evan''s mouth was so thick and dense with power that it put even the most powerful Specium Ray to shame.


    The air shook.


    The atmosphere trembled as the thunderous roar that apanied the st flooded the surroundings with noise. Even people kilometres away found themselves instinctively covering their ears to try to endure it.


    Rodald''s reflexes served him well, allowing him to evade the attack with a swift manoeuvre. Yet, in that fleeting moment, he bore witness to the devastation unleashed.


    The beam collided with one of the peaks in the Cudjour Mountain Range��a modest elevation, standing at somewhere around 3000 to 3050 meters.


    Evan''s ''Dragon Breath'' collided with this mountain and it ''disappeared''.


    That was the best way to describe it as the mountain had beenpletely obliterated, erased without a trace.


    In its wakey nought but a colossal hole, a gaping chasm in the once-solid range, offering a glimpse of the state of Todbury beyond.

 Chapter 718 Display of Power, and Meetings Under the Radar [Monthly Bonus 1]

    Chapter 718 Disy of Power, and Meetings Under the Radar [Monthly Bonus 1]


    ??"��"


    A Disy of Power.


    That was what Evan had just done.


    He obliterated one of the Cudjour Mountains with his breath attack, and before closing his mouth, he exhaled a stream of magic power, allowing everyone with sharp senses to know.


    That what he had just done, was not his full power.


    Evan had been looking for a perfect moment to show the world a glimpse of just how strong he really was; hence why he wanted to fight Rodald.


    "Surrender, Rodald Kuhagan."


    The boy spoke with an eerily calm voice, his eyes glowing with light as he once again exhaled, releasing the excess magic power which had umted in his body due to his dragon heart momentarily going on overdrive.


    "Or the next one��would NOT miss."


    "��"


    A tant threat.


    Rodald understood what Evan meant by this.


    Destroying the mountain had given Evan a clear view of Todbury, a state with hundreds of thousands of Wolfen Citizens still living in it.


    He was telling the man that if he did not call for a surrender, he would unleash another breath attack which would be aimed at the state.


    Rodald was confident he could block the attack, but the issue here was that he did not know how many more times Evan could fire it off.


    He did not judge Evan with normal standards, and sensing the boy constantly exhaling magic power with each breath, he could tell that energy was not a problem for Evan.


    ''If I continued fighting him, and he fired one of those and it hit a city faster than I can block it��!''


    Rodald could almost see the scene of carnage that would follow.


    ''No, there would not be carnage. That''s only possible if there''s anything left��that attack would pulverize the city��''


    He did not know if Evan would really kill tens of thousands without hesitation, but he did not want to test the boy''s limits with Wolfen Citizens on the line.


    Just when he was internally surpassing his defiance to surrender, Evan uttered a line he could not ignore.


    "I am capable of curing Zakaria''s corruption."


    "?! How do you��?!"


    Lightning burst from the man''s body in response to his emotions, but he quickly calmed himself when he remembered the situation. Evan apuded his control and fished out something from his inventory��the reason why he was away for the past three days.


    "By itself, it''s not enough to cure the Corruption caused by a High-Rank Demon''s demonic energy, but coupled with the ''Blessing of Light'' skill, it''d do the trick."


    "��"


    Rodald thought about his friend who was suffering even now as he looked at the ''mass of divine power'' in Evan''s hand before gritting his teeth and speaking.


    "��I surrender."


    "Tell that to the soldiers on the ground as well."


    Evan calmly replied as he retracted his energy and then dismissed his Imperial Scales, whilst maintaining his Draconic Mode and his BoD state.


    ''I should get to Liz soon��''


    His gaze then turned towards the foreign spies in the shadows and he raised a brow at them, as if asking ''What are you still doing there?''.


    All of them instantly got the hint and within a minute they all ran away, scampering towards their masters with reports about Evan''s power��just like the boy wanted.


    ''International Influence n Phase 1-Complete.''


    �� �� ��


    Rodald Kuhagan''s sudden call for surrender was surprising but not unexpected. He was not the only one who had the concern of Evanunching a breath attack at Todbury.


    The other Generals were also scared of this so when they heard Evan''s words and then Rodald suddenly surrendering, they understood his reasoning.


    Logically, they epted it, but emotionally, they were defiant.


    However, when the ''Living Legend'' of the Country, Sir Esoti, suddenly sent out a message to all the Generals, they shut out those emotions quickly.


    Sometime during the whole aftermath of the battle, Evan, Beluar and Rodald disappeared, leaving nothing but a short message to Amiyah and Lierin.


    [Handle things here, reinforcements will being soon.]


    �� �� ��


    Unknown Location


    Capital City Askal


    GEE


    July 10th


    Year 1053


    Rodald''s whole body screamed at him to run.


    At the same time, it also told him to stay still and y dead if possible.


    Conflicting intentions.


    He could not be med as his senses had be confused due to the mass of power that mmed into him the instant he came out of the teleportation waypoint.


    Or rather, the mass of power was always there and he was the one who mmed into it.


    ''Don''t dare show the slightest iota of hostility.''


    His survival instincts screamed at him as he slowly raised his gaze from the ground, to meet the figures who were seated in the room Evan had just dragged him to.


    The first one who caught his attention was the brown-eyed woman who was looking at him with a confused gaze. She had a veryrge, pointy hat on her head, a long dark blue coat over a white blouse and a simple blue skirt.


    He recognized her.


    How could he not? She was one of the''s Sovereigns!


    ''Fely al''Rear?! Why is she in the GEE?!''


    Evan had suddenlye up to him with Beluar and said to follow them, and they went through a series of teleportations before ending up in Askal.


    Now, he was suddenly faced with one of the most powerful beings alive and she wasn''t the only one there!


    ncing around he saw that there were many other Living Legends present in the room, all seated and waiting patiently.


    Even the GEE Emperor, Isaac Wilson himself was present and the man was also waiting patiently.


    He saw two people seated on both sides of the Emperor, one he recognized as ''Frost Duke'' Kieran.


    ''In that case, then the other one is the First Star!!''


    Rodald could sense the enormous me energy resting in the body of the Masked Man on the Emperor''s side, and he didn''t need to be a genius to figure out this was the ''Human me'' in the flesh.


    Spatial power converged at a point and a man appeared. He had grey hair and wore ck robes with a symbol of a magic staff inscribed in a pentagram on his back.


    "Oh, seems I''m quitete."


    ''Gavin Josey?! The Former and Current Chief Grand Magi in the same ce? What''s going on here?!''


    Sadly, no one was going to answer his questions as even the boy who made hime here was nowhere to be seen. Evan had stopped at thest Waypoint saying he wanted to get something so only he and Beluar hade here.


    Another teleportation happened and this time, it was a very familiar face.


    "Sir Esoti?!"


    "Hm? Oh��they brought you here as well, huh?"


    Esoti remarked as he stepped forward and allowed the remaining figures behind him toe out of the Waypoint.


    Rodald''s eyes widened in shock as he sensed another mass of me energy and there was the source was the masked man who entered the room after Esoti.


    ''Wait��there are two Human mes?!''


    The discovery was one that shocked the Wolfen General, and he felt that the two simrly masked men wereughing at him when he came to this realisation.


    Finally, Evan emerged from the Waypoint, earning a lot of surprised nces as no one present was familiar with his Draconic Mode. The power he was exuding also made the Living Legends surprised as they never thought it possible for one to hold such levels of power while being a grandmaster.


    ''How strong would he be when he actually bes an Epic?''


    Such a thought crossed their minds as they looked at the boy who was surveying the people present with his eyes.


    "You''rete, kid!"


    Bourne shouted out to Evan when the boy entered and shook his head before pointing at a seemingly empty space.


    "I''m not��He is."


    Right after he spoke, spatial power converged at that empty space and a spatial gate manifested. From within, the figure of a lion beastman with reddish brown hair emerged.


    "Come on, Evan. It''s just a few minutes."


    Beast Prince David Thancreed replied as he walked into the room, followed by Sovereign Dandeyr and an entourage of 12 Beastman Living Legends.


    "Evannnnnnnn!"


    A dark voice suddenly rang out and hearing it, both David and Evan flinched instinctively. The two turned around to meet the figure of Evan''s blonde girlfriend ring at him and David quickly figured Evan had gotten himself into some mess again.


    Eliza walked up to Evan and grabbed him, before dragging him out of the room. Both of them returned a few minutester, and Evan was back in his base state, with his horns and wings no longer visible.


    While others were confused about what just happened, Fely and Dandeyr looked at Eliza with impressed gazes as they understood it all.


    The girl had easily seen through Evan''s Destruction Essence coating, noticing just how much damage he had actually taken from Rodald''s earlier attack.


    Inferior Stage or not, the man was still an Epic and as he had suspected, Evan had actually taken a lot of damage from his ''Death Storm''.


    That was why Eliza was angry, as Evan had gone off somewhere and gotten injured again.


    Despite her annoyance, she still healed him up, consuming three charges of her skill to do so. This showed just how much vitality Evan had, and how powerful Rodald''s attack was to deplete that enormous vitality by approximately 33%.


    Evan had been moving around with 67% HP all this while.


    Another Spatial Gate appeared at that moment, and the person who emerged prompted Emperor Isaac to raise his head from the files he had busied himself with.


    "Mother."


    Hannah Wilson smiled at her son, before ncing around at all the other powerhouses in the room. Behind her, a man with short blonde hair with a face Isaac found all too familiar entered the room.


    ''No��that''s not Rudeus.''


    Such a thought crossed the Emperor''s mind as he gazed up at the Former Emperor of the GWE, Derrick Hayes.


    "Good, the old man''s here. All that''s left is our dear Princess."


    As if on cue, thest spatial gate opened, and a floating orb emerged from within. A surge of magical energy emanated from its core, scanning each individual present before it pivoted and hurtled toward Evan at supersonic speeds.


    The boy raised his hands and caught it, before bursting intoughter, much to the surprise of everyone present.


    "Evan, if you call me up on such short notice next time, I''d sucker punch you in the face."


    A voice chimed in, heralding the arrival of its owner.


    Stepping forth was a teenage girl, her chestnut tresses cascading in a neat ponytail. Her piercing blue eyes bore a Mystic Symbol akin to Evan and David''s.


    "Nice to see you too, Laurene."


    Evan quipped, earning a tongue click from the girl. With a nonchnt wave, Laurene effortlessly reimed Venus, guiding it back into her grasp.


    From the spatial gate behind her emerged Luke and ten of the GWE''s Living Legends, apanied by a Sovereign who all bowed respectfully upon seeing Derrick.


    "Laurene, it''s been a while."


    Derrick acknowledged the Legends with a nod before walking up to his granddaughter, his arms spread out for a hug. However, to his astonishment, the girl ignored him like he wasn''t even there, heading straight for David.


    A tense silence fell over the gathering, broken only by Evan''sughter as he caught sight of Derrick''s bewildered expression.


    He was the only person here who understood why Laurene had causally ignored her grandfather and opted to go to David instead.


    "I wonder, which one are you, Dear Princess."


    "I could ask you the same."


    Laurene and David faced each other in a silent confrontation, radiating an invisible aura that kept others from interfering.


    Some looked to Evan, confused as to why the other two Heroes appeared hostile with one another but the boy ignored their gazes.


    Laurene and David continued their standoff for another 30 seconds before the girl suddenly smiled and spoke.


    "Good, you''re the actual one."


    "Huh?"


    David was caught off guard when she suddenly said this, but it was then he noticed the subtle change of in the symbol in her eyes.


    "Stage 3?!"


    "Huh? Laurene''s on Stage 3?"


    Evan teleported behind Laurene and peeked over her shoulders to look at her eyes while she silently flicked his forehead.


    "What? Never seen a Stage 3 M????????????��??c??? ???E???y???��?? before?"


    "I have. Every morning in the Mirror."


    After such a reply to her question, Evan patted her on the head and continued.


    "Congrattions on bing a Grandmaster. Now all that''s left is to be an Epic before the Year 1055."


    "��"


    Everyone who heard Evan''s words looked at him like he was some kind of madman, Laurene and David included.


    He just told her to go from Level 300 to 500 in less than 2 years��it was absurd.


    "Not everyone is as ridiculous as you are."


    However, Evan only smiled lightly and that smile made Laurene feel chills. Her instincts warned her that Evan was capable of making his words a reality, and the means he was going to employ would not favour her at all!


    "Oy! Evan, what are you n-"


    "Anyway! Everyone''s here now."


    Evan casually interrupted Laurene and teleported to the centre of the room, before setting down a magic projector and powering it on.


    Laurene wanted to find out what Evan had in store for her, but the boy had suddenlymenced the meeting, knowing fully well she would not interrupt him.


    The magic projector disyed the map of the Alpha continent and all eyes turned towards it, with focus ced on the sports which were marked with red circles.


    "This would basically be a repeat of ''Operation Synchro'' which was used against Dominik Vk in Chevertonst year.


    But this time, there''d be a slight difference."


    Evan projected a list of names; the names of the cities, towns, states and countries circled on the map as he spoke.


    "This time, we''d be simultaneously hitting Demonic Hand bases, across the entire continent."


    "This��is Operation Synchro 2.0."

 Chapter 719 Too Late, Already Surrounded.

    Chapter 719 Too Late, Already Surrounded.


    ??Roadside Kiosk


    Obrita


    Wolfen


    July 17th


    Year 1053


    "Five Thunder Bear Meat Skewers Please!"


    "Five? Are you sure you''d be able to handle all that magic power?"


    "Hahaha! I can handle ten, even."


    Evan replied to the roadside kiosk owner as he sat down and passed the man money for the order. He released a small bit of his aura as well, allowing the man to see he was ''quite strong''.


    "Oh! You''re an adventurer, I see."


    The man chuckled and epted the money before beginning to roast the thunderbear meat for Evan.


    The Young Hero was currently in one of the Eastern Wolfen States, where he had been looking for a certain Hidden dungeon which he wanted to raid together with David and Laurene after the war. The dungeon was somewhere in the Rahead Notch, ins that were surrounded by the semi-circr Rahead Mountain Range.


    ''Wolfen sure has a lot of Mountains. Guess, they wouldn''t miss the one I destroyed.''


    After the stunt he pulled a week ago, the international stage had been abuzz with news headlines about him.


    This came with more people trying to shadow his movements at all times and though he knew It was to be expected, it was still annoying.


    ''Oh well, after they continuously lose track of me for the next few months, they''d give up.''


    Right now, even the best information guilds would have a hard time trying to track Evan due to the wonders thebination of Lethe and Concealment worked.


    He could not count how many foreign intelligence operatives he had pulled disappearing acts on over the past week.


    ''I guess it''d take them a few more hours to realise I''m not in Croville anymore��''


    As Evan purchased a drink from a hawker along the bustling city streets, he took a moment to sip it in silence, observing the lively activity around him. Despite the turmoil guing Northern Wolfen, the atmosphere in the Eastern cities he had visited over the past day felt remarkably different.


    The hustle and bustle of the streets, the chatter of the people going about their daily lives��it all seemed far removed from the conflict gripping the nation.


    "Here''s your meat, kiddo."


    "Ohh, that''s sparkly!"


    Evan eximed, taking the te and immediately digging into the food. The sight shocked the other patrons at the kiosk seating area.


    "Oh! The guy''s on a roll! Three in a row!"


    "Four! He ate four without stopping for a spring water break!"


    The adventurers present rallied around Evan as he ate, and when he finished the fifth skewer, they burst into cheers.


    The reason for their excitement was that the monster meat Evan had consumed was from an S-Rank creature, containing vast amounts of residual magic power. Eating it could help increase one''s internal magic reserves, but it came with risks.


    The thunder-attribute energy within the meat was highly vtile, and improper absorption could lead to injury. Yet, Evan had effortlessly consumed five portions in one go, astonishing everyone around him.


    Even the kiosk''s owner, a retired A-Rank adventurer, was impressed.


    "Here''s another one on the house!"


    He offered Evan, who epted without hesitation.


    As for why they��Wolfen Citizens��were not freaking at the sight of Evan, it was because the boy was currently wearing one of his hooded jackets that had recognition inhibition on it.


    Basically, as long as the Hood was on, they would not be able to figure out who he was even if they felt he looked ''familiar''.


    Evan engaged in some small talk before rising to his feet and preparing to depart.


    As he was walking out, he collided with someone, but before he could utter a word, his Danger Sense skill sent him a sudden warning.


    *TING!


    Evan''s Hypercognition allowed him to perceive everything that happened in slow motion, his eyes catching sight of the round ck ball that the man who bumped into him dropped to the ground.


    *TING!


    It bounced once, before beginning to emit a white light that roused the instincts of all the nearby adventurers. They could sense the magic power building up inside that ball and if magic power condensed into such a small space was released all at once, the results would be devastating��even for them.


    Now, if Master Level existences capable of tanking town-level attacks considered it devastating, then what would happen to the thousands of normal Bronze/Silver Level civilians within the st radius?


    Complete Obliteration.


    All of them moved to act instantly, wanting to get that bomb out of there, but there was someone who was even faster.


    Evan grabbed the orb with his right hand, spinning his body around to generate momentum before flinging it into the air with all his might.


    The resulting sonic booms sent those nearby tumbling, but the orb was sessfully tossed thousands of metres into the air in an instant.


    **KAABOOOM!!!!


    A deafening explosion ensued, jolting the city''s civilians and eliciting screams of fear. Swiftly, the police force mobilized to address the sudden disturbance.


    Nearby officers noticed something go up in the air moments before the st, so they rushed to the ce it came from and they were met with a startling sight.


    None of them present was ignorant of the War currently going on, so there was no way that they could mistake the face of the boy they saw.


    "��Irregr Evan!"


    One of the Adventurers called out and it was then that Evan noticed his hood had fallen.


    The boy''s eyes narrowed as he ignored them and searched the crowd for the person who had just bumped into him.


    "That man��he''s gone."


    "?! Come to think of it, the dude who dropped that bomb!"


    The Adventurers snapped out of their shock and quickly returned their focus to the main issue here. The person who had bumped into Evan had seemingly vanished.


    That person was also the one who had pushed back Evan''s hood to reveal his face.


    Although the Wolfen Adventurers had mixed feelings towards Evan, they didn''t deny that he was the only one in range who could react fast enough to deal with that orb before it exploded.


    Even the retired A- Rank nearby would have been a secondte.


    They quickly reported this to the police officers but before their report finished, the owner of the Kiosk shouted out.


    "There! It''s that masked guy who dropped the bomb!"


    All heads turned and the adventurers caught sight of the man who had bumped into Evan standing behind the perimeter the police had created to evacuate citizens. Holding up his hands while looking right at Evan, he dropped a simr ck orb to the ground.


    Evan teleported in and grabbed the orb, freezing the energy within with Harbinger of Ice, but the man who dropped it had vanished in that short moment.


    ''Track Down!''


    With amand, Evan activated his skill, and his eyes honed in on the target atop a nearby building.


    Surprised that Evan spotted him so easily, the man flinched for a moment but he quicklyposed himself and held out another simr bomb.


    Following Evan''s gaze, the other adventurers nearby also saw the man, and they saw him as he vanished after dropping another bomb. In a split-second manoeuvre, Evan reappeared in his previous position, catching the orb and freezing it once more.


    With a narrowed gaze, the young hero locked eyes with the man who had reappeared on another rooftop. Police officers on the ground were scrambling to catch him but Evan held out his hand and created a wall of ice that blocked them from getting too close.


    ''This guy��he''s baiting me.''


    Evan figured this out as he noticed that the man had always turned to face him first before dropping the bomb as if trying to make sure Evan saw him do it.


    The scene of him dropping a bomb and Evan catching and freezing it repeated itself one more time, confirming Evan''s conjecture.


    ''He''s trying to bait me and make me follow him, but does he really think I''d be stupid and follow him alone?


    It''s obvious that there''d be others lying in wait for me wherever he''s trying to lead me.''


    Evan shook his head as he saw the man trying to get his attention. The boy then took a deep breath before raising his hand to smack away the magic missile the man fired at him.


    "Kuro, get Ka thene to my location immediately."


    [Yes, Master.]


    "Roselia, I think we''ve got our first batch. Some guy is trying to bait me somewhere. Basically, what I did with Terrence in Osto."


    [Already? Also, why are you so far out from me? It''d take me at least half an hour to get to you even if I used the Teleportation Waypoints.]


    As Evan conversed with Roselia, the man reappeared on another rooftop, firing magic missiles to get Evan''s attention but the boy just used an Elemental Shield to block them without looking at him.


    He did his disappearing act two more times and Evan ignored both times. This seemed to infuriate the man as he pulled out three bombs and dropped them all at once, 100% sure Evan wouldn''t ignore him after this.


    "Change in situation guys, I''m engaging him."


    In an instant, Evan''s voice pierced the air, and the boy vanished from his spot, reappearing directly in front of the masked man.


    "Wha-!?"


    The man eximed, attempting to teleport away, but before he could act, Evan''s left hand seized his neck in a tight chokehold, preventing him from activating his skill. Simultaneously, Evan''s right hand froze the bombs, swiftly stashing them away into his inventory.


    As other adventurers chasing the man arrived at Evan''s location, they were met with a powerful sonic boom, knocking them back as Evan disappeared into the distance in a blur.


    ''He was trying to bait me in the Northern direction. Maybe that''s where his conspirators are?


    If so��I''d go South instead.''


    With that thought, Evan unfurled his wings and made a U-Turn, streaking across the sky like a gold as he flew in the opposite direction of where he was being baited.


    Arriving at the Rahead Notch in the South, Evan forcefully mmed the masked man onto the unforgiving ground of the ins below. With relentless fury, he dragged the man across the earth, subjecting him to the brutality of the rocky terrain.


    Opening his inventory, Evan retrieved the three bombs he had previously frozen. He then ripped off the man''s mask and mercilessly stomped on his stomach, which forced his mouth open. Evan stuffed the bombs into the man''s mouth, ensuring that this time, he left the magic power within the bombs unfrozen


    Seizing the man''s legs, Evan spun around and hurled him into the air with all his might.


    **KAAABOOOMMM!!!!


    The simultaneous detonation of the three bombs resulted in a catastrophic explosion, obliterating the man''s body in a devastating st of destruction, sparing Evan from witnessing the gruesome aftermath.


    "I''ve taken out the first guy, but like I said there may be oth-!"


    Evan''s words were cut short as he sensed iing danger. He summoned the Unforged into his hand and swung the de, knocking down the six arrows of light that hurtled towards him from a distance.


    The arrows exploded and enveloped him in magical smoke clouds that obscured his perception.


    From within it, two shadows blitzed in, attacking Evan from both sides at once.


    The Hero''s lips curled up into a grin and he turned to look at the assant on his right. Evan''s grin sent chills down his spine but it was already toote.


    ''Vindiction''s Strike.''


    Point nk Vindiction''s Strike, the skill activation concealed by Evan''s Mystic Eyes Stage 3 Effect.


    Chances of survival = 0%.


    Evan spun around and parried the dagger the other one attacked him with, noticing that there was some sort of greenish liquid on it.


    ''Poison��they don''t know I''m ''Loved By Nature'', do they?''


    He let go of the Unforged and clenched his fist before sending in a right straight to the side of the man''s face, activating fracture and mimicking Ka''s Electrome to triple the damage.


    The man''s body was sent flying hundreds of metres in an instant, and Evan called the Unforged back into his hands before releasing an aura sh, and a de cannon.


    Surprisingly, the man was able to react despite the damage he received from Evan, spinning around to gain momentum as he drew a sword and cut down the projected shes.


    "Burst Cannon."


    The instant the man touched the ground, Evan''s barrage of destruction essence bullets pelted his body with holes, ending his life in an instant.


    Right after this, Evan turned around and wanted to leave, but he suddenly stopped and sighed.


    "Should have used BoD. Would have dealt with them faster��"


    Evan smiled depreciatingly as he spoke, regretting his decision not to use BoD the instant he had sensed those two Assants.


    Because of that, he had wasted ''too much time'' in dealing with those two. Now, it was toote to run.


    After all, he had already been surrounded.

 Chapter 720 Need to wrap this up before Lunchtime! [Monthly Bonus 2]

    <h4>Chapter 720 Need to wrap this up before Lunchtime! [Monthly Bonus 2]</h4>


    The dust and smoke cleared up and Evan looked around and saw that there were twelve figures encircling him.


    Though his expression was serene, he had multiple thought processes running concurrently.


    ''I went in the opposite direction and I still got surrounded��was this their intention all along? Reverse Psychology?''


    However, things were not as deep as Evan thought.


    They indeed had a trap set for him in the Northern ins, and they actually had two others hiding to continue baiting him to the north after he had taken down the first guy.


    His actions of suddenly flying south put them through the wringer as they had to quickly abandon their traps and they even ended up using their one-time use teleportation artifacts to catch up to Evan in Rahead.


    These were the artifacts they nned to use after they finished dealing with Evan, but they ended up using them just to catch up with the boy.


    Now, they had no trapsid down and had to go with their backup n which they weren''t too sure would work since Evan had Destruction Essence.


    So, while Evan thought he had been yed, he was indeed the one who yed them and forced them to incur losses before the fight even began.


    Evan''s first action was to appraise the lot of them, and though he noticed they were with Appraisal blocking artifacts, said artifacts were useless before Evan''s ''FULL'' Appraisal.


    ''They really came prepared for me��''


    People knew Evan had an Appraisal skill, but not many knew it was not the regr Appraisal but the Rare Variant. Something that worked in Evan''s favour as it allowed him to see the statuses of the people surrounding him.


    ''Hmm��9 Superior Grandmasters and 3 Inferior Epics?''


    Evan frowned as he saw the statuses of the Epics, not due to their strengths but their identities.


    Unlike the 9 Grandmasters who were trained Assassins, the three Epics��were Knights.


    Knights from 3 Countries that Evan was well aware of.


    Looking at one of the Epics, Evan asked.


    "I wonder��how did I offend the Kingdom of Osmaoque for you��Knight Vice-Commander Darfin toe after me in person."


    The man was internally surprised that Evan had figured out his identity. He had gone through great pains to use transformation magic to change his looks, mask his aura and even forge his status and yet Evan identified him with a single nce.


    Without waiting for him topute this, Evan turned towards the elf who had arge bow strapped to their back and asked.


    "What about you, Mr Third Knight Division Captain of Zoskye? Or you, Mrs Leader of Sword Unit Five of Goshya?"


    "��"


    The three of them were silent despite Evan''s inquiries but the boy had already pretty much figured things out.


    Osmaoque was a Nation bordering Wolfen and was allied with it as well, and the King of Osmaoque had been making a lot of noise on the International Stage recently.


    He was the one who spearheaded the motion to sanction the GEE and had even secretly sent in troops to aid Wolfen.


    Evan had also heard him voice his discontent towards Isaac during the meeting with the Alpha Continental National leaders that happened on the day the War began. (Chapter 681)


    As for Zoskye and Goshya, those two were Nations bordering and allying with Osmaoque, part of the Alliance of Countries who resisted the GEE''s Hegemony of the Eastern Alpha Continent.


    And then Evan was a major yer in the GEE-Wolfen Conflict and had been the major reason for Cudjour falling as fast as it did.


    "The fact that you''re here means that this is an action ordered by the King of Osmaoque, is that right?"


    "What are you talking abou-"


    "Spare me the bullshit."


    Evan cut Darfin off and raised his hand, disying the man''s status for him to see. He also projected the statuses of the other two Epics, as well as the 9 Grandmasters.


    "Seems your Appraisal skill is better than expected."


    The Elf, Kailu, spoke up when he saw his actual status showing up. He also stopped concealing his Epic Level power which he had been hiding as he stepped forward.


    "You''ve grown too powerful Evan Eris. Even if you''re a Hero, you have gained too much power and influence too quickly.


    People get envious, you be a thorn in their sides and also a potential threat they need to nip in the bud.


    There''s a reason the brightest mes, burn half as long."


    A lot of people didn''t want a new yer rising in the International Stage, and that was precisely what Evan wanted to do.


    The boy had too much influence; Starting from his Peerage as a GWE Count, the fact that he was the Son of a Duke, he had connections with Chief Grand Magus Gavin, and Vice-Chief Joanna, was on friendly terms with Beast King Kolvar and his son, Prince David, was Allied with the GEE and its Seven Star Generals. This is excluding the fact that he was a HERO, who had ties with the Holy Kingdom and its Pdins (the guys from Cheverton), and the other powerful Nobles from other countries whom he had connections with.


    Then there was his physical power, which was enough to delete mountains from the map.


    And he was just 14, meaning he had a very, VERY long life ahead of him. Enough time to grow even more powerful.


    Osmaoque, Goshya and Zoskye were just three of the lot who didn''t like Evan.


    "So basically, you''re scared because I''m getting too strong too fast and you want to kill me off early?


    Did your leaders not consider ''befriending'' me? Would that not guarantee I don''t turn against you?"


    "You would still be a potential threat. It''s much better if you''re dead."


    This time, it was the Woman from Goshya, a half-cat beastkin named Sana who replied to Evan.


    Hearing her words, he nodded solemnly before shaking his head and saying.


    "I''m afraid, you would not seed."


    They all instantly geared up for a fight, thinking that Evan was about to attack, but much to their surprise, the boy suddenly disappeared.


    "?!"


    "His teleportation!"


    "Do ''IT''! Now!"


    In the same instant that Evan activated blink, Darfin pulled out an artifact from his inventory and spoke the activation words.


    "Voidbane Ward: Activate!"


    The orb released a pulse of spatial magic power which created a massive dome-shaped barrier that covered the entire Rahead Mountain range and everything within it.


    Within the confines of the barrier, all forms of Spatial Travel were voided.


    Naturally, Evan who had used Blink, was forced out of the spatial channel and back to the Material World.


    "You''ve gotta be fucking kidding me!"


    The boy cursed as he saw the artifact which Darfin had just used, instantly giving up all hope of teleportation.


    ''Roselia? Ka? Kuro?! Fuck!''


    His connection to his contractors was still there, but he could not send telepathic messages to them like usual. This confirmed that the ''Voidbane Ward'' was the same one he knew.


    An artifact created by the Last King of the Mountain Kingdom Verduracliff.


    "Shouldn''t have let Luke kill that guy. I need to beat the shit out of him for making such an artifact." (Chapter 546)


    Evan either had to destroy the artifact or kill the guy who held the artifact to destroy this barrier.


    "You guys are really forcing this battle thing here��"


    The boy touched the edge of the barrier and tried to use a bit of Destruction Essence on it, but the Spatial Law energy in the barrier was far stronger than his Destruction Essence so it failed woefully.


    He then clicked his tongue before re-routing the destruction essence into his sword and using it to cut down the projectile spells which were fired at him.


    "Alright, you guys want a fight, huh?"


    Evan stabbed his sword into the ground and then pulled out a pair of bracelets from his inventory, snapping the two artifacts onto his wrist as he spoke.


    "I promised my girlfriend I''d be home before Lunch today.


    I very much intend to keep that promise."


    As he spoke, he activated BoD, having zero intentions of hiding it. Besides, a lot of people already knew he had BoD and knowing that this lot came prepared for him, he knew they''d be expecting to see it.


    What people didn''t know, was that Evan also had another skill that multiplied his Stat Values��Limit Break.


    ''My Damage Output with a single serious attack can wipe multiple cities off the map��enough to kill a Peak Grandmaster. I''d need to hit an Epic multiple times to kill them so��let''s deal with the Grandmasters first.''


    Evan had analysed the stats and skills of the three Epics and concluded that individually, they were not as strong as Bourne or even Rodald.


    They were just barely on Kieran''s level. The only issue was that there were three of them, and they had 9 Superior Grandmasters backing them up.


    Evan unfurled his wings and leapt into the air, breaking out of their encirclement while the grandmasters quickly gave chase.


    One of them waved her hands and cast earth magic, unleashing a rapid-fire barrage of earthen projectiles that Evan had to manoeuvre to dodge. In the process of doing this, his speed slowed down a bit and that was enough for Darfin to catch up to him.


    The man shed down with his sword coated in his pitch-ck aura, however, Evan twisted his body and avoided the sh, before creating a void step and using it to boost himself towards the ground.


    Three of the grandmasters dashed towards his predictednding point and unleashed a spellbination of tri-


    Elemental magic on him, but Evan broke through with a multi-


    yered Elemental shield andnded on the ground.


    Arrows of green light were already flying towards him, primed to hit him the instant he touched down on the ground, but suddenly, his shadow wriggled and he disappeared right into it.


    "Huh? Wasn''t his teleportation sealed?!"


    "Yeah, you guys sealed it."


    "?!"


    The Assassin who asked that question didn''t even realise when Evan remerged from his shadow and before he could even turn, Evan had already thrust the Unforged forward.


    "Destruction Vortex."


    **BOOOMMM!!


    The same attack he used against Craitid was unleashed here, and the end result was everything from this man''s shoulders upwards was blown off.


    Evan pped his wings and leapt out of the way to avoid the Elf''s barrage of arrows,nding on the floor a few dozen metrester as he looked up at them and spoke.


    "One down."

 Chapter 721 Haven’t you heard? I’m Loved by Nature.

    <h4>Chapter 721 Haven''t you heard? I''m Loved by Nature. </h4>


    "One Down."


    Evan held out his left hand and pointed at the three Epics who had dark expressions as he continued.


    "You three would be thest to die, that much I can assure you."


    "This brat!


    Nether Typhoon, Eclipse Annihtion, Dark Implosion, Witch''s Flight!"


    As expected of the Epic Level Darfin, casting two Tier 3 and two Tier 2 Spells within a single breath, whilst simultaneously releasing a full-powered Aura sh backed up by three skills was not an issue for him.


    It was an issue for Evan though, as he had to dodge all that, whilst not forgetting to cut down Kailu''s arrowsing in from the distance and Sana''s rapid sword strikes of red lightning.


    Then there were the grandmaster Assassins who took advantage of the dust and smoke clouds from the explosions to pull disappearing acts and attack him with poisoned daggers.


    "Alright, give me some space."


    ''Shockwave + Elemental Skewer.''


    Evan used abo of skills to knock them all back, after which an array of spears of lightning and prismatic mes erupted from the ground beneath their feet, forcing them to move even further back.


    "Don''t let those multicoloured mes touch you!"


    Darfin shouted orders as he took to the skies to avoid the skewers, but Evan didn''t have any ns of letting him remain airborne.


    ''Evesting Chains.''


    The man sensed the skill activation, but before he could fly out of the way, the golden chains had already wrapped around his legs.


    Evan then pulled him with all his might, dragging the man down to the ground and mming him into the earth.


    The boy sent forth more chains to tighten his hold on Darfin, before abruptly shortening the chains to pull him close. He then spun his body around clockwise, swinging Darfin in the direction of Sana who was about to attack him from behind.


    After knocking Sana out of the way with Darfin''s body, Evan released a Vindiction''s strike to st them back even further, before ducking to avoid the two swords that crossed where his head was a second ago.


    Evan made eye contact with the assassin who just shed at him, before sinking into his shadow.


    Not even half a second passed when Evan''s body was forced back out, sending him flying in the direction of one of the other Assassins who was casting some pretty dangerous-sounding curse magic.


    "Hydra."


    The three serpentine dragons emerged from behind Evan, releasing breaths of Prismatic mes in all directions to keep the others away.


    "Curse of Protection! Curse of Dragons! Curse of-!"


    "Curse of Silence. Pierce Guard"


    "Mpmh!?"


    The man''s eyes widened when Evan cast a Curse Magic Spell, one that silenced the caster and prevented them from speaking any spell incantations.


    The Unforged glowed with a golden light as Pierce Guard tore through his ''Curse of Protection'' and to further cement the man''s shock, the eerie dark cloud of gas which enveloped Evan the instant he broke the shield seemed to have no effect.


    Even the ''Curse of Dragons'', a spell designed to deal with Dragons in particr was ineffective.


    It was then he realised something that wasn''t in the intel they had on Evan.


    ''He''s immune to curses!!''


    Unfortunately, he could not inform his allies of this as Evan''s ''Curse of Silence'' was still active. He tried to move out of the way but the Unforged pierced into his shoulder, allowing Evan''s Prismatic mes and Destruction Essence to run wild.


    "---!!!"


    The man let out a silent scream and Evan decided it was best to fire half a dozen Burst Cannons down his throat.


    No matter how durable he was on the outside, it was impossible for him to survive that.


    "Two dow-! Elemental Shield!"


    Evan quickly deployed multiyered shields around his body a mere second before an array of darkness attributed spears rained down on his position.


    He took advantage of the dust cloud and used Lethe, but it was only effective on the grandmasters, evident from the fact that Sana still charged right at him with her sword encased in red lightning.


    Evan surrounded the Unforged with his prismatic mes and raised the de to meet hers, unsurprisingly losing out in the initial sh.


    ''Inferior stage or not, she IS an Epic Level existence.''


    Such a thought crossed his mind as he activated Pdin and pped his wings to fly out of the way, avoiding Darfin''s aura sh that came from the right.


    A green snake suddenly burst out from the ground and shot towards Evan''s neck at supersonic speed, widening its jaws as it attempted to bite Evan, but its fangs met not with flesh but the hot and hard Imperial Scales.


    ''Burn.''


    Mesarthim turned the snake to ashes in an instant, and Evan momentarily looked around to find where it came from.


    Sadly, he could not take his attention away from the two Epics on his tail for too long and had to engage them inbat, relying on Danger Sense to avoid the asional arrows that appeared from thin air and targeted his vitals.


    Darfin''s dark aura de shed with Evan''s Unforged, while Sana''s sword crackled with crimson lightning as she unleashed swift strikes. Their movements blurred into streaks of light as they darted and weaved around each other at supersonic speed.


    They were so fast that even the Epic Level Elf, Kailu, could not find a moment to send in support for hispanions.


    At first, it seemed as though Darfin and Sana had the upper hand, theirbined onught pushing Evan on the defensive. But as the battle raged on, Evan found his rhythm, his movements bing more fluid and decisive.


    ''Could it be��?''


    ''He''s matching us with just pure skill?!''


    Darfin and Sana intensified their strikes, beginning to toss magic into the mix, but Evan''s timed uses of Elemental Shield made them abandon that idea.


    Their strikes seeded in breaking past his guard, but Imperial Scales activated automatically, drastically reducing the power of the strikes and Evan''s Physical and Elemental Damage Reduction further reduced the damage that Evan actually received.


    Evan''s destruction essence output increased by the second as he anticipated their attacks using his enhanced visual prowess and countered with calcted strikes of his own.


    He cut through their defences with precision, his strikes bypassing their durability as if it were a mere illusion.


    In just a minute, the tide of the battle shifted and Evan matched the speed and ferocity of the two.


    Just when Darfin and Sana simultaneously pulled their des back to charge up their attacks with aura, Evan seized the opportunity and stomped his foot on the ground.


    ''Copse!''


    **BOOMM!!!


    Copse sent seismic waves rippling through the earth, disrupting the footing of the two Epics with the shifting terrain.


    Evan unfurled his wings and soared into the sky, activating ''Frozen Inferno'' so he could now use his Harbinger of Ice without having to worry about it shing with Mesarthim.


    "Harbinger of Ice: Frostborne Colossus."


    With his words as amand, a giant humanoid knight manifested from the swirling currents of his icy magic power. Its towering form took shape with goldenme particles of Evan''s energy shimmering and dancing within the icy behemoth.


    The Colossal knight of magic power emerged holding a massive sword aloft. Evan''s golden aura filled the de and the knight swung it down towards the two Epics at breakneck speed.


    Evan did not have the peace of mind to look at the results, instantly turning around and coating his palms in aura, just in time to catch the green arrow of light that hurtled towards him from his nk.


    Riding the momentum of the arrow, he spun around and hurled the arrow at the flying monster that appeared out of nowhere. The arrow lodged right into the monster''s open mouth, piercing its brain and killing it instantly.


    He folded his wings and let gravity bring him down to the ground, clenching his fist and punching the ground as hended.


    ''Copse!''


    The force of his punch amplified by Copse turned the ground within a 500-metre radius into a giant sinkhole, throwing off the bnce of the assassins nearby.


    Taking advantage of the chaos, Evan dashed through the air towards the summoner who had two giant wolves at his sides.


    "GROAR!!"


    The wolves let out powerful roars as they leapt off the falling rocks and charged towards him but Evan did not have the time to deal with them.


    ''Hydra''


    He let his serpentine dragons y with the wolves, while he unleashed Evesting chains to ensnare the summoner.


    With the chains in tow, Evan flew out of the sinkhole and mmed the summoner into a nearby rock at the foot of one of the Rahead mountains.


    "Thunderp. Aqua Javelin."


    The familiar wall of lightning blocks manifested behind his back and mped down on his body, right before the water spellnded and worsened his misery.


    ''Vindiction''s Strike. Hydra.''


    Evan unleashed the two skills on Darfin and Sana to keep them at bay for a few more seconds, enough time for the Unforged to fly back into his hands.


    Grasping the sword, he shot down towards the paralysed Summoner and stabbed him in the chest, before activating Vortex.


    **BOOM! *SPLAT!!!


    Blood and gore sttered around him, staining Evan''s face, but he remained undeterred as he turned his gaze to Darfin and Sana who had just dealt with his attacks and spoke.


    "Three down."


    "Tsk��Use the Curses!"


    Immediately after Darfin gave the order, three of the Assassins who had been silent since the beginning encircled Evan and activated a plethora of curse magic spells and skills.


    """Combination Magic: Deca Curse Congration!"""


    The curse magic spell circles unleashed beams of deep, dark purple and eerie green light that pierced through the air with malevolent intent.


    These beams converged upon Evan, striking his body with precision and engulfing him in a shroud of ominous energy. As the beams made contact, curse marks began to spread across Evan''s skin, their dark tendrils creeping and intertwining, marking him with their symbols.


    Each of the three assassins had cast the same curse magic spells, all of which were either Tier 3 or 4 variants.


    Curse of Weakness-Reduces physical strength by 50%.


    Curse of Vulnerability-Increases damage taken by 100%.


    Curse of Confusion-Causes disorientation and loss of focus.


    Curse of Silence-Prevents casting of spells or incantations.


    Curse of Exhaustion-Drains stamina and energy rapidly.


    Curse of Agony-Inflicts excruciating pain on the target.


    Curse of Slowness-Reduces movement speed to a crawl.


    Curse of Blindness-Renders the target temporarily blind.


    Curse of Misfortune-Brings about a series of unfortunate events.


    Curse of Doom-Imposes an impending sense of dread and despair.


    Each curse and debuff was designed to incapacitate Evan and make him vulnerable to further attacks.


    Darfin and Sana didn''t even wait for all the curses to take effect, loading their des with dark and crimson lightning auras respectively. They dashed forward at sonic speed and brought down their swords with the force of a small mountain behind them, aiming to end Evan swiftly.


    However, Evan''s reaction stunned them both.


    ''Mesarthim; Orange: Self Immtion, Adamantine Might.''


    As their des descended towards him, Evan''s arms suddenly glowed with an orange hue, and he raised his hands, now engulfed in mes, to catch their des with his bare hands.


    The shock on Darfin and Sana''s faces was palpable as they witnessed this unprecedented disy of strength.


    Despite Evan managing to catch their attacks, the force of the blows pushed him back, his feet dragging through the earth for over a hundred metres and creating a massive crater beneath his feet.


    However, what truly astonished Darfin and Sana was the fact that Evan seemed unfazed even after enduring over 30 curses.


    "How?!"


    Darfin eximed, his voiceced with disbelief.


    Looking up at them with a grin, Evan replied confidently.


    "Haven''t you heard? I''m Loved by Nature."

 Chapter 722 Nuclear Magic… Psych! [Monthly Bonus 3]

    <h4>Chapter 722 Nuclear Magic�� Psych! [Monthly Bonus 3]</h4>


    "Haven''t you heard? I''m Loved by Nature."


    "What sort of bull-!"


    "Mesarthim, Explode."


    "?!"


    Evan''s prismatic mes tinged with destruction energy ignited and unleashed a cataclysmic explosion. The air around him crackled with raw power as the mes surged, growing brighter and hotter until they erupted with the force of an atomic bomb.


    **KAABOOOMM!!!!


    The explosion engulfed the area in a blinding ze of light and heat, sending shockwaves rippling outward in all directions. Darfin, Sana, and the nearby assassins were caught off guard, and were buffeted by the force of the st. Their bodies were thrown back by the sheer power of the explosion, and singed by the searing heat.


    As Evan was immune to his own mes (except when using Self-Immtion techniques), he was unharmed by the explosion. He quickly retrieved healing potions from his inventory and downed them before pouring the rest on his arms.


    Although he made it look like nothing, he had just caught the attacks of two Epic Level existences who were aiming to kill him.


    The bones in his arms were fractured all over and were seconds away frompletely shattering. His Orange mes also concealed the blood that spurted as some of his veins burst, preventing Darfin and Sana from noticing just how much damage he truly took.


    He then took advantage of the mes and smoke to activate Lethe, his targets not being the Epics but the three Assassins who had used curses on him.


    ''Chain Lightning.''


    ''Hollow Magic: Hollow Cannon.''


    ''Mesarthim; Red: Molten Torrent.''


    ''Mesarthim + Harbinger of Ice: Blizzard Ignition Spear.''


    The assassins were all paralyzed by the powerful lightning that jumped around the three of them, incapacitating each one in turn. After this, Evan seamlessly used the strange yet powerful Hollow Magic to delete one''s head, bore a hole in another''s chest with Mesarthim and thenbined his mes and ice to impale the third.


    Just as he did that, he spotted another Assassin nearby and decided to remove the spear and use it to finish that one off as well.


    However, Danger Sense red an rm and he tossed the spear away instantly, calling the Unforged into his hands and encasing it with his ''Elemental Destruction Fusion''.


    Immediately after, a deluge of arrows of light fell from the skies like a downpour, forcing Evan to deflect them with frenzied swings of his sword, knocking down the arrows that aimed to pelt him with holes.


    The damage dealt by each individual arrow was small, but when there were thousands of them, it was kind of hard to ignore.


    "?!"


    Danger Sense suddenly sent him another warning, and it was then Evan realised that the Assassin he had attempted to just kill had gotten to her feet and charged at him with her sword.


    With a skilful flourish, she infused her de with earth elemental energy, channelling the power of the earth itself into her strike.


    ''Fuck! The elf can make his arrows ignore his allies!''


    He had not seen that feature in the skill description so he believed this was a technique Kailu had created by himself.


    ''Elemental Shie-No, Stout Guardian!''


    Evan''s magic power surged forth and conjured a twenty-metre-tall golden armoured knight wielding a massive great shield a head taller than it was.


    The gargantuan knight took a stance with the shield to protect Evan from the seemingly infinite rain of arrows, each arrow creating an explosion of green light upon collision with the shield.


    The Stout Guardian held its ground, absorbing the brunt of the infinite rain of arrows on behalf of Evan, allowing him to turn around and use a technique he had been saving to eliminate the assassin who attacked him.


    He ran his hands along the Unforged''s de, infusing more of his prismatic mes into it before spinning clockwise and performing a full power swing.


    "Mesarthim; Red: Hell Unleashed."


    "A-?!"


    **KAABOOOMM!!!!


    Evan''s decisive swing of the Unforged, infused with the searing power of his prismatic mes, tore through the air with unstoppable force. As the de descended upon the assassin, it unleashed a torrent of scorching energy, engulfing her in a cataclysmic ze.


    The sword cleaved the assassin in twain with lethal precision, and the intense mes consumed her form in a ze of incandescent light, reducing her to nought but ash.


    But the devastation did not end there.


    ''Hell Unleashed'' was an ''Ultimate Technique'' on par with Harbinger of Ice''s ''cial Annihtion'' which had killed Silverwing, and the unleashed power continued to surge forth, carving a fiery path through the earth for hundreds of meters.


    It collided with one of the nearby Rahead mountains, unleashing a violent explosion that rent the very rock asunder, sending shards of stone cascading in all directions.


    The earth trembled beneath the force of the impact, the echoes of the explosion reverberating through the surroundingndscape.


    "Seven down."


    Evan took a deep breath and exhaled a stream of magic power; however, it was then that he noticed that the rain of Arrows had stopped.


    Even more concerning, was that he could not sense Kailu''s presence in the distance like before.


    He could sense the remaining two Assassins, he could sense Darfin and Sana, but not Kailu.


    Immediately, Evan spread out his magic power andid down awork around him, one that was primed to detect the slightest movement.


    ''Kailu has a concealment skill��I can''t even find him with Track Do-"


    "Got you."


    "?!"


    Evan didn''t even have half a second to react when he heard the Elf''s voice ring out from behind him.


    Faster than he could activate a skill or even deploy a simple energy barrier, Kailu''s drawn bow which was aimed at Evan''s chest unleashed the powerful Arrow of light created using his Unique Skill.


    "Sacred Star Arrow."


    The arrow of radiant light struck Evan''s chest at point-nk range, its impact shattering his Imperial Scales with terrifying ease.


    The explosion that followed was one no less intense than Evan''s earlier attack with Mesarthim. It ripped through Evan''s durability like paper, engulfing him in a maelstrom of searing energy.


    Blood spluttered as the force of the stunched him through the Rahead Notch, his body hurtling through the air like a ragdoll.


    With a bone-jarring impact, Evan collided with a mountain at the far end of the Notch, his form smashing into the rock with unimaginable force. The mountain trembled beneath the onught, the sheer power of the impact carving out a cavernous hole in its towering structure.


    Evany sprawled amidst the wreckage, his body battered with the echoes of the explosion ringing in his ears.


    Also ringing in his ears, was Kailu''s loud energy-infused voice.


    [Darfin! Sana!]


    ""On it!""


    Evan tried to get to his feet but the damage he had taken was too much, such that he could not recover in time for Darfin to reach his position.


    "Divergent fist!"


    Darfin''s ck aura coated his right fist which he had buffed with multipleyers of body strengthening, and he blitzed towards Evan''s position, delivering a swift uppercut that sent the Hero''s body careening through the roof of the mountain.


    The impact sent shockwaves rippling through the air with a thunderous crack, sting apart the mountaintop in the process.


    Just as Darfin sent Evan airborne, Kailu kicked off the ground with all his might and leapt into the air, drawing his bow and firing another one of his strongest attacks.


    "Star Storm!"


    A volley of arrows was unleashed from his bow, pummelling Evan''s already wounded form and knocking him down towards the ground where Sana stood ready with her sword half drawn.


    "Sword Drawing Arts: Red Lightning sh!"


    **CRACKLEE!!!


    Tendrils of crimson lightning snaked around her de as she unsheathed it at supersonic speed and delivered a full-powered wide swing at Evan.


    With a deafening roar, her de sliced through the air, meeting Evan''s falling body with devastating force. The collision was fierce, the sheer power of Sana''s attack sending Evan spiralling through the air once more.


    Darfin came in with his sword raised overhead, swinging the de downwards and channelled his dark aura into it as he activated his unique skill.


    As the sword descended, a shockwave of dark energy rippled through the air, colliding with Evan''s falling form and sending him hurtling even faster towards the ground below. But before Evan could reach the earth, he was met with a barrage of magical attacks from the other two assassins.


    The first assassin, wielding powerful lightning magic, unleashed a Tier 4 Thunderp Tempest spell. Bolts of crackling lightning arced through the air, striking Evan''s body with ferocious intensity. The searing energy of the lightning spells seeped into Evan''s wounds, causing searing pain and leaving behind charred, smoking flesh.


    Meanwhile, the second assassin invoked another Tier 4 as well, this one of the water element.


    ''Torrential Deluge'' sent a massive wave of water surging forth, crashing towards Evan with immense force.


    However, before the spells reached him, Evan''s eyes shot open, glowing with a dangerous light as his destruction essence poured out of his body uncontrobly.


    "HYDRA!!!"


    Three serpentine dragons emerged, coalescing powerful mes in the mouths which they prepared to fire off.


    Kailu, Sana and Darfin charged in, each one attacking one of the serpentine dragons, fully confident they could take them out and let the water spell reach Evan.


    "?!"


    "Wha-!"


    That confidence vanished like smoke in the next second.


    Another three Serpentine dragons emerged with breaths of Prismatic mes charging up in their maws, making for a total of six.


    If it was just this, then it was manageable, however, in an instant, six became nine, nine became eighteen and eighteen became thirty-six.


    Thirty-six serpentine dragons, each one holding breaths of mes, ice, destruction energy and lightning.


    Thirty-six Breaths which were released simultaneously in all directions with a deafening roar, creating a chaotic maelstrom of destruction.


    mes engulfed the area in scorching heat, ice-encased everything in a frozen prison, destruction energy tore through the fabric of space, and lightning crackled with untamed power.


    Caught off guard by the sudden onught, Kailu, Sana, and Darfin found themselves overwhelmed by the sheer force of the elemental assault. Their hastily put-up defences shattered under the relentless barrage as they struggled to evade the deadly breaths, their forms battered and scorched by the ferocious onught.


    As the dust settled, the areay in ruins, with Evan standing amidst the aftermath, his serpentine dragons coiled around him like guardians.


    The boy took a deep breath, the sound of his beating ''hearts'' filling his ears as he opened his inventory and brought out a healing potion bottle.


    It was a high-grade potion, worth tens of thousands in gold coins and Evan poured the contents over his wounded body without a care.


    *TSS!!!


    He looked at his arms and saw his wounded flesh mending itself in real-time, taking a deep breath before opening another potion and emptying its contents down his throat.


    As Evan discarded the empty potion bottle, Kailu, Sana, and Darfin, closed in, apanied by the two remaining assassins.


    Despite their injuries, their weapons were still poised for battle and their auras pulsated with energy. Blood dripped from their wounds, staining the ground beneath them, but overall, they were in a much better state than Evan was.


    Thest two grandmasters activated their skills, and simultaneously, four of the five assants charged toward Evan with skills active. Meanwhile, Kailu hung back, drawing his bow with a wary eye on Evan''s next move.


    Evan raised his right hand and then summoned the Akashic Page, the grimoire''s appearance shocking the five as they didn''t have any information about Evan owning a grimoire.


    ''We can''t let him cast any spells with that thing!''


    Recognizing the potential danger, they hastened their approach, sonic booms reverberating as they closed in with rming speed.


    However, when Evan''s lips parted, the words they heard him say sent shivers running down their spines.


    "Nuclear Magic."


    "?!"


    "Shit! Back away!"


    They all forced themselves to stop, regardless of the bacsh for cancelling their skills and magic midway or the internal damage they suffered from suddenly breaking when moving at such high speeds.


    When they saw the five-ringed magic circle of gold light appear behind Evan, they changed their directions and turned to the side to run, scampering to get out of range.


    But to their shock, the magic circle suddenly shattered into fragments of light and Evan, holding up a middle finger at them spoke one word with a grin.


    "Psych."

 Chapter 723 Haven’t you heard? The third time’s usually the charm.

    Chapter 723 Haven��t you heard? The third time��s usually the charm.


    ??"Psych."


    "!!"


    "Son of a-!"


    The Assassin couldn''t finish his curse as Evan suddenly disappeared from his field of vision. It took him half a second topute that the boy didn''t really ''disappear'' but just moved at a speed fast enough that he could not catch it even with his Superior Grandmaster vision.


    "Nox Explosion!"


    He activated a skill and released an omnidirectional attack of darkness magic, an attempt to protect himself just in case Evan attacked him.


    This proved futile, however, as Evan blitzed through the explosion unscathed and seized the Assassin in a chokehold faster than he could react.


    "Nox Magic, huh? I like it.


    I want it.


    Thanks for it."


    |Nox Magic Acquired|


    |Rare Skills require one skill slot. |


    |Five Skill slots remaining. |


    Evan shamelessly took the skill before turning the man''s body and using him as a human shield to block the barrage of green light arrows Kailu sent flying in his direction.


    "You''re not dead? Let me help you then. Nox Explosion."


    With that casual remark, Evan activated his newly acquired skill and used it on its original owner.


    **BOOOMM!!!


    The explosion engulfed them both, the Assassin''s body absorbing the brunt of the st while Evan emerged unscathed.


    "Eight..."


    Evan muttered this under his breath, seemingly oblivious to Darfin and Sana who had closed the distance with their des filled to the brim with power.


    They unleashed powerful strikes, aiming for Evan''s neck but the boy silently held up his hand and made the pages of the Akashic Page p underneath his palm.


    "Nuclear Magic."


    The familiar five-ringed golden magic circle manifested and immediately, the two Epics cancelled their attacks and backed away. However, Evan grinned and cancelled the spell once more, making their faces contort in anger.


    "You damned!!"


    Evan pped his wings and took to the skies, manoeuvring to dodge Kailu''s arrows as he flew straight towards the elf who noticed his intentions and made attempts to increase the distance.


    Darfin was hot on his tail and Evan sent Hydras at the man to slow him down before sending out Evesting Chains to ensnare Kailu.


    The elf, however, proved too dextrous as he avoided all of the chains with paper-thin margins, forcing Evan to give up on that endeavour for now.


    He turned around and drew the Unforged, engaging Darfin in closebat while he summoned his Frostborne Colossus to keep Sana at bay.


    Danger sense red an rm and Evan unleashed the most powerful shockwave he could, knocking Darfin towards the ground and blowing away all Kailu''s arrows.


    He then nosedived to the ground, charging right at thest grandmaster who was casting water magic.


    Mesarthim''s prismatic mes surged and destroyed his spell circles, allowing Evan to grab the man in the short moment he was immobilized due to the bacsh.


    He let go of the Unforged and activated Fracture, taking a hefty swing at the man with a right straight punch, leading into a left hook, then a right uppercut and a left straight��aplete six-hitbo.


    Every time his fist struck the man, it let off a tremendous sound and sent lightning tendrils scattering everywhere as it shaved away at the man''s life.


    Upon sensing Sana and Darfin closing in behind him, Evan grabbed the man''s neck and pivoted, flinging his body towards the two before summoning the Akashic Page once more.


    "Nuclear Magic."


    "We would not fall for the same trick thrice!"


    Darfin shouted out as he knocked the assassin''s body to the side and charged his de with aura, while Sana activated her unique skill in preparation to strike.


    Hearing his words, Evan smiled before speaking.


    "Haven''t you heard? Third time''s usually the charm."


    It was then that Darfin and Sana noticed, that the Five Ringed Spell circle behind Evan, did not dissipate into fragments of light like the previous two times.


    "Nuclear Magic: Atomic Annihtion."


    A blinding light enveloped the area as the beam of nuclear energy streaked towards Darfin and Sana with unstoppable momentum, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.


    Darfin, quick to react, seized the nearby assassin and hurled him in front as a makeshift shield. The unfortunate man barely had time to register his fate before the beam struck, triggering a cataclysmic explosion of unimaginable power.


    The force of the st was staggering, sending shockwaves rippling through the air and engulfing everything in its path in a blinding inferno. The ground trembled beneath their feet as the explosion expanded outward, leaving devastation in its wake.


    The explosion was so intense that it could be seen for kilometres around.


    As the dust settled and the smoke cleared, the aftermath of the explosion revealed a scene of utter destruction, with nothing left standing in its wake.


    Nothing except Evan who unleashed the spell, and Darfin and Sana who were somehow unscathed by it.


    "What?"


    Evan frowned as he had expected to take at least one of the two out, and yet both of them were still perfectly fine.


    However, the dark expression on their faces showed that they had note out unscathed for free.


    They had used the defensive Artifacts which they had prepared to use to block Evan''s ''Dragon Breath'' to block the Nuclear Magic spell.


    The three of them had one artifact each, and now Darfin and Sana simultaneously used theirs in response to Atomic Annihtion, leaving only Kailu''s left.


    "��"


    All four of them remained silent, both sides watching each other warily. For a split second, Darfin and Sana exchanged a knowing nce, and upon noticing this subtle action, Kailu unleashed a volley of arrows at Evan.


    "Star Storm!"


    "Hymn of Protection!"


    Evan blocked the volley with a shield, but through the transparent shield, he saw Darfin and Sana both pull out a small bottle and consume its contents.


    Immediately, their energy surged uncontrobly, releasing shockwaves that shattered Evan''s protection spell and pushed the boy back a few dozen metres.


    Just as Evan looked up, a familiar series of notifications appeared in his field of view.


    |Threat of Imminent Death to Host Detected ?|


    |Reincarnated Hero System Stored Authority Consumed|


    |Activating ''Sur��


    "Limit Break."


    ��vival Enhanc��


    ''Limit Break Derivative: Overload.''


    ��ement Mode''|


    "Prismatic Destruction Vortex."


    "?!"


    Kailu didn''t even realise when Evan appeared beside him and before he could even utter a word, a whirling mass of spiralling energy had already collided with his body, yeeting him into the air with unbridled force.


    Darfin and Sana were barely able to see the streak of crimson-


    gold light that crossed through the sky, kicking off the ground to follow it as fast as they could.


    By the time they got to it (3 secondster), the sight they were met with was that of Evan standing atop the fallen Kailu''s body with his mouth wide open.


    White wings with opalescent scales stretched from his back and two horns sat on his head. His body was covered in translucent white-gold scales, matching the reports they had received about his Dragon powers.


    Nevertheless, even in their newly empowered state, they were not fast enough to stop Evan from unleashing his breath attack right on Kailu''s body.


    **BOOOMMMMM!!!!


    The explosion of power that urred when Evan''s breath hit Kailu was enough to crumble the already half-destroyed mountain where he had been bashed through earlier.


    Immediately he did this, Evan instantly bent his body backwards and dodged Darfin''s sword sh, stretching his hand out to grab his de and fling the man over his shoulder.


    The force with which Darfin mmed onto the ground was great enough that his body bounced back up and Evan wrapped Evesting Chains around him, before spinning around and mming his body into Sana''s.


    ''Elemental Shield.''


    The skill''s activation came half a second before it was pelted with an array of green arrows, powerful enough to make it crack and shatter in an instant.


    Evan recreated another shield but a dozen arrows wereunched at it right after, all targeting the same spot and shattering the shield.


    Danger sense red and rm and Evan''s attention was turned towards his other side, and in that short moment, another dozen arrows which were faster than the first two volleys, hurtled towards him.


    All twelve arrows pierced the midpoint between Evan''s left shoulder and elbow.


    "Gak!"


    Imperial scales shattered and his flesh was rent. The arrows tore through his muscles and even reached his bones.


    "Stout Guardian!"


    Evan reactivated Imperial Scales and summoned the giant armoured shield knight who raised its shield just in time to block Kailu''s Sacred Star Arrow.


    The boy then used his ice to freeze the wound, before pping his wings and flying through the Stout Guardian, through the cloud of dust and smoke to reach Kailu''s position in an instant.


    The elf activated a shield but Evan summoned the Unforged and used Pierce Guard, tearing through the shield like paper and stabbing it into his shoulder.


    As soon as Evan stabbed into his shoulder, Kailu erupted with newfound strength, grabbing Evan''s hand in an attempt to hold him in ce.


    In that instant, Darfin and Sana burst in through the smoke with their weapons primed to attack, but Evan had long since sensed them and was prepared.


    ''Vindiction''s Strike!''

 Chapter 724 Even mighty dragons would die...

    Chapter 724 Even mighty dragons would die...


    ??Two gold-rimmed portals manifested beside the both of them and unleashed beams of prismatic mes which they were just barely able to dodge.


    As for Kailu who was holding Evan, the boy opened his mouth and fired a short, barely charged breath attack to his head.


    The force knocked Kailu off Evan and then Evan charged up a breath and unleashed another one on the elf, with three times more power.


    **BOOOMM!!!


    "Kailu!!!"


    Evan apported an energy potion into his hand and downed the content, while he activated Pdin''s limited healing on his wounded left arm.


    Turning around, Evan grabbed the Unforged, activating ''Adamantine Might'' and ''mmable Arm'' to boost his power before swinging his sword to meet Darfin''s sh.


    Shockwaves rippled outwards as the ground beneath their feet shattered to pieces. Gold and ck auras shed with each other, locked in a battle for dominance.


    However, Evan had no intention of fighting that battle.


    ''Elemental Weapon Projection!''


    Countless weapons of mes appeared behind Darfin and hurtled towards him but he rolled to the side to avoid getting hit.


    Instead of colliding with Evan, the weapons curved around him andunched towards Sana who wanted to attack him from behind, forcing her to use her aura to knock them down.


    Evan left Sana behind and chased after Darfin, unleashing a Prismatic Vortex which Darfin dodged with lightning-fast reflexes.


    ''Both their Speed and Power have increased considerably. It''s like I''m fighting Craitid all over again.


    What was that thing they drank? A power booster? If they''re doping then there''s gotta be side effects��''


    Such thoughts crossed the boy''s mind as he appraised Sana who was casting a spell, noting her current stats which had been boosted, along with the demerit that came with the boost.


    ''Durability! Their Durability has been reduced to 1/3 of the original! Their Health is also maxed at 50%!''


    Considering this boost gave them around 60-70 levels worth of power in an instant, it was a fair trade-off.


    Of course, it had a time limit too.


    A very short one.


    "Lightning Magic Overload: Arcane Bolts of Severance."


    Dozens of crimson lightning bolts descended from the heavens, reaching Evan faster than he could call out Stout Guardian.


    He coated his de in destruction essence and swung it to deflect the lightning bolts and it was at that moment that Darfin charged in from his left nk.


    Evan, who was in mid-attack motion, could not rapidly redirect his movements to deflect so he created multiyered elemental barriers around his body to protect himself.


    He doubled theyers of Imperial scales covering his vitals; his chest, neck, head and joints, making them strong enough to buy time for him to deflect the lightning trying to strike him down and evade.


    A wise decision, however, Darfin was not aiming for any of Evan''s vitals in the first ce.


    He activated his unique skill''s full power and shed��right at the midpoint of Evan''s left shoulder and elbow, the spot that Kailu had wounded earlier.


    His sword effortlessly shed through the singleyer of imperial scales there, as well as the ice Evan had used to freeze the wound.


    The de tore through the remaining dregs of Evan''s skin, sliced through his bone and severed Evan''s left armpletely.


    It was a miracle��the fact that Evan did not scream out in pain, that is.


    They said there was a first time for everything, and now, Evan had just lost a limb for the first time.


    Darfin''s de collided with his side, however, the power in the sword had already been consumed in cutting off Evan''s arm, so all it could do was knock the boy to the side without dealing any real damage.


    Of course, blood sprayed from the severed arm like a fountain, and Evan nked out momentarily due to the pain.


    However, Evan clenched his right fist and used Harbinger of Ice to freeze the stump left to seal it off and stop the blood loss.


    He tumbled on the ground for a few metres before getting up to his feet, breathing heavily while his hearts beat wildly.


    Darfin flicked the blood off his de, pointing it at Evan before speaking.


    "The next would be your head."


    "��Unforged."


    The jet-ck deunched through the air and towards Evan''s hand, but Sana intercepted it and stopped it from reaching him.


    "His weapon is down!"


    "You think that''s enough to ''disarm'' me?"


    Evan snorted and activated Elemental Weapon Projection, creating over a thousand des which were allden with his prismatic mes.


    Seeing this, Sana didn''t think twice about letting go of the Unforged if it meant avoiding the rain of swords.


    Unforged flew back into Evan''s hand and the instant the sword entered his hand, Evan thrust the de forward.


    "Prismatic Vortex."


    The swirling mass of spiral prismatic mes was too fast for Darfin who had been targeted to evade so with a swift counterattack using his dark aura, Darfin barely managed to nullify the vortex, but his relief was short-lived as Evan unleashed a Dragon Breath upon him.


    Despite Darfin''s best efforts to block the attack with his unique skill, he couldn''t fully mitigate the damage, leaving him reeling from the impact.


    Suddenly, the breath attack stopped and Evan coughed out a mouthful of blood, dropping down on one knee.


    Evan''s heart was currently working on overdrive to rece the blood he had lost, and now he just strained his Dragon Heart to fire a Breath. This naturally did not end well.


    Sana, after managing to evade the storm of des, shed in with her crimson lightning and unleashed multiple arcing shes towards the boy.


    "Stout Guardian!"


    The trusty knight materialized and mounted its shield to block the strikes, before turning to the side and deflecting the beam of darkness that Darfin fired towards Evan.


    A four-ringed magic circle manifested above Evan''s head and before the boy could get out of the way, a beam of crimson lightning descended from the heavens, shattering Evan''s Elemental Shield and crashing down upon him with devastating force.


    Darfin and Sana charged in towards him, ready to attack the wounded Evan and end him, but the boy was not done yet.


    "BURN, MESARTHIM!!!"


    "Shi-!"


    ***KAAABOOOMM!!!!


    The massive explosion released shockwaves that sent both Darfin and Sana flying through the air like ragdolls.


    Evan blitzed out of the smoke and charged right at Darfin, unleashing six lightning-fast strikes with mes and destruction essence.


    He then swirled the energy around the sword and activated Vortex, mming the man into the ground and shredding apart his life with the spiralling energy.


    Sana who seemed to have taken far less damage from the earlier explosion, charged in from behind and Evan''s eyes glowed dangerously as he infused his sword with his mes and turned around.


    "Mesarthim; Red: Hell Unleashed!"


    Evan''s swing unleashed hell upon the earth, the mes tearing through the air with unstoppable force.


    Sana''s saving grace was the fact that she specialized in speed due to her lightning attribute, otherwise, the de would have cleaved through her head and not just barely scraped her hair.


    The young Hero saw his sh had missed and followed it up with a powerful kick that sent her reeling, before turning around to sh with Darfin.


    ''He''s on hisst legs! If we can keep up the pressure a bit, he''d burn out by himself!''


    Darfin had that thought as he matched Evan''s fierce assault with his full power, his vision red from the blood in his eyes.


    Suddenly, Evan''s body was engulfed with orange mes and with an unexpected burst of speed, the boy stabbed Darfin''s wrist and forced the man to drop his weapon.


    Evan''s eyes gleamed as he saw a chance, drawing his sword back and swirling his energy around it, preparing a full power strike.


    "Vorte-"


    "Sacred Star Arrow."


    "?!"


    The supersonic arrow of green light tore through the air and collided with Evan''s back at this unexpected moment, piercing through his chest in the split second before he couldplete his skill activation.


    Over a kilometre away, the Elf Kailu, his body covered in blood and burns running all the way up and down both his arms and the sides of his face, coughed out blood before parting his lips to speak threest words.


    "Get him, Darfin."


    Darfin did not hear him due to how far they were, but he could tell the elf''s intent. The attack he unleashed at the cost of all his remaining power, created the perfect opening for Darfin to finish the job.


    He clenched his wounded fist and immediately took action, circling around Evan''s body and locking onto the spot where Kailu''s arrow had pierced.


    "Divergent Fist!!"


    Darfin punched with all his might, his fist sting a hole right into the left side of Evan''s chest.


    He grabbed the boy''s heart in the process and ripped it out of his body before speaking.


    "Even mighty dragons would die if their hearts are destroyed, much less a human borrowing a dragon''s power."


    With those words, he crushed the blood-pumping organ in his hand, and like a puppet whose strings had been cut, Evan''s body copsed onto the ground lifelessly.

 Chapter 725 Bitch, I have two hearts.

    Chapter 725 Bitch, I have two hearts.


    ??As soon as Evan dropped, Darfin also fell to the ground, his breaths heavy.


    His skills were all forcefully released as his magic energy was exhausted, and the boosted power from the drug he and Sana had consumed ran out.


    ck magic power steam escaped his body and he coughed out ck blood, before forcing himself to his feet.


    All his finger bones were broken, having suffered damage in trying to pierce Evan''s chest.


    ''Just how strong was his body? I aimed for the spot where he was already wounded and I still took this much damage?''


    Darfin had certainly not expected this task to turn out to be so difficult, to the point where none of the Assassins they brought along with them had survived.


    "Did you get him?"


    "He''s dead."


    The man replied to Sana''s question, looking up to her and continuing.


    "Mission Aplished."


    Sana put away her sword before walking up to him and helping him up to his feet, looking at the scene of devastation around them.


    ''No way Wolfen''s Government has not noticed this��I reckon the reason they haven''t acted is because they cannot break this barrier.''


    The woman pulled out healing potions and fed them to Darfin, but they did little to help his situation.


    "I''d work on disabling the Spatial Istion, go grab Kailu and let''s get out of here."


    Sana nodded and let Darfin stand before kicking off the ground and dashing over to where Kailu was.


    Left behind, Darfin tried circting the tiny aura he had left but his energy circuits were fried. This meant disabling the spatial istion artifact would be quite difficult.


    He gave onest look at the corpse on the ground before bringing out the artifact, along with his teleportation stone.


    It was then, that he came to a realisation.


    ''Wait a sec��I just killed that brat.


    Even vampires with absurd regeneration would not be able to survive without a heart. The boy had so much power but there was not that much of a level difference between us.


    So why?''


    "Why haven''t l levelled up?"


    The moment he asked himself that question, he felt a shiver run down his spine.


    �� �� ��


    Sana stopped for a moment to catch her breath, having pretty much exhausted all but 1% of her maximum energy reserves.


    Her buffs had run out and her energy circuits were just as fried as Darfin''s, so she wasn''t going to be casting any magic anytime soon.


    Just as she was about to resume her journey to the elf''s location, she sensed a surge of magic power behind her.


    **KAABOOOMM!!


    "WHAT?!"


    She turned around and saw a small mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke, surrounded by prismatic mes and golden lightning.


    "DARFIN RIPPED OUT HIS HEART!! HOW IS HE STILL ALIVE?!"


    Answering her question, was a voice that sounded like it came from the depths of hell.


    "Bitch, I have two hearts."


    "?!"


    **BOOOM!!


    Something hit Sana faster than she could turn around, and when she looked down, she realised that everything within her chest region down to her waist had ''disappeared''.


    ''Oh��I''m already dead, aren''t I?''


    That was thest thought she had before her consciousness sunk into eternal darkness.


    *BA-THUMP!!


    The sound of a beating heart rang out loudly as Evan dragged his battered body towards where Kailu''s half-dead formy.


    Right now, his Dragon Heart was the only thing keeping him alive.


    He popped open a potion and emptied the contents down his throat to help his situation, but it didn''t do much.


    He got to where Kailu was and then stabbed the Unforged into the Elf''s stomach, the pain of destruction essence on his soul seeding in jolting him back to consciousness.


    "You''re not gonna die so easily."


    Evan summoned a dagger from his inventory and then proceeded to skin the man''s torso while keeping him alive with potions.


    "Here��this is the ce you shot me, isn''t it?"


    Evan''s destructive essence-coated de stabbed down onto the elf''s chest, eliciting screams of pain that could send shivers down the spines of any hearers.


    He repeatedly stabbed the man everywhere but his heart, keeping him alive for as long as possible before finally ripping out his heart to end his misery.


    Taking a deep breath, Evan took a step forward but Limit Break deactivated suddenly, making him stagger and nearly fall to the ground.


    ''Oh, good thing I wore the Energem Reimer on my right hand��''


    Such a thought crossed his mind as the magic stone he inserted into it beforehand started being drained to repay his energy debt to the world while he moved his body all the way back to where Darfin was.


    "Spatial��Istion��gotta


    release that��so Liz can find


    ��my location."


    *BA-THUMP!!


    Evan apported a few juice pack potions onto his arms and burst them open, allowing the contents to pour all over his body.


    He forced himself to drink some, ignoring the fact that it was mixed with the blood inside his mouth.


    The high-grade potions did their work, but Evan had far too many wounds for potions alone to heal.


    His greatest wound was the hole in his chest where his human heart was supposed to be.


    Evan''s body had evolved to work with two Hearts. Both could pump blood, but the primary function of one was not pumping blood, but pumping magic power.


    Currently, the heart whose primary function was pumping blood didn''t quite exist anymore, so the other was now acting as the backup.


    However, since his Dragon Heart''s primary function was not pumping blood, its efficiency was not as good as the Human Heart.


    It was simultaneously doing its original job of pumping energy so Evan''s wounds could regenerate over time, and also pumping blood to keep him alive.


    Both could not be done at 100%, even more so as Evan was currently pretty much half-dead.


    |Tenacity (Rare) Evolves into Tenacity (Ultra-Rare) |


    "You''d better evolve after all that."


    Evan spoke as he grabbed the legs of the half-dead Darfin and began dragging him.


    "My mother once told me, that Evidence gathering should be a priority in situations like this."


    He was not talking about Patricia Del Eris here on Aidos, but his mother from Earth V, Kristine Bourne.


    "Makes sense she''d say that��she is a Lawyer, after all."


    The boy chuckled lightly as he reached where the spatial istion artifact fell. He bent down to grab it but he ended up falling to the ground weakly, coughing out a bit of ck blood.


    "Nasty."


    He forced himself to stand but his legs seemed to have gone offline, so he ended up just sitting on the ground and taking a deep breath.


    Suddenly, Evan''s eyes widened in shock.


    Everything around him had turned silent.


    He could not hear any sounds. The sounds of his mes burning, the sound of the rocks copsing in the distance and the rustling of the wind.


    Most importantly��


    ''My vision has turned monochrome.''


    The moment he thought that, he heard the sound of footsteps. They sounded rxed, not the kind you''d hear from someone visiting this scene of devastation with copsed mountains and mes burning all around.


    Looking down, Evan saw a pair of feet adorned in ck leather Brogue shoes stop right in front of him.


    Without even needing to look up, Evan knew exactly who it was that owned those feet.


    "E.O.T.D."


    [Hello, Evan.]


    Evan found that he had control over his body and he raised his head to look up at the man in front of him. He was dressed in a tailored ck three-piece suit with a double-breasted jacket and a simrly designed waistcoat.


    A silver chain watch adorned his left wrist, along with a ring of the same colour on one of his fingers.


    However, no matter how high he raised his head, he could not see above the man''s neck, as if there was some sort of invisible force preventing him from doing so.


    ''Haha! Figures.''


    [Three Epic Level Existences at the Inferior Stage. With two of them gaining powerparable to Intermediate stages using special drugs.


    The power they gained was in return for losing their durability and vitality, so killing them could be done easily.]


    The man put his hands into his pocket and walked around Evan, admiring the scene of destruction all around before he continued.


    [The circumstances honestly don''t matter. What matters is that looking at you, I saw my past self.]


    He stopped for a moment and ced his hand on his chin, seemingly in thought.


    [Not sure if ''Past self'' is the right word, there only exists one Instance of me after all.]


    "Huh? You don''t have a past?"


    [Well, if you do go back in time, you will see ''me'' in the past. But that''s technically also not me, but an Echo created by the concept of Time so as not to destabilize the flow of time.]


    Evan raised a brow in light confusion when he heard this, before remembering he had heard about something simr back on Earth V. He then posed a question.


    "What are you, a fourth-dimensional being or something?"


    [Fourth Dimension? You insult me.]


    ''So, he''s higher than that��''


    The manughed for a bit before pping his hands and speaking.


    [I''m not here to discuss my Dimensionality or past.]


    "Then what are you here for?"


    When Evan asked this, the man''s demeanour seemed to change and Evan felt that EOTD was smiling at him.


    [A certain day, many years ago, a certain boy faced off against ''Three Epic Realm Existences'' all on his own.


    This lone boy was but a mere Intermediate Stage Grandmaster at the time.]


    Hearing him suddenly say this, Evan tilted his head with a questioning nce before asking.


    "You?"


    [Indeed.


    Today, you faced off against ''Three Epic Realms'', or ''Levels'' as you call it on this.]


    Hearing his words, Evan guessed that others referred to the Levels of Existence differently, even remembering that Roselia used to say ''Existence Realms'' for a while before she eventually switched.


    [I faced off against three Epic Levels in the past while being a mere Grandmaster, and I prevailed��


    ��at least, that''s what I wish happened.]


    When he said this, there was a short silence before Evan finally asked.


    "You lost?"


    [Yes. I killed one of them and then it turned out they really weren''t just three in the end and h h h.


    Bottom line is, I lost that fight.]


    Evan was quite surprised that the man had so easily admitted that he lost. Given how he used to make fun of Evan for not being as good as he was before, he thought the guy was here to gloat at him for being in such a sorry state.

 Chapter 726 Unexpected Help

    Chapter 726 Unexpected Help


    ??Whether he knew Evan''s thoughts or not, the man continued speaking without caring.


    [You faced off against something simr, and though you were a Superior Stage unlike the Intermediate I was then, you still won.]


    Suddenly the atmosphere turned dark and the man''s voice went deep as he spoke.


    |Yet seeing you in such a pitiful state after your victory, irks me. |


    Evan could swear the man was speaking directly to his soul, because he heard the voice in his head, heard it with his ears and somehow heard it in his��chest?


    [No matter how much that girlfriend of yours tries, even if she consumes all her Skill''s power, it would be impossible for her to heal you in one go.


    She would be left with a choice:]


    EOTD held out his hand and Evan''s severed arm flew through the air,nding right into his outstretched palm as he spoke.


    [To either ignore all your wounds and restore your heart, and then her remaining power would not be enough to restore your severed arm.


    Or she would heal all your wounds and restore your severed arm, and not be left with enough power to restore your heart.]


    The young Hero frowned when he heard the man''s words, however, he knew best how bad his injuries were and with his understanding of Eliza''s power, she would indeed have no choice but to choose one option.


    [Your severed arm, or your destroyed heart.]


    "And I''m guessing whichever one she chooses to forgo��I may lose it permanently?"


    [Basically, yes. Once the healing process isplete, you will not be able to regainthe one which was foregone.


    And you also know that youmaynotst long enough to get to a more powerful healer.


    That''s certainly not a gamble she''d be willing to take as moving you around in your current state would only worsen your situation.]


    "��"


    Evan didn''t know what to say when he heard this. However, the EOTD justughed at him before saying an unexpected line.


    [I''m quite fond of that girl, you see.


    Her healing abilities intrigue me, and sheactuallyhas a rare case of Prity Bnce. I''m curious to know just how much they would evolve if she is to ever attain c????????????????i???????????????m??????s????????????o???????????????c??????????? ????????s????????????u??????????p???????????????e?????????r????????i???????????????o????????????r????????i?????????t???????????y?????????????]


    Whatever he said at the end of his statement, it wasn''t for Evan''s ears as the Law of Causality made sure that he didn''t hear even a single letter.


    The fact that the Law of Causality restricted him from hearing it, meant that whatever he said had the potential to give Evan power simply by knowing about it.


    [Anyway, I don''t want to see her disheartened due to being forced to make such a choice. You don''t know it, but you''re far more important to that girl than she lets on.


    She loves you so sooo much, that she''d feel like it''s her fault for not being good enough to heal you if she''s forced to make that choice.


    I know she would��Isawit happen, after all.]


    "��"


    Considering this man��the one who saw the future of Aidos and helped Artemisia create the simtion that was Aidos Online based on the future he saw��had unimaginable Temporal powers, Evan was 99% sure his words were the truth.


    The remaining 1%, was the chance he just wanted to mess with Evan mentally.


    [Hmm��good thought. Never trust anyone 100%. Especially old and powerful beings.


    You have no idea what bullshit they can do just for ''entertainment''.]


    EOTD casually read Evan''s thoughts and expressed his satisfaction, before snapping back to the main subject of conversation.


    [Back to your dear girlfriend, I don''t want her to be forced to make such a choice, so I would help you.]


    The man walked up to Evan and poked the hole in the boy''s chest where his heart used to be before speaking.


    |Time Magic: Dyed Restoration. |


    For the first time, Evan witnessed the activation of a Tier 7 magic spell.


    He tried to study it with his mystic eyes but his vision glitched and he felt blood running down his cheeks in the next second.


    ''I didn''t even try to mimic it yet!''


    [That would not be wise. Tier 7 is magic for ''Higher Existences''. You''d have to be at least Transcendent to do anything about it.]


    EOTD spoke as he took his finger out of the hole in Evan''s chest. Right after, an illusory blue clock manifested there and it began counting down.


    [That clock is invisible to anyone but you. Once that countdown ends, your Destroyed Heart will be restored. Every single piece fit back in ce like nothing ever happened.]


    Evan couldn''t help but feel amazed, and mixed in with his amazement was his gratitude which he did not forget to express.


    "Thank you."


    [You''re wee.]


    EOTD then walked over to where Darfin''s body was and spoke.


    [I can more or less guess what you want to do by dragging this fool''s body here.]


    He was about to kick the man but he stopped his leg midway and put it back down.


    "?"


    [My definition of a ''light kick'' would delete him from existence.]


    He answered Evan''s unspoken question before walking over the body and then snapping his fingers. Evan''s inventory opened and the camera and magic recording stones he wanted to use flew out and arranged themselves in front of him.


    [You have 12 hours to finish all you want to. After which your heart would begin restoration and you would fall unconscious.]


    "Huh? Why?"


    [Are youreallyasking this?]


    The man sounded exasperated as he spoke, before pulling up Evan''s status in front of him and disying it.


    |Name- Evan Von Bourne


    Race- Body: Draconic Human; Soul: r?????e???d?????????????l?????????????e??????????? ???????d?????????????????????g??????r?????????????e???????y???????????????????l??????????????s???????????? ??????????d????????????????????????????r???????b??????????


    Gender - Male


    Age - Body: 14; Soul: 18;


    Level- 499


    Existence Level - Grandmaster (Superior)


    Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########, S-Rank Adventurer, Protector of the People, Anomaly, Irregr, Count of the Great Western Empire, Leader of the Anomalies, Provisional Second Lieutenant of the GWE Army, Arcane Restorer, Dragon yer, Honorary Noble of the Beast Kingdom.


    ss- Elemental Sword Mystic (�Ԧ�).


    Health�C S+(125)


    Energy�C SS-(35)


    Strength�C S+(100)


    Agility�C S+(100)


    Durability�C S+(100)


    Intelligence- S+(87)


    Condition- Grievously Wounded, Critical State.


    Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 4, Lightning Tier 4, Shadow Tier 2, Ice Tier 4, Wind Tier 2, Water Tier 2, Darkness Tier 3, Light Tier 3, Non-


    Attribute Tier 4;


    Resistances- Divinity, Poison, Charm, Fear, Lightning, Mental, Elemental, Demonic Energy, Magic Energy, Death Essence, Acid, Pressure, Power Negation, Pain, Radiation, Biological, Spiritual Force, Memory Alteration, Destructive Energy, Law Energy, Petrification, Corrosion, Illusions, Radiation.


    Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Pdin, Concealment, Language Comprehension, Martial Arts, Fracture, Void Steps, Irregr, Evesting Chains, Lightning sh, Energy Maniption, Coercion, Dragon me, Dragon Breath, Imperial Scales, Skywrath, Frozen Inferno, Lethe;


    Mimicked Skills-Energy st, Aura sh, Blink, Inventory, Limit Break, de Cannon, Elemental Shield, Chain Lightning, Track Down, Tenacity, Intimidation, Copse, Elemental Weapon Projection, Thunderp, Physical Damage Reduction, Danger Sense, Vindiction''s Strike, Time Difference, Hollow Magic, Flux, Elemental Gale, Farsight, Elemental Skewer, Body Transformation, Stout Guardian, Hydra, Pierce Guard, Adamantine Might, Burst Cannon, Stoneheart''s Embrace, Shockwave, Nox Magic.


    Avable Skill Slots- 5;


    Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (3��), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction (1��), Vortex, Harbinger of Ice, Mesarthim: Prismatic Inferno, ����������. |


    [You''ve grown stronger. You are now Level 499 and your stat levels have increased.


    Your Heart is being restored to the state it was in the past, before your fight with that lot. Since your heart was weaker before the fight��]


    "��it''d have to evolve to match my current strength and be strong enough tomaitainmy body."


    [Seems that S+ intelligence stat isn''t being wasted.]


    The man spoke as he dismissed Evan''s status and then looked up at the afternoon sky before speaking.


    [Anyway, a twist of fate, this is.]


    Evan raised a brow in question and the man turned around before uttering a statement that shocked him to the core.


    [Who would have guessed that both you and Artemisia would be in ''Life-Threatening Situations'' at the same time?]


    "What? What happened to Artemisia?!"


    The young Hero''s reaction seemed to delight the man as he chuckled before shaking his head and replying.


    [That''s not something you''re supposed to know. Rest assured, Artemisia would not die from this much.


    That ''little girl'' has seen far much worse than you can imagine.]


    Leaving aside him referring to Artemisia as a ''little girl'', the man continued speaking, leaving onest statement that shocked Evan even more so than the news of Artemisia''s plight.


    [Besides, even if all the gods in the Universebined their powerstogether, they still wouldn''t be able to kill Artemisia.]


    The footsteps began fading into the distance and then colour returned to the world.


    [See you around, Evan.]


    With those words, EOTD left the to somewhere Evan did not know, leaving the boy who looked down on his chest and saw the illusory blue block counting down silently.


    Evan sighed softly and got to his feet, wiping the blood off his eye before grabbing Darfin''s body as he spoke.


    "I don''t know about all this bullshit with gods but you better don''t die out there, Artemisia. You still got wishes to fulfil for me."


    �� �� ��


    ''Why do I feel like someone is saying something about me?''


    That thought crossed through the mind of ''god Queen'' Artemisia as she heaved a heavy sigh, before looking down at her cracked de.


    The goddess was down on one knee, golden blood all over her clothes as she supported her body with the cracked sword in her hands.


    Stabbed into her shoulder, was the broken-off piece of a sword and piercing right through her back was a barbed spear coated in dense gravitationalw power.


    Artemisia grabbed the barbed spear with her left hand and yanked it out of her back, stifling the grunt of pain that threatened to escape her lips.


    She imbued her Divinity with lifew energy and scanned her body to analyse her situation before shrugging her shoulders and muttering.


    "Yeah��I''ve seen worse days."


    Artemisia muttered to herself as she got to her feet, ncing down at her clothes. Her white suit and ck overcoat were now covered in golden blood.


    The golden blood of the gods.


    She slowly sheathed her sword and the enormous ck-gold divinity that was escaping from it was sealed.


    ncing around her, she took in the sight around her.


    The ''sky'' above her was constituted of nothing but clusters upon clusters of a certain type of essence of utter destruction.


    It wasn''t thew of destruction''s power, however.


    It was something different.


    Something��dead.

 Chapter 727 Artemisia and Bewusstsein

    Chapter 727 Artemisia and Bewusstsein


    ??The sky looked like someone mixed in different colours of paint along with broken fragments of ss and iron and swirled as if it was being stirred slowly.


    As for the ''ground'', that looked normal.


    If you ignored the hundreds of corpses that were lying on the floor around Artemisia, that is.


    |HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! AS EXPECTED OF THE UNIVERSE''S FAVOURITE!!|


    A deepTrue Voicerang out, addressing Artemisia by a title she detested very much. The goddess turned her gaze towards the side and saw that one of the gods was still alive.


    |THE VALMONE UNIVERSE MAY FAVOUR YOU ARTEMISIA, BUT YOU WOULD NOT PREVAIL. OUR LORD WOULD SUCCEED.


    LORDBEWUSSTSEINWOUL-|


    **SHIK! GLURG!!


    Artemisia pulled out the broken sword which was stabbed into her shoulder and stuffed it into the man''s mouth to shut him up, before drawing her sword and stabbing him in the chest.


    The divinity in her de pierced through his physical body and directly harmed his soul, inflicting True Death upon him.


    The god''s Divine spark shattered to pieces and Artemisia watched the life go out of his eyes as she spoke.


    "I already defeated your ''Lord Bewusstsein'' in the past. What makes you think I can''t do it again?"


    Just as Artemisia said that, a voice rang out from behind her, questioning her statement.


    |Can you, Artemisia? |


    The goddess spun around with a wary gaze, looking around for the source of the voice. It didn''t take her too long to find it as one of the hundreds of corpses around her got up to its feet.


    It was that of a god Artemisia had killed in a rtively ''neat'' manner. All she had done was st a hole right through his torso.


    Compared to the states of the other corpses present, this was one of the rtively good ones.


    As for how this body which had lost its soul was now risen, it only took her a second to figure it out.


    ''Corpse Possession��that ability��''


    Artemisia knew the person who possessed that ability��it was the ''Bewusstsein'' she had just spoken about.


    |You did defeat me in the past, Artemisia. I''d admit that much. Or at least, you were in the group that did.


    But do not forget you had help.


    You weren''t even the one who dealt the final blow. |


    Bewusstsein dusted the corpse as he spoke, before crossing his arms behind his back and looking right at Artemisia, his eyes glowing with an eerie murky red light.


    |Need I remind you of the people who saved you from my clutches, and helped you defeat me on that fateful day, 10,000 years ago? |


    The man''s lips curled downwards as he spoke of his past defeat, before beginning to call out the names of the people who had aided Artemisia.


    The first name he called, was that of the ''Demon of Light'', Gozon''s former Supreme ''Demon King'', and the strongest in the''s history.


    |Alvey Sargon. |


    The next was that of a Noble Archdemon, from one of the most powerful bloodlines to ever exist.


    |Jack McEnda III. |


    Then came the name of a goddess, bearing one of thest names a certain Hero had seen in a certain hall of statues.


    |Beatrix Xagna. |


    Bewusstsein paused for a moment, before continuing, calling out the names of the three who had dealt the final blows that ended his life.


    First, was the name of a being from outside this Universe, someone who had temporarily taken up a ''Race King'' title here in the past�� ''He, the one whoes from the Beyond''.


    |Jamie Westley. |


    Following it, was the name of a ''World Hero'', the Leader amongst his peers and a name that could not be any more familiar to Artemisia.


    |Evan Bourne. |


    And thest but most definitely NOT the least, a name deemed ''Unspeakable'' by thews of the universe.


    | A?r?t?h?u?r? ? V?a?u?g?h?n? |


    Bewusstsein clicked his tongue as he spoke thest name, however, his lips suddenly curled into an evil grin as he continued.


    |You do not have the help of these people anymore, Artemisia. |


    Following this, he began to speak of the current situation of all the people whose names he had just spoken earlier.


    |Alvey Sargon was murdered by the Celestial King. |


    |Jack McEnda III fell while trying to save his wife, Sigesi. |


    |Beatrix Xagna is NOT so much of an Ally to you anymore. |


    |Jamie Westley has returned to the ''Beyond'' he came from. |


    |Evan Bourne? He''s nothing but a mere mortal. Just like he was all those years ago. |


    | A?r?t?h?u?r? ? V?a?u?g?h?n?��regardless of how much power he holds, he cannot intervene without the proper ''Justification'' or he''d have the Eternals out to get him. |


    Bewusstsein stepped forward and closed the distance between him and Artemisia, looking her right in the eyes as he dered.


    |You are ALONE Artemisia. And there is nothing you can do Alone. |


    "��"


    There was a silence for a moment which seemed like an eternity.


    The silence was finally broken as Artemisia sighed and crossed her hands in front of her chest before replying.


    "Says the guy who can only jump from corpse to corpse. Thousands of years have passed and you still can''t harness the power of the corpse you stole during the War.


    All you can do is possess dead people like this and try to taunt me from afar."


    The woman shook her head with a ''disappointed'' expression as she continued.


    "You''ve been scheming from the shadows for millennia. Mind if I ask where that has gotten you?


    Last time I checked, the answer to that was ''Nowhere''."


    Bewusstsein''s brow twitched for a short moment and Artemisa snorted before reaching out at light speed and grabbing the head of the corpse.


    Before the man could even do a thing, the goddess channelled her divinity and activated her Ultimate skill.


    Golden divine lightning burst from her palm and enteredintothe corpse, travelling down the intangible link between the corpse and its possessor''s real body before striking him in whatever hidden dimension he was in.


    "Tsk��couldn''t get his location."


    Artemisia muttered as she let the now headless corpse fall to the ground, before looking down at her body and using life magic to clean off the blood and grime.


    "Too bad, huh?"


    The goddess turned towards the direction of the voice that just spoke and she saw the familiar face of the EOTD. He was still dressed in the same suit he had when he spoke with Evan and he had his hands in his pocket as he ''inspected'' the scene around him.


    "You''ve grown even stronger, Artemisia."


    He made this remark while looking at the clusters of ''dead'' energy in the sky and Artemisia instantly understood what he meant.


    The man wasn''t talking about her killing all the gods around her, but the fact that she was still fine even within this ce.


    A Dead Zone.


    It wasbasicallya permanently destroyed portion of the Universe. The kind of ce where one would rather willingly enter a ck hole than go to.


    Artemisia had pulled all her opponents inside her using her ''Domain'' and then proceeded to kill them all off one by one.


    "Still, if you stay here for too long, you might get ''infected'' so it''s best you leave soon. When you''ve wrapped up your business outside, return to Aidos for a bit.


    There''s a surprise waiting for you there."


    Leaving those words, the EOTD disappeared as silently as he appeared and Artemisia could not help but frown lightly.


    ''Surprise? Just what did he do this time?''


    Sighing in light exasperation, the goddess shook her head before turning around and heading towards the exit of the Dead Zone''s containment barrier.


    �� �� ��


    Rahead Mountain Range


    Obrita


    Wolfen


    July 17th


    Year 1053


    Earlier in the day, the government of Obrita received reports of a Hero being sighted in a major city, where he thwarted a potential terrorist attack, saving thousands of lives.


    However, this Hero was also known to be aligned with the GEE


    ��the same nation currently trying to conquer Wolfen��and this raised concerns about how to address the situation.


    Witnesses, including B-ranked adventurers and even a retired A-Rank, testified to his heroism in rescuing citizens.


    After apprehending the assant, the Hero flew towards the Rahead mountains, but by the time more powerful adventurers and military personnel could give chase, a barrier of some sort had beenid down, covering the entire mountain range.


    What followed were a series of explosions, with mes and smoke clouds rising so high up into the skies that they could be seen for miles.


    The energy fluctuations gave even the S Rank adventurer party nearby cold feet, and they saw mountains copse right before their eyes, drawing attention from neighbouring states


    However, no one could enter due to the barrier surrounding the mountains.


    Not even an hourter, the explosions died down but anyone arriving after this time could still tell that something had happened.


    It was impossible to miss the crumbled mountains and the sheer potency of the destructive essence permeating the atmosphere was so great that Master Level existences found it hard to breathe.


    After a while, the barrier finally disappeared.


    Nevertheless, no one dared to enter the area, opting to use magic and familiars to scan the area and find out the extent of the devastation.


    The sights they saw shocked them out of their wits, but before they could even get to the centre, spatial power converged in front of them and a spatial gate opened up.


    From within, two unidentified people emerged and they turned their gazes towards the Rahead Notch.


    A Wolfen Adventurer who had an appraisal skill used it on them and the results he saw made his blood turn cold.


    One of them was a Sovereign Level existence!


    And not just any Sovereign, but Kasteblum''s Former Chief Grand Magus!


    While he was reeling from the shock, these new entrantspletely ignored all the Wolfen officials and headed straight towards the Rahead Notch.


    In fact,one of them went ahead of the other, dashing forward at supersonic speed and all the Wolfen officials and adventurers could see was a streak of green light.


    Naturally, this was our resident teenage blonde Battle Priestess, Eliza.


    She ignored the mes and smoke, the crumbling mountains, the scorched earth and the dismembered corpses on the floor.


    *BAMM!!!


    The scene of devastation didn''t even matter to her as she headed straight towards the ce where she sensed a familiar presence.


    Fear gripped her heart when she felt how weak this presence was but she steeled her mind and rushed forward.


    *BAMM!!!


    Upon getting closer, she noticed a severed arm on the floor and it made her stop in her tracks.


    She recognized the forearm guard on it, she recognized the watch on it, she recognized the rings on those fingers and she nearly had a panic attack when she realised who it belonged to.


    However, the magic she cast on herself forcefully calmed her mind and she stepped forward with bated breaths.


    *BAMM!!!


    Finally, she arrived at the source of the noise she had been hearing all this while.


    There, on the ground, was a familiar grey-eyed boy, covered in blood all over.


    There was nothing where his left arm was supposed to be, save for the stump frozen in crimson ice.


    He sat on the torso of a body on the ground, his right hand clenched into a fist as he monotonously punched the face of the person on the ground.


    *BAMM!!!


    Eliza felt a tear run down her cheek as she quickly discerned his critical state with a nce. That much was obvious given the gaping hole in his chest that could barely be hidden by his shirt.


    She gritted her teeth and stepped forward before walking up to him, dropping to her knees and slowly pulling him into a hug.

 Chapter 728 Eliza’s Crossroads

    Chapter 728 Eliza��s Crossroads


    ??As Eliza hugged Evan from behind, her ether flowed out of her body and permeated into his, conducting a thorough analysis of his condition and her brain started working on how to go about healing him.


    "Ah, you''re here. That was faster than I expected."


    Evan remarked calmly, lightly swinging his arm to flick away Darfin''s blood from his hands.


    After he was done gathering enough ''evidence'', he decided to give the man a taste of his own medicine and that led to him repeatedly punching Darfin''s chest over and over again until he eventually broke open the man''s ribcage and destroyed his heart.


    His individual punches were not strong enough to kill the weakened man but were more than enough to inflict severe pain with each hit.


    Evan also cut off Darfin''s left arm as well, freezing the stump with ice and then nailing his legs to the ground with the Unforged.


    As he did with Kailu, he used potions to keep Darfin alive long enough that the man began to beg to be killed.


    The boy ignored those pleas though, and he even froze Darfin''s tongue to prevent him from biting it and killing himself.


    He disabled the spatial istion barrier with the aid of a magic stone''s energy before he began this, so his contractors had long since regained information on his location.


    Since he had told Eliza he was going to the Rahead Mountains, the girl was already heading in that direction even before the connection was restored.


    She had gotten Fely to use teleportation magic to take them through the cities where there were no Teleportation Waypoints, which was quite a lot and after continuously teleporting a country''s worth of distance, even the Sovereign Level existence was exhausted.


    What''s more, she was carrying someone else along.


    When she reached where Evan was, her face contorted into a deep frown.


    Not just because of the boy''s state, but also Eliza''s.


    The girl was continuously reapplying a Serenity Inducement spell on herself so she would not lose her cool and deal with Evan''s situation with a calm mind.


    When Eliza scanned Evan''s body with her ether so she could assess the full extent of the damage Evan suffered, she finally noticed that Evan still had a heart beating on the right side of his body.


    A normal Human''s heart was roughly to the left side, and so was the hole in Evan''s chest. But she could sense a beating heart on the right and that heart did not seem like that of a Human''s.


    ''That dragon from Lacertilia��so this is why he was after its Heart.''


    That thought crossed her mind for a second but she banished it quickly as it wasn''t important right now.


    "Aunty Fey��can you get me his arm?"


    "��"


    Fely used levitation magic to move Evan''s severed arm over to Eliza and she grabbed it before cing her hand on the frozen stump and shattering it with a pulse of magic power.


    Blood spilt onto her body but she ignored it and focused on reviving the frozen cells in his arm.


    "Breath of Life: Revitalizing Grace."


    Eliza''s magic power and ether surged from her body and enveloped Evan''s form with the green light of restoration.


    Her ether expelled all the residual aura that Darfin, Sana and Kailu''s attacks had left in Evan''s body, before beginning to heal the wounds that the auras had caused.


    For this phase of the healing, she used her ''Breath of Life'' skill. The next phase was where she would then use her more powerful ''Child of Life'' to heal the major wounds.


    Just before she reattached Evan''s arm, her body froze as she came to a realisation.


    ''I have 25 Skill charges. I need about 7 to heal his arm and all 25 to heal his heart. I can only recover 3 charges per day so if I use 7 to heal his arm, I would not have enough to heal his heart even after recovering the 3.''


    She had arrived at the crossroads that the EOTD had spoken of earlier.


    ''Due to the severity of the wound, Breath of Life is not powerful enough to reattach Evan''s arm without any side effects. I would not even have enough magic and ether left to heal him after I healed his heart.


    Should I borrow from Aunty Fey? No��she''s already exhausted from the repeated teleportations.


    What about Roselia? I don''t know how long she and Uncle Gavin would take to get here so I can''t bank on them. I also can''t stall the healing for too long.


    Spirits��? There aren''t any life-attributed spirits nearby��I can''t borrow energy from spirits of other attributes unless I use my skill to drain their Life Forces.''


    "��"


    She went silent for a moment, considering her options before making a choice that left even the EOTD surprised.


    ''If I consume a bit of my life force��then maybe I would have en-''


    "STOP."


    "Huh?"


    Evan''s voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she let out a shocked voice. The boy leaned his body into hers, barely having the strength to prop himself up as he spoke.


    "You don''t realise it, but you were already acting on your thoughts."


    "��"


    He had nearly lost consciousness due to the soothing feeling that Eliza''s presence coupled with her life energy gave him, but the moment he sensed what Eliza was about to do, his eyes snapped back open.


    He flexed the fingers on his right hand, having regained full mobility there before raising it and grabbing his severed arm with it.


    "I have a way to deal with the heart so heal my arm. I can''t deal with that one."


    "��what? What way?"


    "EOTD. He helped me."


    Evan did not hide anything from her as he knew that if he didn''t make things clear, Eliza might make a decision which would not turn out well for her.


    And he certainly didn''t want her to do that.


    "��how sure are you that whatever he gave you would work? It''s better if I just do it myself-"


    "And burn your own life in the process? You think I''m gonna agree to that?"


    "It''s not a matter of agreeing or not, there''s not much of a choice here!"


    "Eliza��I''d like for you to trust me on this. Just heal the arm and then handle my other injuries."


    "��"


    Clearly, Eliza wasn''t willing to put Evan''s recovery in the hands of an entity she barely knew the first thing about.


    However, every second she spent debating this with Evan was valuable time wasted.


    Evan pushed himself up and turned his body around, raising his right hand to hold the side of Eliza''s face and looking her right in the eyes before speaking.


    "Eliza, I understand your concerns and even I don''t have 100% trust in his means.


    But I don''t want you to do something which would harm you greatly, even if that means I''d be taking a gamble with the EOTD''s magic."


    He grabbed his left arm and stuck it to his body as he continued.


    "Please, heal my arm."


    Eliza hesitated, her expression torn between concern and reluctance. The thought of relying on unfamiliar magic whose effects she could not see was unsettling.


    However, Evan was adamant about his decision and eventually, she nodded reluctantly and began to focus her healing magic on reattaching his arm.


    "Child of Life: Renewal Embrace."


    With a grateful smile, Evan leaned in and pressed a brief kiss on her forehead before pulling away.


    Eliza''s Child of Life showed just why it was a Unique Series skill, as Evan''s arm was seamlessly reattached with no issues.


    The process still took some time though, as Eliza wanted to make sure the bones, nerves, veins and muscles were all reconnected properly and it was only when she had just finished that Gavin arrived with Roselia and the others.


    The Wolfen Officials who were outside had long since entered the Rahead Notch, but a single nce from Fely stopped them from getting close to Evan and Eliza.


    When Roselia and the others arrived, the adventurers present recognised her, and after knowing about the situation in Obrita earlier in the day, they figured out just who it was that had fought here.


    Evan got up to his feet after Eliza was done, tossing on a new shirt from his inventory and admiring how Eliza had stopped the constant loss of blood from the hole in his chest.


    When he turned and saw the people from Wolfen, he waved at them, asking the familiar retired A-Ranker to reserve some more Thunder Bear Meat for him.


    "Now then, it''s 1:pm currently, meaning I have 11 more hours."


    "11 more hours for what?"


    "Until my heart starts healing."


    Evan replied to Eliza''s query before turning to look at his contracted spirits, an ideaing to his mind the moment he saw them.


    "And what are you going to be doing until then?"


    Eliza''s question snapped him out of his thoughts and he smiled before stepping forward slowly.


    "15."


    "?"


    "That was the number of people they sent to kill me."


    His words served as a confirmation of the conjecture the Wolfen officials had��that this whole situation was just an attempt to assassinate Evan.


    "One was to lure me out of Obrita, using the lives of civilians as hostages. They knew I would not ignore them, especially after dering I''d make this war one with the least casualties in history."


    Pointing at the North, he continued.


    "They intended to bait me there, but I went in the opposite direction. They still ended up catching up to me and used a Spatial Istion barrier to entrap me here and prevent me from escaping or calling for external help.


    I was surrounded by 9 Superior Grandmasters and 3 Inferior Stage Epics."


    Evan then stopped walking and took a deep breath before calling out the names of the countries responsible.


    "Osmaoque, Zoskye and Goshya. Those three countries conspired to kill me."


    The ambient temperature suddenly increased rapidly, to the point where everyone around felt they had just been thrust under the desert sun.


    Fely and Gavin widened their eyes in surprise as they understood exactly why this was the case.


    ''The ambient energy of the World Laws of Fire and destruction are responding to his emotions��his anger.''


    Cracks spiderwebbed on the ground beneath his feet, making the weaker adventurers and Wolfen officials lose their footing instantly.


    "They can''t attack me and go scot-free. They''ve gotta pay the price."

 Chapter 729 Why stop at half the Continent, when you can have the whole world?

    Chapter 729 Why stop at half the Continent, when you can have the whole world?


    ??"They can''t attack me and go scot free. They''ve gotta pay the price."


    Making this deration, Evan turned towards Gavin and spoke.


    "Old Man Gavin, I''m gonna need the help of you, your Mages and your Teleportation Waypoints."


    He apported a memory crystal into his palm and held it out towards Gavin, before exining what was contained within it.


    "In there is a recording of Osmaoque''s Knight Vice-Commander Darfin confessing the scheme of the three countries and their plot to take my life."


    Gavin''s gaze went from the crystal in Evan''s hand to the corpse on the floor not too far from them, internally questioning how Evan got a confession out of the man.


    ''Considering the destruction essence I can sense in all those cuts on him��it isn''t too hard to make a guess.''


    "I want this to be replicated and spread to various countries across the continent. Not just any countries but Major World Powers."


    Fely narrowed her eyes when she heard Evan''s statement. She quickly figured out his intention to publicly y this video for people to see��for the World to see.


    "Let hundreds, thousands, millions of people, hear what has happened here today."


    Evan turned his palm to face the ground and looked at Gavin as he asked.


    "Are you helping me, or not?"


    His Mystic Eyes glowed with light as he spoke and Gavin went silent for a moment. The man was knowledgeable about the Potential Demon Invasion Threat Aidos had, and Evan along with the other Heroes were vital in dealing with it.


    In fact, as far as he was concerned, Evan was more ''valuable'' than the other Heroes due to his knowledge about the Demonic Hand''s schemes and how he had thwarted them on more than one asion.


    ''Even if they don''t know this, I thought that National Leaders would be wise enough to know that trying to kill a Hero is unwise.


    Guess I was wrong.''


    With that thought, he stretched his hand out and Evan dropped the crystal into his palm, before offering words of gratitude.


    "Thank you."


    Evan turned around and was met with Eliza''s dark expression. Seeing the girl''s lips twisted into a frown somehow appeared ''cute'' in Evan''s eyes, but that was probably his love filter at work here.


    He took a moment to cate her and reassure her he would not overexert himself, before looking down to the ground and saying words that many of them did not understand.


    "You''re watching, aren''t you? I''m going to need your help."


    Everyone looked at him with confusion, wondering just who he was talking to but Evan offered no exnations and got down on one knee before mming his palm on the ground.


    "Hero Authority."


    The ambient World Law energies began to stir up into a storm around Evan, with a density that drew the attention of every person capable of perceiving energy within a vast distance around Evan.


    Beluar and Bourne who just teleported into the area were astounded. Especially Beluar who felt cold sweat dripping down his back, thinking that if he was just a secondte, then the worldw energy would have disrupted his teleportation and he may have fallen into a spatial storm.


    Evan wasn''t paying any mind to this, and his full focus was onmunicating with a certain entity.


    ''Aidos, you know what I want to do.''


    There was silence for a moment, and then he received a reply.


    [First, you use your authority to unseal a demon who once attacked me a thousand years ago, and now this?


    You have the strangest choices, Evan.]


    The familiar voice of the''s consciousness rang out in Evan''s head. ''Aidos'' had stated that ''she'' was nigh-omniscient within ''her'' Gravitational Field, so Evan knew that ''she'' had seen everything that happened here and knew his n.


    [Worry not, I will not consume your stored Authority and help you for free.]


    Evan''s eyes widened when he heard this as he had expected to use up his Hero Authority to have ''Aidos'' help him.


    ''Are there no restrictions on you?''


    [Restrictions?]


    ''Aidos''ughed when ''she'' spoke.


    [Have you forgotten who you are, Evan? You are a HERO. Not just any one of them, but the ''Leader''.


    As a, should I not be allowed to vent my rage at the idiots who dared attempt to murder one of MY HEROES? Someone who is Defending me?


    If it wasn''t for your idea to take advantage of this situation for that ''Influence'' n of yours, I would have sent every natural disaster known to man to erase those fools from my surface by now!


    Any Universal Law that restricts me from taking action in this situation is a Law that does not need to exist.]


    Evan felt his Hero Authority flow back into his body, along with the ''anger'' that ''Aidos'' felt.


    ''Calm now, Let''s not get innocents involved.''


    In response to his words, ''Aidos'' let out a lightugh.


    [You underestimate me, Evan. I know who is responsible and am very capable of discerning where to direct my annoyance.


    I would have the spirits make sure no innocents are physically harmed, but to get the point across, there would inevitably be some damage.


    I would keep things to Government-owned buildings and structures. National monuments and the likes.]


    ''That''s good. Thank you.''


    [Not necessary. It''s the least I can do for someone risking an arm and a leg to stop that bitch Gozon''s n.


    Worry not, everything will happen as you wish.]


    The World Law energy storm died down and Evan wondered just how much bad blood there was between ''Aidos'' and ''Gozon''.


    ''They''re thousands of light years apart��how do they evenmunicate? Dos have their own inte or something?''


    Such thoughts crossed his mind as he got to his feet and others began asking Evan just what he had done, Roselia watched him with silence.


    ''I noticed it when he unsealed Leviah, and now I''m sure. Evan canmunicate directly with this''s Sentience.


    Even if he''s a Hero, it should not be so easy and yet he can do it at will, and seemingly from anywhere.''


    This wasn''t how things were supposed to work as far as she knew. It got her curious about Evan''s special connection with Aidos.


    "Here, have this back."


    Gavin returned the memory crystal to Evan, and though Evan was initially surprised, he epted it after seeing the 100 more crystals floating in the air behind Gavin.


    "I made copies and I n to send some to News Agencies I know. Information about you is currently hot cake.


    By the end of the day, half the continent would be talking about this."


    "Half? Why settle for half the Continent, Old man?"


    Spreading out his arms, Evan revealed a hint of his n''s true depth.


    "When you can have the whole world."


    As he spoke, the ambient energy concentration abruptly increased again, and this time the cause was clear for all to see.


    Thousands of spirits manifested their physical bodies, their auras spreading out wildly. Low, Mid and even High Ranked spirits at different Existence levels.


    Normally, whenever spirits came near Ka, they usually stopped whatever they were doing to greet her but this lotpletely ignored her and had their eyes on Evan.


    "You''ve received your orders, now go."


    Evan''s words served as the cue and they all dispersed in different directions, turning into streaks of light that vanished into the distance.


    "Wait, what did you just do?"


    "Aren''t you tired of asking that question? Wait and see the results."


    �� �� ��


    Life on the Alpha continent unfolded in its usual rhythm, with different countries marking the day with varying levels of significance. Some saw it as just another day to carry on with their routines, while others observed it as a public holiday or a time for religious observance.


    Suddenly, in the hearts of major cities and bustling town squares, on towering advertisement boards and within grand auditoriums, a video materialized, capturing the attention of millions across the continent.


    People paused in their tracks, drawn to the unexpected spectacle, their curiosity piqued as they wondered exactly what was going on.


    [Testing, Testing��1, 2. Setting this thing up with one arm is quite a hassle.]


    There was a close-up view of a hand covering the camera that took the video, and after a few seconds, the person stepped back and revealed their full appearance.


    It was a face that many people on the continent could put a name to, and it was beginning to be a Household name.


    The recent events of the GEE-Wolfen War had newspapers and radio stations talking about him all day.


    [Now then, introductions are in order, aren''t they?


    For those who do not know who I am, my name is Evan Eris. I''m a member of this Era''s ''Seven Heros'' and a part-time S-Rank Adventurer.]


    Most of the people who were watching the video were not concerned about Evan''s introduction. Over 90% of them had the same question running through their minds when they saw him.


    ''Where on Aidos is his left arm?''


    The answer to their inquiry was going toe pretty soon.


    [I am currently at the Rahead Notch in Obrita, Wolfen. Though I doubt the current mountains around me may not be the ones you''re familiar with.]


    The camera then spun around to reveal the scene of devastation all around, and this got the attention of even those who were previously ignoring the video.


    After a few seconds, the camera turned back to Evan and he continued speaking.


    [It''s quite obvious that a fierce battle had just taken ce and with me is someone who''d exin to you why this was the case.]


    The camera zoomed out and revealed the form of Darfin who was kneeling on the floor with magic handcuffs.


    [Introduce yourself, please.]


    Evan''s voice was polite, but considering he was currently covered in blood and had a block of ice where his left arm was supposed to be, that politeness could not be noticed.


    [��I-I amm, O-osmaoque''s Knight V-vice-C-comander Darfin.]


    [You''re a noble, aren''t you, Mr Darfin? Why don''t you show us your identification badge so everyone would be sure you''re the real deal.]


    When Evan asked this, Darfin went silent but the boy only smiled lightly as he spoke.


    [Come on, don''t be shy. I''d show mine, as well.]


    Hearing his words, everyone once again had a collective thought.


    ''Shy? That''s not a ''shy'' person''s expression. That man is scared for his life!!''


    Of course, the video continued regardless of their thoughts and Darfin reluctantly pulled out his Noble Identification badge, and the glow it lit up with confirmed he was indeed the real Darfin.


    [Good. Now then, can you exin to everyone why we are at the Rahead Mountains today?]


    [��t-the��]


    [Mr Darfin? Try to speak clearly so it''s easier for listeners to understand.]


    Evan''s voice turned a tone deeper and Darfin flinched lightly, his teeth chattering as he began speaking.


    [T-th-the reas-sson we''re h-here, is because I, al-along with the Third Kn-Knight Division Captain of Zos-Zoskye and the Le-


    Leader of Sword Unit Five of G-Goshya, w-were sent al-along with 12 oth-other fighters were sent h-here with the in-


    intention of eliminating the ''Hero'' Ev-Evan Eris.]

 Chapter 730 Evan’s Plan and Alvey’s Magic Catalyst.

    Chapter 730 Evan��s n and Alvey��s Magic Catalyst.


    ??It was safe to say that for a moment, everyone who heard Darfin''s words went silent as their brainsputed the meaning of his statement.


    And then, came the storm of reactions.


    "What''s going on here?"


    "Eliminate Hero Evan?"


    "They wanted to kill the Irregr guy?!"


    "Who''s Hero Evan?"


    "Isn''t he that guy they said destroyed a mountainst week?"


    "The one from Lacertilia?"


    "Osmaoque? I know that Country."


    "Am I the only one wondering why he was in Obrita in the first ce?"


    "Ha! Serves him right."


    "Evan Eris is the one from that Undead fiasco ofst year, right?"


    "Why is a Knight Commander trying to kill a Hero?"


    "How are Zoskye and Goshya involved?"


    "He''s been poking his nose in other country''s business too much."


    "Wait, that''s why the whole mountain range got wrecked?"


    "You sure this Knight Commander isn''t being threatened?"


    "I thought so too, he looks scared."


    "Scared he got caught!"


    "Yeah, they tried to kill him and got their asses handed to them."


    "Where are the other two?"


    "Probably dead."


    Regardless of people''s reactions, the video continued and Darfin exined everything from the beginning when they tried to lure Evan out of Obrita using the lives of Wolfen civilians as hostages.


    There were a variety of reactions from people across the continent, both positive, negative and neutral.


    This was natural, as not everyone liked Evan, and not everyone cared about what a guy in a country on the other side of the continent was doing.


    But it was safe to say that the majority of the reactions were the kind Evan wanted.


    When the video was done, the continent went wild.


    Radio stations began broadcasting this new juicy gossip/super important international news, and soon, even cities and towns that did not have projections put up were made aware of it.


    Newspaperpanies churned out emergency prints and began spreading the story even further.


    Adventurers who were moving across the continent, from city to city through teleportation waypoints carried the story to their destinations.


    News agencies called their Wolfen contacts to verify the information and pictures of the Rahead mountains began spreading.


    The Government of Obrita was suddenly faced with international pressure from big nations like the GEE and Tarse, with even the Beast Kingdom''s Sovereigns showing up to verify this sudden news.


    They quickly keeled and revealed everything they knew, including videos of the battlefield they had taken from afar when Evan was still fighting.


    As Gavin said, News about Evan was currently ''hot cake'' and everyone wanted to be the first to carry the news.


    His stunt of destroying one of the Cudjour mountains was still fresh in everyone''s minds, and when the story of the assassination attempt spread, most had a reaction that was along the lines of ''They''re already trying to kill him?''.


    It wasn''t as though Evan was the first to ever destroy a mountain on Aidos. Pretty much every Epic Level existence worth their salt could do the same.


    Nonbatants included.


    The minimum amount of energy required to break the Grandmaster Level barrier and be an Epic was enough to at least tten one average-sized mountain.


    What made Evan''s feat blow up, was the fact that the boy was the first 14-year-old Superior Grandmaster to ever do so.


    Heck, he was the first 14-year-old Superior Grandmaster in current History so anything he did was bound to make waves.


    It was around 2 pm when the video ended, and by sunset, the whole continent was aware of the matter.


    �� �� ��


    Oak Avenue Manor


    Gerfast


    GWE


    July 17th


    Year 1053


    "This has been one hell of a day."


    Evan muttered to himself as he walked up the stairs and headed towards the master bedroom of the Mansion.


    He had just unleashed thousands of spirits on the three countries responsible and was expecting to see results by morning.


    He also had meetings with Laurene and David, as well as Beast King Kolvar on how to proceed with the next phase of his n.


    By morning, the three countries were definitely going to release their statements to deny the allegations and Evan had his replies prepared for whatever bullshit they wanted to pull.


    Looking at his watch, he saw it was 11:57 pm and he nced at the clock on his chest, noting that the countdown only had 3 minutes left.


    He took deep breaths as he opened the room door, only to have Eliza appear from around the hallway corner.


    The girl was about to rush up to him but she stopped and narrowed her eyes. When he traced her gaze, he noticed she was looking right at the magic circle around his chest.


    "Wait��you can see this?"


    "��am I not supposed to?"


    "You weren''t."


    Evan had not noticed but the magic circle''s invisibility had worn off when he had 5 minutes left.


    Eliza could not deny she was surprised, confused and a bit scared when she saw the magic circle with 7 distinct rings around it.


    The girl''s knowledge of magic held Tier 6 at its peak, Tier 7 was something she had never seen or heard of and yet here it was on Evan''s chest.


    "That clock��"


    "It''s how long I have till my heart begins healing which isn''t very long anymore."


    Evan replied as he walked into the room and plopped down on the bed, yawning lightly as he spoke.


    "Wake me up when it''s time for breakfast."


    Right after he spoke those words, he fell asleep, even before the magic circle''s countdown ran out.


    His contracted Demons and Spirits came in right after, and they were met with the sight of the Tier 7 Magic circle activating.


    The rings spun around and the Illusory clock reset itself, before beginning to rewind as the blood-pumping organ in Evan''s chest began reappearing.


    [Tier 7?! How did Master get his hands on such a thing!?]


    Ka''s reaction was one of shock, and though Kuro and Roselia did not show it, they were also shocked.


    ''Is this the special means he had? A lower existence cannot use Tier 7 Time Magic, so was it that goddess who did it?''


    Roselia was not unfamiliar with Tier 7 Magic, as she had seen it time without number during the years she spent with former Demon King Alvey.


    And it was precisely because of her knowledge about it that she was shocked to see it here.


    Within minutes, they all began to hear two loud heartbeats ringing out one after another, and soon the two heartbeats synchronized so perfectly that they could only hear one no matter how much they strained their superhuman hearing.


    This perfect synchronization was one of the reasons why no one had noticed Evan gaining a second heart. The other was the fact that after his Human Heart was restored, even Eliza who was scanning his body for abnormalities could barely detect the Dragon Heart.


    If she wasn''t already aware of its presence, then she might have missed it!


    Slowly, the loud heartbeat subsided and Evan''s even breaths showed that the boy was now just sleeping.


    The Tier 7 magic circle disappeared and afterwards, a notification showed up in front of Eliza''s field of vision.


    [The ''Eternal of Time and Destruction'' says "You''re Wee".]


    The girl''s lips twisted downwards when she saw this. The fact that Evan''s heart had not been healed for the past few hours was a constant source of anxiety for her and she understood that if Evan did not have the EOTD''s magic, then she would have had no choice but to heal his heart and forgo his arm.


    The boy was not from a race with regenerative abilities which could let him regrow his entire arm, so chances of him recovering it after were low.


    She was filled with a sense of powerlessness and sensing her emotions, Roselia spoke.


    "Don''t beat yourself up over it. Channel those emotions into your desire to get stronger. We both know this would NOT be thest time Evan would need you to patch him up.


    So get stronger and better to the point where you would not need to rely on unknown powers."


    After saying her piece, Roselia left the room and Nadarus trailed behind her.


    "Sister, are you going to-"


    "Yes. I have postponed it for too long."


    Roselia answered before Nadarus could even finish talking as she already knew what he wanted to ask her about.


    "I was dealing with it when Evan suddenly contacted me. Now that he''s fine, I''m returning."


    The High Demon spoke as she twirled a white key around her fingers. Anyone who looked at it would sense an enormous amount of light magic, the kind a Demon like her should not be going anywhere near.


    However, Roselia handled this key like it was an ordinary piece of metal, as the Light Magic did not affect her.


    ''Alvey really favoured Elder Sister��if I touch that thing I''m sure it''d burn my arm to ashes in an instant.''


    Nadarus thought as he kept some distance away from Roselia, out of fear of that key identally slipping off her fingers and falling on him.


    The magic of a ''Demon King'' was strong enough that it could wound him greatly even if it wasn''t used to attack.


    ''Still, to think that sister had hidden one of Alvey''s artifacts on this world��''


    Nadarus sighed and shook his head as he thought of Roselia''s actions.


    It was no secret in Gozon that Roselia did not like Ginaroad Sargon and the only reason she had conducted the Coronation Ceremony was due to orders from Alvey.


    The High Demon had custody of a lot of artifacts which belonged to Alvey and she hid them in secret ces on Variouss.


    One of said Artifacts, was hidden here on Aidos, and the key in her hands was the key to unlocking the spatial seal.


    Alvey Sargon was a Spatial Magic expert and besides ''Aidos'' and Artemisia, no one had known that something was sealed on this with his spatial power.


    The particr Artifact that was sealed on Aidos, was Alvey''s ''Magic Catalyst'': the ''Book of Lumi��re''.


    "Why are you unsealing it now of all times?"


    "I''ve finally recovered enough strength to be able to use a portion of that thing''s power. And with Evan''s next ns concerning ''Fallen Celestial Deities'', I have a feeling we''re going to need this."


    With those words, Roselia stepped into the Waypoint in Evan''s basement and after a short sh of light, she and Nadarus were gone from the city.

 Chapter 731 ‘Rage’ of the World [Workers Day]

    Chapter 731 ��Rage�� of the World [Workers'' Day]


    ??The first Headlines of the 18th of July''s Newspapers were all concerning the attack on Evan the previous day.


    The second; the Denial of the Allegations from the three countries involved: Osmaoque, Goshya and Zoskye.


    As expected, they imed that Evan was throwing false allegations at them and that this whole thing was a plot against their Alliance since they were allies of Wolfen whom Evan was targeting.


    However, the reply to their ims came not from Evan, but from Beast Prince David Thancreed.


    David questioned what motives Evan could possibly have for plotting against them, citing that Evan had publicly stated the reason why he was after Wolfen on multiple asions��Reasons that had nothing to do with their allegations.


    In a public press conference, David stated that Evan had produced Evidence that worked against them, so if they wanted to prove their innocence, he stated they should provide evidence that Evan was lying and prove their innocence.


    He demanded that these countries have Darfin, Sana and Kailu make public appearances in the same ce at the same time, with proof of their identity, and only then would he believe that they were not the ones who had attacked Evan and had gotten killed in Evan''s self-defence.


    To end the press conference, he said that the matter of a Nation''s government trying to assassinate a Hero and a Great Noble from another Nation was not to be taken lightly.


    And to make sure the case is handled perfectly; he was going to bring the matter up to the ''International Court''.


    The International Court in this case was the only court that Adjudicated disputes between nations and dealt with international legal issues.


    It was located in Cosmopolis, a city in the Utraria Republic also called ''Judiciary Haven''.


    Presiding over this court as its Chief Judge was a Sovereign Level existence known as ''The Judge''. He, Elephon Ralokrana was an Elder-Breed elf and one of the oldest Elves alive on the.


    He was highly respected, owing to the fact that he was a survivor of the Aidos-Demon War of 1000 years ago.


    This man also had a ''Lie Detection'' skill as well, perfect for his position as Judge.


    His skill was not as good as Laurene''s Lie Detection though. Laurene could tell if anyone within her field of vision was lying, even if they were not speaking to her but to someone else, but his skill required him to set a particr target and ask a question.


    If the Set Target is to lie, then he would know.


    But if someone besides that target was to lie, he would not know.


    However, to enter the International Court, both Prosecutors and Defendants had to make a ''Pledge of Trust'', meaning they could not even lie in the first ce.


    David had the power and Influence needed to bring up a matter to the International Court and have the court seat within the week.


    He was the Prince of a Major World Power, the son of a Transcendent, and personally, David had international renown due to his feats in the past, Lacertilian included.


    Evan wasn''t the only one who got boons from resolving that incident, after all.


    Just when everyone felt the matter had blown out of proportion, another incident happened to tell them they hadn''t seen anything yet.


    Tens of thousands of spirits of various ranks manifested and attacked the Royal Pces of the three nations involved, destroying their security barriers and wrecking the pces.


    As if that was not enough, Natural disasters struck those three countries.


    Thunderstorms and earthquakes hit them at the same time.


    But much to everyone''s surprise, the same spirits who were attacking the pces just hours before, moved out to save civilian lives from being lost due to the earthquakes.


    The situation only got stranger when the damage reports from the disaster stated that only government-affiliated buildings, were destroyed by the earthquakes.


    The thunderstorms struck down gs of the three countries and any national monuments that were out in public.


    Even so, the string of strange urrences wasn''t done yet.


    The ambient energy concentration in those three countries abruptly decreased, to the point where there was barely any magic power in the air.


    Thend dried out in a mere matter of hours, crops died, and monsters went berserk.


    People still believed this to be the rage of the Spirits, not surprising considering the fact that Evan was a spirit contractor was public knowledge.


    However, that theory was quickly debunked when the Pope of the Holy Kingdom released a public statement that shocked the world.


    He stated that the issue of natural disasters and the drop in ambient energy concentration was not the rage of the spirits but the World itself.


    ''The World is angry, that people in positions of power that are meant to lead the people, attempted to take the life of one of its Heroes.''


    At this point, even those who previously could not care less about the matter had their eyes peeled to see the oues.


    The news had already spread across the Alpha Continent and its satellite inds, and to make sure the Beta Continent heard about it, Evan cashed in one of his ''nk Checks with a Transcendent''s Name on It''.


    It was time for ''Beast King'' Kolvar to make his move.


    Predicting that some of the Ministers involved in this plot would escape, Evan had Kolvar watch Osmaoque and as he expected, some tried to flee the country and go into hiding.


    That did not end well as Kolvar personally caught them.


    Kolvar did not hide his actions, and he let out his powerful Transcendent Aura, such that everyone within tens of thousands of kilometres sensed the Beast King move from his pce in Goras straight to Osmaoque.


    Goshya and Zoskye were dealing with revolts and protests of the enraged citizens who believed that their leaders had turned the world against them and Goshya''s king even tried to flee under the cover of the night.


    Sadly, there were thousands of spirits watching him and he was very quickly captured and paraded through the streets and dumped right in front of Kolvar.


    This actually surprised Kolvar as he didn''t expect Evan to have this much rapport with the Spirits, and even more surprisingly was that ''Spirit King'' Sinir remained silent on this matter.


    It wasn''t exactly like he thought though.


    The spirits took action less because of them liking Evan and more because ''Aidos'' had ordered them to.


    The spirits who knew Evan and were familiar with him were angry, but these were the minority and only made up for about 10% of the spirits who took action.


    But naturally, there were millions of spirits across the who didn''t even know Evan and spirits like that were only simply following orders from Aidos.


    A Transcendent taking action made the matter spread over the Alpha Continent and to the Beta Continent in a sh. It even reached the Dark Continent and surprisingly, there was a response.


    Dawn the next morning, people were greeted with the sights of Three Ancient Dragons circling around the capitals of these three countries.


    There was only one person who could make the Ancient Dragons leave their positions of guarding the Dimensional Rift ande all the Way to the Alpha continent which was over a hundred thousand miles away.


    ''Dragon Lord'' Altrishia.


    When Gavin heard about this, he remembered Evan''s statement of ''Having the Whole World''. By getting two of the Five Transcendents to take action; Evan certainly ''Had the Whole World''.


    The name ''Evan Eris'' had spread intercontinentally during the Cheverton incidentst year, and once again two months ago during Lacertilia''s ''Lizard Lord''s Outbreak''.


    People on the Beta and Dark Continents were wondering just who this ''Evan Eris'' from the Alpha Continent was. Even ''Strongest Human'' Rathal did not make this much of a fuss when he was a grandmaster!


    What''s more, Evan was known for being the youngest Grandmaster on the so adventures all over knew of him.


    (Technically, that title belongs to Laurene now since she''s a month younger than Evan but not many know she''s a grandmaster so Evan still has it.)


    Now, Evan was being touted as the ''Strongest Grandmaster'' ever.


    Many other nonstandard Superior Stage Grandmasters on Aidos had the confidence to face off against 9 fellow Superior Stages ande out victorious. But when Three Epic Levels were added to the mix, that confidence took a nosedive.


    When Adventurers across the world heard Evan had lost an arm in the fight, they were not surprised by him losing a limb.


    Their surprise was at the fact that he ONLY lost one limb.


    Finally, the International Court had its hearing, and all the Ministers, High Nobles and Kings were brought for trial.


    Some Kings and Presidents came over to watch the trial in person and before it began, Elven King Laiex Raloro gave a speech that made headlines.


    [To be honest, I''m not exactly a fan of Evan Eris. But I didn''t think about killing him because he was��I don''t know��doing what he was supposed to do as a ''Hero''.


    Getting stronger and gaining more influence.


    I mean, anyone can arrive at this conclusion with a little bit of thinking.


    Aidos has had no Heroes for the past Nine Centuries, and suddenly, three Heroes pop up in the same Generation.


    Is that not a clear warning that something which requires the power of ''Heroes'' is to happen in the near future?


    Whatever this ''thing'' is, the Heroes need to be strong enough to face it. They need to be Influential enough to rally the forces of the World to aid them��just like the Seven Heroes who stopped the Invaders of a Thousand years ago.


    Evan Eris'' actions these past few weeks have been in line with such. The boy is clearly trying to grow his influence.


    And yet, there are National Leaders trying to kill him simply because he''s doing his job as a Hero��


    Wow��what a World we live in.]


    The Elven King''s speech blew up and made Radio News headlines, both locally and internationally.


    The Trial was Evan''s first public appearance since the incident, and the boy had some make-up Artists work their magic to make him look pale; as though he had not recovered fully.


    While some people felt this was suspicious, considering it was public knowledge that a certain powerful Battle Priestess was his girlfriend, they didn''t say anything as they did not want to face any bacsh from the millions of fans Evan had gained across the continent in the past week.


    The Trials were concluded seamlessly and the three Kings, some Ministers and Generals were all found guilty.


    The instant this verdict was given, the thunderstorms in those three countries stopped, the ambient energy concentrations returned to double the previous amount, and thend became lush again and after analysis, was found to be even 3 times as fertile as it used to be.


    Dying crops regained their life and the berserk monsters retreated into their forests and mountains.


    While the buildings destroyed by the earthquakes remained destroyed, the wreckednd repaired itself as if time was being rewound.


    The mobs of angry spirits all disappeared as if they were never there as well.


    People began saying that the World''s anger had been quelled and it was now even showering the nations with blessings.


    The sentencings of the culprits involved in this situation were not publicly announced and only those who were in the courtroom knew what sentencing was.


    All the public knew was that they were to be dethroned and would be imprisoned��nothing else.


    People spected that they were going to be secretly killed off but none of these conspiracy theories had any concrete evidence to back them up.


    Evan also disappeared after the trial, prompting people to specte just where he was.

 Chapter 732 All will be revealed in due time.

    Chapter 732 All will be revealed in due time.


    ??Tower of Trials, Floor 50


    Cloud Piercing Isle


    Divider Ocean


    July 27th


    Year 1053


    The beach was littered with gore and bodies. Red, was the new colour of what was once a beautiful beach, which had now be the stage of a ruthless battle.


    The air which would normally be fresh and smell of nature''s wonders was now carrying a thick, ck smoke and small multicoloured embers of mes, as though hell descended upon this area.


    "Truly ''Hell Unleashed''."


    As for Evan, he was seated at the top of a pile of Kraken Corpses while sipping a bottle of strawberry juice.


    He spun a vortex of prismatic mes in his palm, observing as they gradually darkened. Once they reached their limit, he solidified the mes into a tangible ring, deftly sliding it onto his horns. With seven additional rings adorning each horn, they resembled the pegs from a water ring game he yed as a child.


    "My energy quality is at least 4 times better than average and that bumps up to somewhere within 6 and 7 with my Horns.


    This means I spend 6-7 times less energy than others��"


    This was one of the greatest open secrets to Evan''s strengths��his Energy quality.


    It was why he could face off against multiple others with simr energy levels and prevail. Since his energy quality was higher, he used less of it at a time.


    "Oh well��"


    [Trial Complete. Would you like to proceed to the next Floor or head to the Rest Area?]


    "Rest Area."


    When Evan gave his reply, he was wreathed in a spatial light and teleported to the Tower''s Rest Area.


    He entered the kitchen and began preparing a small meal for himself. During this, he suddenly sensed a familiar presence behind him.


    "Oh, Wee Back."


    "��"


    The neer stayed silent, prompting Evan to pivot with a curious expression. He locked eyes with a pair of golden eyes brimming withplicated emotions.


    ''Wow��this is the most expressive I''ve ever seen her.''


    Naturally, this new entrant was the goddess Artemisia.


    She had returned to Orithyia and when she got to Aidos, she was hearing strange news headlines and stories.


    To understand the situation, she used her Authority to peruse the''s records to find out what happened while she was away, and to say she was SHOCKED was an understatement.


    Everything was supposed to be fine and the war was all going ording to Evan''s ns.


    And then��bam! He nearly got killed all of a sudden.


    "Are you��okay?"


    The goddess was clearly at a loss on how to talk to Evan and the boy chuckled before setting the tes on the table as he replied.


    "Your dear friend fixed me up so I''m fine��physically at least.


    The near-death experience was not appreciated, though."


    He dished out his food as he stated this, before taking a seat at the dining table and continuing.


    "If I could go back in time, I would stop it from happening. Too bad I can''t."


    "��"


    "Leaving me aside, what the hell happened to you? EOTD said you were in a life-threatening situation."


    Artemisia''s brow twitched lightly when she heard this, clearly not liking the fact that Evan was made aware of her situation.


    "He also said something about all the gods in the Universe not being able to ki-"


    *SNAP!


    "-yo-?! What?"


    Evan''s statement was cut off midway as Artemisia had suddenly teleported him over to her Domain.


    She then held out her hand and poked Evan''s chest, tampering with his contracts so his contracted spirits and Demons would not suddenly sense that Evan was now 9999999999999999�� billion kilometres away from them.


    "Sorry for the abruptness. However, everything that happens on Aidos is kept in the records of the.


    Everything you say or do.


    As I am not the only one who can peruse a''s records, I''d prefer it if we did not have such a conversation on Aidos."


    Clearly, Artemisia did not want any details about her ''Inability to be Killed'' being recorded on Aidos.


    "Then why did the EOTD say it then?"


    "That man is a special case. He''s a Singrity that makes thews of the Universe go haywire.


    I suppose you could call him the Perfected Form of your ''Irregr'' nature."


    Evan had his guesses but now it was confirmed that the EOTD was indeed an Irregr/Singrity.


    "If he so wishes it, he can distort thews of knowledge and prevent anything he says from being automatically recorded by the.


    Even if they are recorded, trying to peruse any record with him in it is impossible as his Causality index and Universal Influence are at the highest conceivable levels.


    You''d have an easier time not getting spaghettified in a ck hole than perusing records with him in it."


    "��damn."


    The young hero was slightly overwhelmed by this little bit of information, but something else caught his attention before he could even ask about the EOTD''s words.


    On the desk behind Artemisia was a picture, but he could not make out all the faces on it due to the angle at which the photo was ced.


    Which was quite strange considering his superhuman visual prowess.


    ''Hmm? Isn''t that the ''Westley'' guy I saw in the Hall of Statues?''


    The moment he had that thought, Artemisia''s hand shot towards it and she turned the picture face down, clearly not wanting Evan to see it.


    ''How did I make such a mista-! So this is how he ended up seeing it!


    The Universe''s correctionalws are��''


    Her thoughts stopped there and she heaved an exasperated sigh before taking a seat. Just then, a spatial gate opened up beside her and a familiar figure came jumping out of it.


    "Lady Artemisia!"


    A woman with long green hair and pointed ears emerged from the gate and immediately enveloped Artemisia in a tight embrace. She ran her hands over the goddess''s body as if checking for injuries, prompting Evan''s eyes to widen in recognition.


    "Aren''t you the goddess of the Elves? Aphine, right?"


    "Huh?"


    The other goddess finally turned her emerald green eyes in Evan''s direction before returning her gaze to Artemisia, who sighed for what seemed like the nth time today.


    "Whatever it is, Aphine, I''m sure it can wait. Let me finish with him first."


    Though her lips twisted into a frown, Aphine reluctantly nodded and released Artemisia before departing through the spatial gate she had arrived through.


    "She looked concerned about you. I''m guessing your situation was that bad, huh?"


    "It wasn''t as bad as you think. Aphine is just a worrywart."


    Artemisia was quick to dissuade Evan from thinking she was in a precarious situation but Evan clearly wasn''t buying it.


    "The EOTD''s words. About you ''Not being able to die''. Are you some kind of immortal, or you''re just that strong?"


    "My race breed is one with an Eternal Lifespan��so I technically am immortal in a sense."


    "But that''s not what EOTD meant, am I right?"


    "Yes, that''s not what he meant."


    Evan went silent but his gaze was clearly asking Artemisia to start spilling the details and the goddess didn''t miss this.


    "Even if I wanted to exin it to you, I cannot."


    "Law of Causality?"


    "Indeed."


    Artemisia then proceeded to exin some of the Law of Causality''s information restriction criteria that applied to the current scenario.


    1-Whether the listener (Evan) was curious about the information.


    2-Whether the information gave the listener any type of potential power after hearing it.


    3-The difference in power between the Speaker, the listener and any other ''Existences'' who are mentioned in the conversation.


    "It''s like how the Law of Causality prevents you from speaking about the Previous Seven Heroes'' Reincarnation spell which broke the World Laws of Reincarnation because it does not want you to spread that information and have other people try to break the Laws of Reincarnation."


    "So, whatever he was talking about, has to do with breaking World Laws and you can''t say it because the Law of Causality does not want me attempting to break thosews as well.


    I''m guessing that breaking thosews would also give me power."


    "Yes. Unless you figure it out yourself or find out a certain level of information connected to it, I cannot say.


    It is connected to my ''Greatest Secret'', after all."


    "?!"


    Her words made Evan remember his conversation with ''Aidos'', where the had spoken about ''Artemisia''s greatest secret''.


    "You have long since figured out I had other motives for sending you to Aidos.


    I am also aware of the fact that your trust levels in me are on the lower ends due to the number of things I''ve kept hidden from you."


    "Well, someone''s self-aware."


    Evan retorted, his toneced with sarcasm as he rolled his eyes, showing no denial of Artemisia''s assessment.


    The goddess didn''t mind his attitude, having expected it even.


    "There are certain things I cannot tell you now, even if I wanted to, Evan."


    "Now?"


    "Yes. I cannot tell you ''Now''."


    Artemisia rified as she closed the distance between them, meeting Evan''s gaze intently.


    "You will know everything in due time. It''s impossible for me to hide anything rted to our agreement from you forever.


    The time for me to tell you wille��a lot sooner than you think." (Basically, Volume 4)


    Returning the distance between them to normal, she then tapped the copsed picture frame on her desk as she concluded.


    "At that time, your other curiosities would be sated."


    "Is that so?"


    Evan tapped the armrest of his chair, his other hand on his chin and he adopted a pensive look on his face.


    He was indeed curious why there was a picture on Artemisia''s desk with a Demon in it, and he was equally curious about the other people in the picture whom he had not been able to discern clearly.


    "You wish to go to the ''Cavern of Trials'' next, right?"


    "Hmm?"


    Artemisia''s sudden question brought Evan out of his sea of thoughts and he shook his head in reply.


    "I want to go to the Regal Void Expanse with Laurene and David first. Let them get new skills and then I''d like to explore that Realm a bit.


    After that, I''d take a break.


    By the time I''m done with the Regal Void Expanse, my birthday should be around the corner and Liz is apparently preparing a surprise for me so I''d keep my schedule open throughout that period.


    Only after that would I go to the Cavern of Trials��the one Dungeon on the where whichever Level 499 passes its trials, is guaranteed to surpass the Level 500 barrier and be an Epic Level."


    Evan leaned back on his chair and looked up at the infinite white ceiling as he concluded.


    "That would be my final destination in this Saga of ''Wars and Giant Lizards''." (End of Volume 3.)


    "I see. I wish you good luck in your trials.


    Not even I know what trials you would be faced with."


    "Thanks.


    Anyway, it seems Aidos is about to enter its next stage of Technological Development."


    Evan suddenly changed the topic, bringing up something that had been on his mind for the past few weeks.


    "They''ve had magical signals which they used for Radios and other means ofmunication.


    They''ve got Trains, Teleporters and Airships for transportation.


    They basically have smartphones��though they call them Guild Cards."


    "Those things are so convenient it makes introducing normal smartphones seem pointless."


    Artemisia spoke with a sigh as she had been a bit troubled about this matter for some time. It was due to her that these Smartphones in the form of ''Guild Cards'' came to be but now she felt she may have overdone it.


    "Nahh��when the Inte, or rather, ''Magi''es out, they''d see much use."


    "I hope so��"


    The goddess replied as she waved her hands and generated a trio of floating screens, disying her ns for Aidos'' magi-


    technological development.


    "ording to the game, the next thing we got after teleporters were Televisions. That would make things a lot easier for getting news across."


    Evan could not deny that the n he had concocted to take advantage of the Assassination attempt to increase his fame, reputation and influence certainly would have been a lot easier if Aidos had televisions. Magic projections cost way too much money to power, and even someone as rich as Evan felt the hit from sponsoring the magic projections in major cities and town squares that broadcasted the Trials.


    "I''d do some behind-the-scenes work to make theme out within the year. If I tinker a bit with ''Technological Evolution'', I can make things happen that fast."


    Hearing Artemisia''s guarantee, Evan gave her a round of apuse as he ''praised'' her.


    "All hail the goddess of Evolution."


    "I think you''re the only person whose praise to a god makes them lose power instead��"


    Evan burst intoughter upon hearing her words while Artemisia just sighed with light exasperation. However, she could not conceal the small smile momentarily manifested on her lips seeing Evan act the same as always.

 Chapter 733 The Hero Trio goes on an ‘Otherworld Exploration Trip’

    Chapter 733 The Hero Trio goes on an ��Otherworld Exploration Trip��


    ??''WE SURRENDER''��Wolfen President Lee.


    That was the next headline that took the continent by storm, barely a week after Evan''s attempted assassination incident.


    Despite the ruckus Evan had caused, people had not forgotten about the Wolfen War, and many were eager to see the GEE''s and Wolfen''s reactions on the matter.


    This was expected since Evan was allying with the GEE and was against Wolfen.


    The sudden surrender on the 31st of July was one that shocked International observers and even Wolfen government officials were dumbfounded.


    Nevertheless, people on the International stage felt it wasn''t unexpected.


    Evan''s international influence had grown by leaps and bounds due to the way the boy took advantage of the Assassination attempt on his life.


    Right now, Evan''s words and actions had the weight of a Nation''s Leader behind them. Of course, he had to wait till he became a Sovereign to have the physical power of one too.


    Due to this, not many were surprised by Wolfen''s call for surrender, with some people mocking them and saying that they should have done so earlier.


    Surprisingly, the first to bite back at those saying Wolfen should have surrendered earlier was Evan who had been silent since the Court Hearing.


    ''Don''t talk nonsense if you don''t know the full story.''


    The boy had implied that there were special reasons Wolfen could not surrender, and indeed there were.


    The fact that Zakaria had suddenly surrendered overnight meant one thing.


    ''The Demonic Hand has abandoned Wolfen!''


    It also meant that President Zakaria would soon die as well.


    Evan grabbed Amelie from her church in Bonas City and took her with him to Wolfen''s capital A when he heard this news.


    Coming with him was Bourne in his ''Human me'' mode, and together they stormed the Presidential Vi and headed straight for Zakaria''s location.


    Wolfen Ministers and Generals tried to face them, but surprisingly, it was Rodald who subdued his own country''s people and allowed Evan unrestricted ess.


    When Amelie saw Zakaria, the woman''s face scrunched up as she instantly saw through his illusions and discerned the man''s pitiful state.


    She didn''t need Evan to tell her what to do as she used her divinity to begin purifying the corruption he had.


    The Wolfen Ministers were all shocked as they never knew that Zakaria was basically half-dead.


    It was only when Zakaria regained consciousness a dayter that Evan finally left the Presidential Vi.


    However, the instant he and Bourne stepped out, they felt powerful gazes fall on them.


    Simultaneously turning in the direction of the gazes, they found two people wearing ck trench coats staring at them from within the crowd of civilians flocking around the Presidential Vi.


    "Evan��those two��"


    "You don''t need to tell me."


    Both pairs of eyes locked onto the symbol on the chest pockets of the two.


    It depicted a hand holding up a '' in its palm, and on the back of that palm were the numbers ''1'' and ''2'' respectively.


    Evan also recognized the faces of those people.


    ''Senior members of the First and Second Divisions of the Demonic Hand! I understand the First Division, but to think a Second Division member is here��''


    There wasn''t supposed to be even a single Second Division member on the Alpha Continent at this time. There being one here meant either one of two things.


    ''It''s either they''re closing in on the Location of the ''Master of Dragondune'', or the Second Finger is finally interested in what''s going on here.


    I''d very much like it to be thetter.''


    Such thoughts crossed Evan''s mind before he let his lips curl up into a grin. Activating Blink, he teleported right in between the two frowing Sovereigns, patting them on the shoulders as he spoke.


    "It''s not nice to see you too."


    After leaving those words, the boy disappeared from their sight, leaving both of them shocked at his audacity.


    �� �� ��


    Evan knew the Demonic Hand had taken a step back in this matter as the First Finger had concluded it wasn''t worth it to use Wolfen against Evan anymore.


    He wished he could see the infuriated expression of the man who must have been angry at the Kings of Osmaoque, Goshya and Zoskye, whose actions helped Evan''s power grow to an unprecedented level in a mere matter of days.


    Besides, he was sure the First Finger knew that he was nning ''something'' with the Alpha Continent''s Living Legends, however, Evan knew that due to his ''Irregr'' nature, the First Finger could not deduce what Evan was doing via Fatews.


    Neither could he figure out that Evan had taken a page out of the Demonic Hand''s book and nned to attack not this year, but sometime in November of Year 1054.


    That was more than a whole yearter.


    He would let them be vignt, anticipating an attack; only to strike when they were exhausted from being on edge all the time.


    While the Demonic Hand was busy thinking Evan wasing for them, the boy proceeded to do the exact opposite and leave the entire.


    He showed up at the Barthmont pce on a random afternoon, grabbing David who was in a discussion with his sisters before teleporting to Gerfast and grabbing Laurene who was talking with her Father and Brother.


    The boy then took them to Duscon, where he stopped by to chat with Hydran for a bit in ''Aidos'' Underground Crystal Cove.''


    It went without saying that David and Laurene were shocked to find out that there was a Sovereign chilling in Shelde, even more so than the fact that Evan was seemingly able to teleport across countries in mere minutes. (He wasn''t, it was Artemsia carrying him around.)


    They knew about Hydran though, as the Ouroboros had been active during the war 1000 years ago.


    Evan told Hydran to warn his brother, Lios, to be careful in case the Demonic Hand tried to pull anything, citing that the ''First Finger'' was probably aware of thetter''s location.


    He didn''t even give the man an exnation of how he knew this, before taking Laurene and David and jumping straight into the Regal Void Expanse''s dimensional rift.


    Although Wolfen had surrendered, the GEE had a lot of work to do in order to assume full control of Wolfen territory and this was going to take a while so Evan just left a message telling them he was gonna ''disappear'' for a few weeks and he''d be back the beginning of September.


    It was on the 4th of August that Evan left Aidos with Laurene and David and he spent the next four weeks in the Regal Void Expanse.


    Well��it was Four Weeks of Aidos'' time, but on the Regal Void Expanse, it was almost seven due to the time difference.


    He had Laurene and David gain new Unique Skills via a starry meal, chatted with the Pheonix Revi for a bit and asked her a few questions regarding him hiring the Transcendent Level Automations to use for battle on Aidos.


    Evan also had some questions about ''Pseudo-Authorities'' as well.


    Kolvar had gone to brag to Zaos that he had gained the Law of Wind''s power and Zaos had then revealed that he already possessed a ''Pseudo-Authority'' in thatw.


    This got Evan curious about the true nature of Pseudo-


    Authorities.


    Zaos had revealed his own Pseudo-Authority was gained throughprehending and understanding the inner workings of the ''Basic Law of Wind''.


    This revtion intrigued Evan, putting it inparison to Ka''s Pseudo-Authority as Aidos'' ''Great Spirit of Lightning''.


    Despite the assumption that Zaos'' authority should be stronger, Evan didn''t feel that was necessarily the case.


    Especially given how Ka was able to nullify Dominik Vk''s Pseudo-Authority of Death with hers, something Kolvar said should only be possible if Ka hadprehended the Law of Lightning itself.


    Revi provided insight into the distinction, exining that the ''Pseudo-Authorities'' of Great Spirits are ''Bestowed'' Authorities, inherently holding less power than those gained throughprehension ofws.


    Bestowed Authorities, she rified, couldn''tpare to ''Acquired'' ones and didn''t automatically be ''Complete'' Authorities upon surpassing Transcendence, unlike acquired Pseudo-Authorities.


    She gave Evan an example using the Law of Knowledge, stating that an Acquired Pseudo-Authority in thew could allow one to peruse a''s Records up to years or decades in the past depending on their energy reserves.


    However, a Bestowed Pseudo-Authority could barely do the same for a year.


    Revi saw no problem in answering his many inquiries, stating that ''since she was bored anyway, she decided toe out of her star and chat with him for a bit''.


    Evan, Laurene and David pretended like they had not just heard her say she was sleeping inside a star.


    After this talk, they left the ''Garden of the Stars'' and headed into the inhabited areas of the Realm under the guidance of the Automations.


    The other two Heroes were very curious as they had never been to others before. Sure, they had their predecessors'' memories but personal experience was different from memories.


    Laurene was very curious about what types of magic they had in this Realm; Evan acted like a child in an amusement park while David ended up being the stopper who restrained the two from going too far.


    They were directed to a city where they discovered they were not the only Otherworlders in the Regal Void Expanse.


    It appeared the Realm received visitors from others on a daily basis.


    Laurene''s eyes twinkled with light as she saw people from races considered extinct on Aidos.


    They registered themselves in the ''Otherworlder Administration Organisation'' of the City they entered, and when they said they came from a ''Prime World''; the reactions of the attendants changed and they were treated like VVIPs.


    It seemed that existences from Prime Worlds were all afforded a certain level of respect across the Gxy.


    The Administration had a certain means to check and confirm, and also had them take an Oath of Mana to prove the authenticity of their words.


    As they got special treatment just from being from a ''Prime World'', Evan was actually scared of what the reactions would be if it was discovered they came from ''Aidos'', one of the Gxy''s Former Interster Hegemons.


    Gaining amodation and other basic amenities was made a lot easier for the trio, and after settling those matters, they began their exploration.


    They saw Vampires, Flugels, Demons (No Gozonians), as well as actual Angels. They saw Valkyries, Hermits, Arachne, Nymphs, Kappa, Harpies, Mermaids, Sirens, Dragonkins, and even some small giants too!


    They also discovered this race apparently called the ''Drifter'' Race. Drifters looked no different from humans, but they were renowned across worlds for their powerful spatial(mostly teleportation) magic.


    It was said that just as Human babies learned to control their limbs as they grew, Drifter babies learned to use space magic.


    They got embroiled in several strange situations which Evan always called ''Side Quests''. Said ''Side Quests'' helped David and Laurene level up a lot so they could not reallyin as they had gotten boons out of it.


    The trip helped to close the distance between David and Laurene, as well as make the three Heroes closer��which was Evan''s true goal.


    He was close with Laurene and was chill with David, but the two Royals didn''t know the next thing about themselves besides what was known publicly; as such, their interactions usually had a certain level of ''distance''.


    So, Evan decided to use this trip, purposely putting them in a situation where they spent a week trapped together in a Dungeon to boost their cooperation, both in and out of battle.


    After six weeks, Evan decided to end the trip with a ''BANG!'' and unfortunately, David was toote in stopping him.


    He decided it was best he took thew crystals he found in the nest of a Sovereign Level ''Hell Lamia'', something the monster was guarding in preparation to use when they became Transcendent.


    Naturally, this caused the Hero Trio to be chased around by the Sovereign''s Monster Army, and Evan led the army into the territory of another Sovereign, sparking a territorial war between the two powerhouses.


    The Hero trio snuck away using the war as cover, but they ended up being scolded by a Transcendent official of the Realm''s ''Otherworlder Administration Organisation'' who was watching that particr forest.


    Couldn''t me the man, as if Evan wasn''t careful, he could have caused a monster stampede!


    Evan knew what he was doing so he was 99.99% sure he would not have fucked up that bad.


    The boy waited for a few days, before sneaking back into the battlefield and stealing a ''Blood Fruit'' that had been born after absorbing the blood of all the monsters that died during the war, stating to Laurene and David that it was a gift for ''Griselda''.


    Of course, Evan''s actions were all in line with a side quest from ''Aidos Online'' that helped boost favourability with the Vampire Race on the Dark Continent.


    All things eventually came to an end, and so did their Exploration of the Regal Void Expanse.


    They had the automations from the ''Garden of Stars''e to pick them up, inadvertently revealing that they had a ''connection'' with the Pheonix Revi and upping their Status in the eyes of the indigenous people of the Realm.


    �� �� ��


    The first thing Evan did aftering back and returning David and Laurene back to where he kidnapped them from, was to begin nning Eliza''s birthday party.


    Likest year, it took thebined efforts of Eliza, Laurene and Roselia to stop Evan from hosting a grand party that would make the Emperor''s Birthday pale inparison.


    "Eliza''s birthday should be a public holiday across the!"��


    was Evan''s deration that left the birthday girl sighing in light exasperation.


    They ended up having a small event with friends, and after this, Eliza whisked Evan away from the GWE.


    The two spent the next month alone together, slowly travelling from country to country and enjoying each one''s specialities as they made their way to Treeson in Eliza''s home country of Vathax.


    Their slow journey came to an end when they arrived in Treeson on the 12th of October, three days before Evan''s birthday.

 Chapter 734 Fifteen

    Chapter 734 Fifteen


    ??Kaur Family Summer Home


    Treeson City


    Vathax


    October 16th


    Year 1053


    The gentle chirping of morning birds gradually nudged Evan awake, their cheerful melodies filling the air. The boy sleepily reached out with his hands, as if trying to grab something but all he caught was a pillow.


    Eventually, he groggily got up to his feet and looked around the empty bedroom with sleepy eyes.


    |Reincarnated Hero System Wishes the Host a Happy Birthday. |


    |For today, all the Host''s Powers and Abilities are enhanced. Enjoy your special day! |


    "��right, today is the 16th."


    The two notifications snapped thest bit of sleep out of Evan''s eyes and he moved to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth.


    After this, he raised his hand and roused a bit of his magic power to see how good the enhancement was. It was then that he noticed something strange.


    "Huh? No presences?"


    Evan instantly expanded his aura perception to a radius of 500 metres around him but the only presences he could sense were those of birds.


    Not a single humanoid presence, except for the one downstairs.


    ''Just what is Liz nning?''


    He was quite surprised that none of the servants and guards he had seen the night before were present.


    ''Did they leave overnight or something? It''s barely 6 am.''


    He tossed on a shirt and went downstairs, heading straight to the dining area where he saw Eliza setting down what appeared to be breakfast.


    He stopped for a moment to scan her appearance, confirming that the shirt she had on was indeed one of his own.


    She was wearing one of his in grey shirts and a ck skort, along with a pristine white apron.


    "Where''d everyone go?"


    "I gave them a day off."


    The girl replied to his words before walking up to him and patting down his bedhead. She then moved her hands to the side of his face and pulled him in for a kiss.


    "Happy Birthday."


    She wanted to pull away after but Evan pulled her back and kissed her again, only stopping when sheined about his mouth tasting like mint.


    "I mean, I just brushed��"


    He shrugged his shoulders as he let her go and the girl quickly escaped his range before her desire would win over her reason.


    She still had things on the gas in the kitchen, after all.


    "How does it feel to be 15."


    "The same as it felt to be 14."


    Evan replied as he took a seat at the table and picked up one of the sandwiches present while Eliza brought in two cups of coffee.


    "You''re no fun. Most people would feel overjoyed to be a step closer to adulthood."


    "Not me��"


    ''This is my second 15th birthday, after all.''


    He kept that little line to himself and proceeded to dig into his breakfast. After that, he took a quick shower and returned downstairs to see Eliza moving some wrapped boxes around the living room.


    "Oh, you''re done. Let''s go through this stuff."


    Evan looked at the multitude of boxes stacked up and muttered something about this taking all day before moving to join Eliza in moving them around.


    These were the presents that people had sent for Evan, along with some of Eliza''s birthday presents she had not yet opened since she and Evan had been travelling around since then.


    Of course, not all the presents given to Evan were brought to this manor. Just the ones from people he knew personally; like Laurene and the like, not from random Nobles he had strictly political/professional rtionships with.


    They sat on the floor in the middle of the boxes and began unwrapping them one by one, trying to guess who sent what present based on the contents.


    Evan picked up a random box and shook it lightly, but he could not feel any shaking within.


    "It''s fairly heavy too."


    The moment he opened up the box, a spring-loaded fist shot out of the box and straight towards his face. If not for his kic vision, he would not have been able to see it!


    "Yup, this is from Laurene."


    "Pfft��"


    Eliza chuckled when she heard him identify it based on the fact that he nearly got punched, and from the card inside, she discovered he was correct.


    "Just what did you do when you went into that Dimensional Rift?"


    "Some Side Quests. Dunno why but she''d been wanting to punch me in the face after."


    He shrugged as he spoke, acting like he didn''t get the three of them chased by a Peak Sovereign and an army of thousands of monsters.


    Opening the second smaller box that came along, he saw her actual present��a small grey brooch that emanated a staggering amount of magic.


    "��I''m low-key scared this is a bomb."


    "It''s not."


    They moved on to the next box and opened it to find a book. The two of them looked at each other and echoed the same name.


    ""Roselia.""


    Indeed, only she would send Evan a book as a birthday present. It was a miracle she even sent a present considering how little she cared for things like that.


    The next box made a clinking sound when they shook it, and upon opening it, they were met with the shine of gold.


    However, it only took Evan a second to discover this wasn''t real gold but gold-ted iron. It was too light to be real gold.


    Searching the box, he found an apanying note which read:


    [If you haven''t realised, those gold coins are fake! Did you really think I''d actually give you some of MY money?]


    "Nadarus?"


    "Well, he IS the ''Demon of Greed''. This much is expected."


    Evan chuckled as he put down the note, casting a nce at the gold coins and realising something different about them.


    "Wait a sec��these things have my face on them!"


    "And have ''Happy Birthday'' as the denomination."


    Eliza smiled wryly as she put the birthday coins back into the box and moved it over, before moving on to another box.


    They opened other presents, ones from Milena, Ka, David, Amelie and surprisingly, even Hydran sent a gift through Luke.


    As they were talking, Eliza suddenly realised that there was something new in the room.


    "That box��"


    "What box?"


    Evan followed her gaze to a small rectangr box on the centre table. She was certain it hadn''t been there earlier when they started opening gifts, and since she had gone through all the boxesst night, she was sure it wasn''t there then either.


    As she reached out and picked it up, a strange energy tingled in her fingers. When she handed it to Evan, a sh of recognition crossed his eyes.


    "Oh, this is from Artemisia."


    He recognized the goddess'' divinity immediately, but before he could open it, Eliza called his attention to another box that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.


    The two looked at each other before reaching out and opening it, meeting aplete Three-Piece suit set, ck gloves, a long jacket and brogue shoes.


    "Ah��this is EOTD."


    The shoes were simr to the ones the man wore when Evan saw himst so he quickly figured that it came from him.


    After setting the suit aside, Evan returned his focus to Artemisia''s gift and opened it up. Inside, was a box filled with choctes and seeing them filled Evan with nostalgia.


    "Never seen this brand before��"


    Eliza certainly would not recognize this brand of strawberry choctes; it was from Earth V, after all. Artemisia had gotten him a pack of his favourite choctes from his home world for his birthday.


    "They''re very nice. Here, have one."


    He picked out one and fed it to Eliza whose eyes sparkled with light when she tasted it.


    "Gimme more!"


    "Huh? Girl, chill!!"


    Evan barely managed to stop Eliza from wrestling the entire chocte box from him, saved only by the ringing sound of the oven that came from the kitchen.


    "Oh, it''s done."


    Eliza got up and rushed over to the kitchen, and curiously, Evan followed her while asking him what she was making.


    "What sort of birthday would this be without a cake?"


    That was her reply as she put on her apron before bringing the cake out of the oven. Seeing her moving around the kitchen with a little skip in her step and her ponytail gently swaying with each movement, Evan smiled lightly as a thought came to his mind.


    ''This situation. It''s like I''ve got a wife or something��''


    The moment he had that thought, Eliza suddenly froze and turned towards him with narrowed eyes.


    "Why do I have a feeling I know exactly what you''re thinking right now?"


    "You probably do, but I''d rather you don''t say it. You''re the one who''d get embarrassed in the end."


    Evan''s words had Eliza fall silent. A momentter, her cheeks turned red and she looked away.


    "So, you still got embarrassed even if you didn''t say a thing?"


    **WHOOSH!!


    A spat came flying towards Evan''s head the instant he spoke; however, it was quite ''slow'' so he caught it with ease.


    "Oy! Wait a sec! This is a spat? Aren''t you icing a cake? What the hell are you using this for?"


    Evan was more concerned about why she had one on hand rather than the fact that she threw it at him.


    "It was the nearest thing my hand could reach."


    Eliza replied as she went back to her work while Evan left his seat and went to put the spat back in ce, before peeking over her shoulder as he spoke.


    "I smell strawberries��"


    "Evan, do you want to join the second cake in the oven?"


    The hidden threat behind her words was clear but Evan only chuckled in reply.


    "Fire is my best element."


    "?"


    At first, Eliza was confused about what he meant, but a secondter she understood��Evan''s fire resistance was great enough that he wouldn''t even feel the heat of the Oven.


    She silently pushed him away and then put the cake into the oven, before turning around and seeing Evan ying with the extra dough.


    "Let''s have a bakingpetition."


    "Why are you setting yourself up for failure?"


    The teenage blonde was genuinely confused as to how Evan even arrived at such a thought. Although she knew Evan wasn''t hopeless in the kitchen, she was confident he could never be her match in baking.


    "Is that overconfidence I hear?"


    "No, it''s a fact. I''m better than you in everything Kitchen-


    rted. You''re decent as a cook but you don''t know the first thing about baking."


    "You have this little faith in me? I''d prove to you how wrong you are!!"


    Evan dered defiantly, before proceeding to bake the ''best shortcake ever''. When he was done, Eliza tasted it and she fell silent for a moment.


    "They say you learn new things about your partner every day. Today, I learned that you cannot bake and you mustn''t eat that."


    The girl smiled as she spoke, and put down the fork beside the cake, knocking Evan''s hand away when he tried to take up the fork to taste it.


    "Come on, it''s not THAT bad. It should at least be edible."


    Evan wrestled the fork out of her hands and took a bite, going silent for a second before asking.


    "Did I mix the salt and the sugar?"


    "I think your problems are much more fundamental than mixing the salt and the sugar!"


    Eliza pointed at the bag of flour that was lying on the counter as she continued.


    "You emptied half a kilogram of flour��into a shortcake!"


    "��that may have been ''a little bit'' too much flour."


    "A ''little bit''??!!"


    At this point, all Eliza could do was just roll her eyes and move to toss the abomination Evan had created into the trash.


    "You only made one cake and your whole body is stained with flour."


    Her mutter caused Evan to realise that despite the fact that she had just baked two whole cakes, her hands were the only part of her body stained by anything, and even those were covered in transparent gloves. Her white apron waspletely spotless as well!


    Seeing this, Evan grinned mischievously and Eliza felt a chill run down her spine. She immediately tried to put distance between them but Evan was faster.


    He grabbed her with one hand while the other grabbed the shortcake she was about to trash before he proceeded to do the ''unimaginable''.


    **SPLAT!


    "Now, we''re even."


    He spoke with a satisfied smile on his lips, but that smile broke in the next second when a bag of salt smacked him in the face.


    "Oh my, was that the salt? I meant to use the SUGAR!"


    Eliza proceeded to score a hat-trick with three bags of baking sugar to his face, not caring for the fact that they burst open and sprinkled their contents everywhere.


    Evan sneezed to get the sugar and salt in his nose out, before looking up at Eliza''s cake-stained face as he spoke.


    "Oh, it''s game on now!"

 Chapter 735 “Well, I lied.” [NSFW]

    Chapter 735 ��Well, I lied.�� [NSFW]


    ??Evan grabbed the flour and tossed it at her, but she dodged, it before picking up the nearby icing mix and sshing it on him.


    The two of them began ying like kids, having a food fight but with baking ingredients instead.


    They only stopped when the Oven''s bell rang, signifying that the second cake Eliza was baking was done.


    "��"


    "��"


    The sound snapped them back to their senses and they looked at themselves, before looking at the kitchen around them.


    "We''re a mess."


    "Good lord, Aunty Darcy''s gonna kill me."


    The kitchen was a chaotic scene, covered in a nket of flour and stters of icing. Mixing bowlsy overturned, their contents spilt across countertops. Trails of sugar and sprinkles littered the floor, while utensils were haphazardly scattered everywhere.


    "Go take a bath Evan, I''lle in after you''re done. I need to ice this cake as well."


    Eliza pushed Evan out of the kitchen as she spoke, but the boy stood his ground and turned to grab her, wiping the flour off her forehead as he asked.


    "Why don''t we take one together?"


    "��because I have a cake to ice."


    She then pushed him upstairs and returned to the kitchen, thanking her stars that the white flour covering her face prevented Evan from noticing how much her cheeks had turned red.


    "Deep breaths, Elizabe. Deep breaths."


    After calming herself, she opened the oven and brought the cake out before icing it and putting it in the fridge. She also did a quick cleaning job with magic to clear up the mess they made, before heading upstairs to the master bedroom.


    ''Evan should be done with his bath by now, why isn''t he downstairs?''


    When she entered, she found the room empty, but then she heard water sshing against the floor in the bathroom.


    "You''re still in there?"


    She questioned as she walked towards the bathroom. For a moment, her feet stopped at the door and she twisted her lips slightly before activating a magic spell.


    It was one that her Aunty Darcy had taught her the day before and was very effective at stopping ''worst case scenarios''.


    ''Even if it''s a safe day, you can never be too safe.''


    Eliza had that thought as she entered the bathroom and saw Evan rxing in therge tub, with rose petals floating around the water.


    "The warm water felt sofortable and I had zero desire to leave after entering."


    For a moment, she looked at the cloud of steaming from the water, signifying it was nearly boiling temperature and wondering how on Aidos that was ''Warm''.


    As she took off her soiled apron and was about to toss it into theundry basket, Evan''s voice rang out.


    "The water is nice but it would be better if you got in the tub with me..."


    Eliza''s body froze for a moment and she turned around to see Evan sitting with his arms spread across the tub, his hair pushed back and a warm towel covering his face.


    "We have a backlog of things to do which would NOT get done if I were to join you."


    Such was her reply, but her actions did not match her words. Evan, who had a towel covering his eyes did not notice that Eliza had taken off her clothes until he felt ripples in the water.


    He removed the towel and saw her sitting at the edge of the tub, using magic to lower the temperature a bit.


    "I meant that as a joke, though?"


    "Well, I took that quite literally."


    Eliza replied to him as she entered the tub fully and sat down in between his legs, leaning her back onto his chest, fully cognizant of the fact that there was a certain hard organ lining her ass crack.


    "I think I understand what you meant by the water being so nice.


    "I know, right?"


    The two carried on with their normal conversation, acting like they weren''t turning each other on in the current situation.


    "Aren''t you going to do something about your hair?"


    "Huh? Oh, I forgot."


    Eliza looked around for where her rubber bands were, spotting the pack right behind where Evan''s back was leaning against.


    She turned around to pick one up and tie her hair up, and this naturally gave Evan a full view of her body. The moment she was done, Evan snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, keeping her just where he wanted her��With her legs spread on both sides of him and her breasts in perfect view.


    His eyes ran up and down her body and seeing him act like he hadn''t seen her naked before, she couldn''t help but ask.


    "Why are you just staring at me?"


    Normally, they would have long since transitioned into a make-out session but Evan just sat in silence.


    "Dare I say it, but your breasts seem a bit bigger."


    Evan''s statement wasn''t without basis. There was no way he would not notice a change after spending a good amount of time feeling and staring at the two wonderful things.


    "Seriously, Ev-"


    Eliza''s words were cut short when Evan suddenly leaned in and kissed her, a kiss that she instinctively reciprocated.


    Her thoughts about Evan''s earlier statement flew out of her mind and all that was filling her head was the desire to deepen their kiss.


    A desire she acted on without hesitation.


    Immersed in the warmth of the water, Evan and Eliza continued their deep kiss in the bathtub. The gentle ripples around them mirrored the growing intensity between them, as they lost themselves in the moment, letting the world around them fade away.


    They broke the kiss for a moment to catch their breaths before resuming a secondter, their hands running all over their bodies.


    Eliza felt her body melt into the warm water when Evan''s lips met her own. Without thinking, she wrapped her hands around his neck to pull him even closer, gasping when she felt his erection slide across her slit.


    They were both in their birthday suits and with nothing between them, every single touch fanned the mes of desire within them.


    Eliza found it intriguing how she had never kissed anyone before Evan, but she had learned to quickly follow along with him, their mouths moving in unison as if they were following the steps of a dance.


    "Ah~"


    She let out a sound that was somewhere in between a groan and a moan when Evan bit her bottom lip, taking the chance to shove his tongue even deeper. A small portion of her mind enjoyed how slightly rough Evan was being and though she felt her lips may be bruisedter, she ignored it as the high feeling of their lips moving against each other dominated her mind.


    A familiar sensation built up within her and much to her dismay, Evan suddenly pulled away from the kiss.


    She panted as a wave of adrenaline rushed through her, and seeing the lust radiating from her, Evan smiled and he leaned in, kissing her not on her lips like she wanted but on her neck.


    His lips moved down, kissing her shoulder and down to her breasts, where he spent nearly a minute focusing on one of her nipples. He then moved over to the other one, enjoying the light moans of pleasure that escaped her lips as he moved back up to her face before finally joining their lips together.


    Their deep kiss continued, with Elzia sometimes leaning in forward as if she wanted to meld her body with Evan''s. This caused the tip of his erection to slide over her slit and when she leaned back as he sucked her nipples, it rubbed her slit once more.


    With them in water and how wet she was in there; it would only take a little bit of force for Evan''s dick to slip inside.


    In fact, that nearly happened. However, the tip brushed against her hard clit and with all the pleasure that had been building up inside her, that was the final touch needed to push her over the edge and off the orgasm cliff.


    Her body shivered lightly and she arched her back, convulsing a bit before she fell forward onto Evan''s chest.


    The girl''s beautiful face was soaked with sweat and water and her boobs rose and fell when she tried to catch her breath, creating ripples in the water.


    She rocked her hips a bit, rubbing her vagina against Evan''s hardness and feeling the tip brush her entrance poured a bucket of fuel to the mes of desire burning brightly within her.


    "Eliza��"


    Evan''s voice snapped her out of her daze and she slowly pushed herself off him and looked him in the eyes.


    Due to him calling her a nickname for so long, hearing his voice call her actual name sounded strange and it instantly cleared the haze in her consciousness.


    As she looked into his grey eyes, watching the emotions swirling within them, she felt a surge of happiness wash over her due to the tant desire for her he did not bother concealing.


    At this point, Evan wasn''t going to pretend like he didn''t know where this was going, but even still, he had something to say.


    "My dear, dear Eliza��"


    He rubbed the side of her face with his hand and slowly pulled her closer before giving her a light kiss.


    "I love you, but��"


    Evan leaned in further, his husky breath at the side of her ear sending a jolt of pleasure through her as he spoke.


    "��you know you''re treading into dangerous territory, right?"


    "!"


    Eliza trembled lightly when she heard Evan''s words. She wasn''t surprised, though. She was the one who stopped Evan from taking that final step before so she knew he wouldn''t so easily make a move this time.


    "Didn''t you say you wanted to wait?"


    ''��wait?''


    For a moment, confusion shed through her eyes, but then she remembered that she had indeed said something along those lines to Evan some months ago.


    "Oh��I did say that."


    Eliza was nervous, and she was sure Evan could sense it as well. Taking a moment to calm herself, she spoke with the most neutral tone she could muster at the moment.


    "Well, about that��"


    She wrapped her arms around Evan''s neck and pulled his upper body closer, resting her chin on his shoulder and whispering into his ears.


    "��I lied."


    "��"


    Deep within Evan''s subconscious mind, there was a lone switchbelled ''Restraint''. This switch was also always ON.


    But the second his brainputed the meaning of Eliza''s words, the switch instantly flipped OFF.


    His arms around Eliza''s waist tightened their hold on her body and he abruptly rose from his sitting position.


    A huge amount of water sshed onto the bathroom floor as he moved from one end to another in a second, lifting Eliza and sitting her on the edge of the bath, leaning her back against the wall.


    "Just so you know, I wouldn''t stop even if you told me to."


    "��stop? I think I recently forgot what that mea-mmph!"


    Evan didn''t even let her finish whatever it was she wanted to say as he smashed his lips on hers, his hands moved up the sides of her body and towards her breasts.


    Soon, his lips followed and the jolting pleasure from her breasts forced her to let out a short moan. Evan took a mouthful and sucked on it. As if milk wasing out of her breasts, he licked her nipples meticulously.


    "Hk!"


    He lightly bit her nipple and tickled it with his tongue. Eliza got breathless as he licked around the are before sucking on it once more.


    Not wanting to be the one on the receiving end, her hands moved around his body, towards the hard member that had been rubbing over her slit all this while.


    ''Is it me or is it bigger than normal?''


    Such a thought crossed her mind, along with the question of how all of ''that'' was supposed to go inside her. She hadn''t seen any other person naked so she didn''t know if other guys were like this and if they were, it meant that other women could handle this so she could too.


    ''It wouldn''t break me, right?''


    Her brain could note up with an answer to that since it was too busy processing the jolt of pleasure running through her the instant Evan''s fingers suddenly entered her.


    There was a lump in her throat and a sensation in her stomach which prevented even the faintest sound from leaving her mouth.


    "You''re already so wet��it''s amazing how easily my fingers are slipping in��"


    Evan leaned in beside her ear and bit it yfully as he asked.


    "How long have you been like this, I wonder?"

 Chapter 736 Pain and Pleasure [NSFW]

    Chapter 736 Pain and Pleasure [NSFW]


    ??"How long have you been like this, I wonder?"


    "��"


    Eliza turned her head away while blushing slightly, and Evan''s lips curled up into a grin, enjoying the clear view of her inplete turmoil. He continued to rub one finger against the warmth between her legs, her fluid coated his fingers but he did not mind it.


    Slowly, he inserted a second finger, earning a gasp followed by a moan from Eliza''s mouth. However, he suddenly stopped his movements altogether, watching as she pleaded with him to continue with her eyes.


    "You haven''t answered my question."


    "I-I do not know."


    The girl''s mind was blurry and all she could think of was the pleasure she got from his fingers entering her. She wanted it to continue immediately but Evan had other ns.


    "Do not lie to me, Liz. You know your body better than anyone."


    Evan buried his head in her shoulder to inhale her scent before sucking on her neck to leave a little mark there.


    Still, his fingers remained still and Eliza bit her lip before finally whispering the answer he wanted.


    "When you kissed me after you woke up. The thought of finally going all the way has been in my mind since then and it got me��"


    Evan''s eyes widened in surprise as that was even earlier than he had expected.


    "They say you learn something new about your partner every day. Today, I learned you''re hornier than you appear to be."


    Eliza''s embarrassment reached a new high and she buried her face in Evan''s neck in an attempt to hide it.


    "��are you happy now?"


    "Ecstatic."


    Evan''s reply came just as his fingers resumed their movements and she bit his shoulder to stifle her moans.


    Suddenly, he removed his fingers and just when she was about to ask why he did so again, he whispered in her ears.


    "You know whates next, right?"


    "��"


    Eliza nodded silently, before looking up at Evan with lust-filled eyes as she asked.


    "You will be gentle, right?"


    "For the first and perhaps second time. I can''t be certain of the rounds after that. It all depends on what you and I feel."


    "Huh? Other rounds? You mean on another day?"


    Her question had Evan genuinely burst intoughter. He found her to be cute at this moment, leaning in and raining kisses on her face.


    "My dear, it seems you don''t fully understand what you''re in for��"


    Before she could even say anything, she felt Evan''s rock-hard penis push into her nectar-vaginal flesh. She gasped lightly as the head slipped right in and Evan held her close before saying.


    "��this would probably hurt a little bit."


    Perhaps because of her nervousness, her folds tightened and it didn''t seem like it would be able to stretch further. It took every bit of his rationality to hold back the desire to thoughtlessly push himself into her.


    Evan locked lips with her while his hand squeezed and massaged her breasts. This soothed her a bit and her tense muscles rxed, allowing him room to move in further.


    He pushed himself forward a bit more and Eliza gripped onto his shoulders with all her strength as if trying to crush his bones.


    "Hha�� Hha��"


    Her breaths became rough as if she wascking air and he kept moving forward bit by bit without pause. He gradually filled her more and more until he reached a thin wall and the moment he broke through that frail wall; he was finally able to slide himself in with ease.


    "��!!!"


    Severe pain.


    Eliza felt like her body would split in two.


    Hurt a ''little bit''? What sort of absurd lie was that?


    The pain from her lower body consumed her entire mind. Everything in front of her distorted, and her jaw trembled.


    She realized that it was possible for one to not even be able to scream when the pain was too severe.


    The pressure and the apanying pain from his length inside of her was too much for her to handle and her eyes watered a bit.


    Evan noticed this and went still. He moved his thumb to wipe where a tear had escaped, gritting his teeth as he resisted the urge to start moving inside her.


    ''This feels amazing��''


    It felt out of this world inside of her. It wasn''t just tight. There was a syrupy texture that squeezed down onto him.


    His firm member was stiffening to its limit and she was squeezing him tightly. He felt very apologetic, but he couldn''t endure any longer.


    Raising his body, he thrust his hips so that his length could be fully wrapped inside her.


    "Hk��!"


    Eliza''s body twitched from a new-found shocking sensation. Her gaze went down and she saw her red blood flowing out of the moist junction between her thighs as Evan slowly pulled out until only the tip remained.


    "Is it too much? I-"


    "No."


    She cut Evan off before he could evenplete his statement, looking up to him as she continued.


    "It is not that bad."


    "You say that but your eyes are watering."


    Evan moved his hand to clean off her teardrops and she bit her lip slightly before saying.


    "I don''t want to stop here. I want it all��every single drop��"


    Her legs wrapped around his waist and she locked them together, not intending to let him go even if he wanted to stop.


    ''Fuck��''


    Evan internally cursed as he felt his arousal grow when he realised what she had just done.


    The next sound that filled the bathroom was the sound of Eliza''s loud moan as he rocked himself back into her.


    She moaned out loud, looking to be in pain, but her body twitched with pleasure.


    "Uuh! Please a�� bit�� slower!"


    "I am�� going slow."


    He was not lying. He was currently holding back to the best of his abilities.


    Blood flowed out from their point of union, staining the floor and dripping into the bathwater. His superhuman sense of smell picked up the scent of blood, a portion of his mind reminding him of her pain but half of his rationality was already gone.


    Wet sounds reverberated through the whole room as he slowly increased his thrusting speed.


    "Ang! Ah! Hk!"


    Eliza hung onto his shoulder tightly and her nails dug into his back, creating scratch marks, but this only served to increase Evan''s ''appetite'' to ''devour'' her.


    Her body moved up and down along with his strong thrusts. Everything was so different from what she''d imagined.


    The pain was still there, but it was at the back of her mind right now.


    "Hha�� Hha��"


    Eliza''s rough breaths increased, syncing with Evan''s and flooding the room with the sound.


    From the tip of her toes to the top of her head, an overwhelming euphoric shock engulfed her body and she moaned loudly, enjoying the pleasure she received each time he entered her over and over again.


    Evan hissed from the feeling of her squeezing the hell out of him each time he entered her. It felt like she wanted to suck the cum out of him that very instant.


    "Liz, can I go deeper?"


    "��Deeper?"


    Eliza questioned him in a daze, not understanding how much deeper he could go inside of her at this point.


    The understanding came in the next moment when Evan pushed further inside of her and she gripped his arms tightly, taken aback by how much more he was filling and stretching her.


    Colourful spots clouded her vision as Evan pushed all the way in, informing her that all of him could be inside of her.


    When he pulled out of her, Eliza felt as though he was pulling her along with him. She wasn''t able to get used to the empty feeling of him pulling out it wasn''t long before he pushed deep inside of her again.


    Evan firmly held onto her hips as he bore in deep. Her juices mixed with tiny bits of blood flowed out from her, down to her buttocks. As he continued to thrust, the viscous fluids created a moist pping sound.


    "Ah, hu��"


    Mewls and moans of pleasure were the only things that escaped their lips as they passionately bumped hips.


    "Ah~! Aah��~~!"


    Eliza suddenly let out a loud moan that reverberated through the bathroom, the intensity of the sound surprising even her.


    For a moment, they both went still and looked at each other in silence. Immediately, the realisation dawned on both of them and when Eliza saw the way Evan''s lips curled up, a jolt of pleasure shot through her body.


    ''Oh no, I think he might break me��''


    And the ''scary'' part about this was that she wanted him to do so.


    The moment she had that thought, Evan thrust his dick in vigorously, aiming right at the same spot he had just hit a few seconds ago.


    He concentrated on her panting and groaning and stubbornly hammered into her most sensitive spot.


    Her insides squeezed tightly and started to spasm. He saw that she was about to climax and plunged deeper into her.


    "Hhk!"


    Eliza''s body began to tremble and Evan felt himself approaching his limit as well, prompting him to increase his thrusting speed while breathing roughly.


    The pleasure was immediately building up in a spiral. With each swing of his hips, he could definitely feel something building towards ejaction deep within his dick.


    The first-time pleasure they were both feeling was pulling them towards orgasm simultaneously and they could no longer go back.


    At this point, even if they stopped their movements and endured it, their hips would move on their own and there was nothing they could do.


    "It''s�� It''sing��!"


    "��Evan��!"


    Eliza called out Evan''s name happily and all the while that voice of hers remained in his ears, Evan gave his hips an especiallyrge and powerful swing.


    His manhood exploded into her vagina and when she felt the hot semen shooting inside her, she arched her back, convulsed and writhed around.


    Evan remained inside her, not wanting to waste a single drop of his cum. He only pulled himself out once there was nothing left to give.


    Eliza''s body grew limp and she panted as her chest rose up and down. A small portion of Evan''s cum trickled out of her as she did so and seeing it, Eliza felt grateful she had activated the magic Darcy taught her BEFORE she entered the bathroom.


    Evan on the other hand, enjoyed the sight of her panting,ing down off the high she underwent a moment ago. He was hard just from this sight and the moment she closed her eyes to catch her breath, he prated her once again.


    "Evan??!"


    The girl was astonished by how hard he was already when he had just cum a few seconds ago, not that she minded it though.


    Seeing her surprised expression, Evan''s lips curled up lightly as he spoke.


    "Sweetheart, this is FAR from over��"


    Evan hauled her up and she reflexively grabbed onto him like a ko. The boy chuckled lightly at this action as he got out of the bath and moved towards the bedroom.


    However, his dick was deep inside Eliza so each slow step he took was an unintentional yet very intentional thrust that elicited a moan from her lips.


    "��Evan��you''re being mean."


    Eliza knew Evan well enough to know he was doing this on purpose and the smirk on his lips only seemed to confirm this.


    She pouted and bit his shoulder in retaliation, but suddenly she felt her back falling onto the soft foam of the bed and Evan rammed his dick into her deepest part in one go.


    "Ahh, ahhhhhhhh~~?"


    The boy had crossed the distance between the bathroom door and the bed in an instant, before thrusting so hard he knocked the air out of her lungs.


    Eliza didn''t even have the chance to catch her breath when Evan pressed his weight down on her and mmed his hips as fast as he could.


    "Ahhh!! Ah, ah, nhhh!!"


    The girl''s vagina swallowed his duck to the base and as it did, her body arched backwards and her expression melted with carnal pleasure.


    The many folds of flesh surrounded his penis, sending tremors of pleasure throughout his body. Her vaginal walls wrapped around his rod wriggled as if trying to squeeze out his cum again, and the great amount of nectar spilling from her provided a sticky pleasure that sent him to cloud nine.


    "Ahh��Evan��this is so wonderful��''


    "It''s amazing��for me too��"


    While sharing the pleasure, their eyes simultaneously went towards the ce they were connected and seeing it only made their arousal spike to new highs.


    ''Oh, oh, ahh, I-I can barely��think��''


    Each time Evan mmed his hips into hers, pleasure shot up her body and Eliza felt like her brain turning to mush.


    ''I��c-can''t��''


    Just as Evan pulled his hips back in preparation for another thrust, Eliza leveraged her hold on him and pushed forward, letting his back fall onto the bed. Naturally, this meant that she, who had her legs locked on his was pulled along with him and in that moment, her hips lowered onto his with force.


    This allowed Evan''s dick to reach her deepest spot and her vision turned white as she climaxed while riding him.


    Her body fell forward as she struggled to catch her breath, and the sensation of Evan''s hard dick still within her reminded her of the fact that he hadn''t reached orgasm with her.


    ''If he continues��''


    The thought of the pleasure she knew she would feel if Evan began to pound her in this sensitive state made her pussy tighten on him and she heard him groan due to the pleasure.


    Hearing the groan that escaped his lips, a thought came to Eliza''s mind and she ced her hands on his chest to support herself before looking down on Evan with a smirk.


    ''I want to make him feel what I''m feeling��''


    A sudden desire for control was ignited within her and she slowly began moving her hips up and down. Her ass mmed onto hisp with each movement and her vaginal flesh drooled in its hunger for carnal pleasure.


    "�� Evan, I will make sure you feel really good��"

 Chapter 737 “I’m Seriously Crazy” [NSFW]

    Chapter 737 ��I��m Seriously Crazy�� [NSFW]


    ??The words unconsciously escaped her lips as she pped her hips against his in her desire to fully taste his dick and make it release all the semen within it.


    The room echoed with that pping sound and the indecent wet sound of nectary flesh rubbing together.


    Eliza''s breasts heavily bounced before Evan''s eyes, her long and blonde hair shook behind her, and a sweet voice escaped her lips.


    The rapidly changing waves of pleasure she gave Evan made his dick tremble inside her.


    Despite wanting to be in control, Eliza somehow felt Evan was with the way she was moaning loudly. The outer corners of her eyes drooped, her cheeks flushed, and her beautiful face was dyed by obscene pleasure.


    Evan would not deny that he hadn''t fantasized about something like this happening, but the reality was far more sensual than those fantasies of his.


    As she groped her own breasts with one hand, Evan decided to help her fondle the other one which he was sure was feeling ''lonely''.


    His other hand went towards her hips and he thrust up from below, making Eliza''s body give arge jump.


    "Kyah! Evan, w-wai~Ahhh~!��harde-!"


    The girl''s words and thoughts were all over the ce as Evan thrust from below and her moans grew louder.


    With both their hips moving, their union rubbed together all the more intensely.


    Her vagina was already a flood of love juices, so his crotch was quickly soaked. The head of Evan''s dick pushed open her vaginal flesh and repeatedly knocked on her cervix and this made Eliza realise that she hadn''t yet reached the height of pleasure she could feel.


    "Nh, nhhhh! I-I''m cumming��I''m cumming!!"


    "I can''t hold back any longer either��"


    Evan responded to Eliza''s cry with a low murmur. He had thrust his hips like crazy without thinking about the pace, so their pleasure had risen to the highest stage in no time. Even so, Evan continued fiercely thrusting his hips while holding her hips in his hands.


    "Yes��cum inside me!!"


    His unrestrained pistoning had apparently hit the girl right in the pleasure spot.


    The smell of sweat and reverberating voices filled the bedroom and the two of them achieved climax very quickly.


    The vaginal flesh seemed to convulse, the girl could not support her body any longer, and she clung to the boy as she moaned in orgasm.


    The pleasure kept her from even forming a coherent line and her shoulders rose and fell as she breathed.


    "Ahee�� Y-yer shumming inshide me��"


    Evan suddenly lifted her and pushed her back onto the bed, pulling out his dick mid-ejaction. Before Eliza could evenpletely react to the sudden sense of loss, Evan aimed the head at her and spurted his cum all over her face and breasts.


    The sight of Eliza climaxing as she bent up in a big arch on the bed whilst covered in his cum filled Evan with a strange sense of aplishment he had never felt before.


    Stretching out her feet and shuddering, Eliza enjoyed the pleasure that ran through her body for several seconds and then��


    *POMF!


    ��her body plopped down on the bed. Still, her breathing was ragged, and it took her a while to settle down.


    She raised her hand and touched her face, feeling the sensation of Evan''s sticky cum mixed in with the sweat on her body. She didn''t know when she did it but she unconsciously moved her hand and scooped up the little bit of cum at the corner of her mouth with her finger and slowly licked it off with her tongue.


    Thoroughly. Meticulously. As if to show it off to Evan.


    Naturally, this hopelessly obscene scene made Evan hard again and the boy was beginning to think that the ''Stat Enhancement'' he received this morning might have had something to do with how quickly he recovered.


    He then remembered the feeling of grasping her ass when she was riding him earlier and a thought crossed his mind.


    "Hey��Liz��"


    "��Evan?"


    "I''d like to try something."


    �� �� ��


    "W-wait, Evan��!"


    "Hm?"


    "A-are you s-sure about this pose?"


    "Feeling embarrassed?"


    "I��"


    As Eliza struggled to find the words to say, Evan smirked and rubbed her slit with the head of his dick, eliciting a light moan from her.


    "Just look at the way your body responds to it��"


    Bringing context to the situation, Eliza was currently down on all fours, her butt sticking out towards Evan.


    He could see her beautiful pink anus and her wet vagina throbbing between her lewdly spreadbia.


    While she was still trying to sort out her thoughts, Evan proceeded to spread open her thighs, hold it with both hands and into her vagina already dripping wet and with plenty of nectar, he shoved in his raging member.


    "Ah�� Aohh��?"


    Perhaps greatly surprised, Eliza also raised an animal-like voice.


    "You want it, don''t you?"


    "W-wait, Evan��!"


    "No way."


    The boy began to pound his hips against hers, rapidly and mercilessly, thrusting his penis into Eliza with such force that it seemed he wanted to reach deep into her and prate her cervix.


    "E�� Evan�� !!?"


    Eliza called out his name as she was repeatedly being pounded on the bed with her breasts shaking violently.


    Her flushed white face was grimacing as if enduring something��the animalistic moans that threatened to escape her lips as Evan pumped his dick in and out of her soft and warm pussy.


    "The day''s still young, and there''s so much stuff I want to try out��!


    So, we might as well try doing it��"


    Evan held Eliza down on the bed, raised his hips high��


    "��like��this!"


    ��and thrust down straight into her.


    "Ahhhhhh! Ah, ahh! Oh, oh, ahh."


    The unexpected mating press filled her with an intense pressure that shook not only her lower abdomen but her entire body.


    Eliza''s pleasure grew and a tremor ran through Evan''s testicles. The sperm was sent out and more blood filled his penis, making it even thicker and harder.


    "Ama-amazin�� Lik�� Like this�� Ev-evan�� Ah, aaahhh�� Aahhh��"


    She didn''t seem to have the leisure to speak coherent words anymore.


    "Liz��!"


    Evan also didn''t have that leisure. He just wanted to swing, to swing, and to swing his hips for an unknown amount of time.


    The pleasure was rapidly growing; however, Evan didn''t force himself to hold it back. He kept up his growing momentum of pleasure and shot his semen deep into Eliza''s vagina.


    An intense sensation �� as if something big was slipping out from deep within his body.


    Evan greatly bent himself backwards at the feeling of pleasure that shot up from between his legs.


    "Hahh�� Ahh��"


    After spitting it all out into Eliza, he slowly fell on top of her while breathing heavily.


    Eliza mustered her remaining strength to turn over and she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.


    "��Evan��if you fuck me this hard, I''m scared��the contraceptive magic��might not work, you know?"


    She spoke in a teasing tone, her voice somewhat listless as a wave of tiredness washed over her.


    For a while, Evan was burying his face in her breasts and breathing roughly but��


    "...Then, I''ll take it out somewhere else next"


    "����Eh?"


    Evan''s sudden deration had Eliza letting out a dumbfounded sound.


    ''Somewhere else��?''


    Deep down, she understood what he was hinting at but her mind refused to believe it.


    However, when she felt Evan''s finger stick into her vagina and twirl around for a bit, before sliding out and up her ass crack��


    up to her asshole, she had no choice but to ept the reality regardless of whether she wanted to or not.


    Evan''s finger pressed against that tightly squeezing ce and using the semen spilling out of her bottom lip as a lubricant, he loosened it up slightly and slid his finger inside.


    "No way�� No way�� Aahh, it''s my butt hole��"


    Evan picked up Eliza''s body, who was breathing roughly andnguid and turned her over. As she was lying face down, this time, he pulled and lifted her up by the hips.


    "No way, I''m happ�� No, that''s not it, okay? Wait����!"


    Eliza summoned strength she didn''t even know she had and struggled to break free from Evan''s hold. She turned around and kept her back against the wall while shaking her head.


    For a moment, she nced down at Evan''s penis and saw It hadn''t lost strength yet.


    Despite having ejacted three times in a row, Evan''s penis still maintained its erection.


    "Evan��that is NOT going in my butt hole��"


    "��"


    The boy just smiled without a word as he drew closer and Eliza rushed off the bed to escape.


    Unfortunately for her, she had just been pounded to climax multiple times by Evan over the past few hours. No way her hips were in the condition to support her weight.


    She fell to the ground with a thud and before the thought of using magic to ease her pain came to her mind, Evan grabbed her and pulled her off the ground princess-carry style.


    He just silently smiled at her and Eliza didn''t need to be inside his mind to know he was thinking of how he''d ravage her next.


    "��be gentle��please."


    "��I''ll try."


    The girl gulped audibly when she heard his response, a moment before she was tossed back onto the bed face down.


    Her ''protests'' and efforts at ''resistance'' were all futile and Eliza waspletely ''devoured'' by Evan.


    �� �� ��


    Eliza opened her eyes to see thete afternoon sun.


    She wasn''t sure how much time had passed, but remembered it was around 8:30 when she entered the bathroom with Evan.


    Now, she was looking at thete afternoon sun.


    Meaning it was sometime between 4 and 5pm.


    However, Eliza would believe if someone said that it had been a few days.


    She did not have any strength in her body.


    But at the same time, she feltfortable.


    She could''ve restored herself with some skill charges, but she chose to rx and sink into the warmth enveloping her.


    As more of her senses returned, she felt the firmness of the arms wrapped around her, sighing softly when she realised one of them was cupping her boobs.


    She shifted her gaze and saw Evan''s face as she expected.


    A really good-looking, nice, and handsome face that had its eyes closed.


    ''I must have gone crazy.''


    Eliza didn''t deny that she always looked at Evan through her love filter, but now it seemed that filter was at MAX settings.


    Feeling their bare skin touching each other without a single cloth between them, Eliza''s face turned red again.


    Without realizing it, she swallowed her saliva.


    ''It''s been a year, right? Since we started dating��''


    She ran the calctions and concluded it had been approximately 1 year and 7 months. A little over a year and a half.


    ''When did Evan start desiring me sexually? From the very beginning, right?


    I mean, he almost fucked me the night I confessed to him and only stopped because I said I wasn''t ready yet.''


    ''Because I "wasn''t ready yet", I made him hold back for that long? No surprise he fucked me till I nearly passed out��''


    Evan was different from usual. It was not the always yful Evan she knew.


    ''Beast.''


    That was the word she could use best to describe him.


    ''Is this what being "eaten" feels like?''


    His kisses and touch were all different from usual. They were more intense and passionate.


    She was really eaten.


    Recalling the past few hours, she blushed even more. Especially because of the thoughts she had when Evan pounded her from behind.


    ''I''m scared but I like it.''


    ''I like it even if it hurts.''


    ''I want to be eaten.''


    "I''m seriously crazy."


    She couldn''t help the words that escaped her lips when she recalled those thoughts. Slowly, her lower lips began to squirm and various liquids dripped out.


    "I''m also a lot hornier than I thought as well��"


    With that statement, she began wrestling herself from Evan''s grasp, but the difference in strength between them was so great that she couldn''t break free from his hold.


    ''I''m not sure I''d be able to do so even if I used magic��''


    That was just how strong Evan''s grip was on her; as if he was scared of her being taken away from her.


    It was then that a memory shed in her mind and her eyes widened in realisation.


    "Come to think of it, Evan finally said he ''loves'' me��"


    "Mhmm��I do."


    "��"


    "Wait��what?!"


    Eliza''s brain finally processed the fact that Evan was awake and had just replied to her mutter, with the boy chuckling upon seeing her expression.


    "If you''re awake can you release your vice-grip on me? I need to shower."


    "Let''s go together then��"


    Evan replied and lifted her up from the bed but Eliza shook her head rapidly as she tried to escape his grasp.


    "Bad idea, Evan! Bad idea! I can only see a future where we end up fuc-mph!"


    Her lips were sealed by Evan''s as he carried her to the bathroom and closed the door.

 Chapter 738 “I Need to Rest”

    Chapter 738 ��I Need to Rest��


    ??Just like Eliza feared, she and Evan ended up doing it in the bathroom again. For a moment, she wondered how she had the stamina to keep up with Evan, but she remembered that ''Life'' was her main affinity.


    Stamina was hardly an issue for her.


    ''And yet, Evan nearly made me go unconscious��scary!''


    Such thoughts crossed her mind as she pulled the cake from the fridge, ncing out the window at the setting sun.


    "I can''t believe we ended up having sex all day��"


    "There are many more things I would love to do to you but first, I would like to see the rest of the gifts and fill your stomach with food before we continue."


    Evan''s voice rang out from behind her, and the girl''s body trembled. She turned towards him with tearful eyes, asking.


    "��c-continue?"


    "Pfft!"


    Evan burst intoughter when he saw her expression. Realizing she was being teased, Eliza punched his chest to express her ''annoyance'' before carrying the cake out of the kitchen.


    She was desperate to NOT let Evan figure out she hadactuallybe a little aroused at the thought of them continuing.


    ''Crazy! You''ve gone crazy, Elizabe!''


    For the sake of her mental stability, Eliza resolved to ensure they didn''t engage in anything too intimate that night.


    Fortunately, the rest of the day unfolded without any PG18 activities. They resumed their gift unboxing, enjoying the cakes Eliza had baked and ying music in the background.


    Evan received some ''Wild'' gifts that had them both rolling on the floorughing, nearly toppling the cake from the table. After averting that disaster, they continued with gift-checking until they grew tired and decided to switch activities.


    Evan pulled out his collection of digital cameras, and together they scrolled through the photos and videos from their adventures over the past month.


    They''d travelled to various countries, and Evan had shown Eliza some of the fantastical sights he''d been eager to see since arriving in Aidos. Along the way, they''d made countless silly memories.


    Eliza had purchased some Dwarven Alcohol when they were in Awhen so they enjoyed a bit of wine, with Eliza disying her frighteningly high alcohol tolerance.


    Eventually, the sun dipped below the horizon and the moon began its night shift. The two fell asleep on the living room floor, surrounded by gift boxes.


    Despite their physical recovery, mental fatigue caught up with them so it wasn''t unexpected that they had slept off.


    Eliza wanted to stay up till the day was truly over but Evan preferred she rested so he didn''t wake her when he saw her dozing off in his arms.


    Not long after, he too sumbed to sleep, feeling its pull beside her.


    �� �� ��


    Evan saw himself in a scene right out of an apocalypse.


    A Copsing Sun.


    A Broken Moon.


    And Earth Shattered beyond Repair.


    Surrounding him was a field of corpses.


    Hundreds, perhaps even thousands of bodies.


    Gold and Red blood soaked the shattered earth


    "The War was meaningless. Trillions died, but for what cause?


    In the end, there was no victor, only vanquished."


    He let out a heavy sigh, surveying the scene around him.


    An elf''s lifeless bodyy to one side, a demon''s to another, while the immense form of a fallen dragon loomed in the distance. At its feet, a god''s bodyy, bathed in a shimmering pool of golden blood.


    [Tsk��]


    He heard a tongue click in disapproval, and a faint smile crossed his lips as he addressed the person who had suddenly appeared behind him.


    "It''s you. How long has it been on your end?"


    [Not too long. Time flows faster in the Valmone Universe than it does on my end.]


    The person moved closer, standing beside Evan and gazing up at the copsing star in the sky. Evan kept his gaze forward as he responded.


    "I see��"


    After a moment of silence, he continued.


    "Did youe to mock us? For this pointless war."


    [Mock you? While it might seem unnecessary from my outsider''s perspective, I can''t mock you for it.


    The event that sparked this war... I knew him as well as you did, and I was close friends with his son.


    Had I been here when news of his death came out, I might''ve been the one to dere war.


    At the very least, I''m certain the gods wouldn''t remain a Hegemon in this Universe. I would have dealt with them myself.]


    "Just like you did in Zanerth?"


    Evan questioned, causing the being to show a hint of surprise.


    [You know about Zanerth? How? That''s an event from the past��in every sense of the word.]


    "Vincent told me."


    At Evan''s response, the being seemed to find it reasonable that he knew about the actions where he altered the past in ''Zanerth''.


    "This war. The true reason for it got lost over time, and in the end, only a few remembered why we were fighting at all.


    Now, all sides are left weakened."


    Evan held up his five fingers, folding one down with each line he spoke.


    "''Demon Emperor'' McEnda I and his Wife, ''Empress'' Nephinae have gone missing.


    The ''god Emperor'' Craig is dead and an imposter controls his body, unbeknownst to all.


    The ''Elven Emperor'' Fel, the powerful ''Deadly Sin of Pride'' has fallen.


    And the ''Spirit Empress'' had no choice but to give up her powerin order toavoid being captured by thews of causality."


    He began walking forward, climbing the hill of corpses before him as he continued speaking.


    "The once Illustrious Orithyia gxy is in this state�� it makes me fear for the other gxies.


    The ''72 Demon Kings'' of Gozon are now Defunct, the ''Race Kings'' of Aidos are dead, and the Pheonix Revi is the only one left to rule the ''Regal Void Expanse''.


    ��


    Oh well��all of this does not concern me anymore."


    [Doesn''t concern you? How so?]


    Evan took a seat atop the hill of corpses as he answered.


    "I want to experience ''Life''.


    A perfectly normal life. Born to a normal mother and father, have normal siblings and live a normal life.


    I want to go to school like normal mortal children, immerse myself in their games, graduate, find a job, live till I''m old and grey, and finally pass on.


    This ''Normal'' life��it''s something I never experienced.


    I want to experience it.


    I ''need'' to."


    Evan dropped his sword and heaved a sigh before concluding.


    "I need to rest."


    The being he spoke with hummed lightly before replying.


    "Worry not, I shall grant you the rest you deserve."


    He turned to the source of the voice. But his consciousness was fading already.


    Thest thing he saw was a glowing pair of red and blue eyes.


    �� �� ��


    Evan''s eyes shot open and his pupils darted towards the side, just as the living room door creaked open, revealing a grey-haired elderly woman.


    "Shh..."


    He raised a finger to his lips, gesturing towards Eliza nestled in his arms. The woman nodded silently, muffling her footsteps.


    Evan carefully lifted Eliza and ced her on the couch, soothing her with a gentle pat on the head until she settled back into sleep.


    He then turned to the woman, conjuring text in the air that read:


    [Let''s go outside. I want to talk to you.]


    She gave him a puzzled look, but Evan just pointed at the door she followed after him, closing the door behind them.


    Little did they know, that the ''sleeping'' Eliza''s eyes flickered open the moment they left.


    �� �� ��


    "Darcy, right? Good morning to you."


    "Good Morning."


    Darcy responded, following Evan as he ascended the stairs to the manor''s balcony. Evan swung open the door, inviting thecold morning breezeinside as he pondered his dream.


    ''That apocalyptic scene again��but what happened next? It''s all so hazy.''


    Shaking off the feeling, Evan decided to focus on matters currently within his control. Perched on the balcony railing, he turned to Darcy, appraising her for a moment before speaking.


    "How long do you have left? Your lifespan, I mean."


    "��what?"


    Darcy blinked in surprise, taken aback by Evan''s question, while he silently gazed at her.


    ''How does he��?''


    "I don''t know if Eliza has told you, but I know��''things''. A lot of things aboutthisworld and the people in it.


    That includes the Laneford n, and that includes you, Darcy ''Kaur''Prichett."


    "��"


    Silence hung in the air as Evan pulled up information from the System Archive about the ''Laneford Quest.''


    "You''re already 327 years old. That''s a lot of extra years considering Master Realm humans usually max out at 250-300 years.


    Alden may have extended your lifespan with his powers but even that has limits��and he''s reached those limits.


    At this rate, it wouldn''t be surprising if you were to suddenly��"


    Evan let the sentence hang, implying the potential end of her life.


    "��"


    Darcy had no words to refute Evan''s statement. She had indeed reached her lifespan limit, so unless she became a grandmaster, there was no extra year for her.


    She wondered how Evan knew, a fact only she and Alden were supposed to be aware of.


    Even Alden''s wife and her daughter��Eliza''s mother��were unaware.


    The answer to her question was the line that Evan was looking at in the System Archive at that moment.


    [After Darcy Prichett''s Death at Age 328, the Laneford n Patriarch��]


    He did not care for the rest of the article, only focusing on the number 328.


    ''The exact date is not given, but that''s honestly not far off��''


    "Do you n to tell her?"


    Evan shook his head in response to Darcy''s question.


    "No. That''d just make her sad. And I don''t want to see a sad Liz."


    He raised his hand and tapped something on the system interface before continuing.


    "And that''s why I''d help you."


    "Help me?"


    "Yes."


    Evan replied, showing her a projection of the name and details of a certain dungeon.


    "The ''Grotto of the Hopeless Wizard''��?"


    Darcy called out the name of the dungeon and seeing the unfamiliarity in her expression, Evan sighed in relief.


    "It seems you have not been there before. That''s good."


    "How so?"


    Evan brought up a map of the Alpha continent, zooming in on Kasteblum where the dungeon was situated.


    "Go to that dungeon.


    On your first run, you must ''Reach Floor 30'' within ''30 Hours'' and clear the floor (Boss Included) within ''30 Minutes''.


    If you do, you''ll find a vial on the Boss''s corpse, brimming with Life Law energy. Given your sensitivity to Life Energy as a Laneford n member, you won''t miss it.


    That vial is a potion you can only take once in your life. Its effect is very simple: it extends your lifespan depending on the years you''ve lived."


    Pointing at her, Evan concluded.


    "So, with your 327 years, you''d gain another 327."


    Darcy''s eyes widened. Such a potion sounded unbelievable, and she couldn''t shake the feeling that there must be a catch.


    "If this potion exists, howe people don''t know and Kasteblum isn''t profiting off it?"


    "Pfft��true, Kasteblum would make money off it��if they knew.


    Think about the conditions I mentioned. Clearing up to floor 30 within 30 hours and beating the 30th floor''s Boss in 30 minutes.


    What are the odds anyone does that?"


    "��very low."


    "So low that no one''s managed it in at least a millennium."


    Evan stepped down and approached Darcy.


    "Believe me or not, but I hope you do. Not for your sake but for Eliza''s. If you die, she''d be sad and I don''t want that so I need you to stay alive.


    Maybe those extra centuries will give you a shot at bing a grandmaster."


    Evan shrugged offhandedly, as if revealing something Kings and Emperors would kill for was no big deal, and headed back inside. Lost in thought, Darcy followed, so preupied she didn''t notice when she arrived at the Living room where the ''now awake'' Eliza was seated.


    "Hey, Liz, ever heard of a mountain chicken?


    PS: It''s NOT areallybig chicken."


    "��then what is it?"


    "This guy."


    Evan sat next to her, showing her a picture from his camera and her incredulous expression set him offughing.


    "That''s a frog, isn''t it?"


    "Yep. The ''Mountain Chicken'' isactuallya Frog."


    Eliza facepalmed and muttered something about ''crazy scientists'' before looking up and greeting Darcy.


    The older woman expressed her desire for a private chat, likely to discuss ''certain details'' and check on her after yesterday''s activities.


    As Eliza slipped on her slippers to follow Darcy, she paused and turned back to Evan. Cupping his face, she kissed him softly, whispering.


    "Thank you. I love you."


    Immediately after she saidthat,she turned around and left the living room.


    "Hmm? Wait a sec��her hands were cold."


    Evan was puzzled. He had made sure to cover her with a nket before he left, so her hands shouldn''t have beencol-!


    His thoughts abruptly ceased as he realised exactly why Eliza''s hands were cold.


    "��she was listening in on us��"


    [Check Author Note]

 Chapter 739 Onto the Cavern of Trials

    <h4>Chapter 739 Onto the Cavern of Trials</h4>


    While Eliza was having her little talk with Darcy, the rest of the Servants of the Manor returned and Evan had them tidy up the living room and arrange the gift boxes.


    The boy wandered outside to the lush gardens, lying on the grass and gazing at the sky for an hour.


    It had now been officially 3 years and 2 months since he came to Aidos, and Evan marvelled at how much about him had changed in that time.


    From gaming in his room after school to being thrust into the game''s world, fighting against Demons and Monsters, and saving millions of people.


    Powers he only believed to be works of fiction in his world were real over here and he personally now wielded the power to crumble mountains at his fingertips.


    He felt that returning to Earth V now might mean identally destroying buildings with a touch due to their fragilitypared to his newfound strength.


    The materials on Aidos were all saturated with magic power and were more durable, but that wasn''t the case for Earth V.


    After chilling there for a while longer, he noticed spirits gathering in a certain part of the garden and went to check it out, encountering a little girl healing a wounded spirit.


    The girl appeared to be lost and though Evan initially mistook her for a servant''s child, he learned her true identity after bringing her into the Manor


    Kinda hard not to, after she shouted ''Big Sister!'' upon spotting Eliza.


    It also turned out that Khris was present as well, though the boy said something that got him smacked with enough force to bash through a wall by Eliza.


    They spent the next few days in the manor and Evan contacted Heather to ry his ns for the Cudjour mountains before they finally left on the 20th.


    They met up with Princess Heather in Kasteblum��Evan and Eliza''s next destination.


    Eliza nned to meet Fely and wanted Darcy to visit the ''Grotto of the Hopeless Wizard''. They stayed until Eliza ensured Darcy got the potion from the boss monster, then took it to Fely for examination.


    Evan found out Eliza also knew many of the Blue-Robed Grand Mages.


    The potion had the incredible effects Evan mentioned, but he had Darcy keep quiet about how to obtain it. He also kept the conditions secret from the Kasteblum Mages.


    When Eliza asked him his ''real intention'', he replied with a line she couldn''t fully understand.


    "If I use that on the Basilisk''s mother, then she would not die and the Demonic Hand would not go after him.


    That''d prevent an entire country from being turned to stone."


    Eliza just sighed and told him not to stress over ns for distant future events, having deduced that the ''Basilisk'' issue wasn''t imminent.


    Indeed, it was a n Evan had for when he went to the Beta Continent for the fifth Disaster he nned to tackle��''The Basilisk''s Stone Festival''.


    A Festival in the Beta Continental country of Isolon turned into a tragedy which killed over 100 million people.


    The Disaster was presided over by the ''Fourth Finger'' of the Demonic Hand.


    After they were done extending Darcy''s life by 3 centuries, Evan decided it was high time they went to Cudjour.


    Heather had arrived with Bourne and his father, Thomas, as Emperor Isaac wanted his daughter protected by two generations of ''First Star'' Generals.


    Evan took Gavin and Fely to inspect the Magic Circle, hoping to find a way to operate it. He wanted to create higher-ranking breeds of hispanions and other important people. For instance, Finley, already powerful as a human, would be exponentially stronger as a High Human.


    The unlikely group set out and reached Cudjour without any mishaps. Ever mischievous, Evan kept quiet about the 2000-meter freefall they''d experienced upon entering the Facility.


    However, they were with two Legends and a Sovereign so it wasn''t hard to deal with it.


    Evan and Heather were a bit miffed that they dealt with it so easily, so they said nothing about the pitfall trap and they had the time of their lives rolling on the floorughing when Bourne and Gavin fell into it.


    A few smacks from Elizater, Evan silently led them towards the Magic Circle room and theypleted the process of evolving her into a High Human.


    Gavin and Fely were stumped on replicating the circle, but this only fuelled their determination to understand its workings.


    Unbeknownst to them, the circle they saw was iplete, with the full one hidden underground. They were also unaware that it was a Tier 7 magic circle.


    After Elizapleted her High-Human Evolution on the 25th, the group parted ways: the mages headed back to Kasteblum, Heather, Bourne, and Thomas returned to the GEE, while Evan and Eliza went back to the GWE.


    Evan gathered the Anomalies from the other countries and they headed to the Tower of Trials.?Their aim was?to level up Eliza from 460 to 499, preparing her to reach Epic Level in the Cavern of Trials


    Surprisingly, it took less time than expected; within a month, the very exhausted and mentally drained Eliza had reached Level 499.


    After leaving the tower, she was so drained that she slept for three days straight.


    When she woke up, her first order of business was not to eat, but to drag Evan up to their bedroom and engage in some ''Closed Door'' activities.


    She didn''t exactly have the chance for this since they were in a Dungeon for 30 days after all, so she unleashed her bottled-up 30 days'' worth of desire.


    After Evan was done repainting the colour of Eliza''s insides, they took a day''s rest before setting course for the GEE''s Dungeon City Vuegan.


    The Cavern of Trials was a very popr dungeon on Aidos, and the one in the GEE was?actually?just one of them.


    Dungeon City Vuegan, GEE, Alpha Continent- Cavern of Trials I.


    Dungeon City Azlence, Aelum Kingdom, Beta Continent- Cavern of Trials II


    Dungeon City Exnd, Sanguinia Empire, Dark Continent- Cavern of Trials III


    All three of them had the same effect of a guaranteed breakthrough but for different Existence Levels.


    This Effect, however, was not something the people of Aidos knew.


    The real reason why these dungeons were popr was due to the high chance of acquiring new skills from them, the stat boosts, Unique Combat sses, as well as the buttload of EXP they gave.


    Because of this, there was always a loooooong line of people waiting to enter the dungeon. To manage the influx, the Adventurer''s Guild introduced a booking system, allowing adventurers to reserve their entry in advance.


    Evan didn''t do this though.


    Simply by showing up at the Adventurer''s Guild, the Guild Master hurried out to greet Evan. After a brief exchange, Evan bypassed the long line and entered the Cavern of Trials right away.


    �� �� ��


    Hall of Karma


    Cavern of Trials I Entrance Floor


    Dungeon City Vuegan


    November 30th


    Year 1053


    "I feel bad about us cutting in line��"


    The moment Evan said that, all his party members turned towards him with gazes that asked if hereallymeant that.


    "Come on, have a little faith in me, guys."


    "We have faith in you.


    In your ability to bullshit, that is."


    Evan couldn''t help butugh upon hearing Eliza''s reply, his eyes scanning the entirety of the Hall they were in to see if it was the same as the game.


    ''Not a single difference��''


    The expansive hall was split down the middle: one side white, the other ck. Doors dotted the walls, and above them��the entrances to the Trial Grounds.


    Dominating the centre was arge golden scale, its pans conspicuously empty.


    "All, right. This is the part where I begin exining things."


    Evan spoke as he turned around and spread out his arms.


    "This is the ''Hall of Karma'', a special Dimensional Space that gauges one''s karmic alignment to determine their eligible trials.


    Though we''re surrounded by countless adventurers, this special space istes us, ensuring we can''t cross paths unless we enter together."


    He pointed to the doors lining the walls.


    "Doors to the left lead to Trial Grounds for those with ''Good'' Karmic alignment, while those on the right are for the ''Evil'' alignment.


    Neutrals have the freedom to choose which one they want.


    You can''t enter a trial that doesn''t match your alignment, but you can team up withpanions who share your alignment."


    Pulling up the Reincarnated Hero System Interface, he scanned the room''s upants. His brow raised lightly when he scanned Eliza, a detail she caught without missing a beat.


    "Is there a problem?"


    "Nope.In fact,this is very wee. Oh, I can''t wait to see the look on that damned Spirit''s face��"


    The mischievous grin he wore as he spoke prompted everyone present to sigh and silently wish the best for whoever Evan had in mind.


    "Due to our differing Karmic Alignments, we won''t all be heading to the same Trial Grounds. We''ll split into three groups."


    "And how are we dividing ourselves?"


    Responding to Roselia''s question, Evan pointed at her and Nadarus, then gestured to the Right Half of the Hall.


    "You two know where you belong."


    "That sounds rude for some reason��"


    Evan chuckled and pointed to therge scale behind them, exining further.


    "I can do what the scale does so there''s no point in us using it. I know I am considered ''Chaotic Good'' already.


    That scale''s for those who don''t know their alignment.


    The Dungeon scanned us upon entry so trying another door will trigger a spatial barrier. There are teleporters by each wall, so just select a door, and it''ll warp you right to it."


    "Is there any special door we need to know about?"


    Considering Evan''s knowledge of unknown things, it wasn''t surprising for Roselia to question the existence of any special doors.


    "No. The trial you''d meet in Door 25 is the same you''d meet in Door 250."


    Just as Evan was about to start organizing the groups, he remembered something crucial he''d nearly forgotten to mention.


    "We would NOT be doing all the Trials. Only the First and Tenth Trials��they''re the ones thatreallymatter.


    Once you guys are done with the First Trial, don''t advance and remain there. I''d use my Hero Authority to beam us all to the Tenth Trial."


    His sudden deration surprised them as they didn''t even think it was possible to manipte a dungeon in this manner.


    "That sounds like cheating��"


    "What do you mean ''sounds like''? itIScheating."


    Evan wasn''t ashamed to admit that it was indeed cheating, and a certain ''Spirit of Karma'' woulddefinitelybe immensely annoyed by this but the boy didn''t want to waste time on ''pointless things''.


    "Alright��let''s group up.


    Ka (Chaotic Neutral), Kuro (Chaotic Neutral), Milena (Ordered Good) and Amy (Chaotic Good). You four would be together.


    Roselia (Ordered Evil) and Nadarus (Chaotic Evil). You two are on your own.


    Liz and I would go to a different trial together."


    Since the Neutrals could go to whichever Trial Ground they wanted,it was possible for Ka and Kuro to gowith Milena and Amy.


    Amy wanted to go with Roselia but the Fire Spirit was considered ''Good'' so she could not enter the ''Evil'' trials. The High Demon''s Alignment��Ordered Evil��was just a fancy way of saying she''s done some pretty ''bad'' things, but she''s got principles.


    As for Eliza, Evan did notment on her Karmic Alignment and he also did not allow her to check it with the scale.


    However, since she could enter the ''Good'' trials, she guessed she was ''Good'' as well.


    ''Or am I a Neutral? But there''s no problem with that either, is there?''


    With such thoughts in her mind, the girl followed Evan into a randomly chosen Trial Ground.

 Chapter 740 First ‘Very Annoying’ Trial

    Chapter 740 First ��Very Annoying�� Trial


    ??Evan and Eliza stood in a vast,emptyspace with in grey floors and a featureless ceiling. Seated before them was a humanoid avatar, its features delineated with distinct eyes, nose, and mouth. Its face was devoid of emotion, exuding a serene yet enigmaticpresence


    The figure donned iridescent robes that shifted between light and dark, and its golden eyes seemed to pierce into their souls.


    [The Hero Leader of this Generation.]


    The avatar''s mouth partedanditspoke with an androgynousvoice,before standing up andspeaking.


    [I am ''Kairos'', the one bearing the duty of ''Spirit of Karma and Justice''.]


    "Sup, I''m Evan.Thisis Liz."


    Evan''s introduction was quite casualinparisonto Kairos'' formal tone, but the Spirit did not seem to mind as it turned its gaze towards Eliza.


    [Your Karmais so closely interwovenwith thisone,I hope it remains that way.]


    After saying those ominous-sounding words, the Spirit conjured a courtroom bench, cing its hands on it as it spoke.


    [So as not to wasteyour time, I would begin your First Trial immediately.]


    Evan nodded in affirmation, not too botheredashe already knew what Trial hewas going toget.


    From the game, Evan knew that if a ''Hero'' with a ''Good'' Alignmentwasto enter the Cavern ofTrials,with ''someone else'', then the Spirit of Karma woulddefinitelygive them a specific trial.


    A veryannoyingtrial.


    [For you, Hero. I pose a question.]


    As Kairos spoke, the setting changed dramatically. The once-empty space became a fiery hellscape, with volcanoes spewingva and mes engulfing the horizon.


    To Evan''s sides, massive pits filled with swirling magma opened up. Abruptly, an unseen force pulled Eliza away, cing her in a cage above the left pit ofva.


    To his right, another cage appeared, packed with hundreds of people bound to its bars.


    [A Choice.]


    Kairos gestured to both cages suspended perilously over theva pits, posing a dilemma.


    [Between your significant other and the lives of a thousand innocents.


    Who would yo-


    "Liz."


    -u save?]


    "��"


    [��you didn''t even let me finish.]


    Despite showing no expressions, Kairoswasclearlydumbfoundedby Evan''s quick response. It hadn''t even finished asking the question yet!


    "Doesn''t matter. My answer wouldn''t change."


    Evan didn''t even bother trying to give the temte hero answer by saying he''d try to find a way to save both.


    "You can''t seriously expect me to choose a thousand unrted people over her, right?"


    [You would choose the life of 1 over 1000?]


    "Obviously."


    The boy acted like the Spirit of Karma was crazy for even entertaining the thought of him NOT picking Eliza.


    [What about 10,000?]


    "Burn them, freeze them, shred their bodies to pieces. Heck, I''d even help you kill them if you want."


    [��]


    Kairos was stunned by Evan''s response, and Evanughed a little before deciding to stop messing with the spirit.


    "Let''s leave aside how I canandhave saved ten times that number with Liz''s help. What makes you think I''d pick 10,000 people I have no Karma with over her?


    Because I''m a ''Hero''? Sorry to disappoint, I''m not the type of Hero you expected."


    Kairos narrowed its eyes at Evan as if it were trying to see through him.


    ''Not a single fluctuation in his emotions. I''m impressed.''


    [Let''s up the scales to a higher number. Don''t worry,shecannot hear yousoyou can freely speak your mind.


    How about a million?


    Take Lacertiliaforexample.


    If a million of its citizens��the same people you fought that Dragon to save��were about to die from a different threat, and you could save by forsaking her, what would you do?]


    Evan wasn''t surprised Kairos knew about Lacertilia,given its connection to the and the Cavern of Trials'' capabilities.


    The question had Evan cing a hand on his chin as he began contemting.


    "Whatever would kill a million people isa very seriousthreat��"


    Kairos leaned forward, anticipating Evan''s answerandthe boy nodded to himself before finally concluding.


    "Guess I''d use Limit Break and BoDso I cansave Liz faster."


    *BAM!


    Evan turned with surprise and saw Kairos had fallen face-down onto the ground. While he was wondering why, Eliza, who had seen how it had fallen over the bench due toshockburst intoughter.


    Quickly standing up and dusting off its robes, Kairos coughed and turned to Eliza.


    It had notactuallyisted soundsoEliza could hear everything that wasbeing saiddespite the fact thatEvan could nothearher.


    [You find this funny?


    If you were in his position and had to sacrifice him for the sake of a million others, what would you do, oh ''Child of Life''?]


    "��you think I''d make choices any different from his?"


    [Your skillis meantfor you to Save lives.]


    "Yeah, I know. I''d use it to Save Evan''s life. Doing so would enable Evan to save billions more. What''s a mere millionpared to that?"


    Eliza''s reply astounded Kairosandthe Spiritwondered justwhere on Aidos these two came from.


    "I don''t know what she said to you, but from your tone, I''m guessing it''s not too different from my answer."


    Evan spoke up when he noticed Kairos had gone silent. The spirit turned towards Evan and heaved a sigh before asking.


    [Why does thew of Karma consider you to be ''Good'' if you would notevenhesitate to abandon thousands.]


    "You think the ''Chaotic'' Modifier in my Karmic Alignment is there for fancy?"


    Hearing the Hero''s question, Kairos'' eyes wideneda bitandIt nodded in affirmation.


    [True.Perhaps my personalBiason the concepts of ''Good'' and ''Evil''are affectingmy judgement.The girl''s reply is the same asthe notion ofsacrificing the few to save the many.


    Your act of Saving lives would Align you as ''Good''butyour methods would modify you as ''Chaotic''.]


    Kairoswalked backto the bench and sat down before snapping its fingersandthe space around them returned to normal. Eliza''s body then floated right back to where Evan was.


    [The aim of this Trial is not to see if you are ''right'' or ''wrong'',but to see your Conviction. It Is a Trial of ''Character'', so to speak.


    If you were to agree to forsake a thousand, yet Save ten thousand��you would have failed.]


    Eliza''s eyes widened inlightsurprise when she heard thisandthe spirit continuedits exnation.


    [If you are forsaking ''others'' for your panion'',then stick to that tillthe end.


    If you are forsaking your panion'' for ''others'',then stick to that tillthe end.


    No Double Standards Allowed.]


    Kairos tapped the tableanda small brooch with the number ''1'' on it appeared pinned to their shirts, confirming they had passed the trial.


    [Both of you are ''Chaotic Good'', so I should not have been surprised you both gave the same answer.]


    When the spirit spoke, Evan''s lips curled up into a light smileandhe asked.


    "Both of us? Are you sure? Who said Liz''s alignment was also ''Good''?"


    Kairos raised a brow in confusion for a moment. A secondter, it realised that when they both stepped in, it only scanned Evanas itsensed the boy was a Hero.


    It made no attempt to check Eliza and assumed both of them were the same due to their simr answers.


    ''Is she a Neutral?''


    Kairos'' eyes glowed with light as it looked at the intangible threads of Fate and Karma surrounding Eliza, and then it nearly doubled over in shock.


    [What!? There''s someone like that on this?!]


    The Spirit''s expression morphed into one of stupefactionandEvan burst outughing when he saw that expression.


    ''Hahaha! It was worth it to see this expression in reality!''


    The Karmic Alignments were: Good, Neutral, Evil.


    Each Alignment had subsets of ''Ordered'' and ''Chaotic''.


    However,there was a third subset thatwas unknown to many, even those who dabbled in the Law of Karma due to how rare it was.


    It was the 1 in a Trillion kind of rarity.


    The ''Bnced'' subset.


    And that was where Elizay.


    Bnced Neutral.


    Neither Chaotic nor Ordered, and neither Good nor Evil.


    The girl was smack dab in the middle of it all.


    It meant she had the exact amount of both sides withinher,and could be anyone and none of them. Theultimate moral grey area.


    Such perfect bnce was raretoe by, much less in a mortal child who was just 17 years of age.


    It was no wonder Kairos'' was stupefied.


    Without giving it a chance to recover, Evan pped his hands and activated his Hero Authority,putting in his requestto skip the remaining8trials.


    Upon seeing their brooch numbers change from ''1'' to ''9'', Kairos snapped out of his shock and red at Evan. Evan waved back just as ''Aidos'', overriding Kairos''s authority as Dungeon Master, transported Evan and Eliza to the end of the Ninth Trial.


    �� �� ��


    Evanfirstofallconfirmed if everyone had arrived at the Ninth Trial as well before turning to Elizawhoclearlyhad questions for him.


    "Alright, shoot."


    "��this ''Bnced Neutral'' thing��is it special?"


    The boy nodded inaffirmation,beforeproceeding to exinits speciality and rarity.


    "You see��Aidos has a poption of over 10 billion.


    Assuming every world is simr, you''d need to go through 100 Worlds before you have a shot at finding one."


    He then held up his hand and disyed a part of the System Archive, showing a diagram ofwhat looked likea pH scale.


    "These ''Alignments'',aren''t just ''Karmic''.


    Before you can have the ''Bnced'' subset in your Alignment, youneed toalso be ''Bnced'' on the ''Prity Spectrum''."


    "And what is thatifI may ask?"


    "It is a Scale used to specify the ''Positivity'' or ''Negativity'' of an Existence."


    The powers, abilities, skills, techniques, energies andmostimportantly, World Laws that different existences can manipte, depend on what side of the Prity Spectrum they''re on.


    Light magic, for instance, was Positive. Thisdidn''t make Darkness inherentlybad; it was just on the Negative side. BothPositive and Negativeplement each other, like Yin and Yang.


    Those aligned with the Positive would struggle to use Negative abilities��if they could use themat all.


    Using Roselia as anexample;she was a Demon��a race aligned with the Negative end by default. Demonic Energy and Darkness Magic, which many demons excelled in, were also Negative.


    "Exceptions aside, like acertainDemon King, Demons struggle with Light magic and cannot use Divinity.


    It''s not impossible for them to useLight Magic, but it''shighlyinefficient.


    For example, Roselia might use 50 energy units in Dark Magic to inflict 100 damage units, but with Light Magic, she''d need to burn 500energy unitsfor the same damage."


    "That''s more than just ''terribly inefficient''."


    Evan chuckled at Eliza''sment, then ced a hand on his chest, continuing his exnation.


    "Although I lean towards the middle, I''m still on the Positive side of the spectrum. Due to my Draconic powers, Dark Magic isn''t a problem for me.


    However, I''d struggle with DemonicEnergy;that''s assuming I couldevenacquire it.


    But you, my dear..."


    Evan closed the distance between them and continued.


    "...as a ''Bnced Neutral,'' you don''t have those limitations.


    Do youreallybelieve other Child of Life skill wielders can handle ''Negative Life'' as easy as you do?"


    Eliza fell silent, recognizing that sheindeedfound it easier to use Negative Life abilities than others.


    She had observed that while her father excelled in Negative abilities like Unhealing, rupturing internal organs, and negating regeneration, his skills in Positive abilities like healing or buffing werecking.


    While her mother excelled in Positive abilities, Eliza had the best of both worlds, which she attributed to her Skill.

 Chapter 741 Evan’s sudden revelation.

    <h4>Chapter 741 Evan��s sudden revtion.</h4>


    "Your skill does contribute. But if you were strictly ''Positive'' or ''Negative,'' you''d use three times more energy for techniques opposed to your alignment.


    Yet, your energy consumption for ''Healing'' is the same as ''Unhealing''."


    "I see. It''s because I''m ''Bnced''."


    Eliza nodded, her gaze returning to Evan''s System Archive projection.


    ''Meaning Dad''s ''Malevolent Life'' Series skill is inherently ''Negative''��''


    "Now that''s out of the way, shall we head down to the ''Final Trial''? It''s different as it has Two Phases.


    Phase one is a ''Mini-Dungeon'', but Phase 2 is a bit Random."


    Evan exined, eyeing therge double doors before them. The doorscked handles but had slots resembling their brooches. After inserting their brooches, the doors vibrated and opened to reveal the entrance to the Mini-Dungeon.


    Inside,?was a clearing leading to two paths.


    "Which one are we taking?"


    "Both. Let''s split up and race to see who reaches the end first. If I win, you''ll go along with my idea,"


    Eliza looked at Evan with a puzzled expression, clearly questioning the purpose of this suddenpetition. Evan just smiled and whispered something in her ear. What he said made her cheeks flush red, and she?shot him a re?before choosing the leftward path.


    "I''m going ahead!"


    Evan couldn''t help butugh at?the way?her attitude had taken aplete 180. He then turned to the rightward path, strolling in leisurely.


    ''I might be able to predict Phase 2 based on the enemies in Phase 1.


    But it''s only about 60% urate.''


    Evan pondered as he walked, his mind wandering the possibilities. Ten minutester, he turned a corner and halted. At first nce, the floor seemed normal, but Evan could sense hundreds of hidden traps.


    "I''d just run through faster than?the?traps?can activate."


    With that decision, Evan propelled himself forward supersonically, covering the?kilometre-long?distance in just 3 seconds. But upon reaching the end of the hallway,?his body was covered?in a sticky green substance.


    "Who thought a poison shower for thest 100 meters was a good idea?!"


    Evan eximed, cursing as he retrieved a fresh set of clothes from his inventory. Using a mix of water and fire magic, he cleaned himself before changing into the new outfit.


    Examining himself in the mirror afterwards, Evan noticed the beginnings of facial hair.


    "I?definitely?don''t look 15 anymore, more like 17. This outfit suits me, though."


    He was now wearing a dark grey long-sleeved t-shirt and ck jeans made from?the?silk and steel threads?of a grandmaster-level spider monster.


    Over this, he wore a long ck jacket that reached below his knees, paired with matchingcedbat boots. On his left wrist was a silver mechanical chain watch, and a in bracelet peeked out from under his right sleeve.


    His short ck hair was swept back?as he checked his height using magic, confirming he was now 5 feet 9.9 inches.


    "Basically?5''10."


    After stashing his old clothes and mirror, Evan continued down the hallway.


    "When I left the ''Tower of Trials'' after spending over half a year there, I told myself I wouldn''t enter any trials anytime soon."


    Evan?reminisced, recalling?the six months he and his party had spent in the ''Tower of Trials''st year, aiming to reach the Grandmaster Level before his birthday.


    As he walked, he stepped on a trap magic circle, overloading it with magic power and causing it to crumble before it could activate.


    "��Now, not up to a yearter��I''m inside ANOTHER set of ''Trials'', ones that?could be considered?more troublesome than that Dungeon Artemisia created."


    Adjusting his shirt cuffs, he sat on a nearby stone?and retrieved?a juice pack from his inventory,?sipping?it.


    "Good thing this is thest of trial.


    But too bad this dungeon is only the ''Phase 1'' of the whole ''Cavern of Trials'' series."


    Disposing of the empty juice pack, he drew his obsidian ck sword and approached therge double doors ahead.


    Entering and watching the doors close behind him, a message appeared before his eyes.


    [The Trial would begin Immediately.]


    Evan sighed, running his hand through his hair as he read the message. But his expression quickly changed to shock when he saw the ''things'' materializing a few meters behind the message.


    "No fucking way��.!"


    Gripping his sword tightly, he adopted a battle stance, swearing?once more.


    "You gotta be fucking kidding me."


    Almost instantly,?a bolt of golden lightning shot towards him, aiming to rip a hole through his skull.


    "A ''Replica'' trial? Seriously?!"


    Evan dodged the?lightning,?before holding out his hand and punching the wall of lightning blocks that formed behind him.


    A small me appeared in front of him?and?reacting instinctively, he cast an Elemental Shield just before it ignited into a massive Oxyhydrogen explosion.


    Teleporting out of the smoke cloud, he reappeared near the doors and used wind magic to disperse the remaining smoke.


    Suddenly, his shadow animated, wrapping its arms around him and holding him in ce. Feeling the restraint, Evan sighed softly, looking up at the four beings?in front of?him.


    "Ka''s Arc Lightning and Thunderp, Milena''s Oxyhydrogen Explosion, Kuro''s Shadow Bind.


    What''s your move, ''Amy''?"


    Floating before him were expressionless replicas of his Spirit Companions, hands?outstretched as they activated their Unique Skills simultaneously.


    "That''s NOT good��!"


    His vision?was suddenly consumed?by overwhelming darkness. He felt mes, lightning, and ice converging on him from all directions.


    Blinded by the darkness, he couldn''t see the?true?forms of the attacks but could sense their immense power.


    As such��


    "Blessing of Destruction. Limit Break."


    ��He went all out.


    "Burn, Mesarthim."


    The explosion of radiant, prismatic mes Evan conjured overwhelmed and extinguished the three iing attacks, nullifying their threat.


    The binds restraining him burned to ashes, and he teleported behind the airborne spirits, unleashing a point-nk Vindiction''s Strike.


    The humanoid spirits scattered, with ''Kuro''unching a dark light ball at him and?then?diving into ''Milena''s'' shadow.


    Evan unfurled his wings, dodging the dark light ball, and released over a dozen Evesting Chains to pursue the flying spirits.


    ''Hydra.''


    The silent skill activation caught the Replicas off guard, and in their attempt to evade the serpentine dragons, they inadvertently entered the paths of the chains.


    Evan swiftly bound their legs with the golden chains, pulling them together and hurling them towards the ceiling.


    Riding the momentum, Evan spun around, drawing his palm along his sword to engulf it in mes.


    "Mesarthim; Red: Hell Unleashed."


    Swinging his sword in a wide arc, a torrent of zing mes erupted, engulfing the airborne Replicas and reducing them to ashes in a searing inferno.


    **KAAABOOOMM!!!!


    Evannded gracefully, his gaze lingering on the explosion that had blown a hole in the ceiling.


    Suddenly, his shadow twitched, and a wed paw emerged, shing at him, however, Evan pivoted, seizing the feline Replica by its paw and yanking it out of hisshadow,before mming it onto the ground.


    With a swift swing of his sword, he beheaded it and deactivated his skills.


    "That was easy.


    Guessthat''s all theyare;just Replicas.


    They aren''t aspowerful, durable or assmartas the originals.


    The real Kuro wouldn''t have attacked me from my shadow afterI saw him go intoMilena''s.As for capturing Ka AND Milena simultaneously? Impossible with therealspirits."


    With a light sigh of exasperation, Evan approached the door on the opposite side of the room.


    Exiting the Mini-Dungeon, he found Eliza seated, waiting for him. Unable to contain himself, he burst intoughter once again.


    "You cleared it in less than 25 minutes? Is that how much you don''t want to try out having sex by the window?"


    "NEVER! I have zero exhibitionist desires!"


    Evan''sughter grew louder at Eliza''s response.He''d only brought it up as a jokeafter seeing it talked about in the book Roselia had gifted him for his birthday.


    But Eliza had vehemently refusedto even entertain the thought of it.


    "You know... the more you resist, the more eager I am."


    Evan did not have any desire to fuck his girlfriend by a window, but it was fun to tease hersohe kept bringing it up.


    Elizawas mostlycertainhe was teasing her, but that lingering 1% of doubt kept her on her toes.


    "If you mention this again, I''ll toss you into the nearest active volcano."


    "Alright, alright, I''ll stop. Just joking anyway."


    Evan chuckled, shing her an amused smile. He sat beside her, pulling up the System Archive with multiple floating tabs as he browsed througharticles,while Eliza stared at him dumbfoundedly in silence.


    The reason for Eliza''s astonishment wasthe factthat she could see the Reincarnated Hero System tabs��every single one of them.


    With aquicknce at the navigation bar on the side, she could see some ominous sounding headings like ''The Eight Disasters'', ''Demonic Hand Genocide ns'', ''False gods'' Sacrifice Ritual'', and simr stuff.


    "��Evan."


    "What''s up?"


    Evan responded nonchntly, still scrolling through the ''Dungeons'' category and opening the details pane for ''Cavern of Trials I''.


    "I don''t think I''m supposed to be seeing this, am I?"


    Eliza wascertainwhatever Evan was looking at was a significant secret of his.


    However, the boy only ced a hand on his chin and wore a contemtive expression as he spoke.


    "I doubt ''you'' would be able to see it if there was a restriction on revealing its existence.


    While most of the contents of the ''System Archive'' have restrictions, revealing the existence of the System itself to ''you'' should NOT be an issue."


    Eliza had apremonitionthat Evan was about to drop another bombshell on herbutbefore she could speak, he continued.


    "It''s called the ''Reincarnated Hero System''."


    "��"


    "Causality didn''t act up, huh? So, I guess there are no problems foryou.


    Let me test something out."


    Evan shifted his focus to the Archive, navigating to the ''Eight Disasters'' category and then readouta line.


    "In Tarse, the Demonic Hand ns to c?????r??????????e??????????a????????????t?????????????????e??????????? ??????????a??????? ??????????????????d?????????????i????????????--


    So, it''s not bugged."


    Clearly,the Law of Causality''s information restriction remained, confirming Evan''s theory that revealing the System''s existence to ''Eliza'' was permissible.


    ''I''m guessing it''d act up if I tried this with someone else.


    Roselia might befinesinceshe''s pretty muchfiguredI''m not from Aidos. Ka could know, considering her closeness to Artemisia.


    But anyone else?Definitelya NO-GO.''


    Evan considered this before turning to Eliza, who looked at him with aplex expression.


    "What?"


    "Evan... whatever this ''System'' is, I don''t think it''s something you should have told me."


    Hearing her, Evan smiled gently before replying.


    "Sweetheart, let''s not pretend you and Roselia haven''t already pieced some things together."


    Eliza visibly flinched at his words.


    Evan chuckled softly and nted a kiss on her forehead. Rising from his seat, he headed down the hallway ahead of them.


    "Let''s go. I''ve predicted our next Trial."


    Watching Evan''s figure disappear into the dark hallway, Eliza remained seated, her mind awash with countless thoughts.


    ''Reincarnated Hero...''


    In revealing the system''s name, Evan inadvertently added more weight to the suspicions she and Roselia had about him.


    She recalled her Uncle George had once mentioned that Evan''s body and soul seemed oddly ''Out of Sync''.


    She also remembered moments when Evan''s choice of words about Aidos and its inhabitants seemed off.


    ''He sometimes says ''ThisWorld'', or ''YouPeople of Aidos''��.''


    Considering Evan didn''t make much effort to conceal these inconsistencies from her, it wasn''t surprising that Eliza had formed some theories, especially after two years together.


    Roselia had evendirectlyasked Evan if he was from another world once, though he had sidestepped the question.


    The Demon had told Eliza about this exchange, along with Evan''s non-answer.


    If not forthese suspicions, Evan would never have allowed Eliza to truly ''see'' the system or even reveal its name.

 Chapter 742 Final Trial, Phase 2: Fight the Strongest Mortal in our Memories

    Chapter 742 Final Trial, Phase 2: Fight the Strongest Mortal in our Memories


    ??Nadarus also had hisownideasas well, but theman only cared about money and beating up the Demon Kingsohe wasn''t bothered about whatever Evan originated from.


    Eliza''s lips tightened, and she rose from her seat to approach Evan.


    "Hey..."


    "?"


    "You''re really ''Evan'', right?"


    The girl''s question stered a confused expression on Evan''s face. He looked at her with a raised brow as he replied.


    "I don''t know what''sgoing onin your head, but I''ve always been ''Evan''. Fromthe day I was born until my lifespan ends.


    Though, I''d like to try my luck at bing Immortal."


    "Mhmm��that''s good to know."


    Eliza nodded, moving to stand beside him. She pointed at the door ahead and asked.


    "Phase 2?"


    "Yep."


    Evan wasa bitsurprised that Eliza hadn''tpressed him withmore questions.He had even prepared answers in his head.


    ''Maybe she thinksI''m restrictedfrom telling her? But I''m not.


    Ifthis were when we first met, then it might''ve been an issue.But after Roselia seeded those ideas in her mind, she''s already figured out enough on her own��that''s why causality isn''t bothering me.''


    Shrugging off his earlier concerns, Evan refocused on the task at hand.


    "Did you fight any Replicas on the way here?"


    "Yeah. Laurene, David, My brother and Princess Heather."


    Evan was mildly surprised that the dungeon had replicated a family member for her to face. But he realized it might be a tactic to catch her off guard.


    Most people would hesitate to attack a Replica of a loved one, even if they knew it wasn''t real. There was always that subconscious urge to pull punches.


    Eliza didn''t do thatthough.


    She was irritated that the dungeon had created a Replica of her brother, trying to sneak up on her just as he used to do when they were younger.


    "Evan... did this dungeon read our memories?"


    Evan nodded in affirmation to her question before exining.


    "It scanned our surface memories and pulled details about people we''ve thought of since entering."


    "It''s unsettling. I didn''t even notice."


    "Even a Transcendent wouldn''t notice."


    Considering Eliza''s experience with the Replicas, Evan''s confidence in predicting the Final Trial rose to 99%.


    "The moment we cross this door, the dungeon will scan our memories again.Not personal memories but memories of people we''ve encountered over the course of our lives.


    It needs that information to recreate them."


    Based on the information and statistics from Aidos Online, Evangave his prediction onwhat the Trial would be.


    "The Final Trial is to ''Fight the Strongest Mortal in our Memories''."


    "Strongest��Mortal?! Evan, we know Transcendents!!!"


    Eliza could notbe medfor raising her voice. If Evan was right, they mighthave toface one of ''The Five''.


    After all, Transcendents were still ''Mortals'' in a sense.


    They''d die in a single strike against even the weakest Transcendent.


    "Don''t worry. Remember how the other Replicas were weaker than the originals? It''ll be the same here.


    The Replica will have their skills and abilities, butits power will be scaled downto our levels.


    Thisis a ''Trial'';it''s not meantto kill us."


    In simpler terms, they''d be facing a Level 500 variant.


    In the game, meeting Replicas in Phase 1 meant a high chance of facing the ''Strongest NPC Interacted with'' in Phase 2.


    Artemisia and Aphine are NPCs in the game, but they were not part of that pool, so Evan figured the same went for any beings above Transcendence.


    "How would it even know their skills? I don''t know all of Uncle Kolvar''s skills. If it chooses him, would the Replica only have the skills I know?"


    Evan had just learned the answer to that question a few minutes agowhen he browsed the ''Cavern of Trials'' section in the Archive.


    "This Dungeon is connected to the World itself. The Worldis linkedto the System that allows us to ''Level Up'' and grow stronger.


    That System holds the information of every entity that has ''Levelled Up''��our Status boards.


    I believe it scans our memories and checks the System to determine which person from our memories possesses the most power before downloading that data to create the Replica."


    Eliza pondered this exnation and saw It made sense, especially in exining how the Replica had replicated Heather''s skillswhichshe didn''t know.


    "Strongest Mortal, huh?"


    "I have about 7-8 possible candidates in mind."


    Evan pulled out a chair from his inventory and sat down, setting one out for Elizaas wellbefore raising his fingers.


    "The first five are naturally Aidos'' Transcendents."


    Thismade sense as they were the Highest Levelled Mortals/Lower Existences they both knew.


    "Sixth is the ''Second Finger'' of the Demonic Hand."


    Thisbeingwas a Level 899 Sovereign Level Nonstandard Existence, possessing enough power to fight Transcendents to a standstill despite the difference in Existence Level.


    "Seventh is ''Vaeri Valren''."


    Eliza was momentarily puzzled by the name. Then she remembered the Peak Ranked Demon from Lacertilia and instantly understood why Evan considered her.


    "There''s something I haven''t told you about her."


    Roselia and Nadarus know since she was Roselia''s Lieutenant in the past."


    "Wait, what?"


    The fact that Vaeri once served in the Army under Roselia''s ''Sin Legion'' was something Eliza wasjusthearing for the first time, however, it wasn''t what Evan had to say.


    "Vaeri Valren is a Frost Demon."


    "Okay��?"


    Seeing Eliza''s expression, Evan knew she clearly did not understand what he wastalking about.


    "Vaeri is the ''Harbinger of Space and Gravity'', and with those powers, she''s just as strong as the Second Finger.


    But she''s a Frost Demon.


    Thatmeans,hermainpowers��are Ice attributed."


    "?!"


    Eliza finally understood what Evan was insinuating.


    That Vaeriusingher Frost Demon powers was evenstrongerthan the''Second Finger''.


    "Then why do you keep saying the Second Finger is the Demonic Hand''s strongestbatant?"


    "Because they are. After all, Vaeri is NOT a member of the Demonic Hand. She only sticks around because of the Second Finger and has no obligation to help them.


    Why do you think she didn''t try to kill David and me in Lacertilia? Because that''s the ''Demonic Hand''s business'' and it ''Doesn''t concern her''.


    Vaeri only cares about the SecondFinger,and Kethryllia by extension."


    When Maude died, the First Finger mentioned that he couldn''t order Vaeri around because she wasn''t his subordinate. The only one who could potentially give hermands from him was the Second Finger, but even that wasn''t a certainty.


    As for why Vaeri even took an interest in the Second Finger,it was statedin Aidos Online that Vaeri saw simrities between the Second Finger and someone she respected��the ''Demon of Pride''.


    ''True, they are indeed simr in some aspects.''


    There was also the fact that the Second Finger was the ''Child of Space'' too.


    "Who''s thest person we need to watch out for?"


    When Eliza posed that question, Evan''s expression shifted to something unreadable.


    "Well, this person currently ISN''T Mortal, but my most recent memories of them are from when they were."


    Thisgot Eliza curious about this person''s identity. Them NOT being a Mortal anymore meant they had surpassed Transcendence, a feat no one on Aidos had achieved for the past nine centuries.


    "Who?"


    Evan went silentfor amoment,before giving an answer that Eliza never sawing.


    �� �� ��


    While Evan and Eliza were outside the Final Trial doors, Roselia and Nadaruswere preparingto face their own Phase 2 Trial.


    Dressed in matching casual outfits of dark-brown T-shirts, ck jeans, jackets and face caps, theyreallynailed the sibling look.


    The Avatar of the Spirit of Justicethat they hadmet in their First Trial had evenmented on this.


    He had also been less-than-pleased when Evan, using his Hero Authority, transported them directly to the Tenth Trial.


    Coincidentally, they encountered Replicas in Phase 1, so though they didn''t know, they were bound to meet a simr Trial as Evan and Eliza in Phase 2.


    On a side note, the Spirits had been giving a ''Trial of Wits'' as their final Trial.


    Anyway, Roselia and Nadarus entered without hesitation, although their expressions were somewhat grim due to the identities of the Replicas they had faced.


    For Roselia, one of the Replicas was her younger sister, Ophelia (Lust), and for Nadarus,he had been facedwith aformerlover.


    Their difort stemmed not just from having to fight lovedones,but also from their deductions about what awaited them next.


    Given that the Mini-Dungeon''s mobs were Replicas, they surmised that the ''Final Boss'' wouldlikely be a Replica as well.


    [The Trial would begin Immediately.]


    The Replica materialized from the ground up, forming before themin its entirety. As the figure took shape, Nadarus cursed aloud.


    "I fucking knew it!"


    "��"


    Roselia was silent, but she was no less displeased than Nadarus was.


    A tall, pale-skinned man with ck and red hair stood before them. He had a familiar hue of red eyes that fit perfectly on his well-proportioned face.


    He wore a pinstriped suit with a matching long overcoat loosely hanging on his shoulders as it swayed in the wind.


    In hishands,was a pure white double-edged de emitting ck miasma.


    The man��a Demon they both knew��looked at them expressionlessly, raising his hands before firing a bolt of white lightning at them.


    Roselia swung her de and deflected the lightning, feeling her hand tremble from the sheer power behind it.


    The Demon race inherently leaned towards the Negative end of Prity.


    In other words, they were weak to; and usually unable to use things on the Positive side.


    They were proficient in Dark-type magic and used powerful Demonic energy, conversely, things like Celestial Energy, Divinity and light magic were their weaknesses.


    And yet��


    AND YET!!!


    This motherfucker in front of them wasclearlyusing Light Magic!


    ''Heaven Splitting sh.''


    Orbs of light materialized above, firingser-like beams that cut through everything in their path. Even Nadarus'' Earthen Ramparts created with his Geomantic Wrath Unique Skill were no match, easily pierced by the beams.


    Hewas forcedto use his sword to block the beams, but the force behind just one of them was enough to send him flying.


    Roseliaonthe other hand, unhesitantly released the seal on her titleanda new line appeared on her status.


    ''The One Who Stands Above All There Is.''


    She raised her hands and used her Idiosyncrasy, creating a miniature gravitational well in front of themwhichbent the magical light and redirected the trajectory of the beams away from them.


    Withouta moment''shesitation, she shot towards the man, a shimmering coat of dense gravity enveloping her form.Thisallowed her to deflect all the light beamsthat firedat her as she closed in for an attack.


    Once she got within melee range, the manatstlifted his sword, meeting her de with a resounding sh. The impact resonated powerfully, sending shockwaves rippling outward, tearing the earth asunder in a radius of over a hundred metres.


    In the blink of an eye, their swordsbecame a bluras they engaged in a high-speed melee. des shedandsparks flew, each strike filled with power and an intent to kill.


    Despite the intense battle and countless strikes, neither gained the advantage.


    Seizing an opportunity, Nadarus lunged from behind, wielding his mighty great sword in a sweeping arc aimed at the man''s back. But the man suddenly vanished and reappeared behind him,nding a powerful kick that sent Nadarus flying.


    Roselia brandished her sword, unleashing a cutting wave of dark demonic energyandin response, the man swung his de


    ��and countered with a sh of radiant white divinity.


    If anyonesaw this scene, theywould doubt the image their brain was receiving from their eyes.


    A Demon was not only using Light Magic, but Divinity as well!!


    Thiswas absurd! Unheard of!


    However, Roselia and Nadarus were not surprised.


    They knew of one such personwho wascapable of performing this absurd feat.


    One of the ''Exceptions'' to the Law of Prity.


    The Eighth Person Evan was telling Eliza couldpossiblyshow up in their Trial.


    He inherited his Light attribute powers from his father, the man famed across worlds as the ''Demon of Light''.


    The Current ''Supreme'' Demon King of Gozon.


    Ginaroad Sargon.

 Chapter 743 The Strongest Mortal Evan Knows

    <h4>Chapter 743 The Strongest Mortal Evan Knows</h4>


    "Let''s hope it''s a member of ''The Five''. It better NOT be the Demon King."


    Evan made that not-so-silent prayer as he reached out to the door of the Trial Room while Eliza stood behind in silence.


    ''How does Evan have ''Memories'' of the ''Demon King''?''


    That was the new question that bugged her mind?and?she could?not?hold her curiosity back?anymore.


    "Okay, Evan, hold on a second."


    She grabbed the boy and pulled him closer to her before she started speaking.


    "I know you''ve been dropping hints everywhere in the past few years?and?if I start to think about how many hints you''ve given me, I might lose sleep over it.


    So, I''m just going to straight up ask you this."


    Her sapphire eyes locked right onto his grey orbs as she asked.


    "You''re not the reincarnation of someone from 1000 years ago, are you?"


    "Huh??No,?way. I''m not."


    Evan didn''t?even?hesitate to answer her question, crossing his arms in front of his chest and shaking his head to show his denial.


    "No way, I''m not that old."


    "Then why do you have memories of the Demon King from 1000 years ago?"


    Eliza demanded an answer?and?Evan''s lips twisted into a light frown as he spoke.


    "I can''t just tell you, but I can give you a clue. Though, fair warning, you might not like it."


    Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, Eliza watched as Evan pointed to the left side of his chest, drawing a circle?there.


    Confusion clouded her face initially, but then she remembered Evan''s grave injury from a few months back, and her expression soured.


    The moment that happened, Evan spoke.


    "How did it get back to normal?"


    Knowing?exactly?what he was talking about, Eliza answered automatically.


    "Didn''t you say that EOTD helped yo-?!"


    When her expression morphed into?one of?surprise, Evan smiled and gave her a round of apuse for her quick thinking.


    ''Time Magic��


    Does he mean that he used Time Magic to show Evan the past?''


    "Got your answer?"


    "��yes."


    "Great. Let''s wrap up this Trial. I''m craving strawberry pizza."


    Evan pushed the arena doors open?with ease?and strode inside; his attention was immediately drawn to the illuminated tform at its centre.?It started to generate a Replica, starting from the legs.


    "Those legs��definitely a woman."


    "So, Altrishia or Vaeri?"


    Eliza pondered aloud, eliminating male Transcendents from the possibilities based on the feminine form of the legs and hips.


    She summoned the Memoria, extending its spear tip while activating her Ethereal Equilibrium.?Meanwhile, Evan infused the Unforged with his golden aura?while thinking?those legs looked?''familiar''.


    As the Replica continued to form, the person''s hair became visible. Seeing this, Eliza furrowed her brow with confusion.


    "That''s not Altrishia''s hair colour."


    "Or Vaeri''s."


    Altrishia had ck hair?and?Vaeri had deep purple. However, the hair strands they saw?were a blend of?blue and ck.


    "It also shouldn''t be taking this long to generate."


    The Demon King''s Replica had generated within 30 seconds for Roselia and Nadarus, but it had been over a minute now?and?this was still forming.


    Evan looked?back?down at the person''s legs as he tried to think of who this could?possibly?be.


    ''Maybe it''s a different Character from the game? Does it consider other yers as ''Existences'' in my memory?''


    At that moment, Evan realized what had triggered his sense of familiarity earlier: it was the jeans.


    "Those jeans remind me of Levi''s."


    "Levi''s? Is that a person or a type of jeans?"


    "It''s a Jean brand."


    Evan casually replied to Eliza, remembering how he used to see adverts about that Jean brand on his way to school in Earth V.


    "The shoes also look like Nicks?too."


    "Nicks? Never heard of it."


    "Of course, you haven''t. It''s a sneaker bra..n��d��"


    Evan''s voice trailed off as realization hit him. Both Levi''s Jeans and Nicks sneakers did NOT exist on Aidos.


    Something was off. Why was the Replica wearing clothing from brands that were alien to Aidos?


    Just then,?the Replica generation process elerated, forming the person''s upper body.?The person wore a casual T-shirt with a design Evan recognized��a shirt Evan hadn''t seen in four years.


    "That hair colour too��"


    As the Replica generationpleted, a beautiful young woman stood before Eliza and Evan. When Evan saw her face, his sword slipped?from his grasp, ttering loudly on the ground.


    "Evan?"


    Eliza called out to him?but?the sound of?her voice went in one ear and right out of the other.


    For the first time in his three years on Aidos, despite facing multiple life-threatening?situations;?Evan''s will to fight vanished in the face of an opponent.


    Thiswas the same Evan who had fought on undeterred,even whensurrounded by a dozen assants, who had pressed on despite losing a hand and even having his heart destroyed.


    Yet, now, his fighting spirit had vanished like smoke at the sight of this Replica.


    She had a striking beauty that would turn heads wherever she went. Her hair was a lustrousshade of blue-ck, cascading in glossy waves that framed her face and fell gracefully down her back.


    Her eyes were deep and captivating, matching the hue of her dark tresses.


    She possessed acurvaceousfigure, entuated by a generous bust size. Her choice of attire included a soft pink T-shirt thatplemented herplexion, paired with snug ck jeans.


    Completing the look were trendy ck and white sneakers, adding a sporty touch to her ensemble.


    The sight of this person made Evan''s expression contort into the deepest frown Eliza had ever seen the boy wear.


    Evan''s grey eyes glinted with an intense glow, the Mystic Eye Symbol within them shining brighter than she had ever seen, as he locked eyes with the mesmerizing blue-ck gaze of the woman standing just 20 meters away.


    In a voiceden with myriad emotions, Evan asked.


    "��how��


    HOW areYOUin This World?!"


    "��"


    The Replica offered no answer to his inquiry; it could not talk, after all.


    Despite the expected immediatemencement of the fight upon the Replica''spletion, it remained stationary, fixated on Evan, for an unusually long ten seconds.


    Then, on the eleventh second, its eyes shifted towards Eliza, ringwith a sudden intensity.


    "Divergent Wards. Barrier!"


    Eliza instinctively activated her barrier skills and generated a wall of translucent green light that stood firm like a rampart capable of warding off any and everything.


    The Replica''s hand raisedanda jet of inky blue liquid shot forward at supersonic speed, piercing through Eliza''s barrier like paper.


    Immediately, the girl mmed her staff on the ground, spawning a duo of flower cannons. The first cannon fired a beam to counter the inkyliquid,while she directed the second towards the Replica.


    But before she could unleash it, the ground beneath her shattered, and a hand-shaped aura construct made of the same blue-ck ink burst forth, seizing her and hurling her into a nearby wall.


    The moment the Replica took Eliza out of the equation, it turned towards Evan and dashed forward, reaching himin an instant and throwing outa punch towards his face.


    However, despite how blindingly fast it was, Evan''s left handthat parried it waseven faster. The boy leaned in after parrying the strike, his right fist crackling with golden lightningandhe threw it forward.


    **BAMMMM!!!


    The punch sent the Replica hurtling through theair,all the way over to the other end of the Arena.


    The Replica quickly recovered,nding gracefully on its feet, showing no sign of damage from Evan''s attack.


    As Evan approached, the Unforged returned to his grasp, and he skilfully twirled the sword between his fingers, an action that made the Replica tilt its head to the side.


    A momentter,it condensed the inky ck liquid aura and moulded it into a sword resembling Evan''s.


    The two looked at each other in silenceandEvan felt multiple rings of green light appearing around his legs and wrists ameremoment before he kicked off the ground and lunged at the Replica.


    In response, the Replica raised its de and charged at Evan, mirroring the trajectory in which he swung his sword and meeting his sh midway.


    The sh of their des echoed with athunderousresonance, andseeing their exchanges,Eliza''s eyes widened in shock.


    ''Its sword technique��it''s theexactsame thing as Evan''s!''


    Evan''s sword technique was a mixture of An Maddox''s swordy, Finley''s, and Roselia''s��all threeof themaugmenting the original swordy Evan had known ever since Earth V.


    It would take a skilled swordsman studying Evan for an extendedperiod of timeto realise that Evan was mixing four styles into one.


    Anyway, the core of his swordy was one he did not learn here on Aidos.


    And this Replica was using the same swordy, mirroring each movement of his with uncanny precision.


    It was a sight that made one wonder whoactuallyhad ''Mimicry'' powers here.


    Evan initiated with a sweeping left swing aimed at the Replica''s torso. Without missing a beat, the Replica mimicked the motion, intercepting Evan''s de with its own.


    Pulling back momentarily, Evan thrust his sword towards the Replica''s right nk.Naturally, the Replica executed theexactsame thrust, meeting Evan''s de tip to tip.


    With a swift overhead chop, Evan targeted the Replica''s head. The Replica responded in kind, raising its de to block the attack, their swords shing with a shower of sparks.


    Changing tactics, Evan spun low, aiming a sweeping cut at the Replica''s legs. In a fluid mirror of his move, the Replica bent its knees and swung its de horizontally to counter Evan''s strike.


    Evan pulled back his deoncemore,before swinging it down in an overhead arcwhichthe Replica was about to mirror.


    It was then thatEvan suddenly let go of his sword and activated another skill of his.


    ''Burst Cannon.''


    The barrage of condensed aura projectiles reached the Replica before its sword reached Evan, striking it squarely in the chest and sending it hurtling backwards.


    ''Hydra.''


    Six Serpentine dragons emerged from the ground behind Evan, lunging forward with their jaws wide open.


    The snake-like constructs bit down on the Replica''s body and charged forward, mming it into a wall before releasing the condensed energies in their maws.


    However,all ofthis had little to no effect due to the thick coat of blue-ck aura that covered the Replica''s skin at thest moment.


    With a burst of aura, it sted away all the serpentine dragons and released itself from their hold, but the time it took to do that was already enough for Evan toplete his preparation.


    Evan''s wings unfurled to theirfullspan, and his dragon horns pulsated with potent magic power as he widened his mouth to the limit.


    ''Dragon Breath.''


    A radiant beam, a kaleidoscope of colours, erupted from Evan''s mouth with unbridled force.The power behind it distorted the surrounding spaceand madeit ''shimmer'' as it sliced through and engulfed the Replica in less than a second.


    The creature did not even have a chance to fight back as Evan''s attack broke down its aura barrier andpletely disintegrated the Replica''s form.


    Within seconds, all that remained of the once formidable Replica was a dissipating trail of blue magic power.


    [Trial Complete]


    [Calcting Rewards...]

 Chapter 744 Bourne, Bennett, Larson

    Chapter 744 Bourne, Bet, Larson


    ??Evan ignored the notifications in his field of view and exhaled a breath of magicpower,before returning to his Human mode and running his hand through his hair.


    ''What the fuck what that all about?!


    Now of all times? When my rtionship with Liz has just progressed greatly?!


    Is this somesort ofjoke by fate or something?!''


    The boy''s emotions were a turbulent mess; his brain processed multiple possibilities every secondas it triedtopute why ''that person'' had appeared here.


    "Evan��"


    Eliza''s voice snapped him out of his thoughtsbuthe didn''t turn to look at her. He did not know what expression he had on his face right now and did not want her to see it.


    However, the girl spokeonce more, asking the one question Evan didn''t want her to.


    "��who was that?"


    It was clear that Evan recognized the person that had appeared. Someonefrom within his memories.


    They wereapparentlythe ''Strongest Mortal'' he knew.


    But thereiny the problem. That person wasn''t supposed to have anysort ofpower whatsoever.


    Evan still could not understand what was going on.


    As such, to Eliza''s question��


    "��"


    ��Evan had no answer to give.


    �� �� ��


    Ronald''sFried Chicken


    Dust City


    Earth V


    November 30th


    AD 3103


    "So, Mr Vincent, you''re saying that you saw marks of thew of time on my soul, right?


    Meaning that someone with powers over time went back in time and saved my soul the nanosecond before I was supposed to die."


    A fifteen-year-old boy with short, deep ck hair, grey eyes, and a handsome face set in a ''cool'' expression spoke as he tried his best to ignore the gazes the group of girls two tables over were sending him.


    "Indeed."


    Replying tohim,was a man with sleek ck hair and piercing grey eyes. His handsome features were softened by a friendly and approachable demeanour, drawing in the gazes of all the singledies nearby.


    If it wasn''t for the ring they couldclearlysee on his left hand, more than a fewof themwould havee up to speak with him by now.


    "This person thenproceeded to sendmy soul through the river of time, fifteen years into the past��on another.


    My soul was put into the body of a stillborn child, allowing me to begin a new life in this world."


    "You also awakened your memories of your previous lifeat the timeyour skills awakened, at the age of 12.


    Everything up to the point of your death."


    The man the boy called ''Mr Vincent''pleted his statement as he turned to order an extra drink from the waitresswhowasclearlyenamouredby the sight of him.


    "Still, I went on my life asnormal, being the only personthat Iknew could perceive magic power.


    I washonestlybaffled how the people of this world couldn''t sense theenergy that''s omnipresentaround them."


    The boy put down his fork and raised a tissue to clean his mouth before looking at the manin front ofhim as he continued.


    "And then I met you, Mr Vincent.


    The magic power you exuded made the Sovereign Level existences I saw in the past look like ants. I bet even the Transcendents would not match up to you."


    In response, Vincentjusughed lightly, deciding not to tell the boy that Transcendents were also not worth putting in his eyes.


    "Have you finally found who did this? Saved me, I mean."


    Vincent nodded inaffirmation,before pointing at a billboardrightoutside the street. The boy turned towards it and read the content out loud.


    "Eternal Beauty Cream?"


    "Take only the first word out."


    The boy nodded with understanding, not too surprised as this wasn''t the first time Vincent had used cryptic means to tell him something.


    Next, Vincent pointed at the clock on the wall.


    "What does it tell?"


    "Time."


    Vincent nodded before pulling up a video on his smartphone and showing it to the boy.


    "What are they doing?"


    "They''re demolishing the building?"


    "Give me some synonyms."


    The boy went silentfor a moment, looking at the video of construction workers on the phone before he began calling out words.


    "Knock down? Pull down? Dismantle? Unbuild? Bring down? Destroy?"


    "Stop right there. What''s the process of doing that?"


    "Process of destroying? Destruction?"


    Vincent put down his phone and pped for himandthe boy quickly put together these seemingly random words in his head.


    ''Eternal, Time, Destruction.''


    "You add an ''OF'' and an ''AND'' in betweenandthat''s about it."


    With Vincent''snextstatement, the boythepleted the title of the man responsible for saving his soul.


    Eternal of Time and Destruction.


    He nodded in understanding before ordering a serving of fries, his gaze momentarily going towards the group of college students who just walked into the restaurant.


    "But why did this person do this? What benefit did they gain from saving my soul?"


    Upon asking Vincent this, the man chuckled a bit before replying.


    "His entertainment, maybe? That guy is very unpredictable. It''s hard to guess the reason behind his actions most times."


    As Vincentwas speaking, the group of College students who just entered walked right by their table while chatting amongst themselves.


    Suddenly, one of them stopped and turned in their direction, her brow raising in surprise as she saw the man.


    "Uncle Vincent?"


    "Hmm? Oh, hey there."


    Vincent casually replied to her, and she separated from her group, walking towards their table. On the way, she inadvertently nced at the boy sitting opposite Vincentandher eyes widened in shock.


    "Evan?!"


    A mere momentaftershe half screamed that name, her expression contorted into a frown as she continued.


    "No��you look like himbutyou''re NOT Evan."


    The boy on the table calmly gazed up at her before replying to her sudden statement.


    "Well, I AM ''Evan''. But I''m guessing I''m not the ''Evan'' you know."


    He then returned his gaze towards Vincent and posed a question.


    "Also, Mr Vincent. Didn''t you say thatall Records of ''His'' existence had been hiddensoeveryone on this should have forgotten him?"


    His question drew the girl''s attentionandshe mmed her hands on the table and leaned forward before barraging Vincent with questions.


    "Uncle Vincent, you remember Evan?!


    Why did everyone forget?! Where is he!? What''s all this about Hidden Records?! I spoke to Aunt Kristi-"


    "Hold on there, youngdy. Your friends are worried."


    "Ah...!"


    It was then thatthe girl finally remembered that she hadindeee here with a group.She turned towards them and rushedupto where they were before exining things.


    "Um��he''s a family friend. He and my dad go way back.


    I haven''t seen him since I returnedsoIjustwant to catch up. I''ll see you guyster."


    "Are you sure everything''s okay? You sure didn''t look like you werejust''catching up''."


    The girl spent a few minutescatingher friends before finally returning to the table where Vincent and the other boy who called himself ''Evan'' were seated.


    Shetook a seatwith them justandthe boy took a momentto properly take in how she looked.


    The girl had a striking beauty that was turning heads and causing some women nearby to re at their partners.


    Her hair was a lustrousshade of blue-ck, cascading in glossy waves that framed her face and fell gracefully down her lower back.


    The boy''s eyes were drawn to the text on her T-shirt, inadvertently taking note of herrge bust but he quickly removed his gaze so as not to be rude.


    He then turned back to Vincentwhowas enjoying his shawarma like it was the mostimportantthing in the world right nowandrepeated his earlier question.


    "Again, I ask. Mr Vincent, didn''t you say that the goddess Artemisia hid the Records of ''His'' existence on this and made everyoneon itforget him?"


    "Indeed. Everyone ''ON'' the forgothim."


    Vincent then turned towards the girl, meeting her deep eyes that matched the hue of her hair as he continued.


    "But what if someone who knewhim,wasn''t on theat the timeshe did that?"


    "What''s all this talk about Evan''s recordsbeing hidden?"


    The girl could not contain her curiosity anymore and fired her question,taking care to keepher voice as calm as possible.


    She then turned towards the teenage boy nearby before asking another question.


    "And who the hell are you? Why do you look simr to Evan?"


    "Because I am ''Evan''.


    But like I stated earlier; I''m probably NOT the ''Evan'' you know. Besides, don''t exaggerate it, our simrities are only around 40-50% at best."


    Just as the boy replied, Vincent put down his snack and drew their attention with a light p.


    "I think this is the part where I''m supposed to introduce the both of you."


    Vincent turned to the girl while gesturing towards the boy as hebegan speaking.


    "He is NOT ''Evankhell''. His name isEvansenBet, formerly ''Evansen Del Eris'' from the Aidos."


    After saying that, he turned towards Evansen while gesturing at the girl��the same one Evan had just seen in the Cavern of Trials as he spoke.


    "She''s the daughter of an old acquaintance of mine. Her name is Gabrielle Larson.


    My son''s�� Evankhell''s��Ex-girlfriend."


    THE END!


    Reincarnated Hero System


    Volume 3: Wars and Giant Lizards; FINALLYpleted.


    [Check Author Note] IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Chapter 745 Interlude 11- Ruth

    <h4>Chapter 745 Interlude 11- Ruth</h4>


    Kaur Family Summer Home


    Treeson City


    Vathax


    October 17th


    Year 1053


    Evan was lying on the grass in the middle of the Manor''s massive lush gardens, staring at the rising sun while a multitude of thoughts crossed his mind.


    After chilling there for a while longer, he noticed spirits gathering in a certain part of the garden and went to check it out, encountering nearly two dozen spirits surrounding someone on the floor.


    Upon noticing him, some flew over to him with slightly panicking expressions and asked for help.


    Curious, he turned to who they were surrounding and saw a young girl wearing a white one-piece dress that contrasted her raven-ck hair, crouching while holding a brown teddy bear.


    When his gaze settled on her, she flinched, before running off and hiding behind a tree nearby. A few secondster, she peeked out from behind the tree to look at him and the first thing that caught his attention was her eyes.


    It was a pretty blue colour that reminded him of Eliza.


    Her pupils darted around and when he traced her line of sight, he realised she wasn''t looking at just him, but the spirits floating around him.


    Some of them even flew over to her and started whispering things to her and Evan silently checked what the types of spirits they were.


    ''Light, Life and nt?''


    Shrugging lightly, he squatted so he could meet her eye level and waved with a light smile.


    "Hello there. Whatchu doing out here?"


    "��Ruth is lost."


    Evan raised a brow in light confusion, before asking.


    "Your name is Ruth?"


    She nodded in affirmation before repeating her earlier words.


    ''Lost, huh?''


    Evan looked around at the Hedge maze area of the garden they were in and nodded, understanding how easy it was for a child to get lost. The vertical hedges reached Evan up to his shoulder and he was 5 feet 10.


    The girl looked about 4 to 4.5 feet so she needed to jump if she wanted to be able to look over them.


    ''She''s strong for how old she looks though��''


    Such a thought crossed Evan''s mind as he noted that this child was around Level 70 and was a Gold-level existence capable of crumbling buildings on her own.


    "Okay, Ruth. I''m Evan.


    I wonder, how did you get lost? Where''s your mum or dad?"


    "Ruth''s mummy and daddy are in a different city."


    "And you''re over here?!"


    Evan was surprised at this and the girl nodded affirmation before speaking.


    "They allowed Ruth to travel."


    ''This girl looks like she''s maybe 10 or 12, and they let her travel alone?''


    "��isn''t that dangerous?"


    The boy muttered his thoughts out loud, and upon hearing him the girl shook her head as she replied.


    "They said you''re a good person, so it''s not dangerous."


    "?"


    Evan raised a brow in confusion when she replied. Taking a moment to think it over and watching as the Light spirits whispered to her, he realised they''d misunderstood his question. He''d asked if it was safe for her to travel alone, but they''d made her think he meant her current situation was dangerous.


    As such, she replied based on that understanding.


    "I was asking if it wasn''t dangerous for you to travel alone."


    "Oh��"


    Her lips formed a circle and she shook her head before speaking.


    "Ruth didn''t travel alone. Ruth came with her Big brother to visit Big sister."


    "And where''s your Big Brother, now?"


    "��I don''t know.


    Ruth heard him crying in pain and Ruth came to help him."


    When she said ''him'', she held out the teddy bear in her hands and Evan gazed at it curiously, his eyes widening in the next second.


    The signal was so weak that he missed it earlier, but that teddy bear was actually being possessed by a wounded spirit on the brink of death.


    Seeing his surprise, Ruth understood he had noticed the spirit and brought the teddy bear down as she continued.


    "They told Ruth that he got injured in the forest so Ruth came to help him. But Ruth''s magic power is not enough to heal him, so Ruth wants to find Big Brother and Big sister."


    ''This Third-person speech of hers��''


    Such a thought crossed his mind as he sighed and got up to his feet before asking.


    "You know what your Big brother is wearing, right?"


    "Mhmm."


    "Okay, I''ll help you find him."


    The girl''s eyes widened in surprise and Evan saw tiny lights sparkling in them. She came out from behind the tree and walked over to him before saying.


    "Ruth''s mummy said to thank whoever helps me.


    Thank you."


    Her words had Evan chuckling a bit and she patted her head which made her smile shyly. Looking around, he spread his aura and saw that there were only 3 presences in the garden��the gardeners who were pruning flowers.


    ''Let''s take her to the manor. Maybe we''d see her sister or brother there.''


    With that thought, he created a void step and had her sit on it, before lifting her up to his shoulder level.


    "Whoa! Ruth is flying!"


    "Pfft��"


    Evanughed as the child raised her hands and pped them like a bird while he carried her across the garden and into the Manor.


    As they entered, the servants dusting the windows expressed surprise upon seeing the two of them, but before they could talk, there was a sudden loud noise.


    **BAMMM!!!!


    A blur of motion streaked across their field of vision, noticed only by Evan and a few Master Level Servants.


    Momentster, a pained groan echoed from one end of the entrance hall, drawing attention to the figure of a teenage blonde boy slumped against a wall, struggling to get to his feet.


    "What in tarnation?"


    Evan couldn''t help but express his confusion out loud but Ruth''s sudden voice snapped him back to reality.


    "Ah��it''s Big Brother."


    "Your big brother just got thrown out of the living room with so much force he mmed into the wall of the entrance hall."


    But seeing who her ''Big Brother'' was, Evan quickly understood who the ''Big Sister'' Ruth was looking for.


    He turned his gaze to the Living Room door and saw a familiar blonde-haired girl walking out while cleaning blood off her hand with a towel.


    That meant that she had just punched Ruth''s ''Big Brother'' with enough strength to draw blood.


    "Tell that idiot father of yours that I''d repeat the same thing to him if he makes any stupidments about Evan."


    Her tone of voice was deeper than usual and it was clear from her expression that she was quite��no, she was VERY pissed.


    Before Evan could even question what happened, Ruth pointed at the girl��his girlfriend, Eliza��and shouted in a joy-filled voice.


    "Big Sister!"


    "Huh? Ruth?!"


    Hearing that familiar voice, Eliza turned in the girl''s direction, the angered expression on her face vanishing like smoke.


    Ruth jumped off the Void Step but before she even reached the ground, Eliza had already dashed over and pulled her into a tight hug.


    From the sight of them hugging each other, it was easy to deduce how good the rtionship between the sisters was.


    "What are the odds that the random girl I found lost in the garden just turned out to be your little sister?"


    This made the second one of Eliza''s four siblings that he had met. Hearing his question, Eliza looked towards Evan and asked.


    "Were there spirits in the area?"


    "Yes."


    "Then the odds are pretty high."


    It seemed Ruth getting distracted by spirits and getting lost was something Eliza was used to.


    As for the girl in question, she wasn''t listening to them and was busy nuzzling her cheeks on her sister''s chest.


    "Ow! Oh! Hello, Evan."


    The familiar voice prompted Evan to turn his gaze to the boy who had a bloodstained tissue sticking out of his nose.


    "Khris��.


    How''d you get smacked from one end of the hall to another?"


    "Hahaha! I was just testing her reaction to something."


    His words had Eliza turning to him with a re and the boy quickly jumped away to avoid getting punched again.


    "Big Sister. Can you heal him?"


    Ruth ignored her brother and stuck out the teddy bear she was carrying to Eliza and the girl looked at the doll, narrowing her eyes at it.


    Her heavy gaze seemed to make the spirit within it flinch and after confirming it was really injured, Eliza agreed to heal it.


    Evan was curious why she did that and she gave him a quick rundown when they returned to the Living Room.


    "Ruth is something like a ''Spirit Medium''. It''s very easy for Spirits to possess her and interfere with the Material World without problems.


    The only constraint is the strength of her body which limits the amount of power they can use."


    Her constitution was one Evan had seen in the game, but it was stated to be pretty rare and that was evident given how he had met many other Spirit Contractors, but none had been a ''Spirit Medium''.


    It sounded nice but this constitution had serious downsides.


    Just like not all humans were good people, such was the case with spirits.


    It''s just that Evan had mostly encountered the good, yful kind while those who didn''t fit in this category usually stayed away.


    For Ruth, a Spirit had once tricked her with the guise of ''Being Injured'' and when she tried to help it, it took the chance to possess her body.


    As if topensate for this downside of her constitution, Ruth was born with a High Existence Level.


    The girl was a Gold Level Existence at Level 50 from birth. She was also a Deviant whose skills awakened before age 12.


    With a higher level, came a stronger body and higher mental strength. When added to Ruth''s Innate ridiculously strong Mentality, it was a cakewalk for her to retain consciousness despite the fact that she was possessed.


    In fact, she could even wrestle control from the spirit.


    However, because she was still low-level, she could not resist the possession. The most she could do was retain control over her body after.


    Eliza''s parents had outfitted her with different protective artifacts to prevent her from being possessed by random stray spirits.


    The gems on the dress she was wearing were loaded with magic power and they powered the protective magic circuit formations woven into the threads of the dress.


    She also had ''Spiritual Infusion'' that allowed her to put Spirits into Items, like how she had done for the wounded spirit in her teddy bear.


    "That''s a lot."


    "I know, right."


    Eliza replied as she healed the spirit in the doll. Ruth jumped down from the chair beside her and ran over to Evan, showing him the teddy bear as she spoke.


    "Ruth''s Big Sister healed him."


    "Mhmm��Ruth''s big sister is the best."


    Just as he was humouring her, the girl suddenly turned towards Khris who was still healing his wounded nose and spoke.


    "Ruth''s Big Brother is the worst."


    "Gak! Stray bullet?!"


    Ruth snorted and turned away from him while muttering.


    "Ruth''s big brother didn''te to look for Ruth in the garden."


    "Well Big Brother couldn''te because someone was beating the sh-!"


    "Ahem! Language."


    Khris flinched when Eliza cut him off, nodding with a fearful expression as he quickly changed his words.


    "Big brother was being punished by Big sister."


    "Beating the sh?"


    Unfortunately, Ruth had already picked up on what he was trying to say and Khris quickly started trying to make her forget that part of his statement, fearful of getting hit by Eliza again.


    Witnessing this frantic attempt at damage control, Evan couldn''t help but burst intoughter.


    Khris looked towards Evan for a lifeline but Evan silently looked away, abandoning to his fate.

 Chapter 746 Interlude 12-1- Magic AI

    <h4>Chapter 746 Interlude 12-1- Magic AI</h4>


    ''War Remnant Structure''


    A


    Wolfen


    January 20th


    Year 1054


    On the outskirts of A, the capital state of the GEE''s Vassal Nation of Wolfen,id a barren wastnd.


    It was the scene of what people knew as the ''Terrorist attacks of Year 995''.


    A destendscape stretched out as far as the eye could see, its fertile soil turned to dust and sand, whipped by winds.


    Amidst it rose a weathered structure. The Complex''s metallic exterior now bore the ravages of time and the elements, its once-shining surface now dulled by rust and decay.


    Multiple fences surround it; the outermosty broken, its bars misshapen. The second fence''s gates were shattered, with scorch marks and ckened areas from intense heat.


    A jagged circr crater surrounded the fenced-off area, now filled with rainwater, reflecting the overcast sky.


    This Complex was the War Remnant Structure which sparked the GEE-Wolfen War ofst year.


    "They actually seeded in breaking in.


    I don''t know whether to apud them for their achievement or to mock them for their stupidity."


    Those words escaped the lips of a young fair-skinned girl with shoulder-length chestnut-coloured hair and striking blue eyes.


    She was wearing a brown polo neck jumper, with a ck pair of shorts and leather boots all underneath a long ck jacket.


    "Come on. At least give them credit for breaking in through the first gate. It''s not like they could have known that all the fences were rigged with Nuclear Magic spells, could they?"


    That ominous-sounding reply that sent chills down the spines of all the hearers came from the handsome teenager on her right side.


    He was a tall young man with red-brown hair and brown eyes. For his clothes, he wore a simple T-shirt and ck jeans with a jacket. He also wore ck half-gloves on both hands.


    He had two ears reminiscent of those of a lion''s at the top of his head, with a fairly long tail emerging from in between the back slit of his jacket.


    "Well, they seeded at the cost of their lives so they aren''t around to receive the credit."


    Thest statement came from the other boy on the blue-eyed girl''s left-hand side. He had a head of ck hair with a few white highlights, and striking grey eyes to match.


    He wore a dark grey t-shirt with a ck undersleeve, and ck jeans made from the silk and steel threads of an Epic-level spider monster.


    His wrist had a silver mechanical chain watch adorning it, and his feet were covered by a pair of ck and white sneakers.


    This trio was that of the Known Members of the current generation of Seven Heroes on the Alpha Continent.


    From Left to Right��Evan Eris, Laurene Hayes and David Thancreed respectively.


    Today, they were joined by nearly a hundred beings trying to enter the home of the Previous Second of the Seven Heroes, An Maddox.


    Notable figures like the GEE and GWE Emperors, the Chief Grand Magus of Kasteblum, and even a Transcendent, ''Beast King'' Kolvar Thancreed were present.


    The Desert Emperor of Tarse, Lloris ��lurtr Austin, joined with a clone while his real body remained in Tarse. Researchers from various countries were also there, eager to uncover secrets from the War Remnant Structure.


    Despite Wolfen''s barriers being removed by Sir Esoti, the nation''s strongest living legend, everyone stood still, silently watching the base.


    The reason being; the Heroes who were to lead the way were all standing silently while watching the base.


    "What do you think, Laurene?"


    "A few of the Magic Formations are damaged due to the st, others have broken down due to age, but the majority of them which were powered by runes and have self-repair functions are still in good shape."


    Evan sighed in relief upon hearing Laurene''s words, before turning around and addressing the others present.


    "Alright, everyone.


    I know most of you here have your agendas and goals foring here. You''ve probably been given orders by your bosses to get certain things, but��All of that doesn''t matter."


    Evan''s eyes glowed with a golden light as he continued.


    "I don''t give a flying fuck whatever orders you have. The moment we enter, I''m the one in charge.


    You only touch what I tell you to touch and go where I tell you to go.


    If you do otherwise, I will let this thing''s security system do as it wishes and eliminate you for trespassing."


    The boy casually threatened them, releasing a bit of his aura and letting them all see that he was now an Epic Level existence.


    "If you have any objections, feel free to leave now."


    While Evan''s caution might have seemed extreme, Laurene and David understood him. They knew An Maddox well enough to understand the risks of messing with his property.


    The man rigged his front gate to have Nuclear Magic which destroyed everything within a 30-kilometre radius when the gate was broken into.


    And that was just the front gate!


    Who knew what he had put in the main house?


    The group followed the heroes past the second gate to the spot where Beluar and his crew had entered years ago and encountered Rathal. They quickly reached the main building, where arge Mystic Eye Symbol marked the double doors.


    As Evan approached, the runes on the door activated, scanning his irises to confirm his Mystic Eyes. Suddenly, the entire structure shook, and the runes lying dormant for centuries sprang to life, absorbing ambient magic energy.


    The massive adamantine doors swung open, revealing a grand entrance hall adorned with gs representing each of the Seven Heroes hanging from the ceiling.


    Evan pointed to the door beneath the ''Truth'' g and spoke.


    "Look, Laurene''s room. You think ''that'' is still there?"


    "That''s NOT my room. And no, Yvonne took it to one of the Nicobrook Inds."


    Ignoring the confused stares from the others, the Heroes continued their banter.


    Others who clearly heard their conversation looked on in confusion but Evan and Laurene continued speaking like they didn''t notice.


    "You guys are lucky. Yvonne and An left their stuff in good ces."


    David spoke with a downcast expression and the other two heroes moved to his sides and patted him on the back while consoling him.


    "Don''t worry, it''s just an active underwater volcano."


    "Yeah, the most that could happen is you dying."


    "��you two are even making it worse."


    Sadly, the road to David gaining his predecessor''s weapon was a long one.


    As they walked, Laurene and Evan didn''t hide theirughter at David''s misfortune, passing under the ''Mimicry'' g in the centre and stopping before another set of massive double doors a hundred metres away.


    "This is the moment of?Truth��"


    "Now''s not the time for M?y?s?t?i?c? ?E?y?e? jokes, Laurene."


    Evan retorted as he stepped forward, taking a deep breath before cing his hand on the door.


    The runes on it whirred to life with eerie dark yellow glows. All the lights in the building shifted to match, blinking in the same unsettling hue.


    A floating keyboard materialized in front of Evan, and he typed in a string of letters and numbers. The blinking ceased, but the lights remained a steady yellow.


    "We aren''t out of the grey yet��"


    Laurene muttered under her breath, and as she did, magic power started condensing in front of Evan. The energy quickly took shape into a humanoid figure. This being had an androgynous appearance with glowing yellow eyes and short hair, dressed in a butler''s suit, floating just above the ground.


    With a cold, mechanical voice, the figure began speaking a series of messages.


    [Presences Detected at Sector Gates.


    Activating Security Protocol in ordance with defined rules.]


    ''Really, sometimes I wonder if I''m in a Fantasy World anymore��''


    Evan thought to himself as he looked at the entity standing in front of him. The physical projection of the Artificial Intelligence that managed An Maddox''s house, databases and security.


    Indeed, An Maddox had created an AI with Magic.


    Though Evan harboured no fondness for Maddox, he couldn''t deny the man''s arcane genius.


    [Core Systems are all Green.]


    The projection''s yellow eyes scanned the group before it, emitting a wave of light that passed over each person and scanned them.


    [One Administrator Detected.


    Two Sub-administrators Detected.


    Ny-Eight Guests Detected.]


    The body of magic power lowered itself to the ground and stood exactly one metre away from Evan, before speaking.


    [Confirming Administrator Identity.


    First Level Authentication: Possession of Mystic Eyes��Confirmed.


    Second level Authentication: Soul Frequency Scan.]


    Before anyone could react, beams of yellow light shot from the AI''s eyes, piercing Evan''s chest. Kolvar looked ready to intervene, but David held him back, his gaze fixed anxiously on Evan.


    ''Your n better work, Evan��''


    Evan, however, just sighed, giving a wry smile as the response he expected from the AI rang out.


    [Second level Authentication: Soul Frequency Scan Completed.


    Cross-Referencing Samples��!


    NEGATIVE MATCH!!!!]


    Instantly, the Projection''s eyes and hair shifted from yellow to a deep red, matching the shing red lights that filled theplex.


    [INTRUDER CONFIRMED.


    ACTIVATING DEFENSIVE PROTOCOLS.


    PREPARING TO ELIMINATE INTRUDERS!!]


    "Evan, it''s about time you pulled out whatever you had in store!!"


    Laurene eximed as she activated her mystic eyes, conjuring magic circles on her palms. Raising them, she targeted the weak spots in the defensive rune formations and hijacked them.


    [INTERFERENCE DETECTED!!]


    The AI caught on to her interference, but before it could react, David activated his mystic eyes, causing the AI''s physical projection to start dissolving.


    [PROJECTION DAMAGE! OUTER SECTOR DEFENSIVE RUNE DAMAGE!! DEPLOYING BACKUPS!]


    Everyone switched to battle mode while Evan casually walked past the projection, cing his hands on the runes on the door ahead.


    Lifting his right hand, he gave amand.


    "Reincarnated Hero System: Consume Stored Authority."


    Immediately, grey-gold lines of energy appeared on Evan''s hand like circuits, glowing intensely through his ck shirt sleeve. These circuits extended from his arm and prated the door, drawing a substantial amount of magic power from it.


    "Override System Defaults."


    Evanmanded and the system began its work. The AI, sensing the threat, quickly escted his threat level.


    [INITIATING OVERDRIVE MODE!! RELEASING LAST DEF-DEF-D- D-D-EFFFF----!!!!]


    "Reconfigure System Protocols."


    |Reconfiguring��Sessful. |


    As Evan saw those messages in his field of vision, he looked up and saw the AI trying to reforge its physical projection with magic but failing due to David''s Presence.


    "Initiate Reset."


    [FORCE RESET DETECTED! SYSTEM HEALTH DEGRADING! ELIMINATE INTRUDERS! ELIMINATE FOREIGN VIRUSES! ELIMINA-NAAAAAAA-----!]


    A sudden silence prevailed and Evan had David and Laurene deactivate their skills. As they did so, the red lights ceased and reverted to their normal white hue.


    The projection reformed from the rapidly gathering magic and then spoke.


    [Restoring System�� Complete.


    Initializing��Complete.


    Please grant NEW Administrator User Key.]


    "Evan Bourne."


    [Confirmed.]


    The projection of the AI, now with white hair and ck eyes, bowed before Evan before continuing.


    [Greetings, Administrator Bourne.]


    Seeing the AI''s change in demeanour, Laurene let out a relieved sigh and almost copsed, saved only by David''s supportive grip.


    She was drained, having used up her magic to hack the runes and prevent the deployment ofbat golems hidden in the hallway walls.


    Even the weakest of these golems was at an Epic Level, so thwarting them had consumed a significant amount of her power.


    "Thanks, Laurene. Here, have a potion."


    "��"


    Laurene raised her hand to collect the potion, but she froze when she saw it was a PET strawberry juice bottle that Evan handed her.


    "Really?"


    "It''s a strawberry-voured magic potion, the best there is."


    He handed it to her and then turned towards the AI as he spoke.


    "Give me a Damage Report."


    [Analysing��.


    Complex Health is at 85%.]


    "85?!"


    Evan eximed in shock, before turning to Esoti who was nearby and apuding him.


    "Congrats, you guys actually destroyed 15% of this ce."


    Esoti''s brow twitched repeatedly when Evan spoke, as the lives of hundreds of good soldiers and many Epic Level existences were lost just for that 15%.


    [Complex Defences are at 70% Efficiency.


    Cited Reasons: Lack of Maintenance over a 999 Year, 7 month, and 23 Day period.]


    When Evan heard this, he turned towards Laurene and gazed at her in silence.


    "��why are you looking at me?"


    "��"


    "You don''t expect me to run maintenance on this whole thing, right?!"


    "Thank you very much."


    "No fucking way! It''s YOUR predecessor who built this!"


    "With the help of yours."


    "But it''s still his property!"


    Just as the two were about to get into an argument about shifting the duty of maintenance, David stepped in and stopped them, prompting Evan to redirect his focus to the AI.


    "Deploy Maintenance Golems from Inner Sector. Assign them to Outer Area Fence 2."


    [Deploying��]


    "Unlock Information Archives and Grant Guests 1-95 ess to Archives 5, 7 and 9.


    Designate Transcendent Level High Breed Lion-Beastman as Guest 96. Designate Epic Level High-Human as Guest 97, Designate Epic Level High Demon as Guest 98."


    [Designation Complete.]


    As the AI spoke, small drones emerged from the walls to scan Kolvar, Eliza, and Roselia, recording their information in the database.


    The others looked puzzled, clearly wondering why Evan had specified ess to only three Archives. However, a stern re from Kolvar silenced any questions.


    The Hero trio noticed the exchange but chose not toment. They all agreed that allowing them unrestricted movement in this ce would lead to trouble.


    "Grant Guest 96 ess to Archives 3-5, 7, 9."


    [Granted.]


    Kolvar raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the additional Archives Evan had granted him ess to.


    "Grant all Sub-Administrators ess to all Archives except 1. Grant full ess to all Inner Sector facilities as well."


    For Laurene and David, he had no qualms about letting them roam free as he knew they weren''t stupid to go where they weren''t meant to.


    "Elevate Guest 97 and 98 to Sub Administrator Rank."


    [DENIED!]


    The eyes of the AI projection shed with a dark red light and it gazed at Roselia before speaking.


    [Determined that Guest 98 is-]


    "Override Default Protocol."


    [��


    Elevating Guest Rights.]


    Evan''s timely intervention prevented the AI from saying Roselia was an ''Invader'' and could not be granted Inner Sector ess.


    The others were gonna find out either way when they entered the Archives though.


    "Good.


    Now then, Send me to the Core Sector."


    [Right away, Administrator.]


    The AI bowed, and the runes on the ground illuminated, enveloping Evan in a spatial light that transported him away. The AI then faced Roselia, Eliza, Laurene, and David, asking.


    [Would you like to ess the Inner Sector now?]


    "Yep."


    "Wait a m-!"


    *VUP!


    Laurene replied faster than anyone could say anything and the AI teleported the four of them to the Inner Sector, before turning to the rest.


    [Guests 1-95, Archive ess restricted to 5, 7 and 9. Guest 96 has additional ess to Archives 3 and 4.


    As per Default Security protocols, overstepping bounds into Archives not granted clearance for are grounds for ELIMINATION.]


    The projection''s eyes and hair shifted to red as it spoke, releasing a massive surge of magic power andw energy that hit everyone. Kolvar narrowed his eyes, realizing the AI was drawing in ambient magic power from aboveground to operate.


    Its eyes returned to normal as it rerouted the gathered magic power into the runes below, teleporting everyone to the Inner Sector, located 1000 meters below ground level.

 Chapter 747 Interlude 12-2- Vale Blade and Cosplay

    Chapter 747 Interlude 12-2- Vale de and Cosy


    ??Evan materialized in the Core Sector teleporter, 1500 meters below ground, and approached the imposing adamantine doors ahead.


    "I may hate your guts, An Maddox, but I don''t hate what you left for me."


    Evan remarked with a smirk as he stepped into the expansive room. He gazed at the crimson runes adorning the floor and ceiling.


    Beneath the tiles he stood ony dozens of Transcendent Level magic stones, powering these runes. Any attempt to breach this ce would trigger a surge of Transcendent Magic power on the intruder.


    "Unlock Security for Items 001 and 002."


    [Affirmed. Disabling Rune Defences. Powering down Combat Golems.]


    As the runes lost their light, Evan walked forward and headed right for the pedestal in the centre of the room, where two items were ced atop a cushion inside a reinforced ss box.


    It was a small Palm-sized Shield and a Sword Hilt.


    "The ''Gazebind Aegis'', and the ''Vale de''.


    Looking at how small it is, you wouldn''t think this is one of the most powerful shields on the."


    Evan examined his hands, adjusting the artifacts he wore. He slid the Doubler (Bracelet) higher up his left arm and removed another bracelet to make room between the Doubler and his watch.


    Opening a ss box, he retrieved a palm-sized shield, fastening its strap securely onto his arm.


    "Now, then. You''reMINE."


    Evan released his magic power, infusing the shield with his destruction essence to erase An Maddox''s Imprint and rece it with his own.


    The moment he did that, the shield burst into a shower of light, disappearing into his hand, leaving behind a golden rune identical to the seven-sided geometric shape of the shield.


    "That''s good�� As expected of a Legendary Grade weapon."


    The shield was designed in a way that he could summon it at will from��and send it away to��a parallel dimension of sorts.


    As Evan had the Inventory skill, it automatically connected itself to his inventory.


    Next, Evan took the Sword Hilt and instructed the AI to teleport him to the Training Hall. Once there, he scattered a handful of magic stones on the floor and directed the AI to absorb them.


    "Show me the strongest Epic Level samples you have."


    [Here, Administrator.]


    An illusory board with a list of ancient monsters that had gone extinct came up and Evan nodded before asking it to deploy them all.


    [Are you sure, Administrator?]


    "Yep."


    [Very well. Deploying.]


    The AI absorbed the magic power from the stones, and the hall filled with energy as it conjured twelve monster projections, each with a Level 500 power, each releasing roars that reverberated throughout the Complex.


    One of the monsters lunged at Evan, shing with its six-wed paws. Instantly, Evan''s rune glowed and the Gazebind Aegis materialized. It was no longer the small palm-sized shield; now it was twice the size of Evan''s forearm.


    **BAMM!!!


    Evan deflected the monster''s ws with the shield, absorbing the attack''s kic energy and preventing himself from being pushed back.


    "That''s good��"


    Evan pushed the monster away with his shield, then leapt into the air to dodge a shing de tail aimed at him.


    He waved his hand and conjured an array of fireballs, hurling them at the monsters below. Some monsters erected magic shields to defend themselves, while others took the brunt of the fiery onught with their bodies.


    With most of the monsters focused on dodging or blocking the mes, Evan raised the Gazebind Aegis and dered.


    "Alright, Everyone.


    Look at ME!"


    The moment Evan said that, the shield shed with light and simultaneously, it was as if an invisible force ensnared the bodies of all the monsters and turned their heads in his direction.


    "If you guys were real, I would have had my pick of skills now."


    Evan muttered as he dropped to the ground and told the AI to disable the projections.


    For the Hero of Mimicry whose ability required Eye Contact, then what better ability could his weapon have than a ''Taunt'' that forcefully shifted the awareness of up to ten targets at once?


    |Gazebind Aegis


    Type; Legendary Shield.


    There was once a Gorgon ''Race Queen'' on Aidos with Amber eyes so captivating they seemed to pull people in.


    She desired for all to admire her eyes, but most turned away, either attacking her or escaping her presence.


    Driven by her longing, she created an Artifact to protect herself from their attacks,pelling all who gazed upon her to ''admire'' her eyes, even if it was against their will.


    By the time she was in by the ''Demon King of Destruction'' during the ''Great Valmone War'', billions of souls had already been turned to stone by her beautiful, enchantingMystic Eyes of Petrification.


    Equip Bonus; 10% Total Damage Mitigation.


    Abilities;


    Forcefully shifts the Awareness of a maximum of 10 designated targets to the User''s Eyes.


    Within 30 Seconds of receiving an attack, further Mitigate all Damage by an additional 10%. urs once every minute.


    Size Maniption. |


    "Billions? The Demonic Hand''s still got rookie numberspared to this."


    Evan muttered as read the description of the Shield, pitying the poor souls who had been petrified by this Gorgon Queen.


    He then moved his focus to the Equip Bonus and the second ability of the shield, two things that made him smile.


    ''Total Damage Mitigation.''


    Physical, Elemental, Mental, Energy, Spiritual and whatever. All were mitigated simply by having it equipped.


    "Now then."


    Evan brought out the Sword Hilt and summoned his trusty partner who had apanied him for over two years, the Unforged.


    "Unfortunately, getting the materials to take you to Phase 2 is easier said than done.


    So, while I cannot upgrade you, I''d give you something that''d enhance your power temporarily."


    He drew his hand across the de''s edge as he spoke, but even though he did so on the sharp edge of the de, his fingers were not sliced off.


    The boy made the sword float into the air before thinking about the Dungeon he got the Sword from.


    "Maybe I should go back to Geto and check how many times that dungeon has been cleared.


    I hope they haven''t triggered ''Spider Nemesis'' Cheisnih''s appearance."


    ''Spider Nemesis'' Cheisnih was a Level 500 monster that spawned when the ''Spider''s Nest'' Dungeon had been cleared a certain number of times, and it was the monster who killed the first owner of the Unforged Vanquisher Evan wielded.


    "If they trigger that thing then Geto would wish they rather had a dozen more Xakons."


    The boy muttered to himself, making a mental note to visit Geto City again before holding out the Vale Balde.


    Despite being called the ''Vale de'', all that was in Evan''s hands was just the hilt of a Sword. There was no ''de'', so to speak.


    The reason being; that this weapon needed a Symbiotic Rtionship with another weapon to show its power.


    It needed a different weapon to serve as its ''Base'', and Evan nned to use the Unforged for this.


    "First, let''s take off my artifacts."


    Evan did as he said and removed all the artifacts he wore. Because he had taken off the Doubler, the Unforged had returned to its base state.


    |Unforged Vanquisher (The Unforged)


    Type; One-handed Sword.


    What was left behind by a once great adventurer who perished at the hands of the ''Spider Nemesis'' Cheisnih.


    This sharp sword can seemingly pierce through anything. When swung, one can almost see the rift it tears in the air.


    Effect;


    Scoring hits on opponents increases overall attack power by 5% for thirty seconds. This effect can be stacked a maximum of five times. Can only ur once every ten seconds. |


    He held the Unforged in front of the Vale de and repeated the imprinting process before saying.


    "This is your new ''Base'', Vale."


    The hole in the Sword Hilt where the de was supposed to be suddenly widened as the Hilt absorbed Evan''s magic power.


    As Evan inserted the Unforged, the Sword Hilt released tiny robotic appendages that pierced the Unforged''s de and circuit-like lines appeared on the de, merging them into one weapon.


    It resembled the Unforged but had a modified hilt.


    Checking the Sword''s description, Evan saw the Unforged''s Attack Boost had increased from 5% to a base of 7.5%.


    With the Doubler bracelet, this boost could now reach up to 15%,sting for a minute, stackable up to 10 times, and renewing every 20 seconds, unlike the previous 10%.


    But if this was just the effect, then there was no way Evan would have joined a war just to get it.


    "Summon 5 dewraith: Raja projections."


    [Deploying.]


    Evan dashed towards the dewriaths, his weapon glowing with infused magic. As he shed with the first one, a massive explosion of magic power erupted, obscuring the area with dust.


    **BOOM!!!


    When the dust settled, Evan grinned at the sight: his sword had cut through the first dewraith''s weapon and sliced its torso clean off.


    As the remaining four charged, he swung his de sideways, activating the ''de Cannon'' skill.


    Five fist-sized bullets of dense aura shot out alongside the sh, punching clean holes through the second dewraith before splitting it in twain.


    "Energy Amplification."


    Evan muttered as he unfurled his wings and took to the air, to dodge the attacks of the remaining three before dismissing their projections.


    The First of the Vale de''s Weapon Skills enhanced the Ability of the Sword used as a Base, while the Second Amplified the energy infused into the sword by 1.5x.


    But still, this was not the Sword''s Main Ability.


    "Get me Sub-Administrator 4."


    [ERROR. Sub-Administrator 4 is an Inv-]


    "Override Default Protocols."


    [��


    Initiating Teleportation.]


    Evan silenced the AI and had it ry a message to Roselia through the inte. Momentster, she teleported in beside him. Her eyes narrowed as theynded on the familiar hilt of Evan''s weapon.


    "Can I test this thing with you?"


    "��"


    She was all too familiar with the capabilities of the Vale de, having faced its wielder multiple times before. While she knew about its ''regr skills'', the sword''s unique ability remained a mystery to her.


    Despite trying various appraisal and analysis skills on the de, she had never managed to uncover its unique skill. Only the Previous Seven Heroes, who had aided An Maddox in discovering the weapon, knew of its true potential.


    It was like a person''s skills.


    The Ability Enhancement and Energy Amplification Evan used earlier were the Normal Skills, and Roselia had seen the sword disy many other Normal Skills.


    ''Let''s see where this goes��''


    Roselia summoned Vanitas, its dark red lines glowing, and took her stance. Evan, his Mystic Eyes shining, mirrored her, adopting Roselia''s ''Origin Sword'' base stance.


    A secondter, they lunged at each other, their des shing with sparks and creating shockwaves that damaged the surrounding walls.


    "This thing just cleaved through a Level 500 monster projection and here you are blocking without breaking a sweat."


    "Oh, I assure you, I''m putting in much more effort than you think."


    Roselia replied to Evan as she increased the strength in her arms and pushed him back. She stomped her foot on the ground and released a shockwave to destabilize his footing before charging in.


    "You''re not the only one who can use shockwaves!"


    Evan flipped and unleashed an omnidirectional aura shockwave, forcing Roselia to stop. Seizing the moment, he dashed forward, sending out multiple aura shes.


    But to his surprise, they turned into bubbles and floated upwards, popping against the ceiling. What''s more, his sword which shed at her phased through Roselia as if she were an illusion.


    "Woman, that''s a spatial maniption ability! How do you have that?!"


    "I can have whatever I want."


    Roselia replied as she swung her de down, but the Gazebind Aegis manifested at thest moment and blocked her sh.


    ''That annoying shield as well��''


    A light frown adorned her face as Roselia boosted her mental resistance using a spell and then kicked Evan away, unleashing shes of her ck aura which he countered. They shed again in a supersonic sword battle.


    While they duelled, the AI asked Evan about letting the other Sub-Administrators into the Core Sector, to which he replied offhandedly.


    When Eliza, David and Laurene teleported in, Evan and Roselia were in the middle of a heated battle where it looked like they were trying to kill themselves.


    However, their use of only swords and weapon skills indicated it wasn''t a deathmatch.


    Mid-battle, Roselia suddenly had a bad feeling, and her whole being instinctively warned her against shing des with Evan.


    Unfortunately, she had already swung her sword and there was no time to cancel her motion.


    Their des collided and��


    *CLANG!! **BAAMM!!!!


    ��Roselia''s back mmed into a wall in the next second.


    "Damn, your Instincts are sharper than people with the Instinct skill."


    Evanmented, retracting the energy from his de and stabbing it into the ground. Roselia, silent, regained her footing, her attention shifting to Vanitas in her grip.


    "��what did you do?"


    Roselia was certain that Evan had activated his sword''s unique ability just then, but its exact nature remained elusive to her.


    All she knew, was that the ability affected Vanitas.


    When she raised her gaze to Evan again, her eyes widened in disbelief.


    On Evan''s de were golden lines running through it like veins. The exact same pattern of lines on her sword.


    In that Instant, her brain formed a conjecture she was 99% sure of.


    ''Thatst strike��the sudden increase in power��that was Vanitas'' ability!''


    Evan''s wry smile deepened as he saw Roselia''s expression, knowing she had a guess. The Vale de''s unique ability was, in truth, quite straightforward if one pondered it with some depth.


    Roselia had never discerned it simply because An Maddox recognized her crazy instincts and never used it against her.


    |The Unforged Vale (Enhanced)


    Type; Relic Grade Sword.


    Fusion between the ''Vale de'' and the ''Unforged Vanquisher''. Enhanced by the ''Prototype Replicator''.


    During an Era long forgotten, there was a ''Hero of Mimicry'' who achieved ''Race Queen'' status and sought to take more from her opponents than just their Skills, Magic, and Techniques.


    Harnessing her Authority over the Universal Law of Mimicry, she forged this de after years in the ''Sword Grave Valley''.


    In homage to the des interred there, she granted it the name ''Vale''.


    Hero of Mimicry Equip Bonus; Amplifies the power of all Mimicked Abilities by 10%.


    Abilities;


    Retains all abilities of ''Base'' Weapon.


    Enhances all abilities of the ''Base'' Weapon by 50%.


    Amplifies infused energy by 1.5x.


    Energy de Mode.


    Unique:


    When shing repeatedly with a designated target weapon, the Vale de analyses the weapon''s construction and replicates it within itself using the essence of thew of Mimicry.


    The aforementioned Ability can only be used by someone who can wield the Law of Mimicry.


    Limited Appearance Modification.


    Restrictions;


    Due to Universalw restrictions, the Vale de can only replicate a maximum of 4 different weapons abilities.


    Remaining Slots: 3 |


    It normally had 2 base Slots, but the Doubler made that 4 and Evan was very grateful that it worked.


    ''Appearance modification, eh?''


    His lips curled up into a grin and he dug into his inventory, pulling up a set of clothes he had prepared beforehand and changed into them.


    Evan in these clothes was an imposing figure d in a ck, menacing suit of armour. He wore a helmet with a distinctive facete and integrated breathing apparatus and a dark cloak which billowed ominously.


    On his chest was a control panel-like box, featuring a series of lights and buttons.


    Holding his sword, he used appearance modification to transform it.


    The hilt morphed into a cylindrical shape, while the de was coated with ayer of destructive essence, giving it the appearance of a pure energy de.


    It emitted a humming sound, and behind the mask, Evan couldn''t help but smile.


    Before everyone''s eyes, he brought out a mirror from his inventory and looked himself over before speaking with a robot-esque voice.


    [Yep. I definitely look like Darth.]


    He then turned to Eliza and passed her a camera, telling her to take pictures as he posed with his LightSabe��correction, the Unforged Vale.


    ''When I get back to Earth V, I''m definitely posting all of this online.''


    After his cosy of a certain sci-fi movie franchise viin, rearranged his artifacts to optimize the Doubler''s effect.


    He then made his way to the Outer Sectors to check on the others exploring An Maddox''s archives.


    As Evan teleported out of the Core Sector, he pulled out a small bookbelled ''Otherworld Todo List'' from his inventory and checked off ''Getting a Lightsaber''.

 Chapter 748 Interlude 13- Echoes in the Void

    <h4>Chapter 748 Interlude 13- Echoes in the Void</h4>


    Hall of Stars


    The Interster Citadel


    Prime World Gozon


    January 1st


    Year 1054 of the 51st General Calendar


    The Annual Gozonian Interster Summit.


    It was an asion where Generals and Soldiers deserving of special merit from all of Gozon''s Battlefront Worlds across the Interster Stage gathered to report their yearly achievements to the''s Rulers.


    Outstanding Achievements were also?Specially?rewarded by the''s Rulers, with even things like Pseudo-Authorities being up for grabs.


    Merits and Awards were given depending on how good the achievements were and Generals were able to make many requests like asking for more troops, and resources or they could even gain the right to draw from theary defence budget.


    The event was a mix of strategy and then celebration, an important moment where the power dynamics of the Interster Empire''s Armies were recalibrated.


    Many things had changed since the Seven Deadly Sinsst saw Gozon. The ''Demon Lord'' rank, once defunct, was now reinstated, ranking above Peak Rank Demons but below the Demon King.


    However, this title was not awarded easily, as it was a ''Race Ruler'' title, just like that of the ''Demon King''. It was reserved for those who had surpassed Transcendence?and?had?also?joined the Universe''s Pantheon.


    Gozon''s power restructuring had initially stripped its ''Race Lords'' of authority. Now, with the reorganizationplete, these ''Race Lords'', or rather��Demon Lords were reinstated.


    They oversaw the conquered worlds of Gozon''s Interster Empire, taking orders directly from the Supreme Demon King.


    �� �� ��


    At the heart of the Interster Citadel��the Headquarters of Gozon''s Interster Administrationy a magnificent hall hosting the first stage of the Summit.


    Its high ceilings mirrored the night sky, with a vast, pirless space capable of holding thousands.


    Illusory star maps decorated the ceilings, showing Gozon at the centre with other ''nearby'' celestial bodies.


    Further along and nearing the circr hall''s other end sat the Demon Lords.


    Finally, at the opposite end of the doors was a collection of 72 Thrones haphazardly arranged on an inclined elevated tform.


    However, only one of these thrones on this multiyered dais, the one in the very centre was upied.


    The closer a person''s seat was to this dais, the higher their rank.


    Most seats nearby were taken, but seven at the forefront where the Greater Generals with Four Stars adorning their uniforms sat were conspicuously empty.


    Although they were spotless, no one had upied them for centuries.


    The doors opened and a ten-man group wearing the Demon Army uniform took dignified steps in, stopping in the Hall''s centre, where a long path led up to the Throne tform.


    Silent gazes enveloped them, as they all went down on one knee and spoke.


    "We greet the Rulers of Gozon."


    Even though there were over a hundred people gathered in this hall, it waspletely silent.


    A heavy voice finally cut through the quiet, originating from the woman at the Throne tform''s base.


    Adorned in the Demon Army uniform, her chest bore five stars denoting her high rank.


    She was the head of the Merits Department of the Interster Citadel.


    "Verdantia Prime Representative. Make your report."


    "Yes, Your Ladyship."


    The leader of the ten rose to his feet, the four stars on his uniform catching the light as he began his report.


    Upon finishing, his gaze lifted to the central throne on the dais.


    The man seated there radiated a presence that eclipsed even the collective auras of all the Peak Ranked Demons present.


    d in a simple double-breasted pinstriped suit, the man''s glowing red eyes surveyed the assembly with a detached air.


    A palpable silence settled as he locked eyes with the Verdantia Prime Representative, holding the gaze for a full, intense minute.


    [I want that subjugated within the next decade.]


    The Representative''s face flickered with emotion at the man''s orders, but he swiftly regained hisposure, bowing respectfully before departing with his group.


    The pattern continued with the following groups, however, each one met with the unyielding silence from the man on the throne.


    But when the representatives from a Prime World stepped forward, the man finally spoke again.


    [Cyroth IV, huh? You will be assigned 12 extra Peak Ranks topensate for the losses sustained.


    Have the Dark Elves of Cyroth II lead their armies to aid you. Agriker would handle the Dark Elf Lords.]


    "Thank you, Your Excellency."


    The Representatives bowed before leaving, and the next group entered right after.


    A simr scene of reporting yed out for the next hour.


    After thest group reported, discussions on rewards and merits began. Generals debated, with Demon Lords adding their input.


    Votes were cast and decisions were made as the discussions continued.


    Finally, the topic of discussion shifted to one everyone had unconsciously been avoiding.


    "What about the Sealed Dimensional Rift to Prime World Aidos?"


    "��"


    A very LOUD silence filled the room after that line was spoken.


    It was eventually broken by the Five Star General standing at the foot of the dais.


    "I received reports stating that more cracks had been opened for Lower Ranks to slip inside. What are the updates on that, Lesser General Gillet?"


    All eyes turned towards the man who had been called out��the one who sent the Demon Xakon Ilmoth and four others into Aidos��and he got to his feet before speaking.


    "The Scouts I sent earlier had brought back information which I sent to the Greater Generals for review."


    "That was reviewed. Is there anything of note we would need to take note of?


    It did not include information on?that world''s?''Seven Heroes'' and their current status. They-"


    [The Seven Heroes of Aidos are dead.]


    "?!"


    All parties who were talking amongst themselves went silent the moment the man atop the throne spoke.


    [I cursed those fools before they sealed the rift, and I don''t believe my curses are so weak that they''d still be alive after a millennium.]


    Surprised expressions crossed the faces of all those present, especially the Demons who had participated in the War on Aidos 1000 years ago.


    They didn''t even know that person had taken action at all!


    [If there are any Heroes, then it would be a new generation. Weaker, and not as experienced as those Seven.]


    The Merit Department head nodded in understanding, before turning back to Lesser General Felix Gillet and posing a question.


    "The report you sent stated that Aidos had Five Transcendents currently. Are you sure there was no mistake in that number?


    It wasn''t five hundred they told you but was mistaken as five?"


    When she spoke, murmurs erupted in the hall as many other Demons began voicing their opinions.


    "Indeed, I find It hard to believe a Prime World could only have five Transcendents."


    "That doesn''t even make sense."


    "Aidos was an Interster Hegemon on our level, even if they''ve weakened over the past few millennia, it cannot be?that?bad."


    "True. When we left that a millennium ago, I?personally?confirmed hundreds of Transcendents remained.


    Those tenacious annoyances wouldn''t have perished so easily."


    "Especially that Barbarian, Morass!


    The scar he gave me still stings! He''s likely surpassed Transcendence by now."


    As Transcendent beings from a Prime World, they found it hard to ept Prime World Aidos being so��''understaffed.''


    Make no mistake; Five Transcendents, each possessing power to devastate continents were nothing to scoff at.


    However, Aidos was a Prime World. Five was too small of a number for it!


    Yet, the truth stood: Aidos had only five Transcendents.


    This then begged the question:


    Where did all the Transcendents who survived the War 1000 years ago vanish to?


    One of the Demon Lords present had confirmed that there were ''hundreds'' alive at the end of the war.


    So how did ''hundreds'' be ''five'' after a millennium? It should also be noted that no one on Aidos had exuviated in the past millennium as well.


    ("Exuviation" is the shedding of one''s mortal shell at the end of Transcendence, marking the transition to the next Existence Level.)


    Unfortunately, these Demons certainly did not have the answer to that query, so they could only focus on things they knew.


    "Our ''contacts'' on that side have sent us information about a n to elerate our re-entry to Aidos.


    If it seeds, our Vanguard can arrive faster than our initial estimate.


    It is a n advocated by a member of the Agriker Family, and from what I hear, he intends on using the ''Wild Card Protocol''."


    Hearing Felix''s words, the Peak Ranked Demons all nodded in understanding.


    "Using the ''Wild Card Protocol'', I expect nothing less from a Prime World."


    "An Agriker you say? I wonder which of my descendants that is."


    "It could be one of your siblings'' children or grandchildren."


    "Whichever one it is, he has made it clear that Aidos is not to be taken lightly by using the ''Wild Card Protocol''."


    "Indeed, he has."


    The Demons discussed for a few minutes before one of the Peak Ranked Demons stood up and made an offer to the man on the Throne.


    "Your Excellency."


    [Ilmoth? Speak.]


    "Thank you.


    I would like to lead the Vanguard to Aidos in this n by the Agriker on that end."


    Surprised gasps rang out across the Hall. Many were surprised that a distinguished Family Head wanted to lead the attack.


    This was the kind of thinglower rankedDemons seeking to gather Merits usually did, so the Noble Demon Family Heads refrained from taking away these opportunities from them.


    It wasn''t a rule, per se, but an unspoken agreement.


    Felix, on the other hand, knew fully well why this Peak Rank Demon wanted to go.


    ''Xakon Ilmoth��the one who died was a descendant of his. He most likely feels it''s a stain on his record that a member of his family died on a mere scouting mission and wants to clear it up.


    Hmph��obnoxious ball of pride.''


    Felix snorted and looked away, silently hoping his request would be denied. Sadly, his wish was not fulfilled.


    [Very well. You may go when it is time.


    Gillet, brief him after this Summit ispleted.]


    "Yes, Your Excellency."


    The discussion proceeded with Felix mentioning information from an Aidosian traitor, revealing that spies among the Transcendents'' servants learned that divine intervention from Aidos'' gods was unlikely in another war, as it was believed these gods had abandoned the world.


    "To be specific, it is the Chief goddess Artemisia who is said to haveforsak-"


    [Hahahahahaha!!!!]


    "?!"


    All the demons shifted their gazes to the man on the throne, surprised by his sudden outburst ofughter.


    [Foolish Lizard.


    And here I thought she''d be half as smart as Gorm was. Does shereallystill think Artemisia did nothing in that War?


    Do not believe whatever nonsense you hear. If ites down to it, Artemisia would personally descend into that world without regard for the consequences.]


    His words seemed to imply that Aidos was very valuable to Artemisia, something that was the exact opposite of what everyone on the Interster Stage believed��that Artemisia regarded Aidos with the same level of importance she ced on other Prime Worlds she controlled.


    Nevertheless, the man didn''t bother to correct their misconceptions, as it was better for him that way


    The topic of Discussion moved on from Aidos to other worlds, and then a few hourster, the official part of the Summit wasplete.


    All the Representatives were called in at once for the Award/


    Merit Ceremony and afterwards, a party was to be held to celebrate those who had gained new honours.


    The Hall of Stars was emptied, save for the lone figure seated atop the Centre Throne. He remained there with his eyes closed for hours, eventually opening them as his pupils darted to his right.


    [Did she give you a message for me, Gozon?]


    At first, he seemed to talk to empty air, but then the figure of a ''woman'' materialized beside him.


    ''She'' was ethereal, with iridescent eyes and long ck hair that shifted to grey halfway down��the kind people up there in age usually had.


    ''She'' wore a shimmering gown of midnight blue and silver, with a delicate silver pendant around ''her'' neck, adding to ''her'' mysterious aura.


    From the way he addressed ''her'', it was easy to discern ''her'' identity.


    ''She'' was the Incarnation of the Prime World Gozon!


    [All she said was that when the time came for the Fallen Celestials to make their move, she would take action.


    You are to send the Ilmoth boy any time after that.]


    [So, her 10,000-year wait is finally over, huh?]


    The man muttered to himself after hearing ''her'' response, before looking up at the Star Map on the ceiling and continuing.


    [Come to think of it, it was around that time Father and Mother met��]


    After saying those words, ''Demon King'' Ginaroad Sargon silently vanished from the hall, along with Gozon''s Incarnation.


    �� �� ��


    While a certain Hero was preparing for his trip to his predecessor''s house and the Gozonians were having their Summit, there was a certain being floating adrift in an unworldly ce, just like a block of stone.


    In the darkness of the void of space, within the peace of nothingness, she floated, unaffected by the gravity of the Supergiant Stars nearby or the Exs she passed by.


    Just like a speck of dust. Just like a scrap of dirt.


    Just how long had she been this way?


    Years? Decades? Centuries? No one knew.


    Suddenly, she opened her eyes.


    "...Fumun?"


    With a light cough, she stretched her body which had been curled up. She raised a small groan since her bones and flesh had not been working for a long time.


    |It seems the group I sent to retrieve that ''fragment'' failed, huh? Who would have expected Vincent of all people to be on that remote? |


    She yawned and stretched once more, before pushing away the strands of long white hair that floated in front of her face.


    Her hazel eyes glowed and the energy of thew of time stirred, bending to her will and feeding her information.


    |It''s January on Aidos��That means there are 10 months left.


    The Nexus Event is fast approaching. I''ll see you then��Evan.|


    After muttering that line to herself, her eyes slowly fluttered shut and she returned to her deep slumber amidst the silence of the void.

 Chapter 749 Volume 4 Teaser: Echoes of the Void

    <h4>Chapter 749 Volume 4 Teaser: Echoes of the Void</h4>


    |?Tier 8 Spatiotemporal Magic! ?|


    The Faux True Voice of the Celestial Deity echoed throughout the area, resounding in the ears of all present.


    Since the moment Evan saw the Tier 7 magic wielded by EOTD, he had always been curious about Higher Tiers of Magic. Now, beholding Tier 8 Magic for the first time, he wondered.


    ''Is this the Height of Magic?''


    Unfortunately, he did not have the chance to admire the intricacies and magnificence of the 8-ringed spell circle, after all, the target of that Tier 8 Spell was none other than Evan himself.


    For the Lower Existence Evan, merely being targeted by a Tier 8 Spatiotemporal spell constricted the very fabric of spacetime around him,pletely sealing his movements.


    This was merely a by-product of the spell targeting him, not even its primary effect.


    |?HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!?|


    The Fallen Celestial Deityughed manically as his power surged, his level increasing every second as he rapidly approached the peak of Transcendence.


    Waves of celestial energy emanated from him, sending shockwaves that hurled Evan''spanions backwards, inflicting grievous injuries upon them.


    Divinity flowed through his energy circuits, seeping out of his body and into the Tier 8 circle hovering behind him as a hidden puppeteer pulled his strings unbeknownst to all.


    The golden chains of causality stretched out from the void and restrained the limbs of the goddess Artemisia, constraining her movements. Despite her visible efforts to escape, the chains tightened inexorably with each struggle.


    Her face twisted into a scowl as she directed a fierce re towards the Celestial Deity emanating a bright light from his being, so intense it banished all shadows, rendering Kuro''s abilities nearly powerless.


    The intense light was apanied by scorching heat that melted Milena''s ice and caused her water to evaporate instantly.


    The Demon of Greed was down on one knee, blood marring the left side of his face, and his left arm''s bones shattered to pieces.


    Roselia wasn''t too far from him, simrly wounded with a gaping hole where her shoulder de should be, and vivid red blood flowing freely.


    Blood dripped from the corners of Laurene''s eyes and her vision blurred. Unfortunately, she was facing the Celestial Deity when the Tier 8 spell manifested behind him and her Mystic Eyes automatically began analysing it as they did with his other spells.


    However, the current Laurene was far too weak to analyse a spell for Higher Existences, even with her Mystic Eyes of Truth, as such the potent magic and celestial energy struck her with a fierce bacsh.


    David found himself in an equally dire, if not graver, predicament, his eye shed by the spear wielded by the ''Battle Celestial''.


    Ka''s golden lightning fizzled out into oblivion and thest embers of Amy''s mes burned out as both spirits were forced to their knees by the oppressive pressure of the Transcendent Celestial energy.


    Behind them all was a blonde, sapphire-eyed girl radiating waves of ether that enveloped everyone in a soft green glow.


    A trickle of blood ran from her nose, down her lips, and into the pool of crimson liquid beneath her feet as she strained to heal them simultaneously.


    Shards of green light floated through the air; the remnants of her Life Energy Draining Prison that had been shattered mercilessly.


    "��"


    Ka gritted her teeth in indignation, before unleashing her ''True Spirit Raiment'', manifesting a Half Crown adorned with Ornate jewels appeared above her head.


    Seizing the opportunity while the Celestials were distracted by Ka''s sudden power surge, Roselia swiftly retrieved a white key and thrust it into the?empty?space before her, giving it a turn.


    In a brilliant sh of light, a book materialized in her hands.


    The book emitted a pristine white light and radiated an aura of ''holiness'',bined with an immense amount of Demonic Energy that sent shivers down the spines of all the Celestials.


    This familiar energy diverted their attention from Ka to Roselia, each reacting with the same surprised exmation.


    """The?Book of Lumi��re?!"""


    "How is that thing here?!"


    "You''re still a menace even after Death, Alvey Sargon!!"


    The Celestial Deities'' soldiers lunged at Roselia in ce of their masters. The Celestials knew the real owner of the Grimoire Roselia wielded and they didn''t want her to do anything with it.


    However, the sheer amount of Demonic Energy stored in it was enough to blow them all away in a single burst of power.


    One of the Fallen Celestials wielded a Sword of Frost and swung it at her, but Amy intervened with her ck mes, blocking the strike and buying Roselia the time she needed.


    Harnessing her energy andbining it with the power of the Book of Lumi��re, Roselia activated a spell with the Authority bestowed upon her by Alvey. The grimoire''s pages fluttered and its text glowed, as Demonic Energy gathered before her.


    A single nce at Ka was enough for both of them to understand each other''s intentions.


    The two pooled their energies,unching their most powerfulbination attack at the Celestial Deity on the brink of Exuviation.


    Naturally, he wasn''t about to stand idly by.


    He tapped into his celestial energy reserves, harnessing thew of Fate''s power to retaliate.


    The two attacks collided midway, releasing power surges that ripped apart the fabric of spacetime, forming a vtile rift that consumed and neutralized their energies entirely.


    This brief moment this took to happen was just enough for the unlikely Spirit-Demon duo to gather power, with Roselia even using a Celestial soul as fuel tounch another attack and the Celestial Deity was a second toote to retaliate.


    He redirected his energy into defence, but Roselia exploited her idiosyncrasy and created a hole in the defensive barrier, allowing the enormous arrow of Demonic Light, Space, and Lightningw energies to hit him squarely.


    The impact threw him off the centre of the Ritual Spell circle, severing the power that had been flowing into him.


    He crashed onto the ground, blood spilling from his torso where the arrow had pierced him, bypassing his Transcendent Durability like it wasn''t even there.


    Lying wounded and defenceless on the ground, the Celestial Deity was now open to another attack, presenting the perfect opportunity to defeat him.


    However, Roselia and Ka were never aiming for that in the first ce.


    They just wanted to get him out of the way so they could get to Evan. Unfortunately, their decision proved to do more harm than good.


    With its caster temporarily incapacitated, the Spatiotemporal Magic Circle sucked in lingering energy residues from the surroundings and automictically activated.


    It drew in Artemisia''s Divinity, Ka''s lightning, the ''Light-


    Space'' energy from the Book of Lumi��re, the destructive essence radiating from Evan, the remaining frost energy in the vicinity, and even sometent divinity within the Magic Circle itself.


    These energies were sucked into the circle in the instant it activated.


    As if puncturing a hole through the fabric of space-time, a portal tore open right in behind Evan.


    It gleamed with vibrant, swirling colours, resembling an otherworldly kaleidoscope suspended in the cosmos. Its edges crackled with raw energy, offering fleeting glimpses of an expansive starry void beyond.


    Radiating waves of vibrant energies, the portal warped the air around it, causing it to shimmer and distort.


    The concentrated ambient universalw and cosmic energies from the void of space which were usually filtered by the''s atmosphere, surged through. This powerful influx forcefully dispersed everyone''s energies and hurled them back nearly a hundred meters in an instant with a st of power.


    From within the portal, the cerulean blue chains of time lunged forward and ensnared Evan in an instant, pulling him into it as the portal closed up barely a secondter, returning the''s Space-time fabric to normal.


    "?!!"


    In that moment, Roselia, Nadarus, Ka, Kuro, Milena, and Eliza simultaneously felt a piercing pain in their chests, as if something had been forcibly ripped out from them.


    That momentary pain was followed by an unsettling sensation of ''hollowness'', like there was something ''missing''.


    Laurene and David''s Hero Resonance Power boost suddenly reduced by 1/3.


    Roselia''s expression contorted into a frown while Ka''s turned into one of deep distress.


    "��n-no��"


    That word barely escaped Eliza''s lips as her knees gave way beneath her. The girl was ovee by an indescribable feeling of despair��as if the World''s end was at hand.


    That description wasn''t an exaggeration; it felt as if her entire world was crumbling at that very moment.


    No one needed to tell them what had happened.


    All six of them felt it instinctively��the fact that their contracts with Evan had been abruptly severed.


    This unteral severance of their contracts could only signify one grim reality:


    Evan��wasgone.


    .


    .


    .


    .


    .


    Reincarnated Hero System Volume 4:False gods and Rifts in Space!Begins NOW!!!

 Chapter 750 Unexpected Meeting.

    Chapter 750 Unexpected Meeting.


    ??State College Lecture Hall D


    Dust City


    Earth V


    November 30th


    AD 3103


    "You have till Monday morning toplete that project. Youare dismissed."


    As soon as the Lecturer exited the hall, the students began chatting excitedlyamongst themselves.


    In one corner of the ss that had drawn the gazes of most of the guys, a quartet of youngdies packed up their bags while making small talk with each other.


    "Gaby!!!"


    That scream pulled everyone''s attention towards the door, but bythenthe screamer had already run up to the quartet of girls and hugged the one in the centre.


    "Let''s go get lunch! I''m starving!"


    "Wewould,if you''d lower your voice."


    The person whohad been abruptly huggedreplied with a sigh as she peeled the other girl off her body with one hand.


    "And there''s Gaby with that absurd arm strength again��"


    One of her friends remarked with a light chuckle, watching her hold an adult woman up with one hand like she was as light as a feather.


    They chattedlightlyas they got to their feet and left the Hall, and almost as if they agreed on it beforehand, ''Gaby'' ended up in the middle of their group of five.


    All five of them had beauties that made heads turn, but even the other four admitted that ''Gaby'' was in a league of her own.


    Her facewas a blend ofelegance and charm, with lustrous blue-ck glossy hair and deep eyes bearing a matching hue. Her figure was voluptuous, entuating her graceful allure.


    It was no surprise that she�� Gabrielle Nathalie Larson,was the one who hadbeen unanimously grantedthe title of ''Campus Belle''.


    "Oh, guys. Did you know? Another freshman asked Gaby out yesterday!"


    "Again? How many does that make it this month? 7? 8?"


    Hearing the topic of conversation that had sprung up amongst her friends while she was looking through her phone, Gabrielle scowled and red at the person who brought up thetopic.


    "This is your fault, you know? You''re the one who started that strange rumour that I liked ''younger guys''."


    "But you did date that youngerchildhood friendof yours in high school��"


    "Just because I dated one doesn''t mean I like them all!"


    She was almost shouting when she spoke, and it was clear to her friends that she hadbeen stressedby the unnecessary attention that rumour had garnered.


    Seeing how her expression turned dark afterwards, the one who was responsible for the situation fell silent while internally wishing she could go back in time and beat up her past selfwhodrunk too much at a party.


    However, the reason for Gabrielle''s frown was totally unrted to the rumour she had started as a drunken mistake.


    ''They clearly remember that there was someone I was with. They''ve even methimon numerous asions throughout middle school.


    But why can''t they remember who he is?! It''s strange!


    It''s like the whole world has forgotten his existence! Even his mum was confused when I asked her about him��about her son!''


    The girl heaved a sighandseeing this, her friends'' gazes turned towards the culprit, silently pressuring her to apologize.


    "Gaby��"


    "?"


    Gabrielle was snapped out of her thoughts and looked down to see the other girl bowing her head in apology.


    "I''m sorry for starting that weird rumour. I''d do anything to make it up��I''d also help clear the rumour upsoplease don''t be angry."


    "��"


    It only took Gabrielle a second to realise her friends had mistaken the reason for her anger. She didn''t bother correcting themthough.


    "Anything, huh? Then you''re buying me lunch for the semester."


    "Oka-HUH?!"


    By the time the other girl realisedexactlywhat she had almost agreed to, Gabrielle had alreadygone offand crossed the road, so she had to chase after the blue-eyed girl.


    "Gaby, that''d bankrupt me!"


    "You''re always broke anywaysoit wouldn''t make much of a difference."


    Another one chipped inanda loud ''OOF!'' rang out from a trio of passing boys. Gabrielle chuckled at their reactions while looking to the side foranynearby family restaurants.


    She then spotted a familiar-looking car outside a nearby building, stoppingfor a momentto check it out a second time.


    "What''s up?"


    "No��it''s just that car.Remindsme of the one that a close family friend has. I haven''t seen it in fouryearsso I''mnot sureif it''s even the same one."


    Hearing Gabrielle''s reply, one of her friends posed a question.


    "You haven''t seen them since yougot backfrom outside the Country?"


    ''Outside the Country? More like Outside the as a whole.''


    Gabrielle kept that little thought to herself as she nodded inaffirmation,before spotting the shrugging and walking towards the door.


    "You wanna check if it''s them?"


    "Nahh. Even if it''s a ''Small World'', it''s notthatsmall."


    She wasn''t expecting to seethat person''sfather heresoshe just entered and immediately spotted a poster showing her favourite smoothies were on sale.


    "Sweet!"


    As she rushed in towards where the smoothies were, her friends trailed after, filled with nostalgia at the familiar sight they hadn''t seen since Gabrielle left for her "mother''s home country" four years ago.


    Just before Gabrielle reached the smoothie stand, her ears caught averyfamiliar voiceing from a nearby table.


    "His entertainment, maybe? That guy is very unpredictable. It''s hard to guess the reason behind his actions most times."


    She stopped and turned in the direction of the voice, raising her brow in surprise as she saw the person she wasjustthinking she wouldn''t meet.


    "Uncle Vincent?"


    "Hmm? Oh, hey there."


    The man casually replied to herandshe separated from her friends and headed towards his table.On the way, she inadvertently nced at the boy sitting opposite Vincentandher eyes widened in shock.


    "Evan?!"


    It was the familiar ck-haired and grey-eyed boy she wasjustquestioning why everyone couldn''t remember.


    However, not even a second after she half-screamed that name, her head cooledandher wholebeing rejectedthe notion. She quickly realised that this person only bore simrities tohimbutit wasn''thim.


    "��you look like himbutyou''re NOT Evan."


    The boy on the table calmly gazed up at herfor a momentbefore replying to her statement.


    "Well, I AM ''Evan''. But I''m guessing I''m not the ''Evan'' you know."


    He gave that strange reply before turning towards Vincent and asking.


    "Also, Mr Vincent. Didn''t you say thatall Records of ''His'' existence had been hiddensoeveryone on this should have forgotten him?"


    His question drew Gabrielle''s attentionandshe ignored the boy, mming her hands on the table as she leaned forward and barraged Vincent with questions.


    "Uncle Vincent, you remember Evan?!


    Why did everyone forget?! Where is he!? What''s all this about Hidden Records?! I spoke to Aunt Kristi-"


    "Hold on there, youngdy. Your friends are worried."


    "Ah...!"


    It was then she remembered she had entered with four others. She turned towards them and rushed up to where they were to exin things andcatethem before returning to where Vincent was and joining them at the table.


    At that moment, the boy repeated his question to Vincentwhowas focused on his snack andrepeated his earlier question.


    "Again, I ask. Mr Vincent, didn''t you say that the goddess Artemisia hid the Records of ''His'' existence on this and made everyoneon itforget him?"


    "Indeed. Everyone ''ON'' the forgothim."


    Vincent turned towards Gabrielle, looking her right in the eyes as he continued.


    "But what if someone who knewhim,wasn''t on theat the timeshe did that?"


    Thismade Gabrielle unable to contain her curiosity anymoreandshe began firing her questions at them whiletaking care to keepher voice as calm as possible.


    "What''s all this talk about Evan''s recordsbeing hidden?"


    "And who the hell are you? Why do you look simr to Evan?"


    The boy casually put down his serviettes, not bothered by her scrutinizing gaze as he replied.


    "Because I am ''Evan''. But like I statedearlier;I''m probably NOT the ''Evan''you know. Besides, don''t exaggerate it, oursimrities are only around 40-50% at best."


    After his reply, Vincent put down his snack and drew their attention towards him with a lightp,beforeproceeding to introducethem to each other.


    Vincent turned to Gabrielle while gesturing towards the boy named ''Evan'' as hebegan speaking.


    "He is NOT ''Evankhell''. His name isEvansenBet, formerly ''Evansen Del Eris'' from the Aidos."


    After saying that, he turned towards Evansen while gesturing at Gabrielle as he continued.


    "She''s the daughter of an old acquaintance of mine. Her name isGabrielle Larson.


    My son''s�� Evankhell''s��Ex-girlfriend."


    Hearing Vincent''s introduction, Evansen was mildly surprised. He turned towards Gabrielle once more before nodding to himself as he muttered.


    "Seems like Evankhell has wonderful taste��"


    Vincent chuckled lightly upon hearing hiswords,before making a suggestion.


    "To prevent mix-ups, let''sjustaddress both ''Evans''by their full names. We shouldn''t get confused about who we''re talking about here."


    The man ordered another round of drinks for the three of them,after which helooked at Gabrielle and spoke.


    "Just soyou know, Evansen doesn''t know Evankhell personally. They''ve never met."


    "Yep. I''ve never met the guy even oncebutapparently, he''s inmy cenow. I''d love to meetthough."


    Evansen shruggedlightlyas he spoke, and since his gaze was on the menu while he did this, he missed the dark expression that crossed Vincent''s facein that instant.


    "Haha! For your sake, Evansen, it''d be bestif you twonever meet."


    Gabrielle narrowed her eyes as she sensed hidden meanings behind Vincent''s wordsbutthe mansimplyremained silent and didn''t borate further no matter how much she questioned him.


    When she asked Evansen why he wasn''t curious, the boy sighed and revealed it wasn''t the first time he had shown a desire to meet Evankhendit wasn''t the first time Vincent had dissuaded him from ever doing so if he had the chance.


    Seeing them talk, Vincent''s eyes shed with a faint blue light as he peered into Evansen and shook his head with a sigh.


    ''To think it was him��''


    "Uncle Vincent. Can you exin what you meant earlier? Why is no one remembering Evankhell? Even Aunt Kristine forgot about him."


    Gabrielle''s interest in why Vincent didn''t want the two Evans meeting fizzled outin an instantandhermaininquiry resurfaced.


    An importantissue had prompted her to leave the for four yearsandin the three months that had passed since her return, this had been herbiggestissue.


    However, she had no clues on how togo about solvingthis mysterysoshe had no choice but to let the matter be.


    But reuniting with Vincent and seeing that the man clearly had answers to her questions, she couldn''t hold herself back anymore.


    One look in her eyes was all Vincent needed to know that Gabriellewasn''tgonnago home without the answers she wanted.


    "Where should I start?"


    "Obviouslyfrom the beginning."


    Gabrielle''s quick reply made Vincent smilewrylyas he started speaking.


    "Okay. So ''In the beginning was the Word-"


    "Not that far into the beginning!"


    The girl felt like smacking Vincent in the back of the head, but she reminded herself that he''d probably dodge her hand andjustbarely held back from actually doing it.


    "I''m just joking��"


    Vincent chuckled before taking a sip of his drink to wet his mouth. Then he started talking��for real.


    "Let''s go down Memoryne to August three years ago��"


    And so, Vincent narrated everything to Gabrielle.


    From the part where Evankhell had been summoned to Aidos by Artemisia and how he had reced Evansen in that World.


    He exined that something had happened to Evansen thereandthe boy had met his end, with Artemisia intervening at thest moment before the Law of Death considered his body to be ''Dead''.


    She had put Evankhell''s soul into his body and had him assume Evansen''s identity in Aidos��the son of Duke Roger Del Eris, the GWE''s Prime Minister.


    When Vincent told Gabrielle that people forgetting about Evankhell was due to the maniption of the''s Records by goddess Artemisia, it went without saying thatthe girl was pissed.


    Couldn''tme her, though, considering the goddess had made the world forget about her friend of 15 years.


    The logical side of her brain understood that was the best decision to prevent causing a fuss, but the emotional side didn''t quite like it.


    She was greatly displeased by the fact that Artemisia had summoned Evankhell over to another world where the ''Supernatural'' was ''Normal''��the same ''Supernatural'' she had hoped he''d never discover.

 Chapter 751 Her Reason

    Chapter 751 Her Reason


    ??Vincent also exined to Gabrielle how a ''certain being'' had interfered with the past and saved Evansen''s soul after his untimelydeath,before reincarnating him into Earth V as the son of the Bets whose child had been stillborn.


    The boy had livedhis lifeon Earth V for the next 13years,before eventually encountering Vincent when the man had been visiting his high school onpany business.


    Despite the circumstances of their meeting that had Evansen scared shitless at first, the two had be quite close in the past three years. Evansen was also pretty close with Vincent''s wife, Kirstine, whoasluck would have it, was his mother''s boss.


    During that time, Vincent had used some means that Evansen categorized as ''Strange Higher Existence Powers'' to manipte information universalws and deduce how Evansen had ended up on Earth V.


    All this talk took quite a whileandthe friends she came with had leftby the timeVincentwas donenarrating it all.


    "��"


    Gabrielle was silent for five whole minutes, digesting the sudden influx of information with a nk expressionon her face.


    She had been worried that something much worse had happened to Evankhell��scared that he may have died even.


    However, while she was thankful it wasn''t any of these worst-case scenarios, she stilldidn''t like the situation one bit.


    Unfortunately, she was neither a HigherExistence,nordid she knowwhere in the Gxy Aidos was,soshe couldn''t go get him back herself.


    ''And the one person whoCANandSHOULD,is sitting back doing nothing!''


    She turned her resentful gaze towards Vincentandthe man sensed it, looking back at her and instantly discerning her thoughts.


    "You''re probably wondering why I didn''t go after Evankhell, considering he''s my son,aren''t you?"


    The man shook his head as he stirred his drink with his straw before continuing.


    "Unfortunately, as Evankhell hase into contact with the ''Supernatural'', me appearing before him would do more harm than good.


    At least until he goes through that ''NexusEvent'' EOTD told me about��"


    "Nexus Event?"


    "Don''t worry about that. It''s not something you''d understand even if i told you. Too many Temporal Paradoxes."


    Vincent casually waved her off, but both Evansen and Gabrielle knew that hewasn''t going tosay anythingnomatter how much they pressed him for answers.


    ''I don''t know the conditions for that ''Vision Seal''so I need to be carefulin caseI happen to be one of said conditions��''


    The man kept those thoughts to himself as he finished his fourth drink andwas finallyhitwith the urgeto head to the bathroom.


    He excused himself, leaving Gabrielle and Evansen at the table.


    There would have been a pretty awkward atmosphere between them, ifit wasn''tfor the fact that both of them were the kind to ignore such things.


    Evansen, who had pulled out a portable console during Vincent''s talk, held itoutto Gabrielle and asked.


    "You y ''Hunter Monster''?"


    "Do you really think inverting the name would escape the copyright?"


    "It''s worth a try."


    The boy shrugged as he repliedandGabrielle shook her head with a sigh before pointing at the screen and speaking.


    "Change your main weapon. Monsters in that area you''re in are immune to lightning damage."


    "Wait, for real?!"


    "Yeah, and get boots that increase your agility. You''d need to be fast on your feet."


    "Isn''t my current agility stat enough?"


    "Not even halfway there."


    Thanks to acertainperson who loved games so much, Gabrielle had yeda whole lotof themsoshewasquiteexperiencedin the subject.


    As such, when Vincent returned with another tray of food,hewas metwith the sight ofGabrielle teaching Evansen how to y Hunter Monster.


    ''I was worried they wouldn''t get along, but it seems my worries were for nought.''


    Gabrielle had even taken the console from Evansen and was showing him how to defeat the boss the boy had been struggling with.


    "Here��youneed torun behind these rocks to hide during this phase. It''s invulnerable."


    "Ohh��shields would not work?"


    "Nope. It ignores those."


    "Oof��"


    In the middle oftheir game conversation, Gabrielle suddenly sprung a question on Evansen.


    "So,Uncle Vincent said you had died on Aidos, right?"


    "Huh? Oh, yeah.


    All I remember is I had the worst migraine ever.Likesomeone stabbed a bunch of needles into my headandthen my vision went nksoI don''t know what truly happened.


    Mr Vincent said it was a mental/spiritual attack meant to destabilize my soul so someone could take over my body."


    Evansen spoke of his past life''s death like it wasn''t something serious, having gotten over it during the 15 years he''d spent on Earth V.


    "I was wondering��who was trying to take over your body in the first ce? And wouldn''t that person still try to take it from Evankhell?"


    The boy wasn''t surprised when it turned out her question was rted to Evankhell''s well-being. Anyway, he didn''t deny that he was curious as to exactly whowas itthattried to take over his body.


    Evansen had asked Vincent thisbuteven the man had drawn as nk. He said he''d have to go to Aidos in person to find that out, and the man was pretty adamant about not going anywhere near a goddess'' territory.


    Not because he wasscared,but because the gods were a hassleto deal with.


    "��use this weapon skindyou''ll win."


    "Gee, thanks."


    Evansen collected his console back andwent off to challengethe boss on his own, marvelling at how easily Gabrielle had done it.


    "This is harder than you made it look. How did you get so good?"


    "Evankhell taught me."


    Her reply had Evansen nodding in affirmation as he had heard from Vincent that Evankhell loved games a lot.


    ''It makes sense he''d drag his girlfriend into it. Speaking of which��''


    "I''m curious. Why did you guys break up?"


    "��"


    Evansen casually stepped on thatndmine without even taking his eyes off the console in his hands. That question caught Vincent''s attentiontooashe also wanted to know why.


    In his own words, Vincent ''unfortunately'' happened to know Gabrielle''s fatherandthey were neighbours for a while.


    Gabrielle was born about 11 months before Evankhendthey''d been close with each other since they were babies.


    "Sometimes, when Evankhell used to cry as a kid, we''d bring him to herandshe was always able to get him to stop.


    The same was the oppositetoo."


    The two were like two peas in a pod, closer than twins. Assuchwhen they started dating, no one was surprised about that.


    It was even more of a shock to people who knew them that they weren''t dating before that.


    But then the unexpected happened.


    "They broke up four years ago.


    Evankhell never told me the reason why. All he did was stay in his room after school and y that ''Aidos Online'' game he was so fascinated with."


    Evansen nearly dropped his console into his food when he heard that Evankhell had yed that game. ording to Vincent, there were gods behind said game and knowing that his namesake had yed it, it wasn''t too hard to figure out where Artemisia had found him.


    Vincent continued speaking without bothering about Evansen''s little near-food disaster,his gaze onthe silent Gabrielle.


    "I also did not get tofind outwhy that happened from you as your father moved outandyou left the barely a monthafter.


    The official reason was that you had gone to your mother''s home country, butst Ichecked;your mother''s ''home country'' isn''t on this.


    So just as you had questions for me, I have mine for you."


    The man held up two fingers, folding one down for each question.


    "Why did you and Evankhell''s rtionship end?


    And where were you these past four years?"


    Gabrielle knew whatVincent''s reaction would beif he found out where she went, but if she tried to lie to him, he would find out either wayandthe fallout she was scared of would still happen.


    As such, she just sighed and told the truth.


    "I went somewhere where I had a minimum 90% chance of death."


    "90%? Did you go to the ''Abyss Labyrinth'' or something?"


    Vincentughed as he spoke, telling himself there was no way Gabrielle would go to such a ce with a Danger level second only to the Universe''s ''Dead Zone''.


    "��"


    However, when he noticed Gabrielle went silent, hisughter stopped.


    "��why aren''t you denying my statement?"


    "��"


    The girl silently turned her gaze awayandseeing that action, Vincent''s eyes widened in shock.


    "Your parents let you go there alone?!"


    "My mother doesn''t know."


    "But your father does."


    "��"


    "Of course, he does. You wouldn''t even know that ce existed if it wasn''t for him. And he let a sixteen-year-old child go into a ce even battle-hardened gods would fear to go?


    I need to talk with that fool."


    Vincent''s magic power burst out from his body, releasing an invisible pressure that made everyone nearby run short of breath as he got up from his seat.


    Seeing the genuine anger in his eyes, Gabrielle knew that if Vincent saw her father now, the man might actually make her mother a widow.


    "Uncle Vincent, hold on!! I was the one who wanted to go!"


    "And it''s your father''s job as a parent to stop you from making such suicidal decisions!"


    "He-"


    "Don''t try lying and say he tried to. I''ve known that man for centuries. He wouldn''t."


    Gabrielle''s attempt to diffuse the situation failed before she could even execute it. She was the only one capable of maintaining a clear head under the pressure of Vincent''s magic power, as such, it was up to her to calm the angry man.


    Sure, she did feel like her father was annoying sometimes, but she didn''t want him deadsoshe had NO CHOICE but to hold Vincent down.


    Fortunately for a certain Exorcist on the other end of the, she seeded.


    He was still pissed, but it wasn''t to the level where he wanted to beat someone to death anymore.


    Gabrielle quickly exined her reasoningin hopesthat Vincentwhoknew of hersituationwould understand her decision.


    "My ''other half'',was on the verge of devouring my ''human half''so I had to find a way to strengthen my human half to the level wherethey''d be bnced��that''s why I went there."


    Evansen, who had just barely caught his breath, raised a brow in question when he heard her wordswhichimplied that she was only half-human, but he remained silent and let her finish.


    "I ended my rtionship with Evankhell before I left because I��


    wanted to reduce his burden."


    "?"


    "It''s hard to exin, and it might seem selfish. But if I died, and Evankhell eventually found that out, I couldn''t bear the thought of him enduring the pain of losing a ''Lover''.


    If the person who died was an old friend and an Ex who''d randomly ended their rtionship and he hadn''t spoken with in years��surely the pain he''d feel would be much lesser."


    "��


    I don''t know Evankhell, but I do know you two were close for 15 yearsof your lives. Even if you didthatso he''d hate you or something, I believe he would still be deeply affected if he learned of your passing...emotionally, that is."


    Gabrielle had done what shedidmotivated by a desire to spare Evankhell the anguish of losing a lover.She knew her actions couldbe perceivedas selfish, but she still justified itas a means of easingEvankhell''s potential grief.


    However, Evansen challenged the effectiveness of her approach with his reply, suggesting that her rtionship with Evankhell was fardeeperthan the short time they spent dating, and that would inevitably lead to profound emotional pain regardless of the circumstances.


    "Besides, just how bad was the ce you went?"


    Thiswas something Evansen was Ultra-Curious about.


    Vincent''s earlier outburst was the first time he hadeverseen the man genuinely angry in the3years he''d known him.


    Thismeant the ce Gabrielle went to was justTHATdangerous.


    Hearingthe replies Gabrielle gavein response to his question, hepletely understood the reason for Vincent''s anger.


    "Well, Iwas runningaround like an ant for the first6months. Then a monster ate my left armsoI lost that for a bit.


    Spentanother6months looking for a way to get it back, and I seeded.


    Then I nearly died about7times since I had to get used to having a left arm again."


    Vincent was dumbfounded when he heard that she had spent6months without her arm.


    ''Gabrielle can regenerate, so the fact that she didn''t regenerate her arm meant that monster didn''t eat just her ''arm''. It ate a portion of her Soul!''

 Chapter 752 Mirror Dimension [Monthly Bonus 1]

    <h4>Chapter 752 Mirror Dimension [Monthly Bonus 1]</h4>


    "I got shot in the head by Ice Elves, nearly got crushed underneath a giant''s foot, got strangled by a snake, had a wyvern try to eat me for breakfast��


    Oh, there was even the time when I met a Chimera and had my body split in two, but I survived thanks to my other half."


    When she?was done?speaking, Evansen looked at her?in silence?before responding.


    "Girl, what the fuck?


    I don''t know which to be more scared?of;?the fact that you?were split?in two or the fact that you somehow survived it?


    And what the hell is your ''other half'' that somehow prevents you from dying from bifurcation?!"


    "That''s not so-"


    "Ever heard of the ''ck Goat of the Woods''?"


    Vincent casually cut Gabrielle off and posed a question to Evansen, which the boy answered with a nod.


    "The one ''With a Thousand Young'', right?"


    "Yes. That one."


    He gave Evansen a thumbs?up,?before pointing towards Gabrielle?who?was ring?at him and continued.


    "Her mother is one of those ''Thousand Young''."


    "��"


    Evansen looked at her in silence for a moment.


    "You mum is the spawn of Shub-Niggurath? Makes sense why you can survive bifurcation."


    He seemed to rationalize it in his head?but?his attitude made Gabrielle feel like he?was regarding her as?some?sort of?monster.


    Couldn''t?me him. As far as he knew, people were supposed to go mad at the sight of such ''Creatures''?and?yet, her father had a kid with one of them.


    "How did he not lose his mind?"


    "I don''t know.?He?told me that while all the others who encountered?her?had gone mad,?he?was still sane enough to be scared?and?that?intrigued?her.


    She was curious why one measly human had not gone crazy at the sight of?her?so she took on a human form and came to this to?find out?more about him.


    I don''t know how many centuries passed after this, but eventually they?ended up marrying?and?I''m the result of that."


    Gabrielle summarized her parents'' rtionship as best as she could?and?upon hearing it, Evansen narrowed his eyes and asked.


    "You look 100% human, but I''m assuming you can go��''Eldritch Horror'' mode?"


    The girl gave him a pointed stare?and?her eyes glowed with light as she asked.


    [Do you want to test your mentality?]


    "I''d refrain from that, thank you."


    Evansen quickly backed down as he didn''t want to test his luck with?her?while Vincent justughed on the side.


    "I''m assuming Evankhell didn''t know about this?"


    "��Evankhell didn''t know about the supernatural."


    Gabrielle replied after a short pause?and?Evansen turned to Vincent to question the man on why that was the case.


    "You and Mrs Kristine are not ''Normals''. So why wasn''t your son?cognizant?of it?"


    "We didn''t want him to."


    Vincent replied with a?mncholic?sigh?as he narrated?how he and Kristine had sealed their memories and power away to live like normal humans on Earth V.


    At the time?they had Evankhell, they weren''t?cognizant?of the Supernatural, so they weren''t going to burden their son with it.


    "I believe we would have faltered in our decision if ''that incident'' hadn''t happened."


    "What incident?"


    Gabrielle asked with a gaze filled with worry and curiosity?and?the man sighed before exining.


    "You don''t know why we moved in beside you guys, right?


    The thing is��Evankhell burned down our old house."


    "��What?"


    Out of all the possible replies, Gabrielle and Evansen never saw that oneing. Vincentughed at their surprised looks before continuing.


    "The boy had too much innate power. That power went out of control and burned down our house.


    His Soul''s capacity for power is greater than 90% of Existences on his Level. That power would exponentially increase as he grows older and stronger, and eventually reach a stage where his body could not handle it.


    As such, we wanted him?toe of age first��by then, he should have been able to withstand it and not burn up."


    "Burn up?"


    Vincent nodded in response to Gabrielle''s question?and?noticing her?inquisitive?gaze, he gave a few extra lines of exnation.


    "Evankhell was born with a power no Lower Existence was supposed to have.


    Powerful mes born of a Star.?Evankhell inherited the power of?a powerful?figure who went missing at the end of the ''Great Valmone?War''


    The?Prismatic Inferno of Aries; Mesarthim."


    Surprise coloured Gabrielle''s face as she had not been aware?of the fact?that Evankhell had been born with such a power.


    This?also meant that Evankhell gaining Mesarthim in the ''Regal Void Expanse'',?wasn''t really him gaining a New Skill, but him?recovering his Original Unique Skill?which?had been removed by Vincent so he didn''t end up burning himself to death with its power.


    Seeing as he had burned down a whole building while being just a baby, Vincent had made the bitter decision to put that power behind lock and key.


    That lock?was broken?when Evankhell went to the Regal Void Expanse.


    "I see��so you guys were going to tell him either way.


    But because of that, Evankhell didn''t grow strong enough to protect himself from the Supernatural.


    Personally, I liked that he didn''t know of ''that side'' since it prevented him from being exposed to danger."


    When Gabrielle said this, Evansen grew curious about the ''danger'' she didn''t want Evankhell exposed to and barraged her with questions.


    "There''s a ''Law'' on this that prevents Supernaturals from touching ''Normals''.


    Even if they are in a situation where they have to kill everyone in an area to prevent witnesses; if there''s one Normal mixed in with them, they can murder everyone else, but cannot touch even a single hair on the Normal''s head as far as they were not cognizant of the Supernatural beforehand."


    The ''Supernatural World'' on Earth V was like an Abyss. If you stare into it, it''ll stare right back at you.


    The fact that Evankhell was ignorant about its?existence,?meant that regardless of whatever beef any Supernatural had with Bourne, Kristine or Gabrielle, they could not go after Evankhell to threaten?them?as doing so meant the end of their existences.


    "Okay, I understand that.


    Now?then, back to why you went to that scary ce. You said your ''Eldritch'' side wanted to devour your human side?"


    Gabrielle nodded in affirmation to Evansen''s question before providing a further exnation.


    "If it seeded, the Race Factors in my body would be unbnced?and?my Human side would copse.


    Thatofcourse, would be disastrous since my Human Side is literally half my existence. It''d be much better tostraight up kill me.


    I went to the Abyss Labyrinthso I couldevolve my Human side from ''High-Human'',to ''Arch-Human'', ''Elder-Breed'' and finally��"


    She turned towards Vincentwhowas fiddling with his phoneandconcluded.


    "��Ancient-Breed Human."


    The man had long since noticed that Gabrielle''s Human side was nowon the highest possible Racebreed level.


    Increasing one''s Race Breed wasn''t something that happened soeasily. It was just like Existence Levels.


    The higher the Race Breed, the higher the person''s base capabilities, and the harder it was to increase��if they even seeded inincreasingit.


    Yet, Gabrielle had gone up four levels in four years.


    One couldn''t even begin to imagine the trials and tribtions she went through to achieve this absurd feat. It was only natural she ended up being considered the ''Strongest Mortal'' in Evankhell''s Memory.


    "Damn, girl. That must have been rough."


    Evansenmented with a dryugh, and just before Gabrielle replied, her body suddenly jerkedandshe narrowed her eyes in displeasure.


    "We can talk about how rough it waster, but for now��We''ve gotpany."


    When she said that, Evansen blinkedfor a bitbefore realising that all sounds around him had disappeared, which was strange considering they were in a family restaurant at rush hour.


    ''What?''


    There wasplete silence.


    The noise of automobile engines drifting in from outside, the sounds of the customers making orders��all the sounds he''d been hearing up until now weresimplygone;like someone had muted the volume on a stereo system.


    Vincent frowneddeeplyas he held up his finger and poked the air, causing it to crack before he spoke.


    "A Mirror Dimension��"


    "Huh? It''s not an Isted Space?"


    "It''s a mixture of both. And we seem to be the only ones trapped inside it."


    Vincent replied to Gabrielle''s question on the nature of the sudden circumstance, looking around to see that no other human was in sight.


    The same applied outside as well. It was as if every living being in the city had just vanished.


    However, that was not the case, as it was simply thatthe three of them were pulledout of the Material World and into a Mirror Dimension.


    For those going about their lives in the Material World, it would appear to them that Vincent, Gabrielle and Evansen had left the restaurant at a time when they weren''t paying attention.


    What happened in the MirrorDimension,alsodid not affect the Material World.


    Vincent and Gabrielle got up from their seats and headed towards the door, with Evansen trailing right after them as theyallexited the building.


    Looking up, they saw multiple figures descending from the skyandtowards the ground.


    At a nce, there appeared to be more than two dozen of them, and about half had bat-like wings emerging from their backswhichppedslowlyas they fell to the ground.


    "Demons��"


    Gabrielle muttered as she quickly discerned their identities, though that much wasobviousgiven the pure demonic energy they didn''t bother to hide.


    Whatgot herconfused,was the other beings she could sense mixed in with the Demons.


    They hadyers of positive energy coating their bodieswhichenabledthem to fly despite not having wings like the Demons.


    It was an energy that Evansen recognized as a certain princess he had met back on Aidos had it.


    "Divinity��"


    Vincent nodded inaffirmation,before making a reveal that left the boy dumbfounded.


    "They''re gods."


    "��what?"


    Evansen didn''t even know where to start being surprised from.


    "They''re gods? Like Artemisia and Canis?"


    "Yes."


    "��"


    Again, Evansen did not know where his shockwas supposed to begin from.The Demons and godsnded on the ground and formed a semi-circle around them as if trying to trap theminbetween their encirclement and the building behind them.


    Gabrielle and Vincent, however,did not look at the oneswho weresurrounding them but kept their gazes locked on the two who were standing right opposite them.


    Evansen also had his attention pulled towards those two for a simr reason.


    All the Demons present had a single pair of wings. All except that one who had three pairs sticking out ofhisback.


    "Three pairs��he''s a ''Demon Lord''."


    Demons only gained extra pairs of wings after surpassing Transcendence and bing Higher Existences. From then on, they gained a new pair with each Existence Level they advanced.


    "A Demon Lord and a god Lord��that isquite the duo."


    |Humans��? And here I didn''t think there was anyonecognizanton this. |


    The Demon spoke with a voice that Evansen heard ringingoutin his ears and his head. It also came apanied by a surge ofw energy that the poor boy could not withstand if itwasn''tfor the barrier Gabrielle put up to protect him at thest moment.


    Not paying this scene any mind, the god looked around and replied to the demon.


    "Spread out your senses a littleandyou''d find outthere area few dozen million of them. But you can do thatter."


    Turning his gaze back to the trio in front of the restaurant, he continued.


    "Let''s finish what we came for."


    The god narrowed his eyes and analysed the magic poweremanating fromVincent andGabrielle,toroughly discern their levels.


    ''Weird��that man looks familiar��''


    He had such a feelingupon looking at Vincent, but he couldn''t put a name to itsohe ignored it and addressed them haughtily.


    "You two mortals. Leave the boyandyou''d leave the boy with your lives."


    "��haaaaa?"


    Evansen let out a dumbfounded noise when he heard the god''s words. If what his brainputed was correct, then the Demon and god Lords were after him.


    Vincent and Gabrielle were no less surprised than he was.


    "You''re after him? Why?"


    |That''s not something you''re qualified to know. Nowleavebefore my patience runs out. |


    The Demon Lord red his demonic energy, emitting an overwhelming aura that pressed down on those around him like a suffocating weight.


    Frowning under thissurge of power, Gabrielle nced around and saw that some of the other Demons were High Ranks and a few Peak Rank Transcendents.


    They hae witha full44-man toon with 24 gods and Demons each. Four on each side were Transcendentsandthe remaining were somewhere within Grandmaster and Sovereign.

 Chapter 753 Battle in Space, Battle on Earth

    Chapter 753 Battle in Space, Battle on Earth


    ??''But the real threats here are those two Race Lords��I can''t handle that��''


    As Gabrielle thought this to herself, she looked towards Vincent and saw the man clicking his tongue in annoyance.


    "Gabrielle, can you deal with the others?"


    "If you asked me that four years ago, I would have gutted you without hesitation.


    But now��"


    The girl raised her hands and tied her hair into a ponytail beforefinishing


    "��this, would be a walk in the park."


    Her reply made Vincent smile a bit, however, their little conversation had pissed off one of the Peak Ranked Demons.


    "Arrogant little humans! I''ll tear those mouths of yours apart!"


    With a burst of hypersonic speed, the Demon lunged towards Gabrielle, aiming to grab her neck.


    It was then that he noticed something strange.


    ''Wait��she''s meeting my gaze? She can see me at this spe-"


    **BAMM! **SPLAT!!


    The Demon never finished his thoughts as a blur of movement ensued, and in the next moment, his headless body copsed to the ground.


    The eyes of all the others widened in shockandthey quickly went on guard, with none of them having noticed what had just happened.


    None besides the two Race Lords.


    They had clearly seen how Vincent''s hand had moved at a blinding speed and how he had smacked the Demon''s head right off his neck and blown it to bits.


    Thisallowed themto instantly understand one fact about Vincent.


    ''He''s undoubtedly a Higher Existence!!''


    They quickly realised the man had been hiding his aura and was so good at it that they hadn''t noticed despite being so close.


    Without hesitation,they roused their energies and drew their weaponsbefore barking outorders.


    "Go get the boy. We''d hold this guy o-?!"


    The god''s eyes widened in shock mid-statement as Vincent suddenly appearedinbetween him and the Demon.


    In a seamless motion, Vincent grasped both their necks in a vice-like grip, moving faster than they could react.


    Vincent then proceededto calmly lift them by their necksand m their heads into each other. The collision produced shockwaves that sent the nearby demons and gods flying through the air.


    Ignoring that, Vincent used his right hand to ''lightly toss'' the god into a nearby skyscraper on his left while doing the same with the demonheldin his left hand.


    It went without saying thatboth buildings were blownto smithereens.


    He then looked towards Gabrielle and spoke.


    "I''d deal with these two kids. You handle the rest."


    "Got it."


    Vincent nodded before kicking off the ground and flying upinto the airat hypersonic speed. A secondtertwostreaks of white and ck light shot up from the distance and chased after himwhowas in the sky.


    The Demon wielded a sinister ck sword crackling with corrosive energy, its malevolent auracorrodingtheveryair around them.


    Conversely, the god brandished a spear of divinity, radiating powerful lightw energywhichhe thrust forth with lethal intent.


    Vincent, however, met their onught with nothing but pure magic, eschewing the utilization of universalw energies.


    But despite this apparent disadvantage, he held his ground against their attacks, using ''basic'' Seventh Tier spells to counter their blows.


    As the sh escted, the Mirror Dimensional Space began to crack, unable to withstand theirbined power and noticing this, Vincent sighed softly.


    ''I don''t want Kristine finding out about this. Guess I have to take it "outside".''


    He looked up at the evening sky and saw the moon slowly rising to take its ce, nodding softly before muttering to himself.


    "The dark side should do��"


    Just as he said that, the god''s spear pierced his magic barrier and streaked towards his head, but he grabbed it with his barehand,before flinging both the spear and its wielder towards the Demon.


    Holdingouthis hand, he enveloped all three of them in an energy barrier and activated an ''Authority''.


    The manifestation of his right to enforce his will upon the power of a universalw.


    |Authority of Gravity: Graviton Expulsion|


    Vincent''s technique surged with potent energy, creating a powerful anti-gravity repulsion force that enveloped the god, the demon, and himself.


    In an instant, the forceexpelled them from the''s atmosphere, propelling them towards the furthest reaches of the''s gravity field.


    ''��what?''


    The god and Demon were dumbfounded as they suddenly found themselves surrounded by darkness, slightly disoriented by the sudden shift.


    As their brains processed their new surroundings, they looked to the side and beheld a colossal orb covered in white dust, marked by countless craters across its surface.


    |Lunar dust? A moon? |


    The Demon''s True Voice echoed in the void as realisation dawned upon him.


    The realisation that they had been cast far beyond the confines of Earth V and into the expanse of space in an instant!


    |Good. There''s enough space to deal with both of you without permanently harming the. |


    Vincent''s voice snapped them out of their dazeandthey turned to see the man rolling up his sleeves as a powerful energy surged from his being.


    |But first, I''d ask again.


    Why are you after that boy? |


    |You think we''d tell you?!|


    The Demon Lord shouted back as he red his demonic andw energies, pumping power into the Origin Core in his soul in preparation to activate his own Authority.


    |Authority of Dar-! |


    |Fuck! I remember!! Now I know why he looked ''familiar''! |


    The god suddenly screamed out, a fearful undertone in his voice as he grabbed the Demon and began flying in the opposite direction.


    |We have to get the fuck out of here now! The mission is a failure!!|


    |��what? |


    The Demon was confused by the god''s reactionbutthe other man had already turned into a streak of light and carried the both of them towards the edge of the Sr System as fast as he could.


    |That man! He''s one of ''Them''.


    A ''Supreme King''! |


    Turning back with a fearful gaze, the god called out the title of the man he was sure was hot on their tail.


    |Supreme ''Human King'', Vincent Bourne! |


    The god''s pupils darted around as he searched for Vincent''s figure, however, he suddenly sensed a presence behind him along with the dreaded man''s voice ringing out.


    |A young one like you knows me?


    I hadn''t done anything since the WarsoI thought I''d be forgotten by now. |


    ''Forgotten? The Universe has a higher chance of ending this instant than for people to forget you!!''


    The god kept that thought to himself as he brandished his spear and unleashed a strike with all his might behind it.


    Seeing this, Vincent quickly reacted and enveloped the god with his gravitational power, creating a powerfulcrushingforce that shattered the spear before the attack couldnd.


    He also created a barrier to contain the energy waves, clicking his tongue before ring at the both of them.


    |Alright, since you two don''t want to do this the easy way.


    We''d go with the hard way. |


    As Vincent said that, his eyes lit up with an eerie glowandthe two Race Lords felt shivers run down their spine at that sight.


    ����


    While Vincent was doing his space battle somewhere a few hundred thousand milesawayfrom the moon, Gabrielle and Evansen were having theirnd battle on the''s surface.


    The Demons had attacked her with their weapons drawnandthe girl silently held up her hand, letting an inky blue-ck liquid drip from her palm and towards the ground.


    "Get her!"


    Faster than they could aplish that order, the liquid was suddenly shot out like a high-pressure torrent, impaling one of the Epic levels who had been closing in on Evansen, ending their life instantly.


    Seeing the blood and brain matter spilling onto the ground, Evansen''s eyes widened.


    "That''s cool as fuck! But it wouldn''t harmthose guys!"


    Bythose guys,he naturally meant theremaining Seven Transcendents who werewatching Gabrielle warily as they could not fully discern her power.


    "I know that.


    I''d try and finish this before Uncle Vincent gets back."


    Hearing her deration, Evansen grew curious aboutjusthow strong shetrulywas and activated his appraisal skill on her.


    The results he saw made him understand why she was so confident.


    |Name-Gabrielle Larson


    Race-Half-Ancient Breed Human, Half-Dark Young


    Gender-Female


    Age-20


    Level-1000


    Existence Level- Transcendent (Superior)


    Titles-Little Miss Cosmic Horror, Spawn of the All-Mother��[��] |


    ''First things first��although she doesn''t look a day above 18, she''s not a "Girl" but a "Woman".


    Secondly, how the fuck is she a Superior Transcendent at 20?!


    Even ''Strongest Human'' Rathal isn''t this ridiculous!''


    Still, Evansen was sure she could handle the other Transcendents as they were all Inferior and Intermediate Stagesthemselves.


    The issue here wasthe factthat the Sovereigns and Legendries would serve as distractionsandhe wasn''t strong enough to keep them off her back.


    "Stay behind me."


    Gabrielle spoke as she manipted the blue-ck liquid to form a semi-circr barrier around themwhichblockedthe magic and divinity that the gods and demons barraged them with.


    She then took a deep breath before conjuring a Tier 5 Magic circle in the sky using a strange type of rune none present had ever seen.


    From the centre of the conjured circle, beams of pure light surged forth, each beam as sharp as a sword edge and as swift as a shooting star.


    They streaked across the area, falling from above like rain and piercingthe bodies of some of the gods and demonswith deadly precision.


    Although they quickly employed defensive magic and weapons, theyfound themselvesconfronted by a second threat in that instant.


    ''Ink of Darkness: Abyssal Torrent Surge.''


    Pressurized streams of that strange blue-ck liquid energy erupted from the ground, propelled forward with unstoppable momentum as they tore through their defensive magic like paper andrent their armour with ease.


    "Fuck! Defensive magic doesn''t work?!"


    A demon''s cry of disbelief echoed through the chaos as he attempted to avoid the onught, only to have his wings severed by razor-sharp pressurized des of the mysterious ''dark liquid''.


    With a thud, he plummeted to the earth,whereupona spear of that same pressurized liquid rose from the ground and impaled him with brutal finality.


    Witnessing how a Legendary just died soeasily, the other Demons drew upon their demonic energyand usedit to counter the pressurized streams of liquid, adamant to make sure that thing didn''t touch them.


    The Transcendentswere able toblock it withw energy, but they didn''t attack. All sevenof themremained in the air as they circled around Gabrielle, aiming for a blind spot they could take advantage of.


    They studied her closely and noted that any attacksthat gotwithin acertainrange of her position were all shredded within seconds, revealing the existence of the dark-blue energy revolving around her at immense speeds to the point of seeming invisible.


    Anything that came within rangewas slicedto pieces at a god-


    like speed that could not be perceived by the eye.


    However, though powerful, it had drawbacks as it didn''t differentiate allies from enemies.Thiswas why Gabrielle told Evansen to stay put.


    Secondly, Gabrielle could not move too much while using itorits power output and speed would be lowered to the point where even the Legendrieswould be able toperceive the revolving blue-ck energy.


    The Legendries and Sovereigns charged forward with powerful magic and skills, intending to distract Gabrielle so the Grandmaster Levels could sneak in and grab Evansen.


    As for the Transcendents, they held their fire since Gabrielle was too close to Evansen. If they attacked Gabrielle with the intent to kill, their attacks would also hit Evansen due to their proximityandany one of them could turn the boy to dust.


    Since they wanted him alive, they couldn''t let that happen.


    "Wait, what''s he doing?!"


    One of the Demons eximed in shockandhearing this, Gabrielle turned her gaze towards Evansen and saw the boy casually slice his wrist with a table knife.


    "��huh?"


    She was so dumbfoundedby thisthat she nearly lost control over her defensive technique.


    Evansen, on the other hand, didn''t even flinch despite having slit his wrist, calmly watching the blood spurt out like a fountain.


    "It''s notparable to yourlevel of power, but I AM a Superior Grandmaster. It irks metojuststand backand let myselfbe protecteddespite being their target."


    The blood, once spilt, defied gravity, hanging suspended in the air and coalescing into numerous hovering spheres of condensed crimson.


    "On Aidos, my Father was someone called the ''Blood Duke''��


    I seem to have inherited the ''Blood'' aspect of that."


    The moment he spoke, he released the condensed blood as bright red beams, reinforcing them with his magic power to make them capable of achieving sonic speed.

 Chapter 754 Looks aren’t where their similarities end [Monthly Bonus 2]

    <h4>Chapter 754 Looks aren��t where their simrities end [Monthly Bonus 2]</h4>


    Six of the Grandmaster Demons and gods were caught off guard by this sudden attack, even?the one?who was?concealing herself with stealth and their legs?were easily pierced?by the blood beams.


    Evansen fired a second barrage of beams, unfortunately, the Transcendents intervened and blocked his blood beams, preventing them from finishing the job.


    Seeing his attack, the corner of Gabrielle''s lips curled?slightly?as she spoke.


    "You''re not half bad."


    The young woman reached out her hand and caught the fist of one of the Transcendents who punched through her revolving aura des and pulled him forward, before throwing out a punch with her other hand which sent him flying backwards.


    She then used her liquid energy to wrap around the legs of one of the Grandmasters and dragged them towards her position.


    The moment?they saw that the Grandmasters were not sliced to pieces by the revolving energy, they realised that Gabrielle had deactivated the technique.


    However, before they could charge in, the young woman mmed her hand on the ground and muttered under her breath.


    [Pseudo-Authority of Creation: Geomancer''s Fury.]


    The ground beneath their feet trembled?and?the earth rose to assail the Demons and gods with jagged spikes.?This?caused Earthquakes that copsed the nearby buildings, sending the 100-floor high structures copsing atop them all.


    She then mmed her palms together and created a wall of her blue-ck energy that sealed Evansen in with the Grandmasters and kept the others out.


    "Handle these, Evansen."


    "With pleasure."


    The boy replied as he?drew more blood from his body?andbined all the blood spheres, reforging it into a one-handed sword.


    "Pdin."


    Kicking off the ground, he dashed off to the first wounded grandmaster and faster than the poor woman could realise, he lopped off her head, spilling crimson blood into the air.


    He then grabbed the demon''s wing with his left hand and flung her body towards a god about to cast a spell, using her as a flesh shield.


    **BOOMM!!!


    The spell hit the dead demon and sted her body to pieces, spraying even more blood in the area.


    "Why, thank you."


    Evansen spread out his magic power and manipted all of the demon blood, shaping it into a sword on his left hand while he used magic to reabsorb his?own?blood, leaving only a little?which?served as the hilt of his de.


    He circled the god''s body and stabbed him in the chest with the demon blood sword, piercing through his flesh and bones with ease.


    ''Hmm? His skin is peeling?''


    Fire and lightning rained down from above?and?on sheer instinct, Evansen infused the dead god''s body with his magic power and created a shield of golden blood to block?it,?before firing off the blood as a beam of?power?towards the Demon who had used the magic.


    Pressurized blood shot out from the orifices of the god''s corpse,unching three-sided golden blood beams that hit all his attackers.


    ''As I thought��the blood of the gods deals more damage to demons and vice versa.''


    Once he confirmed his conjecture, Evansen created a second blood sword with golden?blood,?and tossed the dried-out corpse aside, charging forward while dual-wielding the blood swords.


    �󡡡󡡡�


    Meanwhile, Gabrielle was duking it out with the Transcendents and Sovereigns. They showed impable cooperation, revealing that this wasn''t the first time they had fought together.


    However, the young woman?was still able to?match theirbined power with her own.


    All the Epics present had?been ughtered?and?the Legendries were lying on the floor half dead, their bodies eithercking their heads and missing their legs?respectively.


    Gabrielle created spectral des of her blue-ck energy?and?she used these des?to sh with the weapons of the Demons and gods, countering all their strikes with minimal movements.


    Another thing the Demons had to watch out for was her ridiculous speed that outstripped even theirs, something that even the god who specialized in lightning and speed could not perceive.


    "Arcane Nova!"


    One demon unleashed a burst of pure magic that erupted into a devastating explosion, however, Gabrielle held her hand out in his direction and released a surge of blue-ck liquid that consumed the?explosion?in its initial stages, preventing it from rippling outward.


    She then charged at the demon with her sword raised overhead and a dense amount of aura wrapping around the de, to which the demon raised his weapon to block.


    However, right before their swords shed, Gabrielle suddenly vanished?and reappeared?behind one of the gods and swung her de down, tearing through his aura barriers and shing through him.


    **BOOMM!!


    What followed was a massive explosion, with buildings blown to smithereens and a giant crater tearing through the earth.


    As the dust cleared up,?Gabrielle''s de was revealed?to have torn through the god''s torso from his shoulder down to his waist, slicing through his heart in the process.


    Golden blood spilt to the floor as the Inferior Transcendent''s corpse dropped to the ground, but before they could even get over their shock at how easily she had killed one of them, Gabrielle disappeared once more.


    One of the demons?who had?a danger sense skill widened his eyes in shock and turned his gaze around, throwing an attack towards the ground behind him.


    Unfortunately, he wasn''t fast enough?and?Gabrielle''s?figure had already manifested behind him, her hands?pointed?towards the back of his chest and a swirling ball of blue-ck liquid condensing in front of her palms.


    She unleashed the liquid as a pressurized beam that tore through the demon''s chest and created a hole in his torso.


    Blood gushed forth from the Demon''s mouth?and?he dropped to his knees, however, his Tenacity skill activated and gave him the strength to hold on for a few more seconds.


    [HAAAAAATTTT!!!]


    Using soundw energy, he released a loud cry?which?created?a shockwave that knocked Gabrielle back before screaming out his discovery to hispanions.


    [WATCH YOUR SHADO-!]


    **SWISHH!!!


    He never got toplete his words as Gabrielle shed in and sliced off his head at thest moment, but?the message had already been passed on.


    "Shado��? Shadows?"


    "?!"


    The X2/X3 intelligence stats of the Transcendents were put?to good use?and?they quickly deciphered the meaning of the Demon''sst message��the secret to Gabrielle''s speed.


    "She''s using our shadows!!"


    "Tsk��"


    The young woman clicked her tongue when she noticed all the remaining Transcendents imbue their shadows withw energy.


    It wouldn''t prevent her shadow teleportation, but it''d allow them to know where she was going to reappearandthey''d be able to react swiftly.


    Suddenly, a massive explosion rang outandthe barrier she used to enclose Evansen with the grandmasters was shatteredfrom within.


    The boy''s body flew outandhe flipped through the air,nding on the floorandhis feet dragged through the ground.


    He looked at the burns on his hands, using Pdin''s limited healing to deal with them before jumping back to avoid the spears of light that rained down from the sky.


    Coincidentally, he ended up back-to-back with Gabriellewhowas facing the remaining 5 Transcendents, allof which werestaring at her warily.


    Evansen breathedheavilyas he looked at thest two Superior Grandmasterswhowerewielding spears of light while ring at him.


    The area went silent, save for the sounds of the copsing buildings and mes burning until Evansen broke it with a question to Gabrielle.


    "You know, I''vebeen meaningto ask this since earlier��"


    Evansen bent forward as he spoke, allowing Gabrielle to send a sh to block the attack of the Legendary Demonwhotried to get him with a long-ranged spell.


    Simultaneously, he manipted the blood of the Dead Demon at her feet andunched blood beams towards the Transcendent''s eyes, aiming to distract them so they didn''t attack Gabrielle from behind.


    As it was the blood of a Transcendent, manipting it wasvery difficultandhe couldn''t even take a step forwardwhile doing so. It also guzzled half his magic power in one go.


    "Since we look simr and all��"


    The boy continued speaking as Gabrielle used her Creation Pseudo Authority to conjure a giant boulder in the sky and hurled it towards the Transcendents.


    Naturally, they all dodged itsoshe used magic power to shatter the boulder to pieces and sent each piece flying as a supersonic speed projectile towards them.


    It was then that Evansen finished his question.


    "I just wanted to know if I had a chance?"


    "��?"


    At first, Gabrielle was confusedas towhat he was asking her about.It was then thatthe first two lines he spoke resounded in her headandthe realisation dawned upon her.


    "Seriously? Now of all times?"


    She gave the boy a deadpan gaze, wondering why he chose a situation where they were fighting to survive to ask thatkind ofquestion.


    "Well, I was gonna ask it earlierbutwe got interrupted."


    Evansen shrugged as he formed a finger gun and shot two bullets of blood at the Grandmasters, getting them in the legs before snapping his fingers and detonating the blood.


    As their legs exploded and they fell to the ground, he turned towards Gabrielle and met her blue-ck eyes with his grey orbs.


    "Talking aboupletelyunrted matters in serious situations.


    I guess your looks aren''t where your simrities end."


    "Does that increase my chances?"


    "No, it doesn''t."


    "A pity."


    Though he said that, Evansen didn''t look too disappointed at her replyandGabrielle didn''t shy away from pointing it out.


    "Of course, I''m NOT disappointed. We just met a few hours ago."


    Just as Evansen replied, Gabrielle suddenly grabbed him by the stomach and slung his body over hershoulder,before teleporting from that position.


    A mere second after Gabrielle whisked Evansen away, a cataclysmic explosion erupted from the seven Tier 5 Magic circleswhich had beenhovering in the air, unleashing torrents of devastating energy that cascaded downward with the force of multiple nuclear detonations.


    The sheer magnitude of the st razed everything in its path, obliterating structures and reducing them to nothing more than scattered debris and dust.


    In a radius spanning 150 kilometres, thendscapewas transformedinto a deste wastnd, with a gaping crater at its epicentre marking the point where the spells had impacted the ground.


    Treeswere uprooted, buildingswere levelledandthe very earth itselfwas torn apartdue to the explosion.


    If they weren''t in a Mirror Dimension, then the death toll would have instantly been in the hundreds of thousands.


    Any living beings caught within the st radius would have been instantly incinerated, their existence wiped away in a blinding sh of light and searing heat.


    Thankfully,such a disaster was prevented.


    Thousands of metres above ground, Gabrielle and Evansen looked at the devastation wrought by the explosion that had left behind a barren expanse of scorched earth and ashes.


    "With how well they worked together, I thought they were close.


    To think the Transcendents sacrificed them all without hesitation��"


    The young woman muttered under her breath as she confirmed that the only life signs inside the clouds of dust and smoke billowing to the skies were those of the Transcendents.


    The remaining Sovereigns had allbeen killedby the earlier explosion.


    "What the fuck just happened?!"


    "Five Transcendents tried to kill us, that''swhat happened."


    Gabrielle calmly replied to Evansen''s question, but before she could say anymore, a beam of golden light shot out of the clouds of smokeandshe quickly created a foothold with aura and used it to springboard herself higher into the air.


    As the beam of divinity tore through where she had been earlier, Gabrielle turned around, andcreated more footholds using them to propel herself away from the pursuing Transcendents


    "I wonder howrge this Mirror Dimension is��"


    The earlier explosion had destroyed more than two states worth of areaandyetit didn''t seem to reach the barrier line of the Mirror Dimension.


    Gabrielle dashed forward for a few minutes with the Transcendents hot on their tail, eventually reaching a point where the space in front of her looked like shattered ss.


    "Well��that''s the end. This thing is quitebig.


    I''m guessing it''s being maintained by the power of one of those Race Lords."


    She muttered to herself as she put Evansendownon the ground before raising her hands and conjuring a magic circle.


    Seeing this, Evansen silently summoned thest of his magic power and ced his hand on her back, using a skill to buff her.


    "Our level difference makes this thing guzzle my energy by the secondsobe fast with your casting."


    "Oh��this is quite good."

 Chapter 755 Endless Abyss

    Chapter 755 Endless Abyss


    ??Gabrielle was impressed by Evansen''s buff, but her hands which were conjuring a magic circle didn''t stop moving even as she spoke.


    A blue-ck circle with intricately intertwined lines and spell forme shimmeredinto existence before her, with the four blue-ck rings around it showing its tier.


    ''Gravity magic isn''t my thingsoI''m taking this long even for a Tier 4 spell��''


    With that thought and a light sigh, she activated the spell.


    "Gravity Magic: Carnage of the Void."


    Six identical blue-ck portals opened up in the sky, forming a hexagram of doom which summoned a ''small'' hail of meteorites from the void beyond the portals.


    They streaked across the sky in all their zing glory, headed towards the Transcendents who roused their energies to defend.


    Despite thepowerfttack that could level an entire city with ease, the Transcendents shed through the meteors with their swords and spears, turning them into rock splinters that rained down on the ground.


    However, the short few seconds they took to do this��those secondstheir attention was directedtowards the meteorites, gave Gabrielle the time and opportunity to prepare for her final move.


    Spatialw energy burst forth from her body, intertwining with the swirling blue-ck liquid surging from beneath her feet, delineating a boundary that enclosed her and the five Transcendents within.


    She slowly unsped her palms, releasing more of the thick, viscous, blood-likeliquidmixture ofdarknessandabyssal essencethat poured onto the ground.


    Her irises glowed with lightandthe colours of her sclera and pupils inverted as she dered with a dead calm voice.


    [Bounded Field: Endless Abyss.]


    More of the blue-ck liquid appeared on the floor around her and Evansen, surging forth with the force of a tidal wave and engulfing the entire area with its power.


    The scenery transformedandthey found themselves standing atop a tform floating in the middle of a dark abyss, surrounded by imprable darkness stretching into infinity.


    Save for the faux sun hanging in the sky and the eerie blue luminescence emanating from the liquid, there was no other source of light.


    Buildings slowly melted into itandtendrils of the dark liquid shot upwards and wrapped around the limbs of the flying Transcendents, pulling them down to the ground.


    Despite how much demonic energy or divinity they used, the blue-ck liquid crept up their bodies and leeched into their skin, trying to drag them to the depths of the dark sea around them.


    The dark liquid made their skin peel, like acidwas pouredon themandit seeped into their bodies through their pores, infecting them with its corrosive powers.


    Just when they had their hands full trying to deal with it, long dark blue-scaled tentacles lunged forward from the deep abyss behind them and wrapped around their arms and legs.


    The tentacles held onto them with a vice-like grip and regardless of their attempts at resistance, it slowly pulled them into the deepeeriedarkness beyond.


    "Scary��"


    Evansen muttered as he saw the fearful expressions on the faces of the Transcendents who were dragged into the abyss by the tentaclesandthis remark prompted Gabrielle to turn towards him.


    His eyes widened in surprise when he saw how her eyes had transformed, with her sclera now being ck and her pupils white.


    When she saw his expression, the light of remembrance shed through her eyes as she sighed and returned them to normal.


    Usually, people either had one of two reactions upon seeing her eyes in that state. Theyeither got scared, orthey called it creepy.


    Evansenonthe other hand, had a third reaction she hardly ever saw.


    "Damn, that''s fucking cool! Do it again!"


    "��what?"


    Gabrielle looked at him dumbfoundedly, seeing as he stared at her with shining eyes that demanded she transform her eyes again.


    "��No."


    "But why?!"


    The young woman ignored the boy''s strange reaction and dismissed her bounded field, returning them to the MirrorDimensionwhere they saw Vincent seated on a broken fence with the unconscious body of the god Lord at his feet.


    "Took you long enough."


    The man was buttoning his sleeves as he spokeandGabrielle looked around to see they were still in the Mirror Dimension.


    "It''s not broken?"


    "It''s being supported by this one''s power.It wouldn''t copse till I killhim."


    "What about the Demon?"


    When she asked that, Vincent scratched his head with an awkward expressionon his facewhile replying.


    "I may havepletely disintegrated his body with a Gravitational Singrity��"


    "��"


    "Don''t worry, he''s a Higher Existencesohis soul is still intact to an extent."


    As he spoke, he held up his hand and revealed a ck ball of light emanating potent demonic energy, with a pressure that made Evansen nearly choke on air.


    "Please��put thatthing��away."


    Vincent flicked his wristandthe soul disappeared, with Evansen taking a moment to stabilize his breaths while wiping the sweat off his forehead.


    Gabrielle didn''t seemto bebothered by the pressureandshewalked up to Vincent with her hands in her pocket and asked the mostimportantquestion.


    "Did you find out why they were after Evansen?"


    "Yes."


    After he replied, Vincent looked at herin silencewithout saying anything for nearly a minute. She was wondering why he wasn''t exining further, but after amomentit dawned on her why.


    "It''s because of Evankhell, isn''t it?"


    Vincent nodded before finally beginning his exnation.


    "Those Demons were from Prime World Gozonandthey seem to be nning on Invading Aidos. Or rather, they already did but were repelled."


    "Huh? Aidos repelled a Gozonian invasion? Weren''t they weakened badly after the war? How did they manage it?"


    The answer to Gabrielle''s question came not fromVincent,but from Evansen.


    "Through the sacrifices of millions of soldiers, and the work of the Seven Heroes sealing the Dimensional Rift."


    Hearing him, Vincent nodded, inadvertently confirming to Evansen that the ''Invaders'' he knew of from his time in Aidos were indeed the Demon Race.


    "A millennium has passedandthe seal on that Dimensional Rift is weakening. As such, the Demons are nning a re-invasion.


    They want to take advantage of this weakening and break it open so they can regain entry to Aidos.


    Thisis supposed to be done ''from'' Aidos, with the cooperation of a group called the ''Demonic Hand''.


    Sadly, their ns for the past three years have NOT gone well."


    Vincent then looked towards the two of them and posed a question with a wry smile.


    "Guess who else has been on Aidos for the past three years?"


    "Evankhell. He''s the one interfering with their ns."


    Gabrielle repliedandVincent nodded in affirmation.


    "With the information I got after reading their memories, I have a guess on what Artemisia wanted from him.


    From the Demon''s memories, I discovered one of the New Generation of ''Seven Heroes'',is called ''Evan Eris''. He also appears to be their Leader and the one responsible for majorly messing up all the Demonic Hand''s ns."


    "That''s my Aidosian identity��the one Evankhell currentlyholds"


    "Yes. The reason this lot came after you is simple.


    ''Evan Eris'' is originally your identitysothey want togive it backto you."


    ""��what?""


    BothEvansen and Gabrielle let out confused voices when they heard Vincent''s words. How were the demons nning to give Evansen back his identity? When they asked that, Vincent exined.


    "I don''t know how they found outbutthese two Race Lords were sure that the soul in your body is not from Aidos.


    As such, they traced the location of the original soul down to thi,so they could take it and put it back into your body."


    Hearing this, Evansen shook his head and muttered.


    "That''s not gonna work."


    Vincent nodded in agreement, his expression resolute.


    "Of course. It''s been three years.


    That body is notEvansen''sanymore, it''sEvankhell''s."


    The man''s voice then took a dark undertone as he held up three fingers and continued.


    "It may belong to Evankhell now, but that was NOT the case three years ago.


    In a situation where a soulis putinto a foreign body, there''s usually a period where the body and soulck synchronization with each other.


    That period is even longer if the Soul and the body originate from two differents.


    I''m willing to bet that for the first year and a half, maybe two years��there was ack of synchronization."


    Seeing that Gabrielle and Evansen still weren''t getting what he was insinuating, the manjust straight updecided to say it all.


    "What if they took the soul of the current Grandmaster Evansen, sent it back in time to Three Years ago and put it into your old body?


    Sometime around��let''s say a month after Evankhell entered it.


    Your soul now isstrongerthan Evankhell''s was three years ago, andto top it off, the body was still ''yours'' then��"


    Evansen guessed what would happen and Gabrielle confirmed said guess with a deep frown on her face.


    "Evansen''s soul would force Evankhell''s soul out of the body."


    "That''s what they were aiming for.


    Now then, what do you think would happen if Evankhell''s soul is to be forced out, with no ''body'' to contain it?"


    Once again, Gabrielle answered.


    "The Universal Law of Death would consider Evankhell to be ''Dead'' and it would take his soul into the Cycle of Reincarnation.


    His soul would be wipedcleanandthe person we know as ''Evankhell Bourne'' would cease to exist."


    To say Evansen was shocked by this potential oue was an understatement. He certainly hadn''t expected the Demons to use such a roundabout means toget rid ofEvankhell.


    "The Causality Index of a titled Hero of a Prime World like Aidos should be high enough that they shouldn''t be able to interfere with his past soeasily.


    What''s more, that goddess Artemisia is there, isn''t she? There''s no way she would not notice such a thing happening!"


    Gabrielle spoke as she held an understanding of the kind of power a Main Entity of the Pantheon like Artemisia wielded.


    Vincent,nodded in agreement with her, as that would have been the casenormally.


    "That''s how things are supposed to be, but these guys were awfully confident in their sess.


    They were just sentto retrieve Evansen, and someone elsewas going tobe the one to take it through time.


    It''spreciselybecause Evankhell is an Irregr and has a high Causality Index that they could not afford to go back in time on multiple instances ''Because of Him''. So they could not target Evansen''s soul from the time he had just reincarnated into this world and had to go after the ''Present Evansen''."


    As Vincent spoke, the man''s expression turned darkfor an instantandheheaved an exasperated sigh.


    ''Even if they seeded��Evansen''s soul would not have forced Evankhell out as they nned.


    What would havehappened,is that Evansen would havedied��''


    Vincent knew that Evansen harboured the desire to return to Aidos oneday,andalso tomeet his namesakewhohad taken over his identity there.


    However, the man had been tantly dissuading him from ever doing so over the years, knowing fullywellthat it wouldn''t turn out well for him.


    ''To think he was the missing fragment��''


    "Do you know who that ''someone else'' is, Mr Vincent? That EOTDguyperhaps?"


    Evansen''s voice brought Vincent out of his thoughtsandhe shook his head before replying to the boy''s questions.


    "EOTD wouldn''t go through the stress of saving your soul if he was going to do this."


    Vincent got up to his feet and stepped forward as he continued.


    "I do have a guess who the person is.


    There were hints everywhere, after all.


    Their confidence in Interfering with the past without Severe bacsh from the Universal Laws��and the fact that a ''god Lord'' and a ''Demon Lord'' were working together."


    In the Valmone Universe, the rtionship between the god and Demon races has been irreconcble for millennia.


    A godLordandaDemon Lord together in the same area would usually result in a fight.They would never work together unless under extreme conditions.


    Even then, they wouldn''t mesh well.


    "But these two did.


    Their cooperation with each other was impable."


    "I also noticed the Transcendents had good synergy as well.They''vedefinitelybeen together for long."


    Gabrielle stated her observation and hearingthat,Vincent was 99% sure his guess was correct.


    "In this Universe, there''s only one person capable of making gods and Demons work together with zero problems.


    They also happen to be pretty adept in Space and Time Maniption as well."


    When he said up to that point, Gabrielle''s eyes widened as the realisation dawned on her.


    "One of the most powerful ''New gods'', a Main Entity with power on par with that of Artemisia''s."


    Looking up at the setting sun on the horizon, Vincent concluded.


    "If that person is the one after Evankhell, then hemight bein for someserioustrouble��"

 Chapter 756 Beach Trip [Monthly Bonus 3]

    Chapter 756 Beach Trip [Monthly Bonus 3]


    ??The Coconut Sands


    Sushye Coastal City


    Alpha Continental Nation of Wechil


    Prime World Aidos


    November 3rd


    Year 1054


    "It''s finally here, isn''t it?"


    Such were the words that escaped the lips of a young girl with long chestnut-coloured hair tied up in a messy ponytail around the base of her neck.


    She had an angr face with a pair of blue eyes that mirrored the ocean she gazed at.


    Appearance-wise, she dressed perfectly suited for her location��a beach. d in a bikini top adorned with ck floral patterns, snugly entuating her figure, and paired with shorts, shepleted the ensemble with a half-transparent ck pareo cinched around her waist.


    She wasn''t the only pretty girl around, but she sure caught the attention of almost everyone who nced in her general direction; on purpose or by ident.


    A great many teenagers on the beach desired to speak with her, mostly the guys who wanted to talk with such a beautiful girl.


    However, none of them dared toe up to her for two reasons.


    The first was the fact that they recognized this girl to be someone of high status whom they couldn''t just talk to as they pleased.


    The second was the cold gazes any guy who got within a certain range of her got from the two boys seated on both her sides.


    To her left sat a handsome teenager, his ck hair streaked with a few white highlights, and his striking grey eyes reflecting the serene beauty of the beach. Embracing the beach vibe, he wore ck trunks and casually draped a grey button-up rash guard over his shoulders.


    Her right side had a young adult still in histe teens, with red-brown eyes. He too had on a swimming trunk, with his toned body on full disy.


    A straw hat adorned his head, concealing a pair of animal ears nestled within his red-brown hair. From his lower back, a tail of the same hue emerged, its tip adorned with a bushy tuft.


    Together, the three of them sat on a trio of hanging rope chairs ced side by side, under the nice shade of the trees behind them.


    Anyone who had seen a television at least once within the past year would be able to tell at least one, if not all of their identities.


    From Left to Right, they were Evan Eris, Laurene Hayes and David Thancreed.


    The Second, Fourth and Fifth of the Seven Heroes respectively.


    They were also High Nobility/Royalty in their respective countries of origin, both of which were Major World Powers on Aidos.


    And today, they all appeared to have gone on a rxing beach trip together.


    "Why are you wearing that rash guard anyway, Evan? The Sun''s got nothing on you."


    "Well, Liz and I went to the beach during summer and midway she bought it and told me to always put it on at a beach.


    Personally, I could do without it."


    ''Not with that six-pack you should!''


    Such a retort crossed Laurene''s mind and she barely held herself back from voicing it out as she nced around and saw the gazes some of the other female beachgoers nearby were giving Evan.


    When she looked back at the boy, however, she saw he was looking at the clouds and busy trying to figure out what they were shaped like.


    ''Their looks are going over his head!''


    Laurene knew that it wasn''t because Evan did not notice them, but the part of his brain thatputed ''love, romance and other rted subjects'' was filled with a certain blonde so there wasn''t any space left for any other girls.


    As such, his default setting was to ignore such looks even if he received them.


    ''It''s not like I''m any different though��''


    That thought crossed her mind as she recalled that quite a few people hade to talk to her when she was alone earlier, and some more probably intended to.


    However, she did not have the mental space to think about other guys, and then Evan and David who were acting like overprotective older brothers didn''t even let any guy get close to her.


    ''They''re even worse than my actual brother.''


    She chuckled lightly when she remembered the expression on her poor Richard''s face when he saw Evan and David excelling more at the older brother role than he did


    Evan never had a younger sibling while David was thest born who was doted on by his elder sisters and always desired a younger one to dote on as well.


    Laurene, being the youngest of the trio (not by much) just so happened to fit the bill perfectly for both of them.


    This also showed just how much closer the three of them had grown over the past year.


    ''Well, I can''t say I don''t like this��''


    Laurene was never going to let the both of them know that though. Evan was going to tease her from now till infinity if he ever found out.


    ''Seriously, Evan''s such a piece of work.''


    A light chuckle escaped her lips as she remembered a scene from some months ago when Evan dropped in on one of her little tea times with Arnold.


    She wasn''t exactly hiding how she felt about Evan''s brother, and in situations like this, it was usually the younger brother who was supposed to be at odds with the girl and questioning if she was good enough for his elder brother.


    But with Evan, it was the exact opposite. Evan was the one questioning if Arnold was good enough for her and the older Eris sibling was at a loss for words at this.


    It was funny because Evan was only around 5 weeks older than she was, and yet he treated her like she was five years younger.


    If only she knew she was really five years younger than he was.


    Technically, Evan was the oldest of the three if one added the time he had lived on Earth V.


    Of course, he didn''t act like it.


    As they sat on the hanging chairs chatting, the topic of conversation shifted to one of their numerous trips to the Regal Void Expanse and the time Laurene finally lost it and jumped Evan after he led them into another Sovereign Monster Nest while shouting it was for a ''Side Quest''.


    Unfortunately, Laurene was Level 450 at the time and Evan was Level 520. It went without saying that Evan easily escaped her clutches.


    As it stood now, a year after the events of the Cavern of Trials where Evan became an Epic Level Existence, he was currently rxing at Level 564.


    He was still an Inferior Stage Epic even though a year had gone by and showed just how much harder it was to level up after Level 500.


    The difference in power between Existence Level Stages within the Epic Level was even wider than the difference in power gap between a Grandmaster and an Epic, so it was much harder to get stronger than before.


    And this was with him levelling up 4 times faster than average. He did need more EXP than normal since his power capacity per level was higher than most people.


    As for David, the boy was an Inferior Epic at Level 526. He was strong for his level, capable of dealing with people even 30 levels higher than he was.


    Besides Evan though.


    Lastly, Laurene was Level 490.


    The girl was baffled��scared even, at the fact that Evan had done well on his promise and made her go from Level 300 to 490 in a year!


    He had said he was going to make her an Epic before Year 1055, and that was only two months away now.


    With the Uing Sim Attack they had nned, she''d get those 10 levels in no time.


    This meant Evan would also win the bet with her father who vehemently denied Evan being able to achieve this.


    Like with Kolvar, his reward was a nk cheque with the GWE Emperor''s name signed on it.


    ''Completely dad''s fault. He should have known how much of an anomaly Evan is.''


    Laurene sighed and shook her head, wishing her father the best before she redirected her focus to David who had half covered his face with his hat as she asked.


    "Hey, Dave.


    I''ve been meaning to ask this, but��do you have anyone in mind?"


    "Anyone in mind for?"


    David had question marks hovering over his head when she asked this and Laurene sighed once more as she exined.


    "Partner, lover, crush��"


    "Oh, that!"


    Realisation shed through David''s eyes, after which he shook his head and responded.


    "Nope. Given my position, that''s not something I can take lightly."


    As a Prince of THE Beast Kingdom, any girl David fancied was going to deal with a LOT of pressure, both socially and politically.


    He felt averse to putting someone''s daughter under all of that stress without thinking it through.


    Upon hearing his response, Evan let out a surprised voice and raised a brow in question.


    "I could have sworn I saw you on a date with Sh''s daughter."


    "Margravine Herrera''s daughter? Lady Aiko and I are not like that. About that incident, she needed something, I encountered her on the way and since we happened to have the same destination, we headed there together.


    We''re quite amicable and her mother is my elder sister''s guard, so we''re fairly close. Somehow, the tale got spun around into us being on a date.


    Clearing up the aftermath was so annoying."


    David''s brows furrowed at thest part of his statement, and Laurene used her fingers to smooth his frown as she advised.


    "Take your time with this. If you hastily get into a rtionship and it doesn''t work well, it''d be bad for both you and the girl."


    "It''d be worse for her.


    She''d now have the stigma of the ''Girl the Beast Prince dumped''. With David''s public image as the ''Saviour Prince'', people would be averse to speaking with anyone even he couldn''t handle."


    Evan chipped in while shaking his head and Laurene rolled her eyes and responded.


    "I know right, so very annoying. Stupid nobles be spreading silly rumours and talking bullshit everywhere."


    Hearing Laurene''s grumbling, David and Evan shared a nce before looking at her and asking.


    "Why do I feel like��"


    "��you''re speaking from Experience?"


    "Because I am, duh?"


    The girl did not hesitate to affirm their conjecture.

 Chapter 757 Advent of TVs

    <h4>Chapter 757 Advent of TVs</h4>


    Laurene had done very little to hide the fact that she fancied Arnold which now caused problems in the political scene.


    The issue was that Arnold was currently not the Eris Duchy''s heir.


    Royal Family Supporters were saying that if Laurene was to marry into the Eris Family, then she should at the very least be wed to the heir to the Dukedom.


    Currently, that was Evan.


    Hence, it wasn''t too hard to figure out what they were trying to say.


    The problem was that Evan had a significant other in the form of Eliza and wasn''t looking any other girl''s way, much less Laurene whom he treated like a little sister.


    A noble had dared to speak of this when Evan was within earshot and the re the boy gave the noble made the grown man nearly piss his pants.


    That feeling of existential fear that gripped all those within the hall that day shut all of them up and prevented them from voicing such thoughts.


    But this didn''t mean they didn''t have such thoughts anymore.


    All would be fine if Evan''s position as an heir could be transferred to Arnold, however, there was now the issue of the Eris Dukedom vassals.


    These nobles were no less powerful than the Royal Family supporters and they didn''t want Arnold to be the head of the family because hecked the Pdin skill that thest 5 Dukes all had.


    Evan had taken some time to figure out why Arnoldcked this skill and tried to get it for him but he always drew up nks.


    He had even straight up told Artemisia to give him the skill if she could, but all the goddess said that things ''couldn''t just work that way''.


    Unfortunately, he had a more pressing issue to attend to at the time so that conversation was never concluded.


    "The ''Pdin'' skill, huh?"


    "It may have been the original reason, but it has changed over the years."


    Evan spoke up after David did and hearing this Laurene nced at the giant magi-electronic board disying the Beach Restaurant menu, with a portion of the screen showing a video of Evan in a dungeon as she replied.


    "I''m guessing your current Influence ys a part."


    At the end of the War with Wolfenst year, Evan had reached a level of Influence where he could ''order''?small?countries to do things and they had to oblige.


    This influence of his had only grown in the past year, to a level where he was almost on par with Duke Roger''s international Influence.


    Which was a lot, given that Roger was the GWE Prime Minister and held more power than some Presidents and some Kings!


    As such, the Vassals of the Eris Duchy wanted Evan to be the Duke so the Eris Duchy would be able to share this influence.


    Evan would also boost the Duchy''s prestige as he''d be a Duke while also being a Hero.


    They were simply thinking about the benefits Evan could bring to the Eris Duchy, and there were some pretty stubborn ones so it wasn''t a situation where Evan could just use force to make them back down.


    Of course, if they pissed him off, he would, and they knew this so they made sure to not cross his bottom line, keeping themselves to the level of a ''mild annoyance''.


    No one wanted their whole family to Vanish from the GWE''s history books overnight!


    They were?that?scared of Evan because one of them had identally discovered the fact that Blend''s Parliament was secretly dancing in the palm of Evan''s hand.


    The now Deceased ''Ninth Finger'', Maude Gtryd, was a member of the Country''s Parliament on the surface, and Evan was leveraging the fact that Blend''s government did not want to have any involvement with the Organisation responsible for Osto, Cheverton and Lacertilia''s incidents which could have imed hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of lives.


    Weighing the scales with the GWE and the Beast Kingdom on one side while Evan was on the other, the Prime Minister willingly handed their leash to Evan.


    The extra ckmail-worthy information that Maude had was all taken by Evan and he used it to make his life a ''lot easier'' in the past year.


    It did end up with a few dozen High nobles living in constant fear, but hey, some sesses always had?minor?sacrifices.


    Laurene nced back to the drink board and muttered something about wanting one. This prompted Evan to call out to the waitresses nearby and right before his very eyes, he witnessed the most intense rock, paper scissors tournament ever, held between the six free waitresses to decide who was to attend to Evan.


    The victor made a small guts pose before dashing over at near-sonic speed.


    ''��Girl you don''t have the necessary agility stat to reach such speeds, how did you achieve it?!''


    Laurene could see Evan''s thoughts written all over his face, turning to David and seeing a simr expression of surprise on his face as well.


    Shaking her head lightly, she spoke.


    "You two need to understand just how desirable you are for the opposite gender."


    They ced their orders afterwards and Laurene returned her focus to the magi-electronic board as she questioned Evan.


    "You really took this ''Live Dungeon Stream'' thing to the limit, huh?"


    She was referring to the video of Evan clearing a boss monster in a dungeon that was ying on it


    Televisions had made their Advent on Aidos during the past year, it went without saying that the No. 1 contributor to their sess was the boy sitting right next to her.


    Magic Projections were usually very expensive and required a lot of equipment and tools, from the magic projectors themselves, the magic stones, and the projection boards and they consumed a ton of energy to send information over long distances.


    Televisions, however, were cheaper to obtain, required only one square or rectangr-shaped box device, and used simr signals to already existing Radios, costing far less to transmit info over long distances.


    Magic projections were still in use and would still remain as such for a long while, and with TVs being brought into the mix, simr technology could be applied, making it so that they would only get better.


    Of course, the TVs on Aidos for now were still a bit ''boxed'', but they were surprisingly light.


    Since Aidos already had Radios and could use Radio signals with magic, it wasn''t too hard for them to turn that ''Audio'' to ''Audio Visual''.


    In the same way that they had Live Broadcasts on Radio, they now had the same on TV, making it much easier to disseminate information with them.


    More news stations were popping up, and it was much easier for Evan to get his name out there.


    Radio Stations that were already in the business decided to branch out into the rising TV industry, and all the major TV Stations were of this kind.


    As they already had poprity on Radio, it wasn''t hard for them to gain poprity on TV.


    For people unable to afford TVs, cities had viewing centres where one could pay a small amount of money and go in to watch whatever was showing up at the time.


    They had a lot of customers in the form of Dads who wanted to watch that 9 pm news broadcast daily.


    ''Movies'' were also bing a thing now on Aidos. A lot fewer people went to theatres to watch ys since you could now sit back at home and watch it through your TV.


    Naturally, the advent of TVs did cause some industries, like the theatre industry to lose money, but this was inevitable.


    In the end, the people who really loved ys would still go to theatres so they were NOT going out of business anytime soon.


    "How did you get the knowledge to use those things? An''s memories?"


    Laurene was curious since Evan had stuffed a lot of ideas into the heads of the guys in Kasteblum and the Technicians from the Beta Continent.


    He had also forged a good rtionship with the Utraria Republic as they had now be the biggest manufacturers of TVs worldwide.


    The ''Barbarians'' of the Beta Continent once again made people wonder why they were even called that when they took the TVs to their continent and came back with Digital Billboards.


    Evan hadn''t even nned to tell them about Digital Billboards yet, and those guys somehow created it with just their knowledge of TVs alone.


    Despite appearing and acting like they were ''Primitive'' those guys had the best technology on the!


    "I just pieced together a few things.


    Besides, you guys knew about TVs already due to Yvonne and Ellisar. With that and a few touches I got from acertain goddess, we ended up with what we have."


    Just as he said that, their drinks arrived and Evan couldn''t help but notice the waitress was different from the one who took their order.


    He questioned why and he was told the other one had been called up by their boss and was busy. This one also came along with an autograph which she wanted Evan to sign and the boy saw no reason to decline.


    Those who saw this, ended up staring at the girl like hawks watching their prey��the ''prey'' in this case being the autograph she just got.


    Some others wanted to ask Evan for theirs but they saw he had returned to his conversation with Laurene and didn''t dare interrupt his talk with the Princess.


    "Look at those adventurers who were watching your dungeon raid. Now they''re eyeing that poor girl like she''s holding a pound of gold.


    I feel that thing might get stolen from her."


    Davidmented as he sipped his drink while looking at the waitress who rushed into the locker room, probably to safeguard her recent acquirement.


    As for the Dungeon Raid he spoke about, well we''d have to talk about how Evan had madestreaminga thing on Aidos.


    The Alpha and Beta Continent''s top technology-savvy nations put their heads together and were working towards making Audio-Visual Magical Signals capable of passing through the barriers of Dungeons so there were no ''Live Streams'' yet though.


    For now, it was just powerful adventurer parties recording their Dungeon Clears and having it broadcast after they left the dungeon.

 Chapter 758 Cheisnih’s Defeat and Ellisar’s Unfortunate Fate.

    Chapter 758 Cheisnih��s Defeat and Ellisar��s Unfortunate Fate.


    ??An Example would be the Graveyard of the Arrogant which was just cleared up to Floor 70 recently by an SSS Rank Adventurer party.


    The Video of the Boss Fight was broadcast on TVs throughout the GWE and it was fire ??! Viewership was at an all-time high and TV purchases spiked for the entire month.


    It was now a thing for some Adventurers to record their Dungeon Clears or Monster Stampede hunts and this gave them more fame and renown.


    But if anyone were to ask who started this Dungeon Streaming trend, then they''d get one of two answers.


    Either the ''Irregr''or the ''Hero''Evan��both of which, referred to the same person.


    Evan had gone back to Geto City sometime in April, his first visit since his battle with Xakon.


    In the two years that passed, the city had recovered from the damage it sustained in that battle and was now prospering even more.


    The ''Spider Nest'' dungeon was thriving and bringing in thousands of Adventurers, especially due to its feature of getting stronger the more times it was cleared.


    When he got there, the Spider Royal Guards who used to be Level 60 were now Level 400!


    This had drawn S Rank adventures and the high magic density influenced more monsters to spawn so to prevent them from attacking Geto City and its surrounding satellite towns, a new dungeon had formed.


    Evan had no business with this new dungeon, and his goal was the ''Spider Nest'', which as he had assumed, had been cleared the maximum number of times.


    This meant one thing.


    ''Spider Nemesis'' Cheisnihhad spawned.


    Like in the game, the Cheisnih took a humanoid form and ventured into the nearest city, full of curiosity as her memories had been lost since herst incarnation.


    Evan had to employ Eliza''s help to scan the city, with the priestess instantly sensing the enormous clearly non-humanoid-race life force of the monster.


    Unfortunately, she ended up being provoked by a certain S Rank adventurer party like in the game, and she quickly lost her temper and returned to her true form to kill them.


    The colossal arachnid dominated thendscape with her eight legs and 15-metre tall chitinous body. Gleaming yellow eyes and a gaping maw exuded menace, while venomous spinnerets threatened all in her path.


    It was a nightmare made flesh, instilling fear in all who beheld her terrifying form.


    She then proceeded to wipe the floor with all the S Rank adventurers in the city. Luckily for the people of Geto, Evan was around.


    The boy had Ka and Milena act as his Camerawomen while he made a spectacr entrance and fought the Spider Nemesis within a barrier Eliza created to protect the city from coteral damage.


    Hevanquishedher after a ''tough and epic'' battle.


    Evan then sent this recording to TV stations he knew across the continent and had them show his fight against the Spider Nemesis during the day''s News broadcast.


    He went ahead to do the same thing with a few other monsters, like in Tarse where he fought a ''Crawling Lightning'', a giant worm monster with its whole body d in lightning that was capable of easily achieving supersonic speeds.


    It was what the GWE Chief Court Mage Jenson had yed to gain international fame, and Evan fought one that razed a 900 square kilometre abandoned town to the ground.


    Because a lot of people had missed the first Broadcast, the second had tons of viewers as a lot of people (Mostly Adventurers and those with Combat sses) wanted to see Evan fighting monsters, hoping to learn 1 or 2 tricks from him.


    The more viewers brought more money for the TV Stations, and they were very eager to work with Evan again.


    In this manner, Evan turned himself into a household name.


    Evan put this idea into the heads of other adventurers during an interview, and seeing the fame it brought the boy, they were more than willing to try.


    The boy had used the promise of fame to motivate adventurers andbatants to be stronger in preparation for the potential war against Gozon''s Demons.


    Since they had to fight monsters for the videos, they''d level up in the process, and since they would not want to look like idiots on TV, they''d have to refine their skills and techniques, which would make them betterbatants.


    Evan was helping increase the quality of adventurers across the World and people were not blind not to see the boy''s intentions.


    This, in turn, brought more fame and more influence for Evan, to the point where even the reclusive nations of the Dark Continent had taken note of him.


    "But that Spider Nemesis, though��"


    Laurene dropped her ss on the table and looked at Evan before continuing.


    "You didn''t kill it, did you?"


    Her question was answered with a wry smile and that was as good as a ''YES'' for Laurene.


    Evan hadvanquishedCheisnih. There was a big difference between ''Vanquish'' and ''Kill''.


    Only Ka, Milena, Eliza and Leviah knew that Cheisnih was still alive. And now, Laurene and David were added to that list as well.


    Cheisnih was a powerful Level 500, one even stronger than Yetu was when he was the boss of the ''Graveyard of the Arrogant''.


    Evan had instead ''tamed'' the Spider Nemesis, put her in a magical contract and smuggled her into Tarse to act as Leviah''sassistant.


    The boy could not get the image that Leviah sent him of Cheisnih in her giant spider form chomping on the body of a ''Fallen Celestial Deity'' out of his head.


    "Leaving Evan''s schemes aside for now. Dave, I got a question for you."


    "What''s up?"


    "I just never really got the chance to ask this before.


    Evan had the goddess Artemisia interfere in his case; I have my ''Mental Block'' skill which I just recently discovered is more of a ''Spiritual Block''.


    But you��how did you retain yourself from Ellisar''s clutches?"


    Laurene''s question was of how David had avoided being taken over by his Predecessor, Ellisar Krisfiel.


    "Oh, yeah. I told Evan, but I don''t think I told you, did I?


    Well, in my case, it was the order in which my skills awakened that helped me."


    David sat upright as he continued his exnation.


    "You see, regardless of whether I gained my Mystic Eyes or not, I would have be an Anti-Mage.


    Meaning, I''d have the ''Counter Spell'' and ''Mana Burn'' skills either way.


    And it was precisely because I had those skills, that I gained the Mystic Eyes of Anti-Magic.


    When my skills awakened, my Counter Spell skill awakened before my Mystic Eyes."


    The Spiritual Attack meant to destabilize their souls before the Previous Heroes was tied to their Mystic Eyes.


    It was also a Magic Spell, which meant David''s Counter Spell worked on it.


    And since his Counter Spell awakened before his Mystic Eyes, the skill simply sent the Spiritual Attack back to its sender��


    Ellisar.


    So not only was David''s soul not destabilized, Ellisar who had the spiritual attack reflected onto him was the one whose soul got destabilized.


    "Ellisar didn''t have a body, his soul was just being given a piggyback ride by the Mystic Eyes, and destabilizing it made him fall off��into the depths of oblivion."


    "Wow��to think three of theGreatSeven Heroes perished like this."


    Evan muttered under his breath and Laurene nearly replied that it was just ''two'' on reflex. However, she decided to keep Yvonne''s soul fragment which was dormant in Venus a secret for now, at least until Yvonne healed enough to wake up.


    "The three of us may have been lucky with our skillsets and divine intervention, but I doubt the others would be."


    Laurene spoke with a light frown on her face and this time, David was the one who smoothened her brows as he asked.


    "Who do you have in mind?"


    "Abigail Lowe. Surely, she''s the ''Hero of Destruction''. However, we don''t know if that''s actually ''Abigail'' or ''Ali-."


    "It''s definitely Abigail."


    Evan cut Laurene off, his voice filled with so much certainty it surprised the other two Heroes.


    "Why are you so sure?"


    "Because it''s Abigail we''re talking about."


    The two of them didn''t understand how that gave him such confidence and Evan smiled wryly and exined a bit.


    "Abigail is STRONG. Like really STRONG.


    The girl''s basically aSuperwoman. She''s also an Irregr to boot.


    If I wasn''t around, she''d surely be the Strongest of the New Gen Heroes."


    "Are you saying she''s more powerful than the current me?"


    David posed this question with narrowed eyes and Evan didn''t even blink before answering.


    "Yes. She is.


    Abigail''s Irregr Nature makes it such that things like trying to steal her body simply ''don''t work''. It''s not that she''s resistant to their effects, it''s just that they wouldn''t work in the first ce as far as she''s the target."


    "You sure know a lot about her considering you''ve never met��"


    "I''ve had Artemisia show me some things."


    Evan replied to Laurene with a light shrug before raising his left hand and looking at his watch.


    "20 minutes more."


    Hearing him speaking about the time, Laurene and David were reminded once again about the reason why they were here, which clearly wasn''t to enjoy the beach.


    "How long have you been nning this, Evan?"


    "Since he woke up after Lacertilia."


    David replied to Laurene''s question, giving the girl a peek at the depths of Evan''s ns for the Demonic Hand.


    After repeated failures in the past four years, the Demonic Hand were going to pull out all the stops to make sure the ''Fall of the Desert Country'' was a sess.


    The fact that they were already unsealing High-Rank Demons from the war of a millennium ago was proof of this.


    They were also going to gather all the remnant members of the Defunct Eight, Ninth and Tenth Divisions scattered across the and use them in Tarse.


    Furthermore, the Sixth and Seventh Divisions who were on the Alpha Continent, were going to support the Fifth Division in Tarse.


    Evan admitted that part of the reason why stopping the ''Lizard Lord''s Outbreak'' was a sess was because the Sixth Division had note in to support Maude and Kethryllia yet.


    Things would not have been as easy if Seith Beddoe had been around.

 Chapter 759 Race Across the Ocean

    <h4>Chapter 759 Race Across the Ocean</h4>


    Evan was also sure that Seith would?definitely?be on ground for Tarse to support Deram. Kethryllia might also be there too.


    As such, Evan wanted to begin reducing the number of avable forces that they could employ before their ns for Tarse kicked off.


    Xolgren Agriker had initiated the ''Wild Card Protocol'', to summon unknown demons from other Worlds under Gozon''s control��Demons Evan wasn''t supposed to have any information about.


    Because of that, Evan decided to pull this off to reduce the damage Aidos would take from that.


    Evan had used the War with Wolfenst year to keep the continent from noticing the fact that he had gathered powerful Living Legends and Sovereigns from across.


    "Aren''t you tired, Evan? From all this nning, running around across the Continent and all.


    You''ve been so busy you don''t even level up as fast as you used to anymore."


    Hearing Laurene''s question, Evan turned towards her and saw nothing but genuine concern in her eyes.


    A small chuckle escaped his lips as he looked at the sun high up in the sky and spoke.


    "Tired, huh? Of course, I am. Dealing with the Demonic Hand is a lot of stress, you know?


    Especially as the ''First Finger'' has the power of the Law of ''Fate'' itself.


    The man can see red gsing from a mile away so it''s hard to pull things off without him seeing potential dangers beforehand.


    The man can even manipte fate to a certain extent if he wishes. Trying to outwit such a person is exceedingly difficult. I''m honestly thankful for my Irregr nature that makes it so he cannot deduce things about me, otherwise, things would be a lot harder."


    Upon hearing Evan say this, Laurene posed another question.


    "In that case, why don''t you rely on us more? It''d be different if you didn''t know where we were, but you do.


    The most you''ve had me do is wipe out Remnants of the Demonic Hand, nothing rted to any of your Major ns."


    "Rely on you? Oh, I n to do just that. That''s why I''ve told you to learn Spatial Magic from Jenson.


    You and Me, Tarse, Next year.


    If you want Hero work, don''t worry, there''s a lot of work waiting for you."


    For some reason, Laurene felt a chill down her spine and a small bit of regret budded in her heart at the thought of having said that to Evan.


    Ignorant of this, the boy was busy thinking about his recent moves against the Demonic Hand, which weren''t much.


    Indeed, Evan had let the Demonic Hand?run free?for the past year.


    The most he had done was to attack and wipe out small outposts they had in a few major countries, with the only BIG move being where he along with the Holy Kingdom''s Pdins and Amelie attacked Senior Members of the Seventh Division in February.


    It was a huge incident that blew up since the attack had happened in Blend, Maude''s home country.


    Besides that, nothing too serious had happened.


    The reason he did this was to let them drop their guard.


    Since the War on Wolfenst year, the Demonic Hand had been on guard, expecting Evan to pull something on the scale of Cheverton and Lacertilia''s incidents.


    They had even slowed down their ns for Tarse because they were anticipating him attacking and had been on high alert��for over a full year.


    However, Evan had not met their expectations and they felt like their ns had been dyed by a year for nothing!


    Even the First Finger could not deduce anything.


    To the Demonic Hand, Evan cared more about increasing his fame and universal influence than he cared about dealing with them.


    As such, they decided to resume their ns for the Alpha Continent��Tarse and the Recement Disasters to make up for the losses in Cheverton and Lacertilia.


    And that brings us to the current situation.


    Since they had resumed their ns, Evan decided to hit them with the BIG move they had been expecting before.


    Right now, at 34 other locations across the Alpha Continent and its surrounding inds, there were Epics, Living Legends and even Sovereigns from World Powers��GWE, GEE, Kasteblum, Utraria Republic, Elven Kingdom, Holy Kingdom, Tarse and the Beast Kingdom��all on standby right outside Demonic Hand bases.


    Evan nned for them to attack all 34 bases, 35 with the one the Hero trio was nearby included, simultaneously.


    This was therge scale of Operation Synchro 2.0.


    The goal was to wipe out every single Demonic Hand member present.


    Evan hadid the groundwork over a year ago, he had ryed the information they needed then as well.


    As such, there were no meetings held between the involved parties.


    These Living Legends and Sovereigns had gone about their daily lives like always, so the Demonic Hand who was keeping tabs on them, did not see Evan meeting with any of them.


    Unbeknownst to the Demonic Hand, these powerhouses had all slowly been making their way over to the locations Evan had designated to them over a year ago.


    It was only a week ago that Evan contacted them via magic projections to question if they had gotten into position. That was the only contact they had.


    And now, Evan was waiting for the right time to give the signal for attack, while chilling with Laurene and David at this beach.


    The base they were to attack was a small pocket Dimensional Realm that was at the bottom of ake in the middle of one of the uninhabited inds that could be seen from the beach they were at.


    The Dimensional Realm was asrge as a City and was submerged underwater, hence why they were in swimwear.


    All three had also learned the Dive skill precisely for this day, so they could go underwater to break into the Dimensional Realm.


    Gradually, as the sun dipped towards the horizon, the number of people on the beach slowly began reducing, and fewer people were going out to swim in the ocean, which was perfect since the three of them didn''t want anyone getting caught up as coteral damage.


    Evan looked at his watch, and then at the sun, before heaving a light sigh as he picked up a Walkie Talkie.


    "Alright everyone, this is your Captain Speaking."


    Laurene red at him and warned him to be serious while Evan just chuckled a bit in response. Suddenly, hisughter ceased and he spoke with an uncharacteristically serious voice.


    "Operation Synchro 2.0, is a go."


    He switched off the walkie-talkie and turned towards the two heroes beside him, seeing that they had already gotten down from their chairs and were stretching their limbs.


    David tossed on a flower-patterned beach shirt and adjusted his hat while Laurene took off her Pareo.


    "Race you there?"


    "Bet."


    Laurene snapped her fingers in response to Evan''s challenge and blue divine lightning crackled around her legs. Wind swirled around her feet as well, while the earth under David''s feet rose and formed a runner''s block for him.


    Evan tossed the walkie-talkie into his inventory, before speaking.


    "Go."


    **BOOOOMM!!!!!x3


    Three simultaneous sonic booms echoed, drawing the attention of everyone on the beach as the trio pulverized the earth beneath their feet and blitzed across thend faster than the eye could see.


    They left trails across the water''s surface, running on footholds they created on the water. Evan used his Void Steps, Laurene used her Sky Steps, and David used the water itself to generate ice footholds with ether.


    Streaks of golden, blue and reddish-brown light tore through the ocean water, causing waves to rise where they passed and they got to the target ind within a minute.


    "I win!"


    Evan shouted as he jumped ontond, smashing through a rock in the process, with David arriving a split secondter and Laurene a whole three secondster.


    "No surprise here. Iama Mage. My ss restrictions prevent me from having physical capabilities on par with people my level, much less you guys who are over 30 levels higher."


    Laurene didn''t seem too bothered about her loss, epting it as fact, while David clicked his tongue and cursed at the stupid fish that jumped up in his face midrace.


    What annoyed him even more was the fact that midway, Evan had actually turned around tough at him when that happened, and yet Evan still got tond faster than he did.


    "Alright, enough ying around. Let''s get moving."


    Laurene spoke up to remind them of their aim ofing here, before raising her hand and sending a bolt of divinity to shoot down the hawk monster that tried to attack her from behind.


    In unanimous agreement, they resumed their journey, their destination the heart of the expansive 178-kilometre-wide ind.


    With Evan''s top speed of around 850 m/s, he got there in a little under two minutes and waited for some more seconds for Laurene and David to arrive.


    Together, the three of them dove into theke, their bodies disappearing beneath the shimmering surface as they submerged into the cool depths.


    Swimming was something that David didn''t really like much despite being capable, Laurene had no particr thoughts on It and was busy thinking about how she could try enticing Arnold with her swimsuit while Evan was busy shadowboxing with some sharks.


    He wasn''t even questioning why there were sharks present in the first ce.


    Laurene had to swim back to drag him over, and she could swear the sharks bowed their heads to thank her before swimming away in the blink of an eye.


    Eventually, they reached an underground cave and emerged into an air pocket with rocks all around.


    When they got out of the water, Evan used a mix of wind and fire magic to dry their bodies before gesturing to the walls around them and saying.


    "Alright, Laurene. Work your magic."


    Laurene silently nodded and activated her Mystic Eyes, the symbol for ''Truth'' glowing with a gold light against the backdrop of her blue irises as she nced around.


    As Evan had said, there was indeed a Dimensional Realm Barrier here, and it was concealed so perfectly that she needed to activate her Mystic Eyes to see it.


    ''It''s been a while since I''d seen something that my passive could not detect��''

 Chapter 760 “That’s a nice skill you got there. Mind if I borrow it?”

    Chapter 760 ��That��s a nice skill you got there. Mind if I borrow it?��


    ??The ''World'' Laurene could see with her Mystic Eyes was vastly different from what others did, so she sometimes switched them off to allow her brain to rest since overuse could put too much pressure on her.


    She could see the flow of energies; magic, ether, celestial energy, prana and many more. She could even see the powers of the World Laws and how they intertwined to make up the very fabric of reality she could perceive.


    Most importantly in this situation, Laurene could see that what were supposed to be random rocks were actually the spatial barriers of a Dimensional Realm, with her gaze locking onto a particr point.


    She raised her hand and created a Target Symbol around it, before speaking.


    "That''s the weakest point in the barrier."


    "Really? I can''t even tell if there''s anything there. Would it break if I bust this rock?"


    David knocked the rock multiple times, feeling no spatial barrier present in the area. Hearing him, Laurene shook her head and spoke.


    "I don''t think your ''Magic Break'' can break it."


    "Lemme do it."


    Evan spoke up as he walked up to the point where Laurene targeted and she questioned if it was really necessary.


    "I''m the one with the spatial magic here. Aren''t I the best suited to breaking a spatial barrier?"


    "Normally, yes.


    But I''m trying to test a new skill."


    "Suit yourself then."


    Laurene took a few steps back, knowing fully well whatever Evan wanted to ''test'' would be very loud and explosive.


    Evan raised his hands above his head and summoned the ''Unforged Vale'', thebination between the ''Unforged Vanquisher'' and the ''Vale de''.


    Naturally, he had it in Light Sabre mode.


    Holding up his Light Sab��correction, Sword, Evan took a stance and inhaled a deep breath.


    ''Burn, Mesarthim.''


    Prismatic mes lit up on the sword, with three of the seven colours being more prominent than the others that were translucent.


    Red, Orange, and Yellow.


    |Mesarthim: Prismatic Inferno;


    Type: Unique Series Skill


    This Multifaceted skill allows the user tomand mes that embrace the vibrant hues of the rainbow, engulfing targets in a magnificent disy of prismatic mes.


    When used offensively, Mesarthim has a fixed chance to ignore a percentage of the target''s durability and resistances, dealing percentage damage in ordance with their maximum Health Values.


    As the skill ignites, an ethereal ze dances with vivid reds, dazzling oranges, vibrant yellows, luscious greens, brilliant blues, and majestic purples. These swirling hues create a mesmerizing spectacle that captivates both allies and adversaries alike.


    This skill cannot be lost or taken away unless very special circumstances are met.


    Effect;


    Mesarthim''s multifaceted nature allows the wielder to manipte each individual colour within the inferno, granting them extraordinary versatility.


    RED: The red mes of Mesarthim embody relentless fury and unparalleled heat, capable of scorching enemies to cinders. These fiery tongues possess an insatiable appetite for destruction, devouring all obstacles in their path.


    ORANGE: The orange mes of Mesarthim radiate intense warmth and energetic vigour. They lend their invigorating power to allies, bolstering their strength and resilience, inspiring them to face any challenge with unwavering courage.


    YELLOW: The yellow mes of Mesarthim carry the essence of enlightenment and purification. They possess a cleansing touch, able to dispel curses, and banish malevolent entities.


    GREEN: [Locked Effect]


    BLUE: [Locked Effect]


    INDIGO: [Locked Effect]


    VIOLET: [Locked Effect]


    Restrictions:


    Due to the true nature of the power that is ''Mesarthim'', certain abilities of this skill are sealed and would only be unlocked either when; The user''s Attunements to mes increase, their proficiency with the base abilities of the skill increases, or the user gains a deeper understanding of ''mes'' and ''Mesarthim'' itself.


    Utilizing this skill demands a deep reservoir of Energy. |


    The new me was unlocked when Evan became an Epic Level, so he expected to get ''GREEN'' when he became a Legendary, which should not take ''too much time'' by his calctions.


    As for Laurene, despite casting Heat Resistance magic on both herself and David, she felt sweat run down her cheeks when Evan''s sword lit up with mes.


    It wasthathot.


    With his sword raised overhead, Evan muttered a line under his breath.


    The name of the new Unique Skill he recently gained from the boss of a dungeon in the Holy Kingdom.


    "World Sunder."


    His ck de engulfed with prismatic mes swung down, releasing a surge of destructive energy capable of cleaving through any obstacle with ease.


    The moment it hit the rock wall, the entire cave shook and the skill''s unique properties came into y, tearing apart the invisible spatial barrier like paper and wreaking havoc on whatever was on the other side.


    Laurene and David heard the sound of ss breaking, followed by shouts of surprise and screams of agony as the radiant mes surged outward, engulfing everything in their path within a kilometre radius. Buildings crumbled like mere sandcastles, devoured by the searing inferno, while the force of the explosion wrought devastation, iming the lives of all living beings in its wake.


    As if that wasn''t enough, the sh of mes continued onward, going on to create a massive fissure that stretched from one end of the Dimensional Realm to the other!


    This was a distance of around 50plete kilometres.


    "Hmm? Works well enough."


    Such were Evan''s words as he jumped into the spatial crack visible before him, while Laurene looked at David and asked.


    "Can you pull that off?"


    "Huh? I''m a normal person, you know?"


    While David was casually insinuating Evan was abnormal, the boy charged through the Dimensional Realm, his smile widening as he sensed over a thousand more presences before him.


    ''Average Power is around Level 200��this would be a cakewalk.''


    Landing atop the ruins of a half-destroyed building, he shouted with a magic-infused voice.


    [HELLO, EVERY FUCKING BODY! WONDERFUL DAY TO DIE, DON''T YOU THINK?]


    Naturally, the Demonic Hand members who were trying to understand why the ce had suddenly exploded sensed him and turned in his direction, their eyes widening as they instantly recognized the swimming trunk-d wearing boy.


    "Evan Eris?!"


    [THAT''S MY NAME!


    AND THAT''S THE LAST THING YOU''RE EVER GONNA SAY!]


    Faster than the person who spoke could evenpute another thought, Evan''s hand was already pointed in his direction and the boy released a focused Energy st that was akin to aser.


    The man''s body was rendered headless in an instant and the rest of the corpse dropped down and was quickly consumed by Evan''s mes.


    "Hammerfist!!"


    Hearing the voice shouting, Evan turned to his side and saw a Demonic Hand member punching towards him from afar.


    Just when he expected a shockwave to fly, ambient energy condensed and formed a giant fist-shaped construct that nearly punched Evan off his tform.


    "Woah, there!"


    Evan raised his left hand and caught it before saying.


    "That''s a nice skill you got there. Mind if I borrow it?"


    Evan flexed his fingers and the giant Hammerfist shattered into shards of light as he continued speaking.


    "I promise, I''ll return it."


    Golden chains burst out from the ground beneath his feet and snaked towards the guy, wrapping him up and pulling him towards Evan who grabbed him by the neck.


    "��probably."


    |Hammerfist Acquired|


    |Normal Skills require one skill slot. |


    |Seven Skill slots remaining. |


    The guy tried to use magic, but Evan''s lightning-encased fist punched him right in his mouth, after which a golden chain burst out from Evan''s fist and pierced into his head, bursting out from the top of his skull.


    "Disgusting��"


    Evan muttered under his breath as he tossed the corpse aside, thankful he used an Elemental Shield at thest moment.


    As more Demonic Hand members rushed to the scene, a cacophony of spell incantations filled the air, summoning a kaleidoscope of magic circles that crackled and swirled with elemental energy.


    Each circle materialized with a distinct hue, representing the varied elements they wielded, and all were unleashed at Evan who had just discarded the corpse of theirrade.


    The spells surged towards Evan with the force of a tidal wave, theirbined might threatening to engulf him in a tempest of destruction.


    "Seriously, Evan. You were waiting for them to do this, weren''t you?"


    David remarked as he strode past Evan, his gaze fixed on the barrage of spells hurtling toward them.


    He tipped his hat upwards, his reddish-brown eyes shing with a golden hue as the letter representing ''Anti-Magic'' manifested within them.


    As he gazed at the spell barrage, the power of his Mystic Eyes began to deconstruct the spells, unravelling their elemental energies and reducing them to mere wisps of ambient magic power.


    Just as the first barrage dissipated, a second wave of the spell onught loomed on the horizon. Without hesitation, David activated Counter Spell and in an instant, the spells reversed course and hurtled towards their astonished senders with newfound ferocity.


    The disy of retribution as their magic turned against them was so unexpected that more than half of them were frozen in ce, long enough for the spells to reach them.


    With a resounding impact, the spells struck their intended targets, eliciting screams of pain and agony that reverberated through the air like a haunting melody.


    "You both have bad taste. Besides, don''t forget I''m supposed to use these guys to level up."


    Laurene''s voice echoed with a hint of exasperation as she harnessed the ambient magic power that had filled the air after David deconstructed the first spell wave.


    With a flicker in her eyes, she locked onto the weak points of all Demonic Hand members in her field of vision��which was vast, even vaster than Evan''s��and drew magic from the eight orbs hovering behind her.


    Lasers of elemental light erupted forth from them, consuming the ambient magic she had gathered and growing stronger and faster the further they went.


    Each beam found its mark, piercing through the weakened durability of the Demonic Hand members and sealing their fate, sending them swiftly to the afterlife.


    "1, 2, 3, 4��! Laurene, you say we have bad taste but you just shot four guys in the balls!!"


    Laurene''s brow twitched when she heard Evan''s exmation, turning to re at him as she replied.


    "It''s not my fault they have such an obvious weak point!"


    Her response prompted David and Evan to cover their crotches with their hands and instantly take distance from her, with Evan even summoning the Gazebind Aegis.


    "��do you two want me to test out how effective it is on you?"


    ""No way!""

 Chapter 761 Let Him Cook

    <h4>Chapter 761 Let Him Cook</h4>


    Just as Evan and David echoed that reply, multiple surges of Demonic Energy appeared in the skies and they looked up to see a quintet of low-ranked demons flying in the air.


    The Demons charged towards them, but Evan dashed forward, spinning around as his sword appeared in his hands.


    "Hell Unleashed."


    **KABOOOMM!!!


    The massive sh of prismatic mes lit up the world, consuming four of the demons in one go and giving the others 3rd degree burns as a parting gift.


    As the demons crashed to the ground, screaming in pain, Evannded on the floor and teleported away right after, moments before the spot he was before was riddled with holes.


    "Oh, someone with the Burst Cannon skill!"


    Evan recognized the ability used, about to activate his own when the user mmed their hands together and began chanting.


    "From the depths of chaos, I summon the power of creation''s end


    With primordial fury and ster might��"


    Six Demonic Hand members formed a wall in front of him, deploying defensive skills and magic to hold Evan off and buy them time.


    Laurene''s eyes pinpointed the weak points in their barriers and she raised her hand, ready toser them when Evan''s loud voice rang out.


    "STOP!!"


    "?!"


    When she turned to Evan with rm, wondering why he suddenly told her to halt, the boy held out his right hand to bar her and David from moving forward, looking at the person who was?clearly?chanting Nuclear Magic before saying.


    "Let him cook."


    "��"


    "��"


    Laurene deadpanned Evan as she raised her hand and unleashed a powerful ball of blue lightning that blitzed forward, breaking through the defences of the ones guarding the Nuclear Magic user and sting the first one in the face.


    She flicked her fingers and the lightning jumped to the next guy with 1.5x power. It went to the next with 2x power, and the next got 2.5x and so on.


    Eventually, it reached the chanter who was trying to run; however, the spell''s speed and homing properties made that impossible and it reached him in an instant, piercing through his skull with 3.5x power, causing blood and brain matter to stter all over.


    "Thank you, Laurene."


    "You''re wee."


    Laurene replied to David, before turning to Evan who had a disappointed look on his face and running her gaze down his body, stopping right below his waist as lightning crackled on her hand.


    Evan felt a chill run down his spine, and when he felt where Laurene''s gaze was going, he didn''t hesitate to use Blink and run before he got hit at a certain weak point.


    David just chuckled upon seeing this, before jumping in the opposite direction from where Evan teleported.


    "Hmm? Ah! You guys didn''t let me buff you!"


    The realisation hit her when they had finally gone, but it wasn''t a problem either way as with one of her new skills, she could still buff them even if they were on the other end of the city.


    "Aura of Valour, Maximum Range."


    | Aura of Valour;


    Type: Ultra-Rare Skill


    Effect;


    Aura of Valour is a passive skill that emanates from the user, enveloping allies within a certain range in a protective aura of resilience. Allies within the aura range, including the user, receive multiple buffs that amplify their skills and magic damage, enhancing their offensive capabilities on the battlefield. Additionally, Aura of Valour grants resistance to mental attacks, bolstering the mental fortitude of allies and shielding them from psychic assaults.


    Restrictions;


    Maximum Range: 50 Km Radius of the User''s Position.?|


    She proceeded to use several support magic spells on Evan after this and then turned to David before switching her energy output to Divinity instead.


    Due to David''s Anti-Mage nature, using Magic to buff him was as pointless as using a sieve to hold water.


    As such, Laurene had to learn how to use Support Spells with her Divinity just for the sake of buffing David.


    "Now then, let''s get back to killing these guys."


    Like they were waiting for that cue, a dozen assants charged at her from all directions, their swords and spears aiming to take her out faster than she could chant any spells.


    Unfortunately, they didn''t know Laurene had a certain skill called ''Chant Revocation''.


    With a thought, a two-ringed magic circle formed beneath their feet and an intense gravitational force bore down on them, mming them all face down into the ground.


    Evan had once said that if Laurene ever began chanting a spell during battle, then whoever her opponent was should either run or give up on life.


    Because if she ever used a spell that was powerful enough for her to Chant even with that skill, then her opponent was either insanely strong or insanely dead.


    "Multiple."


    She muttered that word under her breath, after which she unleashed the Lightning Magic Spell, Arcane Bolt of Severance upon all twelve of them��three times in a row.


    Three bolts of powerful divine lightning were enough to leave nothing but charred flesh where their necks were supposed to be.


    [Level Up]


    "Oh, 9 levels more then."


    The air beside her shimmered as she spoke and the girl shook her head before beginning to speak.


    "I don''t me you since you don''t know, but you see��"


    She suddenly turned around and used her bare hand to catch a dagger that was about to pierce into the side of her head as she concluded.


    "��concealment skills are useless against me."


    Wordlessly, she activated reinforcement magic and her arm bulged up rapidly, boosting her physical strength by a level higher, high enough that she could twist the dagger-holding hand of her opponent and force the de through his jaw.


    It pierced through and emerged from the top of his head, his instant death causing his concealment to wear off and his body to fall to the ground.


    Laurene''s arm returned to normal and she waved her now-


    strained arm in the air before saying.


    "Yep, physical fighting is truly not my thing."


    She crouched and used the blood of the dead man to draw a magic circle on his chest, finishing just as she was attacked by another Demonic Hand member, a Senior one this time.


    "Here, catch."


    The man''s instinctive reaction was to push the corpse she suddenly tossed at him away, but the instant he made contact with it, Laurene snapped her fingers, releasing a pulse of mana that triggered the inscribed spell.


    ***BOOOMM!!!!


    The resulting explosion of blood and flesh left a gaping hole in the ground, drenched in gore and viscera, marking the violent end of her assant.


    ����


    While Laurene was ying with spell inscriptions on corpses, Evan was cleaving through hordes of Demonic Hand grunts, using them to test out a plethora of new skills.


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    One of them came in close and Evan dodged his attacks, before punching them in the face with abination of Fracture and Permeating Wave.


    | Permeating Wave;


    Type: Normal Skill


    Effect;


    Sends vibrations into the target''s body, destroying their body structure. |


    It was a simple but very deadly skill, as the strength of the vibrations depended on the quality and quantity of energy put into it.


    The man who got punched, vomited blood mixed with flesh and bone fragments as he crumpled on the floor dead.


    "Devastation."


    With that one word, the entire Dimensional Realm trembled heavily like a major magnitude 9 earthquake hit as the sky cracked open and ominous bolts of crimson gold lightning and prismatic mes rained down upon the ground below.


    Demonic Hand members screamed as their bodies and souls were seared by the elements whichpletely ignored their durabilites.


    | Devastation;


    Type: Rare Skill


    Effect;


    The sky fractures with ominous cracks as bolts of lightning and destructive mes rain down, igniting the ground below in a chaos that consumes the user''s enemies.


    ��Optional-Summons a Translucent Mountain that spews volleys of magma upon the battlefield. Each impact sends shockwaves of devastation rippling through the earth, leaving nought but destion in its wake. |


    As Evan gazed at the description of the skill responsible, he muttered a line to himself.


    "I can''t use this thing inside this ce, it''s damaging the Dimensional Realm Barrier and if I overdo it, the realm might copse with us in it."


    Speaking of Copsing things, Evan double-tapped his legs on the ground and activated a skill created solely for doing such, giving the entire city the taste of another earthquake and destabilizing the footing of hundreds of Demonic Hand grunts.


    It should be noted that Evan did not quench the massive mes razing his surroundings whilst he did this.


    Every move Evan took consumed a shit ton of energy, but the boy was fine due to his high energy quality, his Dragon Heart and a certain skill he recently gained.


    |Energy Regeneration;


    Type: Ultra-Rare Skill


    Effect;


    It helps boost the user''s Energy Regeneration by 50%. What else were you expecting? |


    Evan decided that if he ever met the person responsible for that skill description, he''d smack them in the back of the head.


    "How about I test out ''Blue Judgement'' now?"


    He voiced that thought aloud as he turned around and cleaved the body of a Senior Member in half with ''World Sunder''.


    "?!"


    It was at that moment that the space behind him warped and a hand materialized out of thin air, cing its palm on Evan''s back and sending a pulse of magic through him.


    Evan disappeared and reappeared behind the owner of the hand, swinging his sword coated in me right at their neck to behead them in an instant.


    ''That guy just did something to me with a skill! I have to kill him quick!''


    Such were Evan''s thoughts, but the moment his sword touched the guy''s neck, his intuition and Danger Sense skill sent out warning bells.


    Evan then proceeded to perform the astonishing feat of using his left free hand to catch hisownming de, stopping it frompletely cleaving through his assant''s neck.


    In that same moment, he also jumped back by ten metres, his gaze locked onto the person who touched him as he appraised them despite the blood he could feel running down his neck.


    "Hahahaha! You''ve got good Instincts, Evan Eris.


    As expected of a Hero!"


    The person turned around to reveal their appearance, a man with a scar running through the upper half of his face where his eyes were.


    His eye sockets were empty, giving a clear view of the scarred flesh behind the human eye right above his skull.


    "If you had beheaded me right then��then you would have lost your head as well."

 Chapter 762 Mesarthim; Yellow

    <h4>Chapter 762 Mesarthim; Yellow</h4>


    "If you had beheaded me right then��then you would have lost your head as well."


    When the man spoke, Evan raised his left hand and touched his neck, feeling a cut from which blood poured continuously.


    Evan had powerful regeneration abilities thanks to his strong vitality, strong enough to heal such a cut.


    Yet, the wound did not heal.


    ''This��it''s the ignore durability and regeneration negation of Mesarthim and my Destruction Essence��''


    The samebo of powers that Evan had intended to use in beheading the man before him.


    "Surprised, aren''t you?


    You''re probably wondering why you have a cut on your neck despite being the one who attacked.


    Don''t worry, I''m in a good mood so I''ll tell you the answer!"


    The man''s lips curled up into a sadistic grin as he revealed his power.


    "It''s because you and I are now?Fully Synchronized?by my Unique Skill. Only I can undo it.


    Whatever is done to me, would be done to you and vice versa.


    Every wound you deal to me would be dealt to you. Every buff you receive, I receive it as well. And if you were to kill me��"


    The man let the sentence hang, moving his fingers and drawing it across his neck as heughed loudly.


    More Demonic Hand members appeared, and when they saw both the man and Evan bearing simr wounds on their necks, they instantly realised what he had done.


    Just then, spears of blue lightning rained down from above, piercing through their hastily made barriers and wounding them all with its divine light.


    Laurene appeared in the sky, wielding Venus with her left hand and a quartet of Tier 3 Magic circles swirling before her right.


    With a surge of power, she unleashed a searing beam of lightning, obliterating half of the nearby Demonic Hand members and leaving only scorched imprints of their feet behind.


    The girl then jumped to the ground andnded beside Evan, narrowing her eyes as she asked.


    "Why is my skill now considering this guy to be an ''Ally''?"


    Laurene had noticed the instant Evan and this unnamed Demonic Hand Senior Member of the Sixth Division had been synchronized as her Aura of Valour skill suddenly started buffing one more person.


    As such, she rushed in that direction and saw Evan facing off against him, silently switching off her skill at that moment.


    "Aww, why don''t you share your buffs with me, princess?"


    Laurene barely held back her urge to unleash Nuclear Magic on the man when she heard his sickening voice, instead focusing her Mystic Eyes on him to analyse him.


    She saw threads of energy that connected his and Evan''s vitals, their energy cores, and even portions of their energy circuits.


    Another thing she noticed, was that the man had some sort of spatial perception covering the area around them, and she attributed this to how he could know where they were despite having no eyes to see.


    "What''s wrong? Cat got your tongue?


    I heard you like talking smack, so why aren''t you saying anything huh?


    Could it be you''re scared of death? Come on, I''m a viin and you''re a Hero, aren''t you? Heroes are supposed to give their lives to defeat the Viins like me, aren''t they?!


    Go on, try to kill me!!


    Maybe you can tell your princess friend to try it! Who knows, she may seed��in killing the both of us, that is!!!!"


    As the man continued his tirade, Evan maintained his silence. He raised his hand and summoned a golden chain. Seeing this, the man''s words flowed unabated.


    "Chains? Do you want to restrain me? You''d only be restraining yourself too, you know?


    Hmm? That tip looks spiked, doesn''t it? Perhaps��you want to torture me into releasing the synchronization?


    Pfft, go on, I''m very used to pain. Besides, the thought of you going through the same agony is enough to keep me going strong!"


    Laurene was a split second away from actually attacking him in annoyance when Evan dismissed the chain and looked around before activating a skill.


    "Elemental Surge."


    A powerful wave of crimson gold lightning and icy energy surged in all directions, paralysing all the nearby Demonic Hand members and encasing them inyers of thick ice in an instant.


    ''?!


    That''s my skill, isn''t it? When did he take it?''


    Laurene''s eyes widened as she recognized the magic signature of the skill Evan had just used, utterly bbergasted as she hadn''t even noticed when Evan had mimicked it.


    | Elemental Surge;


    Type: Rare Skill


    Elemental Surge is a rare skill that harnesses the elemental energies within the user, unleashing a powerful wave of elemental force in all directions.


    Effect;


    With precise control and mastery, the user can manipte various elements, such as fire, lightning, ice, earth, and wind, to create devastating effects. Bybining different elemental energies, the user can produce unique and synergistic effects, such as fiery explosions, electrified storms, icy sts, or seismic tremors. |


    The good part about Evan''s Mystic Eyes only needing 3 seconds to Mimic a skill meant he could take one''s skill in the middle of a seemingly normal conversation and they wouldn''t realise a thing!


    Whether he noticed Laurene''s surprise or not, Evan stepped forward, closing the distance between him and the eyeless man as he spoke three words.


    "Mesarthim; Yellow: Purge."


    "��


    ��?!"


    The man waspletely dumbfounded for a moment when Evan got close and said those three words, but in the next second, shock washed over him as he suddenly realised something.


    ''Huh? Why are the y-positive coordinates of my spatial perception pointing at the ground? Why''s the x-negative pointing to the right instead of the left?


    Why is everythingupside down?''


    It took his brain two more seconds topute the answer to that question, with the reality of the situation dawning on him.


    ''Oh��it''s not that things turned upside down. I''m the one who''s upside down��''


    Slowly, his spatial perception range began to reduce until the only thing within his range was now Evan whose hand was stretched out above his head.


    ''��fucking monster��''


    Those were thest thoughts he had before his spatial perception dimmed and he sunk into oblivion.


    Laurene blinked and raised her hands to clean her eyes, just to make sure she was seeing properly.


    One moment Evan''s body was engulfed by yellow mes and the next, the severed head of the unnamed Demonic Hand Senior member was flying through the air, spraying blood.


    The Unforged Vale silently floated beside Evan, not a single drop of blood on its glowing ckser-like de.


    "Blessing of Destruction: 1st Activation."


    With BoD activated silently, Evan raised his left index finger and pointed it at the man''s chest as he condensed destruction essence around it.


    "Vortex."


    **PUFF!!!


    That subdued sound was all Laurene heard as the spiralling mass of energypletely obliterated the man''s body and soul from existencepletelydestroying the skill he had as well.


    His head in Evan''s grip was also turned to ashes and the boy nodded to himself in affirmation when he saw a [Level Up] notification.


    "Good. I''vepletely removed that Unique Skill from this."


    Turning around, he walked towards Laurene who was still staring at him dumbfounded, whispering in her ear as he passed by her.


    "Be careful, there''s a Level 620 hiding somewhere in this ce."


    With those words, he unfurled his wings and kicked off the ground, dashing into the sky where he grabbed the wings of two Demons fighting against David and mmed them against each other.


    Left behind, Laurene nced towards where Evan flew to, before returning her gaze to the gouged-out portion of the ground where the Demonic Hand executive once was.


    "Evanreallyknows how to mess with someone''s confidence��"


    ����


    As Evan ripped out the wings of the two unfortunate demons, he kicked them towards David who gestured with his hand and created spears using the broken fragments of the buildings below them, sending the spears to stab the now one-winged demons.


    Evan aided him, conjuring a plethora of weapons using his Elemental Weapon Projection and raining them down on the two unfortunate souls.


    Impaled from above and below, it wouldn''t take long for the demons to slowly bleed out to death. Too bad, Evan wanted another level up soon so in the short moment David turned away to counter a spell from behind, Evan lopped off their heads.


    David was riding a huge wave of sand and rocks like a surfer would ride a wave of water, and it was in this manner he moved around the Dimensional realm, destroying buildings and adding their broken fragments to his giant sand wave, making it even bigger and more powerful.


    It was a technique he had been working on for a while and finally became able to do when he gained his new Unique Skill in the Regal Void Expansest year.


    | Wrath of the Earthbound;


    Type: Unique Skill


    Wrath of the Earthbound taps into the primal forces of the earth, channelling its boundless fury through the user''s very being. As the embodiment of nature''s wrath, the user can unleash devastating seismic upheavals and cataclysmic eruptions upon his foes, shaking the very foundation of the battlefield.


    Techniques;


    1. Quaking Earthstrike: Summons seismic tremors to rupture the ground, causing violent upheavals and fissures to swallow enemies whole.


    2. Stonefall Barrage: Rains down boulders and debris to crush enemy ranks under nature''s fury.


    3. Gaia''s Embrace: Envelops the user in a protective barrier of earthen energy, enhancing resilience against physical and energy-based attacks.


    4. Terraform Wave: Sends a powerful shockwave of earth energy to reshape terrain, altering the battlefield to the user''s advantage and disrupts enemy formations.


    5. Elemental Rupture: Combines earth, fire, and lightning forces for a devastating cataclysmic explosion.


    6. Earthshaker''s Fury: Unleashes a massive shockwave that ripples through the ground to rupture the earth and knock foes off their feet.


    7. Seismic Burst: Releases a focused st of energy that surges forward, shattering obstacles and pulverizing enemies.


    8. Magma Eruption: Calls upon the fiery depths of the earth to unleash a torrent of moltenva, engulfing enemies in scorching mes and leaving devastation in its wake.


    9. Earthwave: Maniptes the very ground beneath the user, creating a colossal wave of sand, rocks and debris. Riding atop this wave, the user can surf through various terrain, leaving destruction in their wake. The wave can overwhelm, destroy and consume structures in its path, making it growrger and stronger.|


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